Chapter - 46 : Twist Part - 3

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Harry jerked his head at a familiar cave. "That your new place?"

Every Saturday, Padfoot led him to a new place. Either Sirius moved every week right after Harry fed him or this was the first time Sirius had actually brought Harry to his hide out.

Padfoot barked again and took off, confidently trotting toward the cave entrance. Harry jogged after him.

When Sirius finished eating, Harry said the thing that he said every Saturday to Sirius.

"You should come up to the castle with me." Sirius froze, as he always did, but Harry ploughed on. "It would be safer for you."

After a long moment Sirius said hoarsely "The Dementors."

It was the first time that Sirius had anything other than "No."

"We could use the Shrieking Shack or Honeydukes to get past them and onto the grounds. I know a couple of rooms in the castle that aren't even on the map."

"The map?"

"The Marauders' Map."

When Harry fished the map out and showed it to him, Sirius touched it with such reverence that Harry wondered if Sirius had been too busy to be so openly happy to see it last time or if Harry simply had not noticed how much Sirius loved his old school things. Or maybe Sirius was less openly crazy by the time Harry could openly observe him and thus better at hiding his thoughts. After a moment Harry pointed to the spot where the Room of Requirement was usually located.

"This room's the best one. It'll have everything that you want or need."

"No room there."

"Not yet. Gotta do the trick first." Harry grinned at his haggard, and probably crazy, godfather. "When you feel better, I'll show you the Chamber of Secrets."

Pale blue eyes searched Harry's face carefully as Sirius asked, "Why are you doing this?"

Harry made sure to catch Sirius' eyes with his own as he said, "Because I remember that night. I don't blame you for my mum and dad dying. You weren't their secret keeper. Peter Pettigrew betrayed them and Voldemort murdered them."

Harry watched as Sirius' eyes widened. His lips pursed even as his eyes darted frantically over Harry's face, searching for something. A moment more and then Sirius must have found what he was looking for because he was holding onto Harry. Sirius' grip was painfully tight and there was a cool, trickling sensation against Harry's neck. Harry was stunned into stillness for a moment then held onto Sirius fiercely. There was no way he was losing Sirius this time around.

Sneaking a dog into Honeydukes' much less into the building's basement required the judicious application of several Zonko's products and a certain amount of mass chaos. If anyone ever traced the disaster back to Harry there would a lifetime ban from the shop at the very least in his immediate future. Compared to the first part, getting Padfoot through the hallways and stashing him in a very carefully constructed Room of Requirement was easy. He would never be Neville – although maybe he should have Neville redesign the room's construction? – but he knew enough to create a room that could only be accessed if he was with the group that wanted entrance to the room. When they entered the room, it was a perfect replica of the Gryffindor common room with a doorway off to one side where the boys' dorm would be, presumably leading off to a bedroom for Sirius. Hopefully there would be a bathroom somewhere beyond that.

Sirius staggered around the room touching things – the mantel, a squashy arm chair, a certain study table in the corner closest to the door, the right curtain – and Harry just watched him. Were those things important to him in the actual Gryffindor common room? When it began to look like Sirius wanted to climb into the fire place and touch the flames, Harry hurried to interrupt.

"Hey I'll go get my books while you get cleaned up."

That got Sirius' attention. He grabbed Harry's shoulder in a tight, desperate grip.

"You can't go back there! Not while he's there!" Sirius' eyes glittered madly. "I've got to kill him for what he did."

Harry gaped. What? Kill – oh. Peter Pettigrew.

"It's okay" Harry tried to soothe. "The Aurors have Wormtail."

If anything, it was the wrong thing to say. Sirius immediately let go of Harry and headed for the door. Harry lunged at Sirius, grabbing a fist full of his dirty, prison-issue robes.

"I have to kill Peter" Sirius explained hoarsely as he shoved at Harry.

"No!"

Even half-mad, malnourished, and weakened from a diet that probably involved rats and scraps Sirius was still strong enough to shove eleven year old Harry away from him. Harry hit the stone floor with a jarring thump. Despairing and desperate, he watched Sirius' rapidly retreating back.

"You're supposed to look after me!" Harry shouted.

Sirius had his hand on the door to the hallway and the outside world. Sirius' words from the previous timeline echoed in Harry's ears, nearly all of them about James. His father.

"He died for me!" Sirius' thumb depressed the latch as the rest of his hand curled around the handle. "How can you make my dad's life meaningless like that?"

Sirius stilled. Harry scrambled to his feet. Panting with terror – Sirius was in no shape to be killing anyone, much less someone surrounded by Aurors – he blurted the first thing that came to mind.

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