Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, you'd be reading this in a fat leather-bound book… not on your computer screen.
Author's Note: Okay. Before you all flip out, please forgive my hiatus. It's inexcusable—school is just really burning me out. And I know this installment is short—too short, I know. When I make the composite story, I will probably combine this chapter with the next one. But I wanted to give you at least something to work with. So again, forgive me. Soon I'll have more time to write, I promise. I hope this will suffice until then.
Hogsmeade.
He knew there was a village near before he'd known which it was. The vast sea of scents that cling to a village caught his sensitive nose miles and miles away and told him to head west. And as he drew closer, the memories of his childhood associated with those scents started to swarm him.
Butterbeer and firewhisky from the Three Broomsticks… the acrid smell of explosive powder emanating from Zonko's…and the sweet, sticky smell of every kind of chocolate imaginable rising from Honeydukes.
Sirius' mouth watered and he tried to ignore the ache in his stomach. His paws pounded the ground as he trotted purposefully towards the mouth-watering scents of Hogsmeade. When he got into the village, he'd see if he could get some scraps from the villagers before heading up into the Hogwarts' grounds. Ever since being spotted in Havershire—the damn Muggle woman had screamed so loud that he thought his eardrums would shatter—he dare not be seen in his true form.
Then again, he thought ruefully, people are more likely to give food to an unkempt dog than to an unkempt man. Not that my face would be welcome in Hogsmeade, anyway.
He picked up his pace. Through the trees he could see a clearing and the beginning of a path, and the sight caused his heart to jump. After all this time, he was finally closer to Hogwarts than he'd been in ages. The sweet taste of revenge pricked the back of his throat. Soon he would find Peter. Soon he would extort his confession. And soon his name would be cleared. Soon. Soon. Soon.
James and Lily's faces swam in front of his vision. Were he in human form, he'd have pushed them physically away. Now all he could do was use their image to fuel his rage.
I've waited so long… and it's almost over. Just a bit more patience.
The tree cover broke and he walked slowly into the sunlight, blinking against the sudden brightness. A quick scan told him he was on the far east side of the village—he could barely see the north end where the train station lay on the edge of the great lake. All the shops were further into town. Very well. He would run in, grab something to eat—maybe from an unsuspecting villager… no one would suspect a thing—and then, on to Hogwarts.
He started forward, determined, his heart racing. A sudden noise to his right, however, sent him scurrying back into the trees—even as a dog, there were dangers around him. And there would not always be, he reminded himself, a Tirzah to save him. Settling on his haunches behind a particularly large elm, he peeked around to see what had startled him so.
What he saw stopped his heart.
Oh my God…
It had to be a dream. It had to be. Or could it be that after all these years it would be so easy? Could his heart's longing truly be placed before him, close enough to touch? Could the gods themselves have heard his silent, aching prayers and deigned to answer them?
Could this really be happening? This could not be happening!
But happening it was. It was no dream. And so it was that Sirius Black, trembling, watched as the door to a tiny, ivy-covered cottage slammed shut and Ani—the woman he'd loved for more than half of his life; the woman whose face had filled his mind every time he closed his eyes—stood in her garden, flowers reaching out their arms to welcome her.
The End of Part One