Unseen and Unheard From

Written by Flashfire Freak

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Harry Potter universe, nor do I get paid for this, otherwise I wouldn't be scrambling to make about $5 to $7 USD/month.

Author note: This idea came to me one morning, and I felt that it needed out of my head. If I get many viewers/reviewers telling me in some fashion that I should continue this [this will be another series rewrite, but alternate universe]. Don't worry about Her Desire, His Will, Their Future, as it will be continued on in parallel to this one.

Edit: 1/1/2019 – After re-reading the chapter and reviews, I've decided to rewrite a bit of the chapter to be, more correct and more fluid. The original will be available in the master document.

Chapter 1 – Slipping Away

Talking with James Potter was always the fun part of Sirius's weekend. However, during a conversation one night that he had with James had been interrupted by the sudden darkening of the mirror. Sirius had tried to contact James through the pair of enchanted mirrors, and James wasn't answering. 'Prongs, this had better be one hell of a prank' thinks Sirius as he dons his traveling cloak. Apparating to Godric's Hollow, Sirius quickly and quietly traverses the winding road towards where the Potters had been staying before Albus Dumbledore had put a Fidelius charm on the house.

Arriving at the Potter household after walking down the street, Sirius sees the house in its damaged state, and cautiously opens the still intact wooden gate at the front, and creeps slowly towards the front door. Opening the front door, Sirius surveys the main floor and sees little damage, other than the still cooling corpse of James Potter. Sirius lets out a strangled cry of pain, and tears soon follow. A few minutes later, after composing himself, Sirius begins the trek up the stairwell towards the second floor.

Observing the obvious blast marks in the walls as he progresses further into the house, Sirius follows the draft of cold air coming from a bedroom. With wand in hand, Sirius enters the room to see the corpse of Lily, and, surprisingly toddler Harry in his crib, looking around quietly, a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead over his right eye.

Hanging his head at the loss of two of his close friends, Sirius approaches Harry, and scoops him up into his arms. "Harry…oh Harry. This night is a travesty. However, I must keep you safe from Voldemort, so in accordance to your parents' will, I shall be your guardian. Please be patient with me" whispers Sirius, just loud enough for Harry to look at Sirius unblinkingly.

Exiting the room, Sirius grabs the nearby baby bag, quickly adds some necessities and walks out the front door. Hearing some pops indicating the arrival of wizards or witches, Sirius quickly ducks behind the still intact bushes with the thought 'Lily always loved her gardening', before disillusioning himself and Harry.

"Albus! Look at it! The house is in bloody ruins, and no doubt Voldemort had a hand in this." exclaims an upset female voice.

'I know that voice! That's McGonagall. But what is she doing here?' thinks Sirius, brows furrowing.

"Minerva my dear, I'm afraid despite my precautions and safety measures, that the Potters' have been killed." says Dumbledore sadly.

The rest of the conversation is cut off as McGonagall and Dumbledore enter the house and close the front door. With some quick thinking, Sirius stands up, leaves through the wooden gate, and quickly leaves the vicinity to the nearby graveyard, in which he apparates to Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

/*back at the destroyed Potter house*/

"We've searched the entire house, Albus! Where is he?" exclaims Professor McGonagall shrilly.

"Settle my dear Minerva. My instruments haven't failed me before, so young Mr. Potter is still alive, somewhere." murmurs Dumbledore.

"What should we do then? Just wait for him to appear at Hogwarts in ten years' time?" asks Professor McGonagall.

Nodding his head, Dumbledore replies, "Yes, for now we must. Let's charm the place to stay in its current condition, apply a new Fidelius Charm to it, and then leave. I'm sure that Harry will be alright, as we've already checked the entire house for any humans, and nothing appeared."

Exiting the house, Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall do the necessary charms to keep the house in a weather proof state and to keep it from being discovered by anyone else.

/*back at 12 Grimmauld Place*/

"You're one of the quietest babies that I've ever had to take care of. Not that I've really taken care of you for this long before…" says Sirius, putting Harry into a crib a few feet away from his bed. Jumping into bed, Sirius prepares for a long day the following day.

/*the next day*/

"Mr. Black, it is so nice to see you again. How may we here at Gringotts assist you?" asks a goblin clerk, showing his sharpened teeth.

"I need the equivalent of five million pounds taken away from my vault, please. There are some purchases I'd like to make in the non-magical world." states Sirius seriously.

"Mr. Black, we can tell you the amount of gold you will need to withdraw, but you must be the one to withdraw the gold from your vault" states the nameless goblin.

A half hour later with a bag of gold on his person, Sirius leaves Gringotts in a hooded cloak, headed for The Leaky Cauldron when he sees a flier posted on a nearby wall.

"The Dark Lord has been defeated by the surviving member of the Potter household, Harry Potter. His current residence is known only to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore" says Sirius quietly reading off the posted flier.

Rolling his eyes, Sirius continues to The Leaky Cauldron, and off into the non-magical world. Stopping at a real estate agency a bit later, Sirius takes a deep breath and enters.

"Hello there! How may I help you?" asks a woman agent cheerily.

"I'm looking for a large and secluded piece of land and house." states Sirius clearly after removing his hood.

"Alrighty then, how much would you like to spend?" asks the agent beginning to take note on a piece of paper.

"Money is of no issue, so please find me the largest and most secluded location you can find." responds Sirius with a hint of desperation in his voice.

"Uh, ok then. How about this one here?" asks the agent, showing Sirius a photo of a house on paper.

After about thirty minutes of viewing houses for sale, Sirius finds one on a cliff near to the ocean with a large tract of land surrounding the property with farms surrounding the rest and asks, "I like this one. When can we move in?"

Taken aback, the agent quickly regains her composure and says, "You're in luck, you can move in as soon as your funds clear."

Smiling, Sirius pulls out a briefcase quickly from a robe pocket, opens it and says, "Good, I'll take it now. How much did you say it was again?"

The agents eyes look at the money contained inside the briefcase, and does a double take. "It's three and a half million pounds sir."

Setting on the table the requested funds, Sirius watches as the agent takes the briefcase and puts on a table behind her and begins to count it with a manager watching. Looking around discretely, Sirius pulls out his wand and quickly modifies the agent's memory and the paperwork to indicate that someone had purchased the house and had the required paperwork filled out, just not with Sirius's name of course. Returning from counting the money, the agent disoriented hands Sirius the keys to the abode and says somewhat confused, "The title will be mailed to you from the bank, receive in a fortnight or so? Good day."

Taking the keys, Sirius exits the agency quickly before heading to buy some furniture for the new house, some king sized beds, multiple sets of sheets, food, baby formula, and everything else he could think of to supply the new house out in the country.

Entering Diagon Alley, Sirius purchases two owls, two brooms, and some new robes. Leaving as quickly as he came, Sirius transports everything and baby Harry to the new house. Sirius does all of the necessary warding, and manages to visit the Ministry of Magic to get his fireplace hooked up to the Flu network.

Around dinner time, Sirius checks in Harry who had been watched by Kreacher the entire day, feeds him, and changes his nappy. Sitting down to his dinner, Sirius thinks about the past few days, and after finishing his meal, writes a letter to Remus Lupin, one of his longest and closest friends.

Dear Remus,

It's Sirius. Probably by now you've probably heard that the Potter family has been killed, and Harry living in a place unknown. I'd like to catch up with you some time if you can spare some time. Please write back to me.

-Sirius

Looking over his letter, Sirius quickly ties it to the leg of one of his new owls that he had named Storm, in reflection of the owl's black feathers.

/*elsewhere in the world*/

Remus Lupin was a defeated man. He had heard that James and Lily had been killed by Voldemort, who had been killed while attempting to kill young Harry. He couldn't find steady work due to his lycanthropy, and therefore didn't have a steady place to stay. Looking up into the ever darkening sky on a lonely hillside, Lupin sees movement out of the corner of his eye, and a black owl lands beside him, and holds out a letter.

Staring at the owl for a few moments, Lupin looks at the letter still tied to the owl's leg, sees his name written on the envelope, gently removes it from the owl's leg, and opens it to have a self-inking quill and a letter fall out.

Reading over the letter, Lupin grabs the quill, and looks at the bottom of the short letter and composes his response.