Chapter 10: A Sirius Time
Harry and Neville sat there quietly for a while, both of them lost in their own reveries. Harry was looking around the shabby, ghostly town when he remembered something.
"Neville, it's Halloween."
"So?" asked Neville slowly.
"So! Tonight Voldemort murders my parents," he said angrily, standing up and looking around as if Death Eaters were going to come strolling down the street any second. "We have got to get out of here - "
"Where are we going to go?" Neville asked rhetorically, then continued, "We have nowhere to go! We might as well stay here tonight and wait for something to happen - "
"Are you insane? You don't think Death Eaters are looking for us now, after we've both went and told Voldemort we know about the prophecy?" Harry cried with more than a touch of exasperation.
"Er - well… I …" CRACK. Two cloaked Death Eaters Apparated onto the street in front of them with their wands raised.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" one of them shouted.
Instantly Harry tried to pull Neville to the ground to duck the spell, but Neville resisted. Instead, he fumbled for his wand in his pocket and then stammered out, "S-S-STUPEFY! S-STUPEFY!" To Harry's enormous surprise, both Death Eaters flew backwards and fell to the ground unconscious.
"Wow," he muttered, straightening up and wishing he had a wand. "Nice one, Neville."
"The D.A. really paid off," Neville said proudly, grinning. "So, where are we going to go, since you've proved me wrong?"
"I don't know…" Harry sighed and sat back down on the curb. He wished he had never gotten into this mess in the first place…
"Eh, well, I know of one way of transport." Neville raised his wand; for a second, Harry thought he might be conjuring a broom, but right after he had put his arm down a loud BANG sounded and a violently purple bus was swaying down the street at full speed.
"How did you know about the Knight Bus?" asked Harry, surprised. He had only traveled on the Knight bus twice, in the summer before his third year and just last year to go to Kings Cross and they had not been exactly pleasant experiences.
"I've traveled on it loads of times with my Gran," Neville said matter-of-factly as the Knight Bus halted in front of them and a friendly-faced old lady stepped out onto the sidewalk.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus, here to serve any of your transportation needs," she said loudly. "Good morning young men, where would you like to be off to today?"
Harry was about to answer "Hogwarts," (although he had no idea why he wanted to go there, it seemed like the only option), when Neville cut in.
"Godric's Hollow."
"What? Neville, we can't go there, you know what is going to happen tonight, we don't want to be in the middle of it and cause any more trouble then we already have…" Harry urgently whispered.
"Don't worry about it," Neville said confidently. "Just be quiet and let me talk. Mrs.…" Neville squinted at the old lady's nametag. "Mrs. Fewrin - "
"Call me Eileen, dear."
"Eileen, I have to be honest with you. We don't have any money."
"And you want to ride free?" asked Eileen kindly, the corners of her eyes wrinkling as she smiled warmly.
"Yes! Thank you so much for understanding, you see we've - "
"No," Eileen said flatly, her smile dropping into an unwelcome frown. She turned around and walked aboard the bus. "We don't transport troublemakers of your sort for free."
"Are you giving customers a problem again?" A booming male voice came from inside of the bus.
"Of course I'm not, they just don't have any money." A man around his thirties with black hair and warm deep brown eyes appeared behind Eileen. He looked Neville and Harry up and down with his face expressionless.
"Let them on, Eileen," he said. "They are in a Death Eater town, and too young to that sort. The least we can do for them is take them out of here to wherever they want to go for one time." He looked at them. "But don't assume that just because we let you ride for free today means we will the next time. We aren't that lenient."
"Yes sir," said Harry, nodding. "Thank you." Eileen gave them a look of disgust and gestured for them to follow her. Harry's heart thumped loudly against his chest as he followed Neville to the upper level of the bus. He was not ready to see his father again nor his mother. He could not face the pain of knowing he left everything he always wanted behind. And he definitely wouldn't be able to bear to see Voldemort come. However, that was if he even was coming at all.
When they reached the top level, there was only one other passenger there. He was absorbed in The Daily Prophet (which had large, graphic pictures of the Death Eaters' destruction with the headline "You-Know-Who Strikes Again") and was holding a cup of coffee.
"Sit. We'll be in Godric's Hollow very shortly." Neville and Harry sat across from the man nervously. Upon hearing Eileen's words, the man had lowered his newspaper and was staring sharply at them.
"You two are going to Godric's Hollow too?" he asked suspiciously. Since the paper no longer obscured his view, Harry could now see the man's face clearly. He was very handsome, with sleek dark hair and even, well-cut features. Then, simultaneously Harry and Neville both gasped in recognition. They looked at each other, flabbergasted, and then back to the twenty year old Sirius Black. "Er - something the matter?" Sirius asked while giving them a perplexed look.
Neville was first to recover his voice. "N-no, nothing's the matter, and, er, yes, we are going to Godric's Hollow. Why?"
"What's your business there?" Harry knew that Sirius thought that they could be looking for the Potter residence. A strange chill went down his spine.
"We - we live there," spoke up Harry when Neville obviously did not know what to say and was opening and closing his mouth with a dumbfounded expression.
"You don't sound so sure about that."
"We are, don't worry." However, Sirius didn't seem convinced. He went back to reading The Daily Prophet and seemed to ignore Harry and Neville, though Harry knew he was shooting him furtive glances from the corner of his eye.
Harry kept his face blank, careful to not show any emotion that might betray the real reason they were there. Neville was obviously uneasy about the whole situation; he kept on shifting in his chair and biting his lip nervously. Harry wanted to tell him to quit looking so guilty.
Harry shut his eyes and pressed his forehead against the cool window glass. He was exhausted, and falling into sleep's comforting embrace was a very enticing thought indeed… just as he started dozing off, Sirius spoke up.
"Say, you look like one of my friends. Do you know James Potter?" Neville let out a little squeak. Sirius looked sharply at him; a lump came to Harry's throat. He couldn't believe this. After almost two years of wanting just to see his godfather again, here he was with him on the Knight Bus and Sirius didn't even know who he was. And he knew, Harry knew, where all of their respective fates lay. Sirius was going to go after Peter Pettigrew tonight and then spend his next thirteen years in Azkaban under the false name of "Murdered thirteen muggles and Peter Pettigrew." He couldn't let that happen. He just couldn't… a war broke out in his head.
You can't mess around with time, Harry.
But I could just tell him not to go after Pettigrew…
NO. Look how badly Neville and you have corrupted time. It's going to be a miracle if you two return safely without doing any real danger.
What's the difference if Sirius doesn't go to Azkaban? He could have lived a totally different life…
As these thoughts battled in his head, Eileen came upstairs and informed them that Godric's Hollow was the next stop and that they would be arriving there in a few moments. She left quickly, her stare lingering in Sirius's direction.
Aware that he and Neville had not responded to Sirius's question yet, Harry decided to say. "No, I don't think I know him," The statement was punctuated just as the Knight Bus screeched to a halt in a cozy-looking little village.
"GODRIC'S HOLLOW!" shouted Eileen from downstairs. The three of them stood up. Sirius started walking downstairs, but Harry stopped him.
"Wait."
"What?" inquired Sirius, obviously annoyed at Harry's temerity. "I have some place to go, you know."
"Er - well - whatever you do, don't go after Wormtail." Neville stepped on Harry's foot sharply and looked at him imploringly.
"Harry, don't," he breathed.
"I have to, Neville. Sirius, whatever you do, don't go after Wormtail," repeated Harry. Sirius's face contorted with shock, confusion, and bewildered anger, but Harry did not wait explain himself any further. He grabbed Neville's arm and hustled him downstairs and out onto the sidewalk of Godric's Hollow. A few minutes later, a befuddled Sirius walked out and continued to walk in the opposite direction of Neville and Harry.
"Come on, we don't want to look like we're following him." Harry tugged on Neville's arm, but he didn't budge.
"Harry…he's going to your parents house…"
"So?"
"So…maybe we should go there too…you know, to see if Voldemort goes there tonight." Harry didn't want to, but he didn't know what else to do. When he refused to respond, Neville took that as a `yes'. "Come on, we can follow Sirius."