Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Takes ❯ One-Shot

Done for the Star Festival Summer Challenge on Mediaminer (dot) org.

 

Requirements were:
1. “Kiss” on a Bridge
2. Shooting Star

3. Water Fight

4. Inspired by the Star Festival (In which is originally CHINESE. NOT JAPANESE. -coughs- sorry.)

 

As romantic-genre-ed as it suggested, I didn't want to make it one, so I -cough-misinterpreted-cough- everything.

 

An AU-ish re-writings of Sirius's escape with Buckbeak

 

Dedicated to Laura for listening to me rant constantly about this fic and helping me with word choice.

 

X-X-X-X

 

Take One - Another Chance

 

X-X-X-X

 

The plane of darkness spread out interminably around him. He couldn't feel, he couldn't see, and worse of all, he couldn't think. A hundred or more Dementors surrounded them, reflecting their dark magic off of each other and magnifying it at the same time, the mild chills that were associated with being near one Dementor had turned into a mind-numbing, suffocating anxiety that had shut down almost every functioning part of his brain. Colors flitted randomly in the darkness that surrounded him, and he tried to focus on those instead of way his body was shaking. Suddenly, a voice cut through his haze.

 

“Expecto Patronum!”

 

Harry…

 

He knew his godchild was in danger, and he desperately searched the for the strength to lift himself off the ground and turn into the big bear-like dog that had earned him the names Padfoot.

 

Hold on… I'm coming…

 

Sensing his movement and the faint flicker his soul made in reaction to Harry's voice, the Dementors focused their attention on him. After all, he was the one they had been sent to capture, he was the one who had escaped under their noses, and he was the one they could perform the Kiss on without any consequences. The young humans were nothing compared to this, they were just happening to accompany him. He was their prey, he was Sirius Black and they finally had his soul after hunting for so long, and nothing, not even unguarded young ones with pure souls could compare to the euphoric feeling they, the hunters, felt when they finally caught the elusive prey.

 

Sirius lifted himself from the ground but collapsed again when he felt the Dementors' collected energies on him. The crowd was slowly condensing, and the thick, suffocating air around them getting ever denser and colder. Once again he heard Harry.

 

“Expecto… Patro…num… Ex…pecto… Patro…num…expec…to…patro… Hermione… help… me…”

 

He heard the girl's voice join Harry's in a futile attempt to drive away the crowd of Dementors, but it wasn't working, the fog wasn't lifting, and he still couldn't move his limbs.

 

“Sirius…? Sirius…”

 

Sirius made an attempt to crawl to the source of Harry's voice, which had become a creaky whisper now.

 

“Sirius… go… run… they're after you… Hermione and… I… could hold… them… off…”

 

“Harry, no.”

 

“Go…”

 

“I'll get help…”

 

“Just… go…”

 

Summoning all his strength and will, he transformed into the dog and ran blindly, hoping it was in the direction of Hogwarts. He ran until the texture of the ground beneath him changed, not longer was it damp grass, but carved, polished stone. He could hear the sound of rushing water under him and knew he was on a bridge. By now his vision was starting to return, so he transformed back into a human and squinted around him.

 

Must get help… Harry and… Hermione… and Ron… they need help… get Dumbledore…

 

He stumbled across the bridge, one hand on the railing to keep him from falling. He hadn't gotten very far when out of nowhere, a pair of cold, clammy hands reached out and grabbed him from behind. In his already panicked and drained state, the presence of a single Dementor did not warrant his attention. He clawed and bit and the creature, but the bony hands possessed an unnatural strength and latched firmly on to him.

 

Through his foggy vision, he could make out one hand releasing him only to pull back its hood. Underneath he saw the corpse-like head of the creature, eye-less sockets burning into him, dried brown skin stretched tautly against the bony cheeks. What was supposed to be a jaw and a mouth was just a limp, tension-less hole, slowly sucking in the air with a raspy, gasping noise. It raised his head up towards its gaping maw and attached itself on his face. He tried to scream, but just could not find the strength to do so anymore. As a last, futile attempt to preserve his life, his hands scrabbled madly trying to secure a hold on the stone bridge. The last thought that slithered across his brain as darkness overcame him was: This wasn't the way things were supposed to happen. [1]

X-X-X-X

 

On the other side of the lake, Hermione was sprawled on the ground in a dazed fashion as she watched Harry go limp in the Dementor's arms. Her wand still in her head, her murmurs of “Expecto Patronum” grew fainter and fainter. ' In her other hand, was the Time-Turner Professor McGonagall had given her in the beginning of year. She couldn't remember when she had taken it off, or when it had fallen off, but she knew what it was by the sharp metal pressing into her hand.

 

She thought to her self, `If the Dementors could, they would be laughing at us right now…

 

She stared mindlessly it throw the empty shells of what had once been her best friends to the ground and saw another Dementor reaching for her. All of her reason told her to pick herself up and run.

 

Why? I'm nice and comfortable here…

 

The Dementor wrapped its hand around her neck and raised her slowly up to it. The Time-Turner fell out of her limp grip and rolled away. Its chain caught on a rock, causing it to jerk to a stop, but not before it had turned once completely.

 

For a moment nothing happened, then, a flash engulfed everything.

 

X-X-X-X

 

Take Two - Forbidden Mirror

 

X-X-X-X

 

He stared unblinkingly at the mirror, trying to get a better look at the events that were unfolding. A girl, Hermione he thought her name was, and a boy, Harry Potter. There was no way that he could forget him. He was an almost exact replica of him once best friend James, and the only boy to ever best the Dark Lord.

 

He watched as they clambered up on the Hippogriff's back, the girl first, then Harry, climbing up in front of her. After much fumbling with the reigns, they were off. The Hippogriff's mighty wings carried them through the night sky, high over the Hogwarts grounds.

 

As the hippogriff rose, so did the view in the mirror, following the trio into the sky.

 

Fall… Fall… Fall and scream and flail and BREAK.

 

Into tiny… tiny, insignificant un-meddling pieces!

 

As soon as that thought scurried across his mind, the wind in the mirror started to pick up. The two teenagers' cloaks were whipped around even more harshly and the hippogriff's feathers ruffled in air. Suddenly, it let out a cry that he could not hear through the mirror and its wings started to beat franticly. The two riders had their mouths open in a silent scream that he wished so much to be able to hear.

 

This is the end, the end of Harry Potter…

 

No!

 

It's too quick, too sudden, no suffering, no false hope…

 

I want to watch their faces turn from rejoice to fear and then to sheer panic…

 

Besides… Sirius should be allowed to die with his godchild…

 

The wind suddenly died down in the image, the Hippogriff righted itself once again and its riders were no longer in danger of plummeting to an un-climatic death. They continued on their way towards the castle. He could see their faces, filled with relief, thinking their predicament was over. His small form quivered with uncontrollable giggles that stemmed for barely contained glee and excitement over their ignorance of the fate he had in store for them.

 

By the time he had looked up at the image on the mirror again, the hippogriff was hovering at a window. Its wings beat against the air, causing its large body to shuffle up and down in the air. The girl pulled out her wand and murmured a spell. Immediately, the window sprang open and Sirius Black's head poked out of the opening. After a few words, the dog animagus placed his hands on the window frame and climbed out. He swung out nimbly from the ledge and landed on the Hippogriff's back.

 

What is that on your face?

 

A mask of happiness? Of rejoice? Or of relief that you have set an innocent man free?

 

It will not be so for long…

 

He grabbed the frame of the mirror in earnest, the corners and decorative spikes biting into his hand, but he was too mesmerized by the happenings inside to notice or to care.

 

Inside the mirror, the hippogriff was now rising towards the roof. Suddenly, a bright object streaked across the night sky, transforming the sky a bloody orange concoction. The hippogriff reared in midair, its horse's natural instinct to panic rising up from underneath the eagle's stoicism. Its riders clutching the beast with all their might, but it was to avail.

 

He didn't dare blink as he watch the three scramble on the back of the panicking beast, which was now bucking and diving in midair, trying to relieve itself of the burden on its back which it believed caused the sky burn up. He watched as if in slow motion, savoring each moment as the three figures disconnected from the hippogriff and plunged towards the land.

 

Look! A shooting star! Make a wish… and like in my case, it'll make it come true!

 

The sound of cackling laugher resonated through the building.

 

X-X-X-X

 

From where he sat, looking over a clipboard in his hands, he heard the laughter.

 

Poor fool, the images shown inside the Mirror of Erised are not real and they never will be. Your desire to see the demise of the one who you have believed to have cause you harm has become an all-consuming obsession. These brief moments of euphoria have become a drug to you, numbing out all your failures and tunneling your vision. Addicted to power, to revenge, but too blinded by desire to function in reality…

 

The man stood up, straightened his coat and walked to a door at the end of the hall way. The clipboard was left on the table, half obscured with a blank piece of paper.

 

St. Mungo's Hospital

Britain

 

Case Number 34952-d373

 

Patient Name:Peter Pettigrew/Also Responds to `Wormtail'
Age:34

Wizard _X_ Witch ___ Muggle___ Other (Please Specify) ______________ [2]

Personal Records: Unregistered Animagus - Rat. Servant of the Dark Lord. Owns a silver hand of dark magic properties. Faked his death after fall of the Dark Lord.

Reason of Hospitalization: Afflicted by the Mirror of Erised. Involves some sort of revenge against an unknown subject, most likely Harry Potter.

Treatment: Slowly weaning him off the Mirror. Less and less time with it each day.

Results: His visions in the mirror do seem to take less and less time, although they seem to be more and more violent. He gets excited about them. His blood's not showing any sign of any po—

 

 

X-X-X-X

 

Take Three - Pleasant Dreams

 

X-X-X-X

 

Sirius Black wasn't about to escape on his watch… oh, no he won't… Not after all that trouble he went to trying to capture him, getting knocked out by three third years, almost got beaten to death by that accursed tree.

 

He walked down the hall towards the hospital wing next to the Minister of Magic, feeling his pride swell inside him and he couldn't help but exaggerate a little.

 

“Really, it was a wonderful thing that you were there when this occurred. Between Remus Lupin's untimely transformation in you-know-what, Sirius Black, and the Dementor's unprovoked attack… it's a miracle none of them died. I say this once again, by thunder, it was lucky you were there, Snape.”

 

“Thank you, Minister.”

 

“Order of Merlin, Second Class, I'd say. First Class even! If I can manage it, of course.”

 

“Thank you, Minister, I am sincerely honored.”

 

“Ew… Nasty head wound you got there… Black's work?”

 

“No, you would expect it to be. But it was the work of Potter, Weasley, and Granger…”

 

“No!”

 

“Black had some how obtained a want and bewitched them. I saw through it immediately. The Confundus Charm, I think. Ghastly things they were told to do. The almost broke free of spell, so Black had to add the Imperius Curse on them. Told them to get rid of me, and would've been prepared if not for Black holding me down. They used the disarming spell on me, which as you know, is very potent when combined.”

 

“Shame, shame. Yes, we've always turned a blind eye to Harry Potter.”

 

“I don't really blame them, minister. After all, he must've seen pictures of his father with Black, so he must've recognized him. Plus, all the attention has gone to his head; fantasies of daredevil deeds and whatnot must run abound in that head of his. Me, personally, I treat him like any normal student. Maybe, finally, the headmaster will see what a trouble maker he really is.”

 

The two of them calmly walked towards the door. Just as Fudge was reaching for the handle, a shriek rang out from behind the door.

 

“THEY'RE GONE!!!!!”

 

Fudge jerked open the door and ran inside with Snape not far behind. Madam Pomfrey stood by two disheveled beds that they presumed just recently rested the unconscious forms of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Snape pushed past Fudge and ran as fast as towards the main entrance.

 

“POTTER!! YOU BETTER NOT BE DOING WHAT I THINK YOU'RE DOING!!!!”

 

Once outside, he looked around, but didn't see anything. Suddenly, he felt a whoosh of air from above him and looked up. There in the air was a gigantic Hippogriff, riding it was no other than Potter, Granger, and Sirius Black.

 

“Snape! Snape! What's going on, man?”

 

He turned around to see the Minister running towards him, accompanied by Dumbledore and McGonagall, a hand holding down his bowler hat to keep it from falling.

 

“It's Potter! He's trying to break Black out!”

 

“No! Stop them!”

 

He didn't need to be told twice. Raising his wand, he pointed at the figures that were flying over the lake, he shouted, “STUPEFY!!!” A beam of red light shot out from his wand and arched towards the distant figure. To his annoyance, the hippogriff, one of Hagrid's, most likely, managed to maneuver out of the way of the spell.

 

“Gravira!”

 

Without a warning, the hippogriff and its riders suddenly dropped from the sky into the lake with a splash. Almost tripping over their robes in haste, everyone ran towards the direction of the lake where a very wet and disgruntled hippogriff stood shaking off the water on it. Harry and Hermione had reached the shore and were trying to climb on shore, where a very angry McGonagall awaited them.

 

“Just WHAT were you trying to do? You both should be expelled, no, JAILED!!!”

 

The only reply she got was a groggy sounding “huh?” Snape had arrived at this point.

 

“It's no use. They're both Confunded by Black, it makes so that nothing you say will get through to them at this point.”

 

“Severus, I am perfectly aware of what a Confundus Charm is. I was just appalled that two of my own students would pull a stunt like this to free a murderer! Thank god that they weren't acting on their own accord.”

 

“Black's getting away!”

 

Snape jerked his head around and saw the criminal start to clamber on shore with a wand drawn.

 

Harry, seeing the object in Sirius Black's hand yelled, “Hey! That's my wand!”

 

“Impedia!”[3]

 

Snape dived and the spell missed him by inches. He scrambled up from his spot on the ground and dive-tackled Black into the lake, causing water to shower everywhere. Trying to free himself of the nuisance on his chest, he fired whatever hex or jinx that came into his mind. After blocking them all with unspoken shield spells, he managed to get a hold of Black's arm. Water was constantly getting in his eyes, and he was blinking furiously to clear his vision. With a final jerk, he wrenched Harry's wand from the fugitive's grip and used his own to summon ropes to tie around Black.

 

Struggling, Black tried to transform into his animal form to escape. Before he got very far, Snape pointed his wand and knocked him unconscious.

 

“Snape! That was wonderful! This will definitely get you that Order of Merlin, First Class! I mean, capturing Sirius Black not once, but twice! If it wasn't for your quick mind, we would've never have realized where Potter and Granger had gone,” proclaimed Fudge with grand gestures. “Speaking of Potter and Granger, they are completely off the hook since they were under the influence of a Confundus Charm. Maybe next year's Defense Against the Dark Arts' curriculum should include ways to ward off hexes, jinxes, and harmful charms, waddaya say, Albus?”

 

“Huh? Professor? How `bout it?”

 

“…”

 

“Professor? Professor… Professor! Professor!”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Professor!”

 

Snape raised his head up from the desk and glared at the unfortunate soul who had dared to disturb him.

 

“Um… sorry to wake you… but I was just wondering if I could have some… um… some dried caterpillars for a… err… experiment?”

 

“Creevey…”

 

“Yes, sir?”

 

“GET OUT BEFORE I GIVE YOU A YEAR'S WORTH OF DETENTION!!!”

 

“Yes, sir! Sorry, sir!”

 

The small boy ran out that room faster than thought possible for the human body, and didn't stop running until he crashed into a gang of tough looking, Slytherin thugs.

 

Oh, the poor, poor, boy…

 

X-X-X-X

 

Final Take - Journey

 

X-X-X-X

 

As he sat on Buckbeak, after bidding goodbye's to Harry, he thought to his self that there were many instances where he could've ended up dying, so many instances where Harry and Hermione's plans could've gone wrong, so many accidents because of tiny mistakes and chance occurrences. He was glad of many things, being thin enough to fit through the window, the sheer luck that he had made it on to Buckbeak without falling from said window, and no one had spotted them flying in the night.

 

After Hogwarts castle had disappeared beyond the horizon, Sirius swung Buckbeak around in a wide circle and headed southeast, reasoning stating that the oriental magical community did not communicate with the European Ministry of Magic that often and hopefully would not recognize him. They flew all night, and only until the night sky began to marble with red and orange, did they set down. After much fumbling and complains from his sore backside, he managed to convey to Buckbeak that he wished to land.

 

During flight, the hippogriff's intelligence amazed him, for once in the air, the predator portion of its mind took over and it preferred traveling unnoticed, staying clear of populated areas and open sky until they had reached the sea. Not being a creature that lived in or near water, Buckbeak stubbornly insisted on flying along the shore, not being the one having to fly, Sirius reluctantly compelled. For days, they traced over the southern shores of the North Sea until they reached what he assumed (and hoped) to be Denmark, where they then tilted their course eastwards.

 

The day after they were over solid land again, they set down to rest in a dense pine forest that was just starting to wake up. Once on land, Buckbeak, like every other day, trotted off to hunt or graze or whatever hippogriffs did. Sirius spent the sunlit part of the day as a dog, burrowed under anything he could find sleeping, coming out only to scavenge or if absolutely necessary, hunt. At first he was afraid that the hippogriff would run off and leave him stranded before he got off Britain, so the first morning, Sirius tied him to a tree. When he awoke, though, he found the rope sawed through and Buckbeak quietly snoring under a large pine tree.

 

Damn, he thought, I need to get my hands on a wand. I don't know how long I can stand eating raw meat.

 

The next day, as a dog, he made his way to the nearest wizarding community, and stole along with a wand, an owl and some parchment and pens, thanking the higher beings that this particular town was famous for its unusually small owls. The wand didn't suit him very well, but he admitted it was better than nothing. The next day, hidden deep within a cave, with Buckbeak sleeping at his side, he wrote his letter to Harry by sputtering wand-light.

 

After a month and a half of travel, they had reached the east boundary of Asia. It was early August when they spent their first night in the misty mountains of China. He had just woken up, but Buckbeak had still not come back from his hunt yet. Only slightly worried that the hippogriff will not return, he looked up at the night sky; it was littered with far more stars than he'd even seen before.

 

Of course, he thought, in the wilderness, they weren't drowned out by human-created lights, failed attempts at mimicking the stars' ethereal beauty.

 

He laughed at himself, this mountain air; it's getting to my head.

 

He gazed upwards, noticing two stars very close together. They lay, one on each side of the silver veil of the Milky Way, their glow intermingling, yet the bodies of the two still far away to separate with the eye.

 

I see, it's about that time for Altair and Vegas, or Vega, or something, to come together. Ack… I never was too good in Astrology at school, it may have been the fact that I never enjoyed waking up at midnight to look at pictures in the sky half the world can't see.

 

I remember Professor Buttlehorn trying to keep us third years interested in Astrology over the summer by telling us that ridiculous Muggle fairy tale about the guy with the cow and the weaver girl from heaven. Well, that only worked on half the girls and Milton Hacksford. The first astronomy lesson in our fourth year was filled with annoying bragging from the Squicksen twins because their father side-along apparated them to one of the festivals in China or Japan or Korea or wherever, and it was “utterly too-too”.

 

James had pretended to be excited about that story for months, trying to show Lily Evans what a `sensitive' guy he was. That lasted until she announced her belief that the story was shallow, stupid and highly implausible. It was a great relief, since James would start blabbering about the bloody stars every time Evans walked into the Gryffindor common room. Loudly, might I add.

 

I don't blame the guy though. The guy with the cow, not James; everyone who knew about it thought James's idea was stupid. The cattle guy, now, he was just doing what he needed to do, in this case trying to get his wife back. Then the Queen of the Skies or whoever draws a river between the two, well four, the guy had their kids with him. This is the reason this is a Muggle tale, if it was a story involving a wizard or witch, they would've just vanished the whole entire river, or summoned a bridge, or levitated the girl over to his side. Or he could've just swam across.

 

Anyway, if you think about it, I guess we're not too different. I'm trying to keep my godchild alive in memory of my best friend, and the `river' in my way is the Ministry of Magic. The poor guy in the story eventually got a horrible deal, to be able to see his wife once every year. They made a big deal out of it too, a bridge of magpies, trumpets, festivals, flowers, harvests…

 

As long as we're continuing with the analogy here, I guess the most appropriate replacement for my bridge of magpies is Buckbeak, after all, he has feathers, is part bird, and I was on him while we got away.

 

Yes, we got away. Both of us had escaped from the Ministry of Magic who wished to punish us for crimes we were innocent off. And it was all thanks to Harry. I'm supposed to be the one looking after him, but he ends up saving my life multiple times in the first night I meet him… Ironic, isn't it? Really, I'm laughing.

 

He was interrupted from his thoughts by shuffling footsteps. Immediately, he had his wand in his hand and looked wearily around him. Through the leaves, came a very disheveled and wet hippogriff.

 

“Oh. It's only you.”

 

The hippogriff responded with a croak and started to lie down.

 

“No, we have to go.”

 

A whine came from Buckbeak.

 

He sighed, “We can't stay in one spot for too long. Besides, it's your fault you didn't sleep all day. Where were you anyway? Did you find a nice female hippogriff and tried to get all cozy with her? By the looks of it, she didn't want you around and pushed you in a lake.”

 

Had it been anyone else less familiar, he or she would've surely received a swipe by the talons of the hippogriff. In their case, Sirius and Buckbeak had long discarded the bowing ritual, so all he got was a glare from Buckbeak.

 

“Geez, that bad, huh? Why am I always friends with the ones with unsuccessful love lives? (Buckbeak ruffled his feathers huffily) Come on, we just have to get out of this area and then you can rest. We could find a nice, dry, cave and inside we can light a fire and everything…”

 

Buckbeak responded with a snort, which came out rather muffled, since his head was tucked under his wing.

 

Sirius sighed in exasperation, and finally pleaded, “I'll catch you a bunch of nice meaty ferrets….”

 

At this, Buckbeak stood up and trotted gaily over to Sirius, even bothering to bend his knees to help him get on.

 

“Unfaithful beast,” he grunted as he swung his leg over the creature's back. He grabbed hold of the reigns and shook them twice. Buckbeak spread his wings and with a jerk, they were airborne.

 

As they continued flying east, he though to himself, we are the jetsam of society, sought out by many, hidden to all.

 

…

 

I have got to get out of this area.

 

X-X-X-X

 

Footnotes:

 

[1] “The last thought that slithered across his brain as darkness overcame him was: This wasn't the way things were supposed to happen.” - I don't like that colon right after `was'… it's too melodramatic. I need a better way to word that.

 

[2] Wizard _X_ Witch ___ Other (Please Specify) ______________ -
1. I couldn't find a check mark.
2. I was talking about things like Muggles, Squibs, Goblins, Half-breeds… etc, not a third gender.

 

General Notes:

 

-- Yeah. I used drug therapy on Wormtail.

 

-- Take Three … Yeah. Most of it is like: HA. YOU WISH. And I'm not sure if it was supposed to be funny or not…

 

-- I think I overdid it on that first Dementor paragraph in Take One….

 

-- The owl he sent Ron, it was a European Pygmy owl, lived in countries east of Britain, so I plotted his course that way, since China and Japan were that way too and pretty far away, it fit in nicely/

 

Bibliography:

-- “THE OWLS OF HARRY POTTER” www(dot)angelfire(dot)com(slash)mi3(slash) cookarama (slash)owlspecies(dot)html (no, seriously, there was an article called this.)

 

-- Many, many, maps.