It was a lush warm day; a soft breeze ruffled the grass in hogsmead village. It was around 5 am sometime during mid September. A stray black dog with long ragged fur plodded his way along the deserted cobble roads connecting the shops of hogsmead.
The dog continued walking, leaving a mass of muddy footprints in his wake, until he reached a large mound of rocks piled up high revealing at the top a large, roomy cave. When he reached the cave, the dog deposited of the old, yellowing copy of The Daily Prophet that throughout the long treacherous journey been residing in his strong, firm jaws.
Retreating to a small, damp corner of the cave the dog began to change. Slowly he stood up on hind legs. Fur began to disappear leaving in its place visibly human skin. Then the dog’s body began to change. Gone was the ticklish cute animal stomach leaving to reveal a mans torso, thin and underfed with the look of a long gone 6 pack.
Finally, came the most drastic change of all. The dogs face began to change shape and soon one of the most haunted faces on the planet was all that was left. The man had long dark, matted hair that reached well below his shoulders. He also had a large amount of dark stubble around his mouth but the worst of it was his eyes – the once joyful, carefree chocolate brown eyes of the mans youth had been replaced with a pair of haunted eyes, the type you only get from 12 years in azkaban, the wizard prison. For this man was the escaped convict Sirius Black, the only person in the history of the prison to have escaped from its wrath.
After briefly glancing about his new habitat – all he could see was grey stone walls which somewhere unseen changed in to a grey stone floor – Sirius briskly walked over to the copy of The Daily Prophet and studied the front cover in great detail. The title of which read:
MINSTRY OF MAGIG EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE
Sirius did not care for the silly man Arthur Weasley and his family but one thing had caught his attention ever since the moment he had scavenged this copy of The Daily Prophet off the loathsome Barty Crouch. It was the picture of the Weasley’s on their holiday in Egypt; bought with their prize money, on the shoulder of the youngest Weasley boy was a rat. Not very odd he knew but this was no ordinary rat for Sirius had noticed that this rat had a missing finger and to most this would not mean anything but it did to Sirius.
The missing finger was proof that this rat was not a rat at all but it was infact a wizard, an animagus like Sirius. This wizard went by the name of Peter Pettigrew. Sirius shivered at the thought of his name. Peter was the man that had framed Sirius for the murder of 12 muggles and of peter himself, who had cut off his finger, transformed into a rat and fled down the drain.
But that was not all. Sirius had also been accused for being Lord Voldermorts (more commonly known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who) spy and feeding him with information on the potters where abouts the night he met his demise by the hands of then one year old Harry Potter. This was another of Pettigrews crimes. Sirius, James Potter and Peter along with Remus Lupin had all been best friends and in the same dorm whilst attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Among the article it stated that five of the Weasly children, including the one with Peter on his shoulder, would be returning to Hogwarts castle for the start of the term and that’s how Sirius had ended up ion Hogsmead village. He had come to kill Peter Pettigrew and his challenge started here.
After reading through the article for what seemed the billionth time, Sirius threw it down again on the musky floor and spat into the dark, gloomy distance. Sirius’ stomach growled menacingly at him and he surrendered to go look for food before beginning his quest to kill Peter.
Transforming again into the large dog Sirius clambered down the rocks and into Hogsmead village. Now most people had woken up Sirius chose a decent looking house, plonked himself in front of the door, pulled his most pleading face, scratched hard on the door and waited. Soon a kind looking plump witch in a violet dressing gown answered the door. She took one look at Sirius her eyes softenened and she bent down to stroke him lightly on the head before saying
“Ahhhh you poor wee dog, sitting there starving. No, we wont have that!” The witch hurried off into the house, Sirius peered in and saw her bustling about with a piece of juicy looking, raw, steak in the kitchen. Result! Thought Sirius. The witch returned holding the steak in her stubby hands. She laid it down on the ground beside Sirius and he gave her a bark of gratitude before hungrily devouring it.
The witch laughed and said
“Looks like you were hungry laddie” she said and it was then Sirius noticed the slight Irish accent that played on her words. He decided to turn his attention back to the stake but realised he had finished it. Sirius was about to turn away but the witch said
“Now if you ever need food don’t hesitate before knocking on our door, Merlin knows me and my husband have too much for the two of us and it would only go to waste otherwise.” Sirius gave a bark for joy, which made the witch laugh before closing her door. Satisfied Sirius bounded for the edge of the forbidden forest, it would be easier than trying to get through the dementors that he knew would be guarding the gates of the school for one sole reason: Him . . .
©Hayley Simon 2005
