A Little Risk ★𝒮𝒾𝓇𝒾𝓊𝓈 𝐵𝓁𝒶𝒸𝓀☆ |On Hold|

Hiding

Chapter 5

Hiding

It had only been a few days since he'd seen Harry, his godson, and since he'd found out that the muggle and wizarding communities knew of him and his identity as a criminal. The fact that he was falsely accused wasn't known of course, though it would be once he'd cleared his name by letting the rat have what he deserved. 

Figuring that he had to keep moving, he went on, until the thought occurred to him that it would be nice if he had a wand. Clearly, he couldn't buy one, anyone in the vicinity would freak out, which meant that he'd have to steal one. But how on Earth was he expected to find a wizard procure one from? 

It struck him. It would be risky, it would be stupid, but risk was practically his middle name, other than Orion of course. He was going to go to Diagon Alley and knick himself a wand. It would be foolish to go all the way over there on foot, so he'd have to apparate. But since he couldn't apparate in his animagus form, he'd have to transform, meaning that he'd have to apparate somewhere not too far from Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron, but somewhere that he could easily access it as well. 

There was no easy way to do so, however. He'd simply have to apparate behind someplace and transform as soon as possible. St. Mungo's came into his mind instantly. Come to think of it, there was a clothing store near there. He could easily apparate near that and transform behind the building. Then he could go straight to Diagon Alley, and find some wizard who'd hopefully not mind using his wand to play fetch with some dog. But in their case, the dog wouldn't bring it back.

He ran around the back of a clothing store, transformed, and promptly spun around, apparating away. A resounding crack! filled the parking lot, but the muggles simply assumed that it was a car backfiring a little ways away, and didn't worry about it too much. One man, however, who'd been climbing out of his car grinned. He hadn't known that there were other wizards in this area. He wondered if he'd ever get to meet him. Should he have known who it was who had apparated, he'd have thought differently.

Sirius landed softly behind yet another clothing store, looked around, and transformed. Then he trotted out from behind the store, wagging his tail merrily, and followed a wizard into the Leaky Cauldron. Tom, the bartender, looked back hopefully but seeing the wizard, who had a distinct air of importance about him, but upon seeing him, he turned around and continued wiping a glass with a rag, his shoulders hunched low if them going lower was possible. 

The man went out to the back, Snuffles right behind him, ducking off to the side and waiting until the man had created the entrance to Diagon Alley, the large brick arch looming over them. He walked briskly through, Snuffles bounding along behind him, no longer having to hide, and was about to stow his wand in his pocket when Snuffles ran in front of him. 

He sat back on his haunches and raised his paws, panting. The man fought hard to suppress a grin. "Well hello there." 

Snuffles wagged his tail, sniffing at the wand. 

"You like that don't you? Tell you what, I'll throw it for you, but you have to bring it back alright?"

Snuffles turned around in a circle, which the man took to be agreement, but really Snuffles had just noticed his tail out of the corner of his vision. 

The man threw the wand, and Snuffles tore after it, snatching it up out of the air. The man had thrown it surprisingly far, so Snuffles was able to blend in with the crowd, and ran through it until he could crouch in the shadows beside Ollivanders. After a little while, the man came up the road, heading towards the shop, looking angry. 

Snuffles' ears drooped. He seemed like a kind man, not the kind you'd want to steal from. But then he noticed the wand. It was made of dark wood, smooth, and carved onto the handle was a skull... with a snake coming out of its mouth. The Dark Mark. This was a dark wizard's wand. He waited some more, still processing this when the man came out, holding a new wand. 

Snuffles came out from beside the building and snatched that wand out of the man's hand. "Oh no you don't!" he yelled, prepared to chase Snuffles when Snuffles dropped the man's wand in front of himself and put the new one in front of the man. Then, he switched them around putting the new one in front of himself, and the man's in front of him, trying to tell him that he wanted to make a trade. He picked up the new wand. 

The man just stood there, looking shocked, and picked up his own wand. "Thank you."

Snuffles barked around the wand clamped in his jaws.

"This was my father's wand you know. Bewitched so that the owner of the wand would be stuck with it forever until death. Gruesome isn't it," the man continued. Then he laughed. "Look at me, talking to a dog. Well, that wand's all yours."

And he walked away. 

Snuffles stared after him and darted away through the crowd. The man couldn't have been a Death Eater, one of them would never act the way the man did then. Being the son of two very devoted dark wizards, Sirius realized that he wasn't the only person who had rebelled in a way against his parents. He was glad that the wand he'd procured hadn't been stolen, he was even more grateful that it had been given to him by someone who he could relate to more than anyone else in the cobblestone streets of Diagon Alley.