Whispers of a Raven by TheBlack'sResurgence

Chapter 24

July 9th, 2003

Harry had returned to the beach that had become so familiar to him during his first months as he adjusted to his new life. Now, he found himself adjusting once more to an existence he believed he had left behind since he had married Narcissa. It was an odd and unwelcome feeling and sleeping in a bed without the woman was not something he would ever get used to.

Not that he had any intention of doing so. If there was indeed a chance he could save her, he would do what was necessary to see to that end. He needed his wife, and his daughter needed her mother.

As such, he had wasted no time in sending Olin to scout the land, not out of caution mind, but so there was no delaying the inevitable.

Harry was not the same man that had left here some two years prior. He was certainly not anxious, and he did not cower in a tent waiting to be found. It was he that had become the hunter and the enemies he had unwittingly accumulated over the years were his prey.

They would learn this imminently, and there was not a person that could stop him.

There were many here that had crossed his mind during his absence, those he wished he had been able to happen upon when he was strong enough to do to the Death Eaters what they had done to others, and he would not pretend that he was not relishing that opportunity.

Perhaps a part of him had broken with the loss of his wife, or perhaps it was that he no longer feared his enemies?

To Harry, it mattered not. Whilst he was here, it was a certainty that his path would cross with Tom's followers in the pursuit of the Dark Lord himself and his remaining Horcruxes.

Harry was eager for such confrontations knowing that those here were not ready to face what he had become.

"What have you seen?" Harry asked as Olin appeared on his shoulder, the bird's mood reflecting his own.

"Death," Olin grumbled as he met Harry's gaze, showing him what he had seen.

"Now?" the man questioned.

Olin offered a single nod in response.

"Then we shall greet them the way they deserve."

"DEATH!" Olin shrieked excitedly before the duo vanished in a puff of smoke.

(Break)

For Sirius Black, being able to roam the landscape of Britain was no longer nothing new, his status with the Ministry counting for nothing in comparison to his status amongst the followers of the Dark Lord. In truth, they were one and the same and had been since the former had fallen some six years before.

It wasn't, however, the threat of being returned to Azkaban he had to contend with now, but death. If he were to be captured by those posing as aurors or the Death Eaters, his fate would not differ. He would be taken before Voldemort and tortured, his demise following swiftly after.

It would likely happen one day, but he would not make it easy for them. He was amongst the very few that remained who stood against the tyranny the country had fallen under, and he would die on his feet knowing he had stayed true to himself to the very end.