Chasing Shadows || Draco Malfoy x OC

Year 4- Ch. 73

None of them had been this far out of Hogsmeade, they were now in the wild countryside of Hogsmeade, there were fewer cottages there. As they walked around the foot of the mountain, they saw a stile at the end of the road.

There stood a large, shaggy haired, black dog, holding a rolled up newspaper in its mouth. Harry approached it.

"Hello Sirius." He said.

The dog sniffed the back that Harry was carrying and wagged its tail. He then trotted across the a patch of grass to rocky foot of the mountain.

Céline was walking next to Harry, and leaned over to him, "I seem to have forgotten this detail you shared with me," she said still a little surprised to see Sirius Black as a dog, she then looked down at her bag and then to Harry, "I don't think dogs can have chocolate..."

Harry chuckled as they all kept up with Sirius Black, as they were now climbing a steep, winding, stony path up the mountain. It was easy for the dog, less easy for the four of them who were now out of breath, as they climbed higher up the mountain. This went on for half an hour, until Sirius finally disappeared from the path. They followed the direction where he vanished and saw a narrow crack in the rock.

They squeezed through to find themselves in a dimly lit cave. Tethered to a large rock was Buckbeak the hippogriff. His fierce large orange eyes flashed at the sight of them, all four of them bowed and waited for him to bow back. Hermione quickly went over to pet his beak, Céline was also glad to see he was okay. She never got to help rescue him from his execution, so to finally see him safe and alive, she felt relieved.

She looked over to where the dog was and saw that a man was now standing there. He was tall and very thin, wearing ragged grey robes, with long wavy dark brown disheveled hair.

"Chicken!" He said after removing the newspapers out of his mouth and throwing them on to the ground. Harry opened his bag up and took out a bundle of chicken legs and a loaf of bread.

"Thanks." He said, then sat down on the cave floor and ripped a chunk out of the chicken leg with his teeth. "I've been living off rats mostly, can't steal too much from Hogsmeade; I'd draw too much attention to myself."

"What are you doing here, Sirius?" Harry asked.

"Fulfilling my duties as a godfather." He said as he gnawed on the chicken bone. Still grinning at Harry, "don't worry about it, I'm pretending to be a lovable stray."

Céline had gone over to pet Buckbeak to give Harry and his godfather some time together. Since the cave wasn't very large, they were all listening.

Céline couldn't see Harry's face, but seeing how Sirius stopped grinning, she could tell that Harry was anxious.

"I want to be on the spot. Your last letter... let's just say that things are getting fishier here, I've been stealing any papers that people have thrown out. By the looks of it, I'm not the only one worried."

Ron picked up one of the newspapers and opened it up. Hermione and Céline looked over his shoulder to read.

"What if you're seen? What if someone catches you?" Harry said nervously.

"You three..." he looked at Céline, who had glanced over to them. "I suppose four now—" He looked back to Harry "and Dumbledore knows that I'm an Animagus." He shrugged. "Who might be the young lady over there?" He asked Harry grinning.

Ron pushed Céline toward Harry and Sirius, as she awkwardly steps over and stands next to Harry.

"Sirius, this is Céline. Céline this is my godfather, Sirius Black. She knows everything that has been going on since last year." Harry said.