Sirius slowly rubs his temple in hopes that the impending headache will lessen in severity as he sits heavily on an armchair. This is not what he imagined when he pictured how he and his godson would be reunited. 

The morning had started in the early hours before any normal creature was supposed to be awake. Harry had screamed himself into consciousness before throwing up onto himself. Like any sensible adult, Sirius ran into the room to assess the damage, after calming himself from his fright. The sight of Harry covered in his own sick and sobbing his eyes out makes Sirius wonder if he'd be able to do this by himself. He's barely taken care of his own needs over the years. How is he supposed to be responsible for another human? 

The animagus dismisses the thought almost as soon as it enters his mind. This is his godson he's talking about. James and Lily entrusted him to be able to care for their precious bundle and damn it if it's the last thing he'll ever do. With a flick of his wand, Siri has the sick cleaned but Harry only seems to grow more distressed with the wave of unfamiliar magic again his skin.

Remembering how terribly their the previous day had gone instead of approaching the child to comfort him Paddy quickly makes an appearance. The now turned dog bounds into the room and hops up on the bed to snuggle against Harry's side.

Harry instantly clings to the animal and for a moment he forgets what occurred the day before and lets Paddy take away his fear and ground him to the present.

"W-want Bella," he stutters into the soft fur. Paddy whines in despair as Harry takes his first good look of the room since waking up. "Oh," is all he can manage to get out while choking back tears. He always seems to get himself in these types of situations. Going to Lord-- Tom turned out to work in the end but if he's learned anything throughout his life than it's nothing good comes out of these type of events.

~~

Lucius paces back and forth in his office. His posture shows clearly aggravated he is. If only he was paying more attention. If only he hadn't been so concerned with his own child and ward he would have been there for the person that needed him most. 

"You can't keep blaming yourself," a voice from the doorway interrupts his thoughts. Glancing up Lucius sees his oldest friend.

"If I had--" he's quickly cut off.

"There are a lot of what if's but none of them will bring Harry back. At this moment that's the only thing we need to focus on."

"You are right. Are the others back at the moment. I should be heading out soon to join the search." Lucius is already walking out of the door and heading for the main staircase before he allows Severus to answer.

"Indeed everyone is in the meet room waiting to discuss their findings. I'm afraid it isn't much but any start is better than none." The pair make their way down in silence each blaming themselves despite earlier words. No one can quite believe that they did everything in their power to ensure Harry's continued safety. If anything were to happen to the boy before they are able to locate him the group would surely be consumed by their guilt.

Once the pair arrives outside the designated meeting room they both take a moment to compose themselves and school their emotions. Now is not the time to think or focus on themselves or how this could have been prevented. Instead they inhale a deep breath, enter and take their seats.

The room has a large table not unlike the one in the dinning room only able to sit more people. They arrange themselves similarly to how they sit at meals. Tom takes the head with his immediate right and left empty. Severus and Lucius sit in the next chairs before another space is left where Narcissa and Bellatrix sit across from each other.

"Now that everyone is here," Tom says as soon as all attnetion is directed towards him, "we can begin with basic background and what was found in the immediate search of the property."

"Harry was playing outside with Paddy after asking me permission," Narssia picks up the conversation. I was not out there long as I wanted to check on Draco and Neville upstairs. As soon as i left them I felt the shift in the wards that signified someone had apperrated out. I quickly made my way outside where I met up with Severus and Bella."

"We then all split up and searched the grounds," Bella picks up where her sister had left off. Her next sentence is cut off by the doors being violently thrown open.

"Harry was taken by Sirius Black!" Neville screams before he and Draco are fully in the room. "I'm really sorry. I should've seen this coming. This is all my--" he tries to rush out but Lucius quickly takes his hands and forces the child to look at him despite his initial flinch.

"Calm down Neville. Take deep breathe for me. How do you know he was taken by Sirius Black?"

Neville only shugs whilst glacing at Draco. "I don't know how I know. I just know Sirius Black has him, but I don't think he's hurting him. It's kind of like how I knew he was here and you weren't hurting him," he tries to explain.

Without a word Bella and Narcissa both rise from their seats and head for the door.

"Where are you two going?" Tom asks incredulously.

"We're going to get our baby back from Little Siri," Bella states as if it's the most obvious answer. "We all know that my cousin did not help in the murder of the Potters. He is an innocent man."

"Be that as it may, Black has still been sitting in Azkaban for almost 12 years," Severs reasons. "We don't know his thought process or his state of mind. That prison is a place where all good thoughts die and bad ones fester.

"I know Siri. Even though we weren't close inside of Hogwarts we all grew up together. What he needs more than anything is his family right now. That's probably the reason why he took Harry."

"He has to be still staying in the Black's ancestral Manor. We need a plan to infiltrate it and bring Harry home."

"Why don't we just ask?" questions Draco who quickly becomes embarrassed when all attention is directed as himself.

"What do you mean Dragon?"

"If Mr. Black is family and he's been away for so long won't he want to see us?"

The adults are speechless as they have to think for a moment. Draco makes a very good point.

"I don't know. Siri hasn't gotten along with the family all that well since his sorting into Gryffindor," Narcissa fidgets uncomfortably.

"But he's always been about family. Even when he wasn't around us he treated his close friend like family."

"Draco makes a great point. Narcissa or Bella can send a letter hoping to reconcile and get invited over," Tom schemes out loud.

"At least it wouldn't be an outright lie. I do miss little Siri and it would be amazing if we could convert him to our side. The true light side."

~~~~

"What are you doing?" Harry asks from the doorway.

Sirius is crouched down on his hands and knees in the middle of the sitting room while frantically scrubbing at the floors.

"A few relatives are coming over later today and the house isn't clean enough," the older man answers while not pausing.

"House is contaminated by filthy halfbloods," Kreacher calls from a safe place in the hallway.

The first time the house elf had insulted Harry he had almost cried resulting in Sirius throwing the nearest thing (an antique candleholder) at him. By now the elf had learned to be far away when he had something smart to say.

"Wh-who?" Harry ask nervously.

"Just our cousins, Bellatrix and Narcissa. They might bring Draco along for you to play with also."

Harry's entire demeanor brightens up in a way that Sirius has yet to see. He can't believe that after the last few days that he's been gone the Malfoys and Lady Lestrange wish to visit him. But what if they don't

"Am I going back?" Harry can't help but ask with a stab of guilt. It's not like living with Siri has been bad or anything and he's been given food and new toys but he misses going outside and playing with Draco and Neville.

"What?" Sirius finally looks up and pauses in his scrubbing. "Why would you go back? Do you not like it here? Do you want more toys? Am i doing something wrong?" Sirius unconsciously grows closer and closer to the small boy as Harry huddles more and more into himself. "Do you not like it here? I can change it. I can add more color to the house or get rid of the blasted elf? What do you want Harry?" He contiues his questions not allowing Harry to answer before rattling off the next one.

"I want Bella!" Harry finally breaks down into big, fat, ugly sobs. "I want Bella," he continues to sob and shout knowing that his godfather won't hit him for his outburst.

The animagus has never felt so powerless and overwhelmed. Not for the first time he wonders what was he thinking bringing this child into his home without permission. Of course he feels sad and lost. In an attempt to try and calm Harry down he quickly transforms into Paddy and goes to cuddle to boy. To him shock and amazement, Harry throws his arms around him and continues to cry and mumble into his fur.

Sirius makes a silent vow that he'll do anything to make Harry happy again even if it means that this is the last time he'll get to hold him. All of a sudden Harry's magic reacts to his cries and Sirius's unspoken promise in the form of  blinding white light surrounding the pair.

As it clears and they are able to see once more Paddy is shocked by the tiniest black cub he's ever seen. A quick sniff confirms that Harry's unlocked his metaphoragus. Siri can't deny the mix of pride and sadness he feels. Harry must have been extremely emotionally drianed to have transformed without much thought not to mention without training.

With Harry in this new form Siri makes up his mind about his next steps. He quickly makes his way up the stairs and -thanking Merlin that the door is open- enters Harry's room and snatches the child's blanket and bear into his mouth before heading back down. Grabbing the cub by the scruff of his neck he sets him ontop of the bear in the center of his blanket. It's easy to take the four corners and walk to the back of the house where a secrete tunnel is located. It was used whenever Siri was young and needed space from his family. It was also the easiest way to leave without transforming back.

Once he was outside Paddy lays the cub, who was whimpering lightly, in a small patch of tall grass. He sniffs around the house and is about to go back for his cub -- deaming the area safe -- when his fur suddenly rises. In the next moment a flash of light hits the black dog in his side.

Siri is blasted a few feet back but quickly shakes it off and gets into a defensive position. His eyes scan the yard while his nose twitches. Suddenly several Aurors come out of the bushes and start firing spells and curses. He knows that he's outmatched and needs to get Harry out of there quickly.

Jumping into action --quite literally-- Siri carefully gathers Harry into his mouth and makes a run for the forest line. He gets hit with a few curses but pays no mind to the pain. All that goes through his head is the need to get Harry out of there.

By the time they get to the tree line Sirius knows that he's loosing a serious amount of blood from various gashes. He can only hope that the Malfoys, Snape or Riddle won't be too mad and kill him on the spot for taking Harry.

He needs Harry.