Harry Potter and the Reluctant Rebirth

Chapter 10

3rd person

Azkaban prison. A place where the most evil of criminals are sent and left to rot in their cells. They are forever trapped within stone walls and their own minds. But this was an unusual evening for the prison. A beautiful and large snowy owl landed on the never-used mail area. The owl looked as if it wanted nothing to do with this place, but remained still when a dementor floated over, minus the nervous clicking of her beak.

The dementor paid no mind to the bird. It took the letter and without looking at who it was addressed to, floated to its intended cell.

There, sitting on the damp floor was a hollow man, scraggly from lack of care or rather a lack to care. The man gave a weak glare at the creature, constantly repeating his head the one thing that kept him sane in this prison.

'I am innocent. I did not betray my friends. The traitor was Peter Pettigrew.'

The dementor dropped the letter in the cell and left, most likely to feed on someone of more interest.

The man straightened at the sight of the letter. Was that really for him? No one has ever sent him mail before, not in the last 10 years of his imprisonment. The envelope was a soft green with a silver border; Slytherin colors.

The man weakly crawled to the envelope, senses overwhelmed by the new material, smooth paper contrasting the rough structure of Azkaban. The smell of ink and parchment reminded the man of simpler times long forgotten. He opened the envelope, noticing there was more in it besides a letter.

He didn't recognize the handwriting, many words ended with sharp flicks of a quill or the quill dwelled far too long onto the page, as if the writer stared at the parchment randomly. What didn't end with flicks or small blotches were words that he could tell were written with the conscious effort to be readable and straight.

Dear Sirius Black,

Hi there! Hope you're able to read this. Sansa wasn't too keen on flying over to Azkaban and away from her boyfriend, but she loves me. :)

The man, Sirius, felt the corner of his mouth twitch at the random smiley face and continued reading. Okay, this had to be a kid sending him a letter.

Was it... no, it couldn't be...

To be honest I have no idea what I wanted to put in this letter, didn't know if the ministry or dementors read the mail (can dementors even read?). But after checking a few books I realized this was fine. Where are my manners? My name is Harry James Potter, son of James Potter and Lily Potter.

Sirius' heart clenched as he read that name, eyes scanning it over and over to make sure he hadn't gone mad and this wasn't a trick. Harry... his godson... his best friends' son knew about him! Harry wrote him a letter!

Sirius kept on reading with an energy he didn't know would return to him.

I learned about you through Hagrid. He was talking about my mum and dad then accidentally mentioned you and a few of dad's other friends. You guys sound a lot like a pair of twins I'm friends with. Don't worry, haven't gotten in trouble for my pranks just yet! Not like they would believe I would do any of that. But anyway, I have so many questions to ask you, but I don't even know if you're getting this letter or can understand this. If you are able to, I have a paper and a pen (a muggle writing utensil, you press down on the opposite end of the point until you hear a click) in the envelope and you can respond back to me. I was told that the dementors would give it back to Sansa.