Harry Potter: A Different Sirius

"I figured as much, the only question is how much?"

Ironclaw gave a grin. Sirius winced because he knew the goblins had him by the proverbial short hairs. As they negotiated, Ironclaw had a meal brought in. The goblin who brought it also brought a letter addressed to Sirius. He put it aside to read it later.

The hospital's receiving medi-witch broke him from his reverie. She started in Indoniesian but on seeing Sirius' blank look she spoke again in English. "May I help you?"

Sirius gestured to Harry. "He's sick; has been for a while. He needs to be seen by a healer."

"Alright Healer Harja deals with children he has an opening in an hour in the meantime you can fill out these forms."

Nodding Sirius took the forms and started filling them out after casting a translation spell to be sure they would be correct. An hour later he and Harry were ushered into a room where the aide told Sirius to strip Harry down to his nappy.

Healer Harja introduced himself to Sirius and then spoke a couple of comforting words to Harry before he did several standard spells to get a sense of Harry's health. He was very puzzled by his results. "Mr. Black, has Harry ever had dark spells performed on him?"

Sirius paused before answering; this was one of those details that might allow the Order or the Ministry to find him. It's for Harry's health he told himself. "His family was attacked by a dark wizard in Wales, Harry was the only survivor. He's my godson and we left England behind because it was a very unfriendly environment."

"Ah. I'd like for him to be seen by Healer Sri Lie. Her experience with dark curses and spells exceeds mine by decades. She travels about Indonesia and is usually here for four days twice a month. She will be here next week. You'll need to set up a visit with the hospital receptionist."

"If you think that's best."

"Yes, in the meantime. I give you a script for some potions mostly they're to energize his system, give him some extra nutrition, you look a little run down yourself. I'd recommend some rest for both of you. Also it looks like he's due for some vaccinations I would do it today but we don't like to give them to someone whose system is already down."

Sirius nodded, but this wasn't what he wanted to hear. He had suspected something of the sort though. Harry had done some form of accidental magic weekly since the age of nine months but he hadn't done any since Halloween.

The last five and a half months had been among the hardest of Sirius' life. He hadn't realized how much work a toddler was, and he hadn't realized just how many things he didn't know about life outside of England or even life in general.

Even though he was the white sheep of the Black family, his family name had brought him certain privileges in England and he had always had a house elf at his disposal in England first from his family, then later his apartment had included elf service. He had a whole new appreciation for the finer things in life. Life as a fugitive lacked the romance it had in stories, not to mention an absolute lack of the finer things in life, like hot showers. Sirius really missed hot showers. Unfortunately he wasn't the only one paying the price Harry was too.

After putting Harry's clothes back on Sirius stepped out and spoke to the receptionist "I need an appointment with Healer Sri Lie. And I need directions to a hotel and a shopping area." He glanced at the bill for today and pulled out enough money to pay it.

"Wizarding or Muggle? Healer Sri Lie has a three o'clock on Friday of next week."

"That appointment will work. Wizarding, please."

"Floo to Istana Perdamaian. It is off one of the main wizard shopping areas and it is a nice hotel."

"Thank you."

Five minutes later Sirius came to the conclusion nice was an understatement. It was the sort of hotel his parents liked. He and Harry had been staying in hotels, inns and motels that had more in common with hovels than with this palatial hotel. He debated the wisdom of staying here. He knew that he could afford it at least for a month or two, thanks to Uncle Alphard.

He hoped there was a Gringott's branch here in Indonesia. The deal he'd worked with Ironclaw meant that he could get quarterly payments from Harry's estate for his well being. He'd need them if Harry's illness proved costly, it wasn't that he couldn't use his own money to care for Harry. But staying a step ahead of aurors on his tail and the near constant travel expenses not to mention the laying of false trails had eaten into his somewhat limited liquid capital. He thought carefully about staying here, places like this sometimes included elf service.

He could truly rest, and maybe get a chance to breathe at least for a short while. If he did, maybe he could make plans rather than react to circumstance. If any aurors managed to trace him this far; they would expect him to follow the pattern he'd set.

They would probably spend at least a week checking the low end hotels and they wouldn't have a budget to stay someplace like this. His mind made up, he went to a public restroom and transfigured their clothes into something that was more in keeping with the surroundings. They would only last a short time but it would be enough for them to check-in and not be very noticeable.