"I believed him, but I hated him."

This is still such a unique way of writing their relationship! And it feels like the natural outcome of the events of the story and what's happened between Harry & Sirius too!

"It's not as if he lost his parents and had to live with the Dursleys" a;dkfja gdi even at this juncture, Harry's making me laugh XD And then by the very next sentence, I'm like DX noooo!

It IS unnerving to read Sirius having a sort of breakdown :'(

"and this was reconstituting the spider guts to a disgusting degree" EWWWW

These dementors are gross af i'm AHHHH HARRRYYY thank GOD for Sirius omgggg

"Hermione pulled me around in front of her, so she could make an unpleasant amount of eye contact" XD hashtag relatable fffakdjf

OMG i didn't connect the dot until they burst into Remus' office that he'd been poisoned ;A;

Harry is being remarkably nonchalant: Maybe I should have taken Arithmancy too" a;ljfda;df XD

OMG OF COURSE RIGHT AT THIS CRITICAL MOMENT... THE AURORS SHOW UP ;lkja;dlkfjaf

omg no. no no no- EWWW Harry is covered in spider guts isn't he AHHHH

"Most of the school would be [at my funeral], as it would probably end up being a major social event" OMG i'm- i feel bad almost, for laughing, but. Harry's not wrong ;akdjfa

I enjoyed this chapter!

a;lkjdf I'm losing it at Harry's thought processes about why Dumbledore will believe him about Scabbers. "Dumbledore believed I'd fought a basilisk summoned by Tom Riddle on the evidence of a decomposing diary." ;akjdfa Yes, please, go Harry!

OH MY GOD ALDJfa Harry! I love how your Harry has the same trouble with just spewing stuff out sometimes that he does in canon. Saying the bit about grades to Snape a;kjd lmao

"I was worried his skull would explode all over me" ;af THANK YOU for this mental image omg lmao

NOOo ;akdjfa this whole scene with Snape I can't. XDD

OHHHHH Harry's conflicted feelings on Sirius! His rant at Fred & George and Fred just responding "No" to it ;alkjdfa;d lmao

omgggGGGG Peter was so close, but so far! I loved the mental image of Harry running along a kitchen counter while the house elves are horrified XD

Props to Kingsley for giving Harry Sirius' Ministry file and actually trying to tell him stuff. Harry immediately trying to read it in class tho akdjfa lmao HARRY NO
Loved Remus dropping it, the photo flying loose lol

"I guess he was gathering his thoughts. He must have had an entire dumpster full of thoughts, because it took about five minutes for him to finally ask" - a;dlkfjad LMAO HARRY

Harry reads the will and hyperfocuses in on the godfather part ;alkdjfa and Ron on the motorcycle XD brilliant!

AWW Remus looking at the trophies too, but lol: "he'd left a forehead print on the glass right above it"

The scene where Harry can't help checking on the door in the potions classroom to make sure it's still there and gets in trouble for it, is, somehow, the scene that ended up being the most memorable in the fic for me that has stuck with me for all the years since I first read this ;_; it just speaks to how much the kidnapping did effect him and how it's all lingering ;_; poor Harry...

ALSO OMG! ;akdjfa Hagrid fighting Sirius! THE DEMENTOR! ;kadjf Harry has no idea how he's coming off to other people and the irony of that is A

"Madam Pomfrey told [Snape] I couldn't receive detention until I was official attending classes" ;akdfj lol Snape must've been so disappointed

How nonchalantly Harry just is like, "I nearly forgot I had been kidnapped" is heartbreaking ;A;

"somebody's life flashed before my eyes. I don't know that it was mine exactly. A lot of it seemed to be from a biography of Winston Churchill I had to watch in fourth grade" a;dlkfjad;fk I'm cracking up

But things are heating up and I'm curious to know what's up with Peter, Sirius creeping around, and everything!

NOOO things just going wrong for Harry, getting locked up and the remnants of the Imperius... ;A;

"I didn't know the cat" a;kdjfa;d lmao

I never would've expected the role Crookshanks played in this chapter but them all getting walked in on looking at his vomit was ;alkdjfadf fff lmao

AHH Harry's panic at thinking the dementors are still after him, but it's just Remes! :'((( ! and being unsettled by getting locked in the hospital wing too, just how his abduction is taking a toll on him!

I love hearing Harry's descriptions of people honestly, the intro he gives Snape is XDD

oMG HARRY'S SCAR...

Also he's too sweet, not wanting to lie about Harry slicing him up, but his dumb response...

Harry is so sweet and relatable, he's just 13, he wanted to see the castle... ;A;

;alkjdf omg Harry IS too sweet, "I was trying to think of some noncommittal, polite farewell" a;kdjf lmao

kja;f after all this time, he's still worried about blowing up Marge and he's just. been abducted but he's hoping "Dumbledore would at least let [him] into the castle" omg I love how you write Harry so much

OMG OMG I FORGOT HARRY AT THIS POINT HAS NO IDEA ABOUT DEMENTORS AHHH

omg I just got to this: "I started picturing people with their heads mounted on a wall" and just ahhh: the whole characterization of Sirius here is my favorite, how I know he's innocent, how I know he'd never do that, and yet Harry has so much reason to believe he would based on how Sirius has treated him and seeing Kreacher's head on the wall, just the irony is SO GOOD

AND YET - "Black had told me he'd been in prison for twelve years. I was sort of impressed he was functioning at all." - again and again you write in a way that makes me crack up so much, a;djf lmao I love this

I'm so hopeful for this grandmother - help Harry please!

;akjfd Harry's plan ahhh I love how he never stops thinking about escape and trying new things

His sass to Sirius about washing his hands XD very Harry

"I was fairly certain he hadn't killed anyone" ;akdjfa I love how Harry leaves room for doubt

It's so sad Harry doesn't even have the capacity to imagine that Sirius was his dad's friend at school. It speaks to how much Azkaban must have aged him too :'(

The whole incident with John Franklin, just Harry being totally confused at Sirius displaying an act of kindness :'(

AHH i am glad they got to have a moment of levity with the goats!

I love that Harry just straight up doesn't believe Sirius' story - it's realistic, Sirius hasn't gained his trust in ANY way lol but he still adds that "you have to believe me" to his deal lol

I'm sadder than I should be that the boa constrictor got caught in the parking lot awww

"for a few minutes in a row, he stopped looking like a crazy staring psycho killer" how funny this line is with the unusual wording of "minutes in a row" belies how mentally unhealthy Sirius is, I love it

AND OMGLKAJG I WAS WONDERING. IF HE'D ACTUALLY KILLED KREACHER I CAN'T OMG HARRY IS SO SCARED ALDKFJADF Sirius... Sirius no...! And he doesn't even notice how he's traumatized Harry so badly ahhhh

"[The books] looked as if something had been gnawing on the covers. I hoped it was only mice." GODDDD just how casually the sheer of Harry's scenario is conveyed in this small detail, and how afraid he must be, I love it

THE CHAMBER POT omg i know I'd have the same reaction, this is so much funnier in light of That Detail that JKR dropped about how the magical community once took care of business lmao

LOVE Harry's audacity, just telling this murderer who kinapped him "No" he won't stop trying to escape lol and Sirius' hobby being staring at people

and omg my heart at Harry's imprisonment - how Sirius is being kind to him, but he's explained nothing about who he is, what he's doing, why he cares about Harry, so Harry doesn't even understand what's happening to him AHHH plus him putting Harry in Regulus' clothes... a;kdfja AHH the implication he's Imperio'd Harry to eat... and Harry has no idea that's what happened ;aklfdj and even despite all that I'm laughing at the delivery of Harry just. getting overpowered instantly as he barfs

"...but [a house elf] is about the stupidest thing you could pretend to be..." a;dkjfa - these lines just hit so unexpectedly and wonderfully I end up laughing out loud XD

AHH this whole exchange with Kreacher, poor Harry :((

Also nice job, Sirius... tying him up and not thinking through how long it'd take to undo that ahh and I like how Sirius is portrayed here and how Harry is afraid of him, that's always stood out to me, how you wrote him with Azkaban clearly having had an effect on him

"I'm glad I had a chance to pee first though" a;kdfja the unexpected levity of throwing this line in ;adkf i love it so much!

Harry's reactions are wonderfully written in how he tackles Sirius and responds to realizing he's threatening someone with a blade.

"...I"m more of a runner than a fighter" - so true, wonderful point!

OMG my heart was in my throat with Harry as he ran away and tried so desperately to escape and THAT ALKDJFADSLFKJA CLIFFHANGER! Genius!

It's been years since I read this fic, but it's always been one of the standout stories from HP fandom for me, so I've been meaning to reread it for a while. :) 3

Even from the start, I'm already laughing at the jokes and the comedic timing of all the info Harry is laying on us. Just, the delivery of every line is brilliant.

"Being unable to move has given me a lot of time to think about how I got into this mess." Poor Harry, but LOL

"...another signal to run that I missed" LOL - I just love how casually all these asides are included.

Just the way things are worded, so nonchalantly, is comedy gold. I love it! And Harry is in such a horrible situation, and it's really highlighting how messed up Sirius is, but I love how even still, Harry worries about what Malfoy would be thinking if he dies in this chair. It's really realistic, I think, of the kind of hysteria someone might have in that situation. Especially the pep talk he gives himself after that.