"Black, Sirius!"
The hat fell over his eyes and itched the back of his head. Sirius stared at the hat's dark lining for a long moment before it spoke.
"Very intelligent," it said quietly, "and very talented. There's no doubt you'll be great. A bit of a temper, I see, but also fierce loyalty... Where shall I put you?"
Sirius tried to imagine his parents' reaction if he were not sorted into Slytherin. It wasn't a pleasant thought.
"They would be terribly angry," the little voice said, sounding almost pleased. "Is it worth your family's anger? No? Very well - Slytherin!"
"We need a decoy," Sirius said. "Everyone expects that I'll be your Secret-Keeper; Voldemort's sure to come after me. So use someone else as the real Secret-Keeper. Someone unlikely."
Harry fussed and Lily rubbed his back soothingly, her own face troubled. "But who would agree to it?"
"Peter would," James said stoutly. "We could ask him."
Sirius considered it. Peter was certainly not a remarkable wizard. No one would suspect him. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, Sirius didn't want Peter involved.
"Remus," he said suddenly, confidently. It was the perfect plan. "Ask Remus. No one'll ever suspect a werewolf."
The dog paced beneath the trees, waiting. It whined impatiently, its pale eyes fixed on the castle in the distance.
A twig snapped nearby and the dog growled in warning, sniffing the air. From the shadows emerged a large ginger cat with a squashed face. The dog wagged its tail in joy when it saw what the cat carried in its mouth. Then it disappeared, black fur vanishing to reveal a gaunt man in ragged robes. He pushed his filthy hair out of his eyes and smiled, reaching for the wriggling rat held firmly between the cat's jaws.
"Hello, Peter."
A tinny voice erupted from Sirius' pocket. "Sirius! Sirius Black!"
Inside the mirror Harry's face was pale and anxious. "Sirius! Are you at the Ministry?"
"What? Of course not, I'm home. Harry, what happened?" he demanded.
"I saw… Voldemort torturing you in the Department of Mysteries… he said he would kill you… Sirius, don't leave the house! He'll find you!"
Sirius' first impulse was to rush straight to Harry, or even to the Ministry itself, but something in his godson's frantic voice made him pause.
"I won't," he said. "I promise. I'll alert the Order … and Harry, don't leave Hogwarts."
Sirius fell backwards through the archway and landed hard on the stone floor, stunned, breathless, and lying very still. Strange voices whispered around him and the tattered veil fluttered as if in a breeze. Beyond it the battle continued; Kingsley was dueling Bellatrix now, chasing her around the arch and out of Sirius' line of vision. But all Sirius saw was Harry rushing towards the dais, towards him, before Remus dragged him to safety.
"Sirius!" Harry yelled again and again, desperately. "Sirius!"
Sirius had never kept his godson waiting before. Struggling to his feet, he emerged from behind the veil.