Sorry this took a little longer than I wanted - I had most of this written on paper, just the laze of typing it up really, although I did mean to upload last night... But I didn't finish typing the chapter due to being captivated by Marauder Cosplaying that drove my mind insane (in a good way).
Anywho - thank you to the following for reviewing: FatLady712, Silver-Moon-Light94 and m0ckingbird77 as well as those of you who have this fic on alert, seeing those emails make me smile :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter - if I did, Sirius wouldn't have died and Dumbledore wouldn't have kept forcing Harry back to the Dursley's. I do however believe I can own the spell 'venti murmuris' since I just shoved two words into a Latin translator and made it into a spell :)
On with the story!
"Merlin's beard! It's Sirius Black!" at Fudge's exclamation, Sirius came back to his senses, snapping his head up to look at the Minister for Magic. Sirius got to his feet, Harry rising with him.
"You're wrong, Minister - Sirius is innocent! Professor, you have to tell them!" Harry cried, looking at Dumbledore hopefully, before his face fell as Dumbledore raised his wand towards Harry and Sirius. "Professor?"
Sirius tightened his grip on Harry's shoulder, which he had been holding since the two stood up.
"Sirius?" Harry questioned, becoming more worried by the second as more wands joined Dumbledore's. The group of Aurors that had come with Fudge were now all pointing their wands towards Sirius.
"Let Harry go, Black," Dumbledore started, slightly unnerved that Sirius didn't even appear phased by his sudden betrayal.
"Why? So you can either kill me or hand me to the Dementors?" Sirius said with a sneer. "Really, Dumbles, aren't you meant to be smart?" at this, Sirius pulled Harry closer to himself and placed his fingers around the boy's jugular, pressing just enough to make it visibly uncomfortable for Harry. "I could kill him you know," Sirius added, making sure Harry covered his heart. "But I won't," he continued in a low voice only Harry could hear. "Whatever they say is a lie - I would never harm you, Harry."
"Then why are you almost strangling me and using me as a shield?" Harry hissed back.
"Because he is a liar, Harry," Dumbledore answered, apparently having heard Harry's response. "Black has fooled us all with his dark magic. Even I bought into his lies about Peter Pettigrew being the real betrayer - but that is because I believe in second chances, and I'm afraid I cannot give you a third, Black. You are too dangerous to be allowed to live. A double agent of Voldemort."
"Well you'd know all about handling double agents wouldn't you, Albus?" Sirius mocked. "Do tell though, if I had you fooled why the sudden change of heart?"
"Your magic died - even if only for those few minutes you were inside the Veil of Death, and your magic was undone. Harry probably doesn't remember being free due to his encounter with Bellatrix and Voldemort, as well as you yourself, Black wiping Harry's mind once more under the guise of freeing him from Voldemort's control," Dumbledore explained. "Now let Harry go."
"So you're saying I'm some great dark wizard able to manage wiping and altering the memories of Remus, Harry and his friends and even you? I think you're vastly overestimating my capacity for evil, Albus. But, whatever," Sirius shrugged, looking rather relaxed in hopes of hiding how nervous he really was. He knew Dumbledore wouldn't have been happy about Sirius' being alive again, but he had hoped to at least escape the Ministry before getting stabbed in the back.
"At any rate," Sirius continued, sharply squeezing Harry's neck tighter and grabbing the teen's wand in the moment of shock. "I believe I'm leaving." Sirius released Harry and shoved him abruptly forward. "Reducto!" at Sirius' cry a hole was blast in the Atrium's ceiling causing it to topple at a unsettlingly fast rate.
Using the slight panic he had caused as a distraction, Sirius then aimed Harry's wand towards the lifts. "Expec- hah," Sirius sighed and closed his eyes briefly, "Venti Murmuris," satisfied his spell hand worked, Sirius let go of Harry's wand and span on his heel, Disapparating away from the immediate danger.
In the Ministry's Death Chamber, the Order were still waiting for Dumbledore and Sirius' return, the Hogwarts students already having been sent back to school.
Seemingly from nowhere a gust of wind picked up within the room, particularly drawn to Remus who started as though he had been shocked.
"Remus?" asked Tonks worriedly.
"It was Sirius," Remus explained absently, looking slightly lost. "I think something's happened." Without elaborating further Remus Disapparated to Grimmauld Place.
"Sirius! Sirius, what's going on? Where are you?" Remus called out, heading first to the kitchen before going up the steps, ignoring the fact he'd awoken Walburga Black with his shouting.
"I'm up here!" Sirius answered, briefly sticking his head over the third floor banister, before retracting it and returning to the room he had been in, also seemingly unbothered by his mother's screams.
Deciding it was best to hurry Remus ran up the stairs, finding Sirius in his old bedroom hurriedly packing various items into a rucksack. "Sirius what are you doing - are you leaving or something?" Remus asked incredulously, staring at Sirius.
"Pretty much," Sirius admitted with a shrug as he scrambled through his drawers and grinning when he found a small golden key - likely for the Black Family's Gringotts vault. "Since Dumbledore seems completely fine with handing me over to the Ministry."
"That can't be right - Dumbledore must have been lying-"
"He called me a dark wizard, Remus," Sirius said cutting Remus off, "he said I was a double agent for Voldemort. I would never EVER do that. He even went as far to claim I was lying about Peter - the Map never lies - you said so yourself you saw him on it!"
"Yes, but, Sirius - Dumbledore-"
"Look, I'm sorry Remus - but I really haven't the time," Sirius snapped, lightly shoving Remus out of the way to go into Regulus' room. "The rest of the Order will be here any second-"
"Then why did you make it obvious you wanted me to come to you?" Remus yelled storming after Sirius.
Sirius looked up from where he had been rifling though his brother's old clothes. "Because I want to explain. What's actually going on here is far bigger than Dumbledore thinks. I should have died when I passed through the Veil but instead I was sent back because Dumbledore is going to have people die in vain for a cause he doesn't know fully about. Remus, when I sent that message to you at the Ministry, I asked you to trust me. Please," Sirius implored walking over to Remus. "I know Dumbledore's trust in you means everything to you, but please, just let your faith in me override that, if only for the moments it takes to hear me out. After that you can chose whichever path you want - you can even say I took you against your will or tell Dumbledore some of what I say so that he will let you back into his fold. Just please, Remus, come with me this night and I'll explain as much as I can."
After a few seconds Sirius realised he wasn't going to get an answer right now as Remus battled with himself inwardly. Straying back to his previous task, Sirius faintly noted that half the Order were now congregating on the street outside according to the map of Grimmauld Place he and his brother had made when they were children. With a slight growl, Sirius grabbed the less moth-eaten and dusty clothing of his brother's that looked like they would fit and unceremoniously shoved them in the bag.
"Kreacher!" Sirius summoned, thankful the elf cracked into being almost instantly.
"What does Master require of Kreacher?" the elf asked, adding under his breath, "The filthy half-breed wolf is in Master Regulus' room, oh what would Kreacher's Mistress think?"
"Kreacher enough babbling - I order you not to let the blood filth that is about to enter the house get past the first floor - I don't want them up here - but under no circumstances hurt them!" Sirius snapped, Remus and Kreacher starting at Sirius' use of 'blood filth' although Remus felt disgust and Kreacher felt hope towards the phrase.
"At once, Master," Kreacher said smiling cruelly as he bowed and cracked away.
"Remus, please don't think less of me - I didn't mean it when I called Tonks and the other's 'blood filth', I just needed Kreacher to do what I asked when I asked it," Sirius said, knowing Remus wasn't happy with what had just happened. "I need your answer soon, Remus - it should only take the Order a minute or so before they remember they can Apparate up here."
As Sirius left the room, Remus could hear everything becoming more chaotic downstairs. No one had bothered shutting Mrs. Black's curtains although he could hear various Order members shouting over her. It seemed Kreacher had turned the steps into a slide, causing the wizards to tumble down. Had the situation been different, Remus would probably have laughed, but this was no laughing matter.
He had two choices: betray Dumbledore's trust and go with Sirius, or betray Sirius again and stand with Dumbledore. Hate the man he considered a brother once more, simply because he trusted the words of the man who gave him an education... Or go with the man and hope Dumbledore would forgive him...
"Late chance, mate. I need an answer now," Sirius pressed running into the room, an explosion almost drowning out his words.
"What was that?" Remus asked.
"Blew the wall up - Remus please, now or never," Sirius pressed, grabbing his rucksack and slinging it onto his shoulder.
"Alright fine," Remus said after a moment, eyes tightly shut, before looking imploringly at Sirius, "But please - please make it look like you took me against my will?"
"Of course old friend," Sirius said with a smile, more thankful Remus was coming with him than anything else. Swiftly, Sirius pulled Remus' wand from his hand. "Stupefy." And without realising what had just happened, Remus slumped forwards unconscious, into Sirius' arms.
Aided by the fact Remus was extremely light and rather thin due to his poverty, Sirius was able to lift the man into his arms and carry him out onto the landing. The house was in complete shambles - rubble everywhere, erratic shouting and numerous holes in the walls. Unsurprisingly, even the Muggles had begun to notice something was wrong and were crowding around the part of the street number 12 was meant to be.
Ignoring cries from the Order as well as blocking spells best he could with Remus' wand, Sirius - for lack of a better word - dumped Remus onto Buckbeak, stroking the proud beast calmly before climbing on himself. "Alright, Beaky - let's go!" as if that was all the encouragement the Hippogriff needed, Buckbeak reared slightly before leaping forward, wings outstretched through a hole in the ceiling, and taking off into the night, aided by Sirius who continued to fire at the Order in order to clear Buckbeak's path.
Sirius look in a deep breath after they'd cleared London. Free. He was finally free of all restrictions from the last fourteen years. Grimmauld Place, Azkaban, Dumbledore - no long would any of these dictate his life for him. Yes he still had things to do, responsibilities to fulfil, but now he could perform them in a way that showed he was doing something, that he was useful - that he was his own man and that nothing could take that from him. Not even the Aurors and Hit Wizards that would soon be on his trail.
However, before all that, Sirius had one quick stop to make - providing Hagrid had received his letter.
Hehe, cliffy! Hopefully I should get the next chapter up pretty soon - but while you're waiting I have a few questions:
-Should I make this wolfstar? (assuming you've noticed Remus has moved into the main character bit with Sirius)
-Should Harry die? (I can do the fic either way, I was just wondering what people thought)
and finally:
-How're the chapters for everyone? Too short? Long? Just right? (I honestly doubt the second one but meh)
Feel free to review/message me with your answers or questions - like why I didn't have Sirius cast a Patronus.