Chapter 2 – Sirius Black's Secret

Disclaimer: All the characters etc belong to J.K. Rowling. (Sorry about not mentioning this on the last chapter)

Chapter 2 – Sirius Black's Secret

Buckbeak halted abruptly in front of a large cluster of tall juniper trees. Harry woke with a start. "Huh? Are we there yet?" He flung body around in confusion and found himself lying at Buckbeak's feet. He groaned as his suitcase fell on top of his face, pretty much smashing his worn out glasses. He sat up, and the suitcase went toppling over the side of his head.

"Where are we Sirius?" Harry pushed his glasses higher up his nose, and looked around.

Sirius hopped off Buckbeak and led the hippogriff to a small clearing and tied him with a long rope to tree. "Come, I'll show you."

He took Harry by the hand and led him through the winding paths across the pitch-black forest. Harry had to do all he could to keep his suitcase from slipping through his fingers. All of a sudden, Harry noticed an extremely revolting smell. It was something that he couldn't detect, but he knew he had known it from somewhere before. All of a sudden, he knew what it was.

Sirius had led him into a forest of ghosts. Harry remembered all too well when Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghosts had personally invited him and his friends to his party. The place reeked of dead corpses and soon Harry, Ron and Hermione had to leave before they would barf. Harry felt that way now. He tried to hold his nose, but one hand was being consistently pulled by Sirius and the other was gripping his suitcase, his broomstick woven through the handle.

Sirius all of a sudden jolted to a stop. Harry smashed into his back, with a loud "oomph!" He collected himself in a matter of seconds and blurted out loudly, "What are you trying to do? Break my glasses?!" He pushed his glasses again up his nose, grumbling to himself about "where does he live anyway? A graveyard?"

Sirius silenced him bluntly with a jab from the elbow. Harry now realized that something was going on. They had landed behind a bunch of bushes. It was a small sort of area, with very little room to move around. Harry could hear a soft murmuring of voices past the clump of bushes. He leaned over to listen, as Sirius was doing. When he decided he could hear nothing, he went and peered through the bushes into the clearing where the two voices were coming from.

There was a large fire blazing in the center. There were two people in black robes sitting across from each other, whispering to each other secretively. The hooded figures didn't notice Harry as he spread the bushes apart barely, straining to see what was going on.

He could hear them better now, he picked up a couple of sentences every now and then…

"Our Lord, what would our Lord say?"

"Don't worry, it'll be this year. She's not finished completely yet. We'll get her, and then….him."

That was all Harry could catch that he could make sense of. He strove to hear the rest, but the crackle of the flames drowned out the remaining of the conversation. Harry didn't know what that meant. Our Lord… Could they mean Lord Voldemort? Was it possible? And who did they want to "get?" He gulped. He turned around and around frantically in search for Sirius, but he was not to be found anywhere. Another gulp.

He was about to panic when he saw a giant black dog sitting behind him.

"Sirius!" He whispered. "Sirius, who are they?"

The dog sat down, then almost immediately took the form of a man once again. He grabbed Harry firmly on the shoulder.

"Harry, we have got to go, right now!" He said in a hoarse whisper.

Harry shrugged. "No problem there."

Together they rushed through the bushes and trees, Harry holding his belongings as tightly as possible, and Sirius, holding Harry as tightly as possible. It seemed like they ran for hours. Harry counted the roots he tripped on, and decided that it was pointless once he reached two hundred.

They trod on, until they reached a small hut. Sirius practically shoved Harry through the door. "Now, Harry, I don't want you to repeat a word of what you heard. Understand?" Harry nodded obediently. "Yes Sirius."

"Good, now Harry. I'll explain it to you okay? Here, why don't you have a cup of tea?" He handed Harry a large mug and filled it to the brim with boiling hot tea. Harry nearly the dropped the mug when his lips touched the steaming hot drink. He sputtered loudly. Sirius chuckled. "Sorry, but it usually gets chilly here at night, so I like to keep things warm. Warm is right. Harry thought. He looked at the cots, they were covered with at least five different quilts, each of a strange color. The fire was blazing madly, flickering and throwing shadows each and every directions of the cottage.

"So," Harry coughed. "What was that about anyway?" He was curious, and he found this a much better way to find out then to be listening behind a bunch of bushes.

"Well," Sirius began. "When my name was cleared, Dumbledore was always ready to help me. But of course, the other professors, like Snape for instance-" Harry spit out the tea. "Snape?! Snape helped?!" His eyes bulged like two large Cockroach Clusters.

Sirius slowly let Harry regain mental stability before he began. "Yes Harry. Snape helped me clear my name." Harry interrupted again. "What for?" Sirius set down his cup loudly. "Harry, listen to me! Snape isn't as bad as you think. Dumbledore knows what he's doing, he would never hire a professor if he didn't think it was all right." He sighed. "OK, now where were we? Oh right! OK, so some of the professors didn't readily believe my story. So…Dumbledore and I came to an agreement. I would spy on the Death Eaters, and if I brought him some useful information, he could use it to convince the others. It was very risky. It is risky playing with the Dark Lord, Harry." Sirius sighed and looked down at ground.

"The only way to hide, is to become an Animagi. But even then, it's hard to fool such a dark and powerful wizard." He coughed. "So now, when finally all the people gave in, they helped and came up with a story which the Ministry of Magic would believe. Cornelius Fudge….not an easy guy to trick. We just told the truth with a little bit of exaggeration here and there, or maybe some twists and turns. In the end, Cornelius Fudge believed us (mostly because of Dumbledore) so here I am now."

Harry sat there thoughtfully, "Well, so now what? Are you still spying for Dumbledore?" Sirius Black nodded silently. "Yes, yes Harry. That's why I waited for a while to hear what the two were saying. I thought it might be important."

Harry interrupted again. "So you mean those two were Death Eaters? So when they said "Lord" they meant Voldemort?" He jumped out of his chair. "And what do you mean it's not important?" He was panicked, but not angry or upset.

"Harry," Sirius began. "Harry, that's not what I meant. It is important, I'm not going to lie to you, but I just thought that overhearing a conversation of Death Eaters (yes, Harry, they were) was not the best way to find out about it. I was hoping I could tell you-"

"You mean you know about it? Can you tell me? What's it about?" He nearly tripped over his own shoes in alarm. Sirius sighed. "Harry, let me tell you, and don't interrupt or I won't be able to tell you until it actually happens." Harry sighs also. "Right, sorry."

Sirius continued his story. "Well, what's happening ( I found out spying on some other Death Eaters) is that, well, we think that Lord Voldemort is trying to trick you, leading you into some kind of trap. I don't know much about it yet, but hopefully, it won't happen." He looked as if he was finished talking, so Harry immediately spoke up. "But the Death Eaters mentioned a "her?" He said loudly.

"That's what I'm worried about. I know this doesn't make sense, but from the past conversations I've picked up, I think they're talking about your mother."

Author's Note: OK, this chapter is a lot longer than my last one. I hope you liked it!