Chapter 9

The Good, the Bad, and the Ax.

Standing before the fireplace, Amelia turns to the two with her wand in her hand. "Maintaining a glamor isn't terribly difficult, but with the number of people looking for you and the rumors having gotten out that you and I have been seen together a lot lately, it will need to be a significant change to be effective. Any requests?"

Alice and Harry look at each other, considering. Alice is the one that responds. "Can you make him look and sound like me? I have also been seen in your presence, so seeing me again would not be unusual."

Amelia adopts a slight frown. "That won't work though, whatever I make you look like will be seen to be potter, and we are then back having the same problem we were before."

Alice looks mildly annoyed, and then repeats her question. "Can you make Harry look and sound like me?"

"Yes, of course. It wouldn't even be difficult, the two of you are pretty close to the same size. But that doesn't help unless you are staying behind. I assumed that you would be going."

Harry grins as he realizes where Alice is going with this. "She will be. She just won't be as obvious as the rest of us."

While he is speaking Alice reaches behind her back and pulls out another small bottle of purple liquid, and quaffs it while grabbing a hold of Harry's shoulder. Putting the bottle away as she begins to shrink she causes Harry to lean slightly when her legs will no longer reach the floor, but by then she only weighs maybe thirty pounds and is dropping still more very quickly. In no time at all she is back down to two inches tall and sitting on his shoulder, her cheek pressed into his earlobe and a slight upturning of her lips being the only evidence of the joy she feels to be so overwhelmed by Harry's essence.

Amelia Bones reflects that she is going to have to put a sticking charm on her monocle if she is really intending to keep it over her eye when she is around these two. Eyebrow raising and jaw dropping events happen too often, otherwise. "What in blazes was that you drank?!"

Alice responds, again in her rather high pitched tone that Harry can't help but find absolutely adorable. "Merely a potion to shrink myself, Madam Bones. I should think that this would be obvious."

Bones still looks shocked for a few seconds, then smiles. "I had wondered how you hid from Dumbledore during the last week of term, I take it that I am seeing the way now?"

Harry nods with a shrug that causes a sniff and a poke to his neck as Alice gets resettled. "Yeah. She mostly stayed in my pocket. Gave me some good advice on how to teal with manipulative twits and watched my back. Made me feel a bit like a pack mule, but it worked well. Not sure if it is the bond or just that we are getting more familiar with each other, but I have to say I like having her this close. So would this work? Me looking like her and Alice herself hanging out in an inside pocket?"

Amelia gives a hesitant nod. "Possibly, it depends on the duration of the potion."

Alice shakes her head and responds, making Harry smile at what he thinks of as her pixie speak once again so close to his ear. "You misunderstand, Madam Bones. This isn't duration based. This is the size I will be until I take another potion which will cause me to grow. It won't ever wear off on it's own and cannot be dispelled for there is currently no magic at work."

Amelia shakes her head in near disbelief. "A potion equivalent of a permanent transfiguration? That is alchemy master level potions. I don't even know anybody that can do that. Where did you get it?"

Harry giggles. "She brewed it, of course. Custom for her." With that he opens the front of his robe, and with a sigh of annoyance Alice releases her grip on his ear and climbs inside to the pocket that they had reinforced during the last days at school. Harry had been concerned that some of his less pleasant classmates might take a shot at him there or on the train home and was concerned for her safety, so she now has an old steel snuff box that she climbs into that is padded and has had a hole put into it that lines up with a button hole that they placed on the robe itself. At her current size she could even climb out of it that way if she needed to, though it would be a tight fit.

Deciding that she was going to have to look into this later as they really didn't have time right now to get into the hows and whys of the seemingly young girl revealing herself to be a potion prodigy, Bones casts the spell to change Harry's look and how he will be heard, then backs it up with a very weak notice-me-not to make getting around in the ministry easier. Anybody that felt the need to search for the director of magical law enforcement would find her and a young girl that didn't seem important enough to take a good look at. Checking her work and finding it acceptable, she uses the floo to get to the ministry after telling Harry to follow right after.

HaA

After all the trouble and worry they had dealt with to finally get there the last steps of the task were unbelievably easy, Harry muses as he finally enters the holding cells area of the DMLE. Dumbledore must be getting truly frantic, because Harry recognized his transfiguration professor, McGonagall, standing in the ministry atrium looking both irritated and perhaps slightly hurt. Madam Bones had given her a nod as they passed and Harry couldn't help but grin, but hid it in a cough. Once they are there, they find Lepenski fiddling about with paperwork at a desk next to the cell block entrance. She gives them a happy, if somewhat confused smile as she pulls a lever on the wall that locks the doors both further into the cell block and into the rest of the ministry.

"I thought you were bringing Potter, Ma'am? Not that I am not thrilled to see you, Alice. Make sure to say something nice to Delores on your way by, she has been screaming dire predictions concerning the future careers and longevity of every Auror that has spoken to her for the last couple of days. If you can work her up into a heart attack, I'll admit it wouldn't bother me nearly as much as it probably should."

"Good morning, Lepenski." Amelia says just before she ends the glamor on Harry, the notice me not having been canceled as they walked into the room. "You didn't really think I was going to risk that whiskered whack-job finding us out today did you? Have a little faith!"

After some good natured laughter, Amelia's tone becomes more serious. "How is Black this morning?"

Lepenski turn to Harry. "He seems to be doing a lot better. The dreamless sleep potion did him some good I think, Mad-Eye was right on the money with that one. He may never recover completely physically, but when the healer stopped by this morning before her rounds at St. Mungos and looked at him she said that ten years of using his magic constantly plus his magic continually draining to deal with his body trying to fail on him had done wonders for his gather rates. The core itself has probably gotten weaker as that is part of his overall physical condition, that should improve as his health does. But she said that based on his core recovery speed he could probably duel for hours and as long as no one spell used more than half of his potential power, it isn't likely he would even be able to deplete himself again. He could cast the department standard stunner continuously for days if he needed to, or until normal physical fatigue knocked him out. She doesn't want to speculate what it would take to overwhelm a shield he put up if it took more than a single shot to do it, but it would be impressive to watch. Kind of a tough path to power though. I don't envy him."

Harry looks interested. "So whatever he did was the magical equivalent of a martial artist training under a waterfall?"

Amelia and Lepenski both look confused. Harry shakes his head, looking more sad than anything else. "Never mind. It was in a movie I watched one day when the Dursleys were out. Spent three days in the cupboard when they got home and found me using their precious telly."

Obviously this explanation hasn't really helped much, but Harry waves them off. "Moving on. Can we go see him?"

Lepenski nods. "Absolutely. If I were you, I would make sure to throw up some privacy wards when you get there, just in case. I would also probably cast a silence on Umbridge. Otherwise her rage fit gets annoying."

Amelia can't help but snicker at that. "I can imagine. Lets go Harry. Remember, we need to keep this relatively quick. All things being equal I would rather not have problems in the ministry today. To put it bluntly, the whole Gringotts thing only works in our favor if none of these idiots that think you can somehow piss a solution onto it can find you. If they can and get wind of the entire situation with Black, I can see attempts at blackmail being a thing. Not the polite, kind and happy blackmail your wife favors, more of the fix my problem or your godfather goes back to hell kind of blackmail. We have some real pieces of work on the Wizengamot right now."

As they are walking down the hall and come across a dirtier, more downcast, and decidedly less pleased pink horror. Amelia doesn't even offer her an opportunity to speak, rather she silences the room as they walk by. A few cells later they find another occupied one.

The man is average height and build, but currently scarily slender. He is wearing reasonably clean and patched but still obviously quite old prison garb. His hair is a tangled brown mess and when he looks up from where he is sitting on the bunk as he leans against the wall reading, he drops the book as he stares at Harry. His eyes squint as he stands, and while he doesn't seem to move with any grace, he does make his way across the cell without mishap. "Harry? Harry, is that you?" Blacks eyes are beginning to mist over with the start of tears, and Harry reaches through the bars to hold his hand.

"Yeah, its me Sirius. I've seen the wills. I know you didn't do it. I know you are my godfather, the closest thing to family I have left. We are gonna get you loose. One way or another, I promise."

Black kneels, so he can look Harry in the eye. "Yes. Yes, that will be great, no question. But don't take any risks. Be safe and careful. I heard things, Harry." he looks around as though afraid someone might be sneaking up on them. "I heard things while they had me locked up in that place. They don't believe he is gone, and he has already taken too much from me. Too much from you. Maybe it is just ten years of hearing it, but I am beginning to fear they are right. I want to be free, really, never doubt that. I want to get a chance to know my godson. But don't take chances for this old dog. What is left of me probably isn't worth the risk."

Amelia lets the two approximate hugging for a few minutes as the tears fall, then speaks up.

"Black, I don't want to break up a tender moment but I have information you need and I am hoping that you can supply me with some information that I need. Can we talk for a few minutes? I don't think we are going to get a better opportunity and Harry doesn't have a lot of time here today."

Black stands back up and offers a smirk. "Amelia Bones. Running the DMLE. You know, I have to admit I never saw that coming." The smirk fades to a grimace. "Of course, the view from Azkaban being what it is I imagine I didn't see a whole lot of things. I know the drill, I worked in the department after all. What do you need?"

Amelia quirks an eyebrow. "You worked as a ministry hit wizard, Black. A legal thug with a wand, not an Auror, and you only bothered to do that when the mood struck you, as I recall. What was the rallying cry you and James used to use to announce the jobs you would take again?"

Black gives a half smile. "Lizard lips to my sexy hips, then a trip to Azkaban!"

Bones gives a snicker. "Indeed. Look, your trial is tomorrow at two. We have some pretty compelling evidence that you were framed by Pettigrew and left hung out to dry by the ministry. I know that Auror Lepenski has told you what we believe to prepare you for trial. Can you think of anything else that might help us to nail this down? You'll be under truth serum, but we need to know what questions to ask."

Black looks at her as though considering. Turns to Harry. "Can I trust her?"

"Since we just met today, Sirius, I am not sure why you are asking me. But if it helps, I trust her. As soon as we presented the evidence, she got you out of Azkaban and is pushing through this trial so hard that she has the Senior Undersecretary in a cell about four down to expedite things." Harry jerks a thumb towards Delores' cell."

Black reaches through the bars and ruffles Harry's black mop of hair. His smile is tinged with sadness, but no less real for it being so. "Because Harry, you're all I have left. If I can't trust you then it doesn't matter anymore anyway."

He then turns back to Bones. "I am not sure if this will help your case or not, but Pettigrew was definitely still alive when I was hauled in. He is an unregistered animagus. I followed him for nearly a day and a half, and when I finally found him he made up some lie about how I betrayed the Potters, then used a blasting curse on a muggle lorry. One of the ones with the big tube on wheels for a trailer. The explosion knocked a hole in the street and threw me twenty five, maybe thirty feet. Damn near killed me, knocked me for a loop like you wouldn't believe. Dead muggles and fire everywhere. Couldn't hear a damn thing, but I could see him. He used a low powered cutting curse to take off his finger, transformed into his animagus form of a rat to disappear into the sewers." Black looks at the ceiling, as though double checking his mind for details. "The truck had a word on it, but I'm not sure what it was or how to pronounce it. Spelled P-R-O-P-A-N-E. Every once in a while I saw stationary tanks that said the same thing near the pumps when I filled up my motorbike. But I couldn't tell you what it is except dangerous and loud."

Amelia responds to this. "Propane, Sirius. Its a fuel like petrol only it is a gas and a lot more explosive. Muggles use it to heat their homes and sometimes for cooking, but it is one of those things like dragons are to the wizarding world. They need it around and the get a lot of use out of it, but they have to be really careful with it or there are problems. Sounds like Pettigrew wasn't, either on accident or by design. You say that you followed him for a day and a half. The ministry was looking very closely at apparition and tracking all kinds of magical movement, so I can believe that. But how did you track somebody for two days in November? Especially if they are a rat animagus, that would be a nightmare."

Black again looks at Harry. "You say I can trust her. You say she is good people. I guess we are about to find out." Then to Harry's astonishment he changes. In one second there is Sirius Black, and in the next is an enormous black wolfhound, tail wagging and a slight whimper escaping its throat as it sneaks its tongue out from between the bars and catches Harry across the face.

Amelia crosses her arms. "I take it that Pettigrew wasn't the only unregistered animagus that was there last night. Though I have to say, this answers so many questions about your condition."

About the time she hit the word 'unregistered' the dog was laying down with its paws over its eyes, one slightly askew so a sliver of soulful and sorrowful eye could peak out while the whimper from earlier made a reappearance. By the end, he was changing back and responded. "Yeah, the dementors are sight based basically. They can sense emotion, but those are muted in an animal form. Harder for them to pick out so they mostly left me alone. By the time I realized what I was doing to my health by keeping my animagus form up all the time and hiding under the cot I was in a bad spot because I was pretty sure direct dementor exposure would have killed me. So I had to stay the course. Not my finest moment. For what it is worth, I fully intended to register once we had taken care of old lizard lips. It was just too useful to have when running Death Eaters down and if everybody knew, it would have just gotten me killed most likely."

Amelia purses her lips. "A fair point, but still against the law. I think I can honestly say though, that if it comes down to it and that was your only crime in this mess, I'll pay the thousand Galleon fine for you myself. Harry, we should probably go. Black, I am going to send in Lepenski and Shacklebolt later today to get some measurements, maybe get you a haircut. If I send you into the courtroom looking like that your chances of getting free are cut in about half. Unless I miss my guess, you are a lord if you are free. We need to make you look like one." With that, she starts walking towards the entrance to the cell block.

Harry gives his godfather a final look. "Tomorrow. Tomorrow we can get you out of here." Then he hurries to catch Bones.

HaA

Getting the glamor put back on is easy, and the trip back towards the atrium was almost behind them when an alarm went off somewhere deeper in the ministry, causing Amelia to curse under her breath and Aurors to start running towards the sound.

"What is that?" Harry asked, looking around as though the answer was on the wall in fine print somewhere.

"Somebody tried to cast an unforgivable near the Wizengamot chambers. Probably the Imperious curse. It is rare, but every once in a while we get somebody stupid enough to try that kind of thing in the ministry. We have a few areas where detection magic for that kind of thing runs constantly. Probably somebody trying to secure a few extra votes on something. I need to check this out, can you make it to the floo on your own?"

Harry, in his Alice glamor, nods. "Sure, it is only a few doors away. I should be fine. Good luck, be safe."

Amelia starts jogging towards the stairs, calling over her shoulder. "You too, I will see you tonight."

HaA

The trip to the floo doesn't go quite as easily as Harry might have liked, unfortunately. Passing an open doorway, an gnarled and calloused hand reaches out and grabs him by the collar of his robe, hauling him in the door while everybody else is looking towards the sound of the alarm. He is then flung across the room, impacting heavily with a desk as he hears the door shut and latch.

Having hit the desk with his back and now getting up off the floor, Harry has only a moment to look around. In front of him between the him and the door is the executioner from yesterday. The man that would have used the ax that he is now carrying over his shoulder to end Hagrid's life. He is a large man, but still a man, nothing like Hagrid. Of course, in comparison to the tiny frame of Alice that he is wearing or even himself if he wasn't, the difference between him standing up to Hagrid or this obviously powerful man would be unlikely to change much. The one behind the desk is of course that Thornwood bastard, looking pleased as all hell behind his short mustache and pointed beard.

There is a chuckle from behind the desk, and Thornwood takes a moment to draw his wand, beginning to move around towards the door. "You know, I am not sure which is worse. That Harry fucking Potter would want to hang out with a worthless little loudmouth cunt like you, or that you would be interested in a walking dead idiot like that boy. It doesn't matter. Walden, do be a good sport and try to keep the mess to as little as possible. It wouldn't do for this to be traced back to us."

With that, the man drops the ax and rushes forward. Grabbing Harry by the throat, lifting him up and slamming him against the wall as Harry struggles to breathe and winces from the pain as his back complains about this rough treatment twice in the same minute.

Thornwood has a final word as he reaches the door. "You know, you aren't a bad looking kid. If we meet again in the next life keep your mouth shut and your legs open. You'll get farther than you did this time." With that he chuckles and quietly exits the room while Harry tries to scream and black spots dance across his vision.

The man Harry only knows as Walden licks his face. "Nobody coming to help you, worthless slag. They all rushed off to go save someone from a big mean unforgivable that never actually happened. Been a while since I had a chance to kill someone that looked like they might be worth slipping a dick into. Shame I can't keep you around."

Taking the time to pound Harry's head against the wall a few times, but never loosening his grip, the man is almost giddy as he moves his head in and gives Harry a kiss on the lips, before once again licking him, this time on his neck. Moving back to arms reach and beginning to bring his weight to bear against Harry, he pulls him up. "Want to see the light fade from those pretty little eyes of yours, sweetie. Hurry up and die for me.

Just as Harry can feel the edges of his vision starting to fade to black, the man lets go and starts screaming. At the same time Harry gasps in multiple huge breaths, desperate for air. As his vision clears he can see that the man, Walden, is stumbling around and has crashed into a wall, clutching at his eyes. Oddly, on either side of his head next to where his eyes are there is a streak of white that glitters. It takes Harry a moment, but he puzzles it out. "Is that... frost?"

At that time the man turns toward the sound of Harry's voice, still stumbling around, and when he brings down his hands to grope wildly for Harry, it is easy to see that both of his eyes are not so much covered in frost as they are encased in ice, lids trapped open and pupils visible as though seeing through shower glass. He cries pitifully as he searches for Harry by touch, but never produces a tear.

Ducking and moving quietly towards the door, Harry can't help but watch the poor man stagger around the office. Picking up the ax, he slings it over a shoulder, staggering at the weight of it. The man lets out a crying scream, "Put that down, that is MINE!" Charging towards the sound of the ax getting picked up, the man slams into the wall when Harry dives out of the way. Barely hearing Alice speak, but able to get the gist of the plan. He murmurs a quick "Right." when she is done. He then places the ax on the floor while the newly blind man is again staggering to his feet, quietly hissing all the vile things that he will do to Alice when he catches her. Harry holds the ax in such a way that the handle is facing towards Walden, and the bit of the ax is up. Then he looks at the executioner that had ended so many lives, and says: "Are you really this stupid, or am I simply brilliant in comparison?" The man charges a final time, but a few steps away a blast of cold leaps from the pocket in Harry's robe and a short four inch wall of ice is placed on the ground in front of his left foot. When the man trips Harry jerks back, but not before the man's own ax enters his chest.

The last thing he hears is a high pitched pixie voice that speaks very softly. "In the next life, you should be more careful with dangerous toys. You could get hurt."

HaA

Authors Note.

HAH! Sleep? What is this "Sleep" of which you speak, I know it not.

I know that there will be some people out there that will be wondering why I decided to make Sirius "cooler" in a way after his stint in Azkaban. First, I am not sure that I did. In canon, He never really had an opportunity to see a healer after his escape. Additionally, the populace was terrified of him above all other of Voldemort's minions due to a single incident that involved one wizard that legitimately nobody gave a shit about, and twelve muggles that we know only the most liberal and enlightened magical people could give two hoots over. Even when you include the supposed betrayal of the Potters, that isn't the kind of thing that inspires fear, really. Hate, yes. Disgust, surely. But fear that puts you over the likes of Bella? Yeah... Not sure I am buying that one. The only thing I can think of is that he was actually pretty damn impressive BEFORE he became a supposed turncoat. Take a man that had brought to justice a dozen murderers and have HIM suddenly go evil, and all of a sudden the way the populace reacts to him makes sense. Add in that he is from a historically dark family, making it easier for people to believe he was a turncoat, and viola. There you go. Instant terrorist, just add moron. But this requires that he was actually fairly powerful in the first place. Powerful, sneaky, or both. As for the way in which I made him cooler where his core refills very quickly, I don't really consider that terribly overpowered. He still can't do the kinds of things that Dumbledore or Voldemort can. Once Harry hits third year, he'll have more raw power to put into a spell than Sirius as well. The difference is that even if Sirius does something that completely drains his core, assuming that he isn't maintaining his animagus form or recovering from serious injury he will be ready to rock again in maybe an hour instead of a day.

As for why I did this? The real reason? Sirius Black was probably the character in the series that had the most depth, going from the borderline psychotic prankster that tried to murder a school mate with a were all the way through to a man that is willing to live on rats for nearly a year, desperate to save the son of his dead friend. As much as I like the series, a lot of the characters in it are pretty one dimensional. He isn't. In my mind, he deserved better than to be a throwaway that was used to crush the spirit of the protagonist. Not saying JKR did it wrong, just that I would have done it different.

Not gonna guess anymore when the next chapter is gonna fall. Tired of being wrong all the time.