Torn

By Neurotica

Twelve

Sirius was not looking forward to this dinner party or play date or whatever it was. Ron had given him every detail about his new friend Jamie, and it hadn't taken long for the dog to realize, with two kids around, his chances of being able to escape, to visit Remus or to search for Wormtail, were very slim. And Sirius's wariness of the Weasleys' visitors had only gotten worse when he'd overheard Molly and Arthur talking one night. The moment Molly had spoken the names of Jamie's "aunt and uncle," Sirius had choked on his dog food. His initial thoughts were that Remus and Emmeline had indeed gotten together and had a kid since Sirius' arrest. After wondering briefly why they hadn't just called this kid their son rather than Remus' nephew—which Sirius knew to be impossible, since Remus Lupin was an only child—he'd gone through several improbable scenarios, including one in which his two old friends had kidnapped some wizard child.

As the play date drew nearer, Sirius was starting to feel more nervous. What would happen when Remus saw him? Would he curse Sirius or perhaps force him to transform in front of the Weasleys? While Ron bounced off the walls in anticipation of Jamie's arrival, Sirius was trying to find a way to slip out of the Burrow unnoticed so he could avoid any sort of horrible confrontation. Unfortunately, every single time he tried to slip out of Ron's attic bedroom, Ron called him back, prattling on about helping him figure out what the two boys would be doing that afternoon.

The dog let out a whimper when he heard Molly call for Ron—their guests had arrived—though Ron hadn't heard it over his cheering as he ran down the staircase. Sirius followed very slowly, wanting to put this off for as long as possible. When he finally arrived downstairs, he took in a deep breath, preparing himself for whatever was about to happen. Several familiar scents registered in his brain: the Weasley family themselves, Molly's cooking, Remus and Emmeline, and...

He stopped dead in his tracks, sniffing again and taking special care to concentrate on the scent that just couldn't be possible. He was dizzy suddenly and had to focus on remaining on his feet. His mind shifted through several possibilities—it couldn't be who he believed it to be, who it smelled like. But there was something else mixed in with the faint scents of Lily and James Potter, something far more distinct, and Sirius finally pinpointed who it belonged to: it was his godson.

Realizing Harry was no longer with the Dursleys, but living with his two old friends, Sirius' excitement was quickly replacing his nerves. He had to restrain himself from bounding around the corner and pinning the boy to the ground in greeting—once he was in the sitting room, he was glad he had; he saw not the messy black-headed little boy he'd expected, but a boy with longish blond hair and a fuller build than James had ever had. The eyes were wrong—they weren't bright green like Lily's, but light blue, more like Remus'.

Glamour charm, his mind eventually supplied as he watched Harry and Ron talk animatedly about nothing at all. Remus and Emmeline put it over him—probably to protect him from me...

He glanced around and saw Remus and Emmeline talking with Molly—neither of them was under a charm. As Sirius continued to watch them, it seemed Remus had gotten the feeling of being stared at; he glanced away from Emmeline and Molly's conversation towards the dog. A flash of recognition crossed the wizard's eyes and he jumped a little in surprise before discreetly nudging Emmeline. Her surprise at seeing Sirius there was brief, but obvious. As she tore her eyes from the dog, he was certain Remus had told her about Sirius' Animagus form.

Sirius began to breathe easily when he realized neither Remus nor Emmeline was going to call him out right then—they followed Molly into the kitchen for tea while Ron and Harry continued to talk in the sitting room. Torn between wanting to hear his godson speak and wanting to keep an eye on Remus and Emmeline, Sirius finally chose to lie down in the doorway between kitchen and sitting room so he could do both.

Harry and Ron were discussing Quidditch, and Sirius let out a quiet dog version of a chuckle when he heard his godson say, in not so many words, that the Chudley Cannons were a horrible team. It seemed Remus had introduced Harry to proper Quidditch teams—such as Puddlemere United, which had been James' favorite team. While the two boys argued their teams' respective worth, Sirius tuned into what Remus, Emmeline, and Molly were discussing, wishing after a few moments that he hadn't.

"Frankly, I won't let the children far from home these days," Molly was saying matter-of-factly, passing a plate of freshly baked biscuits to Remus. "Not until that Sirius Black is captured."

It seemed there were only three people who realized the irony of this sentence. Sirius shot a furtive glance at Remus—the other wizard missed it while he and Emmeline looked at one another.

"Well, he's kept himself hidden this long," Remus replied. "He's doing something right. And with the dementors covering every inch of the country, it's a wonder he's lasted as long as he has." Sirius couldn't help but feel most of Remus' comment was directed at him rather than the two witches.

"Didn't you know Sirius Black, Remus?" Molly asked curiously, sipping her tea. "I seem to remember my brothers mentioning him a few times."

Remus nodded. "I did," he said. "In all honesty, he was once one of my best friends, but..." Remus trailed off, glancing briefly at the dog and sighing. "Things change."

Molly nodded in what Sirius believed to be an understanding way. "No need to explain, dear," she said kindly. "And how long have the two of you been together?" She gestured between Remus and Emmeline. Sirius raised his head a little to get a better look at his two friends and swore he could feel the heat radiating from both their faces.

"Oh, um," Emmeline stumbled, glancing at Remus, "not long, a few months." Sirius raised an inward eyebrow as a blush crawled up her neck and cheeks. He'd always been able to tell when Emmeline was lying—she'd never been that great at it—and wasn't able to detect anything but sincerity and happiness, and perhaps a little nervousness, in her voice. But when he looked at Remus, the wizard was staring at Emmeline, dumbfounded, as though this was the first time he was hearing this bit of news. In fact, Sirius was certain he'd heard a dull thud when Remus' jaw hit the table. Though he wasn't quite certain whether Remus and Emmeline were actually together or not, Sirius kept this scene in his mind if he ever got a chance to tease Remus again.

"So is your dog friendly, Molly?" Emmeline asked, very obviously changing the subject. Sirius tried to glare at Remus' twitching lips; the werewolf didn't glance over to catch it.

Molly looked over at the dog and smiled. "Oh yes," she said. "Snuffles is very friendly."

Remus choked loudly on a sip of tea. "Snuffles? That's a very... erm, interesting name..."

"Ron named him," Molly replied. "He was playing in our orchard and found Snuffles—or rather, Snuffles found him. He's just naturally become part of the family. And to be honest, he was the only friend Ron really had before your Jamie."

Emmeline smiled. "Well, the boys seem to be getting on very well," she said. "Where are your other children hiding out?"

Sirius looked around the downstairs area at the same time as Molly, finding it very odd not to have heard an explosion or screaming of some sort. "I'm not sure," Molly said, sounding a bit uneasy. "They should be around somewhere—Bill and Charlie are at Hogwarts, of course, but Percy, the twins, and Ginny should be here..." After a few moments of looking nervous, Molly smiled at her guests. "I can't tell you how lovely it is having all of you here," she said. "It's not often we're able to entertain—the house usually gets a bit crowded."

"Well, thank you for having us over," Remus said sincerely. "We've been a bit preoccupied lately, especially since Jamie came to live with us. He can be a bit of a handful sometimes."

"He's absolutely darling," Molly said fondly. "Why don't the three of you stay for dinner? I know Ron would love it if Jamie could stay a bit longer, and if I may say so, it would be a nice change for Arthur and myself to have adults to talk to."

It looked to Sirius that Remus and Emmeline briefly considered turning down Molly's offer, but after a glance into the sitting room, where Harry and Ron were laughing hysterically about something, Remus turned to Molly, smiled and nodded. "That would be wonderful, Molly, thank you."


It had taken over an hour, but Remus was finally getting used to the idea of Sirius hiding out with the Weasleys, posing as their pet. And actually, if he was being honest with himself, he'd had a feeling of what Sirius was up to since Emmeline recognized the boy in that picture to be a Weasley. As he thought on it, this hiding spot was better than most: most people didn't know Sirius Black was an Animagus, and that included the Weasleys. So long as he didn't transform in front of them, his new family need never know who he really was. Then another thought popped into his mind: perhaps Sirius hadn't been the first Animagus to act as a Weasley pet. It wouldn't be a long shot to assume Peter had been hiding out here as well for some time; it certainly would have made the Burrow much more an attractive new home for Sirius than anywhere else in the wizarding world. The moment he'd come up with this theory, Remus had automatically looked around, expecting to see a rat on the kitchen counter or something.

But keep in mind what Sirius said, his mind told him. Peter has disappeared again.

Realizing he was starting to believe everything Sirius had said about his innocence and Peter's guilt, Remus was beginning to wonder where Peter had gone—was he looking for a better hiding place, maybe somewhere outside the wizarding world? Had he gone to a Death Eater's home, hoping for help there? Either way, it wouldn't be easy to locate him without a lot of help, which meant telling certain people about certain other people's exploits in becoming Animagi when they'd been teenagers. Remus was certain Dumbledore would understand, but he was still very hesitant to admit what his friends had done and how not only had he done anything to stop them, but he'd actually encouraged them, helped them along.

He has to know, his mind had been telling him for months. Now more than ever, since you know who is really to blame for what happened to James and Lily. Dumbledore would be able to help in searching for Peter; all you have to do is get up the nerve just talk to him.

Rolling his eyes, telling his mind that it wasn't that easy, Remus vaguely tuned back into Molly and Emmeline's conversation about household spells. Just as he was preparing to contribute to the discussion on the best way to get chocolate off a wall without leaving a stain, he felt a gentle tug on his pant leg. With a raised eyebrow, he looked down and found Sirius staring at him, jerking his head towards the sitting room. He got the hint pretty quickly: Sirius wanted to talk and wanted Remus to follow him. Excusing himself from the table for a moment, Remus got up and followed Sirius through the house, noting that Harry and Ron had moved to another room—he could hear laughing at the top of the stairs. Sirius entered the bathroom first and Remus, rolling his eyes again, followed, closing the door. The Animagus waited only until the door latch clicked before transforming to human.

"So you've found my hiding spot, I see," Sirius said as a greeting.

"Well, I can assure you it was entirely coincidental," Remus replied quietly. "How long have you been here?"

Sirius shrugged. "Few months," he said. "It started out as a place to stay warm, then turned into something much better when I realized I wasn't the only animal imposter living here."

Remus let this last comment pass for the moment. "And you think you're safe here?"

"As long as you don't go blabbing that I'm here, yeah, I feel pretty damn safe," Sirius said. He glanced sideways at Remus as though hoping the other wizard would say he wasn't going to go to the Ministry with news of Sirius' location.

"How long has Peter been gone?"

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "You believe me, then?"

"I'm not saying anything of the sort," Remus replied. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around it."

Sighing, Sirius nodded. "He left a few nights before the Prophet reported that my wand had been stolen," he said. "And I'll bet almost anything Wormtail had a lot to do with that."

"From what Mad-Eye and Dumbledore said, though, the surveillance charms only showed a shadow in Mad-Eye's office that night, so I'm not certain we'll be able to prove it was him or not," Remus said. "Everyone believes it was you, so it won't be easy to convince Mad-Eye to look over the charms again."

The other wizard shrugged. "Anything would be a huge help right now," he said. "I have no clue where Wormtail could have gone and no real way of going after him—not by myself, at least."

Remus noted the hope in Sirius' voice that he would volunteer his help in searching for Peter. "I'll see what I can do," he said noncommittally. "In the meantime, I'll speak with Emmeline—we may go to Dumbledore." Sirius opened his mouth to argue; Remus held up a hand to stop him from speaking. "Someone else on your side can't hurt. And if it would make you feel any better, I won't tell him where you're hiding."

Sirius nodded. "That'd be appreciated, at least until I know where he stands."

"All right," Remus said. "I should get back downstairs before someone comes looking."

As Remus made to open the door, Sirius quickly transformed again and slipped from the bathroom after the wizard.


While his two old friends talked in the bathroom of the Burrow, Peter Pettigrew sat in a heavily wooded area, nursing a rather bad cut he'd just sustained on his hand. His hope had been that once he'd gotten hold of Sirius' wand, he'd easily be able to use it to do what he'd needed to do. That, however, hadn't been the case. The only time the wand had actually done what Peter had wanted it to do was the night he'd stolen it from Mad-Eye Moody's office and had cast the charms to keep anyone from knowing he'd been there. Since then, he hadn't been able to do even a simple levitation charm—when he'd tried, the wand had decided to summon the object (a rock) and it had hit Wormtail in the gut, knocking the wind out of him momentarily and leaving a nasty gash there. His most recent injury had happened when he'd attempted to make a path through some high grass to continue searching for a useful hiding spot—though the wand was now at least casting the correct spell, it had still backfired on him, and he had been forced to stop for the time being to slow the blood flow.

Peter had believed that being on the run like this would be easy—only Sirius knew he had lived through the explosion in London, and no one was going to listen to him anyway. He'd planned on having a plan formed—one that would somehow get him back into the good graces of the Death Eaters perhaps. Briefly, he'd considered kidnapping Harry Potter and taking him to Lucius Malfoy's home. But until he was able to get Sirius' wand under his control, it was out of the question. Besides, stealing the most famous five-year-old in the country couldn't be as easy as Peter hoped it would be; Dumbledore would have certainly placed some sort of protections around the place to keep someone from doing just that.

Before he would be able to do much of anything, though, he had to figure out a way to get Sirius back into Azkaban. If Sirius was somehow able to convince someone that Peter was alive, the manhunt would change course and it would only be a matter of time before Aurors were swooping down on him. Everything would run much more smoothly with Sirius out of the picture.

Peter pulled away the piece of his shirt that he'd been using to stem the blood flow and took a quick look at his hand, finding that the bleeding had finally slowed. He tied the cloth around the hand and stood, looking around, trying to find another path that didn't involve cutting down the tall grass and potentially harming the wizard any further.


Though it had taken some time to get his nerves up—nearly a week to be exact—Remus and Emmeline were now walking up the path that would take them to the front doors of Hogwarts castle to speak with Albus Dumbledore about the goings on of the last few weeks. They'd dropped Harry off with the Weasleys for the morning, having told Molly that they needed some "alone time." Part of the real reason they'd left Harry there was so Remus could reassure Sirius that dementors and Aurors weren't going to swoop down on the Burrow after Dumbledore found out where he'd been hiding. Even after that, and after trying to convince himself of it, Remus still wasn't quite sure he was doing the right thing by going to the Headmaster. Emmeline had had to threaten inviting Dumbledore over for dinner and telling him herself just to get Remus to write the letter requesting a bit of the wizard's time.

Remus looked around the school grounds nostalgically, his eyes moving from the greenhouses to the Whomping Willow to the Quidditch pitch as they passed. A few older students, the ones who had free periods, gave the pair curious looks as they went up the stairs—it was rare that anyone who wasn't a teacher, student, school governor, or a high-ranking Ministry official visited Hogwarts during the term. Nevertheless, Remus and Emmeline continued through the large castle doors and into the entrance hall where they both stopped briefly to inhale the familiar smells of the school. Remus glanced over at the witch and found a small smile on her face. He chuckled and she snapped out of whatever memory had jumped into her mind, looking back at him and blushing a tad. Rolling her eyes, she hurried forward to either show her annoyance at his laughing at her or to hide her embarrassment. He thought it was a bit of both.

As they walked through the corridors, a few portraits greeted them and one—Sir Cadogan — wouldn't let them continue to Dumbledore's office until they informed him of their destination.

"You know," Emmeline said in a low voice when they finally lost the knight between portraits, "I never liked him—he made me late for Transfiguration on my first day at school — McGonagall nearly gave me a detention because of it."

Remus snorted. "The number of times James and Sirius sent him out on fake quests are too many to count—once, they actually convinced him there was a dragon in the portrait of those old warlocks on the sixth floor so they could sneak into one of the classrooms up by the North tower."

"Doesn't surprise me," Emmeline muttered. "Didn't they also convince Peeves to hover outside the Slytherins' common room for a week?"

"Yes," Remus said, trying to keep the grin off his face. "Every Slytherin came to breakfast covered in something that I still believe to be Flobberworm pus."

"Yummy," she replied sarcastically with a grimace.

Before they knew it—and long before Remus was prepared—they were facing the stone gargoyles that hid the Headmaster's study. "Cockroach clusters," Remus said with a shake of his head. Emmeline chuckled as the gargoyles parted to reveal the spiral staircase Remus had seen so many times—mostly when McGonagall was leading him and his friends to Dumbledore for some prank gone very awry and had either harmed a fellow student or nearly had.

At the top of the staircase, Remus and Emmeline were facing the dark oak door with the griffin-shaped doorknocker and Remus was just beginning to consider calling the entire meeting off when the Headmaster's voice call for them to enter. Glancing over at Emmeline's twitching lips, knowing she knew what he'd been thinking, he reached out and opened the study door. Remus suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu as he entered the very familiar room—he was getting the feeling of having done something bad and was preparing for some sort of punishment. He only hoped this discussion wouldn't lead to a punishment in Azkaban for his knowledge of Sirius' whereabouts. The walk to Dumbledore's desk seemed to take much longer than it had in recent memory, and it only made it worse to see that the Headmaster was smiling warmly at his guests.

"Ah, Remus, Emmeline," he said, setting aside some papers he'd been working on before their arrival. "Please, have a seat." He gestured to two chairs in front of his desk as he turned to pour a few cups of tea for them.

"Good morning, sir," Emmeline said, sitting first. Remus envied how calm she seemed to be, knowing exactly what was about to be discussed. "How was your Christmas?"

"Very enjoyable," Dumbledore told them, passing them the tea cups. "We seem to have candidates for top troublemakers; two second year Gryffindors have seemed to take a liking to keeping our Potion Master's life very interesting as of recent. Professor Snape was hardly able to enjoy his Christmas pudding due to the fireworks that somehow made their way into them."

Both Remus and Emmeline choked on their tea, but for different reasons: Emmeline due to her laughing and Remus due to hearing the name of the Potions master Hogwarts now employed. He'd heard rumors that Severus Snape had gotten a job at Hogwarts a few years back, but never had enough interest to find out whether it was true.

"And how is young Harry fairing?" the Headmaster asked, sipping his tea, apparently oblivious to Remus' reaction.

"Very well," Emmeline said, nodding. "Remus and I couldn't help but spoil him a bit for Christmas—we decided we had a few years to make up for. And we took him to Diagon Alley not long ago, and he made friends with a wizard boy."

Remus shot a look at her; he hadn't planned on bringing any of this up so early in the visit. She didn't even glance over at him as she accepted a biscuit Dumbledore had offered.

Dumbledore looked up at them, surprised. "I was under the belief that Harry would be kept under glamour charms and away from the wizarding world." His tone was light, but Remus could sense a hint of warning in there somewhere.

"He was and still is under his glamour charm," Remus said, setting down his tea. "However, we didn't seem much harm in letting play at the playground in Diagon Alley—and then some wizard children arrived, one of the boys and Harry began playing, their mother arrived, and suggested a play date. Since then, the boys have been meeting every few days."

Dumbledore nodded. "I see," he said slowly. "And might I ask the name of this wizard family?"

"The Weasleys," Emmeline answered.

The Headmaster chuckled. "Well, let us keep this from Professor Snape, shall we?" Remus and Emmeline looked at him oddly, and he explained, "Charlie Weasley was among the duo who ruined Severus' Christmas meal; I do not think he would look too highly upon Harry Potter, son of one of his rivals, playing aside Charlie's younger sibling a the moment."

Remus raised a dry eyebrow. "Sir, I don't think Severus would look too highly upon Harry under any circumstances."

Dumbledore's eyes looked sad briefly and he seemed on the verge of saying something, but changed his mind. "So, not that I am complaining in the slightest, but to what do I owe the pleasure of your company this morning?"

Remus took a deep breath, trying to get the words to come out of his mouth. Only when Emmeline reached down and gently squeezed his hand was he able to organize his thoughts enough to begin speaking. And it didn't hurt when he noticed her hand was still brushing up against his own. "Well, sir," he began slowly, "Emmeline and I have some information that will help in the Sirius Black case."

The Headmaster sat up a bit more in his chair, looking very alert, and looking between his two former pupils as though trying to figure out what information they could have. "Go on," he said.

"We know where he's been hiding, how he's been able to keep hidden, and what his plans are now he's escaped," Remus said in one quick breath, feeling slightly better now that he'd said it. "Unfortunately, at the moment, I can only reveal two of the three to you."

Dumbledore put his hands together, his fingers folded beneath his chin, and locked eyes with Remus. Immediately the younger wizard got that old feeling of the Headmaster seeing into his very soul and knowing everyone of his deepest thoughts. With much difficulty, and trying not to make it too obvious, Remus was able to finally tear his eyes from his mentor's. The Headmaster gave a small sigh. "Might I ask why you feel you cannot be open with me?"

"It's not that, sir," Emmeline said quickly. "We just... well, we assured Sirius we wouldn't give you every bit of information until we knew how you would take what we are going to tell you."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and seemed to briefly consider asking them how long they'd been in contact with Sirius, but changed his mind. "Well, whatever information you can give me, I am certain it will be satisfactory enough for the time being."

Taking a deep breath and letting it out very slowly, knowing Dumbledore was now waiting very patiently for him to begin explaining, Remus began to tell him what he could—first about the Marauders completing their Animagus training during their fifth year at Hogwarts. Remus found he wasn't able to even look at the Headmaster as he explained how it had come about and some of the things he and his old friends did on full moon nights. Dumbledore was obviously surprised at the revelation, but kept any comments or questions he may have had to himself in order to let Remus continue. Remus was thankful for this; he felt that if he was interrupted at any point now, he wouldn't ever be able to tell Dumbledore.

Next, he informed Dumbledore about the picture and note Sirius had sent on Christmas morning, the one requesting that Remus meet him at the Godric's Hollow cemetery the next night. Remus told the Headmaster every detail of the conversation—everything from how Sirius had looked to how the two wizards had been snapping at one another before Sirius stalked off back to his hiding place. At this point Dumbledore did interrupt; he asked about Peter and whether Sirius was absolutely certain about whether the wizard had lived through the explosion.

"He seems to be," Remus replied. He hesitated, uncertain how to go on without revealing Sirius' current location. "He discovered that Peter had been hiding out with a wizard family in his Animagus form—his form is a rat, so it's much easier for him to blend in than it would have been for James or Sirius." Remus reached into his robes and pulled out the photograph Sirius had sent, passing it to the Headmaster. "The rat on the boy's shoulder is Peter in his Animagus form—I have no doubt in my mind of that. Sirius says he unintentionally chased Peter away when Peter realized Sirius was so near to him. Furthermore, Sirius maintains that it was Peter to break-in to Mad-Eye's office to steal the wand. The only way to know for certain is if Mad-Eye agrees to allow me to look at the security charms—maybe I'll be able to see something he wasn't; I know what Peter looks like in his Animagus form and I know what Sirius looks like."

Dumbledore nodded. "I will have a word with Alastor this afternoon. In the meantime, please assure Sirius that his secrets—including his location with the Weasley family—are safe with me." Remus' eyes widened. His mouth opened and closed, trying to ask the Headmaster how he could have figured that out. "I read between the lines," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. "Somehow, I cannot envision Molly Weasley handing an escaped convict a picture of her son and his pet rat."


Michael Vance was hunched over a roll of parchment, scribbling notes as he read about Sirius Black's history before his arrest—who his friends were, where he lived, what cases he'd covered as an Auror, what he had to drink when he went to the Leaky Cauldron—the report covered every detail of Black's life. Most of what he read didn't come as much of a surprise to him; Kingsley Shacklebolt had known Black when he joined the Auror squads after Hogwarts and had befriended him—Michael, on the other hand, had seen him around the office, but had never seen him important enough to converse with; Black and James Potter spent more time playing pranks on other Aurors and getting in trouble with the Muggle police than they did on actual work. Michael hadn't thought either of them would last through Auror training, let alone long enough to make it up through the ranks.

Regardless, Black wasn't an ignorant man; he was among the top of his class at Hogwarts and during Auror training, he knew how to use a wand, and he knew how to keep himself from being found if he didn't want to be—keeping oneself hidden in an area crawling with enemies was among one of the final tests in Auror training, and Black had passed that particular test with flying colors. Aurors were beginning to run out of places to search for Black: they'd checked his childhood home on Grimmauld Place, the flat he'd bought when he'd run away from his parents' home. They'd looked in all the spots Black had been known to frequent, including the manor that had once been owned by the Potter family—today, it was abandoned and neglected. There had been no signs suggesting Black had been to any of these places since his escape from Azkaban, and those in charge of his hunt were in desperate need of some sort of lead, whether it be a sighting or just an insight that they hadn't come up with yet.

Alastor Moody seemed to have lost some of his dedication in the search for Black; the Head Auror had, as of late, taken several Aurors off the search team and didn't seem nearly as interested when Michael and Shacklebolt went to him with what information they had gathered. Whether this had to do with Black breaking into his office to steal back his wand or something else, Michael didn't know, but he was certain once Black was captured, the rest of the Ministry would see how out of touch Moody had become over the recent years—perhaps the Minister would decide Michael finally deserved the top notch position and he could move his family back to England.

There was a nervous clearing of a throat above his cubicle that he initially ignored. He knew it was one of the younger Aurors coming to ask him some ridiculous question that anyone else in Headquarters could have answered, and hoped the wizard would realize Michael didn't have time for such nonsense.

"Er, Mr. Vance?" asked a tentative voice. "Er, a letter has come in for you, sir."

Michael finally looked up. "What letter?" he asked sharply. The young wizard held out a shaking hand holding a regular Muggle envelope. Michael raised an eyebrow. "Where did this come from?"

The wizard gulped. "W-well, it was delivered, sir, by an owl."

Rolling his eyes, Michael snatched the letter from the wizard's hand and directed his attention to it—a few moments later, the wizard realized he'd been dismissed and walked away from Michael's cubicle. The Auror used his wand to slit open the envelope, glancing briefly at the unfamiliar handwriting that spelled his name on the front. He unfolded the letter and began to read, wondering at first if this was yet another pointless, useless tip about Sirius Black's whereabouts or something different. When he eventually reached the end of the letter, having struggled through the jerky, messy handwriting, he looked around Auror headquarters, making certain no one had been watching him or reading over his shoulder. Carefully, Michael refolded the letter and placed it in his robes before putting his papers away and walking quickly out of the offices.