Walking through the back of Dervish and Bangs in Hogsmeade wouldn't normally have made Harry nervous, but having Lizzie in tow made it slightly terrifying. It would be bad enough getting caught by McGonagall just himself, Hermione and Ron, but having the old witch's granddaughter in tow made it all that more dangerous. They made their way through the winding trail as quickly as possible.
Before long they were met by a black dog carrying newspapers in his mouth, which then led them into the mountains, eventually leading into a cave. When Sirius changed he was wearing the same robes he had been wearing in Azkaban and was raggedy and his hair was matted. Harry gave him the food they had brought with them and he tore into the chicken ravenously.
Sirius thanks them and gestured to Lizzie, who Harry had just set down on the dirt floor before making himself comfortable sitting beside her. "You shouldn't have brought her with you. You three get caught is one thing, but with Lizzie with you-"
"I can take care of my Nana, Sirius." Lizzie had interjected. She was getting the feeling that Sirius was thinking of her like an average seven year old, which she obviously was not.
"Right, sorry dear. Anyway, thanks for the chicken. I've been living off rats mostly. Can't steal too much food from Hogsmeade; I'd draw attention to myself."
"What are you doing here anyway?" Lizzie asked, wrapping herself against the slight chill inside the cave.
"Fulfilling my duties as a godfather to you two. Don't worry I'm pretending to be a lovable stray. I want to be on the spot. Your last letter, Harry…well, things are getting fishier. I've been stealing the paper every time someone throws it out and by the looks of it I'm not the only one who's getting worried."
Lizzie stared up at Harry. "You sent another letter?"
"Yes, hush," Harry said quietly, pulling the girl into his lap. "What if you get caught?"
"You four and Dumbledore are the only ones around here who know I'm an Animagus."
The students handed the newspapers to one another. The headlines were talking about Crouch's illness and the missing Bertha Jorkins.
"They're making it sound like he's dying," Lizzie commented.
"But he can't be that ill if he's making trip sup here," Harry put in.
Ron shrugged and turned to Sirius. "My brother is Crouch's personal assistant. He says Crouch is suffering from overwork."
"He did look ill the last time we saw him, when my name came out of the goblet…" Harry was still reading the story, holding it to one side so as not to block Lizzie's line of vision to Sirius as they all continued speaking. Hermione made some snide remark about Crouch firing Winky and a small debate broke out between her and Ron about house elf treatment. This discussion ended up with Harry, Hermione, Ron and Sirius discussing when they saw the elf first, in Crouch's box at the match that summer without Crouch having shown up at all. Harry's wand hadn't been noticed missing until later that night when they were in the forest, so the theory was that it was stolen in the Top Box.
Which went over very well with Hermione. "Winky did not steal that wand!"
"The elf wasn't the only one in the box though," Lizzie put in.
"Who else was sitting behind you?" Sirius asked.
Harry shrugged, but Lizzie stood and went to pet Buckbeak who was curled in the corner. "Loads of people. Bulgarian Ministers, Cornelius Fudge, the Malfoys…"
"I bet it was Lucious Malfoy," Ron burst out.
"Anyone else?" Sirius asked.
"No," Harry answered.
"Yes there was: Ludo Bagman." Buckbeak nudged Lizzie in affection, but nuzzled too hard and sent Lizzie stumbling. She landed in Sirius' arms and made herself comfortable beside him. "I don't know about Bagman, just that he used to be a beater for the Wimbourne Wasps. What's he like?"
"He's okay," Harry shrugged. "He keeps offering to help me with the tournament."
"I wonder why he'd do that?"
"Says he's taking a liking to me."
Sirius took on a pensive expression. "We saw him just before the Dark Mark appeared," Hermione added. "Remember?"
"Yeah but he didn't stay in the forest did he? The moment we told him about the riot he went off to the campsite." Ron had a point, but Hermione just had to have her shot. "How do you know where he Disapparated to?"
"Come off it, are you saying Ludo Bagman set off the Dark Mark?"
They continued a moment longer before Sirius held a hand up to silence them both and redirected their discussion to Crouch and his strange behavior and absences. They talked about Crouch's career as the head of Magical Law Enforcement and how he had been slated for the next Minister before his son was caught as a Death Eater when the first war was ended.
After the discussion of Crouch Jr., somehow the subject of Snape and his loyalties came up when Karkaroff and his motived entered the conversation. Lizzie wasn't really paying attention. She was so very sleepy…
It took until someone checked the time for anyone to realize the girl had fallen asleep against Sirius' shoulder. It was half past three and time for the group to be leaving, so Harry stood with the rest and Sirius helped him gently hoist the girl into his arms while offering his final words:
"Now listen, I don't want you sneaking out of school to see me, all right? Either one of you. Don't give me that look I know and you know she's capable of it," he nodded in Lizzie direction. "Just send notes to me here. I still want to hear about anything odd. But you're not to leave Hogwarts without permission. It's the ideal time for someone to attack you."
"No one's tried to attack me expect a dragon and a couple of grindylows."
"I don't care, I'll breathe freely again when this tournament's over and that's not until June. And don't forget if you're talking about me amongst yourselves call me Snuffles okay? Remind Lizzie when you get the chance."
Sirius smiled as his eyes gazed upon the little girl. He smoothed her freely flowing curling hair gently, almost like a father would have. "Miranda was my girl once, you know. Glad she chose Remus in the end though. He took much better care of her than I ever could have. Still, it's almost like having her back when the tyke is around. Little old for naps though, isn't she?"
"I don't think she sleeps much," Harry whispered back. "Spends a lot of time using my bed, but I think she sleeps fitfully. There's a lot on her mind. And…I think her first moon might be coming up."
Sirius nodded. "Hm…well as a precaution you can try and feed her the wolfsbane; it won't hurt if she doesn't turn. Just be a good god brother and take care of her all right?"
Harry nodded and they all departed after Sirius changed so he could follow them to the village boundary.
