Chapter 14: The 'Truth' About Sirius Black
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As the four of them sat down and Rosmerta, the blond-haired and curvy barmaid, took their orders, Willow began to reflect on her adventures in the last twenty-four hours since Padfoot saved her from Buckbeak in the woods. The shock that Padfoot's real name was Sirius Black and he was an escaped convict was finally starting to soak in. Typically Willow had good instincts and a part of her couldn't believe that the man she invited into her home was a killer.
A shiver went through her as she remembered how he had gently wiped away her tears and looked at her with warm, caring eyes. Could he really be an escaped murderer?
"Well Amelia," Minerva began briskly with a quick glance towards her sister. "You sounded so dramatic earlier that I must say my curiosity has been piqued. I do hope that this was important enough to meet, for with Albus in meetings all day I'm responsible for the castle and quite busy.
"Dear sister, you should know me better than that. Trust me, you will be happy we came to you. Willow," Amelia interrupted her thoughts. "I'd like for you to tell Minerva what you told me."
"Okay," Willow answered as she cleared her throat nervously - The piercing eyes of Minerva McGonagall were more than enough to intimidate her.
Willow went through the events of the past day, from her encounter in the woods to Padfoot exploding at her and escaping.
By the end of it, Minerva was shaking her head sadly. "I taught Sirius Black when he was a student and I still cannot believe how greatly he has changed. Never would I have imagined him to enlist in the services of You-Know-Who, much less condemning his best friends to death. And now to hear that he cast a Stupefying Charm at an unarmed woman!"
"What?" Willow exclaimed in a surprised voice. "Okay, can we back up here for a moment? My head's buzzing with all sorts of confusion. What exactly is it that Padfoot -um - Sirius Black did?"
"Yes, I too would be interested in hearing this," Giles added thoughtfully. "I have yet to hear of this Sirius Black for all talk of him being a dark wizard when I know the Watcher's Council keeps a close eye on the dark magic users around the world."
Minerva raised an eyebrow, looking baffled by his words. "What is the Watcher's Council?"
"You've never…? Ah, yes, I imagine that makes sense if we've never heard of the wizarding world." Then, almost as an after-thought in a softer voice, "What a shame, imagine all the possibilities of shared resources…"
"Don't mind Giles," Willow said with a smile. "He tends to get geeked out at the idea of more books and research being available to him."
Amelia snorted as she nodded her head, eyes twinkling with laughter, and a corner of Minerva's lips quirked upward.
Giles gave her an exasperated look. "Yes, erm, the Watcher's Council is located in London and they are responsible for assisting in the battle against the forces of darkness, which primarily includes guiding the one girl in all the world - well, I suppose the two girls in all the world now - who can stop them, and she is the Vampire Slayer. We also host incredible amounts of research on vampires, demons, magic, and other denizens of terror in our various libraries."
"The Vampire Slayer?" Minerva gasped. "I have come across references to such a person but she's generally thought of as a myth. Personally, I cannot believe how a girl could fight demons without using wand magic."
Her sister shot her a dark look and Minerva retracted her words. "I meant, fight demons without using any sort of magic, not just wand."
"Yes, well…" Giles continued with the 'No, really, there is such a thing as a vampire slayer, blah, blah, blah' speech while Willow tuned him out.
Honestly, she always got a smidge frustrated at how people could believe in the most extraordinary things and not believe in the slayer. Personally, she thought that Giles should just create a flyer to spell it out for people:
1. Yes, Vampires, Demons, and other Dark Creatures Do Exist
2. But have no fear! One Girl in All the World Will Be Selected to Fight Them: She Is the Slayer.
3. Oh, Actually There Are Two of Them - Praise the Benefits of CPR
Willow decided that if she ever worked at the Watcher's Council she would definitely bring the brochure idea up.
"So, what is the background story?" she asked once it looked like Giles was finished and Minerva's curiosity was sated.
"Thirteen years ago, during the Wizard War, Britain was under attack by a dark wizard who referred to himself as Lord Vol- Voldemort," and Willow thought it was interesting that Minerva winced at mentioning his name. "Voldemort was responsible for terrorizingboth the wizarding and muggle world where he and his Death Eaters - those were members of his personal army, so to speak - tortured and killed those who stood in their path.
"Their ultimate goal was for pure-blood wizard domination and they despised muggle-borns, wizard whose parents were muggles; half-bloods, wizards whose one parent was muggle-born; squibs," Minerva's eyes darkened at the words and Willow wondered if something had happened to Amelia in the war, "and of course muggles themselves."
"Oh my gosh," Willow gasped at the awful idea.
"Wait one moment," Giles interjected in an angry voice reminiscent of his Ripper days. "I was bloody living here working at the Council at that time and we never heard anything about this! Are you telling me there was Hitler-type fellow terrorizing the country, killing both magical and non-magical folks, and we never heard about it?"
Minerva sighed irritably. "Rupert, may I remind you not to raise your voice at me as I was not a member of the Ministry of Magic, our government, at that time - nor have I ever been?"
Giles nodded, looking chagrined. "My apologies, Minerva."
"As for your group never hearing of it, all I can say is that the Ministry does not like to deal with muggles. Mind you, they are nothing like Voldemort and his followers, but many in there do hold the belief that wizards are inherently superior to those not of our world. I assume that is why you were never told."
Willow thought she heard Giles mutter the words, "Bloody wankers," under his breath, although she could have been mistaken. For the Ministry's sake, she hoped they would never meet Giles. He may look like a sweet, innocent man, but she knew better - he would make them regret leaving the Council out when innocent lives were at stake.
"As for Sirius Black," Minerva went on. "The truth of the matter is, he was a member of the Order of the Phoenix, which was a group assembled by Albus Dumbledore to fight against Voldemort. Later, we found out that he was a double agent because he gave Voldemort the secret location of where the Potters were staying.
"The Potters - James, Lily, and their baby Harry - were in hiding from Voldemort and Sirius was their Secret-Keeper, meaning that only he knew the magically concealed location of their home. When Voldemort arrived he killed Lily and James, yet when he tried to kill Harry his curse rebounded upon him and he was vanquished - although some believe that he is still out there, gathering his strength to return."
Willow opened her mouth to speak but she quieted her with a raised finger - apparently Minerva was not the kind of woman you wanted to interrupt.
"Afterwards the other best friend of the Potters, little Peter Pettigrew, confronted Sirius about his betrayal on the street. In return Sirius killed him and twelve innocent muggle bystanders, all with one curse, until the only thing left was a giant crater and him laughing like a madman."
Willow's gut twisted and she suddenly felt like she was going to be sick.
"Willow, are you alright?" Giles asked, concern evident in his voice.
"I- I need to use the restroom. Where is it?"
Amelia bit her lip, clearly worried by her reaction - which made Willow feel extremely self-conscious. "The loo is downstairs and to the right, my dear."
"Thank you," she gasped out quickly as she jerked up and raced quickly downstairs. Within a minute she found herself kneeling on the cool linoleum floor of the ladies restroom emptying the contents of her stomach. She felt faint and was plagued by a complicated mixture of horror, revulsion, and deep, bitter disappointment.
Her mind was racing and trying to figure out what seemed like an impossible math equation - Sirius Black the mass murderer just did not equate with Padfoot her houseguest.
As her mind flashed possible images of Sirius standing in front of bloodied bodies, she felt her stomach twist again. Willow just could not believe it and the mere idea that the man she invited into her home was a killer saddened her.
'But why?' an inner voice whispered. 'Why should you care about some strange man you just met?'
Which was true… Why did she care so much?
Her mental internal conversation was interrupted by a knock on her stall door.
"Excuse me, but are you all right in there?" asked a young female voice.
"Fine, just fine," she answered as she stood up and flushed the toilet. She would have to ponder on her feelings at a later point, obviously.
"I was just feeling a bit sick," she said as she emerged from the stall and the girl in the restroom jumped when she saw her.
Willow's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Weren't you that girl involved with that fight earlier?"
"Oh, yes, that was me," she answered rather nervously. "Although I was more of a bystander watching the boys test out their testosterone than anything else," the bushy, brown-haired girl added with a small smirk.
Willow grinned as she washed her hands - After growing up with Xander and Jesse as her bests friends she certainly knew what it was like to be the only girl in a friendship group.
With a grimace, she checked her reflection in the mirror and turned to the girl. "You don't by any chance have any gum, do you?"
"No, ma'am," she replied with a quick shake of the head. "But I do know a spell to clean your mouth and freshen your breath," she added helpfully.
"Sure! That sounds great!" Willow exclaimed eagerly.
With a swish of her wand she called out "Aliento fresco!"
Instantly Willow felt a bubbling sense in her mouth and as it was leaving a spiffy minty taste remained. "Whoa! That sure was neato!" Willow giggled as the remaining bubbles tickled the roof of her mouth. "Thanks for that," she said with a smile.
The girl beamed proudly. "Sure, it was no problem."
Willow realized that they were probably waiting on her upstairs. "I've got to go, but make sure you keep those boys of yours out of trouble, alright?"
With a small laugh she replied with a "Yes ma'am," as Willow left for the upstairs room.
"Feeling better, my dear?" Amelia asked kindly as Willow returned.
"Yes, thank you," she said with a nod.
"Willow," Minerva began. "After thinking about your story and the possible implications of Sirius Black in the local area and threatening to bring back Voldemort, I've decided you must tell your story to the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore."
"Not your Ministry people?" she asked, mildly bewildered at why she would tell something concerning national security to a school principal.
A shocked laugh escaped Minerva's lips. "Merlin, no! The Ministry is, well I don't like to speak poorly of our government, but as two sixth years I know would say: They are a bunch of dunderheads." Her face broke out into a wide smile at the insult.
"Bloody right you are," remarked Giles irritably, evidently still sore about the Ministry's negligence in reporting a crazy, evil wizard to the Watcher's Council.
"Therefore," Minerva said with a bemused glance at Giles, "I've contacted Dumbledore to let him know we're coming, but unfortunately he's still in a meeting right now about the Triwizard Cup. Since this information is not time-sensitive I've decided it may wait until he is finished. Besides, we surely don't want the Ministry to find out and bring those awful dementors back."
"Oh, Minerva! You never told me that! They are finally bringing the Triwizard Cup back?" asked Amelia excitedly with a gleam in her green eyes - evidently this event was a big deal.
"Oh yes, but honestly Amelia do *not* tell anyone." Amelia made a move to speak and Minerva said, "Oh no, don't deny it. You know how you can be sometimes. It's rather a hush-hush matter until Halloween," Minerva retorted with a roll of her eyes.
Willow had to hide a giggle. Even though her mentor was older and surely wiser than her, it was fun to see her sisterly interaction with the older woman.
"So, what do we do while we wait?" Willow asked.
"There's no telling how long the meeting may take - that Ludo Bagman certainly enjoys the sound of his own voice - but it would be best if you three came to Hogwarts to wait," Minerva decided.
"Go to Hogwarts? You mean the castle over there?" Willow squeaked excitedly. "I've never been in a castle before. Do you have any guard dragons or anything?" she joked.
Minerva scoffed. "By Merlin, what would we do that for? Dragons are highly unstable as pets, although they do produce excellent substances for potions. However, we do have a giant squid in the lake. He rather enjoys visitors, if you want to meet him - if meeting magical creatures is your cup of tea, that is."
Willow's eyes widened in surprise. "Uh, not really," she said weakly.
'Merlin' knows she's met more than enough of them in her lifetime.
A/N:
Aliento fresco- Spanish for 'fresh breath'. Se espanol pero no se Latin, como JKR. Hence, any spells I make up will likely be en espanol ;)
I assume you can guess who were the 2 sixth year students that Minerva referred to? ;)
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