Disclaimer : Chapter 20 online! Quite a short one as well, the length of chapter 19 initially reached 3.200 words, but I decided to cut it into two parts, therefore here is the second part! You may get to read chapter 21 a bit earlier than sunday, as this one is quite short, perhaps on saturday, or even friday if I can manage it ;)

Thanks everyone who've added this fic' to their alerts, who reviewed it! Enjoy! :)

"Like a Damn Criminal"

'So I wish you all a good evening' He went on in a pleasant tone 'And I recommend the greatest caution, to you all' He surveyed everyone sitting at the table with a knowing look, his eyes stopping on every member then present.

Remus and Kingsley motioned to get up from their chair, and Bill and Arthur gathered the papers left on the table. Snape left immediately, his abrupt departure had now ceased to surprise the members, so no one said a thing as the entrance door was slammed shut, indicating that their ill-esteemed colleague was now effectively gone. Sirius stranded to the basement and quickly picked a bottle of wine he fully intended to uncork and to share with the remaining members of the Order, but Dumbledore had followed him outside the kitchen. Sirius had his hand on the handle of the door leading down to the wine-cellar when Dumbledore called after him, his calm voice disturbing the surrounding air, dust flying around him as he walked toward Sirius.

'This corridor will need some cleaning' Sirius absentmindedly thought.

'Ah Sirius, I did not want to speak of the topic when the others were present' He heard Dumbledore say. 'Amelia has kept me informed of your situation at the Ministry, and she believes you will soon be tried before the Wizengamot.'

Sirius turned around looked up at his former teacher, his eyes glinting with something indefinable. He stepped back a bit, and looked at him straight in the eyes, as if he were looking for some disguised meaning, for something he feared he might have not grasped. His hand was still resting on the handle, Sirius looked down at it and turned it more forcefully than he intended to.

Dumbledore observed the display with apparent indifference, but he took one step forward and went on:

'We have considered the matter, and we both think, and I am sure you do too, Sirius, that you cannot appear miraculously on the Ministry' s doorstep.'

Dumbledore' s choice of words appealed to Sirius. "Appearing miraculously", it reminded way too much of Pettigrew' s capture for Sirius' comfort, and Sirius was pretty sure it was exactly what Dumbledore had intended. Sirius stood very still, frowning, his shoulders very stiff.

'Yes' Sirius finally replied.

'Yes' He repeated, 'It seems obvious.'

His tone was sharp, cold, distant, but the wizard seem completely unfazed by his former student' s demeanour.

'As Kingsley is the one in charge of your...re-capture, we think it best to have him bringing you to the Ministry. There will be no fighting though, may it be fake or real, Kingsley will merely...ah, find you here and lead you to the Ministry.'

Sirius let out a mirthless laugh, his bark-like voice resounding through the corridor.

"Isn't it convenient? And you couldn't have told me about it any earlier, could you, Dumbledore?' He spat. 'Even the Ministry isn't idiotic enough to believe that my capture is pure coincidence, especially when Amelia' s department is organising a full trial'

'This fact is not public knowledge, Amelia has been careful to only include people who have our full confidence...'

'Who have your full confidence' Sirius sneered as he uttered this last word.

'I do not deny it, but it is essential that you let Amelia organise it. Our hands are tied, she is the only one who can change your situation at the moment, you have to trust her, Sirius.'

'I do trust her, Dumbledore, I'm just not sure I trust you on this particular matter!' Sirius shouted at him.

The old man made him incredibly angry, so angry. He could not bear Dumbledore' s hypocrisy any longer, where was the man fifteen years ago? How easy had it been for him to believe that Sirius was the one who had betrayed them all? How easy had it been to close his eyes when the Ministry carted him off to Azkaban without so much as a hearing?

And there Dumbledore entered, bearer of good new, and so was Sirius presented with a very real possibility of a trial, a fully held trial, before the Wizengamot. Fear was now sparking up in Sirius' mind, fear and resentment, resentment toward his old Headmaster, fear of losing the little freedom he had managed to retain out of Azkaban.

Dumbledore blinked, but he went on, and on:

'I know how resentful you are, Sirius, and you have every right to lay the blame on me. I am ready to shoulder the full responsibility of the twelve years you spent in Azkaban, but you cannot have your judgment clouded by your resentment, not now.'

'You have no right to tell what I should do and what I should not do, Dumbledore!' He snarled, and he pointed an accusative finger at him. 'You're the one who left me in that hellish place, you just sat in your cozy little office, passively, not even bothering not get me a hearing. You just closed your eyes on the entire situation! Tell me Dumbledore, tell me just how easy it has been to let me rot in Azkaban like a damn criminal?'

Dumbledore now looked pained, but he did not falter under Sirius' glare. Sirius, however, rented some more :

'How could you have believed I betrayed James and Lily? How could you Dumbledore?'

The older wizard did not answer, he merely stood there.

"Answer me.' Sirius icily ordered him.

Dumbledore looked down, his solemn face now obscured by the ridiculous pointed hat he wore that night.

'ANSWER ME!' Sirius shrieked.

Oh, how he wanted to shake the old man by his shoulder, to shake him hard, until the man crumbled on the ground, until the man was begging for forgiveness. He had been bottling all this for months, years even, and he had waited a long time, he had waited for Dumbledore to face what he had done all these years ago. And Sirius was glad, glad that he was the one to rightfully put the blame where it rightfully belonged, glad that he was the one to force Dumbledore to confront his monumental mistake, a mistake that had come down to too high a price for Sirius, a mistake that had cost him twelve years of his life, a mistake that brought Sirius down to Hell, a mistake for which Dumbledore was paying, at last.

When Dumbledore finally looked up, his face was impassible, but his glinting eyes expressed all the misery, all the regrets and the remorse Sirius' words had awoken. Faraway feelings, whose fistful sleep had been interrupted, feelings on which the old man had never lingered, for he had been afraid of what they would bring along.

Sirius avoided the man' s eyes, panting, trying his best to restrain himself from physically harming Dumbledore, because even in his raving state, he knew just how it would end for him if he attacked his old teacher. He punched the nearest wall, once, and then another time. He fell kneeling on the ground, his hand in his prematurely old hand, his shoulders shaking with sobs he could not contain.

Dumbledore too, then knelt down, in front of his former student, whose distress caused the old teacher a great pain, and then said in a calm voice :

'You have not let me finish Sirius, Amelia also mentioned the possibility of your getting custody of Harry, although it will not be done before some times, she reckons you have good chances to be Harry' s guardian, for good.'

Sirius went still and sharply retorted, his voice harsh with tears :

'DO NOT bring Harry into this, old man!'

'I am fairly sure this was what you have wanted ever since you escaped, Sirius?'

'You will NOT use him as a carrot, I am not your little donkey, do you understand Dumbledore?' He almost screamed.

'My dear boy, it is be the last thing I would do' Dumbledore started, but Sirius cut him off because he could go any further.

'Is it? Is it?' Sirius wildly said, his eyes seemingly mad. 'You have lost my trust fifteen years ago, and you won't regain it before long!'

Dumbledore' s shoulders drooped as Sirius uttered these unforgiving words.

'Now get away, Dumbledore.'

The icy tone with which Sirius said that left no room for refusal. But Dumbledore did not move, he looked as if he was going to put his hand on his student's shoulder, but decided against it as Sirius threw him a ferocious glare and moved out of his reach.

'Get. Away.' He growled.

But still, Dumbledore would not move from where he was kneeling.

'GET AWAY!' Sirius finally yelled.

And so Albus Dumbledore fled the house, away from Sirius Black' s wrath, the last thing Sirius saw of the bloody man was the ludicrous midnight blue cloak the man wore that evening.

And so was Sirius Black left to his dark thoughts, in the silent house, then deserted by most of the members of the Order who had thought it wise to leave when they had heard Sirius' screams reverberating through the corridor.

Except Remus, who was standing in the doorway, a pained look on his tired face. He walked toward Sirius, hesitatingly, tentatively, and once he had reached him, he helped him back on his feet and led him to upstairs.