Behind the Cold, Stone Walls
Author's Note: I'm so glad to get to this point. From the third book onwards is what I have been really eager to write, the time when the relationship between Briar and Fred really starts to be introduced, as well as with her Uncle Padfoot.
I may have said his before, but please review! I love feedback, it really spurs me on to write more and any ideas would be appreciated.
On an island in the middle of the North Sea unseen by Muggles, was Azkaban Prison. The sky around it was a permanent shade of grey, with mist swirling around it, as though the very air was feeling the effects of the Azkaban guards…the dementors.
Dementors were among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them. The long term residents of Azkaban have been fed on so much that they are reduced to something like itself, soulless and evil.
There are exceptions. One such person is Sirius Black, but just like everyone else he was still left with nothing but the worst experiences of his life.
He resided in one the high security cells in Azkaban. The cell was as dark and gloomy as the rest of the prison, the only sounds the screams of the prisoners that unlike him had gone made and the drip drip drip of water droplets from the damp walls. The small barred window near the ceiling let enough of the air in to allow him to smell the salty ocean air, but all it did was serve as a reminder that he was trapped in one of the worst places on Earth.
Currently, Sirius was huddled in the corner of his cell, his bony arms wrapped tightly around his skeletal form to try and retain as much heat as physical possible, his eyes squeezed shut as he tried to block out the screams and shrieks of Death Eaters and other such criminals in the cells around his.
The cell opposite him contained none other than Bellatrix Lestrange, his deranged cousin, how fucking ironic is that? The family member he hated most in the world, even more than his mother, was the person he was considered to most be like now, being on a level as bad as Britain's greatest torturer.
A sharp icy coldness suddenly swept through him. He tightened his hold on his body as he began shivering even worse than before. They were back, just like clockwork, it was time for the dementors to feed. His mind went fuzzy, a feeling of permanent hollowness flooding through him.
"I'm innocent, I'm innocent, I'm innocent" he muttered under his breath, rocking himself slightly in hope to dull the Dementors' effects, but it was no good.
"SIRIUS BLACK! You walk out that door and you can forget ever coming back! You are a disgrace! Shame of my flesh!"
His mother was screeching harsh words as he held open the front door, his trunk containing almost all of his belongings held in his hand behind him.
He turned to look at her with the utmost loathing, a hateful glance spared for his younger brother too, who was standing with a stupid smug look on his face, showing how pleased he was that soon enough not only would he be the favourite son, but the heir too.
"Why would I ever want to come back?" he spat, his voice filled with loathing.
He strode out of the door, his trunk dragging behind him. He didn't look back but out of the corner of his eyes he could still see a flash of silver, the smell of burning in his nose and his mother's scream of fury. There was a fresh burn mark on the Black family tapestry, but Sirius couldn't give a shit.
He was shaking and trembling, his eyes more dull than before as he was yanked out of the memory, but only a second had past when he was pushed into another one.
"Prongs," Sirius said in a heavy voice as the door opened.
He was standing in the doorway of the Potter's safe house, James eyeing him with the utmost concern. It wasn't often Sirius cried, almost unheard of in fact, but right now tears were falling relentlessly down his cheeks and his shoulders were shaking.
James lurched forward and pulled Sirius into a hug, the latter holding onto his best friend with a desperation he hadn't had for a long time. James held onto him for a long time, soothing him the best he could with his presence as Sirius sobbed into his messy black hair, not caring that the man's glasses were digging harshly into his cheek.
"James, Honey, who was it?" Lily's voice came.
Sirius looked past James shoulder just in time to see Lily enter the hallway, still clad in her pyjamas, her red hair in disarray and her emerald eyes tired.
When she caught sight of Sirius she gasped and rushed forward. Sirius pulled away from James and pulled the woman he thought of as a sister into his arms as well, hugging as tightly as he could, reminding himself that they were still there.
Lily ushered him into the house as James shut the door and pushed him to sit down on their settee.
"What is it? What happened?" James asked worriedly, his hazel eyes filled with the same concern shown on Lily's face.
Lily sat down next to him on the settee, putting a comforting arm around her as James perched himself on the coffee table so that he was able to face him, leaning forward worriedly.
"It's Marlene"
Lily stiffened at the mention of her best friend and James' God-sister. Sirius had been dating Marlene since they were eighteen and was actually considering proposing soon, but none of that mattered now. Hardly anything did.
"S-she's dead. Her whole-whole family they're all…" Sirius couldn't finished as her began to cry again.
James yanked a hand though his hair as Lily choked on her own sobs, crying into Sirius' hair. James leapt to his feet and kicked the table with an angry gesture, before he two began to cry for the loss.
Sirius barely even had time to open his eyes and pull in gasping breathes before he was yanked into yet another of his worst memories…the worst.
Sirius landed his flying motorbike heavily in the street, hopping off of it before it had even stopped moving. He began to run, run faster than he ever had before up Godric's hollow, before he came to the safe house.
His breath hitched when he got there. It was in ruins, half of the house was gone, the rest blackened and destroyed, barely even resembling the home he had visited so often. Above it was…was the dark mark. That horrible glowing skull with the snake slithering from its mouth.
"No" he muttered disbelievingly to himself.
He rushed forward and through what remained of the door, but froze as soon as he did. He felt his heart shatter into a thousand pieces and the shards scrape at his insides.
James was sprawled out on the stairs. His hazel eyes were wide and glassy, staring unseeing at the ceiling. His black hair was in a state he would have never allowed if he was alive and his glasses, one lens smashed, were crooked on his face.
Sirius walked forward slowly and crouched down next to his best friend, his brother in all but blood. The steps were cutting into his knees, but he didn't care. He reached forward to carefully close his eyes and straighten his glasses, before he ruffled his hair into an acceptable position.
There, he could almost be sleeping now. Accept he wasn't, and Sirius new it, his best friend was going to a place where Sirius couldn't reach.
"Wake up!" Sirius screamed, shaking James' body. "Wake the fuck up!"
Sirius began to sob, holding his best friend close to him and rocking him in an almost consoling fashion. This was pain worse than anything, worse than the cruciatus. He didn't know how long he stayed like that, crying into his best friend's hair muttering "I'm sorry" over and over again.
When most of the icy coldness ebbed away, indicating the Dementors' retreat, Sirius opened his teary silver eyes, gasping in breathes as he clawed at him chest, almost as though he could tear the remnant of his pain from himself.
He tilted his head back to rest on the stone wall and reminded himself over and over again that he was innocent, he had to do this to keep himself sane. This wasn't a happy thought, how could it be? He had failed in tearing the little rat to shreds after he had betrayed James and Lily, only secret keeper under Sirius' own suggestion.
Sirius was about to turn into a dog to retain some more of his sanity when he heard it. Voices. And footsteps, coming down the extended corridor lined with cells containing some of the worst criminals imaginable.
He knew who it was. It was the minister of Magic and whatever ministry worker was accompanying him. He did checks in the prison now and again. Sirius didn't know why, what could he possibly hope to see?
The footsteps stopped and Sirius looked up to see that the Minister had stopped in front of his cell and was peering in. Cornelius Fudge looked exactly as he had on his last visit a few years prior. Rather portly with rumpled grey hair. He looked extremely out of place in the prison with his pinstriped suit, scarlet tied, pointed purple boots and lime green bowler hat.
Sirius forced himself to his feet, using the cell wall to steady himself and shuffled forward slightly so that Fudge could see him better in the small amount of light available from the tiny barred window.
Fudge gulped when he caught sight of him and that gave Sirius a tiny twinge of twisted pleasure as the minister took of his hat and began to twirl it nervously in his pudgy fingers.
"Come to see if I'm mad yet?" Sirius asked, a small mischievous glint that hadn't been present in a long time appearing in his eyes as he smirk, barring his teeth.
"N-no, it's j-just a routine check, Black" Fudge stuttered, his voice shaking.
Sirius rolled his eyes. How he ever became Minister was beyond him. He was still scared of Sirius even though he was the one with a wand and on the other side of the barred cell.
Sirius paused when he saw that a newspaper was tucked neatly under the Minister's arm. It might be nice to know the date, to know how long he had actually spent in this hell.
"Could I have your paper?" Sirius asked pleasantly and when fudge hesitated, he added, "I miss doing the cross words"
Fudge handed Sirius the paper with a shaking hand before putting his bowler hat back on his head, shooting Sirius one last scared glance, and hurrying down the dark corridor to perhaps go to the Ministry official who had accompanied him.
He looked at the date and saw that it was the 31st July 1993. He smiled softly when he realised it was Harry's and Briar's thirteenth birthday, but it quickly faded. Eleven years. He had been stuck here for eleven years for a crime he didn't commit.
Sirius looked down at the article on the first page: 'MINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE'. However, he didn't bother to read the rest of the article about the Weasley's, as it was the picture that held his attention.
On a young, gangly looking boy's shoulder in the centre was a rat…and it was missing a toe. He would recognise that rat anywhere, he had spent so many full moons running about the forbidden forest and Hogsmeade with it he wasn't likely to forget.
It seemed as though Peter had found a nice wizarding family to take him in.
"Well, well, well, Wormtail. Looks like you're not as dim as we always thought" Sirius muttered, his piercing eyes not moving away from the fat grey rat.
