"I must admit, although I understand your reasons for doing this, I am quite surprised." Fudge stated, the Minister now sitting across from him in a summoned chair as the two Aurors stood guard behind Sirius. Just in case this was a surprise attack being led by him and not a 'friendly' meeting.
Sirius gave a cocky smile but they both knew it was fake. "Don't be Minister, as I stated before. You aren't the only one in the dark."
"I was sort of hoping that perhaps you had a bit more…insight about Dumbledore." Fudge admitted, "Those residing in Hogwarts have been less than forthcoming with information."
"They would be, those in the castle has an easier time speaking with Dumbledore without raising any suspicions." Sirius replied, "Lupin may be against this but frankly, after being jerked around by both sides I could care less about what happens to him."
Well, that was sort of a lie. While he did find his frustration with Dumbledore growing every day, he couldn't help but feel a small spasm of guilt as he spoke. The growing fear that he may slip up and offer some information about the Order.
He didn't want to endanger his friends' let alone impede their efforts to stop Voldemort but…Even those who had seen the Golden Goose dangling in front of their face had to take a risk in order to achieve a great fortune.
And the fortune he was after was giving Harry a place to call home every summer and wrangle him away from the Dursleys.
He may not understand muggle parenting but after hearing the children's protests' during their stay at Grimmauld place and how Dumbledore was against Harry coming to stay with them until his life was in danger it wanted him to be there for Harry.
"Jerked around? I can understand your resentment towards the Ministry for the…injustice that has happened to you." Fudge awkwardly admitted before pressing on, "But what has Dumbledore done to create such a sudden negative opinion on him?"
"Little things, all connected to Harry and Earthbound." Sirius admitted, trying to hide his distaste for the odd American as he leaned back in his chair. "I've never given Dumbledore's actions much thought. But given the large amount of free time that I have I've given it much more thought."
"Such as…?"
"Petty things. Like why isn't Dumbledore trying to clear my name?" Sirius replied, "Harry and Earthbound have found proof that there was a third party involved and yet he did absolutely nothing to help or keep people's attention on the matter."
"I do find that odd, especially given his history of fighting for Lupin's enrollment into Hogwarts and Snape's innocence after he was discovered to be a Death Eater and Voldemort's right-hand man." Fudge admitted, "At the time I simply thought that you and Dumbledore weren't as close as others."
Sirius nodded, swallowing the bitter anger at being shoved aside for Voldemort. At the time it had made sense that Dumbledore wasn't focusing on trying to clear his name, Harry had just seen proof of Voldemort's minions still in action and they needed to rebuild the Order and prepare for possibility of another war.
But now? After Voldemort had been brought to life and the war was on the horizon, it made no sense to keep Harry tucked away in a muggle neighborhood. How was Harry safer at a muggles' house than his house? A house that was heavily protected, never found and had wizards coming in and out who were veterans from the past war. The only reason he could think of was Kreature and even that fell flat given how the House elf couldn't send a message to someone he deemed worthy let alone leave the house.
"By the way, what is your relationship with Dumbledore? Was he a mentor as he is to Potter? Or simply a person you looked up to in school." Fudge asked.
"Growing up, I was raised to see the worse in Dumbledore. I was from a Pureblood family who actively agreed with Voldemort's methods even if they didn't want to carry out the deed themselves." Sirius replied, remembering his dull frustration that was aimed at his parents and brother as a child.
He knew that something felt off about their scorn for 'Mudbloods' and Dumbledore but being naïve he never saw or understood the malicious intent behind their words and actions. Not until he went to Hogwarts and saw the truth thanks to James and Remus, saw the good Dumbledore had done for those who weren't born with the right blood in their veins or spared from incurable curses.
"Going to school, I formed my own opinion and saw that he wasn't what they told me he was. I didn't speak highly of him like Remus did, but I never had a reason to speak poorly of him. Neither did James, to us Dumbledore was just that cool adult in charge of Hogwarts."
"And Peter?"
"No clue. At first, I thought he was just like Remus only a bit quieter. Now?" Sirius said, shrugging his shoulders as Fudge nodded in understanding.
"So, to sum it up you simply saw Dumbledore as a good headmaster and wizard, nothing more."
"Yes." Sirius answered.
"Do you believe that is why Dumbledore kept you out of the loop? Seemingly more than the others?" Fudge pressed, leaning forward a bit as Sirius carefully searched for an answer that would imply that Dumbledore was preparing something to defend the world of magic but ensure that it wasn't a past group brought back to life to try and defeat Voldemort once again.
"I can't say. My contact with past friends or allies of Dumbledore was limited. It isn't easy to hide with a Hippogriff." Sirius reminded him, "When I was given missions it was mostly to find or charm possible bases to be used for when Voldemort did show himself and the obvious targets of his wrath needed to hide."
"Was this why Arthur Weasley was guarding a door leading to the Department of Mysteries? To stop Voldemort from learning or obtaining something powerful?"
"Possibly, I can't say for sure."
"Can't say? Or won't say?" Fudge challenged, scowling when Sirius coolly remarked, "Would it matter? As I stated before I have no idea what Dumbledore is planning."
Fudge stared at him, trying to find a hint that would prove him wrong but eventually relaxed and leaned back with a disappointed scowl, "Right. Moving on, do you know why Dumbledore fled?"
"I have a few ideas, but no solid theories." Sirius replied, "Frankly, I think he ran since he wasn't prepared for someone to see his 'guidance' as something malicious."
"Why not?"
"Everyone's always talked him being this great and powerful wizard or seeing him as someone off his rocker. He probably had more to hide than just Harry and Earthbound's Occlumency lessons and didn't wish to share it with the world."
"Something besides Voldemort's return?"
"Maybe something even bigger than that." Sirius replied, "I feel that he's one of the few who believes in grandeur adventures or in some of the prophecies seers spout out to become famous or get a footnote in history."
"Hence his non-existence relationship with Kale."
"Ah yes, people believed that Kale predicted this and wanted to get out of the splash zone." Sirius recalled, trying to remember the young man but failing as Fudge nodded, "Indeed. A report came in yesterday and it stated that Kale found it odd that Dumbledore had insisted on hiring him alongside Trelawney when he wasn't applying for a job but simply took it as the stars guiding him to a new opportunity."
"I wouldn't know for sure. I don't believe in seeing in the future. Seems to bring more trouble than it's worth." Sirius admitted, "Although I do admit it is odd given how Kale is American, like Earthbound."
"You believe their connected?" Fudge questioned, a flicker of emotion in his eyes before he squashed it down to resume looking professional.
"Not sure, I just know that having Earthbound around is a bad idea. The kid is just as bad as Harry is when it comes to trouble, only he seems to want to get away from it." Sirius stated, frowning when he thought he heard a faint sound from upstairs but ignoring it when Fudge didn't react to it.
Perhaps the guilt was getting to him as Fudge slowly nodded in understanding, "Although we haven't had a chance to properly analyze the students interviews, Earthbound did admit that he doesn't like Dumbledore but also didn't wish to get Potter in trouble or publicly revealed when he believed Potter to be from an abusive household."
"Abusive?" Sirius echoed, thrown for a loop before he remembered the Dursleys. The people he partially believed would keep Harry safe until the dangers became harder to ignore.
But from Fudge's solid nod and quick assurance of, "Earthbound wasn't confirming or insisting that Potter was abused, he simply mentioned two events that stuck out to him and how he felt that Potter was more at home at Hogwarts than he was at home." Sirius felt his guilt morph into cold horror and anger at the implication—no, fact that the Dursleys were abusing James' and Lily's son, his godson.
"Right." Sirius managed, making a mental note to grill Hermione and Ron about the Durselys' when he saw them again. He doubted Molly would give him the full story once she caught wind of his betrayal.
"I…I admit that I don't understand muggle parenting and at the time, my greatest concern was that Harry had a roof over his head until I could claim guardianship over him."
"Do you believe that Potter is being abused?"
"…Yes." Sirius answered, remembering how overjoyed Harry was when he had offered to let Harry move in with him, how aggravated the children were when they learned that Harry had to go back to the Dursleys. Even if he wanted to ignore the signs, he wasn't foolish to believe that Harry had something close to a perfect picture life outside of school.
He certainly didn't when he was growing up, not unless he stepped in line behind his brother and he decided to take the third option, run away and disown his family.
"Another reason why I'm here. I may not know much about Dumbledore or where he is currently, but I do that it's only a matter of time before he starts reaching out for allies to do damage control." Sirius said, pushing his horror into a mental box for now and attempting to recompose himself the best he could.
"Do you have any idea how large Dumbledore web of allies are?"
Honestly? No. He knew the Order wasn't as large as a small Department in the Ministry, but he knew that everyone had ties to someone important and with the right persuading they could gain a few more loyal members to their cause.
"No. We may have had a solid web of allies during the war but it's fractured, and the surviving members are either keeping their heads down waiting to step back up to help stop Voldemort or are too broken beyond repair to aid our cause."
"I see," Fudge replied, his expression stating that he figured it was a lost cause to try and track Dumbledore down through his allies but desperate enough to ask anyway. "Do you know how close Potter is to Dumbledore?"
"No. The few times we managed to talk with one another this past year, it's usually Harry complaining about Dumbledore insisting he work with Snape for a private lesson or stating the latest hell that Umbridge has brought."
"Do you believe that Dumbledore was trying to groom Potter for something?"
"Yes," Sirius answered, inwardly laughing at Fudge's brief flicker of surprise before he collected himself and pressed on, "Why? I mean, has Dumbledore stated this? Proven it with his actions?"
"No, but…he's always been careful with Harry to some extent. Acting as if Harry is simple another one of his students but also meddling with Harry's life is he believes the time is right to 'guide him' or 'give him advice'. I don't blame people for believing that Dumbledore is grooming Harry, he always has a trick or three hidden in his sleeve."
"According to Earthbound, he and Potter were taking Occlumency classes to sever a link Voldemort created with Potter and to prevent one from being formed with Earthbound." Fudge stated, pulling out a small worn-down notebook to study before he resumed speaking, "However, despite Snape and later on, Kale's insistence Potter refused to take his studies seriously and ended up participating in an out of body event until his classes were abruptly ended by Umbridge's snooping."
"That's true, I tried to convince him to try and heed Snape's words. But frankly, I didn't trust Snape as far as I can throw him."
"Why not?"
"Growing up, Snape was our favorite punching bag and he held a grudge. That's how it 'slipped' that Remus was actually a werewolf despite being sworn to secrecy. Granted, we sort of earned that grudge. Or, I suppose I did." Sirius explained.
"Why would you say that?"
"Snape was always trying to get us in trouble in relation and he was poking his nose in all of our business so, Wormtail—Petigrew thought it would be funny to let him find out. Normally Remus stops our boneheaded ideas, but he was er…busy transforming and James had to step in to prevent Snape from getting killed."
Fudge looked horrified for a moment, "You tried to get him killed?"
"Maimed," Sirius corrected but he couldn't smother the small grimace of guilty blossoming on his face, "We didn't want him dead. Just wanted the git to stop following us around."
"I-I see. So, Snape held a grudge against James Potter for saving his life?"
"Yes, and even though he had a crush on Lily I doubt it does much for curbing his hatred for James and aiming it at Potter."
"But Potter didn't do anything!"
"Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. Given how much Dumbledore lets him get away with I wouldn't be surprised if Snape hated his boss's favoritism towards his enemy's kid." Sirius replied shrugging his shoulders as Fudge shook his head. "Right, moving on. Do you believe that Dumbledore might have groomed other students before Potter?"
That was…a good question. Dumbledore had been involved in a lot of Order members' lives, maybe by being an inspiration or personally helping them with something. Even with his eyes opened a bit wider to Dumbledore's level of craftiness he couldn't say for sure.
"I have no idea. Everyone I befriended or knew had nothing but praise for the man. And he has helped many while they were growing up or in a rough patch." Sirius slowly replied, "But that would imply that Dumbledore somehow could see into the future, that he knew he would need an army of people close to him to stop Voldemort."
"Doesn't he?" Fudge questioned, "After all, he has not one but two seers on his side and one of them is gifted with constant visions while the other can see grand prophecies."
"That…is true." Sirius admitted, his stomach churning as he wondered if Harry and Earthbound were somehow tangled up in this mess not because of their blood ties or skills, but because someone had predicted that they would need two young men to save the day from Voldemort.
It was certainly explained why everyone would keep them in the dark. At first, he believed it was the right thing to do. Harry needed to be protected and since he couldn't do it, he had to let those who could step in for him. But now…Now he wasn't sure. Was that actually why Harry was in the dark about the man who was gunning for his life? Or was it something else, something much more important?
"Kale himself stated that his predictions were much more accurate than Trelawney's and that he's had to hide his gift while growing up since muggles and wizards were equally amazed by his frequent and correct predictions." Fudge stated, flipping through a few pages of his notepad as Sirius asked, "How frequent are we talking about?"
"About…five days to two weeks. He'd get one or two at random but if he wanted to, he could use his gift to force a prediction to come to him." Fudge explained, "It's quiet an impressive skill."
A skill that Dumbledore had briefly had under his thumb. "I see," Sirius answered, "Is that all?"
"One last question," Fudge stated, "Do you believe that McGonagall and Snape would risk going to jail for Dumbledore?"
"Yes," Sirius answered, getting to his feet as Fudge nodded in sage understanding. "I see, thank you for your time. I recommend you keep a close eye on the papers. As promised, we'll work to proving your innocence to the public and give you a pardon until the court date."
"Thank you, Minister." Sirius stated, pulling out some floo powder and preparing to head back to the random house he had chosen for his trip to Hogwarts before he remembered something. "By the way. If you're trying to figure out who's loyal to Dumbledore and who's not. I recommend you also add in Death Eaters to the search."
Fudge and the two Aurors stiffened as Sirius glanced back, "Harry was attacked by two Dementors before the school year started. And if you didn't send them then that means the Death Eaters or someone who wants the 'Boy who lived' dead did."
"You believe the Ministry is compromised." Fudge grimly deadpanned.
"Impossible." One of the Auroras scoffed but the other agreed a beat later, prompting Sirius's eyes to narrow as he shot forward, pulling out his wand with one hand and forcing the man's left arm up and twisting it around to reveal the Dark Mark while yelling, "Stupify!" Before the other Auror and Fudge could stop him.
"Well, that was certainly convenient." Sirius noted, shoving the man back and looking at Fudge and the other Auror who were looking grim but angry.
"I've been made a fool of." Fudge bitterly grumbled, massaging his face with his hands before he straightened and barked, "Finch! You usually work with Thompson, who does he normally report to and who are his closest co-workers?"
Finch jumped in surprise but quickly answered, "Thompson reports to the same person that I do—Doppler. But He's usually chatting up the girls from various departments. Mostly the information ones and some reporters from the Daily Prophet."
"He was probably trying to figure out who had a high rank and who didn't when you started locking down everything to find Dumbledore's followers." Sirius concluded, kicking the man hard before he stepped back to let Finch do his job. "I suppose his grand plan was to kill Dumbledore, confoundus Finch and convince him that Dumbledore attacked first and that they had to put him down."
"And getting you instead almost gave him a chance to learn the inner workings of Dumbledore's plans and possible organization." Fudge concluded.
"We still have an in." Thompson grunted, a mad glint in his eyes as Finch tightened the ropes and murmured strict instructions to a weasel Patronus to prepare a cell for Thompson, "Even with Dumbledore hanging himself the Dark Lord still has a valid source within the Ministry!"
"Care to enlighten us?" Sirius questioned, the urge to kick the man once more rising as Thompson laughed, "We found the real sender of the Dementors. Even without the news of our lord's rebirth everything is coming together!"
"Sender of the Dementors? Someone not working directly to the Dark Lord sent those?" Fudge questioned, looking horrified as Sirius grimly nodded, "Harry has a lot of enemies and given his stance of Voldemort coming back someone might have wanted to silence him."
"But…why didn't they go after Earthbound?" Finch questioned looking a little worried as Fudge and Sirius looked at the man, "I mean, Dementors aren't common in America but…The attack happened at the start of the school year, right? So…that was before Potter and Earthbound started protesting. If whoever sent the Dementor felt that they were a threat then, why only gun for Potter?"
"That…is a good question." Fudge admitted looking at Sirius then at Thompson before looking back at Sirius before deciding something. "Finch, take Thompson away and carefully inform trusted Aurors of a rumor that Death Eaters may be working within the Ministry. We'll need to keep this under wrap."
"Yes sir," Finch quickly did as told. Thompson's laughter echoing in Sirius's ears as he glared into the fire before he looked at the Minister who was oozing determination to right some of his many wrongs.
"Black, I trust that you know more about what's going on with Dumbledore. But I suppose that Dumbledore's activities and connections pull a lot of people under a not so friendly light, so I'll keep this brief. Did Dumbledore suspect someone would go after Potter?"
Sirius regarded Fudge for a long moment, weighing his options before stating, "Show me your left arm."
"Of course." It was bare, devoid of the Dark Mark. Putting Sirius at ease as he answered, "Yes. In Harry's neighborhood there's a squib and we had someone guarding him after the end of the Tri-Wizard tournament."
"Did Dumbledore suspect someone would go after Earthbound?"
"I don't think so, but I figured that Earthbound's efforts that rescued them from Voldemort's rebirth and attack proved the boy's capability of defending himself." Not to mention that Earthbound was a PSI user but that wasn't important at the moment.
Fudge nodded, "Final question, if possible. Can you ask Potter and Earthbound if they remember who showed up at the Dark Lord's rebirth? I doubt this was a quiet affair and as much as I loath to admit it, I have a lot of cleaning up to do."
"About time." Sirius thought, nodding in agreement and stating, "Once I get the list, I'll send it through Harry. I doubt you're going to remove those teachers anytime soon so it's probably the safest and most discreet option we have at the moment."
"Thank you," Fudge said giving a small thankful nod as Sirius stepped through the fireplace, feeling drained and five years older than he actually was as he hurried back to Grimuald place. Being extra careful to avoid being seen as he slipped in through the front door and turned back into a human.
This half deal may not play out in his favor—All that glitters wasn't gold after all—but Sirius couldn't help but say 'screw it' as he moved into the kitchen to prepare himself dinner. The house feeling far to empty and far to big even with Kreature scuttling about like a—
"So, the young master has done it,"
Sirius flinched away from the kitchen with a curse as he glared at the house elf.
"Done what Kreature?" he challenged, all to prepared to order Kreacture to go off and find his mother's urn—which was safely hidden in a box locked away in the attic—when he noticed something look of simmering hatred in Kreature's eyes were replaced with an odd mix of pride and disgust as he stood in the doorway, his pillowcase stuffed with whatever relic he had salvaged at the moment.
"Sold out the muggle loving headmaster. Kreature knew that man couldn't be trusted. Oh no, he was pulling for too many strings to be seen as a good man." Kreature muttered, "The mistress would agree, say he's more of a Slytherin than whatever he is. Oh yes she would, it would be through bloodied teeth and a lockjaw, but she'd say it."
Sirius blinked before he came to the horrific realization that Kreacture was praising him for backstabbing Dumbledore. "Go take a walk Kreature!" Sirius ordered, feeling sick before a little voice reminded him that this was all for Harry.
"Young master may not like it, but when one has a spider with too many threads, they have to cut it them all to save the pathetic little flies." Kreature grumbled, but it was a little louder than his usual grumbles as he shuffled away and Buckbeck took his spot. Giving Sirius a cool but curious gaze as he tried to process being praised by Kreature.
"Buckbeck, did you think I did the right thing? I mean, about telling them about him?" Sirius asked, waiting as the Hippogriff tilted his head before slowly nodding and lumbering inside to extend his wing in a comforting gesture before squawking for something to eat.
"Right, might as well get something to eat before the others find out." Sirius muttered, glancing at the clock and breathing a sigh of relief that only 2 and a half hours had passed.
He had left early in the afternoon to alert the Department watching Dumbledore's fireplace that something was amiss and when everyone who lingered in Grimmauld place was out running errands, working or trying to appear as if they weren't disappearing at odd hours every now and then. He counted whatever few blessings he had as he enjoyed the once miserable silence and the calm before the storm.
The first hint of the storm came in the form of Molly, bustling inside with her arms full of groceries and a pinched frown on her face as she gave him a breathy, "Sorry for taking so long." Before bustling to her usual chores.
"How's Arthur doing?" Sirius asked, pouring himself a glass of fire whiskey before pausing and drinking from the bottle instead. He would need a bit of liquid courage as Molly huffed in annoyance but had a small shaky smile on her face, "Better. The doctors say he's making a swift recovery and after a month of physical therapy he'll be able to come home. Arthur of course is enjoying every second of it and keeps asking the doctors about the various teck-no-logy they have there."
Sirius nodded, "Don't blame him. Muggles make fascinating motorcycles. Almost makes me wish to find another one and make it my own."
"Ah yes, who can forget you and that blasted motor bike." Molly grumbled, "You and Arthur could go for hours at a time jabbering about the various tools you'd need while James would just throw out the wrong thing to get your knickers in a twist."
"Not my fault the git needed to be educated." Sirius retorted, his heart squeezing at the memory and of one of Lily shaking her head while laughing as Sirius ripped James a new one for denting his bike by bonding it to a broom and crashing it into a tree.
The git swearing up and down that it would have made it much easier to travel with when he couldn't fly away. Maybe Harry would enjoy tuning up a motorcycle. Hell, the boy would probably love a chance to drive out on the open road with the wind in his hair. He may not have driven his motorcycle on ground much before he gave it to Hagrid but when he did it was fantastic.
"How's Bill doing? Heard he ran into a few nasty curses." Sirius asked, taking another swig of his whiskey when the door opened with a loud bang and set off the old bat.
"And here come the warning winds." Sirius thought, spitting out a few curses as he rushed to silence the old hag and greet whoever was bringing the bad news. A small part of him hoping that they didn't know—wouldn't know until the story hit the papers or better yet, tomorrow morning.
But he knew that was impossible, especially when they had a veteran Auror on their team who knew the best ways to get a hanged man talking. Thankfully, it wasn't Moody. At least not yet, instead it was Mundungus Fletcher looking winded and wild eyed.
That was…sort of good and sort of bad, Fletcher had a lot of shady connections and news sources so the odds of him hearing that Sirius had given up what little he knew of Dumbledore were high. But that could wait, first he had to shut up the old bat and—
"Phineas!" Fletcher bellowed, shoving past Sirius and ignoring his sharp yell of, "Don't wake him up! We don't need two screaming banshees!" and his mother's shrill screech of, "Banshee?! You are an ungrateful, ingrate! Even when disowned you continue to be a stain in our family legacy!"
"And proud of it!" Sirius retorted, yanking the curtains shut and bonding them together for a few moments of peace—they never stayed shut. Never. —before storming after Fletcher who was arguing with Molly while very grumpy Phineas Black watched them with a pursed frown.
"What's going on here?" Sirius demanded, trying to look frustrated as Molly turned to him and huffed, "Apparently someone traveled to Dumbledore's fireplace and left an hour later."
"Apparently?" Sirius questioned, wondering why Molly was angry about this news. Sure, it didn't help that it was coming from Fletcher who Molly considered a slime ball, but he was just as loyal as Snivellus when it came to Dumbledore.
"It's true! Happened right after lunch!" Fletcher insisted, "A friend of a friend said they got the call and sent two Aurors to check it out! Moments later one is rushing back out to get the Minister!"
"Which is why I'm awake?" Phineas questioned, giving Fletcher a look of pure and utter loathing before turning away to grumble something at his neighbor.
"Yes! Now cough it up you living piece of plywood!" Fletcher demanded, the party unaware of Sirius's slight twitch before he smoothed his face out into a mask of curiosity. One he knew his blasted grandfather saw right through as the 'man' turned back to face them.
"Yes, brilliant deduction. Insult the man you want information from. You were obviously a Gryffindor when you were in school." Phineas huffed before he pointedly turned to Molly, someone he deemed the lesser evil at the moment. "I don't know who came through the fireplace the first two times since I was asleep and later pretending to be asleep. But I do know that there was a party of at least three and that it ended in a laughable scuffle."
"Well they must have said a name!" Fletcher snapped, turning to look at Sirius in a 'can you believe this guy' manner as Sirius rolled his eyes. "Right, call out the person in front of them while standing in front of the past headmasters."
"Who were all asleep and later pretending to be asleep." Phineas reminded them, "We like gossip, remember?"
"You're hiding something!" Fletcher insisted as Molly repeated, "First two times?"
"Oh yes, whoever was there had a partner. I didn't hear them come in through the fireplace, but I heard them scuttling around before the intruder showed up." Phineas explained, "It was quite odd, but I assumed they were rats at first before they started talking."
"Rats." Sirius echoed shaking his head as the retired headmaster huffed, "Until we heard voices, we simply wrote it off. The front door hadn't opened, and we didn't hear a whoosh of flames."
"Well, what did the Minister say?" Molly questioned, folding her arms as Phineas gave her a pained look of frustration. "It was a questioning. About Dumbledore's location."
"A Death Eater!" Fletcher exclaimed, looking excited until he deflated at Phineas' blunt, "No, that was one of the Aurors. The person being questioned pointed them out to the Minister and actually got that spineless slug to try and shape up."
Sirius smothered the urge to snort and instead asked, "And just how is the Minister going to shape up?"
"Surprisingly, in a smart manner." Phineas explained giving him a careful look as he continued to speak, "He's going to use the witch hunt for Order members to weed out Death Eaters and keep it hush-hush until they've got a good idea of who's compromised and who isn't."
"That is…surprisingly smart." Molly noted, looking bewildered that the Minister actually had a good idea.
Sirius nodded in agreement, hoping that was the end of that until Moody or Tonks showed up when Fletcher stepped forward, his shoulders squared and his tone curt. "You're covering for someone."
Phineas raised an eyebrow, "I'm not going to sell out one of my own. A snake never shows it's underbelly."
"So, a Slytherin willingly gave information to the Minister?" Molly questioned before she scowled and grumbled, "Probably Malfoy. Blasted git can't pass up a chance to kill two birds with one stone."
Well, he had a nice time on the plane of the living before he was flayed to death by Fletcher and then resurrected by Molly so she could have her turn.
"As reassuring as that is, no thanks." Sirius stated, easing his hand into the pocket where his wand was as Molly and Fletcher turned to look at him in confusion then horror as Phineas scoffed, "Even when you act like Slytherin you still act like one of those bloody lions. Fine, fine. Go ahead, air your dirty laundry."
"No," Fletcher whispered as Molly opened her mouth to demand something, stopped and then covered her mouth while gasping, "You took the deal."
"Deal?" Fletcher started when he stopped and turned the cover of a bruised tomato and roared the first spell he could think of, "Furnunculus!"
Sirius jumped to the side, whipping his wand out and yelling, "Protego Maxima!" and then aiming at Fletcher's face and adding, "Slienco!" Killing the wizard's words—and future hexes—as Molly pulled her own wand out and yelled, "Stop! We're wizards not animals!"
"Excuse you!" Sirius quipped, his attempt of light humor failing as Molly and Fletcher glared at him.
"Right, not the time and place." He grumbled, lowering his wand and canceling the shield as Fletcher made angry gestures at him.
"What did you tell him." Molly quietly demanded, looking heartbroken as Sirius looked her head on. Trying to ignore the fierce look of betrayal in her eyes. "What I knew about Dumbledore and apparently, confirming if Harry was abused."
Fletcher paused in his angry gesturing as Molly sharply inhaled, the flush of her cheeks sharply receding as Sirius nodded in agreement, "A surprising question, I know. But until he asked if I hadn't even considered to think that the Dursleys were abusive pricks who were aiming to steal my family's name of worse family ever."
Phineas rolled his eyes but didn't argue as Molly covered her mouth again to smoother her frantic whispers before she collected herself and pressed, "What else. What else did you talk about Sirius?"
"It wasn't much. The Muggle loving fool sadly knew not to trust his underlings with the finer details unless it suited him." Phineas offered, "So, all he could say without revealing that Dumbledore has a secret little clubhouse, if Sirius knew where Dumbledore was, how many allies Dumbledore has and some personal questions about Harry before they found the Death Eater."
"What happened then?" Molly pressed.
"Fudge alluded to knowing that Dumbledore does have some secret clubhouse and asked if Dumbledore knew that someone would try to take Harry's life." Sirius explained a sharp sarcastic grin forming as he said, "Apparently someone from the Ministry sent those Dementors right under everyone's noses and Voldemort has them in his custody."
"What?!" Molly exclaimed as Fletcher reeled back in shock, "And even better! The straight Auror asked why they sent the Dementors after Harry and not to him and Earthbound. Meaning that Voldemort now has a very big fan of Harry who wants to kill him and holds enough hate to fuel a muggle fireplace!"
"This isn't good," Molly muttered, "We all thought it was You-Know-Who but a random civilian?"
"With enough power to visit Azkaban without being questioned." Sirius added, wondering if he should add that Fudge wanted Harry and Earthbound to write a list of everyone who showed up for Voldemort's rebirth to try and weed the Death Eaters out even faster.
He decided that no, this should be a Harry and Earthbound secret and that they got the power to tell who they thought deserved to know. Yes, Harry would no doubt be furious with him but that was alright.
Sirius was going to make sure that everyone would stop treating him with kid gloves and keep him in the dark after this. He earned that right after learning that Dumbledore thought it would be fine to let Fletcher guard Harry and let him get attacked by Dementors. If he knew Dementors were coming, then Harry should have been in Grimmauld Place. Protected.
"Well, considering the amount of slander Potter and Earthbound has cooked up. It's an easy guess to believe Umbridge is behind it. Or at least, will be in contact with the person who tried to murder Potter." Phineas offered, yawning a little as Molly and Sirius exchanged a look.
"The old man has a point." Sirius grumbled, "Umbridge was thrown out into the cold and Fudge is done being made a fool of. She has no way back into the Ministry without a miracle happening."
"Which means she might be alongside the Dementor sender with Voldemort." Molly muttered her eyes widening with horror as she exclaimed, "We need to inform people!"
"How? The Auroras are under heavy scrutiny even without my help and everyone else is stuck laying low. The only people we can inform is Harry and Earthbound to keep an eye out for possible murder attempts." Sirius countered, scowling as Fletcher hopped up and down and pointed at his mouth.
"Hex me again and I'll cut your fingers off." Sirius warned, undoing the spell and folding his arms as Fletcher retorted, "You can try."
"I can, preferably with a knife." Sirius promised, jerking his head towards the kitchen and waving his wand to get the point across. One of the things he picked up in Azkaban was that you sadly couldn't rely on magic all the time.
Plus, it was much more fun to get your hands dirty. A lesson he had picked up from repairing his motorcycle both magically and physically. Fletcher paled but didn't press on the matter instead demanding, "How could you sell Dumbledore out! After all he's done for you!"
"All he's done for me?" Sirius repeated before he roared, "Dumbledore has done absolutely nothing for me! The only good that coot has ever done is let Moony attend school and attempt to protect Harry!"
"He didn't attempt-," Fletcher started when Sirius silenced him with a glare, "Who. Was in charge of watching Harry when those Dementors attacked?"
"In fact, who was supposed to protect Harry from me? Who was supposed to protect Harry from Voldemort last year? Since the only thing Dumbledore's done is rope more people into this mess and leave them completely in the dark!" Sirius finished, his nails biting into his hand as he resisted the urge to jab Fletcher hard in the chest with his wand.
"That doesn't mean we should throw him to the Ministry! They're incompetent and riddled with Death Eaters!" Fletcher insisted, scowling when Phineas yawned, "Who the Minister is going to begin searching for."
"How?! How is he going to accomplish?!" Fletcher demanded looking at Phineas then at him with his face covered in angry red splotches.
"Didn't say, but he's working on it." Phineas curtly answered as Sirius leveled his best glare at Phineas. "At least we know he's doing something to help instead of running away."
It took them a moment to figure out what he was implying but when they did both Molly and Fletcher exploded with angry and disbelieving words. Sirius blocked them out, focusing on his breathing and not hexing Fletcher's mouth shut again when Molly suddenly moved forward and jabbed a finger in his chest. "How can you say that!?" she demanded, "Dumbledore is doing his best to protect us!"
"You could have fooled me." Sirius hissed, "Since so far the only people he's protected is himself. It'll only be a matter of time before the Ministry start taking the teachers and McGonagall into custody for more information. All they know is that Dumbledore is being sneaky and that he might have changed his mind about becoming Minister."
"He doesn't want to be Minister!" Fletcher exploded, scowling when Sirius retorted, "Well how do we know that?! All we know is that Dumbledore has run off and left us with his bloody problems! We don't even know why he felt the need to leave the Ministry in the dark about Harry and Earthbound's secret lessons!"
"Because then Voldemort would know!" Fletcher tried but they all knew that was a miserable excuse.
It wasn't like Occlumency was illegal, it was a questionable thing to practice in this day and age. But Dumbledore could have easily hand waved it as the boys needing to learn extra protection after being kidnapped and fighting for their lives against the reborn Dark Lord and Dumbledore simply wishing to keep it on the down-low for their sake.
Not to mention, Voldemort already had a good idea of what went in on Harry's head thanks to snooping around there for who knows how long. And if he didn't then he definitely knew after Harry ended up in Nagini's mind and witnessed Arthur getting attacked.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Sirius jumped, his chest swelling with relief and a bit of unease as they looked down the hall to see Remus cautiously studying them while holding the evening edition of the Daily Prophet. His expression was grim but when he locked eyes with Sirius, he gave him a small nod of understanding. Silently explaining that while he might not agree with what Sirius did, he understood why he did it.
"Decided to get a job being the paper boy, Moony?" Sirius joked, but it rang hollow in his ears as Fletcher and Molly gave sharp inhales and glared at Sirius's back.
"I would say you would do better than me at that, but we both know your horrible at following directions." Remus replied.
"And proud of it." Sirius joked, relaxing his grip on his wand as Molly bustled past him. Quietly demanding, "How bad is it? How much do they know?"
"Not a lot, but it's enough for them." Remus replied handing her the paper and folding his arms. "What Sirius gave them was enough to increase the possibility of Dumbledore grooming students even before he met Harry and Earthbound and that Dumbledore's allies were well in the dark about his recent actions."
"What about the Death Eater?" Molly pressed, frowning when Remus blinked in surprise, "What Death Eater?"
"When I went, one of the Aurors was a Death Eater hoping to get the drop on Dumbledore." Sirius explained, "I sniffed him out and revealed to Fudge that the Ministry has to clear out another nest of rats."
"Ah, yes. They didn't mention that. But they did state that thanks to Sirius's efforts and information they would be working to give him a fair trial and a pardon until the trial."
"Looks like you're attempt at freedom was all for nothing." Fletcher sneered, scowling when Sirius coolly retorted, "It's a chance at freedom. Something that Dumbledore's never given me. That's better than nothing in my books."
"Sirius!" Molly exclaimed sounding a little hysterical as Remus pursed his lips and looked away for a moment before he continued talking, "The Prophet didn't mention anything about the Order, but they did mention Dumbledore's heavy involvement in Harry and Earthbound."
"Huh, that went better than I thought it would." Sirius noted, he had been expecting the Prophet to use his statement as a clear fire shot at Dumbledore. Insisting that the elderly wizard had been plotting to overthrow the Ministry with the new generation. But given the recent events, it was probably safer for the Ministry to push people to read the truth first before they start putting their own ideas and beliefs into the mix.
"Well good for you." Fletcher grumbled as Molly pointedly ignored him, asking. "Remus, have you heard from any of the others? We need to warn Tonks and Moody about Umbridge or whoever sent the Dementors being captured by Dumbledore!"
Remus blinked and then looked at Sirius who nodded, "First, I think we should all sit down and have some tea. Then, we can focus on what's going on since all I know is that Sirius bargained with the Ministry and succeeded." Remus stated, gesturing towards the kitchen as Fletcher tried to object before being shut down by a firm glare from Molly.
So, with reluctance they trooped into the kitchen, using the time Molly took to make tea and make some sandwiches to begin filling Remus in. Or, tried to since Fletcher and Sirius kept bickering about who would explain what and kept interrupting one another until Remus used the voice he usually used to quietly threaten him and James from doing something dumb and forced them to wait their turn to explain what happened.
"You are such a parent." Sirius grumbled, chewing on his ham and cheese sandwich while fixing Remus with a small glare as the man had the nerve to give a content hum as he stirred his tea.
"So, before we move onto the next topic of 'how do we inform the others about the third party'." Remus started, "What about the people spying on Sirius?"
Right. Sirius had almost forgotten about that. Who was hiding in Dumbledore's office?
"First we need to figure out how they got into the office in the first place." Fletcher reminded them, "Dumbledore's office is impossible to break in and we know that they didn't use the fireplace since Sirius used it to purposely alert the Ministry."
"They didn't wake the paintings up either." Sirius recalled, "So that meant they didn't take the door."
"The only thing I can think of is apperating." Molly admitted, "But that's impossible."
Sirius was about to agree when Remus gave a small gasp and stood up. "What? What did you piece together?" Sirius pressed as Remus made a wait gesture and hurried back into the hallway.
They exchanged confused glances with one another before following Remus and watching as he woke Phineas up, "Now what?" the retired headmaster whined, "I've already told you all that I know!"
"Has Dumbledore ever summoned Ness Earthbound to his office?" Remus demanded.
"Moony what does Earthbound have to do with this?" Sirius asked stepping forward as Phineas sighed and looked up at the celling for a moment before nodding, "Yes. I believe it was in his third year…? Maybe fourth? I don't remember. Only thing I do remember is that boy leaving in a huff and Dumbledore making another idiotic decision."
"Earthbound was there—he was in the office." Remus said, turning to face them as Molly and Fletcher looked at him in disbelief. "How?" Fletcher asked, Earthbound may be a skilled…Whatever he is-,"
"PSI user." Sirius offered.
"What Black said, but what does that have to do with anything?" Fletcher finished.
"Because. Earthbound can teleport. And he can take groups with him at a time." Remus answered, "I know for fact that he can since he teleported Ginny and I to the Shrieking Shack to stop Harry from possibly killing Sirius."
"What?" Molly exclaimed, her voice rising in pitch as Sirius thought for a moment then gasped in realization, "That's how you found us so quickly. Earthbound and Luna confronted me in the shack once!"
Remus nodded, "He didn't let on much, but I believe that he can teleport to anyplace he has been before if he has enough space to run."
"Teleportation…without magic?" Fletcher mumbled, looking horrified as Molly started to mutter to herself looking sick with worry as she saw the endless possibilities Earthbound had open to him.
"And yet, he's still attending Hogwarts." Sirius reminded them.
"Ignoring that," Fletcher snapped but he looked shaken, "This means that Earthbound and his friends also know about your little chat and may spread it throughout the school."
"No, he wouldn't do that." Remus muttered, "I haven't seen much of Earthbound, but I do know that he isn't that suicidal."
"Especially not when he's so close to ending up ono Voldemort's list of people to kill." Sirius stated.
"He isn't on it?" Molly questioned, paling as Sirius shook his head no, "The Dementors were sent to Harry and Harry alone. So, unless Earthbound is keeping his attack on the down low. Voldemort hasn't made a move for him after the graveyard incident."
"Makes sense, if Earthbound was in danger he would use his powers at full force. Especially since he was blackmailed and endangered Harry." Remus agreed looking a little worried as Sirius made a mental note to ask Earthbound if he was attacked by Voldemort when he requested the list of possible Death Eaters he saw.
Although, Earthbound might not know much since he didn't enroll until two years ago and knew nothing about magic let alone wizards beforehand.
"We need to tell Dumbledore about this." Molly stated, "He needs to know."
"Well, if we can find him then be my guest. Outside of room and board I'm done blindly following Dumbledore." Sirius stated, folding his arms as Molly gave a chastised yell of, "Dumbledore is the reason why Harry is still alive Sirius!"
"Molly," Remus started when Sirius spoke over him, "Really? Since it seems like Earthbound has been doing more work than Dumbledore! Hell! At this point I'm considering that Dumbledore is letting Harry get into danger!"
"He isn't!"
"Then why can't we tell Harry about the Order? It's his head that Voldemort is gunning for! We're just chopped liver to that madman!"
"Because Harry's too young!"
"Too young," Sirius scoffed, "Who the hell cares?! Voldemort isn't going to wait until he's 18 to kill him! The more we shut him out the more he's going to keep looking for trouble!"
"Harry's a smart boy-,"
"Really?! Since we don't act like he's a smart boy. We treat him like a child and don't let him get in a word unless he stumbles upon Voldemort's latest scheme!"
"He-he!" Molly tried when Remus's wand let off a bang and he was suddenly between the two, pushing them back and speaking with a forced calm, "Fletcher, please help Molly prepare dinner. Moody and Tonks should have seen the news and will be rushing over or sending someone over to plan. Sirius come with me."
Sirius glared at Molly before snarling, "Fine, I have something to do anyway."
"Selling more of our secrets out?" Fletcher challenged, flinching when Remus gave him a patented 'You've screwed up beyond belief' glare that was normally saved for him and James before he pushed Sirius up the stairs.
They didn't stop until they reached Buckbeck's room—the Master Bedroom where the Hippogriff was calmly ripping the overpriced furniture to shreds with his claws.
Buckbeck glanced up at them before resuming his task as Sirius closed the door and looked at Remus who looked tired. Oh, so tired.
"What do you think. About this mess?" Sirius asked, his voice quiet as Remus sat on the remains of the bed and knit his hands together.
"I'm not sure Padfoot." Remus murmured, "It's…almost too much. The public outcry we were hoping for is happening, but against the wrong person."
Sirius nodded, not daring to speak since he knew the only words he had to offer towards Dumbledore were filled with venom.
"To make it worse. I can't even create a reason to defend Dumbledore. Sure, he gave me a chance of normality as a child, but did he do it out of the kindness of his heart? Or because he thought I would be a useful informant?"
"Informant?" Sirius questioned, a scowl forming as Remus nodded, "I was trying to find Greyback, lure some of his followers or any other victims I found over to our side before Voldemort got to him."
"And out of everyone, you have the best shot." Sirius concluded, "Just like Hagrid and the giants."
"He had the best shot. Hogwarts is in lock down and no one can leave the building unless they've been interviewed or questioned."
"Bloody hell." Sirius breathed, running a hand through his hair as Remus quietly said, "You know Harry isn't going to like this."
No, no he wouldn't. He didn't how much of Harry's loyalty lay with Dumbledore, but he knew it was enough to anger the boy and make him lash out before he started to see reason.
Reason that shouldn't—and wouldn't come from the person who toppled the dominos. James was like that, too stubborn to see the other side of an argument unless Remus beat him over the head with it. He meant well but once he got into a tizzy the best thing to do was wait for him to calm down or throw someone not involved with the problem to bounce off reasons and ideas. Usually, they threw Lily since Remus was much to logical with his points.
Wormtail chickened out and he would just make the argument worse since he was just as stubborn as James. Not to mention, they had slighted Harry one to many times. Unless he demanded to know why Sirius had sold Dumbledore out, he wasn't going to listen to an adult. Hopefully he wouldn't since Snape would just make it worse and he wasn't sure what McGonagall would tell him.
"A price to pay." Sirius said, "Only thing I can do know is ask Harry and Earthbound if they remember who they saw at the graveyard."
"Why?"
"To help Fudge find the rats faster." Sirius explained dropping his voice to a whisper as he glanced at the door, "Frankly, I'm surprised none of us thought of it."
"Outside of the Aurors, we couldn't do much with that information but keep our eyes open." Remus reminded him before he asked, "I suppose this means you have another deal set up with the Minister?"
"Looks like it."
Remus sighed and shook his head but didn't argue, "I hope you know what you're doing Padfoot."
"Moony, no one knows what they're doing other than scrambling around like headless chickens." Sirius reminded him, relived to see that Remus wasn't furious with him for his betrayal to the Order. "And until someone drops an egg, we aren't going to be able to do much just run around and prepare the best we can."
9 out of 12!
Yea that hole Dumbledore is digging is just getting deeper and deeper...
Also, I may have uh, completely forgotten that Fudge is a spineless person in cannon whose only concern is protecting his job as Minister.
I sort of remebered Cannon Fudge as a guy who gets himself into a tizzy and focuses on the smaller picture but tries his best as Minister since he rarely appears in the books despite the charaters bad mouthing him every time he's mentioned.
I didn't take it seriously because from their perpestive he is an idiot full of hot air while from my limited perspective and being unable to remeber Fudge abusing his power or being outright nasty to the main characters like Malfoy or Snape, he's just this guy trying to keep order the best he can while this powerful old wizard who has 'allowed' several dangerous things to happen to his school and students is now insisting that the boogey man of wizards is back with no solid evidence or proof other than this famous boy who has been getting into danger EVERY SINGLE YEAR claiming that it's true.
