Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

A/N: Thanks to MaeSilverpaws1, who is beta-ing this story.

Chapter Sixty-One

What to do Now

Sirius didn't know what to think or even what to say when he saw the headline. His mouth dropped and his breath came in raggedly. He couldn't make sense of this. Peter Pettigrew had escaped Azkaban! How the bloody hell did that happen? It didn't make any sense; everyone knew Peter was an idiot. How could he have escaped a prison that no one had been able to escape from before? Sirius's mind went immediately to the fact that Peter was an Animagus and that must have helped him but he couldn't see how. He had told the Ministry what he was … the Dementors where aware about what Peter was.

"Sirius," Emmeline questioned, touching his arm lightly and he looked at her. "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay?!" Sirius hissed, his mind still reeling out of control. "How can I be okay … that rat betrayed us! He's one of the main reasons why Lily and James …" he couldn't continue as the pain he had gone through so long ago returned to him.

He then started thinking about what was going to happen next. What would the rat do now that he was out of Azkaban? What would his goals be? It would have to be something that would help the rat out. That's what he always did. Peter always tried to find the best way to make his life easier, no matter the cost to others. Sirius felt a chill run through him. Sirius knew he had to adjust his thinking. He needed to think like Peter would to figure out what the rat's next move would be.

"Harry," he gasped under his breath, not sure if it was even possible but he felt that he had to get to his nephew right away. Sirius knew it wasn't actually possible but he couldn't help but envision a visible danger hanging over Harry … an unpredictable aspect and he wasn't going to just stand by and do nothing about it. He had to find out what was going on.

"Harry?" Emmeline repeated looking at him confused. Sirius turned to her and he could tell that she was trying to understand why he would say that; her eyes moving around as she thought.

"I'm sorry Em … I know this is crap timing, but I have to go," Sirius sighed. "And I'm probably going to be really busy …"

"I understand," Emmeline said and with her tone and the way she looked, he wondered if she might really understand everything. He didn't have time to ask her about it, he really had to go. "Just promise me one thing, Siri. Don't do anything rash."

Sirius gave her a ghost of a smile, not able to really smile because of how worried he was … and angry that the stupid rat had escaped his justice. "You know I can't promise that. I'm always rash."

"Then promise me that you'll come back … as soon as you can," she said this time biting her lip uncertainly.

"I will," he said grabbing her and kissing her, knowing it would be awhile before he could see her again. "I promise."

O

"Black, slow down, what makes you think that Harry Potter will be in any danger?" Fudge asked, his lime-green bowler hat was in his hand and he twirled it nervous.

"I don't have any proof, but if there's a chance, don't you think it would be best to protect him!" Sirius said, trying his hardest to not be overly forceful. "It is Harry Potter. after all."

"Yes, we wouldn't want anything happening to the boy," Fudge agree and Sirius had to struggle with keeping his face from showing any anger. It was clear that the Minister didn't care much about the boy … he cared about the standing that Harry Potter had. "Hm … but how should we handled this."

"I was thinking that maybe I could …"

"What are you doing in here, Black!" Scrimgeour exclaimed as he walked into the room, Sirius knew he was in trouble, because the Head Auror had already shot down his suggestion.

"Sirius here was telling me about how he thought Harry Potter might be in danger …"

"I thought we already discussed this, Black," Scrimgeour said with a glare that Sirius knew meant bad things to come. "You're clearly too emotional about this subject, and I don't appreciate you going behind my back to come here."

"Well this is a personal matter to me," Sirius said unable to control his anger.

"We don't really need you in here," Scrimgeour said, "I'll talk to you later."

Sirius didn't want to leave but when he looked at Fudge he knew that he wasn't going to get any help there. He turned and stormed out of the room, wondering what was going to come next. An hour later Sirius got the note telling him to go to Scrimgeour's office.

"What were you thinking, Black?" Scrimgeour shouted when Sirius came into the office. "There was no need for you to go to the Minister!"

Sirius bit back his response, knowing that Scrimgeour's temper shouldn't be tested right now.

"You really put me in a tight spot," Scrimgeour said, "I know that you have an insight on this case that no one else could, but with the way you're acting now I'm not sure if I could trust you."

"You already told me that you weren't going to have me looking for Pettigrew!" Sirius pointed out, crossing his arm and looking distinctively angry.

"I was still planning on using you," Scrimgeour said.

Sirius once again bit back his retort to that; Scrimgeour didn't think much of him because Sirius was known for always going against the grain. Sirius did his job well, even though he wasn't the kind of Auror that Scrimgeour liked, he wasn't organized enough.

"But you've taken yourself off of this case," Scrimgeour said. "I'm going to have Kingsley heading up the operation of recovering Pettigrew. He will be working closely with the Dementors."

Sirius was actually pleased to hear that Kingsley would be the head of the case because he knew his fellow Auror would come to him even if Scrimgeour didn't think he was useful. There was also the fact that Kingsley was very good at his job.

"As for Harry Potter's protection, the Ministry had taken your warning seriously," Scrimgeour said and the glare that he was giving Sirius said that he thought this wasn't worth the resources he would now have to use. "And he's going to have a good deal of Dementors surrounding Hogwarts."

"Dementors at Hogwarts … you can't be serious!" Sirius exclaimed; he didn't want Dementors anywhere near Harry, or any of the other students.

"The Dementors seemed to be the best solution to the problem you made," Scrimgeour shrugged. "I'm sure if Pettigrew thought of going near Hogwarts, they would be enough to catch him."

"But to have the Dementors so near the students …" Sirius said.

"You should have thought of that before you made such a big deal out of this, Black," Scrimgeour said, almost looking smug now.

"Sir, let me go to Hogwarts …" Sirius volunteered.

"It's a waste of resources to have an Auror station there," Scrimgeour said.

"Think it over sir," Sirius said, "this way you can get rid of me for a few months and I won't be on your case all the time about this."

"As tempting that is, Black, it's still …" Scrimgeour started.

"You can also partner Frank with Kingsley," Sirius suggested. "Frank knows more about Pettigrew than anyone other than myself, he would be invaluable to the investigation. You don't trust my judgment but you know that I'm committed to protecting Harry more than anyone could be. I'm not going to let anything happened to James's son. And I could watch him without drawing attention to myself by being a dog."

Scrimgeour leaned back in his chair looking thoughtful. Sirius tried to sit as still as possible as he kept his determined eyes on the Head Auror. Finally, Scrimgeour said, "Very well Black, you can go to Hogwarts but the Dementors are staying," Sirius made to interrupt but Scrimgeour wouldn't let him, "that's nonnegotiable, Black. And you're going to have to make regular reports to me or I will call you back."

"I understand, sir," Sirius said, knowing this was the best he could hope for.

"Get out of here, Black," Scrimgeour said, "oh, and if you ever undermine me again, you'll be doing paperwork, at that desk in the closet, for the rest of your career."

Sirius nodded his head at that … he had hear the threat before but he was pretty sure that Scrimgeour really meant it this time. He left the office to get ready for his mission, glad that he would be able to be near Harry, especially during this grave time, but hating that he wouldn't be seeing Emmeline for a very long time now.

O

Harry felt as if his heart dropped at what Remus had just told him. Remus had pulled Harry into his office before he could go to lunch and he knew that something bad must have happened but he had not expected this. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Peter Pettigrew, a name that he had heard in his house only a few times, but when it was said it was to explain that he was his dad, Sirius and Remus's friend, who had betrayed them and became a Death Eater, had broken out of Azkaban.

Harry could tell that Remus was really upset about this news as well, but Harry couldn't stay in the office as his mind reeled with what he had just been told. He never liked thinking about Pettigrew because friendship had always been very important to him and the story of what happened to the Marauders was a bitter one. He slinked off onto the grounds so he could sit against one of his favorite trees looking at the lake. He didn't move when he heard the bell ring signaling it was time for the next class, he knew that he wouldn't be able to concentrate today and it would actually be a little dangerous to go there.

"Harry," Hermione said, it was the end of the day and Harry hadn't gone to either of his afternoon classes. When he looked up he could see that both Hermione and Ron were worried about him.

"Hey," Harry said before turning back to the water. He wasn't sure if he really wanted his friends to be there, but he knew that they weren't about to leave him alone.

"What happened mate?" Ron asked and then Harry heard him groaned. "Ow … Hermione, I was just asking him what happened."

"You could be a little more sensitive," Hermione said in what was supposed to be a whisper but the hissing quality to it, made it louder than she attained. She sighed and then walked over to sit next to Harry, obviously trying to think what to say.

"Did you hear about Pettigrew escape from Azkaban?" Harry mumbled.

"Yeah … Malfoy was talking about that in Care of Magical Creatures," Ron answered, taking the seat on the other side of Harry, leaning on the back of his elbows and looking at the lake, trying not to make his friend more uncomfortable than he already seemed to be. "They said that he was Death Eater and a spy …"

"You've mentioned him before …" Hermione said softly to Harry, who closed his eyes.

"He's Wormtail," Harry said and hoped that would be enough for his friends to understand what he was feeling. Hermione leaned her head against Harry's shoulder and he knew that he had her sympathy and support. Ron didn't say anything, he just sighed deeply and then laid farther back, putting his hands at the back of his head and stared up into the sky. Harry was grateful that his friends had decided to come and find him now, their silent support meant a lot to him.

He was surprised when a wet tongue licked his face and he sat up to be face to face with the black dog that was Sirius's Animagus form. His mouth dropped and he didn't know what to say or do as Sirius had the grin that he usually had when he was a dog and licked him again.

"What are you doing here, Si … er … boy," Hermione said, looking almost as shock as Harry was, but patted Sirius on the head. "I didn't know there were any dogs at Hogwarts."

Sirius barked at that and then ran in a direction before he stopped and looked back at them.

"I think he wants us to follow him," Ron said and Harry wondered if Ron knew that the dog was Sirius or not. After all, Ron did know that Sirius was a dog Animagus but he had never seen him before.

"You're right," Harry said getting up, "let's follow him then."

Hermione was already standing and as Ron got up Harry knew his friend was now sure it was Sirius, after all, why else would he want to follow a dog. They walked with Sirius running around them as soon as it became clear that they were going to Hagrid's hut. Once they got there Remus cast a spell on the door to make sure no one would go near there or could hear them talking. There was a popping sound and Sirius was standing there.

"Did you really have to lick me like that Padfoot? You know how much I hate that," Harry said and despite the fact that he had just seen him, Harry had to hug Sirius.

"That's why I did that," Sirius laughed, but Harry could tell that it was forced. "Right now, I really could use a little fun."

"I can understand that," Harry sighed. "But what are you doing here?"

"My job," Sirius said. "I've been assigned to make sure that you're safe."

Harry realized what Sirius was saying without him going more into details, "you think he might come here."

"I'm not going to take any chances," Sirius shrugged. "Unfortunately, I'm not the only one … or thing … that will be added as security."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked.

"What do you mean by thing?" Hermione asked at the same time, having found the wording odd.

"Dementors," Remus was the one to answer and almost everyone shivered, but it was Hagrid that made the hut shake. Harry knew that he had been force to be around Dementors when he went to Azkaban last year. One thing was clear; the rest of this year at Hogwarts was going to be interesting and a lot tenser.