Chapter 7
Harry stared in amazement at his surroundings. He had never been to such a colourful, bustling street before; there were so many wonderful sights, smells and sounds it was almost too much to process. He gulped suddenly, thinking about what would happen if he got lost amongst the crowd – but Snape seemed to sense this, and gently rested a hand on Harry's shoulder.
"I will lead you to Gringotts now" he said calmly. "If you have behaved sufficiently, we will stop at a store of your choosing on our way back". The man had no qualms that Harry would be anything other than perfectly behaved judging by his past experiences, but he thought it best to appear authoritative, nonetheless.
"Yes sir" said Harry breathlessly. He might get to go into a store and look at all the wonderful things in there! The thought was exciting, but also a bit nerve wrecking. The professor made no further comment, but simply steered Harry gently along the street until they reached the grand marble entrance to Gringotts. Two goblins flanked the large double doors, and Harry felt that their deep, grey eyes were staring into his soul as they entered the bank.
The two approached a desk at the very end of the hall where a fierce looking goblin sat writing with an elegant feather quill. Severus cleared his throat and looked at the goblin impassively.
"Mr Potter wishes to enter his vault".
The only sign of shock that came from the goblin was the momentary pause of his quill. He lay it down on the desk and then peered over the desk at them, scrutinising the pair through his glasses.
"Does he indeed? And does Mr Potter have his key?".
Harry, knowing he did not have a key, turned to Severus with a panicked expression, but the professor simply reached into his pocket and pulled out a fancy looking brass key.
"Very well," said the goblin. "If you will both follow me".
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The two men stared at each other for a few seconds, both shocked into silence. Sirius' chest heaved with emotion as he stared at the man he considered a best friend; the years had not been kind to him, judging by the lines etched into his face and the tiredness in his eyes. Remus meanwhile had an internal battle going on – he was trying to crush that tiny spark of joy he felt at seeing his best friend again and focus on keeping his wand trained at the man he now knew to be a murderer.
"Remus" said Sirius slowly, "please, please listen to me. I did not kill Lily and James I swear, I never went to Voldemort, never! It was Peter, he was their secret keeper, you have to believe me-".
He was cut off by a cry from Remus. "Why should I ever believe anything that you say, you murderer!". Sirius visibly flinched, but Remus pointedly ignored it as he carried on. "You sold them out! You were their secret keeper, not Peter! And then you murdered him in cold blood!".
"It's not true Remus, I swear" said Sirius desperately. "I was their secret keeper yes, but I convinced them to swap to Peter because I was sure that I would be too obvious a choice for Voldemort. I had no idea that Peter had already swapped sides by then – none of us did. When I went to confront him, he started spouting off about how I had killed them, and then he blew up half the street and disappeared, presumably down the sewers like the rat that he is. I would rather die than ever become a death eater – you have to believe me". With that, he pulled up the tattered sleeve on his left arm, baring his forearm for Remus to see.
Remus could not find words to say as he processed everything that Sirius had just told him. His mind was at war, torn between all that he knew and the little spark of hope in his mind that desperately wanted to believe the man. After a minute or so, he knew the answer, waving his wand to produce a rope that tied itself around Sirius' arms and waist.
"Severus will be back soon" he said heavily, staring at him cautiously. "I'm not saying I believe you, but I'm willing to give you a chance – he will be able to attain a dose of Veritaserum and then we will know the truth."
Sirius gulped, but nodded in agreement and followed Remus inside.