Chapter 2
Sirius ran his hand through his hair. He was waiting outside of the interrogation room. He gave his statement under the truth oath, but now he had to wait on Crouch's approval to be good to go.
In his opinion, the man had clearly been unstable from the very moment they met. Getting furious at every little thing, so much so that it often nearly evolved into outright aggression. And the war made him ten times worse. The fact that his own son had been a part of Death Eaters' inner circle, the elites of the very group he despised so much, was downright comical to Sirius. The man was arguably more paranoid than Moody, and not in a good way. He had a quick-to-judge attitude, easily condemning other people on even the slightest shred of evidence. Despite that fact, his own son, whom he was very proud of, based on his stellar academical performance, working against him somehow escaped his notice. It went to prove how much attention he really paid to Barty Jr.
To Sirius, Crouch had already proven time and time again that he could not be trusted with making important decisions. The crown example of this would be him throwing people in Azkaban without trials. He had a policy of: 'If I don't like you I might have you rest in Azkaban for a while, just till I feel like giving you a trial, obviously. If I don't have enough evidence to properly convict you I might conveniently forget all about you and extend your stay indefinitely.'. Besides that the man expected total loyalty and obedience and took no advice from anyone, going as far as punishing people for voicing any disagreement or a different opinion. Suffice it to say it irked a lot of people, Sirius included.
When a junior auror entered the room Sirius immediately got up. "Black you're free to go." He said handing him back his wand. "Sign here and I'll take you to Bones."
When Sirius realized which direction they were going, it was him that actually took the lead. He was impatient to see his godson and, if Harry required no immediate treatment, to sign the adoption papers and get out of here. He has been on the edge for a while, waiting for something to go wrong.
When he got to Amelia's private office, he stopped and knocked on the door. "Enter." Sirius saw her with Harry held to her chest, though she kept a wand loosely in the other arm. Constant vigilance was not by any means a foreign concept to her, not after going through the auror training led by a certain unhinged war veteran.
"Has the healer seen him?" Sirius asked immediately.
"No, they say they are all occupied. Halloween and all." Amelia said frowning.
"It was always Snake Faces' favorite fucking holiday." Sirius ground out. "Whatever, I'll file adoption papers and take him home, as is my right as Harry's godfather. I'll call my cousin immediately. She's a certified healer." Sirius went to leave but Amelia stopped him.
"I should have a spare here somewhere, from Susan's adoption." She said with a sad smile.
"Thanks." He said and started filling up the blanks.
"So how are you holding up? Sorry, stupid question."
"I'm still going on adrenaline. It hasn't really sunk in yet. I can't believe they are gone... I haven't even seen their bodies. I still don't know what exactly happened there." Sirius said shakily. "I don't know how it happened. Peter was supposed to be holed up in his apartment, hiding. But when I came there he was just gone. Like he got up and left, no signs of struggle, wards still up and everything. He must have sold them out, the fucking rat, it's the only thing that makes sense." He obviously knew that for a fact, but he had already carefully worded his previous statements that way and knew he had to keep it up. "I still can't believe it." Sirius repeated with a frown. "I'll have his fucking head."
"Easy. Don't get yourself arrested over this, leave it to authorities. You told Moody you're resigning right? Besides, he's got an arrest order on his head, doesn't he?"
"Right, as a suspected death eater sympathizer, at least." Sirius responded automatically and they fell into silence for the moment. He had already decided he needed time away from the job to properly take care of Harry. Knowing that the war was at an end it was no longer a priority to him. "I'm done. I'm taking Harry and getting out of here."
They went to a hallway and, lo and behold, the great 'Leader of the Light' was waiting for them, no doubt to hound Sirius about going along with his insane plan of leaving his godson to the muggles for god knows what purpose. They already went through this routine a moment ago, while Sirius was in the process of giving his statement and Harry was being looked over by a healer.
"Sirius, my boy, I must implore you to reconsider." Dumbledore said in a kindly voice. "I heard that you are trying to take Harry with you, I'm afraid that will not be possible. I have already made the necessary arrangements."
Sirius really did not need to deal with this bullshit right now. Considering Dumbledore's actions there was no way his grandfather persona was nothing but an act, meant to give people a false idea of his character and motivations. Unfortunately for the aged headmaster, Sirius had no desire to participate in this game and in the heat of the moment could not bring himself to care about the consequences his present attitude could have for the future.
He was frustrated to have been thrust into this situation, seemingly going back to the past, only to be denied the chance to save James and Lily, having appeared just minutes too late. It all seemed like a cruel joke. He needed time to digest what it all meant and figure out how to proceed from there on out. Going through this all over again only reminded Sirius of all the grievances he had with Dumbledore, making his composure slip. Badly.
"Dumbledore, old man, I know I have no need for your permission on this. We already had this exact same conversation like 15 minutes ago, you demented twat. Save your lies and manipulations for someone who still believes all the shit that comes out of your cock-sucking fucking mouth. Move on to the next baby you'll try to kidnap moments after their parents deaths, 'cause you ain't getting this one, you decrepit old fag. Stick to making arrangements for your hairy fucking asshole, that's what you're good at." For once Dumbledore seemed to be at a loss for words, whether it was from the vulgarity of his improvised speech, the content, or both, Sirius didn't know. As a matter of fact, Amelia seemed to be completely flabbergasted as well as she opened and closed her mouth. "I'm well aware that as Harry's sworn godfather custody falls to me automatically, so go bullshit somebody else."
He and Dumbledore had never really seen eye to eye. From his family's opinions of the man to his own observations, what he knew of the old goat always made him wary and maybe just a little contemptuous. Maybe it was his Gryffindor side speaking, but he found his manipulations and pretending to be a kind old man despicable, especially since it was often done for the benefit of school children.
Not waiting on Dumbledore's response, Sirius moved around him towards the fireplace. "Potter Manor."
It had been put on lockdown once James and Lily decided to go under fidelius. The mansion was too big and the wards already in place too complex to incorporate a new one, so they decided on the small cottage in Godric's Hollow. They didn't want to risk a frontal assault on the wards here, despite their strength, putting their trust in one of their friends instead. 'And look how well that worked out for them.' thought Sirius bitterly.
Thankfully Sirius had been given access to the mansion's wards by James, shortly after Charlus and Dorea Potter had passed away. They were his surrogate family after he got kicked out of Grimmauld Place. He lived here for his last three years of school and came to care about the Potter couple, a lot more than his actual parents. They treated him like their actual son from the get-go. He later learned that they desperately tried for another child without much success, probably due to their age.
Then there was the fact that Dorea was his grand aunt, Black by birth. She too had mixed feelings about their family but eventually, she helped him deal with his own struggles. When he came to live with the Potters he was truly a rebel, going against his family for whatever reason, or even without one, just for the sake of it. He realized later that he shouldn't judge all his family members by his experiences with his parents, who were by far the worst of the bunch. It did not help however that his father, Orion, was the heir to the family. No one else really wanted to go against him and so they did nothing despite their opinions on the matter.
He was forced out of his musings when he reached the living room. "Flopsy!"
"Yes, master Sirius sir?" The female house-elf with a Potter house crest popped in.
"Take little Harry and care for him while I make a call."
Sirius sighed. It was time to call Andromeda and he would have to lie to say he was looking forward to it. Maybe she would take the situation into consideration and spare him the questioning, but he would rather not get his hopes up. His cousin was never one to read the mood. She was very much a Black in that regard, having a very forceful and, at times, callous disposition.
Regardless, Sirius needed Harry's scar examined by someone he trusted, as the Saint Mungos healer failed to come up with anything of substance. If he had to suffer through the yapping of an annoyed woman to accomplish that, so be it. It was not like he was going to avoid her forever anyway. He would only be postponing the dressing-down he was about to get, at least that's what he told himself. That realization didn't really make it easier to bear through her tirade, but a couple of glasses of whiskey he downed did.
END
