The Greater Good
by Kiana Unei
Voldemort's plan- the part of it we've seen so far- was to break open Azkaban, forge an alliance with the Dementors, and free his servents.
Harry and his world belong to J K Rowling.
Chater XIII:
Vengence
Sirius had caught them off guard; by the time the Death Eaters and their master found their wands he had turned and dashed down the corridor, praying it led to the exit. He found another hallway branching off the the left, and turned down it. The sound of pounding footsteps behind him echoed to all sides, but Sirius didn't take the time to look.
Left, right, strait, left, left-
Dead end.
"SHIT!" He spun around, staring back up the dim, tourch-lit hallway, searching for his pursuers. Nothing.
Sirius blinked, standing almost frozen, straining his ears against the low-pitched mutterings of the prisoners. Slowly, he let out his bated breath, and drew another. They had lost him.
He raised the wand, preforming a complicated sort of lemniscate in the air. The wandtip flashed golden; Sirius moved it to a position just underneith his lower lip.
"Ministry of Magic," he mumbled, trying to match the tone of the crazed speakers, hoping to disguise his position. "Higher office. Password- Caesar."
There was a crack of static, brought on by the channels of energy he was summoning to work through.
He shifted from one foot to the other, feeling anxiety weave its thorny blossoms within his chest. Why did life have to be so damn complicated? Sirius ran a hand through his matted hair, swallowing several times as he mentally rehersed what he was going to say.
After an infinate time, the wantip brightened, then a burst of golden energy flung itself from the rest and hung before him, pulsating like a miniature sun.
"This had better be important," the Minister of Magic sounded slightly more irked than usual, but then Sirius wasn't exactly in the best of moods, either.
"Keep it down," he hissed, tencing, and strained his sences for the Death Eaters.
"Excuse me?" Fudge snapped, "How dare you speak to me in that way! Who are you? What buisness do you have using a first class channel to bother me in the middle of my daughter's wedding? I gave strict orders to the Ministry not to- "
"Shut it!" Sirius growled, struggling to control his fury, "I don't know why I'm even bothering to speak to you, but I am going to give you some information that will not only save your worthless career, but make you a hero as well. Got it?"
Silence from the glowing ball.
Impatiently, Sirius snapped, "It's your decision, but I sure as Hell don't have a lot of time here."
Finally, Fudge's voice replied slowly, "What kind of information?"
"I am going to give you Lord Voldemort."
On the other end, Fudge recoiled. "What the hell are you talking about?! The Dark Lord- You-Know-Who- he's dead!"
Frustrated, Sirius clenched his jaw, staring blankly off in front of him. His heart was pounding so hard that he was sure the other man could hear it, but when he spoke his voice was even. "Fine. Fine. Then I'll give you S-" He squeezed his blue eyes shut, willing himself to hold in his turmoiled emotions. "Then I'll give you Sirius Black. You like that idea? I bet you do, you fat-headed bugger. He could be dead by the time you get here, but since yer gonna kill'm anyway, what th'hell, eh? By the way- Death Eaters have broken into Azkaban. That's where we are- Azkaban."
Sirius dropped his arm limply to hang at his side, cutting the connection. He was shaking so badly that he could barely stand; his fate was sealed, either by the Ministry or the Death Eaters, depending on who got to him first. But he was, at least, going to die puting Voldemort, Wormtail, and almost a dozen other Death Eaters to justice. Yes, he would die- but it would be for the greater good of the Wizarding world.
* * *
"Harry!"
"Fred?" Harry tilted his head back to look at the twin.
"George, actually," said the older boy.
"You are not, I am," the other twin stated, while Mrs Weasley snatched Harry off of the first's lap and gave him a tight hug.
"Harry! What on Earth . . ." she stopped when she spotted the triangular emblem sewn to his right sleeve; a bird of prey caught in mid flight, with the word AZKABAN below in red letters. "You were in Azkaban!"
"Azkaban?" Fred stopped quarreling with his twin to stare at Harry. "Ah, Azkaban: my future home."
"Fred, that's not funny," his mother scolded. "Harry, dear, what happened? Did they catch Sirius Black?"
". . .Yes . . ." He had a funny look on his face, then, "Oh, no!"
"What? They caught him?" Ron demanded.
"No- I mean yes . . . er-" Harry glanced at his surroundings, trying to take it all in. Sirius had fought off the curse . . . and was now in terrible trouble by the Death Eaters. "We have to save him!" He grabbed Ron by the front of his robes, "Come on!"
"Harry, hold still," Mrs Weasley ordered, looking around for a security guard; someone to alert about his reappearence.
"Hey, Harry!" Fred waited to continue until he'd caught the boy's attention,
"There's a reward out for you, know?"
"10.000 galleons, too!" George chimed in.
"I DON'T CARE!" Harry snapped. He just wanted to save Sirius, but hadn't the faintest on how to go about it. Who would help?
Then he saw- standing there, to the left of a balding man in purple robes.
"HEY!" Harry shouted, waving his arm frantically to get the man's attention. After a bit the red-cloaked guard spotted him, and worked his way through the croud.
"Deneb. Hello," the man who had been Harry's guard nodded faintly at Mrs Weasley. "What can I do you for?"
"Please, sir- my . . . Sirius," he ammended, flicking a gaze at the Weasleys. "He's in trouble. In Azkaban. Death Eaters."
But the guard was shaking his head. "Deneb, Black's- I'm sorry, but, well, he's gone. We were too late-"
"No! Listen!" Harry noticed that his hands were quaking, and managed to calm himself. "Sirius is alive. He saved me, and now he's in trouble. You have to help, please!"
The red-cloaked guard gave him a long, scrutinizing look, then finally nodded.
"What's going on?" Ginny whined.
"Are we goin' to Azkaban?" Fred and George chorused.
Mrs Weasly sighed and dropped her head into her calloused hands, giving up trying to understand. "I can't believe we're going to rescue Sirius Black from Death Eaters," she muttered, and massaged her temples again.
* * *
"Where did you send him?!" Voldemort grabbed his prisoner by the neck, lifting him off the ground. It hadn't taken long to find Sirius Black; the man couldn't disapperate from within Azkaban's walls, nor were there any avalable hiding spaces in the winding hallways.
Black grasped at the Dark Lord's ghostlike hand with his own, trying to pry the long, slender fingers from his throat.
Voldemort tightened his hold. "Where did you send him?"
"It . . . dosen't matter, Mouldy-man-Voldie," Sirius gasped out painfully, struggling for air. "I'm not . . . going to . . . " His sentence fell apart, and Sirius dug his nails into Voldemort's hand, kicking out desperately.
Voldemort tossed him away, face twisted in a look of disgust. "Why are you standing up for the Ministry when they ripped you life apart?" He grabbed Sirius by the collor of his tunic and threw him against the wall, smiling inwardly when the younger man's head cracked against the hard metal.
"I'm not," Sirius snarled. "If it were up to me, I'd BE your bloody second!" The Dark Lord's grip released slightly, and Sirius pushed his momentary adventage of surprise, "Yeah, that's right, you murdering bugger! I'd KILL the bloody Minister of Magic myself. I'd laugh while I twisted a knife deep into his cold heart," his voice had become low, course, and ominous; his eyes glittered strangely in the half-light. "I'd LOVE the position of your right hand man. I'd LOVE it. I'd help you turn the Ministry of Magic into a smouldering ruin, and shove the irony of their creation right into their dieing faces. The weavers caught in their own web. But you know why I won't? Because I would trade a life of vengence for death and remembrance of Harry any day."
Voldemort slammed him into the wall again, then steped back, letting the man sink to the floor, coughing.
"So be it." He raised his wand, taking aim at the shrinking man before him. "AVADA KEDAV- !"
"EXPELLIARMUS!"
Voldemort's wand flew from his hand; Sirius raised his head, touching a finger gingerly to the blood trickling from a corner of his mouth. People were so afraid of Death Eaters, he though dryly. But the Azkaban guards had been worse.
"Freeze! All of you!" Between his long fringe, Sirius could barely make out nine silver-robed Aurors force their way into the gloomy room. He lowered his head again, disappointed; Avada Kedavera was supposed to be quick and painless. Dementor's Kiss was neither.
"All right, Black, hold it. Don't make a move." A male voice commanded. Sirius had no intention of going anywhere; they'd catch him before he'd get half a metre.
"I said don't move!" the same voice snapped. I'm not, Sirius thought, irritated- then looked up.
"I believe you've got us confused," Voldemort sneered, flicking a glance at the man curled on the floor. "He's Black."
"Don't tell me yarns," the Auror snarled. "I can tell from here that you've tourtured that poor man." He motioned, and a female Auror strode quickly to Sirius, putting her arms tenitively onto his bony shoulders. Sirius winced, and she let go.
"Are you all right? Anything broken?"
"No . . .don't think so," he mumbled. " 'tis a reflex."
" 'Reflex'?" She looked back at the man whom Sirius supposed was in charge.
"Yes." Voldemort cut in, his sneer turning into a smirk. "Most likely psycological damage; though I can't vouch for any wounds he might have."
"Who are you, then?" the first Auror snapped.
"Me?" Voldemort's face turned blank. "I am an illusion, summoned by Black here to give confidance to his Death Eaters."
"That's not true!" Sirius bit out, tencing against an inevitable blow from the woman next to him. It didn't come, and he mentally scolded himself for expecting Aurors to behave like sadistic guards.
"It's all right," the woman said, putting a hand on Sirius' shoulder. He jumped again, and she quickly pulled away. "Sir, may I ask your name?"
"He's Sirius Anthony Black," Pettigrew's voice piped up, quickly coming to the aid of his master.
" 'Antony'," Sirius snapped at him, annoyed- then mentally kicked himself, and hard.
"HE'S Sirius Black?" the head Auror scoffed, turning back to Voldemort. "Than who're you?"
"He's Master," Sirius replied, mimicking Pettigrew's simper.
"See? He admitted he's a Death Eater." Peter called.
"Shut up, you fat squib!" Sirius hissed. "I'd rather kiss a Dementor than- "
"I'm not a squib!" Peter raised his wand. "CRUCIO!"
"Finite Incantatium! EXPELLIARMUS!" The Auror caught Peter's wand out of midair, while the others went about disarming, tieing, and unmasking the remaining Death Eaters.
"Lucious Malfoy! MacNair!" Sirius couldn't see through the dim light and Aurors, but decided that both the afforementioned were most deffinatly expelled from their jobs at the Ministry.
"What's your name?" the Auror next to him asked soothingly, brushing back some of the sweat-drenched tangles hanging before Sirius' face. He turned his face away, letting his matted hair recouver his features.
"Wesson," he mumbled numbly, trying not to move his bleeding lip. "Nathanial Wesson."
"Okay, Mr Wesson, I'd like you to answer a few- "
"No." Sirius wished he knew sign-language, and that the Auror did as well. "I need to speek to Wesson."
"Can you explain? Who is this Nathanial Wesson?"
"He's the bloke who sent me here." He works for NeuroTech, Sirius added mentally. NeuroTech. It's not that difficult- say NeuroTech. "He works . . . for . . ." NeuroTech! Sirius put his head in his hands, mentally cursing.
Another Auror stormed over, and grabbed Sirius roughly by his matted hair, yanking his face upwards.
"What are you doing?!" the female Auror rose as well, and stopped when she saw his face. "S . . . irius Black?" she asked tenetively.
"Appearently those Death Eaters were telling the truth," the other snapped.
"Why would they hurt him? Isn't he their leader?" She studied the prisoner's beaten face.
"I don't know. We'll have to ask them later. Now, though," he motioned, and with the sweep of his arm a black-robed figure entred the chambre. Immidiatly Sirius recognized what it was.
"No . . . please," he whispered, unable to make his voice any louder. "Pettigrew, Peter Pettigrew . . ."
"Will be avenged," the Auror holding him said harshly.
"No, you don't underst-" the Dementor wrapped its freezing fingers around his throat, cutting off the rest of his sentence. It lifted him up off the ground; Sirius hung limply, staring terrified as the creature lowered its hood, revealing rotted flesh, and a compleat lack of eyes. Its mouth opened, exposing an infinate well of darkness inside. In a swift movement, the Dementor clamped its jaws over Sirius'.
He felt icy stabs of pain on either side of his mouth, and then-
It was worse then Crucio.
* * *
"Where is he?!" Harry cried desperatly, searching his gaze over the dim halls of Azkaban.
"Hey, look!" Ron pointed at a heavy door down one corridor, and a thin beam of light comming from undernieth the crack. "Let's try in there!"
Harry darted to the door, grasped the handle, and slowly managed to pull it open. Whatever he had expected, it wasn't the sight before him. The group of Death Eaters were bound and guarded by a half-dozen Aurors, and-
"NO!" Harry thrust his hand into a pocket of his robe, then remembered that he didn't have a wand. "Ron, gimme your wand!"
"I don't have it!"
Harry felt something inside him break. He rushed at the Dementor and grabbed his godfather by the back of his brown robe, trying to pull him away. An Auror grabbed him, and Harry gently picked the wand out of the man's hand.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!!"
The Dementor exploded. There was nothing left of it, save wisps of blackness quickly dispersing in the air. Sirius dropped stiffly to the ground.
Harry wriggled out of the Auror's grasp and rushed to his godfather, taking the man's head onto his lap. "Sirius?"
"Oops, too late," a taunting, snivle of a voice broke the silence that had decended. Harry recognized it immidiatly.
"WORMTAIL!" He gently let Sirius slide to the floor again, and jumped to his feet. "Pettigrew, you bastard! This is all your fault!"
He threw himself on the man, pounding him with his fists as hard as he could. "How could you!?" Harry screamed, and felt the man's nose break under his punches. "How could you murder your best friends!? My father! My mother! And now Sirius!"
Harry was wrenched off of the Death Eater, and he clawed at the man holding him, beyond thought. "I hate you! Let me go!"
"Harry! HARRY!"
Harry looked up, face twisted and streaked with tears. He stared at the man numbly, in shock from the previous events.
"Harry! It's okay; you saved my life." Sirius pulled the boy against him, gently tousling his already disheveled hair. "Another few seconds and I'd've died, but . . ." He tilted Harry's face up to look at him. "I can't believe you're here. Why are you here?"
"I . . ." Harry burried his face in his godfather's robe.
A/N: had to cut it short; Nick wanted the computer again. I hope this didn't turn out as stupid- I didn't have much time to go over it. Next chapter: the reapperence of Wesson, among other things.
by Kiana Unei
Voldemort's plan- the part of it we've seen so far- was to break open Azkaban, forge an alliance with the Dementors, and free his servents.
Harry and his world belong to J K Rowling.
Chater XIII:
Vengence
Sirius had caught them off guard; by the time the Death Eaters and their master found their wands he had turned and dashed down the corridor, praying it led to the exit. He found another hallway branching off the the left, and turned down it. The sound of pounding footsteps behind him echoed to all sides, but Sirius didn't take the time to look.
Left, right, strait, left, left-
Dead end.
"SHIT!" He spun around, staring back up the dim, tourch-lit hallway, searching for his pursuers. Nothing.
Sirius blinked, standing almost frozen, straining his ears against the low-pitched mutterings of the prisoners. Slowly, he let out his bated breath, and drew another. They had lost him.
He raised the wand, preforming a complicated sort of lemniscate in the air. The wandtip flashed golden; Sirius moved it to a position just underneith his lower lip.
"Ministry of Magic," he mumbled, trying to match the tone of the crazed speakers, hoping to disguise his position. "Higher office. Password- Caesar."
There was a crack of static, brought on by the channels of energy he was summoning to work through.
He shifted from one foot to the other, feeling anxiety weave its thorny blossoms within his chest. Why did life have to be so damn complicated? Sirius ran a hand through his matted hair, swallowing several times as he mentally rehersed what he was going to say.
After an infinate time, the wantip brightened, then a burst of golden energy flung itself from the rest and hung before him, pulsating like a miniature sun.
"This had better be important," the Minister of Magic sounded slightly more irked than usual, but then Sirius wasn't exactly in the best of moods, either.
"Keep it down," he hissed, tencing, and strained his sences for the Death Eaters.
"Excuse me?" Fudge snapped, "How dare you speak to me in that way! Who are you? What buisness do you have using a first class channel to bother me in the middle of my daughter's wedding? I gave strict orders to the Ministry not to- "
"Shut it!" Sirius growled, struggling to control his fury, "I don't know why I'm even bothering to speak to you, but I am going to give you some information that will not only save your worthless career, but make you a hero as well. Got it?"
Silence from the glowing ball.
Impatiently, Sirius snapped, "It's your decision, but I sure as Hell don't have a lot of time here."
Finally, Fudge's voice replied slowly, "What kind of information?"
"I am going to give you Lord Voldemort."
On the other end, Fudge recoiled. "What the hell are you talking about?! The Dark Lord- You-Know-Who- he's dead!"
Frustrated, Sirius clenched his jaw, staring blankly off in front of him. His heart was pounding so hard that he was sure the other man could hear it, but when he spoke his voice was even. "Fine. Fine. Then I'll give you S-" He squeezed his blue eyes shut, willing himself to hold in his turmoiled emotions. "Then I'll give you Sirius Black. You like that idea? I bet you do, you fat-headed bugger. He could be dead by the time you get here, but since yer gonna kill'm anyway, what th'hell, eh? By the way- Death Eaters have broken into Azkaban. That's where we are- Azkaban."
Sirius dropped his arm limply to hang at his side, cutting the connection. He was shaking so badly that he could barely stand; his fate was sealed, either by the Ministry or the Death Eaters, depending on who got to him first. But he was, at least, going to die puting Voldemort, Wormtail, and almost a dozen other Death Eaters to justice. Yes, he would die- but it would be for the greater good of the Wizarding world.
* * *
"Harry!"
"Fred?" Harry tilted his head back to look at the twin.
"George, actually," said the older boy.
"You are not, I am," the other twin stated, while Mrs Weasley snatched Harry off of the first's lap and gave him a tight hug.
"Harry! What on Earth . . ." she stopped when she spotted the triangular emblem sewn to his right sleeve; a bird of prey caught in mid flight, with the word AZKABAN below in red letters. "You were in Azkaban!"
"Azkaban?" Fred stopped quarreling with his twin to stare at Harry. "Ah, Azkaban: my future home."
"Fred, that's not funny," his mother scolded. "Harry, dear, what happened? Did they catch Sirius Black?"
". . .Yes . . ." He had a funny look on his face, then, "Oh, no!"
"What? They caught him?" Ron demanded.
"No- I mean yes . . . er-" Harry glanced at his surroundings, trying to take it all in. Sirius had fought off the curse . . . and was now in terrible trouble by the Death Eaters. "We have to save him!" He grabbed Ron by the front of his robes, "Come on!"
"Harry, hold still," Mrs Weasley ordered, looking around for a security guard; someone to alert about his reappearence.
"Hey, Harry!" Fred waited to continue until he'd caught the boy's attention,
"There's a reward out for you, know?"
"10.000 galleons, too!" George chimed in.
"I DON'T CARE!" Harry snapped. He just wanted to save Sirius, but hadn't the faintest on how to go about it. Who would help?
Then he saw- standing there, to the left of a balding man in purple robes.
"HEY!" Harry shouted, waving his arm frantically to get the man's attention. After a bit the red-cloaked guard spotted him, and worked his way through the croud.
"Deneb. Hello," the man who had been Harry's guard nodded faintly at Mrs Weasley. "What can I do you for?"
"Please, sir- my . . . Sirius," he ammended, flicking a gaze at the Weasleys. "He's in trouble. In Azkaban. Death Eaters."
But the guard was shaking his head. "Deneb, Black's- I'm sorry, but, well, he's gone. We were too late-"
"No! Listen!" Harry noticed that his hands were quaking, and managed to calm himself. "Sirius is alive. He saved me, and now he's in trouble. You have to help, please!"
The red-cloaked guard gave him a long, scrutinizing look, then finally nodded.
"What's going on?" Ginny whined.
"Are we goin' to Azkaban?" Fred and George chorused.
Mrs Weasly sighed and dropped her head into her calloused hands, giving up trying to understand. "I can't believe we're going to rescue Sirius Black from Death Eaters," she muttered, and massaged her temples again.
* * *
"Where did you send him?!" Voldemort grabbed his prisoner by the neck, lifting him off the ground. It hadn't taken long to find Sirius Black; the man couldn't disapperate from within Azkaban's walls, nor were there any avalable hiding spaces in the winding hallways.
Black grasped at the Dark Lord's ghostlike hand with his own, trying to pry the long, slender fingers from his throat.
Voldemort tightened his hold. "Where did you send him?"
"It . . . dosen't matter, Mouldy-man-Voldie," Sirius gasped out painfully, struggling for air. "I'm not . . . going to . . . " His sentence fell apart, and Sirius dug his nails into Voldemort's hand, kicking out desperately.
Voldemort tossed him away, face twisted in a look of disgust. "Why are you standing up for the Ministry when they ripped you life apart?" He grabbed Sirius by the collor of his tunic and threw him against the wall, smiling inwardly when the younger man's head cracked against the hard metal.
"I'm not," Sirius snarled. "If it were up to me, I'd BE your bloody second!" The Dark Lord's grip released slightly, and Sirius pushed his momentary adventage of surprise, "Yeah, that's right, you murdering bugger! I'd KILL the bloody Minister of Magic myself. I'd laugh while I twisted a knife deep into his cold heart," his voice had become low, course, and ominous; his eyes glittered strangely in the half-light. "I'd LOVE the position of your right hand man. I'd LOVE it. I'd help you turn the Ministry of Magic into a smouldering ruin, and shove the irony of their creation right into their dieing faces. The weavers caught in their own web. But you know why I won't? Because I would trade a life of vengence for death and remembrance of Harry any day."
Voldemort slammed him into the wall again, then steped back, letting the man sink to the floor, coughing.
"So be it." He raised his wand, taking aim at the shrinking man before him. "AVADA KEDAV- !"
"EXPELLIARMUS!"
Voldemort's wand flew from his hand; Sirius raised his head, touching a finger gingerly to the blood trickling from a corner of his mouth. People were so afraid of Death Eaters, he though dryly. But the Azkaban guards had been worse.
"Freeze! All of you!" Between his long fringe, Sirius could barely make out nine silver-robed Aurors force their way into the gloomy room. He lowered his head again, disappointed; Avada Kedavera was supposed to be quick and painless. Dementor's Kiss was neither.
"All right, Black, hold it. Don't make a move." A male voice commanded. Sirius had no intention of going anywhere; they'd catch him before he'd get half a metre.
"I said don't move!" the same voice snapped. I'm not, Sirius thought, irritated- then looked up.
"I believe you've got us confused," Voldemort sneered, flicking a glance at the man curled on the floor. "He's Black."
"Don't tell me yarns," the Auror snarled. "I can tell from here that you've tourtured that poor man." He motioned, and a female Auror strode quickly to Sirius, putting her arms tenitively onto his bony shoulders. Sirius winced, and she let go.
"Are you all right? Anything broken?"
"No . . .don't think so," he mumbled. " 'tis a reflex."
" 'Reflex'?" She looked back at the man whom Sirius supposed was in charge.
"Yes." Voldemort cut in, his sneer turning into a smirk. "Most likely psycological damage; though I can't vouch for any wounds he might have."
"Who are you, then?" the first Auror snapped.
"Me?" Voldemort's face turned blank. "I am an illusion, summoned by Black here to give confidance to his Death Eaters."
"That's not true!" Sirius bit out, tencing against an inevitable blow from the woman next to him. It didn't come, and he mentally scolded himself for expecting Aurors to behave like sadistic guards.
"It's all right," the woman said, putting a hand on Sirius' shoulder. He jumped again, and she quickly pulled away. "Sir, may I ask your name?"
"He's Sirius Anthony Black," Pettigrew's voice piped up, quickly coming to the aid of his master.
" 'Antony'," Sirius snapped at him, annoyed- then mentally kicked himself, and hard.
"HE'S Sirius Black?" the head Auror scoffed, turning back to Voldemort. "Than who're you?"
"He's Master," Sirius replied, mimicking Pettigrew's simper.
"See? He admitted he's a Death Eater." Peter called.
"Shut up, you fat squib!" Sirius hissed. "I'd rather kiss a Dementor than- "
"I'm not a squib!" Peter raised his wand. "CRUCIO!"
"Finite Incantatium! EXPELLIARMUS!" The Auror caught Peter's wand out of midair, while the others went about disarming, tieing, and unmasking the remaining Death Eaters.
"Lucious Malfoy! MacNair!" Sirius couldn't see through the dim light and Aurors, but decided that both the afforementioned were most deffinatly expelled from their jobs at the Ministry.
"What's your name?" the Auror next to him asked soothingly, brushing back some of the sweat-drenched tangles hanging before Sirius' face. He turned his face away, letting his matted hair recouver his features.
"Wesson," he mumbled numbly, trying not to move his bleeding lip. "Nathanial Wesson."
"Okay, Mr Wesson, I'd like you to answer a few- "
"No." Sirius wished he knew sign-language, and that the Auror did as well. "I need to speek to Wesson."
"Can you explain? Who is this Nathanial Wesson?"
"He's the bloke who sent me here." He works for NeuroTech, Sirius added mentally. NeuroTech. It's not that difficult- say NeuroTech. "He works . . . for . . ." NeuroTech! Sirius put his head in his hands, mentally cursing.
Another Auror stormed over, and grabbed Sirius roughly by his matted hair, yanking his face upwards.
"What are you doing?!" the female Auror rose as well, and stopped when she saw his face. "S . . . irius Black?" she asked tenetively.
"Appearently those Death Eaters were telling the truth," the other snapped.
"Why would they hurt him? Isn't he their leader?" She studied the prisoner's beaten face.
"I don't know. We'll have to ask them later. Now, though," he motioned, and with the sweep of his arm a black-robed figure entred the chambre. Immidiatly Sirius recognized what it was.
"No . . . please," he whispered, unable to make his voice any louder. "Pettigrew, Peter Pettigrew . . ."
"Will be avenged," the Auror holding him said harshly.
"No, you don't underst-" the Dementor wrapped its freezing fingers around his throat, cutting off the rest of his sentence. It lifted him up off the ground; Sirius hung limply, staring terrified as the creature lowered its hood, revealing rotted flesh, and a compleat lack of eyes. Its mouth opened, exposing an infinate well of darkness inside. In a swift movement, the Dementor clamped its jaws over Sirius'.
He felt icy stabs of pain on either side of his mouth, and then-
It was worse then Crucio.
* * *
"Where is he?!" Harry cried desperatly, searching his gaze over the dim halls of Azkaban.
"Hey, look!" Ron pointed at a heavy door down one corridor, and a thin beam of light comming from undernieth the crack. "Let's try in there!"
Harry darted to the door, grasped the handle, and slowly managed to pull it open. Whatever he had expected, it wasn't the sight before him. The group of Death Eaters were bound and guarded by a half-dozen Aurors, and-
"NO!" Harry thrust his hand into a pocket of his robe, then remembered that he didn't have a wand. "Ron, gimme your wand!"
"I don't have it!"
Harry felt something inside him break. He rushed at the Dementor and grabbed his godfather by the back of his brown robe, trying to pull him away. An Auror grabbed him, and Harry gently picked the wand out of the man's hand.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!!"
The Dementor exploded. There was nothing left of it, save wisps of blackness quickly dispersing in the air. Sirius dropped stiffly to the ground.
Harry wriggled out of the Auror's grasp and rushed to his godfather, taking the man's head onto his lap. "Sirius?"
"Oops, too late," a taunting, snivle of a voice broke the silence that had decended. Harry recognized it immidiatly.
"WORMTAIL!" He gently let Sirius slide to the floor again, and jumped to his feet. "Pettigrew, you bastard! This is all your fault!"
He threw himself on the man, pounding him with his fists as hard as he could. "How could you!?" Harry screamed, and felt the man's nose break under his punches. "How could you murder your best friends!? My father! My mother! And now Sirius!"
Harry was wrenched off of the Death Eater, and he clawed at the man holding him, beyond thought. "I hate you! Let me go!"
"Harry! HARRY!"
Harry looked up, face twisted and streaked with tears. He stared at the man numbly, in shock from the previous events.
"Harry! It's okay; you saved my life." Sirius pulled the boy against him, gently tousling his already disheveled hair. "Another few seconds and I'd've died, but . . ." He tilted Harry's face up to look at him. "I can't believe you're here. Why are you here?"
"I . . ." Harry burried his face in his godfather's robe.
A/N: had to cut it short; Nick wanted the computer again. I hope this didn't turn out as stupid- I didn't have much time to go over it. Next chapter: the reapperence of Wesson, among other things.