A.N. * Mal just grins innocently at her reviewers…*

"I'm sorry. You're too late."

The words seemed to go in one ear and out the other for Sirius.

"P-pardon?" Sirius said, thinking that he had misunderstood. "We're… what?"

"You. Are. Too. Late." The man said, articulating every syllable. Sirius turned to Remus, who looked like he had been smacked with a frying pan in the face. His eyes were wide open, and kind of unfocused. His mouth had dropped open.

"T-too late…" He gasped.

"Yes," the man replied.

"Too…" Remus repeated. "Late…"

"Yes," The man said exasperatedly. "Do. You. Understand. ENGLISH?"

"I'm sorry," said the doctor, who had been standing in the background. "You did all you could."

"Well, you can always catch a later boat."

Sirius looked up suddenly.

"What?"
"You were too late and missed the boat. There's another one going tomorrow. You can always catch that one."

Remus nearly fainted with relief.

"Oh thank Merlin!" Sirius said, clutching his heart as though he had been afraid it had stopped beating.

"Well, most people are really disappointed when they miss the boat… but okay, whatever," the man shrugged.
"What time should we be here tomorrow?" Remus asked.

"Er… 6 p.m."

"All right. See you then!"

~*~

The clock ticks life away

It's so unreal

Didn't look out below

Watch the time go right out the window

Trying to hold on, but didn't even know

Wasted it all just to watch you go

~*~

Ron was pacing back and forth. Remus said that he would call when Harry was back. It was getting late. What if something was wrong? What if something had happened? What if Remus hadn't paid his phone bill?! Ron almost ran headlong into Hermione, who was pacing as well.
"Will the both of you SIT DOWN!" Barked George. "Honestly, you're making us even more nervous. And the floor deserves a break…"

"I can't sit down," Ron said quietly. "What if-"

BRRRIIIIIINNNNGGG!

Ron jumped as the phone ringed.

"I'LL GET IT!" Yelled five or so people at the same time. George, Fred, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron all went running toward the phone.

"OW!" They all knocked heads against each other.

Ron reached out and picked up the still ringing phone. "Hello?"

"Hello. Ron?" Came the semi-familiar voice of Remus on the other line.

"Yes?" Ron said breathlessly. "Do you have him? Is he okay? Can we see-"

"Whoa! Slow down Ron, we weren't able to get him."

"What? Why weren't you able to get him."

"We were… to late," Remus said. Ron failed to notice the amusement in his voice.

"Too late?" Ron breathed. His family and Hermione were staring at him with confusion. "What do you mean, too late?"

"Well, we got there, and they said we were too late," Remus said cheerfully.

"HOW CAN YOU BE HAPPY AT A TIME LIKE THIS?" Ron bellowed over the phone.

Remus was laughing. "Now you know how we felt."

"What?" Ron spat.

"We were told exactly the same thing," Remus laughed. "And then we were told that we were too late because the boat had already left."

Ron's sighed with relief. "Don't do that."

"Sorry, we couldn't resist. We're going to pick him up tomorrow. And then we'll be on time."

"All right… good. Call us then." Ron hung up the phone.

"What happened?" Mrs. Weasley asked desperately.

Ron grinned inwardly, put on a sad face, and said, "They were… too late."

~*~

It starts with one thing

I don't know why

It doesn't even matter how hard you try keep that in mind

I designed this rhyme

To explain in due time

~*~

Sirius looked out over the dark lake, or ocean, or whatever they were floating through. A thick, gray fog surrounded them. He vaguely remembered when he had to make this journey the first time. He had been in sort of a daze, and his hands were magically handcuffed. He gave a shudder, but he wasn't sure if it was from his thoughts or the icy spray of the water.

"You okay?" Remus asked. Sirius nodded uneasily. "Remember, you won't even have to go near a Dementor."

"And if you do, I have plenty of chocolate," Dr. Bochell cut in. Sirius arched an eyebrow.

"Almost there," growled the guard of the boat. Suddenly there was a THUMP and the small boat rocked violently.

"SPARKY!" barked the guard. "Bad sea monster!" There was a wailing sound from the water.

Flashback…

He was swimming, paddling as hard as he could, trying to get away from the creature that was following him slowly through the water. There was a loud wail and the thing tried to swallow him whole. He started barking, but the creature tried to strike again…

"Sirius!" Remus yelled. "Sirius! Snap out of it!"

Someone was slapping him lightly on the face and shaking his shoulder.

"Huh? What?"

"Sirius? What just happened to you?" Remus asked. Sirius ignored the question.

"There," said the guard, pointing through the fog that engulfed them. A building could be seen. It was dirty, moldy, and cold looking. The bricks were cracked and there were some additions sticking out in odd places. A feeling of sadness rose from it, and they could hear the wails of some of the prisoners.

"Azkaban…" Sirius said softly, looking up at the building with fear in his eyes.

"It'll be okay," Remus said reassuringly. "Don't think about it." Sirius made a sound like a whimpering dog and pulled his cloak tighter around him. The building was getting closer. Sirius saw a sad face of a woman looking out of it. She stared at them for a second, and then she screamed loudly. Remus clamped his hands to his ears. Sirius simply watched as the woman turned back to her cell, continuing to scream.
They bumped into the shore. The guard jumped out and tied it to a piece of driftwood propped up on the beach.

"You have one hour," He growled. "One hour to get in there and get your little friend. If you're late I leave without you, and you'll have to wait for tomorrow to get out of there."

Remus nodded, looking very pale and climbed out of the boat with Dr. Bochell. Sirius slowly followed. They started walking up the shore to the door where two wizard guards were standing watch.

"R-Remus," Sirius stuttered. "I-I can't. I can't do it-" He started to turn back to the boat, but Remus grabbed the back of his cloak.

"Yes you can," Remus said. "Come on Sirius, let's g-"

"No, you don't understand," Sirius gasped, desperately trying to get away from Remus. "I can't go back in there. I can't. You don't know what it's like! I-I just can't-"

~*~

The clock ticks life away

It's so unreal

Didn't look out below

Watch the time go right out the window

Trying to hold on, but didn't even know

Wasted it all just to watch you go

I kept everything inside and even though I tried, it all fell apart

~*~

"Yes you can," Remus growled. "You're strong. You can."

"No! I c-"

"Sirius think of how Harry's feeling right now. He's probably scared half to death. Just like you. But the only difference is that he's in there and we're out here. And we need to go in there to get him out. Harry is counting on us to get him out."

Sirius started to say something, but Remus wouldn't let him.

"He knows you better than I do. He trusts you," Remus continued. "Wouldn't you rather be greeted with someone you trust than someone who you hardly knew?"

Sirius shut his mouth and looked at the gravel.

"Don't you owe it to Lily and James? Aren't you his godfather?" Remus snarled.

"Remus, I…"

"Come on," Remus growled. "The Dementors are on the other side of the building. You won't even have to see them."
"Al-Alright," Sirius said at last. "Let's go."

Sirius followed Remus up to the guard, who opened the door for them. Another guard met them inside.

"I'll be taking you to the cell," he growled. "Follow me."

Down the halls. Some of the people in the cells rushed to their doors and whispered incoherent things at them as they passed.

"He's coming back…" whispered one person.

Suddenly, Remus felt something grab onto the back of his cloak. He turned quickly, expecting to see a prisoner holding it. Instead he saw Sirius, who had his eyes closed tight. To tell the truth, Remus felt like doing the same thing. Remus led Sirius through the building until they had reached a particularly dark and dirty corner of the building.

"Cell 813," said the guard, taking out a key. Sirius opened his eyes and rushed forward to the bars on the door, looking around the cell. A second later the door was open and Sirius had rushed inside.

"Harry…" he gasped.

~*~

I tried so hard

And got so far

But in the end

It doesn't even matter

I had to fall

To lose it all

But in the end

It doesn't even matter

~*~

A.N. Thank you once again to Linkin Park for the use of their song. Oh, and to the person who asked about the title of this story, it's the title of one of Marc Anthony's songs. The whole title is: Dimelo (I need to Know) but I just put Dimelo, cuz I think it's a cool word.