A/N: Sorry so many of you were skeeved by the SW reference. *smiles apologetically*

Harpy - Welcome to the Halloween party. Obviously a true Remus fan if you're at the bargaining table for him! Twice!

Antinua - Malaguena! Those Rosemont boys kick ass! There's nothing like their guard!

"There. Feeling better now?" Nytd asks a still shaken up Remus.

"I...I guess so," he says unconvincingly. He looks around warily and then leans closer to Nytd to whisper. "Are they...gone?"

"For now, at least," Nytd replies with a sigh.

"How did you do it?" Remus asks.

"What?"

"Get rid of the Jigglydot and Antinua?" he replies.

"Oh, that. More chocolate," Nytd tells him with a wink. "I had to send them each with a pound of Godiva truffles, but hey, you're worth it."

Remus smiles and makes a mental note to remember to teach all his students that chocolate is also an excellent way to banish overly enthusiastic fans, as well as the effects of dementors.

The East Stairway ~*~

Ian Fincastle had finally made it to the tenth floor and was systematically searching the rooms as he looked for Cornelius Fudge. He opened the door to room after room and was getting progressively more agitated as he encountered no one. He was hoping the others were having better luck on the east side when he heard the explosion back the way he came.

He turned and continued to search the remaining rooms, leaving Malfoy to fend for himself.

The mismatched trio of Death Eaters arrived at the top of the east stairs and surveyed the east hallway. It was empty. The short masked figure spoke to the two hulking men in front of him. "Spread out, and hurry up. Take those rooms."

Crabbe and Goyle went to the suite of offices that Pettigrew indicated, and the shorter man turned to the room across the hall.

None of the ministry guards had shown up yet, and Fudge had decided he'd had enough and was getting the hell out. He had extracted himself from under his desk when the door to his office opened suddenly and he looked up. A Death Eater stood in the doorway, and his mouth couldn't have fallen any further open. "Good evening, Minister." Pettigrew smiled under his mask as he shut the door behind him.

Sirius, Remus and Kaneene had made it to the last fight of stairs and found no one there. Alarmed, Kaneene picked up the pace as she headed into the open hallway, dragging Sirius along with her.

"You know, this really isn't necessary." He indicated the cuffs.

She shot him a look.

"No, really. You've got it all wrong." Sirius was sounding a little desperate. "Tell her, Remus."

Remus shrugged and threw up his hands. "I've told her."

"How stupid do you think I am?" she replied, eyeing the tall man beside her.

"Not stupid, just misinformed," he offered.

"Misinformed?" She laughed at this and looked at Remus. "Check those rooms, and remember, no funny business."

Lupin rolled his eyes and went to the suite of offices.

"Come with me," Kaneene said to Black, and she headed across the hall.

"Like I have a choice?" Black asked as he went with her.

Kaneene opened the door quickly with her wand trained on the room and both she and Black were surprised to find a Death Eater whirling to face them on the other side of the door.

Fudge's mouth had dropped open at the sight of the Death Eater. He knew he was in deep trouble and found his hands were trembling. Just about the time he thought things couldn't get any worse the door opened again, and there stood Sirius Black, vicious murderer, and reputed right hand to Voldemort. Fudge's brain could barely handle what he was now seeing, and the overwhelmed Minister of Magic fainted dead away.

Pettigrew whirled as the door opened behind him and his eyes went wide behind the mask he wore at the sight of the dark haired man with the auror. Nothing could have surprised him more.

The mask didn't fool Sirius. It took him about half a second to recognize the eyes of the short man in front of him and he felt the rage well up inside him. "YOU!" he cried.

The man was suddenly gone and a panicked rat ran between Black's legs and down the hall.

Sirius never stopped to think but turned and charged down the hallway after the rat, bellowing as Kaneene was suddenly yanked along with him. "WORMTAIL! YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!"

The female auror was almost being pulled off her feet as the taller man she was cuffed to ran as if crazed down the hall. "Black! Black stop!" she cried as they rounded a corner and she bumped along the wall. Her wand was knocked from her grip and clattered to the floor.

Sirius saw the rat squeeze itself through the space under another door and he flung the door open and dove to the floor.

"BLACK, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU....." Kaneene hit the floor hard next to Sirius as he grabbed the rat by the tail with his free hand. She suddenly found her own hand being shoved inside her robes along with Black's as he unceremoniously groped for the wand she had stuck there and pulled it free.

Black spoke the words and hit the rat with the wand rather harder than needed, and Kaneene now found herself on the floor with two men. Once again she was dragged forward as Black pinned the smaller man to the floor and ripped the mask the Death Eater wore off.

"YOU SCUM! YOU LYING FILTHY SCUM!" Black's words were punctuated as his fist connected repeatedly with Pettigrew's face.

"STOP IT!" Kaneene yelled.

Black continued to pummel the man on the floor.

"Sirius, stop," the woman said quietly, and he found himself stopping to look at her. He realized by the way she was looking at him that she knew. Being a veteran auror she knew who Pettigrew was and the implications that his apparent survival had for Sirius Black. She knew at that moment that he was innocent.

Remus stepped cautiously through the office door, and found that the room in front of him was empty. He also saw quickly that the one adjoining it was not when the two hulking Death Eaters he found standing there turned around to look at him. Crabbe and Goyle grinned at each other malevolently and then headed toward Remus.

'Here we go,' Remus thought to himself, taking a step back where he had more space in the center of the room and readying himself as the two men approached. They presented a formidable picture, and Remus tried to reassure himself that this was something he could handle.

Crabbe struck with the first hex and Lupin neatly sidestepped it and returned with a powerful stunning spell that would have dropped most wizards. "Stupefy!"

The hulking Crabbe merely looked a bit dazed and stood there shaking his head and blinking stupidly.

Goyle let fly with a blast from his wand and Remus had to dive over the nearby desk to avoid being hit. He hit the floor and popped up from behind the desk long enough to hit Goyle with a spell of his own. Goyle was now stranded in complete blackness after Remus cast the Perpetual Darkness spell at him, and he began flailing about as one hand went to his eyes.

Remus had to move quickly again as Crabbe recovered and blasted the desk he was sheltered behind into large chunks. He fired as he scrambled for cover again behind another desk further across the room, and Crabbe now found himself dealing with a large swarm of very angry bees.

The sightless Goyle had now become a danger to both other men since he was now firing hexes randomly around the room. Remus saw an opening as Crabbe was swatting away bees and he hit Goyle from where he was with the disarming spell "Expelliarmus!"

Goyle was flung back against the wall blindly as the wand flew out of his hand and Remus caught the airborne wand deftly.

Lupin realized that Crabbe was no longer preoccupied with the bees when he saw his partner slammed into the wall, and he had to react quickly to avoid the full brunt of the stunning spell the brute had hurled. As it was, a fraction of the spell grazed his shoulder, and he was spun around and landed hard, sitting on the floor.

"Now you're making me mad," he spat at the hulking Death Eater, acutely aware of his aching shoulder and backside. He quickly pointed his wand and cast the next hex. "Pugnus!" he shouted and two large shadowy fists materialized in the air in front of Crabbe. Remus scrambled to his feet as the two hands began to bloody the large man's face and turned to the flailing form of Goyle on the floor. He calmly placed the man in a full body bind and turned back to Crabbe.

The man was reeling now, and ineffectively swatting at the bees and the fists that were assaulting him. Lupin walked up to stand directly before him as he teetered on the edge of collapse and delivered the final blow to the man's face with his own fist. Crabbe toppled to the ground as Remus stood over him shaking his aching hand.

"Damn it! That hurt." He kicked the unconscious brute for good measure and hexed him with the full body bind as well.

Lupin stood back to look at the two large men laying in a heap on the floor. They weren't going anywhere. He stepped over them and crossed the room, hesitating at the door to speak back over his shoulder to the two unmoving Death Eaters.

Remus chuckled. "I didn't get to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts for nothing, you know."

He walked into the hallway.

Sirius looked back at the man cringing on the floor and then once again at the woman next to him.

"Sirius, let him go," she said.

He shook his head sadly. "I can't," he said and raised the wand.

She yanked her attached hand back down, jerking the wand. "Black, listen to me, you can't do this. I know how you feel but there are ways....."

"You know how I feel?" he said to her angrily. "How could you possibly know how I feel?"

"OK. I guess I can only imagine, but this isn't the way," the auror said. "You could be a free man, but if you kill him you'll go back to Azkaban for sure."

Pettigrew piped up. "Listen to her, Black."

"Shut up!" he snarled at the short wizard.

He looked the auror in her green eyes, and the cold voice he spoke in almost surprised him as well. "Do you think I care? He'll be dead and I'll have made him pay for what he did. That's all that matters."

"I don't think your friends would have wanted to see you as a killer, Black. Do you?" Kaneene asked softly, her gaze meeting the man's deep blue eyes.

"She has a point," Pettigrew threw in.

"SHUT UP!" they both yelled at him.

"Take the high road, Black. You can see him punished and walk free yourself, or you can throw both of your lives away." Kaneene unlocked the handcuffs with a word and climbed to her feet. "It's your choice."

Black remained where he was on the floor for a moment until he made his decision. He had been free long enough to remember just how wonderful it was, and the thought of ever going back to that place made him cringe. Besides, now he had Harry to look after, and he was sure that the auror was right. James and Lily would never have wanted him to become a cold blooded killer. He climbed to his feet and yanked the sniveling wretch with him.

Peter began to grovel. "Oh, thank you! Thank you so much, Miss. You can't imagine what he would have done if..." SMACK!

Kaneene dropped him with a vicious right hook.

Sirius looked at the female auror and broke into a wide grin. "Hey, isn't that unnecessary brutality?"

She grinned slyly back at him. "Oh, I'd say it was very necessary, wouldn't you?"

Lupin ran along the hall. He rounded the corner as he headed for where he could hear voices, hesitating only long enough to pick up the wand laying on the floor.

When he appeared in the doorway he found Sirius with a wand in his hand, and Kaneene putting her handcuffs on an unmoving Pettigrew. He appeared stunned as he looked from Black to Moody to Pettigrew and back to Black. It dawned on him what the scene before him meant to his best friend.

"You'll be free," he said quietly to Sirius.

"The second I can report back in," Kaneene confirmed.

Lupin moved quickly and hugged his long time friend, as the auror took Pettigrew's wand and bound his feet as well. "That should keep him. Now, if you two are finished snuggling we really need to go." She took the wand that Lupin offered back to her and walked out the door.

Sirius smiled at Remus as he released his friend from the embrace. He nodded toward the door. "She's pretty cool. For an auror, I mean."

Lupin eyed Black somewhat suspiciously.

"See that," Sirius continued, indicating the unconscious Wormtail, "one punch and she leveled him." He grinned at Remus.

Lupin rolled his eyes. Moody was in trouble. The wizard standing in front of him was the only one he knew that would be smitten with a woman that could knock a man out cold with a single blow.

"Come on, Padfoot," he called as he went for the door.

They ran after the auror.

Fudge had just picked his head up from where he had fallen on the floor and began to look around the empty room. Relief washed over him. He didn't know what happened and he didn't care. All he knew was he had to get out. He climbed to his feet and was heading for the door when the woman came in.

"Oh, thank Merlin!" He couldn't have been happier to see the auror in the doorway. He was even pleased to see Remus Lupin as the Hogwarts professor came in next. He panicked when Sirius Black strode into the room behind them.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Fudge pointed and backed away from the man with his mouth open.

Black folded his arms and leaned against the wall casually. "Miss Moody, would you please reassure the good Minister that I am not here to do anything but help save his pathetic arse?"

She nodded and crossed the room to speak with the trembling man quietly, sitting him down at his desk while she spoke.

Lupin looked at Black. "Pathetic arse?" he mouthed.

Black shrugged, unconcerned with his choice of words. The Minister was on the top of the list of people who would owe him an apology.

Fudge knew the auror's uncle and knew her as well. He also knew that she was as smart and reliable as aurors came, but it still took him a few moments for the magnitude of what she was telling him to sink in.

Slowly it dawned on him, and he began to nod solemnly.

"I understand. We have made a very grave error. I will issue a full pardon first thing tomorrow. We should really be going." He made as if to stand.

Moody put a hand on his arm as he tried to get out of the chair. "Now," she said softly.

"What?" Fudge asked, not sure that he'd heard her right.

She handed him the quill on his desk. "Write it now," she ordered through clenched teeth.

"My dear, I assure you that....."

"You heard the lady." Lupin leaned over the desk as he glared at the man in the chair.

Fudge looked from one to the other and reluctantly gave in. He picked up the quill and spent a few minutes writing the words that would make Sirius Black a free man and signed it with a flourish. He handed it to Kaneene and tried to stand unsuccessfully again.

"Post it," she ordered.

The man sighed, picked up his wand and cast the spell over the document. Within a few minutes a copy would be posted in every Ministry office, and every auror post, as well as the entire ATC.

Kaneene smiled and offered the document to Lupin. He smiled back as he took it from her and walked to where Sirius stood.

"For you, compliments of the lady." He grinned and handed the parchment to his best friend, who took it and stared at it for a long moment. He could hardly believe the piece of paper was real. He was free.

Black shook his head after a moment and cleared his throat. He tucked the pardon inside his robes. "All right. I think we should get the hell out of here," he finally announced.

Everyone in the room couldn't have agreed with him more.

A/N: Now, for any of you that have not already read "Decisions", GO READ IT. The next chapter will make a bit more sense if you have. It's short, and hopefully not too painful.

As we approach Sept. 11th, I would like to wish everyone, especially my fellow Americans, a safe and peaceful week. - Nytd