Chapter 6 A Pocketful Of Miracles

The house elf entered with the tea. The elf's eyes went to Dumbledore whose eyes flicked toward Sirius. The elf gave an almost imperceptible nod and proceeded to serve the tea. Cromwell and Fudge were too busy adding condiments to their tea to notice. The elf finished and left.

"You may not know," Dumbledore said to Sirius, "That at times I am called upon as a special consultant to the ministry. These rumors of Peter Petigrew achieving multiple amimagi feats has us concerned enough to launch an investigation. As quietly as possible, of course."

"And you want me to do that investigation?" Sirius asked.

"From your background as having Auror training and your considerable accomplishments as an Animagus, I'd think you would be qualified." Dumbledore mused.

Fudge's face turned beet red. "This is preposterous." He sputtered. "Professor Dumbledore, I was under the impression that we were on a fact finding mission here with some possible incentives for his cooperation. There was no mention of allowing a convicted murderer to participate in the investigation itself. This man is dangerous and this whole idea is out of the question."

"Come, come, Minister." Said Dumbledore. "You have seen the facts of the case. You know it was Petigrew who did the deed. This could reap multiple rewards. Getting to the bottom of the animagus rumors and possibly capturing one of Lord Voldemort's closest followers."

"I know nothing of the sort." Fudge stated adamantly. "Sirius Black has been tried and convicted by a court and I cannot overturn that with no supporting evidence. I will not go down in history as the Minister of Magic who, on a whim, released a convicted multiple murderer and the first and only escapee from Azkaban. That would be committing political suicide."

"Perhaps, Minister" Said Dumdledore calmly, "You should be more concerned with the welfare of the wizarding community as a whole rather than your image in the history books."

"Professor Dumbledore, I think we have heard quite sufficiently from you on this matter." Fudge blathered. To Cromwell he said, "Thank you for your time Warden. I apologize for wasting it."

He stood up and walked to the door. "Coming Professor?" He asked icily.

"I will be with you in a moment, Minister." Said Dumbledore.

"As you wish." Fudge intoned and shut the door behind him.

"Nice try, Professor." Said Sirius wryly. "But he's right about the evidence part. You didn't need to get yourself in trouble with the Minister on my account."

"Oh don't worry about him." Said Dumbledore "He won't stay upset at me for long. This isn't over Sirius. Stay alert and I'll be in touch."

"I appreciate your effort on my behalf." Sirius said as they shook hands, "Now you better catch Fudge."

Dumbledore smiled. "Take care, my friend." He opened the door to find Fudge in conversation with one of his aides.

"Ah, there you are Professor." He said as if nothing had just happened. "Shall we go?"

The wizard and the two dementors came in to take Sirius back to his cell. Warden Cromwell thanked Sirius for his cooperation and said there would be a notation to that effect placed in his file.

As they began the walk back to his cell, Sirius began to wonder about what had just occurred. This animagus pretext seemed like a flimsy excuse to drag the Minister of Magic to Azkaban. Especially to ask for the help of someone Fudge would be sure to veto. So what was going on? Sirius was so lost in thought that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going.

CRASH!!! Sirius tripped headlong and fell in a tangle of arms and legs. He tried several times to get up but it seemed that something was pushing toward him. Finally the wizard and the dementors dragged him to his feet and separated him from what he fell over.

It was a very frightened looking elf. Sirius had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he did not notice the corridor intersecting from the right. The elf must have come out of it and Sirius tripped right over him.

"Dobby is so sorry. Dobby is so clumsy." Cried the elf.

"Elf!!" Roared the wizard. "You know better than to be in the passageway when prisoners are being moved. Why are you here? And it better be good."

"Dobby sorry Mr. Wizard, sir. I not think prisoner is scheduled to be moved at this time." Said the elf trembling as he picked up what he was carrying.

"What do you have there?" Growled the wizard.

"Rugs for cells." Said the elf, "Everybody get one. Warden say so."

"Oh yeah." The wizard said, "That bunch of protesters that think Azkaban is too brutal. So they got to put rugs in the cells, huh? Where is this one going?"

"Mr. Sirius Black's room Mr. Wizard, sir." Dobby answered.

"Well you're in luck." The wizard told him. "This is Sirius Black and we are going to his cell. You may follow but keep your distance."

"Thank you Mr. Wizard, sir." Said Dobby, "Dobby be no more trouble."

"See that you're not." The wizard glared at the elf, "Okay Black. Let's go."

Sirius walked down the passageway followed by the wizard, the two dementors and Dobby trailing some distance behind. They stopped at the cell door and the wizard unlocked it. He motioned Sirius into the cell and against the far wall.

"All right, Elf. Do what you need to do and leave." Said the wizard.

Dobby scuttled into the cell and unrolled a somewhat threadbare carpet about four feet wide and eight feet long.

"Dobby think Mr. Sirius Black like this rug." Said Dobby as he pulled it into place.

"Don't talk to the prisoner." The wizard ordered.

"Is very nice Persian rug." He continued as he smoothed the fringe.

"ELF!!!"

"Made in Baghdad." Dobby finished "Okay, Dobby done here, good-bye."

He scooted out before anyone could yell at him some more.

"Elves." The wizard muttered. "It's a good thing they work so hard. Otherwise I couldn't stand to be around them."

He put away his wand as he walked to the door. "Have a nice day, Black." He chuckled as he closed the door and locked it.

Sirius listened to them walk away and started pacing the cell. He put his hands in his pockets and stopped. He felt something that had not been there before. He withdrew it slowly from his pocket.

It was a vial of bright green liquid wrapped in a parchment note. Sirius unrolled the note. It read:

"Read this entire note before you do anything. You have not been here long enough for the dementors to start affecting you, but it will happen. This potion will help ward off their effects. It will make you very sleepy for a while so throw the vial out the window and eat this note. Then lie down on your bed. I will be in touch.

A Friend"

"Where did this come from?" Sirius thought to himself. "Is it possible Dobby planted it when I tripped over him. If so then that was no accident."

Sirius sat down on his bed and looked at the rug at his feet. "Doesn't look like anything special." He thought. "They could have gotten me one that wasn't worn in the middle. Still it's a nice touch. These stone floors can get pretty cold."

Sirius picked up one end and examined the underside. There was nothing but a tag saying "Genuine Persian. All Natural Fibers" and some Arabic writing.

"Too bad I don't know Arabic." Sirius laughed silently, "Maybe I would find out what the fiber content of a Persian rug was."

He took up the vial and opened it. "Down the hatch," he thought, stuffing the note in his mouth and washing it down with the potion. He got up and threw the vial out the window. He heard it tinkle on the rocks below.

In seconds a wave of sleepiness came over him. Sirius staggered to his bed and lay down. As the world closed in around him he groggily glanced at the rug on the floor.

Was he dreaming already or was the far corner of the rug waving at him?

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Fudge and Dumbledore approached the landing to board their transportation back to London.

"Well?" Fudge asked.

"Everything is in place, Minister." Dumbledore answered, "Now the whole thing depends on Sirius and I have every confidence in him."

"I hope so." Said Fudge as he took a deep breath. "I'm taking a huge gamble, Albus, both personally and politically. This had better work."

"Minister," said Dumbledore, "If I may say so, your performance was very good."

"It was, wasn't it?" answered Fudge.