Injustice to the Innocent.

            The Capture.

            It was cold. There was no doubt, as Sirius' breath floated in a crystalline fog in front of him, and ice formed on his long devilish beard. Wiping

his face with a gloved hand he stepped forward on the leaves crushing them. He cringed slightly, but moved  quickly throughout the forest. He only had a light jacket, and at this rate, he thought bitterly he would freeze to death. He wanted to rest, but couldn't. He knew, could feel, and smell, they were on his trail again. Besides he didn't even have anything to make a fire. What luck.

            They had picked up on his trail after he had left Remus' for a short visit. They didn't know he was at Remus', just in the area when they had picked up on him. He had been running through the forest when the cold snap had hit, and he hadn't been prepared for it. Stupid. Stupid. Leaves and newly fallen snow crunched under his feet, he was being careless and he knew it. He couldn't afford, not now, changing to animangi form. The new fallen snow would show the footprints of a human suddenly stopping and only dog footprints would be visible. So he ran, north with as much speed as he could. If he could remember correctly, Hogwarts was another 5-7 miles; he could make it one day if he tried. Then again, it was becoming dark. He knew the dangers of this forest at night. He couldn't chance being idle without a wand; he was relying on strength and an animagi form if necessary. The odds were against him, but hadn't they been for years?

            Trees passed by, one after another, innumerable amounts of brush had been stepped on and pushed out of the way to make a hasty return. He knew he was being careless and how easy it would be for them to track him. He was aware that every step he took was another hint to where he was going, but speed was the essence, not secrecy in this game. He couldn't remember how long he'd been running exactly, but as he approached the castle, daylight had vanished, and the quarter moon was high in the night sky. He cursed slightly, trying to remember all Remus taught him about the moon and telling time.  He reached the end of the forest, and cursed again, forgetting the large expanse of treeless, coverless land that awaited him before he could get to the castle. He looked at it, and wondered if he should dare chance animangi now. If he had gotten this far and they didn't know he was here, he could get away with it, however, if they knew he was coming here, predicted his actions he could be in even more trouble.  "No, no" he thought, "Hogwarts is safe, they wouldn't expect me here. Besides its dark, just take the long way around" he snuck cautiously around the long lake a head of him. 

            There was a point that the trees were near the castle. That's where he was going to cross, and go though a secret entrance on the wall. He looked in all directions, before sprinting to the wall preying no one could see him...

            "STOP."

            'Oh dear god...not now...'he thought.

            He sprinted forward, rolling to the side, and then tried to open the door. His hand was trying to grip the nonexistent wand at his side; the adrenaline rushing through his body. The door didn't open.

            He was surrounded by three Ministry officials he couldn't identify. He scanned for any escape, but he didn't see one. He stood up defiantly, looking to their eyes. They didn't know he was innocent, they didn't know he had helped save Harry. He knew they didn't know, and they were prepared to kill him. A defenseless man. The official in the middle of the three with cold hazel eyes, mixed with blue, pointed his wand towards him. "You gave us quite a chase Mr. Black."

            Sirius grinned. "I know." At that moment, he took on the form of his animangus, and attacked the first guy. After getting him down, he tried to take off across the snow. His dog legs pushed had hard as his could make them, sprinting across the snow, but he heard a shout, and a tingling sensation, and found himself rolling head first into the snow. He scrambled up quickly and tried to run, but found he couldn't move his legs. He was fighting though, all he could do, was to fight the spell. They would take him to his death.

            All of a sudden, all he knew was black.

            Where ever he was, it was warm. It wasn't the bone chilling-Antarctic cold of Azkaban, where he had expected to wake up, and it surprised him. Did he escape and not know it? He couldn't remember much, but whatever he was laying on was hard, but he was warm.

            He sat up to find himself in a muggle-type prison cell. There were two guards outside the black iron bars , chattering to each other in hushed tones. The floor was simply a concrete slab , with a small wall giving limited privacy for a toilet.

 More than what Azkaban offered you, if you were even sane enough to realize your bodily needs anyway...

 he thought bitterly. He was in the same set of black clothes that he had been caught in, but all belongings had been removed. He searched frantically for his picture of Harry in his third year, but was dismayed when he noticed even that had been taken away. The guards noticed he was awake, and turned towards the cell. He knew they were wizards, for their wands hung down by there sides in small holders, like guns, ready to be pulled out for use at any time.  They both were tall, lean boys, each with brown hair, one had blue eyes, the other a blue-hazel color. They looked about 20 and 19, and were probably brothers.

            "Now you scum," The older one, or so he assumed,

went, "Don't you dare do any tricks without a wand of yours. We've got so many magical bonds up that you'll never escape and it will be, well, quite painful. Your lucky ya know, they wouldn't put you in Azkaban because you escaped before, and they couldn't get dementors over here. Thats what you deserve. After killing all those people." His blue eyes narrowed, his square jaw set. He looked at him with total disgust for a moment. Then turned to his bother next to him. "John, how about a game of Exploding Snap to pass the time?"

            John, the more intellectual of the two, was more interested in Sirius, and waved him off. "How did you do it?" Sirius could tell he was just curious, and after a moment of looking him over he spoke. "Do what?"

            "Survive."

            "What?"

            "Azkaban. Most people go crazy within a year of there, you survived 12."

            "You wouldn't believe my story anyway." Siruis looked at him. He was only about five when Voldemort had been destroyed, so he didn't realize what all of them had gone though, besides why explain this again? He was going to be sent somewhere- somewhere bad, or given the kiss. He shuddered at both thoughts inwardly.

            "Given the circumstances, probably not. But I'll listen anyway, then decide."

            Sirius went wide eyed at the general honesty and well, bluntness of John before him. He sounded like a Hufflepuff.

            "Well, if you'll listen I'll tell. But one question first."

            "Ask away, if I can answer it I will."

            "What is going to become of me? And why are you talking to me?"

            "Well, you're actually going to have a trial in a week, due to new amendments in Ministry law that says you have to have one, and if found guilty on the charges of being an illegal animangus, attacking a ministry official, killing 13 muggles with a single curse and being a Death Eater, you'll be given the kiss. As for talking to you, I just am, besides,

you're talking back. Most wouldn't even do that. You don't seem like you killed all those people. I don't know what it is about you. Anyway, your story?"

            "Ahh yes yes, of course." Sirius started the long tale, starting all the way back with James, then how Peter betrayed them all, how he was framed, placed in Azkaban, how he survived his years by chanting "I am innocent" over and over. He skipped the part about how he escaped however, and went on to tell meeting Harry, and the story of everything else.  He finished, and the boy smiled and walked away to talk with his brother who had also started listing to his tale. It had given him some thing to preoccupy him for awhile, but now his mind was slowly wondering back to Harry, and how soon he was going to get the Kiss, even if there was a trail. It was truthfully unfair, injustice to the innocent, but he even had to admit he was framed well. There was nothing...

            'Dear God,' he thought 'what happens to me now?'

End of 1. 

This is the first HP fanfic I've written in a long time. Please R&R. More to come!