A/N: I'm sorry it took me so long. I've had a strange couple of weeks, but I know where my story is going from here, for the most part. This chapter will be from Remus' point of view, but it will switch back at the very end of this chapter…
Once again, here the story continues, but from Remus' point of view…
Remus spun around to stare at Harry, forgetting in his shock that he shouldn't be taking his eyes off of Sirius Black.
"Harry – what did you just say?"
"Wormtail! He helped Voldemort rise! I mean, maybe it wasn't the same one or something, but there was someone that Voldemort called Wormtail that he said helped him come back to power…"
Lupin then remembered Sirius and spun back around. He was sitting motionless, his face nearly void of expression again. Anger had entered his eyes when they were arguing, and slight disbelief and shock when Harry mentioned the portkey, but that was it. Sirius Black – the one that Moony had known – had always been one for expression. He was an entirely different person now. Remus needed time to think.
Dumbledore rose from his desk and approached Lupin. Remus realized that he was standing perfectly still with his wand pointed directly at Sirius. Harry and his friends were all watching him nervously, but Padfo-Sirius wasn't even looking in his direction.
"Remus, we need to discuss this. You were seen by Minerva, I believe?"
"Yes." Lupin said tersely.
"Well, I'm sure that she would be willing to stand guard while the five of us discuss the next step." Professor Dumbledore then turned towards the three students.
"Would you three please go find Professor McGonagall and relay our request to her?"
"Yes sir." Hermione answered. They hurried from the office.
"Remus, I would like to speak with Mr. Black. Would you mind waiting elsewhere? I'm sure that the famous trio can return with Minerva within a quarter of an hour…"
"I'll be back." Remus got to his feet and left the office as fast as he could go while walking. His office was on the same floor as the entryway to the headmaster's office, and it did not take him long to reach it.
It was with a quiet sigh that he sank into his familiar chair. He often went to his office to think…and thinking was what he needed to do now.
When he had entered the woods that evening, he had been prepared for the many things that were likely to roam the forest at night, and he had been planning the conversation with the centaurs. He had not been expecting to find Sirius Black. Not at all.
The news had reached them that Azkaban had been broken open by Death Eaters, and it had occurred to the staff that they might try to attack Hogwarts, but no one had expected anything so soon. And it had seemed unfathomable that Sirius Black might be sent to the school. Alone. For the first several years after the death of the Potters, Lupin had gone into fiery rages when Black was mentioned. Then he had tried to put Sirius out of his mind. Eventually he had tried to come to terms with the fact that his once-best-friend was a spying murderer…it hadn't worked. The anger and the confusion had remained, but it had been pushed deep, and getting to know Harry had had mixed effects – one part of Remus had become more enraged, another part had been pacified. He had been attempting to come to terms with the confusion recently – and then Sirius had shown up. And he had claimed to be innocent.
Remus smiled bitterly. If he had felt confused before…
The worst part was that even the anger was fizzling away, eaten by the situation. The emotions were all leaving, and now he just felt tired and slightly sick. He did not want to deal with any of it.
Something didn't seem right about Sirius's story. It was just too wild, too crazy to believe. The traitor had been Peter all along? He wasn't dead?
Then again, stranger things had happened.
So, if the story was true, Sirius had been the secret keeper, but he switched to Peter to throw Voldemort off of the scent. But Peter had been the spy, and had gone directly to Voldemort to hand the Potters over. Voldemort had attacked, killed Lily and James, but then was defeated by Harry. Sirius went after Peter, but Peter blew up the street and disappeared, and Sirius was hauled away. Then Peter had just shown up with Voldemort was gaining strength.
That was it.
The missing piece of the story: Where had Peter been all of those years? How did he get back to Voldemort?
Remus shook his head tiredly. He would have to ask Sirius that, see if Sirius knew. See if Sirius was telling the truth. Glancing at his clock, he realized that nearly fifteen minutes had gone by. Giving a tired sigh, Remus got to his feet and went back to Professor Dumbledore's office.
Sirius had moved to a chair and was sitting quietly, eyes open, but not focused on anything in particular. Professor McGonagall was sitting equally silently on the couch, wand in hand. The headmaster and three students were nowhere to be seen.
"Where did everybody go?" Remus asked, stifling a yawn. Minerva looked up sharply, then relaxed slightly.
"I believe that they were heading for the dungeons."
"Why?"
"That you will have to ask Professor Dumbledore."
"Right."
Remus turned and left the room, then moved quickly and quietly through the empty corridors.
He found the four people in an unused dungeon classroom, sitting around a table, waiting for him.
"Ah, professor Lupin. Sit." The headmaster indicated an empty chair to his left, speaking casually, as though Remus was simply the last to arrive at a routine staff meeting.
"Now," he continued, as soon as Remus was seated, "this evening has been a bit surprising for all of us, I must say."
"Yeah." Harry agreed.
"Wow." Ron added.
"Really surprising." Hermione finished.
Remus just nodded, rubbing his hands through his hair and fighting the urge to put his head down on the table and fall asleep.
"Remus, are you all right?" Harry asked, peering at him in a concerned fashion.
"I think that this evening has just hit Remus the hardest." Dumbledore said reassuringly. "Right now we need to face the issue at hand. We have a possible death eater upstairs, but it is sounding like he may be innocent. Azkaban is not a nice place, especially for the blameless."
"Sirius isn't blameless." Remus muttered, stifling another yawn.
"What?" Ron asked, sitting up.
"Oh, sorry, I just meant that he could never be called blameless. He just might not be to blame in this situation. If he's telling the truth, that is."
"Excuse me, sir…" Hermione said, directing her gaze to the headmaster, "But why can't we just use veritaserum?"
"An excellent question, Hermione. Veritaserum is very hard to take. The body often rejects it, which leads to vomiting, or sometimes it doesn't even work. Occasionally there is some reaction within the body that leads to unplanned events…they used it at a trial that I was present for several years ago, and the person passed out and remained unconscious for a week. The potion has to be used carefully, and shouldn't be used at all if possible."
"This is a strange time for a meeting on behavior in class, if you don't mind my saying so." Snape said from the doorway.
"Good evening Professor Snape." Professor Dumbledore said politely. "What brings you here at this late hour?"
"The knowledge that there were people in my dungeon. I wished to find out who was down here at such a strange time."
"We are." Remus muttered.
"Good evening, Remus. You look tired."
"You look like crap too." Remus snapped before he could stop himself. "At least I can get some sleep and look better in the morning."
"Temper, temper…" Snape said, his voice sickeningly sweet.
"Severus, come and sit down. We might as well ask your advice on this."
"Expulsion." Professor Snape said immediately.
"I beg your pardon?" Dumbledore asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Whatever Potter has done this time, I say expel him."
"Actually, we are discussing Sirius Black."
"It's a bit late to be discussing his expulsion, though I do feel that that would have been a proper course of action when he was still a student here…" Snape said thoughtfully.
"He's here." Remus said shortly.
"What?"
"He showed up in the forest. We found him and brought him back, and now he's claiming that he wasn't sent here by Voldemort."
"Oh?" Severus asked.
"He's also claiming to be innocent."
"Innocent? As in – not a death eater?" Snape asked, eyebrows raising.
"Yes."
"He is also saying that he was not the secret keeper for Lily and James when Voldemort attacked, but that Peter was."
The room was silent for a long moment.
"What?" Snape asked finally. "What do you want me to say?"
"Was he a death eater?" Remus asked, bracing for the answer.
"I have no idea." Snape said.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Come on Potter, you don't possibly think that I know all of the death eaters. Even those in the inner circle don't know all those where were or are a part of the ranks. I can tell you something though." Snape paused and glanced around the table. "My aunt was friends with Black's mother, and I can assure you that she, Black's mother, was most definitely a dark witch. I wasn't the least bit surprised when Black was arrested, and I wouldn't be surprised now if it turned out that he was lying."
"I'll be right back." Hermione said, standing up. She left, heading towards the bathrooms. The remaining five sat staring at the table.
Hermione suddenly came pounding back into the room, panting. "Professor Dumbledore – there's a man – bottom of the stairs coming down from the next floor – unconscious or dead…"
Her voice trailed off as Dumbledore left the room at an amazing speed, followed by the two teachers. Harry and Ron weren't far behind.
Remus stopped short at what he saw. It was a man, obviously from the ministry, lying crumpled. He had been hit hard by a curse spell, and it looked like it had been close range. Then the person had hit him hard enough to send him down the staircase.
He charged up the staircase, wand in hand. The hall was empty, and it appeared untouched. Snape ran past him, heading for the main staircase. The two men raced towards Professor Dumbledore's office, but stopped in the doorway at what they saw.
Professor McGonagall was lying on the floor, unconscious. The chair Sirius had been sitting in was overturned, and the Dark Mark was burned into the wooden surface of the headmaster's desk.
Professor Dumbledore stepped quietly past them and went to McGonagall, kneeling down to check her pulse.
McGonagall groaned softly, then gasped. Her fist flung up into the air, connecting solidly with the headmaster's jaw.
"Minerva, it's Albus. Wake up, please."
"Wha-Professor? Did I hit you?"
"Yes, but what happened here?"
"Oh! Oh…" McGonagall tried to sit up too fast and had to lie back down. "A death eater…dressed like ministry…just one, I think, came into the room…he was silent, I didn't hear the passage open…suddenly the door opened and there he was…he said something to Sirius…something like 'time to go' and then he stunned me…then I woke up here. Is Sirius gone?"
"Yes." Professor Dumbledore told her grimly. He then turned to look at the group huddled in the doorway.
"Well, it appears that Sirius's allies have come to retrieve him."
"Like I said before, I am not surprised." Snape commented bluntly.
***
Sirius' point of view:
Sirius struggled to open his eyes. He had never before in his life struggled to open his eyes. Where was he? Oh, Azkaban. Same stupid cell. That stupid rat would be back soon. Wait. He had escaped Azkaban. Suddenly it all came rushing back…the woods, Harry, Remus, McGonagall…the ministry official entering the room and taking out McGonagall before stunning Sirius…what the hell had just happened?
"Hello Black." Sirius looked up to see a masked death eater leering down at him. He couldn't see the face, but it was a leer nonetheless.
"What?" He asked finally, not being able to think of anything better to say. His head still hurt.
"The dark lord wishes to speak with you. Can you stand?"
A/N: Once again, sorry it took me so long. Thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers, as usual, and to Kaylin who basically writes my stuff for me, despite what she may say.
Lady FoxFire – Glad you like :o) Yes, Harry found out about Sirius through Remus during his quiet third year. In JK Rowling's books, Sirius is the godfather, and he still is the legal godfather for Harry, but Harry sees Remus in that role now, seeing as how they all think that Sirius isn't worthy of the title…
Prongsjr – thanks for reviewing, even if only to say 'cool story'. A good review is a good review, after all…
Harriet – hey, that's the name of the character I am in our community theatre this year…hehe, sorry, that was irrelevant. I bet this wasn't as soon as you'd like, sorry. I'll try to do better :o)
Tarawen - …you rock. Your reviews are awesome, and you are an amazing writer. Sadly for you, my head is too tired right now to process your review and reply. Please leave another amazing one because I like them when I'm not dead.
Nicky – yeah, I was feeling the missing emotions myself, soon after I posted. I'm trying to make up for that though, having a section from Remus' POV explaining how he's just too tired…also, they're all sort of in shock. You are right though, there should have been more…more. Just more.
Maughgy – You rock too. All of my reviewers rock, but your enthusiasm seriously makes me write faster. No sarcasm there. Thank you so much.
Shadow - Glad you like my name…it's a nic given to me by a friend's mom. Chapter 4 went up within a week, sadly most of my chapters take longer. Hope you come back anyway.
Wellduh - hehhehheh, glad you thought it was a cliffy. I love doing that to people. Thanks for the review.
A/N: Thanks AGAIN to my reviewers…and I'm sorry if something in my replies didn't make sense…I'm REALLY tired, but I love you guys so much and I like writing replies so much that I had to do this before sending it off for proofreading…seriously, writing replies is the best part. Anyway, goodnight :o)