Chapter 4

"You what?" Sirius yelled.

"I am terribly sorry Sirius, I thought I was doing it for the best."

"It's bad enough that you believed that I. you had reason to think that. But you should have known, Rebecca would never go over to the Dark Side."

"I never thought that," Dumbledore looked wearier than ever, "I just couldn't take a chance. There was every possibility that, if you were with Voldemort, she was too. You will never know how sorry I am."

Sirius shook his head. He didn't really blame Dumbledore; he probably would have thought the same in his place, but this news was shocking to him.

"Why did she leave though?"

"She was upset. She refused to believe that you had betrayed Lily and James. She believed in you. And, of course, that strengthened the possibility ."

"Wait." Sirius said. "You mean she trusted me? With all the evidence against me, with everyone saying that I. she still trusted me?"

Dumbledore nodded. "She stood by you. She wouldn't accept what everyone else said. She even suspected Pettigrew. She had always known what he was. You can't imagine how much I wish I'd listened to her."

Sirius was elated. "Have you heard from her?"

"Not for thirteen years. We haven't spoken since I accused her." Dumbledore's usually cheerful face was full of guilt. "I wrote to her as soon as I found out where she was. She was remarkably difficult to find, she did all she could to hide from the world. I eventually discovered through some friends at the Daily Prophet that there was a long-distance delivery that went out every day but no-one knew where to. She must have done some incredibly strong spells to make her whereabouts unknown to even the staff there. I found a way to track the owl who took the paper. This, however, failed several times but eventually I found her. I wrote after the Tournament and she replied, said she would do whatever she could to help."

"She is coming home?"

"She is, she should arrive on Wednesday."

Sirius grinned. He instantly forgave Dumbledore for not trusting her, it was probably safer for her to have been out of the country anyway, and in view of the recently imparted news all he could feel was gratitude in face of the idea that he would soon see Rebecca again. Even with the dark times that he was sure would be ahead, things had taken a definite turn for the better.

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