The Department of Mysteries Revisited: A Sirius Point of View
By Trace (with apologies to JKR)
Part One
"I was just trying to help," muttered Sirius Black, wiping the sweat off his brow with the sleeve of his robe. A loud shriek was Buckbeak's angry reply. The hippogriff limped into a corner of the dark room, his feathers ruffled.
"That's what you get, allowing dirty, half-breed animals to defile this house. Serves you right, you traitor," said the portrait of Pestilentus Black smugly from the wall across the room. Sirius' great-great-great grandfather cast a dark look towards the door, making it clear he didn't refer to Buckbeak alone.
"Go stick it in a cauldron," said Sirius grimly. He glanced down sourly at the bloody gash on his left arm, flicked his wand and watched as the skin repaired itself. "I give up. You win, Buckbeak," he growled. "Go ahead and lick your wound. You'll probably get an infection, but don't come squawking at me. I tried."
Sirius bent to gather up the bandages strewn across the floor, his long, dark hair falling across his pale face. It was then that the pain hit him squarely in the back of the head. With a grunt he toppled over, slamming face down onto the floor. He knew what this meant—urgent Order business. He pushed himself up and searched the pockets of his robe until his hand closed around a small sphere. He withdrew the mini, magic 8-ball and shook it.
Instantly, Sirius heard a voice boom inside his head. It was the very last voice he wanted to hear anytime or anywhere. The small, white triangle in the window of the 8-ball rose to the surface. It read, "Severus Snape is calling."
"BLACK, WHERE ARE YOU?" Snape's voice demanded loudly, echoing painfully in Sirius' head.
Sirius used his free hand to staunch the blood flowing from his nose and ground his teeth in frustration. The slimy git isn't even trying to make this easy, he thought. Then he smiled viciously through the blood on his face and roared, "I'M AT HEADQUARTERS. WHAT DO YOU WANT?" That had to have hurt. He could almost hear Snape moaning in pain. His smile became pleasantly self-satisfied.
Snape's voice came again, softer this time, almost a hiss. "I want nothing from you, Black. I'm merely checking up on you. Making sure you're where you're supposed to be…HIDING!" Snape's voice left Sirius' head abruptly, and the triangle inside the magic 8-ball sank from view.
"Bugger off, Snivellus," Sirius snarled to no one in particular. Bloodied and bad-tempered, he shot black looks at both Buckbeak and Pestilentus (who was whistling a happy tune) before stalking out of the room and slamming the door. He passed Kreacher in the hallway. The house-elf bowed low and erupted in the most horrible giggles at the sight of Sirius.
"Master will get his own, yes yes. Kreacher will see to it for the Mistress, yes," he muttered in a loud stage whisper.
Sirius' lip curled in disgust, but he continued down the hall, nearly knocking Lupin, who had just exited from a room on the left, off his feet.
"I don't want to talk about it," Sirius said angrily. Lupin merely raised an eyebrow and let him go.
Sirius stomped downstairs to the kitchen, intending to clean himself up. He found Moody and Tonks sitting at the kitchen table arguing about safety protocol.
"But it was Kingsley," Tonks was saying matter-of-factly.
"How'd you know that if you didn't perform the Veroculus spell?" Moody growled. "Did you grow a magical eye while I wasn't looking?"
Sirius could feel the cold gaze of Moody's magical eye the second he walked through the door, even though Moody was facing away from him.
"He knew the password, Alastor," Tonks said, giving an exasperated look at Mad-Eye.
"What the blazes happened to you, boy?" Moody jumped up and spun to face Sirius, wand held at the ready. "Are we under attack?"
Sirius glanced down at his robes; they were smeared with blood. He was sure his face didn't look any better. "No."
"Well, what then?"
"I had a wand accident," Sirius said sarcastically. He was not about to tell anyone about Snape checking up on him.
"You didn't lose a buttock, did you?" Tonks asked. Her mouth twitched with a barely suppressed smile as Mad-Eye glared at her with both his eyes.
Before long, Sirius had managed to clean himself up with Moody's help. Mad-Eye turned out to be surprisingly good at removing bloodstains from wool.
"I've had lots of practice," he muttered darkly.
Sirius sat down at the kitchen table and promptly ignored Moody and Tonks as they resumed their verbal sparring match. He felt like brooding quietly, but visibly. It wouldn't do to have the others think he was happy hiding away in his parents' house. There was one question in particular that he'd been brooding about for weeks.
Why am I never able to help my friends? He didn't understand it. His life had been a complete and utter failure. His family had never wanted him, not from the time he was a baby. He had failed to save James and Lily. He had even twice failed to take his revenge on Peter. So far he hadn't managed to do anything more for the Order than offer his house as a safe haven, and even his house didn't want anything to do with him. He felt bad about snapping at Buckbeak earlier, but it hurt that even the hippogriff didn't believe he could be of help.
Sirius was well and truly brooding by the time Lupin and Kingsley Shacklebolt sauntered into the kitchen.
"Anything to eat?" Shacklebolt asked casually.
All hell broke loose. Moody, Tonks, Lupin and Shacklebolt all scrabbled in their pockets, each withdrawing a magic 8-ball much like Sirius' and shaking it vigorously. Sirius removed his from his pocket hopefully, but there was no one calling him. He looked at each of the four Order members in turn. Their lips were moving, but Sirius couldn't hear a word they said.
He was left out again. No doubt the caller thought Sirius was helpless. It was too much—way too much. He sprang up from his chair and paced the kitchen furiously as the others conducted their secret conversations. He might as well not even be here for all the help he'd managed to give. It pained him to agree, but Snape was right. He was hiding like a whipped dog. He fumed silently.
"Padfoot." Lupin's voice startled him out of his thoughts. "That was Snape. He thinks Harry's gone off to the Ministry of Magic."
"What? I was just…He didn't tell me…that git!" Sirius snarled.
Lupin gave Sirius a strange look, but didn't ask him any questions. "Apparently, Harry had a vision that you were captured by Voldemort at the Department of Mysteries."
"He's after the bloody prophecy," Moody said.
Sirius blanched to a whiter shade of pale.
"Look, we have to go," Lupin said urgently. "If Dumbledore comes here, tell him what's happened and where we are."
"NO!" Sirius exploded, "I'm going with you."
Everyone else in the kitchen froze, watching the two of them silently.
"Snape wants you to stay and warn Dumbledore."
"Since when do I have to take orders from him? If Harry's in trouble because of me, I'm not going to sit here at headquarters doing nothing. I'd rather be dead!" Sirius' eyes locked onto Lupin's. Lupin flinched first, looked down at the floor, and after a brief moment, nodded.
"KREACHER, HERE!" Sirius yelled at the top of his voice.
With a loud crack, Kreacher appeared in the kitchen. "Yes Master?" he said loudly, then more softly, "filthy swine that should be flayed alive and left to rot with the garbage."
"If Dumbledore comes here, you must tell him that we've all gone to the Department of Mysteries. Tell him that Harry is in danger. That is an order, Kreacher."
Kreacher smiled broadly and bowed, but Sirius didn't see it as he had already whirled around to join the group.
"To the atrium, I think," Moody said.
"They can't Apparate inside the ministry, Alastor," Shacklebolt said, nodding towards Sirius and Lupin.
Mad-Eye focused an eye each on Lupin and Black, "Count to ten after I've left, then follow me to the atrium. You'll get in," he said with grimace, "although I'll probably face an inquiry for this." Then with a crack, he was gone.
Ten seconds later, four more thunderous cracks rocked the kitchen and blasted Kreacher off his feet, as the rest Disapparated all at once.
