Disclaimer: If I really owned Harry Potter, how stupid would I be to write fanfiction for it?

A/N: Hem, hem! To everyone who read Ootp: I'm going to continue writing this story just as if I never knew anything about the Ministry of Magic, or whatever, or that a certain...ahem...*someone* died. And to all the people who are mourning about that death, you might want to check out my newest short story, "Beyond the Veil." I had someone tell me that it really helped them a lot... All I can say is, is that I was like completely bawling my head off when I read about the death-not too long before I wrote that-so it's pretty emotional...

Does anybody know the female version of the word "minister"??? Is it "ministress" or something? And on a completely different note, has anybody seen "Pirates of the Caribbean"? Is Orlando Bloom gorgeous or what?

"Truth may be stretched but cannot be broken. It always gets above falsehood as oil does above water."

--Miguel de Cervantes

Chapter Twenty-three-Oil and Water

As soon as Harry had woken up Sirius and told his godfather that he was going to go and interrogate (for there was no other word for it) Pettigrew that day, Sirius immediately said that he wanted to go with him.

Harry, needless to say, wanted him to go as well, but knew that between the doctors, Remus, Colette, and Dumbledore; he would never be allowed to leave St. Mungo's. Colette and Dumbledore said that Sirius's mere presence at the Ministry of Magic building would be enough to cause a mighty uproar and possibly even a riot. The doctors, on the other hand, were simply worried about Sirius's health, and didn't want him to go trooping around London and making his condition worse, as a human or otherwise.

Harry, however, suspected that there was one additional reason that Remus in particular did not want Sirius to be present at the interrogation. Although Harry knew that Remus was as concerned about his friend's health just as much as everybody else was, and he of course didn't want there to be a riot at the Ministry... Harry suspected that he was also wary of what Sirius might do when put into the same room as Pettigrew, right under the Minister of Magic's nose or not.

And, frankly, if he was to be perfectly honest with himself, as much as Harry would have enjoyed Sirius's company-however canine it might be-he didn't think he should go, either, it was just safer for him to stay here.

After several conversations with various people, Sirius finally accepted that he would have to stay at the hospital during the interrogation, though he wasn't exactly happy about it.

"I don't want to go just for the hell of seeing the interrogation, Harry," Sirius told him as Harry sat on the edge of his bed, putting on his shoes. He glanced up at him before looking back down at his feet, smiling slightly.

"I know, Sirius."

"I also wanted to be there with you, Harry," Sirius continued as if he hadn't heard him. Harry didn't look up. "I mean, I know that you've been given so much responsibility and stuff throughout your life, more than anyone your age should have-I mean, you're not even fifteen yet! And I thought...I mean, I just thought..."

Harry finished tying his left shoe and looked up at his godfather, one of his eyebrows slightly raised. He wondered where this was leading. Meanwhile, Sirius was still talking. Harry looked back down at his shoes and continued to tie them.

"I just want to be there for you, that's all. I mean, no one ever really has, am I right?"

Harry finished tying his right shoe and looked up at Sirius again, nodding mutely, as his throat has become slightly constricted.

He met Sirius's eyes and they stared at each other for a moment. There was a powerful feeling that passed between them right then, so that Harry swayed slightly from where he sat on his bed. He suddenly felt a strong wave of affection toward the man who was sitting in front of him, and he somehow knew that, without a doubt, Sirius was feeling the same way. But then the moment passed, and both of them looked away at the same time- Harry to his shoes again, Sirius to his hands, which were twisting together in his lap.

"Er," Harry finally said after a moment of awkward silence. "Um...I guess I should be leaving for the Ministry soon."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, glancing at the clock on the opposite wall. "You should."

Another awkward silence.

Finally, Harry stood up, brushed off his pants unnecessarily, but didn't say anything. The last time Harry could remember feeling this uncomfortable around Sirius was in the Shrieking Shack that night over a year ago, when Sirius had been trying to convince Harry of his innocence. Harry wasn't even sure why he felt so uncomfortable right then.

"Erm...bye," Harry said, glancing at Sirius once before walking towards the door.

"Harry, wait," Sirius called out suddenly. Harry turned around almost hopefully, but then masked it and simply looked at Sirius expectantly.

"Just...be careful, okay?" Sirius said, still staring at his lap. "Don't...don't do anything stupid."

Harry, despite everything, smiled. "Sirius, I'm only going to the Ministry, not to fight Voldemort."

"I know that," Sirius said, a little hastily, looking up and smiling at him back. "Just...you know."

Harry stared at him. He was about to say something along the lines of, "No, actually, I don't know," when Sirius answered his unspoken question.

"Just...I really care about you, kid, you know that, right?"

Harrry's throat had become slightly constricted again.

"Like...like I said before, you've never really had anyone before, and I want to be that someone...am I making any sense?"

Harry paused and then nodded, as an odd choking noise came from the back of his throat.

"Just...forget about Wormtail, and Voldemort for a moment. I mean, seriously, Harry, just remember that I really care about you," Sirius said almost insistently, looking up but not meeting Harry's eyes. It seemed that he had been wanting to say this for a long time. "If everything else goes wrong, and it seems like the whole world has gone completely mad...just remember that I care about you, okay, kid? Cause that...that won't change."

Harry was honestly unsure of the ability of his legs to support him any longer, but he didn't move. He could never remember, in all of his life, someone saying things like this to him before...

He tried to speak, but it didn't exactly work. "I...Sirius...I..." His voice caught in his throat. He wanted to tell everything to Sirius, how he realized at that moment just how much *he* cared about *him*, that the feeling was mutual, and that Sirius had been more of parent to him than anyone else ever had before...

But the words didn't seem to need to be spoken. He simply met Sirius's eyes, and Sirius met his, and they both understood each other. Harry knew immediately that he had gotten the message across.

He stumbled out of the hospital room and into the hallway a few seconds later, feeling as if Sirius had just healed a particularly nasty wound that Harry had had...although he hadn't been quite sure of the wound's existence beforehand... It was like Sirius had just filled in an empty space in Harry's heart, an empty space that, previously, Harry hadn't known that he had...

It was a good feeling.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Harry's heart seemed to fancy jumping clear out of his chest as he, with Colette Villons and Remus Lupin at his side, entered the Department of Magical Law Enforcement section of the Ministry of Magic.

Peter Pettigrew had been kept in a spare prisoners' cell in the Ministry building rather than being taken off to Azkaban for the past week or so, and Harry felt very grateful for that fact. He really didn't feel like trooping out to Azkaban Island-which was off the coast of western Scotland-not to mention dealing with dementors. This was much simpler.

He had never been to the Ministry of Magic building before, but if truth be told, he was feeling too apprehensive about questioning Pettigrew that he didn't really notice or appreciate anything he saw around him as Colette led him quickly to her old department. In fact, he barely registered as the same people who waved to Colette-and she nodded curtly at- stopped and stared for a moment, eyes shamelessly flicking to his scar. All he was aware of was the fact that he was very tired, he had a headache, and he wanted to get this over with as soon as was humanly possible.

By the time that they finally reached the section of the building where the prisoners' cells were kept, Remus Lupin had his hand on Harry's shoulder, and Colette was looking very grim.

After checking through with the various secretaries at different points throughout the area-all of which questioned them extensively about their purpose there, but with good reason-the three of them entered a small room. The room was completely bare save for a few hard-backed chairs lined up against the opposite wall, next to another door. On one of those chairs sat a young woman with curly, dark brown hair that Harry didn't recognize. She was holding a clipboard on her lap. On the other chair sat Albus Dumbledore.

He looked as grim and serious as Harry had ever seen him. The twinkle that usually resided in his blue eyes was literally nonexistent, and he stood up quickly as they entered, his posture very straight.

Before the three of them or the young woman could speak, Dumbledore had opened his mouth and was looking at them all very carefully. "I am going to be regulating the interview with Peter Pettigrew. I will be doing some of the questioning, Colette will as well if it is needed. Harry, you sit with Colette and Remus and don't say anything unless you find it necessary to speak to further the interview. With luck, your simple presence will be enough. This is Emma Landry," He nodded at the young woman, who stood up and smiled nervously at them. "She will be recording the events of the interview. This way." And without another word, Dumbledore turned on his heel and exited through the opposite door.

Emma Landry jumped to follow him and hurried out the door, and Colette strode swiftly after them. Remus gave Harry a little push from behind-haven taken his hand off Harry's shoulder-and Harry followed the others, feeling startled and slightly bewildered. He had never seen his headmaster so formal before, and was very surprised not to have received any acknowledgement from him other than the voicing of what he was to do. He had expected *something*, just maybe a small smile or even the tiniest of winks. But then something else occurred to him.

"Um, Professor Lupin-" Harry whispered as they made their way down a dimly lit hallway.

"Harry, please, call me Remus. 'Professor' sounds so formal."

"Right, er, Remus-Dumbledore's qualified to do this? To regulate the interview, I mean? Wouldn't it normally be someone from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement who did this?"

"Dumbledore volunteered to do this," Remus muttered in Harry's ear as they turned a corner into another hallway. "And he *is* qualified for this job. He's qualified for a good many things that you don't know about, Harry. Also, Colette is present, and her being the new minister, that's more than good enough."

Harry nodded, beginning to feel slightly sick again. He wanted nothing more at that moment than for this whole interrogation to be over, and he could be back in the hospital room, talking happily with Sirius.

Suddenly, Colette stopped short directly in front of him, and he promptly bumped into her. Remus stopped, falling into him slightly, and they all stumbled ungracefully over to where Dumbledore had stopped with Emma Landry at his side.

He was standing in front of a door that looked just like any other door in that hallway, or anywhere else in the building for that matter, but Harry could tell from the way that Emma Landry was looking at it apprehensively that this was where Wormtail was being kept. Even Colette was looking at the door nervously, which was quite uncharacteristic of her.

Dumbledore made sure that they were all there and ready before wordlessly opening the door and leading them all inside.

The room that Harry entered was fairly large, but was separated down the middle by a wall of what appeared to be unbreakable glass. On the opposite side from which they had entered, on the other side of the glass, sat Peter Pettigrew.

He looked positively terrible. He had lost a lot of weight since Harry had seen him last nearly a month before, and was now looking rather skinny. His short, stringy hair was horribly greasy and dirty-as if he hadn't had it cleaned in a long time-and there were dark shadows under his eyes. He was sitting in the corner of his side of the room, his knees brought up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. Also on the other side of the glass were a bed and an uneaten tray of what appeared to be a hamburger.

Harry suppressed the urge to freeze as soon as he entered the room and saw the man, and instead walked over, following Colette, to where five hard-backed chairs sat near the glass wall. As he moved across the room, he could feel Wormtail's eyes on him, never once looking at any of the other people who had entered the room, even Remus. Harry reached a chair sat down between quickly Colette and Remus, his legs suddenly shaky and a little unsteady.

After he sat, Harry looked up to see that Pettigrew was still staring at him. He stared defiantly back, their eyes locking together but faces blank. Harry's heart was hammering in his chest, surely loud enough to be heard, and he noted with mild surprise that he could feel Colette trembling slightly at his side.

"Do you absolutely refuse to open your mouth and drink anything other than water, Pettigrew? Such as Truth Veritaserum?" Colette asked abruptly.

Pettigrew looked at her, and then shook his head mutely. Emma Landry was already bent over her clipboard, curly hair falling over her shoulders, scribbling away. Dumbledore sighed.

"Well, then, I suppose we must do this the hard way," He said heavily, giving Harry and Remus a swift glance before turning back to the man in front of him.

"Peter Pettigrew, you are being accused of the murders of twelve Muggles-the names of which I have with me here-" (he patted his pocket) "-- on the 31st of October, 1981; working for and assisting the Dark Lord Voldemort-" (Colette shuddered slightly, and Emma looked up in alarm, before turning back to her clipboard, however, Remus and Harry sat quite still)"--the framing of Sirius Black for the previous crimes mentioned, and assisting in the attempted murder of Harry Potter on June the 24th, 1995."

There was a short pause. Pettigrew gave no sign that he had heard any of Dumbledore's words, just continued sitting there and staring at them blankly. After a moment, Dumbledore asked, "Do you plead innocent or guilty?"

Still no response. The only sound was that of Emma Landry's quill scratching the parchment on her clipboard.

Dumbledore sighed again, and then said quietly, "You are just going to make this harder for yourself, Peter. By not responding to us, you are making your situation worse. You don't have a lawyer, but if you did, he or she would most probably be advising you to speak."

For the first time, Pettigrew opened his mouth, and when he spoke, his voice was very quiet. "Innocent."

"WHAT?" Harry yelled. He made to jump to his feet, but Remus was quicker and soon had a death grip on Harry's arm, forcing him to stay in his chair. That didn't stop Harry from shouting, however. "You say that you're INNOCENT? Why, you--"

"Harry!" Dumbledore said sharply, and Harry closed his mouth with a small snap, looking at Pettigrew furiously. Pettigrew had looked at him for a split second as well, and as he turned away Harry thought he had caught an emotion in his eyes-was it fear?

"How do you plan to prove your innocence, Peter?" Dumbledore asked calmly. Remus chanced a glance at Dumbledore, and marveled how his face and eyes were completely expressionless.

Pettigrew shifted a little and sat up a bit straighter against the wall, his knees lowering slightly from in front of his face. "I didn't do it. That's how I plan to prove it," His voice grew stronger, and he shifted again. "I didn't do any of those things. It was Black!"

Harry swore under his breath but didn't attempt to get up again. Remus still had his hand on Harry's arm, but his grip had loosened somewhat, as his arm was now trembling slightly with suppressed anger. On the other side of Harry, Colette had turned very pale.

"How do you plan to prove that?" Dumbledore repeated calmly.

"What-what's there to prove?" Pettigrew said defiantly, and Harry noticed that, like the time in the Shrieking Shack over one year ago, he was stuttering. "I-I'm not the murderer! I-I didn't kill anyone! Black did it! He's a-a Death Eater!"

"DON'T CALL SIRIUS A DEATH EATER!" Harry yelled again, now there was a note of hysteria in his voice. This time, it was Colette who-despite the fact that at this point she looked nearly as light as her hair-gave Harry a warning look. Remus's grip on Harry's arm tightened again, but Dumbledore sat very still, acting as if he had not heard Harry at all.

"He doesn't have the Mark," Dumbledore said, still unearthly calm.

"He-he-" Pettigrew was sputtering. He seemed to have overlooked this minor detail. "The-the Dark Lord didn't give the Mark to a few people. He- he thought that-thought that people would see the Mark, and then their true identity would be known..."

"And how, exactly, do you know this?"

"I-I-" Pettigrew was looking around wildly, much like he had that night in the Shrieking Shack. He had unwillingly backed himself into a trap, and there was no way out of it now. "I..."

Harry wanted to jump up and scream at Pettigrew, but instead he remained sitting as he spoke, though his voice was audibly shaking.

"We saw you," Harry said, as calmly as he could muster. "Remus and I, not to mention a few other people. We saw you admit to framing Sirius and killing all those people and working for Voldemort. You admitted it! You said that you did it! And you were there with Voldemort in that graveyard, too! And now you're sitting in front of me and saying that you're innocent?"

Pettigrew looked at Harry. His knees had been brought up to his chest again, and now Harry was sure that he hadn't imagined the fear that he thought he had seen in Pettigrew's eyes previously. Now, it was obvious to anyone who could see that Pettigrew was positively terrified. But then his fearful eyes darted away from Harry and found Dumbledore, who was still sitting and staring with an expression of pure calm and serenity on his face.

"Dumbledore..." Pettigrew gasped. "You-you weren't there in the Shrieking Shack that night...you-you didn't see what they did to me-"

"Did to you?!" Harry yelled yet again. He felt angrier than he had felt in a long time. "What d'you mean, did to you-mphh-" His next words were muffled as Remus calmly reached over and placed the hand that didn't have a hold on Harry's arm firmly against Harry's mouth. Harry glared at him, and Remus-with a warning flash in his eyes-took his hand away.

There was a short silence. Colette was still pale and trembling, Emma scribbled away, and Dumbledore sat and stared at Pettigrew with an unreadable expression on his face, while Remus seemed to be looking everywhere except at the man who had once been his friend. As for Harry, meanwhile, if looks could kill, Pettigrew would be long past dead by now.

Finally, Dumbledore seemed to be the only one who could manage to speak-or, in Harry's case, manage to speak without his voice reaching several decibels above what was considered normal.

"Peter," Dumbledore said quietly, and Harry wondered wildly for a moment why Dumbledore was still politely using Pettigrew's first name. "Do you recall that, in the Shrieking Shack, your life was put in danger?"

"Yes, of course I remember!" Pettigrew cried, sitting up straighter again, apparently under the impression that there had been a transfer of power. "Black and-and Lupin, they-they tried to kill me!"

"And why didn't they?" Dumbledore asked, still very quietly.

"Because-because he-" Pettigrew stopped and stared at Harry. "He-he stopped them...he didn't let them...he..."

"...saved your life," Remus finished quietly for him. Harry jumped slightly; it was the first time he had spoken up. "You owe him, Wormtail. You owe him a lot. You're in his debt. He saved your life, and now you need to do something for him."

Pettigrew turned to Remus and stared, obviously petrified, at his old friend. "What...what do I have to do?"

"Tell the truth," Harry said steadily, and Dumbledore sat back in his chair, confident that the interrogation was heading in the right direction without his help. "Tell the world what *really* happened, that you're the guilty one and that Sirius is innocent. Tell. Now," He added, a fire burning in his eyes and in his heart. "Do it. At least, that way you won't be in my debt any more."

Pettigrew seemed somehow affected by Harry's words. He stared at him, and for a moment Harry was quite sure that a change came over him by the oddest expression on his face, but then it was gone and Wormtail was a scared little rat again. Cowering against the wall, he opened his mouth and began to speak, and for the first time in his life, Harry was glad to hear that voice.

~*~

A/N: I was going to keep going a little more, than I decided that you guys needed this chapter out now. I promise I'll try to get chapters out more often now that it's summer...

The beginning is a bit emotional, eh? I made sure to get a scene like that slipped somewhere into the story, because one of the primary reasons that I started thinking about writing fanfiction, and "Out of the Night" in particular, was to write a Sirius/Harry bonding fic. Of course, it's become much more than that now.

Now, I need you guys to say what you want when you review: Shorter chapters that come out more frequently, or longer chapters that don't come out as frequently? I don't think there will be any 16 page chapters any more, cause it's easier for me to do this in blocks at this point, but you never know...

Sob! Order of the Phoenix! NOOO!

jaet: Thanks! Well, there WILL be Colette/someone, I'm just not telling who yet. Hehe...

Yuffie-Girl: I updated last near the end of June, ha! Yeah, I gotta finish this story, no matter what... You haven't finished the book yet?!?!? Argh! Don't go to my bio page, there's spoilers there! FINISH IT! Hehe...yep, Harry/Ginny...first time I've ever really written romance, did it work?

The Elfin Child: Bawling your eyes out at the end? That's exactly what I've been saying I was doing...bawling my little head off... Oui, c'est la vie... I loved that character though, I mean, just look at my story!

Silver Scale Serpent: Aha! New reviewer! Hehe...you took earth science? I took that last year...I did pretty well; it was a lot easier than the course itself. This year I took biology (yay, that was easy!) and Math A...ha I was among the 20% of the entire state that passed the latter...surprised the hell out of me...sure, I passed by one point, but who cares, I PASSED!

Yeah I know, he was one of my favorite characters too! Nooooo...

celestial princess: Well, you're not gonna read this for a while, but...how did I do with the romance? First time I've ever really written it...

COME WHAT MAY!

WeasleyTwinsLover1112: I read the whole book, yep. It was actually my favorite out of the five, but the 3rd is close behind...yeah the twins rocked, didn't they? I loved their exit...and Flitwick left a bit of that swamp as a memorial...they rock.