Sometimes, my male characters (Sirius, Harry and James) seem so emotional that it might sound kind of gay for some people, but hey, THEY'RE NOT. They say I love you or something a lot and you know I mean like family, right? Ok good. No offense to anyone who doesn't but I despise slash and you will never see me write any of it. No offense. Well I just wanted to make this clear, though none of you have thought that they are so far, just in case. I'm a mushy type of person so that's why. Anyway, on to the story. From now on, I'm posting review replies at the bottom, but I want to thank everyone who reviewed in advance. I love you guys!!
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"Hey Allen, how've you been?" Sirius walked up to his older friend, hugging him.
"Great. You?" The man replied cheerfully.
"I've been… locked up, mostly." Sirius said.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Hey look, I think there's something we can do. I mean, to clear your name and all." Allen paused. "Can we go talk about this somewhere else? I don't think it's very safe here."
They left the room, went through the spinning hall using the magic compass again. The three walked slowly, chatting about everyday things in order to not attract any attention. After all, Harry Potter, who was just Harry Potter, with Sirius Black who was considered a mass murderer who fled Azkaban, with a Ministry of Magic worker, Allen Krived. That's not a usual combination of people and the less attention they were paid, the better. Finally, they came to the Ministry ground floor and Allen led Harry and Sirius to a room further away.
"This is an emergency Floo portal. No one monitors it so it's safer. Are we going to Grimmauld?" Allen asked casually.
"You know--?" Harry began.
"Not here, Harry. Yes, Allen, let's go." Sirius nodded at his friend.
They went through the fireplace, each quietly calling out the street name. See, this portal went by streets that contained Floo network fireplaces, not the actual homes. After arriving, they came inside number 12, locked the doors, and went into Sirius's room. No one was around yet. Harry figured they weren't ready yet.
"You were saying…" Sirius started.
"Yeah, my job in the Ministry isn't really important but I know quite a few guys whose jobs are. Remember Kiara? She's in the Department of Mysteries. So are Kelan, Dymphina, Fawzi and Sebastiana."
"Wow, really?" He chuckled, amused. "Kiara? I remember her all right." He smiled, seemingly at a memory of the girl. "Well anyway can they really help us?"
"Yeah, they're pretty influential in the Ministry. There're a few people I've met recently that might help too. Look, I know most of the Ministry are a bunch of ignorant idiots who won't believe anything unless it's handed to them on a silver platter right under their nose. But you know these people, I know these people, they're exceptions. And if we can convince them of the truth, you have a chance of claiming innocence."
"How do you know what the truth is?" Sirius asked.
"Oh. Well I knew you were innocent. And I'd found out that Peter was the secret keeper and then well everything just kind of flowed together." Allen explained.
"Um hey, I'm sorry, but how are we going to get the Ministry to change their mind about Sirius before they put him in Azkaban? As soon as they see you there, they'd arrest you…" Harry said, turning to Sirius.
"Yeah, that's where I come in." Allen said. "They send me on rescue missions once in a while, by the way, that's how I got to help you guys down in the veil room, and well if anyone notices who Sirius is, I'd just cover it up with that."
"Great. When can we do this then?"
They went on planning on how to clear Sirius's name, but, getting tired of it, Sirius decided to see who was in the house and see them instead, with Harry and Allen.
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Remus Lupin was sitting alone in his room in 12 Grimmauld Place. There weren't many people around here anymore, they claimed to be busy but really, they were just intimidated. They avoided this place since Sirius---… Disappeared. Remus had told himself countless times to stop hoping for a miracle but his brain wouldn't comprehend that Sirius was dead. That damned veil. It was just a black curtain covering an old arch. How could falling into it make you disappear? Something about the Veil was so familiar to Remus but he couldn't quite remember what it was. And now there he was, sitting alone yet again in this place that brought so many memories back, he just wanted to start crying right there. He should leave the place, he knew he should but he couldn't. Something drew him to it and he stayed there day after day, leaving once in a while but always coming back, somewhere deep down hoping he'd be met by his dark-haired, adventurous best friend who would be bored out of his mind, but safe and alive. But that never happened.
A noise came from downstairs, and Remus heard quiet voices. For a second, he thought he heard Sirius's laugh but he shrugged it off and turned over in his bed, thinking he needed some sleep.
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"Hey guys look what I found!" Sirius's voice yelled from seemingly behind the wall. The Marauders, all four, were in some bookstore in Diagon Alley, buying books for their new, sixth, year. Sirius came out from a small opening in the bookshelves that they didn't notice before. He was holding a large book titled Hidden Places. They had no particular need in the book, or so they thought, but the four flipped through it. It didn't look that big since it was magical but it had an endless amount of pages, it seemed. Randomly, they turned to a page about the Veil.
"Did I see that place before?" Remus wondered. He had gotten a déjà vu from the picture and suddenly vividly saw Sirius falling through it, stunned. Blinking, Remus shrugged it off as a dream. "So what is it?"
"Some gateway to death." Sirius sounded bored. "It says that if someone living falls in there, they have to wait in nothing. And there're rescue instructions on page 990513. You wanna get this?"
"Well… Hey wait, where'd you get it from?" James spoke up.
"That section right over—" Sirius was pointing to a part of the store where the entrance to the dark section was, but it wasn't there anymore. "Umm…"
"I think it's under one of those Requirement spells." James commented.
"But what do we need this for?" Sirius asked, puzzled.
"Maybe not now, but we might in the future or something." Remus said. "And it'd have something to do with that Veil, or else it wouldn't have opened to that page."
"But we just opened it randomly…" Peter said, not wanting anything to do with the freaky looking veil.
"Nothing ever happens randomly in our world…" Sirius said thoughtfully. "Moony, you're right. Let's just buy this. We might need it." They headed towards the counter since everyone had all their books.
"Do you have another copy of this book?" Remus asked the manager since this one was all torn. The man looked at him, then the book, then at the hidden section of the store in puzzlement.
"No… this is the only copy ever produced. It must be really important for one of you to get it." He said, looking over the four. They paid for their books and left the shop.
"Who wants to keep the book?" Sirius asked. Everyone seemed a bit freaked out that the book chose them like that. "Wormtail, you wanna?"
"Umm o-okay…" Peter said, not very confidently.
"Wonder what that Veil thing has to do with us." James wondered.
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And with that, Remus woke up. Now he knew what was so familiar about that veil, and he was beyond confused. His dream was really a flashback to when the Marauders had went to Diagon Alley before the beginning of their sixth year. It was exactly the same, except when it had happened in real life, Remus didn't get a déjà vu of the veil. They never had looked through the book, they'd forgotten all about it. Before Remus could take this in, his thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Still, he didn't bother to get up but the person on the other side opened the door and stepped in. He thought it'd be Tonks or maybe Alastor Moody, or possibly Dumbledore with some urgent news, but he never expected the three people that were standing there to come.
Remus Lupin blinked rapidly, pinched his arm, and shook his head a few times but the people didn't go away. There, staring at him in amusement (he must have been a funny sight, reacting like he did), were Harry, Sirius and Allen.
"I'm dreaming. This can't—You're de—" Remus mumbled in barely coherent sentences, staring wide-eyed at his visitors.
"Moony, you know perfectly well that I'm not dead, now get up and at least pretend you're happy to see an old friend." Sirius lectured the stunned Remus, somehow succeeding in keeping his face fully serious. However, that ended right away when he burst out laughing at the face Remus made when Sirius talked.
"I—how? —Uhh… Ha—Si—Al—" The ex professor was trying to start talking to one of them but couldn't make up his mind as to which one. By now, all three were laughing and Remus was still staring at them. "Sirius!" Remus had finally gained more or less consciousness of the fact that Sirius was, indeed, here in front of him. And the first thing he did after this realization was pulling his best friend into a tight, bone-breaking hug.
"Rem—Remus, let go, this hurts!" Sirius said, between laughing; he really he didn't care that it hurt. Besides, Remus didn't let go anyway.
Finally, Lupin let go of Sirius and took notice of the other two. Seeing Harry wasn't unusual for him, so he greeted Allen first.
"Hey, Allen. What're you doing here?" He asked after giving him a hug too.
And they launched into the whole story of their "UUHM" as the Ministry had called it. But then again, the Ministry is wrong about a LOT of things if you haven't noticed.
"Well that's—hey wait, Harry, shouldn't you be at school by now? Classes have already started… people are going to start looking for you." Remus noted after they had finished catching up on each other's lives.
"I guess we're paying a visit to Dumbledore then." Sirius said, his eyes shining, happy for the opportunity.
"I have to go, the Ministry is going to wonder about my disappearance if I don't show up soon too, but good luck." They said goodbye to Allen, and he left, while Harry, Remus and Sirius headed off to Hogwarts.
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Review replies: Lil Lupin, hmm now you're always the first person to review when I update, :), and well you'll see if they noticed next chapter, and there's your first reaction, hope you liked it. Julie, aww it's my great pleasure to write this, thank you for reading it and liking it! Nicole, thank you so much, and hey, your review made me incorporate Allen more into this story! Ice, hee hee, I think Bellabitch does suit her much more… Glad to provide more chapters, hope you enjoy this one. Kandice, nah that wasn't so late, thanks for reviewing. You seem to be constantly hyper; I wish I were like that again. My mom took away my chocolate :'( lol. BuffyHalliwell, I know, I was re-reading the first book, and when Hagrid said that he borrowed the bike from 'young Sirius Black', I stared at that sentence for like 15 minutes before my friend asked me what was wrong because I was almost crying. Thank God she understands and didn't think I was crazy lol. And I'm glad you liked the story so far, I'm going to read your story too, but I've been busy so I haven't yet, and yes, I like Buffy! But I don't really read BTVS fanfics, sorry. I might get around to it sometime, but I doubt it. bluefairexoxo, yep that's me, happy ending lady, nothing but happy endings here… most of the time. But anyway it isn't done yet, and it seems like it won't be for a while. Mornel, thank you so much. PS, thank you for WRITING your story; I love it! thelionqueen, aww thank you for that, I'm glad you think it's so good. He is so cool! Padfoot's Bone, great, I hope you liked the first reaction. :) Oh and thanks to Sailor Mini Venus for adding me to her favourite authors list! I feel so flattered now! I love all you guys so much!
That's it for this chapter. I'm thinking of things to incorporate into the story, help me out with this, ok? I'm not going to describe how everyone reacts to Sirius's comeback, so tell me who you want and I'll pick out a few people that you, my reviewers, want to see there. Then, Voldemort is going to be all revengeful and, well, mad, so there's going to be lots of evil and fighting some time soon, along with, as I said, the fulfillment of the prophecy, you know the one. I've got this whole thing that's supposed to be a big surprise, so shh, the first clue about it is in that dream. And then, romance. I love writing romance, so that's definitely going to happen. And definitely with Sirius, but who else do you want to see get all coupley? (NO SLASH!!) And, of course, as mentioned in this chapter, Sirius is going to try to clear his name with the help of some of his old friends. Well, please review this chappy and tell me what you think about those plans. Did I do ok? Thanks you guys, I hope you liked it.