'Arthur', Sirius whispered, stunned.
'Weasley!' Remus gasped. Simultaneously, both men cheered loudly, and grinned.
'I bet you ten thousand galleons old Mad-Eye had something to do with this!' Remus cried.
Several other people in the crowd were looking pleased too.
'Let's 'ope he does summink about them Dementors', one woman remarked cynically, 'they're gettin' outta hand.'
'Sirius! Sirius Black!' Rita Skeeter had pushed her way viciously through the crowd, and now stood only inches away from Sirius, her Quick-Quotes quill at the ready.
'What d'you want?' Sirius asked sullenly, fully aware that everyone in the crowd was now gazing at him.
'I was just wondering how you feel about the new Minister for Magic?' Rita asked brightly, 'after all, the old one made your life a misery for quite some time, am I correct?'
Sirius scowled as a bald man with a camera started to take photos of him from every angle. He looked at Remus, wondering whether he should answer.
'It's your call', Remus said quietly, shrugging.
Sirius decided to answer. 'I knew Arthur Weasley well before my imprisonment in Azkaban', he began. He had better not mention knowing Arthur since he escaped, as it would only cause trouble for the new Minister. 'I always liked him a lot. He deserve to be Minister for Magic, and I think he'll make an excellent job of it.'
'Excellent! And Sirius, can you tell us a little something about what you did between your escape from Azkaban and your official acquittal yesterday?' Rita asked eagerly.
Sirius laughed and shook his head. 'You never did know when to stop, Ms Skeeter. If you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be...'
'One last question, Mr Black!' Rita called after him, 'can you tell us exactly what happened in the Ministry headquarters yesterday afternoon?'
Sirius turned and faced the nosy reporter. He took a deep breath before answering.
'I would have to say', he replied coolly, 'that I definitely will not comment. Nor will anyone else, so you can forget that story!'
'Who's this fine man who's accompanying you?' Rita screeched, as Sirius and Remus picked up speed. Remus threw the answer to that quetsion over his shoulder.
'I'm Remus Lupin, and I'll be a werewolf tonight, so I wouldn't get on my bad side if I were you!'
'Oh!' Rita's shrill squeal could be heard from half-way down the street.
'I can see the headline now', Sirius murmured, 'Black's Back in Bad Company- Fraternising with Werewolf in Public Area.'
'You're probably right', Remus replied ruefully, 'I souldn't've said that.'
Sirius snorted. 'They turned me into a hero over night-if they want me to be a villain again, they'd find a way eventually. I don't care what they think about who I spend my time with. It's nobody's business except mine.'
'S'pose. Want to visit Kingsley and the others? Molly's probably with them, we can congratulate her.'
Sirius agreed, and they hurried onwards to the Leaky Cauldron.
The two friends headed towards the entrance to St Mungo's, after stuffing their robes back into the packaging-velvet wizard's robes would bring Muggle attention on them, for all the wrong reasons!
When they reached the dusty, dilapidated shop which was the entrance to St Mungo's, Remus pressed his nose against the glass and whispered to the old mannikin in the window. 'Good morning. We're here to visit Kingsley Shacklebot, Nymphadora Tonks, and Alastor Moody, if he's still in there.'
The dummy nodded briefly, and beckoned them forwards. They stepped through the glass, and found themselves standing in the reception area of St Mungo's Hospital.
The place was crowded, as usual. There were a lot of Ministry representatives loitering around anxiously, obviously waiting for news of their injured colleagues.
'I wonder if they know whether they're out of their jobs yet', Remus muttered, as they approached the reception desk.
'Er...excuse me...what floor are Kingsley Shacklebot, Nymphadora Tonks and Alastor Moody on?' Sirius asked the witch at the desk.
She sighed heavily, as though his simple question was creating a massive chore for her, and bent over a long sheet of parchment.
'Ah', she said, in hushed tones, 'they're the three aurors who stopped those Death-Eaters the other day-hang on a minute! You're Sirius Black, aren't you?'
Sirius raised his eyes to heaven. 'Yeah', he hissed, 'I am, but can you keep it quiet? I want to see my friends, and it'll be hard to do that if I've got a load of people trailing after me.'
The witch gazed at him in awe, until Remus coughed politely. She glared at him, then smiled sweetly at Sirius again, before referring to her list again.
'Mr Shacklebot and Mr Moody are in the Flamel Ward, on the fourth floor. Miss Tonks is in the room next to them, on the Morris Ward. Don't stay too long, the healers want them to get plenty of rest. Enjoy your visit, Mr Black, and you too, Mr, er....yes, well, have fun!'
'Have fun?' Remus echoed incredulously, 'what does she think this is, a theme park?'
They hurried up to the fourth floor, and decided to visit Kingsley and Mad- Eye first. The Flamel Ward was a small room, with only four beds in it- Kingsely and Mad-Eye were next to each other. Mad-Eye, who was reading a pamphlet on 'What to do if you're turning into a hippogriff', leapt up as soon as he spotted Sirius and Remus.
'Why are you still in here, Mad-Eye?' Remus asked quietly, aware that the rest of the patients were trying to sleep.
Mad-Eye, on the other hand, had no consideration. 'This damn cut on my head', he barked, making the man in the bed opposite him wake up, 'apparently it's quite. I've got concussion or some other ridiculous thing wrong with me too. All nonsense of course, but, y'know, it's best to humour these healers.'
He put out a hand to steady himself. Sirius fought against the urge to laugh. 'It looks like a bad concussion, Moody, if you can't even stand upright', he teased. Moody grunted and fixed him with his beady eye.
'How's Kingsley?' Remus asked, moving down the ward towards the other auror.
Moody shook his head sadly. 'It's not looking too good', he told them, 'there's nothin' more they can do for him, they're just gonna let nature take its course. But I swear, if Shacklebot snuffs it, I'll kill every one of those filthy, mangy sons of-
'MISTER Moody, get back into bed this INSTANT!'
A plump, red-faced, middle-aged woman had bustled into the room, and was glaring at Moody, her hands on her hips. Her name badge identified her as 'Healer Dobsworth'. Sirius watched with interest, expecting Moody to tell her-in no uncertain terms-where to go. He wasn't disappointed.
'I'll do as I damn well please, woman!' The ageing auror bellowed, in a voice loud enough to wake the dead. (Though, as Sirius observed Kingsley remained unconscious.)
'Alastor Moody, this is my ward, and you are my patient, whether you like it or not!' Healer Dobsworth shrieked.
'Please!' Remus hissed, 'keep it down!'
Nobody paid any attention to him.
'Go and pester someone else', Moody roared, standing his ground (with a little support from Sirius).
The healer glared at Moody in disgust, then glanced at Remus and Sirius. She did a double take.
'Sirius Black?' She gasped, taking a quick step backwards.
'Yup', Sirius yawned, 'that's me.'
'Are you...do you...are you a friend of Mr Moody?' She finished at last, eyebrows almost disappearing into her hairline.
'Yup.' Sirius responded again.
Healer Dobsworth's jaw dropped. 'Well', she said, after a long time, 'Mr Moody, I would advise you to get into bed at once, if you're to have any hope of being discharged today.' And with that, she turnd on her heel, and marched out again.
'Thank God she's gone. Wait 'til you hear about Rita Skeeter, Mad-Eye! Mad- Eye?' Sirius and Remus stared at Moody, but he was oblivious to them. He was too busy gazing fondly after Healer Dobsworth.
'A fine woman', he grunted, limping back to his bed, ' a fine, fine woman. Used to go to school with me. Fine woman. Never got married-no idea why, a fine woman like her.'
Sirius caught Remus' eye, and they very nearly burst out laughing. Remus was shaking with suppressed chuckles! 'Why don't you tell her what a fine woman she is?' Remus asked innocently.
Moody suddenly became very interested in an orange juice stain on his sheet. 'Well', he mumbled, 'that'd be very forward...I dunno...probably already...nah...yes, well...anyway, what were you saying about Rita Skeeter?'
Sirius and Remus took it in turns to tell the story of everything that had happened since leaving the Ministry headquarters. When they told Moody about Arthur Weasley, he didn't look one bit surprised.
'I knew Fudge wouldn't last long, once he had Dumbledore kicked out of Hogwarts, and just about every association he ever joined. So I called in a few favours', he told them, 'told everyone I knew that Arthur Weasley'd make a better Minister than anyone-yes, including Dumbledore. All the Order members voted for him, of course, and I did a lot of campaigning in my own department and the Magical Sports and Games section...plus, the public like him, so I knew they'd never try and have a public vote held. Oh yes, there'll be a lot of changes, now Arthur's in charge.'
'I knew you'd helped!' Remus grinned, 'speaking of Arthur, is Molly around?'
'As far as I know, she's with Tonks. She said she'd pop in and say goodbye for she left.' Moody replied.
'We'd better go and have a chat with Tonks', Sirius remarked, 'as soon as you get out of this place, come to Grimmauld Place, okay?'
'Right you are', Moody grunted, picking up his pamphlet again.
Healer Dobsworth was standing at the nurses' station, reading through Moody's file. Sirius just couldn't resist temptation.
'Hullo, Healer Dobsworth', he said, smiling brightly, 'checking to see if old Mad-Eye's got a wife down for his next of kin?'
He had, it appeared, hit the nail on the head, as Healer Dobsworth turned bright red, and dropped the file onto the desk. 'Can I help you, Mr Black?' She asked grumpily.
'No, not really', Sirius repsonded airily, 'but I really think you and Alastor should have a chat. It seems to me you've got quite a lot in common.'
He jogged to catch up with Remus, who looked mortified. But just before they walked in to Tonks' ward, he called over his shoulder, 'plus, he's absolutely CRAZY about you.'
The two friends burst into the room, laughing at Sirius' crude attempts at matchmaking.
'Shhhhhh!!!!' Molly Weasley hissed furiously, from Tonks' bedside.
'Oh, leave them alone Molly, this place needs a bit of life!' Tonks was sitting up in bed, looking pale and tired, but alert. Her hair was short and bright green at the moment, as she smiled happily at her two visitors.
'Molly', Sirius chided at once, 'how come you didn't let us know the news?'
Molly stared at them blankly. 'What news?'
'Y-you don't know about Arthur?' Remus asked, perplexed.
Molly jumped out of her seat, wide-eyed. 'What's happened to Arthur?' She asked wildly, 'is he all right? He's not here, is he? What's going on?'
'You can do the honours, Sirius', Remus said, smiling at Molly's anguish.
'Within the last hour', Sirius announced, with all the pomposity he could muster, 'your husband, Arthur Weasley, has been declared the new Minister for Magic.'
Molly's face was a sight to see. She went white, then purple, then red, all in the space of a few seconds. Her eyes were almost popping out of her head, and she swayed on the spot. Remus caught her just in time.
'Arthur', she gasped, 'Arthur is Minister? MY HUSBAND IS MINISTER?!'
'According to the Daily Prophet, he is!' Remus assured her.
The shrieking and insane dancing that ensued brought four healers to the door of the ward, Healer Dobsworth leading the charge.
'What is all this racket?' She cried angrily. Then, she noticed Remus and Sirius.
'You two have done nothing but excite my patients and make noise since you arrived!' She hissed, 'out! Both of you! And you! Yes, Mrs Weasley, I knwo your husband is Minister, but there are a lot of very ill people on this floor, and your screams are not helping them to heal! Out! Now!'
'Aw Healer Dobsworth, leave them alone!' Tonks pleaded, 'let them stay, I need people to talk to, otherwise I'll get bored!'
'Nymphadora Tonks, don't you dare argue with me! Now come along, good sirs, and Mrs Weasley, out! At once!'
And so the giggling, delighted trio were thrown out of St Mungo's, back onto the Muggle high street. Molly sighed deeply. 'Well', she hiccuped, 'I suppose I'd better go and see this husband of mine!' And she disapparated.
'Wish I could still do that', Sirius murmured wistfully. Remus clapped him on the back. 'C'mon, let's go back to Diagon Alley-we can get back home by the Floo network.'
They headed slowly back towards The Leaky Cauldron. They hadn't been walking for long, when Sirius felt something sticky on the sole of his shoe.
'Urgh!' He groaned, hopping on one foot to examine the bottom of his shoe, 'chewing gum! These Muggles are disgusting!'
'Shh', Remus hissed, 'don't use the 'M' word around the 'M's!'
Sirius wasn't listening. He delicately picked the chewing gum off his shoe, and looked for somewhere to put it.
They were standing in front of an alleyway, at the end of which Sirius could make out two trash cans.
'Just gonna chuck this stuff in the bin', he told Remus, and headed down the alleyway, while Remus leaned against the wall and waited for him.
He deposited the gum in one of the bins, after prising it off his fingers. Muttering in disgust, he turned around and made to go back to the main street.
A masked, hooded Death-Eater stood in his way.
'Rem-' Sirius started to shout. He didn't get time to finish his friend's name, before the black-robed figure raised his wand, and in a voice that Sirius knew well, cried 'Crucio!'
Sirius had had the Cruciatus Curse performed on his before, but he didn't remember the pain being this dreadful: He felt as though his bones were on fire, and being smashed into hundreds of sharp pieces. It pierced him right through, until he no longer knew who or where he was. All he wanted was to die, and not have to feel this pain anymore. He heard somebody screaming, and it took him several seconds to realise it was himself.
His attacker was merciless. They held the spell for so long that Sirius wondered if he had actually died and gone to hell. He managed to look up at the man who was slowly destroying him. Sirius realised that he was going to die, but this time there would be no coming back. Just before he lost consciousness, the Death Eater allowed his mask to slip, and Sirius found himself looking straight at Peter Pettigrew.
'Weasley!' Remus gasped. Simultaneously, both men cheered loudly, and grinned.
'I bet you ten thousand galleons old Mad-Eye had something to do with this!' Remus cried.
Several other people in the crowd were looking pleased too.
'Let's 'ope he does summink about them Dementors', one woman remarked cynically, 'they're gettin' outta hand.'
'Sirius! Sirius Black!' Rita Skeeter had pushed her way viciously through the crowd, and now stood only inches away from Sirius, her Quick-Quotes quill at the ready.
'What d'you want?' Sirius asked sullenly, fully aware that everyone in the crowd was now gazing at him.
'I was just wondering how you feel about the new Minister for Magic?' Rita asked brightly, 'after all, the old one made your life a misery for quite some time, am I correct?'
Sirius scowled as a bald man with a camera started to take photos of him from every angle. He looked at Remus, wondering whether he should answer.
'It's your call', Remus said quietly, shrugging.
Sirius decided to answer. 'I knew Arthur Weasley well before my imprisonment in Azkaban', he began. He had better not mention knowing Arthur since he escaped, as it would only cause trouble for the new Minister. 'I always liked him a lot. He deserve to be Minister for Magic, and I think he'll make an excellent job of it.'
'Excellent! And Sirius, can you tell us a little something about what you did between your escape from Azkaban and your official acquittal yesterday?' Rita asked eagerly.
Sirius laughed and shook his head. 'You never did know when to stop, Ms Skeeter. If you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be...'
'One last question, Mr Black!' Rita called after him, 'can you tell us exactly what happened in the Ministry headquarters yesterday afternoon?'
Sirius turned and faced the nosy reporter. He took a deep breath before answering.
'I would have to say', he replied coolly, 'that I definitely will not comment. Nor will anyone else, so you can forget that story!'
'Who's this fine man who's accompanying you?' Rita screeched, as Sirius and Remus picked up speed. Remus threw the answer to that quetsion over his shoulder.
'I'm Remus Lupin, and I'll be a werewolf tonight, so I wouldn't get on my bad side if I were you!'
'Oh!' Rita's shrill squeal could be heard from half-way down the street.
'I can see the headline now', Sirius murmured, 'Black's Back in Bad Company- Fraternising with Werewolf in Public Area.'
'You're probably right', Remus replied ruefully, 'I souldn't've said that.'
Sirius snorted. 'They turned me into a hero over night-if they want me to be a villain again, they'd find a way eventually. I don't care what they think about who I spend my time with. It's nobody's business except mine.'
'S'pose. Want to visit Kingsley and the others? Molly's probably with them, we can congratulate her.'
Sirius agreed, and they hurried onwards to the Leaky Cauldron.
The two friends headed towards the entrance to St Mungo's, after stuffing their robes back into the packaging-velvet wizard's robes would bring Muggle attention on them, for all the wrong reasons!
When they reached the dusty, dilapidated shop which was the entrance to St Mungo's, Remus pressed his nose against the glass and whispered to the old mannikin in the window. 'Good morning. We're here to visit Kingsley Shacklebot, Nymphadora Tonks, and Alastor Moody, if he's still in there.'
The dummy nodded briefly, and beckoned them forwards. They stepped through the glass, and found themselves standing in the reception area of St Mungo's Hospital.
The place was crowded, as usual. There were a lot of Ministry representatives loitering around anxiously, obviously waiting for news of their injured colleagues.
'I wonder if they know whether they're out of their jobs yet', Remus muttered, as they approached the reception desk.
'Er...excuse me...what floor are Kingsley Shacklebot, Nymphadora Tonks and Alastor Moody on?' Sirius asked the witch at the desk.
She sighed heavily, as though his simple question was creating a massive chore for her, and bent over a long sheet of parchment.
'Ah', she said, in hushed tones, 'they're the three aurors who stopped those Death-Eaters the other day-hang on a minute! You're Sirius Black, aren't you?'
Sirius raised his eyes to heaven. 'Yeah', he hissed, 'I am, but can you keep it quiet? I want to see my friends, and it'll be hard to do that if I've got a load of people trailing after me.'
The witch gazed at him in awe, until Remus coughed politely. She glared at him, then smiled sweetly at Sirius again, before referring to her list again.
'Mr Shacklebot and Mr Moody are in the Flamel Ward, on the fourth floor. Miss Tonks is in the room next to them, on the Morris Ward. Don't stay too long, the healers want them to get plenty of rest. Enjoy your visit, Mr Black, and you too, Mr, er....yes, well, have fun!'
'Have fun?' Remus echoed incredulously, 'what does she think this is, a theme park?'
They hurried up to the fourth floor, and decided to visit Kingsley and Mad- Eye first. The Flamel Ward was a small room, with only four beds in it- Kingsely and Mad-Eye were next to each other. Mad-Eye, who was reading a pamphlet on 'What to do if you're turning into a hippogriff', leapt up as soon as he spotted Sirius and Remus.
'Why are you still in here, Mad-Eye?' Remus asked quietly, aware that the rest of the patients were trying to sleep.
Mad-Eye, on the other hand, had no consideration. 'This damn cut on my head', he barked, making the man in the bed opposite him wake up, 'apparently it's quite. I've got concussion or some other ridiculous thing wrong with me too. All nonsense of course, but, y'know, it's best to humour these healers.'
He put out a hand to steady himself. Sirius fought against the urge to laugh. 'It looks like a bad concussion, Moody, if you can't even stand upright', he teased. Moody grunted and fixed him with his beady eye.
'How's Kingsley?' Remus asked, moving down the ward towards the other auror.
Moody shook his head sadly. 'It's not looking too good', he told them, 'there's nothin' more they can do for him, they're just gonna let nature take its course. But I swear, if Shacklebot snuffs it, I'll kill every one of those filthy, mangy sons of-
'MISTER Moody, get back into bed this INSTANT!'
A plump, red-faced, middle-aged woman had bustled into the room, and was glaring at Moody, her hands on her hips. Her name badge identified her as 'Healer Dobsworth'. Sirius watched with interest, expecting Moody to tell her-in no uncertain terms-where to go. He wasn't disappointed.
'I'll do as I damn well please, woman!' The ageing auror bellowed, in a voice loud enough to wake the dead. (Though, as Sirius observed Kingsley remained unconscious.)
'Alastor Moody, this is my ward, and you are my patient, whether you like it or not!' Healer Dobsworth shrieked.
'Please!' Remus hissed, 'keep it down!'
Nobody paid any attention to him.
'Go and pester someone else', Moody roared, standing his ground (with a little support from Sirius).
The healer glared at Moody in disgust, then glanced at Remus and Sirius. She did a double take.
'Sirius Black?' She gasped, taking a quick step backwards.
'Yup', Sirius yawned, 'that's me.'
'Are you...do you...are you a friend of Mr Moody?' She finished at last, eyebrows almost disappearing into her hairline.
'Yup.' Sirius responded again.
Healer Dobsworth's jaw dropped. 'Well', she said, after a long time, 'Mr Moody, I would advise you to get into bed at once, if you're to have any hope of being discharged today.' And with that, she turnd on her heel, and marched out again.
'Thank God she's gone. Wait 'til you hear about Rita Skeeter, Mad-Eye! Mad- Eye?' Sirius and Remus stared at Moody, but he was oblivious to them. He was too busy gazing fondly after Healer Dobsworth.
'A fine woman', he grunted, limping back to his bed, ' a fine, fine woman. Used to go to school with me. Fine woman. Never got married-no idea why, a fine woman like her.'
Sirius caught Remus' eye, and they very nearly burst out laughing. Remus was shaking with suppressed chuckles! 'Why don't you tell her what a fine woman she is?' Remus asked innocently.
Moody suddenly became very interested in an orange juice stain on his sheet. 'Well', he mumbled, 'that'd be very forward...I dunno...probably already...nah...yes, well...anyway, what were you saying about Rita Skeeter?'
Sirius and Remus took it in turns to tell the story of everything that had happened since leaving the Ministry headquarters. When they told Moody about Arthur Weasley, he didn't look one bit surprised.
'I knew Fudge wouldn't last long, once he had Dumbledore kicked out of Hogwarts, and just about every association he ever joined. So I called in a few favours', he told them, 'told everyone I knew that Arthur Weasley'd make a better Minister than anyone-yes, including Dumbledore. All the Order members voted for him, of course, and I did a lot of campaigning in my own department and the Magical Sports and Games section...plus, the public like him, so I knew they'd never try and have a public vote held. Oh yes, there'll be a lot of changes, now Arthur's in charge.'
'I knew you'd helped!' Remus grinned, 'speaking of Arthur, is Molly around?'
'As far as I know, she's with Tonks. She said she'd pop in and say goodbye for she left.' Moody replied.
'We'd better go and have a chat with Tonks', Sirius remarked, 'as soon as you get out of this place, come to Grimmauld Place, okay?'
'Right you are', Moody grunted, picking up his pamphlet again.
Healer Dobsworth was standing at the nurses' station, reading through Moody's file. Sirius just couldn't resist temptation.
'Hullo, Healer Dobsworth', he said, smiling brightly, 'checking to see if old Mad-Eye's got a wife down for his next of kin?'
He had, it appeared, hit the nail on the head, as Healer Dobsworth turned bright red, and dropped the file onto the desk. 'Can I help you, Mr Black?' She asked grumpily.
'No, not really', Sirius repsonded airily, 'but I really think you and Alastor should have a chat. It seems to me you've got quite a lot in common.'
He jogged to catch up with Remus, who looked mortified. But just before they walked in to Tonks' ward, he called over his shoulder, 'plus, he's absolutely CRAZY about you.'
The two friends burst into the room, laughing at Sirius' crude attempts at matchmaking.
'Shhhhhh!!!!' Molly Weasley hissed furiously, from Tonks' bedside.
'Oh, leave them alone Molly, this place needs a bit of life!' Tonks was sitting up in bed, looking pale and tired, but alert. Her hair was short and bright green at the moment, as she smiled happily at her two visitors.
'Molly', Sirius chided at once, 'how come you didn't let us know the news?'
Molly stared at them blankly. 'What news?'
'Y-you don't know about Arthur?' Remus asked, perplexed.
Molly jumped out of her seat, wide-eyed. 'What's happened to Arthur?' She asked wildly, 'is he all right? He's not here, is he? What's going on?'
'You can do the honours, Sirius', Remus said, smiling at Molly's anguish.
'Within the last hour', Sirius announced, with all the pomposity he could muster, 'your husband, Arthur Weasley, has been declared the new Minister for Magic.'
Molly's face was a sight to see. She went white, then purple, then red, all in the space of a few seconds. Her eyes were almost popping out of her head, and she swayed on the spot. Remus caught her just in time.
'Arthur', she gasped, 'Arthur is Minister? MY HUSBAND IS MINISTER?!'
'According to the Daily Prophet, he is!' Remus assured her.
The shrieking and insane dancing that ensued brought four healers to the door of the ward, Healer Dobsworth leading the charge.
'What is all this racket?' She cried angrily. Then, she noticed Remus and Sirius.
'You two have done nothing but excite my patients and make noise since you arrived!' She hissed, 'out! Both of you! And you! Yes, Mrs Weasley, I knwo your husband is Minister, but there are a lot of very ill people on this floor, and your screams are not helping them to heal! Out! Now!'
'Aw Healer Dobsworth, leave them alone!' Tonks pleaded, 'let them stay, I need people to talk to, otherwise I'll get bored!'
'Nymphadora Tonks, don't you dare argue with me! Now come along, good sirs, and Mrs Weasley, out! At once!'
And so the giggling, delighted trio were thrown out of St Mungo's, back onto the Muggle high street. Molly sighed deeply. 'Well', she hiccuped, 'I suppose I'd better go and see this husband of mine!' And she disapparated.
'Wish I could still do that', Sirius murmured wistfully. Remus clapped him on the back. 'C'mon, let's go back to Diagon Alley-we can get back home by the Floo network.'
They headed slowly back towards The Leaky Cauldron. They hadn't been walking for long, when Sirius felt something sticky on the sole of his shoe.
'Urgh!' He groaned, hopping on one foot to examine the bottom of his shoe, 'chewing gum! These Muggles are disgusting!'
'Shh', Remus hissed, 'don't use the 'M' word around the 'M's!'
Sirius wasn't listening. He delicately picked the chewing gum off his shoe, and looked for somewhere to put it.
They were standing in front of an alleyway, at the end of which Sirius could make out two trash cans.
'Just gonna chuck this stuff in the bin', he told Remus, and headed down the alleyway, while Remus leaned against the wall and waited for him.
He deposited the gum in one of the bins, after prising it off his fingers. Muttering in disgust, he turned around and made to go back to the main street.
A masked, hooded Death-Eater stood in his way.
'Rem-' Sirius started to shout. He didn't get time to finish his friend's name, before the black-robed figure raised his wand, and in a voice that Sirius knew well, cried 'Crucio!'
Sirius had had the Cruciatus Curse performed on his before, but he didn't remember the pain being this dreadful: He felt as though his bones were on fire, and being smashed into hundreds of sharp pieces. It pierced him right through, until he no longer knew who or where he was. All he wanted was to die, and not have to feel this pain anymore. He heard somebody screaming, and it took him several seconds to realise it was himself.
His attacker was merciless. They held the spell for so long that Sirius wondered if he had actually died and gone to hell. He managed to look up at the man who was slowly destroying him. Sirius realised that he was going to die, but this time there would be no coming back. Just before he lost consciousness, the Death Eater allowed his mask to slip, and Sirius found himself looking straight at Peter Pettigrew.