Here I am all these years later, still unable to believe it was Sirius. Probably the only thing out of place on a record that rivals Mad-Eye's. I have the Order of Merlin First Class, I personally put five death eaters in Askaban and helped put three others there. One of the five I put in was let out – Karkeroff – and one other I caught never made it to Askaban – Lucious Malfoy still walks free.
I also almost put Snivellus in Askaban only to find out from Dumbledore that he had been acting as a spy for almost a year before Voldemorts demise. I found it interesting that Dumbledore was the only one who knew he was a spy. Apparently he'd been spying exclusively for Dumbledore because he believed that Dumbledore was the only one who could protect him if he'd even been discovered.
"It would have saved me a lot of trouble if I'd known that before hand," I snapped at Snivellus after the trail (he was one of the few death eaters who did get a trial, and he only got it because of Dumbledores insistence).
"Well I did mention it too you."
"If I listened to everything death eaters told me none of the one's I caught would be in Askaban."
"I think it's necessary for me to remind you that without my work there would have been many more deaths."
"There were deaths anyways," I snapped.
"Not all of them were regrettable," he muttered.
I knew he meant James and it made my blood boil. "Maybe not to you," I snapped resisting the urge to draw my wand only because we were inside the Ministry of Magic.
"Potters death was not my fault," he replied. "The man at fault is already in Askaban."
We hit a split in the corridor then and I took the opposite way he did knowing that if I didn't end the conversation now I might very shortly loose my temper and end his life.
Now I'm back in England and very likely to see Snivellus again because he's working at Hogwarts. I don't know what I'll do if I see him. Maybe Gen was right when she said that my work in Canada only provided me a reason to hide from what I feared the most. She was probably also right when I first told her what I was going to Canada to do and she said, "running away wont help".
I pull my trunk behind me as I walk through the airport contemplating this. Deep down I know she was right, I just never wanted to face it. But now I'm back and everything I've been hiding from is lurking near by and soon I'll have to face it. While I'm being honest with myself for a change I also have to admit that the only reason I went after so many death eaters was in the hope that one of them would say Sirius was innocent.
To my surprise Dumbledore is waiting for me in the parking lot. It strikes me as ironic that a man supposedly in hiding is standing in the middle of a place filled with thousands of muggles in wizards robes. Purple wizards robes with silver stars on them to be precise. For me it only confirms what I had suspected long ago – the Ministry has gone right down the drain.
"Hello Dumbledore," I say softly.
He smiles. "I was hoping you'd see me."
"You're kind of hard to miss."
He chuckles and gestures for me to get in the car.
I stick my truck in the back and slide into the passengers seat. "So where are we headed?"
"Headquarters."
"Same place as last time?"
"No, a new one. You may find it…interesting."
I give him a questioning look but he wont expand any further. However as we pull into a well of neighbourhood he says;
"The Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix is located at number 12 Grimmauld Place London."
I open my mouth to ask about it when a house appears in front of us. 'Dumbledore's secret keeper,' I think 'that explains a few things'.
We walk in to find the place empty.
"Something's wrong," I murmur.
Suddenly Dumbledore reaches into the shadows and grabs something, it's a house elf. "Where is everyone?" he demands.
"Don't know," the elf replies a little to quickly for my liking.
"Where is Sirius?"
I do a double take, and stare at Dumbledore wondering if I'd heard him incorrectly.
"Gone," the house elf laughs. "Gone after Harry Potter."
Dumbledore pulls out his wand. "Legilimens."
I stare at Dumbledore, what is going on?
Dumbledore suddenly drops the laughing house elf and says to me, "we are desperately needed at the Ministry of Magic in the department of mysteries." Then he dissaperates.
I stare at the cackling house elf for half a second then pull my cloak out of my truck, throw it on and apperate into the department of mysteries. One of the advantages to being an Auror is that I can apperate directly into any department of the Ministry of Magic at any moment, even the middle of the night.
I arrive in the middle of what appears to be a battle.
A stunning spell bounces off the back of my cloak causing the cloak to once again prove that it was worth the three hundred thousand gallons I paid for it. The cloaks a rare one, it's made of dragons scales held together with petrified dragons blood, it's extremely heavy but it will deflect almost all hexes and curses. Mad-Eye tried to discourage me from buying one simply because it was expensive, and heavy enough to restrict quick movement and also because there have been cases of Aurors who rely to heavily on their cloaks and end up dead. It has still saved my life countless times.
I pull my wand, I had forgotten what it was like to be in a battle I can see everything, hear everything and smell everything, it's almost overwhelming.
I spin around, "Stupify." A death eater falls to the ground, I don't know who it is, and I don't have time to find out.
I spin around again and freeze feeling my body go as numb as if a bucket of ice water had just been dumped on my head. Sirius is fighting Bellatrix Lestrange.
He dodges a stunning spell and laughs saying, "come on, you can do better then that." (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 710) Her second stunner hits him right in the face.
He falls backwards and is about to fall through a veil behind him when I find myself using a levitation charm to move him away from it.
Lestrange spins around, sees me and sprints from the room. To my surprise Harry follows her. Then Dumbledore follows both of them. I don't have time to think about what's happening, I've just seen Lucious Malfoy out of the corner of my eye aiming his wand at Sirius. I leap in font of him, landing closer to him then I'd planned. In fact landing close enough that if I were to nod I would hit him in the nose with my forehead.
"Dawson," he says sounding irritated.
"Malfoy," I reply. We both have our wands pointed at one another's faces though if we were to hex one another we are so close we would hit ourselves as well.
"You were a pain even in school," he sneers. "It is time you learned a lesson."
I don't know what he's planning to do but I poke him in the eye with my wand.
He stumbles backwards screaming and covering his eye.
"Stupify," I say evenly. Seeing that Dumbledore has bound the other death eaters with a charm to stop them from apperating I do the same to Malfoy then I head for the stairs that Harry and Dumbledore disappeared up.
I arrive in time to witness the end of the battle between Voldemort and Dumbledore. At the end of it Harry is left lying twitching in the middle of the hall. Dumbledore goes and bends over him and a moment later he sits up. Fudge is running in from the other end of the hall, in his pyjamas flanked by Aurors.
I barely hear the conversation between Dumbledore and Fudge and simply watch with a strange feeling of detachment as Harry is transported back to Hogwarts by portkey. Then Dumbledore walks over to me.
"Ruth, I need you to accompany the other students to Hogwarts. Madame Pomfrey will see to their injuries." I simply nod and take the portkey.
Madame Pomfrey could not possibly look more shocked when we arrive, via the portkey, in the hospital wing.
"Dumbledore said you'd patch them up," I tell her though to me my voice sounds very distant, almost as if it is coming from someone else.
"Dumbledore," she whispers.
I nod.
"Very well then," she says briskly and sets to work.
I go wait outside, I hear Dumbledore arrive and say a few things to Madame Pomfrey. I look up as he walks out the door.
"I have to talk with Mr. Potter first," Dumbledore says. "Once I am done I'll explain everything to you."
I try to speak but I can't make any sound emerge from my throat so I simply nod.
The sun rises bathing everything in soft light while I wait for Dumbledore. Some students are heading down for breakfast so I step back into the hospital wing.
"A message from Dumbledore?" says Madame Pomfrey.
I shake my head and she goes back to her work. Just when I think Dumbledore has forgotten about me he strides into the hospital wing.
"Ahh there you are. Come to my office."
I follow him through the halls feeling once again like I was simply a student here.
A baby Fawkes was sitting on his perch chirping softly. Normally the sight of Dumbledores phoenix would have made me smile but not this time.
"Sit down," Dumbledore said gently gesturing to the chair across from his desk.
I sit, feeling numb.
"I have a feeling," Dumbledore said softly. "That you are in a state of shock after what you witnessed at the Ministry tonight."
I managed a nod.
"I doubt you have forgotten mentioning to me many years ago that Sirius Black was innocent."
"I haven't," I say my voice sounding horse even to my own ears. "But you didn't believe me."
"On the contrary," Dumbledore replies. "I did believe you, but there was no proof otherwise. Sirius was captured for a brief period of time and held here in this school, it was then that I learned that you had been right in assuming that the Potters had changed secret keepers. Peter Petigrew betrayed them to Lord Voldemort." There is a long silence before he continues, "Sirius has been working as a part of the Order since it started, Kingsley has been purposely feeding the Ministry the wrong information about Sirius' whereabouts."
"I thought…I figured that something was wrong if Kingsley was unable to track him down. But why didn't you tell me?"
Dumbledore sighs. "I was afraid to mention it in my letters in case they were intercepted and the fires are being watched all the time by the ministry so it was impossible for me to mention Sirius' name. However it seems you knew for a long time that he was an Animagus without mentioning it to anybody."
"I didn't think there was any point to it, after all he was already in Askaban."
"What about after he escaped."
"I…I couldn't."
Dumbledore smiles. "It appears we all have our own secrets."
I don't have anything to say to that.
"However, thanks to you Sirius survived tonight's events intact and is currently back at Headquarters." He pauses, "Hopefully in light of recent events we will be able to get the ministry to declare him a free man."
"And the death eaters will all come over to our side," I say dully.
Dumbledore laughs. "I see you're faith in the ministry has not changed."
I am about to reply when the door to Dumbledores office opens and Snivellus walks in as living proof that you can still hate someone even if you haven't seen them for years.
"I see you're back," he says stiffly to Dumbledore.
"Yes," Dumbledore replies. "Voldemorts attempts at the ministry were successfully thwarted thanks to you."
'Hold on, what does he mean by "thanks to you"?' I wonder.
"I figured as much seeing as Mister Potter just passed me on the way to breakfast."
"Speaking of breakfast I think it would be best if the three of us were to head down to it." Dumbledore says standing up.
Snivellus looks at me as if realising I'm there for the first time. "What is she doing here?"
I stand up. "Delaying Voldemorts return to power. You?"
"That's enough," Dumbledore says sharply. "I would suggest that you both work to get along since it is crucial to the Order." With that he sweeps out of his office.
I follow him my cloak billowing behind me. "What's he doing here?"
"Severus has been doing invaluable work for the Order for quite some time now." Dumbledore looks over at me but does not slow his pace. "You will find that there are things more important then old grudges."
"I know there are things more important then old grudges," I snap.
"Then demonstrate it. That goes for you as well, Severus."
I look over my shoulder to see Snivellus following us. He sneers at me and I glare back at him. I somehow doubt that it is possible for the two of us to get along anymore then it was possible for him and James Potter to get along back when we were in school.
A/N: you gotta love Snape, more fun with him in coming chapters. Sorry for the length of this one, I had ideas and just couldn't stop writing. I invented the cloak Ruth has, it makes things a little more interesting.