By: Sailoranime
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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters. I think it is very obvious that I'm not JK Rowling, but it seems very important that I write a disclaimer to protect myself from that lawsuit happy author.
AN: Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? December 29, 2003 was the last time I update this. Almost three weeks, but still not as bad as last time, when it had been 3 months ^_^. Well, here we go. Another chapter. I'm working on this and on my latest AU fic at the same time, so you can expect longer chapters than usual. ^_^
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Sirius and Dumbledore walked back to the hospital wing in silence. Sirius wanted to ask Dumbledore why he had lied about Pettigrew's death, but the special quality of the Headmaster's silence let him know that he should wait until a later time.
Dumbledore was walking quickly, almost as if he was worried about something. In a few minutes they had reached the corridor that led to the hospital wing. Dumbledore inhaled sharply as Fudge walked out of the infirmary with Lupin.
"Dumbledore just told me what happened, Lupin. Imagine Pettigrew attacking Harry Potter! Glad you were there. At least there was one trustworthy adult there. A good thing that you arrived in time to stop Pettigrew..."
Lupin looked slightly confused, and Sirius suddenly realized why Dumbledore was in such a hurry.
"Cornelius!" Dumbledore called out before Remus could answer. Fudge turned around and looked at Dumbledore.
"What is it now, Dumbledore?"
"I wanted to discuss a couple of things with you. Do you think you can join me for a cup of tea in my office? I believe we can leave Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin to Madame Pomfrey, I expect they need to be looked over after last night's events."
Fudge nodded, looking slightly exasperated. "Of course, Dumbledore."
They both headed back towards Dumbledore's office, and Sirius ushered Remus back into the infirmary. Sirius walked over to the beds, making sure that the three kids were asleep before moving Remus towards the opposite end of the room. Once they were both sitting down, Remus finally allowed himself to speak.
"What happened?"
Sirius sighed and leaned back into the comfort of the chair.
"They're going to have my trial sometime in July."
"They're not taking you back to Azkaban though, are they?"
Sirius shook his head. "No, but I'm not sure what's going to happen until then. I assume Fudge will order me to stay at Hogwarts, which I have no problem with," he glanced at Harry's bed, "and he is making me check in with the ministry on a weekly basis or something like that. And I'm not allowed a wand, I don't think. He said I had to inform the Ministry if I got a new one, but they would probably take it away as soon as I told them. And I couldn't keep it a secret because I'd be in trouble if they found out, and it would definitely affect my case."
Remus nodded in understanding. "You won't really need one, anyway."
"I'm going to be living in the same place as Snape and you expect me to go around without a wand? I always thought you were loony, but that's just plain mad."
"You're still under the influence of the Veritaserum, aren't you?"
Sirius nodded. "I guess. I have a sudden unexplainable urge to be truthful, you know?"
Remus nodded. "They made me drink it after...you know." there was silence for a few minutes before Lupin spoke again. "What did he say about Harry?"
Sirius winced. He looked away, unable to meet Remus's eyes. "I don't think Fudge will even consider it. And he's right. Harry's not going to forgive me that easily. Besides, I doubt he'd want to go live with me anyways."
Remus covered his face with his hands and groaned in frustation. "How thick can you be, Sirius? We went over this already! Who do you believe? Me and Dumbledore, or Fudge?"
Sirius sighed and glanced at Harry once again. "I know you keep telling me Harry doesn't like the muggles he lives with, but what Fudge said... he's right. He's Harry Potter, and the whole wizarding community thinks I'm a mass murderer. There's no way they'll let him live with me."
Remus shook his head. "It's not really up to them. If Harry wants to go live with you, the Ministry can't really stop him. They will eventually have to face it and give in."
Sirius shrugged. "I guess. It's not like his relatives would fight for custody of him, right?"
Remus shook his head. "I expect they would be thrilled. They would probably pack his things for him and drive him wherever he needed to go."
Sirius didn't answer. He closed his eyes and began to fall asleep. Remus was about to suggest that he go lie down on one of the beds, when Sirius's eyes snapped open.
"Dumbledore."
"What about Dumbledore?" Remus asked absent-mindedly, looking towards Madame Pomfrey's office. He was about to get up to go call her when Sirius spoke again.
"Fudge asked about Wormtail." Remus froze. He turned towards Sirius slowly, eyes wide.
"What? How come they haven't carted me off to Azkaban?"
Sirius looked around, checking for any sign of intruders. "He asked me, but I was already under Veritaserum. I was going to say I had done it, but..." he trailed off and looked at Remus apologetically. Remus nodded.
"I have to face the consequences. I didn't think... Just don't worry about it." Remus answered wearily. Sirius shook his head.
"No... I tried to lie, but it came out wrong... I don't know. But Dumbledore answered before I could cause anymore damage. He told Fudge that Peter attacked Harry, you know everyone has a soft spot for him, and that you had to kill him to stop him. He said something about Peter using one of the wands to cast a shield around himself. As long as Harry and his friends don't say anything, the story should hold. Peter could have grabbed the wand in all the confusion... and Snape wasn't conscious at the time, so he can't tell what really happened."
Remus looked at Sirius, shocked. "Is that what Fudge was talking about? When you guys got here, he was telling me something about the Order of Merlin, Third Class. Now it makes perfect sense."
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "I suppose it would have been First class if you hadn't killed Pettigrew."
"That's the thing... I thought Dumbledore might have told him something like what you said, but I wasn't sure why he wanted to give me the Order of Merlin. You know I can't take it, right?"
It seemed to be Sirius's turn to be shocked. "Are you out of your mind? You deserve it!"
"Sirius! I killed a man!"
"It was only Wormtail. I doubt he can be considered a man."
"Despite what he did... well... he was still human, Sirius."
"Hardly." Sirius answered with a derisive snort. "Besides, don't you realize how much it would help you? You're a werewolf. You can hardly get a job, but with an Order of Merlin... You do deserve it, even if not for what happened last night."
"I would never live with myself if I accepted it... I'll have to turn it down."
"Is there such a things as turning it down? Are you allowed, I mean. I don't think anyone's ever been mad enough to try."
Remus sighed. "I don't know, Sirius. But it would be a lie... Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The truth might still come out."
Sirius shrugged. "Let's hope it doesn't. You should really get some sleep, you know? Get some rest and have Madame Pomfrey nurse you back to health."
Remus raised an eyebrow. "Let her nurse me back to health? How about you? You look half-dead."
"Just half? I assure you I feel worse than I look, then."
"Is that even possible?"
"Sure feels like it."
Remus was saved the trouble of answering by Madame Pomfrey. She looked Sirius over in a disapproving manner.
"Why aren't you in bed, Mr. Black?You look half-dead! And you, Lupin! You need rest, you've both had a rough night."
"More like thirteen years for me." Sirius muttered. Madame Pomfrey looked him over, taking in his filthy face and robes.
"You will need a shower first." she said bluntly. Sirius raised and eyebrow, thinking that would have been amusing under different circumstances. "Use the staff bathroom. The password is 'sparkling clean'. It's hidden-"
"I know where it is, we used it a couple of times in our school days." Sirius answered, ignoring her disapproving look.
"Well, alright. I'll have some clean robes taken to you, and then you can come back here so I can look you over."
Sirius nodded. Feeling like he was back in his sixth year when he'd broken his leg on a trip to the Forbidden Forest, Sirius walked out of the infirmary towards the teacher's bathroom.
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Sirius looked at himself in the mirror, shocked. He had finally gotten a proper bath and clean robes after thirteen years of hell. His hair was still long and he was still deathly skinny, buthe knew Madame Pomfrey would take care of that.
When he had gotten out of the bath, he'd found the robes and a brush on the counter in front of the mirror, probably delivered by a house elf. Knowing that Madame Pomfrey would come get him herself if he didn't hurry up, he folded the wet towels and put them on the counter where the house elves could find them.
The trip back to the infirmary was quick, but cold. The usually drafty castle seemed colder than usual after his warm bath. He opened the door to the informary, knowing what to expect.
Sure enough, Harry and his friends were still sleeping, and Remus was on the second to last bed on the other end of the room. He was sitting there, looking almost sulky.
"Really, I don't need to be here. I'm a grown man-"
"Age doesn't make wounds heal faster. You had a rought night- Ah, Mr. Black. Over here, come on, now."
Sirius walked towards her, knowing there was no use in arguing. She immediately forced him into the last bed, the one furthest from Harry, which meant he couldn't even see him anymore. Why had they built the infirmary so large and with so many beds?
She gave a small clap, and a house elf appeared by Sirius's bed with a tray full of food. Madame Pomfrey took it from the elf, handed it to Sirius, and ordered him to eat. The house elf disappeared with a pop and came back less than a minute later with another plate for Lupin. Sirius ate slowly, knowing it wasn't good to stuff himself after having lived on practically nothing for thirteen years. Remus, however, was looking quite comfortable. Sirius gave up on his food when he had eaten only half of it. Wanting to see what his friend was doing, he turned around, setting his tray down on the bedside table as he did so.
Remus was sitting up, idly fingering his wand and looking at it as if he'd never seen anything quite like it before.
"You're not brooding again, are you?" he asked softly. Remus's head snapped up.
"Excuse me?"
"I asked if you're brooding again."
Remus shrugged. "You call it brooding, I call it contemplating that I just killed one of my best friends in front of my other best friend's son."
"What are you talking about? You didn't kill me."
Remus looked confused for a second before he understood what Sirius was saying. "I meant Peter."
"Peter wasn't your best friend. He stopped being our friend when he joined Voldemort."
Remus didn't answer. Sirius was about to take another stab at making conversation when Remus spoke again.
"It took him a while to trust me, I think."
"Harry? No, he probably trusted you since the beginning. You're a trustworthy person."
"That's hardly true, Sirius. Weren't you there last night when I pointed a wand at a man and killed him right in front of three innocent kids?"
Sirius groaned in exasperation. "And you say I'm pig-headed! When are you going to let it go? Listen," he said, looking very threatening despite the fact that he was laying down on a bed, "He deserved it. You know that. Harry..." he trailed off, suddenly unsure of what he was supposed to say.
"Who are we to decide if he deserved it or not?" Remus aked quietly. Sirius threw himself against his cushioned headboard.
"We're not really deciding, Remus. We already know it. Just think about it. Wormtail could have escaped. Last night... there was the full moon and you hadn't taken your potion, and the dementors... who knows what would have happened. Going back in time and doing things differently wouldn't be fixing it, it would be messing it up."
Remus could not think of an answer to that, and was saved the trouble of trying when Madame Pomfrey came out of ther office with dreamless sleep potions and a few other odd substances.
She forced about five of them down Sirius's throat until he finally look the rest of them willingly. After making sure he had swallowed and not spit them out on a nearby plant, she handed each of them some dreamless sleep potion. Sirius took his first and then settled down into a comfortable position.
"Just don't waste your time thinking about that, Remus."
Remus, mouth full of dreamless potion, did not answer.
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Okay! Done! After two days! I'm kind of hyper at the moment because I was having a very... uh...interesting conversation with one of my friends, and later realized he was being too loud when I noticed an entire room full of strangers had overheard our conversation, so... Well, you know the drill. Please review and join my guild. Dedicated to the Marauders, of course. For more info, visit...
Well, that's all.