You Can't Keep a Good Dog Down
By Luxx
Summary: After OoTP, Sirius finds himself in the company of old friends, but paradise just isn't enough. When Gabriels horn is stolen from Heaven, the angelic duo are on a mission to retrieve it.
Chapter Two:
Sirius Black Wrongfully Accused
For the past fourteen years it has been common knowlege amongst the wizarding world that the notorious Sirius Black, Death eater and strong supporter of You-Know-Who, was anything but innocent, but has it all been one big cover up? Ministry officials say yes.
One time Gryffindor at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, Black had always been known for being a charismatic and attractive youth, receiving top marks in all of his classes. He had been one of the brightest minds to ever pass through the halls of Hogwarts, graduating with the class of 1979 alongside his closest friend - James Potter. "Rarely saw one without the other back in those days," says Christabelle Leering who had once been a very close friend of both Black and Potter. "Between the two of them, life was never boring at Hogwarts." The beautiful young woman says wistfully. In fact, everyone asked about life with Potter and Black seem to have much the same surprising reaction - a sense of happy nostalgia. It is obvious that the two had been extremely close.
Why then, one must ask, had rumours been spread so viciously concerning Black's involvment during the fall of 1981 with the dark forces that inevitably caused the death of such a close friend? It is no secret that during this time, the Potters (James, his wife Lily - formerly Lily Evans, and their son Harry) had been harassed and chased down quite fervently by agents of You-Know-Who. When, at last, the Potters conceded to going into hiding at the urging of one Albus Dumbledore, they lived to see all of two days of safety before the mysterious events of Halloween came crashing down upon them. Both James Potter and Lily Potter were killed by no less than Voldemort himself, leaving only young Harry Potter to survive through it all. Rumour has it that the Potters had been so easily found because it was in fact their best friend, Black, who gave up their hiding place to the Deatheaters with whom he had been in league. Now, 14 years later, the rumours seem to have been proven false. After that fateful night, Black was captured and imprisoned for the deaths of 13 people on a Muggle street in London the very next day. "Black seemed to find it rather hysterical at the time." states Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge, "but new evidence has come to light that tells us there had indeed been other forces at work that day." What these "other forces" may be, no one seems to be quite certain, but the mysterious evidence seems to lead to one conclusion: Sirius Black was wrongfully accused, but he shall never be a free man.
A disturbance late in the night of July 10th in the department of mysteries involving Albus Dumbledore, a group of Hogwarts students including Harry Potter himself, a group of Deatheaters (who as of yet remain unnamed) and a small group of civilians including Sirius Black resulted in not only the capture of many Deatheaters, but also Black's own untimely demise. This is a great loss to all those witches and wizards who knew Black personally. We here at the Daily Prophet implore you to not remember Sirius Black as a Deatheater, but instead remember him as you knew him so many years ago: a bright, and strong young man who died a hero's death in the attempt to end the pain and misery brought on but such people. A small memorial service will be held this coming Monday at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"Rubbish." Harry pronounced angrily, throwing the newspaper whose front page was taken up by this article beneath a photo of a young Sirius, looking around haughtily before winking and sticking out his tongue.
"Well really Harry, this isn't half as bad as what they could have turned this story into. In fact they seem to be uncharictaristically forgiving, but I suppose that would be Fudge's doing..." Hermione stated, glancing at her friend warily over a mug of hot cocoa.
"Yeah, they painted him in a good light alright, after sentencing him without trial to Azkaban for 12 years, and hunting him like an animal for the past three." Ron said sarcastically. He didn't know it, but he had just read Harry's mind. The three of them were sitting around the kitchen table in the Burrow. Normally Harry would still be at the Dursley's this time of year, hiding in rosebushes and being bullied by his muggle family, but this year after Sirius' death, Dumbledore seemed to feel that leaving for the warmth of the Weasley family at the Burrow a few weeks earlier than usual would be therapeutic. Hermione had joined them shortly after Harry had arrived, but this time she would not be spending the remainder of the holidays like last year, but rather returning home after two weeks before heading off to the Hogwarts Express in the company of her parents who hadn't had the chance to see her off since their second year.
"You can't even find the word Azkaban in there, not to mention the fact that they kept calling what happened when my parents died a "rumour."" Harry mumbled venomously.
"Well, the Ministry doesn't want any of this truly getting out do they?" Hermione went on in her 'know-it-all' tone of voice. "Think about it, they sent Sirius to Azkaban without a trial, he was held there for 12 years without ever having commited the crimes for which he was being punished, and when he finally did escape, they spent all sorts of resources trying to recapture him! If the truth were known, can you imagine what the consequences for the Ministry would be?" Harry and Ron gave her bewildered looks.
"Are you... You're not defending this article... Are you?!" Ron asked incredulously, but Hermione set her face to one of resolve.
"Look, I agree with you both that this is an absolutely horrid situation, but in sensitive times like this it is extremely important that there is control. People would be outraged, and rightly so, and Fudge would begin to lose credibility. It's very important during a war that the people have a strong leader to turn to." Ron snorted, seeming to find the idea of Fudge as a 'strong leader' completely hilarious. "Who is of course Dumbledore, acting through Fudge. Now that the minister for Magic has joined our way of thinking, it's important that we keep him in that position of power."
"So you're saying that Fudge keeping his job is more important than people knowing the truth about Sirius?" Harry said angrily.
"Of course it is." Hermione snapped back at him, frustrated. Harry's eyes widened in shock. He thought that she would have said no, even if she didn't mean it, but he had not expected that she actually believed what she was saying. Seeing the look on Harry's face, Hermione seemed to soften a litte.
"Harry, you know I didn't mean that the ministry is more important than Sirius. Politics are never more important than people."
"It sure sounded like it." Harry grumbled furiously. Ron stared wide eyed at Hermione in shock. He couldn't believe that she could possibly be so tactless, but she had been. He shook his head and dropped his eyes to a burn mark on the table.
"You know I cared about Sirius. We all did Harry, you just... you don't see it because you were so much closer than the rest of us."
"Don't lie Hermione. You thought he was mad and reckless and stupid and you never pretended any different when he was alive, so don't pretend to think so now." She looked as if she had been slapped, and her eyes became shiny with unshed tears.
"Don't you dare take this out on me Harry Potter! Don't you dare! I may not have always agreed with Sirius, but I never thought... I never said..." She paused a moment to collect herself.
"I spent six weeks living in that house with him over the summer, and we weren't close, but... I talked to him! I sat at the table with him everyday for dinner, I worked with him and joked with him and he just became..." She had wanted to say something along the lines of "a part of everyday life" but she didn't seem to be able to get the words out properly. "but now... now he's gone and he won't ever come back! And all of those things that were nothing at the time seem to mean more and more because they will never happen again Harry! And I wish he were here right now so that I could tell him he was stupid and reckless and mad! But I can't! And that's just so horribly wrong..." A tear dripped down her cheek, and she glanced at Ron to see if at least he understood what she was saying, but he hadn't raised his head once during the entire conversation. Giving Harry one last glare, she left the kitchen and hurried up the stairs, sniffling as she went.
Harry sat rooted to his seat. He hadn't known that Hermione had ever felt so sad about Sirius' death, but then, they had never really talked about how she felt, had they? For the first time he truly saw that he was not the only one affected. He had forgotten all those weeks that the Weasleys and Hermione and the rest of the Order had spent at number twelve Grimmauld Place. He had never considered that maybe, just maybe, Sirius had been someone to them too. He remembered the detatched look in Lupin's eyes when he dragged Harry away from the veil, he remembered Tonks running off to the loo when she had regained conciousness and was told the news. Even Mrs Weasley had taken it hard, even though she and Sirius could hardly be in the same room at the same time without finding something to argue about. She had positively burnst into tears one day when she scolded George for balancing his chair on the back two legs, just as he was sure she had scolded Sirius for the same thing many times before. Molly Weasley was afterall, a mother to all, and now that Sirius was gone, it was as if she had lost a particularly willful and troublesome nephew. Harry let his gaze pass to Ron, who had not yet lifted his head, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.
"So what about you then?" Harry asked him, far less snappish then he had been with Hermione. It took a few seconds before Ron answered.
"I'm not going to start sobbing if that's what you mean." Ron said, but his voice was glum nonetheless. "I think I understand what Hermione was trying to say bout Sirius though." Ron finally met his eyes. "Hermione has sort of become like family right?" Ron asked and Harry nodded in affirmation, still not understanding exactly where this was going. "Well the Order, most of them are like that too... And Sirius was like... the big brother." Ron even smiled a little at this. "Mum even made him a jumper for christmas. It was beige because she said that he never wore anything but dark colours..." he seemed to realize the pointless direction the conversation was taking, so Ron switch back on focus again. "We just, we cared is all, and Hermione is really sappy sometimes. She took it kinda hard I guess. I think she misses trying to boss him around." Ron joked, and to his own amazement, Harry cracked a smile at this.
"I suppose she would wouldn't she?" Harry said fondly, deciding to appologize to Hermione first thing in the morning. "I feel like such a selfish prat."
"Don't. You don't need to tiptoe around our feelings." Hearing these words made Harry feel more grateful for having a friend like Ron than he had in a long time.
"Sirius Black - this is your afterlife." Lily said with a winning smile, making a sweeping motion with her hand as if to present the world to him. It wasn't really all that bad. The weather was perfect, it was quiet and peaceful. In fact it looked like a far lovlier version of Harry's neighborhood, which he had only seen once, right before Harry caught the Knightbus during his third year. Strolling along leisurely next to Lily and James Potter, breathing in the fresh scent of the air and the brightly shining sun, Sirius could almost beleive that he could be happy here for the rest of eternity."You won't be here for eternity, don't worry." James said with a smirk.
"Did I say that out loud?"
"Everything from it looking like Harry's neighborhood right up until staying here for eternity." Sirius looked a little stricken, as though afraid he was losing his mind. Talking to yourself was one thing, but talking to yourself without even noticing it? That was a different problem altogether.
"Oh don't worry about it." Lily soothed. "It's all a little much to take in, being dead and all." She was so matter-of-fact about this statement that Sirius could think of no response other than:
"Er, right." He wasn't sure he would ever get used to being dead, but it seemed that Lily and James had. Then again, they had seen almost as many years in death as they had in life. They turned and were now heading towards a lovely little house, with a beautiful garden. Sirius recognized the house immediatley as being the cottage in which the Potters had spent the last days of their lives in Godric's Hollow.
When they entered through the wooden door, one quick look around told him that nothing had changed. The house was exactly the same as it had been Christmas of 1980 - the last time Sirius could remember being completely happy and untainted by the chaos and darkness that had seemed to hang in the air of 1981. They entered the cottage and Sirius paused a moment to take it all in. It seemed that you really could "take it with you" as the saying went. The fireplace was crackling merrily, the decor was the same, there were even curtains and photographs that they had kept for all this time. Sirius walked around, staring in awe at the wizarding snapshots that had be framed and placed around the house. There were photos of Lily and James cuddling, of all three of them posing, some photos with himself and Remus, others of just the couple, or all three of the Potters, a snapshot of Mr and Mrs Potter senior, One photo that was now in Harry's possession of the Potter wedding, but others from that day as well in which he was kissing Lily on the cheek or trying to convince James to give him a piggyback and of course, he, James and Remus posing together looking very uncomfortable in their dress robes. He noticed with satisfaction that Peter was no longer in any of the moving images - perhaps the only bit of vengeance that Lily and James would ever get to dole out to the traitor. One photo caught his eye that he hadn't remembered being there before. It was another photo of him, laying sprawled out on the very same couch he was standing next to, with baby Harry face down on his chest. They were both sleeping, when the Sirius in the photo took in a very deep breath, (that was surely an incredible snore) baby Harry shifted a little, and allowed an incredible amount of drool to run out of the corner of his tiny mouth, right onto his godfather's chest. He gave a chuckle.
"I can't hardly beleive he was ever this small." Sirius said, gazing fondly at the photo. "He's as tall as Moony now."
"Tell us everything about him." Lily said excitedly, grabbing his arm and pulling him down onto the couch. James looked just as excited as they both perched themselves on the edge of the coffe table in front of him.
"Well, uh, he's a good kid?" Sirius said questioningly, unsure of what to say. Not long ago he had had so many things he wanted them to know about, but now that the time had come, he was suddenly finding himself with nothing to say. James and Lily both looked a little wary, as if wondering what could possibly be so bad that Sirius Black was at a loss for words. Then, out of no where, James swore and hung his head in shame.
"So he takes after this one does he?" James said, gesturing to Lily, who looked both offended at her husband's tone of voice, but pleased at the insinuation that her son took after her. At first, Sirius felt unsure how to respond once more, but then something came over him. He didn't know why he said it, only that it felt right, that it was something that he would say.
"Yeah, he's as uptight as Tigerlily and as runty looking as you, the poor boy." Twenty years ago, the insult would have rolled off of his tongue, now, they felt an odd mix of foreign and natural. Perhaps it was just the company that was in that brought this out in him once more. He had always loved to tease his friends whenever the opportunity ever arose, and they had always given as good as they got. Azkaban had stolen his love of sillyness, and mocking and sarcasm, and speaking like this to Lily and James made him feel both horrible and exhilarated at the same time. It was like coming home after years away when they smiled and each gave him a kick to the shins.
"So he's both intelligent and attractive." James replied, just as he would have years ago. It was almost as if the three of them had never been apart in that moment.
"He is the spitting image of you Prongs. It's like looking at your best mate's twin, all of these little differences that make you look exactly the same and nothing alike all at once. You could never fool me or Moony or the Weasleys, but I'm sure that most of the people Harry knows would get the two of you mixed up if you just showed up one day and said you were him."
"So of course he gets all the girls then."
"Well, I don't really know much about that actually. He's never really asked me for advice on girls before."
"Thank God! At least we know my baby got my brains." Lily said, with so much releif in her voice that Sirius wasn't sure if she was joking or not. He was pretty sure she wasn't.
"Now, now love, any girl that had the bad judgement to go within fifty feet of Sirius deserved everything she got." James replied in a horribly failed attempt to stick up for his best friend. Sirius chose to let that comment slide.
"There was one girl just recently I think, but they didn't last too long. According to the household gossip she cried almost every time she looked at him. It was something about her last boyfriend's sudden death." He chose to leave out the bits of information that included Voldemort, or Harry's part in the night that Cedric Diggory had died. He was sure it was not something Lily and James needed to hear.
"And what about school? How are his grades?" Lily asked in true Lily fashion. James gave her a horrified look that clearly stated that there were more important things to hear about than his grades. Everything for instance.
"Well, I think he's alright in most of his classes - except maybe potions. He's absolutely brilliant in Defense against the dark arts though."
"But what about fun Sirius? Does the boy do nothing but date the emotionally crippled and study?" When the subject of mischeif arose, Sirius' signature devilish gleam came to his eyes. Reading the expression James came out with his most evil of grins. Lily understood these expressions for what they were. My baby is a delinquent! crossed through her mind, along with I knew we should have asked nice sensible Remus to be godfather. but all she managed to say was a strong "bloody hell!" rolling her eyes.
"Ah, my dear Prongs, the stories are both long and numerous. Sadly all of the ones that I've actually been around to witness however either dealt with him rushing off to my rescue, or myself being completely useless." Sirius said glumly, however he did not seem too depressed. He must have begun to feel more at ease.
"Ah yes. I remember it well: James Potter and the drunken dog in downtown London." James reminisced in a wise tone of voice.
"Ooh, or Lily Evans and the man Sirius thought was a girl." At his wife's comment, James took on a look of confusion. The look that Sirius gave Lily however would make sure that her husband rested forever in this state of near blissfully ignorant confusion.
"More like Harry Potter and his escaped convict godfather he thought was out to kill him, or one of my personal favourites: Harry Potter and the telling off of his godfather for being a prat as a child and thereby leading his father to a degree of pratness, or best of all: Harry Potter and the illegal travel back through time to save the aforementioned convict/godfather from certain peril by breaking him out of Hogwarts under the nose of Fudge and the dementors and bringing him a hippogriff to ride to safety. Actually, that one was my favourite." Sirius said, allowing a proud smile to cross his face. Lily and James had nothing to say at this point, which was odd because it was very rare for one of them to go speechless, let alone both of them at the same time. They were in shock for so long that Sirius almost jumped when they both spoke at once.
"He thought you were out to kill him?!" Lily shreiked as James said excitedly:
"You actually got to ride a hippogriff?!" Sirius deeply wished that Lily had her husband's priorities at that moment as she was glaring daggers at him.
"This has to do with Azkaban doesn't it? You mentioned before that you were there for twelve years. What happened after we died Sirius?" he was no longer feeling at ease. The mention of Azkaban always made Sirius extremely tense, and discussion of that night filled him with a rage that frightened him with it's intensity. He was afraid of this darkness in him. In Harry's third year, when searching for Peter, Sirius had been driven by it, it fueled him. But after that night in he Shrieking Shack, after seeing Moony and Harry, it made him feel dirty, and contaminated. Surely it was wrong to feed off of the darkness inside of himself. Was it possible to touch evil and to get away without taking some of it with you? And now. looking at Lily and James, waiting patiently for his explanation, looking just as they always had - he felt that contaminated feeling once more. He wanted to get up and leave. He didn't deserve to be here, in the warmth with these people. They were young and innocent and good hearted. They had no way of understanding the depth of the darkness that he had inside of him. He stood up, and turned away from them. He did not see it, but he could tell that they had stood up as well. They seemed nervous of what he might do. He let out his barklike laugh. They had no idea what he was capable of.
"What did you do after we died?" It was James who asked this time, almost surprising as James rarely ever wanted to speak of anything less than joyful. He often strayed away from serious topics. Perhaps this was why Sirius gave them the answers. Because it was James that asked.
"I was sent to Azkaban for the murder of thirteen muggles, the destruction of a city block, the murder of Peter Pettigrew and of course, conspiracy leading to the deaths of Lily and James Potter." he said turning to face them. He had to see their faces. He wanted them to see... he wasn't quite sure. Neither Lily nor James said a word. They both sat back down on the couch, never breaking eyecontact with him. James looked as if he were trying to figure out a puzzle. He could not understand how his best friend could find it in himself to do these terrible things. Lily looked disgusted, like she was about to vomit. Sirius had expected no less.
"And they sent you away without trial?" Lily said in almost a whisper.
"Er, yes. Yes they did." She searched Sirius' eyes for a long time. James held his face in his hands.
"And they sent you away for all those years." He ducked his head and mumbled an affirmation. Lily rose to her feet and came to him. He was sure that she would slap him, or at the very least order him away, but she grabbed his face and forced him to look at her again.
"And the whole time you were completely innocent." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. James was now looking at him from his place on the couch. They believed it was true. He didn't even need to explain, and they knew he hadn't commited those crimes. His stomach clenched when he remembered what Lily had said. She had called him completely innocent. He would certainly love for that to be true, but in the end it was his fault. As grateful as he was for their faith in him, it wouldn't be right to allow them to shove the blame off of him.
"There's no such thing as innocence for me Lil." he said with a sad little smile. "I didn't do it. But I'll never be innocent again."
Speaking of reviews
Sweet Sixteen Movie Buff: I ADORE you! you are a wonderful person. I wrote the first chapter of this story and you are the only person so far to review it. I originally had this whole long rant at the beginning being angry about not getting any reviews, and just as I was about to post, I took a look at my stats all depressed and whatnot, but then I saw the little 1 in the reviews column. You have no idea how much I appreciate you! I almost gave up on this fic.
Now, as far as your comments go: I completely agree that Sirius must return and return quickly, but I doubt that will happen, so I write it myself instead. (I have other plot bunnies of this nature floating around in my head, I just don't have the time... yet :) Thank you for your compliments as well. I sorta got it into my head when reading that fight scene that Sirius is a person who is very much longing to be who he was before, as I'm sure you're getting that picture pretty clearly after reading this chapter. Don't worry however! I plan on quitting with the heart to hearts and getting to the action, I just felt that I needed to go into Sirius and James and Lily together again. I find that some writers neglect to do this, and it really takes away from a story. As far as the whole 'not being able to feel pain in heaven' issue, well, I don't think that this will be quite your conventional version of heaven. (for my plot to work, I need Sirius to want to leave) But like you said, I'm not gonna get to into the whole heaven thing anyway. This story is going to be based on earth.
Thank you again for reviewing! You're so great! I have to stop typing now so that I can go read and review everything you've ever written you wonderful person!
