DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, he belongs to J.K Rowling and if you are reading this and think any different then St. Mungo's should be your next port of call.

DOUBLE UPDATE: SIS 3 NOW UP

Chapter 23: Right On Time

Sirius let his aura show before announcing in a tone that made the Aurors quiver:

"So, who here wants to challenge a Dark Lord?"

Then he raised his wand.

"Blasot Depui"

Sirius immediately sprung into action after sending a variation of the Blasting Curse that ended up being more like a Blasting Bomb. A little satisfied at taking three Aurors out so early in the game, Sirius knew he had to concentrate his full attention on the seven Aurors, who were by now retaliating. Muttering a personal Shield Spell Sirius was forced to move.

Dodging three curses, Sirius raised his wand and swung it like a Muggle Baseball Bat at two incoming curses. The curses then struck what looked like an invisible mirror before shooting back at the casters. One of the Aurors couldn't move in time and was already in the process of firing another spell at Sirius so a shield was out of the question. Falling to his own curse, a more powerful version of the Stunner, Sirius couldn't fire anymore offensive curses as spells were now raining at him from all angles.

Blocking three spells, Sirius was desperately trying to launch a counter attack to avail, he just didn't get a minute's rest. He was very lucky as it was that Albus had given him and Remus some sort of hybrid Replenishing Potion as otherwise Sirius didn't think he would still be standing. Thinking of a new plan, Sirius rolled to the left dodging a couple of powerful Binding Curses and quickly switching his wand over to the other hand, Sirius dropped to the floor and rolled under another curse before reaching into his ankle holster and pulling out a Throwing Star.

Then rising to his feet, Sirius blocked a Stunner with a wave of his wand before throwing the Star at an Auror who was struck dead on by the flying weapon before he even had a chance to react. The Auror dropped to the floor unconscious as the poison the Star was coated in began to work.

After taking out another foolish young Auror who had no defence up whatsoever with a powerful Stunner, Sirius was left with four remaining opponents. The quick loss of over half their squad had made the remaining Aurors think strategy and they fell back from Sirius talking in the quietist of whispers while using many hand signals.

Trying to capitalise on this respite, Sirius muttered "Serpensortia" and watched as a jet black 20 foot snake emerged from his wand. Thinking about how some people could actually talk to these things made him shudder momentarily. The Snake set out straight for an Auror, who by the looks of it were trying to trap Sirius in a pincer movement with two Aurors going left whilst the others travelled in a parallel direction.

The Auror though had obviously encountered such tactics from Dark Wizards before and easily vanished the snake with a wave of his wand long before it could attack. Then as if they were telepathically linked the Aurors all started firing curse after curse at Sirius who was doing all he could to ride the onslaught and stay in the duel.

The tide had turned on Sirius as he was being pushed backwards across the grounds of Hogwarts by the advancing Aurors. Getting weaker by the second, Sirius barely sidestepped a Bone Breaking Hex before having to shield from yet more incoming curses.

Trying vainly to mount a counter attack, Sirius managed to knock another Auror out with a well placed Throwing Star but he suffered for it. A Bludgeoning Spell slipped through his defences and dealt him a grazing blow but luckily his personal shield absorbed most of the damage before falling. Only taking a couple seconds to fully gain control, unfortunately this allowed the Aurors to again gain the upper hand.

Now physically resorting to dodging most curses, Sirius was feeling both magically and physically drained somewhat, his power weakening with every second that passes. Then things just went from bad to worse. While fending off the two Aurors who were coming in from the right, the other Auror just vanished into thin air.

While Sirius was powerful, he was not as knowledgeable as wizards like Dumbledore and had less of an understanding with magic in general. So where as Dumbledore could see through Invisibility Spells, Sirius could hardly make out the outline of the person so he was at a serious disadvantage.

The first spell from the mostly invisible Auror just missed Sirius by inches, the two visible Aurors spells crashed into his shield that wavered slightly.

Getting more and more desperate by the second, Sirius saw that he had actually been pushed back hundreds of yards and was actually quite near to the Whomping Willow, his escape path. Seeing this filled Sirius with a grim sense of determination, a will to carry on, he was going to get out of this mess.

However, while this sounded good in theory, in the real world Sirius was still left facing three Aurors, one of whom was invisible. Deciding to take out the biggest threat first, Sirius waved his wand and cried:

"Accendo Gyrus"

A huge ring of fire spread out from the centre of Sirius's wand and spread out rapidly sending the two visible Aurors diving for cover powerful shields stopping the flames of the fire. The invisible Auror also had to shield himself and as soon as Sirius saw a flash out of his periphery vision he spun round bellowing:

"Subsisto"

A more powerful version of the Stunner sped towards the Auror whose shield couldn't withstand the power of the two curses and collapsed sending the now visible Auror slumping to the ground out cold.

What Sirius didn't bank on was the power of the Aurors shields. They were powerful enough so that the Aurors could fire curses through them, a technique Sirius didn't know the Aurors learned. Consequently he took two Bludgeoning Spells, one to the head and another to his chest. This sent Sirius sprawling to the ground, his vision blurring while he vainly tried to rise to his feet. It was not to be successful however as both remaining Aurors raised there wands and intoned:

"Expelliarmus"

Sirius tried to hold onto his wand with all his might but it slipped through his grasp clattering onto the ground far away. Still he knew all was not lost so barely rolling from the Stunners that would've defeated him; Sirius rose to his feet but before he could act he got hit with a Bone Breaking Hex in his left shoulder sending him to the floor in agony. He must have blacked out for a second as when his vision focused the Two Aurors were standing above him, triumphant gleams in their eyes.

"Not so special now are we Black." One spat at Sirius, giving him a sharp blow to the ribs to punctuate that statement.

They then hit Sirius with another Bludgeoning Spell each nearly knocking the man out but Sirius clung to consciousness as without it he was lost. The two Aurors were now arguing quietly amongst themselves but after a few seconds they obviously came to a agreement.

Sirius was gathering all his strength for one last bid for freedom and as the Auror that kicked him said "Subsisto", Sirius acted. From seeming nowhere he pulled a sword straight from the air and shouted

"Stupefy"

The sword glowed red for a second before shooting the curse at the shocked Aurors, one of whom failed to move in time and went down to the ground in a heap.

Jumping to his feet, Sirius ignored the pain and unsteadiness he felt as he sent curse after curse at the Auror mainly to not give the man enough time to wake his comrade but also to see if he could bide enough time for a miracle to happen.

This is how the duel went for the next minute or so, neither man gaining any advantage but Sirius was weakening dramatically. This was because the sword had no magical focus and Sirius had to concentrate much more just to cast simple curses and by now he was bleeding from various wounds on his body as Cutting Curses from the Auror had slipped through his shields.. He still had his Animagus form and this was how he planed to escape but he needed to distract or defeat the Auror first, he couldn't have anyone witnessing his departure and therefore compromising Remus's and Harry's security.

That was Sirius's mistake and he paid for it. Seeing that he wasn't focused one hundred per cent on him, the Auror quickly cried "Fuo"

The powerful single-syllable Bludgeoning Curse really caught Sirius off guard and before he could even attempt to put a Wandless Shield up, the curse smashed him straight in the face, causing blood to pour from his nose whilst he fell to one knee. With a tap of his wand the blood stopped and Sirius was ready for battle again but the delay had cost him dear and he knew that. However the most unlikely saviour came to Sirius's rescue and afterwards Sirius would thank the heavens for once actually listening to him wondering dimly whether God had finished that tea break just in time.

A shrill scream of terror echoed out on the grounds followed by a solid thump signalling that said person had hit the ground hard. The Auror made the fatal mistake of trying to play the hero and spinning round, curse on lips ready to curse whoever had attacked the innocent women; he was stunned to see Cornelius Fudge lying flat on his back with two Aurors running towards him while around ten more running over to him though they were quite far away. Turning back round the Auror nearly fainted when he saw no one, Sirius had disappeared!

Sirius had indeed taken the chance to escape with both hands and milliseconds after the Auror turned his back on him, Sirius quickly thanked the mans incompetence before a close to silent pop echoed quietly through the air easily drowned out by the scream of Fudge. Where once stood a man, there was now a big black shaggy dog that melted in with the night.

Not wanting to test his stealth ability, Sirius took off across the grounds towards the Whomping Willow, keeping in the shadows where he could. Unfortunately for Sirius, the injuries he sustained whilst in human form were carried over to his canine form so he was limping rather badly and his breathing was getting heavier and heavier by the second.

Approaching the Whomping Willow, Sirius saw no one in the vicinity so he promptly changed back into his human form and looked for anything he could use to press the knot and by consequence freeze the trees flailing branches.

Getting fed up and starting too feel really sleepy after only a few seconds, Sirius quickly formed an extension with his magic and "pushed" it into the knot effectively freezing the branches.

Stepping one foot down into the tunnel, Sirius got ready to perform one more bit of wandless Magic. It was not at all advisable but he had to, there was no other choice. Closing his eyes and focusing hard, Sirius murmured:

"Accio Wand"

After a few seconds waiting where Sirius briefly thought that it wouldn't work, he heard the familiar rustle of an object flying through the air. Quickly plucking it from the air, Sirius all but fell down the stairs, the entrance now closed.

Rising to his feet uneasily, Sirius wearily trudged down the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack. Every footstep was getting harder and when Sirius finally reached the entrance to the shack it felt as though he had run a Marathon in full armour.

Stumbling through the Entrance like he had consumed bottle after bottle of Firewhiskey, Sirius was only vaguely aware of Remus and Harry rushing over to see him. Both were gob smacked at his appearance.

Sirius stood there, caked blood on every part of him, one eye partially close while it was obvious that he had been bleeding from the nose and mouth. His robes had been torn in places where the Cutting Curses had struck and he was limping. The last thing that Sirius said to a worried Remus before passing out was:

"You should have seen the other guys."

AN

No Cliffy this time, you deserve a break because the one's from here on in are going to be brutal, believe me, I'm the one whose going to write them!!!

Another chapter, a short one indeed but you should feel lucky, it wasn't even in my plan for the finishing of the story, in fact I was just going to have them escape without a hitch but it just seemed too easy.

Next update might not be for a couple of weeks. I have 1-2000 words left on SIS before that is finished plus I have a ton of work plus some extra as I barely did anything today, I have now been up for nearly seventy hours straight and its now 00:11 Saturday Morning as im writing this so I think I'll post this in the morning when I can re-read it and make corrections. I just wanted to warn you but I will not fall off the face of the earth again, promise!

Reviewer Responses

dj-cam: One very good question there, the answer is read on!!! Just think though, isn't anyone on the light side an enemy of Voldemorts?

Lil Miss Potter: Yes Dumbledore was slightly OOC in that part but to me however it was the lesser of two evils. It was either that or he would do nothing and that would damage his relationship with Harry but I do get your point.

Faceless One: Once again thank you for another review and I agree that Sirius is condemning himself but he also knows that no matter how hard anyone tried, Fudge would not see him as innocent, much like canon.

Once again thank you to my reviewers, some who are still reviewing chapter after chapter even though the story is reaching its ninth month, you are my muse. My aim is to have this done by Christmas, only seven more chapter left, (at the moment).

Cheers

Halstead