Truths
By Neurotica
Eight
The wizarding world had never heard of anything like it: an innocent man sentenced to Azkaban while the real murderer, traitor, and Death Eater walked free. Many wondered how this sort of thing was allowed to happen. The answer was simple if you knew where to look: Barty Crouch and Cornelius Fudge. Between the two of them, an innocent man was condemned to Azkaban for five years. An innocent life, ruined.
Crouch was already looked down upon by the wizarding community after his own son was convicted of being a Death Eater; convicted of aiding in the torture of Alice and Frank Longbottom; convicted of seeking out He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named with the goal of returning him to power.
Cornelius Fudge was a different story.
The majority of the magical community was calling for Fudge to be sacked as Minister of Magic. They felt that he was responsible (though he had not been in office at the time) for allowing Crouch to throw accused men and women to the dementors without so much a trial.
The Daily Prophet had been running numerous articles covering the matter. Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was a top candidate for the position (though, he had stated on many occasions that he wished to remain at Hogwarts, and he had no desire to seek a political position... ever), as was Amelia Bones—the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
After a meeting between the Wizengamot, the Wizarding High Court, it was decided that an election would take place at the beginning of August. This would give potential candidates time enough to rally support.
One rumored candidate for Minister of Magic was Lucius Malfoy. Malfoy, who had denied having any support for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, was a highly respected figure in the wizarding world. His family was one of the oldest pureblood families in Europe. (They could trace their pureblood back before time, thank you very much.) Lucius Malfoy was ruthless, powerful, and he had friends in all the places that truly counted. Most respected him purely out of fear—the Malfoys were the wealthiest, and at times, the most vicious, pureblood families around.
The Blacks, another wealthy pureblood family, were just as respected and feared in their day. However, once Walburga Black died earlier that year, her eldest son was left as the lone heir to the Black throne. Sirius Black is, of course, the wrongly-accused-but-recently-released prisoner of Azkaban. He was set to inherit an undisclosed amount of gold from the Black family vault in Gringotts, as well as the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black itself. Along with the money he'd received from the Ministry upon his release, and a large inheritance from a great uncle, Sirius Black was now one of the wealthiest men in Britain—second only to Lucius Malfoy.
Rumors had been flying around Black for the past week. Some of them were completely bizarre, and some were not.
Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody— Head of the Auror squads—was to retire at the end of the year. It was rumored he had recommended Black for the job. Before his arrest, Black was one of the top Aurors of his class—he was tied with James Potter. Many thought Black would make a good replacement for Moody, since Moody was becoming a bit paranoid in his old age.
It was also rumored that Black himself was going to run for Minister of Magic. "The person who came up with this rubbish should be thrown to the Hogwarts giant squid," was the direct quote from Sirius Black.
Only one of the many rumors floating around him seemed to have any ounce of truth to it: Sirius Black was going to obtain custody of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. Now, how this reached outside ears was anybody's guess; Albus Dumbledore, Black, and Black's childhood friend, Remus Lupin, were the only ones who were to know about this.
Regardless, reporters from the Prophet and a number of other wizarding publications were once again knocking down the Hogwarts doors to get a word of confirmation from Dumbledore or Black. They were highly disappointed, however, when they realized that Rubeus Hagrid had been posing as Black's bodyguard to ward the reporters away. Fang the boarhound found much entertainment in chasing reporters from the grounds, where they Apparated back to their offices.
On a reporter-free Wednesday afternoon a week after Sirius' release, he and Remus were enjoying the warm summer weather on Hogwarts' beautiful grounds. All week long, the two had been in meetings with Dumbledore to discuss the custody of Harry Potter.
Dumbledore's plan was to have Sirius and Remus Apparate to Arabella Figg's home. Arabella was a Squib neighbor of Harry's, as well as a longtime friend of Dumbledore's. Dumbledore asked Arabella to live on Privet Drive in order to further ensure Harry's safety. Once at Arabella's home, Remus and Sirius would go to Number Four, retrieve Harry, return to Arabella's where a portkey would be waiting, and arrive safely back at Hogwarts.
Pretty simple, right?
The plan was incredibly straight forward, and with two full grown wizards, it would succeed without a single predicament.
Right?
Right.
Another issue that had been dealt with was Remus' Lycanthropy. A new discovery had recently been made by various healers at St. Mungo's. The Wolfsbane Potion had the power to give a werewolf a certain amount of control over its mind during a full moon. Many were still highly skeptical, but Remus would take what he could get. Harry would be taken to Hogwarts by Sirius on the full moon, anyway, but in Remus' mind, it was a definite plus to have control over his actions.
Walking across Hogwarts grounds, Remus watched as Sirius flopped down rather unceremoniously under a familiar beech tree that the Marauders frequented in their school days. With a smile, Remus sat next to him and gave his old friend a thoughtful look. Over the last few days, they had gotten accustomed to each other's presence and personalities once more. They had also discussed the things both had hid from the other over the past many years.
Sirius admitted to the reason he had suspected Remus being the spy: Voldemort had been gathering various dark creatures on his side for some time. Werewolves were among the number in later years. Sirius came to his own conclusion that Remus had been a servant of Voldemort after he noticed Remus would disappear for long periods of time. It turned out, as Remus had explained, that he was actually on undercover missions for Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix.
Remus' reasoning of Sirius being the spy was that while on one of these undercover missions, he overheard Death Eaters discussing a Black that had been recently recruited into their ranks. This Black was a very valuable asset to Voldemort, and would cause a substantial problem for Dumbledore and his supporters. This, of course, was Regulus Black, Sirius' younger brother. Regulus was killed for unknown reasons shortly before Voldemort's disappearance.
After this conversation, things made much more sense to both men.
So things were finally settling down between the two. They were able to be more open with each other now that they had discussed what had caused many problems between the Marauders all those years ago.
Looking at Sirius, Remus noticed he still had that deadened look in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced with a look of pure joy and love whenever Harry was discussed. Remus hoped Harry could help Sirius get beyond his time in Azkaban.
"So how are you, Sirius?" Remus asked, looking out at the lake.
Sirius, it seemed, was deep in thought; he jumped when Remus spoke. "Huh? Oh, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
Remus shrugged. "Curiosity. You just seem quiet this afternoon."
"Just thinking," Sirius replied with a sigh. "Trying to get used to being outside again..."
Sirius turned around and looked longingly at the Quidditch pitch. Remus followed his line of sight and felt himself smile. "You know, Padfoot," Remus began, "I'm sure the new flying instructor—Hooch, I think her name is—would allow you to borrow a broom from the broomshed if you want to fly."
Sirius let out a bark-like laugh. "Are you kidding me? Moony, I haven't flown since we left school; I'd probably end up falling off and breaking my neck or something."
"Ha! Since when has Sirius Black been worried about falling off a broom? I seem to remember a certain play you made back in sixth year when you jumped off your broom—fifty feet in the air, mind you—just to hit a Bludger out of James' way so that he could score."
Sirius laughed. "Yeah, well, the good news was that we won the Cup. The bad news was that I spent a week in the hospital wing."
Remus shook his head and laughed. "You two were complete idiots when it came to Quidditch; anything for a win."
"Oi! Hang on just one second! I seem to remember a certain werewolf storming the field in fifth year when our Seeker was fouled and there wasn't a call made on it!"
"I have no idea what you are referring to, Padfoot," Remus replied with an innocent look.
Sirius smiled, rolled his eyes, and looked out at the lake. The giant squid was doing a backstroke, trying to reach a bird that was just above him, just out of reach of his tentacles.
Sirius and Remus sat in comfortable silence for a few moments recalling their school days.
"You know, Remus, having Harry around again is going to be great. We can show him how to be the greatest Marauder ever. And, of course, he's going to be a star Quidditch player—just like Prongs." He paused. "I wonder what ever happened to the Invisibility Cloak..."
Remus smiled sadly. "No idea. I went to Godric's Hollow a few days after—it happened—and I was able to save a few things—photos and the like—but I didn't see the cloak."
Sirius nodded slightly, unwilling to go into the subject of Godric's Hollow just yet. "Maybe Dumbledore has an idea of where it might be. It'd be great having the cloak again." Remus smiled and nodded. "You reckon Filchy still has the map?"
"Probably. I doubt old Filchy throws anything he confiscates away. Hopefully, he isn't smart enough to figure out how to work it."
"Nah, he's a Squib; he'd never be able to work it even if he did have a wand." Sirius stopped in thoughtful silence. "You reckon we could get it back?"
"What? The map?" Sirius nodded. Remus raised his eyebrows skeptically. "You mean steal the map? From Argus Filch's office? Are you mad?"
"Most likely, yes. But you can't say you wouldn't want the map back—after all the work we put into it... perfecting it. It was our baby, Moony."
"Sirius," Remus said as if talking to a child, "even if we were to somehow get into Filch's office with that damn cat sneaking around, what use would the map be to us now; we're out of school, and we have been for some time."
"I know, but... we could give it to Harry when he starts Hogwarts."
Remus rolled his eyes humorously. "You're going to turn that boy into McGonagall's worst nightmare, aren't you?"
"Absolutely! Somebody's got to take up Minnie's free time in detention. And who better to do it than Prongs Junior?" Sirius looked at Remus with puppy dog eyes. "Come on, Moony. The Marauders' Map is a part of our history! A part of the best years of our lives! How can you just let it sit in some dusty cabinet in Filch's office? Don't you want it back... just a little bit?"
Remus tried to hold back a smile at the look on Sirius' face; it was so pitiful. He failed miserably. "Okay, I'm in. But let's wait a while; we've got enough to think about right now."
Sirius grinned, dropping the sad puppy look. "See! I knew you still had the Marauder spirit in you, Moony!" Remus laughed as Sirius slapped him on the back and stood up. "Now, let's go get some brooms and go for a fly!"
Remus stood, and had to jog to keep up with Sirius' eagerness to get in the air once again.
The two wizards flew late into the night. Sirius decided he wanted to play a game, so Remus took up the position of Keeper, while Sirius played Chaser. They charmed a Bludger to chase Sirius so it wouldn't be too easy.
By the end of the night, though exceptionally tired, the two laughed and recalled excellent saves and scores as they went back to their temporary quarters in the castle. Both were feeling better than they had in years. And tomorrow, they would be reunited with Harry.
Yes, things were looking hopeful for the remaining Marauders. And with a little luck, things would stay that way.