Truths
By Neurotica
Twenty-Seven
Sirius' anger faded momentarily as the sound of numerous Apparition pops floated through the old house.
"What the hell was that?" Kingsley asked quietly, staring down the hall.
"Sounds like we've got company..." Sirius said quietly.
They cautiously looked around the corner and spotted at least twelve shadows that had not been there before. Not long after, Sirius felt a strong arm grip his own and lead him up the staircase. They entered a room and found Moody and Dung had un-disillusioned themselves.
Sirius felt a wand tap his head sharply as he reappeared to the others. He looked around as Moody did the same to Remus.
The two friends looked at one another and immediately realized they were both very pale.
"Did you see him?" Sirius asked Remus quietly, ignoring the others.
Remus nodded, but couldn't bring himself to speak.
Dumbledore reappeared and looked around gravely at the other wizards. "We will need back up," he said quietly.
"Already done," Moody replied gruffly. "Should have Aurors here soon."
"Why did we wait?" Sirius demanded.
Dumbledore, for the first time in a long time did not have an answer. Sirius shook his head and looked around the small, dark room. Dung was peering out one of the boarded windows, watching for the Aurors.
"I'm not waiting anymore. Harry's down there. We can take those Death Eaters—you can take those Death Eaters," Sirius said, pointing at Dumbledore slightly accusingly. "They won't know what hit them."
He turned and headed for the door. Something caught his eye. He bent down and picked up a pair of broken round-rimmed glasses. He turned around and showed them to the others. "Is anybody coming?" he said, looking directly at Remus. His friend stared at the pair of glasses in his hand. With a glance at Dumbledore, Remus nodded and followed Sirius from the room. Moments later, they were joined by Moody, Dung, and Kingsley.
Quietly, they crept down the staircase.
"Where's Dumbledore?" Remus whispered.
"Apparated outside. He's waiting for the Aurors," Dung whispered.
Sirius bit back his frustration at the headmaster, continued to the drawing room, and listened.
"...to witness my rebirth. Since none of you came to my aid while I wasted away, I want you to see what I have become—what you have allowed me to become. Do you see what this boy has done to me? Yes..." Voldemort said softly. "Harry Potter has joined us as well. Soon, my Death Eaters, I shall be back to full strength, and Lord Voldemort will rule once more. My first order of business, to send young Mr. Potter here back to his mudblood mother."
Sirius looked at the others and nodded. One by one, they nodded back. All at once, the five wizards burst through the doors and started shouting spells and curses. The Death Eaters cried out in surprise, and fumbling, drew their wands.
"STUPEFY!" cried one of them.
Sirius noticed immediately that all their faces were covered in white masks. He ducked down just in time to avoid the jet of red light that had been sent towards him.
It was five against fourteen, and the Death Eaters' surprise didn't last long. Soon, there was a full-fledged battle occurring in the large room. Jets of light flew like bullets. At least twice already, Sirius had heard the words Avada Kedavra, but when he looked around he was relieved to see the curse had missed its targets.
Sirius was in two minds during the fight. The first was keeping the Death Eaters at bay, and the second—the most important—was finding Harry and getting him out of there.
"Sirius! Look out!" Remus cried from the other side of the room.
Sirius turned away from the Death Eater he was currently battling with and moved out of the way before a jet of green light hit him. The curse hit a wall, making it explode, and knocked over the cauldron of potion Snape had made earlier. The potion burned a hole into the floor.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" Sirius roared. The Death Eater's wand flew from his hand and he hit a wall, unconscious.
Ducking through the battling wizards and assisting the others as he went, Sirius made his way to Remus.
"Do you see him?" Sirius yelled over his shoulder, his back to Remus' as they fought off Death Eaters.
"No! He was by the fireplace!" Remus replied just as he was hit with a cutting hex, creating a large gash on his cheek.
"IMPEDIMENTA!" Sirius yelled. His Death Eater flew ten feet back and hit a wall—he, too, was unconscious.
A scream cut through the air, and Sirius whipped his head around just in time to see Dung getting hit with a jet of eerie green light. He didn't hear the killing curse being cried, but Sirius didn't like the way Dung hit the ground.
"STUPEFY!" he yelled, pointing his wand at the Death Eater who'd cursed Dung.
He ran across the room, deflecting curses as he went, and knelt beside Dung. He reached out two fingers and placed them to Dung's scruffy neck. He felt a pulse, faintly, but it was there.
"DIFFINDO!" a voice behind him yelled.
Sirius spun around quickly and shouted "PROTEGO!" just in time. The curse was deflected and the Death Eater was cursed from behind by Kingsley.
For a few seconds, Sirius allowed himself to look around. Remus was dueling with two Death Eaters at once, and seemed to be doing all right. Moody was battling one that looked like it could be Malfoy. Two others were creeping up behind the old Auror. Moody saw them with his magical eye and sent curses flying in three directions, one right after the other. Kingsley was fighting fiercely with two others.
"STUPEFY!"
Sirius rolled out of the line of fire, and shouted every curse and hex that came to his mind. Where are the bloody Aurors? he wondered.
There were a few things missing from the battle, Sirius thought as he fought hard. Harry was definitely not there, to begin with, and neither was Wormtail. And unless he was strongly mistaken, Sirius was sure Voldemort had been there before, as well.
The battle was becoming fierce. It seemed as if it had been going on for hours, though it had only been minutes. Things were happening fast, just the way Sirius liked it.
With a final cry of "Stupefy!" another Death Eater was down.
It was now seven to four. (Sirius figured Snape had ducked out early to meet Dumbledore.) The odds were a bit better, but still not good enough.
Sirius jumped in to help Kingsley when another Death Eater joined the pair he had already been fighting. He was still looking around for any sign of Harry, though he was sure his godson was gone again. Sirius fought harder with every minute that went on. The longer this continued the less chance Harry had to stay alive.
A jet of light grazed Sirius' shoulder, causing it to bleed freely. With a wave of mounting fury, Sirius shouted more curses, each worst than the last. He could never bring himself to utter the Unforgivables, not even when it was legalized for Auror use in the first war. If he ever did use any of them, he would save it for a certain rat.
A shout of immense pain reached Sirius' ears over the other noises. Sirius glanced up quickly and saw Remus fall to the ground hard. What hit him, Sirius didn't know.
"REMUS!" Sirius yelled. He finally stunned another Death Eater, but was unable to get to Remus; two more came from nowhere and joined the fight.
Are they multiplying? Sirius wondered.
Looking around out of the corners of his eyes, Sirius realized the stunned Death Eaters had been revived by their fellows and rejoined the battle. The odds were lessening, time was running out. Remus and Harry needed him...
At that exact moment, the drawing room doors, which had somehow been closed, were blown off their hinges, revealing Dumbledore in front of a large group of Aurors.
Someone, a Death Eater, grabbed Sirius around the neck with a very tight grasp, cutting off his air supply slightly. Sirius, red in the face and gasping for air, tried to pry the fingers from his throat when a voice hissed softly in his ear, "You will find them in the graveyard." The grip disappeared and when Sirius turned around, the Death Eater was gone in the mess of Aurors and other Death Eaters.
Sirius didn't stick around long after that. Unless he was very much mistaken, Snape had just told him where Harry and Wormtail had gone. He allowed the Aurors and Dumbledore to take over, and fled the house, looking wildly around for the graveyard. There, upon a hill to his right... Sirius sprinted his way up the hill, but realized he could get there quicker if...
The large black dog appeared where Sirius had once been, and ran the further distance up the hill. It was much easier on four legs rather than two.
At the top of the hill, Sirius transformed again. He looked around frantically for any sign of his godson. A piercing scream broke through the air to Sirius' right, but it wasn't Harry's voice. Sirius turned and ran the remaining distance. What he saw nearly made his knees buckle from beneath him.
Harry tied to a tombstone... Wormtail with his hand covered in blood... And a very large cauldron.
There was a loud hissing coming directly at Sirius. Without thinking, he shouted "STUPEFY!" and ran straight past the snake he had stunned.
"WORMTAIL!" Sirius roared into the night.
Wormtail's head looked away from the cauldron shakily. But instead of looking terrified like Sirius thought he would, Wormtail grinned. It was the same grin Sirius had seen the day he was framed.
"You're too late, Sirius," Wormtail rasped, clutching his arm painfully.
Sirius focused his eyes on the cauldron, now emitting white sparks. The night sky was flooded in thick white smoke, and Sirius couldn't see a foot in front of him.
Hoping he knew what the hell he was doing, Sirius pointed his wand in the direction the cauldron had been in and shouted with everything he had, "REDUCTO!"
It seemed to take an eternity. Sirius thought he had missed, but finally, he heard a deafening blast as the cauldron exploded into a million pieces. Scalding hot liquid and shards of the broken cauldron hit Sirius causing burns and cuts, but he didn't care. He waited a moment for the now black smoke to clear before running forward.
Coughing, Sirius yelled, "HARRY!"
There was no answer from his godson. Fearing the very worst from the explosion (Harry had been much closer than he), Sirius' legs gave way and he began crawling through the wreckage.
"HARRY!" he called again.
He heard coughing and whimpering, but knew it wasn't Harry. Sirius crawled towards the noises and appeared before Wormtail.
"You bastard," he growled, hitting Wormtail in the face with all his might.
Wormtail hadn't noticed his appearance before Sirius' fist connected to the left side of his head. He turned around, wheezing. "S-Sirius," he gasped, his good hand going to his face while the other bled. His eyes had gone wide with obvious fear.
"You bastard," Sirius repeated.
"N-no, Sirius! P-please! I-I was forced!" Wormtail stuttered before Sirius' fist hit him again.
"Save it for someone who cares," Sirius growled. "STUPEFY!"
Sirius turned from Wormtail's stunned body and searched for Harry. Just in front of him was where Harry had been tied. From his neck down to his waist, he was bound tightly to the tombstone; his head was hanging limply on his chest. His face was covered with cuts and scratches and he had a nasty burn on the side of his face—probably from the cauldron. Sirius looked down at Harry's arm where a large cut bled just above his elbow.
Sirius moved to the back of the tombstone and quickly muttered a severing spell, cutting the rope and freeing Harry. Harry's limp body began to fall to the side, but Sirius' quick reflexes caught him before he hit the ground.
"Harry," Sirius muttered, pulling his precious godson carefully into his lap. He couldn't feel a pulse, but his hands were shaking too badly to feel much of anything properly. He reached for the wand at his side, pointed it at Harry's chest, and muttered, "Ennervate."
Sirius felt as if new life had entered his body as Harry took in a deep shuddering breath and began coughing silently. He slowly looked around and realized he wasn't where he was before. He finally spotted Sirius, and his eyes widened.
"Hey, kid," Sirius whispered with a watery smile.
Harry tried to say something, but no words came out until Sirius un-silenced him.
"Sirius," Harry gasped hoarsely, burying his head into his godfather's robes.
Sirius hugged him close, but Harry cried out in pain, placing a hand to his ribs. Probably broken, Sirius thought with a mixture of sadness and anger.
"It's all right, Harry. It's okay, you're safe now." Sirius rubbed boy's back comfortingly. "We're going to get you fixed up soon," he whispered.
"Sorry," Harry breathed into Sirius.
Sirius pulled Harry from his chest with a frown. "What are you sorry about, Harry? You have nothing to be sorry about."
"For going outside for Prongs," Harry muttered, not looking at Sirius.
Sirius chuckled slightly. "Don't worry about that, okay? You just try and rest. I'm going to get us out of here." Harry barely nodded before burying his head back into Sirius. The two of them stayed next to Tom Riddle's grave for a long time. Sirius couldn't explain how it felt being able to hold Harry again. It had only been a day, but it was the longest day Sirius had experienced in his life.
"They're here!" yelled a voice in the distance.
Sirius tensed and looked up, wand firmly in one hand ready to curse whoever came over that hill, his other holding Harry close to him. He relaxed when he saw it was a fellow Auror.
"Black, you okay?" the Auror asked, jogging to him and Harry.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," Sirius replied, watching the Auror look around the nearly ruined graveyard.
Sirius looked around for the first time as well. Small fires had broken out from the larger one that the cauldron had been over. A large black scorch mark appeared where Sirius had blown the cauldron to bits. There was blood all over the grass from Wormtail's arm.
"Sirius!" Dumbledore crossed the graveyard, taking everything in. "Is he okay?" he asked, kneeling before Sirius and Harry.
"Yeah, he's okay. Scratches and cuts, maybe a few broken ribs, and his leg," Sirius answered, looking down at Harry. He seemed to have fallen asleep. "Where's Remus?"
Dumbledore sighed. Sirius' eyes widened in horror. "He's not..." he trailed off quietly.
"No, no, he's alive. But he's been badly injured. He, along with Mundungus, and a few other Aurors have been sent to St. Mungo's for treatment," Dumbledore said.
Sirius sighed and nodded.
"What happened, Sirius?"
Sirius opened his mouth before an Auror's voice called out, "Take him away!"
He looked up and saw two Aurors approaching Wormtail. "No! No, wait!" he yelled. Everyone looked at him questioningly. "He's mine. I'm taking him in. Leave him there."
The Aurors looked to Moody who had just arrived.
"You heard him," the Head Auror growled.
The two wizards dropped Wormtail back on the ground carelessly and continued examining the scene.
"Perhaps we should get Harry to the hospital as well, hmm?" Dumbledore said quietly. "We can talk later."
Sirius nodded. "Will you take him? I've got to go back to Azkaban..."
"Of course," Dumbledore said, taking Harry from Sirius' arms gently.
"I'll be there soon, kiddo," Sirius said, kissing Harry's forehead before Dumbledore and Harry disappeared with a pop.
"Need some help, Black?" Moody asked, helping Sirius stand.
"No," Sirius replied, glancing at Wormtail's stunned form. "No, I'm doing this on my own."
Moody nodded. "I'll send Shacklebolt to meet you once he's been checked over."
Sirius nodded and walked to Wormtail. Someone had stopped his arm from bleeding with a quick healing spell, and now Sirius realized Wormtail's entire right hand was gone.
"He cut it off with this," said an Auror.
Sirius turned and examined the dagger in the other wizard's hand before nodding. "Ennervate," Sirius muttered, his wand pointed at Wormtail's chest.
Wormtail stirred, looked around him, and caught Sirius' furious eyes. Before Wormtail could even comprehend what was happening, Sirius placed and anti-transformation charm on the other Animagus. "Don't even think about escaping from me this time," he said, surprised at his own calmness.
Wormtail gulped, but remained silent. Sirius bent down, pulled Wormtail up by the front of his robes and stood back up, pointing his wand at his former friend's chest.
"Peter Pettigrew, you are hereby under arrest by power of the Ministry of Magic. You will be immediately taken to a cell in Azkaban where you will be held until trial. But if I were you, I wouldn't be hoping for a trail; don't be surprised if you get the Dementor's Kiss tonight, you son of a bitch," Sirius added.
Wormtail whimpered again. Sirius bound the traitor's arms and Apparated them both to the seacoast where they would take a boat to the dreaded prison.
Just for his own satisfaction, Sirius kicked Wormtail hard in the back of his leg, causing him to yelp and fall over.
"Get up, rat," Sirius growled, throwing Wormtail into the small wooden boat.
Soon, it would all be over. Harry was safe under Dumbledore's watch, and Wormtail was finally going where he belonged. Sirius would have, of course, preferred putting a full body bind on Wormtail and throwing him into the cold sea, but that would cause a lot of paperwork. And Sirius Black hated paperwork...