Lies

By Neurotica

Eight

"This is it, huh?"

"Yep."

"Not really what I expected..."

"Nope."

"You want to go in?"

"Nope."

Tonks laughed. "Come on, you're supposed to be the big bad Head Auror. You can't be afraid of a house. We're supposed to be checking this place out."

Sirius sighed, but led Tonks to the front door of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. He took out his wand and tapped the serpent-shaped doorknocker twice. The locks behind the door clicked, signaling the door was unlocked, and Sirius pushed it open. The two Aurors stepped into the dark dusty entranceway. The door closed with a soft crack on its own, causing them both to jump significantly.

"Kreacher should be around here somewhere. Watch your step. And I recommend staying away from the walls," Sirius said quietly.

Not two seconds later, Tonks fell with a thud and a muttered curse. The troll's leg Sirius had always hated had gotten in her way.

"HALF-BLOODS! ABOMINATIONS!" screamed Sirius' mother from her portrait.

"Bloody hell," Sirius muttered. He had hoped to get through this visit without hearing that voice. He ran to the portrait and pulled the hangings shut. Once he had silenced his mother, Sirius went to help Tonks up from the floor.

"Who was that?" Tonks asked, wide-eyed.

"That was your great-aunt. Care for an introduction?" Sirius asked.

"Maybe another time..."

Sirius led Tonks through the house cautiously and down to the kitchen basement. Sirius lit a few lamps with his wand allowing them to see better. It looked exactly the same as it had eight years ago. The empty firewhiskey bottles were still on the kitchen table, and a few chairs were still overturned.

Sirius shook his head. "Damn house-elf."

"So what now?" Tonks asked, examining the kitchen.

"First things first... Find Kreacher," Sirius said. "I don't recommend us being separated, either. You've never been here and I don't want to be here. So let's stick together."

Tonks nodded.

They began their search on the second floor. They opened all of the bedroom and closet doors, checking behind furniture that allowed itself to be moved. They continued up to the third landing going through the same motions and still turning up with no house-elf.

An hour later, Sirius and Tonks found themselves before the attic door.

"Wand at the ready," Sirius said in a business-like tone. "No telling what's up there."

Tonks obeyed and followed Sirius up the stairs. "Lumos," they both whispered.

Sirius immediately heard the unmistakable mutterings of Kreacher. "Master has returned to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. Kreacher wonders what filth he has brought with him this time. Werewolves and crooks, no doubt. Nasty half-breeds."

"That's enough, Kreacher. Show yourself," Sirius said firmly.

From a corner, behind a box, the wrinkled house-elf emerged.

"That has got to be the ugliest house-elf I have ever seen," Tonks muttered under her breath.

Sirius choked on his laughter. Tonks grinned. "Kreacher, what are you doing?" Sirius asked.

"Kreacher is cleaning," the elf muttered, bowing ridiculously low to the ground.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at the cobwebbed ceiling and the two inches of dust on the floor. "In a few days, Kreacher, we're going to be staying here for a while. You are to stay out of the way unless otherwise ordered. Is that clear?" Sirius said.

Kreacher remained bowed. Sirius half-hoped he'd pulled his back out and couldn't stand up again. "Kreacher lives to serve the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black," he said. "Even if it is full of half-breeds and blood traitors."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Tonks, we need to get back to work."

Tonks continued to stare at Kreacher in disbelief until Sirius pulled her out of the attic by her arm.


Remus and Harry stepped out of a Muggle ice cream shop in London slurping chocolate shakes out of cups.

"So what do you want to do now?" Remus asked, attempting to swallow the thick ice cream.

Go home... Harry thought. "I don't know. Can we go to Diagon Alley?"

Remus thought for a moment. "I don't see why not. There are a few books I'd like to pick up, anyway."

"I was thinking Quality Quidditch Supplies."

"Of course you were. Living with Sirius most of your life has to have had some effect on you."

Harry smiled, but it faltered a moment later. "Are we still going to the Cup?" he asked hesitantly.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"I don't know. I just thought with everything that's been going on..." Harry trailed off, looking into a Muggle shoe shop.

"We're still going. Sirius needs a break from all this. So do I, to be truthful," Remus said.

Harry nodded. Remus noticed he had grown quieter throughout the day. Normally during a trip to London he didn't stop talking. Something was weighing on his mind, but Remus knew better than to ask; Harry was just like James when it came to discussing things that bothered him. The more he was pushed to share, the more he withdrew. Harry would come to them when he was ready.

Remus sighed and led Harry to a Muggle bus. They took their seats behind a teenage boy the size of a baby whale and a woman with no neck. Remus was sure she had a mustache.

"But Aunt Marge—" the boy whined.

"Not now, Dudley," the woman snapped.

Remus raised an eyebrow. Dudley... where had he heard that name before? "No way…" he breathed a few moments later.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Nothing," Remus said, shaking his head, staring at the pair in front of them. Harry hadn't recognized his cousin, and Remus wasn't about to point him out.

Sirius and Remus had finally brought themselves to tell Harry what had happened to his aunt and uncle. Harry wasn't too upset to learn of their deaths as far as they could tell, but Remus knew Harry hadn't wanted them to die, no matter what the Dursleys had done to him.

They rode the bus through London and got off at a stop a few blocks from the Leaky Cauldron. Remus and Harry tossed their empty cups into a trash bin and began to walk.

They entered the Leaky Cauldron to find it strangely empty for a Monday afternoon.

"Afternoon, Remus," called Tom the Innkeeper.

"Hello, Tom. How are you?" Remus called back.

"Fine, just fine. Out for a little shopping, are you?"

"Just browsing a little. We'll see you later."

Harry led the way out the backdoor of the pub into the small courtyard. Remus touched the stones with his wand that would reveal Diagon Alley.


Sirius sat behind his desk in Auror Headquarters nearly pulling his hair out from stress. Magical Forensics had reported back with the results of the footprint found at Azkaban. It was found to indeed belong to one of the guards of the prison. The mystery, however, was where the rest of the footprints had gone...

The result of the questioning of the Azkaban prisoners was just as frustrating. Even after using Veritaserum, Kingsley couldn't get one single clue out of the mouths of any of them. They claimed to not even know who Lucius Malfoy was—which was bull, Sirius knew.

The team of Aurors sent to the Muggle warehouse Malfoy had taken Remus was discovered to be void of all magical traces. Not so much as a Lumos spell could be detected. How did Malfoy disappear? Apparition would have been detected, and there was no one in the room beside Remus and Malfoy.

Unless somebody pulled Malfoy out with an Invisibility Cloak...

But that still couldn't explain how Malfoy was able to Disapparate from Azkaban with the wards in place, or how Malfoy crossed the wards surrounding the cottage without being detected. Dumbledore had said that the wards were taken down... But the only ones who were supposed to have that authority were Dumbledore, Mad-Eye Moody, Sirius, and Remus.

Sirius groaned loudly and pulled at his hair again—at this rate he'd be bald in five years time. The only lead they had at the moment was Malfoy's wand. Even that didn't do them much good; they had done Priori Incantatem on the wand already—the last spell the wand had done was the Cruciatus Curse.

"Hey, Sirius," Kingsley said, walking into Sirius' office without knocking.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, but continued looking down at his desk. "What?" he grumbled.

"I sent a team of ten to Number Twelve to start the cleaning. I put Tonks in charge."

Sirius grunted in understanding.

"I've also got the team getting ready for the Cup next week."

Sirius grunted.

"Oh, and Minister Bones just passed a legislation stating that Barty Crouch, Cornelius Fudge, and Delores Umbridge will be taking over the DMLE and the Auror squads. Their first order of business is to send all of the Aurors to catch rabid nifflers in the Alps."

Sirius stopped mid-grunt and looked up. "What?"

Kingsley grinned. "Knew that'd get you." He laughed. "Go back to Hogwarts and get some rest. There's not much we can do on the Malfoy case until after the Cup, anyway."

Sirius made to argue that he had too much to do, but changed his mind. He could use a long hot bath and spoiling from the house-elves. "Okay," he sighed. "Okay, okay, okay, I'm going. See you tomorrow, Kingsley."

"Bye," Kingsley waved as Sirius Flooed to Hogwarts.


Sirius, Remus, and Harry sat comfortably in front of a roaring fire in their private quarters at Hogwarts. Remus was reading a book, Harry was shining his Firebolt, and Sirius was watching them thoughtfully.

His family.

Fifteen years ago, before Harry had even been born, Sirius would not have believed his life would turn out like it had. He was never even sure he would live to see his twenty-fifth birthday, let alone his thirty-sixth, which would be coming up in four months. Things had gotten so bleak and miserable Sirius hadn't been sure he'd wanted to live anymore.

But that day in Azkaban, when Dumbledore and Remus came to hear the truth, Sirius found new reason to breathe. Without Remus and Harry, Sirius would still be in Azkaban, fighting for his sanity.

Now he was helping to raise his best friend's son. It amazed Sirius how quickly Harry had grown into the teenager Lily and James had hoped he would become. Brave, smart, funny, talented, powerful, and not just a little stubborn. Yes, Harry James Potter was exactly like his parents, and Sirius couldn't be happier, or more proud, with the result.

"Padfoot!" Remus yelled, smacking Sirius in the back of his head.

"Ow! What, Remus?"

"We need to get some sleep. We're supposed to meet Arthur at dawn," Remus said.

"Oh, right. We have everything ready?" Sirius asked, stretching his arms.

"Yeah. I've got to pack my bag, but Harry's got his stuff ready," Remus replied.

Sirius nodded. "He's had his stuff ready for this for months."

Remus chuckled. "True. Well, I'm off to bed. Night, Sirius."

"Night, Remus."


Remus felt as if he had just closed his eyes when Sirius was shaking him awake.

"Moony," Sirius whined. "Get up!"

"Go away, Sirius," Remus groaned, turning away from his friend and burying his head in his nice, cool pillow.

Sirius sighed. "Don't make me do it, Moony. You know I will."

"Huh?" Remus grumbled.

The next thing he knew, a stream of ice cold water was hitting him in the back. Remus jumped out of bed.

"Dammit, Sirius! That's cold," Remus yelled.

"I warned you," his friend said casually, ceasing the water from shooting out of his wand. "You didn't believe me."

Remus glared. "Get out so I can get ready."

Sirius smirked and left the bedroom. "Next destination: Harry's room."

Remus rolled his eyes as Sirius closed the door, and wiped his sopping wet hair from his eyes. Grumbling about juvenile, insensitive best friends, Remus gathered his clothes and went into the bathroom for a hot shower.


Forty minutes later, Sirius, Remus, and Harry stepped out of the Weasley fireplace puffy-eyed and yawning.

"Accio! Accio! Accio!"

Molly Weasley was summoning something out of the pockets of Fred's and George's jeans and jackets.

"Mum, we spent months developing those!" One of the twins yelled.

"A fine way to spend your time! No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.s," Molly said furiously. She turned and spotted the three guests standing in front of her fireplace. All three of them took a cautionary, simultaneous step back. "Oh, hello, boys," Molly said, breathing heavily, but her expression softening.

"Good morning, Molly," Remus said warily.

"I've taken the liberty of packing you some breakfast. I didn't know if you had the time to eat this morning." Molly picked up three plain brown paper bags and handed one each to Sirius, Remus, and Harry.

"Thank you, Molly," Sirius said.

"Hey, Harry," Hermione said, following Ginny down the stairs.

"Hey, Hermione, Ginny." Harry smiled at the girls.

"Ron should be down in a second," Ginny said, taking some toast from the kitchen table.

"Thanks," Harry said, looking to see what Molly had packed for him. He took out a giant blueberry muffin and began to eat it.

Arthur walked out of the kitchen wearing a large golf sweater and old jeans. "What do you think of my Muggle clothes, boys?"

Sirius tried not to laugh. "Very good, Arthur."

Arthur smiled widely. "You three didn't do too bad yourselves, I see."

Remus looked down at his collared shirt and jeans, then at Harry's t-shirt and shorts, and Sirius' button-down silk blue shirt and jeans. He smiled and nodded at Arthur.

"Well, you lot better be going," Molly said as Ron stepped down from the last stair, rubbing at his eyes. "Percy, Bill, and Charlie will meet you there; they're Apparating," Molly added to Remus.

"Sounds great. Thank you for the breakfast, Molly," Remus said.

"Not at all," Molly said fondly, attempting to flatten Harry's hair a bit as he walked past her.

The Weasleys, Hermione, Sirius, Remus, and Harry headed out the back door of the Burrow and started up to Stoatshead Hill.

"What time's the portkey leave, Arthur?" Sirius called.

Arthur looked down at his Muggle wristwatch. "5:06. We've got about fifteen minutes."

The reached the top of the hill and began searching for the portkey.

"Over here, Arthur!" called a rough voice.

Sirius turned to see Amos Diggory and a boy that could only be his son holding up an old boot.

They moved to greet the Diggorys—Amos shook hands with Arthur and Sirius, but hesitated with Remus. "Don't I know you?" he asked, narrowing his eyes in thought.

"Professor Lupin!" Cedric Diggory greeted.

Remus smiled and shook hands with his former student. "Hello, Cedric."

"Lupin? Aren't you the werewolf?" Amos asked boldly.

Sirius rolled his eyes and was about to speak, but Remus cut him off. "Yes, I am. It's a great pleasure to meet you, Mr. Diggory. Cedric was one of my best students," he said calmly. Sirius looked at him disbelievingly. How could he be so calm around people like this?

"Right," Amos said stiffly. "These all yours, Arthur?" He gestured to the kids.

"No, no," Arthur said, glancing at Remus out of the corner of his eye. "Just the redheads. This is Hermione Granger; she's staying with us. And Harry Potter; he's Sirius' and Remus'."

Amos shot a quick glance at Harry's scar. "Of course. Cedric's told us all about you. Played you in Quidditch. Says you're a decent flyer."

Harry forced a smile. "Nice to meet you, sir."

"Well, we better get ready; we've got about thirty seconds," Arthur said, clapping his hands together.

Sirius stood between Remus and Amos, hoping to "accidentally" hit the latter with his elbow during the trip.

"Three... Two... One..." Arthur muttered.

It was cramped with eleven people holding onto one boot, but when they were jerked by their navels, nobody had time to complain. Sirius landed hard, his knees nearly buckling, on wet grass moments later. He automatically reached out across the group to catch Harry before he fell—old habits are hard to break.

"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill!"