Lies

By Neurotica

Ten

A week after the events at the Quidditch World Cup, Harry returned to Hogwarts. Sirius had been stuck at the Ministry dealing with Howlers, and irate witches and wizards complaining about "lax security." Needless to say, Sirius hadn't been in the best mood recently.

The Dark Mark that appeared above the trees at the Cup graced the cover of the Daily Prophet for days after. Rita Skeeter, still stuck on thinking Sirius was a Death Eater in disguise, blamed everything on the Head Auror. Kingsley Shacklebolt had actually forcefully removed the reporter from Auror Headquarters no less than ten times over the past week.

But things had gotten stranger and more stressful. The morning Harry was to return to school, Sirius received a Firecall from Arthur Weasley about retired Auror Alastor Moody. Mad-Eye had "heard" an intruder at his home and caused dustbins to fly across the yard. Arthur had called Sirius because the younger wizard knew Moody well.

Sirius arrived on the scene and surprised everyone present by arresting Moody after questioning his predecessor. Some things he'd said hadn't really matched up to Mad-Eye's past. He told reporters on the front yard it was for the paranoid old Auror's own safety. Back at the Ministry, Sirius and Kingsley threw Moody into a holding cell. Even Kingsley was questioning his boss' motives. Sirius had performed a charm on Moody and had gotten some odd results from it. He told Kingsley to watch Mad-Eye for an hour.

The hour passed, and Kingsley was still completely confused. Moody was growing annoyed and demanding to know why he had been placed under arrest. Sirius would not answer.

And then, right before their very eyes, things began to change. Moody's gray grizzled hair began to shorten and turn a straw color. Moody's wooden leg fell out of its spot, making room for a real leg. The magical eye that made many people more wary of him than they already were was pushed from its socket with a sickening sound by a real eye.

"Bloody hell," Kingsley whispered, staring at Barty Crouch Junior shivering in the corner of the holding cell.

Sirius didn't say a word; he stunned Crouch and Apparated back to Moody's home. An intense search began through the house for the real Alastor Moody. Dumbledore had even been called in. By mid-afternoon, Head Auror and Headmaster discovered Moody at the bottom of a magical trunk. Dumbledore took him to Hogwarts; he was to start his new teaching job that day. Sirius returned to the Ministry, and was met by a confused and slightly annoyed Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"What the hell is going on?" Kingsley practically shouted when Sirius entered.

"Keep your voice down. Go find Barty Crouch; I want him here when I do this," Sirius said to his second in command. "And Bones, too; she'll want to see this," he said as an afterthought as Kingsley left.

Sirius stared through the bars of the cell at the crumpled body of a man he thought was long dead. He had seen the dementors bury the kid's body outside of Azkaban.

There was no real explanation as to why Sirius had brought the fake Moody into the Ministry that morning. He noticed something was off while he and Arthur questioned him about the intrusion the night before. His initial reasoning for making the arrest was to question Moody further, but when he'd performed a basic spell to test Mad-Eye's state of health, the results had shown that Mad-Eye was as healthy as a thirty-year-old man.

Kingsley returned half an hour later with Bones and an irate Crouch on his heels.

"What's all this about?" Crouch shouted as he spotted Sirius.

"Actually, we were hoping you could tell us, Barty," Sirius said calmly. "Good afternoon, Minister." Bones raised an eyebrow. She knew that look on Sirius' face quite well.

Kingsley led Crouch to the holding cell and forced him to look at his son. In an instant, all the color in Crouch Senior's face disappeared. He started to stammer and stutter, trying to appear surprised at his son's appearance. Kingsley noticed Sirius had a strange sense of satisfaction on his face.

With the use of Veritaserum, the truth began to come out. How Crouch and his late wife had broken their son out of Azkaban with the use of Polyjuice Potion. The younger Crouch had been under the Imperius Curse for years. By the end, they had enough to put Crouch away for life.

Crouch Junior would go back to Azkaban and be under constant surveillance of the dementors for the rest of his natural life. They did gain much needed information from the prisoner. Like the fact that Lord Voldemort would rise within the year, though they took that with a grain of salt. He wasn't able to tell them the location of the Dark Lord; apparently, Malfoy had taken his master into hiding. The plan they were going to use was to get Harry Potter into the Triwizard Tournament, get him to win, and use the cup as a portkey to send the boy to Voldemort. Hearing this, Sirius was once again glad he was an Auror; otherwise, he never would have had that information. He was close to beating both Crouches to a pulp, but Kingsley was there to keep him from doing so.

Bones ordered them both to be sent to Azkaban until a trial would be held for Crouch Senior. Sirius was more than happy to escort them.

A press conference was held later that night to explain the turn of events. The reactions were worse than the night Sirius was announced innocent and free. None of them could believe the infamous Bartemius Crouch, the man who was so against the Darks Arts that he had not hesitated to send his only son to the dementors, had done such a thing. One of the oldest pureblood families in Britain ended with its last to members in Azkaban.

"So what happens now?" Remus asked, sitting next to Sirius in the kitchen basement of Number Twelve.

Sirius sighed and poured himself another glass of firewhiskey. "Bones has been in constant contact with Dumbledore—about Voldemort, obviously. I wouldn't be surprised if the Order is regrouped within the next month or so."

Remus nodded. "It could have been worse, you know," he said, sipping his own glass of firewhiskey.

"I know," Sirius said, thinking of what could have happened had Harry been entered into the Tournament. "But if we don't find Malfoy soon, Voldemort's going to be back in power before we know it." With that statement, Sirius made a decision to visit his cousin Narcissa at Malfoy Manor.

Backed by a team of five of his best Aurors, a Ministry administered search warrant in hand, Sirius stood before the large white doors of Malfoy Manor and waited. When it opened, the Aurors laid eyes on a small house-elf with bat-like ears and large green eyes. Sirius stated his business with all the professionalism he possessed, and led his Aurors into the hallway of Narcissa's home.

The tall blonde woman stepped down the stairs wearing the look of disgust she had mastered in her teenage years, and reserved mostly for Sirius. Sirius presented the search warrant to his cousin and began to tear the house apart. Literally. He pulled out bookcases, moved rugs, desks, and anything else that could possibly hide a secret room. Narcissa followed his progress throughout the house, muttering insults when she thought Sirius wasn't listening.

Halfway through the search, one of the Aurors pulled Sirius aside and whispered that they had found something under the drawing room floor. The Head Auror took one look around the secret chamber and felt a grin spread across his face. "Oh, Narcissa," he sang, heading back up the stairs. He sent for Arthur; the Head of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts would have a field day in that chamber.

Narcissa claimed complete innocence to the things the Ministry workers found; claiming they all belonged to her husband. Sirius, being the nice bloke he was, sparked a deal with his cousin: handover all the information she had on Lucius, and she wouldn't have a cell waiting for her across from the Crouches. He would settle for a hefty fine.

By the end of the questioning, all they had gathered was that Lucius only returned a few times to his home since his disappearance. Narcissa stated his visits were to gather some of the things he had kept hidden from his family. For some reason, Sirius believed her.

He left Malfoy Manor that night quite satisfied. Even if they didn't know where Malfoy was, they'd gotten closer than they had been in years. Three Aurors were sent to stake out the Manor in case he returned for whatever reason.

When he returned to Number Twelve at ten o'clock that night, he only grimaced at the sight of his childhood home twice as he quietly made his way through the house, searching for his best friend. He and Remus had been lucky enough to keep themselves from triggering the shrieking voice of Mrs. Black since their arrival, and Sirius wanted to keep it that way.

Sirius found Remus in the library doing what he had been doing for days: reading.

"What the hell are you reading about?" Sirius asked, sitting across from his friend.

"Hello to you, too," Remus muttered, not looking up from his book.

Sirius rolled his eyes and sat back. "We need to get you a girl, Moony," he said suddenly.

Remus nearly choked on his tea. "And why would we do that?"

Sirius shrugged. "Get you out of this house once in a while. And I mean for more than meetings with Dumbledore," he added at Remus' look.

Remus and the Headmaster had met several times since the Crouches' arrests. They were preparing to bring the Order of the Phoenix back into commission, a procedure Dumbledore insisted be kept quiet for the time being.

"I don't have time for women, Sirius. Unlike you, of course." Remus grinned at Sirius over his book.

"For your information, not that it matters, I haven't seen Hestia in a week," Sirius said defensively.

"Only because she's been out of town."

"Honestly, what are you reading about?" Sirius asked, changing the subject.

Remus lowered his book and sighed. "Dumbledore wants me to go undercover again. I'm reading on some of the things I need to do. And I'm not supposed to tell you where I'm going, so don't ask. But I will assure you that I am not a Death Eater."

"Oh, you're funny," Sirius said dryly. "When are you supposed to go on this little mission?"

"Three days," Remus muttered, reading his book again.

"And you were planning on telling me this... when?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow.

"In three days."

A pillow flew across the room, knocking the book out of Remus' hands.


Remus crept slowly and quietly through the house late in the night. He couldn't get to sleep to save his life and he knew why. He hadn't been on this kind of mission since the first war, and Dumbledore sending him now could only mean that the Headmaster was expecting a second war soon. It was a simple enough mission: he was to search known spots Voldemort had been rumored to be for any clues. The chances of the Dark Lord returning to any of these places were less than zero, but it had to be done.

One of these places was the old Riddle House, the place Harry had been taken to those years ago by Wormtail. This was perhaps the one place Remus didn't want to return to for obvious reasons.

Remus headed down to the kitchen and picked up their latest letter from Harry. Two weeks into the school term, Harry seemed to be enjoying his fourth year. Half of the letter complained about the lack of Quidditch that year due to the Triwizard Tournament, and the rest of it expressed the enjoyment they were finding in Moody's classes. Harry made it quite clear that while he loved Remus' lessons, there was just something different about Moody. Sirius said it was paranoia. The fourth years were studying the Unforgivable Curses. Apparently Harry had thrown off the Imperius Curse three times, a fact Sirius was proud to compare to James' abilities with the curse.

Remus set the letter back on the table and moved to the pantry for the fresh chocolate chip biscuits Molly had sent them the other day. He pulled out a butterbeer from the icebox and pondered the odd combination. Werewolves had very strange cravings at times...

The thought of an impending second war looming over their heads like a thunderstorm without end didn't scare Remus as much as it did when Sirius was first released, and Harry had come to live with them. Perhaps it was because he now knew where he belonged; he knew Sirius and Harry were fully capable of taking care of themselves in dangerous situations. Or perhaps he was just getting too old to overly worry about things. Remus lowered his bottle and thought for a second before shaking his head. No, he was not old, just experienced.

That was his story, and he was sticking to it.

"Morning, Moony." Remus jumped, turned, and spotted Sirius standing on the basement stairs.

"Merlin, Sirius, you're going to give me a heart attack," Remus said, going back to his drink and biscuits.

"You guys didn't call me 'Padfoot' for nothing," Sirius joked, sitting next to his friend. "I could always sneak up on anybody if I really wanted to."

"And yet, most times, you stomp around, making the floors threaten to collapse," Remus said flatly.

Sirius made a face at him.

"What are you doing up so late?" Remus asked, chuckling and pushing the plate of biscuits in Sirius' direction.

"I was about to ask you the same," Sirius replied, munching on the snack.

Remus shrugged. "Thinking," he said.

"Care to share?"

"Not particularly," Remus responded. Sirius raised an eyebrow. Normally, Remus wouldn't hesitate to tell Sirius what was weighing on his mind. The fact that he wouldn't share now only meant it was serious.

"Okay," he said slowly. "So how long is this mission you're supposed to go on?"

"No idea," Remus answered. "I suppose it depends on what I find."

Sirius nodded, staring at the table. "Just be careful, eh?" he muttered.

Remus smiled and patted Sirius on the back. "I will be, Sirius."

An owl flew through the dark fireplace and landed on the table between the two wizards. "A little early for post, isn't it?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's from Dumbledore," Remus said, reaching for the letter. Sirius watched Remus read the letter in silence.

Nothing on his face gave away its contents, but Sirius was used to that.

Remus folded the letter and stood. "Change of plans," he said, draining the last of his butterbeer. "I'm leaving now." He quickly wrote a reply on a scrap piece of parchment on the table and put it in the bird's beak. The owl immediately flew back through the fireplace.

"Now? Remus, it's three-thirty in the morning. Why do you have to leave now?" Sirius asked.

Remus stopped halfway up the stairs, turned, and sighed. "I wish I could tell you, but right now... I can't."

Sirius' eyebrows rose high as Remus continued back up the stairs. He quickly stood and followed. He didn't understand why this mission was so secretive that he couldn't be in on it. And as much as he didn't want to think it, this was starting to remind him of the first war. Remus would disappear without any warning, not telling anyone what was going on. But he knew better. The letter had been from Dumbledore; he'd seen the Hogwarts seal on the back of it.

He reached Remus' room in record time, and found his friend now fully dressed, packing things in a knapsack: potions, a few changes of clothes, and books.

Remus finished his packing, charmed the bag to be lightweight, and shrunk it to fit in his pocket. When he turned to face the door, he found his path blocked by Sirius. He would have found the situation hilarious had the circumstances been different.

"Sirius, I don't have time for this." Remus sighed.

"All I want to know is what was in that letter," Sirius said, not backing down.

"Later. I will explain everything later. But for now, you're just going to have to trust me."

Sirius reluctantly nodded and moved out of Remus' way. He quietly followed his friend down the stairs. Remus pulled on a black traveling cloak, and took out his wand from his pocket. He opened the front door and stepped down the stairs. Before Disapparating, he turned back to Sirius. He hesitated, trying to find something that would put Sirius at ease. He realized nothing could do that at the moment, and settled for saying, "I'll see you in a few weeks."

"Take care," Sirius said, raising his hand in temporary farewell.

Remus nodded, smiled, and disappeared from sight.


He didn't like not knowing what was going on. It was something he had always despised. What the hell could Remus possibly be doing that he couldn't tell his best friend?

He made up his mind by dawn, dressed quickly, and portkeyed to the edge of the Hogwarts grounds. Tucking the empty butterbeer bottle back into his jeans, he crossed the gates. Up the Hogwarts steps, through the doors, he made his way to the Headmaster's office. He made a point to visit Harry before leaving, but not before he got the answers he wanted.

Standing before the gargoyle guard, Sirius thought about what password the old man could be using. Saying the first candy that popped into his mind—Acid Pops—he was surprised to find he had guessed right, especially on the first try. The gargoyles moved aside, allowing Sirius to make his way up to the office.

"Come in," Dumbledore called when Sirius knocked.

He opened the door and entered the office, and sighed at the sight of not only Alastor Moody, but Severus Snape.

"Sirius, what a surprise," Dumbledore said, obviously not at all surprised one bit by the Head Auror's presence in his office. He had to have been expecting this.

"Good morning, Albus, Mad-Eye," Sirius greeted, completely ignoring Snape's presence.

"What can I do for you, Sirius?" Dumbledore asked kindly, offering Sirius a seat.

"Er, actually, I had hoped we could speak alone, sir," Sirius said, eyeing the two professors.

"Of course. Gentlemen, we can continue this later," Dumbledore said. A few moments later, Sirius and Dumbledore were alone. The old wizard sat back in his chair, linked his fingers beneath his beard, and waited.

"I'd like to know where you've sent Remus, Albus," Sirius said bluntly.

Dumbledore nodded. "I figured as much," he sighed. "I've had reports that numerous werewolf colonies have been contacted by Voldemort. I've asked Remus to go and speak with the werewolves, to try and convince them not to join his ranks."