Broken
By Neurotica
Twelve
Julia sat behind her desk in the Department of Wizard/Muggle Relations going over a new legislation about wizards taking jobs in the Muggle world when they couldn't find one in the Magical world. It had been her idea, really, after watching Remus go from job to job after being sacked repeatedly. She'd gone through the new law hundreds of times to be sure there could be no loopholes that could deny Remus' right to a job regardless of his condition. Finally, she thought it was ready to hand in to the Minster of Magic himself.
"Afternoon, Sedler," said a deep, quiet voice.
Julia started in her chair and turned to face Kingsley Shacklebolt. "Hey, Kingsley. What brings you up here?" The witch smiled.
"Sirius Black," he said clearly, watching her for any reaction.
Her smile faltered a bit. "Oh... What about him?" she asked, shuffling parchment and averting her eyes from the Auror.
Kingsley closed the door to Julia's office and performed a silencing charm around the room before sitting in front of the witch. Julia's heart was beating so rapidly in her chest she thought it might burst from her body any second now. What could he possibly want? Kingsley had been a good friend of Sirius' and James' when they worked at the Ministry years ago, and he remained a good friend of Julia's. The only problem she had with Kingsley at the moment—and it was a big problem—was that he was heading the hunt for Sirius.
"It's come to my attention, Julia," Kingsley began gravely, "that you've recently acquired a pet dog."
Julia hoped she didn't grow as pale as she thought she did. There was no way for Kingsley to know Sirius was an Animagus, none at all... Unless someone close to Sirius or someone who'd been one of Sirius' best friends in school had sent in a tip to the Auror... Maybe Peter...?
"Julia, I know everything," Kingsley said bluntly. "I know Sirius is with you and Remus and Harry."
Julia buried her face in her hands, her eyes quickly filling with tears. It was all over before it had even begun. Sirius, the love of her life, would go back to Azkaban and most likely receive the Dementor's Kiss. She and Remus would be taken to Azkaban for aiding and abetting a dangerous fugitive. And even worse than all that, Harry would be sent back to his Muggle relatives and they'd never see him again.
"Mad-Eye knows as well," Kingsley went on.
"Oh dear god," Julia breathed.
"I'm going to level with you, Julia. I like you and I like Remus, but you've got to understand my place in all of this. I'm supposed to be hunting Black, and after all the questioning you went through with us, not once did you mention he was an Animagus, and not once did you mention his living in your bloody house," Kingsley said calmly, almost lightly. Julia didn't notice the tone he was using, nor was she hearing his words, really; she was too caught up in what was going to happen to her family.
"How did you find out?" Julia asked in a shaky voice.
Kingsley sighed heavily. "Mad-Eye and I got a visit yesterday from a certain Headmaster."
Julia dropped her hands from her face and looked at Kingsley wide-eyed. The wizard was grinning. "Dumbledore told you?"
He nodded. "Yep. And I must say, he gave us a rather interesting version of events, one we never would have thought of. Moody took a bit of convincing, thought Dumbledore was going mental..."
"So... What now?" she asked nervously.
"Well," Kingsley said lightly. "Mad-Eye and I want to see him. We'd like to have a few words about life in general, how he escaped... How we're going to keep him hidden..."
"They want to WHAT!" Sirius asked loudly after Julia told him and Remus about her conversation earlier in the day.
"I was just as surprised," Julia began.
"Oh no, darling, I think my surprise is on a much higher scale than yours," Sirius said almost frantically. "How could Dumbledore tell them?'
Remus scratched his head. "He probably thought we'd have trouble keeping you hidden. Kingsley and Mad-Eye are two of the best Aurors the Ministry has. They know the history with you and Julia, you and me... Without inside help, they'd find us," he said calmly.
"Yeah, but—"
"Sirius, they were your friends," Julia said, rubbing his back and trying to calm his nerves a bit.
"Oh yeah," Sirius said, his voice cracking a bit. "Yeah, that kick Moody gave me in the stomach after throwing me into my cell in Azkaban was real friendly, wasn't it?"
Remus' lips twitched. "Moody kicked you?" Sirius nodded. "Well, I think we all wanted to kick you that day, Sirius..."
Sirius glared at him. "If you two aren't going to take this seriously..."
"We are taking this seriously, Sirius, I assure you," Remus said calmly. "You're my best friend and I don't want to see anything happen to you. But Dumbledore wouldn't have told Mad-Eye and Kingsley unless he was sure he could trust them with your life."
Sirius rubbed his face roughly. "I hate his..." he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I hate hiding... I hate not knowing if my cover's going to be blown any second. And if they catch me, they'll take the two of you with me. I shouldn't have come here..."
Julia sat beside her boyfriend, taking his face in her hands. "Don't say that," she said sternly. "If you hadn't come here... if you'd just hidden out somewhere in a cave or something... They would have captured you, you would have gotten the Kiss, and we would have never known the truth. Dammit, Sirius, think about Harry! He would have died if you hadn't found him and brought him to us..."
Sirius pulled away from her and started pacing around the kitchen, his hands clasped behind his neck. Remus and Julia watched him brood, exchanging a look. Neither of them had really put much thought into how hiding out from the Ministry was affecting Sirius. He never sat down and told them anything that didn't have to do with Harry. It seemed to them that the only thing on Sirius' mind since his return to Privet Drive a few weeks ago was the pure joy of being with friends and family again.
"When?" Sirius asked quietly, facing away from them, his hands on the kitchen counter. Remus and Julia looked at him questioningly. "When do Mad-Eye and Kingsley want to come by?" he asked after their long silence.
Harry and Sirius were in the living room two nights later watching cartoons on the television. Sirius was trying his best to hide his nerves from his godson. He obviously hadn't done a good job of it, because Harry kept looking at him questioningly, asking if he was all right. Normally, Sirius would laugh at the jokes on the television, and make Harry laugh so hard his sides hurt. Tonight, though, he hadn't said much of anything, and the grip he kept around his godson while the boy sat in his lap was almost painful.
The grip lessened considerably when the doorbell rang and Sirius began to shake. Remus poked his head out of the kitchen where he was helping Julia with dinner and gave Sirius an encouraging smile—it ended up as more of a grimace. Apparently, Remus was just as nervous about the meeting tonight.
"Alright, kid, I need you to stay here for a bit," Sirius said, his voice trembling slightly as he removed Harry from his lap.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked quietly. "Are the bad people here to take you?" Julia, Remus, and Sirius had explained to Harry everything that was happening. The six-year-old seemed to understand the importance of what it meant that Sirius remain hidden, and why Sirius couldn't leave Number Nine unless he was in his dog form.
"No, Harry, the bad people aren't here," Sirius said. I hope not, at least, he added silently. "It's just some old friends. Don't worry, okay?"
Harry nodded and Sirius transformed into Padfoot as Julia entered the room. "Ready, Sirius?" she said to the dog. Padfoot nodded slightly and followed her to the door.
On the front porch stood Kingsley Shacklebolt wearing nice Muggle clothing, and a man who liked as if Kingsley had found him on the streets. He wore a long shaggy coat and a black bowler hat to conceal the right side of his face.
"Hello, Mad-Eye, Kingsley," Julia greeted with a smile. Kingsley returned the smile and Mad-Eye grunted, saying they needed to get inside quickly.
Remus entered the hallway, wiping his hands on a towel. "Hello, Lupin," Mad-Eye growled. "Haven't seen you in a while."
Remus smiled warmly and shook the old Auror's scarred hand. "Yes, I've been rather busy with... one thing or another," he said evasively.
"Where is he?" Mad-Eye asked, abandoning all pretence of small talk.
Julia moved aside to reveal the large, black shaggy dog. Mad-Eye and Kingsley studied him for long moments before the younger Auror actually burst out laughing. "I bloody well knew it!" he exclaimed. "That time in the Auror lunch room... I had a piece of cake and this stray dog comes waltzing in and steals it from the table!"
Remus grinned. "He did it on a dare from James. They told us about it afterwards."
Mad-Eye didn't see the humor as he continued to watch the dog. "Let's see you then, Black," he growled.
Padfoot looked to Remus for reassurance. The wizard nodded and Sirius transformed. "Good to see you, Mad-Eye, it's been a while."
"Indeed it has," Mad-Eye said gruffly. The Auror and his former pupil started at one another, sizing each other up for long tense minutes.
Finally, Julia offered the Aurors some tea and led them into the living room where Harry was waiting. He eyed the visitors with nervous interest. Sirius reached down and took his godson in his arms, holding him closely, protectively.
"Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, this is Harry Potter," Remus introduced them. "Harry, this is Mister Moody and Mister Shacklebolt."
"Hi," Harry said shyly, laying his head on Sirius' shoulder.
The two wizards watched Harry, obviously thinking about how much he looked like his father already. Moody removed his bowler hat and said hello to the boy.
Harry's eyes widened at the sight of the strange, large electric-blue eye the wizard had. "What happened to your eye?" he asked in innocent awe.
Moody narrowed his eyes at the boy while the others tried to hold back their laughter. "Too much like his father, this one," he said gruffly before smiling and laughing.
Thanks to Harry, the tension of the meeting was cut in half. Dinner proceeded amidst old friends reminiscing and getting to know one another again. The Aurors took the hints from Harry's guardians and didn't discuss the search for Sirius until after the child had been taken to bed.
"But me and Sirius were going to play hide-and-seek," Harry protested as Julia led him from the kitchen.
"You and Sirius can play all day tomorrow, honey, but right now it's time for bed," was Julia's response.
Sirius, Remus, Mad-Eye, and Kingsley were left in the kitchen to drink coffee—Mad-Eye declined, preferring his hip flask.
"Boy seems attached already," Mad-Eye observed, his magical eye pointing to the ceiling.
"Feeling's mutual," Sirius said, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Might not've been a good idea bringing him into all this until your name's cleared, Black. It's not safe for a child with the dementors all over the place."
Sirius exchanged a glance with Remus. "We're taking care of it," Sirius replied.
"How is it possible," Mad-Eye continued, "to keep this boy completely safe with only two wands in the house? Sedler isn't here during the day, and Lupin probably doesn't stay here all the time, right?"
"What are you getting at Mad-Eye?" Sirius asked a bit heatedly.
"What I'm getting at, Black, is that you'd be no good to the boy if a dementor shows up here, and Lupin and Sedler are gone," Mad-Eye said calmly.
"Well, my wand was destroyed when I was arrested, and I can't exactly go into Ollivander's for a new one, can I?" Sirius said bitterly.
"We found a way around that," Kingsley said quietly, reaching into his pocket. He retrieved a long, black box and passed it over the table to Sirius. "Dumbledore asked us to save it for evidence. On a whim, we tried Priori Incantatem a few years back. Somebody'd already done it. Mad-Eye thinks someone inside the Ministry knew you were innocent and hid the information from everyone else."
"My wand..." Sirius whispered, ignoring everything else Kingsley was saying as he took the mahogany tube of wood from its box.
"Oh dear god," came a fearful voice from the doorway. The wizards turned to find Julia leaning against the doorframe, a smile on her face. "Sirius Black has a wand again... Everyone run for the hills."
A week following the meeting between the Aurors, Sirius, Remus, and Julia, the witch was walking through the Ministry, her entire focus on the parchment in her hands as she went to speak with Minister Fudge. She felt something brush against her foot and looked down. A brown rat was scurrying away from her quickly. Her brow furrowed.
That's not possible, she thought slowly. It can't be that easy...
On instinct, she followed the rat through the Ministry corridors, pushing aside other workers as she went, forgetting all about the paperwork in her hands. She took out her wand as the rat turned a corner and muttered a quick sleeping spell. The rat fell to the floor unconscious. She looked behind her to make sure no one was watching, and picked the rat up by its tail, dropping it into her robes.
She rushed back to her office, closed and locked the door, and took the rat from her robe pocket, setting it on her desk for examination.
"Please god, please," she muttered over and over to herself, her eyes closed tightly. When she opened her eyes, she examined the rat closely. It was missing a toe on its right front paw... She flipped it over to its back and found the familiar scar on the rat's stomach—it was the result of an accident the Marauders had back in Hogwarts involving Moony and Wormtail... There was one last thing she could do to know for sure if this was the rat they'd been searching for, but she'd have to do it in the company of Sirius and Remus.
There was a knock on her door, and Julia quickly opened her desk drawer, sweeping the rat inside, and slamming it shut. "Come in," she called shakily.
It was Arthur Weasley. Beside him was a boy of about nine years old with Arthur's red hair and horn-rimmed glasses. "Hello, Julia," Arthur said with a smile. "Sorry to interrupt, but my son here seems to have lost his pet rat... We were just checking to see if anyone's seen it?"
"No," Julia said quickly, clearing her throat. "No, I-I haven't seen a rat anywhere..." The boy looked disappointed. "I hope you find your pet soon..."
"Thank you, ma'am," the boy said a bit stiffly.
"Come along, Percy. Thank you, Julia," Arthur said, leading his son out of the office and closing the door behind them.
"But I saw her put something in her robes, Father!" she could hear the boy saying as their voices faded away.
Julia smiled tightly, her heart racing. She had to get home and show this rat to Sirius and Remus. This might just be the break they've been praying for...