Broken

By Neurotica

Fourteen

Sitting at the kitchen table of an old cottage deep in the forests of Kent, a man, a woman, and a child of six years old silently ate their dinners. The woman's hands shook slightly—they hadn't stopped shaking for days really—as she tried to cut the child's chicken for him. She worried over the face of a man whose picture had appeared numerous times that week on the cover of the Daily Prophet. Her co-workers at the Ministry of Magic thought she was worried he would be set free by some error of the Wizengamot. She'd been acting oddly since his escape from Azkaban, her emotions oddly strained.

But on the day Sirius Black was recaptured by Mad-Eye Moody and his Aurors, she'd owled in to the Ministry, saying she was ill and couldn't come to work. Nobody really thought twice about it; they knew she'd become quite close with an old school friend, Remus Lupin, and they were probably just assuring one another that they were safe once again.

In reality, Remus was comforting Julia, but not in the way her co-workers believed. It had only been a few days since she'd been separated from Sirius, and she was already nothing more than a heap of nervous emotions. If she hadn't had Remus and Harry nearby... Well, it was safe to bet that she'd be more miserable than she already was. Not that Remus was fairing any better; he could just hide his apprehension about the coming days better than she could. Regardless of the assurances Dumbledore had repeatedly given them, neither of them knew what would happen with Sirius' trial. What if the wizarding high court ignored the fact that Peter Pettigrew was still alive? What if they still decided all of the evidence that pointed to Sirius' innocence, and sent him back to Azkaban to receive the Dementor's Kiss?

"May I watch television?" Harry asked quietly through the tense atmosphere of the kitchen.

Remus smiled. "Of course, Harry," he said. The boy smiled back a bit shyly and pushed his chair away from the table, going to the living room. Remus turned to Julia. She hadn't eaten any of her dinner—actually, she hadn't eaten in days. "He knows something's wrong, Julia," Remus said quietly.

Julia looked away from her plate of chicken and vegetables she'd been pushing around with a fork into the living room where Harry sat. "Of course he does," she whispered. "He's James' son, after all."

Remus smiled sadly. "Indeed he is," he conceded. He watched Julia stare off into nothing for a moment, and thought of something that could possibly cheer her up a bit. "I received a letter from Dumbledore today. He says Sirius is doing as well as can be expected. Kingsley and Mad-Eye are doing most of the guard duties over him—they're working overtime. They're making sure he's as comfortable as possible without out making it blatantly obvious as to what they're up to."

Julia nodded slowly, a small smile forming on her face. "Good," she muttered. "Is he eating all right?"

Remus raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Sirius is sitting in a jail cell, possible awaiting a fate worse than death, and you're worried about how he's eating?"

Julia's smile widened a bit. "He's much too thin, Remus. He used to be a bottomless bit when it came to food, and now you can see his ribs."

"He'll be fine," he said, reaching across the table to take her hand in his. "Sirius is strong. How do you think he survived Azkaban?"

"Because James talked him into becoming an Animagus," Julia said promptly.

Remus laughed. "I don't think it took too much convincing on either part, actually."

"They did that for you, you know," Julia smiled.

"I know."

"So I suppose it's because of you Sirius was able to survive Azkaban."

Remus only smiled, wondering how their conversation had drifted from him trying to comfort her to her comforting him. "Come on, let's get this kitchen cleaned up and go watch television with Harry."

The night before Sirius' trial, Remus lay wide awake in his bed, his arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling. He and Julia would both, of course, testify on Sirius' behalf along with Dumbledore during the trial. Peter would be brought before the Wizengamot when Dumbledore was sure there was no other way Sirius would be declared innocent. Remus thought they should drag Peter into the center of the courtroom before any of the questioning began. The Headmaster wasn't against the idea, but he stated that certain protocol must be followed to ensure they received the outcome they so desperately wanted—

The hallway floorboards began to creak. Remus had lived in that cottage for his entire life, and he knew from much experience that the only time the floorboards creaked was when somebody was trying to sneak through the halls unheard. A slight paranoia caught up to him and he reached for his wand on the bedside table, throwing his blankets to his feet. Very quietly, he opened his bedroom door and went into the hallway, his wand held at the ready. His eyes adjusted and he saw a small form peeking at him from the bathroom door.

"Harry?" Remus said, lowering his wand immediately, placing it in the elastic of his pajama pants. "What are you doing up?"

"I had to go to the bathroom," said the tired six-year-old's voice.

"Okay. Do you want me to wait?" Remus asked, going down the hall.

Harry shrugged shyly as he closed the bathroom door. While he was inside, Remus took the time to check in on Julia. She was sleeping a bit restlessly, a teddy bear Sirius had given her years ago held tightly to her chest.

If something was to go wrong tomorrow, and Sirius was taken back to Azkaban, Remus couldn't see Julia taking it very well at all—not that he would react any better. He'd be surprised if she didn't charge at the dementors as they led Sirius away. She would be responsible for Harry's upbringing—Remus would help as best he could. But Julia would never be the same. There could only be so many disappointments one person could take before their mind started blocking everything around them.

But the Wizengamot couldn't ignore the fact that Peter was still alive. If they did they were completely blind to the obvious. Another thing Remus had thought about often was Sirius' wand. Somebody had performed Priori Incantatem with it. The spell must have proved Sirius hadn't used the wand to blow up that Muggle street, killing all those people in London. Remus would really have liked to know who had control of Sirius' wand while he was in Azkaban. Mad-Eye and Kingsley said they'd kept it in Auror Headquarters in the Head Auror's office under many charms. Only someone high up in the Ministry would have been able to get into that office and access Sirius' wand...

"Remus..." said a hesitant voice from behind him.

Remus closed Julia's bedroom door and turned to face Harry. He led the child down the hall silently to the office-turned-bedroom he and Julia had arranged for Harry. Harry climbed into his bed, and Remus sat beside him, tucking the blankets around him tightly.

"When's Sirius coming back?" Harry asked quietly.

"Soon, Harry, very soon," Remus assured him, hoping it wasn't a lie. "Do you miss him?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I like Sirius. He's funny," he said with a shy smile.

Remus chuckled. "You only think that because you haven't known him for half of your life." He grinned. He removed Harry's glasses from his face and set them on the bedside table. "You'll see Sirius again soon. I'm sure he misses you too, very much."

"Did Sirius do something bad?"

Remus resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow, something that took a lot of discipline on his part. "Why would you think that, Harry?"

Harry half-shrugged. "When Julia took me to London yesterday to buy me robes, I heard people talking. They said Sirius did really bad things, and that he should be taken away somewhere, and someone should kiss him."

Remus closed his eyes tightly and bit his lip to keep from swearing. "Don't listen to those people, Harry," he said firmly. "They think they know the truth, but they're very, very wrong. Sirius is a good person, one of the best I've ever known in my entire life. He's very loyal, very trustworthy... and he loves his friends very much." Remus didn't want to tell Harry that for the better part of the last five years he didn't think those things about Sirius; in fact, he'd thought the complete opposite. "Get some sleep, Harry. We've got a long day tomorrow, okay?" Harry nodded sleepily and Remus kissed his forehead. "Good night, Harry," he said as the child closed his eyes.

Dumbledore tried suggesting Harry go to Arabella Figg's home during the trial, but after a glare from Julia, he retracted his suggestion almost immediately. Sirius would want to see Harry today. It would help him get through this trial if he had his family—Remus, Julia, and Harry—cheering him on.

Julia dressed Harry in a set of dark green dress robes, and attempted in vain to flatten the untidy black hair he'd inherited from James. Remus entered the bedroom in dark blue robes and smiled at Julia as she stood from where she knelt before Harry. She tried to smile back, but knew she failed miserably.

"His hair won't lie flat," she muttered, seemingly on the verge of tears.

"Don't worry about his hair, Julia," Remus said quietly. "It's time to go."

"Are we going to see Sirius?" Harry asked happily.

Julia wiped her eyes and smiled as she took Harry into her arms. "Yeah, Harry, we're going to see Sirius now."