Consequences
By Neurotica
Twenty-Eight
Remus sat in his armchair in a complete daze. Charlie had been the one to tell Emmeline, Harry, Mad-Eye, and Sturgis what had happened with Sirius at the Ministry. At some point, Mad-Eye had brought Remus a tall glass of firewhiskey, which he'd gulped down in seconds. He could feel Harry staring at him from the sofa, silently begging him to say Charlie was lying, that Sirius was all right—normally, Remus was the one to tell him everything was going to be fine, but for the first time ever, Remus couldn't honestly deny a thing.
Remus finally turned his head to look at the teenager and wished instantly that he hadn't. The look on Harry's face suggested Sirius had died, when actually he was lying unconscious at the Ministry of Magic.
"So what will this mean for Sirius?" Emmeline asked quietly from the sofa beside Harry. She reached over to rub the boy's back in an attempt to comfort him.
Remus finally broke eye contact with Harry and looked at her. He shrugged. "I'm not really sure. I've never heard of this happening to anybody before. Of course, there's the Wizard Flu, which temporarily drains magical powers, but that doesn't begin to compare to what's happened to Sirius..."
"The Healer said he's more or less a Squib right now," Arthur said softly. "He won't even be able to make a feather float for months..."
"But his powers will come back, right? I mean, he's not going to be like this forever, is he?" Harry asked almost desperately.
Remus sighed heavily. "I really don't know, Harry. Sirius is quite powerful, as I've explained to you before, and we just don't know how this curse has affected him."
Tonks stood beside the Minister of Magic and Auror Dawlish as they stared into a holding cell, which contained the person captured in the Atrium. It would only be moments before the Polyjuice Potion wore off, and all three were eager to see if they'd finally caught Lucius Malfoy.
Tonks wouldn't allow herself to think about her cousin, laying a few levels above them. Ever since she was a small girl, she remembered Sirius being one of her favorite people in the world. Whenever he'd come to visit, usually with James, Peter, and Remus, she would wait for his arrival on the foot of the stairs; her mother had never allowed her to wait out front, since there'd been a war waging on around them back then. Sirius would take her flying, or out for ice cream, and he'd show her the new pranking supplies he'd bought—she'd received her very first Acid Pop from him when she was seven. Her mother still wouldn't let him live that down.
"Here we go," Dawlish muttered, standing straighter.
Tonks yanked her eyes away from the floor and looked into the holding cell. Biting her lip, she watched as the long brown hair on the wizard shortened and lightened just a touch, revealing a few grey spots. The smooth face roughened a bit, a short brown beard to match the hair growing. Legs lengthened, a belly grew, and a few scars appeared. Now lying unconscious before them was one of the last people any of them would have suspected, but it somehow made sense...
"Diggory?" Dawlish cried incredulously, approaching the bars.
Madam Bones slowly followed, also peering into the cell, her face expressionless. "He will need to be questioned. Dawlish, I believe you and Miss Tonks can handle that on your own. I need to contact Dumbledore."
Wasting no more time, the Minister left the two Aurors to stare in shock at their captive. Dawlish's first suggestion was the Imperius Curse—Diggory was one of the more respected wizards in the Ministry, and he'd never do something like this. Tonks wasn't so sure; she recalled Sirius telling her about the glares Diggory gave him whenever they crossed paths.
Dawlish tapped his wand on the cell door and walked inside to wake Diggory. The other wizard woke in a daze, looking around confusedly, wondering where he was, and what he was doing there. When Tonks told him quite calmly what was happening, and what he'd done, his eyes widened and his complexion paled. He agreed without hesitation to cooperate with the Aurors and followed them to the interrogation room without a problem.
Sirius woke early the next morning feeling more disoriented than he ever remembered feeling. Healers were moving hurriedly around his bed, performing diagnostic spells and asking him all sorts of stupid questions. After many failed attempts, he finally coaxed one of the Healers, a cute, blonde haired, blue-eyed witch, to tell him what was going on. She'd told him in very plain terms that he had no traces of magical powers in his body, but the words didn't register until nearly two hours later when he was being moved to a private room in the temporary hospital of the Ministry.
Remus and Harry visited him later that day; Harry seemed almost afraid to come close to his bed. When Harry left the room to speak with Tonks, Sirius asked Remus why the boy was acting so skittish. Remus told him Harry hadn't taken the news too well, and was afraid of hurting Sirius any further.
"But I'm not hurt," Sirius said. "I just have no magic in me." He turned his head away from Remus with a bitter look on his face. "At least tell me we got Malfoy—that would make all this worth it." When Remus didn't reply right away, Sirius turned back to his best friend and growled a bit. "Who was it, then?"
"Amos Diggory," Remus said quietly. Sirius' eyebrows shot up. "He's been under Imperius for nearly a year. Nobody realized it, not even his wife and son. Remember when the Death Eaters attacked the Burrow? Diggory's house was their Apparition point. Tonks and Dawlish think that when the Death Eaters left to go to the Burrow, Diggory broke through the curse long enough to contact the Ministry and tell them what was happening, but didn't want to mention that he'd been under Imperius. Apparently, he thought he'd get into trouble for it..."
"Are they sure it was Imperius?" Sirius asked darkly.
"Pretty sure, yeah," Remus replied. "Diggory claims he remembers nothing, and a Legilimens was called in to double check—he couldn't find anything to the contrary."
"Maybe Diggory's an Occlumens."
"Possible, but unlikely; he was pretty weak when he woke up in the holding cell, so if he is an Occlumens it would have been nearly impossible to block his mind properly."
Sirius sighed. They hadn't caught anyone, for all the trouble he'd been caused. Sure, one mystery was solved—Sirius had been curious about how Diggory could have seen the attack down at the Burrow from his house the year before. But Malfoy had tricked them again, and Sirius Black didn't like to be tricked.
"When do I get to go home?"
"The Healers say you're free to go, but they recommend you stay in bed for a few weeks. They want to see if your body can restore your magic on its own. They also said you're not to even attempt a Summoning charm until they know about the curse that was used on you."
Sirius rolled his eyes and sighed again. He also didn't like to be told what to do—least of all by Healers. "Has anyone talked to Naomi? I'm somewhat curious about her information. I was under the impression Malfoy was coming to the Ministry to kill me. I don't recall anything about Amos Diggory or a curse that could take away all of my magical abilities."
"Nor do I," Remus said. "I haven't spoken with her, but Dumbledore may have. I haven't spoken with him, either."
Their conversation came to a halt when Minister Bones entered to check up on her Head Auror. Sirius could tell she had something bad to tell him, and it didn't take long for her to announce the reason for her visit: Due to the curse's effect on Sirius, Madam Bones would be having him temporarily replaced as Head Auror. She explained as kindly as possible that it would do no good for the Aurors to have a leader who couldn't perform magic. She assured Sirius that the moment he was fully recovered, the job would be his again.
Needless to say, Sirius was devastated. He loved his job, regardless of the time he spent complaining about it. He loved his Aurors, and nothing made him happier than catching one of the hundreds of Dark wizards or witches infesting his world. Moreover, he'd become obsessed with the task of capturing Lucius Malfoy. The fact that Malfoy had once again slipped through his fingers just added to Sirius' grief.
Harry returned not long after Bones left, and Sirius quietly expressed his desire to just go home. It seemed he didn't want to spend any more time in the Ministry of Magic than absolutely necessary. Sirius and his family went to the DMLE level of the Ministry, where Sirius gathered a few of his more important files and personal possessions. Dawlish would take over as Head Auror until Sirius returned, so Sirius spent a few minutes filling him in on the cases he needed to be aware of. Dawlish promised to include Sirius in the more important decisions in the Auror ranks, and this made Sirius feel a bit better. Using a rather complicated spell, Dawlish took control of the Apparition chamber that only Sirius had been able to use. He seemed to feel worse about giving this up than anything else.
With a portkey made by an official in the Department of Magical Transportation, Sirius, Remus, and Harry returned to the cottage. Once there, Sirius dropped his cheery façade and sat in his armchair, staring broodingly at the empty fireplace.
The Dark Lord was in a wonderful mood that night. He praised Lucius Malfoy in front of the other Death Eaters with what could be considered glee in his cold, high-pitched voice. Naomi listened closely to what Malfoy had done, how he'd changed his plan at the last minute, and had succeeded. Though her face was blank, inside she was panicking. Would anyone in the Order believe she hadn't given them false information? Snape could back her up—he was standing not far from her at the meeting. The only problem was that Snape loathed her nearly as much as he loathed Sirius and Remus.
Once the Dark Lord finished gloating about Lucius' achievements the day before, he announced his next plan. Naomi wasn't surprised to hear it; she'd been expecting it for a long while, and was surprised it hadn't happened before now. The dementors were growing restless. One of the more lowly Death Eaters had been attacked the week before and was now drooling all over himself in one of the Dark Lord's rooms. The Dark Lord had not been amused.
London was too predictable for an attack. The Dark Lord seemed to find it amusing to devise plans that would throw the Ministry off and cause as much chaos as possible. A small village in Northern Britain would be the target, and the dementors would be set free to feast on whomever they pleased.
Finally the meeting ended, and Naomi tried to get away as quickly as she could to inform Dumbledore of the next attack. Unfortunately, her dear cousin-in-law, Bellatrix Lestrange, decided to corner her. She was delighted that Sirius Black had been rendered useless. Naomi couldn't remember seeing Bellatrix quite this happy—the murder of the Grangers wasn't even as close to pleasing Bellatrix as this was. She only seemed upset that she hadn't been involved in the plan. In order to keep her cover, Naomi laughed with her about the Head Auror's situation. Only when Rodolphus arrived to lead Bellatrix to a more private celebration did the witch leave Naomi to go on with her business.
The only Apparition spot in the entire castle was in the Dark Lord's private quarters. As far as Naomi knew, and she knew a lot, there was no other way out of the dungeon hideout. She'd explored as much as possible, but usually found nothing but stone walls. She'd started to believe the Dark Lord had charmed the place that way—he didn't want any of his followers knowing where his hideout was in case one of them was planning on betraying him. She wanted to laugh out loud every time she thought about the fact that not one but two of the Dark Lord's "most loyal" of Death Eaters were reporting to Albus Dumbledore every chance they had. The only thing that could make the entire situation more humorous would be to find out that Lucius Malfoy actually cared about the fates of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.
Cautiously, Naomi entered the Dark Lord's private quarters, and sighed silently in relief when she found the place empty. She tapped her wand against a hidden door in a wall, and waited for it to identify her before finally opening. Hoping she wouldn't have to come back anytime soon, she Apparated to Hogwarts.
Sirius stabbed moodily at his steak, wanting desperately to summon a butterbeer from the fridge. His wand, completely useless at the moment, sat beside his left arm, begging to be used. It had only been two days since "it happened," and he was already miserable. In an attempt to cheer him up, Harry asked him to go flying earlier in the afternoon. Sirius agreed, not thinking flying would have any adverse effects on him, but as it turned out, at first, he couldn't get his broomstick off the ground, and when he finally did get it into the air, it ended up bucking him off fifteen feet to the ground. The end results were long scratches up and down his arms and a very sore back after having fallen through tree branches. Never before had he realized how much he relied upon his abilities with a wand for everyday things. A first year at Hogwarts would have more magic in their pinky finger right now than Sirius had in his entire body.
It was embarrassing, really, to have to depend on others for tasks he'd never thought twice about. He couldn't even really help Harry with his summer coursework. One of the boy's assignments was to practice Defensive spells—Sirius could help with this, but all he did was stand in the middle of the backyard and let Harry send spells at him. By the time Remus and Emmeline came home from their day at work, Sirius had a black eye, a swollen lip, and another very sore back.
"Sirius!" Harry yelled from beside him, causing the wizard to jump and bump into the table.
"What?" Sirius asked irritably, picking up his spilt glass. Emmeline waved her wand lazily to clean up the milk that soaked the table.
"Would you pleases pass the carrots?" Harry asked. "I've been asking for five minutes..."
"Oh, right," Sirius muttered, reaching for the bowl. "Sorry about that..."
Sirius missed the looks Remus gave Emmeline and Harry, but soon after, Harry excused himself from the table and went to his room. "Padfoot," Remus said quietly and carefully. Sirius looked up from his plate of mashed potatoes. "I know this is frustrating for you, but you don't have to snap at us. This is the third time today, and frankly, I'm sick of it."
"Look, I'm sorry, all right?" Sirius said loudly, throwing his fork onto his plate. "This is more than just frustrating, Remus. They won't even let me work, and I can't wait to see what Dumbledore decides to do with me at the next Order meeting."
"That's another thing I wanted to talk to you about," Remus said. "Until Tonks can get her morphing under control, someone's got to stake out known Death Eater meeting places. Dumbledore's asked me to go. And before you start," he added as Sirius opened his mouth angrily, "he was going to ask you first if you would do it, but he doesn't want you out there with no means of defense. And whether you believe it or not, I am capable of defending myself. It's been nearly a year since France, and I'm more than ready to do more than pour over maps and books for the Order."
"He's sending you alone?" Sirius asked, his tone slightly threatening.
Remus shook his head. "No, actually. There will be a group of us, in pairs: Emmeline and Sturgis; Dedalus and Mad-Eye; Arthur and Dung; and you and me. Before you get too excited about it, you're going to have to stay under an Invisibility Cloak. If there's trouble, you will have to hide until we can Apparate out."
"Why the hell am I even going, then?" Sirius asked incredulously.
"Because you're the Head Auror," Emmeline said simply. "You've been studying the case files of the lesser known Death Eaters for years, and you can tell who they are just by looking at them. The most any of us have seen is pictures once or twice, and we sure as hell haven't memorized their faces like you have."
"Basically, you'll be with me somewhere, and when you spot somebody you recognize as a Death Eater, I'll alert the others, and the Death Eater will be tailed by someone from the Order until we find out what they're doing," Remus explained. "Dumbledore wants you involved in any way that won't put you in danger. Somehow he thinks me being your partner is enough to keep you safe." He grinned. "He seems to think I actually like having you around enough to keep you out of trouble."
Sirius rolled his eyes but smiled slightly, happy to be involved in something. "So when does this new mission start, then?"
"Tomorrow night," Emmeline said.
Later that night, Remus entered Sirius' bedroom to find his best friend sitting cross-legged on the bed, glaring at his wand. "If you're trying to do wandless magic, I don't think it's working," Remus said lightly.
"Shut up, Remus," Sirius muttered with a sigh.
Remus chuckled and sat in Sirius' desk chair. "This isn't the end of the world, you know. You can still help out the Order, even if you can't do much when it comes to actual fights. Look at Arabella Figg. She's been a Squib all her life, but I guarantee Dumbledore relies on her more often than not."
Sirius shrugged. "What do you know about this curse they used on me?"
"Not much," Remus said regretfully. "But it's not for lack of trying. Both Emmeline and I, and Dumbledore too, I'm sure, have been looking into it. All that I've really found out is that it's illegal Dark Magic."
"So you have no idea how long it's going to last?"
Remus shook his head. "No, I don't. You may have to start from scratch as far as relearning spells and such. Or you may just wake up one day and find everything back to normal. I wish I knew, Sirius."
Sirius nodded pensively. "This is only going to make me an easier target for Voldemort, you know. He's bound to know all about Malfoy's little plan by now, and he's probably got half his Death Eaters out looking for me right now."
"Probably," Remus agreed. "None of them have ever been too fond of you, after all."
Sirius grinned slightly. "Well, I have dedicated my life to throwing them and their mates into Azkaban."
"Well, no matter what happens, I'm here, Emmeline's here, and Harry can save you from dementors, so I think you're covered."
"Harry shouldn't have to save me from anything, least of all dementors. I'm supposed to protect him, and I may have done a shitty job in the past, but now I can't do a damn thing if he gets into trouble," Sirius said bitterly.
"You'll be fine, Sirius. We'll just have to make sure Harry stays out of trouble for a change. It'll probably make for a boring term at Hogwarts, but once you're back to one hundred percent, we'll let him find trouble so you can save him," Remus said with a straight face.
"Ha ha," Sirius said dryly, throwing a pillow at his best friend.
Draco Malfoy stalked around his large home, waiting. His father had sent a message earlier, telling him to be prepared for the arrival of Patroclus Nott late in the night. Draco wasn't positive as to why Nott was coming for a midnight visit, but he had an idea. He'd been waiting for this night for years, and if he was correct in his assumptions, tonight would be the one he'd hoped would come since the Dark Lord's return. He would be the only one in his year of Slytherins to have the honor of serving the Dark Lord. He would have the Dark Mark and the power and the respect it came with. Most of his peers already respected him for his father's legacy. His father had saved the Dark Lord from certain death, and brought him back to full power. Though most of the wizarding world thought his father deserved to be in Azkaban, there were a few who knew Lucius Malfoy was the Dark Lord's favorite and therefore, treated Draco with the same wariness and respect.
A quiet crack behind him made Draco turn on his heel to face the family house-elf. Dobby's hands were covered in bandages—he'd burnt Draco's dinner and the sixteen-year-old had ordered the house-elf to iron his hands as punishment. "Master Draco," Dobby muttered with a low bow. "Dobby is to tell Master Draco that Master Nott has arrived, sir. Master Draco is to go to the drawing room to meet Master Nott."
"Thank you, Dobby," Draco said curtly. His mother had always taught him to thank the servants—they could become allies in more difficult times and they agreed to tasks easier if they were treated with some sort of respect. "Return to the kitchens and stay there until I return."
"Yes, Master Draco," Dobby murmured before disappearing with another crack.
Draco quickly made his way to the drawing room, his heart beating eagerly as he took the stairs two at a time. When he entered, Nott was standing patiently beside a blonde witch Draco didn't recognize. Both smiled darkly at his enthusiasm. The woman approached him gracefully, and quietly said, "It is time, Draco, for you to stand beside your father."
For some reason, her words didn't have the effect on him that he thought they would. Since he'd been eleven years old, he'd dreamed of this night, but when the woman and Nott seized him by his arms, preparing to Disapparate with him, he wasn't sure if he still wanted this. Right before the drawing room disappeared, Draco saw his mother peering around a corner, looking concerned. Never before had he wanted to run behind his mother, but when the Dark Lord's private quarters materialized around him, that was all he wanted to do.