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He had no idea how long he sat in the growing darkness of his cell. He was only dimly aware of the creeping square of light moving into his cell. He was dumbfounded.
'One shame in a family is bad, two is the Devil.' That had been what Wallace had said. How cruelly he had spoken of his brother was what was bothering Sirius. To speak so poorly of family... Wallace didn't realize how lucky he was to have a family that he remembered, to have a family member so close to him at all times.
Sirius had no one. He knew about his brother, Regulus, from the memory about Snape, but he could place no one else in his family. Regulus didn't even have a face to him. What he wouldn't have given to have a visit from any of them.
He knew it wouldn't happen. People simply didn't visit Azkaban. He couldn't even fathom why Dumbledore had come to him, even if it had only been once. What Sirius wouldn't have given to have Dumbledore come back again.
He remained in deep thought for a long time afterwards. He stayed up all night thinking. Thinking about what he knew, whom he knew, and creating the rest of his life in pure fantasy. He created parents; a sister and he even gave Regulus a face.
But he knew it wasn't true. The family he created was friendly, and they would never do anything wrong. That wasn't his family, and he knew it. He's heard it right from his own mouth in a memory. 'Bad things. I don't talk about it. My whole family's like him.'
No, the fantasy family couldn't be like his real family. He quickly squished the thought of this make-believe family from his mind.
During the day, Sirius finally surfaced from his dark corner to see what was going on out in the cellblock.
Pondex's cell remained empty, but it looked nothing as it had when Pondex had occupied it. It seemed such a happy place now that it was free to take in another person to turn crazy. Sirius figured that if the cell could feel, that's how it would feel about Pondex being gone.
Jimmy was sleeping with his face pushed up against the cold steel bars of his cell. Sirius wondered if he'd gotten any sleep the previous night either.
Wallace, however, was starring fixedly towards Sirius' cell.
"I wondered when you'd come out." He muttered quietly, almost as if it hurt to speak.
Sirius looked at him coldly, before turning away.
"No, Sirius, please listen to me. I think I gave you the wrong impression." Wallace pleaded.
"Oh, and what might that be? The impression that you're a heartless bastard who cares nothing for your brother, only your marred family name? Because, that's actually the impression that I got, so I thought it might have been the right one." Sirius snarled.
"Ah, well, yes. That was the impression I gave, but it's not the one I meant to give."
"You didn't care about him at all, did you? You didn't care that he was here. The criminal in you took over, made it so you could no longer care. You cheered with the rest of them last night, didn't you?" Sirius spat.
"No."
"Don't deny it, Wallace. He was just a bother to you, to your entire family. Now there's only one shame in your family, there's no more Devil!"
"He was a bother, but I loved him all the same."
"You have a funny way of showing it."
"Listen to me, Sirius, just listen to me, mate."
Sirius glared at the man through narrowed eyes. "Why should I?"
"Because mate, I know you don't want to stay mad at me." Wallace smiled weakly, but continued before giving Sirius a chance to continue. "Because I don't want you to stay mad at me, mate."
"Are you gay?" Sirius demanded.
"No! It's just nice to have a friend in your final days, mate!"
"Sorry." Sirius grunted.
"It's alright, mate... All the same, please let me continue."
"Why not? I've got nothing better to do..."
"Good then." Wallace started, as he set down. "Like I said, Pondex was a bother. He was a bother growing up, always getting into trouble, and always pulling pranks and everything. He wasn't a bad kid; he was just trying to have fun. But, lord all mighty, mate, did I ever love him. Quite possibly loved him too much...
"All the same, he got into some pretty deep trouble. With our parents both being dead, we lived together just the two of us. I was the only one who could help him...
"I remember it so clearly, and every memory brings me pain."
Sirius stared at the prisoner, suddenly quite jealous. Whether he was jealous because there was so much love between the two brothers, or because Wallace had complete use of his memories, Sirius had no clue. He sat down as Wallace continued.
"He'd taken one of his pranks too far, mate, he just took it too far."
"What did he do?" Sirius asked.
"You know when I told you that he was here for Muggle Baiting?"
"Yes." It was one of the few things Sirius did actually have a memory of.
"He took that really far. He was on this visitation tour of Buckingham Palace, and thought it would be funny if he played a few tricks on the Queen. He kept using magic, making things move, and what not..." Sirius thought he was done, until he said, "There's few people in the world that you don't mess around with, mate, and the Queen of England just happens to be one of them..."
"Naturally."
"Well, do you know why you don't piss around with the Queen, mate?" Wallace questioned hardly.
"Other than the fact that she's the all imposing and supreme being?"
"Yes, other than that."
"Well then, no." Sirius replied swiftly.
"Well, see, to Muggle Bait, you generally have to be doing stuff to confuse, well, Muggles, right mate?"
"That would be the point, I believe."
"Well, this is a little known fact, seemingly, Pondex didn't know, but the Queen, she's not a Muggle. She's a Witch."
"Oh my god." Was all Sirius could manage to get out.
"Well, being a Witch, she knew there was a Witch or Wizard in the room. She hunted him down so fast. Would have sent him straight off to Azkaban if there wasn't a trial."
"Which he lost?" Sirius asked.
Wallace looked grimly. "Not exactly."
"I don't understand."
"Well, mate, Pondex didn't go crazy just because he was tossed in this place. He was always sort of ...special."
"Special?"
"He always had a mental disorder. He couldn't think properly."
"So he pleaded insanity during his trial?"
"Yes. I was there; he had all the jurors convinced that he hadn't done it on purpose. He had his medical records and everything. There was just no possible way that he could possibly be placed in Azkaban." Wallace sniffled a cry for the first time.
"Then, why did he?"
"Conklin." Was all Wallace spat.
"Pardon?"
"Conklin, the Minister of Magic who killed himself. Blimey, you don't know Conklin? He was right in the Queen's pocket. He pulled some serious strings to get Pondex thrown in here, just to satisfy the Queen."
"Oh." Suddenly Sirius had a flash of a headline from a newspaper. He stared blankly at Wallace. "Conklin didn't kill himself..."
"No, it was just made to look that way." Wallace said as he turned away.
"Yes, you would know that." Sirius said, as more and more of the article from the newspaper came to him.
"Sirius," Wallace started, before Sirius cut him off.
"You would know that because you killed him!"
"I had to. He'd sent my brother here. He'd sent him here just to make the Queen happy. He'd taken away my last family member. I had to make him pay." Wallace yelled angrily.
"You killed a man." Sirius muttered, feeling his head spinning with the knowledge.
"It wasn't supposed to go that far! I just wanted to scare him, to get him to let Pondex out. Killing him was a mistake, a terrible mistake. But it brought me back together with Pondex." Wallace confessed honestly.
Sirius was no longer listening to Wallace; he was starring at the opposite wall deep in thought. He thought back to the day Wallace had said "we're birds of a feather." He knew then why he was in Azkaban.
He'd killed someone.
Not much to say, just to touch base with my readers, really.
AMG: Don't worry, you'll get Remus making sure Sirius is suffering. Chapter 12 (maybe 13, it depends on how I decide to write it in).
Satori: You know me, I am paranoid. He will remember he can turn into a dog... I just don't know when yet. I've got about 12 years to cover still... So, it might not be for a while yet.
Sword And Magic: Thanks for the Birthday wishes (if you can call them that). No way to keep you involved this time (maybe next). Thanks for the confidence!
Stay tuned!