Next chapter! I have…nothing to say. Lol. For once.

Disclaimer: You think I can get a copyright for the phrase "I do not own Harry Potter"? Probably not, but I tell ya, it's the best (and only) way to make money.

Warning: Slash. Yeesh. It's Sirius Black and Remus Lupin loving!

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Odi et amo. quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?
nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.

I hate and I love. Why do I do it, perchance you might ask?
I don't know, but I feel it happening to me and I'm burning up.

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Thoughts of murder came to mind. And why wouldn't they? Who was Sirius to tell them to get out of his head? He welcomed them. It was what he wanted to do to a certain Peter Pettigrew, right after the torture.

He had Accio-ed his broom to speed up pursuit of the traitor. He knew the best thing he could have, and should have, done was to go to the Ministry or Dumbledore, at least, and tell them the truth, and then let them sort it all out. But no. Personal matters clouded his rational body of thought. (If he had one in the first place.)

His knuckles were white due to clutching his broom handle tightly, in anticipation of wrapping the digits around somebody's neck, and squeezing. Hard.

As the first rays of dawn peaked above the horizon, Sirius hurriedly brought his broom down lower. It would do no good letting the Muggles see him, even for a fleeting glance. He would be in trouble for sure. Even so, he had another reason. The red light he had previously been following was pulsing gently. He was close.

Sirius touched down, lightly, confident that Peter was in the little town a few hundred metres ahead. After casting a shrinking spell on the broom, Sirius placed it in his pocket and ran into the Muggle settlement.

Finally, at the end of the light, Sirius found him. In the not-quite-crowded-but-as-crowded-as-it-gets-at-dawn town square, complete with its very own fountain and towering clock. In other words, it was pretty crowded, but not enough to obstruct his view, or cover up his shout.

"Peter!" he roared.

The small, watery-eyed man turned suddenly, as if he had known all along that Sirius was on his tail. He didn't even flinch as Sirius grabbed the front of his robes.

"How dare you do this? Betray your own friends, how could you? I trusted you, James and Lily trusted you!" Sirius hissed, ignoring the curious looks of people and praying to Merlin that these Muggles weren't nosy.

Peter only smiled. Not the "I'm-smiling-'cause-I'm-supposed-to-or-at-least-I-think-so" that Peter usually offered. It was a full fledged sinister smile, one you wouldn't dream of seeing on his face. Obviously, being Voldemort's follower altered people.

Peter pushed the fuming black-haired man away from him and walked back a couple of paces, but not before whispering, "The question is, Sirius, how could they have trusted you?" Then he shouted, for the whole street to hear, "How could you Sirius? Lily and James, I can't believe it!" He sobbed false tears.

"What?" Sirius saw Peter drawing out his wand. "No, you don't-" He whipped out his own wand from his back pocket, but it seemed Peter had the better of him. For once.

The whole street blew apart. Screams everywhere. Sirius flew backwards but didn't sustain serious damage as he still had his magical barrier around himself. He could see the giant gaping hole, the sewers revealed underneath, the filthy sewer rats squealing and scampering away from the light. He realised what Peter had done. The coward.

"You can't run forever, Peter! I'll get you, I swear!" Sirius once again found himself on his feet, yelling at the hole. He knew Peter couldn't and wouldn't hear him, he knew all the Muggles were staring at him oddly, and with fear. But he needed that little bit of comfort, he knew Peter would someday, somehow get his comeuppance. And Sirius would be there to laugh in his face.

Suddenly, people grabbed his arms. He looked at them. They held wands at the ready; Sirius wondered for a second why Muggles had wands, then he realised; Ministry officials. Merlin they were fast.

"I'm not the one, I-" he started, only to be cut off abruptly when one official pressed his wand harder into his neck.

"You have done enough! As if killing James and Lily Potter wasn't enough, you kill Pettigrew too? You-Know-Who's orders, eh?"

It clicked in Sirius' head. They thought he was working for Voldemort! They thought he was the traitor, and that he had also killed Peter. Even though he knew he'd probably (Not probably. Definitely. ) be sent to Azkaban for life, he couldn't help but marvel at the ludicrousness of the situation. And so he laughed. Yes, laughed. He laughed so hard tears started streaming down his cheeks. He laughed so hard he didn't notice one of the Ministry officials lessen his or her grip on him and mutter, "Mental." He laughed so hard his ribs hurt.

And, many a mile away, Remus Lupin saw the unfolding events on the Muggle television.

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"…And that's all we have of the live coverage at this time. Join us in the next hour for in depth analysis of the explosion, and eye-witness accounts. This is Kate Vox, for Channel 6 news…"

Remus pressed the 'off' button on the remote and the grim-faced reporter faded from view. He couldn't believe it. Sirius was the one. The traitor. That was why he said sorry. A bit late for that now.

It would have been simple, Remus realised, for Sirius to pass on information to Voldemort, as he was the Potters' Secret Keeper. Remus wasn't stupid, he knew about the Fidelius Charm. When Dumbledore had mentioned using it, he had read up on it, keen to know everything about the charm.

It was just the idea of Sirius betraying James and Lily that he couldn't wrap his head around. Sirius and James were inseparable, even after Hogwarts. They kept in touch, Sirius was the best man at James and Lily's wedding, and Sirius and Remus were named Harry's godparents when Harry was born. Sirius would have died for James.

So why was James dead while Sirius, his Secret Keeper and best friend, was alive?

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"What?"

The grey-haired man in front of him sighed. "You will not be getting a trial, Mr. Black. You are found guilty of the…death of Peter Pettigrew."

"I did NOT kill him! Merlin, how many times do I have to say that?" Sirius was seething with rage.

The man, who was the Ministry of Magic's equivalent to a Muggle lawyer, sighed again. "Mr. Black, I believe you, alright?"

Somehow, Sirius doubted that. Very much.

"But it still remains to be seen that all those Muggles in the town square saw you take out your wand and…explode Mr. Pettigrew! And you were the Potters' Secret Keeper. Who else would pass on the information to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

"I told you, I am not working for Voldemort! And the-"

After the customary flinch at the mention of Voldemort's name, the lawyer wizard cut Sirius off. "Also," he said, with a louder voice, as if to prevent Sirius from interjecting again. "Your family has long been in the league with You-Know-Who. Why, even your brother, Regulus Black, the late Regulus Black, was discovered as a Death Eater. All the evidence is against you Mr. Black." And the man pushed back his chair and picked up his briefcase, deeming the conversation over.

"One more thing." Sirius' voice, dripping with forced calm, stopped the Ministry wizard before he stepped out of the room.

"Yes, Mr. Black?"

"Who sentenced this?"

"Barty Crouch Senior. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Sirius simply let the two aurors lead him out of the room. He was going to Azkaban, the stuff of nightmares, without a trial. Without a chance of seeing everyone he loved, without a chance of going to the funeral. Without seeing Remus, and proving his innocence.

The journey proved to be, disappointingly, boring. Sirius was forced to place a finger on a portkey at wand point. After the familiar jerk and whooshing feeling of displacement, Sirius found himself by the side of an enormous lake.

The water was as smooth as a mirror, and as black as night, which was odd as the sun was bright overhead. Sirius stared at the sun and the clouds in the blue sky, knowing that this would most likely be his last look at the world. He took a mental picture of the birds flying in the sky. Freedom. Something he was going to have to live without.

The aurors in charge of him placed magical handcuffs around his wrists, as magical bonds would be useless in Azkaban. They had some anti-magic spell. Sirius snorted to himself. Anti-magic spell.

He boarded the little boat (again at wand point) that would take them to the island in the middle of the lake. He watched the ripples that the boat made as it made its way to the ever looming fortress.

Before seeing them, Sirius felt the Dementors' presence. It felt as if he had plunged into the lake. He suppressed his shudder, and steeled himself.

As soon as the boat bumped onto shore, Sirius was forced out again. They blindfolded him, for what possible reason he could not discern.

The sheer number of Dementors terrified him. It was easy to see now how people went mad here.

Finally his blindfold was pulled off roughly and he was pushed into a cell. It had a small cot with a patched blanket (if you could call that thin piece of material a blanket) and a toilet in the corner. There was even a shackle, which was promptly enclosed around his right wrist. The cold metal bit into his skin.

He closed his eyes as the cell door clanged shut, and the key turned ominously in its lock. He shuddered again, as two Dementors glided into position on either side of the cell outside. The Ministry clearly weren't taking any chances.

Sirius sighed. This was it. His first day in Azkaban.

His first day in Hell.

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Aih. I wanted that to be a bit more descriptive. Ah well. The internet's not working, so I'll post this some other time. RRRR! It's 2.12 in the afternoon, and all I want to do is sleep with the blasted air-conditioner on, but nooo, I have my STUPID taekwondo at four thirty. The best thing? I have to go alone, 'cause my sister has exams and my brother is out of the state. Ish. So take pity on me and review…pweease?