DISCLAIMER: I wish I owned Sirius and Remus, but sadly I don't. I don't
own any of the Pirates of the Caribbean either (not that that has to do
with anything, but... I really wish I did!)
AN: Sorry for the long wait. I have some of the next chapter written so no worries.
AN: IF ANYONE WANTS TO KNOW, THIS CHAPTER IS KINDA BIZARRE AND FREAKY, SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE STORIES LIKE THIS, I'M SORRY! There is a huge twist and it makes the story more interesting, but also a lot more weird.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Seated at a large table, surrounded by piles and piles of books, Remus and Hermione were silent. The silence was broken only by the occasional rustle of a page being turned.
Remus was perusing a book entitled, "More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Lethifolds,' and Hermione was reading one called, "Your Only Collection of One-Hundred-Forty-Eight Spells to Get What You Want From Someone Who Doesn't Want to Help You."
Hermione moved her finger down the page, marking her place.
There was silence for a long while, before Remus let out a loud groan.
"What is it?" Hermione asked, looking up from her book.
"Nothing, really, just that Sirius was right," Remus sighed, "listen to this:
"'Like Dementors, the Lethifold can be driven away adequately by one thing- the Patronous Charm. More information on the charm on page 384," Remus, who had his finger marking the said page, turned to it and continued reading, "The Patronous Charm resides in a difficult branch of magic that is complicated even for some of the more advanced witches and wizards.
'One reason the Patronous Charm is so tricky, is that it is difficult to practice. After you get the basics of the spell, and can produce something with no Lethifolds or Dementors present, then you must find one of the creatures and perform the spell on them.
'Like many spells of this type, the Patronous Charm is different for each witch or wizard. They generally take the shape of non-magical animals, but there was a reported case of a Patronous in the shape of a Acromantula in 1976. The shape each Patronous takes depends entirely on what the witch or wizard is most dutifully shielded by. It has been proven, of late, by no less than the great wizard Merle McGreal, that when some people reach a certain stage, and are frightened of or rely on different things, their magic can reflect that.
'"The Patronous charm is one of those things," Merle said at one time, "It happened to me when I'd left school and had seen some of the world. The next time I met a dementor, my Patronous was in the shape of a great eagle, instead of being a camel, as it was when I first learned the spell."
'This has cleared up the previous disputes regarding...'" Remus began mumbling incoherently as he skimmed the rest that was written on that page, "Yeah, the rest is just information," he said.
"And that was what..." Hermione began.
"That's what Sirius said," Remus moaned, "He said my Patronous would have changed form if the magical bonds between us weren't whole and strong, even if I didn't believe he was a true friend to Lily and James and me."
"Oh, my," Hermione said, placing this information in the back of her mind to debate and turn over later.
"There was something else too, that he said, that I wasn't sure about... but what was it?" Remus continued, scratching his chin, thoughtfully.
"Erm, was it about the dementors, again?" Hermione asked.
"No, I think it had to do with Sirius," Remus said.
"He was talking about himself?" Hermione wondered.
"I think so," Remus replied, a vague, unaware look in his eyes.
Hermione watched Remus stare blankly in front of himself for a few more minutes before she turned back to her book, and continued looking up spells to help them get the truth out of Sirius Black.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"No! Don't fall for it Jame- Harry! He's tricking you! If you do that then he'll be able to..." Sirius pounded his head in frustration as Harry moved his knight to capture the bishop of the red-haired boy he'd been playing chess with for the last hour.
"Now he's three moves away from checkmate!" Sirius moaned in frustration. And it seemed he was quite right, for not two minutes later, the boy (who Sirius called Weasley, for he knew it was a Weasley) was leaning back in his chair, crossing his arms and grinning stupidly at Harry, as the later examined the board from all angles.
It seemed Harry had made a loud noise then, because many young students (Sirius was glad to see they were all wearing Gryffindor robes) then began to look around at the two chess-players and some even approached the game cautiously and gestured in questioning ways.
Sirius sighed. So like James' son to lose so badly to a Weasley.
Later Sirius would wonder why no dementors had come running- or, actually, more likely _gliding_- while that had been happening.
For a few minutes, Sirius watched the Gryffindor common room in silence, then he began to find he was loosing interest in the hubbub.
"I wonder what Remus is doing right now..." Sirius said, dully.
With the next drip that fell, Sirius realized that the puddle was changing from the maroon colors of the Gryffindor common room to the neutral gray of the Hogwarts library. Sirius' jaw dropped.
"I can see whatever I want!"
The puddle went black. It didn't even reflect the stone in the room, or Sirius' face. It just went black.
"Sorry! I- I didn't mean to offend you or-or anything! I really want to see what Remus is doing, please?"
The puddle rippled, in an irritated way (Sirius scratched his head at the absurdness of it all- Sirius Black was apologizing to a PUDDLE!!!) and gradually turned back to the gray colors of the library.
"Er- thanks," Sirius said, leaning over the puddle and squinting to see Remus.
The puddle, sensing that he wanted to know what Remus was reading, made the image larger, until Sirius could see the words. Then the convict realized that Remus was simply holding the book open and staring into space, instead of reading it. Curious, Sirius read the top of the left-hand page and suddenly understood.
"Humph! Maybe next time you'll believe me," he said, grinning to himself.
The puddle rippled again, questioningly and it's picture changed to an extreme close-up of the end of a sentence that someone was writing on a piece of parchment. Sirius understood the punctuation mark and addressed the puddle, saying "He didn't believe me when I told him that a person's patronus could change forms. He just looked it up and I was right!"
The puddle's picture slid to another letter that the same person was writing, "O,"
Sirius grinned, "I've- erm- never talked to a puddle before... do you have a name?"
The puddle rippled angrily and showed new letters in such quick succession that Sirius was just able to catch what they were before it moved on to the next one.
"P-U-D-D-L-E-!-?"
"Er- you aren't a puddle?"
"N-O-!"
"What, er, I mean, who are you, then?"
The puddle answered Sirius' question with one of it's own.
"W-H-O--A-R-E--*Y-O-U*-?"
"Can't you see me? You can see whatever you want."
"N-O-!--W-H-O--A-R-E--Y-O-U?" The Puddle demanded.
"Sirius Black. Pleased to make your acquaintance," Sirius said in his most charming voice.
The puddle went black for a few seconds.
Sirius sat quietly for the same period of time.
"Erm- Puddle?" he finally said, "I mean, whoever you are... are you there? Because I- argh!"
The puddle suddenly turned bright. Numerous different colors began swimming around, eagerly. The starburst of bright color, had Sirius seeing little white lights blinking in front of his eyes. He rubbed them and looked back at the water.
"ARE- -YOU- -REAL-L-Y- -S-I-R-I-US-?"
"Yes. Who are you again? I'm just a tad confused." Sirius told the puddle.
"JAMES," the puddle showed.
Sirius choked, "J-James? Not to be rude, but- aren't you kind of...dead?"
"YES," the puddle showed.
"Erm, do you know why you're a... a puddle?"
"A- -PUDDLE-?- -I-M- -A- -PUDDLE-?"
"Well, sort of. Whatever you're seeing, I'm seeing inside this little puddle in the corner of my cell."
"W-E-L-L-,- -ONE- -MINUTE- -I- -WAS- -WITH- -L-I-L-Y- -IN- -A- -VERY- -STRANGE- -PLACE- -AND- -THEN- -I- -COULD-N-T- -SEE- -HER- -,- -ONLY- -REMUS- -.- -I- -WATCHED- -HIM- -FOR- -A- -LONG- -TIME- -AND- -THEN- -HARRY- -BUT- -I- -COULD-N-T- -HEAR- -ANYTHING- -AND- -THEY- -" James stopped forming words with other people's letters and the puddle, once again, went black.
"J-James?" Sirius asked tentatively, "You still there?"
Suddenly, the puddle flashed back into life, zipping around so fast that Sirius couldn't identify any of what it was showing, except that it was mostly gray.
An angry sound came from the puddle and it echoed loudly all around the tiny cell.
Sirius covered his ears, "What are you yelling about?!" He shouted.
The convict wasn't quite sure at the time, but later he was positive that he heard the same voice that had haunted his dreams for ten years screaming unintelligibly.
After the echoes died down, Sirius looked down at the puddle, and was surprised to see the top of his own head. He looked up, but could see nothing.
"Why is it showing me?!" the convict demanded of his dead friend.
For the first time since October of ten years previous, Sirius heard James Potter say something, and it wasn't pretty. "WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME IS THIS ALL ABOUT?! SIRIUS BLACK, WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU LOCKED IN A CELL IN **((AZKABAN))**?!"
"I- I- I didn't mean to..." Sirius stammered.
"WELL IT'S OBVIOUS YOU DIDN'T MEAN TO!"
"I mean, I didn't get a trial, so it's not like I could do anything about it..."
"WHAT?!" James' voice roared, causing Sirius to jump near a foot in the air, "TELL ME, SIRIUS!!! WHY ARE YOU IN AZKABAN?"
"I- they- you- the ministry- er- and Dumbledore- they all- I mean to say- no one- they all thought it was me and, er, there weren't any witnesses or anything, except for the ones in the street that Peter-er- killed- and- er- " Sirius said quickly.
"Peter did WHAT?!" James' voice roared.
"He, er, sold you to Voldemort," Sirius started.
"I know that one, anything ELSE?!"
"Er I cornered him in a street, but before I could get my wand out he yelled for the whole street to know that *I'd* betrayed Jame- er I mean you and Lily and then he sort-of blew the street apart and killed all the muggles around him. Then he turned into a rat and scurried away."
"And?" James prompted.
"I really couldn't do much. The hit-wizards came and took me here. Obviously Dumbledore thought I'd been your secret-keeper, so I really didn't have a chance."
"Remus, though, surely Remus believes you, I mean, he knows that you would never... SIRIUS, TELL ME REMUS DOESN'T HATE YOU TOO!?!?" James' voice demanded, angrily.
"I wish I could, but- erm, James- I can't." Sirius said, sadly.
"Oh, god, Sirius. What have I done?" James' voice cried, "How long have you been in here?" it demanded.
"Ten years."
"TEN YEARS?!"
"Calm down, Prongsie, no one's been hurt, here, okay? I'm perfectly alright. A little bored and a tad lonely, but then again, Remus did come and visit me almost a month ago," Sirius said, then added to himself, "In fact, it's almost the full moon now. I wish I could be with him."
The drip that was threatening to fall into the pool suddenly did so, and caused the whole puddle to jump out at Sirius.
"GAH! PRONGS?! Whad'ya do that for?!" Sirius sputtered, falling backwards, sopping wet. He shook out his hair in a doglike manner.
A voice sounded from outside his door, "Barking mad, in here. All of them!"
"Just a minute, James," Sirius said, jumping up and pushing his wet hair out of his face.
"Er, excuse me," he said to the man standing directly outside his cell, and then Sirius saw who it was.
Holding his temper, the convict said, "Hello, minister, how terribly un- monotonous to see you. What brings you to Azkaban?"
Fudge, obviously startled that Sirius was talking rationally, just stared at the prisoner for a while. He made to move on, when Sirius stopped him.
"Wait, please, minister," he said in his most even and sane voice, "I am simply curious to know why you sent me to this lovely place," Sirius said, waving his hand around behind him to take in his small cell, "without a trial."
The minister's face held a look of repulsion when he answered, slightly unwillingly, "Well, we didn't really need a trial now, did we? Dumbledore knew you were the secret keeper, after all, and there were a street-full of witnesses that saw you murder those muggles," Sirius thought it curious that the Minister of Magic didn't mention the wizard he'd 'Murdered,' "There was no way you could have weaseled your way out of punishment even if you had gotten a trial."
"But, minister-"
"Yes, Black isn't it?, you would try to get out now after ten years, but I'm afraid you've got a lifetime sentence. That means no bail!" the Minister of Magic ended his speech in such a gleeful voice that Sirius pulled away from the bars, completely disgusted.
"Yes, be afraid, mister Black, be _very_ afraid!" he said, his eyes glittering seemingly completely enjoying the way the conversation was now going.
"No, it's just, I never knew you were partial to putting INNOCENT MEN in PRISON for no good REASON!"
Fudge turned around and began walking away.
"Wait!" Sirius called after him again. The minister turned to face the prisoner again, "I was just wondering if you have a newspaper on you?"
The minister raised his eyebrows.
"I quite miss doing the crosswords," he said, as if it were quite an obvious answer to Fudge's unasked question.
The minister sniffed, "No, I don't carry such trivial items into Azkaban with me!"
"Then what's that?" Sirius asked, pointing to the Fudge's pocket, where a black-and-white wizard photo was showing.
"Oh, that? That's a- it's a, erm..."
"Well, can I have it?" Sirius asked, hopefully.
Luckily for Sirius, the minister seemed to be in quite a hurry to leave and threw the paper at the cell and practically ran away.
Sirius squeezed two of his fingers through the bars and snatched the Daily Prophet before it fell to the ground. Very carefully, and after a long period of time during which much twisting and pinching occurred, Sirius managed to get the paper into his cell.
"Look what I got, look what I got," he sang, waving the paper at the pool of water.
"Wonderful," James' voice said, with no emotion except a hint of sarcasm, "You said no one's been hurt, did you? I would call the way you're acting a little unordinary at the very least."
"Shut up, Horn-head!" Sirius snapped, playfully at his dead friend.
"I can't, it's in my blood not to."
"Sure, whatever you say," Sirius said, examining the first newspaper he'd had for ten years, with pretend interest, ignoring James just to irk him.
After a few minutes, pretending to read the front page of the paper and not taking in a word of it, Sirius flung it to the ground and walked over to the puddle, which was still showing the top of Sirius' own head.
"James, I have a question," Sirius said, quietly.
James was stunned. It was so strange to hear Sirius Black so calm and collected; so serious.
"Go ahead, Padfoot."
"Do-do either you or Lily... erm... Do you-"
James understood perfectly, "Sirius Black!" he snapped so sharply that, again, it sent Sirius flying a foot into the air, "Don't you *dare* blame yourself for Lily and me dying! It was NOT your fault! We chose to change secret-keepers! If you blame anyone but Peter and Voldemort, I swear I will find a way to slap you!" Then as an afterthought James added, "Or at least splash you. And I promise you won't come away dry!"
"James," Sirius sighed, "I was being serious. I want to know."
"I know how much you blame yourself, Padfoot, I know you better than that. Neither Lily nor I blame you for what happened."
"You-you sure?" Sirius said.
"Are you saying you don't trust my word?" James said, completely serious.
"But, James-"
"No 'buts,' Padfoot. I swear I'll splash you!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
AN: A little weird? Yeah, I thought so. A little too weird? I would appreciate if you would tell me.
Reviews containing suggestions or comments are welcome. *grins*
^__^
AN: Sorry for the long wait. I have some of the next chapter written so no worries.
AN: IF ANYONE WANTS TO KNOW, THIS CHAPTER IS KINDA BIZARRE AND FREAKY, SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE STORIES LIKE THIS, I'M SORRY! There is a huge twist and it makes the story more interesting, but also a lot more weird.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Seated at a large table, surrounded by piles and piles of books, Remus and Hermione were silent. The silence was broken only by the occasional rustle of a page being turned.
Remus was perusing a book entitled, "More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Lethifolds,' and Hermione was reading one called, "Your Only Collection of One-Hundred-Forty-Eight Spells to Get What You Want From Someone Who Doesn't Want to Help You."
Hermione moved her finger down the page, marking her place.
There was silence for a long while, before Remus let out a loud groan.
"What is it?" Hermione asked, looking up from her book.
"Nothing, really, just that Sirius was right," Remus sighed, "listen to this:
"'Like Dementors, the Lethifold can be driven away adequately by one thing- the Patronous Charm. More information on the charm on page 384," Remus, who had his finger marking the said page, turned to it and continued reading, "The Patronous Charm resides in a difficult branch of magic that is complicated even for some of the more advanced witches and wizards.
'One reason the Patronous Charm is so tricky, is that it is difficult to practice. After you get the basics of the spell, and can produce something with no Lethifolds or Dementors present, then you must find one of the creatures and perform the spell on them.
'Like many spells of this type, the Patronous Charm is different for each witch or wizard. They generally take the shape of non-magical animals, but there was a reported case of a Patronous in the shape of a Acromantula in 1976. The shape each Patronous takes depends entirely on what the witch or wizard is most dutifully shielded by. It has been proven, of late, by no less than the great wizard Merle McGreal, that when some people reach a certain stage, and are frightened of or rely on different things, their magic can reflect that.
'"The Patronous charm is one of those things," Merle said at one time, "It happened to me when I'd left school and had seen some of the world. The next time I met a dementor, my Patronous was in the shape of a great eagle, instead of being a camel, as it was when I first learned the spell."
'This has cleared up the previous disputes regarding...'" Remus began mumbling incoherently as he skimmed the rest that was written on that page, "Yeah, the rest is just information," he said.
"And that was what..." Hermione began.
"That's what Sirius said," Remus moaned, "He said my Patronous would have changed form if the magical bonds between us weren't whole and strong, even if I didn't believe he was a true friend to Lily and James and me."
"Oh, my," Hermione said, placing this information in the back of her mind to debate and turn over later.
"There was something else too, that he said, that I wasn't sure about... but what was it?" Remus continued, scratching his chin, thoughtfully.
"Erm, was it about the dementors, again?" Hermione asked.
"No, I think it had to do with Sirius," Remus said.
"He was talking about himself?" Hermione wondered.
"I think so," Remus replied, a vague, unaware look in his eyes.
Hermione watched Remus stare blankly in front of himself for a few more minutes before she turned back to her book, and continued looking up spells to help them get the truth out of Sirius Black.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"No! Don't fall for it Jame- Harry! He's tricking you! If you do that then he'll be able to..." Sirius pounded his head in frustration as Harry moved his knight to capture the bishop of the red-haired boy he'd been playing chess with for the last hour.
"Now he's three moves away from checkmate!" Sirius moaned in frustration. And it seemed he was quite right, for not two minutes later, the boy (who Sirius called Weasley, for he knew it was a Weasley) was leaning back in his chair, crossing his arms and grinning stupidly at Harry, as the later examined the board from all angles.
It seemed Harry had made a loud noise then, because many young students (Sirius was glad to see they were all wearing Gryffindor robes) then began to look around at the two chess-players and some even approached the game cautiously and gestured in questioning ways.
Sirius sighed. So like James' son to lose so badly to a Weasley.
Later Sirius would wonder why no dementors had come running- or, actually, more likely _gliding_- while that had been happening.
For a few minutes, Sirius watched the Gryffindor common room in silence, then he began to find he was loosing interest in the hubbub.
"I wonder what Remus is doing right now..." Sirius said, dully.
With the next drip that fell, Sirius realized that the puddle was changing from the maroon colors of the Gryffindor common room to the neutral gray of the Hogwarts library. Sirius' jaw dropped.
"I can see whatever I want!"
The puddle went black. It didn't even reflect the stone in the room, or Sirius' face. It just went black.
"Sorry! I- I didn't mean to offend you or-or anything! I really want to see what Remus is doing, please?"
The puddle rippled, in an irritated way (Sirius scratched his head at the absurdness of it all- Sirius Black was apologizing to a PUDDLE!!!) and gradually turned back to the gray colors of the library.
"Er- thanks," Sirius said, leaning over the puddle and squinting to see Remus.
The puddle, sensing that he wanted to know what Remus was reading, made the image larger, until Sirius could see the words. Then the convict realized that Remus was simply holding the book open and staring into space, instead of reading it. Curious, Sirius read the top of the left-hand page and suddenly understood.
"Humph! Maybe next time you'll believe me," he said, grinning to himself.
The puddle rippled again, questioningly and it's picture changed to an extreme close-up of the end of a sentence that someone was writing on a piece of parchment. Sirius understood the punctuation mark and addressed the puddle, saying "He didn't believe me when I told him that a person's patronus could change forms. He just looked it up and I was right!"
The puddle's picture slid to another letter that the same person was writing, "O,"
Sirius grinned, "I've- erm- never talked to a puddle before... do you have a name?"
The puddle rippled angrily and showed new letters in such quick succession that Sirius was just able to catch what they were before it moved on to the next one.
"P-U-D-D-L-E-!-?"
"Er- you aren't a puddle?"
"N-O-!"
"What, er, I mean, who are you, then?"
The puddle answered Sirius' question with one of it's own.
"W-H-O--A-R-E--*Y-O-U*-?"
"Can't you see me? You can see whatever you want."
"N-O-!--W-H-O--A-R-E--Y-O-U?" The Puddle demanded.
"Sirius Black. Pleased to make your acquaintance," Sirius said in his most charming voice.
The puddle went black for a few seconds.
Sirius sat quietly for the same period of time.
"Erm- Puddle?" he finally said, "I mean, whoever you are... are you there? Because I- argh!"
The puddle suddenly turned bright. Numerous different colors began swimming around, eagerly. The starburst of bright color, had Sirius seeing little white lights blinking in front of his eyes. He rubbed them and looked back at the water.
"ARE- -YOU- -REAL-L-Y- -S-I-R-I-US-?"
"Yes. Who are you again? I'm just a tad confused." Sirius told the puddle.
"JAMES," the puddle showed.
Sirius choked, "J-James? Not to be rude, but- aren't you kind of...dead?"
"YES," the puddle showed.
"Erm, do you know why you're a... a puddle?"
"A- -PUDDLE-?- -I-M- -A- -PUDDLE-?"
"Well, sort of. Whatever you're seeing, I'm seeing inside this little puddle in the corner of my cell."
"W-E-L-L-,- -ONE- -MINUTE- -I- -WAS- -WITH- -L-I-L-Y- -IN- -A- -VERY- -STRANGE- -PLACE- -AND- -THEN- -I- -COULD-N-T- -SEE- -HER- -,- -ONLY- -REMUS- -.- -I- -WATCHED- -HIM- -FOR- -A- -LONG- -TIME- -AND- -THEN- -HARRY- -BUT- -I- -COULD-N-T- -HEAR- -ANYTHING- -AND- -THEY- -" James stopped forming words with other people's letters and the puddle, once again, went black.
"J-James?" Sirius asked tentatively, "You still there?"
Suddenly, the puddle flashed back into life, zipping around so fast that Sirius couldn't identify any of what it was showing, except that it was mostly gray.
An angry sound came from the puddle and it echoed loudly all around the tiny cell.
Sirius covered his ears, "What are you yelling about?!" He shouted.
The convict wasn't quite sure at the time, but later he was positive that he heard the same voice that had haunted his dreams for ten years screaming unintelligibly.
After the echoes died down, Sirius looked down at the puddle, and was surprised to see the top of his own head. He looked up, but could see nothing.
"Why is it showing me?!" the convict demanded of his dead friend.
For the first time since October of ten years previous, Sirius heard James Potter say something, and it wasn't pretty. "WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME IS THIS ALL ABOUT?! SIRIUS BLACK, WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU LOCKED IN A CELL IN **((AZKABAN))**?!"
"I- I- I didn't mean to..." Sirius stammered.
"WELL IT'S OBVIOUS YOU DIDN'T MEAN TO!"
"I mean, I didn't get a trial, so it's not like I could do anything about it..."
"WHAT?!" James' voice roared, causing Sirius to jump near a foot in the air, "TELL ME, SIRIUS!!! WHY ARE YOU IN AZKABAN?"
"I- they- you- the ministry- er- and Dumbledore- they all- I mean to say- no one- they all thought it was me and, er, there weren't any witnesses or anything, except for the ones in the street that Peter-er- killed- and- er- " Sirius said quickly.
"Peter did WHAT?!" James' voice roared.
"He, er, sold you to Voldemort," Sirius started.
"I know that one, anything ELSE?!"
"Er I cornered him in a street, but before I could get my wand out he yelled for the whole street to know that *I'd* betrayed Jame- er I mean you and Lily and then he sort-of blew the street apart and killed all the muggles around him. Then he turned into a rat and scurried away."
"And?" James prompted.
"I really couldn't do much. The hit-wizards came and took me here. Obviously Dumbledore thought I'd been your secret-keeper, so I really didn't have a chance."
"Remus, though, surely Remus believes you, I mean, he knows that you would never... SIRIUS, TELL ME REMUS DOESN'T HATE YOU TOO!?!?" James' voice demanded, angrily.
"I wish I could, but- erm, James- I can't." Sirius said, sadly.
"Oh, god, Sirius. What have I done?" James' voice cried, "How long have you been in here?" it demanded.
"Ten years."
"TEN YEARS?!"
"Calm down, Prongsie, no one's been hurt, here, okay? I'm perfectly alright. A little bored and a tad lonely, but then again, Remus did come and visit me almost a month ago," Sirius said, then added to himself, "In fact, it's almost the full moon now. I wish I could be with him."
The drip that was threatening to fall into the pool suddenly did so, and caused the whole puddle to jump out at Sirius.
"GAH! PRONGS?! Whad'ya do that for?!" Sirius sputtered, falling backwards, sopping wet. He shook out his hair in a doglike manner.
A voice sounded from outside his door, "Barking mad, in here. All of them!"
"Just a minute, James," Sirius said, jumping up and pushing his wet hair out of his face.
"Er, excuse me," he said to the man standing directly outside his cell, and then Sirius saw who it was.
Holding his temper, the convict said, "Hello, minister, how terribly un- monotonous to see you. What brings you to Azkaban?"
Fudge, obviously startled that Sirius was talking rationally, just stared at the prisoner for a while. He made to move on, when Sirius stopped him.
"Wait, please, minister," he said in his most even and sane voice, "I am simply curious to know why you sent me to this lovely place," Sirius said, waving his hand around behind him to take in his small cell, "without a trial."
The minister's face held a look of repulsion when he answered, slightly unwillingly, "Well, we didn't really need a trial now, did we? Dumbledore knew you were the secret keeper, after all, and there were a street-full of witnesses that saw you murder those muggles," Sirius thought it curious that the Minister of Magic didn't mention the wizard he'd 'Murdered,' "There was no way you could have weaseled your way out of punishment even if you had gotten a trial."
"But, minister-"
"Yes, Black isn't it?, you would try to get out now after ten years, but I'm afraid you've got a lifetime sentence. That means no bail!" the Minister of Magic ended his speech in such a gleeful voice that Sirius pulled away from the bars, completely disgusted.
"Yes, be afraid, mister Black, be _very_ afraid!" he said, his eyes glittering seemingly completely enjoying the way the conversation was now going.
"No, it's just, I never knew you were partial to putting INNOCENT MEN in PRISON for no good REASON!"
Fudge turned around and began walking away.
"Wait!" Sirius called after him again. The minister turned to face the prisoner again, "I was just wondering if you have a newspaper on you?"
The minister raised his eyebrows.
"I quite miss doing the crosswords," he said, as if it were quite an obvious answer to Fudge's unasked question.
The minister sniffed, "No, I don't carry such trivial items into Azkaban with me!"
"Then what's that?" Sirius asked, pointing to the Fudge's pocket, where a black-and-white wizard photo was showing.
"Oh, that? That's a- it's a, erm..."
"Well, can I have it?" Sirius asked, hopefully.
Luckily for Sirius, the minister seemed to be in quite a hurry to leave and threw the paper at the cell and practically ran away.
Sirius squeezed two of his fingers through the bars and snatched the Daily Prophet before it fell to the ground. Very carefully, and after a long period of time during which much twisting and pinching occurred, Sirius managed to get the paper into his cell.
"Look what I got, look what I got," he sang, waving the paper at the pool of water.
"Wonderful," James' voice said, with no emotion except a hint of sarcasm, "You said no one's been hurt, did you? I would call the way you're acting a little unordinary at the very least."
"Shut up, Horn-head!" Sirius snapped, playfully at his dead friend.
"I can't, it's in my blood not to."
"Sure, whatever you say," Sirius said, examining the first newspaper he'd had for ten years, with pretend interest, ignoring James just to irk him.
After a few minutes, pretending to read the front page of the paper and not taking in a word of it, Sirius flung it to the ground and walked over to the puddle, which was still showing the top of Sirius' own head.
"James, I have a question," Sirius said, quietly.
James was stunned. It was so strange to hear Sirius Black so calm and collected; so serious.
"Go ahead, Padfoot."
"Do-do either you or Lily... erm... Do you-"
James understood perfectly, "Sirius Black!" he snapped so sharply that, again, it sent Sirius flying a foot into the air, "Don't you *dare* blame yourself for Lily and me dying! It was NOT your fault! We chose to change secret-keepers! If you blame anyone but Peter and Voldemort, I swear I will find a way to slap you!" Then as an afterthought James added, "Or at least splash you. And I promise you won't come away dry!"
"James," Sirius sighed, "I was being serious. I want to know."
"I know how much you blame yourself, Padfoot, I know you better than that. Neither Lily nor I blame you for what happened."
"You-you sure?" Sirius said.
"Are you saying you don't trust my word?" James said, completely serious.
"But, James-"
"No 'buts,' Padfoot. I swear I'll splash you!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
AN: A little weird? Yeah, I thought so. A little too weird? I would appreciate if you would tell me.
Reviews containing suggestions or comments are welcome. *grins*
^__^