DISCLAIMER: Neither Sqwerty nor Kiwi owns any of these wonderful characters, settings, original plotlines, etc. Please don't try to convince them otherwise as they are confused rather easily.

AN: Many apologies for the long wait, as usual. School started again and we are trying to get back in the swing of things. Luckily for us and for you, we have finished the next chapter! Well… here you go…

!CHAPTER 21!

"This court finds you guilty of the afore mentioned charges and the sentencing is that of contact with a dementor's kiss that will be carried out as soon as this jury is dismissed."

The man turned to the Auror to Sirius's left, "Take him away!"

!REMUS LUPIN!

Remus looked at those crowded around Harry's bed and felt a surge of satisfaction that James's son had so many friends.

He looked at Hermione and thought about how she was such a promising witch. Remus looked to Ron, who was headstrong and brave, even if he was a bit rash. He then looked sadly at the others who were almost as worried about Harry as Ron and Hermione were.

Remus wondered what was wrong with him. Harry seemed to be alright, now. He'd been awake and talking for a while, but Remus couldn't help feeling that something else entirely was not right.

Ever since his Halloween transformation, he'd felt… different. He couldn't quite pin down how or why, but he could tell, deep in his mind, that something was desperately wrong.

Remus stared blankly at the wall behind Harry's head

There was a knock on the hospital wing door and another person entered the room. Remus didn't look at the person and was startled when a man addressed him.

"Remus Lupin?"

Remus turned around, taken aback. There was a dark-haired man standing a ways behind him wearing Auror's robes.

Remus stood up slowly, "Yes?"

"My name is Sam Brocklehurst. I've been sent to retrieve you as the last request of one Sirius Black."

Remus went cold, 'last request…'

"His… his trial… it has p-passed?"

Mr. Brocklehurst nodded.

"A-and the," Remus swallowed, "the verdict?"

Remus already knew the answer.

"Guilty," said the man, "and sentenced to a Dementor's kiss."

"No," breathed Remus, disbelieving, "No, that can't be. The trial wasn't scheduled for today…"

"It was moved," said Mr. Brocklehurst, regretfully, "It… it wasn't a fair trial."

"No," Remus repeated, oblivious to the fact that prisoners sentenced to the dementor's kiss were rarely given the chance for a last request.

The Auror stood fairly silently for a moment.

Remus glanced at him, "Dumbledore?"

"He has been informed."

Remus nodded.

!SIRIUS BLACK!

'You know, Padfoot, I wonder if I wouldn't be better off dead, after this.' James said, solemnly.

'Isn't there any way for you to… er… leave?' Sirius asked.

'Naw, I wouldn't leave you here by yourself to die… or become soulless. Although, I-'

'Don't say it, James, just don't say it.' Sirius interrupted.

James continued as if Sirius hadn't said anything, '-had thought you were soulless a long time before you met your first dementor.'

'Shut up, James.'

'Right, right, of course.'

The silence that had filled the area seeped into their minds. The room they occupied was a small one. It had been used many times before for this purpose and others. There were several hard-backed chairs with both magical and physical means of restraining prisoners. There was always a chance, apparently, that the prisoners would make a last attempt at escape… or suicide.

Both men sat in a silent trance, thinking of nothing at all.

Then, the daze was broken and James could tell that Sirius was thinking of the dementor that was undoubtedly heading their way.

James, on the other hand, let his thoughts wander to his other best friend.

'D'you think that Moony will come?' James wondered.

'Of course he will.' Sirius answered.

The second half of his thought lay unspoken… neither of them dared to even think it, '…if he can.'

A dementor approached. Both men felt it and Sirius stiffened.

'Patronous?' Sirius suggested, halfheartedly.

'I don't think it'll work, but let's try it…' James said optimistically.

Neither of them had tried this type of wandless magic. The most that they had done was in Auror training and those were only the simplest spells. They gave it several tries, but nothing substantial happened.

'James,' Sirius said worriedly, 'I think you should leave! There is nothing you can do.'

'Sirius, I-'

'At least try to leave, Prongs, think of Lily! You can't leave her all alone… wherever she is.'

'I'm sure she's fine, Sirius, but I don't-' James tried

'At least try?' Sirius persisted.

'Fine.'

James tried, he really did. He tried detaching himself from the physical world and tried recalling the feeling of the Other Side.

'Nothing?' asked Sirius, desperately.

'I can't. I just can't do it, Sirius. I'm sorry.'

'Well, don't apologize to me!' Sirius replied, sourly.

James heard a creaking sound and felt the temperature drop a few notches.

'Here it comes,' Sirius whispered.

'At least we don't have anything… er… too major to be guilty about.'

'Er… James?' Sirius intoned, 'Remember that time when Lily found that frog on her side of the bed and you got blamed?'

'That was you?' James roared.

'Well… uh…'

'Were you responsible for that damn spider, too?' James growled

'Er… what if I told you that was Remus?' Sirius asked, hesitantly.

'I wouldn't believe you,' James answered promptly.

'He did it, I swear, that time it was him,' Sirius insisted.

'Yeah, right.'

'He did, I told Moony about the frog and he thought it was funny, but suggested a spider instead. I told him to do it himself, but I didn't think that he really would.'

'Still don't believe you.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes, I'm sure.' James said decisively.

There was silence for a moment.

'Peter?' Sirius suggested, tentatively.

'Sirius!'

!REMUS LUPIN!

Remus was shaking. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears. He didn't know what to do, how to respond. He only knew that he had to get to Sirius.

Lily had stayed blissfully quiet through the trip and Remus didn't know if he could handle any conversation with her.

The Auror, Sam Brocklehurst, was currently leading Remus down a hall in the Ministry of Magic. The only thoughts Remus could form were vague and foggy.

The Auror led him into another hallway that looked much the same as the previous one and then he motioned toward a door.

Remus watched as Sam Brocklehurst did a series of complicated spells and pulled the door open.

The room they entered was silent and a wave of cold washed over them. Remus pulled away as the dementor passed them.

"Oh my god…" said the Auror, quietly.

The werewolf's vision went blurry and he leaned heavily against the wall.

In the middle of the room was Sirius Black, bound tightly to a chair. His head was lolling to the side and his mouth was slightly open. His eyes held a glazed look but his face also showed a hint of fear.

Remus felt his stomach try to reject his most resent meal.

"Sirius…" Remus whispered, hoarsely.

"I- I'm sorry," said the Auror, awkwardly, "I thought- I mean… I was led to believe…"

Remus let out a sob and tore from the room as fast as he could. Sam glanced at the prisoner and followed.

!JAMES POTTER!

'Argh! Can't… move…' thought James, but couldn't choke out a sound, 'Remus! WAIT! I'm still in here! Don't leave!'

Remus left the room, ignoring the silent pleas from James.

'Aw crap.'

'Okay…haven't been in a live body for ten years, but I can do this… finger… lift!' Nothing happened.

'Alright, how about blinking… that shouldn't be too hard…' James tried, 'Oh, Merlin. It's no use!'

'Oh no. Oh, god, I have an itch.'

James tried to ignore the stupid itch, but it only intensified.

'Bloody Hell!'

James strained to remember how to handle a body by himself… that is without Sirius.

Then, James noticed his hand twitch.

'AH! Aha! I moved! Did anyone see that? I twitched! Aw, come on, nobody saw that? Crap.'

'You know, it'd probably be a heck of a lot easier if I were bound to this damn chair!' James fussed, struggling with the chains.

As the cold metal bit into his forearms, James realized something…

'HA! YES!' When he dropped his arms, though, he managed to lose what control he had gained, 'Oh, Merlin. This is the most stupid situation I've ever been in… maybe. Actually, no, there were several other times that may have been worse… hmm… But this is definitely one of the most maddening.'

'So, I suppose that this means if I want to move I can't think about it.'

Several frustrated words, some of which would have made Lily stomp her foot and cover Harry's ears, later, James had managed to move most of his… no… Sirius's muscles on command.

However, there was still the issue of the restraints on the chair.

'Okay. I'm going to undo the chains now…'

BANG!

"Uh..!" James grunted.

'Wow… I just did wandless magic. Wicked. It must have something to do with the whole "dead power" thing. I bet I have Sirius's magic, too. Nifty."

James stood up on wobbly legs. This body was significantly taller than the one he was accustomed to. It was much weaker as well, from being in prison.

'I'm hungry… haven't been like that for ten years…'

'Alright… gotta find that dementor… get Sirius's soul back…'

James really had no idea how he was going to go about doing this, but he thought he'd better start moving, before it was too late.

James took a step, and tripped.

"Oh, come ON!"

He reached out and grabbed the handle of the door.

ZAP!

"OW!" James snatched his hand back.

"Fine!" He retorted.

Spinning around, he contemplated the other walls. He had to get that door open!

Suddenly, there came a clink and a creak. James looked behind him.

'Hey! I opened it!'

!LUPIN!

Lupin watched as a stag ran past.

'Lily, did you see that?'

'What?... sorry… I was thinking…'

'It was a stag! It looked like James!'

'Remus…'

'… I'm sorry, Lily, but I'm sure it was…'

From the direction the stag had just run, came a very familiar black dog.

'Lily! You saw that, right? This is great! Do you know what this means? It means I'm just having a bad dream! I'll wake up any second!'

'Remus, please don't do this to yourself…'

'Come on, you didn't see it?'

'I think we should go back to Hogwarts, Remus, and talk to Albus.'

'But… Lily…'

'Remus-' Lily warned.

'Lily…' Remus pleaded.

'Remus!' Lily scolded.

'Oh fine, I suppose you're right.'

!JAMES!

'So, I suppose this means I'm temporarily free,' James thought as he wandered the halls, 'Funny, that. Sirius is free for the first time in ten years and I'm the one in his body. Heh.'

As James was about to round a corner, he heard voices and pulled back. He shrank back against the wall, hoping that whoever it was wouldn't see him.

A tall young man walked by, along with an older fellow. The younger of the two was speaking rapidly and James didn't even try to understand him, although the occasional words did stick out, such as "…those dementors… so cold… despicable… Sirius Black…"

James inhaled quickly and the older man glanced in his direction before replying slowly, "I quite agree, André. But although Black did deserve it, I don't see why they couldn't bring the criminal back to Azkaban and then dispose of him there. I dislike these dementors as much as you do."

James watched the men until they were out of sight around the next corner and scratched his head…neither of them had noticed him, even though the older bloke had looked just at him!

James looked down at his clenched hand and his stomach gave a jolt as he realized that…. his hand wasn't there!

"Woohoo!" James gloated loudly, "I'm invisible!"

His voice echoed down the hallways and James saw his body come back into view.

"Oh, great…"

James heard an answering noise begin to head in his direction and, out of instinct, changed into his animagi form, a stag, and bolted.

He ran quickly down the halls, blindly making his way past branching corridors and the occasional people. Finally James skidded to a halt and realized that galloping down the halls as a stag was probably rather conspicuous.

Then a thought occurred to him… 'I have Sirius's magic… er… supposedly… so I expect I should be able to use Sirius's animagi form!'

Excitedly, James turned Sirius's body back into that of a human and then concentrated on the form he had seen Sirius use so many times.

James felt a change and recognized that his senses were definitely… different… somehow. He also realized that he was a fair bit closer to the ground.

He hadn't taken another breath before he was off, running back down the same hall he had come from.

Some sense that James wasn't usually aware of was awakened in him and he tore down the corridors faster than a blink and when he stopped it was directly in front of a dark and towering dementor.

James turned back into a human and shuddered as the cold washed upon him like a wave of icy water.

The dementor turned its robed head in his direction and drew a long, rattling breath.

Somehow, James realized that this was not the right dementor and returned to Sirius's animagi form, continuing his original path down the corridor.

'Let's go, let's go, let's go!'

James followed some internal force racing down the halls.

After a while, James found a second and then a third and a fourth, but none of them seemed to be the correct one.

As he was beginning to become perturbed , James stumbled across another. This dementor held Sirius's soul. James wasn't sure how he knew, but it was clear he had found the exact dementor he and Sirius had met earlier.

James turned back to Sirius's human form. Backing away slightly, James realized for another time that he had no idea how to complete his mission.

The dementor didn't seem intimidated in the least by James and his magic and simply advanced upon him, eagerly.

James held up his arms as if to block an attack, but the dementor only took a long breath.

'I've no idea what to do now!' James thought, desperately, 'How in Merlin's name am I to do this! Shouldn't my… er… 'extra-special-dead-person-plus-one' magic be helping right about—'

His thought was cut short when a heavy object landed in his outstretched hands. James pitched forward, startled by the abrupt change in balance, before straightening up again.

James examined it and decided that it was a large sword. He removed it from the scabbard and brandished it in front of him, but the dementor didn't seem fazed.

"Oh, Merlin! This is never going to work!" James informed the sword.

The weapon did not reply.

"Well, fine!"

James took a deep breath and swung the sword with both hands.

!END CHAPTER!

AUTHORS: Well, we hope you enjoyed that… hope it wasn't too much of a cliffhanger.

Thanks a ton to everyone who reviewed: VampireKat22, dweem-angel, Harrypfan001 TEACHERLADY, SongOfStars, I-want-to-fly, glurg, anna, NinielB, NinielB (again), NinielB (and a third review), NinielB (and another time! Wheehoo!), Time and Fate, ave-adore, cyanideyoudrank, Marguerida, ERMonkey Burner of Cookies, Baku, ave-adore (for a second time!).

I'm glad that most people understood the last chapter, I hope that we cleared things up in this one.

Please review this chapter, and we'll try to post sooner, this time.