Renegade

Disclaimer: Sad to say, I don't own Sirius Black. If I did, I would not have killed off the closest thing Harry had to a father because he's been through enough bullshit already in his life!

A/N: There was a tiny bit of confusion with the last chapter. Someone, in their review, asked why Sirius couldn't read. Sirius can read just fine. He was merely trying to be funny when reading the title of the book to Raven. And my best friend makes me read Harry Potter to him because he hates to read, otherwise he'd never read them on his own and I wouldn't be able to discuss the books with him. I think most guys will not pick up a big, long book and just start reading for the hell of it. If Sirius can get Raven to read to him, that gives him an excuse to be with her while Raven just thinks he's too lazy to read… So, is that clear? I thought it was just like Sirius. Anyway, I am really grateful to all you who review. This chapter contains a lot of things that you should already know. But I thought it was important to reiterate it… I never tire of hearing it… Hope you don't either. Enjoy.
Liveley
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Chapter 4 - You Can't Handle The Truth

Raven woke up early the next morning and couldn't go back to sleep. She decided to go buy some cat food and take it over to Sirius'. She hadn't been in his house and she thought this would be a good way of getting herself invited! She bought the cat food and made her way up Sirius' porch. The door was shut and locked.

Raven knocked. "Sirius? I brought you a present."

"One second!" he called.

"I don't have one second, this is heavy," she teased, leaning the cat food against the wall of the house.

Raven heard him shuffling towards the door. She heard a click and the door opened to reveal Sirius Black standing at the door wearing only a pair of jeans. Raven tried not to blush. She bit her bottom lip and looked at the ground.

"C'mon in, I'll be right back," he said, pushing the door open for her. He turned and went down the hall and into his bedroom.

With a shirtless Sirius out of sight, Raven's senses came back to her. "So, do you ever get completely dressed during the day, or do you just put on clothes to come over to my house?"

"So, wha'd you bring me?" he yelled from his room.

Raven wasn't sure if he had purposefully ignored her comment or just couldn't hear her properly. She rose her voice slightly. "Um...cat food," she brought the bag inside the door. "For our little kitty. Where is she?" Raven's eyes darted around the room. 'A bit messy,' she thought, 'but then again, he did just move in a few weeks ago.'

"Uh, she's sleeping on the couch, I think," he yelled back.

Raven made her way over to the couch and sat down next to the sleeping cat. "Wha'd you name her?"

"Well, I thought we should decide together," he said, still from his room. "What do you think of Lily?"

"Lily?..." Raven thought for a minute. "Yeah, that's cute. Lily, it is." She stroked the cat as she resorted to baby talk. "Hi, Lily! Are you hungry, Li--"

She fell silent as she noticed a long wooden stick sitting on the table next to the couch. She suddenly stood up as he came in the room and instinctively lunged for the wand, grabbing it and pointing it at him.

Sirius froze and stared at her, brows furrowed. He put up his hands and said, soothingly, "Raven, what are you doing? Give me that. You don't know what it can do."

"Oh, don't I?" she asked, raising her eyebrow at him and smirking dangerously. "Incarcerous!"

Sirius' eyes widened with shock as thick ropes erupted from his wand and wound themselves around his body tightly. "You're a witch! I thought you were a Muggle!"

"And you did a pretty good job of convincing me you were a Muggle!" her eyes bore into him as she kept his wand pointed straight at his heart. "God, how could I have been so stupid? I almost trusted you!"

"Raven, it's not what you think. I can explain everything!"

"So what are you? A Death Eater? Someone from the Ministry sent to find me?" she took a few steps towards him, her mouth very thin.

"What? Raven, you honestly have no idea who I am, do you?"

"I think I'm about to find out if you want to keep your arms!" she gave the wand a little flick and the ropes around Sirius' abdomen tightened slightly.

Sirius flinched and gave her a pleading look. "Do you think you could lose the ropes? They're really digging into me."

Raven saw red marks forming around where the ropes were cutting into his arms. She gave the wand a wave and they dropped to the floor. She continued to point the wand at him. "Sit down and don't even think about moving or I'm going to hex you."

Sirius obeyed. He sat down and looked up at her.

"Well?" she said, waving her other hand in the air for him to start explaining.

"If you had read the Daily Prophet the past few months you'd know exactly who Sirius Black is. He's the only wizard to ever escape Azkaban prison after twelve years--"

Raven gasped. "I knew it! You just admitted it! You're a Death Eater, you were in Azkaban!"

Sirius gritted his teeth. "I'm not a Death Eater! Everyone thought I was. If you want to hear the whole story, don't interrupt me!"

Raven fell silent.

"I was sent to Azkaban for blowing apart a street full of Muggles and one wizard, Peter Pettigrew, my best friend... Have you even heard of Harry Potter?"

"Of course I have! I just haven't heard much in a long time because I told Josh only to tell me things about Voldemort, and there hasn't been much."

"And that's a good thing...right?" asked Sirius, suspiciously. 'I wonder if she's a Death Eater or something,' he thought.

Raven spoke through clenched teeth. "I'm asking the questions. Keep going." She pointed her wand at him.

"All right! Harry's my godson."

"What?"

"I was best friends with Lily and James Potter. I was going to be their secret keeper because Voldemort was after them and Harry."

Raven put up a hand to silence him. It was all coming back to her. She had heard about it all those years ago. Black betrayed the Potter's to Voldemort, and then Voldemort went to kill them. A knot formed in her stomach as she remembered the cat still purring contentedly between them.

"Oh my god! Lily? You name your cats after your victims? How sick and demented are you?"

Sirius decided he was going about this the wrong way. He'd better just tell her everything all at once. "I'm innocent! I never betrayed James and Lily! They were my best friends. I would have died for them, that's why I agreed to be their secret keeper at first. But then I thought that would be too obvious. I convinced them to switch secret keepers at the last minute. I thought no one would suspect Peter because he was...well, a wimp...compared to the rest of us, anyway. But it was the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life. Peter was in league with Voldemort all along and he betrayed them. James and I had agreed that it would be better not to tell anyone about my switch with Peter, so everyone thought it was me. Even Lily didn't know! After I found out James and Lily had been killed, I knew the truth, so I went to find Peter and turn him in. He saw me coming and blew apart the entire street, transforming into a rat and leaving behind his own finger as evidence that I had killed him. I was framed by my own best friend. They didn't even give me a fair trial. They put me straight in Azkaban, assuming I was a Death Eater."

Raven was staring at him intently with her mouth open. Her head was spinning. "This makes no sense. I-- How do you expect me to believe a story you had twelve years in Azkaban to come up with?"

Sirius's face fell. "I guess I don't." He put his head in his hands and closed his eyes. "You can call the Ministry if you like. I won't put up a fight. I only escaped so I could protect Harry from that thing and turn him in, but it's no use now. I have no idea where he is."

"What thing?"

"Peter. He's an Animagus. He cut off his own finger when we were in the street and then transformed, disappearing into the gutter. He'd been living with a wizard family as their pet rat while I was in Azkaban. When I got out, I headed straight for Hogwarts because I saw a picture of him with the Weasley family in an issue of the Daily Prophet that Fudge gave me. I found Peter, but the only people to see him alive were three thirteen year old kids, including Harry, and a werewolf who just happens to be my best friend."

Raven opened her mouth to ask about the werewolf best friend, but decided against it. She shook her head. "There isn't any reason I should believe you."

"Have I tried to hurt you? You've only known me for a short time, but I know you don't think I'm a killer. I'm not a Death Eater and I'm not here for you. I don't even know what you're talking about, all right? And I'm not going to ask. I don't know why, but I just need for you to believe me," pleaded Sirius.

Raven looked sadly at Sirius. "I..." Raven was struck with a sudden idea. "Will you let me use Legilimency on you?" She raised his wand.

Sirius jumped as she pointed the wand at him again. "You know how?"

"Yeah. Josh taught me," she said as though this was the most obvious thing in the world.

"O...kay... How do I do it? No one's ever..."

"Just relax and let your thoughts flow freely. Don't fight me. Concentrate."

"...All right..." He shifted uncomfortably on the couch as she sat next to him.

"Legilimens!" she yelled as she pointed the wand at him.

She could suddenly see inside his mind. Random memories of his started to enter her mind. First she saw a boy about thirteen years old with a scar on his head waving out a window at Hogwarts. That must have been Harry. Next she saw Sirius and another man eating cereal at a kitchen table. She pushed further and saw the shadow of a man morphing into a werewolf. Then she saw Sirius and a small, mousy-haired man pointing their wands at each other. Sirius was yelling at the man as he cast a spell. There was an explosion, and then he transformed into a rat. Three kids, one of them was Harry, the man from the kitchen and Sirius were pointing their wands at the mousy looking man. Then she saw Sirius, twelve years younger being thrown roughly into a cell in Azkaban. She watched as a group of wizards surrounded a young Sirius sitting in a chair with shackles around his arms and legs. One of them pointed a wand at him and Sirius' body went rigid. His eyes rolled up into his head and his body writhed as he yelped in terrible pain.

Raven jumped and pushed the memories away. The room came back into focus. She was breathing heavily and suddenly had a terrible headache.

Sirius grabbed her hands, as Raven reflexively jerked them upward, and looked into her eyes. "What did you see?"

He was sitting only an inch from her. "They...they were...torturing you?"

Comprehension dawned on Sirius's face. "For me to give them names of other Death Eaters. They thought I was one, remember?"

Raven looked at Sirius compassionately as Lily, the cat, jumped up into her lap and purred. They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment.

Raven finally spoke, "So this is why you were so obsessed with The Count of Monte Cristo?"

Sirius smiled weakly. "Yeah, I'm Edmond, Peter is Fernand, and the Chateau D'if is Azkaban."

"I see…and who's Mercedes?"

"Well, I should say you, but if you got married to Peter, I'd really have to kill him."

Raven smirked. "Yeah…"

"So…" Sirius looked up at her expectantly, "does this mean you believe me?"

She smiled and shrugged. "I guess so."

Incredibly relieved, Sirius suddenly pulled Raven into a rib-shattering hug. Surprised, Raven tensed slightly and then relaxed as he clung to her.

"Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you..." muttered Sirius through the black hair that was against his face.

Raven didn't quite know what to say or do. She decided to just sit and let him hold her if he needed to. She didn't exactly object to it.

After a few minutes he released her and made himself busy opening the cat food and pouring some in a bowl for Lily. Raven had a feeling he was trying to compose himself.

"I know you probably don't want to think about this anymore than you have to, but..." Raven trailed off as he sat next to her again.

"It's all right. What?"

"Well, how in the hell did you escape? It's supposed to be impossible to escape from Azkaban."

Sirius grinned. He was rather proud of how he accomplished it, being the first and only person to ever escape.

"Well, there's one more thing you don't know about me."

"Only one?" asked Raven, raising her eyebrows.

"Well...one more major thing."

"I knew it!" exclaimed Raven triumphantly. "You're actually a woman?"

Sirius' mouth dropped open and he let out a short laugh. "Fine, call me a woman and see if I tell you how I escaped." He crossed his arms in front of him and tilted his head upward, making a pouty face.

"Oh you will tell me, Black," said Raven as she threateningly raised his wand and pointed it once more at him, "if you know what's good for you."

"What are you gonna do?" asked Sirius anxiously.

"Diffindo," replied Raven, nonchalantly

"The cutting spell? What exactly are you going to…" Sirius trailed off uneasily, fearing he already knew the answer.

"Each and every limb from your body, starting with your shortest, capiche?"

Sirius' eyes widened in pretend shock and the two of them burst into laughter.

"Then I really would be a woman," teased Sirius.

"Okay now, seriously…Sirius." she started to laugh again.

Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry! How many times in your life have people used that terrible pun?"

"Too many to count, definitely. Could I have my wand back, please?"

"Not a chance. I'm not finished interrogating you yet. I want to know how you—"

"Escaped?" Sirius asked. "With difficulty. But I have an advantage over anyone who's in Azkaban right now."

Raven's expression was questioning. "Which is?"

Sirius suddenly transformed into Padfoot, the big black dog Raven believed to be his pet.

Raven stared as her mouth dropped open. "Why you little..."

Sirius had already transformed into himself again. "Little what?"

Raven found the word as her hands found her hips. "Animal! You were spying on me?"

"Naturally," said Sirius offhandedly. "I'd just spent twelve years confined in a cell, Raven. I couldn't resist a beautiful girl." He looked straight into her eyes, seemingly not in the least bit apprehensive about what he'd just said.

Raven bit her bottom lip and rolled her eyes. "I bet you use that excuse on all the women you spy on!"

"What other women? There's only been you!"

"Am I supposed to be flattered?"

Sirius smiled widely. "Whatever you like."

Raven shook her head. "So how was that a difficult escape then? And why didn't you do it sooner?"

Sirius held up his hands parallel to each other and spread them about 6 or 7 inches apart. "The bars were only this far apart. But after so many years of getting shit to eat everyday, I eventually became thin enough as a dog. I also had to wait until the Dementor effects wore off. They nearly drove me insane when I first got there, and for a long time after. But eventually I was able to hold onto the thought that I was innocent. It wasn't exactly a happy thought because I was still stuck in that hell hole, but it kept me sane enough until I discovered that as a dog, dementors didn't affect me as much."

Raven nodded her head a bit as she thought. "Dementors can't see, right? It's perfect. Animal thoughts are less...complex?"

"Exactly. I could still feel them, but it wasn't nearly as bad. Anyways, when Fudge visited Azkaban this year, there was a picture of the Weasley family in Egypt and Ron Weasley, who is one of Harry's best friend, had Peter, as a rat on his shoulder in the picture. Ron had been keeping him as a pet."

"But…" Raven stared at him, "how did you know it was Peter? There are hundreds of billions of…"

Sirius held up his hand. "Don't hex me with that thing," he indicated his own wand that Raven was holding, 'I'm going to my room to get the newspaper clipping. You can come if you like."

Raven followed him into his room, still clutching his wand, though she was far from using it on him now. Sirius kicked away a few articles of clothing, which were scattered around the room, and bent down next to his bed, which was unmade.

Raven looked around the messy room and smirked. "You need a maid."

Sirius looked up with a grin after reaching under the bed and pulling out the Daily Prophet with the Weasley family on the front. "Are you offering?"

"Hell no. But are you a wizard or aren't you?" Raven gave his wand a flick and Sirius's bed made itself. "It's not very neat, but at least it's something."

"Hey, thanks!" said Sirius happily. "Anyway, look." He held the paper out to her. "There's Peter. I would have recognized him anyway just because of how many times I've seen him transform. We were all unregistered Animagi, you see. James, Peter, and I. But if you look closely," Raven bent closer to the newspaper, "you can see there's a toe missing from his front paw, and—"

"All that was left of Pettigrew was a finger?" supplied Raven.

"Right. I thought you said you didn't remember."

She shrugged. "It's all coming back to me."

"Good. Well, when I saw that Wormtail was—"

"Wormtail?" interrupted Raven.

"Sorry, that's what we called him because his Animagus form was a rat. I was Padfoot, and James was Prongs because he was a stag."

"Oh…okay, go on."

"I saw Wormtail with Ron—if you read the caption there it says he went to Hogwarts with Harry—and I stopped eating entirely, save enough food to keep me alive, in the hope that I might be able to slip through the bars. When I was thin enough to do so, I swam to the mainland as a dog and then went to find the rat."

"So when did you become an Animagus?"

"In my fifth year."

Raven looked impressed. "Really? Was it complicated?"

Sirius shrugged. "Well, not to brag or anything, but I was one of the top students in my year."

Raven rolled her eyes. "So was I."

"You went to Hogwarts?"

She nodded.

"Yeah? And then what?" asked Sirius.

Raven gave him a look and shook her head.

"Raven, that's not fair! I told you my story, now you're going to tell me yours."

"And if I don't?" she said, eyeing him adamantly.

"If you don't..." started Sirius, tapping his finger to his lip as if thinking.

He quickly lunged forward and clasped his fingers around his wand. Raven kept hold firmly and they paused for a moment, staring into each other's eyes, searching for a sign of surrender. With his other hand, Sirius tickled Raven's ribs and she reflexively doubled over, forgetting the wand and launching into a fit of giggles. Stowing the wand in his back pocket, Sirius continued to tickle her, kneeling over her on the couch and laughing along with her. Choking with laughter, Raven suddenly threw him off of her and lay sprawled out on his couch trying to regain her regular breathing. Sirius steadied himself on the opposite end of his couch and continued to laugh.

Raven gave him an icy stare. "That's not fair. You cheated."

"Quite the predicament you're in, Raven. 'It's not fair?' You think it's fair that I tell you my whole life story when you haven't even told me your full name?"

"Sirius, don't push your luck. It had already been pushed to its limit when I said I believed your story."

"I'll take my chances," said Sirius, drawing the wand from his pocket and twirling it around his fingers. "Quid pro quo, my dear."

Raven looked from the wand to Sirius and then smiled sweetly. "You wouldn't. You'd miss me too much."

"You're right, I wouldn't kill you. I couldn't even kill the man who betrayed my best friends and sent me to Azkaban for twelve years. But I do know a pretty heinous tickling jinx…"

Raven gasped. "You're despicable."

"I am, yes." He gave her a sexy smile.

Raven took a long breath. "All right…but I'm starving. I'll tell you over breakfast."

Sirius got up from the couch and extended a hand to Raven, stowing his wand in the back pocket of his jeans with his other hand. "Breakfast…burritos?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "You with the burritos, honestly…"

A/N: Well…that's done. But in the next chapter you get to find out about Raven… Any ideas? I'd love to hear them. I won't make fun. You're probably right anyway ; ) Let me know in your review. I really can't stress this enough: the more reviews I get, the faster I update. The next chapter's all ready to go…I'm just waiting on you ; ) Luv, Liveley.