Thanks Ambush99 for betaing this chapter! Also, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited or followed this fic, I hope you enjoy this instalment.

Chapter 12

Sirius knocked lightly on the door as he stuck his head around the corner. "Arthur Weasley?" he said, addressing the slightly frantic red headed man.

"Yes," Arthur said looking up.

"Sirius Black," Sirius said as he held out his hand.

"Welcome," Arthur said, greeting the other man warmly. "Apologies about the state of the office, we don't have a lot of space."

"I can see," Sirius replied, as he allowed his eyes to travel around the walls to the various muggle posters and photographs. "Quite a collection you have here."

"Yes, it's quite fascinating how muggles survive without magic. Quite fascinating," Arthur said enthusiastically.

"Vincent Black Shadow!" Sirius exclaimed as he stared at the bike.

"You know it?"

"I used to have one."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I got my muggle bike and car licence when I was seventeen. Bloody temperamental beast," Sirius said, indicating to the bike. "A muggle journalist, Hunter S. Thompson, said that, if you rode the Black Shadow at top speed for any length of time, you would almost certainly die."

"Weren't your parents worried?"

"Worried? If they'd known, I'm sure they would have encouraged it," Sirius said lightly, missing Arthur's shocked expression. "Anyway, enough about me, what do you know about muggle firearms?"

Arthur took a moment to recover. The twins sometimes drove him up the wall with the constant owls he and Molly received from Hogwarts. Percy's near obsession with Crouch both worried and annoyed him, but to want your child dead?! What kind of parents were they? "Muggles generally refer to them as guns. I think I have some information around here."

"What's the Ministry's stance?"

"Nothing, I don't think they believe they exist," Arthur replied as he shuffled through reams of paper. "Ah! Here it is! Sorry it's not a lot."

Sirius nodded as he scanned the single piece of parchment. "I might see what a muggle bookshop has to offer."

"A muggle bookshop!" Arthur exclaimed excitedly.

"Care to join?"

"Really?! That would be amazing. I love muggles!"

"Clearly," Sirius said kindly, as he looked around the small, almost broom cupboard sized office.

"I'm not really dressed for it," Arthur said as he compared his wizarding robes to Sirius' more muggle attire.

"Lose the hat and the coat, and you'll be fine."

"So, where are you going?" Arthur said as he hurried after Sirius.

"Charing Cross, there's a large bookshop off the corner."

"Do you often go into the muggle world?"

"Most days," Sirius replied as they walked down Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square. "I try to read a muggle newspaper once a day. That's Downing Street, where the muggle Prime Minister lives," he said, indicating to a street that was fairly nondescript, bar the large metal gates it hid behind.

Arthur felt he needed at least another five sets of eyes as he tried to take in everything around him. The store was full of muggle books, with their still, unmoving images staring back at him. Then there were the electric lights, electric sockets and what he thought were computers. He glanced across at Sirius who looked completely nonplussed, as though it was a daily occurrence which, Arthur reminded himself, it was. "Where are we going to look?"

"The non-fiction section upstairs. If they don't have anything I am sure they can order it for us," Sirius replied. After a couple of minutes of searching, he stood up triumphantly, book in hand. Pausing for a moment, he took another couple from the shelf. He grinned as he watched Arthur handle a book with utter amazement. "Good one?" he said, indicating to the Ford Anglia Hayes' manual Arthur was holding.

"Yes, still trying to work out a couple of niggles in my car."

"If it's anything like the Shadow, it'll be a lifetime's worth of work," Sirius replied, taking the book from Arthur.

"Sirius?"

"If Crouch can 'expense' his fancy suits, if Malfoy can 'expense' two second homes in London and if Fudge can 'expense' his duck house, I think we can 'expense' a couple of books," Sirius said lightly, as a mischievous smile played on his face.

"What was that thing you used to pay for the books?" Arthur asked, once they were back out on Whitehall.

"A bank card. I have a muggle bank account as well as a vault at Gringotts. It makes it easier to pay for items in muggle society and it ensures I still have access to funds, if I cannot access my vault for whatever reason," Sirius explained.

"You think there's going to be a second war don't you."

"Yeah," Sirius said in a hollow voice. "We've got to use as many resources as we can. We cannot lose this war. The consequences are just too great."

Arthur was suddenly struck by how young Sirius still was. How desperately young he had been when he'd decided to sacrifice himself for his friend and his young family; he had been younger than Charlie was now. He wondered how someone who had been through so much, someone who had spent nearly half his life as a hostage, could cope with the hopes and dreams of so many. He wondered how much the throw away comment about his parents had affected him. "Whatever you need Sirius, let me know."

"Thank you," Sirius replied earnestly. "If you could give your opinion on the muggle weapons I would greatly appreciate it."

"Of course," Arthur replied as they walked into the Ministry.

"Sirius!"

Sirius spun around to see George Skrupskelis, one of the younger aurors, run up to him with a folded piece of parchment. He scanned it for a moment before crumpling it and throwing it into a nearby fire. "I'm really sorry Arthur, but something has come up."

"Nothing serious I hope."

"I'm not sure at the moment, but I've got to go now. Thank you again," Sirius said, shaking Arthur's hand. Without a further word he hurried to the nearest apparation point.

Landing just outside Hogwart's gates he quickly walked through them and into the familiar grounds. The note had been vague at best; Crouch. Rambling. He guessed Skrupskelis hadn't known about his previous history with Crouch, or he doubted he would have found him. Still, whatever Crouch had been rambling about, it was his job to investigate. Seeing the small group of people near the Forbidden Forest, he hurried over. "Dumbledore," he said, greeting the nearest man.

"Sirius, I am glad you are here. I'm not sure how much Professor Snape said in the note."

"Not a lot," Sirius replied, his eyes locking onto his school nemesis. "Severus."

"Black," Snape replied, shooting an equally cold glare back.

"Mr. Black," Fudge said in a sickly sweet voice.

"Ah, Mr. Fudge and Mr Bagman," Sirius replied pleasantly. "What are you doing here?"

"We were here to explain the third task," Bagman said, stepping forward for the first time.

"Third task?" Sirius said, frowning as he looked around. His face broke into a grin when he saw his godson. "Harry!" he exclaimed, pulling him into a hug.

Harry buried his face into his godfather's chest as he felt some of the fear and tension of the last few minutes ebb away. He knew now Sirius was here everything would be okay. "I don't know what happened. I swear, I don't," he mumbled.

"I believe you," Sirius said as they broke apart, his arm remaining wrapped protectively around Harry's shoulders.

"What the hell is going on?" Karkaroff growled, his sleek silver furs in disarray, as he saw Krum on the ground, beside Dumbledore and Harry.

"I was attacked," Krum said, as he leant against the tree. "That judge, Mr. Crouch, he attacked me."

"Treachery!" Karkaroff yelled. "This is your idea," he said, pointing at Dumbledore. "You want your school to win so badly you'll stop at nothing to ensure it happens. He's involved as well, no doubt," he said, pointing dangerously at Harry.

With one simple step Sirius pushed Harry behind him, using his body as a shield. "Back. Off. Now," he growled menacingly, punctuating each word.

"Now Mr. Black, I'm sure-" Bagman started, but as he was met with Sirius' glare he took a step back.

"Oh, I don't forget a face," Karkaroff sneered.

"Nor do I," Sirius growled, taking another step forward. "Now, why don't you take your student and piss off back to your ship." He tried to take a calming breath as he watched Karkaroff and Krum hurry back to the ship. He'd let his emotions get the better of him again.

"Well, I guess there could have been more, errr diplomatic ways of getting them to leave, but if needs must," Bagman said, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. "Now Harry, if you scurry back up to the castle."

Sirius shot Bagman a strange look. "I'd rather Harry not walk back to the castle unsupervised, especially as we have no idea who the attacker is or where they are."

"Of course, of course," Bagman repeated. "Errr, who do you suggest?"

Sirius glanced at Dumbledore. "Hagrid?" He watched Hagrid hurry over after presumably he had received Dumbledore's patronus.

"Dumbledore, what do you need?" Hagrid breathed heavily as he ran up to the group.

"I need you to take Harry back to my office," Dumbledore instructed.

Hagrid took a moment to survey the group, before handing Fang to Dumbledore, then clapping a giant hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Good to see you Sirius."

"Merlin, Hagrid, will you ever learn your own strength?" Sirius replied with a grin.

Hagrid grinned sheepishly. "I've got that bike of yours."

"Keep it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I don't suspect there are many brooms for gentleman of your, err, size," Sirius replied, still grinning.

"Oi! Don't be cheeky. I'll let you off this once," Hagrid replied.

Sirius turned to Harry. "Harry, don't worry about anything. We just need to search the grounds and then I'll be back, I promise."

Harry nodded earnestly and followed Hagrid back to the castle. He knew, now Dumbledore and Sirius were there, nothing could happen to him.

"Well, shall we start the search? Old Barthy couldn't have gone far," Fudge replied lightly.

"He was muttering incoherently," Snape said in disbelief.

"Bartly loves a good joke," Fudge continued.

"What?!" Sirius exclaimed. "Didn't you hear what Severus said? I doubt Crouch has done this as a bloody joke!"


"Well, I think your job is done here, Mr. Black," Fudge said as they arrived at Dumbledore's office after searching the grounds for an hour to no avail. "We just need to ask young Harry a couple of questions."

"Sirius?" Harry turned to him.

"You cannot question him without his parents, guardian or legal representative present."

"Mr. Black I did not realise you were a legal consult," Fudge sneered.

"I'm not, but Harry is my godson, so under wizarding law l can act as his guardian," Sirius sneered back.

"Gentleman is this really necessary?" Bagman cut in, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

"Depends on the nature of the questions," Sirius bit back.

"We just need to ask Harry a couple of questions, that's all," Fudge replied in a forced voice.

Harry looked up at Sirius to see him nod. "We had just been told about the third task. Victor wanted to talk to me about something."

"What did he want to talk to you about?" Fudge asked.

"He, he wanted to talk about Hermione."

"Why?"

Harry looked embarrassedly up at Sirius. "Do we really need to know the details about some teenage crush?" Sirius asked.

"No, no," Bagman said cheerily. "Please continue Harry."

Looking for Sirius' approval, Harry continued. "We were talking and then Mr. Crouch appeared. I'm sorry I didn't see what direction he came from," he added apologetically. "He didn't seem to know where he was. He looked like he had been travelling for days. He mentioned Voldemort was growing stronger and he needed to warn Dumbledore. He said he had made a great mistake and he had escaped. Then he seemed to think he was somewhere else and started to give instructions to Percy about having supper with Mr. and Mrs. Fudge."

"So, he was insane, he didn't know what he was talking about," Fudge said dismissively.

"No, he was sanest when he was talking about Voldemort!" Harry yelled.

Fudge flinched at the mention of you-know-who's name. "Now Harry, there is no need for that," he said patronisingly.

"I think we are finished here," Sirius said, pushing Harry towards the door.

"Mr. Black!"

"Harry, meet me outside," Sirius said gently before turning to face Fudge. "Look, I understand. You either don't believe Voldemort will return, or you simply can't handle that he is returning, but don't you ever take it out on my godson!" Without a further word he followed Harry out of the office, Harry's words echoing in his head. Pretty much the same words he had choked out to James over six months ago. What had Crouch seen? Had he been too quick to judge? These were questions he needed to answer but not now. Now his concern was the scared, fourteen year old boy in front of him. "You okay Harry?"

"I think so, I don't know. What did they want to know?" Harry stammered out.

"Harry you gave them the truth, and I just, well, I don't think they were ready for it," Sirius said, wrapping his arm around Harry's shoulders.

"Why?"

"I know you think us adults have all the answers but sometimes we don't. I believe you. I know what you said was true, but I think Fudge is too scared to believe that right now," Sirius explained.

"But that's stupid."

Sirius took a breath and sighed. "I know Harry, I know. There are people working on that right now. So, what's the third task?"

"It's a maze."

Sirius nodded. "I'm guessing there will be some obstacles on the way. So, a couple of jinxes and hexes wouldn't go amiss."

"Where do I start?"

"I tell you what. Why don't you have a look with Ron and Hermione, then owl the list over to me. I can cast my eye over it," Sirius said with a wink.

"Everyone thinks I am going to win, but how?" Harry suddenly blurted out.

Sirius paused. "Sometimes people see something in you, which you can't see or believe in yet. They think you can win, because they believe in you. I know you don't believe that yet, but you should. Again Harry, if you don't want to do this, I will find a way out of it. In fact, I have a stack full of parchment back at the office with legal reasons you could withdraw from the competition."

"Thanks Sirius, but I want to see it through now," Harry said, stopping next to the Fat Lady's portrait.

Sirius smiled. "Harry, I need to be serious for a moment. You have to promise me you will not go into the grounds without your friends. You have to promise me none of you will go out after dark. I know it's rich coming from me, but with what's just happened."

Harry nodded. The words coming from his godfather's mouth held far more weight than any teacher's had ever done. "I promise."

"Good," Sirius said hugging Harry. "Now get in there and fill Ron and Hermione in on your gossip." He bid his farewell and started to walk down the familiar corridors, lost in thought. Where had Crouch been? What had happened to him? Had he escaped from the same place he had been held? A twinge of guilt hit him. What if he had reached out to Crouch, would he still be alive?