Chapter 16: Sirius Black

"Viktoria what are you still doing here?" Dumbledore asked as he walked into Godrics Hollow. Viktoria stood by the window next to the baby crib were Harry used to sleep. She didn't understand why Severus had never said anything about Voldemort attacking Godrics Hollow. She slowly turned away from the window, blinking her tears away. She slowly turned her attention to look at Dumbledore.

'Did you really have to take Harry away?' Viktoria's green letters glowed before him as she turned her attention to him. Dumbledore stared at her for a moment and ran a hand through his hair. He stared at her and walked over as he slowly took her inside his arms.

"I know that it hurts to have lost Lily and James in one night and have your godson taken away, but it's for the best that Harry grows up with muggles. He needs to grow up away from the wizarding world. After all it's started already. You know what their calling him, the-boy-who-lived. His name will go down in all the history books as the only person in the history of magic to survive the killing curse. No, it's far more healthy for him to grow up away from it all," he said as he pulled her away from him and looked down into her eyes as he held her in arms length. "Besides I don't see Severus raising Harry Potter."

Viktoria allowed a small sad smile to slip onto her face. "Professor Dumbledore, their taking Sirius Black to Azkaban," Professor McGonegall said as she nearly ran into the room. "Their saying that he's the one that betrayed the Potters to Voldemort and that this morning he blew up half of an entire street killing twelve muggles and Peter Petigrew with ONE curse! And their saying that when he was taken away all he did was LAUGH!" McGonegall said as she stared at Viktoria and Dumbledore.

'But that doesn't make any sense, Sirius would never kill anyone. Besides he loved Lily and James and hated all that pure-blood mania crap, he'd never betray them to Voldemort,' Viktoria's green letters glowed as she looked between the two of them. There was a very concerned look in Dumbledore's eyes.

"Yes I know, it's doesn't make much sense to me either but he was the Potter's secret keeper, he was the only one who could say were they where," Dumbledore said, never tearing his eyes away from McGonegall. "Are you sure that he killed Petigrew?"

"They combed the street for him, the largest part that they found was his pinky," McGonagall said as she frowned. Viktoria furrowed her brow.

"I must go down to Azkaban to see what's happening," Dumbledore said as he walked toward the door. Viktoria walked after him causing Dumbledore to turn around. "It would be best if you not go, Viktoria. The Dementors take away people's happiest moments and leave them only with their darkest moments in life and considering your past I'm afraid they would affect you more then others," Dumbledore said as he stared down at her. She merely nodded in response.

Viktoria turned away and walked over to the baby crib and stared down inside. She thought that it was very ironic that the previous night, when the Dark Lord was still around and the war was going on, everything seemed much better then at that very moment. While the rest of the wizarding world wildly celebrated, here she stood, in a deep sadness. She'd lost James, Lily, Harry and now Sirius. What was next?

"Viktoria, did you stay here all night?" Remus asked as he walked into the room. Viktoria merely nodded. She'd arrived the night before with the rest of the Order of the Phoenix, but it was already too late. Most of the Death Eaters who'd come with the Dark Lord had scattered as soon as he was defeated and it was far too late to save Lily and James. Viktoria had been the first to walk in, she'd heard Harry's wails and ran straight to that room and picked him up in his arms, trying her best not to look at Lily's dead body on the floor.

Remus had arrived moments later and he'd taken Lily into his arms and started to cry as Viktoria held on tightly to Harry, trying her best to keep from sobbing, for Harry's sake. He was scared as it was; her sobbing uncontrollably would not help the matter. It was a horrible night; Lily's body had already been taken away along with the other's who'd been unfortunate enough to die in Godric Hollow when Hagrid arrived to take Harry away to Dumbledore. Remus had to talk her into giving the baby up, for she simply didn't want to let him go. By then she'd already calmed him by humming so softly that only Harry could hear her and he was sound asleep when Hagrid took him in his arms.

She and Remus had accompanied Hagrid down the stairs, Sirius was still kneeling on the ground, he was inconsolable. He was holding onto James' body and he wouldn't let them take the body away. She'd gone up to him, kneeled beside him and touched his shoulder. He merely turned around to look at her and tried his best to hide his tears. She was the only one who could get near to him, the only one Sirius allowed to get near to him that night. She took his arm and helped him to his feet and hugged him as he started sobbing while they took away James.

'Have you heard what they are saying about Sirius?' the question glowed before him as Viktoria looked out the window beyond the baby's crib.

"Yes, I came with McGonegall. She said that you were up here," Remus said as he looked around. He didn't know what to feel about everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours. None of it made any sense to him.

'It wasn't him Remus,' Viktoria's green letters glowed as she picked up one of Harry's baby blankets and brought it up to her nose. It still had his fragrance. Remus looked down and scratched h is neck. He couldn't see any one else who it could be, but he didn't want to say anything about that. 'Sirius wanted to say something to me last night. After he gave Hagrid his motorcycle, but he never said a word.'

Remus stood there for a moment and wondered what Sirius might have wanted to say. Perhaps he wanted to apologize for his betrayal or try to explain it, Remus merely shook his head. It didn't seem like anything he could have possibly said would change the matter. "Whether he did it or not, he's going to Azkaban for killing Peter and the dozen muggles," Remus said as he stared at his sister who immediately whirled around with a frown on her face.

'But you know Sirius would never kill anybody! He must have been framed!' Viktoria said as she looked over at Remus. Remus looked away. He found it very hard to believe that someone would go to such lengths to frame him of a crime. Besides, the only other wizard there apart from Sirius was Peter, whom had perished with the twelve other people.

"You should go home to Severus, Viktoria. I'm sure that he's very worried," Remus said as he looked at her. She turned away from him and looked out the window; it was a very bright and sunny day.

'I don't want to go home, I don't think I can see him just yet,' Viktoria's letters glowed before Remus. It just all seemed so surreal to Viktoria that she could lose most of the people she cared about in the course of so little time and that the man that had terrorized their entire world was defeated by a child.

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Viktoria grabbed her hair and just as she opened her front door she set her hair loose. Severus stared at Viktoria and looked down at his feet. He still loved her very much, which was the reason that he still wore his ring around his neck and did not want to ask for a divorce, but he'd not moved back in with her or seen her in quite sometime. Even now he wasn't here of his own accord, he was simply there to deliver bad news.

"Severus, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at Hogwarts?" Viktoria asked as she stepped aside and allowed Severus to walk in. He walked into the room and wondered how he would tell her what happened. He hated Sirius and he hated the fact that he had to share his wife's heart with him, but that didn't mean that he wanted to have Sirius killed. After all, it wouldn't mean that Viktoria would stop loving Sirius.

"Well there is something very grave that I have to tell you and I know that it isn't best that you hear it from me, but it could be worse," Severus said as he looked over at her. She furrowed her brow in concern. "You should sit down," he said as he lightly grabbed her arm and walked her over to the couch where they both sat down together.

"What is it Severus?" she asked as she looked into his eyes.

"Yesterday, the Ministry of Magic was, invaded. Potter went to the Ministry of Magic with Several friends, because he believed that his godfather was there in the Department of Mysteries, but it was a trap sent from the Dark Lord to lure him there. There were many Death Eaters there, they wanted Potter to get a prophecy about Potter and the Dark Lord and it started, well I guess you can say the first battle of the oncoming war," Severus said as he stared at Viktoria who was trying to see what he was trying to get at. "The Order of course went, along with Sirius. I don't know exactly what happened, I wasn't able to go, but I hear that Sirius was engaged in combat with Bellatrix and she hit him with one of her spells. Sirius fell beyond the veil, quite literally."

Viktoria took in a sharp intake of breath. She sat staring at him for a moment, as if she were trying to grasp what happened. She turned away and ran a hand through her hair as tears welled up in her eyes. "He's dead? No, he can't be. His name wasn't cleared, he hasn't gotten a chance to be a father to his son," Viktoria said as he voice started to shake with the tears in her throat.

"The Order members didn't want him to go, didn't want him to be exposed, but he wanted to be with his godson and ensure his safety," Severus said as he looked at Viktoria who was starting to shake with grief. Severus looked away; he really didn't know what to do. He hadn't quite touched her in a long time, so he wasn't sure that he should comfort her by taking her in his arms, especially as he hated Sirius so much. He thought that by doing so she would think that he was happy about Sirius' death. "The Ministry can no longer deny that the Dark Lord has indeed returned, there will be a war, like the last."

"No, not like the last," Viktoria whispered as she took in a deep breath.

TBC…

A/N: PLEASE REVIEW. I need some feedback