Chapter Two
Sorry! Hadn't realised my section breaks had been removed by the editing softwear. Hopefully these two chapters should be easier to read now!
Tuesday 3rd November 1981 – London
Remus had arrived at St. Mungo's around five thirty on the morning of the first. They would not let him into the closed ward Lily and James were being treated on.
He tried to argue when Dumbledore came for Harry. But where could he take the boy? He had nowhere permanent to live, half the Order were still unaccounted for, and who knew how long Lily and James would be in hospital for?
And, as Dumbledore gently reminded him, he was not Harry's godparent. Not anymore.
He had lingered as long as he dared, then found a Muggle hostel in Charing Cross to shower and lay flat with his eyes shut and pretend that counted as sleep.
He had done the same the day after, sitting for as long as the Healers would let him, then returning to the hostel and trying to scrape a few more hours sleep. All the while, inside his chest Moony paced. Since Dumbledore had been sending him to spy on the other werewolves Moony had been constantly just below the surface but now… Now he was inconsolable. The pack had been torn apart, splintered and sundered. The wolf inside Remus was beyond fury now, and may the gods protect that fucking bastard Black.
Remus stood and paced the waxed floor of St. Mungo's, pacing because what else could he do?
The cell was under the Ministry. It was cold, the walls ran with condensation and in the light of the flickering blue torch outside the bars of his cell Sirius could see his breath mist before him.
Or he would have done if he was seeing the cell at all.
Sirius took the stairs three at a time, eyes half shut against the smoke, ears ringing from the sounds of curses being fired up and down the stairwell.
A brilliant green jet of light shot past his shoulder and he didn't take a moment to think, firing off a return hex as he ploughed forwards. There was a scream as his spell collided with the Death Eater above, and Sirius leapt the fallen body, and flew around the corner.
He did not stop. Putting his shoulder first and crashing through the door into the flat he knew so well.
He was moving too fast to be careful, triggering a slicing jinx left as a trap. It would have taken his head off, except for the heavy lump in the hallway carpet that sent him sprawling at the last minute.
Swallowing, Sirius looked around. He knew what a body on the floor felt like, but the sight of Emma McKinnon's tiny, six-year-old form made his stomach flip.
He pushed himself up, slowly, trying to avoid the blood on the walls.
Today was Marlene's birthday. Today her family had come to celebrate. Today the Death Eaters had destroyed them all.
Sirius' memory dragged him to the bedroom, to the sight of Marlene and her Muggle girlfriend, left on the bed. Pieces of them scattered across the floors and walls…
'I'm innocent, you fucking shits!' The words tore through his throat in a scream, as his knees hit the stone floor of his cell.
The Dementor on the other side of the cell bars did not react.
Sirius dragged himself to his feet, pacing and repeating the words, 'I didn't kill them. I'm not the traitor. I am innocent.'
The muttered mantra rose in sobs echoing back at him from the stone as the memories sucked Sirius back down into their blackness once more.
It was 11 AM and the news broke. They had found Peter.
Moony howled in Remus' chest.
Peter's flat was trashed, blood everywhere…. Bits everywhere. The largest piece they had found was a finger apparently.
All Remus could see in his head was Marlene's flat, the descriptions were so close. Sirius had been the one to fight his way into Marlene's flat. Sirius was the one the found in the blood and wreckage. He said he fought his way up while the main body of the fighters had been distracted by the Order downstairs.
But Peter's flat sounded like the same kind of massacre… And the Potter's had been betrayed. And Sirius had been the first person there.
He felt like the wolf was throwing itself at his ribs, fighting to get out and the lack of moon be dammed.
The idea of going to the Ministry was awful. They could take him in on sight. Werewolf, associated with Greyback – though the thought made Remus want to vomit – and walks into the one place no werewolf would be seen.
But he had to see. He had to hear what that bastard had to say for himself.
There were not many public seats in a Wizengamot court. Remus slipped into the end of one bench and stared down at the chair draped in iron shackles below.
The court was not as busy as he thought it would be, maybe the thought of trying the last surviving Black heir was too much for the Purebloods. Maybe Sirius' mother had threatened them, or worse, maybe she hadn't.
Remus shook himself. Sirius had been disowned, he had revelled in it.
A little voice in his head muttered, if he were a Death Eater, he could have gone home again.
A quieter voice whispered, Death Eater or not, he was still gay, still…
The third and strongest voice insisted, and it could all have been a lie. Right down to disowning him. A grand lie to get a spy in the Order, right from the very beginning.
Remus shook his head, conspiracy theories were one thing, but that way madness lay. You would end up trusting no one, you would end up… like the Order had, losing and jumping at shadows.
None of that thinking prepared him for the feeling of his rips been torn apart when six Dementors swept into the room, rotten hands dragging the chained and screaming form of Sirius Orion Black between them.
He was distantly aware he was still screaming when the Dementors pushed him down into the chair and the chains wrapped around his arms and legs. They moved away and the chill receded. Sirius swallowed, fighting the bubbling mania that they seemed to induce. He looked up at the watching witches and wizards above, from under his long black hair that had fallen into his face.
He had never been more glad his father was dead, and Orion was not one of those staring back at him. Until his eyes locked with an identical silver gaze. Of course, his grandfather would have come out of retirement to take Orion's seat. It was not as though Sirius could, being disowned had stripped that right from him.
He purposefully looked away from Arcturus.
Barty Crouch spoke, his voice dripping with disgust, 'Sirius Black, you have been brought here before the Council of Magical Law so that we may pass judgement on you. For your many heinous crimes.'
Sirius felt his lip curl, Crouch was surrounded by the parents of Death Eaters, and yes, he was the criminal.
'You stand accused of spying for He Who Must Not Be Named, leading to the attack and attempted murder of James, Lily and Harry Potter. The murders of the McKinnon family on the 14th of July of this year, and the murder of Peter Pettigrew. The evidence against you has already been presented. I ask the jury – '
The words filtered through to Sirius slowly, and his voice was ragged from screaming when he interrupted, 'Peter is dead?'
The crowd muttered.
Crouch glared at him, 'As if you didn't know Black.'
'Of course, I didn't fucking know! I've been here, for… what date is this?'
'It is the third.'
Fuck thought Sirius, three days. It felt like three months.
'How could I have attacked Peter? I was in St. Mungo's with…' His voice cracked and he swallowed, trying to batter through, but Crouch spoke over him.
'This Council is already satisfied with your guilt. Now, will the jury please raise – '
'I didn't do that! Or the, the McKinnons! I was there to rescue them, anyone who was there will tell you.' Sirius looked around the room wildly, for anyone who could… Fuck.
Remus. Remus was watching all of this, cold impassion on his face informing Sirius that the wolf was right fucking there, fighting to be let loose.
'Remus! It wasn't me, you were there Lupin, please!' He sounded insane, he could hear the manic horror in his voice, the pleading that under any circumstances a room full of the wizarding community would never have surfaced.
Remus' eyes were bright gold when they lock with his and Sirius tried to will his thoughts to him, it wasn't me, it was Peter. I'm so sorry.
Remus just blinked. He didn't even look away, but the iciness of his stare told Sirius there would be no quarter. No rescue and reprieve.
'That is enough Black.' Crouch snapped, 'Will the jury raise their hands if they, as I do, believe you should be sentenced to life in Azkaban prison for these most awful crimes.'
Sirius bit through his lip, fighting the overwhelming need to plead innocence, to beg, as hand after hand rose.
He straightened his back as much as the chains would allow.
He made not a single sound as the Dementors flowed back into the room. As the chains released him. As they took him away.
It didn't matter anymore. What mattered was Voldemort was gone. What matter was the Potters would live.