Again a warning: Canon events have been mercilessly warped and rearranged in this story, so if you see something that seems 'not right', I assure you it was likely on purpose. Also 3,500 words is sort of a pitiful length, but it just didn't work out to anything longer, which upsets me :/
If Walburga had thought the Ministry would be any less bustling than Diagon Alley had been, she was very wrong. The entrance hall was jam packed with the same ilk of prideless loons, throwing their hats into the sky and practically necking each other in joy. The only upside was that the indignity of it all allowed Walburga to be less concerned with her own, slightly disheveled appearance. She drew her wand out, ready to hex anyone who inadvertently impeded her on her way to the Auror department; she likely didn't have much time.
Briefly Walburga toyed with the idea of first trying to contact the Department of Magical Law Enforcement before abandoning the idea in favor of Crouch's Aurors, knowing that they were more likely to have been dispatched to deal with a "Death Eater" and also knowing that Susan Bones, the current head of the DMLE was likely to be out in the entryway celebrating with the rest of her useless department.
No, if anyone were going to be sitting out the festivities in favor of taking care of business, it was Crouch.
"Can I help you with something, Ma'am?" asked the bored-looking intern at the desk outside Crouch's office. Walburga eyed the girl with disdain. She couldn't have been more than seventeen or eighteen, and had a defeated look on her face that suggested she'd much rather be hobnobbing with the rest of the Wizarding world but had been disallowed that frivolous privilege, probably by Crouch himself.
"I need to speak with your boss," said Walburga shortly.
The girl sighed wistfully, staring off down the empty corridor in the direction of the music and laughter and noisily clacking gum in her teeth. She looked back up at Walburga and sighed again. "When did you need to meet with Mr. Crouch?" she asked.
"Ten minutes ago," Walburga hissed. She was little in the mood to deal with any teenaged apathy at the moment.
The girl blinked, looking affronted. "Well I"m sorry, Ma'am, but Mr. Crouch isn't here right now. So you'll have to set up an appointment with me—"
The girl cut off abruptly and crossed her eyes, trying to focus on the wand tip jutting into her cheek. A strangled squeak seemed to suggest she had swallowed her gum.
"Where is he?" Walburga asked harshly. "Azkaban?"
"I—I'm not at liberty to...actually, yes, he is. H—how did you kn—?"
"Send word to the prison that I am coming there. Tell them to cease whatever they are doing and meet me at the gates or there will be hell to pay."
Walburga withdrew her wand and stowed it away, preparing to disapparate again.
"No, Ma'am, you can't go to Azkaban Prison without a signed document from the warden, and she'll not grant you one of such short notice, seriously!" The girl tried to appeal to Walburga but was met only with a harsh, bark of a laugh.
"Idiot girl, did I ask you to send them an owl asking for permission? I told you to tell them that I'm on my way. Now." And again she was gone. Whether or not Crouch's assistant actually sent the warning was not hugely important to her, though it would speed things up if she had.
There was no entering the gates to the prison without permission from inside so Walburga apparated to the stony path that led from the docks to the high, iron gates.
The island was freezing, as usual. Walburga had been here plenty of times before for reasons ranging from the business mundane to the slightly illegal, and she did not feel intimidated by the prison in the slightest. If she acted like she belonged here, then no guards would give her trouble.
The strong wind that constantly blew the waves up over the rocks and pitched salt around in the air would have chilled Walburga to the bone had she not been so distracted by her own determination.
Walburga raised her wand once again, preparing to send word to the prison that she was here, but immediately sheathed it again when that proved unnecessary. It seemed the incompetent intern had managed to send a quick message after all, and jogging down the slope to the gate were none other than Barty Crouch and Azkaban's warden herself.
"Crouch, Jones, how wonderful to see you," Walburga sneered. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she wasn't quite sure what she'd do if she was too late. Suppose they had already ended her son's life?
Crouch did not seem surprised to see her. "Ms. Black," he said in a low voice. "Michelle and I thought you might show up..."
Walburga stared harshly at the warden through the wrought iron. She'd never had much respect for the woman, an immigrant from somewhere in North America (the United States, perhaps, or Canada, though it hardly mattered), and it infuriated her to no end to think that Jones had teamed up with Crouch to try to administer the Dementor's Kiss on Sirius Black too quickly for Walburga to intercede.
"And yet you were not inclined to wait for me...or notify me in any way, I see," Walburga said, hoping her sniff passed off as disdainful rather than sickly as she fought the overwhelming desire to sneeze.
"Yes, do please forgive us. Everything has just been so very...hectic, that we may have gotten a tad carried away," Crouch said, insincerity dripping from his apology. He tapped his wand, unlocking and swinging open Azkaban's front gate. "I take it you'll be wanting to see your son first. Will we be waiting on Mr. Black as well?"
Walburga surged past Crouch and Jones, and stalked angrily up the stepway. Both Ministry officials started and then hastily tried to catch up.
"Your use of the word 'first' concerns me, Crouch," Walburga shouted back at them. "Because it gives the impression that you still intend to sic your guards on my son after I'm through talking with him, which I assure you, will not be happening."
"Ms. Black, you do not have the authority to override the law—"
Walburga turned around sharply. "And the law does not have the authority to surreptitiously sentence people with no trial nor hard evidence, so I'm hardly overriding the law, now am I? More like overriding your insubordination."
They entered the prison, Walburga following Jones through the lobby and down the first dark hallway, and Crouch trailing behind her, still arguing.
"A trial would be a waste of time and government money, Walburga, he was caught at the scene."
Walburga bristled at the use of her first name.
"Many people were found at the scene from what I heard. My son was just the only one still alive."
Crouch frowned. "We cannot and will not pin this on someone else. Who else would we even have to blame?"
Walburga flipped her hand up over her shoulder in exasperation. "I don't care, Crouch. Use your imagination. Make Pettigrew your fall guy if you have to, but I want my son's name cleared, and I want him sent home." Jones stopped outside a heavy steel door. There were no windows, but a clear, painful cold was seeping around and out the door's edges; there were undoubtedly Dementors inside. Walburga's heart began to race and she reached for the door, certain that her son would be behind it.
"He's a danger to the wizarding world!" Crouch yelled, grabbing Walburga's forearm and pulling her around before she could open the door.
Walburga hissed and ripped her arm free.
"I will not be bullied by your family like everyone else is," Crouch insisted, his toothbrush mustache quivering. Jones stood off to the side, scratching nervously at her arm.
"Walburga, listen to me. I know you might find it hard to believe, but Sirius Black is guilty. There is simply no other explanation. Dumbledore was here about an hour ago."
Walburga narrowed her eyes. "It makes no difference to me what that blasted fool thinks."
"But he knew the Potters, Walburga, quite well, in fact. He told us that Sirius was their secret-keeper," Crouch said seriously. "There is no one else who could have led the Dark Lord to their hiding place."
This revelation didn't have the effect on her that Crouch had expected.
"So I've already been told," said Walburga coarsely. She paused to cough into the crook of her arm. Of all the moments to start to feel sick again!
"Then you must realize that he is guilty!"
Walburga felt a slight twitch in her heart. If Sirius had really been working for the Dark Lord this entire time...could it be possible that he was far cleverer than she had ever given him credit for? Had he been able to play both sides? Walburga would never have suspected it but then again...Sirius had always been, regretfully, the sneakier of her two sons, though admittedly that was a title fairly easily won.
"What little difference that makes now, Crouch. You failed to prove his guilt legally. There'll be no grounds for a retrial after this fiasco. Did you really think you could get away scott free with this sort of vigilante justice? That we would all bow gratefully to you for protecting us and simply throw the Minister position at you in our overwhelming gratitude?"
Crouch's face faltered a little, but then he gathered himself. "You cannot threaten me, Walburga Black."
"Threaten?" Walburga asked innocently. She turned to smile at Jones in a conspiratorial manner, a move that unnerved the woman so badly, she actually reached for her wand. "Who said anything about threatening?" Walburga reached behind her and murmured the most powerful unlocking spell she knew. She heard the heavy door latch click against her cold fingers. "I was merely informing you, Mr. Crouch, that if you were looking for some miracle to undo your recent...shall we say drop in popularity...murdering my son is not the fastest way to go about that."
Crouch's eyes bulged at the mention of his son, a suspected Death Eater who was awaiting trial in a Ministry holding cell at that moment, having been found in the company of some sordid individuals a week prior.
"If you're implying that you can blackmail me into bending the law for you, Walburga, you are going to find yourself locked up in here as well!"
Walburga leaned heavily on the door handle, but didn't open it yet. "For the umpteenth time, you brainless imbecile, I said nothing of blackmail. How could I possibly influence you with information that the whole of Britain is already well aware of? I was merely helping you remember that a person like myself is much more useful as an ally should you find yourself...wanting something."
"What?" Crouch asked. Was Walburga Black trying to bribe him? Before he could force her to elaborate, she had thrown open the door, which slammed into the wall with a visceral crunch, and walked hastily inside.
Walburga had never been in this room before, but it was immediately obvious what it was for. There was nary a piece of furniture in the barren place save for a single restraint chair along the center of the back wall, in which sat a shaking Sirius Black an enormous dementor on either side of him. One gliding idly back and forth, the other remaining ominously still, a skeletal hand pressing down on Sirius's shoulder in an unnecessary move of restraint; Sirius was already tied tightly to the arms and legs of the chair.
Walburga shook Crouch off again and approached her son, who had been glaring up at her in anger since she'd slammed open the door.
Jones followed them in. "You can leave us for a moment," she said in a low voice, coaxing the dementors away from Sirius. They refused to leave the room, however, and instead hovered about the door, as if to block anyone from removing their meal from their sight.
Walburga shuddered as they glided past her, but collected herself quickly.
"Sirius," she said shortly, staring down at her son. It had been a long time since she'd last towered over him like this. He had truly started to grow into a handsome man, though at the moment he was dirty and pale, his hair greasy and his eyes dull.
Sirius gritted his teeth and refused to answer her. He was struggling to remain vindictive; it was obvious he had been in the presence of the dementors for too long to control his shaking.
"Well aren't you going to greet your mother properly?" Walburga asked sweetly.
"Thought I was no son of yours, you miserable, fucking banshee," Sirius spat.
Walburga slapped Sirius, more out of instinct than anything. His face was so cold to the touch that she felt his might shatter like ice.
"Is that anyway to talk to me when I've come here to bring you home?" she asked, grabbing Sirius by the shoulders to force him to look at her.
"Home?" Sirius nearly choked on the word. He thrashed a bit in his mother's grip and managed to spit a mouthful of blood onto her wrist. Walburga sneered in disgust and slowly wiped the mess off on Sirius's cheek.
"Yes, darling, home."
Sirius shot Walburga a look of pure contempt. "I said I would never step foot in that house again and I meant it. Get the fuck away from me, woman, I want nothing to do with you! And we both know you and that old fuck want nothing to do with me!"
"Oh your father will come 'round once he hears about your little show last night," Walburga said softly. "He's going to be so proud of you when I tell him what you did. How you fooled everyone..."
Sirius let out a vehement exclamation. "What are you saying?" he roared. "You think I was on His side this whole time, don't you? You think I betrayed my friends? I would never! It was that fucking rat, Peter Pett—"
"Shh, yes, yes," Walburga crooned. "Pettigrew did it, and you were just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, weren't you, Sirius? That's the new story, isn't it, the one that everyone will know come lunchtime, right?" she turned to the warden, who only gave her a nervous look, and then to Crouch, who vehemently shook his head.
"I told you I'll not be fabricating any evidence to get your son off the hook, Black!" he yelled, a small vein in his temple looking ready to burst.
Walburga only smiled. "You father and I will work it all out, Sirius, and you can come back. The whole family's going to be ecstatic."
"Sod off," Sirius snapped. "I'd rather be dead than back in your clutches."
Walburga heaved a dramatic sigh. "Oh, you can't mean that, baby dog," she simpered, brushing her long nails through Sirius's fringe. He weakly thrashed to try and escape her touch.
"If you don't come home with me, what will I tell your brother?" Walburga asked sadly.
Sirius blinked at the mention of Regulus. "Tell him his spot as heir is secure, because I'm not going home with you!"
"He'll be heartbroken," Walburga continued. "After I already told him his big brother was coming back...that he didn't hate him after all..."
"I never said I hated Reggie," Sirius hissed. "But I'm not going back to that house for that obnoxious little brat and I'm sure as shit not going back for you! So leave me alone already!" Sirius felt uncomfortable with his mother bringing Regulus into the conversation; it made him feel bad that he admitted his brother wasn't worth it to him to return to Grimmauld Place.
"Let me take you out of here, Sirius. We'll go home and you can tell Regulus all about how you played the double agent for the Dark Lord. You'll be his hero again..." Walburga whispered.
Sirius jerked violently in his bonds, cutting deep red lines into his arms and calves. "I never supported that madman!" he screamed. "I hate him. He's murdered my friends, my...Lily and James and...and I...and it's my fault, I..." Sirius trailed off incoherently and Walburga reached out to touch him again, only to be immediately spat upon again.
Walburga frowned. She hadn't wanted to resort to this, but she seemed to be running out of options. Coercing Crouch would be meaningless if she couldn't convince Sirius to leave with her. She could control her son...but not with witnesses. She needed him back at Grimmauld Place first before she could make sure he didn't run off again.
"Fine," said Walburga cooly. She shrugged when Sirius looked up at her in confusion. "Have it your way, then, you nasty, ungrateful little cretin."
Sirius eyed her warily. Walburga turned around nodded idly to Jones. "He's of no use to me, then. Let them have him."
"Ma'am?" Jones asked uncertainly.
Walburga raised her eyebrows. "Did you not hear me, woman? I don't want him. Let the dementors kiss him for all I care. I'll be taking my leave now."
Sirius's eyes widened and Walburga frowned to herself. Her son seemed alarmed at the mention of the Kiss. Could he possibly not have known why he was in this room? Had he thought he was here merely for an interrogation of some sort?
"W—wait," he stuttered. "I'm not here for that!"
"Don't be ridiculous, boy, of course you are," Walburga snapped. "Don't be so foolish."
Sirius shook his head insistently. "No, no, no," he muttered. "I've not had my trial yet! This is just...I'm just waiting here, I—don't let those things near me!"
Jones had waved her dementors forward again and they approached Sirius eagerly.
"You've been afforded no trial, Sirius," Walburga said calmly. "And even if you were, did you really think you'd be able to talk your way out of this without me?"
"Yes!" Sirius screamed. "Because I'm innocent! I can explain what happened, I can, I-get them away!"
Walburga watched with mild interest as the two monstrosities seemed to argue with one another over who would actually get to administer the kiss. Eventually they made up their minds and the larger one leaned over Sirius Black, curling its hands around his neck and face.
The coldness in the room reached an even more intense level. Walburga even saw Crouch shivering. Sirius was screaming, most of it nonsense, and Walburga felt her stomach churn with anxiety until finally:
"Mum, please! Get it off, take me away, take me home!" Walburga's twenty-one year old son was sobbing like he hadn't done since he'd been a small child. "Don't let them!" his last words were muffled as the dementor's face finally covered his own.
Walburga had heard enough. "Crouch," she barked. "My husband and I will see to it that you're Minister by the end of the month."
Crouch blinked, suddenly putting two and two together. "Stop!" he yelled immediately to the warden, who, slightly startled, pulled the furious dementor off of Sirius Black. "Take those away," Crouch insisted, and Jones complied, having to pull out her wand at one point to force the dementors from the room. When she had disappeared into the hallway with them, Crouch turned to Walburga again. "Ms. Black...what were you saying?"
Walburga was by her son's side again, gently touching his shaking face, and this time, he wasn't resisting her. "Figure out what it will take to keep that Warden friend of yours from being any trouble and I think you'll find that there will be little resistance to you when the Wizengamot votes on the new Minister next week."
Crouch spared one last glance at Sirius's quivering form before he caved. "Of course," he said smoothly, and held out a hand for Walburga to shake. "Wonderful."
Walburga nodded.
"Will you be needing an escort to get him home safely?" Crouch asked, nodding towards Sirius.
"No," said Walburga curtly. She eyed Sirius with distaste. "Have his wand and any of his personal effects sent to my address. I'll return for him in a few days."
Crouch tilted his head and Sirius started to breathe heavily, trying desperately to make eye contact with his mother, who was avoiding his gaze.
"What do you mean, you want him to stay here?" Crouch asked.
"Yes," said Walburga simply. Finally she locked eyes with Sirius and spoke carefully and clearly. "Throw him in your worst cell. Set dementors outside the door day and night. Afford him no food or commodities. I have a few things I need to brush over at home. I'll collect him when I'm good and ready to."
"No," Sirius mewled. "Mother, wait...!"
"Probably round about Saturday or so," Walburga continued as though she could not hear him. "Thank you, Barty, for your cooperation."
signed/tenkuroi