Chapter 25
After a stealthy exit from the staff room, Sam gathered up some food in one of the napkins, and the three men used the distraction of Nearly Headless Nick re-enacting his own botched beheading to slip out of the Great Hall. They made their way as quickly as they could to Gryffindor Tower hoping that they would still be able to catch up with Sirius before any damage was done.
They sped up the moving staircases as fast as they could considering they had to wait several times for them to swing back around. Up above them they could hear a man's angry voice. The portraits on the walls cautioned them as they passed, warning them that Sirius Black, the dangerous criminal, was loose in the castle. They took out their wands and quickened their pace.
"Only Gryffindors are allowed in! And only if you have the password!" came the voice of The Fat Lady.
"I was in Gryffindor! Let me in, you insufferable cow!" Sirius shouted.
The Fat Lady was clearly terrified of him. Her chest was visibly heaving, her eyes wide, but she bravely stood her ground. She stood with her arms outstretched in her portrait, moving from side to side as if to block him from going through the painting itself. "Sorry. If you don't have the password,I will not be mooooooooo-ved!"
"Why you! -" Sirius pulled a knife from inside of his coat and raised it in the air. The Fat Lady screamed and ran from her portrait as fast as she could just as Sam, Dean, and Remus made it to the stairs just below the landing of the seventh floor.
"SIRIUS, STOP!' shouted Remus, making him halt his attack and whirl around to see who had come upon him.
He dropped the knife and drew his wand in the blink of an eye. The three men stopped halfway up the stairs and took defensive stances with their own wands.
"R-Remus? Is that you, old friend?" Sirius asked shakily, still pointing his wand directly at the three of them. He nervously shifted his weight and seemed unsure whether to run or stay.
"Yes, Sirius. It's me." he answered as calmly as possible.
"H-how did you know I was here?" he asked, eyeing Sam and Dean with untrusting, wild eyes.
Remus sighed. "Sirius, these are my good friends and associates, Sam and Dean Winchester."
The brothers cautiously nodded their hellos.
"Sam told me you would come."
Sirius erupted in half-crazed laughter. "And how did Sam know that I would be here? Does he work for the Ministry? Come to take me back to Azkaban have you?" he asked in a frenzy, brandishing his wand in their direction.
"No, no, of course not! I wouldn't have brought them round if that were the case! They are Professors here at the school, and Sam . . . well, Sam is a Seer."
Sirius faltered, a hint of interest in his crazed expression. "A- a Seer?"
"Yes, my friend. A Seer. And he's told me everything. I know you are innocent and that a person I thought dead all these years is the one that framed you." Remus said as he pocketed his wand.
Sam did the same and nudged Dean in the side to do the same. Dean stowed his only weapon begrudgingly.
"Then you know why I am here and why I must get through this door!"
"In good time, Sirius." Remus said softly as he began to climb the steps toward him. "We will help you get him, but tonight is not the night."
Sirius all but sobbed. "It's been 12 years, Remus! As you can see Azkaban has not been kind to me! Haven't I suffered enough for his crimes?"
Remus stood in front of Sirius and looked him over. "Yes, we are looking rather ragged aren't we? Finally the flesh reflects the madness."
Sirius put away his wand finally, and looked at Remus with sunken eyes that betrayed a hint of amusement. "Well, you'd know all about the madness within, wouldn't you, Remus?" Sirius smiled.
The old friends embraced each other with enthusiasm. Sirius felt such deep relief that Remus knew he was innocent, and that soon he would help him get his revenge. Perhaps he would even help him build a relationship with his godson. "I found him, Remus! After all these years!"
"Peter will answer for his crimes. And we will help you capture him, won't we?" Remus asked the brothers, still standing halfway down the staircase.
Sam took this as their cue. He started up the stairs to the landing above, followed by Dean.
"That's right." Sam cleared his throat. "You need to regain your strength, Sirius. I brought you some food." Sam reached into his jacket and pulled out the napkin he had filled earlier and handed it to him.
Sirius took it with thankful tears welling in his eyes. "Thank you, Sam."
A cackle erupted from somewhere above. The four of them looked up and saw Peeves making a bee line toward them.
Sirius rolled his eyes and took out his wand once again. He pointed it directly at the diving Peeves, which caused him to comically brake in mid-air. He hovered there, nose tip to wand tip.
"Hello, Peeves." Sirius said with a gigantic mischievous smile. "Did you miss me?"
"If it isn't Looney Loopy Lupin's bestest chummy chum! Come to kill more witches and wizards?"
"I haven't killed anyone, you maddening menace! Pettigrew framed me!"
Peeves did a back flip and sat down neatly on the banister. His legs were crossed and an elbow rested atop his knee, propping up his chin with his hand. "Wittle Seedy Petey framed the Serious Sirius you say?"
"The Weasley kid's pet rat! 12 years is a curiously long life for a common garden rat, wouldn't you agree? Not to mention it is missing one of its toes!"
"The only thing they found of Pettigrew at the scene of the crime was one of his fingers." Remus added.
"Hhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmm!" Peeves feigned interest. "A loverly story, that! I am sure Headmaster Dumbly would love to hear it!"
"You mustn't do anything of the sort, Peeves." Remus said. "We will tell Dumbledore ourselves. We'll have none of your tomfoolery mucking up the truth."
"HA!" Peeves exclaimed as he rose into the air. "It's Halloweeny for this fiendy!" he said as he floated further away from them. He started to descend down the center of the Great Staircase blowing obnoxious raspberries.
"No!" shouted Sirius as he made a superfluous grab for him.
The four men rushed to the banister and peered over it watching Peeves glide further and further away.
Sam, in a last ditch effort, pointed his wand at Peeves. "Obliviate!" he yelled and a burst of green left his wand and hit Peeves on the top of his head.
The Poltergeist suddenly stopped. All of them looked at each other and then back at Peeves.
"Did it work?" asked Dean.
A few heavy moments later and Peeves shook his head as if to clear it. He looked around a bit confused before heading off in the direction of the fifth floor corridor calling, "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!"
They all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"How did you know that would work?" asked Dean.
Sam shrugged. "I – I didn't. It just came to me."
Sirius clapped him on the back, "Brilliant job, Sam. Thank you."
"Heh. Don't thank me, thank Remus. He pretty much taught me everything I know."
Dean looked up as the other three continued looking down to the floors below. He saw a bunch of witches and wizards staring back at him from the picture across the way. And the one next to it. And the one above and below, and to the other side.
"Uuuh, guys? What about them?" he said pointing.
Sam, Remus, and Sirius looked at Dean and followed his gaze to the hundreds of frames encircling them. They all looked around and found that from every picture in sight, there were multiple figures crowded into the frame watching them.
"Obliviate won't work on them, Sam." said Remus. "Allow me." Remus cleared his throat. "Ladies and Gentlemen." he began to address the portraits. "If I may kindly have your attention please. Please excuse all the commotion. As you have all witnessed, Sirius Black has come to clear his name. The real culprit is currently sealed within the Gryffindor Dormitory and has transfigured himself into a rat. It is of the utmost importance that this information remain an absolute secret. Should Pettigrew learn we are after him he shall make a run for it and he will never be apprehended. So please, I beg your discretion on this matter. No rumors, no mention of it at all. To either student nor staff. - That goes double for you Sir Cadogan."
There were a few chuckles from some of the portraits.
"We will be informing Dumbledore of this development ourselves. Until then, we would very much appreciate your cooperation by not upsetting the whole castle with this information. Lest it lead to an unnecessary outbreak of fear and chaos. Before I close, I believe an apology is owed to someone." he unexpectedly turned to Sirius. "Sirius, I believe y-"
"There is no need to apologize, Remus. You had no way of knowing."
"Not to you, Sirius, you git. You owe an apology to The Fat Lady!"
Sirius' eyes lifted. "Very well. Where are you, dear Lady? Come out, come out wherever you are!"
"She's over here!" came a voice from a portrait below.
Again they looked over the banister to the floor below them. They saw The Fat Lady marching through the portraits from below climbing the floors through frame after frame like stairs. When she got to the frames which were crowded with other visitors she barreled through them and continued on and on till she was parallel with them. She crossed her arms and huffed.
"What is it then?" she fumed.
Sirius bowed deeply and dramatically, and despite his shabby appearance he looked rather rakish doing so.
"I wish to apologize for frightening you. I was rather quite desperate and in a bit of a frenzy."
"Well, I should say so! Hmph!" she stuck her nose in the air.
"Please, Lady. Return to your post, I shall not trouble you again. My most humble regrets and apologies." he motioned to her empty portrait.
"Well. . . I suppose. But you're still not getting in!"
"I have moved passed the notion, I assure you."
A boom echoed from below and the dull cacophony of students talk and laughter began to crescendo.
"The Feast is done! All the students will be passing by in a few moments!" Remus said quickly. "Everyone! Please return to your portraits as quickly as possible! And remember, mum's the word!"
The people in the frames immediately began to scatter every which way. Dean looked down the stairwell and saw that students were beginning to ascend the stairs.
"They are already climbing, Sirius. You can't get down that way." Dean warned.
"It is quite alright, I am very familiar with the castle, I will show myself out." he turned to Sam. "Thank you for the food. I assume you know where I can be found?"
Sam nodded.
"Remus." he embraced him again. "Thank you for everything. We will get Peter, I know we will."
"Yes we will. But go! Go now, old friend!" Remus said.
Sirius took off down the hall and not long after he disappeared from sight, the sound of his two running feet turned into the sound of four galloping paws.
"We should make ourselves scarce as well." Remus said. "Take the back way to your rooms, we will meet up again later."
"Agreed." said Sam.
"No arguments here." Dean said.
The brother's took off. Before Remus left the scene himself, he turned to The Fat Lady, who was now back in her frame. "We thank you, Lady."
"You had better prove he is innocent." she retorted and then pinched her cheeks to make them rosey She sat down in her chair and put on the best fake smile she could, and waited for the children to come.