Chapter 11: A Decision is made
Martha, Dora, Lannastar, Dean, Madam Pomfrey and Sirius and Natalie had been trying to make a decision concerning what happened to Sirius during the rest of the Hogwarts year, until 3:00 in the morning, when they'd finally made a decision.
"How about he stays with me, in an animagi form of a Welsh corgi and he stays in my bag or on my bed. That way the teachers or students won't be able to recognise him as who he really is." Martha suggested.
"I'm happy with that, but Martha, if that happens, he is your responsibility for the rest of the year, okay?" Natalie said. "And Sirius, you are to stay with her for the rest of the year, okay? You are not to leave her side and please act like her pet, and not her father, for god's sake." She added, turning to Sirius.
"Okay. I promise I will." He said.
"Then it's settled. Sirius, hurry up and create the corgi as another animagi form for you." Natalie said.
"I'd better go and check on Adelyne." Madam Pomfrey said, walking out of Natalie's office and into the ward. Sirius took out his wand and before long, there was a small male black Welsh corgi standing where he used to be. He changed back to a man, looked around at the students and took a bow. Martha and the others laughed and Natalie shook her head slowly.
"Okay Sirius, enough showing off. Now it's time to get down to business. Change back into your corgi form and Martha; you carry him back up to your dormitory." Natalie said and Martha nodded. "I'll look after Adelyne and I'll see you all at breakfast."
Sirius transformed back into the little black corgi and Martha picked him up and she and her remaining friends walked back to the Ravenclaw common room, Dean going into the boys' dormitory and the girls into the girls' dormitory, Martha placing Sirius on the bed and getting in.
"Now be good, Dad." She whispered to the dog, which inclined his head.
The next morning, she walked down to breakfast with her friends, Sirius in her bag. As she walked into the Great Hall, however, she felt Sirius squirm in her bag.
"Ssshhh…quiet. We don't want everyone to know you're in there." She whispered to the bag. Sirius stopped squirming as Martha and her friends found a seat at the Ravenclaw table.
During classes, Martha kept Sirius quiet with something he could eat that she'd saved from breakfast. It managed to keep him quiet until she got to her Defence Against the Dark Arts class, and Professor Lupin entered the room.
"Okay class, over the next three weeks, we'll be studying Dementors. Now, I'm sure you're all familiar with what they can be like, as you'll probably remember the time on the train, but this is different to that time. Whilst studying this topic, you'll learn why Dementors are so dangerous, and how they hunt and feed, along with what they feed on. You'll also learn how they reproduce, so I'd hope that you'll all pay attention during this topic, as we'll be having a test on Dementors at the end of the three weeks. Okay, so to start off – Miss Black, what is the matter?" he said, his hands on his hips as the class turned to look at Martha.
"Sorry Professor, but do you think I could please see Madam Pomfrey for a moment?" Martha asked him softly, going red in the face. Professor Lupin sighed and allowed her to leave the classroom.
Once out of the classroom, Martha ran into a deserted classroom and put her bag on the ground. Opening it, Sirius jumped out and transformed back, magically locking the room.
"What were you thinking, Dad?" she asked her father exasperatedly.
"Sorry Martha, but…" he said softly, sighing. "But when I was at school, Remus was my best friend, and trying to sit still while he's teaching you, and not knowing I'm there and innocent, well, it's almost impossible."
"Well, if you can't do that, then I'll have to leave you either in the dormitory or with Mum. But I can't leave you with Mum because she's got classes to teach, as well. And I don't think you'd like being stuck in the dormitory all day, would you?" Martha said. "I'm trying to be reasonable by allowing you to stay with me in my bag while I'm in classes, but I really need you to stay still."
"You know, you're really starting to sound like your mother. But admittedly, no, I wouldn't like being stuck in the girls' dormitory all day." He said, laughing.
"Then behave yourself, regardless of whether Remus is teaching me or not. I really need you to stay still in my bag when I'm in classes, or you'll be caught and handed to the Dementors. I don't really want that, so just behave." She said, sighing and opening her bag. Sirius magically unlocked the door and transformed back to a corgi, jumping into Martha's arms. Martha put him into her bag, closed it and returned to class. Sitting down next to her friends, Martha placed the bag on the floor and got back to work.
"What did I miss out on, Christine?" she asked her friend softly.
"Nothing much, only why Dementors are so dangerous." Christine replied. "Why did you have to leave class?"
"I'll tell you afterwards. After class, wait for me and I'll show you. It's too hard to explain."
After class, Martha beckoned her friends to follow her into a deserted classroom.
"Why did you have to leave class, Martha?" Christine asked her again.
"This is the reason." Martha replied, opening her bag and Sirius jumped out in his corgi form. Transforming back, he nodded at the girls, before sitting on the desk.
"Martha, it might be a smart idea if you magically locked the door. Do you remember how to do that?" he asked her. Martha thought and nodded her head slowly, looking into his eyes. He sighed, standing up, obviously knowing what she meant instantly. "Let this be a lesson to all of you girls." He said and they all nodded, Christine looking positively excited.
"Are you going to be acting our teacher, Mr. Black?" she asked him politely and he jumped slightly, obviously not used to being spoken to politely.
"Um … sort of. Take out your wands, girls. I may as well act your teacher for now." He said and everyone obeyed. He walked over to Martha and instructed everyone to raise their wands. "Now, I'm assuming you all know how to use Alohamora to unlock doors, am I right?" he asked the girls and they nodded.
"Professor Flitwick recently taught us in Charms." Lannastar replied and he nodded slightly.
"Okay, well … locking doors magically is not much different. All it requires is to know the incantation and it's pretty straightforward from there. The wand movement is the same as Alohamora, and the incantation isn't hard to remember. Without your wands, I want you to repeat the incantation after me – Martha, will you please lock the door?" he asked her sternly.
"I did, you were just too busy concentrating to notice." She said and he looked apologetic.
"Sorry. Okay the incantation is Totalitarius Lockus. Could you all please repeat that?" he said.
"Totalitarius Lockus!" the girls chorused as Martha sat on the desk.
"Very good. Now here's some unlocked doors to practice on-" he magically produced four doors in the middle of the room. "-and I want you to remember the wand movement for Alohamora. It's the same here." He said and the girls did as they were told. "Martha, the other door is for you. I want to make sure you completely remember how to do it." He added and Martha sighed, hopping off the desk and pulling out her wand.
"Totalitarius Lockus." She said and the lock of her door clicked and it was obvious she'd locked it. "There, happy now, Dad?" she asked him and he laughed.
"That's much more comforting than just going by your word." He said. "You all did well, girls. I think you deserve some of this –" he said, magically producing five bottles of drink. "Butterbeer. it works wonders, believe me. Very warming on a cold winters' day." He said, giving one to each of the girls.
"Thank you Sirius." They chorused, except Martha, who smiled at her father.
"Thanks Dad. By the way Dad, Christine would like to talk to you. She's been dying to talk to you for over a month now, and this is the only opportunity she's had." Martha said and Christine nervously came forward.
"Sirius, I've been dying to know this but…how did you escape from Azkaban?" she asked him.
"Actually, I think we're all a bit curious about that, Dad." Martha said truthfully and Sirius sighed, sitting on the desk.
"Alright, I don't really know what kept me from insanity –" he began before:
"Nothing kept him from insanity. He's been insane since he was born." Martha muttered under her breath and moved quickly away as he glared at her.
"Be quiet Martha. As I was saying, I can't really be sure what kept me from insanity…I guess it was just the knowledge that I was innocent and the thoughts of my family that kept me sane. I'd received an issue of the Daily Prophet from Fudge shortly after that when he came on an inspection and on the front page, I saw Peter Pettigrew in his rat form on Ron Weasley's shoulder. The passage following the photo told me he was going to be coming to Hogwarts with the Weasley boy. That gave me an incentive to escape, and I waited a day or two and one day when the Dementors came into my cell carrying food, I transformed into a dog and fled. I was thin enough to slip through the bars and escape. Now, Dementors can't see, as I'm sure you know, but they can sense emotion, they feed on happiness. I wasn't happy so they couldn't take the emotions from me. They were confused because my emotions are less complicated when I'm a dog. Of course, they assumed I was just going mad like everyone else in there. From Azkaban, I swam back to the mainland and made my way home and managed it just before the 20th of February this year. And I had a wand bought for me by Professor Talleo, as you all call her." Sirius finished and the girls were all looking at him open-mouthed, obviously having forgotten about their butterbeers. "Now you know the whole story." He added and Lannastar was the first to speak.
"So – so you escaped Azkaban to get Pettigrew back for what he did and to be with your family?" she asked him and he nodded at her.
"That's exactly why I escaped. But although I managed it, it all happened so fast at the time, that I hardly have any idea of how it happened." He said softly. "Anyway, you four had better get to lunch or you'll miss it and you'll be late for class." He added, standing up and magically getting rid of the four doors and transforming into a corgi. Martha picked him up and placed him in her bag and walked out of the room, magically unlocking it first.