Chapter 9.
Two nights later Harry and Sirius were back in London. Harry was very aware of the fact that he'd been missing for nearly six days now, almost a week. Sirius had managed to steal a paper on their arrival in London which confirmed what they had already guessed: the muggles had been informed of Harry's kidnapping and France was being scoured for the two of them. Fortunately no one had guessed that they would return to England so soon after leaving.
Their hike to Calais where they caught the ferry took most of the two days. Sirius had not wanted to aggravate Harry's condition by hurrying him so they had gone slowly and rested often, which suited Harry just fine as it gave him plenty of time to think.
They had arrived in Calais that morning – Thursday – but Sirius had insisted on lying low until early evening when the ferries were at their busiest so that they could blend into the crowd. By this point Harry was starting to suspect that Sirius was dragging things out so that they could spend more time together.
With that in mind Harry had suggested they go straight to Diagon Alley and floo back to school, but Sirius had pointed out to him that as soon as he was spotted in the Leaky Cauldron he would be swept up in a media circus and that it would be easier on Harry if they went directly to Hogwarts using the Knight Bus the next morning. By this time Harry was certain that his godfather was procrastinating, but he didn't mind one bit. He was coming to enjoy Sirius' company, finding the man to have a wicked sense of humour and a wealth of amusing anecdotes about his days in school with James Potter and Remus Lupin. Any mention of Peter Pettigrew, the rat that Harry carried under his cloak, was stricken from the conversation as neither really wanted to even think about him.
As a dog Sirius led the way to what he called his family home. It was in the seedy part of London and looked slightly rundown.
Sirius transformed and held out his hand for the wand. He had insisted Harry carry it in case they were caught. A wand wouldn't be much good to a dog, but it made Harry feel a lot safer. He whispered the unlocking charm and ushered Harry inside.
"I hate this place," he said miserably, pointing Harry in the direction of the kitchen. "But we should be alright here for one night. Good thing the Aurors think we're in France or they'd be staking this place out."
"You're sure they're not?" Harry asked nervously. The last thing he wanted was for Aurors to come smashing in here to arrest his godfather.
"I checked first," Sirius assured him.
His fears lain to rest, Harry looked around the imposing kitchen. It seemed very dark and a thick layer of dust coated everything. Compared to Aunt Petunia's bright, white and chemically clean kitchen it was a nightmare.
"So tomorrow you'll be back at school," Sirius said softly.
"Yeah," Harry agreed. He had mixed feelings about this. He wanted to get back to his friends who were probably sick with worry by now, but he also wanted to spend time with his newfound godfather. "What will you do then?"
"My family owned an island off the coast of Spain," Sirius told him. "It's not on any map and is well protected. I should be alright there."
Harry was about to reply when he heard something. Casting his gaze around the kitchen he saw a shape huddled in one corner. "What's that?" he asked, pointing.
Sirius followed his gaze. "Kreacher," he said disdainfully.
The shape moved slightly. "Master?" it said in a high pitched voice. The shape came closer until Harry was able to identify it as a rather unwashed house-elf clad only in a smelly old tea towel.
Sirius looked at it with revulsion. "Haven't you died yet?"
Harry gaped at this uncharacteristic remark.
"No, Master," the elf said slowly. "Kreacher lives and Kreacher cleans the House of Black." His voice dropped to almost a whisper and Harry realised that was the sound that had alerted him to Kreacher's presence. "Mistress said her no good son was locked away in Azkaban. What is he doing here?"
"Wonderful," Sirius said sarcastically. "Ten years alone turned the blasted thing insane. Go to the attic, Kreacher and stay there until morning."
"Yes, Master," Kreacher said with a low bow. "Kreacher lives to serve the most noble Black family." As he walked slowly from the room Harry heard him mutter, "Mistress always hated Master Sirius, oh yes she did."
Harry glanced up at Sirius who seemed torn between amusement and anger at the elf. "Sirius?"
"Sorry about that, Harry," Sirius said with a wry grin. "Kreacher was never the most intelligent elf in the world and he's been stuck here alone since my mother died ten years ago. It looks like he's gone round the bend."
"Oh."
"I hated that elf growing up," Sirius said, his eyes on the door Kreacher had recently exited. "Always used to go running to mummy dearest the moment I tried to have any fun. Of course the only fun I could get around here was pranking my dear brother Regulus and as Kreacher worshipped the ground he walked on..." Sirius let his voice trail off.
"You didn't get on with your family then?" Harry asked quietly.
"No," Sirius said without the faintest trace of sadness. "I ran away the first chance I got, went to stay with your grandparents. I hoped I'd never have to come back here. Then Dad died and Regulus got himself killed just before I got myself locked up. Mumsy pined away here with only Kreacher for company until she died. I'm the last Black who still has the name. I've got a few cousins, most of whom I'd rather not acknowledge. Andromeda was the only decent one – disowned for marrying a muggle-born. You met her daughter on the Channel Train. Nymphadora Tonks."
This little speech caught at Harry's heart a little. Once he was safely back at Hogwarts Sirius would be all alone, he had no family he cared to approach save the one whose daughter was an Auror whose job it was to bring Sirius in.
"What is it?" Sirius' voice broke into Harry's sombre thoughts.
"I was just thinking," Harry said slowly. Actually he'd been thinking about this for most of the last two days. "Are you sure you really want to do this? Drop me off and then disappear to some remote island where you'll have no one to talk to?"
"We've talked about this," Sirius said abruptly. "There's nothing else to be done."
"I could come with you," Harry said tentatively, already knowing the answer.
"No way," Sirius said at once. "I don't want that kind of life for you. You need to be at Hogwarts so you can be a normal kid and hang around kids your own age. A life on the run is going to be hard and probably uncomfortable, think what this last week's been like for you. Could you live your whole life like that?"
"If I had to," Harry wasn't just saying that. As far from fun as it had been it wasn't all that much worse than living at the Dursleys, infinitely better in some ways, at least he was never going to be locked in a cupboard for days on end. The cursings and beatings he had received at Wormtail's hand would never happen while he was with Sirius.
"Well you don't. Lily and James would turn over in their graves if I even thought about it." Sirius stood and started to pace, kicking up small clouds of dust here and there.
"Then why can't we at least try to get them to clear your name," Harry pleaded. "I've been carrying Wormtail for the last two days. Why have I been doing that if you're just going to kill him later?"
"Harry, they won't listen to me."
"Maybe not," Harry said and Sirius stopped his pacing thinking he'd won. "But I'm the Boy-Who-Lived remember? That's got to be good for something."
Sirius stared at him for a long moment before dropping into a chair and gesturing for Harry to do the same. "What did you have in mind?"
Harry grinned, glad that he would finally have the chance to explain the idea he'd had while sitting on the ferry earlier. "OK, so we need a way to get Fudge to the school, an opportunity to tell him and Dumbledore everything and show them Wormtail and enough witnesses so that they can't just pretend it never happened or bribe people to keep it quiet."
"Right," Sirius agreed. "How do you plan to do all that?"
Harry's grin widened as he told his godfather his plan.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Anything?" Hermione asked Ron as soon as he sat down.
"Nope," Ron said in exasperation. "He's just been sitting in his office; he's on his way down here now."
Hermione sighed. Professor Lupin had returned the day before and she and Ron had been keeping an eye on him using the Marauder's Map. So far he hadn't done anything the least bit suspicious and she was starting to wonder if maybe he was just laid up because of his 'illness.'
"Right now he's the only lead we've got," Hermione said at last. "We'll keep trying for a little longer. I'm going to the library after dinner to see what I can find about his past, I think Harry said something about him being friends with his dad, which means he was friends with Black too. It might not prove anything, but it's certainly suspect."
Ron nodded, but didn't answer as he was already piling food into his mouth as if it were the last meal he'd get for a month.
"I'm glad to see your appetite's come back," Hermione said.
"Stalkin' shummon's har' wor,'" Ron said through his mashed potatoes.
"Oh look, your table manners have come back too," Hermione said in exasperation.
Ron swallowed and pointed over her shoulder with his fork. Hermione swivelled in her seat to see Lupin walk in and take his seat at the head table.
When she turned back to Ron she noticed he'd put his cutlery down and was now eyeing his food with something approaching nausea. "Are you alright?"
Ron looked up at her with horrified eyes. "It's just... I was thinking about what you said, about my appetite coming back and it made me think, 'should I be eating like this with Harry still missing?' He's been gone for a week now and who knows if Black is even feeding him."
"Oh Ron," Hermione said, reaching across the table and taking his hand. "Harry wouldn't expect us to stop eating and sleeping because he's gone. It's alright to be worried, but please don't start starving yourself over it."
Ron gazed at her for a long time before picking up his fork and starting to eat again, more slowly this time.
"PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE, STUDENTS OF HOGWARTS, MY NAME IS SIRIUS BLACK." The voice – a man's – swept through the room causing students to drop cutlery and food alike and many small shrieks could be heard.
Hermione, in the habit of watching her Professor by now, looked at Lupin whose face had gone pale and his mouth hung open in shock.
Professor Dumbledore stood, motioning for silence and looked to the entrance hall. "It was risky coming back here Sirius," he said as if holding a conversation with an old friend. "I can have Aurors here in minutes."
"I COULD KILL HARRY POTTER BEFORE THEY GOT ANYWHERE NEAR ME."
Hermione gasped. Harry was still alive.
"Is he well?" Dumbledore called.
"FOR NOW," the spectral voice intoned.
Hermione looked to Ron who was staring at the open doors of the Great Hall in disbelief. Harry wasn't out of danger yet.
"What do you want Sirius?" Dumbledore asked wearily.
"GET FUDGE HERE. AND DIRECTOR BONES. THEY CAN BRING ONE AUROR AS LONG AS IT'S NYMPHADORA TONKS."
"Are you turning yourself in?" Dumbledore asked. If he was surprised at these requests he didn't show it.
"HARDLY. GET THEM HERE WITHIN THE HOUR AND IN THE MEANTIME NO ONE IS TO LEAVE THE HALL."
"Let the students go, Sirius, I beg of you."
"NO! THE STUDENTS MUST REMAIN. IF THEY DO NOT..." The voice did not finish the threat, but then it didn't have to, everyone knew what would happen if these demands were not met.
"I want to speak to Harry," Dumbledore said with a calm Hermione knew she couldn't have shown under the circumstances. Even now her heart was racing and she could feel her hands shaking where she had clasped them under the table, whether from fear or anger she wasn't sure. How dare this man threaten Harry?
"PROFESSOR? IT'S ME HARRY." The voice changed to that of a young boy, easily recognisable to all present as Harry Potter.
"Harry, are you well?"
There was a brief pause, but the voice that answered was not Harry's. "ONE HOUR, ALBUS DUMBLEDORE, YOU HAVE ONE HOUR."
"Sirius, wait," Dumbledore called. "Tell me, is Harry unharmed?"
Hermione waited with baited breath, but there was no answer.
Without thinking she pulled a lock of hair between her teeth and started to nibble on the end. It was a bad habit her parents thought they'd broken her out of, but sometimes in tense situations she reverted to form.
"Do you think he's OK?" Ron asked nervously.
"I'm sure he is," Hermione replied with a confidence she did not feel.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sirius and Harry had spent the day creeping around the London house. Sirius had explained the need to be quiet when they passed a huge portrait in the hall that was of Sirius' mother. They'd been fortunate in that she had stayed asleep until Sirius had been able to cover her with a conjured curtain. Apparently Mrs Black was rather vocal and was likely to scream at her disowned elder son.
Despite the quietness of the day Harry had enjoyed himself. Sirius had agreed to the plan and seemed to have lost much of the weight he carried from Azkaban. His humour was much lighter as he told Harry some of the history of the Black family, mostly of the less evil members. He also told Harry about the time he'd charmed the shoes of his brother Regulus so that the soles split like a mouth that kept shouting insults at him.
Sirius had made one condition on the plan: that they wait until the evening meal so that all the students would be present. Harry chafed at the delay, just wanting it to be over with, but Sirius was insistent.
They waited all day until Sirius announced that it was time and as a dog led Harry outside and through several alleys and side streets before nodding his furry head.
Harry stuck out his wand and waited, nervously adjusting the cap he wore to cover his hair and scar. Sirius had used a few spells to temporarily change his eye colour and the few wisps of hair that stuck out from under the cap were blonde, but Harry was still worried he'd be recognised.
Fortunately their conductor – Stan Shunpike – wasn't terribly bright and was deathly afraid of dogs so he gave them a wide berth once they were seated.
They got off at Hogsmeade and walked up to the castle. By now Harry's heart was hammering in his chest and he could feel the nervous butterflies fluttering in his stomach. So many things could go wrong and if they did Harry might never see Sirius again.
They'd snuck into the school and hidden themselves in one of the rooms behind the Great Hall. From here they could still hear everything going on in the Hall, but they couldn't see anything.
"Right. I'm going to use a variation of the Sonorus spell," Sirius told Harry. "Instead of casting the spell on your throat so that everything you say is loud, the charm is on the wand so you speak into the wand tip to amplify your voice."
"Like a muggle microphone," Harry said, to show he understood.
Sirius just looked at him strangely. "If you say so. This spell also allows us to project the sound so to us it will sound normal, but it will echo all around the Hall so they can't pinpoint our exact location. Don't say anything we don't want them to hear unless my hand is over the end until I've finished the spell."
Harry nodded and Sirius pointed the wand at the Great Hall. "Declamo emineo."
Harry held his breath as Sirius held the wand at a point two inches from his lips and spoke. "Professor Dumbledore, students of Hogwarts, My name is Sirius Black."
In the Hall those words echoed around a few seconds after Sirius spoke them. A wave of gasps, screams and muttering broke out before utter silence reined. Harry rolled his eyes at Sirius' utterly pathetic opening. Sirius shrugged, covering the wand for a second. "I'd like to see you come up with something better."
"It was risky coming back here Sirius," a voice Harry instantly recognised as Professor Dumbledore's called out. "I can have Aurors here in minutes."
Sirius uncovered the wand. "I could kill Harry Potter before they got anywhere near me."
Harry gave him a reproachful look.
"What?" Sirius asked innocently, his hand over the wand. "I said 'could' not 'would.'"
"Is he well?" Dumbledore called.
Sirius grinned wickedly. "For now," he said into the wand using his creepiest voice.
"What do you want Sirius?" Dumbledore sounded tired.
"Get Fudge here. And Director Bones," Sirius said. His eyes narrowed as though a thought had just occurred to him. "They can bring one Auror as long as it's Nymphadora Tonks."
Harry raised his eyebrows at that. It wasn't part of the plan.
Sirius covered the wand again. "She can verify that it was Wormtail with you on the train and not me."
Harry nodded as Dumbledore asked, "Are you turning yourself in?"
"Hardly. Get them here within the hour and in the meantime no one is to leave the Hall." They needed the students as witnesses that weren't under the control of the Ministry.
"Let the students go, Sirius, I beg of you."
"No!" Sirius said quickly. "The students must remain. If they do not..." Sirius trailed off not wanting to make any actual threats that could be held against him later.
"I want to speak to Harry,"
"Keep it short," Sirius said, before holding the wand at Harry's chin.
"Professor?" Harry said, not knowing what to say. "It's me Harry."
"Harry, are you well?"
Sirius took the wand away even as Harry opened his mouth to say he was fine.
"One hour, Albus Dumbledore, you have one hour." Sirius cancelled the spell and slumped back against the wall. "We can talk," he said quietly. "Just don't make too much noise. I wouldn't put it past the old man to send McGonagall in her cat form to find us."
"Sirius, wait. Tell me, is Harry unharmed?" Harry tensed at the voice, but forced himself not to react. He could hear voices coming from the Great Hall as everyone realised the conversation was over and started to talk about this latest development.
Harry sat back, forcing himself to relax. "Do you think it will work?"
"We can only hope," Sirius said, closing his eyes briefly.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"I wish we had the Map," Sirius whined for the third time in the last ten minutes. "We'd be able to see if they were here yet."
Harry was about to reply when he heard a commotion in the Great Hall. It sounded as though Fudge was arriving.
"Well, Dumbledore. I'm here. With only Auror Tonks as requested despite the fact that it is totally demeaning for a man of my station to travel with only a trainee Auror. Now where is the boy?"
"Cornelius," Dumbledore's voice rang out. "I can assure you that were Mr Black to come out only to find you have lied about your escort he will kill Harry."
While they heard some amusing spluttering noises that could only be made by Minister Fudge Madame Bones spoke up. "I told him as much, Albus. It seems he places more value on his own life than he does on Mr Potter's." There was a brief pause. "Minister, how do you think the public would react if they were to find out you were responsible for the death of the Boy-Who-Lived?"
"What do you expect me to do?" Fudge demanded waspishly.
"Send them away," Madame Bones suggested. "Only to outside the Hall. They can listen in and intervene if they find it necessary."
This time there was a much longer pause as the Minister for Magic pondered. "Very well. Give the order."
Sirius glanced at Harry. "This could actually work in our favour. As long as they think you're in danger they'll stay out of it and we could always use more adult witnesses."
Harry nodded. "Do we go in now, or give them the full hour?"
Sirius thought about it. "Now. We don't want to give them too much time to prepare for us."
Harry stayed close behind Sirius as they made their way to the door behind the head table. Sirius glanced at Harry and clenched the wand in his hand. "You ready?"
Harry stepped in front of Sirius and felt one arm wrap around his chest and the point of his wand dig into his neck.
"Try to look scared," Sirius suggested.
Harry forced an expression on his face that he hoped looked like fear. He had never been much of an actor, but Sirius' life depended on his ability to make these people think he was terrified of the man behind him.
They walked into the door in a peculiar marching walk that allowed Sirius to keep a good hold on him and keep Harry's body between him and everybody else. They would stay in the doorway until they had Dumbledore and Fudge's assurances so that there wouldn't be too many angles of attack. Harry just prayed that the Aurors waiting in the entrance Hall wouldn't try to sneak up behind them.
They were noticed almost immediately. Harry hard one or two people call out his name and tried not to look happy to see Ron and Hermione sitting at the Gryffindor table.
Minister Fudge, Madame Bones and Auror Tonks stood at the end of the Hufflepuff table. The students and teachers were still seated as though this were a normal dinner, although the teachers had to swivel in their seats in able to see the two newcomers. Harry noted that all the house banners had been taken down and replaced with plain black ones. He wondered why that was, but didn't have time to dwell on it as his attention was captured by Tonks raising her wand to point it at her cousin.
"Put down your wands," Sirius demanded harshly, sounding much more like the mass murderer he was purported to be than the fun loving man Harry had gotten to know over the last few days. Despite himself, despite knowing that Sirius would never hurt him, Harry felt a frisson of genuine fear. He hoped it showed on his face.
"PUT THEM DOWN," Sirius yelled, making Harry flinch from the loud noise.
A clatter filled the room as teachers, students and two Ministry workers dropped their wands.
"Now, see here," Fudge started.
"Drop it," Sirius growled dangerously and Harry could feel the wand point dig in deeper. He gulped audibly, hoping that Fudge would just do as he was told.
Clearly unhappy with the situation, Fudge complied.
"Thank you." Sirius pointed his wand at the centre of the room and called, "Abicio wands." He made a sweeping motion and pointed the wand at the corner of the room behind them.
All the wands from the floor lifted up into the air before hurtling over to that corner where they landed in a heap. Harry winced. Hopefully they'd be able to sort out which wand belonged to which wizard when this was over. They might have to get Ollivander in, he'd be able to sort it out, as long as none were broken.
Sirius lowered his wand slightly, but did not let go of Harry in case the Aurors decided to come barging in the moment he did. "I know you all think I should be locked away for the rest of my life, or maybe even get the Kiss for what I've done. I ask that you wait until you've heard me out before you pass that kind of judgement. There are things you don't know." Harry would have bet money Sirius was looking at his old friend, Professor Remus Lupin, as he said that.
Fudge was scowling. "You called us here so you can talk?" he asked incredulously. "I am a very busy man, Mr Black."
"I'm sure you've got some very important arse-kissing to do, what with the election coming up," Sirius said sarcastically. "Frankly, I don't care."
"Sirius," Dumbledore interrupted smoothly. "Why don't you let Harry go?"
Harry's whole body was turned slightly to the right. "I just want your word that you'll listen to me," Sirius told the old man. "Give me that and I'll let him go."
"You have it," Dumbledore agreed without hesitation.
"Fudge," Sirius prompted.
"I – oh fine."
"Madame Bones, I want you to tell your Aurors out in the hall to stand down," Sirius said. "They can come in here as long as they hand over their wands."
If Madame Bones was surprised that he knew about them she didn't show it as she walked out the door to confer with the other Aurors.
"Little Dora," Sirius said conversationally. "It's good to see you."
"Cousin Sirius." Auror Tonks didn't seem to know what to think.
Madame Bones came back a moment later followed by six men and carrying their wands in one hand. She placed them on the floor at her feet.
Sirius let go of Harry, who took a step to one side, but made no attempt to go towards his friends. He needed to be here in case Fudge went against his word.
"Harry, come here," McGonagall called softly, holding out one hand.
"No," Harry said firmly. He waited until the shocked gasps had died out. "Please, just listen to Sirius. He's completely innocent."
"What?" Fudge spluttered. "The boy must be under a confundus curse. He's quite delusional. Need I remind you boy that that man murdered thirteen people and was an accessory to the murders of James and Lily Potter, your parents. You think he's innocent? He kidnapped you"
"No he didn't," Harry said as calmly as he could. "He didn't do any of those things. He saved my life."
"Harry was taken by the same person who betrayed Lily and James and killed twelve muggles in the middle of a busy street," Sirius said. Harry knew he was milking this for all it was worth. If they could shock everyone into listening this would go much easier. "I didn't do any of those things. Peter Pettigrew did."
Those words achieved the required effect. Most of the students who didn't know who Peter Pettigrew was were whispering to each other, all the adults present were staring at Sirius in shock.
"Peter's dead," said Lupin at last.
"Harry," Sirius prompted.
"Will you be alright?" Harry asked. He didn't want to leave in case Fudge decided to attack Sirius while he was too far away to help.
Sirius nodded. "They gave their word."
Harry ran through the door behind him and quickly went to where they'd left the cage. It had been too bulky to carry into the Great Hall with them so they'd decided to leave it here until they were safe.
As he re-entered the Great Hall Harry could feel the tension in the air.
"Is that..." Lupin seemed at a loss for words and Harry remembered that he was the only one who knew about Wormtail being an animagus.
"This is your proof?" Fudge asked scornfully. "A rat?"
"Peter was a rat animagus," Lupin said hesitantly. "Sirius?"
"It wasn't me, Remus," Sirius said and pointed the wand at the cage. "James and I, we switched secret keepers. After he betrayed them I tracked him down and he blew up the street, cut off his own finger and disappeared. The rat actually outsmarted me."
"That's Scabbers!" a voice yelled from the crowd.
"Ron," Harry exclaimed, glad to see his best friend.
"Peter hid as the Weasley family pet for twelve years until he realised I'd escaped prison and was after him," Sirius explained, half to Fudge and Dumbledore and half to Ron. "He was desperate. That's why he took Harry."
"Prove it," Fudge said. He sounded a trifle put out.
"If this is truly Peter Pettigrew, make him transform," Madame Bones suggested.
"Gladly." Sirius pointed the wand at the cage. "Finite Incantatem," he said, cancelling the ward spells on it stopping Wormtail from changing. "Transformo."
Peter Pettigrew exploded out of the cage as a human, one foot still in the tray and the wire mesh draped over his head.
"That's him," Tonks said suddenly. "That's the man I saw with Harry on the train."
"Are you sure?" Madame Bones said brusquely.
"Positive," Tonks replied.
"That's Peter Pettigrew," Lupin said, his voice almost a growl.
"Remus, old friend," Wormtail said smarmily. "He's lying. I've been hiding all these years for fear of him."
"He was in Azkaban," Lupin snarled. "Why would you hide from him, no one's ever escaped from there before. More likely you were hiding from your little Death Eater friends. I doubt they were too happy with you, you gave Voldemort the information that led to his defeat."
Harry's heart soared even as the general population of the school shuddered at the forbidden name. Lupin believed them.
"That raises an interesting point," Madame Bones said, ignoring the quivering form of Wormtail. "How did you escape from Azkaban Mr Black."
"Ah, Amelia," Fudge said before Sirius could answer. "Do you really think this is a good place to discuss that? I doubt we'd want the information getting out."
A look of relief passed over Sirius' face. He wouldn't be forced to reveal that he too was an animagus in front of the entire school.
"Let us adjourn to my office," Dumbledore said. "Severus, if you would bring some veritaserum, I believe we have an interrogation to conduct."
Snape nodded curtly and left through a side door that led to the dungeons.
"If it helps," Sirius said a slightly sick look on his face. "I'll take it, too."
"Indeed, Mr Black, that would be most co-operative of you," Madame Bones nodded approvingly.
Harry knew how much it cost Sirius to give that concession. Not only would his animagus abilities come out, but the potion he'd be taking would be one of Snape's and Sirius despised the man.
"I'm coming too," Harry said quickly. There was no way he was going to be left out of this.
"I think that would be prudent, Mr Potter," Madame Bones agreed. "I expect we will need your testimony of the past week."
"Uh," Fudge mumbled something under his breath.
"Speak up, Cornelius," Dumbledore said cheerfully.
"What about our wands?" Fudge said with a look of longing at the heap of wands still sitting in one corner.
Madame Bones waved one hand at an Auror who approached. They held a whispered conversation before the Auror hurried off.
"Mr Octivius Ollivander will be here shortly to separate your wands," Madame Bones assured the crowd. "Until then no one is to approach that pile."
She quickly assigned two Aurors to guard the wands. "Well then, let us proceed."
"Maybe we should wait," Fudge said with a nervous glance at Sirius.
"No worries," Sirius said brightly and handed Harry's wand to his godson. "See, I'm unarmed, too. Harry, you have my permission to stun me if I get out of hand. Remus, you take the rat would you?"
"With pleasure," Lupin said, grabbing Wormtail by the scruff of his neck.
Harry followed the strange procession out of the Great Hall, waving at a shell-shocked Ron and Hermione as he passed.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A/N: Only one more chapter to go! I can't promise that the next one will be as quick as this one was, but I'll try.
No, there won't be a sequel. I feel that if I did one it would just end up being a rehashing of GoF and I'm not prepared to do that. This whole story came about because it really bugs me that Wormtail was sleeping in the same room as Harry for almost three years and never did anything and I asked myself what would happen if he did. I've written a story that answers my question and so I'm happy at that.
I made up some new spells for this using one of the Latin/English translators online. Please don't correct my Latin as I don't speak a word of it. Blame the translator if it's wrong.
Thanks for the reviews!
Don't forget to let me know what you think either by reviewing or alternately you can join my Yahoo! group by clicking the link on my profile.
Nats.