Even from the beginning of the lane, they could already feel the heat of the fire that engulfed Malfoy Manor as Aurors ran around in an attempt to put the fire out, but were clearly failing miserable.
Not held back by discretion, Sirius and James both raised their wands and quickly got the fire under control as Remus spotted Narcissa standing to the side with her son in her arms, the toddler looking at the fire disinterested.
"Black!" Crouch spat Sirius' surname out as everyone turned when the fire suddenly came under control and spotted them. "You are under arrest for the murders of the Potters!"
"What?" Sirius deflected the stunners send at him with ease. "Are you out of your mind?"
"He hasn't killed any Potter," James stepped forward, his own wand raised as Crouch approached with his wand still drawn, three other Aurors flanking him hesitantly.
"He killed the Potters and kidnapped their son! Sick bastard," Crouch shot off several more spells towards Sirius that he and James easily blocked, cursing as Sirius rose a shield around himself and his friends.
Before he could attack again, the Ministry worker was knocked aside by Moody, his last spell hitting a tree behind the Marauders, part of it exploding on impact.
"What the bloody hell are you doing, attacking him like that?!"
"He murdered at least two people in cold blood!"
"And how would you explain that when the guy you accuse him of killing is standing right beside him, actively protecting him?!" the weathered Auror growled as James had indeed half pulled Sirius behind him protectively, despite the other's protests.
"What is the meaning of this attack on my brother?!" James demanded to know.
"Dumbledore confirmed he was the Secret-Keeper, you saw the house was deserted!" Crouch yelled, ignoring James as he got to his feet again, Moody knocking down his wand when he aimed it at Sirius again.
"It was completely empty, I doubt the Dark Lord would've packed all their stuff!"
"Dumbledore again," James growled, his grip on his own wand tightening. "Sirius was not my Secret-Keeper, Peter Pettigrew was."
"Pettigrew?...why?" Moody turned to him intrigued as the other Aurors looked at each other surprised.
"Because we didn't know who the spy was, we told everyone Sirius was our Secret-Keeper to protect our real one," James explained.
"A decoy. That is very clever," Moody nodded.
"He's lying, must clearly be under the Imperius Curse," Crouch spat out, raising his wand again and James tensed but Moody knocked his wand down once more.
"Be quiet you fool. The Imperius Curse doesn't work on any of them, you know that as well as I do and don't even bother to suggest Polyjuice."
"How can you be so sure there is no Polyjuice involved?" A dark-skinned guy Remus only vaguely recognised spoke up before Crouch got a chance to open his mouth again.
"Because both Lupin and Black would be able to tell if he was someone under Polyjuice, they've always been able to tell and even if Black can be, Lupin cannot be Polyjuiced," Moody revealed. "Potter, show me your Patronus."
"Expecto Patronum," James' stag ran around them and Moody nodded approvingly. "That's his."
"That could be faked," Crouch snapped.
"Are you truly so set on arresting people for the general image that you're going after a clearly innocent man?" Moody snapped.
"He is a dark wizard, we all know it and who knows how many people's he's killed for his master! He needs to be thrown into Azkaban, I've always known he would end up there and I will see him get where he belongs even if it's the last thing I do!"
"You're walking a fine line between insanity and corruption there," Moody told him warningly, making Crouch bristle in anger but quiet down as Moody turned to James.
"Dumbledore showed up at the Ministry, telling us the Potters had been attacked by You-Know-Who, having been betrayed by Black. When we got to the house, there was a corpse there, but no sign of you or your family."
"They are safe. We were indeed attacked and betrayed, but by Peter, not Sirius," James repeated.
"A clever decoy, but why would Dumbledore claim you were dead when I can clearly see you are not?"
"I don't know what Dumbledore is playing at; Hagrid showed up at the house mere minutes after the attack and told us Dumbledore said we were dead."
"Dumbledore sent Hagrid to your house? Why?"
"To retrieve my son and bring him into the care of a woman who hates everything to do with magic, all the while knowing perfectly well who his appointed guardian is if something were to happen to my wife and me."
"Dumbledore sent Hagrid to retrieve Harry?" Moody raised an eyebrow. "How did he know the child was still alive or that you were attacked in the first place? And why would he be interested in retrieving another's child when we all know Black is his godfather."
"I don't know, how did he even know where the house was if he believed Sirius was the Secret-Keeper?"
"He showed us a slip of paper; I didn't think anything of it since Black could have prepared it in case of emergency."
"I never gave him anything, I actually haven't seen the man since we set up our plans," Sirius revealed. "Peter must have given him the slip of paper and even if he just sent it to him, the old fool has seen our handwritings often enough to know the difference."
Moody nodded. "Yes...he would as I'm sure even I'd recognise the differences in them upon truly paying attention. How did you survive?"
"Sirius saved us. He discovered Peter was gone from the safe house and hurried to us, arriving just in time to stop Riddle from killing me."
"How? I assume Pettigrew's safe house wouldn't be near your own?"
"He Apparated there," Remus gave a faint smile as Moody's eyebrow rose in surprise as it was no secret to any who knew him that Sirius hated Apparition, it was why he always used his motorbike instead.
"And the corpse?" Moody stayed on track, though the man's eyes told Remus he was already aware of who the corpse was, the other Aurors glancing at each other confused while Crouch' eyes narrowed.
"Is Tom Riddle, better known as You-Know- Who," James confirmed.
"He...he's truly dead?" the female Auror stuttered in disbelief. "How?"
"I killed him when he raised his wand to kill my brother," Sirius admitted.
"You...so you are a murderer! Arrest..."
"Shut up, Crouch," Moody cut him off with a bark. "He's done what we failed to do and should receive a medal for his service."
"He's a Black!"
"His name is Potter-Black," James corrected him. "I'd tell you to cast Prior Incantatem, but he's cast quite a few spells since saving our family."
"By using murder! He is too dangerous to bring in al.." Crouch' wand was magically ripped from his hands by James as the man raised it at Sirius once more, the former Chaser catching it blindly with his free hand. "How dare you! I am the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement!"
"You are a highly placed Ministry worker continuously threatening and insulting a proven innocent man in petty behaviour and I won't stand for it," James spat, handing the wand to Moody. "As a Wizengamot member I cannot tolerate this type of behaviour towards any innocent party and will put forth a motion of no confidence at this tactless display."
"As Lord Potter I demand for him to face consequences for treating a respected member of my family and this community with utter disrespect. I am sure Lord Black will be disgusted by this bigoted, incompetent treatment of a Department Head to his Heir as well and will take further action when I tell him about it," James continued.
"You can't..."
"Shut it, Crouch. You heard Lord Potter; he's placing an official motion of no confidence against you. Do you second that, Black?"
"Yes, I do," Sirius confirmed. "As the Heir to the House of Black I second that motion and make a complaint of my own about his incompetent and disgraceful behaviour towards me without me giving him cause."
"So it will be. Bartemius Crouch, during the investigation of this motion you will be on suspension and as your second in command I will take over your current position until the hearing."
"I am the Head of the Department!" Crouch spluttered as Moody dropped the wand in an evidence bag and handed it over to the dark-skinned Auror.
"Shacklebolt and Proudfoot will accompany Mister Crouch back to the Ministry and book him in. No one speaks to him until I've returned," Moody ignored Crouch.
"Alastor...you can't seriously take these petty demands seriously! He's a Black, a dark wizard and just admitted he is guilty of murder. Any civilian who commits murder is to be arrested!"
"I believe Mister Black performed a service to the community and I'm sure the whole Ministry will agree," Shacklebolt spoke up quietly as he pocketed the wand. "Do you wish for me to put out an arrest warrant for Peter Pettigrew?"
"Yes."
"As you wish, sir," the dark-skinned man gave both James and Sirius an intrigued look as he locked a hand around Crouch's biceps before the three of them Disapparated with a spluttering Crouch.
Sirius dropped the shield while Moody sighed and turned back to them.
"All right, so you took out You-Know-Who?"
"Yes, I have evidence he is truly dead, too," Sirius pulled the small black book out of his pocket, showing Moody the Gaunt's line had ended.
"I see, what about Lucius Malfoy? How does he play into this?" Moody handed the book to the red-haired Auror beside him when Sirius indicated she could have a look.
"What about him?" Sirius asked.
"He's dead."
"The fire killed him?" Remus asked surprised.
"No, his wife said she was woken by him clutching his arm and screaming bloody murder before he just died. She managed to drag him out when the fire started and we've discovered a burned out mark on his inner left forearm, know anything about that?"
"No, what kind of mark?" Sirius asked confused.
"The Dark Mark, I've seen it before on some confirmed Death Eaters and think it might be something they all have."
"Like an identification mark," James realised.
"Or a summoning mark," Sirius nodded. "That could be how they communicate and recognise each other."
"If that is true, then we could use it to identify others much easier."
"It would make things simpler," Moody agreed with Remus, though Sirius shook his head.
"No, he wouldn't mark everyone that way, too risky for the lowly followers to somehow betray him. I think, if we are right, that he only marked those closest to him, the most trustworthy and loyal ones."
"But if we can find those marked, they could be interrogated about the ones not marked," James mused.
"Alastor...should you be discussing all of this with civilians?" The short redhead stepped forward and Remus thought he recognised her as Amelia Bones, someone who'd been a few years above them at Hogwarts.
"They're with me," Moody waved her off. "I trust them and would have made them Aurors the moment they graduated if their hearts hadn't laid elsewhere. Trust me Amelia, if there's anyone you want at your side in these times then it's these three."
"I think we've seen enough fighting to last us a lifetime," Sirius half turned as Narcissa broke free from the Aurors beside her and marched into their direction. "Keep quiet, I want to try something."
"What are you doing here?" she sniffed angrily, hoisting her son up higher in her arms.
"We're here to check on a friend. My House-elf heard of the fire and asked me if she could go check if her friend was all right. Because it's dangerous out there, I said I'd go instead and these two refused to let me go alone after all that happened tonight," Sirius smoothly told her.
"What friend?" Narcissa' anger turned to surprise.
"Dobby," if Remus hadn't become a master at keeping his face straight during their Hogwarts adventures, he might just have given the game away as he hadn't expected that answer and wondered what Sirius was playing at.
"You're here for that worthless House-elf?"
"What? You thought I'd come here for you or your worthless husband?" Sirius snorted. "I don't care what happens to you, you are of no importance to me."
"But the elf is?"
"He is my House-elf's friend, which makes his mine. Where is he?"
"If he knows what is good for him, he'll have burned to death! About the only good thing that thing's ever done."
"If he is that worthless to you, then I suppose you won't care if we take him off your hands," James spoke up, clearly aware what Sirius was after and Remus allowed himself a small smile even as Moody rolled his eyes.
"I...what?"
"You heard him; we're taking Dobby off your hands since you are clearly unhappy with him."
"And what do you plan to offer for him?"
"Nothing at all. As your future Head of House, I am authorised to take him off your hands if the ownership doesn't work out."
"He's my husband's elf!"
"No, he's not. When Lucius married you, he married into the Black family as you well know. All his assets fell under Arcturus' rule when he signed that marriage contract, which includes house-elves. Dobby!"
"Master?" a house-elf, just a little taller than Tiffy appeared, looking up at Sirius with pitiful scared green eyes before bowing low to the ground in acknowledgement of who he was, making Narcissa gasp as she realised Sirius had spoken the truth.
"Hello Dobby, I'm glad to see you're all right. I hope the new conditions are not a problem for you?" Sirius asked kindly.
"No, Master. Dobby is always pleased to serve," the small elf bowed again.
"No need for that, Dobby. Both the bowing and the Master stuff. My name is Sirius and these are my brother James and my housemate and close friend Remus. As now's not really the time, we'll discuss your work conditions later on, all right?"
"Of course, M- Sirius. Where would you like Dobby to go?"
"Why don't you join Tiffy for now, she's the one who told me about you and I'm sure she will be very happy to see you. Do you have anything left or was all lost in the fire?"
The small elf gave a hesitant and surprised smile in answer to Sirius' question.
"Dobby has no possessions, Sir," he answered softly.
"Then we'll get you some in due time. Will you tell Lily and Tiffy we'll be home as soon as we can?"
"Yes, Sir," with a small nod not unlike a bow the house-elf quickly Disapparated with a cracking bang.
"You took my elf from me, how am I supposed to do things now? I have no house, no husband..." Narcissa snapped, not looking at all like a grieving widow but more like a tantrum throwing child in Remus' opinion.
"I'm sure you can go to your lovely sister," there was no remorse or pity in Sirius' voice as he turned from her, dismissing her presence as two of the Aurors led her away again. "Do you still need us?"
"Not right now, I'll make sure the arrest warrant against you is dropped, if Kingsley hasn't already done so."
"Then we'll be returning home," Sirius leaned in close to Moody and whispered something into his ear, making the weathered Auror look at him surprised.
"Why..."
"Because we trust you and someone should know just in case," James spoke for Sirius, taking his brothers hand. "We will not risk a situation like this happening ever again."
"Come by tomorrow so we can discuss things more...openly," Sirius squeezed James' hand, conjuring a phial and extracted something from his mind. "I can't tell you exactly how I came to be in possession of this yet, but I think this might help with locating those other followers."
"A memory?" a scarred eyebrow was raised as Moody accepted the phial.
"Not just one, that there contains all the memories of Tom Riddle that I could get access to," Sirius informed him.
"How the bloody...can't tell me yet," Moody rubbed a hand over his face as Amelia stared at the phial in shock. "We will verify the authenticity of this just in case it comes to trials but thank you."
"It's our pleasure," Sirius smiled as he slipped his free hand in Remus' so James could Apparate them.
"Oh, wait! I still have your book," Amelia dropped the book, stumbling in her hurry to return it to Sirius and wasted no time in retrieving it from the ground.
"So..." she trailed off with a gasp as her eyes fell onto the open page. "Alastor..."
"What is it?" Moody accepted the book from her, his eyes widening slightly at what he saw. "The Lestrange line ended."
"What?" all three of them moved to stand at Moody's side so they could all look at the book.
"What could have taken Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange out?" Remus wondered amazed. "They are two of the strongest known Death Eaters there are!"
"Well, they are dead. As is Rabastan," James' eyes narrowed. "They died today...same as Malfoy."
He paged through the book. "Avery, the Carrows and Rosier are dead as well."
"What about Nott and Goyle?" Sirius asked, a look of understanding coming over his features.
"Both dead as well, same day," Moody answered. "Their sons are alive, though."
"Yeah, but they can't be much more than toddlers so I doubt they are Death Eaters," James dismissed the children.
"Think I can borrow this for a while?" Moody closed the book.
"I have a better idea," Sirius was quick to copy the book and exchanged the copies. "You can keep that one."
"You do know the bookshops would be very annoyed with you, right?" Moody accepted the new copy and pocketed it. "Well, you better get going before the journalists show up. I'll come by tomorrow or the day after to discuss things more thoroughly."
"Take your time, if our assumption is correct then you'll have a lot on your plate the upcoming days," James hesitated.
"I'll personally inform the Minister of what happened and what we believe."
"And I shall inform the Wizengamot," Amelia spoke up. "I don't think it would be wise if you came out of hiding right away, not until it's cleared up what is the meaning of Dumbledore's actions."
"And Riddle's followers have been dealt with. When it comes out that you killed him, you and your family will become high-profile targets," Moody agreed.
"It might be easy to lure several of them out, though," Sirius turned to Remus and James. "Remember how the followers showed up despite most protections whenever his name was spoken until no one truly dared to any more?"
"If we use his name in a controlled environment, we could lure out several of his followers," James caught on to what Sirius was thinking. "But where are you going to find someone still willing to use his name?"
"We could use Dumbledore for that," Moody offered. "He's always saying we shouldn't fear the name and to use it, despite knowing about what happens when it's used."
"So let him actually use the name," Remus agreed. "I don't think I've heard him actually use it, usually says the Dark Lord or similar names."
"That's settled then," glancing at the still smouldering Manor, Moody sighed. "Amelia, why don't you get everyone ready to return to the Ministry as soon as possible?"
"Of course and if I may say so, thank you for what you did," Amelia nodded to Sirius with a small smile, acknowledging what he'd done before sending Moody a knowing look and leaving.
Shaking his head fondly, Moody leaned towards Sirius once she was far enough away that they were alone. "Does the true reason of you guys being here have to do with the fire?"
"Yes, Horcruxes," Sirius whispered back, causing Moody to jerk back in shock.
"He wouldn't!"The man clearly knew what they were as the shock turned into disgusted horror.
"He did."
"You said it in plural, which means there is more than one?" Moody lowered his voice again.
"Five of them in total, we destroyed them and went to check if they're truly gone. There was Fiendfyre at all three scenes we've checked now so I think it is safe to assume the same happened at the other locations."
"Where?"
"Hogwarts, Little Hangleton and here."
"Right, and do you know the locations of the other two?" Moody blinked surprised at Hogwarts mentioning but didn't ask further.
"Gringotts, and a cave. I haven't focused on exactly where it is yet, though I am pretty sure it is located in Delamere Forest in Cheshire. There is not much risk for people as the cave is located on a large cliff and rather wet so even Fiendfyre won't spread quickly," Sirius couldn't quite suppress a small yawn as he spoke and Moody stepped back immediately.
"I'll check Delamere Forest to put the fire out, you should get some rest, don't worry, Sirius. I'll make sure the Minister knows exactly how Riddle got taken out of the picture and if our theory turns out to be true, that you lads had no idea killing him would in turn take out all of his marked followers."
"I appreciate that," James stepped back to Sirius' side. "We'll be going then, I'm sure Lily is wondering where we're at."
"I'll send someone to check Gringotts to see if everything's all right there. Any idea exactly where it was?"
"The Lestrange vault," Sirius answered immediately.
"Of course it is. Get your butts home safely and stay that way, I'll contact you soon," Moody promised with a nod and Remus stepped closer to place a hand on James' shoulder as his friend slipped a hand into Sirius'.
With another nod, they Apparated back to Marauder Cottage to inform Lily of all that had happened and await Moody's visit.
