A/N

Well, here's the second part! Hehe, I'm really glad that you all seem to be enjoying this story, so far. I realized that I'm behind on my review responses – silly me – and I apologize if I haven't replied; I will do it soon.

I've always thought of the Heads of Houses as being members of the staff that students can approach whenever they're having difficulties – and not just with their academic work. For example, if a student had certain…problems at home, he/she would approach his/her Head of House.

That's how I thought things would be. As great as Dumbledore is as a person, as the Headmaster of the school, he can't be expected to keep an eye on every single student and figure out whatever problems they have. Of course, that doesn't mean that he doesn't do that.

Recap:

"-I do believe you managed to put my mum in her proper place. Congratulations on that, Professor." The dark-haired woman froze as what the voice said registered in her head.

'My mum'…oh Merlin…

Seeing the somewhat apprehensive glance Lupin was sending her out of the corner of her eye, she forced herself to turn around.

The tall, dark-haired figure standing by the far wall raised a hand in a mock salute.

…Oh my…

Chapter Nine: 'Sorry' won't change what happened

The last time she had seen him, he had been a striking, tall and slender man of twenty two. Now, almost fourteen years later, she was staring at…a gaunt-faced, tall and too thin man.

Sweet Merlin, she thought, he's a mere shadow of who he was before…

"Ah, Sirius my boy, I see that you are looking slightly better than the last time I saw you," came the voice of Albus Dumbledore, sounding as cheerful as it always did. The pale, dark-haired man turned his head slightly, so he could look at both the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress.

"Remus is alright as a cook," he mumbled, not even smirking at the mock-glare that his friend sent in his direction.

He turned his attention back to the silent witch. "Looking good, Professor," he said, lightly. "Why, you don't look like you've aged a day since I last saw you." He paused as the elder witch stepped forward, but held his ground. "Then again, why should you look as though you've aged? It's not like you had anything to-"

The sound of her hand hitting his cheek resounded along the hallway. Tonks managed a quick, wary glance at the portrait and once she saw it remain quiet, she turned back to the pair before her, surprised.

The dark-haired man stared at his former Professor. There was a time when she had towered over him and his friends, but now he had to look down, slightly. How things had changed.

"What was that for?" he asked in a steady voice.

McGonagall glared viciously at him. If she was asked, later, why she did it, she wouldn't have been able to answer. It seemed as though natural instinct had taken over, pushing aside any logical behavior that she would usually use.

"What do you think that was for?" she hissed.

"For betraying Lily and James?" The dark-haired man laughed, although it was hollow. "Of course. I should have known. I shouldn't be surprised, should I, given the fact that-" His head turned sharply to the right this time, as he was slapped once more.

Fathomless grey eyes flashed this time. "And what the hell was that for?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you," spat the witch, as she struggled to control herself. Behind her, Lupin glanced sideways at Dumbledore with an almost pleading expression on his face. But the elderly wizard simply shook his head, a sad smile on his face.

"I think you do," said the tall man, coolly. "In case you've forgotten, Professor, you're in my house. You have no right to just waltz in here and-"

Lupin took a step forward, his arm outstretched, as they watched the Transfigurations Professor slap her former pupil once more. Tonks stood there, staring at her former Professor with something akin to awe and fear.

"You deserve worse. Much worse," said McGonagall, allowing her confused temper to get the best of her. "And you know it."

There was a moment of silence in the hallway, before the dark-haired man bowed his head, staring at the carpeted ground.

"Yeah," he said, quietly, one hand touching the stinging spot on his face where he had been slapped, "yeah, you're right about that." He chuckled, although it had no trace of humor in it. "I deserve so much worse. It is my fault that Harry…has no parents, after all…"

He paused. "It's my fault that the only person who really knew me, who believed me, is dead." He tried to laugh, but it came off as a rather harsh wheeze.

And just like that, McGonagall's stony expression cracked, before disappearing completely.

"Oh," she said, as she took another step towards the man. "My child…" Slipping a hand underneath his chin, she raised his head and her eyes softened when she saw the over bright grey eyes that met her dark ones for a moment. "My dear child, I –" her voice trembled, "-I am so, so very sor-"

"-Sorry?" He roughly pulled his face away from her hand. "You're sorry? That's too bad. It's too bad that 'sorry' won't change what happened, McGonagall." There was a cold expression on his face as he stared at the witch.

"Will 'sorry' just take away everything that Azkaban did to me? Will it change the fact that I was betrayed by those who I thought I could count on? Does it?"

"I didn't – we didn't know. We didn't know that you and…James…changed, at the last minute, to Pet-"

"-Don't say his name in my presence," hissed the dark haired man, icily.

"Fine. We didn't know that you changed the Secret Keeper. As far as we knew, it was you. The only logical conclusion-"

"-There are many things that could have happened, McGonagall," interrupted the dark-haired man. "What prevented the lot of you from believing that I was tortured? That Voldemort captured me, and tortured me for hours, regarding information on their whereabouts?"

"You wouldn't have betrayed them under torture," said McGonagall, sharply.

The man laughed.

"Oh, so you don't think I would have betrayed them while being tortured, but you did think that I would just willingly betray them?" He shook his head. "Amazing. How bloody amazing. The people I trusted, the people I thought would know for sure that I was innocent, just turned their backs on me."

McGonagall looked stricken.

"All the evidence at the time-"

"-Every criminal case deserves a trial at least, regardless of the evidence. Did I get one? Why, I don't believe I did. Did anyone bother to check if I was marked by Voldemort, as all of his followers are? No, they didn't. They needed someone to blame, so they picked the nearest, most obvious person to do lay the blame on."

As he spoke, he raised the left sleeve of his robe, revealing too-pale skin and an almost skeletal arm. "Do you see a Dark Mark? Do you?"

"N-no…"

He let the sleeve drop, before meeting the woman's dark eyes with his own.

"And you, Professor, you of all people should have known that I would never so much as dip a finger into the Dark Arts or anything related to it. You should have known how much I hated it." He gestured around them with his hands. "I went to you when my mum, when my family, tried to make life difficult for me. I went to you before the end of my fifth year, when I decided that I wasn't going to stay with my family any longer. I even defended you with my dear old mum.

You knew me better than to believe that I would be involved in the Dark Arts. You knew that that was one of the reasons why I left my family in the first place, why I allowed myself to be disowned…"

"I – child, I didn't – I couldn't –"

"-You were more of a…mother, or motherly-figure, to me than my own mother was. Do you know how much that hurt, Professor?" His shoulders shook as a faraway gleam entered his grey eyes. "To understand that even you believed me capable of betraying Lily and James…that even you believed that I – that I deserved to spend the rest of my life in…Azkaban…?"

As silence descended upon them once more, Lupin took the chance to glance at Dumbledore, pleadingly.

"Albus," he said, softly, "Please-"

"-No, my boy. He needs to get it out of his system."

McGonagall reached out towards her former student, trying to keep her emotions in check.

It wasn't Sirius Black who stood before her.

It was a broken, defeated man.

"I am sorry, Sirius…" she said, quietly, not knowing what else she was supposed to say. "If…there's anything-"

"-There's nothing you can do, Professor, to change what happened." He straightened. "I'm rather…tired. Think I'll go upstairs for a while. Remus, do you think we can stop cleaning the place for today? We could start tomorrow…but if you-"

"-No, we can start tomorrow Sirius. Just go…get some rest," said Lupin, warmly. With a nod in his direction, the dark-haired man turned and walked down the corridor.

"Sirius –"

He paused.

"-I…know that I probably shouldn't have said half of what I did," he said, quietly. "You know that I'll forgive you soon, Professor. I did forgive Remus. And I'm halfway through forgiving Dumbledore."

"It's not about-"

"-I need to be alone for a while, alright?" He soon disappeared from sight.

Lupin moved forward, no doubt to follow his friend, but was stopped by the elderly wizard.

"No. Give him some time," he said, softly. "Has he ever done this before?" Lupin sent him a questioning glance. "Has he ever let go of all of that emotion that he has been suppressing?" Lupin was silent for a moment.

"He did, when we faced Peter in the Shrieking Shack," he admitted, "but…since then, no, he hasn't had an outburst like this."

Dumbledore nodded, before moving towards his Deputy, who was staring after the dark-haired, broken man.

"Minerva?"

Her eyes were bright behind her glasses as she turned to him.

"He's right." She blinked furiously. "I failed him."

"Not exactly, Minerva," said Dumbledore, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "But, then again, we all failed him." He paused. "Look on the bright side. We know the truth, he was saved from being given the Dementors' Kiss – thanks to Harry, of course – and we can work on making sure that his name is cleared in the future."

"He hates me."

"He doesn't." He saw the weak yet skeptical glance that she gave him. "Well, alright, he does seem to dislike you at the moment. But, like he said, he just needs some time. Did he not say that he'll forgive you?"

"If it's any consolation, Professor McGonagall, I almost hexed him when I first saw him," said Tonks, "Talk about a bad first impression," she muttered, before glancing back at her Professor. "He forgave me for believing him to be a murderer."

"But you weren't-" Dumbledore rather thought that he heard a choked sob. "-A…mother-figure…"

"Enough of this," said Dumbledore. He smiled at Lupin and Tonks. "I think Minerva and I will head back to Hogwarts. Has Arabella reported anything, about Harry?"

Lupin shook his head, although he did grimace.

"His aunt and uncle are treating him just fine," he said, darkly.

"I see. Well then, Remus, Nymphadora-" Blue eyes twinkled at the disgruntled expression on the pink-haired woman's face. "-We will see you at the meeting on Thursday. Hopefully, we'll have a full group by then. Good day."

With nods in their direction, he led his quiet, stricken Deputy away.

A/N

That was actually hard to right. I couldn't very well just let him forgive her right then and there. Then again, I couldn't exactly let him have a grudge against her, especially when he did forgive Lupin and when he seemed okay with Dumbledore.

Sigh. I love Sirius. (Hehe, hope I didn't make it too obvious!)

Well, until next time!

Siriusgirl1