The attack by Skitty Kitty seemed to be the only big event that happened to Sirius that winter; the rest it passed as smoothly as a winter could in Azkaban. Bellatrix was moved to a cell farther away from him; the ministry deemed it too hazardous to keep Bellatrix and Sirius close together, but hazardous to whom, Sirius would never know. Still, Sirius didn't mind one bit that Bellatrix was moved. He wished that he would never have to look at or hear from that evil woman again, but he feared he wasn't going to be that lucky. His new neighbor, fortunately, was quiet, except for the occasional frantic shriek.
Sirius' new neighbor wasn't much of a talker, but Sirius didn't mind that at all; Black didn't need this particular social interaction because he was never alone. James came everyday, and together James and Sirius worked on finding Padfoot. Finding Sirius' ability was not the easiest thing to do. His Animagus had hidden in the deepest place inside Black that there could be. Sirius searched and searched his memories trying to find anything that would lead him to Padfoot. The two friends were finally able to make a break through about the same time as the cold of winter melted into the mildness of spring. Though not much changed around Azkaban weather wise, the days had become slightly lighter and warmer.
James had been right. Padfoot had hidden in the same place as the memory of Harry's birth; the deep, dark interior of Sirius' mind. Now that they found that Sirius' ability did, indeed, still exist, it was time to exercise and use that ability.
This was easier said than done. As spring passed into summer, Sirius was still unable to make even ¼ of his transformation. This frustrated him to no end. If he concentrated hard enough, he could get the hair on the back of his hand to turn black, but that was it. He felt as if he was a first year learning the basics of magic all over again.
James was always there to coach, encourage and even cajole Sirius into working on his ability. Black knew that if James hadn't been there, he would have given up a long time ago. And James put up with a lot of Sirius' defeatist attitude. Black wasn't even sure how James could even handle being around him; he couldn't even stand to be around himself when he was so negative.
By the end of the summer, Sirius was not on polite speaking terms with James. James still came everyday, but the two friend's relationship was severely strained. James pushed Sirius beyond what Sirius thought he was capable of, and Black oftentimes told James this. Prongs didn't believe that Sirius was doing everything he could, and continued to push him. There was nothing in Azkaban that encouraged hope or motivation for Sirius; the Dementors took care of that quite efficiently. Black felt like he was fighting a useless battle; there was nothing, besides James, that impelled Sirius to work on getting Padfoot back.
All of this changed when Sirius received some news about his Godson that disturbed him, and terrified James.
A rumor had been spreading around Azkaban that Lord Voldemort had tried to steal the sorcerer's stone out of Hogwarts a few months earlier with the help of an accomplice. If Voldemort had ever gotten that stone, then the Dark Lord would have returned more powerful than ever before; Bellatrix may have just gotten her wish to make Sirius writhe in pain. That was not what disturbed Sirius and terrified James. What put a dead weight of dread in both men's stomachs was that Harry had had to face Lord Voldemort alone.
For awhile nothing was said as to what had come of the confrontation, until a week later when one of the few wizard guards came by, and passed on the news that Harry had thwarted Voldemort once again. The guard had intended the comment to be an insult to Sirius, whom everyone considered to be a major supporter of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but the guard had no idea how much grief he had alleviated Sirius from. The guard had given him the information he had wanted to know so desperately; Sirius now knew that Harry was alright. Black felt as if he could breathe normally gain. James looked as if he could talk again; Prongs had gone silent with horror and worry over the past couple of days.
That bit of news lit a fire under Sirius. Black hated that Harry had had to face Voldemort alone. Sirius felt he was failing Harry as a Godfather. He vowed that he was going to get his Animagus back, and that he was going to get out. Harry was in real danger; Voldemort would not stop until Harry was dead.
James had gone from a terrified mute to determined and ruthless; he was not going to give Sirius anymore slack. He was determined that Sirius got out, just as much or more than Sirius was. First they had to get Padfoot to come out of hiding; Sirius had to master his ability to change into an Animagus. Both men knew that if Sirius had any chance of escaping it would be through Padfoot.
And so they worked straight through the fall. Harry had already started his second year by then. Sirius and James knew that Dumbledore would protect Harry, but that did not deter their plans one bit. They were determined to bring back the Marauder in Sirius.
The coming of winter had caught Sirius by surprise; he had been so busy working on his ability that he had forgotten about winter. Sirius had a lot he had to do, and by keeping his mind busy, he was able to bear the winter easy enough.
By the end of winter he had managed to transform ¾ the way; he could get the shape and hair right, but he was still having problems with his paws and eyes. Still, it was miles ahead than what he had thought he would have accomplished by this time.
Spring came again with its usual light showers and warm sunlight. Padfoot and Prongs were working as diligently as ever. By the end of spring, Sirius was finally able to turn into Padfoot, and keep his form.
Now it was reconnaissance time. Black first tested out his guards. He wasn't really sure if Dementors could sense a dog.
The first thing he did was yell out as loudly as he could, catching the attention of Smiley and Skitty, and then quickly turning into Padfoot. Sirius did this a couple times in order to see if his Dementors could be fooled more than once.
Skitty would immediately swoop into the cell, but after a few moments of sensing around his cell (sometimes floating right over Padfoot), the Dementor went away. This suggested that Dementors couldn't sense an animal as well. Smiley, on the other hand, was a little bit harder to fool. The Dementor moved into Sirius' cell slowly, sweeping back and forth across the cell in an orderly pattern. At one point Sirius thought the Dementor had figured out what he was doing; Smiley had stopped right in front of Padfoot and began to feed of off the animal. Padfoot must not have been as tasty a treat as Sirius would have been because Smiley soon moved on.
Sirius concluded that Dementors could sense animals, but that they couldn't recognize that a human had turned into an animal. Sirius became charged with the possibilities. He could probably walk right past the Dementors and they wouldn't even notice him. Black began to eat less. The skinnier Padfoot became, the easier it was for the dog to slip through the bars of the cell. Now it was the wizard guards he had to worry about.
Sirius had seen very few wizard guards over the years. Black didn't really think too many wizards wanted to work next to Dementors all day. There were a few regulars that Sirius had seen, but they rarely patrolled the higher levels. Even so, they may have found it odd if a black, mangy dog was wandering around the prison. He needed something to distract them.
That distraction came in the middle of the summer by the way of an unexpected guest. Every year Cornelius Fudge would come and tour the prison, making sure that all the security measures were in place; he hardly ever visited any of the prisoners. The one exception to that rule was Sirius.
When he had first come to Azkaban, Cornelius came every six months to get Black's confession to the crimes of killing twelve Muggles, murdering Peter Pettigrew and betraying James and Lily Potter. Fudge was enraged that Sirius still pleaded his innocence, and was determined to get him to admit to the crimes. Not once had Sirius ever admitted to the crimes, and he never would; he was not going to confess to doing something he didn't do. No matter how many times Sirius told Fudge that Peter Pettigrew had framed him, and that Peter was still alive and out there, Cornelius was not going to ever accept that.
After three years of trying to get Sirius to confess, Fudge gave up. He still toured the prison every year, but he never stopped to talk to Black anymore; to Fudge, Sirius was a hopeless, lost case.
So it was odd when one of the few wizard guards came by Sirius' cell one day to tell him that he was going to be having a visitor.
"The Minister of Magic would like to speak with, but what a degenerate like yourself could say to the Minister is beyond me. If you do anything that is threat to the Minister, I will order one of your Dementor guards to administer the Kiss."
The wizard guard was a squat man with a slightly lopsided face, and gray grizzled hair and beard. He was a nasty little man who liked to come by Sirius' cell every once in awhile to tell him how vile a person he was. Sirius never took what the man said to heart, and he had good reason to think a little kinder of the man; it was this guard who had given Sirius the news that Harry had survived his encounter with Lord Voldemort.
James, on the other hand, was not so calm. Prongs paced the cell, angry that that little stump of a man would dare say something like that to his friend.
"He only has the courage to say that because you're in a cell. If you were out that Donkey's—"
"James! Not now!" Sirius said as he turned to give his friend a warning glare.
James took the hint and settled down. Sirius was puzzled, and slightly disturbed by the fact that the Minister wanted to see him now.
The guard, on the other hand, looked at Sirius with a mixture of shock and fear.
"Who are you talking to Black?" The guard said, as he peered into Sirius' cell anxiously.
"Obviously not you!" Sirius retorted. He was annoyed that the guard was so nosy.
The guard shook his head in disapproval, and then stomped away, muttering something under his breath about Sirius being crazy. Maybe he was right; Azkaban wasn't the best place to stay sane, but Black didn't care what the guard thought.
He was more worried as to why the Minister of Magic wanted to see him now. He had a sour feeling in his stomach that it had something to do with Harry. After the guard left, this same idea seemed to dawn on James. James' face became drawn in terror. Prongs walked to the nearby wall and slid down into a sitting position. Sirius went over to join him, and both watched and waited for Cornelius Fudge.
"You don't think Cornelius is coming because something happened to Harry do you?" James asked his eyes wide with fear.
Sirius thought about this for a second. He really didn't think that Cornelius would come all the way to Azkaban to tell Sirius anything about Harry. All the other times that Fudge had come, not once had he even mentioned Harry's name.
"No, I don't think Cornelius would come here to tell me about my Godson. I'm not sure why he's coming. Maybe it's a slow time for the Ministry at the moment, and Fudge is coming to get a confession again."
James' gloom disappeared; he smiled.
"It would be something that idiot would do. Instead of attending to his duties as Minister of Magic, he comes here to bother you!"
"Lucky me," Sirius answered sarcastically.
Black hadn't been paying attention to who was outside his cell, and was shocked to see Skitty Kitty looking in on him. James noticed the Dementor as well, and fell silent. Both watch as Skitty floated into the cell. Sirius braced himself for an attack, but was surprised when Skitty floated over to his waste bucket, picked it up and floated out again.
Smiley was no where nearby; it must be out getting Sirius' food since it was that time of the day.
Sirius looked at James, and James looked at Sirius. There was no one guarding Sirius' door. Black slowly got up, and walked over to the door to see if the coast was clear, his heart thudding with anticipation. This may be his chance to escape, and he was terrified.
As he looked out the door, his heart sank. Cornelius was marching towards his cell, followed by the same wizard guard who had called Sirius a "degenerate" a moment earlier and two Dementors. Cornelius was dressed impeccably in a dark suit, and wearing his familiar bowler hat. He had a newspaper tucked under his arm. Though Cornelius had aged since Sirius had last seen him, the Minister still had that stern look of determination; once Fudge made his mind up about something, it was very hard to sway that mind. Sirius had tried before and had obviously failed; he was still in Azkaban.
Fudge stopped in front of Sirius cell, looking at Black with complete contempt; Cornelius never seemed to change. The wizard guard conjured up a chair, and set it down next to Sirius' door. Black had not moved from his spot on the floor next to James. He knew any sudden movements would not be looked to kindly on by the Dementors.
Cornelius waved the guard and the Dementors away and sat down. This surprised Sirius and gave him hope; Fudge must not think Black was too big of a threat. None of these emotions showed on his face though. He remained where he was against the wall, nonchalant as ever.
Cornelius took his paper from under his arm, and set in primly in his lap. He then turned his attention to Sirius, scrutinizing Black for reasons Sirius couldn't figure out. James watched Fudge quizzically, just as confused as Black was.
"Well I'm sure you know why I am here," Cornelius started.
"No, I haven't the faintest idea why our fine Minister has come to visit a lowly prisoner like myself," Sirius responded. By his side, he heard James suppress a laugh.
A look of irritation passed over Fudge's face, but was soon replaced by look of friendliness. So Fudge was going to employ the best friend tactic. Sirius waited.
"I'm here because I think it's high time that you confess to the crimes that you were charged for. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is gone, so why are you still being so obstinate?"
James muttered angry words, but Sirius looked back at Fudge very calmly, his gray eyes sparkling in the afternoon light.
"We've been through this before Cornelius. I will not admit to something I didn't do, no matter who says I did it. If that is all you came here for, then I'm sorry that you wasted your time. I will not confess, and you will not see reason, so I say we are at an impasse," Sirius calmly responded.
Cornelius was stunned by Sirius' elegant answer. He sat back, and looked at Black in a way that was fearful, but also impressed. James was shocked by Sirius' answer as well. He had never known that Padfoot could be this well spoken in a time of distress, and at a time when he should have been angry.
Sirius was taken aback by how calm he really felt. There was no point being angry; they were never going to let him out if he acted crazy. He was just going to have to free himself. Sirius' mind was made up on leaving. Azkaban had gotten enough of him, and he was done trying to get out legally.
Cornelius leaned back into his chair, picked up his newspaper from his lap and snapped it open.
"I can stay here all day Black until you confess."
Sirius nearly laughed at this, but didn't; James did laugh. They both knew Fudge was lying, and he wasn't doing a good job at it either.
"That idiot expects us to believe that he can spend all day in Azkaban waiting for a confession on a case that is twelve years old. Even if he could, he wouldn't. That man has as much courage as a…" James was going to continue, until he saw Sirius' face, and then stopped.
Sirius was looking at the front page of the paper, and for the first time James saw rage. The picture on the front page was of a large family happily waving out of the picture. The entire family had bright red hair. The headline said that the family had just won 10,000 gallons in a contest. It wasn't the family or their hair or the fact that they had just won 10,000 gallons that caught Sirius' attention. It was the rat perched on the youngest son's shoulder that Sirius could not take his eyes off of.
"Who is that family that won the 10,000 gallon prize on the first page?" Sirius asked.
Cornelius looked over his paper at Sirius in shock, then flipped the paper to the front page.
"That is Arthur Weasley's family. I thought you would have at least recognized Arthur."
"It's been a couple years since I have seen anyone Fudge, but my, his family has grown," Sirius said.
Cornelius was a taken back by this, not sure if Sirius was threatening Arthur or complimenting him. He decided that since Sirius was in here, Black was no threat.
"They are a big family, but they have enough room for one more. Arthur and Molly have grown quite attached to Harry Potter. They look at him as quite their own ever since he saved their youngest, their only daughter, from some trouble a few months back. Harry and their youngest son are as thick as thieves from what I hear, much like you and James had once been. At least Harry has someone who cares for him since he has NO parents to go to," Cornelius stated. He looked in at Sirius expecting Black to feel some guilt and confess.
The comment hadn't made Sirius feel guilt, but it did sting. He was missing out on all of Harry's important moments, moments a kid should have a father figure to look up to.
When Cornelius saw he was not going to get a response, he sighed and went back to reading.
A few moments later, the wizard guard returned.
"Minister, a Ministry owl has just arrived asking for your attendance in a meeting set for later on today," he stated blandly.
Cornelius jumped up from his seat, and turned to face the guard as he snapped his paper shut.
"Ah yes. I've spent too much time here as it is. Where is this owl?"
James was on the verge of saying something nasty, but stopped when he saw Sirius eyeing the paper.
"Up in the warden's office. Follow me, I'll show you," the guard replied cheerfully, proud to be able to help the Minister of Magic.
"Minister," Sirius asked in his most redemptive voice possible, "before you leave, if you are done with that paper, may I please have it? I miss doing the crossword puzzle."
Cornelius looked down at Sirius, then back at the paper in his hands. Deciding it was no harm giving Sirius the paper, he shrugged and handed the paper over to the guard who gave it to Black.
Sirius opened the paper calmly and began to read. Cornelius stood there for a moment perplexed by Black, but then turned and followed the guard out of the fourth tier cellblock, passing catcallers as he went.
Once Fudge was gone, Sirius immediately turned to the front page, staring at the little rat on the second youngest Weasley's shoulder. There was no doubt in Sirius' mind as to who that really was.
"I've found him James. I found that traitor Pettigrew! He's at Hogwarts!"
Sirius looked up, but was surprised to see James looking out of Sirius' cell. Confused, Sirius got up, paper in hand, and walked over to James.
"Didn't you hear me Prongs? I found Pettigrew!"
James turned to face Sirius, his face stern. It was the look James got when he was devising a plan.
"I heard you the first time Sirius," Prongs responded.
"Well what are you doing? Aren't you the least bit interested in this James? I mean he did betray you and Lily!"
"Sirius, look outside your cell!"
Sirius glanced outside, and then realized that he saw nothing. There were no guards or Dementors near his cell. Fudge must have asked for Dementor guards to escort him out of Azkaban. Smiley hadn't returned yet with Sirius' food, and Skitty was no where to be seen. The last he had seen of Skitty was when the Dementor had taken his waste bucket out of his cell.
"Now's your chance to escape Padfoot, to set things right!" James exclaimed.