(Disclaimer: see first chapter)

Beta: The lovely RedButterfly33! Thank you so much!

A/N: Also, a big thank you to mandancie and Gwen Polk for the reviews... and to those four crazy people who already fav'ed this at just over 400 words. Warms my heart. I hope you'll like the remaining 30,000-some words, as well. :D

1.

September 1st, 1997

The welcoming feast was over. With sad eyes, Professor Black looked at the students following their respective prefects to their dorms. It was a school year like any other. Yet for him, instead of the beginning of something new, it signified the death of something old. Now that the Hogwarts school year was under way, he could no longer hide from the truth.

His godson, the child of Lily and James, had become a murderer. He would never see him again.

What had he done wrong? Was there anything he could have done? If he had been there for Harry more, would the boy not have made this mistake?

As he so often did, he once again wished he hadn't been barred from seeing Harry for nearly thirteen years. Damn the Ministry! And damn those Muggles for turning him into this, into... No, he could not think like that. It was wrong to speak ill of the dead.

Tiredly, Sirius got up and followed the other professors to the teachers' room.

Professor Vector was the last person to leave the room.

At the faculty meeting, Sirius Black had once more been introduced as the new professor for Defence against the Dark Arts, a little more detailed this time than the announcement to the student body had been; organizational questions pertaining to the first week of school had been discussed; and uncomfortable topics had been avoided in favour of a harmonic start of the school year.

Sirius had gotten the position after professor Umbridge had been ordered back to the Ministry. It seemed that the Minister's interest in Hogwarts politics had greatly diminished since Christmas.

Now, the only people left in the teachers' room were Order members. Headmaster Dumbledore rose from his seat and with the ease of long practice opened the hidden door to the hallway that led to his office. The wizards and witches already waiting behind it now impatiently crowded into the room. Aurors Tonks and Leigh, Remus Lupin and several Weasleys were the first in the group to come in and take their places around the conference table.

Soon, the entire Order was gathered and Dumbledore opened the meeting.

"Today, I received another warning from Fawkes," he jumped right in. If need be, the old wizard could get to the point with surprising speed.

"It seems that Voldemort has gained a new spy in the Ministry." Nervous whispering and hissing went through the ranks of the gathered Order members. "The wizard in question is Mr. Leigh."

"WHAT?!"

Mrs. Leigh, a nondescript Auror with short, brunette hair, slim body and a pale complexion, jumped up and glared daggers at Dumbledore. "Albus, this has got to be the worst joke ever! My husband would never join in You-Know-Who's cause!"

The headmaster calmly met her eyes. Then he pointed his wand at the Auror and said: "Petrificus Totalis."

"Albus!" A great outcry went up around the room. Several people had jumped to their feet, faces twisted in either fear or rage. Dumbledore had never behaved like this before.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore calmly remained standing as he was, waiting until he once more had the entire Order's undivided attention. "Severus, please fetch me a phial of Veritaserum. Everyone else, do take your seats. I know that my behaviour must appear very callous, but please consider the situation carefully before you condemn me. If Mr. Leigh indeed turns out to be a Death Eater or at least a sympathizer for the enemy, we need to be certain that his wife is still on our side. There are too few of us, and our fight is too important; we cannot afford to have a spy in our midst."

"Yeah, one's quite enough," Sirius grumbled and threw a dark glare at his personal arch-enemy, Severus Snape, who was just returning from his quarters. Dumbledore frowned, but did not react otherwise. He had long since given up on forcing a reconciliation between these two men. Without a word, he accepted the small phial of Veritaserum and set to work.

It turned out that Martha Leigh was still an honourable member of the Order of the Phoenix. Once the potion had worn off and she was back in full control of her utterances, Dumbledore of course had to listen to a lengthy diatribe about his lack of trust etc. pp.

"How can you be so sure your source is even trustworthy, Albus?"

Dumbledore felt the intense gazes of the entire group resting on him. This question had often been put to him, and as always, it made him uncomfortable.

"Who is it?"

He sighed. "I truly do not know. One day, Fawkes simply started vanishing around noon without a comment. He does not tell me where he is going and often stays out for hours. For two weeks, now, he's been bringing me information on Voldemort. He keeps any details about his informant from me, it appears he has been sworn to secrecy."

"Dumbledore! This is reckless!" an irritated voice was heard from the corner where Molly and Arthur Weasley were sitting with three of their sons.

"I would very much like to know myself who this strange informant might be, as I have never before heard of anyone but a phoenix's familiar being capable of understanding such a bird. However, this wizard - if wizard he be - must have found a way to use Fawkes as a messenger. Of course it would suffice if he spoke to Fawkes; but I once sent Fawkes back with a detailed question - and he returned with the desired answer."

"That still does not mean they're trustworthy," Alastor Moody grumbled.

"I do know better than to carelessly give my trust, especially in light of recent events." He did not have to say anything more about those events, the sudden despondent silence told him louder than any words that everyone knew what he was referring to. The events of the past winter had shaken them all badly.

"However, the last three hints were not only correct, but also of the greatest importance. Without them, we would have suffered some heavy losses at Voldemort's last attack; as it is, we escaped with no more than a fright. And let us not forget that it is Fawkes bringing me these informations. We have known each other since the days of Grindelwald's terror, and I would never hesitate to trust him with my life."

Mentioning the powerful dark wizard Dumbledore had defeated in his younger years did not fail to have an impact. The younger members especially looked at each other sheepishly, feeling ashamed that they had questioned the judgement of the wise and battle-seasoned head of the Order.

It was decided that Malcolm Leigh would also secretly be questioned with Veritaserum. His wife reluctantly agreed.

A week later the man was brought before the Wizengamot and sentenced to ten years in Azkaban. Martha rose from her seat in the court room's first row, pale-faced and with puffy red eyes.

"Why?"

The Aurors leading Mr. Leigh outside stopped and granted their prisoner a brief moment to answer.

"Martha, I only wanted what's best for you, for us," he started earnestly. "If even Harry Potter changes sides, how could we possibly resist the Dark Lord?"

Martha sobbed. "You served You-Know-Who for my sake?"

He looked at her with soft, warm eyes. "I love you."

Martha Leigh sat on that bench, sobbing her heart out, long after the Aurors had led her husband from the court room. They were taking him to Azkaban, from where he would emerge ten years hence deeply changed at best, completely brain-damaged at worst - if he returned at all.

"I... I will visit you... Never doubt it!..."

A/N: I brought Sirius back just because, and gave him a public pardon for no reason at all. I just wanted to. He's not even particularly relevant to the rest of the story. ...So just ignore him if you like. :P