GASP? An Update?? What the.. The world must come to an end… *grin* No, seriously. I'm terribly sorry for the wait. I know, it's no excuse, but stay assured that this fic will be finished, no matter what. Even if it takes me years… But wait, it already has…* sigh*

I don't even dare to individually respond to all those wonderful reviews I have rceived since my last installment. You wouldn't remember anyway, I guess:-P

Since it's been so long, I have a summary at the beginning of this chapter of the story so far. If you don't want to read it, just skip the italics part.

I'd like to send my heartfelt thanks for all those reading this fic and their patience and virtual a**- kicks in form of flattering reiews. Each one I got warmed my heart but also fed my guilt. The updates should be a bit faster now (Don't I say that every time?)

But now, end with the groveling, on with the story.

The road so far:

Snape casts Avada Kedavra on Sirius in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, and is sentenced to life in Azkaban. He escapes and Harry sees him serving Voldemort and murdering innocent people. Harry is very upset about Sirius and angry at Snape, so he sends a letter to Snape, pretending to be Dumbledore. The letter reveals Snape as a traitor and his throat is slit. This is seen by Harry, who is distraught and reveals what he did to Dumbledore. It is then revealed that Sirius's murder was faked and the whole fiasco only happened to get Snape back in the inner circle. While everyone at Hogwarts is battling with their guilt, Snape is alive and being tortured by Malfoy until he submits and calls Voldemort his master.

Two weeks later, Dumbledore receives a letter from Voldemort telling him where to find Snape, and that Snape has been overloaded with magic and any more magic cast near him will kill him. Sirius rescues Snape, because the staff of Hogwarts is at an Auror meeting (to protect Hogwarts from Snape). Harry sneaks along, and together they rescue Snape. Snape is very badly injured, and is taken back to Remus Lupin's house, where there is very little residual magic, and Madam Pomfrey heals him using muggle methods.

When he is recovered enough, Snape accompanies the others, including Harry, in an attack on Malfoy manor, where Voldemort and Malfoy are supposed to be. Harry is told about the prophecy last minute, but only the general meaning – that he needs to kill Voldemort. During the battle, Harry and Snape end up in the same room as Voldemort, Malfoy and Pettigrew. Snape is unable to go against the will of the Malfoy and Voldemort, but Harry manages to kill Voldemort, after he has killed Pettigrew for trying to save Harry. Malfoy is taken out by Dobby with a frying pan to the back of the head.

But not everything is fine. Sirius discovers Snape in Malfoy's laboratory with his wrists cut open and an unopened bottle of poison next to him. After healing him, Sirius persuades Snape to show him some memories, but Snape loses control and shows Sirius everything that happened to him. Sirius then comforts Snape and there is level of respect between the two men. Upon everyone's return to Hogwarts it is revealed that Snape and Sirius are innocent and are pardoned by Fudge, pending a trial for Sirius.

The best regards and thanks to Kittyluv and Floss bucket, my wonderful Betas.

Chapter 68

The honoring ceremony

Sirius amusedly observed his godson who sat in one of the front rows, fidgeting uncomfortably, his face an interesting shade of crimson. The boy was looking everywhere but Fudge whose voice rolled over them all as he made a show of listing up all of Harry's heroics against the Dark Lord in a very overbearing, flattering (a more cynical man would call it bootlicking) and detailed way, beginning with the situation where the boy banished said dark wizard as a baby, every incident at school and last but – here the boy sighed out outright – not the least the final confrontation and his victory over Voldemort.

The Boy Who Lived 'Again' was sandwiched by his two best friends, both sporting wide and proud grins. A handful of reporters sat at the back of the wooden podium in the middle of the Quidditch field, where Fudge held his colourful speech behind a high, narrow desk, flanked by some of the ministry's finest, all sitting straight backed in simple chairs.

The colours of their best (Sirius had to swallow a snort at that thought) and most ridiculous coloured festive robes, shone in bright eye-burning-red, puke-green, snot-yellow and stripes of thick and thin.

Reporters, sitting in the very back of the podium, looked the most enthusiastic of them all, eager to not miss one single word while their quills scribbled furiously at the parchment they held. Photographers were swarming all around the podium and spectators like flies around animal dump and the bright flashes here and there threatened to give Sirius a fully fledged headache.

"And now he's the hero again and of course Fudge has known it all along," whispered Remus to his right with bitter amusement. "That man is impossible."

Sirius grunted his affirmative.

After Fudge finally finished his praise of Harry Potter, and the applause on the stuffed Quidditch stadium quieted, the minister continued his speech, but now moved over to the founder of the Order of the Phoenix and conqueror of Grindelwald. Sirius groaned. He hadn't imagined the ceremony to be this boring. If Fudge was about to go to the same lengths for every fricking member of the order and anyone assisting the downfall of the Dark lord, they'd be here tomorrow.

Snape hadn't shown up, despite Sirius' threats, and deep inside Sirius envied the Slytherin. Why couldn't he have had the foresight to stay away too? If only he had known how sedating this whole thing would become... He stifled a yawn.

"That's politics, dear Padfoot. Fudge wants to embellish everything right and bright. There are enough foreign ambassadors and VIP's here that can help him with his next election. But look at his face. He looks as if he is biting lemons. He's not doing it out of conviction, on the contrary," said Remus, who seemed to have guessed his thoughts.

Sirius sighed. Remus was right. The forced smile on the minister's face was as stiff as his wand and even though his mouth spilled all those praising words about Dumbledore, his eyes shot poisonous daggers at the headmaster sitting in the front row.

Thankfully, Sirius soon found out that Fudge in fact didn't have the intention to tell the life story of everyone involved, only doing so with Harry and Dumbledore.

After that, the ministry's chief historian, Salomon Seber, stepped up, taking the minister's place and recounted all the important details of the final fight with theatrical sounding words, which made Harry only blush more, while every pair of eyes in the rows seemed directed at him, whenever his name was mentioned.

Sirius almost took pity on the boy. Almost. Firstly, in Sirius' eyes his Godson deserved all the praise he got, and secondly, it was much too easy to imagine James' face in his son's and he would never have let his best friend live all of this down afterwards.

He was pulled from his half amused, half nostalgic musings, when he heard the name Severus Snape mentioned, as the historian told everybody that the former death eater had tried, while 'in danger', to weaken the dark lord with a poison, in which he didn't succeed, however. But that shouldn't pose a problem in the end anyway, since the Boy Who Lived managed very well without it.

Anger, red and hot rose in Sirius. They made it sound as if Snape had accomplished nothing at all. The fact that he nearly died wasn't even mentioned, let alone the torture.

Now, Sirius was glad that Snape hadn't come and didn't have to see this. After what he witnessed in Snape's memory, he knew how devastating this here would be for him. As long as he was getting that Order...

He hoped that Snape hadn't been right on that point. Sirius recognized the first signs of doubt in his mind.

The whole ceremony took over an hour, until the less involved were handed down a written award, and the names of the more directly involved were read to receive the order of Merlin, second class.

He himself was one of the last of those to be called forth after Fudge told everyone assembled the tragic tale of the innocent man who Voldemoert's terror brought behind Azkaban's bars for twelve years.

If he was honest, Sirius was proud of how he managed to take the award from the minister's hand with only a glare, swallowing the impulse to actually choke the man. This bastard couldn't even utter an apology. Give the dog a cookie and he's quiet. Yes, right!

When he returned to his seat, fury making his movement stiff and edgy, he felt Lupin's hand pat his arm twice in a sympathetic gesture. He sucked in a deep, calming breath, readying himself to watch the lycan or Snape get the medal. But then, Albus Dumbledore was called forth to receive the order of Merlin, first class. Sirius looked at Lupin in confusion. His friend smiled at him with gentle eyes and a cold shiver ran up Sirius' spine. That smile Remus directed at him was the same patient, slightly sad and accepting smile he always wore whenever he was discriminated because of his condition.

Dumbledore too, hesitated for a moment, as if he'd guess something bad was about to happen. But the ceremony wasn't over yet, and just like Sirius was clinging to this hope, Dumbledore seemed to as well and, with dark eyes, finally stepped up onto to the podium to receive his award

After him it was Harry's turn and then the whole thing was over. Fudge stepped down from the platform and some of the officials collected their parchments. The spectators slowly trickled from the stages and the reporters filed after some guests of honor, shooting pictures and trying to get their attention for an interview.

Severus Snape and Remus Lupin had, except a short mention at the reading received no reward or even the slightest acknowledgement.

sssssssssssssssssssss

Albus Dumbledore wasn't someone who liked to brag with his strength and he dared to believe to be a righteous, tolerant man.

He had always believed in the good in Cornelius Fudge, despite the man's less favorable qualities, but the minister's newest stunt put his ability to reign in his temper to the test. As far back as he could remember, Albus had always judged people by their actions, not their status. And this time, the Minister had gone too far.

He elbowed his way through the crowd, which lingered in small, happily chattering groups on the Quidditch field.

He ignored some friendly invitations to join them and hurried, as fast as the blocking bodies and shoulder clapping hands allowed, towards the only exit, which he had seen Fudge disappear through. The man hadn't wasted a minute to linger, after everyone's awards had been presented.

Albus only caught up to him on the field outside the arena, where so far, only few people and no reporter had moved.

"Cornelius!" he called after the other man.

The minister's steps grew faster but he did hold back from actually running off.

That's why Albus managed to reach him, long before Fudge arrived to where the carriages were waiting, stopping him in an ordering tone, which not even the minister could ignore.

"Cornelius. I need to speak to you!"

Begrudgingly, the man in question turned around and faced Albus nervously.

"What else do you want from me? Haven't you embarrassed me enough, Albus?"

Albus felt his anger rise. "It isn't my fault that you refused to believe in Voldemort's return but what you just did in this so called honoring ceremony is despicable."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Fudge answered smugly and went to walk away once more.

"I am talking about the fact that you forgot Remus Lupin and Severus Snape."

The minister turned back and smirked arrogantly at Albus. "Oh, I didn't forget them, headmaster. I left them out on purpose."

This had been clear to Albus before, of course. Same with the reason behind it.

"And I dare guess why too. Do you not think that those two did enough to warrant not being discriminated against anymore?" he said, doing his best to keep up his outward calm.

"You know that werewolves don't have many rights according to law – a law, by the way, I didn't create. Lupin's role was mentioned and he's much better off now than he was before. He has earned much more by his choice to fight for the right side, than any medal could give him. What he does with that is up to him. Since he's surely used to having difficulties, getting a well paid job, he will certainly see it that way too. He'll probably thank us for mentioning him at all."

"Oh yes? If you think yourself to be so generous, then what happened with Professor Snape? His reputation wasn't tainted much, since not many knew of his past before, above what rumors said. Since you so willingly kept the information of his risks and willingness to sacrifice everything for us hidden, showing that he is above any doubt by giving him an Order of Merlin would be an excellent way to repay that. Severus has risked his life for us – almost lost it, and you spit it back into his face with contempt."

Fudge narrowed his eyes and scoffed snidely. "Don't expect any compassion for Snape from me. He's a Slytherin. Nothing good ever comes from the likes of them. He's probably only realized that the Dark side was about to lose, washing his hand for the winners to see."

Albus outward calm was gone and he wasn't trying to keep pretences at this point anyway. He stared down at the minister with an icy stare. "You do not know Severus. He agreed to this mission without hesitation, even though he knew that there was a very low chance of survival."

Fudge sneered in disgust. "Political calculation, all of it, I say. Better to die a fast hero's death than to be put into Azkaban by the winners. You know yourself, how many witches and wizards prefer death over Azkaban, once they see no way out. Slyhterins betray everybody and only care about their own well being. Malfoy has done that for years."

Dumbledore stiffened. "Then Severus has to pay for what Malfoy did?"

"Wrong," Fudge said. "Snape is a Slytherin and I've learned to be careful about the Slytherins' motivation. For years I've been ready to ignore the house in which somebody was sorted but I was taught better. Slytherins are unscrupulous and should be held at arm's length at all times. That's exactly how they want it, by the way. Slytherins are self-sufficient and think themselves to be above 'normal' people. Or why has your beloved Snape not deigned to appear at the ceremony. Doesn't look like the acts of a man who really wants an award, if you ask me."

Dumbledore lost his voice for a moment but he caught himself quickly. "Successful people almost always build their success on the backs of others. As soon as those people forget that, however, they are not worthy of that success anymore. Remus Lupin, Severus Snape and Sirius Black too deserve your apology. To always blame one's own faults on others might be easy enough, but to reach true power also means to accept one's mistakes and learn from them."

Fudge lost the battle over his own calm at those words and his face took on an unhealthy red tone, while a vein on his forehead bulged slightly. "You watch out, Dumbledore. I've let you get away with your deceit, refrained from forming charges against you for oblivating ministry workers. You should be grateful as it is." With those words and a huff, he swirled around and marched away rigidly.

"I've been wrong," Albus said firmly. "Severus is not paying for Malfoy's actions. He's paying for mine."

Fudge paused and hesitated for a moment, before he stiffened and walked away briskly.

**********

TBC