Chapter 2

Cryptic friendships

People rarely said anything they meant

In Moody's experience the older a person became, the more they guarded their thoughts and feelings. The older you became, the more you had to reach inside their words and search for their meanings. It was what made him such a great auror. It was what made him so respected. Moody had always been good at reading people. While all the younger aurors relied on truth serum for interrogation, Moody already new the truth by the time the person was dragged into a holding cell. It was in the way they fidgeted, in their faces, hidden in the choice of their words, the structure of their sentences…

"– you can't seriously expect me to allow an eight year old into Azkaban! He is Harry effing Potter for Merlin's sake! Moody, I can't permit it." Rufus sighed looking tiredly over at his friend. "You have to consider the danger of letting that boy anywhere near Azkaban not to mention Blacks cell. All those old death eaters, Mad-eye, I can't risk it. The last thing I need is a hostage situation or even worse, explaining to the press why the boy-who-lived is dead. How did you even get Fudge to agree to this? How could anyone think it's a goo-"

"Dumbledore had a few words with him this morning. As you well know, Fudge will do pretty much anything Dumbledore thinks is a good idea. Rufus, I am not asking for a miracle, just let the boy talk to Black. It is the least either of them deserv-"

"Black deserves nothing!" Rufus cut across furiously, "I am not like the old man Moody, and you can't soften me up with that bullshit. You were there mad-eye, did you forget what he did? Perhaps we should tell the boy the full story huh? You have done some very dodgy things before this Moody. Don't tell me there isn't a way to get the boy to sign the document. You simply didn't tr-"

Moody sighed. It was very late; everyone was probably at home by now sitting down with their families to have dinner. Moody could imagine the entire ministry building above and below him to be completely empty. He wondered how a quick word with the head auror had turned into a three hour debate. Moody was tired.

He leaned back in the chair fixing Rufus with a searching gaze. It seemed that with time the man became more difficult. Moody knew well that Rufus could easily pull the strings to give him what he wanted. Moody knew that Rufus could easily generate a dozen solutions to his problem. Moody knew that Rufus was trusted enough to do anything. Which is exactly why moody didn't want to come to him in the first place. In the end, he had no choice. Everyone seemed to think that he was insane and now that he didn't have a rank in the department anymore, people tended to ignore him.

Rufus was the only one that could make any of this possible..

And Rufus knew this, which was why he was being so stubborn. Moody smiled tiredly at his old friend, "Potter is eight now, but he won't be eight forever. Do you really want the boy-who-lived to hold a grudge against you and the entire ministry one day for not letting him see his godfather? From a legal point of view alone I'd think he would be able to sue your department into poverty. That warrant isn't exactly legal now is it? Besides wh-"

"When Potter is old enough to make sense of the entire situation than I am sure he would be thankful for my decision. If I were in his shoes I would want the bastard dead. You can't seriously be expecting Potter to regret it later on, can you?" Rufus snorted in cold amusement. Reaching for his whiskey glass, "Besides, what makes you think the boy would ever be threat to the ministry? He is just a kid, moody. What could he po-"

"Oh, he is much more than that. Lets not forget he did after all get rid of you-know-who. There is defiantly some power to the boy. For someone as old as hi-"

Rufus's grin widened, "Come now Moody, power alone doesn't frighten people like us. We both kno-"

Moody nodded, "that is correct Rufus, power alone is quite useless. Ambition, however, now there is something to scare you. I belie-"

"Ambition?" Rufus asked frowning. The amusement dancing in his eyes was slowly draining away, "What do you mean ambition?"

It was Moody's turn to be amused. "Yesterday when we were talking to the boy, I got the impression that Potter isn't much of a Gryffindor at all. He is much too cautious. No, I don't think he is the little hero you got him figured out to be at all."

"Ambition?" Rufus repeated, "What are you saying? I should be careful of that boy."

"Don't make your enemies blindly." Moody said nodding, "You should now better than underestimating people. Give the boy what he wants Rufus."

Just give me what I need old friend Mad-eyes heart pleaded. He knew that it wasn't that simple. This argument had nothing to do with Potter or Black. It had to do with power. It had to do with the fact that for once in Rufus's life; he had absolute power over Moody. He had power to deny him. Something that Scrimgoeur wasn't going to let go of.

"Rufus, tomorrow morning fudge is going to be pressing this on you as well. You may have authority to deny me, but the minister for magic won't be that easy. Tomorrow morning he is going to barge into your office demanding an arranged visit. Whether you give it to me now or give it to him tomorrow either way the boy will speak to his godfather." Moody said simply, he stood up painfully shifting his wait onto his wooden leg. There was no point in talking anymore.

He turned around and made his way to the door his leg was stiff and sore. He needed to get to Hogwarts and inform Albus about this meeting. The way things seemed to be turning out he wouldn't go home tonight at all. His hand was leaning against the doorknob when Rufus spoke again in a voice that displayed his defeat. "What are you getting out of this Mad-eye? What satisfaction could you possibly get out of this?"

Moody's eye swiveled to the back of his head and he saw Rufus shift uneasily in his chair. Rufus took a while to organize his thoughts before he continued cautiously, "I knew that – I know that Black has always been – has always meant something to you…but so did Potter. Then Black turned out to be a traitor and a death eater. I know this, I was there. I know that you think of Black as he is now and not how he was then. I know a lot about you Mad-eye old friend, but I cannot understand why this is so important to you."

Moody turned the doorknob, "you are right Rufus, you cannot understand."

He was glad about his retirement. He needed it. He needed to take time off and disentangle himself from the ministry. He needed to see what it was doing to him. It had probably been one of the kindest things Albus Dumbledore had ever done for him. Though it could probably only be understood between them. Moody knew that he still had a couple of good years left in him. His decision to retire came as a shock to everyone. Nobody seemed able to see him doing anything else with his time. It was the one thing he was really good at. Nobody seemed to be able to see that was exactly why he couldn't do it anymore.

He limped into the entrance Hall the huge front doors shutting out the rainstorm behind him. He shrugged of his travelers coat and threw the muddy mess on the tiled floor. He had no intentions of spending a lot of time in Hogwarts and the faster he got to the headmaster the better. If his assumptions about Fudge were right, and his assumptions were very rarely wrong, tomorrow he would need to go to Azkaban and get Black to agree to see Potter.

His assumptions about Black had been wrong before, but Moody was pretty confident that Black wouldn't agree to see Harry. That he would not want a Potter to see him so pathetic and helpless. It would take some doing to convince him. Moody was half tempted to just take the boy along and surprise the man. It would give Black less chance to think on it.

His leg was aching terribly, and moody cursed the cold wet weather. He was almost finished climbing the last of the staircases. His eye swirling around madly in his head looking out for Filch who couldn't be too enthusiastic about the mud that was currently smeared across the entrance Hall's floor. He ignored the three kids hiding in the broom closet he was limping past. He ignored the fact that he was making a lot of noise; that the sound of his wooden leg hitting the stone floor was loud and had no rhythm to it. He ignored the fact that he barked out the password to the headmasters office knowing that the three kids in the broom cupboard could hear him. He wasn't much of an auror anymore.

He didn't really want to be one at the moment.

"Ah, Alastor, I was wondering when you would show up." The headmaster greeted him kindly as Moody shut the door behind him and stumbled over to the nearest chair.

Moody grunted a greeting and flicked his wand at he wooden leg. The charm unfroze his joints which relieved the pain somewhat. "The meeting with Rufus went on longer than I expected." He grumbled afterwards.

Dumbledore nodded, "He said no."

Moody nodded sharply, "He said no. He also threatened getting Black murdered by some random auror stationed at Azkaban."

"Ah," comprehension dawned on Dumbledore's face, "This has nothing to do with Sirius or Harry. This has to do with Sirius and James. You're disappointed in Rufus. That is why you argued with him as long as you did."

Moody flinched, Albus could read people a lot better than he assumed, "You think that I see myself in their situation? You think that I see myself as Potter being betrayed by Black?"

Dumbledore nodded slowly, "The similarity isn't that striking but I would say, to you it is exactly the same. You cannot force people to change Alastor. I understand now that you clung onto this with the hopes that Rufus would have changed over the past six years. But, my old friend, things do not always work out as we hope they would." A sympathetic smile lingered on the old mans lips and a sad light twinkled in his blue eyes. "Would you still like to continue with this? Do you still think it fair to put young Harry through it all?"

"It's the right thing to do Albus." Moody sighed weakly.

Agreement settled between them in the form of silence and a warm smile spread across the headmasters face. "Well then, I suppose that Cornelius will have a visit arranged for Harry by the end of the week. I should like to accompany him to Azkaban myself. I also think it best if we do it before the end of the week."

"Why?" Moody growled, "Are you worried about something Albus?"

"Well," the old man continued in a perfectly calm voice, "It is my belief that Rufus will not be too pleased with the idea of you getting your way. He might order Sirius to be killed before Friday. I am not worried about that now. I am more worried about little Harry. It is not kind to let someone so young walk through Azkaban. I would rather have avoided it."

"It is what Potter is prepared to suffer. The boy is determined Albus." Moody speculated, "You should have come along to Surrey. You would have to meet him to see it."

"Yes, unfortunately I wasn't invited to go to Surrey. It appears the Minister wasn't very fond of the idea." Dumbledore indicated, "He is an eight year old Moody. I do not believe Harry is aware what he is prepared to suffer. I would also imagine that if we were to take Harry to his godfather, we would need to explain the concept of magic to him. We would need to answer many of his questions. Young boys tend to be inquisitive. I would rather prolong it all until Harry is eleven. It would be harder for him to continue living among his relatives if he knew of our world and his heritage."

Mad-eye shifted in the chair causing his leg to ache, "there are some things that you can't keep from the boy forever Dumbledore."

The headmaster sighed, slumping back into his chair. His phoenix crooned low besides him and the headmaster nodded slowly as if agreeing with the bird. "I know that I cannot keep Harry from it forever Alastor, but I would have liked to shield him from it for a couple more years."

Albus Dumbledore wasn't always one of those people.

A.N.

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