oooOOOoooOOOooo Chapter 17
The next morning, Harry found Sirius alone in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee. He was staring out the window, looking disturbed.
"What's up?" Harry asked, concerned. It took Sirius a moment to respond. He turned slowly to Harry, a sigh on his lips.
"It's that vision you had, after we found the diadem. That locket. It rings an unpleasant bell in my mind," said Sirius.
"How so?" asked Harry, turning to get a cup of tea. He never could understand how Sirius could drink that bitter brew.
"I think I've seen it before. I dreamed about it last night. I think… I think I know where it is," said Sirius. Harry's head jerked up and he stared at the man.
"You do?"
Sirius sighed and nodded. "I think I do. If I'm right, I might have a lead on where the cup is at, too."
Harry set down his cup. He turned to Sirius, "Tell me."
Sirius grimaced, "Grimmauld Place. My childhood home. The Black London House. The last time I saw that locket was last year when I went to the house to get a wand. It was in a display case in the formal sitting room, if my memory serves me."
Harry looked appalled. "In a display case in a fancy sitting room?"
"Fancy's a little too kind of a term. The whole house is a cave of dark artifacts and evil relics. It's dusty, moldy, and the only inhabitant is a crazy picture of my mother and a sadistic house elf," said Sirius, wearily. "I hate that place."
"We should go! This could be another piece of Voldemort's soul!" said Harry, hurriedly.
Sirius nodded, listlessly. "I guess we'll have to. I don't trust anyone else to bring it to us."
Harry stood up. Sirius put a hand on his arm. "We need our team. After breakfast, we'll have Tonks call Madam Bones and see if she's free. Maybe we can bust them both out in one day."
Harry was excited. He wanted this horcrux business done. Voldemort was certainly coming for him and Harry wanted to be ready.
Everyone else trickled down to breakfast. Sirius shared his suspicions. Everyone was anxious to see if he was correct. If they could take out two horcruxes today, there would only be the snake and Harry left. It would be a serious blow to the dark bastard.
"Harry, you'll have to lead this one. As my heir, you can access the Black London House and my vaults. If the aurors will be with you, I won't be able to be your guide. Let me just take care of one thing," said Sirius. "Kreacher!"
A decrepit old elf with a hunchback and a nasty scowl appeared in the room. "The disappointment calls Kreacher? What does unworthy master seek?"
Sirius sneered at the ugly thing. "You will obey my heir, Harry Potter, as if he were your master from now on. Anything he says to do, you will do immediately without question."
The elf started to scowl. He opened his mouth to vociferously deny the request when he saw the lordship ring for Slytherin on the boy's hand.
"You is being the new Lord Slytherin?" asked the elf, perking up.
Harry looked uncomfortable but nodded. "I am."
The elf prostrated himself on the ground. "Lord Slytherin is being my new master? Kreacher will be being serving you with pleasure, new master! You is being a worthy master!" Kreacher gave Sirius a vicious look. "Maybe bad master will come to a nasty end and be making you Lord Black as well. It should have been being Master Regulus."
"Jokes on you. I already abdicated to Harry. He's Lord Black Potter," said Sirius. The elf wailed in happiness.
Harry grimaced and looked at Sirius who was watching the elf with a hateful look. Bill, Dan, and Remus walked into the room. They looked around cautiously at the strange scene of a rabid Sirius staring at a defiant house elf.
"What's going on?" asked Bill. Sirius ignored him.
"I bet you know what happened to my brother, you evil little blighter! Tell me what happened to him!" spat Sirius. He didn't expect the vile creature to know. He just expected him to go into hysterics but that's not what happened.
The elf looked stubbornly defiant but the power of the master over the elf was strong. He started to speak and bit his lips until they bled. Sirius saw and looked alarmed and angry.
"You know? You know what happened to my brother? I order you to tell me now!" shouted Sirius. The elf jumped and so did everyone else.
They listened in horror to the tale of Regulus Black and the cave of inferi.
"You just left him there?" Sirius said, jumping up to shake the elf, violently.
"Kreacher must be doing as he is ordered," spat the elf. "I could not be going against poor Master Regulus' orders!" The elf was telling the truth but he looked so shifty, they knew he wasn't telling the whole truth.
"Tell me the truth or by the gods, I will kill you now," spat Sirius.
Kreacher started crying. "Kreacher be disobeying! Kreacher did not be leaving his best master to die!"
"What?" asked a shocked Sirius. He let the elf drop back to the floor.
"Kreacher could not be leaving Master Regulus to die! Kreacher is a bad elf. Kreacher be disobeying his master and be stealing from his lady!" Kreacher lay on the floor sobbing.
"Tell me now!" Sirius said, tears streaming down his face. "Is my brother alive? Where is he?"
Through his sobs, Kreacher told the rest of the story. "After Regulus be giving Kreacher that evil locket, he be telling Kreacher to escape and destroy the locket. Kreacher be taking the locket to Grimmauld Place and be hiding it good! No one ever be noticing where Kreacher hid it but Kreacher could not destroy the locket. Kreacher is a being a failure!"
The elf sobbed. Sirius and Harry exchanged a look. The horcrux was at Grimmauld Place, like Sirius suspected.
"What did you do? Where is my brother?" Sirius demanded, trying to get his emotions under control.
"Kreacher be stealing his Lady Black's most prized possession. Her basilisk eye that was being in the black crystal urn. Kreacher be stealing it and using it on Master Regulus! He is being trapped at the bottom of the lake in Highbridge by the sea. The cave that be looking like a monstrous mouth, terrifying. Kreacher cannot be getting him out to be reviving him but he is not dead! Kreacher could not be bearing to live in a world where Master Regulus was being betrayed to his death!"
Sirius stared in shock at the elf. "How is he alive if he saw a basilisk eye? That would instantly kill him."
Kreacher shook his head so hard, Harry was afraid he'd end up with brain damage. "No! Kreacher being showing him the eye through the crystal glass. It is being petrifying the person who sees, it is not being killing."
"You left my brother petrified at the bottom of an inferi filled lake? You bastard!" all of the stress caused Sirius to snap. He grabbed the elf and shook it so hard, its neck snapped. Kreacher fell dead to the floor. Sirius stared at the body in horror.
He turned and looked at Dan, Harry, Remus, and Bill, who had all been listening to the shocking tale. They stared at Sirius in surprise at his actions.
"Sirius!" shouted Remus. "That was uncalled for!"
Sirius started sobbing. He fell to the floor beside Kreacher's body. Dan just shook his head. He understood Sirius' feelings but the man needed to get control of himself.
"He was evil!" cried Sirius. "My brother has been petrified for 16 years! He never told anyone!"
"He was old and obviously insane," said Bill, reasonably. "You shouldn't have done it. There's nothing for it now. We'll just have to deal with the aftermath."
Sirius looked so sorry. He kept crying and expressing his regret for what happened to Regulus and for Kreacher's untimely death. He was a malicious, abusive, batty beast but he didn't deserve for Sirius to kill him, not after he possibly saved Regulus' life.
Harry and Bill took the elf and prepared him for burial. They decided to bury him at Grimmauld Place, his home. They checked his pockets and found nothing of value.
Sirius got a calming draught and pulled himself together. He sat in a catatonic state, staring off into space.
"How will we save my brother? The inferi won't be easy to curtail," said the morose man. He was falling into a deep bout of depression. Remus didn't mention it to anyone but he gave Sirius an infusion of cannabis. The man started to feel less depressed but more out of it. He was still sad but the deep depression was already ebbing.
"We'll talk to Madam Bones about it. She'll know what to do," promised Bill. He knew how to destroy inferi but if there was a lake full, it might be too much for one person to handle.
Sirius nodded and turned into Padfoot. The dog had red eyes from both the weed and the crying. They didn't hesitate any longer.
Tonks and the girls came down from looking at the mundane catalog with Emma. The girls were all happy and chatty. When they saw the dire faces of the menfolk, they became concerned.
"What's happened?" asked Hermione, urgently. Gabrielle hurried to Harry's side, checking him over quickly.
"Are you hurt, mon ami?" she asked. Harry glanced at the menfolk and shook his head. They understood not to mention what Sirius did. Hermione would be beyond upset.
"Sirius' elf died. The being trapped Sirius' brother with a shaded basilisk gaze. He confessed before he died," said Harry. Sirius looked at Harry in relief. It was true and misleading all at the same time.
"Oh no! Sirius, will you be okay?" asked a concerned Emma. Dobby and Winky were such gems, she couldn't imagine the grief Sirius must be experiencing.
Tonks knew better. Her mother told her plenty of stories about the Black family elf, Kreacher. "Kreacher?" she asked in disbelief. "He has Regulus petrified somewhere?"
Bill nodded firmly. "We need to see Madam Bones and her team, if we can."
Tonks nodded and hurried to the floo.
Sirius didn't respond to Emma's question. He just turned into a dog and laid his doggy head down on the floor and whimpered.
A few moments later, Tonks was back. "Madam Bone will be here in about an hour. She's in a meeting."
There was nothing else for it. Everyone sat down to an anxious breakfast.
After about an hour and a half, the floo flared to life. By then, Harry had shared the entire sorry tale, except Kreacher's true cause of death, with the ladies. They were all anxious to get over to Grimmauld Place.
They invited Madam Bones to come on over. She arrived with her usual crew of Moody and Shacklebolt but she had a new fourth person with her, an auror named Martinson.
They quickly filled Madam Bones in on the story of Regulus Black and the potential location of two more horcruxes.
Madam Bones shook her head. "Would you like to press charges against the elf? This is kidnapping, and possibly murder, depending on if we find the lad alive."
"What would even happen to someone who's been petrified for almost two decades?" asked a dismayed Auror Martinson.
"I'm not sure but it can't be anything good," said Madam Bones, ominously. Padfoot howled sadly and stood to pace.
"Well, there's no use in waiting. Let's go see about these horcruxes. We'll need a larger team to deal with the inferi," said Moody. Madam Bones nodded.
"Martinson, Shacklebolt, go organize a strike team. We'll go see what we can find at the Black London House," said Madam Bones. The aurors moved to carry out her orders. She turned to Harry and his group.
"Lead the way," said Madam Bones. Harry glanced at Padfoot.
"I guess we can floo?" he said. Padfoot snuffed and walked over to the grate. Harry threw in the floo powder and said, "Grimmauld Place."
In just a few moments, everyone except for Dan and Emma had joined him at the dark, dreary place. It was little more than a dilapidated hovel.
Tonks snorted. "Talk about garbage."
Harry couldn't help but agree. He turned to Padfoot, "Can you smell it boy?" he asked, trying to cover for the fact that the dog knew where the item could be found. Padfoot woofed and led the way upstairs.
They came into the second floor sitting room. A swarm of doxies flew out of the curtains and tried to attack them but they put them down rather quickly. Padfoot sniffed around for show and led them to the display case. He barked twice.
"Is that it?" asked Fleur. Bill cast a few spells and nodded.
"Sure is, right where anyone could have found it and become possessed," said the man, shaking his head.
Everyone stepped out into the hallway except for Harry. He took a small vial of basilisk venom out of his pocket and dripped a few drops on the ugly locket before he ran out into the hallway. Nothing happened.
"Well, that was underwhelming," said Hermione. They peeked back in the sitting room. Nothing had changed.
Harry walked back over to the locket. It was still whole. He cast a cleaning charm on the thing and picked it up, examining it. Bill followed.
"Try opening it," said the cursebreaker. Harry tried but it wouldn't budge.
"It won't open," said the frustrated boy. Bill tried next. Nada.
Hermione came over and examined the locket. "This was Salazar Slytherin's?"
"That's the rumor," said Moody. "Bloody evil snake."
"Exactly," said Hermione. They all looked at her in question. "Snake. See the snake carved on the surface? Maybe it needs a parselmouth to open it," she looked at Harry. "Didn't you hear parseltongue in your vision?"
Harry nodded. He thought it couldn't hurt to try. Everyone went back out into the hallway. Harry said the words to open the locket in parseltongue. It clicked open, pretty as you please.
A great red eye appeared. It looked around and focused on Harry. Suddenly, an image of a dead Hermione appeared before Harry. Harry gasped.
Bill looked into the room. "What's happening?"
The image changed to Gabrielle, then the twins, and all of the Weasleys, one after the other. It wasn't until the image changed to a dead Ron and Ginny that Harry snapped out of it. He didn't hesitate any longer. He dropped the venom on the ugly thing and hurried out into the hall.
The locket rose up into the air, screaming. It twirled around in the air, wildly billowing dark red smoke. It shot towards the people in the hallway, intent on finding a neck to wrap itself around. It slammed into the barrier Madam Bones shot up. It screeched one more time and fell with a louder bang than such a small item should have been able to make.
They all waited a few more minutes. When nothing else happened, Madam Bones released the barrier. Bill cast a few spells on the now malformed piece of metal.
"Another one bites the dust," said Tonks. Bill grinned and agreed.
"Do you want to keep it or do you want me to vanish it?" asked Moody. He sounded like the answer was obvious.
"By all means," said Harry, waving at the thing. In just a moment, it was gone.
The group went out to the back garden and buried the house elf, Kreacher. Hermione insisted on saying a few words. Padfoot refused to come outside with them at all.
"Where to next, Harry?" asked Madam Bones. Harry looked uncertain for a moment.
"Gringotts?" Harry said. Padfoot woofed and led the way to the floo.
They arrived at the bank and tried to go straight down to the Black vaults. The goblins waylaid them.
"Come with us, Lord Slytherin," said a goblin in thick armor holding a wicked sharp spear.
"What? Why?" asked Harry.
"Your account manager wishes to speak with you," sneered the goblin.
"I'm kind of busy right now. Can't this wait until later?" asked Harry, frustrated.
"No," said the goblin, lowering his spear a little in a threatening manner. Harry sighed and looked at everyone else.
"I'm sorry. Apparently, I have to speak with my account manager right now," said Harry, sarcastically. The dog woofed in annoyance but everyone else just followed along. Goblins weren't known for prioritizing wizarding business over their own.
The group went down the corridors until they found Hardblow's office. The goblin with the spear flipped the flag and waited.
After a few moments, the door opened and the group was prodded into the room literally at spear point.
"Sit," said the goblin behind the desk. When everyone sat, he looked at them all, his eyes glittering with what looked like malice to the wizards. "Wait."
A few minutes later, a contingent of goblins flooded into the room, surrounding the room on all sides. Harry was starting to get nervous.
A finely dressed goblin walked in. Hardblow jumped from his seat and held the chair out for the newcomer. The regal looking goblin sat and stared at them all. Hardblow stood at attention behind him.
"So, you finally claimed the Slytherin properties?" asked the stately goblin.
Harry glanced at his friends, confused. "Er, I guess."
The goblin snorted. "I am King Ragnock, of the Clan of Gringotts. You are in violation of the terms of your accounts."
"Er," Harry said, uncertain of how to respond. Bill took over.
"Mighty King Ragnock, you honor us with your presence. Lord Slytherin apologizes for any inconvenience. He meant no harm but had no knowledge of his duty to his accounts. How may we rectify this situation?" Bill asked.
The goblin king sneered at the Weasley. "Are you his account liaison?"
Bill looked at Harry and nodded. "Um, yes, he is. My account liaison, that is," said Harry, still confused. The goblin snorted.
"Very well. You will be tested. Stand," said the goblin king.
Harry wasn't certain if he should comply. Bill stood and pulled Harry up. Bill bowed so Harry did, too.
"Over here," said Bill. "This will hurt." Harry looked alarmed but Bill didn't care. He stuck Harry's hand to a canvas on the wall. A young goblin phlebotomist stepped forward and stabbed a rather large needle through Harry's hand. He was momentarily pinned to the wall.
Harry gasped at the pain but before he could protest too much, the needle was jerked out of his hand. Bill healed the wound rather quickly. Harry jerked his hand away, a bloody handprint left in its wake.
He clutched his still throbbing appendage to his chest, giving Bill a dirty look. Bill just rolled his eyes and pulled Harry back to his seat.
Ragnock stepped forward and touched a lighted match to the canvas. A whoosh of fire passed quickly over the canvas, leaving the burnt image of what looked like a complicated set of pipe drawings. Harry squinted and looked closer. He saw that it was a family tree.
"Is that my family tree?" asked a surprised Harry.
Hardblow looked at him like he was an idiot. Ragnock just ignored him.
"More great lines may be claimed. The Potters and Black lordships are already claimed. The Slytherin Lordship is already yours. The Gryffindor line remains to be claimed. However, the real surprise is the Peverell line. You are a descendant of the eldest Peverell brother, Antioch Peverell," barked the goblin king.
King Ragnock stalked back towards Harry. "You will lay claim to them properly today. Your punishment will be 10% of whatever wealth is found in these vaults. Four percent for myself, Three percent for the goblin people, two percent for Warrior Hardblow for bringing this violation to my attention, and one percent to your account liaison for saving your worthless hide today," sneered the goblin king. Harry started to protest but Bill literally slapped a hand over his mouth.
"We accept. Thank you for your kindness, great king. Thank you Hardblow for bringing this egregious error to our attention. We will see the lines continue," said Bill, forcing Harry to bow with him once again.
Harry looked disgruntled at his surrogate older brother. Bill just shook his head and said, "Later." Harry rolled his eyes but didn't complain.
Three dusty old account ledgers were brought into the room. The goblins laughed as they read them.
"Our horde grows this day. The least of us will receive our due. You may have access to your additional accounts, but we suggest a thorough cleansing before you do," said Hardblow.
"We agree," said Bill. "I believe I speak for Harry when I say please utterly destroy any dark artifacts that might reside in any of his vaults or properties."
"Even though it will decrease the wealth of your Slytherin vaults by 30%?" asked Ragnock.
"Yes, please," said Harry, alarmed at what evil shite might reside in Slytherin's vault.
"Except the books. We wish to keep all of the books, manuscripts, and periodicals or any such written work. Everything else should go," said Bill.
"What he said," Harry agreed. Padfoot woofed excitedly. Bill understood what he meant.
"Please, do the same to the Black vaults and properties, too, after we leave today. Please take an additional 5% fee for yourselves for the work," Bill offered. The goblins snorted but looked at the dog that barked enthusiastically. They noted down the somewhat dubious response.
Two goblins returned with the rings. A contingent of 10 goblins left the room in a hurry. In less than 10 minutes, Harry felt like he'd signed his life away. He had three more vault keys. No one bothered to tell him what his account balances were. They just handed him a small stack of papers and shoved the entire group out into the hall.
A final goblin leaned out of the doorway, "Your vaults are ready."
Then, the door slammed closed. Harry had no idea what was going on.
Bill was grinning. "You're the luckiest bastard I know."
"Care to enlighten us?" asked Harry, with an eyebrow raised.
"You were already sitting on a pretty pile of gold, my little brother," Bill said, snatching the papers out of Harry's hands.
"Crikey!" said a shocked Tonks.
"Congratulations, Harry," said Madam Bones. "No offense, but do you mind if we get this moving?"
"None taken," said Harry, his head spinning.
"I guess, let me lead the way," said Harry. Gabrielle and Hermione took his hands and squeezed.
"We'll need to plan your investment strategy but that can wait. Just so you know, the goblins usually take a 25% fee for account violations, at a minimum. They must like you," said Bill. He didn't mention it but he'd made a sweet almost 1.8 million galleons himself off of this venture. He planned to earn every penny.
Harry snorted at the thought of the goblins liking anyone but didn't say anything else. He was too busy wondering how the hell things like this kept happening to him.
They took the carts down to the Black family vaults and went inside. They looked around at the vast vault, chock full of trunks of coins and masses of shelves filled with innocent and evil things.
"If you weren't going to destroy all of this evil junk, I'd have to do something about this," said Madam Bones, staring at the dark items lining the walls.
"Well, it'll all be gone after today. I would have had them clear it all before we came down here but they might have done something with the horcrux, if it's here. I think we'd all rather see it put paid to personally," said Bill. Padfoot barked in agreement.
"Right," said Moody. He glanced at the dog and started to wonder.
"What are we looking for?" asked Fleur.
"A small cup with a badger on it. Don't touch it though. It might be cursed or something," said Harry, warningly.
Everyone fanned out and started looking. They didn't bother with the dark item detector spell. There would be too much stuff to bother with it. Luckily, the cup was pretty near the entrance as a new addition to the Black vaults.
"Is this it?" asked Gabrielle, staring at an innocuous cup with a rough-hewn badger carved on the front.
Harry, Bill, and the aurors hurried over. Bill cast a few spells.
"Bingo," said Bill. "You want to do the honors, Harry?" asked the man.
"Stay back. I'm not sure what will happen," said Harry. They all took cover while Harry walked forward.
Harry shook his head when he saw the small golden cup. How could something so tiny hold something so evil? He didn't wait. He dropped some basilisk venom on the item and hurried away.
It was like an implosion went off in the room. The cup didn't make a sound or do anything odd other than crumple and collapse in on itself. It created such a vacuum in the room that a great boom sounded and everything in a 4 meter radius flew forward and buried the cup. The group with Harry all fell forward on their knees, slamming painfully onto the stone as they were sucked forward. Harry managed to grab Hermione and Gabrielle, rolling with them to keep them from moving any further forward. They gasped at the strength of the pull.
"Everyone alright?" Harry asked, urgently, getting to his feet.
"I can't find my feet," grumbled Moody.
Harry looked at him, confused. Padfoot pulled the man's wooden leg out of the pile and brought it back to him. The suspicious auror whispered, "I know it's you, Black. I'll expect an explanation."
Padfoot's mouth dropped open in shock. He took just a moment too long to recover. He tried to give the auror his curious dog look but the man just snorted.
"You always were a terrible liar," Moody muttered, then he popped his leg back in and stood up.
Everyone sounded off. Everyone was okay, if a little bruised from their fall.
Harry hurried to help Hermione and Gabrielle to their feet. "Are you okay?" he asked them both in concern. They agreed they were fine if a little miffed at being thrown around by a piece of dishware.
Bill made sure Fleur was alright, then went to check on the crumpled cup. He cast a few spells then turned back to the group.
"It's done for. Should we vanish it, as well?" asked Bill. Harry agreed. Padfoot whimpered and stuck close to Harry's legs. He was truly afraid of what Moody might do.
"Do we need anything else from here?" asked Harry after the cup was gone.
"Let's get the books and go. That house is such a mess. You should consider getting rid of it," said Bill, wrinkling his nose at the thought of Grimmauld Place.
"Let's talk about it later," Harry said. He really just wanted to talk to Sirius about it before he relayed any decisions.
They grabbed the books and hurried from the Black Family Vaults. The floo took them back to Harry's trunk quick as could be. They were all exhausted.
"Let's have some tea and some lunch before we head out for our next daring adventure," said Harry, sarcastically. Even Madam Bones agreed to that.
Dobby and Winky started working on a quick fry up and a good barrel of fresh, hot darjeeling while Harry and Padfoot went in search of the babies.
"I'll come with ya. I'd like a word," said Moody, his good eye aimed at Harry but his wild blue magical eye aimed at the dog on the floor. Padfoot tried not to whine. Luckily, no one was really paying attention to them as cups of tea started to be passed around. Hermione and Gabrielle were playing hostess to the best of their very capable abilities.
Harry looked at Padfoot in concern but nodded his head. Instead of going outside, where he expected the babies and the Grangers to be, he took Padfoot and Moody upstairs to his study.
Harry shut the door and turned gravely to Moody. "What can I do for you, Auror Moody?"
Moody snorted. "Don't get formal with me now, boy. You obviously know what I want or you wouldn't have brought me somewhere more private."
Harry didn't give anything away. "I'm afraid I'll need you to tell me what this is about. I just wanted somewhere quiet to talk," said Harry.
Moody turned his eyes onto Padfoot. "I want to talk to you about the location of Sirius Black."
Harry gulped and tried not to look at Padfoot.
"Don't act coy, now lad. I know this dog is Black. I want to hear what's going on before I decide what to do," spat the auror. His wand was already in his hand, just in case.
Harry opened his mouth to argue but Sirius started to change back into his human form before he could.
"God, you've always had more balls than sense," said Moody, shaking his head. "You walk around with aurors all day long and don't expect anyone to notice you're smarter than the average mutt? Not much, but enough for someone who's observant to notice."
"You mean someone who's paranoid," snorted Sirius.
"It's saved my life more than once. If I really believed you were guilty, you'd already be in custody. Sit down now. We're going to take a little veritaserum and find out exactly what you did and didn't do," growled Moody.
Sirius wasn't that afraid but he was still nervous. The DMLE didn't exactly treat him fairly the first time.
"You carry veritaserum around with you?" asked Sirius, surprised.
The door opened quietly and Madam Bones stuck her head inside. "No, but I do," she said, seriously.
Sirius really started sweating then.
"He's innocent! You can't take him back to that place!" said Harry, panicking.
"I'd rather die!" Sirius cried.
"Sit down and shut your trap. We'll hear what you have to say, then we'll decide," said Moody, prodding Sirius to sit in the chair in front of Harry's desk.
Madam Bones removed a small box from a compartment on her belt. She tapped it and resized the box. Moody reached inside and took out a small vial of clear liquid. No one strapped Sirius to the chair.
"I know you were never questioned. Nary a trial or an inquiry. I checked after you escaped. I was hoping you let something slip during your trial that would help us find you," said Madam Bones, calmly.
"Bastard Crouch. He was always fast and loose with the rules when it suited him. He blamed your family for his son's sins," spat Moody. "I can't tolerate someone who abuses the system."
"I tried to get them to offer you a new trial if you turned yourself in but it was quashed by Fudge," said Madam Bones. Harry was still afraid but he wasn't full on panicking anymore. Maybe these people would listen.
"The incompetent arse," Moody snorted. "He's the worst of them all. Right in any pocket that's got gold in it, even if it's a death eater's."
Madam Bones didn't say she agreed but she didn't disagree either.
"We just want the truth. Hogwarts is technically sovereign territory and we just happen to have the majority owner in residence right now. Do you grant this man asylum?" asked Madam Bones, turning to Harry. Sirius looked shocked.
"I do! You can't take him!" Harry exclaimed.
Madam Bones nodded. "Unless he says something we don't like, we'll let that stand. Now, will you let us question you willingly or do we need to call Dumbledore and see what he says?"
"I'll do it," said Sirius. He was shaking all over from nerves but he opened his mouth willingly and swallowed the heavy dose of veritaserum.
The next 30 minutes was nerve wracking. Sirius spilled his guts about everything, including his plan to flee to France and have a real trial there. Finally, the aurors were satisfied. Moody looked at Madam Bones. She nodded.
"Well, you're an even bigger idiot than I ever expected but you're no death eater. Show me your arm so I can confirm it," said Moody. Sirius' tear stained face was so grateful, it was criminal. He gladly showed off his arms. Moody cast a half dozen spells then shook his head.
"You dunce. I can't believe you and that fool Potter came up with such a dunderheaded plan," said Moody.
"Don't I know it. I'd give anything to take it back," said Sirius, his voice more wobbly than a flat tire.
Moody just shook his head and fed Sirius the antidote. Someone knocked on Harry's study door.
Madam Bones opened the door. Hermione and Gabrielle were on the other side. They both gasped and turned pale. Madam Bones rolled her eyes.
"Do they all know it's really you?" asked the woman.
Harry nodded, silently.
"Does anyone else know?" asked Moody. "A ship with too many holes sinks."
"Dumbledore and Ron," said Harry. Moody shook his head.
"Your enemy knows your most dangerous secret. Best get out of the country while you still can, Black. You're a prime target for that hothead's revenge," said Moody.
"He doesn't know anymore," said Sirius. "Dumbledore wiped it from his mind. He sent me a note about it two days ago. He had the same thought you did."
"Dumbledore knows, too?" asked Moody with a shake of his head. Madame Bones sighed.
"Lucky, you," said Madam Bones. She didn't condone using the obliviate spell for such self-serving purposes but if anyone would have authorization, it was Dumbledore.
Sirius wiped his face and laughed, wetly. "Don't I know it."
"What happens now?" asked Hermione. She was holding Gabrielle's hand tightly.
Madam Bones sighed. "As long as I don't see you out and about off of Hogwarts grounds, nothing. Just, don't let me see you or I'll be forced to act. We'll take this questioning and keep it for the official record but we can't protect you if you leave asylum grounds."
Moody smacked Padfoot's back, hard. "Don't think I won't know if you do."
Sirius looked chagrined and so thankful, it moved even the hardened auror. "I can't thank you enough."
"Don't thank me. I'm just following the law. The actual, written law, not the farce that the government tries to pass off as justice," said Moody.
Madam Bones and Moody went back downstairs, followed by everyone else. They were all starved and ready for a little pick-me-up.