AN: And here's the next one. It's a little shorter than the past few. However, the next chapter is quite a long one.
Chapter 7: Freedom and Consequences
Sirius Black was surprised when one of the guards approached his cell that morning and told him to move.
Usually, they acted like he was dead.
Maybe, he was finally broken.
Thinking he was married to his crazy cousin probably did that to him.
He went in and out believing that delusion. It couldn't be true. It couldn't be. But it felt so real….
Out of all the things that broke him, he didn't understand why it had been Bellatrix of all people. She hated him. She had fired the killing curse at least a dozen times at him…
But it had never hit him. And he wasn't that good. At least not as good as her.
"I give, I yield, you win like always."
"And now I get my reward," She said laughing.
He had a brief flash regarding what her reward had been and didn't know if he wanted to throw up or savor the memory for what it had been.
It wasn't a memory.
He was crazy.
Stone cold looney.
He didn't even realize he had been taken away from the island via portkey until he arrived somewhere where it didn't smell of death and he actually puked because it smelled so clean.
He soon realized he was at the ministry. To be more specific, a holding cell.
"That is fucking disgusting, Black."
"Hello, Amelia." He finally said looking up to see James's former boss looking pissed as usual.
"Black, we need to talk."
They had caught the rat.
She didn't go into details, but they caught him. They knew he was innocent.
It was that simple.
He still couldn't believe it.
They just wanted his statement apparently then he was free to go. Well, free to go to the expensive rehabilitation center they planned to send him to due to his unfortunate exposure to dementors. Apparently, his solicitor had negotiated that for him.
He didn't even know he had a solicitor.
Then again, he spent half of the time thinking that he was married to Bellatrix so his sanity was dubious at best. He knew he needed to be treated and was taking them up on said offer. Mentally and physically, he was messed up, despite what Amelia said about him being in relatively good condition.
Relatively good condition, his ass. He didn't even have to run a diagnosis to know he had a host of conditions that needed to be fix before he'd be fit for society again. Fit for his godson.
Little Harry. He'd be what, eleven now? He needed to get well for him.
Apparently, the facility he was going to was in Switzerland. He had remembered hearing about it before from Cissy of all people.
It was a state of the art healing facility and did wellness for both mind and body. A pricy facility at that if Cissy had been interested in it. And in his delusions, she had been trying to convince him to take Bella there for vacation.
A serene spa and him and that crazy ass bitch. What could go wrong?
His solicitor apparently knew what they were doing whatever the case. Or at least when it came to rehab centers.
"We'll also be negotiating a financial settlement for you," Amelia said, "I really don't know how this was fucking ignored for ten fucking years."
"Blame your predecessor."
"Well, you already know what I'm going to fucking do that."
"I'm glad to see you still have a way with words, as James mentioned." He said attempting a small smile that probably looked quite hideous given the state of his teeth. He inwardly grimaced at the process it would take to remove and regrow them. He was in for a few nights of pain.
James had always talked about Amelia's notorious potty mouth. He had liked the woman. She had been a decent mentor for him. Having her be the head of the DMLE was probably one of the only few decent decisions the ministry had made in a while.
"Ah, yes, Potter." She said with a sad smile. "I'm glad we finally have the right fucker in jail for what happened to him."
"How…how…was he caught."
"That is something I'm still trying to figure out, Mr. Black. But I am going to make sure that fucker gets what he fucking deserves"
Here he was yet again at Hogwarts for yet another crisis board meeting.
This one involved more fallout from the troll and Peter Fucking Pettigrew.
He grimaced thinking about how his nephew's father had essentially spent the better part of a decade in jail while Peter lapped it up as a house pet. What was worse was the way the rat was discovered…
The Granger girl.
At least they had finally found her, he supposed. Although, Albus hadn't gone into much how he discovered her. It was the only thing that kept Percy Weasley and Emmett Waller from being in Azkaban already. Instead, they had just been expelled and in a ministry holding cell with charges pending. Weasley's wand snapped since he wasn't of age and Watson's confiscated.
It had been quite the sight, Molly Weasley wailing at the aurors that arrested the boy and snapping his wand.
In a way he thought she was most upset about the wand being snapped and she moaned how they couldn't afford a new wand.
She was that delusional if she thought the cost of a wand was the most of her family's worries.
He was glad he was not a solicitor in that case. Imagine being their lawyer. She probably wouldn't even let you get two words in while talking about how innocent her boy was.
"This is an outrage, Albus." Augusta Longbottom said stating the obvious.
"I know, Augusta," The headmaster said. "It will not happen again."
Lucius watched as Dumbledore attempted to pacify the board. It was disgusting how good he was at this. Gryffindors weren't supposed to be this smooth. The girl could've very easily died for the second time this year because of his folly.
Though to be fair, the day the girl's transformation happened was the day Harry Potter's death had been announced so admittedly he might have been a little bit preoccupied.
He blanched as he thought about the boy who was currently still under the drought of living death in Narcissa's clinic. It had been touch and go for the past few days, Narcissa seemed so ran down and was doing everything in her power to keep him alive along with Andromeda. Apparently, whatever Lily Potter had done to him had reacted poorly with some of the potions that were given as part of the treatment. As a result they had to flush whatever she did completely out system and whatever Potter had done to him was fighting back. It was pretty obvious that what had been doing to his nephew wasn't just a botched adoption ritual.
At least according to Narcissa. She said rather than having the Potter DNA intermingle and welcome the boy's Black genes it had been trying to kill it. Needless to say, he would be under the potion for a longer time as she and Andromeda continued to try to undo whatever Lily Potter had done.
Going back to the meeting he had to make a quip at that never again remark Dumbledore made. "I'm sure there will not be another death eater masquerading as someone's pet…"
It sickened him. What if Weasley had been sorted as a Slytherin? He knew Pettigrew and his preferences. Not as colorful as Lestrange's, but almost as colorful. Probably why they made strange bedfellows at time between victims.
Sadistic sons of bitches.
He was starting to sound like Ameila, but he sort of understood her penchant for cursing these days.
"We are having Madam Pomfrey do discreet exams." Albus said answering the unsaid question in the room.
"I'd like to see my Neville see his own healer." Augusta said before adding, "Poppy has had her hands full as of late."
Wasn't that the understatement of the year. Though he sort of agreed with Augusta about that and was pretty sure Narcissa would probably be discreetly charming both boys soon enough. Probably had already checked Harry.
He halfway had expected his wife to turn into Bellatrix Lestrange when she had found out about Peter Pettigrew and that Black just essentially sitting in a cell for ten plus years.
"He's innocent? And he just stayed there, Luc?"
"He told Amelia he blamed himself and that he just never thought to ask for a trial."
She rolled her eyes, "Typical, Sirius. I'm surprised he can even speak coherently.
Lucius rolled his eyes. "He'll still need to be in Switzerland for a while. He has his moments."
Bern, Switzerland being the location of the rehab/spa center he had asked him to have the ministry send him too since when he had been appointed the man's solicitor.
It was probably the easiest case in his life. He didn't even have to meet his own client. Amelia pretty much just wanted this to go away.
Much like how he wanted this meeting to go away. He had never thought that being a member of the board would be so annoying.
Albus Dumbledore hated board meetings. At the best of times, they were just tedious. At worst they were excruciatingly annoying. This one had fell into the excruciatingly annoying category because of the Gryffindor Rat business as it had been dubbed.
Lucius may have even made a quip about House of the Lions might want to switch their mascot. He was not impressed.
He shook his head as he headed towards the hospital wing after the meeting, he was going to see if there had been any progress with Ms. Granger as well as meet with her parents.
He frowned thinking of the state he had found her the other night when the Weasley twins had given him the Marauder's Map in an effort to get a plea bargain for their brother. It did little to help young Percy's situation, but had kept the twins from being suspended. No, they just had detention for the rest of the remaining year as did most of the rest of the house. He still grimaced as he thought about Molly's reaction to Percy's expulsion and then her reaction when she realized he had contacted the aurors.
He had no choice. Not after he found the girl and saw what condition she was in.
The girl turned rat had been running amok along the bottom levels of the school. Almost in a circular loop going between the Hufflepuff and Slytherin common rooms. Somehow she had managed to stay in the castle, but she was as far as one could get from the tower as possible—he blessed the wards which he suspected kept her there sensing she would be in danger if she got out in the snow
When he finally found her, it was clear she had been terrorized and injured. He had to stun the poor thing with how startled she was. Her brown fur was matted with dried blood. Part of her tail had been clearly ripped off and her ear also seemed to be nicked. It was lucky he found her when he did. She may not have lasted that long.
He hadn't attempted transforming her back with not with those injuries. He suspected he probably wouldn't be able to anyway. Other than her name being on the dot on the map there was nothing to indicate she recognized him or even identified as herself.
"Poppy," he said entering the hospital wing it had been a few days and he was checking on Ms. Granger's progress.
"I think the tail may need to be amputated. It's still infected."
He groaned. Transfiguration was tricky business, no one knew what the tail would be when she transformed back. It may be nothing, then again it may be her neck. It wasn't like Pettigrew's toe where it was quite obvious what spot conformed with the human body. Plus, Pettigrew was an animagus where you purposely focused your energy to transform one limb to another versus where a transfiguration like this was completely random.
"I'm afraid to attempt to reverse the transfiguration until she heals a bit more. I'm not sure it would even work at this point." He winced since he should've easily been able to transfigure her back.
"You're probably right." She said as she plopped a small slice of cheese in the girl turned rat's cage. That rat ate it right up. "At least her appetite has returned."
Indeed the rat had gorged down the cheese and ate it in a couple of bites. Very different from the scared animal that had been brought in a few days ago who had refused to eat for the first couple of days.
"Well, that's something." He said as Poppy put another slice of cheese in the cage.
"I spelt her medicine in there," She told him. "It's pretty much the only way I can get her take it. She bites me otherwise."
"She's not aware what's going on."
"I know," She said, " And I'm concerned."
"About the tail?"
"Well, yes, and no." Poppy said, "It's more about how far gone she is. Usually, there would be some sense of recollection now, but there's been absolute none. In fact, unless you told me it was her, I would think this was just a common garden rat."
"You know what happened, Poppy. You know she was traumatized beyond belief."
Poppy sighed. "You're right maybe I shouldn't be too concerned."
"Her parents are coming today, I'm hoping that will help."
It was just her mother that came. Hermione's father apparently was handling their surgery.
He forgot that the girl's parents were dentists.
Emma Granger seemed very put together. The exact opposite of her daughter, though he did notice some similarities. They both had curly hair though while Hermione's was mouse colored and unmanageable, Emma had tamed her dark chocolate brown curls. They shared the same inquisitive looking eyes, though Emma had a sense of confidence her daughter sadly did not and probably wouldn't have for a while. The dentist was dressed in a chic looking skirt and sweater with long boots that she seemed comfortable in, unlike the last time he saw her child in that ill-fitted uniform.
"Are you telling me my daughter is a fucking rat?" She asked Dumbledore looking like she was about to kill him.
He wouldn't blame her. He had failed so many this year. Her daughter being the latest person amongst many.
"An incident got out of hand," He said.
"No, she was fucking bullied, and no one did anything about it," The woman crossing her arms. "What are the names of the little shits that did this to her?"
He wondered if she always cursed like she was Amelia Bones. He hoped not, there did not need to be two of them.
"We were remedying the situation," He said. "We had monitoring charms in the common room."
That I failed to hear until it was too late.
The woman rolled her eyes. "There shouldn't have needed to be monitoring charms, you don't fucking turn people into rats."
She had a point. He tried to explain the escalating situation and that was when he realized that Emma Granger had not been informed about the troll incident.
"Troll?" She said, "There was a fucking troll? And I wasn't informed about it! I wasn't told my daughter was hurt and that two of her classmates died!"
"I am guessing Ms. Granger—"
"No, you fucking don't get to blame my daughter." The woman snapped, "She was probably scared out of her fucking mind that her Dan and I would've pulled her out if she told us and probably thought we would get our minds wiped because of your fucked up rules."
She did probably have a point. Muggleborns were told about obliviations when they were first told they were admitted into Hogwarts as an "incentive" to get them to attend. It really wasn't that much of an incentive, more like blackmail but it was just one of those things that had to be done.
Emma Granger shook her head at him, "You people are disgusting."
At that point the little brown rat in the cage started squawking clearly upset not recognizing that her own mother was defending her.
Emma turned to see her daughter for the first time, "Hermione, baby, it's me…Mummy."
There might've been a hint of recollection if for only for a second then the rat tried to hide completely ignoring its food.
Albus discreetly casted a silence spell on the cage, "That should help. She can't hear us now."
"You are fucking monsters," Emma said her eyes on her daughter. "Change her back."
"We intend to, but we just can't until she gets more stable." Dumbledore said as the rat seemed to calm down enough to pick up a piece of corn that had been placed in its cage.
At least she had an appetite now.
Emma scowled at him, "She's not going to calm down while she's here where she was tormented."
She probably was right, but at the same time he couldn't let the girl go especially with a muggle.
"Don't you people have your own kind of hospital with actual doctors not glorified school nurses?"
"Oh, we do…" He said though he really didn't want to transfer Ms. Granger. Things have been a disaster the last time they had a student transfer to St. Mungo's.
"Well, I want her transferred." Emma said, "The sooner the better."
He nodded, "I'll have Poppy get with you on the paperwork."
"You do that," The woman spat.
"I assure you, we are making sure the students that did this are being held accountable."
The woman looked at him, "I want names. And I want the entire story, Dumbledore. And if you don't give it to me I will find some fucker of a wizarding lawyer to do it."
Chapter 8 Preview: It's Yule and there are several surprises coming including but not limited to a ritual, a shocking relationship revelation, and a surprise appearance.