"Professor McGonagall," Dumbledore called as she strode from the Great Hall the next morning.
Minerva kept moving rapidly towards the front doors as if she had not heard him.
"Professor!" he called out again.
Still, she ignored him and continued moving to the Hogwarts gates until a silvery Phoenix flew into her path. She sighed silently, stopped walking, and clenched her teeth, waiting for him to catch up to her.
"Minerva, didn't you hear me call you?" He asked when he arrived.
"You called me?"
"Yes, several times."
"I'm quite sorry. I am a bit distracted. I received an owl late last night. I am needed off school grounds today," she explained.
"Where are you going exactly?" he inquired.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why do you need to know that?"
"So that I can contact you should there be an issue that I need your assistance with," Dumbledore replied.
"As you are aware, I was on duty last weekend. It is Pomona's turn; if you need assistance, I am quite sure she can do so. If not, Horace is here this weekend as well as Filius. There is no reason you should need me," Minerva said. "Besides, if you absolutely did need me specifically, you know that an owl could find me no matter where I am."
"Is there a reason you don't want to tell me where you're going?"
"Other than the fact that it is none of your business," she said snappishly, with a raised eyebrow, continuing to move forward. "No. I shall return, and that is all you need to know."
"Minerva, I thought we were friends," Dumbledore said, trying a new tactic.
"And as such, you should be more than willing to respect my privacy. Now, I must go, or I will be late."
"But I am needed at the Ministry," he objected.
"And our very competent teaching staff is more than capable of taking care of the students without either of us here."
"I would feel much better if you were here in my place, as you are Deputy Headmistress."
"Perhaps your position as Chief Mugwump is interfering with your position as Headmaster. I imagine it will take you away from Hogwarts quite a bit over the next several months during the Death Eater trials," she observed. "Perhaps it is time to make a decision on which is more important and resign the other or take a leave of absence. For now, I am leaving."
With this, she stepped through the Hogwarts gates that they had finally reached, and spinning on the spot disapparated.
"What took you so long?" Milicent asked as Minerva stepped out of the Floo into her office.
"I'll explain on the way," Minerva replied and then did just that in a low voice. "He's most likely on his way here or already here. Someone must have let him know about Sirius."
Milicent nodded. "I believe you are correct. It seems I have some work to do closing down the leaks in my departments."
"Good luck with that."
"Go on in," the minister said, when they reached the observation room. "I'm going to take care of something first; I won't be a minute."
Minerva stepped through the door into the room. The first thing she saw was Sirius sitting in a chair in the adjoining room, strapped down to it and the wrists and ankles. He was alone, looking around the room at each wall in turn.
"Professor," came a hushed whisper from the corner. "Why are we here? Why is Sirius in there?"
"Mr. Lupin," she began and hesitated, taking in his bedraggled robes and hair. In all the years he'd been at Hogwarts, even the day after each successive full moon, she had never seen him look this out of sorts. "Did no one explain why you were brought here?"
"A couple of Aurors found me and brought me here. They didn't say anything. They said they needed to find me for my own safety. Something's happened, but they won't tell me what. I asked what was going on, but they wouldn't answer; they just said we needed to get to the Ministry. I've been here since last night, and no one has told me anything. What's going on, Professor?"
"Mr. Lupin, I presume?" came a new voice from the door.
"Minister?" he replied.
"Yes," Milicent nodded. "You truly have no idea why you're here?"
"No," he said and shook his head vehemently. "Nor, why Sirius is in there. What has he done?"
Milicent looked to Minerva, who nodded and stepped closer to her former pupil.
"Mr. Lupin," she started, then softened her voice, "Remus."
"No, no," he began shaking his head again. "No, Lily, James, and Harry?"
"Where's Harry?" Sirius asked just then.
The occupants of the observation room turned to see that Alastor Moody and a fellow Auror had entered the other room.
"I'm the one asking questions," Moody replied.
"Is he safe? Tell me he's safe."
Alastor didn't respond.
"You have to tell me. You have to tell me he's somewhere safe," Sirius insisted. "Please tell me he's safe and won't be found. I don't need to know where; just tell me he's safe."
"You need to answer questions, not ask them," Moody's partner snapped.
Sirius's eyes went wide. "He's not dead, is he? He has to be safe. Hagrid had him. I gave him to Hagrid. Hagrid wouldn't hurt him. He'd keep Harry safe. Please, just tell me Harry is safe."
"Interesting, isn't it that he just handed the child over to Hargid? If he wanted Harry dead, if that was the point, why wouldn't he have just killed him?" Milicent muttered just loud enough for Minerva to hear. She took a small cone from her pocket, held it up to her mouth, and whispered. "Tell him."
"He's safe," Alastor said.
"How do I know that's the truth? How do I know you're not just telling me that to get me to answer your questions? He's truly safe?"
"He is."
"James and Lily?" Remus asked again.
"I'm sorry, Remus," Minerva replied in a hushed voice.
"But Sirius was their Secret-Keeper. He wouldn't haveā¦" Remus trailed off.
"Now, how did you murder those Muggles and Peter Pettigrew?" Alastor asked.
"He didn't!" Remus said at the same time Sirius shouted, "I didn't!"
"Mr. Lupin, please don't make me silence you," the minister said.
"Funny, Pettigrew is gone, and twelve Muggles were all found dead at the scene while you were there alive and laughing. Care to explain?" The other Auror inquired calmly as if she were asking, "How's the weather?"
"Peter cast something; I don't know what. I barely had time to get a shield charm up to save myself. In the confusion and noise, the rat escaped."
"Really, he just escaped?" the other Auror said drolly.
"Yes, he's a rat."
"Well, you've made your feelings about your former friend quite clear," Moody began.
"How I feel about him is much worse. I'm telling you he's a literal rat."
"An Animagus?" Moody turned toward the wall the observers could see through and raised an eyebrow before turning back to Sirius. "That's not in our records."
"It's true," Remus confirmed when the minister looked at him.
"None of us were registered," Sirius added. "James, Peter, and I all became animagi."
"I thought the three of you were quite tight with Remus Lupin," the other Auror said. "What about him? Isn't he an animagus too?"
"No," Sirius and Alastor said together.
Sirius stared at Moody, eyes wide.
"Remus Lupin is not currently important in this interrogation," Alastor said.
"Moody knows?" Remus gasped. "Who else knows?"
"No one that will cause a problem for you, Mr. Lupin," the minister reassured him.
"How can you be sure of that?" The other Auror wanted to know.
"Because I am, Banks, and that's all you need to know right now," Alastor said firmly, then turned back to Sirius. "Why are you so sure he escaped? And if you are also an Animagus, why didn't you escape?"
"I didn't know what he was going to do. If I'd known, I'd have body-bound him as soon as I saw him."
"Why did you go after him to begin with?" Banks asked.
"It's all his fault!" Sirius yelled, enraged, and then deflated. "Except it's also mine. James and Lily are gone, and it's all my fault."
"So you admit that you were the one who told Voldemort how to find the Potters?" Banks accused.
"No!" Sirius yelled. "I wasn't the Secret Keeper. Peter was. I told them, I told them to have Peter do it. I persuaded them that he was a better choice. I knew Voldemort knew about me. My brother is a Death Eater. I thought they'd come for me, and I didn't know if I could keep silent through whatever tortures they might put me through. So, I told them to use Peter, and they agreed. Halloween night, I'd arranged to check on Peter and make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. There weren't any signs of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared, and I went straight to Godric's Hollow. When I got there and saw their house and their bodies...
Sirius and Remus both began to cry each on their own side of the magical wall.
"Harry was okay, and no one else was there, so I grabbed him and just held him until I heard Hagrid arrive. I gave Harry to him and went to find Peter."
"We're just supposed to believe you?" Banks scoffed.
"Ask any of the Death Eaters you have locked up at Azkaban," Sirius insisted. "You know they can talk to each other, right? They yell back and forth to each other from their cells. The only time they're quiet is when the damned dementors float through, then they all start right back up again. They're all plotting how to get out and how to hunt down Pettigrew. They think he set up their Dark Lord. They think it was a plan to defeat Voldemort that Peter double-crossed them."
"They'll say anything to try and save themselves," Banks argued.
Sirius growled. "Check my wand. I've never cast anything that could do the damage that spell did. Let me transform for you and show you that part isn't a lie. Prosecute me for being an unregistered Animagus, fine, but I did not betray the Potters. I would die first."
"Big words that you can't prove."
"Enough Banks!" Alastor barked.
"Give me Veritaserum," Sirius said. "Give it to me, as much as you want, and ask me all your questions again. Let me show you my memories in a Pensieve. I can show you when I convinced Lily and James to choose Peter instead. I can show you what happened in that alley."
"Nice try," sneered Auror Banks. "You have to have a wand to withdraw memories, and how do we know you don't have a tolerance built up to Veritaserum?"
"We'll be back," Moody told Sirius, then he turned and stomped to the door. When the other Auror did not follow him automatically, he said, "Perhaps you didn't hear me; WE will be back!"
Banks sneered again and turned to follow his senior officer. Just before stepping into the hall, he stooped as if to pick up something from the floor, swinging his arm as he did so. Sirius jerked and yelped.
"What did he just-" Remus and Minerva both asked as the door to their room opened.
Moody came in, followed by a smug Banks.
"Alastor," the minister nodded, then turned to the other Auror with her hand held out. "Your wand here, now!"
"You have no right!" he protested.
"Oh, but she does," McGonagall snapped. "It seems you forgot you had witnesses. I haven't taught for dozens of years to not recognize a reaction to a strong Stinging Jinx or someone trying not to get caught casting one. Your wand is in the sleeve of your robe."
"You dare-"
"Stuff it, Banks," Moody growled. "Hand over your wand. If what the witnesses here feel they saw was false, you have no fear. Wait for me in the DMLE."
"He deserved worse," Banks hissed.
"And that's that," Milicent announced. "Leland Banks, you are hereby on administrative leave with pay pending investigation. Hand over your wand, now!"
"And if I don't?"
"Enough of this," Moody snapped, then whipped out his wand. Banks's wand flew into Alastor's hand. "Melton and Merrian!"
"Yes, sir," the two Aurors appeared in the doorway.
"Take Banks to my office, give him a seat, one of you stay in the room with him, the other at the door, and no one else gets in or out until I get back. Not even the minister.
"Yes, sir."
Banks pulled away when the other Aurors attempted to each take an arm to guide him. "You're locking me up, and you're going to let that Death Eater get away! You're going to let him walk. He's lying to you! He's a killer! He-"
Silence after Moody once again flourished his wand in the air. Ropes also flew from the end and wrapped themselves around Banks's wrists and ankles.
"Never mind taking him up to the office. Let's not give him the attention he wants. Put him in a cell for now and file paperwork that he is being held due to the mistreatment of a suspect. I'll take care of the rest as soon as I'm done with my interrogation," Alastor instructed, then turned to the occupants of the observation room. "I'm going to grab Levinson from down the way and have him help me finish up in there."
"He's telling the truth about Peter," Remus put in before the older man could leave. "They all did it for me. Peter is a rat. We called him Wormtail."
"And Black?"
"He's a black dog... Padfoot. James," Remus hesitated. "James was a stag. Prongs, we called him Prongs. I don't know anything about the Secret Keeper being changed. They didn't tell me. It may have been that I'd already left. Maybe they were worried something would happen to me with the werewolves. I don't know, but I thought it was Sirius. He was James's best friend. They were more like brothers. We were friends too, but all in a different way."
"Thank you, Remus," Moody said.
"I can write that all down; sign it. Whatever you need me to do."
"All of it?" The minister asked. "Are you certain?"
"I know it could become part of public record," the man in question responded. "It was bound to happen eventually. One of the Death Eater werewolves will probably spill it anyway, trying to incriminate me."
"Let's do this," Moody said. "Write it down. We'll file it with the highest protection we can and use it only if absolutely necessary. I don't think it will be. Black volunteered for veritaserum and his wand shows no signs of being used for anything that could have killed those Muggles. We also have Pettigrew's finger somewhere. I'll put someone on finding it."
"If Albus had anything to do with it, it's probably with the Unspeakables, just like Sirius's wand was," Minerva observed.
"Professor Dumbledore?" Remus asked, confused.
"Yes, I'll explain later, if I can," she replied.
"I'm going to go finish talking to Black," Moody told them. "He'll be held a bit longer, if for no other reason than to process his Animagi registration. Lupin, you write out your testimony. Minerva, please witness it."
"Yes, sir," Remus responded.
"Certainly," Minerva nodded.
"Why don't you use my office?" Milicent recommended, "and feel free to use the Floo when you're done."
"Thank you, Madam Minister."
"You are quite welcome, Mr. Lupin. Would you like to be informed when Mr. Black is free to leave?"
"Please."
"Come with me, Mr. Lupin," Minerva said and led the way from the room.
