RIDDLES PROPERTY

chapter 68

"D'you need any help?"

"No, I'm fi— BOLLOCKS," Sirius gruffly said.

Emelia was watching him while he catastrophically spilt some of the water from the kettle on his hands.

"I was always rubbish at this," he said.

She laughed.

"So...I see we've come a long way. How've you been?"

He looked up from the cups and smiled at her. His long brown hair was extremely messy and ruffled.

"In a tricky situation, eh?"

"Yeah." She nodded.

"I've been here. Had to lay low since that time at the bar. He-who-must-not-be-named really set a heavy bounty on me. Well, I suppose it's safe to simply call him Tom."

She was confused.

"He who must not be named? If you're referrring to Tom, he doesn't know you, sir."

Sirius handed her the tea and sat down on the nearest chair. Emelia fiddled with her hands, complete dumbfounded as to how Tom and Sirius knew each other. And even if they did, Tom wouldn't care enough to put a bounty on him. No offense.

"Look," his voice turned into a whisper, "I know you're trying to cover for him, buy you've got to cooperate with us. At least until we know he's truly changed."

"Rubbish! Tom doesn't know you. I'm not making this up, I've been with him for months and he hasn't mentioned anything."

Sirius took a swig of whatever was in his cup and grimaced.

"Love, he knew my name enough when Hagrid was in Knockturn Alley...look, Minerva's done enough trying to remove the wanted posters of me. He keeps putting 'em up again or sending someone to put them up."

"Give him Veritaserum," she blurted.

Fuck. Okay, that was bad.

Sirius thought for a moment.

"Alright." he agreed.

Emelia shifted in her seat, uncomfortably.

"Anyways, I'm knackered." Sirius said. "I should probably head to bed and so should you."

He was most likely trying to break the awkward tension, but she couldn't let him go just yet.

"One last question?"

He nodded.

"Go on."

"When you were in there and Dumbledore mentioned Azkaban, you seemed to be visibly upset. Why was that? And don't give me a load of that rubbish, I-I remember something happening in my third year which had to do with you."

He sighed and patted the seat next to him on the sofa, motioning her to come sit.

"It's a long story. Sure you want to hear?"

She nodded, eagerly.

"I was in Azkaban for nearly 13 years over a crime I didn't commit. It involved Grindelwald, that filthy sneak Peter, and Harry's parents. And Remus, s'of course."