Come Home + Sirius Black

eight: halloween 1993

October.

For the next two months, Charlotte spent much of her free time doing her own research outside of Sirius' case file for any kind of sign or indication as to which story was true. It had been a highly reported case at the time, and not only because it was linked directly to the fall of Lord Voldemort. The House of Black was a line of purebloods that went back centuries, and one of the most prominent of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. It was only obvious that news that the eldest of the current line had been a Death Eater all along made headlines.

The public ate it up, she remembered that much well. The thought of the son of the Blacks, who had always been outspoken on their views of pureblood supremacy, was in the Dark Lord's ranks did not come as a surprise to many — especially due to the rumors that Sirius' younger brother, Regulus, had been a Death Eater before his disappearance as well. Others loved the drama of a man who betrayed his best friends.

Despite large public interest, many of the articles that Charlotte had found of the case were all essentially the same retellings of the story that she already knew, and they were all accompanied by photos of Sirius — either his mugshot, or one of his photos from his school days.

It was not until Halloween that she had made some sort of progress in her research, and even then it was very little. It was the very first article published covering Sirius' capture following his duel with Peter, detailing the former's seemingly insane demeanor upon getting caught. Two photos were joined with the article. One of the Muggle witnesses, and another of the crater that was left behind from the explosion that Sirius supposedly caused. But something didn't seem right. In the distance, one could see the victims of the explosion on the ground. But the crater itself remained spotless. Peter's body was never found, and it was always suggested that he was what exploded. Yet if that were true, there should have been some kind of gore left behind with the dent in the ground. But all that had been left behind was a trickle of blood right where Peter's finger laid. This wasn't proof, Charlotte knew that. But anyone would look at the photograph and think it strange.

With a wave of her wand, the photograph was cut out from the rest of that Daily Prophet issue, and she tucked it away into her pocket. She didn't know exactly what she was going to do with it yet, but it was a starting point, at least.

Charlotte looked around. Her living room had become home to dozens of newspaper articles ever since Harry had returned to Hogwarts, all of them scattered about on the floor and coffee table. Before she could finally clean up after herself, there was a sputter and cough that made her whip around, only to find Remus Lupin's head sticking out of her fireplace.

"Moony? What's going on?"

"Charlie —" He was out of breath and panting. "You must come quick. Sirius was in the castle, he attacked a portrait. Dumbledore's opened up the Floo for you."

She wasted no time with questions and hopped right onto her feet. By the time Remus' face disappeared from her fireplace, she had scooped up a handful of Floo powder and stepped onto the spot where his head had just been.

"Hogwarts."

For a moment, Charlotte was engulfed in an emerald, heatless flame, and her the surroundings of her living room vanished, then changed into the office of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

She had to crouch to step out of the fireplace, but after dusting herself off and looking up, she found herself greeted by both Remus and Professor Dumbledore.

"What's happened?"

"Harry is safe," Dumbledore started. "He and all the other students are spending the night in the Great Hall, which is being monitored by our Prefects. He was not in Gryffindor tower when Sirius attempted to enter."