Venus

37- Sirius

"Venus!" Harry thrust a letter under Venus's nose in early March.

Be at still at end of the road out of Hogsmead (past Dervish and Banges) at two o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Bring as much food as you can (and Venus).

"What?" Venus looked up, "this Saturday?"

"Yes." Harry nodded, "he's really staying in Hogsmead?"

"I guess so." Venus shrugged, "he won't tell me where though. Whenever I ask he avoids it."

********

Venus joined Harry, Ron and Hermione in Hogsmead that Saturday. Venus and Harry both had bulging bags of food they had stolen from the Great Hall that morning.

Venus had never been to the part of Hogsmead that Sirius had asked them to go to, the cottages were fewer and the gardens larger. They turned a corner and there at the stile at the end if the road was the big black dog.

His tail was wagging and he carried some newspapers in his mouth. His front paws were on the topmost bar of the stile.

"Hey dad." Venus patted the dog.

"Hello Sirius." Harry grinned. Sirius sniffed their bags eagerly and bounded off up the mountain.

The group followed him, having slightly more trouble scrambling over the rocks than Sirius had with his four paws. Eventually Sirius slipped out of sight into a cave. They followed him and saw Sirius standing there taking the newspapers out of his mouth.

"You bought Chicken?" Sirius asked in a hoarse voice. Harry unzipped his bag and passed Harry a chicken leg. "Thanks, I can't steal too much food from Hogsmead so I've been living off of rats mostly."

"Dad, you could have asked me to bring you some food when I saw you last."

"You have enough to be thinking about on those nights." Sirius said through a mouthful of chicken.

Venus pulled a pair of scissors from her bag, "can I cut your hair? I've been wanting to do it for months!"

Sirius looked down at his hair that was almost falling to his waist. "Sure."

He sat down on the floor and Venus perched on a rock behind him and began trimming his hair.

"Sirius," Harry said, "do you have any idea how dangerous it is for you to be here?"

"Don't worry about me. I'm pretending to be a loveable stray, anyway. Things are getting fisher. I've been getting a look at the paper whenever someone throws one out." He nodded at the pile of papers on the floor, "and it looks like I'm not the only one getting worried."

"What if someone catches you!" Harry insisted, "what if you're seen?"

"You four and Dumbledore are the only ones around here who know I'm an animagus." Sirius shrugged.

"Stop moving!" Venus told him as she continued to cut his hair. Harry, Ron and Hermione were all reading a newspaper article about Crouch as Venus cut Sirius's hair and Sirius continued to devour his chicken leg.

"They make it sound like Crouch is dying." Harry looked up from the newspaper.

"Our brother is Crouch's personal assistant." Said Venus, "he says Crouch is suffering from overwork."

"He did look ill last time I saw him up close." Harry said slowly, "The night my name came out of the Goblet-"

"Getting his comeuppance for Winky isn't he." Hermione crossed her arms. "I bet he wishes he hadn't done it now- bet he feels the difference now that she's not there to look after him."

"Hermione is obsessed with house elves." Ron muttered.

"Crouch sacked his house elf?" Sirius asked interestly. Venus had heard the story of what had happened to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Mali at the Quidditch cup from Mali. She had told them how Mr Crouch had sacked his house elf for no apparent reason.

"Yeah, at the Quidditch World Cup," Harry said. He launched into the story of what had happened and how Winky had been found with his wand.

"So you first saw the elf in the top box saving a seat for Crouch, but he never showed." Sirius picked out another chicken leg.

"I think he said he'd been too busy." Ron nodded.

"Harry, did you check your pocket for your wand after you left the top box?"

"Erm..." Harry thought for a moment, "No, and I didn't need to use it before we go in the forest. And then I put my hand in my pocket and it was gone." Harry stared at Sirius, "are you saying whoever stole my wand did it in the top box?"

"It's possible," Sirius nodded.

"Winky didn't steal the wand!" Hermione snapped.

"There were loads of people there though." Venus added, "there were all those Bulgarian ministers... Fudge... The Malfoys..."

"I bet it was Lucius Malfoy." Ron said very loudly and suddenly. So loud that he made Buckbeak squark, which made Venus jump.

"I forgot he was there." She mumbled.

"Anyone else?" Sirius asked.

"No." Harry frowned.

"Yes there was, Ludo Bagman was there." Hermione reminded them.

Sirius frowned, "I don't know anything about him apart from the fact that he was a Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps." He mused, "anyway. What did Crouch do after his elf was found with Harry's wand?"

"He went to look in the bushes." Said Harry, "but there was no one there."

"Of course, he'd want to pin it on anyone but his own elf... and then he sacked her?" Sirius asked as more and more of his hair fell to the cave floor as Venus trimmed it.

"Yes." Hermione huffed, "he sacked her, just because she hadn't stayed in her tent and let herself get trampled-"

"Hermione give it a rest with the elf!" Said Ron.

"She's got the measure of Crouch better than you have Ron." Sirius shook his head.

"Stop moving!" Venus held his head still.

"Sorry," Sirius ran his hand over his unshaven chin. "All these absences of Barty Crouch... It's not like him. If he's ever taken a day off work because of illness before this I'll eat Buckbeak."

"Do you know Crouch then?" Venus frowned.

Sirius's face darkened and his voice sounded more menacing, "Oh, I know Crouch alright. He was the one who gave the order for me to go to Azkaban- without a trial."

"You're kidding!" Harry said.

"No, I'm not." Sirius growled, "Crouch was tipped to be the next minister for magic. He was always very outspoken against the dark side. But then a lot of people who were against the dark side... Well, you're too young to understand..."

"That's what dad said at the Quidditch cup!" Said Ron, with a trance of irritation in his voice, "try us, why don't you!"

A grin flashed across Sirius's face. "All right. I'll try you... Imagine that Voldemort is powerful now... You don't know who to trust, who his supporters are. You know he can control people so that they do horrible things without being able to stop themselves. You're scared for your family, your friends. The ministry is in disarray trying to keep it all hidden from the muggles, who are dying too. Terror and panic everywhere. That's how it used to be."

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~Em xx