Not Alone After All

Chapter XXX

"Professor Lupin," suddenly asked a soft, timid voice. "Can I... Can I say something?" She asked permission. 

"Certainly, Hermione," Remus answered in a calm tone.

"Well, Scabbers... I mean, this man... He has been sleeping in the same dormitory as Harry for the past two years, and in the same school as Laurie for the past two... If he's really one of You-Know-Who's followers, why didn't he do something yet?"

"There you go!" Peter suddenly exclaimed. He seemed relieved to finally having an excuse that made some sense. "Thank you! You see, Remus? I've never touched Harry! Or a single red hair of Laura's head! Why would I even do that?" He took a step towards Laura, to motion to her hair with his fingerless hand, but Sirius stood protectively in front of her, and Peter retraced his owns steps. 

"I'll tell you why," replied Sirius, "Because you don't anything for anyone.. unless there's something in it for you. Voldemort has been gone for twelve years, half dead. You'd never commit murder under Albus Dumbledore's nose for some half-dead wizard who lost all his power. You wanted him to be fully restored before coming back. That's why you were adopted by a family of wizards, yes? To know everything you needed to know about Voldemort's return?"

After an uncomfortable silence where everyone watched Peter Pettigrew open and close his mouth, trying to say something, Hermione spoke up. 

"Uh.. Mr. Black... Sirius?" she asked timidly. Sirius almost jumped. He hadn't heard anyone address him that politely in, what, twelve years? "If I may ask... how did you not go insane in Azkaban? How can we know any of this isn't..." Hermione stopped herself. 

"The tales of a mad man?" Laura finished her sentence. Hermione nodded. She meant to say 'crazy talk', but that worked too. 

"Thank you!" Peter turned to Laura, relief once more written all over his face. 

"Don't," Laura warned him. His face immediately fell and he shut up again. 

"I almost did," Sirius decided to reveal. "But what kept me sane was the fact that I knew that I was innocent. And well, that wasn't a happy memory, so the dementors didn't take it from me. I stayed as a dog for most of my days, because the dementors couldn't read me as well. I was weak, thin, and without my wand, so I had nowhere to go, nothing else to do. That is, until I saw that photo. I became obsessed. It still wasn't happiness, so I was left alone. But Peter in Hogwarts? So well placed to take out the two remaining Potters if needed. I had to do something, I became haunted by that thought and that thought alone." 

When Sirius Black said those words, Harry and Laura's eyes immediately found each other, and Hermione noticed. 

"What is it?" she whispered to the two. Everyone turned their attention to the two siblings. Hermione knew the looks they shared. 

"Mr. Weasley said something to me when they sent people to get me from home at the end of summer," Laura explained. "He said it was too dangerous for me to stay in the muggle world unprotected, because... because Sirius Black was apparently obsessed with something. They said the guards had heard you talk in your sleep, something about someone being in Hogwarts. They didn't know if you were talking about Harry or me, so Mr. Weasley brought the two of us to stay with them for a few weeks before the start of the year," Laura explained. The three adults were captivated by what the young girl was saying. Even in her way of speaking, Laura sounded exactly like her mother. "But now.. now it makes sense. You were talking about Pettigrew," she sent the man a nasty look, making him whimper. 

"Yes," Black continued. "And then one night I realised that, as a dog, I was thin enough to walk right past the gates. The dementors are blind, you see, they can only sense emotions, happiness. And since all that fueled me was pure rage," he snarled at Peter. "I was able to walk right past them. I jumped in the water and swam to land. Then I've been hiding in the forbidden forest ever since."