"Oh, please, this is a Hospital, my patients need some privacy and rest without the whole world entering the room!" Madam Pomfrey complains.
"I apologise, Poppy," says Dumbledore, "but I need a word with Mr Potter, Ms Granger, and Ms Black..."
He looks at us with his shiny and mysterious light-blue eyes.
"I have been talking with Sirius Black and-"
"And I bet he's been telling you that same story about Peter Pettigrew and Mr Weasley's rat...?" says Snape.
I seriously getting a bit tired of that guy.
"Yes, Severus..." Dumbledore answers, "that's correct... Black did tell me that..."
"And doesn't my version count?!" Snape asks, "There wasn't any Peter Pettigrew in the Shrieking Shack when I was there-"
"Well maybe if you listened to us, you'd understand that he was a rat!" I say back.
"SHUT UP MS BLACK!" Snape yells.
"No thank you..." I mutter.
"There wasn't any rat who became a man either" says Snape.
"You didn't have time to see that, because you let yourself be defeated by your own student..." I mutter again.
"We can listen to you, Ms Black..." says Fudge.
"I know"
"Well, back to the original subject, shall we?" Dumbledore says, as calm as usual, as if nothing had happened, "I would like to talk to Mr Potter, Ms Granger, and Ms Black alone, please"
"Professor, they need to rest-" Madam Pomfrey pleads, desperate.
"I'm so sorry, Poppy, but this can't wait"
Pomfrey makes an annoyed face but goes to her office.
"You don't believe Black's story, do you, Dumbledore?" Fudge asks.
"I wish to talk to them alone, Cornelius" Dumbledore repeats.
Fudge looks a little angry but he still leaves the room.
"I hope you remember what he did to me when we were sixteen, Professor" says Snape, "He has always been a criminal. He and his friends"
"Yes, my memory is sill quite good, Severus" Dumbledore replies, not looking him in the eyes; looking somewhere else instead.
Snape leaves, and so do the twins, flashing me their warm smiles.
"Professor, Black is innocent, you know that-"
"That guy ran away when Remus transformed-"
"He's a rat, his finger is missing and-"
"Pettigrew attacked Ron, it wasn't Dad!"
Dumbledore raises his hand, making us shut up.
"Now it's time for you to listen to me" he says, his voice as calm as always, "I have very few time, so I must be quick, and I ask you not to interrupt me. There are no proofs that Black's story is true, except, of course, for you. And the word of three young wizards like you won't, unfortunately, be enough to convince the Ministry. There was a street full of people who swore that Sirius had murdered Pettigrew; even I, myself, testified before the Minister himself that Sirius had been the Potters' Secret Keeper once"
"Remus can confirm the story, sir" I say.
"Professor Lupin is, right now, somewhere in the Forest," Dumbledore explains, making my heart heavier with some unexplained guilt, "incapable of doing anything at all. When he has his human form back, it might be too late, for Black might have already died"
And there goes... everything. Dumbledore, that person I always thought could save us from anything, is literally telling me that my father will die in a few moments and there's nothing we can do about it. Great, huh? Remus was right... you can't pretend problems don't exist just because Dumbledore's there... Remus... he's somewhere in the Dark Forest now, howling at the wind, being some uncontrollable creature that can kill you in seconds...
"And I must say," Dumbledore continues, "that werewolves are viewed with such contempt, that his word would as valuable as yours. Also, the fact that he was Sirius's old friend-"
"But, sir (A/N: we have a war to fight, let's move along... yeah... I'm a nerd...)-" says Harry.
"Harry, it's too late, alright?" replies Dumbledore, "You three have got to recognise that the story given by Professor Snape is, by far, more convincing that yours"
"He hates Sirius!" Hermione says, "And all because of some stupid joke when they were kids!"
I hadn't thought of that yet... what 'joke' that got Snape almost killed was that...?
"Sirius did not act like an innocent person. Attacking the Fat Lady, entering the Gryffindor Tower with a knife... without Pettigrew, dead or alive, we can't remit the sentence"
"So..." I say, "You believe in us?"
"Yes, of course. But I don't have the power to make all the others see the truth nor to rule over the Ministry of Magic"
Silence.
"What we need now..." Dumbledore breaks the silence. His blue eyes look mystically from me to Hermione to Harry over his half-moon spectacles, "is more time".
--
A/N: helloooo my nifflerssss! hope everytinhg's alright and hope y'all liked this chapter!!
anyways, i gotta go, but yeah...
luv y'all
~luna loveniffler 💙
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The Daughter of the Murderer - BOOK 1 - *COMPLETED*
FanfictionJupiter Black is the daughter of the infamous murderer Sirius Black. Her mother, Marlene McKinnon, died when Jupiter was just a baby and her father is locked up in Azkaban for a crime he did not commit. The only family she has now is Remus Lupin, wh...
