Chapter Text
Monday, May 31st, 1993
Sirius smirked as he used the spoon to scrape ambrosia from the other boy’s chin. Percy Jackson was an anomaly to Sirius. Remus had been so excited when he saw the new demigod defeat the Minotaur. Sirius had been much less impressed since Percy Jackson had immediately passed out afterwards.
Remus was convinced this Percy Jackson was the answer to the gods’ anger. All Chiron had passed down to the demigods was that something had been stolen. The centaur refused to say exactly what had been stolen. Sirius had asked his dad, Thanatos - the god of death, several times in his prayers, but his dad was remaining abnormally tight-lipped about the situation. All he had been willing to share was if the stolen item wasn’t returned by the Summer Solstice, the gods would go to war.
Percy’s eyelashes fluttered. Sirius scraped another bit of ambrosia from his bottom lip. Percy’s eyes opened fully; they were green, but not like any eyes Sirius had seen before. Percy Jackson’s eyes looked just like the Atlantic Ocean in the calm before a storm.
“What will happen at the summer solstice?” Sirius asked. If he told Remus that Percy had been awake and he didn’t ask any questions, Remus would kick his ass. Or withhold all his chocolate.
“What?” Percy croaked.
Sirius glanced around the room, making sure a child of Apollo hadn’t snuck in. They were terrible gossips. If they saw him interrogating Percy, the news would get back to Chiron.
“What’s going on?” Sirius asked more urgently. “What was stolen? We’ve only got a few weeks!”
“I’m sorry,” Percy mumbled. He looked dazed and confused. “I don’t...”
Sirius shoved more ambrosia into Percy’s mouth as he heard the door open. There was the tell-tale clip! clop! of Chiron’s hooves as he ducked into the room. Percy’s eyes fluttered again, and he had barely swallowed before he was falling back asleep.
“Has he woken up?” Chiron asked, stepping up beside Sirius.
Sirius shook his head. “He opened his eyes and said a few words, but I’m not sure how awake he really was. He wasn’t really cognizant of what was going on.”
Chiron nodded sadly. “I’ll ask Lee to send over one of his siblings. They assure me Percy’s not concussed, but it would be nice for him to wake long enough to be able to tell for sure.”
Sirius fed the last spoonful of ambrosia to Percy. He swallowed it in an automatic reflex. Sirius put the bowl to the side. “I can go do that if you want to sit at Percy’s bedside for a while, Chiron. I was going to go find Remus soon anyway.”
Chiron smiled kindly at Sirius. “Thank you, Sirius. Yes, please do that.”
Setting the now empty bowl on the nightstand next to Percy’s bed, Sirius stood up. He said good-bye to Chiron and left to go find Lee Fletcher. He doubted it would be a pleasant conversation. The children of Apollo, the god of healing, tended to not like the son of the god of death. Sirius turned towards the craft building where he knew the Apollo cabin had a class. The sooner he got talking to Lee out of the way, the sooner he could go update Remus on the new demigod.
Wednesday, November 7th, 2001
Percy felt numb. It had been a week since Sirius was arrested. Nico and Will were arriving in the U.K. the next day. Mad-Eye, Remus, and Regulus were talking around him, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. He could only stare at the paper in front of him. At the signatures on it.
Bartemius Crouch
Albus Dumbledore
Barty Crouch and Albus Dumbledore had signed that piece of paper less than an hour after Sirius had been brought to a Ministry holding cell. It was a straight sentence to Azkaban. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Go straight to jail. Sirius had been left rotting in Azkaban for the past week, and Percy hadn’t even been able to visit him.
This time last week, Sirius and Percy had been lying in bed together, discussing their plans for after the war. They both wanted children. They had planned on adopting an orphaned demigod. A child like them that they could protect from all the hardships they had both faced in their youth. It had been a dream for after Voldemort had been defeated. Now, Voldemort was defeated, but, with Sirius gone, it was still just a dream.
Remus was shouting now, but Percy still couldn’t process what his best friend was saying.
Bartemius Crouch
Albus Dumbledore
The names swam in and out of his vision. Those power hungry men had decided his future. It was such an innocuous piece of paper, but it affected his life so cruelly. Sirius had been a constant in his life since he was twelve years old. When he had thought he was going to die at the end of the Titan War, he knew Sirius would be with him until the very end. When Hera had stolen all his memories, Sirius’ name and smiling face had been the only thing left behind. For every friend who passed on to the Underworld, Sirius was there to hold him through the grief. Who was going to hold him through the grief of losing Sirius?
It was worse because Sirius wasn’t even actually dead. No, Percy’s husband was rotting in a maximum security cell in Azkaban. So far, Mad-Eye was the only one who had been able to get in to talk to him. Even then, there were too many people with Mad-Eye for Sirius to tell him anything overly important.
There should have been a trial, but Sirius had been arrested before Minister Bagnold had announced the official end of the war. War time policy allowed the head of the DMLE and the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot were allowed to send anyone who was suspected of helping the opposing side directly to Azkaban without a trial. Policy dictated that a trial was to occur after the war, but there hadn’t been any talks of scheduling one for Sirius yet.
A hand shook Percy’s shoulder gently, shaking him out of his funk.
“Percy,” Regulus said softly. “We really need you to pay attention.”
Percy raised his eyes up from the newspaper to look at Regulus. His brother-in-law swam in and out of his focus, but he could hear what the others were saying now.
“Crouch is refusing to hear reason,” Mad-Eye grouched. “He’s supposed to give everyone who was arrested during the war a trial now that Bagnold has declared peacetime.”
“I saw in the Prophet that the trial for the Lestranges was scheduled for two weeks from now,” Remus said.
“Aurors caught them in the act!” Regulus retorted. “If he’s going to give them a trial, he damn well better give Sirius a trial. No one saw Sirius do anything. The aurors showed up after the fact, and even the muggles who were there are all giving conflicting stories.”
“Dumbledore is maintaining that Sirius was the secret keeper for the Potters,” Mad-Eye said. “He performed the charm, which means he would have to know.”1
“Peter was the secret keeper,” Percy said. He tried to focus his gaze on Mad-Eye, but his vision was so blurry. Tears were obscuring everything. “Dumbledore knows that!”
“He isn’t admitting to it,” Mad-Eye said. “One thing on our side is it wasn’t only the Lestranges who were arrested for attacking the Longbottoms.”
“What are you talking about?” Remus asked, sitting up in his chair. “Who else was there?”
“Crouch is trying to keep it hushed up, but enough of us aurors were there that he’ll have to at least bring it to trial,” Moody said. He smirked, but it looked more like a snarl with his scarred lip. “Crouch’s son, little Barty Jr. was caught along with the Lestranges. I saw him using the Cruciatus myself. There’s no way the kid will get out of Azkaban. Old Barty Sr.’s reputation is going to take a huge hit.”
“How does that help Sirius?” Percy asked.
“I’m trying to push a trial for him,” Mad-Eye said. “Right now Crouch is trying to convince me and everyone else that I only want to give Sirius a chance because he was my auror. I trained him and oversaw all his missions. Crouch is spreading around that I just don’t want to believe that I could have been wrong about one of my aurors. He’s spreading around that Sirius was always destined to be evil because he’s a Black.”
“That’s bullshit,” Regulus snarled, his perfectly calm mask finally breaking in rage. “Sirius always hated the traditional pureblood mania of the Blacks. He was the least likely person ever to side with the Dark Lord.”
“You can say Voldemort now,” Mad-Eye said. “They’ve finished running the tests and the Taboo’s been officially listed as having been lifted after Voldemort’s death. And you know that Sirius hated the pureblood shit. So do the rest of us in this room, but we all knew Sirius. The general public didn’t. The general public knows the Blacks as having sided with You-Know-Who. Even you, Regulus, were a Death Eater to the public, though everyone in this room knows you were a spy for the aurors the whole time. It’s very easy to throw Sirius in with the rest of the Blacks when you don’t know him.”
“You haven’t explained how Crouch’s son being a Death Eater helps us,” Remus said. He was leaning back into the couch he was sitting on, arms crossed over his chest. Normally, Regulus would be leaning into him, curled up against Remus’ broader chest. Instead, Regulus was pacing behind Remus’ couch. Both men were too wired right now for their normal snuggling.
“The public will lose faith with Crouch once it gets out his son’s a Death Eater. As it is, the aurors are all eyeing him with suspicion. They all figure the junior must have gotten his leanings from his father. The Minister is up for election now that the war has been declared over. People were largely dissatisfied with the way Bagnold ran the Ministry. She won’t be re-elected. Whoever the new minister is will want to shake up the heads of the departments. Crouch will most likely be ousted from his position as the Head of the DMLE by the end of the year.”
“You think you’ll be able to convince the new head to give Sirius a trial?” Remus asked.
“Hopefully it’ll either be someone incredibly honest, or easy to bribe,” Mad-Eye replied.
“Dumbledore will still be Chief Warlock,” Percy said softly. He was staring at the paper again. Dumbledore’s name bounced around the page. “He won’t give Sirius a trial.”
“You don’t know that,” Remus said.
Percy glared at him. “Dumbledore performed the Fidelius. He knows Sirius isn’t the secret keeper. He’s still going around telling people that Sirius is. If he wanted Sirius free, he’d be telling everyone that Peter was the secret keeper.”
Remus winced. “Is there a way to force Dumbledore into granting Sirius a trial?”
Mad-Eye frowned. “The public is exceptionally against Sirius right now. James and Lily are being hailed as heroes, and everyone is spreading around that Sirius is the reason they’re dead. To be honest, the public couldn’t care less about giving him a trial. I’ve heard a couple people talking about just straight up giving him the Kiss.”
“Not like that matters,” Percy said. “Dementors can’t affect Sirius. Death magic can’t be used against a child of Death.”2
“Be that as it may,” Mad-Eye continued, “the public doesn’t know that. And they are worshiping the ground Dumbledore walks on right now. The only way to convince him to give Sirius a trial if he clearly doesn’t want to is to threaten the public’s opinion of him, and we don’t have anywhere near enough dirt on him for that.”
“So Sirius is just going to rot in Azkaban?” Percy demanded. The numbness was still there, but it was starting to be overridden. Anger was building up in his veins. Absolute rage.
“I’ll continue doing what I can, laddie,” Mad-Eye promised. “Sirius’ best bet right now is finding Peter Pettigrew. The entire world and their mothers think that Sirius killed Pettigrew. Sirius assured me Pettigrew is still alive. If we can find Pettigrew, alive and well, that will cast a lot of doubt on why Sirius was arrested in the first place. It would probably be enough to get him a trial.”
Thursday, November 8th, 2001
Remus shivered and pulled his cloak closer. Every ounce of joy he had managed to scrape back after this past week of torture was dragged out of him by the dementors surrounding him. What he wouldn’t give to have Sirius’ powers right now, negating the effects of the dementors. Hades, even Regulus’ small death powers would be welcome right now, to at least mitigate the effects.
He followed Mad-Eye through the halls of the prison. Mad-Eye’s non-corporeal patronus offered a small amount of protection to them. Remus wished he could conjure his own wolf, but the guards had confiscated his wand at the entrance to the wizarding prison. Only on-duty aurors were allowed their wands.
The dementors were even more prevalent in the maximum security ward. Remus tried to hide his shiver at the cold they brought, but couldn’t quite manage it. There was a large difference in the age between prisoners. Some were nearly ancient, the very few hangers on who had followed Grindelwald. The rest were mostly younger, mainly Voldemort’s followers. There were very few prisoners who had been sentenced to the maximum security ward between the two Dark Wars, as the public had taken to calling them. Very few crimes that necessitated this kind of imprisonment were committed outside of wartime.
Mad-Eye stepped back to give the air of privacy when they reached Sirius’ cell. Across from Sirius sat Bellatrix. That must be torture for Sirius, having to see his sadistic cousin who tortured him as a child so close to him.
“Remus,” Sirius whispered hoarsely. He rose on shaky legs and crossed to the bars of his cell. He gripped the bars tightly, but Remus could still see his fingers shaking. The nerve damage from his parents’ torture had been mostly healed, but the dementors’ effects were exasperating the remaining symptoms. “You came?”
“Of course I did,” Remus said, grabbing the other side of the bars. “Percy wanted to come too, but we haven’t found a way to get him in yet without outing his status to Dumbledore.”
Sirius’ eyes went wide and panicked. “Don’t trust Dumbledore,” he hissed. “He knows everything, but he’s still keeping me here. I think he’s been manipulating things since the beginning.”
“We’re not trusting him,” Remus assured his friend. He moved his hands to grab Sirius’, offering his friend some human comfort in this inhumane place. “Mad-Eye has told us all he knows. We know Dumbledore has been blocking your trial. He’s sealed James and Lily’s wills too!”
Sirius squeezed his eyes shut. “He’s power hungry. With me in here he has power over Harry. Even here, I’ve heard them talking. They’re calling him the Boy-Who-Lived. Dumbledore wants to groom him to be the perfect hero, and he can’t have us interfering in his plans, whatever they are.”
“I got that feeling when I talked to him earlier this week,” Remus confessed.
“How is Percy doing?” Sirius asked quietly. “Is he okay?”
“Not really,” Remus admitted with a sigh. “He goes from absolutely despondent and not responding to us to raging mad. There’s no in between. He blames himself for not going with you to find Peter.”
“Tell him I love him, and that I’m glad he wasn’t with me,” Sirius said. “He would have just been thrown in prison with me, and he doesn’t have the protections I do.”
“I’ll tell him,” Remus promised. “But I don’t think it’ll make him feel better. He wants you out of here. Why can’t you just shadow travel out. You may have to be on the run for awhile, but at least you’d be free”
Sirius shook his head. “I can’t. I’m too weak. Even if I could, I wouldn’t. If I break out, protection on Harry will go into overdrive. The whole wizarding world will be convinced I’m after him. On top of that, if Peter catches wind that I’m loose, he’ll go on the lamb. It’ll be easier for you to find him if he thinks I’m completely stuck here. You need to focus on finding Harry and Peter.. I’ll be fine. The dementors don’t really affect me anyway. There’s something else as well.”
“What is it?” Remus asked, leaning closer.
Sirius pressed his face to the bars of his cell. “There’s a seventh horcrux,” he whispered, voice soft enough even Remus’ werewolf ears could barely hear it. “I focused in on You-Know-Who’s soul after I got here, and I felt it.”
Remus reared back in horror. “How are we supposed to find them without you?” he demanded.
“I don’t know. Reggie can sense them when he’s within a few meters of them, but he can’t track them the way I can. I think you’ll have to research possible artifacts it could be in. Old Voldie seems to be fond of using historical artifacts.”
Remus nodded. “I’ll let the others know. Is there anything else we need to know?”
“Just that I love you all,” Sirius said. “Even you Mad-Eye!” he called out, glancing around Remus to glance at Mad-Eye standing against the opposite wall. Mad-Eye smirked at him. “Be safe, Remus,” Sirius said, face uncharacteristically serious. “Tell the others to be as well.”
“I will,” Remus promised, squeezing Sirius’ hands over the bar. “We love you too. Especially Percy.”
Sirius smiled sadly.