I stared at the scruffy man in front of me as he sat on my couch. He stared back.
"So… you're Sirius Black?" I inquired slowly, raising an eyebrow at the man who needed a sandwich, a shower, and a hug. And not necessarily in that order.
"Yup. And you're Erroneous' brat, huh?" the escaped convict replied, before snorting. "You certainly have his chin."
I rubbed my chiseled and very manly jawline. "That's me. I go by Edward Rose these days," I told him. "Pleased to meet you."
"Same," Sirius nodded. "I heard you were the one who caught the rat and concocted that crazy plan."
"That's right," I confirmed. "Uh, out of curiosity, where's Wiggles?"
"Wiggles is back at my place," Remus Lupin said. "He was cold and tired and we thought it was better to have him rest up somewhere warm and safe."
"That's good," I said, glad the bat had survived his mission. He'd been a real useful little cutie.
I had been surprised when, early on Christmas morning, Remus Lupin had come over. I'd been expecting him, since we'd made plans to have Christmas brunch together with Harry, but seven in the morning was a bit earlier than I'd expected.
When Inky had informed me that Remus had brought a black-furred dog along with him, I'd instantly known who it was that'd come with the werewolf. So, I'd grabbed a bathrobe and headed to the door, still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. And that was how Sirius Black and Remus Lupin ended up sitting on my couch.
"Where's Prongslet?" Sirius asked, looking around the apartment curiously.
"Harry? He's at a sleepover with a friend from Hogwarts," I replied. "He should be back around ten or so."
"I see," Sirius replied, slumping a bit.
"You've been rather quite so far, Remus," I said, glancing over at my head of security.
"It's been an interesting few hours," the other man admitted. "Not entirely sure it's all sunk in, yet."
"Ah. Understandable," I nodded sympathetically. "Want some coffee or tea?"
"That would be appreciated," the werewolf nodded, and a moment later Inky popped in with a tray that had a teapot and cups on it, leaving it on the coffee table for us to use.
"What now?" I asked. "I'm not opposed to letting Harry meet you both, in fact I think he needs to do so, but after that…"
As I trailed off, Remus nodded in understanding. "We'll go with your plan to pave the ground for Sirius' trial," he said, before shaking his head. "I still cannot believe they didn't give you one!"
"Blame Crouch for that," Sirius grumbled. "Bastard just wanted to streamline things, especially after his son went and embarrassed him by siding with the Death Eaters. I was supposed to have my trial after dear Bella's, but got tossed into Azkaban shortly after his son was sentenced and tried because of that mess."
'That reminds me, I need to do something about Barty Jr. soon,' I thought to myself while taking a sip of tea to help wake up.
With Pettigrew in my custody and Riddle's diary at Hogwarts, the only person I knew of who was free and willing to help the Dark Lord return would be Crouch's son. Letting him escape during the World Cup in two years' time would be stupid. But I'd need to be careful how I handled that as well, because if Sirius finally got his trial, it would put pressure and scrutiny on Crouch, which might cause his attention to slip, allowing Junior to escape that way.
The future was ever shifting, and I couldn't rely on things still going the way they had in the books. Already there were signs of my meddling causing ripples. Harry not venturing after the Philosopher's Stone was one such example.
"Remus said you had a plan for getting my name cleared?" Sirius inquired, dragging me back to the present, and I nodded.
"Yes. Harry is friends with Amelia Bones' niece. I hope that, through her, we can plant the seeds to make her realize you need a trial. As the head of the DMLA, Director Bones should want to see justice done properly. We just need to make sure she doesn't get too gung-ho about it and come after you. Speaking of, what are the odds they'll realize you're missing from Azkaban soon?"
"The guards are pretty lax this time of year. Food is delivered via magic, so they don't have to visit us personally, and only bother to check on us once or twice a week. The holidays are worse, as prisoners in the upper levels, where they keep the scum like my cousin Bella and myself, might not be checked on until after New Years," Sirius informed me, and I frowned.
"That's horrible, but at least it gives us a few days to freely plan," I muttered. "We need to think of a hiding place for you in the meantime."
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