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MCGONAGALL HAD DRAGGED Athena down into Hogsmeade saying that she needed to get out of her office. The woman wasn't wrong, Athena barely left that room these days.
The only fresh air that she got was when she delivered Sirius and Theodore food every morning. She often spent too long sitting in the shack however she couldn't help it. She felt weird having company that she actually enjoyed.
McGonagall and Athena were nearing the three broomsticks when they saw three people outside who seemed very peculiar company of one another.
Professor Flitwick was stood next to Hagrid and the minister for magic, Cornelius Fudge.
Fudge's face broke into a smile when he saw the two woman approaching.
"Minerva! Athena!" He beamed, "lovely to see you both, do you care to join us for a drink... I was checking up on the dementors (nasty business) think I deserve a pick me up"
"Oh I quite agree minister" McGonagall nodded. Athena wondered whether she could chance an escape however McGonagall took her arm and dragged her inside the three broomsticks.
"I'll order, shall I?" Said Flitwick. They read off their drinks to the small man and moved to find a booth. Despite it only being late November, there were already large Christmas trees decorating the place. They took a table next to a rather large tree and Athena was glad to sit down once again.
A second later, a beautiful blonde barmaid came walking over to the table holding a tray of drinks. Madame Rosmerta smiled at the group as she started to lift the glasses off the trays.
"A small gillywater --"
"Mine," said Professor McGonagall.
"Four pints of mulled mead --"
"Ta, Rosmerta," said Hagrid.
"A cherry syrup and soda with ice and umbrella --"
"Mmm!" said Professor Flitwick, smacking his lips.
"A vodka cola?"
"That's mine" Athena smiled as she slid the drink towards herself
"So you'll be the red currant rum, Minister."
"Thank you, Rosmerta, m'dear," said Fudge. "Lovely to see you again, I must say. Have one yourself, won't you? Come and join us..."
"Well, thank you very much, Minister."
Rosmerta walked away in her glittering heels and returned moments later with her own drink clutched in hand.
"So, what brings you to this neck of the woods, Minister?" came Madam Rosmerta's voice.
"What else, m'dear, but Sirius Black? I daresay you heard what happened up at the school at Halloween?"
"I did hear a rumor," admitted Madam Rosmerta.
"Did you tell the whole pub, Hagrid?" said Professor McGonagall exasperatedly.
"Do you think Black's still in the area, Minister?" whispered Madam Rosmerta.
"I'm sure of it," said Fudge shortly.
Athena sipped her drink awkwardly without saying a word as she gazed out of the window. Of all days she could choose to visit Hogsmeade she had picked this one.
"You know that the Dementors have searched the whole village twice?" said Madam Rosmerta, a slight edge to her voice. "Scared all my customers away...It's very bad for business, Minister."
"Rosmerta, dear, I don't like them any more than you do," replied Fudge uncomfortably. "Necessary precaution... unfortunate, but there you are... I've just met some of them. They're in a fury against Dumbledore -- he won't let them inside the castle grounds."
"I should think not," said Professor McGonagall sharply. "How are we supposed to teach with those horrors floating around?"
"Hear, hear!" squeaked tiny Professor Flitwick, whose feet were dangling a foot from the ground.
"If there in the castle then I certainly wouldn't be" Athena agreed in a harsh tone.
"All the same," demurred Fudge, "they are here to protect you all from something much worse...We all know what Black's capable of..."
Athena tensed you once more. She had to bite her tongue to stop herself from blurting out something stupid. Sirius wasn't capable of anything at all except maybe annoying people to death.
"Do you know, I still have trouble believing it," said Madam Rosmerta thoughtfully. "Of all the people to go over to the Dark Side, Sirius Black was the last I'd have thought...I mean, I remember him when he was a boy at Hogwarts. If you'd told me then what he was going to become, I'd have said you'd had too much mead."
"You don't know the half of it, Rosmerta," said Fudge gruffly. "The worst he did isn't widely known."
"The worst?" said Madam Rosmerta, her voice alive with curiosity. "Worse than murdering all those poor people, you mean?"
"I certainly do," said Fudge.
"I can't believe that. What could possibly be worse?"
"You say you remember him at Hogwarts, Rosmerta," murmured Professor McGonagall. "Do you remember who his best friend was?"
"Naturally," said Madam Rosmerta, with a small laugh. "Never saw one without the other, did you? The number of times I had them in here -- ooh, they used to make me laugh. Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter!"
"Precisely," said Professor McGonagall. "Black and Potter. Ringleaders of their little gang. Both very bright, of course -- exceptionally bright, in fact -- but I don't think we've ever had such a pair of troublemakers --"
"You were friends with them weren't you Athena!" Hagrid beamed,
"Ooh yes you were quite close as I recall"
"Very close" McGonagall corrected, "always hanging around with them"
"Two of my closest friends" Athena nodded uncomfortably,
"It must have been terrible for you"
"I remember you and Black being especially close" McGonagall continued and Athena wished she would stop talking.
"Yes well... we... were best friends I suppose" Athena recalled sadly, "but yes you're right... biggest pair of trouble makers"
"I dunno," chuckled Hagrid. "Fred and George Weasley could give 'em a run fer their money."
"You'd have thought Black and Potter were brothers!" chimed in Professor Flitwick. "Inseparable!"
"Of course they were," said Fudge. "Potter trusted Black beyond all his other friends. Nothing changed when they left school. Black was best man when James married Lily. Then they named him godfather to Harry. Harry has no idea, of course. You can imagine how the idea would torment him."
"Because Black turned out to be in league with You-Know-Who?" whispered Madam Rosmerta.
"Worse even than that, m'dear..." Fudge dropped his voice and proceeded in a sort of low rumble. "Not many people are aware that the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore, who was of course working tirelessly against You-Know-Who, had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off, and he alerted James and Lily at once. He advised them to go into hiding. Well, of course, You-Know-Who wasn't an easy person to hide from. Dumbledore told them that their best chance was the Fidelius Charm."
"How does that work?" said Madam Rosmerta, breathless with interest. Professor Flitwick cleared his throat.
"An immensely complex spell," he said squeakily, "involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret-Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find -- unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it. As long as the Secret-Keeper refused to speak, You-Know-Who could search the village where Lily and James were staying for years and never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed against their sitting room window!"
Athena sat stiff like a statue at these memories. She hated talking about the war more than she hated talking about anything. The memory of the fear that was felt by all. The knowledge that she was going to lose two of her closest friends.
"So Black was the Potters' Secret-Keeper?" whispered Madam Rosmerta.
"Naturally," said Professor McGonagall. "James Potter told Dumbledore that Black would die rather than tell where they were, that Black was planning to go into hiding himself...and yet, Dumbledore remained worried. I remember him offering to be the Potters' Secret-Keeper himself."
Athena scoffed at this lie. Dumbledore did nothing of the sort. He placed their protection under the one person he knew would actually betray them, no one noticed Athena's indignation as they continued talking.
"He suspected Black?" gasped Madam Rosmerta.
"He was sure that somebody close to the Potters had been keeping You-Know-Who informed of their movements," said Professor McGonagall darkly. "Indeed, he had suspected for some time that someone on our side had turned traitor and was passing a lot of information to You-Know-Who."
"But James Potter insisted on using Black?"
"He did," said Fudge heavily. "And then, barely a week after the Fidelius Charm had been performed --"
"Black betrayed them?" breathed Madam Rosmerta.
"He did indeed. Black was tired of his double-agent role, he was ready to declare his support openly for You-Know-Who, and he seems to have planned this for the moment of the Potters' death. But, as we all know, You-Know-Who met his downfall in little Harry Potter. Powers gone, horribly weakened, he fled. And this left Black in a very nasty position indeed. His master had fallen at the very moment when he, Black, had shown his true colors as a traitor. He had no choice but to run for it --"
"Filthy, stinkin' turncoat!" Hagrid said, so loudly that half the bar went quiet.
"Shh!" said Professor McGonagall.
"I met him!" growled Hagrid. "I musta bin the last ter see him before he killed all them people, except for Athena of course! It was me what rescued Harry from Lily an' James's house after they was killed! Jus' got him outta the ruins, poor little thing, with a great slash across his forehead, an' his parents dead...an' Sirius Black turns up, on that flyin' motorbike he used ter ride. Never occurred ter me what he was doin' there. I didn' know he'd bin Lily an' James's Secret-Keeper. Thought he'd jus' heard the news o' You-Know-Who's attack an' come ter see what he could do. White an' shakin', he was. An' yeh know what I did? I COMFORTED THE MURDERIN' TRAITOR!" Hagrid roared.
"Hagrid, please!" said Professor McGonagall. "Keep your voice down!"
"How was I ter know he wasn' upset abou' Lily an' James? It was You-Know-Who he cared abou'! An' then he says, "Give Harry ter me, Hagrid, I'm his godfather, I'll look after him --" Ha! But I'd had me orders from Dumbledore, an' I told Black no, Dumbledore said Harry was ter go ter his aunt an' uncle's. Black argued, but in the end he gave in. Told me ter take his motorbike ter get Harry there. "I won't need it anymore," he says.
"I shoulda known there was somethin' fishy goin' on then. He loved that motorbike, what was he givin' it ter me for? Why wouldn' he need it anymore? Fact was, it was too easy ter trace. Dumbledore knew he'd bin the Potters' Secret-Keeper. Black knew he was goin' ter have ter run fer it that night, knew it was a matter o' hours before the Ministry was after him".
"But what if I'd given Harry to him, eh? I bet he'd've pitched him off the bike halfway out ter sea. His bes' friends' son! But when a wizard goes over ter the Dark Side, there's nothin' and no one that matters to em anymore..."
"Yer were there Athena! Found them after Black"
"You were there the night Lily and James—"
"Yeah" Athena murmured, "yeah I got there after Sirius... thought something was off... sometimes wonder what would have happened if I'd gotten there sooner"
Athena was lost in her own thoughts knowing that nothing she could have done would have changed anything at all. Yet her mind still run wild with possibilities.
"You mustn't do that to yourself dear" Fudge smiled sympathetically,
"Did you suspect him? Black" Asked Rosmerta,
"No I didn't" Athena shook her head, "there was so much panic at the time... so much confusion"
"But he didn't manage to disappear, did he? The Ministry of Magic caught up with him!"
"Alas, if only we had," said Fudge bitterly. "It was not we who found him. It was little Peter Pettigrew -- another of the Potters' friends. Maddened by grief, no doubt, and knowing that Black had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper, he went after Black himself."
Athena clenched her fists under the table in anger as she blinked back tears. Peter. The bastard. She would kill him if she had the chance. Technically she did have the chance however it wasn't as though Ron walked around the castle with his rat in hand.
"Pettigrew...that fat little boy who was always tagging around after them at Hogwarts?" said Madam Rosmerta.
"Hero-worshipped Black and Potter," said Professor McGonagall. "Never quite in their league, talent-wise. I was often rather sharp with him. You can imagine how I -- how I regret that now..." She sounded as though she had a sudden head cold.
"There, now, Minerva," said Fudge kindly, "Pettigrew died a hero's death. Eyewitnesses -- Muggles, of course, we wiped their memories later -- told us how Pettigrew cornered Black. They say he was sobbing, 'Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?' And then he went for his wand. Well, of course, Black was quicker. Blew Pettigrew to smithereens...."
Professor McGonagall blew her nose and said thickly, "Stupid boy...foolish boy...he was always hopeless at dueling...should have left it to the Ministry ..."
"I tell yeh, if I'd got ter Black before little Pettigrew did, I wouldn't've messed around with wands -- I'd 've ripped him limb -- from -- limb," Hagrid growled.
"You don't know what you're talking about, Hagrid," said Fudge sharply. "Nobody but trained Hit Wizards from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad would have stood a chance against Black once he was cornered. I was only just Minister at the time, and I was one of the first on the scene after Black murdered all those people. I -- I will never forget it. I still dream about it sometimes. A crater in the middle of the street, so deep it had cracked the sewer below. Bodies everywhere. Muggles screaming. And Black standing there laughing, with what was left of Pettigrew in front of him...a heap of bloodstained robes and a few -- a few fragments --"
Fudge's voice stopped abruptly.
"Well, there you have it, Rosmerta," said Fudge thickly. "Black was taken away by twenty members of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad and Pettigrew received the Order of Merlin, First Class, which I think was some comfort to his poor mother. Black's been in Azkaban ever since."
Athena could taste blood from biting her tongue so hard. She hated that everyone had it so wrong. Peter painted out to be the hero when he was the furthest thing from it. Nothing angered Athena quite like this.
Madam Rosmerta let out a long sigh.
"Is it true he's mad, Minister?"
"I wish I could say that he was," said Fudge slowly. "I certainly believe his master's defeat unhinged him for a while. The murder of Pettigrew and all those Muggles was the action of a cornered and desperate man -- cruel... pointless. Yet I met Black on my last inspection of Azkaban. You know, most of the prisoners in there sit muttering to themselves in the dark; there's no sense in them...but I was shocked at how normal Black seemed. He spoke quite rationally to me. It was unnerving. You'd have thought he was merely bored -- asked if I'd finished with my newspaper, cool as you please, said he missed doing the crossword. Yes, I was astounded at how little effect the Dementors seemed to be having on him -- and he was one of the most heavily guarded in the place, you know. Dementors outside his door day and night."
"But what do you think he's broken out to do?" said Madam Rosmerta. "Good gracious, Minister, he isn't trying to rejoin You-Know-Who, is he?"
"I daresay that is his -- er -- eventual plan," said Fudge evasively. "But we hope to catch Black long before that. I must say, You-Know-Who alone and friendless is one thing...but give him back his most devoted servant, and I shudder to think how quickly he'll rise again..."
"You know, Cornelius, if you're dining with the headmaster, we'd better head back up to the castle," said Professor McGonagall.
One by one, they got to their feet leaving their empty glasses behind. Athena wished she'd stayed in her office. She was more angry than ever now thinking about what had happened, remembering the war and everything that had gone wrong. Everything that she couldn't prevent.
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A/n
Words - 2783
Published - 9th May 2021