Sirius met with Crookshanks every few weeks or so, and it almost never ended up being useful. It usually just made Crookshanks disappointed in himself, Sirius mad with a shakily hidden rage, and Olivia more on edge than ever.
That was until June 6th.
Well, anything to note? Sirius had asked. The two pets had met near the lake, which Sirius chose so he could have time to calm down after the disappointment eventually turned to rage.
I am sorry to report that the rat is still missing. How is bird friend? Crookshanks hadn't talked to Olivia in what felt like forever, but Sirius had explained Olivia's injury.
Recovering. She wanted to come along, but I managed to talk her out of it. The convincing was actually why they were meeting so late—they usually met during dinner, which had ended about twenty minutes ago.
Best wishes to bird friend. I- The cat's ears perked up, and in a flash, the giant ginger grimalkin was prowling forward, with Sirius unsure whether to follow or not.
What is it?? Sirius called out again, trying to track Crookshanks through the foliage. The cat was too determined to find the squeaking it had heard to respond.
Sirius didn't hear the squeaking until Crookshanks had herded the rodent closer to the tree. He recognised the tone as it became louder, and he recognised the figure as it sprinted toward him.
Sirius had finally caught the traitor. Sirius could be rid of him. Sirius could avenge the death of his best friends. Sirius could finally sleep at night.
The rage that consumed the wanted innocent was something that no words can describe. It was the feeling of righting the wrong, it was the feeling of slaying a crowned serpent, and it was the feeling of retiring a ghost. It was a fuel that cannot be replicated.
He didn't waste a second before bounding towards and pouncing on the people that stood in his way. He didn't even notice who it was he had pounced on, it was as if he could only see his target. His calculations on the pounce weren't perfect, however, and skidded a bit too far.
The lump in the boy's pocket squealed in terror as the boy stood hastily. Sirius didn't risk the pounce on the tall ginger, instead opting to chomp down on the arm that tried to bat him away. The boy crumpled easily from both the force and the shock.
Sirius latched on to the arm tightly enough to drag the boy, for he knew it was the easiest way to extract Pettigrew from the safety of the others. The dog felt a hand grab at him, and heard the thump the Whomping Willow bestowed on its owner. He would've smirked at the tree's loyalty, but his tunnel vision allowed him to focus on no such thing.
He quickly saw that the only hope he had of losing anyone after him was it go into the shrieking shack, and so he dragged the boy by the arm through the tunnel entrance. A light was produced at some point, but Sirius didn't look up to see who or what was its source. He was focused on getting the gangly and flailing boy through the tight entrance, which proved to be quite the struggle. Sirius just kept pulling and pulling until he heard a crack and, with no concern in his mind, pulled the now injured boy behind him.
Dog! May I be of assistance? Sirius only faintly heard Crookshanks as he hurried down the tunnel.
The traitor will be killed tonight. Sirius responded—less to Crookshanks, more to himself— as he made it into the downstairs of the shrieking shack. He didn't stop to check and see if the cat was following him- he frankly didn't care. He was focused on getting the boy up to his room, where he could get to the stolen wands, reveal Peter, and kill him where he stood.
When he placed the boy down in his room and had transformed back, he had the sudden reminder that there was someone else in the shack- Olivia.
"Sirius? What's going on?" Olivia called from her room. She made a move to stand, wincing as she placed her injured foot on the ground.
Sirius spun in place and grabbed the wand from his bedside table. He pointed the instrument at Olivia door and cast a sharp, "Colloportus!"
Olivia rushed to her door as soon as she saw if slam shut, "Sirius? What's going on? Sirius!" She yanked on the door knob to no use, for he had locked it.
"Y-y-you're h-him." The boy stuttered as he tried to crawl away. Sirius's mind began to come back to him in pieces as he recognised the boy from the picture in the newspaper and the stories Olivia had told- this was Ronald Weasley, best friend of his godson.
Speaking of godson, Sirius managed to hear footsteps creak down the hallway over Olivia's panic, and hastily hid in the shadows. He was silently glad that Olivia's room was farther down the hall- the locking spell could be easily undone with a wand in hand.
Harry and the girl—presumably Hermione—rushed towards the injured boy.
"Ron — are you okay?" Hermione had asked.
"Where's the dog?" Harry said next.
Ron moaned from where he lay, "Not a dog," his teeth gritted together tightly as he held on to his backwards leg, "Harry, it's a trap —"
"What —" Harry cut him off.
"He's the dog . . . he's an Animagus. . . ." Ron breathed out as he locked terrified eyes with Sirius.
Sirius slammed the door shut as they spun to look at him. He grinned madly as they studied his ragged form—he was no longer in prisoner garb, but in that moment he knew he looked like the man who had gone mad in Azkaban. The look of terror and anger in their eyes didn't even phase him as he held both the stolen wand and Ron's, which he had stolen before he had hidden, and aimed the stolen one at them.
"Expelliarmus!" Sirius cast, feeling oddly giddy from all the adrenaline. He caught the teens' wands with ease as he stepped closer.
"I thought you would come and help your friend," Sirius said slowly, his rage transferring into his energy infinitely, "Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you, not o run for a teacher. I'm very grateful, this will make everything much easier..."
Looking back on it, Sirius would admit that those words may not have been very well-chosen. Harry tried to charge at him with a look of almost equal rage in his eyes before the girl grabbed a hold of him.
"If you want to kill Harry,you'll have I kill us too!" Ron proclaimed as he struggled to stand on his broken leg. Sirius felt sympathy stab at his energy as he was reminded of Olivia, staggering
back into the shack in so much pain she could barely handle it.
"Lie down," Sirius instructed quietly as his rage faded for a moment, "You will damage that leg even more."
"Did you hear me? You'll have to kill all three of us!" Ron screamed, grasping on to Harry to stay upright as sweat from the effort poured from him.
The word kill, and the squirming of Ron's pocket, brought the deluded Sirius back to the surface. His sick grin returned, "There'll only be one murder here tonight,"
Harry was the next to speak, "Why's that? Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those Muggles to get at Pettigrew. . . What's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?"Harry's taunts fell on furious ears. Sirius couldn't believe the fact that Harry had been force fed such lies.
"Harry!" Hermione whispered from next to him, clearly in a panic, "Be quiet!"
"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD! AND MERLIN KNOWS WHAT HE'S DONE TO OLIVIA!" Harry roared with all his might. He didn't hear anyone's pleas—not Ron's, not Hermione's and especially not the close-range Olivia— as he rushed towards the demonic man in front of him.
Sirius's energy was no help to him as Harry caught him completely off-guard. Harry grabbed the hand holding the stolen wand and forced it down as he bashed on Sirius's head furiously. Sirius felt the other wand he was holding drop to the ground as he struggled to get Harry to stop.
In his furious and desperate rage, Sirius's free hand found Harry's throat, "No! I've waited too long—" he forced out, trying to use his burst of energy to get the boy off of him. His hand tightened around the boy's throat for only a moment before he felt a swift kick to the temple and a sudden weight on his wand hand— the other students had joined the fight.
Sirius felt slightly dizzy as he tried to fling the two off of him, his subconscious screaming at him to not hurt them. He wasn't even sure if Olivia would forgive him for breaking Ron's leg...
Harry let out something else Sirius didn't quite hear, before shouting "Get out of the way!" To his friends. Sirius was suddenly very aware of Harry's misguided anger as the boy approached him, wand in hand, and a look of murder.
Sirius tried to slow his hurried breathing as he pitifully whispered, "Going to kill me, Harry?"
The boy didn't stop walking until he was directly above Black. Sirius had a sudden feeling of déjà vu, only instead of James being furious with him over he and Lily's murder, now it was the son the Sirius had sworn to protect. Either way, it was just as horrifying as it was heartbreaking.
"You killed my parents," Harry breathed out shakily. His wand stayed steady, however, as he locked eyes with the supposed murderer.
The heartbreak that had stabbed Sirius penetrated even farther as he heard Harry say the words Sirius had spent twelve years agonising over. "I don't deny it, but Harry, you don't know the whole story."
"The whole story?!" Harry snapped at him, "You sold them out to Voldemort. That's all I need to know."
The heartbreak paved way for panic as the faint pounding of Olivia's door snapped him out of the rage completely. "Please, you've got to listen to me." He heard Olivia scream his name as everything caught up to him, "You'll regret if you don't. . . Please, you don't understand—"
" I understand a lot better than you think." Harry's voice shook harder than Olivia's pounding as he assumed a deadpan mask, "You never heard her, did you? My mum... trying to stop Voldemort killing me... and you did that... you did it,"
Crookshanks,—loyal, brave, Crookshanks— lept on to Sirius. He couldn't talk to him while Sirius was in his human form, but he quietly urged the cat off of him, not wanting the bystander hurt.
Harry stared down Sirius and Crookshanks. His grip tightened, looking fully prepared to murder them both. He raised his wand, and put his faith in vengance.
~~
Okay this chapter is SUPER LONG and this is only part one of the scene! Thank goodness for reference material...
Anyway, please leave feedback, and I hope you enjoyed!