APPERATING TO THE BURROW definitely wasn't the greatest part of Sirius' escape plan. The ground where the three of them landed was soft, and practically every footstep they took pooled with water and the mud stuck to their feet. However, the Burrow was the first and really the only option Sirius could come up with. Without saying it in front of the death eaters that Lydia called Maude Marth, giving up where they were going would defeat the entire purpose of even going there to find Lydia.
"Could have been worse." Sirius stated as Leo walked with Lydia through the mud. However she was more than irritated, not for being out of the manor, but the fact that it was Sirius Black who had been arguably the biggest reason all three of them had made it out.
"Are you going to explain him?" Lydia questioned Leo, "Seem's you had quite the secret to keep."
Leo sighed, "Like I said, long story..." he sighed, "besides that, maybe after Molly works some magic on you. You look like you've been through hell and back a few times."
"Feels like it too..." Lydia replied as Sirius hurried ahead of the two of them to begin knocking on the Weasley's door. "But you trust him?" she added, quietly in hopes that Sirius wouldn't hear her.
"Yeah, I do."
As Leo spoke, Sirius stood impatiently outside of the Burrow. Leo was relieved, it hadn't entirely sunk in what had happened or who had been only moment's away from arriving. Voldemort himself, in whatever state he was in, had only been moments away. But in a odd way, Voldemort still seemed like a nightmare, not something that was real. Despite knowing that he was trying to return, despite being hushed by the Ministry about it...it seemed almost like something that would just pass over. He could barely remember what was really going on last time Voldemort was in power. He had been eleven when the Potter's died. He hadn't been old enough to really understand the gravity of it all. But Sirius, he hadn't said much of anything besides reminding them it could have been worse. And he hadn't just been talking about the landing, but what happened at Riddle Manor. It could have been worse. If Voldemort had gotten there before they left, things could have gone differently. Sirius had seen first hand what Voldemort and his followers were capable of when they were fighting for Voldemort himself and not just his mission.
Before Leo and Lydia could make it all the way to where Sirius stood, impatiently waiting for someone from inside to open the door— the door flew open. And instead of Arthur or Molly Weasley standing on the other side, ready to invite Sirius inside. Mona stood there instead, her wand already drawn and pressed against Sirius' chest.
"Mona! Mona, wait!" Leo exclaimed loudly, lifting Lydia's arm over his head so she was using his shoulders to stay on her feet. He glanced at Lydia momentarily, making sure she was steady enough on her own before hurrying the rest of the way to the door.
"Leo!? What are you doing with...with him! I thought-"
"It's complicated," Sirius replied from behind Leo once he forced himself between his cousin and Mona.
"We can explain all of this, Mona. We can," Leo assured her, "just let us in."
"No!"Mona replied sharply, "He's a murderer-"
"What's going on?"
Molly Weasley appeared in the Burrow, just at the bottom of the stairs, and behind Mona. Her eyes quickly landed on Leo, and then Sirius who was just a step behind him. At first, there was confusion, and then fear, and then what looked like disappointment.
"Mona, dear," Molly said, walking up behind Mona who had yet to lower her wand. Even after Leo stepped between her and Sirius. "it's alright."
"Molly!" Mona snapped back, "That's Sirius Black!"
"I know, dear." she said, putting a hand on her shoulder and practically pulling her further into the house so she could get a better look at the two men outside the Burrow. But when here eyes landed on Lydia, her eyes became so wide that it looked like they would pop right out of her skull. "Mona, go wake Arthur." she ordered simply.
Mona reluctantly turned and went to do as Molly told her. Leo wanted to explain everything right then, right there. He had never seen actual anger on her face, her eyes never had so much rage. At least not that he had ever seen.
"Get her inside, quickly," Molly said, motioning to Lydia and snapping Leo out of his thoughts.
Leo went back to Lydia, who had stood still in one place. Probably not trusting her own legs to let her walk far on her own. So Leo helped her make it the rest of the into the Burrow, and Molly stood in the living room and was moving a few pillows off of the couch so Lydia could lay down flat.
"Sirius, what happened?" Molly questioned, Sirius who was still by the door.
"Leo didn't know anything about the dark mark over Corner's flat." Sirius replied.
"You didn't?" Lydia questioned, after overhearing Sirius once she was on the couch.
Leo shook his head.
"The auror's office didn't know?"
"I think they thought it was me...or my mom," he said simply, "what happened?"
Before Lydia could even begin to say anything else, Arthur Weasley appeared at the foot of the stairs. A old looking robe covered in mismatched patches on over his pajama's and Mona standing right behind him.
"Mona, could you tend to Corner?" Arthur questioned, looking over his shoulder at Mona. "Leo, could you join us in the kitchen?"
Leo glanced at Lydia but then rose to his feet and made his way towards the kitchen, Mona brushed past him without even a glance. Leo watched as Mona took a seat beside Lydia where Leo had been for a moment before following Arthur the rest of the way into the kitchen.
"I'm sorry, Molly," Sirius was saying to a beyond upset Molly already in the kitchen. "this was the first place I thought to go. They'd check Grimmauld, Leo's, and Lydia's, they wouldn't think to check here."
"Are you sure of that?" Arthur questioned, stepping beside Molly and peering out their kitchen window. "What makes you so sure of that? Sirius, things are different now. People don't want to believe that you know who is building up his forces again. You can't just go off on your own mission and say it's for the order this time around. You can't be so reckless-"
"This wasn't his idea," Leo chimed in, "when he told me about the dark mark above Lydias...something didn't seem right...she would have told me about it, she wouldn't have helped me lose my job." Leo tried to explain.
"And now we need to explain not only that Sirius Black isn't the murderer everyone believes he is, but will have to explain that the Order has been helping hide him, to Mona." Molly added, "Leo, we made it clear we didn't want her to have any part in any of this. Not yet."
"Where else were we supposed to go, Molly?" Sirius questioned, his voice becoming a bit louder than he had probably intended. "The Ministry doesn't even want to acknowledge that Voldemort's back, we couldn't just show up to the Ministry with Lydia and me." he added, dramatically putting his hand to his chest. "They'd write off what happened to Lydia as my doing and have me back in Azkaban before the sun's up. I couldn't risk that. I can't go back to Azkaban. I'm sorry, but it was that or showing up here."
"They wouldn't send you back to Azkaban, you could explain yourself. The order could tell them about Pettigrew." Leo said, earning a scoff from Sirius.
"They wanted to bury your first report about Voldemort a few months ago, you think they'd be willing to write off what happened? That a death eater has been impostoring your partner for the last two days?"
"What did they say while you were there?" Arthur questioned.
"That Voldemort was on his way," Sirius replied sharply, "so we didn't exactly have a lot of time to think of a plan." he stated.
Leo cleared his throat, "Lydia said something to Marth..." he paused, "something about Voldemort not wanting me in bad shape."
"You?" Molly questioned, "What would you know who want with you?"
Leo shrugged, "No idea, we didn't get to get all the details from Lydia before we had to leave." he said, a bit of sarcasm in his voice.
Before they could join Mona and Lydia in the living room, Arthur and Molly thought it would be best that they not try to get too much information from Lydia until Kingsley Shacklebolt could hear it first. But Leo, Sirius, and Lydia were welcomed to stay at the Burrow until they figured out what was next. Because as frustrated as Molly was with Sirius' last minute plan to go to the burrow, she knew Sirius was right. Grimmauld place was the famous Black family home that they'd check once they knew Sirius had been there. They'd go back to Lydia's as soon as she was gone. And if Voldemort wanted to get his hands on Leo, and he had gotten away, nothing would keep him from sending someone to check out his own apartment. For once Leo actually found himself relieved that he wasn't working, if they could have been pretending to be Lydia, what was stopping them from pretending to be anyone there...
"So how'd you manage to get our wands back?" Leo questioned Sirius as they all took a seat as Mona finished patching up Lydia.
"Gibbon wasn't looking for a dog," Sirius replied, smirking a little bit. "next time we see him he might have a hell of a limp."
"So what's the long story?" Lydia questioned while Mona worked on a gash that was on her hand. "Why didn't you ever tell me that you were hiding Black?"
"Wouldn't have been a good look if people knew I was." Leo replied, and although her back was to him, he could hear Mona scoff in response. "Sirius didn't kill those muggles, and he wasn't the Potter's secret keeper." Leo stated, looking directly at the back of Mona's head as if he was trying to explain it to her instead of Lydia.
"Pettigrew did all of that, and then let me take all of the blame for it." Sirius said simply, "Once a rat always a rat...literally."
"Isn't he dead? Pettigrew?" Lydia questioned.
"We thought he was." Arthur said as Molly carried in a tray with cups already filled with steaming liquid, and the smell of tea surrounding them. A smell that Leo wasn't exactly fond of. "Turns out, he was our family pet for years. Last year when Sirius escaped Azkaban he went looking for him. Found him at Hogwarts."
"Nearly took our sons leg off too." Molly stated, giving Sirius a disapproving glance.
"I was going for Pettigrew." Sirius said defensively.
"So you've just been hiding ever since? Not even trying to clear your name?" Mona questioned, looking away from Lydia, and at Sirius. Her voice made it obvious that she still wasn't completely convinced.
"If they aren't willing to admit that you know who might be getting closer to returning, I doubt they'd be willing to admit that they were wrong over a decade ago."
AUTHORS NOTE:
Thanks y'all for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Be sure to tell me what you think! Alsooo I've started working on Burn the Witch again and if you guys could go show that story some love and support too that would be very much appreciated 🥺
Stay classy!
*unedited*