IN A MATTER OF SECONDS, Charlus was reduced to hysterics. Although if McGonagall was being perfectly honest with herself, she was not surprised by the reaction. Even she had put up her own protest when Dumbledore suggested that little Harry Potter be placed among the Dursley family. However, despite the evidence she provided that they were not suitable, Dumbledore claimed he had his reasoning as to why Harry needed to stay with his family. She was asked to place her faith and trust in her mentor, even if she did disagree.
But watching Charlus' body convulse violently as he sobbed at the mere idea of Harry being placed with the surviving relatives, was enough to make her wish she had gone back in time and stopped Dumbledore right then and there. Bathilda attempted to comfort him by reaching out and placing her hand on his back, but Charlus moved away from her touch. Instead, he met McGonagall's gaze and she couldn't help but noticed the look of betrayal of his eyes.
"Anyone who ever knew Lily knows what her sister was like. They knew what that side of the family was like. Who thought it would be a good idea to send Harry to live among them? Let me guess? Dumbledore. That's why he's not here. He must have known I was coming."
"Mr Potter," McGonagall said, making sure he was watching her as she spoke, " Dumbledore has his reasonings for sending Harry to live with the Dursleys."
"I don't care what his reasonings are!" he spat. "Petunia couldn't stand Lily. I doubt anything changed. If she resented her own sister, what do you think she makes of her nephew?"
"Who else would have taken him?"
Even though she didn't mean it in such a way, Charlus was suddenly overwhelmed with guilt. His absence had caused so much trouble for his family. If he had just fought back harder against the Death Eaters, he would have been there. Even if he couldn't prevent what happened to James and Lily, he would have been there for Harry and he would have been there for Sirius. But instead, while he was resting away in St Mungo's, they were suffering.
McGonagall had a point, who was to take Harry in when all of his options started running out? With Charlus out of the picture, surely Sirius would have taken it upon himself to raise Harry, and if he was unable, many probably would have believed Remus would do it. But Charlus knew that Remus would never trust him to raise a child. Despite being well enough for the majority of the month, it only took a full moon to throw everything into chaos.
It felt like it was all Charlus' fault.
Bathilda and McGonagall watched as Charlus fell to his knees, never had they seen him cry so much, even though they had watched him grow up for the most part. He was practically rocking back and forth on the ground when McGonagall asked Bathilda if she could have a moment alone with him. Bathilda obliged claiming she needed to find her way to Professor Binns' classroom anyway. She did rub her hand gently over Charlus' hair before entering the castle alone.
When the two were alone, McGonagall gathered her robes in hand and knelt down beside Charlus, bringing him to finally peer up at her.
"How did everything go so wrong, Professor?" he asked. "One night, I was reassuring James that everything was going to be okay. The next thing I know, I wake up and I'm six years too late. I failed them, all of them."
"You stop that kind of talk right now," McGonagall ordered him and Charlus watched as her hands moved in sync. It was clear that she still remembered some sign language from her time of teaching him. " I will not sit here and allow you to blame yourself for what happened."
"Harry is with the Dursleys, Sirius is in Azkaban....my brother is dead, along with Lily. Alice and Frank are in St Mungo's."
"You may not be able to right everything that has gone wrong, but this is not the time to accept defeat either."
Charlus' eyes dropped from her lips, looking to the ground once more before a question popped into his head.
"Do you believe Sirius is guilty?"
The question certainly managed to catch her off guard, which was never an easy task to do. But then again, there weren't many people that still questioned Sirius Black's conviction.
In the beginning, McGonagall didn't believe a word of it. Simply because she knew how much Sirius meant to the Potter family and how much the Potter family meant to Sirius. She had witnessed it over the years when the boys were all in Hogwarts. Whether it was James telling Sirius to move in with them when the Black family came to disown Sirius. Or whether it was Sirius getting into every fight when someone dared to insult Charlus behind his back. She would have never painted such an ending for all of them.
But with Peter Pettigrew dead and witnesses claiming they had seen Sirius go completely mad. McGonagall felt herself questioning if Sirius had just been overtaken by the darkness of the war. Enough that he betrayed his best friend, led to the near-death of Charlus, and actually killed Peter Pettigrew.
"I wish he wasn't," she answered, only to watch as Charlus shook his head.
"He isn't, Professor. I know he isn't. You know Sirius, you watched him grow up on these grounds. Why would he ever think to betray James and Lily?"
"The war brought out the worst in people-"
"And even at his worst, he would never hurt his family. He would rather hurt himself."
She didn't wish to argue with him, especially in his fragile state. McGonagall had to imagine that it was no easy task as Charlus was reintroduced to the wizarding world after such a long time. Not to mention, being reintroduced to such a foreign world where loved ones were dead, imprisoned, or no place good.
"Professor, please," he begged, " you need to help me. I just need someone who's going to listen to me. Sirius is innocent. I-I know it sounds mental and I know I wasn't there. But I was there before it all happened. I know of the switch."
McGonagall raised a brow at Charlus mentioning "the switch" and she had to admit, it piqued her interest. Enough that she stood up and motioned for Charlus to do the same. She was inviting him inside the castle into her office where they could speak in private.
Charlus could remember the numerous times he had found himself in McGonagall's office. Usually, it was with James, Remus, Peter, and Sirius at his side after they had been caught doing something stupid. There were so many instances where Charlus would refuse to partake in any of James' wild ideas, only to find himself involved just minutes later. And it normally ended with success or getting caught by McGonagall. And even with such memories, Charlus found comfort in her office.
She offered him a chair and even offered him a cup of tea, hoping it would settle his nerves. It was clear that he was on edge. Who wouldn't be in such a scenario?
"Mr Potter, I need you to tell me about this switch," McGonagall said as she sat down across him. "I'm sure Dumbledore would like to hear it as well-"
"I've been trying to contact Dumbledore since I woke up," Charlus told her, " he doesn't want to hear anything from me. But I'm telling you, Professor, Sirius is innocent. He wasn't the Secret-Keeper for James and Lily. The night I was attacked, they switched the Secret-Keeper to Peter."
McGonagall didn't say anything right away, her hands remained still in her lap as she stared at Charlus. He kept his gaze steady with hers, trying to reassure her that he knew what he was talking about.
"They were switching it in secret because they believed that Sirius was just too obvious besides me. They didn't choose me because well...I guess they still thought that I would be easily overpowered if it ever came down to it. But they wanted to go with someone that no one would expect. That's why they passed it onto Peter."
"Were you there for the switch personally?"
Charlus didn't need to hear the doubt in McGonagall's voice, he could see it on her face. The same look that Remus carried when he thought it was all too convenient that Charlus had been attacked the night of the switch.
"You don't believe me, do you? Is this how it was when Sirius tried to defend himself? No one bothered to listen to him-"
"Mr Potter," she said, " how would it hold up if you simply claimed that Sirius was innocent when you have no evidence? Be sensible! If you were not there to witness it with your own eyes, there is no telling what occurred that night. The Ministry has evidence in the murders of James and Lily Potter, they have evidence of who attacked Harry, and there were multiple witnesses that saw Sirius blow up Peter Pettigrew in the streets. The only thing that was left of him was his right index finger."
"That's it?"
McGonagall raised a brow at his question. "You were hoping for more carnage at the scene?"
"No, Professor, you said they only found his finger, that's it? Nothing else? No flesh or any other body part, just a random finger?"
"There was an explosion-"
"And only his finger survived it."
Charlus didn't know what conclusion he was drawing, but something didn't sound right about the description of the crime scene. But judging by the look McGonagall was giving him, she wasn't following his thought process. He didn't expect her to, after six years, there had been no other information added to the story. Sirius was found guilty and that was what she and Remus were led to believe. And maybe Sirius was, but Charlus couldn't bring himself to believe it, even if Sirius said it himself.
"When Dumbledore returns, I can relay the information you've given to me-"
"It won't matter," Charlus shook his head, " it's clear that he's avoiding me. He doesn't want anything to do with me. I'm just a lingering ghost from the war. At this point, I don't know why I even bothered waking up. I'm too late to save anyone or anything."
"That's not true," McGonagall said as she reached across and placed her hand on his, " there is a purpose to you waking up."
It grew quiet as McGonagall debated what to say next, but a firm squeeze of her hand brought Charlus to look up at her once more.
"Harry needs you. We both know what the Dursleys are like. He needs you now. That is why you're awake."
"The Dursleys of all people, why did Dumbledore choose them? How did they even agree to it?"
McGonagall didn't have the answer and she was sure it wouldn't make much sense even if she did have the answer. But thankfully, she didn't have to provide an answer when a knock came on her office door. She called for the person to enter, leaving Charlus to turn around in his chair.
A small smile appeared on his face when a red-headed boy entered. Although tall and thin, the youth appeared in his face, with freckles sprinkled across his nose and cheeks. Most of his face was taken up by large horn-rimmed glasses.
"Mr Weasley, how can I assist you?"
"Sorry for interrupting you, Professor," the boy said, " but Professor Snape is looking for you."
In such a short span of time, Charlus completely believed he lost his mind. He wasn't sure where to even start with all the new information he had to process. There was a Weasley in front of him, more than likely one of Molly Weasley's boys. And although Charlus wasn't familiar with lip-reading with him specifically, he was pretty fucking sure that the boy said "Professor Snape." How the hell did a Death Eater gain a teaching position?
And there was one more thing.
The rat on the Weasley boy's shoulder looked awfully familiar.