D.R.A.R.R.Y Supremacy

19 - Harry's Biggest Mistake

"He's an animagus, Potter," Draco told Harry as they ran towards the Whomping Willow, where Draco had found Sirius Black. "One of the Death Eaters was friends with him, and he told everyone in the dark lord's circle that Black's an animagus. He can turn into a black dog, Father told me."

"Your father's a Death Eater?" Harry asked as they drew closer to the tree.

"Yeah. We need someone to prod something in that hole over there," Draco said, looking around for a stick. He picked one up from the ground and tossed it to Theodore Nott, the skinniest of them all. "You, Nott, you prod the knot."

Theodore prodded the knot. Draco told Daphne, Theodore, and Blaise to head back to the castle "for their safety" and went inside the Shrieking Shack with Harry.

Harry found Sirius stunned and tied up by invisible cords that Draco had conjured up.

A mass of filthy, matted hair hung to Sirius' elbows. If eyes hadn't been shining out of the deep, dark sockets, he might have been a corpse. The waxy skin was stretched so tightly over the bones of his face, it looked like a skull.

"So this is the fucker who betrayed my parents," Harry whispered, staring at Sirius with hatred burning in his chest. "This is the fucker who betrayed my father, his best friend."

Harry pointed his wand at Sirius's heart, his breaths growing ragged and heavy. "AVADA-"

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

Professor Lupin had arrived, his wand pointed at Harry's.

Harry's wand slipped out of his hand and flew into the air. Lupin caught it.

"Wait, what?" Draco exclaimed, staring at Lupin in disbelief. "Professor-"

"Enervate!" Lupin said while pointing his wand at Sirius, whose eyes opened at once and landed on Harry.

"What the fuck?" Harry breathed. "You? You're in league with Black?"

"The sickly beggar professor in shabby clothes is in league with Black?" Draco exclaimed in shock.

"Harry," Sirius croaked with an exhausted grin on his sunken face. "You look just like your father."

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK OF MY FATHER WHEN YOU-"

"ENOUGH!" Lupin interrupted Harry, grabbing him from the back to keep him from throwing himself onto Sirius. "Harry, listen to me, Sirius is not who you think he is! He did not betray your father, it was Peter Pettigrew who did!"

"CUT THE BULLSHIT!" Harry bellowed and elbowed Lupin's ribs as hard as he could, sending Lupin stumbling back with a pained groan.

Draco took Harry's wand from Lupin's hand and threw it to Harry, who caught it and pressed the tip to Sirius' heart.

Sirius emitted a hoarse laugh, the lines on his face more clearly etched as he smiled manically. "Going to kill me, Harry?"

"You killed my parents," Harry growled, his voice shaking slightly, but his wand hand quite steady.

Draco had tied Lupin up with invisible cords, but Lupin was still shouting from behind. "STOP! DON'T DO IT, HARRY! YOU'LL REGRET IT! HE'S NOT THE ENEMY HERE!"

"Harry," Sirius croaked, "I just want you to know-"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Harry bellowed, a jet of green light bursting from his wand.

"NO!" Lupin yelled as Sirius' lifeless body fell onto the floor with a loud thud. "SIRIUS! NO! HARRY, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

Lupin tried to wiggle free from the invisible cords but was stuck. Draco had his wand pointed at Lupin, tightening the cords with every second that passed.

"Should we kill him too?" Draco asked Harry.

"I think this one should be Crucio'd first," Harry drawled, taking slow steps towards Lupin, making sure to trod on Sirius' crotch.

"Harry, please," Lupin cried, but his wet eyes were on Sirius. "Please, Harry, you have to listen to me, I don't want you to live on having the wrong idea about your g-godfather. Just hear me out, I'll tell you the truth about S-Sirius, please."

Harry stared at Lupin for a moment, his jaw clenched. He looked back at his dead godfather, whose body lay sprawled on the wooden floorboards, then back at Lupin, who was sobbing while looking at Sirius.

"Draco," Harry said softly, "Get me Veritaserum."

Draco left and came back into the Shrieking Shack ten minutes later, gasping for air after running from the Whomping Willow to Professor Snape's cupboard and back to the Whomping Willow.

"Stupefy!" Draco yelled while pointing his wand at Lupin, who was still tied up by invisible chords that Draco had conjured.

Draco then forced the Veritaserum into Lupin's throat, then said, "Enervate!" with his wand pointed at Lupin.

"Tell me the truth about Sirius Black," Harry told Lupin. "Tell me the truth about my parents' death."

And so Lupin began to explain everything in a monotonous voice, about how Sirius was innocent, about how Peter Pettigrew betrayed James, about how Sirius was wrongfully accused and imprisoned, about how Sirius met the fate that he never deserved.

Lupin ended his exclamation in a still monotonous tone, "Sirius Black was Harry Potter's godfather. Sirius Black was innocent. Harry Potter killed him."