Mind Over Matter » Sirius Black

IV. RETURN TO HOGWARTS

It was raining when they finally reached Hogwarts, but the ironic weather did nothing to quench the anger invading Savannah as she strode toward the castle's entrance. Remus skittered behind her quickly, trying to catch up with her.

The two of them were being followed, though they'd never realize it. Sirius was being careful not to attract anyone's attention -- he wouldn't risk being sent back to the same godawful place he'd had to spend the last twelve years in. But he had wanted to see his old friends again, not to mention his god-son; so when he caught sight of two familiar figures, he couldn't help but shadow them in his animagus form.

"It's no one's fault, Savannah, they were just doing their job --" He tried, attempting to diminish her anger a bit.

"Doing their job?" Savannah repeated, spinning around on her heel to look at him. "Remus, Harry and I both could have died!" Sirius shifted on his four paws uneasily. He loved hearing Savannah's voice after all these years, but the words that it formed caused him to feel anxious and a bit guilty. He'd immediately known what they were talking about -- there must have been a mishap with the Dementors that had been sent out to find him.

"Hush," Remus told her, glancing around to make sure no students had overheard their professor's little break of composure.

Savannah didn't bother listening; she knew there were no students close enough to hear, as they were all being led into the Great Hall and were no longer outside. "Don't you tell me to hush, Remus Lupin!" She exclaimed. "Those things might be doing their job, but they can well enough do it at a distance!"

"They were sent out by the Ministry officials," Remus pointed out. "I doubt Albus can do anything about it."

"He can't, or he won't?" She demanded, crossing her arms. "Are you all really that hell-bent on letting them kill an innocent man, that you'd give them free reign over a school filled with children?"

Remus's jaw twitched. "He's hardly an innocent man without evidence to prove otherwise." Sirius stiffened at his words, though he felt sorrow at the same time he felt annoyance. Remus had been his life-long friend -- but now he thought he was a murderer? He thought he betrayed Lily and James?

Savannah scoffed. "How many times are we going to have this argument, Remus?"

The man deflated at her words, realizing that they were already having the same argument once again. "Perhaps we should just agree to disagree," Remus offered. "I don't want to fight with you, Savannah."

She sighed. "Nor I you, Remus," she admitted. "Let's just head inside, shall we?"

"Wait a second." Remus reached out and grasped her arm lightly as she turned to leave, causing Savannah to glance back at him in confusion. "You, uh... your patronus..."

She stiffened, not even wanting to dwell on the possibility that Remus was no doubt thinking in his mind right now. "It's nothing," Savannah said.

"It's not 'nothing,' Savannah," he disagreed. "Your patronus changed. It's always a big deal when something like that happens."

This peaked Sirius's interest. He was interested in hearing whatever it had changed to, but didn't quite share Remus's belief about it being such a big deal. Savannah had no doubt changed since the war -- a lot had happened that had to have taken a toll on the woman. However, Sirius couldn't imagine Savannah's patronus being anything other than the horse it had always been.

"I've changed over the years, Remus," the woman said, basically saying exactly what Sirius had been thinking. "I'm not the same person I once was."

Remus huffed -- did she not see the point it was trying to make? "It changed to a dog," he told her matter-of-factly. "Don't you think it's odd that your patronus changed into the same form of the animagus of the man you've been defending for the past twelve years?" Savannah said nothing. In the shadows, Sirius was gobsmacked.  "I've asked you before, but maybe you weren't honest with me for fear of being judged," Remus said. "Did anything happen between the two of you?"