Harry's Godmother - Part 2

I Need Answers, Sirius

Disclaimer: This chapter may contain passages from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Those passages and ideas belong fully to J.K. Rowling.

Third Year

"Another round, for the two of you?" Madam Rosemerta asked Tawny and Remus. Nearly two weeks after Sirius's break-in, the two had decided they needed to make sure their dinner plans were actually carried out this time. With Tawny working late and the commotion with Sirius, they hadn't been keeping it up regularly since he and Harry returned to Hogwarts. But, now, was one night they truly needed it.

"Yes, please, and make it strong," Tawny said, finishing off her current glass of firewhiskey.

"Not for me. But, you can bring her as many as she wants." Remus said, knowing showing up tipsy at the castle was probably not the best of ideas. Although, if he had, it wouldn't have been the first time (thanks to Sirius and his love of prohibited school items; firewhiskey and fireworks being his favorites.).

Tawny, on the other hand, would be drinking his share. Nothing had been going right for her lately. There had been no sign of Sirius for the past few weeks, she had been drowning trying to find someone to train the new healers, and the tension between her and Arthur had been keeping them at odds. She had barely spent any time at the burrow, and when she did, it was mostly to sleep or to pop in while she knew Arthur and Molly were out. Tawny and Arthur had barely spoken two words to each other since their fight in Dumbledore's office, mostly due to neither of them knowing what to say. She had been spending most nights asleep in either her office chair or an empty bed or gurney if it was a slow night.

Remus, on the other hand, had been consistently in Dumbledore's office trying to get any updates the ministry had on Sirius. Each time, Dumbledore was lacking information. Even with the increased dementor presence, and hyper-alertness of the ministry, there had been no progress on finding Sirius. He had fallen completely off the grid since that night. Also, Remus continued to plead Tawny's case with Dumbledore about Sirius, but it was less convincing than he hoped. Both of their doubts were growing, and the longer they went without hearing even a rumor of Sirius's presence somewhere on the castle grounds, the worse it got.

Madam Rosemerta dropped off another glass of firewhiskey in front of Tawny, and she quickly began to drain its contents. "You know Harry's got a match coming up after the Easter holidays, maybe I can convince Dumbledore to let you attend. It would do you some good to spend some time with Harry. You haven't seen him since the Christmas holiday."

"I doubt the Ministry will allow Dumbledore to let me anywhere near the castle right now. I'd be surprised if there weren't undercover aurors scoping out the place right now to keep an eye on me." Tawny grumbled, taking another large gulp of her drink.

"You'd be there to see Harry, not Sirius. Surely, it won't be a conflict of interest. I'm still on school grounds."

"For now. Wait a few days, they may have you fired out of 'suspicion of harboring a fugitive'." Tawny mocked, doing her best Dolores Umbridge impression, complete with her signature evil smirk. "They've already done a sweep the hospital. If the ministry had any reason to believe Sirius left the castle grounds, I'm sure Umbridge would have me fired and thrown in Azkaban faster than you can say quidditch." Or slur it in Tawny's case.

"They have no proof of us helping him."

"They had no proof to arrest him either, look how that turned out."

Whatever Remus might want to believe, Tawny did have a point. At this moment, the ministry didn't care about their claims of Sirius's innocence. All they believed was that Sirius was guilty and dangerous and that anyone aligned with him must be the same. He couldn't help but think that Tawny was right. If Sirius was being as reckless as he was being now, both of them would be in the hot seat sooner rather than later.