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- 15 -
I stared at Peter as he fumbled over his words, using any way possible in order to prove his innocence. I stood in the background, my eyes skimming over the man in front of me. Years of being in his animagus form had awarded him with rat-like tendencies and physical attributes. He had whisker-like hairs on his top lip, and he wrung his hands together like a rat would in order to clean itself. Lie after lie slipped out of his mouth, the next making less and less sense.
Hermione seemed unsure on how she was meant to address Sirius, calling him Mr Black. Sirius looked at her as if she was a different species.
"If you don't mind me asking, how — how did you get out of Azkaban, if you didn't use Dark Magic?" She was hesitant, but seemed to believe them, yet wanted to know all the facts before she fully trusted what they were saying. Peter tried to speak, but I chose to ignore what he was saying, knowing it would be bullshit.
"I don't know how I did it," he said slowly. "I think the only reason I never lost my mind is that I knew I was innocent. That wasn't a happy thought, so the Dementors couldn't suck it out of me... but it kept me sane and knowing who I am... helped me keep my powers... so when it all became... too much... I could transform in my cell... become a dog. Dementors can't see, you know..." He swallowed. "They feel their way toward people by feeding off their emotions... They could tell that my feelings were less — less human, less complex when I was a dog... but they thought, of course, that I was losing my mind like everyone else in there, so it didn't trouble them. But I was weak, very weak, and I had no hope of driving them away from me without a wand..."
"But then I saw Peter in that picture... I realized he was at Hogwarts with Harry and Elora..." He glanced at me quickly before continuing. "perfectly positioned to act, if one hint reached his ears that the Dark Side was gathering strength again..."
"... ready to strike at the moment he could be sure of allies... and to deliver the last Potter to them. If he gave them Harry, who'd dare say he'd betrayed Lord Voldemort? He'd be welcomed back with honors...
"So you see, I had to do something. I was the only one who knew Peter was still alive..."
"It was as if someone had lit a fire In my head, and the Dementors couldn't destroy it... It wasn't a happy feeling... it was an obsession... but it gave me strength, it cleared my mind. So, one night when they opened my door to bring food, I slipped past them as a dog... It's so much harder for them to sense animal emotions that they were confused... I was thin, very thin... thin enough to slip through the bars... I swam as a dog back to the mainland... I journeyed north and slipped into the Hogwarts grounds as a dog. I've been living in the forest ever since, except when I came to watch the Quidditch, of course. You fly as well as your father did, Harry..." Harry stared back at him, however, Sirius shifted his gaze to me. "And you Elora, when I saw you for the first time I knew it was you. Then you climbed that tree before I even realised what you were doing, you nearly gave me a heart attack when you dove out of the tree." He shook his head, amazed at the memory. I felt my cheeks heat up as I heard Lupin chuckle as well, him remembering his encounter with Caelin. "You are incredible in so many ways, and I'm more than grateful for everything you did for me, despite not knowing who I was." I smiled at him, glad I had brought him food.
