The New Girls on the Block.
****

In the great hall the next morning, Professor Dumbledore announced the cancellation of the house splits, and everything went back to normal.

Well, almost.

"However, last night, Parvoti Patil and Lavender Brown did make it to Plenard in America," Dumbledore went on. "And, as I said at the opening feast, we have two of our own exchange students who should be arriving today. I expect all of you to show the utmost courtesy to our guests, as they will be with us the rest of the year, staying in Gryffindor house"

At that moment, a tall, thin girl with pale skin in her fifth year, with black, shoulder-length hair, and blue eyes which were covered in dark make-up, walked in. Her baggy black jeans hitting the floor, her black peasant top sleeves reaching the tips of her fingers.

The room went silent.

She looked around. "What?"

"Minerva?" Dumbledore whispered. "I thought you gave her a uniform?"

"I did," MacGonagall replied. "I suspect she lit it on fire"

The girl looked at the astonished masses, shrugged nonchalantly and walked out.

"Was that a girl?" Malfoy whispered to his friends. "Or a dementor?"

The door opened again, and this time a shorter, more normal-looking girl walked in. Her hair was straight and blond, her eyes were brown, and she wore only the top half of the Gryffindor uniform, instead of a Hogwarts skirt, she wore ripped blue jeans. She looked around quietly, and then, like the girl before her, walked out.

Ron, Hermione and Harry stared at each other, completely baffled.

"Americans are weird," Ron commented.

Hermione glanced at the ridiculous amount of food on his plate. "Not as weird as you"

"I’m a growing boy!"

"You don’t need to grow!" Hermione cried. "You’re like the Jolly Green Giant!"

"Hey!" Ron cried. "No fair using Muggle references on me!"

Hermione giggled. "It means you’re ridiculously tall"

"Yeah, and what’re you gonna do about it?" he said, almost leeringly.

She began tickling his sides, and he yelled out in surprise.

Harry shook his head, baffled by the random exchange. "You’re both insane"

Ron’s brothers, Fred and George weren’t baffled. They saw this as a choice opportunity.

"Has ickle Ronniekins got himself a girlfriend?" Fred teased.

"Ain’t they cute?" George laughed.

Hermione turned bright red, and got up. "I’ll be in the library"

**

"As I’m certain you all have noticed, we have two new students," Wesley said with a smirk. "Torianna Lupin, and Evelyn Black"

In Magical History class, Harry’s eyes went wide, as he looked back at the two girls. Torianna was flipping through her history book and Evelyn was trying to light it on fire.

"I expect everyone to treat them kindly, as this is their first day," Wesley said.

"How come our new student looks like a Dementor?" Malfoy asked innocently.

"Hey, Malibu Barbie," Evelyn called starting her lighter. "That hair flammable?"

Malfoy’s eyes widened and he sunk into his seat.

Wesley sighed. "Let’s get started, shall we?"

Ron turned to Hermione, a bit perplexed. "What’s a Malibu Barbie?"

**

"Black?! Lupin?!"

Professor Dumbledore smiled at Harry. "With everything that’s happened, I decided to request their presence here"

Harry shook his head and sat down. Fawkes immediately sat on his lap. "I didn’t even know they had wives"

Dumbledore sighed. "Sirius’ wife was killed, Remus’ wife was put in a comatamous spell, and has yet to come out of it. Seeing that Black was sent to Azkaban, it was left up to me to send Evelyn to her mother’s sister in DC"

"And Torianna?"

"Her father was a werewolf," Dumbledore replied. "The Ministry would not let Remus raise her alone. Torianna was sent to New York to live with her mother’s cousin"

"That’s not fair," Harry muttered. "Poor Remus"

Dumbledore sighed. "She’s older, we now have the wolvesbane potion, and Remus has been granted custody of her once again"

"Does Evelyn know about Sirius?" Harry asked.

"All Evelyn knows is that her father is an escaped convict who was a soldier for Voldemort. And. she knows that he can change into a dog"

Harry rolled his eyes. "How come no one’s told her the truth?"

"I want her to get settled first," Dumbledore explained. "Be comfortable where she is, before I turn her world upside down any further"

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Why is she so. weird?"

"Where she comes from, she is not weird," Dumbledore smiled. "American Witches and Wizards are very integrated into society. They have Muggle technology, along with movies, music and television. The magical community is not large enough to have a whole society to themselves, and they pride themselves on their lack of prejudice in terms of Muggles and Wizards. I would. appreciate it if you would help them to become accustomed to things here, Harry. It’s going to take a lot of time"

"How come they didn’t have to try on the sorting hat?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "Lupin? Black? Where else would they belong?"

**

Evelyn bounded around the Gryffindor common room. "Where the hell is the phone?" she cried.

Harry held Hedwig out to her, and she gave him a skeptical look. "What the hell do I do with that?"

"‘Her’," Harry corrected with a grin. "And you write a letter, attach it to her feet, and send her off to whoever the letter needs to get to"

Evelyn blinked. "Write? Don’t tell me you don’t have any computers?"

Harry shrugged. "Don’t need them"

Evelyn sighed. "Man, are you British people weird"

"And you Americans are so normal?" Harry asked. "Can’t understand half the things Torianna says"

"That’s because she’s from Brooklyn," Evelyn replied in her best fake accent. "If you’re not from Brooklyn, you’re not gonna understand anything she says"

"What about you?" Harry asked.

"I’ve roomed with her for four years. You get used to it"

Harry smirked. "Who do you need to write to?"

"My aunt," Evelyn replied. "No email, no telephone, how long do these owls take?"

Harry shrugged. "Depends on how far"

"Damn. oh well"

Torianna rushed through the portrait, soaking wet.

"Tori? What happened?" Evelyn asked.

"Some kinda water spell," She replied. "I’ll be back. I’m getting my baseball bat"

Harry sighed, and walked out of the portrait, to find Malfoy, Goyle and Crabbe standing there.

"Thought so," Harry muttered.

"Hello, Potty. Come to get wet, too?" Malfoy asked.

Harry rolled his eyes, whispered the password, and walked back through the portal. As soon as he went in, Torianna appeared. "Okay, Malfoy. Hardball time" She lifted her baseball bat, and swung, just missing him.

Malfoy panicked, and ran, followed by Goyle and Crabbe.

"First inning, Lupin 1, Malfoy 0"

"Ms. Lupin!"

Torianna turned to see Snape standing there looking quite upset. "Heya, Teach"

"What is that?"

"Baseball bat"

"What in the world is baseball?"

She blinked, said the password, and walked back into the Gryffindor common room.

Snape scowled. "Next time, Lupin. Next time"

Torianna sat on the couch whistling the Inspector Gadget theme.

"What did you do?" Evelyn asked.

"Swing and a miss" She smirked. "Next inning, he’s outta the ballpark"

"God, those baseball references are lame," Evelyn muttered. "Be a real person"

"You first, Mistress of the Night. Why don’t you get some people skills?"

"I’m not the one swinging bats at people!"

"At least I don’t try and set people on fire!"

"Yer Mom tries to set people on fire!" Evelyn cried. "And besides, that was no person, that was Malfoy"

Torianna smirked. "Yeah, okay. True"

"I win"

"Nuh-uh"

"Yeah, I win. What now, bitch?"

"Ladies!"

They turned to see Professor MacGonagall standing there staring harshly at them.

"Scuse my French," Evelyn said.

"My bad," Torianna giggled. "No more cursing. We promise"

Their teacher sighed and left the room.

At that moment, a small barn owl flew through the window and landed in front of Torianna.

"What do you want?" She asked.

The owl hooted.

"What?! This ain’t no Alfred Hitchcock movie, y’know, beat it!"

It hooted again.

"Evelyn, I’m scared"

Evelyn rolled her eyes. "Harry said they’re message birds" She pointed to the foot. "See?"

"Oh," Torianna replied. "I ain’t never seen an owl before. Kinda intimidating"

Evelyn groaned and took the message off the foot, and tossed it to Torianna, who opened it. "Dear Tori, hope you’re having a great time, this owl is for you to use while you’re there, keep in touch - Dad"

"Oh. Cool. Dad. Okay. wonder if it has a name"

"How about. Scary Owl," Evelyn teased.

"Shut up!" Torianna cried. "I dunno. how about. Bunsen?"

"Your owl," Evelyn shrugged. "But I’ll be mooching off of you a lot, just so you know"

Hogsmeade Again.

****

"Welcome to Hogsmeade," Ron announced as they walked into the small town that weekend.

Evelyn squinted and put a huge black pair of shades over her eyes. She was covered from neck to foot in black, except the tips of her fingers, which stuck out of ripped leather gloves. Her shirt was long-sleeved under a large black leather jacket, and her pants were baggy as usual.

This clashed heavily with her four friends.

Ron wore one of his many maroon sweaters under an old-looking black coat, with kaki pants and nice shoes. Harry’s sweater was blue under a matching coat, and his pants gray. Both Hermione and Torianna wore blue jeans. Torianna wore a Yankees t-shirt under her own black leather jacket. Hermione wore a long purple sweater under a white coat.

Ron led the way into Zonko’s Joke shop, where Ron’s brothers, Fred and George already were.

"Hello, Ronnie!" one of them cried, holding up a suspicious-looking pastry. "Want a cream puff?"

"In your dreams," Ron replied.

Torianna picked up a strange-looking object. "What the hell is ‘is?"

"Dung bomb," Harry informed her. "I wouldn’t touch it if I was you. They smell horrid"

Torianna shrugged and set it down.

Evelyn looked around squinting as she took her sunglasses off. Her glance passed by the window, and spotted a large black dog. She blinked, and it was gone.

"The hell"

"Something wrong, Evelyn?" Hermione asked, inspecting a whoopee cushion.

"No," Evelyn replied quickly. "Nothing. What else is around here, anyways?"

"Well," Hermione said with a smile. "There’s Honeydukes candy store, and the three broomsticks, if you’d like to get some butterbeer"

"Sounds good," Evelyn said, uncharacteristically cheerful. "Let’s go"

Ron and Harry glanced at each other warily and followed the three girls out.

They made their way to the Three Broomsticks to find Hagrid and Professor Dumbledore sitting together.

"Ah!" Dumbledore smiled. "Good afternoon! I assume you’ve been giving the girls a nice tour of Hogsmeade?"

Hermione smiled and nodded. "Oh, yes. We’ve shown them a lot"

"Good," Dumbledore said. "Evelyn, I presume that you haven’t been giving anyone or anything a hard time?"

"Yes, sir," Evelyn replied, distractedly staring out the window. She’d spotted the black dog again.

"Is something wrong, Lass?" Hagrid asked.

"Nah," Evelyn replied. "Just not used to this much sun. I burn really fast"

"I’ll bet, seeing as how you look like a dementor"

Evelyn glared at the sound of a new voice.

"Don’t you have anything better to do, Malfoy?" Ron asked. "Like get shagged? Oh, wait, I forgot. You just don’t know what that means"

"What does shagged mean?" Torianna asked Hermione.

Hermione turned slightly red. "Well. it means-"

"Getting laid," Evelyn replied.

"Oh," Torianna nodded. She began to snicker. "He doesn’t know about sex?"

"Not until last week," Ron replied.

"No wonder he’s so grouchy!" Evelyn snickered. "Malfoy, you are a sad, sad, little boy"

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I think that’s quite enough, children"

"Yeah, the Professor’s right," Harry snickered. "We wouldn’t want Malfoy to grace us with his stellar fighting abilities again"

"That bad?" Torianna asked.

"Worse," Ron laughed.

"Dammit Malfoy!" Evelyn cried. "Why do you think you’re such bad-ass evil?! You’re not! To quote a famous movie, you are the diet coke of evil! You’d wet yourself if you saw real evil!"

Malfoy looked confused. "What’s diet coke?" he asked.

Evelyn growled and sat down at a table. She glanced toward the window again, and the dog was sitting there, seemingly grinning proudly at her. Evelyn shook her head out, and ordered a butterbeer.

Harry pulled Ron and Hermione aside when Torianna began ripping into Malfoy with harsh cut downs.

"What is wrong with Evelyn?" Ron asked. "She been acting weird all day"

"Ron, haven’t you noticed that Snuffles has been following all day?"

Ron blinked. "Oh. Really?"

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Listen, she still thinks Sirius was the traitor, and that he killed Petigrew and everything. Dumbledore wants to be the one to tell her the truth, so play dumb"

"Hear that, Hermione?" Ron asked jokingly. "Dumb"

She gave a smug smirk, and hit him playfully. "Shut up, Ron"

Harry shook his head in confusion. "What is wrong with you two lately?"

At that moment, Professor O’Brien and Professor Summers walked in, arm-in-arm, laughing quietly together.

"What is with everybody, lately?!" Harry cried. With that, he stomped over and sat across from Evelyn in a booth, and turned around to follow her gaze out the window. He gave a smirk to the dog outside, who smirked back, then turned to Evelyn, who was glaring him.

"You know anything about that dog?" she asked him.

"What dog?"

The dark-haired girl groaned and slammed her forehead down on the table in front of her.

Meanwhile, Torianna swung a fist out at Malfoy, who only just dodged it, which was when Professor O’Brien stepped in, and sat Torianna down.

Harry sighed. "The whole world’s gone mad"

Professor Wesley Wyndham-Pryce sat near the front of the Three Broomsticks, telling stories to his students and fellow teachers. Even Rosmerta listened intently from her spot behind the bar.

"Fifth year was probably our most interesting," Wesley told his audience. "It was the year James and Lily, Remus and Sarah and Sirius and Emily got together, though, of course, James and Lily were the first"

Harry smiled. He loved hearing stories about his parents and their time at Hogwarts. While the stories of Sirius Black’s childhood made many people uncomfortable, Harry, along with Ron and Hermione, loved hearing about Sirius and Harry’s father’s reign as the prank kings of Hogwarts.

"Though, this managed to cause a bit of a stir," Wesley informed them. "You see, even though he normally hated Muggle-born students, Lucius Malfoy had developed quite a thing for Miss Lily Evans"

Gryfindors snickered. Slytherins rolled their eyes. Draco Malfoy just turned red.

"One day, between classes," Wesley said. "Lucius stopped her in the halls, and things. well, they got out of hand, you see. Malfoy became angry, and a bit violent. He would have given Lily her first black eye if Sirius Black hadn’t been walking by. Sirius, as you know, was James Potter’s best friend in the world, along with Remus Lupin. And they all had always been fond of Lily. Sirius had stepped right in front of Lily and caught Lucius’ fist in his own hand"

Dumbledore chuckled. "I remember that incident, actually"

Wesley smiled. "Sirius Black was a large young man. He was very much in shape, tall, and quite strong. He glared at Lucius and said ‘If you ever swing a fist at any girl ever again, I’m going to tear it off and eat it like a large medieval turkey leg"

The room burst into giggles.

Harry leaned over to Ron and Hermione. "Remind me to ask Snuffles about that"

Ron smirked.

"Fifth year was also the year that Sirius Black began to play with fire," Wesley went on. "Somehow, he’d gotten his hands on a Muggle lighter. actually, I believe it’s the exact same lighter that Evelyn carries with her. "

Evelyn fiddled with her lighter, and then set it down on the table.

"Anyways, Sirius got himself banned from the Library for the rest of the year, because while most of us were doing our homework, he’d already finished, and was playing with his lighter. Well, Professor MacGonagall walked by-"

"Professor Wyndham-Pryce," Professor MacGonagall cut in. "Please"

Wesley smirked. "She walked by, and Sirius accidentally lit her flowing robes on fire"

The students tried to hold back their laughter.

"Well, all Black could do was sit there and laugh at his complete misfortune, and Professor MacGonagall did what she always did. Grabbed young Sirius Black by the ear, and dragged him all the way to her office. Her robes still flaming"

Dumbledore couldn’t help. He chuckled, earning him a glare from MacGonagall.

"Not only was Sirius playing with fire, literally, but figuratively as well," Wesley went on. "Fire as in fiery Miss Emily Dumbledore, the headmaster’s daughter"

The trio gave each shocked looks.

Wesley laughed to himself. "Before he met Emily, Sirius Black flirted with anything that moved. Isn’t that right, Rosmerta?"

Rosmerta grumbled. "Little scoundrel, he was, back them"

"He was probably the biggest flirt Hogwarts had ever seen," Wesley said. "And then he fell for Emily, and that was it. To him, no one compared to her"

"Wesley," Dumbledore called. "It’s getting quite late. I believe you should wrap things up"

Wesley nodded. "Alright, then. Another time. Everyone to your rooms"

Oh, Those Crazy Hogsmeade Nights.
****

Evelyn had gone for a late walk, and had realized from the beginning that she was being followed.

And she knew it was the large, black dog that had been following her all day.

"Look, the Dementor’s on patrol"

Evelyn sighed. "Go away, Draco" She turned to stare at him.

His hair shone brightly in the half-moonlight. His eyes glistened mischievously. His hands sat on his hips.

All of the sudden, it didn’t matter so much that he was an asshole.

And that gave her an idea.

Evelyn smirked and strode slowly and purposefully toward him. "Looking to get me in trouble, Blondie?"

"M-Maybe," he replied, taking a step back.

She advanced the step forward that he’d taken back, and ran a finger down his cheek and neck, until it landed on his top shirt button, which she began to play with. "Do you really wanna get me in trouble?" she asked, getting closer. "Because, y’know. there are. other ways"

She undid the button she’d been playing with, and then walked into the inn.

Malfoy was left to stand on the Hogsmeade sidewalk, red-faced. He rushed in, went directly to his room and locked himself in.

When Malfoy passed the shadows Evelyn had been hiding in, she slipped out the front door, back into the night with a sigh. "The things I do for answers. Thank god I always wear black"

Before she could go looking for the dog again, she heard two familiar voices.

"We shouldn’t be doing this"

"I know that, but. well. How else will this work?"

Evelyn slipped back into the shadows as Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger passed by hurriedly.

"Ron, wait. we should tell him," Hermione said. "Harry deserves to know. He’s our best friend"

Ron sighed. "I don’t wanna deal with being a public couple. Don’t tell me you don’t get off on sneaking around" He got closer to her and kissed her forehead.

"Ron," she groaned with a smile. She playfully pushed him away. "Come on, we’d better go in"

"Not just yet"

Someone else stepped out of the shadows and stood before them.

"Professor Summers!" Hermione cried. "We were just. we just-"

"Are really busted," Summers replied.

"What about you?" Ron asked. "Why are you out here now?"

Summers faltered. "Well. I. um. that is to say-"

"That we were doing exactly what you were"

Out of the shadows, right near Evelyn stepped Professor O’Brien.

Professor Summers sighed. "Angel"

"We’ve been sneaking around together," O’Brien explained. "So here’s the deal. If you guys go up to your rooms right now, we won’t tell anyone you were out here. And you won’t tell anyone that you saw us together"

Hermione considered. "That sounds fair"

"Good"

Ron looked skeptical. "You won’t tell anyone?"

Summers smiled. "Not anyone"

The two teens nodded, and walked into the inn.

After they’d gone, Buffy sighed. "Alright," she said. "I’m tired. I’m going to bed"

Angel nodded and smiled. "I’ll be up in a while"

He kissed her before she left.

Evelyn panicked as Professor O’Brien advanced toward her spot in the darkness.

"Angel?"

He turned around to see Professor Wyndham-Pryce walking out of the inn, carrying a large sack.

"Wesley," Angel greeted. "Going to give the weekend amount?"

Wesley nodded. "Just doing my part"

"Want company?"

Wesley smirked. "Sure"

Evelyn followed her two professors just outside of town, up a mountain, just outside a cave. Angel and Wesley stopped dead in their tracks. A moment later, the former stormed in, Wesley close behind him. Evelyn followed just up to the point where she had a clear view inside.

A business woman with brown hair stood before an unshaven, dirty, ragged man.

"Sirius, what’s she doing here?" Wesley asked harshly.

"Don’t look at me," Sirius replied, stretching his long, bony arms. "I was sleeping when she walked in. Woke me up" he eyed the bag Wesley carried. "That dinner?"

Wesley smiled and tossed the bag to him.

"So. Lilah," Angel said slowly. "Miss me?"

The woman named Lilah glared. "Actually, I came to speak with Mr. Black if you don’t mind"

"He doesn’t want to talk to you," Wesley snapped.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "I can speak for myself"

The trio turned to look at him. He got to his feet, and looked Lilah up and down.

"No. He’s right. I don’t want to talk to you" Sirius sighed. "Who are you, anyway?"

"Lilah Morgan, attorney. I work for Wolfram and Hart in LA"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "An American Lawyer," he muttered. "Get out"

"Mr. Black, please hear me out," Lilah snapped. "I’m here to offer you a deal. You work for us, and you can have your freedom back!"

He stared at her, obviously unimpressed.

"If you do work for us here, we’ll make sure your name is cleared of all that you’ve done!"

Sirius’ lips twisted into a harsh smile. "Ms. Morgan," he said. "Let’s get a few things straight, shall we? 1. I really don’t like lawyers. Sans Wes over there"

Lilah gave Wesley a questioning look. He just shrugged.

"2. I wasn’t a death eater. And I didn’t kill anyone. 3. Sod off. Thanks for stopping by, Wesley. I’m gonna go"

"But you live here," Lilah reminded him.

Sirius didn’t reply. He shifted into his dog form and walked out.

Only to be met with a gaze that was uncannily like his own.

The girl had long black hair and big blue eyes. She got to her feet, showing him that she was quite tall.

He backed away, realizing who she was. She advanced toward him silently, and he ran.

Evelyn Black growled and ran after him. "DAMMIT! GET BACK HERE!"

Her yelling brought Angel, Wesley and Lilah running.

Wesley caught sight of Evelyn chasing a large, black dog, and sighed. "Bloody hell"

"Should we go after them?" Angel asked.

"No," Wesley replied. "It’ll draw too much attention. Come on. Let’s get back to the inn. We’ll be missed"

"What about Evelyn?"

"She followed us," Wesley shrugged. "Whatever happen, happens. Padfoot’ll have her back safely"

Angel shook his head.

"You coming Angel?"

"In a bit"

She finally caught up to him and tackled him from behind. He turned from canine to human, and she jumped off him towards the nearest wall. Breathing heavily from the running.

Sirius got to his feet and looked upon the teen.

They stood in silence for a moment, until Evelyn got angry.

"What in the hell?! How the hell?! What the hell?! You’re just staring at me! Why don’t you just kill me like you did to Mom, and those others. what, the Pots?"

"Potters," Sirius replied softly. He averted his eyes from her in shame.

Evelyn blinked. "You killed Harry’s parents?"

Sirius sighed. "Are you going to let me explain, or are you going to rant for the rest of the night. And, by the way, you’re not even supposed to be out now. You could get into trouble"

"Now, why on earth would Sirius Black care at all about getting into trouble?"

Father and daughter turned at the same time to find Albus Dumbledore walking up to them in his pajamas.

"Good," Evelyn said. "Arrest him"

Sirius rolled his eyes in exasperation. "She’s not letting me speak"

"Of course not, Sirius," Dumbledore replied. "She’s been told all of her life that you’re a murderer. Would you let you speak?"

Sirius sighed and stood down.

"Yeah, you like that?" Evelyn said defiantly. "What now?"

"But," Dumbledore cut in. "She will listen to me. Won’t you, Evelyn?"

Evelyn shrugged. "Okay"

"Your father did not murder your mother, the Potters or anyone else for that matter," Dumbledore explained.

"Okay, so who did?" Evelyn snapped.

"A man by the name of Peter Petigrew," Sirius replied.

Evelyn whirled around to glare at her father. "Hey. Didn’t I say I wasn’t speaking to you?"

Sirius threw his arms to his sides and sighed in frustration.

"It was, as your father said, a man by the name Peter Petigrew," Dumbledore continued. "Your father was originally the Potters’ secret- keeper while they were in hiding. Sirius, fearing they’d come for him first and get it out of him, convinced them to switch to Peter, not knowing that he was a Deatheater"

Evelyn let his words sit for awhile. "So. who killed my mother?"

Sirius clenched his fists together, as well as his teeth. "If I knew I’d-"

"Sirius, please, get a hold of yourself," Dumbledore said calmingly. "Sirius was the one who’d gone to confront Peter about giving over the Potters. Peter turned the whole situation around, making it look to everyone like Sirius had done it all. It was Peter who blew up the street-full of Muggles"

"So. he killed himself?" Evelyn asked.

"Peter Petigrew was one of four unregistered Anamagi, along with your father. He could, appropriately, I suppose, turn himself into a rat. He did so then. Leaving only a finger behind"

"So. in other words. Dad got framed?" Evelyn asked quietly.

"If that’s how you’d like to put it," Dumbledore replied. "Then, yes"

"How do I know you’re telling the truth?" Evelyn said, glaring from one man to the other.

"Evelyn, you’ve got to believe them," said a voice from behind them.

Harry threw off his invisibility cloak, and walked to stand next to Evelyn.

"What in the hell"

Harry smirked. "I followed you. I’ve gotten pretty good at using this thing"

Evelyn scratched the back of her head. "You believe all this?"

Harry sighed. "I’ve seen Petigrew. I’ve seen him at Voldemort’s side" Harry lifted his shirt sleeve to reveal a scar on his upper arm. "He gave me this"

After thinking everything through, Evelyn turned slowly to looked upon Sirius. "I. I guess. I guess I’m sorry for acting like a big idiot without knowing everything"

Sirius nodded. "Salright," he told her. "Runs in the family"

"So. hi," Evelyn said nervously holding out her hand. "I’m Evelyn Black. Your daughter"

Sirius gave a strange look to his daughter’s hand, and then her face.

Harry rolled his eyes, and, taking initiative he didn’t know he possessed, shoved Evelyn into a hug with Sirius. They gripped onto each other tightly.

She laughed. "Man, do you smell bad"

He laughed with her.

"Very touching, Sirius. Really, quite moving"

Sirius shoved Evelyn, and then Harry behind him when he saw Peter Petigrew saunter up.

"Be glad your last moments were happy ones," he told them, holding up his wand.

"Peter," Sirius said casually. "I don’t know if you’ve noticed lately, but you’ve always been, and always will be, a really sucky wizard"

"Yes, but anyone can do unforgivable curses," Peter replied. He held up his wand. "Ava- AH!"

"EXPELORAMUS!"

Peter’s wand went flying behind him, and he was put into a half- nelson.

Professor Angel O’Brien smirked, and tossed Dumbledore the wand. "I still got it"

Sirius rushed Petigrew, who disaparated before he got there.

"NO!" Sirius cried. "Dammit!"

"Boundalious!"

All of the sudden, Sirius’ hands flew behind his back, and remained stuck there by heavy metal bindings.

Cornelius Fudge emerged with a dozen or so Ministry goons behind him.

"Sirius Black," Fudge said pleasantly. "How wonderful to see you again"

Evelyn glared heavily. "Let him go"

"Do you not know the horror story that is your father’s life, my dear?" Fudge asked.

"Ten Galleons says I know a hell of a lot more than you do," she snarled. "Let. Him. Go"

"This is Ministry business, my dear," Fudge said, in an equally rude tone. "And you have no business telling me what to do, seeing as you’re a little girl"

Harry was shocked to hear her growl. She was about to advance, when Professor O’Brien took hold of her and dragged her back.

"Cornelius, don’t do this," Dumbledore said. "I know it’s hard to believe, but give the boy a chance, give all of us truth spells, and you’ll find that Sirius Black is quite innocent"

"Oh, I don’t think so," Fudge said. "It’s back to Azkaban for this one"

It was Harry’s turn to be outraged, and try and move forward. "You can’t-"

Dumbledore blocked him.

"I’m surprised at you, Albus," Fudge mentioned. "I’d think you’d want to see him locked up after what he did to your daughter"

Harry blinked. "Daughter?" he asked Dumbledore.

"You mean you didn’t know, Harry?" Fudge asked. "Black was married to your headmaster’s daughter. And then he led Voldemort right to her, and she died. Poor girl had no idea what was going on. Now, if you’ll excuse us" He nodded to them and walked off.

The goons led Sirius away, his eyes still on Harry and Evelyn. Fudge followed them.

Evelyn finally ripped herself out of Angel’s hold.

"That’s it?!" she cried. "That’s it?! They win, just like that?! You’re making me stand here and let them take the wrong guy?!"

"They don’t know they have the wrong guy," Angel replied.

"I’m going after them," Evelyn said, determined.

"No, Evelyn," Dumbledore said.

"Do you realize that was the first time I’ve seen my father since I was one?! And I find out he’s not a murderer?!"

"Evelyn, please," Dumbledore said softly. "Don’t do this"

Evelyn stalked off, leaving the three men standing there.

"How did they know he was here?" Harry asked quietly. "The only people who knew were Us, Ron, Hermione and Wesley"

Angel’s eyes narrowed. "I know exactly how. I’ll see you in the morning" He, too stormed off.

Dumbledore shook his head. "Come, Harry. We should both get some sleep. I’ve got to go in the morning and see Remus Lupin" He literally had to drag the boy from the scene.

When Harry got back to the Three Broomsticks, he told Ron and Hermione everything that had happened. They both sat in a daze.

"What do we do?" Ron asked. "We can’t let Snuffles rot in that hell- hole"

"There’s nothing we can do," Harry said. "I wish it weren’t so. He could really use a jail break"

**

"You. bitch"

"That’s business, Angel, you know that. If he’s not with us, he’s against us," Lilah took a sip of pumpkin juice in her room in an inn just outside of Hogsmeade. "And the best part? He was dispensable. How did you find me, anyways?"

Angel shook his head. "You just put an innocent man back in Azkaban"

"Are you that surprised? We’d been trying to contact him for months, with no replies. I was just sent to get a straight answer and do my job" Lilah explained.

"What do you want here?"

"Oh, please, Angel," Lilah replied. "You mean you don’t know? Linwood wants me to make some deals with the Dark Lord. Make sure we have a cut in this whole rise of Voldemort thing. And since you have no idea where the hell he is, you can’t stop me. Now get out"

:: On to Chapter Five ::