21 The Unseen Memory

That Saturday I get called into Dumbledores office. I'm kind of scared that he found out about what I did to Malfoy and his lackeys. I would prefer to not get expelled, I can't protect Harry as well on the outside. I also have started to make friends here, I like it a lot, and learning is fun.

McGonagall came and snatched me from the common room. As we make our way to Dumbledore's office I don't speak. She makes me wait outside the office and I just stare at the door in boredom. I say door but it was actually a wall that had a gargoyle in front of it that would slide to the side when you spoke the password.

McGonagall walks up to the gargoyle and it speaks to her "Password"

"Lemon Ice" as she speaks the wall opens by rotating counter-clockwise out of the way. She takes a glance back at me before quickly walking inside.

I stand there waiting for a few minutes until McGonagall finally comes out again.

"Alright, the headmaster will see you now," she says exasperated.

I give her a smile and a nod while walking by.

As I walk in I see his office is full of magical objects in a fairly large two-story circular space. The walls are bookshelves lined with thick books and behind his desk has a second level containing portraits lining the walls. I assume they are portraits of past headmasters because the big center one was of Dumbledore himself. Many of them stare at me with interest while the rest just ignore my existance.

Dumbledore himself is leaning against his desk at the center of the room, next to him on a perch was a phoenix. The phoenix had red feathers on its upper body and top of the head while golden feathers adorned the rest. I smirk at the bird who seems to stare at me curiously.

Upon seeing me walk in Dumbledore smiles "Hello young man."

"Hello, headmaster" I lower my head a bit out of respect.

"Do you know why I called you here Mr. Black? " Dumbledore asked.

"Uh, no sir." I shiver as I stare at his twinkling eyes. The shine in his eyes made him look a bit younger but it scared me since I knew the truth. Only those who contain massive power have glowing eyes, it is the sign of a superior being.

"I wanted to talk about the interesting conversation you had with Hagrid last weekend." He slowly sits down as he speaks.

I let out a sigh of relief 'Thank god'

Dumbledore laughs "Did you think I called you to talk about your little scuffle with the Malfoy boy?"

My eyes go wide 'He knew?'

He again laughs at my surprise "There is not much that happens in this school that gets past my eye."

"I uh, they kind of-"

He waves his hand "It's fine, I know you didn't actually hurt them, and I know what they do to the other students."

I sigh in relief again "So what did you want to ask?"

"You told Hagrid that your father was not the secret keeper, and he was wrongfully locked away?" He asks while stroking his long grey beard.

"He was indeed not the secret keeper however he did indeed commit the crime, at least he thought he did. He went to chase Pettigrew that day angry that his brother had just died because of his betrayal. When he confronted him Pettigrew hid among a crowd of muggles and when they exchanged spells a rouge spell ended up killing some of the muggles."

Dumbledore nods but still appears doubtful.

Noticing this I continue. "Actually do you have a Pensieve? I can actually show you what happened that day."

I pull out a crystal phial I prepared beforehand. Inside it has a wispy white substance floating around like a stringy cloud. It was the memory of that day. I had originally stored it to give to the ministry to prove his innocence. That way he could be remembered as a man wrongfully imprisoned, not a traitor, but this works as well.

Dumbledore nods and with the wave of his hand, a wall is pushed aside revealing a basin filled with a bluish liquid. It is resting on a pillar that appears to be made of a fine marble-like material. Dumbledore waves a hand again and the basin floats off of the pillar as if never attached. It floats in the air between me and Dumbledore's desk.

I see him gesture to me as it floats a bit closer to me. I carefully take the stopper out of the crystal phial and pour the memory into the Pensieve. The stringy liquid slowly floats out of the phial onto the basin. As it touches the top of the water it dissolves into black clouds forming shapes inside the basins waters.

I look up at Dumbledore and gesture at the Pensieve, "Go ahead."

Dumbledore nods his head and steps forward while holding his beard in place. He slowly moves his head down until it is submerged in the basin up to his ears.

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*Inside the Memory*

The black memory floated down slowly forming shapes until the landscape was complete. It was a London street in the early morning a man in his early 20s could be seen walking fast through the crowds of people. He was handsome with a finely trimmed beard and shoulder-length hair around 5'11". This was Sirius Black.

Sirius had dark bags under his eyes and they were a bit bloodshot, he obviously had not been sleeping well. He charged forward through the crowds of people with a fast strut. As he approached an opening in the crowd near an intersection he drew his wand and began to walk even faster.

Sirius raised his wand as he exited the crowd "Why! Why did you do it?! They trusted you! I TRUSTED YOU!" Sirius yelled to a man who appeared to have just noticed him. The desperate yell seemed to part the crowd a bit.

The man across from him was fat, with beady eyes, big front teeth, and a few inches shorter than Sirius. It was Peter Pettigrew, the man who had betrayed the Potters.

Pettigrew backed up towards the intersection but seeing cars coming he knew he had to confront Sirius, or at least buy time to getaway. "Sirius, I-I didn't have a choice! He would have killed me, you know you can't lie to that man."

Sirius's face darkens even more as veins bulge in his neck "Then you should have just died." Sirius's words dripped with hate as his eyes seemed to stab daggers.

He flicked his wand and a spell flew out, but Pettigrew knew it was coming and had already drawn his wand to deflect it. The muggles didn't know what was going on and simply watched the light show go on without fear.

Sirius kept flinging spells at Pettigrew forcing him to back up into the traffic of oncoming cars. Pettigrew did his best to not get hit by the oncoming cars, luck seemed to be on his side as the light changed and the traffic stopped.

Seeing this Pettigrew took his chance and turned to run, but Sirius wouldn't let him. "Incarcerous" Sirius chanted aloud, a bolo shot out of his wand and wrapped itself around Pettigrew's legs tripping him.

Turning back to Sirius, Pettigrew pleaded "Sirius, please, I was wrong. I should never have sided with You-Know-Who, just let me go. It worked out for the best anyway, right? He is gone now." These words only served to inflame Sirius's anger.

Sirius was now standing in the middle of the intersection, "Confringo!". Pettigrew rolled out of the way, but when the spell hit the ground it created a massive explosion. The explosion knocked down a few muggles and caused the others to run away in fear. Pettigrew shifted into his rat form to get out of the bolo then immediately shifted back throwing a spell at Sirius.

Seeing that the spell missed him Sirius ignored it, in an unlucky turn of events it was flung into the crowd of muggles behind him. The explosion caused carnage, it instantly killed a few muggles and maimed a few others. It had also caused a light pole to fall over injuring the few who thought they were safe. At this point, even the muggles in their cars were getting out and fleeing.

Sirius got even angrier and drew upon the darkest spell he knew just short of the unforgivable curses "Sectumsempra!" he swung his wand from left to right like a sword. Pettigrew raised an arm to protect himself but failed. The spell severed his pinky and left a large gash across his chest.

Pettigrew screamed throwing one last spell in desperation. Luckily for him the spell hit the car Sirius was standing next to causing it to explode knocking Sirius over. Pettigrew quickly transformed into his rat form and ran away crippled.

As he stood up and looked around he saw that Pettigrew was gone, only a finger and a puddle of blood remained. But before he could confirm his kill people rapidly began apparating in. There were now 5 or 6 people walking at him from every angle. They were Aurors, they all had their wands pointed at Sirius as they slowly approached him.

"For the crimes of exposing magic to muggles and the murder of muggles you will be taken into custody and put on trial.." One of them spoke

"No, wait-" before he could explain they began to fling spells at him. He tried his best to block but was quickly overwhelmed and knocked unconscious.

As he was knocked out the landscape faded into black clouds, as the clouds vanished Dumbledore exited the memory.

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*Soren's POV*

As Dumbledore raises his head from the Pensieve he now has a face full of anger.

'I didn't even know this old man had emotion' I think even during Sirius's day Dumbledore never really shared anything but slight happiness.

He looks at me with obviously mixed feelings "I will talk to the ministry about clearing your father's name." He pauses for a moment then lowers his head a bit. "I am truly sorry for your loss, I will make sure Pettigrew's body is found and his death is confirmed... But if he is not dead..."

He raises his head and looks me in the eyes "Now that we know Pettigrew is an unregistered Animagus it shouldn't be impossible to find him... or maybe it will. If he is alive that is."

I just shake my head "No, I will make sure Pettigrew is found."

Dumbledore looks back at me seeing the seriousness on my face and just nods.

"There is also one thing I wanted to ask you," I speak with new confidence now that I know Dumbledore seems like a good man.

"Anything"

"Why did you put Harry with his Aunt and Uncle? They do nothing short of torture him." you could hear the resentment in my voice.

Dumbledore sighs obviously frustrated by this as well. "When his mother gave her life for him she either by miracle or intentionally put an old magic sacrificial spell on him. By giving her life for him with absolutely no other reason than love, she put a protective charm on him.

The charm is old magic, meaning unbreakable, Harry can NEVER be killed while living in a house of blood. So as long as he lives with his aunt, he can never die at the hands of others. " Dumbledore speaks slowly.

I nod, I am fairly familiar with what old magic is. That is because Sid looked into it as his first option for immortality.

"I see… thank you for answering. Is there anything else?"

Dumbledore shakes his head "No, and thank you. Minerva will take you back to your house."

"Goodbye," I say as I walk away. I'm glad I got to clear Sirius's name, and I feel a bit more reassured about Harry staying in that house… not that I'm happy about it.