Sirius frowned and called for Kreacher. A moment later the pensieve was on the pedestal and Bertie was filling it with a silvery strand.
Falling into Bertie's memory was disconcerting especially when he found himself in the past and the old War Office of the Ministry. It was quite a gathering, Sirius realised; old Barty Crouch Senior, Millicent Bagnold, Dumbledore, a less scarred Moody, a young female Auror who Sirius recognised as Annette Kelp, Charlus Potter, James and a heavily pregnant Lily.
Sirius blinked back tears at the sight of his friends. He knew immediately what they were gathered to discuss: him. He tensed as he understood where he was right at that moment in the past – in the hands of Death Eaters.
"Croaker?" Crouch asked sharply. "News?"
"Our intelligence sources have nothing. Wherever they've taken Black…it's masked to our magic." Bertie replied all-business. "What exactly happened?"
"That's what I would like to know and have been trying to find out for far too long." Charlus said forcefully.
"Lord Potter," Bagnold said crisply, "you are here as a courtesy nothing more."
Charlus's eyes narrowed on the Minister. "And you are here because I helped to vote you in. Keep in mind, I can vote you out."
"And I would help him."
The sound of his grandfather's voice had Sirius whipping around.
Arcturus Black stood framed in the doorway; immaculate robes adorned with the Black crest fell from his shoulders to the floor in a sweep of black; his greying hair was tied back in a similar style to Charlus; the Black ring glinted in the dim light.
He entered the room as though uncaring of the glowers and stares. "I understand my grandson is missing?"
Bagnold straightened up sharply. "Who told you?"
"Probably a Death Eater." Moody snarled.
Arcturus merely smiled at him darkly. "Somebody will tell me what has happened to my grandson and what is being done to retrieve him or I will call for a full Wizengamot session and vote this entire administration incompetent."
Sirius had to admit his grandfather had always had style.
"And I would help him." Charlus said tersely, folding his arms and staring at his rival.
Charlus on the other hand had always had integrity. Sirius missed him badly.
Arcturus inclined his head. "Potter."
"Black."
The two elder statesmen turned to glare in unison at Bagnold.
"Gentlemen, I'm sure this can be quickly resolved." Dumbledore said smoothly. "Young Miss Kelp was just about to give us her report of events; she was unconscious in St Mungo's until one hour ago. She may be able to shed some light on what has happened to our missing friend."
Kelp straightened into a position that Sirius remembered from boot-camp. "I was sent to work with Hit Wizard Black undercover two months ago. I posed as his girlfriend. Two nights ago, at a party, we came across a muggle smuggling operation where the women were being sold as sex slaves to Death Eaters on the continent. I believed we should perform our duty and protect them. Hit Wizard Black ordered me not to intervene citing it would blow our cover and that we should wait and report it so a rescue mission could be mounted by others. I disregarded that order believing Black did not want to intervene because he did not want to save muggles."
Ah, yes. Sirius remembered how the halfblood Kelp had spent every moment of the assignment questioning his orders because of his name; suspicious of his family history and not believing he was on the side of the Light.
"At midnight I entered the room where the muggles were being kept without Black to release them." She paused. "I inadvertently set off an alarm. I was, uh, duelling two guards when Hit Wizard Black turned up and took out one guard. I stunned the other guard but not before Hit Wizard Black had been hit by some kind of spell. He was alive but unconscious when I checked him. I rescued the muggles and as I could hear more guards approaching, I used my emergency portkey to travel directly to St Mungo's with the muggles and was hit by a hex rendering me unconscious just as the portkey activated."
Sirius snorted. He had requested several times for Kelp to be replaced in the belief that she was prejudiced against him and wouldn't follow his orders in a critical situation, and he'd been proven right.
"Let me get this straight," Moody snarled before anyone else could speak, "you disregarded a direct order from a senior officer, who by the way was following protocol and correct in his assessment, took it upon yourself to mount a half-arsed rescue mission forcing him into assisting you to save your goddamn life and then you left him behind, unconscious and defenceless? You screwed months of undercover work and you screwed Black's cover!"
"Sorry," older Bertie muttered beside him, "I should have started the memory later. Still, you'll get a kick out of what happens next."
Kelp stiffened. "With respect, sir, I believe Black is a Death Eater and…"
Lily moved faster than Sirius believed possible given her pregnancy and punched her. "You miserable bitch! Sirius would never be a Death Eater! You just don't like him because he's a Black!"
"Lils," James pulled her away, "calm down! It's not good for the baby for you to get upset!" He led her away to a chair.
"Charlus, I can see why your daughter-in-law is called the smartest witch of her generation." Arcturus's icy stare landed on Kelp. "You will be charged with the endangerment of the Black heir."
"See!" Kelp spluttered, pointing a shaking finger at Arcturus, "he admits it!"
"Lord Black has simply confirmed that Sirius is the blood heir to the House of Black, something that everyone here was already well aware of, you foolish girl!" Bagnold snapped.
"Sirius is also a son of the House of Potter and he is no Death Eater." Charlus stressed. "He has spent every moment of this war fighting for the Light! You will be charged."
Kelp flushed bright red. "I saved those muggles!"
"And condemned the best Hit Wizard in the whole damn team!" Moody growled.
"Now, now, perhaps we shouldn't be too hasty," Dumbledore intervened, "Miss Kelp may have misjudged the situation and Mister Black's character but surely we cannot afford for any able-bodied Auror to be dismissed in these grave times."
"I agree." Crouch stated.
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