The Forest of Mysteries

Chapter 2- Podmore's Legacy

Dumbledore was standing in front of his desk, and he was also sitting behind his desk. Something wasn't right here. The Dumbledore behind his desk spoke to Harry.

"Well, this must be an interesting sight, isn't it Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Er, yeah. What's going on?" Harry asked. The Dumbledore standing in front of the desk answered this question.

"I'm of course not truly Dumbledore. If you wait just a minute, I'm sure the Polyjuice Potion will wear off. Since I couldn't be seen sitting here in Dumbledore's office while he rescued you, I had to use some Polyjuice Potion, you know, so people wouldn't get scared."

"Why would anybody be scared of you, whoever you are?"

"Well, because dead people don't usually stand around in the Headmaster's office, now do they?" As the fake Dumbledore said this, his features started to change. His silver hair and beard began to shorten and darken. His face began to look younger, and finally, he stopped changing. Sirius Black was left standing in his place.

"Oh my god! Sirius!" Harry exclaimed as he ran to embrace his godfather. After they pulled away, they both had tears streaming down their faces. Harry wiped his face with his sleeve. He had so many questions; he didn't know where to start. "Sirius, I thought you were dead! How did you, I mean how are you here?"

"Well, now that's an interesting story. Well, I guess it all started with Sturgis Podmore getting sent to Azkaban," Sirius began.

"Podmore? Wasn't he the one guarding the Department of Mysteries?"

"Yeah, and that's why he was in Azkaban, if you remember that. Anyway while he was in Azkaban, he found out some sort of secret from a mysterious prisoner that died soon after. This secret, whatever it was, was desperately searched for by Voldemort, but he never found it, of course."

"We never found out what this secret was either, of course," added Dumbledore, but something about the strange twinkle in his eye told Harry differently.

"Sturgis escaped Azkaban along with help from Moody's Invisibility Cloak. He showed back up at Headquarters (unknown to us) and waited till somebody left Grimmauld Place. He snuck in, and waited till I showed up at Headquarters. He then waited until I was alone, and he revealed himself. He didn't want the others to know he had broken out of Azkaban. He said that he held a dark secret from a strange prisoner in Azkaban that Voldemort needed. He then asked if there was anything he should be aware of. I said no at the time, and he said he would go into hiding. He told me to send him an owl if anything happened. Well, eventually I started worry about Voldemort possibly sending you a false vision to lure you to the Department of Mysteries. I sent an owl to Podmore telling him about my theory. He responded by saying he would come and see me at Grimmauld Place the next day. When he arrived, I told him all of my thoughts about the matter. He said he wished he could help, but I didn't know of anything for him to do at the moment. So I told him to just stay here at Headquarters, and maybe something would come up he could help with," Dumbledore explained.

"Of course something did come up. When Voldemort sent you that false vision, I was up in my mother's room feeding Buckbeak. I know all about Kreacher lying to you about it, Harry. So, you of course thought that I really was in the Department of Mysteries," Sirius said.

"Yeah, but why didn't you contact me?" Harry asked.

"We're getting there, Harry."

"While Sirius was with Buckbeak, I came up to his mother's room and told him all about it. Podmore, who had been hiding out in the room at the time, followed me out the door. He told me that he had a Polyjuice Potion made in case something came up. I told him he could go as Sirius since he hadn't left yet," Dumbledore continued.

"So, Podmore came back into the room under Moody's Invisibility Cloak and pulled out one of my hairs. I felt it so I jumped up and said, 'Who's there?' He told me who he was then roared, "Stupefy!" I got knocked out cold until they got back," Sirius said.

"We all left for the Department of Mysteries. When we got there, Sturgis confided in me that he wanted to die. 'This secret is weighing me down, and I'm going to be chased down by Voldemort,' he said. I said I understood how he felt, and then we went into the Chamber of Death to save you. When you saw Sirius get knocked through that veil, it was really Sturgis. Since all the Death Eaters saw him go through that veil, I couldn't explain then. Hopefully this will keep Sirius safe."

"Maybe I'll even get a "posthumous" pardon," laughed Sirius.

"So, where have you been Sirius?" Harry asked.

"I've been back at Headquarters all along. We just couldn't send you an owl or anything because there have been reports of owl interception. We couldn't risk Voldemort catching wind of me being alive or Podmore being dead." Sirius answered. Dumbledore nodded in agreement.

"So what is this I've heard about you being attacked again by Voldemort?" Sirius asked. Harry and Dumbledore then explained all about Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange posing as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, kidnapping Harry, and almost killing him.

"Sounds like you've been busy too, then Harry?" Sirius joked.

"Yeah, I suppose I have," Harry replied.