Halloween 1981

AN: First off I want to thank Trewyn Potter for her review, and for suggesting a second chapter because I honestly hadn't even considered writing another chapter, and the end of the first chapter was rushed. Also I appreciate the criticism. I hope all of you enjoy this chapter, and as always please review.

Halloween 1981

Chapter 2

    Sirius sat in a dark cell deep under the streets of London. He had been there ever since the Hit Wizards had brought him in. He had been given his own cell, the Ministry thought that he was too dangerous to keep with other prisoners, and was thus left with nothing but his thoughts. Sirius had stopped laughing a long time ago. Being locked in a dark moldy smelling dungeon really soured one's sense of humor after a while.

    Since he could no longer see the humor in his situation Sirius had reverted to cursing himself for being so stupid. He should have told Hagrid what had happened when he saw him at Godric's Hollow. If he had than Hagrid could be defending him right now, but he hadn't. Now everyone would think that he had killed Peter and had betrayed Lily and James to Voldemort because there wasn't a soul who would say other wise. His only hope was that he could convince the jury of his innocence during the trial.

    The dungeon door opened with a loud moan. Sirius looked up to see two figures silhouetted by the light in the hallway. He could tell that one, the shorter of the two, was an Auror by the golden badge on his cloak that reflected the dim light of the dungeon. The other was tall, too tall really, and shroud in a moldy black cloak. A horrible stench reeked from the tall figure; it smelled like rotting flesh. Sirius's blood ran cold, it was a Dementor.

    "Sirius Black?" questioned the Auror gravely. Sirius slowly rose to his feet and nodded. The Auror withdrew a roll of parchment from within his cloak. Sirius could see the seal of the Minister of Magic on the roll. The Auror broke the seal to unroll the parchment. He cleared his throat before reading, "Mister Sirius Black, you have been charged with assisting You-Know-Who in conspiring the murder of Lily and James Potter. You have also been charged with the murder of Peter Pettigrew. You have furthermore been accused of using magic in plain sight of Muggles and are responsible for the death thirteen Muggles present at the time Mister Pettigrew's death." The Auror paused for a moment while Sirius absorbed this information. He felt sick and his brain felt clouded. He opened his mouth to protest, but was stopped when the Auror continued to read from the parchment. "Your case has been reviewed by the Minister of Magic, and you have been found guilty of all of the proceeding charges. You have been sentenced to life time imprisonment in Azkaban, where you will be under the strict guard of Dementors for the remainder of your life." The Auror rolled the parchment up and stuck it into his cloak. He withdrew his wand and from it sprang more ropes that wound around Sirius's body.

    Sirius felt numb as he was floated out the cell. He hadn't even been given a trial, not even a chance to defend himself. He shivered at the fate that awaited him. He would be forced to relive the most terrible moments of his life until he died. He knew that those moments would include last night, finding Lily and James and having Harry taken from him, and this morning, Peter trickling him and escaping.

Peter, he though, all of this was Peter's fault. That rat was now running free in the sewer while he was being taken to Azkaban. Peter's fate seemed fitting, really, he deserved to be stuck with the other sewer rats. However, this didn't make it any easier for Sirius to digest the fact that he was going to Azkaban for murdering two of his closest friends.

    Laughter echoed from Sirius's lips, but it had lost the strange ironic humor that it had held earlier. Now his laughter was hollow and bitter, he didn't really find anything even remotely amusing now. He just wanted to laugh like he always had when faced with hard times. Laugh the difficulties away, and convince himself that everything would soon be all right.

    The Auror went with Sirius through a special connection in the Floo network to Azkaban. He floated Sirius though several dark corridors that smelled of human waste and death. Sirius could hear the moans and shrieks of other prisoners, which differed so greatly from his bitter chuckles

    Sirius could see the Auror shiver as they approached a hallway lined with tall cloaked figures. Towards the end of the corridor there was an open cell door. Sirius was floated into this cell and dropped onto the bed. The wizard recalled the ropes to his wand while the Dementor shut the door and magically locked it.

    Sirius stopped laughing when he heard the click of the lock. He couldn't comfort himself with the hollow laughter anymore because the click showed him bleakness of his situation. The click had told him that nothing would ever be all right for him again. No, it hadn't told him that everything would be wrong just him. The lock had told him nothing would be right for Harry either because he was now being raised by Muggles who not only didn't understand magic, but down right hated it. He had successfully ruined the lives of the Potters, he realized, by not being their Secret-Keeper.

    Sirius's mind quickly became filled with guilt as he replayed recent events again and again in his head. Each time he though about it he saw something else that he could have down to help the Potters. The grief and guilt of their deaths consumed them, he could think of nothing else. He tired to go to sleep to escape his thoughts but he dreamed of finding James dead on the living room floor, and Lily huddled over her wailing son.

    Sirius desperately tried to think of some way to escape his own mind, but apart from suicide he could think of none. After awhile he stopped eating, hoping that maybe without his body would stop functioning soon. Instead of dying the loud moans of his stomach joined his thoughts of guilt.

    He continued to think about that Halloween. It was the only thing he could think about it. His mind was obsessed with that night, it insisted upon having those horrible events unfold over and over again every day. He was even forced to relive the grief of Padfoot.

    One night, or possibly day, (it was always dark in his cell) while he thought about Padfoot whining and howling over the body of his fallen comrade something occurred to Sirius. Padfoot had only felt the loss and sadness of a pet losing its favorite playmate. There was no guilt or even all consuming grief associated with these memories, just a deep and simple sorrow.

Sirius realized that the emotions of an animal were much simpler then those of a human. He formed a hypothesis that maybe if he turned into Padfoot the sadness would be bearable.

Sirius gathered his strength. There was a flash of brilliant blue-white light that went unnoticed by the Dementor standing outside the door. Now, instead of Sirius Black in the cell, there was a large dog, Padfoot.

Padfoot stared at his small cell and sniffed at the door before curling up into a ball on the floor. He felt a sense of loss because there was no more Prongs to play with or Lily to laugh at his doggy antics while giving him a good belly rub. He even felt saddened by the fact that he would not be able to go out and play with Moony at the next full moon. Padfoot whimpered a little bit before resting his head and his front paws to take a nap.

The part of Padfoot's mind that was still human felt relieved. The guilt was no longer there; he could handle the sorrow of life without his friends as long as there was no guilt. Sirius swore to himself that someday he would escape from Azkaban and find Peter, and after he took care of that he would find some way that would allow him to take care of Harry. Someday, he thought before slipping off to sleep, he would right every wrong that had happened on that Halloween. If Sirius had been in his human form he might have laughed right then because everything was going to be all right.