A/N: Hi all, I've joined the International Wizarding School Championship writing competition, and this story is my second entry. To readers of my Harry/Draco series, those stories will continue to be listed in my profile to prevent confusion.

Please note: This is an AU where James Potter was not home the night of Voldemort's attack in 1981. Later events were altered by James's presence, including Sirius's lack of incarceration, the Longbottoms' not being found and attacked, and Remus and Tonks surviving the final battle.

Story Title: Sirius Trouble

School and Theme: Beauxbatons, Department of Magical Law Enforcement

Main Prompt: [Pairing of any kind] James Potter/Sirius Black

Additional Prompts: [Occupation] Auror, [Genre] Crime

Year: 6

Wordcount: 2955

Sirius Trouble

Bound by magical handcuffs, Sirius Black was dropped unceremoniously by Portkey onto the floor of the holding cell in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He was familiar with these cells with their white walls, hard bench, and anchored table and chairs, having been on the other side of them many times in his thirty-year career. He was retired now and those years were part of his past. However, he thought that this was probably a good time to begin asking himself some very serious questions about his recent life choices.

For example, what had possessed him to listen to James yet again and not only attract the attention of the Muggles, but to then get caught? Obviously, they were getting old, as twenty years ago, getting caught would have been laughable. And of course, then there was the question as to how the situation had gotten so far out of their control. So now, here they were, handcuffed, arrested, and awaiting their fate.

He assumed James was in the cell next to his and closed his eyes, trying to send his thoughts through the wall. This had never actually worked, but he was sure, absolutely sure, that if he tried hard enough, he could communicate telepathically with his best friend. He'd been trying for over forty years, though, and had yet to succeed. Obviously, that only meant he wasn't trying hard enough.

James. Nothing. Jamie, love. Nothing. Prongs! Still nothing. Dammit. Prongs, answer me!

"Sirius."

He jumped. It had worked! He opened his eyes and then felt the disappointment wash over him. It wasn't James; it still hadn't worked. Instead, it was the legal counsel he'd requested. Brilliant.

"Alice. Thank you for coming so quickly. Have you seen James?"

"I have, but I haven't talked to him yet. Sirius, what the hell were you both up to tonight? Sometimes, as much as I miss her, I'm glad that Lily isn't here to see the chaos that you two create. How you both managed to raise a stable young boy is absolutely beyond me."

Thirty-eight years had done much to dim the sorrow of losing Lily to Voldemort's curse that cold October night, but he still felt a stab of heartache at her not seeing Harry grow up. He would have changed it if he could without a second thought, even though that would mean he and James would never have had a chance to be together. Maybe if James had been there that night—but no, there was no value in "woulda coulda shoulda's", as Moony always told them.

Moony. Damn.

"What time is it?"

"Half-past five. Why?"

"Just wondering how long until morning. So what are the charges?"

"Nothing official is filed yet, but you're likely looking at three counts of breaking the Statute of Secrecy, five counts of endangering non-magical citizens, and one count each of failing to register as an Animagus."

"Bloody hell."

"Yes. Now, let's talk about how we're going to handle this. I could do the obvious and just call—"

"No. You're not calling him. Not yet. Let's see if we can handle this on our own, shall we?"

"Well, if not him, then we could call—"

"No! Not her either. Dammit, Alice, there has to be a way to get out of this without bringing either of them into it."

"Sirius, be serious." She grinned. And this was why he'd always loved Alice Longbottom. From the moment they had shown up on her doorstep with a baby Harry, and the Longbottoms and remaining Marauders had gone into hiding together with the babies, she'd been able to bring a smile to them all. She was amazing. "Without your contacts, you're facing extremely large fines, and possibly some time in prison. Azkaban may not be what it once was, but it's still not somewhere you want to be. And if you think that neither of them will intercede before that happens, then perhaps we should get you a mental examination while you're in custody. Now, let's start from the beginning. What happened tonight?"

"Are we being monitored?"

"No, I have privacy spells up, as is your right when speaking with your legal representative, which you well know. Now, stop delaying and start talking."

Sirius sighed. "It's the full moon."

She stared at him, then sighed. "So where is Remus?"

"Hopefully where we left him. See, here's what happened. We were in the house as usual, and he was in his safe room that he uses every month. Most months he's fastidious at taking his Wolfsbane potion, but this month, with everything that's been going on with Teddy and that girlfriend the kid was crazy for, well, he missed the first couple doses." Sirius frowned. "I know you haven't seen him much this year, but ever since Dora was cursed last spring— Alice, he's not been quite the same since she passed. Then Teddy's girlfriend Julia goes and breaks up with him a couple of weeks ago claiming it's because of Remus's furry little problem— Well, yeah. It's been a rough year."

"So he didn't take all of his doses."

"But that still shouldn't have mattered. His room was reinforced. We know the house is in a Muggle neighbourhood, and we've always been extremely careful. There should have been no way for him to escape. But he did, so we transformed and tried to usher him away into a more unpopulated area."

"And?" She was beginning to look worried.

"And…" He paused to add drama. It was necessary to add drama in storytelling. The location of the telling shouldn't alter that. "...we succeeded. We got him to the zoo, actually, and being after hours, there were only animals around. We even managed to get him into an empty enclosure, where he calmed and prepared to sleep."

"Sounds logical. But Sirius, zoos have—"

"Cameras. Yeah, they do. And we were more worried about him not biting anyone than we were about some security guard seeing a stag and a dog manoeuvring a wolf into the zoo." He sat back and sighed. "Honestly, we really didn't even think about the cameras, but I would do it again if I had to. We saved lives."

"You did. But why the hell did you transform back?"

"Because we're stupid? I told you, we weren't thinking about the cameras. Remus fell asleep, and once the wolf is asleep, he's always out until morning. We were starving, so we decided to Apparate out and get something to eat. No one had bothered us yet, and we thought we were safe. We couldn't Apparate as animals, so we got out of the enclosure, moved far enough away that we wouldn't draw attention to that area, then transformed."

"On camera."

"Evidently."

"And the security person watching the camera called the police screaming about animals turning into people."

Sirius dropped his head into hands. "And set off some alarms, yes. We knew at that point it'd make it worse if we just disappeared and they might search and find Moony." He looked up. "So, now what?"

"Well, first, I'm going to get Frank to the zoo and get Remus out as soon as he transforms back. It's about an hour to sunrise. Which enclosure was he in?"

"I think it was an old polar bear habitat. It looked like it hadn't been used in a while. He's behind the rocks, asleep."

"Right." She opened her bag and pulled out her communication mirror and explained Remus's location to a very confused and sleepy Frank Longbottom. Sirius could hear mumbles of "daft arseholes" from where he sat.

When she was finished, she turned back to him. "Now that Moony is taken care of let's talk about you. I'm going to talk to James next, and then you both have a choice. I can call the Head Auror, or I can call the Minister for Magic. Which is it going to be?"

"There's no other way?"

"No, not to get you off and also protect Remus. If anyone finds out that a werewolf was loose, off his potions, and running around Muggle Cheshire, he'll be arrested and charged much more heavily than you can imagine. It wouldn't be a few fines and a few days in jail. We'd be talking long-term prison time. You know the laws around werewolves aren't yet changed, no matter how much the Minister has made it clear it's one of her chief concerns. The only way to keep this quiet at this point is to get one of them involved before this escalates any further."

"Fine, let James decide. It's his arse more than mine."

"Great. Just sit tight. I'll be back in a while."

As she got up and reached for the door, Sirius spoke up. "Alice? Thank you. And whoever you call, take them to James first, okay?"

She laughed. "Good idea."

The handcuffs had been removed, but it seemed like he'd been waiting twelve years to learn his fate, though he knew it was likely only an hour or two. Fine, he was overly dramatic, but everyone knew that. That was who he was, Sirius Black, thespian. Well, perhaps not. Sirius Black, retired Auror, and now arrested pillock. This was bloody awful.

He heard a commotion outside his door and braced himself for whatever his future held. He was absolutely sure that fines and jail time would be better than this, but if it was what he had to do for Moony… well, he'd deal.

"Are you freaking kidding me, Sirius? You transformed back into human form in front of the freaking cameras? Are you insane?"

Sirius sighed. He had honestly hoped James would pick the Minister. At least she wouldn't yell as loudly. He looked up at the Head Auror and tried to give him his guiltiest but sweetest smile. See? Thespian.

His godson narrowed his eyes at him and scowled. "Don't give me that look." Harry turned to the door and looked into the hallway. "Come on, get in here and sit with your cohort. I'm not doing this twice."

James walked in and avoided eye contact with his son, then sat down next to Sirius. He leaned over close and whispered, "You okay, Pads?"

"Yeah, but you had to pick Harry?"

Harry glared at them, and they shut up. "I can't believe the two of you—I just—what am I supposed to do with this? I'm not angry you did what you did, obviously. You protected the populace, and you protected Remus. Perfect. Brilliant. But then you went and transformed in front of freaking cameras! Do you know how hard it is to hide evidence like that in this day and age? The digital uploads from the security cameras are almost immediate. We have the Cybersquad on it, and they've been busy for three hours already adjusting footage that's been uploaded to YouTube."

James looked confused. "What's YouTube?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "And this is why you're retired. It's Muggle camera sharing, Dad. We can't just Obliviate and move on. Millions of people have already viewed the footage. We have to leak proof of the footage being faked to cover. And then you have these charges for endangering the non-magical public. The Muggles claim you were there to let animals loose and cause a panic, and I can't tell them why you were really there." Harry ran his hands through his hair in a gesture so like his father's that Sirius had to use every skill he had to hide his smile. "I can't completely hide this, you know. You're going to have to take some fines and a slap on the wrist at the very least."

Sirius looked at his godson sheepishly. "What about the unregistered Animagus problem?"

"And what problem is that?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Harry knew what problem he meant. What was he playing at?

Harry grinned, reminding Sirius that he was still the boy raised by two Marauders. "I registered you both years ago. As soon as I finished the academy, I talked to Hermione, and we filled out the paperwork and slipped it into the files. No one will see it unless they are looking for it specifically." Then he glared from one to the other. "Which they will now be doing."

Sirius sighed in relief, while James seemed to be trying to refrain from congratulating his son for being so clever. But really, this was why Harry was made Head Auror at such a young age. Well, that and the whole vanquishing Voldemort thing. Besides, he wasn't quite that young now, turning forty this year and everything. Anyway, Harry thought about all the details and planned for contingencies. Sirius figured it was Lily's genes that gave him that, or perhaps it was just years of Hermione's and Neville's influences.

"Sirius, pay attention. So here's what's happening. I've briefed the Minister, and she's staying completely away from this. This has already made enough of a mess by your being my parents without her getting involved."

Sirius nodded. He was doing his best to appear to be paying very close attention. Thespian.

"We're going to go ahead and charge you each with one count of breaking the Statute of Secrecy, and one count of endangering the public. We'll use the story that you were drunk and broke into the zoo on a bet, then you forgot yourselves and accidentally changed in front of the cameras."

Sirius tried to look contrite but wanted to laugh, as there was a time he and James actually had drunkenly broken into the zoo on a bet, and Harry probably knew it.

His godson pierced him with a direct stare, seeming to know what he was thinking. "You're both going to receive a hefty fine and sixty days probation. And you will bloody well behave yourselves during that time. And you'll keep each other in line as well." He sighed and sat on the edge of the table. "I'm not pulling any strings here because you're my family. I'm actually able to make allowances for the fact that you're both retired Aurors and have spent decades of your lives proving that you're the good guys. But Dad, Dadfoot, this was too close with Moony."

James spoke up. "I know. But Harry, that door was secure. We need to investigate that because I tested it myself three weeks ago. There's no way he should have been able to break through it. It was secure."

Harry looked from one to the other, then nodded. "I'll take care of it. Has anyone had access to the house other than the family?"

James shook his head, but Sirius remembered suddenly. "Julia."

Both Potters gave him identical calculating looks, and if he hadn't had that happen repeatedly for the last forty years, he supposed he might have found it eerie. As it was, he just shrugged. "She was over with Teddy two weeks ago. You remember, the day she broke up with him because his father is a werewolf?"

Harry looked thunderous and just a little frightening, even to Sirius, as he walked to the door and said something quietly to whoever was outside. Sirius heard footsteps walk away as the door closed again. "Someone will be paying Miss Julia Ross a visit this morning with some questions. Thank you, Sirius."

Sirius nodded, finally feeling like maybe he was useful again. "So, now what?"

"Now you both go home, take care of Remus, and get some sleep. Don't touch the door to the safe room until I've had time to go over it. Alice will talk to you in a couple of days about the paperwork and fines, and so forth."

James stood and walked to Harry, clapping him on the shoulder. "Thank you, son. I know this wasn't easy, and I know we woke you in the middle of the night, but thank you. And apologize to Ginny for us please, for taking you away during the night."

"I will, but I'm sure she'll have a few choice words for you when she sees you next."

"I'd expect nothing less. Sirius, you coming?"

"Go on out. I'll be right there."

Sirius looked at Harry as James left the room and closed the door. "Harry, thank you for going easy on us tonight. It's not easy getting old, and I think it's especially hard on your dad since he was so important for so long."

Harry started to say something, but Sirius shushed him. "Oh, I know, we still have a lot of years left, and we both do a lot of good on the Wizengamot and in charities and stuff, but it's not the same as being in on all the action and knowing all the latest about everything." He shrugged. "They really can see the camera images in real-time?"

"Yeah, they can. Remind me the next time you're at the house, and I'll introduce you to Jamie's computer."

"Bloody hell. Oh, I wanted to ask, what did the Minister say about all this?"

"She hates it when you call her that, you know? You've known Hermione since she was eleven."

Sirius gave his best rakish grin. "Yeah, I know."

Harry shook his head. "She laughed and wished me luck. Some best friend she is."

He chucked Harry on the shoulder. "Friends that will laugh at you are the best kind. Good night, Harry. We love you. And thanks."

Harry gave him a hug and left him with James.

James smiled as they left the Ministry. "Well, we got through that. Fines and probation only."

Sirius laughed and gave him a fist bump. "Yup, we've still got it. Come on, let's go home."