Sirius felt his ropes loosen, until he fell to the ground gasping for breath. A worn hand reached downwards and helped him to his feet as Kingsley stared on in confusion; a look of disgust slowly covering his face. "I should have realised from the beginning," he muttered.
"It's not what you think." Moony replied softly. Sirius was surprised, and a trifle annoyed, to see he was smiling.
Kingsley, too, had seen the smile but appeared unconcerned. "Do you really think you can beat me, Lupin?" he sneered smugly. "I'm a trained auror."
"Yes, but there are two of us!" Sirius interrupted, picking up a broken chair leg and tapping it absentmindedly against the ground in what he hoped was a threatening manner.
"A werewolf and his wandless friend?" Kingsley laughed. "Perhaps I am too overconfident but I can't see you posing much of a threat."
Remus opened his mouth again to reply, but it was too late. Sirius had thrown the table leg across the room and it had hit Kingsley painfully in the forehead, sending the auror stumbling to the ground. With a grin and a whoop Sirius picked up another piece of debris and began to approach his fallen enemy, before Remus grabbed his arm and dragged him backwards towards the ruins of the bar.
"What the hell do you think you're doing Sirius?" he demanded, quietly. "You have to get out of here!" he hissed again when his friend showed no signs of moving, glancing back at the prone auror. Sirius raised an eyebrow and started back towards Shacklebolt before finally being pulled violently away by Remus, who was surprisingly strong, and pushed towards the exit where his friend grabbed his shoulders, forcing their eyes to meet. "You'll just make it worse for yourself," Remus said, sincerely. "Get the hell out of here; let me deal with him."
"He's an auror, he'll kill you!" Sirius almost cried, pleadingly in retaliation. Remus looked stung and too late, Sirius realised that that probably hadn't been the most tactful thing to say in the present situation. "Moony-"
"I can handle myself," Remus replied curtly, giving him a firm shove in the direction of the exit. "Go!"
Remus had always been better at arguing then the other Marauders, this occasion was no different and by the time Kingsley began to climb to his feet, Sirius was running through the exit as fast as his feet would carry him, swearing under his breath.
Lupin's wand arm rose slowly and warily; Kingsley eyed him suspiciously, sliding his left wand back into its holster. "I'll make it a fair duel, Remus, but I have to suggest you give in now, and keep your life," Kingsley remarked haughtily.
"I think we both know I won't be giving in that easily, Shacklebolt," Remus countered. "Give it your best shot." He gritted his teeth; unless he was very much mistaken this would be somewhat painful. Remus was never mistaken.
For a moment, the two wizards faced each other in the ruins of the building, glasses still sitting on the bar abandoned by the terrified Muggles then, suddenly, Kingsley drew back his wand arm sharply and muttered an incantation. Remus strained to hear the word, but found, rather inconveniently, that he was too busy flying through the air to catch exactly what had been said. He crashed painfully into the back of the bar shattering several antique bottles of Rum that had stood behind it for years and landing awkwardly next to a keg of Guinness.
The bar had splintered and drops of blood began to fall into his eyes. Remus raised his hands tentatively to his forehead and found a fragment of wood embedded above his eyebrow. Forcing his eyes closed he ripped it out, causing the blood to flow more freely. Remus comforted himself with the thought that it was probably cleaning the wound, and raised his wand.
"Expelliarmus!"
Kingsley roared with anger as the spell hit him in the chest, knocking him off balance and into the wall. His wand dropped from his hand and rolled away across the ground. Seeing this, a very bruised and bloodied Remus Lupin emerged awkwardly from behind the ruins of the bar, his wand ready and aimed.
"PETRIFICUS TO…"
But before he could finish uttering the incantation, Kingsley had leapt towards him and grabbed his ankle, pulling him towards the ground. Wands forgotten, Remus felt a fist hit his cheek, several teeth shattering in his mouth and coppery blood rising up to fill the space as they splintered into his gum. Two more blows rained down onto his body, and he rolled over spluttering. Kingsley pushed himself, panting, to his feet and stood triumphantly over his fallen enemy for a moment before he grimaced and took a step backwards and kicked, his foot making agonising contact with Remus's ribs a split second later. As the werewolf groaned, Kingsley readied himself for another attack. He drew back his leg in preparation but before he could complete the movement a deep growl spread through the room. He stopped and turned abruptly, as a huge, black, shaggy dog bounded through the broken window.
Kingsley reached for his second wand, but the dog had apparently suspected this movement and had already clamped its jaws viciously around his arm in question. It reared up on its back legs, and knocked him to the floor, its padded paws pressing more firmly against his arm as he tried to get a better grip on the wand in its holster. The paws began to change, morphing into human hands.
The auror blinked in astonishment as the shaggy black hair instantaneously receded back into the animal's skin to reveal Sirius Black, his hands gripping Kingsley firmly.
"You're a… an… anim-" he stuttered incomprehensively.
"An Animagus?" Sirius offered helpfully, grinning somewhat cheekily for the situation. "Yes, I'd noticed."
Remus groaned slightly and tried to say something that was probably "for God's sake Sirius." The Animagus' head turned towards his friend, as Kingsley's hand snaked towards his wand again, but Sirius' foot slammed down over his wrist, pinning him to the floor. Kingsley now realised the fugitive was holding Remus Lupin's wand, pointing it at him.
"I don't think you should try that again, Shacklebolt," Sirius continued softly, almost amiably but his eyes betrayed his irritation and his hand moved closer, pressing the tip of the wand into Kingsley's forehead.
"You wouldn't!" Kingsley garbled desperately; the calm of before dispelled.
"Oh, wouldn't I?" Sirius laughed mirthlessly. "You're so quick to assume that I handed the Potters over to Voldemort, and murdered all those innocent muggles." The wand pressed deeper as Sirius's anger grew, receding again sharply when Remus gave another groan and began to struggle up. He looked over with concern; Remus shook his head and indicated the auror still lying prone at Sirius' feet. The animagus turned back to his captive and grinned, teeth glinting. "If I'd kill my best friend why I wouldn't I kill an auror? Especially one who, if freed, would certainly make sure I was sent back to Azkaban at the very least; given the Dementor's kiss if you could manage it," he asked more calmly, as his friend climbed to his feet.
"Aren't you beginning to realise the truth?" Remus whispered hoarsely, a smile tugging reluctantly at his lips, blood dripping from between his broken teeth.
"Realise what truth?" Kingsley mumbled, trying to disguise the fear in his usually calm voice. Why he wasn't dead already was a mystery to him; Black could have killed him instantly; did he just insist on torturing his victims first?
"Sirius is innocent," Remus insisted wiping away some of the blood with a pocket-handkerchief. "Severus Snape lied to you, to everyone. Sirius is not guilty of any of the crimes he was imprisoned for, without a trial, I might add, and had the authorities looked at the case in a little more depth or indeed, at all, they might have discovered that for themselves. The true culprit…the real man you are looking for… is Peter Pettigrew."
Kingsley let out a laugh, which was quickly silenced with a glare from Black. "Pettigrew is dead," he replied. "He was your friend; you should have noticed… if you can't come up with a better scapegoat then a dead, rather dim-witted but essentially good hearted hero, you can hardly be surprised if I do not believe you." Remus smiled feebly at Sirius, his teeth reddened from the quickly drying blood, as if to say 'well, I tried.'
"So, what should we do with him now, Moony?" Sirius asked dryly. "I suppose a drop of revenge is out of the question?"
"Entirely out of the question," Remus confirmed.
"Knew I shouldn't have asked you."
Remus grinned. "I think it would be better to leave the one other person who knows the truth alive, don't you?" Sirius grumbled slightly and stood up, still pointing the wand at Kingsley. Remus rolled his eyes. "We'd better be on our way, and let him settle up the bill here." His smile widened into a broader grin as he stepped closer to his friend and the auror. "I didn't think much of that muggle drink, by the way," he confided. "A bit too sour for my liking… perhaps next time we should just stick to something simpler, something without veritaserum in it."
Kingsley nodded weakly, still trying to sort though all this new information in his mind. He felt the pressure on his wrist relax and reached for his wand, preparing to curse the pair of them.
But, unfortunately, they had already gone; disappeared, literally, into mid-air.
TO BE CONTINUED…………………..
A/N.
Well, finally got around to posting this chapter. It has been edited so much now I barely remember exactly how much of it was in the original draft…anyway, its up…and I hope people enjoy it *sort of* even if it does kinda suck compared to the other two chapters. Am in no hurry to write Chapter IV, so don't hold your breath kids! As always, if you liked this story go and read some here The Tom Riddle story is especially good.