Sirius Black watched sorrowfully as his godson, Harry Potter, and his friend Hermione Granger were led down the streets by aurors, safe in his Animagus form. Harry was being condemned for the murder of Cedric Diggory and Hermione for who her Grandfather was.
All of this had started when Snape had assigned the Fifth years a genealogy potion. It showed you your family tree all the way back to the beginning of your family. For Muggleborns it was short and in plain type. Purebloods and half-bloods would have their family crest show up and the family tree would be written in the handwriting of the first member of their family. This was, of course, after it was poured onto a piece of paper.
Imagine everyone's shock when Hermione's showed up in jagged, angry looking letters. A crest of with a blood red and black checkered background and two bloody long swords crossed behind a spidery looking G. The crest of Hermione's grandfather, Hatherios Grindewald. Harry's had been an even bigger shock, showing that his mother was a cousin of the Gaunts, making Voldemort Harry's great uncle.
Upon seeing their stricken faces Snape had demanded that the two show their family Tree's to the class. The results had been entertaining to say the least.
"Come on, you insolent little brats. Come up here and show the class your heritage." Snape said in his soft, silky voice.
"Professor, I really don't think-"Hermione was cut off by Draco Malfoy.
"What's the matter Mudblood. Afraid to show everyone your dirty little muggle family!"
"Now Draco," Snape admonished, "It's not nice to tease. Come on Ms. Granger, you have nothing to be ashamed of." Hermione looked around nervously before walking up to the front of the class room. Silently, she handed her scroll to Prof. Snape. The greasy potions professor cast a charm that enlarged the paper and plastered it onto the blackboard.
"Decided to make yours look more interesting, eh Granger. Fifteen points from Gryffindor." Snape turned back to the class only to see Draco gaping at Hermione's Family tree.
"T-That's the crest of the Grindewald family!" He stuttered in fear. Snape whirled around and looked at the parchment more closely. Hermione's head was bowed in shame as the entire class stared at her unabashedly.
"That's enough Snape. Take it down!" Harry said, glaring at the potions professor.
"And why don't we have a look at yours Potter!" Snape sneered, flicking his wrist at Harry's parchment. It flew on top of Hermione's and again there was a shocked silence. For there on the board, at the top of the page, stood the proud crest of Slytherin.
With the Umbridge Bitch in charge of the school the news had gotten to the ministry in a matter of hours. At lunch time that day aurors had arrived and arrested both Harry and Hermione. And the whole time, as the aurors marched them out of the great hall, everyone except the Slytherin table glared at them hatefully.
That had been three days ago. Now the two were being marched through the streets of Diagon Alley. The trial had already taken place and both of the young students had been found guilty. The march through the alley was so that all of the wizarding population could taunt and jeer at the two distraught teen. The trial had been difficult enough for the two of them. Everyone at the school had gone on and on about how they were always going dark and never talked to anyone else. Even the Weasley's had testified, all except for Ron. He and Sirius were the only ones who thought the whole thing was ridiculous. Dumbledore himself had stood up and said how disappointed he was in the two of them.
The eyes of the dog watching the two children being dragged through the streets as wizards and witches thought garbage and refuse at them hardened. With a loud bark he leapt up and ran through the crowd, two small book the size of a mans' palm clamped shut in his jaw. Pushing through the aurors holding back the crowd he tackled the black haired young man, indiscreetly pushing one of the books into his pocket. Tackling the girl next he repeated the process then ran off into the crowd again. The roaring public only cheered harder at seeing the two scapegoats's knocked to the ground. Both of the innocent young people were hauled to their feet and the march continued on.
Harry put his hand over the pocket of the prison robes that he was wearing to feel the book Sirius had placed there. Looking to his left, his eyes connected with Hermione's and they nodded at each other imperceptivity. Straightening their backs and raising their head proudly they marched through the crowds of people to the scheduled apparition point before disappearing along with their auror escort with a loud pop!
Five Years Later:
Ron Weasley sat in the plush chair in the order of the phoenix meeting room. His feet were up on the mahogany meeting table and his head was leaning back, almost like he was asleep. His robes were worn and looked as though they were well used and he was much thinner than he had been five years ago. Ron's eyes darkened. Five years ago when his tow best friend were sent away to hell and Ron had been left to his own version of purgatory.
Because he hadn't joined in with everyone else in condemning Harry and Hermione Ron's family had turned on him. His mother only cooked for him because she didn't want him to starve to death, and even then the little food he got was on par with what his two best friends were eating. The rest of the family had taken to either cursing him out or beating the living crap out of him.
It wasn't limited to his family either. At school all of the teachers managed to blame him for everything that went wrong in their class except, oddly enough, Snape. His had actually become the most bearable of all. The rest of the Gryffindor house had turned on him, tripping him down the staircases, knocking him over in the hallways, even stunning him in his sleep and leaving him in the forbidden forest.
Having no friends and being kicked off of the Quiditch team (McGonagall's doing) Ron had immersed himself in knowledge. The amount of time that he spent in the library would have put even Hermione to shame. It came as quite a shock to Ron's family as well as most of the school and the order when Ron managed to, after graduating from Hogwarts just three years earlier, get a grand mastery in both Charms and Transfiguration.
He'd begun working in the experimental spell work division of the ministry and in three months had worked his way up to department head, bringing in a hefty salary. Immediately both the order and Ron's family had tried to get close to him again. Ron had definitely enjoyed that day.
Flashback
Ron walked into Grimmauld place and hung his tattered cloak up on the coat rack by the door. Walking tiredly into the kitchen, he pulled out a butterbear from a cabinet and sat down heavily at the kitchen table. Taking a sip, he looked around the empty kitchen curiously, wondering where Sirius was. Shrugging, Ron took another sip and leaned back in the chair.
The far door to the kitchen opened and in walked about half the order, including all of the Weasley's, McGonagall, Flitwick, and of course Dumbledore.
"Ron!" Mrs. Weasley said, looking at him worriedly, "You look tired dear. Here, you stay there and I'll wip up some food." There were more greetings as everyone sat down around him, smiling happily. Ron stared at all of them in disbelief, butterbear frozen halfway to his lip. Hearing a snort of disgust above all the cheerful chattering, Ron looked back at the doorway and saw Snape leaning on the doorframe with a bemused look on his face. Nodding respectfully at Ron, he turned and strode out of the room.
"Ronald my boy," Dumbledore said, smiling at Ron in his senile old way, "I was wondering if I could interest you in a proposition of mine."
"What exactly is this, proposition?" Ron asked, taking another sip of his butterbear and wishing dearly it was firewhisky.
"I was wondering if you would be interested in taking on an assistant Professor position at Hogwarts under either Minerva or Filius here," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling annoyingly. Both Minerva and Flitwick were looking at him with eager smile on their faces. The Weasleys had all stopped talking and were watching the conversation with interest. Ron frowned at all of them.
"No disrespect intended Headmaster, but why would I do that? Both Minerva and Filius here, while experts in their respective fields, only have a mastery in their subject. I have a grand mastery in both," Ron said, glaring at his old head of house as he spoke. There were few fond memories of her or Hogwarts left for him.
"But Ron, my dear, think of the pay increase. Even assistant Professors make one hundred Galleons a month," Mrs. Weasley said, leaning close to Ron as she place a plate of steaming hot food in front of him. Ron looked at all of them and sighed. Pushing away from the table he walked over to another cabinet. Opening it he pulled out an unopened bottle of fifty year old firewhisky. Leaning against the counter, he opened the bottle and took a deep gulp of the fiery liquid, ignoring his mothers disapproving noise.
"So what exactly brought on this change of heart," Ron said, staring at the bottle of liqueur in his hand, "The fact that I've got a better education than everyone in the family, or the fact that I'm now making fifty Galleons a month and my beloved family isn't close enough to me to leech off of me?" At his family's guilty looks Ron nodded and shifted his gaze to the Headmaster and his old teachers. "And you Headmaster? Trying to bring another talented Wizard into your precious order only to realize that you'd thrown me away years ago, eh?" Ron took another swig of his Firewhisky. "You should have picked a better proposition that studying under one of these two. I barely know Flitwick and have little respect for him and as for McGonagall, well," Ron glared at the stern woman again, making her flinch, "I'm on better terms with Deatheaters. Thanks, but I like my current job fine."
"Mr. Weasley, I know the two of us aren't on the best of terms, bu-"McGonagall started, but was interrupted by Ron's harsh, bitter laughter.
"Not on the best of terms?" Ron said incredulously. "Listen you harpy, I'd rather pledge my allegiance to Voldemort than study under some prissy old hag like you. You, along with my loving family here and your entire bloody Gryffindor house made my life a BLOODY LIVING HELL! BECAUSE OF YOU I'M MORE PARANOID THAN MAD-EYE-MOODY! YOU LET YOUR FUCKING HOUSE TORMENT ME FOR TWO AND A HALF YEARS!" Ron had started out calmly enough, but half way through all the old emotions had surfaced. The entire room was shaking as Ron's magic reacted to his anger. He was satisfied to see that his whole family had bowed their head in shame and McGonagall had tears in her eyes. With a snort of disgust, Ron marched out of the kitchen. Grabbing his cloak he marched outside and apparated to his apartment.
End Flashback
Ron looked up as people began to drift into the room. Giving a small shrug at their curious looks, Ron leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He truthfully had no idea why he was here. Ron had never joined the order and the few times that Dumbledore had come to him for help Ron had turned him down.
Finally, after about ten minutes the rest of the order had assembled, only their leader missing. Most of them looked at Ron reproachfully and sat as far away from him as possible. To Ron's surprise the only person that sat next to him was Draco Malfoy. Giving Ron a small nod, the Malfoy heir began looking at the rest of the gathered order with calculating grey eyes.
Finally the double doors to the meeting room opened with a flourish, admitting the Headmaster. The customary twinkle was absent from his blue eyes and the house elves on his bright purple robes seemed to be depressed, even by houself standards. Walking to the head of the table, Dumbledore sat down wearily. He looked every one of his one hundred and sixty years. Ron made eye contact with Sirius briefly before looking back at the Headmaster. What Ron saw in Sirius' eyes startled him.
The animagus' name had been cleared a few months after Harry and Hermione had been sent to Azkaban. Since then he'd spoken to few people and rarely left his home. That in itself was odd because Sirius hated Grimmauld place with a passion. Nobody ever figured out what he had done, but slowly the house had become less dark and creepy and more dark and majestic, becoming what everyone thought a manor of an ancient and noble house like the Blacks should look like.
Now, though, it was very apparent to Ron what Sirius had been doing. The dark, unnatural glow in his eyes had been all the proof that the Young Weasley had needed. Sirius had begun practicing the dark arts, and if the look in his eyes was anything to go by, he'd become fairly proficient in it. Giving his head a small shake, Ron turned his attention to Dumbledore.
"As you all know," the ancient looking man started wearily, "five years ago we sent Harry Potter and Hermione Granger to Azkaban. Many thought that they were just sent there because of their families and in Mr. Potter's case, the murder of Cedric Diggory. What is not common knowledge is that the biggest charge was that of practicing the dark arts. When they were brought in for questioning about their families their wands were tested and showed that said wands had been used extensively for Dark Spells." The Headmaster paused and gave a weary sigh. "This was the only real evidence that was able to convict them. Last night two junior Deatheaters were caught and questioned under veritiserum. When asked what their crimes were they admitted to steeling both Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger's wands and using them for Dark Arts in the hope of getting them in trouble with the ministry."
There were shocked gasps around the room and several people looked ill. Only two people looked pleased. Both Sirius and Ron were giving everyone around them grim smiles.
"We told you so," both Sirius and Ron said in sing song voices. Dumbledore frowned heavily at both of them.
"Now is not the time to be cheeky. Both Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger are being released this afternoon. I'd like a group of their closest friends to go and pick them up and bring them to Hogwarts."
"Well that rules out pretty much everyone in this room," Ron said casually, "and I doubt that either of them our going to want to go back to Hogwarts considering that's were they were arrested and most of the staff testified against them."
"Let's not forget," Sirius said with a sadistic smile, "that Harry still doesn't know about the prophesy or that this illustrious group has decided that he is no longer the chosen one. I'm sure he'll be very pleased to here about that."
"Enough you two!" Dumbledore yelled. "Now is not the time to gloat." Ron cocked his head to the side and gave the old wizard a curious look.
"How is Nevile doing Albus?" the red head asked innocently.
"Ronald Bilius Weasley, that is enough! How dare you speak to the Headmaster that way?" Molly Weasley yelled.
"Wow, you're yelling at me. That's a change of paste." Ron said, rolling his eyes. He ignored the hurt look his mother and the rest of his family got. "Headmaster, truthfully neither you nor anyone else in this room except for Sirius and myself have any right to see those two. If you'll excuse us, we have to go meet them," Ron said casually getting up from his relaxed position in his chair, Sirius mirroring his actions. Both of the order outcasts walked out of the meeting room and disappeared through the front door. Everyone was in a state of shock until Draco and Severus hissed in pain and grabbed their left forearms. Looking around quickly they stormed out and practically ran out the front door, apparating as soon as they cleared the words of Grimmauld Place. The rest of the order looked at their leader for guidance.
"I think, in light of recent events, it's quite obvious where Voldemort is going to attack. We must make our way to Azkaban immediately." Dumbledore said his tone of voice grave. The other order members nodded and quickly rushed out of the meeting room with one person on their mind. Harry Potter.