Harry Potter: A Different Sirius

In the United Kingdom

Albus looked into the fire while sitting in his office. Last month's order meeting had gone poorly. Remus Lupin hadn't even bothered to attend. It didn't help that the order was no closer to finding Harry Potter and Sirius Black than it had been seven years ago. Albus sighed he was no closer on figuring out how Voldemort survived the happenings of Godric's Hollow than he had been before. That he survived Albus didn't doubt, the mark on Severus' arm never completely faded and to this day there was still a faint pulse of magic from it if one looked deep enough for the magic. But how had Voldemort done it?

Fawkes flew from his perch to Albus' knee. He stroked the phoenix's feather's "What am I to do Fawkes?"

The floo flared. "Albus, I just got a letter; the sender is willing to give me a lead on Black. If I get back to him, I could ask about the boy. Should I follow up or not?"

"Do it. With only two years until Harry is supposed to start Hogwarts, maybe we can redeem him."

"I am on it. I'll be in touch."

Alastor Moody was known as one of the most hard nosed suspicious bastards in the auror corps at the Ministry of Magic. He'd lost a half of a leg, his eye and a chunk of his nose to dark wizards over the years. His job as he saw it was to catch law breakers. He had never failed even when they hurt him, he still had always gotten his man. Except once. Except once when it really counted. He hadn't managed to catch the bastard that betrayed his godson. Few in the department knew that James Potter had been his godson, he'd wanted to maintain the illusion that he had no weaknesses for enemies to exploit. Fewer still knew he had sworn vengeance on Black, a sworn vengeance that had caused a felling out between himself and his old friend Minerva the day he'd sworn it. One day he'd catch the man that had betrayed all he held dear, but first he had to rescue his godson's son.

Albus was right. Harry was the priority over Black here. Most of the time Alastor wasn't sure how he felt about Albus the man was powerful but he liked to maneuver people like they were pieces on a chess board. In time of war that was fine you need a general. In times of peace however it just made Moody nervous. In his dealings with the older man he always left himself room to maneuver and always looked at everything six ways from Sunday so he was never trapped. The Chief Warlock was a tricky one. He always, always had an ulterior motive. The question always was what was it? Moody's message back to Chambers was short. I'm interested, but I'm even more interested in a nine year old boy he probably has with him. Now who to take with him so he could get the bastard and take Harry back.

A week later in Maryland, Director Chambers opened the note from Moody. He felt very nervous if anyone found out there'd be hell to pay but he had to do something. Chambers saw the note was asking about the boy, well Black always took the boy with him on these trips hell it was one of the reasons the trips were organized so the boy could be trained… Like a snot nosed kid that wasn't even ten needed training from the top aurors in the country… Just cause the bastard was rich… Just cause he fucked that worthless bitch, the President's stupid squib step-daughter. She was a pretty piece granted but still a squib. How to give Moody the information so he could take Black away from the equation without getting himself caught and accused of treason… the WIS facility was out… But wait hadn't there been that exercise…

A month later Moody got a reply.

Black and the boy are in the Chicago area beginning June 22 however they have lots of security. Best bet might be three weeks later they're going to be at an outdoor area were holes in the security could be created. Chevalier woods cook county forest preserve . Good luck.

Moody had a team of six aurors. He'd wanted to hand pick them but Fudge had reserved that honor for himself. Dawlish, Keeler, Trent, and Williamson weren't bad but Simon Avery and Bill Parkinson weren't people he trusted his back to. Fudge himself approved this. "Harry Potter is a National Treasure," Fudge had said. "Of course Moody. You can have six aurors and the budget to local hire a dozen helpers once you're was in Chicago."Of course Fudge told the aurors that they couldn't tell anyone, it was a private mission. It looked like Fudge was hoping to claim all the credit when Harry was finally brought back to the U.K. Moody didn't really care you got the credit as long as Harry wasn't in Black's hands and they had Black in the hands of Dementors, then he'd be happy.

Two weeks later he stopped in New York at the ICW offices there to try to clear this exercise on foreign soil. He was going to get Harry back to Albus regardless and Black would either be dead or in bindings but it would be nice if they had the blessing of the host country.

Half an hour later he left the offices furious. Trust a Black to take advantage of loopholes. The ICW that wouldn't meet for four more years Black had a filed stay of extradition and request for an international trial. Which protected his presence in the USA and allowed him to live as he pleased. Well Moody hadn't gotten his top rank by accepting shit like this lying down.

Minerva McGonagall thought long and hard about everything Remus had told her last year. James had been her godson and he meant more to her than just about everyone but Albus had been her friend and mentor for years. She had trouble believing that he would do something so… ruthless as to put a innocent man behind the walls, bars, and dementors of Azkaban and to hurt a small child in the name of the greater good. But there was that small part of her that reminded her of the unrelenting rancor between Albus and his brother, and all the times she'd seen him pressure Severus into doing what he wanted. And she couldn't help but wonder. It was like the gloss of her good regard was slowly being eroded away. Then one week she noticed he seemed unable to focus he was excited about something. She asked and he merely said "I got good news Minerva. Good news indeed!" but no matter what or how she asked she got nothing more than that from him.

Amelia Bones noticed Madeye's absence and the absence of six other top notch aurors at the weekly staff meeting the third week of June and asked but was brushed off with a mission from Fudge. She immediately dismissed it as inconsequential because she had been on two missions from the minister herself and neither one in her opinion warranted the aurors that had been sent.

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