Chapter 17.1- Doom Days

In the end, it had taken two days to smuggle Sirius into the castle, and into the Room of Requirements. Two days. Not a lot of time for Muggles, but for Wizards, spending so long in travel might as well have been an eternity. The Ade sense, though. Cross-continenantal apparation was possible for a select few, and those without the power to attempt it could rely on Portrays that could take one all the way across the world in a manner of seconds. It was another way that we stood above our muggle brethren, but unlike in the Muggle world where quicker transportation and communication had encouraged inter-cultural socialization and exposure, the opposite had happened here. Because of how easy it was to travel, distance did not matter much to Wizards and traveling didn’t hold any appeal.

There was nothing exclusive about it. All wizards but the extremely poor could afford a journey by portkey across the world. Sure, there were places that charged for entry, like the Pyramids under Goblin control, but those were few and far between and there was enough prejudice against Magical creatures that the average wizard would not even consider it an option. But that was besides the point, I was trying to zone out of another one of Sirius’s tales about his escapades in the castle.

“Yes, Sirius, for the seventh time, I understand what you would have done to Turpin, and Chang, and Hillsong, and the dozen other witches you’ve mentioned in the last five minutes if you found out about this room during your time here” I said with a sigh. I had been content to zone him out and allow him speak for the time being, but once he started using the control I’d granted him over the room to generate “Play objects”, I had to step in.

“Spoilsport.” He said with a sigh before he collapsed onto a couch that appeared out of thin air to catch him before he hit the floor.

“Back to the matter at hand, I was stating that you would need to stay here for the time being while I worked to prove your innocence and secure your freedom” I said.

“And how exactly are you going to do that? Dumbledore himself can’t do anything unless we capture Pettigrew, and to be honest I’d rather kill the rat than trade him for freedom.” he asked.

“Well, I have a plan of my own that doesn’t require Pettigrew?”

“What? Kidnapping the minister?” He said before bursting into laughter that I didn’t join him in, instead choosing to look in the other direction.

“Harry. Harry, you can’t kidnap the minister” He sounded genuinely worried that I’d been cracked in the head.

“Harry, can you hear me? That’s a one-way ticket to Azkaban and I don’t think you’re awesome enough to escape like yours truly” At that, I lost the fight with the laughter I was holding in.

“You were never planning on kidnapping the minister, were you?”

“Of course not. Who do I look like to you? A Black”

“Well…”

“Save it. You see, I’ve been reading the ICW charter recently. Just had my curiosity piqued with so many foreigners lurking around the Castle”