Storm Princess

Back in England, Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office, preparing for the coming term. He was excited about the term beginning. Seeing his students again always brought him an indescribable joy, and this year was marked a special occasion. It meant one more year until Evelyn Potter would attend Hogwarts. Albus hoped that this year would go by without incident, but he knew that with the Weasley twins starting their second year, it wasn't likely.

Professor Dumbledore was diligently working at his desk when abruptly, an alarm went off on the instruments he had set up on a nearby desk. His eyes widen, and he rushed towards the table. He looked over the tools and noticed that the wards surrounding the Dursley's house had come crashing down. That could only mean one thing. Evelyn Potter was missing and no longer considered number 4 Privet Lane her home.

Professor Dumbledore made his way to his fireplace and threw a handful of floo powder into the fireplace. “Arabella Figg.”

Dumbledore roared to life, and he stepped through. The minute he arrived at Mrs. Figg's home, he rushed out of the house and made his way up the street towards the Dursley's. What he found surprised him. The police roped off the entire house, and there were Muggle police swarming the place. A crowd had gathered, and they were all watching with interest. Fearing someone would spot him, Albus disillusioned himself and walked around the group. Still, as he made his way towards the house, he heard one of the neighbors say that the police had arrested the Dursleys for child abuse that the police were in the process of collecting more evidence against them.

“Poor Evelyn, who would have thought that the Dursleys had been abusing her for years,” Albus heard one neighbor say.

“I heard that Petunia and Vernon confessed to their crime,” Another neighbor added.

“Where is little Evie now,” Someone asked.

“No one knows.”

Dumbledore bit his lip and left. He had heard all he needed to hear. The savior of the Wizarding World was missing, and he needed to get her back. Albus needed to return to Hogwarts and use his tracking spells to find her. Once the old man was out of sight, he dropped the disillusionment charm and apparated to the gates of Hogwarts. As soon as he arrived, he rushed to his office and checked his tracking spell. To his surprise, the spell was no longer functioning.

“What in Merlin's name is going on? How am I going to find that blasted girl now?”

Dumbledore sat down in his chair and began to think of a way to track down the girl, but for the life of him, he couldn't think of anything. Suddenly his head shot up, “Sirius Black.”

Dumbledore stood up and began to pace the floor, “Yes, Sirius should be able to track her down. He's her godfather; there's a special bond between godparents and their godchild. With that bond, Sirius should be able to find her and bring her back from wherever she is.”

Albus sighed, “I didn't want to have to get Sirius a trial, but it would appear I have no choice. There is no other choice, but I can't let Sirius go alone to track down Evelyn; he's going to need help.”

Dumbledore went to his fireplace and fire called Remus Lupin, “Remus, my boy, could you come to Hogwarts? I need to speak with you about Sirius Black.”

A few moments later, Remus stepped through the fire, “Why would you want to talk about that traitorous dog for, Headmaster?”

“I have recently come across some information that may prove Sirius's innocence in the murder of Lily and James. It turns out that Sirius never received a trial and never had a chance to tell his side of the story.”

Remus looked at Dumbledore with hopeful eyes, “Do you think there's a chance he could be innocent?”

“We won't know unless he has a trial, but if he is an innocent man has been in Azkaban this entire time. I'm telling you this to see if you wanted to go with me to the Ministry.”

“Yes, of course, Professor; when shall we go?”

“Immediately, my boy.” With that, Remus and Dumbledore left for the Ministry of Magic to talk to Amelia Bones.

Dumbledore and Remus walked through the ministry and made their way to Amelia Bones' office. Her secretary showed in them; Amelia was surprised to see the headmaster of Hogwarts and Remus Lupin, “Professor, what a surprise. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Albus began to explain to Amelia all about Sirius Black. That Barty Crouch threw him in Azkaban without a trial and that he believed that Sirius was innocent. Amelia listened intently to everything that Dumbledore said. When he was finished, she promised that she would look into it right away. With that, Albus and Remus left her office.

A few days later, Amelia contacted Dumbledore to let him know that what he had told her was indeed correct; Sirius Black never received a trial and was wrongfully imprisoned, “I wanted to let you know that I will be going to Azkaban to release him and have him stand trial. I was wondering if you and Remus would like to come with me?”

“Yes, of course, Amelia, Remus, and I will be there shortly,” Albus informed his former student. Albus quickly told Remus, and the two left for the Ministry to meet Amelia. Once they arrived, They took a portkey to Azkaban.

Sirius Black was sitting in his cell in his animagus form. He found that it was easier to deal with the dementors if he was an animal; they tended to ignore him in that form. While in his animagus form, Sirius could think more clearly and bring up his happy memories. Those memories were the only thing keeping him going: that, and the thought of getting his revenge on Wormtail. Sirius would imagine wrapping his hands around Peter's puggy neck and squeezing until the light left his eyes.

Sirius was reveling in that thought when he heard the door to his cell unlock. He quickly turned back into himself and waited for the guard to come in. He initially thought he was hallucinating when he saw Remus and Dumbledore walk into his cell, followed by Amelia Bones. But when Remus picked him up and hugged him tightly, Sirius knew it was real.

“Oh, Padfoot, I should have known you would never have betrayed James and Lily. Can you ever forgive me,” Remus begged.

“Shut up, Moony. I'm only glad that someone finally figured it out. Professor Dumbledore, it's good to see you, sir.”

“It's good to see you too, my boy; I'm sorry it took nine years to discover your innocence.”

“Well, there still is the matter of your trial, but I'm sure you'll be found innocent and will be set free,” Amelia said.

“Hello, Amelia. When will my trial be?”

“Tomorrow. That will give us enough time to get you cleaned up and looked over at St. Mungo's.”
Mungos
Sirius nodded, and he leaned against Remus as he helped him out of the cell. They took a portkey to St. Mungo's hospital, where the healers were waiting for Sirius. He was ushered into a private room so that he could shower and change. Once he was more presentable, they began to examine him and heal as best they could in such a short time.

The following day, Sirius was escorted into the courtroom before the Wizengamot, where he was shackled to a chair and given Veritaserum and questioned. After discovering that Sirius was not the Secret Keeper for the Potter, but Peter Pettigrew was, he had blown up the alley and cut off his finger to escape in his animagus form. Sirius was declared innocent and set free with reparations for false imprisonment. He was also sent back to St. Mungos for further treatment.

After a series of potions and many sessions with mind healers, Sirius was released from the hospital in Remus's care. Even though Remus was a werewolf, there was no one else that Sirius could be entrusted to for the moment. Once Sirius was released from St. Mungos Hospital, Remus informed him that Dumbledore wanted to speak to them. The duo made their way to Hogwarts for their meeting with the Professor.

They entered Dumbledore's office, and their old professor greeted them warmly, “Sirius, my boy, you're looking much better.”

“I feel better, Albus. Thank you again for helping me get out of Azkaban.”

“You are more than welcome. Do you have any plans now that you are free?”

“Yes, I plan to buy a little cottage with Remus and get custody of my goddaughter,” Sirius said happily.

Albus gave both men a sympathetic look, “I'm afraid that won't be possible, Sirius.”

“Why not?”

“Evie has gone missing.”

“What?!” Remus and Sirius both shouted.

“You said that Evie would be safe with the Dursleys,” Remus said.

“The Dursleys?! Evie was never supposed to go to the Dursleys under any circumstances. She was supposed to go to Moony if I couldn't take her.”

Remus sighed and looked down at his hands, “Sirius, the Ministry wouldn't let me take her. After you were sent to Azkaban, Professor Dumbledore took Evie to the Dursleys, and from there, I petitioned to get custody of her. But they said since I'm a werewolf, I had no rights to her. I kept trying for years to get custody. I'm still trying.”

“Did you at least visit her,” Sirius asked.

“I advised Remus against it, Sirius. I didn't want her life disrupted. And I thought it would be better that she grow up away from the Wizarding World for her safety.”

“But, Petunia hates magic!” Sirius cried.

“And yet she accepted Lily's daughter with open arms,” Dumbledore said, “But now, Evelyn is missing, and we have no leads as to where she has gone. The Dursleys are missing as well.” Albus lied.

“I have had the Order looking for her, but so far, they have turned up nothing.”

Sirius suddenly stood up, “Moony and I will find her,” Sirius said, “My bond with Evie as her godfather should be strong enough for me to locate her wherever she is, no matter what.”

Professor Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled, “Are you sure you can do it, Sirius?”

“Absolutely. I only need to go to the Dursley's house to get a starting point. The bond will lead me right to her.”

Albus pretended to think about it for a moment, then he nodded, “Alright, Sirius, go and find Evelyn. While you do that, I'll petition the Wizengamot to give you custody of her.”

Sirius smiled brightly, “Thank you, Albus.”

“You're welcome, my boy.”

“Come on, Moony, let's get started.”

And with that, Sirius and Remus left Dumbledore's office. Albus sighed and decided that he would wait to go to the Ministry to petition for Sirius to get custody of Evelyn. Albus didn't want to, but it was better for Sirius to have her than for her to be with whoever had kidnapped her. And Albus knew that now that Sirius was free, he had no right to Evelyn. It was the lesser of two evils.

It was night when Sirius and Remus apparated into the Dursleys back yard. The duo went into the house so that Sirius could cast the tracking spell. Sirius first had to find where Evie's bedroom was so that he had a starting point. Using the tracking spell to find her room, Sirius and Remus were horrified to find that Sirius's wand pointed to the cupboard under the stairs.

“Could this really have been her room,” Sirius asked.

“It would appear so, Padfoot.”

Sirius's face turned red with anger, “If I ever find the Dursleys, I'm going to kill them.”

“We both will,” Remus asserted, “But let's not think of that now. Our priority is to find Evie.”

“Right.”

Sirius closed his eyes and concentrated on Evie. He poured all his love into the bond he had with her as her godfather and waited for the bond to pull him towards Evie. But something was wrong; the bond as her godfather wasn't as strong as it used to be. Before, Sirius could pinpoint Evie down to a few inches of where she was, but now he couldn't get an exact location on her.

“I can't find her, Moony.”

“What?!”

“Our bond has weakened somehow. The only thing I can feel is that she's not in the country anymore.”

“Try harder.”

Sirius closed his eyes, and concentrated harder. His eyes snapped open, “She's in New York, but I don't know exactly where.”

“New York, how in Merlin's name did she get to New York?”

“I don't know, Moony, but we have to save her from whoever took her.”

“Right. The first thing we need to do is get an international portkey to America and start our search from there,” Remus said.

“Okay. We'll go in the morning. There's nothing more we can do for tonight.”

Now that Sirius and Remus had a plan, they left the Dursleys house and went back to their cottage; tomorrow would be a busy day for them.