Sirius paced nervously in the reception room. There was a lot riding on the outcome of the meetings he was about to hold. If things didn't work out as he and Remus hoped…
They would deal with it, Sirius thought briskly. There was always the Obliviate spell.
He heard the approaching cheery voice of Penelope and move hastily smoothed his formal robes as she and Remus entered.
Penelope smiled at him brightly. "Very smart, Lord Black."
"How many times do I have to tell you; it's Sirius." He complained at her good-naturedly.
"Not during working hours." Penelope reprimanded him as she brushed imaginary lint from his shoulders. "You have an image to convey."
Remus smirked at him and handed him a black canvas bag. "Here's the pensieve and the memories." He patted his arm. "You'll be fine, Padfoot. It's only Fudge."
"Right," Sirius said, "and whose idea was that it that I should be the one to tell him and not Brian as we originally agreed?"
"Brian's." Penelope and Remus chorused together.
Sirius glared at the two of them.
"Look, I think Brian's right; Fudge will probably take the news of you being Lord Black better if you tell him yourself." Remus said. "According to Brian, he's all agog at the request of a one-to-one meeting with you on the subject of Lord Black ahead of the Lord Black meet-and-greet session later this afternoon with Directors Bones and Croaker here at the Manor. You'll be fine."
"If I get thrown back into Azkaban, I'm blaming you." Sirius stated dryly.
Penelope cleared her throat. "You should get going, Lord Black. You don't want to be late; the Minister is expecting you."
Sirius turned to Remus and opened his mouth…
"Yes, I'll go back to Griffin House and check on Harry later. I'm sure he and Minerva are getting along fine though." Remus ushered him towards the floo.
Sirius harrumphed, took a deep breath and tossed some power into the fire. "Minister's Office!"
He stepped out into Fudge's private domain and straightened immediately, staring at the two Aurors flanking the Minister with suspicion.
Fudge immediately got a clue about Sirius's discomfort and gestured back at the Aurors. "Oh, they're here just a precaution in case someone else stepped out."
Sirius moderated his tone to something vaguely diplomatic. "If the Aurors would like to check me for glamours or polyjuice they're certainly welcome to do so, Minister."
Fudge waved the Aurors forward. "Shacklebolt! Dawlish!"
"Apologies, Mister Black." Shacklebolt said formally. "We won't be more than a moment." He lifted his wand and did an intricate gesture to start the identification spell that Sirius knew well; it was mandatory Auror training – as was Dawlish's position. He'd stayed back to cover Shacklebolt.
Dawlish he knew from his Auror days; a miserable git who Sirius had half-suspected of being a Death Eater. Shacklebolt…Shacklebolt…
"Kingsley Shacklebolt?" Sirius asked. "I seem to remember you were at the academy after I completed my Hit Wizard training."
"That's right, Mister Black." Kingsley smiled at him politely. "You held most of the records we were trying to beat." He turned to the Minister. "He is Sirius Black, Minister."
"May we ask what's in the bag?" Dawlish asked roughly before his partner could ask for them to be dismissed.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "A present for the Minister for his sterling effort to uphold justice."
Fudge broke into another pleased smile and almost clapped his hands together in delight. He made a wavy hand gesture at the Aurors. "Please leave us, gentlemen."
The Aurors left – Dawlish with obvious reluctance.
"Sirius! May I call you Sirius? You must call me Cornelius." Fudge charged forward as soon as the office door closed behind the Aurors and held out his pudgy hand. "Welcome to the Ministry."
Sirius shook hands. "Sirius is fine, Minister." He requested permission to raise a privacy bubble and Fudge – Cornelius smiled ruefully.
"Brian does the same thing." Cornelius said amused as he indicated for Sirius to go ahead. "This is the safest office in Britain!"
"I'm afraid I attended the Alastor Moody School of Constant Vigilance, Minister." Sirius said. He waved his great-grandfather's wand around and nodded happily when the privacy spell took and the office was secured.
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