the_debt_of_time

Unfortunately, it was not Harry's voice that he heard.
"You know that the dementors have searched the whole village twice?" Rosmerta
asked, a slight edge to her voice. "Scared all my customers away. It's very bad for business,
Minister."
Sorry about that, Rosie, Sirius thought to himself. He had seen the dementors moving
through Hogsmeade earlier that week, which was exactly why he had not been back down
to the village until now, leaving him starved. His kneazle friend could only sneak so much
out to him at a time.
"Rosmerta, m'dear, I don't like them any more than you do. They are a necessary
precaution, very unfortunate, but there you are. They're in a fury against Dumbledore. He
won't let them inside the castle grounds."
Padfoot growled under his breath as he recognised the voice belonging to Cornelius
Fudge. Their recent "conversation" during his inspection of Azkaban was at the forefront
of Sirius's mind. The idiot Minister had thought it smart to mock him. Innocent or guilty,
Sirius was supposedly a crazed murderer with nothing to lose; only his strict plans of
vengeance and the thin thread of morality he clung to prevented him from tearing the
Minister for Magic apart right on the spot.
"I should think not!" Minerva McGonagall insisted sharply. "How are we supposed
to teach with those horrors floating around?"
"Hear, hear!" Professor Flitwick squeaked.
"All the same," Fudge said in a haughty tone, "they are here to protect you all from
something much worse. We all know what Black's capable of."
Padfoot could feel the fur rise up on his neck and back.
Mate, you have no fucking idea what I'm capable of.
"Do you know, I still have trouble believing it," Rosmerta mumbled thoughtfully.
"Of all the people to go over to the Dark, Sirius Black was the last I'd have thought. I
mean, I remember him when he was a boy at Hogwarts. If you'd told me then what he was
going to become, I'd have said you'd had too much mead."
"You don't know the half of it, Rosmerta," Fudge stated gruffly. "The worst he did
isn't widely known."
"The worst?" Rosmerta asked, her voice alive with curiosity. "Worse than
murdering all those poor Muggles, you mean?"