the_debt_of_time

murderer, a traitor, and a bloody fucking Death Eater. It was better that Harry had not
been told.
"Black was the Potters' Secret-Keeper?" Rosmerta whispered.
"Naturally," McGonagall answered. "James Potter told Dumbledore that Black
would die rather than tell where they were, that Black was planning to go into hiding
himself... and yet, Dumbledore remained worried. I remember him offering to be the
Potters' Secret-Keeper himself."
Sirius cursed himself for being so blind and stupid. He had spent years worried that
he would put his loved ones in danger because Death Eaters were always after him. It was
why he had insisted James and Lily change Secret-Keepers. He had been certain that he
would be found and killed, and then their location would be revealed. But fuck... how
many times had Mia and Lily—and even Dorea—told him that it was not his fault that
Death Eaters and Voldemort were always attacking people he loved? How many times had
they pleaded with him to let it go, and he just ignored them each and every time?
"But James Potter insisted on using Black?"
"He did," Fudge said heavily. "And then, barely a week after the Fidelius Charm
had been performed.. ."
Padfoot tore away from the back door and ran from the building. He knew what
had happened barely a week after the Fidelius Charm had been cast and did not need a
retelling from Cornelius fucking Fudge—someone who did not know the whole story.
Someone who did not know what had actually happened that night in Godric's Hollow or
the massacre that took place in London shortly after.
Overwhelmed by guilt, Sirius needed to focus on something else before heading
back up to the Forbidden Forest to plan his next move. That was when, from the corner
of his eye, he spotted a familiar head of white-blond hair.
"Mr Malfoy!" A portly man in finely made robes approached the blond wizard,
extending his hand. "What brings you all the way to Hogsmeade this afternoon?"
"Hogwarts business," Lucius Malfoy replied with a sneer, accepting the extended
hand reluctantly. "In case you haven't heard, that imbecile headmaster has the great giant
oaf parading around as though he were an actual professor. Not to mention, they've
allowed a wild herd of hippogriffs to run rampantly through the grounds, attacking
children."