the_debt_of_time

"And how are the inspections going, Minister?" Sirius asked. He had thought not
to speak to the man, but a genuine conversation came so infrequently throughout the years,
and he had taken note early on that being a smartarse earned him nothing except beatings.
"Quite well. Any complaints?" Fudge asked with a snort.
There had been one point in his lifelong sentence that would have seen Sirius
throwing himself against the bars in an attempt to smack the look off of the man's face. As
it was, he no longer had the strength. His body had been starved nearly to the point of
death so many times that it took genuine effort to lift a spoon to his mouth to eat. Not that
he was afforded the luxury of things like spoons, but he liked to think of a time when things
like silverware were not something he yearned for. It was almost funny to hear new
prisoners look at their first meal inside of Azkaban, wondering aloud how they were
supposed to eat gruel off of a plate without the aid of a utensil and no wand in hand to
transfigure one. Thankfully, Sirius had a canine Animagus living inside of him, and he cared
little for what other prisoners or guards thought at the sight of the man eating off of the
floor like a dog.
Sirius cleared his dry throat "Well, the room service is abysmal, and the champagne
I was brought was a 1962 vintage when I clearly asked for the 1974."
Cornelius Fudge laughed at the joke, and for a split second Sirius Black almost felt
human.
"Didn't think after what you did to the family you'd be inclined to celebrate his
birthday," Fudge said, his previous laugh gone from his eyes—disdain left behind in the
wake.
"What birthday?" Sirius asked.
"Harry Potter's," Fudge said and threw in his copy of the Daily Prophet. There at the
top was the date: the thirty-first of July.
Thirteen, Sirius thought. His godson, his boy, was thirteen now. He would be starting
his third year of Hogwarts—an important year, picking his elective classes. Sirius wondered
if he would be like Lily, Remus, and Mia and pick things like Runes and Arithmancy, or if
he would try for something more adventurous like Care of Magical Creatures. Sirius had
wondered many things about Harry Potter over the years.
There had not been word about his godson for ten years following the death of Lily
and James and Sirius's subsequent imprisonment, but two years ago, when Harry first went