Chapter Text
September, 1982
Azkaban
The black cat visiting a few times more, with more notes.
The picture of Barty, torn from the newspaper that they had sent with the cat the first time, was sent back with two little hearts sketched on it.
Barty spent the whole day trying to figure out, unable to stop obsessing over the idea that whoever was trying to rescue them had a crush on him.
They never said who they were, but they did send a letter that said the case had another court date, and his fate would be decided then, and that it would go in their favor one way or another.
Sirius tried not to worry what that meant, one way or another, but part of him didn't care. He had to get out.
He would.
Sirius was waiting by the window of the cell, waiting for the cat to return. It came every two or three weeks, and it was getting close to time for another visit.
Barty also was waiting, ranting about some prank or another he'd done back in fifth year, when finally the cat appeared.
But this time, it had a friend.
"Look, Barty." Sirius said, pointing.
Barty jumped up, peering in. He swore. "A bat?"
The two creatures came into the cell, and the cat rubbed against Sirius's leg, while the bat flew up and landed by Barty.
Sirius had had a suspicion for a while now that the cat was an Animagus, but now he thought that was definite. Cats and bats aren't just friends, unless they're actually human.
But neither of them changed forms, so Sirius had no way of knowing.
He sat on his cot, and the cat sat beside him. Sirius petted it while reading the note it had brought.
The trial is in three weeks. We'll be there. Barty is going to get out too.
Sirius was almost disappointed at how short the note was. But an update was still an update.
The cat meowed, and Sirius petted him, smiling.
Over in his cell, Barty laughed. The bat, who had crawled into Barty's shirt pocket, had fallen asleep. "They've got to be Animagis, don't they, Sirius?"
Sirius shrugged. "They must be."
The next day, Barty was told his case was getting revisited. In two weeks. Just like the cat's note had promised.
Sirius was extremely grateful, some moments he felt as if he were floating, he couldn't contain his excitement.
And then some moments he was devastated, sick with anxiety. They'd dismissed his case without a second thought last time, who would get them to reconsider it? Who would they listen to?
He was going mad in this place, and he knew it, he could feel it, and he felt insane just thinking about it. He knew he was driving himself down a rabbit hole of despair and mindless worry but he couldn't help it.