After a couple minutes of taking deep breaths, Lupin finally calmed down, and he looked me straight in the eye. "You said you had a job for me?"
I withdrew a stack of paper from my bag, and laid it in front of the werewolf. "This is a magical contract. Signing it will bind you to the conditions within. If you agree, you will become the first member of Crucible Security Solutions. Publicly, you will be a security guard for my business properties and my employees. Behind the scenes, you will be helping me prepare to fend off Voldemort when he returns. And he will, I can assure you of this."
"I see," Lupin muttered as he leafed through the contract. "I get paid sick leave?"
"Yes, you get a minimum of twenty-one days of paid sick leave per year. These are for your little monthly furry problem and any other medical issues that pop up that a potion or spell can't fix," I told him. "I will also provide doses of Wolfsbane Potion."
"You can brew it?" he asked, surprised.
"Indeed. It's a bit finicky, and the ingredients can be expensive, especially the powdered silver, but it's worth it to me. Although I will probably try and get you to experiment with some alternative versions of the potion. Just because I can afford to make it on a monthly basis doesn't mean I don't want to find a cheaper and easier way to do so."
Will I be able to see Harry if I sign?" the werewolf asked hesitantly.
"Absolutely," I assured him.
"And you'll also try and save Sirius if I agree to this?" Lupin asked hopefully as he took up the quill.
"I would have done so even if you didn't. But this just makes it easier," I replied.
Lupin nodded, then signed the contract on the dotted line. There was a static-charged hum as the ink of the parchment glowed, and I knew the Oath Binding Ink I'd made had worked.
"So, what now?" Lupin asked as he put the quill down and looked at me with hope and determination in his eyes.
"First things first. we're going to help break Sirius Black out of Azkaban," I told him with a smile. Lupin blanched.
"We are?"
"Yes. I believe Dumbledore knew all along Black was innocent, but kept him locked up in Azkaban for his own purposes. I don't know why, but I suspect it'd be to do with the Godfather status he has with Harry," I mused.
In the magical world, being a Godfather wasn't as magically potent as in some fanfics, but it had some effect, and it did give some leeway when it came to legal matters such as guardianship. Meaning Sirius could have adopted Harry, or at the very least raised him, in the aftermath of the Potters' deaths. Something Dumbledore wouldn't have wanted at all, if my suspicions about him and his goals were correct.
"Now, knowing this fact, trying to appeal to the court system won't exactly work, since Dumbledore is Supreme Mugwump. And while I have some connections in Magical Law Enforcement, I don't want to use them just yet, lest Dumbledore be alerted. We need Sirius Black to escape first, then I can contact Madam Bones to have her look up Sirius' trial. Or lack thereof."
"Ah, use her desire for justice to find Sirius for the sake of finding out the truth," Lupin hummed thoughtfully. "Clever. But can you really get into contact with her so easily?"
"Harry is friends with her niece," I explained. "And I can use that connection to get to Madam Bones."
"That would do it," Lupin said. He then frowned thoughtfully. "How exactly are we going to do this?"
"Simple. We won't do the actual breaking out. We'll just convince Sirius Black to do it for us," I told him.
"What?" he uttered.
"Oh, yes. Did you know that Dementors don't affect animals? Or at least, not as badly as humans."
Lupin blinked slowly, then his jaw dropped as he stared at me in disbelief. "You don't mean… he could have left at any time?!"
"Well, maybe not whenever he wanted, but yeah, Sirius Black could have snuck out as a dog. In fact, I'll wager that's how he's managed to keep his sanity. Err, most of it, at least. Stay as a dog except when the human guards are around, and the Dementors cannot suck the love out of him," I said.
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