Title: Forgetting Innocence (1/6)

Author: Fabs G.

Summary: Sequel to Faking Innocence. Harry & friends happily return to Hogwarts after the Christmas holidays, not knowing that Voldemort already has a plan between his hands.

Rating: PG-13

Pairings: slight Sirius/Remus. Hints of Ron/Hermione but not until the last chapter.

Warnings: Contains very mild slash (just some kisses, people!)

Disclaimer: Lovely Joanne owns nearly everything here! All I own here is the plot, Professor Fengel and Methilda Shotclear

A/N: As always, this makes much more sense if you read the previous two fics (Judging Innocence and Faking Innocence, both at fanfiction.net), mainly because this is part three of the Innocence series. This although, is much darker than the previous one. The basic you have to know: Sirius is free, he's romantically involved with Remus and they're both teaching at Hogwarts.

Enjoy! Review!

------------------------------ CHAPTER 1: Hogwarts

The Hogwarts Express soared past woods and mountains and past lakes and rivers as the sun set down over the hills, with most of its occupants ignoring it all expertly. Christmas holidays were over and those students who went home –that is, more than ¾ of the total- were returning to their second home to start the new term, unaware that a most unusual thing was going to happen.

It was customary to receive the students with a feast at Hogwarts, whether it was the start of the year or after Christmas Holidays; what it was not customary was to receive two new professors in the middle of the school year.

For that were the two sleeping forms in Harry, Ron and Hermione's compartment: professors. Of course, they didn't seem much like it right now. Remus Lupin was asleep against the window, features perfectly calm, mouth shut but legs sprawled all along. His mate, Sirius Black whose head was resting in Remus' shoulder, had his mouth slightly open with little pools of drools in the corner of it. His legs, though, were neatly bent. They were quite a sight to watch.

"What a way of sleeping" said Hermione, looking at them frowning, and wondering just how long could two grown people sleep.

"Do they always sleep like that much?" Ron asked Harry, looking at them also. They had fallen asleep as soon as the Hogwarts Express left King's Cross.

"Sirius, yes. He adores sleeping. Remus is a light sleeper –or so I've been told- but when the full moon's near he usually gets more sleep than he normally does."

"Or maybe they had a lot of activity last night" said Ron, fighting a smirk back.

"Ron!" said Hermione, a little horrified than he had actually dared to say what she knew he was thinking.

"Really, Ron, I don't need to hear that about my godfather" said Harry, wincing slightly.

"And I wouldn't want you to" said a groggy voice besides them. Sirius was awake.

"Oops" said Ron in a very little voice and went as red as his hair.

"Did the witch with the food cart pa-pa-pass already?" said Sirius, unable to restrain a yawn while stretching.

"Yeah, about an hour ago. She said she'll be at the end of the train"

"I'll come with you Padfoot" said another groggy voice, getting up after Sirius "It's not like I can get a decent sleep with this chatterboxes around" he smiled at them.

Sirius opened the compartment door, only to bump headlong into George Weasley

"Padfoot! Moony!" the twins had taken a liking on calling them by their nicknames.

"Hey George. Hey Fred" they greeted. No one except Ron, Harry and Hermione knew they were there, or why to that matter, and Sirius had explicit instructions from Dumbledore not to reveal the fact that they would be teaching anytime sooner than the welcoming feast.

"What are you two doing here?" asked Fred and looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione, who were pretending not to see Sirius' very wide open eyes and his jerking head towards the twins "What are they doing here?"

Harry smiled at his godfather, who was trying to leave unnoticed, and then looked back the twins "Ask them. They were just going to get some food"

Fred and George left after Sirius and Remus, who looked at Harry promising to get even.

Not ten minutes had passed since Sirius and Remus had left with Fred and George when the door of the compartment slide open again- but it wasn't the marauders or any of Harry's friends. Much to Harry and Ron's (and Hermione's) dismay, it was Draco Malfoy, flunked of course by his cronies Crabbe and Goyle.

"So, finally managed to get a decent house to go to during the Christmas holidays, eh Potter?"

"Get lost, Malfoy" answered Harry, trying his best to ignore him.

"Of course" continued Malfoy "your concept of decent differs much from mine if it includes an ex-convict and a werewolf and a house that, knowing the werewolf is probably falling apart."

"Go away!" yelled Harry.

"Face it, Potter. You should have taken my offer back in first year, you'd be much better than you are now"

"Malfoy…" Ron stood up and would have punched Malfoy, but Hermione kept hold of his t-shirt, restraining him from advancing anymore.

"Besides" said Malfoy, and he got inches closer to Harry, who was keeping an amazing control of himself "You probably wouldn't be the target of the most powerful wizard around. I have the feeling that you won't last very long with the Dark Lord back to power"

"That's enough!" said a voice behind them, and Harry, Ron and Hermione were delighted to see Remus Lupin at the doorway. Malfoy went even paler than he normally was when he recognized him and Crabbe and Goyle retreated tactfully. "We haven't even began the new term and you're already creating problems, Mr. Malfoy?"

"What- How- What are you-?" blubbered Malfoy, but Ron cut him short "You want to show a little more respect to your professor, don't you?"

Remus merely stood where he was, arms crossed.

Deciding he didn't want to be there, Malfoy regained some of his voice "May-May I go, professor?"

Remus stood where he was, looking at Malfoy. He didn't speak for some seconds. "Yes. We'll deal with it later."

Malfoy hastily walked past Remus, turned right, saw something he didn't like at all, and whirled around, walking to the left of Harry's compartment. Seconds later, Sirius appeared from the right side of the compartment.

"What was up with him?" he asked with a mouthful of chocolate frogs.

"Malfoy" said Remus "Son of Lucius Malfoy, enemy of Harry since the very beginning of Hogwarts"

"Ooh the famous Draco Malfoy, uh?" said Sirius, looking at Harry "Don't let him get at you"

"Look who's talking… I know, I know. I won't. If it wasn't because ¾ of Hogwarts aren't DeathEater's sons and daughters, Malfoy would be yelling at me 'Voldemort will get you!' any time he could" He said all this very fast and very angry. Ron flinched at the mention of Voldemort's name.

"I said, don't let him get at you"

Harry chuckled "Right. Sorry"

Just then, the Hogwarts express came to a halt and Ron, Harry and Hermione hastily changed to their Hogwarts robes, ready to start a very different term than the last one.

"My dear students" said Dumbledore, silencing the entire Great hall before the feast started. "I realize welcoming speeches and such are only customary of the beginning of the year, but I feel that I need to do one now." He paused for a moment, making every single student in the Great Hall look at him. "I am most aware of your disliking of Professor Fengel. I have heard several rumors, ranging from a simple overload of homework to a very grave making fun of the students. Mr. Fengel is, I daresay, one of the few things the Gryffindors and the Slytherins have ever agreed on disliking together." he said, earning him snickers from the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw houses. "But, I have also heard very grave things from my very staff of teachers, and I could not tolerate his behavior any longer. I have fired professor Fengel just a few days ago-"

The hall erupted into cheers so loud they silenced Dumbledore himself. Even some of the professors cheered. Dumbledore let them have a moment's happiness and them silenced them again

"I have fired Mr. Fengel just a few days ago. Even though I have hired someone who wasn't easy to convince, he did accept, and I am most glad to announce that Remus Lupin will again be teaching Defense against the Dark Arts.

He beamed at Remus and clapped together with the maddening crowd. The Hogwarts students were so happy to have him back they were cheering themselves hoarse and were clapping extremely hard. Harry, Ron and Hermione cheered and clapped like no other.

Remus was sitting besides McGonagall and Sirius, both of whom were clapping hard too and beaming at him. Remus was doing his best to conceal the wide grin that was being born in his mouth, but was failing miserably and all he could do was smile back at each of the beaming faces of his students.

Besides McGonagall, Snape frowned his nose as if there was dragon dung in his plate. It seemed Snape's worst nightmare, having Remus and Sirius as colleagues. Harry shuddered when thinking of his next Potions lesson.

When the applause started dying away, Dumbledore silenced them all

"And, as I'm sure you have all guessed, I have one last announcement to make" He turned around and smiled at Professor Flitwick who, Harry noticed looked unusually old. "Our dear professor Flitwick is thinking of retiring" nearly a thousand mouths hanged open in astonishment. Silence filled the entire Great Hall "He has been teaching for over fifty years- almost as long as I have, and that's saying something. Professor Flitwick, the new professor and I have arranged to divide the years. The new professor will take care of the first four years while Professor Flitwick will teach the last three. I ask you to welcome Sirius Black into our staff of teachers"

The applause was not as mad as Lupin's but the Gryffindors, which were more familiar with Sirius because of Harry, clapped so hard it almost seemed as though it were.

"Although Mr. Fred and Mr. George Weasley here are making extremely good efforts to top them, they were the biggest pranksters Hogwarts ever had, so I am a little worried of what exactly they might teach you… However, I am most sure that I have not made a mistake in choosing them. So, before you start throwing curses at me because of your hunger… let the feast begin!"

The new term began as uneventful as it could. Professor Trelawney continued predicting Harry's death, looking at him with huge insect-like eyes.  They were now working with dreams and she told Harry that his dreams were amazingly filled with death omens. This didn't surprise anyone.

Hagrid was teaching them to take care of harmless furry little creatures that resembled rabbits, but were twice their size, jumped about as three times as high as a common rabbit and ate only Fwooper guts. Until it was time to feed them, it was very much like taking care of an extremely caffeinated rabbit.

Of course, they still had transfiguration with McGonagall, Charms with Flitwick and Potions with Snape, who seemed out of his mind in anger at having not only Lupin back, but also having Sirius teaching as well. Harry had Potions on Friday, and was really not looking forward to it.

The Gryffindors had their first DADA lesson on Wednesday, with the Hufflepuffs. Everyone was so delighted to have Remus as a teacher and not the disgusting professor Fengel, nearly everyone arrived unusually early to the lesson.

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in the three seats closer to the teacher's desk and waited eagerly for Remus to appear.

"How odd" he said when he entered the class "Did McGonagall leave early or am I late?"

"None" said Harry

"Everyone's just eager to have class with you again" said Lavender, who for the past term had shivered in class every time Fengel laid an eye on her.

Dean Thomas raised a hand up in the air "Yes Dean?"

"Why did Prof. Dumbledore say you were one of the biggest pranksters?" he asked.

This amused Remus "Well... because we are" he said, puffing out his chest proudly. Harry rolled his eyes at him, "Mr. Filch must have said something to him… for some reason he didn't find funny the time Sirius, Harry's dad and I dyed Mrs. Norris bright pink… permanently"

The class gasped, amazed (and delighted) at the thought of Mrs. Norris bright pink.

"But she's gray now" said Hannah Abbott.

"Oh yes, the spell only lasted for a year…"

Now the class really burst into laughter.

Lavender Brown looked like he was extremely curious about something. "So the Daily Prophet didn't invent it, you did go to school with Sirius Black"

Remus nodded "He and Harry's dad were my best friends. Still are"

The class was delighted with this new view on his favorite professor, and although he tried to avoid it, questions popped every once in a while asking him about other pranks.

"If anyone has anymore questions about our pranks" he said to the students as he dismissed them "ask Harry about it. That way we'll be able to actually talk about Defense against the dark arts in class instead of my time at Hogwarts"

Harry squinted at him, knowing the cascade of questions he'll now have but Remus called him back "Just a second! It'll be just a moment, Harry"

Harry told Ron and Hermione he'll meet them at class, and closed the door behind them "What's up?"

"I wanted to ask you- what have you heard about me? Meaning, what are they talking about concerning my- licanthropy?"

"Well, I don't have to tell you about the Slytherins" he started "they don't even like themselves, what with Snape's influence… The Ravenclaws are smart enough to know you're no harm, the Hufflepuffs… are being Hufflepuffs about it- they're ignoring it and the Gryffindors adore you" he finished, with a huge smirking smile.

"You have to understand. It's not like there's a werewolf who's ever managed to keep their job when everyone knows what he is…"

"I know what you are" said Harry "You're practically my godfather and an excellent person and teacher so you better stop underestimating yourself like that. I have to go or Flitwick will kill me" and he left the room, leaving Remus grinning very broadly.

It had been a bright sunny day several weeks into the next term when everything in Harry's world started collapsing little by little. All the 5th year Gryffindors had been condemned to spend the Saturday inside because of the amount of homework they had been given. Remus, having started in the middle of the year had also given them unusual amounts of homework, possibly to compensate the previous professor's lack of teaching skills.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were currently battling with Potions and Herbology, sighing every now and then when something blew up or the essay wasn't quite as long as it was supposed to.

They didn't noticed when the fat lady portrait opened and let Sirius and Remus pass into the Gryffindor common room.

"Aren't teachers not supposed to get in here?" asked a second year

"We're as Gryffindors as any of you" answered Remus, scanning the room for Harry's unruly head.

When Harry heard Remus' voice he spun around and looked at him. The few times he had seen a professor there -McGonagall- had not been cheerful situations.

They approached Harry, Ron and Hermione looking nervously at them too. They noticed Sirius had an edition of the Daily Prophet in his hand, clenched tightly.

"Do you think we could get some privacy up in your dormitory?" every pair of eyes in the common room was watching them.

"Sure" answered Harry and he lifted a hand for Ron and Hermione not to follow them.

The three climbed up the stairs, Ron and Hermione watching them apprehensively, wondering what on earth could now be the matter.

Upon entering the room, Harry happily checked that neither Dean nor Neville were up there. (Seamus was working downstairs) Sirius and Remus looked around, smiling and taking in every detail of the dormitory they had left so long ago.

"Let me guess" said Sirius "That's your bed and that one's Ron's"

Harry looked at him completely bewildered "How did you know?"

Sirius and Remus smiled at each other and as Sirius threw himself over Harry's bed, Remus answered "Because yours used to be James' and Ron's used to be Sirius'"

"No way"

Remus merely nodded "Who sleeps there?" he pointed at one in the corner

"Neville"

"That used to be mine"

"You're not here to talk about beds, are you?"

"No" said Sirius with a voice much graver than Harry had expected. He sat up in bed, with Harry in front of him and Remus besides, holding his hand.

"Come on, love" he urged him

Sirius seemed to search for words and then he look at Harry's green eyes "There's been an… explosion… in Azkaban. The only person missing is Peter. The dementors refuse to tell what happened."

Harry's stomach seemed to have dropped about 50 feet.

"But… he wasn't going to be kept in Azkaban… That's what they said at your trial"

"Well, you know the Ministry… they said he was being kept in Azkaban for only a day and then he would be returning to his secret location… They were doing some kind of cleaning…"

"It was him. It was Voldemort" said Harry without thinking

"Many think that, yes. The Daily prophet is already scaring the masses" he said, and handed Harry the Daily Prophet he had been holding in his hand. Harry grimaced when he saw it had been written by Rita Skeeter. As bad as the news was, this seemed to be her cup of tea,

EXPLOSION IN AZKABAN

IS YOU-KNOW-WHO BACK?

"I wasn't going to tell you, actually" said Sirius, looking at Harry "but Remus kindly reminded me of our promise- and I had no excuse. Now, we're in the safest place we could be- so there's not much to worry about"

"Sirius-" Remus shot a warning glance towards him.

"Fine, fine fine. Dumbledore thinks Peter could be headed this way. My way. But if I know Peter enough, he didn't escape Azkaban, especially with an anti-transformation charm on. I think he was taken out of it"

Remus nodded "I agree. I've no idea what for, but I think Voldemort took Peter out of Azkaban"

And Harry then voiced the question that had been in many wizard's minds for hours: "Why would Voldemort free Pettigrew?" It did not make sense.

Or so it seemed.

Far away from Hogwarts, a pair of red eyes settled themselves in the sitting room of the abandoned castle. It was nowhere near as big as Hogwarts, but it was spacious enough to provide Voldemort some privacy from his recently freed and overwhelmingly annoying servant.

"Thanks, master, thanks for freeing me"

"It is not a favor, Wormtail, you will have work to do"

"Yes, master, of course… Which will be it?" he quivered

"It concerns a friend of yours." And then he grew silent

The man formerly known as Tom Riddle lighted the fireplace with his wand. Behind him, Peter Pettigrew trembled.

"Wormtail" the cold voice called his servant. His evil red eyes scanned the room; it was dirty, there was blood in various places. There was dust everywhere. "Clean up the place for me" With a swift movement of his wand he had produced muggle cleaning objects for Wormtail, and a rug and an armchair in front of the fireplace in the wall. "And hurry up, you will have work to do later. I want this place to look good for the next time Mr. Potter visits it"

"Yes, master" Pettigrew, knowing better than to ask Voldemort for more details of the plan or for a wand to clean it the usual way, merely subjected himself to hours of breathing dust. It was bliss being out of Azkaban, even if he was with… him.

"Wormtail" called the dark lord again "That friend of yours, the werewolf"

"Remus? What with him?" he spitted.

"Show some more respect, you filthy rat"

"I'm most sorry, my master"

"That's better. That friend of yours, the werewolf… is he dear to Potter?" he knew the answer to this very well, but he loved seeing Peter quiver.

"I should think so, yes. He was even when I was still… 'dead', you know. And I should think their relationship has progressed even more now, what with Sirius living with them"

"The boy's godfather?"

"Yes"

"What would you think would be their reactions if… I do something to the werewolf?"

"With all due respect… Sirius would kill you. And Harry probably would too"

Voldemort chuckled like if Peter had just told a good joke "Good. Your lupine friend will be useful for me to get Potter. I would dearly love to put a werewolf like him to use…"