Where I Belong: Part I

by bowtruckle90

Marian Knightly is odd. She's a seer, an Unspeakable...and the only person who believes Sirius Black is innocent. With Sirius out of prison and terrorizing Hogwarts, can she convince his former friend of the truth before it's too late? Can her visions lead her to Sirius before the dementors find him? And if she does, what decision will she come to regarding old arrangements?

REGARDING THE MINISTRY AND ITS THUMB

There was something to be said for some children ruining the lives of their parents, but if that is true then it could more than certainly go the other way. Eric Knightly had gone and done the unthinkable. No he had not turned to Voldemort and pledged allegiance like the dark wizard had wanted. No, Eric Knightly had fled. He ran from his family and his home. And he wasn't coming back.

That left young Marian caring for her mentally ill mother on her own. Mrs. Amelia Knightly knew enough to know her husband was gone, but was not coherent enough to understand why and Marian did not have the heart to try and explain. The truth would have been far crueler than anything she could come up with in her addled mind anyway. Marian had missed school to stay at home with her. now it would seem she had made the wrong choice in trying to care for her mother herself. Tonight Amelia Knightly had thrown a vase with such force at her daughter that the wrist of the arm she had used to block her face was surely broken.

Marian couldn't help her mother. Only St. Mungos could do that.

Now here she was, hungry, dreading the September cold of the nights, and knocking on yet another door of a family her parents seemed to know but she certainly didn't, wondering if they would be willing to take her in so she wouldn't have to end up in an orphanage like so many children would before this nightmare was over. Hopefully this door would open…

She knocked and after a moment the door did swing open. There was a man standing there, little more than a boy really. He was maybe about twenty. He face, which had been full of laughter a moment ago judging from the laugh lines around his eyes, faded away and was replaced by an expression of concern. "Who are you?"

Marian swallowed and tried to sound somewhat dignified. "You don't know me, Mr. Potter, but my name is Marian Knightly. My father and mother had your address in their contact book. I'm afraid I'm in a significant amount of trouble and need somewhere to stay."

The man nodded as he listened and no sooner had she finished than he pulled her inside and said quietly, looking up and down the street before closing the door again. "No sense in leaving you out there at night. It's a dangerous world we're living in now."

Once the door was closed, the man led her down a hallway, lifting Marian's cloak off her shoulders. "Knightly," he repeated her last name. "Not by any chance Eric and Amelia's daughter?"

"Y-yes," Marian replied, shivering from the change in temperature from nearly biting cold to toasty warm.

"If I remember correctly," the boy said. "My father and your grandfather used to grab drinks at the Leaky Cauldron a time or two a month. Old family friends." They walked into a living room where there was a crackling fire. He let her sit on a squashy couch and draped her cloak over the back of a chair before sitting in it, clasping his hands and resting his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward. "I also recall that you're about school age now, and should therefore, be in school. Why aren't you at Hogwarts? Were your parents going to homeschool you?"

"My mother is ill, I was going to stay and try to look after her," Marian replied. "I haven't left my house in months."

"So why leave now?"

"Because my father's gone and I can't stay in the house with my mother anymore. In her mind, his leaving is somehow my fault."

The man sat back and crossed his arms, one hand raising to his chin and scratching it thoughtfully. He was looking her up and down, considering her, presumably for the truth. She didn't know if it would help or hurt her here, but Marian could feel the words forming in her mouth as they spilled from her lips. "She broke my wrist I think. I called St. Mungos to go and get her at the house, but…it's not safe for me there alone."

In the distance there was a baby crying. The man looked toward the door and not a minute later a woman, about his age with long red hair and a kind face walked into the room with a baby in her arms.

"Come on James, it's your turn. I could use a break. Who is this?"

Marian looked toward her small hands clasped in her lap. The man spoke. "Lily, this is Marian Knightly. Her grandfather and my father were friends when they were alive. She's in a bit of hot water, so she's going to stay here tonight." He pushed on the arms of the chair to stand and looked down at the child, or at least it seemed he was looking down judging from his shadow. "Lily's going to fix your wrist up, get you something to wear and find some extra blankets and pillows for you. If you need anything call for me. My name is James, in case you don't remember. You were a little tyke the last time I saw you."

His footsteps crossed the room and paused, presumably to take the baby from Lily's arms. When the door to the room shut again, Marian ventured to look up. Lily was still there, smiling kindly and creeping toward the couch. She sat on the opposite end and extended a hand. "It's nice to meet you Marian."

Marian took the hand with her uninjured one and shook it as well as one could while using the wrong hand. "I hope I'm not too much trouble."

"Of course not."

"I don't mind being shuffled off to school in the morning or a day, but I don't want to end up in a shelter like other parentless kids without relatives. If I do, I'll run."

Lily's piercing green eyes met Marian's gray ones. With confidence and certainly, Lily stated, "You're not going to a shelter. We'll look after you."

Marian could feel her muscles relax for the first time in the last year.

Marian started awake to a knock at her door. Who on earth would be bothering her out here in the middle of nowhere? In the middle of the night, no less, judging from how dark it was outside her living room window. Marian looked at her watch. It was. In fact it was so late it was nearly early. She sat up from where she had fallen asleep on the couch swimming in papers and books and shifted them all carefully aside as the knocking continued. Hadn't she moved out in the middle of Scotland to avoid contact with people she'd rather not be in contact with? She didn't even want to see her boss on more than a monthly basis.

Marian stretched and tried to tame her ashy brown hair and rumpled blue robes as she headed for the door. "I'm coming!" she called out. When she reached the wooden door of her very nice, very old, very tasteful cottage, there was a Ministry official outside. A courier by the looks of him. And judging from the crest on the front of his robes, he was from the auror's office. He handed her a small scroll. Marian took it, but asked, "What is this?"

"I just deliver them miss."

He turned and apparated away. Marian was still confused, but she closer her door and slit the seal with a conservatively trimmed thumbnail:

Miss Knightly,

We feel it is our duty to inform you that the convict Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban. You are encouraged to remain at your residence until you have been visited by an appointed auror or Ministry of Magic official for questioning as well as for your safety. If you have any concerns regarding your safety you may send a message via owl to the aurors' office at the Ministry of Magic, though we humbly request you not send any other mail until further notice.

An auror or Ministry official will be by your place of residence sometime within the next week to discuss the matter with you unless Black has been caught by then, in which event you will receive a message of cancelation from our office.

Sincerely,

Rufus Scrimgeour

Head of the Auror Office

Marian barely retained more beyond the first line in which she learned Sirius had escaped from Azkaban on her first read through. She didn't have any idea how, or why. She had no idea if his mind was intact. She did know there was someone she would need to see right away. The hell with the ministry officials. Marian grabbed her cloak off the coatrack and swept it on as she departed her home and apparated on the spot outside her doorstep.

It was a rather messy job of a spell, to be sure, judging from how the force of arriving on the grass about a half a mile away from the actual castle entrance caused her knees to buckle a good deal. Marian righted herself and dusted herself off. It was nearly four in the morning, but Albus would want to hear about this before the papers let him know in the morning.

After pounding on the outer door for almost fifteen minutes it finally opened and a very sleepy, very crabby Filch opened it for her.

"Thank you Argus," Marian panted. "I have to see the headmaster right this moment." Filch gave her a scowl and continued to stand in her way. "It's urgent," she added. He stepped aside and Marian ran past him and up the grand staircase calling her thanks as she went.

A few corridors and archways later Marian found herself pounding on yet another door. She had wriggled her way through the stone guardian outside, thanking Merlin she was still a tiny slip of a witch, and was now standing at the top of the spiral staircase knocking insistently on the door of the headmaster.

This door was answered much faster this time, and the person behind it seemed in a much better mood despite the hour. "Ah, Miss Knightly, my dear girl. Come inside please."

Albus Dumbledore was the same as always, silver hair, half-moon spectacles, only now he was greeting her in a dressing gown over striped pajamas. He closed the door behind her and took her cloak for her.

"I'm sorry to barge in on your like this, Albus," Marian said, turned around to face him and accepting her cloak when he handed it to her. "But something's happened and I was not sure the Ministry would have let you know as soon as they did me, but—"

"Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban."

Marian's mouth hung open and she sank into the chair in front of the headmaster's desk. "How did you know?"

Albus walked toward her and pointed toward the desktop. On it was a copy of the Nightly Prophet. On the cover was an old photograph of Sirius from when they had been taking his mug shots almost twelve years before. He looked insane. Effectually, he had been. He lost his best friend basically at the hands of another and been blamed for the whole thing which got him chucked in Azkaban for more than a decade.

Marian lifted the paper. "I really must re-subscribe." The picture Sirius met her eye, and for a moment the mania seemed to stop. It was only a moment, but it was enough to cause Marian to lay the paper flat again and avoid eye contact.

"You've been quite busy I hear, all that research for the Department of Mysteries. I hardly think it wise to do so at home though."

Marian shrugged heavily. "Nothing changed when I left school Albus; people still met me, shook my hand, and then asked me what it was like. Living with him, being there. It never mattered about what I said happened and they only asked because it was something they could poke a stick at or because they wanted to see if I really say all the things they've heard I do. Either way it's a slight I don't need in my everyday life."

Dumbledore made himself comfortable in his own chair. "I'm sorry to hear that. I had always hoped that there would be some understanding people in the world."

"Don't we all."

They sat silent now. Marian hardly knew what to say any more about him. The incidents that occurred on the night Voldemort fell were ages ago. And yet she still felt like that little girl, watching it all unfold like a bad dream and wondering what would become of her then.

"Scrimgeour was here only a little before you as a matter of fact. He wanted to move Harry Potter from his aunt and uncle's home. It's preposterous really. I agree that Sirius is as likely to see out the boy as much as he is you, but to think he had any idea where the Dursleys live is ludicrous."

"They think he's going to come looking for me too," Marian said in a glazed tone of someone who desperately needed good rest. "They were going to send an official over to check my home and question me, but I decided I'd rather not have them doing so in my home. They can come question me here. It's safer. No hazardous materials." She paused. "If you don't mind my staying for a few days I mean."

Albus shook his head. "Nonsense, I quite encourage it. School will be starting inside a week and I've been telling you for years you should be teaching. You're such a bright girl and students would hardly question a teacher about their past, wither they know you from the incident or not. Frankly they're reaching the ages now where they are too young to remember."

"But parents will," Marian said wisely. "They could inside a coup. Many people still believe I helped Sirius kill Peter at the tender age of eleven."

"Rubbish."

"I know that and you know that. Even the Ministry said it wasn't the case, but those who hold fast to that theory may not see it any other way."

Albus sighed. He couldn't change her mind about teaching. He had, as he said, been trying for years. Marian had once worked for the Department of Mysteries, in fact she still did, researching for the Death Chamber. Once a week she spent the night running tests in the actual chamber and was gone before most people saw her. The only interaction she ever had with a person these days was on the occasions she stopped by the school for lunch with the headmaster or the one day every month when she reviewed her findings with the head of her department. The treatment Marian had received as a child after the war ended had done a good amount of damage. She had never been a shy girl, but she was beginning to wall herself off from others, only so she wouldn't need to be reminded about her past.

There was a glimmer of a thought in Albus' mind at this. With Black being a major piece of news, it was unlikely that Marian was going to be left alone. By the Ministry, the media, everyone. Shee had her house in the middle of nowhere, but Ministry officials were always to be permitted there, despite the spells on the property. Marian would need somewhere to stay where she could be protected and left well enough alone until this was over.

"Marian my dear girl, until Black is found or otherwise I believe it may be best for you to remain here."

Albus said not a word more than this, but watched Marian's face carefully. She was thinking. She was puzzling. She was feeling out his truthfulness, which was not in its entirety. She knew there was some higher meaning embedded in what Albus had just suggested. And she was right.

"You think…" Marian ventured slowly with a hushed tone. "That Sirius is going to go looking for me. you're concerned that he will seek my help in evading re-arrest. And that I'll give it to him. So you want to keep me somewhere I can be kept an eye on, without the interference from the Ministry." During her disentanglement of hidden meanings, an owl had flown in through the distant window, dropped a parchment on the desk, and flown away again.

Albus unfurled the scroll and read the note while Marian started rationalizing. "Albus, I know you don't believe Sirius did what he's accused of, and I know that despite that you haven't been able to make peace with my version of events, but with all due respect, it was one month. One month with him doesn't make me an accomplice."

"No," Albus countered. "The connection you made with him does. Besides, I'm going to need you now." He set the scroll down and removed his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose and saying in a frustrated tone, "The Ministry has decided that Sirius will come this way for the same reason you surmised. And they're making preparations for him. They're sending dementors. A lot of them. Madame Pomfrey is perfectly able to handle the physical fall out some students might experience, but we don't have anyone who deals in death the way you do."

He looked at her and replaced the glasses. "I know you've shirked my offers to teach before. You don't need to teach, but I do need you here this time. Until the Minister decides to either call off the search or Sirius is found, I need you to move your research here."

Marian shifted her eyes to the newspaper on the desk. "But my research is dangerous and…there are children around."

"I'm afraid I have to insist. I'll clear it with Fudge and your department head, take the necessary safety precautions, but I need someone who's studied these things. I need an expert. Frankly you're the only one I know."

Marian could not think of a feasible retort, so she sat back with a sigh. "I guess if the Ministry wants to keep me under their thumb until this is over, they're have no problem with it now."

"If they wanted to watch you both," Dumbledore countered with a light tone of voice, "I hardly doubt proximity would be much of a challenge. The Ministry does, after all, have a very large thumb. At least here I can shield you from most of the officials and the media."

STRANGE AND THE STRANGER

Marian actually rather liked the tower Albus had set up for her. It was an east facing one, and from the large window she could see the courtyard outside. Her bedroom was at the top and was decorated in a style that may have been as old as the school itself. But it was cozy, and interesting. Some of the books on the shelves could be considered rare by the present day's standards.

Her workspace was on the lower level. Long tables, chests with multiple locks, cabinets standing empty waiting to be filled with whatever Marian was studying at the time. Her research would have to be sent to the Ministry and her results would be communicated via owl or floo network in the large fireplace in her workspace. Actually the most fascinating thing about the entire room was the lock which Albus had fit the door with.

It reminded Marian of the locks on the vaults at Gringott's actually. She stood inside while Albus exited, relocked, and re-unlocked the door so she could watch the curved metal pins and grooves disentangle themselves to grant entrance. He gave her the key and with a wink he was gone, leaving Marian to unpack and get herself settled.

Being in hiding could definitely be worse.

Several days later, Marian answered a knock on her door. It was evening, and she knew the feast for the students was on, but she hadn't felt much like eating. There was a new text on thestrals that had been published and she'd gone to a lot of trouble to get it on its release date; Marian's wasn't in the mood to leave it for another day, particularly when her working materials weren't available until they could be safely shipped from the department where she had housed them for the moment.

When she opened her door, Albus was standing there, and there was a shabby looking man behind him. "I hope we're not disturbing anything delicate, Marian."

She cast a backward glance into her tower, "Well…yes, but if this is really, terribly important—" she could see Albus was about to turn away, and rethought her answer. After all, whoever this poor man with him was, the headmaster had dragged him down here for a reason. "It's not urgent. I have a few moments."

"It won't take long."

Marian nodded and stepped outside, closing her door behind her and sweeping her stray hairs from her face. Her green robes had smudges of black on them from the ink with which she had been writing her notes in the margins.

Albus stepped aside and gestured for the other man to speak. He stepped forward a little timidly, saying, "I don't know if you'll remember me after so long, but I met you during the first war a time or two."

Marian considered her memory. There were plenty of people she met after fleeing her mother's house. James and Lily, Sirius of course, Peter, Moody…"Remus?"

"Yes!" he seemed so happy to have been recognized, even if it was by process of elimination. He extended a hand to her, and Marian took it. "Well, hello stranger. It's been a long time," she ventured. "Are you well?"

"As well as I can be I suppose. I'm, uh, teaching this year. Defense Against the Dark Arts. Since Professor Dumbledore told me he had brought someone in who understands the effects of a dementor I figured as the defense teacher I should meet her. He only just mentioned who you were. How have you been?"

Marian hesitated. She wanted to say she was well, that she had been fine growing up after the whole mess, and that she was doing just fine with the news. She wasn't. And it wasn't in her to lie. Not to him. "Frankly I could be doing better at the moment."

Remus stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I know what you mean." He averted her gaze and nodded his head. "You should come by my office from time to time. I think we got on the wrong foot last time, it might be nice to get on the right one."

"A very nice sentiment," Dumbledore said. "But I'm afraid we're overdue to discuss something very serious that happened this afternoon on the train; my motive for making sure you two corroborate."

"Right," Remus said. "Marian did you know that the dementors were going to be checking the train?"

Marian shook her head. "No, but if they did I don't think they were the ones from the school. I've got a Seeing Mirror and I check their posts regularly, get a head count. Well, as good a count as I can, we've got hundreds between the grounds, surrounding countryside, and the village."

"And they were all here all day?"

"Far as I could tell, but I can talk to some of them if you'd like to be sure."

Both men looked at her in an odd way, which made Marian seem to shrink and little, retreating between her shoulders. "I…well I'm an Unspeakable. I work a lot with death and…dementors don't bother me. I studied them."

"I didn't know you got close enough to communicate with them," Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "I can't even speak with them, not really. Strange." He paused for a moment before adding, "Yes do that. Ask a few about the incident on the train and set them straight, they're not to come near any students and I don't want them on the inhabited portions of the grounds."

Marian nodded and as Dumbledore turned to go and let her retreat back inside her door, Remus simply stood where he was, watching one turn away and then the other. His eyes, however lingered on Marian and as she started to close her door, he called out to her. "Marian, wait." She did. As she peered from the door still standing ajar with her inside, he asked, "Do you mind if I come with you? I'd rather like to see this for myself and it saves you the trouble from chasing me down later with the information."

A small smile spread across her rosy lips and Marian nodded. "It's better in the morning. Meet me in the courtyard at seven."

Remus agreed and bid her goodnight. When she was sure he was really going Marian closed her door quietly and locked it behind her. She tried going back to her text, but she couldn't concentrate. That was the longest conversation she's had with anyone besides Dumbledore in years. Remus hadn't dredged up old memories by asking overly prying questions, he hadn't tried to talk about the conditions under which they last met, which were fairly concerning.

The details were fuzzy now, and it bothered her. It nagged and vexed her until Marian slammed her book shut and made her way to one of her locked cabinets built into the wall. After unlocking it with the same little golden key that opened her room, blue light filled the room in an eerie way. There were some vials lined up on a shelf. Reading the dates, Marian chose the right one and poured it into the stone pensieve that was sitting on a pedestal below them. Once the memory she had chosen swirled itself into a clear pictured, Marian sighed and dove in.

"James, this is important. If Albus thinks we should do it then I fail to see how there could be a downside. This is our family James. That girl is sweet but she's not family. It's you and me and Harry and we're in danger."

"Lily, darling, I'm not saying we're not going. I am saying that we can't just dump the girl off at school right now. Listen, the Knightly family, they were a bunch of dark arts lovers. Marian's grandfather now he wasn't so bad, the reason my father could stand him. Everyone else though, they're about as dark as the Black family. No offense Sirius."

"None taken, Prongs."

"Anyway, the Knightlys have been fighting with Voldemort ever since he started gaining power and he was ready to do away with them. Wouldn't be surprised if her father didn't actually run off. Frankly he's probably dead for being a right thorn in Voldemort's side."

"I don't get it James. If they're so dark, then why would he want them gone? Seems like they'd be an asset."

"Because they have a similar claim to the Slytherine heirhood. Some sibling of one of Voldemort's forebears or something. The point is, the school is safe, but who knows for how long. If he finds out she's there and she's alone, he'll go for her. And he'll probably not have too much trouble."

There was a pause. Marian was listening from her spot on the couch where she usually slept. Dumbledore had come by some time earlier with this Sirius fellow, who apparently usually stayed with the Potter, after Marian was asleep. She had been with the Potters for a week. She'd met a few people, and consequently heard a few things. Word was that Voldemort was out to get the Potters now. Dumbledore suggested they go into hiding. Now the debate was what to do with Marian. They couldn't take her with them due to the risk, but was the risk of putting her in school greater?

Marian the adult remembered this well. She had settled herself on the couch beside her younger self, knowing the younger version could not see or hear her. if anyone had asked her before, Marian would have said this conversation made her nervous, but the child wrapped in a quilt didn't seem anxious. She listened intently, drawing in the words and processing them with the same starry eyed expression Marian had been told she wore even now that she had grown.

She remembered her family hangups. Another reason she was glad they kept mostly to themselves and other dark wizards. No one on the side of light knew about them really. It gave her a chance to try and start fresh when the war was over. If only it hadn't all ended the way it did, things might have turned out all right after all. Maybe her father had been killed instead of just run. And her mother had been very blood superior and pompous before she fell ill. In fact her father insisted she not be housed in St. Mungos because he didn't want her being treated by muggle borns or half bloods. The only blood you can trust is your own; that was what he used to tell her.

The adult Marian drew her knees in and rested her had on the back cushion of the sofa, waiting for what she knew was coming next.

The pause was eventually broken by a thoughtful sounding Lily. "There must be an order member we can leave her with. Mad-Eye maybe."

"Dislikes kids," said the one called Sirius. "And he particularly dislikes this one. Thinks she's creepy, how smart she is. At least that what he said."

"She can be sometimes, the things that come out of her mouth. She's smarter than a lot of wizards and witches we know. And we're pretty sure she's some kind of seer. But Mad-Eye should talk about creepy."

"Either way. He'd be terrible."

"Frank and Alice?"

"They're being advised same as you two."

"Remus?"

"I don't trust him."

Sirius had spoken darkly. There was a heavy silence that followed. "You can't really think he's the one who's defected, Sirius," James said quietly. "I don't believe it."

"He's been avoiding me. Why else would he do that?"

"Because you've been avoiding everyone. You're getting a little paranoid, Sirius and frankly it's starting to put even me out. You need to relax."

"If any of us truly relaxes more people will get hurt. We've lost plenty of them already."

There was no changing his mind, so James tied this debate into something a little more productive. "Well, Padfoot old friend, you've found a reason why every candidate to leave Marian with will fail, seems the only person left is you."

"Me?"

"That's a good idea," Lily added. "We'll be gone you can stay here with her until this is all over."

"No, I can't, I mean I haven't seen the girl since she was what, two maybe. You can't say we've actually even met. And you want me to stay here and play mister mom?"

"I think you'll find she will be taking care of you more like. You're rubbish at feeding yourself and that girl is actually a decent little chef. Think of it like an extended babysitting job." There was a pause. Marian assumed he was sulking. Of course this man didn't want to be cooped up with her. They were all what, early twenties? It was one thing for James and Lily, they had started a family. This Sirius character, seemed like he was still a bachelor. There was no way he would agree.

"You owe me big time, James. I mean it."

James laughed a little. "It's not that bad Sirius. You'll like her. She's smart. You'll have fun with her. She likes quiddich, dueling. Teach her if you'd like. Just make sure you take her with you when you go into hiding yourself and guard her with your life until this war is over. Easy as pie." He was being sarcastic. The situation made it important Marian not fall into the wrong hands, sure, but it wasn't as urgent as all that.

There were footsteps approaching. Marian rolled over and shut her eyes as the door opened and let light in.

Marian smiled and watched as he walked in. Sirius had been handsome. After non seeing him in so long, it surprised her adult self how she could have forgotten the trim beard and the thick hair. Sirius always dressed in a highly distinguished manner. That night he was wearing black suit robes, with a green vest patterned with silk thread to add a hint of texture, a gold pocket watch, and a grey shirt underneath it all that matched his eyes.

He walked up to the back of the couch and stuck two fingers in his vest pocket where the robe coat hung open.

She knew it would amount to nothing, but Marian still wanted nothing more than to simply reach out and touch this ghost of Sirius Black as the scene before her continued.

"James says you don't sleep much. Figured you've probably been awake since Dumbledore and I got here earlier. Is he right?"

Marian rolled over and sat up. "I'm afraid so."

Sirius sat himself on the back of the couch, favoring one hip leaving the opposite foot on the floor for balance. He clasped his hands together. "Then I guess you've heard you'll be staying here with me until further notice."

Marian nodded. "I don't mind cooking for you, if you really need someone to feed you. But know that I'm still working on getting the hang of hot icing for cakes."

Sirius chuckled for a moment. "Well I'm glad to see that James was right. You are very bright. And very funny." He extended his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, officially, Marian Knightly."

Marian took it, beaming shyly up at this dark stranger who was supposed to guard her with his life.

The scene froze in time. Marian knew it was about to fade. But before it could, she reached out and laid her hand over the joined hands of her younger self and Sirius. They were cold, and clammy. Like all memory shadows. But they were solid. And that was enough to be getting on with at the moment. Marian sighed and stood herself up, waiting for the pensieve to regurgitate her back to her waking life in which Sirius was a felon on the run, and she was desperately hoping Dumbledore's plan for her to catch up to him before a dementor did was clever enough to work.

GRIM AND GRIMMER

"I'm sorry, Remus, I thought that would have gone better."

Remus was leaning on Marian as they trudged back up to the castle. Remus had done reasonably well while Marian interrogated the dementors, maintaining a patronus and staying behind it. Marian didn't need one. But apparently she had taken so long the patronus he had conjured disappeared and Remus almost passed out cold. Marian ordered the dementors away and helped him up. Remus had some chocolate in his pocket. He popped a square in his mouth and chewed as they walked.

"Your tolerance is amazing though. What did they say? It just sounded like heavy breathing and wheezing to me."

"It said they did overstep their boundaries set down by the headmaster and myself and searched the train."

"So Harry's episode was their fault."

"Yeah."

They were quiet for a moment. Remus regained his sea legs and dislodged himself from Marian. The weight lifted, she wrapped her hands in her cloak and they continued along the path.

"Considering how they can clearly think for themselves, how is it the Ministry thinks they're suitable as guards for Azkaban anyway? I mean, I knew they were intelligent enough but I had never really witnessed it. How can they actually be controlled?"

Marian shrugged heavily and reached up a moment to smooth her ponytail. "I'm not sure I can answer that, Remus. The Ministry seems to think they can control them. They might be right, but I doubt it's true with the few safeguards in place now. And after what's happened, I think the issue should be up for some serious reconsideration."

Remus nodded and smiled. "You are still a very bright young witch you know."

"So I've been told."

They continued walking until they reached the doors. Once inside, Remus sighed. "Well, I think considering this information regarding their attitude towards authority here, I would say maybe keep an eye on the boy if you can. Make sure they're not bothering him."

Marian stared at him blankly. "I…I can't."

Remus shrugged. "Why?"

"I'm not…I mean, people don't really…" Marian was ruining her explanation. It was hard for her to describe how she had learned that people felt about her. Marian shook her head and started again. "People know who I am, and they treat me differently. They ask about him, even when he's not on the lam. Imagine what they'll be asking me now. I'm so tired of answering questions."

"Of course," Remus said in a forgiving tone. "Albus mentioned what you went through after it was over." He raised his eyes to meet hers. "But I don't think it bothers you as much as you've fooled yourself into believing it does." He reached for her, hand on her left shoulder over her cloak and ran his thumb over the worn patch on the left side. The patch was as worn as the cloak itself. The three ravens standing against a white background at the bottom, facing to the west to those viewing it, the blood red triangle sitting atop the black chevron crest containing the striking white arm hoisting a sword, all topped with a once startlingly white skull was a familiar one for both of them. It was the Black family crest.

"You think I've been a glutton for the attention? I've been trying to stay away from people for years because they don't believe me when I tell them what really happened. Not a single one."

Remus groaned, and moved his hand to her cheek. "You were so young. So impressionable. You trusted someone who then cast a charm to your memory. Even if he hadn't, it would have been traumatic to think the man who cared for you for weeks was a killer."

"He wasn't," Marian said coldly, stepping away from him. "I was young, but I have never been altered in my mind. He is a good man, Remus."

Remus was ready to defend his position. "He killed Peter and dozens of innocent muggle bystanders," he said earnestly.

"He didn't. But why trust me? I'm just the only other person there who lived to see another day." Marian turned to leave, but as she started running up the grand staircase, Remus called after her. "Marian wait!" When she did he approached as far as the first step. He stopped with one foot on it and for some reason fell short of whatever it was he thought he should say, or whatever he thought she wanted to hear. At his silence, Marian said without turning to face him, "Did you believe, before that night, that Sirius could ever hurt any of us? James, Lily, Peter…you and me. Any of us?"

Remus replied instantly, but with a heavy tone. "No."

"Were you there?"

"No."

"Then why are you so convinced I'm the one who has it wrong? What makes you believe the Ministry report so thoroughly? You had faith in him. What shook it?"

Remus sighed. "I—I don't know. The evidence was just so—"

"Compelling. I've read the case files dozens of times. But I know what I saw, and I know who he is. I won't abandon my faith in who Sirius is just because the entire world is convinced of something that I know isn't true." Marian continued to walk up the stairs.

"You have no doubts," Remus said lowly, though the marble in the entrance hall carried his voice to her ears. "You could use some. You're young still, someday you'll see."

Marian started walking again, saying, "You were lying just now. you didn't trust him in the end," as she continued on. She had to do something, anything. Something that was going to make her feel better without destroying her time that afternoon on an old text from the restricted section Madam Pince had given her early that morning. She wanted to read it, but she had to calm down first. The pensieve was out of the question. When she visited a memory of her own she was going to lose hours. Time moved slowly inside it when it was your own memory; something about the level of detail. She didn't have all afternoon. How else could she escape?

Marian was still thinking as she passed a tower entrance. This sparked her imagination. Trelawny was an old cook, but she was a real seer, however seldom her visions came to her. And crystal balls were an effective way to access memories with the right concentration…

Marian turned and began her ascent to the classroom. She hoped Sybill was free.

Actually students were just leaving as she reached the top. As they poured out, Marian tried to seem unassuming. When she thought they were gone, she rounded around the door jamb quickly, only to slam into the last of the students causing the closest one to drop his book as she knocked into him.

"I'm so sorry," Marian said nervously. She stooped to pick it up same as he did.

"It's all right, no worries."

Marian reached the book first and retrieved it. When she looked up hesitantly, she was met with bright green eyes and messy black hair and glasses. It was like looking at a ghost. She could feel his name slipping out of her mouth in a familiar way, though she knew he would be confused. "Harry."

"Um, yeah, who are you?"

Marian straightened to standing again and Harry did the same. "I'm…my name is Marian Knightly, I'm a Ministry researcher. I specialize in things like, well, dementors. Hence my presence this year. I'm fairly good and communicating with them, so here's hoping I'm equally as good at controlling them."

"I hope so," Harry said earnestly.

Marian smiled. She couldn't stop looking at him. He was so much like James… "Wow."

"Wow what?"

Damn…now what was she going to say. This was why she should never socialize with anyone. Marian hated thinking up explanations on her feet. "It's just…I knew your dad when he was alive. And your mum. And you look just like your father. Only you have your—"

"Mum's eyes, yeah," Harry finished for her.

"Yeah." Marian could see Harry was uncomfortable. He was searching for more depth than there was clearly time for. She handed his book back, saying, "You probably have another class to be getting to, and I'm keeping you from your friends," she nodded toward Ron and Hermione. "Hello." They murmured their greetings in return. When Harry reached for the book, Marian held on another second. "You should come by my study some time. Maybe during dinner tonight. I'm in the east tower." She paused before adding sadly, "It's been a long time since I talked about your folks. I miss them. And I'd like to get to know you. You were just a tyke last time I saw you."

"Um…okay," Harry said. Marian moved aside, letting the three students on their way. Harry walked backward a moment and waved goodbye. "I'll be by for dinner, I guess."

"Please do."

She watched him go and smiled to herself. It was so bizarre…

"Marian dear." Marian jumped a little. But it was only Sybill sneaking up on her. "I knew you would be coming by dear. You're lucky I have the time to help you examine your future."

"It's not my future Sybill," Marian corrected gently. "I'm actually here to have a look at my past."

"That's too bad," the tiny women said forebodingly. "Your future is in grave danger."

"Theoretically all futures are," Marian responded calmly. "I was hoping to use one of your crystal balls for an hour."

"Of course of course." Sybill ushered her to her own table at the front of the room and pushed Marian into the chair. "Use my personal crystal. Don't mind the cups, we were reading tea leaves. I'll be clearing up if something should go amiss."

Marian nodded in thanks and unclasped the fastener of her cloak at her throat, letting the aged velvet drape over the back of her chair as she sat.

Marian closed her eyes and let her breath come evenly and relaxed. She opened them again and keeping the openness of mind, she gazed into the smoky abyss inside the ball before her.

Marian had awoken in the morning after James and Lily had left with their son. She knew Sirius was in the house somewhere, but she didn't quite care where for the moment. She was not necessarily avoiding him, but she was still somewhat unsure of what kind of man this was. Better to observe for the moment in her opinion.

When Marian entered the kitchen in one of James' oversized muggle tee shirts, everything seemed quiet and in order, until she rounded the table toward the cabinets. Marian let out a shriek and made to run. There was an enormous black dog sitting on the welcome mat to the back door. But as she ran, she noticed that he was not giving chase. She stopped at the door and stared at him. He panted a few times, closed his mouth and whined a moment. Then he barked loudly, causing Marian to gasp and hide behind on the other side of the door.

After a few seconds, when the dog did not come, Marian ventured into the kitchen again. Instead of the dog, it was Sirius. He was standing naked with the tablecloth around his waist. He turned and waved her in. "I'm sorry for startling you," he said. "I thought I heard something last night. Most of the break ins that happen these days are people looking for abandoned homes to loot. Figured I could scare anyone off."

Marian sat at the table and asked, "I didn't know you were an animagus."

Sirius sat down as well, holding the cloth tightly to him. "Yes, well, neither does the Ministry, so keep this between us all right?"

Marian nodded and averted her eyes. He was after all practically naked. "I can make waffles," she said quietly. "While you, um, get dressed."

She could see Sirius nod out of the corner of his eye and he stood. "Sorry again," he said. He made it all the way to the door before Marian could eke out, "It's all right. It's actually kind of…interesting."

"Well maybe I'll teach you sometime. You're bright, you could do it, I'm sure."

Marian looked up and smiled in his direction. Sirius smiled back before retreating out the door and up the stairs.

Marian cooked up a storm and by the time Sirius came down, three piece suit robes and neatly groomed again, she was laying out the plate piled high with waffles and fruit. When he sat back down at the table and served himself, he said, "I actually think it would be a good idea to teach you some magic. See, there's a bit of a project I want to get on with and since it's only you and me here, I have to take you along. If something should go wrong I want you to be more able to get yourself out."

"Is it important?"

Sirius took a bite and nodded. "Yes."

Marian considered him seriously, squinting as though she were trying to search his soul. "How important?"

Sirius sighed. He leaned forward, both elbows resting on the table. "I'm not going to pretend you haven't heard some of the things being spoken about in this house. I'm sure you heard about the suspicion of a spy in our midst. I think I know who, but he's been avoiding me. If that dog won't come to me, then I must find him."

Marian mirrored him. "Is your suspect dangerous?"

"In the sense that I think he is a coward, sure. He passes information to the dark factions because he doesn't have the guts to do the dirty work himself." Sirius paused. "If you're worried about there being danger involved, don't be. The candidate I have in mind is a good wizard. Very good. But he is not insurmountable. Particularly against me."

Marian leaned back at this, pulling her eyebrows up and crossing her arms over her chest. "You think yourself insurmountable?"

"I know this man very well." Sirius was straight faced and confident. "I could probably predict better than anyone how he will react. If we find him."

Marian considered him a few moments longer before she nodded and unclenched. She gathered some waffle on her own fork and asked, "When do we start?" before taking a big bite.

The scene was engulfed in smoke and was gone. Marian sat back and sighed. She had got on so well with him, right from the beginning. How two people of such different ages could get on so well, she would never know. Marian glanced at the clock. An hour had gone by already. She wanted to continue, see more, but she really had to get to her book from the library.

Sybill was reading in the corner in front of the fireplace. She looked up, saying, "Go on dear, see more if you will. There's time plenty. It's important." Her voice was eerie, its texture like the smoke inside her ball.

"No, thank you Sybill," Marian said, standing and gathering her cloak. "I actually have some work to do, some findings to send to the Ministry, before dinner. Thank you though."

"Take one if you'd like. I have plenty. You'll be needing to view your future again before winter." Sybill went back to whatever she was doing, reading tea leaves as it appeared. Marian thought about correcting her, it was her past she was looking at as she had said, but instead she let the woman alone and walked by the shelf on the way out where all the crystals were lined up in metal stands. She gathered one, thanked Sybill, though she was sure she hadn't truly heard, and left the classroom. Her look into her past today, while short, made her feel certain enough in her usual convictions about Sirius that she could now continue on in her day and look forward to her dinner with Harry.

Later that evening, Marian saw in some house elves, who had consented to lay out the evening's dinner on a smaller scale on one of her study tables. Stew, fresh bread, chicken, potatoes, vegetables, pumpkin juice, butterbeer, milk and some cake for dessert. They had just left when there was a knock on her door.

Marian brushed off her black trousers and straightened her cotton long sleeve tee. She rushed to answer her door and smiled when she saw Harry there. She stepped aside. "Come in."

Once inside and the door was closed Harry looked around at her workspace. She hadn't been around long. There were many books, and Marian had convinced a friend in the Ministry's Hall of Records to send her some documents to comb through, there were old newspapers, and jars of things, many of which may have been alive at some point. Some of them looked dark.

"What did you say you did again?"

"I didn't," Marian stood beside him, hands in her pockets. "I work for the Ministry, in the Department of Mysteries." Harry gave her an enquiring look. Marian added, "Just know it's an unusual line of work."

She led Harry to the table and they sat down. As Marian started by serving them both from the stewpot into the bows set before them, Marian recounted her memory of James and Lily. "They took me in when no one else would. During the war my father disappeared. No one knows if he was killed or ran for fear of being killed. My mother was mad and he was remiss to let her be kept at St. Mungos and be cared for by possible muggle borns and half-bloods. My parents were a snobbish sort."

"They sound as bad as Malfoy and his folks."

Marian handed Harry his bowl and started filling her own. "Yes, they were very good friends with them as well."

"Not to be rude," Harry said, taking a bite. "But how on earth do you know my father if your family was so…dark?"

"My parents and most of my ancestors were dark witches and wizards. But my grandfather was a good man. He knew your grandfather, incidentally. Used to pop out once a month for a nip at the Leaky Cauldron. Sometimes I wonder if he and I were the only decent Knightlys that ever were. Then I think it simply must be a fact."

"Why?"

"Well, the Knightlys have had a claim to the Slytherine bloodline as far back as anyone can remember."

Harry coughed a little and drank several gulps of pumpkin juice. Marian rather thought she's shocked the boy, but in fact he came out of the goblet laughing. "I wish you had been here last year then! Everyone was saying I was an heir of Slytherine."

"You could be, anyone could. It's been over a thousand years. Anyway, that's why my dad either left or was killed, our claim. With Voldemort out causing trouble and insisting it was his right and my father insisting he was, we made very few friends while my dad was the patriarch."

Harry smiled and said through his last bite of stew, "You say his name, Voldemort's."

Marian shrugged and started eating from her own bowl. "I don't see the point in the nickname game. It does more harm than good since it's conceived on a myth."

Harry smiled in approval and speared some chicken off a plate and started loading the dinner plate after he set aside the stew bowl. "So you stayed with my parents then?"

Marian nodded and buttered a roll. "Yes, but only for a week. They were very kind to me and I remember both of your parents so fondly. They saved my life, for sure. They were the last address I had in my dad's book of addresses. It had been handed down from my grandfather you see and there was a charm on it stopping them from removing the information. Lucky thing."

Harry's question was more curious than prying, and perhaps if it had been Marian would have either lied or changed the subject on suspicion the boy was digging for information like so many did with her. Since his question was innocently asked, Marian answered and would soon wish she hadn't.

"So what happened to you after they had gone to Godric's Hollow?"

Marian sniffed and smiled. "You can't say you don't know."

"Sorry, I don't."

Marian fell silent and attempted to stuff her mouth with the buttered roll in an attempt to not have to answer. She avoided his eye, but Harry was still staring, waiting for an answer. Marian had never come across a person who knew nothing about from the dark days. She didn't know what else to say, and of all the bad, poorly practiced excuses swirling inside her head, Marian could not believe the one that actually slipped.

"So…where did you go? Who took care of you?"

"You should ask Remus about that."

"You mean Professor Lupin?"

Marian's mouth was slightly agape, shocked at what she had suggested. The only she could do now was to close her mouth and nod and quickly change the subject and hope to Merlin that the boy would forget about the foreboding nature of that last bit of conversation. It was a rather grim thought when the idea of Remus finding out she had put him on the spot flitted in and out of her head from time to time.

WALK THE DOG

"For heaven's sake, Marian, we had a bit of a row but did you really have to lay that information at my door?!" It was fortunate that so many students were gone from the castle on Hogsmeade weekend. The school was rather empty, which left Remus and Marian more than enough privacy in the open space of his classroom to argue.

"I don't know why I said it," Marian insisted earnestly. "I have never come across someone who didn't know, and I was so caught off guard I honestly thought he was joking." She pause while Remus stewed. "Has he asked anything?"

"No," Remus replied, cold and short. "But I did overhear him asking Mr. Weasley about you. Seems Mr. Weasley doesn't know either, since he was an infant like Harry at the time. Now here's hoping he doesn't ask me what you told him to."

Marian slid herself off the edge of the desk she was sitting on. "I don't suppose telling you I'm sorry for the thousandth time will make any difference where the previous nine hundred and ninety nine apologies failed."

"No, it bloody will not! How can you be so glib about this?! The boy isn't supposed to know anything about Sirius and his involvement with James and Lily and you are a link in that chain! You should have lied and told him you didn't know them! Or said nothing at all. I told you to watch him discreetly and instead you invite him to dinner and—"

Marian lifted her cloak during this speech and until this point was happy to turn and see herself out, but she stopped at the door at his last, knowing he was about to accuse her of revealing something she ought not to.

"And what?! Reveal to the boy that his godfather and I knew one another? If he comes about asking you what would be so terrible with that?"

Remus gave a frustrated huff and pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes short as though he had a massive headache. "Harry knowing that Sirius is his godfather is the problem. Sirius killed people. He effectively killed James and Lily."

Marian yanked the door open. "He. Did. Not."

Instead of slamming the door shut behind her, because that would have been highly childish, so instead she slammed it open as she left.

Harry was passing outside, and actually Marian bumped into him again. Fortunately this time there was nothing in his hands to knock to the floor. But seeing her harried expression Harry's face took on a note of concern. "Are you all right Professor Knightly?"

"Oh," Marian said while trying to calm herself. "That's sweet Harry, but call me Marian. I'm not a teacher. And I'm all right. Or at least I will be after a long, brisk walk."

Marian stomped away, slipping on her cloak over her shoulders as she walked.

"Harry?" Lupin had somewhat emerged from his room. "What are you doing? Where are Ron and Hermione?"

"Hogsmeade," Harry answered. "Is she all right?"

Lupin nodded. "She'll be all right." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Marian's a little temperamental. Always was. And she never liked me much so that doesn't help."

"Always," Harry repeated. "So you're friends outside of the school?"

Remus now understood exactly how Marian could have gone and nearly let something slip. He bit his own lip and cursed himself inwardly. He was almost as big a fool and more than a decade older. Remus invited the boy in and said, "No. I knew her when she was a child."

"Oh," Harry said with understanding. "You must be the person she stayed with when my parents went to Godric's Hollow."

Remus said nothing, but changed the subject to the grindylow in a tank in the corner.

Marian simply walked. It was getting cold outside, but she didn't quite care enough. All she did was wrap her cloak tighter, pull her hood up and continue on. Through the school grounds, through the trees, past the lake. There was no stopping her for a long while, not until the sun had gone down and Marian stopped and sat at the foot of the tree. There was a cool breeze weaving through the trees and pulling at the wisps of hair hanging out of her hood.

Marian sighed and pulled her hood down. The dementors would be nearby even at this distance in the forest, but that made no difference to her. They might come by, but they wouldn't bother her. Marian understood them, and they knew that. No, it didn't matter. Marian breathed deep, closed her eyes against the world, and calmed herself.

With her head in her hands, Marian though out her last couple of months since she went to the school for safekeeping. It was complete codswallop. She didn't need protecting, not from Sirius. He had protected her when he hardly knew her. Then again, he still hardly knew her. It was one month. that always seemed to color peoples' opinions about her situation in the last war. It was so much time, how could she not know? It was so little time, how can you defend him? Marian had never thought about how much or how little time it was, she just liked to remember the moments it was made up of.

"I'll need my clothes."

Marian was wearing her robes again, the ones she had shown up on the Potters' doorstep wearing. They had been washed frequently, but there was no way Marian could wait out the war with only one set. Therefore, she alerted Sirius to her needs one night over a dinner of shepherd's pie she had made.

"What's wrong with what you've got on?"

"I've been wearing them every day for over a week. You have clothes here."

Sirius shoved another bite into his mouth and shrugged. "Because I practically live here. Still, I suppose it's something manageable. You sure your house is empty?"

"Positive," Marian responded through a full mouth. She swallowed and continued. "My mother is in St. Mungos now, if she hasn't gone and hung herself at the thought of being treated by anyone who isn't pure blooded. There were no house elves to do the chores. We won't run into anything or anyone."

Sirius smirked and pushed away his empty plate. "No elves, who did the dishes?"

Marian blushed. "I did." At Sirius' slightly shocked expression, she elaborated. "They didn't want anything dirty, anything unclean, touching our things. They were…extreme. I did everything for them."

Sirius shifted his eyes away from Marian. He was ashamed of his joke, which turned out to be at her expense. "All right. We'll go when we're done here."

Marian nodded and let a smile of gratitude cross her lips. She collected her plate and his and headed for the sink. Everything clattered in, but before Marian could turn on the tap, Sirius stood and announced, "Leave that. I'll get it when we get back. Let's go get your stuff."

They left the Potter residence and rode Sirius' motorbike to the old Knightly house. It was only about fifteen blocks, and Sirius frankly hated calling the Knight Bus, even if Dumbledore though continuing to ride the beastly thing was a terrible idea after the scrape he and James had had with muggle police a few years before. It was easily recognizable. But the Marian had never been on one, and besides, it was a nice night. The streets were tree lined and the lamps were o and the air was cool, but comfortable.

They arrived at the house and as Marian had said, it was empty. He followed her up the steps and watched as she walked through the front door. Marian stepped inside and looked side to side. It was dark inside, and it was cold and lonely. But it was home. She looked behind her. Sirius seemed nervous, anxious. "Stay here if you would prefer. Make sure no unwelcome person follows me inside."

Sirius nodded and Marian turned and hustled up the stairs. Her room was at the top of the stairs, around the balcony edge, at which point she noted how dusty the crystal chandelier hanging down past the banister rail was. Her door was the last one at the end. She turned the handle and let herself in. Marian turned the tiny knob on the wall, but the room remained dark. Seemed the fairy lights were out after the week of being empty. No matter. She knew the room well enough to feel her way around, and there was enough moonlight coming in to see what she was grabbing.

Marian took a rucksack from her closet and shoved some things in. Black robes, green ones, both of simple cotton with pockets in the skirts. She also grabbed a spare pair of boots from the closet floor. From her dresser beside the closet door, Marian chose a couple pairs of trousers, some blouses, tee shirts, and a few other muggle things. After going through and adding her underthings and socks, Marian though she had about everything she needed for clothing. She had taken almost everything she owned in the end. The rucksack had a side pocket, which Marian filled with some makeup and her hair brush. Anything else she would need was at the house that the Potters had left for her. Marian had almost forgotten to pry her loose floorboard up before she left. At the foot of the door, beneath a loose board, there were a few rather important items. There were three envelopes, each containing something. Inside the first was a letter signing over the family fortune to Marian with her mother's signature. Another was the will her parents had signed some time ago. The third was a large one, a manila envelope with bubble wrap inside. A truly marvelous muggle invention. Inside was Marian's mother's wand. Something she had hidden before calling the hospital to come collect Amelia Knightly and leaving the house.

All these safely in her bag, Marian made to leave, but she noticed how terribly hot she was feeling. And how difficult it was to see. The air was—moving? It took her a moment to realize it was smoke. Why would there be smoke?

Marian opened her door. It had closed over the course of her picking through her things. When she did, smoke poured into the room and right into Marian's face. She coughed violently and dropped to the floor. How could there be a fire in the house? She hadn't been there more than a few minutes, and before that there had been no one there at all. There was a flickering orange light on the banister and walls. As Marian crawled out into the hallway, she saw the banisters and carpet engulfed in flame. She couldn't crawl across a flaming carpet and floor. Marian sat as far away from them as possible and covered her nose and mouth lightly with her sleeve to try and keep the smoke from making her pass out. She had to think. How was she going to get out of this? She had a wand, her mother's, but without having started school she didn't know any spells.

She could swear someone was calling for her. Marian tried to see through the smoke, but it was stinging her eyes. She was almost out of it when there was a shadow pounding up the staircase and rushing toward her. It seemed to all be moving in slow motion. The world was going dark.

Marian could recognize she was slipping through something that was not a natural dream. One moment she was being grabbed by the shadowy figure, the figure she knew was Sirius, and the next she was in her adult body, sitting on the small front lawn of the Knightly residence, knees drawn in and watching as a younger Sirius and a much younger Marian sat on the lawn near her, watching the house burn. There was no noise, no sound. They were talking but it was soft. And slow.

"Seems like forever ago, doesn't it?"

Marian knitted her brows together and looked to her right. Sitting there was an older Sirius than the one with her younger self beyond. He was wan and thin, he was dirty, and his hair was in knots. There were dark circles under his eyes and his lips were dry. But he was Sirius.

"Are you really here?" she asked.

"No more than you, I don't think." Sirius glanced at her and smiled. He was watching the scene before them. "You remember that night?"

"I remember what happened after we were out." Marian retrained her eyes on their younger selves. "They never caught who it was you know. Whoever set the fire had to have known I was gone before that. That everyone had gone. They had to have waited there."

"Probably a Death Eater. Your father put you in a world of danger before he up and left. Should have kept his mouth shut."

Marian couldn't disagree with that. It would seem that there was an awful large target on her back due to her father's pissing contest with Voldemort over who was more related to Slytherine then whom (like it could be proven), but how was she to know before the end? None of them caught on to the severity before the end. Even then, after that house fire no one was looking for her anymore; the Prophet had reported her dead after the fire through Merlin knew what witness. Marian could have started over, like the other orphans from the war. When Sirius got arrested the fact that she was alive went public.

It started raining. The vision, or whatever it was, kept the older Sirius and Marian dry, but the younger versions tried to shield themselves. The young Sirius lifted his own cloak off his shoulders and rested it over young Marian to keep her dry.

"I remember this," Sirius said. "I don't think I ever used another cloak after that. No time to get a new one."

Marian smiled while watching the vision before them both fade away and dissolve into smoke. "I still wear it, that cloak. It's old, and ratty, and I'm sure Madam Malkin in bored to tears repairing it."

"Old bat's still alive is she?"

They both laughed. Everything was gone now, the house, the trees, the young Marian and Sirius. The older versions of themselves, the real versions, were sitting side by side staring into a foggy nothingness, talking.

"Where have you been, Sirius? It's been over two months; I've been staying at the school ever since the Ministry sent a courier by telling me they were going to come and question me."

Sirius laughed a barking laugh. "Funny. That they would bother so long after the fact. They think you're going to hide me in your closet or something."

"Maybe. I would if you asked me to, so they're not being misguided. And no one knows the extent to which we are connected but us, Albus and Fudge. He the one who asked me to stay at the school until…"

"Until I'm caught," he finished for her.

"Yeah."

Marian paused for a minute and chewed on her bottom lip. She heard a smirk and Sirius said, "I forgot you used to do that." Marian looked to him again. "You always looked sweet when you were doing that; sweet, and naïve. These days, still sweet. The naive is gone."

Marian sighed and she met Sirius' eye. "Where are you really?"

"How about we play a game," Sirius offered. "I ask a question and you ask one. I'm nearby. Have you seen Harry?"

"We've fully met. He looks just like James, but his eyes are exactly like Lily's. Are you safe? Has anyone recognized you?"

Sirius smiled. "That's two questions. I'm fine, and no. I travel as a dog when I'm out. Now I get to ask two." He paused. "How is Harry doing in school, if you know? And has anyone from the Ministry bothered you about all this?"

"Harry does well. He's on the quiddich team. I hear he's a fantastic seeker, just like James used to be. Hasn't been a game yet, but I can hardly wait to see for myself. As for me, since the courier that came to my house, no one from the Ministry has come here for me. I'm sure it's not because my interrogation is unimportant. I do think the dementors have something to do about it."

"I saw them. Must be terrible."

"I work as an Unspeakable in the Death Chamber, mostly at night. I've studied those things; they don't bother me. They listen to me. I'm the best person to have around if you need to control them. Which is partly why Albus asked me to stay here I'm sure. That and I think he was counting on the number of them hanging about would keep Ministry officials away from me." She paused. "Anyway, my turn. How on earth did you get out?"

"I turned into a dog and slipped through the bars. You might notice that I'm rather thin these days."

"Of course, lack of complex emotions; they wouldn't have noticed you going by."

"How was life after the war, Marian? How did you fare?"

"Life was…confusing. I was in the Ministry for a few days before Albus stepped forward after registering me at school and offered to let me live there until I came of age. I was glad for it; I spent summers there, learned a lot. But I was socially isolated. The report in the paper said I had been compromised in my memory. Everyone believed it, and they judged me by the things I say are true. They still do. The reason why I work in the Department of Mysteries. They don't bat an eye at strange people as long as they're insightful. What do you think this is?" Marian gestured around her. "This isn't a dream, it's not in a crystal ball, it's not a pensieve memory."

"I don't know, my dear. It's strange to be sure, but I don't know what this is. You were always a little off that way." Sirius cringed at his own words, eliciting a compassionate smile from Marian. "Sorry, I mean, you were always very unusual as a child. Insightful. You knew when things were going wrong, or would go wrong. Why you came with me that night, I guess. You knew it was going to go wrong." Sirius paused. "Are you happy?"

Marian had to pause and choose her words carefully. "I don't know. I'm happy with my home, my job…but I'm lonely. I fill my life with research and books instead because they don't judge the way people do. I never quite learned how to trust again I don't think. It's horrible going through life knowing everyone thinks you're nuts." Marian sighed. "It's different with you Sirius. It always was. I can talk to you without feeling nervous or anxious. I was always like that, even before I met you. I never let anyone see that side of me though, until you. My parents' treatment of me left that legacy of anxiety I suppose. Now my turn…Why now? Why twelve years later?"

Sirius looked away and his eyes got dark. The dark circled seemed more prominent and he licked his lips before speaking deliberately and with care. "I wallowed in pity for a long time. I'm sure you saw the photos of them locking me up. After finding out Peter had been the one to betray us all, after all that trouble, the suspicion, the legwork, and the real traitor was right under my heel the whole time. I thought for sure he had died in a spell gone wrong that night. I knew it was nothing I had done; I thought it was something he had tried to cast and it had gone wrong somehow. But when I saw—"

The texture of the air flickered and began to fade. Marian and Sirius looked around confused. Marian knew it was ending and she had to catch what she could before it was gone. "Saw what?" she asked. "Saw what Sirius?"

But it faded too fast.

Marian awoke still sitting beneath the tree. Whatever it had been it was no dream, but there was no question that it was strange. Was Sirius really there? Was he really talking to her? Marian found that she was stroking the faded, frayed Black family crest on the chest of her cloak. When she was sure she could be steady on her feet, Marian stood herself up.

It was growing dark now. And it was colder. Marian started to make her way back toward the castle. She decided on her walk back that if it made her feel better, thinking that what she had experienced was a connection between herself and Sirius, wherever he was tonight. And now, if she hurried, she could still make the Halloween Feast in the Great Hall.

DOGS

"Miss Knightly, you must know that while we respect the fact that there was only a single fortnight in which you and the fugitive were in close contact twelve years ago, we have to take the fact that he has made his way here after you came to assist the school at Professor Dumbledore's request into consideration."

Marian sniffed and stared down the lackey auror Scrimgeour sent over. Apparently the old man wasn't curious enough to come over himself. At least not yet. It had taken them almost the whole term to send someone out. Either that or it took them that long to overcome every objection Albus threw at them.

"I really hope no student runs into a dementor in Hogsmeade while I'm sitting here not talking to you."

The young auror blinked a couple of times behind his glasses. He straightened them and held on tighter to his clipboard. "Excuse me?"

"If you know what's best for your boss, you'll inform him that he hardly has to worry about my involvement."

Maybe Marian shouldn't have left the room like that, but this was a first year rookie. There was nothing for her to fear from him. If it had been Scrimgeour she would have hated it, but she would have answered his questions, knowing that he could make her life hell. Then again, if Moody was still working and he had come by, she would have not only answered his questions, but she would have been glib about it and bought him a drink knowing her sensitive information would have gone nowhere but Moody's own memory bank.

Besides, Marian had been invited out to drinks in Hogsmeade. It was the November weekend. She was going to be late if she continued listening to this drivel.

It was getting quite cold outside these days. It was snowing now, and as it turned out, Marian was running slightly late. By the time she entered the Three Broomsticks Minerva, Hagrid, Professor Flitwick, and Minister of Magic Fudge had already arrived. "Am I past the time?" Marian asked, shaking her cloak free of flurries. "I'm sorry I'm late, but I had a meeting with one of your lackies, Minister."

The portly man with a green bowler on his head started a bit. "My lackies, Miss Knightly?"

"Well, actually," Marian corrected herself as she swept her cloak off, "It was one of Rufus'. Shall we?"

The group of five made their way to a table toward the back. "I took the liberty of ordering for you Marian, I know what you like, I think."

"Thank you Minerva."

Madam Rosmerta arrived with a tray of drinks. "A small gillywater—"

"Mine," Minerva claimed.

"Four pints of mulled mead—"

Hagrid took it. Flitwick had ordered a cherry syrup and soda with ice and an umbrella, the Minister a red current rum. "And you must be the firewhiskey on the rocks, double shot rum, triple shot strawberry syrup. Hope it's all right, been a while since my man made anything like that."

Marian accepted it, aware that Fudge was watching her intently. There was something to be said for the power of magical drinks, and this was something of a doozy. Marian smiled, thanked Rosmerta, and sipped slowly. It was a little rum heavy, but otherwise perfect. Fudge poured on his charm and invited Rosmerta to join them, which she did after fetching herself a drink as well.

"So what brings you to this neck of the woods, Minister?" she asked.

"What else but Sirius Black? I daresay you heard what happened at the school at Halloween?"

Rosmerta admitted she heard rumors, and Marian was already finding it hard to hold her tongue. She noticed that Minerva was trying to calm her, laying a hand over hers briefly while asking Hagrid if he had crowed the news to the entire pub.

"Do you think Black's still in the area, Minister?" Rosmerta asked.

"I'm sure of it," Fudge responded. Marian tensed, but continued sipping. She figured if he kept the straw in her mouth she might be drunk very soon, but perhaps she might refrain from saying anything less than wise. Was this why Minerva had invited her out here? To discuss Sirius? Change her mind? People had tried and failed for twelve years, there was no point in trying anymore. It was too late now though to do anything about her current situation.

"You know the dementors have searched the whole village twice? Scared off all my customers, it's very bad for business, Minister."

"Rosmerta my dear I don't like them any more than you do. Necessary precaution, unfortunate, but there you are." The Minister was nervous now. He was lying. Very little did Marian realize she had stopped sipping and something unwise had just slipped out.

"…lying…"

Fudge leaned in close. "Excuse me, Miss Knightly?"

Damn, Marian thought. Well, nothing for it now. "I said you're lying. About hating them as much as anyone. I can feel that from you. I know you Minister, you're a huge proponent of using them as a tool to police our prison. Does that still seem like a good idea to your, after what's happened, sir?"

"All the same," he answered, turning his attention back to Rosmerta. "They're here to protect you all from something much worse…We all know what Black's capable of…" Marian leaned back in her chair and clamped her fist over her mouth. She could have bit her tongue or lip, but her outrage would have guaranteed she would have bit either one off. Fudge considered Marian intently. "Something to say, Miss Knightly?"

"Yeah," she answered lightly. "You have no idea what he is or isn't capable of. And you can take that as you like."

Good old Rosmerta, coming to the rescue unknowingly, said, "I still have a hard time believing it. Of all the people to go over to the Dark Side, Sirius Black was the last I'd have ever thought…I mean I remember him when he was a boy at Hogwarts. If someone told me then what he was going to become I'd have said you'd had too much mead. And I mean, I remember hearing he took good care of you, Marian, dear."

"He did."

"You don't know the worst of it Rosmerta," Fudge insisted. "The worst he did isn't widely known."

"Worst? Worse than murdering all those people you mean?"

"I certainly do."

"I can't believe that. What could possibly be worse?"

Minerva was jumping in now. "You say you remember him at Hogwarts, Rosmerta. Do you remember who his best friend was?"

"Naturally," Rosmerta laughed. "Never saw one without the other did you? The number of times I had them in here—ooh they used to make me laugh! Quite the double act Sirius Black and James Potter."

"Precisely," Minerva said. "Black and Potter, ring leaders of their little gang. Both very bright of course—exceptionally bright, as a matter of fact—but I don't think we ever had such a pair of troublemakers—"

Hagrid chuckled. "Oh, I don't know, Fred and George Weasley could give them a run for their money."

"I'll let them know you said so," Marian said through a smile. "They'll be thrilled, I'm sure."

"You would have thought they were brothers," Flitwick put in. "Inseparable!"

"Of course they were," Fudge said darkly. This did nothing for Marian's mood, which had begun to soften a moment ago at the fond memories being relayed at the table. Now it grew hard again. "Potter trusted Black beyond any of his other friends. Nothing changed when they left school. Black was best man when James married Lily. They trusted Marian to him when they went into hiding. They named him godfather to Harry. Harry has no idea, of course. You can imagine how the idea would torment him."

Rosmerta dropped her voice to a whisper. "Because Black turned out to be in league with You-Know-Who?"

Fudge dropped his voice to meet her. "Worse than that, my dear. Not many people are aware the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore who was of course working tirelessly against You-Know-Who had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off and he alerted James and Lily at once. He advised them to go into hiding. Well of course You-Know-Who wasn't an easy person to hide from. Dumbledore told them their best chance was the Fidelius Charm."

"How does that work?" Rosmerta asked, bewitched by the tale.

"An immensely complex spell involving magical concealment of a secret inside a single living soul." Marian had jumped in before Fudge could speak. She had studied souls; she knew more about it than he did. "The information is hidden inside the chosen person, the Secret Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find—unless the Secret Keeper chooses to divulge it. As long as the Secret Keeper refused to speak, Lord Voldemort could have searched the village they were hiding in for years and never find them." There had been a shiver throughout the whole table. Marian had never been good as concealing the dark wizard's name; she didn't spend much time around people anymore, so she didn't have to. "Sorry. Anyway, he could have his nose pressed against their sitting room window and not know where they were."

"So Black was the Potters' Secret Keeper?" Rosmerta had recovered rather quickly. Marian thought it best not to speak anymore.

"Naturally," Minerva continued. "James Potter told Dumbledore Black would rather die than tell where they were, that Black was planning on going into hiding himself. And yet Dumbledore remained worried. I remember him offering to be the Potters' secret keeper himself."

Marian was slightly disgusted. It was true, it was suggested that Black go into hiding after the Potters were settled, but Sirius had lied about that. He wanted them safe, but he also wanted to know who the traitor was. He was planning on hunting him. To do that he had to remain on the outside. Marian knew the truth, but she had long since given up on the whole story. No one believed her then, and no one would now…

"I still don't see why we're spying on your friend, Sirius."

"Because I think he's a lying bastard and I want to confirm he is in fact a lying bastard before I run him through."

Marian clutched Sirius' cloak about her and leaned against the brick façade of the menagerie in Diagon Alley. Sirius was watching for the shop four down and across from them. They stood in a shadow, trying to remain obstructed. When Marian had asked why he didn't bother becoming a dog for this, Sirius had replied that on occasion he'd been known to chase a cat or two while under the influence of a canine brain and he couldn't run the risk. Who knew if that was true.

Remus came out of the shop he worked in part time. He was wearing the same shabby robes and the same uneasy look on his face as he had had when Marian met him at the Potter residence the week before. She had agreed with Sirius that he seemed a little off, but in her opinion anyone who was so obviously ill and unable to hold down a job in the middle of a magical war was sure to be anxious no matter who was in the room. Sirius disagreed, hence their presence in Diagon Alley. Sirius watched Remus and whispered. "If he's the traitor he would be going somewhere unusual now night is coming on. A strange house, visiting some of our people to watch. Something."

Sirius crept from their shadow and took Marian's hand, making her follow close. He did not let go while they walked along at a safe distance behind Remus. Up this way down that, they walked until he made his way through the Leaky Cauldron wall and into the muggle world. Sirius and Marian passed through themselves. It was busy for a weekday. "Got your wand?" he asked her quietly. Marian nodded.

They made their way through the crowd and to the front door in just enough time to see Remus disappear on the spot just outside the door. Sirius dropped Marian's hand and rushed toward the door, but he reached it too late. Remus was gone. Marian weaved her way through the catch up.

"Damn," Sirius swore, smacking a fist against the jam as his body blocked the door from closing. "He apparated. Could have gone anywhere now and we wouldn't know. He never used to apparate…hates the feeling…he's a dog…"

Marian laid a hand on his shoulder. "I agree, his behavior is odd. I'm just not convinced he's the traitor."

Sirius sighed. "Yeah, maybe you're right." He relaxed and sighed. "Come on, let's go home." He slung his arm over her shoulders and led them to where he had parked the bike some three blocks away. "Maybe you are right," he said again as they approached it. "You're one of the best divination students I've ever seen; maybe your judgment is the one I should really be trusting. Anyway, we should get home. Peter will be waiting for us. I'm still trying to convince him that he should be the one to take the charm for James and Lily." They got on the bike and Marian wrapped her arms around Sirius' waist. On the drive home, Marian thought about this man Remus. She truly didn't read anything from his suggesting dark activity. But then she had only been in divination lessons with Sirius for a couple weeks. She could be wrong.

Peter, now she had never met him before. But if Sirius trusted him, he must be on the up and up. Seemed Sirius only trusted those he really knew he could.

"Marian dear," Minerva was shaking her shoulder lightly, "are you all right?" Marian smiled and nodded noting that Fudge was still talking.

"…Black in a very nasty position indeed. His master had fallen at the very moment when he, Black, had shown his true colors as a traitor. He had no choice but to run for it—"

"Filthy stinking turncoat!" Hagrid's outburst made everyone at the table jump. Minerva tried to hush him, but he was just getting started. "I met him! I must have been the last to see him before he killed all those people! It was me who rescued Harry from Lily and James' house after they was killed!..."

Hagrid kept going on and on with a play by play of the evening's events as they unfolded. Marian did her best to block him out. She was pretty good at dulling the particular voices of anyone she wanted. Part of her particular skill set that appealed to the Ministry's Department of Mysteries included certain cognitive abilities that included divination practices and other strange occurrences. She was able to block out Hagrid, but the sheer level of his voice was making it hard to maintain her block.

The silence broke after a while. Dulled voices were getting through. After Hagrid had said his piece, Fudge started in and talked about that night once he had arrived on the scene. Their voices were rapidly approaching full volume again. Marian couldn't hold out forever.

"I still dream about it sometimes, a crater in the middle of the street so deep it cracked the sewer below. Bodies everywhere, muggles screaming, and Black standing there, laughing, hanging onto Marian here for dear life, with what was left of Pettigrew in front of him…a heap of bloodstained robes, and…fragments."

Marian stood now and stepped aside from the table, breathing deeply and trying to calm herself. Fudge kept on and on…not stopping for anything. She could feel Minerva's eyes on her back, filled with concern. Rosmerta asked about his madness, rumors he was insane. Asked about wither he was going to try and rejoin Voldemort…

"I daresay that is his—er—eventual plan," Fudge said. "But we hope to catch up with Black before that. I must say You-Know-Who alone a friendless is one thing, but give him back his most devoted servant and I shudder to think how quickly he will rise again…"

"Okay!" Marian said loudly. "I can't listen to any more of this, it's making me sick, so bye."

On her way out, Marian did hear one more thing from Fudge mouth which made her want to kick his teeth out, but in actuality made her stop at the door.

"It's a shame really. Black altered her memory before he was arrested. Something we didn't have any luck reversing. We had to let her go on as she is but she still thinks he did nothing wrong. For all we know he was keeping her as a slave to cook and clean…or worse."

Marian couldn't control it. The anger that had been building up since the whole conversation started suddenly burst like a balloon. She turned and stalked back toward the Minister. "I wasn't altered in my mind."

"You're confused my dear," he waved her off dismissively. "And you always will be."

"I am not confused! What's more likely? The account of an eleven year old who witnessed an event being better than the suppositions of investigators who didn't, or someone with no history with memory charms having created an undetectable, irreversible, and incredibly complex charm to cover up wrongdoing instead of just killing me? I mean, if he's such a cold blooded killer." Marian's voice was oozing sarcasm. Whatever she had been holding her tongue for before, there was hardly a point now. "You all decided what had happened before talking to me, and when my account didn't match the press release you had okayed without the facts, you came up with a reason in full earshot of a reporter you knew was desperate for a story, and she leaked the lie in the papers. You discredited me for life, stole an innocent man's future, and have buried the truth about how James and Lily died. And all to cover the Ministry's ass over jumping the gun on a press release."

Fudge was staring at her open mouthed. He closed and opened again a few times before something managed to come out. "Miss Knightly, I didn't—"

"I know Millicent Bagnold left the handling of the case in your hands, Cornelius. She was swamped handling the coordination of Magical Law Enforcement after the fact; that was a hell of a night for a lot of people, not just the Potters. You took the quick route, the dog's way out, because you were so sure you had it right. How did it feel when you found out you were wrong? All the cover up, was it worth it?"

Marian turned again and this time made it out the door. She put her cloak back on and began walking. She realized she spent quite a lot of her time furious these days. She couldn't visit the Death Chamber for work, her research was suffering due to being at the mercy of the post for texts she ordered. And with Sirius being out there she was suffering the slings and arrows of doubt and suspicion like she had in the old days. The only time Marian had felt peace in the past three months had been during her dreams, memories, visions, and thoughts of Sirius. And considering how ticked off she was feeling now, Marian deduced there was something to be said for viewing another memory.

Marian reached her tower in record time. She threw her cloak over the nearest table when she stepped inside and raced to her pensieve cabinet. Marian opened it up, grabbed a vial, uncorked it and dumped it in. When the memory swirled in and the picture became clear, Marian dove in.

"You're doing much better at that one," Sirius said approvingly. "I'm surprised your mother's wand works so well for you. Since she's an adult its usage isn't going to send up any red flags. Magic from this wand isn't automatically reported like it is on wands registered to minors. Frankly I'm relieved we're not going to have to steal one from somewhere"

Marian let her patronus dissipate and smirked. "I still think someone is going to come knocking on the door."

"Nah." Sirius tossed the book he had on the floor and rested his head in his clasped hands, lounging on the couch. "I used to do the same thing when I was about your age with my dad's wand in the summers. I know this works. Ministry still hasn't figured out how to trace children using adult wands without reneging on the agreement that children who come of age will no longer be traced."

Marian set her wand on top of the book and flipped her drying hair from one side to another. She raised herself to her knees and crawled onto the couch at the end where Sirius' feet were resting. He released a hand from his head's cradle to unbutton his vest.

"My patronus, what is it? I don't know what animal that is."

Sirius smiled and waved her forward. Marian crawled closer in her pajamas and cuddled up with Sirius. They had been spending so much time together, he was like a brother to her now. and he stroked her damp hair from the shower, Sirius spoke softly.

"I looked it up, love. Your patronus is a fennec fox. Foxes generally are symbols of intelligence, cunning, elusiveness, and discretion. The fennec fox is also very small, and very cute. Everything you are. Everything you're good at. It's all in the patronus, Marian."

"So what's yours?" she asked sleepily.

"I used to think it was just a big dog, like my animagus form, but when I looked closer at the ears once when I was in school, I realized it was a coyote. The trickster."

"That appropriate."

Sirius snickered. "I suppose it is." He paused. "We should get working on your animagus form. I know we didn't need it for our last outing but…I want to make sure you can get yourself out of trouble if you need to. In case something happens to me."

Marian's voice was softer as she responded, "Can I be a fennec fox then?"

Sirius knew by the time he responded, she would be asleep, but he said anyway, "Of course love. Of course."

The adult Marian stood at the head of the couch and watched as Sirius stroked her young self's hair and drifted off to sleep. She remember this well. They never did get her to become an animagus. But Marian managed it on her own when she was in school. She had become the fox like they planned. Marian waited until the scene faded again and extracted herself from the pensieve.

She felt better. She knew the Minister would be dining with Albus at the moment and relaying her whole horrible scene in the worst possible light, but she did feel better. It was dinner time, but Marian didn't feel hungry. Actually this memory made her feel a twinge of sadness.

If Sirius had been such a kind soul in the past how was it he could have brought himself to break into the castle and take his rage out on the Fat Lady? There would be no answer until she spoke to him again on that plane of consciousness where they had met before. She had questions that needed answering, for example, why was Sirius here now? Why twelve years later? He had been about to say something when the vision left her last time. Now Marian was wondering exactly what it was he was going to tell her.

TRUTH AS IT STANDS TO REASON

This was going to be rather uncomfortable Marian imagined. But it had to be done. Albus had told her she had to make good on an apology to Remus and keep the peace. He didn't give her an ultimatum, but he had meant what he said. And so she found herself walking to Remus' office, cloak in hand and rehearsing in her head what she was going to say. Or trying to. For the moment nothing came to mind. She wasn't willing to go with the Ministry's version; it hadn't happened yet and it wasn't about to. But how would she make peace when they disagreed so violently about the events of Halloween 1981?

There were voices inside when she arrived. It sounded like Remus and someone younger. A boy. Harry, it seemed. Marian walked through the classroom, listening as she approached the office stairs ad climbed them. Harry was talking about butterbeer, how Hermione and Ron had brought some from Hogsmeade. A rubbish excuse if she ever heard one. And then his subject changed dramatically.

"What's under a dementor's hood?"

Remus was quiet now. He was hesitating. Without really thinking it through, Marian stepped inside, slowly, saying, "Well, the only people who really know are in no condition to tell us." Both Remus and Harry, the former sitting at his desk and the latter in a chair on the other side, looked her way. She smiled encouragingly. "You see, a dementor only lowers its hood to use its last and worse weapon. They call it the Dementor's Kiss." Marian ventured forward and sat her one hip on the corner of Remus' desk, still explaining to Harry as she laid her cloak gently in her lap. "It's what dementors do to those they wish to destroy utterly. They have a kind of mouth under there, I think, because they clamp their jaws around the mouth of a victim and suck out his soul."

Marian had said all this quite excitedly. It was part of her work, which fascinated her. Remus gave her a warning glance and Marian took a breath to calm her intense interest. Harry had coughed up a bit of butterbeer and asked, "What—they kill-?"

"Oh no," Marian retorted immediately. "No, it's much worse than that. You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your brain and heart are still working. But you'll have no sense of yourself anymore, no memory. No anything really. There's no chance of recovery. You'll just exist as an empty shell and your soul is lost."

"It's the fate that awaits Sirius Black. It was in the Daily Prophet this morning the dementors have been given permission by the Ministry to perform it if they find him." Remus had said this grimly. Marian could barely register what he had just said. It seemed Harry had no trouble with the information at all.

"He deserved it."

If it was in the prophet is must have been true. But she couldn't show her despair at the moment. She was watching Harry closely. He was angry. He was hiding it in his face, but Marian could feel the anger radiating from him. He knew. He must. About his parents about what the accepted version of the events of that night were. And though there was probably no changing his mind, she had to ask.

"You think so?" Marian asked. "Do you really think anyone deserves that?"

"Yes," he said strongly. "For some things."

Remus considered Marian carefully before standing, saying, "Well shall we discuss something a little lighter? Miss Knightly, what brings you by? Surely not a discussion of such dismal things."

Marian brightened, though artificially, and responded, "No indeed. I was wondering if you were open to getting a drink and a bite at the Three Broomsticks for lunch. But I can see you're busy, so—"

"No," Remus countered smiling in Harry's direction. "Harry and I were just about to part ways for the afternoon. Let me see Harry out and we'll go."

Remus escorted the boy, and Marian returned a wave goodbye as the boy exited. When he was out of sight down the stairs, Marian let herself go. She clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming and hot tears rushed down her face though her body felt as though it was frozen. Feeling dizzy, she let herself slide off the edge of the desk and slide to the floor beside it, chest heaving and heart racing. The dementors were going to kill Remus. While she had been reasonably successful in controlling them, save for Harry's case, she would never be able to convince them not to kiss Sirius if they found him. It was a rare pleasure for them.

This was how Remus came back to find her. Marian would have expected coldness from him, expected him to tell her to give it up, accept the so called truth, like before. Instead he was calm, and kind. "Oh my dear," he said soothingly as he knelt beside her and pulled her into a friendly embrace.

"I know…I know…I don't think it's fair either. He may have done some horrible things, but no one deserves that…you know better than anyone."

When Marian was calm enough to walk, they headed down to the pub and ordered their drinks. Ale for her, more butterbeer for Remus. And they talked.

"I'm sorry about before," Marian said. "Our argument several months back. I know you know I'm not a glutton for attention. I accused you of something I knew to be false. I'm sorry for that. And I'm sorry for getting angry at you for believing what everyone else does. That was the point of that article about me all those years ago. To make everyone believe the Ministry version of events over mine. And it worked. It's not your fault."

Remus nodded once, keeping a cool head. "You still believe in his innocence then?"

"I know what I saw. I believe what I know to be true. You believe what you've been told is true. Everything you have to go on is second hand information. Had you been in my place, you would be seeing things differently. So would everyone else for that matter. It's harder to discredit a grown man. Who knows, Peter might be in jail now in Sirius' place if our roles had been reversed that night."

"Peter?" Remus asked. "Why Peter?"

Marian sighed. "Sirius never told you because he didn't trust you. He thought you were the traitor; we even followed you around while I was with him. I only knew because I was there when the Fidelius Charm on Godric's Hollow was performed. Sirius couldn't have been the one who betrayed James and Lily."

Remus was intrigued. He drew his wand and cast a silencing charm around their table. "If you had proof, why didn't you tell them?"

"Because I didn't. Peter was the proof. I did tell them, but they released a press release with details before talking to me. When they realized they had it wrong instead of doing another release, they let a reporter write a story saying I was addled by a memory charm. No one believed me because they trusted their government officials. And why wouldn't they? The world was in shambles; they had to trust someone to make sense of it."

"Tell me again."

Marian sighed and relayed everything she could remember about her first suspicions.

"I'm still rather uncomfortable about all this Sirius."

"Nonsense Peter. You're a safe individual, I don't need to worry about you. But Albus doesn't quite trust me; not entirely. I'll check in on you every day if you like."

"No no, of c-course n-not. Not necessary, no."

Marian was listening through the door to the kitchen. She knew she wasn't supposed to be spying, but she had only met this Peter character once and it seemed to Marian that he was shifty. This mousy little man was going to be safekeeping James and Lily, their son Harry. Marian wanted to know he was truly on the up and up. Her gut told her no.

"Sirius, now that this is settled, why not think about yourself? You said you were going into hiding. Now that James and Lily are safe why not?"

"I never planned it." Sirius was dismissing the concern expertly. It would be interesting to hear how this conversation would end. If Peter was the traitor like Marian's gut told her was a possibility, then he would be pushing to be Secret Keeper for them as well. "I was never going to go, I only said that to push James to. It's different for him, he has a family. I asked you to be the keeper because no one will suspect you or go after you. James is my mate, everyone will be too busy looking at me. Staying out of hiding helps keep you safe."

"But what about that girl? She needs protecting, Knightly family and all that business."

Sirius laughed a little. "Don't you read the paper anymore, Wormtail? She was pronounced dead after her house went up in flames. Everyone thinks she's dead for now. No harm in her remaining on the outside, in fact, it's probably safer than moving her somewhere now and drawing attention. We'll be fine. Stop worrying."

"B-but, S-Sirius, James said—"

"I'm not hiding, so I can protect you, thereby protecting him and Marian all at once." It sounded like Sirius clapped the man on the shoulder.

Something in Peter's voice changed. His next comment was stern, unwavering. It was commanding. "I strongly suggest you reconsider Sirius."

Sirius either played it like he didn't notice or he really hadn't; either way, his tone was still dismissive as he responded. "Wormtail, I promise if things get too hot out here for me, I'll go and you'll be the only one to know where, all right?"

Footsteps were coming toward her. Marian bolted away from the door and hid under the stairwell, listening as Peter left through the front door. When he was gone, Marian emerged and made her way into the kitchen where Sirius was finishing a butterbeer. He handed a bottle from the counter to her, first popping the top off the cabinet. Marian took it but she didn't sip.

"You never thought that maybe Peter is the traitor everyone is looking for?"

Sirius sputtered on his beer and laughed. "Come now, that man is far too meek to be in league with any of those scum. They'd never take him. Peter's a good man but he's fairly useless in terms of wartime."

Marian was uneasy. "I'm not so sure about that. I get a strange read off him."

"Reading people now are we?"

"You said I was gifted."

"You are but I find it hard to believe you're able to accurately read someone after only a few weeks of divination lessons from someone," he placed a hand on his chest, "who is admittedly terrible at the subject."

Marian smirked. "I was like this long before I met you, thank you very much. I still don't trust him." She cast a distrusting look toward the front door. "Something's off."

"He's a nervous man, Marian. Cut him some slack." He bowed his head and looked her in her slate gray eyes, the eyes that matched his own. "I trust him. I know he seems shifty, but I've never trusted him and seen him do me wrong on that trust. This if the best thing for all of us. Do you trust me?"

Marian considered Sirius, she searched his honesty through his eyes. She trusted that he trusted Peter. But she still wasn't sure she did. But…Sirius had known him much longer than Marian had. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps she was not quite as gifted as she thought.

"I trust you."

"What I don't understand is, if Peter was the traitor and not Sirius, why would Sirius kill him and not simply take him into the authorities?" Remus was thinking hard while starting on his second beer. "I can understand rage, but Sirius never killed anyone."

"Exactly."

Now he was exuding confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Sirius never killed anyone. That much is true."

"There was nothing left of Peter, Marian. Nothing but a finger."

Marian sipped her third ale and nodded. "You're right. Sirius had thought Peter tried to cast a spell that was over his ability and gotten killed by accident. Actually for a moment he thought Peter had spliced himself trying to apparate, but that didn't explain the crater."

"I don't believe this," Remus said heavily, laying his forehead in his hands. "I'm serious I don't believe a word of it. Not then not now."

He was saying it, but he was lying. Marian could read that much from him. He was in doubt. It was oozing from his every pore. He doubted his beliefs, maybe he was doubting his beliefs for the first time in twelve years. She could see the wheels in his head turning and waited for him to speak.

"If you have the right of it," he said slowly, quietly even though they were concealed from prying ears, "then tell me: why is Sirius out here, trying to get to Harry now? If he was innocent he would have broken out long before now."

Marian shrugged. "That I can't tell you. He was about to say why when we met in a vision I had several months ago. The vision dissolved before he could say it. I've been trying to get another vision like the one I had so I can ask. He saw something, or realized something, that nulls his old theory that Peter killed himself accidentally. I think Sirius believes Peter is both alive, and somewhere in the vicinity of the school."

Remus nodded. "You had a vision?"

"First one in years, actually."

"And he was about to tell you why he broke out of prison and is terrorizing this school."

"Yes," Marian said earnestly. "And I don't think it has anything to do with Harry. Not really."

Remus sat back. He looked Marian up and down before leaning forward again and resting his elbows on the table. "If I agree to be open to the possibility that you are right, that Peter was the traitor, and Sirius did not kill him, and he is in fact alive somewhere, here or otherwise, and belongs in prison, will that appease you?"

"I'll bring you proof if you need it. I don't know from where, but I'll find something; I'll get you answers if that's what it takes."

"Please do." Remus reached for her hand and Marian took it. Remus lifted the charm, and Marian sipped from her goblet. She smiled in relief for a moment before it faded into a troublesome expression. "Something wrong?" Remus asked.

"I'm going to have to work very hard at finding him now. If the dementors find him before I do, we may never settle what really happened. Not before he's worse than dead."

PROOF ON PAPER

Marian had had about enough for one day. Ever since she and Remus had their chat in the Three Broomsticks, she had sent in her notice that she would be taking leave from work. Personal time. It had been gathering for years anyway, and Jergon was always telling her she needed a break. And with all her extra time, Marian was trying to make another vision come through.

Generally speaking, visions were not something to could bring on demand. They happened when they were needed and only then. Marian was a seer all right, but while she could get a feel for emotions from people at will visions had always been few and far between for her. But if ever she needed a controllable one, one in which she could see and speak to whom she wanted, it was now.

Marian sat back from the seeing stone she had had her hands on. She was tired, frustrated, and getting nowhere. This all culminated in an annoyed groan.

"Don't give up my dear. Whatever you're doing I'm sure it will work eventually." Professor Trelawny approached the small table with some tea. The seeing stone, black swirled with silver ore and about the size of a grapefruit, sat in its holder in front of her, mocking her. Sybill set the tea in her hands and sat across from Marian.

"I'm stuck Sybill. I'm trying to coax a vision. There's someone I need to see, to speak to. But I've been trying for weeks and…nothing."

Now Sybill leaned in, interested. "Oh my dear, visions cannot come on demand. To try would cause you a serious injury, no matter what tools you're using." She sipped from her own cup and nodded toward the stone between the two women.

"They're not visions really," Marian said quietly. "They're not the future. I came across him on another plane of existence. Like a dream, but not. We had a conversation. Complete control over the situation as I have in waking life."

Sybill nodded slowly, seemingly in understanding, and looked Marian right in the eye. "You were always an exceptionally gifted person. Very perceptive, naturally so. It's why your department is so keen to hang onto you. Your ability to control and read emotion makes you a prime employee to study love."

Marian smiled, knowing that Sybill was guessing. Everyone knew she was an Unspeakable. Left a rather short list of things she could be studying. Supposedly no one knew what went on behind those doors. That was a laugh. Press releases involving the department always said they studied the mysteries of life. What would those be but things like love, space, time, and others? The things that will always be somehow mysterious and questionable. It was easy enough for a reasonably intelligent person to puzzle out if they cared enough to think about it for a few minutes. It was a guess but unlike Sybill's usual harebrained suppositions this one was closer to an educated guess.

"Your stars will align and when the time is right what you need will reveal itself to you," Sybill concluded with a smile and another sip of tea. Perhaps she was right, Marian though. But if she was, she hoped the sight decided the time was right soon. Since she had started trying to get in touch with him, Sirius had broken into the school again and slashed the hell out of Ron's bed curtains. Marian didn't have a guess as to why. He was getting erratic. She needed to speak with him.

Marian thanked Sybill for the tea and made to exit the tower classroom for the day, maybe try and enjoy her Thursday. But as she was leaving, Sybill called her. Marian turned and Sybill said, "Try taking a nap."

"What?"

"Take a nap. Only when both your minds are in a more receptive state will you be able to find each other again."

Maybe she should take a nap and try again. Sybill seemed to be more perceptive than usual today, maybe she had a point…

Marian let herself into her tower and on her nearest table was a stack of newspapers. Some were new, but the ones closest to the top were old. From the previous year in the summertime. There was a note on the top of the stack, written in the headmaster's hand:

Marian, since I see you still haven't renewed your subscription, I thought you might want to catch up on your reading.

Marian set the note aside and walked to her couch. She lay down and made herself comfortable. She closed her eyes and exhaled, relaxing her tired mind and letting sleep take her over. She hoped Sirius was at rest somewhere.

Marian was sitting amidst a heavy fog in a field. There were trees in a distance and the skies were pale gray. Had she really been there, it would have been very cold. But as it was, she felt nothing. As she looked around her, she noticed someone walking toward her in the distance. He was coming closer. Marian waited with bated breath, and smiled when she finally recognized Sirius coming to her.

He got close and sat near her. They were face to face, her ankles tucked each beneath the opposite thigh and his feet planted firmly on the ground, elbows resting on them and hands hanging between them. When they were both comfortable, they talked.

"Here we are again," Sirius said. "You look well."

"I wish I could say the same Sirius." She was being honest. Sirius was even more wasted and wan now than when they last met. "You , must be resting somewhere. We wouldn't be speaking right now if you were awake."

"You're right."

"Where are you?" Marian asked desperately. "If I don't find you soon, the dementors will."

Sirius shrugged. "They don't bother me, love. Not as long as I get to do what I came here to do."

He was opening up. This was where they were before. Marian met his gaze and asked, "Which is?"

Without wavering, in voice or focus, he answered. "To clear my name." Sirius seemed to expect that Marian would take this short explanation as the final answer. She wouldn't. Marian leaned forward and tensed her voice, as though she was talking to a teenager who was being impertinent.

"Not good enough. I need you to explain."

"I have proof that I did nothing wrong. Sort of. It's still circumstantial, but far less than the official story. You and I know Peter was the keeper, and we both know where we found him when we found he was missing that night. I had always assumed that he died trying to perform a complex curse or something. He performed a complex curse all right, and it did injure all those people, but there was a purpose in it. He cracked that street open so he could get away, through the sewer."

Sirius was talking fast. Marian was struggling to keep up. Once he reached the end Marian thought for a moment. "What proof do you have now that can confirm this story?"

Sirius pushed himself onto his knees and grasped Marian's hand in his own. "The newspaper," he said insistently. "There was a rat in the newspaper. It's him, Marian, I know it. It was missing a toe. Peter's finger was what they recovered remember? And that was all they ever recovered."

Before Marian could ask about the rat, the field they were sitting in changed. They weren't there anymore. They were sitting on the floor of James and Lily's bedroom, twelve years earlier. And to Marian's left, on the bed, the young version of herself was sleeping, cuddled in the arms of a younger Sirius then the one who was holding onto her hands.

Marian had come to that house five weeks before James and Lily died. Four weeks before then she had been spending time exclusively with Sirius. He had taught her, trusted her, laughed and lived with her. They were close, even after only a few short weeks. Close enough for him to trust her knowing that he wasn't the Potters' Secret Keeper. On this particular night, about a week after the Fidelius Charm was final, they had been sleeping in the same bed. The day had been fraught with horror stories. Marian was scared. Sirius lay with her, stroking her hair and talking to her softly until she was asleep.

"You remember this?" the older Sirius asked.

"I remember," Marian answered. "It's one of my favorite memories with you in it."

"I haven't thought about it in years." Marian turned her attention from the bed back to the Sirius holding her hands still. He let go with a sheepish look of embarrassment. "Dementors make you remember the bad, not the good. This qualified as a good memory."

"Yeah," Marian agreed sarcastically. "Until—"

There was a crash downstairs. The older Sirus and Marian got up and moved out of the way of the younger Sirius, who leapt from the bed, waking young Marian in the process and rushed by and out the door. While they waited, Sirius whispered to Marian, "Aren't you curious about who actually broke in that night?"

Marian shrugged. "Not really. Death Eaters, who knows which ones. Hardly matters though, does it?"

Sirius nodded. "Fair enough."

They waited for what they both knew was coming. The noise continued, and young Sirius thundered back into the bedroom, getting the now very awake young Marian out of bed and opening a window. He wrapped her in his cloak and they clambered out the window, Sirius leading. When the older versions followed as far as the window they caught the conversation between their younger selves as they crouched on the roof.

"Who are they?"

"No friend to us."

"Where will we go then? If we're compromised chances are other order members are as well. Never mind we still don't know who we can trust."

Young Sirius thought for a minute before saying hoarsely, "We'll go to Peter. We know he's home and we know he's safe. And I know you don't like him, but we can trust him." He paused. "We'll take the bike. Come on."

The scene went dark and the older Sirius and Marian found themselves amidst black and nothing more. For the first time Marian noticed Sirius had kept a hold of her hand when they had stood. He caught her staring, but out of the corner of her eye Marian could see the black around her solidifying, turning into something. When Sirius' hand began to relax out of hers, she held on tighter. "Don't," Marian commanded. "This vision of the past is important; seeing the end of this is important, and it's strong because we're in touch." She turned and smiled at him as they came onto a house south of London. Peter's old home. "Don't let go."

Sirius grip strengthened just as they watched their younger selves park the motorbike and rush inside, young Sirius bringing up the rear. The older pair followed until they were inside, standing in the living room with their shadows.

"Stay here." Young Marian did so while standing in her pink striped pajamas and socks with Sirius' cloak around her, and young Sirius drew his wand and searched the house. He came back after a few moments, since the house was very small, saying, "he's not here."

"And neither was anyone else." Young Marian had been looking around. "Everything's in place, nothing's been disturbed."

"Peter's not supposed to leave."

"Well he did. And of his own accord."

Sirius was silent for a moment. He was thinking. And while he was thinking, the elder Marian leaned toward her Sirius and whispered, "This is where you figured it out."

"I had my suspicions at this moment," he breathed into her ear. "I still had my doubts until we got to Godric's Hollow though."

The vision was speeding up. As Sirius had said this to her, the living room they were standing in deteriorated and broke down. The walls changed, many objects disappeared or broke down before their eyes until they were standing in the living space of the home in Godric's Hollow where James and Lily had been hiding. The house was destroyed, and Hagrid was standing there, younger, with large tears in his eyes and Harry bundled up in his arms.

Outside the door, which was hanging wide open, Sirius and Marian arrived on the bike and hopped off the moment the bike was turned off. They rushed inside and the elder pair had to move quickly to get out of their way. Sirius pulled Marian close and they watched young Sirius rush up the stairs, leaving the girl with the large man, and rush back down again, white as a sheet, swallowing hard as he and Hagrid talked.

"I can't believe it…" Sirius seemed to swoon a little, and young Marian steadied him, holding onto his elbow. He breathed deep and blinked the tears from his eyes, clamping his hand over his mouth to hide his agony. Hagrid, though rather emotional himself, released one of his hands and patted Sirius a little roughly on the back.

"T'aint your fault, Sirius. They were in a tight spot. This was a bit of a hail Mary, righ'?"

"…yeah." Young Sirius paused. "At least Harry's still alive." Sirius stood on his toes to get a look at his godson. Once he had he gasped a little. "But not for lack of trying, eh? That scar…"

He stepped away, and pulled the young Marian close, much like how the older couple stood now.

"I was torn," the older Sirius said quietly. "I was responsible for you, and I didn't know if I could handle two children who weren't mine. And things had gotten…complicated with you. I mean, we made them complicated for the sake of keeping you out of the wrong hands, but somewhere along the way the fake arrangement became, well, real." Marian laid her hand over the one Sirius was resting on her arm and smiled over her shoulder, brows furrowed in play confusion. "You know what I mean."

Marian laughed a little. "I know."

They looked back and young Sirius was talking again, though still holding onto Marian. "Give him to me Hagrid. I'm his godfather, I'll look after him."

But Hagrid shook his head, saying, "I've got my orders from Dumbledore. Gonna bring him to his aunt and uncle I suspect. Don't think the Knight Bus is working at the moment though."

Sirius dug in his pockets and extracted his keys. "Take my bike."

Hagrid accepted them, though he was shaking his head. "That thing is yours."

"It flies and it'll be a lot safer than traveling mass transit, if it's even running at all. Those folks are in Surry. It's a long way."

Sirius turned and walked Marian out of the house. "Where will we go now?" the girl asked.

"I'll have to leave you somewhere for a bit, I'm afraid. There's something I have to do." They walked to the sidewalk and Sirius turned to Marian. "I know I taught you to apparate, but we're going to side along for the moment. You've never been where we're going."

While the scene changed again, elder Marian had something she just had to say. She turned to Sirius and said in an insistant tone, "I never understood this part of the night Sirius. You could have sent me along with Hagrid. You know Dumbledore would have done the best thing for me as well, why on earth did you take me to that awful house?"

"You mean this awful house?" Sirius was right, the scene had shifted again, much more seamlessly this time, Marian had hardly noticed. They were standing in the Black house. 12 Grimmauld Place, London. It was filled with dark artifacts, but it was clean. Nothing like what Marian had seen two years later when Walburga died. Certainly not anything like what the place must look like now. They were standing on the landing in front of the stairs and watching young Sirius kneel in front of young Marian and hug her tight. When they parted again, Sirius whispered his instructions to her.

"Stay in this room, lock the door. No one will bother you, but just to be safe. The house elf loved my brother and he likes to come in her sometimes. Keep very quiet, try not to let anyone know you're in here. My mother is at the top of this house, but she's ailing. Stays in her bed almost always. The elf is almost always with her. As long as she doesn't know I was ever in this house, or knows someone is here you'll be fine."

"And if she does find me out?"

"You're a Knightly. Dark wizards are always welcome here."

"I'm not—"

"She doesn't know that." He smiled and brushed her hair off from over the crest on Sirius' cloak which was still sitting on her shoulders. "Keep this for me. Now give us a kiss."

They pecked each other's lips before Sirius gave Marian a tiny shove through the door and closed it. He waited for the lock to click and then walked by the older pair and exited the house. The older Sirius watched his younger self go and when he had, turned to the Marian beside him. "Well here's a mystery," he said. "I never figured out how you managed to find me after I brought you here."

"Aha, well I guess since that door is locked you'll never know then." Marian smiled mischievously.

"Come on now," Sirius pleaded. "I'm curious. I have to know."

"Guess."

Sirius leaned against the banister and reached out for her hand. Marian gave it again, (when had they let go anyway?) and Sirius raked his thumb back and forth across her skin as he spoke. "You prompted a vision. The first one you ever had. You concentrated and you saw me. You saw a street name, then you let yourself out and apparated to me. All I ever knew is all of a sudden you were there." He met her eyes again. "You should have stayed here."

"Why?" Marian asked. "Because your mother was such a joy?"

"Because my father made this the safest house in London before he died."

They stared for a long time. So much so that they didn't notice they were standing in a street, lamp lit at night. Around them were muggles and their attention was in the middle of the circle. Two men were arguing. Sirius from one end…Peter from the other.

"Now this I don't get," elder Marian said, gesturing toward the argument. "I knew where you were, and I knew why, but how come Peter was here? What was this place to him?"

"Peter's dad was a muggle. This was where his parents lived. They were away during the war; something Peter convinced them to do. I don't know why he came here when he should have been running but—" Sirius couldn't finish. He shrugged and offered his arm. Marian took it and they walked to the curb and watched the scene play out in silence.

"It's up Peter! Stop lying, saying I'm the one who caused all this! That I'm the one who was in league with them! I know it was you! I trusted you! They trusted you!" Young Sirius was on fire. His face was red and rage was boiling in his blood. Marian could feel it from where she was sitting. "And if I have anything to say about it, you're going to rot in Azkaban for the rest of your miserable life!"

There was a pop, and suddenly on Peter's side, young Marian had appeared from nowhere. She seemed not to realize where she was for the moment, but she did see Sirius and ran for him. Or tried to. Peter grabbed for her when she tried to run, drew his wand and held it to her throat once he had a strong arm around her.

"B-back off Sirius! I m-m-mean it!"

Sirius had drawn his wand too, and was aiming confidently at Peter. But without a clean shot, he wouldn't cast a thing. "Let her go, Peter. This has nothing to do with her."

"For the moment it has everything to do with her. You won't hurt me as long as I have her." Peter smiled a little, twitching. "Now…put the wand down and step back before someone gets hurt."

Marian was curious in watching her younger self. She would have expected fear, tears maybe. But instead there was nothing. It was curious, but not shocking. Maybe she had been grabbed like this, threatened so many times by her dad that it hardly concerned her to be in such a compromising situation even at such a tender age.

They stared a moment more before Sirius made to readjust his aim. Worst thing he could have done. There was a large explosion of noise and dust and light. There were screams and cries, and the older Marian and Sirius sitting on the curb covered their eyes and mouths against the dust. Sirius had actually grasped Marian head and hid it against his chest. When the dust had settled a little, they looked again. Sirius had made his way over to where young Marian had fallen to the ground in the blast, coughing and feeling her way around the enormous crater in the middle of the circle of homes. When he reached her, he gathered her in his arms and held on tight.

"Sirius! Sirius I don't know what happened it just…it was so fast!"

"I know love, I know, I know."

The muggles who had been watching were mostly dead. Others who were alive were screaming and sobbing over their friends and loved ones. There were calls for help. But everything the pair on the curb was interested in was right before them, sitting among rubble and the remains of Peter's clothes. It was difficult to see, but among them was a severed finger…

"Listen to me," Sirius said, speaking quickly, " law enforcement is coming; they'll be here soon. They're going to arrest me."

Mairan shook her head. "No, no they're not."

"I'm the only wizard here, Peter's gone, and as far as anyone knows, I was the Secret Keeper, not him. There's no point in running," he added, seeing she was about to offer another out. "They'll catch up. You know they will. They're going to identify you, reverse the death certificate. Maybe it's for the best. You can go to school and stop living like a spy in miniature. Besides we both know I'm not the best teacher."

They both smirked, though Marian had started crying. The tears mixed with the dust on her face making muddy streaks along her cheeks. Sirius took her face in his hands. He had been right, they were coming. There were footsteps running in their direction. "You made me a better man, you know that? I'll go to jail knowing at least this: I did everything I could to save you, and I did. My wealth will care for you for the rest of your life that I promise you."

Marian was still crying, but she reached up to touch Sirius' face, rested a hand over his hands on her cheek. "I love you Marian. I really do. I don't know what that means between us really, but I hope you know you were loved by someone. Don't forget that all right?"

Marian nodded. It happened so fast. Their lips met. More than just the peck from earlier. This was more like a lover's last good bye. When they parted, the aurors were on them. They pulled them apart. Sirius was led one way, Marian another. As they watched this elder Marian looked to her Sirius.

"Your theory about Peter…it's possible. You said it was in a newspaper, your proof?"

"Yeah. Find it for me?"

The streets had started fading. The people. And Marian and Sirius were fading. "I'll find it," she said. "I promise."

They held onto one another until they were gone.

Marian awoke feeling refreshed and awake on her couch where she had fallen asleep. It was approaching sunset outside her giant multistory window. Buckbeak was being executed soon. Marian had told Hagrid she would be there for that. But she had to make sense of this newspaper claim first. He had seen a rat in the paper and thought it was Peter, alive and well. But which one?

Then she remember the stack Albus had left her. She hopped up from the couch and rushed to the table. What had that note said? Ah, yes. Catch up on her reading. She grabbed the first issue and flipped through the pages. Nothing. The second, nothing. But the third…there, on the front page. Arthur Wealsey had won a drawing and used the money to take the family on a vacation to Egypt. There was a picture of the whole family beneath the headline and sitting on the shoulder of Ron Weasley was a rat. And sure enough, it was small but noticeable to someone looking for it, the rat was definitely missing a toe.

Marian had never met Ron, but she remembered overhearing an argument between him and the brown haired girl Harry hung around with, Hermione, arguing about her cat attacking the rat. He had mentioned the rat was old.

Just about old enough for Sirius' theory to be true. And being a pet rat made it rather easy for someone to hide out if they're an animagus.

Marian grabbed her cloak and the paper and rushed out of her rooms, almost forgetting to lock the door. She ran down this corridor and up the next until she reached Remus' office. She ran through the classroom and up the stairs and banged on his door.

"For Merlin's sake," she could hear from beyond. "I'm coming, I'm coming." The door opened and before he could get a word out, Marian started talking.

"I had a vision, and I have proof." She walked past him and laid out the newspaper on the desk. Remus followed and bent over the desk to look. "See," Marian pointed out. "This was what Sirius saw. Ron Weasley's rat, really the family rat. He's been with them just long enough to coincide with Peter's so called death. And look here. The damn thing is missing a toe." She looked desperately up at Remus. "It's circumstantial still, but if we can get our hands on the rat, we'll be all well and good. If it is Peter, we can make him change, make him talk."

"Marian," Remus started.

"You asked for truth and Sirius provided the answer. The same proof he's following. We have to check on this."

"Marian," Remus said more insistently. He removed the newspaper and underneath it was what looked like a map. Only there were footprints on it. moving ones. This map was tracking people inside Hogwarts.

"What is this thing?"

"The Marauder's Map. James, Sirius, Peter, and I created it when we were in school. To keep from getting into trouble while we were, well making trouble." Remus was explaining as fast as he could talk. "It was confiscated by Filch years ago, seems it fell into Harry's hands somehow, and I confiscated it from him. But look here."

Marian remembered Sirius mentioning it once. A truly fantastic bit of magic by legend, but even more impressive in person. She looked where Remus was pointing. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gone out for the execution after all. But there was someone else with them. The banner's label made her blood run cold.

Peter Pettigrew

Sirius had been right…

Marian swept on her cloak. "Where are you going?"

"I need to find Sirius. He was right, and with Peter in custody we could prove it." As she started to leave Remus was able to give her pause at the door. "This map must be malfunctioning…or someone's altered it…" Remus paused. He glanced back at her. "This just can't be.

"The map never lies, Sirius told me that much."

Remus sighed. "Do you have any idea where he might be?"

"I didn't see it, but I think I have an idea." She lowered her voice. "You used to use the Shrieking Shack when you were in school for the change right?"

Remus nodded.

"Sirius feels safe there, knows it's abandoned. I would bet my paycheck on it."

Remus trained his eyes on the map again. "You won't find him."

Marian was giving up. Remus was stunned but not entirely unhelpful. Not yet. There may be another answer or two in him before he was catatonic. "I'm going anyway. What's the fastest way to get there?"

"A hole," he said quietly. "At the base of the Whomping Willow. A temporary freezing charm should do the trick. Or touch the knot in the trunk."

Marian headed out the school and through the courtyard and toward the lake, hoping Sirius would be there and not somewhere else, doing something stupid.

DEFINING AN ANIMAL

Marian's favorite robes, the heather gray ones, were ruined. The dirt would be ground in for sure. But this was definitely where Remus had told her to go. She had thought the temporary freezing charm would have lasted longer, but she had unfortunately found herself in the crosshairs of the branches of the Whomping Willow.

The hole had led to a passageway underground. It seemed to go on for quite some ways; Marian was walking for several minutes before she reached the end where she found a ladder leading upward. That ladder ended at a trap door, which was open. Marian pulled herself through and found herself standing in the middle of the Shrieking Shack.

Every surface was caked in dirt and dust. It hadn't been touched in years by a single soul, truly cared for in decades. But there were paw prints. Boot prints too. And they led along a single path along the dirty floorboards up the staircase. Marian followed, moving slowly so as not to startle anyone who might be there.

At the top, and directly in front of her, the prints led to an open door. Marian walked through and looked around. This was a rather grand bedroom once. There was an old canopy bed on the corner, falling apart. There was an old piano against a window so grimy it was impossible to see outside. And there was a chaise and fireplace to her right. More prints littered the floor here as well, but in a pattern that traced from the chaise to the door, and in a fairly straight path between the broken chairs about the canopy bed and the fireplace. Whoever had been here had been pacing, thinking.

Over beside the chaise was a set of dirty robes. They were striped. And full of holes. Marian approached. She recognized these. They were what Sirius had been wearing when he had met her in her visions. Sirius was working out of the Shrieking Shack.

But he was clearly out for the moment, in his animagus form. Marian could go out looking, but then she risked her neck getting out from the willow again, and if she left and he came back she might not get another chance until something bad happened. Best thing to do would be to wait for him.

Marian crossed the room and made herself comfortable on the bed. She wasn't tired, but she did need to relax her mind. And with her current level of concern, that would not be easy.

It seemed like she was just waiting. Doing nothing. The nerves were kicking in, making her feel like she needed to get up and move. Do something. Time went by so slowly.

But maybe not quite so slow as it seemed. After a while there was groaning and yelling coming from somewhere in the distance. Marian stood up and took a breath, waiting for something to come up those stairs. The sound was getting louder. She stood near the doorway and watched the stairs until a large black dog appeared, dragging a terrified boy holding an equally terrified rat in his jaws. Marian moved out of the way and let the dog inside, watched she he deposited the boy on the chaise. She could see when the dog unclamped that he was bleeding. Marian drew her wand and shot a silencer at the kid. Marian had to speak to this dog, and she would rather do it with some peace.

The dog rounded on her, but Marian knelt and set her wand down, raised her hands to calm him, and said quietly, "Sirius…it's Marian. Come on. You know me. Please, let me speak to you."

The dog whined a little and grabbed up the discarded robes in his mouth before trotting to the far side of the bed in the corner, where we was slightly hidden. Marian watched as the form changed from a dog to a man. A thin man, dirty, weather worn. And as he dressed, Marian could see the markings of home done tattoos from prison on his hands, his back, his chest. She realized how intrusive she was, staring. Marian turned her back.

At some point, the sounds of rustling clothes stopped. There was a sigh. And a creak as the mattress groaned. Marian turned slowly and gazed bottom of the worn out shoes, noting that Ron's wand hung loosely in his hand, and up to the face of the man she had been looking for all these months.

Marian's mouth was dry, and her eyes were wet. She hardly knew what to say, but it seemed her mouth certainly did. "Sirius?"

Sirius nodded. "Is it really you this time?" He was coming closer. "I'm not dreaming. We're not in the middle of one of your visions?"

Marian shook her head and closed the gap. "No. This is real."

She reached out her hand to him when they were close enough. He was skin and bones. But he rested his hand lightly in hers. A shiver ran through Marian's spine and made her shoulders shrug. She could tell from the sigh Sirius breathed that he was just as relieved to really be able to touch her too.

But it stopped there. Neither knew what to do next. Thank goodness Sirius found it in himself to snicker. "I don't know if I should hug you or…kiss you or..." he raised his eyes from their joined hands to her eyes, the color of which perfectly matched his own. "I'm just so relieved to see you."

"So am I," Marian breathed. That was it, the dam had broken. Marian thrust herself into Sirius arms. They held one another for what seemed likes ages. When they parted Sirius held her face in his hands, saying, "My goodness, you're even prettier in the waking life."

"Thank you," Marian said. "But you need food, a warm bed, clean clothes…Merlin, you need a bath." They both laughed for a minute at full blast.

"Enough time for that later," Sirius gasped out. "First, there's some unfinished business to take care of."

He looked over toward Ron. "Ah yes," Marian said, "Sirius, this is Ron Weasley. Distant cousin of yours I think. Harry's friend. I assume he and Hermione will be here soon to try and collect him."

"I'm counting on it; they were all together when I took him. If Harry's anything like James, he'll come."

Marian nodded and lifted her silencer. Ron was still moaning and panicking. Scabbers was squeaking like he was in horrific pain. "You really think it's him then?"

"Oh yes," Sirius said darkly. "It's him. I'd know that rat anywhere."

But as Sirius made for the chaise. There was a creak beyond the door, and a whisper. Sirius stepped across the room, waving Marian along with him and hid them both behind the door. They squeezed in close and waited for whoever it was to come in.

They rather thundered in really.

"Ron—are you okay?"

"Where's the dog?"

The voices belonged to Harry and Hermione all right, just like Marian said, they had come. "Not a dog," Ron moaned. "Harry, it's a trap—"

"What—"

"He's the dog…he's an animagus…"

Ron had either nodded or pointed them out or both. Either way, Sirius closed the door they were standing behind and positioned himself in front of Marian, protecting her from any outlashings that might come. He cast a disarming charm on the two newcomers and Marian caught the wands as they flew through the air in her and Sirius' direction.

"I thought you'd come for your friend," Sirius said, looking intently at Harry. "Your father would have done the same for me. brave of you, not to run for a teacher…I'm grateful…it will make everything much easier…"

Harry made to attack Sirius. It was clear to Marian not only did he know the significance of the man before him, but he had the same story as everyone else. The wrong version. Hermione held the boy back and Ron tried to stand, yelling at them both, "If you want to kill Harry you'll have to kill us too!"

Marian tried to approach him, but Ron flinched. "Lie down," she said softly. "You'll damage that leg more."

"Did you hear me? You'll have to kill all three of us!" Three…that hardly made sense to Marian, but that was irrelevant. Ron and Hermione were struggling to hold Harry back from Sirius. Harry was the one to watch for the moment. Marian tried approaching again in a slow, friendly manner.

"Keep away from him," Harry threatened. "You've been helping him! I had dinner with you; I befriended you when everyone said you were crazy!"

Sirius reached for her arm and pulled Marian back behind him again, saying, "There will be only one murder here tonight."

Harry started asking rhetorical angry questions, but Marian was hardly paying attention. Murder? She thought Sirius just wanted to get the straight. Make Peter talk, prove who was guilty for the deaths of James and Lily. This was about to get very bad very quickly.

"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry roared. The boy finally broke free from his friends and he lunged at Sirius. They fought, fists and muggle struggling. They banged into a wall and eventually Sirius' free hand not being held at the wrist by Harry found the boy's throat and the struggle died down enough for Marian to make out something Sirius hissed.

"I've waited too long—"

Hermione kicked Sirius and Sirius let go. Everything became a tangle. Marian was knocked down and the children's wands along with her scattered to the floor. The kids were trying to wrestle Sirius, but he was stronger than he looked. Harry lost his wand for a moment, kicking at the cat Marian hadn't even noticed until then. When he retrieved it, he yelled at the other two to get out of the way to reveal Sirius sprawled against the wall and aimed. The others were standing, wands retrieved, Hermione also holding Marian's.

"Going to kill me Harry?"

Harry's voice was shaking. "You killed my parents."

Sirius looked lost. Forlorn. "I don't deny it."

He wasn't going to say another word. Marian sat herself up from where she had been in crumpled on the floor form the fistfight. "You need to hear the whole story Harry. It's not that simple."
"The whole story?" Harry trained his focus on Marian. "He sold them to Voldemort, that's all I need to know."

"You've got to listen to him Harry, to us; you'll regret it if you don't. You don't understand."

"I understand more than you think," Harry retorted, still shaking. "You never heard her, did you? My mum…trying to stop Voldemort killing me…and he did that…he did it…"

Marian could keep trying to talk, but she wasn't going to get through. It was never clearer than in this moment that people really did think she was crazy.

The cat shielded Sirius with his body, and stayed there long enough until there were footsteps thundering up the stairs. Hermione screamed their location and cried for help to whoever it was. The door bust open a moment later in a shower of red sparks and Remus was behind them.

It took him less than a moment to sum up what was happening. And he disarmed Harry. Hermione's, Ron's and Marian's flew toward him as well. Remus passed Marian's to her, just as she was finally picking herself up from the floor. She thanked him. "Sorry it took me so long," he apologized to her. Remus then turned his attention toward Sirius, asking, "Where is he Sirius?"

Sirius pointed out Ron and the wheels in Sirius' head started turning. "But then…why hasn't he shown himself before now?...Unless…unless he really was the one…and you switched…without telling me?"

"You still thought I was lying? I thought you were just in shock or something."

Remus turned to Marian and shrugged sheepishly. "It was hard to suddenly change my mind. On the whole story I mean. I guess I had to see it for myself to believe it. I'm sorry, Marian."

Marian sighed. "I think I'll be hearing a lot of that in the coming months."

"Professor," Harry interrupted. "What's going on-?"

But Lupin had extended and hand to Sirius and helped him stand, after which the two men embraced like long lost brothers, which brought a smile to Marian's lips and a shriek to Hermione's.

"I don't believe it!" she screamed. "You—you—"

"Hermione—" Remus tried to calm her. But it was no use.

"—you and him!"

"Hermione calm down—"

"I didn't tell anyone! I've been covering for you—"

"Hermione Listen to me please!" Remus was losing this battle. "I can explain—"

"I trusted you and all the time you've been his friend!"

"You're wrong," Marian cut in. "Remus hasn't been much of a friend to Sirius, or to me."

"But I am now. Let us explain."

"NO!" Hermione screamed. She looked to Harry. "Harry don't trust him, he's been helping Black get inside the castle, both of them probably. He wants you dead too—he's a werewolf!"

Silence. For a golden moment there was a silence that pierced every eardrum after all the nose and uproar. Remus was the first to be able to speak. "Not at all up to your usual standard Hemrione. Only one out of four I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle, neither has Marian. And I certainly don't want Harry dead. But I won't deny I am a werewolf."

Ron tried to stand again. It didn't go well. But when Remus made to reach out and help him, he coward away. "Get away from me werewolf!"

"How long have you known?" Remus asked Hermione.

"Ages, since I did Professor Snape's essay."

Marian folded her arms and leaned against the wall beside where Sirius stood. "Well he'll be delighted," she voiced sarcastically. "He assigned that essay hoping someone would realize what Remus' symptoms meant…did you check the lunar chart and realize he was always sick at the full moon, or did you realize the boggart changed into the moon when it saw him?" Remus gave her a strange look. Marian met it. "What? I'm a seer remember." Remus gave her a dismissive look. Marian crossed her ankles and added, "Also you asked I keep an eye on Harry."

Hermione answered that she had noticed both. Lupin praised her cleverness at which Hermione scoffed. "If I had been a bit cleverer I'd have told everyone what you are!"

"They already know," he admitted. "At least the staff do."

"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf? Is he mad?" Ron gasped through teeth gritted in pain.

"Some of the staff thought so. He had to work very hard to convince certain teachers I'm trustworthy."

"And he was wrong!" Harry yelled. "You've been helping him all the time!"

"I have not been helping Sirius. If you give me a chance I'll explain. Look—" Remus surrendered the wands he still held, and he prompted Marian to toss hers over as well. This done, he said, "There. You're armed, we're not. Now will you listen?"

Harry took the lead. "If you haven't been helping him, how did you know we were here?"

"The map. The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining it—"

"You know how to work it?"

"Of course I know how to work it, I helped write it. I'm Moony. That was my friends' nickname for me at school."

"You wrote—"

"The point it I was watching it carefully this evening because I thought you, Ron and Hermione would try and sneak out to visit Hagrid before his hippogriff was executed. And I was right, wasn't I?" Seeing Harry's confused face, he added. "You might have been wearing your father's cloak, Harry—"

"How d'you know about the cloak?"

"The number of times I saw James disappear under it…the point is even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak, you will show up on the Marader's Map. I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's hut. Twenty minutes later you left and set off back toward the castle, but you were now accompanied by someone else."

"What? No we weren't!"

"I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought the map must be functioning. How could he be with you? But then Marian came to me with a picture from a paper set off to find Sirius before he did something he would regret. As I watched the map I saw another dot labeled Sirius Black collide with you; I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow."

"One of us!" Ron called out.

"No Ron two of you." He paused. Marian stepped forward, determined to get this over with. "Ron, do you think I could have a look at the rat?"

"What's Scabbers got to do with it?"

"Everything," Marian breathed. "Could I see him please?"

Ron drew him out of a pocket and asked when Marian got closer, "What's my rat got to do with anything?"

"That's not a rat," Sirius said suddenly.

"What do you mean? Of course he's a rat."

"No he's not," Marian said softly. "He's a wizard."

"An animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew."

Sirius seemed somewhat relieved by the truth escaping his thoughts. And in the few seconds of silence, Marian retreated from Ron and stood beside Sirius, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"You're mental, all three of you," Ron said.

Hermione called them ridiculous.

Harry yelled some more. "Peter Pettigrew's dead! He killed him twelve years ago!" Harry pointed at Sirius.

"I mean to," Sirius said quietly. "But little Peter go the better of me…not this time though!" Sirius made a lunge for the rat but Marian held fast to him and dragged Sirius away again. "NO, Sirius! You have to wait! You can't just do it like that! They need to understand and the three of us are going to have to work together to explain!"

"We can explain after!"

"They've got a right to know everything! Ron's kept him as a pet! There are parts I don't even understand, Sirius! I was a child!" She calmed a moment. "And you owe Harry the truth," she added firmly.

Sirius brushed his hand against her cheek, softly. "All right love." He looked to Remus. "Tell them what you want, Remus, but make it quick. I'd like to commit the murder I was imprisoned for…"

"You're all nutters." Ron tried to leave, but his leg would not cooperate.

"I don't think you're going anywhere Ron. You're going to hear us out."

"Just keep a tight hold of Peter while you listen," Remus added.

"HE'S NOT PETER! HE'S SCABBERS!"

Marian sighed, frustrated. Scared children made everything so much harder. They certainly would have to puzzle this out, but with it would be quesck depended on how many missing pieces everyone had. "Well," she said, "I think for the sake of forming trust, we should let Harry start."

Seemed Harry didn't have much trouble finding a place to start. "There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die. A whole street full of them."

"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" Sirius wailed.

"You hush," Marian scolded. "Getting worked up isn't going to help anyone." She turned back to Ron. "Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter. Remus believed it himself until he saw the map tonight. From what I can gather the map never lies. Peter's alive and Ron's holding him."

"But Professor, Scabbers can't be Pettigrew. It can't be true, you know it can't," Hermione insisted.

"Why can't it be true," Remus asked in a very teacherly tone.

"Because people would know if Pettigrew was an animagus. We did animagi in class with Professor McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework—the Ministry of Magic keeps tabs on witches and wizards who can become animals; there's a register showing what animal they become, the their markings and things…and I went and looked up Professor McGonagall up on the register, and there have only been seven animagi this century, and Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list—"

"Right again Hermione. But the Ministry never knew there used to be three unregistered animagi running around Hogwarts."

"If you're going to tell them the story," Sirius snapped, "then get a move on Remus. I waited twelve years, I'm not going to wait much longer."

"All right but you're going to need to help me Sirius, I only know how it began."

They all stopped. The bedroom door had opened wider on its own. There was no wind or draft inside the house. "This place is haunted," Ron shuddered.

"It's not," Remus said. "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted…the screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me. That's where all this starts—with my becoming a werewolf. None of this could have happed if I hadn't been bitten."

"You don't believe that," Marian muttered.

"Stop reading me and let me finish please. If I hadn't been so foolhardy…I was a child when I was bitten. My parents tried everything, but in those days there was no cure. The potion that Professor Snape has been making for me is a very recent discovery. It makes me safe you see. As long as I take it in the week preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform. I am able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again. Before the wolfbane potion was discovered, however, I became a fully-fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren't likely to want their children exposed to me. But then Dumbledore became headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said as long as we took certain precautions there was no reason I should not come to school. I told you months ago the Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. The truth is it was planted because I came to Hogwarts. The house, the tunnel that leads to it, they were built for my use. Once a month I was smuggled out of castle into this place to transform. The tree was placed at the entrance to keep anyone from coming across from me while I was dangerous.

My transformation in those days were—were terrible. It is very painful to turn into a werewolf. I was separated from humans to bite to I bit and scratched myself. The villagers heard the noise and screams and thought they were hearing particularly violent spirits. Dumbledore encouraged the rumor."

"The house had been silent for years," Marian said. "Even now, villagers don't approach it."

"Aside from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been. For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends. Sirius Black…Peter Pettigrew…and of course your father Harry—James Potter. Now my three friends could hardly fail to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them my mother was ill, and that I had to go home to see her…I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was. of course they like you Hermione worked out the truth…and they didn't desert me at all. Instead they would do something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life. They became animagi."

"My dad too?"

"Yes indeed. And it took the best part of three years to work out how to do it. Your father and Sirius were the cleverest students in the school, and lucky they were. Animagi transformations can go horribly wrong—one reason the Ministry keeps such close tabs on those attempting to do it. Peter needed all the help he could get from James and Sirius. Finally our fifth year, they managed it. They could each turn into a different animal at will."

"How did that help you?" Hermione asked.

"They couldn't keep Remus company as animals," Marian answered. "So they kept him company as animals. Werewolves are only dangerous to people."

Remus took over again. "They snuck out of the castle every month under that Invisibility Cloak of yours Harry, when it belonged to your father, they transformed…Peter, as the smallest, could slip beneath the willow's attacking branches and touch the knot that freezes it. They would then slip down the tunnel and join me. Under their influence I became less dangerous. My body was still wolfish but my mind became less so while I was with them."

"Hurry up Remus," Sirius moaned.

"I'm getting there, Sirius, I'm getting there…" Remus continued on, while Marian pulled Sirius from behind his neck to level his ear with her mouth. "You're not killing anyone tonight, Sirius," she whispered. "It'll do you no good. Peter's alive, we can get you exonerated."

"You know better than anyone what it's like to have the people you love most ripped from you. I did everything I could to protect you and them. I failed on almost every end. And he's responsible."

Marian sighed. There was no use; he was still too angry. She turned her attention back to Remus and listened while her hand slipped into Sirius'.

"That was still really dangerous," Hermione said. "Running around in the dark with a werewolf! What if you'd given the others the slip and bitten somebody?"

"A thought that still haunts me. And there were near misses, many of them. We laughed about the afterwards. We were young, thoughtless—carried away with our own cleverness."

Remus seemed to be doing rather well explaining on his own actually. Better than he had let on. Marian's mind began to wander while he voiced his guilt and regret over how these reckless events may have tarnished Albus' opinion and trust in Remus. But Marian couldn't focus. Something else was pulling at her attention. It was vague, but she was almost sure she could feel something approaching them. And it wasn't friendly. "…in a way, Snape's been right about me all along."

"Snape?" Sirius perked up. "What's Snape got to do with it?"

"He's here, Sirius," Marian said, still slightly cloudy and distracted. "He's teaching here as well."

Remus explained about Snape when they were all kids, and Sirius shook Marian's shoulder. "What are you feeling, love?" he whispered to her.

"I'm not sure. But I don't feel at ease right now."

"Do you need to rest?"

"No…I need to figure this out. I don't feel this for no reason. Something unfriendly is coming."

"Dementors?"

"…worse I think."

Sirius nodded. "Should we be leaving?"

"So that's why Snape doesn't like you," Harry was puzzling out. "Because he thought you were in on the joke?"

"That's right." A new voice had spoken from right beside Marian. She jumped away and Sirius moved in front of her again. The wall fluttered before an invisibility cloak was removed and there stood Severus Snape, wand at the ready, and aimed for Remus' heart.

"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," he said as he tossed the cloak aside. "Very useful, Potter, I thank you. I've just been to your office Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky I did…lucky for me I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance told me all I needed to know. I saw your running along this passageway and out of sight."

Remus tried to reason with Severus, who pointedly ignored his softened tone. "I told the headmaster again and again that you're helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and now here's the proof. Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout—"

"Severus," Marian tried, "You're making a mistake. You haven't heard everything—we can explain—Sirius is not here to kill Harry—"

"Two more for Azkaban tonight. I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this…he was quite convinced you were harmless you know, Lupin…a tame werewolf—"

Remus was shaking his head sadly. "You fool. Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?"

"You're asking the wrong person, Remus," Marian put in. "I've tried, you've tried, but the fact of the matter is Severus has his opinions and guilty or not, he would rather Black be in Azkaban for the attacks he endured in his school days, never mind any actual crimes."

Severus thrust his wand in her direction and ropes bound Marian at the hands, feet, and she was gagged. Marian fell roughly to the floor with a groan. Sirius made to help her, but was stopped by Severus' wand pointed straight between his eyes. Remus knelt beside her and tried to untie the knots.

"Give me a reason," the potions master said. "Give me a reason to do it and I swear I will."

There was a pause and Hermione stepped forward, asking the professor if it would hurt anything to hear everyone out. Severus threatened all three children with suspension for being out of bounds. They argued before Severus rounded on Sirius again. "Vengeance is sweet. How I hoped I would be the one to catch you."

Sirius glanced at Marian, met her eye. Remus was still trying to free her, but with little luck it seemed. Keeping her eye, he said, "Joke's on you again, Severus. As long as this boy brings his rat up to the castle, I'll come quietly."

"Up to the castle?" Severus scoffed. "I don't think we'll need to go that far. All I have to do is call the dementors once we get out of the willow. They will be very pleased to see you Black…pleased enough to give you a little kiss, I daresay…"

Marian cried into her gag. "You've got to hear me out—" Sirius croaked. "The rat—look at that rat-"

Severus was beyond listening. "Come on all of you. I'll handle the werewolf, perhaps the dementors will have a kiss for him too. As far as the seer, she is rather a pain, but I suppose you can drag her along, if you please." But as Severus tried to exit, Harry blocked the door. "Get out of the way Potter. You're in enough trouble already. If I hadn't been here to save your skin—"

Remus had slowly stopped fiddling with Marian's ties. They were undone, but he had whispered to her to stay put until the moment was right. So she did. Harry was trying to reason with Severus now. Hadn't she just said he was not going to be reasoned with where Sirius was concerned?

"Professor Lupin could have killed me about a hundred times this year. I've been alone with him loads of times, having defense lessons against dementors. If he was helping Black why didn't he just finish me off then?"

"Don't ask me to fathom the way a werewolf's mind works. Get out of the way Potter."

"You're pathetic! Just because they made a fool of you in school you won't even listen!"

"Silence! I will not be talked to like that! Like father like son, Potter! I've just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he'd killed you! You'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe that you might be mistaken in Black—now get out of the way or I will make you!"

"That's not very nice." Everyone turned and Marian was now standing, holding her wand again as she shouted a disarming charm. She wasn't the only one though. Hermione, Ron and Harry had tried to do the same thing at the same time. The force of the four charms had knocked Severus unconscious.

"For the best I suppose," Marian surmised. "Rather nice having someone on our side. Thank you for my wand Hermione."

The girl nodded and Sirius approached Marian. "You shouldn't have done that. You should have left him to me, darling."

Hermione was panicking over the attack, and Ron was trying to calm her, but Remus and Harry were listening to the pair of them talking. Not that Sirius or Marian would have noticed. After a moment of fear, all they could see was each other.

"Because you clearly had everything under control. Besides, knowing you," Marian said, "You would have done much worse to him. His life is miserable enough don't you think?"

"I'm sure you're right love." He considered her a moment. "Who knew my wife would grow up to be both beautiful and wise?"

"Wife?" both Harry and Remus asked. "How could that be?" Remus added. "You haven't seen her since she was eleven."

"Final piece of the puzzle, Remus," Marian said with an abashed tone. "The last thing you didn't know. No one did, except us, and Albus." She took a breath. "When my father disappeared in 1980, I knew my mother was ill in the head. I was concerned about her being my legal guardian, since she had taken to some strange behaviors, so I petitioned to be emancipated. Fortunately I got a chief warlock who knew my plight or that woman would have been the one to decide my fate."

"Albus," Remus reasoned.

"Correct," Marian admitted. "He granted me, so when my mother went into the hospital, I was still free and did not become a ward of the government. I was however, still a minor. I could make my own legal, or medicinal decisions, but since I was not in school, and could not work or perform magic outside school even if I was enrolled, I needed a financial guardian. Usually this is appointed as the closest relative willing to assist the child financially, which I did not have. In cases of marriage licensed underage wizards or witches, their spouse is the financial guardian. Emancipated minors can consent to wed without a license as long as they are of school age. When I left home I had no one. No one but Sirius. But since he was neither a close relative nor a spouse, he did not count as a financial benefactor, which meant the Ministry could make me a ward of the state regardless of my emancipation. Albus presided over the union himself. Well, I mean of course he did, it was his idea in the first place to keep me out of Ministry ruling over who should be looking out for me. We filed the papers quietly with only a few people aware of it, one of which was Cornelius Frudge, and planned to divorce when I came of age."

Remus shook his head at Sirius. "She was a child, how could you?"

"It was an arrangement for her best interest. It wasn't like how you're thinking," he insisted. "The arrangement got complex, emotionally, but it never went beyond a kiss here or there."

Remus still rubbed his face with the palm of his hand. He still thought it was wrong, clearly, but for some reason he also seemed to understand why they had done it.

"Believe me," Marian said. "I thought he was offering from some perverted desire, but Sirius truly was a gentleman."

"How long?"

"James and Lily died about two weeks after we were married." Marian shrugged. "With Sirius in prison, his fortune and my dead parents' money was available to me. Being in school gave me a home until I was of age. There was no need to ask for a handout while I was still married to Sirius and his money was supporting me."

"Dead?" Sirius asked. "What about your mum?"

"She hung herself in St. Mungos, like I told you she would."

Remus finally straightened from where he had been kneeling. "Well, then, we've all learned quite a lot tonight it seems."

"I'm still not saying I believe you," Harry told Lupin.

"Then it's time we offered some proof," Marian said brightly. "You, boy…give me Peter, please. Now."

Ron refused to loosen his grasp. "Come off it. are you trying to sat he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands of Scabbers? I mean, okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat—there are millions of rats—how's he supposed to know which one he's after if he's locked up in Azkaban?"

"That's a fair question, Ron," Remus fielded, turning to his friend. "Marian, why don't you take this one?"

"You'll love this one." She extracted the picture from the paper she had shoved in her pocket earlier and passed it along to Harry. Ron had seen it before, she was sure. "Don't know how you got it though, darling."

"Fudge," Sirius answered. "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year he gave me this paper. And there was Peter on the front page, on the boy's shoulder…I knew him at once…how many times had I seen him transform Remus? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts…to where Harry was."

"The front paw," Remus pointed out.

"What about it?" Ron snapped.

"He's missing a toe."

"So simple, so brilliant. He cut it off himself?" Remus asked.

Marian nodded. "Just before he transformed, I think."

"When I cornered him he yelled to the whole street I had betrayed Lily and James. Marian arrived and Peter used her as a shield. Before I had a chance to figure out how to curse him without hitting her, he blew apart the street killed everyone within twenty feet of himself…and sped down into the sewer with the other rats…" he looked to Marian, whose hand he was now holding. "How it is he didn't kill you, I never quite puzzled out.

"He was so worried about keeping an eye on you, he never dreamed of disarming me. I felt something coming on a moment before and cast a shield charm to protect myself from whatever spell he used." She looked over to Ron. He looked confused. She could feel he was very confused. "Didn't you ever hear Ron? The biggest bit of Peter they ever found was his finger."

"Look, Scabbers probably just had a fight with another rat or something! He's been in my family for ages."

"Twelve years, in fact. Did you ever wonder why he was living so long?"

"We've been taking good care of him!"

"Not looking too good at the moment though is he?" Marian looked closely at the rat. Or as closely as she could from where she was several feet away. "He's probably been losing weight ever since he heard Sirius was out."

"He's been scared of that mad cat!" Ron pointed toward where Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, the one that had rested on Sirius earlier, was purring on the bed in the corner.

Sirius laughed a little. "That cat isn't mad." He gestured to the animal. "He's the most intelligent of his kind I've ever met. He recognized Peter for what he was right away. And when he met me, he knew I was no dog. It was a while before he trusted me…finally I managed to communicate to him what I was after, and he's been helping me."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked. It was her cat after all. Somehow she seemed shocked. Most people didn't know the intellectual or emotional capabilities of their animals. Part of Marian's unique gifts made that kind of thing easy to spot for her.

"He tried to bring Peter to me, but couldn't…" Sirius explained. "…so he stole the passwords to Gryffindor Tower for me…as I understood it he took them from a boy's bedside table. But Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it. This cat—Crookshanks did you call him?—told me Peter had left blood on the sheets. I supposed he bit himself. Well, faking his death had worked once before…"

"Nice, Sirius," Marian sniffed. "Really nice. Go to a cat to help you, never mind your wife."

"I didn't know you still considered yourself my wife, now did I?"

Harry had not said much during this exchange. But it seemed his mind was through with turning for the moment and he erupted. "And why did he fake his death? Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"

"No—" Remus tried to diffuse. "Harry—"

"And now you've come to finish him off!"

"Yes I have," Sirius admitted.

"Then I should have let Snape take you!"

"Harry," Marian left Sirius' side and approached, wand down, free hand in a surrendering gesture, palm facing out. "Don't you see? All this time, you've been thinking Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down—but it was the other way around, don't you see it? Peter betrayed your mother and father and Sirius tracked him down. Just like I've always said."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Harry roared. "HE WAS THEIR SECRET KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNED UP, HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!"

"Actually he said—" But Sirius cut Marian off. "No love, let me…Harry, I as good as killed them." Sirius was exuding enough sadness to make Marian's own heart feel like breaking. "I persuaded James and Lily to change to Peter instead of me…I'm to blame, I know it…the night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter in the morning to make sure he was safe, but there was a break in at your old house where Marian and I were staying. We panicked and ran to check on Peter, but when we arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. There was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right, and even then when her skills weren't honed," Sirius reached for Marian's hand. She stepped forward and gave it. "You'd do well to listen when this one says something's not right." Marian smiled through her watering eyes and a heavy heart while Sirius continued. "I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straight away. And when I saw their house destroyed, and their bodies…I realized what Peter must have done…what I'd done…"

Sirius couldn't say any more. His voice cracked and Marian squeezed his hand harder, rubbing his arm with her free hand.

"Enough of this," Remus said. "There's only one certain way to prove what really happened, to them," he added, noting Marian's expression (she of course had always been right it would seem). "Ron give me that rat." His voice was stern.

Ron hesitated. "What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?"

"Force him to show himself."

Ron still looked unsure. "If he really is a rat," Marian offered, "it won't hurt him."

One final hesitation, then Ron passed Scabbers to Remus, who accepted him with relief pouring out from him and turning his head, asking, "Ready Sirius?"

Sirius went a retrieved Snape's wand from the still unconscious professor and then approached Remus. "Together?" he said quietly.

"I think so. On the count of three. One—two—three!"

He dropped the rat just as a blue flash of light lit the room for a moment before dying down. The rat was suspended in midair. When the rat fell to the floor there was another flash and then the form of the rat began to change, from one of a rodent, to one of a man. He was short, and unkempt, rather like a rodent himself at this point, but he was a man Marian recognized very, very well. She would never have forgotten his face for as long as she lived.

"Well hello Peter." Marian's ears perked at this. Sirius was oozing pleasantness in his voice. There was a note of victory in his demeanor, also relief, and some grand sense of joy. Sirius was enjoying this. Marian wondered if this constellation of emotions she was reading form him would change when he finally went ahead and did the man in. She hoped not. If he remained excited in this way, happy like this, then Sirius deserved to be in prison.

"Long time no see," Sirius said.

Peter played the pity card layered with a bit of nostalgia. "S—Sirius…R-Remus…my friends…my old friends." It was hard for Marian not to notice Peter's eyes constantly darting to the door, watching it. That was not a nervous twitch. His mind was puzzling, trying to find a way out.

"We've been having a little chat Peter," Sirius said, in a rather casual, chummy voice. "About what happened to Lily and James. You might have missed some of the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the bed."

Peter turned to Remus. "Remus, you don't believe him do you?...he tried to kill me Remus…"

"So we've heard." Remus' voice concerned Marian as well. It was cold. Uncharacteristically so. Then again, how many times in your life do you find out you've been blaming the wrong friend for your best friend's death? Not often, she would wager. "I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you, Peter if you would be so—"

Peter didn't let Remus finish before he set to the dramatics. "He's come to try and kill me again! He killed James and Lily and now he's going to kill me too!...you've got to help me Remus…"

Remus eyed Sirius carefully. But it was Marian who made nice with the assurances. "No one is going to try and kill you, not until we've sorted a few things out."

"Marian?" Peter squinted in her direction. "My dear girl, so clever, so beautiful…" he reached for her. Marian backed away, releasing Sirius as she did in order to increase the distance between them. Before long though, Peter caught her wrist. "You always knew I was innocent. You read people, you must know I never harmed a soul."

Sirius rushed forward and stepped between the two of them, forcing Peter to back off. "Keep your hands off my wife. You touch her again, and I will kill you, no questions asked. Now we've got matters to sort out Peter."

"Sort out?" He looked confused in the face, but Marian could feel he was lying. It didn't take much to confirm it, since he launched into another terror crusade. "I knew he'd come after me! I knew he'd be back for me! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!"

"Oh so, you knew Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban? Something no one's ever done before?"

"Hush Marian," Sirius pled. "Let us handle this."

"I can help," she chided.

"Can your brand of help wait until I ask for it then?"

"I know you're rather long overdue for acting like a married couple," Remus mumbled sarcastically, "but can we save that kind of tension for later?" He turned to Peter again. "Now how could you have known Sirius was going to break out from Azkaban? That he even was capable of it?"

"He's got dark power the rest of us can only dream of! How else did he get out of there? I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Names taught him a few tricks!"

Sirius laughed. It filled the room and oozed with amusement. "Voldemort teach me tricks?" Peter had flinched at the name. "What? Scared to hear your old master's name? I don't blame you Peter, his lot aren't very happy with you are they?"

"I don't know what you mean Sirius—" Peter said quietly.

"You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years Peter. You've been hiding from Voldemort's old supporters. I heard things in Azkaban Peter…They all think you're dead, or you'd have to answer to them…I've heard them screaming all sorts of things in their sleep. Sounds like they think the double crosser double crossed them. Voldemort went to the Potters' on your information…and Voldemort met it downfall there. And not all Voldemort's supporters ended up in Azkaban did they? There are still plenty out there, biding their time, pretending they've seen the error of their ways…if they ever got wind that you were still alive, Peter—"

Peter repeated that he didn't know what Sirius was talking about. He turned to Remus. "You don't believe this—this madness, Remus—"

"I must admit Peter," he said coolly. "I have difficulty understanding why an innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat."

"Innocent but scared! If Voldemort's supporters were after me it was because I put one of their best men in Azkaban—the spy, Sirius Black!"

"Was that your plan? See, I thought you turned into a rat and went into hiding because Sirius was about to blow your head off for killing James and Lily and threatening me. Now it was a plan to ensure he was imprisoned."

"I changed to save my life, Marian! I stayed that way once I realized Sirius had been arrested!"

Marian met his small beady eyes, and a corner of her mouth twitched into a smile. "You're lying."

"How dare you?" Sirius asked. "I, a spy for Voldemort? When did I ever sneak around people more powerful than myself? But you, Peter, I will never understand why I didn't see you were the spy from the start. You'd always liked big friends who'd look after you, didn't you? It used to be us…me and Remus…and James…"

Peter was sweating. He wiped his face, sputtering, "Me, a spy…must be out of your mind…never…don't know how you can say such a—"

"Lily and James only made you Secret Keeper because I suggested it. I thought it was the perfect plan, a bluff. Voldemort would be sure to come after me, especially when I had Marian with me. he would never dream they would use a weak, talentless thing like you." Sirius slowed now, his eyes glazed over. "It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand over the Potters. Me and Marian too. That break in was on your word. There's no way someone would have come after James and Lily and me and Marian at the same time without intelligence."

Peter muttered objections like a lunatic, and very few discernible words could be heard. And his eyes continued to dart toward the door all the while. He was running out of chances to change someone, anyone's, mind. And he knew it.

Hermione timidly asked Remus a question. "Well—Scabbers—I mean this man—he's been sleeping in Harry's dormitory for three years. if he was working for You-Know-Who, how come he never tried to hurt Harry before now?"

Peter looked thrilled. "There! Thank you, you see Remus? I have never hurt a hair on Harry's head. Why should I?"

"I'll tell you why," Sirius said. "Because you never did anything for anyone unless you could see what was in it for you. Voldemort's been hiding for twelve years, they say he's half dead. Some believe there's nothing left. You weren't about to commit murder right under Albus Dumbledore's nose for a wreck of a wizard who'd lost all his power, were you? You'd want to be quite sure he was the biggest bully on the playground before you went back to him, wouldn't you? Why else did you find a wizarding family to take you in? Keeping an ear out for news, weren't you Peter? Just in case your old protector regained strength and it was safe to rejoin him…"

"Excuse me-Mr. Black—Sirius?" Hermione was speaking again, and at being addressed so formally for the first time in years, Sirius couldn't help but stare at her. "If you don't mind my asking, how—how did you get out of Azkaban if you didn't use dark magic?"

Peter started praising Hermione again, but Remus hushed him with a hard glance. Sirius sighed before attempting to answer. "I don't know how I did it. I think the only reason I never lost my mind was because I knew I was innocent. Marian darling, help me with this, you know more about those bloody things than I do."

"That's not a happy thought," Marian explained, "so the dementors couldn't suck it out of him."

"It kept me sane and knowing who I am…helped me keep my powers…so when it all became too much I could transform in my cell…become a dog."

"Dementors can't see, you know. They feel their way toward people by feeding off their emotions. They would have been able to tell his feelings were less complex, less human when he was a dog. But of course they would have thought he was losing his mind like everyone else, so that wouldn't have bothered them."

"I was weak. Very weak. And I had no hope of driving them away from me without a wand. But then I saw Peter in the picture. I realize he was at Hogwarts with Harry, perfectly positioned to act if one hint reached his ears of the Dark Side gathering strength again." Sirius looked at Peter again. "Ready to strike the moment he could be sure of allies. And to deliver the last Potter to him…if he gave them Harry, who'd dare say he betrayed Voldemort? He'd be welcomed back with honors. I had to do something. I was the only one who knew Peter was alive. Well," he glanced sheepishly at Marian, "the only one who could corroborate it after the Ministry mucked everything up."

"They jumped the gun," Marian explained to the youngsters looking on. "Fudge gave a press conference about what he thought had happened in the street that night; the story that you all had come to accept as the truth until now, like everyone else. Then he came to speak to me back at the auror's office. When he heard my story he knew he was in significant trouble, having signed off on a release before questioning the only eyewitness not behind bars for suspicion. Instead of holding another release to revise the previous information, or ordering someone to check into my version of events, Fudge drew up a report that said I had been affected by an expert memory charm and chucked me in St. Mungos for almost a week. Obviously they made no progress in reversing it, because there was no such charm on me. Reporters wrote about it for weeks. It was interesting, the girl Sirius kidnapped and held hostage. Articles cropped up everywhere. They still do from time to time."

"Why would the Minister do that?" Hermione asked.

"Because at the time he was Senior Undersecretary to Millicent Bagnold," Marian answered. "He was in a good position to run for her position when she retired. If she found out that when she entrusted him to handle the whole business about Harry's parents and Peter Fudge not only ignored protocol, but put an innocent man away and smeared both his and my name through the mud while he was at it, he would never be Minister. More to that he would have lost his job." Marian shrugged. "If you tell yourself something is true enough times, even if it's a lie, you can convince yourself of nearly anything."

Suddenly Marian felt something. The air had gotten a tad cooler. It wasn't anything like the gradual changing temperature of nightfall so much as it was a sharp decline. so minute it seemed no one else had noticed. That was not a good thing. Marian left Sirius' side and made for the door.

"Marian, where are you going?" Sirius called to her.

"Keep Peter with you and keep talking," he called back stepping out onto the landing. "It's probably nothing."

Marian retraced her steps through the house and back down into the tunnel through the trap door. It was definitely colder. She walked all the way to the end and stared outside, waiting. She assumed a dementor or two would be passing by. That sharp drop in temperature she felt had not been natural. But as she watched, there were no dark cloaks to be seen, no undead looking figures. Just a night sky. Maybe it had been nothing after all. Still, it would do them some good to exercise caution when they finally exited the willow again. Just because they could not be seen didn't mean they weren't far away. And with emotions running so high, the chances the dementors in the area might seize an opportunity to feed was rather higher than Marian would have liked.

She drew herself back inside and made her way back into the house, up the stairs, into the room. Peter was panicking. He was screaming, pleading. It would seem that Sirius had finally convinced Harry of his innocence. "You don't believe this…" he said to Remus. "Wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?"

"Not if he thought I was the spy Peter." He looked to Sirius just as Marian reentered the room. "I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?"

"Sorry Remus," Marian said, returning to Sirius' side. "I tried to tell him I read you as a straight arrow. Just like I thought Peter shouldn't be trusted."

"Forgive me for not listening to her, Remus."

"Not at all, Padfoot old friend. Will you in turn forgive me for believing you were the spy?"

"Of course," Sirius said, before nodding in Peter's direction. "Shall we kill him together?"

Though he said it in a grim tone, Remus responded, "Yes, I think so," and he meant it. Marian shook her head and groaned as a hand met her forehead. What could she do? She warned him, told him the kind of good that could come from keeping the man alive. All it would take was a little Veritaserum to sort this whole thing out…

The children seemed to be truly disgusted with Peter as he made his rounds, pleading for his life. He appealed to them one by one. He reached Marian and grasped at her wrist. She tried to shake him, but he was stronger than he looked. "Marian, sweet girl…you know I'm innocent. Read me, you know I didn't do these horrible things…"

Before she could transfer her wand to her left and jinx his grip away Sirius stepped in and did it for her. "I told you to keep your filthy hands off my wife, or I would kill you. Now it seems you'll get your wish."

But Peter moved onto Harry. "You look just like your father," he said, "…just like him…"

That was it, Sirius was officially riled enough to verbally berate Peter with something more than snide remarks. "HOWD ARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY? HOW DARE YOU FACE HIM? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT OF HIM?"

"Harry…James wouldn't have wanted me killed… James would have understood, Harry…he would have showed me mercy…"

"He may have let you live, Peter," Marian said. "He may have shown you mercy, but he would never have understood, you miserable rodent. I don't believe that. And I can sense that you don't either."

Remus seized Peter by the shoulder and forced him backward onto the floor. "You sold James and Lily to Voldemort. Do you deny it?"

Peter looked to Sirius, precisely the wrong person to try and appeal to. "Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord…you have no idea…he has weapons you can't imagine…I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James…I never meant it to happen, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me—"

"DON'T LIE!" Sirius roared. "YOU'D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!"

"He—he was taking over everywhere! What was there to be gained by refusing him?!"

"What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who ever lived? Only innocent lives Peter!"

"You don't understand! He would have killed me Sirius!"

The back and forth was becoming tedious. They weren't going to get anywhere with Sirius handling the talking at this point. Marian stepped in front of him. "Then you should have died," she said firmly. "Died rather than betray your friends, as they would have done for you."

"You should have realized," Reus put in, "if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Good-bye Peter."

Hermione turned to the wall, Marian threw her hands up in frustration, but Harry was the one who spoke. "NO! You can't kill him. You can't."

Both Sirius and Remus looked stunned. Remus attempted to reason with the boy. "Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents. This cringing bit of filth would have seen you die too, without turning a hair. You heard him, his own skin is worth more to him than your whole family."

"I know," the boy said calmly. "We'll take him to the castle. We'll hand him over to the dementors. He can go to Azkaban, but don't kill him."

Peter thanked him, groveling at his feet. Harry just about kicked Peter off his shoes and said he didn't think his father would have wanted Remus and Sirius to become killers for the likes of him. Harry had made the decision. Remus tied up Peter, threatened death if he tried to transform and run, which Marian thought was more than fair. She dared not tell Harry it hardly mattered. Once everything was cleared through the proper channels, the chances that he would receive the kiss for his crimes were better than good.

Remus also bound Ron's leg in a splint so he could walk and levitated the still unconscious Severus. He chained himself to Peter, along with Ron to ensure he could not run, and everyone paraded out of the room, heading back to the tunnel.

Sirius hung back a little. So did Marian. When the others were gone, they followed, but slowly. And they talked.

"Some night," Sirius said.

"Indeed. Though at least you'll be able to pick up your life once it's all over."

Sirius nodded and linked his arm in Marian's, which made her smile. "I'm curious to know if it will include you, love. After all," he added quietly. "You never divorced me. That was the plan for when you came of age. Why didn't you?"

Marian hesitated answering.

"Was it the money?" Sirius asked. "Because you could have transferred what you needed into your account beforehand; no one would have questioned you and I was hardly able to lodge a complaint."

"It wasn't that," she said. "I had enough from my parents without yours anyway. No…I never let anyone get close to me after that night, Sirius. If I divorced you…I was alone. Everyone thought I was crazy, addled." She turned her head and smiled at him. "You kept me sane too."

Sirius stopped walking and smirked. "I thought I said the thought of being innocent kept me sane."

"You did," Marian said, unwinding herself from him and lowering herself into the tunnel through the floor, urging him to follow. "But you glanced my way when you said it, and there was a flutter of affection gleaning through the feeling of being overwhelmed. So tell me," she concluded as Sirius dropped into the tunnel beside her and threaded his arm through hers again. "How often did you think of me?"

"Often," he admitted. "I wondered how things would have turned out if things had come to light sooner at the time, how we would have been."

Marian could read in his face that he had wondered what they would have been like as a couple. Even though it was never meant to be that kind of union, he had thought about it. Only Sirius seemed too embarrassed or ashamed to admit the thought had crossed her mind. Despite her age, they were married, and that was a natural though under the circumstances. She should know. The same thoughts had occurred to her as well.

"I didn't know you had been forced into the hospital before Dumbledore gave you a home at the school," Sirius said as they walked along. "Why didn't you just pretend it had worked and renounced your version, love? Life would have been easier for you."

"Maybe. But I couldn't have lived with myself. You did more for me than anyone ever had. It would have been a poor way to repay you. Besides, unlike some people I have a gift for being able to tell a man," she nodded to Sirius, "from and animal," she nodded ahead of them towards Peter.

Sirius was smirking through his words. "Yes well, I would have been happier to know you had friends growing up for it. Anyway, it's all about to come right now. And you can divorce me and move on with your life, at long last."

They had reached the exit, and Remus had already frozen the tree and led the group outside. Marian separated herself and started through the narrow opening. "I don't know that I want to."

Sirius was stunned. He watched her with a confused expression while she clambered out, and followed her, saying, "What do you mean you don't want to?"

They strolled a little ways away from where Remus was regrouping everyone, examining Ron's leg in the considerable better light that was streaming from the castle in the distance. They stood together and looked onto the castle. "Because," Marian sighed, "despite my age at the time, I felt things for you too. I don't know if they were borne of our mutual dependence at the time or because I truly did have feelings and a connection with you that was deeper than us both being rather talented and clever, and sometimes snarky, individuals." She turned to him and took his hand, lacing her fingers between Sirius', and placing her free hand to his chest. "I felt love for you. I still do. I'd like the chance to figure out what kind of love it is before doing all that tiresome paperwork."

Sirius smiled and began to bend his head toward Marian, their lips inches from touching, but then …Harry sidled up near them. Sirius almost jumped away from Marian when he noticed. He held up a finger to her and together they approached the boy. Sirius shoved his hands into his pockets and stood beside his godson.

"You know what this means? Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free," Harry answered simply.

"Yes…But I'm also—I don't know if anybody every told you—I'm your godfather."

"Yeah, I knew that."

The whole conversation was stiff, uncomfortable. It would take them time, Marian thought, for the two of them to bond. They had to get to know one another, just like she and Sirius had to get to know one another again after so long.

"Well…" Sirius continued. "your parents appointed me your guardian if anything happened to them…I'll understand of course if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle, but…well…think about it. once my name clears…if you wanted a…a different home…"

"What—" Harry was stammering in shock, but Marian could tell it was a jubilated one. Harry was ecstatic. "Live with you? Leave the Dursleys?"

Of course Sirius couldn't read emotions. "Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to. I understand, I just thought I'd—"

"Are you insane?" the boy crowed. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

"You want to?" Sirius asked. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!"

Marian strode forward, resting her hands on Sirius' arm and shoulder. "It won't be right away," she said kindly, "There is a house, but it's been empty for quite some time. It was Sirius' childhood home and…well, once it's habitable again, then we can talk about you coming to stay with us."

"You're going to stay married then?" Harry asked. A moment later his face told her he thought he was intruding with his question, but Marian merely smiled.

"For the moment. We figured we'd give it a real try before calling it quits. Besides, when your godfather is clean and well fed, he's actually quite a catch."

Hermione called Harry's name over her shoulder. The trio turned and saw Hermione pointing toward Remus. He was staring at the moon, which was now peeking from behind a cloud. It was big, and it was full. Remus had started panting and Marian recalled Severus Snape's awful claim that he had forgotten to take his potion earlier that night. If that was true, they were in a world of trouble. And from the looks if it, that was certainly the case.

"Run," Sirius breathed to Harry, Hermione, and Ron when the chatting trio had rushed back to the rest of the group. "Run. Now."

But Ron was chained to Peter still, as was Remus. There was nowhere for anyone to go. Marian vaguely thought about Severus' safety as well, but as he was unconscious and rather deserved a good scare or a scratch, the thought was fleeting.

"Sirius—" she started.

But he cut her off. "Take these three and run. Leave it to me—RUN!"

Before Marian could make good of it, Remus was transformed, and so was Sirius. A large black dog bounded from their side and attacked the wolf now standing before them. But while the children were transfized by the battle, Mariran noted that Peter was on the move. He had picked up Remus' wand and cast some sort of spell in a short burst of light. Marian drew her own and disarmed him, but it hardly made a difference. She had no sooner ordered him not to move than he had changed back into a rat and was making a run for it.

As he disappeared through the grass, Harry called to Sirius that Peter was escaping. Sirius was in bad shape with gashes on his muzzle and back, but he was alive. She knew he had never tried to control Remus alone, and he was in no shape to be doing so now. Hermione and Harry were attempting to help Ron, who had been hit with whatever Peter had cast before changing. She turned to the kids. "Get Snape and Ron back to the castle and find Dumbledore. Tell him what's happening."

Marian started off at a run. This was going to be painful after such a long time, but she needed to do it…

"What about you?" Harry called after her.

Marian who had started running after the dogs called out over her shoulder, "Don't worry about me, just do as I say!"

She ran until she was sure Harry and Hermione were not following and could not see her, then Marian closed her eyes and concentrated…

And when she opened them, the world was in shades of grey and in amazing detail. She could see better in the dark this way, that way for sure. The downside was the grass was barely any shorter than she was this way. There was yelping in the distance. She followed it, running as fast as her four legs could carry her, which was actually quite fast indeed. The noise brought her towards the lake. There didn't seem to be any wolf around, but there was a mass at the edge of the lake. She approached it, and was relieved to see it was still breathing. Sirius was alive. And he had changed back.

Marian approached and sat in front of him, bushy tail wrapping about her daintily sized paws. She cocked her head to one side and changed herself back. The creamy tan fur receded back into her skin and the world faded back to color again. She leaned forward and rested a hand on his shoulder. Sirius was sitting up, but looked somewhat stunned.

"Well you're sitting," Marian said a little breathlessly. "That's a good sign."

She looked at his wounds and pressed her sleeve to a particularly nasty one on his cheek. Sirius was staring at her though, with a small smile on his face. "You did it…you became an animagus."

"I did. When I was about the same age as when you did. Took me ages without your help."

"Tell me you did it illegally."

"Of course. What's the point of using another form if everyone knows about it? besides, fennec foxes are indigenous to Britain."

Sirius removed her hand and kissed the back of it. "I think," he said between pecks, "that you may just be the perfect girl for me." He looked up and met her eyes. Marian felt a wonderful sensation, something she had not felt in years. It seemed to be something like elation, the kind of thing she had read in muggle novels about people who fall in love. She was feeling joyful and happy. And the feelings were strong. She had never felt anything so profoundly. She wanted to feel this way forever.

But it wouldn't last, not for long. Marian squirmed her shoulders. Something was wrong. She was cold, like she had noticed before, only worse. And she was feeling a sense of foreboding. Sirius looked above them and Marian followed his gaze. Above them, approaching them fast, were dementors. A lot of them. Hundreds.

Suddenly, Marian felt freezing cold, she felt a fog invade her mind, her vision was fading. And she was very sad, depressed even. How could she have been happy a moment ago, so very happy, and now she felt like nothing would ever be good again?

It looked like someone was coming.

Whoever it was, Marian hoped they would be able to handle the dementors where she had failed…

Marian awoke while it was still very late at night to voices nearby. She opened her eyes and found that she was in the headmaster's office. She was laid out on the couch beside the fireplace in the corner. The hearth was roaring and casting shadows which danced along the walls and got caught in the various reflections from baubles and artifacts on tables and mounted on shelves.

The voices were familiar to her. One was definitely Albus. The other took her a moment to place but she eventually identified it as belonging to the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Marian groaned outwardly and pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. Compared to the last time she remembered being conscious, she was feeling much better. But she was tired…oh, so tired…

"Mess of a business really, Dumbledore. If you had let me speak to the girl sooner this whole mess might have been averted. Instead all I could get you to agree to was that fiasco of a luncheon with her and a few others form the school. I mean you didn't really think she wasn't helping him."

"I assure you, Cornelius, she was not."

"Yes well…while the account of Professor Snape says otherwise, I suppose we can hardly blame her. She is after all disturbed in her mind, no matter how high functioning she may be. I've asked Jergon to give her some extra time off from the leave she already put in for, just until she's stable again following this dreadful night. And I think she should be admitted to St. Mungos for observation while we're at it, to make sure her condition has not worsened, er, that no one has worsened it I mean. Thank goodness Snape was there, headmaster I mean really. The sound judgment he showed in cleaning up this mess the three of them and those students caused…I daresay he deserves this Order of Merlin."

"I'm sure you're right headmaster. He's in the hospital wing seeing that Mr. Potter and Miss Granger will be all right. And Mr. Weasley too, of course. You can find him there. Now I must ask that you do so and not disturb poor Miss Knightly further tonight."

Footsteps walked into the distance and Marian was feeling well enough to sit herself up. When she did, she noticed that Albus was now sitting in an armchair pulled up close to the sofa she was resting on. He smiled at her, though sadly. Marian rubbed her forehead and shook her head.

"Why did that happen?...I've never been overtaken by any number of dementors…why did that happen?"

"When Severus found you," Albus answered quietly, "he found you with your hand in Sirius'. My guess is for the first time in many, many years, you felt something strong enough for a dementor to feed on."

Marian sighed. "Severus…Order of Merlin my foot. I'm sure he just woke up and found us all there. He did nothing heroic enough to disturb it. he caught an unconscious innocent man." She paused and though for a moment before panicking. "Sirius!" she said frantically, starting to get herself up. "Is he all right?!"

Albus gently leaned forward and pushed her back down to the couch. "He's fine. But he is in Flitwick's office, awaiting the dementors with their orders to kiss him."

It was like someone punched her in the gut. Marian had not gone through all this trouble to find him only to let him slip away from her now. She threw herself to her feet and started toward the door. "We have to catch up with the Minister…tell him the truth."

"With what proof?" Albus had stood and stopped her at the door with this question. Marian thought about it. He was right. The proof was Peter, and Peter was gone. Sirius was still considered a criminal, Marian was considered jinxed, Remus was prowling around the forest unable to tell anyone anything, and the only two people who could be trustworthy were thirteen years old. Severus hadn't been awake for the whole explanation, and even if he had known the truth he would have lied anyway. Albus himself hadn't even known that the real keeper had been Peter twelve years ago; he had even testified to it that the keeper had been Sirius. She bit her lip and backed herself against the wall. As she slid to the floor, Marian could not help but think this was her biggest failure. She had let herself be at peace, be happy…and it had ruined everything.

Albus approached her and couched down beside her. "I know it all seems very grim," he said quietly.

"Of course it is," Marian mumbled. "Sirius is innocent, we had proof, and I let it slip away. Now Sirius is receiving a fate worse than death, Severus is getting an award for being vindictive, and I will be alone for the rest of my life."

"Maybe," Albus said lightly. "Maybe not." Marian looked up at him, tears in her eyes. At her questioning glance, Albus added, "I do have a bit of a plan, if you don't mind reporting to the battlements of the West tower at around," he checked his watch, "ten minutes to midnight. Earlier if you can manage, since I don't know how long my visit to the hospital wing will take me. If all goes well you'll be meeting someone there."

Albus stood and offered her his hand. Marian took it and when she was on her feet she asked, "You're not sending me to St. Mungos are you?"

"Of course not. Besides, if all goes well, you will be on a very long, very interesting holiday very soon. I'll be sure your leave of absence from your work is extended. If I were you I would use this half hour that you have to pack a bag. Not too large though. Your companions might find it cumbersome." Albus sighed. "Ah, time. It can right many old wrongs. Fix our mistakes. Sometimes more than one in a day." And then he left.

Marian had trusted this man her whole life, he was something like an uncle to her, so she did as he suggested and headed for her tower to pack a bag before heading for the courtyard. And along the way she thought.

What had Albus meant when he said she was going on holiday? Where was he sending her? And why would other companions find a large bag cumbersome? It was hers, she was responsible for it. why would others carry her bags? Who carried bags for others?

Servants.

Dollies.

Pack animals. But that was of course, ridiculous.

Now time. He had mentioned time. He said it could write wrongs. Old ones, apparently. If they were old, then they already happened. Time could only right them if you were to go back…

Hermione Granger. Marian had heard she had quite a loaded schedule. Was it loaded enough to be issued a time turner from Marian's department at the Ministry? Quite possibly…

More in one day, that was another interesting comment. More than one wrong in a day? Presumably today? What else had happened today that was severely wrong?

Marian was halfway to her tower when it clicked. Animals. Time fixing old wrongs. More than one wrong. Fixing mistakes. Of course. Marian knew what Albus was going to try and do. Or more to the point, what he was going to try and get Hermione and Harry do to. She broke off to a run for her tower.

Once inside, Marian ran up the stairs to her bed chamber and dragged out her rucksack, the same as the one she had when she was a child, from the bottom of the wardrobe. Marian changed into fresh robes, taupe colored ones in a tunic style that allowed her to slide into a pair of pants that would be far more comfortable. She shoved undergarments and socks, pants, shirts, sweaters, and anything else that seemed sensible. A comb, she even found a pocket reference guide to muggle living on a shelf as she walked by on her way out. Her cloak was tightened about her shoulder and she headed out the door.

It hadn't taken her the whole half hour to ready herself, but it was close. And as Marian dashed up to the battlements, she could only hope that Albus' plan went smoothly enough so that no one would get caught.

The battlement was empty when she got there, but hopefully it wouldn't be that way for long. The night was warm, and there was hardly need for her cloak. Marian wore it anyway. Before long, there was the sound of voices being carried on the breeze. Marian crept toward the stony edge and looked over un just enough time to see a shadow flying toward her. as it rounded the battlement once, Marian could see it was Buckbeak with Sirius, Hermione and Harry riding on his back. She had been right. Albus had sent the kids back in time to change the outcome of Buckbeak's sentence and Sirius was going to use him to escape.

When Buckbeak landed, Harry and Hermione slid off the hippogriff and looked up at Sirius. "You'd better go quick," Harry said. "They'll be at Flitwick's office any moment, they'll see you're gone."

But Sirius didn't seem to understand the severity of the fact that they should be leaving that very moment. He looked to Marian. "What are you doing here?"

"Albus sent me up here," she said, slipping her arms through the straps of her bag and stepping up to Buckbeak and reaching for Sirius' hand. "We're going on a trip together."

Sirius smiled and reached out to grasp her hand and help her clamber up. "I'd be delighted to have you." As Marian was making her way onto Buckbeak behind Sirius, the man asked, "What about that other boy? Ron?"

"He'll be okay. He's still out of it, but Madam Pomfrey says she'll be able to make him better. Quick—go—"

"How can I ever thank—"

"GO!" Hermione and Harry both yelled.

Sirius wheeled Buckbeak around. "Are you holding on?" Marian wrapped her arms around Sirius waist. She could feel him rest a hand over her two clasped ones for a moment, making sure she was secure, before turning his head and saying to Harry, "We'll see each other again. You are—truly your father's son, Harry…"

Marian and Sirius rose into the air between the hippogriff's two enormous wings, flapping up and down as they rose in the air and away from Hogwarts. Marian felt as though she was going to fall off into the abyss of the night during this steep climb upwards and she wrapped her arms tighter. Sirius chuckled and grasped her arms again. Sirius had broken out of one cage, and then another. Cage was an interesting way to see it, Marian thought. Azkaban had been one, but they were in one again: the cage of not being truly free. Sirius was not being confined by bars, but he was confined by the fact that Peter was gone again, and therefore so was their proof of his innocence.

These were the thoughts that rolled through her mind as Marian fell asleep with her had resting against Sirius' back…

When she awoke, they were on the outskirts of a small village somewhere. It was morning. Sirius was shaking her shoulder. "Marian, darling? It's morning."

Marian sat up from where she still sat behind Sirius and stretched before sliding off Buckbeak's back and looking around. "Where are we?"

"Norway I think. We flew over the ocean while you were sleeping. I made sure you were sleeping," he insisted at Marian's paling at the thought. "As I remember that used to scare the hell out of you."

Marian nodded and looked out over the meadow that separated them from the tiny coastal town. Sirius made Buckbeak lay himself out in the sun and went to stand beside Marian. "I'm wondering if I can trouble you to get some things." Marian looked at him and smiled. "You're lucky I brought some gold with me."

Sirius didn't seem too happy at the prospect of sending Mairan though. After requesting they find a menagerie, a supply store, and some food, he sighed and sat on the grass. "I feel guilty making you spend your money, love. I mean, I have plenty of it. I should be able to support all this."

"It's not forever," Marian said. "Just until everything is calm enough for us to go back and hide in London."

"You're right. Maybe we can go to my old house. It's not the most ideal place, frankly I would hate it, but it's the safest place in London."

Marian hesitated before answering to this idea. "You may not have to feel trapped there," she ventured carefully. "I was at the house briefly when your mother died about ten years ago. Even then it was trashed. I shudder to think what's it's like now." She looked out toward the village as she pocketed her pouch of gold and stood up again. She looked to Sirius, "Give me an hour."

Sirius nodded and stood, dragging up Buckbeak as he did. "I'm going to find somewhere we can stay while you do. Caves are always a good choice, but we might not be able to do that; I have no idea what this coast line is like. Can you speak Norwegian, by the way?"

Marian flashed a smile. "No, but I'll manage."

"That's my girl."

Marian found it was rather easy to find her way around. People were more than happy to speak English with her when she asked questions. She found her way to a menagerie, where she found a small brown owl for a reasonable price. She suspected that had something to do with the fact he was almost assuredly brain damaged, but since the owls were so expensive here, she had to settle. There was still ink and a quill to buy along with parchment and some food. Marian did all these things, but as she was making her way out of the village, having only really spent several sickles and knuts, she saw a robe shop. Sirius was still wearing his prison garb. That hardly seemed fair.

Marian ducked in and bought black pants, a gray shirt and vest, and a black jacket for Sirius. At least he would have something clean to wear. When she made her way back to the knoll with her packages in hand, Marian was greeted by a big black dog. She followed him as he trotted ahead as they made their way toward the coast and down the cliffs. As it turned out Sirius had found a cave along the sliff that lined the beach.

They stepped inside and walked toward the back, where Buckbeak was sitting, pulled something apart and eating it. to Marian's question of what he was eating, Sirius answered, "He'll not go hungry since there's no shortage of bats in here."

It creeped Marian out but things could definitely be worse. She sat on a rock and set her packages down. Sirius examined the cage in which the owl was being kept. "Something wrong with him isn't there?"

Marian shrugged. "Probably, but if I had bought one at full price we'd be broke already." She opened the other packages. "Quill, ink, parchment, blanket…and some things for you." She handed Sirius the robes she had bought. "I'm sure you'll grow out of them once you're healthy again, but for now at least you don't have to wear your prison robes." She also handed him a tube. "Sparkledent is the best for stains; I recall you were rather fond of your white teeth back in the day."

Sirius took them and hurried around the corner to change. While he did, Marian called out to him, what do you want your letter to say?"

Marian wrote what Sirius asked:

Dear Harry,

I hope this finds you before you reach your aunt and uncle. I don't know wither they're used to owl post.

Buckbeak, Marian, and I are in hiding. I won't tell you where in case this owl falls into the wrongs hands. I have some doubt about his reliability, but he was the best Marian could find for the small amount we have with us and seemed eager for the job.

"Eager for the job?" Marian asked.

"They don't need to know he's a moron, besides, they'll figure it out soon enough. Keep writing…"

I believe the dementors are skill searching for me, but they haven't a hope of finding me here. I'm planning on allowing some muggles to glimpse me soon, far away from Hogwarts, so the security on the castle will be lifted.

This idea made Marian quite nervous. Muggles were just as prone to panic as magic folk. More so sometimes, when they know someone is dangerous.

There is something I never got around to telling you during our brief meeting. It was I who sent you the Firebolt.

Crookshanks took the order to the Owl Office for me. I used your name but told them to take the gold out of my own Gringott's Vault. Please consider it as thirteen years' worth of birthday presents from your godfather.

"They allowed something to be ordered for Harry using your gold and no one thought that was a relevant bit of information for Albus…" Marian grumbled in wonder.

"Marian darling, I'm more than happy to debate all these fine points with you, but after the letter is finished. There's not much more."

I would also like to apologize for the fright I think I gave you that night last year when you were leaving your uncle's house. I had only hoped to catch a glimpse of you before starting my journey north, but I think the sigh of me alarmed you.

I am enclosing something else for you, which I think will make your next years at Hogwarts more enjoyable.

If you ever need me, send word. Your owl will find me. I'll write again soon.

Sirius.

"You're sure you want to sign your name, Siriuis?" Marian asked. "If this owl is intercepted—"

"They'll have no idea where we are," Sirius finished for her while emerging, dressed and looking somewhat more comfortable. He stepped close to her, tossing his clothes aside and sat beside her on the stone. "Thank you darling," he said, kissing her head and taking the parchment from her.

"Sirius what are you sending along for him?"

Sirius took another piece of parchment, smaller this time, and dipped the quill in the open inkpot sitting on Marian's other side. He scrawled something while Marian folded and envelope for the letter. When they were both done, Sirius stuffed them both inside the envelope Marian had made and tied it to the owl's leg with some loose strings from the prison robes.

Sirius went outside to let the owl loose and when he came back in he said, "That ruddy owl may have a hard time flying such a distance and finding his way. I though he might, but I really do hope he finds Harry before he's with his aunt and uncle." Marian smirked at this and asked, "What was on that second parchment?"

"Permission for Hogsmeade for Harry, and I asked Ron to keep that owl since it seems I've taken his pet from him," he answered, sitting beside her again.

"That should make them happy," she said as Sirius wrapped his arm around her lower back. They looked at one another and smiled.

"I think we were in the middle of something when we were so rudely interrupted by the full moon last night," Sirius said somewhat nervously.

"I think you're right," Marian breathed. They leaned in closer to one another and their lips met. Sirius was timid at first, but at the insistence of Marian's lips and tongue, gaining ferocity and insisting Sirius part his own lips and allow her to run her tongue along his, he obeyed.

After a few minutes of this, Sirius made to cup Marian's breasts through her robes. But she broke contact and bit her lip, resting her hand over his and lowering it back down to his own lap. "I have missed you terribly," she said. "But it's been a long time. And we never really…you know, I was a kid back then." She sighed. "I want you, Sirius. But I want to take it slow. I want you to know the adult I've become and reconcile that with the child you remember before we make a decision to…take things further."

"Of course love," Sirius said, pulling her into a strong embrace. "Of course I understand. And you're right." He pulled away. "Besides, it's been my experience that sex on the beach, while sounding romantic, is a breeding ground for lady problems."

Marian laughed. So did Sirius. This would be an interesting holiday, she thought, just like Albus had said. And perhaps they weren't as much in a cage as Marian though they were: bound by those who were searching for them and would do them harm. While they were out here in the wilderness, in a place where it was unlikely they would be found or maybe not even recognized…it was freedom. They were free for the time being.

And there was nothing like freedom for getting to know someone all over again.