SUMMARY- Set near the end of the Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry, Hermione and Ron manage to prove to the Ministry that Sirius is innocent and Pettigrew is the one they want with the help of Professor Dumbledore. Before the Dementors can get to Pettigrew, though, he transforms back into a rat and disappears. The Minister for Magic sets Sirius free and Harry is permitted to go and live with him after school ends. Immediately after he is set free, he goes to visit and old Hogwarts flame, only to find out that she is frightened and unsure of their relationship. Can he make her feel his love?
DISCLAIMER: I do not and never will own Harry Potter . . . sadly . . . though I may end up owning any characters you do not recognise!
Make You Feel My Love
Chapter 1: Innocent
Sirius Black was a wanted man; wanted for betrayal and murder he didn't commit. He had been the only one to escape from the heavily guarded Azkaban Prison. And now he had finally captured the man who had actually committed the crime that was supposedly his.
Sirius had meant to kill Peter Pettigrew for betraying his best friend James Potter and his wife Lily but had been convinced by his godson, Harry Potter, not to. Harry had been right; James would not have wanted his best friend to become a murderer, even if it was to kill the man who had betrayed him.
Looking at the sight in front of him, Sirius nearly laughed out of happiness for the first time in twelve years. Drifting creepily in front of his face was the unconscious Severus Snape whom Sirius was helping float down the stairs with his own wand (he still didn't have his from Azkaban). Right in front of the floating professor was Remus Lupin and Ron Weasley who looked as if they were trying to win a six-legged race but failing miserably due to the ropes binding them to the rope bound Pettigrew's wrists (plus Ron's broken leg). Lastly, in front of the Three Stooges, was Crookshanks, proudly leading the group out of the Womping Willow. For a brief second, Sirius wondered if the sight looked just as outrageously funny and awkward to Harry and Hermione (who were behind him) as it did to him.
As he continued moving forward with Snape drifting in front of him, hitting his head on the low ceiling every now and then, Sirius realised something. "Do you know what this means?" he whispered over his shoulder to Harry. "Turning Pettigrew in, I mean."
"You're free," Harry whispered back.
"Yes . . . free," Sirius liked the feel of the word on his tongue. They walked in a comfortable silence for another short period of time before Sirius spoke again. "Harry, you were told, weren't you? About my being your godfather?"
Harry nodded and then hesitated slightly. "Well not exactly told so much as overheard," he explained. "We were at the Three Broomsticks and Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, Fudge and Professor Flitwick were telling Madam Rosmerta the whole story as they knew it. She didn't like the Dementors coming into her pub. That's when we overheard it."
Sirius smirked. Of course she didn't like the Dementors in her pub, he thought. She always was stubborn and didn't like anything getting in her way.
"Harry," he started. "Your parents . . . well they appointed me your guardian . . . if anything happened to them . . ." he stole a glance at Harry and saw a shocked expression showing on his face. "If you want to stay with your aunt and uncle, I'll understand. But . . . once my name is cleared, and if you maybe wanted a . . . a different home . . . I mean, I don't know how they are treating you, but it's up to you."
Harry suddenly stopped, cracking his head on a piece of rock sticking down from the ceiling. "You mean live with you?" he asked. "Leave the Dursleys?"
He couldn't tell whether his tone was happy or upset but Sirius took the risk and continued. "I didn't think you would want to leave," he started sadly. "I understand. I just thought I'd . . ."
Suddenly, Harry's face broke out in a huge smile. "Are you mad!" he asked. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Do you have a house? When can I move in?"
Sirius smiled and started laughing at Harry's one million questions. He noticed Snape's head was scraping the ceiling but didn't really care all that much.
"You mean it?" he asked. "You want to?"
"Yeah, I mean it!"
Sirius smiled and finally felt truly happy for the first time in years. Finally he would have a good life. He would be able to care for his best friend's son and watch him become a marvelous wizard.
Finally they reached the end of the tunnel and everyone clambered up through the hole. It was dark now; so dark you could only see the castle lights in the near distance.
"What are you three doing out after curfew," they all heard a voice say. Everyone turned and spotted Professor Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge, evidently only just walking back from their visit with Hagrid.
Hermione's face drained of colour, as did Ron's and Harry's. "W-we," she started. "Well . . . you see . . . it's just that . . . well Ron got pulled into the Womping Willow a . . . and he broke his leg. We were helping him."
It seemed, though, Dumbledore and Fudge no longer had any interest in Hermione's stuttered explanation as they were now staring in disbelief at the rope bound Peter Pettigrew.
"But," Fudge started. "Pettigrew is supposed to be dead."
Sirius started to speak but Harry beat him to it. "Well he's not," Harry said. "He faked his death to frame Sirius for the murders and the betrayal of my parents."
Fudge and Dumbledore stared at him. "My dear boy," Fudge started. "How can you be so sure?"
"Because he and Professor Lupin told me," Harry said. "Plus, I'm pretty sure that if what I was told wasn't true, Pettigrew would be dead right now and not standing here with us."
Fudge was about to answer when suddenly a cloud moved and the entire group was bathed in moonlight. Sirius held up his free hand to keep anyone from speaking and then started to back up. Lupin had gone rigid and his limbs had begun to shake. "Run," Sirius whispered. "Run now."
Sirius could see Harry hesitate for a moment and then leap forward toward Ron. Running forward after him, Sirius caught Harry around the chest and threw him back.
"Leave him to me—RUN!"
Lupin's head was now lengthening, his shoulders were hunching and hair was growing on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws.
As the transformation completed and the werewolf snapped its long jaws, Sirius quickly transformed into the dog and bounded forward. As the werewolf wrenched itself from it's binding, Sirius jumped up and seized it around the neck. Suddenly, the two were fighting, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other—
Suddenly, the dog heard a scream and looked toward Hermione. He followed her gaze and noticed Pettigrew lifting up Lupin's wand. As he tried to bound toward him, he felt a searing pain as claws tore through his back and then his muzzle. In defeat, he fell to the ground.
A howl was heard and then a low growl and the sound of paws galloping off.
"Sirius, he's gone, Pettigrew transformed!" Harry yelled.
At those words, Sirius scrambled up again and pounded away across the grounds. He got as far as the lake before he saw a terrible sight, Dementors waiting there for him. He started to yelp and slowly turned back into a man, crouched on all fours with his hands over his head.
"Nooo," he moaned. "Noooo . . . . please . . ."
The last thing he heard before he rolled over and passed out was the sound of Harry's voice shouting, "Hermione, think of something happy!"
It felt like hours, but must have only been minutes because when he woke up, he was still at the lake . . . but the cold was gone. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked around; Harry and Hermione were collapsed next to him and Dumbledore and Fudge were kneeling beside the three.
"Don't try to get up," Dumbledore advised him. "Those Dementors almost killed you . . . all three of you."
Sirius looked around some more and then back to Dumbledore. "Who stopped them," he asked in a raspy voice.
"We came here to stop them but someone else did," Dumbledore explained. "We did send them away, though."
Sirius mumbled a weak 'thank you' and, a second later, passed out again.
Sirius woke up later in the hospital wing next to Harry, Hermione and Ron. Dumbledore and Fudge were there once again, speaking with Harry and Hermione, most likely waiting for him to wake up.
"Ah, Black," Fudge said looking at him. "You're awake. Now, as you probably know, Peter Pettigrew got away. As soon as we here your story, we will send Dementors after him to lock him up and—if you are innocent—set you free of any guilty charges."
Sirius nodded. Fudge smiled and handed him a glass of pumpkin juice. "Now," he started. "I want you to drink this. It has Veritaserum in it. I am going to ask you questions about the night the Potters died and you will answer truthfully."
Obediently, Sirius took the glass and drank the pumpkin juice. Despite the fact that he knew there was Veritaserum in the drink, he didn't mind; he knew he was innocent and therefore had nothing to fear. So he savoured the taste of the pumpkin juice on his tongue; he hadn't had something as good as that in twelve years.
As soon as the glass was set down on the bedside table, Fudge started asking his questions. "Now, were you," he started. "Or were you not the Potters Secret-Keeper?"
"I was," Sirius started without hesitation. "But I knew that Voldemort," he paused as he saw Fudge flinch slightly and then continued. "Would most likely suspect me as Secret-Keeper and come after me. I knew he would come after me either way so I came up with what I thought was the perfect plan to fool him; I suggested to Lily and James they make Peter their Secret-Keeper. I didn't know Pettigrew was working with Voldemort."
Fudge nodded. "Why were you at the scene of the Potters murder that night?"
"I had realised that Pettigrew wasn't going to keep the secret and coming after him," he answered. "He tried to frame me by blowing up the entire street, killing twelve Muggles, and leaving behind his finger before transforming into a rat and disappearing."
Again, Fudge nodded, obviously becoming more convinced with every question he asked that Sirius was innocent. "Will you tell us the entire story?"
Sirius nodded and ran through all of what he had told Harry, Hermione and Ron, starting from what Remus had told them about the Animagus incident and going all the way to how he broke out of Azkaban. " . . . I know I am an unregistered Animagus, but it was only to help a friend," he said. "We knew we wouldn't have been able to help him if we were registered at the time because the teachers would know we were out of bed."
Fudge nodded, now completely convince of the whole story. "Well," he started. "I am glad you told me. Since I know you never used being an Animagus for any harm and were never injured in the transformations, I will let it slide. Before you can transform again, though, I request that you become registered. No more transforming until then."
Sirius nodded. "Sirius Black," Fudge started, taking out his wand. "I hereby declare you free of any guilty charges. You are innocent."
Sirius smiled and thanked the Minister for Magic. In the bed next to him, Harry began to clap his hands, along with Hermione and Ron.
"You're free Sirius!"
Thank you for reading! The next chapter will be from Rosmerta's point of view and just to let everyone know, I know she is supposed to be a bit older than Sirius and James and Remus but in my story, she is the same age and went to school with them. Also, this first chapter does focus largely on a chapter in the third book, but future chapters will be entirely my own, save for characters and the obvious plot things related to Harry Potter. Please be kind and take the time to leave a review, favourite or alert!