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Chapter Two

As soon as Harry pressed the knot at the base of the tree, the Whomping Willow immediately became immobilised, allowing the three of them to climb out of the passageway that lead to and from the Shrieking Shack safely. The three of them sat concealed behind the tree as they waited for Sirius to return. Harry's heart was sprinting inside his chest, his fingers drumming impatiently against his legs, as he waited for his godfather. The moon was now full overhead; any minute, his Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was going to transform in to a werewolf and Sirius was still there with him. Harry had decided that if Sirius was not there in five minutes, then he would go back in after him.

'He's going to be okay,' Hermione said quietly, not breaking her concentration as she attended to Ron's broken leg. They had managed to get the bleeding to stop, but they needed the healing hands of the school matron, Madam Pomfrey; she could mend bones in a heartbeat.

Harry sighed long and heavy, his eyes transfixed on the passageway. That evening when he had gone in to the Shrieking Shack to save Ron from the crazed, feral dog, he had no idea that it would turn in to this, although he should have expected something to happen. Every year since he had begun attending Hogwarts, there was always an event that took place which thrust Harry into immediate danger, albeit by his own choice most of the times. Then again, he couldn't in good conscience, allow who he thought was Snape to steal the Philosopher's Stone for Voldemort, giving him immortality, and he certainly could not allow Lockhart to single handedly go down in to the Chamber of Secrets blindly without first divulging the information Harry, Ron, and Hermione had discovered about the monster inside the chamber. It was lucky he and Ron went to tell Lockhart, for they had found him packing to leave; the fraud was going to leave Ginny to die at the bottom of the chamber and wipe their memories. Who else was going to prevent these from happening? Despite having a relatively Voldemort free twelve months, the end of his third year was beginning to shape up like the previous two.

'What do you think about this book malarkey?' Ron asked in an attempt to change the subject.

'I'm not sure,' Hermione said, frowning. 'Professor Lupin tested it and it came up clean.'

Ron gaped at her. 'I thought you would be the first one to say time travel was impossible, that the book was clearly the subject of dark magic and we should alert Dumbledore straight away. Are you trusting the teacher who lied to us the entire year?'

'Can you blame him? Look at the way I get treated because I'm a Muggleborn. Imagine what they would do to someone like Professor Lupin. It doesn't take away the fact he's a brilliant teacher. Besides, Dumbledore would not allow him to teach if he thought he was dangerous.'

Hermione thought it best not to mention the Time-Turner she had been given at the beginning of the year considering she had promised Professor McGonagall to keep it a secret from everyone and that included her two best friends.

Ron considered her point for a moment before conceding. 'I suppose you're right. What do you think the book is about?'

'It's about me.'

The subject of the book made Harry feel both uncomfortable and curious. It was about him in the future; a part of him was interested in reading it to see what happens to him, to see where his life goes, but what made him uncomfortable was having other people read it, too. Was it written in first, second, or third person? He would not be at all pleased if people read his future thoughts. Who would do this to him? Who sent the book?

'I know that, but I meant what's a Goblet of Fire?'

'No idea. Ask Hermione.'

'Hermione?'

'I'm not entirely sure,' Hermione admitted, going through an inventory of all books she had ever read, and all the conversations she'd had with teachers. She came up blank. 'It sounds familiar. I know I've heard of it before, but I cannot seem to recall where I've heard it.'

'Probably in a book in the library,' Ron snorted, which earned him a glare. 'Tell me I'm wrong.'

Hermione ignored him. Ron could be a complete arse sometimes.

Voices could be heard coming from the passageway.

'Sirius...'

Harry leapt to his feet at once, walking several steps over to the entrance. His heartbeat increased; if it started to beat any faster, it would leap out from his chest. It was surprising no one could see it beating underneath his t-shirt. A hand clad in deep black robes emerged from the passageway entrance. Harry swallowed hard and stepped backwards out of the way. Sirius wasn't wearing black - Snape was. This was one encounter he was not looking forward to.

One by one, with Snape in the lead, both he and Sirius clambered out of the hole, with Pettigrew being shoved out the hole not very gently at all, still stunned from the spell Sirius had cast. Snape was wiping the dirt off his robes and glaring at Sirius so intently as though he thought simply glaring at him would cause imminent death.

'Where's Professor Lupin?' Hermione asked with concern in her voice.

Sirius gazed up at the night sky; it was clear with thousands upon thousands of stars glistening. Sirius was bright that night. 'Probably transformed by now. He'll be okay; he's used to it. We need to keep clear from this area for a while, just in case.'

'Will he escape?' Hermione asked, her voice trembling slightly.

She did like Professor Lupin, but she knew that he had no control over what he was, and a part of her felt guilty for accusing him of helping Sirius in the castle and basically saying she did not trust him because he was a werewolf. If anyone knew what it felt like to be prejudiced against it would be Hermione, and she knew how terrible it made her felt when people told her she was less of a witch because she was born to Muggle parents. Professor Lupin was the best Defence Against the Darks Arts teacher they had ever had, for starters he didn't have You-Know-Who on the back of his head and didn't take credit for work and achievements other witches and wizards had done. They were finally learning something in his classes. Being a werewolf didn't detract from that at all.

'No, he never has, even before he had the Wolfsbane Potion,' Sirius assured her with a weak smile. He was also worried about Remus. It had been a long time since his old friend transformed without the aid of the Wolfsbane Potion; he hoped Remus wouldn't be too hurt in the morning. 'We can't do anything for him at the moment, we just have to wait for the sun to come up. But we do have other matters to attend to.'

'What are we going to do with him?' Harry asked, his attention turned to the real monster of the night - the man who had betrayed his parents.

It was a foreign concept to Harry. He tried to imagine himself in Pettigrew's shoes, but he was failing. There was no part of him that could ever comprehend betraying either Ron or Hermione, the only two people he currently thought of as family. Regardless of if anything happened between either of them and their friendships ceased as a result, Harry would still never betray them, and would certainly never mark them for death. How did a man who was a friend, closer than a brother, go from all of that to being a Death Eater? His excuse that he was terrified of Voldemort was weak. Harry was scared of what Voldemort could do (only slightly so as he had failed three time to murder him now), but he would never in all of his life choose to give himself up or give himself over to Voldemort. Pettigrew was a weak coward and Harry couldn't feel it in himself to feel even one drop of pity for him.

'Dobby's gone to alert Dumbledore,' Sirius explained. 'He's going to meet us at the border of the forest, but I gave Dobby strict instructions to tell Dumbledore he's going to meet Snape so he doesn't alert the Dementors, just yet anyway,' Sirius trailed off glancing pointedly at Wormtail and grinning wickedly. He will get what's coming for him soon enough.

Harry nodded, satisfied. Dumbledore would make sure the truth came out; he would make sure Sirius got the pardon he deserved from the Ministry.

'Before we go,' Sirius turned to face Ron, 'you should probably get to the hospital wing before that leg gets any worse. Harry, Hermione, will you take him.'

'I want to stay with you,' Harry said automatically. He didn't want to let Sirius out of his sight, not before his innocence was declared, otherwise how was he to distinguish this between the dreams he used to have all those years ago back in his tiny cupboard under the stairs. He also didn't know if Sirius would make it there alive with Snape...

'The three of you go. Ron and I will be okay,' Hermione added, almost pleadingly to Sirius. 'We'll be in and out. Madam Pomfrey can mend bones quicker than anyone else.'

'Are you sure?' Harry asked a bit guiltily for immediately passing his injured friend over for the man he had just met that night.

Ron nodded in acknowledgement. 'It's okay, mate. This is important to you. Like Hermione said, we'll be in and out and we'll meet you in the common room later.'

Sirius moved so that he was standing directly in front of Harry, and he placed his hand on his godson's shoulder. His heart was bursting with pride, not just for Harry but for the three of was the sort of thing he, James, and Remus would have done for the others. It warmed Sirius' heart that Harry had friends as loyal and caring as Ron and Hermione were showing themselves to be. While there had been a bad egg in their quartet (he should have realised; rat in his Animagus form, rat in his human form), the friendship between Harry, Ron, and Hermione appeared strong, and that was what Harry needed and deserved. The three of them were every bit as close as Sirius was with James and Remus, and Sirius knew Prongs and Lily would have been delighted at Harry's choice of friends.

'Come on, the sooner we get to Dumbledore, the sooner we can hand over this useless piece of wasted life and let the world know who really betrayed your parents.'

Harry nodded. The sooner that happened, the sooner Sirius' innocence would be declared. 'I'll see you later.' And he allowed Sirius to steer him away from his friends.

Severus had barely been watching the scene before him. His mind had been wandering off. It very rarely happened as he had been taught to never let his guard down, by both the Dark Lord and Dumbledore personally. When his guard was down, he was sloppy, and sloppiness is what usually ends up getting people killed. But his guard had been down tonight. First, it had enabled Potter to get a spell in and render him unconscious. Secondly, he had missed what had happened between then and now. What had happened? Where had Peter Pettigrew appeared from?

Peter Pettigrew, dim witted, utterly spineless, a pathetic excuse for a wizard riding on the brilliance of others much more clever, much more brave, and much more cunning. How had this same person been able to hide successfully for twelve years? Lily was dead because of him. The tireless lengths Severus went to to ensure Lily's survival had been in vain. What had been the motive behind Pettigrew's decision? Seething hatred bubbled to the surface. Severus was going to happily watch the fear and desperation in Pettigrew as he attempted to pitifully spare his life as the Dementor's edged closer and closer to him until they were close enough to perform the kiss. It was said to be unbearable to witness, but Severus was stronger than that.

It took a while for Severus to realise he was moving. They were already nearing the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was like he was being possessed; his legs were moving before he had a chance to catch up. Potter and Black were taking point with Pettigrew floating along beside them.

They were getting closer. Close enough that Severus could clearly make out the powder blue robes and matching hat and the pure white beard that Albus Dumbledore sported. Severus heard Potter's breaths increase, and watched as a frail, bony hand belonging to Black moved to gently squeeze Potter's upper arm.

The old coot gave nothing away as they approached. Albus had always excelled at hiding what was really going on.

'Professor Dumbledore, Sirius is innocent. It was Peter Pettigrew.' The words tumbled out of Potter's mouth loudly and quickly. He wanted to get them out before Albus had a chance to stop him that it was almost impossible to decipher what he was saying. Luckily, Severus had the misfortune to teach bumbling baffoons on a daily basis who were also inept at speaking carefully and articulately.

Albus barely had a chance to adjust to what he was seeing. Sirius Black, walking side by side with Harry Potter, with his Potion's Master skulking behind, and an unconscious, floating dead man among them. It had all started with the appearance of a house-elf, who was rather insistent that he go down to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and meet Severus, who had a matter of great importance to discuss with him. That was the first sign things were not as they seemed, as Severus was usually quite comfortable discussing matters inside Albus' office.

Clearly, the situation was not as it seemed. Albus remembered every student who had passed through the great doors of Hogwarts while he was Headmaster, and there was no possible way his eyes were deceiving him. Peter Pettigrew was in front of him.

But how?

'Albus, you've got to believe us,' Sirius said quickly and urgently. He had to make his former Headmaster realise the truth. He would not go back to Azkaban as long as he had breath still in his lungs. 'I will take Veritaserum if I have to. Severus can get some. All I ask is that you listen.'

Dumbledore's eyes were steel. 'I'm listening.'

'I admit I was James and Lily's Secret Keeper, but not on the night they died. We switched. It was a brilliant plan in theory. The only problem is we chose the wrong person. We believed the wrong person to be the spy and I will never, ever be able to make that up to him. We suspected Remus. I should have begun to see it then, the dirty little rat was the one who planted the idea in our heads.

'You can guess who we made the Secret Keeper, huh? It was Peter. The first person Voldemort would have gone after was me. I was James' best friend. We were inseparable. More than friends; we were brothers. The plan was, while Voldemort came after me and tried to torture me for their whereabouts, I would not be able to give them up because I would not be their Secret Keeper. Nobody would ever suspect the wizard who could barely turn a matchstick in to a needle. What we didn't realise was Peter had already switched allegiances. He was a Death Eater.

'I had a bad feeling that night, so I went to check on him, and he wasn't there. There had been no sign of a struggle, so I headed straight for Godric's Hollow. What met me there was a sight I would never forget and I never have. My best friend and his wife were dead at twenty-one and their son was orphaned, still in his cot, with a lightning shaped scar on his forehead.'

Twenty-one. Harry swallowed hard; his parents had only been young, barely out of their teens. Harry had not known this. There was so much he still didn't know about his parents, like their birthdays. Aunt Petunia would never speak about them to him, other than to drum in to his head they were both alcoholics who had gotten themselves killed whilst driving. Now he had both Sirius and Professor Lupin. They would be able to shed more light on who Harry's parents had truly been.

'Then Hagrid turned up, explaining how he had instruction from you to take Harry to safety. I knew Harry would be in good hands with Hagrid. It was better for Harry that he not be with me. I realise now I had been reckless. When I saw them lying there, eyes open and lifeless - ' Sirius stopped and took a deep, steadying breath. Even twelve years later it was still difficult to talk about. The Dementors force a person to relive their worst nightmares. For the better part of twelve years, Sirius had to relive the moment his heart was torn in two, over and over again. It never fully healed.

As difficult as it was for him to talk about it, Sirius knew it must have been difficult for Harry to hear. Sirius reached out to his godson, placing a protective hand on his shoulder, then proceeded to continue with his tale.

'All I could think about was avenging them. I tracked Peter down in the middle of a crowded Muggle street. The dirty rat was one step ahead. He yelled about how I was the one to betray them and how could I have done this to them. Everyone thinks what happened next was me blowing up the street and killing those Muggles, but it wasn't. It was him. It was Peter. He was the one to perform the spell before I had a chance to do anything. He sliced off his finger, transformed in to a rat, and disappeared down the sewers.'

'Are you saying Peter Pettigrew was an Animagus?' Dumbledore questioned sharply.

'We all were, that being James, Peter, and I. You won't find us on the legal register. It started during our second year at Hogwarts. We discovered Remus' secret of being a werewolf. It didn't take long to piece it together. He disappeared every month around the same time and came back with various wounds and injuries. Something more was going on. Werewolves were dangerous to other humans, but animals were a different matter. It took a lot of time and many failed attempts before, finally, we each managed to transform. James was a stag, I am a dog, and Peter can transform in to a rat.'

'He was hiding as Ron's pet rat, sir,' Harry explained. 'You can ask Ron and Hermione. They were both there, too. So was Snape.'

'That's Professor Snape to you Potter,' Severus hissed at the mannerless brat.

Harry rolled his eyes. He had no time for this right now.

'I can confirm Potter is correct in saying Mr Weasley and Miss Granger were both there tonight, and are currently in the hospital wing attending to Weasley's broken leg.'

'That was an accident,' Sirius pointed out earnestly. 'I really was aiming for the rat in his hand. Ron had such a tight grip on the thing, I had to bring him with me. I had no other choice.'

'Please, Professor Dumbledore, you have to believe us. Sirius is innocent.'

Dumbledore held up a hand to silence Harry further.

'I believe you.'

'But - wait, you do?'

Harry had not been prepared for it to happen this quickly. He had prepared many arguments for their case.

'Yes, Harry, I do. However, I am merely human and I do also make mistakes so I will prefer to confirm this story. There are a few simple ways we can do this. For one thing, Polyjuice Potion, which as a third year you would not have been taught about yet. Polyjuice Potion allows another person to take the form of another. It does not allow animal transformations. If, by some chance, this person in front of us is an imposter, he will not be able to turn in to Mr Pettigrew's Animagus form.'

Severus snorted. Potter and his friends knew all about Polyjuice Potion. While he had not caught them red handed, supplies had been stolen from his personal store cupboard, and he just knew it was Potter, Weasley, and Granger behind it. The three of them were always up to no good.

'Another way to confirm the man in front of us in indeed Peter Pettigrew is by Veritaserum, the truth potion,' Dumbledore continued musingly.

'A few drops of Veritaserum will have even Voldemort spilling his most dark and dangerous secrets,' Sirius explained to a confused looking Harry.

'It is very powerful,' Dumbledore agreed. 'And it is what I shall be using tonight, all depending on if our expert has a supply he will be willing to part with.'

'I have an abundant amount brewed two moons ago from my seventh year class,' Severus spoke directly to Dumbledore.

'I ask you to make haste and return to my office.'

Severus nodded once in acknowledgement, then with one final icy glare at Black and Potter, and with his cloak billowing in the slight summer breeze, he turned on his heels and headed for the castle.

'And now, we must return to my office without you being seen. It will not do to create mass panic among the students and faculty if they see a convict and a dead man roaming the halls.'

'What's your plan?' Sirius asked.

Dumbledore did not answer him directly. In a clear and commanding voice, he called out in to the night, 'Dobby.'

As he had done several hours previously that night, Dobby appeared once again with a loud crack.

'Professor Dumbledore called for Dobby, sir,' the house-elf said, bowing low in front of the Headmaster.

'I did,' Dumbledore said kindly. 'I have a request to ask of you.'

Dobby's eyes went wide. 'Professor Dumbledore, one of the greatest wizards, has a request to make of Dobby. Anything, Professor Dumbledore, sir, anything at all, Dobby will oblige.'

Dumbledore smiled. 'Thank you, Dobby. Will you take Harry and Mr Black here to my office, then return back for myself and Mr Pettigrew? I believe that would be best.'

'Of course, Professor Dumbledore, it will be my honour.'

Dobby was so excited, he looked, to Harry, like he was going to wet himself. Harry couldn't resist a smile himself at the house-elf. Compare him to a year ago and he seemed almost like an entirely different elf; he was more confident and, without a doubt, much happier. It warmed Harry's heart knowing Dobby was safely away from the cruel treatment he had received while under the servitude of the Malfoy family.

'So, how does this work then?' Harry asked curiously.

'Harry Potter must take my hand,' Dobby informed him, stretching out said limb for Harry to take. It was cool to touch.

Sirius moved so that he was standing directly behind Dobby, and brought up one had so that it was gripping Dobby's back, and moved the other hand so that it was resting on Harry's shoulder.

'See you in a tick,' said Sirius mere moments before Dobby clicked the fingers on his free hand.

Harry had travelled via Floo Powder and would have said that was his most uncomfortable mode of transportation up until this point in time. Thankfully he had his eyes closed, otherwise he was sure he would hurled up right there and then. His stomach was flipping and flopping inside him, and he made no guarantee that he would not vomit at some point. It felt like his entire insides had been squeezed to fit inside a much smaller person, then stretched out again.

It was the sound of Sirius' chuckle that caused Harry to open his eyes.

'You should probably sit down, you're looking a little green there,' his godfather said to him, throwing an arm around his shoulder and guiding him to one of the squishy armchairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. 'It takes a little getting used to. Most people vomit the first time. Your dad did. He used to get motion sickness. Strangely enough, being on a broomstick didn't affect him. He much preferred to fly than anything else.'

'Me too,' Harry said, his voice coming out much more hoarse than he had intended.

'Is Harry Potter okay?' Dobby asked, concern in his voice and etched on his face.

Harry gave him an assuring smile. 'I'm fine. I've never done that before. Apparently this is normal.'

Dobby bowed his head, his eyes drooping, looking sheepish. 'Dobby should have warned Harry Potter.'

'No, no,' Harry said quickly, knowing what was about to happen. He did not want to explain to Dumbledore why Dobby has broken one of his precious antiques.

'You did nothing wrong,' Sirius reassured the house-elf gently. 'This is normal for the human body. Harry here is just a bit of a lightweight when it comes to this, just like his father.'

Harry glared at his godfather, but could not resist a smile when the older man winked at him. Having a godfather was weird. On one hand, Harry felt like he had known him his entire life, then on the other, there was so much unfamiliarity to this sitation; he had never known a parental figure other than Mr and Mrs Weasley, and even then he had barely spent time with them. This felt slightly different; he felt more comfortable around Sirius than he did them, perhaps it was due to Sirius' connection to his parents.

'I'll look after Harry. You best go fetch Dumbledore.'

Dobby bowed low once again, then with another loud crack, he disappeared.

'This is it,' Sirius said faintly. He could feel himself feeling a bit lightheaded, partly due to the fact he had barely eaten in the past forty-eight hours, and even when he had, it had mostly been scraps he could find from local establishments in Hogsmeade; but he was mostly feeling it due to shock of the events which had occurred this evening.

His initial goal from escaping Azkaban was to track down Wormtail and kill him, everything else would be secondary. While he had not done what he had set out to do, Sirius was finding things were turning out better than he could ever possibly imagine. His best friend and his godson were back in his life and they both knew the truth. The whole world did not matter to him. By this point, what did it matter if they knew the truth, as long as Remus and Harry did. The two most important people in his life knew and that was all that mattered to Sirius, the rest of it would just be another benefit of this evening's events.

'You're going to be free,' Harry stated enthusiastically.

Sirius took a deep breath. 'I'm going to be free,' he repeated.

There was no time to continue the conversation further as Dobby returned with Dumbledore and a still Stunned Wormtail in tow.

'Thank you, Dobby. Why don't you go down to the kitchens and help yourself to one of the magnificent meals our school house-elves have prepared, and do feel free to have them make you up a bed,' Dumbledore suggested. 'We shall discuss the possibility of you joining the house-elves on a permanent, paid basis tomorrow.'

Dobby's green, tennis ball shaped eyes glistened over, and his lips began to tremble. 'Professor Dumbledore is a very kind wizard. Too kind to Dobby.'

And then the floodgates opened with full force. Dobby was still sobbing, muttering inaudibly as he Disapparated down to the school kitchens.

Dumbledore picked up the bowl on his desk. 'Lemon drop?' he offered.

Harry shrugged. Why not. He took one of the sweets and popped in his mouth; instantly, his mouth was full of citrusy goodness.

There was a silence in the room as the three of them waited for Snape to return with the potion.

Harry was wondering how Ron and Hermione were doing. No doubt they were waiting for him to return to the common room.

Then there was the matter of the books. In all the furor of the evening, Harry had almost forgotten about Dobby's initial message regarding the books. The future books about him. Harry was unsure what he made of it. Could they really hold the secrets of the future? And could they really change it? Then again, up until three years prior, Harry had been made to believe magic was not real, and now here he was, at the end of his third year of a magical school where he learnt spells and potions and how to ride a broomstick. Was it really absurd to think these books could hold the power to change their future?

There was a knock on the office door.

'Severus, come in,' Dumbledore called from where he was sat behind his desk, stroking his pet Phoenix, and sucking on a lemon drop.

The door swung open to reveal the Potion's Master, as sullen and unimpressed as he always was. There was a small vial of colourless liquid in his hand.

Dumbledore clapped his hands together. 'Right then, shall we get this started.'

Sirius' hand found it's way to squeeze Harry's leg, which he had not been aware was bouncing up and down in anticipation. Sirius felt the same way; his heart was hammering, despite knowing the outcome. He had heard of some wizards being able to fight off the effects of the truth potion, but Wormtail was not that sort of wizard; it required strength, and Wormtail was two hundred pounds of cowardice.

The pair of them watched as Snape walked towards where Wormtail was floating, still unconscious, and still shackled. With a single wand movement, Dumbledore conjured a chair behind the rat. Snape's hand gripped Wormtail's shoulder and forced him down so that he was seated. Then, with as much gentleness as he usually displayed, Snape forced his mouth open, and tipped the now uncorked vial upside down, shaking it slightly so that several drops of the colourless liquid dropped down on to Wormtail's tongue. He moved several steps to his left to allow Dumbledore the opportunity move so that he was standing directly in front of Wormtail.

Dumbledore pointed his wand straight at Womtail's face. 'Rennervate.'

A pair of blue eyes jerked open.


Reading of the books should start in the chapter after next. I never expected it to start off this long, but I wanted to give this story a proper beginning.

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