Ch. 3

March 5th

Gryffindor Tower.

Lacy was lounging in one of the best chairs in the Common Room, her legs up and resting on the arm rest, reading the chapter McGonagall had assigned them to read. It was all about Animagis and how they worked and stuff, it was pretty fascinating. And she was trying her best not to get distracted by her friends crazy antics.

Fred and George were planning knew prank supplies they could use on the world, and Amber, Lacy's closest female friend, was watching them with a cocked and disapproving eyebrow. "Have you ever considered," Amber asked, ducking as Fred's spell backfired and missed her head by a margin, "how brilliant you two could become if you actually put your brains into something other then getting into trouble?"

"They'd make thousands making defensive shields for people," Lacy commented, watching the twins.

Though they were a year older then her, she and the Weasley twins had been friends since they'd been infants and went to the same Magical pre-school together. The two and Amber were her two closest companions and she loved the three of them with all her heart and trusted them as much too.

Yet, even though Fred and George could never be told apart with a single glace, Lacy had found herself slowly but surely, falling in love with George. There was something about him that made her stomach drop and her heart flutter every time he looked at her or talked to her. And these feelings were dangerous, especially if she were foolish enough to want to act on her feelings for him.

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw the clock and jumped, cursing like a pirate, "I'm late!" she said, quickly gathering her books and throwing them on the table, she'd go back for them later, "I'm gonna go see how Hagrid is," at their confused looks she said, "Buckbeak's execution was today and I promised I'd go see him!"

She didn't hear their "see ya's" as she dashed out of the tower and towards the grounds where her heart stopped. "Harry? Shit, HARRY!! HERMIONE!" cursing, running and grabbing her wand out of her jeans pocket, she ran to where they where, stopping short as their two heads disappeared under the bark of the Whomping Willow.

What the hell were they doing and where the fuck were they going? And wherever it was, it couldn't be anywhere good. Instinct her mother had told her to ignore until she became an Auror took over and, after 15 minutes of being tossed about by the psychotic branches, she managed to go down the hole at the bottom of the tree where her god brother had disappeared.

Lighting the tip of her wand, she began to make her way cautiously up the tunnel, her heart stopping as she heard yelps and shouts. And her heart came to a complete stop when she realized she was standing in the shrieking shack. There was a yell above her and she dashed up the stairs more quickly, going into a torn up, depressing as hell room where she saw Ron Weasley lying on a rickety, dusty old bed with a bloody leg and Hermione and Harry standing in front of him in a defensive position.

"You damn idiots! The hell are you doing out of bed?" she yelled but when they didn't speak, she turned and looked in the direction they were staring at and gasped. "You've got to be shitting me…"she muttered, seeing the gaunt, hallow figure of the man standing in the darkest corner of the room.

Her father.

"EXPELLERIAMUS!" they both yelled at the same time, the spells so powerful that it sent both of them flying across the room.

Julia felt like throwing up as she came up into the room, seeing her daughter hit the opposite wall with a sickening crack by her own friggin' father. "You piece of…" she forgot about wands and magic and her ability to perform defensive and offensive spells. She just went up to the man she had loved for so long and so passionately and her fist connected with a crack against his jaw, "you touch her again, you die, you hear Black?" she yelled, and before Sirius could respond, she punched him again and blood spewed down his nose.

"She's my daughter too Julia," he said in a hoarse voice she would have never mistaken with the baritone of the Sirius she'd fallen for so long ago.

"Don't make me laugh," Julia spat and punched him again, "you want to get them, you'll have to get through me first."

"Don't make me hurt you Jules," he said quietly, ducking another punch, always a fast learner.

"Too fucking late," she said and she ran to tackle him but he moved slightly and grabbed her around her waist and through her to the ground, holding her down with his body. Julia was breathing like she'd just run five miles in a second, but she was still trying to squirm out from beneath him, trying to somehow kick him away so she could punch him again, because that had felt so friggin' good after so many years.

"You could never hurt me Jules," he said softly.

She had no choice but to stare up at him, and despite all the anger and hatred she was feeling right at this minute, she wanted to weep at how different he looked. His face, once so beautiful and heart stopping, could've been mistaken for a skeleton. His eyes were sunken low in their sockets, dead, hollow, and his hair was dirty and down to his elbow. He could've easily been mistaken for someone else entirely, he had changed so much in Azkaban.

And he deserved it, "get off me Black," she said quietly.

"Not until you hear me out," he looked away from her for the first time since he'd tackled her to the ground, "all of you," he said, looking at the four kids standing behind them.

She started squirming beneath him again. He didn't weigh that much, but thanks the black belt he had gotten when he was 22, he had her strategically placed beneath him so that she couldn't do anything using any part of her body. He had trapped, like he had been for 12 years.

"YOU MURDERER! GET OFF OF HER!!" Harry yelled from somewhere behind him and she saw him run and tackle Sirius to the ground. Julia quickly scrambled and got the first wand that came close to her reach. She was about to stupefy him when her wand flew out of her hand.

"REMUS? WHAT THE FUCK?!" Julia asked enraged, seeing both her and Harry's wand fly into his hands as he stood calmly in the door frame.

"Julia," he began to plead but she didn't hear him. All she could see was red everywhere. She just wanted to get her hands on Sirius and punch the shit out of him until she felt like she'd been paid back for every single day she'd had to spend without him.

"Remus, give me my wand," she said quietly, standing up, wiping away blood from her lip, "don't fuck around."

"Julia, there's something you need to hear," he said in that quiet, reasonable tone he used when he knew everyone around him wanted to explode.

"There is absolutely nothing I want to hear Remus. Stun first, ask questions later, remember? So GIVE ME BACK MY WAND!" she yelled, feeling deranged and extremely exhausted.

"So you switched without telling any of us?" Remus asked Sirius, who nodded.

"Remmy, what are you doing? STUN HIM!" Lacy said from behind Julia.

"Listen…" he began again but Julia had launched herself up and was about to tackle Black down by surprise, anything to protect her daughter and godson, but she was sent flying across the room by none other then Remus Lupin himself.

"MOM!" Lacy cried, running towards Julia and helping her stand up by grabbing her elbow, "what are you doing Remus?"
"You've been helping into the castle, haven't you?" Hermoine Granger demanded, "I…I trusted you! He's a werewolf! That's why he's been missing classes."

Remus's eyes focused on Hermoine, "how long have you known?"
"Since professor Snape set the essay," she said quietly and slightly fearful.

"Well, he'll be impressed. That's why he set the essay in the first place, see if anyone could figure out what I was," Remus said as though everything was normal and Julia's temper boiled, looking from Black to Remus as though she would throw up.

"What the hell is going on Remus? I can't understand why you're not just stunning him!" she yelled, limping but putting her daughter and the rest behind her, meaning what she'd said to Sirius. They'd have to go through an angry mother before they got Lacy and Harry and the two others.

"I confiscated the map from Harry today, and I was looking at it when I saw something…extraordinary," he said in a hushed voice, looking back in forth from Sirius to Julia, his eyes finally resting on Julia, "if I'm right, then they switched Keepers at the last minute, and Wormtail has been alive ever since."

"What?" Julia breathed, hearing but not comprehending what Remus had just said.

"He never died Julia, he's right there," Remus said pointing towards Ron.

Julia gasped audibly when she saw what Ron was holding. A mangy, sick looking rat that was trying to squirm away, that looked so familiar with that white strip running down its back, "…that's not possible…"

"Not probable Jules, but very much possible," Sirius said quietly.

"But…you must've…you switched that night…without telling…YOU SHITHEAD!" she yelled, turning to Sirius again, and before anyone could do anything to stop her, she punched him again, "YOU COULD'VE TOLD ME!"

"It would've been to dangerous Julia," he said, his voice soft and sweet as he rubbed his jaw that was quickly turning colors. And suddenly, she was 15 years younger and in his arms as he whispered sweet words in her ear with that same voice.

She felt like puking as her entire world started to slowly crash around her. Everything she'd believed had been…a lie…everything felt a lie, a betrayal of some degree, of some pain. "What's going?" Harry demanded from behind her.

"You should've told me Sirius," Julia said quietly as tears began trickling down her cheeks, "all this pain, all this shit we've all been going through could've been prevented if you'd just trusted me."

"No no," he said quickly, "do not make this about trust…well, in your case it wasn't. I was afraid that this spy Dumbledore had told us about found out that you knew who the Secret Keeper was, they'd come after you and…and Lacy. I didn't want that to happen…And I killed James and Lily."

"God damn you Sirius! And you didn't tell Remus because you thought he…ooo I could fuck you up so bad right now Sirius!!" she yelled.

Her heart stopped beating as his eyes softened and life suddenly flooded into them, "you just called me Sirius."

She faltered, her chest rising and falling at a rapid pace. Hatred suddenly fell from her body and all that was left was love.

After all these years, after all he'd done to her, after everything she'd been through because of him…she still loved the bastard with all her heart. It was a fact she would never admit nor ever acknowledge. But now, staring at him, hearing his voice, recognizing him under the grime and hoarseness, she couldn't deny she still loved him, couldn't deny that a part of her loved the fact that Lacy looked so much like him. Because every time she saw Lacy, and every time Lacy did anything, she was reminded of Sirius and she would never admit, in a million years, that she took comfort from the fact that Lacy was so like her father.

"Mom? Please, what's going on?" Lacy asked quietly from behind her, a slight tremble in her usually strong and confident voice.

"Explain to them everything before Harry kills you," she advised quietly and went to the furthest corner of the bed and sat down, putting her head in her hands and listened with half an ear as Sirius and Remus, mostly the latter, explained everything. The kids were told about Remus being a werewolf and how James, Sirius and Peter had become illegal Animagi just to keep Remus company on the full moons. Snape was mentioned somewhere around there, and why he hated Sirius and James so much. And everything was explained up to the night of Halloween.

"I as good as killed them Harry," Sirius croaked, "if I hadn't come up with the brilliant plan…if I hadn't been so cocky and full of myself," he chuckled then, "you know, the day before Halloween, Jules begged me to be more careful on the battlefield, begged me to be aware of my own mortality…"

She knew he was looking at her, but didn't have enough energy to look up and meet his gaze. Because if she did, one of two things was going to happen: she would explode, or she would punch him again. Both options didn't bring back the 12 years of misery that could've been prevented.

She barely heard them talking about evidence until Remus said her name, "we need your help getting Peter out."

"Alright," she said, standing up and taking her wand from Sirius without looking at him or thanking him. Remus went over to Ron, who was yelling something about the lot of them being mental, and got the rat, setting it on the ground as the three fired curses at him that would make him reveal himself. It took them some time of chasing the little rat, but finally Sirius managed to get him and suddenly Peter was standing in front of them.

"Oh Jesus," Julia said, turning her back on the grimy, rat-like man she'd once called a friend, "this is not happening," she said over and over again, yet she could still hear Sirius and Remus speaking with him, accusing him, and Peter denying everything.

"I understand everything now, except one thing," Lacy said in a quivering voice, having come to stand next to Julia by the bed and wound her arm through her mothers as though she were the last solid thing in the world, "how did you escape Azkaban without Voldemort's magic?"
Julia finally looked up at that, wanting to know that answer as well, "thank you Lacy! Thank you dear girl! Without Dark Magic, you could've never escaped Azkaban!"

"Actually," Sirius said, looking at his daughter as though he would never be able to look away from her face, taking in every feature of her face and committing it to memory, "I don't actually know how I did…I mean, I remained sane because I knew I was innocent, that I hadn't killed my best friends, so that wasn't a happy thought and the Dementor's couldn't take it away from me," his gaze shifted to Julia with the ghost of Sirius inside his eyes, "actually Julia, I don't know why you couldn't figure out how I escaped, because you knew I was an Animagus."

"I assumed you were a Death Eater Sirius, because Dementor's have a tendency of sucking out magic too, so I thought you had lost your abilities to turn into Padfoot," she sighed, rubbing her face roughly with both her hands, "that's why I never mentioned it to anyone, I thought it was useless information."

A side of his lips lifted as though he were smiling, "remember what Moody always told us? No information is useless information?"

"How did you know where he was though?" Remus asked, keeping a firm grip on the squirming rat.

"Fudge was inspecting the prison and I asked him if I could have the prophet. There was a picture of the Weasley family, and Peter was on this boy's shoulder. The paper said the boy would go back to Hogwarts, where Harry was and I couldn't…" he fell silent and shook his head.

"So you meant…Pettigrew when you were saying 'he's at Hogwarts'?" Lacy asked quietly.

Julia was staring at Peter. She'd found it hard to believe that Sirius, who'd been so adamant about defeating Voldemort and being the white sheep in the Black family, could have become a Death Eater and betrayed his friends. But Peter, who pissed his pants at the mere mention of Death Eaters or any Slytherin, could have gone to the Dark side and given them information against the man who'd been the reason he had any friends… "How could you give away James to Voldemort, Peter? JAMES! You remember him don't you? He helped you with every friggin' aspect of life and was the only reason people knew you existed. How could you betray James like that?"

Peter turned his beady little eyes to Julia, they were wild with fright, knowing that the three adults in the room, and probably two of the teenagers, would kill him in a heartbeat, slowly and painfully, if given a chance. "The Dark Lord, you have no idea the weapons he possesses!" he turned to Sirius, desperate, "ask yourself Sirius, what would you have done? What would you have done?"

"I would've died," Sirius spat, "I would've died rather then betray my friends! Any of them, including you, you piece of shit."

"I didn't have any choices Remus!" he squealed, completely horrified now, grasping any straw he could, "I didn't know what else to do! He threatened to kill you all!"

"You could've come to one of us! You could've gone to Dumbledore! Anything would've been a better choice Peter!" Remus yelled.

"It would've been more honorable if you'd died yourself," Julia said darkly, "it would've been welcome," she said, looking at him and knowing that hatred was shinning brightly in her eyes as her mind began putting the pieces of the puzzle together. The constant absences, the stupid excuses, the withdrawal and his sudden love for long sleeved shirts, even in the summer…God, they'd all been stupid, blind because they saw Peter as nothing, as weak and powerless.

"You should've known Peter, that if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would," Sirius said, raising his wand, looking from Julia to Remus, who also raised their wand and pointed it at Peter, "together," Sirius said quietly and turned to look at Peter again.

"NO!" Harry yelled, throwing his body in front of Peter's, "don't kill him"

Peter turned and fell on his knees, "bless you boy! Bless you! You're father would've been so proud of you sweet, kind boy!"

"GET OFF HIM!" Sirius roared, dragging Peter back by the scruff of his neck.

"Harry, this…this man is the reason why," Remus began but Harry cut him off.

"I know what he is," he looked up, looking directly at Sirius, "we'll take him to the castle," he looked down at Peter, who was actually shaking in fear, "then the Dementors can have you."

Peter whimpered and the side of Sirius's mouth lifted in a smile but he tried to hide it, "good idea," he said and ropes shot out of the end of Julia's body, binding Peter.

With Peter secured and her faith in Remus slightly restored, Julia turned to the shocked out teenagers standing behind them, "you guys ok?" she asked, looking at each of them in turn, from Ron's white face to Hermoine's anxious one to Lacy and Harry's completely horrified expression.

Lacy numbly nodded n answer, tears shinning in her brilliant blue-gray eyes, "I think so," she said and gulped.

"Harry?" Julia asked, knowing that the shock to his system would've been greater then all of theirs. He'd been ready to kill Sirius and would have if Remus hadn't taken his wand.

He blinked slowly, having been staring solely at Peter, and turned his green eyes to her, "I'm fine," he said quietly.

"Right then, let's get back to the castle, people will be wondering where you are," she said, walking towards Ron and putting bandages on his bleeding leg, "that should do for now. I don't know that many healing spells so," she smiled.

"Sorry 'bout the bite," Sirius said earnestly, coming to stand behind Julia, "reckon that twinges a bit."

Ron's face became more shocked, "a bit?! You almost tore my blood leg off!"

Sirius had the audacity to look sheepish, "I always had better disposition as a dog," he said.

"Amen," Julia muttered darkly.

Soon, he and Harry were supporting Ron as they headed down the tunnel back into Hogwarts. Remus was leading the group with Peter in front of them, then Harry, Ron and Sirius with the three girls in the back. Lacy was clinging to Julia as though life depended on her grip on her mother, and Julia couldn't blame the girl really.

"Head Auror?" Hermoine asked quietly, "what will happen now?"

"I'll have to get a few Aurors down here, and Fudge," Julia told her, knowing that Sirius, though talking to Harry and Ron, was listening, and Lacy probably needed to hear this, "we'll administer Veritasirum and take it from there. If the story yields truth, then Black's name will be cleared and Peter sent to Azkaban or Kissed."

Apparently the tunnel had echoing effects, because from in front of them, Peter whimpered like a lamb being taken to slaughter…Make that a goat being taken to where it should've been long ago.

"Then what?" Lacy asked anxiously.

Julia knew what Lacy meant and sighed, squeezing her daughters shoulders, "no idea baby," she sighed, looking at the back of Sirius's head, herself wondering what would happen now, "I have no idea," she sighed.

"SNAPE! NO!" they all heard Remus yell when Sirius, Harry and Ron had resurfaced with the three girls still in the tunnel, waiting for clearance to climb up.

Cursing, Julia jumped out of the tunnel, coming up to see that Snape was holding his wand pointed at Sirius's chest, "Snape, put down your wand," she said in a controlled voice.

"So you have been helping your old flame back into the castle," he sneered, "how romantic. He killed your best friends and here you are, delivering their one and only son into his hands."

"Open your eyes Snape," she said impatiently, pointing at Peter who was absolutely shaking, "recognize him?"
But Julia never saw Snape's reaction to Peter, and she never heard how Remus summarized everything to Snape, who had lowered his wand. She never saw those things because her eyes were only for her daughter and her father. Sirius had gone over and had helped first Hermoine out of the tunnel. Now he extended his hand to Lacy.

She looked at it questioningly, wondering the merits of taking the hand he offered. After a few minutes of deliberation, she took his hand and he pulled her up, though she climbed up on her own without leaning on his hand too much. Julia felt her heart skip beats and her stomach drop low in her stomach as the twos eyes met. Father and daughter. Together again after 12 years of unwanted and unnecessary exile from each other.

But Lacy didn't jump in his arms and cry and call him daddy, Julia had never expected that of her. Instead, Lacy did what her mother knew she would have done, just stared at her father, not knowing what to say, both speechless for the first time in their lives. Father and daughter. Once so close and so loving, now total strangers.

"You've grown so much since I last saw you," Sirius said with a small smile, making him look like the ghost of the old Sirius.

"12 years can do that to ya," Lacy said quietly, extracting her hand from his grip and going to sit next to Ron, asking how his leg was.

Sirius turned to Julia, having felt her watching the exchange, "it's gonna take a while before she gets used to me."

Julia laughed her outrage, "I wouldn't blame her if she never got used to you," Julia answered, then turned to Snape and Remus, "let's get back to the castle, and soon."

Sirius turned his attention to Harry, "that was a noble thing you did back there Harry," he told his godson quietly, keeping the distance between them, aware that he wasn't trusted enough yet for close contact, "but he doesn't deserve it."

"I don't think my dad would've wanted his three best friends to become killers," Harry said, looking into Sirius's eyes, meeting his gaze like nobody else could, "beside, dead, the truth dies with him. Alive, you're free," he turned to Julia, "right Head Auror?"

She couldn't help but laugh, "you'll make a top notch Auror someday kiddo," she grinned, and he smiled back at her.

"By the way, Lupin, you've forgotten to take your potion tonight," Snape said rather casually as they started walking to the castle.

Julia stopped in her tracks and looked at Remus, who was startled himself, "oh shit," Julia breathed as everyone else stopped to.

"Snape, get the kids into the castle, and fast," Remus said, not taking his gaze away from Julia's terrified eyes.

"What's going on?" Harry demanded.

"It's a full moon," Hermoine squeaked.

"Julia, get everyone into the castle, I'll look after Remus," he said, switching with Hermoine so that she was supporting Ron.

"No, there's no use if you're not in the castle. The Dementors are roaming around, they catch a whiff of you, you're screwed," she said, not aware she was using her Head Auror voice, as Lacy called it, "get into the castle and get Dumbledore, I'll see you guys in the morning."

"Mom, why are you staying?" Lacy demanded after everyone had agreed to the plan, there was worry in her voice, "I mean, no offense Remmy, but you've done this alone before."

"She's right Julia," Remus said quietly, one eye on the setting sun, "go back to the castle, I'll be fine."

"I'm going with you and that's it," she said with finality in her voice, "go into the shack, now," she said and turned back to Lacy, dismissing Remus, who walked back under the willow and disappeared down the tunnel again, defeated with his proverbial tail between his legs. "I'll be ok, I've done this before," she assured her daughter, wrapping her up in her arms, "don't worry ok? I'll see you in the morning."

"I want to stay with you," Lacy said quietly, with a desperation that reminded her of a 5-year-old Lacy who'd just had a nightmare.

"I know, but Remus needs someone to keep him from ripping himself apart. Go back to the castle and I'll see at sunrise. Deal?" when Lacy nodded, Julia kissed her daughter's temple, hearing the first of Remus's howls from the shack, "I love you," she told her daughter.

"BE CAREFUL!" Lacy yelled as Hermoine dragged her back to the castle.

"Don't get yourself bitten," Sirius said with a tiny smile.

She was tempted flip him the bird but instead turned and again went into the Shrieking Shack, changing into her Animagus form and going up the steps to find a gray werewolf sitting in the bedroom they'd been in before.

The wolf raised his head when he saw the big, black and orange stripped tiger walk into the room. The tiger raised its eyebrow at the werewolf, who started growling and pounced on the big, honey eyed cat.

This is gonna be a long night, Julia thought as she led Moony out into the night, playing with him and keeping him from crossing the borders of the Black Forest. She managed to get him exhausted enough to sleep on the bed in the Shack, and Julia slept on the floor on her stomach, her head on her paws in front of her.