Author's note: Alrighty, here's the new chapter! Sorry it took so long. My betas are just as busy as I am haha. And my plot beta is quite… thorough. Not that I mind. It's quite humbling to get a good butt kicking when you get carried away ;)

Disclaimer: Not mine. Meh.

When the trio arrived at Remus' office door, they stopped short. How were they supposed to get the man's attention? It was late, and he was very probably not in his office at all. They were pretty certain that his rooms were close to his office though. Still, how to get him out?

Harry looked behind him at the cat and beagle and cocked his head to the side in question. Hermione looked at him as if he were a moron (in that way that only cats can seem to accomplish with their eyes alone) and meowed loudly. Harry got the idea as her meow echoed off the walls, and gave a huge, resounding bark. Ron gave a long, loud beagle bay, and then started, looking around as if he couldn't believe the sound had come from himself. Harry grinned inwardly and opened his extensive fuzzy jaws to give howling a try, but before he could utter a sound he heard hurried footsteps and a very familiar scent invaded his canine senses.

"All right you three! What are you trying to do, wake the whole castle?" Came Remus' tired, but amused voice and they all turned as one to stare at the man briskly walking towards them from around the corner. He was carrying a small stack of papers, and must have been on his way back to his office when he heard the ruckus the trio was making. "You could have knocked, you know," he said in rather a reprimanding tone, but his smile betrayed his true feelings. "Come on in, you little trouble makers."

They followed him in a single-file line to his quarters, Harry bounding happily along in the lead. When the door closed behind them, Remus turned once again to look at the three illegal animagi in front of him. Hermione sat preening by the door, looking like she had never been more proud of herself. Ron was standing on his stubby little legs, wagging his tail excitedly, and Harry was already plopped upside-down on the couch, his tongue once more lolling out from between his impressively large teeth.

"Well, well, well. I knew you three were up to something. Wait until Sirius hears. He's going to be so damned pleased with himself for having this kind of influence on you," said Remus, grinning widely and going over to stroke Hermione's feline head. She purred appreciatively and he chuckled. From the couch, Harry's head snapped up and his eyes narrowed. Why was he petting her? He thought, jealousy rising in his throat like bile.

Without further ado, he jumped up from the couch and pranced over to Remus. He crouched down on his front legs and wagged his tail rapidly in the air, whining in that sad yelping way he had managed earlier. Remus turned bemusedly towards him and smiled. "Yes, I remember when Sirius first became an animagus he was quite the attention hog as well. It must be a large dog thing," he commented, before scratching Harry roughly behind the ears. "Although, Sirius is still quite the attention hog," he chuckled.

Harry yipped happily and jumped up to lick the crouching man's face. Remus playfully swatted him away and returned once again to a standing position. "Well, you three really are quite the impressive creatures, aren't you? I suppose we'll have to come up with nicknames for you all."

"Professor, how did you know it was us?" asked Ron from the other side of the room. Evidently, he couldn't quite manage to hold on to his transformations as long as the others yet.

"Well it was kind of obvious, wasn't it? Why in the world would two dogs and a cat be loitering around outside my door otherwise? Besides, Hermione's bushy fur was a dead giveaway for me," Remus said. Harry noted how tired Remus sounded, and then began to notice other things he had missed in his excitement: Remus' robes were covered in soot, his hair was unusually messy, his eyes were red-rimmed, and he looked as if he hadn't slept in weeks. A regular sleep schedule, plenty of Hogwarts meals, and their defense lessons had gotten Remus looking healthy and fit, but that night he looked every bit as he did the very first time Harry had set eyes upon him. He looked like a worn out vagabond who went days without sleeping.

What happened to him? Harry wondered, cocking his head to the side in concern.

An instinct he wasn't even aware he had set in, and he trotted along behind Remus until the man took a seat in a plump armchair. He wagged his tail slightly and looked up at the man with a sad expression in his canine eyes before resting his head on the man's thigh with a huff.

Remus stared down at the fuzzy head resting in his lap and couldn't help but smile a bit. He patted Harry softly and was rewarded by a gentle whine from the boy-turned-animal. "You'll have to be careful you know Puppy," he started, stroking Harry behind the ears. He looked down into the pup's emerald green eyes and continued almost wistfully, "Sirius was a lot like you when he was younger. He hated his family, and he hated the attention that came with simply being a Black... I suppose that's why he strove for his own sort of attention so much. But when he became an animagus, he found himself longing more and more to be a dog. He even started picking up canine like traits when he wasn't in his animagus form. I think it was nice for him to be someone- in this case, something - other than Sirius Black for a while. It became more and more common for us to see him lounging about as the great black dog, until one day in our 6th year, he just wouldn't change back. It took us a week to convince him... What I'm trying to say is that I know how you feel about being the Boy Who Lived, and I beg you to not let yourself drop too far into being someone else. Ok Harry?"

Harry yipped in response, wagging his tail uncertainly. It made sense to him. He felt abnormally at peace already in his animagus form. He looked over at Ron and Hermione, who were sitting on the couch watching him with concern. Neither one of them were in their animagus form. Was it because they couldn't stay changed, or because they didn't feel the need to? Looking back at Remus, Harry yipped before shifting back into Harry Potter.

"I know how you feel Harry, but it simply won't do to hide yourself from everyone," Remus grinned tiredly.

"I know you're right. It does feel bloody incredible. It's not just that I'm not Harry Potter as an animagus though; I didn't even realize I was feeling that way until you mentioned it. I just feel so powerful and full of energy!" And he did. He felt like he could outrun a unicorn.

"Yeah, me too mate! I wasn't even out of breath from running all the way here," Ron agreed, happy that his friend wasn't going to try and stay a dog forever.

"The book said that animagi naturally acquire the stamina of their inner animal once the transformation is complete," Hermione commented, knowledgeable as ever.

"Animagi naturally acquire many things once the transformation is complete," said Remus, slipping easily back into teacher mode. Harry walked over to the couch and situated himself between Ron and Hermione, shoving them both apart and grinning at their protests. Remus smiled and continued, "There are a few things that you should know. You may be aware of them already; however, I feel it's prudent to be sure. As an animagus, you should know that while you will have full brain function in your animal form, you will also very probably start to gain instincts from the species you've changed into. That is, until you gain control of your inner animal, so to speak."

Hermione looked as if she were itching to write all of this down, sitting on the edge of the couch and hanging off of Remus' every word. Harry and Ron rolled their eyes at each other and looked back to their professor. "Your forms were chosen based on your personalities. Ron, you're loyal, smart, and a natural strategist. You'd be ideal for hunting, like the beagle. Hermione, you're intelligent, graceful, and quick; much like a cat. And Harry, of course. You're sweet, loving, active, and powerful. You're naturally protective of your family, and love fiercely. A husky suits you well," Remus continued, and Harry beamed at him.

"Aside from basic knowledge about animagi, you're all also going to have to know how to be extraordinarily careful, because I'm assuming you don't plan on registering yourselves, not matter how much I urge you to. If someone were to find out, the consequences could be dire. You need to be sure that if you're sleeping as an animagus, you're putting silencing charms up around your curtains. Sirius almost gave himself away once because he was growling in his sleep," said Remus, grinning fondly at the memory.

He opened his mouth to continue, but was cut off by a sudden crackling in the fireplace that had them all jumping in surprise. Sirius' distressed face had popped up in the fire, looking around wildly. Remus winced, and his relaxed posture instantly changed to taught and stiff, and Harry wondered idly what that could mean.

"Remus, it wasn't what you think! We were just-" he started, obviously not noticing the other three staring at him in shock. But before they heard just what it was that Sirius and whoever were doing, Remus cut him off.

"Sirius! How did you get to my floo? Never mind. It doesn't matter. Look, Harry and his friends are here, and you really shouldn't be using a public floo like this. You need to go, Sirius," Remus said brusquely. His eyes had shuttered, and he crossed his arms over his chest in a defensive manner, obviously trying to look composed in front of his students.

"Harry's here? Oh, I didn't see you there... How are you? Have you been doing ok?" he asked, but Harry could tell by the fraudulent smile gracing his lips that he was the last thing on Sirius' mind.

"Write him a letter, Sirius. You need to go. This isn't safe," Remus all but snapped before Harry had a chance to answer.

Mystified, the trio looked as one from their suddenly stiff professor to the sad head sitting in the fireplace. Harry turned to look at Hermione, who stared back at him with wide eyes and shrugged helplessly. Sirius and Remus were usually thick as thieves. What in the world could have happened to make them act this way towards each other? Sirius obviously had done something awful, but what?

Sirius took one last pitiful look at Remus before giving Harry a weak smile and disappearing with a 'pop'.

"Remus... Is everything ok?" Harry asked tentatively, and Remus seemed to wilt before them. He uncrossed his arms and rubbed his left eye tiredly.

"Everything's fine Harry," He said, staring in to the dying embers of the fire.

"We'll just head off to bed," Hermione said, standing quickly.

"But – "started Ron, but Hermione cut him off with a glare.

"It's an early day tomorrow, RONALD. We need to go," she said, glaring daggers at the protesting redhead.

Ron gulped and stood. Any time a woman called him "Ronald", she meant business.

Remus walked them to the door and opened it for them without a comment. Harry stopped at the hallway and waved the others on. Ignoring the scathing look Hermione sent his way, he turned to Remus and gave a half-hearted smile.

"I don't know what Sirius did, and I won't ask you to talk about it. But just know I'm here to talk if you need me. I know I'm young, but... Well, I consider you a friend. Just... Well I'm here if you need me, okay?" Harry finished lamely, staring shyly up at Remus through his too-long fringe.

"Thank you, Puppy. You're very mature for your age, you know that?" Remus chuckled sadly, ruffling Harry's hair. Harry tried his best not to be indignant at the term of endearment, and sincerely hoped it was just the man's half-hearted attempt at teasing him.

Harry launched himself haphazardly in to the older man's arms. Remus was surprised at first, but quickly recovered and wrapped his arms tenderly around the youth.

"Don't be sad, all right Remy?" Harry said, his voice muffled by his mentor's chest once again.

"I wish it were that simple... But you really do need to get off to bed now. You have Potions tomorrow morning, you know!" Remus quipped, gently prying Harry off of him.

He found himself looking down in to bright green eyes, a slightly rosy hue gracing the cheeks underneath them. Harry licked his lips and lurched forward slightly, before his whole face turned a rather alarming shade of red and he mumbled something unintelligible. Harry quickly turned and dashed off down the hall, leaving an extremely confused Remus standing in his doorway.

What in the world was going on with that boy?

O0o0o0o0o0o

"Geez Harry, what's wrong with you?" Ron asked as Harry barged in to the empty common room, panting and wide-eyed.

"I'll tell you what's wrong with him. He fancies Remus!" Hermione snipped, not even bothering to look up from rifling around in her book bag.

"I do not!" Harry retorted, unnecessarily angry. "He's a man!"

"Er... This is a Muggle thing, isn't it?" Ron asked, apparently bewildered.

"What do you mean 'a Muggle thing'?" Harry snapped.

"Don't take our heads off because you're embarrassed, Harry. And to answer your question: Wizards don't have 'homosexual' and 'heterosexual' people. You love who you love, and it makes no difference to anyone whether it's the same sex or the opposite," Hermione stated matter-of-factly, sticking her nose in the large book she had dug out of her bag.

"You mean Muggles care about that sort of thing? How bizarre..." said Ron, shaking his head in wonder.

"Well... He's still old enough to be my dad!" Harry tried, not even bothering to argue about the gay thing. There were so many things about the magical world that he just didn't understand yet.

"What's THAT got to do with anything? You can't tell me that Muggles bother with that as well!" the redhead seemed beyond exasperated.

"Harry... Wizards don't age as quickly as Muggles. Didn't you ever wonder how Dumbledore can do all the things he's capable of at such an old age? Or why Sirius is still so immature... Wizards age at about a third the rate that Muggles do. I'd guess that by Muggle standards, you and Remus would only be a few years apart," she said. She had finally looked up and was giving Harry that look which suggested he should have read this somewhere already.

"But we aged like normal kids!" Harry replied disbelievingly.

"Well we would have, wouldn't we? The aging process starts to slow as we come of age. There's a reason that we can't use magic outside of school until we're seventeen," said Hermione. Apparently having decided that the conversation was no longer worth her while, she turned back to her book, leaving Harry utterly bewildered.

"So you're saying that if Remus and I were dating each other, no one would care?" Harry asked.

"Well I wouldn't say that no one would care, mate. I reckon Sirius would have a few things to say about it," said Ron, grinning at Harry.

"Why would Sirius care?" asked Harry as he took a seat in a cushy armchair in front of the fireplace.

"You're not serious... You are!" exclaimed Ron, his grin widening. "You mean you honestly didn't catch what was going on in there? How thick are you, mate?"

"I'm not thick! What are you on about?" said Harry, mildly irritated at being laughed at. He looked over at Hermione, who was looking out of the corner of her eye at them. Her lips were pursed in that way that meant she was irritated at not being the first one to catch onto something.

Harry was half expecting Ron to tease them about not getting whatever it was he knew, and was pleasantly surprised when he said (with only a tiny hint of laughter), "Remus and Sirius are seeing each other."

Now that it was out in the open, it really made sense. The two were so close, and were hardly ever seen apart when it wasn't necessary.

Crestfallen, Harry looked at his folded hands in his lap and sighed. Not that he didn't want the two older men in his life to be happy, but the first person he was discovering that he had strong feelings for was taken. And not just by anyone, but his godfather. How's that for being turned down?

"Though, I'm not sure how long that one's going to last now. Looks like Sirius did something pretty bad, and Remus caught him at it," said Ron, his expression taking on a more serious note.

"How could he have caught him at it? No one even know where Siri – Oh! That's what the soot all over Remus' robes was about!" said Harry, the pieces clicking together like a puzzle in his brain. Remus must have been secretly flooing out of somewhere to see Sirius and caught him doing something awful.

"You don't think…" Hermione started, setting down her book again and looking worriedly up at the boys. "You don't think Sirius cheated, do you?"

"What? No, of course not!" Harry exclaimed, outraged that someone would think such a thing of his godfather. At his shout, Hermione flinched back, but wouldn't stop looking at him with those big brown eyes full of concern.

"I just think… well he hasn't really had a lot of time to come to terms with being free, has he? What with being constantly on the run and worrying every day about himself and the people he loves. And he's probably really confused and scarred from Azkaban. It's possible that he's not exactly in a normal frame of mind, isn't it?" she said, her eyebrows knitting together in concern. "Not that I'm saying he's a bad person or anything!" she added hastily upon seeing Harry's irritated expression, "But, like I said, he's probably not in a normal frame of mind."

Harry didn't reply. As much as he didn't want to admit it, what she was saying made sense. He looked around the common room pensively, taking in the red and gold furniture, the portrait of Godric Gryffindor (who winked saucily at him), the bits of things lying around from the joke shop items Fred and George were making, and all of the other things that made him feel so at home. The room was warm, and the firelight reflected merrily off of Harry's old glasses. Would his godfather, the man he had really come to view as a father, hurt someone as soft and sweet and gentle as Remus? Did he want to think that the man he so admired was capable of such a horrible thing as cheating on his lover?