CHAPTER 4

Word had spread quickly that Professor McGonagall had taken in a little girl, and rumours of Snape's sudden change in personality when he taught her was whispered about, though no one dared speak a word of it in front of him. Lily had begun eating in the great hall, sitting next to Professor McGonagall at the Teachers' table. She had also been spotted in the library, though she was usually reading quietly with Madam Pince, who was helping her with some of the larger and more complex words. It was suddenly made aware to the students that this girl had changed their teachers, though they wouldn't complain at the sudden decline in detentions.

Lily had progressed much faster than the professors had expected, so when the Hogsmeade trip approached McGonagall had promised to take Lily into the village, though she had suspected that she would see a small wolf around the village had she not offered to take her.

Lily had spoken to Hermione about the trip and confessed that she didn't have a scarf or hat to wear in the village. Professor McGonagall was going to let her borrow some but she had wanted some of her own to wear. Hermione had appeared at their next lesson with a scarf and hat for her, an older scarf and hat that Hermione's parents had sent. She charmed them so they were in less disrepair and so that they would keep her even warmer. Lily's eyes had grown wide when she saw the offering, and she had almost crushed Hermione in a hug, though the frizzy haired girl didn't mind.

Even Professor Snape hadn't avoided her enthusiasm as the ceiling began to snow as he began to instruct her in potions. It was needless to say that the potion they were working on didn't respond well to the sudden cold. Though it didn't explode. It simply fizzled into nothing.

When the day of the trip finally came, Lily was bursting with excitement. It had been a long time since she had spent the winter as a human, having found it too cold without the thick layer of fur. She had woken to a cold chill and had used one of the spells she had read about to make her clothes warm. Hermione had shown it to her.

Professor McGonagall had become more than a teacher for Lily, having become a mother figure that the young girl wished she always had. But the Professor had managed to convince Dumbledore to let her take Lily down to the village. She would still be chaperoning, though she suspected his approval came from the fact that the students were less likely to act out with a teacher walking among them.

Breakfast in the great hall had been abuzz with talk about Hogsmeade village, though most weren't as excited for the thought of walking in a street as Lily was.

"It's the simple things." Lily had smiled when she was asked about her excitement for something so mundane.

The walk down to the village had resulted in many squeals of delight from Lily and many calm reprimands from McGonagall. More than once had she tried to run off, and more than once he McGonagall been forced to stop her. But Professor McGonagall hadn't seen the shaggy black dog off in the tree line following them. Lily had. But when the Professor had been distracted by a woman called Rosmerta, Lily took her opportunity to sneak away. She easily followed the black dog to the outskirts of the village and further, reaching a small cave that contained several old newspapers and old bones.

"Where did you go?" Lily asked Padfoot. "I know you're after Sirius Black. He's the friend that betrayed you."

"Sirius Black would never betray James Potter." Padfoot barked, a growl in his chest. "Peter was the secret keeper and Peter told Voldemort where they were hiding. I was the decoy. I let them think it was me because it was obvious. I was the best friend. I was the one they would think of."

"What happened?" Lily whined.

"I went after Peter and he killed the muggles to get away." Padfoot informed her. "Sirius Black was sent to Azkaban and Pettigrew got away. He was the traitor."

"Did you ever tell anyone?" Lily asked. "You're innocent. They can't overlook your side of the story."

"They did." Padfoot growled. "They left me to rot without a trial."

"Your friend, Peter, he's in the castle isn't he." Lily continued, having worked out enough of the story on her own. "Where is he?"

"With my godson's best friend, the filthy rat." Padfoot spat.

Lily was shocked. She had seen Ron with carrying a small rat. A rat with a missing toe.

"How can we prove you're innocent?" Lily asked. "There has to be a way."

"My memory of that night." Padfoot told her. "The night we changed the secret keeper and the night I confronted him." He sprinted out of the cave and into the forest where he could become human again. "I'll need your wand for a moment. Just to get the memories and something to put them in."

Lily didn't question the request and handed over her wand, watching as he took two rocks and turned them into elegant crystal vials with a simple flick of the wrist. It was what he did next that astonished her. He placed the tip of her want to his temple and extracted a glittering silver strand and placed it in one of the vials before repeating the process. To her surprise, he thrust the wand and vials into her hands as soon as he was done, turning back into a dog.

Lily pocketed the items and did the same, chasing after Padfoot.

"Find Dumbledore, tell him my story." Padfoot ordered. "The ministry will send someone here soon so make sure to cast another spell before they do."

Lily simply nodded, not bothering to question why he was giving such strange commands. She quickly found her way back to a very worried Professor McGonagall who spent several minutes emphasising the dangers of running off on her own, especially when there was a murderer on the loose.

"But he's innocent." Lily proclaimed, silencing the older woman. "Peter was the traitor."

Professor McGonagall's face drained of all colour, prompting another lecture about the dangers of speaking with strangers. Especially ones that are accused of murder. Professor McGonagall appeared to dislike that part of her tale.

Lily was ferried up to Professor Dumbledore's office, where she told her tale of the man she had met when following her parents and everything afterwards, though she didn't recount the parts that they were present for.

"He gave me these." Lily spoke, handing Professor Dumbledore the vials. "He said that they would prove he was innocent."

Dumbledore's interest peaked, pouring the vials into a shallow filter bowl and sinking his face into the watery contents. Lily found it odd that he would do such a strange thing, but she didn't question it, he was a very clever man after all.

When his face finally emerged, he looked somber, as if he had seen a ghost. A ghost that had reached its hand into his chest and clutched his heart.

"They made a mistake Minerva." Dumbledore spoke, extracting the silvery liquids from the bowl and placing them back into the vials. "They made a bet big mistake."