Chapter 10: Prisoner of Azkaban part 2:
A few minutes later Lily came back into the room holding a squirming baby Harry. Sirius immediately stood up and held his arms out. Harry reached forwards towards Sirius, who took him from Lily and sat down with Harry on his knee. Hermione watched the pair with a smile. She saw that Sirius was very good with Harry, patient no matter what. The older versions of the duo had not been together long enough for that relationship to emerge. It had been evident to Hermione that they loved each other, but they spent very little time in each other's company.
"Shall we continue?" Hermione asked.
"Please do 'Mione. I want to get this year over with." Sirius said quickly. She grimaced, and nodded.
"So, after that hilarious DADA lesson, everything was normal for a while. Professor Lupin,"
"Please call me Remus. Professor just sounds too strange at the moment. I haven't been out of school long." Remus grinned.
"Remus, showed us loads of interesting creatures. Potions got worse and worse, Snape was horrible to Neville after the wardrobe incident, which naturally went around the school like wildfire."
"Good. Make everyone laugh at Snivelly." James smiled nastily.
"In Divination, Professor Trelawney was predicting Harry's death pretty much every lesson. Thankfully, soon the Quidditch season started, so that kept Harry busy."
Sirius and James cheered at the mention of Quidditch. Baby Harry gurgled and clapped.
"The first Hogsmeade weekend was set for Halloween, but Harry couldn't go. He did try asking Professor McGonagall for permission."
"He did what?" James asked, looking astonished.
"Your son has guts Prongs." Sirius said, looking awed.
"Or a death wish." James replied with a grin.
"I wouldn't get angry at the boy for asking a simple question." McGonagall glared at them.
"You forget, Harry is a favourite." Remus stage whispered.
"I do not have favourites, Mr Lupin." McGonagall sniffed.
"Well, she didn't give him permission. While we were gone, Remus invited Harry to have a cup of tea with him."
"Aww, thanks Remus." Lily smiled at him warmly.
"My pleasure." He replied, with a grin at baby Harry.
"While they were talking, Snape brought in the potion for Remus at the full moon. Harry thought he was trying to poison Remus."
"The git wouldn't dare." Sirius growled.
"Definitely your son James." Lily sighed.
"To be fair to him, Snape hated Harry first. I'm sure Harry would have had no issues with him if Snape wasn't still holding a grudge against me, so many years later." James pointed out. "Harry only hates him because Snape is so unfair to Harry."
"That evening, we all went back to the Portrait hole, and the painting had been slashed." Hermione swallowed. "By Sirius."
"What?" Sirius yelped, making Harry jump. "Sorry." He said, looking at the small boy in his lap.
"Something must have made you really mad Sirius." James said.
"Wait, how do you know for certain it was me?"
"The Fat Lady told Peeves, who told Professor Dumbledore." Hermione explained.
"Damn. What the hell am I doing?" Sirius growled.
"Professor Dumbledore sent all the students back to the Great Hall to sleep, while the teachers searched the castle. We overheard Snape trying to tell Professor Dumbledore that he thought Remus was helping Sirius into the castle."
"He wouldn't. I would never endanger my students, if I thought Sirius was a killer." Remus said, looking outraged.
"Why would you doubt me?" Sirius said, frowning at him.
"I don't know. It must have been pretty convincing evidence." Remus replied, also frowning. "Things don't add up. We know you wouldn't try and kill Harry, no matter what you had done, so why would you so desperately want to get into Gryffindor tower."
"While the Fat Lady was being fixed," Sirius flinched, "Sir Cadogan became our new portrait entrance."
"The crazy knight up near the Divination room?" Remus asked. Hermione nodded.
"He kept changing the password all the time. Drove everyone mad. To make things worse, Harry found out that the first match of the season would be against Hufflepuff. Apparently Malfoy's arm was too bad to play."
"That's utterly ridiculous. They should either have a sub or play without. When Harry was in the hospital wing first year, they played without him." James protested. McGonagall looked scandalised.
"Albus, we let this happen?" She asked.
"I know you are protective of your house Minerva, but if the boy is too injured to play, they may ask another team to swap." Dumbledore said calmly. McGonagall snorted. James and Sirius were exchanging scowls.
"One DADA lesson, it was just after the full moon, so Remus was too ill to teach and Snape took the lesson. He made it about werewolves, and our homework was two rolls of parchment on how to recognise and kill werewolves."
Everyone looked stunned and horrified.
"That…" Sirius looked too angry for words.
"How dare he. A third year class as well." James growled.
"This is payback for the boggart." Remus spat. Lily looked disappointed and angry. How could Severus stoop so low. She knew the four boys had been downright horrible to him at school, but that was at school. This was years in the future and he still held enough of a grudge to try and let out someone's secret. Sirius suddenly looked ashamed.
"It's my fault. If I hadn't tried to play that stupid trick on him, he wouldn't have known. He wouldn't be able to hold it against you. I'm so sorry Remus."
"Don't worry about it Padfoot. What's done is done. I'm used to it." Remus replied tiredly.
"You shouldn't have to be used to it." James burst out angrily.
"I agree Mr Potter, but society disagrees with you. Maybe someday, you will make a difference." Dumbledore told him gravely.
"Well, the whole class protested that he was only a stand-in why should he set us homework. In the end Remus said we didn't have to do it, when he finally came back. However I did it, and it was then I worked out that he was a werewolf."
Sirius grinned triumphantly at James, who sighed and handed over the money.
"But you didn't tell anyone?" Remus asked, his brow creased.
"Of course not." Hermione said quickly. "You were a wonderful teacher and I hate prejudice. Besides, I knew Professor Dumbledore wouldn't have let you teach if there weren't the right precautions in place, so I didn't want to cause you any trouble." She explained.
"I wouldn't." Dumbledore informed her with a smile.
"Thank you Hermione." He said, his voice full of gratitude.
"The Quidditch game was played in a storm. Nobody could see a thing really. Wood had to call for a time out and I put a charm on Harry's glasses so he could see."
"Thanks." James said.
"Then he saw an outline of a black dog in the top row of seats."
"Sirius? You went to his match?" Lily asked in surprise. Hermione nodded. Lily and James threw Sirius grateful looks. Sirius beamed down at his godson.
"However, the Dementors appeared." Dumbledore suddenly looked furious. "Harry heard his mother's voice." Lily paled and James looked horrified. "And Voldemort's. Then he fell off his broom."
There was a collective gasp of horror.
"Thankfully, Professor Dumbledore managed to slow him down and get him onto a stretcher to the hospital wing." Everyone shot grateful looks at the Professor. "His broom hit the Whomping Willow."
Everyone groaned. Including McGonagall.
"Diggory got the snitch. He did try to call a replay, but Hufflepuff were said to win anyway."
James and Sirius groaned even louder.
"Harry had to stay in the hospital wing all weekend, Ginny got him a get well card." Hermione added with a grin. "In our next DADA lesson, when everyone complained about the homework, Remus asked Harry to stay behind. Harry asked him for help fighting the Dementors and Remus agreed."
"Harry is lucky to have you around Remus." Lily smiled gratefully. Remus beamed. He loved being able to help Harry.
"There was another Hogsmeade visit just before christmas, and while he was wandering the corridor, the twins showed up. They gave him an old, worn piece of blank parchment." Hermione smirked, looking knowingly at James, who gasped. "It was a magical map."
"He got that too!" Sirius grinned delightedly. "Finally, he can go to Hogsmeade."
"What map?" McGonagall asked sharply, raising an eyebrow. The boys all exchanged looks, and then shrugged. Clearly they would find out, if Harry got it.
"When we were at Hogwarts, we explored a lot and made a magical map that showed were every single person was."
"That explains an awful lot." McGonagall sighed.
"So Harry used a passageway to sneak into Hogsmeade, where he met Ron and I in Honeydukes." Hermione continued.
"Atta boy." Cheered James and Sirius. Lily looked torn between amusement and exasperation.
"I did try to convince Harry to hand the map in."
"Very sensible Miss…" McGonagall was cut of by howls from James and Sirius.
"How could you 'Mione" They both cried.
"Traitor." James whimpered.
"I thought you were one of us." Sirius groaned.
"But Ron and Harry convinced me to drop it." Now the groans turned to cheers. McGonagall just shook her head. "We went to the Three Broomsticks for Butterbeer. Unfortunately some teachers came in with the Minister for Magic, so Harry had to duck under the table to hide."
"Can't catch a break." Remus sighed. Hermione shook her head.
"We overheard them talking about Sirius." The effect was immediate. The cheers and moans were silenced and everyone was watching Hermione intently. Except Sirius, he was looking down at his hands.
"Just get it over with Hermione." James said through gritted teeth.
"They said that Professor Dumbledore had got advanced warning of Voldemort's attack. He hid Lily and James with the Fidelius charm and Sirius was secret keeper. Less than a week later he attacked."
Sirius' head snapped up. "But I...I would never."
James and Lily were pale. "But if you were the secret keeper…" James voice tailed off.
"He must have tortured me. I can't see myself giving up but I don't know. I can tell you this for certain. I would never, ever willingly join the dark side, or betray either of you." Sirius said fervently. Nobody could doubt the burning emotion in his eyes.
"Apparently, Sirius turned up at the house after the attack. Tried to take Harry but Hagrid said Professor Dumbledore had given him orders. So he lent Hagrid the motorbike and left. Afterwards, Peter tracked Sirius down. That's when the street got blown apart and Sirius charged with murder."
"That doesn't add up. If Sirius had joined the dark side, he wouldn't aid Hagrid getting Harry out of trouble. I seriously can't see Peter tracking down Sirius no matter how grief stricken he was. He knows Sirius is no match for him in a duel." Remus said, his face grim.
"They were also talking about the fact that Sirius seemed reasonably normal in Azkaban. One time the Minister visited he asked him for a newspaper because he missed doing the crossword."
"I do love those crossword puzzles." Sirius tried to grin but it came out as more of a grimace.
"That's also how Harry found out that Sirius is his godfather. Soon after that, the teachers left so Harry ran straight back to Hogwarts and wouldn't talk to Ron and me. He didn't get up until really late the next day either, I was about to send Ron up to the dormitories looking for him."
Everyone exchanged worried glances. Sirius knew that after hearing something like that, Harry would hate him. That hurt. Much more than Sirius cared to admit. Here was Hermione telling him that he lost everything in his future. His best friends, half his life, his godson. And now his godson would hate him? That was too much. A single tear rolled down his cheek. Everyone looked at him in surprise. They hadn't seen Sirius cry before, not even when he ran away his parents house. Hermione walked over and gave him a hug. He drew strength from her embrace, wiped away the tear and gave them all a sad smile.
"Let's continue and get this damn year over with." He said in a croaky voice. Hermione stayed, sat next to him and carried on talking.
"Ron and I had to argue with him not to go looking for Sirius, as Malfoy had taunted him too. Thankfully he agreed not to, instead he wanted to go down to Hagrid's and demand to know why he hadn't told Harry about Sirius."
She felt Sirius flinch beside her. Nobody even told Harry that he was Sirius' godson. He found out in the worst possible way. He desperately wanted to know what had possessed Peter to track him down. Did he value James and Lily that much, or was he that hurt by Sirius' apparent betrayal.
"When we got to Hagrid's he was crying because Buckbeak had to go before the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures."
"He won't get off. Not if he attacked a Malfoy." Remus shook his head in sorrow. An innocent beast to be killed because he was provoked by an important person's son. It was disgusting.
"All three of us volunteered to help Hagrid prepare his case." Dumbledore smiled at her warmly. "This visit made Harry forget about Sirius and we spent all our free time before Christmas trying to look for something to help Hagrid."
"You three are such good friends." James smiled.
"Then it was Christmas, and Harry got a firebolt."
"The International standard broom?" James asked, his mouth open. Hermione nodded.
"AWESOME!" He and Sirius cheered. Even McGonagall smiled.
"Who sent it?" Lily asked.
"There was no note." Lily immediately looked at Sirius.
"Could it have been you?"
"Maybe. But I'm on the run, I can hardly walk into a store and buy a broomstick." Sirius said.
"That's almost exactly what Ron and I said. I said it was probably sent by Sirius and Ron said he can't walk into a shop and buy one." Hermione laughed.
"Nice." Lily smiled.
"I was a bit suspicious of it but then Crookshanks attacked Ron's rat Scabbers. I had to take Crookshanks out."
Remus' eyes bugged out. Ron's rat. Peter tracking down Sirius and Sirius' sudden desperation to get into the Gryffindor dormitory. But it made no sense. Sirius had no way of knowing that Scabbers was Peter, or even if he was. It might be a normal rat, there were plenty. Also, why would Sirius want to kill him? However, he had a feeling that Scabbers may not be a normal rat. Hermione had said her cat was half Kneazle, they were very intelligent and highly suspicious animals. He chanced a glance at James and Sirius but neither of them seemed to have made a connection.
"Christmas dinner was amazing. Unfortunately Remus was sick again, so he missed it."
"I missed Christmas dinner? Damn. I love the chocolate pudding." Remus complained. Hermione suddenly looked sheepish.
"After dinner, the boys went back upstairs and I told Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. I still thought it was from Sirius and that he might have jinxed it." SHe said this in such a rush it was hard to pick out the words. She smiled apologetically at Sirius, who just rolled his eyes.
"Good to know you have such a high opinion of me." He joked.
"I hold you in the highest esteem." She assured him. "As I do all of you."
"Did you have to add that? I was feeling special." Sirius pouted.
"You are very special Padfoot. Very special indeed." James said with a wink.
"Hey!" Sirius complained. "What is this? Pick on Sirius day? You still love me don't you Harry?" He asked the baby on his knee. Harry just looked at him and gurgled happily. "I shall take that as a yes."
"Pick on Sirius day? I like the sound of that. We should make it an official day." Remus grinned.
"I thought it already was. It's every day." Sirius grumbled.
"Don't worry. I still like you." Hermione stage whispered.
"See? Hermione has only been here a couple of days and she is already a nicer friend." Sirius told James and Remus. They both chortled.
"A very special friend." They said in unison. Sirius flushed slightly and Hermione giggled.
"As interesting as your antics are, could we continue the story?" McGonagall asked, though she had an amused smile on her face.
"Professor McGonagall went up the common room and confiscated the Firebolt to it could be checked."
"Professor!" James cried in outrage.
"I am looking out for my students safety Mr Potter." She said sternly. She was no happier about confiscating it than James was, but she would never risk her students health for Quidditch.
"After Christmas Harry reminded Remus about Dementor lessons. He agreed and he found a Boggart to practise on."
"Great idea Moony." James said.
"The first two attempts went badly. Harry started hearing James' voice as well. He pretty much got a replay of that night." Hermione's voice was hushed. "On his third try he managed to produce something."
"Only his third try? That's really impressive." Remus said. "Especially under pressure. When we learnt, we just tried producing a Patronus, without the Dementor there."
"My son is awesome." James said, ruffling Harry's hair.
"After one lesson, Harry decided to ask Remus what was under a Dementor's hood. Remus told him that they had been given permission to kiss Sirius on sight." Sirius paled. His hands were suddenly clammy and he wiped them on his trousers. When he left he bumped into Professor McGonagall who gave him his Firebolt back. Nothing wrong with it."
"WHOO!" Yelled James. He did a kind of celebratory dance around the room. It was a few minutes before Lily could calm him down and motioned for Hermione to continue.
"He came back to the common room and Ron offered to take the broom upstairs. When he came back down the bedsheet was covered in blood, Scabbers was gone and there were some of Crookshanks' hairs on the sheet. Ron was so angry he wouldn't talk to me. Harry sided with him, that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers. I said the hairs had probably been there since Christmas and he had no proof, but we didn't speak anyway. I spent a lot of time down at Hagrids. Everyone told Rob that Scabbers had been lazy and useless but he didn't listen."
"Sounds like someone we know." James chuckled. Remus' face darkened. If Peter was innocent, why would he spent so long pretending to be the Weasley's pet rat? He couldn't be positive it was Peter, but it sure seemed that way.
"Then was Harry's next Quidditch match. They were playing Ravenclaw. During the match Malfoy and his friends dressed up as Dementors to sabotage Harry."
"What?" Gasped, Sirius, James, Lily and McGonagall.
"How dare they!" Spluttered McGonagall.
"Filthy cheating scum." Hissed James.
"Damn Slytherins." Sirius growled.
"Harry just produced a patronus and caught the snitch."
"GO HARRY!" Yelled James and Sirius. Little Harry looked up at his name and gurgled some more.
"When he landed Remus pointed out that they were Slytherins not actual Dementors and Professor McGonagall was yelling at them about reporting them to Professor Dumbledore."
"Too right I was." McGonagall huffed angrily.
"The after party was loud and fun, but Ron was making comments about what sweets Scabbers used to like." Sirius growled.
"What an idiot."
"That night Ron was woken up by Sirius. As soon as Ron yelled he ran."
"How on Earth did he get in the Portrait hole?" McGonagall asked. Remus was now convinced that Scabbers was Peter. Why else would Sirius be at Ron's bed? But he had no idea how Sirius could possibly know that Scabbers was Peter, especially if he had been in Azkaban.
"Well, Sir Cadogan kept changing the passwords. So Neville had got him to tell him the passwords so he could write them down. Then he lost the parchment." Everyone groaned. Poor Neville. "Ron took great delight in all the attention he was getting. Retelling the story so that it got so ridiculous I couldn't stand hearing it. Hagrid invited the two down for tea where he told them to stop ignoring me."
"They shouldn't need telling. You didn't do anything wrong." James said. Sirius was glaring at the floor.
"Ron then convinced Harry to go to Hogsmeade with him."
"After the fact that Sirius got into the tower?" Remus asked in shock.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sirius barked.
"Well from their point of view, they still think you are after Harry. If you could get into Gryffindor tower it's very dangerous for Harry to be out in Hogsmeade." Remus explained.
"Apparently no more dangerous that Hogwarts. At least in Hogsmeade he would be in the middle of a crowd." James pointed out.
"Harry did take the cloak."
"Good boy." Sirius smiled.
"Everything went smoothly until they met Malfoy by the Shrieking Shack."
"Of course the Malfoy spawn ruined everything." James groaned.
"Well, he was having a bit of fun. Using the cloak to throw mud at Malfoy and his friends because they couldn't see him." Lily rolled her eyes but James and Sirius cackled evilly. "Until he tried to trip up Crabbe, who dragged the cloak of Harry's head by accident. Malfoy saw his head and ran off. Harry had to get back to Hogwarts quickly, but got caught almost straight out of the passageway by Snape."
"No! Not him!" James groaned. "Harry is so dead."
"He took him back to his office where Harry made up that the Zonko's products had been bought by Ron last visit. But then Snape started talking about James to provoke Harry into confessing." James ground his teeth angrily. "Harry got mad but didn't actually give himself away. Snape then told Harry that James had only saved Snape to stop himself getting expelled. That he was part of the joke and got cold feet, just wanting to save his own skin."
"That little…" Sirius burst out angrily. "I'm going to kill him."
James had gone red. "I saved him because not even Snivelly deserves to die. I did it so my friend wouldn't have to become a killer. I'm starting to regret I even bothered for his sake."
"James!" Said Lily.
"What? He evens hates me when I do something decent for him. I don't expect him to let it go, but he has absolutely no right to take it out on my son. Or to tell my son lies about what happened to make me look bad."
"You're right." Lily sighed. The Severus she knew might as well have been dead.
"Snape got Harry to turn out his pockets and saw the map. It wasn't active but he knew it was magical because Harry wouldn't let him throw it away. He tried to open it."
The three Marauders just grinned at each other.
"It threw out some insults." They were now laughing.
"What did it say?" Sirius asked.
"I can't remember. I think Harry said Wormtail had said to wash his hair the greasy slimeball. Prongs called him an ugly git. I don't know what else."
"That is so you Prongs." Sirius laughed.
"He then called Remus into his office. He obviously recognised the map. Snape tried to say he thought Harry had got it from the manufacturers."
"He thinks Remus gave Harry the map?" James asked. Hermione nodded.
"I think that's what he thought anyway. Remus told him it must have been a Zonko's product. Then Ron came in saying he bought Harry the stuff and Remus said he wanted to talk to him about the essay he set as homework."
"Thanks Remus." James said. "Nice cover up."
"Anytime." Remus grinned.
"Well, Remus took the map off Harry and said it was a poor way to repay his parents for their sacrifice, by throwing it away for some magic tricks."
"Ouch. Bit below the belt there Remus." James said, flinching.
"Yeah. I guess I thought that would probably be the only thing to keep Harry wandering off. I'm just trying to keep him safe." Remus said. James nodded.
"I'm truly grateful for that."
"Me too." Lily smiled at him.
"They then ran into me. Hagrid had just sent me a letter saying Buckbeak was going to be executed. Although over that, Ron and I made up."
"Good." Smiled Remus.
"After one Care of Magical Creatures lesson, we heard Malfoy gloating, and calling Hagrid pathetic. So I slapped him."
Everyone looked at her in astonishment.
"Damn girl. Remind me not to make you made." James grinned her.
"Atta girl." Sirius laughed, and kissed her on the cheek. They both blushed as James and Remus wolf whistled.
"Then I got so distracted, tired from not sleeping well and being overworked, I missed Charms. I completely forgot we had a lesson. I fell asleep in the common room. In Divination I got so fed up of Professor Trelawney predicting Harry's death and seeing the grim I just got up and walked out."
"Wow 'Mione." Sirius and James were looking at her in awe. Remus and Lily looked slightly disapproving but sympathetic none the less.
"Then came the Quidditch final." Everyone looked up with even more interest. "Gryffindor took a really early lead. Thirty-Zero after a few minutes."
Cheers rang around the room.
"The Slytherins started playing even more dirty than usual. One of their beaters hit Alicia with his bat, so George Weasley elbowed him in the face. Then the beaters hit both bludgers at Wood."
James and Sirius were spluttering with outrage. Even McGonagall looked horrified and angry.
"Harry saw the snitch but Malfoy grabbed the end of his broom and was pulling him back."
"WHAT!?" Yelled James and McGonagall.
"I hate this kid." Remus muttered.
"In the end Harry caught the snitch, and Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup."
The room exploded with cheers. James, Sirius and McGonagall were whooping and beaming. The first two doing a celebratory dance around the room, which they dragged Remus into. Even Dumbledore was beaming.
"Shall we take a break and have some food?" Lily asked. The boys all nodded vigorously.