"How?" Hagrid and Harry asked together.

"By mating him. If Buckbeak has a mate or is mating, they won't kill him because he is creating more of the species," Hermione said.

"Only one problem. No females," Hagrid replied.

"We only tell them that Buckbeak's mating. We don't actually mate him."

"I'll try it at the meeting in February," Hagrid sighed. "Thanks fer coming down. You better get up ter the school. Dinner's startin'."

"See you later, Hagrid," Harry and the others started back.

"One minute, Ron. I have something of yours," Hagrid went into his hut then came back, holding a rat.

"Scabbers!" Ron exclaimed, taking his rat.

"You owe me an apology," Hermione glared.

"I'll apologize to Crookshanks. I have nothing to apologize to you for."

"Yes, you do!" Hermione shouted. Hagrid had gone back into his hut and Harry was still walking back to the castle.

"Ridiculous," he mumbled. He looked towards the Quidditch field and stopped walking when he saw a dog. He frowned. Just then, a cat walked to the dog and they began walking around. Since when are dogs and cats friends?

"I owe you nothing!" Ron shouted. Harry groaned and looked at his friends. Before continuing on his way, Harry looked back at the Quidditch field and saw only the cat.

Crookshanks? Who was the dog? He wondered silently. He frowned again then followed Ron and Hermione who were still fighting. How do they not get tired of fighting and yelling all the time?

The trio walked into the Great Hall and sat down. Dinner had already started and they filled their plates. All through dinner, Hermione and Ron fought. Harry, as usual, ignored them and ate his meal silently. Harry was aware that Remus was watching him and his friends, but thought nothing of it.

"Potter, come with me," McGonagall said. Harry followed the Transfiguration professor out of the Hall and to her office.

"Am I in trouble?" Harry asked automatically.

"No, you're not. I brought you here to give you this back," McGonagall handed him a broom.

"My Firebolt?"

"Yes. It has gone through a complete inspection and has been found to be completely safe. You have an amazing friend, Potter. You may go."

"Thank you, Professor," Harry smiled and left.

"Told you," Remus stated as Harry exited the classroom.

Harry jumped. "Would you stop that? Are you trying to kill me? And shut it."

"I still told you."

"Yeah, yeah. I got it," Harry grumbled.

"What was going on at dinner?"

"I knew you were watching us."

"Of course."

"Anyways, Ron and Hermione are fighting. Again," Harry sighed. "Fortuna major," he gave the Fat Lady the password and walked into the Tower, Remus behind him.

"How come?" Remus asked.

"Hagrid had found Scabbers and gave him to Ron just when we were down there. Hermione said Ron needs to apologize to her. He said he'll apologize to Crookshanks, but has nothing to apologize to her for. They haven't stopped fighting since then. I just tuned them out," Harry explained, putting his broom under his bed, then sat on the four-poster.

"You ignore them a lot?" Remus guessed, sitting at the foot of the bed.

"At least twice a day, every day. It's a daily habit now," Harry nodded. "You know, besides the picture you gave me and a photo album Hagrid gave me in first year with a few pictures, that's the only picture of my parents that I have," Harry pointed at a picture on his end table.

"Have you ever looked closely at the headboards on these beds?" Remus asked.

"Not really, no. Why?"

"Check this out," Remus went to the bed on the right of Harry's.

"That's Seamus' bed," Harry pointed out.

"Look at this," Remus pointed at something on the headboard.

"Peter Pettigrew?" the name was engraved into the headboard.

"This was his bed. Come over here," Remus went to the bed by the window.

"Neville's bed."

"My bed," Remus pointed to something on the headboard again.

"Remus Lupin," Harry read.

"That bed on the other side of yours is Ron's right?"

"Yeah."

"Go look at the headboard," Remus smiled. The professor sat on Harry's bed while Harry went to Ron's.

"Sirius Black."

"Now, look here," Remus said, nodding at Harry's headboard.

Harry furrowed his eyebrows and went to his bed. "James Potter," he whispered.

"These were our beds from the beginning. Never changed. Come down to the common room. I have something else to show you."

"You four marked your place," Harry laughed.

"Yes, we did. You use this table, right?" Remus said. They were standing by the seats the Trio always sat in by the fire.

"Yeah, all the time," Harry nodded.

"Look closely at the middle."

Harry looked closely and saw writing. "The Marauders. Prongs, Padfoot, Moony, Wormtail. Your individual names are around the group name."

"Written in ink that can never be removed, no matter what you do. You also can't destroy the table. You can throw it in a fire, hit it with an axe. Won't even get a dent or get hot. I cast a spell on it when we wrote that so it can never be destroyed," Remus grinned.

"Amazing," Harry smiled, running his fingers over the writing.

"You owe me an apology, Ronald!" Hermione shouted as she and Ron entered the Tower. Harry groaned.

"Hermione, I have nothing to apologize for except to your stupid cat! Not to you! To your pet!" Ron yelled.

"Shut up! You haven't stopped fighting since before dinner! It's been a half hour! Drop it! Ron, you should apologize because you told Hermione to get rid of Crookshanks on a false accusation! Hermione, you should know you won't get an apology! It's Ron! You may get an apology, but not now! Now, leave each other alone! Take a break from each other for a while! All you do is fight when you're near each other, so take a break! Now, if you don't mind, I'm in the middle of a conversation with Professor Lupin," Harry yelled and turned his back. "Which was a perfectly nice conversation until now," he muttered too quiet for Ron and Hermione to hear, but with Remus' strong hearing, he heard the comment. Ron and Hermione stared at Harry, glanced at each other quickly, then departed, going to their separate dorms.

"You okay, Harry?" Remus asked.

"Yeah. Fine," Harry sighed, staring into the fire.

"They fight often, I'm guessing."

"All the time. It's worse this year. And they wonder why I'm never around them. They're fighting now because Hermione was right. Crookshanks didn't eat Scabbers. Scabbers ran away," Harry nodded.

"Does Scabbers run away a lot?"

"Actually, no. This is the first time. Weird," Harry frowned, thinking about the rat.

"That is strange."

"Oh well. He's old. It should be his time to go soon," Harry shrugged. "Did you hear about Mr. Weasley winning money and how the Weasleys went to Egypt to visit Bill? It was on the front page of the paper," he changed the subject.

"Yes, I saw that," Remus smiled.

"It was amazing. Scabbers went too. Come to think of it, ever since Egypt and this year started, Scabbers hasn't been doing too good. He's losing weight, his fur is falling out, he won't eat, he doesn't seem to sleep, and he's always under something, like he's hiding. We think he's sick," Harry pointed out.

"Maybe I can figure it out. I had a rat once," Remus offered.

"Sure, I'll ask Ron," Harry ran to the boys' dorm. Ron was sitting on his bed, flipping through a Chudley Cannons magazine." Hey, mate."

"Oh, hi. Come to finish yelling?"

"Look, I'm sorry about that. It's just all you two have done this year is fight. Every day you yell at each other for something. It was just getting on my nerves. Especially since I was talking with Lupin."

"It's all right. I guess we have been fighting a lot and it's always when you're around."

"Thanks. So, I was telling Lupin about Scabbers and how he might be sick. Lupin asked to see him. He thinks he can find out what's wrong."

"Sure," Ron agreed and brought his rat to the common room with Harry.

"Hello, Ron."

"Hi, Professor. Here's Scabbers," Ron handed Scabbers to the professor.

"Odd. Your rat has the same symptoms a human has when they're very stressed. Weight loss, hair loss, no eating, not sleeping. They're the exact symptoms," Remus informed the boys.

"Weird," they said together.

This rat looks familiar. Like I've seen it before many times, but I haven't. Wait. No. it's impossible, Remus thought, examining the rat. Suddenly he thought of something. He looked at the paws. Four toes, four toes, four toes…three toes! Scabbers was missing a toe. "Impossible."

"What is it?"

"How old is this rat?"

"He's been in my family for twelve years," Ron answered.

"He's missing a toe on his front right paw."

"He's a hand-me-down from Percy. I think it was missing before I had him," Ron explained.

"It's impossible," Remus repeated quickly.

"What's up?" Harry asked again.

"Harry, I know you won't want me to, but I have to contact Black. I have to see him," Remus said.

"What? No! He'll kill you," Harry shook his head.

"I have to."

"Remus, no. Please," Harry looked at him with scared and sad eyes.

Remus sighed. "All right. I won't. Here, Ron. I think he's like this because he's old."

"I kind of figured. Oh well. Maybe now I can get an owl," Ron smiled and ran off.

"Why did you change your mind so fast about seeing Black?" Harry asked, resuming his seat.

"The way you looked at me. It was like a puppy dog look."

"I do that a lot apparently. I don't realize it, but I do," Harry smiled.

"It won't work forever. Eventually I'll be able to say no to that look," Remus grinned.

Harry laughed. "Eventually, but for now. It's an advantage."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Great."

"I don't think the Ministry will let you take me," Harry suddenly said.

"How come? You've been so sure of it lately."

"Because you're a werewolf. You're not even closely related to me. They'll want to send me somewhere else. They'll try to find a relative," Harry replied.

"The Werewolf Law is a problem, I know, but we have Seth and Sirena helping. We have Dumbledore."

"What can they do though? They can't force the Ministry to allow it. Not even Dumbledore can do that."

"Sirena and Seth know the law and werewolves better than anyone. They'll be a big help. Dumbledore will find some way to convince them, he always does. I'm sure we have a great shot at winning this thing," Remus replied.

"Yeah, maybe," Harry nodded. "Do you know of any dogs that might hang around the grounds?"

"The only dog around here is Fang, Hagrid's boarhound. Why?"

"When Ron, Hermione, and I were coming back from Hagrid's, I saw Crookshanks at the Quidditch pitch. There was a dog too. A big, black one. It wasn't Fang. It didn't look familiar at all," Harry explained.

"I have no idea. Fang's the only dog I know of around here," Remus shook his head. Black. What do you want?

"Maybe I was seeing things. I've still been pretty tired," Harry shrugged.

"You should go to bed early tonight. You need to get some sleep. You seem to like midnight walks lately," Remus eyed the teen. Harry blushed.

"Yeah. I'll try to stop that. Ron, Hermione, and I have wandered after hours in the previous years. That's how I found the Mirror of Erised. How we got detention with Malfoy. We've done so much and it's been so much fun. No matter how bad everything got or how much trouble we got it, it was always fun. Of course, that was before they hated each other. I've never been able to tell anyone the stories of the last couple years. We always talk about everything together," Harry stated.

"You three are too curious. That's your problem," Remus pointed out.

"I know. That's why the three of us are always buried in trouble, problems, clues, and investigations. It's also why I've been in the hospital wing at least once each year," Harry grinned. Remus laughed.

"You have done some crazy things."

"Were you there when we fought the troll, Ron and I?"

"Yep. That's when you and Ron first because best friends with Hermione," Remus nodded.

"I actually thank Quirrell for that. If not for the troll, Hermione wouldn't be one of my best friends."

"Yes, because fighting a fifty foot mountain troll is the way to make a friend. How did you become friends with Dean Thomas? Fighting a centaur?"

"No, but I did ride one in first year."

"You're kidding?"

"Nope," Harry shook his head. For the rest of the night, Harry told Remus of his adventures. Telling the things Remus didn't know about, as well as those that he did, just to relive it. It wasn't until ten-thirty that Remus said it was time for bed.

"Come on. You need to sleep. We'll continue tomorrow. Though I don't know what else there is to tell," Remus stood and followed Harry to the boys' dorm.

"There's more. I haven't told you about me, Ron, and Hermione going down the trapdoor in first year, or using the Polyjuice Potion in second, or when Ron and I went into the Chamber of Secrets with Lockhart," Harry answered.

"We'll finish tomorrow. Time for you to catch up on your sleep. Good night, Harry. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Night, Professor," Harry lay down.

"Harry," Remus reminded.

"Sorry. Night, Remus," Harry and Remus smiled. Remus left the Tower and went to bed himself.

Sirius Black walked up to the seventh floor in his dog form then changed to human at the Fat Lady's portrait. "Fortuna major," he whispered the password he had heard a Gryffindor Prefect tell another Gryffindor student. The portrait door opened and Black, changing back to a dog, walked into the Tower. He sniffed around then headed up the stairs to the boys' dormitories. He looked around and walked up to the bed right in front of him.

Maybe he's here. I lost him in the grounds last time, Black thought. He pushed his head through the hangings and saw a boy fast asleep. He put his front paws on the side of the bed so he could see the boy completely. Harry?

"Mmm…who's there?" Harry mumbled, his eyes opening. He felt around for his glasses and put them on. When his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Harry saw the dog beside him. "You're the dog I saw outside with Hermione's cat. Who are you? Who do you belong to?" Harry said. "What am I doing? I'm talking to a dog at one in the morning," Harry sighed and stood up. He put on his robe and grabbed his wand. "Come on."

Where are we going? Black thought as they left the Tower. Maybe he's bringing me to Dumbledore, Black looked around, trying to figure out where they were going. They entered a classroom.

"Stay here. I'll be right back," Harry said to the dog and went up a flight of stairs.

Oh no. This is the Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Remus. I gotta get out of here, Black realized and ran from the room. He went back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Harry. I told you to stop wandering. It's dangerous," Remus said.

"I know, I know, but there's a dog. There was this dog by my bed. I brought him here," Harry replied.

"A dog in Gryffindor Tower?" Remus crossed his arms.

"Yes, a black one. Big. Shaggy. He's in the class," Harry led the professor back to the class.

"Where's this dog?"

"He was here, I swear."

"Harry, it's one in the morning. If you had a nightmare or you couldn't sleep, just tell me. Don't lie about a dog being in the school," Remus stated.

"I'm telling the truth. There was a dog. Remus, please believe me."

"I'm going to tie you to the bed soon. This is getting out of hand. Come on. Back to bed," Remus brought Harry back to bed.

"But, Remus…"

"No buts, Harry. You have to stop wandering. Stay in bed."

"But…"

"No. Go to bed and stay there," Remus ordered.

Harry sighed. "Okay. Fortuna major. Night, Pro…Remus."

"AHHHH!" Ron's scream sounded out.

"Ron!" Harry shouted and ran to the boys' dorms, Remus behind him.

"Harry! Careful! It's Black!" Seamus yelled when Harry and Remus arrived.

"Ron!" Harry shouted again. Black was standing over Ron's bed with a knife.

"AHHHH! BLACK!" Ron screamed. Black quickly retreated from the dorm and left the castle.

"Why did he leave?" Harry asked Remus.

"He probably knew all this noise would attract people. He wouldn't risk getting caught. Get Ron to be quiet!" Remus answered. Ron was still yelling while everyone else had stopped.

"Ron. Ron! Stop! He's gone! Ron! Ron, shut up! Black's gone! Shut up!" Harry yelled at Ron who slowly stopped yelling.

"What's going on?" Ginny Weasley asked.

"Is everything all right?" Angelina Johnson said.

"What happened?" Fred and George Weasley wondered.

"Is Ron okay, Harry?" Hermione stated, going to her friends.

"Now he is. Black was in here. He was standing over Ron with a knife," Harry nodded.

"What is going on in here?" McGonagall said.

"Minerva, it was Black. He was in here," Remus told her.

"Impossible. The castle is completely sealed. It's impossible to get in or out," McGonagall shook her head. "All of you back to bed. Now," she ordered and left. All the Gryffindors went back to their beds, muttering with each other. Neville, Seamus, and Dean were quickly asleep again. The trio, on the other hand, didn't move and were wide awake.

"Let's go to the common room," Remus suggested and the trio followed him. The trio sat on the sofa together and Remus sat in the chair beside them.

"Are you okay, Ron?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. I'm all right," Ron nodded.

"Why was he here? What does he want?" Harry said.

"Obviously he wants you, Harry. Why did he go for Ron though?" Hermione frowned.

"Because Harry wasn't there. Either that or he mistook Ron's bed for Harry's, and didn't realize his mistake until Harry and I came," Remus explained.

"Dumbledore's sure to send everyone home now," Ron stated.

"But McGonagall didn't believe us so she might not tell Dumbledore," Hermione put in.

"Who knows? How did he get in the school though? If it's completely sealed off, there's no way he could have gotten in. Like McGonagall said, it's impossible to get in or out when the castle's sealed," Harry replied.

"That's true," Remus agreed.

"This is so scary," Hermione said. It wasn't until four forty-five that the trio and Remus fell asleep in the common room.