A/N: "Again, thank you for all the support! You guys rock!"-E

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oOoOoOo

"She did what?"

"Stormed right out," Hagrid continued, grabbing another log from the pile. "The old bat Trelawney said tha' perhaps she wasn't cut out for Divination and Hermione jus' up and quit."

"Did she really."

Remus smiled to himself as Hagrid stepped back and, with a powerful swing of the axe, split the log neatly in two. It was a Saturday afternoon, one of the first truly warm days of spring. Even though final exams were coming up fast, motivation was lost once that first warm gust of spring air hit the castle. The grounds were busy as students flooded out the castle doors, lounging under trees and playing along the banks of the great lake.

Remus, too, was unable to resist the change in season and used the time to walk out along the grounds to visit Hagrid and Buckbeak, who, Remus had recently heard, had lost their trial. It was unfair, yet unsurprising; Hagrid had picked a hard battle to fight. Remus had never personally been up against the Department of Dangerous Creatures before, but through previous work with several werewolf communities, he'd heard horror stories.

Sitting on the side of the Hippogriff's paddock, Hagrid's rock cakes well hidden in his pocket, Remus drank his tea in the warm spring sunshine, lost in his thoughts as he watched Buckbeak.

"How 'as she seemed to you?" Hagrid asked.

"Who?"

"Hermione."

For the smallest of moments, Remus thought Hagrid had meant the older Hermione. His Hermione.

"Oh," he said, collecting himself. "Fine. Spread a little thin, but nothing unusual."

"Ron an Harry haven't been talkin to her much this year," Hagrid continued, reaching for another log. "She'd come down to help with Beaky's trial—that bag of hers loaded with books to 'elp me—sayin they were too busy with homework or Quidditch. Like Hermione wasn't busy. Ya' think they'd appreciate her more after last year."

"Last year?"

"When the Chamber was opened 'gain. She was one of the muggleborns that was attacked."

Remus looked up, surprised she had never mentioned this. "Really?"

"Yeah, her and 'nother girl were found o'side the Library, frozen just like all the others," Hagrid answered. Tapping the logs with the end of his pink umbrella, they jumped neatly into the pile against the side of Hagrid's hut. "Several weeks in the 'ospital and Ron had ter be forced from her side. Later, it was 'er notes on the beast that led them to the chamber."

Remus set down the empty teacup and looked up at the sunlit castle. Enemies of the heir beware. It was strange to imagine Hermione involved in that. Dumbledore and the school's governors had done a decent job of keeping most of the events of the previous year from reaching the general public, but word had still gotten out. Dark alleys and seedy pubs were a flurry of whispers about the escaped beast roaming Hogwarts. A basilisk in England was big news in certain crowds.

"So… they did find it then?" Remus asked.

Hagrid chewed on the question for a moment. Wiping the sweat from his large forehead he looked at Remus, the expression in his dark eyes hard to read.

"They did."

An old, familiar excitement filled Remus.

The Marauders had spent so much time looking, hoping the stories were true and the chamber existed. It had been either Sirius or James who heard about it first—Remus couldn't remember—but they had been hooked instantly. A shortcut to the charms corridor; who cares? A secret chamber no one has seen for years, filled with mystery and magic beasts; that was something worth searching for.

"I am sorry if we offended you that night."

"Ya', a group of second years, out after curfew, to ask me how I got into the chamber to let the beast out," Hagrid grumbled. "You're lucky I didn't turn you over to your Head of House!"

"Lucky? If I remember correctly, you chased us all the way back to the castle. Firewhiskey in one hand, that axe in the other."

Hagrid laughed, the booming sound sending birds scattering from the trees and making Buckbeak stomp nervously at the ground. Still chuckling to himself, Hagrid patted Remus on the shoulder.

"Well, I though' that if anyone would 'ave found it," he said. "It would have been you four."

Remus nodded, rubbing his shoulder as a silence fell over them.

"Did they question you last year?" Remus asked. "When the chamber was opened again, I mean."

Hagrid frowned, his furry brow knitting together and Remus worried that perhaps he had gone too far. He had known the man before him a long time. During the war, they hard worked along similar paths, Hagrid trying to rally the giants while Remus worked with werewolves.

"It was almos' fifty years since the last time. Fifty years. Even when You-know-who was goin' after muggleborns people never questioned me. But when it happene' again?" he shook his head. "It was like no time had passed. They sen' me to Azkaban."

"What?"

"Precautionary, ter 'make sure these accidents stop happening'."

"Dumbledore eventually got you out?"

"Harry got me out," Hagrid corrected him, standing. "That boy… if it wasn' for him more students could've been 'urt and I'd still be in there."

Walking back to his hut, Hagrid grabbed a few of the dead ferrets hanging outside his door and tossed them to Buckbeak, watching with adoration as the Hippogriff devoured them.

"Well, if it helps, we never thought you did it," said Remus. "When we found your name in the the school records, we never made that connection. Never understood what it meant."

Hagrid smiled

"I'm glad."

He walked back, meeting Buckbeak at the edge of the paddock. Stroking his feathered neck, the massive beast almost seemed to purr at Hagrid's attention, his large talons tearing into the ground. Though his methods were unorthodox, the Gamekeeper seemed such a part of the school and it was hard for Remus to imagine his friend outside this setting. It was even harder to imagine him locked in a cell.

"Have you ever been?" Hagrid asked, pulling Remus from his thoughts.

"To Azkaban? No, I haven't"

"It's worse than yeh think. Goin' in I knew it'd be no picnic—I had always hated dementors—but still. You can' imagine what it does to yeh."

Pushing the hippogriff away, Hagrid walked over and stood next to Remus, the wooden fence bowing as he leaned into it. He rubbed his beard in thought.

"It almos—" he began, glancing at Remus. "It almos' makes it understandable why he wanted out."

Remus shifted.

There was no question to whom Hagrid was referring and Remus knew this was something he had been holding in for some time. Over the last nine months, during all those times they'd sat next to each other at the Head Table, they hadn't mentioned Sirius once. News would come and go, Sirius' face would be plastered on the Daily Prophet time and time again, yet they said nothing. Even though they were some of the few who had actually known him

"Why now?"

Remus brought the teacup to his lips, ignoring the fact it had gone dry some time ago. Hagrid continued on.

"Why 'ait twelve years?"

"I don't know—"

"They say its 'arry. Why else would he break inte' the castle? Inte' Gryffindor tower?

"Rubeus, I don't—"

"We were both there that night, at Godric's Hollow!" Hagrid shouted, low voice filling with anger. "At James and Lily's with 'im—that murderer!"

"I don't want to talk about this—"

"He had little 'arry in his arms, claiming he had righ' as godfather. Righ'! What righ' did he have, standing outside that house after what he had done?! What if we hadn't been there?!"

"I—"

"What would Sirius 'ave done then?!"

"I don't know!"

Remus stood and the teacup shattered at his feet. He turned to the gamekeeper. Anger coursed through him at Hagrid's words and Remus was temped to hit him like he had Severus. Of all the people asking such questions, he didn't need to hear it from him too.

Hagrid watched him silently and Remus managed to swallow his anger, once again putting on his usual mask. Embarrassed by his outburst, he reached down and picked up the pieces of the broken teacup.

"I'm sorry, Rubeus, but I cannot look back at the friend I knew and the man he became and find any path that makes sense." Remus repaired the cup, his wand slick under sweaty hands. "We were both there that night, yes. That night, the nights before, and the nights after. We… we always knew there was a traitor. As for Sirius? Well, I do know one thing, it's that it didn't make sense then, and time hasn't added any clarity to it now."

"Ya still think he was innocent?"

Remus ran his hand through his hair, trying to ignore the accusation that was laced in Hagrid's voice. There had been a moment in his life he had doubted. When word came in and they began to understand. That it was Sirius. That their old friend had been the one slipping Death Eaters information for months and when the Potters had trusted him in their secret, they were really divulging everything to the one man who would ruin them. That it was because of Sirius that the Potters were dead.

But Remus had fought them, squashing every lie and rumor that Sirius was a Death Eater—insisting the truth was buried somewhere. However, Remus too had seen the crater carved in pavement and the muggle bodies everywhere. Voldemort was finally dead and yet this was one of the largest direct attacks on muggles in the last century. Over a dozen dead, and all because of Sirius.

"I think," Remus looked around the paddock, avoiding Hagrid's gaze. "I think I'm going to head back now. Thank you, Rubeus, for the tea and cakes. I'll… I'll see you at dinner."

He started back towards the castle, trying to ignore the pounding in his head and Hagrid's silence. The warm weather was no longer pleasant. He was hot, his shirt collar sticking to his neck and Remus found himself hurrying to get back.

Reaching the top of the hill that overlooked Hagrid's hut, he stopped. Catching his breath, Remus turned back to look out over the Forbidden Forest. The trees were almost completely in leaf now, the canopy swaying in the cool air. He watched the movement for awhile, letting his mind wander. They had all spent so much time in that forest. Each full moon his muzzle to the ground as he hunted, Peter, James, and Sirius running alongside him. Now, as Remus looked off at the familiar wood, he could almost see them there again and a sick feeling overtook him as he wondered if Sirius was there now.

They had never told anyone what they had done—that there were three unregistered Animagus at Hogwarts. It was just another secret to them, another secret binding the Marauders together. How could he face Dumbledore with that sort of betrayal? Even during the war when they joined the Order of the Phoenix, they still didn't tell and finally, after everything happened and Remus found himself all alone, there seemed no point in sharing.

But of course, now that information was vital. People were beginning to grow impatient, wondering how a madman had managed to avoid the Ministry's best aurors for almost a year. Remus had his chance to tell them everything, he had several. But for some reason, every time these chances arose the secret still stayed within him, locked tight but constantly eating at him. He hated Sirius for everything that happened but still, Remus couldn't explain his silence. However, he did understand what that silence meant.

It meant Sirius was a murderer on the loose, and Remus was helping him.

oOoOoOo

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A/N: "Hope you liked it! I struggled a bit with this and wasn't certain with how I wanted some of my ideas to play out, but overall I'm pleased. Please Review! And again, thanks for all the support so far!"