I don't own Harry Potter.

Hey everyone and welcome back to the next installment of this story. I hope everyone has had a good two weeks since the last chapter and that you're living your life to the fullest. This chapter was a lot of fun to write and I think I made a good effort of bringing a believable Harry and Sirius. Let me know okay? Anyway enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 21: Traitors, truths and end of summer

Sirius Black was caught. Not by the Aurors or the Dementors. No he was caught by a House Elf; if this wasn't such a serious situation he would have laughed his ass off. A House Elf had caught the most wanted man in Britain. Oh how he wished that he was able to rub in the Ministry's face; it would be hilarious he thought. Anyway back to the situation at hand. Here he was standing a few feet from the boy he had been looking for only to be held at wand point and an elf to monitor him. He wondered what the rest of the night would bring him.

"Hello Sirius Black." Harry said calmly. "We finally meet in person. Before we start our conversation I would like to remind you that Dobby here is more than capable of restraining you if necessary."

"No need for that Harry, I'm not here to hurt you." Sirius said softly.

"Then why are you here?" Harry asked him.

"To tell you the truth about who betrayed your parents." Sirius said strongly. "I know it might be difficult for you to trust me but I'm willing to take a magical oath to prove to you that what I'm saying is the truth."

"Don't you need a wand to make such an oath?" Harry said curiously.

"Well yes, that's the problem. You see I don't have a wand at moment." Sirius admitted. To his surprise Harry threw his wand at him and he grabbed it with both hands. "Why did you do that?"

"I trust Dobby with my life; he would never let anyone hurt me." Harry said smiling at his friend. "Go on, take the oath."

"I, Sirius Orion Black do hereby swear on my life and magic that I'll never intentionally hurt Harry James Potter. I also swear on my life and magic that everything I tell him tonight is the truth. So mote it be." Sirius said. A burst of magic showed Harry that the oath had been recognized by magic itself.

"Thank you, now why don't we go somewhere a bit more comfortable." Harry said leaving the gym. Sirius dumbly nodded and followed only to see a huge house next to the building there were in just a moment ago. Harry went inside and sat down in one of the couches in the living room motioning Sirius to do the same.

"You know, I thought you would be scared shitless of me. Instead your calm and collected how is that?" Sirius asked.

"Honestly I was scared but like I said I trust Dobby with my life and if necessary I could defend myself." Harry admitted.

"How? You can't do magic and while I'm not the man I used to be I'm still stronger than you are." Sirius said.

"We'll talk about that later." Harry said showing he wanted to hear Sirius' story first.

"Alright this is a long story so bear with me." Sirius said. "It all started once we, your father and other couple of friends graduated from Hogwarts. At that time Voldemort was at the top of his reign and he thought that everyone who wasn't with him was against him. People were getting killed every day; a terrible time let me tell you. Your parents, I and two other friends joined this organization called 'The Order of the Phoenix'. It was led by none other than Albus Dumbledore and we were trying to help were we could. The Order was a group filled with normal people; teachers, young people, retired men and women but we all had one thing in common. We wanted Voldemort gone." Here Sirius paused to accept a drink from Dobby.

"We were successful and we defeated quite a few Death Eaters along the way. Then you came along. You should have seen your father's face when you mum told him she was pregnant. Poor James fainted." Sirius laughed loudly and Harry too couldn't help but smile. "This is where things started to go downhill. You see months before, a Prophesy was made about a child that would be born with the power to defeat Voldemort. Naturally Voldemort found out about it and he started to search for this child. It didn't take him long to find out that your mother was pregnant and from that day he focused his energy on finding your parents. So your mum and dad went into hiding but they were found out each time and luckily made it out alive and well. This alerted us that we had a traitor in our midst but unfortunately we didn't have a clue who."

"This continued long after you were born and so far we had been lucky but we all knew our luck would run out at some point. It got so bad that your parents didn't trust the Order anymore and started looking for their own way to protect you. The answer came with the 'Fidelius Charm'; the charm is quite simple actually. It allows someone to hide anything while only the people who are told by the Secret Keeper can find it. It's hard to explain so I'll use an example. Let's say we have three houses nr 6, 7 and 8; to cast the charm you need someone that's called the Secret Keeper and only that person can tell to secret to others. Now if we cast the charm on house nr 7 it would simply disappear and everyone who ever knew about it would forget it ever existed even the people of house nr 6 or 8. But if the Secret Keeper told them about it they would remember everything. Do you understand how it works?"

"I pretty much get it yeah." Harry said immediately interested in the possibilities of that charm.

"So your parents used that charm to hide their house. The only one who could tell the secret to others was the Secret Keeper and they had chosen someone they trusted with their life." Sirius said sadly. "At first I was to be the Secret Keeper but I refused. Not because I didn't want to but because I honestly believed that it was too obvious. James and I had been best friends throughout our time in Hogwarts. Everyone in our year knew that so Voldemort did as well. So I proposed to use one of our other friends called Peter Pettigrew; he was part of our gang and we honestly believed that he would never betray us. As it turned out we made a terrible mistake by choosing him."

"He was the traitor wasn't he?" Harry said guessing what was coming.

"Yes, the little shit had been playing us for over a year. He was always weak and never showed any courage but we never expected he would freely tell Voldemort the secret." Sirius sighed loudly. "The day it happened I went to check on him as he was hiding as well. When I arrived at the hideout he was gone and I knew what he had done. There were no signs of a battle meaning he went freely. I got to your parent's house as fast as I could only to find your dad lying on the floor." Sirius said crying openly now. "It was the worst thing I ever saw, my best friend was gone and I wasn't able to save him. Then I heard you cry; amazed that you were still alive I went upstairs where I found you with only a nasty cut on your head with your mother lying next to you. Next thing I knew Hagrid arrived and asked me to hand you over so Dumbledore could keep you safe. That's when I made the second biggest mistake of my life. I went after Peter; I wanted revenge for my friends, for the betrayal." Sirius said before pausing a bit so he could calm down a bit.

"I found him the next day in Muggle London where I confronted him in the middle of the street. However I hadn't counted on him being such a sneaky bastard. He yelled out loudly, asking me why I betrayed your parents before he blew up the street killing several Muggles in the process. He then cut off his finger and transformed in his animagus form. His form is a rat by the way. During the confusion he escaped in the sewers and before I could chase him the Aurors arrived and arrested me. When I opened my eyes I was in Azkaban and the rest is history or so they say."

Harry was speechless at hearing Sirius talk; never had he imagined such a thing. What was supposed to be a foolproof plan turned into a disaster because of one man. He could see Sirius blamed himself for the death of his parents but Harry knew that he couldn't blame the man for anything. He had done what he thought best at the time and he couldn't fault him for that. He probably would have acted the same way.

"I'm so sorry Harry; if I hadn't refused to be the Secret Keeper all of this wouldn't have happened." Sirius said sobbing.

"Sirius, it's okay. I don't blame you for any of that and I'm sure my parents don't blame you either." Harry said placing his hand on the man's shoulder.

"But…" Sirius tried to say only to have Harry interrupted him.

"No, we don't know what might have happened and it's futile to think about it." Harry said. "It's in the past Sirius so let's leave it there."

"You certainly have your mother's way of words. Your father never was so good at comforting people." Sirius smiled weakly. "So tell me, what is all this?"

"Before I tell you what has happened to me you need to get cleaned up a little bit. You're a mess." Harry joked before calling Dobby and asking him if he could give Sirius a good scrubbing.

Dobby nodded and levitated Sirius across the room to the bathroom; said victim was shouting that he could wash himself but Dobby ignored him. Harry laughed at Sirius face before getting something to drink. It had been a very emotional night for both of them and he wasn't sure if he could explain it all again when Hermione came in few hours. Half an hour later Sirius entered the living room again looking like a whole new man. He had shaved and washed his hair and frankly if it wasn't for the fact that he was somewhat skinny he looked pretty much alright.

"You know, that was a good prank there." Sirius said glaring at Harry. "That elf is brutal I tell you; but it feels great to be clean again."

"Yeah Dobby is enthusiastic that's for sure." Harry laughed.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened to you?" Sirius asked softly.

"Before I do that I need to know something. Do you know Occlumency?" Harry asked him.

"Occlumency? Sure, I'm not a master or anything but you learn quickly how to shut out the Dementors or else you go crazy in there." Sirius said nodding.

"Good but I still want you to read this." Harry said tossing him his notes on Occlumency. "I can't afford anyone learning my secrets."

"I understand." Sirius said agreeing.

"Very well, it all started on my ninth birthday…." Harry then told him what had happened over the past few years letting out the unimportant stuff. He told him about the letter, about how he trained and prepared, his first year at Hogwarts where he met his best friend and finished with what had happened in second year. Sirius was listening with his jaw wide open; the things his godson had done were out of this world.

By the time Harry had finished his story the sun had come up and it wouldn't be long before Hermione would arrive. He asked Dobby to prepare breakfast for them before he left to take a shower. Sirius was still in a daze and needed some time to process everything. Fifteen minutes later Harry had showered and dressed ready for Hermione's arrival. He asked Sirius to wait until he called him so he could explain things to Hermione. He knew she would freak out if she arrived only to see Sirius Black sitting at the table.

Just like he had predicted Hermione freaked at hearing that Sirius Black had appeared at Privet Drive and it took Harry quite some time to calm her down. He then gave her a short version of what had happened before he called out Sirius. Hermione was worried sick but once she had heard the story she trusted Harry. Sirius entered the room and greeted her very politely and the three of them sat down at the breakfast table. It took a few minutes but Hermione finally had the courage to ask a few question which Sirius answered without problems.

By the time she had fully understood the story tears were running down her cheeks. It was like a movie but a very tragic and sad one. She jumped at Harry and gave him a hug before turning to Sirius and to his surprise she hugged him too. It seemed she had accepted Sirius into her life quite easily.

"Thank you Hermione but I don't deserve your tears." Sirius said softly.

"Sirius, I already told you that you don't have to blame yourself for what happened. Do it again and I'll tell Dobby to give you a scrubbing with an iron sponge." Harry threatened. Sirius gulped and nodded before whispering something in Hermione's ear.

"Is he always this pushy?" He asked jokingly.

"Only to people he loves and cares for." Hermione proudly said.

They then showed Sirius the house and everything that they were doing and he was very impressed. These two kids were better organized then the Order was in his days. Not to mention they had more resources as well. He was a bit worried about the rituals they want to do and already did but one explanation from Harry later he could see the advantage of doing them. He was blown away by the power those two showed when they attacked the target dolls and promised himself not to get on their bad side. These kids were lethal.

"So what are your plans now?" Harry asked his godfather.

"I've got me a rat to catch." Sirius said slamming his fist into his palm.

"You can't go out there; you'll get caught." Hermione said loudly.

"She right Sirius besides who knows where Pettigrew is." Harry agreed.

"I don't have to look for him. I know exactly where he is." Sirius said slamming a picture on the table. "He's right there." Harry and Hermione eyes went wide when they recognized the family in the picture. It was a picture of the Weasley family where they received the prize money they had won.

"You mean Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew?" Harry asked shocked.

"Is that what he's called? We called him Wormtail in our days." Sirius nodded. "So the only thing I need to do is get that rat and its payback time."

"Sirius, calm down and think about this. If you go out there it's only a matter of time before you get caught. And this time you get the kiss for sure." Harry argued.

"I'm sorry Pup but I have to do this. I can't let that traitor run free any longer." Sirius said shaking his head.

"I get that and trust me I want him to pay just as much as you do but we have to be smart about this." Harry said loudly. "Look, we know Ronald Weasley. He's in our year and he stays in my dorm. I can get Scabbers way more easily than you can. It's just going to take a little longer. You need to get healthy again so you can help us defeat Voldemort once he's back."

"Harry is right Sirius." Hermione said. "We can't do this alone; we need all the help we can get. Beside do you want to risk losing your godson again?"

"You said you made the second biggest mistake in your life when you chased after Wormtail. Don't make a third one, please." Harry pleaded.

"Oh you're good. Guilt tripping me so I wouldn't leave." Sirius laughed.

"Did it work?" Harry asked.

"Yes pup it worked. I'm not losing you again." Sirius said before grabbing Harry in a tight hug.

The three of them sat down and started to work on a plan of action. First of all Sirius need to get healthy again but that was easily fixed by brewing some potions and a steady diet. He also needed to get back in shape so they set up a training schedule for him to follow. He desperately needed a wand which proved to be a problem since couldn't just go to Ollivander's and buy a wand. The solution was found when Sirius remarked that he could get a wand if he managed to get abroad. Harry then called Dobby and asked if he could 'pop' them to America or Australia. Dobby nodded but warned that he only could take one person at a time. He would have to 'pop' three times if they all wanted to go. That didn't matter at all to them so later that week when Sirius was a bit better they would get him wand in America or Australia.

Hermione also started to take notes of the spells they would learn during their third year. They were going to perform the ritual that would seal off a part of their magic; by doing that they would force their magic core to get stronger. This ritual didn't have immediate result but even Sirius agreed that it was worth it. In fact he would have done it but it was only possible between the ages of 13 and 17. She quickly found that they already knew a lot of spells that they would be seeing this year thanks to their studying. The ritual would have to be performed this week because it would leave them magically weak for about a week. After that they would get used to the seal and they could use magic freely again.

On the day of the ritual Sirius wasn't allowed to stay and watch since they would have to draw runes on their bodies again. Hermione who wasn't looking forward to being half-naked in front of Harry (even if he wouldn't be able to see anything) refused to let Sirius stay. He smirked and was about to tease her but one look from Harry told him it wasn't a good idea. He nodded telling them that he would wait outside just in case something went wrong.

Dobby had cleared the basement and put all potion material on the side so Harry had enough space to draw the rune circle for the ritual. This one had been the most complicated he had ever drawn and it had taken him three days to do it. Double-checking everything he nodded to Hermione saying that everything was in order; all they had to do now was carved the necessary seal on their body. The seal wasn't all that big; it was about the size of baby fist put it had to be place straight above the heart. This meant that they had to be shirtless to proceed which was why the both of them were so embarrassed about it. Harry would undergo the ritual first so Hermione prepared the seal for him. The seal was actually a small circle with runes so it took some time to carve it into his flesh. She was also a bit distracted by seeing Harry shirtless and she had to admit that Harry looked great. The training they had been doing definitely paid off in her opinion. Once she was done with the seal she stepped back and let Harry recite the long spell that activated the ritual. Harry felt the effect of the seal almost instantly; it was like he had cast spells for hours on end but other than that he was fine. The seal became invisible and the wounds were already healed.

Harry stood and smiled to Hermione showing her that he was fine; he knew she was a bit worried about performing this ritual. She nodded and told him to turn around which he quickly did. She took off her shirt and held it over her chest making sure she covered everything that needed to be covered. She told him that it was alright to turn and blushed when he looked at her. Harry promised himself not to stare at her so quickly got to work. Gently he carved the seal in her skin; he couldn't hide his blushing however and deep inside Hermione was very happy that she had this effect on him. Still she would have preferred to wait a bit to find that out. Harry too had some problem concentrating at the beginning but soon got over it and finished the seal; after checking if everything was ok he nodded before leaving the circle so she could complete the ritual as well. Once they got dressed they called in Sirius to tell him everything went fine before going to bed. Dobby quickly 'popped' Hermione home so she could rest.

The last week and a half the three of them spend by resting, planning and having a great time. Sirius loved the two kids like they were his own but he still would be very glad to have an adult to talk with. Harry promised him that he would search out Remus Lupin, the fourth and final member of the Marauders so he would have some company if Lupin joined their group. Sirius had gotten a wand and had started relearning his magic. He loved thrashing the target dolls just as much as Harry and Hermione did; it proved to be an excellent stress reliever.

On the evening before the first of September Harry (Hermione did it that afternoon) said his goodbyes. Harry would spend the night at Hermione's and go to King's Cross Station with her. Harry secretly ordered Dobby to keep an eye on Sirius and stop him from leaving the property. Dobby nodded saying that he would take care of it. Sirius made them promise to write and raise some hell on Snape which sounded a very good idea to Harry but he was sure Hermione would disapprove. Dobby then 'popped' Harry to Privet Drive where the Grangers would pick him up. As he sat waiting for the Grangers to arrive Harry couldn't help but wondered what fate had in store for him this year.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. This chapter concludes the summer holiday between the second and third year so next chapter will be the start of Harry and Hermione's third year at Hogwarts. I have some ideas that I'm working with so look forward to reading them. See you all in two weeks for the next chapter.