Year Three

Disclaimer: All of this is based upon the lovely J.K. Rowling's work. I own nothing except for a few non-canon characters to be introduced along the way. All of the paraphrased or direct quotes are from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, text copyright 1999 by J.K. Rowling. This story also borrows and incorporates several ideas from They Shook Hands by Dethryl, which is posted on Schnoogle, and I highly recommend as it is a great fic.

Everything is in the British-English spellings and feel free to Brit-pick.

"blah": dialogue

'blah': thoughts

"blah": Parseltongue

"blah": Legilimency/Telepathy

Chapter Twenty-Four: Semper Fidelius

"I'm so sorry, Holly," Sirius put in as he finished his tale, silvery-blue eyes shiny with moisture. "You'll never know how truly sorry I am. I should've never trusted Peter." He exhaled wearily, obviously waiting for a response of some kind.

Nearby, Tom was blank-faced. His eyes merely flickered back and forth between Holly and the Animagus as he quietly listened. He was suspicious of Sirius and still undecided about the truthfulness of the man's story. However, he trusted his own Mind Magic and Holly's, both of which were urging them to not be so hasty in passing judgment.

Similarly, the girl remained silent. She stared into the distance, absorbing the information she had just been told and processing it carefully. Something in her urged Holly to believe Sirius, to trust him, and her instincts hadn't led her astray yet. But she wasn't quite sure what to say to the man. Truthfully, Holly was far too shocked by what she had just learned to form a coherent reply.

Her parents, Lily and James, had been betrayed by someone they had trusted, by their friend. They had thought that the traitor was someone else… was Remus, though Holly couldn't fathom why they would think that. Her parents had wanted Sirius to be their Secret Keeper, but he had them choose differently. He had told them that it was the ultimate bluff, a feint to throw off Voldemort and his followers. Everyone would assume that Sirius was the Secret Keeper and would go after him, while the real one remained safely concealed.

It was the perfect plan but with only one small glitch. While the Fidelius charm was powerful protection magic, it could still fail.

After all, it was only as strong as the Secret Keeper's will.

It was ironic, really. Her parents had changed Secret Keepers to the very man who would be their doom.

And to think, she had discussed this very spell with Professor Flitwick. In fact, it had been the reason she had first sought him out.

Fate had a way of coming full circle. As it had now with Sirius.

"I'm sorry, Holly," the Animagus repeated, now standing in front of her. "After Hagrid took you from me, I didn't know what else to do. Peter was still out there. He was a danger to you, and no one else knew it." Sirius gazed at Holly, willing her to look back at him. "He knew where Petunia lived. He could show up at any time… so I went after him. I hunted him down, but he tricked me."

His face took on a far away look as his mind slipped into memory. Holly finally glanced up at him, while Tom merely listened off to the side.

"When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James," Sirius said softly, his tone full of suppressed emotion. "Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back. Killed everyone within twenty feet of himself… and then sped down the sewer with the other rats." The man sighed heavily. "He cut off his finger just before and left it so that everyone would think that I killed him… that I killed them all."

He trembled then, faintly at first, but it only seemed to grow. His hands shook, despite his best efforts to rein them in. But no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't stop shaking.

"I didn't do it," he whispered, even as he trembled. "I was always loyal to your parents. I never betrayed James and Lily. I'd have died before I betrayed them." He sniffed, eyes very bright. "Please, believe me."

Holly simply looked at him, reaching out with her mind. She gently ghosted his thoughts, which were clouded and shielded. Still, she didn't detect any lies or deceit. The girl only found absolute sincerity. She had been right about him earlier.

Sirius didn't want to harm her at all. He was telling the truth.

Holly pulled her mind away a moment later, nodding slowly. "I believe you." She smiled at him, and he returned it.

"Thank you," Sirius croaked. He reached for her hand, grasping it within his own rough one, and he moved to sit down next to her.

Tom continued to watch from the side, and a strange emotion surged through him, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He was sceptical, but Holly seemed to truly believe the Animagus. Tom knew he could trust her judgement, but still, he had several questions that needed to be answered.

The teenager rubbed his hand over his chin thoughtfully. "Why didn't all this come out at your trial?" Tom asked after a moment, and the other two glanced at him.

At Sirius' pained expression, Holly inserted, "Wait. Let me guess. You didn't have a trial." She gave his hand one final squeeze before releasing it.

The man shook his head. "No, why would I? Everyone already knew I was guilty. They knew I was the Secret Keeper, so they just threw me in Azkaban. They didn't even bother to question me with Vertiserum."

"What about Remus?" Tom inquired, folding his arms over his chest. "Couldn't he have helped you? Surely, you told him… or better yet, why wasn't he the Secret Keeper?"

Sirius' head swivelled to face the teenager, and he grimaced, rubbing at the crick in his neck. "You know Remus?"

His eyes returned to Holly. There was an odd flash of thought in his mind, but it was gone in an instant.

"But you live with the Dursleys. How could you know him then?"

The girl sighed. "I met him in Diagon Alley just before first year, but not many people know that… certainly not the Dursleys." His still confused expression, she elaborated, "I sort of recognised him, and we've been writing ever since."

Sirius didn't really know what to say to that, so he remained quiet. Tom, on the other hand, continued his earlier line of thought.

"From what Holly's said about Remus," the teenager went on, "he seems far more trustworthy than Peter, so why not make him the Secret Keeper instead? You did say he was your friend as well."

The man shifted uneasily, his eyes becoming dull. "Yes, but I also mentioned a traitor. We thought it was him… was Remus," Sirius said with a bizarre hitch in his voice.

"Why would you think that?" Holly asked, not really liking where this was going.

The Animagus frowned noticeably, his skin pulled tight on his forehead. A torrent of emotions flashed across his face, going far too fast to be deciphered. His mouth opened and then promptly closed. He seemed to be debating himself about something, but his mind was too chaotic for Holly to determine what.

"Why did you think it was him?" she repeated, green eyes glowing.

Sirius grimaced but eventually decided that honesty was still the best policy. "We thought it was him because…" He hesitated. "You see, Remus… is a werewolf. Has been since before we went to Hogwarts," he added very calmly, like he hadn't just revealed something earth shattering.

Tom and Holly both froze.

"A werewolf?" she repeated dazedly. "I…" she trailed off, blinking up at Sirius.

Unexpectedly, Tom chuckled, and the other two turned to stare at him.

"You've the most unusual friends, Holly. I mean, first an escaped criminal and now a werewolf, not to mention the rest of us." He snickered to himself, actually sounding amused. "It's like the more peculiar the person, the more likely you are to befriend them." He continued to laugh for several more minutes.

Holly blinked again, coming out of her daze. "Well… I suppose you're right," she conceded, thinking of her other unusual friends.

There was Blaise, child of a supposed Black Widow, and Draco, a Death Eater's son. Plus, let her not forget Luna, a Mind Mage. Of course, there was Tom himself, who was an alternate version of Lord Voldemort. Now that Holly thought about her situation, she did find it rather amusing, too.

Sirius merely looked at them, not entirely getting the joke. "So…" he began uncertainly, surprised by how well they seemed to be taking this, "you're not really bothered by it."

"Er… it's a bit of a shock," Holly admitted with a shrug, brain still caught up on her parents to really register what she had learned about Remus, "but not really. He should be safe as long as it's not the full moon, and I assume that he locks himself up then. Plus," she realised a second later, "he's your friend, and you apparently knew and trust him. And besides, he did go to Hogwarts with you. That means Dumbledore also knows."

Tom added ironically, "And if you can't trust Dumbledore, who can you trust? He obviously allowed Remus in school, so he couldn't have been too worried."

Truthfully, Tom was only a bit squeamish about the idea of a werewolf as an associate, but people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. He could hardly complain about a Dark creature when he was the Dark Lord. Besides, he was of the school of thought that Dark wasn't evil and a follower of the Old Ways to boot. Both were belief systems that didn't discriminate against lycanthropes.

"Dumbledore does know," Sirius stated in his somewhat croaky and disused voice. "We did trust him… mostly. It's just that-" He shook his head. "We knew someone close to the Potters was leaking information, and it wasn't me. So that only really left two others after Lily's best friend died. It simply never occurred to us that it could be Peter; he just didn't seem the type. When we were in school, he practically hero-worshipped James and me."

The man's eyes dulled completely, and he ran a tired hand over his face. A moment ticked by and then another, but he didn't add anything else. Holly was about to interrupted the silence when he finally spoke again.

"Remus," Sirius stumbled over the name, "just seemed more likely, and not only because he was a werewolf. He was smart, the top student in our class, and rather sneaky when he needed to be – first rate Slytherin material at times."

Tom and Holly raised eyebrows at this, but he didn't seem to notice.

"I guess he had to be to keep everyone from finding out about his condition," the man said very calmly, as though talking about nothing more important than the weather.

Still, Holly had the distinct impression that even remembering this was very painful. There was something about Sirius' thoughts that puzzled her, though she couldn't quite figure out what it was. Regardless, the girl continued to listen intently.

Sirius went on, "He was well liked among our group and was in the perfect position for a lot of information about all of us. Then, there was an incident a few months after you were born." He had the slightest hesitation before continuing. "Remus went missing on assignment. Nobody knew what had happened to him. But a week later, he just turned up again. He said that he'd been captured by Death Eaters but had escaped. At first, we believed him. However, several things didn't add up, and he started acting peculiar afterwards. We couldn't really blame him for the last part, but still, something just didn't seem right."

Sirius ran his hand over his face again, rubbing at his temples. He then shook his head and sighed.

"I just… I can't believe we suspected him. I can't believe I suspected him," he added in a faint whisper that Holly barely managed to catch. "He was our friend. We shared a dorm with him for seven years. He was the mastermind of most of our pranks. Circe, we became Animagi for him."

Holly's head snapped up. "All of you were Animagi? Even my dad?" She paused, thinking it over. "Well, I suppose if both Peter and you were, he was probably one as well."

"A werewolf is only dangerous to humans, so we kept him company as animals. As for James, he turned into a stag," Sirius said, coming out of his funk and smiling vaguely. "That's how he got his nickname Prongs."

The girl eagerly asked, "Nickname? Did everyone else have one, too?"

The man nodded, pleased by how interested she seemed. "Well, I'm Padfoot. And Peter," Sirius growled, all but spiting the name, "is Wormtail."

"What does that make Remus?" Tom asked snidely, rolling his eyes at the names. "The Beast? Howling Avenger?"

But it was Holly that answered, shooting him a displeased look. "He's Moony – for the full moon. Moony." She nodded to herself.

The older Slytherin snorted. "I think they could've come up with something better than that. It doesn't exactly take a genius to figure out he's a werewolf with that nickname, not to mention the fact that he was always gone around the full moon." Tom tilted his nose in the air. "I honestly don't see why more people didn't work it out."

Holly couldn't help but agree, but she did have enough tact not to point that out, immediately stifling her snigger and adopting a neutral expression. Meanwhile, Sirius shot a glare at the boy, clearly unhappy with what he had just said. The man was about to retort when something finally occurred to him, causing him to stop short.

"Who are you?" Sirius questioned, eyeing the teenager. He once more noted that Tom was partially transparent, though only barely.

Holly and Tom shared a subtle glance along with a wordless mental exchange. She raised an eyebrow at him, while he frowned. She nodded, but he made a sharp slashing motion with his hand. Finally, he sighed heavily, and she smirked.

Sirius simply watched, wondering why it was so hard to answer such a simply question.

"I apologise for not introducing him earlier," Holly finally replied with a faint gleam in her eyes. "This is Tom." Her smirk deepened. "He lives in my diary."

The Animagus blinked. "Er… that's a new one."

"It's a long story," Tom inserted before she could say anything else. "A very long story. All you need to know is that I can enter the diary at will and leave it much the same."

Sirius nodded, secretly wondering about Holly's life. "So… what do we do now?"

The girl considered the question. "Well, the day after tomorrow the Zabinis are coming to get me. Tom and I will spend the rest of the summer with them."

"Zabinis?"

She explained, "My friend Blaise and his family."

"What about me?" Sirius asked with bated breath. "I mean, I'd like to-"

"Come with us," Holly interrupted. "I'll just have to explain to Blaise after we get there."

Sirius' eyes widened. "No, don't. Don't tell him anything." He shook his head emphatically. "It's too risky."

Tom snorted. "Well, she can't not tell him. That's like asking her not to breathe," he put in with a slight sneer.

Holly inclined her head. "True," she allowed. "That's very true." She turned back to the Sirius. "I have to. I know that he won't betray your secret; I trust him with my life. Besides, he can help," she finished.

After a moment, Sirius nodded rather reluctantly, but he remained silent. Truthfully, he wasn't really sure what to say. After all, what could someone in his situation say to make it all right? What should he say? How should he beg her forgiveness for being gone so long? For not being there when she needed him the most?

There had to be an answer, something he could say to make it better.

He just didn't know what.

The next morning, Holly awoke very slowly with only a hint of lingering stiffness. She ordered breakfast from the innkeeper when he knocked on her door and was provided with enough to more than feed both Sirius and her with half of it still left over. She showered and dressed next, while her male companions kept each other entertained in the room proper. The girl wasn't entirely sure what they did or said, but a great deal of the tension between the two was gone when she rejoined them.

Afterwards, Holly insisted that she go out into Diagon Alley, and though neither of her companions was very pleased with it, they finally agreed. Tom transfigured Sirius back into the statuette, as there was a risk he would be discovered if left behind, before he went back into his diary. Finally, about an hour after she woke up, Holly left her room and ventured downstairs.

She greeted the innkeeper, who beamed toothlessly at her, and inquired about sending a message to the Zabinis since Hedwig was currently with them. She wanted to let them know that they would have to pick her up there instead of at Privet Drive, but Tom the elder told her that they had already been informed about her stay at the Leaky Cauldron, although they didn't know why, and that they would arrive tomorrow morning.

The Slytherin thanked him and left, arriving at the gateway a moment later. It was easy enough to enter since she had watched Hagrid do it two years earlier, memorising his motions for future reference. The Alley itself was just like she remembered, though the crowds looked more subdued than before. Holly attributed it to the fact that the supposedly insane Sirius Black was on the loose, and her suspicion was all but confirmed when she noticed the close watch the shopkeepers were keeping on her as she ambled down the street.

Apparently, the Ministry had instructed them to do so.

Regardless of the myriad of eyes on her throughout her wanderings, the Slytherin still managed to enjoy her trip. She went to Madam Malkin's and a few other clothing stores, picking up a number of robes, dresses, etc. Then, she sauntered over to the Apothecary, refilling her Potions kit and obtaining several other ingredients the owner recommended. Holly picked up her parchment, ink, and quills next and was on her way to the bookstore when a group of people in a shop caught her attention. She strolled inside and over to the edge of the crowd, peering around a taller boy.

Just in front of her, mounted on a newly erected podium, was the most beautiful broom Holly had ever seen. It was smooth and streamlined with an almost golden sheen and perfectly aligned birch twigs in the tail, and even from several feet away, she could feel the tingle of magic in it… feel its desire to be in the sky, flying as fast as it could.

Around her, Holly could hear the various members of the crowd exclaiming that it was a prototype, the fastest broom in the world, and so on. She titled her head to the side to get a better look, actually managing to read the nearby sign when a particularly large witch stepped out of the way.

THE FIREBOLT

This state-of-the-art racing broom sports a stream-lined, superfine handle of ash, treated with a diamond-hard polish and hand-numbered with its own registration number. Each individually selected birch twig in the broomtail has been honed to aerodynamic perfection, giving the Firebolt unsurpassable balance and pinpoint precision. The Firebolt has an acceleration of 250 mph in ten seconds and incorporates an unbreakable Braking charm. Price on request.

Exhaling, the Slytherin all but gaped at it for a few more minutes before managing to pull herself away.

With one final look, she headed off to Flourish and Blotts, which thankfully was Lockhart-free this year. She pulled out her list and wandered over to a cage full of The Monster Book of Monsters, which were snapping and snarling at one another. A manager came over a minute later, obviously peeved when he saw what she was looking at, and pulled on a thick pair of gloves. However, the pushy man gave an audible sigh of relief when she told him that she already had a copy and was happy enough to answer her question about how to open it.

His good cheer continued as he handed Holly her three other course books, noticing that she was impressed by the size of her Arithmancy and Ancient Runes volumes. Of course, she had to give a small laugh at one of the books from the Divination table as it featured a black dog that looked very similar to Sirius. The manager called the canine a Grim, mistaking her facial expression for unease. The girl simply shrugged at that and picked up several additional books, including the one on death omens, despite the manager's objections.

Luna, at least, would get a kick out of it.

Holly finished off her shopping with a quick stop at the candy store and the joke shop before heading back to her room. There, Tom transfigured the Animagus back into a regular dog and helped his friend shrink her things and organise her trunk. The rest of the day was spent in relative ease as Holly and Sirius talked and learned about each other with occasional comments from Tom when he wasn't absorbed in one of her new books.

Holly spoke mostly about her time at Hogwarts, a few of her less dangerous escapades, her friends, and being Seeker on the Quidditch team. Sirius, in turn, talked of his own schooldays, telling her about several of the pranks he and his friends had pulled. Altogether, it was a rather nice conversation, though it didn't occur to the girl until much later that she had neglected to mention she was a Slytherin. However, truthfully, the man hadn't asked either.

That evening, they transfigured Sirius a few clothes to go with the shirt and pants Tom had made him the night before to sleep in. They were simple but serviceable and much better than his prison robes.

Further, Holly used her wand to great effect, trimming his hair. It was something she saw as a necessity, especially since he had spent almost an hour attempting to detangle his long mane after his bath. It was now roughly shoulder-length, though it was still a bit greasy and stringy from years of neglect. Sirius himself took care of his beard, now completely clean shaven, and that simple act made him look years younger, much closer to his true age.

The only real problems he had left to deal with were his teeth and supreme thinness. His mouth he would take care of in the morning, and a few weeks of regular meals would cure his emaciation with a little help from a few potions. Regardless, he looked much better than before, and his transformation from half-starved criminal to semi-respectable looking wizard was nothing short of miraculous.

The next day, the three of them were up and about at sunrise. The Zabinis were supposed to arrive at eight, and Holly could barely contain herself. While she had missed all the members of the family, it was Blaise that she longed to see the most. He was her best friend, so it was understandable that she would miss him greatly. Still, it almost felt like there was more to it than that. She missed Luna, Draco, and all the others, but not the way she missed Blaise. And she couldn't quite figure out what was different.

Shaking her head at that, she set about getting rid of the extra bed Tom had made for Sirius and packing her things, which had mysteriously become scattered about her room the night before. The Slytherin was just about finished with only her Pocket Sneakoscope left, but she couldn't seem to find it anywhere. Already, Holly had already been searching for five minutes, and she knew for a fact that it wasn't in her trunk as Tom had been looking at it the night before. The girl had a sneaking suspicion that he had done so to confirm that Sirius was indeed trustworthy, not that she could really blame him for his scepticism.

Nevertheless, Holly was becoming rather frustrated. In fact, she was on the verge of asking Sirius, who was spelling his teeth back to some semblance of normalcy with her wand, to summon it. The girl was in the process of doing so, growling to herself and fiercely wishing that she could just find the blasted thing…

When like magic, there it was. The Sneakoscope all but flew out from under the bed, landing neatly in the palm of her hand. Both of the male occupants of the room instantly whirled around, eyes riveting to her and all but demanding an explanation.

However, one wasn't forthcoming.

The unexpected tingling in Holly's brain immediately let her know that her telekinesis was once more making itself known, but she wasn't about to say that. Her magic had settled some directly after the Marge incident, but apparently, it was back in full force now, churning throughout her. Still, she really couldn't say anything about it at the moment as only one of her companions had any idea what was going on. It wasn't that she distrusted Sirius, but her Mind Magic was something very personal that she had only shared with her closest confidants. Plus, she wanted to get to know the man a bit better before she dropped the bombshell.

As such, she merely brushed off the incident, pointedly ignoring the anxious looks she was receiving. Tom picked up on her unspoken message and went back to his book, occasionally glancing at her over the top. Sirius just continued watching for several more moments, a strange and thoughtful expression on his face.

By the time eight rolled around, everything was in order, though there was an edge of tension to the room. Holly was practically dancing from foot to foot, a rather unusual thing for her, as she tried to contain both her magic and her excitement at seeing Blaise again. Nonetheless, she did finally settle down when Tom threatened to force feed her one of the Calming draughts they had brewed earlier in the summer. Putting on her best Slytherin mask, she did the final checks on all her trunk, making sure everything was in place. Sirius was already in miniature form, tucked into a pocket of her robe, and Tom was just about to enter the diary.

Nodding to herself, Holly was all ready to head downstairs when there was a loud knock on the door. Tom instantly disappeared as the girl motioned to him and wandered over to the entrance, wondering who it could be. She reached out with her mental senses as she opened the door, but the entire exercise became rather moot when she was immediately grabbed, arms circling around her. Surprise surged through her, but she successfully conquered the impulse to struggle as she realised just who her attacker was. Her magic, which had blazed up at her shock, instantly calmed.

"Hi, Blaise," Holly said, though her voice was rather muffled due to the fact her face was pressed into the boy's shoulder.

"Holly," he breathed, squeezing her even tighter. The girl was about to protest, claiming that she needed air, when he pulled back to look at her. "I'm so glad that you're all right. I was so worried."

"I'm fine, Blaise. Perfectly fine," she replied, smiling up at him and belatedly noticing that he had grown over the summer. Holly glanced over to the side, noting the other person there. "Hello, Mr. Zabini… Dante."

She moved to greet him, but Blaise held her tight.

"Hello, Holly," the older male returned, beaming at her as she finally extricated herself from Blaise.

But instead of shaking her hand, Dante gave her another embrace. Holly flushed with embarrassment and more than a hint of happiness, but she didn't have time to do much of anything else as Blaise immediately grabbed her hand and led her back into her room. The door clicked shut behind his father, and her friend led her to the bed, all but pushing her to sit on it and moving down next to her.

"Are you sure that you're fine, Holly," the boy inquired with concern, carefully looking her over. "The Auror sent us a message, saying that you had runaway from the Dursleys, and I can't see you doing that unless something awful happened."

Holly's lingering blush turned an even deeper red. "Er… not really. Look, I'll explain after we leave. I don't want to repeat myself, and Eren's sure to ask as well," she deftly brushed off the rest of the conversation, not really wanting to explain and citing the fact that she'd only have to tell everything again.

The others seemed to accept this, backing off.

Knowing they weren't about to get more out of her, Blaise questioned. "Well, then… are you ready to go, Holly?"

"Yes, we must be going," Dante added, shrinking her trunk and stowing it in his pocket. "Eren's told me that she has exciting news to share, and she wouldn't tell us until you came."

Holly lounged on Blaise's bed that evening. She had been right when she had thought that she would only have to repeat her tell of woe, and the brief respite she been allowed had given her the opportunity to get it straight. She couldn't exactly mention Tom's part in all of it or Sirius', so the girl was forced to abbreviate her story quite a bit. She had basically told them that she'd had an argument with Vernon's sister and that she had left when Marge seemed ready for violence. Tom, the tattle-tell that he was, had unfortunately told Blaise a more complete version, including the part about her broken wrist.

The only thing he left out was mention of Sirius as Holly didn't feel it was the proper time yet, especially with so many people popping in and out all day. Tom had actually been forced to remain in his diary most of the morning and afternoon since the other members of the family and the house-elves had been around, and he was only now able to come out. Regardless, the two had agreed to tell Blaise the entire story after nightfall when there would a lower chance of them being overheard.

Aside from the last two points, Holly's day had been hitch free and rather enjoyable, especially with the fact that Eren Zabini had some interesting and exciting news of her own.

"I can't believe your mum is having another baby," Holly said, leaning against the pillows. "And I can't believe she waited until I was there to tell everyone."

Blaise beamed from beside her. "Well, she's sort of like your mum, too, so it's only fair that she announce it when you were here. Though honestly, I can scarcely comprehend it myself."

"It is kind of hard to believe," Tom said from the chair in the corner, his diary nearby just in case someone decided to pop in on them. "Most wizarding families don't have more than three children, if they even get that far to begin with. Truthfully, it isn't that unusual to only have two."

He idly fingered the wand Blaise had found for him, which had once belonged to his grandfather. It wasn't a perfect match, but it was more than acceptable, not to mention that he didn't have any other options.

"I can't really think of anyone with more than that many," the oldest Slytherin added after a second.

"Except the Weasleys," Holly laughed, but then, her face took on a more serious expression.

"Well, they've always been a fertile lot," Blaise put in with a grin of his own. "I think it's part of their family magic."

He continued to smile, only to notice that neither of his friends seemed to be doing the same. Instead, they were exchanging strange looks.

"What?" He eyed both of them. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

"Well," Holly began, turning to him, "not wrong per se."

Her eyes flickered to Tom and then back to the other boy. She took a deep breath before launching into an explanation about their newest addition.

To say that Blaise was shocked was an understatement, but he surprisingly seemed to take the news rather well. All it took was for Holly to say that she believed Sirius' story; her friend trusted her judgement that much. Of course, it was rather hard to lie to someone who read minds, so it was rather understandable.

There was only one part of Holly's story that he really reacted to, except it wasn't anything that had to do with Sirius. When she got to the part about Remus, Blaise violently shuddered, and his thoughts turned oddly blank. But he quickly shook off their questioning expressions and redirected the conversation back to the Animagus. Holly watched him closely but didn't press, deciding to ask him about it later when they were alone.

"We have to tell my parents," Blaise insisted when she had finally finished. "After we explain, they'll be sure to help us."

Tom frowned, twirling his new wand. "I don't think that is a good idea. How would you explain all this?" He paused, thinking it over. "I can just imagine you trying to tell them during breakfast."

Holly nodded. "It'd probably be something along the lines of: 'I'm so happy you're having a baby, Eren. Isn't it wonderful? Oh, guess what. This is Sirius. He's an escaped criminal! And did I mention that he supposedly works for Voldemort? Please pass the toast.'"

"I see your point," Blaise conceded. "But what else did he say? Does he know where Pettigrew is? How did he even escape in the first place?" The boy exhaled slowly. "I mean, Dementors guard Azkaban, and they're supposed to seriously weaken people. That alone should have prevented him from leaving. And for that matter, how did he manage to keep his magic so intact? He's only been out a week or two… at most! Yet, he was recovered enough to cast already."

Holly rubbed her hand over her face. "I'm not sure of the answers to any of those. Sirius hinted that he knows where Pettigrew is, but he won't tells us where," she said, tapping her chin with her index finger. "I tried to read his thoughts, but they were cloudy. I could get enough to know he was telling the truth, but that was about it. Everything else was shielded." She considered the problem.

"Also," Tom picked up the conversation, "he said he would transform in his cell. Dementors don't have the same effect on animals as they do on people. Their abilities are diluted, not as strong, so I suppose as a dog he was protected." He glanced to Holly.

"Apparently, he was visited by Fudge," the girl went on. "I guess you could say that it woke him up, gave him something to focus on… enough drive to escape. Sirius just squeezed through the bars as a dog and swam to shore." She shook her head. "But I'm not certain that's the entire story. It feels like he's leaving something out."

"I agree," Tom inserted, "but there really isn't much we can do about that now. We'll just have to watch and see if he'll let anything slip."

Blaise said, "Or hope that he'll eventually tell us." He sighed. "Where is he now? I suppose that we should to turn him back."

"Here." Holly reached into her robe pocket, producing the little, black dog. "Tom did an extended transfiguration so that we could leave him like that for a few days if need be," she informed her year-mate. "Are you sure you want us to change him back?"

Blaise hesitated for a minute. "Yes, if you say he's trustworthy… then he is. It's as simple as that." He frowned unexpectedly.

"What is it?" Tom questioned, stopping just as he was about to cast. "Did you change your mind?"

The other boy shook his head. "No… I had a quick question though." He rubbed his hand over his cheek.

"Yes?" Holly asked.

Her friend pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well… what are we going to tell Draco and Luna?"

Semper Fidelius: Always Faithful, Always True

AN: Okay, boys and girls, I need a name for Blaise's new brother/sister. I won't tell you what gender as I am not really sure myself yet. I'm willing to be swayed either way since my muse is feeling rather fickle lately, though I'm leaning more towards one than the other. Yes, the baby is a plot point for this story and is actually somewhat important.

Also, things will start to pick up next chapter… finally. They should make it all the way through the summer and back to school. Oh, I know their reactions to Remus are a bit peculiar, but I think they fit with the characters. Tom and Holly are both Mind Mages, so they will tend not to be as prejudiced against others. There is a specific reason for Blaise's reaction, which will come into play later on.

To everyone who reviewed: Thanks.

Special thanks to Our Catholic Faith (online) for the Latin translation.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Draco Demented

Ever Hopeful,

Azar

Updated and Edited:

08/08/10