I don't own Harry Potter.

Hello everyone and welcome back to this story. First of all I wish everyone a happy Easter. Second I wish to thank you all for the reviews and reading of my story.

Not much to say except that there won't be a chapter in two weeks as I have exams of the courses I took for my job. I really need to pass these so I'll be focused to on studying for next weeks. Not to worry the next chapter will be post on schedule after that.

Anyway enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 25: Animagus form and a Patronus

The twins proved to be very powerful allies; they had tons of ideas and were very good at inventing stuff. Though most of the stuff they came up with was prank related Harry and Hermione could see the use in some of them. The twins had told them how they dreamed to open a joke shop once they finished Hogwarts so now was the time to invent their future jokes. The twins also had an excellent knowledge of Hogwarts and knew several secret pathways in and out of Hogwarts. Harry particularly liked the one that let you go to Hogsmeade unnoticed. Hogsmeade was a small Wizarding Town a few miles from Hogwarts. The town had a few shops like Honeydukes (a candy store), The Three Broomsticks (a tavern) and Zonko's (a joke shop) to name a few. Starting with Third year students and up the students were allowed to go to Hogsmeade if they had permission from their parents.

Times passed quickly and before any of them realized it was already December and the Christmas Holidays were right around the corner. McGonagall had asked everyone in Gryffindor if they stayed at Hogwarts or if they went home to be with their family. Hermione would be spending Christmas at Hogwarts once more as her parents were asked to spend the holidays abroad by one of their business partners. She was a bit sad at first but she understood that this was how things worked in the real world; you can't always get what you want. Harry would stay too as he didn't want to be around the Dursleys any more than necessary. The Weasleys all went home as Mrs. Weasley wanted to have a family Christmas especially after what had happened with Ginny last year.

Harry had been contacted by Sirius saying that he finished brewing the Polyjuice Potion and was now making a second batch of it as well. Harry thanked and asked Dobby to bring him a vial of the potion. He and Hermione had finally come up with a way to capture Pettigrew and they would do it soon. They didn't tell Sirius in case it didn't work but they were fairly confident they would succeed. Once they got Pettigrew they would be able to proof Sirius' innocence to Remus and then they could tell him everything.

It was the week before the holidays started and it was now or never if they wanted to grab the dirty little rat. So one night Hermione was hidden under the invisibility cloak inside Harry's dorm waiting for the boys to fall asleep. She helped them a little bit by casting a sleeping spell in the room; she made great care to give both Ron and Scabbers an extra dose. Harry got up and walked over to Ron's bed; the rat was sleeping soundly unaware his life had just taking a turn for the worse. With a strong "Stupefy" Harry stunned the rat and quickly place him into a cage. The cage was charmed to be unbreakable and only had a few holes in it for air supply.

Hermione then took out a dead rat that was the perfect replica of Scabbers and place it next to Ron. Harry had come up with the idea a few days again when he heard the batch of Polyjuice Potion was ready. He had gathered some fur from Scabbers (who had been losing it for months due to stress caused by Sirius' escape) and used it in the potion. He then asked Dobby to catch a rat and they force-fed the potion to it. The rat transformed into Scabbers and Dobby had killed it with a spell locking it in Scabbers form. Hermione had been against it at first since she didn't want to kill a living creature but Dobby had assured her that it wouldn't feel a thing. Leaving the dorm they went downstairs where they met up with the twins and Dobby 'popped' them to the Chamber.

"Did you get him?" The twins asked?

"It went perfectly." Hermione smiled while Harry showed the transparent cage holding Wormtail.

"Excellent." The twins said together.

"Alright let's get him somewhere safe shall we?" Hermione said. They had created a place that could be used as prison cells. The room had 4 cells and was build like Muggle interrogation rooms meaning that there was one wall that was transparent if you stood on the outside but seemed a normal wall from the inside. The room was solid and had no door as they used a special spell that made the door appear and disappear when Harry and Co wanted. They had also place anti-apparation wards so their prisoners couldn't escape. They tossed Wormtail on the small uncomfortable bed and they asked Dobby to hold him after they enervated him.

Peter Pettigrew aka Wormtail aka Scabbers woke up in an unknown location so he was slightly disoriented. Still in his animagus form he suddenly noticed four people and a house elf standing over him. He panicked and tried to run but before he could move an inch he felt his body stiffen and unable to move. The house elf beamed when Harry thanked him for restraining the rat. Harry then turned to the rat in front of him.

"Hello Peter." He greeted. "I'll bet you're wondering what is going on and where you are?"

"First of all let's get you back in human form." Hermione said before nodding to Dobby who flicked his fingers and the rat started to change. A few seconds later a fat little man sat in front of them with a horror struck face.

"Don't worry, we won't kill you." Harry said. "At least not yet."

"That's right; we need you to prove Sirius' innocence after all." Fred said trying to look very intimidating.

"After that, well we'll see how we'll deal with you." George finished.

The four left Pettigrew in the cell and the door vanished right behind them. Dobby released Pettigrew and 'popped' out of the cell as well. Peter looked terrified and started looking for a way out but there wasn't any. The cell was airtight with only a bed and a bedpan at his disposal. He fell on the bed knowing that he was caught; he feared for his life. If Sirius ever found him he would be dead in a few minutes; he knew that much. Perhaps it was for the better; he didn't look forward to spending time at Azkaban. He wouldn't survive very long either but there he would be suffering much more.

Harry quickly wrote three little words on a piece of paper and handed it to Dobby who went to deliver it to Sirius. The four kids then went on with their business as usual; the twins were strengthening their Occlumency while Harry and Hermione worked on their animagus form.

When Sirius read the three words "We got him" on the piece of paper Dobby handed him he smiled. Finally they had managed to capture the man responsible for the death of friends. After all those years of hoping and dreaming they were so much closer to proving his innocence. He knew that they still had to find a way to deliver Wormtail to the authorities and then they still had be willing to accept his confession. But for now Sirius was very optimistic about the future.

The next day Ron found 'Scabbers' and the four kids felt a little bad for causing Ron grief but they knew they didn't have a choice. They comforted him saying that 'Scabbers' had had a long and fulfilling life and that at least the poor creature didn't suffer. Ron nodded knowing that his pet had been acting sick lately but he was still going to miss his little friend. He put 'Scabbers' into the small box Hermione conjured and together they buried him on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

The week before the holidays went fast and now Harry and Hermione were at the Chamber working. Harry was feeling confident that he would manage to transform in his animagus form in the next couple days. He could feel it when he meditated; the leopard had accepted him and it was just a matter of time. So he spends every single moment in meditation wanting to surprise Hermione, Sirius and the twins.

Harry opened his eyes and stared into the beautiful green eyes of his form. Those were the eyes of a predator, someone who's fiercely protective of his family and deadly to his enemies. He could feel the connection between them and smiled at the marvellous creature in front of him. The leopard came closer until it reached Harry and put his head onto Harry's lap; with trembling hands Harry reached out and petted it on the head earning a loud purr of some sort.

He felt his magic connect with the animal and he never felt anything like it. It was addicting, warm and it felt right. When the feeling stopped the leopard raised his head and stared at something behind Harry. Not knowing what was happening Harry looked behind him and tried to see what was going on. Then all of the sudden he felt another presence; just like he had felt when he first found the leopard. There was no mistaken it and his eyes searched the place in order to find where it came from. In the distance he could hear something but it was too far away to recognize it but he had felt were it came from. It was hidden in the trees and just as sudden as it had come it disappeared, leaving Harry and the leopard in the clearing.

Harry blinked and wondered what had happened here. Was it possible for someone to have more than one animagus form? He would have to look into that but right now he turned back to his first form. The leopard hadn't moved an inch and when Harry moved to pet him it sprang up and nuzzled him. Harry laughed loudly enjoying the feeling. The leopard rubbed Harry one last time before its body started to disappear into Harry's.

In the Chamber Hermione was watching Harry after she felt his magic spike for just a second. She saw a smile appear on Harry's face and looked on as slowly Harry transformed into his animagus form. She was flabbergasted by seeing the transformation; it was absolutely brilliant. The process didn't take long and now instead of Harry sat a beautiful leopard. She slowly moved towards it and stopped when it opened its eyes. She was mesmerized by how stunning they were; just like Harry's they were a vivid green and showed intelligence and caring. She raised her hand and was surprised when Harry pushed his head into it. She carefully stroked his head not wanting to hurt him but when she heard him purr she knew she did something right.

Harry was feeling fantastic; the transformation itself had been weird at the beginning but it came naturally and didn't hurt at all. He opened his eyes and was shocked by how clear and sharp everything was. He could see Hermione carefully getting closer and willed himself to move into her touch. It felt kind of weird to be petted like a normal house cat but he enjoyed it. After he let her pet him for a few minutes he wanted to see if he could move freely around the chamber. He stood on all fours and readied himself; first he walked slowly but he increased his speed every few feet. By the time he had crossed half the Chamber he felt confident enough to start running. For ten minutes he ran at different speeds enjoying the feeling of running at high speed. When he started to feel tired he sat down in front of Hermione and tried to change back which wasn't hard at all.

"Oh Harry you did it." Hermione exclaimed grabbing him in a hug. She was so proud of him right now.

"'Mione it was great." Harry said tiredly.

"Come on sit down a bit." Hermione said helping him.

Harry then told her about how he and the leopard had bonded. He also told her about the second presence he had felt shortly before bonding. Hermione was surprised to hear that Harry might have two forms even if she didn't know that was possible. They would have to look into that she realized. Now that Harry had managed his transformation she was eager to reach hers as well. So when Harry said he was going to take a small nap she started meditating.

In the second week of the Christmas holiday Harry and Hermione were seeing Remus to continue their Patronus training. So far both of them had been able to create a very thick mist and Remus had told them that this was already very extraordinary for their age. Of course they weren't happy with being able to conjure a bit of mist so they refused to stop practicing.

"Really, what you guys are doing is already amazing." Remus tried to say.

"We know Professor but we really want to master this spell." Hermione said before trying again.

"Well, remember the stronger the memory the better." Remus sighed. These two were relentless at times like this.

Harry closed his eyes and went over his happy memories. He had been using memories from over the past two years but so far he didn't have any luck. Suddenly he found a good memory; he remembered how he had met his best friend and how happy he felt when he found someone like her to be friends with. Thinking about Hermione filled him with joy and happiness and he knew that this was the memory he needed to perform the Patronus Charm. His eyes snapped open and with a loud roar he yelled out "EXPECTO PATRONUM".

A large flash of light appeared temporarily blinding the three. When they opened their eyes a stag stood in front of them looking at Harry for orders. The stay was fully corporeal and Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing. Remus' jaw was hanging wide open at seeing the familiar form after so many years. Tears sprang from his eyes and he slowly made his way to the Patronus. Hermione was just as impressed and wondered what memory Harry had used so she turned to him and asked him.

"I used the memory of where I met my best friend and how happy that made me." Harry admitted. Hermione smiled softly and gave him a hug before concentrating on that very same memory. She too felt the power of this particular memory and pointed her wand in front of her and yelled out 'EXPECTO PATRONUM". Remus who was still in shock of seeing Harry perform a spell that even adults had trouble with stared in disbelieve as Hermione's Patronus appeared next to Harry's.

Hermione smiled when she saw a white otter next to the stag and Harry congratulated her by giving her a hug in return. They felt very proud of themselves for mastering such a difficult spell and laughed at Remus when they saw him staring at them. They then dismissed their Patronus and sat down; while they had managed to perform the spell it took a lot out of them. Remus whistled loudly and started laughing.

"Well, the two of you sure know how to surprise a man." He laughed loudly. "Well done; both of you."

"We couldn't have done it without your help Professor." Hermione said smiling.

"Nonsense; all I did was explaining some theory. You did all the rest." Remus argued.

"Professor, why did my Patronus look like my father's animagus form?" Harry asked.

"I don't know Harry; it could be a number of reasons." Lupin answered. "Maybe it's because your father represents safety from harm and a Patronus does keep you safe."

"You never told us what your animagus form was Professor." Hermione asked.

"Ah well, that's because I don't have a form." Lupin admitted.

"Is it because you're a werewolf?" Harry asked gently.

"H-How did you know that?" Remus asked scared and worried that they would hate him now.

"We've known for a while now Sir." Hermione said. "You're always gone on days with a full moon and when you get back you're tired and hurt. It didn't take us long to figure out what was going on."

"No point in hiding the truth any more then." Remus sighed loudly. He knew this day would come but he had hoped it would be a bit longer before he was found out.

"Professor you don't have to worry about us telling anyone or hating you." Harry smiled. "We don't judge you like some idiots in the Wizarding World do. You're a friend of my parents and you're a great person. We know that you're not dangerous or Dark."

Remus nodded with a few tears in his eyes and thanked them for their friendship. He then told them how he and the rest of the Marauders had met and how they too had figured out he was a werewolf. He also told them how his friends had tried so hard to become animagus' so they could join him on the day of his transformation. He laughed when he told them about the times they spend together and wished that he could feel that way again even if it was only for a day.

The Christmas holidays reached an end when all the students were back at Hogwarts for the start of the second term. The students were still in holiday spirit so there was a lot of laughing and talking going on. The Great Hall was filled with energy and Dumbledore seemed to love every minute of it while Snape was wishing he was somewhere else. He hated the noise and the cheerfulness of it all. Savoring his meal he took his goblet and drank every last drop of it. When he put the goblet on the table a strange sensation ran through his body and he suddenly felt the unexplainable need to sing and dance.

He jumped up from his chair onto the table making everyone look at him. Everyone was wondering what was happening to the Potion Master. To their surprise Snape's cloths transformed in a chicken costume and he started singing the song of the 'Chicken Dance' while performing the special little dance that came along with it. Every student burst out in laughter and even the teachers were grinning trying not to laugh. After a minute of two, Snape stopped and his cloths transformed back to normal. He noticed everyone staring at him and his face became red in anger and embarrassment. He let out a loud frustrated scream promising to find the ones responsible for this before he stormed out the Great Hall.

"Ah thank you Prof. Snape for that lovely musical intermezzo." Dumbledore said to which everyone started laughing again.

Later that night Harry and Hermione grilled the twins as they were sure that they were the ones who had caused Snape to act that way. At first they denied it but once Fred started to do the dance George admitted that they did it. They had come up with the prank over the holidays and had asked Dobby to administer the potion to Snape's goblet.

"You've got to admit that Snape did have the moves down." Harry laughed.

"He'll be pissed for weeks. Remember how mad he was when everyone kept laughing after hearing about Neville's Boggart?" Fred said picturing Snape in a tutu and shuddered.

"This will be even worse; only our class and the Ravens saw that tutu thing now everyone in Hogwarts saw him dancing."Hermione snickered. Normally she didn't approve of such things but this was just too funny for her. Besides, Harry and the twins had a bad influence on her in that matter.

January turned into February and Harry was ready to confront Remus with the truth. He trusted the man enough to risk it and he was sure that once Remus saw the map he would be convinced. So Harry and Hermione prepared what they would have to say and had Dobby on standby so he could 'pop' Pettigrew (stunned of course) so Remus could see it with his own eyes.

"Hello Prof. Lupin may we have a word with you?" Harry asked when they entered his office.

"Of course come on in." Remus smiled.

"Thank you Sir; please bear with us for a moment." Hermione said before taking her wand and casted a soundproof charm around the office. That way nobody could hear anything that was being said except the people inside. Remus raised an eyebrow at seeing such a spell being performed but went with it.

"Sir, do you trust us to tell the truth?" Harry asked again. "Do you trust us enough to listen to the very end no matter what you might think?"

"And can we trust you not to act without hearing us out first?" Hermione added.

"What is going on here?" Remus asked but he saw that they wouldn't answer until he had answered their questions. "Fine, yes you can trust me on both accounts."

"Very well; Sirius Black is innocent. He wasn't the Secret-Keeper nor did he kill those Muggles." Harry said raising his hand so Remus would wait with commenting. "We do not expect that you believe us without proof so we've brought some with us." Hermione took out the Marauder's Map and activated it in front of Remus showing him that it was the real deal.

"How did you get this? We thought it was destroyed years ago." Remus asked curiously.

"That's not important right now." Harry said shaking his head. "Do you remember how it works?"

"Of course, I was one of the three people who made it." Remus said a bit insulted.

"Then you know the map doesn't lie?" Hermione asked him. Remus nodded in agreement so she continued. "Tell me, what name do you see in the DADA classroom?" Remus looked at the map and froze when he recognized the name.

"That's impossible. This can't be right, is it?" he stammered.

"You just agreed that the map never lies so it must be true." Harry said before calling Dobby who appeared with Pettigrew next to him.

"This is the proof Sirius Black is innocent of the crimes he's accused of." Hermione said placing a hand on the older man's shoulder.

"H-how is this possible?" Remus said dropping to his knees.

Harry nodded to Dobby who disappeared with Pettigrew back to the Chamber. Harry then took a magical oath to tell the truth about Sirius Black and told the same story he had heard from Sirius himself. It took an hour but when he finished Remus was a wreck. He couldn't believe what he had done. For more than a decade he hated the wrong person; instead of believing in his friend he had jumped to conclusions just like everybody else and Sirius had suffered because of it.

"How do you know all this Harry?" Remus asked.

"He told me everything when I met him during the summer holidays." Harry smiled.

"You've seen him? How is he? Is he alright?" Remus asked worriedly.

"You can relax Professor; he's fine and he's been asking about you ever since he heard you were at Hogwarts." Hermione said softly.

"Can I see him? Please I need to apologize to him." Remus carefully asked.

"I'm sorry Professor but until we've proven his innocence we can't have him run around. There's too much at stake." Harry said hating to disappoint the man in front of him. "But if you want you can always write a letter and we'll make sure it's delivered."

"Thank you Harry." Remus repeatedly said already thinking about what he would write.

"Then there's only one last thing to ask." Hermione said to him. Before he could ask what that was Dobby appeared again and 'popped' the three of them to the Chamber.

There Harry explained for the third time already what they had been doing and what they were planning for the future. To say that Remus was shocked was like saying that Ron loved eating; an understatement if there ever was one. His eyes bugged out when the twins arrived halfway through the explanation and waved at him like they were long time friends. Hearing a story such as this would floor a lot of people and Remus seemed to be one of them. Before Harry and Hermione could finish talking Remus fainted.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Did you like how I dealt with Wormtail? I don't know if Polyjuice Potion works on animals but for the sake of the story let's assume it does lol. Anyway any remarks or suggestion are always appreciated.