"Remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall."

-Mahatma Gandhi

35

Capturing a Murderer

The tree where Harry had left Draco was silent, though he was sure he could hear a faint breathing in the near pitch-black darkness. He extended his right hand where he remembered his friend to be and grabbed the Invisibility Cloak, pulling it off to see that Draco was still unconscious.

"We've been gone for a long time," Harry said worried. "Do you think he's okay?"

Lupin bent down to inspect the blond boy. He took off the bandage and checked the back of his head. "I think he'll be just fine, but we have to take him to the Hospital Wing."

"Mobilicorpus!" He exclaimed softly, flourishing his wand. Draco's unconscious body was lifted a few inches from the ground, and they made their way toward the castle in the gloom.

Though they said nothing to each other, Harry had many questions running through his head. But he knew this wasn't the time to ask. He concentrated instead on getting Draco the mediacal attention he needed.

Past the cold-enhancing Dementors and the sleeping students and professors, they proceeded in the direction of the Hospital Wing. Once there, Harry knocked noisily on the closed doors. "Hello? Madam Pomfrey?"

He could hear feet shuffling on the other side and then the door was opened to a woman in her houserobe, clutching at the fabric near her chest. Her hair was in disarray and her eyes were weary. She opened the door and allowed them to enter, muttering under her breath about the late hour.

Draco was placed on a bed and Madam Pomfrey checked out his wound, before scurrying away. When she came back she slowly poured a thick, purple potion into his mouth, making sure that it went down without him choking. With her back facing Lupin and Harry, who were standing a few feet from the bed, she asked, "What happened to his head and why is he covered in twigs and dirt?"

"He hit his head on a tree," Harry disclosed quietly.

Madam Pomfrey glanced back at him quickly, and her eyes seemed to convey the question of What were you doing outside so late at night? but Lupin added, "Don't worry, Madam Pomfrey, I have it covered."

A few minutes later, she told them that Draco would be all right, and that she had given him Essence of Murtlap, which will help him heal faster. Madam Pomfrey then handed Harry a tiny bottle and told him to dab on some of potion at night to heal the cuts on his face. Harry and Lupin thanked her, said they were sorry for waking her so late, and then they departed, making their way downstairs.

"Professor, are you sure about this?" Harry murmured, staring at the marble floor. "About Black, I mean? And Pettigrew as Scabbers?"

"Harry, I understand that the information was a lot to take in for one night, but I know Sirius is telling the truth," Lupin emphasized. "And I also know that either way you won't believe me or him until you get Peter."

Lupin stopped on the stairs between the third and second floors and turned to look at Harry. "Tell Mr. Malfoy and your other friends that I gave you detention for being outside, which I should anyway but I won't, and that I felt being hit in the head was bad enough for him. With your Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map, go to Gryffindor common room, find and capture Peter. Keep him hidden in your room."

"How am I going to keep him in my dormitory? Won't he change into a man once he realizes why I caught him?"

"Come," Lupin stated, moving down the steps. "I'll give you a small cage."

Harry followed his professor into his dark office. Lupin flicked his wand at a torch, which faintly lit up the room. As he rummaged through some cages in the corner of the room, Harry uttered, "You said that my dad could turn into a stag."

"Yes," Lupin said, "that's why I was pleasantly surprised that your Patronus was one."

"So my father, Black, and Pettigrew are all Animagi," stated Harry.

Lupin brought over a small, metal cage, placing it at the corner of his desk. "They did it for me, they went through the whole, tedious process of reading books, gathering information, and practicing non-stop for me. You see, in our third year, they found out that I was a werewolf and they wanted to make my stay here at Hogwarts to be more, er, comfortable."

"They didn't know before that that you were a werewolf?"

"Of course not. I was determined that no one would find out. Werewolves have never been accepted in Wizarding society, so I thought I would never be able to attend Hogwarts. When I got the letter, I was ecstatic – actually, I would have to say that's an understatement – that Professor Dumbledore was allowing me to come. The Womping Willow and the Shrieking Shack are both there because of me. I needed somewhere to go when it was a full moon, some place that the other students wouldn't be able to get into easily. When the Hogsmeade villagers believed violent ghosts were inhabiting the Shrieking Shack, Dumbledore encouraged it. He couldn't let anyone find out that there was a werewolf student at Hogwarts.

"And I didn't want James, Sirius, and Peter, who were really my first and only friends, to find out either. I thought if they found out that they would hate me for what I was," continued Lupin, his eyes lowered. "So I told them that I had a sick grandmother that I had to visit every month, but evenutally they uncovered my secret, and they didn't hate me or cast me aside, like I had thought. In fact, they wanted to help, so they became Animagi."

There was a hint of a smile on Lupin's face. "They became full-fledged Animagi in our fifth year and the possibilities of what we could do or where we could go were endless. We went everywhere in the castle and on the grounds, and we took all that information and made the Marauder's Map with it."

"Wasn't it dangerous that they were traveling with a werewolf?" Harry asked, leaning against the side of the armchair in front of Lupin's desk, his curiosity blooming.

"It was indeed exceedingly dangerous," Lupin said, resting against the edge of his desk, "especially since the Wolfsbane Potion didn't exist then. Sirius, James, and Peter were in the company of a full werewolf every month, but we were niave and thought that nothing could hurt us. And believe me there were plenty of near-misses where I almost bit them or hurt them, but we just laughed it off later on."

"Does Dumbledore know that Black and Pettigrew are Animagi? That my father was?"

"No, I…I never told him," Lupin answered. "I know I will have to now when we explain how Peter has been hiding from us for nearly thirteen years. I felt like I was betraying his trust, in a way. He let me go to school here and yet I was running around with three unauthorized Animagi as a werewolf. Now he's given me a job, so I still don't want to tell him. I guess I'm just worried of what he'll think of me. I still haven't changed from the teenager I was."

"Professor Dumbledore shouldn't think badly of you. He'll understand why you didn't want to tell him," Harry supposed, trying to make Lupin feel better. "He always understands. If you tell him the truth, then he'll appreciate your honesty."

" 'Suppose so," Lupin muttered, before laughing genuinely. "I'm getting advice from a thirteen-year-old."

"I am not just a thirteen-year-old," Harry joked.

"You're right," Lupin added, smiling. "You're my late friend's son."

A large grin spread across Harry's face.

"Well, it's getting late, Harry, so you should be on your way." Lupin handed him the cage. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Professor," Harry said, holding the cage and opening the office door.

Just as he was about to softly close the door, his professor called, "Wait!" Harry glanced back inside the room to find Lupin sitting behind his desk. "The Gryffindor password is Credo Amicitia*. And you should put on your Invisibility Cloak to walk back. Professor Snape is on curfew duty tonight."

Harry nodded as a thank you.

-------

"How're you feeling?" Harry asked as Draco came over to his armchair.

"I'm perfectly fine. It was just a bump on the head," Draco answered, as if nothing had happened. He glanced around the room and then looked back at Harry. "Did we get in trouble? Did anyone find out?"

"Yeah, Lupin found us. He heard me trying to drag you up the stairs toward the Hospital Wing," Harry said, half-lying. "But he told me to tell you that you won't be getting detention for being outside after curfew, like I am, because he felt being in the Hospital Wing and being hit in the head was bad enough."

Draco sat down, slumping slightly in the chair. "Well…sucks for you."

"Thanks, Draco," Harry replied sarcastically. "Next time, I'll leave you outside."

"You better not!" Draco added, "Anyway, being outside as an Animagus was bloody fantastic! I don't care if we got caught, we have to do that again."

"But we have to be more careful. If we do get caught again, the punishment will be much more severe. I don't think you want to be suspended again."

"No, definitely not."

Harry told both Draco and Blaise, who came over a few minutes later, that he had detention that night at seven pm, so as the time rolled around, he went to his dormitory to to grab some necessary items.

As he unlocked his trunk and pulled open the lid, he realized that he was acutally going through with it. He was going to capture Scabbbers, formerly known as Peter Pettigrew. He was not completely sure he trusted Black, despite what Lupin had told him. And although it was true that the harmless dog he had seen a few times was Sirius Black, and that he could have killed him numerous times but hadn't, he was still unsure about the escaped man.

Harry pulled out his Invisibility Cloak, feeling the gentle fabric against his skin and placed it in his pocket, followed by his reliable Conglomerate Stone.

Walking up the stairs, past the flittering torches that created long, broken shadows on the steps, Harry realized that his palms were sweaty and his legs felt unsteady. There was a nervous, almost sick feeling in his stomach and his heart was beating rapidly in his chest.

However, as he advanced toward the Gryffindor Tower under the Cloak, pushing his physical sensations aside, he genuinely hoped Scabbers was in the Gryffindor common room and not scurrying around the castle, and that he also wasn't in Weasley's robe pocket. That most certainly would be a difficult feat having to take the little creaure from the Gryffindor's pocket. He realized he should have taken his Marauder's Map, but he was nearly at the seventh floor and didn't want to turn back.

Once in front of the bored-looking Fat Lady, who was resting her chin on her left hand, Harry took off the Cloak, keeping it in his hands just in case someone showed up. The Fat Lady looked up, her eyes narrowed in curiosity, as she asked, "Yes?"

"Credo Amicitia," Harry murmured, wondering if she was allowed to prohibit him from entering.

"Very well," she added. "Don't look at me if you're hexed at."

However, Harry wasn't planning on being seen, so he concealed himself with the Invisibility Cloak and pulled open the portait hole, beginning to feel uneasy. He could feel his face becoming flushed at the thought of him tripping over the hem of his Cloak amid so many Gryffindors.

The Gryffindors nearest to the portrait hole looked up, mystified that no one was there, but quickly turned away to continue their conversations, homework, or Chess games. The brightly lit room with burgandy couches, chairs, and wallpapered walls was crowded with laughing and conversing students in lion-emblazoned robes. Much unlike the Slytherin common room, this room was buzzing with cheerful noise and filled with vibrant, jovial students.

Harry inched further into the room, trying not to knock into anyone. He saw that over in the corner, a bunch of fourth and fifth years seemed to be having a Chess tourniment with some younger students cheering their favorites on. By the window, the Weasley twins were persuading a group of first year girls and boys to eat different colored candies, to which some of their faces broke out in boils while others got nosebleeds.

As he glanced around the room, he noticed that neither Weasley nor Granger were present. Were they in their dormitories? He saw that ahead of him was a stairwell, so he made his way over, nearly being walked into by Seamus Finnigan. Harry saw that it divided into two separate stairs, and seeing that a young girl was coming down the left one as she whistled, he walked up the steps to the right. Figuring it went by year, when he got to the third door, he opened it graudally to find that Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom were at the trunks in front of their beds, putting away books and inkbottles. Harry moved into the room to stand near one of the windows.

With an inquisitive glance at the door, Longbottom closed his trunk and sat atop it as Weasley dropped a large book into his trunk with a thud. "I didn't want to mention anything with Hermione around," Weasley muttered, his back still turned, "because she never believes anything I say, but when I was coming back from my detention with McGonagall—"

"Did she mention why she gave you the detention?" Longbottom interupted.

"Saw me falling asleep in class. Hermione probably would've woken me up, but she just…disappeared," Ron stated, turning to face Longbottom. "Anyway, I finished organizing a cabinet of records around nine, so that sod Filch let me leave, but just as I got to the first floor, I heard the front doors openings, so I stayed to see who it was. But I didn't see anyone, though I could've sworn I heard Potter's voice."

"Are you sure the doors didn't open because of the wind?" Longbottom inquired. "That also could've been the sound you heard."

"No, Neville, I'm sure it was Potter. He must've been under that Invisibility Cloak of his. Come on, you've gotta believe me."

"All right, I believe you, but what does it matter? It already happened, there's nothing you can do about it?"

Weasley scratched his head, slightly messing up his bright red hair. "I guess you're right, mate."

Hearing Weasley's little tale, Harry realized he would have to be extremely careful next time he and Draco went outside to transform. If Weasley heard his voice again, he might go to a professor, and if he goes to the right, or wrong, professor, they might inquire as to where he is and then see that he's not in the common room. It could lead to consequences he doesn't want to face.

Weasley, his ears a bit red, continued, "I just hate that he's running around this place like he owns it, going out after hours, even with Black in hiding. He's such a—"

The nearly closed door was forcibly pushed open by a bushy-haired girl, whose cheeks at the moment were flushed. Granger said loudly, "Ron, where did you put my robe?"

"What—what are you taking about?" he asked, bewildered. "Are you even allowed in here?"

"My robe! Yesterday, I was wearing a robe, like I do everyday, like everyone in this school does, but I took it off when we got to the common room and I remember you moving it. Where'd you put it?"

"Hermione, calm down," Longbottom spoke quietly.

"It's just a robe," Weasley added. "What's so special about a robe?"

"There's something very important in one of the pockets! I need to find it, and you, Ronald, are going to help me locate my robe!" Granger bellowed, reaching forward to grab the front of his robes in an attempt to drag him forward.

However, he managed to stop her by prying her hands off with quite some force, and, with hands raised, palms facing her to prevent her from coming any closer, said, "Hermione, we'll find your bloody robe. Just let me get Scabbers first." Harry turned quickly from the exasperated Granger to watch Weasley walk to his bed to pick up the nestled rat sitting at the end of his bed. He couldn't believe he hadn't seen the little creature positioned there. It would have saved him a lot of time, but now he would have to follow Weasley and the others, waiting until the right time.

Placing Scabbers in his robe pocket, Weasley muttered, "Now we can find your stupid robe." Granger turned on her heel and hurried out of the room, slowly followed by the chubby boy and the red-head, who added under his breath, "Why can't she find her robe on her own?"

As Harry left the room, trailing his former friends, he realized that if he had been sorted into Gryffindor House, this would be his dormitory. But instead, the place he called home was down in the dungeons.

The noise from the common room became more thunderous as he made his way down the stairs. Harry almost bumped into an older black girl, who he knew to be on the Quidditch team, and then nearly collided with a first year. Granger was sifting through a small group of people who were sitting at the couches near the fireplace, demanding them to stand for a moment and then asking if they had seen a robe anywhere, to which all of them shook their heads.

"Ron, see if you can find it by the tables over there," Granger called to Weasley, who was standing off to the side with Longbottom. "Neville, make him look for it."

Longbottom sighed heavily as he turned from glancing at Granger to Weasley. "Let's just search for her robe." Weasley nodded and they went toward an occupied table to rummage through the papers and people.

Harry glanced around the crowded room, thinking of a way to distract Weasley in order to get him to take Scabbers out of his pocket. However, the likelihood that he would take the rat out instead of just leave him there was slim to none.

Only one thing worked in his favor. As Harry was watching Fred and George Weasley examining the gullible first years, he saw what looked like a black robe sticking out from under one of the couches. He grabbed it when he felt no one was looking and placed it on an armrest, making sure it was in Weasley's sight.

And sure enough, only a minute later, the red-head exclaimed, "Aha!" He flaunted the robe like a prized possession, holding it up to show Longbottom.

"Go show her before she hexs someone, because with my luck, it'd probably be me," Longbottom articulated, his eyes following Granger's form on the other side of the room.

"Hold on, I want to put Scabbers down. If Hermione gets too excited that I found it, she might hug me," Weasley explained, slightly uneasy at the thought, "and I wouldn't want to squash him." He took the furry little creature from his pocket and placed him on a pillow of an unoccupied couch.

Harry watched the two boys make their way towards a distraught Granger, and a second later heard her shriek. But he was now observing the sleeping animal as he headed for it, and with one quick swipe, he grabbed Scabbers, took him under the Invisibility Cloak, and placed him in his left pocket.

Seeing as there was nothing else to do in Gryffindor common room, he decided it was time to leave. He strode warily to the portrait hole and then waited, thinking it would be best to wait for someone to open it first, seeing as he was invisible. But when he heard Weasley's shouts on the other end of the room ("Scabbers! He's gone!"), Harry chose to ignore his concealment and hurried out of Gryffindor tower, relieved he had managed to obtain Scabbers, and thankful he hadn't trip over his hem on the way out.

Now, Harry knew, came the tricky part.

* Credo Amicitia in Latin means to trust or believe friendship.

A/N: With Harry being in the Slytherin common room all the time, it's hard to see what's going on with Ron and Hermione, so I hope you enjoyed this little peak into their side of the broken friendship. As you can see, Ron is a bit more aggressive and cynical than when he was friends with Harry. I tried to show that Ron and Hermione's friendship isn't what it had been before – that it's somewhat strained, though Neville helps when he can. Tell me if you got that, or if you didn't, please!/p

One more thing: I'm sorry, but I won't have time next week to update the story! It's a very busy week and I have a lot of studying to do, but the week after that I will update Wednesday the 24th or Christmas, instead of that Friday. I promise that the next chapter is well worth the wait!! Good luck to the students with finals!

Preview of Chapter 36—A Rat Exposed:

Harry brings Scabbers to Black and Lupin to find that it was Peter Pettigrew all along, and hears more of Black's side of the story…