Soul Scars

by Rtnwriter

What's a girl to do when somewhere out there, there's a boy and every scar he gets appears on her body? When he's being abused? Hermione Granger, for one, is determined to find him and save him. Fourth Year. There's a big event at Hogwarts this year. The DOM is interested in the bonded. Darkness looms, old enemies return to haunt them and new foes make life more difficult.

36. Entrance Denied

Author's Notes: All right, gang. Rotten Writer here, once again, and I've been trying to die for the last couple of weeks, so I'll apologize now if anything's off with this chapter. I'm pretty sure I caught at least most of the spelling or grammar issues but seriously, I've been sick as a dog and I can't keep putting this off any longer. I personally think some parts of the chapter maybe feel a little forced, but that could just be cause I'm not all here. Hopefully all is well. There'll be another little note at the end of this chapter, just for a clarification on one little aspect of it.

Part of the issue I'm having is I keep trying to write slightly smaller chapters, but then I end up saying next chapter is going to include this or that and I end up writing longer just to fit everything in. I'm working on that little habit, I swear. So I'm not gonna promise that next chapter will get to any specific thing, just say I'll be tryingto get it out as soon as I can.

Disclaimer: I still owns nothing. I sad.

Moving on to chapter 35 of Soul Scars. Enjoy gang.

Soul Scars Part Three

The Greengrass Problem

By,

Rtnwriter

The day before Halloween, Harry was up and moving even earlier than usual. He didn't know what woke him, but once his eyes opened, he couldn't even consider going back to sleep. He thought about waking Neville, but decided to let his friend sleep instead.

After dressing quietly in the dark, Harry grabbed his bag and headed downstairs to the Common Room. Once seated in his favorite spot, he idly contemplated what to do with the free time that he suddenly found on his hands while he waited for the others to wake up. He tried skimming his books for more spells to work on. He tried working on his Occlumency. He even considered revisiting his idea from a few weeks earlier, but cringed and forcefully shoved that plan from his mind.

His foolish experiment with a candle flame had not gone well, and the girls had been quite vocal in expressing their displeasure with him over it. Madam Pomfrey had been even less amused when he'd shown up at the Hospital Wing before breakfast the next morning in need of a burn salve. He still didn't feel all the yelling had really been necessary, though. Seriously, an incendio left him with no burns at all, so it wasn't unreasonable to think a candle flame wouldn't be any different. For some reason though, it was different, and he'd burned two of the fingers on his right hand pretty good before he quit his experiment.

He glanced down at his watch and frowned. Ten minutes. It had only been ten minutes since he sat down and it would be at least another hour before anyone else came down. Why did he feel so restless?

Sighing, somewhat irritably, he dug around in his bag until he found and removed a tattered old piece of parchment. Unfolding it, he flattened it out on the table and pressed the tip of his finger to it.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he muttered, then watched as the map revealed itself. In the weeks since receiving the map, Harry had made a point of studying it whenever he could. He really wasn't sure why, but something about watching the many dots moving about in the detailed drawing of the castle just fascinated him. It was a masterpiece of charms work and enchantment, and he felt a swell of pride every time he thought that his had helped to make it.

Hunched over in his chair, his eyes roamed over the map. At such an early hour there was very little activity to be shown. All the students were still asleep in their dorms. Missus Norris, the caretakers cat, was wandering around on the third floor. The Headmaster appeared to be pacing back and forth in his office.

"Doesn't he ever sleep?" Harry wondered aloud before letting his attention move elsewhere. It looked like Professor Lupin was patrolling the fifth floor and-

Harry froze for a heartbeat. His eyes had just moved to sweep across the grounds and, for a moment, barely a fraction of a second, he was sure he'd seen a dot vanishing off the edge of the map inside the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow.

A single dot with a label that read, Sirius Black.

Quickly, he looked back over the map, but the dot was nowhere to be found. Black, if he had actually been there at all, had vanished.

#####

"The question is," Daphne mused some time later after Harry told his friends what he'd seen, "was he coming or going?"

Susan frowned, never at her best right after waking. "Huh?"

"We can only assume that Black knows a lot of the castles secrets. So, was he trying to get onto the grounds and was stopped by the Willow? Or does he know a way to get past that tree, and he was leaving after already being on the grounds, or maybe even inside the castle?"

"How can we assume his knowledge about the castle?" Neville asked.

"Because Black is Padfoot, and he helped make the Marauders map," Hermione pointed out, causing Neville to curse under his breath.

"We need to tell someone about this."

"I'd say that we should go to the Headmaster, but after last year… Susan, what if we sent you aunt an owl?"

"No."

The girls paused in the middle of their discussion to turn to Harry.

"What was that?" Daphne asked.

Harry took a deep breath.

"I said, 'no'. We can't tell anyone about this."

"Why not?"

Harry squirmed a bit in his seat under their scrutinizing stares. "If we tell anyone, they'll try to catch him and he has a kiss-on-sight order, remember, Neville?"

"But… isn't that a good thing?" Susan wondered. "He's a mass murderer, he betrayed your parents."

Harry sighed and stood. "I'm not so sure about that," he admitted as he started pacing.

Neville and the girls exchanged a look. The Room of Requirement had changed into a comfortable sitting room, rather than the mini copy of their corner of the Gryffindor Common Room as it had so many times before. Each of them had been supplied with their own comfortable chair with a low table between them upon which Harry had spread out the map to its fullest extent.

"Okay, Harry, talk to us," Susan told him as they watched him pace nervously in front of the table.

"I can't," he groaned. "Amelia made me promise not to say anything."

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but stopped a moment later when Susan motioned to her to wait. Susan's deep blue eyes were suddenly clear and bright, all trace of her earlier sleepiness gone as she studied the pacing figure of their bond mate intently.

"I'm guessing she said to keep quiet because the Black situation is an ongoing investigation?" she asked.

Harry nodded, and Susan's lips turned up into a smirk.

"Except the situation with Black isn't an investigation. As far as the Ministry, and the general public are concerned, he's a guilty escaped criminal, there's nothing to investigate," she pointed out. "It's not an investigation, it's a manhunt, so if Auntie is investigating something like this, that means she must have some new evidence. Since no Aurors have looked at this case in over a decade, then where did this new evidence come from?"

"It probably came from Harry," Daphne piped up. "With his mother's journals, she must have written something that contradicts the official story about what happened that night."

"But with such a high profile case, any new evidence would have been big news," Hermione mused, thoughtfully.

"Except, remember last year, the Minister had Hagrid arrested just so it could look like they were actually doing something when really they had no idea what was going on," Susan sneered, still furious about that. "If something came up in the Black case that made the Ministry look bad, I can easily believe that Fudge would do his best to cover it up."

"And the thing that would most make the Ministry look bad," Neville added, "would be the possibility that maybe the Ministry locked up an innocent Lord of a Most Ancient and Noble House."

Four pairs of eyes turned back toward Harry, who had stopped pacing and was simply staring at them in open mouthed shock.

"Now," Susan said as another smirk played around her lips, "you can honestly say that we worked it out entirely on our own, so you haven't broken your promise to Auntie Amelia. Would you like to fill in the details that we missed?"

It took several moments for him to come out of his shocked stupor, but eventually he just laughed and shook his head before he started in on the story.

"The long and short of it is, my parents named Sirius as my Godfather."

Neville, Susan, and Daphne sucked in a sharp breath at that and he nodded solemnly.

"I know. In mum's journals, and in some letters she and my dad wrote, they both talked about him going through the Godfather Oaths, but they never say for sure if they actually did it or not. These Oaths would have been sworn on his life and magic to never betray me or do anything that would lead to me being harmed," he added for Hermione's benefit.

"So if he had been your families Secret Keeper," she started.

"Then there's is no way that he could have betrayed the Potters," Daphne finished. "He would have been dead before he got half the address out of his mouth."

"But that is only if he actually took the Oaths," Neville, almost reluctantly, pointed out. "There's no confirmation, either way?"

"None," Harry muttered, shaking his head. "And Amy pointed out that, even if he didn't betray them, that still doesn't explain Pettigrew and the dozen muggles that died. But that whole story just doesn't feel right to me."

"Is my Aunt looking into it?" Susan asked.

"She is, but she's doing it without approval. She was very clear that she could get into a lot of trouble for it. That's why she insisted that I not say anything to anyone about it."

"I'm sorry, Harry, but I still don't see why we don't take this to someone," Hermione muttered. "I understand you want to know what happened, but, innocent or not, he could still be dangerous. Do you think you're going to track him down yourself, or something?"

"I don't know, honestly." Harry sighed and dropped heavily back into his seat. "I just know that if the Aurors catch him, they'll feed him to the Dementors without asking any questions."

Susan was pinching her bottom lip between the thumb and forefinger of her right hand, her brow furrowed in thought. "Harry, could you at least write to Auntie?" she asked after a minute or so had passed them by. "I can understand not wanting to draw attention, but someone needs to be told, and my Aunt is at least on your side. She would do her best to catch him without hurting him and she would try to find out the truth."

After a few minutes of contemplation Harry sighed and nodded in defeat.

"All right," he said. "I'll send her a letter later today. I just hope she doesn't try to take the map from me, there's no other way to explain how I know he was on the grounds." He gland at his watch and stood. "Look, we've only got about half an hour left before our usual end time, so we might as well just head back early today."

With all of them in agreement, the headed back to the tower and got ready for the day with the two boys beating the girls back to the Common Room by about five minutes. When the girls joined them, Neville reached over and poked Harry in the shoulder, directing his attention toward the stairs.

"Wow," Harry muttered under his breath when he caught sight of them.

Hermione stood in the middle, as usual, half turned away as she was talking to Daphne on her left side about something while they descended the steps. Her wild, tangled mane of curls had been pulled back into an elegant French braid that kept her hair out of her face and bared her slender neck for all to see. Daphne and Susan also each had their hair pulled back into a much simpler braid, and Harry found his gaze darting between the three of them until he noticed Neville standing up to greet them and he quickly shot to his feet as well.

"You three look very nice," he told them, somewhat awkwardly. Susan smiled and thanked him, cheerfully while Hermione flushed, just slightly at the compliment. Daphne thanked him, demurely, but her face held a curious look as she stared at him for several long moments, as if she were trying to work out the answer to some puzzling question.

She smiled, but just shook her head when he gave her a questioning look.

"Just something I'm trying to figure out," she said, pausing as she passed him to gently kiss his cheek. Wasting no further time, they each shouldered their bags and headed off to breakfast. The rest of the morning was spent finishing up any homework that they had left over and, right after lunch, they went off to their third Patronus lesson.

#####

Harry let out a frustrated growl as he lowered his wand blank and looked around the room at his friends. Hermione, Neville and Susan were each just managing to get a fine silver mist when they cast the charm, though he could tell that the effort was wearing on them. He and Daphne, however, had yet to achieve any visible result with their attempts at the charm.

"Try not to worry too much about it," Remus advised as they were wrapping up a half an hour later. "The two of you have had harder lives. Just keep trying to come up with a good memory, keep practicing, and you'll get it eventually."

Harry gave the professor the best smile he could as the man left the Room, but it fell away as soon as the door clicked shut behind him. Unfortunately, Harry felt that the memory was really only half of the problem. The other half being his limitations as far as the power requirement went. He knew he had plenty of power, and could say that without boasting, he could feel it, humming just beneath his skin and in his arm whenever he drew up the magic needed to perform the charm, but his wand blank simply could not handle the power requirements necessary for him to cast the charm successfully. Not without burning out, at least, and as much as Harry was really coming to like Remus, he didn't know if he could trust him enough to show off his wandless abilities.

Said abilities had been increasing steadily with constant practice nearly every single day and he was at the point where he could perform any spell in his repertoire with the incantation that he had been able to do when he still had his wand, and easily half of those he could do silently if he focused hard enough. He'd gotten to the point where he could summon up the magic he needed for just about any standard spell in less than a second, though it still took longer for some of the more powerful spells in his arsenal.

Lost in thought, Harry sank into a chair as Neville and the girls chatted quietly. He stared off into space for a time before he decided he needed to know, for himself, and finally snapped out of his musings. He slowly stood, extending his right arm out in front of him, focusing as hard as he could on every happy moment that he could think of, his eyes closed tightly in concentration.

When he opened them a moment later, they, almost literally, blazed with power, glowing so brightly the air around his head seemed to hold a green tint to it.

"Expecto Patronum," he spoke in a surprisingly calm and measured tone. Instantly, a corona of brightly glowing silver mist erupted from the palm of his hand, extending out for a half a dozen feet. The cloud writhed and swirled in the air, moving like a living thing for a handful of seconds before it suddenly winked out of existence, as if it had never been and Harry slumped back into his seat again as a wave of exhaustion crashed over him.

"Jeez, Harry," Neville breathed out. "Where have you been hiding that?"

Harry shrugged, a little self-consciously, and absently stroked the scar behind his jaw. "Eh… I couldn't put enough power into it with the wand blank or I'd burn it out, so…" He trailed off awkwardly and waved his hand by way of explanation.

"That was a lot brighter than any of ours were," Susan pointed out.

"Yeah, maybe, but there's still no shape to it," he growled. Tiredly, he pushed himself to his feet and moved over to join the rest of them. The five of them found seats as the Room reshaped itself around them into their corner of the Common Room. "It's a little disconcerting, actually, that I can keep every happy memory that I have in mind simultaneously, and that's still not enough to shape a patronus."

His friends exchanged a sad look while he brooded, oblivious to their reactions For Neville, he was sad for the difficult and painful life his friend had lead. Neville saw Harry as the closest thing to a brother that he would ever have and vowed, silently, to help Harry build as many happy memories as possible.

Susan frowned, her brow wrinkling as she thought over their several situations. Sirius Black. Keeping up with school and their extra practice. Daphne and Lord Greengrass. Dementors surrounding the school and how badly they affected Harry. The issue with Malfoy wasn't getting any better either. The git wasn't actively antagonizing Harry as much in the last three weeks, but he was still making Daphne take a few meals each week with him at the Slytherin table where he continued to spew hateful and suggestive remarks at her. Daphne already was unsure enough about men, Susan worried such continued exposure to the likes of Malfoy would turn her off from even trying to see if she could have more with Harry.

Actually, Susan was somewhat surprised that her beautiful blond bond mate hadn't already killed the slimy tosser. She was reasonably certain that Daphne was Slytherin enough to do so and completely get away with it, if she really put her mind to it. On top of that issue, Mister Malfoy had yet to respond to Harry's letter regarding his Heir attacking the Lord of a Most Ancient and Noble House. No clue what was going on there.

As her friends talked around her, Susan's eyes drifted from one person to another, her mind looking for some way to alleviate at least some of the stress they were under. Without realizing that she was doing it, she found herself watching Hermione and Daphne more carefully than was usual for her.

Since the night Daphne kissed the bushy haired witch, Susan had noticed a marked increase in the amount the other girl blushed, seemingly for no reason. Times like right then, when she was actively engaged in conversation and her mind was focused, she was fine. But often, when she wasn't busy with something and let her mind wander, she would flush at the most random seeming times and, usually, her gaze would dart toward Daphne for a moment before she would look away.

More recently, Susan had noticed Hermione shooting the same sort of looks at her as well and she couldn't help an occasional pleased thrill at the thought of what might be going through her bond mates mind to make her blush like that.

Susan suddenly gave herself a mental shake as her thoughts wandered into dangerous, and unrelated territory and tried to focus back on the immediate issues. The fact that Harry had so few happy memories, and none apparently strong enough for what was needed struck her deeply. But there wasn't much that could be done about it right away, that was something that would take time, but she was determined, and she knew Hermione and Daphne would agree with her, that they were going to make sure that he had many more happy memories to look back on in the future. And whatever was going on inside Hermione's head would have to wait until the girl had decided what she wanted.

Too many things had to be put off, for now, too many things that they couldn't actually deal with, at present. Luckily, she felt that things between the four of them were decidedly less tense than they had been a few weeks previously. There was still an underlying wariness, particularly in Harry, but how could she…

Every eye in the room turned in her direction when she suddenly cursed under her breath and her hand came up to slap herself sharply in the forehead.

"Susan?" Hermione asked and Susan laughed, nervously.

"Uhhh… heh… sorry about that."

Harry shook his head. "No worries, but what's up? That's your 'I feel stupid cause a thought just occurred to me that I think I should have thought of earlier,' move."

Susan stuck her tongue out at him and the rest chuckled for a moment before focusing back on her and she shifted nervously in her seat beside Hermione, her eyes darting toward Neville occasionally as she tried to think of how best to word what she wanted to say.

"I think," Neville remarked, dryly, "that Susan feels the four of your need some privacy."

"I'm sorry, Neville, I don't want to-"

"Susan, it's fine," Neville said, gently. Standing he grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "I've got work I should be getting to in the Greenhouses, anyway, so I'll see you guys at dinner." He stopped next to Susan and placed a hand on her shoulder, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "Make sure you four are all okay. You all mean a lot to me and I just want you to be happy."

"I really didn't want to chase him off," Susan muttered when the door closed behind Neville a few moments later, leaving the four of them alone.

"I'm sure he knows that, Susan," Harry hastened to assure her. "And you know Neville, he's a good bloke. I'm honestly not sure we deserve to be his friend, sometimes." He leaned forward in his seat, looking carefully at her. "So, what was it that occurred to you?" he asked, and she could feel Hermione's and Daphne's curiosity spiking as he voiced the question.

She shifted again in her seat but took a deep breath and shoved any nervousness aside. "Since we agreed we needed to be more open we haven't really done anything about that, have we?" She looked around at each of their faces as she saw understanding reach them, one by one.

That understanding expression shifted a moment later to something guarded on Harry's face, and a small feeling of sorrow passed through her at the sight of it.

"What do you suggest we do about it?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I suggest we talk. Us girls, to be more precise. We've got the most that needs to be shared, really." She sat up straighter in her seat, her hands folded in her lap before she started to speak. "I was always very lonely, before coming here," she said. "My Aunt did her best, but her job is very demanding. There were many days where I hardly saw her at all, and with no other family… well, Hannah and my tutors became my only friends." Her fingers twisted in her lap and she found herself staring at the fire, rather than looking to any of her bond mates.

"I don't know… sometimes I feel like I don't belong in this bond. I haven't dealt with a fraction of what you three have. My world was pretty sheltered really, just a little lonely."

"Being lonely isn't a simple thing," Hermione said, wrapping one arm around Susan's shoulders. "I know how awful being alone can be. But you know, it's not a competition, right? Which one of us has the most demons to overcome. You're bonded to us, so you belong with us just as much as the rest of us do. Don't ever doubt that."

Hermione hesitated for just a moment, then pressed a kiss to Susan's temple, causing the other girl to smile at the simple gesture.

"I'm not really sure what else I can say," Daphne admitted a while later, after Hermione went into more detail over the bullying and isolation that she'd suffered in primary school. "I've told you how I grew up, how I was treated."

"What made you start drawing?" Harry asked, speaking up for the first time. During the entirety of Susan's and Hermione's confessions, he had done nothing but listen, his eyes studying them carefully.

Daphne blinked, just slightly taken aback by the unexpected question and her hand moved to her left pocket, where she always carried the art case and sketchpads that Harry had gifted to her on their first Christmas together. She kept it shrunk and on her person at all times, just in case.

"It was my mother's suggestion, actually. Serving a couple of different purposes. First, it is expected for a Lady to do something artistic, be that music, dancing, or actual art like drawing and painting. She encouraged me to find something I could do well, but also stressed that I do something that I enjoyed. Which was the second reason. She wanted me to have something I could use as an escape from my lessons."

Harry's eyes narrowed angrily at the reminder of the 'lessons' Daphne had been subjected to over the years as Hermione turned and wrapped her arms around the blond. Mentally he added another item to the list of crimes perpetrated by Lord Greengrass. Harry had thought, after his conversation with Tracey in their first year, that Daphne just enjoyed art. Of course it wouldn't be that simple. It was just something else to remind her of what she suffered and what was expected of her.

"I really do enjoy drawing and painting, though. It might be expected of me as a pureblood girl, but I do not mind that aspect. It has been a comforting activity for me for years now," Daphne said, relaxing into Hermione's arms and Harry slowly forced away the tension he could feel in his body. Okay, if she enjoyed her art, then he wouldn't get bent out of shape over how she'd come to doing it to begin with.

Conversation flowed a little more naturally, after that, with less of each girl talking, and more of an actual exchange of question and answer. Harry took it all in, waiting for the moment when one of them would decide it was his turn.

That moment never came.

Hermione had just finished telling them about her growing interest in creature and animal rights, since Malfoy had been raising a stink all over the castle about trying to get Buckbeak and Snuffles destroyed as 'dangerous beasts'. The fact that the Hippogriff hadn't actually hurt him and that Snuffles hadn't been seen since that day in class didn't seem to mean anything.

"Why haven't you asked?" he finally blurted out after nearly an hour had passed since Susan initiated their little share session.

"Asked what?" Hermione ventured after the three of them exchanged a confused look.

"Anything, really, but I keep expecting one of you to ask about the Dursleys."

"We do want to know," Susan admitted.

"But we promised to be more open and to stop pushing you like we were before," Hermione added. "That wasn't fair of us, and even though we were only trying to help, we didn't go about it very well."

Harry considered that, eyeing them, not quite distrustfully, but definitely warily. It sent a spike of pain and shame through all three of them, that their actions were what caused him to view them with such suspicion.

"I don't want pity, and I don't like thinking about it. Why can't we just leave it at that?" There was no anger or bitterness in his voice, only a deep weariness.

"Not to seem like I'm trying to talk you into it," Daphne started, "but haven't you said yourself that Healer Gant has repeatedly suggested that you talk about it with us? And you said you felt better after you and I talked that night in first year."

"And the night after my birthday last year when I saw your nightmare," Hermione pinted out. "You said you felt better that someone else knew about it aside from just you, even though you wished I hadn't had to see it to begin with."

"When you feel up to it, Harry," Susan told him, leaning forward to look him in the eye, "you don't need to tell us in excruciating detail, like you probably had to deal with when you gave your statement for the case against your parents. We don't need to know every little thing. It would be nice to be able to share some of that burden, especially if it'll help you with healing."

Harry nodded thoughtfully, but lapsed back into silence as, slowly, the girl's conversation picked up again. He had nothing else to add for the rest of the time they sat there, talking, but it was quite clear that he was deep in thought, throughout.

He stopped them, some time later, just as they were about to step into the Great Hall for dinner.

"Thank you," he said, and smiles lit the girl's faces as they felt his gratitude far more clearly than his words alone could ever have expressed. One at a time, they each pulled him into a hug before the four of them headed inside and found seats with their friends at the Hufflepuff table, feeling lighter than they had in months.

#####

On Halloween morning, Hedwig swept into the kitchen at the Boneyard and landed in front of a half-full breakfast plate, eyeing the few pieces of bacon with a speculative gleam in her golden eyes. Amelia's return look held far more trepidation than speculation.

"Has Harry gotten himself set on fire again?" she asked as she untied the letter. "Maybe he's called for a blood feud against House Malfoy?" She quirked a small smile when Hedwig let out an exasperated sounding bark. "I don't envy you. Trying to keep that human of yours out of trouble is an exhausting job, isn't it?"

Hedwig's barking definitely sounded like agreement, that time, and Amelia softly stroked her feathers as the bird started picking pieces of bacon off of her plate.

"That young man is just lucky that we love him, isn't he?"

"Brek!" Hedwig barked, bobbing her head in clear agreement with the red haired witch.

After feeding Hedwig the rest of her unfinished bacon, Amelia sat back and broke the seal on the letter before she unrolled it and tapped it with her wand, silently casting a charm that allowed the letter to lie flat and smooth out any possible folds or creases in the parchment at the same time.

Hedwig watched as the woman's eyebrows climbed further up her forehead the further she got into the, relatively short, missive.

"Son of a…"

Amelia set the letter down and reached for her wand, quickly tapping her Auror badge with it.

"Senior Auror Shacklebolt and Auror Cadet Tonls, meet me in my office as soon as possible."

She stood and scooped up the letter as she stowed her wand in its holster and started for the Floo Access room, leaving Hedwig to rest where she would before beginning her flight back to the school. Less than a minute later, she was stepping out of a large fireplace and into the Ministry Atrium, her monocle firmly in place over her left eye and her face set in the emotionless mask she wore when on duty. She bypassed the security desk with a wave to Auror Dawlish, who was on duty at that time, heading straight for the lifts and stepped onto one as soon as the doors open, quickly pressing the button for her floor.

"Good morning, Director Bones."

Amelia didn't jump, but she did spin around, her wand snapping into her hand and coming to rest with the glowing tip pointing directly into the shadowed hood of a cloaked Unspeakable.

"Director Croaker," she acknowledged in an even tone, her wand never moving.

"Sorry," Croaker said, apparently completely unperturbed by the wand in their face. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"I'm sure," she drawled sarcastically, nothing that the lift had apparently stopped moving. "I'm just it's just a coincidence that you happened to be behind me inside a lift I am positive was empty when I stepped on."

Croaker shrugged. "Must be," they said as Amelia slowly lowered her wand but kept it in hand.

"What can I do for the Director of the DOM?" she asked.

"It's not about what you can do for me, but what the DOM can do for you, Director Bones."

Mentally, Amelia groaned. "I don't have the time or the patience for all the cloak and dagger bullshit, Croaker. Spit it out, or get out." She glanced around at the interior of the lift. "And get this lift going again. I have an appointment to keep that I do not want to be late for."

"I assure you, Director, you will not be late meeting Auror Shaklebolt or Cadet Tonks in regards to the situation with Black."

Amelia's wand came up again and her glare was very nearly murderous as she studied her fellow Department Head.

"No one outside the Department know's anything about your secret investigation," he swore as her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I'd like to know how it is that you know, and why."

"Nothing sinister, you have my word."

"I'm going to need more than that."

Slowly, carefully, the Director drew their wand and held it up in front of them. "I, Director Croaker, do swear on my magic that I hold no ill will toward Madam Bones or anyone under her protection."

There was a flash of light and after Croaker put away their wand, Amelia lowered hers but still did not return it to its holster.

"Just because you hold no ill will doesn't mean you wouldn't hurt myself or my charges if you felt it was necessary, just that you wouldn't be doing so out of malice," she pointed out.

"And that thinking is exactly why I keep saying that you would be a great asset to the DOM. You just lack the patience for the 'cloak and dagger bullshit'."

"We've had this conversation a dozen times, Croaker, I'm not switching departments. Now, what do you want?"

"I, and my department, have a professional interest in Lord Potter and his bond mates, both because of their bond and for some other reasons that I am wary of discussing, yet. The Department wishes to help, in our own way, but, understandably, the Lord Potter is a less than trusting individual. I was hoping that you might be willing to talk to him on our behalf, perhaps arrange a meeting so we can at least pitch our offer to him and the others."

Amelia eyed the cloaked figure carefully. "You don't give people much reason to trust you, yet you sure to ask for an awful lot of trust in return," she noted.

"An unfortunate side effect of the Department. The DOM works in secret for good reasons, Amelia. Many good reasons, actually. In the case of Lord Potter, the time for secrets is owing to an end. There is quite a bit that has been discovered, and Potter's importance is more clear than ever. All I ask is a chance to talk to them."

"You've already met with them, why didn't you give your pitch then?"

"That meeting was specifically regarding something else, and, at the time, I used it to get a feel for the lad and see what I thought of him. After meeting him, I feel I have a better understanding of him and feel it will soon be time that we will need to work more closely with him if we want to survive what is coming."

"What is coming?"

"That, I must discuss with Lord Potter and his bond mates."

Amelia considered that, carefully. There were enough forces against her kids already with Voldemort still out there, this prophecy that Dumbledore mentioned but still refused to give details of, and who knew what else. She knew about the Hall of Prophecy in the DOM, so perhaps Croaker was offering assistance in regards to that issue, or perhaps there was something else they were attempting to bring to the table. The sorting hat did say, though, that momentous events would take place around Harry, and she knew that they could use all the help they could get. And besides, as secretive and suspicious as the Unspeakables were, she knew damn well that they only ever worked for the betterment of wizard kind. She was reasonably positive they weren't out to harm Harry or the others.

"All I can do is bring it up to them," she said, turning her back on Croaker even as her wand shot back into the holster strapped to her arm with a loud click. "It'll be their decision what they do after that."

"That's all I'm asking."

A moment later the lift started moving again.

"Oh, and Croaker?"

"Yes, Director?"

"I have an office. The next time you want to talk to me, use it."

"Of course."

A moment later the lift came to a stop and the doors opened with a loud rattling noise. Amelia stepped out and glanced back as the doors closed on an empty lift.

"I hate it when they do that," she grumbled under her breath before she made her way to her office. Carol wasn't in, yet, and Tonks and Shack hadn't arrived, either. Stepping into her office, she hung her cloak up on a peg near the door before she sat behind her desk and pulled several sheets of parchment from one of the drawers.

When a knock sounded at her door ten minutes later she was still filling in the parchment work.

"Come ahead," she called, and the door swung silently open, admitting the two individuals she's been waiting for.

"Thanks for coming so quickly," she said, still looking down at the parchment in front of her as she continued to write. Silently, the two took a seat and waited while Amelia's quill scratched away for several more minutes.

Eventually, she put down her quill and leaned back in her seat for a moment before turning her attention to the two uniformed figures in front of her.

"Report on the Black situation?"

"I've only been able to find a few things without tipping anyone off. Obviously I didn't get a chance to go speak to him at the prison like I planned. He escaped before I was able to work out a pretense to go out there. But, looking back over the records of the time, the obvious players were Crouch, Bagnold, and Dumbledore."

"Right, Bagnold was Minister at the time and Crouch had my position," Amelia agreed. "Crouch was almost rabid in his pursuit of Death Eaters during the war."

"And Dumbledore was Chief Warlock, even back then." Shack continued. "Crouch was well known for com paining for Aurors to be allowed to use the Unforgivables in the pursuit of their duties as well as pushing for maximum sentencing in all criminal trials, not just those of Death Eaters. He resigned after his own son was brought in, along with the Lestranges for the attack against Frank and Alice Longbottom."

Amelia winced at the reminder, but nodded and turned her attention to Tonks.

"Well, it took a while, but I was finally able to get into the records department by disguising myself as one of the clerks."

"And?"

"And there are no records for the criminal trial of one Sirius Orion Black."

Amelia and Shacklebolt both started in surprise.

"What?" she blurted out.

"Could it have been misfiled?" Shack asked. "A clerical error?"

Tonks shook her head, her spiked up pink hair swaying with the motion. "It's all automatic. If a trial took place, the documents appear, as they're supposed to, without any human interaction needed. The fact that the records aren't there means that Sirius never had a trial in the first place. He was arrested and then thrown directly into Azkaban. No official charges were ever actually filed against him."

Amelia cursed, long, loud, and to a degree that impressed Shack while Tonks found herself wondering if she should be taking notes.

"Merlin's fucking pants. Sirius could be guilty as sin, but this complete cock up means that he should walk, free and clear, regardless of his guilt or innocence."

"Boss?" Tonks asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Ministerial law. We can only hold a suspect for a maximum of thirty days from the time of their arrest. If no charges are filed in that time, the suspect must be released. Sirius' entire case is nothing but a massive miscarriage of justice and criminal actions on the part of the Ministry against the Lord of a Most Ancient and Noble House!"

"If that get's out, the Wizengamont will collectively lose their shit," Shack muttered.

"Do we think Fudge knows, and that's why he's so against looking into the case" Tonks asked.

"I don't think so, though if he did, he'd really lose his mind," Amelia disagreed with a shake of her head. "No, I believe that he just wants to sweep everything under the rug so it looks to the public like the Ministry has everything under control."

"So why can't we take this to Fudge?" Tonks wondered. "This is huge."

"Because if it gets out that this happened, the Ministry, and Fudge, will come under fire from the public. He would much rather see Black kissed and have everything covered up than have to deal with the shit stork that'll hit him, along with a huge drop in his approval ratings."

"Fucking bastard is really more worried about his popularity than a possibly innocent man's life?" Tonks ground out, furiously.

"That's Fudge. His popularity and power are the only things that matter to him," Kingsley rumbled in his deep bass voice.

"If we take this to him, after he expressly forbade me from looking into it, not only will we all find ourselves sacked, but probably also brought up on some trumped up charges in order to keep us quiet."

"So what are we going to do?" Tonks finally asked after a few minutes.

"We're going to catch Black ourselves. I have a new assignment for you two, but first…" Amelia leaned forward and picked up the several sheets of parchment she'd been working on when the two of them came into her office.

"Auror Cadet Tonks," she said. "You are approximately half way through your three year training to join the Auror ranks. I have need of your abilities, but it is not something I can assign to a Cadet. I have here, what would be considered a field promotion to have you advanced to the rank of Auror Junior Grade. You will no longer attend Academy classes, but you will still be responsible for passing all written and practical exams.

"If you score below 90% on any upcoming exams, you will be removed from the Academy roster and will have to apply to the Academy again to start over from scratch with the next class. I know that's harsh, but it is also a reflection of your abilities. Promoting you this early means I expect only the best from you and I believe you to be capable of completing the tasks ahead. Do you accept this promotion?"

At first shocked, Tonks' expression slowly morphed into one of intense concentration as she listened to the requirements that came with her offered promotion.

"I can study on my own time," she muttered, thoughtfully. "The only test that I was at all concerned about was stealth. I'm too clumsy for it, and we already took that course, so I don't need to worry about that, anymore." She stood and moved forward until she was standing at attention right in front of Amelia's desk.

"Director Bones, I gratefully accept the promotion and I swear, Ma'am, I won't let you down."

Amelia allowed herself a small smile as she signed the bottom of the parchment. "See that you don't Auror JG Tonks." There was a flash of light and the top sheet morphed and changed into a shiny badge with Tonks' name and rank printed on it. Tonks removed the Cadet Badge from her robes and handed it over, accepting the new badge as Amelia held it out and after a quick inspection, she pinned it to her robes.

"All right," Amelia started after Tonks retook her seat. "Your morphing abilities. How big a difference can you make in your body? Size wise, could you make yourself believably thirteen-years-old?"

Tonks winced. "It's not impossible. But it ain't fun, either."

"How so."

"Changing my body mass too much isn't easy, and it's also a bit painful. Like, I couldn't turn into Shack, not really, since he's so much bigger than I am I just don't have the physical mass to completely copy him. I could look just like him, but I'd only be able to manage a bit taller, or a little bulkier, than my current size, and I wouldn't be able to hold it up for long. Going smaller is easier, but it get's uncomfortable after a while."

"How long a while?"

"A few days? Maybe?"

"So if you were to pose as a third year student at Hogwarts, you could keep it up during the day for classes and such and could return to your usual form at night so that you don't spend too long in your altered shape?"

Understanding dawned and Tonks nodded, a grin spreading across her face. "Aye, that I could do, Boss."

"Good. I want you to get started on a false identity. Full background and history. You're going back to school." After Tonks nodded her understanding, Amelia turned her attention to Shacklebolt. "I want you stationed at the school as well. We're going to be heading out there later this evening."

"Could I ask why the sudden call to action?" Kingsley asked.

"I received a letter from Harry this morning. Apparently he spotted Black on the grounds yesterday morning. He didn't tell me where or how, only that he would be able to explain to me in person. If Black really did get onto the grounds we need to catch him. With this new information, it's even more imperative that we get him before anyone else, or the Dementors get hold of him. The absolute last thing we need is for him to get kissed before we can turn this around."

Shack nodded.

"Get your kits together and meet me back here at close of business. I'd prefer to keep this assignment off books, but we know that some kids at the school will end up writing home about the Auror assigned to the school so it'll end up getting back to the Ministry, eventually. I'll be having a long chat with Dumbledore to make sure this is all settled. With any luck, we'll be able to sit still long enough to tell him we don't believe in his guilt and try to get him to come along quietly so we can do something about it."

"I'll be thinking over any other ways we can use what we've found. I can't believe that there's no way to use this to our advantage and tie up Fudge so he can't interfere. He's not all powerful."

"No, he's not. But he's still got more power and more support than we do, so we need to tread carefully."

The two of them nodded their agreement and Amelia gestured toward the door.

"Go on and get out of here," she said. "Try to relax for the day, your excused from duty until I see you back here at five this evening."

After the two Aurors left her office, Amelia leaned back in her chair and let out a long sigh.

"Twelve years," she muttered to her empty office. "Twelve years I've been so sure, so positive that you were guilty. Gods, I'm not sure how you'll ever forgive me. I don't know that I'll ever be able to forgive myself."

A moment later she scrubbed at her eyes, dashing away the tears that wanted to fall before they got the chance and leaned forward again, pulling her in-box closer so she could start working her way through the mound of parchment, losing herself in the day to day workings of her office before she could let her emotions get the best of her.

There would be time enough, later, for recriminations.

#####

Sirius waited perhaps ten minutes after Hagrid left his hut to walk up to the castle for the Halloween feast. From his vantage point looking out from beneath the roots of the Whomping Willow he had a clear view of most of the grounds leading up to the castle itself. His body practically hummed with anxious energy, even as his empty belly rumbled plaintively. The weeks since that one day where he actually got a couple of full meals had been lean, but he wasn't complaining.

Finally, after he felt that enough time had passed, he poked his large black head out of the tunnel and gave a soft 'woof', then waited as patiently as he could for his partner in crime. When he arrived, it happened so silently that Sirius could almost imagine that he had flown over above the grass to dart up to the trunk of the tree and press one ginger paw against a specific knot in the trunk.

Instantly, the near incessant swaying of the Willow's long branches ceased as the tree became completely still and Sirius quickly scrambled out of the tunnel and onto the grounds, moving to a safe distance as fast as he could. As soon as he was clear, the large half-kneazle darted away from the tree and sat down near him, nonchalantly bathing one paw as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"I owe you, buddy," Sirius told the feline, gratefully scratching the animal behind the ears to show his appreciation. "I promise, if it's at all within my power, once this is done, I'll find your owner and I will make damn sure that you have all the toys you could want to chase and fresh fish to eat every day for the rest of your nine lives."

The animal licked his chops, staring intently at Sirius for several seconds before he turned and ghosted away, his large, bottlebrush tail twitching happily behind him until Sirius lost sight of him in the gloom of night.

A second later, a large black dog loped off into the night, head unerringly toward the castle entrance.

#####

From the early morning hours, Harry had been in a less than pleasant mood, though he did his best not to take it out on the people around him. Luckily, Neville and his girls knew the reason for his moody silence and took no offense, while, simultaneously, doing their best to run interference for him from the other students in the school. None of them had any great love for Halloween, either, so it was no loss to them to not celebrate the day.

By the time the evening feast came around, Harry and the rest made their way down to the Great Hall, resigned to their required presence and hoping to simply eat quickly and leave as soon as they could. Harry only prayed for a quiet Halloween.

When the five of them saw Amelia, Shacklebolt, and a young girl they didn't recognize enter the Great Hall mid way through the feast and make their way toward the Head Table to speak to the Headmaster, they knew quiet was not, and probably never had been, an option.

"Don't call for us, don't call for us, don't call for us," Harry muttered over and over under his breath, his eyes narrowed in the direction of the visitors. "Shite," he swore a moment later when Amelia turned and waved for him and his friends to join them as she followed the Headmaster to a small antechamber behind the Head Table.

"Seriously, is it so hard to have a quiet Halloween where absolutely nothing happens?" Harry complained as they set down their utensils and stood, moving around the Gryffindor table and toward the door at the back of the Hall.

"In this place?" Neville asked. "Probably."

Harry only grunted sourly and said nothing more until they reached the door. Without bothering to knock, Harry grabbed the latch and pulled it open, leading the rest of them inside where Neville closed the door behind them and they found a table situated in the center of the room with the three adults and one girl already sitting, waiting for them.

"Lord Potter," Dumbledore greeted them. "Lord Longbottom and Misses Granger, Greengrass, and Bones, please, come join us."

They approached the table and found seats around it, Neville and the girls looking curious while Harry felt wary and apprehensive.

"What is this about?" he asked as he sank into a seat with Hermione on his right side, Daphne to his immediate left and Susan on Daphne's other side while Neville sat next to the girl that had come in with Amelia and Shack. As he sat, Harry took that moment to study the girl.

Dressed in Hogwarts robes with Gryffindor trim, she appeared to be of average height, maybe an inch or so shorter than Harry was, with a heart shaped face and the high cheekbones and aristocratic features they'd come to associate with people like Malfoy. Her eyes were large and a vivid violet color that stood out sharply against her pale complexion framed by inky black hair that hung around her face and down her back in silken waves that reached her elbows. She was, in a word, beautiful.

"We've found some information in the Black case. I also received your letter this morning, and before we get to that I promised you that I would keep you informed on everything that I could in regards to this entire situation. Since your friends already know, which I understand why you told them, I figured it'd be easier to do it all in one go rather than have you just trying to explain it all to them later," Amelia said with a slight smirk and Harry had the grace to look a tad sheepish, but he wasn't going to apologize for telling them the truth. They'd deserved to know and it only helped all of them to be kept informed.

"I've had Shack and Tonks helping me to look into things as discreetly as possible for the last couple of months, ever since you asked me about Sirius at the start of the summer, Harry," Amelia started. "It's been slow going, since we've all had to be very careful what we asked, who we asked, and so on, but Tonks finally found some information that puts this entire investigation into an entirely new light." She turned, glancing at Albus before continuing.

"Albus, were you aware that Sirius Black was never given a trial?"

"WHAT?"

Susan didn't care that every eye turned immediately to her, nor did she care that she'd leapt to her feat without even thinking. Idly she noted that Daphne and Neville were similarly incensed though they'd refrained from leaping out of their seats.

"Are you honestly saying that the Lord of a Most Ancient and Noble House was tossed into Azkaban without the benefit of a trial?" Susan demanded, harshly, ignoring the dumbfounded look on Dumbledore's face as her Aunt focused on her.

"That's exactly what Tonks found, Susan. Even worse no charges were ever actually filed against him. Even if he is guilty, the Ministry has no legal option but to release him, and with Fudge attempting to have Black kissed as soon as possible, that is unlikely to happen."

"I assure you, Madame Bones, I had no knowledge that Black did not receive a trial. I was not directly involved in his case since I felt that I was too close to it as I had considered him and the potters friends while they worked with me during the war. I focused my attentions on trying to get Harry somewhere safe as well as working to help get our society back on its feet after the damage done by the years of conflict with Voldemort and his forces."

"What in the hell does all that mean?" Harry demanded, echoed by Hermione beside him, though without the colorful language mixed in.

Quickly, Amelia and Shacklebolt explained what they'd discussed earlier that day in her office. Harry's eyes were gleaming brilliantly and his hands were clenched into tight fists on top of the table by the time they'd finished.

"Why don't we just go to the Prophet with this?" he growled out. "Fudge can't be allowed to get away with doing this."

"The prophet writes what Fudge tells them to write. As soon as this story is brought to them, someone would be contacting the Ministers office and by the next day staff would have been fired, discredited, and some would likely have been driven from the magical world entirely to take refuge in the muggle world," Shack rumbled. "Added to that, and Amelia would immediately come under suspicion since, as far as Fudge knows, she's the only one that has ever questioned the official story regarding Black."

"Professor, why don't you seem more surprised by the idea that Black might be innocent?" Daphne asked, noting Dumbledore's utter lack of reaction.

"I sent him the information Harry gave me that started this whole thing. Excerpts from his mother's journal during her seventh year here as well as from several letters to Harry, written by Lily and James, both."

"With the exception of informing me that Sirius never had a trial," Dumbledore pointed out to Amelia.

"I wanted to see your reaction, personally, when you received that information," she admitted and he shot her a pained look.

"You cannot believe that I would ever have let anyone go to that awful place without being absolutely certain that they were guilty," he blurted out.

"I didn'twant to believe you capable of something like that, but you have made plenty of mistakes around Harry since that night," she shot back, completely unapologetically. "I had to be sure."

Dumbledore frowned, but nodded silently as he considered the many mistakes he had made and the many lapses in judgement and what the consequences of his actions had been.

"So, was telling us that Black should be free and clear but Fudge is determined to murder him and there's nothing we can do about it the only reason you came?" Susan asked, scowling at the blatant criminal behavior of their Minister.

"No, we're going to do our best to catch Sirius ourselves. I'm assigning Kingsley to a post here in the castle. I only wish that I could assign a couple more Aurors, but I can't," Amelia said, choosing to ignore her niece's tone, since she knew it wasn't directed at her. "Harry, your letter said that you saw Black within the grounds but you didn't mention where or how. Care to explain?"

Harry winced and leaned back in his chair, taking a deep breath before he reached into the inside pocket of his robes. The moment his fingers touched the parchment, he whispered the password under his breath and pulled the map out, holding it tightly in hand for a moment before he started unfold it. The moment he did, he glanced down at it, just as he opened his mouth to speaak, and froze, his eyes fixed on the map for several long moments.

When he remained silent, Amelia leaned forward, her face showing a small amount of concern. "Harry?" she asked, and at the sound of her voice, his eyes darted up toward her before flicking toward the, still unnamed girl, sitting on the adults side of the table.

"Wotcher, Nymphadora," he said, grinning.

"How the hell did you learn that name, Potter?" the girl practically screeched, her eyes widening to impossible levels for a moment before snapping back to more human proportions. "I've been very careful never to mention it around y... aahhhh crud." The girl flushed brilliantly as she realized she'd just somehow been played by a thirteen-year-old and dropped her unbelievably red face into her arms, folded on the table in front of her, muttering darkly under her breath and praying for the ground ot open up and swallow her whole for screwing up so badly right in front of her boss.

Neville and the girls tried not to smile as the other adults in the room picked their jaws up off the floor and simply stared at Harry in complete confusion.

"Okay, how did you know that was her, or even what her first name really is?" Amelia demanded. "I know for a fact she's never mentioned it before since she hates her first name with a passion."

Smiling, Harry laid the map out flat on the table so everyone could see and pointed to the dot in the room with the rest of them that was clearly labeled 'Nymphadora Tonks'. Hey, if he was going to get the map confiscated after only having it for a couple of weeks, he felt better knowing that at least he used it to get one last prank in before it happened.

"This is how I saw Black on the grounds yesterday morning while I was sitting, safely, in the Gryffindor Common Room. This map shows the location of every living thing in the castle and on the grounds in real time."

The four adults, including Tonks in her younger guise, leaned over the map, studying it intently and with no small amount of surprise.

"These tunnels here are either caved in or blocked," Harry continued to explain as he pointed out various parts of the map. "This one leads to the cellar in Honeydukes, so I'm told, I haven't checked, personally. And this one we're not sure about where it goes since the Whomping Willow on the grounds is planted right above the entrance."

"Quite a remarkable bit of enchanting, and plenty of charms work, too, unless I miss my guess," Dumbledore muttered, thoroughly impressed with the map.

"Where did you get this?" Amelia asked. "And how long have you had it?"

Harry and his friends glanced at the Headmaster who, suddenly looked around the room with a mildly bemused expression on his face, his blue eyes twinkling merrily. "Oh! Dear me, I do apologize, but I fear I may have suddenly been struck deaf. One of the failings of advancing age. Do continue your discussion without me, I am sure my hearing will return when it is needed."

With that said, he leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers together and placing his hands comfortably on his chest as he closed his eyes and started humming quietly to himself, though Susan was fairly certain that his beard around his mouth twitched now and then with what might have been a smile.

Amelia smirked. "Well? You heard the man," she said, indicating the Headmaster. "Spill it while he's 'deaf' and can't hear who you're fingering."

After taking a moment to give the Headmaster an incredulous look, Harry did as he was told. "The Weasley twins gave it to me. They apparently found it back in their first year, and when they showed it to us I pointed out that my dad was Prongs." He indicated the name on the map's heading. "Moony is Professor Lupin, Padfoot is Sirius Black, and Wormtail was Peter Pettigrew. They made this map when they were students here, so we can be reasonably certain that Black knows all of the secret passages, if his memory is any good, at least. When the twins found out my dad helped make it they gave it to me. Said that as the son of one of the creators it should belong to me."

While Harry was busy explaining to his guardian where the map had come from, Kingsley was busy studying the artifact, searching the school floor by floor until he let out a sudden hiss that drew all attention to him. Even the headmaster, his hearing miraculously recovered, dropped all pretenses to give the big, dark-skinned Auror his undivided attention.

"What is it, Shack?"

"Well, if we are completely sure that this map is accurate, then is looks like Black is making his way toward Griffyndor Tower, right now."

There followed about two seconds of stunned silence before complete bedlam broke out as nearly everyone started talking at once. It took nearly a minute and a loud cannon blast from the Headmaster's wand before order was restored.

"Madam Bones," he said, standing tall and radiating power as his squashy armchair vanished behind him. "The Feast is very nearly over. I will have the staff keep the students here in the Great Hall and then I shall join you and your Aurors, in attempting to make contact with Mister Black, if that is acceptable to you?"

"No plans on trying to interfere?" she asked, skeptically and the aged wizard shook his head.

"No, Amelia, I have quite learned my lesson after last year."

She studied him for a moment longer before giving a quick nod. "Good enough for me, but don't think for a second that I'm not going to hold you too that. Kids, get back to your House table and keep quiet for, okay? Shack, Tonk, we do not want to hurt Black if at all pos-"

"I'm coing with you!"

"Absolutely not," Amelia snapped, rounding on Harry who had cut her off while beside her, Tonks was already transfiguring her robes and changing back into her usual appearance, complete with pink, spiked up hair. "We still don't know if he could be dangerous or not-"

"He's my Godfather," Harry tried to argue.

"Who might not be sane after over a decade spent around the Dementors, we've talked about this, Harry, and we don't have time to do it again."

Harry fumed and glared at her while tied to calm him down and Neville simply waited to back up his friend. It wasn't until Amelia reached out to pick up the map that Harry made, probably, one of the most foolish decisions of his young life, to date.

Before Amelia's hand could come into contact with it, Harry leaned forward and slammed his hand down flat on the maps surface, bright green eyes glowing dangerously as they met her shocked, deep blue stare and he hissed out in a venomous tone, "Mischief Managed!"

#####

The centuries of history represented within the ancient walls of Hogwarts could be said to cover many ideals and beliefs. Ideals of Honor, Bravery, Loyalty, Wisdom, Ambition. The individual ideals of the Founders aside, however, left one set of ideals remaining, one purpose to which the castles very existence was based upon.

For all that Hogwearts was a school, tasked with the education and instruction of the students, she was still, a castle. A fortress whose purpose it was to defend and protect those placed in her charge. To that end, Hogwarts was more heavily protected than most people know or suspected. Passive defenses, active defenses, secret passages and escape routes as well as sentries and guardians both hidden well and in plain sight.

Penelope, known to generations of students as the portrait of the Fat Lady that guarded the entrance into Gryffindor Tower was one such guardian. She had served in her current roll for over three centuries, and had never once failed in her duty. She had seen many strange and unusual things over the years, some of the strangest being in the past five or ten decades. As such, the bedraggled figure that approached during the evening of the Halloween Feast, was not an unfamiliar sight to her, though his condition certainly was a shock.

"Sirius Black," she acknowledged his presence as he stopped in front of her.

"Penny, my dear," he responded in a hoarse, scratchy sounding voice. "I need to get into the tower."

"How many nights did you spend outside this tower when you and your friends got back late and didn't yet know what I had changed the password to?" she asked, rhetorically. "If I wouldn't let you in back then, when you were actually a student here, what makes you think that I would willingly let you in now that you are a dangerous fugitive on the run?"

"Because, through no fault of your own, dear Lady, you have allowed a constant threat to the safety of your charges access to them, and I'm here only to stop that threat."

"With only your word that there is any such threat, Mister Black," she shot back, drawing herself up to her full height, an impressive and intimidating sight in her ten foot high frame, "I still can't let you in."

"You knew me for seven years, Penny," he insisted, staring at her pleadingly. "You know I would never have done anything to hurt James, or Lilly, or Harry."

"I've known thousands of witches and wizards over the centuries," she pointed out, "and I cannot tell you how many have gone on to do horrific things that I never would have suspected them to be capable of. You are no different."

Sighing, Sirius straightened up and withdrew a large knife from a pocket within his tattered robes.

"I am very sorry, then. My Lady, you might want to vacate your frame, because, with or without your help, I'm coming in."

#####

As the last of the ink vanished from the map, once again leaving it looking as nothing more than a blank, tattered piece of parchment, Amelia lifted her gaze to lock eyes once again with the incensed wizard on the other side of the table.

"What do you think you're doing?" she snapped.

"Not letting you put me on the sidelines as if I have no part in this."

"You don't have any part in this!" she barked. "You are still a minor and you are my responsibility! You are not an Auror! And you could now be charged with interfering with an official ministry investigation!"

"I don't care! If you want to use my map, then I'm coming with you."

"What's the password?" she snapped, turning to look at Neville.

"I'm sorry, Madam Bones, I can't tell you that. Harry is all but my brother and I swore an Oath to stand beside him. I can't betray that," he said, moving to stand shoulder to shoulder with his friend, his gaze as hard and determined as Harry's.

"Don't even try, Auntie," Susan muttered. "I'm not certain we agree with him, right now, but we won't betray him, either."

Daphne and Hermione both nodded, though the brunette witch did appear far more uncomfortable with the entire situation than the others did. Despite that, she looked no less determined.

"Merlin's beard, we do not have time for this!" Amelia snapped, glaring furiously at all five of them for a few heartbeats before coming to a decision. "Dammit… fine. You can come with but you'll stay behind us at all times. Now, unlock that map and hand it over."

She held one hand out expectantly and then barely bit back a curse when Harry shook his head.

"I'm not stupid, Amy," he told her. "I give you the map and we'll be stunned or locked in this room. We'll stay at the back behind you, but I'll hold the map and direct our path through the castle."

She did curse, then, but reluctantly agreed.

With the drama finally settled, Harry picked up the map, attached it to his left hand with a sticking charm, and then whispered the activation phrase. A quick glance was all it took for him to confirm that Black was still standing in the corridor outside the tower and in moments all nine of them were leaving the antechamber.

Dumbledore split off, stopping to whisper in McGonagall's ear as the rest of them made their way around the table and up the center of the Hall toward the great doors leading to the Grand Staircase, each of them ignoring the curious stares of the students at their tables and before they were even half way across the room they could hear the Deputy Headmistress calling out instructions as Dumbledore caught up to them and took a spot on Amelia's right side with Kingsley on his right and Tonks on Director Bone's left side. The five students fell into step behind them with Harry directing them towards every shortcut he could in an attempt to reduce the amount of time they spent working their way through the large and labyrinthine castle.

When they reached the Seventh floor, Harry directed them through a roundabout series of hidden passages that let them come out into the corridor just twenty feet behind Black, who was cursing and shouting as he slashed and dug at the tattered surface of the Fat Lady's portrait with a truly frightening looking knife.

"Sirius Black, turn around and drop the knife," Amelia called out as the adults spread out across the hall, each with a wand trained on the elusive fugitive.

He fell silent, mid rant, his entire posture tensing visibly, even over the distance between them, and slowly turned around. His dark eyes were dull and flat as he first gazed at the red haired witch in front of him, his eyes taking in the familiar wand pointed at him and the robes indicating her line of work.

The word that crossed the distance between them was spoke in a dry, rusty sounding voice that seemed more like it belonged to a small, frightened child than an adult.

"Amy?"

"Put the knife down, Siri," she tried again, her tone becoming considerably more gentle.

He didn't respond, his eyes moving to take in Dumbledore, Shacklebolt, and Tonks without much visible reaction, until he moved on to look at the kids bunched together behind the adults. One boy stood more in front of the others, his gaze hard, but cautious, and his wand trained steadily in Sirius' direction.

Slightly behind him were three girls, each very different from the other in appearance, yet each held identical expressions of wary concern on their faces as they stood protectively near a second boy. The birds nest of raven black hair atop the boy's head tugged at some painful memories and his jaw dropped as he staggered back a step, his free hand coming up slightly as if reaching out.

"Harry?" he gasped, eyes widening in recognition.

"You need to stop this, Mister Black," Harry tried, taking a single step forward out of the protective circle the girls had made until he was standing shoulder to shoulder with Neville. "You need to stop this and come with us."

Black shook his head, his elbow length hair flying about wildly.

"No. It's dangerous. I need… I need to get in here!" Growling in frustration he'd turned and slashed one more time at the ruined portrait before pounding a fist against it.

"PETER!" He bellowed. "He's in there. Fucking rat has been hiding and he's so close."

"Sirius," Amelia called, and then again when he didn't respond, finally catching his attention as he spun back around to them. "Sirius, the Minister isn't interested in anything you might have to say, but we are. I'm still an Auror, though. We have to take you in, but I promise, we'll see you protected until we can get to the bottom of this."

"He'll kill him," Black muttered insistently. "You can't let him go back in there. Not until you get him."

Amelia exchanged a look with her Aurors.

"No one is killing anyone, I promise you that," she tried again but he just shook his head once more.

"No!" he roared. "The Dementors can't have me, not until after I've killed that traitorous bastard!"

"Sirius, we don't think it's your fault. I don't think you betrayed my parents," Harry tried, taking another step forward, despite one of the girls tightly gripping his left arm. He thought it might have been Daphne.

"My fault," Sirius muttered. "It's al my fault. I shouldn't have let them… shouldn't have suggested… all my fault."

"Siriu-"

"It's all my fault!" he roared again, cutting Amelia off and suddenly threw the knife in his hand at Dumbledore who ducked to the side while Amelia, Shack, and Tonks each cast a spell in his direction.

Mouths dropped open as all three spells cleaved through the empty space that Black's torso had just occupied. Empty, because he'd suddenly shrunk and changed and in his place a large black dog stood growling at them.

"Snuffles?" Neville blurted out, shocked, just as the dog barreled toward them. It dodged around the adults and leaped, clearing over the kids with room to spare as it took off running down the hall with the Aurors and Headmaster right behind it.

"Stay here!" Amelia yelled and in moments they were gone.

"What the hell just happened?" Harry asked after a few seconds of stunned silence ticked by them.

"An animagus," Hermione muttered. "He's got to be an animagus, like Professor McGonagall can change into a cat."

"So Snuffles was really Black all along?" Neville asked.

"Looks like it," Harry said, his eyes fixed on the map he still held in one hand as he turned and started walking briskly in the opposite direction from where Sirius had the others had run off. "Come on."

"Harry? Amy told us to stay here," Hermione reminded him, though that didn't stop her and the others from hurrying to keep pace as he turned a corner, walking away from the ruined entrance into the tower.

"And I'm already in trouble with her, a little more won't make much difference." He pointed at the map, showing them the five dots moving quickly through the school. Sirius was definitely outpacing the others, four feet being better then two for speed. "He's going to get away unless we get in front of him and either stop him or slow him down."

"How do you think we're going to do that?" Susan asked.

His answering grin was tight and devoid of any real humor. "By taking a shortcut," he said, and turned, pulling aside a tapestry that blocked off a small passage and gestured for the others to hurry inside. Once they were all in they found themselves in a small, dimly lit alcove. It was barely ten feet deep with a simple, stone, spiral staircase on their left side and a single torch set into a wall bracket high on their right giving the only illumination.

"Harry, what're we doing here?" Susan wondered, looking around at the undecorated stone passage.

"We need to head Black off," he started, walking up to the wall at the end of the alcove and pressed his hand against a shoulder high brick that was a deep crimson color in contrast to the rest of the grey stones around it. "And this is the fastest way down. Gryffindors charge ahead," he said and with a grinding sound, the staircase turned into a slide even as high, curved walls rose up from the sides.

He grinned at them for a moment. "Well? Come on then."

With that said he jumped onto the slide and disappeared into the shadows below, a loud whoop echoing behind him for a moment before the others shook themselves into action. Neville was the first to leap forward, diving head first down the slide with his wand lit and held in front of him before the girls were able to reach it. Air whistled past Neville's ears and he couldn't hold back a gleeful cry of his own as his body picked up speed, spiraling around and around and down and down into the castle. Behind him he could hear shrieks from the girls echoing off the stone walls of their slide and after nearly a minute and a half he suddenly shot out of the botom of the slide, landing on a cushioning charm and tumbling, for several moments before he came to a stop, dizzy and breathless after the ride.

Looking up he accepted an extended hand as Harry helped haul him to his feet and both quickly stepped over to the slide to help catch the girls as they came flying out of the slide, one after the other. Of the three, somehow, Daphne was the only one not to look a disheveled mess after their trip.

"Come on," Harry called out, moving almost before Daphne had her feet under her. "We're only one corridor over from the Great Hall and about a hundred yards from the Entrance. If we're lucky, we should be ahead of them."

"How often are we lucky?" Susan asked, hurrying after her bond mate.

"Often enough to still be alive?"

No one felt the need to respond to that and simply ran harder, attempting to keep up with Harry. When they rounded the corner, ahead of them past the closed doors leading into the Great Hall they could see the great black dog bounding down the steps of the Grand Staircase and behind him, on the first floor, they could hear the pounding steps of his pursuers.

"Sirius! Stop!" Harry yelled, but the dog didn't stop, merely turned sharply to his left and bounded out of the open entrance onto the castle grounds. Without thinking, Harry continued after him, calling out repeatedly for the fugitive canine to wait.

"Harry, we can't go out there," Hermione gasped out.

Neville growled, low in his throat and plunged out into the night on his friends heels.

They sped across the grass toward the lake with the large black dog blending frighteningly well into the dark outside the castle with only the bright light of the blue moon in the sky above allowing them to follow the canines path across the grounds.

"Dammit, Padfoot, would you stop already?" Harry roared.

Ahead of them, the dog jerked, as if something struck it and it stumbled for a moment before picking up speed again, glancing back over its shoulder in Harry's direction. If anything, he thought the animal looked confused, but then it faced forward again and veered more to the right. Moments later, the huge dog dropped to its belly and slid straight forward, between the roots of the Whomping Willow and dropped out of sight into the tunnel they knew stood there. The whole event passed so quickly that even the notoriously violent tree had no time to react before the animal vanished.

"Dammit!" Harry roared. "Bloody idiot. Why wouldn't he stop?"

"He's scared… Harry," Daphne gasped out, leaning over slightly with her hands on her knees, her breath coming in great heaving gasps.

"And he's confused," Hermione added a minute later.

"Confused and angry. Who is it he wants to kill?" Susan asked.

Harry shrugged and turned, starting slowly back toward the castle and the approaching adults. "Who knows," he muttered. "I just wish he would have let us explain."

They had covered, perhaps, twenty feet before Harry felt it. He'd been honestly enjoying the cool, crisp night air against his sweaty face when cool suddenly became cold, unnaturally cold, and in the back of his mind a screaming voice made itself known.

He froze, his eyes darting wildly around them as a muttered curse escaped him.

"Run," he muttered.

"What?" Daphne asked, looking up from where she had been huddling close to Susan, both of them suffering from the sudden cold that enveloped them.

"RUN!" he roared as the screaming grew louder and louder until the voices filled his head, blotting out everything else. Every horrible memory of his life began to flash before his eyes, his vision swimming in and out of focus as he tried to push his friends toward the castle. A trio of dark figures swooped through the air around them and as they drew closer and closer, circling in like sharks, he could only hear the screams.

With the voice echoing in his ears a bright flash of white light was the last thing he could remember seeing before his eyes slipped closed and the darkness overtook him.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl . . . stand aside, now. . . ."

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead —"

"Not Harry! Please . . . have mercy . . . have mercy. . . ."

A shrill voice was laughing, the woman was screaming, and Harry knew no more.

#####

Author's Notes the second: Okay, so the little scene with the staircase that turns into a slide? Totally stole that from another fic.

Harry Potter and the Last Chance, written by LeQuin.

It's a great story following the Reptilla28, Don't Fear the Reaper Challenge.

Basic premise behind the challenge is that Harry dies at 17 during the big battle against Voldemort. He wakes up in an office where he meets HIS death, only it turns out this isn't his first time dying, in fact it's the nth time. (number differs by story) But point being, one more unauthorized death before his time and his grim reaper will get fired and they'll both be in trouble. So Harry gets sent back in time, keeping his memories of his last time through to find his soul mate (some Granger girl…) beat the bad guy, get the girl, etc. Great fic. It's romantic, it's hilarious, it's exciting. I really love this one and that whole scene with the staircase was just too perfect for me not to borrow for this specific circumstance.

Look it up, it's totally worth the read.