DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.

CHAPTER 53

One month had passed since they had found out about Voldemort's devious scheme; having remembered what Ginny had said in her letters about the Dementors being thrown out of Hogwarts Harry knew that is was only a matter of days before Peter would strike.

They had sent anonymous tips to Harry's father and the Auror Department, but their information had either not reached them or they had thought it was a hoax since no action was being taken. Harry had wanted to tell Sirius but his mother had told him that he was still somewhere in France since he was facing some difficulties at work.

Every morning Harry would wake up and head directly to the day's newspaper to see if the Ministry had said anything new about the Dementors, he had also written to Ginny and begged her to keep him informed should anything happen.

All in all Harry and Draco had been very tensed this past month, Harry afraid for his brother and Draco for his family, should Peter succeed and bring the Dark Lord back to life.

They continued training with increased vigor and were soon able to take on ten or twelve of the best warriors with ease, and when they fought as a team, their combination became a force to reckon with.

Their time in the Academy was running out and soon they would have to head back home and to Hogwarts, so they made sure that they could learn as much as they possibly could before that happened.

It was a week after the month had passed when the newspaper came bearing the news that Hogwarts intended to cut down on its security. They had given the date and time that the reduction was to take place with an added apology to all the residents of Hogsmaede.

Harry stood up looking pale and let the paper fall to the ground "He will make his move on that day" he whispered "I can feel it."

Draco put a calming hand on his shoulder but his own countenance bore the stress from the wait and a new determination that had been born within his soul, "Harry if we have to stop him then we have to inform someone else, I think it's time we paid the Headmaster a visit." Harry nodded and followed Draco to the office.

Headmaster Janus was sitting at his desk looking over some papers while they stood in front of him nervously.

"Yes you said you have a request to make of me?" He asked not looking up from his work "So spill it then, what is it that you want?"

Harry almost lost his courage in the last minute but thinking of Darren he tightened up his resolve and told the headmaster haltingly of all that they had learnt.

Janus Mendez looked a bit wide eyed at their exploits and for the first time they saw a gleam of real interest spark in his eyes, smiling almost benevolently at them he said softly "You have done very well till this point, so now what is it you want from me?"

"sir" Harry said, "We need you to give us at least two or three days official leave from the Academy, during which time we plan to stay at Hogsmaede to keep an eye on the school in case the rat makes his way in" he said not trying to hide his opinion about the cowardly convict.

"How will you accomplish that?" The headmasters asked quizzically.

"Through this map Sir" Harry said, proffering the Marauders map to the man.

Examining the parchment the Headmaster turned to them and said "If I let you do this, you must understand fully well that neither I nor my school can interfere. We are bound to our laws and by a scared oath, one that we must honor. If you do this you go alone."

Draco looking into the man's face said with a bit of despair creeping into his words "I won't let him rise again Sir, I won't see our families being ripped by the tide of war again. I will do everything I can to stop it and so will Harry."

Janus sighed and said reluctantly "Only two or three days, if he does not come by then, you must return back here and leave fate to run its course."

Thanking him, Harry and Draco ran up to their room and began planning for the upcoming trip.

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One night before the chosen date, Draco and Harry made their way to Hogsmaede with their disguises firmly in place. They booked a room at the lodge and kept a constant eye on the map not going out too much so that they did not attract too much attention to themselves.

Most of the Dementors had been removed from the school, now only fifteen or twenty of them remained to protect it.

Two days of their vigil was up and they started to despair that Peter would not make his move before their time was up

That night during his watch Draco who had pacing the room in an attempt to stay awake peeked into the map and started to shake. He saw a small dot on the map with the name peter Pettigrew over it!

Running to the bed ,he woke Harry up urgently and told him what he'd seen, quickly grabbing a broom each and wasting no time they flew towards the school under the cover of the night.

The wards around the school showed a small amount of resistance to their invasion at first, but when they recognized a friend they let them through immediately.

Glancing at the map, Harry saw that Peter Pettigrew was near the forest's edge the spot was unmoving and was at quite a distance from Hagrid's cottage. He and Draco flew directly to the area and landed neatly on the ground.

'Accio rat' Harry cried out and a small creature came hurtling towards his out stretched hand, it was flailing about wildly and bit Harry hard on his finger. Shouting in pain Harry let go of it, but as it tried to make an escape it found that there were wards all around it, that Draco had very quickly put around them, boxing the three of them in.

The rat ran frantically in circles searching for a way out but found nothing, as they watch mercilessly Draco said "The is game up Wormtail, turn back to your human form, trust me when I say that there is no escape for you now."

A blue light flashed into the night's sky and before them stood a tiny man in place of the rat, "Who are you?" he rasped at them, since he couldn't recognize them through their disguises.

"Screw that Wormtail!" Harry spat and said "What do plan on doing with Darren potter? Is it not enough that you betrayed his family once and got them nearly killed now you must now do it again? Do you feel nothing for the plight of others, feel no remorse at all? Is it only your worthless hide that you care about?" He asked the anger in his voice was cutting.

Peter had gone completely still, his eyes had become dilated with fear and shock, with shaking fingers he pointed to Harry and said "You know…! You know what I'm here for? How?" He asked looking devastated.

"Not only do I know about it, I plan on stopping you before you destroy more lives and bring back that monster back."

"I'm sorry" the rat-like man said falling to his knees, his tears running freely down his face "Please!" He begged looking around slyly for an opportunity to strike at them.

Suddenly he whipped out his wand and pointed it at Draco and said 'Expelliarmus.' More than ready for the attack, Draco casually put up a shield and blocked his poor attempt, "Give up you… you rat!" He said cringing at his own bad pun "It's time for you to go back home to Azkaban."

"No! No! Never, I'd rather die!"

"That'll be the bravest thing you ever did, so go ahead and die" Harry said coldly not looking at the piteous lump of a man before him.

They were about to move towards him to capture him, when the air around them became freezing cold and they heard Wormtail scream "No! Don't let them come near me, stop please, I can't go back there, I'll die!"

Harry and Draco found that they were completely surrounded by Dementors, knowing that the foul soul sucking creatures would not wait for an explanation from them and would attack them regardless of their innocence, they fought the growing coldness within them, and holding up their wands they shouted 'Expecto Patronum.'

Two Dazzling creatures burst forth from their wands, a magnificent stag from Harry's and a huge coiling python from Draco's.

Both creatures moved with stupendous speed towards the dark creatures and the light from them expanded until those standing close to it were almost blinded by its brightness.

"Shit! Harry! He is trying to get away" Draco yelled, when he saw Wormtail pull out a galleon and heard him say the words 'Little Hangleton.'

"Noooo!" shouted Harry and lunged at him grabbing his waist with enormous effort, but it was too late and both he and Wormtail disappeared from the grounds in the blink of an eye.

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Pushing him away roughly and almost stamping his hand Wormatail changed back into his rat form and before Harry could give chase he disappeared into a door behind him.

Scrambling up to his feet Harry ran towards the door and was about to yank it open when everything around him vanished and he found him-self standing on barren stretch of land!

Looking around wildly, Harry realized that the house Wormtail had just disappeared into must have been under 'Fidelus' charm and since he, Harry wasn't invited in the house had closed its doors to him.

Walking around while searching for a clue, Harry came across a board bearing the sign 'The Little Hangleton.' Walking towards the village close by he saw he saw a woman pass by even though it was the wee hours of the morning and stopping her he asked if she knew if there had been a house on the hill top before.

Smiling sweetly up at him she said "Of course there is! It was called…" suddenly her face became twisted with a confused look for a second and then it smoothened out again "Can I do anything for you Sir?" She asked Harry as if they had only just met and their conversation had never happened.

Startled by the change Harry looked closely at her and understood. Strong Muggle repellant charms had altered her memory and it probably was not just her who had been affected but the entire village!

Not even bothering to reply to the woman, he staggered back to the empty land and stared at the red sun rising from the ground beneath his feet.

Sighing in frustration, he disapparated and appeared at Hogsmaede once again, hoping Draco had made it back safety too.

Entering his room he saw Draco sitting at the edge of his bed looking terribly worried and tired, on seeing Harry standing at the entrance of the room his face changed and took on a smile that surprisingly disappeared and was replaced by a frown. He had almost gotten up to run to Harry when he seemed to mentally shake himself and instead stood firmly in his place.

"What did you learn?" he asked Harry blandly.

Feeling like someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on him Harry asked tentatively "Dray areyou mad at me?"

"What did you learn?" Draco persisted on asking, ignoring his question completely.

"I…I found out where the other death eaters were hiding Dray, the safe house seems to be under the Fidelus so I couldn't enter it myself." Harry said walking slowly towards him.

"Right" Draco said nonchalantly "let's leave then since we've accomplished what we came for. Your brother is safe and so is the Wizarding world, for now at least."

He walked over to his packed bag and swinging it over his shoulder said curtly not looking at a rather woebegone Harry, "Meet you in school" and disapparated with a crack.