Hi everybody,

I finally managed to get this chapter uploaded. I was a bit busy. hope you like it.

Wormtail and Padfoot

Peter Pettigrew knew he was in really deep shit. Ever since he had been captured when he returned to Hogwarts with the youngest Weasley boy, things had gone downwards. He had been too out of it from the catastrophic landing in the lake that the boy had caused, after losing control over the car, or the thing simply malfunctioning, he couldn't really say, as he had been half asleep when they crashed, to really notice what was happening. The cold water of the lake had been a really nasty shock and when he found himself inside a cage shortly after being brought to the hospital wing by Hagrid, he hadn't really worried.

Nobody would let a rat inside a hospital wing after all. He had believed that they would put the cage next to Ron's bed and he would be able to sleep off the shock. But it had been different. The new Gryffindor head, he had occasionally spotted him when he had come to the Burrow to talk with Harry over his bad experiences over the summer, had put him into a cell and he had then been confronted by four very angry people. One was Snape of all people, then Peverell, the male one, McGonagall and Dumbledore himself. He had been turned back into his human form and tied up with ropes that Dumbledore himself spelled to prevent him turning into his rat form.

Then the bastard Snape had dosed him with veritaserum, and he had been forced to tell everything, from becoming a Death Eater to giving up the Potters and framing Sirius. The whole thing had been recorded as well and Dumbledore had then called Moody and Shacklebolt from the Ministry to arrest him, briefing them on his animagus ability and that he had confessed to be the true murderer of the Manchester tragedy that Sirius Black had been blamed for. And with Moody in charge, there hadn't been any blind spot that was left open. He couldn't escape. And he had been really frightened over the lecture Dumbledore had given him for sleeping inside a boy's dorm, when he really was a grown man. No wonder the dark lord had feared him. His magical aura was terrifying.

Today was the day the Wizengamot would preside his trial. He was doomed, he knew that. He had hidden to not be killed by the other Death Eaters, as his intel had been what led to the death of their master. He tried moving the shackles that tied him to the interrogation chair, but they didn't move a bit, instead giving him a small shock as a warning to behave. He could see all the ones that currently held power. Bones as head of the DMLE, the idiot Fudge that had managed to become Minister, Longbottom as a senior member of the Wizengamot, and of course Dumbledore himself as the Chief Warlock.

"Order!" Dumbledore called out, "Criminal trial of the eighteenth of September nineteen ninety-two for Peter Mobius Pettigrew. Presiding: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic, Amelia Susan Bones, head of the DMLE, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Court Scribe Heather Irene Burke."

People whispered at seeing a man that had supposedly died in 1981 very much alive.

"Peter Pettigrew, you are accused of the following crimes: Membership of a terrorist organisation, namely the Death Eaters, espionage for the dark lord known as Voldemort, twelve cases of murder, assistance in fifteen cases of murder, usage of the imperius and cruciatus curse against other human beings, betraying the secret of the fidelius charm over the house of the Potters to Lord Voldemort, enabling him to find them, obstruction of justice, by blaming Sirius Black for your crimes and being an unregistered animagus in form of a rat. How do you plead?" Dumbledore read out.

"N-Not guilty," He squeaked out.

"It is noted that the accused pleads not guilty. The accusation has the floor," Dumbledore stated, and Moody stepped forward.

Peter saw his world ending when Moody read out the statement taken from him under veritaserum, with written oaths of all four that had been present at the time that the things written down had been what he had said under the truth serum, with an additional oath from Snape that the truth serum was brewed properly, actually had been taken from the stock of veritaserum that he was about to deliver to the Ministry. There was also a written order of Dumbledore, who in his function as Chief Warlock could decide on the use of veritaserum, to dose him.

Shock and horror reigned in the courtroom. Nobody had thought that Sirius Black could actually be innocent. One voiced his outrage.

"Why didn't this come out at Black's trial? He would have been questioned under veritaserum as well," It was Tiberius Ogden that wanted to know this.

"Lord Ogden, it would have come out, if he had had a trial in the first place," Bones said gravely, "Professor Dumbledore approached my department with the information that they had caught Pettigrew in his animagus form at Hogwarts, which has got new wards over the summer, thanks to an incident last year, which made Professor Dumbledore decide that more protection for the students was needed. You probably remember the troll getting into the castle on Halloween, which thankfully didn't have consequences for the students. It still showed that the wards had loopholes that criminal elements could exploit, which was why one of the new wards, thanks to Professor McGonagall pointing it out, was one that would only allow an animagus that was keyed into the wards to change into his or her animal form on the school grounds.

"There are two registered animagi on staff right now. Professors Minerva McGonagall and Harold Peverell. Professor Peverell registered his form the last week of August, when he finished it, thanks to some last pointers from Professor McGonagall. He is registered as a raven animagus. These two are now the only ones that can transform on the grounds, all others will be transported to a holding cell in the dungeons if they are caught in transformed form. During the investigation that followed, we looked into the Sirius Black case, as it is closely connected. We were horrified when we found that there not only wasn't a protocol of a trial, but that there wasn't any proper investigation documentation either.

"After the captured Sirius Black was brought to the Ministry, Barty Crouch, as the previous head of the DMLE, and Minister Bagnold, decided that the evidence was more than clear and that they didn't need to set a day in court. It would only waste time to officially declare what they already knew. I have my aurors search other prisoner files from imprisonment during the two years after the fall of You-Know-Who, but, so far, we didn't find more discrepancies. I will of course report if any other case like that turns up. I truly hope it was a one-time incident and not method. Mr Crouch is in custody to be questioned about his orders, which aren't conform with the law, and Ex-Minister Bagnold is on house arrest at her manor," Bones finished her response.

Many sat shocked in their seats. To think that, just because procedure hadn't been followed, because two people said it wasn't necessary, an innocent man had been sent to the dementors, for now eleven years.

After that blow, the witnesses were questioned about finding Pettigrew and Pettigrew just whimpered in his chair.

"The accused will now have the chance to defend himself," Dumbledore stated, after the last statements were given.

"I, I didn't have a choice," Pettigrew wailed, "He was too powerful, he was taking over, and I didn't want to die."

"That is a poor excuse if I ever heard one," Moody barked, "You could have simply gone into hiding, Albus would have helped you do so. And nobody forced you to murder all those muggles when Sirius cornered you. You are a traitor and a criminal."

Many others nodded, totally agreeing with the estimation of the famous auror. Pettigrew only started sobbing, sorry for himself.

"Well, let's get to the verdict. Those that think Peter Pettigrew guilty of the crimes he is accused of committing?" Dumbledore asked and nearly all wands were lifted into the air, making Pettigrew only wail louder, "All that think him innocent?"

Nobody lifted their arms, there were just some abstentions from voting.

"The Wizengamot finds you guilty of the crimes you are accused of. The sentence is imprisonment at Azkaban prison in an anti-animagus cell for the rest of your natural life," Dumbledore declared, and Pettigrew started shouting in denial, but an auror hit him with a stunner and then tied him up to take him to Azkaban.

"Further, the Wizengamot needs to right the wrong done to Sirius Black. We really failed there, and I won't exclude myself from that. I should have noticed that he didn't have a trial, even if I wasn't Chief Warlock back then. I was still a member of the Wizengamot. I suggest we immediately get Mr Black from Azkaban prison into a private room of St. Mungo's, where he is to be treated for the effects of the exposure to dementors at the cost of the Ministry. Further we need to pay his outstanding salary as an auror, plus hazard pay, after all, dementors are always on that list if you have contact with them. And some reparation will also be appropriate," Dumbledore stated.

"How about ten thousand galleons as reparation next to the outstanding payment?" Fudge suggested, speaking up for the first time.

"I think that is more than fair, Cornelius," Dumbledore agreed.

Fudge, known to Dumbledore and Bones, but not the majority of the Wizengamot, had decided to just preside and let the other two handle this case. He had after all had a hand in the incident, being the one reporting from the site. His report had been a major point in Crouch and Bagnold's decision, even if he didn't officially have any responsibility for what they had done. This way, he could get through things without taking too hard a hit publicly, but he also knew that he should better do his job properly in the future, or the other two would take him to task. He had agreed to the decision, because otherwise he would have lost his job over the Ministry not doing its job properly. He really didn't want that to happen.

Sirius Black sat in his cell, more bored than anything. Sure, the constant presence of dementors in the wing sucked, as well as the cold and the screams from the other inmates, but he could, thanks to Padfoot, escape the worst effects of those monsters. A dog's fur was definitely a blessing in a place like this. It was even too cold for flees to torment him. Not to mention that, as a dog, eating a rat that occasionally found its way into his cell made a nice snack and welcome source of meat. The slime he got otherwise was really not helpful.

Then there was something different. The coldness of the dementors retreated and he made sure to be in his human form. Normally retreating dementors meant that a guard was on its way, sometimes the occasional visitor for other prisoners. But the guys he was stuck with never got them anymore. The only one he remembered was for the Crouch boy before he died. Not even his cousin Narcissa would come to see her twisted sister Bellatrix.

"Alright, first things first, ward the cell against his animagus transformation," He heard one man say and he panicked. Had they found out? But how and why now?

He watched and found that there were four men that had a prisoner between them. The first two men cast wards around the old cell of Crouch junior, the only free one on this floor, and then carried the clearly stunned prisoner inside. They came out and the door was closed again. Sirius hadn't managed to get a good look at the new prisoner. He wondered who it was. At least the remark about animagus wards didn't seem to be meant for himself. That was a relief.

"Good, that's done. Let's see him get out of there without being able to transform. He's a whiny coward, I don't expect him to survive the dementors for long. Next point, where is Black's cell?" The man that seemed to give the orders asked.

They wanted to see him? What was going on? He sat back on his bed, well, what they called a bed here at least, and waited for some seconds before the steps were in front of his cell.

"Open it," The commander ordered, and the door was unlocked.

Sirius got a look at the group of four. One was the head warden of Azkaban. The second was an older auror, he faintly remembered from his training with that department during the war, and the other two he actually knew. Alastor Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt. Kingsley had been in his auror class and Moody their trainer.

"Black, you are coming with us to St. Mungo's. Pettigrew was caught and convicted for his crimes, he told us everything under veritaserum," Moody stated.

"You finally caught him? I didn't really believe that it would ever happen," Sirius replied, shocked at the development, "Does that mean what I think?"

"Yes, you're free and get to leave here forever. You'll have to be treated at St. Mungo's, though you're better off than I dared hoping after all these years," Moody commented.

"Helps knowing you are innocent. That's not a happy thought and they can't take it away. Not very comforting, but at least it kept me sane. How was the rat captured?" Sirius asked.

"He got found out by the new wards at Hogwarts. Dumbledore then acted quickly, after knowing the truth," Moody answered.

"I guess I need to be told a lot of things to catch up. Does the Ministry at least pay the bills for the hospital after messing this up spectacularly? I mean, I tried telling Bagnold for years that I was innocent, and she always ignored me and told me to shut up. One day I simply didn't bother anymore," Sirius admitted.

"We will deal with that. It will be added to the file for the investigation that Director Bones is already having conducted," Moody nodded.

Sirius was led down the corridor and towards the portkey travel point. He could hardly believe it. He was actually free again. Well, he would need some healing, but he would be the first to admit that he was looking forward to hospital food. Compared to Azkaban food, hospital food would be pure luxury. And then, well, he could finally see his godson again. How many years had it been now? Nine, ten, eleven? Was Harry already at Hogwarts? Did he follow them into Gryffindor if he was? Many questions, and he truly hoped to soon have the answers. He touched the portkey with a finger and felt the familiar sensation of being hooked at the navel and drawn away.

Harry was on the way to meet Sirius. He would need to explain a few things to him. Not about him and Ginny being time-travellers, that was best kept secret with only them and Albus knowing. While he trusted Sirius, nobody could know who else was listening in. And Sirius had the habit of acting rashly. He had put his strongest occlumency shields up, as he knew it would be an emotional meeting for him. Sirius had died when Harry hadn't really had the time to get to know him. But despite that, Sirius had sacrificed so much to be with Harry and support him in the last timeline. Now he would be getting the medical help he needed. And Harry was determined to keep Sirius alive this time around.

But they would need Sirius' help with two of the horcruxes. One was after all at Grimmauld Place and one in Bellatrix's vault. But the revelation of that topic would be better for Albus to give. The horcruxes that they got so far, younger Harry's scar, the diary, the ring and the diadem were the only ones that they could get to. The snake wouldn't be one yet, so they didn't need to worry about it. But if they could manage those two last destructions, it might happen that the wraith simply faded away and all the problems from the second war could be avoided, all the deaths. They could only hope.

But this meeting wouldn't be about that, it would be about his younger self and Sirius' position in his life in the future. He reached the door and identified himself to the guard. It had been decided by the DMLE that, until Sirius was given a clean bill of health by the healers, he would be kept under watch, as nobody could estimate how he would react after the long time he had spent at Azkaban. Harry knocked and then entered the room. He found Sirius in a normal hospital bed, with some magazines and newspapers on the table next to him.

"Good afternoon, Mr Black," Harry greeted, having to remember to not call him Sirius.

"Good afternoon. I fear you have me at a disadvantage concerning your name," Sirius replied.

"No problem. My name is Harold Peverell, I'm the current Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, next to being Head of Gryffindor House," Harry introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you. If I may be blunt, what are you doing here? Not that I don't appreciate visitors, it gets dull here all day, just reading and having healers come in and out, next to the occasional auror, but I can't really see a reason for a teacher to be here," Sirius commented.

"Then I'll be blunt as well, it concerns your godson, Harry Potter, who is a member of my house," Harry answered.

"Harry? Yes, he would be at Hogwarts by now. He's a Gryffindor? That's great!" Sirius clearly was happy about it, "Did something happen to him?"

"No, don't worry, he is doing well. He recently won his spot as seeker on the team back and is immensely proud of having won the try-outs for the position. His classes are also going well, and I can attest that he has a distinct talent in my subject," Harry answered, "No, the main reason is that we need to discuss a few things, as, after you will be cleared by the healers, even if it will probably take a few months, how the transfer of the position as Harry's magical guardian will take place. Currently, as his head of house, I have that position, and, by default, I also got legal custody of him, as his previous caretakers weren't suitable."

"Who were they?" Sirius asked, reading the parts between what was said from the statement.

"His aunt Petunia Dursley and her husband," Harry answered, "I went there over the summer, simply to make sure he got the letter with the form he needed to have his guardians sign, we needed permission from all guardians that the children were allowed to play Quidditch and use the swimming pool if they wanted to, and there were problems with him answering his first Hogwarts letter. Thanks to Hagrid reporting that his guardians didn't like magic, we decided to immediately send somebody, and I found him being locked up in his room, in bad state. I called the aurors upon the muggles and they are coordinating things with the muggle police."

"Damn, why would they mistreat Harry?" Sirius growled.

"I don't know, but I acted. Professor Dumbledore arranged that Harry could stay with the Weasleys in August, as Harry is friends with the youngest son Ron, also in my house. Actually, I have the full set of Weasleys that are at school age in Gryffindor. Now, before you can be allowed to see Harry, which I would suggest, if the healing progresses well, could happen over the Christmas break, you need to be of a stable mind again. You need to be able to see him for himself, which could be difficult, as your last memories are of him being a baby," Harry pointed out.

"I see, you also think it might happen that memories of James would overlap with the present Harry," Sirius realised.

"Yes. Going by the photos I was shown of James Potter, when he was around Harry's age, there is some similarity. He isn't a clone of his father, but you could confuse the two at first sight," Harry nodded, not mentioning that Albus had taken down the spell that made Harry look like his father, but made the change more gradual, so that he wouldn't suddenly change, which would be suspicious.

"Perhaps you could tell me a bit about him. I missed so much," Sirius sighed.

"Sure," Harry agreed and told Sirius what he officially knew about Harry. They talked for an hour before Harry knew it was time to leave again.

"Thank you for coming. It was good to find out this much. Do you by any chance know the whereabouts of Remus Lupin, or could you ask Professor Dumbledore where he lives now?" Sirius asked.

"I can tell you that. He works for the apothecary in Hogsmeade, which was opened just this summer. There are two small apartments over the shop, one of them is his, and the other is inhabited by a witch with a young daughter. The shop is rented in the name of Hogwarts, as Potions Master Snape supplies the store, next to the hospital wing, with potions to be sold. It is a great success and we got incredibly positive feedback for the idea, as the inhabitants of Hogsmeade can now buy their potions and ingredients there," Harry answered.

"Oh, he would like that. He was always good with the theory in potions, but he couldn't really brew them," Sirius chuckled, "How does that work with Snape? He doesn't like Remus."

"Well, he rarely has any contact with Remus or Angela. They normally get the potions from Hogwarts and meet with Professor Dumbledore or Miss Vessington, the assistant of Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall for the paperwork that comes with their positions, to have all the paperwork correct. Mr Snape only does the brewing of the needed potions, next to some research projects," Harry explained.

"Ah, that way it would work. How did it happen that Snape changed from teaching to just brewing and researching?" Sirius asked, having heard some younger aurors on patrol at Azkaban complain about his teaching methods once.

"Well, when I mentioned to Professor Dumbledore, after I got the Defence job this summer, that my wife was also studying for her mastery and was close to gaining it, he asked which subject out of interest. I told him it was Potions and it spiralled from there. He knew that Mr Snape didn't want to teach, but he wanted to keep him close for some reason. This way both wishes could be granted. My wife, Ginny, had some intensive preparation for her mastery tests with Professor Slughorn in July and August, which Professor Dumbledore arranged for her, and managed to pass the last week of August. Otherwise Mr Snape would have taught until she could take over, but he is much happier with the new arrangements," Harry told the tale, "And it was easiest this way, as Ginny would have come to live with me at Hogwarts anyway. With her working there too, she didn't need to go looking for a job after getting her mastery."

"Yes, that would be neat," Sirius agreed, "I'll see if I can contact Remus. It would be great to see him again."

"Sure, do that," Harry nodded.

He said goodbye and left the room, leaving Sirius in a good mood. He took a deep breath when he was a bit away from anybody that could see him. It hadn't been easy, but he was optimistic that this time around things would be much better for Sirius.

The rest of September and October passed quite uneventful, which Harry and Ginny welcomed. They knew too well how quickly things could turn sour. They taught their classes, Harry trained the Quidditch team, a cheerleading team was also set up, sometimes Ginny helped with both teams when she had the time, but she also held the Potions sessions in the lab in Gryffindor Tower and had agreed to do the same for the Hufflepuffs, when Pomona had asked her if she would. Not to mention her refereeing the pick-up matches every second weekend.

Today was Halloween, a day that both knew would be much better this time around than the last time. Back then Ginny had been possessed by Tom Riddle's diary and had opened the Chamber of Secrets for the first time. Many other times followed, but this time around, the danger was already dealt with. Things at Hogwarts were going much better than last time. Sure, some students still acted out, wanting to test how far they could go with the new rules, but most had by now understood that the teachers were serious about the no-hexing rule. And pensieve memories being used to clear up conflicts, both parties being able to give one, led to the real culprits being punished.

For example, when younger Harry had been accosted by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, and Goyle had taken away his bag, refusing to give it back, in the whole interaction, when Harry tried to get it back throwing it to the ground, breaking a bottle of ink that spilled over all the contents, he had taken the situation to Older Harry. He had called in all four students, plus Professor Vector. Both had taken the memories from the four involved, even if Malfoy tried protesting the treatment of him, as he was a pureblood and this was beneath him, but the truth had come out. Crabbe and Goyle were even stupid enough to not limit the memory to the incident itself, but to the previous minutes. Malfoy had planned to break Harry's things and if possible ruin his work, to get him into trouble with his teachers, not liking at all that Harry's grades had gone up noticeably and were now clearly above his own.

The three got two weeks of detention for intentionally breaking the things of another student and trying to get him into trouble for something he hadn't caused. And the detentions, like Albus had promised at the welcoming feast, weren't a soft option anymore. Malfoy was a spoiled brat that had never had to work a day in his life. Crabbe and Goyle meanwhile were stupid and always followed what Malfoy told them to do, without a care for the consequences. And they all believed in pureblood supremacy. Thus, the detentions were decided upon. Malfoy was sent to muck out the thestral and hippogriff stables under the observation of Professor Kettleburn, who taught him about what to look out for with the different creatures, where they were used in the wizarding world and which exceptional traits they had. Next to that he had to chip wood twice, learning how much a normal household needed to pay for wood over a year to keep it heated. And then he had to work in the kitchens for two days, being under the command of the head elf.

He was furious about the treatment, but he didn't find any sympathy from the teachers or his fellow Slytherins. He had been warned, repeatedly in fact, what would happen, and it was time that he learned that actions had consequences and that there were things his father couldn't buy him out of. And Lucius had tried. But nobody cared what he wanted. Draco broke the rules, he had to do detention. And a quick presentation of the book of detentions, with names of course being obscured, showed that anybody with similar reasons for detention being given had to do similar tasks. Lucius had stormed off, unhappy that neither his plan to disrupt the school life, getting rid of Dumbledore in the process, seemed to be working, nor anybody fell into line with his demands. Even Fudge refused to do anything that was against the instructions of Albus or Amelia Bones.

Crabbe and Goyle meanwhile were sent to St. Mungo's on both Saturdays that they had to do their detentions, with a healer that Poppy had asked for his assistance. They had to help out in the wards that held the cruciatus victims from the war, which couldn't look after themselves anymore one day, cleaning out bedpans, changing soiled linens and much more. The other one, they got a lecture from Alastor Moody, about other idiots, Death Eaters and small fry followers of Voldemort, who simply followed his orders and where it got them. He made especially sure to show them that those people weren't too different from themselves. It certainly left an impression with the two.

Otherwise they had to copy an old copy of the school rules, while Madam Pince told them how much replacing certain destroyed items cost. All three got a letter sent to their parents to demand a third of the costs to replace all the things that had been in Harry's bag at the time. It came down to the bag, which was charmed to hold more on the inside than it appeared to do, plus charms to make it lighter, the usual supplies like parchment, ink and quills, three textbooks and one set of training clothes, as Harry had planned to go running after lunchbreak, as he had a free period then before he had Herbology. And it never mattered to be slightly sweaty in that class, as they would be working physically with the plants anyway and normally had to take showers or at least wash up when they got back to their tower.

It made a nice amount, which especially for the Crabbe and Goyle families wasn't easy. And Lucius wasn't allowed to pay the whole amount. Crabbe and Goyle were cut off pocket money for the next three months, as far as he was informed by Septima.

Harry knew that it was Sir Nicholas' fifth hundredth death day and he had planned something special for the Gryffindor House Ghost. He planned everything with the students out of earshot of Sir Nicholas. Everybody loved the nice ghost, and they created a plaque in his honour. It read:

Sir Nicolas de Mimsy Porpington

Died 31st October 1492

500th Death Day 31st October 1992

It took forty-five hits with an axe to kill him by beheading. He was caught by his killers after he courageously and successfully defended Hogwarts and Hogsmeade against an attack of witch-hunters that wanted to kill the students at the school. A true Gryffindor and the best and most unique house ghost there is.

And despite trying over and over again, they couldn't get his head off! That's resilience!

Nick was truly touched by the gesture and thanked all the Gryffindor students that had helped making the plaque and who sung 'And he's a jolly good fellow' when they presented it to him. He asked Older Harry to take the plaque down to the dungeons, where his celebration with the other ghosts would take place. He finally had something to shut those party crashers of the headless hunt up. With this, he didn't really care about joining them anymore. He was unique and his house's students had impressively proven that he was loved by them. Sir Patrick couldn't say the same of himself.

The students went to the Halloween feast, this year missing the ghosts that were at Nick's party, and the students got to enjoy a show act with dancing skeletons, which were animated by Professors Dumbledore and Flitwick. Everybody had a lot of fun and the food was great. Even Ron, who had needed to add one week of potion treatment to the original two before he was allowed to eat sweets again, couldn't complain about the things that were served that night. After the feast, the students all went back to their common rooms, and nothing, like a mysterious chamber being opened, took away their fun.

Until next time.