I'm baaaaack... yeah. So. This took far, far, far longer than I hoped it would, but it is proof, solid proof, that I have not abandoned my writing. So, uh...well. As usual, I do not own Harry Potter, reviews are appreciated, and I hope you enjoy.
Vulpine would never admit it to anyone else but, of all the members of the Order of the Phoenix he had met, he was most wary of Remus Lupin. Strange, but true. The others…well, he was wary of many others. Albus Dumbledore vastly outclassed Vulpine in skill and, right now, power, and likely had him bested in cunning. Alastor Moody was powerful, determined and slightly deranged, even if he never resorted to lethal spells if he had the choice. Severus Snape was a slippery snake of a man who duelled like a master and held a grudge better than anyone Vulpine had ever met, but it was the mild, shabby werewolf who truly set Vulpine on edge.
"You should have realised, if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Goodbye, Peter."
That was the root of his discomfort around Lupin, Vulpine knew. Not the words, but the tone. That cold, dispassionate tone that was so unlike the warm and friendly teacher… a tone more similar to Voldemort. Even to Vulpine that tone was unnerving. Which was why he was currently standing over a cauldron of partially made Wolfsbane with a thoughtful expression. He wasn't making it in the Chamber: Sirius wouldn't approve of what he was trying to do. No, he had one in the Chamber for actual Wolfsbane, and this one for experimentation.
"Bloody Snape, would have thought he would have already done something like this." Vulpine grumbled to himself. What he was attempting was, in theory, simple: to add a powerful sedative effect to the Wolfsbane. Werewolf takes the potion, werewolf goes to sleep, werewolf wakes up the next morning. Easy. In theory. The problem was that the Wolfsbane was temperamental at best, and Vulpine was not a Potions Master. He was good, certainly, unusually good, but not on the level of Slughorn or Snape. Not enough to manage this.
"To Hell with it." Vulpine growled, turning away. He couldn't do it. Oh, the back of his mind was suggesting plenty of alterations that would prevent Lupin from interfering with Pettigrew's capture, but they were all lethal. And somehow Vulpine doubted that the 'Innocent boy pleading with his father's friends' thing he'd managed first time around would stick, given that he had enough blood on his hands to float a small ship and the only ones there not aware of it would be Ron and Pettigrew. He'd have to wing it, then. Vulpine glanced down at the table next to his cauldron, and hissed softly as he scanned the Marauders Map and noticed four dots clustered in a small room. Specifically, three dots blocking the door, and one against the opposite wall. One labelled 'Luna Lovegood'.
"I can't keep helping people. It'll ruin my reputation." Vulpine mumbled to himself, even as he flicked his wand over the cauldron to preserve it and shrunk it down. He knew he was making excuses. Luna had been a friend. More than that, she was terrifying. He still got shivers when he thought about the plan she had concocted to send Hermione back in time- he wasn't sure whether he had been more impressed or horrified. Regardless…the less she was bullied, the more stable she might be. And the more stable she was, the less danger she'd be to him. And he'd justified helping her. Damn.
"Neville, Daphne, Luna…a Lion, a Snake and a Raven. All I need is a Badger and I'll have a regular menagerie." He commented dourly as he slipped out of the room and into the hidden passageways that lined Hogwarts. He quickly found the room he sought, slipping in in silence and ignoring the way the three older Ravenclaws taunted the younger. Surprise is a wonderful tool. He flicked his wand, casting spells. Stupefy this time, being gentle. Two Ravenclaws collapsed and the third whirled, words forming on her lips even as he mimicked her.
"Ex-"
"-pelliarmus." He finished coolly, before she got out the second syllable. His spell completed, her wand spirals away and he cast again, Incarcerous wrapping her in ropes. Her eyes were wide and frightened, and the sensation was…electric. Such potent emotions seething in her mind, terror and rage warring with one another. Vulpine glanced at Luna, who was watching with a lack of emotion in her pale eyes. Inwardly he shuddered, wondering if she was irreparably broken even now, but he spoke softly to her.
"Luna, right? You should get out of here." He said as gently as possible. She might only be a second year, but he didn't want to take any chances. She looked at him carefully, then smiled.
"Thank you." She said simply as she walked past. Vulpine gave it a moment for the chill in his spine to fade, then glanced back to his victims, twitching his wand so that the ropes they were wrapped in adhered to the ceiling, leaving them swinging helplessly, heads towards the floor.
"Enervate." He said, and let a smirk curl his lips as he heard the gasping of shock the two newly revived Ravenclaws made.
"Now," he said, still smiling, "We're going to have a little conversation."
Hermione would admit, she was slowly growing more and more tolerant of Vulpine. Her fellow time traveller had seemed much less on edge ever since he had begun his campaign against Snape, with the current total of three successful pranks to his name. Personally she considered the latest to be most impressive, with Vulpine managing to cause the entire school to be afflicted with changes to hair colour. Specifically, changes to hair colour based on current mood. Vulpine had spent the entire day with electric orange hair, apparently based on his satisfaction, and in addition he had, somewhat grudgingly, helped her remake her friendship with Ron. Hermione hadn't asked how exactly, but once she had shown them the note that dictated that Buckbeak would be executed Ron had immediately agreed to help her, and Vulpine had simply winked and mouthed 'You're welcome'. Whatever the case, she was grateful to him, which meant that it was pure luck that she glanced at the Marauders Map just to see Luna Lovegood flee a room and leave Vulpine alone with three Ravenclaws. It might not be something she'd need to intervene in, but…well, old habits die hard. And leaving Vulpine alone with anyone he might have a grudge against was just against her instincts. Fair? Maybe not. But she wasn't quite ready to trust Vulpine. And when she pushed open the door to see Vulpine slowly walking around three bound figures hanging from the ceiling, she couldn't help fearing the worst.
"Harry." She said, keeping her voice level and surreptitiously drawing her wand. Vulpine glanced at her and a slight frown crossed his face, his smile dropping.
"You have terrible timing, you know." He replied. Hermione looked at him and raised an eyebrow, and he shrugged slightly.
"Now I'm going to have to Obliviate them even more than I expected." He said. One of the girls whimpered, and Vulpine laughed quietly.
"There, there." He said with false sympathy. "I'll be careful. You won't even be hurt. At least, not more than Luna."
Strangely enough the girls didn't look too reassured. Hermione herself wasn't too reassured, given the look of feral excitement in Vulpine's eyes. She grabbed his arm and all but hauled him away, talking to him in a harsh whisper.
"What do you think you're doing?" she hissed. Vulpine looked at her, his excitement clearly overcoming his annoyance.
"I'm just scaring them, Hermione. Letting them feel some of what they inflict on Luna. Besides, I wouldn't hurt them much. Not physically, at least."
A sly grin crossed his face before he continued.
"After all, mental torture is much more satisfying than magical. Not as good as actual, hands on physical torture maybe, but I do what I can."
Hermione decided to ignore that, because it brought back memories she'd rather not revisit. Instead she decided to take a leap of faith.
"Fine. But I'll be watching." She said, softly yet forcefully. Vulpine didn't lose his smile as he walked back to the girls.
"Well then. Now that I've been properly chastised…I want to make something clear, Ravenclaws. You might know more spells than me. You might be better read than me. But in comparison…you are nothing. Knowledge is not power. Not to wizards and witches… knowledge merely allows the exercise of power, and I exercise my power far better than you."
Vulpine paused to smile at the three Ravenclaw girls, all staring at his wand as it circled lazily through the air. He cast no spells, but the threat was there. He looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Have you ever had really bad pins-and-needles? The kind where it actually hurts? I don't know why I ask, because whether you have or not really doesn't matter. The point is…I'm going to afflict you with them. Not all the time, of course, but whenever you get within, let's say, ten feet of Luna. Not severe at ten feet, getting worse the closer you get. And if you find a way to continue your bullying campaign without going near her, well I'll just have to escalate. Am I understood?"
There was no response, and Vulpine sighed.
"Make a muffled noise of terror if you understand." He said, with indecent cheer. Muffled noises of terror dutifully followed, and he beamed.
"Excellent! So, I'll just cast the spell…"
Hermione watched with interest as he made several complex motions, his brow tilted slightly in concentration. He didn't speak any words, but the three girls squirmed slightly. Once finished he smiled again.
"Obliviate, Obliviate, Obliviate. You don't know who did this to you, you think it must have been a Seventh Year and you will definitely pay attention to what's been done. Stay away from Luna, okay? Stupefy, Stupefy, Stupefy. You can stop looking worried now Hermione, they're all just fine."
Hermione decided to trust him, and jerked her head to indicate that they should leave. The spells would wear off in an hour or two, or the girls would be found. It didn't especially matter which to her, and that was slightly worrying.
"You've clearly got something to ask." Vulpine said as they walked. He had cast Muffliato, so they could talk in private.
"Why?" Hermione asked bluntly. Vulpine seemed to think about it, then gave a brief laugh.
"Because, Hermione, Luna was a friend. But more than that, she frightened me. Frightened me more than anyone else in your little group."
Hermione let her pace slow for just an instant at that admission, surprised. Yes, Luna had been, for want of a better word, unstable, but she had never thought that Vulpine would consider her more dangerous to him than Neville, Susan Bones, Hermione herself or a number of others. Then she reconsidered what he had said. 'Most frightening', not 'most dangerous'. Vulpine gave her a considering glance.
"She never told you how her time travel spell actually worked, did she?" he asked. Hermione blinked in confusion and shook her head. Vulpine tapped his chin with one finger.
"I'll tell you someday, and you might understand why I fear her. But not today." He said, and vanished down a side passage before Hermione could quiz him on his cryptic words.
Much as Vulpine had expected, Gryffindor won the final Quidditch match of the year, lifting the trophy. Just as the first time, Vulpine simply had to stall until Gryffindor racked up enough points to win: he used the time to bait the Slytherin team into inflicting as much damage upon one another as possible. The highlight was probably getting Malfoy to fly into Marcus Flint, closely followed by a Bludger. The Slytherin Beaters were not the brightest, although they nearly managed to unseat him anyway when he was laughing too hard to fly properly.
Still, victory, and now Vulpine had to deal with exams and his end-of-year shenanigans. Exams were a conundrum for him. Should he indulge his admittedly considerable ego and perform above and beyond the call of the tests, or fly low as he had been? As it happened, Sirius had some useful advice for once: better to perform well now, and then, if he ended up in the Tri-Wizard tournament again, it would look less suspicious when he inevitably demonstrated skills above and beyond what he should have. It was a good point, and it was even better practice to make sure that he was good, but not too good. It had all gone more or less swimmingly, but now he had to deal with Professor Trelawney. He wondered if she would give a prophecy this time around as he waited with the rest of the class. Weasley was there, of course, but he was mostly talking to Neville. Vulpine was actually quite proud of that piece of manipulation: by getting Weasley to forgive Hermione and properly befriend Neville he had not only earned goodwill from Hermione, but also helped Neville and gave Vulpine more chances to slip away from the group. He waited as the group was whittled down, until only he and Ron were left.
"Harry Potter." Said the misty voice from above. Vulpine felt uneasiness twist in his stomach: this was different. He climbed the ladder into the chokingly perfumed room, carefully navigating to where Professor Trelawney sat before a large crystal ball.
"Sit, my dear, and tell me what you see in the crystal ball." Trelawney murmured. Vulpine slowly sank into the armchair, fully aware of how much of a waste this was. Predicting the future was not impossible, but it was an art. Even true prophecies were usually cryptic, and lesser forms- like using cards, or crystal balls- were an art rather than a skill, and an inaccurate art at that. One Vulpine had no talent for, though he had sometimes used his abilities as a card sharp to fake it for psychological value. Two black Aces, two black eights and the Nine of Diamonds. An easy way to frighten someone, but he just needed to fake something now, so he leaned forward and stared into the crystal ball.
"There's…a dark shape." He said slowly, frowning. "A…a large dog? No, bigger. A…a Hippogriff?"
He stared at the slightly blurry shape, convinced that he did indeed see a fuzzy horse-bird. That was new, and unsettling. Trelawney leaned forwards, looking fascinated as she scribbled on a piece of parchment.
"My dear boy, you may well be seeing the outcome of poor Hagrid's trouble with the Ministry of Magic! Look closer…does the Hippogriff appear to have its head?"
Vulpine forbore to comment that really it was Buckbeak who was having trouble with the Ministry, and that without a head the Hippogriff would look more like a headless horse. He didn't hold it against Trelawney, she was a drunk.
"Yes, it has its head. But…wait…there's something else. A man with something…an axe?"
Vulpine dropped his voice to a whisper. This couldn't be right. He hadn't seen this last time. He'd never seen anything in a crystal ball before. Trelawney leaned even further forward, an indecent excitement lighting her voice.
"What is the man doing?" she whispered. Vulpine concentrated. There was something behind the man, a figure that seemed somehow familiar, and then the wispy figures of the man and the figure behind vanished, and the Hippogriff spread its wings before following suit.
"Well?" urged Trelawney. Vulpine looked up at her, keeping his expression neutral.
"There was someone else behind the man, but they both vanished. The Hippogriff looked like it was flying, and then it vanished as well."
Trelawney actually looked disappointed, and Vulpine wondered if she had been drinking. Although, he reasoned hopefully, her disappointment might be due to the failure of his apparently new-found Divination talent than the lack of bloodiness in his reading. Hopefully.
"Very well, if that is all…you may go." She said in her misty voice. Slowly Vulpine rose and left the room, waiting for a Prophecy that didn't come. When Ron was called up he leaned against the wall, thinking. Prophecies and Divination were uncertain, at best. Normal Divination was, as he understood it, an unconscious channelling of magic that gave a glimpse of what might happen, which was why anyone could theoretically do it, and also why so few actually could do it. A true Prophecy was more like an involuntary magic induced trance, and the Seer had no control over the timing. Last time it had happened at the end of his exam, just before he left. But he had been the last to be examined last time, so…oh.
"Oh, damn." Vulpine whispered, just as Weasley came down the ladder with a look of confusion on his face.
"Mate," he said, in a tone of worry, "Trelawney just did something really weird."
Inwardly, Vulpine ran through a list of swearwords. Outwardly, he affected confusion.
"Weirder than usual? What happened?"
"I did my exam, made it up, she was fine with it, but then her eyes went all misty and her voice went all deep and she said some really strange stuff. I…do you think she might have just made a proper Prophecy?"
Weasley sounded worried, and Vulpine reminded himself that Ron was only thirteen.
"I dunno, Ron. What did she say?"
Ron frowned slightly, obviously trying to remember. In fairness, Vulpine himself could barely remember any of the first Prophecy he had heard Trelawney give, and suspected that he had forgotten quickly.
"She said…she said that the Dark Lord lies alone and friendless…and that…something about a dog, and a rat, and that…something about the Fox having to choose, the life of the Dog or the lives of the Phoenix fledglings. There might have been more, but I can't remember it all."
Vulpine felt his blood run cold. That wasn't the Prophecy he had heard, and it wasn't a good one. It sounded clear: Sirius lived at the cost of members of the Order. Vulpine clenched his fist, realising what this meant. If he was a true hero, he might tell Dumbledore. Tell Hermione. Tell Sirius. No. No, he would not let that happen. Dumbledore would no doubt sacrifice Sirius, one life for many. Hermione might agree to saving Sirius, but she might not. Her morals might intervene. They must not know. Ron was suggesting telling Hermione, moving towards the door, and Vulpine did what he had to.
"Obliviate." he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. It was a low level cast of the spell, a mild block that would likely fade in a few months, but it would be enough to get through this night. Sirius would live, no matter what he had to do to ensure it. Weasley staggered slightly, but Vulpine effortlessly moved him along, smoothly continuing the conversation as if they had been complaining about Divination being ridiculous the whole time and ignoring the unease deep in his stomach.
Vulpine walked slowly under the Invisibility Cloak as he, Hermione and Ron made their way down to Hagrid's hut. He was as ready as he could be: he had slipped the Marauders Map into Lupins office after checking that Pettigrew was in Hagrid's hut, he had worked with Sirius to ensure that Ron would get dragged into the Shrieking Shack, hopefully without injury this time, and he had the Wolfsbane ready in case Lupin forgot it again. He had wondered if it might be easier to Stun Ron and just skip the drama once they got to the Shack, but he remembered how Ron had stood up on a broken leg to block him from Sirius. 'If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us, too!' he had said. It had been brave, beyond brave, and it forced Vulpine to concede that Ron wasn't a lost cause at this point. Not that he had ever really doubted that the redhead was brave, it was that shared loyalty and sense of right that had vanished over years. Vulpine might never regain his old morals, but Ron could still keep his. No, Pettigrew was posing as his pet, he deserved to see the truth first-hand. Vulpine broke away from his thoughts as they reached the hut, and knocked on the door.
"Hagrid, it's us. We're wearing the Invisibility Cloak, let us come in so we can take it off." He whispered when the man opened the door. Hagrid looked surprised, telling them that they shouldn't have come, but nonetheless stepped back and let them enter. He looked terrible, Vulpine thought, a hopelessness to his expression and a wan cast to his face that was worse than any tears. His hands shook, and his voice was unsteady as he tried to project an image of normality.
"Wan' some tea?" he asked, and Vulpine gave a brief glance at Hagrid's shaking hands before stepping in.
"I'll make it." Hermione offered, shooting a rapid glance at Vulpine as she stepped towards the teapot. Vulpine ushered Hagrid to a chair, as Hermione picked up the milk jug. Suddenly recalling that Scabbers was hiding in the replacement jug in the cupboard, Vulpine shifted himself enough to knock into Hermione as he walked back around the table. The jolt was just enough to break her grip on the milk jug, so that it fell and shattered.
"Oh no! Hagrid, I'm sorry, I'll-"
"S'alright Hermione, there's another one in the cupboard." Hagrid croaked out, sitting heavily. Vulpine slid into a seat opposite Hagrid, not saying anything as Ron complained about how unfair Buckbeak's execution was. The redhead was right, it was unfair, but, as Hagrid pointed out, Lucius Malfoy had too much power. Vulpine still wasn't certain why Malfoy had put so much effort into having the Hippogriff killed, but he suspected it was a mixture of wanting to get one up on Dumbledore and wanting to kill the beast for hurting his son. Say what you would about them, but the Malfoy family were fiercely protective of each other, a weakness Vulpine had exploited at least once. Vulpine slid into plotting as Ron tried to console Hagrid, agreeing with Ron in an automatic fashion that made him appear to be paying attention to Hagrid's plight, until Hermione found Scabbers and broke him from his thoughts.
"Look- it's Scabbers!" she said, tilting the jug she was carrying and tipping the rat out onto the table. Vulpine suppressed his instinct to take his Animagus form and ragdoll the bastard rat- it really would cause more trouble than it was worth. He could kill the rat after Sirius was cleared, and take his time. Vulpine wasn't entirely able to supress a smirk at the thought, but he was fairly certain nobody noticed. Besides, any moment now…
"They're comin'." Hagrid said suddenly, looking about the window to where Albus Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge, Walden Macnair and…some old man… had appeared from the castle and begun to walk down to the hut. Hagrid hastily ushered them out, with Vulpine throwing his Invisibility Cloak over Ron and Hermione, Hermione dragging the redhead as he focused on keeping hold of Scabbers. Pettigrew. Scabbers? Whichever one, he was a nuisance. Exerting strength he had not suspected his rather scrawny frame capable of, Vulpine dragged the other two to the treeline, hissing at them to stay quiet. Expecting the thud of an axe, he was surprised to hear a round of cursing from Macnair, followed by a cry of exultation.
"Tracks! The hunt is on!" the Death Eater snarled, and Vulpine clapped his hands over Granger and Weasley's mouths and shrank back into the trees as Macnair rushed past, cursing his future self. He really could act without thinking- although it was interesting that he had managed to lure Macnair in a direction away from Buckbeak. After all, Vulpine hadn't seen the Hippogriff passing by. Something to remember later. Or earlier. Or…Vulpine decided not to follow the line of thought spawned by time travel tense usage. It was a subject that caused headaches.
"Come on," Vulpine hissed, "It look like Buckbeak got away. It won't help us to get caught here."
Hermione gave a quick nod to him and they started away, Ron still struggling with Scabbers. Vulpine counted in his mind, knowing that he might need to intervene if Crookshanks didn't-
"Argh!"
Ron let out a brief cry as Scabbers bit his hand and ran for it, and the redhead gave chase with a cry of frustration, leaving the cloak and running after the rat. Vulpine pulled his wand- his holly wand- and let a smirk drift across his face as he saw a massive, dark shape emerge from the woods near the Weeping Willow. Just as planned. And then, of course, Ron missed his grab on Scabbers. Vulpine promised himself a long, long holiday once he had the chance, and whispered the words of the needed spell.
"Impedimenta."
Scabbers froze for a moment, letting Ron grab him. A moment later Sirius crashed into Ron, and the redhead went sprawling, still holding Scabbers. Vulpine prayed that he kept hold. He didn't really want to have to hunt down the rat in his Animagus form. Luckily Ron had a good grip on the rat, and kept that grip even as Sirius dragged him away with ease. Vulpine spared a moment of jealousy- he liked his fox form, and it was practical, but there was something so very cool about being an enormous dog- and casually pushed Hermione out of the way of a swinging branch. Damn the Whomping Willow- what idiot had bred that thing? Somehow Sirius had managed to drag Ron through the maelstrom of highly aggressive tree branches, and was trying to haul him into the small passageway below. And then, once again, luck delivered a sucker punch. This time, Sirius had grabbed Ron by his robe rather than his arm, and the cloth tore. Ron rolled over, panicked, tried to stand…and the Willow caught him hard.
"Ron!"
Vulpine nearly went deaf from Hermione's yell, automatically grabbing her arm to prevent her from doing something. They needed to be quiet, but the struggle between them lost the cloak. Ron had been caught in the arm, a crack announcing a broken shoulder at least, and landed hard. Sirius immediately grabbed his leg and dragged him into the tunnel, while Vulpine swore and hoped that the impact and fall hadn't made Ron lose Scabbers. He and Hermione were too close to the Willow, and a small branch ripped across Vulpine's face. He snarled, pushing Hermione away hard and transforming. The Willow wasn't fast enough to hit even Sirius: Vulpine's smaller, more lithe form easily made it through the branches and hit the strange knot that froze the tree. Shifting back he beckoned to Hermione.
"Come on!"
As she hurried towards him he flicked his wand and mumbled a quick 'Accio Cloak'. No point leaving it lying around- if Snape followed them this time he'd have to work a little harder. The two of them ran down the tunnel that led to the Shrieking Shack, Vulpine thinking hard. He would let Pettigrew get thrown into Azkaban, he decided, and find some other way to have Voldemort resurrected. Barty Crouch Junior was a fanatic, and would be easy to manipulate. But first…getting Pettigrew arrested. Hopefully he would just have to make it look like he had convinced Sirius to turn the rat over to him, and hand Pettigrew to the Aurors. No involvement from Dumbledore, no problems.
"Hermione." Vulpine said as they reached the end of the tunnel, grabbing her arm to get her to stop running.
"What?" she asked, turning to look at him.
"We need a plan. We can't just run in like before, that'll give Pettigrew too many chances. We need to get the rat to the Aurors, preferably without Sirius around."
"What? But surely if we bring in Pettigrew we can get a fair hearing. Sirius never had a trial after all-"
Vulpine cut her off with a low laugh that sounded hollow, even to him.
"Do you really think that matters? The problem is that Fudge and Barty Crouch can't afford to just admit they were wrong. Crouch will never admit it, and Fudge is too selfish and cowardly to go against him. But if we bring Pettigrew to the Aurors, they will have to investigate."
The look Hermione gave him was a mixture of sorrow and grudging acceptance, and he knew that she wouldn't argue with him.
"So what's your plan?" she asked. Vulpine considered briefly. Really, there was not much he could do. Hermione was going to realise that he had been helping Sirius the instant he saw him, the dog Animagus lacked the scrawniness and edge of insanity that being on the run for almost a year should have given him, so they would just need to act for Ron. Push came to shove they could knock Ron out, but that was a last resort.
"We talk Sirius into revealing the rat. We Stun Pettigrew, bind him, Stun him again and then sneak up to the castle. Dumbledore won't be able to argue with it, we call the Aurors and hand Pettigrew to them- preferably Shacklebolt, Bones, someone who's good and fair. Agreed?"
Hermione didn't look entirely convinced, but she nodded nonetheless. Vulpine had to admit to being relieved. He didn't think he would end up having to fight her over it, but he couldn't rule out the possibility- and she had demonstrated in the Room of Requirements that being returned to a younger form inconvenienced her much less than him.
"Lead on, then." She said quietly, and Vulpine nodded to her, taking the lead. He had retrieved his Holly wand from Sirius, realising that it would be best to use it in classes to avoid questions over the distinctive Laburnum wand that he had made, and he held it out in front of him, casting a silent Lumos. He walked up the stairs into the Shrieking Shack, extinguishing his wand as he edged closer to the door. He wondered if he should let Sirius disarm him or not. Probably, he concluded gloomily, and so, decision made, he walked into the room, focusing his eyes on Ron. The redhead looked bad- pale, with one arm hanging loosely and the other tightly wrapped around a squirming Scabbers. His legs were held close together, and Vulpine suspected Locomotor mortis as the culprit. Add a broken shoulder and probably arm into the mix, and it was surprising that Ron was still conscious.
"Harry," Ron said, his voice slurring slightly from the pain, "He's here."
Vulpine knew exactly what he was talking about, but knew he had to pretend obliviousness.
"What? Who's here?" he asked, hurrying closer to Ron and telling himself that the feeling in his chest was not concern, damn it. Ron looked at him with eyes slightly glazed with pain and fear.
"It's him…he's an Animagus…Harry…the dog is Sirius Black!"
Vulpine turned, exaggeratedly slowly, as the door shut behind him. Idly he wondered how Sirius would work this- he betted on overacting. Sure enough, the man had hidden behind the door, fixed a leer on his face and…there was makeup. Sirius had used makeup to replicate the bags under his eyes that had begun to fade. Vulpine let that sink in, feeling a deep, deep despair.
"Expelliarmus." Sirius positively purred, and Vulpine fought a sigh. This sort of cliché villainy was why Sirius was a terrible role model.
"I knew you would follow me in here." Sirius said, staring at him. Vulpine gave him a dour look, waiting for him to continue and get to the point.
"I knew you would come to help your friend…your father would have done the same thing for me. I'm glad you didn't run to get a teacher…it will make things much easier for me."
Vulpine sighed inwardly, knowing what this should provoke. Ah well.
"Don't talk about my father!" he shouted, lunging forward and throwing himself at Sirius. His Godfather blinked in shock, letting Vulpine tackle him and knock him to the floor, where they grappled.
"Don't overegg it." Vulpine hissed quietly as they struggled. He caught a light grin flicker as Sirius replied.
"Where's the fun in that?" he responded, before shoving Vulpine off and pointing the wand at Hermione.
"Hold it!"
Hermione froze, and Sirius slowly stood, keeping his wand on her. Vulpine remained sprawled on the floor, hiding his smirk. Slowly, Hermione backed away, stepping backwards to stand next to Ron. Slowly, Sirius reached down and grabbed Vulpine by the collar, pulling him to his feet and shoving him towards Ron and Hermione. Vulpine pretended to stumble, leaning on Hermione. Sirius grinned.
"Now, why don't you all stay still so that I can do what I came here to do. To commit the crime that I was imprisoned for!"
Drama queen, Vulpine thought. Still, it was working well enough, because Ron was wriggling furiously. Hermione edged slightly forwards, as though ready to dive in front of Vulpine or Ron. Probably Ron. Vulpine could look after himself, after all.
"What?" Hermione gasped, probably acting better than Sirius given her lack of theatricality. Ron struggled to stand- a futile effort given that his legs were immobilised.
"No! If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" he shouted. It was less impressive than it could have been, given that he was still unable to stand, but Vulpine supposed that it was the thought that counted. Sirius gave Ron a brief glance, and his eyes briefly flickered with respect.
"Stop wriggling. There will only be one murder tonight." He said quietly, staying with the script. Vulpine met Sirius' eyes, ready to continue with the charade.
"Why's that? Gone soft during your stay in Azkaban? Killing more than one person didn't matter twelve years ago, did it? When you killed twelve innocent people just to get at Pettigrew?"
Sirius gave him a look that might have been menacing if Vulpine hadn't been able to see the amusement deep in his eyes.
"Cute, kid. But I doubt you'd be saying that if you knew the whole story."
Vulpine grinned inwardly. Time to dig deep into his acting bag of tricks.
"The whole story? What else is there to know? You are a death eater! YOU KILLED MY PARENTS!"
Vulpine fought the urge to cough- shouting like that was hell on his throat.
Sirius placed a sorrowful expression on his face.
"You're right…I did kill your parents." He said softly. Vulpine knew he didn't really think like that anymore, Vulpine had more or less tied his Godfather up and talked him out of that mindset, but they had decided that it was best to portray the look of a man still grieving and blaming himself.
"You want the truth? Alright, I'll tell you-"
A noise came from downstairs, and Hermione immediately yelled out that they were up here with Sirius Black. Vulpine cursed mentally, slipping his hand into his sleeve and taking hold of his Laburnum wand. He hadn't left the Marauders Map behind, nobody should be here. If it was someone who wouldn't listen to Sirius then things would get very nasty, very quickly.
Sirius gave Vulpine a slightly concerned look, and Vulpine made a tiny shrugging motion. Slowly, Sirius shifted towards the corner, tilting himself so that he could keep an eye on the three of them and the door at the same time. In a shower of red sparks, the door burst open and a figure came rushing in.
"Stupefy!"
"Protego! Expelliarmus!"
Sirius twisted, barely avoiding the red streak of light that would disarm him if it hit. He brought his stolen wand up, ready to defend himself, but the man who had burst in had stopped moving.
"Remus?"
"Professor Lupin?"
Lupin just stood still, looking at Sirius. Vulpine frowned slightly- he hadn't lost the Map, how had Lupin…Hermione. She was able to create versions of the Map, she must have…oh, that sneaky, conniving minx. Vulpine was actually rather proud.
"Where is he, Sirius?" Lupin asked. Sirius stared at him, and Vulpine suspected that it was pure bewilderment. Not a comment on being attacked, not a comment on his fugitive status, not even a hello, a question about Pettigrew. Vulpine started to wonder if Lupin really was the sanest of the Marauders. Alternately, if he was, it said really bad things about the others.
"On the bed." Sirius managed to reply after a few seconds of silence. Lupin nodded slowly.
"I'm surprised that you haven't killed him already." Lupin said quietly. Sirius blinked at him.
"After all…if you were not the one, and he was…it is all his fault. Can you forgive me?"
"What?" Ron yelled. Vulpine shot him a brief glance, wondering if Hermione was going to out Lupin as a werewolf again. She didn't look like it, and Vulpine wondered if he should do it instead. No. He'd just wait and see.
"Sirius…I'm sorry." Lupin said quietly, and caught Sirius in a brotherly hug. Sirius looked at Vulpine, a look of pleading briefly crossing his face, and Vulpine shrugged. Sirius was a big boy; he could deal with this himself.
"How did you know we were here?" Sirius asked. Lupin let him go and looked at him.
"The Map. The Marauders Map, someone left it on my desk."
"You know how to work it?" Hermione asked, and Vulpine reminded himself that this sort of information was important for Ron.
"Of course, I was one of the people who made it. The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I knew you would be going to visit Hagrid before his Hippogriff was executed. Even if you were wearing James' old Cloak, the Map shows you. So…three of you entered Hagrid's hut, but four of you left."
"What? Four?" Vulpine said, still playing his part. If only he had been able to get that memory implantation spell right, he could have Stunned Ron and skipped all of this pointlessness. Lupin ignored him.
"And then, I saw the dot labelled Sirius Black crash into you, and drag two of you into the Whomping Willow…"
"One of us!" Ron interrupted, angry.
"No, Ron. Two of you." Lupin said again, stepping closer to them. His eyes flicked to Scabbers, and Vulpine gripped his Laburnum wand and discretely cast a few spells that would prevent Pettigrew from escaping the room. Ron was meeting Lupins gaze, looking unnerved.
"Do you think I could have a look at the rat?" Lupin asked, a calm tone underlined by a fervent edge. Ron gripped Scabbers more tightly, pulling him closer.
"What does Scabbers have to do with anything?"
"Everything, Ron…he isn't a rat. He's an Animagus, and his name is Peter Pettigrew.
Ron stared. Vulpine reflected on his recent lack of kills, and wondered if it might have made his skills rusty. He'd have to get some work done over the Summer.
"You're both mental."
"Ridiculous!" Hermione added. Vulpine forced himself to focus.
"Yeah, Peter Pettigrew's dead! He was killed twelve years ago, by him!" he said, making himself sound like he believed it with an effort. Really, Ron was the only one of them who didn't know the truth. This was getting boring. He pointed dramatically at Sirius, who sneered equally dramatically.
"I meant to kill him…but little Peter got the better of me. But not this time!"
Sirius lurched towards Ron, but Lupin grabbed him and held him back. Vulpine was fairly sure he was acting. Fairly.
"Sirius, no! Not like this! They deserve to know, Sirius!"
Sirius bared his teeth, but stopped struggling.
"Then tell them, Remus. But make it quick."
Lupin sighed, and turned to face them.
"The truth is…well. Hermione, I'm sure you know about the Animagi register, yes?"
Hermione nodded.
"Any witch or wizard who becomes an Animagus is registered on it. I looked it up when I did my homework though, and there are only seven registered this century!"
Vulpine allowed himself a small, whimsical smile at that thought. Seven this century…and yet, he knew of another five. Himself. Rita Skeeter, and the Marauders. Then again, the Ministry seemed quite lax on the enforcement of that particular law.
"Quite correct, Hermione. But the Ministry never knew that there used to be three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts."
Vulpine decided that it was time to force Lupin to confess his little secret. Vulpine would be damned if he let Lupin leave this place with them- it was a full moon, and a fox would have a hard time escaping from a wolf.
"Three? But there were four Marauders." He said. Lupin started to look guilty.
"That's…very perceptive, Harry. And it ties into the story…I'll need help though, Sirius, I only know how it began…"
Lupin broke off briefly as the door creaked open, and Vulpine barely resisted the urge to start throwing spells at the slight distortion he saw in the air. Snape as well? Really? Was Fate bound and determined to keep things the same? Maybe if he just started spelling. He was fairly sure that Sirius would back him up, and he could Obliviate Ron. No. No, he was a professional, damnit. He would do this properly. He turned his attention back to Lupin as the man cleared his throat a little awkwardly.
"I suppose…" Lupin said quietly, "That this all begins with a man called Fenrir Greyback. He's…well, he is a werewolf. And his prefers to strike at people who offend him by attacking family members…in particular, children."
Vulpine quirked an eyebrow. This wasn't like last time. This was more information than he had expected Lupin to divulge. The thin, tired looking Defence teacher gave them a small, sad smile.
"I was a young child when my parents made an enemy of Greyback. As I daresay you've guessed…"
"You're a werewolf!" Ron hissed, jerking back. Vulpine spared him a brief glance, but mostly focused on Lupin, seeing the flash of pain in his expression when Ron recoiled from him. Vulpine felt a bit of sympathy, to be honest. It must hurt, to see a boy who had respected and liked Lupin recoil like that, but Ron was from a wizard family. He probably grew up with horror stories about werewolves. It was an impulsive, irrational response to flinch away, but understandable.
"Yes." Lupin said, quite calmly. "I am."
Vulpine kept an eye on the slight shimmering in the air that denoted Snape- the Professor was under a Disillusionment Charm. A good one, one that barely left a flicker, but he was just about visible, lurking just outside the doorway. Wait. Vulpine had a sudden thought: Snape was here now. He had been present from this point on last time. He would hear, and had heard, the whole story about Pettigrew quite possibly being the traitor, and he had still chosen to butt in before the rat was unmasked? The bastard. If he barged in now, Vulpine was knocking him out straight away, secrecy and professionalism be damned. Lupin had begun talking again, and Vulpine half paid attention while keeping an eye on Snape.
"I was very young when I was bitten, and there isn't any cure. There is a potion, the Wolfsbane Potion, but it is recent…back then, my transformations were painful and…dangerous."
Vulpine decided that now might be a good time to butt in again.
"You said they used to be dangerous? Are they not now?"
Lupin gave him a grateful look. Vulpine didn't like it, it made his gut squirm uncomfortably. He was the bad guy. Thanking him was ridiculous! A small part of Vulpine wondered if maybe he was in denial, but he ignored it.
"The Wolfsbane Potion that I spoke of…it allows me to keep my human mind when I transform. I merely take the appearance of a large wolf…I have spent the year sleeping safely in my office."
"In a school full of kids?" Ron gasped. Vulpine shot him a glance, but it was Hermione who replied.
"It's obviously safe, Ron, Professor Dumbledore trusts him and we wouldn't even have known if it wasn't for him telling us."
A lie, that last- Hermione had worked out Lupin was a werewolf when she was mentally aged thirteen- but it would be enough to quell Ron. Lupin smiled sadly.
"Thank you for your trust, Hermione. But, as I was saying…when I was young, I became uncontrolled when I transformed. My parents have very little hope for me becoming a wizard…there is too much against werewolves for that. But Professor Dumbledore believed in me…said that as long as the correct precautions were made then I could attend Hogwarts. So…every month, I would be lead down to the Whomping Willow. I would pass through the tunnel, and enter this Shack."
"The Shack was never haunted, was it?" Vulpine asked, getting bored of all the talk. Lupin shook his head.
"The transformation is painful, especially when you are alone. My cries of pain convinced the Hogsmeade villagers that the building was haunted."
A wan smile crossed Lupins lips.
"They never seemed to realise that the cries only happened on the full moon."
"What does this have to do with Scabbers?" Ron asked. Sirius rolled his eyes- a motion Vulpine barely caught- and took over, clearly tired of listening to Lupin re-hash his past. He could be quite insensitive sometimes.
"What Remus is trying to tell you is that his life wasn't very nice until he came to Hogwarts and met us. By us I mean me, Peter and James…his first friends."
Sirius paused briefly, and Vulpine suspected he was wondering whether to divulge more information about his own past. Vulpine knew that the Blacks were a bunch of bastards, and that Lupin wasn't the only Marauder to have met his first friends at Hogwarts.
"Well, we were best friends. Inseparable. However…my friends were observant, and they began to notice that I was mysteriously missing only on nights of the full moon," Lupin contributed. Sirius smiled slightly.
"He isn't very good at excuses- there's only so many times you can hear 'My grandmother is sick' before you start getting suspicious. It's a good thing that there were four of us to make plans."
Sirius gave Vulpine a faint wink before he continued.
"I gotta say, when we told Remus we'd worked it out it nearly broke my heart. Never seen him so sad…though I suppose how happy he looked when he realised we weren't gonna leave him made up for it. So…we reckoned that we'd help him. Took us a good three years to do it, but we worked out how to become Animagi."
Vulpine, himself a more-or-less self-taught Animagus, knew how impressive that was. He had decided to work on becoming one at the end of his Third Year, and even with the help Sirius had briefly been able to give him it had taken until the start of his Seventh Year. Without the tips and info that Sirius had collected and given him it would have taken even longer.
"But…how did the three of them becoming Animagi help you?" Hermione asked, faking confusion. Lupin looked at her.
"They couldn't keep me company as humans, so they kept me company as animals instead. A werewolf is only a danger to people…"
That wasn't quite true, Vulpine mused as he tuned out Lupins' explanation of his highly dangerous moonlight adventures. A werewolf was still a big old predator. It might not attack tiny animals, like rats, or large animals, like the stag or dog that James and Sirius became, but it would be a threat to something the size of a fox or cat. Especially Vulpines' fox, he admitted dourly, because as an Arctic Fox he was hardly any bigger than a cat anyway. He wasn't sure why the werewolf didn't attack James, though. A stag was still a prey animal, so maybe Lupin was right and only werewolves with Greybacks' brand of crazy went after other animals.
Vulpine dragged his attention back to the conversation to hear Lupin finishing naming the Marauders. Hermione was staring at Lupin and Sirius.
"That was really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a werewolf, what if you'd given the others the slip and bitten somebody?"
She'd said the same last time, but this time Vulpine agreed with her. Transformed werewolves were extremely fast and bloody tough, and personally Vulpine had found that the only reliable way to deal with one was with abundant force. Excessive force, if you had the time. Explosions were usually good.
"A thought that still haunts me," Lupin admitted tiredly. "There were near misses, many of them, and we laughed about them afterwards-"
Hmm. Maybe his occasional murderousness had a root in his father? At any rate, laughing at someone nearly being mauled by a werewolf wasn't exactly normal. Or maybe it had been relieved laughter, Vulpine supposed, it was impossible to tell.
"-we were young, careless, carried away by our own cleverness." Lupin continued. He paused for breath, began talking again.
"Sometimes, I feel like I betrayed Dumbledore…he gave me a place when nobody else would, and I paid him back by risking other people and leading my fellows into becoming Animagi illegally-"
"Oh, stop." Sirius said irritably. "Feeling guilty won't change anything, and you can tell them all later. We need to get rid of Pettigrew."
Vulpine shot a look at Scabbers, mentally recited the incantation for the Body-Bind spell, and gave an inner smile of satisfaction as the rat stiffened. No escape now. Hopefully, Snape would stay hidden like a sneaky spy should, and all would be well. Vulpine hastily quashed a laugh. Even the thought of all going well was ludicrous.
Lupin was looking at Sirius with a strange expression, and Sirius raised an eyebrow at him.
"What? Hurry up, Remus. Your guilt complex is entirely unneeded."
"I betrayed Dumbledore." Lupin insisted. "Even if you are innocent, Sirius, I knew you were an Animagus all along, I should have told the Headmaster. But I was too afraid, too much a coward…Snape was right all along."
"Snape?" Sirius growled, a noise of frustration. "What does Snape have to do with this?"
"He's at the school, Sirius. He's a teacher. He fought hard against my appointment to teach Defence…"
Sirius growled again, louder and more annoyed.
"Damnit Remus, it wasn't your fault! If Snape hadn't been sneaking around, if I hadn't told him…"
"What are you talking about?" Ron demanded. Lupin looked at him wearily.
"Snape and us…we didn't get along in school."
That was one way of describing a prolonged bullying campaign based around jealousy, Vulpine supposed. James really had been a little bastard…he must have properly shaped up to get Lily interested in him after all that.
"One day, Snape saw Madam Pomfrey as she led me towards the Weeping Willow. Sirius thought it would be, ah, amusing to tell him how to pass the Willow. Of course, Snape tried it, but fortunately Harry's father heard what Sirius had done and went after him, pulling him back, at great risk to his own life."
Vulpine- after a moment wondering how old Madam Pomfrey was, she didn't look old enough to have been at the castle before Sirius and Lupin attended- realised that Lupin wasn't exactly telling the truth. Werewolves were big, and there was no way one could get through the tunnel fast enough to grab a running human. So Snape and James were in a lot less danger than it sounded. Still a pretty dangerous stunt from Sirius though.
"So…Snape doesn't like you because he thinks you were in on the joke?" Ron asked slowly. Vulpine sighed mentally as the slight distortion marking Snape moved in the doorway.
"That's right." Sneered the overdramatic man, his Disillusionment Charm fading around him as he pointed his wand at Lupin. Vulpine, honestly, was tired of this idiocy. Did Snape really think Vulpine wouldn't attack him? True, Vulpine hadn't killed or even really hurt anyone since his return to the past, but he was an assassin. He didn't kill just for the fun of it, he killed for money, and offers had been unsurprisingly scarce. But injuring Snape? Hardly an issue. Snape was ranting about some perceived injustice- probably the 'fed to a werewolf' thing.
"And you, Black, you deserve the Kiss!" Snape almost shouted, his dark eyes gleaming with a sort of fanatical malevolence.
"You'd let Peter escape just to get me killed? You're even pettier than I remember!" Sirius snarled back. Snape bared his teeth in a snarl, and thrust his wand forward.
"Incarcerous!"
"Incendio!"
Thin ropes burst from Snape's wand a moment before a blaze of fire reduced them to ashes, Lupin barely diving out of the way. Snape swirled his wand, a shield coming into place without words, and sent a Stunner back at Sirius. The Black leaned aside to avoid it, launching his own silent Stunner back and following it with an Incarcerous. Vulpine smiled lightly. Sirius wasn't at his old peak, but he was good enough to hold his own with low level spells. Still…
"Locomotor mortis." Vulpine murmured, pointing his wand at Snape. The Potions Master lost his balance for a crucial instant as he tried to counter it, and the Banishing Spell Sirius had just launched caught him in the chest and launched him through a wall.
"Oh my God." Hermione said softly. Sirius grinned at them
"Yeah. I just attacked a teacher."
So...I have to admit, this wasn't quite where I wanted to leave it, but the chapter was long enough as it was. Next time- hopefully a much shorter time than the wait for this one-, I'll hopefully wrap up Prisoner of Azkaban, and we'll see where it goes from there.