Finally. Another one. And, of course, the basic 'I don't own Harry Potter'.
"Is he alive?" Vulpine asked, genuinely worried. If Snape died there would be hell to pay. And, as it happened, Vulpine didn't particularly want Snape to die. He didn't like the Potions Professor, but he could empathise with him to a certain extent. Even if he found Snape's affections towards his mother unbearably creepy. Sirius slowly walked across to Snape, and leaned down. Vulpine caught the faintest flash of red before Sirius straightened.
"He's fine. Just unconscious." Sirius said cheerfully. Vulpine blinked. Well, at least Sirius had thought to Stun Snape. And he was nice and cheerful about it, which…probably had alarming connotations for the sanity of his Godfather, but it didn't matter. At least he hadn't gone all torture.
"Uh…great. I suppose. Drag him over here then, we'll have to take him with us."
"We could leave him here." Sirius suggested. Vulpine considered it. On one hand, it was petty, mean and cruel to leave a Stunned Snape lying in the Shrieking Shack. On the other hand, it appealed to practically every inclination Vulpine had towards Snape. Maybe. Thoughts for later.
"Wait," Hermione cut in. "We still don't know that you're telling the truth. If you aren't, then…"
Her voice cracked most convincingly on the last part of the sentence. Vulpine almost applauded. That was some fine, emotional acting. Give the girl a cookie. But, she did make a good point. There was no actual proof that Sirius was telling the truth. Except for the still immobilised Scabbers, but since he still appeared to be a rat that wasn't particularly useful. Lupin and Sirius had better get their act together, Vulpine thought, while eying Lupin suspiciously. The man looked a little pale, and Vulpine strongly suspected that he had forgotten to take his Wolfsbane.
Sirius blinked at Hermione and Ron, and then shook his head.
"Oh. Right! As I was saying before we all got distracted, if you give me the rat I'll prove it's Pettigrew." He said. Ron stared at Sirius, and Vulpine did the same. Sirius was not doing a good job of not looking crazy right now. Vulpine cleared his throat.
"Maybe Professor Lupin could do it instead?" he suggested. Sirius glanced at him, blinking, then nodded.
"Uh…yeah. That's probably a better idea. Remus?"
Lupin slowly walked towards Ron, who was still holding tightly onto Scabbers.
"Ron? Hand me the rat, please." Lupin said, his voice firm. Ron looked torn.
"What if he's just a rat?" he asked. Vulpine suspected that the redhead was trying to hold on to normality, and honestly couldn't blame him. It couldn't be pleasant to have to face the thought that what you thought was a boring rat was a criminal. Also, Scabbers had shared Ron's bed. That was…weird, frankly.
"If he's just a rat it won't hurt him." Lupin said soothingly. Ron nodded slowly, and held Scabbers out. Evidently Lupin had been practising his 'reasonable authority figure' voice. It wasn't a bad try, but it was a pity that it would probably be wasted. Vulpine reckoned that the whole 'Curse on the Defence against the Dark Arts' position wasn't metaphorical, and he didn't want Lupin to be crushed by a falling piano or whatever, hilarious as the actual event would undoubtedly be. Vulpine spent a moment worrying about his mental state at that particular thought- would he really be amused if a piano fell onto Lupin? He liked the werewolf after all, but he supposed that some things were inherently funny. Vulpine dragged his attention back to the action- such as it was- as Lupin placed Scabbers upon the free bed and pointed his wand. The spell he was casting was one Vulpine knew in passing- it was originally supposed to be used during Animagus training, in case the trainee managed to get stuck in animal form. That it could be used to identify a suspected Animagus without hurting a real animal was just a bonus. Silently Vulpine let the spells holding Pettigrew immobile fade, even as Lupin cast the magic that would force the rat back to human form. Pettigrew was just as pathetic in appearance as Vulpine remembered, but this time he could see something in Pettigrew's eyes. Some spark of defiance, nurtured by hatred and reinforced by an animal cunning that made Pettigrew dangerous if pushed too far. Not that he was any threat to Vulpine. Outduelling Pettigrew would be easy.
"Sirius? Remus?" Pettigrew whimpered. Vulpine could already see the whole thing coming, so he decided that he was going to cut it off at the root. Fortunately- or unfortunately- Sirius spoke first.
"Save it, Peter. None of us are in the mood to listen to your excuses."
Pettigrew looked like he was about to cry. At least there would be no burbling protestation of innocence this time around. Hopefully.
"Sirius. Sirius, it wasn't my fault. The…the Dark Lord, he has powers you cannot comprehend…"
"Oh?" Sirius almost whispered, his voice a grating rasp. "Powers great enough to turn you against us, Peter? Great enough to force you to betray us?"
"Sirius…he would have killed me, Sirius!"
"Then you should have died! As we would, for you!" Sirius roared. Vulpine watched silently, as did Hermione and Ron. For all that Pettigrew had betrayed Vulpine's parents, this was something personal to Sirius and Remus. Pettigrew had cast aside the bonds of friendship, of brotherhood, and done even worse in betraying the Potters. Even if it was to save his own skin, it was unacceptable to the other two. Vulpine waited patiently, ready to step in: if tempers flared too high and Pettigrew died they might never be able to clear Sirius' name. Pettigrew was openly sobbing now, to the clear disgust of Sirius and Remus.
"I…I didn't want to. I just…he was so strong, and…I couldn't…couldn't…"
Vulpine was almost starting to get uncomfortable. Pettigrew was breaking down before him, and he was nearly feeling pity for the rat-like man. Sirius remained cold and angry, his wand pressing close to Pettigrew.
"Strong, Peter? So strong that you couldn't come to us? So strong that you couldn't tell us, couldn't get help from us, from Dumbledore? So strong that you bowed before him and took the Dark Mark and sold us all out?"
Sirius had started his accusations low and harsh, but his voice rose with every word until he was screaming and looking every bit the madman that the Daily Prophet had portrayed him as. Pettigrew was still sobbing, and Vulpine narrowed his eyes. It didn't matter how piteous Pettigrew was, he had to live. Had to. Vulpine had planned for it, and so it must be. Vulpine considered stepping forward, but Lupin moved first. The werewolf Defence Professor gently pulled Sirius away, laying a single hand on Blacks shoulder.
"Sirius." He admonished gently. Sirius blinked, seeming to come back to himself.
"Yeah. Yeah, sorry."
Pettigrew looked at Remus, and Vulpine could almost taste the hope that flooded his thoughts.
"Remus? You aren't going to let him kill me, Remus?" Pettigrew asked, his voice weak and wavering with hope and gratitude. Lupin looked at his former friend mildly.
"Of course not, Peter. It would be selfish of Sirius to keep it all to himself, after all." He said, in his normal, deceptively friendly voice. Lupin raised his wand, and so did Sirius. Pettigrew gazed in absolute horror and terror, and Vulpine looked helplessly at Hermione.
Hermione had not been expecting Vulpine to lose control like this. She had realised that he must have been in contact with Sirius early in the confrontation, but had decided to play along until she saw what was happening. Now, though, Lupin and Sirius were threatening Pettigrew, and Vulpine looked uncertain of how to react. Hermione sighed inwardly and did the only thing that she could think of.
"Wait! You can't kill him!" she declared, stepping forward and stretching out her arms to block Sirius and Remus from Pettigrew. Sirius growled in annoyance, and Ron made a squeaking noise from behind her.
"Step aside, Hermione. Peter will get what's coming to him." Lupin said. Hermione set her jaw more firmly, and didn't budge. She heard a soft scraping noise, and guessed that Vulpine had moved to back her up. At least, she hoped that was the case.
"No." she insisted. "If you kill him, you will be as bad as him."
Sirius scoffed at that.
"What he did was treachery. This is justice!" he snarled. Hermione narrowed her eyes at the pair of them. She could have gone into a spiel on the difference between justice and vengeance, but somehow she felt that it wouldn't be worthwhile- not to mention that it would probably be a tad hypocritical. She took a different tack.
"If you kill him now, then Sirius will never be acquitted. The Ministry will never accept a dead body as proof of evidence. Think of Harry!" she tried. Sirius seemed to flinch, and then a thunderous look settled across his features.
"I'm doing this for Harry! How dare you use him against me like-"
"Sirius." Vulpine interrupted, his voice coming from just behind her. "She's right. I don't want to lose you again, not so soon. He isn't worth becoming a murderer for."
There was a raw, potent emotion in Vulpines' voice, so strong that Hermione was taken aback. She hadn't expected him to make such a blatant appeal, yet it seemed to work. Sirius, looking a little stunned, looked over her shoulder and then stepped back slightly.
"Are you sure?" he questioned. Hermione nodded firmly.
"If we take him to the Ministry you will be cleared and he'll get thrown into Azkaban. It'll be what he deserves." She said firmly. Lupin still looked a little unconvinced, but Sirius had slowly stepped back.
"Remus." He said quietly. Lupin looked at the ragged Black, and Sirius spoke again.
"I guess…I guess that James wouldn't have wanted us to throw away looking after Harry just to get revenge on Peter." Sirius said. Lupin still looked uncomfortable, but he nodded and lowered his wand a fraction. Hermione relaxed, and turned to Pettigrew, just in time for the rat-like man to throw himself at her and hug her legs, sobbing hysterically.
Vulpine gestured, and Pettigrew jerked his arms back as though stung.
"Hands off." Vulpine said crisply, levelling a glare at Pettigrew, who cringed. Hermione added her own cold stare.
"I didn't do that for your sake. I did it for Harry and for Sirius." She said. Pettigrew huddled into a corner, sobbing again, and Sirius shook his head.
"That's quite enough. Stupefy, Incarcerous." He said, and Pettigrew slumped before ropes wrapped around him. Sirius looked at Ron, his expression tired.
"Remus. Can you help Ron?" he asked. Lupin edged a little closer to Ron and then nodded.
"I think so. I can numb it, at least, but he needs to go to Madam Pomfrey as soon as possible." Lupin said. Hermione eyed him, checking for signs of transforming as subtly as she was able. The Professor was pale and looked wan, and she grimaced slightly. This was going to be a problem. Lupin couldn't leave the Shack if they were to be safe, and they had Snape and Pettigrew both to carry. Just as she was deciding how to approach Lupin Vulpine did it, with uncharacteristic bluntness.
"Professor Lupin…have you taken your Wolfsbane potion?"
Lupin paled. Vulpine kept talking.
"Because if you haven't, it might be dangerous for you to leave here."
"Oh my God…" Lupin whispered. Sirius looked at him grimly.
"He's right, Remus. We can manage on our own." He said firmly. Lupin looked at him, but Sirius held his gaze and Lupin nodded.
"All right. Can you manage both Snape and Pettigrew?" he asked. Sirius looked at Hermione, who nodded.
"Harry and I can manage a good enough levitation spell between us." She said, deciding not to reveal that they were both more than capable of managing it alone. Better not to let that cat out of the bag around Pettigrew, even if the man was unconscious. Hermione paused long enough to examine that train of thought, and realised that it was nonsensical and also irrelevant. What would be the point of revealing that information? The only one who wouldn't have realised it was Ron, and he was being kept in the dark about the whole 'from a dreadful future' thing. She stood next to Vulpine, nodding to him before they raised their wands and cast the spell at the same time. Snape, their chosen target, flopped limply in the air as the spells hit separate parts of his body. For a moment Hermione thought the Potions Master would go into a spin, but she managed to stabilise the man. An expression of disappointment ghosted across Vulpines face for just an instant.
"Do you want us to lead?" Vulpine asked, looking at Sirius. The man paused, glancing at Ron, then nodded.
"If you go first, and Ron goes last, we should be fine." He replied, waving his wand and levitating Pettigrew. Hermione nodded to him and Vulpine, sparing a reassuring smile for a pale Ron. Lupin had walked over to Ron, casting a spell to keep still the redheads arm, so as to avoid aggravating the shoulder, and Ron looked pale from nerves and pain.
"We'll be fine, Ron." Vulpine said, giving a quick, confident smile. "It'll all turn out right, you'll see."
Ron looked a little relieved, and Hermione nodded to Vulpine.
"Let's go, then. The sooner we get Pettigrew to Dumbledore the sooner we can sort all this out." She said. Vulpine raised an eyebrow a little at her words but held his tongue for the moment, and they walked off. Professor Lupin was last, and he remained in the Shack as they entered the tunnel to the Whomping Willow: Hermione was glad that, whatever else might happen, there would be no loose werewolf this night. She nodded to Vulpine, and the two of them led their way back, down to the tunnel under the Whomping Willow and back towards Hogwarts.
As they emerged from the tunnel under the Willow Vulpine paused, turning slightly to Sirius and passing him the Invisibility Cloak.
"Just in case," he said quietly. Ron, Sirius and Hermione looked at him, so he explained.
"I don't think that turning up will be the best idea, with Snape unconscious. So if you put the Cloak on you can sneak in, we can hand in Pettigrew and then you can take off the Cloak once we're sure it's ok." He explained, getting a round of nods from all of them. Vulpine cast a glance at Hagrid's hut, deciding that he would have to save Buckbeak somehow before the night was done, but it was for later. Later. Sirius pulled the Cloak over him and they kept walking, with Snape and Pettigrew floating along. Vulpine moved slightly so it would look like he was the one levitating Pettigrew to any outside observers- there shouldn't be any, but it was better to not take chances.
"This seems to be going well." Hermione murmured. Vulpine nodded, looking around carefully: they were still close to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and there was a pack of Dementors roaming around somewhere. A pack? Was that right?
"I wonder what the collective noun for Dementors is." Vulpine commented to Hermione. She shrugged.
"A haunt? A horror? A terror?"
Vulpine laughed quietly at the suggestions.
"All of those would be good. Something to find out later, maybe." He replied, smiling. Hermione smiled back, and an instant later Ron yelped in fear. Vulpine and Hermione spun on their heels, just in time to see the first Acromantula exit the Forbidden Forest, massive legs moving in horrifyingly uncanny rhythm and huge fangs glistening with venom.
"Oh." Vulpine whispered, a moment before Hermione acted.
"Incendias!" she barked, and a lance of flame sprang across the open space to ignite the vast spider. It's chitinous body wouldn't burn too well, but the hair that covered it would, and the variant of the Incendio spell that she had used would penetrate into the inner body. The creature fell over, kicking and screeching, but Vulpine had no time to congratulate Hermione as more giant spiders emerged from the forest, a terrible hunger in their movements. Vulpine had no idea what had happened, but it must be bad.
Vulpine twisted his wrist, using his own spells- rapid hexes and jinxes, nothing too serious in order to keep up the impression in front of Ron, but he didn't think that Stunners, Impedimenta and basic spells were going to be enough. More spells shot from Hermione and Sirius, but Ron was panicking and Vulpine knew that another wave of spiders would be coming. He was right, and they burst from the tree-line in a host of black chitin, clicking and drooling viscous venom as they rushed towards the small group. Vulpine grimaced, and made a decision. He twitched his wand towards Ron, casting a swift and silent Stunner that would prevent the redhead from witnessing what came next, and cast his next spell.
"Argencion Enflammarus!" Vulpine snarled, reaching deeply into his bag of magical tricks. The spell he had just cast was technically classed as Dark Magic, but it was also obscure: a wide area version of the Blood Burning Curse that had quickly fallen out of favour once the need to deal with hordes of charging Muggle warriors had passed. Happily, it was extremely well suited to slaughtering a pack of charging Acromantulae. Acromantulas? Acromantulae. A jolt of silver flame whipped from his wand, striking the closest Acromantula head on. The monster was engulfed by the flames, and they spread further, leaping from beast to beast, multiplying as they did so and infecting all that they could, only Vulpine's will keeping it limited to the spiders. Vulpine himself grimaced, baring his teeth as agony shot up his arm, an awful burning pins-and-needles feeling that seemed to be spreading through his very blood- the price of holding this spell, and likely the reason why it had been abandoned and forgotten. Vulpine held until the burning reached his shoulder, and then dragged his arm away and let the spell end with a hoarse cry of pain, dragged from between clenched teeth.
"Harry!"
The concerned voices came from both Hermione and Sirius as Vulpine fell to one knee, clutching at his right arm with his left.
"Don't…they aren't done." He rasped, forcing himself to look up, but his words were false. The Acromantulae had clearly had enough, and they were retreating back into the forest. Or at least, the survivors were. Vulpine took a deep, steadying breath, readying himself to rise and bracing himself against the sudden cold that raised pinprick goose bumps on his flesh and made his panting breaths mist in the air. Sudden cold.
"Oh no."
The screaming. The screaming, and the dying, and the torture and the loss, like a montage reel of all his worst moments flashing through his mind. A tiny part of Vulpine was impressed that he had so many bad moments that he deserved a montage. A slightly larger part wondered if he just had no sense of scale, and the largest part of his mind tried to force him to cast a spell that could drive away the Dementors.
"Expecto patronum!" Hermione barked beside him, a shining otter blazing into being, but the cold was overwhelming and pressing from all sides. Vulpine heard Sirius give a strangled cry, and the thud as he collapsed. Vulpine tried to raise his arm and cast his own Patronus, but a savage pain ripped up his arm, like knives being driven into his bones, and he dropped his wand with a muffled cry. His right arm twitched uselessly, and he clawed at the grass with his left hand in pain and helplessness. He forced through the screaming in his mind and the agony in his right arm, gripping his wans with his left hand and trying to summon a happy memory.
"Expecto patronum!" he rasped out. His Patronus formed, but the silver fox was dim and weak and barely held the Dementors back. The faint warmth around him soon faded, and he couldn't cast another spell. Vulpine slumped, collapsing to a sitting position, and the light of Hermione's Patronus slowly faded as well. Hermione herself sagged into a sitting position, collapsing near to Vulpine as the Dementors closed, and Vulpine met her gaze.
"You should run." He whispered as the intense cold grew even worse. She met his eyes and silently shook her head, her otter Patronus close to her but weakening fast, and Vulpine shook his head.
"Foolishness." He whispered, looking up as a Dementor closed on him. It was already drawing back its hood, and Vulpine closed his eyes and clamped his mouth shut. Not like this, his mind screamed, not like this, but it was too late. An end without dignity. Vulpine wondered if it was karma as the rattling, foetid breath of the Dementor brushed his face.
The moment before he was Kissed seemed to last for an eternity, and Vulpine wondered if this was some sick joke, forever to be caught in the instant before death. In fact, he wondered if this was the true horror that lay behind a Dementors Kiss: trapped eternally, in the instant before your soul was devoured. Fear, worse than what he had already felt was beginning to spread through him, but before it could take hold and drag him into madness he felt a light on his eyelids, and a cleansing warmth. Slowly Vulpine forced his eyes open, seeing that Hermione was lying on the ground, unhurt, with eyes sparkling with unshed tears. His vision began to blacken around the edges, but before he lost consciousness he saw the Patronus that had saved them, swooping around them on silent wings, a faint song littering the air in its wake. A Phoenix? No. Something smaller, but still a bird. Vulpine managed a tiny smile at the thought. A fox, saved by a songbird. How strange.
"Looks like Dark Magic damage to the arm…and nearly Kissed, an outrage, Headmaster,"
The fierce whispering brought Vulpine out of a fog of unconsciousness into a less harsh daze, and he cracked his eyelids open to see four figures clustered together. He was in a hospital bed, he thought, and that was Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, Snape, and the short, fat uselessness. Ah, Fudge. And they were talking. Quite loudly. In a hospital room. Why were people so stupid?
"Yes, Poppy, I know. I don't know what happened, though…the Dementors were retreating when Severus awoke, and Black was nowhere to be found…"
Black was nowhere to be found? Black was…Sirius. Vulpine snapped upright, ignoring the brief spasm of pain in his right arm.
"What happened?" he demanded, seeing Hermione twitch from the corner of his eye. She was sitting up as well, more slowly, but Ron still seemed asleep. Probably given sleeping potion, he guessed.
"Harry, my boy!"
Fudge turned away from Snape, smiling.
"Not to worry, my boy, Black can't hurt you anymore…almost certain that the Dementors got him…"
Vulpine forced down a sudden urge to curse Fudge until the man looked like a chunk of meat fed into a blender. He truly hoped that Snape would stay quiet, because there was an awful nervousness in the pit of his stomach about Sirius and any snide remarks might test him more than his patience could stand. And Madam Pomfrey was approaching with a massive block of chocolate, and actually that might be what he needed right now.
"Ah, you're awake, Potter. Here- extensive exposure to Dementors- chocolate is the best remedy."
Vulpine wondered what people had done before the discovery of chocolate. Suffered, presumably, which sounded unpleasant and made him wonder if any research had been done on finding an alternative. But that was for later. First, Sirius and Pettigrew.
"Headmaster…what happened? With Si-Black, and Pettigrew?"
"Pettigrew?" Fudge blustered. Snape glanced at the short, rotund Minister, but said nothing.
"Peter Pettigrew? He's long gone, my boy…what has Black been telling you…"
"You, Professor Snape, Miss Granger and Mister Weasley were found on the grounds, Harry." Dumbledore said. The old man paused briefly, looking directly at Vulpine.
"There was no sign of Sirius Black nearby."
"What about Pettigrew? He was there, I saw him, he was Stunned, how did he escape?" Vulpine said in a rush, cursing savagely in the back of his head. Pettigrew wasn't supposed to escape. He wasn't supposed to get away. And Sirius was out there alone, with Dementors all around. This was bad. This was very bad.
Fudge was shaking his head, with a small and sympathetic smile on his face. Vulpine hated him at that moment.
"Harry, my boy, I understand that you're very confused. You've been through a dreadful ordeal…can't imagine what Black has done to you…don't worry, there's no sign of Black escaping, wherever he is he'll be found…"
Vulpine wanted to curse Fudge into chunks and scream that that was the problem, Sirius was out there somewhere and vulnerable with Dementors and any surviving Acromantulae and God knew what else, and he needed to help him. But he could already see that it would do no good, so he clenched his jaw and leaned back, casting a quick glance at a pale Hermione. She spoke up herself, but Vulpine knew that it would be no good: she was talking for appearances sake.
"Minister, Sirius Black is innocent: It was Peter Pettigrew, he faked his own death, he's alive…"
"You see, Minister?" Snape said, oily and snide.
"Completely confused, all of them, thinking that Black is innocent…the man attacked me, Minister, and must have fled the Dementors…hardly the actions of an innocent man."
Vulpine stared at Snape, silent hostility filling his gaze. Hermione seemed utterly dumbfounded, also staring blankly at her tutor, though Vulpine had to give Snape credit: if he was trying to get rid of his childhood nemesis permanently, this was a good choice, especially as most of what he said was true. Vulpine saw Hermione clench her fingers around the sheet, a moment before Dumbledore intervened.
"Cornelius, perhaps it might be best if you returned to overseeing the search for Sirius Black? Severus will be pleased to lend you his aid, I am sure."
Fudge blinked foolishly for a moment, and then nodded hastily.
"Yes, of course. Excellent idea, Headmaster." He said, before walking briskly away. Snape gave Vulpine and Hermione one last glance before turning and following the Minister, robes billowing. Vulpine scowled after him.
"Prick." He mumbled, just quietly enough that he wasn't heard. Dumbledore had spoken briefly with Madam Pomfrey, and the witch had reluctantly left the room. Dumbledore turned as Vulpine climbed out of bed. At least he hadn't been changed into a hospital robe yet.
"The Acromantulae attack has shaken the Ministry, and the Dementors are leaving already, given their actions. Sirius is missing, and Pettigrew has escaped." Dumbledore said briskly, before Vulpine could even speak.
"I gathered." Vulpine said sourly. Somehow, somehow, everything had gone wrong. Potentially even worse than the first time this had happened, because Sirius was missing rather than safe in a cell waiting to be freed. At least there wasn't a werewolf rampaging around.
"Normally I would hesitate to suggest this, but you do have time." Dumbledore said easily. Vulpine looked at him and nodded slowly.
"You think we saved Sirius."
The Headmaster smiled. Hermione frowned.
"But…if we went back in time and saved Sirius…but then again, if he's meant to be saved we've already done it."
"Well reasoned, Miss Granger. I'm sure you both understand the rules here. It is five minutes before midnight, I shall lock you. Good luck, both of you."
"Appreciated, Headmaster." Vulpine murmured, considering- not for the first time- that he might have misjudged Dumbledore. Whatever. Sirius first. Vulpine turned to Hermione as Dumbledore left, stepping closer to her as she pulled the chain of her Time-Turner from inside her robes.
"Ready?"
"As I'll ever be." Vulpine replied, and Hermione threw the chain around his neck and spun the tiny hourglass. Vulpine closed his eyes, and waited until the spinning had stopped.
"Great Hall?"
"Great Hall. Come on, we need to hide…the cupboard."
Hermione half dragged him across to the broom cupboard, stuffing them both in and closing the door. Vulpine snickered.
"If you were so eager to get me into a broom cupboard you could have just asked." He murmured. Hermione didn't answer, but her elbow dug into his ribs, none too gently. Vulpine muffled his pained grunt and grinned slightly. Touchy.
"We should be passing by shortly. What's the plan afterwards?" Hermione whispered to him. Vulpine chewed his lip, thinking.
"I left the Invisibility Cloak with Sirius. Even though the Dementors can see through it, they were driven off, so I think our best bet is to grab Sirius after Snape wakes up and carries us all off."
Hermione nodded.
"Makes sense, that would explain why he couldn't be found. What about Pettigrew?"
Vulpine sighed, almost inaudibly.
"We catch him if we can. If we can't, so be it, we'll have to clear Sirius another time. We should rescue Buckbeak as well, that'll help Sirius leave Hogwarts more easily."
Hermione nodded.
"That makes sense. But we'll have to be careful with Buckbeak, I think that Macnair followed some tracks he left. He nearly ran into us, didn't he?"
"Yes. Yes he did." Vulpine said quietly. He strongly suspected that he might have caused that, and that he would need to deal with it. Well, Macnair was a Death Eater. He was hardly a moral and upstanding citizen.
Once the coast was clear Hermione glanced at Vulpine and tapped her wand on her head, Vulpine watched as she slowly blended into her surroundings, the Disillusionment Charm taking effect, before he made the same motion and cast the Charm on himself. Less secure than an Invisibility Cloak, but better than nothing. It didn't take them long to make their way down to Hagrid's hut, and they hid themselves in the edge of the Forbidden Forest as they waited.
"So," Hermione said, cancelling her Disillusionment Charm and looking at Vulpine- or the approximate area of him- you met Sirius."
Vulpine cancelled his own Charm- they were hidden in the forest- and met her eyes.
"What gave you that impression?"
"He's not as good an actor as he thinks. And he looked a lot healthier than I remember. And he didn't go madly after Pettigrew."
"Alright, alright! You don't have to rub it in. Yes, I met up with him, helped him. God knows he needed it." Vulpine admitted. Hermione nodded silently.
"Why didn't you tell me, Harry?"
Vulpine broke eye contact, looking towards Hagrid's hut and frowning.
"I didn't…I didn't tell you because I didn't trust you."
Hermione recoiled slightly.
"Didn't trust me?" she demanded in a fierce whisper. Vulpine nodded slowly, and her voice turned a little more plaintive.
"Why? Why wouldn't you trust me?"
Vulpine turned to look at her, meeting her eyes again, and steeled himself.
"Because…because, you were part of the Resistance. And most of the Resistance was far from sane."
Hermione looked away, grimacing. Vulpine shook his head a little and spoke again.
"You were probably the only member of the Resistance who was still sane. Who were known, anyway. How many of the infamous members of the Resistance earned their infamy? Seamus Finnegan, the Resistance interrogator who didn't know what he was doing. Dennis Creevey. How many others?"
"Dennis had reason to hate Crabbe. Crabbe killed his brother." Hermione tried. Vulpine let out a small noise of disgust.
"And when he tried to kill him he failed, and killed a dozen other people. Say what you like about my collateral damage, at least I killed who I intended to. Creevey was an indiscriminate murderer. There were children in that house that he set on fire, and not all of them made it out."
Hermione had gone pale.
"I didn't know that." She admitted. "I thought it was just propaganda."
Vulpine sighed and gave her a faint, tired smile.
"No. Well, not all of it. And Finnegan, of course, he was so proud of his Legilimency. His brute force method that always got results, and always reduced his target to a drooling husk. And Neville…poor Neville."
"Neville was a hero." Hermione said quietly. Vulpine sighed again.
"At first. I suppose that he was more of a hero than I managed, but it was wearing him down. He spoke to me, you know. Came down to the cells and told me about your plan, tried to convince me to travel back. I think he believed that ridiculous Prophecy a little too much."
"Is it ridiculous? You are going to kill Voldemort, aren't you?" Hermione pointed out. Vulpine scowled.
"Not because of the Prophecy. Because he's a monster and a tyrant and because he killed my parents. But Neville wouldn't accept such base goals. He so wanted to be the hero…I think that's why he never really carried out any large plan. He feared victory almost as much as he feared defeat."
Hermione said nothing, so Vulpine continued.
"After all, win or lose, it would all come out. All the horror, all the cruelty, all the violence. There would never be a reputation as a brave freedom fighter, and I think that Neville couldn't stand in, deep inside. That might well be why he insisted that he couldn't be the one to travel back. But you've already heard something like this, haven't you?"
The last sentence was prompted by the expression that Hermione now wore. She nodded silently.
"It was…it was about a year before we travelled back. I was talking with Susan Bones and Daphne Greengrass, about the Resistance and our recent activities, and the rumours of what Dennis had been doing. Susan said that we were still morally right, that it was acceptable, and Daphne looked at her. Just looked at her, and said 'We aren't a Resistance anymore. We haven't been for years. We used to be freedom fighters, but now we're just a terrorist group fighting for a good cause' before leaving."
Vulpine frowned.
"I wouldn't have gone that far, perhaps. But you certainly weren't as white and shining as I think Neville would have liked."
Vulpine paused, looking blankly down at the ground.
"A whole generation lost. Voldemort and his war did more damage to the wizards of Britain than anybody before. I suppose that that's a legacy he could have been happy with."
"It all seemed so simple at first." Hermione said quietly. "We were the good guys. We were fighting the good fight. We were doing it for the good of everybody. And then…and then it all went wrong, so slowly that we didn't even notice, and even if we did we justified it. Does that make us evil?"
Vulpine took a moment before replying, composing his answer rather than making a glib statement. He wanted to reassure her that she had not fallen as far into darkness as she had thought, but it would require walking a fine line of persuasion.
In my experience," he said, choosing his words with care, "It is easy to justify good or bad. Harder to justify acts of true evil or…saintliness, shall we say. Those take a more special person. For instance, Voldemort. When he came to kill me, do you think he needed any justification beyond my being a possible threat to him?"
"No." Hermione admitted, and Vulpine nodded. He sighed, shaking his head to himself and deciding to speak.
"Would you…ah. I can't…best I just tell you straight. Hermione, would you ever believe that Voldemort had a child?"
Hermione stared at him.
"A…a child? Voldemort? Who…why would he have…"
Vulpine cleared his throat carefully.
"I believe that Bellatrix Lestrange was the mother. I assume that she was willing, crazy as she was. I think…I think that it was after the Department of Mysteries debacle, when Bellatrix demonstrated that she was no longer the invincibly skilled Lieutenant that Voldemort wished her to be."
"But Voldemort thought himself immortal. Why would he need a child, a legacy?" Hermione muttered. Vulpine sighed again.
"If you want my opinion? He wanted an enforcer. A powerful enforcer whom he could bend utterly to his will. Bellatrix, for all her devotion, was insane and therefore unpredictable. A child raised from birth to serve him…"
"A puppet, not a follower. What sort of monster would do such a thing?" Hermione murmured. Vulpine said nothing, until she suddenly looked at him with a sharp gaze.
"How do you know this?" she demanded. Vulpine glanced down to the ground.
"Delphi- the child- was taken by Rodolphus Lestrange, after he escaped and went into hiding. I found and killed him as part of a job. Found her sleeping in a small room: she must have been only three or four. I knew who she was: I ripped the information from Rodolphus, and I'd worked out some of it over the years anyway. So, there I was, stood over this sleeping child, and trying to justify killing her."
Vulpine looked up at Hermione.
"Have you ever had the sudden realisation that you're becoming a monster? It isn't pleasant."
Hermione recoiled from him.
"You…you killed a four-year-old?" she hissed, disgust and rage battling in her tone. Vulpine let out a small, mirthless laugh.
"I didn't say that." He replied quietly. Hermione was still glaring at him.
"You implied it, Vulpine."
"I imply a lot of things. Doesn't mean they're true." Vulpine replied, gazing at her steadily.
"Do you really thing I'd kill a child, Hermione? Really?"
"I…you've done terrible things before, Harry."
"Yes, I suppose you're right. But I guess that most people have limits. Killing an innocent child, apparently, is mine."
"What did you do with her?" Hermione asked. Vulpine closed his eyes and steeled his expression to mask a brief, searing stab of emotion in his chest.
"I'll tell you someday, Hermione. Just not today."
Hermione looked as though she would protest, but a stir of motion from Hagrid's hut caught her attention.
"Harry! The Minister and Macnair are here!" she whispered. Vulpine automatically hunkered down a little more, peering out of the Forest as Fudge, Dumbledore and Macnair entered the hut.
"Right. We should have left already, right? We wait until they check Buckbeak is there and then we grab him?"
"Yeah. That sounds about right." Vulpine said. "You get Buckbeak, I'll keep watch and provide a distraction if we need it."
Hermione nodded and half rose, ready to dash out, and Vulpine mimicked her. They waited until Fudge, Macnair and Dumbledore had left the house to check on Buckbeak, and then moved. Vulpine hovered nervously as Hermione bowed to Buckbeak, and made his own bow before turning back to watch the hut. He strained his ears to hear what was going on as Hermione coaxed Buckbeak away from the hut and into the forest, and started to step back. He made a hasty retreat into the Forest, and urgently gestured for Hermione to move.
"Macnair came past us earlier, he must see us!" Vulpine hissed. Hermione bared her teeth in a snarl.
"Dammit! What do we do?"
Vulpine cast about him for an idea, and then nodded.
"Disillusion yourself and Buckbeak, head towards the lake. I'll lead Macnair away and then come find you. Hurry!"
Hermione nodded determinedly, rapping her wand against herself and then against Buckbeak. The Hippogriff bore the magic in a stoic manner that made Vulpine suspect that he was far more intelligent than might be expected, and Hermione started to move away as she faded. A faint wish of 'Good luck' was left behind, and Vulpine moved deeper into the forest, casting a spell to mimic the claw and hoof prints of a Hippogriff behind him.
"Tracks! The hunt is on!"
Vulpine heard Macnair shout behind him and sped up, sprinting through the Forest without regard for where he was going. He needed to get away from the edge, deeper into the Forest where he could ambush Macnair and not be interrupted. Hopefully he could stay ahead of the man: Macnair was taller and would be faster. Vulpine strained himself, moving as fast as he could while keeping one eye out for Macnair. He was so busy running that he neglected to pay full attention to what was in front of him, and so completely missed the tree branch that he ran into.
Vulpine landed hard on his back, hands automatically clutching at his chest and mentally thanking and deity that was listening that he wasn't a few inches shorter. Choking to death because he ran into a tree branch would be…embarrassing. And worse, Macnair would have caught up.
"There you are." The Death Eater panted, arriving just as Vulpine stood.
"Finally get tired of running…Potter?"
Vulpine smiled.
"Tired? Just a little. So, what now, Death Eater? Going to kill me? Going to try your hand at doing what your Master couldn't?"
Macnair bared his teeth in an ugly smile, shifting the axe he carried in his hands.
"Of course not! Why would I want to hurt the hero of out world? So sad, though, that I couldn't save you from the Hippogriff."
Vulpine laughed, short and sharp.
"How brave of you, killing a child. Does it make you feel big, Macnair? Does it compensate for all those inadequacies?"
Macnair's face twisted in anger, and Vulpine let his laburnum wand fall into his hand. The Death Eater snarled and charged, and Vulpine hit him with a Banishing Charm. Macnair went briefly airborne, but landed well, and Vulpine barely dodged a retaliatory spell.
"Come on Walden, you can do better than that!" he yelled, casting a Stunning Spell and darting behind a tree. Macnair growled angrily, and spells showered upon Vulpine's cover, snapping branches and gouging wood. Vulpine popped out and sent an array of jinxes and hexes at Macnair, inconveniencing the man, but in return a Cutting Curse barely missed him. It hit the tree trunk, leaving a sizeable gouge. Vulpine kept running, bolting over to another tree and catching Macnair with a Jelly-legs jinx that briefly distracted the man. The forest went quiet as Vulpine hid himself, and he scowled. A deadly game of hide and seek was what they were now playing.
"Come out, Potter! I'll make sure it won't hurt too much!" Macnair called. Vulpine considered, and then called back.
"It won't hurt me at all, Walden. I guess you've never had trouble like this before, eh? Too used to killing the defenceless like the coward that you are!"
Macnair was amazingly easy to rile up. Vulpine could hear him snarling and casting spells, Cutting Curses by the noise. A brief shift to Animagus form brought Vulpine behind Macnair, and changing back would-
"Got you!" Macnair bellowed, spinning and swinging his axe. It came so close that Vulpine felt the wind on his face as he lurched away, and he instinctively went for far more lethal spells.
"Gaargh! You little bastard!" Macnair howled, blood flying from the ruin of his fingers. Vulpine's instinctive Cutting Curse had sliced away three fingers, and left the other two a mangled mess of ribbons of meat and torn bone. Macnair raised his wand with utter rage in his eyes.
"Avada-"
Vulpine hit Macnair with a Tongue-tying curse, causing the Killing Curse to be horribly mangled. Petty and basic maybe, but it sure as hell worked. Macnair was cut off from casting the Killing Curse by the spell, and Vulpine seized the chance to ram a foot into Macnair's groin and roll away, running for it. From the garbled shriek he guessed that Macnair had been hurt, but that he'd almost certainly be-
Macnair yelled something, and a force hit Vulpine in the back and carried him off his feet. Vulpine was just able to cast a Cushioning Charm before he slammed into a tree hard enough to knock the wind out of him, and landed on the forest floor with a gasp. His wand had rolled out of his hand: Vulpine moved to look for it, but Macnair slammed a foot onto his chest and the breath painfully left him once more.
"You'll pay. You'll pay, you little bastard." Macnair snarled. The man was a mess, his hair matted with sweat and blood still pouring from his mangled hand, but there was a savage, wild light in his eyes.
"We'll see how you like losing fingers before you die, Potter. And maybe those famous green eyes…" Macnair hissed. His wand levelled itself at Vulpine's face, and he opened his mouth. Vulpine transformed. His Animagus shape was small enough to avoid the spell and get away: not far, but enough to reach his wand. Vulpine turned human again before Macnair's bellow of surprise was done, grabbing his wand and flipping over.
"Sectumsempra!" Vulpine shouted, slashing his wand diagonally. The cut followed the line he had indicated, cutting a sharp line through Macnair's wand elbow and continuing down through the stomach and leg. Macnair howled in pain and collapsed, defeated. Vulpine rolled over, looking at the Death Eater. Macnair was already dying: the blood loss was copious, and the man was already choking and struggling, his voice fading already. Vulpine brushed at the mud on his clothes and stepped closer, trying to hear what Macnair was saying through a voice choked with tears and blood.
"Mother…mother…" Macnair cried, his voice struggling and weak, and Vulpine felt an unwelcome flash of pity. Unwelcome, but not entirely unexpected: he hated to listen to people dying. Vulpine shook his head and crouched down, pressing his wand to the back of Macnair's neck.
"Don't worry Walden. You'll see her again." He said quietly, before casting a final spell.
"Sectumsempra." He intoned, dragging his wand across, severing the spine and head. Vulpine hopped away from the spray of blood, grimacing. Macnair had been a bad man, true, but there were few things more pitiable than a man dying a slow, painful, frightening death. Vulpine hoped that anyone who managed to overcome him at least had the grace to make it quick. And then there was a chittering, clicking noise, and an Acromantula emerged from the Forest.
"Ah, shit."
Vulpine cast Sectumsempra again, waving his wand around until all the legs of the Acromantula were severed and a final cut split it open. The giant spider fell, screeching and spewing ichor, and Vulpine started to run towards the forest edge, aware that the rest of the Acromantulae in the Forest would soon be following. He could hear the clicking and rustling behind him, and sped up his pace before abandoning running as a human and fleeing as his Animagus fox form. It wasn't faster, but he was a much smaller target and, in his brown summer coat, far harder to spot. Vulpine darted off his straight path, dashing out of the way and hiding as the Acromantulae rushed past. Well, at least he knew why they had emerged from the Forest to attack him earlier. Vulpine considered hiding for a while, but he knew that he didn't have time. He had to get to Hermione, who was hopefully somewhere nearby. It was a good thing that he had a good sense of smell like this.
"You took your time." Hermione commented quietly as Vulpine resumed human form next to her. He nodded.
"Ran into some trouble."
"Macnair?"
"Genuinely an ex-Death Eater now. Acromantulae will clear up the mess."
Hermione nodded silently, her expression grim. Vulpine peered through the leaves.
"What's happening?" he asked softly. Hermione pulled him back, frowning.
"The Acromantulae have just been repulsed. The Dementors should be here soon. Harry…the person who drove them off earlier…it wasn't you, was it?"
Vulpine shook his head.
"My Patronus is a fox. Never been a bird."
"A bird…hmm…Dumbledore, maybe?"
"Could I have been, I suppose, assuming that Dumbledore's Patronus is a bird. Although, I am fairly sure that it's a Phoenix. The Patronus that saved us didn't look like a Phoenix to me, but I was passing out at the time."
"Well, we'll have to try to get a better look this time. When do you want to run out and find Sirius?"
"After Snape wakes up and takes us back to the castle. It'll be safer, and we can make sure that the Dementors don't come back."
Hermione nodded her agreement, and leaned against a tree trunk to watch as the Dementors swooped around the pale and feeble Patronuses of their past selves. Vulpine shivered a little as he watched his weak Patronus falter and vanish before the Dementors. He waited as they drew closer, and then smiled as silver light lit the scene and a bird soared overhead, circling the fallen group of their past and driving back the Azkaban guards.
"That isn't a Phoenix." Hermione observed, though she sounded relieved all the same. Vulpine agreed quietly, squinting against the light to try and make out what the Patronus was.
"It looks like a pigeon or something." He admitted. Hermione gave him a sceptical look.
"A pigeon Patronus?" she asked Vulpine just shrugged and went back to glaring at Pettigrew, who was the first to stir. The rat Animagus looked about him, then vanished and ran for the Forest, well away from where Hermione and Vulpine hid. Vulpine gritted his teeth, but let the man go: they couldn't catch him without having to answer many awkward questions. Later. He would catch Pettigrew later. Damn it all.
"Enervate!" Vulpine hissed, pointing his wand at Snape and watching impatiently as the Potions Professor stirred and rose, one hand automatically rubbing at his head. To his credit he seemed to understand what had happened fairly quickly, and conjured several stretchers to place the unconscious forms of Vulpine, Hermione and Ron upon. Looking further past, Vulpine could see the lanky form of Professor Dumbledore rushing down from the castle, and relaxed slightly. Once Dumbledore and Snape had moved back towards the castle, Vulpine motioned to Hermione and they hurried across the grass to look for Sirius.
"He's under the Cloak, how are we going to find him?" Vulpine asked, starting to worry. Hermione smiled.
"Don't worry, I can do this." She said, moving closer and tapping her wand against Vulpine's glasses.
"Oculus Oculum!" she pronounced confidently. Vulpine blinked as his vision seemed to distort oddly.
"It's a more basic version of the spell used on Moody's fake eye. It'll let you see through the Cloak." She explained, and Vulpine looked quickly around. Once he found the collapsed form of his godfather he pulled the Cloak off Sirius and cast another Enervate to revive him. Sirius was understandably groggy, but Hermione and Vulpine were able to get him more or less informed quickly enough.
"So, time travel and you'll explain later?" Sirius asked, bowing respectfully to Buckbeak. The Hippogriff bowed back as Vulpine answered.
"Yeah. Pettigrew escaped but we'll get him later: I'll meet you where we agreed in case everything went wrong and I'll give you a longer explanation then."
Vulpine paused for a moment then, and gave Sirius an awkward nod.
"Try not to die, Padfoot. I'll see you later."
Sirius gave a tired, amused grin.
"Aren't you the soul of encouragement? Don't worry, Harry, we'll sort it. Be careful."
That said, Buckbeak made a brief run and flapped heavily into the sky, and Vulpine turned to Hermione.
"Well, now all we have to do is get back to the Hospital Wing before we're discovered missing." He said. Hermione grinned dryly.
"That might be the hardest part of this whole adventure." she commented wryly.
Once again, this took longer than I expected or like, but it is a little longer than normal. Also...Third Year basically finished. Woo. The next Chapter will probably cover the Summer and the very end of Third Year, and the Chapter after that will be the start of Goblet of Fire. No promises as to when that will come out, unfortunately, but you can be sure that I won't abandon it without telling you.
As always, I hope you enjoyed and leave a review if you can.