A/N: Hey all! Welcome to Chapter 7 of Harry Potter and Destiny's Last Chance! This chapter was almost ready to be posted two days ago, but I've come down with bronchitis and feel like I've been trampled by a hippogriff, so I finished tonight while I'm resting and wanted to upload it ASAP since it's ready! : ) I want to start off by saying THANK YOU! I couldn't believe it when I saw I had 32 emails of reviews, favorites, and follows for this story the morning after I posted Chapter 6! I am honored that so many of you are enjoying my story and am humbled by all the love; thank you so much!

There have been a few concerns about Hermione not yet being told that she is Harry's soulmate, but don't worry; I have a plan and she will know sooner rather than later. I didn't want her to know yet for two reasons; first, I want Hermione to develop some romantic feelings for Harry on her own without knowing that she is his soulmate, because I fear that she would just assume that her feelings are from this knowledge, not her heart. Also, my personal opinion is that 13 is too young for them to have a romantic connection. That being said, it won't be too long before feelings develop and she does find out. Also, just a note, even when their relationship is established, things will be going slowly for a while. After all, if they do everything right, they'll have 200 years to be as romantic as they want! : )

To guest reviewer Juju Lollipop, thank you for your review! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! ^_^

Someone left a review expressing concern about the Ignominia incident and Snape's intentions in this event. I did answer them back regarding their concerns, but just in case this is a concern for anyone else, I'd like to take a minute to address that here as well. Snape, at that point, was not aware of the fact that Harry was even living with Petunia, let alone that he was being abused. Remember, Dumbledore and, to a lesser extent, Hagrid, are the only ones who know what's going on at Privet Drive up until this point. Snape asked for Harry to demonstrate not as a punishment but because he had done such a good job in brewing the potion; he had no way of knowing what Harry was going to say. The reviewer seemed to think that Snape should be fired for this incident, but I'd like to point out that, in the canon, Snape has done far worse, like forcing Neville to feed Trevor a potion that would have killed him had Hermione not intervened, and Crouch-disguised-as-Moody using Unforgivable Curses on the students and Dolores Umbridge forcing Harry to use a Blood Quill is far worse than the Ignominia incident. Also, this incident was designed for a few things to happen:

This incident solidifies Snape, who was already beginning to rethink his actions and making changes for the better due to Harry's apology after the Marauder's Map incident, as Harry's ally and a major player in his quest to fulfill his destiny

This incident sets the ball rolling in rescuing Harry from the Dursley's, as Snape is absolutely livid and will not allow Harry to return to an abusive environment.

This incident puts Snape in a position to apologize to Harry and explain himself, as well as allowing him to apologize to and make amends with Remus, and later on, Sirius and Emily

I hope that this has addressed any concerns with this incident.

A quick note before I move onto the legal mumbo-jumbo and continue the story (finally), I will reiterate that this is a FANFICTION. Something that I have seen in several reviews for this story is someone pointing out a change that I made and correcting me with the canon information. I am aware of what the canon events are; however, I am not following the canon 100%, as those are the original books that J.K. Rowling already wrote. This is my own spin on the story using her characters, Yana Toboso's characters, my own characters, and Reptilia28's challenge. Without sounding like a smartass, the very word for this story, fanfiction, is self-explanatory: it is a FICTIONAL story made by a FAN of a series, this one being mostly Harry Potter with some Black Butler thrown in. I, as a FAN, am making changes for my own FICTIONAL story. I don't mean to sound whiny, but I am getting tired of people wasting review space with telling me off or correcting me about changes I've made to canon people or events in my own interpretation of the story. Anyway…

The Legal Information:

-All characters, spells, places, events, etc. that took place in the canon story for Harry Potter copyright to J.K. Rowling, the goddess of writing

-All characters, events, objects, etc. that took place in the canon story for Black Butler copyright to Yana Toboso

-The challenge and its rules copyright to Reptilia28

-All places, events, characters, etc. that did not take place in either of these canon universes (things that are not following the canon storylines, Emily Tarleton, Selena Menzel, the Ignominia potion, etc.) copyright to me

Onward ho!

Chapter 7-Burying the Hatchet

While Harry and Hermione were busy sneaking off to the Room of Requirements, Severus and Remus were on a mission of their own.

"Are you quite sure that Tarleton will be able to contain herself and keep quite on all of this, Remus?" Severus asked as the two men made their way to Emily Tarleton's office.

"Oh, she'll be furious when we tell her, but once we explain everything, she will cooperate. She loved Lily like the sister she never had and would do anything to protect her son. I think that, in a way, Emily is upset with herself for not being here when Lily and James died and everything happened with Sirius, although there is nothing she could have done," said Remus.

Severus sighed. "She was doing what she had to do. I'm sure Lily wouldn't have blamed her for anything. If any of us are to blame, it's me for following along with the Death Eaters and letting my childhood grudges against James and his friends stop me from doing what was right."

"You had no way of stopping what was going on, Severus. I have often felt guilty for being so full of self-pity because of my lycanthropy and distancing myself from my friends that I wasn't around more. For a long time, I felt like I had some responsibility in what happened to Lily and James. I've just recently been able to see through that. It's time for you and Emily to do the same. We cannot change the past, but we can prepare for the future (A/N: Lol, if only Remus knew what was going on in the Room of Requirements right now!)," Remus told him firmly.

"You're right," Severus admitted as they arrived at their destination. Both men heaved a sigh before Remus knocked on the wooden door. The raven-haired witch answered a few moments later.

"Remus? What's going on?" Emily's gaze then fell on Severus. "What do YOU want?"

"At ease, Emily. Severus and I are here to talk to you about something important. It's about Harry," Lupin explained.

"Harry? Is everything ok?" she asked, concern tinting her voice.

"It's complicated," said Severus.

Emily sighed. "Alright. Come in and get comfortable, I guess."

The two wizards followed the witch into her office and, after transfiguring the chairs into comfortable recliners, sat down on the opposite side of the desk, with Emily following suit on her side of the desk. A quick wave of Emily's wand produced a steaming teapot and three teacups. Once everyone was settled, she asked, "So what's going on, and how does it concern Harry? More importantly, if it concerns Harry, why are you here, Snape?"

"Well, Tarleton-"

"Look, we're all adults here, and we're all on the same side: Harry's. I do believe we can be mature and all call each other by our proper names, don't you?" Remus asked, though the firm expression on his face suggested that he was telling them to behave rather than requesting it.

The Potions professor and Ancient Runes professor looked at each other before sighing once again and agreeing with the Defense professor.

"Ok, Sna-er, Severus, if this concerns Harry, why are you here? You've made it clear you don't care about him at all," Emily inquired.

"Actually, Emily, I do care about the boy. I was projecting my animosity towards James unfairly onto his son, but I have since apologized and made amends with Harry. Like Remus said, we are all on his side, myself included," Severus answered.

"This is a sudden development," Emily commented. "What caused your epiphany?"

"Harry apologized to me on behalf of his father and his friends for their 'top secret' map insulting me, which, looking at the boy, was almost like getting an apology from James himself. In further looking at him, I saw Lily in his eyes and thought about how I wanted to make it up to her for all the pain I caused her. Then I realized how much pain I had caused Harry with my pettiness. Then there was the disaster of a class when I had them brew Ignominia…"

"Oh God! What happened?" Emily asked, dreading the response.

"Harry brewed a perfect potion, so I asked him to demonstrate his potion. Do you know what he's most ashamed of, Emily?" Severus asked gravely.

"No," she whispered.

"He is most ashamed of the fact that Petunia and her husband abuse him and don't love him."

There was a loud crash as Emily's teacup fell from her grasp and shattered on the floor. "WHAT?! If I ever get my hands on that bitch, I'll kill her! Why is Harry even with Petunia?! Why wasn't I informed? Minerva didn't have a good answer for either of those when I asked her… Why wasn't he placed with you, Remus?" Emily exploded, face as red as a Weasley's hair.

"Our sentiments exactly, Em. You know very well why Harry wasn't placed with me; I'm hardly a suitable guardian when I turn into a vicious Dark creature every month. I don't know why you weren't informed either, but…" Remus started.

"You and I both know that the Headmaster had everything to do with Harry's placement, Remus. He seemed to think that Harry should be with Petunia since she's a blood relative of his, despite the fact that she is a disgusting excuse of a human being who had no love for a sister she'd known her whole life, much less a nephew I'm sure she had no prior contact with," said Severus.

"The Headmaster, you said?" Emily asked, rising from her seat. "Well, let me go give that old goat a piece of my mind!"

"Calm down, Emily," Severus warned as Remus also rose and stood between Emily and the door.

"Move, Remus," the angry witch growled.

"No, Emily. You can't just go storming in there!" the werewolf countered.

"And why not?!" she snapped.

"Because you'll make it harder on Harry," Severus replied firmly.

This response caused Emily to stop her attempts to leave the office. "What? How?"

"Dumbledore follows his own 'For the Greater Good' philosophy, meaning he does things with the thought in mind that he is doing what is best for everyone, whether he actually is or not and without consulting anyone else who might know better. The Headmaster also doesn't care about who or what gets sacrificed along the way, Harry's happiness being the case here. No, we must be cunning about this and do what we can to help Harry, right under the Headmaster's crooked nose."

Emily snickered. "How very Slytherin of you, Sev. I like it!"

Remus smirked and nodded in agreement before sobering and saying, "The first thing we can do is do some research and figure out how to get a copy of the order of guardianship so we can keep Harry from returning to Petunia's. Which brings me to the next issue we need to talk to you about."

"Oh God, not another one!" Emily groaned as she took her seat again and fixed her shattered teacup.

"This concerns Sirius," Remus told her.

The witch's expression hardened. "If this is another attempt to get me to buy that crock of shite that Sirius is guilty, then-!"

"Sirius is innocent, Emily. We have proof."

"What?! Why haven't you told me this yet?"

"We just found out tonight," Severus told her.

Emily took a deep breath. "What proof do you have?"

"Peter Pettigrew," said Severus, scowling at the thought of him.

"Ok, how is Peter proof that Sirius is innocent? He's dead."

"No, Peter is alive," Remus informed her.

"WHAT?!" Emily exclaimed. She glanced balefully at her teacup. "Tea isn't cutting it…" With another flick of her wand, a bottle of Firewhiskey appeared, a generous amount of which she poured into her cup.

"Yes, Pettigrew is alive. He's hiding out in his Animagus form," said Severus.

"Where? And how did you find out?"

"He has been masquerading as a pet rat for Ronald Weasley, a third year Gryffindor, going by the name of Scabbers. Harry saw Peter's name on the Marauder's Map when he was looking for 'Scabbers' one night." Remus paused before saying, "Emily, you can't go flying into Dumbledore's office when we've finished telling you what's going on."

Emily's frown deepened. "Well, I don't like the sound of that! Alright, go ahead, Remus."

"Emily, are you aware that Lily and James were being protected by a Fidelius charm?" Severus asked her.

"I know the last time I saw them that they were considering the charm, but I didn't know that they did decide to use it until Remus told me earlier this year. He said Sirius was the Secret Keeper."

"No, Sirius was not. Peter Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper. Peter Pettigrew was also a Death Eater," Severus announced gravely.

This had Emily back out of her seat. "He's pretending to be a third year's pet? I'll be right back!"

"No you won't," said Remus as he and Severus both grabbed Emily's arms and let her back to her seat.

"And what's wrong with me killing that traitorous vermin?" Emily asked icily through gritted teeth.

"Because we need evidence to present to prove that Sirius is innocent, and we can't do that if Peter is dead," Remus reasoned.

"What we need is a plan for capturing Peter and finding Sirius before he does something reckless," said Severus.

Emily took a large gulp of her mostly-Firewhiskey-with-some-tea before asking, "Who else knows about this, besides us and the demented Headmaster? I see has no problem sacrificing Sirius either!"

"No, he doesn't. Harry knows, of course, and another third year Gryffindor named Hermione Granger knows; she's Harry's best friend."

Emily smiled at the familiar name. "Hermione Granger is one of my students this year. Bloody brilliant, she is! I thoroughly enjoy teaching her. I'm glad Harry has such a wonderful young woman as a friend." Emily's smile became an impish grin. "I'm putting 15 Galleons on Hermione being Harry's girlfriend by fifth year!"

Remus chuckled while Severus said, "I'll double you for them being together by fourth year."

"As long as they don't go to Madame Puddifoot's…" said Remus with a shudder.

Emily gasped. "Hogsmeade!"

"Er, yes, that is in Hogsmeade," Remus agreed, confused by her outburst.

"No, Remy! We can get our hands on Peter while the Weasley boy is in Hogsmeade!"

"That's brilliant!" Remus exclaimed.

"Indeed, but we must have a way of ensuring that he can't escape, which would be easier if he couldn't transform," said Severus.

"Well, since it's getting near four in the morning and we have classes soon, let's retire for the night and get started tomorrow," said Remus.

Severus and Emily nodded in agreement. As they all stood up to leave, Severus turned to Emily and said, "I trust that you don't have to be told to keep all of this a secret, even from the Headmaster?"

"Of course not! I'd love to get to know Harry better, but in the interest of keeping what I know a secret from Dumbledore, I'll keep a distance for now."

"That would be for the best. If we get our way, you'll get to spend all the quality time with him that you want starting in the summer," Remus reminded her.

"Yes, you're right, Remy."

With that, the three adults left the office and bid each other good-night as they headed off to their respective rooms.