So, I'm back…
Crowley grabbed Aziraphale's hand and pulled him to his feet, clicking his fingers so that Lupin's prone form drifted into the air beside them as they ran back to the castle.
"I couldn't do it," Aziraphale panted as they ran along, "I couldn't do it."
He was white faced, his movements mechanical.
"I'm sure there's a logical explanation," Crowley answered, glancing over his shoulder at the dementors. the glowing snake had vanished now, but the dementors were keeping their distance. He slowed down, before stopping entirely, as he reached the door of the castle.
"It just wouldn't come," Aziraphale muttered, half to himself.
"I couldn't do one for months until now angel, it's nothing to worry about," Crowley lowered Lupin to the ground and felt for a pulse, "can you help?"
But the angel didn't seem able to help with anything. He had sat down, his back against a pillar, staring back across the grounds. This left it up to Crowley to help Lupin. He looked down at him, unsure what to do. Lupin was definitely alive. He gave him a little shake. Lupin stirred, then sat up. Crowley breathed a sigh of relief. First Aid really wasn't something you learnt as a demon.
"What? What happened?" Lupin looked about himself, blinking rapidly.
"Just the dementors," Crowley said, "they're gone now."
Lupin dragged himself to sit next to Aziraphale, pulling a bar of chocolate from his robes. He offered Crowley some.
"It's good for dementor attacks," he explained.
"You said so on the train."
Crowley took some, because he didn't feel like explaining that the dementors didn't affect him. He gestured to Aziraphale, who hadn't spoken since he sat down.
"Better give some to him too."
Aziraphale ate the chocolate, which Crowley decided was a good sign. He perked up a bit after that, but he still seemed worried, distracted.
"Well done on the Patronus by the way," Lupin grinned a little at Crowley, who pointedly didn't answer.
Nobody felt like talking about the dementors, or Pettigrew. Eventually Lupin stood up.
"We'd better get going. Filch will be wondering around."
They tiptoed through the darkened corridors. Crowley led Aziraphale back to their rooms. The angel slumped in a chair, looking drained.
"Do you want to go to breakfast?" Crowley asked tentatively.
"Maybe," Aziraphale replied, "it's not for a couple of hours yet."
Silence.
"You can go and sleep if you like," Aziraphale gestured to the bedroom door, "I'm fine."
"Ok."
"You managed to produce a Patronus," Aziraphale smiled.
"Yeah, yeah I did."
Crowley found that for once, he didn't want to sleep. He felt restless, after the excitement of the night. He also felt strangely exhilarated. He had cast a Patronus. He wondered if any other demon could boast the same. He doubted it. Most demons didn't have access to the kind of experiences needed for truly happy memories.
He took a bath instead, listening out for any movement in the room next-door. When he returned, Aziraphale had left for breakfast. A book lay on the chair he had been sitting in. Crowley took that as a good sign too.
…
Harry was waiting for Crowley after their next Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. Crowley sighed, seeing him approaching the desk. He really wasn't in the mood for this. The adrenaline keeping him awake had definitely died down now that the danger was past, and Lupin and Aziraphale were safe.
"Did everything go alright last night?" Harry's asked anxiously.
"Yeah, fine," Crowley rubbed his temples, thinking through what he had to say.
"Where's Professor Fell?"
"Oh, he's umm…he's sleeping," Crowley explained, "didn't get much sleep last night."
Harry didn't look convinced, but he didn't press the matter. Crowley was glad, as he didn't think it was his place to say. His friend had been really shaken up after his inability to produce a Patronus last night, and Crowley had decided he needed the morning off teaching.
"What was Black like?" Harry asked tentatively, as if unsure where to start his line of enquiry.
"He was…" Crowley groped about for the correct words, "he was strange."
"Mad?"
"A bit." Crowley grinned, "I told him you'd like to see him."
"What did he say?"
"I think he wants to meet you too. He says he came to watch you play Quidditch."
Harry grimaced. "I wish I'd known that at the time. so, when can I meet him?"
"I think we'll have to wait till the Easter holidays," Crowley said, his heart sinking at Harry's obvious disappointment, "I'm sorry Potter, but it's safer then, for all of us. We got attacked by dementors last night, when we were on our way back to the castle."
Harry shuddered, "Ok," he nodded.
"Lupin is going to communicate with him in the meantime," Crowley added, "they've got these magic mirror things."
"Maybe I could talk to him on that," Harry's face brightened.
"That's actually a very good idea," Crowley stood up, "I'll ask him now."
He hurried out, saying goodbye to Harry, who rushed off to his next lesson. Lupin didn't have class now, and he'd meant to check on his anyway.
"Hello," Lupin said, as Crowley came into his office. He quickly placed the mirror away in the drawer. Crowley looked at him quizzically.
"He's not there," Lupin told him, "but he got back to Hogsmeade safely. I got in touch with him earlier."
"How are you?" Crowley asked him. Lupin still looked slightly pale, but that was probably just lack of sleep.
"Fine," Lupin gave him a small smile, "good actually. Seeing him…well it was a bit of a weight off my shoulders. Of course, it'll take me a while to adjust. I've gone twelve years believing one thing is true and now. Peter…"
"We'll worry about him later," Crowley didn't want to think about all of that now, "look Lupin, umm…do you think Harry could talk to him by the mirror? I thought it would be safer."
"Well," Lupin considered, "yes. Yes, he could."
"Good."
And now there was just Aziraphale to check up on. Crowley made his way back to their rooms, and found Aziraphale reading, seated comfortably in an armchair.
"Hi," Crowley said, slightly awkwardly.
The angel looked up, "hello."
"Are you alright?"
"Yes. I'm fine. I did a bit of research, and I've got some theories."
"Theories?"
"On why I couldn't do the Patronus."
"Oh?"
"I think it was because there were so many. All that evil, it just…"
"They are demons angel. You can't forget that. They're nearly as powerful as you are, even though they're away from hell."
This seemed to cheer Aziraphale up a bit. He nodded contemplatively.
"Do you want to take the next lesson then?" Crowley asked. He probably needed the distraction.
Aziraphale grinned, "I'd love to."
He stood up, and Crowley felt that he really was his old self again. All they had to do now, was get Peter.
…
It was Aziraphale who ended up going to the Gryffindor common room to find Ron. They had decided it would seem very strange if all three of them burst in, demanding a look at Ron's pet rat. Lupin had said that the rat was ill, something he had learnt in his extra lessons with Harry. Aziraphale still felt a faint twinge of regret that he hadn't been the one to do those lessons, but he knew it was for the best. Lupin looked happier after every session.
The common room was surprisingly empty that day, but Ron and Harry were seated in their usual spaces around the fire. Hermione was conspicuously absent.
"Hello," Aziraphale said, trying to formulate a plan as he went.
They looked up, confused.
"Apparently you have an ill rat, Mr Weasley," Aziraphale went on, turning to Ron.
"Yeah, Scabbards was ill," Ron scowled.
"Was?" Aziraphale felt his stomach drop.
"He's dead."
Aziraphale tried not to look completely shocked. Peter Pettigrew, dead? His first thought was that Sirius had been wrong. His second that Sirius had killed Peter already and lied to them. He dismissed them both. Somehow, he trusted Sirius.
"What happened?" he asked.
Harry looked awkward.
"We think Hermione's cat killed him," he explained.
"We know Hermione's cat killed him," Ron interrupted stubbornly.
Aziraphale sincerely doubted that Pettigrew had been killed by a simple cat (although having seen Crookshanks, he thought he might have some Kneazle blood in him). he must have run away. Which meant they were one step further from capturing him. he tried not to let his disappointment show on his face and turned instead to other matters.
"Is that why Miss Granger isn't here now?"
He may as well help Hermione out while he was here.
"She won't even apologise," Ron fumed.
Harry looked like he wanted to say many things but was holding his tongue.
"Well, don't let this ruin your whole friendship," Aziraphale told Ron, "it's alright to be angry, but you and Hermione shouldn't give up on each other. Think of all the times she's helped you out."
Harry flashed him a grateful smile. Ron still looked grumpy, but also thoughtful. Aziraphale left them to discuss matters.
…
They decided to break the news to Sirius in person, to make it easier, so they went to visit him in Hogsmeade with Lupin the next weekend, on the pretext of ordering lacewings for a potion. This earned them some suspicious looks from Professor Snape, but nobody else suspected anything. Sirius was living in a cave on the outskirts of the village. He met them in dog form, though even that could not hide his anxiety. Once in the cave, he transformed, and immediately started talking.
"He's gone, hasn't he."
"We think," Lupin said, his voice as calm as ever, "he's faked his death."
"Well, it worked well the first time didn't it," Sirius scowled, "Merlin knows how he found out we were after him."
"Maybe he just heard you were in the vicinity," Lupin suggested. There was a hint of a smile in his voice, despite the situation.
Sirius shot him a look, "Maybe I should have been stealthier. I should have known he'd try and run if he knew I was on his tail. And now, he's in the school, with Harry, and we can't get at him."
"Maybe," Lupin agreed, "but it's no use dwelling on all of that now," he put a hand tentatively on Sirius' shoulder, "we'll get him, I promise."
"Besides," Crowley added, feeling that the atmosphere was a little out of his comfort zone, "it's not like Harry can't defend himself perfectly well."
Sirius let out a barking laugh, "Oh, Peter won't attack him. He's too much a coward. It's some of his little friends I'm worried about. Now he's not pretending to be a pet rat, there's nothing stopping him from running off and telling everything he knows about Harry. I mean, he's been sharing a dormitory with him for two years now, he's bound to have valuable information!"
Aziraphale shuddered.
"We'll just have to try and find him before he does," he said.
…
Aziraphale decided to check on Hermione soon after. If she had fought with Harry and Ron, then she would be all alone, and that was the opposite of what she needed, with all of that timetable. He found her, unsurprisingly, by the lake, reading a book so large he wondered how she had managed to carry it down there. He sat down next to her.
"Hello."
Hermione had put her book down carefully when she saw him coming, and now turned slightly, adjusting her cloak beneath her.
"Hello."
"I heard about Ron's rat, and I wondered how you were doing."
"I'm alright actually," she replied, "They're speaking to me again already. And I'm just not feeling as worried about these things as I was before. I think it's because I'm not as tired."
"Did you drop those subjects then?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"I'm so glad to be rid of divination. I miss muggle studies a bit, but I think I'm doing better in my other classes now, so that's good."
"I'm so pleased."
"Me too," Hermione said earnestly, "everything just feels a lot better now."
They sat in silence for a time, watching the lake. It was still quite cold, so there were few students about, just the giant squid, lazing peacefully at the surface of the water. It seemed to like it more when there was nobody about.
"Is it true that Harry is going to meet Sirius Black?" Hermione asked suddenly.
Aziraphale was quite for a moment before
"Well, we think it's best," he said.
"He's very excited," Hermione fidgeted nervously.
"But you're worried it's not safe."
She looked embarrassed.
"You're a good friend to him. But you needn't worry. He's not actually meeting Black in person, and we're absolutely certain he's not dangerous."
Hermione seemed placated, so Aziraphale left her to her book. He walked through the grounds, savouring the quiet. He had a feeling that things were going to be busy from now on.