{Disclaimer:  I own nothing, except for Andy and Wyvern.}

Chapter 15

Carpe Diem

**Open the gates and seize the day/ Don't be afraid and don't delay/ Nothing can break us/ No one can make us/ Give our rights away/ Arise and seize the day** "Seize The Day" from the musical Newsies**

The images on the wall faded back to the solid brown.  Members of the jury and the audience held stunned expressions on their faces.  She could see tears flowing down some cheeks.  Andy cast a quick grin at Remus, who was looking at her with open amazement.  Sirius, in the back, looked simply dumbfounded.  He never knew what had happened to her.  Andy, of course, found the entire situation hilarious.  The four remaining Marauders were together.  Remus was the only one who had always been free, yet he was held by his curse.  Sirius had been granted a ticket to a new life after all his suffering.  Peter was going to be killed and she was letting fate decided on what was yet to happen.  It wasn't a place they wanted to meet, but they were there none the less.

The Auror let the silence wear off gradually.  They all needed time to process what they had seen.  The judge tapped his grovel.  "Order!  Order in the court!"  The chatter died down to silence.  "You may continue."

"Thank you, Your Honor.  What happened from there?"

"I was at Azkaban until a few months ago, when the Death Eaters broke in and freed all of us."

The Auror nodded.  That was a logical, truthful explanation.  There were still some unanswered questions.  "Did you really find the Merlin's Potion?"

"I did."

"Could you find it again, if given the chance?"

"I believe my notes are still in existence if I am given the chance to locate them."

"What of the crimes that you believed that you committed?"

"If what my memory says is correct then Voldemort's men must have planted fake evidence in my mind to make me believe that I committed them."

"How exactly was the spell broken?"

"Sirius Black remembered me."

"How?" the Auror questioned.  "The Dark Lord stated that there was no reversal."

"He loved me.  Love does not let you forget much," Andy said quietly.

"I leave the decision to the jury."

The members of the jury murmured among themselves.  The speaker stood up.  "The jury finds Andromeda McGee not guilty."

Andy grinned as she walked back to Sirius.  He engulfed her in an enormous bear hug.  "We're free, Andy!  We're free!"  He let go, holding her still by both hands.

"Yes, Sirius, we're free," her smile widened.  "No more do we have to hide in the shadows while others walk in the light."

"Aren't you forgetting someone?"

Andy turned her head slightly.  "Oh, hello, Remus.  I was wondering when you would be here."

"I can't believe you, Andy.  That something like that would happen to you," Remus hugged her protectively.

"It's alright.  I'm here how.  We have a lot of catching up to do."

Remus let her go, changing his focus to Sirius.  "You're free at last, my friend."

"Yes, free at last.  Padfoot gets to rest for a while."

The three chuckled at the mention of the name.  There were fond memories shared between the three of them.

"I do believe that all of us should be getting back to Hogwarts," Professor Dumbledore spoke up.

"Hello, Professor," Andy quipped up, remembering the various times she had ended up in his office.

"Hello, Andromeda.  It is good to have you back.  Congratulations, Sirius.  It is a freedom well deserved.  I think Harry is looking for you."

"Harry's here?"

"He wanted to come to see you freed."

Sirius hurried away to locate his godson.

Andy swallowed.  "Thanks, Professor, for everything."

"You are very welcome.  That is what I am here for.  All we have to do is locate Severus and we can leave."

Someone screamed.  Everyone froze for a moment and then the babbling rose to a dull roar.

"Silence!" Dumbledore spoke just loud enough to catch every ear in the hall.  "What happened?"

The woman who had screamed spoke up.  "All I did was open the door…"  Her voice faded out, pointing to what lay beyond the opening.  It was a bloodied heap, mingled with black robes and raven hair.

"Severus," Dumbledore whispered.  "What have they done to you?"  He raised his voice slightly.  "Sirius, Harry, Remus, Andromeda," four heads raised from the crowd as they gathered around Dumbledore.  "Remus, I would like you and Sirius to assist me in transporting Severus to the infirmary.  Andromeda, Apparate back with Harry since he is unable to do so at the moment.  Apparate now."  Four mouths spoke the words and disapparated.  They arrived just outside the Hogwarts' grounds.

"Harry, I need you to run to the infirmary.  Tell Madame Pomfrey that Professor Snape has been gravely injured and that he is being brought to her immediately."

Harry nodded and ran off.

"Sirius, I am afraid it will not be safe for you yet until the Prophet announces your freedom.  You know what to do."

Sirius looked grim as he transformed to his giant black dog form.

Dumbledore had conjured up a stretcher.  "I want you two to take him up to the infirmary.  I'm afraid I am not as young as I used to be."

Remus and Andy each took hold of an end.  With a nod to each other, they started off at a dead run, Sirius loping behind.  Thankfully, the stretcher had been magicked to not over turn.  They plowed through the door and up to the infirmary.

"We have him," Remus spoke, not at all out of breath.  Lycanthropy had some advantages.

"Place him on the bed over there."  Madame Pomfrey got to quick work.  "Please stay out of the way.  I need room to work," she almost snapped as she bustled back and forth between the cupboards and Snape.  "I will do what I can for him."

Dumbledore entered the room.  "How is he, Poppy?"

"He's in a terrible state.  Someone was out to kill him, I suppose.  Both his legs and arms are broken in various places.  He's scraped up, bruised, battered, there's internal bleeding, and burn marks.  It's horrible.  I don't know how anyone could do such a thing."

Dumbledore nodded.  He knew.  "Do your best.  It is all that can be done for him."  He turned to the three standing nearby.  "Thank you.  You have done all you could.  Andromeda, the Potions job is yours if you would like it."

"Yes, sir, I would.  But what about my alter ego?"

"She went back to Seville on urgent business."

That made sense.  "Of course."

"Sirius will be assisting you.  I know that it is going to be a rough time for you both, but we need you.  This way, you can lean on each other."

Sirius nodded his shaggy black head.

"Very well then.  Remus, you already have your position.  You are fine.  Classes start regular time tomorrow."

"Professor, how long have we been out?" Andy asked curiously.

"Tomorrow is Friday."

"We missed an entire week in there?"

"You and Sirius were significantly stunned by the Aurors to put you out of commission for a while."

"Oh.  Thank you, Professor."

Remus led the way out of the infirmary.  "I've always hated that place."

"I wonder why?" Andy asked drolly, knowing very well why he abhorred it.  "Where are we headed to anyway?"

"To the Defense corridor.  My office is there and so are Sirius's belongings."  Remus produced an ancient key to open the door.  It was late and the room was empty of living beings.  Sirius changed back to his human nature as soon as the door was closed.  The threesome took seats in the comfortable armchairs situated around the fireplace.

"I am teaching Potions?" Sirius asked, looking like he was about to laugh.

"No, we are teaching Potions," Andy corrected him.

"That can't be good," Remus added.  "I fear for your students, having to put up with the both of you.  One might have been pushing it, but the two of you in the same room used to be enough to give me nightmares."

"What did we ever do to you?"

"Not to me, to other people.  If you remember, you and Sirius were the ones who earned the most detentions with in the first week of Hogwarts our first year and plotted most of the things that we did to terrorize the school."

"Oh, yes," Sirius remembered fondly.  "That was because we succeeded in lighting McGonagall's hat on fire before the Sorting while we were actually trying to get Snape's greasy hair in flames."

"And the entire fireworks display in the Great Hall after the Sorting that turned most of the Slytherins' hair a nice shade of bright purple."

"My point exactly.  I don't know what Dumbledore was thinking, letting the two of you in the same room, much less as professors."

"We are perfectly responsible, Remus," Sirius sounded quiet stubborn.

"Don't you trust us?"

"No," the werewolf shook his head.  "You may have grown older but…"

"Remus, we have both changed," Andy spoke extremely quietly.  "Azkaban does that to a person.  We promise that we won't do anything to get ourselves fired.  Right, Sirius?"

"Sure."

"That makes me feel a tad bit better."

Sirius reached over to a shelf above the roaring fireplace.  He filled three glasses with the burgundy liquid and paced one to each person.  "To freedom."

"To freedom."

"Freedom."  The three took a sip of the wine.

"Where's James when you need to make a toast?" Andy asked quietly.

There was a brief pause.  "Andy, James is dead."

Andy blinked to assimilate the information.  "And Lily, too?

Remus nodded slowly.  "Both of them.  A few years after you were taken away, Voldemort killed them."

Andy sipped reflectively on her wine.  "He was after all of us, wasn't he?  Peter joined him.  James and Lily died from him.  Me and Sirius ended up in Azkaban…"

"What about me?"

"You're a dark creature, not necessarily evil, but people fear you none the less.  You were shunned by society, so the Dark Lord didn't care to make you suffer when you did enough already."

Remus cracked a wan smile.  It was true enough.  He was a dark creature and he had suffered from it.  They had all suffered.

"We should probably be getting down to the dungeons.  I, at least, want to know what we are doing tomorrow."  Sirius stood, cracking his back.  He walked into a small adjoining room and grabbed a small satchel.  He never had much after he escaped.

"Then let us go," Andy climbed out of her comfy chair.  "Thanks, Remus."  She gave him another hug just because he looked like he needed one.  He's so lovable any ways.

"See you tomorrow." Sirius and Andy left the Defense room.

Remus sat back down in his chair and poured himself something more potent.  He stared into the flames, letting his mind wonder.  He remembered when they had all been happy.  Their worlds had been torn apart, ripped to shreds and put back together.  Pieces were missing, but they were there none the less.  He no longer had Sirius to worry about.  His friend was free now.  Andy had shown up after being erased by Voldemort.  He shook his head, not knowing how anyone could be so cruel.  Andy had been right.  The world was against them.

Sirius hadn't bothered to change forms.  The distance between the rooms was short enough and at this hour, few were awake.  Andy opened the door cautiously.  The Potions dungeon was completely pitch black.

"Lumos."  She quickly lighted a few candles, casting light into the dreariness of the classroom.

Sirius looked around.  "Snape really had a way with colors, didn't he?"

Andy chuckled.  "I asked him once if he would mind if I redecorated everything in the dungeons in pink floral print and he almost burst into flames."

"We could do that, you know," Sirius had an evil glint in his eye.  If there was anything that he enjoyed the most, it was tormenting the slimy git of a Slytherin, Severus Snape.

"I know we could.  Snape would get so pissed at us, it wouldn't even be funny.  We, his arch enemies and Gryffindors at that, get his job as Potions Masters and redecorate his dreary, dark room into something less monochromatic."

"Perfect.  I say we do it, if for anything, just to cause turmoil in his greasy life."

Andy looked at him out of the corner of her eye.  "Remus was right.  He knew something like this was going to happen with the two of us in the same room."

"Oh, well.  He knows us too well, I guess."  He rubbed his hands together in anticipation of what he was going to do.  "Where do we start?"

"First we take everything down, see what we have to work with, and fix it to do what we want it to do."

They spent the early hours of the morning redecorating the entire potions room.  It went from being dark and terrifying to something half-way respectable looking.  The main color scheme changed to burgundy, navy, and silver instead of the worn black and pale grays.  The walls were lightened to a more pleasant shade of stone brick.  Puddles of ancient candle wax were scraped off the ground.  The floors were given a good polishing so they shined.  A horrible painting of a cave troll was taken down and replaced with one of a griffin.  Snape's bottles and ingredients had been reorganized so that pickled body parts and creatures were not in full view for everyone to see.  At the end of a few hours, the room looked nothing like it had before.

"Wow," Andy decided as she finished shooing spiders out of one of the corners.

"That looks much better.  Snape's going to kill us," Sirius looked around happily.  "Where's the lesson plan?"

"I saw it on the desk," Andy picked it up and handed it to him.  She waited a moment for him to read it.  "What do we get to do today?"

"I'm not exactly sure.  Can you decipher any of this?"

Andy took the sheaf of parchment from him.  She squinted at it, turned it sideways, and flipped it over.  "Nope, I can't.  It is completely illegible.  I give credit to who ever wrote this for being able to read it."

"Then if we can't figure out what we are supposed to so, I say we do what we always did before."

"Make everything up as we go along?"

"And still look like we know what we're doing in the process."

"That's a plan then.  What time is it, anyway?"

"It is a little after two in the morning."

"Really?"

"Yes, really.  You seemed surprised."

Andy shook her head.  "No.  I figured it would be later.  We'd better get some sleep if we are going to teach tomorrow."

Sirius groaned.  He wasn't looking forward to it, as interesting as it deemed to be.  There was a growing pit of nervousness in his stomach and he had a hunch that it wouldn't go away.  Being on the run for a few years had made him nervous around people.  He dreaded the reaction of the students when they learned that both professors in the new Potions teaching team had been in Azkaban.  At least they hadn't been guilty of anything major.  If they had the students might have something against them, but they didn't so they were safe for now.

Andy led him out of the classroom and down a short, gloomy hall.  She opened the door to her room with a flick of her wand.  Flames were burning brightly in the fireplace.  A small creature was curled up in front of it.  "Wyvern, how did you get here?"  Andy looked curiously at her calico cat.

The cat produced a rumbling purr, explaining nothing.  Andy turned back to Sirius.  "I'm in here.  There's another room attached to this one that I can get into.  You can have it."  She opened an adjoining door off to the side of the room.

It was obvious that the house elves had specifically prepared it for Sirius.  The entire room was done in Gryffindor red and gold.  He entered, looking around and admiring everything.  It was the first space that had been officially his since his cell in Azkaban.

"Sirius?"

"Hmmm?"

"I wanted to thank you for remembering me.  If it weren't for you, I would still be lost without a clue of who I am."

Sirius gave her a half smile.  "I know.  That is what I am here for: to save the day and rescue damsels in distress."

Andy laughed.  "You're an egotistical bastard, aren't you?"

"Love me for what I am."

"I do."  She embraced him.  It felt good to be wrapped in his arms.  It felt safe, like no one could hurt her.  "Good night, Sirius."

"It's morning."

"I don't care."

"Good night, Andy."  She left, closing the door behind her.  Sirius stared at the wooden planks as if they would have the answers to his questions.  Why did life have to be so difficult?  He knew he had loved her once, but could he still love her again, after all they had been through?  More importantly, did she still love him?  She had admitted to still loving him, but he couldn't be sure if she was being sarcastic or not.  Time would only tell.

{Author's Note:  And another chapter is completed!  I probably could have finished it there after the trials, written a short epilogue, deleted the part about Snape and have a story, but this is way too much fun to write.  So you readers get lucky and have to put up with my ramblings for a while more.  Carpe Carpem, Nataly Ravenlock}