Part I- A Second Time Around
*From: Harry Potter and the Prisoner from Azkaban*
Chapter 5---The Dementor
The station was full of steam and busying students and porters, employees and parents. Aryen was never very fond of crowds because it could get very annoying with her superior hearing, but it didn't matter much to her at the moment. She steadily followed the patched cloak in front of her toward the grand, scarlet Hogwarts Express. She ported their large trunks before approaching the entrance and entered closely following Professor Lupin. Perched upon her shoulder was a beautiful gyrfalcon, whose piercing yellow eyes let nothing be overlooked. They made their way to the rear cabins and she helped Lupin put away his small luggage bags. Exhaustedly he relaxed into the seat; she placed her stachel on her seat directly across from him. The falcon slipped off of her shoulder and perched atop a railing near the roof of the cabin.
" It has been a long trip, take your rest now Remus," Aryen said softly to him.
" It has," but then lines of worry crossed his brow, " what if you are seen? The students will begin to ask questions."
" There is nothing to worry about," Aryen responded, " my hood will be up until we reach the school. I resemble my sister too much, especially with her falcon. Besides, everything will easily be explained once Dumbledore is aware of my arrival." She gently stroked the great bird's crest. Then sat down and reached into her satchel and withdrew a small, softly glowing bottle. " Don't worry yourself anymore, drink this it will help you sleep."
She reached across the gap between them and handed him the bottle. Lupin drank the potion and just as the liquid flowed down his throat his eyes grew heavy and he passed into sleep. Aryen listened to his deep, relaxed breathing, before putting her hood up over her head. She lay back onto the rest of the seat and looked out the window into the busy station around them Her thoughts gradually drifted from thoughts into dreams. Distantly she heard voices whisper at the entrance of the cabin:
" Who d'you reckon they are?"
Aryen woke with a start as a dark, chilling feeling crept across her skin. She woke slowly and looked about the darkened cabin, the rain was pounding on the windows outside. There was suddenly a large commotion and she heard the students, who had been sharing their cabin, begin to trip over each other. With her Elvin vision she could see Lupin awaken across from her, but he did not move and simply looked back over to her in anticipation to their early halt. Another boy had entered the cabin, tripping over another's legs and then he tried to sit on the ginger cat. Finally, Lupin turned to the crowd, " Quiet." He ordered the students in a hoarse voice. Aryen gripped her staff and the crystal at the top crackled; it was engulfed in blue flames that gave off a shivering light-illuminating the stunned faces of those around her. Lupin was fully aroused now.
" Stay where you are," he said to all of them in the same hoarse voice. He got up and headed toward the door. But the door had already slid open before he could reach it.
The wavering light from her staff revealed a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Aryen recognized the dementor easily, she could feel the immense evil more so then anyone in the cabin-or at least that's what she had thought. Her gaze was separated from the dementor as she looked and saw his hand appear from the cloak, that sickeningly decaying hand. It was the gray, grimy, slimy, and scabbed stinking hand of the dementor. Then the hand disappeared and the dementor drew in a rattling, breath-then something happened. One of the students, the one with unruly black hair and circular glasses suddenly went rigid and fell from his seat. Aryen slowly moved toward him as Lupin stepped over him and made for the dementor.
Aryen looked down at the young boy, the one who had collapsed onto the floor. His black hair had been pushed aside in his fall and she could see a small lightening shaped scar revealed on his forehead and she drew in a breath of both shock and relief. Two of his friends, a red haired boy with freckles and a frizzy haired girl, came to his side almost immediately as the dementor departed and the lights came back on.
" Are you okay?" The red haired boy asked nervously.
" Yeah," Harry responded weakly, looking back at the door. The hooded creature had vanished. " What happened? Where's that-that thing? Who screamed?" At his question, Aryen could recall no one who had screamed, so she turned away and went back to her seat. As the children continued their little conversation, pursuing the suspicious collapse of Harry Potter, Aryen turned to Lupin, who had reached his seat once more.
She stared at Lupin with a severe look in her eyes. One that he knew automatically to mean that they had found Harry Potter, she reached into her satchel and withdrew a thick slab of chocolate-one she had packed in case of the dementors and handed it to Lupin. She extinguished the flames on her staff's crystal and retreated to her corner of the cabin. Aryen didn't want to draw anymore notice to herself, so she remained quiet and watched Lupin come to the aid of the disheveled students. Snapping apart pieces of chocolate to them.
" Here," he said to Harry, handing him a particularly large piece. " Eat it. It'll help." But Aryen noticed that although Harry took it, he did not eat it. Instead he turned to Lupin, " What was that thing?" he asked.
" A dementor," replied Lupin, who was now giving chocolate to everyone else. " One of the dementors of Azkaban." The gyrfalcon gently fluttered his wings as if he could understand the word 'dementor', but he too remained quiet and didn't draw any more attention until the end of the journey. Aryen only thought to herself about the young boy's weakness to the dementors and how she had found whom she had been searching so quickly.
When the train came to a halt and everyone had disembarked from the locomotive, she and Lupin remained at the exit and got their trunks from the porters. " Firs' years this way!" an all too familiar voice called over the frenzied mass of children. Aryen looked over the tops of the students' heads and saw a tall, shaggy beast of a man standing high above them. It was Hagrid, the groundskeeper, he looked over in their direction and as his eyes glanced onto them, she could see a tiny sparkle in the black dots. He guided the stunned first years in one direction and the older students moved in a different path. Once the mass of students had made off, another boat sauntered over the dark lake to them, it was smaller then those that had taken the first year students to the castle. The porters loaded the trunks into the boat and Lupin and Aryen boarded. The boat swept across the darkened lake and the great Hogwarts castle came into view. The beautiful pillars and striking figure illuminated the horizon-it had been many years since either of them had seen their once beloved school.
" You will have to go on to the Sorting Feast," Aryen said breaking the silence, " as you are the new professor." Lupin nodded in response. " I will be off to meet with my sister, I will see with Dumbledore later this evening. I'll try to meet back with you later."
" I'll be looking for you." Lupin reassured her, they approached the shoreline and in the darkness were several dark figures.
The boat rested and the two of them jumped out of the boat, several of the shadowed figures moved passed them to remove their luggage and take it up to their quarters. The other, lone figure came before them and offered a warm smile. She looked just as radiant and beautiful as Aryen- with a strong resemblance in their dark features.
" Remus J. Lupin," she smiled her eyes filled with friendliness, " how good to see you." She wrapped her arms around him, and he reciprocated with a weak-but no less heart felt smile and embrace.
" It is good to see you also, Aliena." He said softly to her.
" Come now, you must be tired and hungry. I made you some of my special cakes," She said handing him a small cloth wrapped bundle. " You better hurry up, the feast has just about started, and you will be expected." He gently pushed the parcel into his robe pocket, bowed his head and made off toward the castle gates. Aliena turned to Aryen and smiled again, but this time there was much more heart in her piercing Elvin eyes. The gyrfalcon swooped down out of the black sky and rested on Aliena's shoulder.
They were roughly the same height, but Aliena had a broader build and frame. Though her skin was no less glowing and her eyes no less twinkling in the moonlight. Aryen lowered her hood to reveal the sharply pointed ears that she shared with her younger sister. " Was your trip well?"
" It could have been better." Aryen said half-heartedly. " That is if I had some of your cakes to look forward too."
" You know how much Remus likes them and he needs the strength. Come along, I will show you your room." Aliena was hoping for a much more exuberant response from her sister, but couldn't complain. It had been a while since she had seen her.
" I saw James and Lily's son."
" Oh, you did," Aliena beamed cheerfully, " you should know that he is a very clever boy very much like his father. I think you will like him, and his best friend Ron- is very much like Bill." She said this latter part with a bit of fondness.
" Really, so that red-haired boy was indeed Bill's younger brother. I could see the looks about him," Aryen smiled faintly, " Father and Mother, still don't understand why you have a liking for that wizard boy, Bill, there's something unnatural about his red-hair."
" He grows on you, its not everyday you meet a charming treasure hunter. But then I could say the same thing about Sirius." Aliena smiled again. Noticing her sister's distant looks she added, " Cheer up Aryen, I know you will see him again."
They had just come upon the front doors to the castle and were embarking through the empty halls toward the dormitory staircases.
" I miss him so much, Aliena." Aryen said dejectedly, " that he's finally broken free and might be coming here."
" Aryen, remember, Azkaban changes people. What happened so many years ago.I would hate for it to be true, but. he might not be the same man you once knew." Aliena said tenderly.
" Aliena, you and I both know that he didn't commit those crimes." Aryen replied severely. " I am here to find him and find out what happened, no matter what I will protect what needs to be shielded, but there are Dark forces at work."
Her sister nodded, they came up the spiraling tower that led up to the faculty chambers, " Honestly, I don't know what I believe anymore." Aliena sighed gently. They came upon a great painting of a wizened man with a great hound at his flank. " Serevern Marteo." She uttered and the man bowed away as the painting swung forward.
" Here is your chamber, my bed is over there and yours is there," Aliena said walking her into the darkened room, pointing to the four-poster beds against the wall. " There is the window, I enchanted it so it will open quite easily." She walked Aryen toward the window. "You will find the forest quite full of hazardous creatures and beings, not to dissimilar to the forests back home, but nothing you or I could not handle, as you have already spent much time in them when you were here."
" I really appreciate this Aliena," Aryen murmured looking out over the blackened lake.
" It is not I who should receive your gratitude, please cheer up Aryen, I want you to try and put Sirius out of your mind for right now-it will be some time before he turns up. But," Aliena had begun to leave, she had stopped however and turned back, " Aryen, you should know, I kept Sirius, Remus, and James close to my heart, but times have changed. Things are not what they were twelve years ago, I do not know what I can say for certain anymore."
" Do you truly believe Sirius did what they claimed he has done?" Aryen asked her.
" I would die for the truth Aryen, I cannot say I would not be in your position if anything similar had happened to me or Bill. But there has been so much done and said in the wake of darkness it is hard to find the light in it." Aliena turned and left the chamber. Aryen crept toward the window and looked out into the darkness.
" Oh, Sirius, be careful." Aryen muttered sadly looking out into the inky shadows of the forest, waiting to see him creep over the horizon. He would be back, but in what condition she did not know.
Aryen opened up the great window and stepped out onto the ledge, she leaped off into the cool air. Her cloak flapped about her as the wind encircled her body, with one thing in mind, the wind suddenly stopped and caught her and lifted her up. Her arms had turned into wings, and her face had sharpened into a beak. Aryen was now an eagle, for she was an Animagus.
***
She soared about for several hours before finally coming across the great window on a spire of the castle. The window had already been left open and she soared through it. She cut her glide short and her booted feet hit the marbled floor perfectly.
" I was expecting you, Ms. Everlight." A kindly voice said from the recesses of the office.
" Headmaster Dumbledore." Aryen bowed graciously. " I thank you for allowing me into your school."
" Do not mention it." He responded, " Lemon drop?" he offered her a small bowl of Muggle candies.
" Si-" but she stopped as Dumbledore had suddenly raised his hand.
" There are names that are unsafe for even these walls to hear." He warned gently, still holding out the bowl.
" He," she said delicately, " He, loved them-he had quite a taste for these little Muggle candies." She reached out for one with her right hand. The gold ring with an amber colored stone resting on her ring finger was revealed as she reached for it.
" Ah, the ring of Uru Sette. I remember vividly the day that he had come to me asking the whereabouts of such a ring, he did so quite artfully over a cup of tea too," Dumbledore placed the bowl back on his desk and gestured for her to take a seat before him, " I told him of course, though I remember worrying if I would come to regret it. I am gladdened to see that it has found its way to a worthy master."
If Aryen could have blushed, she would have then.
" I look forward to my new position here, I will not fail you, sir." She said looking into his playful blue eyes, " I will guard against Sirius Black if he should break into this threshold."
" I do not doubt your ability, nor your determination, I am optimistic you will know better then anyone how to handle such a situation."
Aryen nodded. " I certainly hope so," she smiled, " I have had good training with him, I can predict his actions."
" I am sure you realize though, that Azkaban has an effect on people beyond many capable charms. He may very well be a changed.and dangerous man."
" Yes, and it is a risk I am willing to take."
" There will be things said and over time it seems that rumors will grow even more fantastical." Aryen nodded again,
" I have found that even the most fantastical may have floundered my sister's ears." She said bitterly.
" You cannot hold bitterness to her from believing some of what she has heard she was young and did not know him as you or I had. It has been a long while clouded in mystery, for many people twelve years is a very long time." Dumbledore offered kindly. Aryen then got up. " I will show you about tomorrow, though I am sure you still remember much from your guides back when you attended Hogwarts."
Aryen smiled again. As if the greatest charm had been cast, her hopes had finally lifted.
Chapter 17-18
Lupin looked up at Aryen, who had just walked into his office. " There is something happening, Sirius is here, we must go to the Shrieking Shack." He said hurriedly grabbing his cloak and wand. Aryen gripped her staff and nodded, they bound down the steps to the Hogsmeade facing grounds.
" I'll go on ahead," Aryen said quickly, she transformed into an eagle once again, her staff now magically smaller, gripped tightly in her feet she made off toward Hogsmeade.
She soared above the grounds and hurried swiftly to the lonely, dark, shaded house upon the hill looking over the sleepy town of Hogsmeade. She could see faint movement through the upstairs window and flew in threw it. As she swooped in she saw that it was Harry, with Ron and Hermione behind him, aiming a wand right into Sirius's sunken chest.
Sirius, the healthy, young, vibrant Sirius she had known so long ago had been lost, all that was left now was a waxy skeleton resembling that of her beloved. Harry turned to glance at her, but all his attention was focused solely on Sirius. Her bein there had given him renewed confidence. Aryen didn't even believe he was aware she had actually flown in through the window, though. She could see Sirius's face was bruised and wounded, she raised her staff. Sirius turned his sunken eyes to her, his chest was heaving with breath-then it stopped short and he gazed at her with a lost and distant look in his eyes, it was one of utter amazement. He raised his thin arm gesturing her to put down her staff. She was taken aback and lowered her staff hesitantly, unable to take her eyes off of what was left of Sirius. He turned back and stared at Harry.
" I do not deny it," he said very quietly. " But if you knew the whole story."
But Harry was beyond reason, his wand quivered with adrenaline as he yelled at Sirius. "You killed my mom and dad" he accused. Aryen listened as Harry depicted all the false rumors, all the unbelievable rumors, but then she realized that it was all that he had ever heard about a man that he had never known-or loved. She could not raise a finger on Harry, nor would Sirius allow her to prevent Harry from killing him. She watched awkwardly helpless. Then suddenly Crookshanks, the ginger cat leapt onto Sirius's chest, protecting him from Harry.
" Get off," he murmured, pushing at the unmoving feline. In a suspenseful moment Harry sat, caught between what crucial decision to make. The seconds passed until there was a sound coming from below and Harry did not hesitate to get their attention. As he yelled for help from the unknown stranger the cat was almost dislodged from Sirius's chest, and Harry brandished his wand forward ready to strike.Lupin burst through the door.
" Expelliarmus!" Lupin yelled and Harry's wand flew from him.
Given the moment Aryen leapt forward, rushing to the fallen Sirius's side wrapping an arm around to support him. He was indeed substantially lighter then what he had once been. His eyes our voice did not acknowledge her, his attention was focused on Lupin, but she could feel his body press into her. " Where is he, Sirius?" Lupin demanded, Sirius looked up at Lupin. Aryen watched as Harry's eyes shifted uneasily at them, Sirius remained silent and unmoving, only when he raised his arm, feebly, toward Ron that Aryen understood.
" But then.," Lupin muttered, staring at Black so intently it seemed he was trying to read his mind, " .why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless"-Lupin eyes suddenly widened, as though he was seeing something beyond Black, something none of the rest could see, "-unless he was the one.unless you switched.without telling me?"
Very slowly, his sunken gaze never leaving Lupin's face, Black nodded.
Aryen, who had been looking intently into Lupin's face, turned back to Sirius as she felt his body give way into hers. Lupin came forward to them, still gazing at Black. He walked to Black's side, seized the other shoulder and helped him to his feet. Crookshanks fell to the floor, and Lupin embraced Black like a brother. Distantly, Hermione was screaming in an unbelievable tone. Something was bothering her beyond comprehension, but at that moment Aryen could not focus on anything except Sirius, who was at last standing before her. Lupin had turned away to answer and try to settle Hermione, but Black turned to Aryen and his sunken, sorrowful eyes met hers. There was a silent, unmistakable link between them in that second. And Aryen looked deep into his shallow eyes and it was then that she found what was unmistakably hers amid his matted and tossed hair. Her own eyes began to become misty and she too found her turn to embrace him. He wrapped his bony, sunken arms around her cloak and he gripped her as if he would never let her go. Timeless moments passed before Aryen finally disengaged their embrace and turned to face Lupin and Hermione, but Hermione's face was completely focused on Lupin. She didn't even have to say it, Aryen knew that Hermione was already aware of Remus's being a werewolf and at that moment Lupin was calmly asking her too listen to his story.
Aryen only had to listen for a few moments before she realized that they were never going to listen to Lupin's reasoning. " Give them back their wands, Remus." She said quietly.
He separated Harry's, Ron's, and Hermione's wands and threw them each back to their owner; Harry caught his, stunned.
" There;" said Lupin, sticking his own wand into his belt. " You're armed, we're not. Now will you listen?"
Harry inquired on how Lupin and Aryen had known about their whereabouts and Lupin patiently, explained how he had used the Marauder's Map to locate them. And how they had a member among them they were unaware off.
" I couldn't believe my eyes," said Lupin still pacing, and ignoring Harry. " I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?"
" No one was with us!" protested Harry.
" And then I saw another dot, moving fast toward you, labeled Sirius Black.I saw him collide with you; I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow-"
" One of us!" said Ron angrily.
" No, Ron," Lupin turned to him, " two of you."
" Do you think I could have a look at that rat?" he said evenly.
" What?" said Ron. " What's Scabbers got to do with it?"
" Everything," said Lupin. " Could I see him, please?"
As Ron withdrew his struggling rat from inside his robe pocket Aryen felt Sirius's grip on her hand tighten she glanced at him then looked forward at Lupin. Then Sirius clenched his hand harder.
" That's not a rat," he croaked suddenly.
" What d'you mean-of course he's a rat-"
" No he's not," said Lupin quietly. " He's a wizard."
" An Animagus," Black growled, " by the name of Peter Pettigrew."
Quickly in a wave of short and confused dialogue, Sirius released Ayren's hand and lunged forward intent on getting hold of Ron's mangy rat. Sirius would have gotten hold of him too, had Aryen not been gripping him fast around the waist. Lupin was panting desperately trying to both subdue and reason with Sirius, saying that they had a right to understand and know the truth about Peter. Aryen had no problem with the idea, but it was getting difficult to manage a wildly swinging full sized adult in your arms.
At last, Sirius stopped struggling against her and relaxed enough for her to trust that he wouldn't try anything drastic. He pulled backwards and growled at Lupin, allowing him to tell the children what had happened and he sided back away. He turned again to Aryen and then turned away, as if he were ashamed. She gripped her staff and walked away from him, toward Ron. He looked at her uneasily, though still listening to Lupin. She smiled at him and then bent over his broken leg. She began to mend it, though her medicine wasn't that powerful, she could still offer a bit more comfort then what he was currently in. Ron was uneasy at first, but as he felt her cooling charm he began to smile lightly.
She stayed at his side tending to his wound, listening to the conversation being carried between the other wizards. But what she heard was beyond anything she could have imagined. " There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die," Harry said. " A whole street full of them."
" They didn't see what they think they saw!" said Black savagely, still watching the struggling rat.
" Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter," Aryen said softly.
" I believed it myself-until I saw the map tonight. Because the Marauder's Map never lies.Peter's alive. Ron's holding him Harry." Said Lupin. " I'm sorry Sirius, for not believing you, but I suppose that's also why I'm here, I did still trust you."
Aryen didn't need to look up to know that Harry and Ron would no longer believe them. They had already shut their ears to the nonsense that Lupin and Black were suggesting.
" It can't be true." Hermione said trembling, " because.because people would know if Peter was an Animagus, We studied it with Professor McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework-people keep tabs on them, I looked at the registry and Peter wasn't on it."
" You are very right Hermione." Lupin said with a laugh, he looked over at Aryen who smiled back,
" but the Ministry never knew that there were four unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts." Aryen replied.
" If you're going to tell them the whole story you had better hurry Remus," Black snarled, " I've waited twelve years for this and I don't think I can wait much longer."
And so the story of their time at Hogwarts began, and though Remus was somber about it, Aryen could not help but remember the fond times she had spent with the three of them. How the Shrieking Shack, and the Whomping Willow, and how Aryen, Sirius, and James had collaborated together all were in part to help their friend the werewolf. Aryen was perhaps the only one among them, maybe James as well, who would have thought this all very funny under different circumstances. But now it was only reality and truth that faced them all and it hurt to realize the ramifications of their actions. Then came the part about the young Severus Snape. Aryen had never had much fondness for that man, and still didn't particularly in the year that she had been in attendance at Hogwarts. Snape had fancied her, which was perhaps the fueling for his multiple attempts to try and get Lupin, James, and Sirius expelled while they were there. One such incident resulted almost in his untimely demise.
Then she heard something cold and chilling that made her heart stop. Snape's venomous voice spoke in the room and he revealed himself as he removed James's prized Invisibility Cloak.
Everyone except Ron was on their feet prepared to do whatever was necessary from allowing Snape any leverage, but it was Snape that pointed the wand at Lupin. Everyone was helpless as Snape spelled out his plan of placing both Lupin and Sirius in prison; he bound Lupin in tethers and stared down Black as if ready to strike at him. He glanced over at Aryen and gave her a look that she despised, one that would have given him a black eye had Sirius been in a different situation. Snape turned away and faced the children and yelled and shut out their protests. Suddenly after a short exchange of words, Snape foolishly let his anger get the better of him, and in that moment Aryen, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all tried to disarm him at once and sent Snape against a wall-putting him into unconsciousness.
Their persuasion of Peter's existence fell into full swing, and piece-by-piece the puzzle Aryen had been trying solve was being pulled together. She could not believe how extraordinarily simple it was that Peter had made such a clean escape. She found herself no longer healing Ron, or watching Sirius, but loathingly gazing at the squealing rat. She turned to Lupin when he called her name softly. Sirius had taken Snape's wand and Lupin had his own ready, Aryen raised her staff and they pointed it at the helpless rat.
" One the count of three. One-two-THREE!"
In a dazzling flash of light what had once been a loathsome rat was now a sniveling man. He was the most disgusting piece of human flesh that Aryen had ever seen, and she had seen many humans. His childish, pitiful, whimpering made her grip her staff and grit her teeth in anger and hate. He groveled on the ground, partially pleading for his life as well as trying to deflect the blame from himself onto Sirius, who only laughed at his foolish attempt. Aryen listened to the children's questions, but she didn't mind them-she found herself ruthlessly wanting to hear Peter try to turn it into his favor then be shut down, by the ensuing response. With every retort that Sirius made she wanted to be with him again, along side him, when he confessed his escape from Azkaban, tears almost formed within her eyes. She brought herself to think of Sirius so full of anger and obsession that he would risk his own life to escape from Azkaban. Aryen looked on as Black continued his tale of escape and desperate search, and she watched as his lamenting words to Harry drew him closer into Harry's heart.
" Believe me," croaked Black, " Believe me, Harry. I would never betray James and Lily I would have died before I betrayed them."
Harry nodded, and Aryen smiled, she knew that Harry had accepted Sirius.
Peter burst out with hopeless failure. He fell to his knees and began to plead and grope for Sirius's robes, then to Remus, and then he had the audacity to turn to Aryen. He hadn't even gotten within reaching distance when she aimed the crystal at the top of her staff at him.
" Do not take another step, sir." She hissed, " I know magic far beyond your realm of comprehension, and I do not like being stolen from." With her last words the crystal atop her staff glowed from blue to orange. His eyes widened in fear and he spun to Ron, beseeching him as if his pet rat now had a voice. Then Aryen made her way over to the two men and she looked at them. Peter finally turned back to his old comrades in utter loss and begged them to understand why he had turned to Voldemort. But there was no reason to be found in his words and Aryen prepared herself to perform a curse that would be her damnation as well as her darkest desire. He had killed her beloved friends, and there was no forgiveness for his treachery.
" You should have realized," said Lupin coldly, " if Voldemort hadn't killed you, we would. Good-Bye Peter." They raised their wands ready to strike when something amazing happened.
Harry came about and shielded Peter from their curse.
It was then that Aryen realized how much Harry had become like his parents, and even without them their goodwill lived on through him. She found she could not kill Peter after what Harry had done, he deserved far worse and Harry knew it. So they conceived a plan to travel back to the castle where things would be properly handled and managed. Once everything had been arranged and Lupin and Ron were fastened to Peter they began their trek out the tunnel and toward the castle.
Harry found himself in the back of the group, with Sirius with Aryen at his side. " You know what this means?" Black said abruptly to Harry, " turning Peter in?"
" It means you're free." Harry responded.
" Yes." said Black. " but I'm also- I don't know if anyone has told you-I'm your godfather."
" Yeah I knew that," said Harry.
" Well.your parents appointed me your guardian," said Black, " If anything were to happen to them.."
" I'll understand of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," he said, "But.well.think about it. Once my name's cleared.if you wanted a.a different home." With these words he clenched Aryen's hand for reassurance.
" What- live with you?" he said, " Leave the Dursley's?"
" Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," he responded quickly, his grip on her hand tightened. " I understand, I just thought I'd-"
" Are you insane?" said Harry, " Of course I want to leave the Dursley's! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"
Black spun around at him, and Aryen smiled broadly as Black studied Harry. " You want to?" he croaked, " you mean it?"
" Yeah I mean it!" said Harry.
Then Sirius smiled, the truest most loveable thing that could be seen on his deathly face.
" I-I have a certain obligation I must fulfill however," Black said his face concentrating hard, " I made a promise a long time ago," he shifted his head at Aryen, " one I am determined to keep. So you and I will not be the only one living in that home." He said.
Harry looked at Aryen and a shocked smile, one of realization crept upon his face and he laughed, they did not speak until they reached the end of the tunnel.
Then as they crossed the grounds between the tunnel and the castle there was a sudden shift in the clouds and then Aryen realized, before Hermione said it, that Lupin had had no time to take his potion and that he would soon become a werewolf. Lupin had suddenly gone rigid and Harry was paralyzed in fear of his friend. " Harry, run, leave this to us! RUN!" Black pushed at him hard and made him go. Aryen transformed into a great eagle and Sirius into a bear-dog. Aryen flew high over the rearing werewolf; she dived and scratched at the beast behind the neck, while Sirius lashed out his teeth. Then in pain the werewolf turned and dashed for the forest. Sirius turned to go to Harry and see if he was alright, but Aryen flew forward, her eyes trained for the creature as it made into the forest.
She tracked it as it rampaged through the trees before stopping in a forest clearing. He howled in the center and reared, Aryen perched on a tree on the other side watching him intently.
Remus listen to me, calm down, you are human, not an animal! She tried to talk some sense into the beast, Lupin snorted and growled, and snapped his jaws.
Remus, hear me, you have done this before remember our years, this is not you! Slowly the werewolf stopped pacing and he simply hunched his shoulders and fell to the ground, releasing a soft whine. Aryen swooped down and sat in the grass, at a safe distance away.
Alright old friend, rest, things will be better in the morning. Then Aryen heard something at the edge of the forest. She looked up and with her eagle eyes saw a centaur approaching. He held out his arm and she flew up into the air and landed on his arm.
Ferrenz, it has been a long time.
" I had a feeling you were here," he replied, " I heard the werewolf and I saw it in the stars."
There is more I must attend to, can you watch over him unto the morning?
" Yes, it shall be so." Aryen lifted off his arm and flew towards the castle. She had arrived just in time to see them carrying Sirius away. She transformed far enough away so that they could not see her and she bound forward. She walked in through the main entrance hall, where everyone was too busy to notice her, and ran up to the hospital wing where Dumbledore caught her.
" He is in Professor Flitwick's office, you only have a short time so go to him."
Aryen ran up the stairs to the office. But as the door drew nearer her feet grew heavier and she found that as her hands grazed the door a sinking feeling was in her stomach. She lowered the crystal to the doorknob and whispered, "Alohamora". The lock clicked and the door sprang an inch open, Aryen pressed her hand against the wooden door and moved it open. Pacing about the room was a skeletal figure, with his hand to his mouth in deep thought. He looked at who was opening the door and his hands lowered and brow relaxed. She weaved into the room and shut the door behind her. She walked over to him and put her arms around his neck and pressed his head to her and he enveloped her in his arms.
" I missed you." She murmured gently.
" I-I," he was at a loss for words, " I missed you as well."
She guided him to the sofa where they sat down, their heads pressed together and hands entwined. " I wish you would have allowed me to come and see you,"
" I could not," he said mournfully, " I didn't want you to see me in that awful place. But I didn't want to see you and have the dementors suck away the most treasured part of me I had left."
He pressed his face into her neck and breathed in her scent, it was something he had missed for twelve years.
" I can't go back there," he said desperately, in an anguished croak.
" Twelve years has been stolen from us, I will die before they steal anymore." She said as she reached her hands up to his face, embraced it, and then bent forward and kissed him. He kissed her thirstily and as her hands grasped his hair, his hands came up and covered over her fingers, pressing over them. Then he broke away suddenly and looked down at her right hand.
He looked down at the amber ring in amazement. " You've kept it, after all this time."
" You sound surprised?"
" I just thought you would have given it up." his voice broke and she took him in her arms once more. " I thought.I didn't know if the rumors had gotten to you. I didn't know if you would still be waiting for me," he said softly.
" I would never have given it up, it gave me strength when I had almost lost all hope."
" We have so little time now," Sirius whispered.
And they sat there awaiting whatever would come in the next few moments, then something began rapping at the window, Aryen looked up, and Sirius whirled around. And to their amazement outside the window were Harry and Hermione astride a strange beast. Harry wielded his wand and opened the lock on the door, Sirius went to them and before he could even ask how they had managed this daring escape, they were yelling at him to get on. Sirius boarded the beast, and Aryen transformed into an eagle and followed after them as they made their way to the roof of the tower. Once there, Harry and Hermione, with their faces filled with urgency, explained to Sirius that they must quickly depart or they would be caught.
Sirius tried to thank them but they urged him to go. So he turned to Aryen who was beside him, and he kissed her quickly, " I'll find you." She whispered hastily, " It took me this long, another week will do me no harm." And with that she gave Buckbeak a pat on the flank and the hippogriff took off into the air.
The bitter wind whipped across their faces as Sirius disappeared into the dark night skies.
Chapter 22
Aryen went back with the children to the hospital wing where she waited with them inside the hallway and watched as Dumbledore came out of the double doors and locked them. He turned to the panting children, " Well?" he asked quietly.
" We did it!" Harry said breathlessly, " Sirius is gone, on Buckbeak." Dumbledore's eyes beamed.
He whisked them into the hospital wing and quickly shut the door behind them. Then he turned to Aryen and his gentle blue eyes flickered. Aryen wrapped her arms around him, so choked with emotion she could not contain it. " There's going to be a very large commotion within the next moment or so, I would recommend that you busy yourself with finding Remus." He hinted quietly, Aryen swept the tears from her face and nodded. She went to the end of the hall, where there was a great window, and leapt outside of it before anyone could see her. She flew just in time to hear the enraged voices upon the discovery of Sirius's disappearance.
She flew to the edge of the forest where Ferrenz was lying next to the werewolf Remus, talking about something very farfetched. They were arguing that gypsy clairvoiance was somewhat more reliable then astrology. At the sound of her wings the two of them looked up at her entrance, she swooped onto the grass.
Is all well at the castle? Remus asked in a low whine.
It will be, but not for some time, Aryen replied, I was with Sirius when Harry and Hermione came to his rescue, somehow they had managed to escape the hospital wing from right under Snape's nose, and then steal a hippogriff, on which Sirius made his escape.
" Sounds like much has become of the young Potter since I had met him last." Ferrenz added as he got up from his patch of grass. " I must be off now," and with that he departed.
So he is safe? Remus asked
For the time being, but now there is the matter of what will happen to you?"
By tomorrow morning Snape will have let known that I am a werewolf and I will be forced to resign. You know I only really came here to watch out for Sirius and now that my job is done I think I will be better off back home.
Aryen ruffled her feathers, I suppose you're right, but before we leave I think I must have a talk with Harry, there are still some spots in his knowledge of his parents past that must be filled.
And so the two of them waited until the sun rose up over the treetops and Remus once again became human. Aryen helped mend his robes so that he could wear them back to the castle. They made a quiet and subtle entrance and made their way to Dumbledore's office.
" Although I hate to see you go," Dumbledore lamented, " it seems it would be for the best I think, there will not be very many people happy that you would still be teaching here, even if there are many advocating your stay."
Lupin smiled warily, " I pulled to many pranks in my youth to be able to have very many people wanting me to stay- whether or not they knew I was werewolf."
" That is true." Dumbledore chuckled. " I will be finding your formal resignation then?"
" Yes," Lupin nodded.
" And mine also, Headmaster." Aryen added.
" I supposed you would follow suit, Ms. Everlight, it seems there are many things left for you to handle." Aryen smiled gently and nodded.
" Well then Professor Lupin, I believe you have some packing to move along with, and I believe also that Ms. Everlight has an appointment she must attend." Dumbledore said smiling. Aryen bowed to the Headmaster and left his office, making her way down to the hospital wing.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron were all preparing for their leave of the busying Madam Pomfrey. Harry looked up and waved to her, and gestured for her to come over to them. Hermione beamed at her, and Ron shook her hand. The four of them left the hospital wing and headed down to the sunny school grounds. There was no one about except them and the giant squid that floating on the top of the lake, most of the students were taking care on a trip to Hogsmeade.
They were basking under a shady tree, when Aryen approached them." Harry," Aryen said, " may I have a word with you privately?"
Harry nodded and they walked away from Hermione and Ron.
" I just thought Harry, being that I will be leaving soon, that I could offer some background about Sirius and I."
" I was sort of wondering about that."
" Sirius and I met when we first came to Hogwarts. Sirius and your father, James, were already good friends, as I was already a good friend of your mother, Lily, she and I met when we were in Diagon Alley. I was the first elf ever to attend a wizard's school and there was very much attention drawn to me. Sirius and James and Remus all had their attentions focused on our little group of girls, and it wasn't long until I started falling in with their crowd. You see, I was a little bit more out going then the rest of my friends," Aryen smiled and almost laughed, " Your father and Sirius were certainly the most daring boys ever to attend the school and lets say they had a terrible influence on me.
" When I should have been more focused on schoolwork like Lily was, I became more infatuated with world of pranks and fun. In fact, when they devised a plan to all become Animagi I was right behind them in learning how to do it. We were very rambunctious students and we had our fun." The two of them continued their stroll through the green plains.
" I really didn't want to get involved with Sirius at first, he was always more reckless then James and I worried that he would get me into a lot of trouble. Severus Snape didn't help with that either."
Harry looked at her, and his eyes narrowed, " Did you know Snape?"
" Snape was always trying to win me over somehow, and I knew he was a weasel from the very beginning. I was more uninterested in him then I was in Sirius, and the fact that I was beginning to come around to Sirius didn't make his appeal of your godfather any better. That was the reason, I think, that Snape followed them that night when they went to go stay with Remus the night that your father saved him, I think he wanted to get them expelled so that he could have me all to himself."
" Really Professor Snape had a crush on you!" Harry said, shocked.
" That he did, and when Dumbledore told him to keep his mouth shut, he grew even more angry. I started seeing more of Sirius after that and we continued the relationship out of Hogwarts. Unfortunately, Sirius wasn't much for commitment back then, and he was in no hurry to get married," Aryen smiled, " but when your father asked him to be the best man at his wedding," she turned to Harry and beamed at him, " that really turned him around."
" He asked me to move in with him at the wedding, and when you were born and he held you in his arms.Because of you Harry, Sirius was finally ready to start a family."
Harry blushed, and he eyes darted away from Aryen's cheerful gaze. But then Harry frowned and he looked back at her. " But then what happened, two years later?"
Aryen's furrowed her brow, " There had been growing news that Voldemort was amassing incredible power, and we were all very nervous. My family was begging me to come back under their protection in the forests and I wanted Sirius to come away with me. We were ready to also, but then Sirius started acting very strangely and when I came home, he was gone. I waited for a little while and then I heard him come back." Aryen's eyes grew distant in memory, " He burst into the house in a frenzy, he was scared out of his mind, he told me very little of what happened and told me to go and stay with my family, he told me that he loved me, and then he was gone." She turned to Harry in sadness, " the next time I saw him was after the funeral, at his trial, the one that sentenced him to life in Azkaban. I tried to ask him what had happened, but he would not tell me, and he told me not to visit him ever in Azkaban. And so I didn't, I tried to write to him, but I had no way of knowing whether he read or received any of my letters. All that I came away with was him telling me that he was innocent and that he loved me."
" That's horrible," Harry said mournfully.
" I had gone back to my family and stayed for a little while. But I resolved that I must find out what happened so I met an old friend of ours."
" Professor Lupin," Harry said.
Aryen nodded, " Yes, I went to him and begged him to let me stay with him while I tried to find an answer, Lupin didn't know what to believe at the time, but he really wanted his friend to be innocent too. He consented to allowing me to stay with him and help solve the mystery.
" And now that we know what had become of him, my time waiting is over, I will find him and we will try to resolve this." She said in determination, and Harry couldn't help but feel hopeful.
" I brought these for you Harry." Aryen withdrew a small stack of pictures and Harry took them and began looking through them. " I thought that now that you knew a little bit more about what had happened you might want some more pictures for that album that Hagrid told me he had given you. I remember him asking around for pictures, but I didn't have a chance to get these to him."
Harry looked at the pictures and he recognized his mother and father in their youngest years at Hogwarts and then their adolescent selves, and then at times after their departure from school, and there were more of their wedding. He recognized Sirius again and then he scanned his mother's side and found Aryen dressed as the maid of honor. He looked up at her in amazement. " You were my mother's maid of honor?"
" Yes I was," she said proudly, " and see that little girl?" she pointed to a pouting little girl at his mother's feet, she was incessantly fussing with some of the frills at the hem of her dress.
" That's.."
" That's my sister, Aliena. She was the flower girl." Harry picked out another picture and this one was of a handsome young man leaning fondly over a candlelit table, at the wedding reception, talking to a beautiful dark haired woman. There was a glimmer in his eyes that was unmistakable for one of affection and then the man looked up at Harry and nudged the woman on the elbow and she looked up at him also. And Harry realized that the man was Sirius and the woman he had been talking to was Aryen. Aryen almost bashfully covered her face from the camera and Sirius laughed and raised his glass to Harry and toasted him.
" That's one of my favorites." Aryen said, " That was when he offered me the key."
" Thank you very much." Harry said and he shook her hand.
" I must be off then," she said, " take care Harry, and I'll try to see you again before we leave." And she turned away to go back to the castle, and Harry went back to the tree where Hermione and Ron eagerly awaited news.
Aryen had her trunks packed and was waiting in Lupin's office for him to finish his own packing. "Oh look, Harry's on his way up." Lupin said half-mindedly as he hovered over the Marauder's Map.
" I always did think that this was one of our finer inventions," Lupin muttered, looking up at Aryen.
" Yes, but I still hold that Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs wouldn't have come up with the idea without some female ingenuity." Aryen smiled.
" You're right, I don't think they would ever have come up with it unless they wanted to sneak around after hours." Lupin added.
Aryen heard Harry down the hall, so it was no surprise when he entered.
" I saw you coming." Lupin said, hinting at the map he had been pouring over on his desk.
" I just saw Hagrid," Harry said. " And he said that you resigned. It's not true, is it?"
" I'm afraid it is." Lupin replied as he removed some more articles out of his desk drawer.
" Why?" said Harry, " The Ministry of Magic don't think you were helping Sirius, do they?"
" No, Professor Dumbledore managed to convince Fudge that I was trying to save your lives," he sighed, " That was the final straw for Severus. I think the loss of the Order of Merlin hit him harder then Sirius would have ever done. So he-er- let slip that I am a werewolf at breakfast."
" You're not leaving just because of that!" Harry protested.
" This time tomorrow the owls will start arriving from parents.They will not want a werewolf teaching their children, Harry." Lupin said as he smiled wryly, " And after last night, I see their point. I could have bitten any of you.that must never happen again."
" You're the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had!" said Harry. "Don't go!"
Lupin shook his head and Aryen offered a small smile in consolation when Harry looked to her for help, " From what the headmaster told me this morning, you saved a lot of lives last night, Potter. If I'm proud of anything I've done this year, it's how much you've learned.Tell me about your Patronus."
" How'd you know about that?" said Harry, distracted.
" What else would have driven the dementors back?" Aryen asked.
Harry explained what had happened and when he'd finished Lupin smiled.
" Yes, you father was always a stag when he transformed," Lupin said, " You guessed right.that's why we called him Prongs."
Lupin closed up the last few books remaining in his chest closed everything and turned to face Harry.
" Here- I brought these from the Shrieking Shack last night." He said handing the Invisibility Cloak to him. " And." He hesitated then returned the Marauder's Map as well. " I am no longer you teacher, so I don't feel guilty about giving these back to you. I'm sure you, Ron, and Hermione will find good uses for it."
" You told me that Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs would have wanted to lure me out of the school.you said they would have thought it funny."
" And so we would have, and I have no hesitation in saying that James would be very disappointed if his son never learned any of the secret passages out of the castle."
There was a knock at the door and standing in the doorway was Professor Dumbledore.
" The carriage is at the gates Remus," he said.
" Thank you, Headmaster."
Lupin headed for the door and then turned back around, " Well good- bye then Harry." He said, " It's been a real pleasure teaching you. I feel sure that we will meet again in the future."
He looked forward to Professor Dumbledore, " Good-bye Remus," Dumbledore said soberly. Lupin shifted the grindylow tank in his arms so that he could shack his hand with the Headmaster. And with that he disappeared out the door.
Aryen picked up her staff and followed him, " Good-bye Harry, I'll send word to you soon." She bent down and gave him a kiss on the forehead. " Professor Dumbledore," she said as she turned to him and bowed.
" Farewell Ms. Everlight." He took her hand and kissed it. " Until we meet again." And with that Aryen left out of the office, trailing Lupin. She caught up with him as he was packing his things away in the carriage.
" I'm really going to miss that boy," Aryen lamented,
" He was quite extraordinary wasn't he?" Lupin shifted his case into the carriage. Aryen's trunks were strapped on top and she climbed in after him.
" Where do you suppose you will meet him again?" Lupin asked her as they made their way to the train station.
" I have a few ideas, but they will stay ideas until I can efficiently fulfill them." Aryen replied.
" I suppose you'd better go now then, don't waste any time here, I'll have your trunks taken to my home and you can send for them after you find him."
" Really, Remus?"
" Most certainly, although I will have to adjust to not having you around to take care of me," he smiled weakly. She leaned over and gave him a small kiss on the cheek in farewell.
She minimized her staff and transformed into an eagle and flew out the carriage window. She circled overhead, following the coach to the train and watched as Remus waved to her from the platform. Then she set off through the mountains.
After all the long traveling, stopping through towns where rumors of Sirius Black had spread, Aryen was certain she knew where she would find Sirius, though it would take her at least two weeks of flight to get her there.
It was the warmest place the two of them had ever been, a remote island somewhere in the Caribbean Isle. Though they had always fancied Hawaii, there were more places to hide here. Aryen flew towards the farthest side of the beach and searched. She transformed back into her elfish self and watched through the glare of the sun as a man fished waist deep into pristine water. He didn't hear her at first but as he finished with his catch and moved back toward the beach he saw her.
He had put on much more weight since the last time she had seen him and his handsomeness was beginning to return. He came out of the water and dropped the fish on the sandy beach. He looked less like a wizard now, and more like a Muggle, even more so as she approached him. She came very close and could smell the salty water on his clothes. He put his hands to her face almost in disbelief that she was actually standing before him. He bent forward carefully and kissed her, and she slipped her arms under his and pressed them against his back. And there they stood for several moments in each other's arms. He separated and picked up the fish from the bank and took her hand and led her to a small river.
In happy silence Sirius led her along the riverbank to a splendid waterfall, and they gingerly scaled the rock face. The entrance behind the waterfall had been bewitched so that no human would stumble upon it and unless they knew what they were looking for most wizards wouldn't have given it a second glance. She climbed her way up the face of the waterfall and crept through into the dry darkened space behind it. She could distantly here stirring of wings deep within the cave.
She could smell a small fire and as they rounded a corner Aryen was welcomed by a hearty little fire, a stout Buckbeak tied in a corner, with a bone knawing in his beak, and a large roll out next to the fire. There was a heaping messy pile of stolen clothes, a tattered robe hanging on the rock face, and his gear beside it. " Going back to living like an animal I see." Aryen said as she observed the messy inhabitants.
Sirius set the fish down on a flat stone next to the fire and turned around to her and smiled warmly, not saying a word and bent down again and gave her another warm kiss. He wrapped his arms around her, "I'm so glad you're here," he whispered, " I was just about to leave. Can't stay in one place to long, after all."
" I would have found you again." Aryen replied.
" How was Harry, and everyone after I left?" Sirius asked, " How was Snape?"
" Snape was quite perturbed by missing out on his Order of Merlin, but I think he'll get over it so long as he doesn't think about it to often."
" Hmm, and the others?"
" Everyone's alright, Ron's leg has fully healed, Remus is on his way home, and Harry is quite concerned. But I told him that I would write him as soon as I could."
" I worry about that boy terribly," Sirius said softly, " but I think I will send him a letter next week, we have a bit of catching up to do." He kissed her again, and Aryen closed her eyes, happy to again be reunited with Sirius.
*From: Harry Potter and the Prisoner from Azkaban*
Chapter 5---The Dementor
The station was full of steam and busying students and porters, employees and parents. Aryen was never very fond of crowds because it could get very annoying with her superior hearing, but it didn't matter much to her at the moment. She steadily followed the patched cloak in front of her toward the grand, scarlet Hogwarts Express. She ported their large trunks before approaching the entrance and entered closely following Professor Lupin. Perched upon her shoulder was a beautiful gyrfalcon, whose piercing yellow eyes let nothing be overlooked. They made their way to the rear cabins and she helped Lupin put away his small luggage bags. Exhaustedly he relaxed into the seat; she placed her stachel on her seat directly across from him. The falcon slipped off of her shoulder and perched atop a railing near the roof of the cabin.
" It has been a long trip, take your rest now Remus," Aryen said softly to him.
" It has," but then lines of worry crossed his brow, " what if you are seen? The students will begin to ask questions."
" There is nothing to worry about," Aryen responded, " my hood will be up until we reach the school. I resemble my sister too much, especially with her falcon. Besides, everything will easily be explained once Dumbledore is aware of my arrival." She gently stroked the great bird's crest. Then sat down and reached into her satchel and withdrew a small, softly glowing bottle. " Don't worry yourself anymore, drink this it will help you sleep."
She reached across the gap between them and handed him the bottle. Lupin drank the potion and just as the liquid flowed down his throat his eyes grew heavy and he passed into sleep. Aryen listened to his deep, relaxed breathing, before putting her hood up over her head. She lay back onto the rest of the seat and looked out the window into the busy station around them Her thoughts gradually drifted from thoughts into dreams. Distantly she heard voices whisper at the entrance of the cabin:
" Who d'you reckon they are?"
Aryen woke with a start as a dark, chilling feeling crept across her skin. She woke slowly and looked about the darkened cabin, the rain was pounding on the windows outside. There was suddenly a large commotion and she heard the students, who had been sharing their cabin, begin to trip over each other. With her Elvin vision she could see Lupin awaken across from her, but he did not move and simply looked back over to her in anticipation to their early halt. Another boy had entered the cabin, tripping over another's legs and then he tried to sit on the ginger cat. Finally, Lupin turned to the crowd, " Quiet." He ordered the students in a hoarse voice. Aryen gripped her staff and the crystal at the top crackled; it was engulfed in blue flames that gave off a shivering light-illuminating the stunned faces of those around her. Lupin was fully aroused now.
" Stay where you are," he said to all of them in the same hoarse voice. He got up and headed toward the door. But the door had already slid open before he could reach it.
The wavering light from her staff revealed a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Aryen recognized the dementor easily, she could feel the immense evil more so then anyone in the cabin-or at least that's what she had thought. Her gaze was separated from the dementor as she looked and saw his hand appear from the cloak, that sickeningly decaying hand. It was the gray, grimy, slimy, and scabbed stinking hand of the dementor. Then the hand disappeared and the dementor drew in a rattling, breath-then something happened. One of the students, the one with unruly black hair and circular glasses suddenly went rigid and fell from his seat. Aryen slowly moved toward him as Lupin stepped over him and made for the dementor.
Aryen looked down at the young boy, the one who had collapsed onto the floor. His black hair had been pushed aside in his fall and she could see a small lightening shaped scar revealed on his forehead and she drew in a breath of both shock and relief. Two of his friends, a red haired boy with freckles and a frizzy haired girl, came to his side almost immediately as the dementor departed and the lights came back on.
" Are you okay?" The red haired boy asked nervously.
" Yeah," Harry responded weakly, looking back at the door. The hooded creature had vanished. " What happened? Where's that-that thing? Who screamed?" At his question, Aryen could recall no one who had screamed, so she turned away and went back to her seat. As the children continued their little conversation, pursuing the suspicious collapse of Harry Potter, Aryen turned to Lupin, who had reached his seat once more.
She stared at Lupin with a severe look in her eyes. One that he knew automatically to mean that they had found Harry Potter, she reached into her satchel and withdrew a thick slab of chocolate-one she had packed in case of the dementors and handed it to Lupin. She extinguished the flames on her staff's crystal and retreated to her corner of the cabin. Aryen didn't want to draw anymore notice to herself, so she remained quiet and watched Lupin come to the aid of the disheveled students. Snapping apart pieces of chocolate to them.
" Here," he said to Harry, handing him a particularly large piece. " Eat it. It'll help." But Aryen noticed that although Harry took it, he did not eat it. Instead he turned to Lupin, " What was that thing?" he asked.
" A dementor," replied Lupin, who was now giving chocolate to everyone else. " One of the dementors of Azkaban." The gyrfalcon gently fluttered his wings as if he could understand the word 'dementor', but he too remained quiet and didn't draw any more attention until the end of the journey. Aryen only thought to herself about the young boy's weakness to the dementors and how she had found whom she had been searching so quickly.
When the train came to a halt and everyone had disembarked from the locomotive, she and Lupin remained at the exit and got their trunks from the porters. " Firs' years this way!" an all too familiar voice called over the frenzied mass of children. Aryen looked over the tops of the students' heads and saw a tall, shaggy beast of a man standing high above them. It was Hagrid, the groundskeeper, he looked over in their direction and as his eyes glanced onto them, she could see a tiny sparkle in the black dots. He guided the stunned first years in one direction and the older students moved in a different path. Once the mass of students had made off, another boat sauntered over the dark lake to them, it was smaller then those that had taken the first year students to the castle. The porters loaded the trunks into the boat and Lupin and Aryen boarded. The boat swept across the darkened lake and the great Hogwarts castle came into view. The beautiful pillars and striking figure illuminated the horizon-it had been many years since either of them had seen their once beloved school.
" You will have to go on to the Sorting Feast," Aryen said breaking the silence, " as you are the new professor." Lupin nodded in response. " I will be off to meet with my sister, I will see with Dumbledore later this evening. I'll try to meet back with you later."
" I'll be looking for you." Lupin reassured her, they approached the shoreline and in the darkness were several dark figures.
The boat rested and the two of them jumped out of the boat, several of the shadowed figures moved passed them to remove their luggage and take it up to their quarters. The other, lone figure came before them and offered a warm smile. She looked just as radiant and beautiful as Aryen- with a strong resemblance in their dark features.
" Remus J. Lupin," she smiled her eyes filled with friendliness, " how good to see you." She wrapped her arms around him, and he reciprocated with a weak-but no less heart felt smile and embrace.
" It is good to see you also, Aliena." He said softly to her.
" Come now, you must be tired and hungry. I made you some of my special cakes," She said handing him a small cloth wrapped bundle. " You better hurry up, the feast has just about started, and you will be expected." He gently pushed the parcel into his robe pocket, bowed his head and made off toward the castle gates. Aliena turned to Aryen and smiled again, but this time there was much more heart in her piercing Elvin eyes. The gyrfalcon swooped down out of the black sky and rested on Aliena's shoulder.
They were roughly the same height, but Aliena had a broader build and frame. Though her skin was no less glowing and her eyes no less twinkling in the moonlight. Aryen lowered her hood to reveal the sharply pointed ears that she shared with her younger sister. " Was your trip well?"
" It could have been better." Aryen said half-heartedly. " That is if I had some of your cakes to look forward too."
" You know how much Remus likes them and he needs the strength. Come along, I will show you your room." Aliena was hoping for a much more exuberant response from her sister, but couldn't complain. It had been a while since she had seen her.
" I saw James and Lily's son."
" Oh, you did," Aliena beamed cheerfully, " you should know that he is a very clever boy very much like his father. I think you will like him, and his best friend Ron- is very much like Bill." She said this latter part with a bit of fondness.
" Really, so that red-haired boy was indeed Bill's younger brother. I could see the looks about him," Aryen smiled faintly, " Father and Mother, still don't understand why you have a liking for that wizard boy, Bill, there's something unnatural about his red-hair."
" He grows on you, its not everyday you meet a charming treasure hunter. But then I could say the same thing about Sirius." Aliena smiled again. Noticing her sister's distant looks she added, " Cheer up Aryen, I know you will see him again."
They had just come upon the front doors to the castle and were embarking through the empty halls toward the dormitory staircases.
" I miss him so much, Aliena." Aryen said dejectedly, " that he's finally broken free and might be coming here."
" Aryen, remember, Azkaban changes people. What happened so many years ago.I would hate for it to be true, but. he might not be the same man you once knew." Aliena said tenderly.
" Aliena, you and I both know that he didn't commit those crimes." Aryen replied severely. " I am here to find him and find out what happened, no matter what I will protect what needs to be shielded, but there are Dark forces at work."
Her sister nodded, they came up the spiraling tower that led up to the faculty chambers, " Honestly, I don't know what I believe anymore." Aliena sighed gently. They came upon a great painting of a wizened man with a great hound at his flank. " Serevern Marteo." She uttered and the man bowed away as the painting swung forward.
" Here is your chamber, my bed is over there and yours is there," Aliena said walking her into the darkened room, pointing to the four-poster beds against the wall. " There is the window, I enchanted it so it will open quite easily." She walked Aryen toward the window. "You will find the forest quite full of hazardous creatures and beings, not to dissimilar to the forests back home, but nothing you or I could not handle, as you have already spent much time in them when you were here."
" I really appreciate this Aliena," Aryen murmured looking out over the blackened lake.
" It is not I who should receive your gratitude, please cheer up Aryen, I want you to try and put Sirius out of your mind for right now-it will be some time before he turns up. But," Aliena had begun to leave, she had stopped however and turned back, " Aryen, you should know, I kept Sirius, Remus, and James close to my heart, but times have changed. Things are not what they were twelve years ago, I do not know what I can say for certain anymore."
" Do you truly believe Sirius did what they claimed he has done?" Aryen asked her.
" I would die for the truth Aryen, I cannot say I would not be in your position if anything similar had happened to me or Bill. But there has been so much done and said in the wake of darkness it is hard to find the light in it." Aliena turned and left the chamber. Aryen crept toward the window and looked out into the darkness.
" Oh, Sirius, be careful." Aryen muttered sadly looking out into the inky shadows of the forest, waiting to see him creep over the horizon. He would be back, but in what condition she did not know.
Aryen opened up the great window and stepped out onto the ledge, she leaped off into the cool air. Her cloak flapped about her as the wind encircled her body, with one thing in mind, the wind suddenly stopped and caught her and lifted her up. Her arms had turned into wings, and her face had sharpened into a beak. Aryen was now an eagle, for she was an Animagus.
***
She soared about for several hours before finally coming across the great window on a spire of the castle. The window had already been left open and she soared through it. She cut her glide short and her booted feet hit the marbled floor perfectly.
" I was expecting you, Ms. Everlight." A kindly voice said from the recesses of the office.
" Headmaster Dumbledore." Aryen bowed graciously. " I thank you for allowing me into your school."
" Do not mention it." He responded, " Lemon drop?" he offered her a small bowl of Muggle candies.
" Si-" but she stopped as Dumbledore had suddenly raised his hand.
" There are names that are unsafe for even these walls to hear." He warned gently, still holding out the bowl.
" He," she said delicately, " He, loved them-he had quite a taste for these little Muggle candies." She reached out for one with her right hand. The gold ring with an amber colored stone resting on her ring finger was revealed as she reached for it.
" Ah, the ring of Uru Sette. I remember vividly the day that he had come to me asking the whereabouts of such a ring, he did so quite artfully over a cup of tea too," Dumbledore placed the bowl back on his desk and gestured for her to take a seat before him, " I told him of course, though I remember worrying if I would come to regret it. I am gladdened to see that it has found its way to a worthy master."
If Aryen could have blushed, she would have then.
" I look forward to my new position here, I will not fail you, sir." She said looking into his playful blue eyes, " I will guard against Sirius Black if he should break into this threshold."
" I do not doubt your ability, nor your determination, I am optimistic you will know better then anyone how to handle such a situation."
Aryen nodded. " I certainly hope so," she smiled, " I have had good training with him, I can predict his actions."
" I am sure you realize though, that Azkaban has an effect on people beyond many capable charms. He may very well be a changed.and dangerous man."
" Yes, and it is a risk I am willing to take."
" There will be things said and over time it seems that rumors will grow even more fantastical." Aryen nodded again,
" I have found that even the most fantastical may have floundered my sister's ears." She said bitterly.
" You cannot hold bitterness to her from believing some of what she has heard she was young and did not know him as you or I had. It has been a long while clouded in mystery, for many people twelve years is a very long time." Dumbledore offered kindly. Aryen then got up. " I will show you about tomorrow, though I am sure you still remember much from your guides back when you attended Hogwarts."
Aryen smiled again. As if the greatest charm had been cast, her hopes had finally lifted.
Chapter 17-18
Lupin looked up at Aryen, who had just walked into his office. " There is something happening, Sirius is here, we must go to the Shrieking Shack." He said hurriedly grabbing his cloak and wand. Aryen gripped her staff and nodded, they bound down the steps to the Hogsmeade facing grounds.
" I'll go on ahead," Aryen said quickly, she transformed into an eagle once again, her staff now magically smaller, gripped tightly in her feet she made off toward Hogsmeade.
She soared above the grounds and hurried swiftly to the lonely, dark, shaded house upon the hill looking over the sleepy town of Hogsmeade. She could see faint movement through the upstairs window and flew in threw it. As she swooped in she saw that it was Harry, with Ron and Hermione behind him, aiming a wand right into Sirius's sunken chest.
Sirius, the healthy, young, vibrant Sirius she had known so long ago had been lost, all that was left now was a waxy skeleton resembling that of her beloved. Harry turned to glance at her, but all his attention was focused solely on Sirius. Her bein there had given him renewed confidence. Aryen didn't even believe he was aware she had actually flown in through the window, though. She could see Sirius's face was bruised and wounded, she raised her staff. Sirius turned his sunken eyes to her, his chest was heaving with breath-then it stopped short and he gazed at her with a lost and distant look in his eyes, it was one of utter amazement. He raised his thin arm gesturing her to put down her staff. She was taken aback and lowered her staff hesitantly, unable to take her eyes off of what was left of Sirius. He turned back and stared at Harry.
" I do not deny it," he said very quietly. " But if you knew the whole story."
But Harry was beyond reason, his wand quivered with adrenaline as he yelled at Sirius. "You killed my mom and dad" he accused. Aryen listened as Harry depicted all the false rumors, all the unbelievable rumors, but then she realized that it was all that he had ever heard about a man that he had never known-or loved. She could not raise a finger on Harry, nor would Sirius allow her to prevent Harry from killing him. She watched awkwardly helpless. Then suddenly Crookshanks, the ginger cat leapt onto Sirius's chest, protecting him from Harry.
" Get off," he murmured, pushing at the unmoving feline. In a suspenseful moment Harry sat, caught between what crucial decision to make. The seconds passed until there was a sound coming from below and Harry did not hesitate to get their attention. As he yelled for help from the unknown stranger the cat was almost dislodged from Sirius's chest, and Harry brandished his wand forward ready to strike.Lupin burst through the door.
" Expelliarmus!" Lupin yelled and Harry's wand flew from him.
Given the moment Aryen leapt forward, rushing to the fallen Sirius's side wrapping an arm around to support him. He was indeed substantially lighter then what he had once been. His eyes our voice did not acknowledge her, his attention was focused on Lupin, but she could feel his body press into her. " Where is he, Sirius?" Lupin demanded, Sirius looked up at Lupin. Aryen watched as Harry's eyes shifted uneasily at them, Sirius remained silent and unmoving, only when he raised his arm, feebly, toward Ron that Aryen understood.
" But then.," Lupin muttered, staring at Black so intently it seemed he was trying to read his mind, " .why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless"-Lupin eyes suddenly widened, as though he was seeing something beyond Black, something none of the rest could see, "-unless he was the one.unless you switched.without telling me?"
Very slowly, his sunken gaze never leaving Lupin's face, Black nodded.
Aryen, who had been looking intently into Lupin's face, turned back to Sirius as she felt his body give way into hers. Lupin came forward to them, still gazing at Black. He walked to Black's side, seized the other shoulder and helped him to his feet. Crookshanks fell to the floor, and Lupin embraced Black like a brother. Distantly, Hermione was screaming in an unbelievable tone. Something was bothering her beyond comprehension, but at that moment Aryen could not focus on anything except Sirius, who was at last standing before her. Lupin had turned away to answer and try to settle Hermione, but Black turned to Aryen and his sunken, sorrowful eyes met hers. There was a silent, unmistakable link between them in that second. And Aryen looked deep into his shallow eyes and it was then that she found what was unmistakably hers amid his matted and tossed hair. Her own eyes began to become misty and she too found her turn to embrace him. He wrapped his bony, sunken arms around her cloak and he gripped her as if he would never let her go. Timeless moments passed before Aryen finally disengaged their embrace and turned to face Lupin and Hermione, but Hermione's face was completely focused on Lupin. She didn't even have to say it, Aryen knew that Hermione was already aware of Remus's being a werewolf and at that moment Lupin was calmly asking her too listen to his story.
Aryen only had to listen for a few moments before she realized that they were never going to listen to Lupin's reasoning. " Give them back their wands, Remus." She said quietly.
He separated Harry's, Ron's, and Hermione's wands and threw them each back to their owner; Harry caught his, stunned.
" There;" said Lupin, sticking his own wand into his belt. " You're armed, we're not. Now will you listen?"
Harry inquired on how Lupin and Aryen had known about their whereabouts and Lupin patiently, explained how he had used the Marauder's Map to locate them. And how they had a member among them they were unaware off.
" I couldn't believe my eyes," said Lupin still pacing, and ignoring Harry. " I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?"
" No one was with us!" protested Harry.
" And then I saw another dot, moving fast toward you, labeled Sirius Black.I saw him collide with you; I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow-"
" One of us!" said Ron angrily.
" No, Ron," Lupin turned to him, " two of you."
" Do you think I could have a look at that rat?" he said evenly.
" What?" said Ron. " What's Scabbers got to do with it?"
" Everything," said Lupin. " Could I see him, please?"
As Ron withdrew his struggling rat from inside his robe pocket Aryen felt Sirius's grip on her hand tighten she glanced at him then looked forward at Lupin. Then Sirius clenched his hand harder.
" That's not a rat," he croaked suddenly.
" What d'you mean-of course he's a rat-"
" No he's not," said Lupin quietly. " He's a wizard."
" An Animagus," Black growled, " by the name of Peter Pettigrew."
Quickly in a wave of short and confused dialogue, Sirius released Ayren's hand and lunged forward intent on getting hold of Ron's mangy rat. Sirius would have gotten hold of him too, had Aryen not been gripping him fast around the waist. Lupin was panting desperately trying to both subdue and reason with Sirius, saying that they had a right to understand and know the truth about Peter. Aryen had no problem with the idea, but it was getting difficult to manage a wildly swinging full sized adult in your arms.
At last, Sirius stopped struggling against her and relaxed enough for her to trust that he wouldn't try anything drastic. He pulled backwards and growled at Lupin, allowing him to tell the children what had happened and he sided back away. He turned again to Aryen and then turned away, as if he were ashamed. She gripped her staff and walked away from him, toward Ron. He looked at her uneasily, though still listening to Lupin. She smiled at him and then bent over his broken leg. She began to mend it, though her medicine wasn't that powerful, she could still offer a bit more comfort then what he was currently in. Ron was uneasy at first, but as he felt her cooling charm he began to smile lightly.
She stayed at his side tending to his wound, listening to the conversation being carried between the other wizards. But what she heard was beyond anything she could have imagined. " There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die," Harry said. " A whole street full of them."
" They didn't see what they think they saw!" said Black savagely, still watching the struggling rat.
" Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter," Aryen said softly.
" I believed it myself-until I saw the map tonight. Because the Marauder's Map never lies.Peter's alive. Ron's holding him Harry." Said Lupin. " I'm sorry Sirius, for not believing you, but I suppose that's also why I'm here, I did still trust you."
Aryen didn't need to look up to know that Harry and Ron would no longer believe them. They had already shut their ears to the nonsense that Lupin and Black were suggesting.
" It can't be true." Hermione said trembling, " because.because people would know if Peter was an Animagus, We studied it with Professor McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework-people keep tabs on them, I looked at the registry and Peter wasn't on it."
" You are very right Hermione." Lupin said with a laugh, he looked over at Aryen who smiled back,
" but the Ministry never knew that there were four unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts." Aryen replied.
" If you're going to tell them the whole story you had better hurry Remus," Black snarled, " I've waited twelve years for this and I don't think I can wait much longer."
And so the story of their time at Hogwarts began, and though Remus was somber about it, Aryen could not help but remember the fond times she had spent with the three of them. How the Shrieking Shack, and the Whomping Willow, and how Aryen, Sirius, and James had collaborated together all were in part to help their friend the werewolf. Aryen was perhaps the only one among them, maybe James as well, who would have thought this all very funny under different circumstances. But now it was only reality and truth that faced them all and it hurt to realize the ramifications of their actions. Then came the part about the young Severus Snape. Aryen had never had much fondness for that man, and still didn't particularly in the year that she had been in attendance at Hogwarts. Snape had fancied her, which was perhaps the fueling for his multiple attempts to try and get Lupin, James, and Sirius expelled while they were there. One such incident resulted almost in his untimely demise.
Then she heard something cold and chilling that made her heart stop. Snape's venomous voice spoke in the room and he revealed himself as he removed James's prized Invisibility Cloak.
Everyone except Ron was on their feet prepared to do whatever was necessary from allowing Snape any leverage, but it was Snape that pointed the wand at Lupin. Everyone was helpless as Snape spelled out his plan of placing both Lupin and Sirius in prison; he bound Lupin in tethers and stared down Black as if ready to strike at him. He glanced over at Aryen and gave her a look that she despised, one that would have given him a black eye had Sirius been in a different situation. Snape turned away and faced the children and yelled and shut out their protests. Suddenly after a short exchange of words, Snape foolishly let his anger get the better of him, and in that moment Aryen, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all tried to disarm him at once and sent Snape against a wall-putting him into unconsciousness.
Their persuasion of Peter's existence fell into full swing, and piece-by-piece the puzzle Aryen had been trying solve was being pulled together. She could not believe how extraordinarily simple it was that Peter had made such a clean escape. She found herself no longer healing Ron, or watching Sirius, but loathingly gazing at the squealing rat. She turned to Lupin when he called her name softly. Sirius had taken Snape's wand and Lupin had his own ready, Aryen raised her staff and they pointed it at the helpless rat.
" One the count of three. One-two-THREE!"
In a dazzling flash of light what had once been a loathsome rat was now a sniveling man. He was the most disgusting piece of human flesh that Aryen had ever seen, and she had seen many humans. His childish, pitiful, whimpering made her grip her staff and grit her teeth in anger and hate. He groveled on the ground, partially pleading for his life as well as trying to deflect the blame from himself onto Sirius, who only laughed at his foolish attempt. Aryen listened to the children's questions, but she didn't mind them-she found herself ruthlessly wanting to hear Peter try to turn it into his favor then be shut down, by the ensuing response. With every retort that Sirius made she wanted to be with him again, along side him, when he confessed his escape from Azkaban, tears almost formed within her eyes. She brought herself to think of Sirius so full of anger and obsession that he would risk his own life to escape from Azkaban. Aryen looked on as Black continued his tale of escape and desperate search, and she watched as his lamenting words to Harry drew him closer into Harry's heart.
" Believe me," croaked Black, " Believe me, Harry. I would never betray James and Lily I would have died before I betrayed them."
Harry nodded, and Aryen smiled, she knew that Harry had accepted Sirius.
Peter burst out with hopeless failure. He fell to his knees and began to plead and grope for Sirius's robes, then to Remus, and then he had the audacity to turn to Aryen. He hadn't even gotten within reaching distance when she aimed the crystal at the top of her staff at him.
" Do not take another step, sir." She hissed, " I know magic far beyond your realm of comprehension, and I do not like being stolen from." With her last words the crystal atop her staff glowed from blue to orange. His eyes widened in fear and he spun to Ron, beseeching him as if his pet rat now had a voice. Then Aryen made her way over to the two men and she looked at them. Peter finally turned back to his old comrades in utter loss and begged them to understand why he had turned to Voldemort. But there was no reason to be found in his words and Aryen prepared herself to perform a curse that would be her damnation as well as her darkest desire. He had killed her beloved friends, and there was no forgiveness for his treachery.
" You should have realized," said Lupin coldly, " if Voldemort hadn't killed you, we would. Good-Bye Peter." They raised their wands ready to strike when something amazing happened.
Harry came about and shielded Peter from their curse.
It was then that Aryen realized how much Harry had become like his parents, and even without them their goodwill lived on through him. She found she could not kill Peter after what Harry had done, he deserved far worse and Harry knew it. So they conceived a plan to travel back to the castle where things would be properly handled and managed. Once everything had been arranged and Lupin and Ron were fastened to Peter they began their trek out the tunnel and toward the castle.
Harry found himself in the back of the group, with Sirius with Aryen at his side. " You know what this means?" Black said abruptly to Harry, " turning Peter in?"
" It means you're free." Harry responded.
" Yes." said Black. " but I'm also- I don't know if anyone has told you-I'm your godfather."
" Yeah I knew that," said Harry.
" Well.your parents appointed me your guardian," said Black, " If anything were to happen to them.."
" I'll understand of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," he said, "But.well.think about it. Once my name's cleared.if you wanted a.a different home." With these words he clenched Aryen's hand for reassurance.
" What- live with you?" he said, " Leave the Dursley's?"
" Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," he responded quickly, his grip on her hand tightened. " I understand, I just thought I'd-"
" Are you insane?" said Harry, " Of course I want to leave the Dursley's! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"
Black spun around at him, and Aryen smiled broadly as Black studied Harry. " You want to?" he croaked, " you mean it?"
" Yeah I mean it!" said Harry.
Then Sirius smiled, the truest most loveable thing that could be seen on his deathly face.
" I-I have a certain obligation I must fulfill however," Black said his face concentrating hard, " I made a promise a long time ago," he shifted his head at Aryen, " one I am determined to keep. So you and I will not be the only one living in that home." He said.
Harry looked at Aryen and a shocked smile, one of realization crept upon his face and he laughed, they did not speak until they reached the end of the tunnel.
Then as they crossed the grounds between the tunnel and the castle there was a sudden shift in the clouds and then Aryen realized, before Hermione said it, that Lupin had had no time to take his potion and that he would soon become a werewolf. Lupin had suddenly gone rigid and Harry was paralyzed in fear of his friend. " Harry, run, leave this to us! RUN!" Black pushed at him hard and made him go. Aryen transformed into a great eagle and Sirius into a bear-dog. Aryen flew high over the rearing werewolf; she dived and scratched at the beast behind the neck, while Sirius lashed out his teeth. Then in pain the werewolf turned and dashed for the forest. Sirius turned to go to Harry and see if he was alright, but Aryen flew forward, her eyes trained for the creature as it made into the forest.
She tracked it as it rampaged through the trees before stopping in a forest clearing. He howled in the center and reared, Aryen perched on a tree on the other side watching him intently.
Remus listen to me, calm down, you are human, not an animal! She tried to talk some sense into the beast, Lupin snorted and growled, and snapped his jaws.
Remus, hear me, you have done this before remember our years, this is not you! Slowly the werewolf stopped pacing and he simply hunched his shoulders and fell to the ground, releasing a soft whine. Aryen swooped down and sat in the grass, at a safe distance away.
Alright old friend, rest, things will be better in the morning. Then Aryen heard something at the edge of the forest. She looked up and with her eagle eyes saw a centaur approaching. He held out his arm and she flew up into the air and landed on his arm.
Ferrenz, it has been a long time.
" I had a feeling you were here," he replied, " I heard the werewolf and I saw it in the stars."
There is more I must attend to, can you watch over him unto the morning?
" Yes, it shall be so." Aryen lifted off his arm and flew towards the castle. She had arrived just in time to see them carrying Sirius away. She transformed far enough away so that they could not see her and she bound forward. She walked in through the main entrance hall, where everyone was too busy to notice her, and ran up to the hospital wing where Dumbledore caught her.
" He is in Professor Flitwick's office, you only have a short time so go to him."
Aryen ran up the stairs to the office. But as the door drew nearer her feet grew heavier and she found that as her hands grazed the door a sinking feeling was in her stomach. She lowered the crystal to the doorknob and whispered, "Alohamora". The lock clicked and the door sprang an inch open, Aryen pressed her hand against the wooden door and moved it open. Pacing about the room was a skeletal figure, with his hand to his mouth in deep thought. He looked at who was opening the door and his hands lowered and brow relaxed. She weaved into the room and shut the door behind her. She walked over to him and put her arms around his neck and pressed his head to her and he enveloped her in his arms.
" I missed you." She murmured gently.
" I-I," he was at a loss for words, " I missed you as well."
She guided him to the sofa where they sat down, their heads pressed together and hands entwined. " I wish you would have allowed me to come and see you,"
" I could not," he said mournfully, " I didn't want you to see me in that awful place. But I didn't want to see you and have the dementors suck away the most treasured part of me I had left."
He pressed his face into her neck and breathed in her scent, it was something he had missed for twelve years.
" I can't go back there," he said desperately, in an anguished croak.
" Twelve years has been stolen from us, I will die before they steal anymore." She said as she reached her hands up to his face, embraced it, and then bent forward and kissed him. He kissed her thirstily and as her hands grasped his hair, his hands came up and covered over her fingers, pressing over them. Then he broke away suddenly and looked down at her right hand.
He looked down at the amber ring in amazement. " You've kept it, after all this time."
" You sound surprised?"
" I just thought you would have given it up." his voice broke and she took him in her arms once more. " I thought.I didn't know if the rumors had gotten to you. I didn't know if you would still be waiting for me," he said softly.
" I would never have given it up, it gave me strength when I had almost lost all hope."
" We have so little time now," Sirius whispered.
And they sat there awaiting whatever would come in the next few moments, then something began rapping at the window, Aryen looked up, and Sirius whirled around. And to their amazement outside the window were Harry and Hermione astride a strange beast. Harry wielded his wand and opened the lock on the door, Sirius went to them and before he could even ask how they had managed this daring escape, they were yelling at him to get on. Sirius boarded the beast, and Aryen transformed into an eagle and followed after them as they made their way to the roof of the tower. Once there, Harry and Hermione, with their faces filled with urgency, explained to Sirius that they must quickly depart or they would be caught.
Sirius tried to thank them but they urged him to go. So he turned to Aryen who was beside him, and he kissed her quickly, " I'll find you." She whispered hastily, " It took me this long, another week will do me no harm." And with that she gave Buckbeak a pat on the flank and the hippogriff took off into the air.
The bitter wind whipped across their faces as Sirius disappeared into the dark night skies.
Chapter 22
Aryen went back with the children to the hospital wing where she waited with them inside the hallway and watched as Dumbledore came out of the double doors and locked them. He turned to the panting children, " Well?" he asked quietly.
" We did it!" Harry said breathlessly, " Sirius is gone, on Buckbeak." Dumbledore's eyes beamed.
He whisked them into the hospital wing and quickly shut the door behind them. Then he turned to Aryen and his gentle blue eyes flickered. Aryen wrapped her arms around him, so choked with emotion she could not contain it. " There's going to be a very large commotion within the next moment or so, I would recommend that you busy yourself with finding Remus." He hinted quietly, Aryen swept the tears from her face and nodded. She went to the end of the hall, where there was a great window, and leapt outside of it before anyone could see her. She flew just in time to hear the enraged voices upon the discovery of Sirius's disappearance.
She flew to the edge of the forest where Ferrenz was lying next to the werewolf Remus, talking about something very farfetched. They were arguing that gypsy clairvoiance was somewhat more reliable then astrology. At the sound of her wings the two of them looked up at her entrance, she swooped onto the grass.
Is all well at the castle? Remus asked in a low whine.
It will be, but not for some time, Aryen replied, I was with Sirius when Harry and Hermione came to his rescue, somehow they had managed to escape the hospital wing from right under Snape's nose, and then steal a hippogriff, on which Sirius made his escape.
" Sounds like much has become of the young Potter since I had met him last." Ferrenz added as he got up from his patch of grass. " I must be off now," and with that he departed.
So he is safe? Remus asked
For the time being, but now there is the matter of what will happen to you?"
By tomorrow morning Snape will have let known that I am a werewolf and I will be forced to resign. You know I only really came here to watch out for Sirius and now that my job is done I think I will be better off back home.
Aryen ruffled her feathers, I suppose you're right, but before we leave I think I must have a talk with Harry, there are still some spots in his knowledge of his parents past that must be filled.
And so the two of them waited until the sun rose up over the treetops and Remus once again became human. Aryen helped mend his robes so that he could wear them back to the castle. They made a quiet and subtle entrance and made their way to Dumbledore's office.
" Although I hate to see you go," Dumbledore lamented, " it seems it would be for the best I think, there will not be very many people happy that you would still be teaching here, even if there are many advocating your stay."
Lupin smiled warily, " I pulled to many pranks in my youth to be able to have very many people wanting me to stay- whether or not they knew I was werewolf."
" That is true." Dumbledore chuckled. " I will be finding your formal resignation then?"
" Yes," Lupin nodded.
" And mine also, Headmaster." Aryen added.
" I supposed you would follow suit, Ms. Everlight, it seems there are many things left for you to handle." Aryen smiled gently and nodded.
" Well then Professor Lupin, I believe you have some packing to move along with, and I believe also that Ms. Everlight has an appointment she must attend." Dumbledore said smiling. Aryen bowed to the Headmaster and left his office, making her way down to the hospital wing.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron were all preparing for their leave of the busying Madam Pomfrey. Harry looked up and waved to her, and gestured for her to come over to them. Hermione beamed at her, and Ron shook her hand. The four of them left the hospital wing and headed down to the sunny school grounds. There was no one about except them and the giant squid that floating on the top of the lake, most of the students were taking care on a trip to Hogsmeade.
They were basking under a shady tree, when Aryen approached them." Harry," Aryen said, " may I have a word with you privately?"
Harry nodded and they walked away from Hermione and Ron.
" I just thought Harry, being that I will be leaving soon, that I could offer some background about Sirius and I."
" I was sort of wondering about that."
" Sirius and I met when we first came to Hogwarts. Sirius and your father, James, were already good friends, as I was already a good friend of your mother, Lily, she and I met when we were in Diagon Alley. I was the first elf ever to attend a wizard's school and there was very much attention drawn to me. Sirius and James and Remus all had their attentions focused on our little group of girls, and it wasn't long until I started falling in with their crowd. You see, I was a little bit more out going then the rest of my friends," Aryen smiled and almost laughed, " Your father and Sirius were certainly the most daring boys ever to attend the school and lets say they had a terrible influence on me.
" When I should have been more focused on schoolwork like Lily was, I became more infatuated with world of pranks and fun. In fact, when they devised a plan to all become Animagi I was right behind them in learning how to do it. We were very rambunctious students and we had our fun." The two of them continued their stroll through the green plains.
" I really didn't want to get involved with Sirius at first, he was always more reckless then James and I worried that he would get me into a lot of trouble. Severus Snape didn't help with that either."
Harry looked at her, and his eyes narrowed, " Did you know Snape?"
" Snape was always trying to win me over somehow, and I knew he was a weasel from the very beginning. I was more uninterested in him then I was in Sirius, and the fact that I was beginning to come around to Sirius didn't make his appeal of your godfather any better. That was the reason, I think, that Snape followed them that night when they went to go stay with Remus the night that your father saved him, I think he wanted to get them expelled so that he could have me all to himself."
" Really Professor Snape had a crush on you!" Harry said, shocked.
" That he did, and when Dumbledore told him to keep his mouth shut, he grew even more angry. I started seeing more of Sirius after that and we continued the relationship out of Hogwarts. Unfortunately, Sirius wasn't much for commitment back then, and he was in no hurry to get married," Aryen smiled, " but when your father asked him to be the best man at his wedding," she turned to Harry and beamed at him, " that really turned him around."
" He asked me to move in with him at the wedding, and when you were born and he held you in his arms.Because of you Harry, Sirius was finally ready to start a family."
Harry blushed, and he eyes darted away from Aryen's cheerful gaze. But then Harry frowned and he looked back at her. " But then what happened, two years later?"
Aryen's furrowed her brow, " There had been growing news that Voldemort was amassing incredible power, and we were all very nervous. My family was begging me to come back under their protection in the forests and I wanted Sirius to come away with me. We were ready to also, but then Sirius started acting very strangely and when I came home, he was gone. I waited for a little while and then I heard him come back." Aryen's eyes grew distant in memory, " He burst into the house in a frenzy, he was scared out of his mind, he told me very little of what happened and told me to go and stay with my family, he told me that he loved me, and then he was gone." She turned to Harry in sadness, " the next time I saw him was after the funeral, at his trial, the one that sentenced him to life in Azkaban. I tried to ask him what had happened, but he would not tell me, and he told me not to visit him ever in Azkaban. And so I didn't, I tried to write to him, but I had no way of knowing whether he read or received any of my letters. All that I came away with was him telling me that he was innocent and that he loved me."
" That's horrible," Harry said mournfully.
" I had gone back to my family and stayed for a little while. But I resolved that I must find out what happened so I met an old friend of ours."
" Professor Lupin," Harry said.
Aryen nodded, " Yes, I went to him and begged him to let me stay with him while I tried to find an answer, Lupin didn't know what to believe at the time, but he really wanted his friend to be innocent too. He consented to allowing me to stay with him and help solve the mystery.
" And now that we know what had become of him, my time waiting is over, I will find him and we will try to resolve this." She said in determination, and Harry couldn't help but feel hopeful.
" I brought these for you Harry." Aryen withdrew a small stack of pictures and Harry took them and began looking through them. " I thought that now that you knew a little bit more about what had happened you might want some more pictures for that album that Hagrid told me he had given you. I remember him asking around for pictures, but I didn't have a chance to get these to him."
Harry looked at the pictures and he recognized his mother and father in their youngest years at Hogwarts and then their adolescent selves, and then at times after their departure from school, and there were more of their wedding. He recognized Sirius again and then he scanned his mother's side and found Aryen dressed as the maid of honor. He looked up at her in amazement. " You were my mother's maid of honor?"
" Yes I was," she said proudly, " and see that little girl?" she pointed to a pouting little girl at his mother's feet, she was incessantly fussing with some of the frills at the hem of her dress.
" That's.."
" That's my sister, Aliena. She was the flower girl." Harry picked out another picture and this one was of a handsome young man leaning fondly over a candlelit table, at the wedding reception, talking to a beautiful dark haired woman. There was a glimmer in his eyes that was unmistakable for one of affection and then the man looked up at Harry and nudged the woman on the elbow and she looked up at him also. And Harry realized that the man was Sirius and the woman he had been talking to was Aryen. Aryen almost bashfully covered her face from the camera and Sirius laughed and raised his glass to Harry and toasted him.
" That's one of my favorites." Aryen said, " That was when he offered me the key."
" Thank you very much." Harry said and he shook her hand.
" I must be off then," she said, " take care Harry, and I'll try to see you again before we leave." And she turned away to go back to the castle, and Harry went back to the tree where Hermione and Ron eagerly awaited news.
Aryen had her trunks packed and was waiting in Lupin's office for him to finish his own packing. "Oh look, Harry's on his way up." Lupin said half-mindedly as he hovered over the Marauder's Map.
" I always did think that this was one of our finer inventions," Lupin muttered, looking up at Aryen.
" Yes, but I still hold that Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs wouldn't have come up with the idea without some female ingenuity." Aryen smiled.
" You're right, I don't think they would ever have come up with it unless they wanted to sneak around after hours." Lupin added.
Aryen heard Harry down the hall, so it was no surprise when he entered.
" I saw you coming." Lupin said, hinting at the map he had been pouring over on his desk.
" I just saw Hagrid," Harry said. " And he said that you resigned. It's not true, is it?"
" I'm afraid it is." Lupin replied as he removed some more articles out of his desk drawer.
" Why?" said Harry, " The Ministry of Magic don't think you were helping Sirius, do they?"
" No, Professor Dumbledore managed to convince Fudge that I was trying to save your lives," he sighed, " That was the final straw for Severus. I think the loss of the Order of Merlin hit him harder then Sirius would have ever done. So he-er- let slip that I am a werewolf at breakfast."
" You're not leaving just because of that!" Harry protested.
" This time tomorrow the owls will start arriving from parents.They will not want a werewolf teaching their children, Harry." Lupin said as he smiled wryly, " And after last night, I see their point. I could have bitten any of you.that must never happen again."
" You're the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had!" said Harry. "Don't go!"
Lupin shook his head and Aryen offered a small smile in consolation when Harry looked to her for help, " From what the headmaster told me this morning, you saved a lot of lives last night, Potter. If I'm proud of anything I've done this year, it's how much you've learned.Tell me about your Patronus."
" How'd you know about that?" said Harry, distracted.
" What else would have driven the dementors back?" Aryen asked.
Harry explained what had happened and when he'd finished Lupin smiled.
" Yes, you father was always a stag when he transformed," Lupin said, " You guessed right.that's why we called him Prongs."
Lupin closed up the last few books remaining in his chest closed everything and turned to face Harry.
" Here- I brought these from the Shrieking Shack last night." He said handing the Invisibility Cloak to him. " And." He hesitated then returned the Marauder's Map as well. " I am no longer you teacher, so I don't feel guilty about giving these back to you. I'm sure you, Ron, and Hermione will find good uses for it."
" You told me that Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs would have wanted to lure me out of the school.you said they would have thought it funny."
" And so we would have, and I have no hesitation in saying that James would be very disappointed if his son never learned any of the secret passages out of the castle."
There was a knock at the door and standing in the doorway was Professor Dumbledore.
" The carriage is at the gates Remus," he said.
" Thank you, Headmaster."
Lupin headed for the door and then turned back around, " Well good- bye then Harry." He said, " It's been a real pleasure teaching you. I feel sure that we will meet again in the future."
He looked forward to Professor Dumbledore, " Good-bye Remus," Dumbledore said soberly. Lupin shifted the grindylow tank in his arms so that he could shack his hand with the Headmaster. And with that he disappeared out the door.
Aryen picked up her staff and followed him, " Good-bye Harry, I'll send word to you soon." She bent down and gave him a kiss on the forehead. " Professor Dumbledore," she said as she turned to him and bowed.
" Farewell Ms. Everlight." He took her hand and kissed it. " Until we meet again." And with that Aryen left out of the office, trailing Lupin. She caught up with him as he was packing his things away in the carriage.
" I'm really going to miss that boy," Aryen lamented,
" He was quite extraordinary wasn't he?" Lupin shifted his case into the carriage. Aryen's trunks were strapped on top and she climbed in after him.
" Where do you suppose you will meet him again?" Lupin asked her as they made their way to the train station.
" I have a few ideas, but they will stay ideas until I can efficiently fulfill them." Aryen replied.
" I suppose you'd better go now then, don't waste any time here, I'll have your trunks taken to my home and you can send for them after you find him."
" Really, Remus?"
" Most certainly, although I will have to adjust to not having you around to take care of me," he smiled weakly. She leaned over and gave him a small kiss on the cheek in farewell.
She minimized her staff and transformed into an eagle and flew out the carriage window. She circled overhead, following the coach to the train and watched as Remus waved to her from the platform. Then she set off through the mountains.
After all the long traveling, stopping through towns where rumors of Sirius Black had spread, Aryen was certain she knew where she would find Sirius, though it would take her at least two weeks of flight to get her there.
It was the warmest place the two of them had ever been, a remote island somewhere in the Caribbean Isle. Though they had always fancied Hawaii, there were more places to hide here. Aryen flew towards the farthest side of the beach and searched. She transformed back into her elfish self and watched through the glare of the sun as a man fished waist deep into pristine water. He didn't hear her at first but as he finished with his catch and moved back toward the beach he saw her.
He had put on much more weight since the last time she had seen him and his handsomeness was beginning to return. He came out of the water and dropped the fish on the sandy beach. He looked less like a wizard now, and more like a Muggle, even more so as she approached him. She came very close and could smell the salty water on his clothes. He put his hands to her face almost in disbelief that she was actually standing before him. He bent forward carefully and kissed her, and she slipped her arms under his and pressed them against his back. And there they stood for several moments in each other's arms. He separated and picked up the fish from the bank and took her hand and led her to a small river.
In happy silence Sirius led her along the riverbank to a splendid waterfall, and they gingerly scaled the rock face. The entrance behind the waterfall had been bewitched so that no human would stumble upon it and unless they knew what they were looking for most wizards wouldn't have given it a second glance. She climbed her way up the face of the waterfall and crept through into the dry darkened space behind it. She could distantly here stirring of wings deep within the cave.
She could smell a small fire and as they rounded a corner Aryen was welcomed by a hearty little fire, a stout Buckbeak tied in a corner, with a bone knawing in his beak, and a large roll out next to the fire. There was a heaping messy pile of stolen clothes, a tattered robe hanging on the rock face, and his gear beside it. " Going back to living like an animal I see." Aryen said as she observed the messy inhabitants.
Sirius set the fish down on a flat stone next to the fire and turned around to her and smiled warmly, not saying a word and bent down again and gave her another warm kiss. He wrapped his arms around her, "I'm so glad you're here," he whispered, " I was just about to leave. Can't stay in one place to long, after all."
" I would have found you again." Aryen replied.
" How was Harry, and everyone after I left?" Sirius asked, " How was Snape?"
" Snape was quite perturbed by missing out on his Order of Merlin, but I think he'll get over it so long as he doesn't think about it to often."
" Hmm, and the others?"
" Everyone's alright, Ron's leg has fully healed, Remus is on his way home, and Harry is quite concerned. But I told him that I would write him as soon as I could."
" I worry about that boy terribly," Sirius said softly, " but I think I will send him a letter next week, we have a bit of catching up to do." He kissed her again, and Aryen closed her eyes, happy to again be reunited with Sirius.