Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, and all that jazz... I do own, however, Emma Landry, Sean Kellen, this gal Debbie, and of course, Colette Villons.

A/N: For those who don't know, Glasgow is a city in Scotland, I believe...hehe Scotland! Ewan McGregor land! Ahem...

Wow. I just realized that this story is like, over. Wow. There might be one more chapter after this, but I doubt it, more likely than not it'll probably just be an epilogue that ties up some loose ends that I've dropped, and round it off at a nice 25...wow.

Chapter Twenty-four-It's not over till it's over

When Harry slipped back into the St. Mungo's room that he shared with Sirius nearly an hour and a half later with Remus Lupin at his side, the first words that came out of Sirius's mouth were, "What happened?"

Harry merely sank onto his bed, for some reason completely exhausted, and let Remus tell the story of what happened while interrogating Pettigrew.

Sirius was quiet the whole time and didn't interrupt while Remus spoke. He was even silent for a moment after Remus had finished, after which he said, "Well, at least he's still got some shred of humanity left inside of him."

"Who, Pettigrew?" Harry asked. He had lain back down onto his bed and was now looking at Sirius curiously.

"Yeah," Sirius said. He looked thoughtful. "Maybe it was good that we didn't kill him that day, Moony, and that Harry saved him. He fulfilled the debt."

"So he did," Remus agreed. He was looking thoughtful as well. "What's that old expression? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer..." His voice trailed off.

Harry was silent, but he was thinking as well. *Yeah, well, Pettigrew's not exactly one of the brightest fish in the sea, but at least he's not a total idiot.* But then he broke the silence.

"So what's going to happen now?" He asked aloud to no one in particular. Remus and Sirius glanced at each other.

"Well," Remus said slowly. "There's not going to be an official trial..." His voice trailed off for a moment, obviously thinking, before he said, "My best guess is that the Department of Magical Law Enforcement will take a look at Pettigrew's testimony, evaluate all the new information...and then I suppose make a decision regarding what will happen to Sirius."

Harry paled slightly...it wasn't like the majority of the Ministry officials were exactly Sirius's best friends. But then Remus must have caught the expression on Harry's face because he added quickly, "Don't worry, Harry. With Pettigrew's confession, there's no way that they could find Sirius guilty."

"Fudge said that Barty Crouch Jr. had gone mad," Harry told him quietly. "And that he wasn't really working for Voldemort."

"Yeah, well, Fudge isn't exactly in a position of power any more," Sirius said with a grin. "And no one can deny the fact that Pettigrew's alive."

Harry nodded, though he wasn't entirely reassured. "When will we know what the Ministry people decide?"

"Probably later today," Remus said, glancing at the clock on the wall.

"Yeah, I have a feeling that Colette will beat it through the Ministry officials so that we get their decision as soon as possible," Sirius said. He was smiling, but Harry could see through the smile and saw how nervous Sirius really was, like himself.

Harry glanced at the clock as well. It was only half past five. He sighed. One thing was for sure--it was going to be a long, long evening.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ron Weasley was having the first truly enjoyable evening that he'd had in what seemed like a very long time. Yes, of course, he knew about the interrogation that Harry had had with Pettigrew from Ginny, and that the Ministry still hadn't come to a decision regarding Sirius yet, and yes, he was quite anxious about it, but all the same he couldn't help but feel optimistic. He couldn't imagine how, with Colette's now more prominent presence at the Ministry, plus the valuable information that Pettigrew had supplied, that the Department of Magical Law Enforcement could-in three million years-find Sirius to be guilty.

The other residents of his house at the moment seemed to be feeling the same way. Granted, Mrs. Weasley was quieter and more subdued than usual, Mr. Weasley was somewhat jumpy, and Hermione looked as though she felt rather sick, they all knew that Sirius would come off innocent. There was just no way that he couldn't.

Fred and George, perhaps, were the only ones around who were acting completely as themselves. Ever since learning that Sirius Black and their old teacher Professor Lupin were Padfoot and Moony of the Marauders, they had practically idolized them, and could hardly wait for the moment when they would be able to talk to them about pranking and such. They were in such a good mood that they helped with the plans and preparation more than they usually did, throwing themselves into their tasks with alarmingly large amounts of enthusiasm.

In fact, everyone in the house took that day as an opportunity to prepare more for what they were planning...they were so busy, in fact, that it was nearly half past six before any of them managed to take a look at that day's issue of the Daily Prophet.

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were sitting at the kitchen table, taking a break and talking idly. Mrs. Weasley was bustling around, beginning to prepare dinner, and Mr. Weasley had just walked into the room and glanced at the newspaper that was lying on the counter.

"Don't know why you still get that newspaper, Mum," Ron commented, watching his father pick it up. "Load of rubbish, that. Never says anything useful anymore. Gets all its information from the Ministry..."

"Well, it does have *some* true things in it, Ron," Hermione said reprovingly, glancing at him. "Some members of the Ministry *can* be trusted, you know."

"I know that," Ron said quickly. "I *know* that, Hermione...I just can't help thinking about all the-er-'true' things that the paper published about Dumbledore being a nutter and You-Know-Who not being back, and stuff."

Hermione was about to say something more, but then Mr. Weasley interrupted. "Well, at least it was stopped before it started," He sighed, dropping the paper on the table.

"What was stopped?" Ginny asked curiously, trying to read the paper upside- down.

"What your mother and I were talking about the other day," Mr. Weasley answered vaguely. "The morning that we found out about Harry's...disappearance."

Ron frowned. He did remember his parents acting very strange that morning, and his mother mentioning that Fudge was doing something...but, with everything that had happened as of late, he had almost forgotten about it.

"Yeah, what was that about?" He asked his father.

"Well, it doesn't matter very much," Mr. Weasley said. "Since Fudge isn't in a position of power at the Ministry anymore...but basically, while he was still Minister of Magic, he was considering the steps it would take to get Dumbledore thrown out of Hogwarts, and that's what the article in the paper is about."

"What!" Ginny shrieked, staring at her father. "Get Dumbledore fired?!"

"Fudge can't do anything anymore," Mrs. Weasley said quickly. She had stopped her meal preparations and was now leaning over her husband's shoulder, reading the article. "The only people who could really fire Dumbledore are the members of the Board of Directors, and if I'm not mistaken, Colette holds some amount of sway over them...and I doubt the Board would fire Dumbledore, anyway. I don't think it's anything to worry about."

Ron stared at his parents. "How on Earth did an idiot like Fudge ever manage to get himself elected as minister? Why didn't Dumbledore take the job?"

"Because he loves Hogwarts too much and doesn't want to leave it," Hermione said quietly. "That's what I've always heard, anyway. Besides, now that Colette is minister, things will definitely be better now-"

She was interrupted, however, when a woman's head appeared in the kitchen fireplace.

Ron, Hermione and Ginny didn't recognize the head that sat in the fireplace- or knew the name of the woman to whom it belonged-but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley seemed to know her.

Mr. Weasley swiveled around at the fire, a tired smile covering his face. "Ah, Debbie, how are you?"

"No time for pleasantries, Authur," The woman called Debbie said immediately. Shaking short black hair out of her face, her gray eyes appeared to be burning. "You have to come in to the Ministry right now."

Mr. Weasley sat up quickly in his chair. "Why? What's going on?"

"There was another Death Eater attack, and it is bad. Very bad," Debbie said heavily.

Ginny gasped, and Hermione let out what seemed like a frightened little squeak. Ron's senses were instantly on alert, and he listened carefully to the conversation.

Mr. Weasley had turned very pale. "Where?" He whispered.

"Glasgow," Debbie said, her voice catching a little in her throat. "Up north. Where..."

Mr. Weasley nodded. "I know. Keep your chin up, Debbie, I'll be there very soon." And as Debbie's head disappeared with a small popping sound, Mr. Weasley was on his feet, grabbing his cloak and swirling it around him.

"Debbie's sister lives up in Glasgow," Mr. Weasley said stiffly in response to Mrs. Weasley's questioning look. "I have to go, Molly. I'll keep in touch." He kissed her on the cheek, and with a quick swish of his cloak, he was gone.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Remus was long gone. He had left St. Mungo's nearly an hour ago for the Ministry, to try and find out what the situation was concerning Sirius.

Meanwhile, Sirius lay in his bed in the hospital room, not speaking, not moving-just lying there, muscles tensed up and teeth grinding together, staring at the ceiling. Every once in a while he would mutter something inaudible, but never actually spoke to his godson.

Harry watched his godfather with a strange mixture of apprehension and amusement. At any other time, the sight of Sirius acting like this would have made Harry want to laugh, but at the moment all he could muster was a weak, shaky smile. He felt rather ill, and his thoughts swirled like a tornado around him. He made no effort to calm or slow down his mind, but simply let everything consume him. Resisting the gnawing anxiety took up more energy than he was willing to give up at the moment.

He was quite tired, but...no. Falling asleep was not an option...then he would miss the outcome of the interrogation... But he knew that if he didn't do something to revive himself somewhat sometime soon, then he was going to doze off...

Finally, in the end, he could only think of one way to keep himself awake.

"I saw you in 1981, you know," Harry said to Sirius suddenly. Speaking and processing what other people were saying was going to keep him awake; that was for sure. Besides, he had been meaning to mention this for a while ever since he had come back from his little time traveling excursion. "You seemed...really..."

Sirius was silent, but Harry knew he was listening, because he had turned his head to look towards him and watching him curiously. "...different."

"I was different," Sirius said after a moment of thinking. "I was a lot more carefree, more innocent...and happy...not as burdened...or haunted..." He swallowed. "Or feeling the effects and after-effects of Azkaban."

Harry was silent for a few seconds before he began saying what he really wanted to say. "You suspected him, didn't you?"

"Hm?" Sirius asked. He had turned over onto his side and was now propping his elbow up on his pillow, frowning slightly.

"Pettigrew. You knew that he betrayed my parents, beforehand...you said to my dad that you were worried that something was going to happen..."

"Yeah..." Sirius said thoughtfully. "At your house? That was just before I went to Peter's...to make sure that everything was alright, cause I was worried..." He sighed. "I was also babysitting you that night while your parents went out to eat, as you obviously know..." A ghost of a smile appeared on his face. "You were a very good baby, never much trouble and easy to please...I used to turn into a dog and you would climb on me, that never scared you at all."

Harry smiled. Having never heard before about his youngest years, he liked listening to Sirius talk about him, and nearly forgot about what they were both anticipating.

"One would think that it would scare a baby when their godfather suddenly turned into a large furry animal-or their father into some enormous thing with antlers, for that matter-but you loved it..." His voice trailed off, but he was smiling as well.

"And when Wormtail turned into a rat, you used to chase him around the house-"

Sirius was interrupted suddenly as the door to the hospital room burst open and Colette and Remus came flying in, Colette first-her face flushed-and Remus after, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"You did it, Sirius! We did it!" Remus was yelling as he burst into the room, breathless. "You're free!"

Harry froze. But before he could react, both Remus and Colette-and both uncharacteristically, from how Harry knew them-leapt onto the bed and were soon smothering Sirius with hugs. By the time they finally stopped to give him room to breathe, Harry was on his feet and at Sirius's bed too, feeling somewhat numb and his mouth hanging slightly open.

"F-free?" Sirius croaked; sounding much like he had when Harry had first met him, his eyes wide as he stared up at the people around him. "*Free?*"

"Free!" Remus replied triumphantly. Then he jumped up, rounded on Harry, and surprised the heck out the teenager as he pulled him into a hug. Harry, still numb with shock, could barely respond to the gesture, but the next moment Remus had left Harry and went to Colette, grabbing her hand and whirling her around the room.

Colette, Harry noted distantly, was also acting somewhat strange...she was not being her usual composed self, but was instead laughing loudly, her hair flying around her face, and she had soon grabbed Remus's arms and was dancing with him around the room.

Harry could do nothing but stare at the pair for a moment-some part of him was feeling amused-before sinking down onto the edge of Sirius's bed and meeting his godfather's eyes.

"You're free," Harry whispered finally.

"Free," Sirius repeated. "Free..." It seemed to be the only word that he was capable of speaking. But then suddenly be broke out of his trance, let out an enormous whoop and grabbed Harry in the second hug that Harry had received in the span of about two minutes.

This time, however, Harry managed to respond to the hug. He let out the first true laugh that he had had in what seemed like a long time as he tumbled down onto the bed, Sirius's arms wrapped around him and his head pressed against Sirius's shoulder.

After a few moments, though, Sirius relaxed his grip on Harry, but Harry didn't move, but just leaned onto Sirius's pillows, his godfather's arm wrapped loosely around his shoulders. For a few fleeting seconds he felt quite odd and out of place-this was the first truly parental gesture that he had ever received, minus the hugs from Mrs. Weasley-but then he forgot about it and just kept thinking, *Sirius is free, Sirius is free...*

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see that Remus and Colette had stopped their dancing and were now seated at the edge of Harry's vacated bed, looking at each other with the oddest expressions on their faces. That exact moment seemed to freeze in time, and Harry was sure that he would never forget it, no matter how long he lived-him lying in Sirius's arms, and Colette and Remus staring at each other...it seemed to last forever.

But then the moment was broken as Colette stood up suddenly. "I...have to go, things to do at the Ministry..." Sirius and Harry remained silent, but Remus nodded mutely.

"I...I..." Colette, was once again not like herself, and seemed at a loss for words. "I..."

Remus stood up and stared at her. She stared back. Neither Sirius nor Harry moved a muscle. Then, quite suddenly, Colette leaned upwards and placed a kiss smack on Remus's lips. Then, very quickly, but obviously happily, she practically skipped out of the room.

Remus didn't move, just stood, staring at the spot where she had been. Sirius, however, let out a laugh.

"Whoa there, Moony! You okay? Eh? Moony?"

But Remus had simply lain down on Harry's empty bed, staring at the ceiling.

Sirius laughed again, giving Harry a little squeeze. "Colette and Remus, huh? Who would have thought...?"

Harry did not answer. He just lay there on Sirius's bed, hardly daring to move; feeling the happiest that he had ever felt in his life.

~*~

A/N: Well, there you are! It was rather short, I know... Just the epilogue left, methinks, to finish everything up. How did I do with the romance?

I only got a few responses from people about long vs. short chapters, but since there's hardly anything left...well, you get the idea. The epilogue will most likely be longer; there's stuff to say!

A few chapters back there was some talk about sequels. What do the rest of you lot think? Any ideas? Cause I don't just want to do a sequel just for the heck of having a sequel that has no real plot and turns out crappy. I have a couple of ideas for stories that sound really cool as summaries, but I would really need to brainstorm to work them out...whereas, this story just sort of fell together. If anybody is interested in helping me out with this, say so in a review and leave your email or something...

Oh, and don't go freaking out cause you didn't know what was happening at the Burrow...all in good time, my friends. Besides, us Harry Potter fans are well practiced in patience, don't you agree?

The Elfin Child: Lol you have a Sirius doll? I want one! Heh. Yeah, bonding things are so sweet...well, either way, you get your chapter!

jaet: Lol see? I updated sooner! In not quite two weeks cause it's summer and NO HOMEWORK! Yay! I'm glad you liked that chapter, you thought it was in character? Good, that's good, I was worried it wasn't...I wanted to work up to a little bonding thing, cause I've seen some HP fics that take place after the 4th book where Harry and Sirius just sort of throw themselves at each other and are like "I love you" all over the place. Not that that's incredibly bad, it just doesn't seem like something that either of them would do, so I wanted my thing to be a bit more subtle...I waited until the end of the story and had them talk some first, y'know?

Yuffie-Girl: You skipped ahead? I was in a Harry Potter chatroom (for the first time in about three years) the evening that the book came out, and I presume that it must have been someone from Britain (you know, different time zones, I'm in New York) that had the book already and told me what chapter the death took place in... I didn't look ahead though, I don't think I would ever forgive myself if I had, I just read through, though I was anticipating the chapter and got all nervous when I saw what I was up to... At the time (since it was before like half the Order appeared in the Department of Mysteries)I was thinking it would be Neville...and then when Hermione was hurt I thought it might be her, and same with Tonks... But can you imagine what a shock it was for us who didn't read ahead? It was incredible... But now that I'm reading the book to my brother (In British accents, no less! Hehe) I see that if you really thought about it, you could know that it would be Sirius...there's just something about the tone, I can't explain it...and, oh yeah, if you feel like it...go to page 477 in OotP. I strongly doubt that what Sirius said at the top of the page, followed by what Fred said, was a coincidence, just think about it...

Harry/Sirius slash simply scares me. I don't have a problem with slash in general, but Harry needs a godfather from Sirius, he can find a lover somewhere else!

Tinuviel: Aha! You! You're alive! You disappeared for a while...so, have you read the fifth book?

OH,YEAH-if anyone has anything that they would like me to respond to or answer, then do it in THIS REVIEW-cause the epilogue will be the last time that I'll be responding to reviews for this story...

Au revoir!