Another one re-done. A lot of people have been saying that I haven't been changing much, which is true. All I'm really changing is the excessive crying scenes. I laugh at myself when I see how many there are! Also, a few of my lovely reviewers have pointed out that I don't get many reviews. Honestly I didn't expect many at all since it's already been posted before, and since it's a pre-ootp fic. But I appreciate that you all think I deserve more :)
Melissa: I don't write review reviews anymore because I just don't have the time...but I'm writing one specially for you cuz you asked lots of questions. First, I agree with you that there was too much crying, I got VERY carried away. Second is your comment that Sirius and Remus seem 'gay' in my story, which I don't really agree with. I know they're more in touch with their emotions than is realistic, but they're not all over each other or anything. And after all they've been through I don't think it's bad for them to share a few hugs (and again I know I went overboard with that). Third, I'm not going to have any of the characters get romantically involved with anyone. I'm not good at writing any kind of romance, and I don't really think it's necessary. Fourth, I did see the movie (twice) and I didn't think they really came off as gay, and no the Remus in the movie is nothing like my Remus teacher...my Remus teacher was hot and the movie Remus was rather frightening...but he did a good job. Finally, I agree that the last few chapters are somewhat drawn out, but I wanted complete closure. So that prob won't get fixed. Thanks for your input!
This is another kinda shortish one, but after this they pick up in size, so I decided not to merge them! Enjoy!
Remus kept his foot down on the furry thing under his foot, not wanting the rat to escape. "Is that Wormtail?" Remus wondered aloud.
Harry arched his head around so he could get a good look at Remus's foot and drew in a deep breath, "I think so Remus, and I don' t know if anyone told you, but when he helped resurrect Voldemort, he was given a silver hand. . . Aren't werewolves allergic to silver or something?"
"Shit!" Remus cursed. "I can't just let him go though...SIRIUS! SIRIUS GET UP HERE I REALLY NEED YOU!"
Downstairs Sirius had managed to turn the television on, but it was muted, and he couldn't figure out how to get the sound on. "Oh great," he thought, "Harry made Remus upset again." He climbed the stairs quickly anyway. When he reached his room he was surprised not to see anything odd. Remus was holding Harry in his arms.
"What the hell? I thought something was wrong..." Sirius said in bewilderment, staring at the two.
"Sirius, you git! Wormtail is under my foot. . . and he has a SILVER hand, or paw! I can't just let him go! Grab my wand out of my pocket, and stun the bastard!"
"You're telling me that the gray thing you're standing on is Wormtail. . . very funny. I can't believe you would joke about that," Sirius said with a hurt expression. He honestly just thought it was a sock or something. After all, from his view he could only see the side of the rat, no tail, face or legs.
"Sirius, he's telling the truth!" Harry cried from his perch in Remus's arms. "Get him!"
Harry felt Remus's arms start to slip around him, and his arms were getting tense. It was obvious that it took more and more effort for Remus to hold. "The silver," Harry thought, "It's making him weak.'
"Sirius! He's going to drop me, the silver of Pettigrew's hand is hurting him, get Pettigrew!" Harry yelled. Sirius also had noticed the sick look taking over Remus's face, and hurried over to the fuzzy gray thing. He gripped it strongly, and then gently lifted up Remus's foot. Remus gave a relieved sigh as he saw the rat held in the air by it's tail.
The relief sank away again, when he saw the look in Sirius' eyes. Just like when Harry had first claimed to see Pettigrew in the corner, Sirius had the mad glint in his eye that Remus hadn't seen since the Shrieking Shack. He held the unconscious rat at eye level, glaring at it with a look that could kill. There was silence for a few moments, while Harry and Remus just stared at Sirius with awe.
Harry was first to break the silence, "Is he. . . dead?"
Remus, still feeling weak walked Harry back to his bed and set him down, saying, "No, when an animagi dies, it is returned to its human form. My foot just knocked him out a little." He turned to Sirius, "Are you okay Padfoot?" Sirius was still glaring at the rat dangling in front of him. He acted as though he didn't hear Remus at all.
Remus decided that talking to Sirius wouldn't do the trick. He had to get Sirius to let go of the rat. He walked over to Sirius's closet and dug around for a few minutes, before coming out with a large glass jar. He walked over to Sirius, and held the jar directly under the rat. When Sirius didn't drop the rat in, Remus brought the jar up so that the rat was in the jar, but was still held by Sirius.
"Drop the rat Sirius. Don't worry, we won't let him escape this time. We all want a piece of Wormtail, but it's going to have to wait! Now drop the rat into the jar." Sirius didn't move, he just continued to stare menacingly at the rat. He was really starting to scare Remus. He had known that Sirius had a bit of an obsession with Wormtail. After all, it was what kept him sane during his thirteen years at Azkaban. Remus decided he was going to have to force the rat out of Sirius's hand. This was quite a task as he was still feeling ill from the silver he had come in contact with. He held the jar in place with one hand and tried to pry Sirius's hand open with the other. This finally brought Sirius out of his reverie, which was not a good thing at all. Sirius used the hand that wasn't holding the rat and punched Remus in the stomach, sending him clear across the room. Harry gasped from the bed, shocked to see this display from Sirius. Remus moaned in the corner, and tried to get up. Sirius finally snapped out of his trance completely when he saw his best friend on the floor, holding his stomach in agony. Still holding the rat, he rushed over to his friend. "Moony! I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me. I'm so sorry!"
Remus grabbed the jar off the floor where it had fallen after the punch. "Give me the rat, Sirius," he said calmly. Sirius obediently dropped the rat in the jar.
"I'm really sorry Moony, I didn't. . . I didn't mean to," Sirius pleaded for forgiveness.
Remus tried to sit up, so Sirius grabbed his hands and pulled him to his feet. "It's okay Padfoot, I know how you are about Pettigrew, I completely understand. Now, I have to put a few spells on this jar so Pettigrew can't break it when he wakes up. . ." Remus pulled out his wand, and immediately started reciting incantations. When he finished he looked up, "There, lets all calm down for a little while. The rat won't be escaping, and won't be able to transform. If he even tries, he'll probably kill himself."
Sirius just stared at his friend, and then pulled him into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry Rem! I should have listened when you first told me you were standing on Wormtail. . . And now you have silver in your blood! I could have killed you by not getting the rat. I'm so sorry I didn't believe you! And then I hit you! I'm a terrible friend, I'm SO SO sorry!"
"Shhh, Padfoot its okay, don't worry about it. I hold no grudges," Remus said comfortingly.
Sirius just shook his head. Remus looked over at Harry helplessly, Harry just shrugged. After a few minutes, Sirius had calmed down a bit, and Remus pulled out of the hug.
"Sirius," Remus began, as he sat down on Harry's bed. Sirius followed suit, with an attentive ear. "You need to calm down a little about this Wormtail thing. . . I can't have you going all maniacal whenever you get near him, okay? I know you don't mean to do it, but if you can't stop it, it would be helpful. Now, we need to formulate a plan here. What are we going to do with him?"
"Turn him in of course. I'd like to kill him right now, but I'd prefer freedom, so I'll keep my hands off him. You'll probably have to bring him in though, if I step out there, I'll get a lovely dementor's kiss before we reach the end of the road!"
"I don't know Sirius. . . Do you really think any of it will work? I mean, what if I get busted for having him, or if I get sentenced for harboring a criminal. Even though you were innocent, it was still a crime. I think we should get Dumbledore back over here. We'll have to wait until tomorrow, though. I really don't want to do anything without his consent."
Sirius just nodded his head. He was not looking forward to having the rat there all night. What if he escaped? Sirius wanted to be able to be there for Harry unconditionally, and he couldn't do that while he couldn't even walk outside. "Will you keep an eye on the rat, Moony? I don't think I could have him around me without killing him," Sirius said bluntly.
Remus nodded, "Yeah, but I think we can leave him here for a little while, after all, I promised Harry I'd get him out of this bed. You still up for some television, Harry?"
Harry, who had been silent, and slightly scared after the Wormtail incident broke into a wide grin. He had forgotten about the television, but definitely wanted to watch some.
This time, Sirius lifted him off the bed, as Remus was still very weak, especially after being punched in the stomach. The three went down to the living room, where a mid-sized television was glowing, but not a sound was coming from it.
"Oh yeah," Sirius said, "I managed to turn it on, but it won't talk! How the hell do you get the thing to talk?"
Harry started cracking up, and Sirius looked down at him, pouting. "Think it's funny do you?" Sirius set Harry down on the couch and started tickling him. Harry was now howling with laughter.
"So what do we want to watch?" Remus said, after the tickling stopped. "Friends!" Sirius yelled. Remus laughed and turned Friends on. They were just in time to listen to the theme song.
"So no one told you life was gonna be this way. . ." Sirius crooned. He knew all the words by heart, which made Harry start to laugh again. Harry had watched the show a few times in his life, but wasn't that familiar with it. It was the episode where they find out the father of Rachel's baby.
During a commercial break, Sirius began to talk again, "You know, the Friends crew are kind of like the Marauders and the girls from back in the day. . . Moony, you're kind of like Ross, I'm like Joey, and James was like Chandler. And Lily's Monica. And remember Madeline, she was like your Rachel, on again off again, but you never got her pregnant. . . did you?"
Remus looked very embarrassed, but laughed it off. "We really are like the Friends. . . At least we would have been, had it not been for that rat upstairs. . ." he trailed off, a distant look coming over his face.
Sirius looked down as well, Harry felt very uncomfortable as the two men lost themselves in their memories. Eventually, the commercials ended and Sirius spoke.
"I don't think I want to watch this anymore, Moony."
"Me neither Padfoot, me neither. I'll never be able to watch that show again without getting this sad."
Remus got up and put it on something that wouldn't sadden them in a million years, Sponge Bob Square Pants. "Yessah!" Sirius yelled half-heartedly, trying to get out the depressed mood. Harry and Remus grinned at him, but the mood was still pretty heavy. They watched two episodes of the guy who lives in the pineapple under the sea and loosened up a bit. But by the time it was over, they were all quite tired.
Sirius stood up, stretched and yawned, and grabbed Harry off the couch. He cradled him gently in his arms, in a way that made Harry feel like he was being hugged. He felt incredibly loved at that moment. Sirius was turning towards the stairs, when something came rolling down them. They both looked down to see Wormtail, still in his jar. He had apparently been rolling around in the jar like a hamster in one of those wheels. Harry burst out laughing, as did Remus when he turned at the sound. Sirius, however, resumed his ominous stare.
"I'll take care of it Sirius, take Harry upstairs." When Sirius didn't move, he continued, "Now Sirius!"
Sirius broke out of the trance, and immediately headed up the stairs, without a second glance at the rat on the floor.
When he reached his room he paused just inside the door, and sighed. "I'm really sorry Harry."
"Why? What's there to be sorry for?" Harry asked, staring his godfather in the face, confused.
"It's just all my fault. I can't even control myself anymore. It's like he possesses me. Maybe if I had been stronger, I could have done what was right and you would have had me as your guardian all along. I've failed you. . . I failed James," Sirius said, trudging towards his bed.
"Sirius, none of it's your fault. You did what you thought was best. How could you have not gone after him after what he did. Even though it didn't work, I don't think you'd be able to live with yourself if you didn't at least try to avenge my parents' death. So don't beat yourself up, okay?" Harry, who was previously just lying in Sirius's arms, wrapped his own arms around Sirius, pulling him into a sort of hug.
"I love you, Harry," he whispered as he set Harry onto his bed. Harry looked up at him and grinned.
"Two people love me. More people love me now then ever before in my life."
"Harry, Remus and I have loved you since the day you were born. I wish you had always known that, but since you didn't please remember it from now on. And I'm sure more than two people love you. . . Lets take your friends for instance?"
"Ron and Hermione? I don't think they LOVE me. . . I mean I know they like me and all but. . ." Sirius interrupted.
"Do you love them Harry?"
"Well. . . yeah, they were my first friends, but I don't think they feel the same way."
"I think they do Harry, I really do."
Harry grinned, "I love you too, Sirius. I guess I pretty much have since I stopped hating you and wanting you dead. And. . . I'm sorry I ever believed you betrayed my parents. I know now that you wouldn't hurt a fly. . . Well, you'd hurt Wormtail, but that's about it."
"Damn right!" Sirius said smiling. I'm going to sleep in here again if that's alright, seeing as you're occupying my bed, and Remus's couch is SO uncomfortable. . ."
"I'd prefer it that way, just. . . How about staying on the cot tonight, I could barely breath this morning with you on my chest and all."
"HEY! I was just trying to protect my godson! Is that such a big deal?"
Harry laughed, "a little overprotective I'd say."
"Whatever. . . 'night Harry," Sirius yawned, pulling Harry's blankets over him
"'Night, Sirius," Harry said, and Sirius rubbed his head, before turning off the lights and getting to his cot.
Sirius started snoring in minutes, making Harry laugh to himself. He stayed awake a while longer though. "Finally," he thought. "I finally have a home where I'm loved, and I love everyone. This is great! We all seem to get a bit over emotional at times, but I love it here. And maybe I can get them to let Ron and Hermione come up for a few days." With all these new happy thoughts, Harry was feeling rejuvenated. Even though he couldn't see his toes, he tried to make them move. He tried once, but thought nothing happened. When he tried a second time, he heard a noise. It was the sound of his blankets rustling.
And that's all for now....Another update should be up soon
And Guess WHAT!!!! I'm currently re-reading my fic All for You and fully intend to start writing it again. I make no guarantees on when it'll actually get going, but I do plan to complete it!