Disclaimer: The usual. Look into previous chapters to see what's up.
Author's Notes: I hate writers block, I really, really hate it, not only with myself but with my favourite writers too, arrgh ... I hope we all get over it soon. Know how it feels though, all my plot bunnies ran long before easter and took an extended vacation in the Caribbean.
Since I'm stuck here in Germany, I couldn't get them back until recently when they became homesick and returned on their own. On another note ... I already got almost as many reviews for book two as for book one and I'm really happy 'bout that .
Next and probably second last chapter of book 2 finished, yippieh! I get to watch the third Harry Potter movie in Friday night here in Germany. Had to wait until then because I have to bloody work along the week and staying up for over two days straight isn't really my cup of tea.
Enough rambling ...
2004-06-03
Review Responses:
Shadow Adams: I love double negatives, they help confusing people evil smirk in place. Saw you managed to update too big fat smile loved the chapter and already wait for the next. Switching books suited my story perfectly since I needed them to be older for Chamber of secrets but one of my readers pointed out that logically it would really be better to have them deal with Sirius first instead of that blasted overgrown worm.
Hm, yeah, my Dumbledore is on the side of light too but he is far from infallible as you all will get to know. He makes mistakes like every other human being, is not omniscient and can get side-tracked too. The original Harry Potter was far too trusting as well in my opinion, especially considering that he had very few people that he could have trusted before Hogwarts (look at the Dursleys, I mean, who in their right mind would trust them while being treated like a house elf?)
Well, she's her mother's daughter, no? Just wait, I will make her more female than being a tomboy at times too ... she's a very emotionally driven girl after all even if it mostly shows when her temper strikes smirking broadly.
I know those problems ... just look at my A/N above gg Stupid plot-bunnies had to take a vacation when I really needed them. And now I again have been attack by some ... but sadly not for this story (would you believe me that I have over 230 hand-written pages for seven other stories in my desk drawers? I certainly didn't when I sorted through my things last week giggle)
athenakitty: Answers Chapter 14: Yes, he does understand. He went to school with the twins parents after all even if he hated James and the other Marauders, they still knew each other. One patronus, eh? Hmm, yeah, it's like that in the original books but this is AU ad fanfiction so I made my own rules. I too twisted the timeline by exchanging book two and three didn't I? smirks evilly I simply thought that your Patronus should be what you consider your protector in your subconscious. For Harry that's his dad and godfather ... for Carya it's her mother and the snakes ... that's still a secret but it has to do with her weird experiences concerning the Mirror of Erised ... Of course will they tell Sirius what their Patroni look like, they simply had more important things to discuss ... Why should on get a howler? He's being a prat but has done nothing that Molly Weasley would send him a howler for since she doesn't know much about what's going on in school anyway.
Answers Chapter 13: Yes, she will actually become quite decent in the future but not too soon. Might take me a long while to allow her to do that. Puzzled people? Where, don't remember puzzling anyone but if you say so innocent looking smirk ... Well, as for Snape and McGonagall being impressed, they both think it was either brave or clever to make such a public apology. I know for sure that I couldn't do it since I'd rather crawl into the next hole ...
Answers Chapter 12: Dear old Minerva will treat her house like the stern professor she is sometime in the future but I still think she should be a little bit softer on her students than on the others . A lot of people worry about Harry and Carya, especially Sirius. Remus is worried too as are the other Professors but only because they think the kids might do something stupid. Will the get Wormtail? Hmm, don't know, just wait and see ... eh, read smirk.
Jamie Black: Don't worry, I have no intention on making Draco act the prat part, I've got Ron for that in this fic smile. He'll come around someday and I hope you'll still love me when I update the remaining chapter(s) sometime this month before I have to work on book 3 - chamber of secrets - for this fanfiction. I never thought that my style in written English was any good, therefore I am more than pleased to her that you actually like it beaming smile and bouncing around the room. As for most of it making sense, I keep writing everything down in a timeline while working on the story so I don't get into too much trouble
Cleo-n-Jules: I feel honoured, thank you very much. It is very encouraging to hear such things . I intentionally had never actually wanted to post this fic in the beginning because I needed so many passages from the original first book. Can you imagine that? My sister and her never-ending self-confidence finally made my post it ... and today, I could kiss her for that. I like writing fanfiction far too much now and I'm going to continue this for all seven books (or rather my AU versions of book six and seven since I don't think that they'll both be published before I'm finished with this entire fanfic ...)
Chapter 15 - Marauder's Map and Traitors or Moony and Padfoot
The last two weeks of March were not all that exciting. The kids attended classes and after that revised their notes from the previous month. All teachers gave them more homework than they ever had. There was not much time to worry about anything else.
On April 1st the Weasley twins once again pulled a prank but this time the four friends were not among the victims. Even though some Slytherin's were now running around with vegetables on their heads instead of hair many Gryffindor's did too.
The prank kind of backfired and the Weasleys now looked pretty ridiculous themselves. April was the month of the last two Quidditch games of the season. Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor against Ravenclaw. The Slytherin's won their game without any problems.
In the end it was 250 to 0 since the Hufflepuff Chasers only were the replacements. The first string players had managed to catch the flu and weren't allowed to play but instead confined to a room in the infirmary.
Gryffindor messed up their match. The Ravenclaw's had found a new seeker, a third year girl by the name Cho Chang. The Gryffindor's only scored five times before Chang caught the snitch. Ravenclaw won 180 to 50.
This meant that Slytherin once again had won the Quidditch Cup and they had very good chances on the House Cup now. They'd won against all their opponents in Quidditch and did get quite some points in classes. Gryffindor was in third place right now, only followed by Hufflepuff.
Ravenclaw was in second place and Slytherin was first. These two Saturdays were the only distractions the students got. Most of them hardly left their Common Rooms or the library now because they studied for the exams or were doing their homework.
Draco was just the same but he had additional problems. The Malfoy child still didn't know what he should do about his friendship with Harry, Carya, Ginny and Hermione. He was sick of obeying his fathers every wish and wanted nothing more than to get out of that.
But what would he do then? He would have no money and no place to stay. Even if the Headmaster let him stay at Hogwarts which was highly questionable, he still couldn't provide for his school supplies or anything else.
May 5th was a disaster for the Weasley twins. They were once again sneaking around after curfew with the aid of a certain map when they ran into Professor Lupin.
"May I ask what the two of you are doing down here this late?" the Professor inquired.
"Eh, we ..." George didn't really know what to say but Fred thought it was best to tell the truth for once.
"We ere on the way to the kitchen for a little snack, Professor," he said and unsuccessfully tried to hide the parchment.
"Would you please show me what you're hiding behind your back, Mister Weasley?" Lupin asked.
"It's just a piece of parchment, sir, nothing special," Fred answered a bit too quickly.
"Well, then I see no problem if it's just a parchment, Mister Weasley. Now would you?" Lupin demanded politely and Fred reluctantly handed him the now empty map.
"I happen to know that this particular object was confiscated by Mister Filch over twenty years ago. Care to tell me how you came into it's possession?" the teacher wanted to know and the twins grudgingly admitted that they'd stolen it from Filch's office some time ago.
"I see. Well since no real harm has been done, I wont report you to your head of house. But I will confiscate this parchment and you will loose five points from Gryffindor each for being out of your Common Room after curfew," he added and sent them back to their dorms.
They of course were a bit disappointed to loose one of their most valuable 'possessions' but knew the Map by heart so it wouldn't really matter. Only downside was that they couldn't avoid other people so easily now.
Remus Lupin immediately locked the Map into one of the drawers of his office table. He was glad that no one else knew about the 'Marauders Map'. What he didn't think to do was to activate the map. If he had done that he would've seen four other students out of bed.
The Potter twins, Virginia Weasley and Hermione Granger who currently were all transformed into their animagus forms were sneaking around on the grounds and walking towards the Whomping Willow. And he too would have seen the name Sirius Black in the Shrieking Shack.
The Defence Professor completely forgot about the map and the children as well as Sirius continued their meetings undetected. By the middle of May they'd planned another trip towards Sirius hiding place but they were shocked to see another name on their own Map - Peter Pettigrew.
He was hiding in Hagrid's Hut. Luckily Peter had no idea that someone other than Sirius Black knew his little secret. Since it was still thirty minutes until curfew the children decided to go and visit Hagrid.
It was already dark outside despite the fact that it was middle of May. They pretended to visit the groundskeeper and played their parts really good. Ten minutes after they'd arrived Ginny exclaimed something in surprise.
"Look, there's Scabbers. We should bring him back to Ron. My brother was so worried about his pet," she told her friends in perfectly relieved and sweet voice.
"You're right, poor thing. He must've been scared to death outside the castle with all the cats strolling about at night," Harry said with false sympathy and grabbed the rat while Carya conjured up a small cage.
The squeaking rat animagus was put into the cage and the children quickly said their good-bye's. They told Hagrid that they'd bring him back to Ron but they headed towards the Whomping Willow instead.
Hermione was a bit behind and followed them as soon as she'd fixed her robe and grabbed the cage with Peter. Meanwhile Professor Lupin had remembered the importance of the map during these times and decided to have a look at it. He saw Sirius name in the Shrieking Shack.
To his horror three of his second year Slytherin's were heading there too. Lupin quickly grabbed his cloak and put the map into his pocket. He also pulled out his wand and hoped that he would arrive in time to 'save' Carya, Harry and Ginny from that murderer.
'And here I had hoped the twins would understand how dangerous it is for them to be outside of the castle - especially after curfew. I wonder how he got onto the grounds without being noticed. Those three would never stay out of trouble.
Severus Snape was right for once, we really should've kept a closer eye on them,' he thought half worried and half angry.
Meanwhile Hermione who had been carrying the cage with Pettigrew had caught up with them at the Whomping Willow and they'd just managed to get into the passage underneath. Soon they knocked on the door at the end of the tunnel.
"Snuffles, its us, Carya, Harry, Ginny and Hermione. We have something for you," Harry said and Sirius let them in.
The other wizard growled darkly when he spotted the cage with the quivering rat and nearly lunged at it but was held back by the twins. Carya had charmed it with a spell that Ginny had found a few days ago. Peter couldn't get out or transform back.
In the Headmaster's Office
Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick, Samira Sprout and Severus Snape were currently discussing the upcoming exams and about their houses behaviour. Severus of course didn't say anything against his Slytherin's but was rather vocal against Minerva's students.
They were after all repeatedly interrupting his class with their foolish actions. They also talked about the repeated sightings of Sirius Black. It was debated if they should allow the older students to go to Hogsmeade or completely forbid those visits.
In the middle of their discussion the alarm went off. Dementors had entered the grounds and were really close to the castle now. All five professors rushed outside to see what this was about. They didn't fancy having these creatures inside the school.
A bit earlier in the Shrieking Shack
"Hey, easy, Sirius! He can't run. I spelled the cage. He can't run and he can't change back. We have him and we'll prove your innocence," Carya soothed her godfather and Ginny just had to crack a joke then.
"Hey, Carya! Who's the adult here? You or Snuffles? You sure your personalities didn't get exchanged or something like that? Normally you're the one to explode the fastest," the girl said smirking.
Everyone started laughing or giggling and they only stopped when the door banged open. The five occupants immediately pointed their wands at the door and they were surprised to see Professor Lupin standing in the doorway.
He had a half furious half shocked expression on his face that was mixed with confusion and curiosity. Lupin had his wand out too and his hand wasn't as steady as he had liked it to. He was surprised to see five wands pointed at him though.
'I thought they'd broken his wand when they imprisoned the traitor?' Lupin thought briefly.
"Children, get away from him! He's dangerous," he told the teens.
"No! We'll stay were we are. We won't let you hurt him. You don't know the truth," Ginny stated quietly.
"You don't know who that is! He's a murderer!" Lupin now all but yelled.
"He's not! We know exactly who this is. This is Sirius Black, former Auror, Mum and Dad's best friend and our godfather," Carya answered calmly.
"He betrayed your parents. He was their secretkeeper and handed them over to the Dark Lord! He's a traitor!" the werewolf remarked with anger apparent in his voice while his amber eyes were glowing with suppressed rage.
"No he's not! You don't know the truth. Just like Ginny said. He's innocent and was framed for something he didn't do. Pettigrew betrayed our parents not Sirius," Harry replied.
Meanwhile Hermione had watched their Defence Professor closely and noticed the parchment that was halfway tucked into his left pocket. She nudged Ginny and Carya with her elbow and pointed her head towards Lupin's left side.
And both girls recognised the parchment because it was still active.
"Peter is dead, Black killed him!" Remus was getting really upset now, his eyes started glowing amber as the wolf started shining through.
They were lucky that the full moon was still a few days away. Otherwise it would have been very difficult if not completely impossible to argue with Lupin when he was getting angry or upset about something.
"Professor Lupin, please, listen to us. Look on the 'Marauder's Map' in your pocket. It will show you that Pettigrew is alive and in this very room," Hermione pleaded and Lupin was startled out of his rage when he heard the name of the map.
He looked to his side out of the corner of his eyes. Never letting Sirius' wand out of sight either. He grabbed the crumpled parchment with his left hand and took a quick look. A loud gasp echoed through the room and Lupin paled.
"Where is he?" he asked softly and Carya pointed towards the cage on the table with her wand.
"Quite clever of him, isn't it? Framing Sirius and then living with a wizarding family as a pet-rat until the time was right," Carya said sarcastically and the rat quivered even harder than before.
"So you changed in the last moment? But ... why didn't you tell me?" the Professor asked completely shocked and confused.
"I'm sorry, Remus, it's just ... because Voldemort, ... he had offered ..." Sirius stuttered but Remus got it.
"You thought it was me, right? Because Voldemort had promised the werewolves a painless transformation if they sided with him? Oh, Padfoot, I understand why you didn't tell. I'm only sorry that I never knew the truth.
All those years I thought that ..." he trailed of and swallowed heavily, "... but how did you four know about this? How could you believe him when everyone else said the opposite?"
"Eh, that'll take a while to explain ... Oh, whatever! It all began with me finding Mum's diary in my Gringotts vault. There were many entries about her friends and even two photos. On the back of each photo was listed who was on the front.
They were about the Marauders. One time as humans and one time as animals. I didn't really look at them then since Hagrid had gotten us a beautiful photo album with lots of pictures of our parents and their friends from Hogwarts and beyond.
During the summer holidays last year we heard about Sirius escape but Mum had written that she trusted you the most then Sirius and well, that she never trusted Peter. Why she agreed to him being their secretkeeper I don't really know.
Anyway a few days later we found an injured dog in the park, took him home and cared for him. I always had the feeling that I'd seen the dog somewhere before but just couldn't remember. It was on our birthday that we realised who he really was.
You see, if the others had been right he could've easily attacked us, couldn't he? And then Ginny found something. The photo with you all as animagi fell out of the diary I was just reading and she picked it up.
Ginny recognised Pettigrew. He had lived eleven years with her family as Scabbers, the pet-rat of first Percy and then Ron. That's when I knew who the dog, whom we'd named Snuffles by then, really was.
We carefully planned how to tell him that we knew and the day the Minister of Magic met us in the 'Leaky Cauldron' we revealed our knowledge. He and us were sending letters since the beginning of the schoolyear," she informed Remus.
"Yeah, and fathers 'Marauders Map' really helped with sneaking out to get here. I found it in my vault at Gringotts. Sirius explained what it was during our stay in 'Diagon Alley'," Harry added.
Lupin was speechless. He knew the kids were smart and had a knack for getting into trouble but this? Now he knew why they had been so damned calm about the whole thing. They had already known about Sirius and the true traitor before the term even started.
He simply shook his head and they discussed what to do next. It was decided that it was time to bring Peter to Dumbledore and so they walked back towards the Willow and then proceeded onto the grounds.
The only problem was that some Dementors were heading into their direction. They were already close and Hermione accidentally dropped the cage. Peter fled but Carya reacted fast. She transformed without anyone noticing and ran after the rat.
Harry and Remus fought the Dementors with their Patroni but there were too many. Carya was still chasing Peter. Soon after they had started she managed to bite him and quickly transformed back. The man clutched his bleeding leg and looked fearfully at the girl.
She was really furious, he could easily see that in the dim moonlight. Peter tried to get away but Carya was faster. Without thinking about it she shot the first curse that came to her mind into his direction. She didn't care that it was a Dark Arts Curse either.
"Ossis Frangere!" she shouted and a bright red light sped towards the other wizard.
He was thrown against a tree and the result was two broken legs. The girl stunned and bound the traitor and levitated him back towards the lake. Luckily they weren't that far. When she reached her destination she could see someone else than the Dementors approaching her friends - two Aurors.
Carya ran over to them since it was only fifteen feet and jumped in front of her almost unconscious godfather the moment one of the aurors shot another pain curse at Sirius. It was a legal one but different to the hex that Carya had used on Lavender.
And the caster was more powerful than she had been. She screamed from the pain inflicted on her body and the curse was stopped immediately. She could see four figures approaching the strange group.
The Dementors were chased away and she barely noticed that Harry, Ginny and Hermione as well as Professor Lupin were unconscious. Dumbledore was the first to recover from the sight before him and asked what was going on. The four Heads of Houses stared at the children, Lupin and Black.
"I should knew the werewolf would bring nothing but trouble," Snape snarled.
Before anyone could say something else Carya interrupted.
"You're ... wrong ... Professor," she pressed out between weak, pain-filled gasps, "Sirius is ... he's innocent. It was ... Peter Pettigrew. He framed Sirius and ... disappeared."
"What are you talking child, Pettigrew is dead. He was killed by Black. There were witnesses," McGonagall said confused.
"No!" she cried desperately, "... He's alive! ... Please, ... please headmaster!"
The half-conscious girl pleaded with the adults until she saw that they would at least check if she spoke the truth or not.
"He's over there, ... about fifteen feet from here,... " she managed to say and pointed towards the place where she'd left Pettigrew.
By now she was hardly conscious and Sirius wasn't any better. He had managed to put his arms around the girl to try and keep her safe. That was what confused everyone the most. At first they'd thought he might try and harm her or take her as hostage but he just held the girl close.
He was actually shielding her with his own body now. As good as he could do it in his state of health anyway. A few minutes later Dumbledore and one of the aurors returned with a bound and stunned Peter Pettigrew in tow.
"Be careful sir, ... he's ... he's an unregistered animagus. ... His form is a rat. ... Don't ... don't release him if you cannot ... cannot assure that he won't get ... away!" Carya pleaded before she lost the battle against the darkness that tugged at her consciousness.
"Minerva, Samira, Filius, would you three please bring the four children, Mister Lupin and Mister Black to the infirmary? Tell Poppy that I will explain everything later. Severus you know what we'll need?
Fetch it and then come to my office," the Headmaster told his colleagues and then turned to the aurors.
"Would you please accompany me. We need to call the Minister and bring him here as soon as possible," he told them and walked away.
Snape arrived with a vial of Veritaserum the moment the Minister of Magic stepped out of the fireplace. He hadn't believed the story at first but when the aurors had confirmed everything Fudge had agreed to come over and question Pettigrew under truth serum.
Half an hour later they knew what had really happened on Halloween 1981. Sirius Black was indeed innocent and had spent eleven years in Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit. Fudge reluctantly signed the release papers while he was still in Dumbledore's office.
He could only try and make the best of the situation. He had to clear Sirius officially now and Albus was sure that the 'Department of Magical Law Enforcement' would pressure the ministry to pay Sirius a high compensation for the last years.
He had been an auror before after all - one of them. Pettigrew was taken into custody and brought to a temporary cell in the ministry. Over the next few days everything would be taken care of. The newspapers would announce Black's innocence on the front page.
All his belongings would be given back either - including 'Black Manor'. Now only two things were left. The Minister had to make a personal visit to the infirmary to tell Sirius Black of the newest development and he had to ask who had injured Pettigrew.
When he asked who had done it Sirius and Remus shook their heads. Harry, Ginny and Hermione were still unconscious. But from Carya's bed came a weak reply.
"I did that. ... Couldn't let him get away. ... Bastard doesn't deserve to be free, to get away ... again," she said in her now half conscious state and everyone looked at her in shock. The last sentence was spoken with so much venom that all of those who'd heard it got goosebumps.
"Ah, well, ... that was all I needed to know. Expect to get your possessions returned to you within the next few days, Mister Black, goodbye!" Fudge said nervously and left the infirmary quickly.
Snape smirked. Although he'd never admit it, he just loved the way the young Slytherin girl could intimidate the Minister of Magic, even when she was only half-conscious. Soon he, McGonagall and Dumbledore were ushered out of the hospital wing by an overprotective Madam Pomfrey.
She still didn't know the whole story but since she knew that Sirius had been framed and was free now she didn't say a thing. Poppy made sure her patients stayed in bed and gave them a light sleeping potion.
Carya got a second one though - a pain reliever. They all felt much better when the woke up the following day. Remus, Harry, Hermione and Ginny had been awake for quite some time when Sirius opened his eyes.
"Morning Padfoot!" said Remus cheerfully and smiled at his best friend. It was so good to know that he was innocent. Remus Lupin had never felt better during the last eleven years.
"Hi Moony, how are you all?" Sirius asked and got four grins as an answer.
They didn't get to say something else because Carya was waking up. Her body was still aching a bit from the after-effects of both the curse and the rough night which was the reason that she had problems moving.
But when she realised where she was she looked around frantically. As soon as she spotted Sirius and Harry sitting on one bed she jumped up, ran over to them and hugged them both without caring about her own injuries.
"Sirius, Harry, you're okay! I was so worried," she shouted relieved and sat down on Sirius lap still hugging him although it was clearly visible that she was still exhausted from last nights ordeal.
Sirius was happy too. Now he could give them both what he had wanted to since Lily and James had died. He had already asked them if they wanted to live with him once he got cleared when they met last summer and both had agreed.
They loved their aunt and uncle as well as their cousin but it wasn't the same as living in the wizarding world. Needless to say that they were really excited about that now. Although they would try and stay at Privet Drive for a few weeks each summer.
Hermione and Ginny were happy for them too. When Sirius asked Remus if he wanted to live with them he was truly happy. Remus agreed since he already knew that he wouldn't be allowed to stay as a teacher after summer.
Albus had told him that a few students had found out and written their parents. Remus was only allowed to stay their Professor until the exams were over. Two days later Sirius got a letter which stated that all of his belongings had been restored.
He decided to leave early and make his family manor habitable again. He also got a compensation of five thousand galleons for each year he spent in Azkaban. Combined with the already large family fortune he would be considered quite wealthy now.
The twins of course were a bit sad but they knew that they'd see him in the summer holidays when they moved in with him and Remus. He left on Tuesday and said goodbye to Harry and Carya after their Herbology lessons.
On Sunday they had made a bunch of photos. The four friends, Sirius and Remus took turns and soon they'd have an album full of memories about this year. They never told anyone the whole story. Even Dumbledore didn't know everything.
They didn't tell him about James 'Marauder's Map' or how Sirius really got back his wand or how far the four children were really involved in the whole matter. Dumbledore suspected that they'd secretly been in contact with Sirius the whole year.
He would find out some day that he had guessed some of the parts of the story to their full extent while he was clueless about others. The students didn't have much time to get over the shock of everything that had happened over the last week.
On May 31st the exams were starting and most of them did some last minute studying. The friends did quite well in all of their exams and relaxed when they finally finished their last test on Friday 4th.
The Potter twins had written their aunt and uncle a letter that there was something big to talk about when they got home. Both of them had agreed that this couldn't be explained in a letter. The only student who couldn't relax was Draco.
He had decided what he wanted and now tried to figure out how to reach his goal. He remembered that Snape had once been friends with his father so his Head of House was out of question. Draco realised that he would have to go and speak with Headmaster Dumbledore.
Hopefully the old wizard would hear him out and could provide a solution to his problem.
Spell Explanations:
'Ossis Frangere' = 'Break Bone'
'Ossis Sanare' = 'Heal Bone' (Not used here but I thought it would do good to tell anyway )
Please Read AND Review.
Thx ,
Carya
Review responses at the beginning of next chapter!