Thanks for all the feedback everyone gave me for the last chapter. I really appreciate it, and I'm glad people are still interested in this fic. It's been a blast writing it. The final chapters should be up by tomorrow night. Now onto the story...
Daniel paced back and forth in front of the Shrieking Shack as Carter and Teal'c watched in silence. A glance at his watch and Daniel's impatience was heightened.
"We have to fine out what's going on in there. They've been in there for almost an hour."
Carter sighed and shook her head. "The colonel said to stay put."
"I don't care, Sam. This is crazy. We have no idea what happened."
Teal'c stood and placed a hand on Daniel's shoulder and the younger man seemed to calm a bit. The big jaffa looked as though he were about to speak when they heard a loud crash coming from the top floor of the shack. "Perhaps you are correct. An investigation might be warranted."
With that the trio carefully made their way inside the shack. As they crept up the stairs they began to hear the voices coming from upstairs. As quietly as they could they moved close to the door stopping a few steps below and listening as the conversation continued.
-----
Seeing his nephew's pain, Jack moved towards him, but stopped as Harry turned around.
"Do you believe all this Professor Snape?" Severus balked at the question, completely unprepared for it.
"Well…My brother hasn't lie to me before, so I suppose I do."
"Then you won't take Sirius to the dementors?"
Grudgingly Severus shook his head at Harry, and Jack used his wand to release the binding on him. He turned to do the same to Sirius, and once he had Black leapt at Peter, snatching the wand from Remus' hand as he did so, and aimed straight at Peter's throat.
"NO!" Everyone seemed to shout all at once, but Sirius didn't seem to care.
"Let him go. Please!" As Harry spoke, Sirius turned his head towards the boy and gave him a confused look.
"You want him to live? After all he's done, you'd spare him?" Sirius asked as he eased off of Peter, keeping the wand aimed at him as he did so.
"Yes. My father wouldn't have wanted his best friend to become a killer because of him."
Jack and Remus nodded in agreement and Sirius handed the wand back to Remus. "You're a far better man than I am, Harry, but you're right."
"Thank you Harry. Many thanks dear child!" Peter's whiny voice made them all turn and Sirius grabbed the wizard by the hair.
"Don't you ever speak to him! You don't have the right!" He spat in the wizard's face and shoved him back on the ground.
Hermione, ever the voice of reason, spoke up from where she was sitting beside Ron. "Let's take him back to the castle. Professor Dumbledore can deal with Pettigrew and someone can check on Ron's leg."
Jack sighed and shook his head. "She's right."
-----
They heard Jack tell someone to open the door and Daniel, Teal'c and Carter quickly eased themselves back down and into the room at the bottom of the stairs. Once they were certain that Jack and the others were gone, Daniel opened the door to the room.
"They're headed back to the school. We might be able to beat them there if we hurry." Carter nodded in agreement with Daniel, and both looked to Teal'c.
With a quick nod the jaffa led them out the door and they hurried into the night air, trying hastily to beat Jack and the others to the school.
-----
Jack nodded and motioned for Harry to open the door. Using his wand, Sirius bound Peter and levitated him off the ground and moved him out of the door.
As the others left, Jack felt a familiar hand brush past his arm and he looked up at Remus as he sighed and hung his head. "You have every right to be angry, Remus."
"That's bloody right." For a moment there was a flash of anger in Lupin's eyes and just as quickly as it came, it faded and was replaced by a crooked smile. "It's seems like all of you kept me out of the loop in one way or another. Why didn't you tell any of us? I mean I understand about Voldemort, but-"
"I wanted to protect her. Lily was everything to me. Her and Severus were all I had. When our mum died I wanted to make sure she was protected. I thought she'd be safer if no one knew we were related. Then everything happened with Sev, and Voldemort went after Lily anyway."
Remus shook his head and sighed heavily. "So much went wrong back then."
"True, but as long as Harry is safe we still have a chance to set things right. That's what Lily and James would have wanted." Both men nodded and Jack pulled Remus in for a quick hug. "I am sorry for not telling you."
"You were protecting your family. I can't blame you for that."
A moment later the two wizards joined the others at the trap door on the bottom floor. One by one they each went through, with Hermione, Remus and Severus taking the lead, while Jack took over levitating Peter and, Sirius and Harry followed.
"The tunnel will get us back to the castle the fastest. Sirius, help with Ron." Jack was busy spouting out orders when he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to see Harry with an expression of confusion on his face as he walked beside him.
"We're family. Why didn't aunt Petunia ever mention you? She hated my parents, but she still talked about them."
With a sigh Jack started down the stairs and into the tunnel, motioning for Harry to follow. "Petie's always been a bit jealous of your mom and me."
"Petie?" Harry chuckled softly at the thought of his stuffy aunt answering to a name like 'Petie.'
"Um…well, I never liked Petunia as a name. It always seemed so uptight."
Again Harry laughed to himself and Jack couldn't help but join in. "Why was she jealous?"
"Your aunt's a squib. She was always jealous that Lily and I got all the magic."
Harry nodded as some things seemed to click in his mind. "Where have you been all this time?"
"After your parents died, I ran. I knew the Ministry would be looking for any death eater they could find. I didn't want to risk being found." Jack could see the emotions play on the young boy's face and he couldn't help but look away for a moment.
"So you left…you left me?"
He snapped his head up quickly and shook it furiously. "No Harry. I knew Dumbledore would take care of you. He sent you to Petie, didn't he?"
"My aunt hates me. She lied about my parents. She told me they died in a car crash. I didn't even know the truth about how they died until I came here to Hogwart's."
Jack ground his fist against his leg and grit his teeth. "Of all the stupid, foolhardy things my idiot sister and her muggle husband could do…"
His voice trailed off, but Harry was sure he heard a few expletives used to describe his aunt and uncle before Jack spoke up again. "I can't imagine it was a very pleasant childhood, growing up with the Dursleys then?"
"Not really. It could have been worse, I suppose."
"I really thought she would have given up on her prejudice by now. I guess I was wrong."
They kept walking as Jack shook his head and listened to Harry talk about the Dursleys a bit more. By the time Harry finished, Jack was seething and he stopped just short of the exit to the tunnel and saw Sirius and Ron just behind them.
"I swear, Albus Dumbledore is going to get a piece of my mind over this. How could he…" Again Jack went off on a verbal tirade, this time about the Hogwart's headmaster.
"Calm down, Jack. Dumbledore had his reasons. Just ask him yourself when we get to the castle." At the sound of Severus' voice, Jack quieted and started to go through the end of the tunnel when a loud gasp from Harry caught his attention.
"Does that make you my uncle as well?" Harry glared at Severus and the Potions Master groaned.
"I suppose, technically, on some level…" Severus stumbled for an answer and then turned to Jack who was snickering as he let Peter's head smack into the ceiling of the tunnel. "Damn!"
"He's right, Sev. As my brother, it kinda does make you his uncle."
Severus let loose a string of curses and Jack instinctively put his hands over Harry's ears as though he were a little child, both of them chuckling softly as they walked further down the tunnel.
"Honestly, Snape! Must you use such language around the children." Sirius smirked and it was all Snape could do not to strangle the other wizard as they followed Jack out of the tunnel.
As they all made their way out of the tunnel, Snape looked towards the sky and let out another curse. Remus did the same realizing he had not taken his potion as the full moon began to have its affect on him.
"He didn't take his potion!" Snape shouted as he moved Ron and Hermione from Remus' view.
"Get the children out of here, you two! I'll handle Remus!" Sirius shouted and for a moment Jack looked away from Peter and his levitation spell was broken.
Peter fell to the ground with at thud, and he struggled with his still bound hands and feet. Jack reached down to pull the wizard to his feet and slowed when he heard the growl coming from behind him.
The werewolf bared his sharp teeth at the group as they all stood silently frozen in place. Hermione instinctively took hold of Ron, who was leaning against the tree where Sirius had let go of him. Severus quickly turned his head towards Jack and both men nodded as they pushed the children and Peter to the other side of the Whomping Willow.
In a flash, the werewolf pounced and Sirius had only a moment to transform. He did so and charged the werewolf, giving Jack and the others time to get out of the way. Dog and wolf struggled, growled and slashed at one another, until Sirius managed to draw them far enough away from the others.
"We have to go after them!" Harry shouted and before Jack could react, the boy had slipped away from him and was running in the direction that Sirius and Remus had gone.
"Harry No!" Jack called out in vain as Harry sped away.
No one noticed that Peter was gingerly reaching for Hermione's pocket, and he snatched her wand up and used it to untie himself before anyone could respond.
"Peter!" Severus reached for the wizard, but he was too late.
"NOOOOO!" Jack watched in horror as Peter transformed into his animagi form and scurried away into the night.
For a brief moment Jack saw everything begin to fall apart and he tried his best to breath as he tried to decide which direction to go. He knew he had no chance of catching Peter, and that angered him deeply. Following Harry was his only choice.
"Jack. I'll get them to the castle. Find Harry." Without another word Severus swept a confused Ron and Hermione forward and hurried them to the castle.
Jack didn't hesitate, he was already running as quickly as he could in the direction that Harry had gone.
-----
Daniel and Carter were just behind Teal'c as they neared the Whomping Willow. The had heard the shouts moments before, but when the reached the tree, there was no one in sight. They could see the tree begin to sway as they got closer and a branch swooped down and slammed against the ground just in front of them. With a gasp Daniel stepped back and Teal'c motioned for the team to move to a safer distance from the tree.
"Where would they have gone?" Daniel asked as he looked around the dimly lit area.
"It appears that they split up. There are tracks leading into the forest, and others that appear to be going towards the school grounds." Teal'c pointed towards the forest and the Daniel and Carter nodded.
"Can you tell which way the Colonel went?" Carter asked as Teal'c meticulously scanned the area with this flashlight in hand.
All three were silent for a moment as the jaffa worked, and when he finally lifted his head in their direction they were anxiously awaiting his answer. "I believe I can."
Following his lead, they started to follow the tracks leading away from the school. They moved as quickly as they could, and the shouts were unmistakable as the rest of SG-1 neared the lake. They were mere meters from Jack's position as they saw him writhing on the ground as though something were attacking him. A cold numbness surrounded them and they seemed to freeze in their tracks.
Daniel recognized the feeling from the last few times they had encountered the dementors and he let out a muffled groan as he tried to regain some sense of himself. He tried to think of something, anything that he could possibly do to stop what he was sure was going on, but nothing came to mind.
"O'Neill!" Teal'c cried out to their helpless comrade from his seemingly frozen position just beside Daniel and the young man blinked.
Quickly he thought back to the words he'd heard Jack say when the dementors attacked them before and frustrated he sank to his knees. 'Remember Daniel! Dammit words are your life! You can do this. Just think!' He focused as hard as his fogged mind could until the words finally came to him.
"Accium Quertus Nothas Learuim!" He shouted the words as loud as he could.
Carter and Teal'c stared blankly at him as he repeated the words again and again until all three of them fell to the ground.
In the distance, just coming across the lake they saw what looked like a large stag running towards Jack. Teal'c and Carter were already doubled over on the ground, and Daniel was holding his head as the icy pain washed over them all. The Colonel seemed to relax and went still on the ground as the creature approached, and Daniel let his eyes slide shut as the soft sound of hooves on earth could be heard all around him.
-----
The sweat poured down his face as he ran through the trees, trying to get to his nephew and friend. As he pressed on he felt the familiar coldness of the dementor's presense getting closer and he took a deep breath and pushed himself to keep moving. He could make out the treeline approaching and he could hear someone shouting.
Instinctively he knew it had to be Harry, and he ran as fast as he could to get to him. The closer he got, the worse the dementors were effecting him. He stumbled as he reached the treeline, and he could see Harry standing over Sirius' body waving his wand futilely at the dementors swooping down on them. Jack pulled out his wand and began to shout out the Patronus charm in tandem with Harry, but it was useless.
He fell to the ground just as Harry did the same. Two dementors were already zeroed in on his position and they were moving towards him rather quickly. With what little strength he had left Jack pulled himself to his knees and saw Harry do the same. He tried one more time to fend off the dementors and then he felt himself falling to the ground as the last whisps of a Patronus charm left his wand.
Slowly his eyes drifted upwards to look at the two dementors that were still approaching him. He let out a blood-curdling scream as the dementor in front of him lifted it's hood and began to devour his soul. The pain began to envelope him and he could feel himself fading as his body connected hard with the ground. Just as he was closing his eyes he saw what looked like a stag running across the lake and he could have sworn he heard a familiar voice calling out to him, though he couldn't quite place whose voice it was, as his eyes finally closed.
tbc...