Chapter Forty-Four

(Present Day)

Harry was still trying to get passed the fact that his God-Father was kind of insane. He followed Kit in the passageway and still couldn't understand why he wasn't turning in the other direction and running. Sirius Black…was really innocent? Harry very honestly wasn't so sure he believed that, then again the cover story made sense, and Sirius was his God-Father he owed him the benefit of the doubt.

In fact, he also wanted to make sure that Kit stayed safe. In some weird way that didn't make much sense to him, she was his Aunt. So what if she was only a year older then he and just popped out of the past. This was Hogwarts…where strange things did indeed happen.

Climbing into the Shrieking Shack he was surprised to see the inside, it looked…well destroyed beyond words…then again, weren't their supposed to be ghosts there? Kit glanced back at him as he surveyed the room. "It isn't haunted if that's what your thinking." He nodded absentmindedly and Kit called out for Sirius.

Harry was starting to get worried, in a matter of minutes he would be seeing Sirius…or Mr. Black…or God-Father? Oh dear, what was he supposed to call the prison escapee? At that thought he almost chuckled, and Kit gave a sigh running her hands through her orange hair.

"He isn't here right now…but that isn't a worry, we can wait…he's usually around, sooner or later anyway." Kit mumbled to Harry, with a small grin as if she sensed his unease. "Trust me, you'll like him."

"It's just odd you know? One moment I think Sirius Black is trying to kill me, and the next I find out he's trying to kill my best friends pet rat because it isn't entirely a rat…" Harry explained, watching as Kit took up a seat on the floor, shortly after he followed suit.

"Yes, well this is Hogwarts." She told him, and at that very moment Harry was struck by something, how different Kit seemed from everyone else.

"You seem a lot older."

"Hmm?" She questioned, looking up at him as her arms wrapped around her torso.

"I mean, well you seem like an adult rather then a fourteen year old."

She grinned at that, and Harry was relieved…for a moment she looked as if she might hit him. "It goes with the territory, within the span of two years my life…was Hell. I just grew up a lot."

"I can understand." He told her, his head ducking down for a moment in thought.

"Ah yes, the boy-that-lived right? Some of us just aren't as lucky as others. I mean, there are hundreds of students at Hogwarts, and most of their fears are only minimal compared to ours. They don't have the weight of the world on their shoulders, don't have to worry if they'll be okay tomorrow or the next day."

"I suppose."

"Listen to me Harry, if it's one thing I've learned it is to accept fate. Things happen, and we usually don't like those things…but we can either live life, have friends, enjoy things or we can brood about what might happen. Trust me Harry, I've been there…it's a place you don't want to ever be. No matter how bad things get Harry, promise me to always look on the brighter side."

Harry nodded rather dumbly. It was all he could do, the boy was practically in awe of Kit at that very moment. He wanted to ask a thousand questions, what had she been through being the only one that mattered. Kit just…well she seemed to get how things were. "I promise." He uttered, and her lips twisted into a small grin.

She didn't do that a lot, he noticed that now. She rarely grinned, in fact she rarely spoke much at all to him. Was this a turning point? Would they be friends now? No, he shook his head; not because he didn't want her as a friend, but because she was closed off normally…she didn't want friends. Her friends were his parents, and they were dead.

He didn't blame her.

"Good, because you can't stand alone. No matter how much you think that being alone will help…no matter how much you just want to throw yourself into danger--"

"Speaking from experience eh Kitten?" A voice from the shadows interrupted, it was raspy and to Harry it sounded as if the voice might have been smooth and deep at one point. "I knew you couldn't keep your bloody mouth shut."

The man that stepped out of the shadows was very much Sirius Black, in fact if Harry looked at him just right, the young boy could see the man that Sirius once was. The man that was in the photo with his parents at their wedding. Kit stood, and Harry wanting to be as polite as possible to a convicted killer followed suit.

"He asked me about you, I had to say something." Kit explained, and Sirius bobbed his head up and down rather quickly causing his dirty mess of hair to bounce around his face. "And, by the way…Happy belated Christmas." Kit said, bending down to pick up the basket and hand it to Sirius.

Harry was honestly unsure how he was supposed to feel, let alone act. In a way he was sure that Sirius would any moment take out a rusty knife and put it to Kit's neck like in those muggle horror movies Dudley was always watching. Then again, in another way it looked as if Sirius was so utterly happy for human contact that he might have cried.

"Hullo Harry, looks just like James doesn't he Kit? Except for Lily's eyes, then again I suppose you get that all the time eh?" Sirius said quickly, looking towards Kit and then towards Harry once more. "Sorry 'bout looking as if I was going to kill you that one time. And your friend…I just…twelve years…"

That's when Harry knew, without a doubt…

He was going to help Sirius Black clear his name.

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The simple plan, and that was really stretching it (well at least Kit thought so) was to find Worm-tail, who according to Harry was either missing or dead thanks to Crookshanks. Both Sirius and Kit knew that even Peter wasn't stupid enough to get himself killed by a cat.

By Sirius on the other hand was a different story. It was his plan to kill Wormtail, both Kit (Who had now heard of his plan for the first time) and Harry objected. Despite the fact that Sirius wanted revenge…as long as Peter was alive, then there was hope of getting Sirius off the hook.

Sirius could be free. Once the plan of finding Wormtail/Peter was in place, the three sat around the basket Kit gave Sirius for Christmas, simply talking. Harry and Sirius more then Kit. She was content to watch the two speak back and forth. She couldn't help but grin ever so slightly, they both looked so happy.

Then again on that same scale, Remus was still in the dark about everything. Her Remmy who she had barely seen since getting back to school, even the engagement ring had to be hidden; after all she didn't need someone asking questions. She chewed on her bottom lip as Sirius was telling Harry of all the things that they would get to do together once Sirius' name was cleared.

She felt so guilty. Harry looked happier then she had ever seen him, and Remus was still…well he wasn't unhappy she knew that…but he was, well in the dark. He thought that his friend truly was guilty, he thought that Peter was dead. Kit clamped her eyes tightly shut, she could only imagine.

Sooner or later she would have to tell Remus, but she knew Sirius was still against telling her fiancé' after all, Sirius wanted their reunion to happen when he was a free man…

And yet Kit didn't know if this was something she could keep from Remus.

What would happen if Peter got to him first? The thought chilled her to the bones, made her feel sick to the stomach, made her feel like death settled over. She was fairly certain that Peter wouldn't show himself, after all he was supposed to be dead…but what if? She could only imagine what he would say or do to Remus. After all, Peter was smart enough to assume that Remus might be helping Sirius out.

And if that was the case. Remus wouldn't be expecting Peter, she sighed and returned her thoughts to the conversation at hand. She'd have to tell him…sooner or later.

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"We must be out of our bloody minds." Kit muttered to Remus after school the next day. He enlisted her help in finding a Boggart to train Harry with. She received his letter at lunch, and Kit was needlessly to say very happy. She would be able to spend time with him, and if anyone asked…she was simply a student helping out a teacher for extra house points.

While they were searching floor after floor she tried to form the words to tell Remus that Peter wasn't dead, that Sirius was innocent; but every sentence she came up with in her mind sounded horrid.

Currently their last hope of finding a Boggart was in the dungeons where Snape seemed to hide day after day. Just the thought of her new potions teacher disgusted her. She couldn't stand calling him professor, she also couldn't stand the way he stood behind her hoping she would mess up, and she also couldn't stand Draco Malfoy taunting her every time her potion ended up exploding.

"Yes, well I suppose the sane don't hunt for Boggart's." Remus told her, placing a hand over her shoulder causing Kit to jump out of thought. "Jumpy?"

She gave a slight uneasy chuckle, she had never faced a Boggart and nor did she ever want to. But this let her spend time with Remus, so be it. "Well, we definitely aren't sane." She told him, watching as he checked a broom closet.

"Well, I disagree my sweet little Kitten. I'm perfectly sane, I'm the poster child for sane. You on the other hand…" He teased, and she arched a brow looking towards him.

"Poster Child? Remmy you have looked into a mirror right luv? I think you passed 'Child' decades ago." After saying that, Remus simply flicked at her ear and gave a lopsided grin. Trademark Lupin.

"Well, what can I say…you bring out the child in me."

"So I suppose I'm the one robbing the cradle now?"

"I am not robbing the cradle. I'm simply rocking it."

"That sounded really bloody bad."

"Yes, it did now…didn't it?"

At that, as the halls in the dungeons split into two; they separated. Remus taking the left side, while Kit took the right side. They would end up meeting only a few feet later seeing as the fork in the hall was actually just a turn about. Meaning, if you went in one side; you'd come out the other.

Kit checked dark hiding spot, after dark hiding spot with no luck. Very honestly she didn't want to be the one to find the Boggart. She was scared of what she would, or rather who she would see. Kit knew without a doubt who it would be. Thus why when she checked Filch's office she shouldn't have been surprised.

But she was. In fact, she was so surprised and utterly terrified that she dropped her wand, couldn't say a word, and was quickly turning a shade of snow.

Lucius Malfoy stood in front of her. Grinning in delight of her terror, ice blue eyes running up and down her body. Kit did the only thing she could think of doing. She screamed. Loudly.

As Lucius took a step forward, Kit stayed rooted to the spot. It was like one of those dreams that one would have, you know the kind…where you were being chased by something utterly horrible, and yet you couldn't move. You could only watch as it advanced.

Closer, and closer.

It felt as if her heart had stopped she was so scared, what would he do to her this time? Remus wasn't there to protect her, James wasn't there to protect her, Sirius wasn't there to protect her. No one was there…it was just her. And she was terrified.

Then there was just darkness.

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Remus arrived not a moment to soon, he barely had enough time to catch Kit before she hit the hard castle floor. He didn't have time to see what she saw, but he knew. He knew without a doubt what he biggest fear was. As he moved forward after catching her, case to contain the Boggart in hand it turned into the full moon.

While it might have been his biggest fear, he wasn't as terrified of it as he once was. He was old enough to be able to control the rational part of his mind. He could understand that it really wasn't the full moon, he could understand that he wasn't going to turn into his beastly half.

But it still did cause shivers to run up and down his spine. Caused him to wonder, what if? As he struggled to contain the Boggart into the case. If need be he would cast a spell on the creature, but he didn't want to weaken it for Harry's sake. Thus why he was currently using his brief case to contain the Boggart.

When he had heard Kit scream his heart must have stopped, in fact as he secured the Boggart into the case he honestly wondered how stupid he must have been. He knew what she feared most, why did he take her with him?

Because he wanted to see her.

That was that. She was starting to skip meals again, and he didn't like that. Then again she could have always been catching up on missed homework in the library during meals. After all they both neglected their school duties over the holidays.

A sigh was given and he ran a hand through his already rumbled up graying hair. The full moon was coming up again. He could feel it. He unlike most, didn't need a lunar calendar to know what phase of the moon was occurring. The throbbing in his head from the pull of the moon told him that he had exactly eight days to wait.

For a long moment he didn't move from his spot watching Kit. She had only fainted, nothing to worry about, although he did reckon that she'd probably end up with nightmares thanks to her little meeting with the Boggart.

After a few minutes he stood from his crouched position, securing the brief case in the air with a levitation charm he bent down to Kit placing a light kiss to her forehead before scooping her up in his arms. Sure, most people would have put the levitation charm on the girl and carry the briefcase…but Remus wasn't most people.

Especially when it came down to looking after his Kitten.

He had to wonder though. If she reacted that badly to facing the Boggart alone, what would happen if she had to face the real thing alone?

Perhaps he could train her with Harry. Harry could learn how to protect himself from Dementors and Kit could get over her fear of Lucius. Perhaps…

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Meanwhile, the real flesh and blood Lucius Malfoy was in his office at the Malfoy Manor. It had really become an obsession, so much so that days were taken off of work, and even the house elf's knew better then to disturb him for silly little things like food.

He was trying to get the Dark Lord back. And Kit Potter would be the key. Currently he sat at the oak desk, surrounded by books ranging from a verity of topics. From time travel, to Witches with extraordinary powers. His mind drank everything in, learning each little detail.

There was something about that girl, she had come straight out of the past. And, if Lucius was correct, if she could come out of the past; then he could pull something out of the past. Or rather someone.

Imagine what Voldemort would do to thank him if he pulled him right out of the past where he had the most power. Right before he killed James and Lily Potter, Right before that Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord.

A twisted smile fell upon his lips.

He just had to unlock the girls secrets.

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AN: Wow, I think this is my longest chapter yet. Seven pages. Woo. So okay, we now know what the plan for Peter is (or rather just some of it), and we know that not only is Kit having a problem keeping secrets from Remus, but that her biggest fear is Lucius. And also, thus biggest fear is currently after her because she was the only successful case of time travel in years. To get Voldie back. To pull Voldie from the past. Right before Voldie kills the Potters.

Can anyone name Lucius' mistake? Yeah, that's right. If Lucius has his way an' manages to get Voldie to the present time frame…

Well, the past would be changed utterly.

It's your time to vote:

Should Lucius manage to pull Voldemort out of the past?

Also, yes I know we have a shadow Voldie living off in Albania right now. Which will make it all the more dire if he does pull dear Voldie out of the past.

On another note, Lupin will be staying as a teacher thanks to all of your votes.

Enjoy.