A/N Here it is: The fifth chapter of "A sparkle of hope". We hope you will enjoy reading it as much as we did enjoy writing it. Please do review, after all we are writing this story for you guys.

Sadly enough we do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 5 – Revelations

His head was killing him. Harry couldn't believe he had actually taken the dreamless sleep potion from them.

"It will make you feel better"

Right! The statement "it will worsen your head-ache immensely, so that you will feel as if a herd of hippogriffs had just walked over you", would have been much more truthfully but Harry knew that Dumbledore and Lupin had needed this time-out in order to decide what was going to happen to him in the future.

Even though his head was still throbbing Harry decided that now was absolutely no time for lying around idly, he needed to clear up things with the two adult wizards…

He quickly sat up in bed and realized at once that this had been a very foolish thing to do indeed.

"Steady there Harry. Let me grab your glasses for you." Harry recognized Remus' voice and fell back into his pillows and silently accepted his glasses from him. He was uncomfortable. He had absolutely no idea how to act round him.

"Well Harry," Remus began. "I think I must thank you at first for letting me see what you've seen."

Harry gave a barely receivable nod.

"I know that this must all be very hard on you and confusing…"

"Here it comes at last," Harry thought grimly. This talk was bound to happen sometimes soon.

"Look Professor…"

"Harry I know that I will be your professor in the future, but I am not yet. Please do call me Remus…"

"Right, Remus. I know you want to have this big talk about my feelings and discussing what you have just witnessed and talk about my screwed up life…" Harry noticed that his tone of voice was becoming increasingly sharper "…but I really don't want your pity. I don't need it. I have lived the last seventeen years just fine, but what I do need is yours and Professor Dumbledore's help in order to set things straight."

Remus sighed. He had just expected this.

Flashback.

Remus Lupin and Albus Dumbledore were utterly shocked from the scenes they had just witnessed.

"Have you known about this Albus?" Remus asked the question that had been tormenting him ever since he had set foot in Harry's memories.

Albus Dumbledore shook his head and sighed.

"I didn't know about it Remus. Having Harry here and with all this terrible memories was something I could never have expected and could never have been prepared for. It seems that he had to endure things which most adult wizards have never witnessed during their whole life.

Remus nodded. How could he have abandon Harry? Why had he left Harry growing up with the Dursleys, why had he, Remus, never made any move to contact Harry before his eleventh birthday and help him carry the burden he was obviously carrying, why wouldn't he be of more help in Harry's future?"

"Don't blame yourself Remus." Lupin looked up to see Dumbledore watching him intently. "You couldn't have done anything. I on the other hand," he sighed, "was responsible for Harry's well-being. I made the terrible mistake of thinking that merely keeping him alive was enough but as we had seen it isn't. It could never be enough. This child needs a family."

It took Remus another moment to register what his old headmaster had just said.

"A family Albus? You don't mean…"

Yes I do Remus, but not only you. From what I understood there is another wizard out there who should play an important part in Harry's life and if we want to help Harry deal with his past and our future, we will need his help. Harry needs his help."

Remus stared at him in disbelief…there could be just one person the ancient wizard could be talking about and that wizard had been dead for Remus for the past nine years. But he had also witnessed Harry's memories and therefore he knew that there was more to his old friend than met the eye.

End of Flashback

Remus shook his head in order to clean his head and looked at Harry.

"Harry, it's not because of pity that I am standing here, offering you my help but because of who your parents were and who you are. I am terribly sorry for what had happened earlier, but you caught me completely by surprise. It wasn't right for me to lie to you, I see that now, but believe me that Albus and I will do anything to help you fulfilling your destiny.

Harry scrutinized the man. It seemed as if he was really meaning what he said- he gave Lupin a small nod in order to indicate that he had understood and agreed. His resentful feelings hadn't vanished but he had decided that he would give Lupin another chance-

"Great," Remus replied enthusiastically and Harry merely raised an eyebrow at his cheerfulness. It seemed that the man really was glad about the fact that they had cleaned it all up.

"So Harry, let's try this again. Shall we?" he asked with a small glimmer in his eyes.

"Hello! I'm Remus Lupin. Pleasure to meet you." He offered his hand to Harry who after another calculating look at Lupin shook it.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Harry, Harry Potter." Both of their faces split in an identical grin.

When Dumbledore returned, the sight that awaited him brought a smile to his face. Obviously Harry and Remus had talked and even though the ancient headmaster doubted that they had gotten rid of all of their differences they had obviously reconciled, at least partly.

Harry was lying in bed, his breathing calm and even, fast asleep. Remus was sitting in a chair right beside his bed, not noticing his surroundings, only watching the smallish sleeping boy in front of him.

Dumbledore silently made his exit, there were things he needed to set straight, for both of their sakes.

The headmaster was now sitting in front of the minister of magic, Cornelius Fudge, who was spluttering like a fish on dry land.

"Dumbledore, there must be a mistake. Sirius Black could never be innocent. There were eye-witnesses, who…"

"…were tricked Cornelius." Dumbledore said in a grave voice. "I assure you that what I say is correct, otherwise I wouldn't sit here wasting your and my precious time. Have you done as I bade you?"

Fudge gave him a foul look.

"Indeed I have. The prisoner is being escorted here as we speak. And here…" he held up a small flask of a clear liquid is the Veritaserum you asked for.

"Excellent."

At this exact moment the door opened and two aurors led in a man with chains. He had long unhealthy black hair and was quite haggardly looking. Dumbledore looked at him sadly, hardly anyone would recognize, the once handsome marauder Sirius Black.

He was startled however when Black met his gaze with a calculating look, obviously the Dementors' effect on him hadn't been as bad as Dumbledore had feared, he wouldn't have known how to explain to Harry Potter that his godfather had gone insane.

Black gave Dumbledore a nod. "Dumbledore."

"Sirius." Dumbledore nodded back.

"Now, we are here to listen to your story again, Black." Fudge said sharply. "On the evidence of Albus Dumbledore."

"Again?" Sirius gave an ironic laugh which clearly showed that he wasn't amused at all.

"I must have missed the first time."

Dumbledore gave him a sharp glance. "Don't Sirius! This is more important than your hurt pride, it has to do with Harry."

This shut Sirius up.

When Dumbledore handed him the Veritaserum he took it without s much as a falter.

"Now" Fudge said sounding as if questioning Sirius Black was the last thing on earth he wanted to do right now. "State your name."

"My name is Sirius Orion Black."

"Have you been the secret keeper of the Potters?"

"No I haven't. Lily, James and I decided that we would make Peter secret keeper in order to fool Voldemort."

Fudge gave a whimper that sounded as if someone had just kicked him into the wrong body parts, so Dumbledore took over the interrogation.

"What happened on the Halloween night the Potters were murdered?"

"I went to check up on Peter, as I always did every two days since we had made him secret keeper. When I entered his flat, I didn't find any sign of a struggle. I then flew my motorbike to Godrics Hollow where I found the house in ruins and" Sirius voice was caught in his throat, the Veritaserum Fudge had given him had been one that allowed emotions to show. This way the interrogator could judge more easily if the one they questioned was actually telling the truth, truth potion or not.

"and I found James and Lily dead. I thought that Harry was gone to but suddenly I heard a baby crying and I found him under the upturned cot." Tears were streaming down Sirius' face at that point.

Neither Fudge nor Dumbeldore dared to interrupt him.

"A short while later Hagrid arrived, claiming that Professor Dumbledore had sent him in order to retrieve Harry, I argued with him but he insisted, so I gave Harry to him and offered him to take my motorcycle because I wouldn't need it anymore. I went to look for Peter in order to revenge my best friend and his family. In the end I cornered him in the street and then something happened that had never happened before." Sirius gave a bitter laugh.

"Pettigrew outsmarted me. He screamed so that every muggle around us could hear him, how I could have betrayed James and Lily, then he cut off his finger, blew up the street with the wand behind his back and transformed."
Sirius couldn't speak anymore, silent tears were continuing to roll down his face.

"Transform?" Fudge shot Dumbledore a questioning glance.

"Peter Pettigrew is an unregistered animagus" Dumbledore explained. "And Sirius story proves…"

"…that he is indeed innocent." Fudge finished the sentence tonelessly.