A/N: Happy holidays, everyone! I'm visiting my sister, so we had some great brainstorming for this fic, and I had a little more time to polish this up!

"You got a problem with that?" Black snarled at him.

"No!" Draco cried. "I like Professor Lupin; he's the best Defense teacher we've ever had."

Black looked quite pleased at that. It wasn't much of a standard, honestly, if he'd thought about it, but Lupin really was a good professor.

Then the conversation turned. Black wanted to go get Lupin immediately, and then go after Pettigrew, and kill him. Draco and Cygna pointed out that killing him wouldn't do much for clearing his name, which Black begrudgingly admitted was true. Eventually, they decided that Draco should get Lupin and bring him out to the Forest.

"Tonight and tomorrow night are the full moon, though," Draco told Black. "It'll probably have to be next week."

Black had just snorted. "I waited twelve years in Azkaban, kid. I think I can handle another week."

Draco had plenty of time to plan how he was going to get Lupin into the Forest without telling him what he was up to. The next week, he lingered after Defense class, sending Crabbe and Goyle to lunch ahead of him.

"Professor?"

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Er, I was wondering if you could, um, help me with something?"

Professor Lupin turned with a half-smile and raised eyebrows. "As long as it's not breaking school rules," he chided, obviously not thinking that Draco would be asking him to do so.

Draco decided it was probably for the best if he didn't dissuade him of the idea, for now. Besides, it technically wasn't breaking a rule – he would be with a professor the whole time.

"Of course not," he lied with an innocent smile that had bought him many pinched cheeks at the hands of pureblood mothers. "When are you free later?"

He knew perfectly well that Lupin hadn't another class to teach in the afternoon.

"Now, now," Lupin said, smiling. "You know my schedule, don't try to fool me. Come by as soon as you're done with Flitwick."

"Thanks, Professor," Draco said, dashing out of the room.

He almost felt bad for lying to his Professor, but not quite, he thought, as he led an unsuspecting Lupin out of the castle later.

It was all for the best, anyway. He'd probably thank him later.

"You never told me what it was you needed help with, Draco," Lupin said as the edge of the Forest came into sight.

"Oh, it wasn't exactly that I needed help," Draco said. "I really just wanted to show you something."

Lupin drew to an abrupt halt and looked at him reproachfully. "Does this something happen to reside in the Forest?"

"It's what I learned the Patronus for, Professor," Draco told him honestly, knowing it was the only way to get the man to acquiesce to anything now.

Lupin stared back at him for a few long moments, and then sighed.

"Alright, then," he said. "I can't deny you've made me curious. But if I say the word, we're going immediately back to the castle. Understood?"

"Understood," Draco said, hiding his triumphant smile.

"So, will you tell me where we're going now?" Lupin asked as they walked through the first line of trees.

"Oh, she'll find us soon," Draco said.

"She?" Lupin asked, clearly alarmed. "Draco, who exactly do you mean?"

In answer to his question, Cygna dropped out of a tree in front of them. Lupin had his wand out in a flash.

"Who are you?" Lupin demanded.

"This is my friend, Cygna," Draco told him, and he lowered his wand a little.

"Ah," said Lupin. "Pleased to meet you, then."

"I'm sure," Cygna said, eyeing his wand distrustfully. Lupin looked a bit embarrassed and tucked it away.

"Do you… live here?"

A bark of laughter was heard, which Draco recognized as Black's, but it only made Lupin tense up even more, and his wand immediately leapt back into his hand.

"Don't you recognize her, Moony?" Black asked as he came out from behind the tree he'd been hiding behind.

"Sirius," Lupin said, so quietly that Draco thought he hadn't meant to say it out loud.

"I'm innocent, Remus," Black continued. "I didn't kill anyone."

"Draco," Lupin said, reaching out to grasp his shoulder, but not looking away from Black. "Get behind me."

"Professor – " Draco started to protest, but Cygna cut him off.

"He's not lying," she said, and Lupin looked at her again, his wand slowly lowering.

"But… Peter…" Lupin's eyes darted quickly between Black and Cygna.

"We switched," Black said gruffly. "I wasn't secret-keeper. And he's still alive."

"How did you get out?"

"How d'you think?" Black smirked. "Padfoot's not as bothered by dementors as I am."

"You dog," Lupin said, in a tone of exasperation and wonder. Black grinned at him wildly.

"C'mon, Moony, what'd you expect?" He flung his arms wide, and to Draco's surprise, Lupin immediately strode over and kissed Black. He turned away to give them privacy (they were really going at it) and saw Cygna watching in fascination.

"Cygna!" he hissed. "Don't just watch them!"

"You should; you might learn something," she smirked, not even bothering to look away. Draco wrinkled his nose.

"When were you going to tell me, anyway?" he asked her, quietly, after a few moments.

"Tell you what?"

"That you're the bloody Girl-Who-Died!"

He'd said it at a normal volume, but it was still loud enough that Black and Lupin stopped their snog-fest. Cygna looked down and dug one of her toes into the ground.

Planning to get Lupin into the Forest hadn't taken up much of his time, honestly. He'd spent a good majority of it wondering who Cygna was that Black just seemed to recognize her almost right away. He'd nearly smacked himself in the head with his history textbook when he realized the answer was literally right in front of him.

"I'm not dead," she said sullenly.

"Well, obviously," Draco drawled. "But why didn't you tell me?"

Cygna just huffed, crossing her arms and leaning back against the tree trunk behind her. Draco just didn't understand. They were supposed to be friends – best friends!

"Sometimes," Lupin said, "it can be hardest to confide in those closest to us, for fear of losing them." Black grabbed Lupin's hand and squeezed it as he spoke.

Cygna looked like she might cry. Draco had never seen her cry, and he really didn't ever want to.

"I'm still your friend," Draco blurted quickly, and then, feeling a little embarrassed at his own display of feelings, attempted to be aloof and added, "I mean – you really should be flattered to have a Malfoy as a friend."

Cygna rolled her eyes and smiled a little at that, so Draco felt a little better, but then she followed that up by punching him in the arm. It really wasn't all that hard of a hit, but she had skinny knuckles.

"Ow," he whined, but she ignored him, turning to Lupin and Black, who were just watching the two of them with undisguised amusement.

"So. Pettigrew?"

The plan they came up with was simple.

Professor Lupin would ask Weasley to bring his rat down to his classroom, and he would force Pettigrew back into his human form. Then they could call in Dumbledore, and the Aurors to arrest him.

On their way back into the castle, however, there was an unexpected development.

They nearly ran into Weasley. Well, Weasley nearly ran into them, but he apparently had no time to stop and apologize. He ran past him and Lupin, with an angry expression, and Draco watched him go, bewildered.

Longbottom came panting up behind them and stopped momentarily before rushing off after him.

"Sorry. Hermione's cat ate his rat."

Draco didn't see how that was any excuse for being rude, but as Longbottom followed after Weasley, the implication hit him, and he looked at Lupin with horror.

"What do we do now?"