Harry's initial plan to let Kiba and the pack run free around the forest was put off by one small problem.

The dementors that roamed the grounds trying to find Sirius Black would likely target them. Kiba, after running into one two days into the school year, agreed it was a chance they shouldn't take just for them to have the forest to themselves.

However Harry could let them roam the unused portions of the castle, after he explained to McGonagall why he had wolves in his trunk.

(Hermione had told her the next day, and once Kiba and the others proved to be rather docile when they weren't being threatened they were allowed out of the trunk. Harry kept the fact they could turn into humans a secret.)

Sprout eventually found out that some of the wolves were quite good at digging on command, and quickly enlisted Toboe and Hige in helping her around the grounds. In exchange she fed them an entire cow between the pack. It was already butchered, so they just had to eat and not worry about the skin.

"Ugh. Snape is worse than usual," complained Harry. Next to him was Toboe, who immediately took his usual spot next to Harry. The others were out patrolling the halls.

Apparently McGonagall decided to put the wolves to work in keeping Black out of the castle from the inside. Considering they couldn't go out because of the Dementors patrolling the grounds, and they wouldn't attack unless provoked, it was a workable agreement.

Plus it meant they could leave the trunk. As comfortable as it was, even Toboe wanted out occasionally.

Kiba's nose was in the air. There was a foul stench in the air and it sent his hackles up. None of the pack liked the foul things, and that went double for Harry who had the misfortune of being within twenty feet of one in one of the outside corridors on his way to Herbology.

Unlike the rest of his class, who merely shivered and soldiered on, Harry nearly passed out from hearing his parent's death. He was in the hospital wing for an hour before he was allowed back in class.

Apparently due to the fact he had experienced real horrors, he had a more adverse reaction to the creatures. According to Seamus, the same thing happened to Neville when he came too close to the things.

As a result, McGonagall allowed Harry and Neville to be escorted by one of the pack whenever they needed to be outside. Hige usually partnered up with Neville while Kiba took Harry.

According to Hige, Neville smelled mostly of plants, which was easier on his nose.

Fortunately they were the only two that were hit rather strongly with the dementor's dark aura. And since Harry didn't like the idea of hearing his parents die every time he went outside, he asked the new Defense teacher for help and dragged Neville along with him.

Which was how they learned Neville didn't have a wand of his own and was using his father's. A quick letter to his grandmother sorted that out rather quickly.

It was the first Quidditch match of the year, and all five wolves were outside patrolling the stadium walls. They had become a common sight to the students, who quickly learned that antagonizing them was a very bad idea. Namely some of the...slower...Slytherins.

Those fools generally wet themselves when faced with an annoyed Kiba or Tsume, and all it took was a quick check of their wands and memory before detentions were given.

As it was, the students were more comfortable with the wolves patrolling the halls instead of the Dementors.

Draco had tried to get them removed, since they apparently 'belonged' to Potter, but since they were bought legally by Harry and registered as familiars (not to mention the note McGonagall gave saying they were allowed on grounds so long as they never attacked a student without just cause) there was little Malfoy senior could do.

Well, that and Harry fully admitted he had planned to let them out in the forest, at least until he learned of the Dementors being stationed. Since he had originally intended to let them out away from students, legally he was free to have them.

The fact they were willing to patrol the corridors for the teachers in case of Black was just a bonus.

Kiba was paying half attention to the game, when he smelt something odd.

There was a black dog near the forest. One that didn't smell normal. In fact he reminded Kiba strongly of McGonagall, who reeked of cat fur, despite the fact she didn't own one.

Kiba could only assume this dog was the one the teachers had them looking for. Nodding to Tsume, who took Kiba's position, Kiba ran off into the forest.

He followed the dog, who looked at Kiba strangely. Then he spoke in a rather thickly accented, but still canine tongue. Whoever this was, definitely wasn't a dog. No real canine would have an accent that bad.

'Who are you?'

'I am Kiba. I assume you must be Black.'

'Do you live in the castle?'

'I stay at the castle. Why?'

'I am looking for a traitorous rat.'

'There are many rats in that castle. Hige snacks on them when no one's looking.'

'This one looks like a rat, but isn't. He's missing a toe on his right paw.'

'Like you smell and look like dog, but aren't? Is this rat anything like that odd woman who reeks of cat but doesn't own one?'

'Exactly! The bastard framed me, and when I realized he was in the castle I had to stop him! He might hurt my pup!'

'How do I know you're not lying?'

'Corner him and make it impossible for him to escape. I guarantee you that coward will transform just to get away. If I'm telling the truth, then maybe the dementors will be called off and I could have my name cleared. If not, then the only thing that will happens is that you've just killed a normal rat.'

Kiba considered his options. On one hand, this fake-dog might be lying and he will have killed a rat for no reason. On the other hand, if this fake-dog was telling the truth, then there was an adult sleeping with the boys. And Kiba didn't like the idea of that one bit. Either way, he had to do something.

It helped the dog's case that the cat known as Crookshanks, who belonged to the tense bushy haired girl Hermione, had been complaining that he wasn't allowed to eat the fake-rat for months. He tolerated the wolves because they occasionally left him rats to eat.

'Give us one month to see if you are telling the truth. During that time stay out of the castle or the pack will be obligated to kill you.'

'Fair enough.'

Kiba was about to return to his spot near the stands when Tsume, Toboe and Hige all started howling like the damned. He didn't think, but ran like there was a fire on his tail straight to the stadium. He saw Harry falling from his broom and immediately ran up the stairs and launched himself from the first opening.

Harry was barely conscious, but he had enough presence of mind to hang on to the first warm body that he came in contact with. It took some careful maneuvering, but Kiba managed to land on the ground more or less intact with his passenger.

Tsume joined Kiba as they ran straight into the dementors while Blue, Hige and Toboe protected Harry.

Apparently the fact they weren't normal wolves, but rather wolves that had long since adapted into the magical breed meant they could hurt the foul creatures.

There was a reason that a great deal of Native American spiritual art had wolves in it. They were beings of spirit and magic after all.

Harry woke up to find Toboe with his head next to him whining.

"Toboe, move, your breath reeks."

Toboe barked in relief, and Harry tried to find his glasses. Someone handed them to him, and he realized it was Hermione.

"Thanks. What the hell happened?"

"Dementors stormed the pitch. Luckily your wolf friends started raising one hell of a racket, alerting the teachers almost immediately to their presence. Kiba saved your life, though Madam Pomphrey had a hell of a time treating his broken leg. He's lucky they got him so quickly, or he might have a limp," said Hermione.

Hermione had misgivings about the wolves from the get-go, but after what Kiba did saving Harry and the way they managed to keep those foul things away until Dumbledore sent them packing erased most of it.

"Does this mean I won't have to worry about them being sent away anymore?" he asked hopefully.

"Mate, after the way they reacted to dementors on the pitch, I doubt the school governors would have a leg to stand on once the Prophet gets wind of it the incident," said one of the twins.

The twins had already worked up a rough draft of the incident, including how Kiba and the pack had not only kept the beasts away, but had saved Harry from his fall. The fact that while Black had been spotted in the area, but had yet to make it past the wolves, meant that they were doing more good than harm.

BOY-WHO-LIVED ATTACKED BY DEMENTORS DURING QUIDDITCH GAME! POTTER'S WOLVES PROTECT STUDENTS FROM BOTH BLACK AND DEMENTORS!

In a surprising turn of events during what was supposed to be a normal Quidditch game between long-time rivals Slytherin and Gryffindor, dementors, the terrifying beings that guard Azkaban Prison, attacked the famous Boy-who-lived, Harry Potter.

Reports have been coming in since the first week of term that wolves, you read this right, wolves have been patrolling the inside of the castle for Black.

Where did they come from you ask?

As it turns out, Potter himself found a wizard in Diagon selling the pack of five in a too small cage and had bought them with the intent to let them go free in the Forbidden Forest, where they could live peacefully away from the student body.

Naturally this plan hit a snag when the Headmaster revealed Ministry plans to protect the students with dementors. However, these same wolves proved quite adept at keeping Black out of the castle.

During the recent Quidditch game, no less than one hundred dementors stormed the pitch, intent on feasting on innocent children they were meant to protect. This attempt was only stopped by the combined efforts of the wolves and the Headmaster.

One must wonder if allowing dementors near a school was such a smart idea, when a small pack of wolves was able to do the same service without trying to attack children...

(For those of you wondering, the reason why it wasn't Hufflepuff against Slytherin was because Kiba had escorted Harry to COMC class and had kept Malfoy from being injured in the first place. Without a valid excuse, the Slytherins couldn't get out of the match.)

Kiba was miserable as he had ever been. Much to his dismay, because of the fact that he apparently had an allergic reaction to certain potion ingredients, he had to spend a miserable week in the Hospital Wing healing his broken right leg.

Due to his actions in saving Harry and keeping the foul beasts away from the students until Dumbledore got rid of them, Madam Pomphrey was checking all the wolves for allergies in case of a repeat.

Kiba had sprained his leg when he landed wrong saving Harry, and it had broken when it hit a dementor. The fact he had soldiered on despite the clear pain was one of the main reasons he was in the hospital wing in the first place.

Harry did visit every day with food, as he knew from experience that the food served in the hospital wing wasn't anything to write home about.

Kiba had, however given Tsume the same warning that the fake-dog Kiba suspected was Black had about that rat, which was why Ron currently believed Crookshanks had chased the vermin out of the tower.

The truth was that Hige had caught it, and Harry had thrown Scabbers into a shrunken version of the same cage that once held the pack. Harry had kept it, mostly because he was tired of Ron's rat crapping on his bed and wanted to prove a point.

So now Scabbers was locked up tight inside Harry's trunk, inside Kiba's room which had no obvious means of escape.

Once Kiba was allowed out of Poppy's territory, Harry was bringing this to the attention of McGonagall inside an escape proof room with several witnesses.

Kiba whined when Poppy came around again.

"I would say this is your own fault, but considering you did it to protect the students..." she said. Everyone on staff knew that for some reason all five of the wolves understood human tongue. It was the only explanation they had for why none of them had made a mess indoors.

Kiba whined again. He hated it here...the smells that assaulted his nose were horrible.

Harry popped his head in, and Kiba smelled his favorite. A thick meaty bone with meat still on it.

In order to keep him from making a mess on her beds, Pomphrey had set him up on a wooden table that had cushions on it. Once his leg healed from the break, he would be allowed off it.

Fortunately he took to healing spells, and under full moonlight which for once wasn't hindered by clouds, his recovery would be swift. It didn't mean he had to like being stuck in a room full of unpleasant smells though.

At least Harry left him books to read.

McGonagall couldn't believe what Harry was saying. Ron's rat, an animagus?

"Are you sure this isn't an attempt to keep Scabbers from eating your sheets again?"

"Scabbers keeps setting off Hermione's cat, and all the wolves act oddly around him when they don't even react to Hedwig. That and the fact Crookshanks has yet to eat him, despite several attempts is a clear indication that Scabbers might be more than just a rat."

"And the cage is for...?"

"Keeps him from trying to escape. I would have made it bigger, but the holes in it would make it very easy for him to slip through."

"Where did you get it?" she asked incredulous.

"It's the same cage I found the pack in. I kept it in case Scabbers tried to crap on my bed...again."

"Ah. Very well, let's see what the test says..." said McGonagall, unable to refute such logic.

Her frown deepened when it came back positive. She cast it again, same results. Then she hit the wolves. It came back an odd color, but it wasn't a positive match. She hit Harry with it, negative.

She hit Scabbers a third time, and once again, positive.

"Excuse me while I Floo Amelia about this..." she said.

"Don't forget, he's been sleeping in a dorm room full of underage boys for at least ten years now," Harry piped up.

McGonagall frown deepened at the reminder. An hour later Amelia Bones arrived to find an unhappy McGonagall, the boy-who-lived, and the pack of wolves that had sparked so much debate recently.

The fact they were calmly sitting around a cage with a rat in it, and not acting aggressively to the intruder only spoke volumes about their intelligence. The white one in particular.

"What's this about Minerva?"

"We may have an unregistered animagi sleeping in the third year dorms. A man at that," she said frostily. Amelia knew Minerva took any threat to her lions seriously.

Amelia looked at Harry.

"Why is he here?"

"He brought the problem to me, and his wolves are the reason why he knew something was wrong," said Minerva.

She nodded, and cast the animagus revealing spell. It came up with two hits, one more than she hoped for.

One was Minerva obviously, but the second came from the same rat that was now caged.

"Very well. I think it's time we find out who this mystery rat is," she said.

"Hold on...are there any spells to make a room impenetrable to escape? If he's as cowardly as his form suggests, he might try to make a run for it, and rats can go into holes too small for a wolf," said Harry.

Amelia was pleased by his thoroughness. She swiftly cast the spells that would make escape impossible. If they were right, then she would keep the rat in that cage and have him arrested. There were spells to keep animagi from turning back.

They were all left stunned, as the rat became someone many thought dead.

Peter Pettigrew.

When Harry casually mentioned finding this particular rat on his bed one too many times, and having enough of it to throw him in a cage, Amelia was all too happy to arrest him.

Pedophilia wasn't just looked down upon in the magical society, it was considered worse than lycanthropy. So for a grown man to masquerade as a rat and stay in the same room as pre-teen boys...well, it wouldn't be pleasant for Pettigrew once word got out.