Chapter 5
Harry had imagined the Maunders' identities on numerous occasions. He had concluded they had to be an older, cooler version of Fred and George. So, seeing the group of people in the headmaster's office came at somewhat of a surprise. His eyes travelled across the people in the room; Dumbledore, Amelia Bones, Percy and. "Dad?"
"Harry"
His eyes fell on the person sitting next to his father. He hadn't noticed him at first. He looked terrible. Pale and gaunt, his sunken form seemed to almost disappear into the armchair he sat on. But there was something strangely familiar about him; he just could not place it.
"Dad, what are we doing here?" he finally managed.
"Mr. Weasley, do you have your rat?" Dumbledore started.
"Dumbledore, no, they need to know. They need to understand," James said jumping in. He glanced at Sirius was he wondered how he'd start this elaborate tale. "When I was at Hogwarts, I…" He stopped and glanced at Sirius again. The years they had spent apart hadn't broken the strong bond of friendship.
"Harry," Sirius croaked. "Please can I look at your map?"
"What?" James, Harry and Ron said together.
Harry slowly pulled the parchment from his robes and looked at it for a moment, before handing the map to the man. Somehow he instinctively knew he could trust this man. Despite his appearance, he knew he would never hurt him.
"Thank you," Sirius said as he took the map with a shaking hand. He carefully placed it on the table before him. Then with some hesitation, as though he didn't quite trust his ability, he tapped the parchment. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
"You know how it works?" Ron gasped.
"Of course."
"You're one of the Maunders?" Ron said in awe.
Sirius nodded in acknowledgement. "When James, I… mate, do they know about Remus?"
"Yes, they do, its fine," James replied. "Assuming anything we say in here is, well err, well you know."
"I assume anything you are referring to is a couple of bored underage wizards experimenting with magic at school, then it's a school issue. It's not the concern of the Ministry," Amelia Bones replied.
James and Sirius exchanged looks before Sirius continued. "James, Remus, Peter and I were great friends at school. We were all sorted into Gryffindor, so spent the vast majority of our time together. Remus, however, used to disappear on a semi frequent basis. He always made excuses, he was visiting his sick mother and the like, but he always came back injured. He made excuses and tried to hide them, but it just didn't sit right. We…." Sirius stopped and looked at James for moment.
"Mid-August, when you stayed over and we just finished playing Quidditch with the McGill kids," James added.
"That's when we figured out Remus was a werewolf," Sirius explained seeing the confused faces. "I'm not going to lie to you, it terrified me at the time, but he was still Remus. He just…"
"…had a bit of a furry problem each month," James finished.
"At that time Remus' transformations were incredibly painful. I know he had the condition since he was five, but I know the transformations still terrified him. We hated it, knowing what our friend was going through, yet there was nothing we could do. Well, not in our human forms at least."
"I don't understand," Harry said.
"A werewolf is only dangerous to humans," James added.
"So, James and I decided we had to help Remus and the only way to do that was to become Animagi."
"How old were you when you made that decision," Professor McGonagall asked.
"Twelve," James replied.
"We studied every book in the library and." He looked at guiltily at Professor McGonagall. "We borrowed your notes. I'm sorry."
Professor McGonagall waved her hand dismissively. "When did you manage to achieve it?"
"You and I?" James said, looking at Sirius. "During the summer holiday of our fourth year. I think it was the third week."
"Yup," Sirius confirmed. "Peter managed it in the fourth week of our fifth year."
"That's quite some achievement," Professor McGonagall said with a small smile. She shook her head; it may have been sixteen years since they left school. They may have not seen each other for thirteen years, but the conversation between them was the same. Always covering for each other. Always finishing each other's sentences.
"Peter was a rat, I am a stag and Sirius…"
"… a black dog," Harry finished.
"You remember?" Sirius asked, breaking into the first genuine smile. The first smile even in thirteen years.
James patted his friend's shoulder; feeling relived parts of the old Sirius were being to resurface once again. "We made the map so we could get out of the school without being seen," he continued, his hand sweeping over the map.
"That's quite some magic for a couple of fifteen year olds," Amelia Bones admired.
Sirius and James shrugged. "It showed our animagi forms as well as Remus's transformation, and we didn't want that information to get into the wrong hands. So we added another layer of encryption. Sirius pulled his wand out and gently tapped on the map again. "Occultatum," he muttered. Slowly another dot appeared on the map, right next to Ron, 'Wormtail'.
He let his head fall into his hands. He had been right, all this time, he had been right. He wasn't aware of James' almost death grip on his shoulder or the collective gasps around the room, or the near frantic squeaking from the rat. He had been right. He didn't know what emotion he felt right now; relieve, fear, excitement, or maybe he was too tired, too broken to feel anything. He knew it was over.
"Sirius," James said wrapping his arm around the other man's shoulders. "What did I say? I knew you were right. You are a bloody genius mate."
"Thanks Prongs," Sirius said thickly.
Harry looked at his godfather, who if possible looked worse than he had done moments before the revelation. His father looked as white as sheet, Ron who looked like he was either going to throw up or pass out and the other adults who looked at rat with disgust.
Ron held the rat at arm's length with a look of utter disgust and shock on his face. "What happened," he asked in a timid voice.
James sat down next to his friend and looked at him before continuing. "During the war it was hell. You didn't know who to trust, and then we learnt someone close to us was a spy and my family was being hunted by Lord Voldemort."
"Us? Why?" Harry asked in a confused voice.
"Your mother and I were prominent members of the Order, the group formed to fight Voldemort," James added seeing Ron and Harry's confused faces. He and Lily had never told Harry about the prophecy, neither of them seeing the need to burden Harry with it. They wanted him to have a childhood, then when he was seventeen they would tell him. "I guess we fought one too many battles and pissed him off."
"What did you do?"
"We had to go into hiding and have a secret keeper."
"What's a secret keeper?"
"The Secret Keeper is the witch or wizard designated to hide a secret by means of the Fidelius Charm; the secret is embedded in their very soul," Sirius said quietly.
"And…" Harry started. He was going to ask who their secret keeper was but he knew the answer sat before him. He knew it was the same reason his dad had thought his best friend had died. It was the reason he hadn't seen his godfather in thirteen years. It was the reason his godfather looked barely alive. "You were our secret keeper," he finally said.
"Yes."
"Thank you," Harry finally manged, his throat suddenly feeling very tight.
"I think it's time for Peter to revel himself." Dumbledore said breaking the silence. He took the rat from Ron. With a quick flick on his wand, then was a flash of light and like a rapidly growing tree, a short, balding man appeared in front of them. "Good afternoon Peter."
The short, balding man's eyes darted wildly around the room. "Dumbledore," he said in a wheezy voice.
"We just want to have a chat about Halloween."
"Halloween?" Peter replied nervously. "James, James my old friend."
James looked at his former friend, the man who would have seen him die without battering an eyelid. His hand did not leave the shoulder of the man who had been prepared and damn near give up his life for his family and himself. "Yes Peter, Halloween thirteen years ago," he said darkly.
"Sirius!" Peter exclaimed, noticing his old friend for the first time. "You..."
"Escaped? Am alive?" Sirius offered. "Yes, that's right Peter, I escaped from that hellhole you held me in. I escaped from your master, Voldemort."
"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" Peter laughed nervously. "I've only been loyal to you, James."
"Don't you dare talk about loyalty in front of him!" James growled, once again resuming his death grip on Sirius' shoulder. "You would have sold my family and I to Voldemort without batting an eye lid. You delivered a friend, someone who looked out for you, to Voldemort!"
"I-I, no James. I would never do that. Its Sirius, he serves the Dark Lord!"
"I've never served that piece of filth," Sirius said in a near whisper. "When I was sixteen my family offered me into his service. I refused. He marked my life from that moment. It didn't stop your Death Eater pals from trying to recruit me."
"Death Eater pals?!" Peter exclaimed. "Where ever you've been for the last thirteen years has obviously warped your mind"
"Where have I been Peter?" Sirius spat. "You would know, you brought me there!"
Peter started to mutter. Words such as 'far-fletched' and 'madness' could be made out amongst the blabbering., but all the time his skin grew paler.
"Mr. Pettigrew, I would like to hear your account of the event on 31st October 1981," Amelia Bones said, speaking for the first time.
"Ask him!" Peter exclaimed. "He was there."
"I have heard Mr. Black's account of the event."
"And you…" Peter stopped, noting the wand in Sirius' hand. He knew Sirius' didn't have when they had captured him. He knew it had been held at the Ministry all this time. Which only meant one thing.
"Why?" James asked.
"He was taking over everywhere, there was no point in fighting him," Peter squeaked.
"No point in fighting the evillest wizard ever to walk this world?!"
"He was..."
"He was what Peter?!" James snapped, fighting the urge to yell at the small balding man whom once considered a friend. "Do you deny you past information to Voldemort? Do you deny you were going to sell my family and I to Voldemort? Do deny you kidnapped Sirius and tortured him?"
"No!" Peter snapped.
The simple word took the wind out of James' sails. Too shocked. Too confused to anything else he slumped in the chair. "Fuck," he said to no one in particular.
Sensing James had nothing more to say, Amelia Bones stepped from and tapped Peter's wand. "Prior Incantato," Amelia Bones said softy. Gold threads snaked out showing the various spells he had used. Ghosts of people began to rise from the end. She nodded. "Fulgari." Cords shot from her wand, binding Peter. "Mr. Black, you are obviously acquitted from all of the charges against you."
"Thank you," Sirius replied quietly.
"No thank you Mr. Black. Your information is certainly going to help us. You are a good man Sirius, you did not deserve this," Amelia finished softy. Without another word she slipped out the room, Peter in tow.
Harry watched his father put his arm around his godfather's shoulders and whisper to him. He couldn't make out the words, but he didn't want to. It wasn't his place. He knew his father and Sirius had been very close. He knew his grandparents had adopted Sirius when he was sixteen, after Sirius' parents had tried to sell him to Voldemort he thought darkly. He knew his father hated Halloween and had seen him hold a glass up to the stars uttering the words 'Sirius, where ever you are, keep fighting and come home to us'. He watched his father stand up, pat Sirius' shoulder again before walking up to him and Ron.
"Are you two okay?" James asked. Watching them both nodded, he placed his hands on their shoulders and started to guide them to the door. "Right, let's get you back to the common room. We don't want Filch to catch you out of bounds."
Harry nodded, but before he could stop himself he found himself running towards his godfather and throwing his arms around his neck. "Thank you for being our secret keeper and keeping us safe. Thank you for coming back for dad. He needs to you," he whispered.
Having been starved of human affection for so long Sirius was at a loss of what to do. "It's okay Harry," he finally managed, gently patting his back.
"I'll see you soon?" Harry asked. Watching his godfather nod a reply, he turned and walked back to his father. Feeling a hand on his shoulder he allowed himself to be guided out of the room. "Will Sirius be okay?" he asked once out of Dumbledore's office.
James paused for a moment before replying. "Yes, he will be. It's going to take a bit of time, that's all. Ron? Are you okay?"
"I'm sorry Mr. Potter, I didn't know."
"Oh Ron!" James exclaimed placing his hands on Ron's shoulders. "None of us did. Remus and I didn't realise and we used transform the whole time together. Sirius realised because, because he is far more observant than us."
"He was always a crap pet," Ron said bitterly. "I just didn't realise how crap."
"I guess you owe Crookshanks an apology," Harry added.
"I'll buy him a bowl of the best cat food, or whatever cats like."
"Are two okay?" James asked again.
"Yes. When I am going to Sirius again?" Harry asked.
"At Christmas, he's staying with us."
"Great," Harry said with a grin. He briefly hugged his father before clapping Ron on the shoulder and starting to head down the corridor. "I'll see you later dad."
James watched for a moment as the two boys ended down the corridor before heading back into the study.
A/N: Hope everyone is enjoying my fic. Please R&R
A/N 2: Remus will appear. Either in the next chapter or the following one, depending on how carried away I get on Chapter 6 . The last two chapters were going to be one chapter and probably 2000 words, it ended up being more than double. Then I got carried away. I guess an early morning commute will do that to a person.
