The thick row of trees whizzing by on both sides, that barely allowed a glimpse of the patchwork of fields beyond, finally thinned. The car came to a halt at the end of the rickety road. Looking out the windows, the impossibly crooked house in the middle of a paddock let them know they had found the right place.
The Grangers and Harry got out of the car. They had barely reached the tumble-down garage in the front yard, when the front door of the Burrow was opened and a lot of red-haired people streamed out to greet their visitors.
While Harry was watching Ron, the twins and Mrs. Weasley approach and Percy wave and step back inside, a large black shape rushed at him from the side, almost running him over.
"Snuffles!" he greeted the overeager, happily barking dog.
Ron was the next to reach them, sprinting across the yard, scattering some fat brown chickens along the way. "There you are! Snuffles, calm down. How was the drive? Did you find us all right?" he bombarded both his friends with questions.
"Hello, Ron," said Hermione, then paused until Ron remembered to greet her back. She hugged him a little awkwardly. "We barely found you, actually. We lost our way for a little bit, once we left the main road."
Fred and George greeted them as well and began to help unpack Harry's possessions from the car.
"Yeah, could have been the wards... We can't let ourselves be found too easily," said George.
"Oh, dear. Did you really?" Mrs. Weasley said from some distance still. She was briskly walking behind her sons. She was wearing a flowered apron with a wand sticking out of the pocket. "I took off some of the anti-muggle wards this morning, but people do get lost around here... And if some other muggles were to find us... I told Arthur to keep an eye out for you, but he was rushing to work... And he hasn't returned yet, but hopefully... before we sit down to dinner..."
"Oh, no, no," Mrs. Granger said right away, shaking her bushy head. "Please, don't go to any trouble. We must be off very soon-"
"Of course, we'll have an early dinner, so you'll have plenty of time to get home before dark."
After some introductions, she guided them towards the Burrow. The children and Mrs. Granger followed her, while her husband drove the car to the garage, guided by the twins. They stepped past a very rusty cauldron and a jumble of rubber boots stacked around the entrance.
Snuffles stayed next to Harry all the way there, but did not follow him in. Harry was about to invite him in, but the uncomfortable looks Mrs. Weasley was shooting towards the dog made him reconsider.
The smell of home-cooking permeated the house. Through the narrow, cluttered entryway, they could hear something bubbling on the stove.
"Oh, you really shouldn't have gone through the trouble-" Mrs. Granger began to say. She looked embarrassed about having put her hosts to work on her behalf.
"It's no trouble," Mrs. Weasley waved her off. "But I need to check on dinner..."
She tried to direct her guests to the living room, but they were all more interested in seeing a magical kitchen. There was a small, red-headed figure inside, who jumped to her feet as she saw the guests, mumbled a hasty greeting, and fled.
The kitchen did not disappoint. It was small and rather cramped, but there were oddities all around them. The spoon was stirring the saucepan on the stove all by itself, the ancient-looking radio next to the sink was announcing the Wizarding Wireless Network News, the books on the mantelpiece had titles like Charm Your Own Cheese and Enchantment In Baking. There was also a large clock on one of the walls with only one hand and no numbers at all. Written around the edge were things like Time to make tea, Time to feed the chickens, and You're late.
They sat down around the scrubbed wooden table in the middle of the room. Mrs. Granger looked a little intimidated, while Harry and Hermione could barely contain their excitement. But then, kitchen utensils flying through the air at the wave of a wand was a far more ordinary sight for them, after a year at Hogwarts.
Ron tried to question his friends, but his mother kept interrupting him, asking him to help her serve tea to her guests. Harry and Hermione got up to help him, despite his mother's protestations. Being shown how to light fire to boil water suddenly seemed a lot more interesting when done with the use of magic. Mrs. Granger made a jerky move to offer her help as well, but did not go through with it.
Her shyness did not last long, however. By the time her husband returned with the twins, it was he who was astonished at Hermione directing the floating teapot, while Jean accepted her cup quite calmly.
Meanwhile, Harry, Ron and Hermione were itching to talk about Dobby's warning. Ron only knew the basics Harry had managed to tell him in private the day of his rescue. Harry and Hermione, of course, had spent hours while unobserved going over each detail and coming up with different theories.
They all remembered their agreement not to talk about their adventures – for lack of a better word – in front of adults, however. So instead, they talked about safer topics. Ron told them about Percy behaving oddly all summer, locking himself in his room. Then Hermione told him about her and Harry's visit to Dudley at Artie's house.
"We went there this morning, so we could do all the visiting in one day," she said. "But we couldn't stay long-"
"I'm not sure we should have gone at all," Harry interrupted her. "Your parents had to make the extra journey and Artie's parents had to-"
"Oh, pish. You won't see Dudley again until summer. My parents didn't mind, and neither did Artie's, I think. He must have told them enough-"
"Oh, yeah. Dudders told his friend quite a sob story about me, to cover up that I'm a wizard-" Harry explained to Ron.
"It wasn't a sob story. He stayed very close to the truth, actually," Hermione said with a frown.
"Jut left out magic and told the rest as it is, huh?" said Ron. He and Hermione exchanged meaningful looks, much to Harry's annoyance.
"Pretty much," Hermione nodded. "He just said Harry goes to a school for 'gifted children'. Which is sort of true, actually."
"Gifted children?" Ron asked.
"Yes. It usually means children who are especially clever," Hermione explained. "There are no such schools in the UK, though, so I was worried Artie's parents might get a little suspicious-"
"Not bloody likely," said Ron.
"Not a chance," Harry said at the same time, causing a few giggles. "Not after they met you, Hermione. If they had any doubts before-"
At that moment they heard the door slam and went to look.
"Oh, no. She got to properly show off, didn't she?" groaned Ron. He did not try very hard not to be heard by Hermione.
"Oh, yes," said Harry, while Hermione scowled in indignation.
Everyone streamed towards the living room – Perccy and Ginny from upstairs and everyone else from the kitchen – crowding the sizeable room. The newly arrived Mr. Weasley walked in, followed by the twins, who had rushed to the door to greet him. He was a tall, thin man with glasses and red hair – what was left of it. His long, green robes were dusty and travel-worn and he looked tired, but he shook off his fatigue as soon as he spotted his guests, greeting them with an engaging smile.
They soon sat down to dinner. Mr. Weasley made sure to sit next to the elder Grangers so he could question them about life in the muggle world. They were very surprised when he told them later what his job at the Ministry entailed. Mrs. Weasley could not hold in a few choice comments on the topic of flying cars at that, and Harry learned that Ron and his brothers had indeed been in a lot of trouble over the incident – not to mention Mr. Weasley himself...
Harry was not sure when the conversation turned, but one moment Mrs. Weasley was complaining about her rowdy sons to the Grangers, and the next thing he knew, all adult eyes were on him.
"He really is such a polite boy, isn't he?" Mrs. Weasley was saying, clearly about him.
"He is, yes. He was a joy to have as a guest. Even more quiet than my daughter, and he always tried to help out..."
Harry smiled crookedly, feeling his face turn red. If only they knew how impatient he was to get both their children alone so he could involve them in his latest adventure... His friends, well aware of the direction of his thoughts, nudged him under the table. They did not dare look at each other, though, if they wanted to keep straight faces.
All through dinner, Mrs. Granger tried her best to engage the youngest Weasley child – and only girl – in conversation. Ginny only replied in monosyllables, and usually so quietly that Harry could not hear what she said. During the meal, she knocked over both a glass of pumpkin juice and a cup of tea.
Ron, watching the display, shook his head in bafflement. "You don't know how weird it is for her to be this shy. She never shuts up normally," he said.
Hermione looked at Ginny curiously. A short while later, she joined her mother's efforts, with slightly better results. Mrs. Granger sighed happily. As much as she was coming to like both of her daughter's friends, it would be nice if she could have a female friend as well – even an indirect one.
When evening fell and the Grangers slowly began to prepare to leave, Ron had a brilliant idea.
"What if you let Hermione stay for the night?" he asked. At the surprised looks he received, he went on to explain: "Well, we'll meet again tomorrow in Diagon Alley, won't we? So, so she could stay here tonight and go home with you tomorrow-"
"Thank you for the invitation, Ron," Mrs. Granger began, "but I don't think that's a good idea. There's no need to trouble your parents any more-"
"Oh, it wouldn't be any trouble at all," said Mrs. Weasley. "Ron's right. That is a good idea. Why not leave her here-"
"Thank you for the offer, but Hermione hasn't even brought any of her things. We don't want to impose-" began Mr. Weasley.
"She can sleep in my room," Ginny unexpectedly piped in, then turned scarlet with all eyes on her. She opened her mouth a few times again, to go on, but her voice would not obey.
Her offer – such as it was – was enough to win the argument. Hermione stayed.
Not much later, after they had watched her parents drive off, she, Harry and Ron were sitting on the doorstep of the broom shed, overlooking the paddock behind the Burrow. Snuffles sat at Harry's feet, content to stay still while the friends talked. It was late in the evening, the sun had long set and the light coming from the windows of the Burrow drew strange patterns on the garden ground.
Harry and Hermione were still giddy from their first experience of a magical home. The Burrow, with its crooked and twisted architecture; its clock that kept track of people instead of time; its rather rude, talking mirrors; its ghoul in the attic; they both agreed, was the best house in the world.
"I wish I could stay here for a few days, as well," Hermione said with a sigh.
She looked across the large garden. There were plenty of weeds, and the grass needed cutting but there were gnarled trees all around the walls, plants neither she nor Harry had ever seen spilling from every flower bed, and a big green pond full of frogs. In the semi-darkness, with the frog croaks the only sound that reached them, the Burrow seemed deceptively peaceful.
"Well, you'll still be here tomorrow," said Ron. "Sort of," he amended. "But Diagon Alley will be fun, too."
Hermione nodded. "I guess, yes." She sighed. "It's just, Harry and I still haven't come up with any useful ideas about that elf and if something were to happen now, when I won't be around..."
"Oh, about that. I was meaning to tell you. Fred and George think the whole thing might've been a prank from some Hogwarts student to scare Harry away. They might be right. Malfoy's from the sort of family who would own a house elf." Ron went on to explain a bit more, until Harry began to doubt whether he should take Dobby's warning seriously.
"Maybe we'll have a peaceful year at Hogwarts, then," said Hermione. "Would be interesting to see what that's like."
"With only Malfoy to worry about, huh?" said Ron. "And maybe Snape, and the rest of Slytherin House, and whatever remains of you-know-who and-"
"Oh, all right-"
"And Snuffles," Harry added quietly. The dog next to him lifted his head at hearing his name and barked.
"Snuffles? What do you mean?" asked Hermione.
Ron also began to say something, but then he shifted awkwardly.
"Well, where will he stay when I go to Hogwarts?" asked Harry, causing his friends to exchange chagrined looks.
"I guess... I guess, I could ask Mum if we can adopt him," Ron suggested a little sceptically. "She was a bit put off by him in the beginning, she worried that he'd eat the chickens, or break things inside the house, or something. But Snuffles is far too clever for that. So maybe..."
"No, Ron." Harry shook his head. "I can't ask you to do that. I'll think of something else. Or maybe Dudley can think of some way to get his parents to keep him." He put up a brave front when saying that, and tried to appear optimistic. Snuffles, as if in response to the subdued mood, nudged him playfully, trying to cheer him up. Harry's shoulders drooped. "What a silly dog you are," he told Snuffles as he scratched his head. "I'm about to let you become a stray again, and you want to play..."
"Maybe I could ask if I can take him along as my pet," Hermione suggested hesitantly. "We're all allowed one pet, and I don't have one-"
"We're only allowed owls, cats, or toads-"
"But Ron has Scabbers!" Hermione said triumphantly.
Ron blushed. "Yeah, that. Percy found him at Hogwarts and asked Professor McGonagall if he could keep him. I don't think she liked the idea much, but she didn't want to ask him to just get rid of him, so she allowed it. He's pretty small though, and all he ever does is sleep..."
"Still... It doesn't hurt to ask, right?" said Hermione.
"Go ahead, Hermione," said Harry. "It can't hurt to try. But, just in case..." He got up. His friends shot him curious looks. "I was thinking... Well, if I can't keep him – Or, even better, if I can – Well, either way, I think it's time I introduced him to Hedwig. I wanted to do that the whole time I was at the Dursleys' house, but I couldn't risk letting Hedwig out during the day..."
"Yes, let's do that," Hermione agreed, getting up. "And if it works, we can reintroduce Snuffles later to Hedwig as my pet."
Ron shook his head, but then he got up as well. "Alright, let's go."
"Wait here," Harry told Snuffles and followed his friends back to the Burrow.
Walking down the twisted staircase of the Burrow with Hedwig's cage in hand, they ran into Fred and George going up the stairs, who wanted to know what they were up to.
"You want Snuffles to meet Hedwig?" asked a surprised Fred when they told him. "You know they're just animals, right?"
Hedwig hooted at that moment, and to Harry it sounded rather indignant.
"Oh, I just remembered...," said Ron. "I'll be right back." He turned around and ran back up.
"And he might scare your bird," said George. "I know he doesn't eat the chickens, but..."
"Yeah, that's another thing. What're you going to say to Snuffles, 'Here's another bird you're not allowed to eat'?"
Harry scowled. "Snuffles is clever enough to figure that out on his own."
"Yeah, about that..." Fred frowned. "Sometimes, you know, you'll tell him something, and it's like he can understand every word-"
"And then, other times, you think he's got it, but he'll do the exact opposite of what you told him," finished George.
"What have you been telling him to do?" Hermione asked suspiciously.
"Oh, this and that..." Fred deliberated for a moment, then whispered something to his twin, who nodded in response. "Like, simple things. You ask him to push something out of the way, and he'll do it. He's really good at that. But every once in a while-"
"Are you telling them about yesterday?" asked Ron, who was already walking down the stairs towards them. "I was helping Dad fix the roof of the garage and suddenly I hear a loud bang," he explained to his friends. "I went out to see what it was. Those two were sprawled on the ground under the window, cursing Snuffles, who was sitting next to a rickety, overturned table. What were you trying to get him to do?" he asked his brothers.
Fred scowled, then sighed in resignation. "He was supposed to throw over the ladder. We got him to do it a dozen times before, but then he pushed over the table right under us instead-"
"The ladder? The one I needed to climb down again?" asked Ron.
"It was supposed to be a joke. We'd have let you down eventually-"
"It doesn't seem so funny to me." Hermione crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Well, it was. Or would've been, if Snuffles had been a little smarter."
"Either that, or he's smarter than us. That snuffling of his – I could swear he's laughing at us." There was a pause. Then the twins shrugged and walked past them.
Snuffles, it turned out, was certainly clever enough not to scare Hedwig. He met them outside of the broom shed, on a patch of grass illuminated by the light coming from the Burrow's windows. He sat very still as Harry approached him with her on his arm. Hedwig fluttered her wings a little, as if to take off, but then, not perceiving a threat, she let herself be introduced.
"There, that settles it. Now they're friends," said Hermione and smiled.
"So, I was thinking..." Ron began to say, while he dug his hand in his pocket. "Scabbers has always been scared of dogs, but Snuffles is behaving so well right now-"
"Oh, did you bring your rat along?" asked Hermione. Ron nodded.
"Great idea, Ron," said Harry. "I didn't even think of that."
Ron pulled his pet rat out of his pocket, who was wriggling a lot more animatedly than usual. "Hold still, Scabbers, I'm trying to introduce you to Harry's dog..."
Snuffles tilted his head at the disruption, staring curiously at the rat in Ron's hand. Scabbers suddenly ceased all movement. So did Snuffles. For one long moment, both animals were caught in a transfixed stare, not averting their eyes from each other. Then Snuffles let out a low, deep growl, the likes of which Harry had never heard from him before.
Then everything happened very quickly. In one movement, Snuffles was up and charging at Ron. Scabbers bit and scratched at Ron's hand to get away. Hedwig gave an alarmed screech and took off. Harry and Hermione could only shout and scream, while Ron was tackled and fell, unable to jump out of the way in time. He let go of Scabbers, who crawled under his body. Snuffles was unrecognisable, all gentleness gone, he tried to push Ron out of the way.
Harry and Hermione drew their wands, firing spells to push Snuffles away. Scabbers appeared next to Ron; Snuffles got up to charge again, but he was too late.
Scabbers suddenly grew, transmogrified, until a very short, plump man stood where he had been barely a moment ago. He was holding Ron's wand. His thin, colourless hair was unkempt and there was a large bald patch on top. His skin looked grubby, almost like Scabbers's fur, and something of the rat lingered around his pointed nose, his very small, watery eyes.
"Expelliarmus!" he yelled, while Harry and Hermione stood frozen in shock, wand arms suspended uselessly in mid-air.
Snuffles halted mid-jump. He remained in a crouched position, ready for attack and went back to growling. Very slowly, the man pointed Ron's wand at him, while he stowed the other two wands in the pocket of his filthy outer robe.
"Show yourself," he squeaked, the hand pointing the wand at Snuffles visibly shaking. He looked around at them all, his breathing fast and shallow.
Ron emitted a wordless sound that was insufficient to express the horror he felt. Very slowly, Snuffles began to move towards him, not leaving the wand pointed at him out of sight.
"Show yourself!" the man demanded with more urgency. "No way I gave myself away like this for a common mongrel..." he muttered.
"Who... Who are you?" Ron asked and slowly sat up. He looked and sounded disgusted. The wand swivelled towards him.
"Don't move!" came the panicked squeak. "Never mind who I am. You should be asking who that is!" The wand moved back to Snuffles, who had moved next to Ron. "You, you stay back as well. And transform at once, or – or—" His mouth moved, but he did not finish the threat. Instead, he looked at the wand in concentration. "Now, how did that spell go..."
"How did you transform into a human?" asked Harry.
"He's an animagus. He must be," said Ron.
"A what?"
"An animagus, Harry. A wizard who can turn into an animal. Have you always been Scabbers?" Ron turned the question back to the wizard in front of him.
"Now, no need to sound so indignant. I was an excellent pet, wasn't I?" came the reply.
"Did you mean that Snuffles is human as well?" Hermione asked very quietly.
"Now, that's the question, isn't it? And a very particular human at that, if I'm right. Which we'll find out in just a moment." The man's already small eyes narrowed to slits, as he moved Ron's wand to point at Harry.
"If I am right, you crawled out of that hole to meet Harry, here," he spoke to Snuffles, who remained very still. "Staged your own death, am I right? Imagine that, the great Sirius Black, taking a leaf out of my book. What has the world come to?"
Ron and Harry drew in sharp breaths and Hermione gave a little shriek at the mention of that name.
"Oh, yes. I recognise you. I knew right away it was you, when I spotted you from Ron's window-" Ron emitted another disgusted sound at the reminder. "I said to myself, who else could this ugly, overgrown mutt be? Who else but you, Padfoot?" The dog growled ferociously, showing all his teeth.
At that moment, Harry spotted Hedwig approach behind the wizard. She was flying towards them silently, almost invisible in the semi-darkness. She landed on the roof of the shed, observing the scene.
"What a bother," the wizard went on. "Why couldn't you just have stayed dead? Did you know, I actually felt a little sad when I heard you had died..." His eyes darted back to Harry. "But of course not. This boy just has to mess everything up. Instead of pushing you over the edge, his letter helped you escape-"
Snuffles – or rather, Sirius – slowly got up and began moving towards Harry.
"Stay where you are!" the wizard shouted shilly. "Do as I said and I'll be reasonable-"
There seemed to be an implied threat to Harry. He exchanged glances with his friends, who were equally aware of the danger.
The dog looked around undecidedly for a moment, while everyone else remained still. Then he transformed as well, like Scabbers before him. The resulting human was the exact opposite, though. He was a very tall, very skinny man with deep, sunken eyes and long hair, wearing an incongruous, brightly coloured robe with stains on it.
"Pettigrew, stop pointing the wand at Harry. This is between us," he croaked. His voice sounded like he had not used it in a long time.
"Sirius, my old friend," Pettigrew said mockingly.
"Pettigrew? Peter Pettigrew? The wizard who tried to stop Black and was killed?" said Hermione.
"Are those our work robes from the garage?" Ron asked disbelievingly at the same time.
"Sorry, Ron. The Azkaban suit was... uh..." said Sirius.
"Anyone ever tell you you're far too clever for your own good, Hermione?" asked Pettigrew. "No matter. I'll – explain – right away, after I've dealt with this – murderer."
"All right," said Sirius. "You want to deal with me? You do that. Let's go. I'll come along without any fuss-"
"Oh, don't be paranoid. I don't mean these children any harm. They've been very entertaining to be around, actually. I won't hurt them. A little memory charm or two should do it-"
Harry decided things had gone far enough. With barely a half-glance, he let his friends know to be ready. Then he looked towards Hedwig, hoping to catch her eye. She was staring straight at him.
"Memory charms?" growled Sirius, sounding like the huge, scary dog he used to be. "Peter, do be reasonable! Modifying memories is far too tricky, far too dangerous-"
"You don't think me capable of them, is that it? You always had to know everything better, didn't you-"
Harry nodded at Hedwig and then tilted his head towards Pettigrew, who noticed the movement and turned towards him.
"Now!" shouted Harry.
Pettigrew tried to act, but he was too late. Hedwig flew straight at him, and before he could get rid of her, all three teenagers had tackled him. He fell on the grass. Harry threw himself on his wand arm. Pettigrew tried to kick and punch at them with his other arm and almost dislodged Harry.
Then Sirius also joined the fray. Harry fought free of the tangle of bodies and saw his and Hermione's wand rolling across the ground, where they had fallen out of Pettigrew's pocket. He was not the only one. Both wizards reached for them. Hermione and Ron had to jump out of the way to avoid getting squished.
Hedwig was faster than either of them. She grabbed them with her claws and lifted up high. She flew over to Harry, who scrambled away and caught the wands she dropped over his head.
"Stop!" Harry directed his wand at the two wizards. His friends scrambled to their feet and ran over to him. Harry handed Hermione her wand, who promptly pointed it at the men in front of them as well.
Both men stared at them, crouching on the ground, completely still. Pettigrew still had Ron's wand, which he kept pointed at Sirius, who looked ready to tackle the much shorter man, as soon as he was given the least opportunity. Harry looked at them, at the now cringing, scared face of Pettigrew, and the fathomless eyes of Sirius.
"You... you killed my parents..." He directed his words to Sirius, for all that Pettigrew had more recently been the threat. The man looked away, unable to meet his eyes.
"Yes, yes he did, Harry," squeaked Pettigrew. His breathing was fast and shallow, and sweat had broken out on his pasty face. "Help me restrain him. Go on, curse him, Harry!"
"You filthy, shameless liar. Believe what you want of me, Harry, but don't trust him. He was the one who betrayed your parents-"
"Who are you? What business did you have with Black?" Harry now turned to the shorter man, fully aware that he still had a wand in hand.
"He – he was supposed to have died a hero, Harry," Hermione spoke next to him. "I read, he went after Black when they found out he was a spy and confronted him. That's when Black is supposed to have blown up the street and killed a dozen people – including Pettigrew."
"And he did!" said Pettigrew. "He did all that. I just managed to – to hide away at the last moment. Please, stop pointing the wand at me, and help me restrain him. He's tried to kill me once, and now he's about to finish what he started," came Pettigrew's high-pitched whine.
"You were threatening us with memory charms a moment ago," said Harry. "How stupid do you think we are?"
"I – I just had to protect myself! If anyone knows I'm alive-"
"That's what I don't understand. If you're innocent and Mr. Black was the spy, why would you choose to live as a rat all these years?" asked Hermione.
"To hide from Sirius! I knew he'd come after me-" came the quick answer, but Harry could not help paying more attention to the ashen colour of Pettigrew's face, and the way his eyes darted towards the wand in Harry's hand. "And he has!" he went on in a shrill, panicked voice at the sceptical looks he received. "He's come to try and kill me!" he shrieked suddenly, pointing at Sirius with his other hand, and Harry noticed that he used his middle finger, because his index was missing.
"Your finger is missing!" Hermione said with a gasp. "Your finger... All they found..." she continued to mutter.
Harry did not know what she was talking about, but the men obviously did. Pettigrew's eyes widened in panic, while Sirius' lips twitched in something resembling a smile.
"Well spotted, Hermione. He cut it off himself, before he blew up the street and ran," said Sirius.
Pettigrew recoiled, his eyes darting between everyone present, turning the wand more towards the teenagers, becoming aware that he was not going to win that argument. Harry and Hermione prepared for a fight, while Ron and Sirius looked like they were ready to charge at Pettigrew, wand or no wand.
The man who used to be Scabbers raised his wand, as if ready to attack his former owner and his friends, but then he turned on the spot, and disapparated.
Sirius made a jerky, convulsive grab towards where Pettigrew used to stand, before folding in on himself. "He's gone. I let him get away again..." he muttered despodently.
"He used to sleep in my bed," Ron said with utter revulsion, staring at the same spot.
Harry walked over to Sirius, who did not move away from his crouched position on the grass. He pointed his wand at the wizard, looking down at him. Sirius stared up at him out of those sunken eyes.
"You killed my parents," said Harry, his voice shaking slightly, but his wand hand quite steady. "You didn't deny it a moment ago. But then you found me as – as Snuffles-" His voice caught at the name. "Was it out of guilt, then, that you helped me escape the Dursleys?"
"I won't deny I felt guilty – as I have reason to. But if you knew the whole story-" began Sirius.
"The whole story? You sold my parents to Voldemort, what else do I need to know? If you don't deny that-"
"You've got to listen to me," Sirius said with a new note of urgency in his voice. "You don't understand..."
"No, I don't. You befriended me as Snuffles, and helped me contact Hermione. And even now, you tried to protect us from Pettigrew – and what did he have to do with all of this, anyway? But you don't deny that you-" Harry could not say it again. "But I saw you in the mirror..." he said instead, quietly, as if imparting a great secret.
"The mirror? You mean the Mirror of Erised?" asked Ron. "Together with your family?" he asked in astonishment when he saw Harry nod.
"Strange, isn't it? Dudders was also there, but not his parents. And this man..." Harry's voice broke.
"I never betrayed Lily and James," Sirius croaked. He did not understand the significance of Harry's revelation, but felt how important it must be by the teenagers' reaction. "I would have died before I betrayed them. Please, let me explain."
Harry held his gaze, unable to look away. Then, throat too tight to speak, he nodded, lowering his wand.
Sirius told them the whole tale, beginning with his Hogwarts years and the reason he and Pettigrew became animagi.
"So Padfoot's your name, then? You got so angry when Pettigrew called you that." Harry interrupted him as the name came up. "And I've been calling you Snuffles all this time!"
Sirius' gaunt face broke into the first true smile Harry had seen upon it. The difference it made was startling, as though a person ten years younger was shining through the starved mask; for a moment, he was recognisable as the man who had appeared in the Mirror of Erised.
"Feel free to continue calling me that. I especially liked your reason for choosing it," he said.
The tale went on. When his letter came up, Harry looked at Sirius to see his reaction. He was frowning, but not as though he was annoyed about it. He seemed to be pondering how to continue.
"I don't know what happened after I read it," he said slowly. "I think the only reason I never lost my mind is that I knew I was innocent. That wasn't a happy thought, so the dementors couldn't suck it out of me... but it kept me sane and knowing who I am... helped me keep my powers... so when it all became... too much... I could transform in my cell... become a dog. Dementors can't see, you know..." He swallowed. "They feel their way towards people by sensing their emotions... they could tell that my feelings were less – less human, less complex when I was a dog... but they thought, of course, that I was losing my mind like everyone else in there, so it didn't trouble them. But I was weak, very weak, and I had no hope of driving them away from me without a wand...
"But then, after I read your letter, all I could think about was that I had abandoned you... Suddenly I was no longer sure I was not at fault – for all that I was not a spy. I think... I think I lost my sanity for a little bit, there. Everything blurs together at that point, and I don't have any clear memories, until the feel of ice-cold water.
"The dementors must have thought me dead at some point, you see? So they did what they usually do with dead inmates – they threw me into the sea. Suddenly I was free, and with that thought returned clarity of mind, because I now had a purpose. It gave me the strength to swim to the shore."
Once the whole tale had been told, a hush fell over them, as Sirius sunk back in his memories and the adolescents tried to take in the extent of the betrayal they had been told about.
"I suppose this is goodbye now," Sirius said after a moment.
"What?" Harry could not believe his ears. "But I just met you – I mean..."
"I know," said Sirius with a sad smile. "But until I can prove my innocence, I can't live as a human, you have to see that." He sighed. "I'm going to search for Pettigrew. I've been meaning to do that ever since I found out he was the spy, but this time I won't try to kill him myself. I'll catch him, and take him to the authorities, and make him confess what he did. And then, I'll finally be able to really save you from the Dursleys, Harry," he finished.
Harry nodded, unable to speak. Then, on an impulse, he threw his arms around his godfather. Sirius froze for a moment, but then he hugged him back fiercely.
"Hedwig," Harry called, and his bird flew down from the roof of the shed where she had gone back to. "Remember him," he pointed Sirius out to her. "You'll have to find him wherever he's hiding, to carry my letters to him," he instructed her. She seemed to understand as she flew around Sirius several times, before taking off again.
Noises from the direction of the house were coming closer.
"Goodbye, Harry," Sirius said urgently. "I'll make sure to write. Ron, Hermione, it was great, meeting you." With those final parting words, he turned back into a dog – be it Snuffles or Padfoot – and ran.
Fred and George found them soon after.
"What are you doing out here, in the darkness?" asked George.
"Yeah, you were going to introduce your pets ages ago," said Fred.
"Oh, Snuffles has good taste and didn't like Scabbers, I'm afraid," Ron said in a mock-mournful tone. "He chased him off, and now has gone after him."
For some reason, Harry and Hermione, as well as Ron himself, thought this insanely funny. They cracked up, much to the confusion of the twins, who did not manage to get any more information out of them.