Author's Notes: The Rotten Writer, here again, gang, with another chapter of Soul Scars. All right, we're gonna basically hit the ground running, here. This chapter is a whole heap ton of action and chaos and some major mojo gets flung about. And I get to unveil a secret I've been sitting on since chapter three, or thereabouts. Been a long time coming and I'm so excited to see what people think.

Now, I'm sure some will disagree or have their own opinions as I've fudged with some canon material a bit, but I think it fits this story rather spectacularly. There's going to be a LOT of unanswered questions, reactions, discussions, etc. Patience, everyone. It'll all wrap up sooner than we think.

Disclaimer: I own no part of Harry Potter. I'm just playing with these characters in a little story of my own devising.

On with Chapter 41 of Soul Scars!

Soul Scars Part Three

The Greengrass Problem

By,

Rtnwriter

The next week saw Harry Potter throwing himself into their training and his classwork with a fervor that almost worried his friends and bond mates. At his invitation Blaise joined them in their evening spell practice and he found the Slytherin wizard to be a veritable font of charms, hexes, and jinxes that he'd learned from his mother and the two of them set to with a will, exchanging lessons in various spell craft.

It was on the second day that Blaise asked when Harry practice with his sword, and received a blank look for his troubles.

"Why do you carry that bloody thing around if you don't know, or aren't learning, how to use it?" he'd demanded.

The resulting explanation left Blaise gobsmacked for some time before he was able to shake himself back to reality. "All right," he's said. "I'll write to mother tonight and have her send my practice swords."

"Your what?"

"Practice swords. Mother has had me learning swordplay since I was five. It isn't used much these days and as my House is not a Most Ancient and Noble I wouldn't be allowed to legally carry it, even once I take over as Head of House, but she still insisted that I learn. I'm surprised, Neville, that you didn't learn the sword, being one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight and all."

Neville had only shrugged in response. "My gran was always sure I would just hurt myself, so she wouldn't let me learn."

"You're saying you could teach us?" Harry'd asked, looking thoughtfully at the ever present sword strapped to his waist.

"I can. It's stupid for you to have that thing and not know how to use it properly. You never know, it might save your life one day."

That Thursday, sword practice was added to their morning training, right after their workouts, for Harry and Neville.

#####

It was Saturday afternoon, two weeks after Harry's revelation regarding Peter Pettigrew, and Hermione completing her part of the bond with Susan and Daphne. They were officially several days into February, classes were moving along apace, especially after Daphne and Susan had successfully talked (bribed) Hermione into dropping Divination and Muggle Studies. Her workload had lessened, she was getting more sleep, and they were feeling better, and closer, than they had in quite some time.

The situation with Sirius was still unresolved, but with the Minister revoking the kiss-on-sight order and recalling the Dementors, that was looking to be a much better situation all around.

The major black cloud on their personal horizons was the direct result of a certain absentee wizard.

"Is he practicing, again?" Susan asked. She didn't move from her spot on the sofa by the fire in the Common Room where she was resting her head, comfortably, on Hermione's shoulder, but she did open her eyes. Through the bond, the could feel a sharp focus, and a fierce determination for a few moments before the sensation faded as his Occlumency shields clamped down and blocked off his emotions entirely.

"It certainly feels like it," Daphne sighed.

"He's determined to get the Patronus Charm mastered," said Hermione. "He swears that he's close, but he can't quite figure out what's stopping it from properly forming the full guardian."

Just the day before, Harry had come the closest yet to a corporeal patronus, but the form simply would not coalesce. The corona of silvery mist that had erupted from his hand had nearly seemed solid in and of itself, with three bulging shapes extending from the front that had offered no clue as to what sort of animal his patronus might be.

Blaise had suggested a Cerberus, and Harry had admitted a three headed creature could make some degree of sense, but he really wanted to master the charm and see for himself.

"He's been avoiding us," Susan muttered and Daphne and Hermione both sighed.

"He's still got a lot on his mind. He's worried about Sirius. He's concerned over the Pettigrew issue. You know he's been spending extra time on his Occlumency so he can learn the wording of that Prophecy the Headmaster brought up last year," Daphne pointed out.

"That's not the reason we haven't seen much of him the last two weeks."

Another sigh. "I know."

"I shouldn't have kissed him."

"Stop it, Susan," Hermione gently admonished her. "You know that's not why, either."

It was a true enough statement that caused all three a pang of guilt and remorse. The day after Hermione came to them, they'd gone to their weekly appointment with Madam Pomfrey and realized that, in their euphoria over their bonding and the deepening of their relationship, they had made a terrible mistake.

They forgot to talk to Harry about it.

When Daphne and Susan completed the bond during the break, they hadn't been completely sure what it was, despite being able to make a good guess, so they'd kept quiet about it. But when Hermione joined them, they were well aware, and mistakenly left Harry to be blindsided by discovering it in front of Madam Pomfrey. When she'd cast the usual spell over Hermione, there had been the expected mass of gold over her heart with its spreading veins and tendrils, and the aura of her soul had been a shimmering curtain of green, auburn, and silver.

The shock and confusion that had burst across their bond had literally brought Hermione to her knees, and would have done the same to Daphne and Susan had they not already been sitting in their usual beds. In the slight commotion that followed, none of them noticed him leaving the Wing until he was already gone.

"Maybe we shouldn't have-"

"Susan, do you regret bonding with us?" Hermione asked, quietly.

Susan's head shot up off her bond mate's shoulder, her eyes wide with terror.

"No!" she blurted out. "No, never. I love you, I could never regret-"

Hermione stopped the ramble that was about to begin by leaning close and pressing a quick kiss to the other girls lips, just enough to catch her attention, and then immediately pulled back. Even with the privacy charms, any overt public displays, they'd agreed, were to be avoided, and Hermione was still somewhat more hesitant about the increased physical nature of their new relationship, so for her to do so shocked Susan into silence.

"He's ours," Hermione told her in a firm tone. "He belongs to us. But he's not where we are, yet. He's not even where I am, and I think we can agree I'm the least confident about this whole thing out of the three of us. Maybe it's not fair to him, but I don't think that we should be expected to put our lives on hold because Harry still has some things to work through. Did I ask you and Daphne not to kiss while I tried to figure out what I wanted?"

Susan, mutely, shook her head.

"No, I didn't. I didn't ask because it wasn't my place. I don't control either of you, and you are more than able to make your own decisions. So I would never have dreamed of doing that. Us bonding… that's not Harry's problem. The problem is that we screwed up by not talking to him. We should have, and we failed to do that. That's entirely our fault."

Daphne leaned forward and turned in her spot on their sofa to Hermione's left so she could look a little more directly at Susan on the girl's other side. "She's right. I want him with us too, but we shouldn't have to deny ourselves other things we want, waiting on him. We need to find a moment to apologize for how we handled things, yes. And if we can think of a way to ease him into the idea of 'us' we absolutely need to do it. But if not… he needs to decide for himself, and we can afford to be patient, we know it's only a matter of time, really."

Susan sighed, nodded, and laid her head back on Hermione's shoulder, wrapping one arm around the witch's waist. In response, Hermione only adjusted the book she had been holding open on her lap so that it didn't interfere with the redheads gently possessive grip on her body.

"You're right. Both of you. It's just…"

When Susan trailed off Hermione lifted her right hand to softly stroke the girl's cheek. "I know, hon. I know. Things just aren't completely right without him with us too. Just be patient."

Susan squirmed slightly before tilting her head back, just enough to look up at Hermione. "You know," she said in a hopeful tone of voice. "I might find it easier to be patient if you kissed me."

Hermione laughed quietly even as a light pink rose in her cheeks. "You are incorrigible, you know that, right?"

"But you love me."

"Well, I can't very well argue with that," she murmured, slowly tilting her head toward the girl beside her.

#####

"Gods damned… stupid piece of… argh!" Harry's progressively more colorful language devolved into a wordless scream of frustration and he scooped up a fist sized rock and hurled it as far out over the Black Lake as he could.

The rock vanished beneath the placid surface of the lake, sending up a splash and causing ripples to radiate out across the water for a time before all fell still.

Too bad my brain can't just be that still and calm, he thought.

His feet started carrying him away from the lake, wandering aimlessly with his head down, both hands shoved deep into his jeans pockets as he started arguing with himself.

"Why won't this bloody charm work?" he almost snarled in frustration. "I've tried just about every happy memory I have and it's not enough."

You still have a couple memories you haven't tried, the ever present voice in the back of his head whispered. Normally, when that voice sounded, his conscience, he supposed, it sounded like his own voice talking to him. Now, however, it sounded rather distinctly like Hermione.

"Those aren't happy memories, at least… not entirely happy," he tried to argue, well aware of which memories the voice was referring to.

Why not? Daphne's voice sounded in his head and he bit back a groan.

"Because they're also very confusing memories. I think the confusion would lessen the happy feelings."

What's confusing about them? Daphne and I both-

"Yes! Yes, I'm well aware of what they did," he burst out. "I was there, both times."

But you didn't listen to me, Susan's voice continued, apparently unperturbed by his interruption. I told you, Daphne wouldn't kiss someone she didn't feel very strongly toward.

"So?"

And I said that she and I kissed because we loved each other.

Harry said nothing, until Hermione's cross tones came back.

Oh, honestly, Harry!

He could just picture her in front of him now, hands on her hips, one foot tapping impatiently with a mild glare on her beautiful face.

Harry James Potter! You are not that thick!

"I don't know what you mean," he muttered, wondering when exactly it was that complaining to himself about the Patronus Charm had turned into his girls, somehow, berating him even when he was avoiding them.

Are they really my girls, though? he wondered.

He shook his head, frowning at the darkening loam beneath his feet as he walked. "Don't worry about that," he muttered.

You know this, Daphne's voice came again. You just don't trust it.

"I don't know," he protested.

Think, Harry. What else did I tell you in the courtyard that day?

"Susan said she wouldn't kiss someone she didn't want to be with."

And?

"And that all three of them understood and would wait…" His voice trailed off as he, absently, stepped over a thick tree root. "But Susan and Daphne are together!"

But is that all? What about me? Hermione's voice asked.

He paused, staring up at the green canopy above his head. "That's right, what about Hermione?" he muttered thoughtfully. "If Daphne and Susan are together, how'd Hermione complete the bond with… both of… them…" A deep red suffused Harry's face as his mind took a gutter bound turn that he was positive he shouldn't be considering and he shook his head so violently that he actually threw himself off balance. He staggered a step or two, felt his right foot catch on something, and he went sprawling to land face first on the forest floor.

"What the-" he started to yell but cut himself off when he looked up and realized just where he was. "How the hell did I end up here?" he asked himself as he slowly rose to his feet and carefully examined his surroundings.

Somehow, in his distracted state, his aimlessly wandering feet had carried him into the Forbidden Forest. He had no idea how long he'd walked, or how deep into the forest he was since he couldn't even see the castle from where he was. In fact, he looked around again to confirm it, he wasn't even certain which direction he'd come from to end up where he was now standing.

"Crap in a hat," he muttered. "What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into now, Potter?"

#####

With an hour left before Dinner, the girls met up with Cedrella, who had been called away earlier in the day to make an appearance outside of the school as Tonks, and they went off in search of Neville, Blaise, and Harry. Twenty minutes later, at the Room of Requirement, they were two for three, with no idea where Harry was.

"What do you mean you don't know where he is?" Cedrella demanded when both boys claimed no knowledge of Harry's location.

"We were here earlier, and he got frustrated about the Patronus," Neville informed them. "He left about half-an-hour ago. Said he wanted to walk and clear his head," Blaise informed them, standing somewhat stiffly as he was thoroughly dressed down by the disguised Aruror.

Tonks swore and looked carefully around to see if they were alone. A moment later her wand was in her hand and she cast a spell that didn't appear to do anything to the observing students.

"What was that?" Hermione asked, curiously.

"It reveals people hiding under disillusionment or invisibility cloaks. No, I didn't expect to find any, but my mentor would have my hide if I didn't check. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

The five of them jumped as she roared the last two words at the top of her voice, but she wasn't paying any attention to them as she pressed the tip of her wand to her throat.

"Shack," she said. "Potter has wandered off on his own and none of us know where. Check the map and get back to me with a location." Extending her arm she muttered the incantation to the Patronus Charm and then waited as the silver shape shot down the hall and disappeared.

Blaise was regarding Cedrella Black with a raised brow and a questioning expression, but she was far too distracted to notice, or care. As he was a part of Harry's group of friends, she'd give him the benefit of the doubt, for now, but there would be a conversation to be had later so that he knew not to speak of who, or rather, what, she really was.

The handful of minutes that they waited for Kingsley's response were tense, the girls standing close together while Blaise and Neville attempted to look properly unconcerned, though both boys were as tight as a coiled spring with worry. Neville, in particular, was mentally berating himself for letting his friend go off alone.

Another five minutes passed before a glowing silver form rocketed down the hall toward them. It slowed as it approached and came to a halt right in front of Tonks. The glowing lynx opened its mouth, and Kingsley's voice issued forth. "Potter is not on the map. I repeat, Potter is not on the map. I have no idea where he could have gone at this time. A message has already been sent to Amelia."

The lynx vanished and Tonks swore again as she started walking briskly down the hall, only to be brought up short by a second lynx patronus appearing in front of her.

"Pettigrew spotted! He's leaving the edge of the map, moving into the Forbidden Forest."

Before the glowing animal finished fading away, all six of them were sprinting down the hall.

"Tonks!" Hermione shouted, bringing the Auror up short again. "Shortcut, this way." The three girls, with Neville in tow, ran past the corridor where Tonks had been turning right to head toward the stairs. With a glance at Blaise, who shrugged, they followed after the running Gryffindors.

Ducking into the same alcove that Harry had shown them on Halloween, Neville pressed his wand against the crimson colored brick and spoke, "Gryffindors charge ahead."

With the grinding of stone on stone, the slide formed and Tonks grinned at the sight of it.

"Brilliant," she muttered and started to change back into her usually preferred form, transfiguring her school uniform into a set of Auror robes, at least in appearance. "Sorry, kid," she said, shooting a look in Blaise's direction, before she took a running leap, diving headfirst into the open slide.

The Slytherin wizard's mouth was hanging open, his eyes fixed on where Tonks had just vanished. He was brought back to the present when Neville threw himself into the slide and vanished down into the dark, the girls right behind him.

#####

"Okay," Harry muttered, looking around again for some sign of how to get back to the castle. "Think, Potter. It's getting dark, you've no idea where you are, and the Marauders Map stops at the edge of the grounds, so unless Kingsley saw you walk off the map, no one will know you're out here."

Lifting his hand palm up above his head, Harry muttered a spell and an orb of light, five inches across, appeared floating above his hand. He muttered a second spell, and when he lowered his arm, the light remained fixed in place, floating above his head.

"Dark negated," he muttered. "Course that might just draw some of the nasties around here to me." He was tempted to draw the sword hanging at his hip, but resisted the urge. Yes, it might help if he was attacked, but he'd barely begun learning to use it, and with the deadly poison of the basilisk impregnated into the blade, he was just as likely to kill himself as he was an enemy if he accidentally cut himself with it. So the sword remained sheathed, and instead he pulled up his magic, keeping it close to the surface so he might cast as quickly as possible, should the need arise.

Turning slowly, he picked a direction, hoping it lead toward the castle, and started walking.

It was a nerve wracking experience, to say the least. The light above his head cast shifting shadows as he moved and he constantly found himself imagining that he saw something moving, only to freeze and realize it was just the shadows moving with the light. He walked, slowly and carefully, for at least twenty minutes, before a sound caught his attention and he stood, stock still, head tilted to the side to better try and hear it.

Deciding on a direction, he turned to his right and struck out, carefully using everything he knew about moving quietly to make his way through the brush and between the massive trees that made up the forest. After a minute, he muttered, "nox," and the light above his head winked out, plunging him into darkness. He waited again until his eyes adjusted to the dark beneath the trees and then started moving forward even more cautiously than he had before as he closed in on the sound.

Ahead of him, between the trees, he could make out a dimly glowing light, one that grew stronger as he drew closer and, eventually, he found himself standing at the edge of a clearing, looking on, perhaps, the last thing he might have expected to see.

Within the clearing, a half dozen thestrals stood, their wings folded back along their scaly flanks, skeletal forms standing tall as they moved about, each of them jostling for position, trying to get closer to the figure standing in the center of the open space. With fairy lights dancing around her and reflecting off her pale skin and white blond hair, Luna Lovegood hummed quietly to herself and he recognized her humming for the sound he'd heard that had drawn him there. In one hand she held a heavy looking, galvanized steel bucket. Her right hand was held out, palm up, for one of the thestrals to lick a dark liquid that coated her arm from her hand to half way up her forearm.

When she reached into the bucket, the light shimmered against the liquid, and Harry was startled to realize that it was blood.

"Luna!" he cried, bursting out into the clearing, startling the small herd, who backed away rapidly to the far edge of the clearing as he bore down on the tiny blond. "Luna, are you hurt? What happened? You're bleeding."

He came up to her, snatching her arm with one hand and began carefully examining the blood coated extremity, looking frantically for any sign of a wound. He was brought up short by the tinkling sound of Luna's laughter and turned away from the arm he was holding to look deep into her too large silvery blue eyes.

"I am not at all hurt, Harry," she said, still laughing. "But thank you, for being concerned."

He blinked, mouth moving up and down a few times before he found the power of speech. "But the blood… your arm…"

"The blood isn't mine," she said, and gently tugged her arm from his grasp. Reaching into the bucket she was still holding she pulled out a chunk of raw, bloody meat. Turning, she tossed it, underhand, toward the thestrals and one of them stretched its head forward, snatching the flying piece of flesh out of the air with its teeth. In a blink, the meat had vanished and the rest of the herd started to push forward again, each of them stretching their necks toward the bucket.

"I was just feeding the thestrals," she told Harry as she pulled out another piece of meat and threw it to one of the other skeletal creatures. "Mister Hagrid lets me help with them sometimes. They're the only domesticated herd in all of Great Britain, you know. I find them to be such nice creatures, and I feel bad for how misunderstood they are."

"I remember," he muttered as his heart rate began to return to normal. "They're a lot like me, right?"

"Or you're a lot like them," she agreed, nodding her head. "Either way."

He stood there for a few minutes while Luna emptied her bucket, and when she'd finished, the smallest of the creatures was still nuzzling its way around the rim, looking for more of the morsels she'd been handing out.

"I'm sorry, Ferdinand," she cooed, gently stroking the scaly neck with her bloodless hand after setting down the bucket. "All gone. But I'll bring some more soon, okay?"

In a few more minutes, the herd had wandered away into the trees and Luna plucked her wand from where it was tucked behind her ear, using it to vanish the blood from her hand before tucking it away again.

"What brings you out here, Harry? You seem to have gathered a rather impressive wrackspurt infestation, again." She tilted her head to the side, studying the air around his head carefully. "That seems to happen whenever one of your girls decides to have a serious discussion with you."

Harry snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "If you mean they confuse the hell out of me, you're right. But that's not important right now. Do you know how to get back to the castle? I was walking and not really paying attention to where I was going. Next thing I knew I was lost among the trees and I have no idea which direction the school is from here."

Luna straightened up, nodding calmly.

"Yes, I know exactly where we are. I come out here quite often, like I said."

"Well, if you're done, may I escort you back to the castle?" he asked, smiling broadly and offering his left arm to her.

The flush that suffused Luna's cheeks was almost unnoticeable in the dim light, but her bright smile could have lit up a darkened mine shaft and she nodded, wrapping her arm around his.

"Thank you, good Sir," she said, her nose in the air and a haughty expression on her face that caused him to smile just as broadly.

Together, they turned, and managed two steps before coming to a stop as a stooped, fat little figure of a wizard, dressed in ragged robes, stepped around a tree in their path, wand already trained on them.

"H-hello, H-H-Harry," he stammered. "It's n-nice to see you again."

#####

Chaos reigned on the steps of the castle. Voices were raised, words were said, ultimatums were given.

"Look," Amelia snapped. "I know you want to help but we already went through this once before, you kids can't help us look for Harry, or Pettigrew. He's a fugitive at best, possibly even a murderer. And we have no idea where Harry is, just that he's not in the castle. What do you think you're going to do?"

"We can feel him," Susan insisted.

"But that doesn't tell you where he is," Amelia pointed out. "That doesn't help you find him. And isn't he still using his Occlumency?"

Susan squirmed at that. "Yes," she admitted with great reluctance.

"There's not a great deal any of us can do right now, unfortunately. We don't know where he is, or how he left the grounds." Amelia sighed in frustration and raked her hands back through her hair. "Is it too hard for you guys to have a quiet year?" she asked, only half joking.

"I'd love one," Hermione muttered, staring out over the grounds as if hoping she'd catch sight of their elusive bond mate.

A moment later all three girls staggered, hands coming up to their heads and the conversation between the Headmaster, Professor McGonagall and the Aurors with Amelia came to an abrupt halt as the three of them hissed in sudden pain.

"What is it?" Dumbledore asked, moving closer to the them, his blue eyes studying them intently.

"Harry…. his Occlumency shields just… just shattered," Hermione ground out from between clenched teeth.

"Is he hurt?" Amelia demanded, one hand steadying Susan.

Daphne shook her head. "No. No he's not hurt." she looked up, her own eyes squinted slightly in pain. "He's pissed."

#####

"Wormtail!" Harry snarled furiously, shoving Luna behind him with his left hand as he raised his right hand in front of him.

"Leave that wand in the holster, Harry-"

"You don't get to call me that!" he roared, taking a large step toward the fat little wizard with his overly large, rat-like teeth. The man flinched slightly, but his wand stayed trained firmly on the teen in front of him.

"You're right… I don't have the right to use your name. I-I-I failed. I was a coward… but you're going to help me."

"Why would I help you? You got my parents murdered. Didn't you?!" he bellowed and Pettigrew flinched again.

"I know the Dark Lord still lives. I heard the rumors. I heard you and the Longbottom boy talking in the dorms. You're going to help me find him. You're going to help me bring him back."

"I'd die before I ever helped you or Voldemort."

At the sound of the name Pettigrew flinched again and Harry lunged for him. A banishing hex slammed into his chest and he was thrown back several feet to land on his back on the forest floor as Luna let out a short scream. Cursing himself, Harry heard footsteps moving toward them, then there was a glowing wand tip in front of his face, Pettigrew's own features illuminated by the light from the curse that hung at the tip of his wand.

"If you d-don't help," he said, sadly. "I'll just have to kill the girl." His arm started to move, directing his wand to the side where Harry presumed that Luna was standing.

A low growl filled the clearing and Pettigrew straightened, just in time for a large, black shape to slam into him, sending him careening to the side. Harry scrambled to his feet, moving to place himself in front of Luna again. A dozen feet away, Pettigrew was rolling on the ground, fighting with a huge black dog. The wizard had both hands up, grasping the creature by the throat, barely holding it up as teeth snapped shut repeatedly right in front of his face.

"Sirius!" Harry yelled and an instant later the dog changed, becoming a skeletal looking man with wild, overgrown hair and an unkempt beard, looming over the prone figure on the ground.

"I'm going to kill you, you bastard!" he snarled and his arm came up, wand held in his right hand as he prepared to bring it down on the man beneath him.

Without thinking, Harry broke into a run. "No!" he shouted, and leaped, wrapping both of his arms around Sirius' raised limb, his weight dragging the man to the side.

"He betrayed your parents, Harry!" Sirius cried. "I know you think I did it but I swear. I wasn't their Keeper. I didn't… I would never-"

"I know. We already figured that out, but you can't kill him."

"He deserves it!" Sirius bellowed, his eyes wild as he spun toward Pettigrew.

"Maybe he does! Maybe he does, but not like this. If you kill him, you could go back to prison. You're not a murderer-"

"Expelliarmus!"

A bolt of red light struck Sirius in the chest, sending him flying back and Harry ducked instinctively, his eyes following the path of the wand as it flew through the air to land at Pettigrew's feet. While they'd been arguing the rat had picked his own wand back up and now had it trained on Harry again.

"I never wanted to betray anyone," he practically sobbed. "I never wanted to!"

"Then why did you?" Harry demanded, his heart pounding in his ears as the girl's fear and worry flooded into him through their bond. He shook where he stood, his hands trembling in a blind fury. "You were supposed to be their friend. I found my mum's journals. She wrote about the Marauders, four of the best friends she'd ever seen, and you betray them? WHY?"

At Harry's full throated shout a flock of something burst into motion in the distance. The fluttering of wings and the raucous cries of whatever birds he'd disturbed filled the night air around them for several moments before it faded and all they could hear was Harry's labored breath, Sirius' pained groans, and Pettigrew's rapid, fearful panting.

Where's Luna? Harry wondered, but he didn't dare try to look around to find the girl, not with a wand pointed at him.

He took a step forward and Pettigrew straightened up, still holding his wand trained on the teen.

"D-don't come any closer."

"Answer me!" Harry bellowed. "Why did you betray them? How could you?"

"The Dark Lord… he was so strong… so powerful… if I hadn't done it, then he would have killed me-"

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" Harry roared, his eyes glowing ever brighter as his fury mounted and Pettigrew actually whimpered at the sight, shrinking in on himself. Despite that, the wand in his hand remained firmly fixed, pointed at the center of Harry's chest. "If any of my friends counted on me that way I would happily died to protect them, and I know they'd do the same for me. They were your friends!"

"Friends? They mocked and pitied me. Poor Peter, the weak Marauder. I was their lackey, not a friend!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Surprisingly agile, Pettigrew ducked the spell that came flying at him from off to Harry's right and returned fire. "Stupefy!" he roared, and Harry heard Luna let out a short cry, but he was already moving. The moment Pettigrew's attention shifted he was running across the grass. Blinded by rage, only one thing would suffice. He was close by the time the miserable rat turned back toward him and Harry's left hand flew out, knocking the wand from his hand as his right balled up into a fist and shot forward.

Just as his fist struck Pettigrew's jaw he snarled out, "Stupefy," and with a satisfying, and loud, crack, followed by a flash of red light, Pettigrew dropped to the ground, unconscious before his body even hit the dirt.

His breath coming in heaving gasps, Harry spun around to look for Luna, only to find the tiny slip of a girl standing up from where she'd thrown herself to the ground to avoid Pettigrew's return stunner. Her expression was calm and placid, but her wide eyes showed how scared she was and Harry rushed up to her, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Thank you," he muttered as he nearly crushed the girl against his chest. "Your timing was absolutely perfect."

"The nargles told me when to try," she whispered, her voice quivering slightly.

A groan from behind them caught their attention and they turned back to Sirius, who was slowly pushing himself up into a sitting position.

"Damn, Pup," he said, his voice still hoarse from infrequent use. "What the hell did you do?"

Harry couldn't help but grin, keeping one arm firmly wrapped around Luna's shoulders as he led her toward the escaped convict. "I punched him," he said, not willing to mention his wandless magic.

Sirius stared at him, blankly, for several long moments before he barked out a laugh, sounding just like a dog in the process. Briefly, Harry wondered if extended time in his animagus form might have had some unusual effects on the man, but pushed those thoughts aside.

"Where's my wand?" Sirius asked, and Harry suddenly went stiff.

"Why?"

"Because I still need to kill the damn rat."

"No, Padfoot, you can't kill him."

Sirius blinked. "That's the second time you've said that name. How do you know it?"

"I found my mum's journals, the ones she kept while she was in school. She talked about you guys. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs."

"I haven't heard that name in over a decade, until you said it on Halloween."

"Moony is up at the castle. Please… you aren't a killer, Padfoot. You aren't a murderer. Don't let him, drag you down to his level," he sneered the last in disgust, glaring at the sprawled out form of Peter Pettigrew.

"I don't have anything else, kid. If they catch me, it's the Dementor's Kiss. At the very least, I intend to earn it before they get me."

"But the kiss-on-sight order has been revoked," Harry insisted, causing Sirius to jerk and spin around from where he'd started searching for his wand to stare at Harry.

"Wh-what?" he whispered unbelievingly.

"I'm serious-"

"No, I'm Sirius," Sirius interrupted, a small grin turning up his lips.

"Really?" Harry asked, glaring at the man. "I can't believe you're making puns right now."

Sirius shrugged, completely unrepentant. "It's what I do. Now explain this to me, quick."

As quickly as he could, and with Luna's help, Harry explained what he'd been up to since the summer, even down to how he'd figured out that Pettigrew must have still been alive.

"I managed to get Minister Fudge to call off the Dementors and Luna here got an article published in her dad's magazine. I paid to have a copy sent to every wizarding home in the country. You never got a trial. For that alone the Ministry should just declare you a free man. But I wanted you to get the trial you should have had. That way you can testify under veritaserum and everyone will know that you had nothing to do with what happened. If can we bring him in too," he kicked at Pettigrew's leg, "even better."

Sometime during the explanation Sirius had sunk back to the ground, sitting heavily as a huge weight seemed to come off his shoulders and a sensation he hadn't felt in more than a decade bloomed in his chest.

"You really mean it," he murmured, staring in awe at the teen wizard in front of him with his arm still wrapped around the tiny girl at his side.

"I do. I mean it, Padfoot. Come up to the castle. There's two Aurors there that are on our side, and my guardian is Head of the DMLE. They'll make absolutely certain that you get the trial you should have had."

Sirius' eyes were suspiciously wet under the fairy lights that still flickered and danced over their heads and he took several deep breaths before he pushed himself back to his feet.

"You… you're so much like James," he muttered, thickly. "You look so much like him, but those eyes of yours… I'd say they were Lily's, but hers never glowed like that."

"I'll explain it another time. It's a long story," Harry said as Luna flicked her wand, levitating the unconscious wizard on the ground into the air so they could start walking back. "Which way is the castle?" Harry asked Luna.

"It's that way," she said, pointing with the hand that was still holding her wand. As a result, Pettigrew's floating form followed the direction of her wand and there was a thud as his body bounced off the side of a tree.

Quickly, she pulled her hand back, bringing Pettigrew with it, and she looked him over for a moment before turning her attention back to Harry. "Oops?" she said in the most unconvincing tone of voice that either of them thought they'd ever heard and Sirius burst out into that strange barking laughter again as he collapsed back to the ground.

It took nearly five minutes to get the man off the dirt again, and when he finally got his feet under him he was still chuckling and wiping tears off his cheeks.

"Come on, Sirius. We need to get out of here."

With no more interruptions, they started making their way toward the castle.

"Look's like you got a few things from me," Sirius said as they walked, a grin on his face and a smug note in his voice. At the blank look Harry gave him he nodded toward the teens arm, which was still wrapped around Luna's shoulders. "I was quite the ladies man, and your parents made me your Godfather. I think I'll take credit for your obvious skill with the fairer sex," he explained, his grin growing broader.

Harry suddenly flushed, but resisted the urge to leap away from Luna. He did squeeze the shoulder beneath his hand, however, and stepped slowly away from her, enough to lower his arm.

"I promise you, it's not like that, Padfoot. Luna is a really good friend but… well I'm not actually with anyone…" He fidgeted nervously and trailed off, unsure exactly how to address that particular topic.

"Yes, Mister Boardman. Harry and I are not together. I'm fairly certain I wouldn't have a place with his girls, anyway. But it has been very nice, having friends. They taught me what real friends are like." Her dreamy voice washed over them and she kept walking, pulling slightly ahead of the two wizards as Sirius fell into step beside Harry, looking more than a little confused.

"Your girls?" he asked, arching one brow in Harry's direction.

"It's a long story," Harry sighed. "I'm not… I don't know what's going on, but yes, there's my three closest friends, all girls. I've kind of thought of them as 'my girls' for some time but… well I don't really know. It's… it's complicated."

A younger Sirius Black might have had any number of less than sound bits of advice to offer. He also might have taken the opportunity to tease Harry mercilessly. This version of Sirius Black, however, had suffered more than a decade in Azkaban for his foolish desire for revenge, and he was determined to be a better man than he'd been in the past.

"Harry?" he asked, hesitantly as they followed Luna through the forest.

"Yeah?"

"You know… your parents named me your Godfather. Of course you know, I already said that," he grumbled the last under his breath, but Harry still caught it.

"I know, Sirius. The journals, and some letters, said as much. But that wasn't enough to get you a trial, they never said if you actually went through the Oaths or not."

"I did. The day of your first birthday, in fact. Best damn day of my life, I promise you that. I… I screwed up, Harry. I was stupid, and instead of taking care of you that night, like I should have, I went tearing off after Wormtail," he said in disgust. "I'm sure you wouldn't want to live with a broken old dog like me. Especially with someone like old Bonsey as your guardian, but… I promise you… I intend to do better. If you ever need to talk. If you ever need advice. I'm a joker, it's what I do, and I don't think I'll be able to avoid teasing or poking fun at times, but I want you to know that I'll never dismiss you or take your worries lightly. I want to be there for you, like I should have been before."

As the man talked, the lump that formed in Harry's throat made any attempt to respond completely impossible. Instead he just stopped, and when Sirius turned to face him, he threw his arms around the man and squeezed as hard as he could. As soon as he hit, both of them let out a pained grunt and separated, rubbing their sides where the hilt of Harry's sword had caught between them and jabbed them both, quite painfully.

"What's with the sword, Pup?" Sirius asked, wincing as he gingerly probed his side.

"Umm… it's a-"

"Long story." Sirius eyed him askance for a moment. "You seem to have a fairly large number of long stories for a thirteen-year-old," he commented idly as he started walking again, Harry falling into step as they hurried to catch up to Luna, who had not paused when they did.

Harry sighed, his brow furrowing into a deep frown. "I'm learning, more and more, that I don't seem to be allowed to have a quiet, normal life. It's chaos and mayhem everywhere I go, and somehow I always seem stuck in the middle of it."

Sirius studied him as they walked, carefully analyzing Harry's profile.

"We're gonna have to have a long talk," he said, receiving a silent nod in response.

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but cut himself off and broke into a sprint as, somewhere ahead of them, a shrill scream tore through the night air.

#####

"He's calmed down," Susan reported in a quiet murmur to her aunt.

"What'd you feel?"

Susan frowned with Daphne and Hermione edging in closer where the four of them stood at the base of the steps. "It was confusing," she said.

"He was furious. So furious he lost his shields, couldn't concentrate on keeping them. Then there was fear, but he wasn't afraid for himself, he was scared for someone else, or something else, maybe," Hermione muttered before Daphne took over.

"Anger again, more fear, something… something like elation? Joy? I can't really describe it." She shrugged and pushed her long hair back over her shoulder in a frustrated gesture. "It's calmed down to an excited bubbling of emotions. A whole mix of things tossed together." She closed her eyes, her brow furrowing as she focused as hard as she could on their link. "I'd say he's… he's talking to someone, someone he's happy to see, but I'm not certain, this thing isn't really that specific."

"Oh!"

Amelia turned back to Hermione who'd suddenly straightened up, sharply, and a small smile graced her features. "He's happy. He's pushing that toward us. Happy, a little tired, but he's not angry or scared anymore."

Amelia let out a sigh. "That's good. Any guesses if I'm going to have to ground him again?"

The girls all shrugged.

"Well, I'll just wait for him to get here, then, and find out for myself," she muttered, arms crossed over her chest.

The entire group was getting progressively more restless as time went on and the last quarter moon rose ever higher into the sky. As such, the visibility was not nearly as bad as it could have been, and when a floating shape exited the forest at the edge of the grounds with a figure walking behind it, Hermione instantly spotted the moonlight reflecting off of the head of white blond hair.

"What is Luna doing out there?" she blurted out and all conversation suddenly stopped as every eye turned to follow where she was pointing.

"Is she floating a person?"

"It's not Harry," Susan muttered in response to her aunt's question. He's not injured."

"Shack?"

He pulled the map out of his robes without responding and quickly unfolded it, his eyes searching for the edge of the grounds.

"It's Pettigrew. The map shows Luna Lovegood and Peter Pettigrew."

"Luna caught him?" Susan burst out, her eyes wide.

"Let us find out," Dumbledore said, and began making his way across the grounds toward the distant figure.

The entire group started after him with an admonishment from Amelia for the teens to stay close to her or the other Aurors. They were still more than a hundred feet away when they came.

In the span of a handful of seconds the temperature, already cold, suddenly plummeted and Amelia felt a sudden wash of guilt and pain flood over her. She swore, loudly, and only just clamped down on her Occlumency when scores of Dementors came flooding out of the forest near Hagrid's hut. Like a horrid flock of birds, the cloud of nightmares swooped through the air, changing direction toward Luna in the distance.

"Expecto Patronum!"

A burst of silver light erupted in front of them as Albus Dumbledore, the man that defeated the dark wizard Grindelwald, in a full fury, summoned his phoenix patronus as he broke into a run across the ground that no man his age should have been capable of.

Quickly, she summoned her own patronus and sent it bounding toward the Dementors as Shack and Tonks did the same on either side of her.

"Get back to the castle, now!" she screamed to the students, shoving Susan toward the structure behind them before she started running after the Headmaster.

Luna's terrified scream would haunt her nights for weeks as a swirling vortex of Dementors surrounded her. The patronuses seemed not to be as effective as they should have been. Phoenix, jack rabbit, lynx, and her own, a large dog, would glide through the cloud and the creatures would retreat at their approach, but instead of fleeing the area entirely, they immediately pressed close again as soon as the glowing animals moved past.

A hard blow struck her right side as they came within twenty feet of the girl on the ground and Amelia caught a glimpse of a Dementor gliding away as she spun from the force of the impact to land on the frost covered ground beneath her. Cries rose around her followed by more impacts as the others were attacked as well and somewhere she heard the Headmaster cry out before another impact with an accompanying crunching sound reached her ears.

Groggily, she lifted her head as three voices shouted in perfect unison, "Expecto Patronum!"

#####

With Sirius on his heels, Harry sprinted out into utter chaos. Dementors blotted out the sky above as screaming and shrieking echoed in the back of his mind, threatening to overwhelm him if not for his Occlumency and the four Patronuses that flitted about, keeping the worst of the Dementors effects at bay.

Beside him, Sirius changed into his dog form and straddled Lunas body where she lay curled up on the ground, moaning quietly.

"Mummy… please… wake up mummy…"

Harry's eyes darted back and forth, taking in the scene as quickly as he could. The Headmaster, Amelia, Shack, and Tonks were all laid out on the ground less than thirty feet away as, one by one, the glowing silver animals began to fade away.

Beyond them, the girls walked closer and closer with Blaise and Neville behind them and at the sight, Harry's blood ran cold in his veins.

No, he thought. Run. Get away from here.

On they came, never slowing or faltering in their steps.

Behind them, Neville was practically dragging Blaise, his wand out with a faint patronus shield extending from the tip, their only defense against the creatures horrible effects.

Hermione stood in the center with Susan on her right and Daphne on her left as they stopped in the middle of the scattered group of people. Harry's knees buckled, the screaming growing louder and louder in his mind and he tried to scream to them to run, but no sound escaped his throat.

Susan put her left hand on Hermione's right shoulder even as Daphne placed her right hand on the girl's left shoulder. All three of their eyes began to glow as their long hair rose about their heads, waving gently as if they were floating in a pool of water.

They each lifted their wand hands, pointing straight up toward the sky, and with one voice they screamed, "Expecto Patronum!"

The resulting corona of mist that burst from their wands was no simple shield. They created a dome, thirty feet across and twenty high that enclosed nearly all of them and filled each person with a sense of warmth and safety unlike anything Harry could remember experiencing before.

"Holy shite," he muttered, staring wide eyed at his girls as the screams receded, driven back by the powerful shield. Outside the dome, Blaise and Neville struggled closer, staggering almost drunkenly toward safety and Harry shot to his feet as he spotted one of the Dementors swooping in behind them, half rotted hands extended to grab his friends.

In an instant, Harry could tell they wouldn't make it before the creature was on them.

"Blaise!" he bellowed, and, without conscious thought as to what he was doing, he drew the Sword of Gryffindor in a single sweeping motion, lifted it to point straight in front of him, then wandlessly banished it as hard as he could.

The sword leapt from his hand and hissed its way through the air, passing through the dome, striking the Dementor in the very center of its body. A high pitched shriek rent the air around them, causing even the swarm above to pause. Everyone of them watched as a plume of black flames burst into being from the point where the sword impaled the thing and in moments, consumed it entirely.

Wide eyed and terrified, Blaise snatched up the sword as it fell to the ground and lifted it, eyeing how the blade gleamed with the same silver radiance as the Patronus guardians. With Neville helping to support him, and vice versa, Blaise Zabini proceeded to show any Dementor that came near them just what eight years of sword training could do.

Three more fell to the gleaming blade before the two boys crossed the edge of the dome and dropped to their knees inside, panting harshly. They were safe. The adults were slowly gathering their wits, save the disturbingly still form of the Headmaster. Still, Harry worried it wouldn't be fast enough. He could feel the girls tiring, and when they could no longer hold the shield, the would all die.

#####

Amelia sat up slowly, wincing and shaking her head gingerly.

Get it together, Bones, she chided herself. This is not the time to fall apart.

"Son of a-"

"Stop him!"

Her eyes snapped open to see a rat darting away, with a huge black dog on its tail, barking and growling furiously. She rose up onto one knee, squinting as she snatched up her wand and tried to aim for the miniscule shape of the rodent.

You are not getting away again, Sirius mentally snarled, his eyes fixed on the rat as he ran past the edge of the dome without even thinking of the Dementors swarming outside it. The rodent turned a sharp right and the huge black dog turned to cut him off, sending Wormtail scurrying back toward the dome. Back and forth they went, Padfoot blocking every attempt to run away, slowly moving closer and closer until…

MINE! he thought, lunging forward to snap his jaws down on the rodent when his head suddenly exploded in pain.

At the last possible moment, Wormtail changed back, spinning quickly and his right foot lashed out, catching Padfoot a solid blow across the side of his head, sending him spinning away with a pained yelp. Frantically, the cowardly wizard whipped around to run and actually managed all of three steps before something slammed into him that sent him toppling heavily to the ground on his back.

Dizzy and weak, he pushed himself up to a sitting position and stared, uncomprehendingly at the mangled stump of what had once been his left leg. Ten or so feet away, he saw his foot and lower leg lying on the dirt while nothing else remained past mid thigh.

"Heh… heh heh… hehehe hee…"

Deliriously, he started to laugh. Short giggles at first that quickly changed into full bodied, bellowing, hysterical laughter as his blood poured out to mingle with the snow and earth. A shadow fell over him, and he looked up, directly into a hood filled with an impenetrable darkness as a cold, rattling breath washed over him.

Inside the dome, Amelia lowered her was as Pettigrew's laughter suddenly changed to a spine chilling scream. It seemed to go on and on for an interminable amount of time before it abruptly cut off, punctuated by a wet thud that was all there was to mark the passing of one Peter Pettigrew.

"Sound off!" Amelia called out.

"Patronus back up, Boss, not that it's doing a lick of good," Tonks called from somewhere behind her.

"Same, Amy, and the Headmaster appears to be out of commission," Shack said from off to her right. Absently she noted the dog dragging itself across the border of the dome, belly low and tail hanging between its legs.

"Harry."

Amelia looked up to the trio of girls standing in the center of their dome. Their raised arms trembled, sweat dripped down their faces and plastered their hair against their cheeks and necks. The glow in their eyes was nearly extinguished and at a glance, Amelia could tell their dome shield had shrunk nearly ten feet, now only twenty across and maybe fifteen high.

"Harry," Hermione called again. "You have to do it, Harry. Or we're all going to die."

#####

Harry jerked as every eye turned toward him, save the unconscious Headmaster and the three girls, whose gazes were unfocused, staring off into something only they could see.

"Me?" he asked, stepping up to Hermione, but taking care not to touch her, least he interfere with whatever it was they were doing. "What can I do?"

The dome shrank a foot.

"Your Patronus," she said over the sounds of the Dementors.

"But I can't do it," he protested. "I don't have a strong enough memory."

"You can. You don't need a memory. You have more than enough power, all you need is a feeling."

"I'm even worse with feelings!"

Another foot closer came the edge of the dome as the people within scrambled to move toward the middle and the Dementors outside stirred up into a frenzy, swirling around them like a cyclone.

"Do you want to know what feeling I use?" she whispered, her eyes suddenly focusing on him, staring straight into him.

The intensity of her gaze startled him and a helpless tremor ran through his body. "What?" he asked, unable to help himself.

She smiled, a small, beautiful smile that stole his breath and lodged his heart somewhere in his throat.

"The purest, most joyous feeling that exists. The love that I feel for Susan, and for Daphne." Her free hand came up and gently cupped his cheek. "And for you," she told him, almost too softly for him to hear. "I love you. We love you. Please, you're a part of us. We couldn't live without you, or you without us. We could have a great future, but you need to believe that it's possible."

The hand on his cheek moved to the back of his neck and she pulled him forward until their lips met. As she kissed him, Hermione, Susan, and Daphne focused their thoughts, summoning up every shred of love that they felt. The love they felt for each other, for Harry, for their friends, parents, and siblings. The gathered it all together and sent it hurtling along their bond and into him.

Harry's entire body went rigid at the overwhelming flood of emotion that washed over him like a tidal wave, threatening to drag him under and smother him with the absolutely awe-inspiring weight of it all.

When she pulled back, the light in her eyes had faded, the dome was gone, leaving only three weak shields that were completely inadequate to protect them.

He stood frozen for a heartbeat, his eyes closed.

Then another.

And another.

Then, his eyes snapped open and twin raging green infernos blazed brightly, washing the air around them in emerald light. His robes snapped and billowed around him as a wind kicked up, spinning and twisting with Harry the eye of the storm.

His right arm came up, palm facing out, and without looking away from her, he spoke the spell. He didn't shout. He didn't bellow. He spoke softly, calmly, yet every one of them heard him as clear as day.

"Expecto Patronum."

A blinding burst of silver light erupted from his palm, exploding outward, expanding rapidly. It bulged and stretched as he turned to face the Dementors and in less than the span of a breath, three figures stood defiantly before them, their backs to the majority of the group.

The girls let their shields drop, falling bonelessly to their knees, their eyes fixed on the spectacle before them.

"Sweet Merlin," Susan breathed in awe and Daphne nodded, finishing the thought.

"They're us."

Indeed, the three figures that formed of Harry's spell were easily identifiable as visions in silver of the three girls on the ground behind him.

In the center, the figure of Hermione, with her bushy hair falling down her back, turned her head to look at the vision of Susan standing on her right. Reaching out with her right hand, Susan took it in her left, both figures smiling in profile before the middle form turned to the figure of Daphne on her left, holding out that hand, which Daphne accepted with her right.

Clasping hands, they stepped silently forward, past a newly awakened Albus Dumbledore, who gazed upon them with tears streaming down his wizened cheeks and into his beard. The three of them looked up at the swarm above and they suddenly pulsed with light.

Once.

Twice.

A third time. With the third pulse of blinding radiance the Dementors shrieked in a mixture of pain and rage as they were scattered to the winds, forced away by the purest magic that exists anywhere in the universe.

The light slowly dimmed down to something that they could safely look at and the three figures released each others hands, turning around to walk back toward the wizard that summoned them.

"The mirror," Hermione whispered, recognizing the figures as the older versions of themselves that she'd seen the year before in the gold framed mirror in Harry's nightmare.

Normally, a patronus is entirely silver in color but as the three figures stopped a few feet from Harry, a thin golden chain formed. It started with Hermione's form, appearing as if growing out of her chest where the real girl's heart would be and it stretched out until it connected to the figures on either side of her. A single golden chain, linking their hearts together.

"Thank you," Harry said into the sudden and nearly total silence that followed the Dementors departure.

The three forms smiled, the same beautiful smile that the real Hermione had just graced him with less than a minute before, then they slowly faded from view.

Harry turned, his eyes only dimly glowing, his robes still on his frame. A small, lopsided smile turned up the corners of his lips for only a moment before his eyes rolled back into his head and the ground suddenly rushed up to meet him.