Chapter 23

"I can hear the cogs turning from here, Padfoot," said Mooney.

Sirius put the paper down in exasperation. "How did she do it?" he demanded.

"How did who do what?" asked Lupin.

The pair were having a relaxing evening in. They'd finally been on the shopping spree Sirius wanted now that the students were all back in school and the shops were emptier. Shopping was a tiring activity at the best of times, but as quiet as the shops had been there had still been a few people who stared at Sirius. People would get over it eventually.

"Skeeter! There were only the three of us in the room," said Sirius, annoyed.

"Are you still on that? Let it go, Sirius, she'll have made it up and got lucky with the facts, you remember some of her original stuff, right?"

"No, she'd heard us, she said you called me Padfoot, she knew I'd broken down. That's too accurate for guess work."

"So many people in our year could have heard us refer to each other by nickname. All she had to do was to interview someone vaguely close to us."

"It's not just that, there's the guy from the bar, there's Harry and Hermione in the tower, there's the kids in the teashop. No, Remus, she has ways to find stuff out, to overhear."

"Teashop?"

"Yeah, Harry and Hermione made some stuff up about Sybil Trelawney in Puddifoot's. Not loudly, but not exactly quietly either. Skeeter published it."

"The stuff about her predicting student deaths?"

"No, the drunk part."

"Oops. I had that the other way around," said Remus, slightly embarrassed. "I read the article about the Yule Ball at the time, I liked reading that Harry had had a nice evening."

"So, how does she do it?"

"Some sort of eavesdropping charm? Something opposite to a muffilato?"

"You want me to believe she's invented a charm and then uses it only for journalistic trash rather than selling it?"

"On second thoughts, no," admitted Lupin.

"I thought for a while she was eavesdropping the floo network, but you've got to know what you're doing to get to the Gryffindor common room grate," said Sirius.

"There's no way she could be in the common room itself, and that tower is tall. Oooh, broom?" asked Sirius.

"It's a long way up and surely someone below could have seen something," said Lupin. "Invisibility cloak?"

"They're not generally very good. James's must have been top notch," said Sirius, "I mean, Harry's is top notch," he amended awkwardly.

"You have the memory of the cafe, and Harry and Hermione have the memory of the same," said Lupin. "What if we asked Dumbledore if we could borrow his pensieve and borrow the kids. I know it's a frivolous use of his pensieve, but it gives us something to put our minds to, you get another visit to Hogwarts and Harry, and let's be honest, Albus would give you the moon right now."

"I'll floo-call him, it's still early. Perhaps we can go over tomorrow," said Sirius. "While I'm there I could collect some you know what for Thursday evening," said Sirius casually, hopefully.

"Hell will freeze over first, Padfoot," said Lupin with finality.

Tuesday evening Sirius and Remus stepped through the floo into Minerva's office. Sirius looked around, "Ah, yes, more familiar territory."

"Good evening gentlemen, Albus has lent you his pensieve for the evening and there are three very keen Gryffindors eager for your company. I've put you in the Transfiguration classroom for the evening, I know you can turn the furniture into something more comfortable. Call the elves whenever you like if you want refreshments. Come along, although I don't know why I'm escorting you, I know you know the way!"

They made their way through the school to Minerva's classroom. Harry, Hermione and Ron were waiting for them there.

"I expect it left exactly as you found it, all of you," said Minerva, "Call for the house elf Dobby when you're done, he'll return Albus' pensieve."

"Thank you, Minerva," said Lupin. "I'm curious, you've not asked what we're sharing."

"I can't decide whether you're up to no good between you, or whether this is something you need to do to help yourselves," said Minerva. "Albus didn't ask either. If it's the former, I don't want to know. Now, behave, the lot of you." Minerva left.

"She's still scary," said Sirius.

"Even after I worked here for a year she's a bit scary, Padfoot," agreed Lupin.

Lupin cast a silencing charm on the room, "Because you never know," he said with a smile.

"You are so much cooler than when you were a professor," said Ron.

Sirius crossed the room and gave Harry a hug.

"Hi Sirius," said Harry, not minding a hug in front of his friends.

"I've missed you, even if it has only been less than a week," said Sirius, "How's the maze map coming along?" he asked all of them.

"Nicely," said Hermione. "We've got the Homonculous Charm working properly now. Ron sneaked into the maze on Sunday night under Harry's cloak so we could test it."

"And the twins' map?" asked Lupin.

"Let's just say they're running with any and every idea they can come up with," said Harry. "Creative."

"I think I'd like plausible deniability about that," said Lupin, "Perhaps best to stop there."

"So, Skeeter," said Sirius, "Memory time." He placed his wand to his temple and drew out a fine strand and placed it into the pensieve.

"Did Professor McGonagall explain to you what a pensieve is and how it works?" asked Lupin.

The three children nodded.

"Right, so hop in then," said Sirius, leaning into the bowl.

When they arrived in the memory they were looking top down and then found themselves in the middle of the cafe scene.

The scene started. Most cafe patrons were talking quietly. Sirius hadn't been able to hear their conversation well from his corner, he'd had to strain.

"It will be interesting to compare this to our memories," said Hermione. "It's a shame we can't overlay multiple memories like in television."

Harry smiled watching the three wizards analyse that sentence.

"Nevermind," said Hermione.

"Right, everyone look around," said Sirius. "A glimpse out of a window, a flare of the fire, a twitch of a cloak. Look for anything out of place."

They watched the memory a few times, each of them standing in different places in the room looking around, but none of them saw anything.

Sirius sighed.

"Next!" They all dived into Harry's memory.

"Ron," said Harry, "This is going to come out wrong, but you weren't here, so you've got fresh eyes, anything that seems odd."

"I know what you mean, but so far, the only thing that's out of place is the size of the cream bun Jeremy from the Puffs is eating. Uuuggghhh!"

Sirius turned to look, "Yeah, that's a lot of cream," he agreed. "Is that cream on his left ear?!"

"I don't see anything," said Hermione in frustration.

"Me neither," said Harry.

They left that memory and dived into Hermione's memory of the Yule Ball night.

"Honestly, Hermione," said Ron, "Why on earth did you invade Egypt? Harry's forces are all in the Middle East, you'll be creamed in the next five moves!"

"Hark at Mr Strategy!" Hermione retorted.

"Um, Hermione," said Harry, "You did actually get creamed in four moves time," replied Harry. Hermione huffed.

They went back to surveying the scene.

"Hey, guys?" said Ron, pointing over to the window sill, "This might be silly, but what if I saw that beetle in Puddifoot's window too?"

They all looked over. They all thought about for a bit.

"She's a fucking animagus!" exclaimed Sirius.

"Language!" snapped Lupin.

"English!" quipped back Sirius.

"Can we go check for her in your memory, Sirius, in the courtroom?" asked Hermione, "Or is that private?"

Sirius and Lupin exchanged a look.

"We're not offended by the question, Hermione," said Remus, "But we'd rather go look at that memory ourselves."

"Sorry," said Hermione, "I got caught up in the problem solving."

Lupin reached out and gave her hand a squeeze, "Honestly, we aren't offended. I like curious students."

Sirius and Remus dived into the pensieve to watch Lupin's memory. They came back out looking a bit worse for wear.

"She's there," confirmed Remus, "On a handrail in the press gallery."

Remus looked over to Sirius, who was looking at not much.

"We're going to go back to the cottage now," said Remus, "I think a stiff drink is in order. We'll deal with Dobby and take ourselves back to Minerva's office."

Harry went over to Sirius and gave him a hug which was returned tightly.

"Harry, I'll owl you in the morning with what we can come up with for next steps," said Sirius.

The three students returned to their common room and the adults back to Minerva's floo after calling Dobby for the now empty pensieve.

Next morning Harry received a letter.

Dear Harry,

Padfoot and I talked very late about this. She's an unregistered animagus. So is Padfoot. We know she uses her ability for things she shouldn't. Padfoot used his out of friendship. But Padfoot lives in a glass house and doesn't want to throw stones. He doesn't want to rock the boat. I hope you can understand that he wants to remain unnoticed. He doesn't want questions to be asked about why he didn't register when he became of age. He doesn't want anything to do with the Wizengamot. Please understand that while you might think his fear is irrational and that given where he's spent time for something he didn't do, he doesn't trust that 'time served' would negate anything.

I will keep an eye on the beetle and will reevaluate things as needed.

Mooney.

Harry carefully folded the letter and put it in his robes. Rationally, Harry understood. When you've been falsely accused once, you have a natural aversion to being in that same spotlight again. But Harry wasn't entirely rational, he was a 15 year old boy.

"Well?" asked Ron. "That was Sirius, wasn't it?"

"Lupin, and no, they aren't going to do anything. It's a Padfoot thing."

Hermione frowned. "I understand, but surely Padfoot simply registers, just in case, then they drop her in it."

"Lupin says Sirius is afraid of being charged with something," replied Harry.

"He'd get off on time served," said Hermione, "It's not like he's not in credit." She belatedly released her poor choice of words and blushed.

"He could squash the beetle and probably still be in credit," said Ron, unwittingly lightening the mood. They all laughed.

"I don't like her writing that stuff," said Harry.

"Problem is," said Hermione, "It's not actually untrue."

"You want to ask me something, Mr Potter," said Snape. "I can tell because your lips are moving to frame your question. Out with it!"

"Can I ask you about animagi?" asked Harry.

"You'd be better talking to Professor McGonagall or even your godfather," said Snape, surprised by the question. "But go ahead."

Harry lowered his wand. He'd been practising his Point Me spell under Snape's tutelage for the evening.

"I wanted to ask you about unregistered animagi."

"Has that idiot not registered his damn dog yet?" asked Snape, waspishly.

Harry shook his head.

"He does know he could get away with a lot right now seeing how sympathetic the public is towards him, doesn't he?" asked Severus. "Twelve years in Azkaban is a very long time."

"He doesn't see it that way," said Harry. "He's…"

Snape nodded, "Afraid." Snape didn't mock. He understood fear of the Wizengamot asking questions. "The Headmaster could help him. Suggest to Mr Lupin that Black should speak with Professor Dumbledore about it."

Snape indicated to Harry to raise his wand to practise, assuming that was the end of the conversation.

"What if I know another unregistered animagus?" asked Harry, circling the conversation carefully.

"Then you should tell them to register or face a lengthy term in Azkaban, Mr Potter." Severus looked at Harry. He wasn't about to read the boy's mind for this, the boy would tell him what he wanted to know anyway. He sighed. "Mr Potter, perhaps this should turn into a hypothetical conversation. How long has this person been an animagus?"

"I don't know."

"Do you know their form?"

"Hypothetically, do I have to answer that?" asked Harry.

"I suppose not," agreed Snape. "Do you know why they haven't registered?"

"Um, because they're using their form to make a living?"

"How so?"

"If I know someone is an animagus, is it my place to report them if they're using it for something they shouldn't?" asked Harry in partial answer.

"What are they doing, robbing Gringott's with it?" asked Snape. "Forget that, is the person of age?" asked Severus.

"Yes."

"Are they your friend?" asked Snape, fleetingly picturing Charlie Weasley as a dragon.

"God, no," shuddered Harry.

"Then perhaps, given you are a teenager with plenty enough on his own plate, you should tell me about it and trust that I, as an adult, will deal with it correctly."

"Could you promise not to go spare until I'm out of your office please, sir?" asked Harry.

"Spill, Mr Potter."

"Yesterday when Sirius and Remus came to the castle to visit, we shared memories of a couple of times we think someone was eavesdropping our conversations. Ron was the one to spot her. He saw her on the windowsill in the Gryffindor Common room the night of the Yule Ball. She knew Hermione and I were playing muggle games."

"Mr Potter, are you trying to tell me that Rita Skeeter is an animagus?!" demanded Snape, very quick on the uptake.

"Sirius doesn't want to report her because he's not registered, but she's writing such horrible stuff, even if it is factually mostly accurate," said Harry, "Because she's sneaking places and listening."

"Well he's an idiot," huffed Snape. "What's her form?"

"A beetle, it's got markings that match her glasses."

"Out of curiosity, Mr Potter, what got you all looking for her?"

"Do you remember the piece she did on Sirius at the Wizengamot, when she wrote a bit about him and Remus and made them out to be emotionally unstable and made suggestive remarks about their relationship?"

"Yes, she did go all out in that one," agreed Snape.

"They said the courtroom had been empty but for them and Professor Dumbledore, and like with me and Hermione, only you knew what we were up to, and you wouldn't tell."

"It would explain her article about Sybil too," mused Severus to himself. Harry kept very, very still at that point. Thankfully Snape didn't notice the awkward expression on his face.

"Leave it with me, Mr Potter, you have more important things to think about, like staying alive in the third task. Perhaps some of those dragon's eggs hatched in time for baby Hungarian Horntails to be running around breathing fire at you all."

Harry expression turned slightly glassy. "They wouldn't!" he thought a bit more. "Would they?!" He hurriedly raised his wand to start practising again.

Snape thought for a long time late that evening about what to do. The obvious first move was to get Albus to pardon Black for not registering his animagus, and then he could do anything. There was a slight chance Skeeter knew, or guessed, at Black's status. Severus didn't like Black, never would, but Potter staying with Black was better than Potter at Privet Drive. Black needed to be squeaky clean for that 'some point in the future'.

Severus also spent time wondering what to do about the Dursleys. Oh, there were many things he wanted to do, but none of those were legal.

The simplest solution would be to remove the boy, in spite of Albus' reservations. There were plenty of wizarding families who'd take in the Boy Who Lived. An Auror family, or someone like Amelia Bones. That was Severus's back up plan. Albus would skin him alive, but Lily's son would be safe.

For all Severus's reservations, Black wasn't an entirely horrific option. Potter would be going into his fifth year next year. The boy spent nine months of each year in the castle anyway. It could be arranged for him to spend a month at the Burrow. For all Snape wasn't fond of the Weasleys, Arthur had been a competent member of the Order, and there were safe enough families near them for back up, the Diggorys for example. That only left two months to deal with. Lupin would be available 28 days in each month. Lupin had surprised Severus last year by being a competent, serious teacher. Regular visits from Minerva and Filius could keep an eye on them, and Hogsmeade was a mere stone's throw from Albus.

The problem was Albus and his damn blood wards. The man insisted on them and the safety they provided. Snape didn't disagree with the facts, it was just what's the point if the boy wasn't safe on the inside of them.

He needed a way to neutralise the Dursleys if Dumbledore insisted on Potter staying there briefly. Severus refused to contemplate Potter staying there longer than briefly.

But for now, back to Skeeter. His Slytherin brain took over. It would be a waste to just simply report her.

Severus reached for parchment and quill.

Sirius was afraid. He couldn't afford to be caught. Mooney would most likely leave and thrash him to within an inch of his life on his way out of the door. Mooney had been very, very clear on the subject of Snape's potion. Mooney had said no, and control over his change was an absolute with him.

Sirius knew from years ago that Mooney hated the taste of wolfsbane. Over the years Mooney had investigated adding it to various other drinks. They didn't affect the potion's efficacy, it was no different 'with' instead of 'as a chaser', but Mooney didn't take it with alcohol. They'd contemplated 'alcoholic werewolf' very, very briefly aged 17, and then Prongs had reached for the pumpkin juice. Some drinks tasted better than others. Years ago, Mooney had discovered Ribenna, a blackcurrant muggle cordial and hadn't tried anything different after that. Apparently it completely disguised the taste.

Sirius listened carefully. Mooney was in the shower. That was enough noise to disguise the sound of what he was doing. A few minutes later, with shaking hands, Sirius had swapped the contents of Mooney's vial for tonight with one of Snape's potions. He'd not wasted the store-bought potion, he'd put that in Snape's vial, put a tiny mark on the lid and carefully hidden the box of vials back under his bed.

Mooney was going to go spare. Never mind, it was for his own good.

Sirius had bought a house with a cellar in the hope of Mooney staying. They'd spent a lot of time kitting out the cellar to be comfortable. Two couches, a fire box with a flue connecting to the main house chimney, plenty of carpeting and cloth tapestries on the walls, partly to dampen any noise and partly for warmth. The door had been reinforced and was able to be bolted from the outside if necessary. While wolfsbane calmed the wolf, there was such a thing as a dodgy batch and Remus would never forgive himself if anyone were injured. Sirius had agreed that while Remus stayed, Sirius would bolt the cellar and let Remus out next morning, or if both of them were on the inside, Sirius as Padfoot, they'd lock themselves in until morning with an Alohamora.

Sirius was sitting in the living room reading the paper when Remus came downstairs freshly showered and shaved. They had dinner as usual. While it was a monthly occurrence, Remus was always quiet on the evening of the full moon.

The clock in the hall struck eleven. The moon would rise late tonight, near 1am, and set early at 5am. In Azkaban Sirius had watched the full moon every month, sending thoughts to his friend as if the moon could pass them on.

"You don't have to wait up, Padfoot, you can either go to bed, or we can go down to the cellar and you can go dog on the couch."

"I'm not about to leave you alone for your first time in the house, Mooney," replied Sirius, "Grab your potion and I'll curl up on the couch."

They decamped to the cellar, which was a nice temperature this time of year. It was plenty big enough as it ran the whole way under the house. Sirius closed the door and a quick charm locked them in.

Sirius transformed and watched with big round eyes as Mooney downed his blackcurrant cordial with extra ingredients. Sirius watched his expression carefully. The man didn't seem to notice any difference in taste. Padfoot went to sleep.

He awoke at 1am. Mooney had fallen asleep in human form on the very comfy couch not long after Sirius. Mooney awoke. Padfoot watched him breathe deeply, take one ragged breath and then his body morphed into that of a werewolf. Mooney turned to look at Padfoot. Stare was more like it. Balefully. Well Snape's potion must be pretty effective then, thought Padfoot. Padfoot thumped his tail twice, put his nose between his paws and went back to sleep.

Dawn broke. Padfoot was woken by a human finger poking him in the shoulder. He opened his eyes. Let's just say that it was one of the more worrying moments in Sirius' life. That was a very angry Lupin.

"You switched them, Sirius," growled Lupin. "You know how I feel about people interfering with my condition. I specifically told you not to."

Padfoot whined.

"That won't help you. You'll have to return to human form some time." Lupin pointed his wand at the door. "Alohamora!" He stalked out of the room, slamming to door behind him.

Sirius quickly stood and transformed. Mooney had looked a lot more compos mentis today than his usual lycanthropian hangover as they'd termed it years ago. He wondered about the quality of Snape's work. Sirius hurried out of the door and up the stairs to the main house. He encountered Remus in the hallway. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off.

"Not a word, Padfoot," snapped Remus, "I'm not in the mood to hear it. Stay here!" Lupin turned to the door and marched out of the house.

Minerva was an early riser, especially as the mornings became light earlier. She was looking out of her window not long after dawn when she saw a figure stalk up the castle's main entry way. A gait even Severus would be proud of, she thought, watching the robes billow in the early morning breeze. She left her rooms and headed down to the main entrance, judging her speed to coincide with that of the visitor. At the distance she'd first seen him she couldn't make out anything but male, fairly tall and angry.

She heard the solid tread of his boots walk up the steps and was surprised to see Remus Lupin. He was always welcome in her eyes, even if it was term time. Oh but last night was…

"Minerva," was all Lupin said as he passed her. She hurried after him, he hadn't even slowed down. She followed him down towards Slytherin. Oh dear, Severus's domain. Sure enough, he marched onto the dungeon corridor.

Lupin hammered on Severus's office door. The man was known to be a very early riser, he'd easily be in his office by now. The door opened. She was in prime position to see exactly what happened next. Severus was slightly surprised to see Lupin, she could see it on his face. He was very surprised when Lupin punched him in the face. Severus staggered backwards, and Lupin advanced into the office, closing the door behind him.

A tiny bit of Remus' brain told him that had been a dumb thing to do. The rest of it exulted in satisfaction. Severus staggered back two steps, regained his balance and stood up. The man didn't reach for his wand nor retaliate. They looked at each other, Remus saw guilt in Severus's eyes.

Remus was angry. Sirius had gone behind his back, swapped his Potions and administered a different wolfsbane. It did not matter that last night's Potion was the best he'd had in his entire life, that was a totally separate point, it mattered that Sirius had interfered. Remus didn't have control of the fact that he changed, but he had control over how he changed and that vestige of control was a lifeline for him.

"Did you and him cook this up between you?!" snarled Lupin.

"I knew he'd kept them, I didn't know he'd given you it." replied Severus, "I presume that's why you're here."

Severus's face ached fiercely, Lupin had a much better punch on him than Black, but Severus refused to massage feeling back into his face just yet.

"What the hell was in that?" demanded Lupin.

"There was a new research paper on Wolfsbane out last November as I'm sure you know. It had promise, so I investigated it further. I made some alterations to it to create that batch. Can I presume from your ability to march here and punch me in the face that it's an improvement?"

Remus turned away and stalked out leaving a surprised Minerva behind in the corridor. She put her head into Severus's office to find him holding his left cheek and muttering, "Bloody Gryffindors!"