A/N: Hello all! Thank you for all of the new reviews, follows and favorites! I got a review on the last chapter asking me if I planned to make Dumbledore an antagonist for my story, or if I had made a mistake in saying that Dumbledore knew about the switch. I couldn't reply directly, so please read my somewhat lengthy response here!

I had mentioned that Addison believes that Dumbledore knew about the switch in Secret Keepers – again, key word, she believes that he knew. Keep in mind that we only see things through her perspective (besides a few glimpses in to Sirius's POV), so she doesn't always have all of the information. Also keep in mind that during the time that this all happened, she was away for weeks at a time, barely seeing Sirius or her friends – she was out of the loop, basing most of her information on letters from Sirius. Sirius believed that Dumbledore knew, therefore she beleives it. In my mind, Dumbledore did not know about the switch, but Addison already does not trust him. He has made some questionable decisions already, and Sirius isn't sure if he knew or not, so she's inclined to believe the worst. The whole misunderstanding works to show that they don't entirely trust Dumbledore; a plot point that will be fleshed out throughout the rest of the story. So, no, Dumbledore is not going to be the antagonist per se, but he is not going to get away with as much as he did in the books. From here on out, we will see what would have happened in the Harry Potter books, had Harry had a capable adult on his side. Someone who was willing to stand up to Dumbledore, and take some of the burden off of Harry's shoulder. Remember, Harry is a child. Addie and Sirius are going to be the parents that he needed, from here on out. It was always my intention for the plot to change drastically, but it happened earlier than I had planned. I hope this helped explain what I was thinking a little bit better! (Plus this chapter explains a little bit too). Enjoy the chapter J


June 6th, 1994

"Scabbers, obviously, is not a rat. He is an animgaus by the name of Peter Pettigrew." Remus explained, his wand pointed straight at Peter, who was cowering on the floor.

"I don't understand," Harry admitted, looking between the four adults with a look of complete confusion on his face.

"Bind him," I demanded forcefully, gesturing to Peter, who looked like he was planning his escape. "Then we can tell the whole story."

"You'll have to help me fill in the parts I don't understand." Remus shot chains out of his wand at Peter, binding him where he sat. "I only know bits and pieces."

"Of course," I agreed easily. "Although, I don't even know the whole story." From the corner of my eye, I saw Peter trying to crawl his way over towards Harry on his hands and knees. I walked over and kicked him backwards, putting my foot on his chest. "Move again, and it'll be the last thing you ever do."

"Addis–" Peter began, but he was cut off by an enraged cry from behind us.

"Do NOT speak to her. Don't you dare speak to her," Sirius raged, his face deranged with emotion. "Don't speak again, not until we've told Harry what really happened the night you killed his parents."

"He didn't kill my parents!" Harry shouted. "You did! And then you tried to kill him. I know that you were their Secret Keeper – that you betrayed them and then when Peter tracked you down, you tried to kill him."

"No, Harry. Sirius didn't kill your parents. Peter did," I clarified. I looked at Harry, who looked like he was almost at his breaking point. I knew we would have to start at the very beginning, that Harry deserved the whole truth. And he was going to get it.

"How did you find us here?" Hermione asked hesitantly, asking us the question that was on the forefront of her mind. "How did you even know about this place?"

"Know about it?" Remus chuckled darkly. "This place was built for me. When Dumbledore allowed me to come to Hogwarts, he had this building built so I would have a safe place to transform each month. I was supposed to come down here alone, but I had a group of friends that wouldn't take no for an answer. When they figured out my secret, they were determined to come with me and put all of their efforts in to becoming illegal animagus so that they could keep me company."

"Of course!" Hermione exclaimed, as if a light bulb had just gone off. "Werewolves can't hurt animals. If they were bitten while in animagus form, they wouldn't be infected. Brilliant. Dangerous and stupid, but brilliant."

"So my Dad was an animgaus?" Harry asked. His eyes lit up at the revelation of new information about his father. My stomach clenched – he should have grown up hearing stories about how magnificent James was, not scrounging for bits and pieces of information. He should have grown up with James, hearing the stories from his father himself, I corrected myself.

"Yes. Along with two other friends – Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. You've already seen both of their forms tonight. James was a stag. Sirius and James were absolutely brilliant. Peter was a good follower." Remus shot a disgusted look at Peter, who was sitting quietly on the floor, his eyes darting around the room quickly. I pushed my foot down a little harder, and Peter gasped in fear.

"That doesn't explain how you knew where to find us tonight. If you weren't working with Black this whole time, how did you know we'd be down here?" Ron cried. He was looking at Peter as if he had never seen a man before in his life. It must be disconcerting for the pet you've loved for twelve years to suddenly turn in to a fully grown adult man.

"The Marauder's map," Remus explained simply.

"You know how to work it?" Harry asked.

"Of course – we made it! Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs – Me, Peter, Sirius and James."

Harry was looking at Remus as though he were speaking a foreign language. "My father…was a Marauder?"

"James was the biggest prankster of us all. He was…absolutely brilliant," Sirius added, his eyes still focused only on Peter. His voice had softened somewhat, now that he was speaking about James; the animalistic bark had softened somewhat.

"If you were all such great friends, then what happened?" Harry accused, looking between the four of us.

"War happened," I said. "Distrust happened. When your parents had to go in to hiding, Sirius was the obvious choice to be Secret Keeper – he would have died before betraying them."

"Well, obviously he didn't." Harry deadpanned. He was glaring at Sirius, as though he hated him more than anything in the world.

"We all drifted during the war. What you have to understand Harry, is that even the best of friends can be torn apart by suspicion and lack of communication. Am I right in assuming that you two suspected that I was the traitor?" Remus asked, looking at both Sirius and I.

Sirius nodded. "Can you forgive me? You were gone so often, and we kept being betrayed. It never even occurred to me that the rat could have been the rat. He was always so useless at everything, the thought that he could have gone dark never crossed my mind."

"So long as you forgive me for believing it was the two of you," Remus offered graciously. Both Sirius and I nodded.

"You see, Harry, I truly believed that Remus was the one betraying us – that he had fallen in with Voldemort. I was terrified of anything happening to any of you, so we switched the secret keeper. We switched, Harry – Peter and I switched. The only people who knew were your parents, Peter, Addison and Dumbledore." Sirius turned to me. "What I don't understand is why you didn't defend me. We had a trial, and you swore under veritaserum that I was the secret keeper, when you knew that I wasn't."

"That…is a very long story," I said hesitantly. "One that will only confuse Harry more." At Sirius's insistent glare, I continued. "Jason Whitmore obliviated me. The rest of the story will have to wait." Sirius's harsh glare softened. He looked confused, and scared; he opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by Remus.

"Let's move on," Remus suggested, sensing a full-blown Black fight brewing. Sirius did deserve an explanation, but there was already so much going on – I didn't want to overwhelm Harry. So I went back to task at hand – explaining to Harry what had happened.

"The bottom line, Harry, is that I have proof that Sirius did not betray your parents. Sirius loved your parents. James was like a brother to him; your grandparents were like his parents," I said. "Sirius loved you from the minute you were born."

"So why didn't Dumbledore defend you?" Harry asked, looking at Sirius with a slightly less aggressive look on his face. "If he knew you were innocent, why did he let you go to Azkaban?"

"I wish I knew. My only explanation is that he thought I really had killed Peter and those muggles – that he believed I deserved to go to Azkaban for that crime. It's possible that he didn't know…I wasn't actually there for the switch. It's a complicated spell, and I always assumed that he had performed it – Lily was brilliant at Charms, but I don't know if she was capable of doing it herself. Only Peter would know for sure." He looked down at Peter questioningly, but there would be a time for questioning him. Most important was convincing Harry that we were on his side; everything else could be squared away later.

"Dumbledore has done a lot of harm in this situation," I said, darkly. My rage was back – looking down at Peter, knowing what Dumbledore had done. In that instant, I knew that whatever plans Sirius had for Peter, I was going to support. He deserved to pay for what he had done to Lily and James. "He's the reason that you have lived with your Aunt and Uncle this whole time, Harry. You were supposed to go to me, your godmother. But he determined he knew what was right, and he blocked my attempts to gain custody of you for the last twelve years. He even had a restraining order placed against me, so that I couldn't come anywhere near you."

Harry gaped at me, his brow furrowed at this new information. "Godmother?" He asked pathetically. "You…wanted me?"

It broke my entire heart to hear this boy, who had grown up without a shred of love in his life, learn that somebody had wanted him – someone had fought for him – and that his hero, Dumbledore, had been the one to take that away.

"Of course we wanted you," Sirius barked. He had gotten up and joined Remus and I in facing Peter. He put his hand on my shoulder, and I put mine on top of his. Looking in to his eyes, I saw that glimmer of hope that I had last seen at the trial – I knew that although we had a lot more to talk about, he still loved me. And that ache that I had lived with for the last twelve years, the ache for him, was alleviated slightly. "Addie was in the room when you were born. Remus and I were downstairs, keeping your father from jumping off his broom in worry. And you…" He turned his glare to Peter. "Sat in James and Lily's living room, drank their liquor, and promised to always protect Harry, knowing that you were looking for your chance to betray us all. You are filth."

"What I still don't understand is," Hermione said, looking around the room thoughtfully, sensing the rising tension in the room. "What did actually happen in that alleyway? How is Peter alive?"

"I was so angry, furious at Peter for what he had done to Lily and James. I tracked him down, but he was already putting on the act. He made it seem like I had betrayed them, asking loudly how I could live with myself. Then he blasted the alleyway behind him with his wand, cut off his finger, and transformed in to a rat. By the time the Aurors arrived, I was hysterical, knowing that Peter had really outthought all of us. All they ever found of him was his finger. The ministry never knew that we were animagus – we were all illegal – so they never thought to think there was more to the story. He was free to live out the last twelve years as a rat, taking advantage of this young man's family." Sirius explained, casting a passing glance in Hermione's direction and gesturing at Ron. "Are we done now? Can we finish what I came here to do?"

"Just one more question," Remus pressed. "How did you know Peter was here?"

By way of explanation, Sirius reached in to his filthy shirt pocked, and pulled out an excerpt from the Daily Prophet. It was the article detailing how Arthur had won the prize money. The photo was a picture of the entire Weasley family in Egypt. And there, sitting on Ron's shoulder, was Scabbers – missing toe evident.

"Together?" Remus asked, his wand joining Sirius's (which I assumed was actually Ron's). The clipping seemed to solidify that Sirius was telling the truth – and truth be told, all of the pieces had fit together.

"Always," I responded bitterly, my wand joining the other two. Just as we were about to hex, Harry stopped us.

"Stop!" He shouted, his face pale. "Stop. I don't want you to do this."

"Thank you, oh, thank you Harry," Peter sighed, on his hands and knees in front of us. "Such a good boy, so much like your father."

"I thought I told you not to speak again, rat," Sirius snarled. At Harry's words, I had dropped my wand. I felt that Harry was the only one with the right to decide what we do with Peter. So many choices had been taken away from him; I wasn't going to let another one be taken away.

"We'll bring him to the castle. The dementors can deal with him. My dad wouldn't have wanted three of his best friends to become murderers – not even for him." Harry jerked his thumb at Peter, without looking at him.

"Are you sure, Harry?" Remus prodded, his wand still pointed forcefully at Peter. "He killed you parents."

"I'm sure. My parents would want the three of you free, and him locked up. They wouldn't have wanted the three of you to commit a crime, not when there is another option."

Sirius was looking at Harry as if he was the brightest thing in the world. In all honestly, Harry's wise words and kind-heart were a gift to behold – he was so much like both James and Lily, despite not even remembering them, that my heart swelled in pride.

The trip back through the tunnel seemed shorter than the walk in. Remus, Ron and Peter were chained together – Ron was limping on a clearly broken leg, but not complaining. Hermione was walking just in front of me, and Harry and Sirius were chatting quietly behind me.

We exited the tunnel onto the grounds, the moonlight bright above us. I stopped short, however, when I realized that none other than Severus Snape was standing in front of us.

"Well, well. We are in trouble, aren't we?" He said snidely, looking at the group of us. His eyes flicked over Harry and Hermione, landing on Sirius and I. "And here I had actually believed you that you weren't in contact with your convict husband. Shame that I was wrong, and that you're going to have to go down with him. I was just trying to deliver the Wolfsbane potion to Lupin, when I realized he wasn't in his office. A lucky guess led me down here." He turned his gaze to Remus, noticing for the first time who he was chained to. "Peter Pettigrew?" He cried in clear confusion. The snide look slid off his face, to be replaced by something that I could only describe as pure and utter bewilderment.

"Wolfsbane!" Remus called out. Fear replaced the look on his face, and I looked up at the full moon.

"You haven't taken it, Remus?" Sirius asked fearfully. He looked at all of us, clearly trying to come up with a plan, quickly.

"Snape, you take the children. Addie, you take Pettigrew. We need to move before Remus transforms…" Sirius trailed off, and it was clear why just moments later. Remus screamed in pain, his body contorting grotesquely. We were too late. He was transforming. Quickly, I severed the chains that were binding Remus to Peter and Ron, giving them a chance to move away. Snape jumped in front of the children, his arms out wide, while Sirius ran up to Remus, trying to calm him down.

"Remus, remember the man that you are. Remember what lies inside of your heart. You can fight this. Remember who you are."

In all of the confusion, Remus had dropped his wand. Before anyone else knew what was happening, Peter had scrambled to the ground and picked up the wand. "Peter, no!" I called, making a move for my own wand. He was too quick for me, shooting a spell at me that sent me flying towards a boulder. I slammed my head against the hard stone; the last thing I saw before my vision went black, was Sirius transforming in to Padfoot and charging at a fully transformed werewolf while a rat ran into the woods.


I awoke hours later. My head was throbbing, and I could tell that I was in the hospital wing. I could hear heated voices coming from just outside. I looked around and saw that Ron, Harry and Hermione were all in beds around me. Harry and Hermione were awake, and obviously eavesdropping. Ron was passed out in a bed, his leg already in a cast.

"I knew that having that…that thing teach here was no good!" I heard someone scream, fairly sure that the voice belonged to Cornelius Fudge.

I threw my legs over the side of the bed, and tried to stand. I was dizzy still, but after a moment I got my legs under me and was able to walk over to the door. I threw the door open to see Dumbledore, Fudge and Severus Snape standing just outside in a tense standoff.

"Evening," I said casually, leaning against the doorframe – more as a way to hold than myself up than anything else. "I believe we have an innocent man to free." I announced cheerfully, looking at the group before me. "I assume, Minister, that you have heard his story now?"

"Well, yes. But unfortunately, there is no proof that anything he said is true," Fudge said dismissively.

"I have proof," I said simply.

"Yes, well, you are his wife, are you not? And did you not already testify that he was guilty?"

"Things have changed, and I would love to sit down and explain that all to you, but first things first, my husband needs to be cleared of all charges, and I need to speak to him first. He deserves that after being imprisoned falsely for twelve years."

"Again, as I said, there is no proof."

"Minister, as I have been trying to explain…I saw Peter Pettigrew with my own eyes. He is alive," Snape said. "As much as I hate to say it – and I do hate to say it – Sirius Black is innocent."

"He's innocent, Minister!" Harry had jumped out of bed and rushed towards us.

"Harry!" Hermione was admonishing from bed, her eyes wandering to the group of adults. "We're meant to be resting."

Harry ignored her. "You have to believe us. Sirius didn't betray my parents. Peter Pettigrew did."

"Yeah, Albus. Why don't you tell him?" I snapped resentfully, turning my heated gaze towards Dumbledore. "You knew, after all, that the Potter's had switched Secret Keepers, didn't you? You performed the spell."

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Dumbledore was staring at me with a thoughtful look. I didn't believe him for an instant. "I didn't know that Lily and James had switched Secret Keepers. Lily must have done the spell herself."

"Either way, you stopped Addison from raising me – you're the reason I was forced to live with the Dursleys!" Harry was close to tears, his rage having given way to an emotion that I could only describe as utter betrayal and dissapointment. "You knew! Tell him the truth, Dumbledore!"

I turned to Harry, putting my hand on his shoulder. He calmed immediately, his watery green eyes snapping to meet mine. "Harry, love, you need to go lay down." Harry made to interrupt me, but I shook my head sharply. "For once, you need to let an adult do the right thing, and take the burden off of your shoulders." With my words, his shoulders slumped, as if an actual weight had been removed, and he nodded reluctantly.

"Save him, Addie. I can't lose you two, not just when I found out I had you," Harry begged, turning back towards his bed. I looked at his retreating back fondly, making a silent promise to myself that this boy would never lose anyone, ever again.

After I was sure he had lain back down, I closed the door behind me. I turned to address Fudge, digging in the knapsack that was still hanging on my back. "This letter, along with Severus's testament that he saw Peter, should be enough to prove Sirius's innocence. I'm aware that I will need to be questioned regarding why my testimony didn't match up to reality, but I believe you will also have to question Dumbledore, so I'll wait my turn. In the meantime, I will be going to see my husband." I opened the box that had been shoved in to the bag, and dug out the letter that Sirius had sent me regarding switching Secret Keepers.

"You can't simply make demands, Mrs. Black," Fudge protested wildly, wringing his bowler hat in his hands anxiously. "I cannot allow you to simply speak to a convicted murderer, just because you demand it!"

"Convicted?" I cried, outraged. "He was never given a trial. Had he been given a trial, and veritaserum, he wouldn't have spent the last twelve years in Azkaban. If you had been honest," I turned to address Dumbledore, "everyone would have known he was innocent. I don't claim to be blame free, but circumstances outside of my control prevented me from revealing the truth."

"And what would those circumstances be?" Snape drawled lazily. "I was under the impression that there was nothing more important to you than your lovely husband. What on Earth could have been more important than his freedom?"

I took a deep breath, deciding that I should just get it over with and tell the truth. "Jason Whitmore. He broke in to my loft, raped me, and then obliviated me so I wouldn't remember. Payback for me sending him to Azkaban. How the consequences of his own actions became my fault, I will never understand."

The three men stared at me, all with differing emotions on their faces. I had a feeling that this was not news to Dumbledore – that he had already known all of this; he was looking at me with something akin to an apology. Snape in particular was opening and closing his mouth in shock, trying to process the new information, while Fudge was looking down at his hat in embarrassment.

"Yes, well. In that case, why don't I walk you up to the tower where we are holding Sirius? I do admit that the…circumstances have changed."

"Thank you," I said primly. It felt relieved, having admitted what had happened to me. "I have a lot I need to discuss with my husband. Severus, would you be so kind as to fetch Hollyn for me? Have her wait in McGonagall's office. I believe it's time for her to meet her father."