AN - Sorry for the delay, my beta was busy and I wanted to make sure this got edited before posting it. I know the last chapter was a bit dry, I hope you enjoy this one a lot more.

"Shit, man," Mike sighed as they bounded down the steps and onto the Hogwarts grounds, "I didn't think the Major was ever gonna shut up."

Brad smiled. Major Price had interrupted their inventory on equipment in order to talk to them about how they needed to account for every last boot, bullet and bean brought into the school by Task Force Ansible, and that the operators were one hundred percent responsible for every bit of the special equipment they'd brought.

It was sensible, of course. It wouldn't do to have some first-year kid find a grenade next year, or some other piece of equipment. They needed to leave the school safe at the end of the year. The timing was impeccable, however, as the Major didn't seem to realize he was interrupting their inventory to tell them to inventory. By the time Major Price left, it was time to go retrieve the trio from Hagrid's hut.

"Boots, bullets, and beans," Mike said in a mocking voice, earning a chuckle from the operators as they headed toward Hagrid's hut.

"Yeah, he sure seemed to have that speech worked out," Brad replied. He was about to make another comment on it when his train of thought was interrupted.

"HARRY!" a shrill voice screamed, "HELP!"

"Fuck," Mike said. It didn't take long to recognize Hermione's voice, and it took even less time to understand the panic. She needed help and she needed it now.

They reacted fast, sprinting down the grounds toward where they'd heard the scream, chambering the stunning rounds into their rifles as they went. It wasn't easy to do that and sprint at the same time, but years of practice won out for them.

"Kingpin, Reaper team, student in distress in the courtyard, we're investigating!" Brad called into his radio as they ran, updating the rest of the Task Force. He heard Kingpin respond but didn't have anything else to say, so he just continued running.

The troops crested a small rise and saw a group of figures near the Whomping Willow, a spot they'd been warned to steer clear from. The scene was a confusing one. There were two floating figures, one man that was standing and it looked like he was convulsing, another that seemed to be trying to calm him, and the three students standing nearby, obviously distressed.

"Uh," Mike said aloud, registering the same problem. It was dark by now, the figures in the distance only silhouetted by the moonlight. The US military had access to some of the best night vision technology in the world, and the operators of Reaper team each had a set of the top devices in US inventory…sitting in the supply room inside the castle, not doing them a damned bit of good right now.

"Light 'em up," Brad said shouldering his rifle and centering the red dot on his scope at center of mass on the convulsing man. "We sort it out later." He started walking forward slowly, his team close in tow.

Crack, crack, crack-crack-crack-crack. They each picked targets and fired as they got closer, pulling the trigger in controlled shots that kept coming until the target dropped. In moments, all of the strange figures were laying on the ground and the only ones standing were Reaper team and the trio.

"You all alright?" Brad shouted, his ears ringing a bit from the gunshots. They'd closed the rest of the distance and were still aimed in the general direction of the bodies that were scattered around. "Anyone hurt?"

"You shot them!" Harry shouted.

"My leg!" Ron cried out at the same time. Brad looked over at them. Ron was indeed bleeding from the leg, and both Harry and Hermione looked extremely distressed, but it was more a look of concern than fear.

"Someone fill me in," Brad said. He didn't like being in the dark.

"That was Sirius and-" Harry said, starting toward the bodies. Brad reacted immediately, pushing Harry away and raising his rifle back toward the bodies. He wasn't about to allow any more risk than necessary.

Whump. A bright light in the distance, very obviously a Patronus Pack. Whump, whump. Two more at other places along the perimeter towards Hogsmeade.

"Kingpin, this is Sandman," a voice crackled over his radio, "Multiple contacts, the dementors are swarming the perimeter at multiple points. Request assistance!" He heard gunshots in the distance. When it rains, it pours...it was time to get everyone inside.

Before they could move, Brad heard several more sets of boots running up. He greeted Lieutenant Tzu, the Quick Reaction Force leader, along with fifteen more soldiers.

"You guys alright? We heard the gunfire," the Lieutenant said. Brad nodded.

"We're good." He gestured toward the trio and his team. "I will need..." he looked at the unconscious men nearby. Two people to a body… "Four guys to help carry these out to the castle. The rest of you help reinforce the perimeter."

"On it," Han replied, pointing out four men almost immediately. "You four, as the man said. The rest of you with me!" They took off running toward the perimeter, where what sounded like a pretty significant firefight was occurring. Brad heard the rumble of a Humvee heading that way too, the other element from the QRF.

They scooped the unconscious adults up and headed to the castle, Harry and Hermione helping Ron walk the rest of the way.

"This is madness!" Minister Cornelius Fudge cried out. "The man has been in Azkaban for twelve years! He's a criminal!"

"Going to prison doesn't make you a criminal," Brad said cooly, "it makes you a prisoner."

"They are awake now, yes?" Dumbledore asked. They were all standing in the Headmaster's office, Minister Fudge, the Headmaster, Professor McGonagall, Brad, and Major Price.

After getting everyone to the castle, Brad had ordered each of the four men separated. They were taken to different classrooms, checked for wands and other weapons, and kept under guard. Brad apologized to Harry, Ron and Hermione, but he ordered the same be done to them.

One way to ensure that the truth was told was to separate everyone. Ask them the same questions individually and look for inconsistencies. Thus far, on orders from Major Price, none of the adults had been questioned. Reaper handled the questioning of the trio, however, and all of them had said the same thing.

Sirius Black was innocent, the unidentified man was Peter Pettigrew, the real betrayer of the Potter family all those years ago. It was a lot to take in.

"Yes, Sir," Major Price replied, "they're awake."

"I should say this warrants at least an inquiry," Dumbledore looked at Minister Fudge. "Wouldn't you?"

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt," Fudge mumbled. "But, I'll not be surprised when we find out Black was behind all of this. A long history of dark magic, the Black's have."

One by one, they went to each of the rooms. They started with Harry, Ron and Hermione, who each told a remarkably similar tale. Then Remus Lupin, who had to admit he was a werewolf to the Minister, but whose story also mirrored that of the students. Then Professor Snape, who accused Harry of stunning him and Lupin with conspiring to have Harry killed. His testimony was the most wildly different from anyone else's.

Sirius Black's was an interesting interview. The man was remarkably down to earth, not at all the crazed, dark wizard that the Ministry had purported him to be. His, more detailed tale, was much the same as the others.

Last of all, the new man. His interview was brief. He started off begging for mercy, and Fudge had to calm him by saying he'd not been accused of anything yet. It wasn't strictly true, but it got the man to stop his wailing. He kept evading questions throughout his interview, breaking down into sobs at almost every one and ultimately answering nothing.

It was Dumbledore who proposed a final solution to the problem at hand. He informed the Minister that Professor Snape was a top-notch Potions master, and would undoubtedly have a vial of veritaserum in his stores. Dumbledore offered to dose both Sirius Black and the new man, who everyone was calling Peter anyway.

The Minister agreed and less than an hour later, the truth was officially out. Sirius Black had been framed for it all. At the last minute, Sirius had told James he should use Peter Pettigrew as the secret keeper for a Fidelius charm. Sirius was the obvious choice and thus obvious target. No one would expect Peter to be a secret keeper for anything.

They hadn't known that Peter had turned to Voldemort's side, however. Almost as soon as it was done, Peter betrayed his friends, ultimately leading to their death. When Sirius confronted Peter about it, he staged his own death and allowed Sirius to take the fall. The matter was closed that very instant, as Minister Fudge declared Sirius Black a free man again, and placed Peter Pettigrew under arrest, pending death by Dementor's Kiss. After twelve years of allowing an innocent man to rot in prison, and the resources and embarrassment caused to the Ministry, they were taking a pretty hard-lined stance.

Brad stood with the rest of the group at Hogsmeade Station, waiting for the train ride to whisk all of the students away for the summer. It had been an incredible year, and quite a turn of events.

After the exoneration of Sirius Black, he'd been allowed to reclaim all of his old assets, along with a pretty hefty sum of money from the Ministry for his mistaken imprisonment. There was a lot to do, and so Harry would be going back to the Dursley's...for a time.

Sirius didn't imagine it would be longer than a month before everything would be ready, at which point he'd told Harry he would be welcome any time. Harry didn't have to be asked twice, and told Sirius that he'd be moving in the moment Sirius was ready. Brad could tell they were both excited by it, and it did his heart good to see it.

Harry didn't have a family, and now he was getting one. It struck Brad in a place that only those without families could understand. There was that pang of jealousy of course, but mostly happiness for someone he now considered a friend.

"You take care of yourself now, buddy," Brad said, grasping Harry's hand in a firm handshake. He patted Ron on the back, "You too."

"I'm going to miss you," Harry said. He'd grown used to having the soldiers around, it would be weird without them, and he was going to miss the sparring sessions. Brad had been elated when Harry told him about stunning Sirius with his own wand.

"Don't worry, man," Brad smiled. "We'll stay in touch. Pen pals or something."

"Sound's good," Harry said. Down the platform a way stood Mike and Hermione.

The end of the year was particularly rough on the couple, who would now be parting ways. Neither of them said it out loud, but there was no realistic way that they would be seeing each other again for a very long time.

There was no mass murderer hunting a student, at least not at the moment. No real reason to redeploy the Task Force to Hogwarts next year. That meant staying stateside and doing his job there, and it meant Hermione going to school without him there.

She'd been pretty stoic about it, at least around them. He'd heard rumors about her crying hard at night though and her swollen eyes did nothing to dispel the rumor. Mike had been uncharacteristically brooding lately as well, a sign of his grief at the situation.

Regardless, they put on their best faces for this final moment they'd have together. Mike held her close in a firm hug, getting one last smell of her hair, one last bit of that comforting closeness. Finally, she pulled back a little and looked up at him.

He couldn't help it. He leaned in and kissed her, hesitantly at first, then deeply. He ignored a whistle, from Jason it sounded like, and continued the kiss for as long as he thought he could get away with it. When he broke back from her, he saw the welled tears in her eyes and fought off his own.

"You-" her voice cut out and she cleared her throat. "You'd better write to me," she said, her voice sounding tight.

"Every day." He rested his forehead against hers for a moment before they were interrupted by the train's whistle. They stood there for a moment longer before he let go, nudging her toward the train. He'd rather eat a bullet than push her away, but he knew she needed to go home. "I'll see you around," he said.

"I-" she opened her mouth to say something but her voice caught again. He thought he saw a tear roll down her cheek but she looked down before he could be certain. She turned and walked fast into the train. Just like that she was gone.

A few minutes later, the four operators were the only ones on the track. The train rolled away loudly, the long journey home ahead of it.

Brad walked to the still standing Mike, who was staring off at the retreating train. He pulled the operator into a half hug and guided him around toward the waiting Humvee. He didn't say anything. There was nothing to say, nothing that would make him feel any better.

They had to get their things packed away for the ride home tonight though, and the task wasn't going to do itself. It was time to go back home. There was more work to do.

AN - Well, that is the end of year three! I have started on the next portion of the story and should have an update soon. Please, feel free to comment on what you do and don't like about the story so far.