Harry found his friends - his yearmates, at least - in the library where they had all agreed to meet after their exams were over. "We have a problem," he said, and told them Trelawney's prophecy. "I don't know if this even relates specifically to us, but we need to tell someone about it. Where's the headmaster?"

"Probably in his office," said Hermione, already shooting to her feet with her bag and books in hand, "This way."

The group of teenagers practically flew through the halls and caught Dumbledore right as he emerged from behind the gargoyle that guarded the door to his office. The elderly wizard greeted them all warmly, but his face soon turned grave when Harry told him what happened and recited Trelawney's prophecy. "Thank you - all of you - for the warning," he said solemnly, "I will alert the other professors and our Aurors at once and post them at all entrances and exits to the castle. Unfortunately I must ask that you keep this quiet for now; we cannot keep everyone safe if we are also trying to keep them from panicking."

That made a certain amount of sense, so they all nodded and Dumbledore swept off considerably quicker than before, already pulling out his wand.

Neville turned to Harry. "Now what?"

"Now," the Ravenclaw answered, "We go down to dinner and pretend everything is normal."

"What?!" Ron yelped, "We can't just do nothing!"

"We're not doing nothing," said Harry, already heading for the Great Hall, "Last year, time was of the essence, and me being a parseltongue meant that we actually could do something about what was happening, unlike everyone else. First year time was also of the essence, some of our teachers were untrustworthy which made them all suspect, and the headmaster was away." Not to mention the basilisk roaming the halls, the dragon on the front lawn, and the fact that Dumbledore had set him and Voldemort up. "If we do get dragged into this mess this year, it will be on a full stomach."

"Finally," said Draco, "Some Slytherin sense."

They ate at the end of the Slytherin tables closest to the doors, just in case they needed a quick escape. While they ate, with Hermione prodding both Ron and Draco toward more nutritious options, Harry wrote a letter to his parents, including the contents of Trelawney's latest prophecy. By the time you receive this, I have no doubt that everything will be resolved, but either way my hatred of prophecies will have reached new heights. If things like prophecies - one of the most overt forms of foretelling the future - are indeed true, then how much free will do we truly have? Are all our decisions already made? Are we simply dancing to a tune composed for us at the dawn of time? The Dark Lord said he came after me because of the Prophecy, but the Prophecy seems to exist because he came after me in an endless circle. Would we have fought anyway in time, and the Prophecy simply moved up the timetable? Or are prophecies simply a magic of their own - self-generating, self-sustaining - regardless of our will?

Whatever the reality may be, I don't like fate, I don't like predestination, and I definitely don't like prophecies.

When they emerged from the Great Hall and saw Crookshanks chasing a rat, Harry didn't think anything of it until Hermione gasped. "Ron! Is that Scabbers?"

"What?!"

Indeed it was.

"Oh no," Harry and Draco said together, right before both Gryffindors took off after their pets.

Scabbers darted into a gap under the castle doors so narrow that if he hadn't lost so much weight over the past year he wouldn't have fit. Crookshanks plastered himself against the gap and stuck a paw under up to his shoulder - and let out an ungodly hissing scream when Hermione grabbed him and pulled him back. Ron pushed the door open to try to grab the rat, but Scabbers darted through the gap and down the steps beyond. Crookshanks slipped through Hermione's fingers barely a second later, and the chase resumed, this time with a handful of third years bringing up the rear.

"For a rat that was half-dead in October, he's got a lot of energy!" Draco shouted as they raced across the grounds after the animals.

"He does, doesn't he," Harry said, mostly to himself.

Oh no.

"Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat-"

Hermione managed to wrestle Crookshanks off of Ron, only to be blindsided by both the Whomping Willow, which they'd chased Scabbers across the grounds to, and the arrival of Sirius Black in his Animagus form.

Harry whipped out his wand and decided to go with the bigger and more immediately threatening target. "Immobulus!"

The Whomping Willow froze, though only for a few seconds. Hermione scrambled back away from the violent tree, but Sirius got that same opening and used it to drag Ron closer to the Willow, towards a gap in the roots-

They vanished under the tree even as the rest of them were forced further away.

"Merlin's saggy left-!" Draco ducked another swing from the Willow. "This damned tree! My father will hear about this!"

"Where'd they go?!" Neville creed, pressing himself as low to the ground as he could to avoid the flailing branches, "Where'd that dog take Ron?!"

"There's a passage under the Willow that goes to the Shrieking Shack!" Harry called back, "I'm gonna freeze the tree again - try to get in one at a time!"

Yet as he moved to do just that, Crookshanks beat him to the punch, darting below the swinging wood to press one of the knots on the tree's trunk. It froze immediately, like it had turned to stone; not even a single leaf rustled in the evening breeze.

"Come on!" Harry said, sprinting after the cat, "Hurry, before it unfreezes again! Keep your wands out!"

One by one they slipped down into the passage. It was even more basic than the plain stone of a few others Harry had looked at. This passage was just a low, narrow earthen tunnel, complete with roots dangling from the ceiling. Harry heard Draco heaping invective on whoever constructed the tunnel as they walked down it single file and bent double to fit.

Harry was far from weak, but even he was panting and sweating by the time they reached the Shrieking Shack, and they'd had to stop several times to let Neville rest. The Hufflepuff was even worse off than Hermione; Draco at least had his Quidditch training, but the other two preferred intellectual pursuits.

The Shrieking Shack looked just as bad on the inside as it supposedly did on the outside. The windows were boarded up, the furniture smashed, paper peeling from the walls and in some places ripped off entirely in shredded strips. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust - save for a clear drag mark across the floor.

Both Harry and Draco wrinkled their noses at the state of the place, and the Ravenclaw had the brief thought that even Will would have been appalled, though not nearly so much as Hannibal. He might have even consented to wear one of the latter's ridiculous murder-onesies. (Objectively all of them knew that the damned things were half the reason they hadn't yet been caught, but that would never stop them from teasing the eldest High Wendigo relentlessly.)

Harry led the way into the shack, moving as quietly as he could, and he winced every time the floorboards creaked under his friends' feet as they followed behind. If Sirius hadn't known he'd been pursued before, he definitely did now.

But they made it upstairs without being confronted and found both Ron and Crookshanks in the first bedroom off the landing. Then they were confronted; Sirius sent their wands flying out of their hands with a quick spell, and caught their wands as they flew through the air. Harry was reasonably certain he could get his back and protect his friends - he still practiced wandless magic over the summer, since he couldn't actually use his wand due to the Underage Sorcery Restriction - but there were things he wanted to know before turning this into a fight.

He looked his godfather in the eye and tried to Read him. It became immediately apparent that while Sirius wasn't completely unhinged, more than a decade in Azkaban with only the dementors and mad prisoners for company had definitely knocked a few screws loose - probably more than a few. He was also weak with hunger - he had been on the run, hunting, scavenging - so even just the five of them could probably take him without their wands.

But there was also murder in his eyes, the promise of death. He was bent on killing someone tonight.

"What's going on?" Harry demanded of him, "In the hospital wing, you said you weren't after me, but it's obvious you're after someone. Did you lie to me?"

Sirius immediately shook his head just as vigorously as before. "No," he rasped, "never. I'd never hurt you, Harry if you never believe anything else I say, believe that."

"Then what's going on? Who are you really after?"

But before Sirius could answer, there was the sound of footsteps from below, pounding up the stairs. Black immediately put himself between the students and whatever threat this might be coming towards them - but it was only Remus, who disarmed Sirius a second after coming through the door.

Then he paused, and lowered his wand. "Where is he, Sirius?"

Sirius eyed him for a long, silent moment, then raised a hand and pointed at Ron, who looked bewildered - and now that Harry was actively paying attention to him, he appeared to have a broken ankle; his leg was cushioned by an ancient pillow but angled subtly wrong. It was also swollen, though not dangerously so, not like there was any internal bleeding, which was a relief.

"But then…" Remus was saying, staring at Sirius with his brow furrowed, "Why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless - unless he was the one - unless you switched… without telling me?"

Again, Sirius eyed him for a moment, then nodded. Remus's shoulders sagged mingled grief and relief, and he stepped forward to embrace Sirius like the old friends they were.

"I don't believe it!" Hermione nearly screamed, startling both Draco and Neville even as she jabbed an accusing finger at Remus, "You - you and him-!"

"Hermione," the professor began, but she continued right over him.

"I didn't tell anyone! I've been covering up for you!"

"Hermione, let me explain-!"

"No!" She clutched at Harry's arm. "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too - he's a werewolf!"

Silence descended, sharp and sudden. Lupin looked calm despite having everyone's eyes on him now, though he had gone pale. "Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione," he said, "Only one out of three, I'm afraid. I haven't been helping Sirius get into the castle, and I certainly don't want Harry dead - but I won't deny that I am a werewolf."

"But I already knew that last part," Harry added. When Hermione - and Draco, Neville, and Ron - all blinked at him in surprise, he continued, "Professor Snape told me after my parents' will reading the summer before second year. But how did you know?"

Hermione blushed and looked away. "I was looking at the lunar charts for both Divination and Astronomy, and I noticed that he was always sick on the full moon like clockwork. There's only one magical disease with a symptom like that. And when we were going up against the boggart, for him it turned into the moon."

Remus let out an amused breath. "You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione."

"I'm not," she returned, "If I'd been a bit cleverer, I would have told everyone what you are!"

"They already know - or at least the staff do."

"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf?" Ron gasped. "Is he mad?"

"My father's on the board of governors," Draco added, "If he had known, he never would have approved it!"

"Because of the curse on the DADA position, the board ruled that Dumbledore didn't need to submit every new hire for approval, just as long as he had one by at least a month before start of term," Remus returned gently, "That rule was put in place back when I was in school, fifteen years ago."

"...Oh."

"Indeed. But we've been safe about it - Professor Snape's been brewing me the Wolfsbane Potion ever since I accepted the position. It lets me keep my mind when I transform, so I can just curl up in my quarters and wait for moonset to turn me back. I was planning on doing just that tonight, when I saw on the Map…"

"What map?" Ron asked.

"The Marauders' Map," Sirius rasped, eyes wide in amazement, "You found it?"

"Fred and George Weasley found it," Remus replied, "and they gave it to Harry, who gave it to me. But I thought it was malfunctioning tonight - I had to come see for myself…" He turned to Ron. "You have your rat again, don't you? Can I have a look at him?"

Ron obligingly started digging in his pockets, but he still asked, "Why? What's Scabbers got to do with this?"

"Maybe everything."

Scabbers was still panicking, desperately trying to escape, forcing Ron to grab him by the tail to keep hold of him and prevent him from biting. Black growled quietly at the sight of the rat, and Crookshanks hissed even as Remus's eyes narrowed.

"Everything indeed," Remus said, his voice now cold and quiet.

But before he could say anything more, there were more running footsteps from below, heading for the stairs. "Remus, back!" Harry hissed urgently, "Wand up at Sirius!"

The man moved to obey not a moment too soon. Barely a second after he was in position, Sirius's hands raised in surrender, the bedroom door burst open, revealing Severus Snape, wand in one hand and a goblet of potion in the other, and the Aurors Fudge had posted to the castle, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks. All three of them paused at the sight of the room and everyone in it, an opening Harry took.

The Ravenclaw threw up his hands and shouted, "For fuck's sake!"

"Language, Mr. Potter," Severus returned immediately, more out of reflex than anything else.

"Yes, sir," Harry replied before turning and jabbing a finger at Remus and Sirius, "but would one of you please explain what's going on before we end up with the entire castle in here?"

After a tense moment, Shacklebolt lowered his wand just slightly, and Tonks followed suit after a wary glance at the elder Auror. "Consider this your pre-trial hearing, Heir Black," said the man, "What is going on?"

"Remus," Sirius rasped, "You have the wands…"

The other man signed and turned to Ron. "Hold Scabbers up please, Mr. Weasley."

"What are you gonna do?" he asked, clutching the rat to his chest.

"If he is who I think he is, then I can force him to show himself," Remus answered, "If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him."

Ron hesitated a moment longer, then reluctantly held Scabbers out again. Remus hit him with a spell of blue-white light, and then-

It was like a time-lapse film of a growing tree. In seconds, the rat was gone, replaced by a watery-eyed man, balding and grubby, with the shrunken, sagging look of one who'd lost a lot of weight in a very short amount of time and very unhealthy manner.

Severus inhaled, and whipped his wand from Sirius to the "newcomer" in an instant, even as Ron pushed himself away, face twisted in horror and disgust. "Peter Pettigrew."

The instant after the professor spoke, the Aurors had their wands on Pettigrew as well, though based on their stunned expressions it was more a case of following the leader.

Harry was the one who noticed that Sirius looked ready to commit one of the murders he was imprisoned for, and he hurriedly put himself between Black and Pettigrew before the man could lunge and get his hands around the rat's neck. "Wait!" he said, "Sirius, wait! You can't kill him! Not unless you actually want to spend the rest of your life in Azkaban!"

The man subsided with reluctance, but he never took his eyes off Pettigrew. Still, Harry took the opportunity provided. "You said you switched - switched what?"

"Secret-Keepers," Sirius answered, "It was meant to be me - James asked me to do it… but we knew there was a spy in the Order - the Order of the Phoenix, a group Dumbledore created to fight Voldemort. But we didn't know who it was, didn't realize how close…"

His glare intensited, and Peter cringed under it, wringing his hands.

"I convinced Lily and James to switch to Peter at the last minute," Sirius went on, "I thought that if everyone believed I was the Secret-Keeper, Voldemort would come after me, and Lily and James would have been safe. Even under the worst kind of torture, I couldn't reveal a Secret that wasn't mine to Keep. Instead…" His face fell, and he shook his head.

"Peter didn't go after you," Remus said in dawning realization, "You went after him."

The grim determination returned. "That night, I'd arranged to check up on him, make sure he was settling into his safehouse, okay, but when I arrived, he was gone. But there wasn't any sign of a struggle, and I knew something was wrong. I got to Lily and James's place as fast as I could, but I was already too late." He shook his head again, then bared his teeth at Peter. "But I knew if I found him alive and free instead of half-dead in a Death Eater's dungeon, then he'd given them up of his own free will… and I did. He was the spy, he was the traitor, and he deserved far worse than anything I'd do to him."

"T-that's - that's p-preposterous!" Pettigrew protested, speaking for the first time, "I - I never…"

Harry whipped around to stare him down, though he still blocked Sirius's path. "If you were innocent and Sirius was guilty," he said coldly, "then why did you fake your death in such a gruesome manner and hide as a rat for twelve years? Surely a trial would have made it clear who the guilty party was - but that's the problem, isn't it. Because the guilty party is you."

Severus strode forward, pausing only long enough to shove the goblet of potion into Remus's hands and growl, "Drink that. Now." The man did so with one long swallow, grimacing, even as Severus grabbed a frantically struggling Pettigrew's left arm and shoved the sleeve up.

And there, on the pale skin of his inner arm, was a soft grey shadow. A fleshless skull, with a snake slithering out from between its grinning teeth.

The Aurors hissed, and Severus growled, "The Dark Mark, the sign of the Dark Lord's Death Eaters."

"Indeed," Shacklebolt agreed, equally cold and stern, "Step aside please, Severus. Peter Pettigrew, you are under arrest for the murders of Lily and James Potter, and other charges that may be levied as the Ministry investigates further. Incarcerous!"

Between Remus's Ferula-made splint and Severus's Pain Relieving Potion, Ron managed to get upright and started hobbling back the way they had all come, supported by Draco and Neville. Tonks and Shacklebolt chained Pettigrew between them, though it became immediately apparent that Tonks' clumsiness was going to make her more of a hindrance than a help. Still, they made it to the tunnel out and started the slow shuffle through back to Hogwarts.

"You know what this means?" Sirius said abruptly over the sounds of everyone trying to navigate the tunnel, complete with more invective from Draco, "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You'll finally be free," Harry replied.

"But I'm also - I don't know if anyone ever told you - I'm your godfather."

"I heard at the will reading, yes."

"Well... your parents appointed me your guardian," he said awkwardly, "If anything happened to them... Of course, I understand if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle, but once my name's cleared, if you wanted a - a different home…"

Harry understood then, and allowed himself a small smile. "If I was still living with my aunt and uncle, I have no doubt that I would have gone with you in a heartbeat. But they've been dead for years, and I've been adopted into a family who loves and treats me better than they ever did. Besides, I hardly think the effects from twelve years in Azkaban just vanished the instant you left. You need to look after yourself first, before you could even think of taking care of me."

Sirius looked a little sad at that but nodded in agreement. "Hey," said Harry, giving him a nudge, "Don't you think for a second I'm just gonna abandon you once Pettigrew's locked up. You're still family. I'll always be happy to come see you, and at least one of dads and my sister are gonna love you. We won't leave you alone."

Sirius brightened again at that, and gave him a warm, true smile.

Crookshanks led the way out and apparently pressed the knot to immobilize the Whomping Willow, because the rest of their procession soon followed, emerging from the tunnel onto Hogwarts grounds. It was almost completely dark, save for the lights spilling out from many of the castle windows, and they all hurried across the grounds toward the main doors.

But then the clouds overhead moved, shunted along by the upper-level winds, and a wave of silver rolled across the castle and the surrounding lands. Their procession was bathed in moonlight.

Renus froze, and his eyes widened in horror. "Oh no," he gasped, and then doubled over, body already starting to contort.

"Get back!" Severus shouted, grabbing the people nearest him and pulling them away from the other man as he transformed, "He's taken his potion, he's safe, but we still don't need any accidents! Get back!"

But then there was another shout. Pettigrew took advantage of the distraction caused by Remus's transformation and tackled Tonks to the ground, grappling for her wand. Shacklebolt went down with them, chained together as they were, and grabbed for the man.

Harry had an instant's warning and let himself drop to the damp grass, squeezing his eyes shut even as he shouted, "Look away!"

There was a flash of light, like a momentary sun, and when the Ravenclaw opened his eyes again, it was to see a bald tail whip through one of the manaches and into the grass. "Immobulus!" he cried, and a swath of grass froze mid-sway, but Pettigrew had evaded the spell by the width of a hair.

In the blink of an eye, wolf-Remus was there, pouncing on the rat, shedding shredded robes as he went. But he missed, and then took off in pursuit, head low and fangs bared, zig-zagging toward the Forbidden Forest.

Shacklebolt vanished the chains and jumped to his feet. "We need to go after them!"

"We've got bigger problems!" Draco cried, still holding Ron upright.

"Dementors!" Neville yelped.

They had only moments before the black-robed horrors reached them, homing in on Sirius even though Fudge had told them to stand down; this bunch must not have received the memo.

Harry remembered how it had felt after the goblins had finished the blood adoption before his first year, how he had :felt: his family and known with absolute certainty that no one would ever be able to take them away. He would never be alone and unloved again; he would carry them inside him always. He remembered the overwhelming joy that he'd felt then - felt it again now, and though the bond was still stretched thin, he felt his family echo that happiness back at him.

"Expecto Patronum!"

A huge, bright shape exploded from the end of his wand and leaped at the nearest dementor, finally taking on a defined shape. It was a massive panther, bright and silver like the moon against the dark night, its fangs bared in a silent snarl. It darted around to take a swipe at another cluster of dementors coming at them, its claws like scythes ripping through the already tattered robes.

Harry's Patronus gave enough cover for Severus, Shacklebolt, and Tonks to call their own - a doe, a lynx, and a jack rabbit, respectively - and with the four spell-guardians keeping the dementors at bay, they all raced for the castle.

They burst through the main doors all together, then slammed them shut behind, Sirius and Shacklebolt physically holding them closed while Severus cast all manner of enchantments to keep the doors sealed against the dementors. Only when he finally lowered his wand did they all relax.

Tonks actually laid down on the entrance hall's marble floor. "Well, I'm beat. Goodnight."

Shacklebolt sighed in exasperation. "Not yet, Tonks. We need to get everyone to the hospital wing for some chocolate, and Mr. Weasley and Heir Black need to be seen to. We should also summon the Minister to make our report while everything's still fresh in our minds."

The other Auror groaned but levied herself up off the floor.

Sirius told the whole story to both Fudge and Dumbledore when they arrived, in between drinking restorative and nutrition potions that Madam Pomfrey had threatened to spike with Dreamless Sleep if he didn't sit down. Once they had all taken their chocolate, Severus, Shacklebolt, and Tonks had all headed off to join Remus in pursuit of Pettigrew, and if Pomfrey hadn't forced him to rest, tutting at the state of him, Sirius would have been out there with them, trying to hunt down the rat.

Harry already knew that it was all in vain; Trelawney's prophecy from earlier that same day echoed in his ears. Pettigrew was already on his way to Voldemort, and the Dark Lord would rise again - unless of course the prophecy was referring to a different Dark Lord, and everything that had happened that night was just coincidence...

"Oh, if only," Harry muttered to himself before popping another piece of chocolate in his mouth. It was a good thing the end of term was only a few days away. He needed to get home, talk to his family about everything that had happened so they could start exploring their options. Foremost in his mind was evading the Prophecy, either by invalidating it or counting it already fulfilled.

Of course, then he would need to convince the Dark Lord of the same or otherwise find a resolution that was acceptable to both of them that didn't involve either of them dying prematurely, or going to war and slaughtering half the British wizarding community, or worse, whatever that "worse" might be.

He also needed to contact Lucius and inform him of the Dark Lord's impending return, so he could prepare as he thought necessary. Of course, that was assuming Draco didn't tell him the instant he arrived home.

The Aurors and Potions Master returned together with Remus at sunrise, all of them empty-handed.

The werewolf started packing almost immediately. Even though nothing had happened the previous evening and Dumbledore had succeeded in placating the Minister, someone had seen his transformation and the scuffle on the grounds. It was all over the school by noon, and Harry was sure Remus was right when he said there would be letters going out that day and Howlers coming in the next.

Even Draco was sad to see him go. "You've been an... acceptable teacher, out of the ones we've had so far," he said stiffly when they spoke to the man in his office.

"High praise, coming from you."

"Shut up, Weasel!"

Remus only smiled and briefly inclined his head. "Thank you, Heir Malfoy," he said, "I truly appreciate that. Now, may I have a few minutes to talk to my godson?"

The others all shuffled out, Ron and Draco still poking at each other while Neville and Hermione looked on in exasperation.

Remus gave him a warm hug, and also returned the Marauders' Map as a parting gift of sorts.

"I hope you know I'm going to be spamming you with letters about how you all made this."

He laughed. "I'll see if I can't dig up my old notes for you; I'm sure l kept them somewhere. The four of us were originally going to make a business out of these, or something like them, and other practical jokes, much like Fred and George Weasley are, I imagine.

"Maybe I'll have to put them in contact with you," Harry said, accepting the enchanted parchment, "I'm sure they'd love to pick your brain, too. Or I'm sure they'll at least want to talk with Sirius, if he's still down for it."

The man hummed. "I don't know if even Azkaban could put him off pranks, but we'll see. He'll probably be spending quite a bit of time with a mind healer, even before the trial begins. Why not tell him about them, and let him contact them in his own time, if he wants."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

A/N: According to my Llewellyn's Complete Book of Correspondences, Panthers symbolize many things, but what I centered on the most was courage, crossroads, death (no fear/understand), insight, power (reclaim), quests, rebirth/renewal, and reversal. Of course, I haven't exactly done an exhaustive read, so if it changes later, it's because I found one better suited to the plot.

Also, I'm going to be working on the next chapters of Forever In My Dreams and If I Could Turn Back Time, so don't be surprised if there aren't any updates for a bit.