Many thanks to those who keep up the steady encouragement regarding this rwwrite! We are finally near to the end of year 3's content, and I am very excited to present the newer content that is ushered in in the next few chapters, as well as books 4 and 5's content. much fun yet to be had, and excitement is high! enjoy! ~F

Chapter Fifteen

The Wraiths of Azkaban

Severus crept up the stairs of the Shrieking Shack, following the sounds of voices. He reached the door and shifted inside as he heard Lupin break off from talking to Black. He silently thanked Merlin for Potter's Invisibility Cloak, since everyone had looked at the door as it swung open.

Lupin strode to the door and looked out into the landing as Severus moved to the far wall of the room, away from Potter, his friends, Black, and Lupin.

"No one there…" Lupin muttered.

"This place is haunted!" Weasley said stupidly.

"It's not," Lupin said, still looking puzzled at the door. He then began to explain about their days at school, how he had been allowed even as a werewolf to come to Hogwarts, and that he had been shipped to this room every month for his full moon transformation.

He continued with how Black, Potter, and Pettigrew had grown aware of his statue, and chose to become Animagi to be with him during his transformations. He was just talking about when Black had tried to kill Severus when he decided to make himself known.

"So that's why Snape doesn't like you," Potter was saying to Lupin, "because he thought you were in on the joke?"

"That's right," Severus sneered, pulling off the Invisibility Cloak, his wand pointing, directly at Lupin.

Granger screamed. Black leapt to his feet, knocking Undol aside slightly while Potter just stood frozen in the middle of the room.

"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," Severus commented, tossing the cloak aside on a chair, careful to keep his wand on Lupin. "Very useful Potter, I thank you…"

Severus was slightly breathless, and he looked around the room for a moment. "You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" he continued after a moment, "You forgot to take your potion tonight, Lupin, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky I did... lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."

"Severus…" Lupin began, but Severus overrode him.

"I've told the Headmaster again and again that you're helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof. Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout…"

"Severus, you're making a mistake," said Lupin urgently. "You haven't heard everything… I can explain: Sirius is not here to kill Harry…"

"Two more for Azkaban tonight," Severus hissed, gloating. "I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this... He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin... a tame werewolf…"

"You fool," said Lupin softly. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?"

BANG! Thin, snakelike cords burst from the end of Severus' wand and twisted themselves around Lupin's mouth, wrists, and ankles; he overbalanced and fell to the floor, unable to move. With a roar of rage, Black started toward Severus, but he merely pointed his wand straight between Black's eyes.

"Give me a reason," he whispered. "Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will."

Black stopped dead.

Potter stood paralyzed. Severus glanced around at the boy's friends. Weasley looked just as confused as he always did, still fighting to keep hold on his struggling rat. Granger, however, took an uncertain step toward Snape and said, in a very breathless voice, "Professor Snape, it… it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w-would it?"

"Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school," Severus spat. "You, Potter, Undol, and Weasley are out-of-bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. For once in your life, hold your tongue."

"But if, if there was a mistake…"

"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" Severus shouted, desperately trying to keep his temper. "DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" A few sparks shot out of the end of his wand, which was still pointed at Black's face. Granger fell silent.

"Vengeance is very sweet," Severus breathed at Black. "How I hoped I would be the one to catch you..."

"The joke's on you again, Severus," Black snarled. "As long as this boy brings his rat up to the castle," he jerked his head at Weasley "I'll come quietly..."

"Up to the castle?" said Severus silkily. "I don't think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the dementors once we get out of the Willow. They'll be very pleased to see you, Black... pleased enough to give you a little kiss, I daresay..."

What little color there was left in Black's face drained away.

"You… you've got to hear me out," he croaked. "The rat… look at the rat…"

"Come on, all of you," Severus said to the Gryffindors. He clicked his fingers, and the ends of the cords that bound Lupin flew to his hands. "I'll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the dementors will have a kiss for him too…"

Severus turned to lead them out of the room, but found his way blocked by Undol, who seemed to have materialized in the doorway. Severus almost dismissed the boy but was taken aback by the glow in the boy's eyes.

"Get out of the way, Undol, you're in enough trouble already," Severus snarled at him. "If I hadn't been here to save all your skins…"

"You have no idea Severus," Undol said calmly, "You have no idea what has been going on and I will not allow you to kill either of these innocent men."

"How dare you!" Severus breathed. The boy was clearly out of his mind, "Now get out of the way."

"I will not." And the boy raised his wand, "Kaima!" A flash of light erupted from the wand, and Severus knew no more.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Harry watched as Snape slumped to the floor, fast asleep, by the work of Faykan's wand. He had defended Black and Professor Lupin now, again.

"You shouldn't have done that," Black said to him, "You should have left him to me…"

"You attacked a teacher… you attacked a teacher…" Hermione whimpered, staring at Faykan, "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble when he wakes up…"

Lupin was struggling against his bonds. Black bent down quickly and untied him. Lupin straightened up, rubbing his arms where the ropes had cut into them.

"Thank you Mr. Undol," he said, and then tuned back to Harry, "It's time we offered you some proof," he turned to Ron, "You, boy… give me Peter, please. Now."

Ron clutched Scabbers closer to his chest.

"Come off it," he said weakly. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean..." He looked up at Harry and Hermione for support, "Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat… there are millions of rats, how's he supposed to know which one he's after if he was locked up in Azkaban?"

"You know, Sirius, that's a fair question," said Lupin, turning to Black and frowning slightly. "How did you find out where he was?"

Black put one of his claw-like hands inside his robes and took out a crumpled piece of paper, which he smoothed flat and held out to show the others.

It was the photograph of Ron and his family that had appeared in the Daily Prophet the previous summer, and there, on Ron's shoulder, was Scabbers.

"My God," said Lupin softly, staring from Scabbers to the picture in the paper and back again. "His front paw..."

"What about it?" said Ron defiantly.

"He's got a toe missing," said Black.

"Of course," Lupin breathed. "So simple... so brilliant... he cut it off himself?"

"Just before he transformed," said Black. "When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself, and sped down into the sewer with the other rats..."

"Didn't you ever hear, Ron?" said Lupin. "The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger."

Ron wasn't listening however, "Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something! He's been in my family for ages, right…"

"Twelve years," said Faykan. Ron stared at him, and he shrugged, "I asked Percy about it at one point…"

"Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?" Lupin asked, nodding to himself.

"We-we've been taking good care of him!" said Ron.

"Not looking too good at the moment, though, is he?" said Lupin. "I'd guess he's been losing weight ever since he heard Sirius was on the loose again..."

"He's been scared of that mad cat!" said Ron, nodding toward Crookshanks, who was still purring on the bed.

But that wasn't right, Harry thought suddenly... Scabbers had been looking ill before he met Crookshanks... ever since Ron's return from Egypt... since the time when Black had escaped...

"This cat isn't mad," said Black hoarsely. He reached out a bony hand and stroked Crookshanks' fluffy head. "He's the most intelligent of his kind I've ever met. He recognized Peter for what he was right away. And when he met me, he knew I was no dog. He had been helping me until Faykan here followed him out to where I had been hiding."

"That leads to my other question," Lupin said, turning to Faykan, "How do you fit into this story Mr. Undol?"

Faykan shrugged, "Well, I followed Crookshanks out one night and found Sirius," Faykan explained, "I remembered seeing him in his animagus form back when I took Harry away from his relatives, so I took a guess that he was who he was. Since he had not attacked us back in Little Whinging, I presumed that he was after something other than Harry, so I chose to offer him my assistance."

Faykan took a breath, glancing at Black for a moment. "It took him a while to trust me, and he never did tell me the full story of what he was after or why he was here, but I trusted him enough to give him Neville's list of passwords to get him into Gryffindor Tower, and to help him buy Harry's Firebolt. But unfortunately I could not help him without the knowledge that he refused to tell me. I heard and smelt him near Hagrid's when we went down, so I went into the forest, met him and Crookshanks, and together we formulated the plan to get Harry, Ron, and Hermione in here. I presume Sirius knew that Peter was inside Hagrid's?" he added and Black nodded.

"You say you heard and smelt him?" Lupin asked, "How did you manage that?"

"Sirius isn't the only illegal Animagus at Hogwarts right now," Faykan said with a grin.

"You?" Lupin said, curiosity in his voice.

"Yes, I'm a fox, the same large black one you've seen in the castle from time to time."

"Of course, your tattoos" Lupin said, slapping himself on the forehead, "Why didn't I see it before?"

Harry's brain seemed to be sagging under the weight of what he was hearing. It was absurd... and yet...

"Anyway," Black interrupted, "We formed the plan to get Peter out of Hagrid's because he faked his own death again to get out of the castle… I suppose he bit himself to put blood on the bed sheets, Faykan told me on one of the days he came to visit me."

These words jolted Harry to his senses.

"And why did he fake his death?" he demanded furiously. "Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"

"No," said Lupin, "Harry…"

"And now you've come to finish him off!" Harry ranted.

"Yes, I have," said Black, with an evil look at Scabbers.

"Then I should've helped Snape take you!" Harry shouted.

"Harry," said Lupin hurriedly, "don't you see? All this time we've thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down, but it was the other way around, don't you see? Peter betrayed your mother and father… Sirius tracked Peter down…"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Harry yelled. "HE WAS THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNED UP. HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!"

He was pointing at Black, who shook his head slowly; the sunken eyes were suddenly over bright.

"Harry... I as good as killed them," he croaked. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me... I'm to blame, I know it... The night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straight away. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies... I realized what Peter must've done... what I'd done..." His voice broke. He turned away.

"Enough of this," said Lupin, and there was a steely note in his voice Harry had never heard before. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me that rat."

"What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?" Ron asked Lupin tensely.

"Force him to show himself," said Lupin. "If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him."

Ron hesitated. Then at long last, he held out Scabbers and Lupin took him. Scabbers began to squeak without stopping, twisting and turning, his tiny black eyes bulging in his head. "Ready, Sirius?" said Lupin.

Black had already retrieved Snape's wand from the bed. He approached Lupin and the struggling rat, and his wet eyes suddenly seemed to be burning in his face.

"Together?" he said quietly.

"I think so," said Lupin, holding Scabbers tightly in one hand and his wand in the other. "On the count of three. One… two… THREE!"

A flash of blue white light erupted from both wands; for a moment, Scabbers was frozen in midair, his small gray form twisting madly, Ron yelled, the rat fell and hit the floor. There was another blinding flash of light and then…

It was like watching a speeded up film of a growing tree. A head was shooting upward from the ground; limbs were sprouting; a moment later, a man was standing where Scabbers had been, cringing and wringing his hands. Crookshanks was spitting and snarling on the bed; the hair on his back was standing up. Faykan watched with a bored expression, as if this happened every day.

He was a very short man, hardly taller than Harry and Hermione. His thin, colorless hair was unkempt and there was a large bald patch on top. He had the shrunken appearance of a plump man who has lost a lot of weight in a short time. His skin looked grubby, almost like Scabbers' fur, and something of the rat lingered around his pointed nose and his very small, watery eyes. He looked around at them all, his breathing fast and shallow. Harry saw his eyes dart to the door and back again.

"Well, hello, Peter," said Lupin pleasantly, as though rats frequently erupted into old school friends around him. "Long time, no see."

"S-Sirius... R-Remus..." Even Pettigrew's voice was squeaky. Again, his eyes darted toward the door. "My friends... my old friends..."

Black's wand arm rose, but Lupin seized him around the wrist, gave him a warning took, and then turned again to Pettigrew, his voice light and casual.

"We've been having a little chat, Peter, about what happened the night Lily and James died. You might have missed the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the bed…"

"Remus," gasped Pettigrew, and Harry could see beads of sweat breaking out over his pasty face, "you don't believe him, do you...? He tried to kill me, Remus..."

They continued like this for several minutes, Lupin trying to get answers, and Pettigrew dodging the questions intermitted with squeaks of accusation at Black. Hermione suggested that Pettigrew could have harmed Harry for the last three years, and asked about how Black had escaped Azkaban. He answered that he used his animagus ability to slip past the dementors, who have difficulty sensing animal thoughts, as they are different and less complex than human.

"Believe me," croaked Black at last. "Believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them."

And at long last, Harry believed him. Throat too tight to speak, he nodded.

"No!" screamed a tiny voice.

Pettigrew had fallen to his knees as though Harry's nod had been his own death sentence. He shuffled forward on his knees, groveling, his hands clasped in front of him as though praying. "Sirius, it's me... it's Peter... your friend... you wouldn't…"

Black kicked out and Pettigrew recoiled.

"There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them," said Black.

"Remus!" Pettigrew squeaked, turning to Lupin instead, writhing imploringly in front of him. "You don't believe this wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?"

"Not if he thought I was the spy, Peter," said Lupin. "I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?" he said casually over Pettigrew's head.

"Forgive me, Remus," said Black.

"Not at all, Padfoot, old friend," Lupin replied, now rolling up his sleeves. "And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?"

"Of course," said Black, and the ghost of a grin flitted across his gaunt face. He, too, began rolling up his sleeves. "Shall we kill him together?"

"Yes, I think so," said Lupin grimly.

"You wouldn't... you won't...," gasped Pettigrew. And he scrambled around to Ron.

"Ron... haven't I been a good friend... a good pet? You won't let them kill me, Ron, will you... you're on my side, aren't you.

But Ron was staring at Pettigrew with the utmost revulsion.

"I let you sleep in my bed!" he said.

"Kind boy... kind master..." Pettigrew crawled toward Ron "You won't let them do it... I was your rat... I was a good pet..."

"If you made a better rat than a human, it's not much to boast about, Peter," said Black harshly. Ron, going still paler with pain, wrenched his broken leg out of Pettigrew's reach. Pettigrew turned on his knees, staggered forward, and seized the hems of Faykan and Hermione's robes.

"Sweet girl... clever boy... you, you won't let them... Help me..."

Hermione pulled her robes out of Pettigrew's clutching hands and backed away against the wall, looking horrified. Faykan lashed out himself, kicking Pettigrew back toward Black and Lupin.

Pettigrew knelt, trembling uncontrollably, and turned his head slowly toward Harry.

"Harry... Harry... you look just like your father... just like him..."

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY?" roared Black. "HOW DARE YOU

FACE HIM? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT OF HIM?"

"Harry," whispered Pettigrew, shuffling toward him, hands outstretched. "Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed... James would have understood, Harry... he would have shown me mercy..."

Both Black and Lupin strode forward, seized Pettigrew's shoulders, and threw him backward onto the floor. He sat there, twitching with terror, staring up at them.

"You should have realized," said Lupin quietly, "if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Goodbye, Peter."

Hermione covered her face with her hands and turned to the wall.

"NO!" Harry yelled. He ran forward, placing himself in front Pettigrew, facing the wands. "You can't kill him," he said breathlessly. "You can't."

Black and Lupin both looked staggered.

"Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents," Black snarled. "This cringing bit of filth would have seen you die too, without turning a hair. You heard him. His own stinking skin meant more to him than your whole family."

"I know," Harry panted. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the dementors... He can go to Azkaban... but don't kill him."

"Harry!" gasped Pettigrew, and he flung his arms around Harry's knees. "You… thank you, it's more than I deserve, thank you…"

"Get off me," Harry spat, throwing Pettigrew's hands off him in disgust. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because; I don't reckon my dad would've wanted them to become killers… just for you."

No one moved or made a sound except Pettigrew, whose breath was coming in wheezes as he clutched his chest. Black and Lupin were looking at each other. Then, with one movement, they lowered their wands.

"You're the only person who has the right to decide, Harry," said Black. "But think... think what he did..."

"He can go to Azkaban," Harry repeated. "If anyone deserves that place, he does..."

"Very well," said Lupin. "Stand aside, Harry."

Harry hesitated.

"I'm going to tie him up," said Lupin. "That's all, I swear."

Harry stepped out of the way. Thin cords shot from Lupin's wand this time, and next moment, Pettigrew was wriggling on the floor, bound and gagged.

Faykan stepped over to Ron, "Well, I can't heal your le, you resisted too long and it's past the time I could, but I can make the pain stop for a few hours… there's something we all need to learn… healing," he chuckled half heartedly as he waved his wand over Ron's leg. A second wave and bandages spun up and around, strapping the leg tightly to a conjured split. "And that should prevent you from injuring it further as we get you up to the castle."

Faykan pulled Ron to his feet; Ron put his weight gingerly on the leg and didn't wince.

"Much better, thanks" he said.

"What about Professor Snape?" asked Hermione in a small voice, looking down at Snape's prone figure.

"There's nothing seriously wrong with him," said Lupin, bending over Snape and checking his pulse. "He just asleep. Ah… perhaps it will be best if we don't awaken him until we're safety back in the castle. We can take him like this..."

He muttered, "Mobilicorpus." As though invisible strings were tied to Snape's wrists, neck, and knees, he was pulled into a standing position, head still lolling unpleasantly, like a grotesque puppet. He hung a few inches above the ground, his limp feet dangling. Lupin picked up the Invisibility Cloak and tucked it safely into his pocket.

"And two of us should be chained to this," said Black, nudging Pettigrew with his toe. "Just to make sure."

Both Lupin and Ron volunteered, and Black conjured manacles and attached them to Lupin's and Ron's arms, connecting them to Pettigrew.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Hermione wondered absently what people might think if they saw their group moving along back down the passage to the Whomping Willow. Crookshanks was leading, followed by Lupin and Ron, chained with Pettigrew between them. Next came Professor Snape, drifting asleep in midair, held up by Sirius Black, using Snape's own wand. And finally herself, Faykan, and Harry brought up the rear of the strange precession.

Faykan was pointedly not looking at Harry, and Hermione could guess as to why. From the explanations from Sirius, it had torn Faykan up inside to betray them in any fashion, even if it was for their safety. Add that to nearly being strangled to death by his best friend, and the person he was secretly in love with, and Hermione was certain that Faykan was not having the best of nights.

"You know what this means?" Black said abruptly to Harry as they made their slow progress along the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free," said Harry.

"Yes..." said Black, "but I'm also, I don't know if anyone ever told you… I'm your godfather."

"Yeah, I knew that," said Harry.

"Well... your parents appointed me your guardian," said Black stiffly. "If anything happened to them..."

Harry hesitated slightly, holding his breath.

"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said Black. "But... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared... if you wanted a... a different home..."

Harry's head snapped up, and he winced as he hit a bit of protruding rock. Hermione felt a tug on her hand, keeping her back as the rest moved forward. She turned to Faykan, who released her arm after Harry and Black moved ahead a bit. "Let's allow them some privacy; this is something that Harry will cherish forever." Faykan said in a quiet voice.

Hermione smiled, this was something that only a best friend would think of. They started making their way down the tunnel again, and Hermione voiced the thought that had been plaguing her for some time, "If you love him, you really should tell him your feelings."

But Faykan was already shaking his head, "You don't understand my feelings Hermione."

"What don't I understand?" Hermione protested. To her it was a very simple concept.

"Anything regarding our relationship Hermione," Faykan said back, only a touch of condescension. "I am not romantically attracted to Harry, I simply feel compelled to be there for him. The very notion disgusts me, as it is what pushes Nott on his advances to me. I am probably the closest thing to family that Harry has, and he to me." Hermione heard the words, and her entire world of thought regarding the pair shattered around her. It really was just as simple as two boys being brothers in all but blood. She wasn't completely sure if she believed Faykan completely, but decided against pushing him on the topic.

They continued on in a muted silence until Hermione climbed out of the hole under the Whomping Willow. The grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Without a word, they set off. Pettigrew was still wheezing and occasionally whimpering. Hermione saw that Harry had a small smile on his face, his eyes focused off into the distance, clearly thinking about living with Sirius when he was freed.

"One wrong move, Peter," said Lupin threateningly ahead. His wand was still pointed sideways at Pettigrew's chest.

Silently they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was still drifting weirdly ahead of Black, his chin bumping on his chest. And then…

A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight.

Snape collided with Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron, who had stopped abruptly. Black froze. He flung out one arm to make Harry, Faykan, and Hermione stop.

Hermione could see Lupin's silhouette. He had gone rigid. Then his limbs began to shake.

"Oh, my…" she gasped. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!"

"Run," Black whispered, "Run. Now."

But Harry didn't run. He leapt forward but Black caught him around the chest and threw him back.

"Leave it to me! RUN!"

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Severus returned to consciousness slowly, his head throbbing as he awakened. He opened his eyes to see Potter, Undol, and Granger standing near him, their eyes transfixed on something behind him.

Severus stood, swaying slightly as he glared at the three students. He remembered Undol attacking him, right as he was about to capture Black and Lupin together.

"You four!" he sneered, but they ignored him, staring wide eyed behind him. Slowly, Severus turned, and the sight chilled him to the very bone. Lupin had transformed, and without the potion he was wild and dangerous. The werewolf's eyes were fixed on the four of them, and it stalked forward slowly, raising a paw to swipe Severus aside.

Severus threw his arms wide, protecting the students with his own body, and for an instant he thought he might die doing exactly as Lily would have expected him, protecting the son she had died to save. As his life flashed before his eyes, a giant black dog leaped from behind at the werewolf. It latched its jaws around the beast's arm and began dragging it backward, away from the humans.

"Sirius!" Potter cried, darting around Severus' arm and chasing foolishly after the werewolf and dog, snatching up stones from the ground.

"Come back here Potter!" Severus yelled, grasping onto Granger and Undol to prevent them from following.

The stupid boy threw his stones at the werewolf, distracting it from biting down on the dog, but its attention was redirected at him. It charged…

"NO! Harry!" Undol cried, wrenching himself from Severus' grip, diving headlong at the werewolf, just as he changed. Severus' eyes widened. Undol shifted into the large black fox, just as he hit the werewolf full force in the chest, clawing and biting at it, causing the beast to howl in fury and throw the fox into a nearby tree.

But the distractions were just enough to allow the giant dog to recover, and it attacked the werewolf again, drawing its attention once more and forcing the beast to chase it into the forest, away from them all. Potter stupidly chased after them. Severus cursed, and darted after them, glancing back at Granger, who was crouching by Weasley, who had been stunned apparently.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Harry's mind was reeling, both Faykan and Sirius were forcing Lupin to chase them into the forest, but how were they going to stop a rampaging werewolf?

Then, from beyond the trees, Harry heard a yelping, a whining, like a dog in pain…

"Sirius!" Harry yelled, plunging into the darkness.

The yelping seemed to be coming from the ground near the edge of the lake. He pelted toward it, and Harry, running flat out, felt the cold without realizing what it must mean…

The yelping stopped abruptly. As Harry reached the lakeshore, he saw why. Sirius had turned back into a man. He was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head.

"Nooo," he moaned. "Nooo... please..."

And then Harry saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, were gliding in a black mass around the lake toward them. He spun around, the familiar, icy cold penetrating his insides, fog starting to obscure his vision; more were appearing out of the darkness on every side; they were encircling them...

"NO!" he yelled, raising his wand, blinking furiously to try and clear his vision, shaking his head to rid it of the faint screaming that had started inside it. 'I'm going to live with my godfather. I'm leaving the Dursleys.' He forced himself to think of Black, and only Black, and began to chant: "Expecto patronum! Expecto patronum!"

The dementors were closing in, barely ten feet from them. They formed a solid wall around Harry, drawing closer…

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled, trying to blot the screaming from his ears. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A thin wisp of silver escaped his wand and hovered like mist before him. But it was too weak; he couldn't fend off all these on his own…

"Expecto… Expecto patronum…"

Harry felt his knees hit the cold grass. Fog was clouding his eyes. With a huge effort, he fought to remember, 'Sirius was innocent… innocent… We'll be okay… I'm going to live with him…'

"Expecto patronum!" he gasped.

By the feeble light of his formless Patronus, He saw a large, strangely grey-robed dementor halt very close to him. It couldn't pass through the cloud of silver mist Harry had conjured. A dead, slimy hand slid out from under the cloak, holding a cruel dagger. It made a gesture as though to cut the Patronus aside. The light snuffed out immediately.

"No… no" Harry gasped.

He could feel them watching him, hear their rattling breath like an evil wind around him. The nearest dementor seemed to be considering him, holding the dagger out, the blade seemed to shine eerily green. The sounds of their breathing seemed to alter, becoming almost words, but Harry couldn't make them out. His mind was going blank with screams.

"Expecto Patronum!" a new voice bellowed. A giant silver bird flew directly at the dementor above Harry, pushing it back, swiping it talons and snapping its beak at the cloaked wraith.

Someone knelt by Harry, checking his pulse, someone familiar. But the white fog still remained, the dementors were still there.

"You cannot have them!" the voice cried out again, "Be gone Brenin Llwyd! Leave us in peace. Or living or dark undead, I will smite you if you touch them!"

But the cold was closing in again, the person's Patronus was fading, the silvery light was leaving them as the dementors drained it away.

Someone screamed, and the fog piled into Harry's mind, choking him, his mother was screaming in his ears… she was going to be the last thing he ever heard…

And then, through the fog that was drowning him, he thought he saw a silvery light growing brighter and brighter... He felt himself fall forward onto the grass... Facedown, too weak to move, sick and shaking, Harry opened his eyes. The dementor must have released him. The blinding light was illuminating the grass around him... The screaming had stopped; the cold was ebbing away... Something was driving the dementors back... It was circling around him and Black and their first rescuer… they were leaving…

The air was warm again...

With every ounce of strength he could muster, Harry raised his head a few inches and saw an animal amid the light, galloping away across the lake... Eyes blurred with sweat, Harry tried to make out what it was... It was as bright as a unicorn... Fighting to stay conscious, Harry watched it canter to a halt as it reached the opposite shore. For a moment, Harry saw, by its brightness, somebody welcoming it back... raising his hand to pat it... someone who looked strangely familiar... but it couldn't be...

Harry didn't understand. He couldn't think anymore. He felt the last of his strength leave him, and his head hit the ground as he fainted.

Kaima : Sleep

Potential Spoilers Ahead, You Have Been Warned!

In terms of what has changed from the original to this edit, I further ironed out the vehement denial of any sort of slash relationship between Faykan and Harry in Hermione's perspective, although she still does not believe it. My own personal joke as the majority of stories I was reading, and dropping, at the time were heavy slash and I was getting tired of it... this was a long time before I learned the tricks of sifting through the crap to find the gems in fanfiction, and I have to say I think I've mastered that technique in the intervening time.

Also, the change from a Nazgul leading the horde of dementors to a grey dementor: the Brenin Llwyd, is intentional, as I've added a small subplot that will start to become clearer in book 5-7, when the constraints of the wizarding world start to fall away and Harry becomes more aware and in control of his surroundings. As this is the section for the super special awesome people who want to know all the background things, I had originally intended this story to be a combination of 4 others, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, the Dark is Rising, and the Sword in the Stone/Arthurian Legand, the advent of the Brenin Llwyd, or the Grey King, is the start of the nudges into Faykan's past between LotR and HP eras, and the tie-in to the Dark Is Rising Sequence, which I would highly recommend to anyone who loves either HP or LotR.

Until next time everyone! You're all awesome! ~F