Mes chers Amis! 21 followers! Thank you so so much-

Animewolf0369

Blackraven4400

DragonsinWrath

FwooshEye

Ilena Petrova

Iona Terranis

Nico The Fandom King

Nym Potter

Ptol3my

Tai Shiryuki

atelierduquette

bittobetty

dracochan1-YuutoUzushine

gryhndsr4us

gypsyheart79

jman197

readersam

sassygirl1864

steellord

timetableoflife

trublod

You'll have inspired me to get off the couch and write! Without more delay, let me begin.

No money is made off this venture 'cause I don't own Harry Potter.

Last time:-

"You?"

Now:-

A gray wolf stood in front of them, teeth bared, as if ready to attack, but our three friends could see the pain in its eyes. Wounds covered it from top to toe, some old, some freshly inflicted, blood seeping from them.

Harry extended his hand, as if to pet it. The wolf filched, and took a step backwards.

"I say, doesn't he look familiar?" Hermione pointed out, bending down to look into its earthy-brown eyes.

"He does," Ron agreed.

"Who are you?" Harry enquired, gentleness in his voice.

"Professor Lupin!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly. The others, including the wolf, looked at her, flummoxed.

"Haven't you noticed? It's a full moon today. Professor Lupin's Boggart takes the form of a full moon. The Shrieking Shack is said to emanate strange noises during this time. And haven't you noticed Professor Lupin himself? He looks off-colour and haggard around the time of the full moon. So, putting all of these together, I conclude that Professor Lupin is a werewolf, and this wolf here is him in wolf form!" Hermione hurriedly explained herself.

"Rightly so. I'm professor Remus Lupin, the werewolf." The wolf confirmed, and ran away.

"WAIT! COME BACK! We won't harm you!" Harry shouted, running after him, tailed by Ron and Hermione.

They followed the wolf unwittingly into what looked like a shack.

"Don't follow me. Go. Run away, and don't come back!" Remus howled, anguish in his eyes.

Harry ignored this remark and went closer to Remus. He kneeled down, and stroked him. Blue sparks flew from his hands, closing the wounds, calming Remus down.

"Whoa," Ron and Hermione exclaimed.

Harry whispered soft words, stroking him again and again. "Let the magic of the earth keep you well, and the songs of the wind cheer you. Let the heat of fire burn away all your worries and the coldness of water heal your wounds. Let nature heal you and keep you well. I, the Beastmaster command it and carve it into stone!"

Remus' eyes widened. These were the exact words James had uttered when he first discovered his lycanthropy. They were a remedy to the pain that came with the transformation, better than any Wolfsbane potion. The spell had worn off when James died. From the corner of his eye, he spied Hermione and Ron tentatively coming closer.

"Harry?"

"Its fine, come and stroke him," They petted him, running fingers through velvety fur, congealed blood in certain places, offering comfort to one who had not had any for a long, long time.

All of a sudden, a black asteroid burst apart this small company. A wounded, but calm Professor Lupin got up and smiled."Sirius!"

To everyone's surprise, he got up shakily and embraced Sirius Black. A smile graced their faces. "I thought the Dementors had caught you! I thought you had got the Dementor's Kiss!"

"Speaking of Dementors..." Hermione pointed to black-cloaked figures approaching them. A sense of hopelessness, characteristic of their approach, washed over all of them.

'Concentrate...think of your happiest memory...' Harry thought, recalling the advice Professor Lupin gave him on casting Patronus Charms. He thought-where had he felt happiest? Suddenly, early memories erupted into his mind- the warm arms of his mother, his father's laugh, the way his father used to call birds to the lawn, with a high twitter and chirrup, and let him play gently with them, his mother singing him to sleep. More recent ones-Hogwarts. Being with Ron and Hermione. Hagrid's hut. The Burrow. Mrs. Weasley's maternal habits. Quidditch. His first flight on a broom. The first time he caught the Golden Snitch. He opened his eyes. "Expecto Patronum!" He shouted, in a high, musical tone he remembered hearing somewhere. All at once, a majestic stag sprung from his wand, made of red light. Its eyes blazed with a surreal fire. It pranced across the room, bashing each Dementor in the head with its hooves, occasionally butting them with its antlers. The Dementors burst open in a cloud of stars. The stag itself morphed into a tongue of flame, and then vanished.

"That was..." Ron struggled to find the right word.

"Unusual," Hermione finished.

"Cool!" Sirius interjected.

"Not like a normal Patronus at all. Harry, what tongue did you cast the spell in?" Professor Lupin questioned.

"No idea. It sounded familiar. I heard it somewhere in the Chamber of Secrets, if I rightly recall..."

"Phoenix!" Ron exclaimed. "That was the only creature other than the basilisk. And that thing could only respond to Parsletounge. And Fawkes sounded exactly like that! Harry, how can you do that? It's strange."

"Ron, please don't tell anyone! Keep it a secret or Harry will fall in trouble," Sirius ordered Ron, putting a hand on his shoulder. Ron edged away from him, fear apparent in every feature. "Let's go back now, the others will be missing you'll."

"Professor Snape?"

"He went back after giving me the Wolfsbane potion. The potion didn't seem to work today," Professor Lupin answered.

Harry explained everything to a confused Ron as they made their way back; how every first-born Potter got the power to speak to animals, his first meeting with Sirius, Hermione showing him the right book, and concluded with the realization of Sirius being innocent.

"But there's something I still don't understand- why did you try to murder me? And if it wasn't you, who helped You-Know-Who kill Harry's parents?"

"First things first-that incident with Pettigrew? Entirely his doing," Sirius replied

"What?" All three children asked.

"Yep. Peter Pettigrew killed all those people. And then he cut off his finger and escaped."

"Isn't he proclaimed dead?"

Professor Lupin and Sirius shared a look, a look that said 'we have a lot of explaining to do' and looked back at them.

"The Marauders- James, Sirius, Peter and me- were the closest group of friends in Hogwarts. When the other Marauders discovered my lycanthropy, they became Animagi," Professor Lupin began in a quiet voice.

"Isn't that a long process? You have to register too," Hermione asked.

"James, Sirius and Peter didn't register. James became a stag; Sirius, a dog, and Peter, a mouse."

"Are you'll the makers of the Marauder's map?" Harry enquired.

"It's our creation. The last we saw of it was in Filch's drawer. Where is it now?" Sirius asked, a sparkle in his eyes.

"Sirius, you're going off-topic," Professor Lupin elbowed him.

"George and Fred Weasley snatched it from Filch's drawer. It's with us now. Continue, Professor Lupin." Harry answered.

"Anyways, back to the topic. We realized, too late, that Peter was a traitor, a servant of You-know-Who. Sirius had given him the secret password, as he had insecurities about being caught by You-Know-Who. Peter just potters off to him and gives him the location and password. And the rest is history, as they say," Professor Lupin concluded.

"You had said something about him escaping, didn't you? Where is he now?" Ron asked.

"You're carrying him around with you," Sirius answered.

"Scabbers? Scabbers can't be Peter Pettigrew!" Ron shouted back, incredulously.

"Oh, yes he can." Sirius retorted, "As Remus said earlier, Peter was a mouse in Animagus form. He had cut off his finger, as I said before. Have you ever noticed Scabbers' right front paw?"

"There is one toe less. And he is so battered and sickly-looking, it's a wonder he's still alive," Hermione answered.

"That's the cool thing about Animagi; they live longer than normal animals, if they choose to stay in animal form," Sirius answered, smiling.

"But that still doesn't explain why you attempted to murder me!" Ron said.

"Can't you connect the dots, Ron? Sirius wasn't after you; he was after Scabbers, a.k.a Peter Pettigrew, who, as we all know, sleeps with you, in YOUR BED!" Hermione snapped.

"Oh," Ron said in a small voice, intimidated by Hermione's outburst.

"I'm leaving this job of teaching, as much as I like it," Professor Lupin broke the long silence that had ensued between them as they walked back to the school building. A look of bewilderment and worry crossed the faces of Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Why?! You're the best Defence against the Dark Arts professor we've ever had, in fact, the best professor we've ever had!" Harry remarked, surprised and angry.

"Let's face it, Harry-one's bloodline is all that matters nowadays. Only people like Dumbledore take merit into consideration when they recruit people. You do not know how many parents will pull their children out of Hogwarts when they come to know that one of the teachers is a werewolf. The Wizarding world is much stigmatised towards werewolves, thinking of them as feral, murderous creatures," Sirius offered as explanation.

"Why can't they give you a chance? Can't you hide you lycanthropy?" Hermione argued.

"I could, but someone would find out, like you did. It's better to be safe than sorry," Remus countered, patting Hermione on the head.

"Listen, Harry," Sirius spoke softly, looking into Harry's emerald eyes as he spoke, "After all this ruckus has been cleared, we could live at my place, you know. Get away from your idiot relatives."

"But Dumbledore said that I was protected because I lived there," Harry said sadly, hopelessness apparent in his voice.

"Forget what that fellow said, for now. I've been reading up on ancient magic. The spell which Lily cast – it needs love and a relative to reach its full potential. You have relatives, but they think of you as a burden, an outcast not fit to live in their world. James and I weren't just friends-we were like brothers. I'm your godfather, on top of that. So, I'm basically family. And I love you-love you like my own son," At this simple confession, Harry's eyes overfilled with tears. "Harry," Sirius bent down, putting his hands on Harry's shoulders, "I would do anything for you, even stop living. The moment I saw your little face, your shining green eyes, just like Lily's, I knew I loved you like my own. Before I dropped you off at the Durseleys, I held you and didn't want to let go, however much Dumbledore insisted. I worried about you, even in Azkaban. The moment I managed to escape, I followed you. Howling your name as a dog. Paying visits to your house. Please, Harry, come live with me. I could use some happiness. And you could use some too." Sirius got up to go. Harry noticed tears, pristine as crystal, escape his eyes and fall to the ground.

Harry quickly made up his mind. Before Sirius could turn to go, Harry hugged him. "Thank you," Harry whispered, overcome with emotion, "Thank you so much. I'll come and live with you. I'll rather be in the wrong with my godfather than with no one."

Sirius looked affectionately at his godson, too overcome with emotion to speak. Smiling, he petted his head and hugged him back. "I'll meet you at the station, then. This is our secret, understood? What will people think when they come to know that the Boy Who Lived, golden boy, is living with an ex-convict?"

Harry laughed, then broke away from the embrace, and ran off to join his friends, shooting a smile at Sirius before going, trumpets of hope bellowing a joyful tune in his heart.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Harry alighted from the Hogwarts Express, his eyes scanned the crowd of people at Platform 93/4, looking for no one in particular. His eyes alighted on Sirius Black, dressed elegantly in a purple suit. He appeared to be looking for someone. When their eyes met, they smiled, small secret smiles no one else saw.

Bidding goodbye to his friends, he exited the platform. Noticing Sirius had exited at the same time, he ran, his baggage trolley clattering after him, and hugged Sirius.

" I told you I would be there," Sirius' eyes twinkled. Breaking the embrace, he ruffled Harry's mop of hair. "Now, where to first?"

My favourite chappie till now! I had a good time writing it. I hope you like it! PM me if you want to see anything else! I am also on Instagram as da_fancy_book_nerd.

Aayu10 out!