-It's not mine and it never will be. That makes me cry often.

Thanks to everyone for sticking with me on this. It's definitely not a very well written piece, but I'm working on it. So, thanks for the reviews. I have astronomical love for you.

Chapter 7

Cat, Rat and an Angst Ridden Dog

Sirius Black

Peter Pettigrew

Remus Lupin was currently staring blankly at the map in front of him. Specifically, he was gaping at section of the map that the small dots labeled with his former best friends' names had just disappeared, and of course, followed by three of his best and favorite students.

Not just any section of the map though. No, they disappeared down a very familiar pathway. This path led directly to the Shrieking Shack. The smartest students in his class had just followed a known serial murderer and a dead man down into the Walloping Willow. If Remus had felt inclined, he might have made a vague reference to a "rabbit hole" from Alice and Wonderland however, as it were, he was most definitely not.

He stared for a few more moments, debating whether he'd finally lost his mind or not. Finally after surmising that even if had gone completely mad it wouldn't matter in the slightest if he took a trip to that god forsaken house, he ran out of his classroom knocking papers and random books over as he fled. His tattered robes swished about behind him as he made for the hideously violent tree.

As Remus neared said tree, he found evidence of a struggle. If the drag marks in the soft dirt, several treads of footprints, and stench of blood were any indication. Cold dread filled his stomach and he rushed to press the knot to freeze the spastically moving tree. Carefully, so as to not get knocked over, Remus slipped easily down the passageway. Fully grateful for all the practice he'd had during his school days, he landed softly on his feet and made his way down the dank passageway. He tried to move as fast and as quietly as possible. Praying and wishing to catch Sirius by surprise because even if his friend was severely weakened by Azkaban, he was still a formidable opponent. Sirius had always been an exceptional duelist, always at the ready and quick on his feet.

He heard voices and movements upstairs and they didn't sound promising. He walked up the stairs, gripping his wand tightly in his sweating palms. He opened the squeaking and aging door.

Thump

Bump

Thump

Sirius growled in annoyance. The child that he was currently dragging through the house simply had no idea of how much easier this would be if he just stayed still. But, oh no, he simply had to trash about like a beached whale. Bumping and thumping himself into an unconscious state. It was completely ridiculous and unnecessary.

Finally, and with much difficultly, Sirius made it up the ancient and scratched up staircase. He flung the boy against the wall disarmed him. He quickly slipped behind the door and waited expectantly for his godson to arrive. Flicking his matted hair away from his face, Sirius closed the door just enough so that Harry would get a perfect view of his friend without seeing him. His forehead rested on the backside of the door as he prepared himself for the face he was going to see. His eyes closed and his gripped the ginger child's wand.

He was prepared this time. It'd be alright. He could do this.

Just don't think about James.

Rolling his eyes to himself, Sirius thought that it was easier said than done.

His face turned towards the resounding steps on the staircase. A pained smile crossed across Sirius's gaunt face. Harry and the girl entered the room and began trying to rescue their friend. Sirius slowly pushed the door away from him. Revealing himself and effectively closing off the only exit in the room besides the dirty window, but that had been spelled closed since Remus had used this house all those years ago.

Sirius began to try and speak to Harry, but being devoid from human contact and communication for so long, it wasn't very easy to make his point known. His words twisted in circles about James and Peter. Sirius knowing all the while that he was simply confusing the boy more. After a few moments of this, Harry looked ready to charge at him.

James's son after all, Sirius thought grinning manically.

His friends had a hold of Harry's arms, but by the looks of it they didn't have a very firm grip. The girl was yelling at Harry to stop, but the other boy just told Sirius that he'd have to kill them all the get to Harry.

Oh.

So, that's what this was all about.

They thought he wanted to kill his godson. Laughing slightly at the ridiculous of the situation, Sirius stared at the ginger boy. He had courage, he'd give him that. The boy then paled considerably as he tried to stand up. Sirius felt a twinge of guilt. He could have been less rough with the boy. He couldn't have been over thirteen.

He tried to calm the children by telling them that there was only one murder tonight, but that didn't appear to quell their anger or fear. Instead, Harry decided to lunge at him after a heart breaking yell about Sirius killing his parents. The declaration sent Sirius into a stupor of memories and guilt ridden feelings. He hesitated too long and Harry crashed into him. Sending them both flailing and fighting for control. Pushing Harry off, Sirius blindly grabbed for a wand, but Harry was faster than he'd calculated.

His godson had him at wand point against the wall of the Shrieking Shack and from the look in the boy's eyes he was about to kill him. A chuckle bubbled up from his chest, followed by his hysterical barking laugh. The situation was so unnecessary and preposterous that Sirius couldn't help it. After all this time of trying to protect this boy, Harry was going to kill him and in inevitably allow Peter to live.

Sirius couldn't believe this was happening.

"Going to kill me, Harry?" he whispered (1).

Harry just stared and told him that he was responsible for his parents deaths. Something that was only partially true. The boy had no way of knowing this though. A nasty voice in the back of Sirius's mind reminded him that he had as good as killed them.

Trying to get through to the boy, Sirius began to loosely construct sentences, willing the boy to listen to the whole story. He just had to hold Harry off long enough to be able to kill Peter and fulfill his promise to James. Sirius didn't want anything more than that. He just didn't want to let James down, whether he was dead or not.

His furry companion, Crookshanks, jumped up to his chest and refused to budge. Sighing mentally, Sirius was happy to have someone on his side – human or not.

All of the sudden, there were footsteps on the staircase and the girl was yelling.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

He couldn't get caught! Not when he was so close.

The door burst open.

Sirius was suddenly taken aback by the appearance of his only remaining best friend as he rushed into the room. His brain wasn't functioning properly at this point so he said nothing and simply stared at the aging werewolf.

The only thought that seeped into the convicts brain was that Remus's hair was going grey.

It wasn't a relevant thought, but it was the only thing that passed through his mind. He always was a shallow person though. It shouldn't be surprising, he supposed.

"Where is he, Sirius?" Remus asked tensely (2).

Sirius couldn't make words form correctly and just pointed at Harry's friend with the broken leg. His feelings were jumbled up. His heart was actually beating frantically from seeing Remus. In all his angst about James, he hadn't realized how much he'd missed Moony. He had missed his friend terribly and he knew that if he'd still been Padfoot, he'd be wagging his tail frantically.

Remus was then up to his usual miraculous feats of dedication. Figuring the entire situation out in less than two minutes, Remus stared at Sirius and asked if they'd switched Secret Keepers without telling him. Nodding like a child that just got caught stealing cookies, Sirius just stared guiltily at his friend. Always the gentleman, Remus offered his hand to help Sirius up.

After standing up, Sirius grabbed Remus and pulled him into a hug. Gripping him as tightly as possible and murmuring incoherently about how sorry he was and how he'd messed up, begging the werewolf to forgive him. Remus chuckled at him and whispered that it was alright and that he understood, but they had to talk about it later and pulled away.

Then everything sped up.

Remus was arguing with the children who were, not surprisingly, confused. Trying to explain and reason with highly emotional teenagers was not Sirius's forte. So, he elected to stay out of it until Harry once again accused him of killing James.

Sirius couldn't take it anymore. He broke down and babbled and rambled, trying to plead his case to this person who looked so like James. He was trying to explain himself to James (wherever he might be) and trying very hard to apologize to the last piece of James that was left on this Earth. Trying to make his god child understand that, yes, it was his fault, but it was Peter's as well.

Remus, being the excellent mediator that he always was, helped considerably. However, he was detoured considerably by the girl who was going on and on about werewolves. Screaming that he'd been helping Sirius get into the castle. Which Sirius wished had been the case because it would have been much easier. Meanwhile, Sirius was caught up staring at Harry. He looked extraordinarily like James. Except for those eyes. They were still wrong, but he was close. Sirius shook his head violently trying to force his thoughts about James out. He didn't need to do this. Harry still needed protecting. This wasn't over.

Eventually, they came to the map. Sirius smiled at this. He was so proud about how much they'd accomplished, The Marauders. Suddenly, the conversation reversed back to Peter.

"That's not a rat," Sirius croaked.

"He's a wizard," Remus said quietly.

"An Animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew," Sirius finished (3).

All were content just to stare between Remus, Sirius, and the "rat" that Ron was clutching desperately to his chest.

A/N: This scene took a lot longer than I anticipated. I have a paper due tomorrow which I haven't even begun to start on, so I'm going to pause there. I'll have the next one up by next Friday.

--Please review and thanks for reading. You win at life.

--Happy extremely late St. Patrick's Day. I think I just got over my hangover yesterday. Me and Faolan (brother) had a great time ; )

1 - pg. 341 POA

2 - pg. 343 POA

3 - pg. 348 POA