As far as I am concerned, Sirius Black could not have chosen a better time to break in to Hogwarts. With all the fuss, most students had forgotten about me and Professor Lupin, and spent most of their free time talking about Black. The girls in my dormitory, however, were not so easily distracted, but they were friendly about it, and when I explained the whole story to them, most of them agreed that Lupin was indeed the only real option. A few other girls approached me too; I was surprised to know just how many students have secret crushes on Professor Lupin. One of them was so jealous she even hexed me in the corridor and ran away before I could see who she was. Audrey was equally mystified, and suggested that after the horror of being taught my Lockhart, Professor Lupin must look like an angel sent from Heaven. I never understood why it was so hard for her to admit that it is probably just because Lupin is so damn handsome.

Even better was the fact that Professor Lupin was absent from out first class after the weekend; though I was sorry that he was ill again, it was a huge relief that my first major encounter with him was to be delayed.

But naturally, as all good things go, it did not last long, and a few days later, Audrey was practically dragging me to our DADA class.

"Fay," she said, pushing me forward, "Stop over-reacting, it's not that bad."

"Easy for you to say," I replied, but gave in anyway and followed her to class. I had been sorely tempted to call in sick myself, but Audrey refused to let me, saying that I would fall behind and that I can not afford to do so in seventh year.

Professor Lupin was already there when we arrived, but I was determined not to make eye contact with him. I took my seat next to Audrey, and for the whole class I starred intently at either my parchment or the blackboard, and only glanced at Professor Lupin when I knew he was talking to another student. I could feel the eyes of some of the Ravenclaw students burning into the back of my head, could hear some of their sniggers, and one of the more obnoxious Ravenclaw boys, Blyth Moore, even sent me a note, saying, "How come you won't look at Lupin? Worried that he thinks you're a bad kisser?"

Furiously, I sent the note back, after writing "Shut up" on it (Yes, I know, my wit amazes me too sometimes), but, to my horror, Professor Lupin saw the note being passed along, intercepted it, and read it. My cheeks burned as I watched him read, he frowned, his eyes flickered towards me, then turned to Moore and said,

"10 points from Ravenclaw, and if I see anything like this again, it will be detention. I won't tolerate bullying in my class, Mr Moore."

Still blushing, I looked away, but continued to watch him from the corner of my eye. He had been very distressed when he had been forced to kiss me, but now he was not even blushing. I was very impressed.

To my relief the bell rang shortly after, and the only thing that prevented me from running out of the room was Audrey, who was, remarkably, taking her time.

"Hurry up," I hissed, "It won't kill you if your bag isn't arranged in alphabetical order –"

Audrey rolled her eyes and hurried up, but we were still the last students to leave. As we reached the door, I could have sworn that Professor Lupin looked like he was about to say something to me, but I averted my gaze and hurried out of the room before he had the chance.

The month of November could not have passed more slowly. We were getting more homework than ever, and my performance in DADA was at an all time low, due mainly to that fact that, many weeks later, I was still avoiding Professor Lupin and not speaking to him at all unless he spoke to me first. Though, as Audrey pointed out, I've stopped blushing when ever he asks me a question in class.

And so, all in all, I could not have been happier to see the winter holidays arrive. My family and I were spending the holiday with my Uncle Graham at his country estate. Uncle Graham is the only wizard in the family, and he is always fun to visit.

"There's my favourite, niece!" he cried out, giving me a hug when we arrived at his house. I rolled my eyes at being address as though I was still five, but I was too happy to see him again to care.

"How've you been, Uncle Graham?" I asked excitedly.

"Good, and better now that you and your folks will be here for two weeks," he said, smiling, "You've changed a lot."

I laughed, and replied, "You haven't change at all!"

It was true – my uncle looked the same as he always did; his dark brown hair was as messy as ever, and his bright green eyes sparkled mischievously. I always loved my uncle's eyes; my dad's side of the family all have brown-green eyes, but Uncle Graham was the only one whose eyes were totally green.

I greeted his wife and two young children, a six year old girl and ten year old boy, then turned to my parents.

"Mum, dad, here, give me your things, I'll magic them up to our rooms," I offered. My parents, being muggles, were pleased to take up the offer rather than carry them up to their large suitcases up to rooms themselves.

A few minutes later, I returned to the lounge room and found that my uncle was there alone. I looked around for my parents and my uncle's wife and her kids, and saw that they were outside in the back yard; I could see them through the window.

"Fay," my uncle said, watching my curiously, "You're parents just told me that Black broke in to Hogwarts."

I nodded in confirmation, sitting down next to him and told him the whole story.

My uncle shook his head grimly when I finished talking, "Can't believe it," he said, "Just can't believe it, never been as shocked as I was when I read that he'd escaped from Azkaban, except maybe when I heard that he'd been taken in."

"It's meant to be impossible, isn't it?" I asked curiously. My uncle is an ex-Auror, if anyone knows about Azkaban, it's him.

"Meant to be," he mumbled, "Mind you, I'm not so sad he escaped."

I started at uncle in shock, "But he killed thirteen people!"

My uncle grimaced, and shook his head, "I knew Black, we were in Hogwarts together, I was a few years older than him though. Great bloke he was, dead loyal to his friends. Never would have found a person more against the Dart Arts than him."

"You knew Sirius Black?" I asked, awed.

"Yep, good friends, we were," he said sadly.

"But," I started, frowning, "You can't let your friendship get in the way of justice! Great man or not, he killed thirteen people with a single curse."

"Or so they say," my uncle retorted. I started at him again, and he laughed at my shocked expression, "Look, I knew Black, and there was no way, ever, that he would have joined You-Know-Who. He hated the Dark Arts. I was an auror at the time when he was arrested; Black didn't even get a trial. He was thrown straight into Azkaban."

"No trial?" I asked, frowning. "That's odd. Why?"

"Hard times, the ministry was too busy fighting You-Know-Who, and rounding up the last of the death eaters at the time, no time to give everyone a trial."

"Right," I said, slowly digesting this new piece of information, "Right, so let's say he might have been a good guy for a while, a street full of muggles still saw him kill those people."

"Muggles are rarely reliable witnesses for magic duels, they don't see what they think they do," he said, "And anyway, that isn't the only reason he was locked up. Most people don't know it, but he was the Potters secret keeper. Theory was that the only way You-Know-Who could find the Potters was if Black told them exactly where they were."

"Black told him? It was Black's fault they died?" I asked, astounded. There was clearly more to Black than I had known.

"Yep," he replied.

"But then how can you defend him now? He betrayed them. Why did they make him secret keeper in the first place?"

"Black and Potter were best friends, ever since they were little ones at Hogwarts," my uncle replied sadly, "Potter made Black his secret keeper – they knew that You-Know-Who was after them, see."

"Black was his best friend?" I repeated, aghast, "and he betrayed them? Poor Harry! I wonder if he knows? It must be horrible for him!"

"Hold your horses, who ever said he betrayed them?" he replied frowning, his green eyes burning with passion. He leaned forward slightly in his chair, his hands on his knees, and said, "Where's the proof that he betrayed them, he could have been tortured into speaking for all we know! Black never admitted to it, he never even had the chance to talk."

"But he still killed all those people, bit of a give away, isn't it?"

"Again, there as no trial, things aren't always what they appear. Official version of events was that Black blasted Pettigrew- the wizard, he was another friend of both Black and Potter – and all the other muggles. I don't buy it," he added passionately, "Circumstances were suspicious. Did you hear that they only ever found Pettigrew's finger? Nothing more? A finger, I tell you, how on earth could that have been all that was left of Pettigrew when none of the muggles were maimed that badly? And what was so special about that finger that is survived without even a scratch on it, but the rest of his body vanished without a trace? Something isn't right, things aren't what they seem."

I starred at my uncle, slowly taking in the information he had just loaded me with. Black, innocent? He certainly seemed to think so, and he was an auror at the time, so opinion definitely counts.

"So, you think he's innocent?" I asked slowly.

"Black loved Potter like a brother," his eyes now oddly bright, "They were inseparable. You couldn't find better friends anywhere. The number of times he said to me, he said, 'Graham, I would die for those three,' referring to his three best friends, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin."

I gasped, "Remus Lupin?"

My uncle looked at me curiously, "Why? You don't know a Remus Lupin, do you?"

"Yeh!" I exclaimed, "He teaches Defence at Hogwarts, he just started this year!"

"Must be him, not a very common name is it?" my uncle suggested, "What does he look like?"

"Tall, light brown hair and eyes, looks like he can't be more than thirty something."

"Middle name starts with J?"

"Yeh," I replied, "Wow, so you're telling me that Professor Lupin was friends with Sirius Black?"

"Assuming it's the same person, hold on, I've a picture of them somewhere."

He waved his wand over his shoulder, and a small picture came rushing into the room and fell into his lap. I leaned over to look at the picture. There were six students in Gryffindor robes, all standing and waving merrily at the camera; two girls and four boys. One of the girls had green eyes and red hair, she was standing hand in hand with a boy with very messy black hair who looked like an older version of Harry Potter. They could only be his parents. Next to them were two boys who I did not recognise; one very haughty-looking and handsome, the other short and chubby. Then there was a gorgeous girl, her arm around the waist of a very good looking boy with light brown hair and eyes. Eyes that I knew very well…

"Remus Lupin," my uncle said, pointing at him, "I haven't seen him in years, I only ever saw him a few times outside of Hogwarts, mainly when I was meeting up with Black."

He pointed at the handsome boy with black hair.

"That's Black?" I asked, amazed, "He looks so different!"

"I guess Azkaban does that to a person."

"And that there is Pettigrew," he said, smiling grimly, "That girl was Lily Evans, James Potters wife. Dead obviously, the three of them, and now Black is on the run… Lupin's at Hogwarts according to you… and last I knew of that pretty girl there, Rose Wilson, was that she went back to Australia after You-Know-Who vanished."

Rose Wilson, the name sounded familiar. I thought for a moment and then I remembered, "She was Lupin girlfriend, wasn't she?" I asked.

"Yep, they were together from their fifth year until a few months before You-Know-Who died. Must have been what, six years together?"

"Six years?" I asked, letting out a low whistle, "That's practically married! Why did they break up?"

"Not so sure, Black told me something about Lupin being too poor – he could never keep a job for long, never knew why – and he wasn't willing to have kids for some reason. And Lupin was in danger, of course, since he was fighting You-Know-Who with Dumbledore, he was a target, and so was anyone he loved."

"So she dumped him because of that?" I asked, feeling slightly angry in Lupin's defense.

"No, no, Lupin dumped her because of it," he replied, scratching his chin thoughtfully, "She didn't mind that he was poor or couldn't have kids, or that he was in danger. She was crazy about him. Broke her heart in two when it happened. Lupin loved her back, of course, I could see it in his eyes. He was depressed for a long time after he broke it off, but Black insisted that it was something that Lupin thought had to be done. I felt sorry for them both – first they lost each other, then a few months later, Lily and Potter died – Rose and Lily were best friends, and next day Pettigrew is dead too and Black is in Azkaban. Lupin lost his three best friends all in twenty-four hours. Those four, they were like brothers."

A shiver ran down my spine, and I hastily blinked back the tears that were forming in my eyes. Poor Lupin… he had suffered so much, all because of You-Know-Who. And now Black is at Hogwarts, where Lupin is. I couldn't even begin to imagine how Lupin must feel – his former best friend, murderer, responsible for the deaths of his other two best friends. And yet, my uncle, who I respect so much, former auror, reckons that Black was innocent. I was confused; I didn't know what to believe. I shook my head gently, watching the smiling image of my teenaged DADA Professor; he looked so happy, so carefree, so young, with no idea what the future was holding for him.

"Uncle Graham?" Looking up, I saw that he looked as depressed as I felt, "Can I keep this photo?" I asked earnestly.

"It's all yours," he said smiling warmly, "it's just a copy; I've got the real one upstairs. It's signed at the back; by the way, Black sent it to me back when he was in his seventh year."

I turned the photo over. There was a long message at the back, scribbled, almost hurriedly, in black ink.

Graham, can't wait to see you over the winter break. Heres a pic of me with the boys. James finally got Evans to go out with him, will you believe it? He hasn't stopped smiling all week. I've already got him convinced to name me God-father of his kids. Remus and Rose are getting along great too, they are so hopelessly in love, I'm always teasing Remus about, pretending they annoy me, just to see his reaction. It's priceless. But I don't mind, really, as long as Remus is happy, then I'm happy. They boys say hi by the way, and congratulations on becoming an uncle. Have they named the child yet? Remus suggests the name Faylinn. Oh, and we finally pulled off your prank! Don't know why we never tried it before! You should have seen McGonagall's face when all that turned up for dinner was strawberry jelly, it was priceless. We all got detention for a week, but it was worth it. Anyway, I'd better stop now before McGonagall realises that I'm not doing my transfiguration work.

See you soon, Sirius Black.