AN: Revised chapter. At least preliminary revision. I may be making more changes to it after I get in contact with the two people I have chosen as Betas. For those I didn't choose, it wasn't anything personal. I just chose those I felt that I would get along with best, and who had an example of their writing. I do hope you are all still willing to point out any plot holes or errors that you may find in the future as I do appreciate it very much. As such, I have fixed the problem of the disappearing luggage. Peter's behavior will be explained as I go along, I hope.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Kindness of Strangers

PETER

"... I'm not saying I believe you, yet, and I'm not saying that I won't have the headmaster send him back to Azkaban. I won't make any promises. However, I will wait to do anything until I have the chance to speak with him. Be there. You may return to your common room now," Professor Remus Lupin murmured, dismissing Harry. 'I hope I won't have to turn him in... It's been lonely as the last Marauder,' Remus mused to himself.

Harry nodded in quiet understanding, turning and exiting the classroom. He took off at a jog towards the Gryffindor common room. He nearly forgot the password in his rush to get inside and tell Sirius about what the professor had said. Once inside, he sprawled out on a cushy chair by the fireplace as Ron, Hermione and Snuffles herded around him. He had hoped to speak to his godfather alone, but that was obviously not going to happen for a while.

"It was about Snuffles, wasn't it Harry?" Hermione asked taking one of the seats across from him, Ron the other. Snuffles sat at his godson's feet, resting his muzzle on the boy's knee, staring up at him with large luminous eyes.

He nodded, "he wants me to bring him to the Room of Requirement tomorrow." The large dog nudged Harry's hand, wanting him to pet him as well as to let him know that he understood. Frankly, he was surprised that Remus had given them any time. Perhaps there was still hope that the professor trusted him, or at least had enough doubt about his apparent guiltiness. Sirius really couldn't blame his friend for believing him to be guilty. He did have a tendency to fly off the handle at times, and it couldn't have been easy listening to everyone's cries of guilty for so many years. Perhaps, for a while Remus had thought him innocent, but over the years maybe he had just given up. Peter had been Remus' friend, too. It could not have been easy trying to honor both of their memories.

"Where?" Ron's face went blank. He'd never heard of any such room. His brothers hadn't mentioned it either and they knew pretty much everything there was to know about Hogwarts somehow.

"I have no idea. I expect that he'll tell me how to get there tomorrow," the Gryffindor explained, yawning slightly. The professor had actually told him that Padfoot would get him to the room, but as he hadn't told Ron or Hermione that Padfoot was anything other than a dog, he couldn't very well tell them that.

"Oh," Ron muttered as if Harry's response was the most obvious answer.

"Do you think he'll believe us?" Harry asked his godfather quietly as he curled up in bed late after everyone else had fallen asleep. His voice was still groggy from sleep seeing as how the large black dog had woken him up only moments before. Shortly after having doing so, Sirius resumed his human form, laying on his side close to the wall and facing Harry.

He brushed a few strands of hair out of the boy's face tenderly as he watched him struggle to remain awake. "Perhaps. I think he wants to which is why he gave us this grace period, but that doesn't mean much. He won't accept our word alone. He's going to need some kind of proof. Do you happen to have any photos of Scabbers?" Sirius asked, doubtful that they could actually obtain the rat before the meeting without Ron attempting to kill them for hurting his beloved pet. How someone could grow that attached to such a pathetic little lump of flesh was beyond him. He hadn't even been that devoted to the boy as a human and supposed friend. There was a time when he would have died for Peter, so he supposed that he could understand where Ron was coming from… It was just difficult to put into perspective while knowing what the rat had done.

The boy gave a slight nod, yawning before he attempted to answer. "Nh... Yeah, I do. Ron brings him almost everywhere," he curled up a little bit more, rubbing his eye with his fist tiredly.

"Good. We'll need them tomorrow," he answered quietly, not willing to have anyone wake up and catch them. Not only would he be dragged back to Azkaban, but Harry would be expelled as well. He had just found the boy and he wasn't willing to give up his only family. He already thought of the small boy as his son and he wasn't about to let anything happen to him because of him.

"Alright, Sirius," Harry yawned again, his head turning into the pillow to hide it.

The man sighed softly, wishing it were safe for the boy to call him that, but it wasn't. Not yet anyway. He should have put up a silencing charm, but he hadn't seen the need at the time. Perhaps, next time he would so that they could talk honestly and openly. No more silly secret code names. "Harry..." he reminded softly before he shifted back to his canine form.

"Sorry," he murmured before falling back asleep, pulling the large black dog close to him, burying his nose in the soft fur. It wasn't long after that that his breathing evened out in his sleep.

Professor Lupin kept his eyes on Harry and his pet all throughout supper, occasionally he would take his eyes off of them to speak to one of the other professors nearby, but it was never long before his amber eyes returned to the pair. He left as soon as the students were dismissed, leaving out one of the back doors to avoid the crowds as he made his way towards the Room of Requirement.

The pair separated from Ron and Hermione, quietly sneaking off down the opposite corridor, the large black dog leading the way. He brought Harry through several secret passageways that he had never seen before as they tried to make it there as quickly as possible. The sooner they got there, the sooner it would be over with. Sirius led him to a familiar corridor, but there was a door there that Harry had never seen before and he looked at it curiously. His god father had explained to him about the room, but he hadn't imagined that it would be in plain sight. Thankfully, everyone was returning to their dorms, so the hallway was deserted.

Once inside, the door closed behind them. Remus was already sitting there behind a large desk, giving him an air of importance, of seriousness. A cold wet nose nudged Harry's hand before the dog disappeared and a full grown wizard took its place at Harry's side, one hand resting on the boy's shoulder protectively.

"I'm surprised, Sirius Black," Lupin murmured honestly, watching the scene before him. He had expected Sirius to remain as a beast until he was forced into his natural form, but apparently his old friend was full of surprises, as well as confidence it seemed. Silver eyes met his amber head on with no hesitation, no fear.

Sirius simply winced at the tone his old friend was currently using with him, but held his gaze steady. Remus' voice had held a slight undercurrent of distrust that did not go unnoticed. "You're not stupid Rem," he answered softly, knowing it was pointless not to face Remus as a man. By not doing so, it would only prove that he had something to hide.

The professor nodded, leaning back in his chair slightly, arms crossed loosely over his chest as he waited, "I'm not going to give you a substantial amount of time, so I suggest the explanation starts now." He wondered what he had done to cause him to be sitting there, waiting for one of his closest friends to prove that they weren't a murderer. His life had already been strange enough having been bitten when he was young. Wasn't this kind of stuff supposed to be spread around? Instead, it seemed to stick with a few people, the Marauders being four of them. No matter what they went through, something else always seemed to come up.

The photos Harry had brought with him were carelessly tossed onto desk in front of Remus for his inspection. Words were not necessary, the pictures were enough for him as he flipped through them, his belief in Harry's conviction of his godfather's innocence growing with each one. He couldn't mistake that the rat in the pictures was indeed Peter. He had seen the boy transform hundreds of times. Unlike with his first time seeing Sirius' animagus form, there were no dark shadows to hide the rat's features. He had to be sure though. This was murder they were discussing. "Peter?"

"Yes," the convict answered simply, eyes remaining unblinking.

Remus looked up at him, a curious expression upon his face, "But how?"

"The biggest piece they found was his thumb. All they found was his thumb," Harry answered quietly, remembering someone telling him previously.

Remus flipped through the pictures again, indeed seeing that the rat was missing a toe on his front paw. "Ingenuous," he murmured, looking up almost as if in awe.

"Yes, he had me fooled as well. That is, until I saw this," Sirius drew another picture from his pocket, an old Daily Prophet clipping of the Weasley's in Egypt, Scabbers on Ron's shoulder in the center. "Fudge gave his paper to me when I asked to do the crosswords. This picture just happened to be in it," Sirius explained, watching as his friend nodded, understanding immediately that the picture had been his incentive to escape. There had been someone whom needed his protection. No one would have thought to protect Harry from a rat. They were all too focused on protecting him from Voldemort and Death Eaters.

"Does anyone else know? Ron? Hermione?" he asked, looking up again quickly, his eyes training on Harry.

The student shook his head, "no, they haven't been told about anything yet. Ron would never believe me if I told him about Peter, and I don't think either of them would act natural around Sirius if they knew the truth about Snuffles. Besides that, Hermione would ask questions about why Sirius was here and not hiding someplace else that was safer. It was just easier all around to simply say that I had picked up a dog for protection while on my own for the summer." He glanced at Sirius apologetically, feeling rather silly calling him a dog while he was in his human form. The man, however, merely laughed softly, ruffling the already messy black hair with an affection that was impossible to fake.

"Probably best. It would be easier to trap Peter into a false sense of security," he nodded, pleased that they had yet to tell the pair. From what he had gathered, Ron would be a horrible actor and Hermione would spend her time studying the rat and more than likely alerting him that they were onto him. It hadn't escaped his notice that his friend and Harry had obviously become close during their time together before school. James would have been happy to see them getting along so well. It was sad, however, that it could not be James getting to know his son. It would have been better had they become ghosts. At least then, Harry would have been given a chance to know them.

"So. When do I get my hug now that I've proved I'm not a murderer?" Sirius teased, drawing the professor from his musings as he held his arms out expectantly as Harry stood by and grinned.

Harry grinned as he helped Sirius up and into the common room through the hole in the wall, eager to tell his friends the good news. Of course, it was modified good news, but good news nonetheless. Remus was no longer wary of Snuffles.

Scabbers sat on Ron's lap, nibbling on the sweets that covered it. He listened carefully to Harry as he spoke, keeping one eye on the dog as well. Things were not looking good for him. He'd been hoping that Remus would send Sirius back to Azkaban, but obviously that had not happened unfortunately. While Harry had not said so to his friends, he wasn't stupid enough to believe that Remus had no clue that Snuffles was indeed Black. He could only wonder how much Harry knew about the situation. Did Harry know that he was the rat? Did Harry know that he had been the one to tell Voldemort where to find him?

//I think they're on to me... Sirius has to be at the very least,// he took a small bit out of a Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean, spitting it back out when he tasted vomit. //He's got to know it's me... But, has he told Harry yet? I thought so at first, but now I'm not so sure. I know Harry is capable of lying to teachers. I've seen him do it... But to his friends? I don't know. I've never seen him do it yet. Of course, that doesn't mean he can't. It just means that it's unlikely. Perhaps Sirius really hasn't told him yet about me... If that's the case then I'm safe for now. Harry wouldn't let anyone hurt his best friend's pet. Besides I bit that boy for them back in first year. Ron still talks about that.// If he could have sighed he would have done so in relief, finally coming to the conclusion that Ron and Harry would stick up for him. He just had to make sure that he stayed with Ron and was never alone with Sirius or Remus. He hated to admit it, but currently, his biggest protector was the young Weasley. Until he could form a plan on where he could go, he was stuck.

TBC…