Authour's Note: NO, I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN ANY OF MY STORIES. I'm now in college, studying architecture, or as my college likes to affectionately call it, "The suicide major" because it takes up so much time. I'm sorry if it takes me a while to get chapters out, but I really do try my best and ask you to please be patient.

Disclaimer: not mine unfortunately.

Ch. 7

"Your move, Harry," Ron murmured, absentmindedly picking up a sweet from the small pile next to the board game in between his best friend and himself. They'd sat down an hour or so ago to play wizard's chess and since then, Ron had beaten Harry twice and was about to do so again by the looks of it. //If only they could see Boy Wonder now// he crowed silently, his eyes dancing with excitement. Sure Harry was his best friend, but Harry outshined him at everything. He had been forced to stay a shadow to him, which irked him considerably. It made him ecstatic to be able to say he was better than Harry at something. He'd even managed to make the twins proud of him back in first year when he had beaten McGonagall's giant chess board.

Harry sat quietly for a few minutes, trying to figure out if there was any possible way to prevent Ron from checkmating him in his next move or two. "Knight to E5," he called out, already resigning himself to losing as the piece moved. He sighed as Ron's queen took his knight, effectively putting him into check. "King to D3," he winced as Ron moved once again.

"Checkmate," he grinned, stuffing a chocolate frog into his mouth. "Wonnuh 'ay agou?" he asked around the mouthful of chocolate. He swallowed, trying again, "wann play again, Har?"

"Um... I think I'm set for now," he offered a lopsided grin, reaching down to pet Snuffles' head. He blinked looking over the side of the chair when his hand made contact with air instead of fur. "Did you see where Snuffles went?" he glanced up at Ron questioningly.

The boy shook his head in the negative. He had been too focused on beating Harry to have noticed when the large, hard to miss, creature disappeared from beside the chair. "No. Any idea when he left?"

Green eyes widened as a growl reached his ears. He glanced around, trying to find the source of the low rumble. His eyes finally settled on his godfather, crouched down near Ron's chair as if readying himself to pounce at him. Slowly his eyes strayed over to Ron, catching sight of Scabbers sitting in his friend's lap. "Ron..." Harry warned softly, his eyes darting back quickly to Sirius.

Ron screamed as the dog lunged, aiming for his pet rat, instinctively, scooping him up in both hands as the chair was knocked over, sending both he and the dog sprawling onto the floor. Somehow he managed to keep hold of the small struggling creature, earning himself a few scratches and bites for his trouble.

"Snuffles no!" Harry yelled, grabbing hold of the dog's neck since there was no collar to grab. He wrapped his arms tightly around him, hauling him back away from his friend, using all his strength to do so. In both forms, his godfather was considerably stronger than he, but Sirius allowed himself to be pulled back nonetheless, still growling. "Leave Scabbers alone! He isn't a chew toy!"

Ron was seething, glaring at the dog for all he was worth as he continued to hold tightly to his rat. He sat up slowly with some difficulty due to the lack of help from his hands. "Great! Not only is that crazy cat after him, so is Snuffles! What did he ever do to them? Huh? He's sick! And they aren't helping!" the boy shrieked, stuffing the rat into his shirt pocket and holding his hand over it to keep from letting him escape. "Keep him away from him!"

"I'm trying to!" Harry yelled back, quite frustrated with his godfather's struggling. "Snuffles! Stop it! It's just Scabbers. Leave him alone. I'll scratch your ears if you leave him alone," he goaded, trying to get the dog to calm down again and stop growling. As soon as the offer reached the canine's ears, he immediately relaxed, stilling in his godson's hold. He tilted his head just slightly in Harry's direction, reminding him of the bargain just made. Harry grudgingly sat back in his chair, scratching the base of Snuffles' ears.

"Why do they both hate him? He didn't do anything to them!" Ron huffed, righting his chair again and sitting back down, eyeing Sirius distrustfully. Large silvery grey orbs stared back at him innocently, a mouth hanging open slightly as he panted from exertion. Sirius looked to be in pure bliss as Harry's hand continued to attentively scratch his head.

"I really am sorry, Ron. I've never seen him do that before. He's lazy yeah, but I don't see why either should want to attack him for that," Harry conceded, inwardly cringing at his words, but his outside presence continued to be one of mild confusion and sympathy. In truth, he wanted to kill the rat himself for betraying his parents. It was his fault that they were dead and why his godfather had been sent to Azkaban instead of raising him. He wondered if the rat ever felt guilty for what he had done. Somehow, he felt that he knew the answer to that.

Ron scoffed, still glaring at the dog as if the man were being rewarded for his actions, instead of bribed to halt them. His hand slowly pulled away from his pocket as the struggling within ceased finally. He sighed in relief, glancing down at his hands with a small scowl on his face. His hands were a mess of scratches because of him, and throbbed dully. "He's not always lazy. He bit Crabbe and Goyle for us back in first year. Remember?" he asked. He couldn't remember which it had been that the rat had bitten, so he covered both bases and simply mentioned them both. Harry knew what he was talking about.

Harry grinned, recalling the incident, "yeah, he did." It had been rather amusing at the time, but now his thoughts had changed slightly about it. Scabbers hadn't bitten him for them. He had done it for himself, to protect himself. Everything was always about what was best for him. His hand stilled slightly as he began to get lost in his thoughts, but a slight nudge from his godfather brought him back. He clenched his teeth a bit, not enough to make it a noticeable action, as he resumed scratching once again.

*`*`*

Remus met up with the pair that evening after the rest of the castle was in bed. They had decided that the Room of Requirement would be the perfect meeting place for their talks. He had stopped by the kitchens on his way to get dinner for Sirius and snacks for both himself and Harry. He knew that Harry still fed him from the table, but he imagined that his friend would like to eat a meal in his human form once again. Perhaps it would make him feel normal again, if only for a short while. "Snuffles! I've got a doggy bone here with your name on it," he called cheerfully as he entered, holding the plate above his head so that the man wouldn't be able to see what was on it even if he weren't in his canine form. He laughed as he heard a growl, considerably less threatening than it usually sounded. //Apparently Sirius has already switched back from his canine form into his human one// he mused thoughtfully.

The young Gryffindor laughed, watching his godfather's reaction to Professor Lupin's greeting. "I told you that you set yourself up for those kinds of jokes," Harry teased, jabbing the man in his side lightly, earning himself a scowl which only caused him to laugh instead of making him feel threatened.

"Oh be nice," Remus grinned, holding the plate out to him as if it were a peace offering. He chuckled as the plate was nearly ripped from his hands, a second hand holding itself out as Sirius waited for his cutlery. He was eager to dig in to his meal. It had been a while since he had actually been able to feed himself a true meal. Harry had brought him food often enough from the kitchen at night, but never had it been anything more than sandwiches and things easily brought back to the dorm. Anything that needed a fork or knife was out of the question because it was too easily dropped. He and the Marauders had figured that out long ago. Luckily, Filch nor Mrs. Norris had been anywhere near them when it happened.

"Thanks Remy," Sirius' scowl subsided, a pleased smile replacing it as he glanced down at his steak. The house elves always knew the best way to make it. It had been something he had terribly missed after graduating. He plopped himself down on the floor once Remus had given him his fork and knife, leaning back against the wall with the plate on his lap. He savoured the first bite, letting it sit on his tongue, eyes closed as he enjoyed it. "Just as good as it used to be," he murmured happily, sticking a second bite into his mouth.

Wayward black hair went flying as Harry shook his head, still laughing at Sirius' behaviour. He'd never seen adults act so much like kids, except for perhaps Dumbledore, but that was still different. He was more eccentric than immature like Sirius and Remus acted at times. He supposed it was because the last time they had seen each other they had still been young and now they were making up for lost time as well as lost youth.

"So, how did it go?" Remus asked, directing the question to both of them, but looking at Harry. He expected that Sirius was too caught up in eating to bother to answer it which Harry soon proved to be correct.

"Part one of Plan A was successful. Ron's a bit miffed, but, we knew that would happen. Peter thinks I'm on his side though," Harry grimaced at the idea, the thought of being on Peter's side not sitting well with him, even if it was all an act.

Remus chuckled lightly at the face Harry was making, as if he had just eaten a foul tasting Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean. "I know, Harry, but it had to be done," he would have suggested that the boy steal a bit of Sirius food to get the taste of his mouth, but he was afraid that Sirius' animal instincts would kick in an he'd bite.

"Now all we have to do is catch him, and prove to Dumbledore that Scabbers is Peter," Sirius mumbled around a mouthful of food, not bothering to look up until he had cleaned his plate. "Delicious," he purred, licking his lips appreciatively as he set the dish aside.

"Shouldn't be too hard," Remus shrugged, unconcerned with the last part. It was the catching Peter and getting him away from Ron that was going to be the problem, especially after Crookshanks as well as Snuffles was now after the rat.

Harry looked up at Remus curiously, "you have an idea?"

"Of course I do. I wasn't a Marauder for nothing, you know," the professor huffed, looking mildly insulted that it had seemed to slip Harry's mind that he had been part of the troublesome four.

Sirius chuckled, resting a hand on the man's shoulder from behind. "Calm down, Remy. He doesn't know that much about animagi. He's only in his third year," he reminded the teacher, understanding what the man had in store for the rat. He was sure that Harry knew about counter curses, but he doubted that he had been taught yet that one could force an animagi out of their animal form.

Remus nodded, getting the point and smiled at Harry, letting him know that he wasn't upset with him. "We'll give Peter about a month or so at most. Ron needs to be sure that you won't let Snuffles hurt Scabbers. Once that's done, we'll try to arrange it so that Ron needs to be separated from the rat. He would never leave him alone now, so hopefully, he'll give Scabbers to you. Then we can go from there," the professor explained with a tired sigh. "Why don't you take Snuffles back to the dorms and get some sleep. You're going to need it if you want to keep up the act for our friend the rat," he practically sneered with distaste.

"He's right. Come on, Har," Sirius murmured, switching back into his canine form and padding over to the door to wait for his godson.

Harry nodded, opening the door for the grim-like creature and then following him out back towards the tower. Professor Lupin trailed after them, not wanting Harry to get in trouble in case they had been in there longer than he had anticipated. He didn't want Filtch, or worse, Snape catching Harry out of bed after hours.

TBC...