Chapter Eight: Action and Reaction

...

Th-thump.

Snuffles saw Remus tense his legs as he began to scoot his chair back.

Th-thump.

Snuffles heard the scrapping of chair legs on the floor.

Th-thump.

Snuffles knew that there was nothing for him to do. His situation was hopeless. There was no escape.

Th-thump.

He was going to be sent back to Azkaban or killed by the Dementors on the spot.

Th-thump.

Remus was standing.

Th-thump.

Remus cleared his throat.

Th-thump.

The sound of Snuffles' heartbeat was so loud in his ears that he could barely hear the condemning words that Remus was saying.

Th-thump.

"I believe it's time for me to retire to my chambers for the night…"

Th… Th-thump.

"…Merry Christmas, everyone."

Th-thump.

Snuffles saw Remus pushed in his chair to the sounds of those around the table wishing him a good night and a Merry Christmas as well.

Th-thump.

Remus walked away from the table and towards the doors of the Great Hall.

As Snuffles' heartrate began to slow down, he carefully unclenched the muscles that he had unintentionally bunched up, tensed and tightened in preparation for… for Remus' reveal of who Snuffles really was.

But Remus hadn't.

Remus hadn't revealed Snuffles as Sirius.

'Umm… What?!'

Maybe, somehow, Remus hadn't recognized Snuffles.

'I guess he didn't recognize me after all! I mean, why else would he not expose me?'

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Snuffles turned his attention back to Harry. As Snuffles turned to cuddle up against Harry's legs in relief and giddiness that he hadn't been exposed, Snuffles didn't watch Remus leave the Great Hall.

And because of that, Snuffles didn't see the lingering stare that Remus had cast in Snuffles' direction moments before he passed through the doors of the Great Hall.

...

He was 85% – no, scratch that – he was 90% sure that Harry's dog was an escaped convict.

It sounded completely insane. And paranoid.

Insanely paranoid.

Before that night, before he had finally gotten a good look at Harry's dog, Remus hadn't been too concerned.

Yes, he had thought of the possibility many times, but he had always been able to brush aside his, what he had thought to be, paranoid thoughts about Harry's dog. But now that he had had the chance to see the dog close up when he had ducked under the table at the Christmas feast (and Merlin did he feel ridiculous for purposefully dropping his fork on the floor just so he could get a good up-close look at Harry's dog), Remus was pretty sure that Snuffles was Sirius Black.

Admittedly, Remus should've alerted Albus the moment he thought that Snuffles could possibly be Sirius, but, at the time, Remus had felt that there was just too much conflicting information about it. Remus had been hesitant to report his suspicions because he didn't want Harry to feel like his dog was under unnecessary scrutiny or attack since he knew that Harry viewed Snuffles as something similar to a best friend.

Remus knew that Sirius Black was an animagus that was capable of transforming into a large, black dog, but that didn't necessarily mean that Harry's dog was Sirius. Also, Harry's dog had yet to show any signs of aggressive behavior towards Harry. To Remus' current knowledge, the only time that Snuffles has been seen as aggressive was towards others when Harry had been injured; and even then, the dog hadn't attacked anyone – he just growled in warning.

It was true that Remus had the chance to expose Snuffles as Sirius Black at the Christmas feast, but he didn't because, first of all, he wasn't 100% sure that the dog was actually Sirius. Secondly, if Snuffles really was Sirius, he didn't want to cause a scene when there were students present because one of the students could get seriously injured if Sirius panicked or decided to fight back.

Of course, Remus could always use an animagus revealing spell on the dog, but he wanted to wait until he managed to get the dog alone. Again, this would be to decrease the chances of someone, like a student, getting hurt if Snuffles was Sirius and he reacted badly to being forced into his human form.

Remus' next thought was to get Harry away from Snuffles-who-is-most-likely-Sirius and warn Harry away from his dog by explaining that the dog was actually an Azkaban escapee.

He could already imagine how the conversation with Harry about that would turn out.

'Oh, excuse me for a moment, Harry, but I believe that your dog is actually Sirius Black. Yes, I know it sounds crazy. No, I'm not joking. No, I'm not sick. Yes, Madam Pomfrey is a wonderful healer, but no, I don't need to go see her.'

And that was just one potential outcome. If he tried to warn, or just talk to, Harry about the possibility of Snuffles being Sirius Black, Harry could react… well, his reaction could be anything – positive or negative.

Remus would like to think that he knew Harry reasonably well – through Harry's time in his classroom and Remus' occasional chats with the boy as well as what the other professors have said about him. But realistically, Remus knew that he hadn't actually had the chance to really get to know Harry. So Remus couldn't accurately predict how Harry could react to the possibility that his dog might not actually be just a dog.

Harry could take what Remus was saying as a joke, albeit a rather poor and distasteful joke.

Harry might think that Remus had snapped and needed to be submitted to the mental ward at St. Mungo's.

Harry could yell in denial or try to curse Remus for even suggesting something like that.

Harry could, and probably would, tell Snuffles all about 'Professor Lupin's crazy theory' which would alert the dog to Remus' suspicions. And that could end badly for everyone involved.

Harry might not really react at all. He might just stay calm and accept Remus' suspicions before agreeing to allow a discrete investigation into the matter of his dog being Sirius Black.

It could even be possible that Harry…

No.

But… well, yes. Yes. That could be possible. Very unlikely, but possible.

Harry might already know that his dog is Sirius Black.

Remus paused in the corridor for a moment to consider that idea before he forced himself to continue towards his room.

'What I need is some more time to figure out what exactly is going on because, although the facts are there and the clues paint a pretty revealing picture, some things just aren't quite adding up.'

Finally making it to his personal quarters, Remus gave the portrait guarding his rooms the password and entered the room. Brushing through his small living room as he removed his outer robe and threw it on his couch, Remus went straight to his bathroom and turned on the cold water in his sink.

Cupping his hands, Remus splashed some water on his face and then turned off the tap. He looked up at himself in the mirror above the sink and gripped the edges of the sink hard, trying to ground himself.

'Snuffles is Sirius Black.'

Remus' grip on the sink became even tighter as he hunched forwards and closed his eyes as thought about what he knew.

'Sirius escaped Azkaban after he made a claim about targeting Harry. But why would he not ki- hurt… why would he not hurt Harry if he escaped Azkaban for the sole purpose of doing that? It doesn't make any sense!'

Remus took a deep breath and deliberately released his white knuckled grip on the sink to ball his hands into fists at his side.

'According to what Harry has said about his dog – and assuming that Snuffles really is Sirius – then Sirius has been with Harry for about five months! Sirius has had mostly unsupervised access to Harry for five whole months! But Sirius hasn't done anything to Harry other than befriend him. What is Sirius up to?! What is he playing at?'

Opening his eyes, Remus took one last look at his reflection and walked out of the bathroom. Pausing between his living room and his bedroom, Remus decided to go ahead and walk into his bedroom.

'We were – are – no, we were positive that Sirius was after Harry, that Sirius was going to kil- hurt… that he was going hurt Harry in some way as a type of crazed revenge.'

Remus heavily sat down on the edge of his bed, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. His fingers tightly gripped his hair.

'It doesn't make any sense – If Snuffles truly is Sirius, then Sirius hasn't done anything harmful to Harry. In fact, with the way that Harry was talking about him, talking about Snuffles, the other day, it sounded like Sirius was actually… protecting Harry. And Harry was… It's not a coincidence that the moment that Harry's dog went missing, Sirius Black was spotted in the castle, apparently desperate to get into Gryffindor Common Room… But if Sirius was really out to get Harry that night, then why would he make a spectacle of himself? Harry was saying that Snuffles got spooked on Halloween… No, Harry had said that his dog got spooked after Harry had been separated from him. And now, according to Harry, his dog isn't leaving his side. Harry was adamant that he and Snuffles were friends and that Snuffles was a great dog – if a little overprotective at times. It's almost as if Sirius has been guarding Harry. But why?!'

Remus' breath stuttered as he suddenly jolted and lifted his head.

'Before breaking out of Azkaban, Sirius was heard saying "He's at Hogwarts" not "Harry's at Hogwarts". What if Harry was never his target? Sirius came to Hogwarts with Harry on the train, but if Sirius needed to get to Hogwarts, there were far easier and less risky ways to get into the castle. Sirius went to Harry first. And then decided to stay with Harry. Why?'

Remus took a deep breath, his eyes subtly shifting left to right, not really seeing anything, as he considered what he knew.

'The timeline fits. Sirius escaped from Azkaban and then, not even a week later, Harry just happens to stumble across a stray dog. Sirius had to have gone straight from Azkaban to find Harry. And with the way that Harry tells it, it sounded as if Sirius was trying to remain unseen. He hadn't wanted to be found by Harry… Was he just… Was Sirius just checking up on Harry? But why would he… No, okay. Sirius found Harry after he broke out of Azkaban but before he came to Hogwarts, so Sirius knew that he'd be able to get to Harry without being at Hogwarts. There's "someone" at Hogwarts that Sirius is likely targeting, but it's not Harry. I think that… I think that Sirius is trying to protect Harry from whoever this "someone" is since Snuffles has been, in Harry's own words, overprotective and he doesn't leave Harry's side for long.

And what was it that the Fat Lady had said? What had Sirius been yelling at her? I recall that she said he had demanded entry and the other portraits in the area confirmed that, but there was a specific phrase she said he had used… What was – Ah, yes, I remember now. Apparently Sirius had said that "he's a danger" when he was trying to get into the Common Room. The other professors and I assumed that to be Sirius' ravings about Harry being a danger to the dark arts or to Death Eaters or something along those lines. But, what if, in all of the panic and confusion, the Fat Lady and the other portraits had misheard Sirius. What if, instead of saying "he's a danger", Sirius was saying "he's in danger"? With "he" meaning Harry this time.'

Feeling a bit agitated, Remus took another deep breath and slowly released it. He began rapidly tapping his finger on the side of his leg.

'If Sirius has been attempting to protect Harry from some type of threat that's at Hogwarts all this time, then Snuffles being separated from Harry on Halloween could've triggered Sirius into a panic, thinking that Harry really was in danger from… From what? What's in Hogwarts? Or who's in Hogwarts that would be a threat to Harry? And how did Sirius manage to find out about it from all the way inside of Azkaban?

Why hasn't Sirius said anything about this perceived threat to me – to Dumbledore or… or anyone? We would protect Harry from whatever the threat was just like we've been trying to protect Harry from Siri– Oh. Oh, that makes sense. If Harry's in danger and Sirius is the only one who knows about it… Sirius wouldn't risk getting caught or killed if Harry was in any immediate danger from this threat, especially since it appears that no one else has managed to find, or even know about, this new danger to Harry.'

Remus stopped tapping his finger on his leg and clenched his teeth.

'But it still doesn't make any sense!

Sirius betrayed James and Lily! Why would he be trying to protect their son?!'

Remus got up off of his bed and began pacing back and forth.

'Something's not right. But I can't…

Snuffles is Sirius – I'm almost absolutely positive of that. But Sirius' behavior towards Harry is entirely protective and friendly. And that makes no sense! I suppose that this could all be some sort of ruse that Sirius cooked up, but Sirius has never had the patience for long-term pranks or subterfuge. He would usually act before he completely thought things through. So if Sirius knew that Harry was going to be in danger at Hogwarts, his actions of breaking out of Azkaban and almost immediately going to check up on Harry make sense. But Sirius being worried about Harry in the first place doesn't make any sense at all!

I think that the only conceivable way that I could see Sirius' behavior making any sense would be if… if Sirius still considered it to be his duty, as Harry's godfather, to protect Harry from harm. I mean, he's acting as if he never betrayed James and Lily in the first place…'

Remus froze as something occurred to him and he went back over his last thought.

'If… if he never betrayed James and Lily…

What if…

What if Sirius didn't actually betray them?'

Remus stood still, feeling unbalanced and slightly shaky at the implications of that thought.

'I don't…

I know what happened that night, or at least, I think I do. But now that I think about it, everything I know about that night, I learned second-hand. I read about it in the papers. I was told the basic facts when I asked Albus. I was actually rebuffed at the Ministry and immediately sent away. And then, in my grief, I left the country for a while.

I never heard anything from Sirius' trial. I don't recall reading anything about it in any newspapers and surely some reporter would've mentioned something about Sirius' trial. Maybe it got buried by the trials of some of the other Death Eaters…

Maybe the answers I'm looking for will be in the transcripts of Sirius' trial.'

Remus sighed and turned on his heel. He went over to his dresser, pulled out his nightclothes, and started preparing for bed.

'For now, I don't believe that Snuffles, if he really is Sirius, is a threat to Harry. Although I'm not entirely comfortable with this, I think I'll… At the moment, I'll not try to confirm my theory about Snuffles being Sirius, even though I'm almost entirely positive that he is.

What I need to do is to get my hands on a copy of the transcripts from Sirius' trial. I know that back then, everything was quickly and quietly processed – maybe in all the rush, something was missed or overlooked. I'll probably have to find some time to go to the Ministry – I'm not sure if I could owl-order a copy…

I'll get my answers from the transcripts, and if what I find in the transcripts is unsatisfactory, then I'll get Harry's dog alone and confront Sirius myself.

For now, I'll just content myself with monitoring the situation as best as I can. I can try to get to know Harry better over the course of his Patronus lessons – which I was already planning on doing. I feel like I owe it to James and Lily to be there for their son in whatever way I can.'

In an attempt to take a step back from his thoughts for a while, Remus grabbed the book from his nightstand and decided to read a couple chapters in bed. Maybe after a good night's sleep, he'd be able to look at this Sirius problem from another perspective.

...

'The kid has guts, I'll give her that,' Snuffles thought as he watched the showdown that was unfolding in the Common Room.

Crookshanks was curled up next to Snuffles and watching Harry, Ron, and Hermione as well. Snuffles got along really well with Hermione's cat and was enjoying Crookshanks' steady purring as he tried to put Remus' possible sighting of him out of his mind.

'I'm totally on Harry and Ron's side in this argument, though. Don't get me wrong. I'm absolutely angry with her for doing that, but, man, Hermione, you've got balls! I think I'm actually kind of proud of her at the moment – if only for trying to ensure Harry's safety.'

Snuffles turned to regard Crookshanks. After a moment, Crookshanks briefly turned his half-lidded gaze towards Snuffles before turning back to watch his owner.

'What Hermione just did was a dick move, completely unnecessary, and totally tattletale type behavior, but her heart was in the right place and I think that I want to give her a hug for doing it. I'm pretty sure she knew that by doing what she was doing, she'd be hurting Harry. But she also knew that if she didn't, it might've meant Harry's death – so, I guess what she did could be considered potentially saving Harry's life… It was still completely and totally unnecessary though.'

When Snuffles returned to the Common Room with Harry and Ron, the two boys went straight back to examining and drooling over Harry's new Firebolt. Hermione had decided to stay at the Christmas feast a while longer. And her reasoning for doing so became apparent when, about ten minutes later, Hermione returned to the Common Room with Professor McGonagall.

Apparently, Hermione had reported Harry's new broomstick and the supposedly suspicious circumstances surrounding it to Professor McGonagall. So Professor McGonagall immediately followed Hermione up to the Common Room to seize the Firebolt from Harry.

If Snuffles wasn't so angry and oddly proud of Hermione (which was a weird combination of emotions), Snuffles probably would laughed at the fact that Harry attempted to hide the broomstick from McGonagall by quickly holding it in one hand behind his back. The Firebolt was very obviously sticking out from behind Harry and McGonagall had seen the broomstick in Harry's hands the moment that she had stepped into the Common Room.

Harry grudgingly handed his Firebolt over to McGonagall since she had demanded to take it away for some thorough examinations for curses and the like, just in case Sirius Black had sent it. And then McGonagall had swept out of the Common Room just as quickly as she had entered it, leaving Hermione behind as she awkwardly stood before the two boys, a bit shamefaced, but mostly looking stubbornly determined.

And now the three kids were in the middle of a spectacular shouting match. Ron and Harry were absolutely furious with Hermione, but apparently Hermione felt justified in what she did, so she was giving as good as she got.

Since emotions were a bit high between the three friends and Snuffles was still somewhat jumpy from the Christmas feast, Snuffles decided to play it safe and hunker down near the fireplace until their fighting wound down or until Harry left the Common Room to go to his dorm room. Crookshanks had wandered down from the girls' dormitory and joined Snuffles a few minutes after Harry and Ron started arguing with Hermione.

After about another fifteen minutes of heated arguing, Hermione turned away from the boys and stormed off towards the stairs and up to her room.

Ron and Harry glared at her as she left and continued to talk to each other for a few minutes more, though they spoke in more normal tones, rather than shouting.

Eventually Harry looked around the room as Ron made his way towards the stairs. Although he was still visibly angry, Harry managed to softly call Snuffles to his side. Snuffles slowly got to his paws in order to give Crookshanks some time to get up himself. As Snuffles trotted up to Harry, Crookshanks meandered towards Harry as well.

Crookshanks wound himself through Snuffles' legs and then Harry's legs before pouncing off towards the stairs leading to the girls' side of the dormitories.

Harry stomped up the stairs and entered the third year boys' dormitory with Snuffles quickly following behind him.

Snuffles was just happy that, even though Harry was in a bad mood, he didn't get the door slammed in his face again.

...

"A Firebolt!" Oliver Wood practically squeaked as he used both of his hands to squeeze Harry's shoulders.

Somehow Oliver had heard that Harry had received a Firebolt for Christmas. And not even an hour after the students who had went home for break returned to the castle, Oliver hunted down Harry in his excitement over the broomstick. Harry suspected that Fred and George had something to do with informing Oliver since it seemed like Oliver was under the impression that Harry still had the broom.

"Yes, but Oliver –"

"Do you know what this means?!" Oliver asked with a big smile on his face.

"Yeah, but Oliver, don't get too excited because –"

"With you on that broom, we'll win the Quidditch Cup for sure!" Oliver said. He was too caught up in his excitement over his Seeker having a Firebolt to pay attention to what Harry was trying to say.

"But I don't –"

"Of course, I'll have to make some additional strategies –"

"Oliver, wait –"

"–because even though it's –"

"Oliver."

"–the fastest broom on the market –"

"Oliver!"

"–the whole team will have to step up their –"

"I DON'T HAVE IT!"

"–game too!" Oliver finished, looking like the cat that caught the canary before his eyes widened in alarm as he finally processed what Harry had just said. "Wait, what?! What did you just say?!"

"I said that I don't have it. I don't have the broom anymore," Harry sullenly stated.

"Why?! What happened?!" Oliver asked, shaking Harry's shoulders a bit.

"McGonagall took away my Firebolt to examine it for curses or something."

Oliver made a distressed whine, looking lost and a little heartbroken.

"She took it away the same day I got it because it might've been from Sirius Black. And I don't know when I'll get it back… or if I'll ever get it back," Harry added.

Oliver looked like he was going to cry and Harry felt a little bad about that, but there was nothing that Harry could do about it. And the Firebolt was Harry's broom – if anyone should be crying over that, it should be Harry! Yes, Harry was very angry about losing his Firebolt, but he wasn't moved to tears over the whole incident.

After a moment or two of having to watch Oliver look like he was fighting back tears (because Oliver had yet to release his grip on Harry's shoulders), Oliver suddenly squared his jaw and stuck out his chin in determination.

"Right," Oliver said, giving Harry's shoulders a light squeeze. "Don't you worry, Harry! I'll go talk to Professor McGonagall and get her to give you back your broom. You'll have that Firebolt back before the end of the day, you mark my words!"

Oliver released his grip on Harry's shoulders with a smile and walked away from Harry, intent on getting to McGonagall as soon as he possible could.

Harry stood in the middle of the Common Room and watched Oliver rush out of the room. Snuffles came up and brushed up against Harry's legs.

"Well, I hope he has better luck with getting my broom back from McGonagall than I did," Harry said to Snuffles as he brushed a hand over the dog's head.

About a half hour later, Oliver shuffled into the Common Room looking completely dejected. Oliver stopped by Harry, who was sitting at a table across from Ron playing chess.

"McGonagall will be keeping your broom until she can be certain of its safety. Apparently telling her that Quidditch was more important than any examination was the wrong thing to say. Sorry, Harry," Oliver said with a strained half smile.

"Thanks anyway, Oliver," Harry said, a little disappointed but not really surprised.

"At least he tried," Ron said as they watched Oliver trudge towards the stairs. "Checkmate!"

"Really, Ron?! We just started playing five minutes ago!"

"Hey, I can't help it that you royally suck at chess. Even Ginny's better at this than you!"

...

When Harry had his first Dementor-repelling lesson with Professor Lupin, he figured that the lesson would be fairly easy to learn and maybe slightly more challenging to perform – like something similar to what went on in their Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons. Suffice to say, at the end of his first private lesson with Professor Lupin, Harry was very aware of the differences in lessons and also very aware of how difficult mastering the Patronus Charm was going to be.

Professor Lupin had started the lesson out with a bit of lecturing on the nature of Dementors as well as fielding a few questions from Harry. In fact, most of the first half of their first lesson consisted of talking. But, for the second half of the lesson, Harry was faced with a locked trunk.

"Now are you sure about this, Harry?" Professor Lupin asked. "You know, as I've told you before, this is very advanced magic – well beyond the Ordinary Wizarding Level."

"I'm sure," Harry said, feeling a mixture of confidence and nervousness.

"Well, everything for the practical portion of this lesson is prepared," Professor Lupin said, moving to stand between Harry and the locked trunk. "Now the spell I'm going to try to teach you is called the Patronus Charm. Have you ever heard of it?"

Harry shook his head.

"No? Well, the Patronus is a kind of positive force and for the wizard who can conjure one, it works something like a shield – with the Dementor feeding on it rather than on him. Depending on the wizard, a Patronus could look just like a shield or, after the spell has been mastered and properly conjured, the Patronus could take on the form of an animal," Professor Lupin lectured as he sat down on the trunk. "But in order for it to work, you need to think of a memory – not just any memory – a very happy memory, a very powerful memory. Can you do that?"

"Yeah," Harry quietly confirmed.

"Yes? Very well. Close your eyes," Professor Lupin instructed.

Harry took a deep breath before closing his eyes.

"Concentrate… Explore your past," Professor Lupin said as he stood up and walked towards Harry. "Do you have a memory?"

Keeping his eyes closed, Harry nodded his head.

"Allow it to fill you up. Lose yourself within it," Professor Lupin said, walking around Harry and stopping behind his right shoulder. "And then speak the incantation: Expecto Patronum."

"Expecto Patronum," Harry parroted before opening his eyes.

"Very good," Professor Lupin quietly praised. Then Professor Lupin walked back over to the locked trunk and looked at Harry. "Shall we?"

Harry nodded once.

"Wand at the ready," Professor Lupin advised.

Harry grabbed his wand from his pants pocket and held it out in front of him as Professor Lupin held his hand over the locks on the front of the trunk, moving his hand to the left and then to the right. As Lupin moved his hand, Harry heard the locks disengage.

Professor Lupin gripped the lid of the trunk with both hands and looked over at Harry to make sure that the boy was ready. Lupin nodded once at Harry and then pulled the lid of the trunk up. As the trunk opened, a screeching Dementor flew out.

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry exclaimed, but nothing happened.

The Dementor was quiet as it slowly glided forward. The temperature around Harry began to drop as the Dementor moved closer.

"Expecto –"

The Dementor made a rattling sound as it started to suck in air, continuing to come closer to Harry.

"Expecto –" Harry trailed off shakily.

The Dementor was almost upon Harry.

"Expect –" Harry couldn't finish the incantation. His sight blackened around the edges as he heard his mother screaming his name. The last thing that Harry saw before he completely collapsed was the Dementor reaching for him.

As Harry slowly returned to consciousness, he felt hands underneath his head and shoulders, propping him up. Harry blinked a few times before fully opening his eyes. The first thing he noticed was that Professor Lupin was kneeling next to him and holding him somewhat upright.

"Here we go," Professor Lupin said when he noticed that Harry was aware of his surroundings once again. "Come on, let's sit you up. Deep breaths, Harry. Deep breaths."

Harry got his arms underneath him and pushed himself up into a seated position with the help of Professor Lupin. Once Harry was sitting up, Professor Lupin backed off a bit, but remained kneeling next to Harry with a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder.

"It's alright. I didn't expect you to do it the first time," Professor Lupin said as he removed his hand from Harry's shoulder and used it to reach into his sweater pocket. "That would've been remarkable."

Professor Lupin pulled a bar of chocolate out of his pocket, unwrapped it, and broke off a piece.

"Here," Professor Lupin said, offering the piece to Harry. "Eat this. You'll feel better."

As Professor Lupin was rewrapping the chocolate and putting the bar back in his pocket, Harry bit into the piece of the chocolate that he was holding in his hand.

After he finished off the piece of chocolate, Harry said, "That's one nasty Dementor you have there."

"Oh, no, no, no," Professor Lupin muttered before speaking in a louder voice. "That was a Boggart, Harry. Not a Dementor. A Boggart."

Professor Lupin stood up and went to relight the candles that were around the room. Harry hadn't even noticed the candles had gone out, probably due to the presence of a Dementor, or well, a Boggart acting like a Dementor.

"The real thing will be worse. Much, much worse," Professor Lupin said.

Harry finally managed to climb to his feet, but backed up towards the wall so that he could lean against it.

"As a matter of interest," Professor Lupin said, briefly turning to face Harry before returning to lighting the candles. "What were you thinking? Which memory did you choose?"

"The first time I rode a broom," Harry said, still feeling a little breathless.

Professor Lupin, finished with lighting the candles, turned to face Harry.

"Well, that's not good enough. Not nearly good enough to power a Patronus Charm," Professor Lupin said with a slight frown.

Harry looked away from Professor Lupin for a moment before pushing himself off of the wall and walking towards Professor Lupin.

"Would you like to try again?" Professor Lupin asked gently.

"Yeah," Harry said, clearing his throat and facing Professor Lupin and the trunk that was locked once again.

"Now I want you to think of a different memory – a happier memory," Professor Lupin coached.

Harry closed his eyes and thought of a different memory.

"Do you have it?" Professor Lupin asked.

Harry nodded affirmative.

"Are you ready?"

Harry nodded and held his wand out towards the trunk once again. Professor Lupin went to the side of the trunk and waved his hand over the locks. The trunk unlocked and Professor Lupin lifted the lid, releasing the Dementor-Boggart.

And again, Harry ended up unable to completely say the incantation and collapsed.

"What memory were you thinking of this time, if I may ask?" Professor Lupin questioned, kneeling next to Harry and holding out another piece of chocolate.

"My team winning the Quidditch Cup. We had just won and we were celebrating. It was… it had been a lot of fun," Harry responded as he sat up and accepted the chocolate.

"Better, Harry, but still not nearly strong enough," Professor Lupin said. "Do you want to try again? Or shall we end this lesson for now?"

"I want to try again," Harry said, sounding determined.

Professor Lupin was already on his feet and had extended a hand towards Harry. Harry used Professor Lupin's hand to pull himself up off of the floor.

"Very well," Professor Lupin said, returning to the locked trunk. "Let's try this again, shall we?"

Harry returned to his position of standing in front of the trunk and pointing his wand towards the trunk.

"Are you ready?" Professor Lupin asked.

Harry nodded jerkily.

Professor Lupin released the Dementor-Boggart from the confines of the trunk once again, but this time Harry was ready for it.

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry exclaimed, but nothing happened. The Dementor came closer.

Steeling himself, Harry drew in a deep breath and shouted, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Suddenly a white-silvery wisp appeared from the end of his wand and started to grow larger, like a solidified wall of bright silver smoke that was about half the size of Harry.

The Dementor was pushed back by the solid silvery mist the first time that it tried to come closer.

Giddy at the first sign of success with the Patronus Charm, Harry's concentration waivered and the silvery mist coming from his wand dissolved under the Dementor-Boggart's second assault. Harry heard the sound of his father yelling at his mother to take Harry and run before Harry collapsed once more.

Harry returned to consciousness to the sound of Professor Lupin praising him.

"That was well done, Harry! Very well done!" Professor Lupin said as he helped Harry sit up. "I'm very impressed with how well you've done today. You could certainly give your father a run for his money, and I don't say that lightly. The Patronus Charm is notorious for taking months, if not years, to master and here you are already producing a partially successful shield during your first lesson."

Harry smiled wearily at Professor Lupin. He was tired, but also proud of his somewhat successful attempt.

Professor Lupin helped him sit up again, but this time Harry scooted himself backwards to lean against the wall. He didn't know how long he could keep himself upright if he didn't have the wall behind him. Professor Lupin moved from his kneeling position to sit near Harry and offer him another piece of chocolate.

"Might I ask what memory you used this time?" Professor Lupin inquired.

"I was thinking of me and Snuffles. It was one afternoon when I was just running around the grounds with him and after we wore ourselves out, we rested under the shade of one of the trees by the lake. And it was then that it hit me – that was when I realized that as long as I have Snuffles, I'll never really have to be alone again. And… I was just so happy at the thought of it," Harry said before blushing, a little embarrassed by the fact that he might've just overshared a bit.

"You really care about Snuffles, don't you?" Professor Lupin asked gently.

"Yeah," Harry said softly.

"Just out of curiosity," Professor Lupin seemed to be hesitating to ask his question. "Has your dog acted… differently around certain people?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've heard that Snuffles is protective of you and sometimes dogs are a better judge of character than we are or sometimes they'll pick up on how their owners act towards certain people," Professor Lupin explained. "So to test that theory, I was just wondering if your dog has acted particularly aggressive or docile around anyone in particular. Perhaps he growls a bit at Professor Snape?"

"Ha!" Harry snorted. "Yeah, I imagine he'd be prickly around Snape, but I didn't want to chance Snape having any opportunity to make me give up Snuffles. So I've tried to keep Snuffles as far away from Snape as I can – which is a particularly difficult thing to do when Snuffles feels the need to shadow my every move. At least he waits outside of the classrooms for me. I could only imagine what would happen if Snuffles tried to come into Potions class with me."

Harry paused for a moment to consider the first question that Professor Lupin had asked.

"But, yeah, now that I think about it, I've noticed that sometime Snuffles isn't all that friendly to Ron," Harry said.

"Oh?"

"But it's not all the time," Harry was quick to defend Snuffles' behavior. "I mean, it rarely happens. Like when Snuffles got all worried about me after I got hurt during my first Care of Magical Creatures class, Snuffles was very defensive. Snuffles didn't want anyone around me at the time, but he was really snarling and snapping at Ron whenever Ron would get too close to me. Also, for a while after Madam Pomfrey had healed me, Snuffles always seemed to put himself between me and Ron. Hermione thought Snuffles behavior towards Ron could've been because Ron might've reminded Snuffles of a… a not-so-nice previous owner of Snuffles or something. But generally speaking, Snuffles gets along great with Ron."

"So he only acts defensively towards Ron on certain occasions?" Professor Lupin asked to clarify.

"Yeah," Harry said. "Also… well, it's not a person, but I don't think Snuffles likes your Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom."

"Oh? What makes you say that?" Professor Lupin asked.

"Well, like I said, Snuffles will wait for me right outside of the door to whatever classroom I'm in at the time and he just generally lurks around the edges of Hagrid's Creatures class, but Snuffles will always wait for me at the end of the hallway whenever I'm in your class. He won't get any closer to the Defense classroom than he has to," Harry said. "It's kind of weird."

"Huh. I wonder why he does that," Professor Lupin said, sounding a bit off.

"I dunno… Maybe he smells something that he doesn't like?" Harry suggested as he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."

"Yes, well, who knows what goes on in the minds of dogs," Professor Lupin said. "I noticed that he didn't come with you to this lesson."

"Yeah, I wasn't sure if he'd be allowed to or not," Harry said.

"Although Snuffles might not like to see you collapse," Professor Lupin started to say wryly. "You are more than welcome to bring him along with you to these lessons."

"Really?" Harry asked and Professor Lupin nodded. "Then for the next lesson, I'll see if I can get him to come in the room with me. He walked with me here, but then he decided to lay down under the window that's at the end of the hall. I tried to call him to me, but he just stayed there watching me. So I'm pretty sure he's still there, watching the door and waiting for me to come out."

"Interesting," Professor Lupin said, standing up. "Well, I think, perhaps, we should stop here for now. You've made some very good progress today and it's only your first lesson."

Harry slowly got to his feet, silently agreeing with Professor Lupin's decision to end the lesson. He was exhausted and a little sore from falling on the floor a few times.

"Thank you again for teaching me this, Professor," Harry said.

"I'm more than happy to do so," Professor Lupin said. "I'll see you here at the same time next week for your next lesson."

"I'll be here!" Harry happily said.

Before Harry left, Professor Lupin gave Harry the rest of the chocolate bar and advised him to eat it.

And Harry had been correct. Snuffles was still laying under the window at the end of the hall, waiting for Harry. When Harry left the room, Snuffles got up and trotted over to him.

"Hey, Snuffles," Harry greeted, rubbing his hand over Snuffles' head as the dog fell into step beside him.

Together, Harry and Snuffles walked through the corridors and to the Gryffindor Common Room.

...

As time moved on and Harry continued to make progress in his weekly lessons with the Patronus Charm under Professor Lupin's tutelage, Harry began to notice that Hermione was looking extremely stressed and overworked.

There appeared to be bruises under her eyes from lack of sleep. Her hair was bushier and more uncontrollable than normal. And more often than not, Hermione appeared to be closer to tears than anything else.

Harry was still very angry over the Firebolt incident, but Hermione was still his friend, even if they weren't exactly talking to each other at the moment. But it seemed like every time that Harry would want to go and ask Hermione if she was alright, he'd get distracted and then lose sight of her - either Harry would be in a rush to grab something, Ron would come up to him to ask a question, or Snuffles would run off down a corridor. But usually, what happened was that Harry would wonder about what had gotten Hermione so stressed out and then he'd end up thinking about what was currently stressing himself out.

Although Harry was making progress with the Patronus Charm, he couldn't actually get a solid Patronus to form. Depending on the memory he chose, Harry could get a weak silvery mist or a solid wall of bright silvery mist, but nothing more substantial than that.

But what really worried Harry was that he was pretty sure he might be sabotaging himself. Because maybe, just maybe, the reason why he was unable to conjure a proper Patronus was because he didn't want to lose that brief moment of hearing his parents' voices. The only memory he had of the sound of his parents' voices was what was brought out by the presence of a Dementor.

What if he couldn't master this spell because he didn't actually want to master it?

He knew that he needed to be able to conjure a proper Patronus to defend himself and Snuffles if there was another Dementor attack, but all he could manage was mist. Still, he supposed that progress was progress. At least he was able to form some kind of defense.

It was at the end of his most recent Patronus lesson with Professor Lupin that Harry asked Professor Lupin if he knew what was under a Dementor's cloak. Call it morbid curiosity, but Harry had been wondering about what was under a Dementor's cloak ever since his first encounter with that Dementor on the train.

"The only people who truly know are not in the state to report it," Professor Lupin responded. "A Dementor will only lower its cloak when it's preparing to administer the 'kiss' which essentially sucks out the soul of the person who's kissed."

Harry blanched at the thought of having his soul sucked out by a Dementor.

"But I feel that you should know that the Minister of Magic has given the Dementors permission to administer the kiss to Black if they find him," Professor Lupin added.

If Harry had been wanting some more motivation for him to conjure a proper Patronus, what Professor Lupin just said was definitely that. Just knowing that the Dementors lurking around the castle had permission to suck out someone's soul was horrifying.

Feeling a bit shaken by that thought, Harry left Professor Lupin, who, like always, gave Harry the rest of the chocolate bar at the end of the lesson.

When Snuffles padded up to Harry after he left the room, Harry bent down and hugged Snuffles tight. Snuffles snuffled lightly in Harry's ear before he whined in concern and licked the side of Harry's face.

"Sorry, Snuffles," Harry said, sounding a little shaky. "I just learned something that was kind of, well, that was really horrifying. I might just tell you about it a bit later. But not right now. Let's head on back to the Common Room."

Harry held onto Snuffles for a few more moments before letting go of the dog and standing up. As he walked with Snuffles through the corridors, Harry attempted to take his mind off of soul-sucking Dementors by trying to think of any reason for why Snuffles continued to refuse to join Harry in his lessons with Professor Lupin.

No matter what Harry said or did, Snuffles would never get closer to the door of the room than necessary. The only time that Snuffles came close to the door was when Harry would leave the room at the end of the lesson.

During their second lesson, Professor Lupin had asked if Snuffles had tagged along with Harry and if the dog was going to come into the room with them. When Harry had told Professor Lupin that the dog had adamantly refused to even come near the door, Professor Lupin briefly made a weird face – almost like he knew something that Harry didn't. But when Harry had asked if Professor Lupin had any ideas about why Snuffles wouldn't come into the room, Professor Lupin had said it was probably nothing.

The way that Snuffles was acting was a bit of a mystery. Harry knew he had thought it before, but sometimes Harry really wanted to know what was going on inside of Snuffles' mind.

"Mr. Potter."

Harry was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of Professor McGonagall calling his name.

"Yes, Professor?" Harry asked politely, his eyes lighting up when he caught sight of his Firebolt in her hands.

"I was just on my way to Gryffindor Tower to return this to you," Professor McGonagall said as she held out the broomstick towards Harry.

Harry had to hold himself back from quickly snatching it. Instead, he calmly took the Firebolt from her. If his hands shook a little bit when he grabbed the broom, well, that was nobody's business.

"Thanks, Professor!" Harry exclaimed, so very excited to finally have his broom back. "Was there anything wrong with it?"

"Professor Flitwick and I cast as many detection spells as we could think of, but all of the results were negative for any kinds of jinxes or curses. As far as we can tell, your Firebolt is safe for you to use," Professor McGonagall said.

"Thanks again, Professor! I'm sure Oliver and the rest of the team will be happy that I've got my broom just in time for the Quidditch season to start back up again," Harry said.

"Yes, I imagine they would," Professor McGonagall said with a small smile.

Excited to return to the Common Room with his Firebolt, Harry said his goodbyes to Professor McGonagall and practically ran all the way up to Gryffindor Tower. Snuffles easily kept pace with him.

Upon entering the Common Room, Harry managed to draw the attention of the entire room after Ron loudly exclaimed that Professor McGonagall finally returned the Firebolt to Harry. The Gryffindor Quidditch team was alight with astonishment at the sight of the broomstick and Oliver in particular was pretty much skipping around the room in delight.

As his broomstick was passed around from Fred to George to Alicia to Oliver, Harry, still feeling like he was on cloud nine from getting his broom back, found Hermione at one of the tables and managed to get her attention away from her books for long enough to have a conversation. Their entire conversation boiled down to a few basic apologies exchanged back and forth, but it was a sign that their friendship was back on track.

Harry happily pried his broomstick out of Oliver's hands, feeling wonderful. He got his Firebolt back and he was pretty sure that he just repaired his friendship with Hermione. Everything was going great!

Harry ended up sitting with the rest of the Quidditch team, mainly talking with Alicia, Fred, and George but also partially listening to Oliver's rantings about coming up with some new strategies for the upcoming game against the Ravenclaws. Snuffles was sitting at Harry's feet and occasionally he would rub his head against Harry's legs silently asking to be petted.

Harry was tempted to find Ron, since the redhead had disappeared a few minutes ago, and together they could go over to Hermione and make sure everything was alright between the three of them now. Hopefully with all of them talking again, Hermione wouldn't look as stressed as she had been.

Just as Harry stood up from the couch, he saw Ron coming down from his dormitory looking furious and trailing a sheet behind him.

With his hands clenched into fists, Ron stormed right up to Hermione and shouted, "Scabbers is missing!"

Harry quickly ran over to where his two friends were with Snuffles trailing along behind him.

"Well, I had nothing to do with it!" Hermione defensively exclaimed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, well explain this!" Ron angrily said, unfolding his sheets.

The sheets were slightly bloodied, but Harry sucked in a breath when he saw the reason why Ron was blaming Hermione.

The orange cat hairs on the sheets were pretty condemning.

...

Author's Note:

So, it was a bit of a hassle to get this chapter composed and typed up when my laptop's been occupied with DVD conversions. And if there's any grammar/spelling mistakes in this chapter – well, I didn't have that much time to proofread/edit it. Sorry. Just let me know if you find any glaringly obvious mistakes and I'll correct them.

And the slower-than-what-I-used-to-post updates will continue. I still have a lot of DVDs to convert to digital. So, again, I might post another chapter next Saturday or the following Saturday. I'm not quite sure.

And I always appreciate any comments/reviews you leave!