RunAway

Moon: Hello everyone and welcome back to runaways! I say, I'm really surprised by the response this story has gotten. Thank you! And I must ask again - review! Please! And now that that's settled, here's the next chapter! I do not own Harry Potter and would be a good deal richer if I did.

Chapter 6: The Rat and The Trail

Ginny carefully crept into the boy's dorm, Luna right behind her. As an underage learner they only had to take half the classes the older kids were, which was very convenient. She just had to see if Ron had kept Peter in his cage or if he'd left the rat to wander.

"There," Luna whispered. Ginny followed her friend's finger to the cage next to Ron's bed. Sure enough, Scabbers was inside. Ginny's stomach turned over when she saw what she had thought was her family's pet.

She stunned the rat. The way it's eyes bulged out in the split second when it realized they were onto him would have been comical in any other situation, and it brought Ginny a certain amount of satisfaction.

She and Luna ran to the cage, Luna opened it with magic. Ginny roughly grabbed Scabbers around the middle and tossed him into the jar, which Luna slammed the lit on. Ginny quickly spelled it so that when it opened and dumped Scabbers on the floor he would be forced to transform back into Peter Pettigrew.

The girls smiled at each other and dashed out of the dorm.

After dinner, they rushed to the bottom of the stairs. They were quickly joined by Claire, who came careening out from direction of Defence Against the Dark Arts class with Hannah right beside her. At the same time, Hermione, Neville, Blaise, Cho, and Padma appeared at the top of the stairs, and upon seeing the rat ran down to join them.

Claire stared at the rat, hatred in her eyes. It was strange, Claire had never shown hatred of a person in the years Ginny had known her. Hannah, Cho and Padma put a hand over their mouths as they stared at the jar and its content.

Hermione crossed her arms and looked vindicated, smirking as she watched the rat struggle in the glass jar. "Don't bother," she told him coldly, "you can't transform and the glass is too thick for you to break through. You're a traitor and are going to be rewarded like a traitor deserves. You'll be taking Sirius's place in Azkaban."

The rat squealed and scrambled to the other side of the jar, as far away from Hermione as he could get.

Blaise's eyebrows raised as he examined the jar, "Remind me never to make you angry, Granger." Hermione beamed.

Blaise looked at Scabbers for another moment and let out an exclamation, "well I'll be damned."

"What?" Hannah asked, her voice a little shaky.

Blaise pointed to one of Scabber's feet. It was missing a toe. "They said the biggest part of Pettigrew that they could find was his finger. He must have cut it off before blowing up the street. You got to admit, pretty clever. Very Slytherin." The Italian boy's eyes narrowed. "Not that we'd want this kind of filth in our house."

Padma looked like tears were threatening to come forward, "How could you?" She demanded of the rat, accusingly. "How could you betray them? Voldemort was after their child! Say that to yourself – baby! He was going to kill a baby! And you were going to let him!"

Cho looked equally horrified and teary, but she looked angry too, like Claire. "They were your friends," she told the rat angrily, "they protected you and they had been by your side for years, and you put a knife in your back. And you killed thirteen innocent muggles to save your own hide. How could you? You're despicable!"

The rat was uttering a long string of squeaky noises, like he was trying to protest but was still a rat and therefore they couldn't understand him.

"Some people will do anything for big friends, someone who can protect them from everything." Claire explained for him, green eyes utterly devoid of warmth as she stared at the rat. "They're only worried about themselves. Nothing more."

"Well, we've got him now." Neville declared with a confidence that would have been foreign to him a few weeks ago. "No more running away for Peter Pettigrew. Or other former Death Eaters."

The group nodded firmly, and walked outside. Claire whistled, and the three dragons flew down. Draco appeared with Malefor. "Everyone, take a seat," She instructed, before climbing on Stormcaller's back.

Ginny gently stroked Lucy's scales before getting on. Luna climbed onto Aletha, still carefully clutching the jar with the rat. The other kids looked gleefully at each other, before slowly getting on the backs of the different dragons.

"We won't be too heavy for them, will we?" Cho asked anxiously, patting Aletha's scales. The dragon uttered a playful snort and gently batted at the Chinese girl with one of her wings.

"They'll be fine. They've carried heavier loads then a couple of schoolkids." Draco replied.

Chapter 7: Saving Sirius

The Ministry was a huge building, filled with people and stuck in the twelfth century. Horribly medieval, all of it. The dragons perched on the top of the buildings, burning orange eyes staring daggers at anyone who entered. This trail was a popular one, lots of people were pouring in to see the person who had supposedly betrayed the Potters to Voldemort. Needless to say, they were going to be in for a big surprise.

Draco grimaced as he looked out at his seat; it was far too close to where the Ministry people sat and he didn't appreciate crowds. He lead Blaise, Susan, Hannah, Neville, Cho and Padma up to their seats. Cho looked around and asked in a hushed voice, "Where are Claire, Ginny, Luna and 'Mione?"

"They'll be coming in with the rat," Draco said. "After all, there's nothing I like more than a good show."

Blaise gave his friend a dry smirk, "Well Draco, it looks like some of you is still the same."

Draco shrugged and gave Blaise a mock glare, "I'm allowed to have my own tastes in theatre, aren't I?" All the kids giggled at that.

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In a cold, dark cell in Azkaban a skinny, large black dog was lying on the stone floor. He raised his ears and heard someone coming. In a moment, the dog transformed into an equally battered man.

"Black! Stay where I can see you, you're being taken to the Ministry." Two aurors came into the room, cuffed Sirius's wrists and began to lead him towards the docks.

"What's going on?" Sirius asked, his throat cracked a bit from lack of use.

"The new Head of the House of Black is demanding that you get a trail." One of the aurors said. "Don't worry, you'll be back in your cell soon enough."

Sirius Black's mind was spinning, the Head of House? But who could that be? Had Lucius somehow gotten control? No, Lucius would never demand he get a trail...what was going on?

When they brought him outside to the cool clean air and onto the boat, Sirius felt like he was alive again, the good feelings coming back, along with the memory of Claire. Where was his goddaughter? Was she alright? Who had taken care of her?

Too many questions and not enough answers. Sirius tried to figure out how he was going to convince the Wizamgot of his innocence, if he couldn't he would throw himself over the side of the boat and drown, that was a better option than going back to Azkaban.

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Claire and Hermione read through the spell one last time, just to be careful. This was one spell they couldn't afford to have go wrong. Luna was still holding the jar containing Pettigrew while Ginny was on lookout. Claire and Luna were hiding in their animagus forms behind various desks and such while waiting for the moment to present their evidence. It was a frustrating wait, Claire wanted to see her godfather.

"Look! That's Remus, right?" Ginny hissed, directing their attention to some of the passing wizards. Sure enough, a better-dressed and serious-looking brown-haired man walked past. Claire smiled happily, she was hoping he's show up.

"Yes, that's him." She said.

"I see my dad," Ginny added in a small voice. Author Weasley was easy to spot, he had the same bright red hair as the rest of his family. He was holding a book and looked serious and lost in thought.

"Your mum isn't here," Luna noted, "Do you suppose he wouldn't let her come?"

"Mum hardly leaves the house," Ginny snorted, "She believes that's a woman's only place. She wouldn't come to a trail unless it involved our family."

"There he is," Hermione whispered, pointing to the far right.

Claire and Ginny both peeked from around the desk. Sirius was being lead into another door. He looked terrible, but he had just come out of Azkaban. Claire watched him anxiously, warmth instinctively welling up in her chest. That was definitely him, though he looked decidedly worse for wear.

"Great!" Ginny hissed. "Draco, we see him, he's coming in! The trail will be starting very soon!"

"Got it," Draco confirmed, "I'll tell you guys exactly when to come in, the prosecution will go first, then us. Let me tell you, that lawyer won't be looking so cocky when you come in with the rat."

"Great." Claire said. "Standing by."

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"Sirius Orion Black, you are charged with treason and fourteen counts of murder." Amelia Bones's voice rang through the chamber, silencing the chatter of voices. "How do you plead?"

All eyes turned to Sirius, who tilted his head back fiercely and said, "Not guilty." He then told them the story of what actually happened.

There was an explosion of voices after this declaration was made, Sirius tuned it all out, eyes searching the crowd. He saw Remus there, and Dumbledore was in the jury. Lucius was sitting not in the jury but in the audience, staring very hard in the direction of the Head of House as though trying to set him on fire with his mind. He turned his head to the right where his Head of House was sitting and his eyes nearly bugged out.

Lucius's son Draco was watching him with slightly worried eyes. He was Lord Black? That could only have happened if his father died or disowned him as stated in the Black marriage contract! But Lucius was a fervent believer in the Dark Lord, why would Draco demand he get a trail? Why would Draco help him at all? What in Merlin's name was going on?

Sitting with Draco was bunch of kids his age. There was an Italian boy there, it took him a second to recognize him as Samantha Zabini's son; her family was a major power in Italy. He could see Frank and Alice's kid Neville sitting with him, and Amelia's niece Susan as well.

They were friends? The other kids must be friends of theirs too, what in Merlin's name had happened when he had been locked up?

"As far as I can see, the case is obvious!" Fudge declared, snapping Sirius out of his thought process. "Unless there is new evidence that supports your preposterous declaration!"

There was more shouting and gleeful calls for him to get Kissed, but a single female voice silenced them in an instant.

"Evidence exists." A young girl declared.

Silence fell, punctuated by shocked gasps. Sirius twisted his head around to see his little goddaughter Claire Potter walking into the chamber, flanked by a redhead, a blonde and a brunette, green eyes raised defiantly.

There was a cry of "It's Claire Potter!" and the room went crazy again, people were shouting and pointing, intermingled mutters of 'looks like her mother, with her father's hair' and 'when she get back'? And 'who are those other girls'?

Amelia slammed the judge gravel on the table several times, "Order! There will be order, or Merlin help me I will have this room cleared!"

The clamour died quickly. Claire and her friends walked up close to Amelia's desk, just in front of Sirius's chair. Claire cast him a quick look, and it was like getting hit by lightning. He had to restrain tears, there was unmistakably affection in that look.

"Peter Pettigrew never died." She said firmly. Dead silence fell, people looking at each other and then at her, eyes wide.

Claire turned to the blonde, who held up a jar for everyone to see. Sirius's jaw dropped and a malicious joy roared through him, they had him! They got the little bastard!

Remus was leaning forward in his seat, recognizing the rat immediately. Peter was alive! So then Sirius...Sirius was innocent! Inwardly he was both relieved and angry with himself for believing that Padfoot could betray James and Lily. He also was applauding Claire mentally, how had the girl found him?

"This is his animagus form," The blonde said. "He was hiding out at our school, so we've brought him here, for you to see that you've done this man wrong."

The brunette unscrewed the lid, glared at the rat and hissed, "don't bother trying to escape, you'll never get out of this building." she snaked one hand in and seized the rat.

Claire drew her wand, and along with the redhead they cast a spell. The rat wreathed and twisted and turned back into Peter.

Gasps sounded throughout the house, it was clear that only Amelia's threat to clear the room was keeping it from descending into total anarchy. Claire calmly put her wand away, while the redhead drew daggers at the rat with her fierce brown eyes. Belatedly Sirius realized she was one of Arthur's children. "Tell them what you told me Peter." Claire said calmly.

Peter looked among the four children surrounding him, pathetic, frightened and pleading, but none of them budged an inch. The brunette glared threateningly at him.

Arthur's daughter snarled, "did you or did you not betray James and Lily Potter to You-Know-Who?"

Peter broke down sobbing, it was a bizarrely disturbing sight, a man crying like a baby. "I...didn't mean to! He would have killed me, or worse, I was so scared-"

"And you framed Sirius. Why?" The brunette ordered, brown eyes flashing with a fearsome wrath.

"H-H-Had to, th-there was n-nothing else I could do! C-Cut off my finger – I had my wand behind my back – blew up the street – but it wasn't supposed to be like that – I just wanted to run, but the Dark Lord had men following me, I can tell you their names -"

"Aurors! Detain that man!" Amelia ordered, Peter squealed, transformed and tried to run.

Before Sirius's amazed eyes, Claire's eyes narrowed and she transformed into a snow white wolf. She lunged across the room and pinned Peter to the floor under her paw in a single graceful jump. The crowd was gasping again, everyone leaning in to get a look.

Amelia's aurors rushed in and stunned the struggling rat. Claire padded backwards as the aurors picked him up before transforming back. She brushed her dark hair out of her eyes.

"I-well-I believe-I say, this completes the story Black has told us?" Fudge stammered out. Sirius snorted at how easily he changed sides.

"If you'd kindly wait a few seconds before jumping to any more conclusions," Amelia deadpanned, Fudge immediately turned an unhealthy shade of purple. Draco snickered where he was sitting. "Where did you find Mr. Pettigrew?"

Arthur's daughter took a deep breath to steady herself before saying, "I'm Ginny Weasley...a few weeks after the slaughter a rat turned up at the doorstep of my family...we didn't question it since we were not very well off, we just accepted that one of our family could have a familiar."

"Arthur?" Amelia asked simply, directing her attention to the Weasley father. The man nodded dazedly, still watching his daughter. "I see. Sirius Black has been found innocent and an enquiry will be made as to why he did not receive a trail. Case dismissed!"

Now the noise truly began, the children near Draco started cheering and applauding, this set everyone else off, there was a cacophony of noise in the room. Sirius got a good laugh out of Lucius Malfoy's expression; the helpless fury on the pompous death eater's face was a welcome change of pace. Dumbledore's expression was serene and unreadable.

The chains holding Sirius down were released, he stood up and made his way up to Claire.

The little girl turned around, she looked tired and relieved but healthy. Sirius gave her a quick look over before sweeping her up in his arms, Claire uttered a delighted squeak as he spun her around before setting her down again. Ginny and the other two girls grinned.

"I'm so glad you're okay." Sirius said emotionally, stroking Claire's long black hair. He hugged his little goddaughter. "It's so good to see you again, Claire."

"I'm happy to see you too, Padfoot." Claire whispered, burying her teary face in his shoulder. For a minute he just stood there, hugging her. Footsteps, the other kids from the stands came to join them, shouting and laughing.

Claire took a step backwards and smiled at him, "Sirius, these are my friends. Ginny-" the Weasley girl smiled and waved, "Hermione Granger-" the fierce brunette cracked a grin and waved back, "Luna-" the dreamy-looking blonde girl blinked twice and then nodded to him, "and these are Draco, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Neville Longbottom, Cho Chang, Padma Patil and Blaise Zabini." The other kids all smiled and said hello in turn.

"Sirius!" Sirius glanced up to see Andromeda running out to meet him, her young daughter in tow, "you're free! This is so great!" Andromeda embraced him. Sirius smiled a bit, Andi was the only relative he had that he cared to address as such. It was good that she knew that he was no spy.

At that thought, he turned towards Draco Black. "Draco? It's my understanding that I have you to thank for getting a trail at all." Sirius said.

"Actually Sirius, I've done more than that," Draco said, "I've reinstated you and your cousin, miss Andromeda, back into the house of Black, you're back in the family entitled to everything that comes with that."

Andi's eyes widened, and Sirius could feel the tears coming again, "Thank you so much," She said,

"Thanks kid," Sirius said in a light manner, though his tone was heavy with gratitude. Draco simply grinned back at him, whatever Claire had done to this kid it had changed everything about him for the better.

"Ginny!" Arthur's voice came from somewhere behind them, Sirius turned around to see Arthur and his eldest son Bill walking towards them. Ginny broke off from the group and ran over to them, Arthur swept the girl up into his arms and cradled her, before handing her to Bill to do the same. That was odd, had something happened between them?

Sirius glanced to his left, Remus was approaching him. The two of them stared at each other for a minute before Sirius cracked and hugged his old friend. "I'm sorry I believed that you did it Sirius." Remus said emotionally.

"It's okay Remus, it was crazy times back then, I should have told you about the switch. I'm sorry too."

Remus let him go and turned to Claire, who ran over and hugged him around the middle. For a second Remus looked surprised before his expression cracked and he hugged her back.

"It's nice to finally meet you Remus," Claire said softly.

Remus ruffled her hair, "Nice to see you again, Claire...you wouldn't remember the last time, you were a baby when I last saw you...you've gotten so tall." He smiled affectionately at her, "What was that when Peter was trying to escape? You're an animagus?"

"Yes, me, Ginny, Draco and Luna all are. We were going to show some of our friends how to transform too." Claire said, "It isn't that bad once you're absolutely sure of what to do."

Sirius grinned, James would have been delighted to see his daughter follow in his footsteps, "So you're an arctic wolf?"

Claire nodded and smiled.

"Uh, guys we'll want to get out of here before we're ambushed by reporters," Cho warned them.

"Listen to that, there's a storm of them out there," Blaise said, gesturing towards the door. "Probably dozens of them out there now."

Susan sighed, "There were going to be reporters anyway, might as well get it over with."

Hannah gave a resigned groan but agreed, "Yeah, better here than being ambushed at our houses later."

Neville frowned at the doorway, "We can ward them off while you guys escape if you want."

"We'll get trampled," Padma mumbled, watching the door. The noise was getting louder, and Sirius didn't blame her for finding that idea daunting.

"If we're lucky! Reporters can be vicious," Tonks said.

Sirius looked down at Claire, who just gazed back at him and nodded, "What's the worst that can happen? Let's go meet the press!"

"Stick together," Andromeda warned the kids, who immediately bunched together and braced themselves as they, as a group, walked out the door.

Sure enough, they were immediately assaulted by bright flashes and everyone babbling. Claire squeaked and flattened herself against Sirius. Ginny, Luna and Draco walked closer to her seemingly on instinct. Blaise, Hermione and the other kids did their best to form a protective barrier between the recently acquitted Black and the sea of press.

You could hardly hear any of the questions being asked due to everyone screaming at once. Sirius could see Fudge running off, surrounded by reporters and clearly trying to stave off some uncomfortable questions and smirked a bit to himself.

"Everyone calm down! Please excuse us." Remus said, helping them part the crowd to start walking back towards the exit.

"Sirius Black, now that you've been acquitted, what are you going to do?" One reporter asked, pushing to get close enough to be heard.

Sirius replied, "Right now I am desperately in need of real food," He drawled, earning snickers from the kids and a weak smile from Remus.

"Do you know that Claire was placed with guardians so fearsome she ran away, not just from their neighbourhood but from Britain itself? What do you have to say to that?" The reporter asked, watching Claire and her friends anxiously.

Sirius looked sharply at Claire, who gave him an apologetic smile that didn't reach her eyes.

WHAT?

"Sounds like you have a story to be telling me," he said sternly, feeling like he'd been hit by a bolt of lightning. That Claire had just ran away was a bad enough indication of what her guardians were like, the fact that she felt so threatened she had searched for (and found) a way to flee the country was ringing multiple alarm bells for him. Remus's sad expression indicated that he knew why, and it didn't look pretty.

"Look," Sirius shouted into the crowd, "I know you're all curious as to how this clusterf**k all happened, but right now I am in dire need of a meal and a chat with my goddaughter. I will have an interview taken tomorrow, your questions will surely be answered in the Daily Prophet tomorrow!"

There was a cheer in the crowd, Blaise, Hermione and Susan valiantly fought to part the crowd so they could escape to the Floo. "Do your parents know you're here?" Sirius asked the other children, belatedly noting that they were here by themselves.

"Uh, yeah, we all owled them together this morning," Cho explained. "We told them that the Black Head of House offered to give us a tour of the Ministry after dinner, to show us what our wizarding government looked like."

Sirius glanced at Draco, who shrugged. "It was the first excuse that came to my mind, besides I do think it's a good idea for muggleborns and half bloods to see exactly what goes on up here so they don't get blindsided later. Don't worry, I cleared it with the Deputy Headmistress."

Professor McGonagall had thought it was a good idea to show what the government did, although what transpired today probably wasn't the demonstration that she had in mind.

They all stepped into the Floo and Sirius yelled, "Leaky Caldron!"

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One long, harassed explanation later Sirius managed to order himself some food and the kids some treats at a long table set up near the back.

"Alright, start talking," he said to Claire, "What do you mean, 'ran away from Britain?' HOW did you do that, and why?"

Claire took a deep breath and told him all about the Dursleys and how they treated her. Remus put a hand on his shoulders, it was a good thing too because Sirius's famous short temper probably would have sent him dashing to the muggle's house and he didn't want to get into more trouble with the DMLE right after being acquitted.

While they were talking, Sirius noticed out of the corner of his eye that Susan was saying something to Draco, who went rigid before nodded vigorously. Susan sat up, looking pleased as punch.

"That bastard whale," Sirius snarled, "Mark my words Dursley, I might not kill you but I promise I'm going to make you sorry you hurt my goddaughter."

Remus merely nodded, "I think I might have an idea for that, Padfoot." Sirius gave a wicked smile, it took a lot to set Remus off, but when he finally had too much he went straight for the throat. It was almost enough to feel sorry for the Dursleys...almost.

"Sounds cool," Blaise said. "What's next on the menu?"

"Luna?" Claire asked, her voice sharp with worry.

Everyone turned towards the blonde. She had gone rigid and was staring at the wall like she was seeing something a thousand miles away. Suddenly, a dribble of blood came out of her nose.

Draco vaulted off his chair and was at her side in an instant, some small part of Sirius wondered how the hell the kid could Apparate but the girl was their main concern, Ginny and Claire immediately got up and went to her side, the others kids were starting to freak out,

Hermione looked ready to panic, "She's bleeding inside, oh god, she could have a concussion or something. When did that happen? We need to get her to a hospital -"

"Hermione," Ginny said, her voice trembling sightly, "It's okay. Luna's having a vision."

"You said before she was a Dream Weaver," Neville said, staring at Luna, "I didn't realize that extended to visions."

"That looks intense, will she be okay?" Hannah asked anxiously.

Draco didn't answer. His face was white and drawn with worry so stark Sirius was taken aback. He didn't think young kids could love each other that way.

A second later, Luna gasped and flopped backwards into Draco's arms, knocking her chair over. Immediately the kids, Sirius and Remus flooded around her. Luna blinked a few times, her eyes unnaturally clear, before focusing on Sirius.

"Do..." she whispered, "do you know anyone named Regulus Black?"

End Chapter

Aaaaaand cliffhanger ending! How was that? Good? Bad? Please let me know!

Review please!