Well...yeah... :D

"There!" Harry stood up, pointing like an idiot towards the group of four making their way out of the tunnel. Theodore grabbed him and forced him back into a crouch. "We should..."

"No!" Theodore hissed, trying to hold tight onto Harry.

"But..."

"I already told you..."

Then it happened, but from this point of view and prepared for the worst, Harry finally saw what had actually transpired.

Pettigrew's hand had dove straight for Ronald's wand, yanking it from the redheaded boy's grip. He had spun, bringing Black along with him in the effort, and pointed his wand at Harry. Ronald had reached out, nearly a blur, and snagged the man's wrist, forcing his arm down towards the ground. Pettigrew seemed to realize he couldn't do what he had initially planned and there was a loud bang and an explosion. Harry screamed, wrenching against Theodore's hold as he watched Ronald fall away and Black land several feet from his once-friend. The rat of a man had transformed and was running through the grass, towards the treeline.

Harry was free from Theodore suddenly and rushing towards where he had seen the rat disappear. He was going to catch him! If there was anything he was going to do, it was catch the blasted rat, so that Ron's sacrifice wouldn't have been in vain. He rushed through the thick growth of the forest, past thorny branches that clawed at him, over logs and roots trying to trip him up, and under heavy limbs streaming curtains of moss. Something black and small flitted across the ground and he dove at it, snagging it. Somewhere, he could hear himself screaming. He picked the creature up and stared at the rat with its balding head and missing toe. It seemed absolutely bewildered at who had grabbed him and he was sure that Pettigrew had more than one reason to be so surprised.

"Harry!" Theodore was beside him and looking absolutely furious with pinned ears and thrashing tail. "You idiot! You could have ruin..."

He had paused because Harry had lifted the rat weakly into the air to show it struggling in his tight grip.

"Pettigrew." Theodore's wandtip was suddenly against the rat's throat and it stopped moving simultaneously. "You might not know who I am, rat, but I know you would recognize the name of my father: Nott."

The rat gave a pathetic squeak, but was motionless otherwise.

"You have betrayed too much." Theodore's voice had dropped dangerously low and Harry was staring at him, torn between bewildered, surprised, and mortified. "You should die."

"No!" Harry pulled the rat snug against his chest and away from the wand. "I have to take him to the Minister where they will see him for what he really is and Sirius can be free."

"He needs to die!" Theodore reached for the rat and Harry jerked away when nails sliced into him. "Give him to me, Potter!"

"He's to go to the castle." Harry objected, tightening his hold on Pettigrew so that the rat gave a squeak.

"No..." The Slytherin was scowling, his tail smacking into leaves in his fury. "He needs to die...right here...right now...by me."

"I wouldn't let my godfather become a murderer and I hardly know him. I'm not about to let the person I care about most become one either."

Theodore stilled, eyes glued to where Harry was harboring the rat. Then his gaze drifted up slowly until the chilly blue of those eyes rested upon Harry's. He seemed about to make some crude comment, but a shudder overtook both of them.

"No..."

Theodore started running and Harry, not sure what else to do, gave hot pursuit after him. The cold increased and suddenly they were standing only a few feet away from where the other Harry was standing, trying to cast a Patronus, but failing miserably. Hermione was on the ground, still as if she'd died and her pale complexion and glassy eyes was not making her look anymore alive. Sirius, similarily, lay upon the ground, too weak to fight the onslaught of a hundred dementors, which were swarming around them.

"No..." Harry whispered, ears forward and eyes wide at the sight before him. "The...we..."

"Your wand, Potter!" Theodore was pulling out his wand. "Remember?"

"Wand?" Harry started to pull his wand out too, but more hesitantly. "But...there's too many..."

"We're together." Theodore told him in a soft voice that made Harry's heart soar. "A happy thought."

"A happy thought." Harry agreed, raising his wand, and his mind instantly went to Theodore and the weeks of foolish bliss they'd enjoyed after bonding. "Expecto Patronum!"

Silver came from his wand, but it made no true form as it drifted almost lazily towards the dementors, dissipating upon contact with one of them. Attention now drawn, the dementors turned towards him and flew at surprising speed.

A hand grabbed onto his and he glanced over to see Theodore raising his own wand while his other hand meshed with Harry's.

In unison, they cast the spell and Harry was amazed to see the stag erupt from his wand while a large creature leaped out of Theodore's and the two beasts began to chase the dementors away. Harry, overcome with excitement and glee, gripped Theodore's hand tighter.

Odd things had been happening all night, but this strange occurance didn't seem so bizarre or foreign for some reason. There was a flash of light and Harry looked down to see a golden thread bursting from his chest and travelling rapidly all around him until finally igniting into Theodore's own chest. Harry stared, no longer interested in the dementors being harassed by the patronuses.

Theodore didn't seem the least bit fazed by the thread, ignoring it completely as he directed his patronus about the scene until all the dementors were gone and the two patronuses returned to their makers.

Finally, the Slytherin turned to look at him. "What?"

"The...thread..." Harry murmured, ears and tail twitching with his curiosity. "There's a thread."

"You can finally see it?" Theodore gave a snort and glanced down. "Oh...it's gold now."

"It wasn't?"

"Well, before the bond formed, it was red." Theodore gave a shrug. "Then the bond formed and it was silver...now it's gold...hmm...lame."

"Lame?" Harry gaped at him. "Why is it lame?"

"Gryffindor color." Theodore shrugged again and then moved towards Sirius. "Come on. We have to get Black to Buckbeak."

"Where is Buckbeak?"

"Well, since someone decided to ditch, I had to tie him to a tree, so I hope he hasn't escaped because it wouldn't be very hard for him to."

"Oh...sorry..."

Together, they began to half drag, half carry Black away from the scene and into the forest as, being unconscious, he wasn't of any assistance whatsoever. Once they had him deep enough inside, Theodore left Harry with him to get Buckbeak. It took only a few minutes for Theodore to return, but Harry used this time to stare at the golden thread.

Curious, he touched it and watched the thread give a pulse of light with the gentle brush of his fingers. He smiled and held the thread, wondering what would happen if he gave it a small tug. Worried that it'd hurt, he gentle pulled on it, but nothing happened. There was no pain, but the thread wouldn't budge any further. Intrigued, he tapped it, pondering if Theodore could feel the interaction or not.

The Slytherin returned and tied Buckbeak once more to a tree, much to the Hippogriff's annoyance.

"Can you feel this?" Harry asked as he tapped the string.

"No." Theodore responded casually.

"Why could you see it from the beginning?" Harry inquired, now seeing what happened if he tied the thread into a bow...it didn't hold. "And I couldn't?"

"Read a book." Theodore's usual reply came.

"But no book I read said anything about a thread."

Theodore sighed and leaned against the trunk beside the Hippogriff. "I'm the sacrifice and you're the fighter. If I had been looking, I would have been able to tell from the start that you were my fighter, but I was hoping I was a Blank."

"Why hope for that?"

"A conversation for another day." Theodore nodded towards a stirring Sirius. "I'm going to go. You get him on that Hippogriff and to safety. I'll wait for you in Hagrid's pumpkin patch, all right?"

"All right."

Theodore turned and left and Harry, feeling abruptly empty at the loss of his particep's presence, grabbed the thread and held onto it as Sirius awoke.

"Harry?" Sirius mumbled as he looked around, confused. "What..."

"We were lucky." Harry said as he knelt beside his godfather. "Look...you have to go, quickly. There isn't much time. All right?"

"But..."

"Just do it, Sirius." Harry insisted. "Go as far away as you can. I can fix this, but it'll take time. I'm sorry."

"Harry..."

"Please." Harry stood and untied the Hippogriff. "This is Buckbeak. He can take you wherever you need to go, but you have to leave now, Sirius."

"Thank you." Sirius said as he stared at Harry with a mixture of awe and happiness. "Thank you so much, Harry."

"Just...don't get caught." Harry pleaded. "Now...go!"

Harry and Theodore were running as fast as they could up to the castle, through the corridors, and down the passageways, trying their best not to get seen. They arrived just as Snape was about to close the door. He glanced back inside and then turned to face them.

"You've gone." He motioned them inside. "Were you successful?"

"More than successful." Harry held up a squeaking rat. "Pettigrew, sir."

Ears perked, Snape raised an eyebrow and glanced at Theodore, who seemed absolutely livid at the reminder of the rat.

"You can't give him to the Minister." Snape said calmly and Harry's mouth dropped.

"Why the bloody not?" Harry gaped at him.

"How did you get your hands on him, Mr. Potter?" Snape asked coolly, ears shifting backwards, but not angry. "When you've been locked in here this whole time?"

"Uh..." Harry frowned and then glared at the floor. "Oh...um...y-you found him, sir."

"I found him?" Snape cooed encouragingly. "How would I have found him?"

"You saw him in the hallway and recognized him as R-R-Ron's rat...and you...you...decided that you may as well check so you...grabbed him."

"I grabbed him?" Snape questioned. "I grabbed the rat under the assumption that maybe you were right?"

"What's the worse that could happen?" Harry gave him a glare, tail flicking in his agitaton and his ears flat against his head. "It's just an ordinary rat and I look like I'm crazy? At best, you'll look like a hero."

Snape held out his hand with a coy smile as what Harry had said was completely a win either way for Snape. "The rat."

Harry passed the rat over, grumbling under his breath. He honestly didn't care who turned Pettigrew over as long as he was punished for all the evil he had done and Sirius' name was cleared, but the idea of Snape being played the hero...well, now that he actually thought about it, he wasn't bothered in the least. Snape could be the hero. He didn't care.

"To bed, Potter." Snape motioned towards the waiting bed. "And Nott...you might want to clean up a little."

Theodore wrinkled his nose and pulled out his wand to start removing the smudges of dirt and persperation all over his clothes.

As Harry crawled into bed and Snape locked the doors, Harry was hit with a thought.

"How did Snape know we were outside?" Harry asked. "Me and Hermione and R...you know?"

"I felt you were in danger." Theodore answered as he ran a hand through his hair to make it look more presentable. "And I woke him. He followed my directions and that's when he found you."

"You could see the thread." Harry suddenly realized. "Whenever I was sneaking into the library or anything like that. You could see the thread!"

"Well, yes, of course." Theodore gave him a raised-brow look. "You know, if you read the right books you would have learned about the thread...or were you just scanning through them?"

"I didn't have much time to learn." Harry fidgeted under the look the Slytherin was giving him. "What?"

Theodore sighed and stood. "I'm getting you some chocolate."

"Oh...uh...thanks." Harry watched the boy stalk across the room and bring a large bar of chocolate over to give to him. "What about you?"

"I don't like sweets."

"It's not a like or dislike thing...it's to help with the dementor...thing...that they do to people."

Theodore didn't respond, but Harry swore he saw the Slytherin smile just momentarily at the thought of Harry worrying over him. This was enough to soothe Harry's worry that maybe the taller boy had returned to disliking Harry. It seemed, perhaps, the dislike was finally vanishing and making a Patronus now seemed like the easiest thing in the world.

Shorter than I initially intended for this chapter, but I'm super tired for some reason...I'll try to write more later tonight after zoning a little. :P