Time seemed to fly past in the last few weeks of term and before anyone knew it, the Gryffindor-Slytherin final was only a couple of days away. The Gryffindor squad trained relentlessly, with a practise match every day, and more training for the first team. Draco also had regular nets, in which he was still proving next to impossible to get out. His bowling, whilst not going for many runs, was still not yielding wickets and his fielding desperately needed work. His throwing arm was weaker than the rest of the team's- Draco being considerably younger- and he couldn't run as fast either. Nonetheless, Lee had everyone training hard for the first match of the cricket season, which would come after the holidays.

Draco had just finished his essay and looked at his watch. What? That late already? The match was due to start in five minutes! Resigning himself to being late, he packed up his stuff and walked out of the Library, bloody McGonagall, why did her homeworks always take so long? As Draco walked quietly into the entrance hall, he heard the last snippet of a conversation between Filch and Professor Flitwick.

'The thing is, Argus, we can't get rid of the things. They're all that's keeping Hogwarts safe.'

'Why'd Black come to Hogwarts though?' the gloomy caretaker asked, seemingly thinking with despondency about all of the dirty shoes that would soon be returning from the match.

'Well, the thing about Sirius Black was that he was supposed to have been you-know-who's number two. Minerva told me it was him who betrayed the Potters to Voldemort. They were using a neat little spell known as the Fidelius charm to keep themselves hidden. It works by hiding the location of the hidden thing inside a living soul. So long as that person didn't tell Voldemort were they were the Potters were safe. James had chosen Black as this person.' Flitwick explained, as if he was talking to a slightly thick fourth year.

'So, Black betrayed the Potters? That's why young Potter has no...'

'no parents, exactly.' Flitwick said cheerfully, in exactly the same voice he used before he said "ten points to Gryffindor."

'Well, Black's supposed to be after Harry, thinks that by killing him, you-know-who will come back.'

'Complete nonsense of course.'

As the two men walked outside, Draco felt shocked. That was why Voldemort had come after Harry?

Draco made a mental note to tell Harry this as soon as possible. He did succeed, but not for a good week since Draco's cricket training had only gotten more intense after Gryffindor annihilated Slytherin at quidditch. Lee was determined not to let Wood have all the glory. Wood wasn't concerned about this however, floating around in a cloud of bliss, at having finally won the Quidditch Cup. Nothing else really mattered any more to him and he became a distraction to anyone trying to work in the common room, insisting on telling them all about how they'd won the cup.

Draco was politely nodding along to all this one afternoon, when Harry came back into the common room looking as white as a sheet. Draco saw him heading upstairs- probably straight into the dorm. Not long afterwards, Percy Weasley came in and Wood decided to move on to a less interested target or something. At any rate, Draco was now free to head upstairs.

'Hi Harry!' said Draco cheerfully as he opened the door to the dorm.

'Draco.'

'What's up? You don't look well.'

'Nothing much. Just a bit of a shock, that's all.'

'Care to explain?'

'Yeah. Alright. At the end of Divination- you know we've been doing crystal balls, right? Yeah, well, Hermione finally got the hump with Trelawney and just walked out, sending her crystal ball flying. I found it after we got downstairs, so I went to take it back up to Trelawney. When I was there she said something.'

'She said Something?' Draco said, incredulous that this could induce such a state in his friend.

'Yeah, her voice went all funny and she said that Voldemort would come back and that his servant would set out to get him back tonight. That was the gist of it anyway.'

'Whoa.' Draco looked over his shoulders to check no-one was about.

'Harry, there's something I think you ought to know. You know I was a bit late to the match? Well, when I was coming down overheard something not meant for my ears.'

'Go on.'

'It was about Sirius Black. I overheard Flitwick telling Filch about how he was Voldemort's second in command. Apparently, it was he who betrayed your parents to Voldemort.'

'What?' Harry's state of shock seemed to have deepened, but Draco carried on regardless. Harry needed to know this.

'Well, apparently the reason he's after you is to finish the job. Seems to think that by killing you he'll bring Voldemort back again.'

'Draco, can you not tell anyone else about this?'

'Of course. Do you fancy heading down to dinner? Ron said something about helping Hermione do some research- said they'd meet us in the great hall.'

'Ok then.'

Harry was still looking peaky by the time they had finished dinner, so Ron and Draco decided that what Harry needed most was a chat with Hagrid.

Heading down in the evening was easy now, with it still being light until late. As they arrived at the hut, it became clear that Hagrid was in and a large fire was blazing in the hearth, to ward off the chill of the evening air. When Hagrid welcomed them in, they could see the kettle boiling.

'Hallo you four! How are you.?'

'Yeah, good thanks Hagrid.' Three voices chimed back.

'What's up with you, Harry?'

'He's had a bit of a nasty shock.' Draco explained what Harry had told him earlier.

'Yeh could knock me down with a feather! That old bat has finally made a real prophecy!' Hagrid seemed pretty shocked at the news too, but advised Harry not to worry, as most prophecies didn't come true anyway.

'Well, it's been nice to see yeh, but I'm afraid I'm goin' to have to chuck yeh out now. Professor Dumbledore's coming down and eh'll be in loads of trouble if yeh stay here.'

'Hang on, that's him on the path down now. If we leave he'll see us!'

'Quick, out the back! Oh and before I forget, Ron, is this your rat?'

'Scabbers!' Ron was delighted to be reunited with his pet but didn't have time to give Hagrid all of the thanks that he wanted to give, as the others pulled him out of the back door. No sooner had they shut it then the front door opened with a great squeak.

Draco breathed a sigh of relief. That had been close. Suddenly Ron gave out a muffled yell.

'What's up?' hissed Hermione.

'Scabbers bit me, Oi! Come back you daft rat!' Thus did the quartet end up chasing the rat through the Hogwarts grounds. At last they caught up with it.

'Got you, you bloody menace. Don't run away like that again, you understand?' Ron berated his rat. Suddenly they heard a snarling. It was a huge black dog.

'The Grim!' Ron yelled.

'Don't be silly, it's just a dog.' Hermione encouraged.

Just a dog or not, it still dived at Ron and clasping his leg in its mouth, dragged him towards a nearby tree, then down a small hole at the base of its trunk.

'Ron!' Hermione yelled.

'Err, guys. Have you seen what tree that is?'

THWACK! It was the Whomping Willow. Draco had not enjoyed picking up the splinters of Harry's broom there before, despite having escaped without a scratch. Now it seemed like the tree was after revenge for its earlier humiliation. After much ducking, diving, weaving and dodging Draco managed to get to the tree trunk. He slipped down the hole and was safe. No whomping roots- perhaps things really weren't all going downhill. Then Hermione landed on him. And Harry on top of her.

'Oouph.' Said Draco, as the air was knocked out of his lungs, 'Geroff'

'Sorry, Draco, are you alright?'

'I've just had two people land on me, but other than that, fine, thank you for asking.' Draco replied. Hermione looked slightly hurt.

'Does anyone know where we are?'

'I do,' Harry said, unexpectedly, 'Fred and George said there was a tunnel leading out of the grounds under the Whomping Willow when they gave me the map, we're in that.'

'Great. I suppose we better follow it then, and quickly if we ever want to see Ron again.'

Hermione blanched at that. Why though?

The tunnel continued downwards for what seemed like an age, twisting every which way. Occasionally, Draco, who was leading the way, would bang his head on a root. The seventh time this happened Draco stopped.

'I'm fed up with this. Lumos. That's better. Can see where I'm going now.'

'Why didn't we think of that earlier?' asked Hermione, who had spent a lot of time tripping over the uneven floor. Harry and Hermione lit the tips of their wands and carried on along the tunnel. In the dim light of their wands, the trio could see the faint outlines of the accumulation of years of cobwebs. The occasional skeleton of a small animal and the concentrated smell of earth about them gave the tunnel an oppressive air. The dark of the tunnel soon began to be replaced by dim beams of light from the far end. It appeared that they were nearing the final corner. As the tunnel began to slope upwards they felt their spirits lift, up and up it went. Soon the dank stony walls of the tunnel were replaced by wooden boards, through which light was leaking. With a quick mutter Draco extinguished his wand and began the final climb, up a ladder that led to an open trapdoor. On the bare floorboards of the dilapidated room into which Draco had climbed was a glistening trail of blood. Was Ron's leg worse than they had suspected? Or was it something far more terrible? Draco helped Harry and Hermione into the room out of the trapdoor. Looking around he noticed the place looked as if a whirlwind of destruction had swept through it. What had done this? Where were they? Then, just behind him came the answer to his question. The answer he least wanted to hear.

'We're in the Shrieking Shack!'

'Come on. Let's get a move on.' Said Draco, pointing to the trail of blood. The stairs creaked and groaned as they climbed them and the whole building seemed to sway. At the top of the stairs was what looked remarkably like a time-worn and semi-destroyed Gryffindor dormitory, with only one bed. In the corner opposite the open door lay Ron.

AS soon as they saw him, they rushed over. All Ron could say was.

'Trap. Not a dog. Man instead. He's...'

They turned round and there he stood.

'Sirius Black.' Ron finished, as the door came to a halt.

'If you want Harry, you'll have to go through all of us.' Hermione said, bravely standing in front of Harry. Draco joined her. Then suddenly, Sirius cast a spell and their wands went flying out of their hands. Another swish and Harry had lost this too. They were defenceless, against a homicidal maniac who had escaped from the most feared prison in the world to come after one of them. This didn't look good.

'Thirteen years, I've waited. Now I finally get the chance to begin what I started.' Black advanced menacingly at them. What was going to happen? He drew a sharp knife from somewhere in his ragged clothes and carried on walking towards them, as they shuffled back into the corner.

The door opened with a bang. In the doorway stood Professor Lupin. They were saved!

'Stop, Sirius.' He walked over to the dishevelled man and gave him a hug.

'Sorry about the fleas, Remus.'

'Good to see you too, Sirius.'

'What?' Hermione yelled from the corner. 'I've been covering up for you all year and your, your his friend!'

'What do you mean covering up, Hermione?'

'He's a werewolf!'

It was into a stunned silence, well, almost silence, Black was laughing in a way that sounded liek a man trying to remember how to laugh, that Lupin spoke.

'Yes, well done, Hermione, you really are the brightest witch of your age. I'm just curious- do you really think it wise to provoke a werewolf and his mass-murderer friend when you're not their primary target?'

'If you hurt Harry I'll kill you.' Draco tried to snarl. Unfortunately, his breaking voice turned the threat into a comic squeak.

'Hurt Harry?' Black laughed, confused. 'Why would I hurt Harry?'

'You escaped from Azkaban to come after him.' Ron pointed out.

'NoI didn't. I escaped from Azkaban to come after your rat, boy.'

'Scabbers? You're mad!'

'Scabbers? What's Scabbers?'

'I believe he means Pettigrew, Padfoot?'

'Pettigrew? Pettigrew died years ago. He killed him!' Hermione yelled. Draco's brain was in overdrive however on another matter. Padfoot, where had he heard that name before?

'Padfoot! You made the Maruader's map.' Draco exclaimed. 'Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. Well, Professor Lupin, I'm guessing you're Moony.'

'That's how you knew about the map when you took it from me!'

'Exactly Harry, we made it many years ago. I was Moony, Sirius, Padfoot. Your father, Harry, was Prongs. As for Wormtail, that was Peter Pettigrew. We called him Wormtail because of his animagus form. He was a rat.'

'You don't think Scabbers?'

'How long have you had that rat? Lived a long time for a common garden rat, don't you think?' Sirius said, menacingly, advancing on Ron. Ron tried to shuffle away as Black advanced, but with a leg that was badly broken he could do nothing. At that moment, for the second time, the door was flung open. Professor Snape wsa standing, like a menacing bat, in the shadow of the doorway.

'Caught red-handed, Lupin. I told Dumbledore that you'd been helping an old friend into the castle, but now I have proof!' Snape snarled, casting a disarming spell at Lupin and Black. Harry caught his wand in mid air.

'AS for you, Black. There're some dementors up at the castle who are longing to see you. They've really been missing you. So much so, that they want to give you a little kiss.' Snape said menacingly.

'Stop! Professor Snape, you've got it all wrong.' Hermione said. Snape ignored her. He raised his wand, ready to cast a spell at Black. He brought it down. A blinding flash of light filled the air. When it subsided, the room was very different. Snape had been flung into the bed, which had collapsed about him.

'You attacked a teacher!' Hermione said.

'So?' Harry and Draco responded together.

'What did you do to him?' Lupin asked.

'Expelliarmus.' Harry replied.

'Excio' Draco replied. When Lupin raised an eyebrow he simply replied, 'My Dad taught it me.'

'Well, it shouldn't do any lasting damage. Over to you, Sirius.'

Harry handed his wand over to Sirius, who tapped the rat rather hard on the head three times. Nothing happened.

'See, I told you he was just a rat.' Ron replied.

'Oh, he isn't.' The Marauders map never lies. It said Pettigrew was here. He's here. It's why I came tonight. I was studying it on my desk and saw Pettigrew's name.

Over in the corner Sirius made a small noise. It sounded like it might have been an attempt at a giggle.

'He's coming to play, Remus, he's coming!' Indeed he was. What had once been an ordinary rat was now considerably larger, and beginning to look more and more human.

'Sirius. Remus. My old friends.' The man replied. They gave him a look of utter disgust.

'You should have realised, Peter, if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would.'

'Please. No!' He scurried over to Ron, and begged for mercy. Next Draco, then Hermione. He got none from any of them. His faked disappearance had caused them all too much trouble.

In the end it was Harry who stopped Sirius and Lupin.

'Thank-you, my boy, thank-you.'

'No. It's just I don't think my dad would have wanted his two best friends to become killers. Besides, once we show you up at the castle, Sirius goes free.'

Even Sirius, denied his revenge for years of misery, seemed satisfied with this. Accordingly, Lupin levitated Snape's body and sent it out in front of them. Harry and Hermione were supporting Ron, and Pettigrew was at Draco's wand point. The column advanced slowly back towards the castle. Sirius, who seemed to want to keep an eye on Pettigrew as well, was at the back with Draco, using Ron's wand to keep an eye on the former pet.

'Sorry if I scared you earlier, boy.'

'Oh, don't worry. You weren't trying to do it.' Draco replied manfully.

'I'm afraid I didn't quite catch your name when Remus gave the introductions, lad, but you're doing a fine job keeping the scum in check.'

'Thanks. The name's Draco by the way, Draco Malfoy.'

'What? You're Narcissa's boy?'

'Yeah. Someone told me we were cousins or something.'

'Sounds about right. Well, if you're family I can trust you to look after this creep while I catch up with my godson.'

Black started walking faster and soon caught up with Harry. Draco merely concentrated on keeping Pettigrew under control. Eventually they reached the Whomping Willow, where they left the tunnel into the pale moonlight, having stunned the tree. It was here that Lupin gave a great howl.

'Leave this to me. Just run!' Sirius yelled. As a large black dog took on a fully grown werewolf, Draco 's attention slipped for a moment. Then Pettigrew transformed into a rat. Draco knew it was now or never. Ignoring the opportunity to run, he dived onto the fleeing rat and ended up flat out, face down on the grass. In his outstretched arms however, was a wriggling rat. Draco slowly got to his feet and ran. When he got back he heard that a terrible thing had happened. Sirius had been captured. Harry, Ron and Hermione were in the hospital wing recovering from a nasty dementor attack. How they had gotten there so fast, Draco had no idea. Despite the late hour, he rushed up to the hospital wing, where he found the Minister for Magic and Professors Snape and Dumbledore as wellas the ministers three bodyguards, each one a crack auror.

'Well, no I can't grant your request to watch, Severus. Guilty as the man may be it's not allowed.'

'Quite so Severus, I really can't advise it.' Dumbledore replied. The conversation stoped as a breathless Draco approached.

'Uncle Cornelius, you've got the wrong man.' Draco managed to get out between pants.

'We've got Black, what do you mean?' The minister asked.

'Black's innocent.' Draco explained. 'It was Peter Pettigrew who killed all those people and betrayed the Potters.'

'Pettigrew's dead boy.'

'No he isn't. He's right here in this room. He was an unregistered animagus. Here.' Draco said, showing the rat, which he held dangling by its tail.

'Really minister, are you going to believe that pile of old poppycock.' Snape scorned.

'Now Severus, we can easily tell whether young Malfoy's telling the truth or not, can't we.' The pair exchanged a knowing glance.

'Oh, you mean transform him back?' Fudge said, catching hold of an idea at last.

'That would do it, Cornelius.' Dumbledore replied. The old wizard waved his wand and suddenly Draco was holding onto a man.

'Well damn me.' Said Fudge. 'I'd better cancel the kiss on Black. This'll have to go to trial, but I reckon there's enough evidence to give Black a pardon now. '

Fudge waved at an auror and whispered an instruction in his ear. The auror went scampering off and another one took his place. This second bodyguard took over the custody of Pettigrew and began to escort him to the dementors. Within two minutes he was back.

'The bugger transformed. I lost him!' The auror lamented.

'What?' Yelled Harry from his bed. 'Then all of that was for nothing!'

The auror hung his head in shame and Fudge, Snape and the bodyguards quickly left.

'No Harry,' said Dumbledore, walking down to where the raven-haired boy sat, 'it wasn't all wasted. An innocent man has gone free, been spared a terrible fate and gotten his life back. If it wasn't for Mr Malfoy here, who knows what would have happened?'

'But it doesn't matter does it. They've let Pettigrew escape!' Harry sat and thought for a moment and only spoke as Dumbledore had turned to leave.

'Professor? After divination this morning, Professor Trelawney said something funny.'

'Oh yes?'

'She said that the dark lord's servant would set out to rejoin him tonight. That with the servant's aid, Voldemort would return, stronger than before.'

'Ahh. I say. I must arrange to give Professor Trelawney a pay rise, that brings her collection of real prophecies up to, yes, two.'

'So you think he's coming back then, Sir?'

'Oh yes. Voldemort was always going to come back some day. But I shouldn't worry too much if I were you. You did a powerful thing when you saved Pettigrew's life today. It has formed a bond between you.'

'But I don't want a bond between me and Pettigrew.'

'You have one now and there is little that can be done. At any rate, I very much doubt that Voldemort will want a servant who is so highly in your debt.'

'Sirius will go free, won't he, Sir?'

'Oh yes, have no doubt about that my boy. Now get a good night's sleep. You're going to want to be well rested tomorrow.' Dumbledore said prophetically.

As soon as Dumbledore had left, Draco jumped onto the spare bed opposite Hermione's and turned his head over to Harry.

'Sorry Pettigrew escaped, Harry.'

'Never mind, Draco, it wasn't your fault.'

'Harry, you seem rather pleased about it all.'

'Yes. Well, I managed to pull off an amazing Patronus earlier- it was a full one and everything. I overheard Dumbledore say that it had probably saved Sirius.'

'You managed a full patronus? How? What memory did you use?'

'One from earlier tonight. Sirius invited me to live with him.'

'He did?'

'Yeah, and thanks to you bringing Pettigrew in, it's gonna happen. I get to leave the Dursleys.'

Draco was happy for his friend ], but more importantly he was proud. He wasn't useless. He'd saved someone's life and managed to bring about significant change in someone else's. Smug thoughts enveloped Draco and before long, he had fallen fast asleep.