16. Coming Clean

Dear Meda,

I think you better come clean with Dora and Harry. I think they already have the map, and Harry spotted me when I was drinking water from the lake. Of course, I escaped pretty quickly, and since they don't know about my animagus form, they probably didn't suspect the dog that ran away from them. But if they decide to hand over the map to Dumbledore or some other teacher, I can't stay here anymore. Just to be safe, I'm bunking at the boundary of Hogsmeade.

On a different note, I ran out of ink. Mind sending another bottle?

And did I mention you are the best cook ever?

Padfoot

Andromeda frowned. How come she didn't see this coming? Of course the map would show Sirius as well. She wanted Dora to get it because it was practically Harry's inheritance. There was also the fact that it would be easier to catch Pettigrew if he was indeed at Hogwarts in his rat form. She didn't want to approach the children or anyone else before she had solid proof on Sirius' innocence, but now she didn't have any choice. She would have to meet Harry and Dora in their Hogsmeade weekend and explain everything. Releasing a sigh, she picked up a piece of parchment and started writing.

...

Harry Potter was hiding behind a suit of armours. He was waiting. For one Nymphadora Tonks, to be exact. He had stalked her in his map, and found that she was coming out with a couple of others from the Hufflepuff common room. He was getting impatient at the slow pace of her dot on the map, but he waited.

After five minutes, he heard the sound of her laughter. He smiled, thinking how cute dimples would form on her cheeks when she laughed, her usually large eyes getting smaller, but shining with humour. Shaking his head in an attempt to concentrate on the task at hand, he saw that she had already crossed the statue he was hiding behind. Peeking from the statue, he was greeted with the view of her shapely buttocks.

I AM NOT CHECKING HER OUT! He mentally shouted at himself.

Wrapping himself with his Invisibility Cloak, he followed her. He had a crazy idea of grabbing her from behind, just to surprise her, but he knew better. Dora was totally unpredictable when surprised. There was a high possibility of getting cursed if he did that. So he just whispered in her ear, "It's me, Harry. I need to talk to you. In private."

She nearly jumped out of her skin, but at the last moment, she sneezed violently and apologized to her friends, who were alarmed as well.

"Er... you guys go on. I just remembered I left something in the dorms. Go on, I'll be there in a jiffy."

She turned and stretched a hand as if trying to grab something out of the air, and getting the hint, Harry placed a hand on hers. She dragged him inside the Hufflepuff common room, and with a levitation charm, she brought him to her now-empty room.

"Blimey Harry, what was so urgent that you had to invisibly snatch me away from my friends? If I didn't know better I'd think you were about to drag me to a broom cupboard and shag-"

"Alright, I get it! No need to go there." Harry said with a glare, his face bright red. Tonks just laughed and then looked at him questioningly.

"Andromeda sent me a letter."

"Okay. So what did she write?" she asked curiously. It wasn't uncommon of her mother to write to Harry. In fact, she wrote him at least once a month.

He showed her the letter.

Dear Harry.

I hear you had an exciting first week? Not that I'm surprised. Hope you aren't going to have the usual troublesome year.

I came to know that you got your hands on a special map. No. Dora didn't tell me, I have other sources. But don't worry. I'm not having you stalked. I also heard you were close to Sirius Black recently? This time, however, it was Dora who told me that.

Now I don't want you to panic about this. And I don't want you to go to a teacher with the map. I do want to catch the culprit, but first, there is something you need to know. Can you spare about an hour in your Hogsmeade weekend? I understand you might have plans with your friends, but this is really important. Be at the Three Broomsticks at 3pm. Bring along Dora, but no one else.

Love from,

Andromeda Tonks

"Any idea what she wants to tell us about?" Harry asked, and Tonks shook her head.

"It sounds really important, though. She never interrupted my Hogsmeade weekends."

"So we should go." Harry stated.

"It's a date!" Tonks said brightly, causing the messy haired wizard to blush slightly.

As she said the words, it reminded her of the fact that she hasn't dated for about two years now, which had to be an outstanding feat for her. The highest she went without dating before his was about five months, after she had a bad break up with a jerk. The reason for this was she spent most of her time either with Harry or her friends, but she didn't mind spending time with Harry in the least. He was fun to be around and generally a sweetheart, not to mention the fact that it was too easy to make him imitate a tomato. Sometimes she found herself staring at him and admiring his emerald green eyes and his messy hair. She supposed it wouldn't be bad if she actually went to a date with him. Of course, he was too young for him, but he was one of the very few guys who cared about her for who she really was instead of who she could look like. Not to mention he was quite cute and had an endearing personality. Hmm... wonder if he fancies someone... he should start dating by now.

"You should date someone." She blurted out before she realized what she was saying. Harry looked oddly at her and asked, "Why?"

"Well, you are thirteen and cute as hell and you should have some fun with the cute chicks in the castle. And since you have the map and the invisibility cloak, you shouldn't have trouble finding empty snogging spots-"

Harry's glare and red face made her giggle. He grabbed her by the shoulders (which were now at his chin level) and steered her out of the girl's dormitory of the Hufflepuff, (where they slid down together at the stairs) and went out to-

"Potter? What were you doing on the girl's dorm?" Professor Sprout asked, looking between Tonks and Harry, whose hand was still on her shoulders.

"I took him to show him a letter from mum that was a bit private." Tonks answered. Harry nodded, his mind noting the irony of the statement as it was actually the other way round.

"Why would you show him if it was private?" the Herbology teacher asked suspiciously.

"Well you see Professor; the letter was actually for me." Harry supplied this time. Sprout looked a bit confused.

"Let me get this straight, Miss Tonks' mother is sending a private letter for Mr Potter? Are you related?"

"Um... not really, Harry lives with us." Tonks said, while Harry nodded fervently. Professor Sprout nodded in understanding.

"Oh, I see. If that is the case, I am going to pretend I didn't see you coming out of the girl's dorm, Mr Potter, because it is against the rules for a male student to visit the female quarters, whatever the occasion. Next time, try to find another private location. Clear?" seeing them both nod, she turned and left. The two teens grinned at each other.

...

"Ready?" Tonks asked everyone. Getting affirmative nods from everyone, she grinned and led the way. The others wore expressions of nervous excitement on their faces. They were off to their first ever Hogsmeade weekend.

After lunch, they all approached the horseless carriages waiting for them. Filch was checking their name for those who were not allowed to visit. Thankfully, Harry had Andromeda's sign, who became his guardian once he fled from the Dursleys. The weather was quite pleasant and a cloudless sky lifted their moods. Tonks was acting as a guide and joking along with the others, but a large part of her mind was occupied by the upcoming meeting with Harry and her mother. She stole a glance at the raven-haired boy and saw him quite distracted.

The ride was so far quite enjoyable for Harry. His friends were excited for the trip, and so was he. But he was quite apprehensive of the important meeting he was going to have with Andromeda. She seemed to know about the map and that bothered him to no end. Not because she knew, but because somewhere he was careless enough to leak the knowledge about the map. He was lucky that only Andromeda knew about it, because he didn't want to lose the map to a teacher. He shuddered at the thought of Snape getting his long hands on it. Or worse, if somehow Sirius Black found it. Of course, he wouldn't know the pass-phrase, but if he could break out of Azkaban and break into Hogwarts, was it really impossible for him to break a pass-phrase? And if he had the map, he could stalk anyone, including him and Dora and his friends. He shivered a bit and pulled his jacket closer.

But the temperature has suddenly dropped and the carriage was coming to a halt. Feeling a sense of déjà vu, he quickly jumped out of the carriage before it stopped properly, and found himself face to face with a dementor. He heard a woman screaming from far away and there was a high pitched cold voice...

'Stand aside, you silly girl... I said stand aside, now..." ordered the cold voice.

'Not Harry, please no, I'll do anything. Please, not Harry!' the woman pleaded.

'Stand aside, girl. This is my last warning.'

'Please no, not Harry, take me... kill me instead... please, have mercy... not Harry please, have mercy. Kill me instead... not Harry...'

"Harry! Harry!"

He woke up with a thundering heart that was about to explode.

"Not her, please!" he whispered. Susan was rubbing circles on his back. He looked up to see Tonks looking worriedly at him. Without a word, he embraced her and tears fell off his eyes. Bewildered, Tonks hold him tightly, wondering what made the toughest boy she ever knew to cry. If it was his aunt-

"She was begging Voldemort to kill her and spare me. She died trying to protect me." He whispered between small sobs.

Tonks would have traded anything to make him forget that. No one deserved to hear their parents' dying words in front of the murderer. She suddenly felt her eyes burning and her throat constricted. She wanted to hold him until he forgot all his troubles, but she knew he had too many to forget. Instead, she wiped the tears from his face and pressed a kiss to his forehead. He was beginning to compose himself when-

"Get a room, you two. Did you really faint again, Potter? Did I hear-"

Tonks was about to come with a scathing reply, but Harry had already drawn his wand and bellowed 'STUPEFY!' at the blond.

Draco Malfoy didn't know the stunning hex, as it was a fourth year material. (Tonks taught it to Harry in his second year) he wasn't, therefore, prepared for the red light that came his way.

Hermione Granger had read about the stunner, and she knew the incantation, though she couldn't perform it. She knew if Harry's aim was true, Malfoy was likely to topple backwards, stunned. If the power behind the curse was low, he might even remain standing. She wasn't, however, prepared to see what actually happened.

When the curse hit Malfoy, in the stomach, he was thrown back fifteen feet, and when everyone looked at Harry, they actually recoiled because of the amount of fury he was radiating. A certain pink-haired metamorphmagus, though, found this quite hot.

"Wow!" Susan whispered in awe as Crabbe and Goyle ran to help their leader. Sighing, Tonks went towards the spread-eagled blond. She pointed her wand at him and muttered 'Rennervate.'

No movement.

She tried again, and this time the ponce stirred, but didn't wake. Once again, she casted the spell and this time he sat up, horrified.

"Wha... whatt happened?" he asked Crabbe.

SMACK!

Slapping the Slytherin hard across the face, Tonks went away. She heard 'my father will hear about this' behind her and she turned around.

"Suck your father's dick, and he might actually listen to what you have to say."

Goyle sniggered as Malfoy resembled a fish desperate for water. He even forgot to admonish his followers for laughing on a joke against him.

Tonks reached Harry, who was now sitting down, looking quite winded.

When he heard Malfoy's comment, Harry felt something snap in him, like something was holding him back, but suddenly he was free. It usually strained him to cast a stunning hex, seeing he was only thirteen, but this time it felt as easy as casting a Lumos. However, as soon as he saw the effect of the spell, and felt a strange satisfaction at seeing the blond git sprawled on the ground, he was back to normal, and felt quite exhausted.

"Some power you used on that spell, Harry. Had to cast the counter curse three times to get him sitting." Tonks said in an impressed voice. Harry just looked blankly at her.

"Come on, mate, you need chocolate after a spell like that." Neville said. Releasing a breath, Harry stood up and quietly followed Tonks, who was leading the way again. After a few moments, Tonks fell back and slipped her hands in to Harry's. Together, they walked in silence, still thinking over what just happened.

...

The Three Broomsticks was full of Hogwarts students having excited conversations and food. It was almost 3pm and Harry and Tonks were waiting for Andromeda to appear. They convinced the others that they had a private meeting with Andromeda Tonks and they should have fun while they were away. Hermione asked why they couldn't come too, and Harry regretfully replied that the meeting was quite personal. He didn't want his friends to think that they couldn't know about his personal life, but Andromeda had insisted about bringing no one.

He fiddled with the corner of his shirt as he watched Tonks biting her nails. Once she confessed him that biting nails was immensely satisfying for her as she would never run out of nails, and could return them to the perfect shape afterwards. Madam Rosemerta, the barmaid, was eyeing them with interest. She knew Tonks, of course, but the cute boy with her seemed a bit young for her, and he did look strangely familiar. Images of two handsome, cocky, and very witty boys came t her mind and she gasped when she realized it was the son of James Potter, which meant he was-

"Harry Potter?" she whispered near the boy, who looked at her with an alarmed look.

"Oh, I'm sorry for interrupting. Would you like a butterbeer?" she asked, and before they could answer, she added, "It's on the house. I knew your father, dear. He was an absolute heartbreaker. You look exactly like him, except for the eyes of Lily Evans. Oh, how she used to hex poor James whenever he asked her out!" she laughed at the memories. Harry was listening to all these carefully, smiling along with the attractive woman. He requested her to sit down with them and have a chat.

"Oh, I'd love to, but I have customers waiting. I'll catch up with you sometimes later." She went away with a smile, and came back after a short while to serve their butterbeer. She wouldn't take his money no matter what, but she promised she would charge him from next time.

"Enjoying Hogsmeade?"

Harry looked around to see Andromeda smiling at him. Tonks attacked her mother with a hug and after she was done, Harry hugged her too. They all sat down and simply looked at each other for a few moments. Despite the tension about the meeting, Harry was very happy to see Andromeda, especially after what he heard when he was near a dementor. Andromeda asked how the Hogsmeade weekend was coming along, and the teens shared a dark look.

"We faced a dementor." Tonks told her mother, whose face hardened.

"What happened?" she asked, casting a privacy charm around the table.

"Harry fainted again, and he heard... things." Tonks finished, uneasily looking at Harry, afraid that she had spilled out more information than she was supposed to. However, Harry didn't wait for Andromeda's questioning look, or lack thereof.

"I heard my mum pleading to Voldemort to spare me and kill her instead. She had a nice voice." He commented indifferently, though he was hurting inside. Andromeda held his hand and said, "She loved you, Harry. I know if she was given another chance, she would do the same a hundred times over."

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, as the women wiped their moist eyes, and Harry shook the sadness out of him.

"So what was this big news you are supposed to tell us?" he asked finally.

Andromeda looked around to make sure the privacy charm was still intact, and then spoke.

"Do you have that map now?" she asked. Harry nodded and handed her the seemingly empty parchment.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Andromeda whispered, and Harry and Tonks' eyes widened. She even knew the pass-phrase?

"Mum how do you know-"

"Not now, Nymphadora." Her mother replied, realizing the mistake a second later.

"Don't call me Nymphadora!" she said angrily. Harry patted her arm to remind her it was not the time. She didn't look abashed.

"Look at this." Andromeda pointed at a certain point in the map. Both of them leaned in to see what she was pointing. It was the Gryffindor common room, near the fireplace, beside Colin Creevy, a dot named-

"PETER PETTIGREW?" Tonks exclaimed and Harry's jaw dropped.

"But... wasn't he dead? Is the map... is it-"

"It's not lying, or malfunctioning. Yes, Peter Pettigrew was supposed to be dead. However, certain source told me there was a high possibility that he was actually alive. Of course, I didn't believe the source at first, but then I started to link the events, and it suddenly seemed very suspicious. Remember how I told you that the biggest part of Pettigrew they ever found was a finger? I studied the case in detail, and the records said that actually the only part they found was a finger."

"But how is that possible? There should've been other parts too." Tonks argued. "It was said that he was blasted with a single curse. If that is true, most of the bones should've been found."

"The body could've been vanished, though." Harry said, but Tonks shook her head.

"It doesn't make sense. If Black wanted to vanish his body, why leave out the finger? Though it's possible that they had a short duel where Pettigrew's finger was cut off and then he was killed and then vanished."

"Black doesn't sound like the guy who would miss out a single finger, because he was standing there and laughing until the authorities came to get him. If he wanted to cover his tracks, he could've just escaped. Besides, why are we arguing about this? We now know he is alive, don't we?" Harry said.

Andromeda was impressed by the thinking of her daughter and Harry. They had good futures in the Auror Department. Given that Harry wanted to be an Auror, of course. She cleared her throat to have their attention, and they looked at her immediately.

"Yes, we do know Pettigrew is alive, and in the Gryffindor Tower as of right now." She said. Both of them gasped.

"But how did he get in?" Tonks cried.

"What does he want? Doesn't he know Sirius Black is on the loose? It isn't safe for him to be here right now." Harry said worriedly. Andromeda had to bite back the words that wanted to escape her. She was supposed to take it slow.

"Harry, have you read about Animagus in Transfiguration? Yes? Well, fact is, Peter Pettigrew is an animagus. So was your father, and so is Sirius Black. They were all unregistered animagus." She paused for the words to sink in. They were both speechless, so Andromeda gave them some time and looked at the map again. This time she saw something that made her speechless.

"But... that's too much for coincidence... has to be an explanation..." she was saying incoherently, staring at the dot labelled 'Remus Lupin'.

"What happened mum?" Tonks asked urgently, surprised to see her mother being incoherent.

"What do you know about the Marauders?" she asked once she composed herself.

"Erm... not much. They were a group of pranksters who had the code names 'Wormtail, Moony, Padfoot and Prongs." Tonks relayed the part she overheard from her parents' conversation.

"Prongs was also known as James Potter. Padfoot is Sirius Black. Wormtail is Pettigrew, and Moony is Remus Lupin."

"My dad was a Marauder?" Harry asked with shock.

"Professor Lupin?" Tonks was thunderstruck.

"Yes, so it seems. When they were at school, the four of them were the best of friends, and pranksters from heart. They became animagus in their fifth year, and created the map around the same time. They were one of the most famous groups of friends to graduate from Hogwarts. They called themselves the Marauders."

Harry didn't have words to describe how he felt. He felt like crying, laughing and screaming all at once. He felt immensely happy to find that he found something that belonged to his father, and knowing the fact that James Potter was one of the most popular students to grace Hogwarts. At the same time, the thought of best friends betraying him like Black did, and the indifferent tone by which Professor Lupin said he knew his mum and didn't bother to acknowledge that his dad was his childhood best friend... these thoughts hurt. He didn't want partial treatment, of course. But just a 'Hi Harry, your dad was my mate' wouldn't hurt, would it? And the thing that confused him most was Peter Pettigrew. It seemed the man escaped when Black attempted to kill him, and it was understandable that he wanted to hide until Black was behind the bars. But why hide all these years, and most importantly, where was he? If he wasn't guilty for anything, he wouldn't have to hide, because Black was in Azkaban after confessing his sins, and he would be safe outside.

"Um... Andromeda, is Pettigrew totally innocent? I mean I know he didn't do much wrong, but was there anything he did that caused him to go into hiding?"

Before Andromeda could answer, Tonks replied, "Yeah, if he is an unregistered animagus it is an offence, but he could simply hide it by not transforming. Unless he thought Sirius Black would tell on him?" she asked her mother.

"I'm impressed by both of your thinking, and yes, Pettigrew is guilty. But being an unregistered animagus is the least important of his crimes."

Harry felt his mouth going dry. What other crimes did the man hiding at the Gryffindor common room commit? And he wondered why Colin didn't notice him when he was right beside him? Unless Colin already knew him, or he was in-

"What is Pettigrew's animagus form?" he asked Andromeda.

"A rat." She replied with distaste and Harry understood why Colin hasn't noticed him yet, or how he broke in to Hogwarts.

"He has been at Hogwarts since you came, Harry." Andromeda continued. "In fact he is a pet rat."

A pet rat? He had a vision of Hermione arguing with Ron Weasley about her cat and-

"Scabbers? That's Ron's rat!" he exclaimed, looking at Tonks. Her eyes widened in shock.

"He has been sharing the same dorm with you for years?" she looked somewhat horrified.

"What were his crimes, Andromeda?" he asked sharply, and Andromeda sighed before answering.

"All the crimes Sirius Black was supposed to have done."

"WHAT?" both of them shouted, and if there wasn't a privacy charm, customers from Honeydukes could have heard the shout. For a few moments, they tried to process what they were said, and then Harry spoke.

"He framed Black? You want to say that Black was innocent?" Andromeda nodded, and Tonks asked, "How do you know all these now? Or did you know it all along?"

"I wished I knew it all along." She looked tired when she said that. "I came to know it a few days back. I have a reliable source." They just stared at her, silently asking for an explanation.

"Sirius Black was offered to be the secret keeper of the Potters. But he refused. Not because he didn't want to be responsible, because he thought it would be obvious. James Potter was best friends with Sirius Black, so it would be only normal if Sirius became the Potter's secret keeper. He suggested Peter Pettigrew because he was a kind of slob, and no one would expect the frightened little Pettigrew to be the Potters' secret keeper. So they let everyone know that Sirius Black was their secret keeper, while it was actually Pettigrew. Apparently, Pettigrew was a Death Eater, so as soon as he was trusted with the secret, he ran to his master to spill it. I think that was the most glorious moment of his pathetic life. After You-Know-Who fell, Sirius hunted him and found him in a street full of people. The rat then shouted to the whole street how Sirius betrayed James and Lily, and then blasted the whole street. In the confusion and panic, he cut his finger and transformed to a rat and escaped. And Sirius was so shocked, he lost his mind and just laughed until the DMLE came to arrest him." She finished sadly. Harry's head was spinning. The man he hated for betraying his parents was actually innocent? And he had to serve twelve years of Azkaban, surrounded by dementors. He faced them just twice and in his opinion it was too many times already. He suddenly felt very sick.

"But how do we prove this to the ministry? They are not going to take your words for it." Tonks said, worried for her once favourite uncle.

"There's one way. Isn't there?" Andromeda said softly.

"We have to catch Pettigrew." Harry said slowly, but with determination. Tonks' eyes widened and Andromeda nodded. As much as she wanted them to have normal lives, staying away from trouble, especially of this magnitude, but it was the only way. Well, she could tell Dumbledore, but she had learned to expect Dumbledore to screw up everything, and later claim that it was for the greater good. She knew if they alarmed Pettigrew in some way, Sirius would lose any hopes of freedom. And if they were caught helping an escaped mass murderer... she didn't want to even think of the consequences.

"But how do you know your... source isn't wrong and Pettigrew is really innocent? There is no actual proof that he is the guilty one, except for the fact he is alive." Harry said in a tense voice. "I mean the hints point at that conclusion, but there might be some other reasons Pettigrew has been hiding. And we can hardly blame him for escaping if he was actually innocent. I mean I trust you, but what if we are wrong about Pettigrew?" he finished quietly. He didn't want to argue with Andromeda, but it was foolish to trust the words of a 'source', as according to the story, no one other than the people involved knew about the switch of the secret keepers. It was suspicious that someone else knew about it.

Andromeda smiled at the boy. He would've made a good Slytherin. "Of course Harry, I understand. You want to be sure. Why don't we meet up with this 'source' of mine? Maybe he can convince you."

Harry perked up at this. That was actually a good idea. "Sure. When can we meet him?"

"What about now?" Andromeda said with a lopsided grin. Both teens' eyes widened and they nodded in agreement. She didn't plan for them to meet today, mainly because she didn't think their meeting would go this good. She didn't expect them to be so thoughtful and thinking everything logically. She stopped by Sirius' cave to say hello just before coming here. That mutt is in for a surprise.

...

"You're kidding me right? We have to climb that- HEY!" Tonks exclaimed as Harry poked her in the ribs and started climbing the small hill. Huffing, she followed, Andromeda trailing behind.

After ten minutes, they were standing at the top, looking at the entrance of a cave.

"He lives here? In this cave? What kind of person is he?" Tonks whispered to Harry, as Andromeda went to fetch her source. Harry shrugged, not having a clue why would someone live in this seemingly godforsaken place.

Andromeda came back, but she was not alone. A great black dog, which looked quite familiar to Harry, followed her, waggling its tail.

"Harry, Dora, I'd like you to meet my informant." She said, waving at the dog. They were about to express their concerns regarding Andromeda's sanity, when the great black dog transformed, in front of their eyes, to a tall, thin man with long, dirty hair. With a slightly croaky voice, the man introduced himself.

"Sirius Black. Convicted mass murderer, falsely accused Death Eater, one of the Marauders, and godfather of Harry Potter. A pleasure to meet you again."

A/N: Virtual cookies to ILikeComps for the 300th review. On a different note, do you like the new summary?

Review please. It gives me motivation to write more, and publish faster.