A/N: Just FYI, I'm mixing the books and the movies in some chapters because I can't recall what happens in either word-for-word or scene-for-scene. Also, don't get used to weekly updates; this is as surprising to me as it is for you.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter - the books or the movies - and the sort of surfacing plot is the only thing here that's mine.
During the weeks after he separated from Sirius and rented a room at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry was battling with himself. Mentally, that is. He couldn't decide when, or if, he was going to tell Ron and Hermione about Sirius - the truth, along with the dreams.
"What if they don't believe me? What if they think I'm crazy?" He muttered to himself one night, curling up into a ball.
He had hated keeping it a secret from his friends for the last two years, and he hadn't known for definite that the dreams-and Sirius- were real then. Now he did and the urge to tell them was stronger than it had ever been.
Sighing, he unfurled himself from his ball and splayed out on the bed, gazing out of the window at the moon.
"Telling them might put Sirius in danger, but they're my best friends; I trust them, and they deserve to know."
Harry held on to that thought and promised himself that he'd tell them as soon as he could, before finally drifting off to sleep.
The rest of his summer drifted by in a pleasant haze. On the last day he met Ron and Hermione in Diagon Alley outside of Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour, and enjoyed dinner with the rest of the Weasley's at the Leaky Cauldron.
The next day, before he boarded the train he was pulled aside by Mr. Weasley, who wanted to warn him about the danger he was in because of Sirius Black. It took a vast amount of effort to try and keep a fake-worried mask on his face. Underneath that, he was giddy - he would be seeing Sirius again after having to say goodbye a few weeks ago.
He was practically skipping when he only just managed to board the train. Hermione glanced at him oddly before writing off his strangely happy behaviour and leading the hunt for a compartment.
Eventually, they found a semi-empty compartment that housed one sleeping Professor R. J. Lupin.
Harry took in a deep breathe, remembering the decision he'd come to during the summer.
"Sit down, I have to tell you something."
He checked that the corridor was (mostly) empty before he shut the door and sat down.
'Come on, they deserve to know.'
'Just spit it out.'
"You know that Sirius Black escaped from prison recently, yeah?"
He received a few confused nods accompanied by slightly dark looks. This was a lot harder than he'd thought it would be.
"Okay, so... How would you react if I told you that I knew him?"
As expected, their eyes widened in shock and incredulity.
"But Harry, how could you possibly know him? He was sent to prison when you were a baby!" Hermione tried to reason, Ron nodding along with what she'd said.
"I know, and how I know him... It's complicated." Harry was beginning to feel slightly agitated now; he just couldn't find the right words. 'Why is telling the truth so hard?'
"Complicated how, mate? Come on, you can tell us. I mean, it's us."
Harry smiled at that and breathed in, trying to organise his jumbled thoughts.
"Promise not to interrupt me, okay? I'll most likely loose my train of thought." Hermione and Ron both nodded again in agreement.
"Ever since I was little, I don't remember exactly how old I was, I've had dreams. And in the dreams was a man that I'd never met while awake. At first, I didn't he was real. Hell, I still wasn't sure until a few weeks ago. But he said he knew my parents and he told me stories about them and the pranks that him and his friends pulled - the Marauders."
He chuckled at the memory and, unbeknownst to him, the man in the corner twitched at his words.
"He cheered me up when I was sad and wished me a happy birthday; he was the only that ever did. I found out that he was my godfather a couple of years ago. My dad managed to talk mum into it. He told me what my first word was - Moony - and how dad used to get me to sleep. He's the closest thing I've ever had to a real dad."
Harry paused and looked up, trying to gauge their reactions. Hermione looked skeptical, but she small, sad smile on her face. Ron was frowning slightly, but nodded at him to continue.
"A few weeks ago, I accidentally blew up my aunt Marge and -"
"What?!" They both exclaimed, and then quickly turned to look at Lupin. He was still breathing evenly so they turned back to Harry and continued to talk in quiet, rushed voices.
"Harry, how could you blow up your aunt?!"
"Bloody brilliant, mate! How'd you pull that off?"
Hermione looked stricken and elbowed Ron for his comment. Ron winced but still looked greatly amused at this new development in the story.
"Look, that doesn't matter, -" "Doesn't matter!" "- it's what comes after that does!"
They both piped down and returned to their seats, staring at Harry expectantly.
"Right, thank you. So, after I accidentally" he enunciated specifically, looking at Hermione pointedly, "blew up my aunt Marge I took off with my trunk. I wandered around the streets for a bit, trying to think of a place to go to and how to outrun the Ministry."
"Hold on, why'd you need to outrun the Ministry? They won't arrest you for accidental magic." Ron said, looking confused.
"They told me I'd be expelled if I did magic outside of school again, remember?"
"Like they'd expel you, Harry." Ron grinned and motioned with his hand for Harry to continue.
"Right, so after about twenty minutes or so, I stopped in a street and saw something across the road in a dark gap. And, well... I turned out to be- Sirius. And I thought I was going crazy until I remembered I'd seen him on the news a few days before that. We talked. A lot. He talked me into going to Leaky Cauldron and convinced me that I wouldn't be expelled. And he- he told me the truth. About why my parents died, I mean.
Hermione, have you ever heard of the Fidelius Charm before?"
"No, I haven't. Why?"
"It's how my parents hid us. It completely conceals whatever it is that it's hiding and the only person who knows about it and can see it is the Secret Keeper. They're also the only one who can tell other people about it."
Harry had to brace himself for this next part; his blood boiled every time he so much as thought about it.
"Sirius was their Secret Keeper - at the start. But he thought it'd be too obvious that it was him, so he convinced my parents to switch to someone less obvious - one of their other friends, Peter Pettigrew. And within a week of the switch, they died. Sirius knew what had happened, so he chased after Pettigrew. He managed to corner him in a muggle street, but Pettigrew started to yell about how Sirius betrayed my parents. Then he blew up the street, cut off his finger, and ran away. Sirius never got a trial."
Hermione still looked skeptical, and Harry could tell what she'd ask before she did.
"But Harry, how would cutting off his finger allow him to escape?"
"He was an animagus. They all were - my dad, Sirius and Pettigrew. They did it to help their other friend and, because they were so young, they never registered so the Ministry didn't know that Pettigrew could change into a rat to escape - Wormtail."
He could tell that they were both still wary about it, but he didn't know how he could possibly convince them.
"Please, please believe me. Why would I lie about this?" He pleaded.
"I don't know, Harry, It's pretty far-fetched, don't you think? And anyway, how did he make it out of Azkaban if he didn't use dark magic?" Ron asked.
"What's Azkaban?"
"Wizarding prison. But that doesn't matter; did he tell you how he did it?"
"He transformed into a dog and swam back . He said that the guards suck the happiness out of the place and keeps you magic wrapped up because you either go loopy or you're so depressed that you couldn't levitate a feather.
But he found out that Wormtail was still alive and in Hogwarts. I wasn't exactly a happy thought, so he was able to fixate on it and build up his magic again. He said that a dog's emotions are less complex than a humans and, because the guards are blind, he was able to sneak ou and swim to shore."
"How the hell did he figure out that Pettigrew was still alive and at Hogwarts?"
Harry shrugged. Sirius had been a little vague about that.
"He just old me to look out for rats that behaved strangely at Hogwarts, and that I'd see him soon."
"Wait, how are you going to see him? He's not coming to Hogwarts is he?" Hermione frowned.
"Look, if you still don't believe me then come with me to see him. You can find out for yourself."
Hesitantly, they both nodded and Harry grinned, relieved.
"Thanks guys."
"No problem mate. When -"
Ron was cut off when the train carriage came to an abrupt halt.
"We can't be there yet, it's too soon."
Ron went over to the window and peered out into the darkness. His eyes widened.
"There's something out there. I think - Harry, I think something's coming aboard!" He whispered. The glass frosted over as he spoke and the air gained a crisp chill.
Just then the carriage jolted again, waking up Crookshanks and Scabbers. They hissed and squeaked respectively before falling silent.
The door opened then, and two new voices came into the compartment - Ginny and Neville. After the initial confusion and fumbling in the dark, the talking quietened down and they were all trying to rub some feeling back into their fingers when the door began to slowly open again.
This time there was no familiar voice, just a a further drop in temperature and a hollow, rattling sound.
Harry tried to focus his eyes and just managed to make out a darker figure by the door before it happened. Every happy feeling, every happy memory - he couldn't find any. I felt like they'd disappeared and he had been dropped into an icy pool.
Despair filled every inch of the compartment as he tried desperately to cling to consciousness. But he could feel himself slipping, fading. And then, he heard it - a woman's voice, pleading.
"No, not Harry, not Harry! Take me, Kill me instead!"
He knew who that was; he had to help her, he had to, he had ... to...
A high-pitched scream filled his ears as his eyes dimly registered a bright glow before sliding shut.
When he regained consciousness, he was extremely shaky and embarrassed at having fainted.
"Harry! Harry, are you alright?" Hermione crouched down next to him and handed him his glasses, looking concerned.
"I'm fine, thanks. What was that thing?" He asked as he huddled up, trying to retain more body heat.
"It was a dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban. It was searching the train for Sirius Black." Came a new voice from his left. He looked over and saw Lupin, awake and offering him chocolate.
"It'll make you feel better, trust me. Now, if you'll excuse me I need to talk to the driver." He smoothed down his raggedy robes and walked to the door, smiling before he left.
Harry's mind was focused on something he's said. 'One of the guards of Azkaban.' How had Sirius put up with that twelve years?!
"Are the rest of you okay? You didn't, you know, pass out or anything did you?"
Hermione shook her head from where she was sitting, slowly rubbing Ginny's back as she shivered.
"No, but I felt like I'd never be cheerful again. Like all the happiness had gone from the world." Ron looked more pale than usual, his freckles in stark contrast to the rest of his skin.
The shame that Harry felt rose as he learned that he was the only one that had fainted. 'How pathetic is that?' He thought bitterly, glancing at the ground and angrily biting at his chocolate.
The trip up to the castle after that wasn't a fun one. They all kept looking at Harry as if he was going to topple over at any time. It was made even worse when Malfoy started to taunt him for it.
"Just ignore him Harry. He was probably just as scared as everyone else." Hermione reassured him, glaring at Malfoy's retreating back.
"Yeah, but he didn't faint did he?" He retorted bitterly, trudging over to the castle.
They were just about to enter the Great Hall when Professor McGonogall swooped down on them and told Harry and Hermione to follow her. They waved goodbye to Ron and the others, and followed her past the swarm of students.
Harry spent the next ten minutes being worried over by Madame Pomfrey, furthering his shame for fainting. Once he was done he waited outside of the room while Hermione talked to Professor McGonogall. When she exited the room as well she was smiling in a satisfied way. They both made their way back to the Great Hall.
Upon entering the Hall, they found they'd just missed the Sorting. Ron had saved them a seat, so they rushed over to him just as Dumbledore started to list the start-of-term announcements.
"And I'm pleased to introduce to you Professor Remus Lupin, who has kindly agreed to take on the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!" Dumbledore announced and the hall clapped politely.
Harry just sat there, staring up at Professor Remus Lupin. 'Moon?'
He had a feeling that this year was going to be even more complicated than the last.