I will take this time to thank bookhater95 immensely for also beta reading these last few chapters. I don't know what I'd do without you!

HPHPHPHP

It did not go according to plan.

His timber like growls shook the floor before the room stopped spinning, Malfoy's shrieks somehow continued to increase beyond what should be possible, and Padfoot lay on the other side of the room bleeding, unmoving.

It wasn't until somebody raised their wand beside him in tandem and shouted, "Protego!" He realized it was Neville's voice, not Ron's, but the feeling of relief flooding him was all the same as his shield blocked one of the three heads already swooping in on the pool of blood. His hot breath steamed the magic, saliva flew in all directions, splattering and mixing into Sirius's life force and making travel even more impossible.

Hermione and Tonks had an unconscious Professor Lupin between them and were trying to haul him to the hatch still closed while Malfoy hid behind the harp. Harry and Neville still had the attention of two of the heads snapping and pressing them into the wall behind by Neville's loan barrier, his shield the only thing keeping them in place while the third continued whining and straining his obscenely thick neck muscles to sniff at the red and black pool.

For a heart stopping breath, Harry didn't know where Ron was, and he feared even as his arms trembled and his heart beat louder than the thunderous growls that would never stop his best mate was already swallowed into a gullet. The girls were trying to get through without being trampled underfoot, Hermione's cloak was caught under a massive nail the size of her face, her frizzy hair crackled with the scream she let lose as she tried to wrench herself free with the promising deadly vines only feet away while they held two-thirds of Fluffy's focus with dwindling power as their shields began to flicker-

TWANG, BANG, CLANG

It sounded like somebody was beating Fleur Delacour's voice to death, the musical quality all drained out and only leaving the sharp noise of a distraught instrument, but Fluffy froze in place. Ron did it again, violently rubbing the heel of his palm across the harp Quirrell had once left behind as he shouted, "Hermione move!"

TWINGE, BLURR, SCREEEECH

It was no semblance of music Harry had ever heard, or would wish to hear again, but the dog's eyes were drooping. He was making a deceivingly sad, keening noise in the back of his throat like a child whining about nap time as two legs began to fold down. Ron did it one last time, his nails and Quidditch calloused rough digits beating out a few more notes as the massive monster hit the ground snoring on his side. One hind leg was left kicking at the air like he was at least having a nice dream, the very same that had been pinning their friend down.

Tonks tapped Professor Lupin with her wand now to go ahead as she helped Hermione limp along, who was conjuring blue flames as they finally jumped down.

Harry and Neville let their shields drop with shocking gasps, shaking and sweating from exertion. With one deep breath though, Neville steadied himself and kept his wand trained right in place as Ron kept up the same back and forth movement, almost getting into some kind of rhythm that didn't hurt their ears but still no closer to a tune as the same strings were being rung back and forth. Harry marched over to where Malfoy was still cowering, his face filled with tears and snot streaks as he clung onto the golden hilted base like it was his actual prison. The shimmering cords only added to the effect until Harry reached around and grabbed him roughly by the scruff of his neck, marching him over to the hatch and dumping him unceremoniously in spite of his yelp and trying to hold onto Harry's sleeve.

His eyes flickered longingly to the door for just a moment, but it would do no good to sit around and try to get it open. The path was obvious, and his friends were down there.

Harry walked carefully over an ear, circling carefully so he was back near the heads. Sirius was nestled near Fluffy's butt and straining to sniff it in confusion. "Get ready to run mate," Harry said as he braced his wand level with the floor again. Even in sleep the Cerberus's nose was twitching in their direction, Sirius was whimpering and trying to move somewhere in his addled state as his dark eyes flickered around.

"With you around? Always," Ron scoffed, his hand starting to skip a few strokes on purpose to flinch away and get going.

"Alright, on three, I'll rush and grab up Sirius-"

"I'll do it," Ron cut in. "No offense mate, your scrawny arse won't lift him even as a mutt."

Harry bit his tongue against protesting, now wasn't the time, and Ron wasn't wrong.

"Fine, Neville you come over here, no chance of us getting separated. Me and you will cover him." Neville left his landing spot, placing him farther away from the hatch without a second thought, his knees always bent and walking carefully on his toes to get him across as fast as possible. Harry hoped he kept at that as he found himself smiling for just a moment. Their passing friend might never have played Quidditch with them, but he'd kept up in the corridors all those years ago in their race back to the common room, and Neville had only grown more all these years later.

"All right then, one..." he paused for breath, his heart still trembling a worse beat than Ron's music.

"Two..." Neville added with confidence, his voice as steady as his wand.

"Three." Ron spoke in a sharp, military snap to urge his Queen to victory as he lunged half across the room in one long stride. Harry and Neville sprang after him to keep pace, keeping their shield charms up at all times as Fluffy's large amber eyes instantly flashed open. By the time the first mouth opened in a massive yawn, Ron had his arms around the large black dog and was finishing his quick gate down the dark passage. The first snap of those teeth on their heels already had Harry and Neville tumbling over each other with only a snip of cloth left behind for the dog to play with.

The fall wasn't long. By the time the shock of cold air rushing past them even registered, Harry braced himself to land on the soft thump of plants ready to strangle him.

It never came. Harry let out a groan of pain once more as he landed on solid concrete, world wrong side up once more. The Devil's Snare was bundled up in the corner, Harry's ears insisted he could hear them screaming and squealing as it all wrapped itself around its own vines with the circle of blue flames Hermione kept calm control over as she waved frantically at them from the next doorway.

Harry scrambled to his feet, ignoring his pounding head and heart flipping a new beat as he grabbed Neville's arm to guide him along the wet stone path he wouldn't have been down. Hermione slammed the door behind them all as he finally doubled over to catch his breath, and still couldn't. "Sirius? Is, is everybody-"

A quiet voice, raspy but firm, answered, "you are so grounded when we get back."

Harry's head snapped up, and no amount of death Fluffy could have inflicted on him compared to how much it hurt seeing his godfather. His robes blood soaked, his face ghastly pale, leaning on Ron as the only thing to keep him upright as his grey eyes studied him in now familiar stark relief and concern taking in every inch of him.

Laughter bubbled out of Harry, and then he couldn't stop. He stumbled forward into his godfather and sent them both crashing into the wall with his uncoordinated hug as he tried to gasp and apologize and explain, "I thought, I thought you were..."

He couldn't say the words, he didn't know how to even keep thinking the worst now it wasn't true as Sirius wrapped him in a hug just as tight.

"Nah, ol' Moony's got nothing on me," his voice was still gruff, just a hint of cocky, self-assured youth in it once more after that romp like that memory in Snape's head had once existed. His hold on Harry quickly went gentle though, as if he feared holding him too tight would make Harry jerk away again no matter how much he pressed his face painfully tight into his godfather's ruined chest.

The quiet moment was disrupted by Malfoy beginning to shriek like a banshee, "it's waking up! Quick, somebody kill it!"

Harry pulled away from Sirius just long enough to see Professor Lupin stirring, and Hermione marching towards the blonde git.

SMACK

It echoed slightly in the damp corridor, and even in the faint natural light that came from nowhere, they could see the red mark on his cheek.

"We've had enough of you!" Her voice was deadly calm, her hand twitched for her wand. "We're all stuck in this mess Malfoy, and you turning on anyone here will get you a one-way ticket back to those plants!"

His throat convulsed, he picked the wise option and remained silent. No Crabbe and Goyal to back him up, his Inquisitorial Squad pin gleamed dully in the light right above his Crown shaped badge Hermione still seemed tempted to rip off and shove up his nose before the low groan of pain took her attention back.

She was right back beside Tonks in a second saying with a lingering quiver in her voice but full confidence in the spell as they finished patching him up and fixed his tattered clothes that had ripped all around him.

Ron picked up the drunken laugh that Harry had let taper off as he looked ahead at the less dangerous tasks they could tackle and behind what they had lived through twice. "Think Moody will give us extra credit in our Auror training for this?" He grinned at Harry.

"As long as he doesn't accuse us of cheating first," Harry said with a sigh of his own as he slumped against the wall. Sirius fell with him, and Harry immediately snapped to attention of his injuries. Or tried to. His mind went blank as he attempted to see past all the blood, realizing his lack of anything to help. This seemed like a serious lack of magical skill on his part!

"Hermione!" The desperate call didn't finish passing his lips before she was beside them too, murmuring a gentle, "tergeo," and then wincing when she saw the gashes without the marring. "Episky!" She sounded nervous, unlike her usual confidence in class, but Harry sighed in relief while Sirius let out a surprised hiss when his skin snapped back together, but it still had a mottled, red tint to it and his hands spasmed around Harry greatly.

"Sorry, sorry!" She cried quickly, jumping away. "I, I've only read about those spells, but you were bleeding so much-"

"It's alright," Sirius grunted, but he was breathing just a tad easier. "That's usually used to fix broken bones, and I'm sure I had one or two of those." He stopped and they all heard his painful swallow. "Give me a second to catch my breath, I know a few more handier spells for just such occasions."

"You do?" Hermione sounded almost insultingly surprised to Harry's ears.

"What, did you really think James and I ran around with a werewolf without preparing for a few of these occasions."

Now Harry found himself sheepishly surprised as well. There was something in the tight strain around Sirius's eyes though, the way he hesitated before he pulled his wand out that made Harry wonder if he was holding something back from that experience. Or perhaps this just brought back to many memories of his dad doing this for him while Harry sat uselessly beside and only watched as he performed the nonverbal spell and his skin smoothed out to normal.

He looked over to Lupin, not sure what he was expecting to find, only to see his hazy eyes still looking blearily around trying to even figure out where they were while Tonks kept a soothing hand on his shoulder and gently wiped away the last of the blood from his mouth.

Neville was crouched in place taking deep, soothing breaths and murmuring to himself. Harry hoped he knew his parents had to be proud of him now, after all the mess they'd just been through. He'd never have expected bumbling Neville to be steady as a rock during this, certainly not his first choice, and yet he didn't know if he'd have made it away from Fluffy back there without him-

"The book!" Harry gasped, doing a whole spin as the head count was complete, they were all safe, but possibly more trapped than ever. "Did anybody grab-"

"Of course Harry," Hermione grabbed his arm and waved the red spine about. "I'll start reading as soon as everyone catches their breath."

"Did you magnetize that thing to you?" Ron snickered. It was the first snide comment he'd made to her since they'd been in his home, and both of his friends found themselves oddly relieved.

"It's called the Summoning Spell Ronald," she huffed, turning to him with her usual exasperation. "Maybe you'd have heard of it if you'd stop trying to eat your charms book!"

"Oi! I was there at Harry's match against the dragon thank you," Ron puffed up his chest as he continued, "and I was a little busy keeping that great beast distracted. I told you I was only using it for spitballs that one time, Fred and George were asking for it..."

They devolved into their usual sniping at each other, and Harry found himself warm and content in place at the familiar noise, his godfather beside him alive and watching with intrigue. Life felt normal, for now.

Tonks's warm hand was still on Remus's shoulder as the nausea and blurry vision finally began to dull enough he could take a proper look around to see Ron and Hermione bickering, Sirius, Harry, and Neville watching with high amusement like it was another day in the courtyard, and Malfoy standing in place like he'd been struck dumb. Nobody was dead, nobody was even greatly concerned as he took a steadying breath and tried to sit up.

Her hands pressed gently onto his chest and she shushed him. "You're alright, just take it easy."

"What happened," he croaked, though he had a good guess by the way Sirius was holding himself. He might have already been healed, but it was a long-practiced pose of his to hide injuries magic couldn't just gloss over.

"Everybody's okay, you had a rough go of it with Sirius," Tonks still chatted at him like she was debriefing the Order. For a moment he thought she was going to leave it there, sugar coated and vague as he turned to her for more, but she was already giving him a few more details with a wary eye on Harry. "He tried to jump down and help, crazy lad. If Sirius wasn't so relieved he's alive he'd be ripping his ear off." Sirius's arm was rather possessively around his godson when he looked again, his withered hands like iron.

Remus wasn't really sure what he was expecting. In theory, he'd known they all knew. Harry had even called him Professor and talked to him without a hint of fear at the end of his third year like it was another day. They hadn't been trapped with him last time though, those teenagers. Tonks might have been told what he was, but never had to see it for herself.

Yet her hands lingered on him without disgust. It was so, gentle, like even Madam Pomfrey's soothing rest had never quite managed in her motherly, stern way. She kept studying his face with a familiar smile, she seemed more worried if she'd missed a spot than trying to find the beast in place. Her hand twitched towards his face, just once, and for a delirious moment he imagined her gently brushing at his hair, not afraid it would sprout and grow to fur before he shook himself and sucked in a stern breath, sitting up properly.

She watched him this time with the same steady concern, and it made his skin prickle uncomfortably. He almost wished for the screaming or disgust, at least he knew to slowly back away and placate when that happened. "Tell me something Dora," the name slipped easily from his mouth, he wanted to rile her up, get that fire back in her eyes like she was bad mouthing Snape after his last sniveling comment about Sirius over dinner with them. "Where were you in that mess?"

He'd meant to come across pugnant, like Moody might if he were critiquing her performance. Instead, she lifted her chin, a sly smirk in place like she knew what he was doing, and wasn't going to get a rise out of her. "I was hauling three teenagers up a tree and trying to fortify it, not my fault that boy is trouble with a capital T just like Sirius first warned me and Kingsley." She sounded almost proud, even as she gave him a miffed little sniff just like he wanted. It sounded like a kitten sneezing. "Don't cop an attitude with me, it's not my fault I don't have any chocolate upon you first waking up."

"How much do you gossip with Sirius?" He found his own tone exasperated as he grinned at her. Tonks would have her own mood no matter what anyone wanted.

She gave him a mischievous grin that stunned him into silence, her pink hair still had leaves and twigs in it, her ears almost looked elfin in that trouble-makers face. "I'll never tell." Then she gave him a contemplative look and conceded, "I'll give you a hint though, when we caught Fred and George moving stuff into their room, they found this ruddy hole in the wall, five seconds in there right? That old house has to have hundreds of secrets, I wouldn't be surprised if they still haven't found half, and you will not guess what they found inside!" She kept going with high exuberance. Tonks was getting so excited and into her story, she even began tripping over her words. Her eyes shined bright brown, like warm chocolate.

The ease of their situation finally tapered off though when Malfoy's attitude wound back up and he stomped forward to snatch the book away from Hermione, sneering, "if you lot are all done lollygagging about when we could die at any moment!"

"Should we tell him?" Ron mock whispered.

"I'm not guna tell him," Harry rolled his eyes, deciding he'd let Malfoy walk in on that troll. Maybe it would be unconscious again, maybe not. He figured they could probably make it all the way to the Mirror of Erised again without trouble, but Sirius distracted him from those pleasant thoughts with a harsh whisper, "You and I do need to have a talk."

Harry felt the belligerence rise, and just a few slivers of unease. The now familiar combination of realizing Sirius was disappointed in him.

"I wasn't going to just stand by and do nothing! He almost killed you!"

Sirius set his jaw square, but then exhaled sharply. Harry felt his own defense rattle loose as he heard how much Sirius was trying not to just flatly scold him, but in fact sounded like a begrudging compliment when he muttered, "Merlin you are just like James." It struck him like the first time Sirius had said it. Sirius cleared his throat and tried again, sounding a tad more Mrs. Weasley ish, "It's not your job to take care of me Harry! I told you to stay up that tree, I had it handled-"

He stopped himself though when Harry opened his mouth to protest, again, as Sirius's eyes kept diverting to the book and back to him with a smile tugging at his lips, ruining the rest anyways. "Forget it, you went chasing after a madman over a stone. Can I convince you of anything?"

Harry had only heard that tone directed at Hermione before, from a teacher. It was a different kind of pride though, it somehow sank deeper than the highest grade he'd ever earned, felt warmer than even when Sirius had bragged about his Quidditch ability. Nobody had ever been around to be proud of his accomplishments before.

Before Harry could think of anything to say to that, Sirus's tone went sharp again. Harry felt like he was getting whiplash from Sirius's mum instead. "I will ruddy convince you not to do it again though! This, where we are, Harry!"

He was clearly listening more than Harry had been, to the long string of circumstances where McGonagall and Snape alike posed more obstacle than help as Dumbledore left the castle and Harry made his decision. Sirius ran his hand through his unkempt hair and swallowed a laugh at how his godson had gotten past Peeve's, then flickered back to watching Ron and Hermione fondly as they vowed to go with him to the end while still bickering every step of the way. They reminded him so much of James and Lily while they were doing that it was probably more concerning to his continued sanity than it should be.

"I need you to be careful," Sirius concluded bluntly, he'd lost the ability for any other way as he looked sharply at his godson. Lily's eyes kept studying him in James's face, and he lost his own confidence all over again what he was doing. Was this how they would have wanted him to say it? Of course not, they'd rather say it themselves!

"I promise I'll do my best to tell you next time?" Harry halfheartedly offered. He couldn't think what else to say, he felt struck dumb.

Sirius grumbled and muttered for a second, but his arm still stayed tight around him even as Ron and Hermione's past squabbling got them through the Devil's snare into this corridor now.

"Does it help at all if I told you Fluffy was the worst of it?" Harry asked, hoping the worst was over himself.

"Depends on how that match with Quirrell went before Dumbledore showed up," Sirius raised an inquisitive brow.

Harry closed his mouth and wondered if his stomach was going to drop out of his butt. Sirius was going to know the worst of him. All that pride and concern might as well be left down here in these dusty old stones. Sirius would never think he was anything like his dad again, having danced so close with the dark arts when Voldemort hadn't been able to touch him, so he'd accidentally killed his host.

Neville cleared his throat uneasily but didn't seem to catch anybody's attention. As the book caught up with where they were, he wondered if they were supposed to keep going down the path or not, but nobody else seemed concerned with moving and it made sense as he kept listening even through Malfoy's scathing snorts of disbelief. Harry could easily catch the key again, they probably could knock another troll out if it was even awake, Ron could probably get all of them through that chess game with even more ease than he had years ago, and Hermione wouldn't have to think twice about which bottle to grab. They'd be putting themselves through more risk for nothing, and the dwindling pages promised one thing they could all agree on.

They were almost done.

HPHPHPHPHPHPH

Not going to lie, I'm considering dropping Malfoy out of this. I only added him because I thought I needed some 'antagonist' like character like in Mirror of Erised to break tension, plus I wanted a chance at giving him a redemption arc like the books never did, but I can't think of much to do with him until book six. I guess he could give them all the silent treatment with occasional thoughts from him until then?

If I did, he would either vanish and it would be written off as if he were never there, or I might switch him out with Ginny and pretend she was always there. Retcon win? Let me know your thoughts?