Parts of this chapter are copied from JKR's Prisoner of Azkaban. Obviously I don't own that, nor do I own anything else for that matter. I've looked this over for mistakes but I'm sure I've missed some. If anyone is interested in being a beta for this let me know. This first chapter is boring in my own opinion but its the prologue to the real story where we diverge from canon more. This is my first attempt at writing anything other than required essays in school so it is what it is. I wont promise a certain schedule for updates, I'm busy with real life just like everyone else, but I do have this completed up to the beginning of 5th year as of the day of the publishing so I have a good head start. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

Edited to add: This story led itself in a different direction than I had originally intended, and it will be a Harry/Multi story. I wanted to get the word out early so the ones of you who don't do that kind of story won't waste your time reading up to that point only to decide you hate it.

Harry had never been part of a stranger group. Crookshanks led the way down the stairs; Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron went next, looking like entrants in a six-legged race. Next came Professor Snape, drifting creepily along, his toes hitting each stair as they descended, held up by his own wand, which was being pointed at him by Sirius. Harry and Hermione brought up the rear.

Getting back into the tunnel was difficult. Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron had to turn sideways to manage it; Lupin still had Pettigrew covered with his wand. Harry could see them edging awkwardly along the tunnel in single file. Crookshanks was still in the lead. Harry went right after Black, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of them; he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. Harry had the impression Black was making no effort to prevent this.

"You know what this means?" Black said abruptly to Harry as they made their slow progress along the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free." said Harry.

"Yes. . . " said Black. "But I'm also - I don't know if anyone ever told you - I'm your godfather. "

"Yeah, I knew that." said Harry.

"Well. . . your parents appointed me your guardian," said Black stiffly. "If anything happened to them. . . "

Harry waited. Did Black mean what he thought he meant?

"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said Black. "But. . . well. . . think about it. Once my name's cleared. . . if you wanted a. . . a different home. . . "

Some sort of explosion took place in the pit of Harry's stomach.

"What - live with you?" he said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursleys?"

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," said Black quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd -"

"Are you insane?" said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Black's. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

Black turned right around to look at him; Snape's head was scraping the ceiling but Black didn't seem to care.

"You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry.

Black's gaunt face broke into the first true smile Harry had seen upon it. The difference it made was startling, as though a person ten years younger were shining through the starved mask; for a moment, he was recognizable as the man who had laughed at Harry's parents' wedding.

They did not speak again until they had reached the end of the tunnel. Crookshanks darted up first; he had evidently pressed his paw to the knot on the trunk, because Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron clambered upward without any sound of savaging branches.

Black saw Snape up through the hole, then stood back for Harry and Hermione to pass. At last, all of them were out.

The grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Without a word, they set off. Pettigrew was still wheezing and occasionally whimpering. Harry's mind was buzzing. He was going to leave the Dursleys. He was going to live with Sirius Black, his parents' best friend. . . . He felt dazed. . . . What would happen when he told the Dursleys he was going to live with the convict they'd seen on television. . . !

"One wrong move, Peter," said Lupin threateningly ahead. His wand was still pointed sideways at Pettigrew's chest.

Silently they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was still drifting weirdly ahead of Black, his chin bumping on his chest. And then -

A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight.

Snape collided with Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron, who had stopped abruptly. Black froze. He flung out one arm to make Harry and Hermione stop.

Harry could see Lupin's silhouette. He had gone rigid. Then his limbs began to shake.

"Oh, my -" Hermione gasped. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!"

"Run," Black whispered. "Run. Now. "

But Harry couldn't run. Ron was chained to Pettigrew and Lupin. He leapt forward but Black caught him around the chest and threw him back.

"Leave it to me - RUN!"

There was a terrible snarling noise. Lupin's head was lengthening. So was his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws. Crookshanks's hair was on end again; he was backing away -

As the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws, Sirius disappeared from Harry's side. He had transformed. The enormous, bearlike dog bounded forward. As the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, the dog seized it about the neck and pulled it backward, away from Ron and Pettigrew. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other.

Harry stood, transfixed by the sight, too intent upon the battle to notice anything else. It was Hermione's scream that alerted him -

Pettigrew had dived for Lupin's dropped wand. Ron, unsteady on his bandaged leg, fell. There was a bang, a flash of green light, and Ron lay motionless on the ground. Another bang - Crookshanks flew into the air and back to the earth in a heap.

"Expelliarmus. " Harry yelled, pointing his own wand at Pettigrew; Lupin's wand flew high into the air and out of sight. "Stay where you are!" Harry shouted, running forward.

Too late. Pettigrew had transformed. Harry saw his bald tail whip through the manacle on Ron's outstretched arm and heard a scurrying through the grass. He pointed his wand trying to find the target but was soon interrupted. There was a howl and a rumbling growl; Harry turned to see the werewolf taking flight; it was galloping into the forest -

"Sirius, he's gone, Pettigrew transformed!" Harry yelled.

Black was bleeding; there were gashes across his muzzle and back, but at Harry's words he scrambled up again, and in an instant, the sound of his paws faded to silence as he pounded away across the grounds.

Harry and Hermione dashed over to Ron.

"What did he do to him?" Hermione whispered. Ron's eyes were wide open staring into the night, his mouth hung open; Harry was certain he knew what had happened but still clung to some hope.

"I don't know. . . . "

Harry looked desperately around. Black and Lupin both gone. . . they had no one but Snape for company, still hanging, unconscious, in midair.

"We'd better get them up to the castle and tell someone," said Harry, pushing his hair out of his eyes, trying to think straight. "Come -"

But then, from beyond the range of their vision, they heard a yelping, a whining: a dog in pain. . . .

"Sirius," Harry muttered, staring into the darkness.

He had a moment's indecision, but there was nothing they could do for Ron at the moment, and by the sound of it, Black was in trouble -

Harry set off at a run, Hermione right behind him. The yelping seemed to be coming from the ground near the edge of the lake. They pelted toward it, and Harry, running flat out, felt the cold without realizing what it must mean -

The yelping stopped abruptly. As they reached the lakeshore, they saw why - Sirius had turned back into a man. He was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head.

"Nooo," he moaned. "Nooo. . . please. . . . "

And then Harry saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake toward them. He spun around, the familiar, icy cold penetrating his insides, fog starting to obscure his vision; more were appearing out of the darkness on every side; they were encircling them. . . .

"Hermione, think of something happy!" Harry yelled, raising his wand, blinking furiously to try and clear his vision, shaking his head to rid it of the faint screaming that had started inside it –

He dug for the happiest memories he could think of. The night he learned that he was a wizard, his first time on a broom, his first real friends, and finally the thought of getting away from his personal hell.

'I'm going to live with my godfather. I'm leaving the Dursleys.'

The happy thoughts on the front his thoughts he pointed his wand towards the dementors as a silver mist began to wisp out of the tip. "Expecto Patronun!"

A solid looking mass of silver erupted from his wand and swirled into the form of a large stag, easily as tall as a man. The stag pawed at the ground for a second before ducking it's head and charging straight towards Sirius. The last thing Harry could remember before everything went dark was the dementors fleeing the area and the thought that he had done it. Sirius would be okay.

"Shocking business. . . shocking. . . miracle he didn't get the boy who lived. . . never heard the like. . . by thunder, it was lucky you were there, Snape. . . "

"Thank you, Minister. "

"Order of Merlin, Second Class, I'd say. First Class, if I can wrangle it!"

"Thank you very much indeed, Minister. "

"Nasty cut you've got there. . . Black's work, I suppose?"

"As a matter of fact, it was Potter, Weasley, and Granger, Minister. . . "

"No!"

"Black had bewitched them, I saw it immediately. A Confundus Charm, to judge by their behavior. They seemed to think there was a possibility he was innocent. They weren't responsible for their actions. On the other hand, their interference might have permitted Black to escape. . . They obviously thought they were going to catch Black single-handed. They've got away with a great deal before now. . . I'm afraid it's given them a rather high opinion of themselves. . . and of course Potter has always been allowed an extraordinary amount of license by the headmaster -"

"Ah, well, Snape. . . Harry Potter, you know. . . we've all got a bit of a blind spot where he's concerned. "

"And yet - is it good for him to be given so much special treatment? Personally, I try and treat him like any other student. And any other student would be suspended - at the very least - for leading his friends into such danger. Consider, Minister - against all school rules - after all the precautions put in place for his protection - out-of-bounds, at night, consorting with a werewolf and a murderer - and I have reason to believe he has been visiting Hogsmeade illegally too -"

"Well, well. . . we shall see, Snape, we shall see. . . The boy has undoubtedly been foolish. . . . "

Harry lay listening with his eyes tight shut. He felt very groggy. The words he was hearing seemed to be traveling very slowly from his ears to his brain, so that it was difficult to understand. . . . His limbs felt like lead; his eyelids too heavy to lift. . . . He wanted to lie here, on this comfortable bed, forever. . . .

"What amazes me most is the behavior of the Dementors. . . you've really no idea what made them retreat, Snape?"

"No, Minister. . . by the time I had come 'round they were heading back to their positions at the entrances. . . . "

"Extraordinary. And yet Black, and Harry, and the girl -"

"All unconscious by the time I reached them. I bound and gagged Black, naturally, conjured stretchers, and brought them all straight back to the castle. "

There was a pause. Harry's brain seemed to be moving a little faster, and as it did, a gnawing sensation grew in the pit of his stomach. . . .

He opened his eyes.

Everything was slightly blurred. Somebody had removed his glasses. He was lying in the dark hospital wing. At the very end of the ward, he could make out Madam Pomfrey with her back to him, bending over a bed. Harry squinted. Ron's red hair was visible beneath Madam Pomfrey's arm.

Harry moved his head over on the pillow. In the bed to his right lay Hermione. Moonlight was falling across her bed. Her eyes were open too. She looked petrified, and when she saw that Harry was awake, pressed a finger to her lips, then pointed to the hospital wing door. It was ajar, and the voices of Cornelius Fudge and Snape were coming through it from the corridor outside.

Madam Pomfrey now came walking briskly up the dark ward to Harry's bed. He turned to look at her. She was carrying the largest block of chocolate he had ever seen in his life. It looked like a small boulder.

"Ah, you're awake!" she said briskly. She placed the chocolate on Harry's bedside table and began breaking it apart with a small hammer.

Harry quickly sat up, putting his glasses back on, and picking up his wand.

"I need to see the headmaster," he said.

"Potter," said Madam Pomfrey soothingly, "it's all right. They've got Black. He's locked away upstairs. The Dementors will be performing the kiss any moment now -"

"WHAT?"

Harry jumped up out of bed; Hermione had done the same. But his shout had been heard in the corridor outside; next second, Cornelius Fudge and Snape had entered the ward.

"Harry, Harry, what's this?" said Fudge, looking agitated. "You should be in bed - has he had any chocolate?" he asked Madam Pomfrey anxiously.

"Minister, listen!" Harry said. "Sirius Black's innocent! Peter Pettigrew faked his own death! We saw him tonight! You can't let the Dementors do that thing to Sirius, he's -"

But Fudge was shaking his head with a small smile on his face.

"Harry, Harry, you're very confused, you've been through a dreadful ordeal, lie back down, now, we've got everything under control. . . "

"YOU HAVEN'T!" Harry yelled. "YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG MAN!"

"Minister, listen, please," Hermione said; she had hurried to Harry's side and was gazing imploringly into Fudge's face. "I saw him too. It was Ron's rat, he's an Animagus, Pettigrew, I mean, and -"

"You see, Minister?" said Snape. "Confunded, both of them. . . Black's done a very good job on them. . . . "

"Shut your fucking mouth and listen to me!" Harry roared.

"Mister Potter!" Madame Pomfrey let out almost instantly, taken aback by Harry's outburst.

Before she had a chance to further berate him, Snape cut her off.

"You insolent little shit!" Snape hissed out as he drew his wand and began to point it at Harry only to have it jerked from his hand by an invisible force. He followed the stick to see it land in Dumbledore's hands along with Harry's. 'I didn't even see him draw his wand…'

Fudge stared at Dumbledore with barely veiled hatred in his eyes. Somehow the bastard had to interfere with all of his plans.

"Perhaps," Dumbledore began as he looked at each of the people in the room "We should all try to calm down. And I do believe this is a conversation much better held in the privacy of my office rather than the hospital wing yes?"

All parties agreed about the hospital not being the appropriate location, though Harry and Snape both found it hard to lessen their anger. With a quick apology to Madame Pomfrey courtesy of Harry, the group made their way out of the hospital wing.

(In Dumbledore's office.)

"Now then, Severus, tell me what happened tonight if you will." Dumbledore said in his normal grandfatherly voice. He was certain that Snape's prejudices had caused him to alter his version of the story, but he needed to hear it first hand regardless.

As Snape began retelling the nights events just as he had to Cornelius, Dumbledore used a gentle legilimency probe on Harry. He wasn't digging for anything, simply reading the surface thoughts as they came to the front, which was quite easy really with his emotions so high-strung at the moment. Every part of Snape's story would bring a scene to Harry's mind, the actual scene without the bias from the rivalry of the Marauders and Snape.

When Snape finished Dumbledore could tell Fudge was firmly in his pocket. The minister was all too happy to pawn everything off on Black, send him through the veil and never admit that they had made such a grave mistake all those years ago.

"So that's that then." Fudge said with a clap of his hands as he made to stand up; in his mind the case was solved and he could get on with things.

"I rather think-" Dumbledore began but was cut off by the minister again.

"What is there to think Albus? It's cut and dry and we have the bastard in custody! He'll be kissed and we can put this whole episode behind us."

Now the Headmaster was starting to get annoyed. He hated being interrupted, especially by simpleminded people such as the minister. "Be silent and be seated. It is now my turn to talk, and you will listen." He commanded without a hint of his normal cheerful tone.

Both Snape and Fudge quickly sat back down. Fudge wanted to protest but Dumbledore wasn't exactly someone you argued with.

With their attention back on him, Dumbledore looked towards Snape. "Are you willing to swear an oath on your magic that you have explained tonight's events truthfully to the best of your knowledge?"

Snape immediately became uneasy. Of course, the headmaster would see right through his story, he was the most powerful wizard alive. Severus pondered for a moment before deciding silence would be the best course to keep from digging himself any deeper.

Fudge, however, had no such tact. "Of course it's the truth! Sirius betrayed the Potters, killed Pettigrew and thirteen muggles, and escaped from Azkaban, he is just back here to finish what he started."

Dumbledore ignored the minister completely, turning to Harry. "Mr. Potter, would you mind telling us what actually happened please?"

Harry recounted the night as it went, barely able to contain his tears when he got to the part about Ron being killed. A hand on his shoulder from a lightly crying Hermione was all that allowed him to keep his composure.

"And would you be willing to swear an oath, Mr. Potter?"

As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at his chest. "I, Harry James Potter, do hereby swear on my life and on my magic that the statement I made concerning last night's events is accurate to the best of my knowledge." A glowing light covering Harry for a moment signaled to all that the oath had took.

"That means nothing! If the boy was confounded then he would actually believe the implanted lies to be the truth." Fudge half yelled.

Before Fudge could go any further or Dumbledore could reply, Snape stopped them. "Potter's story is the truth, Cornelius. I allowed my hatred for Black to cloud my judgement; I wanted to see him kissed.

Fudge looked dumbstruck at this, and Dumbledore couldn't help but let a small smile show. "Now then Cornelius, I believe we shall take Mr. Black to the DMLE and allow for him to have a trial and prove his innocence in court. Wouldn't you agree?"

Cornelius Fudge, The Minister of Magic, who didn't usually know when to cut his losses, got up and left the room without another word. Harry had to stifle a giggle at the grown man and so-called leader of Magical Britain acting so petulant.