29/11/21

15 minutes later

It took another quarter of an hour before the grown-ups finally got up and left the pub.

Jack was gently shaken my Elisa to wake him up, as she undid the sticking charm, and Hermione moved the tree back.

Rubbing his eyes and yawning, Jack looked around and looked to where Harry was still sitting, invisibility cloak hood back up.

"You... ok Harry?" Jack asked in an unsure way.

"Hm? Oh yeah. Yeah, I'm great," Harry's voice said, but you could tell he was upset "I need to get back to the school."

With that he slipped under the table and left, the others knowing this because the door to the pub opened and closed on its own and outside a group of carollers were knocked over by an invisible force.

Sighing, Jack handed Elisa back her earmuffs and everyone got up to go after him.

"Give him time to cool down," Jack said to Ron and Hermione. "He might be too upset to talk right now. Non-the-less you go on ahead, I want to spend some more time with Elisa."

Nodding Ron and Hermione left.

Jack went to get some more drinks, and came back giving a deep sigh, before explaining what really happened with the Potters and who the real Secret Keeper was.

At the end, Elisa was a tad surprised, but thinking on how Jack reacted to almost everything that was being said, believed it.

"But... how do you know all this?" she asked quietly.

Checking his watch, Jack saw there was still sometime before they had to be back at the school.

"Come with me," he said and they left the Three Broomsticks and went to the fence just past Dervish and bangs.

o0o

Unsure about what was going on, Elisa looked around, curiously as they got to the required location, and Jack whistled loudly before he waited.

After a few minutes, a large black dog was seen and he came over to them, pausing a few paces away when he spotted Elisa.

"It's ok..." Jack said slowly, sinking to his knees to be at the dogs height "She's a friend, and... I've told her almost everything."

Giving Jack a quizzical look, the dog passed him and went over to Elisa sniffing her to check if she was indeed ok.

After getting a nod, the dog turned and headed back down the path a bit, pausing a little to look back at them telling them to follow.

Jack got up reached out for Elisa's hand when she gave him and they followed him.

After going so far from the edge of the village that no one would see them, they stopped, and the dog changed back into a man.

At first, Elisa was scared and feeling for her wand, but stopped her reminding her that it was alright.

Taking a few deep breaths to calm down she nodded and looked at Sirius Black.

"I thought you were good at keeping secrets Jack Frost," he said looking at the boy.

"I am," Jack said calmly "But we heard some teachers, the Minister and Madam Rosmerta talking about what they think really happened, and being the smart Ravenclaw Elisa is, she could tell it was bugging me so I tell her what really happened. Nothing to do with your school night-time wandering, or anything else, just that. I promise."

Sighing, Sirius said: "Well I suppose it should help to have more people out there who know the true story." He looked to Elisa and smiled at her. "It's nice to meet you Elisa."

"Nice... Nice to meet you too," she said nervously. "So, you're Harry's godfather. Wow, never thought a Black would be anything to a Potter, what with them being kicked off the Sacred 28 because of their Muggle-like surname."

Sirius gave a bark of laughter.

"If I was more under my mother's thumb and less of a rule breaker, they wouldn't be, but I was the White-Sheep in the family. Always causing trouble, fighting against their beliefs, and rebelling against them. I wanted nothing to do with them, or the rest of that group of people who called themselves my family."

Jack smiled at the twisted wording on the catchphrase said for someone who's not like everyone else in a group.

"So, Miss Elisa," Sirius as he sat down inviting the teenagers to join him. "What has this boy been telling you about me, and what would you like to find out?"

"He told me the switch on Secret Keepers, meaning it was Pettigrew who betrayed Mr and Mrs Potter, not you," Elisa said sitting down on a rock rather than the floor "And that's it. What I would like to know is... Why your name isn't on the Animagus Register at the Ministry of Magic?"

"Because I'm an illegal Animagus," Sirius said proudly. "I have been sin 5th year, along with James Potter and that rat."

"Something tells me you didn't do it as a dare," Elisa said in her thinking voice. "That you did for someone."

"We did," Sirius said leaving it at that.

"Were Mr Potter and this... rat, unregistered too?" Elisa asked.

"They were," Sirius said nodding looking over to Jack who was keeping quiet.

Going over all that she had heard that afternoon – from the teachers, to Jack, to what Sirius Black said just now, a look of realization came over Elisa's face.

"Ron's rat – Scabbers – is Peter Pettigrew!" she said looking up for an answer "Isn't he?"

Sirius nodded.

After a moment, Elisa said "You realize if you kill him, the truth is lost."

"I'm not trying to kill him," Sirius said gruffly, getting a minor cough/laugh from Jack "I'm trying to keep him from killing Harry."

"By killing him..." Jack said calmly.

"Why don't you just tell someone about this?" Elisa asked trying to get the man to think clearly. "A member of the Ministry you trust, or an old friend, or Dumbledore? I bet he'd like to know what really happened – In fact, he should know anyway if he was the one putting the Fidalus Charm in place."

"Elisa, because of people's small brains, and their talent of being sheep ready to follow anything anyone with authority has said," Jack began calmly "Sirius at the moment is the most wanted man in Wizarding Brittan. Meaning if he goes to the Ministry - alone – they won't stop to listen to him, they'll just give him back to the Dementors. They didn't listen 12 years ago, do you really think they will now?"

"And I do have a friend," Sirius said calmly stopping Elisa from answering Jack "Only, I'm not sure I'm up to facing him. Also, he's not really someone those idiots at the Ministry will take to listening to."

"Well does he actually know true truth?" Elisa asked.

"No. Nobody was told," said Sirius calmly "It was to add an extra layer of protection on James and Lily, make everyone think it was me, James's best friend / different family brother, and made the bad-guys come after me, leaving Pettigrew safe in his hiding place with the location of their home. Sadly," he said sighing "that rat being the coward he is, he sold them out to Voldemort, just so that noseless freaky hypocrite could get to Harry just because a Prophecy said he might be his downfall when he's older."

Checking his watch and the sunlight outside Jack said that they had to go.

"We'll try and send you some food," Jack promised seeing Sirius was looking thin again "And... try thinking about talking to your friend. Ok? It doesn't have to be face to face, just a letter would do. But he might be a little help."

Sighing Sirius nodded, changed back into being a dog and walked the two of them back to the edge of the village.

o0o

They quiet for a while as they walked the way back to the castle.

Finally, Elisa was about to say something when her friends called out to her.

"There you are Elisa!" Cindy said as Alix came up behind her. "Where were you? We were looking for you everywhere."

"I was with my boyfriend, ladies," Elisa said hugging Jack's arm tightly – gently, but tightly. "He wanted to show me something that could only be seen past that fence. Didn't you Jack?"

"Yes, I did," Jack said smiling and rolling his eyes a little at the other girl's reactions "But don't go telling everyone Elisa – it's meant to be a secret."

"Oooh, what is is?" Alix asked getting excited "I heard if you look hard enough you can see Unicorns if you go up that way."

"Not telling, it's a secret," Elisa said smiling and she and Jack continued to the school, going as fast as they could pass the Dementors, and took a stroll around the grounds.

"You think Harry will be alright?" Elisa asked once they lose Cindy and Alix who gave up trying to talk to Elisa and went into the warmth of the castle.

"Not sure," Jack said sighing looking up to Gryffindor Tower. "He... doesn't take to news like this very well."

"Well then take care of him over the holidays won't you?" she said kissing him.

"I... will do my best to, Snowflake," Jack said not making an actual promise because he didn't think he can keep it "I will do my best to."