Chapter 26

LB

Once again, the ginger cat was sleeping soundly in my lap. I had joined Harry and the others in the mostly empty Gryffindor tower the day Sirius Black asked me to meet him. Hermione didn't even look surprised anymore by Crookshanks behaviour towards me but smiled as the cat came strutting over and with one turn around, he curled up in a ball. I was petting him absentmindedly as my eyes were fixed on the fire in front of me. My feet were inches away from the flames, feeling nice and toasty. Behind me I heard Harry groan as Ron beats him at chess, again. Hermione was sitting in the corner reading for the last hour since we came back from lunch. Outside the thick snowflakes had turned into wet snow, the temperature unusually warm for the time of year. My head was at Black. I was still debating on meeting him at midnight. I glanced over my shoulder to see Harry laugh at something Ron had said. Maybe I should meet him, see what he had to say... But what if he had something planned. I glanced towards the stairs that led up to boys' dormitories and bit my lip. I have to get up there. Hermione was way deep in her book, she wouldn't notice if a bomb would explode next to her, but the boys. Before I could think of a plan, Harry dropped down next to me.

"Thanks for the present, Alec." He smiled wide and I looped my arm through his. He had the fake snitch in his hand, the snitch could open and send messages or gifts to the people he chooses.

"Thanks for yours." I nudged him playfully. "What else did you get?"

"Oh!" Ron shouted loudly and leaped over the coffee table, landing next to me. "Didn't Harry tell you?"

"Tell me what?" I looked from one boy to the other.

"Harry got a Firebolt!"

"From whom?"

"Don't know." Harry shrugged.

"What do you mean you don't know?" I asked confused, and slightly anxious. I heard a book close with a loud thud and looked to Hermione, who glared at the boys.

"Harry gets a brand-new expensive broom without a note! With a mass murderer on the run, who's out to get him! He shouldn't have it! It could be dangerous." Hermione's hair was electric at that point, standing in every direction.

"Come on, Hermione!" Ron groaned, rolling his eyes. "Where would Black get a firebolt?"

"I don't know! If he can escape from Azkaban, he can get a bloody broom!" She jumped up glaring. Crookshanks lifted his head as he looked at his owner. The sound of Hermione's voice had woken him with a jolt. Hermione nearly rammed her book in her bag and stormed out of the common room. Crookshanks leaped up from my lap and stretched out before following his owner out. His tail disappeared just in time as the portrait closed behind him.

"She exaggerates, it's just a broom." Ron grumbled. "She can be so annoying."

"Hey!" Harry and I cried out. "She's right you know. You don't know where it came from. What if Sirius Black did give Harry the broom, what if there are curses on it?" I turned to Harry. "Be careful okay." I tugged his arm slightly and he nodded. I gave him a strained smile as I retreated my arm from Harry's and stood up. "Can I use the bathroom?" I asked, thinking I could go up to the girls' dormitories and change into Loki to sneak in the boys.

"Sure, use ours." He said standing up himself to sit down on the couch again. "I don't know where the girls' exactly is, since we're not allowed up there. But almost everyone's gone, so you can use ours. Third landing, first door on the right."

"Thanks, Harry." I smiled and headed to the boys' staircase. That went easier than I thought. I thought to myself as I climbed the staircase. But instead of stopping on the third landing, I headed up further and stopped on the fifth. I glanced inside the first dorm, but it was obvious it wasn't the twins and Lee's. The second room was a hit though, I recognized the boys' stuff in an instant. The room was messy. Probably less messy than usual, since they're at home and got their trunks with them, but still... The floor was littered with failed products, half cleaned up cauldrons and notes scattered around. I rolled my eyes before I glanced over my shoulder. When I saw the coast was clear, I walked in quickly. I pursed my lips as I looked around the room. I can't search everything, that would take hours and invade in their privacy. I picked my wand out of my converse and waved it in front of me.

"Accio Weasley prank box." In the hopes some of the product would come out. And to my surprise a closed large carton box came flying over. It landed softly in front of me, and I kneeled down to open up the box. I smile at all the finished products in front of me and picked them up to see what would come in handy tonight, just in case. A few minutes later, my pockets were filled with a few of their items. I had burrowed some candies, like nosebleed nougats and fainting fancies. I also took a smoke and decoy detonator. If I were to use them, I would tell the boys an excuse why I needed them. If not, I would sneak in later and place everything back. I went to walk back to the common room, but when I reached the first landing Harry appeared, looking mad.

"Stay up here." He mumbled as he passed me.

"Hey." I grabbed him by the arm. "What's wrong?" I searched his eyes, looking for an answer.

"When Hermione left, she... she went to McGonagall."

"Okay." I said slowly, not following.

"She told McGonagall about the broom and now I have to give it to her, so they can test it to see if it isn't cursed." He sighed deeply and rubbed his eyes. "So, don't go down there. You aren't supposed to be up here." He said before he headed up the stairs.

I looked from Harry's retreating back to the stairs that led to the common room. It can't be that bad if she sees me walk down. I thought with a shrug and headed down anyway. Hermione was standing a little behind McGonagall. She looked a little afraid but held her head high. Ron was glaring at her from the other side of the room. Professor McGonagall eyes turned large when she saw me walking down the stairs, but before she could say anything Harry appeared behind me with his shiny new, possibly dangerous broom. Harry walked past me and handed it over to the professor reluctantly. Hermione looked down at her feet as Harry looked from the broom to her. And I felt sorry for Hermione, I understood why she did it. I would have done it a little differently, but I understood her actions.

"Well, we'll start on it tomorrow, mister Potter."

"How long will it take?"

"As long as it takes." She said sternly. Her eyes went from Harry to me. "Miss Lupin-Black, glad to find you here. Not so much as it was in the boys' dormitories, but we'll talk about that later. Professor Snape is looking for you, about your last potion before the start of the new term."

"Oh, right." I nodded. "Is he in the dungeons?"

"Yes, I'll walk you there. I need to talk to him about the firebolt anyway."

I walked over to the professor and looked over my shoulder to Harry. Harry looked angry and hurt by Hermione's actions, but he didn't look remotely as angry as Ron. Ron was fuming, his face red as he glared at Hermione. I was surprised I didn't see steam coming from his ears. I frowned at his reaction, it was Harry's broom after all, not his. I looked back forward, and the professor was already waiting at the portrait hole. When I passed Hermione, I gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze and she offered me a forced smile.

LB

I took in a deep trembling breath as I stood just outside the castle doors. My eyes followed the dark path towards whomping willow. The almost full moon was peeking through the clouds, enlightening the castle grounds in front of me. Crookshanks was sitting next to me, patiently waiting until I was ready. It was stupid really but having Crooks with me eased my mind a little bit. To most he's just a cat, but there is something more about the ginger. And if it wasn't for him trusting Black, I would've never agreed to meet with him. My stomach was in knots as my mind drifted to Moony, to the fact I was hiding this from him, I've never hidden anything from him. He knew me through and through, like I did him.

I shook the white fur on my wolf form, trying to throw of the dust that had settled on it before I headed off to the grounds. Crookshanks followed right behind me. When we reached the whomping willow, we walked under the swaying branches and slid down in the hole. When I landed on the dark, damp floor, I looked back and saw the ginger cat with his tail high strut forward and walked in front of me to lead me to the right path. After a ten-minute walk, we entered the Shrieking shack.

The floorboards didn't creak under our weight, so the shack was dead silence, so silent that it send a shiver over my body. When I heard a creak above us, the hairs on my back stood up but the cat just climbed the last stairs. My eyes turned into slits as I followed the cat, on guard the whole way up. He nudged a door open with its flat nose, and with a deep breath followed after him.

There was a large bed against the wall, no cover or pillows on it. Just a worn-down matrass and on the matrass lay... Padfoot. The large black dog had his head resting on his paws as his eyes were closed. But by the sound of his breathing, I figured he was awake. I toddled in the room and sat down with my back straight, a few meters in front of the matrass. Crookshanks sat between my front legs and miaowed at the dog. Padfoot lifted one eyelid open, to reveal his yellow eye before he opened them both. He stretched out on the bed and sat up straight, looking down at me and Crookshanks. We sat there for a while, staring at each other without anyone saying a word. Then Black turned his gaze away from me as he transformed into his shaggy, skin and bone self. He sat cross-legged on the bed, his hands up in the air.

"I'm unarmed. I don't have a wand or anything. You can keep your wand on me the whole time, if you want."

"Talk." Was the only thing I said as I kept my wolf form.

"I would like to speak to the person behind the Animagus form."

"Why?"

Black shrugged, his eyes on me. "I would like to see the person I talk to, not the Animagus. It's been years since I talked to a real person.

I sighed internally before I transformed back. Black's shocked face as I turned into my teenage self, almost made me laugh.

"You're a kid."

"Well, this is Hogwarts." I rolled my eyes and took the same position as him, but with Crooks on my lap and wand in hand.

"You..." He cocked his head as he looked at me, searching. "You look familiar. What's your name?"

I pursed my lips contemplatively before answering. "Alec."

"Alec...?"

"That's all you're going to get. Now talk."

"Okay, right to the point, I get it." He said, a little shadow of a smile on his lips. But even then, he searched my face, trying to figure out who I was, why I looked so familiar to him. "Like I said before, I'm not here to hurt Harry. He's the only family I have." I tried to put on a neutral face, try to give nothing away. And when he droned on, I knew it worked. "I never did those things they said. I am innocent. Pettigrew... He was an old friend of ours. He switched sides, he worked for Voldemort. He betrayed me, the Potters, Remus." As Black mentioned Moony's name, my breath got stuck in my throat. "He faked his death; he was the one to kill all those muggles. He framed me."

"Why should I, or anyone for that matter, believe you?"

"I'm trying to get the proof, that's why I'm here."

"I don't follow."

"Pettigrew is here, in the castle."

"Why would Pettigrew be here? And why hasn't anyone notice him?" I said as a dry laugh escaped me. "Wait... you're saying he's an Animagus."

I saw a real smile appear on his face, a little one but it was a large contrast to the rest of him. "Yes, he is. That's how he could have faked his own death. After the explosion that killed those muggles, he transformed and escaped."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I got arrested. I didn't get a trial; I was sent to Azkaban immediately. So, no one checked my wand to see if I had cast it or not. No one asked for my memories that night or gave me Veritaserum."

"You could've used another wand; you can alter your memories and you can deceive Veritaserum."

"You certainly know your way around dark arts."

"Defence and everything that come with it, yes." I said. "I have a great teacher."

"Like you said, that is indeed possible, but most of the time you can see if a memory is altered."

"Not if you do it right." I interjected.

"Again, yes. But when did I have the time? I was imprisoned that same day." I hummed with a nod. "I can give you the memory if you want, if you have Veritaserum you can give it to me, I happily take it. But the ultimate proof is Pettigrew."

"Who, you think, is in the castle." If I didn't hear the doubts from Moony himself and from Draco, I would never have believed him. But now... the stories they had told. Now hearing this, it all adds up.

"I know he's in there. That's why I enlisted the help of Crookshanks. He's been trying to catch him for months now."

"Catch him." I frowned as I looked at the cat in my lap. I recounted the times I saw the ginger cat sneak around, but I never saw him hunt anything or anyone. But Harry had told me about the fighting between Ron and Hermione. And then I heard the two fight in the tower once or twice. "You mean to say, Pettigrew is the rat. Ron's rat, Scabbers?"

"We called him Wormtail, but yes. You know the owner of the rat?"

"I do. He's friends with Harry."

"You know Harry?" He asked hopefully. I looked up from the cat and saw a twinkle in his eyes, a look of hope. "How is he?"

"I'm not here to talk about him. But he's doing okay, considering..."

"Considering?"

"Considering, that he thinks a mass murderer is after him. And the fact he was raised by horrible muggles." The twinkle in his eyes disappeared and anger flared up. "But you think, or rather Crooks thinks, I can help you?"

The anger retreated as he looked from the cat to me. "Yes, especially now that I know you know Harry and Ron. You can help me get the rat."

"I can try..." I frowned. "But I haven't seen the rat. It's always hiding from this one." I stroked the cat softly. "Now I know why. And since he always comes crawling into my lap..."

"I see." He frowned as he tapped his chin. "Which house are you in?"

"Gryffindor."

"Okay, that makes it easier then, since you live in the tower."

"But I don't." Now it was Black's turn to look confused. "I transferred here this year from Beauxbatons. There was no room in the girls' dorms, so I don't sleep in the tower. I have access to the tower, but I have my own chambers."

"Thought I heard an accent." He mumbled. "So, do you believe me?"

"I - I do, weirdly." I added. "But can't Pettigrew just transform when I catch him?"

"He can, but he won't risk exposing himself like that. Then his whole cover is blown."

"I'll see what I can do." I said standing up. Crooks leaped up from my lap and stretched in front of me. "You can't stay here, go back in the forest." I said as I thought about Moony being here in a few days.

"Right." He nodded. And like he was thinking the same thing he asked. "Is it true Remus Lupin is teaching here?"

I turned to look at him, trying not to give anything away. He looked vulnerable, scared. "He is. He's teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, he's a great teacher. From what the others say, the best one they had in years."

"That's- nice to hear. Not a surprise though." He jumped out of bed quickly and I involuntarily flinched. "Sorry." He said, holding up his hands again. "It's a bit soon to trust me, I know. I'll just walk in front of you." He said as he transformed back into Padfoot and walked out the room. I looked from the black dog to Crooks, who miaowed and followed him out. I tucked my wand away before turning into Loki and followed the pair out.