Chapter 37

LB

I had my final exam today, so I was enjoying the summer breeze as I sat at the edge of the lake. I was sitting here since noon, and my company had changed throughout the day. First were Draco, Blaise and Theo, they came by and sat down with me as they went studied for their last exam tomorrow. Now that it was public knowledge that Nott and I decided to stay friends, Blaise was even more flirty. Draco and I shared a glance, every time he said something flirtatious, and we had a hard time holding back our laughter.

An hour or so after Draco left, Harry and the others had joined us. Hermione had fallen asleep quickly in the warm sun as the boys talked about Quidditch (what else?) Hermione still had two examens to do, while the boys had only one. But I couldn't bring myself to wake Hermione. Even without Divination, she was still overworked from all the classes she was taking. When she was startled awake from the twins' laughter, she chastised us for not waking her up before the three of them took off towards the castle.

"Hey, you." I smiled as George sat down on my right. Fred took a place in front of us, looking a bit...nervous? They both had switched their robes for muggle shorts that reached their knees and a white tee that accentuated their muscles. "What are you two doing out?"

"Celebrating." George winked with a grin.

"Celebrating?"

"Yup." He popped the P. "We're celebrating the end of our OWL's and..." George glanced over to his twin. "Being two very handsome, single men."

"Both of you?" I looked from George to Fred. Fred who had been unusual quiet the entire time, was looking at me with an unreadable expression and gave a single nod. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? That's bloody amazing news, if I say so myself." George chuckled. "Do you mind if we hang out with you for a bit?" Before I could say anything, George laid down next to me on the grass, his hands propped up underneath his head. Fred shifted, so he was lying down next to George in the exact same position. I looked to both of the boys, who had their eyes closed as they enjoyed the sun. Their hair had grown a little over the year, a slight fringe covered their eyes. The way their arms were propped up, showed off their muscles spectacularly. The tight tees didn't make it any better. Despite what I said at the start of the year, these boys, almost men, were handsome. I could look at those faces for days. Their dark hazel eyes, the freckles scattered across their faces, trickling down to their necks. Their broad, strong chest and arms. I think I was nearly drooling as I looked at the sunbathing boys. Like they knew what I was doing, they both had a smirk on their faces, but didn't open their eyes.

"Are you just going to sit there? Or are you going to join us, love?" George asked. I rolled my eyes, closed my book and laid down next to him. "Come here, love." He said, pushing his arm under my head and pulling me over him, so I was lying down between the twins.

"De la Barre, George. Warn a girl." I chuckled. I could feel either twin against me. Seeing that my relationship with George had strengthened over the weeks compared to Fred, I curled myself into George, letting my head rest on his chest. If I would've looked up, I would've seen George's surprised face or the hurt in Fred's eyes. When George wrapped an arm around me, I felt Fred shuffle closer. And I reached my free hand out to his, we clasped our hands together. We laid like that for a while, enjoying the sun until it disappeared behind the mountains making the temperature drop, making us go inside.

LB

It was the night of the last full moon of the school year, and I was packing my bag for the night. Remus was still in a meeting with the other professors and would join me soon. Or at least that was what I thought. An hour later, I was still waiting for him to return. I flipped another page of my book as I waited. The clock chimed again, still no Remus. After the third chime, I threw my book across the room and started pacing. I thought about sending him a Patronus, but what kind of message would that send if he was just enjoying talking to the other professors.

When the fourth chime went, and the sun was almost gone, I couldn't bare it anymore. I tossed the backpack over my shoulder and headed out of the room. I concentrated on my surroundings, I couldn't hear him, but I could smell him. I followed his scent around the castle, until it went out on the grounds. I frowned as I looked at the empty grounds, the sun almost gone behind the mountains. I transfigured my bag until it was small enough for my wolf form, and after a double check of my surroundings, if transformed into Loki. When I reached the whomping willow, I saw plucks of black and ginger hair under the branches. Black. I grumbled to myself. I walked under the calm tree and descended the tunnel underneath. Remus scent was strong here, not just by the fact we've been staying here every month, it was strong like he had just walked by. But there were other scents too, familiar ones. When I reached the creaky wooden floors, I heard muffled voices fill the room. Fuck! Who else was here!?

LB

I ran towards the door where the voices came from, I stilled in a hidden corner when I saw Sirius, Remus, Harry, Ron and Hermione all standing inside the room. Remus was standing so close next to Sirius. My eyes widened when I saw Snape unconscious on the floor. But the thing that shocked me to most was the bound and gagged man, who was sitting on the floor. Peter Pettigrew. I couldn't help the growl that escaped, and Remus and Black heard it in an instant. Crookshanks too, he came trotting over and nudged his head against my paw.

"Crooks?" Hermione asked quietly. Ron, Harry and Pettigrew all turned to look at me, confusion spread across their faces. "Who- what?"

"Doesn't matter." Remus said, shaking the surprise from his face. And before he turned to Ron, he gave me a little smile. "I can't mend bones nearly as well as Madam Pomfrey, so I think it's best we just strap your leg, until we go to the hospital wing." He bent down at Ron's side as he made quick work of it. I must've missed a lot because none of them seemed mad or scared from Black. But seeing the proof of Pettigrew's survival, made it hard to ignore the evidence. Harry, Hermione and Black were still looking at me as Crookshanks sat down next to me.

"What about Snape?" Hermione asked, tearing her eyes away from me to the professor.

"Nothing is seriously wrong with him. You were just a little – over-enthusiastic. We best wait to revive him until we're safely back in the castle. We can take him like this." He stood up from besides Ron, done with his leg, and pointed his wand at the potion's professor. "Mobilicorpus." Snape came up, looking like a puppet with strings on. Crookshanks turned and left the room first. I waited until everyone had passed me. Hermione and Harry were walking in front of me. They shot glances over their shoulders to look at me.

"Why is it following us?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know. I've seen it before, though." He looked to Hermione. "I woke up the night of the final game, when I looked out the window, I saw him/her, with Crooks."

"Weird." She frowned. "Sirius?" Hermione asked Black, who was walking in front of them. Sirius slowed his step until he was next to them. "Do you know who this is?" She pointed at me.

Black smiled as he looked from the pair to me. "I do. But it's not my place to tell." I let out a breath of relief when he turned and walked through the muddy tunnel. The rest of the journey went silent, until we reached the last climb. "You know what this means? Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free." Harry said.

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

"Yeah, I knew that."

"Well, your parents appointed me your guardian." He said and I saw Harry stiffen. "If anything happened to them. I'll understand, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle. But… well…" It made me angry to see him nervous in front of Harry, trying to ask him to stay with him, but he didn't have any interest in me. "If you wanted a different home."

"What – live with you? Leave the Dursleys?"

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to." Black seemed defeated. "I understand, I just thought..."

"Are you mad? Of course, I want to leave the Dursleys." Harry said grinning, which made Black beam. But Harry's smile faltered as he looked in front of him. "But you should talk to Professor Lupin first."

"Remus?" He asked surprised. "Why?"

I smiled to myself as Harry thought of me. "Just… talk to him."

They didn't talk any more, they were silent until they reached the surface. Remus pushed the rat-man to the ground as they stood in the clearing next to the tree. The clouds shifted above us and suddenly they bathed in the moonlight. My eyes found Remus, who had forgotten his last potion, his body began to shake violently. "Oh no, he didn't take his potion. He's not safe."

"Run! Now!" Black whispered to them. Then all of it happened at the same time. Sirius transformed and lunged for Remus, werewolf and dog fighting. Pettigrew made a grab for Remus's dropped wand, and before Harry could disarm him, he transformed and ran in the bushes. I went after Pettigrew, until I heard Black scream. My head snapped back, and I saw Sirius limping. I ran over to the werewolf.

"Don't!" They all cried out to me.

"Scotty." I said looking up at the large werewolf. "SCOTTY!" I shouted. The werewolf turned to look at me. His breathing was heavy, and he showed his large yellow teeth. He was about to lunge for me, but I transformed on the spot. "Dad!" I said with a forced whisper.

Harry, Hermione and Ron all looked at me bug eyed. "A-Alec?" Harry whispered. "You got to get away! Run!" He shouted but I ignored him.

Sirius Black was looking at me with a stunned expression. His lips were moving, whispering dad to himself; confused. But I didn't have time to explain, any of it. My sole focus was on Moony.

"Dad, please." I begged and reached over, placing my hand over his heart. Everyone was holding in their breath as they watched the two of us. The werewolf seemed to calm down, until a howl was heard in the forest. The werewolf growled again, his hand flew up and crashed it against me. He had sent me flying over the ground. I heard a sickening crack, and I knew the sound came from me.

"ALEC!" I heard several shouts, but everything went black before anyone could reach me.

LB

Flashes of the Shrieking Shack, Black, Moony and the others came to my mind. When the image of the man turned werewolf popped up, my eyes flew open. I shot up with my eyes wide. "DAD!"

"It's okay, cub. I'm here." Moony's voice was soft, as I felt a hand stroking my hair softly. I turned to look at him. He looked tired and worn. The bags under his eyes haven't been so bad since... ever. I flung my arms around him. He held me against his chest tightly.

"Are you okay?"

He gave a dry chuckle. "I'm fine, it's you I'm worried about." He pulled back and inspected me closely. "How are you?"

"A bit of a sore head." I flinched a bit as I moved my head. "What happened?"

"It was all my fault. I'm so sorry, Alec. The wolf, Scotty -" He shook his head, casting his eyes down. "When you called me dad, I was coming back. Calming down, but when Scotty heard the howl, he – I hit you. You flew backwards, your head smashed against the tree. It was fractured." His voice was trembling, tears in his eyes.

"It wasn't you fault."

"It was. With the whole Sirius Black thing, I forgot to take my potion. I wasn't in control."

"Hey, look at me." I cupped his cheek, making him look up. "I'm okay. Nothing Madam Pomfrey couldn't fix. Don't beat yourself up, okay. A little bump on the head, won't break me. I love you, dad."

I saw the tears rolling down his cheeks freely now. He pulled me in a hug again. "I love you, cub."

We sat there, hugging until Madam Pomfrey pushed the curtains away and handed me a potion. Just from the smell of it, I knew what it was. It was a potion to help heal the skull fracture. When I drank the whole vial, my eyes fell to a sleeping Ron across from me.

"Are Harry and Hermione okay?" I asked once Madam Pomfrey walked away.

"Harry and Hermione are fine, so is Ron." He looked over to the red head. "He just needs a bit more time to rest."

"Pettigrew. He escaped. I couldn't stop him. There is no proof that Black is innocent."

Remus sighed and combed his hand through his hair. "About Sirius." He started, he brought his hands in front of them and intertwined his fingers together. "I'll ask you later about why you didn't seem even remotely surprised about his innocence, or the fact there was a supposedly dead man in the Shrieking Shack. The headmaster wants to see you, including the Minister of Magic."

"The minister? Why?"

"Sirius. Fudge wants to throw him back in Azkaban. But Dumbledore wants to speak to you first. Harry, Hermione and Ron told their side of the story, but the minister won't believe the word of thirteen-year-old kids. No-" He shook his head as I opened my mouth. "I'm a werewolf, in his eyes barely a human being, and seeing we were friends in school, he won't believe me."

"Alright." I frowned. "But I'm his – I carry his name. Why would he believe me? And what about Professor Snape?"

"Severus didn't see Pettigrew. He was unconscious before we revealed his identity. You don't have a history with Sirius, I believe Dumbledore already told Fudge that you two are not on speaking terms."

"About that..."

"Later." He said with a little shake of his head. I had a feeling he had a suspicion. "Let's go to Dumbledore's office." He held out his hand. I took it and he helped me off the bed. When we reached the closed doors, Madam Pomfrey called over.

"I don't know what the headmaster wants to talk to you about. But you need to be back in an hour, you still need your rest."

"I'll make sure she's back in an hour, Poppy." He smiled at the healer. Pomfrey looked pleased at that as she gave a nod and went to check on Ron. Remus looped his arm around me, as I still wobbled a little on my legs. The halls were empty as we walked to the headmaster's office. I looked sideways with a frown. "What time is it? How long was I out."

"Over a day. It's almost seven. In the morning." He added with a little grin. "Your friends barely left your side. Madam Pomfrey had to force them out. The twins even tried to sneak in at night." He chuckled. "They nearly had a heart attack when they spotted me in the dark."

I smiled as I pictured it in front of me. "Please tell me you slept and weren't keeping an eye on me the whole time." From the look on his face, I knew he hadn't slept at all. "Right, when we're back, you need to sleep."

"I'm proud of you, you know." He said, changing the subject, oh so subtle. "For how you adjusted this year from the move, how you made great friends and how you aced your potions NEWT's."

"You don't know I aced them." I countered with a smile.

"We'll know in a few weeks, and I get to say - 'I told you so'."

"Very mature." I rolled my eyes as we reached the gargoyle.

"Reece's Pieces." He said and the gargoyle turned. "Can you make it up the stairs?" He asked worriedly.

"I think so." I said and I started to climb the stairs. It went slowly, but Moony just matched my pace, a hand held up, just in case I would stumble. But eventually we reached the top, Remus put his arm around me again, supporting me as he knocked on the door. The door opened and I saw Dumbledore sitting behind his desk, his hands folded neatly in front of him. Across from him was presumably the Minister of Magic. Remus helped me inside and sat me down on the chair next to the minister.