Between them both Sirius and Harry took one of Ron's arms and put it across their shoulders, helping him stand and then leading him out of the Shrieking Shack and down into the secret passageway. Harry's heart was the happiest it had been in a long while, even after everything that had happened tonight. He had a Godfather, and he certainly hoped that would mean he would no longer have to live with the Dursley's. He could finally say goodbye to the place and to the people who had caused him so much pain and suffering over the years.

Ron winced as they crammed together in the tight passageway, the muffled voices of Hermione and Lupin drifting along behind them, as well as the occasional muffled cry from Peter Pettigrew.

"Sorry about that" Sirius apologised as he looked down on the bloody and injured leg of Ron, "I reckon that twinges a bit"

"A bit" Ron glared at him, "You could have torn my bloody leg off!" He cried in fury

"I was going for the rat" Sirius admitted, rather sheepishly, his aim had been off quite a bit as he dove for the former rat known as Scabbers. When he had finally laid eyes upon the rat in Ron's arms he had felt an overwhelming sense of anger as he finally confronted the person he used to call his friend, the person who had betrayed Lily and James, leading them to their deaths.

"I usually have a sweet disposition as a dog" Sirius grinned, glancing to the side to Harry hanging onto his every word. "In fact, on more than one occasion James suggested that I made the change permanent. Now, the tail I could live with. But the fleas? They're murder" Sirius shuddered, only taking note of the bright grin that shone on Harry's face but ignoring the look of disgust on Ron's.

After what felt like an eternity the three made their way out of the secret passageway and found themselves on front of the Whomping Willow, they gently placed Ron on a blunt set of rocks and Sirius stepped forward, in awe of the sight of the Hogwarts castle that he was finally laying eyes on again. Hermione, Lupin and Peter Pettigrew emerged not moments later. Lupin had Pettigrew back the scruff of his tattered collar and his wand pointed directly at the base of his throat. Hermione immediately went to Ron's side, taking a sharp breath as she saw the extent of his wounds.

"That looks like it hurts" She frowned

Ron nodded, pulling the hem of his trouser up slightly so she could see it more. "It does, I reckon they'll have to, you know, chop it"

Harry glanced towards his godfather, drowning the words of Ron out as he longed to go and comfort the man who had been so cruelly locked up for a crime he did not commit. As he glanced back he found Hermione staring at him, "Go" She whispered, indicating that she would stay with Ron. He nodded, rose to his feet and joined Sirius on front of the castle.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Sirius sighed as he started the castle, bright lights coming from the tower windows and he envied the people who were inside, carrying on with their lives and not having a care in the world. How he longed to have those days back. But here they were.

"I don't know if anyone has told you this Harry, but when you were born" Sirius began, not quite sure what to say and ready for the rejection that he had faced all of his life. "Your Mother and Father, they made me..."

"My Godfather" Harry finished, a grin on his face as Sirius looked at him in amusement

Sirius nodded, his lips twitching at the corners as he fought the urge to smile. "I understand if you quite like living with your Aunt and Uncle. But I just thought, once I'm free. I was wondering if you would like to come live with me?"

"With you?" Harry's heart leapt with joy, this had been the best news he had received all night, and he was more than willing to jump right at the chance to leave Private Drive.

"I understand, if you don't want to..."

"Don't want to? Of course I want too! You don't know what I've had to put up with back at that house. Any chance to leave the Dursley's and never see them again, I'm taking"

Sirius chuckled and grinned at his godson, happiness soaring through his body as he now had a true family. Even if it just remained him and Harry, that would be enough to complete him. Even though he couldn't make up those 12 years he was away, he was going to try. He was going to show Harry everything he had missed and tell him all the stories of his time at Hogwarts.

"Harry!"

Harry turned at the sound of Hermione's voice, just in time to see Lupin and Pettigrew emerging from the tunnel behind him. HE felt his anger surge through his body as he stormed up to them, just as Pettigrew was attempting to speak to Hermione and Ron.

"I was your Rat" Pettigrew wined, doing everything he could to survive and not to be murdered by his old friends.

Harry pointed his wand straight at Pettigrew, who cowered away in fear. "Don't you dare speak to my friends. You're nothing but a coward. A fraud! You got my parents killed"

Pettigrew gulped, shrinking as far back into the tree as he could. "I didn't mean too!" He cried

"Of course you meant to" Sirius roared. "When you found out about Voldemort, and that he had James and Lily marked for death you ran! You ran to the side that had power, that had the numbers and to someone who you thought could protect you. You spilled all of the order's secrets to them and got our friends killed. You betrayed them"

Pettigrew sniffled as he shivered in the cold night air, he couldn't speak. The fear was washing over him in waves and without another word he attempted to grab Harry's wand from his hands, but Harry was too quick for him, he knew Peter was going to try something of the sorts to escape, and so taking a leaf from Hermione's book, he shouted a useful spell.

"Petrificus Totalas!"

Without another word or sniffle, Pettigrew grew rigid and fell to the ground with an almighty thud. "Nice going Harry" Hermione beamed, proud that he was finally taking her advice of studying.

But Harry shrugged, "I had to do something to stop him from getting away. Sirius deserves his name to be cleared and what better way then bringing back the frozen rat who betrayed so many people"

Sirius clapped Harry on the back, "Great thinking. Now let's get this lump of a man back to Hogwarts"

Without warning a bright light began shining down onto the group gathered by the Whomping Willow. Hermione glanced up and found a full moon beginning to emerge from behind the clouds. "Professor Lupin" She whispered, "Harry! Look!"

Harry and Sirius turned to find Lupin now standing, frozen like a statue as he stared up at the moon. Sirius ran up towards Lupin, pressing his hands against his chest as he began to fall forward. "Remus, my old friend. Have you taken your potion tonight" He slapped his cheek but got no answer in his return, just a strangled groan from Lupin as he struggled to break free. You belong here! In this heart!"

The transformation began and Sirius began to struggle at the dead weight of Lupin as he turned; he glanced towards the young teenagers. "Go! Go! I'll take care of him. You need to get Pettigrew back to the castle and tell Dumbledore everything. I'll join you when I can"

Harry didn't want to go, but by the look on his godfather's face he knew not to argue. That and the thought of finally having a loving and caring home with someone who would appreciate his company kept him from messing up. After a few minutes of debating on how to get Pettigrew back to the castle, Hermione with her endless knowledge of magic remembered a spell she had been reading about which would help them to carry Pettigrew on an invisible gurney of sorts. In what seemed like no time at all they had him floating in midair just as Snape finally emerged from the hole in tree.

"Potter there you are" He growled, his black eyes glancing towards the un-moving body of Pettigrew, he glowered towards Harry for a moment before a loud growl broke the silence. He turned and in reflex, threw his arms around the three teenagers to protect them. Lupin had finally transformed into his werewolf form and had shoved Sirius away as he howled into the night air. The werewolf glanced towards them and began to growl as he stalked towards them.

Out of nowhere a black mass jumped on front of them and shoved the werewolf away. Harry realised in an instant that it was Sirius. "No!" He tried to surge forward but the hold Snape had on them just grew stronger.

"Don't go anywhere Potter. I need to get you three and this imbecile back to the castle" Snape glowered at him. "I'm sure your godfather will be fine on his own" He flicked his wand and shoved the three of them forward, as they began to walk the invisible gurney that held Pettigrew followed slowly behind them.

After what seemed like an eternity they had finally reached the castle grounds, and Harry wasn't surprised at the form of his Headmaster standing there wanting to greet them. But what did surprise him was that the Minister of Magic was also there, waiting in anticipation.

"Ah" Dumbledore smiled, even in the dark night his eyes twinkled. "Here they come Minister, and I'm happy to say that they have someone with them who you would be very anxious to meet"

"Is it Black? Have they actually managed to capture him?" Cornelius asked, a hint of excitement and glee in his voice

"Why now Minister, I highly doubt that three young teenagers would manage to capture him. Might I say, that this person is someone who everyone thought to be dead? After all, the only thing to be found of him was a finger"

The Minister's eyes widened in shock, and for a moment he spluttered and coughed as he tried to speak. "Surely not Dumbledore? Pettigrew is dead! Sirius Black destroyed him, on front of 13 eye witnesses!"

"Not to be rude Minister" Harry spoke, "But you're wrong. And we can prove it" He smirked as the gurney that had been following behind him emerged. The gasp and the look on the Minister's face was enough to satisfy Harry.

Cornelius Fudge walked slowly over to the floating body, examining it as if it weren't real. "It...It can't be. He was meant to be dead!"

Dumbledore followed suit and stood behind the Minister, the smile not leaving his face as he spoke. "I think you'll find Minister that this is in fact, Peter Pettigrew, missing finger and all. What may explain this whole fiasco is that Peter is in fact an illegal animagus. And when confronted in that alley way with Sirius Black, who was entirely right to be angry at the news he had just found out about his friends, his only thought was to cut off a finger and transform into his animagus to escape. His form of course being a rat. Which I find to be entirely suitable giving the circumstances"

The Minister stood dumbfounded, he didn't know what to do or say, but all he knew was that when this news broke there would be many of questions, all most likely questioning his position and if he would be fit to be Minister considering that a full investigation had never be conducted in the aftermath of the so called 'gas explosion'.

"How on earth did you manage to find him?"

"Well" Ron began, "It wouldn't have taken so long if we had realised sooner but he was actually my rat"

"Your rat?" The Minister blinked in confusion, this whole scenario was draining years of his life, he suddenly felt as if he had been told that Lord Voldemort had returned.

"Yeah well, after that explosion he transformed into a rat and he never changed back until it was safe. I never really thought about it but one day a rat appeared in our garden and my Mum found it, thinking it would make a good pet for Percy for starting Hogwarts" Ron admitted, blushing slightly but thankful that the darkness was hiding it for him. "Then when I eventually started Hogwarts he was given to me. I never really thought about why he was missing a toe or why he had lived for so long"

"So...What you're saying...No, it can't be" Cornelius refused to believe it

"I'm afraid Minister that it is. Sirius Black is as innocent as I am. Peter framed Sirius for killing him so he could attempt to return to his master, Voldemort" Dumbledore ignored the gasp from the Minister and continued on. "I politely ask that you call the Dementors off the search for Sirius Black and instead put them on Peter Pettigrew. I also ask that the charm that, I'm assuming that was performed by Miss Granger?"

Harry nodded, glancing behind him to see Hermione smiling slightly.

Dumbledore's eyes sparkled in the moonlight as his smile increased, "I ask that the charm is not removed as once it is, Pettigrew would try to turn into his animagus form, and since it is a rat he could probably escape from most places"

The Minister rubbed his temples as he tried to take this all in, just knowing what would happen tomorrow morning when the new edition of the Daily Prophet hit the news stands. He could see the title now 'Minister Magic Unfit to be Minister' or 'How Three Hogwarts Students solved a 13 year old mystery'. "Very well, very well" Fudge sighed, pulling his wand from his robes and sending an invisible spell through the dark forest, he tucked his wand back into his robes and saw the curious look on Hermione's face.

"It's a double spell, it firstly tracts the dementors you see, they're quite hard keep track of sometimes and then the second is a message for them to call of the search, works almost like a Patronus does" Fudge puffed his chest out, feeling the slightest bit important considering he had created the spell. Suddenly the air grew cold and Harry felt that same chill he always did when one of the dementors were around.

Two Dementors appeared from just behind the trees at the forest, making their way to the Minister who then ordered them to escort Pettigrew up to the Hospital wing where he would be watched over while the decision on if he would receive the Dementors kiss would be given. Fudge turned back to the trio and Dumbledore, who were all looking relatively calmer now that the dementors had gone, the silence was broken by a loud howl into the night

"Sirius! We have to go get him" Harry yelled, his wand already in hand but a calming and reassuring hand on his shoulder that belonged to Dumbledore held him in place instead.

"It's okay Harry, I've sent the Auror's who arrived with the Minister down to retrieve both Sirius and Remus, they should be with us shortly" Dumbledore smiled. "Now, how about we all go back inside for some tea?"

After what felt like an eternity and a copious amounts of tea, the door to Dumbledore's office finally opened and in walked both Remus and Sirius. Harry wasted in no time and flung himself to his Godfather, hugging him tightly for the first time before doing the same for Professor Lupin.

"What happened?"

Sirius glanced at Remus, smirking at him as he spoke. "Oh nothing, just a friendly dog fight between two friends"

Author's Note - Part 2 anyone?