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"What are we looking for again?"

"Hypericum... it's a plant," answered Neville. A few weeks had passed since the Quidditch match, and Neville and Draco were walking through the Forbidden Forest.

Draco looked at him with a blank face.

"Just look for a yellow flower," sighed Neville.

"Fine... but why exactly?"

"I read up on the theory behind the usage of plants and herbs in potions in that book Snape gave you and I had an idea... say do you ever listen to me?" Neville scoffed.

"Ehm sure," Draco shrugged. "Sometimes," he added, grinning.

"Git," Neville said, which made Draco laugh.

"I can't see anything yellow here, let's go deeper into the forest."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Neville looked very pale. "We shouldn't be here anyway."

"Ah, come on," Draco mocked, although he was surprised Neville had been willing to sneak into the Forbidden Forest at all. He was sure Neville had not forgotten about their encounter with a unicorn killing creature in their first year any more than he had. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"We could get eaten by a Werewolf," Neville said nervously.

Draco laughed. "Werewolves? Really?" The chances of being eaten by one inside the castle were significantly higher than out in the forest.

"Snape-"

"I know what Snape said in DADA but it's not even a full moon today and it's not even dark yet. If there is a Werewolf in the forest – and I'm not saying that that is the case – he would be just as human right now as you and I. We both have our wands. We'll be fine."

"If you say so," Neville begrudgingly followed Draco deeper into the Forbidden Forest.

"Are those your Hyperboles?"

"Hypericum. And yes I think you're right. Let's collect a few," Neville instructed.

"Yes, Sir," Draco mocked but started collecting the yellow flowers.

Looking for them had been a long shot. It was already a lot colder than was good for the flowers. But stealing from the greenhouse was out of the question for Neville, and the magic that ran through the Forbidden Forest led to flowers blooming a lot longer than they would anywhere else in the UK.

After a while, Neville turned towards Draco. "Uhm, Draco?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" he stayed quiet for a few seconds, listening. "I'm not hearing anything."

"No, I'm sure I heard something. Behind that bush over there," Neville whispered.

Draco got up and threw his flowers at Nevillle.

"Ehm, what are you doing?" Neville asked, trying and failing to catch all the flowers.

"Checking that noise out, it is probably just a Niffler or a Puffskein or something," he made his way towards the bush.

He was positive that his younger self would have been scared senseless but after having been through a war he was quite certain he could fight whatever was lurking in the Forbidden Forest.

He was prepared for many things. Thestrals, trolls, dementors, unicorns,… but he wasn't prepared for what he found when he pushed the branches of the bush aside.

A man with a mass of long, filthy hair and torn and dirty clothes was crouching on the ground, eating plants. He looked awful. He was skinny and had huge dark rings under his eyes, which, Draco noticed, were now looking at him.

"Sirius Black," he gasped, instinctively reaching for his wand. He knew Sirius was not the killer the Daily Prophet would like everyone to think he was. So, he really didn't have to fear the man, right?

Black's eyes darted from Draco's wand to a path leading away from him. He moved, and Draco yelled, "Stay were you are!" and fired a stinging hex in his direction.

Black turned around and faced Draco. Out of the gaunt, sunken face with waxy skin looked some deeply disturbed, crazy eyes. Draco gulped. "D… Don't move!"

All of a sudden, and Draco didn't think he would have been any more surprised had he jumped into the air and flown off, the man turned into a huge, black dog. Draco wasn't quite so sure about his safety anymore.

He inched backwards and tripped over a root, landing on his butt and losing his wand.

The dog came closer, growling, showing his long fangs.

It was then that Neville appeared next to Draco.

"I…I…It's the grim!" he screamed.

"Neville," Draco yelled. "Do something." The dog came closer and closer and he did not dare reach for his wand, scared the dog would maul him before he reached it.

Neville pulled his wand out of his robe and nearly dropped it. "P-Petrificus Totalus!" Neville yelled, but missed. Regardless, it gave Draco enough time to dive for his own wand.

"Stupefy," yelled Draco at the same time as Neville yelled, "Petrificus Totalus." Both spells hit the dog square in the chest.

"Incarcerous!" fired Draco. Thin cords shot from his wand and the next moment, the dog was no longer a dog but an unconscious bound and gagged man.

"Wha-?" Neville was speechless. "No way," recognition dawned on him, "it is Sirius Black!"

"I think he's waking up," Neville muttered.

Draco inched closer towards the fallen and bound man. He looked awful. If not for his rising and falling chest, Draco would have thought him a corpse. And not a fresh corpse, but one who had been rotting away for a while. He was so skinny, Draco could make out every bone in the man's face under the waxy skin. His hair was matted and full of grime. He had huge dark rings under his eyes, which, Draco noticed, were looking at him.

"Woah," he jumped back.

"Easy there, kid," Sirius mumbled, sounding rather groggy. "I'm not who you think I am."

"Prison escapee Sirius Black?" Neville asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Well, maybe I am who you think I am," he admitted, snickering. "But I am not what the Prophet portrays me as. I did not kill all those muggles."

"No," Draco ventured, "then who did?"

"Pettigrew," he looked at them expectantly. "Peter Pettigrew," he clarified.

"Peter Pettigrew is dead," Draco said. Of course, he knew that he wasn't. But he wasn't supposed to know.

"He's a rat," Black mumbled. "A rat."

"Mmmm a rat. Definitely. Makes sense," Neville turned away from Sirius and faced Draco. "I think he's lost it," he whispered, "We should call help. Dumbledore, maybe," Neville tried to argue.

"No, wait!" Sirius interrupted. "He's an Animagus. Peter's an Animagus. Just like I am."

"Is that how you got out of Azkaban? You're an Animagus?" Draco asked.

"Yes," the man nodded frantically.

"How about you start at the beginning?"

"How about you untie me first?"

"How about no?"

Sirius face fell. "Okay. Fair enough. I'll tell you what I know."

And so Sirius Black told Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom the whole story, from his time at Hogwarts with his best friends, to the murder of James and Lily Potter and betrayal of Peter Pettigrew, to the newspaper article that led to his escape and how he now stayed in the Forbidden Forest and was trying to catch Peter Pettigrew. He also explained how he, when Draco found him, first wanted to flee, but after getting attacked decided to scare Draco off.

"We need to tell someone," Neville repeated once Sirius had finished his story.

"No," Sirius shook his head. "No one will believe me without any proof."

"I'm not sure I believe you," Neville said.

"I do," Draco chimed in.

"Thanks, boy," Sirius threw him a smile, before his eyes darkened. "You have to help me kill Pettigrew."

"No!" Neville jumped up, looking appalled. "We're not killing anyone!"

"He has killed Lily and James!" Sirius replied hotly. "He has betrayed his friends and made Harry an orphan!"

"Yes," Neville said, "he has done horrible things. If what you're saying is true, he is a horrible person. But we are not."

Sirius glared at Neville and Neville glared right back. It stuck Draco as rather odd that Neville, scared half out of his mind just a few minutes ago, was now arguing with someone he thought to be a murderer. It had surprised Draco from the moment Neville had confronted him in the library how well the two of them got along. He had always thought the worst of the boy until he had slain the monstrous creature Nagini. Draco had seen the snake of the Dark Lord kill more people than any of the Death Eaters, perhaps even more than the Dark Lord himself had killed. And Neville had killed the repelling beast. After that it was hard not to respect Neville Longbottom. Even more so once he became the Herbology teacher of his son. But even then had Draco's mind thought the snake slaying man and the bumbling idiot of a boy as two separate people. He thought the boy had simply been changed by the war, as so many others had been. But every minute he spent with the boy now showed him how very wrong his preconceptions had been. Neville might be shy and clumsy, but he was also smart, loyal and not afraid to stand up for the things he believed in, even if those things were potential deranged psychopaths.

"We have to capture him," Draco reasoned. "It's the only way we can proof your innocence. If you really are innocent, that is."

"I am," growled Sirius. He exhaled slowly. "I am sorry, guys. This is hard for me."

"It's okay," said Neville, calming down as well. "I get how you're feeling. I really do. But we will not help you murder someone."

Sirius nodded. "So, how are we going to capture him?" he asked.

The boys looked at each other.

"We'll think of something," replied Draco.

"Alright. Now that you obviously believe me, can you untie me?"

Draco hesitated. He knew Sirius had not killed anyone. But he had also just admitted that he very much wanted to change that. And while he might have fought against Voldemort, Draco did not know much else about him. The Black family was prone to insanity and Black looked nothing if not insane.

"What will you do if I free you?"

"Wait for you to come up with a plan to capture Peter, of course," replied Sirius with a smile that showed his crooked, yellow teeth. Twenty years prior the smile might have been charming, but now it only made him look more unhinged than he already did. And it did nothing to reassure Draco.

But what choice did Draco have? He either had to keep him tied up, and tell Dumbledore or Snape about it. Snape would never believe a word Black said and would probably have him kissed before Draco got the chance to explain anything. Dumbledore had no reason to believe anything Draco said and Draco would rather not draw the attention of the old man. Or he had to take a leap of faith and hope for the best.

Reluctantly he freed the man.

"Thanks, kid," Sirius said while stretching, "What are your names, by the way? You look familiar, the both of you."

"I am Neville Longbottom and this is Draco Ma-" Draco elbowed him in the stomach.

"Draco… MacDougal," Draco finished.

Sirius eyed him wearily before he turned to Neville.

"Longbottom, eh? I knew your parents. Went to school with them. Good people."

"Really?" Neville's face lit up and for the first time this night he didn't look like he would run away any minute. "Can you tell me about them?"

Sirius face fell and Draco wondered whether the man had known that the Longbottoms weren't happily and healthily living with their son.

"Sure will do, kid. But maybe not today. How about we meet again tomorrow night?"

And with that they went their separate ways.

While the boys picked up the flowers they had dropped earlier, Neville asked, "So you believe him?"

"Yeah," Draco muttered. "His story makes sense. I wouldn't have believed him if I hadn't seen him transforming into a dog right in front of my very eyes. But he did, so I believe him."

Neville gave this some thought. "What are we going to do about the rat?"

"I... have absolutely no idea."

TBC

Dun-dun-dun – what do you all think of this development? There's finally some action thrown into all of this.