Then Aria blurred into hawk form and dove on Scabbers, picking him up in her talons and hovering, her sword-sharp beak curving down towards the rat's vulnerable eyes. Scabbers squealed and struggled to no avail. The hawk held him fast and he could not break free.

"Aria, don't! He's just a rat!" screeched Ron, trying to get up off the floor, but his feet were tangled with Hermione's and his ankle wouldn't permit him to put any weight on it.

Rosie left Severus's side abruptly and came to stand underneath the hawk and the rat, baying sharply.

That was too much for Pettigrew.

All at once a golden glow enveloped the gray rat, making those watching shield their eyes for an instant.

Then the rat became a rather small man with squinty shifty eyes, his hair was bald in places and his nose pointed, rather like the rat he became. He winced as the hawk tightened her talons on him. "Let me go!" he squealed, his voice high and shrill, similar to a rat's squeak. "Release me, slipper!"

Rosie growled and backed off, barking angrily until Harry grabbed her.

Ron gaped. "It's-it's true! You're not a rat! You're a-a wizard! You disgusting filthy . . .ahhh . . .to think I let you sleep in my BED!"

Pettigrew held out his hands to the red-haired boy, one hand was missing its little finger. "Please, please, master, help me! I was a good rat, wasn't I? Your pet . . .your friend for years! I know all your secrets, but I'll never tell!"

The hawk shrieked in warning, digging her talons in deeper, until Pettigrew screamed.

Ron looked revolted. "All this time . . .you were a shape-slipper . . .I had a traitor listening in to everything in my house. Everything . . .!"

Pettigrew's pointed nose twitched eagerly. "Yes, Weasley. I heard all that you said . . .and reported it faithfully back to my superior, Lucius Malfoy. I made a good spy, no? Better even than dear old Severus Snape!"

"Shut your mouth, you murdering bastard!" Harry screamed, feeling the old rage building inside of him. "You aren't fit to lick his boots, much less compare yourself to him."

Pettigrew snickered, baring his yellowed teeth. "Compare myself to Snivellus? The prefect and outcast whose only friend was sweet pretty Lily? You remember, Sirius, how we used to tease the greaseball? Hanging him up by his thumbs . . .making him eat dirt . . .those were the days, eh, Padfoot? When we roamed the grounds at will, you, me, Moony, and Prongs. The Marauders, a name that struck fear into all who crossed us."

"Yes, those were the days, Peter," Sirius coughed, pointing his wand at the shape-slipper. "You were always eager to humiliate those weaker than you, but you always ran and hid behind me or James when another kid came after you. You enjoyed having powerful friends, didn't you? We were enough, weren't we, until you found Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Then you turned your coat, all right, old friend! You sold us out, like the rat you are!"

"No . . .no Sirius, you misunderstand . . .I had to give the Dark Lord James and Lily, because of the prophecy! He insisted upon it . . .and no one defies the Dark Lord and lives. No one! It should have worked!" He turned and snarled at Harry, his yellowish eyes, similar to Aria's, glittering with hate. "All of this could've been avoided if you-Snivellus's whelp-had died like you were supposed to!"

Rosie snarled loudly, half-lunging out of Harry's arms. Harry held her tightly, but the beagle continued to bark and growl.

Aria blurred from her hawk form into a girl, her wand pointed directly at Pettigrew's neck. "The dog knew! She knew you weren't a real rat. That's why she never liked you. Slippers smell differently to other animals, you know, and we always know one of our own." She grimaced as she said this. "Though I hate to claim kinship with you, you scumbag. No wonder you were never around when I was in Gryffindor Tower. Because you knew I'd smell you and know you for what you were-a rogue shifter!"

Peter backed swiftly away from her, scuttling like a crab into a corner of the room. "Yes, I'm a shape-slipper, born with the gift, and no one was the wiser. Not you, Sirius, or even you, Remus. James never knew the truth either. All of you were so proud of yourselves, you could become Animagi! I let you think I was one too, when actually I was more powerful than you ever knew. Poor little Peter Pettigrew . . .was a more powerful wizard than both of you put together. My abilities proved invaluable to my true master, you know . . .I overheard many things in my forms, prophecies and whispers . . .and none of you ever suspected the truth!"

"I did!" Sirius cried, Harry's wand still clutched in his fist. "After James and Lily died, I knew you were a traitor, for you were their Secret Keeper and only you could have revealed their location to Voldemort."

Pettigrew stiffened, then he hissed, "Perhaps, but what of you, Black. You were the one who convinced James to change to me as their Secret Keeper. Because I was someone they'd never suspect. Not little helpless cowardly old Peter, who would ever suspect him of being the Potters' Secret Keeper? Little did you know you invited the rat into the heart of your home."

"I know that! And I'll regret it to my dying day, you evil little piece of shit!" Sirius yelled, his eyes burning with hatred and grief. "I was just as guilty as you were of causing James and Lily's deaths . . .but I never betrayed them willingly. What did Voldemort promise you, Wormtail? What twisted promises did he fulfill, Peter, that made you turn on your best friends?"

Wormtail merely smiled. "Ah, that is between me and my master, Padfoot. Suffice to say it was a greater reward than you or yours would ever dream of. And all I had to do was kill Snivellus's brat. Only you kept getting in my way, Padfoot. You, that infernal cat, and the damn beagle there!" he pointed to Rosie, who showed all her teeth at him and growled deeply. "I would have succeeded that night, if the cat and the dog hadn't attacked me, forcing me to assume my other shape just as you entered the room and tried to find me. You thought I'd be in my rat form, didn't you, and when you saw I wasn't there, in the Weasley boy's bed, you grew frustrated and you tore apart the hangings and that was when he woke up and saw you . . .the convict with a knife standing over him! Ah the irony!"

"Yes, I was forced to leave in a hurry, but I caught you off guard the next time, didn't I, Peter? When I sent Crookshanks after you in the bedroom and he nearly ended your misbegotten life then and there, didn't he, Wormtail? How's the back of your neck, rat? Got any interesting scars, hmmm?"

"So that was where the blood came from!" exclaimed Hermione, who had been listening quietly the entire time since she'd woken up. "Crookshanks bit him."

"Evil cat! Should've been drowned at birth, like all the other cats in the world. I had to hide after that, but eventually I saw my chance again, when little Snapey played Quidditch and left his broom alone for a moment when he went to talk to his Captain." Pettigrew chuckled wildly. "Foolish little boy, mummy would be so disappointed! Pity you didn't join her that day, when you had that unfortunate . . . accident on your broom!"

Harry felt himself go hot and cold with rage. "It was you, wasn't it? You're the one who removed the safety charms on my Meteor and cast a hex on it."

"Clever lad! Yes, I removed those charms dear daddy placed on your broom. But I didn't summon the dementors, oh no, that was your black mutt's doing. He came to watch the game, and his presence, that of the escaped prisoner, led the dementors to come into the pitch." Wormtail laughed hysterically. "But once again, your bloody friend and your father interfered and you escaped my trap!"

"You broke Shifter Code, trying to harm a person!" Aria cried, her amber eyes flashing. "That places you outside our Laws and therefore fair game."

Pettigrew spun on her. "I was always outside the Laws, young one. I never followed the rules. Shall you declare me Outcast, little Lupin? Shall you call a Hunt for me?"

"What if I did?" Aria demanded bluntly, staring right into the other's yellow eyes. "That is my Right, to call a Hunt upon one who is Outcast, and invite who I choose to join in. Like Padfoot, or Crookshanks, or Rosie. Those who break Shifter Law, and Hunt as they will, shall be Hunted in turn, unto Death," she quoted softly.

"Shifter Law!" Wormtail spat. "And do you really think I will go quietly? I'll make you work for your quarry, beast mistress! I, who once stood at the right hand of the greatest dark wizard ever born, will not go quietly into the night like a toothless old stray!"

"Glad to hear it, Wormtail, old boy! ‘Cause I've been dying for a good scrap ever since I broke out of prison," growled Padfoot.

"How did you get out, anyhow?" asked Remus, a sheen of sweat upon his brow. "No one else has ever escaped from Azkaban."

"Ah, well, I'm an Animagus, and shifting into my dog form kept me sane, so to speak. As a dog, the dementors' fear aura didn't affect me so badly, an animal doesn't fear as much as a human. I stayed a dog for as long as I could without losing my identity, then I became human again. Even so, I never would have gotten up the guts to leave except I saw a paper one day that someone had thrown on the floor. There was a picture in it of the boy there-" he pointed at Ron. "-with Wormtail on his shoulder, and of course I recognized him immediately. He'd been alive all this time . . .alive and sneaking about, creeping in the shadows like the scuttling varmint he is . . .and I knew he would try and go for Harry again, so I planned to get out. I starved myself, then I changed to dog form and slipped through the bars, the dementors never noticed . . .I swam to shore as a dog and headed straight for Hogwarts. I got here a week before you all did and I've been here and in the forest ever since, watching and waiting."

"How very noble of you!" sneered Pettigrew, and Harry longed to kick him, or let Rosie at him, for the dog seemed as if she would love to take a piece out of his hide.

"I would never have harmed you, Harry," Sirius said earnestly. "My cousin James made me your temporary godfather, and it was my duty to protect you. I vowed I wouldn't fail you . . .the way I failed your mother and James. I'd die first." His voice broke on that last, and he blinked hard.

His impassioned plea caught at Harry's heart and he nodded. "I believe you. I wish my dad was awake to hear this, though. Then maybe he wouldn't want to kill you."

Sirius coughed softly and grinned. "Ah, Severus and I were always odds, though the fault was mostly mine. Still, we learned to tolerate each other eventually. I even grew to like the smartass after a few years."

"Why, thank you, Black," Severus said dryly, lifting his head cautiously from the wall. His dark eyes were half-closed, but he was lucid. And plainly he had heard much of Sirius's testimony and Wormtail's as well. One hand groped for his wand, which lay next to him, Harry had placed it there once he had assured himself his dad was still alive. "Help me up, Harry," he called softly, for he was dizzy and could not rise without assistance, much to his annoyance.

Harry moved immediately to his father's side, holding out an arm. So too did Remus, who was stronger than Harry and could better manage the Potion Master's lean frame.

Sirius darted a quick glance at Severus, as if making sure his old acquaintance was still in one piece.

It was then that Pettigrew chose that moment to try and escape.

"Hate to break up this touching moment, old boy, but it's time for me to fly!" snickered Wormtail, then his form blurred.

Rosie barked wildly and sprang at the glowing light, only to draw back as a sharp beak stabbed her tender nose. Yelping, she drew away, and the large carrion crow spread its wings and flew towards the door, which was broken and cracked on the upper half, as if someone had put a fist through it.

But the hole was plenty large enough for the crow to slip through.

"Damn! He's getting away!" Aria yelled. "I call the Hunt upon the traitor Wormtail, known as Peter Pettigrew! He is a rogue. Let it end in his death. Hunt as you will, any who wish."

Then she blurred into cougar form and slammed into the door, breaking it to pieces.

"Aria! Goddamn it!" Remus shouted, but his niece was already gone, in hot pursuit of the rogue shifter. "Who does that girl think she is, Joan of Arc?"

Sirius laughed. "Guess that's one way to make an exit, eh, Moony? I'll see you in a bit. I've got a traitor to catch." Then he became the big black dog once more.

As he raced past, he barked at Rosie and the little beagle bayed and followed, never one to resist a good hunt.

Severus leaned on the wall for a moment, breathing a bit harshly, before pushing away and standing on his feet. He blinked, for he was still seeing double. He glared balefully at his son and his best friend. "Was it necessary to knock me the hell out?"

Harry looked away, then picked up his wand from the floor where Sirius had dropped it. "Sorry, Dad."

"Sev, you looked like you were going to kill Padfoot right there, so we acted to prevent a tragedy," Remus said.

"You looked like you were going to commit murder, Professor," added Hermione helpfully.

"Humph! I suppose you did the right thing." He rubbed the back of his neck. Then he leveled a stern glare at his son. "However, you're still in trouble, young man. Very big trouble, do you understand?"

Harry gulped hard. "Yes sir."

"But I'll deal with you later. Right now we have a sneaking rat to catch. Come on, Moony. Let's go, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger. No sense in letting Padfoot have all the damn fun." Severus straightened, and then walked steadily if not too quickly towards the door, leaning slightly on Harry.

Hermione and Ron had also gotten to their feet, pale and shaking, Ron leaned on Hermione and limped quickly after his professor and his friend. "Harry's dead meat, once this is all over," he predicted softly to Hermione.

Hermione winced. "Poor Harry. I sure hope the professor doesn't use a spoon like your mum."

They had just gotten down the stairs, Moony following, when all of a sudden they heard Remus cry out.

Severus turned and saw his friend on his knees on the floor, shuddering and writhing as if in the grip of a seizure. Remus's teeth were clenched and his hands splayed against the floor. Even as they watched, his back rippled, sprouting gray hair and his hands became elongated and clawed.

"Dad! What's happening?"

Remus threw his head back and screamed, a terrible shriek of agony.

Severus went pale. "Go, Harry! Don't look back. He's transforming."

"Into a werewolf? But Dad, why? He took the Wolfsbane! I gave it to him myself." Harry stared, unable to look away from the awful sight of his godfather convulsing, his body growing hair, his face morphing into something with a muzzle and rows of dagger-sharp teeth, huge ears sprouting from his head.

"Move, damn it!" Severus shouted, turning his son around and smacking him hard on the backside, the way you would a reluctant horse. "We've got to get out of here now!"

Harry ran, Severus's smack galvanizing him into action, he ran back up the tunnel and out of the entrance to the Willow.

"Weasley! Granger! Quit staring and move!" roared Snape. He shoved Hermione ahead of him, then picked up Ron and ran after the girl, up the tunnel and out through the Willow.

They had just gotten clear of the tree when it shuddered and the entrance snapped shut. Behind them, they heard the werewolf howling, one furious drawn out howl of rage.

"Can he, uh, get out of there, Professor?" asked Ron, shivering.

Snape shook his head. "No, it used to hold him in the days when we went to school. That's how the Shrieking Shack got its name."

"Then it's not really haunted, sir?" asked Hermione, coming over to them.

"No. The Shack got its name from the terrible sounds Professor Lupin made as he transformed into a werewolf. But no one ever knew that except me, Black, James, Lily, and the Headmaster." Severus informed her. "Come, we had better get you two back to school and let Madam Pomfrey look you over. Where's Harry?"

"Uh, I don't know, sir," answered Hermione uneasily. "I saw him running, somewhere over there," she pointed to the left of the Willow, past the lake and into the trees.

Severus muttered a few choice swear words under his breath and hissed angrily, "When I get a hold of that boy . . ."

Ron winced. "He won't be able to sit down for a day, I'll bet," he muttered, half to himself.

Severus quirked an eyebrow. "That is a distinct possibility the longer he is missing, Ron. Of all the times to go running off! I swear, sometimes that child doesn't have the sense God gave a mosquito!"

He continued walking towards the castle however, his long strides eating up the distance, carrying Ron easily. He longed to Apparate into the infirmary, drop off the two students and then go out and find his disobedient son, drag him home by the ear, shake him until he was blue, warm his bottom, and then lock him in his room until he was twenty-one. Then perhaps he could relax and not risk getting a coronary before he was thirty-seven.

He sighed and decided he could worry about Harry and Aria, as well, for she was another risk-taker extraordinaire, as soon as he'd seen to Ron and Hermione. One thing at a time. First he would see to these sheep, then he would go after the two that had strayed. Yet, a part of him wondered how Moony's curse had activated after he'd taken the Wolfsbane? It was impossible, but it had happened, he'd seen it with his own eyes. Perhaps something had been done to the potion? The Wolfsbane was a very delicate draft, and it would become useless if it were tampered with. Perhaps that too had been Wormtail's doing, he thought darkly.

* * * * * *

After emerging from the tunnel under the Willow, Harry had intended to return to the castle, he was well aware that Severus was furious enough with him and he didn't want to make him angrier. But then he caught sight of Rosie and Sirius running about the lake, the beagle baying for all she was worth, and all he could think of was that Wormtail, who'd killed his mother and stepdad, was out there trying to escape once more.

Without conscious thought, his feet began moving in the direction of the lake and then he was running, half-stumbling in the dark until he lit up the tip of his wand, eager to join in the hunt for the elusive Wormtail. He skidded to a halt beside the murky waters of the lake, trying without success to locate the other hunters, for he was at a distinct disadvantage, in the dark he was blind, and as a human he couldn't run as quickly.

Suddenly, he caught a flash of something metallic and moving near the lake on the side closest to the castle. It was huddling in the shadows, and Harry pointed the tip of his wand at it and shouted, "Lumos!" hoping it was Pettigrew lurking there.

Instead the wand illuminated the ferret features and white-blond hair of Draco. Draco squinted, lifting a hand to shield his eyes from the bright light.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing sneaking around here, Malfoy?"

"I might ask you the same thing, Potter!" Malfoy said quickly, his gray eyes darting about. "Going for a little midnight stroll? Better watch out, Potty, tonight's the full moon, and something that goes bump in the night could . . .get you!" He laughed softly, trying to conceal the camera hanging about his neck in a fold of his robes.

"Ha ha. Very funny. You know, Malfoy, if my dad catches you out of bed, your arse is going to be in detention for a long time."

Malfoy looked unconcerned. "I'd worry about my own, considering he's your father, not mine, and he can punish you a hell of a lot worse than a detention."

"I've got his permission to be out here," Harry lied glibly, well, it was partially true. "Unlike you. What are you doing here, Malfoy? Got full moon fever? Seems to me like you're up to something."

"Wouldn't you like to know," the blond boy taunted. How long did it take for a werewolf to transform, anyway? Malfoy wondered. He hoped he could get a good shot of it before it began to hunt. He wished Harry would go away, he was ruining the entire set-up. "Why don't you run along home, Potter, before Daddy finds out you're missing and tans your hide?"

Harry started to reply to that, but all of a sudden Malfoy went deathly pale and began to shake.

"What the- ?"

Then he felt it too, the creeping icy cold, the freezing ice-sheathed breath, the bone-numbing heart-stopping miasma of fear that always accompanied the dementors. He too began to tremble and once more he heard his mother screaming inside his head. He shut his eyes.

"No! Not my baby! Leave Harry alone!"

His eyes snapped open, not wanting to see the flash of green light that killed his mum over again. Only to find that Draco, proud scion of the pureblooded Malfoys, had bolted for the castle, running away to hide under the bed for the night, his plan to capture a werewolf professor on film abandoned in the face of the dementors' approach.

Harry was trembling now, the dementors' aura making him sick to his stomach. He couldn't think straight, his wand bobbed up and down like a will-o-wisp, all he wanted was to curl up into a ball and cry like a baby. He wished he'd gone back to the castle like his father had ordered, he wished his father were here, he always made Harry feel safe, like nothing could ever hurt him.

From the far side of the lake he could hear a beagle baying and the snarl of a hunting cougar. Then came the swift pad of paws over the ground as Rosie, Aria, and Padfoot came around the lake, racing after a tiny gray shape that suddenly shifted into a black crow and took wing, soaring like a vampire across the face of the brilliant moon.

Harry cried out, but he wasn't sure whether he was yelling because he saw Pettigrew shift or because the icy mist that accompanied the dementors was flowing over the lake and encasing him in its frigid grip.

You have nothing to fear save fear itself, Harry, he reminded himself. Remember what Lupin said?

He repeated that little mantra over and over and managed to point his wand at the encroaching mist and cry, "Expecto Patronum!"

A faint glowing mist shot out of his wand, it was like holding a candle into a hurricane.

Now he could see the spectral shapes gliding over the ground and he couldn't fathom why they kept coming after him. What did they want from him?

It was only when he saw Sirius, still in dog form, charge barking at the dementors, that he realized they were not here for him, but for the man who had spent eleven years in Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit.

The dementors swirled about the black dog, hissing and clawing, their hooded faces radiating a kind of puzzled eagerness and rage.

Rosie pressed up against the backs of Harry's knees, baying loudly at the advancing robed shadows. The dementors' fear aura didn't affect dogs like it did humans.

Aria came to stand beside him then and suddenly she was a girl once more, her wand out, amber eyes glowing in determination. "Harry! We've got to help Padfoot! It's him they want."

"I know, they were sent to kill him." He was still shaking. "But I can't seem to make the spell work, Aria."

They heard Sirius howl, and in that cry was not the fierceness of a dog defending itself, but the pleading of an animal faced with impossible odds.

"Sirius!" Harry screamed, seeing the dementors gathering about the limp form of the dog, who was now a tall skinny human once more.

The hooded specters were hissing and chittering, their cries like the rattling of bones in a casket. Some of them bent down to feed off the helpless man, sucking all of the warmth from his bones and the happy feelings from his head.

In a moment or two it would all be over and Sirius Black would be no more.

"Harry! Cast the Patronus!" Aria was screaming. "You can do it! I know you can!"

A dementor was placing skeletal fingers on its hood, preparing to draw it back. Remus had said that they only did that when they were preparing to administer the Kiss to someone. No one knew what was under a dementor's cowl, for the only ones who had ever seen were all dead, their souls sucked into oblivion by the Kiss.

Harry could feel his insides knotting, he was still afraid, but now the fear was being replaced by something else, something that made the fear lessen by degrees. Determination. Aria was right. If he didn't cast the Patronus Charm, Sirius would die.

Hell, they would all die.

He pointed his wand again and closed his eyes, bringing to mind the one time he had been truly unconditionally happy, when he had been two years old and together with both his parents on his birthday. He had been sitting on Lily's lap, hands reaching for a present held out to him by Severus, who was laughing at the eager look on his son's little face. And in that moment he had never felt so safe or loved or happy, with the people he adored most in all the world.

Holding that single memory firm in his mind, he chanted the words to the charm.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

And a brilliant silver beagle burst out of his wand to attack the dementors, racing up at them and biting them, driving them away from the prostrate Black the way a sheepdog drove sheep.

Aria gasped, then she leveled her own wand and concentrated as well. Her happiest memory was of being with her Gran Lara, learning to read from Lara's big book of myths and legends.

"Expecto Patronum!"

The tip of her wand lit up and a large snowy owl exploded from it, soaring into the knot of dementors and knocking them away from the still form of Sirius on the ground.

Together the two teens forced the ring of dementors back across the lake, which was frozen over by the chilling soul-stealing aura. The beagle Patronus and the owl shone against the midnight sky in a dazzling corona of unspeakable brightness, able to be seen for miles.

Severus had just emerged from the castle once more, intent upon finding both of his disobedient children.

He could not fail to see the glittering Patronuses, and he began to race across the lawn, wand out, ignoring the throbbing in his head. Dementors! Ah Merlin save me, not again! I told Albus, damn it! I told him!

When he reached the lakeshore, he could feel the deadly aura permeating everything. It tried to cling to him, drawing out all of his happy memories, which were mostly those of Lily and Harry, but he quickly recalled holding Lily on his wedding day and cast his own Patronus into the teeth of the coven.

The silver doe, his personal symbol for his late wife, burst from his wand and joined the owl and the beagle in smashing through the knot of dementors.

A silver phoenix and a quick footed squirrel also came to help, and the dementors were driven away, wailing and hissing, forced to leave their prey behind.

Severus shot a quick glance behind him and saw Dumbledore and Fudge coming over the hill. Then he focused on the two young wizards standing shoulder to shoulder, pouring every last ounce of magical power into their glowing Patronuses, casting a spell that should have been well beyond their current capabilities.

Even I never cast a fully formed Patronus at that age! The Potions Master thought in admiration. Hard on the heels of that thought was another. Then again, I was never in a situation that required me to learn a Patronus Charm at age thirteen.

The Patronus Charm was not one that was easily cast, however, and it took a toll on the wizard who summoned it, so Severus was not surprised when first Aria and then Harry began to sway on their feet and their Patronuses flicker and dim. The owl blinked out just before Aria fainted and Harry's Patronus winked out of existence a moment later, followed by the professor's son slowly crumpling to his knees, passing out cold as soon as his head touched the frosted ground.

Rosie whimpered and jumped on her master, licking him frantically and howling.

Severus called back his doe, then made his way over to the two unconscious students, conjuring up stretchers and placing the children on them with a quick hand motion.

"Severus! Are the children all right?" asked Dumbledore, coming up to the professor hastily, his white beard luminescent in the light cast by his Patronus, which was gliding in lazy circles overhead.

"I believe so. They are merely exhausted from overspending their powers. A good night's sleep should cure them." Severus told him.

"Why were the dementors after the children again, Severus? Do you know?"

Severus hesitated, for he knew perfectly well why the dementors had come back onto the school grounds. They had been pursuing their original quarry. But Severus, despite his reservations about Black due to his attitude, could not condemn an innocent man to death. Wormtail had escaped, the crafty fiend! But that did not mean that Black had to be thrown to the wolves.

Before he could direct the Headmaster away from that line of questioning, Cornelius had gone to investigate what looked like a heap of black and white cloth at the lakeside. The Minister gasped, then cast a quick Incarcerus Charm. Ropes shot out of his wand and wound tightly about the unconscious Sirius.

"Albus! Look who I found! It's Sirius Black!"

Albus looked startled, and quickly went over to see.

Behind him Severus cursed roundly. Why was it that everything seemed to go wrong tonight?