"Ron," Harry whispered.

Ron turned over, pulling the thick red blanket over his head. "Go away," he muttered. "Five more minutes Mum!"

"C'mon Ron," Harry said, while tugging the blankets away from his face.

"This is an emergency."

Ron shot up in bed. "Wha-?" he asked frantically. "What kind of emergency?"

"Harry shoved the Maurauders' map in front of his face."Look at this."

Ron rubbed his bleary eyes.

"Look at what?"

"Whose name do you see there?"

Ron's eyes widened. "That's not possible. It can't be. Tha-tha-that's—"

"Sirius Black. I know."

"C'mon Ron," Harry said, tugging onto Ron's pyjama shirt.

"Come where?" he squeaked.

"To Professor Lupin's quarters of course."

Ron's eyes widened in horror. "Are you nuts mate?"

"No, Professor Lupin is in trouble. We've got to help him."

"Are you crazy?" Ron screeched. "You want us to save Lupin from Sirius Black…from a convicted killer? We're just kids."

Loud clattering behind them had Harry and Ron turning their heads.

Scabbers was scratching and biting the bars of his cage. The cage was sliding forwards off the desk, and crashed with a loud bang, on the floor. The clasp of the cage sprung open and Scabbers scurried out the door.

"Scabbers!"

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Sirius leant forward, and laced his fingers together—resting his elbows on the table.

"So what now?"

Remus scowled.

"We figure out how to exterminate one slimy little rat."

The effects of the polyjuice had worn off, and Sirius' blue eyes, peeked out from his own gaunt features.

"Weasley seems particularly fond of that rat. How do we pry the little traitor from that poor boy's grasp?"

Remus raised his teacup to his lips, and his arm froze in mid-air, as he stared out the window at the swirling snowflakes.

"It seems that our prayers may have just been answered."

Sirius crept forward in his chair

"How would you like to go out for a little walk Snuffles?"

A slobbery tongue that felt like sandpaper scraping across the skin of his arm was all the answer that Remus needed. He grabbed his worn cloak off the hook by the front door to his quarters, and he and his furry friend were swallowed up by the darkness of the corridor; all that could be seen were two glittering eyes, sparkling in the inky black.

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Mrs. Norris' whiskers twitched as she stealthily made her way around the corner of the darkened corridor, shadows dancing across the walls from the soft light of her Master's lantern swinging back and forth.

"What is it Mrs. Norris?" Argus Filch practically galloped to keep up with his feline friend.? "Students out of bed again?" His face lit up with glee. "Is it Potter again? Or even better, those Weasley brats? I'd like to see all of them strung up by their fingernails."

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Hermione Jean Grainger was about to receive the most prestigious degree one could obtain from Cambridge University, with the highest honours; her family and friend's faces shone with pride, and she felt her chest swell.

Her hand shook as she unfurled the scroll; it was embossed in gold; she was the youngest student ever to graduate from the university, and a promising and exciting future awaited her, both in the Muggle and Magical world.

The flash of cameras made her eyes blink, and the cold metal of a microphone being pushed into her hand, made her shiver with anticipation.

"Miss Granger," a young garishly-clad reporter asked, in a high-pitched voice, "how does it feel to be the youngest recipient ever of this highest honour?"

Just as Hermione was about to clasp her hand around the microphone, something wet and cold pressed up against her cheek, and a low growl rumbled in her ear.

She tried to swat away whatever it was that was now tickling her nose; some irksome insect she surmised.

The nudging became frantic now. Bothersome fly. Go away!

Hermione's eyelids fluttered opened to see large almond orbs staring at her.

"Crookshanks!"

"Meow," the orange ball of fur growled, swatting a paw at her mistress.

"Bad kitty," Hermione admonished. " I was having such a wonderful dream."

But Crookshanks was not impressed. She proceeded to knead at Hermione's night-dress, and growl even louder.

Hermione huffed when Crookshanks then proceeded to pull on Hermione's shirt with her teeth.

Crookshanks pulled her over to the window sill; Hermione squinted her eyes, but all she could see was the soft moonlight bathing the grounds in an iridescent glow.

"Honestly Crookshanks. Why would you pull me out of bed in the middle of the night?"

At Crookshanks' persistent growling, she peered a little closer, and saw Scabbers scuttling across the darkened grounds, with Ron hot on his tail, and Harry trailing behind them.

Hermione felt a twinge of annoyance. "Oh my goodness! What on earth are those two doing out there-wandering around the grounds in the middle of the night?"

She furrowed her brow; those two were going to cost Gryffindor, yet more points. Oh Merlin! Since she'd met Harry and Ron, they'd led her down a path of rule- breaking and wild adventures that had put her plans of academic achievement, in jeopardy.

"Ron! Wait for me," Harry said gasping for breath, as he ran after his friend. Half-way down the charmed staircase, he'd realised that he'd not thought to bring his invisibility cloak or the Maurauders' Map with him. Darn! That's all he needed now, was for Snape to catch him out after curfew yet again; Harry had a feeling that if Snape caught him breaking anymore school rules, that the man just might just lock him away in Harry's bedroom in the man's quarters, and throw away the key. Snape was his guardian now. The thought made him positively shudder.

Harry had to stop; he had a stitch in his side, his throat felt dry and his mouth was parched; he wrapped his hands around his stomach, and attempted to catch his breath.

He looked up, and his eyes widened in horror. "Ron! Stop! Come back here," he croaked through his cracked lips.

"Where are you going?" he gasped, as Ron came perilously close to the Whomping Willow.

What happened next, had Harry paralyzed in fear and horror.

The subject of his living-nightmares for the past few months, suddenly appeared out of the star-dotted night sky, flying over his shoulder and dragged Ron off towards the Whomping willow; suddenly Ron and the large black dog, disappeared into the bowls of the ancient tree.

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Frantic rapping woke Severus Snape from his much-needed slumber. The man was a chronic insomniac, and while he could boast of producing a myriad of miraculous, healing potions for an array of ailments and conditions, he had not yet been successful in creating a formula for himself, that would allow him to sleep through the night. But he'd had minimal success in creating a formulation, which would at least allow him to sleep for short intervals.

His insomnia began, while he was still a teenager, due to nightmares that were comprised of horrors from his childhood, and later on, from events that occurred during his years of service to the Dark Lord, and guilt over events that led to the death of his beloved Lily. Those unbidden thoughts of self-loathing could be forgotten during the waking hours, but sleep had a way of bringing your most subconscious thoughts to the forefront.

He yanked the door open with a little more force than was strictly necessary.

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose; he had a feeling that his long-elusive slumber was not to be for tonight.

"Argus. What on earth are you doing here at this hour?"

Filch grinned evilly, baring yellow teeth. "I thought that you might like to know that I just saw Potter and Weasley, leaving the Castle, Professor."

Severus ground his teeth so hard, his jaw hurt.

Moments later, in a flurry of billowing black robes, Severus Snape stalked down the darkened halls of Hogwarts; the light from his wand illuminating every crevice and line of his face, and the thin line that were his lips. All the while, thoughts of what he was going to do to one small, green-eyed boy, were swirling through his mind. One thing was for sure, he would not make the mistake of allowing that child out of his sight again. And oh...Severus was formulating some very creative ideas for weeks' worth of detention for the little miscreant. He was going to make that boy very sorry that Severus Snape was now his guardian.

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Harry stared at the spot where his best friend had been only moments ago, before the Grim had dragged him off to Merlin knows where.

Harry almost jumped when a hand touched his shoulder.

Hermione? Where had she come from? She wasn't there a minute ago!

Hermione absent-mindedly fingered the gold chain around her neck.

"Hermione. How did you just-"

"Never mind that!" she said, her voice rising shrilly. She grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the Whomping Willow. "We need to find Ron. Now!"

Harry barely had a chance to nod his head, before the petite girl managed to drag him forwards; his feet practically flew off the ground. Wow, she's stronger than she looks, Harry thought.

Unfortunately, the Whomping Willow was not inclined to co-operate. It whipped its large gnawed branches, slapping the ground, sending grass and dirt flying through the air.

"On the count of three," Hermione said, "then we'll slip under the branches. We have to have perfect timing, or we'll be flattened like pancakes."

"That was one image I could have done without," Harry said, goosepimples popping up on his arms.

"One, two, three," she said quickly. They waited until the tree had levitated its branches and quickly slid under them, then managed to slip through the opening at the nape of the tree.

They didn't escape unscathed though; Harry winced in pain, as a thin branch sliced at his cheek, and Hermione was thumped from behind by a rather large branch-it took her breath away.

Suddenly, they were sliding down some sort of a tunnel at such a break-neck speed, that Harry's stomach plummeted. They landed with a thud on the hard ground. Harry heard a crack, as his arm smacked against the hard ground. He gritted his teeth, as pain shot up his arm.

A rickety-looking, winding staircase stood before them.

They exchanged nervous looks.

"Where do you suppose this goes?" Hermione whispered.

Harry's heart sunk into his stomach. "I have a hunch, and I really really hope that I'm wrong."

As they mounted the staircase, however, it became apparent that Harry's hunch was correct; they were in the Shrieking Shack! The most haunted building in England, Harry had learned during his illegal trek to Hogsmeade.

At the top of the staircase, there was a large wooden door.

Harry took a deep breath, and turned the handle with his trembling fingers

He gasped at the sight before him.

Ron was sitting on a torn, old mattress, with springs sticking up; his jeans were ripped, and he had a big gash on his leg. It was oozing blood.

"Ron!" Harry and Hermione ran over to him. "Are you alright? Where's the dog?"

Ron pointed to the doorway. "It's a trap. He's the dog! He's an Animagus!" he said in a trembling voice.

Harry and Hermione whirled around to see a tall thin man, with long, dark stringy hair, and soft blue eyes that belied his reputation as that of a hardened criminal.

Hermione threw herself in front of Harry.

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too," she said bravely.

"No! Only one of us will die tonight," he said; eyes flashing with hatred as he stared at the squirming rodent clutched in Ron's hand.

"Then it'll be you," Harry growled, as he whipped his wand out and pointed it at Sirius.

"Put the wand down Harry," Remus said quietly, as he slipped out from the shadows.

"Professor Lupin? I don't understand."

"Put the wand down Harry," he repeated firmly.

"No! He's responsible for my parent's death. You of all people-"

Harry's wand suddenly flew out of his hand.

He looked up in shock to see Remus pointing his wand at him.

"You've got it all wrong Harry," Remus began quietly. "Sirius is not the one responsible for your parent's deaths."

Harry pointed at Sirius, anger bubbling up in his throat. "I don't believe you. You were their secret keeper, and you betrayed them to Voldemort."

Harry looked at Remus with wounded eyes.

"How can you defend him?" Tears welled up in Harry's eyes. "He was their friend and he betrayed them."

"No Harry. He didn't betray them. He did." he said, pointing towards Ron, whose blue eyes stood out starkly against his pale face."

"Me?" Ron screeched.

Remus shook his head. "No, not you. Your rat," he said impatiently.

"My rat? Are you crazy?"

"Your rat is Peter Pettigrew," Sirius interjected; eyes smouldering with fury as he pointed at Scabbers.

Harry stared at him incredulously. "Peter Pettigrew? You're mental. He's dead." He glared at Sirius.

"He's not dead," roared Sirius. "He's right there."

"You're barmey. He's just a rat. He's been in my family for-" Ron shrieked, tightening his grip on Scabbers, whose beady eyes were rolling back and forth, while he was frenziedly clawing at Ron's shirt.

"Twelve years," Sirius said, scowling. "Curiously long life for a common garden rat, don't you think? And he's missing a toe, isn't he?"

"Yeah, so what?" Ron asked angrily.

"All they could find of Pettigrew, was his-" Harry began.

"Finger," Sirius finished. "Dirty coward cut it off, so everyone would think that he was dead, and then he transformed into a rat."

Remus tugged on his shirt. "Why don't we show him Sirius."

Sirius nodded. He tried to pry Scabbers from Ron's tight grasp, but the boy held on firmly.

Harry looked at Ron. "Give it to him Ron."

"No!"

Sirius managed to pry the rat from Ron's hand, and as Scabbers frantically tried to escape, both Remus and Sirius trained their wands on the creature, and Harry's eyes widened in horror, as the seemingly harmless rat, transformed into a tiny man, with pointed ears and hunched over, obviously from spending the last twelve years as a rodent.

Ron squeaked.

"Remus, Sirius, my good friends."

"Don't you dare call us that," Sirius erupted. "You betrayed Lily and James to Voldemort."

Pettigrew's eyes grew wide with fear.

"I didn't mean to. You have to believe me. The Dark Lord- he would have killed me. I'm not strong like you."

"I would have given my life, rather than betrayed my best friends, you weak-willed coward," Sirius spat in disgust.

Sirius shoved his wand at Peter's chest.

"You don't deserve to live," he growled. "Does he Remus?"

"No. He certainly doesn't," Remus replied icily.

Pettigrew grabbed Harry's shirt.

"Please Harry. Have mercy. James wouldn't have wanted this. He would have shown me mercy."

Harry unfurled Pettigrew's fingers from his shirt in disgust. "He's right. My Dad wouldn't have wanted his two best friends to become murderers."

"Are you sure about this Harry? Do you know what he is?" Sirius said reluctantly.

"I know what he is," Harry said quietly.

Sirius lowered his wand reluctantly.

"You are very lucky that young Harry here is so forgiving," Sirius said, grabbing Peter's shirt and pulling him up on his toes. Then he shoved him away in disgust.

"Pity then that I am not quite as forgiving," a cold voice echoed from the doorway.

"Se-Se-verus," Peter's voice trembled with fear, when Severus pointed his wand at the frightened man. "It's been a long time. You've changed since school-"

"Quiet!" Snape roared.

"You are responsible for Lily's death," he said in a deadly voice. "I'm going to enjoy killing you. But first I'm going to take perverse pleasure in seeing you squirm," he said, his face twisting into an ugly smile.

"You knew my mum?" Harry blurted out.

"Be quiet Potter!" Severus snapped. "I will deal with you later!" he said, his eyes flashing. "After I take care of this coward."

Harry gulped. He was not looking forward to that conversation.

"Cruc-"

Severus' wand flew out of his hand.

"Black," he growled furiously, "give me back my wand."

"Not a chance Snape. Harry is right. We shouldn't take the law into our own hands. We should let the Dementors have him."

Pettigrew squealed.

Severus scowled at Black. He knew that the man was not the murderous traitor that he'd believed, but that did not by any stretch of the imagination, allow the man to dictate to him, or that he would tolerate Black interfering in exacting his just revenge against the man who was responsible for Lily's death. He ignored the little voice that told him, that he was being a trifle bit hypocritical.

"Sirius is right Severus. Lily would not want this," Remus said quietly.

Damned werewolf. He turned away to compose himself. He'd already revealed far too much about his emotions and his feelings for Lily. It left him feeling exposed.

"We need to get this traitor up to the castle," Sirius said.

Remus glanced over towards Hermione, Ron and Harry. "Yes, and these children need medical attention too," Remus said.

Severus spun around.

Yes, he'd neglected his responsibilities. Potter was clutching his arm; it looked like it was hanging at an odd angle. Severus suspected that it was broken. Foolish boy.Correction...foolish, reckless Gryffindors! Granger and Weasley didn't look as though they had fared much better.

Well, Potter was his responsibility now, and he'd allowed his charge to come to harm. Whether the foolish boy had placed himself in that position was beside the point. Severus knew that the child attracted trouble like the plague; he should have anticipated something like this. Of course, he would be having words with Minerva about her lackadaisical supervision.

Severus himself did a bed check each night, and had monitoring charms on the dorms, to alert him if his Slytherins were out of bed. Considering Potter's track record for wandering the halls after curfew, he should have known to place his own monitoring charm on the boy. Of course, that would have precipitated yet another argument with Minerva about how he had it out for her Gryffindors.

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Harry's eyelids fluttered open, to the familiar sight of the hospital wing. He groaned. Not again!

"Hey there," a familiar voice greeted him.

"Hi," Harry greeted Sirius with a smile.

"How are you feeling mate?"

"How do you think he's feeling Black?" Severus drawled, as he entered the hospital wing. "He's broken his arm in two places, has a concussion, needed ten stitches in his cheek-"

"I get the picture Snape."

"I feel like I've been run over by a Hippogriff," Harry admitted sheepishly.

Snape crossed his arms across his chest and looked down sternly at Harry. "You are extremely lucky young man that you weren't more seriously injured or worse, killed. Whatever would possess you to go running off in the middle of the night, with a killer on the loose?" he spat.

"Rest assured that we will be discussing your punishment at length, once Madame Pomfrey releases you."

Harry groaned. "But he's innocent," he protested. "I was never in any real danger."

"Really?" Snape sneered. "Must I remind you that you are in the hospital wing?"

"Snape is right Harry," Sirius said sternly. "You didn't know that I was innocent and you placed yourself in unnecessary danger."

Harry picked at the starched sheets. "I know," he said quietly. "I'm sorry."

Sirius crooked a finger under his godson's chin, and lifted it up gently. "I've already lost my two best friends. I don't want to lose you too. You have to promise me that you won't act so recklessly again."

A strange sensation twisted at Severus' gut, as he studied Black being so gentle with Potter. Could it be jealousy? After all, the man was Potter's Godfather, and would surely want custody of the boy, now that Pettigrew was safely tucked away in Azkaban, and he was a free man?

Potter wouldn't need him anymore...would he? Not now that he had his Godfather.

The thought was more painful than Severus would care to admit to himself.

"Ah! Splendid!" Dumbledore's cheery voice came from the doorway to the hospital wing; Remus was by his side. "You are both here."

"How observant," Severus said dryly.

Dumbledore ignored Severus' rudeness, and simply smiled. "Sherbet lemon?" he offered, as he pulled the sweets from the depths of his flowing red and yellow robes. His blue eyes twinkled.

Sirius smiled. "I don't mind if I do, thanks," he said, winking at Harry, as he handed one to his godson.

Remus shrugged his frail shoulders and accepted one as well.

Severus scowled. "Now that we are finished gorging on sweets, would you mind telling us what's really on your mind Albus."

"There is a very important matter that I must discuss with you all, as soon as Harry is released from the hospital."

"Stop beating around the bush Albus," Severus snapped, "and get on with it."

"Very well," he acquiesced. "James and Lily's will has been discovered in the ruins of Godric's Hollow. Now that justice has been served, and you are a free man once again Sirius, we can proceed with the reading of the will."

Severus turned to leave. "As this doesn't concern me, I will be retreating to my quarters Headmaster, if you should need me."

"Oh, but Severus," Albus said quietly, halting Severus' exit, "Lily and James' will does concern you. It concerns you very much. And they have specified that the presence of you, Sirius and Harry is required to reveal the contents of their vault at Gringotts'."