Harry, Niamh, and Hermione crept along the dusty little tunnel, Crookshanks padding along behind them.

“Is this one on the map?” asked Niamh.

Harry nodded and replied, “Yeh.  But Fred and George didn’t think it could be used.”

“Because of the Willow.”

“Obviously.”

“Ah.”

“What’s that up ahead?” asked Hermione.

“A trapdoor,” replied Harry.

“And there’s a light on the other side.”

“Shh.  Be quiet.”

The three of them crept forward and slinked up the stone steps that led up to the trapdoor.  Harry eased it open and found himself looking into a dusty little room with a bed, a couch, and a few battered chairs.  Ron was lying on the bed, his right arm lying at an odd angle.

“Clear,” breathed Harry and pushed the trapdoor completely up, stepping into the room then turned to extend a hand to the two girls.  Crookshanks bounded past him and up onto the bed with Ron, hissing.  A lump in Ron’s pocket twitched and the ginger-haired boy lifted his head.

“Harry?  What…?”

Harry shrugged and said, “Yeh.  Here to rescue ye.  Now where’d Sirius go?”

Ron’s eyes widened and he pushed himself up on his good elbow.

“Harry, Sirius…”

“What about Sirius?” asked Niamh.

“He’s not what you think…  He’s…  He’s…”

“Sirius Black!” shrieked Hermione, pointing towards the other side of the room.

And it could only be Sirius Black.  Long, matted black hair fell down over thin shoulders and a patched, dirty gray robe.  The sort of robe you wore in Azkaban.

Harry planted himself in front of Niamh and Hermione, eying the wand in the man’s hand.  He growled, “What do ye want?”

Black looked pleadingly at Harry and replied, “I just want to talk.”

“Oh, is tha’ all?  Talk like ye talked ter Voldemort about me parents!”

Black looked liked he’d been slapped.

“You don’t know…”

“Don’t know wha’?” spat Harry.

“The truth,” replied Black.

“Oh, the truth,” said Harry bitterly.  “The truth o’ what?  How ye really didn’t give me mother ter Voldemort?”

“Yes.  Harry, there’s…”

“DOAN YE CALL ME THA’!  YE HAVE NO RIGHT!”

Black’s shoulders slumped and he nodded.

“I know I have no right.  I good as killed your parents by what I did.”

“Ye did kill them!  Ye gave them ter Voldemort!”

“No!  Harry, listen…”

Harry ‘s wand was in his hand in the instant Black took a step forward and he snarled, “Ye move one more step and I’ll cut ye down like the dog ye are.”

Black’s blue eyes flashed and he said, “I’m sorry, Harry.”  He took another step forward and the words of the first curse he could think of flowed past Harry’s lips.

“Mortis…”

“Expelliarmus!”

Harry’s wand snapped out of his hand and flew over to land in Lupin’s, followed swiftly by Niamh and Hermione’s when they tried to draw theirs.

“Professor,” said Niamh in confusion.  “What are you doing?”

“I want to hear the truth,” replied Lupin, looking at Black.  He nodded slightly and said, “Sirius.”

“Remus,” breathed Black.  “What are you doing here?”

“Albus brought me in after Fudge told him you’d gotten out.  I suppose he thought…”

“That you could do something in case I came to the school.”

Lupin shrugged then asked, “Where is he, Sirius?”

Black nodded at the bed and Ron.

“There.  He’s there.”

“You switched…  you switched and you didn’t tell me…”

“James swore me to secrecy.”

The four students watched as Lupin crossed the room and embraced Black in a brotherly hug.

“WHAT?!” shrieked Niamh.

“You…  you…” stuttered Hermione, pointing at Lupin, who let go of Black and turned to her.

“Hermione…”

“You…”

“Hermione, please calm down and listen to me…”

“I covered for you!  I did….”

“Hermione…”

Hermione turned to Harry and said, “Harry, don’t trust him.”

“Hermione…” said Lupin again, reaching out towards her.

“Don’t trust him.  He’s a werewolf!”

Lupin froze, gray eyes dulling.  He pulled back from them then stared at Harry as the boy whispered, “I know.”

“WHAT?!” shrieked Hermione, Niamh, and Ron.

“You knew?” gasped Hermione, eyes wide.  “You knew all this time and you didn’t tell us?”

“Ye didn’t need ter know!”

“I’d say we did,” growled Ron.  “It’d be real nice to know when there’s a werewolf teaching us.”

Niamh simply looked at Harry, then looked at Black and Lupin.

“What now?” she asked.

“We end this,” growled Black, moving towards Ron, who scrambled backwards with a yelp.  Harry threw himself in front of Black, eyes blazing.

“Get the hell away from ‘im.”

Black halted and looked over Harry’s shoulder at Ron before turning his eyes back to Harry.

“Harry, you don’t know what your doing.”

Harry crossed his arms and looking defiantly up at Black, eyes narrowed so much his eyes looked black.

“Yeh.  I do.”

Black sighed and tossed Ron’s wand onto the bed.  He said to Lupin without turning, “Give them back their wands, Remus.  Maybe they’ll listen then.”

Lupin gave Sirius a look but tossed Niamh, Hermione, and Harry their wands.  Harry fingered his for a moment, looking suspiciously up at Black.

“Now,” said Black, “your armed and we’re not.  Will you listen?”

Harry glanced at Niamh and Hermione then shoved his wand into the sheath at his hip.  He stepped back to lean casually against one of the bedposts and eyed the two men coldly.

“Talk,” he said.  “I’m willing ter listen.”

“Alright,” said Black, looking at Lupin.  “Remus?”

Lupin nodded and said, “I was heading down to the dungeons when your friends Mika and Ginny plowed past me.  They dropped a piece of parchment and I picked it up so I could return it to them.  Little did I know that it was something very familiar to me.”

“The map,” breathed Niamh.

Lupin nodded.

“The map.  I saw the three of you running across the lawn after three people and immediately came after you.”

“Three people?  There were only two,” said Hermione in confusion.

“Three,” said Black, eying Ron.

“How’d you know about the map?” asked Niamh.

“I’m Moony,” replied Lupin.

Ron frowned and asked, “Who were the people?”

“Pettigrew’s dead!” yelled Harry.

Lupin shook his head and pulled out the Marauder’s map, handing it to Harry.  Just on the edge at the end of the tunnel under the Whomping Willow were seven names: Hermione Granger, Niamh O’Feir, Ronald Weasley, Harold Snape, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.  Harry suddenly realized that Lupin also knew something he should never have found out.  He lifted his eyes to meet Lupin’s and his stomach did a flip as the werewolf nodded slightly.  Oh, his father was going to kill him when he found out…

Harry looked up at Lupin and Black before turning to Ron and saying softly, “Give them Scabbers, Ron.”

Ron looked at him like he had just told him to cut out his own heart and eat it.

“What?  Are you insane?!  I can’t give Scabbers to them!”

Harry drew himself up to his full height, fixed the ginger-haired boy with his fiercest scowl, and snarled darkly, “Give them the damned rat or I’ll get ‘im!”

Ron looked at Harry in fear and pulled Scabbers from his pocket.  The rat squealed as it saw Black and the man bared his yellowed teeth, eyes glinting.  He reached for the rat and it squealed again, pawing at Ron’s hand in terror.  Ron pulled back from Black, eyes squeezed together.  Harry rolled his eyes and grabbed the rat from Ron’s hands, shoving him into Black’s bony hands.  He snarled, “If ye’ve lied, I’ll kill ye.”

Black gave him an odd, distant look then nodded vaguely, turning towards Lupin.

“Do you want to do the honors, Moony?”

Lupin nodded and eyed the rat in Black’s hand.

“Certainly, Padfoot.  Hermione, may I borrow your wand?”

“S-sure.”

Hermione handed her wand to Lupin and he had begun to open his mouth when there were sounds from the tunnel.  Everyone in the room looked at each other then back at the tunnel as a dark-haired man appeared, black eyes blazing with cold fury as he saw the four students along with the professor and the murderer.

Snape pointed his wand at the two men, who were staring at him in shock, and said silkily, “Well, well.  What have we here?”

Niamh and Hermione looked quickly at Harry who breathed, “Da.”

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Da?” repeated Black incredulously, his eyes darting from Harry to Snape and back.

Severus frowned and his eyes glanced towards Harry once before darting back to Lupin and Black.

“Harry,” he said, “I believe we discussed this not too long ago.  What did I tell you about not letting anyone else know?”

“Sorry, Da,” said Harry.

“Snape, you bastard!” spat Black.  “How dare you tell him that – that – horseshit!”

“It is the truth, Black,” said Severus.  “Look at him and tell me you don’t see me looking back at you.”

Black’s blue eyes moved to Harry and there was disbelief, anger, and grief in them.  His eyes darted back to Severus and anger flowed over the disbelief and grief.

“You bastard!  How’d you do it?  How’d you steal James’ child?”

“I stole nothing, you ass.  If you don’t recall, Lily was my girlfriend in seventh year.”

“And if I don’t recall, you greasy git, she left you!”

“To my regret,” said Severus, a touch of misery in his voice that he quickly covered up.  “But Harry is my son.”

“Lying son of a…”

Black started forward and the tip of Severus’ wand began to glow.  Harry leapt inbetween the two of them, planting himself in front of his father and yelling, “Da, no!”

“Harry!” hissed Niamh and Hermione.

Severus stared at his son then at Black, who was also staring at Harry.

“Harry, move out of the way.”

“No.”

“Harry…”

“Da!  He didn’t do it.  Black didn’t kill Mum!  It was Pettigrew.”

“Pettigrew’s dead, Harry.”

Harry shook his head and pulled out the map, showing it to his father.  The dark eyes widened as he saw the now eight dots on the map, one of them the name of a person supposed to be dead.  He looked down at Harry then at Black before his eyes darted to Scabbers and stayed there.

“Pettigrew…  He would not happen to be this Wormtail would he?”

Lupin nodded and said, “He is.”

Severus glared mildly at him and snarled, “I suppose you know too, don’t you, Lupin?”

“I’ve suspected since the Gryffindor/Slytherin match, Severus.  You and Harry look very much alike.”

Severus looked down at his son and muttered, “I know,” before he said loudly, “I know Wormtail.  Voldemort spoke of him before…before the Potter’s were killed.  He said he had information that was invaluable to the Potter’s destruction.”  His eyes fixed on Black and he growled, “I’ve been wanting to get my hands on you for twelve years, Black.  And now it seems we are united in this.  You want Pettigrew, correct?”

Black nodded, eyes hungry.

“As do I.  Let us get this done so I can give you to the dementors with a clear conscience.”

“Da,” growled Harry.

“Perhaps not a clear conscience.  Lupin, I trust you have a wand?”

“Hermione’s.”

“You don’t carry your own?  Relying on werewolf strength gets you nowhere.”

Black growled, “Snape…”

“Be quiet mongrel or I’ll Stupefy you and hand you over to the dementors with a smile.”

“Da!”

Severus half-scowled in Harry’s direction then looked at Lupin.

“One – two – three…”

A soft glow emanated from both wands and enveloped Scabbers, who writhed in Black’s hands.  The rat fell and hit the floor and after another flash of blue-white light, was no longer there.

Instead there was a man no taller than Hermione, his hair colorless and balding, his nose pointed and his eyes watery like a rat’s.  His eyes darted towards the tunnel then at the grim countenances of Black, Lupin, and Severus.

Lupin casually said, “Hello, Peter.  How pleasant to see you again.”

Snape sneered and muttered, “Just as I remembered…  worthless little man…”

“S – Sirius…  R – Remus…” stuttered Pettigrew, his voice squeaky.  His eyes darted to Snape and he paled to a pasty white.  “And S – Severus…  how nice to see all of you.”

“Can’t say the feeling’s mutual,” muttered Black and Severus.

Lupin frowned at the two of them then said in a light tone, “We were just discussing what happened the night Lily and James died and were wondering if you could fill in a few gaps for us.”

“R – Remus,” gasped Pettigrew.  “He tried to kill me…”

“Your lucky I didn’t come after you, you little rat,” growled Severus.  “You wouldn’t have a corpse.”

Pettigrew eyed Severus warily and squeaked, “Remus, he’s still trying to kill me.  He killed Lily and James…”

“No one is going to kill you until we sort some things out,” said Lupin coldly, eying Black and Severus.

“Sort things out?  He broke out of Azkaban to get me!”

“And how did you know he would break out of Azkaban when no one’s ever done it before?  Why have you hidden all these years, Peter?”

Pettigrew pointed a shaking finger at Black and cried in a shrill voice, “I don’t know how he got out of Azkaban!  I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named taught him a few tricks!”

Both Black and Severus laughed.

“Voldemort wouldn’t have taken Black in, let alone teach him anything.  Not that I would expect a Gryffindor to join him,” sneered Severus.  “You on the other hand are just the sort who would have joined him.

“Couldn’t have said it better,” growled Black.

Pettigrew took a step back and stuttered, “M – me?  Join You-Know-Who?  N – never!”

“Liar,” hissed Hedwig from Harry’s wrist, causing him to jump.  He had forgotten she was there.

“You haven’t been hiding from me for year,” hissed Black, “you’ve been hiding from Voldemort’s old supporters.  They curse your name, you know.  I heard them, day in and day out.  They know you were the one who supplied the information to Voldemort and they blame you for his downfall.”

“I – didn’t…”  Pettigrew was sweating profusely now, his breath coming in panicky gasps.  “Remus – don’t tell me you believe this…”

“I’m afraid I have difficulty believing an innocent man would hide as a rat for twelve years, Peter.”

“I was scared!”

“Scared of people like Lucius Malfoy perhaps?” hissed Severus, smirking in satisfaction as Pettigrew stared at him in horror.  “Oh, Lucius would be very delighted to know your still alive, Pettigrew.  Y’know, the day after Voldemort’s downfall he told me himself that if he ever had a chance to get a hold of you, he’d torture you, slowly.  I’ve half the mind to turn you over to him…  Yes…”

“Not a bad idea,” said Black.

“N – no, no!” cried Pettigrew, shaking his head wildly.  “Not Lucius!  Please – don’t turn me over to Lucius!”

Black grinned a grin that would have put the Cheshire cat to shame and hissed, “You just dug your own grave, Peter.”

Lupin smiled grimly and said, “Yes.  Admitting you know Lucius.  Not a good slipup for a Death Eater to make.”

Pettigrew paled and stuttered some more.

“M – me?  A D – Death Eater?  N – no…”

“Worthless liar,” spat Black.  “I bet that was the highest high you ever got in your life when you gave Lily and James to Voldemort.  You always like friends in high places, Peter…  And Voldemort was the highest you could get.”

“No…”

“Shut up!  I ought to have killed you the moment I found out you were here.”

“Excuse me,” said Niamh.  “Sirius – if I may call you Sirius – how did you know he was here?”

Black looked at Niamh for a moment, brow furrowed, then said, “A picture.  In your first year.  It was the Quidditch match when Harry was made Seeker.  I – I didn’t read the article just looked at the picture.  It was after the match.  You and Harry and – Ron, is it? – were all together, hugging.  And I saw Peter in Ron’s pocket.”

“But how did you know it was him?” asked Hermione.

“Didn’t you hear the story?  The only thing left of Peter was a finger.”

Severus nodded slowly and murmured, “He cut off his own finger.  Clever, Pettigrew.  Very clever.  Pity it didn’t work.”

“So,” said Black, “I wondered how I could escape.  It took me almost two years but I finally managed to turn into my Animagus form again.  Dementors can’t see, you know, so I could easily escape in the form of a dog as they find their prey by sensing their emotions.”  His eyes flicked to Harry and he continued, “I just knew that I had to get out of there.  I had to protect my godson.”

Pettigrew looked from one of the three men’s faces to the other then threw himself at Ron.

“Kind master…  gentle master…  haven’t I been a good friend?”

Ron backed away from the man and bellowed, “I let you sleep in my bed!”

Pettigrew turned towards Hermione, who backed away.

“Clever girl…  you won’t let them kill me, will you?”

Hermione kept backing away in horror, keeping away from Pettigrew.  The tiny man turned towards Niamh but met the tip of a wand and cold blue eyes before he got there.  The black-haired girl snarled, “The day I try and save your life, you pathetic bastard, will be the day I kiss Malfoy’s ass.  And that will happen the day the sky falls and Hell comes on earth.”

Pettigrew scrambled away from her and turned to the last person in the room.  He collapsed at Harry’s feet, grabbing his robes.  Harry looked repulsed and hissed, “Let.  Go.  Of.  Me.”

“Harry…  Harry…please.  Your mother…”

“HOW DARE YOU MENTION LILY?” bellowed Severus.

“Harry…  please….”

“LET GO OF ME!” roared Harry, throwing Pettigrew backwards onto the floor.  He shook his head, glaring down at the quivering figure, hands convulsing in anger.  Shaking, he hissed, “Ye bastard.  Ye killed my mother.”

“No, Harry…”

“SHUT UP!  Ye killed her and that’s it!  We know what ye are, Pettigrew.  Yer…  yer the reason I grew up on the streets.  Yer the reason I lived in Hell for eleven years!  DAMN YOU!  DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU!”

Tears pricked at Harry’s eyes but he refused to let them fall, causing his eyes to glitter.  Severus crossed the room quickly, pulling his son into a one-armed hug.  He sneered at Pettigrew and hissed, “I ought to kill you right now, Pettigrew.  But then again, I don’t have as much of a grudge against you as Black does.”

Pettigrew suddenly yelled, “I know Harry’s your son, Severus!  I’ll tell Lucius!  I’m sure he’ll pay dearly for that information.”

Black grabbed Pettigrew by the neck of his robes and snarled, “Not if your dead, he won’t.  I won’t let you ruin Harry’s life.  James’ son or not, he’s still my godson.”  He held a hand in one hand and Harry saw that it was his father’s.  He looked up at the man beside him and Severus nodded sharply before turning back to Black.

“Goodbye, Peter.”

Pettigrew trembled and wailed, “I had no choice, Sirius!  He would have killed me!”

“Better had you died then!” bellowed Black.  Green light blossomed at the end of the wand and Harry felt a memory flash in his mind; one of a woman screaming and a high-pitched laugh.

“NO!”

Black looked at Harry in surprise and so did Severus.  Harry shuddered and said, “Doan kill him.  No – nobody deserves to die like that.  Nobody.  Not even him.”  He whispered in a voice only Severus could hear, “And especially na Mum or James.”  Severus blinked in surprise and pulled his son even closer, looking at Black.

“I suggest we take him up to the castle.  Turn him over to the dementors.”

Black nodded and ropes sprang out of Severus’ wand, binding Pettigrew hand and foot.  Severus grabbed his wrist and hissed, “He can’t be allowed to speak.  If he tells any of the Death Eater’s still loose…”

Black looked from the hand around his wrist up to Severus’ face then down to Harry, whose face was hidden behind a curtain of dark hair.

“I know.”

“And I know what to do,” said Niamh, stepping forward.  She pressed her wand against Pettigrew’s throat and hissed, “Eternus Silentio.”  A ball of red light traveled up her wand and into Pettigrew’s throat, growing brighter before fading away.

“Eternal Silence,” said Lupin.  “It can only be broken by the caster and keeps the person from telling the secret that was in the caster’s mind when the spell was cast.”

Niamh nodded and stuffed her wand into her pocket, glaring down her nose at Pettigrew.  She hissed, “And that’s not going to happen anytime soon.  I’ll kill you before I let you hurt my friend, you bastard.

“Its also illegal,” said Severus lightly, eying Niamh, who shrugged.

“What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

“In most of the world.  Here on the other hand…”

“Oh.”

Lupin looked at all of them and asked, “Shall we go then?  We have a ways to walk.  Ron, can you manage?”

“Yeah,” said Ron, wincing as he raised himself up.  Crookshanks purred from where he sat on the bed then bounded down the tunnel in front of Lupin and Black, who were easing Pettigrew down the steps.  Harry gently pulled himself from his father’s grip and walked over to Ron, who looked away before turning back to him.

“Hey,” said Harry.

“Hey.  You okay?”

“Yeh.  You?”

“Fine.  ‘Cept for the fact that my arm’s broken.”

“Bugger.”

“Yeah.”

The two of them looked at each other for a moment before Ron laughed and said, “I’ve really been a git, haven’t I?”

Harry cast him an amused look and replied, “Git is an understatement.  More like a jackass.”

“Ah.  At least its not a bastard.”

“Ye were close.  Very close.”

Ron laughed again and held out his hand.

“Friends?”

Harry grinned and took the offered hand, squeezing it tightly.

“Friends.  As long as ye agree never ter to that again.”

“Now I can’t promise that…”

“I know.  I just wanted ter say that.”

Ron laughed again and Hermione squealed happily, hugging Harry about the waist.  The two boys stared at her and she grinned back at them.

“I did it!”

Ron and Harry exchanged a look over her head and said in unison, “Sure you did, Mione.  Sure you did.”

Hermione grinned cheekily; so happy that they were friends again that she missed their deadpanned voices and bounced down into the tunnel.  Severus looked after her in amusement then said, “Why don’t you two kiss and make-up so we can get out of here?”

“Ew!  Da!”

“Bad imagery, professor.”

Severus half-smiled and headed down into the tunnel, followed by Ron, who held his arm carefully away from his body.  Niamh smiled and said, “Well, things are back to normal, aren’t they?”

“Na quite,” said Harry as they stepped down into the tunnel, he pulling the trapdoor down after him.  “I found out I’ve got a godfather and that he and one of me professors made the Marauder’s map.  And if all goes well, Pettigrew’ll be in Azkaban where he belongs.”

“And everybody’ll live happily ever after?”

Harry laughed and hugged his friend’s shoulders.

“Maybe na.  But we’ll be pretty close.”