Chapter 21

Playtime

The events of the night had been shocking.

Upon Remus's appearance, he and Sirius had finally reunited and settled out their differences. To say the least, it had been hard to find out that Remus had suspected him, Sirius, of being the spy. Then again, Sirius had thought the same of Remus, so in a way, they were even. 

Remus had insisted on the children finding out what really happened before Peter could be killed, so they had to explain everything. Peter's identity was revealed, but Harry had thought against the idea of the little rat being slaughtered as he should have.

It wasn't just the looks. Harry resembled James in every way, but not until now had Sirius been able to see just how much like his father the boy truly was. It took every fiber of his being to tell himself that this was Harry. James was gone, and while a tiny fragment of him may have been kept alive through his son, he was still Harry. 

Then Snivellus had decided to make an appearance, which was about the last straw for Sirius, though before the confrontation could get ugly, Harry had stepped in and rendered him unconscious. 

Which brought them all to the situation they were now in. Crookshanks, leading the group down the stairs, his tail held high. Remus, Peter, and Ron followed after him, though Ron occasionally grasped onto Remus for support, given that his leg had been broken earlier that night. Following them, Snape, drifting along eerily, and after him, it was he, Sirius, using the git's wand to keep him levitated. 

And of course, Sirius wouldn't be himself if he let the opportunity slip to take advantage of this. So as they entered the tunnel, he took extra care to make sure Snape's head bumped against the low ceiling. Not to mention make it look like he was doing no such thing purposefully.

And out of nowhere, as they traveled along the length of the tunnel, it hit Sirius. Here he was, after 12 years, with sources to clear his name, and all he could think about was hitting Snivellus's head on the ceiling. 

He abruptly turned on his godson, who was at the back of the party, walking along next to Hermione. 

'You know what this means?' he asked. Then realizing that his original question couldn't have been any more subtle, he continued, 'Turning Pettigrew in?'

'Your free," Harry responded promptly. Sirius nodded, still unable to process it all. 

But that wasn't why he had asked the question. There was a reason he'd asked Harry of this. Sirius wasn't sure what the boy's reaction would be, and he decided it was best to brace himself beforehand. 

Hesitantly, he spoke once more. 'Yes...' then broke off. 'But I'm also – I don't know if anyone ever told you –I'm your godfather.' At that moment Sirius wanted to transform in find a quiet place to curl up in a ball. The chances of Harry's handling the news well would surely be compromised by Sirius's blundering through telling him all.

'Yeah, I knew that,' Harry said. Sirius inwardly flinched at the nonchalant tone in his voice. 

He went on though, determined to see his point across. 'Well ... your parents appointed me your guardian,' he continued, 'If anything happened to them ...' Sirius trailed off. Harry was now staring at him, his eyes wide as dinner plates. 

At last, it was time to say it, to bring an end to his own stalling. 'I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle,' he said, subtly grimacing at the thought of Harry living with Vernon and Petunia. 'But ... well ... think about it. Once my name's cleared ... if you wanted a ... a different home ...' Once more, he trailed off. Now it was he, Sirius, who was looking at Harry expectantly. 

Harry stared back, then seemed to understand what Sirius was proposing. 'What – live with you?' he said, right before hitting his head on a bit of rock inconveniently sticking out of the ceiling. 'Leave the Dursleys?' 

Sirius picked up the incredulous tone in his voice and immediately backtracked. 'Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to,' he said, his voice cracking a bit. I understand. I just thought I'd –' he went on quickly, before being cut off. 

'Are you mad?' said Harry, whose voice could have easily been mistaken as Sirius's own.'Of course, Iwant to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?'

And just as quickly as it had plummeted, Sirius' heart soared. He wheeled around to face his godson, not caring about the fact that Snivellus' head was now scraping the ceiling. 'You want to?' he asked. Not believing it, he continued, 'You mean it?"

Harry grinned. 'Yeah, I mean it!'

Sirius broke into the first true smile that he'd held in 12 years. It was happening. He had taken the first step to get his life back, and it felt amazing. 

Little did either him or Harry know, Remus Lupin was keenly observing their conversation, a slight grin on his own face. 

★

Sirius strode along with the rest of their little party, though was barely aware of one foot going in front of the other. Several wonderful fantasies about the life he'd be able to give Harry swirled around in his brain. The moments he could have with Remus to make up for those lost in the past years. 

Everything was perfect, or as perfect as it was going to be. Until at a point in the darkened grounds, he noticed Remus visibly tense. Ron and Peter had stopped behind him. Sirius halted, sending Snape colliding into the two. 

A glance above revealed what was truly going on. Behind the clouds, the moon's faint light was visible, and by Remus' reaction, things were not good. Instinctively, he flung out an arm to halt Harry and Hermione, then protectively stepped in front of them. 

Ahead of them, Remus had gone rigid. Sirius knew he was in great pain right now, and just hoped he could defuse the situation in time. But when Remus's limbs started to shake, he realized that while he could handle himself when faced up against the wolf, the children had no chance. 

Hermione gasped as she looked on in horror. 'Oh my – He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!'

Sirius whispered, 'Run,' then, as they remained frozen in fear, he continued, 'Run! Now!'

Hermione began to slowly back away, but Harry lunged forward, aiming at Ron, who was still chained to Peter and Remus, keeping the prisoner in check. Sirius had to admire the boy's courage, and his fierce loyalty to his friend, putting his own life on the line for another's sake. James would have been proud. However, James would also have slaughtered Sirius for allowing Harry to do such a thing. So he lunged forward too, grabbing Harry and throwing him back.

'Leave it to me – RUN!' Sirius shouted. 

A horrible snarling sound emitted from Remus, as his head started to lengthen, as well as his body. His shoulders started hunching over, hair sprouting all over him, his hands transforming into paws, lethal claws glinting in the moonlight at the ends of them. Hermione let out an 'Oh–!' combining shock, fear, and surprise into one syllable. 

 Sirius had seen this transformation before, many times in fact, but it wasn't any less gruesome. While many would have seen a snarling werewolf, as that was what was standing in front of them now, Sirius saw a little shred of Remus still inside there, going through unimaginable pain. And only Sirius could stop it. 

He transformed, and as Snuffles, bounded towards the wolf. Remus had now wrenched himself free of the chains, and Sirius grabbed him about the neck with his jaws, dragging him away from Ron and Peter. Remus growled in frustration and broke free, whipping around and clawing at Sirius. There they were, in a knot of violent fury, both so enraptured in the fight that they didn't notice the events going on around them.

Until Sirius heard Harry yell, 'Sirius, he's gone, Pettigrew transformed!'

At which time Remus galloped off into the forest, bloody and beaten, just like Sirius was at the moment. However, upon hearing his godson's words, he rose unsteadily to his paws, and tore off across the grounds, into the night.

Woah okay am I seeing this right? 1k reads?! Honestly I can't thank you all enough for this, but I'm gonna try anyway. Thank you so much for all the support, and just for reading this, even though I haven't been the most punctual with my updates. I value each and every read, vote, and comment on this story, and your patience with it, and me. I'll be trying to update soon, so yeah, and again, thank you.