Chapter 48:

Harry watched in disgust as Pettigrew tried to beg Lupin for help, insisting Black was trying to kill him. Which, well, he wasn't wrong — there was a reason Lupin had yet to give Black a wand.

When that didn't work, he turned to Harry, throwing himself at the boy's feet and begging for mercy.

"Enough of this," Snape snapped, raising his wand. "Your blithering was bad enough when we were schoolboys." He waved his wand, and Harry winced, fearing the worst. But instead ropes shot out, binding themselves around Pettigrew tightly.

"Let me kill him, Snivellus," Black whinged, like a toddler unwilling to share his toys. "Or Remus, he can do it! The rat needs to die!"

"Remus has always taken pride in never killing a defenceless human," Snape said calmly. "It'd be a shame to tarnish that now."

"If you kill him, you'll never be free," Harry spoke up, his thoughts moving quickly. "If we take him to the Minister, he'll confess, and you'll get a proper trial. You could clear your name." He could be Harry's godfather again.

"Harry's right," Lupin agreed. "Azkaban can have him."

"Fine," Black pouted. "But if you transform, Peter, we will kill you. I might even let Snivelly here do it. I've heard he can be quite creative."

"Must you, Sirius?" Lupin groaned, head in his hands for the briefest moment. "I thought you'd agreed to stop using that name when Lily hexed you for it."

"Whoops," Black replied, entirely unrepentant. "Must've forgotten. Azkaban, y'know. Really frazzles the brain."

"We should go," Harry said. If they were lucky, maybe the Minister would still be at the school. "What about Ron?"

A wave of Snape's wand, and Ron's grotesquely angled knee was bound and splinted. "Mobilicorpus," he murmured, levitating the redhead's unconscious body.

"I'll keep an eye on this one," Lupin said with a grimace, keeping his wand pointed firmly at Pettigrew, while he passed Harry and Hermione back their own. Hermione took hers in trembling fingers — it seemed she didn't quite know what to make of the whole situation. And so together, they started the journey back to Hogwarts.

It was the most bizarre procession of people Harry had ever been part of, and he stared at Sirius' back as he walked through the tunnel. His godfather. The man he'd heard so much about — even when Lupin tried not to talk about him, he couldn't help it. All the stories of James Potter seemed to include Sirius Black.

Black kept glancing over his shoulder at Harry, wary and uncertain. Neither of them spoke — not until they were clear of the tunnel, and the vicious tree it lived under.

"I— Moony probably told you, Harry," Black started hesitantly, "but I'm— I'm your godfather."

"Yeah. I know." Harry bit his lip, unsure what else to say.

"Well, I mean, if I get free— that makes me your guardian. If… if you would want that." Black clearly misread the look of shock on Harry's face, as he hunched in on himself. "It's fine if you don't, I'm su re whoever you've got is great, I just—"

"Now's not the time, Sirius," Lupin cut in, covering Harry's snort of derision. Those amber eyes were sympathetic as they looked between the pair. "You can talk this over later."

They kept walking, but Harry jogged forward a half step, bumping his shoulder against his godfather's. "I'd love to live with you," he murmured, grinning slightly. "Just say the word."

Sirius looked like all his Christmases had come at once. For the first time, Harry could see in him the man from his parents' wedding photo, the charming boy from the yearbook.

"Really?"

"Definitely."

Both of them turned abruptly when Lupin choked out a quiet cry, shoulders tensing, the grey in his hair highlighted by the silvery light of the moon. The full moon.

Snape and Sirius froze in horror, staring at each other. Ron's body hit the ground with a thud as Snape's spell ended abruptly.

"Oh no," Hermione whimpered, gaze fixed firmly on Lupin as his back began to arch.

"Your potion," Snape hissed. "Remus!"

But it was too late — the man was glassy-eyed, his mind clearly elsewhere already.

"Run," Sirius urged. "Snape, take the kids and run, now." There was no time; Lupin gasped harshly, hunching until he was almost on all fours. His head lengthened, his clothes ripped, his skin began to sprout fur. Harry backed away several steps in horror, and within seconds there was an enormous wolf stood in front of them. A huge black dog tackled it, Sirius throwing himself at the mercy of the wolf, but it batted him aside with a growl.

Harry stared, transfixed. Snape moved to stand in front of him, wand raised. In all the chaos, no one noticed Pettigrew lunge for freedom until all of a sudden he was shrinking, leaving a tangle of ropes in his wake as he scurried off into the night. Snape cursed, shooting off a spell, but whether he was aiming for Pettigrew or for the werewolf, he missed. The werewolf growled again, striking out with one huge paw. Snape went flying, hitting the grass with a dull thud.

He didn't get up.

Hermione let out a quiet moan of horror. Sirius whined, then let out a loud howl that made the werewolf turn away from Harry and the others. It howled in return, setting off at a sprint towards the forest, after Sirius. After a minute, they heard a dog yelp in pain. Harry glanced down at the unconscious — hopefully just unconscious — Snape, at Ron equally limp beside him. Then he turned on his heel and ran after the dog and the wolf.

Sirius needed help. There was no way he could tackle a werewolf alone. Hermione called after him, no doubt staying with Ron, but Harry didn't falter — he had to get to Sirius.

He could hear yelping coming from by the lake — until it stopped abruptly. Harry picked up his pace, fear pounding through his veins, wand clutched in his hand.

When the lake was in sight, Harry knew why the yelping had stopped. The werewolf was gone, but Sirius was on the bank of the lake, a man once more, moaning with his hands over his ears. And swooping ever closer were a whole hoard of dementors.

Harry felt the cold hands reaching into his chest, sucking out all his happy memories. He tried to hold onto them, raising his wand like Lupin had taught him. "Expecto Patronum!" Sirius wants me to live with him. I'm going to be free. "Expecto Patronum!" I have my godfather back. No more Dursleys. "Expecto Patronum!"

There.

Suddenly, a huge blinding light emerged from his wand, sending the dementors reeling back screaming. Harry's hand shook around his wand, the screaming still in his ears, his vision going fuzzy. He could make out some sort of four-legged animal — something with antlers? galloping across the lake, driving the shadowy creatures away, but his knees gave way all the same, the magic burning through his exhausted body.

And then, everything went black.

•

🚀New updates on my Ko-fi!🚀

Support me and read the novel, now available in PDF, with the advanced chapters.

•

https://ko-fi.com/cmrowling