THE SLYTHERIN DUMBLEDORE

"Of course, if you prefer to stay with your aunt and uncle I will fully understand..."

Sirius' words kept playing inside Harry's head. Could it be true? Could he—at last—have a parent who would really love him? Who would really want to raise him, as an equal and not as a burden, unlike the Dursleys did for the past thirteen years? Harry hoped this was the case – no, Harry was begging every existent and not deity that this would be the case.

His internal monologue was cut suddenly when a strong, deep voice shouted two Petrificus Totalus against two of the Marauders: first Peter, then Remus.

His wand was in his hand at once, instinctively, as was Sirius'. But then a man appeared and the stranger's voice acquired a body.

"Harry, keep Peter immobile and attached to your wand." Albus Dumbledore ordered. He was very different from his usual self; no gentleness, no eye-twinkling; instead he was strict and strong. The grandfatherish figure was replaced by a stern wizard. A soldier. He was intimidating, to say the least. If Fawkes wasn't with him, Harry would think the man was some Dark wizard polyjuiced to look like the Headmaster. "Take him to my office at once and when you see me explain to me precisely what happened; the password is baklava. Hermione, levitate Ron to the hospital wing, explain his injuries to Poppy and then come to my office as well. Sirius, Remus' spell will not hold for long. You know what to do and where to go to keep him safe. I will see you in the morning. As for Severus, I will handle him myself. Is this clear to everyone?"

Harry, Ron and Hermione nodded without knowing for sure what was happening, although Hermione had the look she usually got when she was closer to the solution of a mystery. Sirius' look, however, showed that he understood completely what was asked of him.

Dumbledore levitated the unconscious Snape, and just before disappearing into Fawkes' red flames he said "Oh, it would be wiser to have something with you, for the road." A silver phoenix—a Patronus, Harry knew—emerged from the old man's wand.

It was then that professor Lupin changed. The teenagers had never seen a werewolf's form before and almost forgot to keep their willpower to the spells they had on Wormtail and Ron.

"Do what Dumbledore said", Sirius told them snapping their attention from the wolf. "It's all right. I'll see you soon." And with that, he turned into his dog form and ran after the wolf.

The silver phoenix followed the two teenagers until they reached the castle's entrance and then vanished. They both walked past the full Great Hall, glad it was dinner time and nobody would stall them in the corridors. Hermione left for the hospital wind while Harry reached the Headmaster's office. He said the password, climbed the spiralling staircase and barged through the closed door.

"Harry, my boy, what a surprise. And I see you have company... Oh my, is this Peter Pettigrew? But how...?"

Dumbledore's voice was full of surprise and Harry's was too, but for different reasons. How could Dumbledore not remember Harry was carrying Pettigrew? He himself had told him to, not more than five minutes ago! Then he remembered the Headmaster's odd order: explain to me precisely what happened. And so he did.

"Professor, Sirius is innocent. It was Pettigrew all along – he betrayed my parents to Voldemort and set Sirius up. He was hiding at the Burrow, pretending to be Ron's pet rat..."

Meanwhile, the other Albus Dumbledore, the one who had used the time-turner to go back in time and save Sirius Black, was at the dungeons. He had taken Severus Snape to an old stone room, completely isolated from the rest of the castle. There were no doors or windows and, for safety reasons, there weren't any candles either. It was an ancient holding cell, used in less secure times when the wizarding population's safety was not knew the existence of these cells any more. It was one of those well-kept secret prerogatives the Head of Hogwarts enjoyed.

Albus carefully placed Severus at the stone floor and then conjured a table, two chairs and a bed to fill the small room. Then he set numerous small lights on the ceilings. They resembled stars or fairy lights. Then he conjured food, knowing that Severus hadn't had dinner. Before awakening him, he made sure he didn't have a wand or any potions on his person.

"Albus? What is going on? Where are we? I captured Black! He is here, in the Shrieking Shack! You have to notify the Aurors!" Severus was rambling, blinded by his old hatred.

Albus sighed, immediately looking less dangerous. "Severus, my boy, relax. I know all about that. But, as it usually is the case, I know more than you."

Severus' eyes became more narrow. "What do you mean?"

Albus' eyes started twinkling. "Sirius Black is innocent. It was Peter Pettigrew all along. He was the one to betray the Potters to Voldemort. Yes," he replied Severus' question before he had the chance to pose it, "Pettigrew is very much alive. In fact, Sirius and Remus captured him, and he should now be in my office with Mr. Potter and Miss Granger. I will join them shortly, but for the time I'd rather enjoy your company."

Snape looked him in an incredulous way.

Albus conjured food, started eating and motioned for Severus to do the same. "You see, while you decided to openly confront your old school rival, Severus, I decided to use a very useful spell to turn invisible. Thus I was able to watch the whole thing and see the evidence of Sirius' innocence with my own eyes. It is highly amusing to think that you followed the Griffindor approach while I opted for the Slytherin one. Peter Pettigrew joined Voldemort because he felt one he could provide him with a sense of security and..."

"... and then Hermione headed to the hospital wing with Ron and I came here."

Harry had just explained the events of the whole night to the Headmaster. His eyes were twinkling madly, especially from the point where he—or rather, his future/past self, as he realised—appeared at the grounds.

"Why, that was another brilliant plan from my part – if I'm allowed to say so myself" he said.

Harry wanted to roll his eyes, but he felt this was hardly the time. "But sir, how did you know where to come and how to find us?"

"I'm afraid I can't give you this answer yet, my dear boy. I believe I will be able to, though, shortly" he smiled. "But there is something more important now. You have an advantage now, Harry. You are the only one who can—very legally, as well—have Peter here admit the truth to the Ministry. What do you know about life debts, Harry?"

"When someone saves a person's life from sure death, they can make the other person do something for them in exchange" a voice from the door sounded. Hermione Granger, of course, who else was a mobile library?

"Precisely, Hermione" Dumbledore replied. "You, Harry, convinced Sirius and Remus not to kill Peter Pettigrew tonight. You can use this to force Peter to reveal the truth, if that is what you want."

Dumbledore's statement contained a question as well and Harry hurried to reply. "Yes, sir, of course. I know Sirius is innocent, and I want to prove it!" I also want to live with him from now on, was the part Harry didn't say.

The old headmaster smiled. "Well, then. First you need to learn how to create the bond that will control Peter's will. You have to visualise the moment the debt was made..."

Albus had just taught the spell to Harry, when he suddenly vanished. A moment later he reappeared just beside his desk. "Hallo again" he said. "What did I miss?"

Harry was more than a little confused, but Hermione had understood what was going on. "Your other self just vanished, professor. Now you are the only one in existence. Your other self explained to Harry the spell to create the life debt bond and he was just about to cast it."

"Splendid, splendid! Hermione, I trust you will explain Harry the way time-turners operate later?" she nodded. "By the way, this is yours" he said tossing to her an hourglass. Harry didn't understand, but he was assured by the Headmaster's command. "So, now you may cast the spell, Harry."

And so Harry did. A yellow light emerged from his wand and covered both him and Wormtail, effectively creating a string that connected their magical cores. The colour of the string stayed bright for a few minutes and then faded.

Dumbledore stood up from his desk and moved to the fireplace. He threw a handful of floo powder and called "Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic".

A moment later, the Minister was in the Headmaster's office.

"Cornelius, I believe Mr. Pettigrew here has something to tell you" and with a flick of his wand he awakened the still bound man.

Sirius leaned against the wall, panting. He was too tired for this. He hadn't slept or eaten well since – well, since his arrest, he reasoned. Plus, he wasn't seventeen any more. It was too hard for him to run around Hogsmead escorting Remus and protecting him and the residents of the wizarding village from the werewolf.

It was way more difficult for Remus, of course. It always was and Remus wasn't seventeen either. Sirius felt guilty for leaving his friend—his fiancé actually, since their engagement was never officially broken—deal with his hairy little problem on his own for so long. And that had kept him going all night.

That and his promise to Harry. He didn't mean to give his godson false hopes, and in order to prove that, he needed to prove his innocence. While running with Moony all night he had the chance to run last night's events in his mind. Dumbledore had to be with them in the Shrieking Shack, disillusioned. He probably had heard everything and that was why he was helping him. Otherwise he would have given him to the dementors.

A house-elf popped right then, bringing them food, clothes for Remus and a note.

Dear Sirius, I will visit you shortly. Peter had been taken by the dementors. Cornelius is persuaded to order your immediate release. Make sure you are both decent when I arrive. Albus.

The old twat, Sirius laughed.

Sirius and Harry were in Diagon Alley, enjoying their ice cream and waiting for Remus to return. His other godfather—Harry was so glad to know he had acquired two parents in just one night—was at the Dursleys, explaining to Petunia and Vernon that Harry wouldn't be coming back. Remus would promise to owl them their new address, although Harry knew the Dursleys wouldn't miss him one bit.

Sirius had spent the week following their eventful night at Remus' quarters at the castle. Madam Pomfrey insisted he should be at the hospital wing, but Dumbledore prefered that the ex-prisoner kept a low profile. The important thing was for him to rest and eat well and takes his potions – the ones an unwilling Snape brew for him, after he was made to apologise by the Headmaster.

After the school year ended, Harry and his godfathers moved in to Remus' cottage. It was really small but it didn't matter; Dumbledore had offered Sirius and Remus to work at Hogwarts as DADA teachers. Dumbledore had thought of a way to trick the jinx at the DADA position by hiring two teachers and appointing one of them as the other's assistant every year. Nobody could be sure the trick would work, but it was such a longshot—as all Dumbledore's plans were—that it might actually had a chance.

"Stop eating, Padfoot. Unless you want a waist like Slughorn's!" Remus said, interrupting Harry's memories.

"Oh, Moony, you always were a fun breaker! Besides, don't tell me you had a thing for the old man" Sirius winked.

"Ew!"

Author's note: We were talking about The prisoner of Azkaban with a friend the other night and I thought how Dumbledore could have thought a more "brilliant" plan that night in order to prove Sirius' innocence. Well, I think that's the one. The story might be a bit childish but who cares! I hope you enjoyed it :-)