A/N: Sorry its been so long since my last update for this story, this chapter has literally taken ages to write! anyway, here it is: Chapter 11

Disclaimer: i dont own the characters. Everything in bold can be found in Prisoner of Azkaban: Chapter 17: Cat, Rat and Dog.

Chapter 11:

They re-appeared moments later in the same scene. The castle grounds were getting darker by the second, they could hear the young trio whispering underneath the cloak, and suddenly a wild howling pierced the night silence.

Teddy caught glimpse of an arm coming out from the cloak as one of the trio attempted to turn around and head straight back to Hagrids.

Harry and Teddy moved a little closer to where the trio were stood in order to hear more clearly what they were saying.

"We can't," said Ron, who was paper-white. "He'll be in worse trouble if they know we've been to see him..."

Hermione's breathing was shallow and uneven. "How- could- they?" she choked. "How could they?"

"Come on," said Ron, whose teeth seemed to be chattering.

The trio started to move towards the castle, and Harry and Teddy kept a steady pace close to them, the castle grounds growing steadily darker as they went.

"Scabbers, keep still, What's the matter with you, You stupid rat? Stay still- OUCH! He bit me!" They could hear Ron whispering angrily from under the cloak.

"You never end up in a good situation do you?" Teddy teased his godfather.

"Its not like I go looking for trouble intentionally," He smiled. "Trouble just finds me."

"Ron, be quiet!" Hermione whispered urgently. "Fudge'll be out here in a minute-"

"He won't- stay- put-What's the matter with him?"

"Crookshanks!" Hermione moaned. "No, go away, Crookshanks! Go away!"

Harry and Teddy turned just in time to see Hermione's cat dive through the air towards the sounds of the squeaking rat. Young Ron suddenly sprang into vision as he threw the cloak off in order to try to rescue his rat from the cats claws. Shortly followed by young Harry and Hermione, who ran after him, leaving the cloak streaming behind them.

"Why did you let the cloak go?" Teddy demanded. That was sure to have bad consequences, and he had always been lectured about not leaving the cloak behind if he ever borrowed it.

"To be honest, I was more concerned about what might happen to Ron if he was caught in the grounds, but I wasn't really thinking too clearly.

They could hear the trio running and shouting, and used this to guide them through the dark.

"Get away from him - get away - Scabbers, come here -"

They head dull thud, and young Ron once again shouting.

"Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat -"

They watched as the sunlight in the memory began to fade. They saw young Hermione and Harry nearly fall straight over young Ron, who was still trying to wrestle his pet rat back into his pocket.

"Ron - come on back under the cloak -" Hermione panted. "Dumbledore- the Minister- they'll be coming back out in a minute-"

Before the young trio had even had time to gather their breath, the sound of giant paws running towards them, and a great black shadow of a dog charged towards them.

"Sirius, right?" Teddy asked, who had not realised that he had been holding his breath in anticipation.

"Yeah it is, although he's not acting very innocent at the moment is he?" Harry said as he watched snuffles land straight on top of his younger self.

"Yeah I know what you mean," Teddy said, and watched as the dog leapt away and fastened its teeth around young Ron's arm.

Harry and Teddy watched helplessly as Ron was slowly dragged away, and watched as the young trio got far too close to the forbidden Whomping Willow tree.

Then, out of nowhere, something hit Harry so hard across the face he was knocked off his feet again. He heard Hermione shriek with pain and fell, too. Harry groped for his wand, blinking blood out of his eyes.

"Lumos!" he whispered.

The two watched as the trunk of the Whomping Willow was illuminated by the wand light. At the base, they could just see that Sirius was dragging a furiously fighting young Ron further into the depths of the tree.

Young Harry was desperatly trying to reach him, however was thrown backwards by a well aimed branch of the tree.

"Ron!" Harry shouted.

Teddy wished that he could help in some way, but at least he knew that the young trio were for once safe this time around. He still could not understand why Sirius would do something like this? It didn't fit with all that he had heard about him.

He felt slightly sickened when he saw that young Ron had hooked his leg around a root, and even more so when he heard the distinct Crack, of a breaking bone, and young Ron disappeared from sight.

"Harry - we've got to go for help -" Hermione gasped; she was bleeding too; the Willow had cut her across the shoulder.

"No! That thing's big enough to eat him; we haven't got time -"

"Harry - we're never going to get through without help -"

Another branch whipped down at them, twigs clenched like knuckles.

"If that dog can get in, we can," Harry panted, darting here and there, trying to find a way through the vicious, swishing branches, but he couldn't get an inch nearer to the tree roots without being in range of the tree's blows.

"Oh, help, help," Hermione whispered frantically, dancing uncertainly on the spot, "Please..."

"It seems weird hearing Aunt Hermione asking for help from someone else," Teddy said, looking on at the scene before him.

"Yeah she doesn't do it very often, she likes to know all and be all does our Hermione," Harry smiled slightly.

Almost as if he had heard Hermione call for help, her cat Crookshanks darted forward. He slithered between the battering branches like a snake and placed his front paws upon a knot on the trunk.

Abruptly, as though the tree had been turned to marble, it stopped moving. Not a leaf twitched or shook.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione whispered uncertainly. She now grasped Harry's arm painfully hard. "How did he know -?"

"He's friends with that dog," said Harry grimly. "I've seen them together. Come on - and keep your wand out -"

Teddy laughed, "you were giving out orders even then! What a bossy boots!"

"Hey, what do you expect? I had to!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah" Teddy teased his godfather, as Harry clipped him over the back of the head.

They turned back to the scene where young Harry and Hermione were about to follow Crookshanks down into the tree. They followed the trio down the familiar long earthy slope down to the tunnel at the bottom.

Once they had all gathered at the bottom, they waited for Crookshanks to take the lead again. Hermione spoke first.

"Where's Ron?" she whispered in a terrified voice.

"Aww even back then she worried about him!" Teddy teased.

"Ha I know, even I didn't pick up on it until about a year later" Harry said, following behind.

"This way," said Harry, setting off, bent-backed, after Crookshanks.

"Where does this tunnel come out?" Hermione asked breathlessly from behind him.

"I don't know... It's marked on the Marauder's Map but Fred and George said no one's ever gotten into it...

"It goes off the edge of the map, but it looked like it was heading for Hogsmeade..."

The tunnel went on and on. Teddy could remember the first time he had visited the shack. He had been so desperate for any connection to his father, that as soon as he had worked out how to get past the tree, he had gone to visit the place.

They all went through the small opening at the end of the tunnel, and found themselves in a familiar, dusty, room full of broken furniture. However for Teddy, the stains were much fewer and there was more wallpaper on the walls, although it had barely changed much.

"Harry," she whispered, "I think we're in the Shrieking Shack."

"Ghosts didn't do that," he said slowly, and Teddy looked at him pointing towards a large, broken piece of what would once have been a chair.

They all heard a creak come from one of the upstairs rooms, Teddy could tell that they had all heard it when he saw young Harry and Hermione glance up at the ceiling. Young Hermione finally let go of young Harry's arm, which she had apparently been holding too tight, as they followed a clean trail where the dust had been wiped clean from the floor.

Up on the familiar landing, the yyoung duo put the light from their wands out, and creapt quietly forwards. They could hear the moans of pain from Ron, and a deep purring from Crookshanks, who had gone on ahead of them.

Young Harry kicked the door open, and dashed over to Ron, who was lying injured on the, relatively intact yet dusty, bed.

"Ron - are you okay?"

"Where's the dog?"

"Not a dog," Ron moaned. His teeth were gritted with pain. "Harry, it's a trap -"

"What -"

"He's the dog... he's an Animagus."

"And now you lot have no idea whats going on, you still think Sirius is out to kill you, and Sirius unintentionally does everything to prove what you already think," Teddy summarised.

"Um, yeah that pretty much sums it all up," Harry said. "Sirius was definitely not thinking clearly at that point, I think Azkaban must have clouded his brain a bit too much."

Sirius shut the door behind them, and Teddy saw with astonishment, what the man was exactly like when he had just broken out of Azkaban. He almost couldn't believe that this was the same man in Grandma and Grandad Potters wedding pictures, and it didn't match with everything he already knew about the man. This was what they would call a dark truth.

A mass of filthy, matted hair hung to his elbows. If eyes hadn't been shining out of the deep, dark sockets, he might have been a corpse. The waxy skin was stretched so tightly over the bones of his face, it looked like a skull. His yellow teeth were bared in a grin. It was Sirius Black.

"Expelliarmus!" he croaked, pointing Ron's wand at them.

"Definitely not good," Teddy grimaced. Black was an unpredictable man confronted with three wandless teenagers, one of whom was injured.

"I thought you'd come and help your friend," he said hoarsely. His voice sounded as though he had long since lost the habit of using it. "Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful... it will make everything much easier..."

"That doesn't actually help much," Teddy said.

"Yeah I don't really know what he was thinking when he said that," Harry commented.

Teddy looked on with admiration as young Harry stepped forward, but was held back by his friends, it was definitely an unending, un-replaceable, loyalty.

"No, Harry!" Hermione gasped in a petrified whisper; Ron, however, spoke to Black.

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" he said fiercely, though the effort of standing upright was draining him of still more colour, and he swayed slightly as he spoke.

Harry thought he saw a shadow of a flicker in Sirius' eyes, perhaps he recognised himself in Ron, deep down.

"Lie down," he said quietly to Ron. "You will damage that leg even more."

Harry saw a hint of compassion in that one moment where he isn't thinking of his revenge.

"Did you hear me?" Ron said weakly, though he was clinging painfully to Harry to stay upright. "You'll have to kill all three of us!"

"There'll be only one murder here tonight," said Black, and his grin widened.

Harry realised he was only grinning when he was thinking about killing Peter, the one who betrayed the whole Order, and how he was going to get justice for every dead or injured Order Member.

"Why's that?" Harry spat, trying to wrench himself free of Ron, and Hermione. "Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those Muggles to get at Pettigrew... What's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?"

"Harry!" Hermione whimpered. "Be quiet!"

"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry roared, and with a huge effort he broke free of Hermione's and Ron's restraint and lunged forward –

"Kind of lost your head a bit there," Teddy pointed out obviously to Harry.

Harry looked on kindly at Teddy. No matter what people called him, no matter what happened to him, or what his father was, Teddy did not have a mean or aggressive bone in his body, just like Remus. All that happened was just a tad of insomnia at the full moon, and the need for rare steaks, every now and again.

What followed was a kind of mini scrap, which Sirius did very well considering he was outnumbered and out of shape. Young Harry was punching him, Hermione landed a very accurate kick, and Ron was doing his best with his broken leg.

"Bit of a mess isn't it?" Harry said, as he watched his wand roll across the floor. "I don't know what we thought we would achieve.

"None of you seem to be thinking clearly that's for sure," Teddy commented, as Crookshanks dived into the fray of bodies. Young Harry aimed a kick towards him as he took his wand back.

"Get out of the way!" he shouted at Ron and Hermione.

They didn't need telling twice. Hermione, gasping for breath, her lip bleeding, scrambled aside, snatching up her and Ron's wands. Ron crawled to the four-poster and collapsed onto it, panting, his white face now tinged with green, both hands clutching his broken leg.

They looked at poor Sirius, who was spread on the floor at the bottom of the wall, with a bruise developing over his left eye and a bloodied nose, still trying to catch his breath. Young harry was stood over him, wand pointed directly at his heart.

"Going to kill me, Harry?" he whispered.

"You killed my parents," said Harry, his voice shaking slightly, but his wand hand quite steady.

Sirius stared up at him pitifully, something Harry had scarcely noticed the first time around.

"I don't deny it," he said very quietly."But if you knew the whole story."

"The whole story?" Harry repeated, a furious pounding in his ears. "You sold them to Voldemort. That's all I need to know."

"You have no idea how much I regret saying that," Harry said remorsefully. "just remember, there's always more than one side to every story, and most people will believe their version is the truth."

"You've got to listen to me," Black said, and there was a note of urgency in his voice now. "You'll regret it if you don't... You don't understand..."

"I understand a lot better than you think," said Harry, and his voice shook more than ever. "You never heard her, did you? My mum... trying to stop Voldemort killing me... and you did that... you did it..."

"Yeah I'm sounding pretty insane right about now," Harry said, indicating to his younger self.

Teddy knew exactly how he felt, at times he would have liked revenge for his parents, but he was content to know that they had got what they deserved.

As they look on at the silent scene, they saw that Crookshanks had settled himself on Sirius' chest.

"And that is why Hermione valued her cat so much, he had a deeper understanding of humans, more than any other cat would," Harry pointed out to Teddy.

"Get off," he murmured, trying to push Crookshanks off him.

They heard Hermione give a little sob as Crookshanks dug his claws in and refused to move, even to save himself, an act of undying loyalty.

The seconds ticked on, but still nothing in the memory happened. Teddy was bursting with anticipation and suspense.

Suddenly, they began to hear the sounds of someone moving around downstairs, and Hermione screamed for help.

"WE'RE UP HERE!" Hermione screamed suddenly. "WE'RE UP HERE- SIRIUS BLACK - QUICK!"

Something in her shout took them all by surprise, Sirius was so shocked he almost dislodged the cat.

Teddy looked around in surprise as his father came charging into the room in a shower of sparks, face pale as the moon and his wand raised. Teddy released a breath he hadn't realised he was holding.

His eyes flickered over Ron, lying on the floor, over Hermione, cowering next to the door, to Harry, standing there with his wand covering Black, and then to Black himself, crumpled and bleeding at Harry's feet.

"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted.

Teddy watched as three wands soared through the air towards his dad, who moved into the room cautiously, keeping an eye on Sirius and the cat that was currently guarding his life. Remus gave a quick glance towards the nervous looking teens and turned back to Sirius.

"Where is he, Sirius?" Remus asked in a very tense voice. Teddy guessed that it was because a few minutes ago, Remus still believed Sirius to be a traitor, and probably wasn't quite used to the thought of him being innocent.

Sirius was expressionless, probably through shock, Harry thought. He and Teddy both watched as Sirius raised a bony hand and pointed at young Ron.

Confused, Teddy and young Harry both glanced around at Ron, who looked at a complete loss as to what they were talking about.

"But then..." Lupin muttered, staring at Black so intently it seemed he was trying to read his mind, "... why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless" - Lupin's eyes suddenly widened, as though he was seeing something beyond Black, something none of the rest could see, "—unless he was the one... unless you switched... without telling me?"

"Is dad talking about Peter Pettigrew?" Teddy asked confusedly.

"Yes, but unfortunately none of us knew this at that time," Harry explained.

"Professor," Harry interrupted loudly, "what's going on -?"

Teddy looked on in surprise as his father lowered his wand, gaze still focused on Sirius. He walked to Black's side, seized his hand, pulled him to his feet so that Crookshanks fell to the floor, and embraced Black like a brother.

"He should probably have explained things to you lot first," Teddy grimaced. "But I can see where he's coming from I suppose."

"Yes he has just gained a friend he thought he'd lost, but it didn't really help the situation much."

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione screamed.

Remus looked at her as she began to stutter in indignation.

"You - you -"

"Hermione -"

"- you and him!"

"Hermione, calm down -"

"I didn't tell anyone!" Hermione shrieked. "I've been covering up for you -"

"Hermione, listen to me, please'" Lupin shouted. "I can explain -"

"Not the best way to go about things I must admit," Harry chuckled at the furious look on young Hermione's face.

"I trusted you," he shouted at Lupin, his voice wavering, out of control, "and all the time you've been his friend!"

"You're wrong," said Lupin. "I haven't been Sirius's friend, but I am now - Let me explain..."

"NO!" Hermione screamed. "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too - he's a werewolf!"

Teddy frowned "Just because he's a werewolf doesn't mean he wants people dead!"

Harry put a soothing hand on his shoulder. "She knew that, which is why she didn't tell anyone what he was, she was just annoyed because it looked like he was helping a murderer. Does that make sense?"

He breathed a sigh of relief, "Yeah it does I suppose." He got very angry about peoples prejudice's at times, especially when it comes to werewolves. He noticed his dad had a kind of closed expression on his face, which had once again become incredibly pale. He knew it was his way of coping with moments like that.

"Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione," he said. "Only one out of three, I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don't want Harry dead. An odd shiver passed over his face. "But I won't deny that I am a werewolf."

Young Ron tried to rise from the bed again, and Remus walked over with concern, but backed off when Ron shouted "Get away from me, werewolf!"

Teddy looked at his dad, and felt rather hurt, as he could tell his dad was by that statement.

"It was just because Ron thought he was in league with a murderer, nothing else," Harry explained. "Your father and Ron had a very good friendship after this."

Teddy nodded as Remus turned back to young Hermione.

"How long have you known?"

"Ages," Hermione whispered. "Since I did Professor Snape's essay..."

"He'll be delighted," said Lupin coolly. "He assigned that essay hoping someone would realize what my symptoms meant...Did you check the lunar chart and realise that I was always ill at the full moon? Or did you realize that the boggart changed into the moon when it saw me?"

Harry smiled sadly, "He doesn't know whether to be upset or impressed. He often struggled with his emotions like that."

"Both," Hermione said quietly.

Lupin forced a laugh. "You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione."

"I'm not," Hermione whispered. "If I'd been a bit cleverer, I'd have told everyone what you are!"

"She wouldn't have done it," Harry said to Teddy. "Not for something like that."

"But they already know," said Lupin. "At least, the staff do."

"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf?" Ron gasped. "Is he mad?"

"Some of the staff thought so," said Lupin. "He had to work very hard to convince certain teachers that I'm trustworthy -"

"AND HE WAS WRONG!" Harry yelled. "YOUVE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THE TIME!"

"I wasn't exactly being rational at this time," Harry said, chuckling at the mistakes of his younger self.

"I know what you mean," Teddy said smiling. He had heard his godfathers temper before.

He was pointing at Black, who suddenly crossed to the four-poster bed and sank onto it, his face hidden in one shaking hand.

Remus looked so upset, and Harry truly felt sorry for him, knowing the life he would lead. But then he looked at Teddy, and realised that everything happened for a reason, and if his little godson was the result, he would gladly take it.

"I have not been helping Sirius," said Lupin. "If you'll give me a chance, I'll explain. Look -"

Teddy looked surprised as he watched his father give back the wands he had taken.

"There," said Lupin, sticking his own wand back into his belt "You're armed, we're not. Now will you listen?"

"That got our attention," Harry said smiling.

"If you haven't been helping him," he said, with a furious glance at Black, "how did you know he was here?"

"The map," said Lupin. "The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining it -"

"You know how to work it?" Harry said suspiciously.

"Of course I know how to work it," said Lupin, waving his hand impatiently. "I helped write it. I'm Moony - that was my friends' nickname for me at school."

Teddy was excited, he was about to hear the story of the marauders straight from his father and Sirius. He doubted that it wouldn't be so different from what he had heard before, but it was nice to hear it straight from one of them.

Young Harry started to ask questions, but his father ignored him and carried on. It would be better to get everything out at once.

"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I had an idea that you, Ron, and Hermione might try and sneak out of the castle to visit Hagrid before his hippogriff was executed. And I was right, wasn't I? You might have been wearing your father's old cloak, Harry-"

"How d'you know about the cloak?"

"The number of times I saw James disappearing under it...," said Lupin, waving an impatient hand again. "The point is, even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak, you still show up on the Marauder's Map. I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's hut. Twenty minutes later, you left Hagrid, and set off back toward the castle. But you were now accompanied by somebody else."

"Ah you still don't know about them being animagi?" Teddy asked.

"Not a clue," said Harry, although if we had known Pettigrew was an animagi, we probably wouldn't be here right now, so it's kind of a good thing really."

Young harry once again tried to interrupt, but Remus once again ignored him and carried on.

"I couldn't believe my eyes," said Lupin, still pacing, and ignoring Harry's interruption. "I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?"

"No one was with us!" said Harry.

"And then I saw another dot, moving fast toward you, labelled Sirius Black... I saw him collide with you; I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow -"

"I wonder what was going through dads head when he saw the two marauders?" Teddy asked.

"I bet his mind reeled," Harry laughed.

"One of us!" Ron said angrily.

"No, Ron," said Lupin. "Two of you."

"Do you think I could have a look at the rat?" he said evenly.

"What?" said Ron. "What's Scabbers got to do with it?"

"Everything," said Lupin. "Could I see him, please?"

Teddy could see the look of deep reluctance written on his face as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a desperately wriggling rat. Crookshanks stood and hissed softly as Remus moved to get a closer look at the animagi.

"What?" Ron said again, holding Scabbers close to him, looking scared. "What's my rat got to do with anything?"

Teddy could tell how close Uncle Ron was to his pet, and how much he cared for him, and he knew that he was going to take it badly.

"That's not a rat," croaked Sirius Black suddenly.

"What d'you mean - of course he's a rat -"

"No, he's not," said Lupin quietly. "He's a wizard."

"An Animagus," said Black, "by the name of Peter Pettigrew."

"Lets take a break here yeah? I heard your stomach rumbling and the next memory is going to be a big one."

"Ok," Teddy said, wanting to hear more from the marauders but knowing he should probably take it slowly so he had time to digest the information.

They left the drawing room and proceeded down to the kitchens.

A/N: So what do you think? Good, Bad or Ugly?

Please let me know in a review, your words are very encouraging :)

BTW the next chapter of Interview With A Dursley is in the making :)