Twist of Time

Inside the Shrieking Shack on the night of a full moon....

"Shall we kill him together?"

"Yes, I think so..."

Harry's eyes went wide as he heard those words. Kill? His mind drifted back to Professor Lupin's words.

Do you think anyone deserves that, Harry?

Some do...for some things...

They're right...

he thought to himself. Pettigrew should pay for what he did to my family...what he did to my Godfather...

He watched as Black and Lupin raised their wands together. His mind was moving fast, trying to decided what to do. Before he knew it, he had stepped in front of Peter, his arms outstretched.

"Wait! Stop...don't kill him..."

His heart pounded as he heard those words come out of his mouth. What in the world was he doing?

Black sneered. "Harry, this piece of filth is the reason you have no parents."

Such rage built up in Harry, reminding him of when he held Black at the point of his wand just a little over 15 minutes ago. Black was right. That man had killed Lily and James. He deserved the worst. But what was worse than death.

There was something worse than death.

Moving quickly so that they could not stop him, Harry brandished his wand and twirled around, pointing it at Peter's chest.

"Stupefy!"

Peter's eyes widened in horror before he gave a startled cry and was thrown back against the wall, knocked out. No one spoke as Harry lowered his wand and breathing heavily, his heart pounding in his chest. For almost a full minute Harry stood there, watching his parent's murderer lie on the cold floor, a small bit of blood running down the back of his head where he had smacked the wall. Harry knew they were all waiting for him to make the first move. But Harry had no desire to break the silence.

Finally, it was Ron who spoke up.

"Well done, Harry!"

Ignoring Ron's comment, Harry turned to Black and Lupin who were looking at him curiously.

"He can go with the Dementors to Azkaban. If anyone deserves that place, he does..."

"Harry...are you sure this is what you want?" Lupin asked him softly. Black walked cautiously around Harry towards Peter and was studying his knocked out body.

Harry managed to crack a small grin. "I don't reckon my dad would want you two to become murderer's just for him."

"You're probably right." Lupin smiled and placed a hand on Harry's shoulders. He opened his mouth to say something else but was cut off.

There was a muffled thumping noise and all of them turned to see that Black had just kicked Peter full on in the face, causing his nose to bleed and his body to slid father down towards the ground.

"I think he's knocked out well enough, Sirius," Lupin told him with a smile.

"You can never been too sure with a rat," Sirius grumbled.

Lupin strode over to Peter and muttered some words that bound him in thick vines and conjured an invisible stretcher for him to lie on. Black was watching Lupin work with a sneer on his face. But there was something else Harry noticed as he watched Black.

A small tear crept down his cheek.

"You were my dad's best friend, weren't you?"

He startled Black with his question and the escaped convict sighed heavily before looking at Harry with a bemused expression. Harry saw another tear fall down his cheek

Looking Harry straight in the eye, Sirius nodded. "Yes, I was. Why do you ask?"

Harry didn't answer for a moment, afraid that his request might be a bit much for Sirius. After all, the memories of a best friend lost would be hard to bring up again. But Harry had to know. Finally, he blurted it out.

"Tell me all about him!" He said quickly. "I don't know much except for what Professor Lupin let slip. I've always wanted to know what he was like. I've heard he played Quidditch. Did his team win the house cup? He was a seeker too, right? When did he meet my mum? Did they love each other very much? I know you were their best man. What was the wedding like? Do you remember when I was born? What did my mom and dad do for a living? What did you do? What kind of animal did my dad transform to? Why did Voldemort try to kill me? How many times did you get detention? Oh you've got to meet Fred and George, they'll worship you..."

For the first time tonight, Harry realized he sounded like a thirteen year old boy, innocent and curious about his family. Before, he had been as vengeful as any adult would be. But that time was past. The problem was solved now. Now was the time to catch up on what had been taken from him.

Sirius' face broke out into the first smile Harry had seen. It seemed to light up his whole face and made him look more like the man that Harry had seen in the photograph. He opened his mouth to reply, but his voice was not the next one heard.

"Good evening, Mr. Potter."

It was Harry's turn to jump. He turned around with wide eyes to see Professor Dumbledore and Cornelious Fudge, Minister of Magic standing in the doorway of the shack.

"Professor!" Harry managed, his mind going in a thousand different directions at once. "Minister!" He reflexively took a step towards Sirius, as if to shield him from a spell that Fudge or Dumbledore might throw towards him. They were not going to get his Godfather so easily. If even one of them moved towards Sirius they'd be on the floor with Snape. Luckily though, Dumbledore smiled at Harry before turning to Sirius and Lupin.

"And to you two Messrs. Black and Lupin."

Harry turned to see Lupin incline his head a bit, a triumphant smile on his face. Sirius just managed a large gulp, his increasing dread becoming evident in his eyes. Surely they were not going to kill him now, Harry thought. Not after all that had just happened.

"And Mr.....Pettigrew," Dumbledore said with his smile becoming a sterner look as he spotted Peter knocked out and gagged on the floor. "So nice of you to join us tonight. So odd seeing you here after attending your funeral almost 12 years ago."

Harry breathed easier at those words. So Dumbledore knew already, like he always did. But how did he know? Harry was trying to put the pieces together in his head fast, but nothing seemed to click until Lupin spoke.

"I was able to floo Dumbledore right before I left the castle, Harry," Lupin explained, seeing that Harry was trying to figure something out. "I gave him a run down of what I knew and he went straight over to the Ministry."

Cornelious Fudge was walking over towards Pettigrew who was starting to move a bit, Fudge's bottom lip twitched and Harry could tell this was not what he was expecting tonight. He examined him once over and then turned to Dumbledore.

"Well how do we know this is him, Dumbledore? That'd be a fine mistake to make, bringing a death eater or two into Ministry headquarters."

"It's him," Sirius growled, sounding much like his dog self.

"You, Mr. Black, are still under charges at the moment until yours and Dumbledore's claims can be confirmed." Fudge gave Sirius a disapproving glare, but Harry noticed he was still very edgy around the convicted "murderer".

Dumbledore pulled a small glass vial out of his pocket and walked over to where Pettigrew and the Fudge were.

"This is Veratisum," Dumbledore explained, obviously noticing Harry and Hermione's questioning glance. "A very powerful truth potion that our dear friend Severus concocted for me." Dumbledore motioned over to where Snape was still out cold along the wall. "Unfortunately, Severus ran out here before I could explain the situation to him, and I was right in the middle of my conversation with Cornelious." He gave a disapproving glance to all three children. "Though I see that you three did an adamant job of keeping him from doing something that he would regret."

Harry shuffled his feet, unsure of whether or not Dumbledore would punish him, but all he did was wink at them once before turning back to Pettigrew.

Fudge forced Pettigrew's mouth open and Dumbledore dropped a few beads of the potion onto his tongue. Harry exchanged a worried look with Hermione who seemed fascinated and scared at the same time. Glancing over at the bed, Harry saw that Lupin was currently getting a bandage suited on Ron's leg, who had all but passed out from the blood loss.

Harry turned back to Dumbledore and Fudge just in time to see Pettigrew's eyes snap open. He looked horrified at the sight before him and managed to struggle a bit before the potion went into effect and he was silent and still under it's power.

"What is your name?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"Peter Pettigrew."

Harry heard Sirius' quick intake of breath as the name was said and Fudge raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Where have you been for 12 years?"

And so the story came out about the betrayal of Pettigrew to Lily and James, of Sirius' innocence, and inconsequentially, the tale of the Marauder's was heard. Harry could see the way Pettigrew fought the potion for some of the questions, but he always came out and ended up saying the truth.

Fifteen minutes later, Dumbledore stood up, a disgusted but relieved look on his face. He waved his wand, shouting "Petrificus Totalous!" putting Pettigrew in a full body bind. Dumbledore then started conversing softly with Fudge whom Harry thought seemed thoroughly convinced. Hermione slowly came over to Harry and whispered in his ear.

"Do you reckon they'll let Sirius off?"

"They had better..." Harry said sharply.

"I guess they're story s true then."

Harry looked startled. "Did you doubt it?"

Hermione blushed, embarrassed. "I did for a bit. For a moment I thought that Black was actually going to kill you Harry." She shuddered. "It's been quite a frightening night."

Harry nodded in agreement and then motioned over to where Ron was now sitting up on the bed with bandages on his leg, Some color was back in his face but he still looked worried.

"How's Ron?"

Hermione shrugged and looked over. "Professor Lupin just said it was a broken leg. He lost a lot of blood though so we need to get him up to the castle quickly."

"I don't mean to break this up..." Lupin said out of the blue. Dumbledore and Fudge both turned towards him. Dumblrdore realized what he was going to say first and inclined his head a bit, as if to say 'thanks'. Fudge realized a moment later and shoved his bowler cap on his head, a slightly frightened look on his face. Sirius gave a smug smile and did not move.

"...but the moonlight is starting to shine into the shack. It might be better for all of you to leave now."

Harry glanced over to the cup that Snape had brought and saw that it was empty, still smoking like when Harry had seen it before.

Dumbledore nodded, smiling at Lupin and motioning for Fudge to follow him. Fudge brandished Pettigrew behind him on an invisible stretcher and they proceeded to the door.

Harry looked worriedly at Lupin. "Are you going to be alright?" He wasn't sure if he was asking the question for himself, or for Lupin.

The professor just smiled and nodded, motioning him out the door.

"Come, Sirius," Dumbledore called out. "I think the minister would like a few words with you as well."

For a moment Black seemed to consider just staying. Harry saw Lupin shake his head curtly towards Sirius and Sirius gave the equivalent of a pout.

"Get out of this hole, Padfoot. I expect you to be free tomorrow when I come back," Lupin said to his old friend.

Sirius nodded, smiling and went over to Lupin. They gave each other a bear hug before Sirius finally turned to leave. As he passed Harry, Sirius threw him a wink and smiled again.

Harry and Hermione went over to help Ron who was now able to stand and all three of them went up the tunnel, Ron leaning heavily on Harry and Hermione's arms.

Before they reached the top, Harry turned back once and saw Lupin smiling back at him.

"Thank you for believing us. Harry," He said solemnly. "Thank you for giving me back one of my best friends."

Harry smiled. "Your welcome, Remus."