Stormseeker: Borrowed Destiny

Chapter 57: Ratted Out

---

The first night back at Hogwarts, I go to see Moony in his office. "How was your holiday?" I ask. Draco said he could get Grim back into the Slytherin dorms through the Floo again by himself, so I'll just let him take care of that and not have to deal with it. Stupid Floo.

"Well enough," Moony says. "Thank you for the chocolates and the book you sent me. Dragons of Autumn Twilight, huh? Looks entertaining. I don't really think I deserve any presents from you, though..."

"Nuh-huh," I say, leaning close and putting a finger to his lips. "You are not allowed to mope, you hear me? Draco always verbally kicks my ass if I ever try to mope, so I'm damned well going to return the favor to you."

Moony shakes his head faintly, and his lips quirk a little, but he doesn't seem to know how to respond to that.

"Now, I wanted to ask you for a hand with something," I say. "I got a number of interesting looking Christmas presents. Do you think you could look over them and make sure there's nothing cursed or whatnot?"

"Ah, certainly," Moony says. "Leave them here and I'll go over them when I have a chance, and return to them to you when I clear them."

"Alright," I say. I pull out the various gifts that I received from people I don't fully trust, and set them on the desk.

Moony frowns as he looks over the books and relics. "Your friends seem to have questionable tastes, Stormseeker."

"Not really my friends," I say. "Some anonymous, some from Slytherins I don't really know who seem to be under the impression that I'm going to be the next Dark Lord." I roll my eyes.

"As a professor, I should probably be confiscating some of these things rather than giving them back to you," Moony says. "But if you really want them, I suppose I don't really have any place to argue. What did your friends give you?"

"You want to see?" I say, grinning. "I'm sure none of them would ever send me anything bad, though, but I'll show you." I start pulling out the presents from my bag of holding one by one. "This one was from Draco."

"Draco Malfoy sent you a Remembrall?" Moony says. "That seems awfully tame for what I'd expect of his family."

"You can't judge somebody by their family," I say. "Hmm, Dean's present is in here somewhere."

"That's very true," Moony admits as I pull out the little figurine. "Ah, it's Yoda! I was in sixth year when the first Star Wars movie came out. I dragged my friends out to a Muggle cinema to see it." He chuckles softly. "Nobody even batted an eye at us despite the fact that some of us were wearing robes. Good times." He smiles wistfully.

"Hermione sent me this," I say, holding up the lunascope. "And Luna, well, probably best not to even ask about that. And Blaise gave me this candy."

Moony frowns as he looks at the box. "Dream Sweets?" he says. "Harry, those are very addictive, not to mention illegal. You haven't eaten any of them, have you?" He takes it from me and looks inside the half empty box. "Oh, that's not good."

"Addictive?" I say. "No, I trust Blaise, he wouldn't have sent me anything bad. And they're great."

"Yes, too great, that's the problem," Moony says. "When you go off of them, you're going to have horrible nightmares every night that you took them, and that'll only get worse the more you use them."

I snort softly. "I already have horrible nightmares every night. I've been quite grateful to him."

"I would really rather you hadn't touched this stuff at all," Moony says.

I shake my head a bit. "That's my choice, isn't it? I'm willing to accept the risks, and I think the tradeoff is worth it."

"Have you really been through that much hell?" Moony asks me quietly.

I sigh. "You don't know the half of it." I take the box back from him and put it in my bag, and he doesn't try to stop me. "I can't even sleep at night unless I put up a Revulsion Curse over my bed, because I'm so afraid of letting down my guard."

"I see," Moony says. "I wish I could have been there for you..."

"You're blaming yourself again," I say, looking at him firmly and smirking. "Stop that."

"You're a remarkable young man, you know that, Stormseeker?" Moony says. "Alright, I suppose I have no place to argue. What else did you get?"

"Let's see. Theodore got me this book. And Neville got me this," I say, pointing to the chain on my left wrist. "And Dumbledore, well... I think you're probably familiar with this one." I pull out the blank parchment from my bag and spread it out.

"Is that what I think it is?" Moony asks.

I grin, and point my wand at the parchment. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

"I thought that was lost for good," Moony says, looking at the map. "And Dumbledore just gave it to you?"

"The Weasley twins had it for a while, apparently," I say. "So which one was my father?"

"Prongs," Moony says. "Because he could turn into a stag."

"Could you tell me about them?" I ask. "I know you might not want to talk about it. But I think it's better to remember the good times, and not the bad..."

"You're right," Moony says. "Very well. Wormtail was Peter Pettigrew. He could turn into a rat. Padfoot was Sirius Black, and he could turn into a big, black dog. As you might have guessed, we called ourselves the Marauders."

And a big, black dog. I mask my surprise, glad for my Occlumency training, and carefully keep a neutral expression. I think I'm going to have to have a nice long talk with a certain canine shortly. I yawn compulsively.

"Ah, it's already after curfew," Moony says. "Sorry I kept you so long, Stormseeker. I'll walk you back to your common room so you don't get into trouble."

"That's alright, I'll just use my cloak," I say. I pull out the invisibility cloak from my bag and slip it over me.

"As a professor, I should say something disapproving here," Moony says, chuckling and shaking his head. "Run along, then."

I head for the Slytherin common room. Along the way, I take a look at the Marauder's Map, peering at it intently. There, in the third year Slytherin boys' dorm, along with the names who should be there, sure enough, there's Sirius Black. I find myself laughing softly. The Marauder's Map doesn't lie. It doesn't even recognize me as Harry Potter. It still thinks that I'm definitely Lexen Chelseer. I suppose it's a good thing the Weasley twins were apparently not very attentive to detail, or they would have noticed me years ago.

I reach the entrance to the common room and put away the map. "Aconite," I say. Hmm, no, that's not the current password. I try a few others, but no luck, looks like it's been changed for this term. "Damn," I mutter.

I stand around for a few minutes, considering just heading back to the Gryffindor dorm, and then realize that I forgot to get the new password for that, too. I'd gone straight to see Moony instead. Oops. I really am an idiot sometimes.

Then, just as I'm thinking of giving up and heading back to see Moony, Gemma comes down the corridor and approaches the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

"Hello, Gemma," I say, pulling off the hood of my cloak.

"Who-- Oh, it's just you, Harry," Gemma says. "What are you doing out here?"

"Being an idiot," I say. "Forgot to get the new password."

"You know this isn't actually your common room, right?" Gemma says, smirking.

"Isn't it?" I say, feigning surprise. "Dear me, it must have completely slipped my mind!" I laugh.

Gemma snickers. "Alright, five points from Gryffindor for being out of bounds after curfew," Gemma says. "Lunaphobia." The wall opens up. "You'd better get inside quick before anyone else sees you out here. Or doesn't see you, as the case may be."

"Thanks, Gemma," I say, grinning. I pull the hood over my head again and slip inside, and head over to the third year boys' dorm.

The five Slytherin boys are in their dorm at the moment, getting ready for bed. I pull off my cloak and stuff it into my bag of holding.

"Stormseeker?" Draco says, looking over at me in surprise. "Decided to move in with us instead?"

"Muffliato. Colloportus. Locus Timoris," I cast, and then snap off in the tone normally reserved for Dueling Club, "Storm Army, wands." The five of them look at me for a moment in confusion, but they all pull out their wands in quick order at the command. "Target the dog, but hold your fire for now. Stunners only, but don't attack unless I give the signal or he makes a wrong move."

"What's going on, Stormseeker?" Blaise asks.

The dog looks up at me in confusion and lets out a soft whine.

"Nothing much," I drawl. "I'm quite certain that Sirius Black has a perfectly good explanation for this, and I would like to hear it from his mouth in short order."

"Sirius--" Draco says.

The dog's form shifts and changes, and in a moment, an unkempt man with wild, haunted eyes is sitting on the floor in the middle of the room.

"I knew it," Draco says. "I knew you weren't just some ordinary dog."

"I'm sorry," Sirius says. "I didn't mean to deceive you. Not my godson, Harry Potter, of all people."

"Wait, you're my godfather?" I ask.

"Yeah, I am," Sirius says.

"Is this all some sort of bad joke?" I say.

"No, of course not," Sirius says.

"Alright, fine, forget that," I say. "Explanation. Now."

"I was trying to get into the castle to kill that traitor, Peter Pettigrew," Sirius says. "But when I saw you, I thought I might be able to spend some time with my godson as well. And it was nice to be able to get some good food and sleep somewhere warm and dry for a change..."

"Understandable," I say. "Peter Pettigrew is alive?"

"He's the Weasleys' pet rat," Sirius says. "I saw a picture in the Daily Prophet of them on a trip to Egypt."

"Keep wands ready, Storm Army," I say. I pull out the Marauder's Map and open it up. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." I peer at the map, locating the third year boys' dorm in the Gryffindor Tower. Sure enough, amidst the other names that should be there, is Peter Pettigrew. "He's telling the truth."

"It was Peter who betrayed your parents, Harry," Sirius says. "He was the Secret-Keeper, not me. But I as good as killed them. I begged them to change to him at the last minute. I thought Peter would be a less obvious choice."

"Back up," I say. "Immediate concern, are you going to attempt to run away or hurt anyone I care about?"

"No," Sirius says. "I'd never hurt a hair on your head, or touch any of your friends, Harry."

"Storm Army, stand down," I say. The five Slytherins put their wands away. "Alright then. Let's talk."

"I'm surprised that all these Slytherins do what you say without blinking an eye," Sirius says.

"He's normally pretty laid back," Draco says. "But when he starts barking orders, he fucking means business."

I sit down on the floor across from Sirius and rub my eyes. "Alright," I say. "Secret-Keeper. What in the Abyss are you talking about?"

"You didn't know?" Sirius says. "The Potters were hidden from Voldemort under the Fidelius Charm. That's a really complicated, advanced piece of magic. It keeps a secret safe, and nobody can find out the secret unless the designated Secret-Keeper tells it to them. Nobody else can pass it along."

"Sounds useful," I say. "Go on."

"But Peter betrayed the Potters," Sirius explains. "Sold them out to Voldemort. When I found out, I went after him in a rage. But he framed me, faked his own death, blew up the whole street, cut off his little finger, and got away in the form of a rat."

"Wasn't Remus Lupin one of your friends?" I ask. "Shouldn't he have known who the Secret-Keeper was?"

"I'm ashamed to say that I thought he was the spy," Sirius says, head drooping. "Perhaps, in hindsight, it wasn't such a brilliant idea to switch the Secret-Keeper and have everyone think it was me instead."

I nod. "I see. But why didn't you tell me all of this sooner?"

"I was afraid," Sirius says. "I didn't know how you'd react. I was afraid you'd freak out, or attack me, or something, and I wouldn't have a chance to tell you the truth. And I was kind of enjoying being your dog..."

I nod again. "Okay."

Sirius stares at me. "What, just like that? Just okay?"

Draco is laughing aloud. "It takes a lot more than that to shake the Stormseeker."

"It's not like you actually lied to me or anything," I say, shrugging. "And you were a damned good dog. You kept trying to nudge me toward the truth in some way that wouldn't blow your cover, weren't you."

"Yeah..." Sirius says. "But what about the rest of you?" He glances around at the others.

"We're Slytherins," Theodore says, shrugging. "It's not like any of us would be especially upset to have an escaped convict in our midst."

"I say it was brilliant, getting out of Azkaban like that," Draco says. "I just have to wonder why you didn't do it sooner, if you could do that."

Sirius looks at the floor. "The Dementors couldn't completely destroy me. I knew I was innocent, and I held onto that thought. They affected me less in my animal form, too. But I still didn't have the will to get out until I had a target. That gave me the focus I needed... It wasn't a happy thought, so the Dementors couldn't take it away."

"I understand," I say quietly. "Damn the Dementors, anyway."

"And when I get my hands on Peter, I'm going to rip him apart," Sirius snarls.

I grin broadly. "I'll help catch him," I offer.

"I'll dispose of the body," Theodore adds lightly.

"Nobody else even knows Peter Pettigrew is still alive, so we won't even need to cover up that he's gone missing," I say. "The only one who will care what happened to the rat is Ron."

Sirius looks at us incredulously. "I should probably be more disturbed that you kids are willing to help me commit the murder I was imprisoned for to begin with."

"We're Slytherins," Draco says.

"Harry isn't," Sirius says.

"He might as well be," Draco says.

"I should probably find that disturbing, too," Sirius says.

"Except for his tendancy to do reckless and stupidly brave things in order to protect people," Draco adds.

"And I'd prefer if you called me Stormseeker," I say.

"Alright, Stormseeker," Sirius says. "So, can you go and catch Wormtail right now?"

I shake my head. "I didn't get the Gryffindor password for this term. I'm stuck here tonight. I'll have to ask my Gryffindor friends what it is at breakfast."

"I'm this close, I don't want him to slip away again," Sirius says.

"Relax, he's been there for years, I don't think he's going anywhere just now," I say.

"If you're going to sleep here tonight, Stormseeker, you can use my bed," Theodore offers.

"Nah, I think I'll just sleep on the floor with the dog," I say.

"Nonsense," Draco says. "I'll at least bring a couch in."

As Draco goes to haul in a couch from the common room, Sirius turns to me and says quietly, "I was afraid, if you found out, you'd reject me at the very least, throw me out, wouldn't want me around anymore..."

I shake my head. "No, I really can't blame you," I say. "And honestly, I really should have noticed sooner that you weren't just an ordinary dog, anyway. Well, I did, but I guess I'm just used to treating everything that seems remotely intelligent like people. I always figure it's better to treat something with too much respect than too little. It keeps me from getting mauled by hippogriffs and stabbed in the eye by free-born elves."

Draco comes back with a levitating couch floating along in front of him, and drops it in the room. "You know, I just realized magic is kind of stupid," Draco comments.

"What part of it?" I ask.

"The incantations," Draco says. "I just cast Mobilicouchus, and it worked."

I laugh aloud, and Sirius snickers and says, "I would've just used a Hover Charm."

"Yeah, yeah, like you can criticize," Draco says. "Do you even have a wand?"

"Just one I nicked off someone else," Sirius says. "Not my old one, not one matched to me. That one's gone forever, I'm afraid."

"Good enough for now," I say. "We'll have to see about remedying that sometime. Oh, and Sirius..." I pull out the cloak from my bag. "I think you could use this more than me at the moment. Just don't run off with it and disappear and leave me hanging, please. The current password for the Slytherin common room is 'lunaphobia'."

"Thanks," Sirius says, accepting it with a grin. "I won't leave you, Stormseeker. But it'll be nice to get out of this place now and then. I'll just need to watch out for Filch and his damned cat."

"Filch is dead," I say. "Got a good look at a basilisk last year. Nobody's replaced him since. I guess Dumbledore couldn't find any other cranky Squibs to fill the position."

"Hah," Sirius says. "Good riddance, I say."

"Alright, I'm going to get some rest," I say. "Good night, all."

As I surreptitiously pop a Dream Sweet into my mouth before going to sleep, I catch Blaise casting a grin at me.

---

The next morning at breakfast, Neville says, "Stormseeker! You weren't in our dorm last night. What happened?"

"Heh, got locked out," I say. "Forgot to get the new password for this term, so I wound up spending the night with the Slytherins instead."

"It's 'scurvy cur'," Hermione tells me.

We take a seat at the Slytherin table for breakfast and start to eat. I toss up a privacy charm over my inner circle, and say, "Alright, guys, we've got a small project ahead of us. We're going to catch ourselves a rat."

"You aren't talking about Ron Weasley's rat, are you?" Hermione says.

"Precisely," I say lightly. I fill the Gryffindors and Luna in about Sirius and Peter.

"So, wait," Neville says. "You mean to tell us that Grim is actually Sirius Black?"

"That's right," I say.

"We really should just turn him in and get him a fair trial," Hermione says.

"I don't trust the Ministry to give anyone a fair trial," I say. "I don't trust for a moment anyone that thinks that putting Dementors around a school full of children is a good idea."

"So what are we going to do if we can catch Peter?" Hermione says. "Tie him up and let Sirius kill him?"

"Pretty much, yeah," I say.

Hermione sighs. "The things you have me doing. But I'll concede that if he truly did betray the Potters to the Dark Lord, he probably has it coming. Still, I'd like to hear his reasoning first. It might have been forced out of him against his will and he's spent the last decade feeling guilty about it."

"If it were me, I'd just kill him," Draco says.

"You would," Hermione says.

"Alright, after dinner, we'll see about catching this rat," Neville says. "How hard can it be?"

I groan softly. "Don't say things like that."

---

"Alright, class," Professor Lupin says. "We covered a number of dangerous creatures last term, but we're going to be moving on to some practical spellwork now."

"Professor, I thought we were going to be covering red caps next!" Hermione protests.

"Yes, well, there's been a change in curriculum," Lupin says.

"Oh dear," Hermione says. "I already read up on all the creatures we were supposed to be dealing with!"

"Five points to Gryffindor for your diligent study, Hermione," Lupin says with a small grin. "This term, I'm going to be teaching you the Shield Charm. This is a fairly advanced spell and not one normally taught to third years, but this group seems to be quite accomplished for your age, so you may well be able to handle it. Also, it's an open question whether you will have a competent teacher in the following school years who will be able to teach it to you."

"Aren't you going to stay, Professor Lupin?" Lavender asks.

"Much as I would like to, I fear that the curse upon this position may make that impossible," Lupin says.

"I think you're just pandering to the Stormseeker," Ron says. "Do you really think that most of us are going to be able to cast that?"

"I have my full confidence in you, Ron," Lupin says.

Ron grumbles a little, but doesn't protest any further.

"Now, the incantation for the Shield Charm is Protego," Lupin says. "And these are the wand movements. Allow me to demonstrate..."

---

Before dinner, I go up to the Defense office to have a little chat with Moony about what's going on.

"Hello, Stormseeker," Moony says. "I haven't finished with your presents yet, but I haven't detected anything that would be harmful to you yet."

I nod. "There's something I need to speak with you about, Moony. There's something you should see." I pull out the Marauder's Map and spread it out, and say, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." I then point to the two dorms on the map where Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black are.

"What's this?" Moony says in alarm. "Peter is alive? And Sirius is inside the castle? What's going on?"

"Peter was the traitor, not Sirius," I say. "James and Lily switched to Peter as their Secret-Keeper at the last minute and didn't tell anyone. They thought you were the spy, and didn't realize it was really Peter."

"Did Sirius tell you that?" Moony asks.

I nod. "And I believe him. But we're planning to capture Peter tonight and get some answers out of him. I imagine you'd want to be involved, so that's why I came to tell you this."

"I see," Moony says. "Yes, of course I do."

"Meet us in the Gryffindor common room after dinner, then," I say.

"I'll be there," Moony says.

---

I check the map again. Ron and Seamus are in the common room. Peter Pettigrew is in the third year boys' dorm room. Now's the time to strike. Neville, Dean, and Hermione are with me, in addition to Moony.

"On alert," I say quietly. "Wands at ready." The others nod, and the five of us move in. "Seal exits."

In unison, we cast spells to block every way out of the room, even ones that only a rat could get through. I creep over toward Ron's bed, where the rat is resting. Sound asleep. I gingerly reach over and pick up the rat with my right hand, pointing my wand at him with my left.

"Stupefy," I say, and the rat flops in my hand as he goes from asleep to unconscious. "You know, that was a little anticlimactic."

"You're the one who thought it was going to be hard," Neville says.

"Things always go wrong around me," I say. "Mark my words."

"You're paranoid," Neville says.

"It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you," I say.

"It's always good to be overprepared than to be caught off guard," Moony agrees.

I pocket the rat. "Let's get this bugger down for an interrogation."

We head down to the sleeping dragon tapestry room, where the Slytherins are already waiting. I cast some spells over the door when we come inside to ensure we aren't interrupted. Sirius pulls off the invisibility cloak and gives a wild, murderous grin. He and Remus meet eyes for a moment, but they say no words to one another yet.

"Alright, no rat holes he can slip away to in here?" I ask.

"We checked the room good, boss," Crabbe says.

I'd wanted to do this down in the Chamber of Secrets, but dismissed that idea as impractical. I don't even know the Parseltongue word that will change the slide into stairs to get out again easily, so I'd rather not go down there unless I just want to get another book out or something.

I put the rat down on the floor. "Make a circle around the rat," I say. "Wands at ready. Stun him if he tries to escape. Rennervate."

The rat wakes, and looks around in a panic as he realizes where he is.

"Hello, Peter Pettigrew," I say. "You might as well transform now. We know exactly who you are, and you've got quite a number of wands pointed at you right now."

The rat squeaks, and then after a few moments, his body shifts and expands, taking on the form of a rather rat-like man instead. "I haven't done anything!" Peter proclaims. "I'm innocent, I swear! It was all him!" He points at Sirius.

Sirius snorts. "You're not going to convince them, Peter."

"I have a question," Hermione says. "If he's as bad as you say, why hasn't Peter tried to hurt Harry or anyone else?"

"See?" Peter says, looking to her with frantic hope. "I'd never hurt dear Harry!"

"Neither has Sirius," I point out. "And he's had plenty of opportunity, too."

"Peter would never be so bold as to commit murder right under Dumbledore's nose unless he thought he could gain some advantage by it," Sirius says.

"Wow, how did this guy ever end up in Gryffindor?" Draco asks.

"I've wondered that myself at times," Sirius says.

"Sirius Black was You-Know-Who's greatest supporter!" Peter proclaims. "He gained dark power from his master to escape!"

Sirius gives a bark of laughter, and a few of the Slytherins can't help but snicker as well. "Don't be ridiculous," Draco says. "You're talking to Slytherins, you fool. We know who the Dark Lord's greatest supporters were. Our parents. And if the Dark Lord could have given them powers to escape, why didn't he break out the Lestranges, or Dolohov, or Rookwood, or any of the others?"

"Your guilt is not in question here, Peter," I say. "I let you speak rather than merely killing you in your sleep so that you could, perhaps, explain why you betrayed the Potters."

"I didn't mean for this to happen," Peter whimpers. "He forced me to tell him..."

"Don't lie, Peter," Sirius barks. "You were his spy. You were passing him information for over a year before then."

"What was there to be gained by refusing him?" Peter asks.

"Hope for a better future, perhaps," Moony says.

"He would have killed me!" Peter exclaims.

"Then you should have died!" Sirius says. "We would have died for you, too, you know!"

"You should have realized that if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would," Moony says quietly. "I'm disgusted with you, Peter."

"Forgive me for not trusting you before, Remus," Sirius says. "I once thought you were the spy, when it was really this piece of filth."

"Already forgiven, Padfoot," Moony says gently. "And you will, of course, forgive me for believing that you were a spy and a murderer?"

"Already forgiven, Moony," Sirius replies.

"Shall we kill him together, then?" Moony says.

"You wouldn't..." Peter whimpers.

"I think we should let the Stormseeker do the honors," Sirius says with a feral grin. "It was his parents who were killed, after all."

I shake my head. "No. Sirius was the one who suffered the most because of it. But, what say we do it together, all three of us?"

"Best idea I've heard in years," Sirius says.

Peter, in a panic, shifts into a rat and tries to escape, and promptly gets bombarded with Stunners, at least one of which lands, as he goes limp again. I hear a munching sound, and glance over at the others. Theodore and Draco, rather than watching to make sure Peter doesn't escape, are eating popcorn.

"Where did you guys get the popcorn?" I ask.

"I thought it would be a good idea to keep on hand, after the thing with Lockhart," Theodore says, showing me what appears to be a magic popcorn maker.

"Some of us were watching to make sure that scum didn't escape," Neville says.

"Wait, what happened with Lockhart?" Moony asks.

"Oh, I killed him," I say offhandedly.

"You already killed another human being, at the age of thirteen?" Moony says.

"I already killed another human being at the age of eleven," I reply. "Death Eater at a New Year's party. Left me with a nasty scar on my leg for my trouble. So, shall we commit another murder, then?"

Moony just gives me a look like we're going to have a nice, long talk later, and says, "Alright. Let's do this."

The three of us bombard Peter with curses until he's no more. All that remains is the charred, smoldering corpse of a rat.

Moony looks toward the group of students, several more of which are also eating popcorn by this point, with the notable exceptions of Hermione and Dean. "You have some very strange friends, Stormseeker," Moony says. "I wouldn't generally want so many witnesses to this, especially ones so young."

"He had it coming," Neville says.

"I stopped feeling sympathetic when he started whimpering and trying to make excuses for serving the Dark Lord and betraying the Potters," Hermione says, folding her arms across her chest and sniffing.

"Incendio," Theodore says absently, setting the rat corpse on fire.

"The grackles are already starting to gather," Luna says absently.

"Do you really trust all of them, Stormseeker?" Moony asks.

"I trust them all with my life and my greatest secrets," I say. "Speaking of which, I'd say it's about time we induct Padfoot into the circle, too." As distinguished from the inner circle, which only those actually in the inner circle know exists.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asks.

"I am a time traveler," I say with a flourish and a grin. "But, uh, since this is the furthest ahead in the future I've been yet, that's not going to be overly helpful." I give him a quick rundown of my time travel powers.

"Merlin, this is a lot to take in," Sirius says, sitting down heavily in a chair.

"So, Sirius, what are you going to do now?" Draco asks. "I don't suppose you're planning to come back to the Slytherin dorms and keep on being our dog, huh?"

Sirius snickers softly. "Maybe," he says. "I don't know where else I'm going to go right now."

"Peter could have testified for your innocence," Hermione says. "You could have been free."

"Maybe that, too," Sirius says. "But they didn't even give me a trial in the first place."

"Hmm," I say thoughtfully.

"What are you thinking, Stormseeker?" Neville asks.

"I'm considering taking over the world after all," I say.

"Why do I have such a sudden feeling of dread?" Dean says.