To Kill a Puppy Dog

Chapter Six:

Could I be wrong?

Aubrey rolled onto her back and blinked. The ground was cold and damp. She sat up and shook her head. Remembering where she was she looked around. Gone.

"Damn!" she swore. The object he had placed in her hand was lying beside her. Cautiously she picked it up to examine it. A silver necklace. At first glance it looked to be an ordinary necklace but then she noticed the blue glow that radiated from it. She stumbled out of the cave and inspected the necklace carefully. On one side of the necklace the names and nicknames of Sirius and all his friends were engraved, separated by their respective Animagi's form's mark. Each name had a specific color with it as well; blue, red, white, and green. Her mind instantly flew back to the visions. Never before had an object's visions been so intense that they rendered her unconscious. She remembered that before each visions there had been a flash of color, so each vision must have been a memory for the names on the necklace. Desperate to write everything down before she forgot she retrieved her wand from the cave and Apparated to Silverstar Hollow.

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Aubrey spent the rest of the day and the early evening pacing her living room in a desperate attempt to make sense of all of this. She had been there the day Sirius blew up those people...but the vision, the vision showed that it hadn't been Sirius at all. Peter had blown the street up and become a rat and escaped. But that can't be. They weren't registered. She was more confused than she had ever been. What if she was trying to put the wrong person away? Had he placed a confusion charm on her? Was the necklace a way to confuse people? She had recorded each vision and the more she wrote the more confused she became. She ran through everything she had uncovered in the past forty-eight hours in her mind.

The first vision was blue. It was Sirius' vision. He's Harry's godfather. He's an unregistered Animagus. He was close to all of them. He loved those people. The next was red. Red was James' color. His happiest memory was that of the birth of his son. He entrusted his son's life to Sirius. He wouldn't have done that if they weren't the best of friends. He's an Animagus too. Not registered. Silver and white. Remus' colors. His happiest memory was finding out Sirius was innocent. But he's not innocent...or is he? Remus is a werewolf. Green. Peter Pettigrew, supposedly dead. Again, unregistered. His memory was blowing up the street. But he didn't did he?

She was so lost. There was only one person she could think of to go to that could possibly answer her questions. And explain this necklace. Taking a deep breath and hoping he'd talk to her Aubrey Apparated to Wolves' Grove.

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Chapter Seven:

Revelations

Remus sat in his kitchen, book in hand, when there was a knock at the door. It sounded as if the person were upset and ready to panic.

"Who could that be?" he said aloud as he walked toward the door. He opened it to find Aubrey standing before him, tears in her eyes, looking as if she could burst into tears again at any moment.

"Yes?" he said a little more harshly than he had intended.

"Can I talk to you?" she asked. "Please?" she added in an almost pleading whisper.

"Come in," he said. He wondered what had happened to make Aubrey look so upset. He led her to the kitchen and invited her to sit. She did and she put her head on the table. "Tea?" he asked.

"No, no thank you," she whispered again. Confused. She was so confused. She seemed nervous, jumpy, and even afraid.

"Did something happen to you?" he asked.

"I...I found Sirius today," she began. Remus' breath caught in his throat. "He...he got the better of me. I thought for sure he'd kill me...but he didn't."

"Obviously," Remus said sarcastically.

"I'm so confused!" she exclaimed suddenly. "It's as if everything I saw that day, everything I know...is wrong. I'm wrong. It's as if everything everyone knows about Sirius is wrong. I...I can't explain it."

Remus was stunned. She was second-guessing herself. And what did she mean by 'everything I saw that day?' he decided that if she expected help from him that she would answer his question. "What do you mean by everything you saw that day?"

Aubrey looked up at Remus and tears began to fall down her cheeks. "I was there. I was nine years old. My parents were two of the twelve Muggles that were killed. I was behind Sirius so it looked as if he had done it but...but now...now I don't know," she said. She wiped her face and looked at the ground. "He...he put this in my hand before he disappeared," she said as she pulled the necklace from her pocket. "I saw things...I saw Harry jumping for joy because Sirius is his Godfather...why would a child be happy to live with someone who helped to kill his parents? I also saw you hug Sirius...why would you be happy to see someone who helped to kill your best friends? You wouldn't. It doesn't make sense,"

"What did you see with the flash of green?" Remus pressed.

"That one is the most confusing. I saw Peter blow up the street and become a rat. I...I didn't see that when I was nine. Why did I see it now?"

"Because you are looking at things the way Peter remembered them," Remus said quietly. He looked at Aubrey and realized that this was not all that confused her. "That's not all that's bothering you is it?"

"No." she admitted. Something deeper was plaguing her. "Tell me what this necklace does. Why was it so important to him?"

"This necklace," Remus began taking it from her hand, "was created by all of us...the Marauders...our final year at Hogwarts. The owner's name was kind of centered...we each had a color. We had them charmed. If one of us touched a name it showed us where that necklace was...if a non-Marauder touches it, it shows them the happiest memory we have," he laid the necklace on the table and shook his head.

"So the memory, Peter's memory...his happiest moment, is blowing up the street?" Aubrey asked.

"Evidently," Remus said.

"Do you still have yours?" she asked. Remus nodded and pulled the chain out from under his robes.

"I used to touch each name just because all of this seemed so much like a dream. James wasn't dead, Peter wasn't dead...and Sirius...Sirius was not a murder. I always saw the same things. Peter's was dark. James' was the inside of the case. Sirius' was a shelf in his house. After you see the same things for so many years you just stop trying," Remus said sullenly. He looked at Aubrey who seemed to be daydreaming. She had a far away look in her eyes and she looked as if she would cry again at any time.

"What's really going through your head Miss Phoenix?" Remus asked.

"I..." she began but stopped. Should she tell him? Why not? The worst he would do was use it against her and right now that may not be the worst thing that would happen to her. "I...I was just thinking that I'm a disgrace to my parents. I'm going against everything I've ever stood for."

"Why? Because you're questioning authority? I know they brain washed you in Auror Training but sometimes you have to question authority."

"It's not just that. If I can prove that I'm right...then it's justified. I'll catch the person who took my family from me. That's all that matters. Its just...Sirius Black has been guilty in my mind since I was nine."

"And falling for him would be inconceivable," Remus said. She stared at him in disbelief.

"How did you know?"

"Well, you're not the stalling type and you were definitely stalling. And two, I have seen that far away look in many eyes before...it was even in my own once when it came to Sirius. He's irresistible..." Remus' voice trailed off. Aubrey finally realized one of the reasons Remus was as alone as he was. He's the type that falls once and only once and he had fallen for Sirius. He suddenly looked sad and afraid as well as tired. Aubrey wanted to help him and to find out the truth.

An idea struck her. If the necklace showed one of the group where each one was, this would work. "Touch Peter's name now," Aubrey asked suddenly.

"Why?"

"Please?" Aubrey pleaded. Remus decided to humor her; he would see only darkness anyway. He placed his finger on Peter's name but instead of seeing black he saw a flash of green. He was in a large room. A huge fireplace occupied the far wall of the room and above it was a portrait of Salazar Slytherin. Remus could only think of one place that such a portrait would be. Riddle Manor.

"He got his necklace back," Remus whispered.

"Where is he?" she asked.

"If I had to guess, I'd say Riddle Manor," he said. The look in Aubrey's eyes was one of anger and determination as well as confusion. "Don't go there. Not alone," Remus said.

"I'm not. I'm going to talk to Harry and his group of friends...if Albus Dumbledore will allow it...and if I get the same story from them that I got from you and the vision from the necklace, I'm going after Peter." She lifted the necklace from the table and stared at it for a moment.

"So you are willing to give Sirius a chance?" Remus asked.

"Yes. I don't think he did it. If he was the ruthless killer that everyone thinks he is, he would have killed me today." She stood. "Give this back to him for me," she whispered, placing the necklace in Remus' hand and closing it for him. She started toward the door leaving a stunned Remus in the kitchen holding the necklace. Aubrey disappeared a moment later. Remus sat down in the kitchen and put his head in his hands. The necklace felt cool on his face as he began to cry. He hadn't told Sirius how he felt then, could he do it now?

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