Peaches and Cream

Chapter 1 - Let The Truth Be Told or In Which this Fic Becomes AU

Sirius couldn't believe his luck. He was once again traveling that oh-so-familiar path, that underground tunnel that connected the Shrieking Shack with the Hogwarts grounds. He could very well remember the first time he'd taken this route.

He couldn't have been more than fifteen. He'd just transformed for the fourth - no, the fifth time in his life, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and eager for adventure. James had been the same, and Peter perhaps too much so. He'd wet himself before transforming, an event that never repeated, in spite of the incident being the butt of many jokes for years to come.

The three of them had crept along this very path. They'd had no idea what they'd find at the end of the tunnel, no idea what a werewolf looked like.

What an extraordinary group they must have appeared to be: a large dog and a stag following a rat in single file.

Although this is a pretty strange group too, he reminded himself, coming back to the present with an unpleasant jolt, his stomach twisting in protest to the rat he'd eaten that afternoon.

After making sure it wasn't Peter, of course.

He'd made up his mind not to kill Peter until Harry knew the truth. Although that resolution had been sorely tested once he'd actually laid eyes on the rat in the Weasley boy's hands.

Speaking of whom, the Weasley boy and Remus were chained to Peter and were silently following Crookshanks down the tunnel. He and Harry followed, Sirius levitating Snape along in front of him with Remus' wand. Two girls, one brown-haired and one blonde, whispered quietly.

"You think he's telling the truth?" asked the blonde girl doubtfully.

It didn't take a genius to figure out who the girl was talking about.

What was her name again? Debbie? Darla? Darla, that's it.

"Dara, Peter Pettigrew appeared out of nowhe- out of a rat!" Or Dara, Sirius thought sheepishly. He turned to the side, inconspicuously, he hoped, and saw that Harry - that couldn't be Harry! He was positively old - was listening to the girls as well. He wore a sad smile on his face, and there was pain in his eyes as well.

He trusts me, Sirius realized. The girls don't - well, one of them, anyway - but Harry does and he doesn't like that they don't.

Far from reassuring him, the idea scared Sirius half to death. That was something they'd have to work on. Any old Death Eater could have shown up - they were not as commonplace as during the War, but there were still plenty of them around - and claimed to be James' best friend ... and Harry would have believed them.

No, that wasn't exactly true; he hadn't, not at first, which was a good sign, but all it had taken was Remus' approval and Peter's appearance and then he'd believed Sirius' story.

Although truth be told, Harry had performed better than Sirius had expected. He was the very opposite of naïve - cautious and wary of trickery. He'd never imagined Harry to be that mature, and it hurt him as much as it cheered. More.

"There's no way he could have faked that!" the brown-haired girl was saying.

"I know," the blonde girl said. "I know, but ..."

When it became apparent that she wasn't going to say anything more, Sirius turned his attention back to his godson.

"You'll have to tell me all about your friends," he said to Harry. "I don't know them at all, but I'd like to. Get to know you. All four of you."

"Okay."

"You know what turning Peter in means?"

"They'll know you're innocent."

"That's right, Harry." Oh, great going, Black, way to go! Treat him like a baby, why don't you? That's right, Harry, you found your nose! I'm no good at this.

"You'll be free," Harry was saying. "No more running."

"Well," Sirius began again, "I was hoping you could join me in my ... in my not-running."

'Not-running?' Even better, Black. I can hear his eyes rolling all the way over here!

But Harry did nothing of the sort, only gave him a careful, questioning, horribly guarded look. Way too mature. "You want me to move in with you?"

"Only ... only if you wanted to leave your aunt and uncle," Sirius quickly added. "If you wanted ... I'll completely understand if-"

"Are you mad?" Harry cried incredulously. "Of course I want to leave!"

Sirius narrowed his eyes as Harry babbled on. That was quick. Too quick. He'd have to talk to Remus, see what he thought about Harry's acceptance.

That was the sensible Sirius. The Serious Sirius, pun very much intended.

The REAL Sirius was trying very hard to contain his joy so as not to embarrass his godson any more than necessary. His face cracked into painful smile.

"You're not serious?"

Harry's teeth glinted white in the darkness as he gave a grin of his own. "Do you want me to respond to that?"

It was quiet for a minute or two. Then Harry spoke again, this time his tone halting and uncertain.

"Er - Sirius - d'you think -"

"Shut up, Harry!"

The procession stopped. Everyone turned and stared at the speaker - the petite blonde girl at the back of the line.

"What're you-?" began the Weasley boy.

"Oh, come on!" Harry retorted loudly, ignoring his friend's sputtering confusion. "Don't tell me you want to stay with -"

"Can we move?" the blonde girl insisted. "No one's gonna get freed if we just stand around here."

Harry fell back to walk next to the blonde girl. The brown-haired girl sped up to give them a little privacy. Sirius allowed Snape's head bob up and down as he floated in midair, throwing anxious glances behind him all the while.

"It's his version of dancing," he explained to the brown-haired girl when he noticed her staring at him. She didn't smile; she kept throwing nervous glances towards Harry and the blonde girl, who were arguing in hushed tones.

"Is she usually like that?" he asked.

"No," the girl said, biting her lip. "She's never - well, one time. But that was a couple years ago and ... I'm babbling, aren't I?"

"You're worried about your friend," Sirius said. "Nothing wrong with that."

She didn't say anything, just kept watching the pair as the group made their way out of the tunnel and onto the Hogwarts grounds.

Harry leaned back against a large rock in the Forbidden Forest. He closed his eyes and tried to pretend that he could change what had happened, Pettigrew escaping, the dementors nearly getting Sirius - heck, he wished he could change what had happened when his mum and dad had chosen the wrong man as their Secret Keeper.

But noooo. He wasn't supposed to change time. Even though that's what they had used the Time-Turner for in the first place.

"Harry? Lupin's just gone in," Hermione said.

"What are we supposed to do, let it all happen again?"

"You can't be seen!"

"I won't be!" Harry shot back. "I'll run and get the Invisibility Cloak and bring down the Wolfsbane Potion for Lupin -"

"No, Harry," Hermione whispered back, stroking Buckbeak's feathery neck. "You can't do anything."

"There's Snape," Harry commented dryly. "Too late now. Though I could run out there, he doesn't know I'm in the Shrieking Shack -"

"Harry, he's going to go down to the Shack no matter what. He'll see you."

"Oh."

She reached out, meaning to hold her friend's arm protectively.

"Don't touch me," Harry snapped.

"Sorry," Hermione whispered. Dara was the only one Harry allowed to touch him.

She used to be jealous of Dara. When they were younger. She'd been absolutely smitten with Harry and couldn't understand why he got so upset if anyone made any attempts at a comforting gesture.

Except Dara. Her entire first year, she'd thought Harry and Dara were boyfriend/girlfriend.

But that, of course, was rubbish.

"There we are," Harry said a little while later. "We're coming out now ... and then Lupin'll transform, and Sirius, and Peter'll run away, the dementors will come, we'll all pass out ... and then what? We fly Buckbeak up to Flitwick's off... did you see Peter after he'd transformed and run into the woods?"

"No ..." Hermione said slowly, comprehension dawning on her face.

"Exactly!" Harry cried, jumping up excitedly. Outside the forest, Lupin's cried indicated that he was transforming. "Hermione - we could catch Peter!"

"Bring him to Dumbledore!"

"And no one would know that it hadn't happened the first time!"

"Harry, this is the first time. This is the only time."

"Whatever," Harry said dismissively, not willing to think about the confusing aspects of time travel. He watched Sirius in his dog form wrestle with the werewolf. "Lupin's going to come into the forest at almost the exact same spot as Peter, so we've got to be ready to run as soon as we catch the rat."

"Okay," Hermione agreed, hurrying off in the direction of the group by the base of the Whomping Willow. "Tie Buckbeak up - we'll come back later to get him."

"Right," said Harry, reaching for the rope. "Then we'll go down to the lake so I can see my dad."

"What?"

"Later. Come on!"

Harry tied a hasty knot around the trunk of a tree, then he left the silvery-gray hippogriff in the clearing, and ran - come on, faster, faster! - to the place in the forest where Peter had disappeared.

"Oh no you don't!"

But the people by the Whomping Willow couldn't do anything, Peter'd transformed into a rat and was headed right for the forest - right where Harry and Hermione were ...

They got into position - Harry near the edge of the forest and Hermione waiting about ten feet behind him, just in case he missed Pettigrew the first time -

Not likely. Definitely not happening, Harry thought, strengthening his resolve.

There was a rustling in the bushes behind Harry - he jerked around and noticed too late the scampering footsteps as Peter scurried past him ...

He ran to Hermione, scouring the ground for any sign of the rat ...

As he watched, Hermione lunged and shrieked. She twisted around on the forest floor - but she'd lost him as well ...

"Harry, we've got to go," she whispered. "Now! The werewolf!"

"You go," Harry said tensely. "He's somewhere close, I know he is - I'm going to find him, even if it takes a million years ..."

There was a small, frightened squeak from somewhere below him - he fell to the ground, threw himself as far as he could, and caught - - - and caught a tail!

"I ... I got him," Harry said, hardly daring to believe it. "I got him!"

Harry, Hermione, and Sirius landed on the topmost tower of the castle. They slid off Buckbeak, and Harry turned, grinning broadly, to face his godfather.

"I did it!" he said happily, grinning like mad. "I caught him!"

"No," Sirius breathed. "You got him?"

"I got him."

Sirius pulled Harry into a brief, one-armed hug. "Nice one! Now what? We take him to Dumbledore?"

"Yes," Hermione said. "But we can't reveal him until we've got a lot of witnesses there, just to be safe. And it's be best if you could stay hidden, Mr. Bla ... Sirius, because if Fudge sees you, he'll kill you right away."

"I'm a bit more worried about Snivellus, to tell the truth," Sirius said, laughing a little. The moonlight washed over his face, making it appear more waxy and gaunt than it already was.

"Who?"

"Snape. I'll save that little tale for a bedtime story, all right, kid?"

"Fine by me," Harry replied with a grin. Fine by me.