When Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione left the hospital wing at noon the next day, it was to find an almost deserted castle. The sweltering, heat and the end of the exams meant that everyone was taking full advantage of another Hogsmeade visit. Neither Ron nor Hermione felt like going, however, so they, Y/n and Harry wandered onto the grounds, still talking about the extraordinary events of the previous night and wondering where Sirius and Buckbeak were now. Sitting near the lake, watching the giant squid waving its tentacles lazily above the water. Harry lost the thread of the conversation as he looked across to the opposite bank. The stag had galloped toward him from there just last night.
A shadow fell across them and they looked up to see a very bleary-eyed Hagrid, mopping his sweaty face with one of his tablecloth-sized handkerchiefs and beaming down at them.
"Know I shouldn' feel happy, after wha' happened las' night," he said. "I mean, Black escapin' again, an, everythin'... but guess what?"
"What?" they said, pretending to look curious.
"Beaky! He escaped! He's free! Bin celebratin' all night!"
"That's wonderful!" said Hermione, giving Ron a reproving look because he looked as though he was close to laughing.
"Yeah...can't've tied him up properly." said Hagrid, gazing happily out over the grounds. "I was worried this mornin', mind...thought he mighta met Professor Lupin on the grounds, but Lupin says he never ate anythin' las' night..."
"What?" said Y/n quickly.
"Blimey, haven' yeh heard?" said Hagrid, his smile fading a little. He lowered his voice, even though there was nobody in sight. "Er... Snape told all the Slytherins this mornin'. Thought everyone'd know by now. Professor Lupin's a werewolf, see. An' he was loose on the grounds las' night...He's packin' now, o' course."
"He is packing?" said Y/n, alarmed and annoyed. "Why?"
"Leavin', isn' he?" said Hagrid, looking surprised that Y/n had to ask. "Resigned firs' thing this mornin'. Says he can't risk it happenin again."
Y/n was the first to his feet. "I will not allow this!"
"But if he's resigned..." Hermione tried to calm him down.
"Doesn't sound like there's anything we can do..." Ron added.
"This is ridiculous, I am going to try and talk some sense into him." Y/n said turning around and walking away."
"I'm coming with you." Harry said as he paced alongside Y/n.
Y/n did not slow down nor did he say anything. He simply nodded his head.
Lupin's office door was open. He had already packed most of his things. The Grindylow's empty tank stood next to his battered old suitcase, which was open and nearly full. Lupin was bending over something on his desk and looked up only when Y/n knocked on the door.
"I saw you both coming." said Lupin, smiling. He pointed to the parchment he had been poring over. It was the Marauder's Map.
"We've just seen Hagrid." said Harry. "And he said you'd resigned. It's not true, is it?"
"I'm afraid it is." said Lupin. He started opening his desk drawers and taking out the contents.
"But Professor you cannot..." said Y/n sounding devastated to hear it was true.
"The Ministry of Magic don't think you were helping Sirius, do they?" Harry asked him.
Lupin crossed to the door and closed it behind Y/n and Harry. "No. Professor Dumbledore managed to convince Fudge that I was trying to save your lives. " He sighed. "That was the final straw for Severus. I think the loss of the Order of Merlin hit him hard. So he... er...accidentally let slip that I am a werewolf this morning at breakfast."
"You cannot leave because of such a thing sir. Professor Snape is a bitter man who cannot see past childish grudges." said Y/n.
Lupin just smiled wryly. "This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving from parents...They will not want a werewolf teaching their children, Y/n. And after last night, I see their point. I could have bitten any of you...That must never happen again. "
"But Professor... While it has only been a year, you are very easily the best teacher I have ever had. Your loss at this school would be devastating not only to me but to several other students as well." Y/n tried to convince him.
Lupin shook his head and didn't speak. He carried on emptying his drawers. Then, while Y/n and Harry were trying to think of a good argument to make him stay, Lupin said. "From what the headmaster told me this morning, you two saved a lot of lives last night. Harry, Y/n. If I'm proud of anything I've done this year, it's how much you've both learned... Tell me about your Patronuses."
"How d'you know about that?" said Harry, distracted.
"What else could have driven the Dementors back?" Lupin said reasonably.
"You already know mine is a cat sir, It sat upon the back of Harry's own as they worked in tandem to save us." Y/n said.
"Fascinating." Lupin said. "And your patronus Harry?"
Harry told Lupin what had happened. When he'd finished, Lupin was smiling again. "Yes, your father was always a stag when he transformed." he said. "You guessed right... that's why we called him Prongs."
Lupin threw his last few books into his case, closed the desk drawers, and turned to look at Harry. "Here...I brought this from the Shrieking Shack last night." he said, handing Harry back the Invisibility Cloak. "And..." He hesitated, then held out the Marauder's Map too. "I am no longer your teacher, so I don't feel guilty about giving you back this as well. It's no use to me, and I daresay you, Y/n, Ron and Hermione will find uses for it."
Harry took the map and grinned. "You told me Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs would've wanted to lure me out of school...you said they'd have thought it was funny."
"And so we would have." said Lupin, now reaching down to close his case. "I have no hesitation in saying that James would have been highly disappointed if his son had never found any of the secret passages out of the castle." Harry just smiled.
Lupin turned his head to look at Y/n now who still looked extremely disappointed by what was happening. Lupin opened a drawer in his desk now and he took out a stack of papers. "Here Y/n, These are some of my notes from the classes I taught above your year. I am sure that with time, and your talents, you will be able to learn something useful from them."
Y/n took the papers and looked down at them as if he had been given the greatest gift. "...Thank you Professor...I truly am going to miss you..."
There was a knock on the door. Harry hastily stuffed the Marauder's Map and the Invisibility Cloak into his pocket.
It was Professor Dumbledore. He didn't look surprised to see either Y/n or Harry there. "Your carriage is at the gates, Remus," he said.
"Thank You, Headmaster." Lupin picked up his old suitcase and the empty Grindylow tank. "Well... goodbye, Harry, Y/n." he said, smiling. "It has been a real pleasure teaching you both. I feel sure we'll meet again sometime. Headmaster, there is no need to see me to the gates, I can manage..."
Y/n had the impression that Lupin wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
"Goodbye, then, Remus." said Dumbledore soberly. Lupin shifted the Grindylow tank slightly so that he and Dumbledore could shake hands. Then, with a final nod to both Y/n and Harry and a swift smile, Lupin left the office.
Y/n began to vacantly stare out the window now as Harry sat down in his vacated chair, staring glumly at the floor. He heard the door close and looked up.
Dumbledore was still there. "Why are you both so miserable?" he said quietly. "You should be very proud of yourselves after last night."
"It didn't make any difference." said Harry bitterly. "Pettigrew got away..."
"And we lost the best teacher we have ever had in the progress." Y/n added.
"Didn't make any difference?" said Dumbledore quietly, "It made all the difference in the world. You both helped uncover the truth. You saved an innocent man from a terrible fate."
Y/n looked to Harry who seemed to have remembered something.
"Professor Dumbledore..." Harry began. "Yesterday, when I was having my Divination exam, Professor Trelawney went very... very strange."
"Indeed?" said Dumbledore. "Stranger than usual, you mean?"
"Yes..." Harry nodded. "Her voice went all deep and her eyes rolled and at first she said something about blue flames and two becoming one?" Harry said.
"Is that so?" Dumbledore asked and Y/n was certain he could see him glance in his direction for a moment before taking out a small glass phial.
"Now listen to me Harry." Dumbledore began as he then took out his wand. "I want you to try to remember exactly what Professor Trelawney said, can you do that?"
"I can try sir." Harry said feeling unsure.
"That is all that I ask." Dumbledore smiled. "Now, close your eyes and remember."
Harry did as he was told and Y/n watched as Dumbledore pointed his wand at Harry's temple and extracted a long silver strand of liquid that he placed into the phial now before closing it with a stopper.
Y/n was about to ask what Dumbledore was doing but Harry opened his eyes.
"Sir, Professor Trelawney also said Voldemort's servant was going to set out to return to him before midnight..." Harry said now. "She said the servant would help him come back to power." Harry stared up at Dumbledore. "And then she sort of became normal again, and she couldn't remember anything she'd said. Was it... was she making a real prediction?"
Dumbledore looked mildly impressed. "Do you know, Harry, I think she might have been." he said thoughtfully. "Who'd have thought it? That brings her total of real predictions up to three. I should offer her a pay raise..."
"But..." Harry looked at him, aghast. How could Dumbledore take this so calmly?
"But...I stopped Sirius and Professor Lupin from killing Pettigrew! That makes it my fault if Voldemort comes back!"
"It does not." said Dumbledore quietly. "Hasn't your experience with the Time-Turner taught you anything, Harry? The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed. Professor Trelawney, bless her, is living proof of that...You did a very noble thing, in saving Pettigrew's life. "
"But if he helps Voldemort back to power..." Harry said now.
"Pettigrew owes his life to you. You have sent Voldemort a deputy who is in your debt. When one wizard saves another wizard's life, it creates a certain bond between them...and I'm much mistaken if Voldemort wants his servant in the debt of Harry Potter."
"I don't want a connection with Pettigrew!" said Harry disgusted. "He betrayed my parents!"
"This is magic at its deepest, its most impenetrable, Harry. But trust me... the time may come when you will be very glad you saved Pettigrew's life."
Harry couldn't imagine when that would be.
Dumbledore looked as though he knew what Harry was thinking. "I knew your father very well, both at Hogwarts and later, Harry." he said gently. "He would have saved Pettigrew too, I am sure of it."
Harry looked up at him. Dumbledore wouldn't laugh.. he could tell Dumbledore...
"I thought it was my dad who'd conjured my Patronus. I mean, when I saw myself across the lake ...I thought I was seeing him."
"An easy mistake to make." said Dumbledore softly. "I expect you'll tire of hearing it, but you do look extraordinarily like James. Except for the eyes...you have your mother's eyes."
Harry shook his head. "It was stupid, thinking it was him," he muttered. "I mean, I knew he was dead."
"You think the dead we loved ever truly leave us? You think that we don't recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble? Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself most plainly when you have need of him. How else could you produce that particular Patronus? Prongs rode again last night."
It took a moment for Harry to realize what Dumbledore had said.
"Last night Sirius told me all about how they became Animagi." said Dumbledore, smiling and Y/n turned his head from the window now. "An extraordinary achievement...not least, keeping it quiet from me. And then I remembered the most unusual form your Patronus took, when it charged Mr. Malfoy down at your Quidditch match against Ravenclaw. You know, Harry, in a way, you did see your father last night. You found him inside yourself."
And Dumbledore left the office, leaving Y/n and Harry who looked at one another very confused.
Nobody at Hogwarts now knew the truth of what had happened the night that Sirius, Buckbeak, and Pettigrew had vanished except Harry, Ron, Y/n, Hermione, and Professor Dumbledore. As the end of term approached, Y/n heard many different theories about what had really happened, but none of them came close to the truth.
Malfoy was furious about Buckbeak. He was convinced that Hagrid had found a way of smuggling the Hippogriff to safety, and seemed outraged that he and his father had been outwitted by a gamekeeper.
Percy Weasley, meanwhile, had much to say on the subject of Sirius's escape. "If I manage to get into the Ministry, I'll have a lot of proposals to make about Magical Law Enforcement!" he told the only person who would listen, his girlfriend, Penelope.
Though the weather was perfect, though the atmosphere was so cheerful, though they knew they had achieved the near impossible in helping Sirius to freedom, Y/n and Harry had never approached the end of a school year in worse spirits.
Y/n certainly wasn't the only one who was sorry to see Professor Lupin go. The whole of Y/n's Defense Against the Dark Arts class was miserable about his resignation.
"Wonder what they'll give us next year?" said Seamus Finnigan gloomily.
"Maybe a vampire." suggested Dean Thomas hopefully.
Something else had been weighing on Harry's mind though. He couldn't help thinking a lot about Professor Trelawney's prediction. He kept wondering about the two becoming one and where Pettigrew was now, whether he had sought sanctuary with Voldemort yet. But the thing that was lowering Harry's spirits most of all was the prospect of returning to the Dursleys. For maybe half an hour, a glorious half hour, he had believed he would be living with Sirius from now on...his parents' best friend. It would have been the next best thing to having his own father back. And while no news of Sirius was definitely good news, because it meant he had successfully gone into hiding, Harry couldn't help feeling miserable when he thought of the home he might have had, and the fact that it was now impossible.
The exam results came out on the last day of term. Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione had passed every subject. Harry was amazed that he had got through Potions. He had a shrewd suspicion that Dumbledore might have stepped in to stop Snape failing him on purpose. Snape's behavior toward Harry over the past week had been quite alarming. Harry wouldn't have thought it possible that Snape's dislike for him could increase, but it certainly had. A muscle twitched unpleasantly at the corner of Snape's thin mouth every time he looked at Harry, and he was constantly flexing his fingers, as though itching to place them around Harry's throat.
Y/n looked over his own grades and saw that he had scored the highest in Defence Against The Dark Arts, Charms and Transfiguration. The rest of his grades were well off as he only finished runner up to Hermione in everything else including Arithmancy much to his surprise given how little time had to prepare for it.
Percy had got his top-grade N. E. W. T. s; Fred and George had scraped a handful of O. W. L. s each. Gryffindor House, meanwhile, largely thanks to their spectacular performance in the Quidditch Cup, had won the House championship for the third year running. This meant that the end of term feast took place amid decorations of scarlet and gold, and that the Gryffindor table was the noisiest of the lot, as everybody celebrated. Even Y/n managed to cheer up as he ate, drank, talked, and laughed with the rest.
As the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station the next morning, Hermione gave Harry, Y/n and Ron some surprising news. "I went to see Professor McGonagall this morning, just before breakfast. I've decided to drop Muggle Studies."
"But you passed your exam with three hundred and twenty percent!" said Ron.
"I know." sighed Hermione. "But I can't stand another year like this one. That Time-Turner, it was driving me mad. I've handed it in. Without Muggle Studies and Divination, I'll be able to have a normal schedule again."
"I cannot deny that I am glad to hear that. Watching you work yourself into such an exhausted state was not something I enjoyed watching." Y/n admitted to her.
"I still can't believe you didn't tell us about it, either of you..." said Ron grumpily looking at the two. "We're supposed to be your friends."
"I was made to promise I would not utter a word Ron. I am sorry." Y/n told him.
"I also promised I wouldn't tell anyone." said Hermione severely. She looked around at Harry, who was watching Hogwarts disappear from view behind a mountain. Two whole months before he'd see it again. "Oh, cheer up, Harry!" said Hermione sadly.
"I'm okay." said Harry quickly. "Just thinking about the holidays..."
"Yeah, I've been thinking about them too." said Ron. "Harry, you've got to come and stay with us. I'll fix it up with Mum and Dad, then I'll call you. I know how to use a fellytone now."
"A telephone, Ron." said Hermione. "Honestly, you should take Muggle Studies next year..."
Ron just ignored her. "It's the Quidditch World Cup this summer! How about it, Harry? Come and stay, and we'll go and see it! Dad can usually get tickets from work. You should come too Y/n!"
"I have never been to the World Cup before but I have heard it is most exciting. If you really are to organise such a thing Ron you must send me an owl so I can try to get a ticket of my own." Y/n nodded.
Feeling considerably more cheerful, Harry joined Ron. Y/n and Hermione in several games of Exploding Snap.
When lunch time arrived the witch with the tea cart arrived, Y/n bought everyone a very large lunch, though nothing with chocolate in it.
It was late in the afternoon when things quietened down. Y/n was reading through one of the parchments he had received from Lupin when he felt Hermione suddenly, peering over his shoulder.
"Harry, What's that thing outside your window?" She asked and the four of them turned to look outside.
Something very small and gray was bobbing in and out of sight beyond the glass. Harry stood up for a better look and saw that it was a tiny owl, carrying a letter that was much too big for it. The owl was so small, in fact, that it kept tumbling over in the air, buffeted this way and that in the train's slipstream. Harry quickly pulled down the window, stretched out his arm, and caught it. It felt like a very fluffy Snitch. He brought it carefully inside.
The owl dropped its letter onto Harry's seat and began zooming around their compartment, apparently very pleased with itself for accomplishing its task. Hedwig clicked her beak with a sort of dignified disapproval. Both Noctis and Crookshanks sat up in their seats, following the owl with great yellow eyes.
Ron, noticing this, snatched the owl safely out of harm's way.
Harry picked up the letter. It was addressed to him. He ripped open the letter, and shouted. "It's from Sirius!"
"What?" said Ron, Y/n and Hermione excitedly. "Read it aloud!"
"Dear Harry,
I hope this finds you before you reach your aunt and uncle. I don't know whether they're used to owl post.
Buckbeak and I are in hiding. I won't tell you where, in case this owl falls into the wrong hands. I have some doubt about his reliability, but he is the best I could find, and he did seem eager for the job.
I believe the Dementors are still searching for me, but they haven't a hope of finding me here. I am planning to allow some Muggles to glimpse me soon, a long way from Hogwarts, so that the security on the castle will be lifted.
There is something I never got around to telling you during our brief meeting. It was I who sent you the Firebolt..."
"Ha!" said Hermione triumphantly. "See! I told you it was from him!"
"Yes, but he hadn't jinxed it, had he?" said Ron. "Ouch!" The tiny owl now hooting happily in his hand, had nibbled one of his fingers in what it seemed to think was an affectionate way.
Harry continued to read. "Crookshanks took the order to the Owl Office for me. I used your name but told them to take the gold from my own Gringotts vault. Please consider it as thirteen birthdays' worth of presents from your godfather.
I would also like to apologize for the fright I think I gave you that night last year when you left your uncle's house. I had only hoped to get a glimpse of you before starting my journey north, but I think the sight of me alarmed you.
I am enclosing two things One is a letter for Y/n and the other is something else for you, which I think will make your next year at Hogwarts more enjoyable.
If ever you need me, send word. Your owl will find me.
I'll write again soon.
Sirius."
"Something for Y/n?" Ron asked.
Harry looked eagerly inside the envelope. Inside was a smaller envelope with Y/n's name upon it. Harry took it out and handed it him before looking back in his own envelope. Inside there was another piece of parchment in there. He read it through quickly and felt suddenly as warm and contented as though he'd swallowed a bottle of hot butterbeer in one gulp.
"I, Sirius Black, Harry Potter's godfather, hereby give him permission to visit Hogsmeade on weekends."
"Wicked..." Ron said.
"That'll be good enough for Dumbledore!" said Harry happily. He looked back at Sirius's letter. "Hang on, there's a PS...I thought your friend Ron might like to keep this owl, as it's my fault he no longer has a rat."
Ron's eyes widened. The minute owl was still hooting excitedly. "Keep him?" he said uncertainly. He looked closely at the owl for a moment, then, to Harry, Y/n and Hermione's great surprise, he held him out for Crookshanks to sniff.
"What do you reckon?" Ron asked the cat. "Definitely an owl?"
Crookshanks purred.
"That's good enough for me." said Ron happily. "He's mine."
Y/n looked down at the small letter in his hands now and he opened it before taking out a small piece of parchment and beginning to read it.
'Dear Y/n,
I said that if I was free I would consider you're request. Given everything that you have done for me, and the fact I tried to kill you... I can only keep my word. Written below is a list of items you will need, as well as instructions you will need to follow.
I should stress once again that this is a dangerous process and is not to be taken lightly...However if you go through with it I wish you all the best.
Take care of Harry for me and thank you for all you have done.
Sirius.'
Written below was everything Y/n needed to learn to become an Animagi...
"What did Sirius write to you about?" Hermione asked him curiously but Y/n folded up the letter before she could take a look at it.
"He just asked me to look out for Harry." Y/n told her as he put the letter away.
Hermione just looked at Y/n uncertain if she could take his words at face value.
Harry read and reread the letter from Sirius all the way back into King's Cross station. It was still clutched tightly in his hand as he, Ron, Y/n and Hermione stepped back through the barrier of platform nine and three-quarters.
Harry spotted Uncle Vernon at once. He was standing a good distance from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, eyeing them suspiciously, and when Mrs. Weasley hugged Harry in greeting, his worst suspicions about them seemed confirmed.
"I'll call about the World Cup!" Ron yelled after Harry as Harry bid him and Hermione good-bye, then wheeled the trolley bearing his trunk and Hedwig's cage toward Uncle Vernon, who greeted him in his usual fashion.
"What's that?" he snarled, staring at the envelope Harry was still clutching in his hand. "If it's another form for me to sign, you've got another..."
"It's not." said Harry cheerfully. "It's a letter from my godfather. "
"Godfather?" sputtered Uncle Vernon. "You haven't got a godfather!"
"Yes, I have," said Harry brightly. "He was my mum and dad's best friend. He's a convicted murderer, but he's broken out of wizard prison and he's on the run. He likes to keep in touch with me, though...keep up with my news...check if I'm happy..."
And, grinning broadly at the look of horror on Uncle Vernon's face, Harry set off toward the station exit, Hedwig rattling along in front of him, for what looked like a much better summer than the last.