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The Hogwarts express barreled along the tracks, carrying many excited students towards their second home in Scotland. Chatter could be head all along the magnificent machine as the students, young and old alike, discussed their summers and what they were looking forward to in the coming year.

In one particular cabin, two people sat in silence, as each was busy reading their respective forms of literature. One of them, a young woman, was reading a novel with a passive expression on her face. The other, a young man, was flipping open the newspaper that he had just bought from the trolley.

"Vanessa," the young man began as he peered over the top of the paper, "I'm not a forgetful person, am I?"

The young woman looked op from her own novel, face expressionless as before, "Not really, Harry. You forgot our anniversary once, but you were also in a coma at the time. You tend to forget where you put your keys, but everyone does that. Why?" the young woman, Vanessa asked in return.

The young man, Harry, flipped over the newspaper to reveal the image of an older gentleman that was looking quite ragged, his hair was a mess and he was yelling quite profusely in the magically moving image. The handcuffs on his wrists indicated that he was in the process of being incarcerated.

"Ah… your godfather I take it?" she asked with a barely visible smirk.

"Hmm… do you think he will mind that I forgot about him?" Harry replied with an equal smirk.

"No, but Dumbledore might be a little miffed that we forgot in all the chaos," with a shrug the girl raised her book again and resumed her reading, "Of course you will be rectifying your mistake as soon as we arrive, won't you?"

Harry nodded as he too resumed reading his material with the words, "Obviously. Do you think Weasley will mind his rat vanishing?"

"Transfigure a rock or something, make him think that nasty little critter finally died," Vanessa replied with a bored tone.

"Right, good idea," Harry stated with a strong nod before they both fell silent once again, not to speak another word until they arrived at Hogsmeade station and departed the train.

It very much looked like Harry and Vanessa would be getting an entire cart to themselves, but right at the last moment the door opened and a crop of familiar platinum blonde hair came into view. Luna Lovegood climbed into the cart and took a seat next to Vanessa, giving the older girl a brilliant smile.

"Luna, had a good summer?" Vanessa asked with her own smile.

"Yeah, mummy and daddy took me on a trip around the world, they thought it would help after… you know," the young blonde replied with a sullen expression at the memory.

"It wasn't your fault, Luna," Harry stated from across the two girls without looking up from his book, "The beast has been dealt with and the year is going to be quiet, hopefully."

"Haven't you seen the paper, Harry?" Luna asked curiously, only to flush a little as Harry thumbed the one lying right next to him, "So you know that Sirius Black escaped, he'll come for you."

"I highly doubt it, Luna. Even if he wanted to come after me, he only escaped a week ago. He will need time to regroup and regain some strength, I imagine that twelve years in Azkaban will take its toll on you," Harry replied calmly while continuing his reading

"Vanessa, say something to him!" Luna yelled at her older friend.

"He's right, Luna. Don't worry about it, even if he did show up, then we have Dumbledore to stop him. And it is not like Harry isn't capable of taking care of himself either, you saw what he did to the basilisk," Vanessa tried to calm her young friend by petting the small blonde's hair.

"But you were helping, and what if Dumbledore isn't around?" Luna questioned, her hand snapping upwards and grabbing onto Vanessa's when she tried to remove her hand, "I didn't say stop."

"If it becomes a problem, I can promise you that we will go straight to a teacher," the older witch said with a calming smile.

"No you won't/No we won't," Luna and Harry said together, both glanced at each other before grinning widely.

"Harry, stop corrupting her," Vanessa admonished.

"I haven't done anything, she was like this when I got to her," Harry replied with a raised hand.

"He's right, he just made it worse," the small blonde supplied.

"Hey!"

-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-

The Great Hall was buzzing as the new first years had just finished being sorted and everyone was now enjoying the delicious food. Harry was being quiet for most of the dinner, preferring his own thoughts for the duration of the meal.

Capturing Pettigrew would make great headway into finally setting everything else into place. They could prove that Sirius wasn't the one that betrayed his parents, and they could finally start healing the older wizard of the damage that Azkaban undoubtedly did to him. He was contemplating how much power he needed to transfigure a stone into a dead rat for long enough so Weasley would find it, grieve over it, and then finally bury the damn thing.

'Best pour enough power into it to make it last a week,' Harry quietly agreed with himself as he looked up towards the teachers table and shared a look and nod with Dumbledore.

Giving Vanessa a quick hand sign and getting a nod in return, he returned to his dinner and kept his sights on the new first years. Not anyone of immediate note, but some of them might be trouble later on, at least if they don't put a stopper to it before it gets that far with some of them.

The rest of dinner went by quietly. Harry and Vanessa headed straight for Dumbledore's office once they had informed Professor Sprout. The password for the day, liquorish pipes, was spoken and the gargoyle moved aside as usual. A polite knock on the door, quickly followed by an invitation to enter, saw the two young magicals sitting in their usual comfortable chairs and looking at their Headmaster.

"Before you say anything, Albus," Harry started with a raised hand, "I realize that we forgot about Sirius in all the chaos, I fully intent to rectify that mistake as soon as possible. I just need a way into the Gryffindor common room, I don't think the Fat Lady will appreciate that I know the password for the Gryffindor common room."

Albus stared at his two young friends and get a chuckle, "I seem to be worrying needlessly these days. I'm happy that you remembered Sirius, and with the Horcruxes dealt with, we only have to wait and see if we can find any trace of Voldemort, if not… well, I'd say we have some calm lives ahead of us."

"Peaceful? I've forgotten the word," Harry deadpanned.

"Well then I quite think you shall be reacquainted with the word soon enough. As for your trouble getting into the Gryffindor Common Room, may I suggest that I go in your stead? I shall simply say to dear Minerva that I received an anonymous tip that there might be some less than savory items among the students belongings. That should allow me to get to Peter without arousing suspicion."

"That would probably be best," Vanessa agreed with a nod, "It would fit just perfectly that Harry got busted for breaking into the common room and then have to make up some excuse."

"I'm not that bad…" Harry grumbled.

"Harry, sweetie, yes you are." Vanessa deadpanned.

"But…"

"Portugal."

"Oh come on that was…"

"Indonesia."

"I'll give you that one, but…"

"Denmark."

"Low blow… but I get your point."

Albus had watched the little byplay and privately wondered what could have transpired in those three locations for them to be applicable to this situation. However, the last one did intrigue him a little.

"You went to Denmark in the past?" The aged headmaster asked.

Vanessa turned her head and gave a slow nod, ignoring the fact that Harry suddenly looked a little pale.

"Yeah, we had a contract there. Not anyone magical. Why do you ask?"

Dumbledore stroked his beard in amusement, "I simply wondered if you had run across the Danish magical community. They have the most interesting way of hiding themselves, though I'm not sure if I can agree with their… habits."

Harry and Vanessa looked at each other for a moment before turning towards their headmaster and asking together, "Christiania?"

"Yes, yes… interesting cover story, wouldn't you agree?"

"Albus… I think you misunderstood something," Vanessa said with a humorless chuckle.

The next hour went by with a rather uncomfortable description from both youths as they explained that the small area in the Danish Capital wasn't actually a wizarding community. It seemed to have completely passed over the aged Dumbledore's head that when they referred to him as a Wizard… it might not have been entirely based on his attire alone.

-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-

It did indeed not take long for the Hogwarts rumor mill to spin back into gear. Barely a week had passed since Harry and Vanessa spoke with Dumbledore about Pettigrew before the Headmaster acted. In the cover of night he had passed by the painting, the fat lady easily stepping aside, and found his way to the third year boys dorms. He spied the rat in question, sleeping soundly on Ronald Weasley's belly. A silent stunner flew through the room and the rat went completely still.

With a nod of satisfaction, the aged Headmaster conjured a rock and transfigured it to look like the transformed Pettigrew. The youngest Weasley brother would wake up tomorrow and think his pet ret to simply have died of age. Rat Pettigrew was placed inside a small box, charmed to contain him in his animagus form.

So it came to pass, under the dead of night, that Albus Dumbledore flooed Amelia Bones and asked her to step through, citing that he finally had the proof he had been searching for, for all these years. Amelia hadn't been happy to be woken in the middle of the night, especially when she had barely gotten home and fallen asleep from her office. She had woken up as soon as the transformed Pettigrew was placed in front of her and with a simple spell was reverted back to his repulsive human self.

On reaction, the head of the DMLE stunned the man and waited for a few seconds before turning towards the old Headmaster with a demanding expression.

"Albus, explain," was the simple demand as she began binding the unconscious Pettigrew.

"It would seem that Peter has been hiding as the Weasley's pet rat, Scabbers, for the better part of the dacade, my dear Amelia. However it would seem he became sloppy these last few years, one of the paintings caught him sneaking into the prefects bath on the fifth floor. Once I had been alerted, I found him using a location spell for animaguses," Dumbledore explained in a calm tone as he collected two glasses from the cabinet and poured, now slightly pale, Amelia a generous fill of whiskey.

"Cheers," Albus intoned as he downed his own in a single gulp.

"Cheers…" Amelia mumbled weakly as she took the first of many sips from her glass. She stood in silence for a while, staring at the unconscious Pettigrew.

Albus had a hard time hiding the amusement from his face when he saw Amelia's own light up in understanding. "If Pettigrew is here… merlin…"

"It would seem, Amelia, that we wouldn't be remiss to contact dear Sirius. I do think a new trial will have to be arranged for our dear Mr. Black," Dumbledore said with a gentle smile.

"I'll see to it in the morning, I trust you can contact Black?"

"I shall pull some strings, with a little luck he has returned to his old home."

"Floo as soon as you have him, the sooner we can get this over with, the better."

"I shall do so, Amelia. Until then."

Amelia vanished into the Floo with a bound and unconscious Pettigrew floating in front of her. Dumbledore kept his gaze firmly at the fireplace until he was sure the fire had completely extinguished. With a rapid swish and flick of his wand, paper, ink and quill found its way to his desk and moments later a letter was written and prepared to be sent. Fawkes flamed away, intent on carrying the letter to the recipient. Now all Dumbledore could do was wait for Sirius to get the letter.

It was a tough few days following the letter. Harry and Vanessa where more on edge than usual, and Dumbledore's constant reassurance that everything was well in hand didn't calm them. Remus had tried to approach Harry a few times, but the young wizard had not been in the mood to listen to the Werewolf. There was a distrust there that Dumbledore didn't understand, but he didn't wish to push his young friend. If Harry distrusted Remus, then surely there was a reason. Finally Dumbledore felt someone cross the wards, a very familiar magical aura. Within moments a shaggy black dog was flamed into his office courtesy of Fawkes.

"Sirius, it's good to see you again, I hope you have been well," Dumbledore said as soon as the transformed Sirius found his footing.

The shaggy dog slowly transformed into the visage of Sirius Black, wearing a large smile and a hopeful glint in his eye.

"It has been a while, Albus. So you have him, you caught the rat?" Sirius questioned rapidly.

A smiling Dumbledore nodded, "Indeed we do. He's with Amelia right now, locked up in a ministry holding cell. Once you meet with her, we can finally get to clearing your name."

"Bugger my name, as long as that rat pays for what he did!" Sirius growled as his eyes seemed to haze over for a moment, when they regained focus the rage was gone and worry had taken its place, "How's Harry? How's my godson?"

Dumbledore smile a little wider as he gestured to the door behind him, "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

Sirius turned around just as the door opened. He barely registered the unruly mob of black hair and roaring emerald eyes before he was tackled to the ground, a scream of "Sirius!" following close by. The old Marauder could do nothing but laugh as he held his godson for the first time in twelve years.

"Merlin, look at you, Prongslet. You look just like James… except your eyes, those are defin…"

"My mothers, I know," the young wizard grinned at his godfather as they both stood up.

"How have you been, Harry?" Sirius asked with a worried look as he drunk in the appearance of his young godson.

"It's been… good. I live with my aunt and uncle and trying to stay out of trouble," Harry explained with a smile.

"Petunia… that's good," Sirius eyes softened as he shoulders fell a little. Looking up, he caught sight of the young girl standing in the door with a small on her face and a knowing glint in her eye. "My, my, my. Who's this pretty young lass? Have you really grown so much Prongslet?"

Harry just grinned in reply as he walked over and grabbed Vanessa's head and guided her over in front of Sirius. "Sirius, this is Vanessa, my fiancé."

Sirius chocked on air as the words registered and his eyes bulged, "Your what?" he barked between coughs, "Blimy pup, you work faster than your old man did."

"Hello sir, it's good to finally meet the infamous Sirius Black." Vanessa greeted with a short bow followed by a hand shake.

"The pleasure's all mine, Lady Vanessa. How's my godson been treating you?" The old Marauder was grinning up a storm.

"He's a work in progress," she replied with a shrug, prompting a roar of laughter from the Marauder.

"Oh pup, you are going to have your hands full with this one!" Sirius yelled jovially.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Harry replied with a glance towards Vanessa.

A small cough brought their attention towards the fourth person in the room. Dumbledore was smiling broader and truer than any of the three magicals had seen before.

"It's of course touching to witness such a reunion, but may I suggest we call Amelia and get the ball rolling, so to speak?" the aged Headmaster proposed with a wave towards the Floo.

"Of course, Albus." Sirius replied with a nod, "Wouldn't want to leave the lovely Amelia waiting."

"Down boy," Harry muttered as he elbowed his godfather.

With a quick pinch of Floo powder, Dumbledore had Amelia on the other end and was informing her that Sirius was in his office, ready to deliver his statement as well as go with her to the Wizengamot to help prove his innocence. A few minutes later, Amelia Bones stepped through the fireplace and only gave herself a moment to orient herself after the slightly shaky floo ride. Sirius was smiling broadly when he saw her, they hadn't seen each other since a few days before that night that sent him to Azkaban.

When Amelia found the eyes of Sirius, it didn't take her more than five steps to close the distance between them. Sirius was still grinning like the moron she knew he was, he had probably also seen the slap coming which was why he was still smiling after she had hit him. Though the kiss she pulled him into afterwards… that was a surprise.