AN: First fic in the series is "The Stinging Habits of the Western Honey Bee" (story ID:6903136)

In the end it all came down to a coincidence. It had merely been coincidence that Remus had been in Filius's office with him when Harry walked in. Granted, all things told it wasn't an especially unlikely coincidence, but there you were.

"Sorry," Harry said, looking ready to slip right back out the door again. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

"Nonsense," Filius said. "Come in, come in. Professor Lupin and I were just comparing notes."

More accurately, Remus was picking Filius brain, as he had with most all of the professors. Remus had some experience with tutoring, both informally back when he had been in school, and as one of the odd jobs he had picked up when he could, but teaching was an entirely different thing, and he wanted to do the best he possibly could at it. This position at Hogwarts – a steady, long-term position where they knew and accepted his condition and where he got to be close to Harry – was the fifth best thing that had ever happened to Remus, right after being asked to take Harry in - regardless of how the latter situation had ended up working out. He would not mess this up.

Remus offered Harry a smile. "Hello. How's your arm feeling?"

"It's good," Harry said, waving the arm about a bit. "Thanks for, er… well, thanks."

"You're welcome," Remus said, a glint of amusement in his eyes showing he knew exactly what he was being thanked for. It had been Remus's intervention, pointing out that really healing students was Madam Pomfrey's responsibility and it was a bit lacking in professional courtesy for Gilderoy to try to take that over, that had saved Harry's arm from who knew what fate. Remus also suspected it was only his timely suggestion that Severus should see to getting Harry to the hospital wing that saved Gilderoy from being very thoroughly cursed when he proclaimed Remus right, because if he went around taking over every responsibility he was capable of it would leave the rest of the staff with nothing to do.

"Have they figured out what was wrong with that Bludger?" Remus asked.

"Yeah. It's, er… it's kind of a long story, but it shouldn't happen anymore," Harry said. Remus hummed in acknowledgment. He certainly wanted to hear the story, however long it might be, but he supposed it would keep for the moment.

"Was there something you needed, Mr. Potter?" Filius asked.

"Yes, sir," said Harry. "You see, Ron Weasley's rat is missing-"

"Still?" Remus interjected. He had been there last week when Scabbers had originally gone missing. After the staff discussion as to what could have possibly Petrified Mrs. Norris and what ought to be done about it – a discussion that unfortunately had not gone much of anywhere – Remus had rushed immediately to the Gryffindor common room. He was pushed on partially by his own need to check on Harry more thoroughly after the attack and partially by Severus's glare. Severus would have undoubtedly preferred to check on Harry personally, but Remus's presence in Gryffindor was less likely to cause a stir, even if Severus was now Harry's guardian. Scabbers had been in Ron's lap when Remus arrived, but Remus only got the barest glimpse of the animal before it raced off and hid in some dark corner they had been unable to find even after an hour of searching.

Harry nodded. "We've been looking for him all week in between classes and stuff, and we think he's probably not even in Gryffindor Tower anymore. Ron's really worried, especially after what happened to Mrs. Norris."

"Quite understandable, but I'm afraid I haven't seen the creature, and I don't know any charms to locate him with if he's lost somewhere in the castle" Filius said.

"That's okay, we didn't think you had. Hermione came up with the idea of posting notices in all the common rooms, in case somebody else spots him. We put one up in Gryffindor and Draco took the one for Slytherin and Ron's talking to Professor Sprout and we were hoping you could put this one up in the Ravenclaw common room?" Harry asked, holding a piece of parchment up.

"Of course!" Filius squeaked. "Bring it here, and I'll take it up right after I finish my meeting with Professor Lupin."

"Thank you, sir." Harry walked up, and set the parchment down on the desk. It was a missing rat poster with a brief description of Scabbers, instructions to return him to Ron Weasley if found, and, right in the centre of the page, a picture of the Animagus form of Peter Pettigrew.

Remus's stomach dropped. A moment later he forced himself to shake it off. Scabbers and Wormtail were both fat grey rats, like thousands of other fat grey rats in the world. It was a coincidence; it was nothing. Peter was dead. Sirius had killed him and he was dead, not posing as a boy's pet. Except… "It says here Scabbers is missing one of his front toes?"

Harry nodded. "Ron says he was like that when Percy found him."

"I see," said Remus.

"Well, best of luck; I hope he turns up soon," Filius said.

"Thanks, professor."

"Let me know when you find him. And…." Remus hesitated. This was crazy, he was crazy for thinking it, but on the other hand, no harm in a little caution, right? "And once you do find him, you might think about keeping him in a cage. Just until everything dies down a little."

Harry considered that for a minute. "You're probably right. And you know, it'd probably be less stressful for Scabbers anyway – he's pretty lazy most of the time."

Remus attempted a smile. It didn't feel entirely forced. "Why don't you stop by my office for tea after classes tomorrow? I'll get a cage Ron can borrow for Scabbers and give it to you to give to him then."

"Alright," Harry agreed, clearly delighted with the prospect and apparently oblivious to Remus's unease. "And thanks again, Professor Flitwick." Harry left, and Remus and Filius returned to their prior conversation.

The next day Remus gave Harry a cage he'd borrowed from Silvanus Kettleburn and attempted to put the matter out of his mind. He was rather less than successful.

He knew he was being ridiculous. Scabbers was not Peter, despite the coincidence of the missing toe. Obviously being back in Hogwarts was making him nostalgic, and he was seeing things. There were other far more important things he should be focusing his attention on. Continuing his efforts to learn how to properly perform his job. Making up for lost time with Harry. Finding ways to avoid Gilderoy. Making up for lost time with Harry by helping him to avoid Gilderoy – harder than it seemed both because of Gilderoy's obsession with using Harry's fame to bolster his own and that fact that, no matter how underqualified, the man was technically one of Harry's professors. Then there were the attacks. While the first attack on Mrs. Norris might possibly have been a very cruel and dark sort of prank, but now with Colin Creevy in the hospital wing it was clear that this "Heir of Slytherin" was a real danger to the school. Of everything, that should be the concern constantly plaguing him. And yet Remus's mind kept returning to that picture of Scabbers.

The thing of it was even if it could be Peter why would it be? What possible reason would he have for posing as the Weasley pet rat? Certainly it would have made sense for him to transform when Sirius was attacking him – a rat could hide in places neither a human nor a dog could hope to fit into – but that had been eleven years ago. He could have revealed himself long ago. Plus if Scabbers really were Peter, then the only possible explanation for his sudden disappearing act on Halloween was he was trying to hide from Remus. Why would he do that? Even if there was something going on requiring Peter to keep up this charade, surely he would know he could come to Remus and get help. Who or what could Peter possibly be hiding from that he wouldn't even feel safe doing that? Peter wasn't like the rest of them could get – too proud or worried about protecting the others to share; Peter had never hesitated to go to his friend when he was in trouble.

Which lead to the only obvious conclusion – Scabbers couldn't possibly be Peter. For about the hundredth time, Remus firmly resolved to put the matter out of his head. Maybe this time it would stick.

As luck would have it, a distraction promptly presented itself, though on a second thought Remus wasn't sure exactly how lucky it was. Having Severus burst into his office unannounced was not an uncommon occurrence, however having him burst in unannounced without a goblet full of Wolfsbane and while the moon was half-full and waning was rather more perturbing. The explanation that immediately leapt to mind was something was wrong with Harry, but Remus couldn't see Severus seeking him out if that were the case. Making use of him when he was present and convenient certainly, but not going out of his way to solicit Remus's assistance.

Severus and Remus were not friends. It was entirely likely they would never be friends and, to be entirely honest, despite having made overtures in that direction Remus wasn't certain he wanted them to be. Severus was less nasty than he had been in his youth, but he was still very… acerbic. Then there was the memory of all the things Severus had done to Remus and his friends in that youth. Granted they, or more precisely James and Sirius, had started things more often than not, but Severus had always given as good as he got. It was all a bunch of schoolboy grudges, but schoolboy grudges were harder to let go of when there was nothing else to hold onto. Of course, he and Severus both had Harry now and while Harry wasn't James – nor was he Lily – he wasn't nothing either. So Remus kept making his overtures, and didn't let himself be offended when Severus kept rejecting them.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Remus asked him.

Severus affixed him with an especially dour expression, though Remus suspected that in this case the dourness wasn't directed particularly at Remus himself. "Lockhart has received permission to start that duelling club he's been nattering on about and the Headmaster has instructed me to assist him."

Remus's lips twitched in a concealed show of mirth, but he was almost entirely genuine when he said, "My condolences." He would never say something so disrespectful of another professor in mixed company, so to speak, but Severus was hardly going to take exception to veiled disparaging comments aimed at Gilderoy. Well, perhaps the veiled part.

"Someone has to watch to make sure Lockhart doesn't end up maiming the whole lot of them," Severus said, sounding resigned.

"Probably not an unwarranted concern. Still I'm surprised you were volunteered for that role."

Not as a slight against Severus, though admittedly his personality was not best suited for the task. Remus just would have expected Dumbledore to have chosen Minerva, who was the Deputy Headmistress, or Filius, who had duelled professionally before going into teaching, or even Remus himself, who along with Gilderoy was the most junior member of the staff and was often stuck with the jobs no one else wanted to do.

"Undoubtedly Albus has his reasons." Severus's tone suggested he knew what those reason were, but was disinclined to share.

"He always does," Remus agreed mildly. If Severus didn't wish to share, then there was nothing to be gained by pressing the issue.

"However if I'm to be watching Lockhart, that leaves me unable to properly supervise and make sure the little dunderheads don't end up maiming each other," Severus said. "And if I'm to be saddled with that self-important oaf for an evening, I refuse to be the only one who has to suffer."

Remus blinked. "Are you saying you want me to help you supervise the duelling club?" So Severus really had sought him out for help. Though Remus supposed when faced with the prospect of an hour of trying to wrangle both Gilderoy and what would certainly be a large group of excitable children, reaching out for help suddenly became much less unappealing. And of course he'd come to Remus because Remus was the one he had the best chance of bullying into helping him.

"At least you I only have to worry about maiming the children on the night of the full moon." It was an unwarranted jab, but the worry behind it wasn't entirely unwarranted, Remus could admit. Besides which, in context the comment didn't seem like Severus was trying to express a worry at all. It seemed like Severus was saying he found Gilderoy to be more objectionable than Remus. Previously Remus had been sure only James, Sirius, and possibly Voldemort held that title. Abruptly Remus was put in mind of something he had overheard Harry saying about Severus to a Gryffindor first year: "He's not really mean, that's just the way he talks."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Remus decided.

"I can hardly stop you if you choose to indulge in fanciful notions," Severus drawled. "The first meeting of the Duelling Club is tomorrow evening at eight in the Great Hall."

"I'll be there," Remus said. Severus left without a word of goodbye or thanks, but Remus hadn't expected any different.

The following evening Remus arrived in the Great Hall fifteen minutes early to find the room populated by Severus, Gilderoy, and a handful of students who looked a bit like they weren't sure if they would be taking a bigger risk by trying to sneak out of the meeting or by staying.

"Ah, Professor Lupin, what brings you to our little club?" Gilderoy clapped him on the shoulder, then leaned in to mock-whisper conspiratorially, "Were you hoping to pick up a few tricks from me this evening as well?"

"I do try to remember that being a teacher now does not excuse me from needing to continue to learn. I would hate to become overconfident and arrogant about my abilities." Remus's tone was completely mild, but he still thought he saw the shadow of a smirk flicker across Severus's face. He definitely heard a sixth year Hufflepuff snicker, reminding him that he really shouldn't say things like that in front of students. Of course, there technically wasn't anything wrong with Remus expressing a desire not to become arrogant, and it was hardly his fault Gilderoy was so brazenly full of himself he could make a fifteen-year-old James look soft-spoken and humble.

"That's the spirit," Gilderoy said. "In fact I bet even I myself have a thing or two left to learn, eh?"

"Perhaps one or two," Remus agreed. "Though actually I'm here because Professor Snape expressed some concern that this club might prove too popular for the two of you to supervise all the students on your own. "

"That's Severus for you – always thinking ahead. I'm sure we'll be glad of your help; this lot can be quite a handful. Why in my first class with the second years, they managed to set a whole lot of pixies loose to wreak havoc in my classroom," Gilderoy said, before launching into a story that was very different than the version Remus had heard. From there Gilderoy began relating another story that did not seem even tangentially related to the first, then another and another. Remus smiled and nodded and looked for any reason to leave. He considered excusing himself to greet Harry when he and his friends walked in, but decided the risk that Gilderoy would follow him to harass Harry as well was too great. Ultimately Remus was unable to escape until Severus walked back over to them – having initially left in the midst of the pixie story – and made a pointed comment about the time.

"Of course, of course. Mustn't keep the students in suspense for too long," Gilderoy said, then hopped up on the stage to start the meeting. After the introductory remarks, Gilderoy and Severus took an opportunity to demonstrate the Disarming Charm – or more accurately Severus took advantage of an opportunity to send Gilderoy slamming into the wall with the Disarming Charm – then the three of them paired the students up to try the charm on each other. Remus tried to pair the students by skill level – pairing all the middle-of the-road students together while putting the students that were struggling with the ones who were more gifted – Gilderoy seemed to pair based solely on proximity, and Severus methods were rather more esoteric, at least as far as Remus could tell. Once everyone was paired off, Gilderoy counted down, and practice was begun.

Pandemonium descended immediately. Really, in addition to pairing the students off, they probably ought to have lined them up; disarmed students were flying every which way and crashing into each other. And that was only the students who had actually followed the instructions. There were a good number of other students who had decided to try out different spells altogether, and there was Millicent Bulstrode who had Ron Weasley in a headlock. The three professors quickly put a stop to the demonstration, cancelling out any spells that were still ongoing and making sure none of the students were seriously injured.

Once that was settled, Gilderoy suggested a volunteer pair give a practical demonstration of how to block unfriendly spells. "Longbottom, Granger, how about you?"

"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," Severus said. "While Granger is no doubt eager to show off, Longbottom is unlikely to perform well in front of a crowd. How about Malfoy and Potter?"

"Excellent idea!" Gilderoy said, gesturing Harry and Draco to the middle of the hall while the rest of the students backed away to give them room. Severus seemed to have instructing Draco well in hand, so Remus approached Harry, who was being shown some sort of wiggling gesture with his wand by Gilderoy. Gilderoy then dropped his wand which Remus took as his cue to intercede.

"I think Harry might find a basic Shield Charm to be more effective for him than…"

"Dropping my wand?" Harry suggested.

"Don't cheek your professors," Remus said automatically.

"Now, now," Gilderoy said, picking up his wand and wiping it off, "I'm sure the lad was only joking. You may be right, Professor Lupin, Harry will probably do better with a less advanced technique than what I typically use. Why don't you demonstrate that for him?"

Remus obliged, teaching Harry the incantation and wand motion for the Shield Charm. "And don't be discouraged if you don't manage it, especially on your first try. There are a lot of adult wizards that don't know how to cast this," Remus concluded, giving Harry a pat on the shoulder. While he had been instructing Harry, Severus had been whispering to Draco, who had gone a bit wide-eyed but then nodded firmly. Satisfied that both students were ready, Remus stepped back and gestured to Gilderoy.

"Three – two – one – go!" Gilderoy shouted.

"Protego," Harry said, moving his wand in approximately the right motion.

Simultaneously, Draco brought his wand up and bellowed, "Serpensortia!"

A long black snake shot out of Draco's wand, fell heavily to the floor between the two boys, and raised itself, ready to strike. There were screams from the students swiftly backing away as Remus stood there for a moment in absolute shock.

A moment too long, unfortunately, as Gilderoy shouted, "Allow me!" and brandished his wand at the snake. There was a loud band and the snake flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged, hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike.

Remus reached out uselessly, barely missing grabbing a hold of Harry who was now running towards the snake. Then Harry began hissing at the snake. And somehow that caused the snake to flop docilely back down to the ground.

"What do you think you're playing at?" Finch-Fletchley shouted, then stormed out of the hall without waiting for an answer.

Severus stepped forward and vanished the snake into puff of black smoke. "Well," he prompted Harry. "What did you say to the snake?"

"I told it to leave Justin alone," Harry said, though that did little to quiet the ominous mutterings through the crowd.

"Oh, come on," Draco exploded. "It's not as though this is a surprise. We all already knew he was a Parselmouth."

"That was before the Heir of Slytherin was going around attacking people," Ernie Macmillan shouted from the crowd.

"You think Harry Potter is the Heir of Slytherin?" Draco scoffed. "He's a Gryffindor." That didn't stop the mutterings either, but they sounded more thoughtful and even sceptical than they had been.

"Perhaps we best end for today?" Remus suggested to Gilderoy quietly.

"Yes. Yes, of course," Gilderoy said. He loudly announced the end of the meeting, and began shooing the students back off to their dormitories.

Remus took the opportunity to sidle up to Severus for a private word. "We all already knew Harry was a Parselmouth?" he said pointedly.

"At the beginning of last school year, Harry demonstrated the ability for his fellow first years. By the end of the week the entire school knew. By the end of the month, no one particularly cared anymore," Severus said.

"I see." That would explain why Remus had been out of loop. "In that case, I suppose it's merely unfortunate everyone was reminded now that they have a reason to care again."

"Someone would have remembered on their own sooner or later. It's better that it's been brought out in the open and dismissed as nonsense than to have people whispering behind closed doors," Severus disagreed. "If you'll excuse me."

Remus watched Severus sweep out of the room. Severus was right, it was better that it was out in the open. How very fortunate that Draco had chosen to use that particular spell. Right after Severus had whispered some unknown instruction in his ear.

Remus was getting the sneaking suspicion they had all just been treated to a show.

The following morning, Remus woke thinking of Sirius and Peter. Despite his continuing resolution not to do so, this was hardly an unusual occurrence. What made this particular morning of note was he was also thinking that maybe it had all just been a show.

Remus had always found it a little odd that Peter had gone after Sirius after James and Lily had died. Yes, he would have expected Peter to be upset and angry, but Remus never would have expected him to go rushing in without any kind of back-up. That just wasn't how Peter was. Normally he would have gone to Remus or Dumbledore or some member of the Order for help, especially since Sirius honestly way outclassed him in terms of duelling prowess. Remus had just assumed that showed how upset Peter really was. But what if that wasn't it? What if it seemed out of character for him because it was out of character? What if Peter hadn't actually done it at all? What if Peter had just planted himself in the middle of that street – a street full witness, all of them Muggle, unable to interfere in or truly understand what they were seeing – and waited for Sirius to come to him?

What if they had switched?

Remus could picture it. Lily – he was almost certain it had been Lily – would have pointed out everyone knew Sirius was going to be their Secret Keeper, which didn't make for much of a secret. James and Sirius would have adamant everything would be fine at first, but then Sirius's doubts would have begun to creep in. At the last minute they would have agreed to make the change, switching from Sirius to Peter. Peter, the real traitor and spy. Peter would have spent a week hiding in safety, fretting over the decision before he made it. Friendship meant that much to him, and that little. Finally he would have decided where his loyalties, what little of them he had, lie and given the Potters up to You-Know-Who.

Except, Harry hadn't died. Harry had lived, and You-Know-Who had fallen. Peter would have panicked. So he staged that scene to ensure Sirius was blamed for the deaths of James and Lily and the downfall of You-Know-Who, then went into hiding as a rat to save his own sorry skin. It all made perfect sense, and it fit the available evidence. It could be true.

Of course, the accepted story of Sirius being the traitor fit all the available evidence as well, if you assumed Remus was slightly delusional. Honestly, Remus probably was slightly delusional. The trouble was he wanted Scabbers to be Peter. He wanted all of that to be true because if it was, then Remus still had one friend left who was neither dead nor a traitor. But wanting something didn't make it so, something Remus knew very well. Unfortunately knowing didn't stop him from wanting.

What he needed was proof, even if it was proof he was wrong. Disappointment he could handle, it was the unjustified unquenchable hope that would wear at him and drive him to distraction. Ideally, he would like to have Scabbers be found. Remus had already offered to give the animal a once over once he had been located to ensure he hadn't been harmed at all by his ordeal. While doing that it would be easy enough to sneak in the spell forcing Peter to reveal himself, if Scabbers really was Peter. Unfortunately, there was nothing Remus could do to help locate him besides keeping an eye open and checking in every so often to see if he had been found.

Thinking about it though, finding Scabbers wasn't the only way to get proof. Just because both versions fit all the evidence Remus had, that was not the same thing as fitting all available evidence. Sirius was in Azkaban now, which necessarily meant there had at some point been an arrest and a trial, neither of which Remus knew a thing about. After James, Lily, and Peter died, Remus had shut himself off from… well, from everything really. But especially everything surrounding Sirius. It had already felt like more than he could bear to know those three were dead, but to have Sirius be responsible for all their deaths… It had been much too much.

It had been over a decade since then however. He had had time to heal and move forward, even if the latter was only something he'd really started doing recently. He could handle it now. While it was obviously impossible to attend a trial that had happened over ten years ago, an arrest and trial meant arrest and trial records. The arrest records would be at least in part confidential, but the trial records should be available to the public. It was merely a matter of writing a letter to the Ministry requesting a copy of the records. This also had the advantage that now that Remus had actually done something toward addressing his dilemma, he was finally able to put it out of his mind for a bit.

On the other hand his brief respite from his worries might have had less to do with his ultimately very minor action and more to do with the Christmas holidays. There was a bit of a pall over some of the staff with just how very few students had chosen to stay over the holidays serving as a constant reminder of two students, the cat, and the ghost Petrified in the Hospital Wing, but Remus had no point of comparison from holidays previous so he was able to enjoy the relative quiet in the castle without caveats.

Really, it wasn't the quiet or the lack of students Remus enjoyed so much as the relative lack of duties and responsibilities. He did use some of the time over the holidays to get caught up on his grading and to review his upcoming lesson plans, but the majority of the rest of the time he spent with one student in particular. He had spent time with Harry during the school year, but it had been limited to joining Dumbledore's and Harry's weekly tea when he could and the occasional afternoon spent chatting and helping with homework in Remus's office or quarters. Now Remus was able to really spend time bonding with Harry.

Remus and Harry, and usually Ron and sometimes Draco or the other Weasleys – those being all of Harry's friends that had stayed at school for the break – spent a lot of time exploring the castle. It was a gift being able to show James's son all the nooks and crannies and secret passageways they had discovered back when they had been students here. That was, all the nooks and crannies open to students and the more innocuous secret passageways; being a professor, Remus couldn't take the kids to any of the restricted areas. Granted, technically Gryffindor and Slytherin students weren't allowed in each other's common rooms, but as it had really been the kids who had brought him along on those excursions, and it was the holiday break, and professors were supposed to encourage things done in the spirit of inter-House cooperation, Remus decided to let it slide.

The best part of the holiday, with Christmas dinner coming in at a close second was Christmas morning. Traditionally, all presents sent to the castle residents were collected by the House Elves and placed at the foot of each person's bed in the middle of the night. This meant that for professors Christmas morning was typically a quiet, private affair. Instead, Remus woke up to no presents and a letter on his bedside table instructing him to go to Gryffindor Tower. Remus gamely did so, and soon found himself in the common room where all five Weasleys, Harry, and most surprisingly – though perhaps not that surprisingly, all things told – Severus were gathered around a Christmas tree Remus was fairly certain hadn't been there the day before.

Severus spotted him first, but Harry did so soon after. "Remus is here," he announced, as he jumped up and raced across the room. Remus chuckled a little at Harry's unbridled enthusiasm, then let himself be dragged over to the rest of the group at he exchanged "good mornings" and "happy Christmas's" with them all. Harry deposited Remus in the armchair next to Severus's before joining Ron and Ginny on the floor again. Remus regarded the children with one last fond smile before turning to Severus with a quizzical look.

"The House Elves happen to catch wind of the fact Harry has never had a proper Christmas morning before," Severus explained. "They apparently took it upon themselves to put this together."

"Somehow I don't think this is what you were expecting would happen when the House Elves 'happened' to catch wind of things," Remus said. Severus looked impassively back and neither confirmed nor denied anything. "Well, maybe I ought to take Harry down to the kitchens tomorrow, so he can thank them personally."

"You want to set this group of hellions loose on the kitchens," Severus said, giving the children a sceptical look. Remus took his point, even if the children were rather undermining it at the moment: Percy had taken charge in organizing a turn-based system for passing out and unwrapping gifts, and for once his siblings were letting him. Still…

"The kitchens aren't off-limits to students," Remus said. It was true, even if the staff generally avoided letting the students know how to access the kitchens so they wouldn't bother the House Elves. "Besides, if the twins don't already know how to get into the kitchens, I'll eat my hat."

"You aren't wearing a hat," Severus pointed out dryly, but was prevented from further commentary when Harry dropped a lumpy parcel in either of their laps.

"What's this?" Remus asked. A gift, obviously, but he found it odd that he and Severus would have matching gifts. Unless they were from Harry, but he was holding a third parcel himself, and when Remus spared a look around it appeared everyone had one.

"They're Weasley jumpers," Harry explained. "We're going to take turns with the rest of the gifts, but Fred and George said we should all put on the jumpers Mrs. Weasley gave us first."

"I am not putting on a Weasley jumper," Severus said.

"You have to, Uncle Severus," Harry protested. "It's a tradition."

"Yeah, Uncle Severus," Fred said.

"It's tradition, Uncle Severus," George seconded.

Severus sent them a withering glare, and they both paled immediately. "We mean Professor Snape," Fred corrected, and George nodded fervently.

Severus turned back Harry. "I will open the jumper and I may change into it later, but I'm perfectly happy with my current attire at the moment."

"Okay, but you have to wear it to Christmas dinner," Harry said firmly. "It's a family tradition." The word family was said with such feeling that Remus fully expected to see Severus in his jumper come Christmas dinner.

The rest of the morning passed enjoyably, if not always entirely smoothly. Little Ginny ran up and hid in her dorm room in embarrassment when she realized Harry had gotten her a gift – just a small box of chocolate frogs, obviously so she wouldn't feel excluded when Harry got gifts for her brothers – and she hadn't gotten him anything. Remus had had to fetch her down, as her brothers weren't able to follow her up to the girls' dorm, and only managed to do so by convincing her Harry's Muggle relatives would have only told Muggle fairy stories and Harry would like her old book of Wizard children's stories like his parents would have read to him before they died. Then there was the present Percy stuttered over and tried to hide when he came across it, only to have it whipped away by the twins, who proceeded to tease their brother mercilessly because it was from his secret girlfriend. Finally the possibly largest upset of the morning was when Percy ran up to his dorm to grab the last present – a brand new rat for Ron. Ron pitched a fit, insisting he didn't want another rat because Scabbers was still alive, and he hated all of them for giving up on him. The Ginny pitched a fit calling Ron selfish because now he had two rats and he had no right to be upset when she'd never gotten any pets at all. Percy tried to calm them down, which only resulted in the two rounding on him. Finally Remus stepped in and assured Ron he had not stopped looking for Scabbers. Ron, who had been so pleased by Remus's continuous solicitousness toward his missing pet that Remus had started to feel a little guilty, was mollified by that. Eventually a compromise was reached where Ron and Ginny would share the new rat – promptly dubbed Pigwidgeon by Ginny – until Scabbers was found, at which point Pig would go solely to Ginny.

Still, despite some minor upsets, it was a very good morning, followed by a good rest of the day, and then a good rest of the break. And then reality came to call again.

It was the Wednesday morning after the start of term that Remus's response from the Ministry came, in a worryingly thin envelope. It occurred to Remus that perhaps the Ministry had decided, given the circumstances, to classify the records surrounding Sirius's arrest and trial and this letter was merely a reply to tell him so. The most frustrating thing was Remus ended up having to spend the whole day fretting over the prospect. Minerva had seen him frowning at the letter when it arrived that morning, and as Remus was unwilling as yet to share why he was looking into Sirius's case, he'd had to wave off her concerns with a vague reply and stick the letter in his pocket. It was until classes were over for the day that Remus finally had a private moment to open it.

The envelope contained three pages and to Remus's relief the first page was a letter thanking him for his request and letting him know the specified documents were enclosed. Two pages hardly seemed anywhere near sufficient for all the records on the arrest and the trial, but it seemed reasonable to guess that arrest records and trial records might be handled by different departments. Perhaps instead of sending out a single response, each clerk had received and processed his request separately and sent out a separate response. These were presumably the arrest records and the undoubtedly much thicker trial records would hopefully arrive in the next few days.

The second page proved to be information on Sirius's arrest, as Remus had guessed. There were some things in the record Remus hadn't known before, but nothing of particular note or relevance to Remus's concerns. Still he read the page very carefully and thoroughly to make sure he missed nothing. Then he turned to the last page.

Remus stood abruptly, heedless of the way his chair skittered across the stone and nearly toppled over. He strode out of his office, slamming the door behind him. Normally he took his time walking through the halls, frequently stopping for small talk with other members of the staff or to chat with the students about how they were doing or about their homework. Today he didn't say a word to a single person he passed, and even Gilderoy took one look at his face and scurried out of the way. Remus barged his way into the Headmaster's office, slammed the page down on his desk, and demanded, "Did you know about this?"

That's when Remus realized he had probably taken his delusions a little too far.

"Sorry," he said, sitting down in one of the chairs opposite Dumbledore's desk. "But did you know?"

Remus half-expected Dumbledore to make a slightly teasing comment about Remus's lack of specificity, but he merely grabbed the sheet Remus had brought – the third one – and studied it carefully. His face took on a slightly sombre cast as he read, unhappy but resigned.

He placed the sheet back down on his desk. "I was aware of the general practice, yes. I objected strenuously, but it's not technically illegal, and I'm sure you remember what things were like at the time; no one was very concerned about preserving the rights of Death Eaters. I did not know about this particular incident however. After Sirius was arrested I divorced myself from anything to do with his case. I didn't trust myself to be impartial."

"I don't get the impression impartiality was a great concern with regards to Sirius's case," Remus said.

"No, I don't get that impression either," Dumbledore agreed, still unhappy, but still resigned to it.

Remus felt his ire flare up again. "He didn't get a trial. How can that possibly be legal?" he demanded.

Dumbledore sighed. "Summary judgement is a practice originally designed for civil cases. Specifically it's for use in cases where the evidence to what happened is so overwhelming – typically because both parties agree on the course of events – that the outcome of the trial is considered obvious. The proceedings move straight to judgement, and the time and expense of the trial are skipped."

"This isn't a civil case. And we've no idea if Sirius agreed on the course of events as there in no public record of any sort of questioning whatsoever," Remus said.

"You are correct on both counts, but a case doesn't necessarily need the total agreement of all involved for the evidence to be considered irrefutable, and due to a legal loophole, summary judgement isn't technically confined to civil cases."

"Sirius deserves a trial," Remus said firmly. No matter what he deserved one. If he were innocent then he deserved a chance to prove it. And if he were guilty… if he were guilty, if he had betrayed James and Lily and baby Harry and slaughtered Peter in cold blood then he deserved to have his shame trumpeted out and what he did to be laid indisputably down in black and white for all to see.

"I'm not saying I disagree with you, I'm merely providing the facts of the matter to you. And the fact is, while Sirius should have a right to a trial, people are hardly more concerned nowadays with the rights of Death Eaters than they were eleven years ago, and everything that has happened here is legal, so it's simply not possible to demand a trial for him. Unless of course there were a very compelling reason."

Dumbledore gave him an expectant look, and Remus found himself tongue-tied. He'd known that if as he continued investigating reality continued to support, or at least not contradict, his delusions, then eventually he would need to share his concerns. He just hadn't thought he would need to do it so soon and had no plan for what he was going to say. Finally he opened his mouth and the first words that came tumbling out were, "Ron Weasley's rat is missing."

"I presume you're referring to Scabbers and not Pigwidgeon, as it would be most unfortunate for him to have lost two pets in such quick succession," Dumbledore said.

"Yes, I meant Scabbers. He ran off on Halloween night, at exactly the same time as when I arrived to check on Harry." Remus took in a deep breath. "Scabbers is also missing a toe on his front paw."

That shouldn't have been enough for Dumbledore to put things together, but there was a reason he was known as the greatest wizard of the century, even beyond simple magical prowess. Remus could almost see the thoughts clicking together behind his eyes. "Can I assume all four of you were unregistered Animagi?" he asked.

Remus swallowed. "No. Just the other three."

"I see," Dumbledore said. Remus's heart sunk. There, etched in the lines of Dumbledore's face, was the disappointment he had dreaded ever since that first full moon the four of them had spent together. "That was a very foolish and dangerous thing for you to have done."

"I know," Remus said, feeling smaller than he ever had before.

Dumbledore sighed. "But then, teenage boys often do foolish things. Perhaps we the adults were at fault for not keeping a better eye on all of you."

"No, it was our fault – my fault, Headmaster," Remus insisted. "We were reckless and caught up in our own cleverness. I betrayed your trust and lead the others astray with me."

"As I said, you were all just boys at the time. Can I assume you won't betray my trust in such a way again now that you aren't so young and foolish?"

"Of course! I stick to the safety precautions we agreed upon," Remus said.

"In that case I recommend we skip the dispensing of blame and content ourselves with the knowledge that in the end no harm was done." Dumbledore smiled at him and Remus smiled back, feeling a huge weight lift from his shoulders. "So Peter Pettigrew was, and maybe still is, a rat Animagus. James and Sirius?"

"James was a stag and Sirius is a dog," Remus answered. "A very large black dog."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Sirius the dog. How appropriate. I take very large to mean too large to slip between the bars on a prison cell?"

Yes," Remus said. He had told himself over the years that since Sirius's Animagus form couldn't be used to slip out of his cell, it didn't matter if Remus kept the secret and if Sirius had been the rat and Peter the dog, then Remus would have come forward. Of course, if Sirius had been the rat and Peter the dog, then maybe they wouldn't be in this situation at all.

"And you believe Ron Weasley's rat Scabbers to actually be Peter?" Dumbledore asked.

"I can't be sure, since I never even saw him in person. But I did see a picture of him and with the missing toe… I believe it's possible."

Dumbledore nodded. "And how would that fit in with Sirius receiving his much deserved and very much belated trial?"

So Remus told him. He told Dumbledore about all his concerns, the worries and suspicions that had been nagging at him since he saw the missing poster for Scabbers. He told him about the Duelling Club and the revelation Severus and Draco's little act had inspired. He told him about the way the pieces had fallen together after that, creating a whole that was more convoluted than the narrative they'd all been told, but made so much more sense. The whole time Dumbledore listened without interruption, and the quiet spurred Remus on. There were more and more questions, more incongruities, all the evidence that was suddenly conspicuous by its absence. All of it came pouring out of him and into Dumbledore's open ears.

When Remus finished, Dumbledore was silent for a minute or so longer, considering. "We can't be certain at this point, with so little solid information to go on, but I believe your story sounds possible."

A relieved breath came whooshing out of Remus. It was gratifying to finally be able to share his theory with someone and be told his delusions might not be entirely delusional. "Do you think it's likely?" he asked.

"Likely enough to warrant further investigation," Dumbledore said. "You pointed out earlier that Sirius was never questioned with regards to the charges against him. That is where I will start."

"You'll be able to get into visit him? I didn't know visitors were allowed in Azkaban," Remus said.

"Oh yes. Getting permission to visit Azkaban isn't terribly difficult, even for high security prisoners like Sirius. Most people just aren't aware of it because no one ever wishes to visit. The difficulty will be in arranging an entirely secret visit. If I were to go through the normal channels, some especially intrepid reporter may find out and decide to write a story speculating on why I might have gone to visit such a high profile prisoner. If Sirius is indeed guilty, then I would have no qualms with sharing my motives, but if you are correct and Peter is both Scabbers and the person who truly betrayed the Potters, then we can't risk him finding out we're investigating the case. The best case scenario then would be for him to flee and take up the life of a pet rat with some family in the French countryside. It's also possible he'll flee, but to his master's side. Or if he's still in the castle he might hurt the children. He might go after Harry."

"I understand. Harry's safety comes first." If Sirius were innocent, then that's what he would want. And if he were guilty, then Remus didn't care what he wanted either way. "How long do you think it will take for you to arrange a visit?"

"Oh, a few weeks I should think," Dumbledore said. Remus blinked in surprise. With the way Dumbledore was talking he had been expecting something on the order of months. Dumbledore smiled knowledgably. "I know I said it would be difficult, but I am a man of many talents. I will let you know when I have a chance to speak with him, and what I uncover."

AN: A thing I swore wasn't going to happen, and yet here it is happening. Story of my life. The good news for you my lovelies, is we're sticking to three chapters on this one, chapter two is already finished and ready to be posted a week from today, and hopefully with two weeks lead time and momentum (and some encouragement, maybe?) I will get this finished in a reasonable time frame. And then I'm definitely, one hundred percent, absolutely, positively, for reals done with this series. Probably.