Amie's World of Lies (Harry Potter fan-fic) Book 3 COMPLETED

Time

Amie was very happy as the group walked down the stairs to the tunnel. Crookshanks led the way, then came Ron and Lupin with Pettigrew in between them, then Snape who was unconscious and held up in the air by his own wand which Sirius pointed at him. Amie walked with Sirius, and behind her walked Harry and Hermione. Even though Harry and the others now knew the truth and had apologized and they had Pettigrew, Amie couldn't help but feel as if she'd forgotten something important.

After a bit of a struggle to get into the tunnel, they were all in. Ron, Lupin and Pettigrew had to walk sideways to get into the entrance. Once inside the tunnel, Snape kept hitting his head in the ceiling, and Sirius did nothing to stop it.

"Sirius, no need to give him braindamage," Amie joked, and she got a doggish grin in return.

Sirius turned to Harry who walked behind them.

"You know what this means?" he said. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free," Harry nodded.

"Yes..." Sirius agreed. "But I'm also -- I don't know if anyone ever told you -- I'm your Godfather,"

Amie snorted -- she had told him that Harry had found out! Guess he wanted to start the conversation somehow, and his was indeed a way.

"Yeah, I knew that," said Harry.

"Well... Your parents appointed me your guardian," said Sirius. "If anything happened to them..."

Harry was quiet, watching Sirius with a hopeful and cautious expression on his face.

"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said Sirius seriously. "But... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared... if you wanted a... a different home..."

"What -- live with you?" Harry exclaimed, shocked, hitting his head on a rock that hung from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursley's?"

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," Sirius said quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd --"

"Are you insane?" Harry said, happiness filling his voice. "Of course I want to leave the Dursley's! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

Sirius spun around to look at Harry, leaving Snape's head scraping the ceiling.

"You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" Harry said.

Sirius' face lit up in a true smile, one that made him look several years younger than the filth made him look like. Harry and Sirius didn't say anything else to each other during the rest of the walk through the tunnel, but Amie and Sirius talked and joked together like the friends they were. Amie had missed seeing him during the weeks when the security had gotten harder to pass.

"Did you see the last Quidditch game, Siri?" Amie asked.

"Yes! You were really great, both of you," Sirius smiled. "You could easily play in a professional team after Hogwarts,"

"We'll have to survive 'til then, too," Amie said.

"You got a point," Sirius agreed.

Soon they reached the opening out to the grounds of Hogwarts. Sirius sent Snape up first, and then Amie, Hermione and Harry walked up before they were joined by Sirius himself. Once they were all up and ready, they set off to the castle. Pettigrew was whimpering like a baby, and wheezing as if he had trouble breathing.

"One wrong move, Peter," said Lupin threateningly ahead. His wand was pointed at Pettigrew's chest.

The group was relatively quiet as they walked across the dark grounds, the castle coming nearer.