Different

understanding

Pettigrew just opened and closed his mouth repeatedly.

"Er...Mr. Black?" Hermione asked softly. Black jumped, not used to being talked to so softly. "Well, how did you get out of Azkaban without the use of Dark Magic?"

"Exactly!" Pettigrew shrieked. He was quickly silenced by a look by Remus.

"I'm not quite sure," Black admitted. "I think it's because I knew I was innocent. The dementors...they couldn't suck that out of me. When it got too much I just...I transformed into a dog and-"

"A big, black dog?" Claire interrupted, blushing when everyone looked at her.

"How did you know?" Remus asked worriedly.

"I-I've seen one in my dreams over the past few years, especially recently," Claire admitted. "And in the pictures you gave me."

"You always were dreaming," Black said with a soft chuckle. Claire blushed a little but Remus was standing there, his eyebrows furrowed. "Anyways, the dementors don't recognize animals the same way they do humans. They still took so much energy...so much life out of me...but when I saw Peter in that picture I knew what it meant. It meant that he was at Hogwarts with Harry, with Claire. And I failed you once, I wasn't going to do it again."

"You kept saying He's at Hogwarts. They're at Hogwarts," Harry suddenly remembered.

"I couldn't stop the fear in my head," Black said softly. "It was like a mantra that kept me strong. One night when the dementors opened the door to feed me I slipped out as a dog. I swam across the sea back to the mainland. I've been living as a dog ever since. I was the dog you saw at the game, Harry. You fly as well as your father."

Harry and Black held eye contact for a few seconds, a tense silence covering the room.

"Believe me, Harry," Black croaked. "I would've died than betray your parents."

Harry glanced at Claire, who nodded her head. Tensing his jaw, Harry looked back at Black and nodded.

"No!" Peter wailed immediately. "No! Don't believe him!"

The pitiful man crawled over to Black, grabbing at his robes.

"Please! It's me! Your friend!"

"Get off!" Sirius grunted. "There's enough filth on these robes without you adding to it."

"Remus, you know better! Why wouldn't James and Lily tell you they changed the plan?" Peter protested, turning around and scrambling across the floor to where the werewolf was sitting.

"Not if they thought I was the spy," Remus said. "I assume that's why they didn't tell me."

"Forgive me," Sirius said.

"Of course, my friend," Remus said. "And forgive me for thinking you were the spy."

"Of course," Sirius said. His eyes were dark as he looked back at Peter. "Kill him together?"

"I think so," Remus said.

"No!" Peter shrieked. "Ron, I've been such a good pet!"

Ron just grimaced, his face pale.

"Hermione!" Peter turned, trying to get some sympathy. "Sweet girl...help me!"

"Get off!" Hermione said, stepping back to where Peter couldn't get to her.

"And Claire! So much like your mother!" Peter gasped, clinging to Claire's hands.

"Don't touch me!" Claire yelled, pulling her hands back with so much force that Peter almost fell. Her face grimaced as he compared her to her mother and Remus looked ready to kill the man with his bare hands.