The Prisoner of Azkaban: Raised by Moony and Padfoot.

Chapter 41: Sirius

Sirius

TW- Brief descriptions of violence and mention of abuse.

Sirius, Ron and Neville carried Pettigrew out of the shrieking shack, still immobilized, as Millie and Harry walked with Remus, who was beginning to feel a bit weak. It was nearing the full moon after all.

Hermione walked ahead, acting as lookout. The sun was beginning to set as they made their way out of the tunnel leading to the shrieking shack.

They boys arms were getting tired from carrying Peter, so they set him down for a moment to give their arms a rest. Ron, Neville, and Hermione stood guard as Sirius and Remus pulled Harry and Millie aside.

"We're sorry we didn't tell you everything about what happened with Pettigrew. We just didn't want you to have the burden of that knowledge. Especially you Harry, since he's so connected to why your parents aren't here." Sirius explained.

"But we see now that you need to know the whole truth if we are to keep you out of harm's way." Remus added.

Sirius and Remus pulled Harry and Millie into a hug.

The sun set behind them, and it occurred to Sirius that something was off. The full moon was tonight.

"Remus, did you take the Wolfsbane potion?"Sirius asked, barely masking his panic.

Remus's eye widened in terror. "Shit! No. Snape hadn't brought it yet when I saw Peter on the map. I was so focused on getting rid of him that it completely slipped my mind." Remus said, not even attempting to hide his panic.

"Kids, get up to the castle now. Run. Leave Pettigrew here." Sirius instructed.

But he wasn't quick enough. The moon was already starting to rise. The kids started to run towards the castle but not before Remus started to change. He cried out in pain as he felt his bones shift and change. His limbs began to grow and his skin started sprouting hair from every pore.

"So that's what the transformation looks like." Millie said in awe and fear.

Sirius and Remus had always warned the kids how dangerous the wolf was. And Remus couldn't control it.

Sirius quickly transformed himself into a dog, and dropped his wand as he did. He looked into the wolf's eyes as he had so many times before. The wolf had always trusted Padfoot. But he could smell humans. And the wolf's deepest instinct was to turn them. The kids took off running. But Ron got his foot caught in a branch of the Whomping Willow. Padfoot put himself between Ron and the wolf, taking more violence from the wolf than ever before. Eventually he chased the wolf away, leading him to the edge of the forbidden forest. But before they got far, Padfoot saw the immobilizing spell wear off of Peter, and he took Sirius's wand and ran in the same direction the kids had.

Sirius was torn. Did he go and protect the kids from Peter, and risk leading the wolf to them? Or did he trust them to fend for themselves against Peter while he protected them from the wolf, and Remus from himself. He wished that he had a way to call Minerva for help.

Then Sirius remembered, that Pettigrew was not afraid to use unforgivable curses, and Harry would be his prime target. Especially now that his cover was blown. So Padfoot ran off toward the edge of the forbidden forest, and hid behind some shrubbery leading the wolf to the forest, where Sirius hoped the wolf would run around in peace for at least until he got the kids to safety.

He was right. The wolf took off into the forest, after it heard a noise a little deeper into the forest.

Sirius took off, picking up Harry and Millie's scents, he tracked them to the black lake. Hermione wasn't there, but Harry, Millie and Neville were. Pettigrew had put Neville under the Imperius Curse, and delighted in forcing him to send curse after curse toward Harry and Millie. Harry blocked them with precision with a shield charm, but it was starting to wear on him. It was taking Millie all her might to produce shield charms fast enough to avoid being hit.

Sirius, still in Padfoot's form, charged at Pettigrew, and tackled him to the ground. Sirius went to bite at Peter, but he changed into Wormtail, and slipped away, for good this time.

When Pettigrew became Wormtail, it broke the spell on Neville, and he passed out cold. Sirius saw Harry and Millie rush to his side. Sirius changed back, and started to rush over to help. But he finally noticed his own injuries. There were large claw marks in his chest, and spell damage from attacking Pettigrew while he'd been using the Imperius Curse.

Sirius himself feel to the ground. That's when the dementors came.

"Millie go, run and find Aunt Minerva!" Harry called, and Sirius watched as Millie turned herself into a German Shepard puppy, and run for the castle.

As consciousness began to fade, Sirius felt immensely proud. He turned and saw a white orb leave Harry's wand as he tried to fight off the dementors. But there were too many of them. Sirius's eyes closed. He felt a kind of pain that he hadn't felt since his mother had nearly tortured him to death with the Crutiatus Curse when he was 16, as the dementors started to close in. He wanted to scream out in pain, but something was blocking him from doing so. Suddenly he sensed a bright light, and then the pain stopped.

And Sirius slipped out of consciousness, and everything went dark and silent.