Lights In The Darkness

Author's Note: Could it be that I'm actually going to finish this story. I mean it's been almost three years since I've started it, and Kate, sorry but I can't tell you what you asked about. It's just not possible. The full moon is too important in this chapter. Oh, and I'm sorry, I've gone over the chapter's that I've uploaded recently and I've noticed the spelling and grammatical errors, but well, I hate reading things I write, and I don't have anyone read them before I put them up. Sorry. Once again, so you know, Valerie and Aiden know Cora from France, they were in a few chapters around Halloween.

Disclaimer: No mine . . . . . . (TEAR!)

Chapter Title: Full Moons And Hidden Truths

(Chapter Begins)

"You did what?" Cora asked her shocked.

"Well, he figured it was neutral territory," Valerie said with a shrug and Cora shook her head in amazement.

"Well, when is he supposed to be here," she asked.

"About now," Valerie said looking at her watch and then at the ground.

Cora nodded and Aiden clambered out of the fireplace. If there was one thing she could say about him, it was that he was always punctual. She smiled as he caught sight of Valerie. The look on his face was priceless, and she wished he had a camera. He looked as if he'd stepped into a dream.

"Valerie," he said softly, and for the first time Cora noticed the haggard look to him.

He had looked sick last time she'd seen him but she hadn't expected him to look quite so sick. She turned to Valerie who just reached out and took Aiden's hands in her own.

"I missed you," he told her.

Valerie smiled at him and nodded.

"I missed you too," she told him. "So much."

He nodded quickly and looked down at the ground in front of him.

"You, being a werewolf, it doesn't matter to me, you know that right?" he asked her. "That's not why I left. I love you Valerie, I always have."

"I know," Valerie said as her voice caught in her throat. "Cora told me."

"Oh," Aiden said and looked at Cora in surprise. "Thanks I guess Cora."

Cora chuckled before picking up her tea and standing up.

"I'll leave you two alone now," she said with a smile. "If Remus walks in while you two are still here, tell him his potion is on his desk. The moon won't be up for a little while."

"That's right, it is a full moon isn't it," Valerie said softly looking at the window.

"Yeah," Aiden said.

"What're you going to tell your family Aiden, when they find out that we're together and that I'm a werewolf?" she asked.

"Doesn't matter," Aiden told her. "I don't know if you've realized or not, but I'm your life mate Valerie."

Cora turned around in surprise at those words and looked between the two. She didn't know how she hadn't realized it before. She should've realized that they were life mates when she saw how sick Valerie was after the break up. She was glad she loved Remus, and that they were together. Seeing Valerie and Aiden only made the dangerous of her and Remus not being together held.

"Didn't you ever here, Ron?" said Remus. "The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger."

Trey thought back and he realized that his dad was right, and Scabbers had a toe missing on one of his paws. he knew the others thought that his dad was crazy, but it actually made sense.

"Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something! He's been in my family for ages, right -"

"Twelve years, in fact," said Remus. "Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?"

"We - we've been taking good care of him!" Ron protested.

"Not looking too good at the moment, thought, is he," said Remus. "I'd guess he's been loosing weight ever since he heard Sirius was on the loose again. . . ."

"He's been scared of that mad cat!" yelled Ron and Trey glared, the cat wasn't mad, cats eat rats, it's life.

"This cat isn't mad," Sirius said petting Crookshanks on the head. "He's the most intelligent of his kind I've ever met. He recognized Peter for what he was right away. And when he met me, he knew I was no dog. It was a while before he trusted me. . . . Finally, I managed to communicate to him what I was after, and he's been helping me."

"What do you mean," Hermione asked from beside Trey.

"He tried to bring Peter to me, but couldn't . . . So he stole the passwords into Gryffindor Tower for me. . . . As I understand it, he took them from a boys bedside table. . . . But Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it. . . ." Sirius said hoarsely. "This cat - Crookshanks did you call him? Told me that Peter had left blood on the sheets . . . I suppose he bit himself. . . Well faking his own death had worked once. . . ."

"And why did he fake his death," Harry shouted and Trey jumped in surprise. He had been so quiet this whole time, he felt that Harry had started to believe them. "Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"

"No," Remus tried to intervene. "Harry -"

"Yes I have," Sirius said coldly and Trey stared at him in shock. If he was Sirius he wouldn't have admitted that.

"Then I should've let Snape take you!"

"Harry," Remus said urgently and Trey was shocked by the fierceness in his voice. If he had spoken like this to the ministry Trey was sure the ministry would have given in within seconds. "Don't you see? All this time we've thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down, but it was the other way around, don't you see? Peter betrayed your mother and father, Sirius tracked Peter down."

"THATS NOT TRUE!" Harry yelled. "HE WAS THERE SECRET-KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNED UP. HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!"

"Seriously Harry, child down before you have a heart attack," Trey told him.

"Harry . . . I as good as killed them," Sirius said so sorrowfully that Trey turned to him in surprise. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-keeper instead of me. . . . I'm to blame, I know it. . . . The night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straight away. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies . . . I realized what Peter must've done . . . What I'd done. . . ."

He turned away and Trey was surprised to see the tears in his eyes. He'd never seen a grown man cry before in his life. He caught Sirius's eyes and nodded to show that he believed him. His father wouldn't stand up for someone who wasn't really innocent. Sirius smiled at him gratefully and Trey turned back to his father.

"Enough of this," he said and there was a cold note in his voice that in all his life Trey prayed he would never hear again. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me that rat,"

"What are you going to do with him if I give him to you," Ron asked.

"Force him to show himself," said Remus. "If he's really a rat, then it won't hurt him."

After a moments hesitation, Ron handed over his rat.

"Ready Sirius," Remus asked.

Sirius had already picked up Snape's want and approached Lupin.

"Together?" he asked.

"I think so," Remus said heavily. "On the count of three. One - two - THREE!"

A flash of blue-white light shot from both wands freezing Scabbers in mid air. Soon, the body of a full grown man shot from the appearance of the rat.

"Well, hello, Peter," Trey heard his father say mildly as his eyes adjusted to the dark once again. "Long time, no see."

"Seriously. Headmaster, when is he going to be here, I know you're getting tired of me sitting here in your office," Jack said quietly.

"I'm not," Dumbledore said with a smile. "How about you tell me what you're going to say when you see him?"

"I don't know what I'm going to say," Jack said softly. "It's been nearly twelve years since I've seen him."

"That's meant a lot to you , hasn't it," Dumbledore asked with a raised eyebrow.

"At first it did," Jack said with a nod. "My mom put me in a muggle school so that way I could get an education before coming to Hogwarts. They always had these father's day specials, and you could bring your dad to school on certain days, and it just hurt. Muggle children, actually any children can be rather cold when it comes to stuff like that."

"I see," Dumbledore said opening a piece of candy.

"Yeah," Jack said. "I know it broke my mom's heart to put us through that, and I believe that's why she started dating again, but she could never move on. I guess she could never find someone like my dad. I hear it was pretty unforgettable."

"That he was. I can honestly say I've never met another student like him," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"Not even me," Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You're getting there," Dumbledore said with a laugh.

Jack smiled at him and leaned back in his chair.

"You know I'm one of your favorite students," he said with a smirk.

"Well of course you are Jack, you keep me young by making me chase after you."

Jack smiled and pulled out one of his books. If he had to wait for his father, he would at least read while he could.

"I don't know how I did it," Sirius was saying slowly. :I think the only reason I didn't lose my mind is that I knew I was innocent. That wasn't a happy thought, so the dementors couldn't suck it out of me. . . But it kept me sane and knowing who I am . . . Helped me keep my powers . . . So when it all became . . . Too much . . . I could transform in my cell . . . Become a dog. Dementors can't see, you now. . . ." he swallowed and the pained look on his face brought tears to Trey's eyes. He couldn't imagine someone going though all that Sirius had gone through. "They feel their way toward people by feeding off their emotions. . . . They could tell that my feelings were less - less human, less complex when I was a dog . . . But they thought, of course, that I was losing my mind like everyone else in there, so it didn't trouble them. But I was weak, very weak, and I had no hope of driving them away from me without a wand. . . .

"But then i saw Peter in that picture . . . I realized he was at Hogwarts with Harry . . Perfectly positioned to act, if one hint reached his ears that the Dark Side was gathering strength again. . . . Ready to strike the moment he could be sure of allies . . . And ready to deliver the last Potter to them. If he gave them Harry, who'd dare say he'd betrayed Lord Voldemort? He'd be welcomed back with honors. . . .

"So you see, i had to do something. I was the only one who knew Peter was still alive. . . ."

Trey took a deep breath and looked at Peter with a rising hatred in his chest. The man had destroyed the lives of so many people just because he was a coward. He took Harry's parents from him. He destroyed Sirius with his cruel act, and killed so many innocent people. He was almost as evil as Voldemort himself.

"It was as if someone had lit a fire in my head, and the dementors couldn't destroy it. . . . It wasn't a happy feeling . . . It was an obsession . . . But it gave me strength, it cleared my mind. So, one night when they opened my door to bring food, i slipped past them as a dog. . . . It's so much harder for them to sense animal emotions that they were confused. . . . I was think, very thin, thing enough to slip through the bars. . . . I swam as a dog back to the mainland. . . . I journeyed north and slipped into the Hogwarts grounds as a dog. I've been living in the forest ever since, except when I came to watch the Quidditch of course. You fly as well as your father did, Harry. . . ."

He turned to Harry and Trey saw that Harry was almost won over and he felt great relief in his heart at the fact.

"Believe me," said Sirius hoarsely. "Believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and lily. I would have died before I betrayed them."

Trey saw Harry nod.

"NO!"

Pettigrew was on his knees acting as if Harry's nod was his death sentence. Trey suddenly felt sorry for Braydon, his father was such a coward.

"Sirius - it's me. . . It's Peter . . . Your friend . . . You wouldn't. . . "

Black ignored him and aimed a kick as his face, causing him to jump back.

"There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them," Sirius said and Trey fought hard not to laugh at that.

"Remus!" Pettigrew squealed to his dad. "You don't believe this . . . Wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?"

"Not if he thought I was the spy, Peter," said Remus. "I assume that's the reason you didn't tell me, Sirius?"

The casual tone of Remus's voice was raising the hair's on the back of Sirius's neck.

"Forgive me Remus," said Sirius softly.

"Not at all Padfoot, old friend," said Remus pulling of his robe sleeves. "And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?"

"Of course," said Sirius, pulling up his sleeves with a smile. "Shall we kill him together?"

"Yes, I think so," said Remus grimly.

Trey felt as though his stomach at dropped out. His father was not a murderer. He understood that Peter was a follower of Voldemort, but they shouldn't kill him.

"You wouldn't . . . You won't. . . . " Peter said in fear.

"Ron . . . Haven't I been a good friend . . . A good pet? You won't let hem kill me, Ron, will you . . . You're on my side, aren't you?"

Trey felt a sick feeling rise in his stomach. He wanted Peter to pay for what he did to everyone, but he didn't want his father to kill him. His father had spent his whole life avoiding hurting others.

"I let you sleep in my bed!" Ron cried out.

"Kind boy . . . Kind master . . . " he begged crawling to Ron. "You won't let them do it. . . I was your rat, I was a good pet. . ."

"If you made a better rat then a human, it's not much to brag about," Sirius growled as Trey tried to catch his dad's eyes, but Remus seemed to have forgotten he was there after everything that'd been said and done.

"Sweet girl. . .clever girl. . .you - you won't let them, help me . . ."

Trey helped Hermione pull her robes out of Pettigrew's fingers.

"Don't touch her," he said angrily.

Trey's eyes widened in disbelief and anger as Peter turned to Harry in defense.

"Harry . . . Harry . . . You look just like your father . . . Just like him. . ."

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY?" Sirius bellowed. "HOW DARE YOU FACE HIM? HOW DARE YOU SPEAK ABOUT JAMES TO HIM?"

"Harry," Peter begged. "Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed. . . . James would have understood, Harry . . . He would have shown me mercy. . . ."

Trey's eyes widened in horror when as one his dad and Sirius stepped forward and pushed Peter onto the floor.

"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort," said Sirius as he shook with fury. "Do you deny it."

Trey fought with disgust as Peter started crying. The man was truly pitiful.

"Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done?" Peter whined. " The Dark Lord. . . You have weapons you can't imagine. . . . I was scared Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. I never meant it to happen. . . . He-who-must-not-be-named forced me."

"DON'T LIE," Sirius thundered. "YOU'D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!"

"He-he was taking over every where," Peter panted. "Wh-what was there to gain by refusing him?"

"What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?" Sirius yelled angrily, he looked mad enough that it scared Trey. "Only innocent lives Peter!"

"You don't understand," Peter whined pitifully. "He would have killed me, Sirius."

"THEN YOU SHOULD AHVE DIED!" Sirius yelled. "DIED THAN BETRAYED YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"

Trey went cold as his father and Sirius now stood side by side with their wands raised.

"You should have realized," he said softly. "If Voldemort didn't kill you, then we would. Goodbye Peter."

Hermione buried her head in Trey's chest and closed her eyes. He sat fixed to where he was sitting. Begging silently for his father not to kill Peter.

"No!" Harry called out running forward and stepping forward. "You can't kill him. You just can't."

Thank you Harry, Trey said silently.

Cora sat on the couch drinking a hot cup of tea watching the fire. Remus hadn't been back yet, and she was getting worried. Aiden and Valerie had left a few minutes later to get some things straightened out between them. She heard a knock on the door and went forward to answer it. When she opened the door she saw Katrina standing out in the hall looking worried.

"Have you seen Severus," she asked quickly. "He's been gone about an hour when he was supposed to just drop off Remus's potion."

"No, and I haven't seen Remus for about two hours," she said softly. "He hasn't even been back to take his potion."

"Oh my god," Katrina said walking into the room. "Remus doesn't miss something like that unless it's important."

"I know, that's why I'm worried," Cora told him.

"I hope everything is okay," Katrina said quietly.

"I hope so too," Cora replied leading her towards the couch.

"Well," said Katrina slowly. "I can keep you company when we wait. You can tell me why I didn't know about that baby sooner."

Cora smiled at her and nodded.

"Alright, and you can tell me what it's like to be a mom," she said.

"Of course," Katrina agreed.

They sat down on the couch and Cora sat across from her.

"Do you seriously want to know why I didn't tell you about the baby sooner?"

"Of course I do."

"Fine," Cora sighed. "The Ministry regulated which werewolves can have babies and which ones can't," she said softly. "Because i am the life mate of a werewolf, and because I am a wolf Animagi, the ministry didn't want me and Remus to have children. It took a very beautiful speech by Trey in order for them to let me have this baby."

"Wow," Katrina said quietly. "I knew I didn't like the Ministry, now I have even more of a reason. What assholes!"

Cora smiled in agreement and took a sip of her hot tea.

"Who's with the twins?" she asked.

"Ethan, Sheridan, and Emily," Katrina told her.

"Are you sure it's okay for you to leave your son at home with his girlfriend?" Cora asked her.

"She's a good kid, I trust her," Katrina said smiling. "Anyways, she loves the twins, she'll spend as much time with them as possible."

They walked slowly across Hogwarts grounds. Trey was walking behind Sirius and Harry with Hermione. He knew his dad had his wand pointing at Peter, warning him not to make one wrong step. It was silent in their group until he heard Sirius speak up.

"Oi, Remus, do you think Bella will be happy to see me," he asked.

"More than you know," Remus said back with a smile and Sirius nodded.

"Good," he said, and they all fell silent again.

They continued making their way slowly and silently across the Hogwarts grounds. And then Trey saw the light of the moon wash over them and he froze making Hermione stop beside him. Up ahead he saw Snape collide with Remus and Sirius make Harry stop. His dad had gone rigid, a few seconds later, her dad's body started shaking.

"Oh my god," Hermione breathed beside him. "He hasn't taken his potion! He isn't safe!"

Harry saw Ron dart forward and knew he was going to try and save Ron. With Harry distracting Sirius, he dodged around him to try and get to his father. If Cora could calm him, he was certain he would be able to; wolves are very protective of their cubs, so it would make sense that a werewolf would try and protect their child. He reached his father's side, and noticed that he was almost fully wolf. All that was left was the snout.

He reached forward and tried to grab a hold of the hairy arm.

"Dad!" he called out, trying to reach the human side of his father. "Dad, can you hear me?"

It was too late, too much of Remus's mind was gone to the wolf. The nearly full werewolf reared back and swung a clawed arm swept out and threw Trey back. He wasn't how long he was in the air. All he knows is that as soon as he hit the ground, everything went black.

Dumbledore and Jack hurried down the hallway to Flitwick's office. They had just gotten sent a note by Snape, who said he was on his way to the castle and that he had Sirius Black in custody. Dumbledore paused for a moment and cast a disillusionment charm on Jack so the other's couldn't see him. They arrived in front of Flitwick's office and Dumbledore told Jack to wait behind one of the desks.

A few minutes later Snape pushed a stretcher with Sirius Black on it into the room.

"Go take the other's to Poppy and tell Fudge exactly what you saw, okay Severus," Dumbledore said tersely and Snape nodded and walked out the room.

Dumbledore muttered something under his breath and Sirius woke up slowly.

"Albus?" he asked softly and Dumbledore smiled once again a light twinkling in one of his eyes.

"Hello my dear boy," he said helping Sirius out of the stretcher and leading him over to the seat.

Sirius looked around the office slowly and a smile came to his face.

"This is Flitwick's office," he said softly.

"Yes it is," Dumbledore said quietly. "Listen Sirius, Snape doesn't believe you're innocent, Katrina is his wife, and she was Lily's best friend, there is a lot of anger in Katrina over Lily's death. He will do anything to ease her pain, and if she believes you are guilty, it would help her if you are caught. Fudge will be sending for the dementors soon. He will hold off until I'm done speaking with you, but after that, it's free game Sirius. I need to know what's going on."

"All of it?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, starting with how you broke into the castle, twice I might add, gave all of us a good scare," Dumbledore told him.

"I'm an animagus," Sirius told him without preamble. "When James, Peter, and I found out that Remus was a werewolf," and Jack gave a small inaudible gasp at those words, "we thought it would be cool if we could join him on full moon, and decided to become illegal animagus. Remus never told you because he thought you would be disappointed in him."

Dumbledore nodded and looked at him slowly.

"What happened that day?' he asked softly.

"Peter was secret keeper," Sirius said quietly. "I told James it was the better plan because he's less obvious. I never told anyone, not even Isabella. When I found James and Lily dead I knew what happened and went after Peter myself. So he yelled for ever one I betrayed them. He cut off his own finger, and turned into a rat after blowing up the street. He's been hiding here as Scabbers."

"I see," Dumbledore said. "I'm sorry you've been locked up this whole time Sirius. I wish I would have known. I have to go check on Harry now, but I have someone in here I think you'd like to speak too."

Dumbledore motioned for Jack to come out and he walked up to Dumbledore. Dumbledore tapped him with his wand and removed the disillusionment charm and walked out the room.

Sirius looked up at Jack in shock and Jack stared back. He stared into Sirius's gray eyes that are so much like his own.

"Hello Dad," he said softly.

"Jack," Sirius breathed standing up and walking over to him.

Jack reached forward and pulled Sirius into his arms as the tears fell from his eyes.

"God I've miss you," Sirius said hoarsely.

"We've all missed you dad," Jack said brokenly. "Mom has been hurting all this time. She couldn't even date without feeling guilty dad."

"Good ol' Bella," Sirius said with a smile his eyes tearing up for the second time that night. "Where's Taya? And the baby?"

"Estella has never seen you, so I decided to let her sleep, it would only confuse her," Jack said and then hesitated. "Taya believes in the press."

Sirius nodded and smiled at him.

"I'm glad you believe me Jack, it means more to me than you believe," he said.

"Trust me, I know," Jack said, and then their was a knock on the window.

They turned to see Harry and Hermione on a Hippogriff outside the window.

"Harry?" Jack said confused and then looked at Sirius.

"Harry was walking with Ron, who had that damned rat in his hands, and followed me when I tried to kill the rat," Sirius said annoyed. "Peter got away."

"Well, at least you were killed out there," Jack said walking to the window with him.

The window flew open and Sirius stopped in front of it.

"H-how," he said hesitantly.

"There isn't time," Harry cold him. "Come on, the dementors are on their way."

Sirius turned to Jack and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I will see you soon Jack, trust me," he said.

"I know, but hurry," Jack told him and Sirius crawled out the window and onto Buckbeak.

"Goodbye Jack," Sirius told him.

"Goodbye Dad," Jack told him. "And good luck."

Sirius smiled at him and flew off with the others.

(End chapter)

Kate, I hope you liked it, and now you see why Remus couldn't take his potion. It would have erased this entire scene. I needed Jack to see his father.

Author's Note: Yes, I know, it's a lot like the book, but there was a reason for it. The reason is obviously Trey. Trey is very close to his father, and these last few chapters were real eye openers for him.