Chapter I - Betrayal
"Please, please don't, Sirius- Remember all those times? Remember at school- you, and- and me- and J-"
"You knew!" The man snarled. "You were the only one that could say, and before that, you knew! Who else of us would have dreamed-"
The first man turned to face the second and trembled, stopping in the crowded street. One hand flew to his mouth and he whimpered, the other bloodied hand slipping behind his back as he backed away as quickly as he dared. "S-sirius-"
Sirius drew his wand, advancing his steps twice as fast as Peter, cornering him. "Don't give me that rubbish, you filthy-"
With all the voice he could muster, Peter shouted, "You betrayed James and Lily!"
Shock overcame Sirius for the briefest of moments, just long enough for the street to explode in a burst of magic. People screamed. Dust flew. A rat ran for its life toward the gutter to escape the confusion. Sirius stumbled, coughed, and righted himself, glancing around frantically for any sign of his former friend.
But as a group of wizards closed in, he took the time to look around him. People lay dead around him, and the place where Peter once stood. The wizards that now grabbed him spoke, but he hardly took the words in. His gaze trailed from the bodies around him to the blood spilled on the ground and the grimy finger laying there, to a motion nearby.
Sirius caught sight of the rat's tail disappearing frantically into the drain, and as the realization of what happened settled on him, he laughed.