Rat, Snake and Riddle
A/N: The Prisoner of Azkaban chapter Cat, Rat and Dog gave me the inspiration for the title. Re-watching the scene in the PoA movie where Harry spots Pettigrew out in the corridors made me wonder if Pettigrew did these late-night wanders often. If so, what might he have seen?
November 8th 1992
1:00 A.M.
Quieter than a ghost, Peter Pettigrew slipped out of Ron's bed and headed downstairs. It was driven by a combination of things- nostalgia, for one. He'd lost track of the number of times he, Prongs, Moony and Padfoot had snuck out of bed for some late-night mischief, and it was time to yet again explore by night the castle he'd grown to love so much as an adolescent.
The other drive was food. A handful of elves would still be working away well into the early hours of the morning, and there was always the chance he could steal a few nibbles of something warm when no-one was looking. He shivered at the thought of what would happen to this beloved place if his old Master ever returned. He was after all, an opportunist, not an idealist. Blood Status, or the superiority of Wizards over Muggles and other magical creatures held no interest to him. Survival was the only goal, whatever it took.
As he approached the Hospital Wing, Peter's whiskers trembled as he felt a draught blowing through a broken window. Diving into a crack in the wall, he navigated his way into the plumbing pipe that lay beyond it via a minor breakage. In the dark, a small spider passed him. Then another.
Snap!
Peter's reflexes were as good as ever, and he was always one to take advantage of the opportunity for a snack, however unpalatable at times it may have been to human tastes. He stopped as the handful of spiders became a torrent of black-bodied arachnids, all moving in one direction. It was impossible to move through them. Then he heard it.
A smooth, constant rasping of scales on smooth concrete. The pipe began to emit a continual vibration as something massive moved up it.
Time to leave.
Peter turned tail and joined the throng of fleeing spiders. What was causing them so much terror? Adders, birds and rodents never caused this sort of reaction in spiders. Instinctively, his gut knew the answer.
The Monster of Slytherin, whatever that was. He heard a venomous hiss from behind him, and not daring to look back, picked up his pace further.
The spiders and Peter poured out into the dark, abandoned corridor leading to the Hospital Wing. Turning right with the spiders, Peter tried not to think about how his master was responsible for the recent frightening events he'd heard Ron and Harry talk about. Harry had communicated with Ron his concern about hearing a venomous voice in Lockhart's Office, as well as on that creepy Halloween night.
The echoing noises of the predator in the pipes behind him gave way to a much quieter rasping as it, too, started to slither out of the opening Peter and the spiders had used. He started to descend a small flight of steps one by one. Looking ahead in the faint gloom, Peter noticed with a shock a Hogwarts student, the small, mousy-haired boy that had pestered Harry so much lately. Colin (wasn't that his name?) exclaimed loudly at the sight of spiders passing by him en-route to the nearest broken window, and reached for his camera.
Peter needed to get past Colin quickly. He didn't want to see what was about to happen next, and he knew that this Muggle-born boy was in serious trouble. As he scurried towards Colin, the latter clasped the old-fashioned Muggle camera around his neck, and aimed the lens and viewfinder at the swarm of agitated arachnids still behind Peter.
As Peter came within ten feet of the boy, it happened. Just a little flinch. It coincided with a sudden puff of sooty steam emanating from the camera as Colin's face and hands instantly lost all colour. His eyes widened and partially rolled back in their sockets as he fell, still with a vice-like grip on his camera.
Colin's body impacted the ground with a sound similar to a block of concrete as Peter scurried past him. As he approached the broken window five metres away, Peter finally risked a glance behind him to find the flight of stairs he'd just taken completely abandoned, save for a handful of spider corpses beside the fallen boy. No sound of the Monster whatsoever, which if anything freaked him out even more.
Trying not to look at the boy's body (he'd always been the most squeamish of the Marauders), Peter accelerated his way back to Gryffindor tower up the flight of stairs he'd just fled down. No way was he using the pipes this time. His heart missed a beat as he heard hissing again. Not from a giant reptilian form, but from a human voice box.
Parseltongue. His Master's specialty.
There was another person ahead of him, hidden in the shadows as they stroked the stone wall ahead, murmuring something using that eerie language as they cradled a small object that looked like a book in their left arm. Peter caught a glimpse of flaming hair as the person took a corridor to the left ahead.
Peter followed behind at what he thought was a safe distance, his soft pitter-patter the only thing giving him away. The person ahead came to a halt, paused for a moment then whirled around alarmingly as their wand ignited.
At that, Peter Pettigrew's heart nearly stopped altogether.
He recognized the face and identity of the person immediately. When they were your owner's sister, that was easy to do. But that wasn't what had drawn his attention.
Ginny Weasley's eyes had a familiar gleam, and her pupils were blotched and bloodied, as they stared menacingly, madly, in the direction of Peter and the corridor beyond.
Lord Voldemort was here.
Peter remained rooted to the spot for several seconds. Eventually, the possessed girl slowly turned away, extinguishing her wand.
At that, Peter ran, not pausing to stop or look around until he was safely in Gryffindor Tower. Trembling, he worked his way under Ron's covers and stayed there.
Ron would never know quite why Scabbers was shaking several hours later, but for Peter Pettigrew, he'd been proven wrong on one thing. He thought the scenario that scared him the most was the remote chance of Sirius breaking out of Azkaban to find him.
He had just been proven wrong.