Lament of the Accused
By Rebecca Noelle - AKA Moondog
For many a long and lonely year,
I sat and I wondered, "Oh, why?"
With nothing but the horrible thoughts,
I sat, all alone, and I cried.
Everything that happened that night,
All that had been done, and would ever be,
The horrible death of two of my friends,
The blame; it fell completely on me.
"To always help in a time of need"
Was to what we had always swore,
Now what I need, is a chance to be freed,
For someone to open the door.
I needed to live, to dream once again,
To hope that it wasn't true:
When you're alone, and thinking it over,
You start to think; maybe it's you.
Maybe you did sell off your friends,
The Potters, dear Lily and James.
When you're alone, and all by yourself,
Your mind starts to play horrible games.
But I kept my wits about myself,
Knowing that I would never betray
Such a friendship that we had all had,
And I held on - to many's dismay.
I remember too clearly that sight I befell,
That Halloween night, when they died:
That terrible scene, that replayed in my mind,
As I sat, all alone, and I cried.
When I saw where Pettigrew'd gone,
I knew what I had to do,
I had to keep him from getting Harry:
And purpose in life I had found anew.
I was locked up in Azkaban,
That terrible, horrible, place,
A picture I saw, in the paper,
And I looked for some sort of trace....
Sure enough as the sun will shine,
The rat was missing one front toe.
It was Peter, the filthy scum,
But how I knew, I'm not sure I know.
When I went to watch the Quidditch games,
I was in for quite a bit of a start:
'Cept the names, he was so much like James,
That it almost broke my heart.
I kept to myself, hidden from sight,
Befriending a cat who seldom purred,
I sent him out in dark of night,
To get me the tower's password.
"Nothing bad is going to arise,"
I said to myself - but I lied.
But something went wrong, I knew that it would,
And I sat all alone, and I cried.
It just so happened Peter found out,
And he once again faked his own depart:
The scum of a rat, once oh so fat,
Was now worn as thin as his heart.
I could tell no one that I was around,
And with the talent of transformation,
There was not a chance that I could be found,
Unless one possessed our creation.
The map we had made, years ago,
To aid those marauding students,
Very few people of this map did know,
And those were selected with prudence.
Using the map, Remus found me,
And of course he found Peter as well,
Harry knew I was telling the truth,
And my life, he saved with a spell.
I sit all alone with Hagrid's old pet,
Hoping one day, I too will be free,
I'll keep trying - I've not lost hope yet,
For the accused are not always the guilty.