Safe and Sound, Chapter Four
Written by: blueflutterfly23
Edited by: Snivellus
Quite some time passed since Harry's talk with Professor Lupin. Harry was standing atop a hill with Ron and Hermione. They had just left Hagrid's because it was the day of Buckbeak the hippogriff's death sentence.
The three watched in horror as the executioner lifted up the the large steel axe and brought it down, making a terrifying slicing sound. Hermione slipped her arms around Ron's neck and her head on his shoulder while she burst into tears. Harry hugged Hermione in an attempt to comfort her as he had done many times before to Gracie.
"Ow!" Ron yelped suddenly. "Scabbers, he bit me!" Ron's rat was scurrying away from him. "Scabbers!" Ron shouted, running after his rat. Harry and Hermione followed quickly.
Ron caught Scabbers, but he had ran underneath the notoriously violent tree, that stood on the school grounds. "Harry, that's the Whomping Willow." Hermione said fear dripping from her voice.
The Whomping Willow was a nasty, enchanted tree. If you even so much as walked too close to it, the Whomping Willow would whirl to life and use it's giant branches to banish you in a very violent manner. Harry and Ron had encountered the tree last year whilst they were in Mr. Weasley's flying car. Let's just say that the car left with more than a scratch or two.
"Ron, run!" Harry shouted. Ron looked up at Harry and Hermione. His looked relieved but it was quickly replaced to mortified. "Harry! Hermione! Run! It's the Grimm!" Harry and Hermione turned around. There, not more than ten feet away from them stood a growling black dog, who over the course of the year, Harry had come to know as the Grimm.
The Grimm came running towards Ron. It grabbed Ron's leg in it's mangly mouth and dragged him down a hole underneath the Whomping Willow.
The Whomping Willow started swinging it's branches in various directions. Hermione was plucked up by a branch. The Whomping Willow swung that branch through it's others and back to the outside of them. Hermione grabbed Harry's shirt and pulled him along with her. The Whomping Willow swung it's branch one last time, hurling Harry and Hermione into the whole that Ron had been dragged in. They followed the path, hoping to find Ron soon.
When Harry and Hermione finally met up with Ron in the Shrieking Shack, they were greeted with Ron's cowering whimpers and him sitting in a dusty old recliner, clutching at his obviously broken leg.
"Harry! It's him! It's a trap! He's an animagus!" Ron shouted. He pointed to behind the door. The door closed. Harry spun around and saw a trail of wet muddy paw-prints. Leading up to a scrawny man in a ratty prison uniform, who Harry instantly recognized as the mass murderer, Sirius Black.
"You!" Harry roared.
Sirius stepped forward and Hermione skidded in front of Harry, "If you're going to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!"
"Oh no," Sirius replied mysteriously, "Only one will die tonight."
"And it'll be you!" Harry screamed and lunged forward, locking his hands around Sirius's throat.
"Are you going to kill me Harry?" Sirius questioned manically, as Harry stabbed his wand into his filthy neck.
Remus then bursted through the door and said "Expelliarmus!" and Harry's wand was thrown from his hand. Sirius stood up and gave Remus a hug, holding on for longer than necessary and choked out, "Remus, he's here! He's here! Let's kill him, let's do it together, c'mon, Remus!" Remus then replied firmly, "No, at least not now, if we are going to kill anybody I think Harry has the right to know why!"
Hermione shook her head. "I trusted you! I didn't tell anyone when I found out!" She yelled in disbelief.
Ron looked at her confused. "Learned what?"
"He's a werewolf! That's why he's been skipping classes!" She yelled. Remus looked at her with surprise written on his face. "How long have you known?"
"Since Professor Snape assigned the essay."
"Well, Miss. Granger, you really are the brightest witch of your age."
The Golden Trio were all thoroughly confused, Ron spoke up first, "Excuse me, but who are you killing, now?" Remus replied in a hushed voice, "Someone who I believed to be dead, for 12 long years." Sirius finished, screaming venomously, "PETER PETTIGREW! COME OUT, COME OUT AND PLAY, PETER!"
The door was swung open again, just as Snape was pulling off Harry's invisibility cloak. Sirius stood up and sneered, "Well, well if it isn't Snivellus, the potions princess, herself!" Snape grimaced at the insult and pushed his wand deeper into Sirius neck.
"Give me one reason and I'll do it, I know the spell, just two words, give me one good reason." He answered in a deadly tone. Sirius laughed playfully "Now, now, Severus, why don't you run along and play with your chemistry set!" Snape was furious now, "AVADA-" but before he could finish the spell, Harry, Ron, Hermione all cried, "Expelliarmus!" and Snape was blasted off his feet and onto a collapsed four poster bed.
" Now, as I was saying before we were interrupted by the dear Snivellus, 12 years ago when your parents learned of the plot to kill you, they went into hiding….."
And so he explained the surprising tale of how he was wrongly imprisoned for a crime that he didn't commit and with each word Harry had formed a new blazing hatred for Peter Pettigrew.
"Where is this 'Peter' git, anyway?" Ron asked nervously.
Sirius smiled, showing off his black rotten teeth and the he pointed to the fidgeting rat in Ron's pocket.
"ME, ARE YOU MAD!" Ron bellowed.
" Not you! The rat"
"SCABBERS? Scabbers and has been in my family for-"
"Twelve years! And is he missing a toe?"
Ron shook his head, confirming the answer, "So. What's that got to do with anything." Harry put two and two together. "All they could find left of Pettigrew was his…. finger!"
Sirius jumped forward and snatched the rat out of Ron's hands. Then he muttered an incantation under his breath. He set the rat on the broken floorboards and the rat started to swell, and grow in width and height. What Harry saw next made his eyes widen in shock.
A short, balding man was standing there, stumbling and twitching nervously.
"S-S-Sirius, R-R-Remus! My old f-friends" Peter stuttered, his eyes darting guiltily around the shack.
"Don't talk, you monster! You sold James and Lily Potter to Voldemort! YOU KILLED MY BEST FRIENDS!' Sirius shouted very loudly.
"I d-d-didn't mean t-to." Pettigrew was crying now "Y-y-you don't k-k-know how it is. The D-d-dark L-Lo-Lord is….you don't know w-w-what it's like. Sirius, w-what would you have done i-i-if you were m-me?"
"I would have died! I WOULD HAVE RATHER DIED THAN BETRAY MY FRIENDS!"
Then turning to Remus after he bounded Peter with ropes, "Come on Remus, let's do it now, let's avenge them. Please Remus, Please. I've done my waiting... TWELVE YEARS OF IT!... IN AZKABAN!" Sirius was begging now.
" Harry what do you think?" Remus looked into Harry's emerald green eyes, hoping that he would understand the severity of the situation.
" I think we should kill the bloody….." This was the man who killed his parents. Harry knew deep in his heart, that his parents wouldn't have wanted this. But he had to avenge them, and he also knew he had years to show them who he really is.
Sirius and Remus nodded in understanding, their eyes softening instantly. Sirius took a more gentle tone "Would you like to help us, Harry?" Sirius and Remus had their wands drawn. They started to , but Harry shouted, "No! Stop! We're not going to kill him! We're going to take him to Dumbledore's office."
Peter kneeled to his filthy knobby knees. "Bless you, b-bless you, young man." The vermin started kissing Harry's feet.
"Get off me." Harry said, shoving him away. "I said we'd take you to the castle. The dementors can decide what to do with you." Peter's face shriveled in fear.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sirius, Remus, and Pettigrew walked out of the Shrieking Shack. Ron had the assistance of Harry and Sirius. "Sorry about the bite. I reckon it stings a bit." Sirius said to Ron.
"A bit? A bit? You almost tore my bloody leg off!" Ron shouted, agitated.
"I was going for the rat. Normally, I have a very sweet disposition as a dog. James actually recommended that I become one permanently. Now, the tail and hair I could live with, but the fleas, they murder." Sirius explained.
When Harry and the others came to the end of the passage, they crawled out and Sirius walked away to get a clear view of the castle. "You should go, Harry." Hermione said. She was kneeling down beside Ron. Harry looked over at Sirius. "No, it's fine. I'll stay." He said. Hermione looked at Harry sympathetically. "No, you go, I'll stay."
Harry looked over at Ron for reassurance. Ron nodded his head. Harry walked over to Sirius. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" He said admiring Hogwarts. "I remember the first time I walked through those doors. It'll be nice to do it again as a free man." Sirius looked at Harry. "That was a brave thing you did back there. He doesn't deserve it." Harry looked back a Pettigrew. Remus had him at wand-point.
"Well, I don't think that my dad would have liked it if I let his two best friends become killers." That wasn't the truth-at least, not all of it. When Harry found out that Pettigrew had sold his parents to Voldemort, he wanted to kill him on the spot. But then, he thought of Gracie. If he went back to the Weasley's (where Gracie was staying, as Harry didn't trust the Dursleys enough to send her back), he didn't want to have to tell her he'd killed someone.
So, he spared Pettigrew. Besides, Sirius could never be free if the truth died with Pettigrew. "I don't know if you knew, Harry, but before they died, your parents made me your godfather."
"I know." Harry said. Sirius looked at him with an expression Harry couldn't quite read.
"I can understand if you choose to stay with your aunt and uncle, but if you ever need another place to stay,"
"What? Come and live with you?" Harry asked in grateful disbelief.
"You don't have to, it's just a thought. I can understand if you don't want to."
"No, no. I'd love to." Harry accepted the offer. "But, can I bring a plus-1?" Sirius nodded.
"Harry!" Hermione shouted. She pointed towards the moon. It was full. Sirius gasped and sprinted towards Professor Lupin. He tried to get Lupin to calm down, but it made no difference, Lupin already turned into the wolf he feared. Sirius then transformed into his dog animagus and fought Lupin to keep him from hurting Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Somewhere in the commotion, Pettigrew had gotten away, and with him, Harry's only chance at a real family.
Harry and Hermione watched from behind the trees in the dark forest. Horror was written on his face as he gazed upon past-Sirius running down to the lake after fighting Remus, who was in his wolf state. He heard a squeaking noise, like the sound of a rat. "Hermione! It's Pettigrew!" He whisper-shouted. Hermione brandished her wand. "Immobulus!" A flash of blue light came from her wand. Pettigrew was frozen. She picked up that rat. A wicked smile came across Harry's face. Now all they had to do was save Sirius.
"This is it. This is where I saw my dad." He said. Hermione shook her head with dubiety.
"This is horrible." She said.
"Don't worry. He'll come. Any minute now, right there. You'll see." Hermione's face scrunched up in panic. "Harry, no one's coming."
"He will. He will come." Harry reassured, though he wasn't sure if he was doing it for himself or for Hermione. Harry stood there, the fear growing more and more evident on his face. He bolted forward and yanked out his wand. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" He yelled. His wand produced an almost blinding white light.
Harry's patronus knocked away the dementors as soon as it hit them. He ran back to Hermione. The two of them bolted to Buckbeak. They hopped in his back and the hippogriff took off. "You were right, it wasn't my dad that I saw. It was me. I knew I could do it because I had already done it before. Does that make sense?" Harry said jubilantly.
"No, but I don't like fly-" Hermione was cut off by her own high pitched scream that leaked from her lips when Buckbeak took a dive. The two landed on top of the astronomy tower. "Bombarda!" Hermione shouted. The metal door binding Sirius' cell flew open. "Sirius come on!" Hermione yelled. Sirius jumped up and walked quickly towards them.
As they flew on Buckbeak, Harry dropped the bomb. "We've got Pettigrew, we're taking you to Dumbledore!"
"Harry, you can't they'll just take me back to the dementors!"
"Don't worry, we have a plan!" Harry said as he landed on top of another tower. "Stay here. If anyone comes up here, hide." Harry said. He and Hermione darted inside of Hogwarts.
As the duo came into Dumbledore's office, they shouted "Professor Dumbledore!" in unison. The older man turned around. He was still in his office, even at the late hour that it was. "Yes, Harry?"
"Sirius didn't do it." Harry said.
"Do what?" Dumbledore asked.
"He didn't sell my parents to Voldemort," he looked at Hermione. She pulled out frozen a rat. "And we can prove it."
"Harry, forgive me if I sound rude, but how is a rat supposed to help Sirius?"
"Professor, this rat is Peter Pettigrew. I know, I know that he's supposed to be dead, but just listen to me, please." Harry pleaded. Dumbledore nodded his head.
And so, Harry told the story of how Pettigrew had framed Sirius for James and Lily's murder. About how he cut off his own finger and transformed into his animagus form and had been living like that for twelve years. He told how Pettigrew had been posing as Ron's rat, and how the truth had been revealed in the Shrieking Shack. "All you have to do is the charm to make his back to his human form. I would do it, but I don't know how.
Dumbledore pulled out his wand. He unpetrified Pettigrew and changed his animagus form back to human. "P-professor Dumbledore, h-h-how nice to see you again." He said with his eyes beady like a rats would be.
Dumbledore walked into a large wooden cupboard at a fast pace and returned with a small vial filled with a clear liquid . "Veritaserum," he explained. "A very useful and very strong truth potion." he then turned to Peter. Pettigrew knew that he had no choice and drank the potion. Dumbledore set the empty vial in his desk and declared, "Peter, I want you to listen carefully. Is what Harry just told me true?" Peter's eyes widened in fear. He knew that Dumbledore already knew the truth, but all he had to do was confirm it and Sirius would be free while Peter would be in Azkaban. But he had no choice. "Y-yes."
Harry smiled wider than he ever thought possible. He left the room for a moment and brought Sirius in. The Minister was contacted as was the aurors. The truth had finally come out, Sirius was a free man. That meant Harry could finally have a family
Hello, lovely readers. I realize that the story is still very cannon, so don't worry, things will change very soon. As things begin to change with Gracie and Sirius, so hang on just a bit longer. That's about it.
Love,
blueflutterfly23