Harry, Hermione, Ron and Lucy stared at the two men like they were crazy. It was impossible that Ron's rat was Peter Pettigrew. He had been dead for 12 years; in fact, the dark-haired man in the room had killed him. Lupin and Black let the absurdity sink in for them. Then Ron voiced what they were all thinking.
"You're mental! This isn't Peter Pettigrew. His name is Scabbers." Ron's face screwed up in fear, confusion, and pain from his leg. Sirius shook his head violently, the long hair whipping around his head.
"You think I killed Peter Pettigrew but I didn't," He admitted. "I wanted to that night, but I never did. So tonight, this is my revenge." He lunged at Scabbers, knocking Ron's leg in the process and making him cry out in pain. Ron held the rat away as best as he could as Sirius reached out for him. But Lupin grabbed Sirius by the shoulders and pulled him back.
"I know you want to kill him. And I'm not going to stop you but you owe Ron the truth about who his rat is. And you owe Harry and Lucy the truth about everything." He said calmly. They both looked at the Potter siblings. Sirius nodded but stayed silent.
"You tell them Remus, I don't think I can." He said. Lupin clapped him on the shoulder and turned to face the four others.
"Okay, here it is. Don't interrupt me please, or it will take too long. We want to get this over with as soon as possible." Lupin began. Ron and Lucy nodded and Harry and Hermione said 'Okay.' So Lupin started the story.
"It all started when I became a werewolf. I was just a child and, back then, there was no known cure. My parents tried everything and they worried about sending me to school. Other parents wouldn't want their children exposed to someone like me. Dumbledore let me in though and he worked hard on making sure I didn't harm myself or anyone else. The Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. It wasn't just planted for scenery. It was planted for me. It led to the shrieking shack where I could come once a month when the moon was full. The shack isn't haunted; it was always me being transformed. Villagers blamed it on violent spirits and Dumbledore encouraged it.
Now, in school, I had three best friends: Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter. And they weren't stupid. They questioned why I was gone once a month at the same time. I made up lies so they wouldn't find out the truth but they were like Hermione. When they found out, they didn't desert me and instead, took a great risk to make me feel better. They all became animagi. Now, before you interrupt me, Hermione, I know what you're going to ask. After they became full animagi in 5th year, they never went to the ministry to register themselves. They still haven't for…obvious reasons. We would spend many nights out here as our animal counterparts. It was dangerous for all of us and I felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore's trust. We didn't even stay in the Shack. Eventually, we were brave enough to wander the grounds and the village. James and Sirius were big enough animals to keep me in check. I wasn't as monstrous with them around. I was more in my own mind than usual. We knew the grounds so well that we wrote the Marauder's Map and signed our nicknames on the bottom.
All year, I have felt so much guiltier for not telling Dumbledore that three students could transform into animals. I often felt I should tell him about Sirius being an animagus but I didn't. I was embarrassed and scared of losing his trust. His trust is one of the most important things to me. He accepted me when no one else would because of my condition. I assumed Sirius might be getting into the grounds through Dark Magic that Voldemort had taught him. Snape was right about me the whole time." Black looked at Lupin. His eyes taken off Scabbers for the first time since Lupin had started explaining.
"Snape?" he asked sharply. Lupin nodded.
"He's here, Sirius. He teaches at Hogwarts." Lupin looked back towards the kids. "Snape went to school with us. He was against Dumbledore appointing me teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts. He told Dumbledore numerous times that I couldn't be trusted. He had reason to think that of course. Sirius played a nasty trick on him while we were in school which almost killed him. He knew Snape was interested in where I went every month so he told Snape that if he used a long stick to freeze the Whomping Willow and followed the tunnel, he would find me. It was a stupid thing to do. When James heard about what Sirius had done, he ran down to the tree and pulled Snape out of the tunnel before he got seriously hurt. But Snape had seen me transforming. He was sworn to secrecy by Dumbledore; forbidden to tell anyone. But he knew what I was… what I am." He said. Harry interrupted him though.
"So that's why Snape hates you? He thought you were in on it. He thought you were going to hurt him on purpose." He ventured.
"That's right," sneered a voice from behind the open door. A swishing of cloaks and Severus Snape was revealed. "Thank you for leaving the Invisibility cloak at the base of the tree, Potter. It came in handy." He pulled his wand out. "And now I get to turn Sirius Black in to the authorities. The Dementors miss you, you know." He walked closer to Sirius.
"Now Severus, let's not get hasty here. If you'll just listen to the rest of the story, you'll find you have a different opinion about Sirius." Lupin tried to interject.
"Quite Remus! It's your fault I'm here anyway. I went up to your office to give you your potion and found a map open on your desk. I watched you go through that tunnel you used to use. The nerve, using this old place as your hiding place for Black." He gave Sirius a disgusted look.
"You don't understand Severus. Just listen and you'll find out the truth." Remus tried again. Snape pointed his wand at Lupin and cords shot out of the tip, binding his mouth, ankles, and wrists. The teacher toppled over, losing his balance. Black leaped toward Snape, ready to tackle him to the ground but Snape had swung his wand from Lupin to Black. Instantly, Black stopped moving. His face was a mixture of hatred, fear, and anger.
"Don't move!" Snape ordered, even though he was already frozen. "I'll take you and the werewolf up to the Dementors. You four," he barked at the students. "Follow behind me. You're all facing expulsion, I hope you're aware."
"But professor, maybe we should j-just hear the rest of the st-story." Hermione bravely said. Snape snapped his head around so quickly, they were surprised it didn't break. He glared at Hermione.
"You have no idea how lucky you were that I came here. You could have all been killed. Now get a move on or I'll expel you right here on the spot." His beady black eyes looked them all in the face. He turned to grab the cords that bound Professor Lupin as Harry lifted his wand. He shouted 'Expelliarmus' at the same time as Ron, Hermione, and Lucy. The effect was intense. The hinges on the door rattled and the spell not only disarmed Snape, but sent him flying backwards. He was knocked unconscious on impact. The binds on Lupin became loose and he yanked them off. Everyone looked at each other, nearly in shock.
"Thank you," Lupin said at last. "You shouldn't have done that but, thank you."
"I still don't believe you." Harry replied shortly. Lupin and Black exchanged glances. Lupin turned back to Harry and Lucy, looking them directly in the eye.
"Then it's time we showed you some proof. Ron, it's time for you to hand us your rat, whatever you call him, Scabbers." Lupin stretched his hand out to retrieve the animal yet again. Harry nodded to Ron to let him know that it was going to turn out alright if he did surrender the rat.
"How do you know this is Peter Pettigrew? Even if he is a rat, how do you know this is your rat?" Ron asked, still sceptical. Every head turned to look at Black who had backed into a corner the second Ron had started questioning him. Lupin gave him a face as if to say 'Well, how did you?' Black sighed, knowing he would have to explain before they could kill Peter.
"It all started this summer. Fudge, the Minister of Magic," everyone nodded, having already known this fact. "Well, he came to talk to me and he gave me the newspaper. I had nothing else to do all day, so I read it. On the front of the page was this young boy and his family. You were in Egypt as I recall." Ron nodded, not quite seeing where this was going. "Well, sitting atop Ron's shoulder was Peter – or Scabbers – and it said that the boy would be returning to Hogwarts. It was where Harry was." Black finished. "I recognized Peter from the many times we had transformed as students. And notice how one of his toes is missing? It was so simple for him, wasn't it?"
"Of course," Lupin concurred. The 13 and 11 year olds just gave them a blank look. All of them except Harry who knew what had supposedly happened to Peter Pettigrew that one night.
"All that was left of Pettigrew on that street was a finger." He realized out loud. Black snapped his fingers.
"Exactly. He shouted to the whole street that I had betrayed Lily and James, and then he blasted the street with the wand he had hidden on his person. He cut off his finger before he transformed into a rat and scurried off down a sewer probably." He explained. As much as Harry didn't want to believe him, wanted still to do him harm for allowing his parents to die, he was still curious as to how this had happened. He didn't have a chance to question this before Ron had interjected.
"Scabbers has been in my family for years. He can't be an animagus. You're both mental," He said.
"Please, if you'll let me finish what Remus doesn't know. I'm sure you'll be very glad to give us that…thing." Black spit the last word out, glaring at Scabbers. When there was silence, Black took it as a prompt to continue. "I befriended your cat over here who knew Peter for what he was. He also knew what I was so he avoided me at first. When at last I got the message through to him about what I was after, he helped me." Hermione cut in. Black wasn't used to having someone question him every couple of sentences.
"Helping you? How? He's just a cat." She said.
"At first he tried to bring Peter directly to me. But it proved more difficult than either of us thought. So he stole the Gryffindor passwords off a boy's bedside table where he'd written them out. It wasn't long, however, that Peter discovered what was happening. He tried to run away. The cat told me he had left blood on his owner's sheets and had not been seen since. My guesses are that he bit himself to fake his own death. He hoped it would work again, after all these years." As Black finished explaining, Harry felt his heart sink. It all made sense, no matter how absurd it was. "See, Peter, faking your death doesn't always work because now we've got you." And suddenly Harry clued in to what words were being said.
"Why did he have to fake his own death the first time?" He demanded.
"Because he knew you were going to kill him like you did to our parents?" Lucy added, her bravery surprising Harry.
"No, it wasn't like that. You two still don't have the whole story I think. We're getting there." Lupin defended.
"But you were their secret-keeper! And you gave them over to Voldemort!" Harry was regaining his anger at Sirius Black. But Sirius was shaking his head back and forth.
"I was going to be their secret-keeper, yes. And I didn't give them over to anyone. I persuaded James and Lily to switch their secret-keeper to Peter at the last moment. On the night they died, I was going to check to make sure Peter was alright and managing. But he wasn't in his hiding place, nor was there any sign of struggle or kidnapping. I headed straight to your parent's house but I was too late. I saw the house and the bodies and I knew what Peter had done that night. What I'd done," Black broke off, his voice cracking with emotion.
"Enough, Sirius, just relax. It wasn't your fault and I don't blame you for their death." Lupin said. He looked at Ron. "Hand me the rat, Ron, so we can get this over with." He said, icily. Ron hesitated but gave in to the teacher's steely glare. Lupin held the rat tightly around the middle. "Okay, Sirius, we're going to do this together on the count of three." Black nodded in accordance. "Okay, one…two…three." On three, Lupin put Scabbers on the floor as both men's wands shot an icy blue light towards him. The rat took off but his transformation was already beginning. Legs and arms started sprouting from the body like strange branches on a tree. A human face and head were becoming more evident while his torso was redefined as a regular stomach and chest.
And as crazy as it seemed, there was a man on all fours right in the place where a rat had stood mere seconds ago. Peter Pettigrew had shown himself at last.
Okay, if anyone wants to do fan art for this feel free. Don't even ask. I know no one's going to want to do that, but you never know. I know Lucy doesn't say much in this but she'll get a huge spiel in the next chapter. Sorry for any choppiness, it's a lot of information that everyone already knows but I still need it in here. Review please!
