Unchained

Ch. 6: Rat Dreams

October 31st

Azkaban Prison; Maximum Security Level 3, Solitary

Sirius Black tossed in his bed as the annual nightmare savaged his subconscious. It started with the deaths of two of his dearest friends and the possible horrors they faced at the hands of that snake-faced sadist. After Lily's dying screams faded, the scene switched to his corning of that traitorous bastard the next day. Even as he relived his final minutes of freedom, he was still shocked that the Rat had gotten the better of him.

Black wasn't like the other inmates of the world's most infamous wizarding prison. The primary difference being that he was completely innocent of the crimes that had gotten him tossed into this particular hellhole without so much as a trial. The other major thing that set him apart was that, despite his deceased mum's wishes to the contrary, his father had never disowned him. Earlier on the fateful Halloween, he'd stopped by Gringott's and taken up his rightful place as Lord and Head of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black; which ultimately made his extended vacation in Casa de Dementor more bearable.

His first official act as Lord Black had been to reinstate his cousin, Andromeda Tonks, and her daughter back into the family. He then set up a living will just in case he was ever incapacitated during the war. Another decision that often brought a smile to his face because of the problems it caused his darker relations.

The day he arrived in this accursed place, the Aurors had tried to remove his Lord's ring but the magic of the ring's nature prevented it. One of the guards called in the warden, who instantly recognized the problem then personal escorted Sirius to his new home. There were times in the beginning of his incarceration that the loneliness became too much but eventually he realized that the benefits outweighed the forced isolation.

Each of the Solitary cells was equipped with blood wards keyed to the specific inmate that leached away their magic until they were just above Squib level. Because of that, the Dementors were kept away from the Level 3; for that reason alone many inmates tried to find ways to earn time in Solitary for a break from the vile creatures torment. An added bonus for Sirius was that being the Head of one of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Houses meant that he received better meals and a medical exam once every four months.

The dream changed unexpectedly just before its inevitable end and the sleeping Lord found himself watching an older Pettigrew exiting the Hogwarts kitchens with arms laden with food. A disembodied voice whispered softly in his ear.

"Soon Padfoot you'll be free…"

Hogwarts, the corridor outside of the kitchens

Peter Pettigrew exited the kitchens with enough food in his arms to feed three people. It wasn't that the illegal rat animagus never ate because he was fed quite well. The problem was that the illegal rat animagus had spent the last decade hiding out in his animal form at the Weasley home and what passed for filling to a rat fell very short of the mark for a human being. There were numerous occasions after the ginger haired family fell asleep that Pettigrew assumed his true form and raided their kitchen for a midnight snack.

The supposed dead man had hoped that coming to Hogwarts as Ron Weasley's pet would've allowed him plenty of opportunities to visit the school's massive kitchens but that just wasn't meant to be. Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's demonic bloody kneazle, caught him the first time he'd tried to leave the Gryffindor Tower as a rat and the beast nearly disemboweled him. He'd been lucky to escape with his life. Every time he tried to sneak out the blasted cat was there waiting for him. Tonight had provided him with the perfect chance to plunder some food.

Peter had been hiding in the pocket of Ron's robes when the Defense teacher had stumbled into the Great Hall screaming about a troll in the dungeons. He used the confusion that followed to slip from the pocket and make his temporary escape. The Dark Lord's weakest and most pathetic minion was pleased at how quickly the house-elves tripped over themselves to make his various snacks. His plan had been to hole up in one of the numerous empty classrooms and enjoy his feast but he'd forgotten to ask for a basket so he had to move cautiously down the hallway not to drop any food.

Harry Potter raced to the kitchens as soon as he noticed the traitors name and location on the map. His eyes gleamed with righteous fury while every instinct screamed out for retribution. Each step that brought him closer to his quarry only made it harder to not give into his anger. It was like the Gryffindor part of his brain was trying to take over but luckily his Ravenclaw nature prevailed. In order for his Godfather to be freed from Azkaban, the rat needed to be captured then put on trial.

The young wizard arrived just a few seconds before his Head of House but those seconds were crucial. Harry raised both of his wands then poured as much of his magic as he could into two overpowered levitation charms; if they could work on a fully grown mountain troll then they should be more than enough to deal with a Rat. By the time Professor Flitwick arrived on the scene, the food had torn itself from Pettigrew's embrace and was attacking him.

The half-goblin Charms Master stared at the surreal situation he'd run into. He wasn't sure if he should laugh at the sight of a cowering adult wizard being viciously attack by foodstuff, be shocked that a man long thought dead was still very much alive or be impressed by the raw talent being displayed by his student. The decision was made for him when Flitwick recognized the early signs of magical exhaustion in Harry. Filius cast a powerful stunner followed by a full body bind on the not-so-corpse like Pettigrew.

Harry ended his spells the moment the traitor hit the ground then almost collapsed. The diminutive professor helped steady him and the boy tapped his ever present earring with his wand.

"Gem, we got the Rat but I could use some help getting back to the Tower. Professor Flitwick has his hands full with Wormtail," the raven haired boy said tiredly to nobody then glanced over to his teacher and explained further.

"My earring doubles as a communications charm, my sister should be here soon to help."

"Well Mr. Potter, you are just full of surprises. First that cloak of yours, then that wonderful map and now cleverly charmed jewelry; all of which we shall be discussing later. Is there anything else I should know about," Flitwick commented dryly.

"Yes but they need to remain secret for now. Aunt Andi and Uncle Ted told me that you'd been in contact with them and as much as we all trust you it's not the time for certain things to come to light. I hope you understand, Sir," the tired boy replied and the teacher nodded.

Roughly ten minutes later, Gemini Potter showed up with rest of the Bronze Quartette. She played scout while Tracy Davis and Daphne Greengrass helped her brother. Professor Flitwick and an unconscious floating Pettigrew brought up the rear. While the Head of Ravenclaw House and Potter heir had been waiting, it was agreed to take the bound wizard to Flitwick's office then use his secure floo to contact the authorities. During the trek back to their tower, the professor organized his thoughts for the upcoming interrogation of his young Claws. They made record time back and Filius wasn't surprised to see Minerva McGonagall waiting for them.

Years ago, the portraits and ghosts had stopped reporting the major comings and goings of the castle to the Headmaster in favor of his Deputy. There were many magical portraits between the kitchens and Ravenclaw Tower so they were bound to inform her about what happened.

"Filius, it's been a long night already so could you please tell me what the meaning of this is and how Peter Pettigrew is not only alive but trussed up like a Christmas goose," the weary Deputy Headmistress.

Flitwick indicated that Harry needed to explain and the young wizard started by admitting his part in the troll incident in the girls' bathroom. McGonagall's eyebrow arched at how Harry had helped her Lions and her lips twitched into a small smile of gratitude. Then the clone of James Potter went on to detail Pettigrew's betrayal and Sirius' lack of a trial. Of course, he conveniently left out anything to do with the map or his earring but was pretty forthright with everything else. That Professor Flitwick hadn't thrown him under the Knight Bus for his omissions earned the teacher a lot of trust points with Harry and company.

Minerva listened to everything and then asked to use to floo. She tossed in a pinch of floo powder and called Madam Amelia Bones at home. After a brief conversation, the other witch came through with a couple of the Aurors stationed at Bones Manor. The formidable head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement always kept a vial of Veritaserum on her person. Pettigrew was revived then given the required dose and questioned.

Once Peter had answered all of the basic questions, Madam Bones ordered the Aurors to put the animagus in magic suppression cuffs then taken to a holding cell in a safe house only the three of them knew about. Pettigrew's capture needed to be kept under wraps until just the right moment. Neither Dumbledore nor the Death Eaters still at large needed to find out until it was too late for them to do anything. That meant waiting until during the Christmas break when the Wizengamut was left in the hands of the Old Crones; a group of ancient matriarchs that sit in for the Lords and Ladies that are too busy enjoying the numerous Yule parties to bother with doing their jobs.

Filius Flitwick busied himself with making tea while the Deputy Headmistress and Madam Bones finally left. The Head of Ravenclaw directed his young charges to find a seat then served everybody a cup of Earl Grey. Once the youngsters were sorted out, he took a deep breath and let it go slowly.

"Miss Potter if you would activate the map and place it on the desk; I would like to know where you came by it. Then we shall proceed from there," he stated calmly then took a sip of tea.

"That is the Marauder's Map, well more precisely their Master Map. It represents their second greatest accomplishment of their school years. Dad scouted out the initial layout of the castle and some of the secret passages. Sirius Black refined the details then added the rest of the passages and the Room of Requirement. Remus Lupin did all of the charms work and all four Marauders – including the Rat – added some of their magic to give the map permanence," Gemini responded while her brother nodded in agreement.

"I see, it is some very impressive spell work. Since you mentioned that this is the Master Map then I assume there are others out there as well," the professor commented stoically.

"The original plan was to make just a single map to share between the four of them but Dad soon realized how foolish that was. Peter was always the weakest link so the odds were always stacked in favor of him eventually losing it while in his possession. He, Sirius and Remus discussed his concerned in private. The three added more enchantments to the map; they gave it the ability to replicate itself on command but the person making the duplicate could choose which features the copy retained. They also managed to find a way to tie it to school's Sanctuary Wards.

"Anybody with a Dark Mark or if a Dark Artifact passed through the wards, they would show up in red on the map. The same thing would happen if any of the Marauders betrayed the others. Not that we no how to activate the Sanctuary tie at the moment because Dad never told us. Any way, each of the four friends had their own copy of the map but Pettigrew never knew his was just a basic version with only a few of the secret passages marked. That turned out to be a good thing because he did lose his map as the others predicted; it was confiscated by Filtch during their sixth year. It was eventually liberated a few years ago because the Weasley twins have it as near as we can tell," she finished explaining.

"Simply remarkable, for the moment I will not tell Minerva about the map until the situation with the Headmaster is resolved. However, I want a complete copy of it and find out from your father how to activate the Sanctuary tie-in during the Christmas holidays. Now run off to bed, with all the excitement from tonight classes will be cancelled tomorrow and Mr. Potter needs the rest. I still need to let Andromeda know about what happened tonight," Flitwick stated then shooed the children off to their dormitories. He suppressed a chuckle because he failed to mention that it was going to be a full report. Andromeda Tonks nee Black was more than like going to have a few choice words for young Harry about confronting the troll.

AN: A shorter chapter than the others but a necessary one. Before anybody goes off on my version of Sirius' imprisonment, I feel it that his status as a pureblood head of one of the really old families warranted it. It's not like he was in some kind of country club prison because there aren't any in the wizarding world. The next chapter should be up in a week or two; I'm hoping to get out updates for Southern Comfort and Elementary, Neville in the meantime.