Chapter 10 – The Godfather and the Rat

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A/N: Thank you for the reviews! It's a definite 5:4, maybe 6:4, if I apply rules of interpretation a little generously, in favour of Sirius being a Parselmouth. So...here it goes. And yes, as rightly pointed out, I do need to get them out of first year...so, this is the last chapter with Harry at age eleven.

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Harry woke up with a groan. Snuffles was barking madly, and Seri was hissing at him

"What's wrong?" Harry asked groggily.

"There is a letter for you," Seri said.

Harry picked up a piece of parchment next to his bed and opened it.

Sirius Black did not betray your parents, he was framed by the traitor, who was the actual Secret Keeper. He went to avenge your parents but got caught, and the traitor escaped.

If you do not believe me, check the history section of the library. Sirius Black was never given a trial, or veritaserum.

Please do not show this note to anyone. It is written in Parseltongue, and no one will be able to read it, anyway.

Harry swallowed. "Do you know who wrote this, Seri?"

"Yes."

"Sirius Black was here?"

"Yes."

"He says he is innocent."

"Yes."

"Is he right?"

Snuffles barked loudly.

Seri made an annoyed sound. "I think he may be," the snake hissed.

Harry ran to the library.

He could not find anything useful for the first few days. Then he found another note from Sirius, pointing out the books he should consult.

Harry replied with a note of his own. He received a reply a few hours later.

A few days later, Harry invited Sirius to the Chamber of Secrets.

XXX

Harry almost ran to the Chamber of Secrets on the appointed date, Snuffles at his heels, eager to meet his godfather. By now he was sure Sirius was innocent. Seri was convinced of it, and Harry wanted to confirm with Coron as well. Besides, Snuffles allowed Sirius to come near Harry to drop off the letters, and Snuffles was extremely protective. And really, if Sirius had wanted Harry dead, he could easily have killed him quite a few times.

The chamber was empty.

"Do you think he is going to come, Snuffles?" Harry asked.

"Of course he is, Harry," came a raspy voice.

Harry whirled around. In Snuffles' place stood a man, a man he recognised from the pictures in the Daily Prophet. However, Sirius looked significantly better than the newspaper pictures. Tall, handsome and smiling, he held out his arms and Harry ran to him to be caught up in a hug he had desired since he was a little boy.

"You were Snuffles this entire time!" Harry accused.

Sirius laughed. "How else was I supposed to be near you?"

"But shouldn't you be looking for Pettigrew?"

"He is at Hogwarts. That is why I broke into Gryffindor Tower."

"How can he be in Gryffindor Tower?" Harry wondered.

"He is Ron's rat."

"But Scabbers has been in family for ages...he was Percy's..."

"Ten years exactly – rats – even magical rats – they don't live that long, Harry...and his finger is missing."

"...And a finger was they could find..."

Sirius beamed at him. "You are an amazing child, Harry. James and Lily would have been so proud of you!"

Harry smiled sadly. Sirius hugged him again.

"Once this mess is sorted out, will you come and stay with me, Harry? I am your Godfather, after all," Sirius said softly.

Harry nodded, throat too tight to speak.

Till the last week of the term, Harry and Sirius talked about everything under the sun. Sirius taught him a lot of things, including spells in Parseltongue. Together, they also formulated plans to get hold of Pettigrew.

Unfortunately, Ron's rat had been missing since Sirius had attacked Gryffindor Tower.

XXX

A few days before the end of term, Harry visited his Head of House.

"Professor?"

Snape looked up from his desk to see Harry hovering at the door to this office. "Yes, Harry?"

"Do you have a few minutes?"

"Come in, child."

Once Harry was settled with his customary mug of hot chocolate, Severus asked him what was bothering him.

"I looked up some history books. They all say Sirius Black was put into Azkaban, but there is no mention of a trial or interrogation – which seems to have been done for other Death Eaters, and no one mentions his mark, either. All they ever say that they arrested him at a street full of dead muggles, and he laughed. Do you know what happened? From what I understand, all Death Eaters had some sort of a mark on their forearms and the ones which were arrested were questioned under some sort of potion."

"Veritaserum," Severus said softly. "The truth potion."

As luck would have it, they were interrupted by Filch dragging in the Weasley twins. Filch claimed they has stolen something from his office, and the twins played innocent. Professor Snape made them turn out their pockets, and they had nothing except their wands, some sweets and a piece of old parchment.

Snape muttered something and poked the paper with his wand.

Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs convey their greetings to Professor Snape and request that he keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business.

Fred and George burst into giggles, and Snape went white with fury. He sent Filch away and fixed his dark gaze on the two Gryffindors.

Harry knew exactly what the map did, and couldn't hide his excitement. Sirius had told him all about it.

"What is this?" Snape snarled.

"It's just a piece of paper that insults people, Professor," Fred said cheekily.

"This is not yours. And this may be putting Harry in danger. I ask again, what is it?"

The twins glanced at Harry.

Harry sighed. "Prongs is my patronus. It may be a coincidence, but..."

"It's a map," George said immediately. "It opens to 'I solemnly swear I'm up to no good' and closes to 'mischief managed.' We think the spell has some glitches, though. We keep seeing Peter Pettigrew in it – and didn't he die ten years ago? We have also seen Sirius Black supposedly in the room where we are once or twice, but there has been so sign of him – or any movement or magic or anything."

"Your dog got us caught, Harry. Took a liking to the map and tried to chew it off," Fred said balefully.

Professor Snape confiscated the map and sent them away.

"James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew – Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail," Severus told Harry. "I know Wormtail, we sometimes heard the name from the Dark Lord. We need to consult Lupin, much as I hate to say this. I have a theory."

Harry smiled.

XXX

Professor Lupin looked quite exhausted when they reached his office. Professor Snape quickly briefed him about what they had found.

"Were they Animagi?" Snape asked.

Lupin nodded. He stared at Harry, as if to convince himself he was real. "Can you really produce a corporeal form? Would you mind showing me?"

Harry obliged.

The look on Lupin's face was heart-breaking. "James," he whispered. "Yes, that is Prongs."

He launched into his story of his lycanthropy and his three friends who had taken animal forms for him, and how they had made the map. He told them about the Fidelus, and how Dumbledore had warned them about someone close to them being a traitor. Harry already knew it all, but it was still nice to hear it again.

"Unless..." Lupin's eyes widened in shock as they met Snape's dark orbs. "Unless they switched. The map is never wrong. If Peter is alive, he has to be the traitor – and if the Ministry didn't find the Dark Mark on Sirius, they would not have risked a trial. Sirius was innocent!"

"What kind of a dog was he?" Snape asked, dreading the answer.

"Big, black – we teased him about his form being that of the Grimm."

Snape drew in a sharp breath. "And the rat?"

"Brown, plump, size of your palm – I suppose with one finger of his right hand missing now."

"Weasley's rat and Harry's dog." Snape said.

Snape and Lupin exchanged a dark look.

"Harry, please fetch Snuffles." Snape turned to Lupin. "I will need your assistance. We can use the map to locate Pettigrew."

Face set in grim determination, Lupin nodded and followed Snape out. By dusk, they had captured the rat.

XXX

It went quite smoothly after that.

Snape and Lupin forced Snuffles and Scabbers to change to their human forms and restrained them. Veritaserum was administered to both, and Pettigrew was taken to Azkaban.

A few days later, Dumbledore, wearing his beatific smile, informed them that Sirius had been cleared of all charges and was free to take up guardianship of Harry, but Harry would still have to make a cursory stay at the Durseleys.

Severus and Sirius both snarled at Dumbledore with similar expressions, which made Lupin laugh.

"How many days?" Harry asked.

"One week would be adequate," Dumbledore said. "However, you need not go alone. Severus, I believe you are acquainted with Harry's aunt? Will you please accompany him?"

Severus nodded and clamped a hand on Harry's shoulder.

Sirius wanted to go with them, but Dumbledore pointed out that he would need to clean up his house and make it habitable if he wanted to keep Harry for the rest of the holidays.

"You will like London, Harry," Sirius promised. "Send Hedwig to me immediately if you need Snuffles to bite any of the muggles, all right?"

Harry grinned. His first year of Hogwarts had certainly ended well.