Disclaimer: Sigh, everyone knows I don't own Harry Potter by now…right?
Chapter Fourteen: I Smell A Rat
Remus tried to be inconspicuous as he followed Arthur and his two sons through Diagon Alley. He ducked into shops, stared blankly at items in windows whenever a Weasley boy turned, and even stood in the crowd around a street performer with a pet Niffler. Charlie Weasley was the eager volunteer who hid some shiny objects in his pockets and let the Niffler sniff them out.
At around noon as Arthur sent his wife a post owl, Remus changed his appearance again in a public loo. It was the third switch this morning; just to be on the safe side. He now had black hair and hazel eyes, a tribute to his old friend James. Without glasses, however, they looked nothing alike.
So far, Peter was just being one hell of a lazy rat. Remus smiled grimly, Peter made a better rat than he did a human. He sat on Percy's shoulder and sometimes let the third oldest child of the Weasley clan hold him in cupped hands and stroke his straggly fur. Percy seemed content to let his rat do whatever it pleased.
Remus ached to whip out his and expose Peter for the traitor that he was. Years of living in the same room with Sirius Black and James Potter, however, had schooled Remus in the art of patience. Right now, he needed to be patient and wait for the most opportune moment to rat-nap Peter.
Eventually, towards two in the afternoon, Arthur looked like he was readying his kids to go home. Remus sighed in relief; he had been crouched behind a bush for almost an hour watching Charlie trying to convince Percy to let Peter go down the slide.
Turns out rats didn't like slides very much. That had been amusing for Remus at least.
The Weasley's flooed home and Remus caught their address. He didn't floo, stumbling out into the middle of the Weasley's kitchen wouldn't be very subtle.
He decided to stay in the Leaky Cauldron for a much needed drink.
"Rough day?" Tom asked, wiping out a mug with a dishrag.
"You have no idea." Remus answered and ran a hand over his face, feeling the bags under his eye that his glamour didn't hide and realizing what a mess he must look to the bartender.
Tom pulled a clean mug from beneath the counter and poured liquid from bottles of this and that together. "Here you go; this'll take your mind off of anything."
Remus thought about not drinking the questionable concoction, but then he felt a headache pounding at the back of his head and now that he wasn't moving around, his joints were all stiffening uncomfortably.
Remus took the drink.
If there was one thing Sirius Black couldn't stand, it was being trapped. Trapped with no way out was even worse.
He was trapped right now. The guards wouldn't look at him and the only person other than Moody who had even come down to talk to him had been some young auror named Palmero. Pleasant enough, but clearly scared out of his mind that Sirius would blink and his body parts would be scattered across the cell floor.
Well, Sirius had more important things on his mind other than if Palmero wet his pants in fear. His trial was tomorrow, the guards were whispering about it when they thought he was sleeping.
They were expecting him to get shipped back off to Azkaban without much of a struggle. Well…Sirius didn't intend to go back to that hellhole without some sort of fight.
He would use this time to compile what information he knew and make a defense that sounded plausible, or at least stalled the Wizengamot's decision for further investigation. If he could put even the smallest nugget of doubt in their minds, then he might have a chance.
A very small chance, but at least a chance. It was more than Sirius had gotten last time.
There was one advantage that Sirius had that the guards knew nothing about. Albus Dumbledore was the Chief Warlock, and Albus Dumbledore would at least hear Sirius out.
He had proved that often enough over the years when Sirius would show up in his office with some cockamamie story and an angry professor glaring him down.
Dumbledore's Office, 1975
"Sir, listen. It's no what you think it is…honest." A fourteen-year-old Sirius Black protested his innocence before the headmaster's large desk.
"How can it be anything else but destructive?! Black you set the sixth floor tapestries on fire for Merlin's sake!" McGonagall was understandably flustered and the hem of her robe was slightly smoldered.
"Yeah…but it was an accident." Sirius turned on as much puppy dog charm as he could but McGonagall's face was turning that funny purple color.
Dumbledore smiled at them both over his half-moon spectacles. "Go ahead Mr. Black, explain your use of the aestuo charm please."
Sirius opened his mouth, and then closed it again. "What…explain? Oh, right. Ummm, okay so Professor Flitwick was showing us the aestuo charm in class last week and I wasn't very good at it. So I told myself, self you need to work on this charm. And that's what I was doing on the sixth floor, practicing my school work. It just got a teensy bit out of hand."
"Teensy bit! Sir, you can't honestly believe…"
"Come now Minerva. I'm a reasonable man and those tapestries are easily mended. What say a week of detention and leave it at that. No harm done. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I hear a fig pudding in the Great Hall calling my name."
Sirius smiled fondly at the memory. He had gotten out of a lot of trouble in Hogwarts because Dumbledore had been willing to hear what he had to say. And yet he still held the record for the most detentions earned at Hogwarts.
His smile grew wider, until he felt a familiar coldness seep through the bars of his cell and over his skin, sinking into his body and causing a bout of shivers. "No." Sirius looked up and saw a dementor outside his cell, looking at him and breathing in deeply with a rattling sound.
One gnarled hand moved to rest on a bar and Sirius shrank back against the far wall and shut his eyes tight, focusing on keeping the coldness out of his mind. His occlumency wasn't very advanced yet, but he was able to suppress the dementor's grasp.
A guard walked up to the cell, looking pale and sick to his stomach. Sirius took a second look and saw that it was the Palmero boy from before. 'The um…the d-dementor is only here for your trial tomorrow. To escort you to Azkaban."
"Who says I'll be going to Azkaban?" Sirius was relieved that his own voice was steadier than Palmero's.
Palmero offered up a shaky smile as the dementor glided away. "You can't honestly think you're going to be pardoned do you?"
"I'm going to tell the truth, remember that."
Harry stared out the car window as he and the Grangers sped along a backcountry road on their way to London. Hermione next to him in the backseat was playing a game of solitaire and he mother was humming along to a song on the radio.
"How much farther until London?" Harry asked, rubbing at his eyes beneath his glasses.
"An hour or so. That reminds me, where am I dropping you off when we get there?" Mr. Granger asked from the front seat.
Harry thought for a moment. What place would be the best place for him to meet up with Sirius or Remus? Someplace in the wizarding world, that much was certain. And Harry had only been to one wizarding place in his life.
"Do you know where the Leaky Cauldron is? It's a pub my uncle said he would meet me at."
"I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the Leaky Cauldron. What street is it on?" Mr. Granger turned down the radio so he could hear the directions. Hermione paused in her card game to listen as well.
"It's on Ch…" Harry remembered Remus telling him what street it was on. It started with a 'Ch', but what was it!
"Charing Cross Road darling? I was at Zwemmer's a few months ago to find this lovely art book." She tapped her husband's shoulder. "It's near Tottenham Court Road." She then turned up the radio.
Harry was relieved, Charing Cross did sound familiar, he was certain that was right.
Hermione looked frustrated as she turned over a card, clearly one she was unhappy with. "Want to play gin?"
Hermione looked up. "I don't know how to play gin."
Harry smiled and took the cards, shuffling them as he talked. "It's easy, I'll show you."
Remus decided to take a room in the Leaky Cauldron that night. He knew where the Weasley's lived and he would go there first thing in the morning, in disguise, and try to talk them into giving him Peter. The tricky part in this plan was convincing the Weasley's, transforming Peter, and getting to the Ministry before Sirius was convicted.
And on top of all of this, he was going out of his mind with worry over Harry.
His mind was soon put at ease. A pair of small voices reached his ears, a girl arguing with a boy about which was better, a tiger or a lion. The boy was fiercely defending the lion.
Remus grinned, he knew that voice and that Gryffindorish trait. He descended the stairs and saw a familiar face from behind the coat of a tall muggle man who was looking around the bar.
The grin slipped from his face as he saw Tom leaning forward across the bar to get a good look at these muggles who had stumbled into a wizard building. Harry didn't have a glamour on and if Tom got a look at his scar…
"Tobin! Good to see you!' Remus hurried down, making his voice carry across the pub. Tom looked up and away from Harry.
"Oh, you're his uncle then?" The muggle asked.
"Yeah, hey Uncle Robert." Harry hurried over to Remus and hugged him. "Thanks for the ride Mr. Granger. Bye Hermione."
"It was my pleasure." Mr. Granger turned away. Hermione slipped Harry a piece of paper. "That's my phone number, call and maybe we can go to the park to play."
Harry smiled and put the paper in his pocket. "Okay."
Hermione waved and followed her father out of the pub.
Remus put one hand on Harry's back and steered him towards the hallway before anyone could get a decent look at him.
Once they reached his room, Remus pulled Harry into a hug. Harry was shaking with barely suppressed tears. "It was s-so scary Remus! There were aurors everywhere and Sirius n-never showed up!"
Remus looked Harry over for injuries; it looked like he was fine. "Sirius got arrested but I have a plan to get him out again, tomorrow actually. Merlin, I was so worried about you, c'mere little man." Remus pulled Harry close again and wiped away tears before they could fall.
The next morning Remus was up at the crack of dawn. Dressed in jeans, an olive green t-shirt, and a beat up brown jacket, Remus looked over at Harry who was sleeping on couch.
He didn't want to take Harry with him, but he didn't want to leave him here alone either. Remus made his choice, and roused the seven-year-old gently. "Hey Harry."
His response was an articulate "Mmmmph."
"Want to go save Sirius?"
Harry was up like a shot and pulling on the clothes the Granger's had given him. Remus put glamour charms on both of them and then they set of for the Weasley's.
The pub was deserted this early, Tom wasn't up yet. All the better for two refugees to leave unnoticed.
"Where do they live?" Harry asked as he and Remus walked up Charing Cross Road amongst the few muggles out and about.
"Somewhere around Ottery St. Catchpole I think. We'll have to walk around a bit to find it. Luckily I do know what the Burrow looks like."
"Are we gonna apparate?"
"Yeah, as soon as we find someplace deserted." Remus fingered the wand in his pocket and kept his other hand on Harry's shoulder.
They passed an orphanage and Harry waved at a blond boy about his age who was getting the paper from the sidewalk outside the fence.
"Hi." The boy nodded and hurried back inside, stripping the paper of the comics and throwing the rest at a stern looking woman waiting on the steps.
"No one's around, can we go now?" Harry asked and tugged at Remus' coat.
Remus looked around and saw that, indeed no one was within sight. "Hang on tight." He grabbed hold of Harry with both hands and apparated them out of London.
Molly Weasley was getting ready for another exhausting day as the mother of seven. True that one had gone away to Egypt and two more would be leaving soon for school but Ron would eat enough for all of three of them in their absence.
Setting the table and watching the clock, Molly placed a pancake on one plate, three on another, and two on all the rest. Her husband was Traveling, according to the clock so he would be home for breakfast today after working for most of the night.
"Morning Mum." Ginny skipped down the stairs with a smile on her face.
"Morning dear, are any of your brothers up?" Molly handed Ginny a cup of orange juice and she took her seat at the table.
"Yeah, Percy and Ron are." She took a bite of her pancake.
"Good, they can…oh Percy! Be a dear and go check the chickens for eggs." Molly waved her wand and the dishes started to wash themselves.
Percy groaned but went out the backdoor. His slightly curly hair was rumpled from sleep and his horn-rimmed glasses were askew. As he crossed the yard to the coop, he was unaware of the two people watching him from the orchard.
"That's it?" Harry pointed at the oddly shaped house.
"Yup, the Burrow." Remus grinned at the mere sight. Then he saw Percy walk out the door and head across the backyard. Now would be as good a time as any. "Let's go." Remus started walking towards the house and Harry followed a step behind, looking around him as several weird little creatures leered at him from behind plants.
"Hey, Moony? What're…"
"Those are gnomes. Pesky little guys." Remus grinned and knocked on the door.
Molly opened it, her head the other way as she was talking to other children inside. "Percy, you don't have to knock…oh. Hello." Molly turned and saw two complete strangers standing on her back steps. "Can I help you?"
"Yes, I had the pleasure of meeting your husband in Diagon Alley not to long ago. I was hoping I could talk with him again." Remus said as politely as he could, Harry added a charming smile.
Molly herself smiled and opened the door wider. "Certainly, he's not back from the office quite yet but when he does you can talk with him. Would you like pancakes?"
Remus declined the offer with a smile but thought Harry might be hungry. Molly's maternal instincts took hold and in seconds, Harry was sitting between Ron and Ginny enjoying his own stack of pancakes with a whipped cream smile.
Remus joined Molly at the sink to pass the time. "You know I was worried that you were muggles. We don't get many visitors so early in the morning." Molly said, pouring more batter into a pan.
Remus didn't have a chance to reply because Arthur flooed in at the same moment Percy returned with three eggs.
"Morning Weasleys!" Arthur called out and whipped off his pointed hat.
There were several sleepier replies of "Mornin' Dad." Arthur came to kiss his wife hello and saw Remus standing there. "Oh, hello. Don't I know you?"
"Yes, I met you in Diagon Alley. My brother ran into you."
Arthur laughed. "That's right. It was your nephew's birthday. T-something wasn't it?"
"Tobin." Harry supplied from the table between mouthfuls.
"And there you are! Well, what can I do for you…"
"Robert actually. Could I talk with you privately?"
Arthur looked a little taken aback but led Remus into another room and sat down in lumpy armchairs. Arthur made a go-ahead motion and waited for Remus to start talking.
Remus sighed and began. "Do you know your son's pet rat is really an animagus?"
Remus didn't know what Arthur had been expecting to hear but that clearly wasn't it. His eyes went wide behind his glasses and his face got pale.
"An animagus, but how? Why? Scabbers has been in the family for many years now. Who would do such a thing?"
"A Death Eater who needed to stay out of the public eye or else be sentenced to Azkaban on murder." Remus figured the best way to break the new was just to be blunt.
Arthur forgot to breathe for a second, and then he stood up and bellowed for Percy. "Percy! Get Scabbers and bring him here now!"
Remus heard Percy jump up, clearly confused, and dash for the stairs. Seconds later Percy ran into the room and handed a sleeping Scabbers to his father, "What's wrong?" He asked, panting.
Arthur gave Scabbers to Remus. "Do you know the spell?"
"Yes. One moment." Remus pulled his wand from his pocket and waved it over Peter in a complicated manner.
Before their eyes, Scabbers began to grown and transform from rat to human. He had very little hair and overly large front teeth but he was unmistakably Peter Pettigrew. As if he knew what had happened, Peter began to wake up.
His watery blue eyes opened and saw and enraged Arthur and Remus standing there, as well as a terrified Percy.
"Uh oh." Peter jumped up and dashed for the door. Remus was faster.
Peter fell to the ground bound in ropes.
"What is going on in there Arthur?" Molly called from the kitchen.
"You may want to see this dear." Arthur yelled back.
Molly walked in and gasped, covering her mouth with one hand. "It can't be, he's dead."
Remus thought about it, and decided he should tell them everything. He waved his wand again and felt his glamour slip off. Both Molly and Arthur gasped. "Remus?"
"This is Peter Pettigrew, the real Secret Keeper of Lily and James. Proof that Sirius is innocent and I need to get down to the Ministry before they give him the Kiss. Will you help me?"
Arthur and Molly looked at each other for a moment, then at Peter, and finally at Remus. "What do you need us to do?"
Author's Note:
A rat is revealed! Finally. Sirius' trial next chapter, couldn't get to it this time. Sorry. Please REVIEW!