Chapter 25

After breakfast on Sunday, Silver was no where to be seen for the rest of the day. Ron, uncharacteristically, was the one the most worried about her. He was afraid that her absence was because of his behavior the previous night. However, no one else seemed to be worried about her disappearance. In fact, when Ron voiced his concern, Hermione voiced her opinion on the matter: "It's hardly fair of us to expect her to be with us or near us every day. Perhaps she needed some alone time or wants to do her homework in peace. Or maybe she's hanging out with her Slytherin friends today, since she spent the day with Harry and Luna yesterday. I wouldn't worry, Ron. We'll see her tomorrow."

Ron just nodded and continued working on his Herbology essay quietly. Harry was distracted for another reason other than Silver's absence. He was thinking about approaching Professor Lupin to ask him about his relationship with Harry's parents. Making a decision, he stood up abruptly, startling Neville into dropping the book he was reading with a loud thunk. After a feirce glare from Madam Pince, the librarian, Harry apologized to Neville before leaving the library. He then headed towards the Defense classroom, where he knew the chambers of its Professor lay.

When Harry arrived at Professor Lupin's chambers, he hesitated for just a moment before knocking. He was bid to enter by the tired voice of his Professor. As Harry stepped into the office, he was struck by how differently the office was decorated. The previous occupant, Gildroy Lockhart, was incredibly self-centered and vain. His office had been decorated with several paintings of himself, as well as a multitude of hair-care and skin-care products.

Professor Lupin, in contrast, decorated his office sparsely. There were little personal effects scattered around the room, and the room was neat and organized. When Harry looked to his left, he saw that his Professor's chambers were similarly decorated. To his right, against the wall, was a giant tank. Inside was a small creature with long fingers, sharp looking horns, and pointy teeth. It was a pale, sickly green. Professor Lupin was sitting behind his desk, grading papers.

When he looked up after finishing a marking, he was surprised to see Harry standing there. Harry registered his surprise, before greeting the Professor, slightly awkardly.

"Hello, Harry. I wasn't expecting you. Please don't mind the Grindylow in the corner. It's for our next lesson. Take a seat, if you'd like." Harry sat in the only chair of the office; he felt a bit stiff, and clearly Lupin was picking up on that, for he came around the desk and leaned on it.

"What can I do for you?" Lupin had a relaxed smile on his face. Harry hesitated, for he wasn't sure how to explain what he knew.

"Are you wondering why I didn't have you face the boggart in our first lesson?" Lupin guessed.

"Well, yeah. I was wondering that. Did you think I couldn't do it?" Harry rebuked.

"No, Harry. That's not why. I had assumed it would take the form of Lord Voldemort."

"I did think of Voldemort at first, but then I thought of the train and how the Dementors affect me..."

"Ah, yes. It's a rare thing indeed, to be afraid of fear itself. Dementors have a way of making even the biggest man feel as small as a mouse." Harry nodded slightly in agreement. It was silent for a couple moments.

"Were you friends with my parents?" He blurted. Lupin sighed.

"Yes, I was. James was like a brother to me, and when he married Lily, she became a sister. Their deaths...broke me."

"If you were so close to them, why wasn't I placed into your care instead of my Aunt and Uncle?"

"I wasn't in a position to care for a child. Life was harder, back then. It was difficult to trust anyone. I didn't believe it, at first. I had been far away at the time. By the time I got the message that your parents were dead, it was far too late."

"Is it true you were also friends with Sirius Black?" Harry asked, quietly. Lupin looked at him curiously for a moment before replying.

"Yes. May I ask how you knew that?"

"Silver might've figured it out..." Harry mumbled. "I also found this." He pulled out the wedding picture from his bag. Lupin took it from him, before he smiled sadly.

"Ah, James and Lily's wedding. One of the last times all of us were together without the full strain of war upon us. Sirius was nearly happier than James was, on this day. He began going mad not long after this."

"What happened?" Harry asked, curiously.

"He become increasingly paranoid. Any time I saw him, or he visited your parents, he would think he were being followed. He bought every totem he could find, despite knowing that real totems are as rare as a diamond in coal. By the time I left on a mission for Dumbledore, he was spouting conspiracy theories that his family would find and kill them all. James still made him Secret Keeper, though. Despite Sirius's madness, he was still incredibly trustworthy. Wouldn't go down without a fight, or at least, that's what I thought. Until he betrayed your parents and killed our other friend, Peter."

"Pettigrew?" Harry furrowed his brows. Lupin nodded.

"You're not treating me like a child. Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you deserve to know. You already knew that I was friends with your parents and Black. You should know the story behind it." It was quiet for a few moments. Lupin started to make tea during the silence. Harry was debating on whether to disclose the theories he and Silver had discussed earlier in the year or not.

"Why would Black kill Pettigrew? If he was as loyal to my parents as you said, why would he betray them?"

"I don't know. I still think it was the madness that drove Black to do what he did. Finally succumbing to the Black madness, as he always feared."

"If he feared succumbing to the madness, wouldn't that give him reason to fight it? He was in Gryffindor, after all."

"I thought he would fight, but he didn't. He killed Peter and those Muggles and laughed about it, Harry." Lupin shook his head in sorrow.

"They never found Pettigrew's body, did they? Just his finger?" Lupin nodded, curious where Harry's thought process was going.

"Silver told me to pay attention to the animagi lesson from a couple weeks ago. I did, and the more I thought about it the more it makes sense. What if Pettigrew cut his own finger off before transforming into an animal and running away? And he's been in hiding all of these years."

Lupin was shaking his head before Harry finished. "Why are you trying to justify the death of someone you don't know, Harry? Sirius killed him. Sirius betrayed your parents; he's the reason they're dead. There were witnesses."

Harry looked at Lupin in slight disbelief; he thought his Professor would at least give his ideas a chance. As he looked at Professor Lupin, he noticed for the first time since entering how tired Lupin looked. As if he were tired of fighting, of having hope that something better was going to happen to him. It was quiet for a few moments, before Harry spoke again.

"Would you teach me how to fight a Dementor? I want to be able to defend myself from them."

Lupin looked at him for a few moments, in thought, before nodding. "It'll have to be after the holidays, though. I'll need time to prepare."

"All right," Harry conceded. "I better go. Thank you for the conversation, Professor."

He left shortly after, leaving a slightly confused man in his wake.

Silver's disappearance for the day wasn't noticed only by her Gryffindor friends. Her housemates had also noticed her absence, though Draco was the only one to vocalize it.

"I wonder where Sullivan wandered off to. It's been awfully dull without her annoying presence."

"Oh, please, Draco. She's the only one who challenges you, other than Potter, and he's not intelligent enough to keep up with your wit," Pansy remarked. "Who needs her, though? You're much better than her, Dracy-poo," she simpered, sidling up to him comfortably. Draco smirked, before returning her embrace. However, he made sure it was short lived. Pansy pouted, but moved over when he pulled away. Blaise Zabini was snickering in a corner, and Crabbe and Goyle were attempting to do their homework.

"You may as well eat, Pettigrew," Silver said to the man in magically enforced cage. She had a spell placed on the shackles around his ankles that prevented him from transforming; it was incredibly advanced magic, which caused Pettigrew to gape at her in awe when he saw it. Full grown wizards have difficulty enacting that spell, yet a thirteen year old girl was able to perform it with ease.

Pettigrew had the appearance of a plump man who lost weight too quickly. His hair was balding, and what hair he had grew unevenly, making his face seem even more sallow. The long time spent as a rat had given him a twitchy nose and a few rodent-like quirks, such as sniffing the air periodically and watery eyes. There was a chair in his cage, which he was currently sitting in. At the foot of his enclosure was a tray of food. It contained a roll of bread, some brothy soup, a hunk of cheese, and a cup of tea.

Silver hadn't wanted him to overeat, since it had been so long since he last ate a proper meal. However, Pettigrew wasn't making a move towards the food, despite his obvious hunger. He kept glancing from Silver to the food and back, his eyes filled with fear and nervousness.

"Relax. It's not poisoned or anything. I picked it up from the kitchens on my way up here." She could see that he didn't believe her. Sighing, she continued.

"If I wanted to kill you, Mr. Pettigrew, I would have handed you to Sirius when you first tried to escape me. Which hurt like hell, by the way. You have some sharp teeth." When Pettigrew still didn't go towards the food, Silver sighed and crossed the room to where the tray lay. Reaching through the bars, she picked up the bread, broke off a small piece, and popped it into her mouth. She then picked up the spoon and took a mouthful of the soup, which was now lukewarm. She asked the Room for another spoon, which appeared next to her. She replaced the spoon that was on the tray with the new one. She then broke of a small piece of the cheese and ate it, and sipped a bit of the tea.

Satisfied, she crossed back over to her armchair across from Pettigrew. When nothing happened after a couple of minutes, Pettigrew finally took a hesitant bite of the cheese. It was one of his favorites, so he had to resist the urge to gorge on it too quickly. Under the watchful eye of Silver, he ate slowly but steadily. He was unable to finish everything, though, and sat back into his chair afterwards. Silver summoned the tray from where she sat and placed it onto the table next to her.

Pettigrew finally spoke after several more minutes of silence.

"Why did you feed me?"

"Because I need you alive. I'm amazed that you've managed to get enough food to survive as a rat, with how skinny you got."

"Are you going to let Sirius kill me?" He asked fearfully.

"No. Sirius paid for your crimes for thirteen years. Even if he deserves the closure, that's not a reason to kill another man."

"What are you going to do with me?"

"For now? I'm going to keep you here. I will visit you once or twice a day, to reinforce the spell on your shackles. I am going to make sure you eat, even if you're afraid for your life."

"Why are you showing me any kindness? If you believe Sirius's story?"

"Why should I be mean? You're already terrified that Sirius is going to shred you limb for limb. You don't need the extra pressure, and quite frankly, I don't desire to hurt you."

"Oh, thank you! You won't regret it, Miss! You are wonderful, fantastic, even!" Silver blinked at his sudden change in demeanor. She smiled wickedly before speaking once more.

"Oh, but I'm not doing this for you, Pettigrew. And singing praises about me is the least likely way to get me into your favor. I despise simpering fanboys, though I suppose you never grew up, spending thirteen years as a rat?" Pettigrew looked like he had been slapped with the sting of her words.

It was quiet for a few minutes. The only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock, and Pettigrew's slight wheeze of a breath. His body was clearly not used to being human again after so long as a rat. However, he was beginning to relax a bit in Silver's presence now that he knew she wouldn't hurt him.

"Why did you become an animagus? And an unregistered one at that?" Silver asked curiously.

"Unregistered was easier. Less laws to worry about, and we were free to roam as we pleased," Pettigrew responded.

"Was James an animagus as well?" At the mention of James, Pettigrew got twitchy again. Silver raised her eyebrow in question. It appeared that any mention of his old friends made him twitchy. It was silent for a few moments. It was clear that Pettigrew was debating on whether to respond or not.

"He was a stag," Pettigrew disclosed at last. Silver's eyes widened slightly at that.

"'Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs,'" Silver quoted. "You four were the Marauders."

Again, Pettigrew got twitchy, though his eyes widened comically at her quoting the Map. Silver thought for a minute, before her eyes widened in realization.

"Lupin is a werewolf? That's what makes the most sense with the information I've discovered. He's afraid of the moon, and his health has been deteriorating the past week. The full moon is on Wednesday, which explains why Sirius didn't want to meet up for a little while. He wanted Lupin completely recovered from the moon before presenting the facts. Is it true that people who are afflicted tend to get more irrational closer to the moon, or is that just a rumor?" Silver asked excitedly.

"You're...not scared?" Pettigrew asked, astonished.

"Why would I be? It's not like Lupin would harm me when he's human. And with the invention of the Wolfsbane potion, he'd keep his mind during the transformation. Oh, that explains why Professor Snape is in a foul mood about Lupin being here. He had been asked to make the potion for Lupin, since it's a pretty finicky one." Silver was now pacing a bit. Pettigrew had noticed that his shackles were getting weaker, and tried to wiggle out of them without Silver noticing.

Without breaking stride, Silver flicked her wand with a mutter and the shackles were reinforced. She was still muttering about the new information she had learned. Pettigrew was watching her, slightly amused despite himself, when a blackboard suddenly appeared in the room, along with different colors of chalk.

Silver drew diagrams of what she learned so far, making connections and adding additional questions to the board. When the clock struck six o'clock, Silver nearly jumped in surprise, she was so invested in her work.

"Hey Pettigrew?"

"Y-yes?"

"If I give you a book to read, will you not destroy it? I'd hate for you to be completely bored out of your mind whenever I'm away."

"I wouldn't destroy it," he promised. Silver then handed him a couple of books from the edges of the room. She also asked the Room to give Pettigrew a bed. The cage resized itself to include the new addition. As an afterthought, Silver also included the necessities for him to relieve himself if need be.

"I'll bring you some fresh clothes tomorrow, along with some more food. It's going to be early when I come, since I'll have to sneak up before class. I hope you sleep well, Pett-" She cut off.

"Do you mind me calling you Pettigrew, or would you prefer Peter or something else? I never did ask you, for which I apologize." Pettigrew gaped at her in surprise for a moment.

"You can call me Peter if you'd like. Though I've gone so long being known as Scabbers, it'll take some time for me to get used to it." Silver nodded before adding an extra layer of protection to the shackles and cage.

"W-what is your name?" he asked, just as she was about to leave.

"It's Silver. Silver Sullivan. Have a good night, Peter. See you tomorrow." She gave him a small smile before departing.

Peter looked after her, perplexed as to how he ended up in this situation.