Chapter 27
"And just why am I the one who is sitting here getting scolded? I wasn't even involved in this one!" James protested with a raised eyebrow. Even if his words said otherwise, his playful smirk denounced the fun he was having with the situation. It wasn't exactly fun, as James was feeling so stressed lately that he was having a hard time enjoying things as usual, but it was at least nice having a light conversation for starters.
Dumbledore just smiled serenely at him with one of his own eyebrows raised as well. "I'm not scolding you." Dumbledore pointed out.
"That may be so, but this whole thing feels strangely reminiscent of our Hogwarts years." James said with a chuckle, causing Dumbledore's smile to widen slightly.
"Lemon drop?"
"No, thanks." James said with a small grin. Since the time when they had 'accidentally' dunked Dumbledore's lemon drops in a potion that caused one to talk backwards, they had become wary around Lemon drops.
"Still, it would have been easier if you had left Fudge alone" Dumbledore said as he looked at James over his glasses.
"See, there's the scolding!" James exclaimed. "And as I already said, it was not my doing. In fact, it was not even my idea!"
Dumbledore sighed. "The risk had outweighed the benefit."
"Fudge is an incompetent idiot. He would have never stood a chance against Sirius and Remus." James said with an eye roll.
"It was foolish to assume that the Minister of Magic didn't have any protection." Dumbledore pointed out as he stood up and approached Fawkes to caress the bird.
"You mean those Aurors patrolling the street Fudge lives in? They had hardly finished their training and they were hardly trained by someone as great as Moody. Also, their patrolling pattern was easy to learn, according to Moony" James said with a small shrug of his shoulders, still sat on his chair.
"Just be more cautious in the future." Dumbledore said, turning to look at his professor. His gaze was soft and not all that reproachful.
"Tell that to Sirius." James said with a dry laugh.
"That's why I'm telling you, considering you're the only person he listens to."
"What about Remus? Couldn't you just have given him this talk and not me, an innocent bystander?" James asked as he cleaned his glasses with his shirt.
"The moon has already taken his tool on him." Dumbledore's voice was soft and gentle. James felt his hackles rise.
"You think I didn't notice?" James asked with an undercurrent of anger in his voice.
"That was not what I was implying." Dumbledore said calmly and James forced himself to deflate some of his anger.
"I'm sorry. I'm on edge today with the full moon looming closer and with Remus feeling so horrible." James answered as he rubbed his temples. "Was that the only reason you called me?"
"No, also we need to talk about Thomas Hen." James groaned at Dumbledore's apologetic tone.
"He's the worst student ever, worse than anyone I have ever known." James complained with a small whine.
"Ah, yes, about that, he didn't pass your exam and two other exams that have been held up till now."
"Meaning he is failing his OWLs big time." James said with a wince. James didn't know how one could fail all three of the first exams. "And you want me to try and give him an extra assignment, so easy that even a complete birdbrain can handle it so that it will save his stupid ass?" James asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Not quite in those crude words but yes, I want you to save, as you put it, his ass." Dumbledore said as he went back to his sit. He took a sip of his tea, carefully watching as James thought.
"Ok, I will try but I can't guarantee anything. After all, intelligence does not grow on trees." James answered dryly.
"Trying is all you need to do. Often trying seems to be more important than succeeding." Dumbledore said.
Other times trying was just not enough, James thought darkly.
"Was that all, Pr-Albus?" James asked. He still had problems breaking the habit of calling Dumbledore anything other than professor.
"Yes, but about Harry-"
"No!" James said darkly as he glared at Dumbledore. "You will not suggest that again." He turned around and hastily left Dumbledore's office.
It was the third time the Headmaster had tried to bring up Harry's past living arrangements and all three times James had rebuffed him angrily. Just because of the bloody blood protection, James would not leave Harry at the Dursley's place. They could protect Harry. Harry would stay with them and nowhere else.
Potter Manor's ancient wards had never been breached, of that he was sure of. He had made the mistake of not trusting them once, and he wasn't about to make the same mistake again.
"Watch where you're going, Petterson!" Snape snarled. Startled, James looked up. He hadn't realized that he had nearly walked into Snape, his thoughts clearly being elsewhere.
"Sorry, Serverus." James answered distractedly.
Snape raised an eyebrow. He had expected some kind of witty retort, not an apology of any kind. That he had not reacted as he had expected had thrown Snape and he was just staring at him in silence.
James' mind had already drifted back to Harry and Remus. He needed to get some hot chocolate and pain relief potion for Remus. Pomfrey would surely give him some, so, he wouldn't even have to steal it from the infirmary. Harry currently had his Herbology exam and would visit Hagrid later on. He needed to talk to him about his whole living arrangement. He doubted that he would want to be near the Dursleys but far too many things had been done without Harry having any say in them. Harry should make his own decisions.
"What are you planning?" Snape asked with narrowed eyes after seconds of nothing but silence.
"Huh?" was James' very intelligent answer. He had forgotten that Snape was even standing there. Snape glared at him.
"You're planning something!" Snape accused. James blinked at Snape in utter confusion, not knowing what he was talking about. He was saved from answering by a fourth year Slytherin student that hastily walked towards them, walking fast but not running.
"Professor Snape, sir, there was an incident involving dung bombs on the third floor." The student, Elisabeth Winter if James remembered her name correctly, informed them in a rush making the sentence seem like on word. Even so, Snape seemed to have understood her just fine.
A gleam entered Snape's eyes as he followed the girl, his black cloak billowing dramatically behind him as he rounded the corner. James shook his head trying to focus on the here and now and try to put the weird encounter out of his head.
James made a short stop at Madame Pomfrey's and at the kitchen before he gently knocked at the door leading to Remus office.
"And just why aren't you in bed?" James asked with a raised eyebrow as he leaned against the door frame, his fingers taping to a soundless beat. Remus looked up from the papers he was grading on his desk to smile ruefully at James. He was pale and the thick blue blanket he was wrapped up in nearly swallowed him. The marauders map was lying open next to his students' papers.
"Old habits." He answered with a shrug of his shoulders. James remembered that Remus had always tried to pretend that he was alright during day of the full moon.
"Here" James handed him the pain relief potion and the cup of hot steaming chocolate.
"Thanks." Remus answered with a grin that looked pained around the edges.
"Is Lily with Harry?" Remus asked before he took a sip of his drink. A blissful sigh escaped his chapped lips, making James lips quirk. The way to Moony's heart was chocolate in any form.
"Nope, she isn't accompanying Harry during his exams. She's out patrolling with Sirius." James answered as he walked over towards the window to lean against the window ledge.
"Dumbledore annoyed you again, didn't he?" Remus asked after a few minutes of silence that was only interrupted by the sound of Remus' quill scratching on the parchment.
"How did you know?" James asked as he pulled a slight grimace.
"Well, you're clenching your jaw and you're restless. And I know you just came from your meeting with Dumbledore." Remus answered absentmindedly, not lifting his eyes from the piece of parchment he was reading. James sighed deeply and turned to stare outside again.
"He tried to bring the whole blood protection thing up again." James said with a dark look. Remus sighed, finally setting the papers aside to give his best friend his full attention.
"And just like the last two times you rebuffed him." Remus sounded slightly impressed. James shrugged.
"Well, I will never make Harry go back to the Dursleys." He balled his hands into fists unconsciously, but the act didn't go amiss to his friend.
"Nobody will make Harry do that." Remus said softly and kindly. Carefully, he got up and made his way over to James on unsteady feet. James frowned at him. If it was possible, Remus had gotten even paler.
"You're in pain." James knew it was an obvious statement but he still made it anyways. "Take your bloody pain relief potion."
"And you're in emotional distress." Remus said pointedly. James let out a dry snort.
"Emotional distress sounds bloody weird."
"Doesn't mean it isn't true." Remus leaned against the wall opposite wall.
"Is that your new way of trying to get me to open up?" James asked with cocky smirk.
"Well, trying to force you didn't work. Not that it worked on Sirius either." Remus said with a weak grin. After some seconds of silence during which the two guys only stared at each other, James sighed, crossing his arms over his chest and turning his gaze outside once more.
"Too much stuff twirling around in my head." James answered softly as he ran a hand through his hair.
"That's not all, is it?" Remus asked.
"Dozed off in between classes, today." James answered after a few seconds of silence. Remus didn't pry and just waited patiently for James to continue. "Nightmare." James said the word with a bitter edge. Remus nodded. He knew all about nightmares. He had his fair share of them since he was bitten. Remus' nightmares were about pain, agony and the fear of turning someone else into a monster. James' nightmares were about failing to protect those whom he loved.
"A Memory?" Remus asked softly after he watched James not meet his gaze for a few seconds. Hazel eyes meet his again and there was pain hidden in them.
"Partly." was James' short clipped answer.
"You know that talking about it helps, don't you?" Remus said. "At least that was what you guys always tried to tell me."
"Sly, using my own words against me." A light chuckle escaped James' lips while Remus just raised an eyebrow and waited, adopting an amused expression.
"Do you remember the last time all four Marauders got together?" James asked after a while. Remus remembered, of course he did. He remembered the time when all four of them had last laughed together before everything went to hell. It had been such a plain and normal evening. It had been three weeks after Harry's birthday. The Marauders and Lily had just sat at the table eating dinner together, teasing each other, joking, laughing and just simply living. After he had lost them, it had become one of his most precious and painful memories.
"I dreamed about that. The last time we felt really truly happy in our ignorant little bubble, you know." James drawled.
"Everything happened just as I remembered it till ... everyone died." James gaze turned slightly unfocused.
"I tried to help but my hands went through everything like when I was dead." James said as he flexed his fingers slowly. "Peter was covered in blood, cold eyes as he walked away and left. You guys were lying on the floor dead, covered in wounds. Lily, Merlin, Lily was holding a tiny Harry, both not breathing. You and Sirius with dead eyes. There was so much freaking blood." James voice sounded choked as he gripped the sides of his head.
"Hey, we're fine." Remus said as pulled James into a hug, his aching body protesting at the movement. His aching body could go screw itself, Remus thought to himself. James, who was always their pillar of strength, being in pain was far worse. "We're all okay. Sirius is fine, sniffing the forest floor like mad. Lily is all right, following him while shaking her head. Harry is fine, sitting in his Herbology exam cursing all magical plants in his head but remembering everything that we taught him last night, with a calm Hermione knowing every answer and a disgruntled Ron probably accidentally destroying the exam plant. And I'm right here, feeling like shit but right here."
A choked laugh escaped James before he took a deep shuddering breath. They stayed like this for a few moments till James pulled back.
"Sorry and thanks." His smile was soft. The jittery quality of his movement was finally gone. Remus smiled at him ignoring the loud drums that were playing in his head giving him a pulsating headache. James composure was back and the pain had receded from his eyes.
"I've got this weird feeling since I got up." James said like it explained the reason for his nightmare.
"I'm feeling like I've been run over by Hippogriffs, repeatedly since I woke up." Remus said dryly.
"So, again, then why aren't you in bed?" James asked with a raised eyebrow. Remus just shrugged with his shoulders.
"All right, since you've had your turn now, it's mine." James said with a small smile before he stirred Remus into the direction of the bedroom. Surprisingly Remus went without protest.
"You do realize that I can take the potion on my own?" Remus asked dryly. James shrugged with his shoulders and handed him the potion. He could drink a potion on his own without James hovering. And also as soon as James left he would return to work on the papers anyways.
James left the room for a moment before returning with the papers, quill and the Marauders' Map floating behind him. He dumped the stuff in Remus' lap.
"Now you can do your stuff without getting up." James said with a smug little grin.
oOo
'"James, just to clarify, just what is in there?" Sirius asked dubiously as he stared at the pot of soup on the dinner table. The soup was in an ominously bright green colour and was bubbling furiously. For a moment Sirius thought he saw an actual eye floating in the soup.
On the table there was also a pot with noodles, one with sauce and one with fired onions and steaks. A jug of water and a jug of pumpkin juice were on the table as well.
"Sure that it is a soup and not a potion?" Peter asked as he glanced suspiciously at the soup.
"Hey, are you trying to insult my wife's cooking?" James asked indignantly.
"Lils, I think your husband confused the pots!" Remus called towards the kitchen. Lily appeared suddenly drying her hands with a dish towel.
"You're right. Were your trying to turn your friends into babys with the shrinking potion?" Lily asked with a teasing smile.
"Sorry, you said bring the pot to the table. How should I have known that one was filled with a shrinking potion?" James asked as he raised his hands in mock surrender, his attitude clearly showing he knew pretty well what he had done.
"Eh, prongs, I'd say it's pretty obvious." Sirius stated as he tried to keep Harry from crawling out of his lap and onto the table or trying to steal the spoon. Harry was already a year old. He could stand on his own even though walking was still a problem. One also had to get wary around him with stuff he could grab. Speaking was slowly developing, mostly he babbled nonsense that only Lily seemed to be able to decipher correctly. Last time Harry babbled James had tried to feed him. It had ended up with milk all over his shirt and Harry looking as grumpy as a Baby could look. But there were a few words that James understood. Like da and ma or if he is feeling especially talkative even mama or dada. Worta for Peter, Pafoo for Sirius and Moo for Remus. Well dog was also pafoo and mouse was also always called worta. He guessed it would take some time for him to understand that not every dog was Sirius. Currently the one-year and three week old was still trying to escape Sirius' lap and flee onto the table, hopefully not towards the shrinking potion. James didn't need Harry to become a foetus again.
"He's right. Even I've noticed that something was wrong with this soup." Peter said with a small smirk that seemed forced at the edges. His right hand was fiddling with the edge of his pullovers left sleeve. Peter had become more nervous and jumpy over the course of the war, but James couldn't really blame him. That's why such evenings of all of them together had become even more precious in those dark times.
"I don't see what's wrong with it." James answered with a small shrug. Sirius sent him a look that clearly spelled 'seriously?'.
"Maybe the fact that it is green and that there's an eyeball swimming in it?" Remus asked dryly before he took another sip of his tea.
"Are you're sure your wearing your glasses?" Lily asked with a small crooked smile, her emerald eyes alit with laughter as her red hair framed her face in soft waves. Almost without thinking, he brushed a stray curl from her forehead. Sirius pointedly cleared his throat.
"As endearing as you two Lovebirds besotted expressions are, my stomach is giving my brain the signal that it has last eaten an Irish apple tart at half past four and now it is seven pm and my stomach is currently craving for food." James escaped a small chuckle at Sirius words. Lily outright laughed as she brought the shrinking potion back to the kitchen.
She came back with a pot of steaming courgette soup and placed it in the middle of the table. She took her yellow apron off before sitting down. Sirius immediately grabbed a bit of soup and filled his bowl. Remus tried to take harry from his lap so that he could eat in peace but Sirius was having none of that. With a small roll of his eyes, Remus turned back to eating his own soup.
A fond smile stole itself onto James face as he watched them. The moment Sirius reached for a piece of baguette was the moment Harry took his chance. He tried to climb back onto the table again. His tiny hand landed on the end of the spoon that was lying in Sirius' bowl. The spoon acted like a catapult and, with a small clunk, a spoonful of soup was flying through the air until it finally hit Sirius right in the face. The other Marauders blinked stunned for a moment at the soup that was running down Sirius' face before breaking into helpless laughter.
"Your face!" James managed to get out between laughter. Peter was shaking with laughter and Remus was desperately trying to stop laughing but every time he looked at Sirius, a new wave of laughter took him. Lily wasn't even trying to hold her laughter back anymore. With a grumble, Sirius took a napkin and wiped the mess from his face.
"Really, Harry, why are you always out to get me?" Sirius asked dramatically as he raised Harry to his eyelevel. "Why always me, your dear dogfather?" Harry burps once not caring in the slightest that he had basically thrown soup in his godfather's face. "Right, Harry. You're officially removed from my best mates list" Sirius stated as he pulled a small grimace before handing Harry over to Lily, whose laughter was still bubbling from her lips, light and carefree.
"That's why babies are usually not sitting on your lap during dinner." Remus said with a grin. James felt something akin to relief that Remus could still laugh. Lily carried Harry over to the playpen which they had moved next to the table. Not that Sirius could have resisted Harry's pleading gaze for longer than a few seconds. James thought that Sirius should better not have given in and taken Harry out of the playpen.
"You still have soup on your eyebrow, Padfoot." Peter said with a quirk of his lips as he pointed at his own eyebrow.
"The splattered with soup looks suits you surprisingly well." James said with a small smirk.
"Oh really, does it highlight my eyes?" Sirius asked as he fluttered with his eyelashes. Remus let out a groan at the same time as Lily.
"Nope, it highlights your stupidity." James stated simply. Sirius' answer was a dark look in James direction before a small wicked smirk played on his lips.
"Whatever you're planning, you'd better not do it." Peter stated looking slightly fearful.
"What makes you think that I'm planning anything?" Sirius asked innocently as he took his spoon to take another sip of his soup.
"Your face." Peter stated as he pushed his chair backwards, so that his distance from the table was greater.
"Oh really? What about my face?" Sirius asked as he took another sip of his soup.
"That smirk spells trouble." Peter said flatly. Sirius just grinned at him. James saw the movement of Sirius' hand and ducked automatically. The projectile in the form of soup flew over him and hit Peter straight in the face. Peter spluttered and James let out a laugh before he too was hit with soup. The soup was obscuring the view of his glasses as it tripped down.
"Oh now you're going to get it!" James exclaimed as he grabbed a handful of noodles and threw them at Sirius. They hit both Sirius and Remus . A lone noodle was hanging from Remus ear as he grabbed a piece of baguette to throw at James' head. It had always taken no more than a few seconds for the Marauders to create an all-out food fight. Lily just dropped her head into her hands and groaned softly. She would have to clean everything again. She had to clean almost daily, because now she had not only the Marauders who threw around food but also Harry, who had more fun than appropriate when throwing his baby food everywhere.
"Pete, secure Harry!" Lily exclaimed. She was in no mood to give Harry a second bath today. Her boy didn't like going into the bath but once he was in it he didn't want to get out.
"Yes, ma'am!" Peter saluted as he dropped the piece of steak he had planned on throwing. It landed on the floor. Peter scrambled to get Harry out of the crossfire of food.
"Guys!" Lily cleared her throat trying to get their attention. Only Remus heard her and stopped throwing food. He sat down on his chair meekly and sent Lily and apologetic and guilty look. But Sirius and James had apparently not heard her and continued to throw food.
"Sirius! James! Stop!" She called but they continued to throw food.
"Potter and Black!" Still no reaction other than throwing more food.
"JAMES!" Not even a blink into her direction.
"All right, you didn't want it any other way!" She said darkly as she pulled her wand. Peter nearly runs back when he heard the loud splash and James and Sirius high pitched screams.
James and Sirius were both dripping wet. They still had the food they were about to throw in their hands. Surprisingly, a fish was lying on top of Sirius head wiggling helplessly. The two of them turned their heads towards Lily. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was glaring at them. James gulped. Sirius plucked the fish from his head and put him in the water jug on the table. If a fish was able to look grateful this one most certainly did.
"You guys, realize that I will not be the one to clean all this up?" Lily asked as she raised an eyebrow i challenge.
"Yes, ma'am." All four Marauders said meekly.
"Also you guy will do this without your wands."
"But Lily!" James whined.
"You can't just-" Sirius exclaimed. Lily's glare silenced him quickly.
"I can and I will. Wands!" Too intimidated to protest, all four Marauders handed over their wands.
"Now, clean!" She said with a pointed glare.
"Yes, ma'am!"
She went upstairs to take a shower, pleased with herself for making the Marauders clean their own mess. The only thing she didn't know, though, was that both James and Sirius had extra wands stored in the house and the food fight was far from over.
oOo
"If I so much as see another plant, I will bloody murder somebody!" Ron grumbled angrily.
"You do realize that the trees we just walked past belong to the category plants?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow. Harry snickered slightly.
"Haha, you know what I mean!" Ron muttered. The Herbology exam had gone as they had expected: After five minutes Ron had already wanted to get the hell away from the green house. That the professor had gotten a devils snare only increased Ron's discomfort. He could never really forgive the plant for trying to strangle him to death, even if the likelihood that it was the same plant was low. Maybe it was also the start of his dislike for any magical plants that could potentially kill somebody.
"Can we go to the Tower before going to Hagrid?" Hermione asked as she tried to balance the books in her arms. Ron and Harry had already taken a few of the books out of her hands and were carrying them along with their own books. Harry would never understand how he managed to take all these extra classes. It was obvious that she wanted to leave her stuff in the tower.
"Good idea, we could stop by the kitchen on our way back to Hagrid." Ron said as the two of them stepped back inside.
"What? You're not in the mood for Hagrid's rock cookies?" Harry asked with a laugh.
"I would be in the mood if I wanted to skip lessons because of broken teeth." Ron deadpanned. They walked along the corridors laughing and complaining about the exams. Well, Ron and Harry were complaining while Hermione rolled her eyes. After turning around a corner, she tripped over nothing and greeted the floor face first. The books she had been holding in her hands flew all over the corridor. Harry and Ron both went over to her, dropping the books they had been carrying on the floor.
"You all right, Mione?" Ron asked as both Harry and him helped her back onto her feet. Her forehead and the tip of her nose were slightly red but she looked fine otherwise.
"I'm fine and ...argghhhhh Peeves!" Hermione shrieked startling Ron and Harry. Peeves had appeared and picked up Hermione's books. He was currently juggling with them.
"Give me my books!" Hermione thundered stalking towards Peeves. He made a face like he thought seriously about it.
"Mhmmmm, Nope!" He cackled like mad before floating away with her books. Hermione pulled her wand and ran after Peeves cursing him loudly. Harry and Ron stared after her, and then looked at each other before groaning at the same time and running after her.
After many corridors, Hermione finally managed to corner Peeves in one corridor. The most threatening curses were falling from her lips while Peeves continued to cackle like mad, juggling her books as she fired spells at him, which he was evading. Peeves dropped the books on their heads and just before he disappeared, a great glop of bright green slime fell from the ceiling and onto Hermione. Both Harry and Ron winced. They had still been a distance away when the large glop of slime landed on Hermione, so they were clean, but the girl was probably quite... well, peeved right now.
"Ehh, Hermione?" Harry asked tentatively as they reached the slime covered girl.
"What?!" She glared at them with clenched teeth. Harry held his hands up in apparent surrender.
"I think a shower would be appropriate." Ron said in a whisper towards Harry, who didn't even dare to answer. Ron backed off a few steps when Hermione glared at him. Harry and Ron picked up Hermione's scattered books and they continued on their way to Gryffindor tower. They were walking a few steps behind Hermione just to avoid any violent outburst. They reached Gryffindor tower without incident even though Hermione was glaring at everybody that so much as looked at her.
As soon as they entered the common room, Hermione disappeared upstairs to take a shower. At the inquisitive stares of the other Gryffindors, Harry and Ron simply answered with: "Peeves."
It felt like forever till Hermione came back downstairs with no more slime and a less murderous expression.
"Take the invisibility cloak. If we're going to the kitchen..." At that moment Ron's stomach grumbled. Hermione sent him a look before continuing. "...we will only reach Hagrid after curfew." The last words were nearly whispered so that no one else overheard them.
"Since we know that Padfoot is not trying to kill, curse, kidnap or hurt you, breaking curfew is not a problem." Ron said with a shrug of his shoulders. Harry nodded with a small grin before scrambling upstairs to get the cloak.
Thankfully they didn't meet anybody on the way towards the kitchen, especially not Peeves. The houselves gladly gave them food and after Ron's third helping of potato salad, they were finally all stuffed. Now they at least had a good excuse to not have to eat Hagrid's cookies.
"Curfew at 7 pm is stupid. The sun is still up." Ron whispered as the sneaked down towards Hagrid's hut underneath the invisibility cloak.
"But only for little over an hour." Hermione whispered back. Her murderous expression had receded even more after they had eaten. There was still a slightly murderous glint in her eyes and Harry was glad that they had not run into Peeves again. Even though as a ghost Peeves was already dead, Harry could imagine Hermione killing him again.
They pulled off the cloak before knocking on Hagrid's door. The door opened to the face of a beaming Hagrid.
"I thought ya wouldn't come anymore." He said as he let them inside.
"Sorry there was an ... incident." Harry said after a moment of consideration as he took a seat at the table. Ron and Hermione sat down as well.
"An incident?" Hagrid asked sounding slightly alarmed. "I hope not another Black related incident."
"Nah, not that kind of incident." Ron answered.
"We had an unfortunate run in with Peeves." Harry said as he warily kept glancing towards Hermione whose left eye twitched angrily but otherwise gave no reaction to the name.
"Good, good. Well, not good but-ah ya know what I mean." Hagrid said sheepishly.
"Tea?" He asked as held up the tea pot, which looked tiny in his big hands.
"Yes, please." Hermione said. Carefully Hagrid poured the tea in the cubs before handing them over.
"Cookies?" Hagrid asked but all three of them shook their heads.
"We just ate in the kitchen. We aren't very hungry at the moment." Hermione answered with an apologetic smile as the boys nodded along.
"Then you can take some with ya." Hagrid said as he walked over to a shelf. Harry, Hermione and Ron shared a small panicked look but composed their features when Hagrid turned back towards them.
"That's very kind of you." Hermione said. Again Harry and Ron nodded along with her. Hagrid beamed and the three of them couldn't help but feel slightly guilty.
Hagrid opened the jar and blinked, all his movements stopping.
"Well, Ron, I think I found ya rat." Hagrid stated as looked inside the cookie jar. The three immideatly snapped to attention. Ron's rat. Scrabbers. Wormtail. Peter Pettigrew. The traitor.
Hagrid pulled out the squeaking rat by its tail. It wiggled and trashed as it tried to escape.
"Wor-!" Hermione stepped hard onto his foot. "Wow! Scrabbers!" He tried for a happy exclamation still an undertone of disgust was lacing his voice. Harry clenched his hands into fist to stop himself from trying to strangle the traitor.
"Here ya go." Hagrid said as he handed Wormtail over to Ron who tried to hide his grimace of disgust. The rat was immediately trying to get out of Ron's hold but Ron wouldn't relent not even when it bit him in the finger.
"Eww, it's even worse knowing it's him biting me." Ron said with a small noise of disgust. Hagrid looked slightly puzzled but before he could ask, Hermione distracted him.
"What time is it Hagrid?" Hermione asked. Harry's eyes were fixed on the rat. The rat that had betrayed his parents, led them to their death and had put his innocent godfather into Azkaban. Hagrid's eyes trailed to the clock on the wall.
"Oh bloody hell. You guys are not supposed to be outside. It's past curfew!" Hagrid exclaimed as he grabbed cookies and pushed them into their hands. They let them slip into their pockets with the intention of not eating them. Ron had a secure grip on Scrabbers.
"You need to leave." Hagrid said as he ushered them out of his door. He bid them goodbye before slamming the door shut.
"And what do we do now?" Ron asked as he stared at the rat in his hands, which was still trying to break free.
"D-Professor Petterson." Harry stated simply. "We still need to ask something about the essay." Harry invented. It would be better if Peter didn't know that they knew who he was till he was safely secured and couldn't get away.
"What essay?" Ron asked confused. Hermione rammed her elbow into his rips. "Ouch. What was that for?!"
"For being an idiot!" Hermione proclaimed simply. "You already forgot about the essay we have to hand in tomorrow." She pointedly looked towards Wormtail. Finally Ron seemed to get that it was just a lie to not reveal that they knew who Scrabbers really was and were planning to hand him over.
"Ah, that essay. Completely forgot about it." Ron said with a shrug.
"Typical" Hermione said as Ron rolled with his eyes.
"Let's go." Harry said as they slowly made their way up towards the castle. Harry couldn't help but feel elated at the knowledge that Wormtail would finally get what he deserved and that his godfather could be free.
oOo
A.N.: First of all I apologize for taking so long. I had a writing block, where I was staring at the blank paper and was unable to put my thoughts into words on paper. It was bloody annoying. Secondly next week my classes are starting again so my writing time will be cut short. I will update once month at least. I will try to finish the next chapter as quickly as possible. It helps that I already know what's going to happen in it. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter and reviews are as always appreciated.
