"Are you sure this is necessary?" Harry asked Ginny, who was not coming with them to Lupin's office. In fact, the only ones who were going, according to some plan Ginny and Colin had arranged, was him, Ron, Draco, and Colin himself.
"Yes, stop questioning me." Ginny said, huffing. Harry had to fight the urge to roll his eyes.
"Ginny."
"Don't use that tone with me, Potter." Ginny snapped.
"Tone?" He asked, confused. He didn't use a tone.
"Oh god, you didn't even notice. You used your "I'm more moral than you" tone."
He hadn't realized he had a tone there. Did he do that often? How many statements did he use that tone? And he could see why people wouldn't like that. He wouldn't like someone using that tone against him after all. Wait, was this why random things made Draco annoyed with him? Harry should do something about that.
Ginny sighed when Harry didn't say anything.
"Lupin had a group of friends in school." She began explaining. "Him, your father, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew."
At the listing of the names, Scabbers let out a pathetic squeak. The rat had long since worn himself out trying to escape, something that was impossible both by the fact it was a rat cage for a reason and that Ginny kept him with her the night before to keep magic over it. He was now just laying in the corner of the cage, trying to look pathetic.
Something about it was so fake, however, that it made Harry even more convinced that he wasn't a normal rat. Not that he doubted Ginny.
"He lost them all and sometimes he looks at you in sadness." Ginny continued, ignoring Scabbers. "So we are going to have a bigger chance of him believing us if you four remind him of him and his friends."
Oh. Yes, he supposed that made sense, even if he felt it was unnecessary. Harry for James, because of looks. Draco for Sirius, for being the black (white?) sheep of a dark family. But-
"Ron and Colin?" Harry asked, frowning.
"Ron because it's his rat. He has to be there, even if he's not like Lupin. Also, we needed a fourth boy and Neville has disappeared, again." Ginny huffed again, though more annoyed this time. "Colin because, for all the seriousness he has now with an adults memories, that first month of him fanboying over you had absolutely ruined his reputation."
"Excuse me for being a happy child." Colin said as he and Ron came down the stairs into the common room. It was early, so the common room was empty besides them. The early risers for breakfast wouldn't be up for another 30 minutes, and the three of them would be gone before then.
"Yes, how dare you." Ginny said, amused.
"Should we be talking in front of him?" Colin asked, seeing Scabbers' cage sitting there on the couch with them. Ginny waved her hand carelessly.
"I have a anti-easedropping spell on him." She said, before looking at Harry, more serious than she had been the entire conversation. "I've pushed this off long enough. Lupin can't know I'm the one to sense Scabbers. It will just buy me under suspicion."
"Will it?" Ron asked, frowning. "You could just be a prodigy."
"But I wasn't before. Before the beginning of second year, I had shown no extra magic talent." She said, looking at her brother. She paused, before sighing. "In fact, I couldn't even use my magic until the beginning of summer, thanks to Riddle."
She said the name like a curse. Harry would never say he knew anything about Loki, whom he had only met once before all this, but even a brief encounter showed him that Loki didn't take being controlled well. It made sense that Ginny would have kept that trait, even after the merge. Now she hated Voldemort the most out of all of them, which was no feat.
"So to them, I suddenly became powerful after I was being controlled by a dark wizard."
"But they don't know that," Ron pointed out. Ginny gave him a look.
"Are you going to look me in the eye and tell me that Dumbledore doesn't have some idea about what really happened? I don't need that kind of attention on me. So Harry, we're going to say you did it."
For a second Harry thought he had misheard. It took a moment to process that he hadn't.
"What? But-"
"No buts." Ginny snapped. "You're already famous, and under their watch. So what if you show them that you actually deserve some of that fame?"
That was... harsh, but he understood what she meant. He sighed, and was about to agree, but Ginny continued before he could.
"Of course, we're just lucky that you're already above average when it comes to magic or this was come out of no where." She said, sounding almost pained to give him a compliment. He had to smile at the tone.
"I get it, I get it. But what do I say?"
"That Scabbers felt like Mcgonagall. Sound panicked, like you don't understand what's happening, and keep it vague."
"I don't understand what's happening anymore."
"And that'll make the performance authentic." Ron said, smiling.
"I believe in you Harry." Colin said, sounding like he didn't, in fact, believe in him. Harry sighed and took off his glasses to rub his eyes.
"I'll do my best,"
Ginny rolled her eyes.
"You better do more than that."
xXx
Remus hadn't expected to see Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Colin Crevy, and Draco Malfoy in his office so early in the morning.
He wasn't even sure how they had gotten in, but he was sure Mr. Crevy had something to do with it. Most of his coworkers have described the boy as just following after Harry, but Remus had seen the look in his eyes before. He was smart, and clearly devious.
Remus wondered how he had kept it so under wraps.
He would have been mad, that the four children had broken into his office, if it wasn't for the fact of how serious they all looked. If the problem was so urgent that they couldn't even wait until he had gotten to the office, then he needed to hear what it was before he lectured anyone.
"What are you four doing in here?" He asked after he got over his shock, moving past them to sit at his desk. He noticed that Mr. Weasley had his rat cage with him, and had to wonder what his rat did with any of this. They were silent, until Mr. Malfoy literally pushed Harry towards his desk. Harry glares at his friend before nervously glancing at Remus. Remus, in turn, tried to look open to maybe ease some of that nervousness.
"Um," Harry started, before cutting himself off to glance at the rat cage. He took a deep breath and looked back at Remus. "Scabbers feels like Professor Mcgonagall."
It took a moment for that sentence to make sense to him. But what that implied was impossible, especially for a teenager. He realized he was staring and looked down at his desk. He cleared his throat.
"Can you elaborate, Mr. Potter?"
Harry visibly faltered at the thought of having to explain himself more. It took another moment for him to say anything.
"When Professor Mcgonagall is a... is a cat, she feels a certain way and, Ron's rat feels the same way."
The end of the sentence was more confidant than the beginning. At first, he was clearly having a hard time trying to decide on what to say, but by the end he was standing straight and tall, as if daring him to accuse him of lying. Not that he would. Hardy didn't seem like he was trying to pull a prank, and none of his friends seem like laughing.
Ignoring, for a moment, what it meant that Harry could sense people's magic and the differences different forms have on it, Remus focused on the implications that the rat, Scabbers, being an Animagus brought on. The rat was fully grown. If anyone under 20 or so, fully grown that was, became an Animagus, their animal form would be the equivalent form, no matter the age difference.
Siri- Black was a puppy during school. Nearly fully grown, but still obviously a puppy. James' antlers hadn't fully come in until around the time of Harry's birth, much to his annoyance. And Peter had been a baby rat, as rats were what matured the fastest of the three animals, much to the amusement of the three of them.
He got up and walked over to Ron, who happily gave him the cage. Scabbers was full on panicking, scratching desperately at every wall in the cage, and Remus didn't dare open it to get a better look at him. He had no delusions that the rat wouldn't run as soon as he could. So instead, he just looked at him through the glass, trying to see just how old he was. Maybe it was a small concern, since it was already obvious that he was fully grown. Maybe he didn't need a closer number, but Remus needed to know a range of how old his human form was.
He looked, and he freezed. For a moment he had thought... but no. It couldn't be. Peter had been dead for years. Peter's rat form had just been the one he knew the best, and he was imagining the similarities between the two rats.
Scabbers was missing a toe.
He made himself take a deep breath, before he started panicking like Sca-like the rat was. He knew for a fact that there wasn't a registered rat Animagus in England. Which meant that this rat was an illegal one. The rat also looked like he was just a young adult, which meant that the human form was somewhere between 20 and 40. A big range but it still confirmed something for him.
How coincidental could life be for him to not only see a rat Animagus that looked like his dead friend, but was also an illegal rat Animagus, in the correct age range, and was missing a toe on the same hand (paw?) that Peter's finger belonged to.
He sat the cage on the desk a little tougher than he should have, but he couldn't bring himself to care. The rat, the bloody rat that had better not be Peter, was still panicking, and his squeaking was getting on his already frayed nerves.
"Peter, stop." Remus snapped. He hoped that the rat wouldn't obey. The rat should have no reason to obey. But the rat did stop, looking up at Remus fearfully, and Remus knew he was right. He took a shaky breath.
"Peter?" Mr. Crevy asked. Remus had forgotten the children were there. "Like... like Peter Pettigrew?"
"Why would you jump to that conclusion?" Remus asked, not really paying attention. He was too focused on trying to figure out what to do. He couldn't let Peter out, even to force him back into human form. He remembered how slippery Peter was when he wanted to, and he still didn't trust the rat not to run.
"Sirius sa- Sirius Black said that he was there to kill the rat, and you both only know one Peter." Mr. Weasley said, before pausing. "As far as we know."
Sirius wanted to kill Peter? How had even known Peter was here? Or even still alive? And even ignoring that, going after Harry was still a better reason to break out of prison for.
Maybe his old friend was just crazy after his prison stay, but Remus felt the doubt he had long buried resurface. The betrayal always felt to... sudden for it to sit right with him. Sirius has acted no different in the months leading up to Halloween that year, while Peter had only gotten more jumpy. At the time, Remus had wrote that off as him being in a war, but was it because Voldemort was threatening him? That still didn't explain how Voldemort even found where James and Lily were, but he was sure that Peter had an answer to that.
And yes, maybe this all was being a little to hard on one old friend in favor of another one, but Peter had stayed as a rat in hiding for-
"How many years have you had this rat Mr. Weasley?" He asked calmly, still staring at the cage.
"Um... 11, 12 years, Professor." Mr. Weasley answered, sounding like he wasn't sure what to do. That was fair, Remus knew he was just staring at the cage on his desk intently for a bit.
-but Peter had been hiding as a rat for 12 years. He had been hiding since that night, probably. And hiding in a wizarding family, so he knew very well that Sirius couldn't get to him nearly right after that. He had no reason to stay hidden that Remus could see, and Remus was getting tired of secrets.
Actually... he narrowed his eyes as a new thought came to him, and he had to make sure none of the anger he felt was showing. Peter looked like he could still tell, but then, they had been best friends once. Sirius has killed Peter in an explosion that left only a finger and killed thirteen muggles. So how did Peter survive that, and only lose a finger? He was the target, and if 13 other people died, then Peter couldn't have gotten out that easily.
Did Sirius even make that explosion? If Sirius hadn't killed Peter, did he do any of it?
He grabbed the cage, not caring if Peter was jostled. He was getting to the bottom of this, right now.
"Thank you for being this to my attention, boys." He said, calmer than he felt. All four boys were looking at him worriedly and he had to look away at the memories that the image brought up. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it."
He left the office without waiting for them to say anything. At some point, this all was going to hit him completely, and his anger would vanish, and he would start to cry. But not right now. Right now, he had to see Dumbledore.
And while a large part of him was certain that Peter was guilty, a small part of him hoped that his anger wasn't justified. That Peter had a good reason of staying hidden, had a good reason he survived. Because what kind of friend had he been by just, just believing that Sirius had betrayed them without even looking into it? At the time he had been much to grief stricken, but now he could look back and see all the years he could have spent looking into why Sirius had betrayed them, and ultimately have seen the likely conclusion that he never had.
If his anger was justified, then he had let his best friend rot in Azkaban for 12 years.
xXx
"I'm glad you all could make it." Dumbledore said, more serious than Ron had ever seen him. His office was big, but Ron still felt crowded. Dumbledore has called Ron's entire family to tell them something important, which Ron assumed was about Scab-er, about Peter.
Ginny, the twins, and Percy were already at the school was him, and his parents could come there at any point, but Dumbledore wanted Bill to come to. Charlie, unfortunately, was still in Romania and wasn't answering any letters, but Bill was in he country and came quickly.
To be honest, he had been terribly curious about what happened with Peter. It had only been a few days, but he needed to know how he was handled. He needed to know the story of how Peter Pettigrew became his pet rat. He needed to know if Lupin was ok, after how angry he had gotten in his office. He needed to know what was going to happen to Peter.
He haven't even been able to talk to anyone about it. Ginny had both been annoyed by lunch the first day, and Colin by dinner. He didn't dare bring his excitement on what was happening up to Harry, who looked worried instead. Fred had started following George's example by disappearing for the past three days outside of classes. Draco wasn't in his house and was hard to catch outside of class because of that. Neville had disappeared nearly completely, which was actually a little worrisome. Hermione wasn't talking to anyone since yesterday, and Luna just got stressed when he brought it up.
The fact that Lupin was so mad was what mostly peaked his interest, he thought. Ginny kinda understood it, but she wasn't there. The man had looked so calm, but his magic had been on a hairs width trigger from lashing out. Ron was sure that he was the only one in the room to notice, being the only one sensitive to other people's magic. There was a story there that they weren't getting, and he needed to know.
"What is this about Headmaster?" His mother asked, looking worried. "When you first told us to come, I was afraid that something happened to one of the kids, or that someone did something. But that fact you wanted Bill here too..."
"I have troubling news," Dumbledore said, leaning forward against his desk. "A few days ago, Mr. Ron Weasley had brought an issue to the attention of Professor Lupin. Him and his friends claimed that your rat was an Animagus."
"That's impossible," Percy protested. "We've had Scabbers-"
"For twelve years," Arthur said faintly, looking troubled. "That would actually explain a lot. And is extremely worrisome. Was Scabbers an Animagus?"
Dumbledore nodded, and Molly gasped. "There was a full grown man in the room with Ron and Percy?!" She glared. "He had better be arrested!"
Ron could see George stiffen out of the corner of his eye, knowing that the reminder just angered him again. Fred put a hand on his shoulder, and he forced himself to look less... murderous, as George Weasley wouldn't be thinking of committing a murder.
"He is." Dumbledore said. "You don't have to worry about that. He is in custody and is looking at many years of sentence."
"Then why did you call all of us?" Bill asked, confused. Ron didn't blame him. The news was disturbing, but Dumbledore hadn't of needed to tell Bill himself. Molly could have told Bill later.
"Well," Dumbledore paused, either to think of words or to draw this out. Years of being Ginny's brother had taught him something after all. "Scabbers was someone who we long thought dead. Him being here, and the confession he gave when we forced him back into a human form, actually cleared charges against a different criminal."
Ron had no idea why Dumbledore was being so vague.
"Well who was it?" Fred asked. It would have been weird if the twins never asked questions, even if the two of them already knew.
"Yeah, who is it?" George asked seconds after his brother.
"Peter Pettigrew." Dumbledore said finally. Molly gasped.
"But he died years ago! Sirius Black-!"
"Sirius Black did nothing." Dumbledore interrupted. "Pettigrew confessed. He was the Potters' secret keeper. He was the one to betray them, and then faked his death when Black confronted him."
"Then... Black spent 12 years in prison for nothing?" Arther asked, looking pale. Dumbledore nodded sadly.
"The wizarding world has much to make up to him," Dumbledore said. "I called you here because I felt the need of Scabbers not only being an Animagus, but also a criminal, was something that you deserved to be told in person."
"Well... thank you." Molly said, still sounding shock. It was fair. This was a lot to take in, Ron knew.
"How did Ron even know though?" Bill asked, looking at his youngest brother. Ron tried to look innocent, though he knew it was no where near as good as Ginny's.
"Professor Lupin said that young Harry sensed a difference in his magic." Dumbledore supplied. Ron's parents immediately turned to Ron.
"Is that true Ron?" His mother asked, a little sharply. He shared a look with Ginny, one he hoped the adults wouldn't look into, before nodding.
"Yes? I still don't understand how he did it, but he didn't seem like he was joking and..." he trailed off, trying to act nervous. He probably was going over the top on it, like he always did, but he was 13. Things like that could be explained away. Luckily anyway, Ginny jumped in the save him like she always did.
"He just, he just seemed so serious, and what did we lose listening to him?" Ginny ran her fingers through her hair nervously. "I'm glad we did."
Everyone was still staring.
"But to sense magic like that..." Arthur muttered.
"He's only 13..." Molly said, wringing her hands. Arther shook his head.
"13 or not, the skill is still rare. Most adults have to train themselves to feel their own magic, much less someone else's. Much less the tiny differences an Animagus's magic has."
"I wanted to talk to you, all of you," Dumbledore interjected, bring everyone's attention back to him. "If Harry had shown anything like this before. Things like this just don't appear, and after the parceltongue incident last year..."
"No, no, you have a right to worry..." Molly bit her lip. "Not that I can think of... Arther?"
While his father was thinking, Ron was panicking. They weren't supposed to be looking this deeply into it. Especially with his family. He didn't know if his parents ever noticed, but Percy or Bill would have to have noticed, at some point, Ginny's incredible accidental magic when they were kids. If they remembered something, and brought it up, Dumblebore might see more logic behind Ginny being the one to notice instead of Harry. He had to do something to stop this.
"Oh god..." Ginny said, suddenly. He quickly looked over, as did everyone at her sick tone. She looked pale, and her eyes were wide, and that told Ron that this was fake. Ginny would never show this much emotion in front of all these people. Maybe just their family, if it was bad, but certainly never in front of Dumbledore. He assumed that Ginny came to the same conclusion that he did.
"What is it honey?" Molly asked, looking at her daughter worried. Ginny shook her head.
"Oh god," she repeated. "I don't, I don't know how many times I changed in front of Scabbers."
Ron's eyes widened, and while he knew that this was probably fake, the mere thought made him want to kill the rat. Both Fred and George seemed to be of the same thought. Percy and Bill weren't quite to the murder level, but they seemed close. Arther and Molly looked both horrified and angry.
He didn't like the thought, and he was going to have a conversation with his sister to see if it was true, but it did get the conversation away from Harry to what's going to happen to Pettigrew. Bill had to leave soon for work, and they all had classes in just a little bit.
The change in topic seemed to be enough to delay the conversation.
xXx
New chapter! Yay! So the Hermione and Neville thing happened in the few days between the meeting with Lupin and the meeting with Dumbledore, which we'll see next chapter.
So Remus is upset. Upset and angry. I feel it's justified. Sirius is free! Not that he knows yet.
And yes, everyone now thinks that Harry is even more special. Which is exactly what he needs right before fourth year right? ;)
Also, I lied. Sam Wilson is joining in. I have a character I want to use. When I started this story, Winter Soldier hadn't come out yet, so I didn't know him yet. But now, four years later, I have a strong appreciation of him and I am adding him. However, he is going to be the only one. They all died during an avenger battle against Loki, so they would be the only ones who showed up. Fury and Hill and everyone else wouldn't be on the field.
The timeline of the MCU before this goes up to Winter Soldier. Dark World hadn't happen, and Loki had somehow escaped beforehand. Age of Ultron hadn't happened, so Wanda wasn't an avenger yet. And Rhodey just wasn't there, because someone needs to stay and defend the world. Thinking of it like this is kinda sad for the MCU universe though.
The avengers are gone, except for Rhodey. Ultron wouldn't happen, but Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are still around with Hyrda, which is also still around. SHIELD is still gone, and Pepper, who would have inherited Tony's money with Rhodey and maybe a little for Harley, may or may not help fund new SHIELD. Thor and Loki aren't there to help with Malikith. Without Thor there, Jane may or may not have gotten the help she needs with the aether. Though to be fair, after hearing of Thor's death, she might not have been in London.
Asgard would be attacked by Malikith, and then Hela. It would probably be destroyed. So while earth could survive with its enemies, Asgard probably wouldn't and wouldn't be able to really help when Thanos showed up. Other people would have to step up. Like Spider-Man, or the inhumans.
Also, in this, I'm assuming mutants aren't a big thing in this universe, since they haven't been mentioned anywhere.
Anyway, review! Tell me what you think!
