"What are you going to do to him?" Ron asked, he had gone as pale as a sheet.
Sirius and Lupin exchange a glance, "together," Black said, with that, Lupin took out his wand and, as one, he and Black cast a stream of magic, Scabbers twists madly in midair, then with a sudden flash transformed into a short, stout man with small watery blue eyes, thinning brown hair and ragged clothing. Peter Pettigrew.
"S-Sirius, R-Remus, my old friends," Peter stuttered, neither spoke, Pettigrew's eyes dart toward the windows and door. Suddenly, he makes a break for it, dodging round Sirius, he ran passed me, I made no move to stop him, he ran headfirst into the shield I put over the door, he hit the shield and felt the floor. Sirius came over and hauled him to his feet, Peter's nose twitched, his gaze darting around the room until he found Harry. His hands fluttered nervously, revealing the missing finger, "Harry! Look at you! Y-you look just like your father. Like James. We were the best of friends, he and I-"
"Shut up!" Sirius shouted punching the rat faced man in the face.
"Harry," I said, "I present Peter Pettigrew, your parents' secret keeper and traitorous death eater."
"I didn't mean to!" Pettigrew shouted shielding his face, "the Dark Lord, you have no idea the tortures he possesses! Ask yourself what you would have done, Sirius. What would you have done?"
"Died!" Black shouted angrily as he punched Peter in the face again. "Died rather than betray my friends! And you should have realized, Peter, if Voldemort didn't kill you…"
"We would," Lupin finished raising his wand
"No... please... you can't…" his eyes darted wildly, "Ron! Haven't I been a good friend? A good pet? You won't let them kill me, will you? I was your rat…" Ron drew back in disgust, Pettigrew panicked and turned to Hermione. "Sweet girl. Clever girl. Surely you won't let them…" Hermione pointed her own wand at him, he turned to me, "surely halfling, surely you understand, please, protect me."
"I understand loyalty, not cowardice, if Lupin and Black had not already claimed your death I would kill you myself," Pettigrew drew back from me. As one, Lupin and Black raised their wands, pointing them directly into Pettigrew's face, he shrank back trembling, he closed his eyes in fear.
"No," Harry said, Pettigrew's lids lifted, Lupin and Black turned.
"Harry, this man…" Lupin said.
"I know what he is, but we'll take him to the castle."
"Bless you, boy! Bless you -" Pettigrew shouted in joy as he grabbed at Harry.
"Get off! I said we'd take you to the castle, after that, the Dementors can have you."
"Hang on," I said as I cast a spell on Peter, "just so you don't run off, I put a spell on you that allows me to track you and send you to sleep from a distance. If you do run off, you will make me angry, and you don't want that." Pettigrew squeaked and nodded, his eyes wide with fright.
We had to deal with Peter's panicked speech through the entire tunnel, it got worse when we left the tunnel and he got more panicked, "turn me into a maggot, a dung beetle, a Flobberworm! Anything but the Dementors…" He trailed off as Ron emerged from the tunnel he grabbed at him as desperately as Tantalus grabbed at an éclair. "Ron! Haven't I been a good friend? A good pet? You won't let them kill me, will you? I was your rat…" Ron drew back in disgust from the pathetic little man. Snape emerged from the tunnel followed by Hermione, he bumped his head against a low tree branch. He was under the Somnambulist charm, so he did little except duck under the low tree limbs, but Ron still jumped half out of his skin.
"Don't worry," Hermione said as she stifled a laugh at Ron's reaction, "he's under the Somnambulist Charm. It's primarily used to transport the seriously deranged." Ron nodded and visibly relaxed.
Seeing Hermione Pettigrew ran over to her and grabbed the hem of her robe, "please sweet girl... you can't let them turn me over to those... monsters, what of due process?" Hermione tugged her robes from Pettigrew's sweaty grasp with a disgusted yank.
"Enough of that Peter," I said as I levelled my wand at him, "if you try to plead with us again, I will put you under the Somnambulist. Understand?" Peter swallowed and nodded, miming him zipping up his lips and throwing away the key.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Black said as he stared at the imposing shadow of Hogwarts, its windows shimmering like a thousand fireflies and its towers reaching up like daggers. "I'll never forget the first time I walked through those doors. It'll be nice to do it again. Freely." He turned to Harry, "that was a noble thing you did back there. He doesn't deserve it."
Harry looked over at me, and then down to the cowering form of Peter, "I don't reckon my father'd want his best friends to become killers for a worthless piece of vermin like Pettigrew. Besides, dead, the truth dies with him. Alive... you're free."
"I don't know if you know," Black said slowly, "Harry, but when you were born, James and Lily made me your guardian, your godfather."
"I know," Harry said sadly.
"And, well," Black said awkwardly, as though he could not think of the words for the ideas and emotions he wanted to convey, "I'll understand if you choose to stay with your aunt and uncle, but, so you know, you could -"
"Come live with you?" Harry asked excitedly, his eyes shining in excitement. "When!"
"Soon as my name's cleared and I'm allowed to adopt you…" Black said, obviously happy with Harry's reply, Harry looked out at Hogwarts and grinned widely, Black did the same.
The moment was broken by a choking sound and Hermione's voice loud and quivering in the quiet, "Harry…" We turned to see Lupin standing rigidly, his fingers twitching as he stared in pure fear at the sky. I follow his gaze, he is staring at the moon, not just any moon, a full moon, I cursed. "Remus, old friend…" Black said, his voice tinged with worry and fear, "did you take your potion tonight?" Lupin, twitched violently before managing to shake his head, I suddenly felt very cold as my blood started pumping quickly. "Run! All of you! Now!" Black shouted, but, none of us do as we watched, held by a spell of curiosity as bristles poked through Lupin's skin. Unafraid, Black stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Lupin. "You know the man you truly are, Remus. This flesh is only flesh," he tapped Lupin on the chest, "this heart is where you truly live. This heart! Here!" He shouted.
Lupin dropped his wand, Pettigrew leapt forward, grabbing the wand. "No!" Harry shouted raising his wand, "Expelliarmus!" Lupin's wand flew from Pettigrew's hand and he froze. Then slowly turned to us. Face blank, eyes closed, he grinned hideously, and collapsed to the ground as Sirius hit his elbow into the back of his head. A howl pierced the sudden silence of Pettigrew's collapse. We turned to face a very angry Werewolf facing off against John, who was armed with his wand and a branch, and was only just holding the Werewolf at bay. Black charged his friend, but, with a shrug, Lupin tossed Black into the air, then turned to us. Black's charge had given John enough time to scramble back to us. Lupin was no longer human. He was the Werewolf.
