I can't believe how long this chapter became, I hadn't expected this at all.

Also, another reminder that if any of you have any problem with morally grey characters then this isn't the story for you all. It is a revenge story after all.

Song for this chapter, 'What The Hell' by Avril Lavigne


"Mr Peter Phoebus Pettigrew," Fudge announced, a frown etched onto his face, his brows furrowed together till they were almost one as he stared at the scampering rat still present on his desk, "You have been sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban for charges of treason and anti-nationalism."

The wizengamot for the past half-hour had been deciding and issuing sentences to the people on trial in the same order in which they had convicted them, so naturally, Peter, who had just been sentenced, had come last in the list.

Why no one had bothered removing Peter from the questioner's desk in the meanwhile though still remains a mystery to me...

Fudge banged the gravel with an echoing thud and as if on cue a wave of not-so-subtle whispers emerged in the hall. The occupants of the room got up, loitering around like students in a classroom. The grinding of feet on marble could be heard as everyone got up to leave, hunched together in gossiping groups of two's and three's, vaguely resembling the form of two-legged hyenas. Snippets of their conversation entered my ear as I got up as well to walk out.

"Merlin's Scott! Can you believe it? In all my years, never- blimey- never have I ever- such an intriguing hearing..."

"Can't wait till Maria hears about this. Reckon this is what she assumed I did when she heard I was a wizengamot member, know what I mean? They just assume we catch bad guys all the time. Now I can tell her that's true with pride!"

"Who do you think brought in that folder, aye? It seems a bit dodgy, doesn't it?"

"It takes years to find so much proof. I think old Dumbledore might have dunnit. No, no hear me out- who else would be talented enough? He defeated both Grindelwald and Voldemort. It had to be him. It just got to be!"

I almost snorted. Gently grabbing Lily's arm to guide her, I headed towards the entrance hall leading the way for the three Marauders to numbly follow. They were all silent except for Sirius who had taken the opposite route and was furiously mumbling something to himself which basically consisted of many "that little traitor"s and "if I could only get my hands on him"s in various forms, James nodding jerkily beside him.

Aurors swarmed towards the accused, shepherding them out of the hall in a packed group, forming a barrier between them and the wizengamot members. I saw one of the aurors; with springy, curly brown hair; walk up to the front of the room and roughly grab Peter's jar before heading towards the exit, ignoring the way Peter was slamming into the walls of the container with each step she took. The little treacherous rat was squeaking incessantly, and I could almost hear him trying to prove his innocence in his whiny little tone.

The squeaking increased as the auror passed us. I snuck a glance their way and saw him, clinging onto the wall nearest to us, his eyes fixed on our group, trying to get his voice heard.

Naturally, my company pointedly ignored him, walking out of the room at a quickening pace.

"HOLD ON," a gruff voice called out from behind us once we were a bit away from the trial room

The clanking of wood on marble could be heard nearing as we all turned around. I stared, unnerved, as Moody's normal eye flicked from one of us to the other while his electric-blue eye whizzed among the emerging crowd behind us.

"Where's Pettigrew?" he asked roughly, a low growl in his voice, as he came to a stop in front of us.

We were all saved from answering as just that moment the brunette auror walked out. She spotted Moody immediately(it wasn't like he was hard to miss), and headed towards him in a rush.

"Auror Moody," she greeted with an awkward little bow which Moody waved off as he reached for the jar.

He picked it up and examined it closely. For the first time since I had known him, both his eyes were fixed on the same thing. Peter squeaked frighteningly and scampered as far away from Moody as he could.

"Nasty little traitor," Moody grumbled angrily, "Hate people like him. Cowards!"

If I thought Peter looked frightened before, it was nothing compared to how he looked now. He was completely frozen to the spot, his eyes widened (I didn't even know rats could widen their eyes) and the only visible motion coming from him being the nervous twitching of his whiskers.

"AND YOU THREE!" Moody roared suddenly looking at the James, Sirius and the brunette, the only aurors present in the room, making everyone else jump, "Amelia told me everything! Why did this," he jabbed a finger towards me, "singer have to catch the rat? What were you three- all the aurors- DOING?!"

All three of the aurors paled under moody's one-eyed stare, the brunette looking about ready to pass out.

Remus, Lily and I exchanged a look, before slowly stepping back. Not wanting to get involved in this.

"Oh no you don't," Moody said as his blue-eyes fixed on Lily and Remus, the other eye still stuck on the aurors, "Don't think you two will be getting away. You both had been trained by me too- for the Order, sure, but trained nevertheless- you deserve the telling off as much as they do. Reckon you thought you could just let down your guard, aye? War is over- yippy skippy- time to become oblivious fools prancing about with your head in the clouds!"

The five shrunk back and I acted as if I was abashed and I looked on with barely suppressed laughter.

"Isn't it bad enough that our department has been disgraced by this filth?" he shook the jar roughly to emphasis his point, Peter let out another series of frightened squeaks as he tumbled harshly from one side to the other, "No! You lot had to go in there and act like a bunch of bumbling fools! I've met socks that have been more useful then you all!"

The Marauders and Lily were all avoiding Moody's eyes(both of them) and were instead looking around sheepishly.

The brunette, however, spoke up albeit shaking like a leaf.

"W- we didn't know he was an a- animagus," she said, wringing her hands nervously, her eyes darting everywhere around the room, "H-he caught us off g- guard."

I saw the Marauders and Lily exchange looks, before looking down even more abashedly, making it clear to anyone who would have been looking that they knew about Peter's animagus status. Fortunately for them though no one was.

Moody disfigured face twisted until it held a frighteningly uncanny resemblance to a snarling Chimaera.

"Caught you off guard?" he growled and the brunette trembled even harder, "Are you an auror or not? Caught you off guard? CONSTANT VIGILANCE! That's the first rule of being an auror!"

"We'll do better, sir- I'll do better," the brunette blurted out, her voice higher than before. The others vigorously shook their heads in agreement, their voices failing them.

"You better. And tell the other aurors who were in there as well to do so as well," Moody grunted, "Buffoons... I'm stuck with complete, sodding buffoons."

The brunette nervously moved to take the jar from Moody but he pulled his arm back.

"No need, go back to your office," he growled out and the brunette didn't waste a moment, nodding hurriedly before running off.

"I'm not trusting the traitor with her, or any of you all for that matter," he mumbled more to himself than anyone, whizzing his eye back to the marauders, "He needs to be kept in the ministry dungeons till a portkey for Azkaban can be arranged. Can't let him get away before that now, can we? I've got two level 5 aurors for this job. Personally trained them in the war too, you all might know them from the Order- well, not you- " he said looking towards me, "Best they are. Very best... ahh, here they come!"

I turned to spot a male and a female auror walk towards us.

My breath stuck in my throat.

"There you are," Moody spoke grumpily. He the jar towards the two so that they could take it, twisting his lumpy nose slightly in disgust when his eyes fell back on the rat, "Take care of him will ya Longbottoms?"

Alice and Frank.

They both had changed a lot since I had last seen them.

Both their faces had worn out a bit due to age as it did with everyone.

Alice's dyed-blonde pixie had now grown so that it could now be arranged in a ponytail behind her head (though because of its short length it looked more like a bun). Frank's hair had thinned, signs of premature balding showing itself with clarity and I felt a smile tug at the edge of my lips as I thought of how much I could tease him for it.

Alice muscles had become more toned and defined with her years of auror training. Frank's shoulders had become broader due to the same reasons.

Alice had smile lines at the edge of her mouth, and near the edges of her eyes due to their usual crinkling. Frank had callouses all over his hands, his nails chipped and uneven.

Alice now walked with a slight sag to her left, which was strange because she always used to put more weight on her right leg when she was in Hogwarts. Frank had apparently taken a habit of resting his thumbs in his pockets.

Yes, it was clear to see. They had changed quite a bit.

But their eyes... they still glittered with the same mirroring mischief, emphasised with the tug of their smirks.

And that in itself brought me so much familiarity and comfort, despite the overwhelming proof of the time passed glittering all of us.

"Oh don't worry Moody, we will," Alice winked cheekily causing Moody to grunt unamusedly.

I almost laughed, only Alice could get away with being cheeky with Mad-Eye.

"So that's the mole, aye? Frank said looking at Peter with his head cocked slightly to the side, "Or I guess you could say- the rat." He looked at everyone with an expectant grin.

No one responded. Though the three Marauders looked like they wanted to laugh.

"No one? Ok fine, jeez," Frank responded with mock-grumpiness.

"Just take him to the dungeons," Moody said, looking like we was ready to yeet himself out of a window, "And make sure he doesn't escape. We don't need any other disasters from our department's side."

Alice looked at the jar smirking, "Don't worry, we'll totally... ahh, take care of him." She exchanged a wicked gleam with Frank causing Peter to teeter rapidly.

Moody though seemed unperturbed(wait- actually, he seemed kinda amused), "Go off then, you two."

Alice and Frank nodded and then walked away side by side, the jar in their hand.

I wanted to run after them and tackle them in a fierce hug that would put a bear to shame, and loudly exclaim how much I missed them for the whole world to hear.

But I knew now was not the time.

"You all better get to Hogwarts too," Moody murmured as the two Longbottoms disappeared from sight, "there's a portkey arranged in the magical transportation department."

He walked off then passing by me and muttering a short, monotonous, "Good job," on the way which was the best you could expect from him.

As he walked off I watched with a grin as the Marauders and Lily released breaths of relief. I was just about to take the mickey out of them when I was interrupted.

"Oh- and Black, Potter," Moody called out. We all turned around to face the senior auror, Sirius and James exchanging frightened looks on the way, "You both can kiss that promotion goodbye."

He then turned around as swiftly as his wooden leg would allow and walked off limply, leaving a gaping Sirius and James behind.


Gather around, my precious(es), let me tell you a wonderous story.

So a wee little author was one day enjoying an average day (and by that I mean remaining in a constant state of sleepiness while being swamped with school, cause school sucks), and then she checks quotev as a little break. A notification has popped in the relatively clear notification box. She checks it thinking that she's just gotten a story update or a like/reply on some random comment she had made, so imagine her shock when she sees that she has received a message! Curious, she checks the comment and her eyes widen in shock and happiness when she reads the short message-

"Your story, I'm Back, has been nominated for The 2020 Liquid Luck Awards"

AAAHHHH!

Ok, ok jokes apart... I'm so happy! I can't even describe how happy! To know that someone thought my story was good enough to nominate for an award is such an amazing feeling!

Can you guys please go and vote on my story, please? Voting closes on October 10th. Just go on quotev and search the awards up.