Chapter 23: Truth will out
Dumbledore held a quick staff meeting after dinner that evening. He informed all staff that they should be alert for any sightings of Peter Pettigrew even though there was no reason to think him alive, there's just something very odd going on. They should keep a lookout on the map, or keep an eye out for rats acting suspiciously, not that the castle actually had many rats,
Mrs Norris and the cat familiars of many students kept non familiars out of the castle. At that point in the meeting, Minerva had glared at Severus.
"I said I was sorry," said Severus, "I even apologised to Miss Granger."
Dumbeldore persuaded four staff to do duty that evening instead of two. Dumbledore would be in his office with the map and use elves or patronuses as appropriate and four people would be on duty. He arranged to do this for the next while, not just that evening. Severus was informed he was on duty every night. Severus didn't argue. No official reprimand for stunning someone's familiar was fine by him.
It was getting late. It was after 11:30pm. Severus knew that by the end of the week he'd be pretty trashed. The others were only doing one night a week. Tonight was Lupin, Sinistra and Vector. But he actually did want to be out here. He didn't want to miss finding out what the hell was actually going on. The edge of his circuit took him to the edge of Remus' circuit. They met up.
"You really stunned Hermione's cat?" asked Lupin.
"Just don't," said Severus, "Do you have any idea how much Minerva tore a strip off me this morning? I felt like a first year again."
Remus chuckled and they parted ways, continuing on their rounds.
They hadn't split up long when an elf popped to Severus. "Entrance hall," was all it said., grasping his arm. Severus materialised in the entrance hall. Dumbledore was running down the staircase from the staffroom, map in hand, Remus also popped in via elf.
"Outside, heading this way," said Albus urgently and quietly, "The map says Black and Pettigrew."
Not to scare off anyone entering the castle, the three of them moved to the edges of the entrance hall taking up semi concealed positions, wands at the ready. They heard gasping and wheezing from outside.
The three wizards hadn't seen Black of Pettigrew in well over 10 years, but they easily recognised them both. Pettigrew surprised everyone when, as soon as he made it into the entrance he sharply changed direction, putting everyone off their stride for a moment. He changed into a rat midstride, Black a mere metre from him. Peter dropped into a hole in the castle wall before anyone could stop him. Black was hit by three well placed stunners.
Dumbledore had bound and gagged Black before any of the three had reached him. Severus reached down and plucked a wand from his unconscious hand.
Severus turned to Lupin, "That was actually Pettigrew, wasn't it?" Lupin nodded, not trusting his voice, stunned at the turn of events. He looked down at the unconscious Black, hatred in his eyes.
"I'll sort out a secure room," said Albus, "And call Kingsley. Remus, Severus, I don't need to remind you not to do anything precipitous, do I?"
"I can wait," Lupin growled.
Albus went into a nearby classroom, and transfigured the windows into brickwork, the magical castle easily transforming at the will of the Headmaster. "Bring him."
Albus whisked the tables and chairs to one side, all bar one chair. Severus had levitated Black and dumped him not too carefully in the chair.
Albus created chains to fasten him to the chair and the floor. "Stay here." Albus then went to the nearest floo which was in the entrance hall and called Kingsley Shacklebolt, who stepped through the floo nearly before Albus had finished speaking the words, "We've got Black."
"Albus! Thank Merlin, we can all breathe easier," said Kingsley, on clapping eyes on the unconscious Black.
"There's something not quite right, though" said Albus, "Before you take him. We've got a problem here. I need him to answer some questions."
"What's the problem?" asked Shecklebolt.
"Black ran in here chasing Peter Pettigrew."
"But he's..."
"Yes," said Albus, "And that's the problem. With your permission, there are four of us and he has no wand. I'd like to wake him up and ask him about Peter. Peter turned into his animagus form and disappeared into the walls. He's been hiding here for I don't know how long, and I want to get to the bottom of this."
Kingsley nodded. Remus and Severus raised their wands to Black.
"Rennervate," said Albus, casting his spell.
Sirius Black woke up. It took him a moment to register his surroundings, three wands trained on him, and the identities of the holders of those wands.
Sirius looked Remus straight in the eye and screamed, terrified they were all about to kill him there and then, "It's the fucking rat! It's Pettigrew. The paper! He's at Hogwarts! He's here! Mooney! Please, he was the secret keeper, not me! It was him!" Those words took everything he had, he was gasping by the end, not having taken a breath, the words so fast they were gabbled.
No-one moved. No-one said anything. Time passed.
"Remus?" asked Albus, softly.
"But..." his brain was still processing. It was possible. "I..."
"I don't see why I should believe him," said Severus, "But find the rat, stun him and let the aurors sort it out."
"Please Remus, Mooney... you must believe me..." begged Sirius, still terrified, but no longer believing he was about to die that next second.
Severus fired a spell to gag him. "I don't need to listen to that."
"Stupify," said Albus. Black returned to oblivion.
"Kingsley, when will more aurors arrive? We need to at least catch Peter to find out the truth. Yes, Black could easily be making this all up, but I reiterate, there's something weird going on. Peter should be dead."
"I sent for ten aurors. Four will be returning to the ministry with Black, and six can remain here to find Pettigrew. We'd happily add the three of you to the search if you wish."
Dumbledore reached into his robes for the map. Peter Pettigrew wasn't visible. He was still in the walls.
The aurors arrived. Most were shocked to see Black. There was a certain celebrity about a mass murderer that they were gawking at.
"Take him back through the floo. Keep him unconscious. Put him in a cell. Keep two of you on the inside, and two out. Don't let him wake up and for Merlin's sake, don't let him turn into a dog!" snapped Kingsley, bringing some of the aurors sheepishly out of their daze.
Four of the aurors left and the rest spread out as Shacklebolt directed as per Dumbledore's polite suggestions.
Everyone was in a different part of the castle and grounds. Albus had warded the four common rooms and staff offices. Everyone would be trapped in their common room or office until Dumbledore released the spell. The general assumption was that Pettigrew would try to escape, but he also probably had hidey holes in the castle. Dumbledore summoned an elf to tell Filius, Minerva and Pomona that it was imperative that they guard their areas against Pettigrew. They had no idea whether he was dangerous, but if they saw either the person Pettigrew or the rat, they should send out their patronus and stun him if they could. The elves quickly sent their messages. Vector and Sinistra arrived, having missed everything, no-one had called for them. Severus sent them to the dungeons to guard Slytherin.
Everyone had agreed for the safety of the elves they'd use only patronuses or fire shooting stars. While Peter wasn't Black, Peter now knew they were after him, and the fact that Peter hadn't rematerialised given they'd now captured Black made everyone more suspicious of the whole situation.
Dumbledore remained in the entrance with the map to direct if he saw the dot. Severus and Remus headed out to their designated place. They were by the greenhouses half an hour later.
"We used to hide out here when we skipped lessons, Severus, so keep an eye out," warned Lupin. Severus nodded. They split up, each one checking two greenhouses each. It was still outside. You could see and hear well. Severus went inside one of the greenhouses so as not to be obviously viewable from anywhere. A greenhouse was made of glass. His stunner would go right through.
Albus' patronus arrived. "He's heading your way, we're coming."
Severus made himself very still, dark robes against black leafy outlines. He heard wheezing, and a slight whimper. The footsteps were slight. Severus saw an outline against the doorway. He moved quietly to get a decent shot.
Pettigrew gasped when he saw Severus and ducked. Damn it, thought Severus I'm getting slow! Pettigrew crept around the other side of the workbench. Severus preferred the quiet to the noisy approach of stunning everything.
"Snape! I know that's you!" said Pettigrew softly, "Help me! I know your true master, Snape. I saw you, that day I went to the Dark Lord to give him the secret. He summoned his Death Eaters! You came. I saw you as I was leaving. Help me! We can escape together, search out the Dark Lord, aid his rise back to power."
Severus didn't speak. Merlin help him if Pettigrew persuaded anyone that was true, but he couldn't kill him, that would invite a lot more questions and keep too much in the dark. He had to trust Albus. Albus vouched for him. He was a spy for the light.
Severus saw movement and fired. Pettigrew sank to the floor unconscious.
There was the sound of rushing feet. Severus fired green sparks and called out, "It's Severus, don't shoot, he's down."
Albus was first into the greenhouse. Severus could see the others rushing toward them. "He saw me. At the meeting where he said he would kill the Potters. Pettigrew saw us all arrive. Albus..." Severus begged.
"You were a spy for the light, Severus," confirmed Albus, looking him in the eye.
Severus would have sunk to his knees in gratitude if there weren't three aurors and Remus rushing through the door at that moment.
"Kingsley," said Albus, "In my capacity as Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot, I'd like to accompany you back to the Ministry. I want to get to the bottom of this."
"Of course, Chief Warlock, as you wish. I have made the Minister aware of the situation. It's going to be rather crowded in the interrogation room!"
Albus went to the Ministry with Kingley, the six aurors and Pettigrew. In deference to the fact that they had no solid understanding of what was going on, Pettigrew was restrained and unconscious.
Severus and Remus walked back into the castle in silence. Minerva was waiting for them.
"Oh, thank Merlin you're both alright," said Minerva. "The Dementors are being recalled to Azkaban. Shacklebolt said another group of aurors would round them up. We need to stay in the castle."
"We're fine, Minerva," said Lupin, "Well, physically at least. I'm mentally trashed. At least the Dementors are going. We'll feel better for that."
"The students?" asked Severus.
"Thankfully, with the exception of a small handful full of upper years who were still awake in their common rooms, there's no knowledge of anything. Even those students don't know what's been happening, just that the heads of house were in their common rooms. All of yours were in their dorms."
Severus nodded.
Filius joined them. "Pomona, Aurora and Septima have gone to bed," he informed them. "Are we waiting up for Albus?" The others nodded. Filius summoned an elf. "Please inform the Headmaster when he returns that we're in the staff, and please, please bring some coffee."
It was 12:30am. The staffroom was warm and homely, with very comfortable chairs. They knew this might take a while. "I'm too alert to sleep," said Severus. "If any of you want to to get some shut-eye, I will be sure to wake you."
Minerva and Filius took advantage of the offer. Remus and Severus sat in not uncomfortable silence with their own thoughts.
Severus watched Remus for a while without being obvious about it. He was careworn. It was etched in the lines of his face. He could see him thinking, pondering what was the truth. But those few words Pettigrew had spoken to Severus, Severus knew. Knew beyond doubt what the truth was.
Halloween 1981 was etched on Severus' soul. There were many nights, in the cold, dark early hours he'd run through it again and again, unable to escape his own guilt. And now he knew another piece. They'd been summoned that night. Voldemort had 'discovered' the location of the Potters. Severus, as did everyone else, assumed it was Black who'd gone to Voldemort. But he hadn't, it'd been Pettigrew. And the man had been allowed to leave Voldemorts's presence alive. That meant informant, if not an actual Death Eater. By that point, Severus had been a double agent for the light, but Pettigrew didn't know that. He'd assume that like himself, Severus was a spy for Voldemort.
If Severus had believed in a deity, he'd have prayed to it fervently that Albus told a carefully edited version of the truth.
It was 3am when Albus returned. He sank into a chair in the staffroom wearily. He had their full attention.
"It is as Sirius Black said," Dumbledore informed them. "The Potters switched their secret keeper to Pettigrew, thinking he'd be a less likely target for Voldemort. Only the Potters, Pettigrew and Black knew this."
"Pettigrew was questioned under veritaserum. He admitted to giving the Potters' location to Voldemort on Halloween night. He saw the Death Eaters called. Pettigrew has the Dark Mark. He truly is a Death Eater. He confirmed the attendance at that meeting of our spy, Severus. It was news to Pettigrew that Severus was a double agent. He tried to make much of that, but as I gave evidence in the trials at the time, I once again confirmed Severus as a double agent for our side."
"Pettigrew realised the true import of what he'd done the next day, when the Potters and Voldemort were announced dead. He was not remorseful, he truly was a supporter of Voldemort, but he was fearful of retribution now that Voldemort was dead. He was afraid of the Death Eaters who'd assume he betrayed them and double crossed Voldemort knowing that the attack on the Potters would cause their lord's death, and he was also absolutely terrified of the Order working it out. His fear of Black was total. So he contrived his own death and the framing of Black for it in the knowledge that we assumed Black betrayed the Potters. He had no remorse for the deaths of the twelve muggles, they were, quote, collateral damage."
"After escaping, he didn't want to be ill informed, but wanted to stay somewhere safe. He chose to be a pet rat for the Weasleys for the last twelve years."
Albus paused at this point and looked round. They looked shell-shocked, much like he felt. Apart from Severus who's own personal guilt always gnawed at him when this subject came up.
"Sirius Black was also questioned under veritaserum. Everything corroborated between the two. When asked about his laughter at the scene of Pettigrew's escape, he said, 'What would you have done if you just realised you'd been duped for years and were about to be arrested and framed for the murder of your best friend and his family with no way out?' He said that he'd mistakenly thought the spy in the order was Remus. He never had an inkling it was Pettigrew. That's why he passed being secret keeper onto Pettigrew ."
"Black admitted to being an unregistered animagus. Remus, I made sure the questioning did not involve why he was an animagus. The same for Pettigrew's interview. The ministry does not know you are a werewolf."
Lupin breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you, Albus."
"He confirmed that he spent much of his time in Azkaban in animagus form. He was mourning the loss of his friends for that time, blaming himself. The Dementors and guilt are not a good combination. He only found something greater than his guilt when Fudge left the paper. We examined every inch of that paper. It was staring us in the face every time."
"Weasley's familiar on the front page," murmured Severus. "He's at Hogwarts. He was talking about the rat, not the boy."
Albus nodded. "Exactly. Mr Weasley's rat was missing a toe. Black would likely recognise Pettigrew as a rat anyway, but the missing toe confirmed it. As a dog, he simply walked out the prison. He's either been searching for Pettigrew or looking out for Harry since. He couldn't go to the Burrow when he first escaped because it's a household full of trained wizards. He had to wait until Ron came to Hogwarts where more opportunities might present themselves."
"Twelve years in Azkaban," breathed Filius, "I don't have words for that."
"When I left the Minister was organising a very hurried meeting of the Wizengamot for 9am. The Minister, myself and Shacklebolt will testify to the night's events. A full exoneration order for Black will be made public after the meeting. He will be transferred to St Mungo's after that. We don't want to transfer him before his innocence has been made public."
"What of Pettigrew?" growled Lupin, his anger clear on his face.
Albus sighed, and said quietly, "The aurors left him alone in his cell. He hanged himself in preference to Azkaban."
"His evidence is on record though?" asked Filius.
"Yes, memories of the interviews have been taken from all of us as a matter of record," confirmed Albus.
A special late edition of the Daily Prophet came out at lunchtime. Owls brought copies to Hogwarts. The headline read: "Sirius Black found innocent! Peter Pettigrew guilty!" That in itself was enough to bring gasps around the great hall. Exclamations continued through lunch. The Headmaster extended lunch so that everyone could read all about it. No-one noticed Minerva quietly escorting the Weasleys from the room just as the owls arrived.
"He didn't murder Pettigrew?!"
"Pettigrew has been alive the whole time?!"
"Where's he been?"
"It doesn't say,"
"Pettigrew did it?! He murdered 12 muggles?!"
"They are both animagi?!"
"Oh, look, on page 5, they've rescinded his Order of Merlin!"
"Black's in St Mungo's!"
"Pettigrew's DEAD?!"
The chatter continued in that vein for a while.
Minerva escorted the five Weasleys to Healer Jones' office.
"Sit down all of you," said Jones. "You aren't in any kind of trouble. The Headmaster will be here in a moment. I hasten to add, no-one's died, your family are all safe, but there's something important you need to know." On cue, the floo activated and Molly and Arthur stepped through.
"Hello, Molly, Arthur," said Minerva, "Thank you for coming. Albus will be here in a moment. There's something you all need to know." Molly was about to speak when Dumbledore entered the room. He looked tired. Understandable for a man functioning on three hours sleep.
"Thank you for coming, Molly, Arthur. I have something to tell you, that while you could read it in the paper that is currently being perused by the whole school, I want to tell you myself, because there's a significant detail that has not been made public which you are all entitled to hear."
Arthur frowned. There was only one topic of discussion anywhere in the ministry today, but what did that have to do with his family?
Albus told the facts as the paper told them, that is all the facts including Black and Pettigrew's animagi status.
"I'm sure you're all wondering where this is going," he said into the silence, "There are a few pieces of key information missing from the public details. To whit, where Pettigrew has been for the past twleve years. The official stance is that we don't know, and as he's dead, no-one will ever know. We do, in fact, know where Pettigrew has been hiding for all that time. He lived in his animagus form, which we know was a rat. In his rat form, some of his human features remained, most notably his missing finger, which in a rat would be a toe on the front paw."
Dumbledore looked at Ron, "I'm sorry, Ron, but Peter Pettigrew was your pet rat, Scabbers."
Ron threw up.
The Weasleys stayed with Jones for a number of hours after Dumbledore and McGonagall left Jones' office. Mr and Mrs Weasley returned to The Burrow, Percy and Ginny to the common room and Ron and the twins went up to the library. They'd been excused from classes for the afternoon and only had half an hour to wait for Harry, Dudley and Hermione to get out of lessons.
"Where did you get to?" asked Dudley to Ron, knowing he'd not been in class.
"What's happened?" asked Harry, "You all look a bit, I dunno… something."
The explanation didn't take long. Harry, Dudley and Hermione had read the paper.
"Shit," said Dudley, summing up the feeling around the table, "That's… screwed up is what that is."
"Uh huh," agreed George, "That's the stage we're at too."
"I wish Crookshanks had eaten him," said Ron into the quiet.
"That's just weird," said Dudley.