5-Rat Trap

Harry stayed alert, ready to protect Sirius until Sirius left the hall, escorted by Remus, whom Sirius presented as "a good friend from school," and a woman named Andromeda Tonks, whom Harry knew to be one of Sirius's cousins, although nobody seemed to care about presenting her to Harry. He still noticed that Lucius Malfoy was among the last to leave the courtroom, looking very pensive. He was sure that Malfoy was already contemplating some plan to benefit from this new situation.

It was a bit late for lunch by the time they left the courtroom. The Auror took Harry to a small restaurant inside the Ministry building, where Harry found the choice nice enough, although lacking in comparison with Hogwarts. A short while later, he was back at school, waiting for Hermione to come out of the Charms class, since it was too late to join the lesson.

Hermione was eager to hear everything, but since Ron was with them, she refrained from asking until they could have some privacy. Harry still managed to whisper in her ear, "It all went well." The Herbology lesson that followed didn't give them any privacy, but Ron hurried back to the tower, badly needing the loo as soon as the lesson was over, letting Harry and Hermione find an unused classroom for their conversation. Hermione still cast some privacy and soundproofing charms on the door and on the walls before they started talking.

Harry told her as much as he could. "I didn't like the way Dumbledore presented the case, as if it was just a bureaucratic error. Luckily, the evidence was good enough to assure Sirius's freedom. The way Dumbledore looked at him, I'm afraid he'll try to cause us some problems."

Hermione sighed. "Well, we know he wanted you with the Dursleys each summer and kept you in the dark when you were there. He may have a point with the blood wards, though. I think we should check them as soon as we can."

Harry had a more pressing problem in his mind at that moment. "Shouldn't we expose Peter before he has a chance to flee? With Sirius exonerated, Peter may decide it's too dangerous for him to stay here. We don't want him free and able to resurrect Voldemort, do we?"

"What would you suggest then?" Hermione asked Harry for advice, making it a new experience for them both. Harry thought that removing those binds on his mental ability caused her to give more credit to his ideas.

Harry didn't need to think much about her question. He'd actually contemplated it since the end of the trial. "I've heard there's a spell to force an Animagus back to his human form. We may find it in the library or even ask Professor McGonagall. As an Animagus, she should know."

Hermione smiled. "I like it that since the… merge, you're much more willing to spend time in the library."

He shrugged. "I simply ceased listening to Ron's opinions. As our older selves found out, he's just a jealous prat who knows very little. Why should we listen to him?"

Her smile widened. "Sure! Let's go!"

The books about Animagus transformation were all in the restricted section, but some of the books accessible to them contained revealing charms of many kinds. One of them was meant to make an Animagus in his animal form glow bright red when hit with it. Another, a few pages farther, could force an Animagus back to its human form. An accompanying charm also prevented the Animagus transformation for a few hours. They made sure to learn all three charms, although they didn't think that the first would be of much use at the moment. Luckily, none of these spells left a visible trace when cast.

With dinner time approaching, they left the library to put their bags in the dorms before going for dinner. Ron wasn't in the common room when they arrived. "He said he didn't feel too well and went to bed," Neville told them. "I think he just ate too much and had his stomach upset," he added. "He really eats like three people. I would have been sick just eating half as much as he."

Harry nodded in agreement. "You're probably right, but I think we should talk to him. He's our friend, isn't he?"

Neville nodded hesitantly. "Are you sure he's a real friend? I mean, I wouldn't want to come between you, but the way he talks when you're not around..." He blushed as if he'd already said too much.

Harry clapped Neville on his shoulder. "Never mind. Time will tell if he is or isn't a real friend." 'Well, I already know,' he thought.

He waited for Hermione to leave her bag in the girls' dorm before going with her to his. Ron was spread in bed, glancing at an old Quidditch magazine. Harry didn't wait for Ron to whine; he just asked, "Why did you run away from us after Herbology?"

Ron lifted his face. He really looked a bit pale. "I didn't feel too well and I thought I needed the loo. It was just a false alarm, but my stomach still aches."

"So, are you going to skip dinner?" Harry asked innocently.

"No. I'm already hungry," Ron replied, unaware of Harry's sarcasm.

"In that case, we should move already. Dinner starts in five minutes. If we come late, all the best portions will be gone," Hermione said, just as sarcastically.

"Sure!" Ron seemed to forget his aches. "I also need to bring some food for Scabbers. He seems a bit ill himself."

"Well, I need the loo myself," Harry told him. "You go with Hermione. I'll catch up in a moment, or you can save me a seat."

"Alright, mate," Ron said, quickly getting out of bed. Hermione rolled her eyes at his antics but said nothing.

Once left alone in the dorm, Harry approached the cage where Scabbers was kept, when not in Ron's pocket. He held his wand casually and tried to seem as if he was looking for a certain book, waving his wand haphazardly. When he was close enough, he saw that the rat was asleep, making his effort redundant. He quickly cast a stunner at the rat, before it could wake up and notice the danger. He followed that by the revealing charm. Scabbers glowed bright red, as expected. He then cast a strong containment shield around the stunned rat, making sure that even if he woke up, he would be unable to flee.

A few moments later, Harry joined his friends in the Great Hall. While Ron was busy stuffing his face, Harry whispered to Hermione, "Keep him busy for a bit after we finish eating. I want a Professor to come and find Pettigrew, and Ron would just interfere."

Hermione nodded reluctantly. She had no fail-proof method for that, but maybe if she asked to learn some more about Quidditch…

Despite being the last to reach the table, Harry was the first to finish eating. "I need to ask Professor McGonagall something. Don't wait for me," he told his two friends as he hurried out of the Great Hall.

He was lucky to find her in her office, although she didn't seem in a good mood. He still tried to interest her. "Earlier today, while attending the trial of Sirius Black, he mentioned that Peter Pettigrew was an unregistered rat Animagus and gave some details. Then, when I returned to the dorms, I noticed that Scabbers seems to fit that description very well. Can you check if he's a real rat?"

The professor frowned. "Isn't Pettigrew supposed to be dead?"

Harry shook his head. "It all came out during the trial. Pettigrew framed Black by shouting and blowing the street and then escaping as a rat. Black never had a trial until today, and he was found innocent. The betrayer was Peter Pettigrew."

She didn't seem to like it. "Well, there's one way to check it. Do you know where that rat is now?"

Harry refrained from smiling in triumph. "I stunned him before going for dinner and checked with a spell I found in the library. It glowed red."

"Well, let's see," she said, rising from her seat and heading for the door.

McGonagall walked so briskly that he almost had to run to keep in pace. When they reached the dorm room, Harry pointed at the cage, silently removing the containment ward. She sent another stunner at the rat and then levitated it out of the cage onto the bed. A moment later, she erected another ward to prevent the rat from escaping the bed in any form, before casting the reversal spell. The rat changed into a fat, balding man. She quickly cast the transformation inhibitor followed by another stunner, and then the disarming spell, that brought three wands and two daggers out of his robes. Harry tried to seem fascinated by the myriad of spells that he'd already learned, but that should have been unknown to him as a first-year student.

She then cast a few more spells that Harry couldn't recognize. "Just making sure he can't escape," she told Harry, before ushering him out of the room and using several locking charms, some unknown to him, to prevent the students from going in.

"I'm going to call Amelia, that's Madam Bones," she said. "Stay here and make sure nobody goes in until I return."

It didn't take long before she returned with Madam Bones and three Aurors. McGonagall removed the locking charms and then let the others into the room. One of the Aurors put magic suppressor cuffs on Peter's arms and legs. Another put an anti-animagus collar around his neck. With that taken care of, they revived Peter.

The rat-man looked like a captured animal. His eyes darted in all directions, looking for an escape, but there was none. Harry stayed at the back, unwilling to confront the man responsible for his parents' death while still emotionally exhausted from the trial.

A short while later, the whole group of adults left the Gryffindor tower. Madam Bones left last, stopping by Harry. "It looks like we need to thank you again, Mr. Potter. I must say I'm proud of you. I'll inform you of when this… rat gets his trial, so you may come if you like."

Harry just nodded his thanks.

Ron and Hermione arrived a few minutes later. "What happened?" both asked.

Harry thought it was time to come clean. "Your rat was actually a disguised wizard. No wonder all those rat tonic bottles did nothing for him. When forced back into his human form he was found to be Peter Pettigrew, the man who betrayed my parents to Voldemort and framed Sirius Black. Now the Aurors have him and he's sure to get his justice."

Ron frowned. "He was really old for a rat, but why did you suspect?"

Harry sighed. "I was present during the trial, this morning. The description of Pettigrew was exactly how Scabbers looked. He also missed a finger on his front paw. I didn't want to make a scene of it, so I asked Professor McGonagall to check this, since she's an Animagus and should know best. Once she found out, she called the Aurors."

"Oh… And we missed all the excitement," Ron whined.

"It could easily turn very dangerous. She found several wands on him, and two daggers. It's best that you didn't have to witness this."

"But you were here..."

Harry shrugged. "After showing her the cage, I hid under my cloak and behind my bed. I barely saw anything," he lied.

Ron gave it a thought. "Oh, well… He was useless as a pet anyhow."

This seemed to put an end to that conversation. Harry still spent some time playing Chess with Ron (and losing, as usual) to make Ron more agreeable. Only much later could he speak with Hermione.

"Luckily, Professor McGonagall didn't need my help. She only made sure that I was out of harm's reach and handled it all by herself. She also used some spells I'd like to learn." He told Hermione everything with as much detail as he could. She beamed with happiness when he finished. "That was really great!" she told him, punctuating her praise with a kiss on his cheek, making them both blush.