Important: with me going back to college this week, rate of updates is going to be greatly slowed. Expect update rate to slow significantly.
I hope to get a chapter done a week, but I may not update on Fridays, if something important comes up.
Note: this takes place during the last chapter.
If Ron wasn't his best friend, Harry would have questioned why he was following Hermione's cat into a dark, foreboding, passageway. Only the occasional enchanted candle sconce fought back the gloom, but even then, every brick looked the same. He had no way of knowing just how far he had run, or how much further there was left to go.
As is, he was doing his very best to keep his head on straight. Everyone knew that there were Dementors roaming around the outskirts of the castle: they even had attacked Ron's sister!
Still, his loyalty to his friends, bolstered by his now-confident proficiency with the Patronus Charm, won out over his fear, as it always had. And, he truly hoped, it always would.
"We need to catch that cat, before it eats Scabbers!" wailed Ron, who was puffing with effort, but was still making relatively good time.
"Actually, cats tend to play with their prey, rather than just eating them. It should be at least two minutes before Scabbers is in any real danger. In fact, one of the main reasons that a cat would carry a half-dead rat all of this way would be… Oh Crookshanks, you better not have kittens!" intoned Hermione, whose face had long since turned red.
"You're not helping!" screamed Ron.
Yup, just another year at Hogwarts.
The tunnel seemed to go on forever, with only a small handful of turns in various directions. Still, they knew they were going in the right direction, as the occasional flash of orange fur and the still-audible squeak of terrified rodent guided them in the proper direction.
And then, at the end of their few minutes of running, the path narrowed down, and curved upwards.
At the top of the slope, the three were able to see Crookshanks paw frantically at a closed door. Then, the click of a lock disengaging, and the creak of rusted hinges opening inwards.
The three shared a quick glance. Hermione hadn't been with them when they had stormed the Chamber, but both boys knew another wand arm could potentially make all of the difference. Their experience their first year was proof of that.
One after another, they barged through the door, wands ready.
As the student's eyes adjusted to the much-better-lit room, they could hear another, deeper voice from nearby.
"To be honest, I'm amazed you managed to grab him. I'd have thought you'd have more issues grabbing the slimy bugger."
Harry took the forward point as they approached the voice, as quietly as they could.
"Hello Wormtail." continued the voice, in a mocking tone, after but a small shuffling of robes. "You can't seriously believe that I'd not find you, after what you did to me? After what you did to Lily and Prongs?"
'Lily… Wasn't that my mother's name?' pondered Harry, as he stepped closer. In a bit of grim irony, only Harry's practice avoiding the Dursleys allowed him to keep silent.
The voice chuckled. "No wait. I'm Sirius. And you? You are a dead man."
Again, the three glanced towards each other, faces alight with dawning terror. Sirius Black, the escapee from Azkaban, was in the next room! With a hostage, nonetheless!
"Relax, I'm not going to kill you just yet. I need you alive, after all."
One by one, they entered the room, taking up positions to make an ambush.
Unfortunately, Ron wasn't quite as light-footed as his companions.
Sirius Black whirled around towards the noise, but was struck by three hastily-evoked Stunning spells within moments.
Harry couldn't help but wonder why Sirius's hands immediately covered his crotch the moment he spotted Ron.
Needless to say, the convict went down hard, falling like a cloven tree with a crunch.
"We should probably get Dumbledore." spoke Hermione.
"And leave him here unguarded? What if he escapes?" blurted out Ron.
"I'm not comfortable leaving only two of us here to guard him… what if he gets the drop on one of you?" murmured Harry.
With a unanimous decision towards blatant confusion, the three took seats nearby, and began to take stock of the situation.
Scabbers was safe and sound within a ventilated jar (although he was squeaking in a weird rhythm, almost as if he was laughing), Black was strangely without a wand at all (and seriously needed a shower), and there was a letter on the table, in an unsealed envelope.
"Y'know, I might actually keep him in the jar. Makes it easier to keep track of him." pointed out Ron.
The squeaking stopped.
Meanwhile, Harry retrieved the envelope, and with some trepidation, opened it.
He had barely begun to read the letter, when he was interrupted by Ron.
"Get real, mate! There's no way you're going to read it alone. Besides, it'll be faster if you just read it once."
And so, with nary a quiver in his voice, Harry began to read.
"Dear Harry."
Harry paused, but was urged on by Ron and Hermione.
"I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you, for the past ten years.
I'm sorry that I made that stupid mistake, that led to me being imprisoned in Azkaban.
I mean, I'm not sorry that I got thrown in Azkaban. I am sorry that I couldn't tell you about your parents.
Me and James, your father, go way back: he was my first friend. Being in a family of Dark Wizards, while being a little bit… softer, wasn't exactly the easiest thing in the world.
Right, I should probably get to why I'm here.
You see, I'm hunting someone.
Someone who should be dead. Someone, who due to the fact that they are 'dead', I was thrown into Azkaban.
I am innocent. I was framed for a murder that I would never commit, in addition to a murder I never managed to accomplish. Wait, that sounds bad.
Your parents were protected by an old, powerful sort of magic known as a Fidelius Charm.
The magic works, by naming a person as a Secret Keeper, and all but the Secret Keeper forget all knowledge of the topic targeted. The Secret Keeper is able to spread the knowledge, and he did to James, Lily, and Me. Unfortunately, people who have the secret passed from the secret keeper are unable to further pass on the secret.
As you can tell, I am not the Secret Keeper.
The Secret Keeper, is Peter Pettigrew, the man I was framed for murdering.
I am telling the truth. Since Pettigrew is still alive, the Fidelius is still active.
I cannot tell you the direct truth of the matter, but ask Dumbledore about where your parents lived. If he cannot tell you, then ask him what a Fidelius is.
I've been searching for Pettigrew for the past year. He's an Animagus, a Wizard able to assume the form of a rat.
I hoped to capture Pettigrew, and reveal him to the Ministry. Hopefully, they'll finally take the collective sticks out of their collective asses, and grant me the pardon I deserve.
Yours truly,
Sirius Black
Padfoot"
"Blimey. This is pretty serious, isn't it." muttered Ron, who was the first to recover from the shock.
"No," came a groan from the floor. "I'm Sirius, and I object to being called pretty. I much prefer handsome, and/or dashing."
The entire room flinched as the convict stirred. Unfortunately, Ron, who was mid-step, involuntarily brought his foot down.
Directly onto Sirius's unmentionables.
"Merlin's beard mate! I'm so sorry!" he murmured, shamefaced, as Black writhed upon the floor, groaning in pain.
"I… deserved… that…" slowly groaned Sirius, through gritted teeth. "What… is with… you Prewetts… and... kicking me… there?"
"So the letter's true, then?" interrupted Harry, even as the grimace faded from Sirius's face.
"More or less. There's more to it, but that's the gist of it." answered Sirius.
"Hold a minute, mate." interrupted Ron. "What do you mean by 'you Prewetts'?"
"You've got the signature Prewett red hair, for one. Just like the girl who tied me up earlier."
There was a slight pause.
"Ginny did what?" screamed Ron.
"Yeah, she and her blonde friend got the drop on me earlier this month. Tied me up, and punched me till I told them everything." admitted Sirius.
Scabbers' squeaking was back in force, rising in pitch and frequency.
"Shut it, you." growled Sirius.
"So… why did you kidnap Ron's rat, anyway?" queried Hermione.
"Oh, him? He's Peter Pettigrew, the rat animagus. He's the one who betrayed Harry's parents, and an avid supporter of You-Know-Who."
Ron's face went entirely pale, his grip slacking, and eyes unfocused.
"He's been living with our family for years! He's been sleeping in our beds!"
"Ew." murmured Hermione. Harry couldn't help but agree.
Sensing his only opportunity, Pettigrew slammed his body against the side of the jar, tipping it out of Ron's grasp. Even Harry's Seeker reflexes weren't enough to catch the vessel, before it fell to the floor with a crash.
In seconds, the rat was free, and had opened up to full sprint.
What followed, was a Tom-And-Jerry-esque chase, as the four humans, (but at some point, Sirius had turned into a dog), chased the rat around the house, knocking over furniture, and generally causing a massive amount of noise.
However, they finally cornered Pettigrew.
Just in time for Professor Lupin to throw open the shack's door loud enough to startle everyone, his wand alight.
"Dammit Moony!" screamed Sirius, as he watched his ticket to freedom flee through the door into the distance.
Lupin glanced at Sirius, then the kids, then the setting sun of all things, and then back at the fleeing rodent, which had stopped momentarily to seemingly blow a raspberry in Sirius's general direction. He scratched his head slowly, mentally putting the pieces together.
"Oh. Oh bollocks." was his answer, a minute later.
"Bollocks indeed." muttered Sirius, face in his hands.