Chapter 11

September 13th, 1989- Outside the Headmaster's office, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland

If there had been anyone in the corridors there would have been many eyebrows raised at the four little firsties that were barrelling through the corridors like a cerberus was chasing after them. As it was they encountered no resistance as Patricia ran past paintings and though secret passages, leaving the boys to follow her as best they could. A few times someone would look out of a classroom right after they turned a corner or ducked behind a tapestry and then go back to whatever they had been doing with a look of puzzlement.

Lee crashed into Patricia when she stopped suddenly in front of a gargoyle. The twins somehow managed to stop before they ran into him. Patricia stumbled forwards and grabbed onto the gargoyle's nose to stop herself from running into the wall. "Where are we?" Fred and George asked in unison.

"Dumbledore's office." Patricia didn't see the boys' eyes widen and Fred and George glancing rapidly around the corridor because she was busy biting her lip and looking at the gargoyle. "Chocolate Frogs." she tried. Nothing happened. "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans." Nothing. "Licorice Wands, Acid Pops, Pumpkin Pasties, Fizz—"

"What is going on here!?" Professor McGonagall advanced towards them with Dumbledore half a step behind her. "Weren't you four in the library?"

"Yes, professor." Lee looked over her shoulder at the Headmaster, whose eyes were twinkling merrily. "Professor, Patricia saw someone in the school."

"Someone who shouldn't be here-"

"-because they're supposed to be dead." McGonagall looked at the four students, who looked back at her with faces that radiated innocence.

"And how exactly did Miss Stimpson see this person?" Patricia tried not to squirm.

"In the cards, professor." Dumbledore gave a small smile.

"Tarot cards, Miss Stimpson? Wonderful. Your mother favoured palmistry if I recall correctly. Did the cards tell you who this person is?" Patricia nodded. "Where they are?" She nodded again.

"Speak up, Miss Stimpson." McGonagall ordered. If there was an intruder in the school they needed to be apprehended at once.

"Peter Pettigrew, professor. He's in Gryffindor Tower, the boys' dormitory." She looked down at her feet. "I think he's an Animagus, professor. There was something about a rat."

"A-"

"-rat?" Fred and George looked at each other with matching expressions. "Scabbers!"

September 13th, 1989- Gryffindor Tower Common Room, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland

The group of three professors, two Aurors, and one prison guard that was in the Gryffindor common room was giving the paintings a lot to talk about. It was lucky for them that none of the dorm rooms had paintings in them or a certain rat would have known to skedaddle long before they made it upstairs.

"Are you sure it's Peter?" Remus whispered to Patricia, who had managed to enter the tower unnoticed and was lurking by the fireplace with her three Gryffindors. They were the only students in the room as the other Gryffindors in the tower had been quickly shepherded out upon the arrival of the Aurors.

"The Map said so." she whispered back.

The room became quiet as one of the Aurors raised her hand to ask for silence. "Alright folks, let's get started." She nodded towards Fred and George. "Go get the rat, boys." The Weasley twins left their friends and headed up to their brother's dorm room. Snape muttered something under his breath about this being a whole lot of fuss for a child's story. Remus glared at his back.

The Auror spoke to her partner, but she may as well have been speaking to everyone in the room. "It'll probably just be a regular old rat. Pettigrew died years ago, being an Animagus doesn't stop you from getting blown up." Her partner sighed.

"Look at it this way, we could be doing paperwork."

The twins came back into the room. George was holding a brown rat with both hands and Fred had his wand out with the business end pointing at the rat. "Did you have any trouble?" McGonagall asked, looking at the wand.

"Nah, just wanted to be prepared."

"He was asleep-"

"-like usual."

"He's bloody useless."

George put Scabbers down on one of the armchairs. Dumbledore gestured towards him. "Well, Mr. Lupin?" Remus pushed forwards. He didn't have to look long.

"It's him." A lump grew in his throat. "That's Peter."

"The rat is missing a toe." Snape observed. "And all that was found of Pettigrew was his finger." The two Aurors took out their wands.

"There's only one way to know for sure." Apparently they didn't trust Remus' memory. "On three. One…two…three!" Burst of blue light came out of the ends of their wands. When they hit Scabbers the sleeping rat transformed into a very wide-awake man who was also very scruffy. His eyes wheeled wildly around the room until they fell on Remus.

"R…r…remus? What's going on?"

"That is Peter Pettigrew." Snape, Dumbledore, and McGonagall said in probably never to be repeated unison. Snape's nose wrinkled as he looked at the man with disgust. McGonagall's voice was a full octave higher than it normally was and Dumbledore had lost the lighthearted tone he usually spoke with. Pettigrew looked towards them.

"P…professor Dumbledore?" Dumbledore raised his wand.

"Stupefy." Pettigrew sank back into the armchair, unconscious. Dumbledore looked towards the Aurors, both of whom were blinking repeatedly in surprise. "I assume you would prefer to get to full story out of him somewhere there aren't children around."

"Very much, Headmaster." the female Auror said, eyeing the four students. "We'll take him to the Ministry."

"May I join you? I would very much like to know how he escaped Black's…What spell was it that Black use against him?" Dumbledore's face scrunched up as he realized that he didn't know what spell Black had used to allegedly kill Pettigrew and twelve Muggles. That should have been mentioned during the trial…

"I'm coming with." Remus announced. "Let's go."

September 13th, 1989- The Office of Amelia Bones, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Ministry of Magic, London, England

"Madam Bones, there's a Floo call for you. From Headmaster Dumbledore."

"Patch him through, Lottie." Amelia Bones put down her ballpoint pen, she found Muggle writing instruments far easier to complete her mountains of paperwork with than quills, and went to kneel in front of the fire. A few seconds later the head of Albus Dumbledore appeared in the flames. "Hello, Headmaster." Dumbledore didn't smile, which was very unlike him.

"Good evening, Madam Bones."

"What can I do for you? Have Roger and Emma found something?" She had been surprised when his first call asking for her to send over some Aurors came. Albus Dumbledore wasn't the type of person to ask for help. If he hadn't been locked up inside Hogwarts for weeks preparing for the start of term she would have made him get tested to see if he was taking mood-altering potions.

"They have. May we come through? This will make more sense if you see for yourself."

"Just one moment." Amelia moved away from the fireplace. She positioned herself near the door and drew her wand, just in case. "Come in!" Dumbledore stepped out of the fireplace, followed by her two Aurors and Remus Lupin, who had his wand pointed at the man they were carrying between them. When Amelia got a good look at the man her eyes widened. "Merlin! Is that Peter Pettigrew?"

"Yes mam." Roger grunted. "And he's a right heavy bloke. Can we put him down?" Amelia nodded and Pettigrew was dumped unceremoniously in her recently vacated chair. The two Aurors trained there wands on him while Lupin conjured ropes to tide him up.

"Where did you find him?" Amelia asked. Dumbledore gave a tense smile.

"Gryffindor Tower. One of the Weasley boys was keeping him as a pet." Amelia head jerked backwards.

"What?"

"He's an Animagus." Lupin said. "A rat."

"Unregistered?"

"Of course."

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "If you don't mind, Madam Bones, I was hoping that you would be able to get him to tell us what he was doing in my school."

"And how the bloody hell he's alive." Roger interrupted. Emma elbowed him. Dumbledore nodded.

"That as well."

Amelia looked down at Pettigrew, her lips pressed together in a thin line. His appearance was ringing all sorts of alarm bells. "Believe me, Headmaster, he's got a lot of questions that he'll be answering." She went to her desk, unlocked a drawer, and pulled out a small bottle of clear liquid. Lupin's eyes widened when he saw it. He swallowed.

"Veritaserum?" Amelia nodded.

"I have jurisdiction to administer truth serum to any suspicious character in my custody. Mr. Pettigrew here is just that." Lupin didn't protest as she tipped three drops of Veritaserum into Pettigrew's gapping mouth. Dumbledore enervated him at the same time and Pettigrew awoke, sputtering. He had to swallow so that he wouldn't cough up a lung. Immediately his eyes glazed over.

"What is your name?" Amelia demanded.

"Peter Timothy Pettigrew." Pettigrew replied dreamily.

"Why were you at Hogwarts?"

"Percy Weasley brought me there. I was his pet rat."

"Why were you acting as Mr. Weasley's pet?"

"I had to hide."

"Why?"

"So that everyone would think I was dead." Remus looked at Dumbledore, who was staring at Pettigrew with a look similar to the one Patricia had when she was working through a particularly difficult maths problem.

"Why did you need everyone to think you were dead?"

"To get Sirius out of the way." The two Aurors raised their eyebrows. Remus went pale and gripped the mantle of the fireplace with his free hand. Amelia took a deep breath before asking her next question.

"Why did you need Black out of the way?"

"Because he's the only one left who knows the truth."

"What is 'the truth'?"

"He was never the Potter's Secret Keeper, it was me." There was a loud thump. Amelia looked over her shoulder and realized that Lupin had passed out. The noise had drawn the attention of Lottie, who dropped the files she was holding when she looked into the room.

"Oh my." the secretary said. Amelia looked at her and promised herself that she would give the girl a bonus if she stuck around after they had dealt with this.

"Lottie, would you get me a Floo call to the Minister please? And take care of Mr. Lupin after you're done, the rest of us will be very busy."

"Of course, Madame Bones."

September 14th, 1989- Maximum Security floor of Azkaban Prison, an island in the North Sea

Every prison guard at Azkaban hated the maximum security floor with a burning passion. That was the floor with the most dementors patrolling it and just being up there for a few seconds almost made them feel sorry for the prisoners kept there, almost because those were the worst people on the island. Mostly Death Eaters with a few serial killers thrown in for good measure. The guards went up in groups of three, each of them casting their patronus ahead of them. They passed cells of silent bundles of rags and madly laughing men and women until they reached the one that held Sirius Black. The convicted mass murderer looked at them calmly with grey eyes that looked huge in his skeletal face. "Hello boys."

He was the worse of them.

The lead guard pointed his wand at Black's face. "Sirius Black, you have been ordered by the Minister of Magic to stand trial for the murder of Peter Pettigrew due to new evidence being uncovered. Should you resist you will be immobilized and taken by force. Do you understand?" Black blinked. The guard shoved his wand closer to his face. "I said, do you understand?" Black nodded frantically.

"Yes, yes, I understand. I'm dreaming, aren't I? Or I've finally gone mad." The guard unlocked the door and one of the other men helped him drag Black out of his cell.

"No dream, Black. Maybe we'll get rid of you."

"I'm really getting a trial?" Black's expression changed from one of bewilderment to one of fury. The third guard pointed his wand at him. "It's about bloody time!"