~~Deny Thy Father And Refuse Thy Name....~~

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~~Chapter Sixteen: A Chance To Change The Future~~


Harry wasn't sure how the man below him had known he was there, but the fact was he did. He felt Draco grab onto his arm worriedly, and reached up to squeeze Draco's hand gently letting him know it was all right, and then turned to look at Dumbledore. With a little nod from him Harry made his decision, and came out from underneath the cloak, making sure that Draco was still hidden. He eyed the man before him wearily a moment, then nodded at him. 'Pettigrew. How did you know?' he asked quietly.

Peter looked at Harry oddly a moment, then actually gave him a slight grin. 'Wizard's bond, Harry, I've known all along you weren't dead. If you had truly been dead I wouldn't still feel the bond we share.'

'Oh, the bond, I'd forgotten about that actually,' Harry said sheepishly.

'You had every right to considering things,' Peter said.

'What do you want, Pettigrew? What's going on?' Harry demanded now.

Peter sighed then walked a bit further over and sat down a few bleachers below Harry, looking up at him speculatively. 'Aren't you in the least bit curious why I haven't revealed to anyone the fact that Harry Potter is alive?' he asked.

Harry shrugged. 'Ask me if I care. Besides, 'Harry Potter' isn't alive.'

'Oh? You look pretty solid for a ghost, Harry,' Peter said with a smirk.

Harry scowled. 'I'm not a ghost you idiot.'

'Hmm, I guess Severus told you the truth then?' Peter asked simply.

Harry stared at Peter. 'I don't know what you're talking about, Pettigrew. My-Severus has told me nothing,' he said coldly.

Peter chuckled. 'That's why you call him 'Severus'? Or was that the start of saying 'my father'? And I'm not an idiot, I knew all along that James wasn't your real father.'

Harry blinked, unsure if this was some sort of trap or not. 'What makes you think that?'

Peter didn't answer right away, instead he sat there and looked out over the pitch for a few moments. 'When we were kids I used to sit right here too and watch them all during practise. You should have seen James, he was incredible up there, and Sirius, you couldn't touch the 'Black Beater' as he was fond of calling himself. I was never one much for Quidditch persay, a bit too heavy for a broom, like Longbottom. Brooms and myself didn't mix, but I loved to watch it. Didn't get to often because they always dropped their homework on me right before practise, but I caught what I could. James sometimes would say flying was better than sex, it was a freedom up there that you couldn't find out earth. A simplicity...just you, the broom and the wind.'

'Flying is pretty good, I agree. Why'd you let them do that to you though? Why not stand up for yourself?' Harry asked curiously.

Peter shrugged. 'My parents were Ravenclaws you know, well maybe you don't, but they were. Generations of them really, I should have been one, but I didn't want to be. I'd already met James and Sirius on the train coming here, and they were so nice, they didn't treat me like the others. Everyone teased me because all I was to them was a 'fat kid who had little potential.' James and Sirius didn't though, they stuck up for me right on the train, some Slytherins were teasing me and they shooed them off. When I saw Sirius was going into Gryffindor, I figured James would too, so I asked to go there instead of Ravenclaw. But I was coward, Harry. I wasn't noble or brave or courageous, I was just an afraid little boy pretending to be something he wasn't,' Peter said quietly.

'But in the end they hurt you...didn't they,' Harry said.

Peter sighed and nodded. 'Betrayed me more than any Slytherin did. Sirius found out something about me in my seventh-year, and he and I went rounds on it. James didn't care honestly, he was too busy kissing your mum all day long amongst other things to even notice, but Sirius did. He's got a pretty dark side himself you know,' Peter said.

Harry nodded. 'Yeah, so I'm finding out lately. In fact, I'm finding out a lot of things lately I wish I hadn't,' he muttered. 'How'd you know about James not being my father though?' he asked then, figuring this wasn't a trap, Peter seemed to be actually sincere in his words, and Dumbledore and Draco were still sitting there so if there was trouble he'd be safe at least.

Peter looked at Harry oddly a moment, then turned back to look at the pitch. 'Narcissa's here now, isn't she, Harry,' he asked quietly.

'Why do you want to know? Are you going to hurt her?' Harry asked.

Peter shook his head sadly. 'No, Harry, I could never hurt her. She hurt me more than Sirius, more than even Voldemort ever could, but I would never hurt her. I just wanted to know, that's all.'

'She may be here, I don't know, I ran out here a while ago,' Harry lied. 'Are you avoiding my question, Pettigrew?'

Peter shook his head and looked back at the castle, a strange look in his eyes. 'No, I'm not, Harry, just reflecting that's all. Yes, I knew about James not being your real father, that Severus was, though none of them knew I knew at the time. I was...well...collecting information you could say - '

'For Voldemort you mean,' Harry said bitterly.

Peter sighed and nodded. 'Yes, for Voldemort. Sirius was right, for over a year before they died I'd been passing information to the Death Eaters in secret. I didn't use my real name, and I used a cover, a glamourine charm so I wouldn't get seen for myself. Lily was very good at those, and in her innocence I asked her to teach it to me, and she did of course. Of everyone, she was always the kindest to me back then, at that point anyway.'

'Yet you turned her in! You killed her! She's dead because of you, they both are!' Harry said angrily, his eyes blazing black with green rings.

'I did what I had to do, Harry! It was different back then, I was different, you don't the whole story, the whole truth. I loved Lily like a sister, I adored her, it sickened me when I had to 'spy' on them for Voldemort. Once again I was being used but I had my reasons behind it. However, that's how I found out about you, that you were Severus's son, not James. I overheard James and Sirius talking soon after you were born, I snuck into the house in my animagus form and listened to them. They were fighting, screaming at each other, Sirius...he...' Peter trailed off, a stricken look on his face.

'He what?' Harry asked, his anger still focused, but lessening slightly.

'Sirius he...he told James to get rid of you. That you were bad luck, a son of a Death Eater, a good for nothing kid. He said...he told James you would bring down the house of Gryffindor, that James would be ruined by giving you his name and appearance. That it would only bring trouble,' Peter said in a harsh, edged voice.

Harry blinked a moment and stared at Peter. 'He...Sirius...he said that?' he asked skeptically.

Peter nodded slowly. 'Yes, Harry, he did. At first Sirius wanted nothing to do with you, he hated you because you were Severus's son, his enemy's son. It didn't matter that Severus had saved Lily's life, or that you were half Lily's, the fact remained you were a child of evil as far as he saw it. He wanted you dead,' Peter said sorrowfully.

'I don't believe it...I...I don't want to believe it...' Harry said faltering, tears coming to his eyes.

'It's true, all of it. Peter's right on that much,' a new voice cut in now from behind them, one laced with bitterness and pain.

Harry jumped and turned round quickly, a stricken look in his eyes. 'Sirius?' he asked hesitantly as he watched the other man sit down hard on the bleachers. 'You're hurt?'

Sirius waved him off. 'Don't worry 'bout me kid, I'll be fine. Feel like I've wrestled a ruddy troll, but I'll live,' he said thickly then turned to Peter. 'Hullo, Pete, not dead yet I see, pity,' he scowled.

'Stop playing Mr. High-And-Mighty, Sirius, you're not dead yet yourself I see,' Peter shot back.

'Nice comeback, Voldemort's not one much for intellectual conversation I take it?' Sirius muttered.

'Any more than you ever were, Sirius,' Peter said smugly.

'Will you two both shut up already?' Harry said cutting into the conversation, then turned to look at Sirius accusingly. 'You wanted me dead? Is that right?'

Sirius looked back at Harry with a pained look in his eyes and he sighed and slowly nodded. 'Sorry to say it, Harry, but yeah, I did want you dead for a bit there. Oh don't worry, I wouldn't have dared try anything funny mind you, but when I found out you weren't James's kid, I blew up pretty badly. I couldn't believe James would even let you stay in the family home of Godric Gryffindor knowing you were a Slytherin heir.'

'My mum was a Slytherin heir incase you've forgotten,' Harry said bitterly. 'You didn't want her dead now did you.'

'You're mum was the loveliest person I knew, Harry, and for the Slytherin blood in her, she was all Gryffindor till the day she died,' Sirius said darkly. 'You however, were the son of a Death Eater, how was I to know that you'd end up more like Lils? I couldn't be sure, none of us were really. Lily heard us arguing though and well...'

'Well what? You told her to dump me in the nearest lake? That you'd take me out for a ride on your motorbike then chuck me off at the nearest ocean?' Harry spat out.

'NO! No, Harry, of course not!' Sirius said shocked that Harry would even say such a thing. 'Harry, listen to me, I didn't know what you were going to turn out as, but Lily...sweet, dearest, Lily, she did somehow. She swore to me that you'd turn out just fine, and so would Severus. Lily stunk at Divinations, but at that moment she was more sure of yours and Severus's future than ever. How could I not believe her?' Sirius said with a deep sigh. 'I loved your mum, well, not in the ah...literal sense, but she was my family in all respects, Harry. If she said you'd turn out right, then I believe her. And you did, Harry boy, you did.'

'Just like Severus did, Sirius?' Peter said quietly. 'At least some of us got to be happy in the end now, didn't they. Even if they did end up with a...Slytherin.'

Sirius looked at Peter in surprise, then his face took on a look of sadness. 'You really loved her didn't you, Peter,' he asked quietly.

'What does it matter now, Sirius? She's Mrs. Malfoy now, you're sleeping with Severus and Remus, two for one, and poor, pathetic, little Peter gets nothing. Just like always,' Peter said in a dull, flat tone of voice.

'Even you didn't deserve that, Pettigrew...Peter...' Harry said quietly. 'What they did to you in school was wrong. What Sirius did to you was wrong, he didn't have the right to tell you to stop seeing Mrs. Malfoy.'

'You...you know about that?' Peter asked in shock.

Harry nodded. 'Someone told me about it, yeah. Also how James, Sirius and Remus would leave you to do everything, how they made you always to be the fall person, taking the blame for them,' he said then turned to Sirius. 'How could you, Sirius? He was your friend! Friends are supposed to stick together, to be there for each other!'

'Will Ron and Hermione be there for you when you tell them about Draco?' Sirius shot back.

Harry bristled. 'Yes, they will be there! If they didn't leave me when they found out I was a Parselmouth, or when I found out Severus was my dad, why would they leave me because of Draco?' he asked. 'Just because he's a Slytherin? Or because he's a Malfoy? Or both? If you really think they'd leave me because of that, then you don't know what 'friendship' means, Sirius. Are you just pretending to love my dad as well because of who and what he is? Your 'enemy'?'

'No! I love Severus, you know I do, Harry! It's not that at all, please, let me speak here. When I was younger yes, I was a stupid git, a bitter, foolish kid who didn't know right from wrong. I've seen the error of my ways though, Harry. Twelve years in Azkaban gave me a hell of a long time to think things out, see where I went so wrong,' Sirius said sadly.

'What about Peter? Did you also think on how you hurt him? How you drove him to Voldemort?' Harry demanded.

'He didn't do that, Harry, Sirius wasn't the reason I did what I did,' Peter said.

'I was the start of it though, Peter, I know that now. What I did, what we all did to you back then...and what I did personally to her by my words...was wrong. Narcissa was the nicest of the lot, I knew that, but I was blinded by the fact she was still a Slytherin, and nothing would sway me off that. Pretty ironic now that I'm the one who ended up in the bed of a Slytherin, and an ex-Death Eater none-the-less,' he said with a humourless chuckle.

'So Severus really has switched sides then, I wasn't wholly sure, till you confirmed it that is,' Peter said thoughtfully.

'Err...' Harry said hesitantly. 'I don't think you should say anything anymore, Sirius. You're going to get my dad killed or something here.'

Peter snorted. 'Not by me, I can assure you of that. I don't want Severus dead, I never did. I never wanted anyone dead.'

'They why did you lead him to James and Lily? Why have them killed, Peter?' Sirius said angrily.

'Sirius, do you really think Voldemort was going to give up so easily? Do you?' Peter demanded and turned to face Sirius dead on. 'If it hadn't been me it would have been someone else. Actually, because of Remus's connections to Severus, Voldemort wanted to use him at first. I just happened to be in the way, I was angry because of what Narcy did to me, angry at you for how you treated me. Angry at the world, Sirius, for everything, I was blinded by that hatred, by fear. I wasn't even sure of what I was doing until I'd done it.'

'Peter I - ' Sirius began, only to be cut off mid-sentence.

'Peter, did you really not know what you were doing? Or did you really want to do it all? Betray everyone like that?' Harry asked.

Peter turned to look at Harry, a sad, wistful look in his eyes. 'I knew what I was doing, Harry, I knew I was going to hurt...have killed...two people that I had cared about. But like Sirius at the time, I was blinded. Blinded by emotions, too angry, too sad, too full of revenge against all of them for what had happened. Not just with Narcissa, but all of it. I went willingly, craving the power to stop being the 'fat tagalong', but to this very day the guilt has also lived within me. I still have nightmares of the night Lily and James died...I was there you know...well you don't know that...but I was, in my animagus form. I thought I wanted to see them die...but...when it came down to it I wanted to die with them.'

'You should have, Peter,' Sirius scowled.

'You're right, I should have. I should have let him kill me instead of what I did, but tell me, Sirius, were you any less of a betrayer? Did you not try to kill Severus back then more than once?' Peter argued back.

'Wait, what do you mean more than once?' Harry asked puzzled.

'Hmph, the willow was only one time, the worst of it really. There were other times, and why was it, Sirius? Hmm? Never told him the truth did you, about your past,' Peter said coolly.

'You mean that his family was all Slytherins?' Harry asked then turned to look at Sirius. 'I know about that too.'

Sirius paled and then groaned. 'Who told you? Severus and Remy wouldn't have, that much I know,' he said.

'Doesn't matter who told me, I just know,' Harry said with a shrug.

'That's not all of it either, Harry. That's not why Sirius hated Slytherins as he does, his parents were evil, worked for Grindelwald even, but even that's not it, is it, Sirius,' Peter said heavily.

Sirius glared at Peter then looked back at Harry, a darkness in his eyes, and he sighed. 'He's right. There's another reason I didn't want him with Narcissa, a very big reason,' he said quietly.

'Why, Sirius?' Harry asked.

'You going to tell him the truth finally, Sirius? About damned time I say, you've had enough years to do it,' a new, crisp voice cut in causing all three men to turn round quickly to the pitch. 'Hello, Petey, long time no see. You're not looking very good these days...nothing like the sweet, adorable boy I once knew anyways...'

'Narcy,' Peter said in shock and for a moment he put his hand out as if to touch her, but drew it back quickly as if he was burned. 'You're...looking good...Mrs. Malfoy...' he said quietly, a mixture of emotions running through his voice and across his face.

Narcissa looked at Peter sadly for a moment, then turned and glared at Sirius. 'Have you told him yet?'

Sirius shook his head. 'It's not exactly as if the subject came up, Narcissa,' he said coldly. 'How did you get here? There's Death Eaters swarming the bloody school.'

Narcissa snorted and held up a shimmery piece of cloth. 'Thankfully I remembered where you all kept this, I thank you it came in handy,' she said and threw what could only be an invisibility cloak at Sirius.

'How did you get the password to our room?' Sirius asked astonished as he folded up the cloak.

'Severus gave it to me before he took off. He's all right?' she asked now worriedly.

'I don't know,' Sirius said with a fleeting pained grimace. 'I hope so.'

'My dad took off into the forest but I think he was hit or something by one of the Death Eaters that were here on the pitch. I hope he's all right too,' Harry said softly and looked out over to the forest seeing if maybe he could spot his father somehow.

'Severus is a survivor and a Slytherin, he'll be fine,' Peter said although his eyes were trained on Narcissa. 'Well, Mrs. Malfoy, what brings you here hmm? Come to see if I've killed off Harry or Sirius yet? Or if Voldemort's arrived yet?' he said icily.

'Drop it, Pete. I'm not 'Mrs. Malfoy' any longer, my son actually has seen to that. Speaking of which, Draco? Are you all right my dragon?' she asked into the air worriedly.

Draco, who'd been watching this whole scene of course underneath Harry's cloak, sheepishly came out from underneath it as his mum called for him. 'All right, mum. I'm here. You all right?' he asked.

Narcissa walked up the bleachers and hugged him and nodded. 'All right, they can't scare me any longer, my little one. Only you can do that now,' she said with a chuckle. Turning back to Sirius however her eyes darkened. 'Well? Are you going to tell the boy or shall I?' she said coldly.

'You've spent too many years as a Malfoy, Narcy,' Sirius said, though oddly enough it wasn't mean sounding his words, not in tone anyway.

'I believe you're the one who saw to that now, weren't you. Now tell him, or I shall,' she said huffily.

'All right, all right, no need to scream at me woman!' Sirius mumbled, then turned to face Harry. 'You see, the real reason I didn't want Peter with Narcissa was - '

'Oi! You up ther', come quickly! I needs yer 'elp!' Hagrid called out now spotting everyone in the bleachers.

'Hagrid? What is it? What's wrong?' Albus said now coming out from his own invisibility.

'Dumbledore? You're here too?' Sirius said astounded. 'Well, guess now I know where you got information, Harry. Figures you'd tell him,' Sirius muttered and glared at Albus.

'Not now, Sirius,' Albus admonished. 'Hagrid, what is it?'

'Blimey, 'Arry, is tha' you lad?' Hagrid said as he recognised the dark haired boy standing next to Draco.

Harry blushed and nodded. 'Err...yeah, Hagrid, it's me. Somewhat anyway. What is it though? What's wrong?'

'Yer alive?' Hagrid said in shock, obviously ignoring everyone's questions.

'Yes, Hagrid, I'm alive,' Harry said with a deep sigh. Much as he loved Hagrid, right now he wanted to know what was going on. 'Now what's wrong?'

'Oh, right,' Hagrid said sheepishly, his eyes overjoyed by seeing Harry. 'I was jus' in th' forest a bit ago an', well ya best come to th' cabin an' look fer yerselves.'

Everyone looked at each other and quickly scrambled back down to the pitch. However as they got there Albus said, 'Harry, Draco, I want both of you underneath the cloak till we get to Hagrid's. Sirius, Peter, Narcissa, under Severus's cloak as well. Hagrid, you will walk with me so that I can shield you. No one is to talk or come out from underneath their cloaks until we get inside the cabin is that understood?'

'Wait a minute here, am I the only one that has a problem with the fact that a Death Eater is coming with us?' Draco said quickly and looked at Peter. 'I mean what if he turns us in or something? I mean, why aren't you trying to kill him, Black? I thought if he was dead you'd be cleared?' he asked confused.

'Draco, my darling son, I love you dearly...but do get under your cloak and shut up won't you?' Narcissa said sweetly.

'Mother? Mum what...?' Draco said surprised that his mother would talk to him that way.

'You heard her, kid, under the cloak and shut up,' Sirius muttered.

'Hey, you can't talk to me that way, Black! Show some respect!' Draco said stubbornly.

'I'm afraid he can talk to you that way, Draco,' Narcissa said getting underneath her cloak.

'What? Why?' Draco asked puzzled, though he was still glaring at Sirius.

'Because I'm your uncle, kid, now get under the damned cloak and be quiet!' Sirius muttered and glared right back at Draco.

'You're my what?' Draco said and at the same time Harry came back out from underneath his cloak and gaped at Sirius. 'You're his what?' he said.

'Children, children, now is not the time for this. Underneath your cloaks, there you go, all of you,' Albus said sternly and waited till everyone was underneath their respected cloaks. 'Right then, to Hagrid's. No one talk remember, we don't want to be spotted, and I'll cast spells when we get inside.'

'You know, you've got some serious explaining to do to Harry and me when we get there, mum,' Draco said quietly but angrily from underneath Harry's cloak, and he thought to himself that if this wasn't a day full of surprises, Draco would eat the sorting hat. In later years he would think back on that comment and wonder just how that old hat would have tasted, because it would turn out that the day was far from over, and there were many more surprises ahead for him. For all of them actually, and ones that would one day rewrite history.


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November 23, 2002 12:19PM ©Piriotessa/Piri Lupin-Snape/Piri Malfoy