A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed! If I get more, I'll continue the story after the real one comes out. Only four more days! Anyway, to my reviewers:
Yoshi-Fan2003 – Thanks! I will. I'll need to write to kill time too ;)
Shdurrani- thanks, and I hopefully will
Dragon master- ok. Thanks 4 reading
Ok, only three reviews? Not too good…
Chapter 12: The Griffin
Ron, Hermione, and Harry were laughing in the Common Room, about Divination homework.
" You both realize that now I can't make up my homework. No matter what I do, even if I try."
They all laughed.
" Yeah, but I ca-" Harry started, but inturrepted his own sentence.
" THE RAT IS HIDING. THE RAT HIDES FROM HIS ENEMYS TO SPY AND BRING INFORMATION TO HIS MASTER. THE RAT HAS VISITED THRICE, AND WILL AGAIN TONIGHT. WHEN THE TRAIDOR COMES, HE WILL KNOW OF AN IMPORTANT SECRET. ONE WHICH HE WILL NOT HAVE A CHANCE TO TELL HIS MASTER. HE HAS ALREADY GAINED INFORMATION AND SECRETS FOR HIS MASTER." Harry was in a daze, and had his first whole prophecy in words.
Ron and Hermione just stared, before asking him the respective questions. They found that he had no more information, so they woke him up.
" Harry! You just had a prophecy! I managed to write it all down." Hermione said.
When she read it to him, he became angry.
" Wormtail! That means he has been here before, and knows stuff from us!"
" Let's go see…"
" No. I will stay here and capture him. Hermione, go tell Dumbledore. Ron, make sure no one in our dorm sleeps there tonight. Keep everyone out until he is caught." Harry had such a dangerous tone that they both could not argue. Once everyone was out of his dorm, Harry ran up there and turned into a griffin, but shrunk himself to dog size and became invisible. He waited until he saw a rat appear out of nowhere. He must have an invisibility cloak. Harry thought. When the time was right, he charged.
The rat did not detect him, he was so fast. Harry leaped onto the traitor and grabbed his tail with his mouth. He used wandless and wordless magic to petrify him, and then walked down, still invisible, to Dumbledore's office. Ron saw doors open without anyone coming through, and he smiled to empty air. He knew that Harry was there, but he thought he was under his cloak, and in human form.
Harry walked to Dumbledore's office and growled at the gargoyle. Apparently, the gargoyle knew that there was a griffin there, for it bowed and leapt aside. Wormtail, though petrified, knew then that it was a griffin that had caught him, and his eyes, which were the only things that could move, were wide. He tried to fight the spell, but couldn't. Harry gave another low and dangerous growl just to scare him, and it seemed to work.
When the two Animagi reached Dumbledore's office door, Harry knew that he couldn't open it, so he growled loudly, hoping he wasn't waking the castle. Dumbledore must have known Harry would be coming, but didn't know in what form, for he looked surprised when he heard the growl.
" Come in," He said, and lept aside. The griffin, when inside, became visible again, and pulled the cloak off of the rat. He then stunned the rat so that he could not hear or see anything, and growled again.
" Well, Harry, I must say, I did not expect a griffin to visit me tonight when Hermione informed me of your prophecy." The griffin smiled and stood on its hind legs playfully. Dumbledore laughed.
" How is it to be a griffin, Harry? I have always wanted to know…you see, there are many things that most people don't know about Griffins. They, like phoenixes, can carry heavy loads, and can fly of course, but a True Roar is the best weapon or defense one could have."
The griffin cocked it's head to the side and had a puzzled look, so Dumbledore went on.
" You roared when you wanted me to open the door, and to get past the gargoyle. That was not a True Roar. Well, it was a roar, but just a low one. That will do nothing, except inform your foe of what you are. Griffin roars are like no other sound on the planet, like the song of a phoenix. But anyway, a True Roar can do many things, depending on what you tell it to. It can deafen everyone a mile away, or just your enemies close in your proximity. It can paralyze those that you choose it to, but that is only if the Griffin, or Animagi, is especially powerful. I have no doubt that you can do that. The Roar can be soft and deadly, killing everyone around it.
But, the hardest and most powerful roar by far is the Silent Roar. It is so loud only those who are worthy of hearing it can hear. It sounds like the strongest and loudest phoenix song that those worthy can hear. It destroys the souls of all foe of the griffin within the area around it, similar to the Dementor, only this creature is good. The Silent Roar is the rarest sound ever. It has only happened once, though everyone knows about it when you hear it, because everyone all around the world can hear it, magic and muggle.
You can only roar the Silent Roar when you are extremely angry, and you have a lot of power, and only in special circumstances. You would not be able to right now, but perhaps while battling Voldemort? We shall see."
The griffin was awed by
this tale, and looked thoughtful.
" Now, Harry, if you could give me Wormtail, I think we need to contact Fudge. We may be able to set Sirius free."
Harry lept for joy. He flew around the room in ecstasy. He landed with such a thump that the tower shook. Then, he heard someone at the Gargoyle. He shot a look to the Headmaster, warning him, just as the door opened.
" Professor Dumbledore, did Harry catch… him…" Ron stopped when he saw the griffin.
" N-Nice kitty!" The Griffin looked at Dumbledore, who smiled with his blue eyes twinkling, and then began to prowl toward Ron and Hermione.
" AAAAAAAAAHH!" They screamed, as the Griffin charged toward them, but took off in the air at the last second, just before he crashed into them. If a griffin could laugh, he would be as he landed.
" Ron, Hermione, relax. This griffin will not attack you. He likes you!" Dumbledore said, trying not to laugh as Harry licked Ron's hand.
" Professor, is this… a real griffin?"
" What makes you ask that, Hermione?"
" Well… most griffins don't… behave like this."
" Hmm, you're right. I suppose I should get him to work on that."
" So, is he an Animagi?" Dumbledore only smiled, which neither confirmed nor denied it.
" What's its name?"
Dumbledore thought a moment, then smiled. " Are you ready for it? This may astonish you. Ok. It's name is: Bob." He said dramatically. The Griffin lunged at him. Dumbledore only had enough time to dodge the cat.
" Alright, alright… you don't like Bob… how about… Godric? After your house founder?" Dumbledore asked.
The Griffin thought for a second , then smiled and nodded.
" That is one weird Griffin." Ron muttered. The Griffin looked at him. " Uh… but I like him!" The Griffin smiled and pounced playfully on Ron, making sure not to hurt him, which was a little difficult.
" Can you tell us who he really is?" Hermione asked while Ron wrestled with it. " I know that there are no recorded Animaguses with a Griffin form…"
" That is true." Dumbledore said, purposely avoiding her question.
" Well?" Hermione asked, though she knew she would not get a straight answer.
" Let me put it this way. You have heard of this person. He is not registered. If he wants to tell you," Dumbledore looked at the Animagi. " than he is aloud, but as long as you don't tell anyone else. If you do, the information might leak to Voldemort."
" We promice."
" Do you wish to tell, Animagus?" To everyone's surprise, the animagus mouthed "Later." Dumbledore nodded.
" Now, why don't you two go back to bed? Harry and I will contact the Ministry about Wormtail. Harry is currently somewhere I cannot tell you. He will see you in the morning."
They nodded and left. Little did Harry and Dumbledore know, the whole castle had heard the Griffin's two roars, and knew there was a griffin in the castle. The question was, why?
**
"Harry, you may change back now."
Harry became a phoenix, than a Human again.
" If you don't mind me asking, why did you not tell your friends?"
" I don't know… then I would have a whole lot of explaining to do."
Dumbledore nodded. " True. I don't think they suspected you. Now, let's get that… rat… to the ministry." Dumbledore held out some Floo powder, and they both went to the Ministry Building, London.
Dumbledore stepped up to the clerk at the front desk. " Excuse me, I know it is very late, but may we see the Minister?" The clerk, noticing just who they were, said, "Yes. I believe he is staying late, finishing some paperwork. I will take you there."
She led Dumbledore and Harry to his room, then knocked. " Excuse me, Minister, Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore wish to see you." He grunted, which they took for a yes, you can come in.
" Minister, I believe we have some evidence of two things," Harry said. " One, a current Death Eater, and two, Sirius Black's innocence."
This completely surprised Fudge. " What?"
" We have captured an illegal Animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew." Harry finished.
Dumbledore smiled at Harry. The minister looked at the half-dead rat Harry was holding.
" Peter Pettigrew is dead."
" Headmaster, would you do the honors?" Harry held the rat forward. Dumbledore said the spell that made him become a human again.
" Pre-Preposterous! He has been dead for 14 years!"
" No, sir, he is alive, but stunned. He is working for Voldemort. Put him under Veritaserum. Sirius Black is innocent, and Lord Voldemort is back."
**
" Fudge, do you give me permission to put Peter Pettigrew under the influence of Veritaserum?"
" Yes, alright." Dumbledore pulled out a bottle with clear liquid, and fed it to Wormtail. He then unstunned him.
"Can you hear me?"
" Yes."
" Are you Peter Pettigrew?"
" Yes."
" Tell me how you came to be an animagus."
" I always hung out with James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin. Because Remus was a werewolf, we all decided to become illegal Animagi. I am a rat. My nickname is Wormtail."
" Do you serve Lord Voldemort?"
" Yes."
" Is your master back to power?"
" Yes. I helped last year. I cut off my own arm, took Harry Potter's blood, and my Lord's Father's bone to brew a potion that gave him a body. I extracted information from Bertha Jenkins, and my lord later killed her. I killed Cedric Diggory at the command of my lord" Fudge gasped in disbelief, but he knew that Veritaserum never lies.
" Did Sirius Black kill 13 people with one curse?"
" No. I did." Fudge gasped again. " I lied that Sirius killed James and Lily, but had my wand behind my back. I blew apart the street, cut off my finger, turned into a rat, and ran down the sewers. I decided to live with a Wizarding family, the Weasleys. They named me Scabbers."
" Who betrayed Lily and James by switching secret keepers in the end, and then telling Lord Voldemort?"
" I did. I convinced Sirius that he would be easy for the Dark lord to go after, so he switched to me at the last minute, without telling anybody. I told my master, and he went to find them."
" Have you been spying on Harry Potter and his friends to collect useful information?" Harry interjected.
" Yes. I have hidden under their beds, listening."
" Did you hear any information worthy of reporting to Voldemort?"
" I have tonight. There is a Griff-"
" Anything else?" Harry interrupted quickly. He did not want Fudge to know about the Griffin. He would be in trouble.
" What was he going to say?" Fudge asked Dumbledore.
" When I caught him, he found out that there was a Gryffindor who he says could be useful to Voldemort. We heard him whispering to himself." Dumbledore covered.
" No" Wormtail said, answering Harry's question. Both Harry and Dumbledore looked at Wormtail in disgust, before turning to Fudge.
" Do you now believe that Voldemort is back? You cannot lie under Veritaserum" Dumbledore said.
Fudge nodded, his throat too tight to talk. " Christina" He called his receptionist. "Please escort this man to Azkaban. Book a trial for him Monday. And I believe I owe you two an apology…"
****
Please review! I'll only continue this story if I get enough! Thanks to all who already have! Now just push that blue button to the left…
