Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Title: To Kill a Mocking Rat
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"What do you mean, 'I can't tell a lie?'" Harry asked. "And Pettigrew's dead, you killed him twelve years ago."
"Everything would be a lot clearer if I told you the whole story," Sirius said, lessening his grip on Hermione.
"Fine, shoot," Harry said.
"Okay. When I was in second year with my three best friends, James," he nodded towards Harry, "Peter, and someone else who probably doesn't want to be mentioned.
"Well we hardly failed to notice that er the non mentioned person would disappear once a month. We checked the Lunar charts and realized he was always sick or gone on the full moon, which led to him being a-er-werewolf. James and I talked to him, and well, we decided to become Animagi. You see, a werewolf is only a danger to humans, so if we couldn't keep him company as humans, animals were our only choice.
"In fifth year we were finally able to manage Animagi. I became a dog, Peter became a rat, and James became a~"
Hermione started to object, "That was really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a werewolf!" She would have gone on but Sirius cleared his throat in her ear.
"So James and Lily married. I thought that there was nothing better than their marriage, but when Lily had you, Harry, I was over excited. I wanted to name you Prongs Jr. but~"
"Prongs? You knew Prongs?" Harry asked.
"Of course I did! Your father was basically my brother," Sirius said.
"But Prongs wrote the Marauder's Map. And I for one don't think my dad wrote the map."
"Think again then. I'm Padfoot. You used to call me, Pafoo. Peter was Wormtail; you never quite learned his name. And R-the other person's was Moony."
"You-you…"
"Yeah, me. Anyway, we found someone was passing information about the Potters to Voldemort. So Dumbledore suggested the Fidelius Charm, you needed a Secret Keeper. James automatically suggested me. The night before your parents died, I thought it might be better if Peter was the Secret Keeper. Voldemort wouldn't even think the Potters would use a weak thing like Pettigrew. But I was wrong. The Fidelius charm was performed on Peter and the Potters, that night they died. I knew Peter had betrayed them. So I went to check up on Peter. He wasn't in his hiding place. I had that gut feeling. So I rushed to Godric's Hollow on my motorbike. But I was too late. My best friends' house was in ruins. I ran to James who was lying, dead on the floor. I cried a bit. Then I heard Hagrid. He told me that Harry was still alive. I wanted to take you, so you wouldn't have to live at the Dursley's. We argued, Hagrid won. I let him take my motorbike; I wouldn't need it after that night. My flying days were over. After that I realized I wanted Pettigrew to suffer for betraying my best friends and causing them their death. The next day I caught up with him. He yelled to the whole street that I had betrayed James and Lily and blasted the whole street apart. He turned into a rat and disappeared. When the ministry arrested me, I was laughing because I knew that Hell couldn't be much worse than this. I was crazy. Twelve years later I broke out to kill Pettigrew. Here I am now."
Hermione muttered something.
"What?" Sirius asked.
"Lupin. Professor Lupin was the werewolf," Hermione said.
"How would you know, Hermione?" Harry asked puzzled. Hermione put her arms on Sirius' and thrust them upward so he wasn't holding onto her and stood up. Sirius also stood up.
"Well, isn't it obvious? He's always gone on the full moon and when he was fighting the boggart it changed into a moon. Many people thought it was a crystal, but I knew he wouldn't be afraid of a crystal. Am I right, Black?"
"Pretty much," he muttered.
"And when Snape assigned us that essay on werewolves and we told him we hadn't ever covered anything about werewolves, I found that Snape wanted us to realize what Lupin's symptoms meant."
"Snape? He teaches?" a look of horror spread over Sirius' face. "If he has caused you, Har-er-two-er harm, I want to know. If so I want to give him a little visit."
"And let yourself get caught?" Harry asked.
"So you trust me?"
"No, I never said that. I'm simply implying that we go to Dumbledore and tell him the-er truth."
"No, you were just thinking quickly, I can tell." They started walking through the forest back to Hogwarts.
"Won't we look weird with a convicted murderer walking us back to school?" Hermione asked.
"That's where being an Animagus comes in handy," he said before turning into the grim-like dog.
"That works," Harry muttered to Hermione who picked up both of their wands. As they walked back to Hogwarts they picked up their speed.
"How can we be sure he's not, you know," Hermione whispered.
"It's a gut feeling. I know it sounds weird but he might be innocent."
"Well, we can't be too careful! Be on your toes, and keep your wand out!"
As they reached the castle doors they saw light coming through the cracks and footstep shadows. As they faded they opened the doors. Coast was all clear. The three found their way to the Headmaster's office. Harry, remembering from the last time he visited Dumbledore's office, said the password to enter. As they walked the rounding stairs they pounded on the huge oak door. It seemed whoever else was in the room jumped.
"Yes?" a muffled voice came. Harry and Hermione opened the door followed by Sirius.
"Mr. Potter! Miss Granger! Where have you been?" Professor McGonagall said. Professors Dumbledore, Lupin, and Snape were also present. Professor Lupin's eyes were on the dog.
"Oh, we were um, following something. It sort of led us outside and we weren't thinking about Sirius Black or anything," Hermione quickly explained.
"You aren't hurt or anything, are you?" Lupin asked after a staring contest with Sirius.
"I am sure Mr. Potter and Miss Granger would like to speak with me privately," Dumbledore said. Snape was unusually quiet. The professors filed out of the office.
"Professor, Sirius Black is innocent! I think. We met him in the forest!"
-"He explained everything to us!"
"I want to know from his own mouth. And I would like to know who your companion is." Dumbledore looked at the dog.
"Oh, he's-er~" (no point in lying to Dumbledore) –"He's Sirius Black. Come on Sirius, change back." Sirius obeyed Harry's command.
"Professor!" Sirius' hoarse voice exclaimed. "I didn't do it! The night before the Fidelius Charm was performed I switched with Peter! Then when it was performed I knew something was wrong! I went to Peter's and~"
"Sirius, calm down. Please tell me the whole story calmly and rationally," Dumbledore reasoned. He turned to Harry and Hermione. "I think you should get off to sleep. I do expect you to be in your classes tomorrow." Harry and Hermione looked at each other and obeyed.
Sorry if the chap's a little short, I was getting tired of typing, in an hour or so it'll be better. I'm writing this on 10/31/03 so Happy Halloween, for now at least.