Another quick update, another one should be up tomorrow if you're lucky, or the day after.

Once again quoting JK Rowling. Once again it's not mine.

Thanks to:

Miz

Christiana

ScruffyWes – lol thanks for the kisses

Tituba

Chrios

Harmoni9

Draco-FutureBF

Elrohir lover

Alexandra the half-wolf

Chapter 33 – Compassion

Harry's nod was the sign of Pettigrew's doom. He fell to his knees with an anguished cry, and shuffled forwards, hands clasped as if begging.
 "Sirius-it's me….it's Peter…your friend….you wouldn't…." he pleaded to Sirius. Sirius kicked out at him and Peter recoiled.
 "There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them," Sirius spat.
 "Remus!" Peter squeaked to Lupin, turning to him instead. "You don't believe this….Wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?" Buffy's eyebrows raised, she couldn't believe the way this man turned from person to person, changing his story every time.
 "Nor if he thought I was the spy, peter," Lupin said coolly. "I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?"

 "Forgive me Remus," Sirius said.
 "Not at all, Padfoot, old friend," Lupin said, rolling up his sleeves and keeping his wand pointed directly at Peter. "And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?"
 "Of course," Sirius replied and began rolling up his own sleeves, keeping his wand too pointed at Peter. "Shall we kill him together?" 

 "Yes, I think so," said Lupin grimly.

 "You wouldn't….you won't…" Pettigrew gasped, scrambling over to Ron. "Ron…haven't I been a good friend…a good pet? You won't let them kill me, Ron will you….you're on my side, aren't you?"

"I let you sleep in my bed," Ron exclaimed with outrage.
 "Kind boy, kind master," Pettigrew pleaded. "You won't let them do it…I was your rat…I was a good pet…."
Ron pulled himself out of Pettigrew's reach as much as his leg would allow him. Peter then turned to Hermione, seizing them hem of her robes.
 "Sweet girl…clever girl….you – you won't let them…help me" Hermione backed away to the wall, pulling her robes out of his clutch.

 "Harry…Harry….you look just like your father…just like him," Pettigrew wheedled, scrambling towards Harry.
 "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY?" Sirius roared, and Buffy thought she had never seen more anger on a persons face. Sirius was almost unrecognisable to her. "HOW DARE YOU FACE HIM? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT AJMES IN FRONT OF HIM?"
 Pettigrew clambered to him feet and looked sideways at Buffy. For a moment she thought he was going to plead to her, but seeing no mercy in her face he came running at her. He expected to be able to push the young girl out of the way and escape but he didn't expect what he got. He pushed into Buffy, but she didn't shift like he expected and she punched him, sending him sailing across the room, hitting the wall and falling to the floor.

 "Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed, and all of them except Sirius looked at her with a mixture of awe, and fear.
Across the room, Pettigrew burst into sobs. At the demand of Sirius he sobbed out his terrible tale of betrayal.
 "You don't understand!" whined Peter. "He would have killed me, Sirius!"

 "THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" Sirius roared. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"
Sirius and Remus stood together, wands pointed at Pettigrew.
 "You should have realised," Lupin said quietly. "That if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Goodbye Peter."

Buffy watched in horror. She hadn't wanted Sirius to become a killer for the sake of this filth. He was better than that; he didn't need to become a killer, especially not in front of his Godson.

 "Sirius," Buffy began, but she was cut off by Harry crossing the room.

 "No!" he yelled. He placed himself in front of Pettigrew and at that moment Buffy felt shining admiration for Sirius' godson and his compassion. "You can't kill him, you can't." Sirius and Remus were taken aback.
 "Harry this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents," Sirius snarled. "This cringing bit of filth would have seen you die too, without turning a hair. You heard him. His own stinking skin meant more to him than your whole family."

 "I know," Harry panted. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the dementors. He can go to Azkaban….just don't kill him."
 "Harry!" gasped Pettigrew and he flung his arms around Harry's knees. "You-thank you-it's more than I deserve-thank you-"
 "Get off me," Harry spat, throwing Pettigrew off him in disgust. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because I don't reckon my dad would've wanted his best friends to become killers- just for you."
 Sirius and Lupin looked at one another and then Buffy moved forward to Sirius, pushing down his wand arm.
 "It's the right thing," she said gently. "Don't become a killer for him. You have that choice." Sirius looked at her and then nodded.

 "I'll tie him up," Lupin said finally and thin cords shot out of his wands and wrapped around Pettigrew.

"If you transform we'll kill you," Sirius threatened Pettigrew and Harry nodded his agreement so that Pettigrew could see.
 Lupin splinted Ron's leg with a flick of his wand and Sirius performed a spell to make Snape's body float along in front of him, unconscious but mobile. The cat, that Buffy heard Hermione call Crookshanks, led the way down the stairs and into the tunnel, followed by Hermione, then Ron and Lupin who were chained to Pettigrew and finally Harry, Sirius and Buffy, with Snape floating just ahead of them, like a grotesque puppet.
 
 "I don't know if anyone ever told you," Sirius said stiffly as they moved down the tunnel. "But I'm your godfather."

 "Yeah I knew that," said Harry.
 "Well…I'm also you guardian." He continued awkwardly. "Your parents said that if anything ever happened to you then you would be under my care. And after we turn Pettigrew in I'll be a free man and well…"
 "Can I live with you?" Harry butted in eagerly. Sirius broke out into a grin.
 "You mean you'd want to?" he asked eagerly. "I mean you wouldn't mind leaving your aunts house?"

 "Are you serious?" Harry asked and Buffy stifled a giggle. "I can't wait, when can I move in?" All three of them grinned.
 "Looks like you're gonna have to find somewhere better to live than the Shrieking Shack honey," Buffy joked to Sirius.
 "Who are you?" Harry burst out, unable to control his curiosity. "I mean I've never heard about an American blonde girl in the stories about my dad and Sirius and Professor Lupin never spoke about you. And the way you punched Pettigrew was, as Ron said, bloody brilliant." Buffy laughed and so did Sirius.
 "I'm Sirius' girlfriend," Buffy explained. "My name is Buffy. I was in Azkaban for long complicated reasons but the short of it was that I was framed for murder too. Sirius and I escaped together, though I was pardoned. And I've been with Sirius for the past year, watching you and trying to get to the rat."
 "And the strength," Harry probed.
 "That's another long complicated story," Buffy chuckled. "Which I'm gonna hold on to for now. When I know you better then I'll fill you in." Harry nodded though he wasn't really satisfied.

The end of the tunnel loomed ahead of them and they walked out into the darkness of the grounds. They tramped across the grounds. Above them the clouds shifted and the moon became visible, bathing the party in moonlight.
All of a sudden, Lupin stopped dead and his limbs began to shake.

 "He didn't take his potion!" Hermione gasped. "He's going to transform!"
 "Run!" Buffy commanded. "Go, get out of here!" She watched in horror as she watched the horrible transformation that she had seen wrack Oz's body so many times. Behind her Harry moved forward, Ron was still chained to Pettigrew and Lupin, but Buffy pushed him back.

 "Go, we'll take care of it," she ordered and next to her Sirius transformed into his animagus form. He ran forward and grabbed the werewolf, pulling him away from Ron, tearing him out of the chains.
Harry and Hermione stood shell shocked, staring at the fight. Hermione screamed and Pettigrew dived for Lupin's dropped wand. There was a flash of light and Ron was unconscious.
 "Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled and the wand flew to his outstretched hand. But before he could react, Pettigrew had transformed. The rat streaked across the grounds, too fast for harry to curse, and into the forest.
Next to them, Buffy leapt onto the werewolf's back, tackling it and pulling it away from Sirius who was badly gashed.
  "Go!" she yelled. The werewolf snarled, trying to bite her off its back and so she leapt off, running at full pelt across the grounds towards the dark forest. The werewolf took flight, charging after her.

*****

I need loads of reviews for the last few chapters, because I want to break 300 with this story! So if you're reading, send me a review please, it only takes a second!