A/N: I own nothing, JKR owns the characters and everything else but the
idea - so there.
A/N: Yea for the weekend. Woo Hoo!
A/N: Tell me your thoughts --- share with me.
CH21 Rabid Rat
Dumbledore had seen some weird things in his time but this was the first time he ever remembered seeing a rat, chased by a cat, chased by a dog.
If the situation weren't so serious he would have been laughing for a long time to come. As it was, he raised his wand and tried to lead the rat in question. The only problem was that the rat was very tiny and very quick. He did the next best thing he could think of, he cast a restoration spell on the black dog to help rejuvenate him, maybe that would be enough to enable the dog to catch the rat, if the cat didn't catch it first.
Harry could sense weird things going on in his body but he didn't have the time to stop and think about it. He was running and gaining a little ground when he found that he was suddenly gaining a lot of ground. He wasn't quite sure how but he knew that he was running at an incredible speed even for a four-legged animal.
As he gained speed it took next to no time for him to catch up to the rat, formerly known as Peter Pettigrew. Harry wanted to trap him, not kill him, at least not yet. He leapt over the rat. Pettigrew stopped suddenly and started to backtrack until the large black dog approached. The rat knew from before that the dog would have no mercy; he surrendered himself to the sphinx.
Harry wasn't quite sure what to do. It made him nervous the way the rat kept running toward him. He used his front paws to block the rat while trying to decide what was making him feel uncomfortable. He was careful not to let the rat touch him. It only took a couple of seconds for Dumbledore and Lupin to arrive. Dumbledore produced a glass cage and magicked the rat into it. The four of them were watching the rat in the cage until Dumbledore spoke.
"Harry, I need you to transform back. We need to get this criminal to a secure place in the school and I can't have you going near the school in your present form." Harry nodded and returned to his original form.
Dumbledore motioned for Sirius and Lupin to walk in front. The cage with the rat followed them and Dumbledore and Harry trailed. Once they got inside the castle, Dumbledore gave the pair in the lead directions. The five wizards (four and a rat) ended up in a place Harry had never seen before. It looked like a muggle jailhouse. There were multiple cells and each one had different degrees of comforts. The first couple of cells were larger than the rest and had a lot of luxuries (king size beds, recliners, books, etc.). The next couple of cells had some luxuries but not as many. This trend continued until they reached the last two cells. They had nothing except a place to relieve one's self. There was no chair, no bed, nothing. Harry thought it was too good for the rat.
After the four wizards watched the rat for a minute Dumbledore pulled out his wand and turned him back into Peter Pettigrew. Before the rat even finished transforming, the headmaster summoned his wand so there would be no surprises. Then Dumbledore did something that Lupin and Sirius hadn't seen before. He turned around and conjured up something they hadn't ever seen, Dumbledore was talking into a can connected to a string. The string seemed to travel forever and no one except the headmaster knew to whom he was speaking. It was a little unnerving for Lupin and Sirius to see their old headmaster talking to a tin can but they gave him the benefit of the doubt.
Sirius knew that he couldn't penetrate the force field but he didn't want to wait any longer to get some answers from the wizard formerly known as the rat. "Hello again, Peter." He got a whimper as a reply and then continued. "What brings you back to Hogwarts?"
Pettigrew did not answer. No one stopped Sirius from continuing.
"Were you assigned to spy on us or was this just your attempt to brown nose your master Peter?" They all waited to see if Pettigrew would respond. The group only turned around when they heard a pair of footsteps approaching. Only Dumbledore was not surprised when Ron and Hermione appeared following Dumbledore's phoenix.
Dumbledore said to the two newcomers, "I asked Fawkes to bring you two down here to join us. Ron, Hermione, I trust you don't mind me interrupting your studies again but I thought you two would want to see who Harry captured tonight." Ron followed Dumbledore's gaze.
"Wormtail! --- Way to go Harry! It's about time this git serve his sentence. Can't we do more than lock him up though? Can't we --- oh I don't know --- can't we make him give Snape a pedicure?" Harry wasn't the only one to laugh.
Harry was glad Dumbledore had the foresight to send for Hermione and Ron. It was hard not to remember how personally Ron took it when he found out that his pet Scabbers was really a dark wizard who killed Harry's parents. Ron had almost as much right as Harry and Sirius to see Pettigrew behind bars, he only wished that he would have thought to bring Ron and Hermione down.
Dumbledore wasn't going to take any chances this time. The whole group of them was going to stay right here until the Ministry wizards showed up. There would be no mistakes this time. Everyone remained basically in his or her place for what seemed like hours until one wizard that no one had ever seen before showed up.
"Hello," she said. "I am Bruno from the Ministry security squad. I understand that you all are holding a fugitive here." Dumbledore nodded toward the prisoner.
"Wow - he's supposed to be dead. What an excellent prisoner you all have captured. But if he's alive then Mr. Black couldn't have killed him." The confused ministry wizard looked back at Dumbledore and once again followed his gaze.
"AAAAACCCCCKKKKK! SIRIUS BLACK!"
"Do calm down," Dumbledore was demanding. "Please realize who is locked up in the cage and who is out here and helped capture that criminal."
"Yes headmaster" was all the security wizard replied. She did seem to take a couple of minutes to calm down before indicating that she was ready to accept the prisoner. She finally spoke again, "All right sir, I'm ready to take the prisoner."
"Perhaps it would be better if we got more security wizards down here? I'm sure it wouldn't take very much time at all."
"No sir, thanks for the offer but I'm anxious to get this crook where he belongs. I'd be appreciative though if one or all of you accompanied us to Hogsmeade until we apparate back to the Ministry." Dumbledore nodded and said, "I think you're likely to find a volunteer or two among this group."
It was quickly decided that everyone was going to follow the pair to Hogsmeade. After all, there was no one here who didn't have a vested interested in seeing the rat incarcerated for life. Dumbledore lifted the enchantment on the cell and let the security wizard inside. The security wizard got out what was presumably a pair of magical handcuffs and went straight to the inmate.
"Peter Pettigrew, you're being charged with crimes against the wizarding world to specifically include killing Lily and James Potter." She went to put the magical handcuffs on him. When she touched Pettigrew, they both instantly disappeared.
"NNNNNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!" Sirius screamed.
Hermione was the next to speak this time. "Oh no! He was a portkey. I guess we're just lucky that none of you touched him before putting him in the cell." Everyone just turned and looked at Hermione. They all knew that she was right. The portkey was obviously meant for Harry (the only other possibilities were Sirius and Dumbledore and both of them could apparate back).
Dumbledore told the group to meet him in his office in a few minutes. No one moved until the headmaster explained that he needed to go send a message to the ministry explaining what happened. "I'll be along in a few minutes, go on ahead now."
Lupin and Sirius led the pack to the headmaster's office. Ron and Hermione were both wondering what they had been missing out on the last couple of months in Harry's lessons. Harry was still thinking about what would have happened if he had let his father's friends kill Pettigrew. Sirius was thinking about how close he had come once again to having his freedom only to the rug pulled out from under him. And finally Remus was curious (although he thought he knew) as to what Sirius was thinking about.
When they got back to Dumbledore's office the two adults conjured up some coffee and some pasties. Lupin and Sirius knew that Ron and Hermione had a certain right to know some stuff but they wondered how much to tell the two young wizards. Harry was also having the same doubts. He wanted to tell them everything but he knew that he wasn't allowed. He was wondering though with all the things that they had found out today if they were allowed to know more than he previously thought.
It was only a couple of minutes before the owner of the office showed. He bade everyone to sit down. Harry was only mildly surprised that the office seemed to be big enough now for everyone to be comfortably seated. He had spent quite a lot of time in here today and he didn't think there was any way that it could comfortably seat this many people. But it did.
"I'm afraid I can't answer everyone's questions just yet. Sirius, I can only imagine your frustration. But we're no worse off than when we started and I can assure you that Remus and I are going to continue to search for Pettigrew. It's awfully early now and I must insist that everyone get some sleep straight away."
The three students went to their common room. Because of the hour, they weren't at all surprised to find that no one else was there. Although Harry wanted to go straight to his bed, he wasn't all that shocked when Ron and Hermione sat him down to talk about the last couple of months.
"Harry," Hermione started, "we've tried not to interfere with your privacy this year. No one could be happier for you than Ron and I for the chance that you've had to spend with Sirius this year but we need to know if you have some answers to the questions we've had all year."
Harry was torn --- although he had always counted on his friends in the past and not kept any secrets from them, he also knew that he had to remain faithful to the Order. He had known for a while that this moment would come when his friends would call him out but today couldn't be that day, he wasn't ready for it. Too much had happened already.
Harry couldn't bear to have this conversation right now. He decided to employ Sirius' technique from earlier in the night. "Ron, Hermione, I'll talk to you to about this at the next possible chance but please don't make me do it right now. It's been such an incredibly long day. I really need to go to sleep right now."
Ron had no intention of letting Harry get off this easily but he had to admit that his friend looked like he needed the rest. While Ron was having the internal struggle, Hermione was already speaking. "Alright Harry but even if you don't want to talk about this, don't start avoiding us because we only want to help. We really want to know what's going on with you but more importantly is that we want you to know you can talk to us."
Harry smiled at Hermione as he and Ron went up to their room. He had so much to think about. He knew how Ron and Hermione felt with him because it's exactly the same way that Harry felt about Sirius and whatever he was doing with Lupin and Dumbledore. Dumbledore --- he didn't know why he kept getting angry with Dumbledore this year but shouldn't Dumbledore have realized that Pettigrew was a portkey? No that was ridiculous --- Harry hadn't seen it why should he expect that anyone would have been able to predict something so off the wall.
Harry lay down without even changing. He wasn't really sleepy as much as he was just tired. He didn't know what was in store for him after he woke up but he did know that he needed to rest. He hadn't even drifted off to sleep when his scar started burning so badly that he screamed out.Ha
A/N: Kathleen I thought a house elf could be fun too. Hermione would have a bigger role and I could have explored that special brand of elf magic but then I wouldn't be able to rhyme.
A/N: Yea for the weekend. Woo Hoo!
A/N: Tell me your thoughts --- share with me.
CH21 Rabid Rat
Dumbledore had seen some weird things in his time but this was the first time he ever remembered seeing a rat, chased by a cat, chased by a dog.
If the situation weren't so serious he would have been laughing for a long time to come. As it was, he raised his wand and tried to lead the rat in question. The only problem was that the rat was very tiny and very quick. He did the next best thing he could think of, he cast a restoration spell on the black dog to help rejuvenate him, maybe that would be enough to enable the dog to catch the rat, if the cat didn't catch it first.
Harry could sense weird things going on in his body but he didn't have the time to stop and think about it. He was running and gaining a little ground when he found that he was suddenly gaining a lot of ground. He wasn't quite sure how but he knew that he was running at an incredible speed even for a four-legged animal.
As he gained speed it took next to no time for him to catch up to the rat, formerly known as Peter Pettigrew. Harry wanted to trap him, not kill him, at least not yet. He leapt over the rat. Pettigrew stopped suddenly and started to backtrack until the large black dog approached. The rat knew from before that the dog would have no mercy; he surrendered himself to the sphinx.
Harry wasn't quite sure what to do. It made him nervous the way the rat kept running toward him. He used his front paws to block the rat while trying to decide what was making him feel uncomfortable. He was careful not to let the rat touch him. It only took a couple of seconds for Dumbledore and Lupin to arrive. Dumbledore produced a glass cage and magicked the rat into it. The four of them were watching the rat in the cage until Dumbledore spoke.
"Harry, I need you to transform back. We need to get this criminal to a secure place in the school and I can't have you going near the school in your present form." Harry nodded and returned to his original form.
Dumbledore motioned for Sirius and Lupin to walk in front. The cage with the rat followed them and Dumbledore and Harry trailed. Once they got inside the castle, Dumbledore gave the pair in the lead directions. The five wizards (four and a rat) ended up in a place Harry had never seen before. It looked like a muggle jailhouse. There were multiple cells and each one had different degrees of comforts. The first couple of cells were larger than the rest and had a lot of luxuries (king size beds, recliners, books, etc.). The next couple of cells had some luxuries but not as many. This trend continued until they reached the last two cells. They had nothing except a place to relieve one's self. There was no chair, no bed, nothing. Harry thought it was too good for the rat.
After the four wizards watched the rat for a minute Dumbledore pulled out his wand and turned him back into Peter Pettigrew. Before the rat even finished transforming, the headmaster summoned his wand so there would be no surprises. Then Dumbledore did something that Lupin and Sirius hadn't seen before. He turned around and conjured up something they hadn't ever seen, Dumbledore was talking into a can connected to a string. The string seemed to travel forever and no one except the headmaster knew to whom he was speaking. It was a little unnerving for Lupin and Sirius to see their old headmaster talking to a tin can but they gave him the benefit of the doubt.
Sirius knew that he couldn't penetrate the force field but he didn't want to wait any longer to get some answers from the wizard formerly known as the rat. "Hello again, Peter." He got a whimper as a reply and then continued. "What brings you back to Hogwarts?"
Pettigrew did not answer. No one stopped Sirius from continuing.
"Were you assigned to spy on us or was this just your attempt to brown nose your master Peter?" They all waited to see if Pettigrew would respond. The group only turned around when they heard a pair of footsteps approaching. Only Dumbledore was not surprised when Ron and Hermione appeared following Dumbledore's phoenix.
Dumbledore said to the two newcomers, "I asked Fawkes to bring you two down here to join us. Ron, Hermione, I trust you don't mind me interrupting your studies again but I thought you two would want to see who Harry captured tonight." Ron followed Dumbledore's gaze.
"Wormtail! --- Way to go Harry! It's about time this git serve his sentence. Can't we do more than lock him up though? Can't we --- oh I don't know --- can't we make him give Snape a pedicure?" Harry wasn't the only one to laugh.
Harry was glad Dumbledore had the foresight to send for Hermione and Ron. It was hard not to remember how personally Ron took it when he found out that his pet Scabbers was really a dark wizard who killed Harry's parents. Ron had almost as much right as Harry and Sirius to see Pettigrew behind bars, he only wished that he would have thought to bring Ron and Hermione down.
Dumbledore wasn't going to take any chances this time. The whole group of them was going to stay right here until the Ministry wizards showed up. There would be no mistakes this time. Everyone remained basically in his or her place for what seemed like hours until one wizard that no one had ever seen before showed up.
"Hello," she said. "I am Bruno from the Ministry security squad. I understand that you all are holding a fugitive here." Dumbledore nodded toward the prisoner.
"Wow - he's supposed to be dead. What an excellent prisoner you all have captured. But if he's alive then Mr. Black couldn't have killed him." The confused ministry wizard looked back at Dumbledore and once again followed his gaze.
"AAAAACCCCCKKKKK! SIRIUS BLACK!"
"Do calm down," Dumbledore was demanding. "Please realize who is locked up in the cage and who is out here and helped capture that criminal."
"Yes headmaster" was all the security wizard replied. She did seem to take a couple of minutes to calm down before indicating that she was ready to accept the prisoner. She finally spoke again, "All right sir, I'm ready to take the prisoner."
"Perhaps it would be better if we got more security wizards down here? I'm sure it wouldn't take very much time at all."
"No sir, thanks for the offer but I'm anxious to get this crook where he belongs. I'd be appreciative though if one or all of you accompanied us to Hogsmeade until we apparate back to the Ministry." Dumbledore nodded and said, "I think you're likely to find a volunteer or two among this group."
It was quickly decided that everyone was going to follow the pair to Hogsmeade. After all, there was no one here who didn't have a vested interested in seeing the rat incarcerated for life. Dumbledore lifted the enchantment on the cell and let the security wizard inside. The security wizard got out what was presumably a pair of magical handcuffs and went straight to the inmate.
"Peter Pettigrew, you're being charged with crimes against the wizarding world to specifically include killing Lily and James Potter." She went to put the magical handcuffs on him. When she touched Pettigrew, they both instantly disappeared.
"NNNNNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!" Sirius screamed.
Hermione was the next to speak this time. "Oh no! He was a portkey. I guess we're just lucky that none of you touched him before putting him in the cell." Everyone just turned and looked at Hermione. They all knew that she was right. The portkey was obviously meant for Harry (the only other possibilities were Sirius and Dumbledore and both of them could apparate back).
Dumbledore told the group to meet him in his office in a few minutes. No one moved until the headmaster explained that he needed to go send a message to the ministry explaining what happened. "I'll be along in a few minutes, go on ahead now."
Lupin and Sirius led the pack to the headmaster's office. Ron and Hermione were both wondering what they had been missing out on the last couple of months in Harry's lessons. Harry was still thinking about what would have happened if he had let his father's friends kill Pettigrew. Sirius was thinking about how close he had come once again to having his freedom only to the rug pulled out from under him. And finally Remus was curious (although he thought he knew) as to what Sirius was thinking about.
When they got back to Dumbledore's office the two adults conjured up some coffee and some pasties. Lupin and Sirius knew that Ron and Hermione had a certain right to know some stuff but they wondered how much to tell the two young wizards. Harry was also having the same doubts. He wanted to tell them everything but he knew that he wasn't allowed. He was wondering though with all the things that they had found out today if they were allowed to know more than he previously thought.
It was only a couple of minutes before the owner of the office showed. He bade everyone to sit down. Harry was only mildly surprised that the office seemed to be big enough now for everyone to be comfortably seated. He had spent quite a lot of time in here today and he didn't think there was any way that it could comfortably seat this many people. But it did.
"I'm afraid I can't answer everyone's questions just yet. Sirius, I can only imagine your frustration. But we're no worse off than when we started and I can assure you that Remus and I are going to continue to search for Pettigrew. It's awfully early now and I must insist that everyone get some sleep straight away."
The three students went to their common room. Because of the hour, they weren't at all surprised to find that no one else was there. Although Harry wanted to go straight to his bed, he wasn't all that shocked when Ron and Hermione sat him down to talk about the last couple of months.
"Harry," Hermione started, "we've tried not to interfere with your privacy this year. No one could be happier for you than Ron and I for the chance that you've had to spend with Sirius this year but we need to know if you have some answers to the questions we've had all year."
Harry was torn --- although he had always counted on his friends in the past and not kept any secrets from them, he also knew that he had to remain faithful to the Order. He had known for a while that this moment would come when his friends would call him out but today couldn't be that day, he wasn't ready for it. Too much had happened already.
Harry couldn't bear to have this conversation right now. He decided to employ Sirius' technique from earlier in the night. "Ron, Hermione, I'll talk to you to about this at the next possible chance but please don't make me do it right now. It's been such an incredibly long day. I really need to go to sleep right now."
Ron had no intention of letting Harry get off this easily but he had to admit that his friend looked like he needed the rest. While Ron was having the internal struggle, Hermione was already speaking. "Alright Harry but even if you don't want to talk about this, don't start avoiding us because we only want to help. We really want to know what's going on with you but more importantly is that we want you to know you can talk to us."
Harry smiled at Hermione as he and Ron went up to their room. He had so much to think about. He knew how Ron and Hermione felt with him because it's exactly the same way that Harry felt about Sirius and whatever he was doing with Lupin and Dumbledore. Dumbledore --- he didn't know why he kept getting angry with Dumbledore this year but shouldn't Dumbledore have realized that Pettigrew was a portkey? No that was ridiculous --- Harry hadn't seen it why should he expect that anyone would have been able to predict something so off the wall.
Harry lay down without even changing. He wasn't really sleepy as much as he was just tired. He didn't know what was in store for him after he woke up but he did know that he needed to rest. He hadn't even drifted off to sleep when his scar started burning so badly that he screamed out.Ha
A/N: Kathleen I thought a house elf could be fun too. Hermione would have a bigger role and I could have explored that special brand of elf magic but then I wouldn't be able to rhyme.