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A Different Life
Chapter 30 - Believe Me
Remus sat in shock, thinking about the words Harry had just said.
"But that... that doesn't make... doesn't make any sense..."
"Harry has got a point, perhaps Black and Pettigrew went to meet up, their master had just been defeated so they were angry, they decided to make a scene, which is where the killing muggles comes in, then Pettigrew faked his own death, and before Black got a chance to do the same, Aurors came in and arrested him. He didn't get a trial, so he went straight to Azkaban."
"That all fits except that the muggles heard Peter accusing Sirius Black of betraying James and Lily."
"True... and no matter how daft Pettigrew was, he wouldn't be daft enough to leave his life behind when Black was the secret keeper, and nobody even suspected him of being a Death Eater, so why give his life up when it was not in danger of being taken away?"
Harry watched as his father and Remus discussed the possible reasons. He was starting to feel tired again and felt his eyes drooping, but the next sentence out of his father's mouth took away any thought of sleep.
"Before we start getting ahead of ourselves, we should talk with Albus, this is most likely just a dream that Harry had. So far there has been no proof that his dreams have come true..."
Harry couldn't believe it, he knew they were true. Wasn't his word enough for them?
"What do you mean? Of course they are true." Harry stood up and glared at his father.
"Harry, there has been no proof to suggest that these dreams, are anything more then just that. It's not that I don't trust you, because I do... But these are really far fetched Harry."
"But my scar was hurting in both, how do you explain that?"
"I really don't know Harry" His father answered sadly.
"Remus, Remus please, you believe me don't you?"
"I-I-" Remus couldn't seem to say anything. He kept opening and closing his mouth. Finally he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry Harry, but what you are saying... It's just not possible. Peter would never... And Voldemort... he's dead Harry."
"So you both don't believe me?" Harry was shocked.
Remus looked sadly up at Harry.
"Harry-" His father began but he didn't need to finish his sentence, Harry already knew the outcome of his words.
"Fine, if you won't believe my word, I'll find a way to prove it to you."
"What do you mean you'll pro-" Remus said but stopped as he saw Harry turn around and open the door, slamming it shut behind him.
"Harry... Harry!" Severus shouted after him but he didn't come back.
***
Harry went straight back up to Gryffindor Tower and again woke Ron up, telling him everything that had happened.
"You believe me Ron don't you?"
Ron nodded his head. "So what are we going to do?"
"We are going to prove them wrong"
"Harry I don't know about this..."
"Come on Ron, this is a life and death situation here."
"Okay, then tell me how we are going to go about this?"
Harry sat back and thought about what they were going to do. He was all for rushing in and doing something stupid. But he did value his life, and no matter if his father believed him or not, he would be very upset and angry if Harry went and did something stupid.
"Well we can talk to Draco."
"What has Draco got to do with this?"
"He might know something about this, or at least his father would. He may be able to find out some information."
"Why would his father know anything?"
"Well a few years ago, when I was sent back to the Dursleys-" Harry shuddered here. "-I overheard dad and Albus talking, and they were saying that he is a Death Eater. They just didn't have enough proof to prove it back then when all the trials were going on."
"Really! Do you think that Draco-"
"No Ron, Draco isn't like that. He may act evil most of the time, but he's good inside, I just know it."
"So okay, we try and get information from Draco, what else?"
"I think we should get Hermione's help."
"What? Why her, she'll probably just go tell McGonagall." Ron whined.
Hermione and Ron seemed to have a clash of personalities. They were not too fond of each other and Harry set his own mission to get them to become friends, but that for now was to be done later as he had more important things to worry about.
"We need her Ron, she's the smartest witch I know and she won't tell McGonagall. I promise."
"Okay then, what about your father, he's gonna know something's up. He'll be watching you extra carefully."
"Let me handle my father."
***
At dinner the next night Harry sat at the other end of the Christmas table, as all the teachers and students were sitting at one table. Harry sat in- between Ron and Draco. He was ignoring his father and Remus as he spoke lightly with Draco.
"Draco..." Harry whispered
"What?"
"I need to talk to you..."
"What about?"
"I'll tell you after, just follow me out okay."
Draco looked curiously at Harry but nodded his head and went back to eating his food.
After another few minutes Harry and Ron got up, with Draco following close behind.
***
"In here..." Harry whispered, ushering Draco and Ron into what looked like a secret entrance.
"What is this place?"
"Just a secret room" Harry replied, he hadn't been there before but he had seen it on the map. It looked like it hadn't been used for many years, very dusty and old looking.
Harry then proceeded to fill Draco in on what had been happening.
"You know who!" Draco exclaimed
"Yes, now do you believe me or not?"
Draco looked skeptically at both Ron and Harry for a moment.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Do you believe me Draco?" Harry asked again.
"I don't know, I need some time to think about this."
"Understandable."
"So why did you tell me?"
"I need your help Draco." Harry said, getting straight to the point.
"What with?"
"Proving it all to my father"
"And how can I help you with that?"
"I know about your father." Harry came out and said it straight away.
Draco looked shocked. "What do you know about my father?"
"That he was, and is a loyal Death Eater." Harry said calmly.
"What! Now I don't know where you got that ide-"
"Give it up Malfoy, we already know." Ron cut him off.
"Listen-" Harry cut in before they could get into a fight. "-the point is, is that we know about your father, and we think that you can help us with getting information."
"Why would I help you get information?"
"Because I believe that we are friends, and I don't think that you believe in what your father is. So will you help us?"
Draco looked thoughtfully at Harry, and then looked away and at the ground,
"What information do you want?"
"Well you are always Owling him, has he said anything in his letters?"
"No, this is the first that I've heard of it."
"Well keep writing, and see if you can find anything out."
"Harry, you don't know what you're asking me here..."
"Please Draco"
Draco sighed. "I'm sorry, but you don't know my father, he'll kill me if he finds out."
"He won't find out! Besides you just have to see what you can uncover, just ask your dad some non-suspicious questions in one of your letters."
"What makes you think that I won't just go tell my father what you have just told me and turn against you?" Draco asked, watching Harry's face carefully.
"Because I trust you." Harry answered without hesitation.
"You shouldn't give your trust so freely..."
"I don't"
Draco stared carefully at Harry.
"Fine, I'll see what I can find out."
"Thank you Draco. Ron I want you to see if you can find anything out from your dad as well"
"My dad?"
"Yeah, he does work for the Ministry doesn't he?"
"I don't know Harry, I hardly ever write to my dad, let alone write and ask him about work and if he has noticed anything out of the ordinary..."
"Maybe you could try to be very discreet, like start off slow and don't ask him any questions just yet. Then when you do ask just a couple of questions, he won't think they are weird and out of the blue then. Just ask him how work is going and stuff..."
"I sometimes wonder if you were put in the right house Potter" Draco muttered.
Harry smiled.
"I'll talk to Hermione when she gets back from her parents and we should be all ready."
"Granger!" Draco said sounding a lot like Ron had.
"Yes, Hermione Granger."
"But what can she do? She's just a mud- Muggleborn!" Draco said, stopping himself from saying something where Harry and Ron would get angry.
"Yes, she is a Muggleborn and a very smart witch. She will be able to help us."
Draco signed and slowly nodded.
"As long as she doesn't go tell any professor's, because if she does I'll deny any knowledge of this, I don't want to lose any points for Slytherin."
Ron rolled his eyes.
"And remember to keep your eyes and ears open okay, now we better get back, it's getting late."
Ron, Draco and Harry stepped out of the room seeing as there was nobody outside it.
"You sure you don't want us to walk you back Draco? Wouldn't want you to get lost now would we" Ron said jokingly.
"Shut it Weasley!" Draco sneered at him.
"Come on you guys, we'll be late if we stay here any longer. See you tomorrow Draco."
"Yeah, later Draco"
"Harry, Weasley" Draco said nodding to them and then he ran off in the direction of Slytherin Common rooms, leaving Ron and Harry shaking their heads after him.
***
Harry and Ron didn't run into any teachers on their way back and counted themselves lucky. But as soon as entered the common room they realized they had thought too soon.
It was completely deserted. Not one student was in sight, even if a lot of people had left for the holidays, there were still normally a few people hanging around the common room. But the answer as to why there was nobody around was sitting by the fire.
"Where have you been?" His father asked, getting up and walking over to Ron and Harry.
"We were just talking with Draco, weren't we Ron" Harry replied calmly.
Ron nodded and spied a look over to the staircase, wishing he was able to run up those and get away from Harry's dad.
"And what was so important that you had to stay out past curfew?"
"We actually just got back a couple of minutes before curfew..."
"Harry..."
"Did you want to talk to us about something important or did you just want to discuss curfew?"
Severus glared at Harry and quietly said "Ron, you can head up to bed now."
"No, I want him to hear this." Harry said.
"Look. Harry I know you're angry at me-"
"I'm not angry with you"
Severus raised an eyebrow at him, clearly not believing him.
"I'm not, honest. I am however a bit hurt that you don't believe me, but now I think about it, it's to be expected. I haven't offered any proof that what I dreamt is true."
Ron had slowly started to head over to the stairs leading to their dormitories, feeling this wasn't really his business.
"Harry, it's not that I don't believe you, its just I'm not sure that what is happening in your dreams is real. Couldn't it just be a dream?"
Harry nodded though inwardly he didn't believe it. They were too real to just be dreams. And he wasn't just going to sit around and wait for something bad to happen.
Harry looked next to him, expecting to see Ron but he was already gone. Then an idea struck him.
"Dad, can you do me just one favour."
His father looked suspiciously at him "What is it Harry?"
"Can you please talk to Arthur? Just ask him about Scabbers, Ask him where he buried him. Maybe you could get him to see if it's the same rat-"
"Harry, he's been dead for Merlin knows how many years. I doubt there will be much left."
"But what if he charmed him to not decom-"
"Harry please, you're being-"
"Just do this for me, please Dad. For me..."
His father looked at him long and hard.
"If I was to do this, and we find that it was Scabbers that died, then will you stop this?"
"You won't hear another word about it from me I promise." Harry smiled hopefully at him. He knew that he probably wouldn't let it go after. He wasn't even sure that Peter would have been Scabbers. It could very well have just been coincidence that he happened to live a long life, and was missing a toe. Pure coincidence. But that wasn't going to stop Harry from finding out if it was not just chance.
"I'll talk to him tomorrow morning, okay."
Harry smiled at him.
"Thanks Dad."
"Now off to bed."
Harry nodded and made his way up the stairs, feeling his father's eyes on him the whole way. He quickly changed and fell onto his bed, crawling under the covers and falling asleep.
~
"And you will bring her back when?"
"Soon. Very soon, have patience my friend. First I will see to killing Harry Potter, and then I will bring her back." Voldemort hissed.
"Why can't you kill Potter after you bring her back?"
"Because I need Potter to help me do it!" Voldemort snapped angrily.
The man nodded, though he still looked as though he disagreed.
"I don't like it when my servants question my plans." Voldemort then stood up and towered over the man, looking every bit evil.
"Crucio"
The mans screams filled Harry's dreams until Harry finally awoke, scar blazing with pain.
A Different Life
Chapter 30 - Believe Me
Remus sat in shock, thinking about the words Harry had just said.
"But that... that doesn't make... doesn't make any sense..."
"Harry has got a point, perhaps Black and Pettigrew went to meet up, their master had just been defeated so they were angry, they decided to make a scene, which is where the killing muggles comes in, then Pettigrew faked his own death, and before Black got a chance to do the same, Aurors came in and arrested him. He didn't get a trial, so he went straight to Azkaban."
"That all fits except that the muggles heard Peter accusing Sirius Black of betraying James and Lily."
"True... and no matter how daft Pettigrew was, he wouldn't be daft enough to leave his life behind when Black was the secret keeper, and nobody even suspected him of being a Death Eater, so why give his life up when it was not in danger of being taken away?"
Harry watched as his father and Remus discussed the possible reasons. He was starting to feel tired again and felt his eyes drooping, but the next sentence out of his father's mouth took away any thought of sleep.
"Before we start getting ahead of ourselves, we should talk with Albus, this is most likely just a dream that Harry had. So far there has been no proof that his dreams have come true..."
Harry couldn't believe it, he knew they were true. Wasn't his word enough for them?
"What do you mean? Of course they are true." Harry stood up and glared at his father.
"Harry, there has been no proof to suggest that these dreams, are anything more then just that. It's not that I don't trust you, because I do... But these are really far fetched Harry."
"But my scar was hurting in both, how do you explain that?"
"I really don't know Harry" His father answered sadly.
"Remus, Remus please, you believe me don't you?"
"I-I-" Remus couldn't seem to say anything. He kept opening and closing his mouth. Finally he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry Harry, but what you are saying... It's just not possible. Peter would never... And Voldemort... he's dead Harry."
"So you both don't believe me?" Harry was shocked.
Remus looked sadly up at Harry.
"Harry-" His father began but he didn't need to finish his sentence, Harry already knew the outcome of his words.
"Fine, if you won't believe my word, I'll find a way to prove it to you."
"What do you mean you'll pro-" Remus said but stopped as he saw Harry turn around and open the door, slamming it shut behind him.
"Harry... Harry!" Severus shouted after him but he didn't come back.
***
Harry went straight back up to Gryffindor Tower and again woke Ron up, telling him everything that had happened.
"You believe me Ron don't you?"
Ron nodded his head. "So what are we going to do?"
"We are going to prove them wrong"
"Harry I don't know about this..."
"Come on Ron, this is a life and death situation here."
"Okay, then tell me how we are going to go about this?"
Harry sat back and thought about what they were going to do. He was all for rushing in and doing something stupid. But he did value his life, and no matter if his father believed him or not, he would be very upset and angry if Harry went and did something stupid.
"Well we can talk to Draco."
"What has Draco got to do with this?"
"He might know something about this, or at least his father would. He may be able to find out some information."
"Why would his father know anything?"
"Well a few years ago, when I was sent back to the Dursleys-" Harry shuddered here. "-I overheard dad and Albus talking, and they were saying that he is a Death Eater. They just didn't have enough proof to prove it back then when all the trials were going on."
"Really! Do you think that Draco-"
"No Ron, Draco isn't like that. He may act evil most of the time, but he's good inside, I just know it."
"So okay, we try and get information from Draco, what else?"
"I think we should get Hermione's help."
"What? Why her, she'll probably just go tell McGonagall." Ron whined.
Hermione and Ron seemed to have a clash of personalities. They were not too fond of each other and Harry set his own mission to get them to become friends, but that for now was to be done later as he had more important things to worry about.
"We need her Ron, she's the smartest witch I know and she won't tell McGonagall. I promise."
"Okay then, what about your father, he's gonna know something's up. He'll be watching you extra carefully."
"Let me handle my father."
***
At dinner the next night Harry sat at the other end of the Christmas table, as all the teachers and students were sitting at one table. Harry sat in- between Ron and Draco. He was ignoring his father and Remus as he spoke lightly with Draco.
"Draco..." Harry whispered
"What?"
"I need to talk to you..."
"What about?"
"I'll tell you after, just follow me out okay."
Draco looked curiously at Harry but nodded his head and went back to eating his food.
After another few minutes Harry and Ron got up, with Draco following close behind.
***
"In here..." Harry whispered, ushering Draco and Ron into what looked like a secret entrance.
"What is this place?"
"Just a secret room" Harry replied, he hadn't been there before but he had seen it on the map. It looked like it hadn't been used for many years, very dusty and old looking.
Harry then proceeded to fill Draco in on what had been happening.
"You know who!" Draco exclaimed
"Yes, now do you believe me or not?"
Draco looked skeptically at both Ron and Harry for a moment.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Do you believe me Draco?" Harry asked again.
"I don't know, I need some time to think about this."
"Understandable."
"So why did you tell me?"
"I need your help Draco." Harry said, getting straight to the point.
"What with?"
"Proving it all to my father"
"And how can I help you with that?"
"I know about your father." Harry came out and said it straight away.
Draco looked shocked. "What do you know about my father?"
"That he was, and is a loyal Death Eater." Harry said calmly.
"What! Now I don't know where you got that ide-"
"Give it up Malfoy, we already know." Ron cut him off.
"Listen-" Harry cut in before they could get into a fight. "-the point is, is that we know about your father, and we think that you can help us with getting information."
"Why would I help you get information?"
"Because I believe that we are friends, and I don't think that you believe in what your father is. So will you help us?"
Draco looked thoughtfully at Harry, and then looked away and at the ground,
"What information do you want?"
"Well you are always Owling him, has he said anything in his letters?"
"No, this is the first that I've heard of it."
"Well keep writing, and see if you can find anything out."
"Harry, you don't know what you're asking me here..."
"Please Draco"
Draco sighed. "I'm sorry, but you don't know my father, he'll kill me if he finds out."
"He won't find out! Besides you just have to see what you can uncover, just ask your dad some non-suspicious questions in one of your letters."
"What makes you think that I won't just go tell my father what you have just told me and turn against you?" Draco asked, watching Harry's face carefully.
"Because I trust you." Harry answered without hesitation.
"You shouldn't give your trust so freely..."
"I don't"
Draco stared carefully at Harry.
"Fine, I'll see what I can find out."
"Thank you Draco. Ron I want you to see if you can find anything out from your dad as well"
"My dad?"
"Yeah, he does work for the Ministry doesn't he?"
"I don't know Harry, I hardly ever write to my dad, let alone write and ask him about work and if he has noticed anything out of the ordinary..."
"Maybe you could try to be very discreet, like start off slow and don't ask him any questions just yet. Then when you do ask just a couple of questions, he won't think they are weird and out of the blue then. Just ask him how work is going and stuff..."
"I sometimes wonder if you were put in the right house Potter" Draco muttered.
Harry smiled.
"I'll talk to Hermione when she gets back from her parents and we should be all ready."
"Granger!" Draco said sounding a lot like Ron had.
"Yes, Hermione Granger."
"But what can she do? She's just a mud- Muggleborn!" Draco said, stopping himself from saying something where Harry and Ron would get angry.
"Yes, she is a Muggleborn and a very smart witch. She will be able to help us."
Draco signed and slowly nodded.
"As long as she doesn't go tell any professor's, because if she does I'll deny any knowledge of this, I don't want to lose any points for Slytherin."
Ron rolled his eyes.
"And remember to keep your eyes and ears open okay, now we better get back, it's getting late."
Ron, Draco and Harry stepped out of the room seeing as there was nobody outside it.
"You sure you don't want us to walk you back Draco? Wouldn't want you to get lost now would we" Ron said jokingly.
"Shut it Weasley!" Draco sneered at him.
"Come on you guys, we'll be late if we stay here any longer. See you tomorrow Draco."
"Yeah, later Draco"
"Harry, Weasley" Draco said nodding to them and then he ran off in the direction of Slytherin Common rooms, leaving Ron and Harry shaking their heads after him.
***
Harry and Ron didn't run into any teachers on their way back and counted themselves lucky. But as soon as entered the common room they realized they had thought too soon.
It was completely deserted. Not one student was in sight, even if a lot of people had left for the holidays, there were still normally a few people hanging around the common room. But the answer as to why there was nobody around was sitting by the fire.
"Where have you been?" His father asked, getting up and walking over to Ron and Harry.
"We were just talking with Draco, weren't we Ron" Harry replied calmly.
Ron nodded and spied a look over to the staircase, wishing he was able to run up those and get away from Harry's dad.
"And what was so important that you had to stay out past curfew?"
"We actually just got back a couple of minutes before curfew..."
"Harry..."
"Did you want to talk to us about something important or did you just want to discuss curfew?"
Severus glared at Harry and quietly said "Ron, you can head up to bed now."
"No, I want him to hear this." Harry said.
"Look. Harry I know you're angry at me-"
"I'm not angry with you"
Severus raised an eyebrow at him, clearly not believing him.
"I'm not, honest. I am however a bit hurt that you don't believe me, but now I think about it, it's to be expected. I haven't offered any proof that what I dreamt is true."
Ron had slowly started to head over to the stairs leading to their dormitories, feeling this wasn't really his business.
"Harry, it's not that I don't believe you, its just I'm not sure that what is happening in your dreams is real. Couldn't it just be a dream?"
Harry nodded though inwardly he didn't believe it. They were too real to just be dreams. And he wasn't just going to sit around and wait for something bad to happen.
Harry looked next to him, expecting to see Ron but he was already gone. Then an idea struck him.
"Dad, can you do me just one favour."
His father looked suspiciously at him "What is it Harry?"
"Can you please talk to Arthur? Just ask him about Scabbers, Ask him where he buried him. Maybe you could get him to see if it's the same rat-"
"Harry, he's been dead for Merlin knows how many years. I doubt there will be much left."
"But what if he charmed him to not decom-"
"Harry please, you're being-"
"Just do this for me, please Dad. For me..."
His father looked at him long and hard.
"If I was to do this, and we find that it was Scabbers that died, then will you stop this?"
"You won't hear another word about it from me I promise." Harry smiled hopefully at him. He knew that he probably wouldn't let it go after. He wasn't even sure that Peter would have been Scabbers. It could very well have just been coincidence that he happened to live a long life, and was missing a toe. Pure coincidence. But that wasn't going to stop Harry from finding out if it was not just chance.
"I'll talk to him tomorrow morning, okay."
Harry smiled at him.
"Thanks Dad."
"Now off to bed."
Harry nodded and made his way up the stairs, feeling his father's eyes on him the whole way. He quickly changed and fell onto his bed, crawling under the covers and falling asleep.
~
"And you will bring her back when?"
"Soon. Very soon, have patience my friend. First I will see to killing Harry Potter, and then I will bring her back." Voldemort hissed.
"Why can't you kill Potter after you bring her back?"
"Because I need Potter to help me do it!" Voldemort snapped angrily.
The man nodded, though he still looked as though he disagreed.
"I don't like it when my servants question my plans." Voldemort then stood up and towered over the man, looking every bit evil.
"Crucio"
The mans screams filled Harry's dreams until Harry finally awoke, scar blazing with pain.