Broken
By Neurotica
Thirteen
The majority of Privet Drive was winding down in the dusk hours; parents were all getting their children bathed and settled and ready for bed. As far as they were concerned, nothing odd at all was happening in their neighborhood, and they knew a lot; many of the wives on Privet Drive made it their business to know the goings on of everything and everyone around them. They believed the young couple living in Number Nine, the Prewetts, were a bit odd, but nice enough. They'd taken in that strange Potter boy recently—apparently, the woman held some sort of relation to the boy—and had found a rather sickly-looking dog at the local pound. They were an odd family, but seemed happy enough. They never bothered anybody, preferring to stay in the confines of their own home with the shades drawn, so the residents of Privet Drive didn't give them much thought.
But while Privet Drive slipped into another peaceful, oblivious evening, the family of Number Nine was about to either have their prayers answered or receive yet another disappointment.
Remus and Julia stood beside one another in an office Remus had setup, a shoebox open on the desk before them. Inside the shoebox lay a sleeping rat that'd lost patches of its light brown fur and had become quite thin.
"What do you think?" Julia asked her friend quietly.
Without taking his eyes from the rat, Remus responded, "I think it's too good to be true..."
Julia sighed. "We can try an Animagus reversal spell... see if it's really him..."
"We could, but chances are high that if Sirius walks in here and sees Peter Pettigrew standing before us, he's not going to be too happy."
"He has to know, though."
"And he will, but not until we've been able to explain it to him."
"Explain what?" said a voice from the doorway, causing the other two to jump noticeably. "Moony, are you trying to steal my woman?" Sirius grinned.
Remus and Julia didn't even roll their eyes. Remus closed the lid of the shoebox quickly while Julia went to Sirius. "Baby, we've got something to tell you," she said, taking his hands in hers.
Sirius' eyes widened. "I was just kidding about you and Remus, Jules..." he whispered. He looked away from her for a second to glare at Remus who leaned casually against the desk. "I'll bloody kill you..." he added to Remus in a growl.
"Sirius, no! That's not what we need to tell you," Julia said quickly, holding him back. "Look, I was on my way to meet Fudge today, and I, er, sort of ran into an old friend..."
Sirius looked at her questioningly. She sighed and wrapped her arms around his waist. She told him the story of the rat scurrying across her feet, about charming it to sleep, and examining it in her office. She finished with Arthur Weasley and his son coming into her office, searching for the rat.
Naturally, Sirius demanded to see it. Remus and Julia exchanged an uneasy glance as Sirius removed his girlfriend's death grip from his waist and crossed the room. His face was impassive as he opened the shoebox and looked inside. He picked the rat up by its tail. "It's him," he said in a muttered growl, dropping the rat into the shoebox and taking his wand from his belt loop.
"SIRIUS!" Julia and Remus shouted in unison, forcing him to lower his wand arm. "If you kill him now," Julia said hastily, "we'll never be able to prove you're innocent."
"I wasn't going to kill him," Sirius muttered unconvincingly. "We need to force him to reveal himself."
"We'll do it together, then," Remus said quietly but sternly.
After a one-sided glaring contest, Sirius nodded his agreement. The three friends held their wands at the ready, and Remus reached into the shoebox and took the rat out, setting it on the desk. After a count of three, a bright white light filled the room. Once the light faded, and their eyes adjusted again, they found that the rat had disappeared. In its stead was a man who looked to be around the same age as them, patches missing from his mousy brown hair, his fat body looking as though he'd lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. They automatically looked at his right hand—he was missing a finger...
It was Peter Pettigrew.
Remus muttered the counter-charm to Julia's sleeping spell and the man's eyes opened slowly. He started, realizing he wasn't in the same place he'd been when he'd fallen asleep. He looked around groggily, fearfully, his watery blue eyes stopping on his old friends.
"Hello, Peter," Remus said coldly. "It's been a long time."
Peter squeaked, looking around the room for an escape route. The only exit was the door that Sirius, Remus, and Julia just happened to be blocking. "R-Remus... J-Julia... S-S-Sirius..." the rat stuttered. "My dear, old friends… I-I've missed you."
"Bet you have," Sirius growled.
Julia shook her head slowly. "You bastard..." she breathed. "How could you?"
Peter gulped. "D-don't know what you're t-talking about..."
"You know exactly what we're talking about, Pete," Remus said calmly. "You are the reason Lily and James are dead... The reason Sirius spent five years in Azkaban. And do yourself a favor, Peter, don't try to deny it. We've had a bad few weeks."
"It's finally time, Peter," Sirius said, "for you to get what you deserve." He raised his wand before Remus or Julia could stop him, pointing it at Peter. "STUPEFY!"
Sirius wandered into Harry's bedroom in the middle of the night. Julia was still sleeping quite soundly, even happily, but Sirius couldn't stop his mind from moving in overdrive. They'd transformed Peter back into the rat he was, and had placed him into an unbreakable glass cage before contacting Dumbledore with the news. The Headmaster would arrive first thing in the morning to form a plan on what to do next. Peter was now being kept in Remus' room, where the wizard could keep an eye on him, and Sirius wouldn't be able to sneak in and do anything irreversible.
Carefully, Sirius lay down on Harry's twin-size bed, pulling the sleeping child into his arms.
"Soon, Harry," he whispered, smoothing out Harry's hair. "Soon we'll get out of this mess — out of this stupid neighborhood. Julia and I will finally get to raise you the way we should have been able to years ago…
"I'm so sorry, Harry…" he said with a sigh. "I'm sorry that I haven't been able to look out for you until now. I wish more than anything in this world that things could have been different for me… for you… Could you imagine, Harry, what things would have been like if none of this had happened, if your mum and dad were still with us? You'd probably have little brothers or sisters. Julia and I would be married with kids of our own. Remus would have been their godfather…
"Everything will be all right soon, Harry…" Sirius whispered, and kissed the top of his godson's head. He slid down the bed, still holding Harry to him, and fell asleep.
The next afternoon, Harry was sitting on the floor of the living room coloring a picture in an activity book while Sirius, Remus, and Julia sat in the kitchen with Dumbledore, the shoebox containing Peter in the center of the table.
Dumbledore had formed a plan and had just finished explaining it to the other three. If the stunning spell somehow wore off, if the unbreakable glass jar somehow broke, and Peter was free in the house, the headmaster feared he might attempt to harm or kidnap Harry, or worse. Peter would therefore be taken to Hogwarts for safekeeping. Kingsley and Mad-Eye would arrive at Number Nine while Remus and Julia were conveniently out of the house. The two Aurors would show up under the pretense of learning of a break-in to a Muggle house. Sirius would be arrested and taken to the Ministry of Magic holding cells where he would await a transfer to Azkaban. Before being taken to the prison, however, Dumbledore would insist on a trial, stating he had new evidence in Sirius' case.
"During the trial," Dumbledore said, "I will reveal Pettigrew to the Wizengamot, and unless some unknown factor appears, you will be set free."
Sirius wasn't too fond of this plan; too many things could go wrong. Julia took his shaking hand in hers, silently telling him everything would work out.
"Do you trust me, Sirius?" Dumbledore asked, looking deeply into the young wizard's gray eyes.
"Of course," Sirius responded promptly, his voice rather hoarse.
Dumbledore nodded. "I would recommend that Harry leave with Julia and Remus. Take him somewhere for the day to keep him occupied. He may not take what's happening well. He seems quite fond of the three of you, and I would hate to have him put through seeing his godfather arrested."
Over the next few days, Sirius, Julia, and Remus packed all of their belongings into boxes to move back to Remus' cottage, and Sirius' and Julia's flat. After Sirius' trial, there would be no other reason to remain on Privet Drive.
On the day the Aurors were to arrest Sirius, Julia attached herself to him, not wanting to say goodbye to him again.
"You're the one who said it'll be okay," Sirius said, holding her just as tightly as she held him. "It'll only be a few days, and then we'll be able to go back to normal."
She nodded into his chest, probably not even taking any of his words in. Her cheeks stained with tears. She pulled away from him slightly, moving her arms from his waist to his neck, and pulling him towards her for a long kiss. "I love you," she whispered.
It was the first time she'd said those words since they'd been reunited. He smiled sadly, feeling his own eyes stinging with tears. "I love you too," he said, wiping the tears from her eyes. She sniffed and released him, leaving the living room to find Harry.
"Good luck, Padfoot," Remus said to his best friend.
Sirius smiled at him as well. "Thank you, Moony." The two friends embraced tightly for a long moment. When they released each other, Remus kissed Sirius' forehead, wiping at his eyes gruffly. Sirius had been right, Remus thought. Though Dumbledore's plans were nearly always successful, there were still a great many things that could go terribly wrong.
Before Remus, Julia, and Harry left for the cottage, where the witch and child would stay until after Sirius' trial, Sirius knelt down to say a temporary goodbye to his godson. "I have to go away for a bit, Harry," the wizard said quietly.
"Where are you going?" Harry asked.
Averting his eyes, Sirius replied, "It's not important, but I'll be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, I want you to be good for Remus and Julia. It's going to be your job to protect them, all right?"
Harry nodded, not really understanding, but hugged Sirius tightly.
"Come on, Harry," Remus said quietly when godfather and godson pulled away from each other. "It's time to go…"
Sirius gave Julia once last kiss, and gave her his wand, asking her to keep it safe. She tearfully promised she would and left Number Nine through the fireplace, taking Harry with her, before she burst into tears. Remus left next, and Sirius sat on the sofa, waiting for the Aurors to arrive.
He didn't have to wait long before the back door was forced open, and four Aurors discovered him in the living room. For the second time in his life, Sirius was apprehended and Apparated to the Ministry of Magic by Kingsley Shacklebolt.