Chapter 25: Rat and Dog
It was the final exams of the year, it was not till Thursday of that week that Willow and Dawn saw Harry, Hermione and Ron. They had devised an obstacle course for the the exam. The students had to wade across a deep paddling pool containing a grindylow, cross a series of potholes full of Red Caps, squish their way across a patch of marsh while ignoring misleading directions from a hinkypunk, then climb into an old trunk and battle with a new boggart.
"Very good, Harry," Dawn said as Harry climnbed out of the trunk, grinning. "Full marks."
Ron was next he was doing well till he reached the hinkypunk, which successfully confused him into sinking waist-high into the quagmire.
Hermione was the last in the class. She was doing everything perfectly until she reached the trunk with the boggart in it. After about a minute inside it, she burst out again, screaming.
Dawn looked at Willow.
Willow took Hermione aside. "What did you see?" she whispered.
"P—P—Professor McGonagall!" Hermione gasped, pointing into the trunk. "Sh—she said I'd failed everything!"
Willow hugged Hermione. "I know how you feel," she said as Hermione looked at her. "I was much like you when I was in school. You should have seen me when I took my SATs." She noticed the confused look on Hermione's face. "Good grades always made me giddy. I was even offered a job working for this big computer company while I was still in high school. You have nothing to worry about."
Hermione nodded as she listened to Willow.
As Willow and Dawn escorted Harry, Ron and Hermione back to the castle they ran into Cornelius Fudge. Fudge was sweating slightly in his pinstriped cloak. He started at the sight of Harry.
"Hello there, Harry!" he said. "Just had an exam, I expect? Nearly finished?"
"Yes," said Harry.
"Is there something we can help you with, Minister?" Willow said.
"Yes, since I assume you two are the ones that spirited the hippogriff away," Fudge said. "Where is it?"
"Safe from you," Dawn said. "I called in a favor with my sister."
"So, it's with the International Slayer's Council?" Fudge asked with a frown.
"Yes," Dawn said. "I said this at the trial. What happened to Draco Malfoy was not because Buckbeak was dangerous. Mr. Malfoy was the only one at fault here. If he had listened to Hagrid the accident would never have happened. Now if you will excuse us. Willow and I have one more exam to give. And Harry, Ron and Hermione have one more exam to take."
They headed on into the castle.
Harry's and Ron's last exam was Divination; Hermione's, Muggle Studies. Willow was to do the last Defense Against the Dark Arts exam solo as Dawn was going to sit in on Divination one last time. She asked for Harry's invisibility cloak and hid under it. She would not interfere in the exam but she was going to watch Trelawney.
"She's seeing us all separately," Neville informed Harry and Ron as they went to sit down next to him. He had his copy of Unfogging the Future open on his lap at the pages devoted to crystal gazing. "Have either of you ever seen anything in a crystal ball?" he asked them unhappily.
"Nope," said Ron.
The line of people outside the classroom shortened very slowly. As each person climbed back down the silver ladder, the rest of the class hissed, "What did she ask? Was it okay?"
But they all refused to say.
"She says the crystal ball told her that if I tell you, I'll have a horrible accident!" squeaked Neville as he clambered back down the ladder toward Harry and Ron, who had now reached the landing.
"That's convenient," snorted Ron.
"Very," Dawn whispered from where she stood next to Harry and Ron.
"I think I would learn more from you, Dawn," Ron whispered back.
"Quite possible," Dawn replied.
Harry looked at his own watch. It was now two o'clock. "Wish she'd hurry up…"
Parvati came back down the ladder glowing with pride.
"She says I've got all the makings of a true Seer," she informed Harry and Ron. "I saw loads of stuff… Well, good luck!"
She hurried off down the spiral staircase toward Lavender.
"Ronald Weasley," said the familiar, misty voice from over their heads. Ron grimaced and climbed the silver ladder out of sight.
"I'm next," Harry whispered. "I'm seriously thinking of seeing if Dumbledore will let you teach me next year. You after all are an actual seer."
"Thanks," Dawn replied.
Finally, after about twenty minutes, Ron's feet reappeared on the ladder.
"How'd it go?" Harry asked him, standing up.
"Rubbish," said Ron. "Couldn't see a thing, so I made some stuff up. Don't think she was convinced, though…"
"Meet you in the Aunt Willow and Aunt Dawn's office," Harry whispered as Professor Trelawney's voice called, "Harry Potter!"
"See you up there," Dawn said. She opened a portal to where she knew Trelawney would not see the portal open and close.
The tower room was hotter than ever before; the curtains were closed, the fire was alight, and the usual sickly scent made Harry cough as he stumbled through the clutter of chairs and tables to where Professor Trelawney sat waiting for Harry before a large crystal ball.
"Good day, my dear," Trelawne said softly as Harry joined them. Dawn could tell the teacher did not know she was there. If Trelawney had the same level of gift that Dawn had that should not have been possible. "If you would kindly gaze into the Orb… Take your time, now… then tell me what you see within it…"
Harry bent over the crystal ball and stared, stared as hard as he could, willing it to show him something other than swirling white fog, but nothing happened.
"Well?" Professor Trelawney prompted delicately. "What do you see?"
"Er—" said Harry, "a dark shape… um…"
"What does it resemble?" whispered Professor Trelawney. "Think, now…"
"A hippogriff," he said firmly.
"Indeed!" whispered Professor Trelawney, scribbling keenly on the parchment perched upon her knees. "My boy, you may well be seeing the outcome of poor Hagrid's trouble with the Ministry of Magic! Look closer… Where is the hippogriff? Is it at the Ministry? Does it appear to… have its head?"
"Yes," said Harry firmly.
"Are you sure?" Professor Trelawney urged him. "Are you quite sure, dear? You don't see it writhing on the ground, perhaps, and a shadowy figure raising an axe behind it?"
"No!" said Harry, starting to feel slightly sick.
"No blood? No weeping Hagrid?"
"No!" said Harry again, wanting more than ever to leave the room and the heat. "It looks fine, it's—flying away…"
Professor Trelawney sighed. "Well, dear, I think we'll leave it there… A little disappointing… but I'm sure you did your best." Suddenly her eyes started to roll up into her head.
"Aunt Dawn?" Harry said as Dawn removed the invisibility cloak and stepped up next to him. "That's how you look when you have a premonition."
"The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight… the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight… before midnight… the servant… will set out… to rejoin… his master…" Trelawney said.
Trelawney's head fell forward onto her chest. She made a grunting sort of noise. Then, quite suddenly, her head snapped up again. "I'm so sorry, dear boy," she said dreamily, "the heat of the day, you know… I drifted off for a moment… Professor Rosenberg-Summers. I must have drifted longer than I thought."
"No, Sybill," Dawn said. "You just proved to me you are a true seer. You just had a premonition."
"I did?" Trelawney said looked thoroughly startled.
"Yes," Dawn said. "Harry has seen when I have had premonitions and recognized the signs. You indeed had a premonition. Now I must go talk to Dumbledore." She opened a portal and walked through it in Dumbledore's office.
Harry sat there looking at Trelawney who smiled. "Your aunt is a true seer, isn't she?" she asked.
"Yes," Harry replied as he stood and gathered his things.
In Dumbledore's office Dawn was just finishing telling Dumbledore what she had heard. "Interesting. So Black…" he started when he saw Dawn's eyes roll into the back of her head.
"Peter Pettigrew," Dawn said when her eyes returned to normal. "Not Black, killed all those people in London. He was also James and Lily's secret keeper. Last minute change at Sirius Black's suggestion."
Dumbledore sighed. "I thought that might be the case. I never had the proof though. So, if Sybill's premonition was accurate Pettigrew is still alive. If he could be brought before the Ministry, we would be able to prove Sirius was innocent."
"The question is where has he been hiding all this time," Dawn said.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
As Dawn was heading back toward hers and Willow's office, she saw Hermione's cat Crookshanks through one of the windows. As she stopped to look at it her eyes rolled again to the back of her head.
A dog sprang toward Harry and Ron, the dog pushed Harry aside; the dog's jaws fastened instead around Ron's outstretched arm. Harry lunged forward, he seized a handful of the brute's hair, but it was dragging Ron away as easily as though he were a rag doll—
Then, out of nowhere, something hit Harry so hard across the face he was knocked off his feet. Harry could hear Hermione fall with a shriek of pain.
Harry groped for his wand, blinking blood out of his eyes—
"Lumos!" he whispered.
The wandlight showed him the trunk of a thick tree; the Whomping Willow and its branches were creaking as though in a high wind, whipping backward and forward to stop them going nearer.
And there, at the base of the trunk, was the dog, dragging Ron backward into a large gap in the roots—Ron was fighting furiously, but his head and torso were slipping out of sight—
When Dawn's eyes returned to normal again, she spun around and headed out of the castle and toward the Whomping Willow. She saw Harry and Hermione near the tree and opened a portal beneath them, sending them both to the hospital wing.
A branch whipped down at Dawn; twigs clenched like knuckles. With the speed of a Slayer she easily dodged the tree's attacks. She slid down an earthy slope to the bottom of a very low tunnel. "Fiat Lux," she said as light appeared in the tunnel.
She moved down the tunnel, bent almost double. On and on went the passage; Then the tunnel began to rise; moments later it twisted. Dawn could see a patch of dim light through a small opening. She carefully made her way through the opening into a room, a very disordered, dusty room. Paper was peeling from the walls; there were stains all over the floor; every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows were all boarded up.
"The Shrieking Shack," Dawn said as she realized where she was.
The room was deserted, but a door to her right stood open, leading to a shadowy hallway.
At that moment, there was a creak overhead. Something had moved upstairs. Dawn looked up at the ceiling. She pictured Ron clearly in her mind. She had not pictured a person for a portal since she had retrieved Buffy from a hell dimension. She opened the portal and stepped through it.
On the floor in front of Dawn, clutching his leg, which stuck out at a strange angle, was Ron.
"You alright?" Dawn asked as Ron shook his head. "Where's the dog?"
"Not a dog," Ron moaned. His teeth were gritted with pain. "Dawn, it's a trap. He's the dog… he's an Animagus…" He was was staring over Dawn's shoulder.
Dawn wheeled around and saw Sirius Black, who had been standing behind a door thinking she would come through it. "Sorry to disappoint," she said.
"Expelliarmus!" Black croaked, pointing Ron's wand at Dawn. But Dawn wasn't carrying her wand as she smiled.
"Kali, Hera, Kronos, Thonic. Air like nectar, thick as onyx. Cassiel, by your second star, Hold mine victim as in tar," Dawn said as Black suddenly found himself unable to move.
"Wiccan?" he croaked.
"Yes," Dawn said.
"I expected Harry, I should have known he would go for a teacher."
"Oh, my nephew didn't go for me," Dawn said. "I happen to be a seer. I saw your attack moments before it happened. I know you are innocent. I also know you were framed for your friend's crimes. What I don't know is where Pettigrew is."
"Dawn?" Ron said.
Neither Dawn nor Sirius got a chance to answer as they heard muffled footsteps were echoing up through the floor—someone was coming upstairs. The door of the room burst open in a shower of red sparks as Lupin came hurtling into the room, his face bloodless, his wand raised and ready. His eyes flickered over Ron, lying on the floor, over Dawn standing wandless and Black himself, standing unmoving.
"Wiccan spell?" he asked Dawn who nodded. He looked toward Sirius. "Where is he, Sirius?"
"My question," Dawn said as Lupin looked at her. "Premonition. I know Sirius is innocent. Pettigrew committed the crimes that Sirius was accused of."
Lupin looked at Dawn who nodded and released her spell. He walked to Black's side, and embraced Black like a brother.
"Dawn, what the heck," Ron said.
"Sirius is innocent," Dawn said as she turned toward her nephew's friend. "If I am getting what he is saying your rat is an animagus." She looked at Lupin. "How did you know though?"
"I saw the Weasley twins give you the Marauder's map," Lupin said. "I snuck into your office a few times to look at it. Willow had left the office to go in search for likely you and Harry." He looked at Sirius and smiled. "Seems Tigerlily's lost sister has come home. Harry now lives with her."
Sirius nodded. "Your statement about your nephew not going to find you makes more sense."
"Do you think I could have a look at the rat?" Lupin said evenly.
"What?" said Ron. "What's Scabbers got to do with it?"
"Everything," said Lupin. "Could I see him, please?"
"Do it, Ron," Dawn said as she realized where Pettigrew was.
Ron put a hand inside his robes. Scabbers emerged, thrashing desperately; Ron had to seize his long bald tail to stop him escaping.
Lupin moved closer to Ron. He seemed to be holding his breath as he gazed intently at Scabbers.
"What?" Ron said again, holding Scabbers close to him, looking scared. "What's my rat got to do with anything?"
"That's not a rat," croaked Sirius Black suddenly.
"What d'you mean—of course he's a rat—"
"No, he's not," said Dawn quietly. "He's and animagus isn't he?"
"Yes," Lupin and Black said.
"You're mental," Ron said. "Peter Pettigrew's dead!"
"I meant to kill Peter," Sirius said, "but he got the better of me… not this time, though!" He lunged at Scabbers; Ron yelled with pain as Black's weight fell on his broken leg.
"Sirius, NO!" Lupin yelled, launching himself forwards and dragging Black away from Ron again, "Dawn."
"Scabbers, please, Ron," Dawn said as she held out her hand.
"HE'S NOT PETER, HE'S SCABBERS!" Ron yelled, trying to force the rat back into his front pocket, but Scabbers was fighting too hard; Ron swayed and overbalanced, and Dawn caught him and pushed him back down to the bed.
"Ron," Dawn said. "Don't make me ask again, please. You know that I get premonitions. So you know if I tell you Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew, that I am not lying."
Ron looked at Dawn for a long moment. "What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?" Ron asked.
"If he truly Is a rat nothing," Dawn said. "If he is Pettigrew. Force him to show himself."
Ron hesitated. Then at long last, he held out Scabbers and Dawn took him. Scabbers began to squeak without stopping, twisting and turning, his tiny black eyes bulging in his head.
"Ready, Sirius?" said Lupin.
Black held Ron's wand pointed at Scabbers. He and Lupin approached Dawn and the struggling rat. "Together?" he said quietly.
"I think so," said Lupin. "On the count of three. One—two—THREE!"
A flash of blue-white light erupted from both wands; for a moment, Scabbers was frozen in midair, his small gray form twisting madly—Ron yelled—the rat fell and hit the floor. There was another blinding flash of light and then—
It was like watching a speeded-up film of a growing tree. A head was shooting upward from the ground; limbs were sprouting; a moment later, a man was standing where Scabbers had been, cringing and wringing his hands. Crookshanks was spitting and snarling on the bed; the hair on his back was standing up.
He looked around at them all, his breathing fast and shallow. His eyes dart to the door and back again.
"You saw what I did to Sirius," Dawn said. "Don't think of trying to dive for that door."
"Well, hello, Peter," said Lupin pleasantly, as though rats frequently erupted into old school friends around him. "Long time, no see."
"S—Sirius… R—Remus…" Even Pettigrew's voice was squeaky. Again, his eyes darted toward the door. "My friends… my old friends…"
Black's wand arm rose, but Lupin seized him around the wrist, gave him a warning look, then turned again to Pettigrew, his voice light and casual.
"We've been having a little chat, Peter, about what happened the night Lily and James died. You might have missed the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the bed—"
"Remus," gasped Pettigrew as beads of sweat broke out over his pasty face, "you don't believe him, do you…? He tried to kill me, Remus…"
"So, we've heard," said Lupin, more coldly. "I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you, Peter, if you'd be so—"
"He's come to try and kill me again!" Pettigrew squeaked suddenly, pointing at Black. "He killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too… You've got to help me, Remus…"
"No, he doesn't," Dawn said. She looked at Lupin. "I had a premonition earlier; I saw exactly what happened. Pettigrew faked his own death. Yes, Sirius wanted to kill him for what happened. He was James and Lily's secret keeper. He told Voldemort where they were, not Sirius."
"Remus!" Pettigrew squeaked, turning to Lupin, writhing imploringly in front of him. "You don't believe this… wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?"
"Not if he thought I was the spy, Peter," said Lupin. "I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?" he said casually over Pettigrew's head.
"Forgive me, Remus," said Black.
"Not at all, Padfoot, old friend," said Lupin, who was now rolling up his sleeves. "And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?"
"Of course," said Black, and the ghost of a grin flitted across his gaunt face. He, too, began rolling up his sleeves. "Shall we kill him together?"
"Yes, I think so," said Lupin grimly.
"You wouldn't… you won't…," gasped Pettigrew. And he scrambled around to Dawn. Being Scabbers he had learned she was a Slayer. She wouldn't let them kill him, would she?
"Slayer, you won't let them kill me," Pettigrew pleaded. "You stand for human life."
"Is he correct you're a Slayer?" Sirius asked.
"Yes," Dawn said. "As much as you want to kill him. He is your only hope for freedom."
Black and Lupin both looked staggered thinking Dawn would have sided with them.
"This piece of vermin is the reason Harry's parents are dead," Black snarled.
"I know," Dawn said. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the dementors… He can go to Azkaban… but if you kill him, you become him. Then I would have to do my duty as a Slayer and turn you over to the dementors instead of him."
"Since Harry is not here, and you are his aunt via Lily's sister. That means since Lily would have been your sister-in-law you are the only person here who has the right to decide," said Black. "But think… think what he did…"
"I know," Dawn said. "And he should be sent to Azkaban."
"Very well," said Lupin. "Dawn, if you don't mind so that we can tie him up."
Dawn nodded. "Kali, Hera, Kronos, Thonic. Air like nectar, thick as onyx. Cassiel, by your second star, Hold mine victim as in tar," she said and Pettigrew found himself unable to move. Thin cords shot from Lupin's wand, and next moment, Pettigrew was bound and gagged as Dawn released the spell.
"But if you transform, Peter," growled Black, his own wand pointing at Pettigrew too, "we will kill you. You agree, Dawn?"
"Agreed, relunctantly," Dawn said. "Now, Ron. I am going to open a portal and deposit you in the hospital wing on a bed. Tell Madam Pomfrey so she can mend your bones." Ron nodded as she opened a portal beneath him and he fell into it.
"How can you do that?" Sirius asked. "You just sent him through the wards to Hogwarts. Apparation, portkey, any form of teleportation should be impossible."
"What I have is far older and far more powerful than the wards that surround Hogwarts," Dawn answered.
"The Key," Lupin said.
"Now we take Pettigrew to Dumbledore's office," Dawn said as she opened another portal. Sirius and Lupin pushed Pettigrew through as Dawn followed.
