Chapter 6: Rat Revealed

"Lily!" Springing from his seat, James quickly made his way to his wife. A plethora of confusing thoughts and emotions were fighting a battle within his mind. The foremost thought, and the only one he could grasp, was that Lily had fainted.

Glancing sideways at the reason for Lily's unconscious state James felt as though he'd been flying for hours on a drunken hippogriff. Harry James Potter. The young man had said that was his name, and just after he'd called Lily 'Mum.'

Harry James Potter, the exact name Lily had chosen for the baby if she won the bet and it was a boy.

But this couldn't be real. This boy, this person, he had to be a different Harry Potter. He couldn't be his and Lily's child. There had to have been a mistake. Maybe he was… Or perhaps he had… But hadn't the boy already confirmed it?

James pushed back all these horrifying thoughts and silently prayed that he was imagining things because the alternative was too terrible to consider. Forcing his attention away from his mixed feelings James focused on helping Lily wake up so she could figure everything out.

After casting a simple enervate spell James helped his wife sit up as she regained consciousness. As Lily rubbed her eyes he once again glanced towards the boy.

Harry had moved away from everyone and was standing with his back to the wall. His face was pale like a sheet of parchment and he hadn't moved his gaze at all from Lily.

Quickly sizing him up James was struck by how similar the boy's face was to his. He's like my twin or maybe my clone. Well for the most part anyways. At least he got Lily's eyes and escaped the Potter curse of poor eyesight, James thought as he took stock of the differences between him and the young man. James froze.

How could he have thought that? It was almost like he already accepted that this boy was his son. How could he believe it? There was no proof. And for that matter James wasn't even sure if his child was going to be a son. Maybe this was just a horrible coincidence… a huge misunderstanding… He could not be his son. He had done that spell to protect his son not to… It couldn't be true.

James was so focused on his mixed thoughts that he jumped a good foot in the air when a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

Sirius had moved up behind him. He too seemed to be beyond shocked and after trying unsuccessfully to say something he merely shrugged.

It appeared that James wasn't the only one surprised by Sirius's appearance.

"Sirius? But… Is everyone…?"

But all of the questions the boy seemed unable to articulate died as Remus and Peter came to stand beside Sirius.

The young man's large green eyes, which had been wide and hesitant moments before became hard and focused as an angry gleam entered into them. Before anyone had time to react he had launched himself from the wall punched Peter in the face, tackled him to the ground and was holding his wand to Peter's neck.

"Traitor!"

"What do you think you're doing? Get off him." Sirius's mute moment of shock had worn itself out, and his own hard gaze matched the boy's as he grabbed him from behind and yanked him off Peter.

"Let go. He's a traitor."

"You don't know what you're talking about. I'd trust Peter with my life."

"Well then you'd have a pretty short life Sirius because he's Voldemort's spy."

Sirius let go of Harry in shock. The room became still as every eye simultaneously moved from Harry down to Peter who was still on the ground.

"That…That's ridiculous. Me? A sp-spy for You-Know-Who… I'd never… I…I wouldn't. Come on Sirius you know I'd never…I'm not a spy. He's lying"

After regaining his footing Harry once again pointed his wand at Peter.

"I'm not lying rat. You are. You'd say anything or do anything to keep your worthless skin out of danger even if it meant serving Voldemort."

"I.. I'd…I'd never… Don't know what you're talking about."

The room seemed torn. Sirius, James and Remus had visibly flinched when Harry had called Peter a rat. Could it have been a coincidence?

Sirius unconsciously backed away from Peter and moved closer to where James and Lily were standing looking conflicted.

James couldn't seem to separate the confusing and painful emotions that seemed to be attacking him. Apart from his mixed feelings towards this boy who just might be his future son he now had to confront the idea of Peter's disloyalty. It seemed like too much to expect from anyone.

His whole being seemed to reject the idea. Of course it couldn't be true. Not Peter, he wouldn't betray them. Peter was a Marauder. He wouldn't do something like this.

Who was this Harry Potter to go accusing one of his best friends anyway? Why should they trust him over Peter? But then again…

Unbidden the thoughts of Peter coming late to meetings, of always seeming to be busy when the rest of the Mauraders got together, and of always looking tired and scared came into his mind.

Could it be?

Remus, ever the level headed one, took charge of the uncomfortable situation.

"Mr. Potter…um Harry, that's a harsh accusation to make, especially considering the fact that you've been in our world for less than a day. Things in our world may not be the same as they are in yours. Isn't it possible that…"

"No."

Harry's eyes flickered for a moment towards Remus and then reaffixed on Pettigrew.

"I'm not wrong about this, and I'm not asking you to take my word on it Remus. If you want proof that he's a Death Eater check his left forearm."

James and the rest of the Order all turned their eyes to Harry with mixed looks of confusion.

"How in the blazes is his left forearm going to prove he's a Death Eater?" Moody barked.

Harry's jaw dropped open in shock. They didn't know? How could they not know about the dark mark? Surely Snape would have… realization came flooding in. Snape was still a loyal Death Eater. James and Lily were still alive, the prophesy still hadn't been made, and Lily Potter had never been hunted. Snape had never become a spy… The Order had no idea about anything Voldemort was doing.

This wasn't good. Even though Snape was a snarky git he had done more to bring down Voldemort than anyone. They needed him…

But that would have to wait. There was a certain rat that needed outing first.

"Voldemort marks all of his Death Eaters with a tattoo of the dark mark on their left forearm. He puts a protean charm on it so that he can summon them at any moment.

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows and several members of the Order were doing good impressions of fish. Moody however, with a gleam in his eye immediately stomped forward and roughly jerked the sleeve of Peter's left arm up past his elbow. Every breath in the room exhaled as one.

It was bare. There was nothing but pale sweaty skin beneath.

"What you getting at boy?" Alastor Moody barked. "There's nothing here but skin."

Harry didn't move. He was too startled to think. Where was the Dark Mark?

"I.. I told you he was lying." Pettigrew said as he yanked his arm from Moody's grip and stood up. "If anyone is a spy it's him. He…"

Dumbledore, who had remained silent throughout the entire proceeding, held up his hand to stop Pettigrew's rant.

"That's enough Mr. Pettigrew. It was a mistake. Perhaps in Mister Potter's world circumstances are different than they are here. I do not believe he meant any harm. We're all apprehensive about the possibility of a spy in the Order, but that does not mean we should start accusing one another. If we stop trusting one another we make ourselves more vulnerable than we are now."

Here Dumbledore paused and turned his blue considering eyes on Harry. "Mr. Potter is there something you'd like to say to Mister Pettigrew?"

Harry tightened his fingers around his wand. Never. Not in this or any world would he apologize to that rat. Glancing up into the face that had betrayed his parents, the face that had thoughtlessly murdered Cedric and had resurrected Voldemort leading to the deaths of so many people, Harry felt only fury.

He wasn't wrong. Peter was a Death Eater. He had to be tricking them somehow.

In a moment the answer came to him. Without a second thought Harry raised his wand and cast Finite Incantatum.

Making good on his threat to hex Harry at the first sign of anything suspicious, Alastor Moody's Expelliarmus spell almost simultaneously disarmed and threw Harry into the wall, but it was too late. Harry's spell had hit its mark.

Peter Pettigrew's arm, which had moments before been clear and unmarked, now showed all too clearly the black tattoo of the Dark Mark.

Pettigrew didn't waste time. The moment the spell hit he had started to move. In a quick motion he lunged forward as several Order members drew their wands and fired spells. Going for the one person who was currently disarmed and still regaining their senses Peter grabbed hold of Harry's hair and held a knife he'd drawn from his cloak to his throat.

"Stay back. I-I mean it. If anyone moves I'll kill him."

"No! Peter stop. Don't hurt him." Lily yelled panic evident in her voice.

"Stay back. Not one step closer any of you, or he dies."

"You bloody basta…" Sirius began before being interrupted.

"Drop your wands all of you! Do it now or your only chance of defeating the Dark Lord dies."

Peter waited as slowly every member of the Order did as he demanded.

His beady eyes darted from member to member making sure that his demand was obeyed.

"You too Sirius. Put your wand on the ground and let me leave. If you do I… I won't hurt him."

With a look of cold and uncontrolled fury Sirius threw his wand on the ground and spit out a single word that sounded far worse than any curse.

"Traitor."

When every wand lay on the ground, Peter, keeping his back to the wall, slowly inched his way towards the door dragging Harry along with him.

'Ridiculous! After everything I've been through I'm going to die in the past at the hands of a rat, Harry thought.' Harry could not help but shoot a glare towards Moody. He was angry that the old ex-Auror, or considering the time current Auror had been so stupid. But he was even angrier at himself. How had he let this happen? He should have just cast Snape's cutting curse at the rat and dealt with the Order after. Now he was being used as shield for the most pathetic excuse of a wizard there ever was.

Moody met Harry's glare with an intense look. In a slow and unnoticed movement he brought his hand up to his cheek and then thrust his elbow back quickly.

Oh…

With a small nod Harry hastily brought his elbow up in front of him and then thrust it back into Pettigrew's stomach. Pettigrew let out a grunt and let go of the hand that he had been holding Harry with.

Harry took advantage of the slackened grip and dropped to the ground dragging Peter, who was still holding onto him with one arm, to the ground with him. They landed awkwardly and Harry let out a small gasp of pain as the knife Peter had been holding stabbed into his arm.

Gasping he turned and saw Pettigrew yank out the knife and bring it down towards his face. Unable to move he closed his eyes and waited for the end to come.

James was horrified, shocked, stunned and dazed, all at the same time. How had everything in his life been turned around and become so horrible so quickly? As he was forced to relinquish his wand and watch as his once best friend threatened the young man who may or may not be his future son, James knew that his entire world would never be the same again.

As Peter inched closer to the door an unquenchable anger start to burn in his chest. How could Peter do this? They had trusted him! But James was given no further time to mentally vent for Harry had made his move and elbowed Peter in the stomach.

Not a bad idea James thought as Peter let out a grunt and let go. That's one they hadn't taught yet in the Auror academy. But a second later his admiration turned to horror as Peter fell on top of Harry stabbing his arm in the process. At the sound of Harry's gasp, James felt his control snap.

Too much. Not his son.

Without pausing to think about this irrational and new instinct that had arisen in him, James transformed into an enormous stag and in a single bound brought his hooves crashing down on Peter's forearms before Peter could strike again.

Peter screamed out in pain as one of his wrists snapped and the knife he had been holding hit the ground with a hard clink. Harry meanwhile had wasted no time; ignoring the pain in his arm he lunged forward and grabbed the first wand he saw.

"Protego."

But it was too late. His spell, along with another that had been fired by Moody, both missed Peter and instead flew over the head of a screeching and transforming rat. By the time either Harry or Mad-Eye had fired a second spell the rat had fled into the night and was lost.

Behind him members of the Order were left gaping at a very large stag that stood protectively over Harry Potter.

"Did you find him Moody?" Several voices inquired together as Moody grumpily thundered into the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts where the Order had reconvened after deciding that Moody's house had been compromised.

"No. The filthy rat wasn't out there. He must have snuck around a corner and disapparated."

Moody clunked down in a seat looking furious with himself for returning empty handed.

"It was a long shot that we'd catch him Alastor; no one could have done a better job trying to find him than I'm sure you did." Dumbledore gently reassured.

"I should have stunned him the minute he was put under suspicion." Moody growled. "First thing they teach you in the Auror academy is to never underestimate a threat."

"It is no use lingering on what might have been Alastor. Pettigrew is gone, and it is safe to assume that he has returned to Voldemort to inform him of everything we've learned about Mr. Potter."

Here Dumbledore paused and looked at Harry.

"Mr. Potter I apologize for not acting on your information from the start. While we did suspect that there was a spy in the Order we had not confirmed the suspicion, and, I hate to admit, Peter Pettigrew had never crossed my mind as a possible candidate.

Harry, who like Moody was still berating himself for Peter's escape, simply glared at the ground.

"Tonight has certainly been full of all sorts of surprises." Dumbledore said moving his penetrating gaze from Harry to James who was sitting stiffly next to him as though unsure of how he should be acting.

"James, when did you and Mr. Pettigrew become animagi?

James Potter's face turned a brilliant shade of red as he shrunk into his chair. "Um…Well you know professor we just kind of picked it up."

Dumbledore merely raised his eyebrows clearly not believing this less than impressive lie. Turning his face to Sirius who was silently laughing at James' predicament Dumbledore continued, "And you Mr. Black? What is your animagus form?"

"Me? An animagus? I have no idea what you're talking about professor?"

"I'm sure Mr. Black… Just as I am sure you didn't happen to just 'pick it up' the same way James did."

Dumbledore simply shook his head smiling.

Professor MsGonagall however was near steaming. "Of all the irresponsible, idiotic, foolish stunts. Do you have any idea how many things can go wrong with an animagus transformation? Don't even try to tell me you didn't do it in school. I seem to recall you Mr. Black begging to be allowed a book from the restricted section that would explain the process."

Sirius chose to ignore her, and instead turned to Harry "So… Harry… Are you an animagus?"

Harry froze. The question itself was easy enough to answer but the problem he was inwardly debating was how he should respond. He didn't know how to act around this Sirius. Was he supposed to act as though nothing had happened? Should he treat him like he had his Sirius? Or should he keep him and everyone else at arms distance?

"No." There that seemed like the easiest way to answer for right now. But apparently it wasn't a good enough answer for Sirius

"What! You're joking right. How could James and I…err not that I am one mind you…" Sirius said glancing at Dumbledore who was shaking his head in amusement. "But how could James not teach you to become an animagus? Terrible parenting Prongs."

Harry paled and sucked in his breath at the question. Did this Sirius have no tact at all? Why did he have to dive head first into uncomfortable topics?

James Potter seemed to be thinking along the same lines as he was shooting a glare at his best friend. How dare he say something like that? James was already feeling like the world's most terrible parent. Didn't Sirius ever stop to think? Didn't he see that James was currently beating himself up inside not only for trusting Peter but also for the whole situation they had put Harry into?

Harry just shrugged hoping that Sirius would let the matter drop.

Sirius seemed to either not notice or not care about Harry's reluctance to breach the topic. "Well no matter we'll ..er..he'll teach you now. Won't you Prongs? Maybe it'll help make up a bit for us dragging you here."

Harry and James shared an uncomfortable look. It was clear from the look on both of their faces that neither one of them were ready for something like that.

'Had Sirius always been this rash and blunt when he was younger?' Harry thought to himself. Trying to find a way out of this uncomfortable situation that Sirius had thrown them into.

Mistaking the look on Harry's face Sirius added, "Don't worry it's easy. If that rat can do you should have no problem. After all you are the all-powerful defeater of Voldemort…"

'No tact at all. Honestly' Harry thought, 'he is as subtle as a bulldozer. He wouldn't have lasted a day in Slytherin.'

Harry was saved from having to formulate a response by Dumbledore who never seemed to find uncomfortable conversations daunting. "I think that is enough of that for now Mr. Black. There are more important issues at hand then making plans to turn Mr. Potter into an illegal animagus.'

Here Sirius opened his mouth as though to refute that becoming an illegal animagus was a very important matter, thank you very much, but on second thought he decided that now was probably not the time to argue it.

Dumbledore paused and tapped his fingers on the desk. He let out a small sigh and turning to Harry asked "Mr. Potter do you mind if I ask how you knew that Peter Pettigrew was Voldemort's spy, and what crimes he committed in your world?"

Harry looked up in alarm and quickly shot a glance towards his parents, Remus and Sirius who were sitting next to him and now looking uncommonly uncomfortable and grave. "I don't think that's a good idea sir. What he did in my world doesn't matter, and talking about it is only going to make everyone unhappy. He isn't going to do it here, so why don't we just imagine that it never happened?

Dumbledore's only answer was a piercing look.

Harry avoided his gaze and instead began trying to put names to the members of the Order that he hadn't met. So many people he didn't know. How many, besides his parents, had Peter's betrayal killed?

Shaking his head Harry tried to focus his mind on something else. He didn't want to know and they didn't want to know either, not really. They probably just felt obliged to ask. It wasn't any of their business anyways he thought moodily. Their world wasn't his, and his world wasn't theirs. What was the point of opening old wounds for him and new wounds for them?

Like Harry, James was debating whether he really wanted to know what Peter had done. By the way Harry refused to meet his, Lily's, Sirius's or Remus's eyes he assumed that the greatest impact from Peter's betrayal had fallen on them.

But did he really want to know? Swallowing, James addressed Harry for the first time and answered Harry's desperate attempt to avoid going into Peter's betrayal.

"Harry, we need to know what he did, or rather what he would have done. We know it's not going to be easy to hear, but… we need to know. Not knowing something is a lot worse than knowing. If you don't tell us we're just going to imagine things that are probably a lot worse than what really happened." Harry locked eyes with James and both father and son appraised each other silently for a minute.

"I don't think you can imagine anything worse than what really happened." Harry stopped. Why didn't he want to tell them? Because it was hard? Because it was painful? Or was it because he loved them and wanted to spare them the terrible truth? But he couldn't love these people. They weren't his real parents. His parents were dead.

Harry began rubbing the sides of his head. Every way he looked at this he was going to get hurt. He couldn't think of them as his parents, but at the same time every time he looked at them it was hard not to.

Well one way or another he didn't owe it to them to say anything. What Pettigrew did to his parents didn't matter to these people. They were happier not knowing. By keeping quiet he could protect them…

This thought brought all others to a stop. What was he doing? He was doing the same thing Dumbledore had once done to him: Keeping back the truth because he didn't want to cause pain either to himself or to others. But what right did he have to decide whether they needed to know or not?

Dumbledore's gaze had not changed. Harry locked eyes with him. How strange it was to be in the same place Dumbledore had been just a few years before. Making his decision Harry painfully pressed onward.

"I don't see what good it will do you to know, but I know from personal experience that keeping back information to protect someone can do more harm than good. If you really want to know I'll tell you."

James only took a moment to decide. Get it over with now, fast, like an awful potion. Better to know the truth before his mind got creative with how much one person's betrayal could affect others.

"I don't think we want to know Harry, but I do think we need to know. Please… tell us. What did Peter do in your world?"