My Brother's Keeper
by ChatterChick
Summary: Sophie Potter is the younger sister of the infamous Harry Potter. Her life at Hogwarts should be set, but things take an unexpected turn when she is sorted into Slytherin. Being green is never easy, especially when those cunning folk will befriend you just as fast as they would cut your throat.
A/N: There is a minor explanation at the end of the chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 6: Crackdown
Sophie never got to owl Sirius the next morning.
When the first year girls emerged from their dormitory to go upstairs to breakfast, they were met with a commotion in the common room. Most of the students were awake and standing around the room. Sophie glanced around and could hear bits and pieces of the conversation.
"Wait until my father hears – "
"Especially after that nonsense with the Chamber last year – "
Jason Greengrass approached them when he noticed them standing in the common room.
"Jason, what's going on?" Astoria asked.
"The common room door has locked us in, no one knows why." He told them. "I'm sure Professor Snape will be here shortly to explain what's going on."
Sure enough, at half past seven, Professor Snape came billowing into the common room, black robes flapping behind him. A hush fell over the entire room as the students waited for their head of house to explain why he had locked them inside. Snape's eyes scanned the room, briefly resting on her for a second before he took them away.
"Last night Hogwarts had an intruder," he became as explanation. "Peter Pettigrew, a known Death Eater, was seen inside Hogwarts."
There were a few gasps and a hushed whisper broke out.
"Silence." Professor Snape demanded, before continuing. "The ministry has sent aurors to search the school grounds. In the meantime, you will remain in your common room. Class has been cancelled. Meals will be sent from the kitchens at the appropriate time. I suggest you use this time to catch up on whatever homework you neglected due to yesterday's celebrations."
With a grand sweep of his hand, plates loaded with breakfast appeared on the many desks and tables scattered throughout the common room. A table near the back had pitchers of pumpkin juice and hot water for tea.
"Miss Potter," Professor Snape's eyes fell on her again. "The Headmaster would like a word."
A hush whisper broke out once again.
"Yeah, that's her – "
"Harry Potter's little sister – "
"Pettigrew's probably after – "
She quickly followed Snape out of the common room, leaving the whispers behind.
The headmaster's office, as it turned out, was in one of the towers located on the seventh floor on the other side of the castle. It was a long walk accompanied by Snape's stony silence and her own wandering thoughts. Professor Snape had barely said a single word to her, silencing any attempts to learn what had happened the night before. Sophie snuck a glance at him. He looked tired, his eyes red rimmed and full of blood vessels. He must have been up all night with Professor Dumbledore and the ministry.
"Turtle truffles," Snape snapped at the gargoyles.
They sprung to life, revealing the spiral staircase they were guarding. Sophie followed Snape up the stairs. Inside the office was Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Percy Weasley, and Penelope Clearwater along Minister Fudge, Mr Scrimgeour and –
"Dad, Sirius, what are you doing h –"
James was hugging her before she could get the rest of the words out. "Oh Sophie. Thank Godric you're all right!"
"I'm fine!" Sophie's voice was muffled as she tried to reassure him.
"Professor Snape owled last night saying you had an encounter with Pettigrew." James explained. He held her at arm's length, inspecting her. "Are you alright? Did he hurt you? I can't believe no one thought to take you to the hospital wing."
At this, James levelled a glare at Snape. Sophie shuffled, and James let her go, although he still kept a hand on her shoulder.
"Ms Potter appeared to have been fine." Snape dismissed.
"Not all curses leave marks, as I'm sure you well know!" James thundered.
Sophie flushed when she realized that everyone thought that she had been attacked the night before. "Dad, I'm fine, really. I didn't run into Pettigrew," at this, Mr Scrimgeour and Mr Fudge both bristled. "I – I saw him on the map."
James and Sirius shared a look.
"Are you sure, love?"
She nodded, at this she withdrew the map from her pocket and gave it back to James. He immediately passed it to Sirius who pocketed it.
"What map?" Mr Scrimgeour asked.
"James and I made a map well we were in Hogwarts," Sirius explained. "It shows every magical person on the grounds. It's very accurate."
Sophie was surprised. She wondered which of Moony, Padfoot and Prongs her dad and Sirius were. She wondered who the other map-maker was. Perhaps Remus or her mum?
James frowned, "But it's not perfect. It doesn't show house-elves, or any magical creatures, or an animagus in form – "
Mr Scrimgeour nodded in thought. "He could have been hiding at Hogwarts all these years; it's very difficult to detect an animagus, especially such a small creature."
"Pettigrew?" McGonagall asked. "I would have never suspected him to go through the process! What is his form?"
James grimaced. "A rat."
Percy Weasley looked pale. "A rat?"
"Yes, common garden variety, missing his left toe." Sirius informed him. "We didn't want the general public to know of Pettigrew's form, they'd be scared of every rat they came across."
Sophie noticed that Percy looked even paler at that. He blinked a few times, in stunned silence.
"Percy?" Penelope Clearwater, the head girl, worriedly prompted him.
"Scabbers," He weakly announced. "I had a pet rat, gave him to Ron when he first started Hogwarts. He's missing one a toe on his front paw."
"Percy, when did you get Scabbers?" Sirius asked.
"The fall before I started Hogwarts," Percy said. "There was frost on the ground and he was freezing, so Mum let me keep him as a pet. It would have been sometime late 1986."
"McGonagall, can you – ?"
She nodded, "I'll fetch Mr Weasley and Mr Potter."
There were a few terse moments as Sirius and Scrimgeour prepared to catch Pettigrew upon McGonagall's return. James kept a tight grip on Sophie's shoulder, shuffling her away from the center of the room. Soon enough McGonagall appeared with Ron and Harry in tow.
"Well?" demanded Fudge. "Do you have Pettigrew?"
McGonagall's lips formed a thin line. "It appears that the rat, Scabbers, is missing."
Ron looked at the floor. "He disappeared after Hermione got this cat, Crookshank. Is he really – "
Both Harry and Ron looked disturbed to know that a death eater may have been living in their dormitory this entire time, disguised as Ron's pet rat. Sophie felt a shiver of her own. Maybe afterwards she should get Artemis looked at.
"We don't know for certain, but it's the closest lead we had for years," said Sirius. "If he reappears, I want you to bring him to one of your professors, immediately. Understand?"
Fudge looked livid that a death eater had been hiding in Hogwarts all these years. "What will the press say?" He bemoaned.
He was ignored as everyone else started making plans to search the school and keep the students safe.
Dumbledore turned to address Percy and Penelope. "Mr Weasley and Ms Clearwater, I will ask you to suspend prefect patrols for the time being. I'd also ask that you have your prefects do hours in their common rooms instead, taking a head count at night and keeping their students from wandering out past curfew."
"Professor Dumbledore, if you're finished with the kids, I'd like to take them back to their common rooms," asked James.
"Yes, of course. I trust you know your way around," Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he glanced at Sirius and James.
James ushered the three of them out of the Headmaster's office, Sirius following along behind him.
"I'll talk these two back," Sirius nodded his head to Ron and Harry. "I'd like to take a closer look at their room anyway."
James looked like he wanted to hug Harry, although Sophie knew her brother would protest at that. Instead, he settled for ruffling Harry's hair and telling Ron and Harry to be careful.
"We always are," said Harry.
Ron grinned. "I'll keep him out of trouble, Mr Potter."
"Come along," Sirius said. "I'll see you at Christmas, Sophie. Take care of yourself."
James escorted her back to the Slytherin common room, making light talk as they went. Sophie was glad for the chance to see her Dad, and tell him everything that she couldn't put into writing.
As they made it to the dungeons, James stopped them.
"Sophie, I need you to promise me that you'll be careful, okay? Pettigrew is a very dangerous wizard and I don't want him to get the chance to hurt you. Last night when Snape owled – " James shook his head. His eyes held a trace of fear. "You and your brother mean the world to me."
"Dad - " Sophie weakly protested. "I'll be fine. I thought Pettigrew was after Harry anyway. You don't need to worry about me, really."
James gently smoothed her hair. "I don't want to scare you, but you're Harry's weak spot and it doesn't take the brightest wizard to catch that. Your brother fought a basilisk to save Ron's sister; imagine what he would do to save his own. I don't want either of you getting caught up in Pettigrew's plots."
He wrapped her in a rather tight hug, pressing a kiss on the top of her head. "I love you, Sophie. Please stay safe."
She nodded, but it was a few more seconds before James let her go.
"Gurdyroot." She said to the stone wall. The passage way to the common room appeared in front of her. She waved goodbye to her dad before she disappeared from the corridor and walked down the dimly light passage.
Students stopped talking and curiously looked to Sophie when she re-entered the common room.
"What's going on?" One sixth year demanded.
"Did your brother get into trouble again?" Draco Malfoy asked. Even louder, he said, "Potter's probably got himself expelled this time." There was some nervous laughter at this from some of the other students.
Sophie glanced around the common room until her eyes settled on Nephele, Astoria and Kitty. Astoria nodded and smiled encouragingly.
"They're searching for Pettigrew." She said. It wasn't any more than Snape had told them earlier. She wasn't sure how much she was supposed to share just yet.
"Why'd Dumbledore want to talk to you?" Pansy Parkinson haughtily asked. She immediately looked to Draco for his approval.
"Isn't it obvious?" Another student interrupted, "Someone's after the Boy-Who-Lived again."
There were more questions, but Sophie really couldn't answer how long they would be in there for or what the ministry was doing to find Pettigrew or what he did that was so bad.
"That's enough now," Jason waved them off. "She's a first year, she doesn't know anything important."
Sophie almost wanted to bristle at being dismissed as some stupid little first year, but was relieved when Jason led her over to her friends.
"Stay here," he quietly advised. "And whatever you know, keep it to yourself. Snape will explain everything we need to know later."
Her friends looked expectantly towards her, waiting to hear what had happened and why Snape had taken her to see Dumbledore. Even Lyssa inched closer to the group, wanting to hear an explanation. Sophie mutely shook her head; she still wasn't sure how much she should tell her new friends. She promised she'd tell them later, once they were away from the crowd.
By the time lunch appeared in the common room, everyone was restless from being stuck in Slytherin all morning. Sophie was famished, as the appearance of food reminded her that she hadn't eaten yet today. She loaded her plate with the little ham-and-cheese sandwiches before joining the rest of the first years where they had clustered together.
"Peter Pettigrew's been on the run for the past seven years," Zephyr Selwyn, a fellow first year, informed them. "My uncle works for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and said he's been driving Auror Black mad for years. He blew up the street and 13 muggles when Black first tried to arrest him. They say Pettigrew was right in the inner circle."
"Your uncle would know, wouldn't he?" Nephele asked.
Zephyr looked annoyed. "My uncle's a free man, Rosier."
Professor Snape returned in the afternoon with a giant kneazle in his arms. Sophie had to duck to hide her giggle at the stern looking professor holding the fluffiest cat she had ever seen.
Snape addressed them. "As you know, Peter Pettigrew was spotted inside Hogwarts last night. Pettigrew is a highly dangerous fugitive, with the animagus form of a rat. For your protection a number of aurors has searched the school for Pettigrew. As the search as turned up empty, we will resume our usual schedule tomorrow. Although I suggest you exercise an amount of caution in your spare time. This is Salazar, who will remain in Slytherin for your protection. I expect you to treat him in an appropriate manner."
"An army of kneazles." Nephele murmured in disbelief. "They're going to catch Pettigrew with an army of kneazles."
Each of the common rooms was equipped with a kneazle that patrolled, looking for rats. Salazar, Godric, Helga and Rowena were joined by a dozen others who wandered the hallways. The ministry had a "dead or alive" attitude about finding Pettigrew, especially since he was around students.
Sophie supposed being hunted by a cat was better than what was hunting Pettigrew outside the grounds. Dumbledore seemed put-out when he announced that evening that Hogwarts would be playing host to the dementors of Azkaban. Minister Fudge had insisted that they guard the borders of the school in an attempt to apprehend Pettigrew.
It wasn't until the following Saturday that the presence of the dementors was felt by the students. It was the first quidditch game of the year, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. It was supposed to be Gryffindor versus Slytherin, but Slytherin had put up a resistance that their seeker had been injured and needed time to recover before he could be expected to play. It was ridiculous as Malfoy's arm had been fine for a while now, magical healing had speeded the process, but he had argued that it still hadn't been properly 'rehabilitated'.
Sophie doubted Draco was much of a match against Harry anyway, but was glad she wouldn't be forced to choose between her house and her brother for her first game at Hogwarts.
She slipped into the Gryffindor stands to sit with Ron, Hermione and Neville. At least with them she could openly cheer for Harry and the Gryffindors without attracting dirty looks. Most of Slytherin was hoping Hufflepuff would win as it would better their overall chance at winning the Quidditch Cup. Sophie suspected they would cheer for anyone over Gryffindor, even if Hufflepuff was a threat to the Quidditch Cup. The rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin ran quite deep.
The stands sheltered them from the worst of the wind and rain, but they were still damp and cold. Sophie hoped the game wouldn't last long, for this would be a miserable match to watch. She squeezed by a few students, trying to spot Hermione or Ron, although it was difficult with everyone keep their cloaks up.
"Excuse me," she murmured as she walked past a group of girls.
They looked up at her and Sophie cursed her luck.
"What are you doing here? These are the Gryffindor stands." Vane snootily asked.
Vane was getting increasingly territorial with the Gryffindor and Slytherin divide. Sophie was reminded in class, at meals, at the library, or really whenever she tried to speak with Elliott and Myron, that she should really be with her own house. It seemed every part of the school had reserved seating for Gryffindor only. It was nonsense of course, students were allowed to sit with other houses in class or at meals, but Vane didn't see past the green on Sophie's robes
"I'm cheering for my brother." She haughtily replied. "His friends invited me to sit with them."
Interfering with family was the one line Vane had yet to cross. Even she shut her mouth when Sophie sat with Harry at mealtimes. She must have known that Harry Potter wouldn't tolerate being told he couldn't talk to his sister.
She smiled as she spoke briefly to Elliott and Myron, on Gryffindor territory, before continuing on her way.
"Sophie!" Hermione called out over the wind. "We saved you a seat, here."
She joined Hermione under the large, red and gold umbrella that Hermione had charmed to repel rain. She did a drying charm on herself, and felt much better. Although it was still rather difficult to watch the game.
They could barely make out the blurs of red and yellow as they flew through the rain. Even Lee Jordan's commentary was muffled by the wind and cut out completely at times by the boom of thunder. At one point, Jordan announced that Gryffindor was leading 70-30.
Hermione made a noise beside her. "Harry won't even be able to see in this weather! He'll never catch the snitch like this."
Gryffindor scored again, although the cheer was delayed as they only realized it after Jordan announced Gryffindor was now leading 80-30.
A few moments later, Lee Jordan announced that Captain Wood had called for a time-out. Sophie could see the Gryffindor team gather in front of their stands.
"I've got it!" Hermione suddenly jumped up. She pulled her cloak over her head and was gone before anyone could ask what she was doing.
"Where's she going?" Sophie asked as Hermione pushed her way through the stands.
"No idea." Ron shrugged, "Usually when she says that, she runs off to the library."
Hermione reappeared, beaming as if she had figured something out. "I put the repelling-charm on Harry's glasses; he should be able to see now."
Wood resumed the game, the team taking off into the air once more.
Sophie shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. It felt like there was a dramatic drop in the temperature. Suddenly, she could hear screaming.
"Crucio!" She could hear another man screaming in pain.
A little girl started shrieking over the nose. "Stop it! Stop it! You're hurting him!"
"Sophie? Sophie!"
She blinked, finding herself curled into a ball on the ground. Her teeth were still chattering from the cold. Ron was kneeling in front of her, looking white beneath his freckles. Hermione hovered over his shoulder; her eyes were red-rimmed with tears.
"What happened?" She weakly asked.
Ron looked grim. "Dementors came onto the ground. Dumbledore shot some silver stuff at them, and they left the stadium right away. Can you stand?"
"I – I think so," she shakily said.
Ron pulled her to her feet. "Sophie, there's something else. We need to get to the hospital wing."
"Why?" She asked. They were all a little shaken, but otherwise looked fine.
"When the dementors came, Harry fell off his broom."
A/N I think James, Sirius and Remus stopped using their nicknames after Pettigew betrayed them. It brought up a lot of unpleasant reminders for them. This is why Sophie is unfamiliar with the nicknames. Sirius also alerted Scrimgeour (his boss) to the fact that he, James and Peter were unregistered animagus. Very few people know, and Scrimgeour didn't see the point in forcing James and Sirius to register. I don't think James and Sirius would hold on to that secret if they thought it was how Pettigrew was getting around. They also removed Wormtail from the map, which is why he hasn't spoken and Sophie isn't aware of him.