CHAPTER 30-Both Rats Come Out To Play
Having more free time than planned, the kids decided to catch up on some of their covert projects. The Twins and Neville headed for the secret potions lab. Neville found that working with the Twins was a wonderful way to learn what he had to know but also the theory behind it. He found that he did quite well with Potions when his new father was not breathing down his back. He respected Severus and was really happy about the chance of developing a father son relationship with him but Snape still scared the daylights out of him in class.
Hermione, and Percy were off to continue their research about rumors of a prophesy that they had heard about and rats. They felt they were getting close to an answer, but it seemed to just hang out there eluding them.
Ron, Ginny and Luna were off to inventory the "stash" they had found near Dumbledore's office. They were putting together a war chest and the group really wanted to know what was up there.
Harry and Draco were off to try and open the door to the room where the Order met. The Twins had returned a few days ago after finally hearing the pass word to the room. The kids knew that there was no meeting today so it was a perfect time to enter the room and see what was in there. They thought that the pass word, 'Companions', was strange but it must mean something to them and they could research that later.
None of the Adventurers were worried about getting caught. Wandering the castle was perfectly permitted, it was getting into their destinations that they had to worry about. Harry did not wear his cloak but carried it with him just in case he needed it.
Ron and the Girls were probably the ones at most risk, being so close to Dumbledore's office. They planned their excuse ahead of time, agreeing to say they were just exploring and found the staircase. As long as they were not actually in the room with all the goodies they could probably get away with it. They had been asked by the group to be on the lookout for walkie-talkie type devices. Something that each of them could carry and communicate when they split up like this.
The Twins decided to carry their map since there would be no look-outs placed along the route. That way they could get back out of the lab when it was safe to do so and not take the chance of walking into someone. They wished that they had a communication devise already so they could watch out for Harry and Draco but they would have to be extra careful today and hopefully tomorrow they would have a better way of looking out for each other.
Neville noticed, on their way down the hallway toward the lab, that the room Harry and Draco were going to did not show up on their map. They would have to discuss that with the information later.
Harry and Draco made it to the room with no problems. They placed the ears under the door and could hear no voices so they tried the password and the door clicked open. It was dark inside so they entered quickly and shut the door. They figured it was now or never so they both used 'Lumos' and the room gradually came into focus.
At first only their wands put out light but gradually the room was lighting up. The spell of 'Lumos' seemed to work on the room as well as the wands. As more and more of the room became visible the more the boys were amazed and speechless. There was a grand round table in the center of the room with numerous smaller round tables all around it. On the wall behind the head chair were four very large portraits. Each of them had to be at least ten feet wide and twenty feet tall. It was very clear who was in each of the portraits as the boys had seen their pictures many times. They were portraits of the founders, oddly, but to the pleasure of Draco, they included Salazar Sytherin.
"Draco" asked Harry, "I've never seen them close up like this, have you?"
"No" replied Draco with a stunned look. "This is just awesome! This must have been their original meeting room, before the split-up."
About that time the Protrait of Godric Griffindore began to move and the portrait spoke to the boys saying, "Alas, who enters our domain on this fine day of our Lord? Speak your names travelers, quickly before we eject you from our presence!"
Harry was the first one to get his tongue working and responded, "I am Harry Potter Snape sir, and this is my brother Draco Malfoy Snape."
"Ah, we have two of the companions here my friends" said Godric speaking to the other portraits.
"You have found entry to this room much quicker than we expected so it would seem you have more between your ears than your guardians might think" said Salazar with a smile on his face and laugh in his voice. "Adults are always underestimating the young, and usually to their peril" added Rowena Ravenclaw.
"Why do you call us the Companions," asked Harry.
Godric looked at Harry and smiled then said, "We really don't want to have to explain this twice so now is not the time 'little one'. Soon you and your friends will be brought into this room and we will explain our story and all we know about your story. Be patient for I believe that we will see you again very soon." With that the two boys found themselves out side the door in the hallway.
Harry was tempted to use the password and go back in to share his thoughts about someone who would be so rude as to throw them out of the room, but he thought better of it. There was a lot going on here that he did not understand, but they would get to the bottom of it as fast as they could.
"I think we had best get back to the dorm and talk with the others about this" said Draco. "I have a sneaking suspicion that the leadership of the Order is going to be informed about our little visit and very soon you and I may not be alive."
"Why, we just went into a room while we were exploring" said Harry.
"Yes, into a room that required a password" replied Draco.
Harry turned to look at Draco and then became very pale as he realized the ramifications of what they had just done. Quietly they walked back to Griffindore Tower and sat waiting for the others or the adults, whichever came first.
Hermione and Percy were the first to return and they came running into the common room all excited. "We have figured it out, and we need to talk with Dad right away about it" said Hermione.
Draco responded, "Let's wait for the others and not act without them being involved, it will only cause hurt feelings".
Hermione and Percy blushed, then agreed with Draco to wait for the team to arrive.
They didn't have to wait long, the Twins and Neville were next and they were all kinds of upset. "Someone has been messing with our lab." Said Fred. "Many of the Potions are gone, some of our prank work has disappeared, and there are some wards on the room that were not there before. Hermione we need your help down there. We have figured out a couple of them but there are a couple more that we can't place. We would like to work it so that they backfire on the person who set them, like turn them another color or something, then we can see who knows about the lab."
Hermione got a grin on her face and said, "I don't think that will be a problem. It's just a matter of putting a feedback on the spell and attaching something to it, in this case a color change. Why don't we do that now while we are waiting for Ron, Ginny and Luna to get back." They all agreed and took off to fix up the prank.
They all arrive back about the same time as Ron's group. "All went well" reported Ron. "There were a couple of things that we couldn't figure out but they're in our memories and we can pull them out for Draco to take a look at. He has been around this stuff longer than we have so maybe he can tell us what they are."
Draco and Harry shared their experience in the Order room and everyone's jaw dropped. Not only was this an adventure that they were going to look forward to since the portrait did say that information would be shared with them. But it was also a big worry since the Order would now know that their meeting had been bugged.
Hermione and Percy shared the news with the group about the 'rat' and the need to talk to Professor Snape about it quickly. Ron was in shock and had to be tackled to stop him from going up to the dorm and taking a look at his rat.
Draco, Harry, Hermione and Ron were chosen to go and speak to the professor while Percy finished putting their notes in order. The rest of them agreed to stay away from the boys dorm and go outside to talk so that the 'rat' would not overhear them.
The group made their way to the living quarters and knocked before walking in. Severus was in the living room and they figured that Alice was with Cassy as they could hear Cassy screaming at the top of her lungs.
Harry looked at his Dad and Severus replied, "Cassy took one of the adult brooms and hit the Quidditch Pitch. Your Mom found her and as you can hear she is taking care of business. You would think she was being murdered, drama queen that she is."
Severus shut the door leading to the hallway, blocking out Cassy's mortal screams of murder at the hands of her Mother. "What's up, you look like there is something serious on your mind."
Harry asked "Could we invite Professor Lupin to join us as he had a big part in helping to find the solution although he doesn't know it?"
Severus went over to the floo and throwing some powder in called out for Remus. Remus answered and was soon sitting in the living room with them. Alice arrived, having put Cassy to bed until dinner time.
Harry asked, "Can I go see Cassy while Hermione fills you in?"
"Yes," responded his Mom, "But don't you go and coddle her, she was a very bad girl today, and scared about twenty years off my life."
Harry smiled and assured her he wouldn't. He walked into Cassy's room where she was laying on the bed playing with her purple dragon. She was playing with the dragon until she saw Harry then she started crying all over again and holding on to her bottom like it was burning up.
Harry sat next to her and asked her, "Cassy, why are you crying little one?"
"Momma hurted me really bad" she responded. "She beat me a long, long, long time Harry" she said sticking out her lower lip.
"What did you do to earn a spanking Cassy?" asked Harry.
"Nontun" she replied with a whisper and lowering her eyes.
"Cassy, we are friends and you can tell me the truth, I tell you the truth don't I?" said Harry.
"Welllllll" said Cassy, "I might have been flying just a little bit".
"A little bit?" asked Harry.
"I didn't go real high Harry, not as high as you go" she replied.
"What were you told about flying Cassy?" asked Harry.
"Not supposed to with out someone with me" she responded, not willing to look at Harry.
"And what did Mom and Dad say would happen if you did?" asked Harry.
"They said I would get a spanking I guess" said Cassy.
"When I do something wrong what do they do to me?" asked Harry.
"They spank you" said Cassy.
"So I guess you had it coming didn't you?"
"Wellllll I guess, but she didn't have to hit me so hard, it really hurt and she spanked me on my bare bottom Harry" looking at him for sympathy.
"Well you had better be glad I didn't catch you or I would still be spanking you" replied Harry.
"Really? You would spank me for flying Harry? You fly all the time" she said with her eyes getting big as saucers.
"Yes I would. I love you and I don't want you to get hurt, and neither do Mom and Dad. I will teach you how to fly once I get my broom back, OK?" asked Harry.
"Ok Harry, I'll wait for you then and I guess she didn't hit me as much as I said she did."
"You need to apologize to them both when Mom let's you come out of your room again, Ok?" said Harry.
"Ok Harry and I love you too" and with that she put her arms around his neck and hugged him really tight.
Hermione led the discussion asking them not to stop or interrupt until she was finished and then if they thought she was crazy they could say so. They all agreed not to interrupt and allow her the time to finish her story.
"The bottom line is that Ron's rat is actually Peter Pettigrew." Everyone erupted and started talking at the same time and Hermione just put her hands on her hips and said, "You promised!"
They blushed and quieted down for her to continue. "Now I can share with you how we came to this conclusion. It started off by wondering how Lucius Malfoy knew so much about what was going on and being said, here at Hogwarts. Then his letter gave us a clue that a "rat" was involved somehow, an important rat."
"Professor Lupin helped us out a lot by sharing with us how they all were Animagus and that Peter Petigrew was a rat. He also shared with us about how Sirius Black, Harry's Godfather, supposedly killed Peter and all those muggles. The news reported that all they found of Peter was the end of one of his fingers. When I asked Ron about his 'rat' and how many toes he had, Ron mentioned that one of them was half gone and they just figured he got into a fight with a cat or something."
"The only thing left to do is to capture the rat and test it to see if it is actually Peter. I know the spells but we need you to take it from here so that if it is Peter you can catch him and not allow him to return to rat form."
Hermione did not share with them that they had found the rat on the map and the map had verified that the rat was Peter Petegrew. They didn't want to lose the map and Severus could verifiy it with just one spell.
When she finished the Professors just stared at them. It all sounded too good to be true, and just too simple. Could it really be Peter up in the dorm and if so what about Sirius Black who was not only serving time in Azkaban, but was Harry's Godfather.
Severus looked at Lupin and said, "Well they have put all this time, thought and effort into it the least we can do it check it out, let's go."
Alice called a house elf to watch over Cassy then they all made their way back to the common room. "You all stay here with your Mom while Lupin and I will check it out. Ron, will you please come with us? I want you to walk over to your bed area get out whatever treats you usually feed him and offer them up. We are going to put a Disillusionment charm on ourselves so that you can't see us but we will be right there. Just get the treats, sit on your bed and act like you are paying him some loving attention."
They cast the charm, walked up to the first year dorm, and entered. Alice stayed with the group in the common room waiting for them to return. Pretty soon they came out with a short, rat like looking man who they had bound up tight. Peter was unconscious and floating in the air between them. Even though they somewhat expected to find Peter, the actual process of the rat turning into Peter shocked them all especially Ron who had been sleeping with the man for over a year.
"We need to take this critter up to the Head Master's office. Hermione and Percy, why don't you go with us since you seemed to have put in most of the time researching it."
They were both hesitant at taking any credit on themselves as they knew it was a team effort but the rest of the kids just laughed and pushed them out the door behind Severus and Lupin.
The kids were ecstatic that they had helped to figure out the puzzle but were wondering why Severus didn't finished connecting the dots and realize that their meetings were bugged. "I think we should enjoy every free moment we have right now" said Neville.
"We still can't go flying but let get out of here and take a walk."
About a half hour later the kids saw Aurors Moody and Tonks walking up to the front doors of the castle and figured that the Ministry had been notified. After another hour Hermione and Percy joined them down by the lake and filled them in on what happened.
"Professor Dumbledore questioned Peter before calling the Ministry and found out that it was Peter passing information to Lucius Malfoy all this time. Lucius is going to be in for a big surprise I am afraid" said Hermione. "I was really wondering how the information was getting out because I didn't tell anyone that my parents had moved to another country and still they were killed. He must have read the note I received from them, telling me where they were going. I know I burned it after I received it but I never noticed whether Scabbers was around at that time."
Percy added, "It looks like once they question Peter they will have to let Sirius Black out of Azkaban prison. He will probably come here as he is your Godfather Harry. It's going to be interesting though, since as the story goes Professor Snape and Sirius did not get along at all, in fact they really didn't like each other much."
Hermione looked at Harry then added, "You might really have your work cut out for you with that relationship, especially after Sirius finds out that Severus is your real father."
Harry didn't look very happy about this turn of events and decided to go speak with this Father the first chance he got.
"Anyway" added Hermione, "Professor Dumbledore said to tell you all that we will be taken to the train station on September first and will ride with the rest of the kids back to Hogwarts. They want it to appear that we are just coming in with the crowd. We are supposed to pack up all our stuff the night before and put it where they put all the trunks and familiars. The House Elves will then bring it back to our bed areas like they usually do. It sounds like they are going to try and leave us in our original houses but if it gets dangerous they will switch us all into Gryffindore since more of us are here already."
The kids all started down to the Great Hall for dinner, chatting and laughing along the way. Cassy joined them about half way and grabbed Harry's hand saying, "Can I sit with you tonight Harry?"
"Sure Squirt, let's go get something to eat. Is your bottom feeling, any better?"
"Yes, Harry, it doesn't sting as much anymore," and with a very serious face she added, "I really think I am going to live".
"Well, I am really glad to hear that we get to have you with us for a bit longer. But I would imagine that if you go flying again without permission that might change, what do you think?" laughed Harry.
Cassy just blushed and grabbed his leg hiding behind him as they went toward the Hall.
As they were eating Cassy started laughing her head off. Everyone looked at her but she couldn't stop laughing and then she pointed at her daddy. Severus, unaware of what was happening continued to eat until he noticed that everyone was looking at him and laughing. His skin had developed alternating stripes of pink and blue, his cloak was florescent pink and his hair turned green. He had grown a handlebar mustache and his fingernails were painted bright red. The tip of his nose glowed and his boots developed long toes which curled up on the ends with little bells attached.
Minerva couldn't handle it any longer and transfigured a mirror for him to take a look at himself. He looked perplexed until he looked at the back of his hands and on them were written, LAB on one and RAT on the other. He knew then that they had found out what he had done with the lab and had exacted revenge.