Harry Potter and the Wars of Heaven by Princess Silverstar
Disclaimer: I own nothing of HP & SM
Chapter 7: Hogs Head Revelation
"Oh, we have our ways," she answered with a smile, "and since you're already out. Come on," she pulled him ahead in a small run, "Come on, you guys," she urged the others. She led them back into Hogsmeade, but into a less populated part of the village and came to a run down pub called 'Hogs Head'.
"What is this place?" Harry asked.
"It looks creepy," Ron said with a frown.
"Scared, Red?" Samuel teased as Ron shot him a scowl.
"Hogs Head," she informed, giving her brother a stern glare for being rude.
"That's what the sign said, Kim," Hermione commented with a raised brow as the blonde beauty pushed open the door.
"We're here," she announced to the occupants of the place who were only two senior citizens, one of whose presence surprised the Golden Trio, two adults, a man and a woman, Andrew and Serenity.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Hermione and Ron exclaimed.
"Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley, it's a pleasure for you to join us," their headmaster welcomed them with a smile.
"There is one more person, grandfather," Samuel said, causing the Golden Trio to widen their eyes in shock at what the boy had called him.
"It's Harry," Kimberly said, pulling down his hood to show Harry's shock face which at the same time portrayed the urge to run, making the girl beside him laugh. But she suddenly stopped and pulled Harry's cloak back up as Andrew, in the speed of light, sped to the door, wand's at the ready and pulled open the door.
"Malfoy," Andrew grunted, lowering his wand, "What do you want spying on us?"
"Why would I need to spy on the likes of you?" the Slytherin spat out in disgust, "I was only exploring, I wouldn't have come if I knew your kind are here," he added when he saw the Headmaster inside as well and decided it was best to leave. He swept a glance at the older twin and saw her face turned slightly pale, he frowned worriedly.
Samuel hissed in irritation at him because he didn't appreciate his ways of talking, but if only his sister had not held him back, he would have crushed the smart-aleck beyond recognition.
When Andrew sensed that Draco Malfoy was a distance away from the premises, he lowered his guard, but the scowl never left his face. Everyone's attention was turned to Kimberly when they heard her groan and leaned on the invisible Harry. Fortunately for Harry, he is currently invisible, or else everyone will have seen his face red like a ripe tomato.
"Just when we thought we'd have some peace and quiet in school. Now the whole school is bound to know," Serenity sighed, voicing out her twin's frustration. They didn't want attention drawn to them because of their relationship with the Headmaster and the only people who knew are the professor and some others, namely the Malfoy elders and the Weasley elders.
"You should've just let me at him," Samuel said to Kimberly who responded to him with a sigh and shook her head with a smile.
"Someday, my little brother," she ignored an angry glare Samuel cast on her, "that temper of yours will come back and haunt you," she said and chuckled when Samuel returned her a pout.
"I'm not little," he grumbled to himself.
"Everything will be fine, dear," the woman coaxed gently, "Now, will you introduce your friends to us," she said. Kimberly moved away from Harry and Harry took off his cloak and folded it neatly.
"This is Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley," Kimberly introduced, "This is our family: our mother, Calista, our father, Ronan, our youngest brother, Samuel. Professor Dumbledore is our grandfather and beside him is his brother, our granduncle and the owner of this pub, Aberforth,"
"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Calista said warmly, "Come and join us at the table," she invited.
"We didn't mean to intrude," Hermione said politely as they joined the family at the table.
"Don't worry about it, dear. We'd love to know our children's friends at school," she said and then looked at Harry with a motherly smile and suddenly blinking away her tears, "I'm so sorry, Harry. I just…you look very much like your father, but you have your mother's eyes,"
"Thank you," Harry said overwhelmed with emotions. They began telling tales of their younger days in Hogwarts and how they have met his parents but confusion broke out at the mention of Sirius Black. Oops, wrong topic.
"What do you mean by Black was friends with my parents?" Harry asked. "That murderer betrayed them?"
"Harry, please calm down and listen," Dumbledore told him.
"There was no evidence that Sirius had betrayed us all," Ronan said as the boy began to rage but was stuck to the seat.
"Let go of me, Kim," he said.
"I'm sorry, Harry. I can't," she said slightly surprised that he could tell that she was holding him down with her powers.
"But he murdered Peter Pettigrew who said he betrayed Harry's parents," Hermione cautiously.
"I was one of those who arrested him. When we arrived, he just keeps laughing and let us take him. I was the one who interrogated him but he refused to say anything. I saw how broken he was and I believe he is innocent." Ronan testified.
"Black was their Secret Keeper. No one would have found them unless if the Secret Keeper reveals the secret to them," Ron said, "and he must have been a Death Eater to have led them to Harry's parents.
"Let me go, Kim," Harry growled.
"He was their Secret Keeper," Kimberly said, ignoring him, "But do you all believe that he would betray the Potters?" her silver blue eyes turned on her grandfather.
"I watched them grew up and I couldn't believe that Sirius Black would betray James and Lily Potter. While there was no evidence to prove his innocence, there weren't evidence that proved him guilty. There were only speculations saying he was most likely to have betrayed them because of his family background," Albus Dumbledore said.
"What family background?" Harry asked.
"The Blacks like our family are purebloods and like the Malfoys, they followed You Know Who," Ron spat, "Death Eaters, the whole lot of them,"
"Ron, be reasonable," Kimberly said, "Your family doesn't determined who and what you really are," she said in defence and turned to Harry. Her eyes softened when she addressed him, "Harry, I'm going to let you see something that I saw from my father's mind. It was Sirius when he was caught," Kimberly said as she closed her eyes in concentration and projected the memory into his mind.
Harry sat at the rectangular table, feeling distorted. He didn't want to believe that his friend had betrayed them and killed one of them. The Potters were killed. He found out about that because the monitoring charm to their house in Godric's Hollows broke. The news had just spread today. But he was called into an assignment for about mass murdering after they knew about the Potters.
The said friend was sitting opposite of him, more like slumped on the seat as if life had been sucked out of the man. The once young cheerful and handsome face had turned old in matter of hours. There was pain, agony and remorse in the man's eyes, eyes that shouldn't belong to a Death Eater, eyes that were blinded by rage and revenge.
When he was caught, he was laughing maniacally, brokenly, in agony. He didn't even run or attack anyone of the Aurors unlike every other assignment he had been sent to where one of his fellow Aurors would be injured by spells cast by a Death Eater.
"Sirius," Harry spoke, but it was not his voice he heard. It was Ronan's deep and gentle voice that spoke, "what happened?" he tried to coax his friend to speak, 'Come on, Sirius, give me something,'
"I killed them," Sirius laughed brokenly, "That rat was right, I killed them," Sirius laughed again that heart wrenching laugh and then began sobbing.
"Sirius!" Harry began shaking the man, "Tell me," and the memory was suddenly pulled back and brought him back to reality.
"Ka-chan!" Serenity gasped as her sister swayed from her seat, but was caught by their younger brother who stood protectively and supported his sister's weight.
Harry looked at Ronan's solemn face and realised that his face must have mirrored the older man's. "He couldn't have betrayed my parents," He didn't need to asked why Sirius was sent to Azkaban. The Ministry must have done something to keep it quiet. The thought disgusted him. The man's broken laughter continued to haunt Harry in his mind. Somehow he believed in him.
"Harry?" Hermione said cautiously.
"It may be a short memory but I could feel what Mr. Kensington was feeling, his beliefs, and his thoughts like I was him at that moment, and Sirius, the way he looked. It doesn't look like he had betrayed my parents." Harry said. "If he was a Death Eater, he would have attempted to escape. Why stay after he killed Pettigrew?" Harry realised something, "If he's a Death Eater why did he even bother chasing after Pettigrew to kill him when he could go back to Voldemort and stay hidden? Who was the rat?"
"Peter's animagus form was a rat," Calista said sadly.
"You said that Pettigrew said Sirius betrayed my parents before Sirius killed him," Harry turned to Hermione who nodded, "If Sirius was the Secret Keeper, how would Pettigrew know about my parent's death when the news regarding my family hadn't spread till the next day? How did he know where to find us?"
Samuel then looked thoughtful, "How did Sirius Black survive the Unbreakable Vow if he was the Secret Keeper?" That thought set its place as a puzzle in the case.
"What?" Harry asked, not understanding their reaction.
"You have to make an Unbreakable Vow to be a Secret Keeper. If you break that vow you'll die," Ron explained and Harry realised one thing. Sirius couldn't have betrayed them, "This means Sirius Black was not your parent's Secret Keeper."
"It's impossible I was the witness and the one who performed it for them," Albus said, but there was a lingering thought as he thought more of it.
Samuel spoke more, "There were many things we didn't take into consideration as. What if they changed the Keeper after that? Or is it possible for Sirius to reveal it to someone that could have possibly betrayed them?"
"I think the first possibility is higher," Andrew said thoughtfully. "Everyone knew how close Black was to the Potters. Everyone would have thought that Sirius would be the Secret Keeper and would hunt for him. If they changed their Keeper, even if they caught Sirius, they wouldn't be able to find the Potters because he wasn't the Secret Keeper."
"That sounds like Sirius," Ronan said with a soft chuckle.
"So, the question now was who the Secret Keeper was?" Calista asked.
"Peter Pettigrew," Kimberly said weakly as her head still hurt, "There was no evidence that he died. The Killing Curse is designed to kill you, not disintegrated you no matter how powerful, unless if Black wanted to. But why would he utter the Killing Curse when he wants to destroy a body? There was nothing left of Pettigrew but a finger."
"Then where would he have disappeared to," Ron asked.
"He could have apparated to somewhere else. He could have splinted himself," Hermione said.
"I think he turned himself into a rat and escape through the drains joining the normal rats. Probably cut of his finger for the Ministry for analysis." Samuel said and then mused, "A rat missing a toe...What?" he asked with concern when his sister jerked up from her position against him, her eyes shining with realisation as she figured something else.
"Scabbers," Harry and Kimberly said together and looked at Ron.
"What?" Ron asked when they looked at him, "You aren't suspecting my Scabbers, are you?"
"Ron, how long did you say Scabbers was in your family?" Harry asked as he remembered his first meeting with Ron on the train and he have told him that Scabbers had been in the family for ten years and that was two years ago.
"Twelve years, so what?" Ron said.
"Rats don't live that long, Ron," Kimberly said.
"You are not touching Scabbers!" Ron yelled pointedly at Harry.
"Mr. Weasley, we merely want to confirm if Scabbers is indeed Mr. Pettigrew," Albus Dumbledore said, "If he is, then he is a wanted felony and he could endangered your family and friends, if he is not, no harm done by making sure and I promise that we won't hurt him," he added gently.
"Maybe you can find him in her cat's stomach," Ron said sulkily.
Hermione gasped in horror at his accusation, "Ronald Weasley, that was low!" she seethed.
"What? Scabbers have gone missing for weeks! For all we know my poor Scabbers could've-," Ron raised his voice but he was cut off by Kimberly who slammed her hand on the table and looking royally pissed.
"Weeks!" she screamed.
This had rendered all of them silent. For the Golden Trio and her grandfather had not known that she was able to be this angry. But as for her immediate family it was known to them that she does have a scary temper even though she kept it under control all the time. Her siblings knew that she was probably reaching her limit with all this bickering.
"Weeks and you're still on this! Where's the cat?!" she demanded. Just then, there was a purr from the back door and Crookshank's was there, looking innocent.
"The monster!" Ron bellowed and received a fierce hiss from the proud feline.
"Hello, Crookshanks," Kimberly started, very calmly as if she had not burst out a few seconds ago, "Will you join us please?" she asked politely.
Ron and Harry were looking at her weirdly that she was talking to a cat as if it was human. Hermione was not as surprise because being the owner of Crookshanks she found that he seems human at times. She was surprise that Kimberly seemed to know this. The adults looked at her with interest as her siblings reacted as if it was normal.
Crookshanks jumped onto the table and sat in front of Kimberly and stared into her eyes. Harry being next to her and who was also observing her thought that he saw her eyes suddenly flashed a silver hue as she smiled at the cat. Crookshanks purred at her as if talking to her as Kimberly let out a little giggle and a confident smile graced her features.
"Thank you, Crookshanks," she said as the cat stood and gave a lazy stretch and jumped of the table and left them.
"Well?" Albus Dumbledore asked gently in eagerness.
"He said that the rat is no good," Kimberly said, "It didn't smell right,"
"Smell right?" they repeated.
"Its scent, it was different. Being a rat for so long, he did smelt sort of like a rat, but there was something off about the smell he said," she explained.
"Of course," Ron said indignantly, "Scabbers was ill even before the term started. It could be the medicine,"
"They were already fighting at first sight," Harry reminded but turned back to Kimberly when she shook her head.
"I felt from Crookshanks when he told me about his first meeting in the animal store was a…blinding rage," she said shaking his head, "and I saw for a moment an image of a man," she said contemplating the image, "Father, I wonder if you will recognise the man," she said as she turned to her father.
Ronan looked into her mind with Legimency and saw a face he never thought he'd saw again. His hand was clenched into a fist as he swore silently to hunt down the rat who has betrayed them all.
"I thought so…" Kimberly said softly, and then gave a smile, "Let's help Sirius," she suggested with a clap of her hands.
"What was that about?" Harry asked confused and frustrated. He was currently under his cloak out of Hogs Head on the way into Hogsmeade. Apparently, they have left the planning to Andrew in a unison thought, "So, Scabbers is really Pettigrew?" he asked, slightly trembling with anger.
Kimberly took hold of his hand to calm him down. Her touch had distracted him a little, "Harry, promise me that you won't go after Pettigrew alone," she said.
"So, he is Pettigrew," he said, narrowing his eyes as his whole being screaming for the said man's blood. Under his cloak, he is invisible to his two best friends, but to her, it was as if he was there without the cloak.
"Please, Harry, think of your parents,"
"He was the reason they're dead," he spat with vengeance.
"I can't doubt that but your parents died to protect you. Do you think they would be happy for you to act rashly and rushing into your death? It's a rather poor way to repay them, to repay those who have suffered for you. So, please, let us find Pettigrew and capture him, then you can choose to do what you want to do about him, okay?" she pleaded. She gasped as Harry pulled her into a bone crushing hug, his invisible form was shaking.
"Come on, guys. Let's go," Serenity said, "We'll see you both later, okay?"
A moment later, Harry calmed down considerably. He still clung on to her, thinking about how comfortable it felt. He wasn't one who opted for physical touches, being physically abused mostly by his cousin and his gang. His most intimate physical contact was with Hermione who always initiated the bone crushing hug. Of course, that was apart from the crazy group hug, he would always get from his Quidditch team and almost every one in Gryffindor. Now it was him who initiated it to his awareness. It felt good because he knew that he could trust her.
"Are you better?" she asked.
"Yes, thank you," he loosened his grip and looked at her.
"Shall we go now?" she asked with a smile.
Harry turned and took her hand and only letting go when they walked into the more crowded area of Hogsmeade. They parted ways near Honeydukes as Harry needed to take the same secret tunnel back into Hogwarts. Kimberly rejoined with her siblings, except Samuel, and Ron and Hermione and headed back to the castle.