Peter let out a squeak of relief. Granted, he didn't know where he was and he now had a toe on his rat form missing (and a finger in his human form) but he was free, free from Pitch and free from being sent to prison.
He was just beginning to enjoy his freedom, scampering around the garden he found himself in, when he felt two small hands close around him. He squeaked desperately as he tried to escape from the five year old boy's firm grip. The red haired lad looked at him, curiously, before noticing his paw and taking him inside the house.
"Mummy!" The boy called out to a plump woman with orange hair who was busy doing magic to cook dinner. "Look what I found outside!"
"Take it back out to the garden, Percy. It's filthy."
Peter squeaked indignantly at being called 'filthy' but Percy didn't notice.
"Please, Mummy," Percy begged. "He's hurt. Please can we look after him?"
His Mother sighed but didn't respond because at that moment she had to run off to sort out the curtains that her three year old twins, Fred and George, had just set on fire.
Percy took that to mean 'yes' and carried the rat up to his bedroom. Placing a blanket in a cardboard box he placed the rat inside and gave it a piece of bread that he had stolen from the kitchen.
"I'm going to call you, 'Scabbers'," he said, with a smile, watching as Scabbers curled up in the blanket and went to sleep, obviously happy to have found a nice new home.
"So you're Sirius Black?" said Doyle, leaning against the windowsill as he peered closely at their suspect.
Jack Frost followed him and went to stand silently in the corner of the room content, for now, to watch and listen.
Bodie closed the door to the interrogation room and perched on the edge of the desk, joining Doyle in his perusal of the man seated before them.
Sirius matched them look for look, his gaze steady.
"So," he said, "is this where you beat me up to get me to confess?"
"I don't know what you've heard about CI5..." said Bodie.
"I've heard nothing about CI5," interrupted Sirius. "I've never heard of you and I have no idea what you do. But I do know one thing." His voice became light, almost casual. "You have no idea what you're doing."
Bodie snorted in derision. "Well you're the one being interrogated, sunshine."
Sirius turned his head to look out of the window. "I could get out of here any time I want."
"Yeah?" replied Bodie. "So why don't you?"
"Because maybe, Copper, I want to find James and Lily's murderer as much as you do."
"And the girl, Amy."
Sirius' eyelids flickered, nervously. "Yeah, poor Amy," he whispered.
"And the guy you killed at the theatre," said Doyle, folding his arms across his chest.
"Peter Pettigrew?" spat Sirius, suddenly standing up and throwing his chair backwards. "You don't mean you think I killed him? You stupid, ignorant muggles!"
Bodie sprang to his feet and put his hand up. "Sit down," he commanded, firmly.
"But...!"
"I said SIT DOWN."
For a moment it looked as though Sirius was going to fight or run, anything but do as he was told, when suddenly it seemed he reached a decision and, picking the chair back up from where it had fallen, he sat back down.
"You are so wrong," he said, darting a glance across at Doyle.
"We saw you do it," said Bodie.
"What did you see, really?" said Sirius, leaning across the table a little. "A flash of green light? A man disappearing? And what had he done, eh? The man who vanished?"
"Well, why don't you just tell us?" replied Bodie, a little sarcasm in his voice.
"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," said Sirius, relaxing back in his chair again and letting out a somewhat crazy sounding laugh.
The door to the room opened and George Cowley peered into the room.
"3-7," he snapped, in full expectation of Bodie following him.
Bodie nodded to his partner who blinked back - Doyle would stay and guard the suspect and they didn't need words to confirm that.
"Sir?" Oblivious to Jack Frost slipping out through the gap in the doorway as the door closed behind him, Bodie joined his boss in the outer office and waited for instructions.
"Charge him and get him out of here," instructed Cowley.
"What?" said Bodie, looking confused. "We've only had him ten minutes."
"We all saw what happened. There's another department involved now – they're taking over."
"Taking over from CI5? But our authority says we can investigate anything..."
"Except this! It's out of our hands now," Cowley checked his watch. "You've got twenty minutes before they get here. If he hasn't confessed by then we'll have to hand him over. And no arguments, 3-7, understand?"
"Not really, Sir, but yes, we'll hand him over in twenty minutes."
Cowley slammed the door as he left, making Bodie frown deeply.
A cup of tea, that's what they needed. If Bodie's suspicions were correct it may be the last one Sirius Black would ever have.