Chapter 6 – The Hunt

There is no rule more invariable than that we are paid for our suspicions by finding what we suspect – Henry David Thoreau

Two months had passed since he'd told Sirius that he would find Peter and he still had no rat. He'd tried everywhere he could think of as having the slightest connection to Peter. He hadn't found a single trace of the rat and now he was starting to get agitated. Images of Sirius locked up in Azkaban assaulted him whenever he tried to sleep. It wasn't helping. He was meant to be helping Sirius and all he was doing was prolonging his suffering. It wasn't fair. Then again, he didn't exactly have a history of fairness.

Remus was stood in the second hand shop in Diagon Alley. He needed some more clothes and he'd finally managed to scrape together enough money to allow him to go shopping. Not that he could afford much – his money might stretch to a jumper and a pair of trousers if he was lucky. He was distracted from his search by an explosion of noise form the doorway. His head snapped up to see an army of red headed children enter the shop. He knew whom they belonged to before she even entered the shop. He smiled and stepped aside to let one red haired child race past him, closely followed by another.

"Oh, I'm so sorry" The red headed woman apologised kindly before letting her voice become stern, "Fred, George you come here right now"

The two boys sheepishly walked back to their mother, much to Remus' amusement. "That's quite alright Mrs Weasley, boys will be boys"

Mrs Weasley stared at him suspiciously for a moment before a smile of recognition appeared on her face. "Remus Lupin?"

"The one and only," Remus replied, holding out his hand. Molly shook it and smiled. "It's nice to finally meet you. Gideon and Fabien never shut up about you and all of their nephews. Used to drive half the Order mad"

Molly gasped at Remus' mention of her brothers. "You know, they always spoke very highly of you"

Remus smiled. He'd liked the Prewett twins; they were always good for a laugh. "They were good men"

Molly smiled sadly at him and Remus was about to say goodbye when he caught a whiff of something he hadn't smelt in years. He frowned. Here? After months of searching, had he finally found his elusive target? That smell, the one that Remus had known for ten years, was unmistakeable. Peter Pettigrew. His frown deepened. Why could he smell Peter on them? Surely one of them wasn't keeping Peter as a pet? The coward wouldn't sink that low, would he? And yet…

He had to know. Sirius was counting on him, and Remus would do anything to help the only friend he had left.

"Are you alright Remus?" Molly asked in alarm, managing to catch one of the twins' arms without looking.

"Oh, yes. Sorry, I was just thinking about your brothers" Remus lied quickly. His mind was racing, but one thought was surfacing: he needed to find out more. Somehow without raising suspicion, he had to get into the Burrow and search for Peter.

Molly's face suddenly softened, alarm turning to understanding. "Oh," She looked like she wanted to say more, but she couldn't seem to find any words. "I still miss them. They could brighten up a room like no-one else"

Remus smiled, thinking of all the times that they'd cheered the Order up by cracking jokes just at the right moment. They'd always seemed to know what was needed to bring a smile to even the most heartbroken of people. "I'm sure I have some pictures of your brothers at home, taken by Lily," Remus said, not quite sure where this thought was going. "I can't imagine that you've seen them. Would you like me to bring them over soon?"

Remus held his breath, waiting for Molly to respond. He knew that he was being presumptuous and pushy, but he needed to find out about Peter. If it would lead to Sirius being free then Remus didn't care what other people thought of him. "Oh, that would be lovely Remus. Could you do tonight? I'd like the boys to see them, before the eldest go back to Hogwarts"

Remus didn't dare breathe. This was turning out even better than he'd hoped. "That would be lovely Molly"

She beamed at him, but that was nothing to the triumph that Remus was feeling. He was one step closer to freeing Sirius. One step closer to regaining some semblance of his old life. He smiled. Now he just had to find the aforementioned photos. They'd be in the photo box and he normally made a habit of avoiding it. That box held so many painful memories that he couldn't bring himself to look in it. Yet at the same time he couldn't bring himself to move the box. It just sat in the corner of his bedroom, a painful yet sweet reminder of what had been.

OoOoOo

Remus was probably the only wizard to wish, in a deep dark corner of his mind, that the war had never ended. That the 31st of October 1981 never happened. He lost everything that day, and there was nothing he could do about it. Not anymore though, he could help Sirius. And he was so close to doing just that.

As soon as he'd entered the house he could smell it. The wave of memories that it brought back almost knocked Remus off his feet. He grabbed the doorframe for support and managed to stumble into the room. All nine of the Weasley's were sat in the lounge. Bill was playing with Ron and Arthur was playing with the twins. Ginny was amusing herself with a pink dragon, and Charlie was fiddling with the wireless. Molly was looking through the photos that Remus had handed her and Percy, Percy was playing with A RAT!

He recognised the smell instantly. How could he not when he'd known him for so long. Remus could honestly say that he'd never been so pleased to be a werewolf in his entire life. His advanced sense of smell meant that he picked up the aroma that normal people wouldn't. That was Peter Pettigrew in front of him, there was no denying that. He couldn't believe that he'd finally found him. After years of thinking he was dead, he was slightly stunned by Peter's cleverness. Not that he should be praising that traitor. But it did mean one thing. Sirius would finally be free.

"Percy," Remus asked, barely able to conceal his emotions, "I wonder, could I see your rat?"

"His names Scabbers" Percy told him. Scabbers? That was new. He had to admit it did look like Peter, the dirty brown coat and the worm like tail that had given him his nickname. It had been James who'd come up with the nicknames. If he knew what Peter would become, he was sure that James would have murdered him then and there.

Percy nodded and reached forward to hand over the rat. It went mad as soon as Percy lifted him up, writhing and squeaking in desperation. He could obviously smell Remus, and could tell that the game was up. He was trying everything he could think of to escape. All his attempts however, came to nothing as Percy handed over the squirming rat, a frown on his young face.

"That's odd, he normally likes people," Percy said, watching as Remus' trembling hands took a firm grip on the still struggling rat.

"Maybe he can smell my dog" Remus said darkly, smirking slightly at the thought. He held the rat up to eye level. His toe was missing, just like Sirius had said it would be. He took a deep breath and twitched his hand towards his wand.

"Remus what are you doing?" Molly asked worriedly as he drew his wand. He couldn't believe he'd finally found him, and here of all places! Though he didn't know if it would be particularly appropriate to reveal Peter in front of the children.

"I'm afraid to say that this rat isn't what he appears to be" Remus answered calmly, almost nonchalantly, his eyes still fixed on the squirming rat securely held in his hand.

"Not what he appears to be? Remus, it's a rat" Molly replied slowly, as if fearing for Remus' sanity.

"He's not a rat. He's an animagi. A wizard by the name of Peter Pettigrew" A ringing silence followed Remus' words.

"A wiz- Remus, Pettigrew's dead" Molly said concernedly. Remus missed the glance between her and Arthur, but when he glanced up he and Molly were the only two people in the sitting room. He breathed a silent sigh of relief. He wouldn't have to worry about the children when he revealed Peter.

"You see, I thought so too until I went to see an old friend in Azkaban. Sirius Black, in fact. He explained that Peter had been the Potter's Secret-Keeper, and that he'd been the one to betray James and Lily to Voldemort," Molly flinched violently, but Remus kept speaking. "He told me how Pettigrew blew up the street, and killed all those poor muggles, in an effort to frame Sirius Black as the traitor"

"You believed the words of a murdering psychopath?" Molly asked coldly.

"He was my friend, Molly. I owe him this," Remus said calmly, tightening his grip on his wand. "You don't believe me? Don't worry, I didn't believe it too at first," He knew that he sounded insane and he was surprised to find that he didn't care. Sirius was worth it. He was so close now that he could almost taste it. Sirius' jubilation at being free would be worth condemning Peter to whatever punishment he got. He would be quite happy to let the ministry decide what to do with him. "I'll have to show you"

Remus carefully placed the struggling rat on the floor and jabbed his wand at him, before the rat could make another getaway. Remus heard Molly gasp from the other side of the kitchen as she watched the gruesome scene before her. It was like nothing Remus had ever seen before. It was nothing like the usual animagi transformation. A head appeared first, followed almost instantly by arms and a torso. The legs were the last things to appear. Standing in front of Remus, pale and trembling, was Peter Pettigrew.