Just Desserts – Peter was, rather embarrassingly, like Rita Skeeter who kept firing at him even after he told her she was only lending him strength. To think that this man was once one of his closest friends, his brother in all but blood, and in blood too later was just embarrassing. He was not the most pathetic wizard he knew, or had even gotten close to, but he was the worst wizard to try and fight him. He had the element of surprise and the fear factor was high seeming as Peter had always been intimidated by him anyway. Still it was pretty obvious his strikes, feeble as they were without his wand, impressive, but not very, were doing nothing to his shield and in a moment he was worn out after spending so long as a pet doing no magic at all.
The hardest part of the battle if it could even be called that was restraining the Weasley child that had a hold of the rat. Peter really made a fine choice by going to the Weasleys who were too caring to turn away a rat but welcome it into the family. A well-known wealthy family would not have taken in such filth, Sirius resolved to buy the boy an owl, his family was not wealthy and could not really afford to replace the pet. Weasley child successfully obliviated and near his home, safe, and transformed rat panting and beaten on the floor, he could not resist kicking him a few times as soon as he was transformed and before him for all he had done, Sirius moved on to the next stage of his revenge, his sweet just desserts.
He did not feel hate often, severe dislike yes, it was severe dislike he had for most of the death eaters he'd captured and had left to capture. Hate was something entirely different; hate was a word he never threw around, even as a child, no matter all the other foolish and immature things he threw around at school. Hate was just that word he always reserved because he knew one day he was really going to mean it and if he had already used the word for people such as Severus, who were not even that bad, what other words were there? He hated Bellatrix, he hated Voldemort, he hated Fenrir Greyback and he hated Cornelius Fudge; Peter Pettigrew was at the very top of that list, even above Voldemort, oh he was going to make this last.
With a flick of Sirius' wrist, five pythons, each about three metres long appeared and started hissing and spitting at Peter as they slithered towards him. They were not fast, they did not need to be, Peter was almost crying as he shook with fear, he was not going anywhere, and that gave the conjured snakes confidence. "Why so scared Peter?" He asked sarcastically as they started to converge upon the blubbering man, "scared of snakes? But this is what your Lord looks like. Or maybe this is why you are so frightened of them. Or maybe it is neither and the one you are scared of is me," he pointed to himself to highlight the point, "am I right?" Peter did not answer and just continued to blubber; it seemed he was not sure what to keep his eyes on, the snakes who were threatening to bite him, or the man he had betrayed.
Just as the snakes raised their heads to strike Sirius transformed them. They turned into ropes and wound themselves around the cowardly man. He held his breath and looked like he was about to pass out, Sirius quickly poured ice water over his head which woke him up nicely with a startled yelp. "No nap time now Petey," he said in a false friendly tone, "we are together again after so long and have ever so much catching up to do, no time to sleep." He slapped his face lightly, "that's right, you keep your bulbous eyes on me, I'm the biggest threat in the room, and for you, the whole frickin' world. And don't you worry your little head, the nasty snakes are gone, they've transformed into ropes to keep you in place while I torture you for what you did," he ended on a growl.
"Oh, I brought some guests," he mentioned causally, gesturing to the picture of James and Lily holding each other that was resting on the table in the room. "I hope you don't mind, this was going to be a private playdate just you and me but it has been a long time since you last saw them too. I believe it was Harry's first birthday, and in case you were wondering, he's doing fine. That was the day we switched secret keepers I do believe, at least it took you a couple of months to decide to kill them." He picked up the picture of them glaring at him and thrust it in his face, "open your eyes Peter," he growled lowly, threateningly.
When Peter just continued to shake his head he bellowed, making him jump, "OPEN YOUR EYES AND LOOK AT THEM!" His eyes flew open in shock for a moment but they just as quickly snapped shut in fear and what might have been pain, although the guilt was not evident, not yet. "You orphaned a child Peter," he continued, back to his calm decorum. "Little innocent Harry, and you were prepared to snuff out his little life, and hand James and Lily to Voldemort – don't you dare flinch at his name – for your own worthless hide. Not only that, you sent me to Azkaban, happy for me to rot for the rest of my life for something I did not do. You turned my family and friends against me, even Remus, even Dumbledore and the rest of the Order, I'm a criminal now."
He stood back to regain his temper, "I guess I must thank you though," he shrugged, feigning nonchalance, if I had never had my wand confiscated I would never have learnt to live without it, and surpass those who use it if I may blow my own trumpet there. If I had not become a fugitive then I would not have found out about my ancestry, that's all I'm going to tell you about that road though. If you had not painted that dangerous picture of me then I would not have made much of an impression on people when I made my comeback before I painted that picture of my own actions instead. Then again if you had gone into hiding like you were supposed to then none of this would have been necessary and I'd be even happier."
Peter puts his hands together presumably to pray but Sirius knocked them away, annoyed. "Oh stop it, stop it," he groaned with an eye roll, "that never helped anyone anyway. If there really is a God up there I really don't think he'd be helping you. You pay for your crimes Peter, you betrayed the Potters, had a year of peace and then I escaped and you know I've been after you ever since. You have lived in hiding as a pet and you knew that sooner or later I was going to find you and you were right, you really don't look too good. Imaginary figures won't help you now, nobody is coming, either there is no God up there Peter or he doesn't like you much."
"Alright," he breathed quickly, "I know what you want; you want a fight don't you? You want to fight me to make me take back what I said those years ago. I'll do it, I'm not scared of you," at this Sirius laughed because Peter had always been slightly scared of him. "I'll fight you, I'll defeat you, and I'll get you locked back up in Azkaban." Here Sirius laughed again because not only did he sound as if he'd actually deluded himself into believing he was innocent but there was no way he could carry out his conviction. He was tied to a chair; he was helpless, just as Sirius had been helpless for the year he was in jail.
"Just what exactly do you think I'm going to do Peter?" Sirius chuckled darkly from behind him. "Now I have you exactly where I want you, why on Earth would I cut you down, give you back your wand and challenge you to a duel? Having my friends avenged in such a way is poetic, but you deserve to be exterminated like the vermin you are. I know the hero is meant to give you a chance to beat you with honour but you don't deserve it, you showed no honour when you became a turncoat, you showed no mercy. You don't have a chance in hell either way anyway, and this is quicker and creates less mess. I have places to be, a child to look after, and you deserve to be back in the gutter you had the audacity to crawl out of."
He wanted to scream but he couldn't when he was in this state, when it took several breaths to form any words at all. "I'm not a hero Peter," once, he was an auror, now the only side he was on was his and Harry's. Everybody was hunting him and he needed to stay one step ahead to protect his heart, and that meant he could trust no one and he had to be ruthless to survive – but just to remain innocent-ish, it was a difficult combination. "Contraire to popular belief I'm nobody's hero, I just want to protect my Godson. I don't care about image, or fairness, life isn't fair, you taught me that more than anyone, death is death, it makes no difference to me how you die, only that you eventually do, if I could kill you by feeding you to a cat right now, I would."
He sat down beside him, "but we've been through so much together, I may as well tell you everything like I did Lucius, I gave him that much and I never even once upon a time liked him. I really shouldn't tell you this, because the longer one stalls, the more time someone has to come and save the captive, but I hear nothing, poor, poor Petey, I don't think anyone is coming for you. This is how it is going to go, you are going to confess how you betrayed Lily and James to Voldemort – don't flinch at the name of the defeated, vermin – and framed me and do tell how you managed to escape my wrath the first time I came for you."
He drew out a small vial from his cloak, like what he presented to Lucius, only this brew was different. "Then I am going to put this whole memory into my own special brand of penseive, brewed it myself, and that is usually your area, potions, Slytherin you are inside, it played the memory out for all to see without needing to dunk your head in it first. Marvellous invention really if I so say so myself, forces people to see the truth, Petey." He put the vial back into the safe folds of his cloak, "it was relatively simple to make, don't know why no one has ever thought of it before, usually all you need is pure water with certain ingredients you add memories too, I guess people assumed fortifying a practise that has been around for decades too much of an invasion of privacy, but with felons I think we can make an exception can't we Petey?"
"I did the same to Lucius, I left them in Fudge's office, even his money and influence could not help him escape jail this time, pleading imperio combined with a pay cheque holds no sway with me. I have no idea how he will react to you, I will admit I am intrigued, I can hardly wait. He may keep hunting me so he does not have to admit his incompetence, and I can't let that slide this time. I am dangerous, I know that, I pride myself on it, but I am innocent of what I was imprisoned for. I'm tired, I don't want my Godson and I to be on the run forever, I want to live like I did before, and get rid of the death eaters, but nobody's doing anything, so it rests to me."
"A normal life is beyond what fate hands me, but that ok. I didn't ask Fudge to call off the manhunt when I proved my innocence with the memory I presented with the capture of Lucius. Even though I am innocent I was still hunted after, it made me angry, but I let it slide because I realise how costly the mistake is and therefore how loathe one may be to admit it. But I was expecting him to come to his senses if given time, but nothing has happened so like Moses I will bring plagues such as this upon him to ruin him until he does. I'm going to make a public example out of you and him, there are so many possibilities of where to present you, I'm thinking of choosing Diagon Alley. Always teeming with witches and wizards, young and old – one can't miss it."
"Now it's your turn Peter." He grasped the pudgy man's face in both hands and forced him to look him in the eyes. "Tell us now Peter," he commanded in a menacing but soft voice, "tell us how you betrayed all of us." He still resisted screaming at him, but his voice turned into a low hiss, almost as threatening as Voldemort himself. He was certainly taking a leaf out of his book, but instead of leaving a dark mark above the places he ravaged, he was choosing gradually more public places to leave a death eater and a memory of threats. Yet funnily enough this was not just to get back at those who served evil and killed his best friend, but to send a message to Fudge.
"You know the truth Sirius!" He bawled, although Sirius doubted they were tears of repentance but pathetic crocodile tears of fear. "You know, you know, why make me say it?" He looked pitiful, he always did, but now pity was the last thing he felt for him. His expression remained hard as memories of their past rained down on him.
"Hmm... that was almost a confession, but it is not going to cut it, especially for the good minister who will watch this all eventually. Do you remember how we met Peter, I do, it was on the train to Hogwarts, we shared a carriage. We all hit off immediately and naturally we were all very happy we ended up in the same house and became dorm mates. We were very worried that dear Moony was sick so often, James once jokingly said it was periodic and perhaps he was menstruating, from that we learnt the truth. After two years we became animagi to keep him company and our bond strengthened. Moony did not know about our attempts, it was a surprise, he was just glad we accepted his furry problem."
His eyes grew glassy with memories. "History never knew closer friends and the future will never find them again. You said that Peter, and I was the first to back you up." His voice cracked, but he continued, resilient. "In our fifth year, again it was you, you, who said we were more like brothers, and you who suggested we become blood brothers. You were all single children and I was an outcast of my family as you well know, even Regulus, my biological brother who tired sometimes and whom I tried my best to love, was not much, so we all found the idea very attractive. We all cut our palms with a shard of glass and after that we invented our nicknames, Moony, Wormatail, Padfoot and Prongs, and then the marauders map was born."
He held up the scar on his palm, "this is a sign of how much I loved you Peter, see!" He grabbed Peter's wrist and pressed his scar to his, "this is a sign of us! And you betrayed this, this bond meant the world to me and you said it meant the world to you too and you threw this away! So you see Peter, we are brothers, have been for years, and like I told Moony, the key difference between family and friends is that you can abuse family and still run to them. But you can't betray them that badly Peter, after all, if you kill them, who will you run to? Now you find yourself running from a brother, from a brother who loved you, who would have died for you."
He did not know whether he was trying to make him feel guilty and could not care less about whether or not that was working, but he needed to tell him what he felt, everything he was feeling since that fateful Halloween night. Unloading once in a while was healthy, and if he did not have a strong shoulder to lean on, then he would spit in spite to those responsible. That was why he had such a long conversation with Remus, and that was why he was spouting off to Peter now, not even caring the minister was going to hear all this in a few minutes time. For some reason he felt it had to be said, and said it he did.
Sirius' voice did not change, it stayed just as soft and menacing, throughout their little confrontation. However, now genuine tears formed in the corner of his eyes as he realised just what he had lost in the man tied up in front of him. "I hate you so much Peter, you know that, and you brought it on yourself, but... whether either of us likes it or not, you are still my family and always will be, bonded by blood and our past. I am telling you this because I want you to know that as much as I hate you for what you did, this brings me little pleasure. I don't want to kill you, but justice must be brought and I am the dark avenger, this must be done."
Then as if suddenly realising his steel mask had dropped for so long, the tears disappeared without falling. There were only a handful of people who could see his tears; the doctors whom he did not know and would most probably never meet again, Harry, Regulus and eventually Lupin. The humourless smile he had been wearing in Azkaban and which adorned his face whenever he was faced with returning himself to his former glory and surpassing himself and hunting the death eaters curled once again round his mouth. Yes, it did not bring him pleasure to hurt his once brother, but it did make him joyful to know justice was eventually being served. That was what he lived for now after all, serving just desserts and finding Peter and giving him what he deserved had been at the top of his priorities for a while now.
"Enough reminiscing," he muttered, more to himself than the blubbering man before him, he did not care who saw his tears which were plentiful and probably fake. "Now come on Peter, don't make me use veritaserum, I'm down to my last vial." Severus did not have an unlimited supply of it, he'd used what he had on the more evil and powerful in social status, money and magic of the death eaters, nothing else would crack them. To be honest most of the time he could not be bothered with using anything else to get them to confess, it was quicker and easier that way, and effectiveness so he could get back to Harry was all he'd been interested in. This was a special case, this time he wanted to make it last.
"I won't," he stuttered, he shook his head and Sirius could see it in his wide eyes, he did not want to face up to it. "You can't make me!" He squeaked. Sirius resisted the urge to laugh because really, he had no idea just how faux that statement was.
"Yes I can Peter," he contradicted darkly, "and you well know it. I can and I will if it comes down to it, I'd just prefer to force you to do it yourself. Think about it Peter, what have you got to lose? I considered you my brother once Peter, so when you betrayed us, effectively killing James and Lily, you became a blood traitor. Do you know what my family does to blood traitors, even if they are not our family? I was considered a blood traitor for not sharing their views; I was tormented by them because of it as you well know. You are one of the people I spilt my heat to regarding my torment, the only people I told were my brothers after all."
He knew Peter remembered. "You know how Regulus was favoured, how he was pressured into bullying me at school. You remember the howlers I received from my God damn crazy mother every week. You remember how thin and beaten I was after each school holiday until I ran away with James and stayed with him who were more of a family than my own ever were. You know I wanted to enact revenge on them, to just make them disappear. You know I wanted to cut open my veins and drain all that was Black out of me as I hated being revered for the name I did not want, so I could just start anew as the person I wanted to be, preferably a Potter. But I never actually sank so low as to kill my family Peter, as much as I disliked it, I could not kill family – ever."
"No Peter, these are depths, only you can sink to. Imagine what they would do to you if I was bullied by blood for disagreeing, with all they stood for yes, but just disagreeing all the same. My, your transgression is punishable certainly by death, and unluckily for you, there is a Black left, and he is standing right in front of you." He towered over the man like a warlord about to pass judgement and held out his hand which adorned the ring of the Black heirloom. I will always be a Black, and this law is the only ideal of theirs I support and will continue to uphold. Blood traitors should not be allowed to live; I am going to kill you Peter."
"I do however, not mind torturing you until you tell me what I want to hear, the truth." With no warning he backhanded him which knocked the tears out of his eyes and finally he stopped blubbering, it was going to get him nowhere. "I can make your death last as long as a month, if I so wish it, after all, you are the one who angered me to the point where I am sadistic enough to do so. One reaps what one sows Peter, and no one is to blame but you. Or maybe I'll let you live and leave you to the dementors so you can get a little taste of what life was like for me for a year, you can get to know what hell is like before you are finally delivered there for eternity!"
"They may even be so pleased to see you that they give you a welcome kiss. That is a fate everyone will agree is worse than death. I wonder what the soulless are really like, I mean no one really knows, they cannot talk and no one has ever had their soul returned to them. I mean the body can be kept alive, but nobody what is going inside, maybe it is complete nothingness, just like death. Maybe one is forever trapped motionless, able only to wallow in your misery and regrets, such pure loneliness, unable to move on, unable to even scream your torment. Come on Peter, spit it out, I'm running out of patience."
Peter's eyes widened with such an avid description of a nightmare. "You wouldn't do that," he babbled quickly, assuring himself, "I was your friend, you wouldn't go that far, you wouldn't kill your own brother, no matter what they did, you are not like your father."
"That does not mean I would not do it Petey. It is true I do not mindlessly kill like Orion or like your late master, but God help you if you don't start talking now." He backhanded him again, splitting his lip and making him moan in pain. "I haven't even used magic on you yet, you have no idea how many different ways I have to torture, you, do you really want to test me further?"
"The ministry is right," Peter squawked desperately, trying to anger him maybe, trying to prove he was no spineless and could fight back when pushed, "Harry cannot grow up with you as a guardian, talks of torture and losing souls and death, he'll grow up dark!"
"Oh I do hope so," Sirius replied, eyes glittering, "it is clear that growing up as part of the light makes you no more virtuous. After all, the side of the light have been hunting an innocent man for a long time, only serving to harm their own. I also have very intention for him to grow up Black," he chuckled dryly at his own humour. "And I hate to break this to you Peter, but in order for you preach about turning away from the dark side, you yourself must be an avid follower of the light, not the very thing you are condemning." He explained his reasoning with teacher-like clearness and patience. "At the moment you are grasping at thin straws."
He turned away from him. "I intend for Harry to grow up in one meaning of the phrase, as I did, as a reflection of location. An abusive household and Azkaban were not the most stable of environments and made me bitter and not as trusting as I once was, my brief stay there was a harsh lesson on how those closest to you may end up throwing you to the proverbial wolves. However, Hogwarts allowed me to meet you and Remus and James and Lily flower, we became brothers and best friends, those carefree childish years and those summers with James I would not trade for the world. They were the best times of my life and once this is over I intend to live many more wonderful happy years and offer Harry the same."
"My Godson shall receive the best; he will grow up loved and will be a reflection of that upbringing. 'I will teach my boy most wondrous things, I will teach him how the owlet sings'. He will be smart and make good decisions on who to trust, on who to be friends with, on who to make brother out of, and what path will lead him to greatness. I will teach him to be fair but when ruthlessness is needed, after all, it will be shown to him in time as it has been shown to me, staying on the straight and narrow is not always good enough. He will be kind, compassionate and understanding; he will for always have the innocent smile he wears now on his face. But he will be able to fight for justice and what he believes in and stand up for himself."
"Do not fear about the darkness he will be exposed to Peter. I am dark so that he will not have to, I intend to crumble Voldemort's kingdom while he is unable to bring it back. Even if he ends up in Slytherin I do not care, I love him. He will not be dark, because anyone who tried to torment or corrupt him will answer to me. Harry does not need to know my evil side so will never take after it; all he needs is to understand that I have one and that he will be protected by it. I can be heartless when I need, but all I do I do for Harry, everything is for him because Dumbledore is waiting for him to grow up and lead the light like he should be doing himself, so I am doing his job before her forces it upon my young Godson."
"W-why are you telling me all this?"
"Hmm... that's a good question, As Elbert Hubbard once said, never explain-your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway. But I guess I feel you have the right to know before I seal your fate. You may be a traitor, but you will always be Wormtail, therefore, Lily and James would have wanted you to know what was happen to your Godson. Yes, you were named a Godfather just as I was and just as Remus was and just as Severus was. Oh you did not know about Severus, I was the only one that was told, as Harry was to go to him last, James only agreed eventually if he was to be a last resort."
"James and I were against it from the beginning of course, but she loved him and protested that his transgressions were past him, that he could be trusted. In fact I don't even think Severus knows, but it is in the will, Lily's wishes, and as we all know by now, learnt very quickly in our childhood years, Lily always gets what she wants. I doubt she wanted to die, but she wanted to protect Harry which is what she did. I intend to honour that wish, I protected him by rescuing him from the Dursleys, I have kept the death eaters away from him, I am keeping one step ahead of the aurors and the ministry, and now I am avenging his parents by getting you."
He smiled at him. "Besides, my dear old friend, you just asked me, and I am touched that you are finally expressing your concern about Harry growing up with me, and I naturally just wish to ease your fears. So don't you worry your little head over him Peter," he patted his head mockingly and Peter flinched from the contact, "he will be just fine, a damn sight better than where he was as he was being abused there, now come on, spit it out! I'm waiting and shan't wait much longer," he raised his hand again, this time Peter spoke before it landed.
"He made me Sirius!" He bawled eventually, "he made me!"
"I know you were not under the imperious curse Peter. You were meant to go into hiding while I was the decoy protecting you, damn it! But no, you could not accept that, you ran off to where you thought the power was and left us all to rot!"
"He'd have killed me Sirius! You do not understand, I admit if I had never gone to him I would not have been under as much threat to tell him where they were, but had I not talked he would have killed me, I had no choice Sirius!" He started crying again, crying himself tolerant, it was not working, Sirius stared back not in the least bit empathetic. "Please Sirius you have got to understand, what would have had me do?"
"I do understand Peter," he said quietly, making him stop and stare up at him with the wide eyes of a house elf. "And you should have died!" He roared, eventually losing his cool, "died rather than betray your friends, like we would have done for you!"
"I'm sorry!" He screamed eventually, "I did it alright? There you have it, I did it! I betrayed Lily and James Potter! I was their secret keeper and you were the decoy, when you hunted me down I screamed that you were the one who betrayed them, I cut off my finger, the only part of me they found leading to why it was believed you killed me. I blew up the street, I killed the muggles, knowing you would survive; I turned into a rat and escaped down the sewer. For 3 years I sought protection as a family pet until you found me. I am sorry Sirius, I'm sorry, James and Lily flower deserved so much more from a friend, I was weak and scared."
"You say that now, I have no doubt that you wish you had gone into hiding while I protected you like you should have done, because you will find I am lot more frightening than your once Lord, you don't like being across from me than leaning round the back saying 'yeah' do you? But had Harry not defeated him that night, or had I not escaped Azkaban to start my revolution, you would still be singing his praises. You are the worse sort of turncoat, I do not doubt that you feel some semblance of guilt now but you still as good as killed them Peter, and no one is going to forgive you for that, you shall pay for your crimes."
He pointed at them and calmly stated "petrificus totalus," and he proceeded to bind the now petrified man in the magical cords he was tied up him more firmly. He cast a 'notice me not' charm on the two of them and apparated to Diagon Alley. With a swish of his hand he removed the memory from Peter's head and put it into his charmed vial of penseive. It was early morning when he arrived; he waited until the streets were teeming and created a huge flash of light to gain attention and to mask his next movements. He charmed the frozen Peter to be stuck 20 feet in the sky and dropped the notice me not charm on him. Finally he threw the penseive into the air above him and it immediately started playing for all to see.
He did not hang around to hear the screams and exclamations; he would read about it afterwards. The ministry of magic would be alerted within moments, and now he had made the most public demonstration yet, the minister himself would be, God knows, hiding perhaps, dying from the onslaught of bad press. Maybe he should pay him a visit, and give Rita Skeeter another visit too so she could write it up. If he still wasn't publically released, well, Fudge would have to be persuaded, but hopefully he would have resigned by the end of the week. After all, minister of magic was one of those jobs you could not be sacked from, you either resigned eventually or you ended up staying there for fucking ever, no matter how bad you were at the job and Fudge was evidently awful, insisting on chasing an innocent man to hide his mistakes.
He apparated home, not caring to be away for any longer. Harry was asleep on the stairs, hugging his stuffed deer to his chest, thumb in mouth. He smiled indulgently as his picked him up; he hated leaving him alone with no one but Kreacher, who did whatever he wanted instead of the other way round no matter how Sirius ordered him. Harry was quite the manipulator already; he always asked exactly what Kreacher had been ordered by his Godfather about him and found a way to do what he wanted without breaking the rules. Kreacher adored him and did whatever he asked as long as it was not directly disobeying his master. He formed a connection with Harry, not even he was immune to the endearments of a small child.
He hugged him to his chest as he walked up to his bedroom, it looked like he had tried to stay up but had not quite managed it. He did not mind that Kreacher had let him; he left him alone so often as he brought about his revolution but showered him with affection to make up for it and Harry knew he was loved and was attached to Sirius whenever he was around. It was not uncommon for children to want to wait up for their caregiver. He laid him down in bed and tucked him in before crawling into his own bed and letting sleep overtake him a triumphant grin on his face. Any day now it would all change, once Harry was old enough to remember he would have a new world to live in. He would not have his Godson live in a world tormented by darkness.