Harry was pointing at Black, who shook his head slowly; the sunken eyes were suddenly over bright.
"Harry... I as good as killed them," he croaked. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me... I'm to blame, I know it... The night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straight away. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies... I realized what Peter must've done... what I'd done..."
His voice broke. He turned away.
"Enough of this," said Lupin. "I'm going to force him to show himself."
Weasley hesitated. Then, he held out the rat and Lupin took him. The rat began to squeak without stopping, twisting and turning, his tiny black eyes bulging in his head.
"Ready, Sirius?" said Lupin.
Edward edged away from them rapidly to get out of the way of whatever was in store for the rat.
"Together." Black said quietly.
There was a blinding flash of blue-white light and Edward was temporarily blinded for a moment. He saw the rat frozen in midair and suddenly, it fell and hit the floor.
Then it grew. It was disturbing. Seeing something so tiny sprouting into something huge. It was like how Envy turned into that thing.
But unlike Envy, this was turning into a human. Limbs were elongating and thickening rapidly. The colour drained from grey to a more peach colour. By the time the transformation completed, Edward could not see much difference.
The man was a rat. His beady eyes darted around the room nervously to Edward, to Weasley, to Harry, to Black, to Harry and back to Black again. His body trembled and he was biting his fingernails with his humongous buck teeth. One of his fingers were missing.
"Well, hello, Peter," said Black, standing up and grinning like a madman once again.
"S- Sirius... R- Remus..." Pettigrew squeaked. His tiny eyes flew from Black to the doorway of the room. "My friends... my old friends..."
Black's face turned purple and he raised the stick. He was trembling as badly as Pettigrew but his was out of rage.
"Do you remember about what happened the night Lily and James died. You might have missed the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the bed."
"Remus, you don't believe him, do you...? He tried to kill me, Remus..."
"So we've heard," said Lupin, more coldly. "I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you, Peter."
"He's going to kill me again! You have to help me Remus! He's going to kill me! Like Lily and James! Death Eater! Kill!" Pettigrew squeaked, becoming more and more incoherent by the second.
"I knew he'd come after me! Azkaban! I knew! Twelve years!"
"You mean you knew Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban?" said Granger. "It's impossible!"
"He's got dark powers! Evil!" Pettigrew shouted shrilly. "He must have learnt from his master!"
"Voldemort as my master?" Black said laughing. "Please! He couldn't tell me to sit even with all the doggy treats in the world."
Pettigrew made a strange whimpering noise and Black leant in, sneering at him.
"What, scared to hear your old master's name?" said Black. I don't blame you, Peter. His lot aren't very happy with you, are they?"
"You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years," said Black. "You've been hiding from Voldemort's old supporters. They all think you're dead, or you'd have to answer to them. If they ever got wind that you were still alive, Peter-"
Pettigrew whirled at Lupin, his eyes blazing with madness. "You don't believe this, do you Remus?"
"I must admit, Peter, I have difficulty in understanding why an innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat," said Lupin evenly.
"If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it was because I put one of their best men in Azkaban- Sirius Black!"
"Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it," Black hissed, so venomously that Pettigrew took a step backward. "I thought it was the perfect plan... a bluff... Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you... It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters."
Pettigrew made another strange whimper and Black ignored him. He turned to face Harry and though he still looked like an untamed beast, his eyes collapsed into softness.
"Believe me," croaked Black. "Believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them."
Harry looked too choked to speak and he simply nodded.
"NO!"
The single word was so infused with despair that Edward felt a tug of pity for the rat.
"Sirius- it's me... it's Peter... your friend-"
Black kicked out at the filthy mass of robes that was grovelling at his feet.
"Remus!" Pettigrew squeaked, crawling across the floor towards Lupin but Lupin silenced him with a stick to the face.
"Shall we kill him together?" Black said.
"You wouldn't... you won't...," gasped Pettigrew. And he scrambled around to Weasley and Granger muttering about being a good pet.
They edged away from him, sporting matching looks of horror. He changed targets at once.
"Harry... Harry... you look just like your father... just like him... Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed. He would have shown me mercy..."
Both Black and Lupin seized Pettigrew's shoulders, and threw him away from Harry.
Which made Pettigrew chose his next target.
"Little boy, clever boy, you know all this is wrong..."
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING LITTLE?" Edward bellowed, grabbing a fallen wooden beam and swinging it into Pettigrew's face.
There was a horrible crunching noise and Pettigrew crumpled into the dusty floor.
"Oops, sorry. Didn't mean to be this rough," Edward said, without an ounce of remorse.
"You should have realized," said Lupin quietly to the unconscious lump, "if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Good-bye, Peter."
"NO!" Harry yelled. He ran forward, placing himself in front Pettigrew, facing the sticks. "You can't kill him!"
Black and Lupin glanced at each other.
"My dad wouldn't have wanted you both to become killers!" Harry said breathlessly, "You can't do this to yourselves! He can go to Azkaban!"
There was a pregnant pause and Black nodded.
"Very well," said Lupin. "Stand aside, Harry."
Harry hesitated.
"I'm going to tie him up," said Lupin. "That's all, I swear."
Harry stepped out of the way. Thin cords shot from Lupin's stick. Edward found himself rubbing the same spots Snape had used the cords on him.
"What about Professor Snape?" said Granger in a small voice, looking down at Snape's prone figure.
"Can we put him in Honeyduke's mummy collection after coating him in honey?" Edward suggested, grinning. Black gave him an I-want-to-high-five-you look.
"There's nothing seriously wrong with him," said Lupin, bending over Snape and checking his pulse. "Perhaps it will be best if we don't revive him until we're safety back in the castle. We can take him like this..."
He muttered, "Mobilicorpus." Snape was pulled into a standing position and he hung a few inches above the ground, his limp feet dangling.
"And two of us should be chained to this," said Black, nudging Pettigrew with his toe. "Just to make sure."
"I'll do it," said Lupin.
"And me," Edward volunteered.
Black conjured heavy manacles from thin air; soon Pettigrew was upright again, left arm chained to Lupin's right, right arm to Edward's left automail arm.
Together, the group shuffled out of the old shack.
Okay, now with the explanations all aside, the story finally begins! Since I didn't upload last Wednesday, I'll be uploading really soon again.