Hagrid kept muttering to himself in a way that was vaguely frightening to Harry as they made their way up the slope in the direction of the castle. His strides were so wide that Harry had a little trouble keeping up with him.

He glanced back at the others trailing them. They were a mismatched group; redheaded twins, purple woman, and Steven Universe.

None of them seemed to have any clue as to what Hagrid seemed to think was so urgent.

Pushing the door to the entrance hall open with one hand, Hagrid held it open for the rest of them, letting it swing shut behind them.

Standing in the middle of the hall, Snape looked as though he had been waiting for them.

"Apparently some students don't believe that the rules apply to them," he said, looking directly at Harry. "Even when the rules are specifically for their own safety."

"We need ter see the 'eadmaster right away," Hagrid said. "Show 'im the rat, Harry."

Harry lifted the cage, and Snape glanced at it once and then looked away.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?' Has Mr. Weasely's pet rat finally gotten the mange?"

"Look at 'is foot," Hagrid said. "Close like."

Snape glanced again dismissively, but something seemed to catch his attention. The blood seemed to drain from his face as he leaned forward to look more closely.

"Are you certain?" he asked, looking up at Hagrid.

The bigger man shook his head. "Only one way ter be fer sure."

Snape nodded stiffly, his face suddenly and carefully expressionless. He stepped aside, and as the group began to make its way toward the Headmaster's office, he followed along behind them.

They reached the Headmaster's office faster than Harry would have expected. He still didn't understand what was happening, but at least some of the adults did.

"Cockroach clusters," Amethyst said, stepping forward when it turned out that Hagrid didn't know the Headmaster's password.

It wasn't surprising; harry doubted that Hagrid had many opportunities to visit the Headmaster in his office, but Amethyst was everywhere, especially wherever she wasn't wanted.

A moment later they were moving up the stairs.

Dumbledore looked up from his desk, his eyes widening as he saw Hagrid followed by the rest of them. It was an eclectic group and there weren't many reasons for this particular group to be in the same room together at the same time.

"Good morning, Harry," Dumbledore said. "I see that you've brought me a rat."

Harry carefully set the cage down on the floor. He massaged the shoulder Hagrid had been gripping him by and he said, "It's Ron's rat, sir. Hagrid seems to think there's something important about it."

"Boy's got a map," Hagrid said. "Named the rat as Peter Pettigrew."

Dumbledore glanced down at the cage and then said, "Peter Pettigrew is dead."

"That's whut the papers say," Hagrid said. "But Pettigrew was always a slippery bas...fella."

Snape stood at the back of the room and said nothing. He simply stared at the entire proceeding with an intensity that was unusual even for him.

Harry glanced back at him and wondered why he was even here. He hadn't found the rat, even if he understood whatever the significance was of it being misnamed.

"It's easily sorted," Dumbledore said. He pulled his wand and pointed it at the cage, which fell apart.

Before the rat inside could bolt, he cast a second spell, and the rat's form began to twist and change. The man who emerged was very short, hardly taller than Harry. He had thin colorless hair with a bald spot on top. He had a pointed nose and thin, watery eyes.

"Hello Peter," Dumbledore said mildly. For once there was no twinkle in his eye. "You look very healthy for a man who was supposed to be dead."

"I was in hiding," Pettigrew said. "from that maniac Black."

"I see," Dumbledore looked at the small man, who looked like he was ready to run away at any moment.

"He may be telling the truth," Snape said. "After all, Black attacked Weasely's bed, not Potter's. He must have known about a certain rat's predilection for sleeping in the beds of young boys."

Harry could hear the twins gasp behind him. Somehow the full impact of having a grown man sleeping in the bed of not one but two of their brothers hadn't occurred to them until this very moment.

Harry closed his eyes. Ron was going to be humiliated. The slytherins would have a field day, and would taunt him about it mercilessly.

"If I don't keep moving, he'll get to me," Pettigrew said. He started edging toward the stairs.

Amethyst was standing behind him and she put one hand on his shoulder. "I don't think so, bud."

He tried to wrench himself away, but Amethyst had a grip like iron when she wanted, and he couldn't move at all.

"Hogwarts is one of the safest places on the planet," Dumbledore said.

The irony of that statement made Harry want to giggle helplessly. He glanced back at the twins, who smirked, even though they looked a little pale.

Pettigrew had been a passive observer for the last three years and he knew how safe Hogwarts really was just as well as Harry did.

His form began to twist in Amethyst's hands as he tried to turn back into a rat, but she was too quick. She grabbed the rat by the back of the neck and looked up at Dumbledore.

"There will be many people who will be interested in his testimony as to what really happened leading up to the Potter's deaths," Dumbledore said. "We need to keep him safe for his own good."

Harry's eyes widened. This was THAT Peter Pettigrew? His parent's friend who'd supposedly been murdered by Sirius Black?

Dumbleore stunned the rat with a single spell.

"I suppose I get to be the one to tell Lupin," Snape said. His voice had a strange tone of anticipation.

"Yes, yes," Dumbledore said absently as he stared at the rat.

"It occurs to me that this would be a perfect opportunity to lay a trap for Black," Snape said. "Catch two rats in one trap."

Dumbledore looked up and said, "It would be good to have the threat to the student body over with, at least for this year."

"I'll see to it," Snape said. There was something about his smirk that made Harry feel uneasy.

"If Peter is alive, then Sirius is innocent!" Lupin insisted.

Although Snape had dismissed them, Harry had hurried to follow him. If this was about Pettigrew, then this was about his parents.

Snape had been so intent on delivering his message to Lupin that he hadn't looked behind him or noticed that he was being followed at all. Or perhaps he had and simply hadn't cared. The twins had left, presumably to talk to Ron to soften the blow to his reputation.

That left Steven, Harry and Amethyst hiding behind the door. Amethyst, had stretched her ear and one eye so that it slipped under the door, which had been left open just a crack. Harry and Steven were left listening at the door.

For safety sake, they were all huddled under Harry's invisibility cloak. Amethyst didn't seem surprised by it; whether this was because Steven had told her, or because she'd spied on him using it at some point Harry didn't know.

"Pettigrew insists he was simply in hiding," Snape said. "From a man intent on murdering him."

"He wants to murder him for framing him," Lupin insisted stubbornly.

"Murder comes easily to all of you, doesn't it?" Snape said suddenly. "Even as a schoolboy Black was capable of murder. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that he graduated to mass murder later."

"He never would have let it get that far," Lupin said. "James stopped him, but he'd have stopped it himself a little later."

"You have a great deal of faith in a convicted mass murderer. Potter at least had the sense to save his own skin by saving me, but Black was never able to resist going too far."

"He never even got a trial!" Lupin said angrily. "You know that as well as I do."

"He helped kill Lily." Snape's voice was suddenly quiet. "What he did to me was one thing. For what he did to Lily...I'm going to see him Kissed."

Amethyst's eye and ear snapped back into place a moment before the door opened.

Snape glanced in their direction and Harry held his breath, hoping they hadn't been noticed. Snape hesitated, as though he had some sense that something was there, but after a moment he moved down the hallway.

Harry's mind whirled. He didn't know what to think.

Lupin seemed certain that Black was innocent, but he didn't have any kind of real proof. From what Harry had heard, Lupin had been friends with both Black and Pettigrew and his father. Why would he automatically believe Black over his other friend?

Maybe he just wanted to believe that his friend was innocent. That seemed to be what Snape believed, and while Harry didn't much like Snape, he respected his intelligence.

On the other hand, if Black was actually innocent, letting him be Kissed would be horrible.

Harry gestured for Steven and Amethyst to move. They needed to get out of the hall before someone bumped into them and his cloak was discovered.

"Boys come in here," Lupin said from inside his office. "you too, Amethyst."

Harry froze in his tracks. He glanced at Steven and Amethyst, then pulled the cloak off, quickly wrapping it and stuffing it in his pocket.

Nobody knew what had really happened the night his parents had died except the people who had made it happened. Lupin knew more of it that most, and that was knowledge Harry needed.

He took a deep breath and then opened the door. He needed answers, and he was going to get them.