Chapter 17: Baiting the Rat Trap

Monday 1st May 1989.

Sirius Black was not having a good day. To be fair, good days were hard to come by in Azkaban. The company was detestable, whether human or creature. And your days were a blur of bad thoughts and horrible memories.

But after a while, you kind of got used to it all. It became background noise. Knowing he hadn't betrayed Lily and James helped somewhat as well. But that tended to be balanced out by the knowledge that he failed to protect them regardless, and his failure to enact revenge. Pettigrew's last act ruined that for them all.

Now he lived out his days in monotonous pain, reliving his greatest failures over and over. Still, it had become bearable, knowing he was paying his penance for those failures. And one day his body would give out to the constant torment and he'd be with his friends once more.

The affable laugh of his brother in pranks. James had changed his world completely by becoming his friend. The literal Black sheep of his twisted family, the other cocky boy had taken him in literally when he had every reason to hate and mistrust him. As had Dorea and Charlus. Two finer parents he doubted existed in this world. Happy to let you work up just enough rope to well and truly get yourself stuck in deep. But they would never be cruel in punishment. Sirius had adored his short time living with them.

The delights of their melancholy companion. Remus had been spirited between moons, and his woeful attempts to hide his condition from them had been well and truly torn apart by them all over the years. He owed Moony the most, for if it wasn't for his unfortunate curse, he'd likely not have survived this long. Padfoot was a godsend for his mental health.

The guards had made sure to modify his cell to ensure there wasn't a single crack he could squeeze through, though it was a waste of effort in Sirius' mind. Not only was his form nearly as large as his regular body, but he was also where he belonged. He might not have actually committed the crimes he was here for, but he was as good as the reason why all his friends and family were dead.

Charlus and Dorea, murdered brutally by Voldemort himself as he sought James and Lily's location, only a week before they themselves were cut down. Only days after the news of Remus' death at the hands of the werepack alpha had reached them. That had contributed to the drinking the night Junior had set the two remaining Marauders cackling with delight. A little joy to help wash away the pain of loss.

But all of that was usual for him in this sullen place. Rough black stone his only companion besides his own thoughts, he had considered himself nearly immune to the effects, or at least used to them. But the visit he had been so pleased to attend had given a horrid second unexpected side effect. It had dredged up everything he had managed to forget. All the bright happy moments that he'd thought stolen away by his guards were still there, but now they were tinged with a pain they hadn't been before.

The knowledge of what was missing from his life being thrown into sharp relief once again. All the pain that had dimmed over what he now knew to be years was back in full force. Had he been a weaker man, it would surely have broken him for good. But Sirius Black was not a weak man. He would be strong and suffer his punishment. His failure deserved nothing less. There was nothing for him out in the world anymore, only his penance and the eventual relief of death and the sweet reunion that followed.

ϟ

Friday 12th May 1989.

Shack knocked on the doorjamb and observed his bosses reactions. She was tenser now than when she'd been buried under paperwork. "Busy?"

"Sit down," She replied, not looking up.

He complied and waited for her attention. Several long minutes passed before she looked up. "Results?"

"I went over my memories several times. The scenes don't match. Either he was confounded, or he has succumbed to the Dementors and is losing his mind. There were no intact ground floor walls nearby after that explosion for him to be referring to. Whatever spell was used ripped into the gas main above the station and erupted. Ironic given all the times MugWE have used a gas explosion to explain away our activities. And I went over the reports from Godric's Hollow. They were done properly, unlike Bayswater Road, and there is no mention of children's toys in that crib. Nothing but the lad's blood."

"These boys are lucky they've retired. I've never seen reports so shoddy. How in the hell did Barty let them get away with it? He was a stickler for this stuff." Amelia groaned.

"Maybe they all just wanted done with it. The round-up was still on, and most of them were getting off with the Imperius Defence. I could see him just wanting one open and shut to show some progress."

"I can't even pull him out and have Mungo's look him over. If I took a mass murderer out of Azkaban without proof, I'd be sitting in the cell beside him the next day. Especially with Fudge in charge. That man is incompetent but he listens to his toady's far too closely for them not to take advantage."

"So we're stuck. Without actual evidence, we can't prove anything, one way or the other?"

"Seems so. Black is staying where he is so long as that is the case though. I don't want to let this go, Shack. What if he really didn't do it? Can you imagine what it's like in there? For seven years!"

"No. Just visiting was hard enough to take. But what else can we do?"

Amelia looked at him solemnly over her desk and sighed heavily. What indeed.

ϟ

Monday 22nd May 1989.

"It seems the boy's somewhat obsessive tendencies work in our favour," Remus stated. "Tybalt has done a few recon runs and is certain of the location. Something about the memory of the dust in that spot."

James laughed at the idea. "Dust has memory?"

"I don't know, Prongs. I only know that's what Tybalt says. They're ready to move the night of the return."

"Are we sure about this?" Lily asked. "I love Sirius too, but this is so risky."

"That bastard needs to pay for what he's done to us, Lils. To Harry. You haven't held your baby in years because of that coward. Now we have a chance to make him face the magic."

"Yes, fine. Pettigrew needs to be caught. But what of the risks. I don't like sending the elves out alone to do this."

"They've already done several dry runs, Lily." Remus offered. "We trust them with Harry's care, surely we can trust them to snatch and grab a rat from a sleeping house?"

"Of course I trust them. I'm worried for them, not because of them. And do we need to teach the children such magic already?"

"Pops says elf magic doesn't naturally lend itself to stunning. We needed to teach Harry and Hermione to do it so that they could teach the elves. Is it not preferable for them both to have defences available should they get in trouble out in the world? We cannot keep them locked inside, Harry has proven that many times now. And the training has proven without a doubt that their portkeys work. You could have told me about that before we started, by the way."

James closed his arms about his agitated wife. "Lily, sweetheart. It's not a perfect plan, but we know better than most this is an imperfect world. Harry is not safe with Wormtail out in the world. Not to mention the danger to the Weasleys. They clearly have no idea there is a monster sleeping in their house every night. Is there risk? Of course. But we've done all we can to minimize it."

"We have to do this ourselves. No amount of money can save Gringotts from Ministry reprisal if they were caught raiding a Ministry employee's home. They cannot act in our stead. The elves could get me inside, but the wards will react to a human crossing in ways they don't to elves. If they believe the rat just got free in the night and escaped, things will be much smoother in the long run."

"Alright, fine. I concede it's the best plan we have, but… those two are as good as our children as well. Mipsy is as close as Harry is likely to get to an older sister, and he has taken Nemea as his little one just as quickly. He treats them as family. If something goes wrong, he'll never forgive any of us. And I won't either."

Lily snuggled tighter into her husband and Remus watched his friends draw comfort from the other, wishing he had some of his own right now.

ϟ

Saturday 17th June 1989.

Harry woke with a start. He didn't often have bad dreams, but occasionally his mind would dredge up the worst ones. That night in 1981 was the most frequent visitor, green light and screaming. Pain and loss. Though he'd been far too young to understand what he'd lost at the time, in the years since he had definitely figured it out. It was now charred into his mind irrevocably.

Tonight's offender had been a more recent case though. And was the reason he was now searching the house with his magic. He always needed to see her whenever he had this horrible nightmare. Closing his eyes, Harry could still see the pale features and lifeless eyes in front of him, and it made him shudder.

His eyes whipped open as panic settled over his body. She wasn't there.

He closed his eyes again and focused harder, letting his link to the wards grow and pulse. His magic ruled this land and he could feel every scrap of magic inside its reach. And yet, still, there was something missing from it tonight.

Fear began to mix with the images of his dream, colouring his mind and setting his nerves on fire. What had happened? Where could she be? Was she hurt? Dying?

Harry released his grip on the wards and focused his mind inward, to the tether that had been present since his fifth year on this earth. It was still there, intangible, but still as strong and thick as ever. She was alive, but she wasn't home. His eyes caught the clock in the corner. Three minutes past two in the morning. She should be here.

He leapt out of bed and grabbed a warm jacket from the wardrobe, wrapping it quickly about his form and let his magic pull on the tether tightly. With a loud crack, he vanished and suddenly reappeared, somewhere he had never been before.

"Mipsy!" He whispered into the dark room, before noting her standing not a foot away.

"Master shouldn't be here!" She hissed back, Nemea standing to her side, looking at the bed that was slowly revealing itself to Harry's adjusting eyes.

The covers on it were shifting and drowsy noises were emanating from the occupant. Harry's arrival had been loud, especially in the still night air. The figure on the bed rose to a seated position and rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"Stun!" Mipsy hissed again and Harry and Nemea both reacted to the command, stretching a hand and knocking the boy back into his own bed linens, once more out to the world.

"What…?" Harry began asking, looking frantically about the bedroom.

"Shhh, be quiet." Mipsy looked quite cross as she waved her hand at Nemea.

The younger elf quickly moved to the dresser opposite the bed and stood before the cage containing a frantic rat. With a quick move of her lithe fingers, the rat became unconscious and she snapped her fingers, shifting him out of the cage and into her hands. Harry was beyond baffled. His friends, his family, were stealing this boy's rat for some reason.

"Harry…" Mipsy hissed once more, holding her hand out to the boy as noises sounded from outside the door.

Harry entwined their fingers and was suddenly back in his room once again, the transport occurring much more quietly this time around.

"What the devil is going on?" He demanded as Nemea had not joined them. "You just stole that boy's pet!"

"Master Harry must calm down," Mipsy said, glaring at him in a very familiar way. Harry had seen it many times growing up.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled, the look taking a lot of his anger away. "I had a nightmare, I needed to see you."

Mipsy guided him to the bed and sat beside him, her arm going partway around his back, Harry had long since grown too large for her arms to circle him entirely. Harry leant into her embrace drawing comfort from her solid presence in his life.

"It was horrible." He sniffled.

"Which one tonight?" Mipsy asked, gently stroking his back.

"Car. But… it was you, not me." Harry's eyes flicked up to the elf's and he saw a familiar spark within, further clearing the sleepy image from his mind. "You followed me across the road and they hit you instead. I didn't know what to do. People were watching and you were going pale. I couldn't save you."

Mipsy tightened her grip on him and let him sob into her shoulder. She had always been somewhere between a surrogate mother and an older sister to him. Always there when he needed comfort and support, and he had raged at her before.

Harry spoke after several long minutes of sniffling silence. "Can you tell me what you were doing?"

"No."

He looked back up at her and saw a flicker of fear. "Why?"

"They asked Mipsy not to. You can override them if you choose, but I beg you to trust them, Harry. Your parents have their reasons. You'll know when it's right for you to know."

Anger began to boil in his gut once more. Harry knew it was wrong of him but he couldn't help but feel they didn't trust in him as they were asking him to trust them. He shrugged free of Mipsy's arms and bounced onto the floor, pacing slightly as he did.

"I…"

"Please don't ask Nemea either. She is no longer bound to them at all, but they've asked her not to tell. I don't know what it would do if Hermione countermanded that instruction."

Embarrassment flared along with the other hotter feelings as Harry tried to calm himself but he could not resist their build. How could they not trust him? The answer was obvious, he knew it even as he raged internally. He had often challenged their authority lately, knowing they were powerless to stop him. Remus had tamed his actions somewhat, but he was still testing his limits. They had good reason to keep something important from him, but it hurt all the same.

Harry stopped pacing and took several deep breaths, but they still didn't help. "I can't. I can't stay here with them right now. Not tonight. I'm going to stay at Hermione's house."

Mipsy looked like she wanted to deny him but she slowly nodded. "Very well. Please remember what I said, Harry. We all love you, remember that too."

Harry nodded once before grabbing the jacket Mipsy had removed while they were on the bed and he popped away.

ϟ

"Wakey, wakey." The voice sounded far away, yet very familiar to the drowsy man.

He'd never felt so tired in his life. Or so sore. His entire body was aching from his toes to his missing finger. A phantom pain that had never gone away, not even in his other form. And something about that seemed important as well.

Sharp pain roused him fully as his left cheek began to ache far worse than the throbbing pain he had been focused on. The light hurt his eyes, beaming into his them from up close while the rest of the area appeared to be in complete darkness.

"Waas goinon?" Peter yelped into the dark, fear coursing through his body.

When no reply was forthcoming, Peter focused on his magic and attempted to transform, knowing his rat form would be free of the bonds holding him within seconds. But his magic would not respond. The bonds, however, did. They constricted about his arms, pulling them tighter behind his back, making his shoulder's crack painfully.

"I wouldn't do that again if I were you."

Peter froze again, the familiar voice sounding through the room. A voice that he had not heard in many years, yet sent a spear of ice up his spine.

"P…p...pro…" Peter mumbled, unused to his own mouth after so long being tended to by the prissy redhead.

"That's right, old friend." Came the reply, and directly in front of him, Wormtail saw something that couldn't be real.

Out of the darkness a human form appeared, taking one small step forward brought the figure into a light source, the area behind him still cast in deep shadow, but the features were clear. James Potter had returned from death itself to punish him for his betrayal.

"James… I, I never!"

"Silence!" A second voice speared out of the darkness to his right, making Peter jump, the chair leaping into the air with him thanks to the bonds.

"Remus!"

"Yes, Peter. It's been a long time, hasn't it? Did you miss me?"

The werewolf slowly emerged from the darkness as well, leaving only the three of them visible in a sea of deep black.

"Am I… is this hell?" Peter whimpered, wetting himself in fear.

Remus stepped closer until he was millimetres from Peter's face. The amber flecked eyes of the werewolf stared into his soul and Peter fought the urge to cry out in terror.

"Not yet." Remus enunciated, quietly but very clearly in the silent room. "But you will be soon."

"Remus… I… I never did anything…"

"Shut it!" Remus growled, setting his cheek aflame with pain again as his hand shocked across it once more.

Peter squealed in pain this time, casting his eyes about the room looking for some way out. Any way out.

"Why, Peter?" James asked, standing perfectly still amid the darkness, staring at Peter as he quivered and looked about. "Was our friendship not enough for you? What did he offer in exchange for our lives? In exchange for my son?"

Fear racked Wormtail as he soiled himself once more. So long he'd been hidden in comfort, safety. The redheaded lad feeding him and treating him like a treasured pet. The only thing to fear the Ginger Twins that would try prototype potions on him if they ever got their hands on him and their mother's potion ingredients at the same time. And now all that was gone, only darkness and those he had betrayed in sight.

"That question you should answer, or things will get a lot worse for you," Remus growled, circling behind him.

Peter tried in vain once more to make the change, screaming out loud as the bindings tightened again. Remus was there in a flash, hand on Peter's throat, squeezing tightly and preventing any further sound from escaping. "Don't!"

"Remus," James said calmly from across the room. "Not yet."

Moony released Peter and his whimpering filled the room once more. His entire body was aching both from the tight restraints and whatever was keeping him from changing form. Peter's mind was churning, searching for anything he could use as a means of escape, but there was nothing in the room but the chair and his friends.

"My frien…" He cut off with a yelp as a loud crack rent the air and a small table appeared between himself and James. Upon it were a handful of items, only some of which Wormtail knew. A newspaper, a wand, and a quartet of stuffed animals. he began to sob as he looked at the stuffed toys, recalling exactly what they had once meant.

"Yes, Peter. You remember those. You remember the day so long ago that we presented them to my son for his first birthday. How he wouldn't let them be apart, so we placed all four in his crib every night. How he would snuggle up between them, his four protectors against the night. How you made sure they failed to protect him."

James' voice became darker as he spoke, filling Peter with greater dread. He was trapped wherever with no means of escape at the hands of two people he had severely wronged.

"I…" Peter cried, his chest heaving against the terrified sobbing.

"Yes?" Remus hissed, passing behind him once more.

"I'm sorry. You've no idea what he's like."

"Oh, I have a very good idea what he's like, Wormtail," James stated clearly, his eyes locked on Peter's quivering form. "I know exactly how cowardly and pathetic he is. How he'd attack a baby on the word of a drunken fraud. How he was so scared that those words might be true that he came to kill a child in the night."

Remus was at his side again, hand on the back of the chair. Peter cried out as the chair shifted backwards, tilting dangerously under his former friend's grip. "WHY!"

Peter yelped in terror again, shuddering heavily as he was unable to look away from the vicious stare above him. "He offered me everything I wanted. I was weak!"

Remus released the chair and gravity took over. Wormtail grunted as his head connected with rough stone, leaving him dizzy and in pain once more. Remus mumbled as he stormed about the room. Coward. Traitor. Mole. Deserter. "ARSEHOLE!" He shouted the last from above Peter's prone form.

"I didn't know. He promised such sweet things. Power, money, recognition…"

"And that was all it took for you to betray your oldest friends? To sell us out to a lunatic on an ego trip?" James howled from across the room.

"What would you have done!" Wormtail screamed in reply, unable to see James from his position on the floor.

"WE WOULD HAVE DIED!" Remus yelled into Peter's face. "We'd have gone to the grave safe in the knowledge that we kept our honour. And saved our family. Unlike you, fucking coward!"

"Remus, you know what it was like, living in their shadow."

"Fuck off!" The werewolf returned, walking out of the light, once more leaving Peter alone. Not alone, no. With James, who he still could not see from where he was.

"James… you don't know… I never meant for this."

"Up." Prongs commanded, and the chair complied, sending his stomach roiling as it righted violently, nearly tipping forward as the legs caught on the rough stonework. The contents of his stomach succumbing to inertia and leaving his body, half of it landing on his own torso.

As Peter finished vomiting up whatever he'd last eaten, he kept his head low. He was so sure that Prongs had been dead that night. Lily too. He'd checked for a pulse as she had shown him that one time and found none. But James had just cast magic to right the chair. He was alive and he was pissed. Not as much as Remus, or at least not that he was letting show.

"Prongs…" Peter spat, along with some of the residual stomach acids in his mouth.

"Don't say that!" Remus roared, reappearing from the darkness, face full of anger. "You've lost the right to call any of us that. You're out!"

Peter shied away as best he could. He'd seen Remus in the grip of the moon before, hairy and wild, but he'd never been as terrified of him as he was right now. And he was sure that should the man turn, James would not be getting between them tonight.

"What do you want from me?" Peter squeaked, sounding more like his animagus form than the human he'd so long hidden away.

"The truth," James said, still glaring at him before nodding to the right. A sound shuffled nearby and before Peter could say another word, darkness enveloped him once more.

ϟ

Thursday 22nd June 1989.

"What now?" Amelia asked, leaning heavily back in her chair as Remus Lupin entered once again, a file folder in his hand just like last time.

"I believed I had made an appointment?" He said confused, though with a rather broad smile on his face.

"Last time you were here you threw an enormous spanner in my works and I still haven't managed to clear the damned thing out." She nodded towards the chair opposite her as the door opened again and two figures entered behind Lupin.

"I do apologize, I try to be as non-confrontational as possible. It was not my intention to mess up your day. Shacklebolt. Mad-Eye." Lupin stated, without turning around.

"Hell of a nose on you, Lupin." Alastor grumped from his place by the door.

"Comes with the curse I'm afraid. I've smelt worse things than you can imagine. Woken up in the forest a few feet from some of them."

Amelia eyed the young man before her as Kingsley took the seat beside him. Something was very different about Lupin from his last visit. She'd never known him to be so glib about his condition before either.

"Yes, the lads get twitchy any time your name appears on the schedule."

Lupin's smile slipped a little at that response, but a quick glance at the folder brought it back once more. "Yes, quite. But that's not what I'm here for and you're a busy Department Head, so I'll cut to it, shall I?"

Amelia nodded and watched as he reached into the folder and pulled out something she hoped to never see again in her life. Bone white and horribly jagged, the sharp-tipped wand that had murdered so many of her former friends, and even some family, was laid delicately on the desk before her.

"Where the hell did you find that?" She growled quietly, noting Moody now had his own wand trained on Lupin's back.

"In his pocket," Lupin replied, placing a small moving photograph of a rat on her desk beside it.

Amelia leaned forward, slightly to the photo side, cursing herself for leaning away from the despised wand resting on her desk. She glared at the image as the rat moved back and forth in a small room, the camera far too widely zoomed to make out much detail until with a gasp she watched as the rat became a man that almost filled the tiny space. A long-dead man.

"For fuck's sake, Lupin!" She moaned, leaning back heavily once more, hands coming up to her face.

"How?" The booming deep voice of her former partner asked.

"I've been looking for years, finally found the lead I needed."

Remus laid a newspaper article on the desk, hiding the evil wand beneath it. It was the same paper that was in the foreground of the photo of the transforming rat. The photo on the front was obviously the same and showed a family she was barely familiar with smiling up from the Hogwarts front lawn.

"The Weasleys?" Shack questioned.

"Unbeknownst to them, their middle son found a rat in their garden in early January of 1982. It was a few months later when young Percy asked Arthur to fashion a cage to keep him in. Arthur complied, thinking if the boy could keep it alive it was as good a pet as he was likely to get. They'd hit a bit of a rough spot with the finances after the girl arrived, so they weren't buying any pets anytime soon. Wasn't until I saw that front page though that I realized the significance."

Remus smiled at her over the desk, a questioning eyebrow raised at her.

"Yes. Alright." Amelia whined. "I checked. The form was right. How long?"

"Sirius was first. Mastered the transformation late in our fourth year. James managed his over that summer. Pettigrew took a few more months but had his down by Christmas."

"Why didn't they register?" Shack asked.

"In the middle of a war, why didn't they give away a major advantage to the Ministry that leaked information like a raging river?"

Moody gave a short gruff laugh from the doorway. "Fair point."

"So, where is Pettigrew?"

"Somewhere safe. Somewhere with no small holes for him to escape through. If you can guarantee the same here, I'll bring him in."

"Really?" Amelia replied, cocking an eyebrow.

"I want justice for my friends. The only way to prove that is for him to spill the beans. As you said last time, you can't take my word for it. I'm sure Moody is already thinking up a dozen tests to make sure it's really him."

"Aye."

"Sirius has suffered in Azkaban long enough. Peter can tell you the truth, so long as you can guarantee he can't escape your custody, I'll hand him over with glee." Remus finished.

Amelia took a deep breath, leaning back in her chair and looking at Lupin carefully. "You lot had quite the reputation at Hogwarts. If you're wasting my time…"

"If you remember our reputation, you'll recall I was also prefect. I was the respectable one." Moody scoffed from behind the man. "Fine, the mostly respectable one."

"Give me a few days to make the arrangements. Any other disasters you want to throw our way while you're here?"

"One disaster a day is more than enough for me these days, Amelia. I'll leave you all to your work. Good day."

Lupin stood and exited the room, his smile much brighter now than when he had entered. Amelia looked at the folder open on her desk and sighed. When she glanced up she noticed the doorway was clear and Shack was watching her closely. They sat in silence for several long minutes before she pulled an evidence bag from her desk and activated the enchantment with her wand.

Using magic, she moved the horrible piece of wood from her desk into the bag and sealed it, unwilling to lay her hands on such a monstrous wand. As she placed the newspaper in a second bag, the two Aurors were distracted by a moody Alastor clomping back into the room and removing a soaking wet invisibility cloak. Amelia failed to contain the snort that escaped at the state of the man slumping into the chair opposite her.

"What the devil happened to you?" Shack asked.

"Wherever Lupin is holed up is a fortress. Those wards are more powerful than Hogwarts. Bounced me like a chew toy out 80 miles east of Azkaban like being swatted by the Hogwarts Express and a pissed-off dragon at the same time. My ribs still hurt."

Amelia didn't even try to contain the laughter as she watched Moody wring out his cloak and scowl at the water. At least this meeting had ended on a happier note.