Chapter 14
Harry became very busy between Quidditch training and the Patronus lessons. Neither teen could produce more than a bit of smoke to keep the dementors at bay and Harry was starting to feel discouraged. Lupin and Angela tried to cheer him up, Angela pointing out that Harry was already doing better than her when she had almost a year of practice on him.
While Harry was training on his broom, Angela was busy brewing potions for Sirius that she would send through Dobby that she had sworn to secrecy, not willing to risk it with the elf's over-enthusiastic nature.
Everything had been sailing smoothly until Ron one day found his bedsheet stained with blood, Scabbers missing and orange cat fur near his bed. He blamed Hermione for not keeping her cat away from his pet and they argued constantly. Angela was seriously tempted to tell them the truth just to stop the tension between them. When Harry mentioned that it was possible for Crookshanks to have eaten Scabbers, Hermione saw red and started avoiding Harry too, accusing him of taking Ron's side.
Before the match opposing Gryffindor to Ravenclaw, Angela tried to warn Draco not to do anything stupid but the blond couldn't help to try and make Harry lose. The boy and his friends disguised as a dementor were scared out of their wits by Harry's patronus and Gryffindor won the match.
The next Hogsmeade weekend came and Angela visited Sirius once more. The man looked almost healthy and had been working out during his free time, determined to be back to full strength so that he could have Harry's custody once he gained his freedom back.
While the slytherin had been hanging out with the fugitive, Harry got seen by Draco near the Shrieking Shack and had to run back to the castle to not get caught. Unfortunately Snape had been waiting for him and after interrogating Harry in his office he found the map. Severus called for Lupin to investigate the map after the parchment thoroughly insulted him. Lupin confiscated the map and was angry at Harry for not handing it sooner, revealing that he knew exactly what the map was.
After a push from Angela, Hermione apologized to Ron for Scabbers and the three gryffindors were back to being the Golden Trio to the slytherin's greatest satisfaction. She didn't like when her friends were arguing.
After another 'the Grimm is on you' prediction from professor Trelawney, Hermione gave up on the class, surprising the two boys who told Angela who laughed, not surprised as she already knew it would happen.
In anticipation of the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor, the tension between the two houses were at an all time high. Angela had gifted the trio a simple stone necklace each with protective rune arrays carved on it. It wouldn't save them from stronger curses but it protected them well enough against minor jinxes and hexes.
The day before the match Harry was so nervous that Angela gave him a calming draught before he went to bed. In the end Harry had nothing to be nervous about for he won the cup spectacularly to Wood's greatest pleasure.
The end of term exams went smoothly for the four teens even if Harry was a bit put out by professor's Trelawney's prediction right after his exam. The little group decided they were going to visit Hagrid to celebrate being finally free for this year.
"You shouldn't have come here." Hagrid told them, ushering the four teens in his hut.
"But we wanted to drop by and say hi!"
"Exactly Hagrid so now we're here." added Harry who was holding a silent Angela's hand. "I was meaning to ask, how is Buckbeak? We never saw him again after that scare with Malfoy."
"Buckbeak is fine, he is in the forest with his friends, I visit them every now and then. I take care of them, you understand? They are great beasts, simply misunderstood… Anyway, do you want some tea?"
They nodded and Hagrid put water to boil in the kettle. When it was hot enough he poured them tea and indicated there was a jar of milk in the buffet. Hermione took it before letting a high pitched scream.
"Ron! It's Scabbers!"
"Scabbers, what are you doing here?"
Angela smiled internally, the plan was now in motion, tonight Sirius would be a free man once more. They drank tea calmly as Ron was cradling his rat and after that Hagrid shooed them and told them to go back to the castle.
They were halfway through the castle ground when Angela stopped and turned toward Ron. "Sorry, Ron." She said coldly.
"Nox? What do you mean?"
"Petrificus Totalus, Stupefy!" She petrified him and stupefied Scabbers that she took from his hands before breaking in a run.
It took a moment for Harry and Hermione to come out of their stupor and unpetrify Ron before running after the slytherin, Harry swearing under his breath.
Morte stunned the Whomping Willow, allowing her to go through the tunnel and up until the Shrieking Shack were she sent Morte back with a note for Severus. She had another note planned that she would send later for the minister to come to Hogwarts.
"Angela, you got him!"
"Sirius. Of course, what did you expect?" she drawled before cleaning the room with a quick scourgify and sitting on an old chair.
"Let's do it, let's kill him now!"
"I understand you're excited but sit down Padfoot. That's not the plan and you know it."
The man whined pitifully but obeyed and sat on another chair. Some minutes later, the door opened, letting the Golden Trio enter.
"Eli! What's wrong with you? Why did you steal Scabbers?"
"Harry, we have a bigger issue. Angie, what are you doing with him? You know what he did to Harry!"
Angela frowned and sighed. "You know nothing of the truth but don't worry tonight we'll have all the time for you guys to discover the full story behind what happened that night and who betrayed the Potters."
"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" said Ron, making Angela snort.
"Why would we want to kill Ry'? After everything we did to keep him safe that would be stupid. The only thing we want is for you to listen to us. But we're still missing a guest who should be arriving soon, you should take a seat while we wait for him."
"Eli or well Nox… how can you sit here so calmly with him of all people and expect us to take it just as calmly?" asked Harry in disbelief.
"Because I know more than you do, brother. Knowledge is power. I'm in power."
"Eli, he killed my parents."
Sirius looked pained. "I won't deny that I'm responsible for their death…"
"Sirius, shut up." Angela cut him off. "As I said, you don't know the whole story."
"So you had to steal Scabbers to lure us into a room with him for that reason?"
The slytherin blinked before laughing coldly. "No, no, no, brother. Scabbers is part of the story, you'll understand soon."
Suddenly the door opened and professor Lupin came through. He took a look at the trio who had their wands drawn and then to Angela and Sirius who sat calmly.
"Expelliarmus!" he casted, catching the trio's wands. "Where is he, Sirius?"
Sirius pointed at Angela.
"But then why…? Why didn't he show himself before?" Lupin paused and something flashed in his eyes. "Unless… you changed, you changed without telling me?"
Slowly Sirius nodded.
"Professor Lupin? What are you.." started Harry but before he finished his question, Lupin lowered his wand, helped Sirius stand up and hugged the living daylight out of him.
"It can't be true!" yelled Hermione.
Lupin released Sirius and turned toward her, an eyebrow raised as she pointed her finger toward him.
"You… You… You and him…"
"Hermione, calm down…"
"I didn't tell anyone, I kept your secret!" she screamed.
"Hermione, if you calm down I will explain…"
This time Harry was the one to cut him. "I trusted you! But right from the start you were his friend! And you Eli, helping him behind our backs!"
"You're wrong. For the past twelve years I haven't been his friend. But now yes I am, let me explain…"
"No! Don't trust anything he says, he's helping him! He wants to kill you… he's a werewolf!"
"Discriminating now are we, Hermy?" Angela had an eyebrow raised, looking disappointed.
"You too? When did you figure it out?" asked Lupin.
"I knew from the start, the perks of being a seer." answered Angela.
"When professor Snape assigned us that essay on werewolves."
"You should give them back their wands, we have a lot to discuss and they won't listen if we are armed but they aren't."
Professor Lupin nodded and gave them back their wands, the trio keeping them out and ready for use. Angela was twirling her wand in her right hand while the left held Scabbers.
"If you're not helping him, how did you know he was here?" asked Harry.
"The map."
"You know how to use it?" Harry was looking at him suspiciously.
Angela chuckled. "Harry, I forgot to introduce you. Here is mister Moony and here we have Padfoot."
"You don't mean…?"
"Your father was Prongs. The map was made by your father and his friends who are here with us tonight."
Harry looked at Sirius and then at Lupin who both nodded at the silent question.
"I was checking the map and saw you go to Hagrid's. However not even twenty minutes later I saw you come out with someone else, I couldn't believe my eyes. I saw young Miss Schiffer and another enter the passageway under the Whomping Willow."
"But there was only Angela?" said Ron, confused.
"She wasn't alone, may I see the rat?"
"What does my rat have to do with everything?" he asked, defensive.
"It's not a rat."
"Of course it's just a rat!" protested Ron.
"No, it's not. It's a wizard." started Sirius.
"An animagus known as Peter Pettigrew or Wormtail." finished Angela, still holding him. "He is the proof I was looking for."
"You three are crazy!"
"Scabbers can't be Pettigrew, you killed him!" exclaimed Harry, pointing at Sirius who shook his head.
"I wish but little Pettigrew managed to escape. Angela, do you want to tell them the full story?"
"Don't you want to do it, Siri?" she asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Nah, I'll want to kill the rat too much and that goes against your plan."
The girl nodded slowly and crossed her legs before taking a deep breath. "Thirteen years ago, James and Lily Potter learnt that Moldyshort was going to come after them and their baby so they decided to go into hiding, using the Fidelius charm. At first they chose Sirius as their secret keeper since he was a friend they trusted with their life. Afraid that he was too obvious of a choice, Sirius suggested to swap the secret keeper for someone no one would suspect : Peter Pettigrew. Thinking the plan to be brilliant, the Potters changed their secret keeper and let everyone believe it was Sirius as a decoy." Angela paused.
"However there was something they ignored. Peter was already in Moldyshort's pocket and told him their location as soon as he was made the secret keeper. Upon discovering his betrayal Sirius went for Harry first but Dumbledore had already given orders to Hagrid for Harry to be brought to his aunt's house. Thinking his godson was in safe hands, Sirius went after Pettigrew. He found the traitor in a street packed with muggles and tried to catch him. But the man outsmarted him, yelling about his betrayal for all to hear. He then cut his finger while casting a bombarda and turned into a rat to escape through the sewer, leaving behind only a bloodied finger."
She showed off Scabbers missing toe. "The rat found his way in a magical household and became a beloved pet, hiding from the world in the hope he would never face judgment for his crimes. However the rat found himself on the front page of the Daily Prophet and Sirius saw him after a visit from minister Fudge. Afraid that the rat would try to finish what he started that night, Sirius decided to escape from Azkaban to save his godson."
Angela gave them a small smile. "We found him near Hogsmeade during the first weekend in the village. Knowing the full truth we made a plan to capture Pettigrew and give back his freedom to Sirius. We fed him and helped him restore his health until today and that's how we are in this situation."
"People saw Pettigrew die! They saw him get killed!" argued Harry, his face looking pale.
Sirius snorted. "People see what they want to see."
"Everyone thought Sirius killed him, even I did believe it at one point. But the Map never lies, it's Peter in Miss Schiffer's hands."
"His name is Scabbers, not Peter!" yelled Ron.
Angela shook her head. "Here I thought you had understood that I do not tell lies."
"Eli, how do you want us to believe that story?"
Hermione bit her lips before adding "Plus Pettigrew can't be an animagus… I would have known if he was, we studied animagi with professor McGonagall and I saw the list of all registered animagus, he wasn't part of it."
"Was Sirius part of it?"
"No, of course not." answered the bushy haired girl.
Sirius understood what Angela was hinting at and he transformed into a black dog who sat quietly at Angela's feet.
"B-but he…"
It was Lupin who came with the explanation. "The Minister never knew that there were three unregistered animagus on Hogwarts ground."
Sirius reverted back to his human form and sighed. "If you want to tell them the whole story, be quick, we already lost enough time as it is."
"Here, here, Siri, don't be impatient, they have the right to know so that they can understand."
The door opened once more, but they couldn't see anything entering.
"This place is haunted." whined Ron.
"Not at all. What the villagers heard, the scream, it was all me." explained Lupin. "It's here that everything began. I was bitten when I was very young and while my parents tried everything, there was no cure. I turned into a monster every month. The potion professor Snape gives me is a recent discovery. If I take it the week before the full moon, I keep my mind during the transformation and can just curl up in my office. It seemed impossible for me to study at Hogwarts but professor Dumbledore found a way."
The man sighed deeply. "Harry, I already told you the Whomping Willow was planted during my first year at Hogwarts, the truth is that it was planted because of me. This house and the tunnel that leads to it were built for me. Once a month they sent me here to transform and the Willow prevented anyone from following me when I was dangerous."
All three teenagers were listening with passion as Angela played with her wand.
"At that time, the transformation was horrendous. It's painful to turn into a werewolf. Unable to bite anyone, I would bite and scratch myself. Hogsmeade people heard the screams and noises I made and thought the shack to be haunted, Dumbledore fueled those rumors even to this day. Outside of the full moon, I was happy, I had finally found friends. Including your father Harry… Of course my friends saw me disappear once a month, I lied to them, telling them that my mother was sick and that I was going to see her at home. Like Miss Granger, they found out the truth after a time. They didn't give up on me and did something to help the transformations be more bearable : they became animagus."
"My father too? Eli told me he was a stag but I didn't really believe it, not like that…"
"Indeed, your father was a stag, Sirius a dog and Pettigrew a rat. James and Sirius were the most brilliant students of their year, Peter needed their help to succeed. During fifth year they all succeeded."
"How did that help you?" asked Hermione.
"They couldn't keep me company in their human forms but they could as animals. With them I would stay more human during the transformations. James' and Sirius's animal form were big enough to keep me from going after anyone when we went out."
"Touching story." came a cold drawl from Severus who removed the invisibility cape he had on him and Morte.
"Cousin Sev, took you long enough!" smirked Angela, calling her familiar. She quickly tied a note to his leg and sent him away. "Don't forget to bring back Rita too, Morte. Tell her that Sirius Black is at Hogwarts, she'll come." The bird cawed and flew away.
"What are you doing Angela? I knew the wolf must have been helping the mutt but for you to help him too…"
"I have a plan, cousin Sev, and I would appreciate it if you didn't stand in the way, so sorry but stupefy!" The red light projected Severus and made him collide with the wall behind him, unconscious with a bit of blood trickling down his temple. Angela stood up and walked toward him, looking through his robes where she found a phial she handed to Lupin.
"Your wolfsbane for tonight, you forgot to take it." The professor grabbed the phial and drank it in one go.
"Thank you, this could have been disastrous, we don't have much time before the moon rises."
"Just to be clear, I still don't believe you." said Harry, his wand still drawn toward them making Angela pout slightly.
"Then it's time for us to prove the truth." she said, putting the rat on the floor between them. "Professor, I'm going to renervate him, if you could undo the transformation."
"Sure."
"Ready? One, two, three, enervate!"
A jet of blue light came for Lupin's wand at the same time and they all watched with a morbid fascination as the rat transformed into a small rotund man with balding hair. Angela saw him look toward the door and she stepped in front of it, blocking the only way to escape.
"Hello, Peter." said Lupin with a sickly sweet voice as if he was happy to see the man after all these years. "It's been a long time since we last saw each other."
"Sirius… Remus…" whimpered the man on the ground. "My friends… my dear old friends…"
"We had a nice little chat over what happened that night with Lily and James. You couldn't hear as you were stunned but surely you know what we were talking about, don't you?"
"Remus… you can't believe him, he tried to kill me…"
"So I heard. But see, Peter, I need your help to understand a few things…"
"He wants to kill me!" yelled Pettigrew from his spot on the ground, pointing his finger toward Sirius. "He killed James and Lily and now he wants to kill me too!"
Angela laughed coldly and pushed him with her foot. "Silence, rat. You poor pitiful creature, we don't want to hear your excuses. We already know that you are loyal to Voldemort." Pettigrew paled and shook on the ground. "What? Afraid of your own master's name? How pathetic." She sneered at him, disgust visible on her face.
"No ones going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out."
"Angie, Professor Lupin, if I may ask something…?" started Hermione, hesitantly.
"What is it, Hermy?"
"That man, Scabbers I mean, has been sleeping in Harry's dorm for three years. If he's working for You-know-who how come he never tried anything?"
Angela snorted. "Because he's a creep on top of a coward, that's why."
"And Mr Black, how come you escaped Azkaban if not for dark magic?"
"Oh sweet Hermy… Siri is innocent, that fact coupled to being an animagus allowed him to keep his sanity as much as possible in presence of dementors. I brewed potions for him to counteract the effect of prolonged dementor exposure. He could have escaped at any point except he didn't have any reason to do so."
"Angie, how can you be so sure? He could be lying to you!"
"Hermy, it's not him lying to me if I already knew before meeting him. I saw it and with Pettigrew alive you have the proof that I didn't lie or make it up."
"Sorry Eli for doubting you, but you understand that the story is hard to believe…"
"Don't worry Ry', I don't blame you even if it hurts a bit. Anyway now that this is solved shall we deal with the traitor?"
"Don't kill him!" exclaimed Harry suddenly, making the man on the ground look at him with watery eyes. Angela quirked an eyebrow at his outburst. "I mean, let's give him to the aurors so that he can be judged and go to Azkaban. I don't think my father would have wanted his friends to become murderers and I don't want you to dirty your hands Eli…"
Angela laughed. "Dear brother, you are too soft. Don't worry, we won't kill him. Hear that Peter, you now owe a life debt to Harry, you better not be forgetting it. Now Stupefy!"
The red light shot the rat-like man right in the chest.
"Professor, Sirius, both of you will stay here for the night since it's a full moon and it's not yet safe for Sirius to be out. Hermy, Ron, Ry' you three will help me bring the rat to the castle, we'll levitate cousin Sev as well, he needs to be treated soon. If Morte has been quick enough we'll have people waiting for us at the castle."
She went near her cousin to retrieve the cloak that she handed to Harry.
"Mobilicorpus." She casted on her cousin before repeating the operation on the unconscious Peter. "This should do, now let's get out of here before professor Lupin transforms. Siri, I'll send Morte for you when it's safe out."
The man nodded. "Thank you Angela."
She chuckled and gave him a pat on the head. "You'll thank me once you're a free man."