Chapter Two
Sirius and I found the boys playing with the few toys of Dudley's I'd unpacked already. Dudley was surprisingly being quite gentle with his smaller cousin, which had never happened with any other younger child before. He wasn't mean, ever, he just didn't realize that he happened to be rather larger than others. Unfortunately, he took after his father in that regard.
Sirius walked in the room towards Harry, and both boys looked to him. Harry was instantly enthralled and demanded to be picked up, while Dudley did the same to me. I picked up my son and turned to my friend. "Dudley, you remember Sirius, don't you, darling? It's only been a few months since we've seen him last. Can you say hello?"
Dudley looked at him quizzically for a moment. Harry chose that moment to break in. "Pa-foo, Ah-ie Pet," he said firmly.
Sirius chuckled briefly. "Yes, Mischief, he can call me Padfoot, too. I suppose you can share that with your cousin."
"Pa-foo, Duh," Harry repeated, looking to Dudley this time.
"Pa-foot," Dudley said, trying out the new word. "Pa-foot."
"Good job, Dudley. You are such a big boy," Sirius praised him, grinning for a small moment.
Hearing Sirius cheering on my son almost sent me into tears again. Vernon had never once shown any interest in Dudley's achievements, merely patting him on the head with a vague "Well done." And here was my old friend, admiring my son's vocabulary like it was something worthy of the Order of Merlin. It hurt to see the shocking difference.
But rather than dwell on it, and have Sirius possibly notice my discontent, I turned toward the dresser. "Why don't we get you boys changed out of those nappies, then we'll have some breakfast, hm? I think we all could use something to eat."
All three males cheered, Dudley louder than the other two combined. He loved to eat. I was almost concerned about it, but that was most definitely something to worry about another day.
Sirius helped me change the boys, showing an adeptness that always had surprised me. Breakfast was next, and again, Sirius helped with every step, making feeding the boys a far easier chore than it had the day before. And then we got them settled into playing with each other, surrounded by every toy Dudley owned.
"What are you going to do now?" I asked him quietly, as we watched the boys play.
Sirius stiffened. "I don't know," he answered slowly. "I have to tell Remus, but other than that, I have no idea."
"You know Bagnold has called for your arrest, right? Dumbledore told me yesterday that there's almost as much of a reward on your head as there was for any information on You-Know-Who's actual location."
He sighed. "As long as you and Remus know the truth, and Harry, when he's older, I don't really care who else knows."
I gaped at him. "You've got to be joking. You could go to Azkaban, but as long as we know the truth, you don't care. And what about Pet- Pettgrew? He's still out there, somewhere, and I'll be damned before I let that scum get away with killing Lily and James. So, Mr. I-always-have-a-plan, you'd better start planning."
He gaped at me in turn. "I don't-"
"You are Harry's godfather. I'm not raising Harry and Dudley without you," I insisted, poking his chest rather firmly. "And you can't help with the boys if you're in bloody Azkaban, so get your head out of your bum and start figuring things out."
A smile peaked out, or, at least the beginning of one. "You're magnificent, Petal."
I blushed, but pushed ahead. "Are you done sulking?"
"Absolutely," he replied, kissing my cheek.
Another knock at the door startled us both, making me pull back. "Who could that be?" I wondered. "Stay with the boys, please."
But once I answered the door, I realised I shouldn't have even had to think about it. "Pet," Nic said, pulling me into his arms.
Remus, Danae, Lottie, and Tina pushed into the house behind him, gathering me into their arms. "I'm so sorry, Pet," was heard from several mouths, dragging more tears from my eyes.
"How did you lot know I was here?" I laughed through my tears. It was just like all of them to come, and it was exactly what I needed.
"Your whale of a husband shouted that you weren't at Privet Drive, so of course you would be here," Danae said logically as she unwrapped her scarf from her neck.
"And he yelled that he didn't want anything more to do with 'our kind'," Remus added, hovering at the back of the group, almost as if he felt he didn't belong.
"And that he wants a divorce, if we saw you," Tina finished, kissing my cheek again.
I sighed. "Well, he's going to have to wait. I want that, too," a small cheer from everyone sounded, "but I've got a few other things on my mind right now."
"Absolutely understandable," Nic said. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
"And one of those things is that Sirius didn't betray Lily and James," I said quickly, trying to get it out before they actually saw him. Since he was in my house.
Everyone was silent, simply staring at me for far too long. Finally, Remus shook his head. "I know you want to believe that, Pet, I do, too, but-"
"It was Pete- Pettigrew," I cut him off. "They switched at the last minute and didn't tell any of us to keep us safer."
"I did not!" A squeak from behind Remus alerted me to another person in my house, and suddenly, I was filled with more rage than I'd ever known. "I wouldn't," Pettigrew continued, nervously wringing his hands and avoiding looking directly at me.
"How dare you?" I screeched, and I would have cursed him had Nic not wrapped both arms around me. I struggled, but again, he was much stronger than me.
"Pet, what are you-"
Sirius's arrival in the room caused several more wands to come up, though he only had eyes for Pettigrew, a wordless snarl on his lips as he raced towards the smaller man. Pettigrew was bound in ropes in the blink of an eye, and though Remus reached out to help him, he still fell over. And then Sirius was on top of him, throwing a punch directly into his face. "How could you?" he screamed. "How could you betray James and Lily?"
Sirius was throwing more punches, Pettigrew was screaming, Remus was shouting, and I heard two terrified shrieks coming from the other room. "The boys!"
I ran into the lounge where we had left Dudley and Harry, and they were clutching each other and screaming their lungs out. "Mumma!" Dudley screeched as soon as he saw me.
I gathered both boys into my arms, and thankfully, they calmed quickly, only hiccupping little sobs that tore at my heart. We joined the others back in the entry, where Nic and the girls all offered to take one of the boys, but I refused. I needed their comfort as much as they needed me. And even though he was still wrapped in ropes, nearly everyone saw Pettigrew's flinch when he caught sight of Harry. "Pete?" Remus asked softly, though he continued to keep his wand aimed at Sirius, something else that kept the heartbreak going.
Pettigrew shook his head violently. "You don't know what it's like!" he cried. "You don't- You've always been brave, Remus, you don't know what it's like to be afraid, every day!"
I clutched the boys closer to me as Remus's wand arm slowly fell. "You think I don't know what being afraid feels like? Peter, I turn into a mindless beast once a month. I could have hurt you, or Sirius, or James, or anyone else, every single month, and I would be powerless to stop it. I have no hope of any gainful employment, not really, and what woman would want to be saddled with a werewolf for a husband? My father married a Muggle, and my parents could be targeted by those Pureblood bigots any day because of that. My best friends, my brothers are fighting in this bloody war, and you don't think I know what it's like to be afraid?" His words grew quieter, until he was nearly whispering. "Peter, I am afraid every bloody day of my life, and you still couldn't convince me to betray James and Lily, to betray an innocent baby. Not for anything."
"I was so scared! He would have killed me! I would have died, Remus!"
"James would have died for you," I said fiercely, knowing my brother-in-law would have done so in an instant. "Lily would- My baby sister would have died for you. And you betrayed them."
Every word I spoke drained Pettigrew of colour further. "I- I- I had no choice! You-Know-Who was taking over everywhere. How could I fight against that?"
"By standing up, you sniveling coward!" Sirius hollered, but allowed Tina to pull him off Pettigrew. "We would have helped you, protected you! You don't hand your family over on a silver platter!"
"He would have killed me!"
"Better you than Lily and James," Nic said coldly, then gagged him with a wave of his wand. "I'm done hearing his drivel, and Pet doesn't need to hear more of it."
"We need to call the Aurors," Lottie said decidedly. "Tina and I can go to the Ministry, then I'm sure they'll need statements from us all. And they might arrest you, as well, Sirius, since Bagnold's called for it."
"I'll go, if that's what's needed," he replied quietly, still glaring at Pettigrew. "But I'd feel better if you lot stayed with Petal and the boys."
"We'll stay as long as needed," Danae answered, reaching for Dudley again, and this time, I let her take him from me.
Lottie and Tina left for the Ministry, and Nic took up a guard position in front of Pettigrew. "Oh, sorry," he said, as he stepped on Pettigrew's dropped wand, snapping it in half. "Looks like you'll be needing a new wand, if you ever get out of Azkaban."
AN: Apparently, I didn't update this chapter like I thought I did! Sorry, everyone! Here's the new and improved chapter!
