Raylynx's POV
Sirius leapt to his feet and snarled. Hermione screamed, and Harry looked stunned. Remus remained silent, even as Snape pointed his wand directly at him. I darted forward, standing between Sirius and Remus. I hissed angrily at Snape.
"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," Snape said, throwing the Invisibility Cloak aside. "Very useful, Potter. I thank you…"
Snape's eyes glittered as he gloated. In his eyes, he had come across the very evidence he had been so desperate for this entire year - proof that Remus had been helping Sirius.
"You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" he said to Remus, his voice dangerously smooth, taunting him. "After you and Kingsley took Harry up to your office, I returned to mine and realized that you had forgotten to take your potion tonight. So, I went to bring you a gobletful and when I came upon your office, Lupin, I saw a certain map lying on your desk. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."
Remus shook his head. "Severus-"
"I've told the headmaster again and again that you're helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof," Snape snarled. "Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout —"
I started to stalk forward towards Snape.
"Crookshanks," Hermine moaned.
Remus quickly, though gently, stepped on my tail to pin me down in front of him. Snape's eyes flashed down to me and he seemed confused, but his eyes flickered to Hermione, and he realized that I was her pet.
"Severus, you're making a mistake," Remus said urgently. "You haven't heard everything — I can explain — Sirius is not here to kill Harry —"
"Two more for Azkaban tonight," Severus said, his voice almost a purr as his eyes gleamed. "I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this… He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin… a tame werewolf —"
Remus paused, and looked up at Snape. "You fool," Remus said softly. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?"
BANG! Thin, snakelike cords burst from the end of Snape's wand and twisted themselves around Lupin's mouth, wrists, and ankles. Remus fell to the floor. I leapt on top of Remus and started to bite at the ropes, trying to get them off of him.
BANG! Snape waved his wand a second time, and I howled as cords snaked around my body too, trapping my paws. I slid off of Remus and onto the floor, turning this way and that to try to wriggle out of the ropes.
Sirius roared furiously and started towards Snape, but Snape jerked his wand upwards and pointed it straight between Sirius' eyes.
"Give me a reason," he whispered, his voice filled with hatred and dripping with the desire to hurt Sirius, to kill him… "Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will."
Sirius stopped dead. He glared at Snape, and the darkness inside his eyes grew. What he wouldn't give to have a wand right now…
Hermione's eyes flickered from Snape and Sirius, glaring daggers at each other, down to where Remus and I were, still struggling against the ropes. Finally, Remus stopped. He looked up towards me, where I was still hissing and scratching like mad at the ropes.
"Sh…" he said, trying to calm me down. But I couldn't. Every animal instinct in me was yelling at me to fight for survival.
"Raylynx…" Remus breathed out my name so quietly no one else could hear. I froze and looked down at Remus, my tail swishing uncertainly. "Don't struggle so," Remus whispered. "The cords will only get tighter." Remus' speaking to me called out my human side, my logical side, and I slowly regained my senses and tried to fight the alarm bells going off in my cat mind. I tried to still my body.
Behind us, Hermione breathed out, "Professor Snape, it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w-would it?" she breathed out.
"Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school," Snape spat. "You, Potter, and Weasley are out-of-bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. For once in your life, hold your tongue."
"But if — if there was a mistake —"
"Keep quiet, you stupid girl!" Snape shouted, furious. "Don't talk about what you don't understand!" A few sparks shot out of the end of his wand. Sirius stepped back, and Hermione fell silent. The years and years of abuse that Snape had faced – from his father at home, from the Marauders at school, from the Death Eaters during the War, were all bubbling up within him, and were now directed – at Sirius.
And of course, there was a very direct reason that Snape would do anything to kill Sirius: in Snape's mind, Sirius was the traitor, the Secret-Keeper who betrayed Lily to Voldemort. Snape had believed that by offering his services to Dumbledore, Snape could rectify the mistake he had made in informing Voldemort of the prophecy. But when Sirius betrayed Dumbledore and betrayed Lily and James, Snape's attempt at redemption had failed because Voldemort was able to go after James and Lily, and he killed Lily… He killed Lily… He killed her.
"Vengeance is very sweet," Snape breathed out. "How I hoped I would be the one to catch you…"
"The joke's on you again, Severus," Sirius said harshly. "As long as this boy brings his rat up to the castle" — he jerked his head at Ron — "I'll come quietly…"
"Up to the castle?" Snape repeated. A smirk appeared on his lips as he replied, "I don't think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the Dementors once we get out of the Willow. They'll be very pleased to see you, Black… pleased enough to give you a little kiss, I daresay…"
Sirius turned pale. The dementors... After twelve years of having them feed off of him, he couldn't allow his soul to be taken by them. Not when he wasn't responsible in the first place.
"You've- You've got to hear me out," Sirius said, his voice suddenly very hoarse. "The rat – look at the rat-"
But Snape wasn't listening. "Come on, all of you." He clicked his fingers, and the ends of the cords that bound Remus and I flew into his hand. I howled and tried to break out of mine again, but they only got tighter, now digging firmly into my fur.
"I'll drag the werewolf," Snape said, his upper lip curling. "Perhaps the Dementors will have a kiss for him too —"
No, I can't let Snape do this. I have to stop him. I'll catch him off guard! I closed my eyes and started to shift. Suddenly, I felt a hard pinch on my tail. I looked down to see Remus grabbing the end of my tail and shaking his head hard.
"Don't," he whispered urgently. "You can't let Snape know it's you."
I gently kicked his hand off of my tail with my hind foot, but he stubbornly reached back up and grabbed it.
"You can't. Keep yourself hidden!" he whispered frantically. Remus was trying to save me from being captured and possibly being submitted to the dementors along with him and Sirius.
"Raylynx!" he muttered more intensely as I fought harder against him, scratching the back of his fingers with my hind paws.
Harry suddenly broke free of the two others and stood in front of the door.
Snape looked down at him. "Get out of the way, Potter, you're in enough trouble already. If I hadn't been here to save your skin —"
"Professor Lupin could have killed me about a hundred times this year," Harry interrupted Snape. "I've been alone with him loads of times, having defense lessons against the Dementors. If he was helping Black, why didn't he just finish me off then?"
"Don't ask me to fathom the way a werewolf's mind works," hissed Snape. "Get out of the way, Potter."
Suddenly, Harry yelled in Snape's face. "You're pathetic! Just because they made a fool of you at school, you won't even listen-!"
"SILENCE!" Snape spat out. "I will not be spoken to like that! Like father, like son, Potter! I have just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he'd killed you! You'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black — now get out of the way, or I will make you. Get out of the way, Potter!"
"EXPELLIARMUS!"
Remus and I froze, stopping our silent but furious fight on the ground as Remus tried to prevent me from transforming. But we both stopped dead as we heard Harry, Ron, and Hermione all shouting at exactly the same time to disarm Snape.
The collision of three Disarming Spells slammed into Snape at once, and he wasn't just Disarmed – though his wand did soar in a high arc and land on the bed – but Snape himself was lifted off his feet and slammed forcefully into the wall. He slid down the wall onto the floor, a trickle of blood oozing from under his hear. He had been knocked out.
Sirius looked at Harry, surprised. "You shouldn't have done that. You should have left him to me…"
"We attacked a teacher…" Hermione whimpered, staring at Snape with frightened eyes. "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble —"
Sirius rushed over to Remus and freed him from his ropes, and then yanked the ropes off of me as well. I immediately jumped onto the bed and put my paw on top of Snape's wand.
Remus stood up, wincing a little as he rubbed his arms where the ropes had cut into them. "Thank you, Harry," Remus said to Harry.
"I'm still not saying I believe you," Harry said, avoiding both Sirius' and Remus' looks of gratitude.
"Then it's time we offered you some proof," Remus said. "Ron — give me Peter, please. Now."
Ron clutched Scabbers closer to his chest. "Come off it," he said weakly. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean…" He glanced around at us all, wondering if he was the only sane one left. "Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat — there are millions of rats — how's he supposed to know which one he is after if he was locked up in Azkaban?"
"You know, Sirius, that's a fair question," Remus said, turning to Sirius and frowning slightly. "How did you find out where he was?"
Sirius reached inside his dirty robes and took out a crumpled piece of paper, which he held out. It was from the newspaper. In fact, it was a photograph of the Weasley family in the Dailey Prophet, from their trip to Egypt.
"How… How did you get this?" Remus asked, stunned. He took the picture from Sirius and stared at it.
"Fudge," Sirius explained. "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page on this boy's shoulder… I knew him at once… how many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts… to where Harry was…"
"My God…" Remus breathed out, hardly daring to believe it. He walked closer to Ron again. Ron backed away, but Remus bent his head down to examine Scabbers. "His front paw…" Remus breathed out quietly, as he found what he was looking for. The confirmation of the little detail made Remus' mind spin, as he finally put it all together.
"What about it?" said Ron defiantly.
"He's got a toe missing," Sirius said knowingly, as he must have known since that ill-fated days many years ago.
"Of course," Remus murmured. "So simple… so brilliant… he cut it off himself?"
The second realization exploded in my mind. That was why Peter didn't die. Because he staged it! He faked his own death, not just in dying, but in making out as though Sirius had killed him.
"Just before he transformed," Sirius said, nodding grimly. "When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself — and sped down into the sewer with the other rats…"
I breathed out as I recalled my memories from that fateful day:
I saw a hooded figure step out of an adjoining alleyway and onto the sidewalk.
"PETER!" the person shouted angrily.
"Sirius," I breathed out. I started to run towards him. However, they both took off running down the street.
"Wait!" I tried to call out, but in the sounds of the busy sidewalk, my voice was drowned out.
I managed to keep them in sight when I heard Peter shout, "You betrayed Lily and James! How could you!?"
No, it can't be true. Just hear him out, Peter. Just give me a chance to get there!
"Sirius!" I shouted, hoping I was close enough that he could hear my voice. I was getting fairly close, close enough to see both their faces. It was, indeed, Sirius underneath the hood.
I saw his lips move and he raised his wand.
Then-
BOOM!
Through the smoke and rubble, I dimly saw a swarm of wizards force Sirius away. I wasn't sure if I imagined it or not, but I swear I heard him laughing. Only it wasn't laughter like I'd ever heard before. He sounded insane and possessed.
Now I knew why.
"Didn't you ever hear, Ron?" Remus said. "The biggest bit of Peter they found was-"
"- His finger," Harry finished for him. Remus looked at him and nodded.
"Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something!" Ron responded. "He's been in my family for ages, right —"
"Twelve years, in fact," Sirius said quietly, but with absolute certainty. "Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?"
"We — we've been taking good care of him!" Ron protested.
"Not looking too good at the moment, though, is he?" Remus said. "I'd guess he's been losing weight ever since he heard Sirius was on the loose again…"
"He's been scared of that mad cat!" Ron argued back, nodding toward me. I was still on the edge of the bed with my paw on Snape's wand.
"No…" Harry murmured suddenly. "Scabbers was ill before he met Crookshanks. Don't you remember, Ron? It was after your return from Egypt, which was right about when Sirius escaped. That's why we went to the Menagerie in the first place."
Ron looked at Harry uncertainly, startled by Harry slowing shifting sides.
Sirius nodded. He walked over to me and reached out to me, stroking my head. "This cat isn't mad. She's the most intelligent of her kind I've ever met. She recognized Peter for what he was right away."
I cocked my head, thinking: Well, not quite…
"And when she met me, she knew I was no dog. It was a while before she trusted me…" Sirius said, thinking back to our odds encounters, with me always scampering away at the slightest movement. "Finally, I managed to communicate to her what I was after, and she's been helping me."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked breathlessly. "Helping you?"
"She tried to bring Peter to me, but couldn't… So, she stole the passwords into Gryffindor Tower for me," he explained. "But Peter got wind of what was going and ran for it. This cat – Crookshanks, did you call her? – told me Peter had left blood on the sheets. I supposed he bit himself. Well, faking his own death had worked once."
"And why did he fake his death?" Harry asked furiously. "Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"
"No," Remus said quickly, "Harry-"
"And now you've come to finish him off!" Harry accused Sirius.
"Yes, I have," Sirius snarled, turning his gaze back on Peter.
"Then I should've let Snape take you!" Harry shouted.
"Harry," Remus said hurriedly, "don't you see? All this time we've thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down — but it was the other way around, don't you see? Peter betrayed your mother and father — Sirius tracked Peter down —"
"That's not true!" Harry yelled. "He was their Secret-Keeper!" Harry's voice cracked as he was overwhelmed by emotion. "He said so before you turned up!" Harry pointed at Sirius. "He said he killed them!"
Sirius was shaking his head slowly and I saw his eyes begin to glimmer with unshed tears. "Harry… I as good as killed them," he confessed hoarsely. "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, and a tear streaked down his grimy face.
"Enough of this," Remus said, stepping forward and blocking Sirius from Harry, Ron, and Hermione's view. There was a steely note in his voice, and I knew it was to protect Sirius. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened." He turned to Ron. "Ron, give me that rat."
"What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?" Ron asked Remus, afraid.
"Force him to show himself," Remus replied. "If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him."
Ron hesitated. Then at long last, he held out Scabbers.
Remus took Scabbers, who immediately began to squeal, twisting and turning in Remus' hand.
Stepping back, Remus said, "Ready, Sirius?"
I picked up Snape's wand and jumping down, bounded over to Sirius and looked up at him, offering him the wand. He bent down and took it from me while wiping his eyes. He stood up and joined Remus.
"Together?" he asked quietly.
Remus nodded. "I think so. On the count of three. One, two, THREE!"
They both directed their wands at Scabbers. There was a flash of blue-white light from both of them. Scabbers was frozen in the air, and then he fell and hit the floor. There was another blinding flash of light and then, we all watched in awe as Scabbers was forced back into his human form.
A head shot upwards from the ground. Suddenly, paws became hands, and limbs lengthened, as did a torso, and a pair of legs… until a man was standing where Scabbers had been.
Peter! The hair on my back stood up and I was snarling and spitting at him. You traitor. TRAITOR!
Peter was cringing and wringing his hands over and over again. He, too, had changed drastically in appearance since I'd last seen him. His once blonde hair was now thin, appearing almost colorless, and he had a large bald patch on top. He had always been a bit plump, but now he had the shrunken appearance of a man who had lost a lot of weight in a short time. His face, too, seemed to have shrunk in on itself, for his eyes seemed smaller than they used to be, and his nose had become pointier. His eyes immediately darted to the door and then at everyone around him.
"Well, hello, Peter," Remus said lightly. "Long time, no see."
Sirius was dead still, and I saw his eyes turn black. His old temper, his old anger, was flickering back to life. He had kept it back and allowed it to simmer for years, and now, it was torching up within him. But I understood Sirius, and I marveled at Remus' ability to keep his tone light. I was growling as aggressively as I'd ever growled at Peter right now.
"S-Sirius… R-Remus," Peter squeaked out. "My friends… My old friends."
Sirius' wand arm snapped up, but Remus was equally quick in grabbing Sirius' arm because he expected this from Sirius. Remus shot Sirius a sharp warning look, and then turned again to Peter, and spoke in that light voice of his again. "We've been having a little chat, Peter, 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," Peter gasped, "you don't believe him, do you? He tried to kill me, Remus…"
"So we've heard," Remus said, and his voice dropped into a colder tone. "I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you, Peter, if you'll be so —"
"He's come to try and kill me again!" Pettigrew said frantically, pointing at Sirius with his middle finger (because his index finger was missing). "He killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too…"
Sirius was dead silent, but his eyes seemed to sink into their own blackness when he heard Peter accusing him.
"You've got to help me, Remus," Peter begged.
"No one's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out," Remus said quietly, glancing at Sirius and recognizing the storm growing within him.
"Sorted things out?" Peter said, his voice becoming more and more high-pitched by the minute. "I knew he'd come after me! I knew he'd be back for me! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!" As Peter spoke, his eyes cast about wildly as looked for an exit point – but there was only the door.
Remus frowned. "You knew Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban? When nobody has ever done it before?"
"He's got dark powers the rest of us can only dream of!" Peter shouted shrilly, though he was not daring to glance at Sirius. "How else did he get out of there? I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named taught him a few tricks!"
At this, Sirius started to laugh. It was utterly humorless, a dark, mirthless laugh that slowly filled the whole room. Remus looked at him worriedly.
"Voldemort, teach me tricks?" Sirius said scathingly. Peter flinched.
In a low, muted voice, Sirius addressed Peter, "What, scared to hear your old master's name?" He looked at Peter with deadly serious eyes as he said, "I don't blame you, Peter. His lot aren't very happy with you, are they?"
"D-Don't know what you mean, Sirius," Peter said, with sweat dripping down his face.
"You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years," Sirius said scornfully. "You've been hiding from Voldemort's old supporters. I heard things in Azkaban, Peter. They all think you're dead, or you'd have to answer to them. I've heard them screaming all sorts of things in their sleep. Sounds like they think the double-crosser double-crossed them."
"Voldemort went to the Potters' on your information, and Voldemort met his downfall there. And not all Voldemort's supporters ended up in Azkaban, did they?" Sirius said knowingly. "There are still plenty out here, biding their time, pretending they've seen the error of their ways. If they ever got wind that you were still alive, Peter —"
"Don't know… what you're talking about…" Peter replied faintly. He looked over at Remus. "You don't believe this- this madness, Remus?"
"I must admit, Peter, I have difficulty in understanding why an innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat," Remus said, and his even tone covered up the firm grip he had on his wand.
"Innocent, but scared!" squealed Peter. "If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it was because I put one of their best men in Azkaban — the spy, Sirius Black!"
"How dare you," Sirius growled, his voice like thunder. "I, a spy for Voldemort?" The fury gathered in his voice as he continued, "When did I ever sneak around people who were stronger and more powerful than myself? But you, Peter — I'll never understand why I didn't see you were the spy from the start. You always liked big friends who'd look after you, didn't you? It used to be us… me and Remus… and James…" Sirius' voice softened as he mentioned Remus' and James' names.
Peter tried to speak, but he was nearly panting for breath. He managed to mutter out broken phrases. "Me, a spy… must be out of your mind… never… don't know how you can say such a —"
"Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it," Sirius hissed furiously. "I thought it was the perfect plan… a bluff…" He paused for a moment as he remembered coming up with the plan and persuading Lily and James to go along with it. He remembered having to ask Raylynx to leave his flat because he thought he would become a target… Not knowing that he was playing right into the real traitor's – Peter's - hands.
"Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you…" Sirius said quietly. "It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters." His hands gripped into tight fists and a deep snarl began to growl within him.
Peter paled and looked almost sick. His eyes kept darting to the door.
"Professor Lupin?" Hermione said suddenly, and timidly. "Can — can I say something?"
"Certainly, Hermione," Remus replied invitingly.
"Well, Scabbers — erm, this man — Well, he's been sleeping in Harry's dormitory for three years. If he's working for You-Know-Who, how come he never tried to hurt Harry before now?"
"There!" said Peter shrilly, looking utterly relieved and as though he could kiss Hermione. "Thank you! You see, Remus? I have never hurt a hair of Harry's head! Why should I?"
"I'll tell you why," Sirius retorted, before anyone could say anything. In a blistering voice, he confronted Peter and said, "Because you never did anything for anyone unless you could see what was in it for you. Voldemort's been in hiding for fifteen years, they say he's half dead. You weren't about to commit murder right under Albus Dumbledore's nose, for a wreck of a wizard who'd lost all of his power, were you? You'd want to be quite sure he was the biggest bully in the playground before you went back to him, wouldn't you?"
"Why else did you find a wizard family to take you in?" Sirius accused Peter. "Keeping an ear out for news, weren't you, Peter? Just in case your old protector regained strength, and it was safe to rejoin him…"
Peter fell silent, though his mouth was still hanging open.
"Er — Mr. Black — Sirius?" said Hermione.
Sirius started and then looked over at Hermione.
"If you don't mind me asking," Hermione said, "how — how did you get out of Azkaban, if you didn't use Dark Magic?"
"Thank you!" gasped Peter, nodding frantically at her. "Exactly! Precisely what I —"
Annoyed, Remus shot Peter a look, which silenced him immediately.
Sirius was frowning slightly, pondering his answer. Finally, he mused, "I don't know how I did it. I think the only reason I never lost my mind is that I knew I was innocent. That wasn't a 'happy' thought, so the Dementors couldn't suck it out of me, but it kept me sane and knowing who I am, helped me keep my powers. So, when it all became… too much… I could transform in my cell… become a dog."
"Dementors can't see, you know…" Sirius swallowed hard as he recalled the feeling of the dementors sapping all of his energy from him, day after day, night after night. "They feel their way toward people by feeding off their emotions. They could tell that my feelings were less — less human, less complex when I was a dog. But they thought, of course, that I was losing my mind like everyone else in there, so it didn't trouble them. But I was weak, very weak, and I had no hope of driving them away from me without a wand…"
"But then I saw Peter in that picture," Sirius said heavily. "I realized he was at Hogwarts with Harry- perfectly positioned to act, if one hint reached his ears that the Dark Side was gathering strength again, ready to strike at the moment he could be sure of allies… and to deliver the last Potter to them. If he gave them Harry, who'd dare say he'd betrayed Lord Voldemort? He'd be welcomed back with honors."
"So you see, I had to do something. I was the only one who knew Peter was still alive…" Sirius murmured, talking almost to himself now. "It was as if someone had lit a fire in my head, and the Dementors couldn't destroy it. It wasn't a happy feeling; it was an obsession. But it gave me strength. It cleared my mind."
"So, one night when they opened my door to bring food, I slipped past them as a dog… It's so much harder for them to sense animal emotions that they were confused. I was thin, very thin… thin enough to slip through the bars," Sirius explained. "I swam as a dog back to the mainland. I journeyed north and slipped into the Hogwarts grounds as a dog. I've been living in the forest ever since, except when I came to watch the Quidditch, of course."
Remus was staring at Sirius with a pained expression on his face as Sirius recounted how he made it out of Azkaban, but Sirius was looking at Harry. "You fly as well as your father did, Harry…"
Harry looked back at Sirius, finally looking him in the eyes.
"Believe me," Sirius croaked, his voice wrought with emotion. "Believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them."
Harry did not look away from Sirius. And then, after a long moment, he nodded.
"No!" Peter had fallen onto his knees. He grabbed at Sirius' robes. "Sirius — it's me, it's Peter. Your friend! You wouldn't —"
Sirius kicked out, pushing Peter off of him. "There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them," Sirius growled.
"Remus!" Peter squeaked, turning to Remus with his hands clasped before him. "You don't believe this! Wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?"
At this, Remus shook his head and looked over at Sirius. "Not if he thought I was the spy, Peter. I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?"
Sirius nodded. "Forgive me, Remus."
"Not at all, Padfoot, old friend," Remus said, affectionately calling Sirius by his old nickname. "And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?"
"Of course," Sirius replied. "Shall we kill him together?"
Remus nodded grimly and rolled up his sleeves. "Yes, I think so."
Peter gasped. He backed away, shaking his head in fright as he mumbled, "You wouldn't… You wouldn't!" In desperation, he scrambled over to Ron, muttering, "Ron, haven't I been a good friend… a good pet?"
"I let you sleep in my bed!" Ron said, horrified.
"If you made a better rat than a human, it's not much to boast about, Peter," Sirius spat.
Peter fell on his knees and grabbed Hermione's robes. "Sweet girl, clever girl- Help me!"
Hermione was frightened. I hissed and jumped between them. Hermione backed away, pulling her robes out of Peter's hands.
Peter turned his head towards Harry. "Harry. Harry, you look just like your father, just-"
Sirius roared. "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY? HOW DARE YOU FACE HIM? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT OF HIM?"
Peter shuffled towards Harry with his hands outstretched. He begged, "Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed! James would have understood- He would have shown me mercy…"
I leapt in front of Harry, too, to protect him from Peter. At the same time, Remus and Sirius strode forward, grabbed Peter, and threw him backwards, away from Harry, and onto the floor.
"You- You sold Lily and James to Voldemort," Sirius said through gritted teeth, as though the information physically pained him. "Do you deny it?"
Peter burst into tears. "Sirius! Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord, you have no idea… He has weapons you can't imagine. I was scared, Sirius! I was never brave like you and Remus and James. I never meant it to happen. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me-"
"Don't lie!" Sirius yelled. "You'd been passing information to him for a year before Lily and James died!"
"He- He was taking over everywhere!" Peter gasped. "Wh- What was there to be gained by refusing him?"
A terrible fury emanated from Sirius as he growled, "What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed? Only innocent lives, Peter! You gave Voldemort the information he needed to hunt down Benjy, Caradoc, the Prewitt brothers, Dorcas, and Marlene…"
"You don't understand!" Peter mumbled. "He- He would have killed me, Sirius!"
"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" Sirius bellowed furiously. "Died rather than betray your friends, as we would have done for you!"
Sirius raised his wand, and Remus followed him.
"You should have realized that if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would," Remus said quietly. "Goodbye, Peter."
But wait, I thought, no, if you kill Peter now, where is the proof? This is the way to avenge our friends, but what about Sirius' freedom?
Harry suddenly raced past me, yelling, "NO!" He placed himself in front of Peter, shielding him from the wands. "You can't kill him! You can't!"
Both Remus and Sirius were stunned.
"Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents," Sirius said. "This cringing bit of filth would have seen you die too, without turning a hair. You heard him. His own stinking skin meant more to him than your whole family."
"I know," Harry replied, looking Sirius in the face. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the Dementors. He can go to Azkaban… but don't kill him."
"Harry!" gasped Peter, and he flung his arms around Harry's knees. "Thank you!"
"Get off me," Harry spat, throwing Peter's hands off him in disgust. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because I don't reckon my dad would've wanted them to become killers — just for you."
Sirius and Remus were stunned, as they considered what Harry said. Remus glanced at Harry, and then at Sirius, trying to determine who's right it was to decide: Sirius, who had spent twelve years in Azkaban and been branded a traitor and a felon and finally had the chance to take his revenge on Peter, or Harry, who had lost both of his parents… Both had had their lives to deeply, irreversibly, and darkly altered by what Peter had done. Remus hesitated.
But Sirius made the choice for him, swallowing the fire in his throat burning to say the spell that would finally kill Peter, and he began to lower his wand. Remus read him so easily, even after all these years, that he lowered his wand almost simultaneously.
"You're the only person who has the right to decide, Harry," Sirius said, finally. "But think… think what he did…"
"He can go to Azkaban," Harry repeated firmly. "If anyone deserves that place, he does…"
Remus looked over at Sirius one last time. Almost imperceptibly, Sirius nodded.
"Very well," Remus said. "Stand aside, Harry."
Harry hesitated.
Remus reassured him. "I'm going to tie him up. That's all, I swear."
Harry moved aside. Remus pointed his wand at Peter. Cords shot out from his wand and bound Peter, who immediately tried to wriggle out of them, but failed.
Seeing Peter squirming and trying to escape, Sirius kept his wand on Peter and growled, "But if you transform, Peter, we will kill you. You agree, Harry?"
Harry nodded.
"Right," Remus said crisply. "Ron, I can't mend bones nearly as well as Madam Pomfrey, so I think it's best if we just strap your leg up until we can get you to the hospital wing." Remus gently tapped Ron's leg with his wand, and a split and bandages appeared around Ron's leg.
"Thanks," Ron said, setting his leg down carefully.
Hermione's voice broke out uncertainly and a bit guiltily as she asked, "What about Professor Snape?"
"Oh…" Remus said, blinking as he remembered Snape. I leapt over lightly to Snape's unconscious figure and lightly put my paw on his wrist, checking his pulse. I looked up at Remus and nodded.
"There's nothing seriously wrong with him," Remus reported back to the group. "You were just a little – overenthusiastic. Still out cold." He scratched his head for a moment, wondering whether to wake up Snape. Deciding against it, he said, "Er – perhaps it will be best if we don't revive him until we're safely back in the castle." He waved his wand and Snape's body floated up, his feet hanging a few inches above the ground. I shuddered at the unseemly sight and backed away. Remus picked up the Invisibility Cloak and tucked it into his pocket.
Sirius, who still his wand on Peter, said, "Two of us should be chained to this. Just to make sure."
Remus nodded and said, "I'll do it."
"And me," Ron volunteered, determined. Having finally accepted that his rat was Peter Pettigrew in disguise, Ron had, understandably, taken the insult personally.
I sprang forward and led the way out of the room, my bottlebrush tail held happily and righteously high. I finally had my full faith restored in my best friends – Sirius and Remus. They had never betrayed me, and it hadn't just been a foolish mistake on my part to love and trust them. My heart ached for Sirius, and I still felt hurt that he hadn't come to me himself, but those small twinges of hurt were nothing compared to the absolutely glorious feeling of relief and love surging through my body. Sirius had been the man I loved, all of these years, and he was going to be free again, at long last. Finally, he and I could give Harry, our godson, the home and care he so deserved. And Remus would be a part of that, undoubtedly. Sirius, Harry, me, and Remus. My heart lifted like a balloon at the very thought of such a future and now, it was so close that I could taste it. All we had to do was bring Peter Pettigrew to Albus Dumbledore.
