AN: We're on the last few chapters now (17 in total). Lots of loose ends to tie up.
She didn't know how long it had been. Amelie sat on the bench outside Professor McGonagall's office, now occupied by the Aurors, rolling the empty cage back and forth in her hands. The small door creaked on its hinges. She was looking right past it to the wooden floor under her feet.
People, wearing official-looking robes, came and went, some heading upstairs to Dumbledore's study, others walking downstairs and vanishing into the castle.
None of them paid her any mind.
Amelie felt exhausted in a way she couldn't remember feeling since she first came to Hogwarts. The whirlwind of shouting, pointing, arguing and her being moved around like a piece of furniture since the confrontation on the ground floor, left her feeling numb.
Just as soon as she had grasped a crumb of information, she'd been ushered out of the room and dumped here, to await being called upon.
Too many things were happening all at once and she wasn't just missing most of the pieces, but had no idea what the final puzzle was even supposed to look like.
She had been wrong about everything. About the rat, about Sirius Black, about who he was after, about Bow Creek. Looking up, she watched the door to the office, behind which she could still hear muffled voices. Some part of her wanted to listen in, to hear what was being said, to know...
With a sigh, Amelie put the cage down and leaned back against the wall. She had been told to stay put and wait, but she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that Mrs. Ogden and the Aurors, who had arrived on the scene, had forgotten about her. She looked up when she heard footsteps approaching.
"This seat taken?" Professor Lupin asked, a faint smile on his face.
Just like her, he appeared tired. Anger and confusion had given way to exhausted resignation.
"Please," she replied, sitting up straight.
Lupin sat down next to her on the bench and folded his hands, his eyes locked on the door across from them.
"Sir?"
"Yes, Amelie?"
"That man, Pettigrew," she began, "who is he really?"
Nodding softly, Lupin let out a slow breath, before turning to face her.
"Do you remember when we talked in my office last year? When I spoke of my time at Hogwarts? Peter was one of the friends I made during those years."
Amelie cast a careful glance at her teacher. "Like Sirius Black?"
Lupin looked genuinely surprised, his eyebrows raised.
"I, uhm, I overheard the Aurors talking about it outside the Great Hall," she explained. "I can hear pretty far at night."
"I see. Yes, it's true. Sirius, Peter and I were friends during our school-years and beyond. And the fourth member of our little group was James. Harry's father."
It was Amelie's turn to be surprised. "You knew Harry's parents?"
"We graduated together," Lupin continued, "and we stayed together during Voldemort's first rise to power. Not long after we had left Hogwarts, James married Lily, Harry's mother."
The smile had vanished from his features.
"It was a dangerous time, Amelie. All of us knew that we were at risk because we chose to oppose him and his Death Eaters. But James and Lily, well, they soon had more than just themselves to worry about.
There is a charm that will hide the location of a place or a person from all magical means of finding them. Only the person designated as the secret-keeper can know or reveal where they are."
Lupin sighed and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees.
"When James and Lily went into hiding, they selected Sirius as their secret-keeper. But they were betrayed and their home was revealed to Lord Voldemort. The rest, I'm sure, you've read plenty about.
When we received news of what had happened, the only conclusion was that Sirius had given the Potters up. Witnesses later reported that he and Peter fought each other, during which Peter denounced him as a traitor, before Sirius blew Peter up. Along with a dozen innocent Muggles.
But what we know now... is that Peter was their secret-keeper. Peter killed those Muggles and escaped in the chaos, leaving Sirius to take the blame."
Amelie listened closely as Lupin explained their history.
"But sir, if you were friends... why would Sirius Black betray them to Voldemort? Why didn't they tell you that they had changed their plan? How... how could that be?"
Lupin gave her a grave look.
"You have to understand, Amelie, things were dire. Voldemort had followers and spies everywhere. Not to mention those he put under his will by force. You didn't know who you could trust, who had been bewitched or who would be willing to sell you out for protection or to share in Voldemort's power."
He looked down and said quietly, "Sirius had... a difficult childhood. His family was very close to the Dark Arts, very proud of their 'pure and noble blood'. When he was sorted into Gryffindor, instead of Slytherin, they all but disowned him.
He was reckless at times, prone to taking risks regardless of the danger to others. I- I'm ashamed to admit it, but believing that he had joined the Death Eaters was... not an impossibility."
Amelie watched him wringing his hands, his eyes occasionally drifting to the closed door.
"Did you get to speak with him afterwards? About why he did it?" she asked, but Lupin shook his head.
"There was never a full trial. He was declared guilty and carted off to Azkaban that very day," he said, looking pained by the memory.
"At first I didn't believe it. Couldn't believe it. But then I thought 'what about all those other people who had been betrayed'? Had they been just as certain that the ones who had betrayed them to Voldemort had been innocent? It became... easier to believe it as time went on."
Lupin straightened up and took another deep breath.
"And I was wrong. I let him down. I wouldn't be surprised if Sirius never wants to see me again."
"You haven't spoken to him yet, sir?" Amelie asked, stealing another glance at the door to the office.
"No. They're still not done with their interrogations. I only know what I've been told by the people from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement who questioned Sirius earlier. By the way, have you seen Harry and his friends around here?"
Amelie pointed across the hallway, where the muffled voices had quieted down again.
"They're in the office. They've been talking to Mrs. Ogden and, uhm... Mr. Black for a while now. Professor, I didn't get to ask anyone yet, but what happened this morning? Why were you all in the corridor when he tried to sneak into Hogwarts again?"
"I was talking to Mrs. Ogden in her temporary headquarters in the West Tower, when Harry, Ron and Hermione all but barged in, claiming they knew that Sirius was trying to enter the castle through a secret passage," Lupin replied.
"I didn't fully believe them at first," he went on, "and I think Mrs. Ogden only agreed to come along to humour Harry. Although after today, I really shouldn't be surprised that you children seem to know everything."
The hint of a smile returned to his lips.
"We went down to the Kelpie passage and ran straight into Sirius coming out of the trap-door. We drew our wands and Ogden ordered him to surrender. Then you showed up and, well, you know the rest."
Amelie hung her head. Sirius Black hadn't even been in the castle since his first break-in on Halloween.
"I thought... I thought Mr. Black was the rat Animagus I had seen in the corridor," she confessed.
Lupin gave her a curious look and asked, "How did you know Peter wasn't just a normal rat?"
"I could smell it, sir. An Animagus smells strange, as if there's a human under there somewhere. I first noticed it when Professor McGonagall showed us her transformation back in first year."
He raised another eyebrow and said, "Better keep that part to yourself, Amelie."
There were footsteps on the other side of the door and a moment later it opened. A man wearing Auror robes looked at Amelie and Lupin, before beckoning them over.
"She would like to speak with you both."
The deputy headmistress' small office was quite crowded. At the head of a large table sat Mrs. Ogden, surrounded by papers. A quill was hovering in front of her, occasionally dribbling a bit of ink.
Harry, Ron and Hermione sat on chairs near the entrance and across from them, flanked by two Aurors, was Sirius Black.
He looked tired, but strangely sober, his hands folded in his lap. A pair of iron cuffs were fastened around his wrists. The mad, frantic gleam had disappeared from his steely, grey eyes.
His tattered coat hung across the back of his chair and his sleeves were rolled up, showing how thin his arms looked underneath. He blinked as Amelie and Lupin walked in.
Harry turned and gave Amelie a weak smile. The boiling anger, followed by utter confusion during their standoff in the corridor, had faded.
Next to him, Ron looked the worst of the trio. He was pale, his eyes downcast and he didn't even look up as he heard them enter. Hermione kept sending concerned looks in his direction.
"Ah, the last actors in this circus," Mrs. Ogden said, the exhaustion in her voice rather tangible. "Take a seat, Mr. Lupin and Miss..." she pulled a piece of parchment from the pile in front of her, "Hastings."
Amelie slid into the chair next to Harry, while Lupin sat at the other end of the table.
He asked, "What happened to Peter?"
"Pettigrew has been transferred to the Ministry and is being held in custody there," Mrs. Ogden explained, shoving another stack of papers into a folder and dropping it at her side. "We're not taking any chances this time."
She leaned back into Professor McGonagall's chair and heaved a deep sigh. Some of her hair had come loose from its bun and she appeared as if she was on the last stretch of a twenty-four-hour shift. She rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"Now, time to bring some order to this chaos. I have already collected testimonies from Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger here, as well as from the accused, Mr. Black."
She shot the former fugitive a glance.
"It would appear Mr. Black attempted to enter the castle under the cover of the Quidditch match today to capture Pettigrew himself."
Looking down, Mrs. Ogden consulted the parchment again.
"Mr. Lupin, you've already been briefed by DMLE personnel, correct?"
"Yes."
"Good." She nodded and turned to Amelie. "Which leaves you, Miss Hastings. Would you mind telling me why in Merlin's name you were running through the castle with a Death Eater, who is also an unregistered Animagus, in your possession?"
The floating quill twitched and moved over to an empty page.
Amelie could feel her stomach clenching up. There was a razor-thin edge between telling the truth and telling too much. She would have to choose her words carefully. Taking a quiet breath, she began to talk.
By the time Amelie had stammered her way through an explanation that was close enough to the truth, while hiding how she had identified Pettigrew as an Animagus, she felt as if the chair had turned into smouldering coals underneath her.
The self-writing quill had filled several pages with her words, jotting down every stutter and awkward pause.
Resting her head in her hand, Mrs. Ogden gave her a flat look.
"Am I to understand, Miss Hastings, that you found a stray Animagus, deduced that it must be a known criminal on the run from the law and then devised a hare-brained scheme to break into another house's common room, confront an alleged mass-murderer by yourself, stuff him into a cage and then present him to a teacher?
Am I getting this right?"
Amelie sputtered, her hands clenching her skirt, "I- well, I thought I'd- I didn't think it would..."
Mrs. Ogden let out a breath and rubbed her temples.
"Explain to me, Miss Hastings, how you are not also in Gryffindor with the other three thirteen year old-"
"I'm fourteen," Hermione mumbled.
"-underage, inexperienced young children," Mrs. Ogden went on, sending Hermione a brief glare, "who decided that inserting themselves into the hunt for a dangerous criminal was a brilliant idea?"
Chewing on her lip, Amelie muttered, "I'm sorry."
"Nevermind," the Auror growled, waving her hand dismissively. She grabbed the piece of parchment and stuffed it angrily into the folder with the others.
"Right," she began, "that will be that for here today. The headmaster and Professor McGonagall are being informed as we speak. I expect they'll have a few questions of their own."
There was the not-so-subtle expectation of deducted house-points and detention in her voice.
Amelie turned in surprise as she heard Ron asking, "What's going to happen with my family? Scabbers-... Pettigrew, he was..."
"I understand, Mr. Weasley. Madam Bones is speaking to Arthur at the moment. Be assured that nobody suspects your father of any wrongdoing, but we still need to make sure that he was not put under the Imperius Curse. I'm sorry you have been made to endure Pettigrew's presence."
Ron only nodded slowly.
Clearing his throat, Black spoke up for the first time. His voice sounded far clearer than his panicked rambling hours before.
"The Prophet said something about another murder I supposedly committed."
It was Mrs. Ogden's turn to look uncomfortable. Shuffling through her parchment, she muttered, "A bit of an overreaction. I- the department assumed you'd been looking for information on Mr. Potter's whereabouts, but... well, nevermind that now. That trail is cold."
Collecting herself, she turned to Black and stated, "Well, it's time for us to get going."
Shock appeared on Black's face and he opened his mouth, but Ogden cut in right away, holding up her hand.
"To the Ministry, Mr. Black, not Azkaban. There's still a mountain of paperwork to go through, not to mention official statements to the DMLE and an official ruling from the Wizengamot. The Anti-Portkey charms should be lifted by now, so we'll be on our way once we've finished."
"I see," Black mumbled. "Assuming Fudge won't sic the Dementors on me as soon as we arrive..."
"No need for such pessimism, Mr. Black," said a deep, raspy voice.
They looked up and saw a man emerging from the door at the back of the office. He was tall, with a mane of tawny hair and grey streaks running through it. He wore dark, burgundy robes and a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles.
"The minister will be delighted to announce in the coming days, that the mystery of Peter Pettigrew's fake murder has been resolved under his watchful leadership. A dangerous follower of You-Know-Who has been apprehended and a grave, judicial error, committed under the previous administration, will be rectified," the man explained in a matter-of-factly tone.
Something clicked and Amelie remembered where she had heard his voice before. He was the man Mrs. Ogden had spoken to that night back in November, shortly after the disastrous Quidditch game between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.
"Scrimgeour. Now that's a surprise," Black muttered.
"Hardly," the man, 'Scrimgeour', replied mirthlessly. "This whole debacle has been a security fiasco of the highest order. I am here to see this taken care of personally."
Mrs. Ogden cleared her throat and explained, "The official statement from the Ministry will read that Pettigrew, who had been hiding out in Hogsmeade for years, attempted to enter the Hogwarts grounds.
Mr. Black, who had broken out of Azkaban to chase after the man he knew to be a traitor, cornered him long enough for patrolling Aurors to arrive and arrest Pettigrew. The end."
"So you're just going to cover up everything that really happened?" Hermione asked in a huff, crossing her arms.
Ogden fixated her with a stern look.
"The alternative, Miss Granger, is that we tell the truth and you will likely see your names and faces on the front-page of the Daily Prophet, where all the Death Eaters in hiding, who are about to be unmasked as a result of Pettigrew's interrogation, can see them."
Black sighed and shook his head, muttering, "Leave it. It's always been like this."
"Take heart, Mr. Black," Scrimgeour said, sounding rather satisfied, "by the end of the day you'll be a free man."
He didn't look particularly happy, but Black didn't object. Surprisingly, he turned to the Gryffindors and said, "Harry, I understand if, after all this, you don't want to hear from me again. What I did was... inexcusable. But if there's ever anything you want to know or any help you need..."
Amelie gave them a confused look. What was he talking about?
"I..." Harry began, "I don't know, but... if it's alright, I still want to talk. About my parents and, well, everything."
Mrs. Ogden, who was in the process of stuffing her reports into an ink-stained bag, said, "I'm sure there will be plenty of time to have a chat with your godfather, Mr. Potter, but we really need to be going now. Time is of the essence."
Amelie felt her jaw drop. Sirius Black was Harry Potter's godfather? She glanced at the former fugitive and, for the first time since she had entered the room, she saw a small smile playing around his lips.
Black turned to look at Lupin, who had been awfully quiet throughout the whole meeting.
Lupin avoided his gaze and began, "Sirius, I'm-"
"Moony, if the next words coming out of your mouth are how sorry you are for everything then I swear, as soon as I'm out of these cuffs, I'm going to sock you one."
The corner of Black's mouth lifted into a full-blown grin as he watched his old friend look dumbfounded. Lupin seemed lost for words, but after a moment, he simply gave a nod.
"We'll catch up soon, Padfoot."
Scrimgeour glanced at a small, copper pocket-watch and said, "It is time. The sooner we get some names out of Pettigrew, the more likely we are to catch his former comrades before they scatter like roaches."
They rose from their seats, but just as Mrs. Ogden turned to leave, she stopped.
"There is still one more thing I would very much like to know..."
She looked towards them. Amelie could feel her insides turning to ice as the Auror's brow furrowed and she eyed the students before her suspiciously.
"Mr. Potter, when you and your friends burst into my conversation with Mr. Lupin, how exactly did you know that Black would try to enter the school again? And how did you know about the passage under the Kelpie statue?"
There was a rather tense pause as Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged nervous looks.
"Well..." Ron began. Harry gave him a barely perceptible nod. "We- we have this map, you see..."
He pulled a weathered, old piece of parchment from his pocket and spread it out on the table. It was the same parchment he had wanted to tell Harry about in the courtyard before the Christmas holidays.
There were lines and sketches that, Amelie realised, showed the different floors of Hogwarts. To her astonishment, there were little dots moving around on the parchment, each with a bit of text next to them, spelling out a name.
Sure enough, the upstairs office near the top of the Faculty Tower held a circle of dots, one of which was labelled 'Amelie Hastings'.
They stared, speechless, at the magical map Ron had produced.
Amelie flinched when Sirius Black suddenly burst out laughing.
They were led back down to the faculty area, where they were received by Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout.
Harry, Ron and Hermione walked over to McGonagall, who looked not in the least bit surprised at which three of her students were the ones who had gotten involved with the latest dangerous event that had unfolded at Hogwarts.
For Amelie, it was the slight look of disappointment in Professor Sprout's eyes that stung more than a dozen detentions ever could.
"I'll be having a talk with Miss Hastings, Minerva, and hear her side of the story" she said, giving the deputy headmistress a meaningful look.
Without Harry and his friends in the room, they would be able to speak freely about what Amelie had seen, even the parts that would reveal her secret.
She followed her head of house into another small office.
The room was filled with a myriad of small decorations, potted plants and, most of all, many framed pictures.
Almost all of them featured groups of students or young adults, some of them included Professor Sprout as well. Standing in their midst, hugging students on their day of graduation and occasionally even holding a baby or two, with the young parents smiling along with her.
It was a cosy, inviting place with an arm-chair and a sofa standing by a small coffee-table, while Professor Sprout's desk only took up a small corner of the room.
What parts of the walls weren't covered in portraits or photographs held shelves with rows of books, some small and narrow, others almost as thick as they were tall.
"Please, sit down."
Amelie gingerly took a seat on the sofa, while Sprout let herself sink into the arm-chair, before letting out a deep sigh.
"What a day, hmm? And it's still only just past two," Sprout said softly, folding her hands in her lap.
Amelie gave only a small nod. She couldn't bring herself to look Professor Sprout in the eye after all she had done. Somehow, it would've been more of a relief if her teacher was angry or chastising.
"The Aurors have told us what happened, excluding, of course, your conversation with Mrs. Ogden upstairs."
"Professor, I-"
"I can," Sprout cut in, "hazard a decent guess as to how you managed to get a hold of Mr. Weasley's rat and, given what we have learned about its true identity, why you chose to go after it in the first place."
There was another torturous pause, every second in silence making Amelie feel as if she was shrinking into the sofa.
"There are, Amelie, many ways to describe what you have done today," Sprout went on, her voice calm and level, "Cunning, brave... also reckless, obsessed and foolish beyond belief."
Hanging her head low, Amelie wondered if the universe would show mercy and spontaneously turn her into a small, miserable pile of ash.
"I'm sorry, Professor," she said quietly.
"...why?"
Amelie looked up, feeling vaguely confused.
"Why are you sorry, Amelie? What is it you think you have done wrong?" her teacher asked, her face and tone neutral. There was no doubt. She wanted Amelie to say it.
"For... for...," Amelie croaked, her mouth suddenly very dry, "I- I ran off alone... I wanted to solve it."
"You encountered a problem and you made it yours and yours alone," Sprout stated calmly, "You did not seek help or counsel, you took no chance of being rejected."
"I could have been wrong..." Amelie replied, barely above a whisper.
"And would that have been so bad?"
She didn't know what to say. Professor Sprout was right, she had taken everything upon her own shoulders. In a way, she had even liked it. Crafting a plan, setting a trap. Just her against the odds.
And she had never bothered to go to Polly and Riyan. Too afraid that they would doubt her, or worse, try to be a part of what desperate course of action she had thrown herself into.
"Often the greatest power we have is not the spells we know or the tools we possess, but the people we can rely upon," Sprout stated.
The edge had disappeared from her voice and Amelie finally dared to look her in the face again. Professor Sprout's expression had softened. Ever so slowly, Amelie nodded.
"Despite all the rules you broke and the risks you took today, I cannot overlook that you also helped bring a dangerous criminal to justice and gave an innocent man his freedom. As such, I hope you will take this lesson to heart."
Sprout gave her a gentle smile.
"Look to your friends, Amelie, even if they can feel distant at times. Such things are unavoidable. What matters is that we find our way back, even if we have to remind them sometimes. At Hogwarts, you are never alone, Amelie."
"Yes, professor. Thank you."
The small office seemed just a little bit brighter.
"Now then," Sprout said, "I suppose you'll be wanting to join the celebrations in the common room downstairs."
"Celebrations?" Amelie asked with a slight frown. Her eyes widened as the realisation hit home.
"The Quidditch match! I totally- did, did we win, professor?"
"You weren't the only one to overcome a great struggle today," Sprout replied, giving her a wink.
Amelie said goodbye to Professor Sprout at the bottom of the Moving Staircase, before heading down to the wine-cellar hiding the entrance to the Hufflepuff den. Even from outside, it was impossible to miss the sounds of many people laughing and talking loudly.
She drew her wand and tapped the boards of the smaller barrel by the wall, before watching the entrance portal opening before her. A wave of noise washed over her and she stepped into the common room.
It was pandemonium. Every single Hufflepuff had come down to celebrate. There were platters, still half-filled with snacks, on every available surface. Someone had brought an enchanted phonograph that was playing fast, swinging music.
The chaos thankfully helped to hide her arrival, at least until she made her way over to the small corner usually occupied by Amelie and her fellow second years.
"Oh, look who's come crawling back!" hollered Bernard while getting precariously close to spilling the contents of his goblet.
Patricia gave her a serious look and chided, "Good grief, Amelie, we thought you were dead."
"You're the only one who keeps saying that," Gareth slurred, his arm around the shoulder of his room-mate.
Amelie tried to look apologetic.
"I'm sorry, really. Something came up and there was no way I could make it back in time."
Riyan, who had been watching her with a raised eyebrow, shuffled closer and said under his breath, "'I forgot something.' Right... and I'm assuming the fact that there's a ton of Aurors running all over the castle today of all days has absolutely nothing to do with that."
Amelie mumbled, "Talk later. Charms classroom," out of the corner of her mouth.
She didn't get any further, because a pair of arms suddenly wrapped itself clumsily around her neck and a voice shouted in her ear, "Ameliiiiiiee! Wheref' you been? We- we won, by the way!"
Polly appeared to be completely out of it. She was still wearing her Quidditch robes, even though there were several grass-stains on them.
"Hey. I'm- I'm so sorry, Polly. I-"
She noticed that her friend looked a bit unfocussed. A bottle, half full with some frothy, brown liquid, was clutched in her hand. Amelie leaned closer and took a careful whiff.
"Uh, Polly? What is that?"
"Butterbeer," Polly replied, a wide grin across her face, "Beatrice went and... and got a few cases. Wanna try some?"
She held out the bottle towards Amelie, before slapping her forehead. "Ah... hehe, sorry. Kinda forgot..."
Clearing her throat, Polly leaned closer. "So, wanna tell me what crazy thing happened and how you're somehow stuck in the middle again as always?"
Amelie opened her mouth to reply, but after a moment simply shook her head.
"It's not that important. I'll tell you later," she said with a smile, "You should enjoy the party right now."
Polly grinned brightly.
"Only if you enjoy it with us."