Bookcozy: Ohhhh, Snape. The man I hate a little too much…Yes, he was the one who told Voldemort of the prophecy in the first place. I have recently re-read the series since I was writing them again, and (worse in my opinion) he told Dumbledore to save Lily only, not James and Harry. So…I do not understand him in general. Bravery aside, I despise him LOL. Wormtail is the only one I despise more than Snape. And I made him so much worse in this one by making him the one that betrayed Carla LOL. Can't help it…I hate him.
readerfaye: Wormtail will always just simply be the worst. I can't stand him. And, yes, Snape…I despise him as well. He has such a huge following from most of the HP fans, I feel like, but I just cannot get over his behavior. Maybe if he had changed after everything with Voldemort I would like him more, but he's still a bully, still loves the Dark Arts, still is totally insane. I just can't handle it LOL. The only people I hate more than Snape are Voldemort, Peter, and Umbridge. Not looking good for him. Arthur Weasley, however….love that guy. Every Weasley but Percy, honestly (and sometimes Ron tbh) are just the best. Also, not even that Harry named his kid after Snape but that he named him Albus Severus. Why did he do him like that?
One more chapter after this one, folks! GoF, here we come!
Chapter Twenty Nine
Nessa was rooted to the spot as everyone in the room cried out in alarm and lunged forward to pull Tori back and away from Pettigrew. Ron, who was unable to move due to his leg, stared in horror at the sight before him, leaning on a still crying Hermione. Fred, George, Harry, Lupin, and Black grabbed whatever part of Tori they could reach, trying to pull her off of the man below her.
Tori was strong, though. She'd played Quidditch most of her life, and being Chaser meant she had more strength than she was typically given credit for. And whatever rage or adrenaline she was currently feeling only made it harder for them to maintain control over her. Pettigrew gasped as much air as he was able in the small periods where the five of them managed to peel her fingers from around his throat, but his struggle to buck her off after was useless and none of them could keep hold of her for long enough to pull her away completely. Nessa watched as Tori continuously shook one of them off before going back to attempting to cut off Pettigrew's air supply.
There was a certain horror to it that she couldn't look away from. She had not a clue how Pettigrew was still awake, how he hadn't passed out, even if he was getting several gulps of air each time the five men managed to loosen Tori's grip or remove it entirely. He looked panicked. They all looked panicked. Black and Lupin, who had had no qualms with killing Pettigrew themselves, did not seem to have any desire to watch Tori be the one to do it for them. Personally, Nessa had no idea what either of them had expected. Tori had a notoriously cruel streak. Tori, like Black, also would have likely found it funny to send Snape after a fully transformed werewolf. Tori, like Black, also would have murdered an old friend in cold blood for betraying her or Fred or George. Tori, like Black, had no qualms about being a bully if it meant getting vengeance for a slight against her friends or family.
Like father, like daughter, Snape had said.
The parallels were uncanny as she stared at what was happening before her. But, as everyone else panicked, Nessa felt…nothing. She didn't move, even after the shock of it all wore. She didn't move, even after Tori's face contorted in a look so rageful that it was clear she was lost to the feeling and not thinking clearly at all. She didn't move, even when she knew that the only one that would be able to talk Tori down was her.
She felt nothing for the man fighting for his life in front of her. That would frighten her later, she was sure. Once the entire thing had settled. It was not normal to feel so empty at the sight unfolding before her. She knew that. Maybe it was the shock of the evening, maybe it was her own belief that Pettigrew didn't deserve to breathe when her parents — when Tori's mother — were no longer able to because of him. Maybe she was as bad as Voldemort and every one of his followers for believing that. Maybe she'd hate herself for doing nothing tomorrow when the truth died with Peter. Maybe she'd hate herself for being so callous about another person's life when she was waking up, still alive and breathing, tomorrow morning.
But right now?
Right now, she hoped Tori killed him. Right now, she didn't give a shit who killed him. Just as long as she didn't have to wake up the next morning and feel whatever cold, empty, painful emotion she felt now at the idea of him walking out of this alive.
Harry whirled when none of them managed to get her off of him, hands coming up to tug at his hair anxiously. His panicked expression met Nessa's and he startled, seemingly not having realized in the chaos of it all that she was not among those helping to save a man's life.
"Nessa," he yelled. "Do something! She'll listen to you!"
Nessa didn't. She couldn't. Everything hurt. The numbness was spreading. All she could see was her father crumpling, his glasses askew; her mother shutting her into that room to spare her from whatever horror was going to happen in the room next door; Tori breaking on the train, the scream still ringing in her ears, the crumpling, gasping sobs, the begging to make the screaming stop. All she could hear was her mother's begging to save her brother's life, to take her instead; that high, cold laugh that would never, in all her life, leave her nightmares; her own scream when she'd watched her brother, her entire life, fall from his broomstick because the sound of their mother's screaming was too much for him to handle.
He — Pettigrew — was responsible for that. He was not sorry. He had betrayed his friends more than once, years apart. He was the one who got to live, in the same home as the daughter of a man and woman he'd betrayed, full and happy, waiting for any word to kill her brother. And he would have. In a heartbeat. Nessa had no doubt about that.
So, she stared at her brother and didn't move. She let the rage of it all boil too high to be rational, to convince herself that he was right.
"Nessa, please!" Harry shouted. Fred was trying to convince Tori that she didn't want to do this, that she would regret it later, but Tori wasn't listening. She'd never listened to either of the twins. "He's a disgusting human being, Vanessa," Harry implored. "He is. He probably deserves it. But not like this. Tori doesn't deserve to become a murderer!"
Nessa jolted like he'd shocked her, stumbling backward as all rational thought reached her through the rage and the numbness she felt.
Tori…a murderer…
The similarities between her and her father were obvious, endless. But unlike Black, Tori would not be able to live with herself if she took Pettigrew's life. Tori, who spent every day of her life pranking and laughing and teasing with the Weasley twins, would never be able to reconcile what she'd done with that part of herself. Tori was rash, but she wasn't unkind.
No matter how Nessa felt, she could not let her live the rest of her life with the knowledge that she'd taken another's.
She focused on what was happening before her. Tori was beyond reasoning with, and they were no closer to pulling her away from Pettigrew than they had ever been. Fred was no closer to convincing her to listen to him. Pettigrew was clearly exhausted from gasping for breath every time they managed to get her to loosen her hold enough for him to do so.
Nessa had no idea why none of them used their wands to pull them apart. The panic and chaos seemed to have overridden every single one of their rational minds.
Nessa yelled, "Explulso!", sweeping her arm across the room. Black, Lupin, Fred, and George were flung, wandlessly, across the room and away from Tori and Pettigrew. Tori's grip tightened immediately now that she had no one to stop her.
"Nessa!" Harry yelled in alarm. She repeated the movement and spell on her brother, and barely looked at him as he was flung toward the others. "Nessa, don't —"
"Do not move," Nessa snapped at them as they all made to rush forward again. "Do not talk to her. Do not touch her." They all stopped dead, looking at her in surprise, but her gaze was locked on Tori in front of her. "Victoria," she said firmly, not even bothering to raise her voice. "Tori, look at me." Tori flinched but didn't obey. "Victoria, look at me!"
The silence in the room was heavy, as they watched with bated breath, to see if Tori would listen. She did this time, but her hands did not loosen as their gazes locked. Nessa watched the rage flicker in the gray of her eyes, the storm clouds in them lightening only briefly enough to show her the breathtaking grief below it, the desperation, the injustice of it all.
Nessa swallowed against the rage that reared again at the sight of the pain in Tori's eyes, pushed it back into the little box it belonged in, reminded herself that she was sparing Tori, not Pettigrew.
"Let him breathe, Victoria," she said, keeping her voice as steady as she could, her gaze as unyielding and impartial as she felt on the inside. Tori shook her head, slowly, the desperation clouding her features. "You don't have to let him go. But let him breathe." Tori hesitated, her gaze moving to the man below her. "Don't look at him, Victoria. Look at me."
Her gaze snapped back, and Nessa swallowed against the sob she wanted to release at the tears brimming in Tori's eyes.
"Nessa —"
"I said don't talk," Nessa snapped at Lupin, her gaze remaining fixed on her best friend in front of her. Lupin went silent immediately, whether from shock at her tone or because he truly believed it was for the best, she had not a clue. "Loosen your grip, Tori," she repeated calmly.
Tori hesitated again, and Nessa's heart pounded hard against her ribs as Pettigrew's face became a violent shade of red. She would blast Tori away from him if she had to. But Tori deserved to have a choice in this, deserved to wake up tomorrow and know that she hadn't killed him because she'd chosen to spare him and not because she'd been forced to. It would make the doubt afterward easier if she didn't have to wonder if she'd have gone through with it, given the chance. The guilt of those thoughts would eat her alive just as much.
Whatever Tori saw in her face as she stared at her seemed to be reason enough. Nessa heard the exhales of everyone in the room as Tori loosened her grip enough that Peter started choking on the oxygen that flooded his lungs. Any longer and Nessa was sure he'd have passed out.
She kept her gaze trained on Tori, as the man below her gasped and choked until he was able to breathe again, the red fading in his face and leaving him bloodless.
"Do not move or I will let her kill you, do you understand?" Nessa said coldly, her eyes still fixed on Tori.
It was a lie. But Pettigrew was a coward and he didn't know her well enough to know that. He wouldn't take the chance. He made a choked noise, but nodded, eyeing Tori's hands anxiously as they rested firmly around his neck still.
"You want him to die," Tori croaked, as if the exhaustion and rage had stolen her ability to speak. She sounded as horrible as her father. No one in the room spoke. No one moved. She could feel them all staring at them, waiting with bated breath to see if Tori would let him go. "I can see it in your face. You're sparing him for Harry's sake."
Nessa did not bother denying it.
"You're right," she said truthfully. "I do want him dead. I did choose to spare him for Harry. I believe he deserves nothing less than death for what he's done to him, to Black, to you."
Tori's gaze hardened and her fingers tightened convulsively, making Pettigrew gasp beneath her, as if the words alone were confirmation enough that she should just kill him.
"Then let me do it," Tori said, her voice hard. "He deserves it. Harry —"
"Harry is not the reason I'm stopping you now, Victoria," Nessa interrupted firmly, flicking her eyes toward Tori's hands pointedly. Tori loosened her grip again, looking as though she hadn't realized they'd tightened again.
"Then why?"
"Because you can't live with this," she said simply. They were talking to each other casually, as if merely discussing the weather or their exam scores or asking for advice on their love lives. "You don't deserve to live with this. He's taken more than enough from you already."
Tori released a shuddering breath, shaking, tears brimming in her eyes and overflowing to run down her face.
"I can hear the screaming," she whispered brokenly. "All I can hear is the screaming. I — I forgot so much of what happened, you know. Until the dementors. It's like they — it's like they opened a dam and now I — I can't hear anything else, Nessa. Every time I close my eyes, I hear her begging them. She never begged anyone for anything. But she begged them. She pleaded with them to spare me. I could hear them tearing apart the house, as they took turns torturing her. I can't — I can't make it stop, Vanessa," she said in quiet desperation. Black collapsed as if the words had knocked his legs out from under him. Lupin stumbled and had to catch himself on the wall behind him. "How do I make it stop?"
Nessa's vision blurred through her own tears, and she swallowed hard.
"I hear it too," she said. "My mother — she watched my father die. She ran with me and Harry. She locked me alone in their bedroom, told me she loved me, and left with Harry. She tried to spare me, even if she couldn't spare Harry. I heard the screaming. She begged too. She begged him to take her instead, to let Harry live. Her dying breath was for my brother. He laughed as he killed her," Black and Lupin paled, flinching back from the words. "He showed her no mercy, no pity, no empathy."
"He did that," Tori whispered viciously, her grip tightening on Pettigrew's neck for emphasis.
Nessa took a slow, cautious step forward. When Tori didn't move, she took another. And another. Until she was directly in front of her, and she could lower herself to her knees next to them.
"He did," she agreed, reaching forward to wrap her hand around Tori's wrist gently. She didn't tug, didn't attempt to remove it, didn't look away from her best friend. "He did do that. And sparing him is more than he deserves, Victoria. I know that, and so do you. So do they. But if you kill him now, the truth will die with him. If you kill him now, your father will go back to prison, and you'll never get the chance to know him. If you kill him now, you'll live the rest of your life hating yourself, wondering if you made the right choice." Tori let out a sob. "He doesn't deserve to take any more from you, from us, than he already has. He deserves nothing more from you."
Tori let out another broken sob, and Fred took a pained step forward.
"I said don't move," Nessa snapped. George put an arm out to block his movement and gave him a hard look when he went to argue. Tori didn't appear as if she'd heard them at all.
"He took away every family I have ever had," she whispered.
Nessa tightened her grip on the wrist she held.
"That's not true," she whispered back. "You know that's not true. The Weasleys are your family. Me and Harry…we're your family."
"Would you —" Tori cleared her throat to stifle another sob. "Would you judge me? If I killed him?"
Nessa shook her head immediately, her gaze unwavering.
"No," she said truthfully. "I would never judge you for that. If you asked me, right now, to let you do this, then I would. And I'll still be there tomorrow to help you cope with it. But I don't want that for you. I love you too much to let you do this to yourself. So I'm asking you not to," she said, leaning forward to rest their foreheads together and whispered, "There are things in this life worse than death, Victoria. He was — is — too much of a coward to understand that. Killing him…it would be painless for him. It would not be justice. It is more than he deserves. He deserves to feel every ounce of the pain that you felt. He deserves to wish he had died instead, as he should have."
"Yes," Tori whispered brokenly.
"Let him go, Tori," Nessa said gently. "Don't do this to yourself. Killing him now will not bring her back. It won't make the screaming stop. It is a mercy he does not deserve. Let him suffer for what he's done."
"How?"
"Let him go," she repeated, and this time, she did pull on the hands still gripping Pettigrew's neck loosely. Tori let her. "Let him go, and the dementors will make sure he pays for every misery he's ever given you. He deserves nothing less than that."
Tori sobbed, releasing him completely. Pettigrew scrambled away from them hastily, hands around his neck, which was beginning to bruise. Nessa caught Tori as she pushed away from him, releasing a relieved breath and a sob all at once, as she clung to her. Hermione let out another sob, burying her face in Ron's shoulder to avoid looking at Tori break in front of her. Black and Lupin raised their wands again at Pettigrew, hands shaking, faces contorted in grief and rage. Harry stepped in front of them again.
Nessa let Tori cry for several long moments, and tried to make her own sobs as subtle as she could. Eventually, she looked up at the twins, who were rooted to the spot as if they had no idea what they were supposed to be doing.
"Fred," Nessa croaked. He was next to her in the next second, and Nessa handed him the still sobbing Tori. "Get her out of here."
Fred nodded, placing an arm under her knees and lifting her off the floor. He hesitated only to give Pettigrew a cold, cruel look, before he disappeared with Tori through the doorway. Nessa heard his steps disappear down the stairs.
Still kneeling on the floor, still trying to maintain her composure long enough to make her decision clear, she looked up at Black and Lupin, who looked as though they might still kill Pettigrew, more so after what they'd just witnessed.
"He goes to the dementors," she said, her voice ringing in the room, cold and hard. They flicked their gazes toward her.
"My daughter —"
"Your daughter," Nessa said coldly, standing slowly. "Wants him handed to the dementors."
"She didn't say that," Black snapped back.
Nessa took a step toward him, her eyes flashing.
"Do not presume to know her more than I do," she said cruelly. "You have known her all of an hour." — Black flinched back as if she'd hit him. — "And since you are so concerned for your daughter," she continued snidely, "you will give her the opportunity to know her father, should she so wish it. Maybe she doesn't want to know you. That's not my business. But I will be damned if your act of vengeance robs her of another opportunity at knowing her family. She is not responsible for your trauma, Black," She stared at him, his angry eyes flashing at her. Lupin lowered his wand, with a nod. Black stared at her a moment longer before doing the same, nodding at her once. She looked toward Lupin. "He goes to the dementors, where he will pay in screams and grief, for every single one that she had to hear from her mother. He does not get the easy way out of this, and you do not deserve to give him that. The choice remains with the three of us. He lives." She looked in disgust at the cowering man behind her brother. "You should have let them kill you, Peter. I hope you rot in hell for what you did to her."
He whimpered, but she was already turning away from him. She gave her brother a hard look, and he nodded mutely. He'd never seen his sister so angry and cold before, but he wouldn't let them make any move to kill Pettigrew.
Nessa was careful to keep her face as blank and cold as she could muster as she walked out. She heard George follow behind her, heard Black growl at Peter that they'd kill him if he transformed, before she was staggering down the stairs and into the dark hallway below. George said nothing, as if he had no idea what he was supposed to say to her.
She barely made it into the cavernous room they'd first entered before the stress, the anger, the grief, the walls were pushing in on her until she couldn't breathe through it anymore. She collapsed on a gasping sob, leaning forward to get as close to the floor as the emotions wiped the breath from her lungs. She went willingly when George sank beside her and pulled her into him, as if every bit of fight had been drained out of her. She was gasping so loudly that she could hardly hear the gentle words he was murmuring in her ear. She tried desperately to shove it all back down, to compartmentalize it all before her brother could come downstairs and see her breaking.
"Tori," she gasped brokenly.
"She's alright, love," he said gently. "You made sure of that. Fred's got her. Just breathe."
She tried. Truthfully, she did, but the screams were ringing in her own ears now, her mother's desperation, her father's face flashing before her again. The look on Tori's face as she'd broken to pieces in front of her — for the second time that year — blinded her with grief and rage again. The realization that she had wanted Pettigrew to die, had hesitated in saving him, had nearly let her best friend pay for the rage that was swallowing her, shrouding everything around her in a darkness so black that she was afraid she'd never find her way out again.
"I wanted him dead, George," she gasped painfully. "God, I — I would have let her kill him if Harry hadn't —"
"You didn't," he said firmly.
"But I —"
"Look at me, Vanessa." She obeyed, startling at the hard tone to his voice. His eyes were bright, burning. "You didn't let her kill him. It doesn't matter how long it took you to spare him. It matters that you did. None of us are judging you for wanting him dead, Vanessa."
"I'm — I — good people don't want someone else to die —"
"It's not that black and white, love," he said, touching his forehead to hers in much the same way she'd done to Tori. "He's destroyed lives with no regard. You deserve to feel however you want to feel about what he took from you, and Harry, and Tori." She shook her head. "You know what I noticed while you were talking about him?" She gasped raggedly, trying to think straight enough to listen. "I noticed that every time you spoke about what he deserved, you said he deserved it for what he did to Tori and Harry. You never once mentioned what he did to you."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she gasped incredulously.
He chuckled sadly, brushing hair back behind her ear.
"It should," he said quietly. "You protected them in the only way you knew how. You've always protected the two of them, no matter what it takes from you in the process. You're a good person, love. Don't give him any more of yourself than he's already taken from you, either."
She gasped again when he leaned forward and brushed his lips with hers briefly, her heart stopping in her chest in surprise. He grinned at her, the first grin he'd made in hours and the sight of it grounded her a little more. She took another breath, and then another, until the tears subsided and she could think clearly again.
She looked around but didn't see Fred or Tori.
"They're outside," George said. She raised an eyebrow at him, pulling away from him to stand. He grinned again, brushing his hand against hers again. "Call it twin intuition, darling."
"I prefer 'creepy', but sure, we can call it that if you'd like," she muttered.
He squeezed her waist in warning, laughing when she squealed and took a swipe at him in response.
"Welcome back, love," he said, brushing his hand against hers again before tugging her toward the secret passage and through the low tunnel. "I'm never coming back through here again, I'll tell you that," he grumbled in front of her. "You'd think Dumbledore could have made the passage a bit taller, eh?"
She snorted but said nothing. It wasn't all that uncomfortable for her, considering, but she didn't think pointing this out would lead to anything more than ridicule from him. They did not speak again until they reached the end of the tunnel. When George disappeared above her, and she didn't hear any sound of savaging branches, she assumed that someone had pressed the knot on the trunk. She pulled herself through the hole after him and straightened.
The grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Tori and Fred were sitting on the ground, leaning against the trunk, Tori's hand resting on the knot of the trunk to keep the tree from moving. They were quiet and looking forward, and didn't move as George and Nessa approached, taking seats on either side of them. Neither of them commented on Tori's red and swollen eyes and Nessa tried not to make it too obvious that she noticed them holding hands, although they weren't looking at each other.
"Are they coming?" Tori said eventually. Her voice was raw.
"Eventually," Nessa said quietly. "They were figuring out how to get everyone back up to the castle when we left."
"Snape?"
"He'll be fine," she confirmed. "Harry, Ron, and Hermione were just — er — a little overly enthusiastic."
Fred snorted.
"He deserved it," he said baldly.
Nessa didn't argue. He'd been unreasonable and deranged. She'd never quite seen that sort of madness on his face before. That level of hatred ran deep, and she wondered if there were more to the story than just him being jealous of her father's Quidditch prowess. It seemed too tame a reason to hate someone so viciously.
"Are you okay?" Tori said, still refusing to look at her.
"I've been better," she said, honestly. "Are you?"
She smirked.
"I could use a drink, personally."
Nessa snorted, which Tori grinned at. The sight of it sent Nessa into peals of uncontrollable laughter. Tori tried valiantly to hold hers in, as Fred and George shared an alarmed look over their heads, but she broke, snort turning to chuckling turning to loud guffaws.
Nessa was sure it was the shock of it all. The entire night felt like a nightmare she wasn't going to wake up from. She'd experienced more emotions in the last hour than she'd ever experienced over an entire week. It was exhausting, and her eyes hurt, and her shoulders ached from the tension, but the relief that it was over was so palpable that she could feel it escaping her with every gasping laugh.
"Mental, the both of you," Fred said, eyeing them cautiously, and shaking his head.
"Barking mad," George agreed, grinning at them.
Nessa grasped Tori's arm, hard, and managed to get herself under control just as the others were climbing out of the passage. They stood, Tori keeping her foot weighted on the knot to keep the tree from attempting to murder them on sight. Lupin came first, a manacle shackled to his wrist and his wand trained behind him. Peter was chained to him, staggering and whimpering still, with Ron behind him, a manacle around his ankle as he limped after. His face was hard — he seemed to take Scabbers' true identity as a personal slight against him. Snape came next, still unconscious and floating along, held aloft by Black using Snape's own wand. He was sagging, his toes and fingers brushing against the grass below him. Harry and Hermione came next, watching the odd party in front of them anxiously.
"Are you alright?"
Tori stared at Black for a solid minute before she bothered answering him.
"I'm fine," she said blankly. "Let's get this over with."
She was the first of them to walk back to the castle, ignoring the hurt and concern that flashed on her father's face. Fred sighed heavily.
"I got it," he said quietly, taking off at a jog to catch up to her.
"Give her time," Nessa said softly. Black's gaze snapped to hers as if he were surprised she'd addressed him so gently. Nessa smirked. "What?" she said casually. "I can be nice, you know. As long as you aren't hurting her, that is."
He eyed her a moment longer.
"I'm grateful for all you've done for her," he said truthfully. "She — she deserves a friend like you." Nessa didn't know what to say to that, but she was saved from answering when his gaze flicked back to Fred and Tori ahead of them, whispering quietly to each other. He jerked his head in their direction. "Are they dating?"
Ron and George choked at these words, as if the idea were preposterous.
"He's her brother!" Ron exclaimed, looking positively green.
"No, he's not," Black, Harry, and Hermione said in confusion.
Nessa snorted and smirked.
"They aren't dating," she said to him. "It's — er — a bit too complicated to get into now."
George was looking between her, his twin, and Tori, as if trying to figure out if he were missing something. She kept her face carefully blank.
"And you two?" Black said, looking at her and George sharply. George raised an eyebrow and Nessa looked at him blankly. "Can't say I'm surprised," Black said with an eye roll. "Potters have always had a thing for redheads."
Harry was staring between her and George shrewdly, looking like he might start asking questions, but she didn't look at him. She wasn't entirely sure now was the best time to get into the entire thing. Plus, George was grinning at her cockily, as if this news was amusing to him, and she had no desire to listen to him wax poetic about himself.
"Let's get a move on, yeah?" she said, casually. "We haven't got all night."
George snorted and Black smirked at her, but they followed Tori and Fred, Lupin bringing up the head of the group, his wand still pointed at Peter dangerously.
"One wrong move, Peter," said Lupin threateningly ahead. His wand was still pointed sideways at Pettigrew's chest.
Silently, they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was drifting weirdly ahead of Sirius, his chin bumping on his chest. And then —
A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight. Snape collided with Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron, who had stopped abruptly. Sirius and Nessa froze, Sirius flinging out an arm to make the four of them stop behind him. She saw Fred and Tori whirl around at the sound of a growl behind them, wands pointed straight at Lupin.
The full moon. She'd forgotten about the full moon. Oh, God.
"He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!" Hermione gasped.
"Run," Sirius whispered. "Run. Now."
None of them moved. Ron was still tied to Pettigrew and Lupin, and Nessa shouted in alarm as Harry lunged forward to free him. Sirius caught him around the chest and threw him back, so he collided with a frozen George.
"Leave it to me — RUN!"
George seemed to be jolted back to his senses at Harry having run into him and his gaze shot to Fred and Tori ahead of him, terror flickering over his face.
"RUN!" he bellowed at them.
There was a terrible snarling noise. Lupin's head was lengthening. So was his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws. Crookshanks' hair was on end again; he was backing away —
Nessa grabbed the back of Hermione's robes, as George grabbed Harry, and they stumbled after them as they tried to race around the group to get as far away from Lupin as possible. Harry was fighting George with all of his strength.
"RON!"
"Let Sirius get him, Harry!" George yelled, tugging him back. "You're no help to him dead!"
Fred looked like he was going to argue with this, as the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws. They all stumbled backward to avoid the bite. Sirius disappeared, transforming into an enormous, bearlike dog. He was massive, black, and shaggy — the exact same dog that had been in the photos that she and Tori had been looking through. Tori gasped, as if coming to the same realization. Sirius leapt, just as the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, seizing him around the neck and pulled him backward, away from Ron and Pettigrew. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other —
Fred and George shot forward, grabbing their brother under the arms and dragging them back with them, eyes trained on the battle between the two animals before them, as though completely transfixed. Tori and Hermione screamed and Nessa whirled just as Pettigrew went diving for Lupin's dropped wand. Ron, unsteady on his bandaged leg, even with the twins holding him, stumbled. There was a bang, a burst of light and then Ron was motionless in between the twins. The twins roared in anger, whirling with their wands outstretched. Another bang — Crookshanks flew into the air and back to the earth in a heap.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled, just before Nessa screamed, "Stupefy!"
Harry's spell hit Pettigrew; Lupin's wand flew high into the air and out of sight. Nessa's spell was only a second too late. Pettigrew transformed and Tori went lunging for him, as the red light went flying toward the werewolf and Sirius. Tori missed, swiping at the air at the bald tail that slipped through her fingers. Nessa lunged next, without thinking, and collided with the ground hard, as she gripped the rat in her hands.
"You stupid bastard," she snapped when he squeaked and bit her, hard, on the hand.
"NESSA!"
Tori and Harry's screams caused her head to snap up, just as the werewolf lunged for her. She screamed, barely managing to roll out of the way, letting Pettigrew go in her scramble to get away. She heard Harry screaming to Sirius that Pettigrew had gotten away, but Sirius, who was bleeding from gashes across his muzzle and back, could not chase after him. Not with Nessa within Lupin's sights. Instead, he lunged for Lupin again, jaw clamping down hard on his arm as it raised to take a swipe at Nessa as she scrambled backward on her hands.
The werewolf growled and whirled to take another bite at the dog. Nessa hurried to her feet and stumbled backwards away from it, but Sirius was already injured, and when the werewolf took a swipe at him, he didn't react fast enough and was flung away from them, landing in a crumpled heap with a high-pitched whine. Nessa did not react fast enough this time when the werewolf lunged at her. Tori and Hermione screamed, as its claws collided with Nessa's shoulders, knocking her backward.
There was a loud CRACK as Nessa's head collided with a large rock behind her, and she gasped as the pain radiated from the back of her head, down her neck, and into her forehead. Her vision blurred, and she had to blink hard to keep herself from passing out, her heart racing, pumping with adrenaline as the werewolf leaned over her with a snarl. She couldn't get her arms to move to push back, not that it would have been any use. She couldn't think of a single spell to use through the pain in her head, white spots dancing in front of her. She saw Harry, Fred, and George flinging whatever spells they could think of at the werewolf, but werewolves were notoriously resilient against magic. And with such tasty prey before it, it didn't seem to care at all what was hurled at him.
She felt its hot breath against her face, smelled dog and blood on it as it washed over her face. She whimpered and tried to get her head to cooperate, to move her arms again. There was another loud snarl above her, so close in her ear that it drowned out the sound of Tori pleading with her father to get up and help her. Sirius whimpered and stumbled to his feet, but Nessa was entirely sure he wouldn't be able to stop Lupin from biting her, at best, or killing her, at worst. She could feel the drool across her cheek as the werewolf leaned forward. She watched as if in slow motion, as he snarled again, opening his mouth to rip out her throat —
And then he paused, his head snapping up to look off at the forest in the distance. It took Nessa a long, delirious moment before she realized what had distracted it. A howl had sounded from within the distance. The werewolf tilted its head as if listening intently, and when it sounded again, it straightened and took off at a sprint in that direction, leaving its prey behind.
Nessa barely had it in her to feel overwhelming relief. The white spots and blurriness were dancing across her vision again, the blackness creeping in around the edges. Harry, Hermione, Fred, George, and Tori collapsed around her. George, looking ashen-face, lifted her head carefully to rest in his lap. She whimpered at the movement and George hissed at the wetness on his fingers.
"She's bleeding," he said frantically.
"We've got to get her up to the castle," said Harry, his voice near panic.
"We'll get Ron," Fred said, standing and pulling Tori up with him. "He's alive, but he doesn't look great and I don't know what that bastard did to him."
Tori fought against his hold, and sank back down next to Nessa, reaching forward frantically and ripping her robes down the middle.
"What are you doing?" Harry said in alarm, looking as though he couldn't decide if he should look away in case she kept ripping clothing off his sister or if he should stop her from continuing.
"He hit her with his claws, Harry," she said.
Nessa was going in and out, the words barely registering enough to make her feel panicked.
"So?"
"So, he could have infected her, Harry," Hermione said tearfully. "If he scratched her…"
Harry went white and Fred froze completely as Tori ran a hand over Nessa's shoulders and chest, searching for rips in the cloth. Nessa had been wearing a sweater over her uniform shirt. The sweater had a rip in it, but the button up beneath seemed intact. Tori exhaled in relief.
"I don't think he got her," she said hesitantly, running her hands over the area one more time. "It ripped through her sweater, but not the rest of her uniform."
"Bloody hell," George said, voice shaking with relief. Hermione sobbed in relief herself, and Fred ran a shaking hand through his hair. Harry sagged, leaning over his sister. Nessa whined painfully when his tears hit her face, trying to get her arms to move in order to comfort him. But their conversation was going in and out again, and she was barely making any sense of it now. She heard Harry and Tori scramble off, much to Hermione and Fred's dismay. Heard George tell them that they had too many people to bring back to the castle to go after them.
She tried to fight the wave of nausea and darkness that was working to drag her under. But when George lifted her into his arms gently, she lost the battle, and the entire world went black.
-o0o-
"Shocking business…shocking…miracle none of them died…never heard the like…by thunder, it was lucky you were there, Snape…"
"Thank you, Minister."
"Order of Merlin, Second Class, I'd say. First Class, if I can wangle it!"
"Thank you very much indeed, Minister."
"Nasty cut you've got there…Black's work, I suppose?"
"As a matter of fact, it was Potter, Weasley, and Granger, Minister…"
"No!"
"Black had bewitched them, I saw it immediately. A Confundus Charm, to judge by their behavior. They seemed to think there was a possibility he was innocent. They weren't responsible for their actions. On the other hand, their interference might have permitted Black to escape…They obviously thought they were going to catch Black single-handed. They've got away with a great deal before now…I'm afraid it's given them all a rather high opinion of themselves…and of course Mr. Potter, those twins, and Hastings, have always been given an extraordinary amount of license by the headmaster —"
The words were trickling into the blackness surrounding her slowly, as if through a fog. She fought to cling to them, to try and understand what was being said around her. It was difficult — her head was pounding, and her limbs were heavy with exhaustion. The words were traveling slowly from her ears to her brain, and it was too difficult to understand, and the memories of what had happened and where she was were foggy, at best. Her eyelids were heavy and it was a battle to wrench them open because the bed was so comfortable beneath her and she was so warm…
"What amazes me most is the behavior of the dementors…you've really no idea what made them retreat, Snape?"
"No, Minister…by the time I had come 'round they were heading back to their positions at the entrances…"
"Extraordinary. And yet Black, and Harry, and Victoria —"
"All unconscious by the time I reached them. I bound and gagged Black, naturally, conjured stretchers, and brought them all straight back to the castle."
Dementors…Black…Harry…Tori…
Her brain was moving faster now, and her anxiety was unfurling now in the pit of her stomach…Oh God, Pettigrew had escaped. Lupin…
She opened her eyes. Everything was slightly blurry as she adjusted after having had them closed for what felt like days. She blinks rapidly to clear her vision, and the dark of the hospital wing formed before her, the shadows of the beds around her taking shape. She moved her head slowly, gasping at the pain that speared through her head. George was sitting next to her, his face white as the sheets that covered her. She moved her head again; Tori and Fred were on her other side, Tori frozen in the bed, and Fred sitting next to her. Tori's eyes were open and she raised a finger to her mouth, then pointed to the hospital wing door.
It was ajar, and the voices of Cornelius Fudge and Snape were coming through the corridor outside. Madam Pomfrey caught her movement, and walked from where she had been tending to Ron across from her. Harry was next to his bed, and her heart pounded at the sight of her brother laying in the hospital bed, but she had no time to ask him what had happened before Madam Pomfrey was walking briskly toward them all.
"Ah, you're awake!" she said, briskly, placing chocolate on Harry and Tori's bedsides, and began breaking it apart with a small hammer.
"How's Ron?" they all asked at once.
"He'll live," said Madam Pomfrey grimly, making her way to Vanessa and helping her to sit up gently, so that she could take a look at the back of her head. "As for you…you'll be staying here until I'm satisfied you're okay. You've got a concussion and some pretty heavy swelling from the rock you hit your head on. It appears to be going down, but you'll need a few days of rest before you'll be back to your usual. There's a Calming Draught here, dear, in case you need a little extra after the events of tonight," Nessa nodded and immediately regretted it as it caused the pounding in her head to intensify. "The pain should be manageable, but if it gets to be too much, you let me know."
Nessa had never heard Madam Pomfrey speak to anyone so soothingly. It put her even more on edge, as the older woman helped her lay back down. She turned to Harry and Tori.
"As for you two…you'll be staying until I'm satisfied the — Potter, what do you think you're doing?"
Harry was sitting up, putting his glasses back on, and picking up his wand.
"I need to see the headmaster," he said.
"Potter," said Madam Pomfrey soothingly. "It's all right. They've got Black. He's locked away upstairs. The dementors will be performing the Kiss any moment now —"
"WHAT?"
They'd all yelled it, causing Madam Pomfrey to jump nearly out of her skin. Fred, George, and Hermione — the only ones of them who were healthy — jumped to their feet. Nessa shot forward and groaned, grabbing her head when the pounding started up again. Tori and Harry were out of their beds in a heartbeat. Ron was still out like a light.
But the shouts had been heard in the corridor outside; next second, Cornelius Fudge and Snape had entered the ward.
"Harry, Victoria, what's this?" said Fudge, looking agitated. "You should be in bed — have they had any chocolate?" he asked Madam Pomfrey anxiously.
"Minister, listen!" said Harry. "Sirius Black's innocent! Peter Pettigrew faked his own death! We saw him tonight! You can't let the dementors do that thing to Sirius, he's —"
But Fudge was shaking his head with a small smile on his face.
"Harry, Harry, you're very confused, you've been through a dreadful ordeal, lie back down, now, we've got everything under control…"
"YOU HAVEN'T!" Harry yelled. "YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG MAN!"
"Minister, listen, please," Tori pleaded, her voice cracking in desperation, hurrying to Harry's side and gazing up imploringly at the Minister. "I saw him too —"
"And me," said the twins.
"Me too," Nessa agreed, and Hermione nodded frantically.
" — It was Ron's rat, he's an Animgus, and —" Tori was cut off by Snape's cold, drawling voice.
"You see, Minister? Confounded, all of them…Black's done a very good job on them…"
"WE'RE NOT CONFUNDED!" they roared as one. The Minister was staring at them all as if they had all gone mad.
"Minister! Professor!" said Madam Pomfrey angrily. "I must insist that you leave. They are my patients, and they should not be so distressed!"
"We're not distressed, I'm trying to tell them what happened!" Harry said furiously. "If they'd just listen —"
But Madam Pomfrey suddenly stuffed a large chunk of chocolate into Harry's mouth; He choked and Nessa snarled, grabbing the bedpan on her bedside table. She would have chucked it at her, if George hadn't grabbed it from her hastily before anyone had noticed.
"I don't think that will help our cause here, love," he said warningly, lacing his fingers with hers and squeezing gently.
"Now, please, Minister, these children need care. Please leave —"
The door opened again and the six of them sagged in relief. It was Dumbledore. Harry was trying to swallow his mouthful of chocolate with clear difficulty, but Tori rushed forward, her voice and hands shaking.
"Professor Dumbledore, please, my father — Sirius Black —"
"For heaven's sake!" said Madam Pomfrey hysterically. "Is this a hospital wing or not? Headmaster, I must insist —"
"My apologies, Poppy, but I need a word with these students," said Dumbledore calmly. "I have just been talking to Sirius Black —"
"I suppose he's told you the same fairy tale he's planted in their minds?" spat Snape. "Something about a rat, and Pettigrew being alive —"
"That, indeed, is Black's story," said Dumbledore, surveying Snape closely through his half-moon spectacles.
"And does my evidence count for nothing?" snarled Snape. "Peter Pettigrew was not in the Shrieking Shack, nor did I see any sign of him on the grounds."
Tori whirled on him, snarling angrily.
"How could you have, you great, miserable coward?" she spat at him. "You wouldn't let them explain because of some stupid prank —"
"Miss Hastings, HOLD YOUR TONGUE!"
"Now, Snape," said Fudge, startled, "the young lady is disturbed in her mind, we must make allowances —"
"Do not," Nessa snarled, her eyes flashing maliciously at Snape, her voice dangerously low. "Do not ever speak to her like that again."
Fudge gaped at her, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. Dumbledore raised a hand, calling for silence.
"I would like to speak to them all alone," he said abruptly. "Cornelius, Severus, Poppy — please leave us."
"Headmaster!" sputtered Madam Pomfrey. "They need treatment, they need rest —"
"This cannot wait," said Dumbledore. "I must insist."
Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips and strode away into her office at the end of the ward, slamming the door behind her. Fudge consulted the large gold pocket watch dangling from his waistcoat.
"The dementors should have arrived by now," he said. "I'll go and meet them. Dumbledore, I'll see you upstairs."
He crossed to the door and held it open for Snape, but Snape hadn't moved.
"You surely don't believe a word of Black's story?" Snape whispered, his eyes fixed on Dumbledore's face.
"I wish to speak to them alone," Dumbledore repeated.
Snape took a step toward Dumbledore.
"Sirius Black showed he was capable of murder at the age of sixteen," he breathed, ignoring Tori's snarl. "You haven't forgotten that, Headmaster? You haven't forgotten that he once tried to kill me?"
"My memory is as good as it ever was, Severus," said Dumbledore quietly.
Snape turned on his heel and marched through the door Fudge was still holding. It closed behind them, and Dumbledore turned to face them. They all burst into speech at once.
"Professor, Black's telling the truth — we saw Pettigrew —"
" — he escaped when Professor Lupin turned into a werewolf —"
" — he's a rat —"
" — Pettigrew's front paw, I mean, finger, he cut it off —"
" — Pettigrew attacked Ron, it wasn't Sirius —"
But Dumbledore held up his hand to stem the flood of explanations.
"It is your turn to listen, and I beg you will not interrupt me, because there is very little time," he said quietly. "There is not a shred of proof to support Black's story, except your word — and the word of six underage wizards will not convince anybody. A street full of eye-witnesses swore they saw Sirius murder Pettigrew, I myself gave evidence to the Ministry that Sirius had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper."
"Professor Lupin can tell you —" Harry said, unable to stop himself.
"Professor Lupin is currently deep in the forest unable to tell anyone anything. By the time he is human again, it will be too late, Sirius will be worse than dead. I might add that werewolves are so mistrusted by most of our kind that his support will count for very little — and the fact that he and Sirius are old friends —"
"But —"
"Listen to me, Harry. It is too late, you understand me? You must see that Professor Snape's version of events is far more convincing than yours."
"Professor, please," Tori whimpered. "He's my — you can't let them do this. He hates Sirius."
Dumbledore looked at her kindly and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Sirius has not acted like an innocent man. The attack on the Fat Lady — entering Gryffindor Tower with a knife — without Pettigrew, alive or dead, we have no chance of overturning Sirius' sentence."
"But you believe us."
"Yes, I do," said Dumbledore quietly. "But I have no power to make other men see the truth, or to overrule the Minister of Magic…"
Nessa stared up into his grave face and buried her head in her hands to hide her tears. It was all so unfair. If only she'd closed the map before they'd left…Or taken the Invisibility Cloak before they'd entered the Shrieking Shack…Or remembered that there had been a full moon tonight.
She should have let them kill him…
None of this would be happening if she'd let them kill him. So many mistakes, and now an innocent man would pay for them all again. Pettigrew would take another life, ruin more, before the night was over. Dumbledore was their last hope.
"What we need," said Dumbledore slowly, and his light blue eyes moved to look at Hermione. "Is more time."
"But —" Hermione began. And then her eyes became very round. "OH!"
Nessa had no idea what the hell was happening, and, based on the looks on her friends' faces, they didn't either.
"Now, pay attention," said Dumbledore, speaking very low, and very clearly. "Sirius is locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor. Thirteenth window from the right of the West Tower. If all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight. But remember this, you three —" he said, looking between Tori, Hermione, and Harry. "You must not be seen."
Tori and Harry clearly had no idea what was going on. Dumbledore turned on his heel and looked back as he reached the door.
"I am going to lock you in. It is —" he consulted his watch, "five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."
"Good luck?" Harry repeated as the door closed behind Dumbledore.
Tori whirled toward Hermione, "What the fuck was that?"
"He's gone barmy," Fred and George said as one, at the same time that Hermione snapped, "Language, Tori!"
She was fumbling with the neck of her robes, pulling from beneath them a very long, very fine gold chain.
"Harry, Tori, come here," she said urgently. "Quick!"
They moved toward her, completely bewildered. Nessa opened her mouth to demand to know what was happening, but she caught sight of the sparking hourglass hanging from the chain she was holding out.
"A time-turner," she laughed breathlessly, as Hermione threw the chain around their necks once they were close enough to her. "Brilliant. He's brilliant."
Hermione turned the hourglass over three times. Nessa caught Tori's eye briefly just before the three of them disappeared into thin air.