Office of the Minister of Magic
"How could you do such a thing, Minister?", Lucius Malfoy was thundering "You know that Hippogriff is dangerous and almost killed my son. Why did you save it from execution?"
"Lucius, Harry Potter had written me a letter asking to spare the Hippogriff and when Amos investigated the matter, it was found that your son was in the wrong in the first place that he disregarded teacher's instructions."
"But..."
"No Lucius. I have done a lot of favours to you. Do me a favour this time and let this matter rest."
Lucius knew it was futile to press the matter further. Cornelius Fudge was useful to him in a lot of ways so there was nothing to be gained by making him angry. A hippogriff wasn't worth souring his relations with the Minister of Magic.
The match
"Welcome to the match of Ravenclaw Versus Gryffindor", Lee was announcing "it promises to be a highly charged match between two extremely competent teams who are smelling blood in this match."
As Lee continued his commentary, Wood was giving pep talk to his team in the locker, "This is a very important match for me, for all of us. We win today and we remain in fight. Slytherin has flattened Hufflepuff even though barely and we remain in the run for the house cup. Remember that we have to take as big lead as possible. One defeat and we are out. It is on all of you especially you Harry..."
Harry was getting ready for the match. He slipped his wand inside the t-shirt that he was going to wear under his robes just in case the dementors again came during the match. As he listened to Wood's rant, he got dressed for the match. He knew the match was important and he was determined to win today.
Before Oliver could continue, Fred interrupted, "Oliver, we know what we have to do. We have heard this prep talk so many times that we can recite it in sleep. Stop fretting. All of us are going to do our best."
"Alright. Let's mount and fly out. Play as you have been doing in practice and we will do fine", said Oliver with as much enthusiasm as he could manage.
"Welcome the Lions who are flying behind their captain. I give you Oliver Wood, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell and Harry Potter. The team looks fairly balanced and they are hungry for a win. Their last match was disturbed due to dementors or we are sure we would have seen an interesting match. Let's hope nothing like that happens again."
As he introduced the lions, he continued, "Welcome the Eagles who are following their captain. I give you Roger Davies, Randolph Burrow, Jeremy Stretton, Jason Samuels, Duncan Inglebee, Grant Page and Cho Chang."
As Madam Hooch arrived, the teams descended to start the match. Roger Davies and Oliver Wood shook hands as Madam Hooch was saying, "I want a fair match from both the teams. Anyone who deliberately breaks the rules will be out of the match before they can descend to the ground. Is that clear?"
"And they are off", Lee said excitedly, "Madam Hooch tosses the quaffle and it has been grabbed by Davies of Ravenclaw who is flying straight towards the other end of the pitch dodging the Gryffindor players and Ouch! That's got to hurt... Davies got hit by a bludger from his own player and drops the quaffle".
Angelina had grabbed the quaffle as Davies dropped and started flying towards the other end with Katie and Alicia on either side of her in the arrow head formation.
"Angelina flies straight towards the other end and the beaters are keeping everyone out of the way of the chasers by sending the bludgers towards the ravenclaw chasers. Angelina throws the quaffle towards the goal post and it is going up and up and... Amazing! The quaffle has started to come down and it passes through the left hoop! Its 10-0 for Gryffindor..."
Half of the stadium erupted in cheers.
"Madam Hooch tosses the quaffle again and they are off! Katie lunges for the Quaffle and barely escapes from colliding with Burrow. Katie drops the quaffle which is picked up Stretton who is flying towards the other end and ouch! That bludger nearly threw him off but he has not dropped the quaffle and is still flying and throws the ball through the left hoop which is undefended! Aaand Oliver Wood arrives out of nowhere to save the goal!"
The match continued and Harry kept watching for the Golden Snitch. He also had to dive to save himself from bludgers which would come after him and shake off Cho Chang who it looked like had taken to follow him instead of the snitch. His firebolt and her Cleansweep were of no match but at the moment, he was not pushing it. He was looking for snitch and kept an eye on the score as it kept moving.
"Burrow is flying straight towards the other end being tailed by his fellow chaser Stretton. Katie Bell is flying towards Burrow who has performed a reverse pass to Stretton and the Quaffle is seized by Angelia who has performed the perfect Checking pass and snatched the quaffle and have thrown it to Alicia on the other end of the pitch and the red ball is heading for right hoop straight in hands of! Amazing! That's... that's a knuckle ball and it is spiralling towards the center hoop and it's a goal! 20-0 for Gryffindor."
As the stadium erupted in cheers again, the quaffle was retrieved and tossed and caught by Davies who performed a quick reverse pass and threw it to Stretton.
"Stretton is flying towards Wood and a bludger comes out of nowhere pelted at him by Fred Weasley. Stretton is twirling and the bludger passes him and smacks the other Weasley twin who was caught in the wrong place. He throws a fast shot at the right hoop and Wood fails to make a save! That's 20-10 for Ravenclaw."
The supporters of the Lions groaned while the other half cheered.
"Alicia has picked the ball and Gryffindor is performing the powerplay having blocked the claws from getting near Alicia who is... who is performing perfect Dionysus Dive and that's 30-10 for Gryffindor."
"The ravenclaw chasers have the quaffle and they are flying to the other end dodging bludgers and Weasleys performing the Wollongong Shimmy and passing the quaffle among themselves! Davies to Burrow to Stretton to Davies to Stretton to Burrow... Oliver Wood moves out to tackle the Ravenclaw chasers and makes Davies drop the ball. That's perfect Transylvanian tackle and Angelina has the quaffle who is flying towards the other end flaked on either side by her the twins."
"The Weasley twins have just swatted two bludgers away from the Gryffindor Chaser and she has dropped the Quaffle! It is the perfect Porskoff ploy and the quaffle is picked by Katie who performs the Finborough Flick. I don't think Page can... holy Merlin! Page is performing the perfect double eight loop and it's a save!"
The play kept going that way for some time and the scoreboard kept moving. It was 90-40 when Harry spotted the snitch and took off towards it.
"Harry Potter has seen the snitch and is flying after it! Cho has seen him and is flying towards him at her full speed and I don't think... Merlin's baggy fronts..."
"Jordon!" Snapped Professor McGonagall.
Jordon was gaping speechlessly at what was happening on the field.
Cho was flying towards Harry at full speed but suddenly she yelped and turned tail. Harry was curious for a second about why she turned away when he suddenly noticed what had caused the reaction. A dementor was flying straight towards him!
Remembering his lessons, he pulled out his wand out of his robes and cast the Patronus Charm, "Expecto Patronum".
Surprisingly Harry didn't feel the effects which he had come to relate to a dementor. The temperature didn't drop, his head was surprisingly clear and he decided to plow ahead. He kept flying towards the snitch and didn't even wait to see what had happened to the dementor. Performing a perfect no-hands move, he grabbed the snitch out of air and the stadium erupted in cheers!
"Harry Potter has caught the snitch! Gryffindor wins the match. It's 240-40 for Gryffindor and they remain in the run for the Quidditch cup!" Lee was announcing, doing a little jig of his own on the announcer's podium.
"That was quite some patronus", said Professor Lupin in his ear and Harry looked up to see the Professor smiling.
"Professor, I didn't feel the usual effects that Dementors have on me", he told his defense professor.
Remus actually grinned, "Because that is not a dementor".
"What do you mean?", Harry asked him.
"Come and see", said Lupin leading him towards a side.
Ron and Hermione joined them by then, "Harry it was amazing!"
They followed him to where a crowd had gathered. In the middle of the crowd stood McGonagall scowling at Malfoy, Flint and Crabbe. They were entangled in what appeared to be robes a size too big to contain all three of them. Crabbe sat on a broom and Flint of his shoulder with Malfoy being on the top and his head was stuck in the robe.
Professor McGonagall was shaking with anger, her nostrils were flared and she was saying furiously, "Never in all my years at this school any student have ever done something like this. You are lucky that you received no injuries at all. Professor Dumbledore will hear about this and you will be punished. Here he comes."
They raised their heads to see Professor Dumbledore coming towards them who looked very grim and there was anger in his eyes, "For such an act jeopardising the life of a fellow student, you should be expelled from the school but considering that you are children, I take 100 points off Slytherin and a week's worth of detention to all of you with Rubeus Hagrid."
Harry went off with his friends laughing his head off at what had transpired. They had won and Malfoy got detention for trying to prank Harry. The day could not get better than that.
I found a rat!
A couple of days after the match when it was another Hogsmead weekend when Harry was found by the twins on the stairs to the Astronomy tower, "Harrikins, as you know today is the Hogsmeade weekend. We thought we might give you another gift."
"What is it?", he asked apprehensively.
They produced the Marauder's map and presented it to him, "Giving such a beauty to a teacher is not the right thing, Harrikins. This beauty deserves to be in the hands of purveyors of mischief such as us. We knew what had happened and that Professor Lupin had taken it from you. Well, we couldn't stand the thought that you would not get to go to Hogsmeade while everyone did. So, we pranked him and whisked it from his desk drawer. Use it well and never let him or anyone else know that you have it."
He nodded, "I will keep it safe but I am not going to use it again. He was right you know. My parents gave their lives to save me and I am wrong to keep risking my life for things like candies or going to Hogsmeade."
Fred (Or was it George?) asked, "Harry, don't you think that the defense teacher knows awful lot about your father? I mean, most of the teachers taught your parents and even our parents but they don't know such details as he does?"
Harry nodded, "I have been thinking the same thing. I mean in all three years what I knew about my father was that he had saved Snape's life once but that was it. I knew nothing else about them but Professor Lupin told me that he knew my parents in school."
"Your father saved the Dungeon bat's life?", Fred asked curiously.
"Dungeon bat?", Harry asked.
"It is what we have named our dear Professor Snape", the twins said as a way of clarification, "Now answer the question."
"Dumbledore told me that once my father saved Snape's life and Snape can't stand to remain in debt to him for it."
"Interesting. If making your life unpleasant, humiliating you is his way of paying a debt then I don't want him to hold a grudge against me."
"Anyway Harry, take care and don't let the map fall into someone else's hands now", said they and departed to plan their next mischief.
Harry opened the map absent mindedly and started peering over it, noticing everyone's position on it. There was Madam Pince in the library, Filch as usual was prowling the corridors, there was Professor Lupin in his office, there was Hagrid on the grounds with Peter Pettigrew...
He suddenly did a double take and rubbed his eyes to make sure that he was reading correctly. The map still said Peter Pettigrew. Suddenly the cogs in his mind started whirring. Wasn't Peter Pettigrew supposed to have died at the hands of Sirius Black? Sirius Black had been charged of his murder all those years ago. Was the map malfunctioning? Could it be that it was wrong?
He suddenly also noticed Remus Lupin in his office and remembered something. Before today, he had never seen Remus Lupin on the map! This was the first time that he could see the defense professor on it.
There was something afoot and he needed to find what it was. He had to see someone about it.
He started revisiting his options about who he could trust in this situation. Dumbledore? He noticed that the Headmaster was not in his office where he was supposed to be. McGonagall? She was in her office but she would hardly believe him and what would he tell her about the map? How would he explain about it? And it would get the twins in trouble who had given it out of the goodness of their hearts. Snape? No chance that he would trust the Dungeon bat with anything like this. Snape would find ways to torment him.
He realised his only chance was Professor Lupin. Shoving the map in his pocket, he ran all the way to Lupin's office and pushed the door open violently. Lupin jumped up in his chair, "Harry? What? What happened? Are you alright?"
"Professor, there is something that you need to know", he said without preamble and spread the map on his table.
"Professor, I was looking at this map and I saw someone on it who is supposed to be dead", he exclaimed.
Lupin, momentarily forgot that he had confiscated the map and asked him, "Who are you talking about?"
Harry showed him, "Professor, wasn't Peter Pettigrew killed at the hands of Sirius Black? How is he being shown on the map? Is the map not working?"
Remus looked at where Harry was pointing and there was pin drop silence for a moment. The professor suddenly looked mutinous, angry and Harry was scared. Lupin though was paying him no mind and was growling to himself, "Of course! That is what he would do."
"Professor?"
Remus's mind was elsewhere as he picked up the floo powder and threw a pinch in the fireplace, "Minerva, a word please."
Minerva McGonagall arrived in his office within seconds, "What happened, Professor Lupin?"
"Minerva, I need your help in apprehending someone who is supposed to be dead", he said in all seriousness.
"Who?", she asked.
"Peter Pettigrew", he growled.
"NO!", she shouted, "It can't be possible. He is supposed to be dead."
"Trust me Minerva, he is not dead. Follow me and help me apprehend him", said Remus "this is the only chance that we would know the truth."
She had her wand out in a minute, "Tell me what I am to do?"
"Professor, what is happening? What has freaked you both? Is something serious?", Harry asked, visibly confused with the state of his teachers.
"Potter, go to your common room and don't come out until I send for you", said McGonagall.
"But...", he tried to protest.
"Do as she says", Remus growled at him.
At that moment, Remus looked like a primal being and his brown kind eyes were spattered with flecks of amber, looking like abyss and devoid of any feelings.
For the first time, Harry was scared of him and ran to his common room. He knew there was no room for his objections.
In the meanwhile, Remus and Minerva had descended to the ground floor and were walking towards Hagrid's hut where Hagrid was working in the patch.
When she saw Remus consulting a piece of parchment, she asked him, "What are you looking at?"
"A device of my own invention. This is telling me the exact location of Peter at this moment", said Remus.
"How do you think he can hide in plain sight?", Minerva asked him.
"He is an animagus", Remus said plainly.
"WHAT!", Minerva McGonagall shouted, "Please tell me you are joking."
"I am not", he said gravely, "He is an animagus and takes the form of a rat."
"But he was a talentless, hopeless boy. How he could accomplish it?", she asked him.
"It is a very long tale, Minerva", he said "But suffice to say that he had talented friends like James and Sirius to help him."
Before she could ask him more, he said, "We have arrived."
She realised that they had arrived at Hagrid's hut. Hagrid saw them coming and was about to stand and come towards them but Minerva motioned for him to stay back.
Remus was asking her, "Will you please seal the behind door of Hagrid's hut and put an imperturbable charm on it?"
She did as he requested and he turned to her, "Now we are going to try to trap him. We should have brought some cats because they would have been able to catch him easily."
Remus could swear that he saw her smirking, "Well that can be arranged. Tell me what needs to be done."
They entered Hagrid's hut and closed the door behind them sealing it. Minerva changed into a cat and Remus said to no one in particular, "Come out Peter. This has gone on long. Your secret is out. Come on out."
A jug of milk kept on a shelf crashed to the floor and a rat fell out of it, making it straight towards the doors. He could see that Moony won't be able to get a clear shot on him before he would make his escape.
He ran towards the door as fast as his tiny legs could carry. There! The door was in sight! Just a couple meters and he will be away.
"MEOWW!", the sound of a cat meowing sent him into shudders and before he could decide his next course of action, McGonagall's jaws were firmly clasped around his neck. He tried to squirm and escape anyway he could but that was not to be. She kept suffocating him until he passed out and then spit him out. Remus stunned the rat and calmly picking him up, stuffed him in the pocket of his robes, "Now we will know what had happened."
She had changed in her human form, "We should do it before the headmaster and the Minister of Magic. Let's go to his office and floo them. On a second thought, let's invite Amelia Bones too."
He nodded, "Let's go."
A story unfolds
In Dumbledore's office, Remus had the rat bound in jinxes while Minerva placed floo calls. The first was to Dumbledore, "Hog's head Inn, Hogsmead."
The head of the barman appeared in the flames, "What do you want, Minerva?"
"Is the headmaster there? Tell him to come to his office right now. There is an emergency about Harry Potter".
Before he could ask more, she had ended the floo call. Barely a minute had passed before the floo roared and Albus Dumbledore stepped out of Emerald flames, "What has happened, Minerva?"
"Take a seat, Albus. There are a few more people who should know about it."
As he took a seat, she floo called again, "Madam Bones' office, Ministry of Magic."
A few seconds later, Madam Bones was on the other side, "What has happened, Professor McGonagall?"
"Madam Bones, an emergency has occurred and I think it involves your department and the escape of Sirius Black. Can you come over?"
"I am coming be there right away", she said and Minerva ended the connection.
Then she turned to Albus Dumbledore, "Please send someone to call for Harry Potter here. It is important that he is here for this."
Dumbledore turned to a portrait, "Please visit your portrait in the Gryffindor Common Room and ask Head Boy Percy Weasley to send Mr. Potter to my office right now."
When he was done, she addressed him again, "Now make a call to the minister and tell him that it is a matter of extreme importance and he should arrive as soon as he can. I assure you that this is worth it."
As they were talking, Madam Bones stepped out of the floo with three witches and wizards behind her. Minerva turned to them, "Please take a seat and be comfortable. It till take sometime."
As Albus was talking to the Minister on the floo network, Harry arrived in the office and was intimidated with all the people who were present. The Minister who had arrived by then greeted him jovially and they waited for Minerva to speak.
She started speaking, "Professor Lupin came to me with some startling discovery about Sirius Black and I will let him explain."
With that they turned their attention to Professor Lupin, who looked uneasy but begin speaking, "That night when Sirius Black was arrested, he was said to have murdered Peter Pettigrew and 13 muggles. What we found of Peter Pettigrew was only a finger which we boxed up and sent to his mother with an Order of Merlin. What nobody knows is that Peter Pettigrew is an animagus, an unregistered one. He could transform into a rat. That night, he transformed into a rat and escaped from the scene. How, I don't know. Recently, I was trying to make a device to track Sirius Black and when I tried to test it, it showed me Peter Pettigrew."
He raised the rat which he had in his hand and Harry gasped, "Scabbers! Professor that is Ron's rat."
Remus shook his head, "No Harry. He is not a rat. He is an animagus."
"But how? That is not possible. That is just a garden rat...", he tried to say.
"Yes, Harry. A garden rat who has lived for 12 years, pretty long life for an ordinary garden rat, don't you think?", Remus asked him effectively shutting him up.
Cornelius asked for the first time, "How can we be sure of that?"
"There is a little spell which can force him out of his animagus form, Cornelius. If he is not an animagus then the spell will not harm him at all", said Dumbledore and turned to Madam Bones, "With your permission, Madam Bones?"
She nodded and Albus turned to Minerva, "Minerva would you do the honours?
Minerva waved her wand in a complex motion and incanted inaudibly. The spell zapped Scabbers who was in Lupin's hand and Scabbers started to change. It was dizzying with the speed that he changed into a human like a plant growing at a fast speed. When it stopped, the person who stood in place of Scabbers was a short man, who was balding, wore filthy robes, watery eyes and his nose was twitching like a rat.
Everyone looked on in shock at the man while Harry had no idea what had happened.
"Professor, who is this man? Why are you all so shocked?", he asked of Professor Lupin was standing nearest to him, over the unconscious body of the man who was Scabbers.
"Harry, this is Peter Pettigrew. He was supposed to have been killed by Sirius Black as you may know. What is shocking is that he remained alive all this time and no one knew about it", said Remus, "No one knows why he remained in hiding."
Amelia had already bound the man and was talking to the Minister, "Minister, we need to act fast. I need to know why he remained in hiding if he had nothing to hide. Do I have your permission to investigate him under veritaserum?"
Fudge realised she was talking to her and said absent mindedly, "This will brew a storm of trouble in our world."
"Cornelius, this will mean no trouble for you. You were not the minister then", assured Dumbledore, "if anything, you will become the hero if you did the right thing now. Let Madam Bones investigate him under veritaserum now and we will know the truth. You will be praised as the minister who did justice."
Amelia could see that Dumbledore was playing to Fudge's weakness. For a politician, votes matter. If he acted right, he would become more popular. If he didn't then he would be scorned upon by everyone.
"Amelia, please proceed", he said after a few minutes.
Amelia turned to Dumbledore, "Professor, can I impose on you to ask your resident potion master to fetch me some veritaserum?"
Veristaserum or truth potion was a potion which would force the drinker to tell the truth. There was nothing that could stop its effects and there has been no known anti-dote which would make one resistant to it. It was extremely complex to brew, its use was heavily regulated by the ministry because over-usage of it could result in poisoning. Veritaserum was very rarely allowed to be used for exactly these reasons.
Dumbledore walked to the fireplace, threw in a pinch of floo powder and said, "Severus Snape".
A minute later, Severus's head was visible sitting in the fire, "What do you want, Headmaster?"
"Severus, please fetch me the strongest vertiaserum in your stores", he said and ended the connection.
A minute later, Severus stepped out of the fireplace, saw Peter and exclaimed, "PETER PETTIGREW! But he is supposed to be dead."
Amelia who was waiting for the potion said tersely, "Apparently he is not dead. Now the veritaserum?"
As he handed the potion to her, she turned to one of the men who had accompanied her, "Gawain, put magic restraining shackles on him."
The man called Gawain was a senior Auror at the ministry and a very competent wizard. As Amelia ordered, he pulled out a pair of handcuffs and slapped them on Peter's wrists.
These bracelets were called magic restraining shackles and would stop a person from using magic while he was wearing it. The Ministry of Magic regularly placed such shackles on people arrested for crimes.
After she had secured the prisoner, she poured three drops of it his mouth and pointed her wand at him, "Ennervate."
Peter came to conscious a minute later and was scared seeing everyone before him.
"What is your name?", asked Amelia.
"Peter Pettigrew."
"You were supposed to be dead. How did you escape alive?", she asked.
"That night, Sirius had been tracking me and cornered me on a busy street full of muggles. As he confronted me, I started shouting that he had betrayed Lilly and James and sold them to the dark lord. I kept my wand behind myself and cast a bombarda. The explosion killed those muggles while I severed a finger of mine and escaped in the sewers."
Remus looked like he was ready to kill someone. McGonagall looked like she was about to whip her wand out and start hexing Peter Pettigrew. Snape looked non-chalant. Harry was transfixed on the questions which were being asked.
"Who betrayed the Potters?", asked Dumbledore.
"I did", he replied.
"You were not their secret keeper. How could you betray them?", Dumbledore asked.
"Sirius and James had decided that they will fool everyone at once. They told everyone that Sirius was the secret keeper but in reality I was the secret keeper."
"Are you a death eater?", Madam Bones asked him.
His will was already under the influence of the potion and there was no way that he could resist her questions.
"Yes, I am a death eater", he replied.
Professor Lupin was growling in his throat and even Severus Snape looked murderous. Harry had seen Snape at his worst but this! This was worse than that. He looked like a beast ready to charge a prey and tear it to shreds.
"When did you join him?"
"It was sometime was after leaving Hogwarts. We were losing the war and the Dark lord and his death eaters were winning. I was worried for myself and sought him out. He offered me a place among his inner circle and branded me with the dark mark. I told him that I was the member of the Order of Phoenix and I gave him its secrets including the secret of the cottage where James and Lily were hiding."
"We trusted you. We treated you as equal. We loved you like a brother. James trusted you more than a brother. How could you betray him?", asked Professor Lupin who looked feral now and Harry looked scared of the man.
"Calm down, Mr. Lupin", said Amelia, "I have a lot of questions to ask of him."
"What secrets you told you-know-who about the Order of the Phoenix?"
"I used to supply him information about the order activities, its members, their hiding places, how they defended themselves. Using the information supplied by me, the dark lord killed many members of the Order of Phoenix."
"Like who?", Amelia asked.
"The Potters, the McKinnons, Edgar Bones and his family, Dorcas Meadows, Benjy Fenwick, the Prewett twins and many more", he replied.
To Harry, it certainly looked like everyone in the room except the Minister wanted to kill Peter Pettigrew.
"Is Sirius Black innocent? Was he a death eater?", asked Amelia.
"No. Sirius was never a death eater. They had tried to fool everyone and made me the secret keeper. I was a talentless thing and no one would have suspected that I can be the secret keeper to them. Even then, Sirius had hid me at a place where no one could find me. I called the Dark Lord to that place through the mark and he rescued me from there. I gave him their address and followed him later."
"What happened that Halloween?", Amelia asked him.
No one in living memory knew what had happened at that night. Of the entire incident there was only one witness, a thirteen year old wizard named a Harry Potter who was a toddler then. Like others, Amelia also wanted to know exactly what had happened at that Halloween. Now was a chance to understand the events of that night.
"I followed the dark lord at a distance as he apparated to Godric's Hollow. I saw him entering the cottage but I could not dare to enter. I heard him casting the killing curse at James before he taunted him for lack of a wand. I could not go inside because I could not see my friend's dead body. I saw the green lights through the windows of the upper levels of the house once and I think it was time when he killed Lilly. I could hear her pleading to him to spare Harry and kill her. Soon, I heard an explosion and the roof was blasted apart. Fearing for the dark lord, I rushed in the house on the upper floors where I found no one but Harry Potter who was in his crib, crying near the dead of body of his mother, a scar on his head. There was no sign of the dark lord in that room. I only found his wand in the room and I picked it up for safe keeping", he said in the same monotone and everyone was spell bound hearing whatever he had to say.
"Where is this wand?", Amelia asked him.
"It is hidden under an apple tree in the orchard of the Weasley Family", he explained.
"What the Weasleys have to do with it?", she asked.
"After I escaped from Sirius, I kept roaming here and there until I reached Otter St. Catchpole where I knew the Weasleys lived. Molly Weasley was the brother of the Prewett twins and I knew her through them. I knew they had six children who would soon go to Hogwarts. I latched myself to them to keep an eye on the wizarding world and to find out what happened to my master. I also knew that Harry Potter will one day come to study at Hogwarts and I will be in perfect position to deliver him to the dark lord, if he had survived that explosion but apparently the dark lord was perished in it."
"What you can tell us about the Death eaters?" she asked.
"There were many of them. We used to pillage, rape and murder in his service. He had created an army of inferi which he hid hidden somewhere to be used later on his conquest upon the ministry. None of us really knew who were his followers except for a select few who belonged to his inner circle."
"Who were the members of the inner circle?"
"No one except the dark lord knew. He kept our identities secret from each of us and he would keep information distributed between the members of his inner circle just to have them at each other's throats and vying for his approval and favour. A few of them who were known to be the part of his inner circle were Bellatrix Lestrange, Rudolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, Mulciber, Walden Macnair, Jugson, Antonin Dolohov, Corbin Yaxley among others. In the time that I was part of his forces, I knew only them."
It had been two hours since the interrogation had begun and when it ended, there were lot more questions than answers.
"What do you think we should do Dumbledore?", Cornelius asked of Albus.
"Minister, if you ask my opinion then the first thing that you should do is to send the Dementors back to Azkaban. Since we have just heard that Sirius Black is innocent, we don't need to keep them around the school. Then launch a search party for Sirius Black and when is found, give him a re-trial. Exonerate him, apologise to him on behalf of the ministry and the previous minister. You will end up as the hero in this situation."
Cornelius could visualise himself standing beside Sirius Black, grinning and posing for a photo. That would bring him some much needed publicity. Yes, he would do as exactly Albus asked of him.
"Amelia, do as Dumbledore just said. I will see you later at the Ministry", he said to Amelia Bones before taking leave of Harry and leaving.
Amelia who was left behind was saying to Dumbledore, "If I can smother him up the way you just did, it will solve half of the ministry's problems."
Dumbledore could only grin in response. Not everyone knew how to appeal to people's egos or to manipulate them the way he could. One of the many gifts of being a century old man who had seen too much, perhaps.
When she finally left after having called for Aurors from the ministry to help her transport the prisoner, Albus turned to Harry, "I suppose you have questions for us, Harry?"
Harry had a lot of questions and he didn't know where to start asking them.
"Yes Professor, but most of my questions are to Professor Lupin", he said.
Dumbledore nodded, "Very well then. You both are free to go and Professor Lupin will explain everything to you in the best possible way."
Before Lupin left however, he said to Dumbledore, "Headmaster, there is something that you must know. Sirius Black is an animagus and he becomes a big black dog."
"Big black dog?", Harry asked him.
"Yes, why?"
"Because I have seen such a dog thrice now and every time I had some close calls. I thought that it was the Grimm!"
Remus actually chuckled, "That sounds like Sirius alright."
Dumbledore was saying, "I will alert Madam Bones and she will want to ask more questions of you later, Remus."
With that, Harry and Professor Lupin left the office of the headmaster to return to Remus's office where he spread the map on the table and said to him, "Before you ask any questions, let me tell you that I know the Weasley twins had nicked it from my office. They thought they were being very clever trying to prank me. Now ask your questions."
He turned to Remus, "How did you know that Peter Pettigrew was an animagus?"
Remus said uneasily, "Harry, Peter was one of my best friends. When he arrived at the school, we i.e. James, Sirius, and I took him under our wing and helped him every way he could. He is a coward who always sought the protection of the strongest player in the field. He kept latching to us and leeched off our talents. James and Sirius were Animagi and they helped him become one."
Harry shouted, "What! My father was your best friend?"
"Yes Harry, James was my best friend."
Harry started shouting, "Then where were you all these years? Why you didn't come to take me away from the Dursleys while I was there and suffered at their hands? All these years I kept praying that someone one day would come and take me away from them but no one did. Even now, you didn't let me know that you knew my father and would not have told me if we hadn't caught Peter today. Why? Answer me?"
"Harry, there is something that I can't tell you right now. But I have some problems due to which I cannot be trusted to take care of anyone especially a child. Your father and Sirius were very kind that they offered me their friendship but the society despises people like me. I never have had a stable job due to this ailment that I have and I had no means to raise you. Even this year, I was supposed to join so that I could catch Sirius Black who I thought was going to come after you. We never knew of Peter's duplicity. You will understand my concern when you will know more. Now ask your next question."
"Was my father also an animagus?"
"Yes Harry, he was also an animagus."
"What did he become?", Harry asked eagerly.
"Your patronus form. Did you not see it when you conjured it during the match?"
He shook his head, "I was paying attention to the snitch."
"Then conjure it now", Remus appreciated him.
Harry whipped out his wand and firmly intoned, "Expecto Patronum."
A majestic creature burst forth out of his wand. It was about 6 feets in height, antlers which were about 10 pointers and it shone with such brightness that it was hard to keep looking at it for long.
Remus whispered, "Prongs" and his throat constricted with emotion. As Harry watched, the defense professor wiped his eyes with his handkerchief.
Harry was concerned for the man, "Professor, what happened? Why are you crying? And who is Prongs?"
"I never thought that I would see this patonus again. Your father had the same patronus and he named it after his animagus form. Whenever you will cast this patronus, you father will walk in its form protecting you in the face of danger", said Remus with eyes moist.
"Do you means Prongs as in the map?", Harry asked him.
"Yes. You father, Sirius, I and Peter made this map in our sixth year. It was confiscated from us in seventh year by Filch who could not understand what it was but knew it was dangerous", Remus explained, "When Snape asked you that day if the founders of the map would have lured you out of the castle then yes, we would have found it amusing", Remus explained.
"What was my father like?", Harry asked him.
"James was a very kind man, Harry. He was a brilliant man and had a knack for transfiguration. He loved people around him, would have died for those he loved and he never suspected anyone. In fact, when we had heard that there were spies in our midst then he refused to believe that any one among us will betray the rest of us."
"One more question, Professor. Why I was not able to see Peter Pettigrew on the map before? In fact, I could not see you either", Harry asked the defense professor.
Remus smiled, "When we were making the map, we put in a fail-safe in it so that we could not be seen on the map. If any of us had the map and wanted to find the others, we just had to perform a spell and it would reveal our locations. When I got the map back, I had performed the spell to try and find Sirius Black. It was still active when those twins nicked it off my office by setting a firecracker in a nearby classroom. They are pretty pedestrian in comparison to us."
Harry stood up, "Professor, I will take your leave now. I have to go see my friends. They would have returned from Hogsmead by now and I want to tell them everything before they hear it from others."
When Ron and Hermione returned from the village that day, Harry was waiting in the Common Room.
"Hermione, Ron I have loads to tell you both about", he said excitedly.
"What do you mean, mate?", Ron asked him.
"Not here. Let's find an empty class room and we will talk there", he said.
They found an empty class room on the sixth floor and after having been seated comfortably, he started, "Ron, Scabbers is alive."
"What? What do you mean, Harry? Crookshanks ate him", Ron said.
"No Ron! He didn't. Scabbers was not an ordinary rat but he was an animagus", Harry explained.
"Harry", Hermione said, "That is not possible. I have seen the Animagus Register. There have been only 5 animagi in the last century."
"Hermione, I appreciate that you put in so much effort in your work but he is an illegal animagus who was never registered", Harry explained, "It was a wizard named Peter Pettigrew..."
"Peter Pettigrew?", Ron exclaimed, "But Harry, he was killed by Sirius Black."
"No Ron, he had cast the curse that killed the muggles and he escaped in the sewer severing one of his fingers. Professor Lupin caught him with the help of the map today and McGonagall forced him to change his form before the Headmaster and the Minister and some witch from the ministry."
"So, did you find anything else?", Hermione asked him.
"There is a lot that I have found out, Hermione but you will have to wait for it", Harry said, "I suppose that the morning paper should be interesting."