Well what do you know; I do believe that this is the first time that I've actually updated when I said that I would. Well it turns out that Miracles do happen after all! I've reached a milestone, 50 reviews! Thank you so much to every single person who has reviewed so far, speaking of reviews...
Shinigami - Fear not this is far from the end, I have many, many, many more ideas before this comes to an end
FireChildSlytherin5 – Why thank you so much!
Kenzie lee-kins – Your support is very much appreciated, very glad that you like it!
Well on with the show I think!
Summary: It's been five years since the end of the Great War, five years since Voldemort was killed at last. His death was supposed to bring abouthappiness and the end of suffering, but it didn't. Things went from bad to worse. Now Fate has had enough. Now Fate is intervening.
Chapter Eleven:
By Rosa241
Dumbledore POV:
"You cannot be serious Albus! This has got to be some sort of mistake, a joke!" Cornelius is practically shouting now, although it's more shock than anger. Then again there has to be some sort of anger there. We've all spent a long time believing what we thought was the truth only to find out that in actual fact it was complete make believe.
"I joke not Cornelius. Everything I've told you is indeed fact." He stares at me again, shock, fear, anger and just about everything else running across his face. He sighs heavily, sitting down on the chair once again before he looks over towards me.
"And he was hiding in plain sight this whole time."
"Yes. Had it not been for young the two young Weasley's then I strongly suspect that he would have spent years hiding away." Biding his time...although I don't say this out loud of course. I'm quite sure that Cornelius is not ready to face those kinds of facts right now.
"Tell me again Albus." Sighing heavily I go over the tale once more.
Flashback:
"Ah Severus thank you." He hands me the goblet wordlessly, his dark eyes never once leaving Peter. "I thought that you might like a drink Peter."
I can't help but be worried as I hand him the goblet. He takes it, gazing at me curiously with what I'm confident is suspicion. He makes no move to drink the liquid, instead choosing to twirl the goblet between his fingers.
"It still seems so strange to me. For many years I have felt terrible, guilty, at not having seen Mr Black's betrayal. Perhaps if I had..." I trail off. What I speak of is indeed the truth, I had wondered for many years about why I hadn't suspected anything. Of course now I'm almost confident that I know the answer. My words seem to ease Peter's fears as he hesitantly brings the cup to his lips and takes a few sips.
"You should not blame yourself." He whispers before taking another sip.
"If you don't mind my asking, I would like to know in more detail what happened that day with Mr Black." He simply nods, steeling himself for my questions. "Would you please tell us what happened between the two of you."
"Sirius grabbed me. He was so angry...so very angry..." He steadies himself before continuing. "I thought he would kill me. I was scared, so scared...I didn't mean to hurt them."
"Hurt who?" Minerva urges. She had always had a soft spot for Mr Pettigrew as I recall.
"Th...Those people...the explosion...I set it off." Minerva's gasp and Severus's dark glare pretty much sum up the entire situation. "I hadn't meant to hurt anyone I just wanted to get away. Sirius was so angry at me, so very angry. I was so scared, he would have killed me so I just...I just wanted to get away."
The silence in the room is deafening. Everything within me is screaming out, yelling at me that there's more to this. Minerva is confused; that much is more than evident on his face. I don't believe that either of them, Minerva or Severus, has ever suspected that this could happen. All these years we have believed that Peter was the innocent victim, only now do we discover the truth.
"Why would he have killed you?" I ask, ignoring Severus' mutterings, his rivalry with Sirius clouding his judgement. "Why was he so angry? Because you confronted him? Because of what he'd done?"
"No..." He's trying hard not to reveal the truth, to not tell me but the power of the Veritaserum is too much to resist. "It was because of what I'd done."
"What did you do? Tell me!" My voice comes out sharper than I had intended, much more, but from the way he looks at me from the fear in his eyes I know before he even says it. I know the truth. How could I have missed it!?
"It was me. I...I s-sold James and Lily to...to him." This time as he trails off no one says anything. Minerva falls back into her chair, tears in her eyes and shock on her now pale features. My eyes flick momentarily to Severus. He's angry. There's nothing else to him right now, anger is pretty much all that exists within him right now. Considering his feelings it's hardly surprising.
"How?" I finally ask. "Mr Black...he was their secret keeper."
"No...I was...Sirius convinced them to change it to me, he said that it was the perfect idea...he said that you-you know who wouldn't suspect me."
End Flashback:
"I cannot believe it. After all this time..." We both fall silent. Nothing more needs to be said. An innocent man has spent all these years locked up in that awful prison because of someone who was supposed to be his friend. James and Lily...their deaths could have been avoided. "He wasn't their secret keeper?"
"No. Apparently Sirius was convinced that Voldemort would come after him, he was convinced that Voldemort would suspect him to be the obvious target. Apparently he was sure that if Peter was the secret keeper then Voldemort wouldn't suspect a thing. Sirius believed that Voldemort would come after himself and that he would leave Peter alone." I chose to ignore the way he flinches every time I say that name, ordinarily I would restrict my use of the word but right now I'm too shocked to think about it.
Before either of us can say anything else the door opens. Minerva escorts the two Aurors into the room, one of them I recognise as Alastor Moody – he is after all an old friend - the other's name I do not know.
"I apologise for interrupting but we think you should know, we've spoken to Mr Pettigrew and he's confirmed Dumbledore's version of events. He was in fact the Potter's secret keeper and he was in fact the one who betrayed them to you-know-who." Cornelius' face loses what little colour it had. "Sirius Black is an innocent man."
The room descends into quiet. Every single person within the room is now in shock. I must admit that there was a time when I suspected Sirius' innocence but it was a very small part of me that I'm now ashamed to admit that I ignored it. Once this day is over I'm sure that my mind will fall into shock but right now I have far too much to do.
"I trust that Mr Black will be released." All eyes fly to me at this, I can tell that it's the first time its crossed any one's minds.
"Well...I...yes I suppose, I suppose that he will be." Cornelius whispers before falling back into silence. It takes several minutes before he speaks again. "The two boys, we will need to speak with them."
Percy's POV:
Dad seems to be in shock right now, much as I'm sure everyone else is. Mum is more concerned with the fact that 'Scabbers' has slept in both of our beds – I have to admit the thought makes my entire body shudder violently – and has lived with us for all this time.
"That...that man has..." She trails off once again, her mind unable to comprehend just what has happened.
"Who is he?" Ron questions for what has to be the thousandth time. This time I spare dad – who's yet to leave my side – a curious look, he sighs heavily before setting about explaining.
"His name is Peter Pettigrew; we thought that he died a long time ago." I can just tell that dad wants to say more but he's not stupid, with the minister here he daren't say too much.
"But...he's alive." Ron says, stating the obvious.
"I think that's the problem Ron." He gives me a confused look before turning back to mum.
We fall back into silence for a few more minutes. It's been like this since mum and dad arrived over an hour ago. McGonagall informed them of what happened before heading up to speak to Professor Dumbledore, most presumably to get over the absolute shock of what's happened tonight. Its late now, probably drawing closer to evening than anyone of us would like.
"Percy can I have a quick word please." We're currently sat in McGonagall's office; dad pulls me outside before continuing. "Are you alright?"
His question shocks me slightly; I'd expected some sort of query about Ron, or maybe about everything that has happened but this...this wasn't what I'd expected.
"Fine." The look he gives me is one of disbelief. Oh right, this is supposed to be a shock. I may have known about this but they didn't. They'd expect me to be shocked. "Well...I mean I'm not fine I'm just...I'm confused."
"Yes, yes I think we all are." He places one hand on my shoulder before continuing. "Your mother, she worries about Ron. What with him having all of you to live up to, not that he needs to live up to you of course, we'll be proud no matter what he does. But...well, we worry so much about Ron feeling self conscious and Ginny being at home alone, then there's Fred and George and well..."
He trails off, clearing his throat as he looks at me.
"Well what I'm saying is, we tend to worry about everyone else and you have this tendency to fade into the background. You're always so controlled and you've not needed looking after since you were very young." Well, that's definitely not what I was expecting. "I just want to make sure that you're okay, I don't want you to feel as though you're being forgotten about or that we're pushing you aside."
"Dad." I pause momentarily before I continue, wanting to get my words correct. "I understand. Ginny's the youngest and the only girl, I can't imagine its easy putting up with all of us guys. Then there's Ron and well, I think we can safely say that from the looks of things he's going to attract trouble and as for Fred and George well...they cause enough trouble for a thousand lifetimes. My point is that's a lot to deal with and like you said I don't need a baby sitter. I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself; I'm a big boy after all."
"I just worry about you sometimes." Me? He worries about me? "Your brothers are all well...they're very similar, quidditch obsessed and pranksters. But you...well your different, quieter and more subdued. What I mean is you tend to stick to yourself."
It takes a while but eventually my dads words sink in. After all this time - well this time and last time - I've finally figured something out. Dad feels guilty. He actually feels like the way things turned out for me was his fault, or at least that was how he felt before. Those feelings, those feelings started far earlier than just our fight that day. He's felt this way for a very long time and never said anything.
"Your right. I am different, and maybe before that was a sore spot but not anymore. Things are different now." He gives me a curious look, like he wants more details but he doesn't press the point. "And as for sticking to myself well...yeah. Growing up in a house with Fred and George blowing things up all the time and Charlie, Bill and Ron constantly going on and on about quidditch...it was always nice to get a bit of time to myself. You and mum, you're not the reason I've isolated myself, that's my fault."
"How?" I don't know why but I feel like I have to say this, I feel like I need to get this off of my chest.
"I think...I think that I always felt different, strange I guess. I mean the others are all so similar and I'm...not. That always stuck with me, the fact that I was different, it was an issue for me. That's why I always stayed away, being around everyone just made it glaringly obvious how different I was, wasn't a particularly nice feeling I'll admit. But it's not an issue anymore. I don't mind being different now; actually I'm kind of glad that I am."
To my intense surprise he pulls me into a hug, wrapping me up tightly. No words are needed right now. He just needs to hug me, to show me how he feels and me; well I think I need this as well. Before either one of us can say anything else someone clears their throat, interrupting us.
"Sorry to bother you Arthur but the minister is asking to speak to the boys." My mind goes blank momentarily as Alastor Moody stands in front of us. Of course at this point he still worked for the ministry as a matter of fact this is just a year before he retires if I remember rightly, his own paranoia eventually becoming too much for him.
Arthur POV:
"I just worry about you sometimes. Your brothers are all well...they're very similar, quidditch obsessed and pranksters. But you...well your different, quieter and more subdued. What I mean is you tend to stick to yourself." My words are not easy to say out loud. I've thought this more and more over the recent years but this is the first time I've said it. In all honesty this has been running through my mind since Fred and George first started at Hogwarts.
"Your right. I am different, and maybe before that was a sore spot but not anymore. Things are different now." As much as I'd like him to elaborate right now I think there's much more that he needs to say, and much more that I need to hear. "And as for sticking to myself well...yeah. Growing up in a house with Fred and George blowing things up all the time and Charlie, Bill and Ron constantly going on and on about quidditch...it was always nice to get a bit of time to myself. You and mum, you're not the reason I've isolated myself, that's my fault."
"How?" To be perfectly honest I've always blamed myself, I've always felt like there's more that I can have done to stop him from being so alone for the last few years.
"I think...I think that I always felt different, strange I guess. I mean the others are all so similar and I'm...not. That always stuck with me, the fact that I was different, it was an issue for me. That's why I always stayed away, being around everyone just made it glaringly obvious how different I was, wasn't a particularly nice feeling I'll admit. But it's not an issue anymore. I don't mind being different now; actually I'm kind of glad that I am."
I can feel the tears pricking my eyes as my son speaks, I don't hesitate for a second before pulling him into a hug. It surprises me for a moment when he responds to the hug, Percy's never been an intimate person. As I pull away to say more, to say something – anything – a familiar voice interrupts us.
"Sorry to bother you Arthur but the minister is asking to speak to the boys." As Alastor speaks my attention is brought straight back to the present situation. Making a mental note to speak to my son about this later on I steel myself for what is to come.
Percy's POV:
As we walk into Dumbledore's office my eyes meet Fudges. It takes a lot for me to hold my tongue as I see the man. In that last year that I worked for him I grew to hate the man so much that it takes all my effort to force myself to remember that this version of the minister is not the man that I once knew.
"We would like it if you could inform us of what happened leading up to the discovery this morning." They look to me first. It's no secret that the word of young wizard doesn't mean much to anyone at the ministry. My word however won't mean much more than Ron's but given the situation my word is the one that will mean the most. As we sit down to my surprise it's the minister himself that address' me first.
"When did you first come across Mr Pettigrew?" It takes me a moment before I answer. Not that I need to think about it but I need him to believe me.
"Um...I must have been about four maybe five years old. I remember I'd been in the garden with dad and Bill and I found Scabbers um...I mean Mr Pettigrew. I kept him and took care of him. When my parents got me Hermes, he's my owl, I passed him onto Ron." I gaze at Ron as I say this, he still looks confused.
"When did you first begin to suspect something was different about him?" I force myself to hesitate again before I continue.
"In all honesty I didn't, not really. We were at breakfast and Ron had brought Scabbers, sorry I mean Mr Pettigrew, with him. Hermione Granger commented on how old he was and they got talking. I commented that maybe he was magical, that would explain why he'd lived so long...in all honesty it was really just a passing comment I didn't actually believe it." I pause here and glance over at my dad; he gives me an encouraging gaze before I continue. "I mentioned to Professor McGonagall about it and she said about bringing him – Pettigrew – to her so that she could check him over. We didn't actually think anything would come of it."
"This is what happened?" He says this to Ron, wanting to get the full story.
"Yeah. Never-never really thought about Scabbers having magic or anything." He says very little, both nervous at the Ministers presence and confused. We talk for a few more moments before the minister is satisfied with our story, as he stands to leave I just can't help myself.
"Excuse me, I don't mean to sound rude or anything but I think we deserve an explaination." All eyes snap to me, some with shock (Fudge) others with what I'm hoping is pride (mum). "This man...this...Peter Pettigrew, whoever he is he's been sleeping in our house, living with us for all this time and now we found out that he's a person not a rat. To be plainly honest I think we have a right to know who he is."
For a moment I'm quite certain that he's going to just ignore my words and walk out, I wouldn't be surprised. But to my intense shock and relief he actually sits back down.
"Yes I suppose thinking about it you do need to know what's going on here." He takes a few moments to compose himself before continuing. As he sets about explaining everything, from Sirius to Harry's parents, my mind flips back to my mission. Stop Voldemort from rising once more – I do believe that I may well have made some progress here.
"Now, neither of you is to say anything to anyone about this, understand?" As we both nod our heads he and the Aurors stand to leave. "Dumbledore I presume you will be coming with us. I think Mr Black will need to see a friendly face upon his release."
McGonagall quickly ushers us both out, along with Mum and Dad, and sends us on our way back to the common room. As we leave the room my heart feels far less weighed down than before, maybe this will be easier than I thought.
Wow, long, long chapter, just shy of 4000 words! Wasn't originally intending on the Arthur/Percy fluff but hey, it works. Sirius is going to be released, good news for both he and Harry. Speaking of Harry, how will he take the news? Well we shall find out. Bye.
P.S. for those of you waiting on an update for my other Harry Potter Fic (Goblet of fire rewrite) it will be up either today or tomorrow.