Really tried to cut this one down. It just kept getting longer. I don't know what happened. Sorry. It's also kinda shite. 

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘕𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘳𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘚𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘥 𝘝𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘕𝘰𝘵-𝘴𝘰-𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳

| 𝕄𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕝𝕕𝕒 |

Right. Well, my brother and i were having quite the night. Werewolves and murderers and secret shacks. Oh and the fact that my father was supposed to be the weasleys pet rat. It was a lot to take in at once, i must admit. I was having a bit of trouble processing if i must be honest, and the sudden appearance of our potions teacher did not make anything easier.

professor snape tossed the cloak hed been wearing off to the side ── the cloak of invisibility. "I found this at the base of the whomping willow. Very useful, potter, i thank you." Harry glared at him in return.

"And we thank you for that unpresidented explanation," Magnus solluted the professor. Snape glared at him.

I was hoping my brothers smart comments meant that he was feeling a little more secure. But knowing him it could have just as easily meant he was terrified out of his wits. Which meant it was up to me to be the brave one. I had decided on the last one. Just in case.

The potions master seemed slightly breathless but there was a look of triumph in his eyes all the same. he looked at professor lupin and sirius black as if all his best dreams had just come true. Two of his school rivals together in one place, one of which was a wanted man. I wasnt sure if he planned to turn them in or kill them himself with that evil look in his eyes.

"Youre wondering perhaps how i knew you were here? Ive just been to your office lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight." ramona gave her father a concerned look though in his defense there had been a lot going on that night. "So i took a gobletfull along. And very lucky i did... lucky for me i mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map." Ah. Yes. In our haste to follow our defense professor no one had thought to close the map. Then again i didnt think anyone would be in the office after us either.

"One glance at it told me all i needed to know. I saw you running along this passage way and out of sight."

Lupin started to speak. "Severus ─"

but the other teacher cut him off. "Ive told the headmaster again and again that youre helping your old friend Black into the castle lupin and heres the proof. Not even i dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout ─"

"severus you're making a mistake," lupin tried. "You havent heard everything. I can explain. Sirius here is not going to kill harry or the twins ─"

but snape wasnt listening, apparently opting instead to day dream about the other two men being whisked off to prison together. "Two more for azkaban tonight. I shall be interested to see how dumbledore takes this... he was quite convinced you were harmless you know lupin... a tame werewolf ─"

ramona looked like she wanted to verbally attack the potions teacher on her fathers behalf but he beat her to it himself. "You fool. Is a schoolboy grudge really worth putting an innocent man back in azkaban?"

Apparently it was.

Professor snape jabbed his wand at professor lupin and with a bang! the defense teacher was tied up. Ramona leapt to her fathers side "dad!"

meanwhile sirius black growled, a deep, reverberating noise that came from not just his throat but his whole chest as well. He started towards snape but was stopped when the potions master trained his wand on him next. "give me a reason," he threatened. "Give me a reason to do it, and i swear i will."

it was clear what 'it' meant, even without the burning hatred in both mens eyes. I couldnt tell who was carrying more loathing. Probably Sirius Black if I had to guess As I thought he rather looked like he would have killed snape even without a reason, all he needed was a wand to do I with or maybe that knife he'd had earlier in the year

I found myself checking his hands to see if he had it now

"vengeance is very sweet." Snape was still glaring at Black, wand aimed at him, like he was just hoping to use it on him. Ramona was staring up at the professor as if she thought he was mad. I stayed close to my brother just in case things got out of hand. I love him but hes utterly useless when things are unpredictable. And if nothing else that was exactly what are potions teacher was in this moment. He was almost scarier than the actual convicted murderer on the other side of the room. Almost but not quite. I wondered how much merit my brothers comment about rabies had been, can animagi dogs get rabies?

Black made another one of those horrible growls of his. I couldnt tell if that was becuz he was an animagus or if he could already do that as a person but it left chills running through me. "Jokes on you again, snivellus." Snape scowled at that nickname, and i wondered if that was part of the 'school boy grudge' Lupin had mentioned. Black jerked his head at ron who was still holding the struggling rat. "As long as this boy brings his rat up to the castle i'll come quietly."

"Up to the castle?" said snape. "i dont think we need to go that far. All i have to do is call the dementors once we get out of the willow. Theyll be very pleased to see you Black. Pleased enough to give you a little kiss, i daresay..."

it may have sounded a bit odd for a threat if you knew nothing of dementors. But unfortunately for me my brother was a political phenom and so he frequently info dumped to me about such things. The dementors kiss was worse than death itself. Something like depression, except worst. Your very soul is sucked from your body. You lose all sense of self. Your body will still be functioning, you'd still be breathing, your heart would still be working but you would stop living in all the ways that matter.

no creative stories, no long walks on the beach, or talking with your friends. Youd never enjoy anything ever again. You'd just be, for all intents and purposes, disconnected with the rest of the world. A Shell of the person you were before.

That being said, it made sense, innocent or guilty, why Sirius Black would look so nervous at the sound of that. "You ── you've got to hear me out. That rat ─ look at the rat ─"

"come on all of you," snape ordered. He ignored what the other man was saying all together. "I'll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the dementors will have a kiss for him too ─"

"No!" ramona threw herself on top of her father, keeping him from going anywhere. "You cant take him! i wont let you! you cant take him!"

Professor snape glared down at her. "Get out of the way, you foolish girl!"

"No! You cant take him!"

There was a lot of shouting from all directions. Harry blocked the door. "I've been alone with him loads of times, having defense lessons against the dementors. If he was helping Black, why didn't he just finish me off then?"

"Don't ask me to fathom the way a werewolf's mind works." Snape sneered.

Ramona scoffed, still on top of her father protectively. She was glaring up at the professor, positively shaking with rage. "You're pathetic," she spat, and i had to take a moment to admire the guts it must have taken Despite the chaos of the situation. "Just because they made a fool of you in school you wont even listen ─"

"silence! i will not be spoken to like that!"

"Dont yell at her!" Harry snapped. "Just because your not having your way!"

snape turned on harry now. "Like father, like son, Potter! I have just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he'd killed you! You'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black — " with an abrupt turn back to ramona he said, "now get out of the way, or i will make you."

ramona didnt move. She stared right back at snape, her eyes hardening like cold stone. Her voice firm as ever she said, "make me then."

it got a bit mad here. Several things happened at once. Snape raised his wand again, but what he planned on doing to ramona we'll never know. Harry shouted, "expelliarmus!" snape's wand went flying, but the disarming spell was almost unnecessary. In the same moment, i shrieked a battle cry and jumped on to the professors back. I don't know. I couldnt think of any spells of attack. naturally i had decided to settle it the way we would have on the streets.

He swung around, yelling for me to get off and throwing around loads of insults at everyone.

The scene might have been hilarious under different circumstances.

With the way the professor was swinging me about it was hard to see everyone clearly, the room a blur of motions but Harry and Ramona were screaming, cheering. Then, ron cried out, "Scabbers!"

in the midst of all the chaos the rat had gotten himself free; Snape managed to throw me off him at last. I landed on the bed next to ron, bouncing on the broken springs. Sirius Black yelled,"dont let that rat escape!"

There was no time to think

harry jumped forward as the rat ran between his feet; he caught it by the tail just before it could dart out the door. The rat squeaked and thrashed like mad, trying to bite harry to get free again. But harry tossed the rat back into the center of the room. Black slammed a spare, tarnished box over the mangy thing to keep it from running off again.

Ron was shouting at him not to hurt his pet. But every time he tried to stand his broken leg had him falling back to the bed again.

Snape was busy glaring at me no doubt about to threaten me with death by expulsion But before he could do or say much of anything his attention was stolen by Ramona who was peeling the bindings off her father. "What do you think you are doing?!" he screamed at her.

My heart was pounding with adrenaline. I'd dropped my wand somewhere when I'd tackled snape. I couldn't find it when I looked over the floor. Uh oh.

Well. Id have to search for it later. It was too dark and too chaotic and my mind was much too preoccupied.i wrapped my hands in the shredded sheets, if it came down to it i was prepared to fight three grown men with nothing but my bare hands... And probably lose. Contrary to what my brother believed I was not entirely thick

"Don't you touch them!" Black started to lunge at Snape, but when the box moved he flattened himself on top of it again.

"Stay out of this, Black!"

There was so much going on, it was hard to keep track of everything happening. Shouts and arguing and complete and utter madness. I dropped my wand. There was a homicidal rat and a trip of men who desperately needed to shag each other. I did the only logical thing i could think to do in a moment like this. I took a deep breath, taking in as much air as i could. My brother had his ears covered In a second. I thought he might have known either from experience or divination ability what i was going to do next before i did it.

I screamed. As loud as i could possibly get for as long as i possibly could manage. It was shrill, the sort of thing you might hear in a horror film i suppose. I was a bit surprised it was coming from my lungs actually.

but it was effective. Everyone in the room froze. I didnt stop until they had all shut up. Until all eyes were on me. "Right." i coughed. My throat was a soar after all that. Id need some tea with honey later "Story times over, gents. I believe i asked for proof before all..." I gestured around the room. "This."

"Proof. Yes." lupin nodded. He was still rubbing where the ropes had been on his arms and eyeing professor snape hesitantly like he thought he might try to bind him again. I tried to ignore how kinky that thought sounded, as much as i was sure the professors wanted to jump each others bones I did not need or want to see it happen in front of me.

"If everyones ready to listen..." lupin took a step towards Black and the box with the rat. But snape only narrowed his eyes, so he found it safe to cross the room.

"Okay," said ron in effort to save his poor ugly pet. "Say the pettigrews dad could turn into a rat. There are millions of rats! how are you supposed to know which one to go after if you've been locked up in azkaban?"

"you know Sirius thats a fair question." Lupin looked at his old friend. "How did you know where he was?"

"the paper," magnus said. He still looked off kilter but at least he could speak now i suppose. So long as he didn't say anything too moronic...

"Uh, Nina worked it out," he added when everyone stared at him in confusion. We were the only ones who knew about nina and her secret room full of newspaper clippings and photos.

"Whos nina?" Asked sirius black.

"my daughter," snape said shortly.

Black blinked in surprise. "You have a kid?"

snape narrowed his eyes at that. "Problem?"

"no, no, i was just thinking how badly someone like you must have screwed up a kid."

"you inncolant ─"

i cut him off before anyone could start another brawl. "Enough!" they looked at me, both starting to argue but i hurried on. "No more arguing! i want to get to the bottom of this before im as old as you all are!" they looked offended that id just called them old but i didnt stop to care about that. I was on a roll.

"I dont care what happened between you lot when you were kids! Youre adults now so act like it already!" i knew as soon as he got the chance professor snape would give me a million detentions for that one. Good thing the school year was over. That fact helped me keep my momentum.

"Now somebody please start explaining. And no more fighting until the whole story is told! Or im going back to the castle and im telling some people some...things."

the two teachers and wanted man stared back at me unsure if they should be concerned or not. "Some things?" lupin asked.

I nodded. "Between bad reputations, stereotypes, and recent history it wont be hard to make the three of you look awful. I mean, look at it this way. We're in a shabby house off campus. We're in a bed room. Sure there are more of us, but we are after all just kids. How are we meant to defend ourselves really? anything could be happening in this room. anything."

even professor snape had the human decency to look disgusted at my threat. No one, no matter how cruel and vindictive they may be in the classroom, wanted to be confused for a pedophile. Especially if they're a teacher

"Clearly you are bluffing," Snape scoffed. But I swear he took a few, albeit very subtle, steps away from me

"Am i though?" i remembered Nina mentioning one time in passing that her father was a legilimens (a mind reader basically) and so i made sure to look him directly in the eyes so he could see for himself. I meant every word of what i said.

That shut him up very fast but it didnt stop him from glaring at me with a look that clearly read: this child is pure evil.

My fellow gryffindors were looking at me in awe. As if they couldnt believe i had just said such a thing to two of our teachers and the convict. Ramona was looking rather conflicted. I suppose she wouldnt have appreciated me threatening her father...

"You know somethin' sis?" Magnus muttered beside me. "Sometimes you scare me..."

i huffed and nodded for Sirius Black to tell his story. He did. No one, not even Professor Snape, dared to interrupt lest i carry out my threat. It was just like nina had said: the minister had given the paper to Black, who'd seen the rat in the photo and been set off. There was only one bit she'd gotten wrong...

"My god," lupin said, looking at the crumbled copy of the paper Sirius Black had pulled out of his pocket during his story. "His front paw..." Snape snatched the paper to see for himself and scowled at what he saw.

"what about it?" ron snapped. He was keeping his eyes on the box under Sirius Black's hands. It was dragging across the floor as the rat tried to escape, and crazed squeaking could be heard from under it.

"He's missing a toe," Black said. He was struggling to keep the box still, growling at it threateningly. "Just before he transformed when i cornered him he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed James and Lily."

professor snape got an odd expression at the mention of harrys mother. Something much softer than the loathing he'd been looking at the other two men with. It was odd and unnatural on his face. I might have been more surprised if i hadnt seen it before, very briefly, during the Winter holiday break. When he looked at his daughter. Love?

Well now that was an interesting thought...

For a moment i wondered if he and harrys mum had been an item at some point but then i was much more concerned with my brother at the time. He was being very fidgety. I wondered if he'd seen something about this via divination. Or perhaps i was putting too much on our abilities. It could have just been all the talk about murder. It was a rather delicate matter after all. Either way I made sure to position myself in front of him once I'd managed to stand again. If a fight broke out I'd rather be the one to get swept away in it. I was much better at it, no offense maggie.

"Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself — and sped down into the sewer with the other rats..."

Ron looked like he was having trouble believing the story. I couldnt blame him. It was the strangest theory id heard in my life. By the way your dad is manic and a coward who abandoned you. Of all the things id been imagining my father could have been. This wasnt one of them. I much preferred the idea that he and my mother had died happily in that little beach house of there's but... Oh well. I suppose reality can be really disappointing every now and again.

"Didnt any of you ever hear?" lupin asked. "The biggest part of Peter they found was his finger."

"Oh lovely," i muttered.

"Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something! He's been in my family for ages, right —"

"Twelve years, in fact," said Lupin. "Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?"

the look on rons face indicated that no he did not. "We — we've been taking good care of him!"

"Not looking too good at the moment, though, is he?" asked Lupin. he nudged sirius black off the box and kicked it away, picking up the rat by his tail. "I'd guess he's been losing weight ever since he heard Sirius was on the loose again..."

"He's been scared of that mad cat!" ron pointed at Crookshanks, who had now taken to watching the rat swing from Lupin's hand as if thinking he might drop it and get a tasty treat.

"this cat isnt mad." it was odd, a dog defending a cat, but nonetheless that was what sirius black was doing. He reached down to stroke the feline's ginger fur; the cat nuzzled his hand in affection. "He's the most intelligent of his kind I've ever met. He recognized Peter for what he was right away, and when he met me, he knew I was no dog. It was a while before he trusted me... Finally, I managed to communicate to him what I was after, and he's been helping me..."

"how do animals communicate?" magnus wondered. "Do they, like, have their own language or something?"

Black looked thoughtful for a moment. "Um, well, kind of actually..."

but before he could explain exactly what that language entailed, Hermione asked, "what do you mean Crookshanks has been helping you?"

"He tried to bring peter to me but couldnt... so he stole the passwords into Gryffindor Tower for me." he looked between my brother and i as if we may have something to do with it. "As i understand it, one of you found the list and the other tossed it away so he went after it..."

"Look, i didnt know cats could also play fetch," i said.

For a second it looked as if Sirius Black were laughing. Then he became somber again. "Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it... " he glared at the rat struggling in Lupin's hand. I couldn't tell if he held more loathing for the rat or Professor Snape. I thought they both must have been on his list of top five most hated men.

"This cat — Crookshanks, did you call him? — told me Peter had left blood on the sheets... I supposed he bit himself... Well, faking his own death had worked once..."

it was jarring to hear the words said so bluntly. He faked his death. He faked his death and he left us. On the streets. He left us on the streets.

"And why did he fake his death? Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed harry's parents!" I dont know where the words came from. I didnt even know if i wanted to defend my father, who had, if this story were true, all but abandoned my brother and me. All i knew for sure was this: if Sirius Black hadnt attacked him he could have still been around. We wouldnt have grown up on the streets. He might have still been a coward, he might have still ran, but if he wasn't legally dead maybe he'd have taken me and my brother with him. Maybe.

But, some part of me kept saying, he still could have come back for us. We could have all left the country together. Something. Anything. But no. He'd left us. He'd left us.

I suppose it was easier to place all the blame on Sirius black though. He was the only face to yell at, at the mo.

i was glad to see at least harry agreed with me. He was looking at Black with the same contempt, apparently thinking the same thing.

"No," Lupin said. "Matilda —"

"and now you've come to finish him off!"

Sirius Black did not deny it. "Yes, i have." He gave the squirming rodent and evil look.

"And you'll do it in front of me!"

"Well you could always leave the room first..."

"You're sick!"

"We should just let Snape take you!" The potions master had been so quiet id forgotten he was there at all until he made a startled movement, Harry's words seeming to shock him. But it wasnt every day the boy who lived sided with him.

Lupin hurried to put in another two sense before Snape could get too excited about that. "Harry, dont you see? All this time we've thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down — but it was the other way around!"

"That's not true!" Harry yelled, his voice echoing off the walls. "He was their secret-keeper! He said so before you turned up! he killed them!"

"Harry... i as good as killed them," Black said. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me... I'm to blame, I know it..."

was it my imagination or did Snape look guilty for a moment too? Did he have something to do with the potters death somehow as well?

"The night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straight away. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies... I realised what Peter must have done... what i'd done..."

he broke off and looked away, eyes full of guilt. I couldnt help feeling slightly sorry for him even if he was out to get my apparently not so dead father. Much as I tried to keep hating him. I should hate him. He wanted to take away my father permanently. Take away any chance, however small, that maggie and I had of getting him back along with Any chance of that cutsie little family drawing I'd done so long ago.

"Enough of this!" snape scowled. He aimed his wand at the rat. "There is only one way to prove your story. Lupin hold the damn rat still!"

"what are you doing with him?" Ron shouted.

"Forcing him to reveal himself!" snape said impatiently. "If he really is Peter Pettigrew." He glared at the rat.

"but if he really is a rat it wont hurt him." lupin added.

"Unfortunately," Snape grumbled. Well, at least they weren't binding and gagging each other anymore. Ugh, kinky. Gross. Blegh.

The rat was twisting and turning, eyes bulging from its ugly head. You might have thought the horrid thing were being tortured to death, but lupin had a firm grip on its tail, dangling it from its tail. "Ready, Severus?"

without answering, Snape fired a spell at the rodent, giving me no time to prepare mentally or emotionally. There was a flash of blue-white light. Lupin let go of the rat and stepped back. It hovered in the air for a moment, the small grey form twisting like someone smashing a pile of clay; with another blinding flash of light the rodent hit the floor. And then it began to transform into something else.

I held my breath

A head shot up, limbs springing out. Scabbers the rat was gone and in his place stood a man i had Only ever seen once before. In that picture lupin had showed me. The beach house. My parents. My father...

He was slightly different from what i had seen in the photo. The stress of the year coupled with being a rat for such a prolonged time had not done him justice i was sure. He was as tall as i was, which was to say very short, and not very attractive. (Well I'm not attracted to men anuway especially when im related to them but you understand my point I'm sure)

Our dad was A plump man, though it was clear he'd lost a lot of weight over a short time. His hair was thin and colourless where it should have been blonde like maggies And he had a bald patch on top that mirrored this spot on the rat where a bunch of fur had apparently been chewed off. Grubby skin, very nearly identical to the rat's fur. His nose was pointed, eyes watery, making him look still very much like a rodent. I wondered if this were the way he looked naturally or a side effect to living as a verman for so long or even being forced out of rat form. I hadn't thought the picture looked this way but I suppose I could have been misremembering

The man looked around at everyone, moving fast and jerky, breathing shallow. He was ringing his hands and cringing, reminding me a bit of someone needing a fix. very jittery. Twitchy. More than once his eyes darted to the door behind harry. Crookshanks the cat was on the bed, hissing and spitting at the man, hair on end.

Magnus gave a quiet laugh. "Unrelated to this, but does anyone have three galleons?"

I elbowed him hard for that. Partly becuz no one cared about his stupid bet with nina and partly becuz it got the man looking our way. I wasnt sure how i was supposed to be feeling about him. I dont know if it meant sirius black and professor lupin were telling the truth or if hed just been hiding to avoid being unjustly murdered. But it did hammer in one thing: he'd left us. He'd been living cozy and happy with the weasleys this whole time as some dumb ugly rodent and he left magnus and me to fend for ourselves. Alone. In the streets. As children.

That was all I could think. He left us, he left us, he left us, he ─

"Well, hello, Peter," Lupin said as if he witnessed rats turn to men every day. "Long time no see."

"S-Sirius... remus... my friends...my old friends..." peter's voice was squeaky, very much like the rodent he was three seconds ago. His eyes darted to the door again without so much as a second glance at my brother and me and i knew hed have no problem leaving us again.

He left us and he'll do it again.

That was enough to extinguish any hope of him coming to us. Any delusional fantasy that there was any scenario where he'd take us with him when he went. He'd leave us. Every time.

I didnt care if he killed the potters and framed sirius black. I didnt care if he were innocent. All I cared about was the fact that he left us. I decided in that very moment that i was going to hate him for the rest of my life.

Sirius black looked like he wanted to hit him, but professor lupin held him back. He spoke calmly, as if we were all the best of mates. "We've just been having a chat, peter, about what happened the night lily and james died." as if he hadnt heard any of it when he was a rat. "You might have missed the finer points while you were squeaking around down there under that box —"

"Remus, you dont believe him do you? He tried to kill me, Remus!"

"So we've heard." our defense teacher sounded much colder than before. Something youd expect from the brooding professor snape instead. "Id like to clear up one or two little matters with you peter if youd be so —"

"He's come to try and kill me again!" When he pointed at sirius black it was with his middle finger since his index was missing. It looked a bit like he was flipping him off. Maybe he was. "He killed lily and james and now he's going to kill me too! Youve got to help me remus!" i admit he did a good job at sounding frightened for his life. It might have even been believable and i might have even felt sorry for him if i hadnt been stuck in my growing loathing for the man.

I didnt look at my brother to see what he was thinking. I just wanted to assume for the moment he was on the same page.

This man wasnt our father. Not in anyway that mattered. Who cared if sirius black killed him tonight?

I know, I know. My opinion changed rather quickly, but I was a bit confused at the moment.

Anyway.

the wanted man in question was glaring at the rodent man like he was more than happy to oblige but professor lupin stopped him from moving again. "No one is going to try to kill you until we've sorted a few things out."

"Sorted things out?" peter looked around the room wildly. At the boarded up windows and again at the only door. Looking for escape routes. The same way magnus did before he went to steal something from someone but much more ovious. "I knew he'd come after me! I knew he'd be back for me! Ive been waiting for this for twelve years! It's... it's why ive never come to find you." he was suddenly addressing my brother and me. I huffed and pretended i couldnt hear him. I didnt want excuses. I wanted a proper life, a proper family. A father who cared about me enough not to abandon me. "I was afraid he'd come for you too!"

Sirius black growled again. At first i thought he'd transformed back into a hound, the sound was so realistic, but when i looked back at him he was still very much human. "Leave your kids out of this, wormtail! you cant use them as pawns now that youve been found out! You left them!" he sounded ten times more offended than either my brother or i were, as if this fact were a personal attack on him too somehow.

"You knew Black would break out of Azkaban? When no one else had ever managed to do it before?" Professor Snape spoke up. He startled me. Once again I'd forgotten he was there. I was starting to think he didn't need the potters' invisibility cloak to disappear. He managed just fine on his own. It didn't sound much like he was defending the prison escapee, though. In fact i was sure he didnt much care which of them went to azkaban as long as at least one of them were hauled off.

Did he hate these three men that much? i wondered how bad their 'schoolboy grudge' had really been, then. What have they done to warrant this much loathing?

peter jumped at the potion master's cold drawl, apparently forgetting about him too. There was a long pause before his next response. I thought he must be more frightened of Snape than he was the other two. "He's got dark powers the rest of us can only dream of! How else did he get out of there? I suppose he-who-must-not-be-named taught him a few tricks."

sirius black laughed. The sort of mad sound people had been describing him with. Angry and bitter. Mirthless. "Voldemort teach me tricks?!" Peter flinched at the name. "What, scared to hear your old master's name? i dont blame you peter. His lot arent too happy with you are they, snivellus?"

i wasnt sure why he was asking snape specifically, but it sounded like a back handed sort of comment. Snape scoffed and gave the other man a look that read something like: shut the hell up, you mutt.

"I dont know what you mean sirius..." but from the nervous jitters and sweat beaming all over his face I thought peter knew exactly what he meant.

"You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years," said Black. "You've been hiding from Voldemort's old supporters. I heard things in Azkaban, Peter... They all think you're dead, or you'd have to answer to them... I've heard them screaming all sorts of things in their sleep. Sounds like they think the double-crosser double-crossed them. Voldemort went to the Potters' on your information ... and Voldemort met his downfall there. And not all Voldemort's supporters ended up in Azkaban, did they?"

"There are still plenty out here, biding their time, pretending they've seen the error of their ways... If they ever got wind that you were still alive, Peter —"

"Don't know... what you're talking about... " said Peter again. he was looking more shrilly than ever. He wiped his face on his sleeve and looked up at professor Lupin. "You don't believe this — this madness, Remus —"

"I must admit, Peter, I have difficulty in understanding why an innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat," said Lupin evenly. "And to leave your own children behind at that..."

"Innocent, but scared!" squealed Peter. couldnt help but notice he made no mention of either my brother or me. No more feeble attempts to defend the abandonment. Maybe it was the threat from sirius black earlier, maybe becuz he knew he couldnt defend himself there. It didnt matter, all it did was make me hate the pratt even more. "If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it was because I put one of their best men in Azkaban — the spy, Sirius Black!"

Black's face contorted. "How dare you?!" he growled, and once again the man sounded just like the bear sized dog he had been the night i found him by the fat ladys painting. So similar in fact that i had to check once more that he was still human. "I, a spy for Voldemort? When did I ever sneak around people who were stronger and more powerful than myself? But you, Peter — I'll never understand why I didn't see you were the spy from the start. You always liked big friends who'd look after you, didn't you? It used to be us ... me and Remus... and James..."

Peter wiped his face again; he was almost panting for breath. "Me, a spy... must be out of your mind ... never.... don't know how you can say such a —"

"Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it!" sirius black with so much bitterness in his voice that peter actually took a step backward. "I thought it was the perfect plan ... a bluff... Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you... It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters."

Peter was muttering something incoherently, words like"far-fetched" and "lunacy," being heard every now and again. None of it was very convincing. His face was ashen. He might have been frightened. He might have been nervous about getting caught. Either way he kept looking for a way out. I didnt realise it until much later and i kicked myself for it. He was keeping us all distracted, i think, until he could escape.

"Professor Lupin?" said Hermione timidly. "Can — can I say something?"

"Certainly, Hermione," said Lupin courteously.

"Well — Scabbers — I mean, this — this man — he's been sleeping in Harry's dormitory for three years. If he's working for You-Know-Who, how come he never tried to hurt Harry before now?"

"There!" said Peter shrilly, pointing at her with his maimed hand. "Thank you! You see, Remus? I have never hurt a hair of Harry's head! Why should I?"

"I'll tell you why," said Black. "Because you never did anything for anyone unless you could see what was in it for you. Voldemort's been in hiding for fifteen years, they say he's half dead. You weren't about to commit murder right under Albus Dumbledore's nose, for a wreck of a wizard who'd lost all of his power, were you? You'd want to be quite sure he was the biggest bully in the playground before you went back to him, wouldn't you? Why else did you find a wizard family to take you in? Keeping an ear out for news, weren't you, Peter? Just in case your old protector regained strength, and it was safe to rejoin him..."

Peter had apparently lost the ability to speak after that; he opened and closed his mouth several times without uttering a sound. Once his eyes flickered over to my brother and i and i thought oh now he sees us. It looked like he wanted to tell us something, but i made a point not to meet his eyes. I didnt care what he had to say.

"Er — Mr. Black — Sirius?" said Hermione. Black jumped at being addressed like this and stared at Hermione as though he had never seen anything quite like her. "If you don't mind me asking, how — how did you get out of Azkaban, if you didn't use Dark Magic?"

"Thank you!" gasped Peter. "Exactly! Precisely what I —"

But between Lupin and Snape both glaring at him he shut up really fast.

Sirius Black was frowning at Hermione, but not as though he were annoyed with her. He seemed to be pondering his answer. "I don't know how I did it," he said slowly. "I think the only reason I never lost my mind is that I knew I was innocent. That wasn't a happy thought, so the dementors couldn't suck it out of me... but it kept me sane and knowing who I am helped me keep my

powers... so when it all became... too much I could transform in my cell... become a dog. Dementors can't see, you know... "

He swallowed, like he was remembering just how awful and inhumane the wizard prison truly was. "They feel their way toward people by

feeding off their emotions... They could tell that my feelings were less — less human, less complex when I was a dog... but they thought, of course, that I was losing my mind like everyone else in there, so it didn't trouble them. But I was weak, very weak, and I had no hope of driving them away from me without a wand..."

he glared at the cowering man before him. "But then I saw Peter in that picture... I realized he was at Hogwarts with Harry... perfectly positioned to act, if one hint reached his ears that the Dark Side was gathering strength again..." He glanced at Magnus and then at me, looking sorrowful. "I didnt know he had kids himself until i got here. That came as a bit of a shock..."

the words triggered the memory of our meeting with professor trelawney before all this mess. 'Youll have a bit of a shock,' shed said. Yeah, i thought, glaring at the man who was supposed to have been my father biggest understatement ever.

"ready to strike at the moment he could be sure of allies... and to deliver the last Potter to them. If he gave them Harry, who'd dare say he'd betrayed Lord Voldemort? He'd be welcomed back with honors. So you see, I had to do something. I was the only one who

knew Peter was still alive... It was as if someone had lit a fire in my head, and the dementors couldn't destroy it. It wasn't a happy feeling... it was an obsession... but it gave me strength, it cleared my mind. So, one night when they opened my door to bring food, I slipped past them as a dog."

just like nina had thought...

"It's so much harder for them to sense animal emotions that they were confused. I was thin, very thin, thin enough to slip through the bars. I swam as a dog back to the mainland. I journeyed north and slipped into the Hogwarts grounds as a dog. I've been living in the forest ever since, except when I came to watch the Quidditch, of course."

sirius black and harry potter exchanged a meaningful look. I thought the former may have just been seeing a smaller version of latter's father though, becuz he said, "You fly as well as your father did, Harry..."

They continued to stare at one another. When sirius black spoke next he nearly choked on his words. "Believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them." it sounded genuine. Much more so than peters words. The grief was plain as can be. This was just a man who'd lost his best friend. This was just a man who'd been tost aside by society and imprisoned for someone else's wrong doing.

"it's alright," i said. "We believe you. Dont we?" i looked around at the others. No one objected; harry even gave a small nod of agreement.

"No!" Peter fell to his knees as if this had been his own death sentence. A bit dramatic i thought. He shuffled forward on his knees, groveling, his hands clasped in front of him as though praying. "Sirius — it's me... it's Peter ... your friend ... you wouldn't ...not in front of my children... "

Black kicked out and Peter recoiled. "There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them! And i thought i told you to leave them out of this!"

There were a few dreadful moments in which peter went around from person to person begging for mercy. Embarrassing. Sirius and Remus forgave one another for apparently assuming the other was the spy. Enchanting. Snape still hated everyone in the room. Of course.

then sirius Black and remus rolled up their sleeves. "Shall we kill him together?"

"Yes, I think so," said Lupin grimly.

"You wouldn't... you won't..." gasped Peter. He looked at my brother and me desperately. "You won't let them kill me, will you? Your own father..?"

"i dunno," i said. "can you really be our father if youve never been around?" magnus didnt say anything at all, but he wasnt defending the rat man either.

There was some more begging. From ron to Hermione. Then harry. Which was a mistake. Especially after he made a comment about harry looking like his dad.

i dont know how that was meant to sway harry but it set sirius black off again. He was screaming at the top of his lungs. "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY? HOW DARE YOU FACE HIM? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT OF HIM?"

"Harry..." peter ignored sirius, decided to press his luck. He shuffled closer to harry, hands outstretched. "Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed. James would have understood, Harry... he would have shown me mercy."

Both Black and Lupin strode forward, seized Peter's shoulders, and threw him backward onto the floor. He sat there, twitching with terror, staring up at them. What a loser.

"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort," said Black. He was shaking too, but his was from rage not fear. "Do you deny it?"

Peter burst into tears. It was horrible to watch, like an oversized, balding baby, cowering on the floor. I couldnt believe this pathetic loser was suppose to be my father. "Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord... you have no idea... he has weapons you can't imagine. I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. I never meant it to happen... i was forced —"

"DON'T LIE!" bellowed Black. "YOU'D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!"

"He — he was taking over everywhere!" gasped Peter. "Wh — what was there to be gained by refusing him?"

"What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?" said sirius, with a terrible fury in his face. "Only innocent lives, Peter!"

"You don't understand!" peter whined. "He would have killed me, Sirius!"

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED! DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"

Black and Lupin stood shoulder to shoulder, wands raised. "You should have realised," said Lupin quietly, "if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would."

I wasnt sure where sirius had gotten his wand. I dont recall him picking one up Maybe it was mine from when I dropped it earlier but I could hardly be bothered to check and make sure. Id seen loads of people die before in the city. Overdoses. Squabbles gone wrong. Gang violence. But it had always been the after math. Magnus was very good at avoiding trouble you see. Never before had anyone been murdered in front of me. It would be difficult to watch whether i cared about them or not. Hermione was already facing the wall, and i remembered what Sirius had said About leaving the room...

"Um, are you going to stop them?" ramona asked Snape desperately. He gave a small shrug in return, as if to say why should i? the potions teacher looked more than content in watching the three former friends tear each other apart.

"NO!" in shocking turn of events harry ran forward and placed himself in front of the wands. "You can't kill him. You can't."

sirius Black and professor Lupin both looked staggered. "Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents," Black snarled. "This cringing bit of filth would have seen you die too, without turning a hair. You heard him. His own stinking skin meant more to him than your whole family, than even his own family!"

peter muttered something here. Something about "not true" and "my children" and "their mother..." i wasnt really listening.

"I know," Harry ignored the rat man as well. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the dementors. He can go to Azkaban, but don't kill him."

"Harry!" gasped Peter, and he flung his arms around Harry's knees. "You — thank you — it's more than I deserve — thank you —"

"Get off me," Harry spat, throwing Peter's hands off him in disgust. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because — I don't reckon my dad would've wanted them to become killers — just for you. And... and because your son and daughter probably shouldnt be witnesses."

No one moved or made a sound except Peter. His breath was coming in wheezes as he clutched his chest. Sirius and Remus were looking at each other. Then, with one movement, they lowered their wands.

Sirius looked between harry my brother and i something dawning in his eyes. "You three are the only people who have the right to decide. But think ... think what he did."

"right. Um, so what are we thinking orphan squad?" Magnus asked looking at harry and me.

"He can go to Azkaban," Harry repeated. "If anyone deserves that place, he does."

Peter was still wheezing behind him, the pathetic loser. I nodded in agreement. "See how he likes being locked up for twelve years."

"great," Magnus said. "Then it's unanimous."

peter looked surprised at this, as if he actually thought magnus and i would do anything for him after he just abandoned us. After he, for all intents and purposes, murdered harrys parents? after he framed another friend and left the last to suffer alone in poverty and discrimination?

"But wait." Magnus stopped and i couldnt help being the slightest bit annoyed at his next words becuz how the devil could i have forgotten? "What about the whole the servant will break free and join his master thing?"

Harry frowned. "How did you ─"

"Don't worry about it, Harry. but Good point, Maggie. Um. We could tie him up?"

"I'm not sure that'll work..." Harry, along with everyone else, was listening, confused. I suppose none of them put much stalk in divination. We probably sounded mad to them. "Especially if we take lupin. I mean..." Maggie glanced at the defense professor. "No offense. But didn't professor Snape just say you forgot to take your potion thingy? And it's a full moon right? And didnt you say you get dangerous without the potion? So what if we get out there and you turn and then he slips away while we're all distracted?"

"Alright... Well... We could knock him out? He can't run if he's unconscious?" I suggested.

"And I'll stay behind. For the safety of everyone," Remus threw in. He didn't seem offended by my brothers worries. In fact he seemed to agree.

"Fine," Magnus said. Then, "Okay, but what if there's some other third party waiting in the forest or something and he jumps out as we're going up, all ex machina like, you know, and ─"

"Who would be doing that? Besides future you, Hermione and harry?" Harry and Hermione looked like they wanted to question that but Maggie didn't let them,

"Technically that's not a third party, it's a party of three. Anyway, it's almost midnight so..." he clicked his tongue as if to say you know what that means... I did. The prophecy Professor Trewlaney gave earlier that day would come true the moment we stepped foot outside this shack.

I rolled my eyes. "We could just ride it out until after midnight..?"

"Sure, if you want to stay in a room with an untamed werewolf ─ again no offense, professor. I'm just being logical." Honestly lupin looked too ill and confused to be offended.

"But they said he's fine with Sirius and Harry's dad."

"Yeah Sirius and Harry's dad. We don't know if it's samesies with just sirius. I mean, they were at odds. Do we really wanna risk their friendship bond thingy or whatever not being as good as before?"

"They made up..."

"People Can't resolve their issues in three seconds tilly!"

"We do not have issues," Sirius protested.

We ignored him. "Well, what about this: there's three adults here now. Surely they can hold him for a moment and we kids can go find, I dunno, dumbledore or somebody and bring him ─"

"He'll be gone before we get back."

"Fucking christ."

I don't know how Magnus and I became the decision makers of the group, but everyone was staring at us, waiting expectantly. not Even Professor Snape, though he looked rather impatient at our indecision, tried to interrupt. Perhaps it was true. We really were the only ones allowed to choose peters fate.

But it was rather difficult to think what the right thing to do was when every option seemed like the wrong one. with everyone's eyes on. I, along with my brother, had to make the right choice. Not just because this rat man was our dad but because we had foresight the others didnt. We knew what was coming. They didnt. We had to make The choice that was least likely to lead everyone to wizarding war two.

No pressure right?

Peter himself was looking up at me and my brother, eyes watery and desperate. I knew the right thing was to turn him over. Let him go to prison. He couldn't start a war in jail. But getting him there seemed to be causing problems. Would it be so wrong to let Sirius and Remus kill him? Or even professor Snape if harry had an issue with them becoming killers. I was sure snape would be more than up to the task, what with the glare he was giving the rat man.

But at the same time... I dunno. I could sense it was important that he stay alive, that he had some big role that needed to be enacted. I don't know what. And i dunno why But I knew he needed to be set free. He needed to reunite with his old boss - slash- master.

I looked back at my brother and knew he was thinking the same things I was. There was no way around it. He would escape, he would abandon us once again. He would raise Lord Voldemort from the dead. And we had to let him. We had to.

I turned back to the others in the shack. I knew they wouldn't understand but I gave an explanation a go anyway. "Whatever happens tonight, is exactly what needs to happen. And... And whatever comes after.... Well, we can deal with it after I suppose..."

"Yeah," magnus agreed. "'Suppose."