As soon as dinner ended, Harry and Ron practically dragged Cohen and Hermione into an empty classroom.
"We ran into Sirius Black!"
Harry's opening line was a bombshell.
"What!" Hermione's eyes widened.
"Not exactly a shocker," Cohen said, looking at Ron.
Someone had just said "I'll talk to Harry" before Christmas.
"It wasn't us who went looking for him—" Ron quickly explained. "He found us!"
"We were on our way to see Hagrid on Christmas Day when we bumped into this big black dog in the grounds," Harry said urgently. "Cohen, you should remember – it was the same big dog we saw on Privet Drive – Ron kept saying it was a bad omen…"
"How was I supposed to know that dog could turn into a person!" Ron retorted. "And that he'd say he was your godfather…"
"A dog turning into a person? An Animagus?" Hermione remembered what Cohen had told her on the train last time.
Dementors only went after humans; they didn't bother with other animals.
"No wonder…" Hermione murmured. "But he didn't hurt Harry? Or… has he been caught already?"
"That's what Harry and I don't really get," Ron said. "He grabbed Harry's robes and pulled us to the edge of the Forbidden Forest – then he turned around and looked exactly like his picture on the wanted posters—"
"Harry actually managed to not off him?" Cohen frowned.
"That's what I thought at first…" Harry scratched his head.
"I knew it…" Hermione said, covering her forehead with her hand.
"But you didn't manage to beat him, did you?" Cohen had already guessed the outcome.
If Sirius was hell-bent on getting himself killed, Harry might have been able to lay a smackdown on him.
But now that Cohen had convinced Sirius to look after Harry, Sirius had definitely come prepared to let Harry "cool off" first.
"We didn't exactly fight him, but he didn't lay a hand on us either," Ron said. "He told Harry this kinda crazy thing – he said Peter Pettigrew is still alive, and that Peter was the one who ratted out your parents and was the murderer."
"But didn't Peter Pettigrew die twelve years ago?" Hermione asked. "Killed by Sirius Black?"
"The rest is even more bonkers," Ron said, looking really uneasy. "He said Peter Pettigrew is Scabbers…"
"Well, considering he turned into a dog, I guess Peter Pettigrew turning into a rat isn't totally… impossible…" Harry said uncertainly, then looked at Cohen. "Sirius Black also said that Cohen knew about this—"
"Huh?"
Cohen's eyes widened.
"Oh… yeah, I did know a little something…"
"But you never told us!" Ron asked incredulously.
"You guys never asked!" Cohen said matter-of-factly. "Besides, I was planning to tell you everything next time I took Harry to Hogsmeade to meet Sirius. Ideally, we'd even have Scabbers there as proof – but unfortunately, Scabbers has gone missing—"
"Don't tell me that the rat I've been keeping as a pet for years is actually some short, ugly middle-aged bloke," Ron said, sounding like his last bit of mental defense had just crumbled.
"That's the gist of it," Cohen nodded.
"Aaaaaaaah!!!" Ron clutched his head and plopped down into a chair, contemplating the meaning of life.
"Did you tell the professors?" Hermione asked anxiously.
"We can't tell the professors," Harry said firmly. "If we tell them, Sirius will get caught. And now that Scabbers is gone, we can't prove he's innocent."
"You're already taking his side, Harry!" Hermione said worriedly. "What if he's lying to you? He's a wanted criminal!"
"If he wanted to kill me, he would have done it back then, right?" Harry said excitedly. "And now Cohen's confirmed it – and Sirius said if we can catch Scabbers and clear his name… he can take me to live with him – I won't have to live with the Dursleys anymore…"
"Plus, he sent me a Firebolt," Harry said, racking his brain for reasons to keep Sirius's location a secret.
"Ohhh, so it's mainly about the Firebolt," Cohen said, feigning realization.
"Firebolts are seriously expensive," Ron, who had just been pondering existence, suddenly said. "I'm starting to think there might actually be more to the Sirius Black thing – especially since Cohen's backing it up…"
"It's because I want to know the truth!" Harry said, his voice unintentionally rising. "If all this is true… I could have a family again – he's my godfather! I saw him in that photo album Hagrid gave me, at my parents' wedding!"
"But Cohen… I mean…" Hermione glanced nervously at Cohen. "If you guys are really planning on doing this…"
"You're not going to sneak off and tell Professor McGonagall, are you?" Ron asked suspiciously.
"Of course not," Hermione said. "I… okay… if you guys want to find out the truth, I'll definitely help you – maybe I should go practice a few useful spells, just in case something unexpected happens…"
"The problem now is how to find Peter, now that he's bolted," Harry said, sounding frustrated. "He's probably not even in the castle anymore. I didn't see his name on the Marauder's Map… Searching the whole world for a bald rat…"
"He's a coward; he definitely wouldn't dare to leave," Cohen said. "There are Dementors outside and Sirius Black hunting him down. Not only that, but I reckon those old Voldemort supporters are after him too."
"Why?" Harry asked, a bit confused. "Why would Voldemort's old crowd be after him? Weren't they all on the same side?"
"Don't say that name…" Ron groaned.
"Think about it, Peter gave up your parents' location to their boss, and when their boss went there, poof, they were gone – what do you think those Death Eaters thought? After that, their whole world crumbled. Some ran, some went to Azkaban, their fancy lives just went poof," Cohen said. "Wormtail pretty clearly got both your parents and Voldemort killed, so he's not exactly popular on either side."
"So, we just search the castle?" Harry asked. "Won't that be too hard… finding one rat?"
"I could always let the old Basilisk out," Cohen said. "Hogwarts is its old stomping grounds; finding a rat with a human scent should be a piece of cake."
This, of course, was just Cohen playing along with the trio. The real Peter Pettigrew was currently chilling in Cohen's trunk, while the fake Peter Pettigrew was stashed in a mouse hole somewhere in the castle. To "find" the fake Peter convincingly, Cohen needed a plausible reason.
Like getting a Hogwarts old-timer to "catch Peter."