Y/n stood rooted to the spot as Hermione screamed. Black leapt to his feet and Harry felt as though he'd received a huge electric shock.
"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow." said Snape, throwing the cloak aside, careful to keep this wand pointing directly at Lupin's chest. "Very useful, Potter, I thank you..."
Snape was slightly breathless, but his face was full of suppressed triumph. "You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" he said, his eyes glittering. "I've just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky I did. Lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."
"Severus..." Lupin began, but Snape overrode him.
"I've told the headmaster again and again that you're helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's 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." said Lupin urgently. "You haven't heard everything...I can explain...Sirius is not here to kill Harry..."
"Two more for Azkaban tonight." said Snape, his eyes now gleaming fanatically. "I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this...He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin...a tame werewolf..."
"You fool." said Lupin softly. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?"
BANG! Thin, snakelike cords burst from the end of Snape's wand and twisted themselves around Lupin's mouth, wrists, and ankles; he overbalanced and fell to the floor, unable to move. With a roar of rage, Black started toward Snape, but Snape pointed his wand straight between Black's eyes.
"Give me a reason." he whispered. "Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will."
Black stopped dead. It would have been impossible to say which face showed more hatred.
Harry stood there, paralyzed, not knowing what to do or whom to believe. He glanced around at Y/n who looked just as conflicted as he did.
Ron just looked confused as he was, still fighting to keep hold on the struggling Scabbers. Hermione, however, took an uncertain step toward Snape and said, in a very breathless voice. "Professor Snape... it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w...would it?"
"Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school." Snape spat. "You, Grindelwald, Potter, and Weasley are out-of-bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. For once in your life, hold your tongue. "
"But if...if there was a mistake..."
"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" Snape shouted, looking suddenly quite deranged. "DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" A few sparks shot out of the end of his wand, which was still pointed at Black's face. Hermione fell silent.
Y/n's grip on his wand tightened.
"Vengeance is very sweet." Snape breathed at Black. "How I hoped I would be the one to catch you..."
"The joke's on you again, Severus." Black snarled. "As long as this boy brings his rat up to the castle." He jerked his head at Ron. "I'll come quietly..."
"Up to the castle?" said Snape silkily. "I don't think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the Dementors once we get out of the Willow. They'll be very pleased to see you, Black... pleased enough to give you a little kiss, I daresay. I..."
What little color there was in Black's face left it. "You...you've got to hear me out." he croaked. "The rat... look at the rat!"
But there was a mad glint in Snape's eyes that Harry had never seen before. He seemed beyond reason. "Come on, all of you." he said. He clicked his fingers, and the ends of the cords that bound Lupin flew to his hands. "I'll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the Dementors will have a kiss for him too..."
Before he knew what he was doing, Harry had crossed the room in three strides and blocked the door.
"Get out of the way, Potter, you're in enough trouble already." snarled Snape. "If I hadn't been here to save your skin..."
"Professor Lupin could have killed me about a hundred times this year." Harry said. "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." hissed Snape. "Get out of the way, Potter. "
"YOU'RE PATHETIC!" Harry yelled. "JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OF YOU AT SCHOOL YOU WON'T EVEN LISTEN..."
"SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" Snape shrieked, looking madder than ever. "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... now get out of the way, or I will make you. GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!"
Harry made up his mind in a split second. Before Snape could take even one step toward him, he had moved to raise his wand. But before Harry could even cast a spell a voice boomed behind him.
"Stupefy!" It yelled. There was a blast that made the door rattle on its hinges and Snape was lifted off his feet as he slammed into the wall, then slid down it to the floor, a trickle of blood oozing from under his hair. He had been knocked out.
Harry quickly looked around to see Y/n had their wand raised at Snape at exactly the same moment he tried too. Snape's wand soared in a high arc and landed on the bed next to Crookshanks.
"You shouldn't have done that." said Black, looking at Y/n. "You should have left him to me..."
Y/n avoided Black's eyes. He wasn't sure, even now, that he'd done the right thing.
"Y/n you attacked a teacher..." Hermione whimpered, staring at the lifeless Snape with frightened eyes. "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble..."
"We are already in trouble Hermione...I just want all the facts before making a conclusion." Y/n said as he turned to Lupin who was struggling against his bonds. Black bent down quickly and untied him. Lupin straightened up, rubbing his arms where the ropes had cut into them.
"Thank you, Y/n." he said.
"Do not mistake my actions for those of someone who has taken a side. While I admit it is a possibility, you have yet to show me something that convinces me of your tale being true." he told Lupin and Black.
"Then it's time we offered you some proof." said Lupin. "You, boy... give me Peter, please. Now."
Ron clutched Scabbers closer to his chest. "Come off it," he said weakly. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean..." He looked up at Harry, Y/n and Hermione for support. "Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat... there are millions of rats... how's he supposed to know which one he is after if he was locked up in Azkaban?"
"You know, Sirius, that's a fair question." said Lupin, turning to Black and frowning slightly. "How did you find out where he was?"
Black put one of his claw-like hands inside his robes and took out a crumpled piece of paper, which he smoothed flat and held out to show the others.
It was the photograph of Ron and his family that had appeared in the Daily Prophet the previous summer, and there, on Ron's shoulder, was Scabbers.
"How did you get this?" Lupin asked Black, thunderstruck.
"Fudge." said Black. "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page on this boy's shoulder...I knew him at once...how many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts...to where Harry was."
"My God." said Lupin softly, staring from Scabbers to the picture in the paper and back again. "His front paw... "
"What about it?" said Ron defiantly.
"He's got a toe missing." said Black.
"Of course." Lupin breathed. "So simple...so brilliant...he cut it off himself?"
"Just before he transformed." said Black. "When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. 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...Remember what we heard." Y/n said staring at the rat. "The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger..."
"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?"
"We...we've been taking good care of him!" said Ron.
"Not looking too good at the moment, though, is he?" said Lupin. "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!" said Ron, nodding toward Crookshanks, who was still purring on the bed.
"Ron, he has been looking awful even before we met Crookshanks. That is why you went into the Magical Menagerie in the first place, for the rat tonic." Y/n pointed out.
"This cat isn't mad." said Black hoarsely now. He reached out a bony hand and stroked Crookshanks's fluffy head. "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, The other cat that hangs around with him is still wary...But finally, I managed to communicate to him what I was after, and he's been helping me."
"Other cat? You mean Noctis?" Y/n muttered.
"What do you mean?" breathed Hermione.
"He tried to bring Peter to me, but couldn't... so he stole the passwords into Gryffindor Tower for me. As I understand it, he took them from a boy's bedside table."
"Neville..." Y/n said as he was reminded of something. "There is one thing I have yet to understand. If you really were after this Peter and not Harry." Y/n began. "Then why did you attack me in the dormitory?"
"Yes Sirius...I have been wondering about that too." Lupin said. "Is it because..."
"Of course it is!" Black snapped. "The second I recognized him as Grindelwald I lost control. All I could see was his parent's faces."
"So you attacked me because of my parents?" Y/n asked Black.
Black just looked up at Y/n now. "You look so similar to them, It brought back painful memories. I thought you must be like them so I had to try snuff you out. But you woke up and stopped me and I had to flee. I tried to observe you more from then on but found you weren't like your parents at all."
Y/n grimaced and sighed. "I do not know what they did to you or to any of your friends. But mark my words Sirius Black. I am and will never be anything like my parents..." Y/n told him.
"I can see that now...You're loyal to your friends. Unlike someone in this room." Sirius said returning the topic back to the rat. "Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it." croaked Black. "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."
These words jolted Harry to his senses. "And why did he fake his death?" he said furiously. "Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"
"No." said Lupin, "Harry..."
"And now you've come to finish him off!" Harry continued.
"Yes, I have." said Black, with an evil look at Scabbers.
"Then I should've let Snape take you!" Harry shouted.
"Harry." said Lupin hurriedly. "Don't you see? All this time we've thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down...but it was the other way around, don't you see? Peter betrayed your mother and father... Sirius tracked Peter down..."
"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Harry yelled. "HE WAS THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNED UP. HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!" He was pointing at Black, who shook his head slowly, the sunken eyes were suddenly over bright.
"Harry...I as good as killed them." he croaked. "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. 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 realized what Peter must've done... what I'd done..." His voice broke. He turned away.
"Enough of this." said Lupin, and there was a steely note in his voice Y/n had never heard before. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me that rat."
"What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?" Ron asked Lupin tensely.
"Force him to show himself." said Lupin. "If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him."
"Ron give them Scabbers, then this will all be over." Y/n said trying to convince his friend.
Ron hesitated. Then at long last, he held out Scabbers and Lupin took him. Scabbers began to squeak without stopping, twisting and turning, his tiny black eyes bulging in his head. "Ready, Sirius?" said Lupin.
Black had already retrieved Snape's wand from the bed. He approached Lupin and the struggling rat, and his wet eyes suddenly seemed to be burning in his face. "Together?" he said quietly.
"I think so." said Lupin, holding Scabbers tightly in one hand and his wand in the other. "On the count of three. One...two...THREE!"
A flash of blue-white light erupted from both wands. For a moment, Scabbers was frozen in midair, his small gray form twisting madly. Ron yelled but the rat fell and hit the floor. There was another blinding flash of light and then...
It was like watching a speeded-up film of a growing tree. A head was shooting upward from the ground, limbs were sprouting; a moment later, a man was standing where Scabbers had been, cringing and wringing his hands. Crookshanks was spitting and snarling on the bed, the hair on his back was standing up.
He was a very short man, hardly taller than Harry and Hermione but shorter than Y/n and Ron. His thin, colorless hair was unkempt and there was a large bald patch on top. He had the shrunken appearance of a plump man who has lost a lot of weight in a short time. His skin looked grubby, almost like Scabbers's fur, and something of the rat lingered around his pointed nose and his very small, watery eyes. He looked around at them all, his breathing fast and shallow. Y/n saw his eyes dart to the door and back again.
"Well, hello, Peter." said Lupin pleasantly, as though rats frequently erupted into old school friends around him. "Long time, no see."
"S...Sirius... R...Remus..." Even Pettigrew's voice was squeaky. Again, his eyes darted toward the door. "My friends...my old friends..."
Black's wand arm rose, but Lupin seized him around the wrist, gave him a warning took, then turned again to Pettigrew, his voice light and casual. "We've been having a little chat, Peter, about what happened the night Lily and James died. You might have missed the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the bed..."
"Remus." gasped Pettigrew, and Harry could see beads of sweat breaking out over his pasty face. "You don't believe him, do you? He tried to kill me, Remus..."
"So we've heard." said Lupin, more coldly. "I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you, Peter, if you'll be so..."
"He's come to try and kill me again!" Pettigrew squeaked suddenly, pointing at Black, and Harry saw that he used his middle finger, because his index was missing. "He killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too. You've got to help me, Remus..."
Black's face looked more skull-like than ever as he stared at Pettigrew with his fathomless eyes.
"No one's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out." said Lupin.
"Sorted things out?" squealed Pettigrew, looking wildly about him once more, eyes taking in the boarded windows and, again, the only door. "I knew he'd come after me! I knew he'd be back for me! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!"
"You knew Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban?" said Lupin, his brow furrowed. "When nobody has ever done it before?"
"He's got dark powers the rest of us can only dream of!" Pettigrew shouted shrilly. "How else did he get out of there? I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named taught him a few tricks!"
Black started to laugh, a horrible, mirthless laugh that filled the whole room. "Voldemort, teach me tricks?" he said.
Pettigrew flinched as though Black had brandished a whip at him.
"What, scared to hear your old master's name?" said Black. "I don't blame you, Peter. His lot aren't very happy with you, are they?"
"Don't know what you mean, Sirius..." muttered Pettigrew, his breathing faster than ever. His whole face was shining with sweat now.
"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 Pettigrew again, more shrilly than ever. He wiped his face on his sleeve and looked up at 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.
"Innocent, but scared!" squealed Pettigrew. "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, sounding suddenly like the bearsized dog he had been. "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."
Pettigrew 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." Black hissed, so venomously that Pettigrew 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."
Pettigrew was muttering distractedly, Harry caught words like "far-fetched" and "lunacy," but he couldn't help paying more attention to the ashen color of Pettigrew's face and the way his eyes continued to dart toward the windows and door.
"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 Pettigrew shrilly, pointing at Ron 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."
Pettigrew opened his mouth and closed it several times. He seemed to have lost the ability to talk.
Y/n had been taking in everything he had heard. The more Peter spoke the more guilty he sounded. Black had been able to counteract every single one of his points. Y/n didn't want to quite admit it but the man who had tried to kill him earlier in the year was starting to look innocent.
"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 Pettigrew, nodding frantically at her. "Exactly! Precisely what I..."
"Be silent!" Y/n called out stopping Pettigrew. "You will only speak when spoken to from now on."
Lupin gave Y/n a look but it softened when he could see the anger that was etched upon it.
Black was frowning slightly 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. "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...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."
Pettigrew was shaking his head, mouthing noiselessly, but staring all the while at Black as though hypnotized.
"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."
Harry remembered what Mr. Weasley had told Mrs. Wealsey earlier that year. 'The guards say he's been talking in his sleep... always the same words... 'He's at Hogwarts.''
"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. 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. You fly as well as your father did, Harry..."
He looked at Harry, who did not look away. "Believe me." croaked Black. "Believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them. "
And at long last, Harry believed him. Throat too tight to speak, he nodded.
"No!" Pettigrew had fallen to his knees as though Harry's nod had been his own death sentence. 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..."
Black kicked out and Pettigrew recoiled. "There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them." said Black.
"Remus!" Pettigrew squeaked, turning to Lupin instead, writhing imploringly in front of him. "You don't believe this...wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?"
"Not if he thought I was the spy, Peter." said Lupin. "I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?" he said casually over Pettigrew's head.
"Forgive me, Remus." said Black.
"Not at all, Padfoot, old friend." said Lupin, who was now rolling up his sleeves. "And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?"
"Of course." said Black, and the ghost of a grin flitted across his gaunt face. He, too, began rolling up his sleeves. "Shall we kill him together?"
"Yes, I think so." said Lupin grimly.
"You wouldn't...you won't..." gasped Pettigrew. And he scrambled around to Ron. "Ron haven't I been a good friend...a good pet? You won't let them kill me, Ron, will you.. you're on my side, aren't you?"
But Ron was staring at Pettigrew with the utmost revulsion. "I let you sleep in my bed!" he said.
"Kind boy...kind master..." Pettigrew crawled toward Ron "You won't let them do it...I was your rat...I was a good pet..."
"If you made a better rat than a human, it's not much to boast about, Peter." said Black harshly. Ron, going still paler with pain, wrenched his broken leg out of Pettigrew's reach.
Pettigrew turned on his knees, staggered forward, and seized the hem of Hermione's robes. "Sweet girl...clever girl...you...you won't let them...Help me..."
"Get away from her!" Y/n's voice bellowed as he kicked Peter away from Hermione and she backed away against the wall, looking horrified at Peter.
Pettigrew knelt, trembling uncontrollably unable to look up at Y/n, Instead, he turned his head slowly toward Harry. "Harry... Harry...you look just like your father... just like him..."
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY?" roared Black. "HOW DARE YOU FACE HIM? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT OF HIM?"
"Harry." whispered Pettigrew, shuffling toward him, 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 Pettigrew's shoulders, and threw him backward onto the floor. He sat there, twitching with terror, staring up at them.
"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort." said Black, who was shaking too. "Do you deny it?"
Pettigrew burst into tears. It was horrible to watch, like an oversized, balding baby, cowering on the floor. "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... He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me..."
"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 Pettigrew. "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 Black, with a terrible fury in his face. "Only innocent lives, Peter!"
"You don't understand!" whined Pettigrew. "He would have killed me, Sirius!"
"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" roared Black. "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 realized." said Lupin quietly. "If Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Good-bye, Peter."
Ron turned his head to the side and Hermione covered her face with her hands as she hid behind Y/n.
Y/n just watched Lupin and Black. While he hated Peter for what he had done to Harry's family he wasn't sure if this was the path that Black and Lupin should take. But what would he do in their shoes? Would he be able to resist the urge if he had wrongfully sat in Azkaban for twelve years? Y/n wasn't sure what the right answer was and so remained silent.
"NO!" Harry yelled. He ran forward, placing himself in front Pettigrew, facing the wands. "You can't kill him." he said breathlessly. "You can't. "
Black and 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. "
"I know." Harry panted. "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 Pettigrew, 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 Pettigrew'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. "
No one moved or made a sound except Pettigrew, whose breath was coming in wheezes as he clutched his chest. Black and Lupin were looking at each other. Then, with one movement, they lowered their wands.
"You're the only person who has the right to decide, Harry." said Black. "But think...think what he did..."
"He can go to Azkaban." Harry repeated. "If anyone deserves that place, he does..."
Pettigrew was still wheezing behind him.
"Very well." said Lupin. "Stand aside, Harry."
Harry hesitated.
"I'm going to tie him up." said Lupin. "That's all, I swear."
Harry stepped out of the way. Thin cords shot from Lupin's wand this time, and next moment, Pettigrew was wriggling on the floor, bound and gagged.
"But if you transform, Peter." growled Black, his own wand pointing at Pettigrew too. "We will kill you. You agree, Harry?"
Harry looked down at the pitiful figure on the floor and nodded so that Pettigrew could see him.
"Right." said Lupin, suddenly businesslike. "Ron, I can't mend bones nearly as well as Madam Pomfrey, so I think it's best if we just strap your leg up until we can get you to the hospital wing."
He hurried over to Ron, bent down, tapped Ron's leg with his wand, and muttered. "Ferula." Bandages spun up Ron's leg, strapping it tightly to a splint.
'I need to remember that one.' Y/n thought to himself as Hermione moved from his back now.
Lupin helped Ron to his feet, Ron put his weight gingerly on the leg and didn't wince. "That's better." he said. "Thanks."
"What about Professor Snape?" said Hermione in a small voice, looking down at Snape's prone figure.
"There's nothing seriously wrong with him." said Lupin, bending over Snape and checking his pulse. "Y/n was just a little...overenthusiastic. Still out cold. Er...perhaps it will be best if we don't revive him until we're safety back in the castle. We can take him like this. Mobilicorpus." As though invisible strings were tied to Snape's wrists, neck, and knees, he was pulled into a standing position, head still lolling unpleasantly, like a grotesque puppet. He hung a few inches above the ground, his limp feet dangling. Lupin picked up the Invisibility Cloak and tucked it safely into his pocket.
"And two of us should be chained to this." said Black, nudging Pettigrew with his toe. "Just to make sure."
"I'll do it." said Lupin.
"And me." said Ron savagely, limping forward.
Black conjured heavy manacles from thin air and soon Pettigrew was upright again, left arm chained to Lupin's right, right arm to Ron's left. Ron's face was set. He seemed to have taken Scabbers's true identity as a personal insult. Crookshanks leapt lightly off the bed and led the way out of the room, his bottlebrush tail held jauntily high.
Y/n had never been part of a stranger group. Crookshanks led the way down the stairs. Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron went next, looking like entrants in a six-legged race. Next came Professor Snape, drifting creepily along, his toes hitting each stair as they descended, held up by his own wand, which was being pointed at him by Sirius as Y/n walked beside him. Harry and Hermione brought up the rear.
Getting back into the tunnel was difficult. Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron had to turn sideways to manage it. Lupin still had Pettigrew covered with his wand. Harry could see them edging awkwardly along the tunnel in single file. Crookshanks was still in the lead. Y/n went right after Black, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of them, he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. Y/n had the impression Black was making no effort to prevent this.
"You really dislike Professor Snape don't you..." Y/n commented to Black as the two walked side by side.
"So would you if you spent your school days with him." Black said back.
"I already do. He is my potions teacher." Y/n pointed out.
"...a fair point. I bet he glides across the room as if he owns it." Black commented and Y/n nodded his head to confirm it.
"Mr Black." Y/n said now getting Sirius's attention. "After hearing yours and Pettigrew's story I can only say I am sorry for your wrongful imprisonment. You were a loyal friend all this time and deserved better."
"It's not about doing something to get something. You do it because you care about the people you are trying to protect and would do anything to keep them safe." Black said.
"I understand those sentiments." Y/n nodded. "Which is why Mr Black...I am willing to alter my accounts of night in the dormitory."
"You're what?" Black asked him confused and surprised.
"As far as I am concerned on that night you mistook me for having Scabbers in my possession and that is why you attacked. Not, because I am a Grindelwald. It should help your case." Y/n told him.
"Why would you do such a thing?" Black asked him suspiciously.
Y/n just looked back at Harry for a moment before he looked at Black again. "Because whether he likes it or not, you are some of the only family Harry has left. As his friend I do not want to be responsible for taking that away from him."
Black stared at Y/n for a moment before he finally spoke. "You remind me of myself slightly." It was Y/n's turn to look at Black surprised. "A boy who was born into the wrong household and made friends with a Potter."
"Well, they certainly do attract attention." Y/n said and for the first time in a long time Black actually let out a proper laugh.
"Mr Black..."
"Sirius. Just call me Sirius. Always hated my last name."
"Sirius...It is an odd thing to ask, But I do not suppose it would be possible for you to give me instructions on how you managed to become an Animagi." Y/n whispered quietly now so only Black could hear.
"You have plans to try to become one?" Black whispered back.
"I do." Y/n nodded. "I feel things are getting worse with each year. Having something that would give me the edge, even just slightly is helpful. I also wish to keep it a secret from the others, I do not want them getting into trouble if I am caught."
"If I am freed...I shall consider it, But it's not an easy process, Took us years to get it right and even then we all helped each other." Black warned him.
"I am aware of the risks." Y/n nodded. "But some risks have to be taken in order to protect what you care about. Something you know well."
Black just looked forward now considering these words.
"I need to ask Hermione something, Would you excuse me a moment." Y/n said as he slipped back and then grabbed Harry by his shoulders. "Talk to him." Y/n said to Harry and pushed him forward so that Harry was walking alongside Sirius now.
"What are you doing Y/n?" Hermione whispered to him.
"With a bit of luck, helping Harry and Sirius." Y/n replied. "Mr Black is rather nice once you talk to him."
There was an awkward silence for a moment between Harry and Sirius until Black began to speak. "You know what this means?" he said abruptly to Harry as they made their slow progress along the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"
"You're free." said Harry.
"Yes..." said Black. "But I'm also... I don't know if anyone ever told you...I'm your godfather."
"Yeah, I knew that." said Harry.
"Well...your parents appointed me your guardian." said Black stiffly. "If anything happened to them..."
Harry waited. Did Black mean what he thought he meant?
"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle." said Black. "But...well... think about it. Once my name's cleared...if you wanted a...a different home."
Some sort of explosion took place in the pit of Harry's stomach. "What...live with you?" he said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursleys?"
"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to." said Black quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd..."
"Are you insane?" said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Black's. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"
Black turned right around to look at him. Snape's head was scraping the ceiling but Black didn't seem to care. "You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"
"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry.
Black's gaunt face broke into the first true smile Harry had seen upon it. The difference it made was startling, as though a person ten years younger were shining through the starved mask, for a moment, he was recognizable as the man who had laughed at Harry's parents' wedding.
They did not speak again until they had reached the end of the tunnel. Crookshanks darted up first, he had evidently pressed his paw to the knot on the trunk, because Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron clambered upward without any sound of savaging branches.
Black saw Snape up through the hole, then stood back for Harry, Y/n and Hermione to pass. At last, all of them were out.
The grounds were very dark now. The only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Without a word, they set off. Pettigrew was still wheezing and occasionally whimpering. Harry's mind was buzzing. He was going to leave the Dursleys. He was going to live with Sirius Black, his parents' best friend. He felt dazed. What would happen when he told the Dursleys he was going to live with the convict they'd seen on television?
"One wrong move, Peter." said Lupin threateningly ahead. His wand was still pointed sideways at Pettigrew's chest.
Silently they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was still drifting weirdly ahead of Black, his chin bumping on his chest. And then...
A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight.
Snape collided with Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron, who had stopped abruptly. Black froze. He flung out one arm to make Harry, Y/n and Hermione stop.
Y/n could see Lupin's silhouette. He had gone rigid. Then his limbs began to shake. "No! Tonight is a full moon!"
"Oh, my..." Hermione gasped. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!"
"Run." Black whispered. "Run. Now."
But they couldn't run. Ron was still chained to Pettigrew and Lupin. Harry leapt forward but Black caught him around the chest and threw him back. "Leave it to me... RUN!"
There was a terrible snarling noise. Lupin's head was lengthening. So was his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws. Crookshanks's hair was on end again, he was backing away.
As the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws, Sirius disappeared from Harry's side. He had transformed. The enormous, bearlike dog bounded forward. As the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, the dog seized it about the neck and pulled it backward, away from Ron and Pettigrew. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other.
Harry and Y/n both stood, transfixed by the sight, too intent upon the battle to notice anything else. It was Hermione's scream that alerted them to the fact Pettigrew had dived for Lupin's dropped wand. Ron, unsteady on his bandaged leg, fell. There was a bang, a burst of light and Ron lay motionless on the ground. Another bang, Crookshanks flew into the air and back to the earth in a heap.
"Expelliarmus." Harry yelled, pointing his own wand at Pettigrew. Lupin's wand flew high into the air and out of sight.
"DO NOT DARE MOVE!" Y/n shouted at Peter running forward. But it was too late. Pettigrew had transformed. Y/n saw his bald tail whip through the manacle on Ron's outstretched arm and heard a scurrying through the grass. "DAMMIT!" Y/n said angrily hitting the ground.
There was a howl and a rumbling growl and the three turned to see the werewolf taking flight. it was galloping into the forest.
"Sirius, he's gone, Pettigrew transformed!" Harry yelled.
Black was bleeding, there were gashes across his muzzle and back, but at Harry's words he scrambled up again, and in an instant, the sound of his paws faded to silence as he pounded away across the grounds.
Harry, Y/n and Hermione dashed over to Ron instead.
"What did he do to him?" Hermione whispered. Ron's eyes were only half-closed, his mouth hung open, he was definitely alive, they could hear him breathing, but he didn't seem to recognize them.
"I do not know...But I am sure they will be able to help him back at the castle." Y/n said wanting to get Ron seen too quickly.
Harry looked desperately around. With Black and Lupin both gone they had no one but Snape for company, still hanging, unconscious, in midair.
Harry, pushing his hair out of his eyes, trying to think straight. "Come..." But then, from beyond the range of their vision, they heard a yelping, a whining a dog in pain.
"Sirius." Harry muttered, staring into the darkness. He had a moment's indecision, but there was nothing they could do for Ron at the moment, and by the sound of it, Black was in trouble...
Harry set off at a run and Y/n got to his feet helping Hermione up.
"Come on he is going to get himself killed!" Y/n told her before he took off after Harry.
"Y/n!" Hermione called out after him as she chased after him but he didn't slow down.
The yelping seemed to be coming from the ground near the edge of the lake. Harry pelted toward it, feeling the cold without realizing what it must meant. The yelping stopped abruptly. As he reached the lakeshore, he saw why.
Sirius had turned back into a man. He was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head. "Nooo." he moaned. "Nooo...please..."
And then Harry saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake toward them. He spun around, the familiar, icy cold penetrating his insides, fog starting to obscure his vision, more were appearing out of the darkness on every side. They were encircling them...
Y/n quickly arrived with Hermione now as she crashed into the side of Y/n and gasped at the sight of the dementors.
Y/n quickly grabbed Harry's shoulder. "Harry remember what Lupin taught us, think of something happy!" Y/n shouted, raising his wand. "Hermione you do the same! Think of the happiest thing you can and use the spell Expecto patronum!" Y/n tried to guide her.
Harry began blinking furiously to try and clear his vision, shaking his head to rid it of the faint screaming that had started inside it.. He forced himself to think of Black, and only Black, and Harry began to chant: "Expecto patronum! Expecto patronum!"
Black gave a shudder, rolled over, and lay motionless on the ground, pale as death.
"Expecto patronum!" Y/n shouted as his wand began to produce a small silver mist. "It is not enough!" Y/n said as he tried to concentrate. It was proving harder to do now given how much his mind was racing and how high the stakes were.
"Hermione we need help!" Harry cried.
"Expecto..." Hermione whispered. "Expecto...expecto..." But she couldn't do it.
"Happy thoughts Hermione... the happiest things you can think of." Y/n tried to reassure her but he felt Hermione collapse next to him and he gritted his teeth.
The Dementors were closing in, barely ten feet from them. They formed a solid wall around Harry and Y/n, and were getting closer...
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled, trying to blot the screaming from his ears. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A thin wisp of silver escaped his own wand now and hovered like mist before him.
Y/n knew the odds were not looking good. He and Harry were struggling. Black was in a state and Hermione had passed out. He and Harry had only ever practiced on a Boggart taking the form of a Dementor and now they were supposed to fight off hundreds?
Y/n heard Harry's knees hit the cold grass and fog was beginning to cloud his cold, tired eyes. With a huge effort, he fought to remember... Getting his acceptance letter to Hogwarts...Meeting Noctis...Making friends with Harry, Ron and Hermione... Joining the Quidditch team...Winning the cup...The hug Hermione had given him at Christmas.
Harry's Patronus had given out now as he fell to the ground.
"Expecto patronum!" Y/n strained as he fought to protect Black, Harry, Hermione and himself. By the feeble light of his formless Patronus, he saw a Dementor halt, very close to him. It couldn't walk through the cloud of silver. A dead, slimy hand slid out from under the cloak. It made a gesture as though to sweep the Patronus aside.
"I will not let you... Y/n struggled. He could feel them watching him, hear their rattling breath like an evil wind around him. The nearest Dementor seemed to be considering him. Then it raised both its rotting hands and lowered its hood.
Where there should have been eyes, there was only thin, gray scabbed skin, stretched blankly over empty sockets. But there was a mouth...a gaping, shapeless hole, sucking the air with the sound of a death rattle.
A paralyzing terror filled Y/n for the first time and he couldn't move or speak. His Patronus flickered and died.
White fog was blinding him. He tried to fight back. "Expecto patronum..." He couldn't see and in the distance, he heard the sound of a man and woman cackling. Y/n shook his head and ignored them as he felt along the ground and found the arms of Hermione and Harry. He wasn't going to let them take them.
But a pair of strong, clammy hands suddenly attached themselves around Y/n's neck. They were forcing his face upward. He could feel its breath. It was going to get rid of him first. He could feel its putrid breath...The cackling was getting louder in his ears...Y/n didn't need to have met them properly to know that the cackling belonged to his parents.
And then, through the fog that was drowning him, he thought he saw a silvery light growing brighter and brighter. He felt himself fall forward onto the grass. Facedown, too weak to move, sick and shaking, Y/n looked forward. The Dementor must have released him. The blinding light was illuminating the grass around him. 'Impossible...' Y/n thought as the cackling stopped, the cold was ebbing away.
Something was driving the Dementors back...It was circling around him, Hermione, Harry and Black... They were leaving...The air was warm again.
Y/n heard Harry begin to stir now and with every ounce of strength he could muster he turned his head to see Harry had raised his head a few inches.
Harry saw a pair of animals amid the light, one was galloping away across the lake. Eyes blurred with sweat, Harry tried to make out what it was. It was as bright as a unicorn. Fighting to stay conscious, Harry watched it canter to a halt as it reached the opposite shore. For a moment, Harry saw what looked to be the shape of a cat riding upon it's back. On the shore somebody began welcoming it back, raising his hand to pat it... someone who looked strangely familiar... but it couldn't be... Harry didn't understand. He couldn't think anymore. He felt the last of his strength leave him, and his head hit the ground as he fainted.
"Harry..." Y/n called out weakly as he fought to keep his own eyes open now. The light in the distance was growing dimmer but Y/n couldn't tell if the Patronus was dying or his own vision was failing. A few moments later he had his answer as his head lay flat on the ground and he passed out exhausted.