Infamous | Fred Weasley x OC |

Chapter Twenty Four

Lupin and Sirius darted forward, grabbing the man who had until recently been a rat and hauling him to his feet. He was still looking at me...And I still had my wand aimed between his beady little eyes. The man, Peter Pettigrew apparently, whoever that was, didn't even struggle as Lupin and Sirius forced him across the room. All the while, he stared straight at me.

My heart steadied and my wave of nerves began to ebb. I forced my breathing to return to normal and lowered my wand to my side.

"What the fuck is going on?" I said, so calmly I surprised even myself. Lupin glanced at me over his shoulder. He was aiming his wand at Peter and didn't want to take his eyes off him for even a second. There was a ferociousness in his eyes I had never seen before.

"I'm so sorry, Alison," he said, his voice so soft I could barely hear it. He couldn't meet my eyes. But this Pettigrew man could. He hadn't taken his eyes off me since he transformed.

"How do you all know my mum?" I asked, my voice hitching. For a second, none of the three men said a word. Sirius and Lupin glanced at each other and Pettigrew, for the first time since re-appearing as a man, looked away from me to stare at the floor.

"We were friends with her at school," Lupin began.

"One of us slightly more so than friends," Sirius interrupted and returned his attention back to Pettigrew, wand still raised.

"I'm sorry it had to come out this way-" Lupin continued but was once again cut off.

"I only did it to protect you," Pettigrew blurted.

I stared at him, half expecting him to look away but he held my stare.

"...what?" was all I managed to say.

"I never meant for them to die," Pettigrew continued, looking and pleading at Harry, "I only did it to protect you." He said and looked back at me.

"...No." I lower my wand.

"My only daughter... I couldn't let him kill you."

"You killed my parents!" Harry screamed but in my state of mind, it sounded distant. I felt as if I couldn't breathe. My throat was dry and no words would come out. I could barely hold up my wand either, my hands had started to tremble again. I couldn't look at him but I was pretty sure he was still looking at me...

"I never meant to," Pettigrew spluttered but Harry didn't seem to listen to him.

"You're the reason they're dead!" He spat. I could see him out of the corner of my eye. His wand was raised and he took a step closer to Pettigrew.

"How could you betray James and Lily to Voldemort?" Sirius accused his voice grating. Pettigrew shrunk slightly but he wasn't paying attention to Sirius, or Harry, he was still looking at me. His eyes were wide and full of pity. He was looking at me with pity.

"I never meant to," Pettigrew whispered, "He was going to kill-"

"Then you should have died!" Sirius accosted, "Died rather than betray your friends like we would have done for you!"

"Not me!" Pettigrew suddenly spat, his voice filled with enough venom to rival Sirius's, "He was going to kill her." He pointed straight at me.

I knew I wanted answers but I was seriously starting to reconsider.

"He knew about Gemma," Pettigrew sighed and stared at the floor, he couldn't look anyone in the eye now, not even me, "He knew about Allie, he said he was going to kill them if I didn't tell him where James and Lily were. I couldn't let him kill my daughter. I just couldn't."

"Don't lie!" Sirius spat, but even his anger had wavered.

"I'm not lying!" Pettigrew protested firmly, suddenly squaring his shoulders, ready to defend himself.

"Tell me," I said softly, looking straight at Pettigrew, my wand lowered this time.

"Alison, I don't think-" Lupin tried to reason but I cut him off.

"I want to know. I deserve to know," I said, still surprisingly calmly, looking straight at Pettigrew, "Tell me what happened."

"We never expected to have you," He said with a small smile, "I never wanted to bring you into a war. But when Gemma had you, well we were both..." he smiled and looked away from me, "But as part of the Order, Voldemort and his followers knew who we all were. I don't know how but he found out about Gemma and you and, well, he knew he had a way to get at me. He threatened to kill you and your mother if I didn't give him information about Harry's parents. I tried to get Gemma to go into hiding and take you with her but she refused. She wanted to fight, to avenge her friends-"

"Like you should have done!" Sirius spat, "You should have stood by your friends!"

"Don't interrupt him!" I warned, turning my wand on Sirius. He threw his hands up and backed away, rolling his eyes.

"What happened next?"

"I didn't have any other choice," He said, sniffing, his voice full of...was it regret? "He knew where you were. I couldn't let him get to you, or your mother. I couldn't let you die."

"So you let my parents die?" Harry shouted, his voice hitching, "You killed them!"

"I never meant to," Pettigrew shook his head and leant forward, hanging his head between his legs, "I never meant for anyone to die...I had no choice. It was my family! What would you have done?" He asked, suddenly snapping his head back up to stare at Harry, "What would your dad have done? He would have done the same. He would have protected you."

"Don't you dare talk to him like that!" Sirius snapped, jumping in between Pettigrew and Harry, wand raised, "Don't you dare talk to him about James!"

Lupin too had moved to stand in between Pettigrew and Harry. Both he and Sirius had their wands raised, aimed right between Pettigrew's eyes.

"You should have realized," Lupin said so softly it was sinister, "If Voldemort didn't kill you, we would."

"No," Harry said, darting around Sirius and standing, arms out, in front of Pettigrew, "I don't reckon my dad would've wanted them to become killers, just for you," He said, sneering at Pettigrew, "He can go to Azkaban. If anyone deserves that place, he does..."

Lupin and Sirius seemed to consider this a moment and, slowly, they lowered their wands. Pettigrew didn't even protest. He simply stared at me.