Another Hogwarts Mystery 2

Chapter 20 - Mischief Managed?

Everyone started to speak all at once. Harry, Ron, and Hermione let out shouts of disbelief. Lupin and Black, however, stayed calm and said, "How do you know?". Casandra took a deep breath. "Because of my mother – as I said. She told me about her plan. If we do not stop Pettigrew, he will join and help Voldemort. You know what would happen next..." There was silence. Then Harry spoke up. "But how? How do you know? No offence professor, but I cannot see Pettigrew in here." Casandra rolled her eyes, stood up and moved towards the golden trio. Immediately, they jumped with fear. "Give it here" she said coldly, reaching out her hand. "W-what?" Ron stammered. "Your rat, Ron. Give me your rat." commanded Casandra even colder. He shook his head, shielding Scabbers with his hands. Before Casandra could react, Black rushed upon Ron and pried the rat out of Ron's hands. "Scabbers!" shouted Ron, but it was too late. Black placed the rat on the dusty piano and stunned it. He was about to conjure the killing curse, when Casandra stopped him. "Wait!" she cried "Harry deserves the truth. Besides, if you kill him, no one will know the truth – that you are innocent!"

Black raised his eyebrow and turned to Lupin. "She's right, Sirius. Harry deserves the truth, and we need the rat to proof your innocence." he explained calmly. Sirius took a deep breath and started to tell the whole story – that it was Pettigrew, not him, who betrayed Harry's parents and that he'd been longing to find Pettigrew and proof everybody wrong. When he was finished, he slowly looked up, looking for any kind of response on the others' faces. The silence was unbearable. So, Black broke it with a question. "How? How did you know? And what did you mean by saying When the moon is the brightest, the chances are the highest?

Casandra felt Webster's breathing stop. He turned towards her, with his eyes wide open, as if he wanted to warn her. Therefore, she pondered for a second whether the others would call her mental afterwards. She concluded that she did not care. It was more important that Pettigrew would be stopped. That the reunion would not happen. Thus, she told her story. Everything and every detail. From her mother penetrating her mind whilst being ill, through to her confessing to Casandra that she had a plan. In the end, Casandra sank to the ground, her fingers trembling. She let out a deep sigh. "And this is why we have to stop him. There will be a full moon tonight. So, the chances are the highest. This is the night! We have to stop him and get everything right – to clear your name, Mr Black!" she sighed.

"Mr Black" smiled Black and scanned Casandra from head to toe. He was jolted out of his dreams by Lupin. "She is right. We have to clear your name, Sirius, and in order to do that we have to send Pettigrew to Azkaban" he stated as calm as possible. "But—" started Black, he was interrupted by Harry, though. "—NO! My dad wouldn't have wanted his best friends to become murderers. He would have wanted you to be free..." he uttered with his voice shaking.

There was silence for a few seconds until Webster cleared his throat. He placed his hand on Casandra's shoulders and lifted her up with the other one. "So...what are we going to do now? We can't stay here all night." Tardily, Casandra got back on her feet. "Oscar is right. We have to do something. We have to get out of here, explain everything to Dumbledore and the Minister for Magic. But first, we have to transfigure Pettigrew back into his old, filthy self." she said, pointing her wand at the rat. With a swift flick of her wand, she transfigured the rat into Pettigrew, making the piano fall to pieces. Pettigrew was huddled and tried to shield himself behind his dirty hands. "Up!" cried Casandra, pointing her wand directly at him "Get up you filthy traitor!" Pettigrew winced and let out a cry of fear, still hiding himself behind his hands. "I said, GET UP!" shouted Casandra with absolute rage in her voice. Then with a flick of her wand, Pettigrew was pulled up and put on his feed. With another swift move, Casandra fixated Pettigrew with a glowing line around him that looked like a rope made of laser. Each time Pettigrew tried to move furiously, the glowing line burned him. Slowly, Casandra moved her wand, commanding Pettigrew to start walking. "Or do you want me to use the Imperius curse on you? Move!"