Catch Me If You Can → George Weasley

Thirty

Three voices called out the same thing. A spell, all directed at Snape. "Expelliarmus!" Harry, Ron and Hermione all casted at the same time. This sent Snape flying.

Apollo blinked. "You couldn't of done that earlier?" He murmured in question. He was ignored as Sirius made sure he would not fall before looking over the the younger students.

"You shouldn't of done that... you should've left him to me..." Sirius said.

"We attacked a teacher... we attacked a teacher," Hermione murmured as though she finally snapped and went insane. "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble..."

Sirius sent a look towards Apollo, who nodded. With that silent confirmation, Sirius let go of the blonde and knelt down to untie Remus from his bindings. Lupin stood and straightened himself out, rubbings his arms where he was tied up.

"Thank you, Harry," Remus said.

"I'm still not saying I believe you," Harry quickly retorted.

"Then it's time we offered you proof," Sirius said. "You, boy, give me Peter, now."

Ron held the rat close to his chest. "Come off it," he said weakly. "Are you trying to say you broke out of Azkaban just to get your hands on Scabbers? I mean..." He glanced at his friends for support. "Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat - there are millions of rats - how's he supposed to know which one he's after if he was locked up in Azkaban?"

Remus turned to Sirius, wondering the same thing. "You know, Sirius, that's a fair question. How did you find out where he was?"

Apollo was regaining his senses, feeling less dizzy again, and looked towards Sirius, expecting him to show them the same thing he showed Apollo when they first met. He did just that - he reached a hand into his robe and pulled out the picture of the Weasley family from the Daily Prophet.

"How did you get this?" Remus asked, thunderstruck.

"Fudge," Sirius responded. "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, 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..."

Remus blinked, then glanced over to Apollo. "You knew about this? How?"

Apollo shrugged. "Remember that time I was attacked by a dog? You might not have told me the truth, but I didn't tell you either," he explained, his voice scarily calm.

Remus shook his head. So, they both lied about Sirius Black... he would have time to think about that later. He looked back at the picture, then to the rat, then back again. "My god... His front paw..."

"What about it?" Ron asked defiantly.

"He's got a toe missing," Sirius replied.

"Of course," Remus breathed, "so simple... so brilliant... He cut it off himself?"