No Body No Crime □■ Hermione Granger

Chapter 39

"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."

Arlene looked at their faces, from Hermione's calculating eyes and Ron's open jaw to Harry doubtful face.

"But sir- Mr Black- Crookshanks is just a cat- I mean- how could he have done all that." Hermione asked wearily.

"Because he's not a cat." Sirius said simply.

Her father chose that moment to turn back, he continued to sit on the bed, legs spread in front of his and his back against the footboard, his fingers were intertwined and he wore the same bored expression as earlier.

He cocked his head to the side "Hi."

"I.." Hermione looked from Regulus to Sirius, who looked like carbon copies, except that Regulus looked like he just walked out of a café, unlike his brother who looked no better than he had in Azkaban.

They turned to Arlene expectedly, who appeared to have a sudden case of stage fright "Yeah -uh, my dad may be alive and he may be a spy for Dumbledore, so..."

"I apologize for trying to kill your rat, it's just that- it's not a rat." Her father said as though they were talking about the weather.

"Moving on," Black said, ignoring their protests because clearly they wanted to discuss the latest plot twist a little bit more, especially Hermione, who had lived with Crookshanks for two terms "Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it. Regulus- Crookshanks, did you call him?- told me Peter had left blood on the sheets, I suppose he bit himself -Well, faking his own death had worked once."

These words seemed to jolt 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!"

"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!"

Regulus turned to his brother with a stern expression "Really? You couldn't not be dramatic for once? You couldn't just say 'I wasn't the secret keeper Harry, I didn't betray you parents!'? For Merlin's sake, Sirius."

Arlene didn't think her father should be one to talk, since he clearly turned into Crookshanks when they appeared to set up a dramatic reveal, but she didn't say anything.

Harry frowned "What are you saying?"

"Harry, I as good as killed them," Black started to explain, shooting his brother the stink eye "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...."