"You shouldn't have done that," Black said. "You should have left him to me..."
"We attacked a teacher... We attacked a teacher..." Hermione whimpered, staring at the lifeless Snape with frightened eyes. "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble —"
Lupin was struggling against his bonds. Black bent down quickly and untied him.
"Thank you, Harry," Lupin said.
"I'm still not saying I believe you," Harry told him.
Grace was on her knees beside her father.
"Grace, he's going to be alright, don't worry." Lupin assured her.
"Then it's time we offered you some proof," Lupin said. "You, boy — give me Peter, please. Now."
"Come off it," Ron said weakly. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean... 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," Lupin said, turning to Black. "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, on Ron's shoulder, was Scabbers.
"How did you get this?" Lupin asked Black, perplexed.
"Fudge," Black said. "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," Lupin said softly. "His front paw..."
"What about it?" Ron said defiantly.
"He's got a toe missing," Black said.
"Of course," Lupin breathed. "So simple... so brilliant... he cut it off himself?"
"Just before he transformed," Black said. "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..."
Grace was crying, knowing that the man who betrayed her mother was right there, alive.
"Didn't you ever hear, Ron, Grace?" Lupin asked. "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," Lupin said. "Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?"
"We — we've been taking good care of him!" Ron said.
"Not looking too good at the moment, though, is he?" Lupin said. "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!" Ron said.
"This cat isn't mad," Black spoke. "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... Finally, I managed to communicate to him what I was after, and he's been helping me..."
"What do you mean?" Hermione breathed.
"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... But 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."
"And why did he fake his death?" Harry said furiously. "Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"
"No," Lupin said. "Harry—"
"And now you've come to finish him off!"
"Yes, I have," Black said.
"Then I should've let Snape take you!" Harry said.
"Harry," Grace spoke. "don't you see? All this time we've thought Sirius betrayed our mother and your father, and Peter tracked him down — but it was the other way around, don't you see? Peter betrayed our mother and your father — Sirius tracked Peter down —" Grace was still crying.
"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Harry yelled. "HE WAS THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNED UP. HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!"
"Harry... I as good as killed them," Sirius 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..."
"Enough of this," Lupin said. "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.
"Force him to show himself," he said. "If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him."
Ron hesitated, but then handed Scabbers to Lupin.
"Ready, Sirius?" Lupin asked.
Black had already retrieved Snape's wand from the bed.
"Together?" Black said quietly.
"I think so" Lupin said, holding Scabbers. "On the count of three. One — two — THREE!"
The rat fell on the floor and started becoming a human. Grace joined Harry, Ron, and Hermione on the corner of the room.
"Well, hello, Peter," Lupin said pleasantly. "Long time, no see."
"S—Sirius... R—Remus..." Pettigrew's voice was squeaky. "My friends... my old friends..."
"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 —" Lupin said.
"Remus," Pettigrew gasped. "you don't believe him, do you...? He tried to kill me, Remus..."
"So we've heard," Lupin said 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. "He killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too... You've got to help me, Remus..."
"No one's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out," Lupin said.
"Sorted things out?" Peter squealed. "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?" Lupin asked. "When nobody has ever done it before?"
"He's got dark powers the rest of us can only dream of!" Peter shouted. "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.
"Voldemort, teach me tricks?"
Pettigrew flinched at hearing his master's name.
"What, scared to hear your old master's name?" Black asked him. "I don't blame you, Peter. His lot aren't very happy with you, are they?"
"Don't know what you mean, Sirius —" Pettigrew muttered.
"You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years," Black said. "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... 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," Lupin said.
"Innocent, but scared!" Peter squealed. "If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it was because I put one of their best men in Azkaban — the spy, Sirius Black!"
"How dare you," Black growled. "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..."
"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. "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."
"Professor Lupin?" Hermione asked timidly. "Can — can I say something?"
"Certainly, Hermione," Lupin nodded.
""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!" Peter said. "Thank you! You see, Remus? I have never hurt a hair of Harry's head! Why should I?"
"I'll tell you why," Black said. "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..."
"Er — Mr. Black — Sirius?" Grace said.
Black jumped at being addressed like this, with politeness, even more his enemy's daughter, and stared at Grace 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?" she asked him.
"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... I could transform in my cell... become a dog. 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. But then I saw Peter in that picture... I realized he was at Hogwarts with Harry... My thoughts started becoming an obsession, but that gave me strength. So, one night when they opened my door to bring food, I slipped past them as a dog... 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," Black croaked. "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!"
Pettrigrew turned 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?"
"I let you sleep in my bed!" Ron said.
Then he turned to Hermione. "Sweet girl... clever girl... you — you won't let them... Help me..."
Hermione pulled her robes out of Pettigrew. Then he turned to Grace. "Grace... You look just like your mother..."
When he touched her, she slapped him hard on his face. Lupin and Sirius chuckled. One of them murmured, "Just like Lily."
Pettigrew turned to Harry. "Harry... Harry... you look just like your father... just like him..."
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY?"" Black roared. "HOW DARE YOU FACE HIM? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT OF HIM?"
Both Black and Lupin strode forward, seized Pettigrew's shoulders.
"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort," Black said. "Do you deny it?"
""Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord..." Pettigrew said.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" Black roared again. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"
When Lupin and Sirius were about to kill Pettigrew, Harry yelled, "NO! You can't kill him."
"Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents," Black snarled.
"I know," Harry panted. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the Dementors..."