It had been two years since Sirius escaped from Azkaban, and the protection charm was still going strong. Aries hadn't heard anything from anyone, but she knew soon that she would have to go back to the wizarding world as Daisy was due her Hogwarts letter and was very excited about the occasion.
"Has it come yet!" she asked restlessly everyday.
"You'll know when it's come," Aries chuckled, as they got out of the car.
"It's been so long!" Daisy complained, she looked up towards the sky jumping up and giving a loud gasp then a dramatic sigh. "It was just a pigeon."
Aries smiled at her excitement, she remembered how excited she was years ago to get her letter. How she would wait every morning, rising at the crack of dawn and spend all day watching out of the window.
"Any day now," Aries said, as they entered the house. Leo stuck his head out of the living room doorway.
"Hey, you've got a visitor."
Aries furrowed her brows. "Angelika is coming on Saturday."
Leo shook his head. "It's not Angelika."
"Oh," she muttered, wondering who it was. As she entered the living room she saw the person had their back to her, a black dog was sitting on the rug, its head perched up when it saw her. The man turned around, he had changed a lot since she last saw him, his face had grown more scars and lines, he'd already started to grey but his eyes were the same warm brown she once knew.
"Remus?"
He gave a small nod. "Aries."
"It's been so long, uh, what are you... what are you doing here?"
Remus glanced at Leo and Daisy. "Do you mind if we talk in private?"
"Uh, yeah, sure." she turned to Leo, nodding to him to leave.
"Yes, Dais, let's take Solo for a walk." Leo said, then looked towards the other canine. "Do you want me to walk him?"
Remus shook his head, "No, he's alright, thank you."
Leo nodded, then looked at Aries, "Be back in a bit." he said, lightly squeezing her arm and walking out of the room.
Aries spoke first, still unsure of why Remus had visited after so long.
"How have you been?" she asked, she pointed towards the kitchen. "Do you want a tea or anything?"
He shook his head, his eyes guided towards her wedding photos. "Sorry I didn't come to the wedding."
She shrugged. "I didn't expect you to come." she looked towards his dog who had his head raised up and seemed to be listening to the conversation.
"Took a while to find you."
"I've had protection charms up since... he escaped."
"Ahh," he nodded understandably, he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Have you been keeping up with the wizarding world much?"
"Not particularly, just that it was all over the muggle news, it was pretty hard to miss. Have they found him?"
"The ministry hasn't, no."
Aries nodded, "So, what brings you here?"
"There's no really easy way to say it, Voldemort's back."
Her body tensed at the sound of his name. "I thought he was dead."
"He had help coming back. Harry saw it all happen."
"Harry? James and Lily's son?" she asked, remembering the small child, he had been about one the last time she saw him.
"Dumbledore's getting the Order back together."
"Is there anyone even left?" she retorted.
"Not much from the original Order, but there's people and they want to fight."
"So, you're here to recruit?"
"Not really no, that's not the reason I'm here." he said, clearing his throat, "It's about... it's about Peter."
Aries furrowed her brows. There was a brief moment of silence and nothing could prepare her for what he said next.
"He's alive."
She stammered. "No he's not... he's not, he's dead... he's been dead for years-"
"I thought he was dead, but he tricked us. He was the spy."
"No, Sirius was the spy- he's the one who killed Peter-"
The dog began to whine, to which Remus gave a sharp look.
"Aries, believe me, please. Sirius is innocent, he has been the entire time. Peter framed him. They switched last minute so that he'd be the secret keeper not Sirius and then he told Voldemort-"
"No... no, Peter- Peter wouldn't do that." she screwed her face.
"Aries-" Remus started but he was cut off as she shrieked. Next to him the dog had disappeared instead stood her brother.
Her heart pounded as she backed away pressing herself against the wall, his cheeks were hollow, and his eyes brimmed with sadness.
"Air, please, it's true. I didn't kill anyone." Sirius' voice broke. "It was Pettigrew, he's a death eater-"
"Stop lying to me! Peter wouldn't do that!" she cried.
"Aries, I saw him with my own eyes." Remus told her. "He faked his death, he brought Voldemort back, he killed-"
"Don't." she clenched her jaw. "Don't say that."
"Air-" Sirius walked towards her.
"Get away from me!"
He surrendered his hands. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"You can't just come back here nearly fifteen years later and tell me everything has been a lie! Peter would never join the death eaters, he fought against them and then you killed him because he knew you betrayed us!" her throat burned.
"I didn't. I didn't betray anyone, Air." Sirius closed his eyes, shaking his head, "He told you."
"No he didn't. I would know if he did-"
"He obliviated you," Remus said. "He told you the night before everything happened. He said that you were going to tell us and he couldn't let that happen. So... he took away the memory."
Aries stood shaking her head, tears prickling her eyes. "I don't believe you. You need to leave before I call the aurors."
"Aries-"
"Get out!" she screamed, pointing at the door. "Get out of my house, don't you ever come back here again!"
"Air-" Sirius started but Remus put a hand on his shoulder.
"Come on. We tried." he said, guiding him away.
"Please Aries, please believe me." Sirius whispered.
"Get out."
Sirius stared at his sister hopelessly before transforming back into his dog form.
"Sorry for disturbing you." Remus said, and with that the two left.
Aries let the tears fall, it couldn't be true.
She held onto her necklace, how could they come there and say that, she knew Peter and he would never have done anything to hurt anyone.
She heard the door unlock and Daisy's voice. She took a deep breath, wiped her face and walked into the hallway.
"Everything alright?" Leo asked.
"It's perfect." she lied, forcing a smile. "What do you fancy for dinner?"
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This one kinda hurt to write tbh 😭😭
Hope you enjoyed
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