scabbers the rat
"Expelliarmus!" Snape shouted, rushing into the room and disarming Sirius. Everyone gasped.
"Vengeance is sweet," Snape sneered. "How I hoped I'd be the one to catch you."
"Severus—" Lupin tried to explain.
"I told Dumbledore you were helping an old friend into the castle," Snape interrupted, "and now, here's the proof."
"Brilliant Snape," Sirius said, walking toward him, "Once again you put your keen and penetrating mind to the task, and, as usual, come to the wrong conclusion. Now, if you'll excuse us, Remus and I have some unfinished business to attend to."
"Give me a reason," Snape said, holding his wand up to Sirius's throat. "I beg you."
"Severus, don't be a fool," Lupin tried to calm him down.
"He can't help it, it's habit by now," Sirius joked, glaring into Snape's piercing eyes.
"Sirius, be quiet!" Lupin shushed him.
"Oh, quiet yourself, Remus!" Sirius replied.
"Oh listen to you two, quarreling like an old married couple," Snape scoffed.
"Why don't you run along and play with your chemistry set?" Sirius quipped.
"I could do it, you know?" Snape said, digging the wand further into his neck. "But why deny the dementors? They're so longing to see you. Do I detect a flicker of fear? Oh yes, a dementors kiss. One can only imagine what that must be like to endure. It's said to be nearly unbearable to witness, but I'll do my best."
"Severus, please," Lupin tried to reason.
"After you!" Snape said, pointing towards the door.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted, sending Snape flying backward into the bed behind him.
"Harry!" I said worriedly, grabbing his hand to pull him back.
"What did you just do?!" Ron asked, looking at him with wide eyes.
"You attacked a teacher!" Hermione squealed.
"Tell me about Peter Pettigrew!" Harry shouted, stepping forward, pulling out his wand as well.
"He was at school with us. We thought he was our friend," Lupin explained.
"No, Pettigrew's dead," I argued, standing up next to Harry. Ron grabbed my hand, nervously pulling me back, but I gave him a reassuring look and he let go.
"You killed him!" Harry said, moving his wand to point at Sirius.
"No, he didn't!" Lupin said, stepping in between Harry and me, and Sirius. "I thought so, too, until you mentioned seeing Pettigrew on the Map."
"The Map was lying, then" Harry retorted.
"The Map never lies," Sirius said. "Pettigrew's alive! And he's right there!" He pointed directly at Ron.
"Me? He's mental!" Ron squeaked out.
"Not you!" Sirius scoffed, "Your rat!"
"Scabbers has been in my family for..." Ron defended.
"12 years!" Sirius finished, "A curiously long life for a common garden rat! He's missing a toe, isn't he?"
"So what?!" Ron squeaked out.
"All they could find of Pettigrew was his..." Harry realized.
"Finger!" Sirius finished, "The dirty coward cut it off so that everyone would think he was dead! And then he transformed into a rat!
"Show me," I said, my wand pointed at Sirius.
"Give him to him, Ron," Harry commanded as Sirius attempted to grab the rat.
"What are you trying to do to him?!" Ron asked, trying to protect his pet. "Scabbers! Leave him alone!" Ron said. I went over and held onto him as Sirus took him away. "Get off him!"
"Ron, it's okay," I whispered to him, wrapping my arms around his torso as I sat down behind him.
"What're you doing?!" Ron continued to cry as Sirius dropped the rat on the piano, his and Lupin's wands aimed directly at it.
He tried to scurry away, running on the floor but one of them hit him with the spell, turning him back into his human form. There stood up a chubby man with rat-like teeth and retched nails. Sirius and Lupin pulled him off the ground, forcing him upright as they kept their wands trained on him.
Ron's eyes widened in shock at the man he once thought was his pet rat. I held him tighter, and he put his arms on top of mine.
"Remus? Sirius?" Peter said, greeting them. "My old friends!" He tried to run past them, but they quickly stopped him.
"Harper, look at you," Peter said, turning to me instead. I could kill this man. Ron must've been thinking the same thing as he glared at him and held onto me tighter. "You look just like your mother! And Harry," he turned over to him, "you look so much like your father. Like James. We were the best of friends, he and I—"
"How dare you speak to Harry and Harper!" Sirius said angrily, chasing him away again. "How dare you talk about James and Lily in front of them!"
"You sold James and Lily to Voldemort, didn't you?" Lupin yelled, cornering him behind the piano.
"I didn't mean to!" Peter cried out. "The Dark Lord—you have no idea the weapons he possesses. Ask yourself, Sirius!" He turned and pointed to him. "What would you have done?"
"I would have died!" Sirius screamed angrily as Peter ducked and crawled under the piano. "I would have died rather than betrayed my friends!" That line hit hard. I would too.
Peter made his way for the door, but Harry and I ran to blocked the exit.
"Harry and Harper, James wouldn't have wanted me killed!" Peter said, grabbing onto our shoulders. "Your dad, he would've spared me. He would've shown me mercy—Agh!" he yelled as Sirius and Lupin pulled him away from us.
"You should have realized, Peter," Sirius said, "that if Voldemort didn't kill you, then we would, together!" Sirius and Lupin pointed their wands at him. Harry and I exchanged a look.
"No!" we called out.
"Harry, Harper, this man is—" Lupin began.
"We know what he is," Harry interrupted. "But we'll take him to the castle."
"Oh, bless you, kids," Peter said, falling to his knees and reaching out to him. "Bless you!"
"Get off!" I said, backing away from his touch. "We said we'd take you to the castle. After that, the dementors can have you." I sneered in his face.
Peter began whimpering and sobbing, chewing on his nails. Sirius and Lupin nodded at each other.
With that, Sirius helped Ron to his feet with me on the other side as we took a tunnel back to the grounds. I held Ron's hand that was around my shoulders.
"Sorry about the bite," Sirius apologized, "I reckon that twinges a bit."
"A bit?! A bit?!" Ron said, his voice shaky. "You almost tore my leg off!"
"Now, I was going for the rat," Sirius defended. "Normally, I have a very sweet disposition as a dog. In fact, more than once, James suggested that I make the change permanent. The tail I could live with, but the fleas—they're murder." I liked Sirius already.
We exited the tunnel and sat Ron down on a rock to rest as Sirius walked away. Hermione, Harry, and I crouched beside him.
"Okay," I said, examining it. It really didn't look good.
"You two better go," Ron said to us, motioning his head towards Sirius.
"No, no, don't worry, okay?" I said.
"It's fine. We'll stay," Harry said, looking back and forth between him and I.
I gave Ron a glance and he nodded, telling us to go. We walked onto either side of Sirius as he gazed at the castle.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Sirius said as we approached. "I'll never forget the first time I walked through those doors. It'll be nice to do it again as a free man."
"That was a noble thing you did back there, Harry and Harper," Sirius continued as he let go of his daughter, "He doesn't deserve it."
"Well, we just didn't think our dad would have wanted his two best friends to become killers. Besides, dead, the truth dies with him. Alive you're free," Harry said simply.
"Exactly," I agreed. "We need him to clear your name."
"Turn me into a maggot! Dung beetle. Flobberworm! Anything but the dementors!" Peter cried out, and we turned to see Lupin pointing his wand at him, forcing him out.
"Shh!" Lupin tried.
"Ron, haven't I been a good friend? A good pet? You won't let them give me to the dementors, will you?" Peter rushed out. I took a step towards him worriedly.
"Oh, sweet girl! Clever girl! Surely you won't let them—"
"Get away from them," Lupin said, pulling the man away from them.
"Please! Please! I'm weak!" Peter kept begging, "I couldn't help it!" Sirius rolled his eyes and turned back around to Harry and I.
"I don't know if you know, Harry and Harper," Sirius said, "but when you were born, James and Lily made me your godfather."
"We know," Harry and I replied in unison.
"And...well, I understand if you choose to stay with your aunt and uncle...but if you ever wanted a different home..." Sirius trailed off.
"What?" Harry asked. "Come and live with you?"
"Well—well, it-it was just a thought. I can understand if you don't want to," Sirius stuttered out.
"That would be ama—" I started excitedly. Not living in the hellhole that is the Dursley home? Nothing sounded better.
"Sirius!" Hermione cried. We turned around to see her pointing to the full moon peeking out from behind the mountain.
"Remus, my old friend, have you taken your potion tonight?" Sirius asked, running over to him with Harry and I in tow.
"You know the man you truly are Remus!" Sirius encouraged, holding him as he began his transformation. Lupin began grunting in pain.
"This heart is where you truly live! This heart, here!" Sirius continued. "This flesh is only flesh!"
During the commotion, Peter grabbed Lupin's wand that he had dropped, but luckily, Harry quickly disarmed him. However, this didn't stop him as he transformed into a rat and took off down the hill.
"No!" I said, going to run after him, but I was stopped by Hermione grabbing my hood.
"We can't let him get away!" I cried out as Hermione held me back.
"Remus! Remus!" Sirius shouted as Lupin's hands turned to claws and his teeth turned to fangs. "Run! Run!" he called out to us behind him.
Once Remus was a full werewolf, he threw Sirius far away.
"Come on," Harry said, holding up Ron as I helped him up on the other side to guide him away. We were in no state to take on a werewolf.
"Wait! Wait!" Hermione called out, stopping us as she saw the werewolf standing there with its head down, whimpering.
"Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea..." Ron whimpered as Hermione began approaching him.
"Professor?" Hermione called out, causing him to lift his head. "Professor Lupin?"
The werewolf howled loudly and began approaching the group as they huddled together.
"Nice doggie, nice doggie," Ron muttered. The four of us were too scared to move as we gripped each other tightly. My hand was holding on tightly to Ron's hand and torso in fear.
"There you are, Potter!" Snape said, getting in Harry's face. Except he turned around quickly when he heard the werewolf growl behind him. He held his arms out and pushed the group of us back, almost as if he was protecting us. It went to claw at us, and we fell back to the ground to avoid it.
Hermione and I let out high-pitched screams. Just as he was about to attack again, a black dog came out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground.
They growled intensely at each other before attacking each other. Dog whimpers could be heard, and all I could think about was losing the only family Harry and I had left. Harry and I got up quickly, helping Ron up as well.
The werewolf attacked furiously, throwing Sirius around, but he managed to get the werewolf to chase after him and away from the group of us standing there.
"Sirius!" Harry and I said at the same time before taking off running after him. Ron tried to stop me, but he could barely stand. Hermione held him up as he reached out for me.
"Come back here, Potters!" Snape called after us. We ignored him and kept running.
I watched as the werewolf threw Sirius around, and I could hear him whimpering in pain. Harry picked up a rock and threw it at the werewolf, and I followed suit.
He turned around and growled loudly, stalking up to us. We all looked at each other and back at the creature, unsure of what to do. That's when another werewolf began howling, drawing Lupin away.
Once he was gone, Harry and I ran up to Sirius, laying on the ground in his dog form. He had tried to get up but ended up falling down the hill. We ran down after him, finding him laying in a bed of rocks by a lake.
"Sirius!" Harry and I called out, running over to him.
He was bleeding badly and looked really weak. His breathing was ragged as he had transformed back into himself. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, the lake beside us began to freeze over.
I looked up and saw the cause: dementors. They whooshed around above them, and I began to panic.
"What do we do?!" I yelled as dozens of them began circling around Sirius. One flew down and began sucking out part of Sirius's soul.
Harry stood up quickly before calling out, "Expecto Patronum!" A bright light shined out of his wand, acting as a shield for the dementors. But it didn't last very long, soon, Harry's charm ended, and a dementor swooped down and began sucking parts of his soul out.
More and more dementors came, multiple attacking Sirius, Harry, and me at once. I absolutely hated the feeling. Not only did it physically hurt, but I mentally felt as though I might never be joyful again. That was before I passed out.