"Professor-"
"You think I'm a fool, Miss Griffin?" He turned his head, not moving his wand from Professor Lupin's chest. "You think that I did not catch on to your secret excursions to the Whomping Willow? Your odd sign outs from the library?"
I glared, not at him specifically, but at his wand that was aimed at Professor Lupin's chest.
"Two more for Azakaban tonight," Snape said with pride.
"You fool," spat Professor Lupin. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?"
Snake-like cords burst from Snape's wand and wrapped around Professor Lupin's mouth, ankles, and wrists, making him lose his balance and topple over.
"Professor!" I screamed, making a move to help him but being pulled back by Sirius.
"Taking little girls hostage, now that's a new low, Sirius," Snape enunciated, although his facial expression clearly showed no worry for me.
I stepped away from Sirius. "Professor, you don't understand-"
"It seems that you have, once again, meddled in places where you were not welcome. I advise that you step back. You are already facing expulsion for helping a murderer and keeping a secret that could endanger the entire school."
"Brilliant, Snape. Once again, you've put your keen and penetrating mind to the task and, as usual, come to the wrong conclusion," Sirius sneered.
Snape, fury in his sunken eyes, aimed his wand between Sirius' eyes. "Give me a reason. I beg you."
"Professor, please!" I begged.
"Vengeance is very sweet," Snape carried on, ignoring me. "How I hoped that I would be the one to catch you."
"Why don't you go along and play with your chemistry set?"
I stared, terrified but at the same time, intrigued. Did Sirius Black become my hero from a singular, eleven word sentence? Perhaps.
Hermione hissed at me and I turned, seeing her making a subtle motion for me to move back, her, Ron, and Harry holding their wands.
Before Snape could lead Sirius out of the room, Harry stood in the doorway, blocking their path.
"Get out of the way, Potter, you're in enough trouble already," Snape ordered.
"...Expelliarmus!"
Snape flew back from the impact of each person's magic hitting him.
I let out a shaky breath, clutching my chest. "You just attacked a teacher." My lips curled up. "Brilliant."
Hermione, on the other hand, looked incredibly worried.
Professor Lupin struggled against his bonds and Sirius knelt down, untying him.
"Thank you, Harry," he said once he was free.
"I'm not saying I believe you."
"Then it's time we offer you some proof."
All eyes turned to Ron, who defended his rat as if Scabbers had actually contributed to anyone's life.
"If you're doubtful," I turned to Sirius, "how did you figure out that Scabbers was Peter?"
"Yeah!" Ron said defiantly.
"This." Sirius pulled out a piece of paper - the headline from the Daily Prophet over the summer about Ron's vacation to Egypt.
"When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, Fudge 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? He was missing his toe as well... it all added up. And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts, where Harry was."
Ron fixated on me for far too long as he tried to remember when I mentioned Scabbers' toe. "That's why you asked about his toe!"
"Wow, Ron, you're quite the bright one, aren't you?"
"And you asked how long he was in my family because you wanted to see if the time connected."
"Oh my goodness, he's catching on, everyone clap."
Hermione shot me an unamused look but even she held remnants of an honestly, Ron on her face.
"You've come to finish him off!" Harry jumped to the conclusion. "I should have let Snape take you!"
"Harry, Sirius didn't betray your parents!"
"That's not true!" Harry shouted. "He was their Secret-Keeper, he said so before you turned up that he killed them!"
"I as good as killed them," Sirius said softly. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me. 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. 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...."
He broke down and I knelt down next to him, placing my hand on his back like I had before.
"Sirius," I whispered, holding out my wand. "If Scabbers is a real rat, then it shouldn't hurt him."
"You sure?"
"I'd never purposely hurt an animal, Ron."
At long last, Ron handed Scabbers to Professor Lupin and both he and Sirius aimed their wands at the squirming rat. "Together?" Sirius asked quietly.
Professor Lupin smiled and counted to three.
Once their magic jumped from the ends of their wands, Scabbers rapidly grew in size, then morphed into a very short, crouching man.
Professor Lupin put his arm in front of me as the man tried to get used to his surroundings actually being up to size.
He looked horrid, even more horrid than Sirius. Frankly, he looked like a rat if a rat... well, was a human.
"Well, hello, Peter," Professor Lupin greeted pleasantly, like rats transforming into old school friends was a normal occurrence. "Long time, no see."
My eyes traced down his thin figure and I immediately noticed it: he was missing his index finger. He was trembling, his wild eyes darting around the room.
Crookshanks hissed, his fur standing up straight. "No pouncing," I scolded as I picked him up.
"Sirius... Remus!" Peter exclaimed. "My old friends!"
Sirius' wand rose but Professor Lupin took his wrist and lowered it. The title of "old friend" was clearly not mutual.
"We've been having a little chat, Peter, about the night James and Lily died," he said calmly.
"You don't believe him, so you?" Peter sputtered. "He tried to kill me!"
"So we've heard." Professor Lupin's pleasant tone dropped and was replaced with a cold, irritable one. He finally took a breath of the situation and as his gaze hardened, I could tell that the pleasantries were over.
"Sir," Hermione asked with a small voice. "This man has been sleeping in Harry's dormitory for three years. If he's working for You-Know-Who, how come he has never tried to hurt Harry?"
I could hear the unsureness in her voice. Seeing the state of someone that had just left Azkaban made it difficult to actually send them there yourself.
Peter agreed with a shrill voice. "See Remus? I've never hurt a hair on Harry's head! Why should I?!"
"Because," Sirius interjected. "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? 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."
If he had truly gone into hiding from Sirius, he wouldn't go to his literal cousin's family. He'd go to Muggles that have nothing to do with it.
"W-Well, how did you escape without Dark Magic?!" Peter accused desperately. "You couldn't have without—" I shot him a glare and he cowered again.
"I don't know how I did it," he answered unsurely. "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. So when it all became too much, I could transform in my cell and become a dog."
He swallowed as his throat became dry from the words he was saying. "Dementors feel their way toward people by feeding off their emotions. They could tell that my feelings were less human, less complex when I was a dog. I saw Peter in that picture and I realized he was at Hogwarts with Harry. I had to do something. I was the only one who knew Peter was still alive."
To think that after all this time, he still felt obligated to protect Harry...
"Believe me," croaked Sirius. "Believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them."
I held my breath, my eyes fixated on the wand Harry held tightly. Finally, Harry nodded - he believed him.
Peter let out a shrill shriek, begging each person in the room, somehow looking even more pitiful than before.
"You wouldn't hurt an animal!" Peter begged, falling to his knees at my feet as Professor Lupin protected me with his arm. "I've been a good rat! I haven't killed anyone since then! You can investigate it yourself!"
"Back away!" Professor Lupin spat, placing himself between us.
From Sirius to Remus to me to Ron to Hermione, then finally to Harry.
"Harry... You look just like your father- he wouldn't have wanted me killed! He would have understood-"
"Don't you dare talk to Harry!" Sirius snapped furiously. "How dare you face him?! How dare you talk about James in front of him?!"
Professor Lupin and Sirius seized Peter and pried him off of Harry before throwing him to the ground. He sat there, trembling, his wide eyes staring up at the people he betrayed.
Suddenly, he burst into tears. "What could I have done?! The Dark Lord, you have no idea the weapons he possesses! I was scared, Sirius. I never meant for it to happen-"
"Don't lie!" Sirius snapped. "You'd been passing information to him for a year before Lily and James died!"
"You don't understand! He would've killed me, Sirius!"
"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED! DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"
He screamed the words he wished he could say for the past twelve years, every syllable that was resting in his gut now spilling out in quick procession.
The two old friends towered over the third, now traitor. Sirius and Lupin aimed their wands. "You should've realized, if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Goodbye Peter."
At long last, the one that set in stone that Harry would be the Chosen One was being brought to justice.
"No!"
...or not.