There was another blinding flash of light and the next moment, in a blink of an eye, the rat started transforming and growing into a human. A second later, a man was standing where Scabbers had been, cringing and wringing his hands.
Crookshanks was spitting and snarling on the bed, the hair on her back standing up. This was the man who had betrayed Lily and James. He was the reason they were dead. He was the reason Sirius was stuck in Azkaban for twelve miserable years.
"Well, hello, Peter," said Remus pleasantly, as though rats frequently erupted into old school friends around him. "Long time, no see."
"S — Sirius... R — Remus..." Even Pettigrew's voice was squeaky. Again, his eyes darted toward the door. "My friends... my old friends..."
Sirius's wand arm rose the moment Pettigrew made a move, but Remus seized him around the wrist, gave him a warning look.
"I should kill you without blinking an eye," Sirius snarled, but Pettigrew fell to his knees before him, whimpering.
"Sirius — it's me... it's Peter... your friend... you wouldn't..." Sirius kicked out and Pettigrew recoiled.
"There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them," said Sirius coldly.
"Remus!" Pettigrew squeaked, turning to Remus instead, writhing imploringly in front of him. "You don't believe this... wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?"
"Not if he thought I was the spy, Peter," said Remus. "I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?" he said casually over Pettigrew's head.
"Forgive me, Remus," said Sirius.
"Not at all, Padfoot, old friend," said Remus, who was now rolling up his sleeves. "And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?"
"Of course," said Sirius, and the ghost of a grin flitted across his gaunt face. He, too, began rolling up his sleeves. "Shall we kill him together?"
"Yes, I think so," said Remus grimly.
"You wouldn't... you won't...," gasped Pettigrew. And he scrambled around to Harry. "Harry... Harry... you look just like your father... just like him..."
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY?" Sirius roared. "HOW DARE YOU FACE HIM? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT OF HIM?"
"Harry," whispered Pettigrew, shuffling toward him, hands out-stretched. "Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed... James would have understood, Harry... he would have shown me mercy..."
Both Sirius and Remus strode forward, seized Pettigrew's shoulders, and threw him backward onto the floor. He sat there, twitching with terror, staring up at them.
"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort," said Sirius, who was shaking too, but with anger. "Do you deny it?"
Jenna's yellow eyes were fixed on the man, feeling a hatred in her chest that she had never felt before. One wrong move, and I'll kill him myself...
Pettigrew burst into tears, cowering on the floor. "Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord... you have no idea... he has weapons you can't imagine... I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. I never meant it to happen... He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me —"
"DON'T LIE!" Sirius bellowed. "YOU'D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!"
Jenna couldn't believe how blind they had been. Back then, they had all been approached by Death Eaters, who told them that they either joined the Dark Lord, or died. They had all put up a fight, but Pettigrew had easily lied and said he had not yet been approached by Death Eaters. Little did they know that he'd already joined their force.
Jenna remembered all those times when they would go on missions for the Order, and somehow Death Eaters always knew where they were and attacked them. But nobody suspected that little stupid boy.
All those occasions when Jenna and her friends would gather together and Pettigrew wouldn't show up, they all assumed that he was just too scared to leave the house. But he had been working for Voldemort all along.
"He — he was taking over everywhere!" gasped Pettigrew. "Wh — what was there to be gained by refusing him? He would have killed me, Sirius! What would you have done!?"
"I WOULD HAVE DIED!" Sirius roared. "I WOULD HAVE DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY MY FRIENDS!"
Sirius and Remus stood shoulder to shoulder, wands raised.
"You should have realized," said Remus quietly, "if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Good-bye, Peter."
Hermione covered her face with her hands and turned to the wall. But Jenna wouldn't blink. She wanted to see the life leave his eyes. But they all came to a halt when Harry suddenly yelled,
"NO!" He ran forward, placing himself in front of Pettigrew, facing the wands. "You can't kill him," he said breathlessly. "You can't."
Sirius and Remus both looked staggered. Crookshanks got to her feet, watching him with wide eyes.
"Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents," Sirius snarled. "This cringing bit of filth would have seen you die too, without turning a hair. You heard him. His own stinking skin meant more to him than your whole family."
"I know," Harry panted. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the dementors... He can go to Azkaban... but don't kill him."
"Harry!" gasped Pettigrew, and he flung his arms around Harry's knees. "You — thank you — it's more than I deserve — thank you —"
"Get off me," Harry spat, throwing Pettigrew's hands off him in disgust. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because — I don't reckon my dad would've wanted his two best friends to become killers — just for you."
No one moved or made a sound except Pettigrew, whose breath was coming in wheezes as he clutched his chest. Sirius and Remus were looking at each other. Then, with one movement, they lowered their wands.
Jenna wanted to pounce and kill Pettigrew herself. But just then, she realized something. If they killed Pettigrew, the truth would die with him. But if they turned him in, Sirius would be free.
"You're the only person who has the right to decide, Harry," said Sirius. "But think... think what he did..."
"He can go to Azkaban," Harry repeated. "If anyone deserves that place, he does..."
Pettigrew was still wheezing behind him. "Very well," said Remus with a sigh, raising his wand and tying Pettigrew up.
He then glanced at Snape's unconscious body and muttered, "Mobilicorpus."
As though invisible strings were tied to Snape's wrists, neck, and knees, he was pulled into a standing position. He hung a few inches above the ground, his limp feet dangling. Remus picked up the Invisibility Cloak and tucked it safely into his pocket.
With that, Crookshanks leapt lightly off the bed and led the way out of the room, her bottlebrush tail held jauntily high.
Harry went right after Sirius, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of them; he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. Jenna knew perfectly well that Sirius was making no effort to prevent this.
"You know what this means?" Sirius said abruptly to Harry as they made their slow progress along the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"
"You're free," said Harry.
"Yes." Sirius nodded. "But I'm also — I don't know if anyone ever told you — I'm your godfather."
"Yeah, I knew that," said Harry. Jenna was now walking in front of them in the lead, though her ears were sharp and she was listening to them carefully.
"Well... your parents appointed me your guardian," said Sirius stiffly. "If anything happened to them... I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle... But... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared... if you wanted a... a different home..."
Jenna's heart sank in her chest. She and Sirius had never discussed this matter, but the thought of having Harry live with them like he was supposed to brought a great joy to her heart that she could not begin to describe.
"What — live with you?" said Harry, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursleys?"
"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," said Sirius quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd —"
"Are you insane?" said Harry, laughing happily. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"
Sirius turned right around to look at him; Snape's head was scraping the ceiling but Sirius didn't seem to care.
"You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"
"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry.
Sirius's gaunt face broke into the first true smile Harry had seen upon it. Jenna's heart leaped with excitement and her stomach lurched. She felt happier than she had in ages.
They did not speak again until they had reached the end of the tunnel. Crookshanks darted up first, pressing her paw to the knot on the trunk and causing the tree to get immobilized.
As they left the Willow, they saw that the grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Without a word, they set off. Pettigrew was still wheezing and occasionally whimpering.
"One wrong move, Peter," said Remus threateningly ahead. His wand was still pointed sideways at Pettigrew's chest.
A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground and they were bathed in moonlight. But just then, they all came to a halt when Hermione let out a loud gasp, pointing up at the sky in horror.
Jenna turned to look upward, but her whole body froze when she realized that the moon was full.