let's use our delulu glasses and pretend that she looks as if she was just in Azkaban pls and ty!!☺️☺️

★ ★ ★

Hermione screamed. Harry stood there shell-shocked as Ron groaned.

"I found this at the base of the Whomping willow," Snape explained, throwing the cloak aside as he carefully kept his wand pointing at Miralette before switching it over to Remus as he crept closer, Snape holding his wand to the werewolf's chest, "Very useful, Potter, I thankyou . ."

Snape was slightly breathless but his face was full of suppressed triumph as he stared at the sight of his three enemies in one room — excluding James for obvious reasons, "Vengeance is sweet," He sneered, a sly smirk on his face, "How I hoped I'd be the one to catch you—"

"Get your bloody wand out her face Snivellus." Sirius warned him, feeling as protective over the girl as he had been since he was a child.

Snape in return turned towards him, moving his wand from Miralettes' chest, pointing it threateningly towards Sirius making him bite his lip to keep the words at bay that he so wanted to throw at his childhood enemy.

Remus looked at the sight in fright, knowing Snape would stick up for himself this time, "Severus—" He tried to speak but Snape just pulls his wand back in Remus' direction.

"I told Dumbledore you were helping a friend into the castle and now — here's the proof." Snape said knowingly, his eyes gleaming frantically.

Sirius and Miralette scoffed at his words as they shared a look of annoyance, "Just brilliant Snape. Once again, you've put your keen and penetrating mind to the task and— as usual — have come to the wrong conclusion." Miralette said mockingly towards him, Sirius smirking at the girls words in pride, the Black standing behind her as Remus who was standing hesitantly beside Sirius closed his eyes shut in annoyance.

"Miralette shut your mouth!" Remus hissed towards her before slowly walking towards the man, stopping his movement with his hands in the air when Snape moves his wand towards him, "Severus— your making a mistake," Remus told the man urgently, "You haven't heard everything — I can explain — Miralette isn't here to kill Harry —"

"Three more for Azkaban tonight," said Snape with an evil smirk on his face, the older trio sharing a look as they wore the same expression on their face, "I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this. . He was convinced you two were harmless. Just a poor. . little . . you know, Lupin . . . a tame werewolf —"

"Shut your gob!" Sirius roared, not liking the way Snape spoke about his best friend.

"And you." He spoke towards Sirius, keeping his piercing eyes fully on the oldest Black brother, "He also had kept his trust in you which I knew was quite foolish of him but he didn't take any notice of my words. He thought you were nothing but a misunderstood, innocent little boy who had gone through too much but I know the truth, your nothing but an arrogant, close-minded, immature little child—"

"You fool," Remus spoke with a subtle eye roll, "Is a school boy grudge worth putting an innocent woman back inside of Azkaban?"

BANG! Thin, snakelike cords burst from the end of Snape's wand and twisted themselves around Remus' mouth, wrists, and ankles; he overbalanced and fell down to the floor, unable to move. Harry stared at his uncle with fear for him whilst Sirius and Miralette fell into a pit of rage, feeling protective over their bestfriend but before they could attack the man, Snape pointed his wand straight towards Miralettes neck making Sirius step back.

"Give me a reason. I beg of you," He spoke with a slight mocking voice which earned a scowl from the duo.

"Get your wand away from my girl Snivellus." Sirius warned threateningly, his eyes darkening at the sight of a wand towards Miralette's neck, not noticing his words or the way Miralette blushed into a shade of scarlet.

"He can't help it, it's a habit by now— too much of the grease from his head I'm guessing —" Miralette said as she ignored the heat coming from her cheeks, pouting her index finger towards Severus' head as she spoke, responding before Snape could retort. Crouch and Snape keeping fierce eye contact as Remus groans through the vines, Sirius rolling his eyes knowing he has to be the responsible one out of the two.

"Miralette be quiet!" Sirius told the girl from behind her, standing beside Remus body that was laid down on the floor.

"Quiet yourself Sirius!" The girl snapped with anger before adding, "— don't call me Miralette!" She yelled at the man making him let out a sigh as he nodded.

Sirius turned away, knowing he wouldn't be able to change the girls mind — she was as stubborn as he was, maybe even more.

"Ahh, look at you two. Quarrelling like an old married couple." Snape mocked, knowing how to get to them after their arguments back in Hogwarts, "Just like school all over again."

Just like Snape had thought, Sirius snapped his head towards him, walking slowly over — for dramatic flare, and pointed his finger towards the Professor dauntingly, "Why don't you go run along and play with your chemistry set!"

In return, he just pushed the wand closer towards Miralette's neck — knowing this was the best way to hurt Sirius as well as for his own revenge, "I could do it you know," He spoke quietly but with menace in his tone.

"Sniv— Severus. ." Miralette spoke, correcting the Slytherins name from the nickname she had made for him to his actual name but Snape overrode her.

"But why deny the dementors? They're so longing to see you," He told the girl with fake innocence making fear crawl at his words.

That is something she is scared for after spending the last twelve years with them — dementors ruined her. They sucked out everything out of her, reminding her only of a couple of her core happy memories, the rest of them were gone. She still couldn't remember most of them now.

Sirius eyes widened at the mans words but Snape took no notice of it and moved forward causing Miralette to walk back, "Do I detect a flicker of fear? Oh, yes. . A dementors kiss. One can only manage what that must be like to endure." He said, his quiet voice getting louder and harsher as he backed the girl menacingly towards the piano, "It's said to be nearly unbearable to witness, but I'll do my best."

Black stared at the sight of Miralette staring towards Snape. The hate in both of their eyes was clear for anyone watching.

"Professor Snape, it. . it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w-would it?" Hermione said as she stepped forward, speaking absolute uncertainty.

"Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school," Snape spat, "You, Potter and Weasley are out of bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer, a Black and a werewolf. For once in your life, hold your tongue."

"But if— if there's a mistake — " Hermione tried again, wanting to atleast see if what the adults are saying is true. She trusted Remus and Sirius — or she did before this occasion at least, and wanted to atleast them out for the sake of her best friend.

"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" Snape snapped, looking suddenly deranged as he ignored the glare he had gotten from Crouch for shouting at the young girl, "YOUR TALKING ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

A few sparks shot out of the end of his wand, which was still pointed at Miralette.

"Okay— look, I'm sorry!" Miralette yelled out, gaining everyone's attention to stop the man shouting. Snape and Sirius stared at the woman in shock, Snape never expecting to hear those words come out of her mouth as Sirius knew how much she hated to apologise — it bruised her ego.

"Excuse me?" Snape uttered out after a moment of silence.

"Im not saying it again." She told the man with raised eyebrows before continuing her words, "You, you've got to hear me out, okay?" She croaked, needing to show her innocence before it's too late, "Hear me and Sirius out, just look— look at the rat."

There was a mad glint in Snape's eyes that Harry had spotted, never seeing it before. He seemed beyond reason. Harry skilfully took Hermione's wand out her left back pocket.

"Come on, all of you," Snape told the teenagers watching at the other side of the room. He clicked his fingers making all of the ends of the cords that bound Lupin flew to his hands, "I'll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the dementors can give him a kiss too— along with Black, of course the Ministry will have no issue with getting rid another one of them. ."

At the words sent towards his uncle and Godfather, despite the anger he felt towards them, the love he felt was so much more and with love came protection. Harry held his wand towards Miralette making Sirius stare at his godson in shock, hoping he would use his Lily's brain. As if Sirius had manifested it, Harry flicks his wrist easily from the woman and towards Snape, "Expelliarmus!" He yelled out, throwing the man into the old bed at the end of the room with magic.

Ron and Hermione stared at the scene in shock whilst Sirius and Miralette caught their breath.

"Harry! What did you just do?!" Ron asked the boy in alarm, knowing the consequences his best friend would earn for that.

"— you attacked a teacher!" Hermione added on, surprisingly in agreement with Ron's words.

Lupin struggled against his bonds making Sirius, Miralette and Harry immediately walk over, the trio pausing at the same actions before Harry walks over to him after the adults allowed him to. He bent down quickly and untied him. Remus straightened up, rubbing his arms where the ropes had cut into them.

"Thankyou." He said, staring at all the faces of the group before staring down at Harry.

"I'm still not saying I believe any of you three." Harry said stubbornly, Sirius rolling his eyes already used to his stubbornness after getting to know him the past year.

"Then it's time we offered you proof," Sirius said to his godson, catching the emerald green eyes that Harry had shared with his late friend Lily Potter, "You, boy — give us Peter, please. Now."

Ron clutched Scabbers closer to his chest, "Come off it," He replied weakly, "Are you trying to say that she broke out of Azkaban just to get her hands on Scabbers? I mean . ." He looked at Harry and Hermione for support, "Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat — there are millions of rats — how did she know which one it was after she was locked up in Azkaban?"

"You know Mira, that's a fair question," Sirius said, frowning in confusion as he turned down at the girl.

"— how did you know where he was?" Remus finished Sirius sentence, the both of them staring at their best friend. Miralette said nothing but take out a crumpled piece of paper with her claw like hands out of her dirty robes. She smoothed the paper flat before showing it to the rest of the group.

It was a photograph of Ron and his family that had appeared in the Daily Prophet the previous summer, and there, on Ron's shoulder was Scabbers.

"How the bloody hell did you get this?"

"How the fuck did you get this?"

Sirius and Remus both spoke at the same time, Sirius turned to his friend as he pointed his finger towards him,

"Language!"

"Shut up Padfoot— so how did you get it?" Remus barked, his face softening as he turns from Sirius' annoying face to his friend's face.

"Fudge," Miralette said, her smile — that she had gained at the sight of them arguing, remembering all the times at Hogwarts — it dropped when she explained her time in Azkaban, "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me this paper and there on it was Peter. On the front page, on this boys shoulder. I knew him at once. . I mean come on, he was my best friend— how many times have I seen the boy transform? The caption said the young boy would be going back to Hogwarts . . where Harry was. ."

"My Merlin," Sirius and Remus both mumbled at the same time, not even bothering to argue due to their shock, "His front paw. ." Remus added on, staring at the picture of Scabbers towards the actual Scabbers not even five feet away from him.

"What about it?" said Ron defiantly.

"He's got a bloody toe missing Ron." Sirius said bluntly, staring at the sight of the obvious missing of his last toe.

"So simple. . so brilliant, he just cut it off himself?" Remus breathed out in shock.

Sirius let out a dramatic gasp, "Don't compliment the bad guy Moony!" He said firmly making Remus roll his eyes before reluctantly nodding, closing his mouth to stop the retort he was going to say. Instead, he carried on their explanation to persuade the teenagers over.

"Didn't you ever hear, Ron?" said Lupin, "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 the past —"

"Twelve years!" Miralette shouted out, her temper getting the best of her, not being able to just sit and wait for Remus to calmly explain it to them, her anxiety of getting caught getting the better of her, "Curiously long life for a common garden rat!"

"We've been taking really good care of him!" Ron said uncertainly, his lips quivering slightly in fright of the woman who was walking slowly towards him.

"The last thing they found of Pettigrew was his finger. The dirty coward cut it off so everyone would think he was dead!" She exclaimed to the group before turning towards the rat, shouting down at the animagus of her old friend, "and then he transformed, into a rat."

Miralette goes on to explain how she had help from Crookshanks, who had skipped into the room not too long ago, sitting beside Miralette, leaning against her to soothe her making the woman gingerly smile at the cat's actions.

"He's been scared of that mad cat!" Ron exclaimed, pointing with a shiver to the ginger cat lying beside Miralette' feet where she stood beside the piano.

"The cat isn't mad," said Miralette hoarsely, reaching her boney hand out to stroke the ginger cat's fluffy head, "He's the most intelligent of his kind that I've ever met. He recognised Peter for what he was right away, and when he met me, he knew I wasn't a dog. It was a while before he trusted me. . Finally, I managed to communicate with him about what I was after, and he has been helping me ever since. ." She shared to the others in the room, not noticing the way Sirius rolled his eyes at the compliments towards the cat, or the way Remus shook his head in annoyance towards the man after seeing Sirius' glare towards the animal.

"What do you mean?" breathed Hermione.

"He tried to bring Peter to me, but he couldn't so he took the Gryffindor passwords from a boy's beside table to me. ." She explained, ignoring the shared look the others share, "—but Peter found out what was happening and ran off. . This cat— Crookshanks, did you call him? —told me that Peter had left blood on the sheets, faking his death." She explained in a croaky voice, "—I suppose he bit himself."

Those words jolted Harry into his senses.

"And why did he fake his death?" He said furiously, taking Sirius and Remus by surprise as they thought they were getting somewhere, "because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"

"No," Sirius said, "That's enough—"

"Yes, I have." She said, sending an evil look towards Scabbers.

"Then I should've let Snape taken you!" Harry shouted.

"No— Harry," Sirius spoke hurriedly, "Use your bloody brain, kid. Everyone thought that Mira killed your parents, and that Peter had tracked her down but it was the other way round!" He explained, his annoyance rising at his godsons idiocy.

"Peter betrayed your mother and father— Miralette tracked Peter down and —" Remus added before he got cut off by the boy.

"THATS NOT TRUE!" Harry yelled, the others jumping at the sudden yelling, "SHE WAS THEIR SECRET KEEPER! SHE SAID SO BEFORE YOU BOTH TURNED UP! SHE SAID SHE KILLED HIM!"

He pointed his finger towards Crouch, who shook her head slowly; the sunken eyes were suddenly over bright.

"Harry. . I as good as killed them," She croaked, ignoring the way her two friends shook their head in denial, "I persuaded Lils— Lily and Jami— James to change Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret Keeper instead of me— or even Sirius or Remus. . I'm to blame, I know it. The night they died. . . I'd arranged to check on Peter— the both of us had," she explained, pointing between her and Sirius as she shared her story, Harry looked towards Sirius in question, turning back to the woman when his god-father nodded in agreement with her words, "—we wanted to make sure he was still safe after not seeing him for a while. But when we had arrived to his hiding place, it was empty— he'd gone. Yet there was no sign of struggle. It didn't feel right. I told Sirius to follow me and I had set off for your parents' house straight away. And when I saw their house. . . destroyed, and their bodies. . . I realised what Peter had done, what I had done. ."

Her voice broke causing her to turn away, not wanting to show the tears threatening to break through.

Sirius and Remus shared a look of despair. Despite interacting with each other, the duo hadn't spoken about the topic of James and Lily's death— the pain too much to bare and now they had.

Harry saw the tears in her eyes. It confused him. Was he wrong the whole time? Was she truly innocent? Had he done all that to her for nothing— and had been attacking the wrong person?

"Show me." Harry said confidently, his wand still pointing towards her for protection making Sirius and Miralette turn to him. They shared a look of surprise before Sirius helped the girl grab Scabbers out of Ron's grip, Sirius being able to grab him as he tightened his grip, walking away from the corner and towards the piano, Miralette immediately following after him as Remus did the same to the both of them.

"Give it to them Ron." Harry told his bestfriend but Ron ignored him.

"What are you trying to do to him?" Ron yelled out in fright, not being able to move due to the injury from Miralette, "Scabbers! Leave him alone!"

Miralette, Sirius and Remus held their wands out, waving it towards the rat that was trying to scurry away before Miralette had caught it, making the rat turn back into his normal form.

"Well. . Well. . Well," Sirius said, pausing between his words to create effect, to which it did— the man quivering with every word the Black had spoke, "Hello old friend. ."

"— long time no see." Remus added, the men staring down at the rat-faced boy with a sly smirk, Sirius' eyes more deadly then Remus'. The duo not even being able to recognise the man, not like they had been able to recognise Crouch.