Hermione screamed. Dad leapt to his feet. Harry jumped as though he received an electric shock.

"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," Snape says, throwing the Cloak aside, carefully keeping his wand pointed directly at Uncle Remus's chest. "Very useful, Potter, I thank you...."

A low growl escapes my throat. "Your filthy hand should've never touched it you overgrown bat."

Snape was slightly breathless, but his expression barely silenced his triumph. "Silence, Black! It is clear that you and Lupin have been conspiring with your father. I suppose, you're wondering how I knew you were here?" Snape's eyes glinted. "I've just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your position tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky I did...lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain Map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."

"Severus-" Uncle Remus begins, but Snape overtook him.

"I've told the headmaster again and again that you're helping your old friend into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof. Of course Black's daughter would also be an accomplice. Not even I dreamed that you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout-"

"Severus, you're making a mistake," says Uncle Remus urgently. "You haven't heard everything-I can explain-Sirius isn't here to kill Harry-"

"Three more for Azkaban tonight," said Snape, his eyes gleaming fanatically. "I shall be quite interested to see how Dumbledore takes this....He was quite convinced you both were harmless, you know, Lupin...a tame werewolf-"

I'm scared. He's going to get Uncle Remus, Dad, and I thrown to the dementors. Adam senses my distress and wraps his warm body around me in a sort of hug.

"You fool," Uncle Remus tells him softly. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man-an innocent child-into Azkaban?"

BANG! Thin, snakelike cords burst from the end of Snape's wand and twisted themselves around Lupin's mouth, wrists, and ankles; he overbalanced and fell to the floor, unable to move. With a roar of rage, Dad started toward Snape, but Snape pointed his wand straight between Dad's eyes.

Dad stopped dead. It's impossible to tell who hates who more.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all confused. None of them knew who or what to believe, but I could tell. One of them wanted to see me thrown into Azkaban. Hermione, looking terrified, took an uncertain step forward and said, "Professor Snape-it-it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w-would it?"

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

Snape snapping at Hermione got me angry. "Don't you yell at her!" I tell him, glaring.

"But-if-if there was a mistake-" Hermione tried to protest.

"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" Snape shouted, looking suddenly deranged. "DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" A few sparks shot out of the end of his wand, which was still pointed at Dad's face. Hermione falls silent.

"Vengeance is very sweet," Snape breathed at Dad. "How I hoped I would be the one to catch you...."

"The joke's on you again, Severus," Dad snarls. "As long as this boy brings his rat out to the castle, I'll come quietly."

"Up to the castle?" says Snape silkily. "I don't think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the dementors once we get out of the Willow. They'll be very pleased to see you, Black....pleased enough to give you a little Kiss, I dare say...."

I bit down on my tongue in fear as the color drains from my father's face.

"You-you've got to hear me out," he croaked. "The rat-look at the rat."

But Snape is long past the point of reason. Rather than screaming myself hoarse, I bite down harder on my tongue and slowly started shifting to Uncle Remus.

"Come on all of you," I instantly froze in place as Snape turns to look at Uncle Remus. Snape clicks his fingers, and the ends of the cords binding Uncle Remus flew to his hands. "I'll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the dementors will have a little Kiss for him too-"

By this point, I could taste blood on my tongue and tears are welling up in my eyes from holding back all the nastily things I want to say to Snape. Harry wasn't content with not reacting, however, so he crossed the room in three strides and blocked the door.

"Get out of the way, Potter, you're in enough trouble already," snarled Snape. "If I hadn't been here to save your skin-"

"Professor Lupin could've killed me about a hundred times this year," Harry tells him. "I've been alone with him loads of times, having defense lessons against the dementors. If he was helping Black, why didn't he just finish me off then? As for Clara, she could've easily snuck upstairs while I was sleeping to kill me, but she didn't."

"Don't ask me to fathom how a madman's daughter and a werewolf's mind works?" hisses Snape. "Get out of the way, Potter."

"YOU'RE PATHETIC!" Harry yells. "JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OF YOU AT SCHOOL YOU WON'T EVEN LISTEN-"

"SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" Snape shrieks so loudly he scared all the bats within a five mile radius. "Like father, like son, Potter! I have just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would've been well served if he'd killed you! You'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black-now get out of the way, or I will make you. GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!"

Before Snape could even take one step towards Harry, he had his wand raised.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled, but he wasn't alone. There was a blast that made the door rattle in its rusty hinges; Snape was lifted off his feet and slammed into the wall, then slid to the floor, a trickle of blood oozing from under his hair. He's been knocked out.

I looked around. Both Hermione and Ron had tried to Disarm Snape at exactly the same moment. Snape's wand soared in a high arc and landed next to Crookshanks on the bed.

"You shouldn't have done that," says Dad, looking at Harry. "You should have left him to me...."

Harry didn't look at him. I moved next to Uncle Remus.

"Where's my wand?" I asked him.

"We attacked a teacher...We attacked a teacher...," Hermione whimpers, staring at the lifeless Snape with frightened eyes. "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble-"

Uncle Remus is struggling against his bonds. I used my wand to sever the ropes. Uncle Remus straightened up, rubbing his arms where the ropes had lacerated him.

"Thank you, Clara," he says.

"Not a problem, Uncle Moony."

"Thank you as well, Harry,"

"I'm still not saying I believe you," Harry retorts.

"Then it's time we offered you some proof." says Dad. "You, boy-give me Peter. Now."

Ron clutched Peter to his chest.

"Come off it," he says weakly. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean..." He looks to Harry and Hermione for support. "Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat-there are millions of rats-how's he supposed to know which one he's after if he was locked up in Azkaban?"

"You know, Sirius, that's a fair question," says Uncle Remus, turning to look at Dad and frowning slightly. "How did you find out where he was?"

Dad put one of his claylike hands inside his robes and took out a crumpled piece of paper, which was smoothed flat and held out to show us.

It was the photograph of Ron and his family that appeared in the Daily Prophet over the summer, and there, on Ron's shoulder, was Peter.

"How did you get this?" Uncle Remus asks Dad, thunderstruck.

"Fudge," says Dad. I scrunched my nose up in disgust. Adam nudges me with his side. "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he 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? And the caption said the boy would go back to Hogwarts...to where Harry was...where my daughter was...."

"My God," Uncle Remus exclaims softly, "His front paw..."

"What about it?" asks Ron defiantly.

"He's got a toe missing," said Dad.

"Of course," Uncle Remus breathes. "So simple...so brilliant...he cut it off himself?"

"Just before he transformed," Dad tells us. "When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the whole street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself-and sped down into the sewer with the other rats...."

"Didn't you ever hear, Ron?" Uncle Remus asks. "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 ages, right-"

"Twelve years, in fact. Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?"

"We-we've been been taking good care of him!"

"Of course," I pipe up. "But he's lived far longer than any normal rat could. Not to mention, he's not looking nice so good, is he?"

"He's been scared of Hermione mad cat!" Ron argues, nodding toward Crookshanks, who is still purring on the bed.

"No, Ron," I say, calmly. "He's been sick since your family got back from Egypt. He's been sick since Dad got loose."

"This cat isn't mad," said Dad hoarsely. He reached out a bony hand and stroked Crookshank's fluffy head. "He's the most intelligent of his kind I've ever met. He recognized Peter for what he was right away. And when he met me, he knew I was no dog. It was a while before he trusted me....Finally, I managed to communicate to him what I was after, and he's been helping me...."

"What do you mean?" breathed Hermione.

"He tried to bring Peter to me, but couldn't...so he stole the passwords into Gryffindor Tower for me....As I understand it, he took them from a boy's bedside table...."

I could almost see the gears in Harry's brain turn.

"But Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it...." Dad croaks out. "This cat-Crookshanks, did you call him?-told me Peter had left blood on the sheets....I supposed he bit himself....Well, faking his own death had worked once...."

"And why did he fake his own death?" Harry asks furiously. "Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my partners!"

"No," Uncle Remus says, "Harry-"

"And now you've come to finish him off!"

"Yes, I have," said Dad, with an evil look at Peter.

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

"Harry," said Uncle Remus hurriedly, "don't you see? All this time we've thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down-but it was the other way around, don't you see? Peter betrayed your mother and father-Sirius tracked Peter down-"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Harry yelled. "HE WAS THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNED UP. HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!"

He was pointing at Dad, who shook his head slowly; his sunken eyes suddenly overbright. Is it because he's crying?

"Harry...I as good as killed them," he croaks. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me....I'm to blame, I know it....The night thy died, I'd arranged to check in Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. Yet there is no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straightaway. And when I saw their house destroyed, and their bodies...I realized what Peter must've done...what I'd done...."

His voice broke. He looked away.

Dad's been blaming himself for twelve years. We have to clear his name.

"Enough of this," says Uncle Remus, and there was a steely note in his voice. I can't recall ever hearing that before. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me that rat."

"What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?" Ron asks tensely.

"Force him to show himself. If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him."

Ron hesitates. I roll my eyes, annoyed at how long this is taking. I point my wand at Peter and whisper, "Accio rat!"

"Hey!" Ron yells, as Peter, squeaking wildly, flys out of Ron's grip. I catch him by the bald, gross tail before quickly swinging him over to Uncle Remus. I wipe my hand on my jeans.

"Ready, Sirius?" Uncle Remus ask my father. Dad had already retrieved Snape's wand from the bed. He approached Uncle Remus and the struggling rat, and his eyes suddenly appeared to catch fire.

"Together?" he breathes quietly.

"I think so," says Uncle Remus quietly. "On the count of three. One-two-THREE!"

A flash of blue-white light erupted from both wands: for a moment Peter was frozen in midair, his small gray form twisting madly-Ron yelled-the rat fell and hit the floor. There was another blinding flash of light and then-It was like watching a video in fast-motion. A head was shooting upward from the ground; limbs were sprouting; a moment later, a man was standing where the rat landed, cringing and wringing his hands. Crookshanks was spitting and snarling at once; the hair on his back standing straight up.

He's really short. Peter Pettigrew is shorter than Harry, and I know he's 5'3". Peter is barely pushing 4'8". His thin, colorless hair was unkempt and he had a bald patch. His skin was remnant of the rat's fur and he had ratlike features. Namely, his pointed nose and miniature, watery eyes. He looked at all of us, his breathing coming in shallow, quick bursts. I watched his eyes dart to the door.

I cup a hand around Adam's ear. I whisper to him. "If he tries to run, make sure he doesn't get away. Blink twice if you think you can."

He blinks twice.

"Well, hello, Peter," says Uncle Remus pleasantly, as though rats frequently transformed into long list school friends. "Long time, no see."

"S-Sirius...R-Remus..." Even his voice is squeaky. His eyes darted to the door. "My friends...my old friends..."

Dad's wand arm rose, but Uncle Remus seized him around the wrist, gave him a warning look, then turns back to Pettigrew, deliberately keeping his voice light and casual.

"We've been having a little chat, Peter, about what happened the night Lily and James died. You might have missed the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the bed-"

"Remus," squeaks Pettigrew, and I could see him start to sweat. He's not very good at this. Peter's not good under pressure. "You don't believe him, do you....? He tried to kill me, Remus...."

"So we heard," says Uncle Remus, sounding cold. "I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you, Peter, if you'd be so-"

"He's come to try and kill me again!" Pettigrew squeaked suddenly, pointing at Dad with his middle finger, because his index wasn't there. "He killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too....You've got to help me, Remus...."

Dad's face looked more skull-like than ever as he glared at Pettigrew.

"No ones going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out," said Uncle Remus.

"Sorted things out?" squealed Pettigrew, looking wildly about him once more, eyes taking in the boarded windows and again, the only door. "I knew he'd come after me! I knew, he'd be back for me! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!"

I've got you now. You're really bad at this, Pettigrew.

"You knew, that by some miracle, Dad would break out of Azkaban's maximum security?" I asked, with feigned innocence. "When nobody has ever done it before?"

"He's got Dark powers the rest of us can only dream of!" Pettigrew shouted shrilly. "How else did he get out of there? I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named taught him a few tricks!"

Dad started to laugh. It was a horrible laugh with no humor.

"Voldemort, teach me tricks?" he asked as if the very thought was ludicrous.

Pettigrew flinches as if somebody hit him.

"What, scared to hear your old master's name?" Dad taunts. "I don't blame you, Peter. His lot aren't happy with you, are they?"

"Don't know what you mean, Sirius-" mutters Pettigrew, his breathing picking up pace. His face shines with sweat.

"You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years," says Dad. "You've been hiding from Voldemort's old supporters. I heard things in Azkaban, Peter....They all think you're dead, or you'd have to answer to them....I've heard them screaming all sorts of things in their sleep. Sounds like they think the double-crosser double-crossed them. Voldemort went to the Potters' on your information...and Voldemort met his downfall there. And not all of Voldemort's supporters ended up in Azkaban, did they? There are still plenty out here bidding their time, pretending they've seen the error of their ways....If they ever got wind that you were still alive, Peter-"

"Don't know...what you're talking about...," said Pettigrew again, more shrilly than ever. He wiped his face on his sleeve and looked up at Uncle Remus. "You don't believe this-this madness, Remus-"

"I must admit, Peter, I have difficulty in understanding why and innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat," said Uncle Remus evenly.

"Innocent, but scared!" squeals Pettigrew. "If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it was because I put one of their best in Azkaban-the spy, Sirius Black!"

Dad's face contorted.

"How dare you," he growled, sounding suddenly like the bear-sized dog he'd been. "I, a spy for Voldemort? When did I ever sneak around people who were stronger and more powerful than myself? But you, Peter-I'll never understand why i didn't see you were the spy from the start. You always liked big friends who'd look after you, didn't you? It used to be us...me and Remus...and James and Jamie...."

Pettigrew wiped his face again; he's almost panting now. Sort your life out!

"Me, a spy...must be out of your mind...never...don't know how you can say such a-"

"Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it," Dad hissed, so venomously that Pettigrew took a step backward. "I thought it was the perfect plan...a bluff....Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you....It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters."

Pettigrew was muttering distractedly. I heard him mutter something about "far-fetched" and "lunacy", but I was more interested in the ashen color of his face and the way his eyes darted toward his only escape. He's so blatantly guilty! How could the Trio not believe Uncle Remus, Dad, and I.

"Professor Lupin?" Hermione asks timidly. "Can-can I say something?"

"Certainly, Hermione," says Uncle Remus courteously.

"Well-Scabbers-I mean, this-this man-he's been sleeping in Harry's dormitory for three years. If he's working for You-Know-Who how come he never tried to hurt Harry before now?"

"There!" shouts Pettigrew so shrilly I thought it was a miracle we could understand him. "Thank you! You see, Remus? I have never hurt a hair of Harry's head. Why should I?"

"I think I can explain that," I say, glaring at the man before me in disgust. "You strike me as the type of person who won't help anybody unless you get a payout. Voldemort's been gone for twelve years, and they say he's dead. Why would you commit murder right under Dumbledore's nose, for a wreck with no power? He'd have to be certain to win before you'd switch to his side. That's what happened the first time after all? That's also why you moved in with a wizarding family. You needed to know about Voldemort's moves. Just in case he came back Wanda blazing and it was safe to rejoin him...."

Pettigrew looks at me in shock. He seemed to lose all ability to speak. How could a thirteen-year-old know all that?

"Er-Mr. Black-Sirius?" questions Hermione.

Dad jumps at this and stared at Hermione as though no one's ever given him such a respect.

"If you don't mind me asking, how-how did you get out of Azkaban, if you didn't use Dark Magic?"

"Thank you!" gasped Pettigrew, nodding frantically at her. "Exactly! Precisely what I-"

Adam cut him off with a sharp, annoyed bark. I pet his head. Good boy. Dad was frowning at Hermione, but not as though he were annoyed with her. He seemed like he was mulling over his answer.

"I don't really know how I did it," he says slowly. "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...helped me keep my powers...so when it all became...too much...I could transform in my cell...become a dog. Dementors can't see, you know...."

That's a strange thought. Blind despair. Dad swallows.

"They feel their way toward people by sensing their emotions....They could tell my feelings were less-less human, less complex when I was a dog...but they thought, of course, that I was losing my mind like everyone else in there, so it didn't trouble them. But I was weak, very weak, and I had no hope of driving them away from me without a wand....

"But then I saw Peter in that picture...I realized he was at Hogwarts with Harry...perfectly positioned to act, if one hint reached his ears that the Dark Side was gathering strength again...."

Pettigrew was shaking his hand, muttering noiselessly, but seemed unable to interrupt Dad.

"...ready to strike at the moment he could be sure of allies...and to deliver the last Potter to them. If he gave them Harry, who'd dare say he's betrayed Voldemort? He'd be back in with honors....

"So you see, I had to do something. I was the only one who knew Peter was still alive...."

He's at Hogwarts.

"It was as if someone had lit a fire in my head, and the dementors couldn't destroy it....It wasn't a happy feeling...it was an obsession...but it gave me strength,
it cleared my mind. So, one night when they opened my door to bring food, I slipped past them as a dog....It's so much harder for them to sense animal emotions that they were confused....I was thin, very thin...thin enough to slip through the bars....I swam as a dog back to the mainland....I journeyed north and slipped
into the Hogwarts ground as a dog. I've been living in the forest ever since, except when I came to watch you play Quidditch, of course. You fly as well as your father did, Harry...."

Dad looks at Harry with so much pride in his voice and face, and I feel a twinge of jealousy. I want him to be proud of me!

"Believe me," croaks Dad. "Believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them."

Harry did a simple action in response. Harry nodded.

"No!"

Pettigrew had fallen to his knees as though Harry's nod had been his death sentence. He shuffled forward on his knees, groveling, his hands clasped in a gesture of prayer.

"Sirius-it's me...it's Peter...your friend...you wouldn't..."

Dad kicked out and Pettigrew recoiled away.

"There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them," he says.

"Remus!" Pettigrew squealed, turning to Uncle Remus instead, withering on the floor 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," says Uncle Remus casually. "I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?"

"Forgive me, Remus,"

"Not at all, old friend," says Uncle Remus, who was now rolling up his aleeves. "And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?"

"Of course," says Dad, and the ghost of a grin flirted across his gaunt face. He, too, began rolling up his sleeves. "Shall we kill him together?"

"Yes, I think so," says Lupin grimly.

"You wouldn't...you won't...," gasped Pettigrew. And he scrambles around to Ron.

"Ron...haven't I been a good friend...a good pet? You won't let them kill me, Ron, will you...you're on my side, aren't you?"

But Ron stared at Pettigrew with utmost revulsion.

"I let you sleep in my bed!" He said.

"Kind boy...kind master..." Pettigrew crawled toward Ron, "you won't let them do it....I was your rat....I was a good pet...."

"If you made a better rat than a human, it's not much to boast about, Peter," says Dad harshly. Ron, going still paler with pain, wrenched his broken leg out of Pettigrew's reach. He really should have quit there, but he instead turned on his knees and staggered forward, groveling to me.

"Lovely girl...Jamie's girl...please don't let them....Help me...."

"Get away from my daughter," Dad says in a quiet voice.

"Help me...." Pettigrew pleads, grabbing my boot.

"You set your own ear trap," I tell him, pulling away. "I don't have to get you out of it."

Now truly terrified, Pettigrew turns to Hermione.

"Sweet girl...clever girl...you-you won't let them kill me....Help me please!"

Hermione pulls back from him and lays against the wall, looking horrified by her decision.

Pettigrew knelt, trembling uncontrollably, and turned his head slowly toward Harry.

"Harry...Harry...you look just like your father...just like him...."

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY?" roars Dad, suddenly snapping at Pettigrew. "HOW DARE YOU FACE HIM? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT OF HIM?"

"Harry," whispered Pettigrew, shuffling toward him, hands outstretched. "Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed....James would have understood, Harry...he would have understood, Harry...he would have shown me mercy...."

Both Dad and Uncle Remus strode forward, seized Pettigrew's shoulders, and threw him backward onto the floor. He sits there, twitching with terror, staring up at them.

"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort," says Dad, who was shaking too. "Do you deny it?"

Pettigrew burst into tears. It was horrible to watch: He looks so distressing as he cowers on the floor.

He deserves it. You know that, Clara. He deserves it.

"Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord...you have no idea...he has weapons you can't imagine....I was never brace like you and Remus and Jamie and James. I never meant it to happen....He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me-"

"DON'T LIE!" bellows Dad. "YOU'D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!"

"He-he was taking over everywhere!" gasped Pettigrew, "what was there to be gained by refusing him?"

"What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever lived?" said Dad, with a horrible sort of fury in his face. "Only innocent lives, Peter!"

"You don't understand!" Pettigrew whines. "He would have killed me, Sirius!"

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" roared Dad. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"

Dad and Uncle Remus stand shoulder to shoulder, wands raised.

"You should have realized," says Uncle 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. Both Adam and I averted our eyes. He deserves it, but I don't want to watch it.

Harry yells, "NO! You can't kill him." He stands in front of the wands.

Both Dad and Uncle Remus stagger.

"Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents," Dad snarls. "This cringing bit of filth would've seen you die too, without turning a hair. You heard him. His own skin means 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."

Pettigrew gasps and throws his arms around Harry's knees. "Harry! You-thank you-it's more than I deserve-thank you-"

"Get off me," Harry spat, throwing Pettigrew's hands off him in repulsion. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because I don't reckon my dad would've wanted his best friends to become killers-just for you."

No one moved. Dad and Uncle Remus just looked at each other, having one of those silent conversations with their eyes. Then, in one movement, they lower their wands.

"You're the only person who has the right to decide, Harry," Dad says. "But think...think what he did...."

Harry repeats, "He can go to Azkaban. If anyone deserves that place, he does...."

Pettigrew is still wheezing.

"Very well," says Uncle Remus. "Stand aside, Harry."

Harry hesitated.

"I'm going to tie him up. That's all, I swear."

Harry stepped aside. Thin cords shoot from Uncle Remus's wand this time, and next moment, Pettigrew was writhering on the floor, bound and gagged.

"But if you transform, Peter," growls Dad, his own wand pointing at Pettigrew too, "we will kill you. You agree, Harry?"

Or we could just have Adam play fetch. He could probably catch him. I think he could anyway.

Harry looks down at Pettigrew and nodded so Pettigrew could certainly see him.

Suddenly, businesslike, Uncle Remus says, "Ron, I can't mend bones as well as Madam Pomfrey, so I think it's best if we just strap your leg up until we can get you to the hospital wing."

He hurries over to Ron, bent down, tapped Ron's leg with his wand, and muttered, "Ferula." Bandages spun up Rons leg, strapping it tightly to a splint. Uncle Remus helped him to his feet; Ron put his weight gently on the leg and didn't wince.

"That's better," he says. "Thanks."

"What about Professor Snape?" asks Hermione in a small voice.

"Leave him," I tell her, nonchalantly.

"Clara!"

"What? He wanted to give Dad to the dementors! He wanted to toss me into Azkaban! I don't give a damn about his well-being," I argue with her.

"Don't worry, Hermione," Uncle Remus assures her. "There's nothing seriously wrong with him. You were just a little-overenthusiastic. Still out cold. I'm sorry, Clara, but we do have to bring him back to the castle but we won't revive him until we get there."

He muttered, "Mobilicorpus." As though invisible strings were tied to Snape's wrists, neck, and knees, he was pulled into a standing position, head still lolling unpleasantly, like a grotesque puppet. He hung a few inches above the ground, his limp feet dangling. Uncle Remus picks up the Invisibility Cloak and tucks it safely into his pocket.

"And two of us should be chained to this," Dad says, nudging Pettigrew with his toe. "Just to make sure."

"I'll do it," Uncle Remus offers.

"And me," says Ron savagely, limping forward.

I wonder if Ron is finding Scabbers actually being Pettigrew is insulting. He seems like he's thinking it. After Pettigrew was attached to Uncle Remus and Ron, Crookshanks leaps off the bed and led the way out of the room.

As per usual, I don't have any rights over Harry Potter characters or plot lines. I only own Jamie, Frisk, Emma, Adam, and Clara. All Harry Potter rights go to J.K Rowling.

MrsDarylDixon5094