Disarming Snape wasn't the only decision Harry made though, with another flick of his wand Snape was pushed into the wall behind him and didn't get up.

Arlene couldn't resist a smile at that sight, she was most likely to get suspended –if not expelled- after this, but it would be worth it.

Not everyone was enjoying themselves, though.

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

"Thank you." Lupin told them.

"I'm still not saying I believe you," Harrry told Lupin.

"Then it's time we offered you some proof," said Lupin. "Ron, give me Peter, please."

Ron clutched Scabbers closer to his chest.

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

"You know, Sirius, that's a fair question," said Lupin, turning to Black and frowning slightly "How did you find out where he was?"

Black put one of his hands inside his robes and took out a crumpled piece of paper, which he smoothed flat and held out to show the others.

It was the 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 did you get this?" Lupin asked Black, thunderstruck.

"Fudge," answered Arlene before Sirius could "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he said Sirius wasn't as mad as the rest of them -didn't he, Harry?" She turned to Harry for confirmation "as a matter of fact, he was so sane and calm that he asked for the newspaper to do the crossword!"

Ron gave her a look of betrayal.

"My God," said Lupin softly, he looked at Scabbers to the picture in the paper and then back again. "His front paw..."

"What about it?" said Ron defiantly.

"He's got a toe missing," declared Black.

"Of course," Lupin breathed. "So simple...so brilliant...he cut it off himself?"

"Just before he transformed, 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 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?" said Lupin, turning back to the rest of them "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-" argued Ron.

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

"We've been taking good care of him!" Exclaimed Ron.

"Not looking too good at the moment, though, is he?" said Lupin. "I'd guess he's been losing weight ever since he heard Sirius was on the loose again."

"He's been scared of that mad cat!" said Ron, nodding toward Crookshanks, who had taken a place on the bed and was looking at them with a bored expression.

"This cat isn't mad," said Black hoarsely, he reached out a bony hand and stroked Crookshanks's fluffy head. "As a matter of fact, he's been a great help."

"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."

Arlene looked at their faces, from Hermione's calculating eyes and Ron's open jaw to Harry doubtful face.

"But sir- Mr Black- Crookshanks is just a cat- I mean- how could he have done all that." Hermione asked wearily.

"Because he's not a cat." Sirius said simply.

Her father chose that moment to turn back, he continued to sit on the bed, legs spread in front of his and his back against the footboard, his fingers were intertwined and he wore the same bored expression as earlier.

He cocked his head to the side "Hi."

"I.." Hermione looked from Regulus to Sirius, who looked like carbon copies, except that Regulus looked like he just walked out of a café, unlike his brother who looked no better than he had in Azkaban.

They turned to Arlene expectedly, who appeared to have a sudden case of stage fright "Yeah -uh, my dad may be alive and he may be a spy for Dumbledore, so..."

"I apologize for trying to kill your rat, it's just that- it's not a rat." Her father said as though they were talking about the weather.

"Moving on," Black said, ignoring their protests because clearly they wanted to discuss the latest plot twist a little bit more, especially Hermione, who had lived with Crookshanks for two terms "Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it. Regulus- Crookshanks, did you call him?- told me Peter had left blood on the sheets, I suppose he bit himself -Well, faking his own death had worked once."

These words seemed to jolt Harry to his senses.

"And why did he fake his death?" he said furiously "Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"

"No," said Lupin "Harry-"

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

"Yes, I have," said Black, with an evil look at Scabbers.

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

"Harry," said Lupin 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!"

Regulus turned to his brother with a stern expression "Really? You couldn't not be dramatic for once? You couldn't just say 'I wasn't the secret keeper Harry, I didn't betray you parents!'? For Merlin's sake, Sirius."

Arlene didn't think her father should be one to talk, since he clearly turned into Crookshanks when they appeared to set up a dramatic reveal, but she didn't say anything.

Harry frowned "What are you saying?"

"Harry, I as good as killed them," Black started to explain, shooting his brother the stink eye "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 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, yet there was no sign of a struggle, it didn't feel right, I was scared, 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...."

Her father seemed to have had enough "Enough of this," he declared "we're running around in circles, there's only one way to prove this."

Lupin seemed to agree "Hand me the rat, Ron."

But Ron held him even closer "What are you going to do?"

"Nothing that'll hurt him," assured Lupin "If he really is a rat."

Hesitantly, Ron handed over Scabbers.

The rat continued to struggle, Black grabbed Snape's wand from beside the bed where it had fallen.

When Arlene was younger, she'd liked to watch these sped up videos of flowers blooming or starfish regenerating.

Watching Scabbers reminded her of that.

The four of them watched with wide eyes as Scabbers, who was so tiny that he fit in Ron's pocket, turn into a man their height.

For a moment, none of them did anything; even Lupin who presented the theory remained silent as though he didn't expect himself to be correct.

"S-Sirius...R-remus.." the man finally said, his voice scratching and weak "..my old friends.."

"Hello, Peter." Remus said cheerfully, as if rats turned into old school friends around him regularly.

Regulus finally stood from the bed, but only to grab Sirius' hand that held the wand and give him a warning look.

He turned to the shorter man "Hi Peter." He said with faux niceness "thank you for selling me out to You-know-who, you prick, living thirteen years in hiding was really nice."

"R-Regulus.." he turned to the third man with even wider eyes.

"I was a triple double spy," Regulus explained to the group of third years "appeared to be working for the dark side but was speaking with the order under the guise that I was pretending to be a double spy to help Voldemort while in reality I was helping the order. Peter here exposed me to the Deatheaters, Dumbledore had to inform Fudge that I was dead so that they didn't go looking for me."

Arlene could feel her blood boil, her family could've gotten out of the war whole but had to separate because of that lying, cheating piece of shit.

"T-That's not true!" squeaked Peter "I didn't- I wasn't-"

"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-" Lupin said, ignoring his protests.

"Remus," gasped Pettigrew "you don't believe him, do you...? He tried to kill me, Remus...."

"So we've heard," said Lupin, more coldly. "I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you, Peter, if you'll be so-"

"He's come to try and kill me again!vHe killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too...You've got to help me, Remus...."

"No one's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out," said Lupin.

"Sorted things out?" squealed Pettigrew, "I knew he'd come after me! I knew he'd be back for me! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!"

"You knew Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban?" Regulus asked in a calm tone that made it sound like he was mocking him.

"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! All that time acting as though he was the black sheep of the family when he's been in league with them all along!"

Regulus leaned back against the pillar of the bed and raised an eyebrow, Sirius started to laugh.

"You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years," Sirius spat "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, Voldemort went to the Potters' on your information and met his downfall there, and not all Voldemort's supporters ended up in Azkaban, did they? There are still plenty out here, if they ever got wind that you were still alive.."

"Don't know what you're talking about..." said Pettigrew he gave Lupin a desperate look "You don't believe this- this madness, Remus-"

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

"Innocent, but scared!" squealed Pettigrew. "If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it was because I'd cost them two of their best spies!"

Her father seemed to find the whole ordeal amusing, Sirius however...

"How dare you," he growled "I, a spy for Voldemort? When did I ever sneak around people who were stronger and more powerful than myself? But you, Peter, you always liked big friends who'd look after you, didn't you? It used to be us, then...."

His face was filled with so much anger that he appeared to not be able to express it with words. Suddenly, he lunged at Peter and Regulus was barley fast enough to hold him back.

"HE ONLY MADE YOU SECRET KEEPER BECAUSE I TOLD HIM TO!" Black yelled, so venomously that Pettigrew took a step backward. "I thought it was the perfect plan, Voldemort would've come after me, would never dream they'd use a pathetic thing like you, it must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters." He spat out, like the whole ordeal tasted bad.

After a little bit of Sirius taking out his anger, Regulus seemed confident that his brother wouldn't murder the other man and let him go.

"Professor Lupin?" said Hermione timidly , eying the four men nervously "Can- can I say something?"

"Certainly, Hermione,"

"Well, Peter, 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!" Peter exclaimed, as though that was the proof for his innocence.

"I'll tell you why," said Black. "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?"

Pettigrew opened his mouth and closed it several times, he looked back at the four for them for support, he kept muttering things like 'lunacy' and 'far fetched' but his case was getting weaker by the second.

"Er- Mr. Black- Sirius?" said Hermione "another question; how did you get out of Azkaban if you didn't use dark magic?"

"Thank you!" Peter declared "do you see-" but a look from Lupin silenced him.

"I don't know how I did it," he said 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, 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, he would give them Harry, then who'd dare say he'd betrayed Lord Voldemort?"

"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 swam as a dog back to the mainland, went to Paloma first thing, she was the only one who knew I was innocent and where Regulus was, she'd been helping me ever since, she'd come to Hogsmead under the guise that she was there for Hagrid and drop supplies and everything I need. I only went to the castle a few times; like when I came to watch the Quidditch games, of course. You both fly as well as your parents did."

Harry looked at Arlene with a silent question.

"It's true." She told him "trust me."

He stayed silent for a few minutes, then, at long last, he nodded.