CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
↳ snape, snape, severus snape

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As much as Elara tried to convince herself this wasn't happening, but this was happening. Severus Snape, a man who seemed to have a personal vendetta against her parents and Harry's dad, was sneering their way as everyone reacted in their particular ways. She straightened her back up and pursed her lips together as she realised that the thing her rock had hit was, in fact, her greasy haired potions teacher.

"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," he threw the cloak onto the ground, wand pointed at her papa while a disgusted sneer furnished on his pasty face. "Very useful, Potter, I thank you..." his face faltered for a moment, then some held back triumph glossed on his complexion. "You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" he looked around for a moment.

Elara spoke up. "Actually it's not that interesting, after all it's pretty obvious," she fiddled with her nails. "I mean you obviously-" before she could continue, he rudely exclaimed out.

"SILENCE YOU INSOLENT LITTLE GIRL!" His face was crimson with fury. "I've just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a goblet full 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." Elara sighed out. This whole event was definitely going to inflate his ego.

"Severus -" Her papa tried to calm the man, subtly attempting to get him to lower his wand. However, at this attempt, the potion's professor held his wand more firmly in his grasp.

"I've told the headmaster again and again that you're helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof. Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout -" Elara opened her mouth in utter disbelief. Is he serious?

"Severus, you're making a mistake," Her papa tried to tell him. He was being honest, yet the bat seemed adamant on doing the opposite of what he should've been doing. "You haven't heard everything - I can explain - Sirius is not here to kill Harry -" he was rudely interrupted.

"Two more for Azkaban tonight and a helpless orphan," his eyes glinted treacherously as he looked at the entire family, his eyes laying on Elara for a moment longer, full of hatred. "I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this... He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin... a tame werewolf -"

Elara had enough."Excuse me but I don't know who the fuck you think you are but," she brought out her wand and pointed it at snape. "You won't be throwing either of my dads in Azkaban tonight, Mr long nosey," Snape scowled at her and pointed his wand at her too. "Now if you do not mind I'm-" Elara tried to continue, Snape moved his wand, muttering 'Silencio' under his breathe and all of the sudden, no words formed, despite how her lips continued to move. Everyone's eyes were wide as they watched her press a hand over her mouth and continue attempting to speak, only failing to do so. She was mouthing what looked like a bunch of swear words.

Sirius seemed the most upset. He would've walked right up to Snape and hexed him, but the wand seemed s threatening and he wouldn't like to become a victim of Snape's ever growing ego. "Is a school boy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?" Remus asked out, watching as his daughter panicked at her inability to speak. He would've walked and helped her, reversing the charm, but thin, snakelike cords sprang out the tip of Snape's wand and wrapped around his mouth, wrists and ankles, bounding him like an animal. Elara screamed out inaudibly and Hermione pulled her back, keeping her behind her so that the girl would not find herself wrapped in the exact cords. In a fit of rage at seeing his partner in a state as such, Sirius advanced towards Snape, watching with wide, slightly fearful eyes as the Slytherin teacher pointed his wand between her father's grey eyes.

"Give me a reason," he whispered. "Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will."

For a moment, everyone was paralysed. No one moved, Elara assumed they were all thinking too deeply to react. Scabbers' frantic squeals echoed as no one moved. Hermione, however, pushed Elara back and hesitantly moved towards the snarling man. "Professor Snape - it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w-would it?"

"Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school," Snape spat out venously. "You, Potter, Lupin and Weasley are out-of-bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. For once in your life, hold your tongue, maybe like how Lupin's doing right now." Elara crossed her arms, glaring up at Snape as he smirked in her direction. Right when he turned away, she pulled her middle finger up at him and stuck her tongue out.

"But if - if there was a mistake -"

"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" He screamed out. Elara couldn't believe him at all. "DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" His wand was still pointed at her dad as sparks shot out of it.

"Vengeance is very sweet," he breathed out at Sirius with a snarl. "How I hoped I would be the one to catch you..." He's some creepy ass man hell bent on revenge. She couldn't help but think.

"The joke's on you again, Severus," Sirius spat out. "As long as this boy brings his rat up to the castle" - his head jerked towards Ron - "I'll come quietly..."

"Up to the castle?" Snape asked, humorously. "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 daresay... I -"

Bloody bitch, Elara sighed out. She would've yelled at him, had it not been for the silencing charm on her. She really now wanted to snap at him, but it wasn't helpful when he was silenced her.

"You - you've got to hear me out," Sirius' eyes were full of desperation as he looked around at Pettigrew. He motioned to the rat, chest heaving and his eyes frantic. "The rat - look at the rat -"

Snape was not going to be reasonable at all. He wouldn't look at the rat, nor even try and ask her dad why he was doing this. His intentions were full of malicious intent and Elara knew they'd stay that way.

"Come on, all of you," with the click of his fingers, her papa's chains were in his hand and he pulled on them. The man softly grunting and Elara's eyes filled with red anger as she saw her teacher treat her family as something beneath him. "I'll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the Dementors will have a kiss for him too - " that was enough. In her mind, she was screaming at him and when his eyes flickered onto her and saw her bulging eyes, she knew he knew that she was screaming at him. From the way his pasty face face wrinkled with a smirk to the blaze in his eyes, he knew what he was doing and he knew it was wrong. Elara thought everyone would listen. They'd shrug their shoulders and trod on, not caring about the fate of her family. Elara though wrong though, she was very, very wrong. As soon as those words left his mouth, Harry darted to the exit and stood in front of it, blocking it. "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 have killed me about a hundred times this year," Harry said, looking down at his teacher. "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?"

"Don't ask me to fathom the way a werewolf's mind works," snarled Snape, his saliva drooling out. "Get out of the way, Potter."

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

Well shit, he had a point.

"SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" Snape shrieked, madness in his eyes as he watched the boy with fury. "Like father, like son, Potter! I have just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have 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!"

Elara never really understood non verbal magic. 'It was complicated,' they'd tell her when she'd get too curious. 'A mere child cannot do such things,' but in that moment, her dad's face white with fear and her papa laying on the ground tethered like an animal, she did something 'a mere child cannot do'. Along with a fury of many voices, they casted 'Expelliarmus' and watched as Snape was lifted off his feet and thrown into the wall like a rag doll. As blood dripped down his lip, the teens all realised that he was in fact unconscious. She snorted silently at the sight, pitiful, but not pitiful enough. Ron and Hermione both also casted and Snape's wand landed besides Crookshanks and Laurie, both of whom were laying comfortably on the bed.

"You shouldn't have done that," Sirius croaked out, looking at Harry and giving Elara small smile while she put her two thumbs up with a smile. "You should have left him to me..." Bitch just be grateful.

"We attacked a teacher... We attacked a teacher..." Hermione whimpered, her eyes frightened and her wand quivering at the sight of his battered body. "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble -" Elara's eyes furrowed. Didn't Hermione set Snape on fire during their first year?

Quickly leaving Hermione's frantic side, Elara bent down and began unwrapping the cords that strung around her papa. Remus immediately took her hand as she lifted him up, giving his daughter a tight hug and then grabbing his wand and placing it at her throat, undoing Snape's spell. "Thank fuck for that," she sighed out, finally being able to talk after waiting patiently for someone to undo the spell.

"Thank you, Harry," Remus said, casting his attention off his daughter for a moment.

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

"Then it's time we offered you some proof," he gestured to where Ron sat. "You, boy - give me Peter, please. Now."
Ron clutched Scabbers closer to his chest as his eyes widened with terror.

"Come off it," he croaked out weakly. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean..." He turned to where Harry and Hermione were and then sighed out. "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?"

Remus spun around, looking at his partner with an enquiring look. "You know, Sirius, that's a fair question," he frowned slightly. "How did you find out where he was?" Just a moment passed and soon his thin hands reached into his robes and snatched out a crumpled article. The one with Ron and his family, all smiling at the camera just a summer prior. The closer you looked, the more you'd notice and you would've seen the rat who was missing a toe.

"How did you get this?" Remus asked, momentarily astounded at the fact he even had a newspaper.

"Fudge," Sirius said shortly. "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 be going back to Hogwarts... to where Harry and Poppet were..."

"My God," her papa's voice breathed out, eyes wide and mouth agape. "His front paw..."

"What about it?" said Ron intransigently as he looked at both men.

"He's got a toe missing,"

"Of course," Remus drew a breath. "So simple... so brilliant... he cut it off himself?"

"Just before he transformed," Sirius began, telling the events that Elara was already familiar with. "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..."

"Ron think about this for a moment," Elara looked towards him, her eyes soothed at the ginger, hoping to mitigate the whole situation. "The only evidence of my dad killing Pettigrew was his finger, you cannot be thinking this rat coincidentally has the exact injury when we have already brought up the possibility," she wiped her nose.

"Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something!"

"It's a clean cut, if it was a fight, it'd be more jagged," Elara intervened.

Ron continued with his hopes. "He's been in my family for ages, right -"

"Twelve years, in fact," Remus spoke softly at the boy. "Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?"

"We - we've been taking good care of him!" He tried to defend himself again.

Elara sighed out. "Ron remember when we were eight and I had a dwarf hamster?" He nodded. Remus looked at her vaguely for a moment, wondering why she was bringing up her first and only pet until she got Laurie. "I took such great care of Pipsqueak and she died when she was one," Elara batted an eye at Scabbers, the rat looking around frantically as it squealed in fright. "Pipsqueak looked better than his 'Scabbers' does eight now and she was sicker,"

"Elara's right,"

"He's been scared of those mad cats!" said Ron, nodding toward Crookshanks and Laurie who were looking at up him curiously. Laurie looked the most carefree, sprawled out and purring and Crookshanks beady yellow eyes stalked Scabbers hungrily,

"These cats aren't mad," Laurie's soft head nudged his hand as he stroked him tenderly. He gave Crookshanks some fuss too, the ginger cat purring content at the attention he was getting, "They are the most intelligent cats I've ever seen. Recognised Peter for what he was right away. And when they met me, they knew I was no dog. It was a while before they trusted me... Finally, I managed to communicate to them what I was after, and they've been helping me..."

"What do you mean?" Gasped Hermione, looking down towards her cat. She had thought all this time Crookshanks was following the stereotype 'cat chases mouse' but now she was learning something else.

"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..." he hitched his head towards Elara. "And Laurie, Poppet's cat, told me where she was and I managed to tell her the truth, after she had worked it out for herself, that is,"

Hermione crosses her arms at her. "So that's where you've been all this time!"

"In my defence, I was smart and worked it out, before like everyone," Remus sighed out and motioned for Sirius to continue.

"But Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it." croaked Black. "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." He jerked his head towards Elara. "She's been constantly helping me as well, giving me food that she charmed and also tried her best in looking for Peter herself," he winced slightly. "Even hit me when I didn't listen to her,"

"You snitch,"

"Elara Lily Lupin what have we said about hitting people?"

"We've said a lot,"

Before Remus could even reply to her, Harry bursted out furiously. "Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"

"No," Remus intervened, "Harry-"

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

"Yes, I have," he said, glinting evilly at the rat who squealed more and more.

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

"Harry!" Elara exclaimed out. "If you haven't worked it out by now, I swear-"

"Harry," he rushed, looking anxiously at the boy. "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!"

Sirius' eyes were considerably dark, a major contrast to his name, which supposed he was the brightest star. The man standing in front of them was not a prankster, nor a man filled with joy. It was a man shrouded by his own self-hatred and guilt. He spoke up, voice cracking slightly. "Harry... I as good as killed them," he choked out. "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..." he looked away.

"Enough of this," there was something Elara barely heard. His tone was almost pitiless for a split second, his eyes told a different story however. Betrayal, hurt, loss. His eyes spoke the words his voice could never delineate. "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 asked Remus, his voice apprehensive as he held Pettigrew in his fast grasp.

"Force him to show himself," Remus replied simply. He tried easing the boy who's eyes were wide in pain and fear. "If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him."

"Ron, please," Elara's eyes softened as the ginger stared up at her. "I promise he won't be harmed unless he is Pettigrew,"

As Ron finally gave in, holding the rat out to the Professor, Pettigrew's shrieks and cries and his quivers were ignored as Remus held him tightly. "Ready, Sirius?" Remus asked, looking up at his lover who's eyes were rimmed in tears. Sirius glanced at Elara, standing besides Hermione with a look of encouragement.

"Together?" he said quietly.

"I think so", he firmly held the inky eyed rat in one hand, his wand in his other as he steadied the both of them. "On the count of three. One - two - THREE!"

In those moments, Elara never actually wondered what it would be like. She cringed at the right. The rat's shabby body flinched as a light blinded them. Ron watched, screaming when he assumed it Scabbers was just a rat. However, they all watched as limbs sprouted out, Ron's screaming subsiding when a man with thin, unkempt hair replaced Scabbers. Elara could assume this was Pettigrew. She never had any photos to reference, only unclear descriptions, but from the looks of it, her dad was correct and he had been inhabiting as his animagus form for twelve years, successfully framing the innocent. He was petite, not as petite as Elara but around the same height as Hermione and Harry. Elara watched intensely as his small eyes darted around the shack.

"Well, hello, Peter," Remus started. "Long time, no see."

"S-Sirius... R-Remus..."His voice more annoying than the shrills he let out when he was a rat. She preferred him way more as a rat, less whining. "My friends... my old friends..."

Elara watched as Sirius' arm rose, suddenly being held back by Remus' as he continued. "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," gasped Pettigrew, nearly throwing himself onto her papa with sweat beading down his almost green complexion. "you don't believe him, do you...? He tried to kill me, Remus..."

"So we've heard," He replied, coldness trembling off his voice eerily. "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!" he pointed towards Elara's father, squeaking in fear as he looked up. "He killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too... You've got to help me, Remus..."

Elara grabbed onto Hermione's hand, shaking slightly as she watched on. She felt Hermione hold her hand tightly as well. She was also trembling. "No one's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out," her papa said.

"Sorted things out?" squeaked Pettigrew, looking around and then looking firmly on the 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!"

"You knew Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban?" Remus' brows furrowed as he looked at the shaken man. "When nobody has ever done it before?"

"He's got dark powers the rest of us can only dream of!" Pettigrew shouted out. "How else did he get out of there? I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named taught him a few tricks!" he accused, his finger pointing at Sirius.

Sirius started to laugh, a ruthless, mirthless laugh that filled the whole room eerily. "Voldemort, teach me tricks?" he said. Pettigrew cowered at the name. Elara would've too, but she composed herself better and continued "What, scared to hear your old master's name?" Sirius taunted the squealing man. "I don't blame you, Peter. His lot aren't very happy with you, are they?"

"Don't know what you mean, Sirius -" Pettigrew mumbled, breathing faster than ever as his hands shook.

"You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years," Sirius spat out. "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 Voldemort's supporters ended up in Azkaban, did they? There are still plenty out here, biding 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, his voice growing higher more and more. He wiped his face and looked at Remus, eyes pleading. "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," He said flatly.

"Innocent, but scared!" squealed Pettigrew, crying out as he still pointed at Sirius. "If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it was because I put one of their best men in Azkaban - the spy, Sirius Black!"

Sirius' face contorted into a large scowl and Elara snorted at how desperate he sounded at this rate. He wasn't fooling anyone now. "How dare you," he growled, sounding suddenly like the bearsized dog he had 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," He spat out acidly. "You always liked big friends who'd look after you, didn't you? It used to be us... me and Remus... and James..." he said the word 'James' enlaced with golden pain.

"Me, a spy... must be out of your mind... never... don't know how you can say such a -" He tried to say, but Sirius interrupted him.

"Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it," He hissed out. Pettigrew took a large step backwards, his face full of pain. "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."

For a moment, you could only hear the inaudible muttering of Peter Pettigrew as Sirius Black glowered aggressively at him. Finally, that silence was broken. "Professor Lupin?" Hermione asked, timidly as her hand tightened around Elara's. "Can - can I say something?"

"Certainly, Hermione,"

"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!" said Pettigrew shrilly, pointing at Ron, hand shaking. "Thank you! You see, Remus? I have never hurt a hair of Harry's head! Why should I?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Elara started. Everyone turned their attention onto her, not expecting her to speak. "You-know-who has been 'half dead' somehow for years, every year he's always been incapable of coming back," she looked down at Peter Pettigrew with a scowl. "You would never commit a pitiful crime such as murder unless he was back, would you? You only stayed with the Weasley's because they're wizards, that way you can hear if your 'master' has risen again," She turned towards Sirius. "Did I get it right dad?"

"Spot on, Poppet,"

Pettigrew looked at Elara, opening his mouth and shutting it. She had struck gold.

"Er - Mr. Black - Sirius?" Hermione's inquiring voice asked again, this time looking at Elara's dad instead of her papa. Elara noticed her dad jump, not expecting her to speak to him. "If you don't mind me asking, how - how did you get out of Azkaban, if you didn't use Dark Magic?"

"Thank you!" he gasped out, nodding frantically. "Exactly! Precisely what I -"

"Oh will you shut up!?" He immediately went quiet. "Thank you," she placed her hand on her waist, shaking her head slightly and then looking at her dad. "He used his animagus form, it's obvious as hell- animal emotions are more complex and then he got skinny enough to pass the bars and move past the dementors without being snogged," she turned to see everyone gaping at her. "What? I pay attention!"

Sirius nodded. "I don't know how I did it," he said slowly, taking a small glance at her and offering a small smile. "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..." He swallowed deeply. "They feel their way toward people by feeding off their emotions... They could tell that 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 realised 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 head, mouthing loudly, but staring all the while at Sirius as though he was placed under a trance. "... 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'd betrayed Lord Voldemort? He'd be welcomed back with honours,"

"So you see, I had to do something. I was the only one who knew Peter was still alive... 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 grounds as a dog. I've been living in the forest ever since, except when I came to watch the Quidditch, of course. You fly as well as your father did, Harry..." The two looked at each other, green piercing grey. "Believe me," Sirius choked out. "Believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them."

And so, Harry James Potter, The Boy who Lived, the boy who only hours prior hated Sirius Black with a passion, the boy who didn't even know the truth until months prior, looked into Sirius' tearful eyes, searching down for the lies. He never found them lies. So, with his throat closing up and his eyes wide and luminating with fresh tears that would cascade down his cheeks, he allowed himself to realise the actual truth, Peter Pettigrew letting out a furious cry and falling to his knees when The Boy who Lived realised that his sickened tales were nothing but make belief, woven so deeply that even the brightest believed them.

"Sirius - it's me... it's Peter... your friend... you wouldn't -" He tried grabbing onto Sirius' robes, only for man to kick him away from him, making Pettigrew fall to the ground with a thud.

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

"Remus!" Pettigrew squeaked, turning to Remus, writhing imploringly in front of him and crying out his lies, hoping for someone to find sympathy and swallow them down. "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," Remus said, for a moment, pain flashing in his eyes at the thought of his own love thinking. "I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?" His eyes locked with Sirius' for a moment, for a moment time belonging to only them, right at their disposal. Everyone watched, Elara's chocolate brown eyes staring at the scene.

"Forgive me, Remus," his voice was full of sincerity as he looked at the man he loved.

"Not at all, Padfoot" Remus rolled up his sleeves. "And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?"

"Of course," a ghost of a grin coated his face as he, too, rolled up his sleeves and maliciously glinted at Peter Pettigrew's quivering form. "Shall we kill him together?" Were they being serious? Sirius didn't even look her direction, knowing she had told him that Pettigrew has to live in order to prove his innocence. But when he had this opportunity, he simply forgot about it and wanted nothing more than to kill the person responsible for his best friend's deaths and imprisoning him for over a decade, missing his daughter's whole life.

"Yes, I think so," he grimaced at the thought.

"You wouldn't... you won't..." he quivered and scurried to Ron's feet, pleading pathetically as Ron's face scrunched up in disgust. "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?"

Ron stared down at Pettigrew with revolt. "I let you sleep in my bed!" he yelled out in disgust. Elara cringed.

"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," Elara snorted.

Ron, going still pale with pain from his broken leg, moved his leg out of Pettigrew's reach. He turned his direction, grabbing onto Hermione. "Sweet girl... clever girl... you - you won't let them... Help me..."

In a fit of fury, Elara crumbled her hand into a fist and hit him straight in the nose. "Don't fucking touch her you bastard," her hand hurt, something she didn't expect from punching someone, all the good films make it so effortless, but she couldn't help but feel full of satisfaction when the balding man crumbled to the ground, moaning in pain as he held his nose. It looked swollen and broken, exactly what Elara was aiming for. "Papa, I better not be in trouble for that,"

"You aren't,"

Moving away from the pair of witches ( not even bothering to flatter Elara and try and convince her of his innocence ), he went to Harry, crumbling on the ground by his feet. "Harry... Harry... you look just like your father... just like him..."

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY?" Sirius screamed, his face lighting with anger as he scowled menacingly at the shrinking man. "HOW DARE YOU FACE HIM? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT OF HIM?"

"Harry," he shuffled towards him, hand outstretched towards Harry. "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 fear, staring up at them, his face growing paler and sweatier as the seconds passed. "You sold Lily and James to Voldemort," Sirius spat, he was also shaking. "Do you deny it?"

In that moment, everyone watched as the grown man had the audacity to cry for something he did with no good intentions. They watched as Pettigrew cried out, shaking out his pleas of forgiveness. "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 roared up, eyes furious and his face contorting into a snarl. "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, body quivering. "Wh-what was there to be gained by refusing him?"

"What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?" Sirius spluttered out, as though he had said the most preposterous thing in the world. With a terrible fury in his face, he exclaimed out. "Only innocent lives, Peter!"

"You don't understand!" whined Pettigrew, cowering on the ground. Elara knew he understood, he understood very well. "He would have killed me, Sirius!"

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" He screamed back. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!" Sirius and Remus stood shoulder to shoulder, wands raised at the cowardly lion.

"You should have realized," Remus mumbled lowly, his voice barely reaching the quiet teens as they all watched. "If Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Goodbye, Peter."

Hermione immediately buried her head into Elara's shoulder. "I don't want to see him murdered," she mumbled quietly into Elara's sweater. Elara brushed her hair with her hand, soothing her while squinting her eyes shut as well. She didn't want to see the thestrals so soon.

However, it appeared as though no one would be seeing any thestrals today. As Harry stood in front of the two wands, selflessly exclaiming about how Pettigrew deserved Azkaban over death. Elara couldn't help but agree with him, death was far too benevolent, too easy, for such a foul person. Elara watched as Remus tightened the cords that sprawled out his wand, Pettigrew wriggling on the floor, bound and gagged, pathetically as his two previous friends glared down at him.

"But if you transform, Peter," Sirius snarled, his wand pointing at him. "We will kill you. You agree, Harry?" He looked pitiful, but everyone was pitiless as they watched the man as he laid on the floor.

"Right," said Remus, turning his attention onto Ron and his broken leg that dangled at a weird angle. Elara cringed at the sight of it. "Ron, I can't mend bones nearly 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 tapped his wand on Ron's ruptured leg. "Ferula." Bandages sprawled out, wrapping his leg up in a make shift cast. Remus grabbed onto his hand, pulling him up and Ron warily put weight on his leg and didn't wince.

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

"What about Professor Snape?" asked Hermione in a small voice, looking down at Snape's figure that still laid unconscious on the ground.

"Can we just leave him?" Elara suggested, quirking her eyebrow slightly.

Remus shook his head at her. "No. There's nothing seriously wrong with him," He bent down and checked for a pulse. He didn't even sigh out in relief, he merely laughed light-heartedly. "You were just a little - overenthusiastic. Still out cold. Er - perhaps it will be best if we don't revive him until we're safety back in the castle. We can take him like this..."
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 falling unpleasantly making Elara cringe at the sight of his head falling down as though his head was like those toys she saw in the muggle shops . Hanging a few inches off the ground, the entire group watched as his legs sprawled out. Remus picked up the Invisibility Cloak and tucked it safely into his pocket.

"And two of us should be chained to this," he nudged Pettigrew with his toe, cringing with disgust. "Just to make sure."

"I'll do it," said Remus.

"And me," Ron limbed forward.

Sirius conjured heavy manacles from no where; as soon as Pettigrew was upright again, his left arm chained to Remus right, right arm to Ron's left. Ron's face was blank. He seemed to have taken Scabbers's true identity as a personal insult to his dignity and was not at all happy about it. Elara couldn't help but think how surreal this was. In a short while, she'd finally have a complete family, two dads who'd be happy together. "Tell me why I feel this is all going to go wrong," Elara mumbled to herself, finally letting go of Hermione's hand to reach and pick Laurie up. "And you, mister, you better stay put," she watched as Crookshanks leapt lightly off the bed and led the way out of the room, his bottlebrush tail held jauntily high, possibly feeling proud of this whole events.

Everything seemed perfect, too perfect and Elara knew this wasn't going to last very long.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒
( tw - eating disorders )

I want to highlight many things here:
1. THANK YOU ALL SO SO MUCH FOR 10K- I'M SO OVERWHELMED WITH THE BENEVOLENCE OF EAVH WND EVERY ONE OF YOU- MWAH

2. This week is eating disorders awareness week, I want to highlight this here
Eating disorders heavily impact a lot of people in the world.
Between 1.25 and 3.4 million people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder
Around 25% of those affected by an eating disorder are male
Most eating disorders develop during adolescence, although there are
cases of eating disorders developing in children as young as 6 and in adults in their 70's
Eating disorder are most common in individuals between the ages of 16 and 40 years old
Around 10% of people affected by an eating disorder suffer from anorexia nervosa
The average age of onset for anorexia nervosa is 16-17 years old
40% of people affected by an eating disorder suffer from bulimia nervosa
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rates among psychiatric disorders
Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder in adolescence
The earlier that eating disorder treatment is sought, the better the sufferer's chance of recovery

Please please please don't stigmatise eating disorders. Don't make it a sappy romance where the guy helps the girl recover. They aren't lovesick teens who can't eat for days and look flawlessly when doing this stuff. They can be anyone, of any gender, any age, any weight. Not everyone who has an eating disorder is a girl, is skinny etc. As someone who advocates for change, I want to use my plate form and aid in spreading awareness. If you suffer from eating disorders of any type, DON'T FEEL ASHAMED OR BLAME YOURSELF.

Some helpful places to talk to about mental health in general ( UK BASED LOOK UP MENTAL HEALTH HOTLINES IN YOUR AREA IF NEEDED )

Samaritans. You can call 116 123 (free from any phone), email [email protected] or visit some branches in person. You can also call the Samaritans Welsh Language Line on 0808 164 0123 (7pm-11pm every day). UK BASED I BELIEVE
SANEline. If you're experiencing a mental health problem or supporting someone else, you can call SANEline on 0300 304 7000 (4.30pm-10.30pm every day).
The Mix. If you're under 25, you can call The Mix on 0808 808 4994 (Sunday-Friday 2pm-11pm), request support by email using this form on The Mix website or use their crisis text messenger service.
Papyrus HOPELINEUK. If you're under 35 and struggling with suicidal feelings, or concerned about a young person who might be struggling, you can call Papyrus HOPELINEUK on 0800 068 4141 (weekdays 10am-10pm, weekends 2pm-10pm and bank holidays 2pm-10pm), email [email protected] or text 07786 209 697.
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). If you identify as male, you can call the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) on 0800 58 58 58 (5pm-midnight every day) or use their webchat service.
Nightline. If you're a student, you can look on the Nightline website to see if your university or college offers a night-time listening service. Nightline phone operators are all students too.
Switchboard. If you identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, you can call Switchboard on 0300 330 0630 (10am-10pm every day), email [email protected] or use their webchat service. Phone operators all identify as LGBT+.
C.A.L.L. If you live in Wales, you can call the Community Advice and Listening Line (C.A.L.L.) on 0800 132 737 (open 24/7) or you can text 'help' followed by a question to 81066.
Childline: under 18s 0800111 - these are confidential unless they regard dangerous things so they will ask for names and stuff- you can also talk to them just for something to make you happy. My friend called one and we wished them a good day and they were kind. They offer a lot of support about everything and are amazing.

Websites to visit regarding eating disorders and body image:
https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk
https://eatingdisorderfoundation.org
https://butterfly.org.au
https://www.mentalhealth.org.nz/get-help/a-z/resource/37/eating-disorders gclid=CIKb5KfPxMQCFdglvQod6h4A_%2520l

If you need a checkpoint to find a website about any mental health issue
https://checkpointorg.com/global/

THANK YOU ALL SO SO MUCH FOR READING! I LOVE YOU ALL GOODNIGHT 🥺💗