Harry Potter : In the shadow of divinity46.43%

Chapter - 39 : The Shrieking Revelation part - 2

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(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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"Oh trust me, I've thought of plenty and when I do I've got quite the verbal thrashing prepared for him."

Black looked confused and, dare he say, hopeful. "But…?"

"But you're not him, are you, Sirius?" Harry took a tentative step toward the man. "You were never my parents' Secret Keeper, you weren't the one to betray them to Voldemort, and, if our guesses prove correct, you weren't the one who killed twelve muggles and the traitor who did."

"How-how did you know…?"

Harry gestured to Draco. "It pays to have friends who have fathers who don't know how to keep their mouths shut." Draco snorted softly in amusement. "So tell me, Sirius, are we correct in believing you're innocent?"

Black licked his chapped lips, then shakily nodded his head. "I-I…yes…you're correct."

Harry studied the man's face carefully, searching for even the slightest sign of deceit. His father was the god of lies and he'd inherited certain abilities from him, if any word Black said was anything but the truth he would have known immediately, but the man was telling the truth.

"I believe you," the thirteen year old said, and then moved over to Black's side, wrapping an arm around the man's waist he gently moved him to the bed. "Now sit down, you don't look well enough to be standing for so long, not after all you've done today."

Black looked at Harry in confusion. "That's it-" his words were cut off when the door flew open and their kindly Professor Lupin strode into the room, wand drawn and body tense, but when he noticed the fairly relaxed atmosphere and the way Harry was hovering protectively over Black he paused.

"What…?"

"Hello, Professor Lupin," Harry greeted cheerfully as he settled down beside Black. "Have you come to join us? Sirius here was just about to tell us his version of what happened Halloween night and the morning after twelve years ago."

"What…?" the man repeated.

"How did you know we were here, Professor?" Hermione asked curiously.

"I-I was on my way into the castle," Lupin stuttered, "when I-I saw Sirius attack. I came as fast as I could."

Harry looked up at Black in surprise. "That was you? You were that great, hulking beast?"

"Animagus," Ron said.

"Ah, that makes sense."

"What is going on?" Lupin snapped, pointing his wand at Black. "Harry do you know who this man is? What he's done?"

"I know who he is," Harry said standing up and stepping in front of Black, shielding him from Lupin and his wand. "And I know what everyone thinks he's done, but right now it's time for Sirius to tell his side of the story, will you listen?"

"I-"

"Brilliant," Harry waved his wand and Lupin's flew into his hand. "I'll just hold onto this for you while we listen. Now everyone pull up a seat…or, er floor, it's story time."

"I-I don't know where to begin," Black muttered.

"Why don't we start with the reason you're here?"

"What?"

"Well, at first my friends and I thought you were here for me, but you proved time and time again that that wasn't the case. So tell me, if you didn't break out of Azkaban and come to Hogwarts for me, who did you come for?"

Black stared at Harry for one long second, and then he raised one gnarled hand and pointed to Ron.

"Me?" the redhead cried. "Why'd you come here for me?"

"Not you," Black said, "the rat,"

Lupin finally seemed to notice the caged rat encircled in Ron's arms, slowly he crossed the room to get a better look. "Merlin, is that…?" he whispered

"Yes."

"But then," Lupin muttered, staring at Black so intently it seemed he was trying to read his mind, "why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless…" Lupin's eyes suddenly widened, as though he was seeing something beyond Black, something the rest of them had already realized, "…unless he was the one, unless you switched, without telling me?"

"What is going on here?" Ron cried in frustration.

"He's come to the same conclusion about Sirius' innocence as we have," Harry said watching the two men closely.

"Well that's all fine and dandy, but what does that have to do with Scabbers?"

"That's not a rat," Lupin said quietly. "It's an animagus, by the name of Peter Pettigrew."

"You're mental…Scabbers isn't Pettigrew, he's been in the family for…"

"Twelve years?"

"Come off it," Ron said weakly. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean, okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat, there are millions of other rats how's he supposed to know which one he's after in Azkaban?"

"You know that's a fair question, Sirius," Lupin said. "How did you know where Peter was?"

Black put one of his claw-like hands into 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," said Black. "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 was…"

"My God." said Lupin softly, staring from Scabbers to the picture in the paper and back again. "His front paw…"

"What about it?" Ron asked.

"He's got a toe missing." said 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?" Lupin said, "The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger."

Ron looked ready to protest, but Harry stopped him. "Ron, I think they're right."

"Not you too, Harry."

"No listen, what they're saying makes sense, it all fits and besides…I always got a strange feeling about Scabbers, his aura was off, not like a normal rat's."