Fire Whiskey in the Moonlight (Remus Lupin)

Chapter Thirty-Seven: In the Moonlight

A flash of blue-white light erupted from Remus and Sirius's wands; for a moment, the rat was frozen in midair, his small gray form twisting madly - Ron yelled as the rat fell and hit the floor. There was another blinding flash of light and then-

It was like watching a speed-up film of a growing tree. A head was shooting upward from the ground; limbs were sprouting; a moment later, a man was standing where the rat had been, cringing and wringing his hands. I could barely believe my eyes.

"Well, hello, Peter," Remus said with venomously pleasant tone. "Long time, no see."

"S—Sirius... R—Remus..." Even Pettigrew's voice was squeaky. His eyes darted toward the door. "My friends... my old friends..."

"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." Black shouted.

"Remus," gasped Pettigrew, and I could see beads of sweat breaking out over his pasty face, "you don't believe him, do you...? He tried to kill me, Remus..."

"So we've heard. 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!" Pettigrew squeaked suddenly, pointing at Black. "He 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," Remus barked.

"Sorted things out?" squealed Peter, 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!"

"You knew Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban?" Remus asked, his brow furrowed. "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!"

Black started to laugh, a horrible, mirthless laugh that filled the whole room. "Voldemort, teach me tricks?"

Pettigrew flinched as though Black had brandished a whip at him.

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

"Don't know what you mean, Sirius-" muttered Pettigrew, his breathing faster than ever. His whole face was shining with sweat now.

"You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years," said Black. "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, more shrill than ever. He wiped his face on his sleeve and looked up at Remus. "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.