The Other Uncle (a sequel)

The Breakdown

AN: I really hope this chapter isn't terrible. I'm sorry it's so late, too! I had a lot of writer's block. Please give me feedback. I'm really nervous about this one!

Peter cursed Anna Lupin for the thousandth time in his head.

He'd seen the witch sneak off into the woods the last time she went. He didn't follow her. He couldn't risk Sirius Black catching a whiff of him, but he knew that Black had finally gotten her to trust him despite all of Peter's efforts to keep her suspicious.

He honestly wished he could just kill the Mudblood, but that would stir up a lot of trouble for him. Sure, he could just blame it on Black again, but it was just too risky. Remus would become a problem in Anna's place and there would just be so much chaos and attention on him. The last thing Peter needed was more prying eyes. Besides, he wouldn't stand a chance against her in combat. He'd have to poison her or something and that wasn't Sirius' style. Most people wouldn't notice, but Remus Lupin certainly would. So, he would have to do what he did best.

Fake his death and hide.

Again.

This time, of course, it was much easier. The only people who would even know about his 'death' would be a few children. He knew just who to frame, too.

That damned cat.

Merlin, he HATED that cat. Crookshanks had almost become his arch nemesis. Which was silly, he knew, but it was true. That cat attacked him at every corner. It was almost like it KNEW. Peter, after all, wasn't the only rat in the school. He'd seen a few others, but that cursed cat didn't seem to care about those. Only Peter.

And if that wasn't bad enough, there was that insolent owl, Avalon. It seemed that the cat and bird were almost in some sort of strange animal alliance, whose soul purpose was to make life hard for Wormtail.

Whenever Ron had brought him outside and he was left unsupervised, the owl would come swooping down. And when Ron was there, the blasted beast would almost GLARE at the rat. Then, when he was in doors, Crookshanks would do the rest.

Sometimes, the bird would attack him inside the school as well. Then again, her attacks were not as frequent.

He thanked Merlin that Anna hadn't seen him yet. As far as he knew, Sirius had kept the fact that he was Scabbers a secret, probably to keep Anna from danger. What an imbecile. Then again, his misjudgment was an advantage for Peter.

So, for now, he would have to lay low. But being in hiding didn't mean he couldn't have a little fun. He may not have been able to turn Anna against Black, but he could make Remus and Harry hate Sirius even more than they already did.

-With Anna-

Harry got his broom back.

It was, thankfully, hex free and all of the Gryffindors were over the moon. They were all suddenly pumped for the Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor Quidditch game.

For the first time in a while, Harry thought that everything would be smooth and drama free for the next few weeks. The only downside had been that he wasn't getting much better in his lessons with Remus. He was so close, but he still couldn't manage a full patronus.

However, things took a turn for the worse when Ron discovered his rat was missing. All that was left of poor Scabbers was blood.

And orange fur.

Harry had to admit, Ron was a bit harsh on Hermione when he had ran up to her screaming in her face, but she hadn't done much to help her case either.

Even though it seemed transparent to everyone else that Crookshanks was the culprit, she stubbornly denied it and suggested that the rat was probably hiding under Ron's bed or something. She insisted that Ron had no real evidence that it had been her cat. Although Harry didn't want to hurt Hermione's feelings, he did think it was fairly obvious what had happened. However, when he had pointed this out to Hermione, she had been furious with him as well. She had been very offended that he was taking Ron's side and stormed off.