In The Name Of Love || Hermione Granger

⋆⭒˚｡ ⋆ 𝓑𝓵𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓟𝓸𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻 ⋆⭒˚｡ ⋆

:･ﾟ✧:･.☽˚｡･ﾟ✧:
| SOFTCORE by The Neighbourhood |
:･✧:･.☽˚｡･ﾟ✧:

Saying that Amelia was shocked was an aphorism. For thirteen years, she had blamed herself for her mother's death. In thirteen years, nobody had ever told her that Harry was her cousin. She only discovered at Hogwarts that her mother wasn't a pureblood. She felt as if she didn't know anything about her own life cause everything might have been a story invented to keep her safe.

Her blood boiled in her veins when her eyes rested on Scabbers. If he was really Peter Pettigrew, that would mean she had before her the reason why she had grown up without a mother and Harry was an orphan.

She would have wanted to kill Pettigrew with bare hands, smashing his rat's face with her fists until he felt a shred of the pain he had inflicted her for all these years.

Her mind had gone mental; she wasn't reasoning anymore, almost having returned to when she had just arrived at Hogwarts, always mad at everyone and at life for the way her uncle and Aaron treated her. She felt empty, devoid of any warmth or life inside.

Her heart seemed to break, replaced by a colder version of it, made of ice. She wouldn't have known how to explain it, but it was like she went from feeling as if her pain felt like a hot, sharp knife that sliced through her skin, muscles, and bones... to feel completely numb.

And what was worse was that she didn't think that her father had told her all the truth; she had the feeling there was more, and it couldn't be anything good.

Her only source of peace now was Harry's hand firm in hers, making her feel less alone in this ocean of lies that made her feel like she was drowning.

He knew better than anyone how she was feeling as she stared at Ron's rat, and he was aware of the battle that was going on inside her mind. He gave her hand a soft squeeze, delicately rubbing her palm with the thumb when he felt her body tense and saw her jaw clenched.

"You're not a murderer, sis," he whispered so that only Amelia could hear it.

"Not for long," Amelia said between gritted teeth when Lupin demanded Ron to give him Scabbers.

She had the same piercing stare Harry had when he jumped on Sirius with his wand against his chest.

"I'm not letting you become a killer," Harry murmured, copying the conversation he and Amelia had just fifteen minutes ago.

"What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?" The redhead asked anxiously.

"Force him to show himself," said Remus. "If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him."

Ron hesitated. Then, at a long last, he held out Scabbers and Lupin took him. The rat began to squeak without stopping, twisting and turning, his tiny black eyes bulging in his head. "Ready, Sirius?"

Sirius had already retrieved Snape's wand from the bed. He approached Lupin and the struggling rat, and his wet eyes suddenly seemed to be burning in his face.

"Together?" He quietly asked.

"I think so," Remus nodded, holding Scabbers tightly in one hand and his wand in the other. "On the count of three. One -- two -- THREE!"

A flash of blue-white light erupted from both wands. For a moment, Scabbers was frozen in midair, his small grey form twisting madly -- Ron yelled -- the rat fell and hit the floor. There was another blinding flash of light, and then --

It was like watching a sped up film of a growing tree. A head was shooting upwards from the ground; limbs were sprouting; a moment later, a man was standing where Scabbers had been, cringing and wringing his hands. Crookshanks was spitting and snarling on the bed; the hair on his back was standing up.