Harry Potter and the Ties that Bind

Chapter 31

Harry froze before the door, his mind blanking as he tried to comprehend what Madam Bones had said, but he couldn't wrap his mind around it. Pettigrew was dead? How did this happen? What, or who, could have killed him?

Needing to know more, Harry opened the door and walked in. Sirius and Madam Bones jerked their heads toward him. Their eyes widened.

"Harry?" Sirius said as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "What are you doing awake?"

"Couldn't sleep," Harry said as he sat down at the table. "Please continue. I'd like to know more about Pettigrew's death as well."

Madam Bones looked at Sirius, who gave her a "what are you looking at me for?" shrug. She sighed, and then, beginning again, she said, "We're not exactly sure what happened. No one even realized that Pettigrew was dead until early this morning during a shift change."

"Let me guess," Harry started, "it was made to look like a suicide?"

Madam Bones gave him a mirthless smile. "If only things were that simple. When we found him, Pettigrew's body was mangled. His limbs were twisted like pretzels, and there was a look of horror on his face, as if the last thing he saw was so terrifying it became permanently etched onto his face."

It sounded like someone had tortured him before killing him and then hanging him. What Harry didn't get was the purpose. Why would someone go to so much trouble to kill a person like this? Were they trying to make an example of him? Who were they making this example to? Was this punishment? Who could have punished him?

I wonder if one of the Death Eaters somehow killed him to keep him from being interrogated...

The theory was entirely possible. Pettigrew must have known who all the Death Eaters were, so he would have been able to identify them, which was another reason Harry had wanted to capture him alive. With Pettigrew's knowledge, they would have had enough evidence to sentence the Death Eaters who got out of a trial by claiming they were under the Imperius Curse.

"What about your aurors?" asked Harry. "Did they not notice anything unusual?"

Madam Bones shook her head. "That's the problem. No one noticed anything unusual."

Harry didn't get understand. For Pettigrew to have been killed in such a gruesome manner, he must have undergone intense pain. He should have been screaming his head off. Yet no one had even heard him. No one had known anything unusual was happening. That was just weird.

"Did you check your aurors to see if their memories had been tampered with?"

"We have." Madam Bones sighed and leaned back in her chair. Adjusting her monocle, she continued, "However, none of my aurors have had their memories tampered with or erased. Croaker of the Unspeakables has already verified this for me."

Tampering with a person's memories was generally a sloppy affair. To mess with someone's memories, they had to obliviate them and then replace what was lost with false memories. What's more, the false memories had to seamlessly merge with the real memories. Otherwise, you ran the risk of having the person whose memories you replaced realize that something was wrong.

Also, because of how fragile the mind was, erasing and replacing memories was a delicate procedure. Few people could do it right. In fact, the act of tampering with someone's memories without giving them lasting brain damage was next to impossible. Erasing? Sure, that was easy. Tampering? No, Harry didn't even think Headmaster Dumbledore could seamlessly replace a person's memories with false ones.

"So... you think someone assassinated Pettigrew?" Sirius asked.

Madam Bones nodded. "That is what we believe."