Fear of a Name

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Sorting Things Out

"Sort things out?" squealed Pettigrew, 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?" said Lupin, 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!"
Sirius began to laugh, a horrible, mirthless laugh that filled the whole room.
"Voldemort, teach me tricks?"
Pettigrew flinched as though Sirius had brandished a whip at him. I also flinched, but it was barely noticeable.

"What, scared to hear your master's name?" said Sirius. "I don't blame you, Peter. His lot aren't very happy with you, are they?"
This was quite true. The main reason Pettigrew had lived as Scabbers for so long rather than serving my father properly was that he was scared of the other Death Eaters. None of them except my mother knew that it had been Pettigrew who basically brought my father back, but they all knew that it was his fault he'd "died" in the first place.
"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 Sirius. "You've been hiding from Voldemort's supporters. I heard things in Azkaban, Peter... they all think you're dead, otherwise you'd have to answer to them... I've heard them screaming all sorts of things in their sleep. Sounds like they thought 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 plenty still out there, who are either pretending they've seen the error of their ways, or who have blackmailed just the right people to seal their safety... if they ever got wind you were still alive, Peter—"

"Don't know... what you're talking about..." said Pettigrew again, more shrilly than ever. He wiped his face on his sleeve, and looked up at Lupin. "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. "If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it's because I put one of their best men in Azkaban — the spy, Sirius Black!"

Sirius' face contorted.
"How dare you," he growled, suddenly sounding like the bear-sized dog his animagus form was. "I, a spy for Voldemort? When did I ever sneak around people who were stronger and more powerful than myself? But you, Peter — I'll never understand why I didn't see you were the spy from the start. You always used to like big friends who'd look after you, didn't you? It used to be us... me and Remus... and James..."

Pettigrew wiped his face again; he was almost panting for breath.
"Me, a spy... must be out of your mind... never... don't know how you can say such a—"
"Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it," Sirius hissed, so venomously that Pettigrew took a step backwards. "I thought it was the perfect plan... a bluff... Voldemort was sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you... it must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling him you could hand him the Potters."

Pettigrew was muttering distractedly; I caught words like "far-fetched" and "lunacy", and I rolled my eyes. At a time like this, he was making dog and werewolf puns.
"Professor Lupin?" said Hermione timidly. "Can — can I say something?"
"Certainly, Hermione," said Lupin courteously.
"Well — Scabbers — I mean, this — this man — he's been sleeping in Harry's dormitory for three years. If he's working for You Know Who, how come he never tried to hurt Harry before now?"
"There!" said Pettigrew shrilly, pointing at Hermione with his maimed hand. "Thank you! You see, Remus? I never hurt a hair of Harry's head! Why should I?"

"I'll tell you why," said Sirius. "Because you never did anything for anyone unless you could see what was in it for you. Although Voldemort's alive, he's only got a fraction of the power he had before. More than half his Death Eaters are in Azkaban, others have come to our side. The creatures he was in allegiance with before have deserted him, and he hasn't yet been able to convince them to join him again. The Ministry has put strict punishment in place for those who have supposedly repented, but who turn out to still be faithful to Voldemort, but he's not powerful enough to infiltrate the Ministry yet, so there's not much he can do about it. You weren't about to commit murder right under Albus Dumbledore's nose, for a wizard who had lost almost all of his power, were you? You'd want to be quite sure he was the biggest bully in the playground before you went back to him, wouldn't you? Why else did you find a wizard family to take you in? Keeping an ear out for news, weren't you, Peter? Just in case your old protector regained strength, and it was safe to rejoin him..."

Pettigrew opened his mouth and closed it several times. He seemed to have lost the ability to talk.
"Er — Mr Black — Sirius?" said Hermione timidly.
Sirius jumped at being addressed like this and stared at Hermione as though being spoken to politely by a stranger was something he'd long forgotten.
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get out of Azkaban, if you didn't use Dark magic?"
"Thank you!" gasped Pettigrew, nodding frantically at her. "Exactly! Precisely what I—"
But Lupin silenced him with a look. We all looked expectantly at Sirius, waiting to hear what he had to say.