Fear of a Name

Chapter Seventy: Pettigrew's Fate

Pettigrew burst into tears.
"Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord... you have no idea... he has weapons you can't imagine... I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. I never meant it to happen... He Who Must Not Be Named forced me—"
"Don't even try it, Wormtail," I said, going to stand next to Lupin. Pettigrew gave a jolt as though he'd forgotten I was there. "Information held by a Secret-Keeper can only be revealed by that person if they willingly choose to do so. It cannot be forced out of them in any way."

"N-no... he—"
"DON'T LIE!" bellowed Sirius suddenly. "YOU'D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!"
"He — he was taking over everywhere!" gasped Pettigrew. "Wh-what was there to be gained by refusing him?"
"What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?" said Sirius, with a terrible fury in his face. "Only innocent lives, Peter!"

"You don't understand," whined Pettigrew, but I cut him off before he could say anything else.
"I understand," I said, my voice steely. "After all, he is my father. Still, I didn't let that stop me. I've been refusing the Dark Mark since I was four, Wormtail. I've been tortured more times than I can count, and I had no choice over whether I wanted to be there or not. You did have that choice."
"He would have killed me!"
"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" roared Sirius. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"

Sirius and Lupin stood shoulder to shoulder, wands raised.
"You should have realised," said Lupin quietly. "If Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Goodbye, Peter."
I walked over to Harry, Ron and Hermione, not wanting to watch. Hermione covered her face with her hands and turned to face the wall.
"NO!" Harry yelled. He ran forward, placing himself in front Pettigrew, facing the wands. "You can't kill him," he said breathlessly. "You can't."

Sirius and Lupin both looked staggered.
"Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents," Sirius snarled. "This cringing bit of filth would have seen you die too, without turning a hair. You heard him. His own stinking skin meant more to him than your whole family."
"I know," Harry panted. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the Dementors. He can go to Azkaban... but don't kill him."
"Harry!" gasped Pettigrew, and he flung his arms around Harry's knees. "You — thank you — it's more than I deserve — thank you-"
"Get off me," Harry spat, throwing Pettigrew's hands off him in disgust. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because I don't reckon my dad would've wanted them to become killers — just for you."

No one moved or made a sound except Pettigrew, whose breath was coming in wheezes as he clutched his chest. Sirius and Lupin were looking at each other. Then, with one movement, they lowered their wands.
"You're the only person who has the right to decide, Harry," said Sirius. "But think... think what he did..."
"He can go to Azkaban," Harry repeated. "If anyone deserves that place, he does..."
Pettigrew was still wheezing behind him.
"Very well," said Lupin. "Stand aside, Harry."
Harry hesitated.
"I'm going to tie him up," said Lupin. "That's all, I swear."

Harry stepped out of the way. Thin cords shot from Lupin's wand this time, and next moment, Pettigrew was wriggling on the floor, bound and gagged.
"But if you transform, Peter," growled Sirius, his own wand pointing at Pettigrew too, "we will kill you. You agree, Harry?"
Harry looked down at the pitiful figure on the floor and nodded so that Pettigrew could see him.

"Right," said Lupin, suddenly business-like. "Ron, I can't mend bones nearly as well as Madam Pomfrey, so I think it's best if we just strap your leg up until we can get you to the hospital wing."
He hurried over to Ron, bent down, tapped Ron's leg with his wand, and muttered, "Ferula."
Bandages spun up Ron's leg, strapping it tightly to a splint. Lupin helped him to his feet; Ron put his weight gingerly on the leg and didn't wince.
"That's better," he said. "Thanks."

"What about Professor Snape?" said Hermione in a small voice, looking down at Snape's prone figure.
"There's nothing seriously wrong with him," said Lupin, bending over Snape and checking his pulse. "You were just a little — overenthusiastic. Still out cold. Er — perhaps it will be best if we don't revive him until we're safety back in the castle. We can take him like this..."

He muttered, "Mobilicorpus."
As though invisible strings were tied to Snape's wrists, neck, and knees, he was pulled into a standing position, head still lolling unpleasantly, like a grotesque puppet. He hung a few inches above the ground, his limp feet dangling. Lupin picked up the Invisibility Cloak and tucked it safely into his pocket.

"And two of us should be chained to this," said Sirius, nudging Pettigrew with his toe. "Just to make sure."
"I'll do it," said Lupin.
"And me," said Ron savagely, limping forward.
Sirius conjured heavy manacles from thin air; soon Pettigrew was upright again, left arm chained to Lupin's right, right arm to Ron's left. Ron's face was set. He seemed to have taken Scabbers' true identity as a personal insult.

"Let's go," Sirius said.
Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron led the way down the stairs, looking like entrants in a six-legged race. Next came Professor Snape, drifting creepily along, his toes hitting each stair as they descended, held up by his own wand, which was being pointed at him by Sirius. Harry, Hermione and I brought up the rear.

Getting back into the tunnel was fairly difficult. Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron had to turn sideways to manage it; Lupin still had Pettigrew covered with his wand. I could see them edging awkwardly along the tunnel in single file. Harry went right after Sirius, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of them; he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. I had the impression Sirius was making no effort to prevent this. I followed behind, grinning, and Hermione came behind me.

"You know what this means?" I heard Sirius say abruptly to Harry as we made our slow progress along the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"
"You're free," said Harry.
"Yes..." said Sirius. "But I'm also — I don't know if anyone ever told you — I'm your godfather."
"Yeah, I knew that," said Harry.

"Well... your parents appointed me your guardian," said Sirius stiffly. "If anything happened to them... I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle... but... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared... if you wanted a... a different home..."
"What — live with you?" Harry said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursleys?"

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," said Sirius quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd—"
"Are you insane?" said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Sirius'. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"
Sirius turned right around to look at him; Snape's head was scraping the ceiling, but Sirius didn't seem to care.
"You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"
"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry.
Sirius' gaunt face broke into a wide smile.

We walked in silence for a bit, then I suddenly realised there was something important I needed to ask Sirius.
Well, here goes nothing...