Nico di Angelo and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter Thirteen: Yelling, Screaming, Squeaking

If anyone knows who made the above cover please let me know! :)

"You're both mental." Ron voices what everyone was thinking.

"Ridiculous." Hermione says faintly.

"Well put you two." I try to hide the quiver in my voice from the pure exhaustion and terror that had been thrust upon me a few minutes ago.

"Peter Pettigrew's dead! He killed him twelve years ago!" Harry points to Black.

"I meant to." He growls. "But little Peter got the better of me... Not this time though!"

He lunges at Scabbers, making Ron yell in pain at the weight on his broken leg.

"Sirius, NO!" Lupin tries to drag Black back. "They've got a right to know everything! You owe Harry the truth!"

Sirius stops struggling, eyes fixed on Scabbers. "All right then. Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus."

"There were witnesses who saw Peter die," Harry protests. "A whole street full of them..."

"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" Snaps Black.

"Everyone thought Sirius had killed Peter," said Lupin. "I believed it myself. Until I saw the map tonight. Because the Marauder's Map never lies... Peter's alive. Ron's holding him, Harry."

It... Wasn't the craziest thing I had heard before. Certainly not as out there as my entire existence.

Hermione speaks in a trembling, almost calm voice. "But Professor Lupin... Scabbers can't be Pettigrew... It just can't be true, you know it can't..."

"Why can't it be true?" Putin asks calmly.

"Because... The ministry keeps tabs on all of the witches and wizards who are animangi. There have only been seven this century, and Pettigrew isn't on the register."

Lupin begins to speak, explaining to us what is basically an origin story. He starts on how he became a werewolf, so I tune him out the best I can, trying to keep what had happened before from happening again.

It wasn't the most outlandish story I'd ever heard. Being framed for murder wasn't very comparable to being stuck in a magic hotel for seventy years or being abducted by your goddess aunt and having your memories wiped.

Suddenly, Hermione screams, pulling me out of my thoughts like whiplash.

"What's happening!?" I point my wand in a random direction, when my eyes land on Snape. I point my wand towards him. "When did he get here?"

"Were you not paying attention?" Ron asks from on the bed beside me.

"No."

"Nico. Really mate?"

Snape sounds smug as he tells us his he knew we were here, Lupin not taking his potion and seeing the Map.

"You fool," says Lupin softly. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back in Azkaban?"

BANG! Thin, snake like cords burst from Snape's wand, binding Lupin and making him unable to speak. Black stalks forward, only to be stopped by Snape's wand.

"Give me a reason to do it and I swear I will."

Hermione argues, which gradually leads into a shouting match between Harry and Snape.

"Petrificus Totalus!" I shout, casting the spell.

At the same time, three other viucds yell "Expelliarmus!"

Our combined spells cause Snape to shoot back against the wall, knocking him out.

"You shouldn't have done that. You should have left him to me." Says Black, looking to Harry.

"Were you wanting to be killed?" I ask. "Because that can certainly be arranged." I keep my wand aimed at him.

"Now you listen to me-!" Black is interrupted by Lupin strugging against his bonds. He bent down and quickly untied him. After several minutes of the pair trying to get the rat, and explaining how Sirius knew it was him, Harry got upset once more when told how the supposed 'Peter' had once more faked his death.

"And why did he fake his death? Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents! And now you've come to finish him off!"

"Yes, I have." Black casts a look at Scabbers.

"THEN I SHOULD HAVE LET SNAPE TAKE YOU!"

"Harry, don't you see? All this time we've thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down. But it was the other way around. Peter betrayed your mother and father. Sirius tracked Peter down."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Harry yells. "HE WAS THEIR SECRET KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNEX UP, HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!"

"STOP YELLING."

Everyone falls silent for a moment, looking to me. Harry is breathing heavily from his screaming.

"Everyone stop yelling or I swear I will jinx someone."

Black lets out his story, of how he transferred his duty as secret-keeper to Peter, how he'd arrived to their house to find them dead, house destroyed.

"Enough of this." Lupin buts in. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me the rat."

"What are you going to do to him if I give him to you?"

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

Ron hesitates for a moment, before holding out Scabbers. The rat begins to scream and squeak.

On the count of three, Remus and Sirius cast a spell. A flash of blue-white light, and Scabbers is frozen in mid air, twisting madly. Ron lets out a horrified yell. I had to admit it is grotesque. The rat falls, hitting the floor. Quickly, he enlarged, losing fur and growing larger limbs. Moments later, a man was where the rat once was.

"Well hello Peter." Lupin greets pleasantly. "Long time no see."

They weren't lying.

Help I'm dead

Love,
Sammy