Frozen

Peter Pettigrew

We entered the tunnel and the next thing we knew, we were on the shrieking shack. We found Ron on a bed, his leg injured and he looked really frightened. 

"The dog- where is it?" Harry asked.

"Harry! It's a trap! He's the dog. He's an Animagus!" Ron exclaimed, pointing behind us. We turned around and saw Sirius black standing before us.   

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us, too!" I said.

"No. Only one will die tonight." Si-Black hissed. 

"Then it'll be you!" Harry exclaimed pointing his wand at him.

"Ha, Ha! Ha, ha, ha! Are you going to kill me, Harry?" Black said.

Suddenly, my dad appeared and shot a spell, disarming Harry.

"Professor Lupin!" "Dad!" We exclaimed. What's going on?

  

"Well, well, Sirius, looking a bit ragged, aren't we? Finally the flesh reflects the madness within." Dad said to Sirius.

"Well, you'd know all about the madness within, wouldn't you, Remus?" Black said. To our surprise, they hugged. My jaw-dropped and I stood there, watching my father embrace a criminal. 

"I found him!" Black said.

"I know." My father said.

"It’s him!"

"I understand."

"Let’s kill him!"

"No! I trusted you! And all this time you've been his friend! He's a werewolf! That's why he's been missing classes! And judging from Louisa's expression, she doesn't know her father's a friend of a criminal!" 

"How long have you known?" He asked, completely ignoring her last statement.

"Since Professor Snape set the essay."

"Well, well, well, Hermione, you really are the brightest witch of your age I've ever met."

"Enough talk, Remus! Come on, let’s kill him!" Black cut in.

"Wait--" Dad tried to protest but Black was persistent, "I did my waiting! Twelve years of it! In Azkaban!"

"Very well. Kill him! But wait one more minute. Harry and Louisa has the right to know why." Dad said.

"What? Y-you're letting him kill Harry? Are you mad?" I demanded.

"Don't worry, Louisa. I think I know why. You betrayed my-no-our parents! You’re the reason they’re dead."

"Our? What are you talking about, Harry?" Hermione asked but nobody answered her.

"No, Harry, Louisa, it wasn’t him. Somebody did betray your parents, but it was somebody who, until quite recently, I believed to be dead."

"Who was it then?" I asked. 

"Peter Pettigrew!" Black answered. "And he’s in this room! Right now! Come out, come out, Peter. Come out, come out and play..."  

"Expelliarmus! Ah, vengeance is sweet. How I hoped I'd be the one to catch you." Snape shouted when he entered unnoticed.

"Severus-" Dad tried to say but got cut off by Snape, "I told Dumbledore you were helping your old friend into the castle. And now, here's the proof."

"Brilliant, Snape! Once again you’ve put your keen and penetrating mind to the task and, as usual, come to the wrong conclusion. Now, if you’ll excuse us, Remus and I have some unfinished business to attend to."

"Give me a reason. I beg you!" Snape exclaimed.

"Severus, don't be a fool!" Dad hissed.

"He can't help it. It's habit by now." Black said

"Sirius, be quiet!"

"Be quiet, yourself, Remus!"

"Listen to you two. Quarreling like an old married couple." Snape seethed.

"Why don’t you just run along and play with your chemistry set?"

"I could do it, you know. But why deny the dementors? They’re so longing to see you. Do I detect a flicker of fear? Oh, yes. A dementor’s kiss. One can only imagine what that must be like to endure. It's said to be nearly unbearable to witness, but I'll do my best." Snape warned.

"Severus, please-" "After you."

"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted. Snape flew to the bed on the other side of the room and laid unconscious. Poor Snape, although he did deserve it.

"Harry. What did you just do?" Ron asked, shocked.

"You attacked a teacher!" Hermione exclaimed.

Harry ignored them and turned to Black amd my Father, "Tell me about Peter Pettigrew."

"He was at school with us. We thought he was our friend." Dad said.

"No. Pettigrew's dead. He killed him!" Harry exclaimed.

"No he didn’t! I thought so, too, until you mentioned seeing Pettigrew on the Map! "

"The Map was lying then-"

"The Map never lies! Pettigrew's alive, and he's right there!" Black cut in, pointing at Scabbers.

"M- me? He’s mental!" Ron stuttered.

"Not you, y-. Your rat!" Black shouted.

"Scabbers has been in my family for ye-"

"Twelve years. A curiously long life for a common garden rat. He's missing a toe, isn't he?"

"So what?" Ron questioned.

"All they could find of Pettigrew was his-" Harry realized, when Sirius cut him off,  "-finger! The dirty coward cut it off so everyone would think he was dead. And then he transformed into a rat."

"Show me. Give it to him, Ron." Harry demanded. 

"What are you going to do to him?" Ron asked as Scabbers got out of his hold. We tried to shoot him with spells to reveal his true self but he was too fast.

"Scabbers! Leave him alone! Get off him! What are you doing? Scabbers!" Ron kept shouting.

"Shut up, Ron." I yelled. A spell was finally shot at him as he tried to enter a small hole but when he grew, Dad immediately grabbed him and placed Pettigrew between him and Black.

"Aaaah! R- Remus... S- Sirius...  My old friends! H- Harry! Look at you! Y- you look just like your father. Like James. We were the best of friends, he and I-" Pettigrew said but Black cut him off, "How dare you speak to Harry! How dare you talk about James in front of him!"

"You sold James and Lily to Voldemort, didn’t you?!" Dad demanded.

"I didn't mean to! The Dark Lord, you have no idea the weapons he possesses! Ask yourself, Sirius, what you would have done? What would you have done?" Pettigrew questioned.

"I would have died! I would have died rather than betray my friends!" Black replied.

"Harry, Louisa, James wouldn’t have wanted me killed! Your dad- Your dad would have spared me! He would have shown me mercy!" Pettigrew stuttered.

"H-how did you k-know I'm related to them? I was kept a secret!" I exclaimed.

"Ignore him, Louisa. He's a spy and always will be and you should have realized, Peter, that if Voldemort didn’t kill you, then we would. Together!" Dad said.

"No!" Harry protested.

"Harry, this man is..." Dad tried to say but Harry cut him off, "I know what he is. But we'll take him to the castle."

"Bless you, boy! Bless you-" Pettigrew said as he grabbed Harry's leg.

"Get off!" Harry demanded, kicking him off.

"He said we'd take you to the castle. After that, the dementors can have you." I said.