Not Alone After All

Chapter XXVII

"What?" Ron asked. "What does Scabbers have to do with any of this?"

"Everything," Lupin told him. "Can I see him?"

Ron hesitated, but pulled out the rat from his pocket. The little animal appeared fighting, as if it didn't want to see Remus. Ron had to catch him by the tail for him not to run away.

"What is it? What does he have to do with this?"

"That's not a rat," Sirius Black spoke up after a few minutes of only listening.

"Yes, it's a rat."

"No," Lupin said, his voice low. "He's a sorcerer."

"An Animagus," Laura realised out loud. Sirius nodded.

"His name is Peter Pettigrew."

Everyone stood in silence as they tried to absorb the information that had just been revealed to them.

"You're all crazy, all three of you," he said, pointing at Lupin, Sirius and Laura.

"That's ridiculous," Hermione agreed.

"Peter Pettigrew is dead! He's the one who killed him twelve years ago!" Harry exclaimed, pointing at Sirius, who seemed to be having a nerve attack of some sort. He was trembling, shaking, and he couldn't stand still.

"It was my intention, yes," Sirius told them through gritted teeth. "But he managed to get to me first. Tonight, though, he won't." Sirius launched himself from one side of the bed to the other, reaching for the rat, but he ended up falling on Ron's broken leg. The ginger boy let out a pained scream.

"Sirius, no!" Remus yelled, pulling him back and away from the boy. "Wait! You can't just do it like that. They have to understand... We've got to explain..."

"We can explain later!" Sirius yelled out, trying to get out of Remus's grip.

"They have the right to know!" Remus tried to reason with his old friend. "He's Ron's pet. And Harry... you owe Harry the truth, Sirius! You owe both of them the truth!"

Sirius stopped struggling, his eyes still fixated on Scabbers who was being immobilised by Ron's bitten, bloody hands.

"Fine," he agreed. "But do it quickly. I want to finally commit the murder I was sent to jail for..."

"You are all mad. Completely bonkers," Ron exclaimed. "I'm done, I'm going," he said, trying to stand up. Except this time, what stopped him wasn't the pain, nor the two obviously crazy people in the room. This time, he froze when Laura pointed her wand towards Ron. More specifically, towards the rat in his hands.

"Sit down. Shut up. And Listen," Laura said, her voice low, calm, cold, terrifying. Even the rat itself started struggling for a short second in fear of the young witch.

"Hold Peter tight while I explain everything, Ron," Lupin spoke.

"His name is Scabbers!" Ron practically screamed. He tried to put the rat back in his pocket, but the little thing wouldn't let him. Ron lost his balance, and Harry was quick on his feet to help his best friend onto the bed once again.

"Witnesses saw Pettigrew dying. The street was full of people," Harry argued, staring into Remus' eyes.

"They obviously saw wrong!" Sirius said in a harsh tone, his eyes never leaving the rat, still struggling in Ron's hands.

"Everyone believed Sirius had killed Peter, even I did so," Lupin said, his head handing low in shame of believing his best friend was a murderer. "Until Laura showed me the Map."