Just like Brothers

Chapter 40

Sirius Black raised his wand and took a step towards Peter Pettigrew.

Lupin however, didn't allow him to attack. He grabbed Black by the wrist, and shot him a warning look. Sirius backed down, grumbling.

"Well, hello there Peter, long time no see," Lupin greeted the man as an old friend. "We've been having a little chat about what really happened the night James and Lily died. You may have missed some of the finer points when you were squeaking down on the bed."
    
"Remus, oh Remus, my dear old friend," Peter gasped, "you do believe me don't you? He tried to kill me Remus!"
   
"So I've heard," Lupin smiled coldly, "I'd like to clear up one or two small matters with you Peter, if you'll be so kind."
   
"He's mad Remus! He's here to kill me, he's going to try and kill me again." He pointed at Black with his middle finger. "He killed Lily and James and now he wants to finish me off! You have to help me Remus!"
     
"Don't you dare say their names you lying rat!" Black growled pointing his wand at Pettigrew's forehead. Pettigrew squeaked, grabbed Harry and pulled the younger boy infront of him to use as a shield.
    
Black yelled in outrage as Harry stood between himself and Pettigrew.
    
"How dare you," he hissed, his voice sharp like a knife. "How dare you touch him after what you did."
     
Lupin held out his arm to hold Sirius back. With a flick of his wand Pettigrew went flying into the wall.
    
"Nobody's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out," Lupin told the rat-like man.
    
"Sorted things out?" Pettigrew repeated, getting up and scurrying away from the wall. He made a break for the door but Hermione stepped infront of him, her wand raised.
    
"I'd knew he'd come after me! I'd knew he'd be back for me! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!" Pettigrew squealed.  
  
"You'd known Sirius would escape Azkaban?" Lupin observed, his brow furrowed, "when nobody had successfully achieved 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'm sure He Who Must Not Be Named taught him a few tricks!"
     
The room was filled with Blacks manic laughter,    "Voldemort teach me tricks?"
     
Pettigrew flinched upon hearing Voldemort's name.
    
"What's wrong, Pete? Scared to heard your old master's name?" Black taunted. "I don't blame you. His lot aren't too happy with you these days."
     
"I—I don't know what you're talking about, Sirius." Muttered Pettigrew. He shook uncontrollably and his breathing was shallow and fast.
  
"You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years," Black commented. "You've been hiding from your fellow Death Eaters. They're not so happy with you Peter. I've heard them talk from my cell all these years. They believe you planned Voldemort's downfall. If they ever got wind you were alive Peter..."
      
Peter Pettigrew twitched manically, he looked to Remus Lupin with pleading eyes. "You don't believe any of this? Do you Remus? He's mad!"
     
Lupin studied the man before in taking a gasp of air. "Tell me Peter, if you're as innocent as you claim, why've you spent the last twelve years as a rat?" 
       
"Innocent!" Pettigrew cried, "innocent, yes! But I was scared, I thought Death Eaters would come after me because I put their best man in jail."
     
Sirius Black then lost all restraint he had. It took Lupin holding him by the arms to prevent him from finally killing Peter Pettigrew but he didn't refrain from shouting.

However, Harry wasn't paying attention to Sirius's words, he was must too distracted by Pettigrew's eyes flickering to the exits, the color of his face, and the layer of sweat on his forehead.
     
"Er— Mr. Black, Sirius?"    Harry's gaze dropped from Peter to look at Hermione. Sirius Black had stopped yelling and was now slouched against the wall. He nodded for her to continue.
     
"If you don't mind me asking, if you didn't use dark magic, how did you manage to escape Azkaban?"
    
"Thank you!" Pettigrew shrieked shrilly, nodding at Hermione, "precisely my point!"
     
Hermione ignored him and studied the man against the wall. Sirius Black was frowning at her question, not in an annoyed way, no, he seemed to be pondering the thought. As if he didn't really know what he did.
      
"I don't know how I did it," he started after a minute, confirming Hermione's observation. "I think the only reason I didn't lose my mind was because I knew I was innocent. It wasn't a happy thought, so I didn't lose it to the Dementors but it kept me sane and reminded me who I was. Because of that I was able to keep my powers, take on my Animagus form in my cell. As a dog my emotions were much less complex, I was able to go undetected by the dementors." He swallowed, "but I was weak, very weak, I had no motivation to escape my cell until I saw Peter here on the front page of that paper. I read that he was going to be at Hogwarts and realized that being here put him in the perfect position to act if he heard word that the Dark Side was gathering strength again..." Pettigrew was fiercefully shaking his head but was ignored as the rest of the room were listening intently to Sirius's story. "....ready to strike the moment he could be certain of his allies. To deliver the last Potter to them. If he gave them Harry, he would be welcomed back with open arms and placed in a position of honor. So you see, I had to do something, I was the only one that knew Peter was still alive."
     
A distant memory poked in the back of Harry's mind. He distinctly remembered Mr. Weasley telling Mrs. Weasley, 'the guards say he's been talking in his sleep, always the same words, He's at Hogwarts'.
     
"It sparked a fire within me, a burning obsession. One night when the guards opened my cell to bring food, I slipped past them as a dog. You see, dementors are blind so it was much harder for them to sense me as an animal. I was very thin, thin enough to slip past the bars, I swam all the way to the mainland, I journeyed north and slipped onto the Hogwarts grounds. I've been living in the woods ever since, except when I come out to watch Quidditch, of course." He turned and gave Harry a small smile, "you fly as well as your father did, Harry."
     
Harry's eyes locked on Black's hollow ones, he refused to look away and held the gaze, studying him.
    
"Believe me," croaked Black, "believe me, I never betrayed Lily and James. I would've died before betraying them...before betraying you."
     
And at last, Harry believed him. He couldn't find words so he just nodded at the man.
   
"No!" Pettigrew shook, he had fallen to his knees as if Harry's nod was his death sentence. His hands were clasped as he pleaded, "Sirius...please! It's me...your friend...you wouldn't."
      
Black looked down with utter disgust on his features. He swung his leg forward and Peter recoiled.
     
"There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them," spat Black.
     
"Remus!" Peter squealed, turning to face the professor, "you don't believe this! They would've told you they'd changed the plan!"
      
"Not if he thought I was the spy, Peter," Remus smiled, "I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?" He asked casually over Peter's head.
     
"Forgive me, Remus?" Sirius grimaced.
     
"Not at all, my dear old friend," Remus nodded, rolling up his sleeves, "it seems we were both wrong in our suspicions. Will you forgive me for believing you were the spy?"
     
"Of course," a smirk flickered on Sirius's gaunt face, "shall we kill him together then?"
   
"Yes, I believe so," said Lupin grimly.
    
"You wouldn't... you wouldn't!" Peter gaped, scrambling over to the injured ginger. "Ron, I've been a good friend haven't I? A good pet? You won't let them kill me... will you Ron? You're on my side aren't you?"
     
But Ron was staring at Pettigrew with the upmost repulsion.
    
"I let you sleep in my bed!" He gagged.
   
"Kind boy, kind master!" Pettigrew crawled forward and gripped Ron's injured leg. "You won't let them do it, I was a good rat, a good pet."
    
Ron, loosing color by the second, groaned in pain. With a snarl, he wrenched his broken leg out of Pettigrew's hold.
   
Peter Pettigrew turned, staggered forward and grasped the hem of Hermione's robes.
   
"Sweet girl, clever girl...don't let them...please...help me!"
    
Hermione tore her robes away and backed up to the wall, horrified.
    
Peter knelt, trembling uncontrollably, and turned his head slowly towards Harry.
   
"Harry...Harry...you look just like your father...just like him."
    
"Stupefy!"