Percy Jackson and the Hound of Hogwarts [Book 3]

54) Explanation

Black stuck one of his hands into his robes, taking out a piece of crumbled paper, smoothing it out and showing us. There, on the cover, was the photograph of Ron and his family from the last summer, and on Ron's shoulder sat Scabbers.

"How did you get this?" Lupin asked, amazed.

"Fudge," Black said. "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page... on this boy's shoulder.... I knew him at once... how many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts... to where Harry was...."

"My gods," Lupin said gently, looking from Scabbers to the picture and back again. "His front paw..."

"What bout it?" Ron said defensively.

"He's got a toe missing," I said, frowning.

"Of course," Lupin breathed. "So simple... so brilliant... he cut it off himself?"

"Just before he transformed," Black said. "When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself -- and sped down into the sewer with the other rats..."

"Did you ever hear, Ron?" I turned to look at my friend. "The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger."

"Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something! He's been in my family for ages, right --"

"Twelve years, in fact," Lupin said. "Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?"

"We -- we've been taking good care of him!"

"Not looking too good at the moment though, is he?" Lupin tilted his head. "I'd guess he's been losing weight ever since he heard Sirius was on the loose again...."

"He's been scared of that mad cat!" Ron nodded towards Crookshanks. I shook my head. Scabbers had been looking ill since before Hermione got Crookshanks.

"This cat isn't mad," Black rasped, stroking Crookshanks's fluffy head. "He's the most intelligent of his kind I've ever met. He recognized Peter for what he was right away. And when he met me, he knew I was no dog. It was a while before he trusted me.... Finally, I managed to communicate to him what I was after, and he's been helping me...."

"What do you mean?" Hermione breathed.

"He tried to bring Peter to me, but couldn't... so he stole the passwords into Gryffindor Tower for me.... As I understand it, he took them from a boy's bedside table.... But Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it...." Black said hoarsely. "This cat -- Crookshanks, did you call him? -- told me Peter had left blood on the sheets.... I supposed he bit himself.... Well, faking his own death had worked once...."

"And why did he fake his death?" Harry said fiercely. "Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"

"No," I shook my head, "Harry --"

"And now you've come to finish him off!"

"Yes, I have," Black stared maliciously at Scabbers.

"Then I should've let Snape take you!"

"Harry," I said hurriedly, "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, don't you see? Peter betrayed your mother and father -- Sirius tracked Peter down --"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Harry bellowed. "HE WAS THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! HE SAID SO. HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!" Harry was pointing at Black, who was shaking his head slowly, his deep eyes bright.

"Harry... I as good as killed them," he rasped. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me.... I'm to blame, I know it.... The night they died, I'd arranged to Check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. I set out for your parents' house straightaway. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies... I realized what Peter must've done... what I'd done...." His voice cracked at the end, and he turned away.

"Enough of this," Lupin said, his voice steely. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me that rat."

"What are you going to do with him If I give him to you?" Ron asked Lupin worriedly.

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

Ron hesitated. After a long, painful moment, he held out Scabbers. Lupin grabbed him, and the rat began to squeak loudly, thrashing wildly, his beady black eyes bulging.

"Ready, Sirius?" Lupin said.

Black was already holding Snape's wand. He walked towards Lupin, and his eyes seemed to be burning.

"Together?" Black asked quietly.

"I think so," Lupin siad, tightly holding onto Scabbers in one hand and his wand in the other. "On the count of three. One -- two -- THREE!"

My phone has been bugging tf out so sorry this was late. I pressed post, it said it had posted, but it hadn't. How dare my phone lie to me. How dare it.

So I didn't get to spend Thanksgiving with my grandparents which really sucked, but today I found out that my aunt was lying about when she got out of quarantine. I'm such confusion. Me and my friend have made little progress on our story, but progress is still progress. I've been watching America's Next Top Model with my sister. I wish Melvin had won the twentieth cycle. I also loved Jessie from the nineteenth cycle. You know, the fourth book will be the first book I've posted a chapter for without it being completed or at least close to completion (I'm not sure about this book, I can't remember). It's kind of sad. Not really. Just... frownie.

Anyway, I hope you guys have had a fantastic Saturday (Sunday, now), and I will see you on Monday!