Percy Jackson and the Hound of Hogwarts [Book 3]

57) Harry's Decision

"You wouldn't... you won't..." Peter gasped. He scrambled over to Ron. "Ron... haven't I been a good friend... a good pet? You won't let them kill me, Ron, will you... you're on my side, aren't you?"

Ron was staring at Pettigrew with pure disgust, "I let you sleep in my bed!"

"Kind boy... kind master..." Pettigrew crawled towards Ron, "you won't let them do it.... I was your rat.... I was a good pet...."

"If you made a better rat than a human, it's not much to boast about, Peter," Black said roughly. Pettigrew turned on his knees, and seized the hem of Hermione's robes.

"Sweet girl... clever girl... you -- you won't let them.... Help me...." Hermione pulled away, backing against the wall, looking mortifed.

Pettigrew turned to me, and I immediately said, "Fuck off."

Pettigrew slowly turned his trembling gaze towards Harry, "Harry... Harry... you look just like your father... just like him...."

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY?" Black thundered. "HOW DARE YOU FACE HIM? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT OF HIM?"

"Harry," Pettigrew whispered, shuffling towards him with his hands stretched out. "Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed.... James would have understood, Harry... he would have shown me mercy...."

Black and Lupin both strode forward, grabbed Pettigrew's shoulders, and threw him back onto the floor. He sat, staring up at them with terror.

"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort," Black said, shaking. "Do you deny it?"

Pettigrew burst into tears, "Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord... you have no idea... he has weapons you can't imagine.... I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. I never meant it to happen.... He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me --"

"DON'T LIE!" Black roared. "YOU'D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!"

"He -- he was taking over everywhere!" Pettigrew wailed. "W-what was there to be gained by refusing him?"

"What was there to be gained bu fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?" Black said, fury darkening his face. "Only innocent lives, Peter!"

"You don't understand!" He gasped. "He would have killed me, Sirius!"

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" Black bellowed. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS! AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"

Black and Lupin stood shoulder to shoulder, wand arms raised.

"You should have realized," Lupin said lowly, "if Voldemort didn't kill you Peter, we would. Goodbye, Peter."

Hermione covered her face with her hands, and I felt myself stiffening.

"NO!" Harry yelled suddenly, running forward and standing in front of Pettigrew. "You can't kill him. You can't."

"Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents," Black scowled. "This cringing bit of filth would have seen you die too, without turning a hair. You heard him. His own stinking skin meant more to him than your whole family."

"I know," Harry breathed. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the dementors.... He can go to Azkaban... but don't kill him."

"Harry!" Pettigrew cried, wrapping his arms around Harry's knees. "You — thank you — it's more than I deserve — thank you —"

"Get off me," Harry snarled, throwing Peter's hands off of him. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because I don't reckon my dad would've wanted his best friends to become killers — just for you."

No one moved. The only sound anyone made was Pettigrew's loud, wheezing breath. Black and Lupin stared at each other. Then they lowered their wands.

"You're the only person who has the right to decide, Harry," Black said. "But think... think what he did...."

"He can go to Azkaban," Harry repeated. "If anyone deserves that place, he does...."

"Very well," Lupin said. "Stand aside, Harry."

Harry didn't move.

"I'm going to tie him up," Lupin said. "That's all, I swear." Harry stepped out of the way. Ropes shot out of Lupin's wand much like they did with Snape's, and wrapped themselves around Peter.

"But if you transform, Peter," Black warned, "we will kill you. You agree, Harry?"

Harry nodded so that Pettigrew could see, too.

"Right," Lupin said, businesslike. "Percy, Ron, I can't mend bones nearly as well as Madam Pomfrey, so I think it's best if we just strap your limbs up until we can get you to the hospital wing." I blinked, staring down at my numb arm. It was definitely bent a little awkwardly.

Lupin walked over to Ron, rapped his leg with his wand, and mumbled, "Ferula." Bandages spun around my friend's leg, strapping it into a splint. He kneeled down and did the same to me. He then helped Ron to his feet, while Harry pulled me up.

"That's better," Ron said. "Thanks."

I stared at my arm for a moment, then glanced up at Snape. Dumbledore was going to be pissed.

Ahahahhajdjahkw. Me and my sister are house sitting for my grandparents while my grandpa is getting surgery. I'm not sure I've mentioned how many times they've gotten surgery, but it's horrible. This time my grandpa is getting catheter stuff. Ew. They were supposed to come back today, but they're coming back tomorrow, so we'll be spending another night there. We found a hole in the ceiling in their kitchen, and started talking to the homeless man that lives in the attic. Later when we were going to bed, we heard a bunch of sounds. We think it was just the dog. We got pizza, and that was good. We also had some old hot chocolate. It's fine, the internet said we're only going to have diarrhea. Ohhh I figured out my phone stuff and I am back! I exist again. I have Wattpad on my phone and nothing is exploding this time! Um. I've written like six chapters for the fourth book. I think I'm on chapter 68, and Percy just finished the first task. It's gonna be a long ride. We got my Xbox from home, and now we're gonna play there, because we were kinda bored. Tomorrow my sister has a basketball game, and I guess we're gonna see that. Um. We've started on Norse mythology stuff, I think I already said that, but it's cool. It's really cool. Did you know Thor lost a fight with a cat? Like just a cat. Sorta. He also couldn't beat a grandma. It was funny. Also, you'll notice this later in the fourth book, but at some point I decided I wanted to come up with the weirdest chapter titles I could. They have slowly gotten weirder. One of them is 'How Much Wood Could a Woodchuck Chuck if a Woodchuck was Hermione.' I'm being serious.

Anyway, I hope you guys have had a fabulous Friday, and I will see you on Sunday! Love ya!