Catch me if you Can

The Reveal

Hermione screamed. Dad leapt to his feet. I felt cold sweat drip down my back, as I tried hard not to breath heavily, as it hurt my already broken ribs. 

"Give me one good reason not to hurt her"Snape growled at dad. 

"Severus.. that's a student. You wouldn't dare"Uncle Lupin said, livid. 

"She just finished her last exam. All that's left is her diploma, so she's barely a student in my eyes anymore. And she's the daughter or a mass murderer"

"Why her? Take me instead"Dad said, taking a step forward, but Snape tightened his grip on me, and poked the wand even deeper against my temple. I wanted to cry, but stood strong.

"You of all people should know Black"Snape breathed, "Vengeance is very sweet, and to get back to you, it wouldn't be to hurt you, but hurt the person you love the most" My eyes met Harry's, who look resoluted. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he gave me a very short nod. I knew he had a plan.

"NOW!"Harry yelled. I stomped hard on Snape's foot, making him let go of me temporarily as he winced in pain.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry, Hermione, and Ron yelled. There was a blast that made the door rattle on its hinges; Snape was lifted off his feet and slammed into the wall, then slid down it to the floor, a trickle of blood oozing from under his hair. He had been knocked out.

"You shouldn't have done that," said Dad, looking at Harry. "You should have left him to me..." 

"We attacked a teacher... We attacked a teacher..." Hermione whimpered. "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble —" 

"Oh, calm down Hermione"I said, kicking Snape's wand even further away from him. I then went to hug dad, something I haven't done in a long time.

"You scared me there for a minute kiddo"dad said, scruffing my hair.

"It's time we offered you some proof," said uncle Lupin to the trio, as I backed away from dad, to see what was happening. "You, Ron — give me Peter, please. Now." 

 "Come off it," Ron said weakly. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean...Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat — there are millions of rats — how's he supposed to know which one he is after if he was locked up in Azkaban?"

 "You know, Sirius, that's a fair question," said uncle Lupin, turning to dad and frowning slightly. "How did you find out where he was?" Dad took out a crumpled piece of paper, which he smoothed flat and held out to show the others. It was the photograph of Ron and his family that had appeared in the Daily Prophet the previous summer, and there, on Ron's shoulder, was Scabbers.

 "How did you get this?" uncle Lupin asked dad, thunderstruck.

 "Fudge," said dad. "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 and Max was..."

 "My God," said uncle Lupin softly "His front paw..." 

"What about it?" said Ron defiantly.

 "He's got a toe missing," said dad. 

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

"Just before he transformed," I answered. "Dad cornered him, and he made this huge explosion happen, where he cut off his finger, and killed a bunch of muggles. He almost killed me too"