FicWad

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Traitor Unmasked

Black held up a wand, pointed at Harry, Hermione, and Ginny.

"Expelliarmus," said Black quietly as the wands flew out of the hands of Harry, Ginny, and Hermione and into it. "I do apologize about that, but I can't have you delaying my revenge."

"Well, here I am, Black," said Harry angrily his patience having reached an end. "Revenge away Death Eater, it is not like every other subordinate of that delusional half blood Voldemort has not taken a shot at me recently. Come on do it, kill me."

Ginny and Hermione both look horrified at their friend's bold statement but Harry was not going to back down, not this time. Black stunned him last time they met due to moment of indecision.

"Harry, you are not what I’m after," said Black in a calm voice. "It's a complicated story but..."

Scabbers managed to slip away from Crookshanks in the disturbance and shoot underneath the bed, squeaking madly.

"C’mon, Peter, come out and face the music," said Black wickedly. "Thirteen Years overdue but I will finally do the murder I was put in Azkaban for. Tonight, it will happen, mark my words. For every bit of torment I suffered, I will make you suffer ten times as much."

Black blasted bits of furniture out of the way, as Scabbers squeaked madly underneath the bed. Ginny and Harry exchanged incredulous looks, each wondering if Black has lost his mind, thinking it was the fault of Scabbers, who he was calling Peter for some odd reason, that he got put in Azkaban.

Harry reached into his robes, pulling out his double-edged sword. Black continued to stalk Scabbers as the rat hid underneath the bed, looking rather fearful.

"Accio, rat," said Black, as Scabbers flew into his hand but Harry dived at Black, knocking him to the ground before pulling his wand out of Black's hand. Harry stuck the wand at Black's throat as well as the double-edged sword about four inches away from his ribs. In the confusion, Scabbers dived back underneath the mattress, squeaking madly.

"So, I find the person who sold out my parents to Voldemort," said Harry in a sadistic voice. "The person who damned me to an existence on Number Four Privet Drive for four and a half painstaking years of my life. True, I blame Dumbledore for this most of all, but it is you that I blame, for giving away my parents location."

"Harry, I as good as killed Lily and James," said Black in a desperate tone of voice. "Please, listen, if you know the whole story and..."

Sirius looked up at Harry, he had a dangerous glare in his eyes and Sirius shivered. One wrong move and Sirius was confident that he might pay the price for his rashness. It was obvious right away he inherited James's looks with the exception of his eyes but he had also inherited Lily's temper in addition to her eyes.

"I could care less about whatever well rehearsed rhetoric you came up with," said Harry in a voice that seemed behind all reason. "The fact is my parents are dead, Voldemort killed them, and Sirius Black, it is all your fault. Snape told me how..."

"Snape!" yelled Sirius in an incredulous voice, wondering what the greasy piece of slime could have done to his godson. "What does Snape have to do with you, Harry?"

"Snape is my head of house, as in the Slytherin House," said Harry, as Sirius winced, the unfortunate reminder. "He is the one teacher who I am in closest contact with. He teaches Potions and...WHY IN THE HELL I AM ATTEMPTING TO JUSTIFY THIS FACT TO A MURDERER!"

Ginny and Hermione shivered at the sound of their friend's voice. Harry had been set off big time tonight.

"Snape teaching at Hogwarts, Dumbledore has finally lost his mind," said Sirius. "That Death Eater should have rotted in Azkaban a long time ago, right in the middle of Voldemort's Inner Circle, he should have..."

The door of the Shrieking Shack creaked open interrupting Black's ranting and Harry spun around, seeing Professor Lupin entering the shack, his wand raised.

"Expelliarmus," yelled Lupin, causing Harry's hand to fly out of his hand and into his. In shock, Harry dropped his double-edged sword.

Lupin walked over to Black and Harry wondered what was going to happen. He could not understand how this day could get any worse.

"So he's here, is he not, Sirius?" asked Remus, who had a confused look on his face. He would not have believed it had he not saw Peter's name on the map and the map never lied. "I suspect you switched, without telling anyone, especially me, rather ingenious but I have proof of it."

"Yes, he's here, Remus," said Black in a quiet voice. "We did switch, on Dumbledore's suggestion although I am not too sure how wise taking the old coot's advice was having thirteen years to reflect on it in Azkaban."

"Now, Sirius, I’m sure Dumbledore had the best in mind when he..." said Lupin but Black cut him off.

"Sure, and he also had the best intentions in mind when he allowed me to go Azkaban without a trial," said Sirius in a sarcastic voice.

"Dumbledore let me attend Hogwarts despite my condition," said Lupin in an apparent attempt to reason with Black.

"I am sure he had an ulterior motive in mind, Remus," said Black as if he was discussing the weather. "But we can argue this point after we kill the rat."

Black pointed his wand wickedly underneath the bed, blasting jets of light at Scabbers, who continued to squeak frantically.

"Sirius, cool it," said Remus in an exasperated tone of voice. "You owe Harry the truth, before you become a murderous lunatic."

Harry saw his chance; he reached out, grabbing both his and Lupin's wands before leaping up and grabbing Ginny and Hermione's wands off the bed, tossing them to his two friends. Lupin made a move towards Harry but Harry raised his wand.

"Back off, Professor," said Harry. "Talking civilly to the murderer, seems as if you were in on this as well."

"No, Harry, I have not been helping Sirius in any way, you have got to listen to reason," said Lupin. "Just give us a few minutes to tell you the truth, the whole story."

Sirius pulled himself up and Harry had a dangerous look in his eye that made Sirius shudder.

"Fine, you two have exactly two minutes to convince me that you are not out for my head," said Harry, his wand still held steady towards Sirius.

"Come on, Remus, tell him, I waited thirteen years, I am not going to wait much longer," said Black, his wand still pointed underneath the bed.

"Okay, Sirius, I only know how the story begins," said Lupin. "Years ago, I was bitten by a werewolf. This unfortunate condition left me unable to have a normal life, as the Wizarding World is not tolerate to my kind, as you can tell with the Anti Werewolf Legislation that Fudge has been trying to pass recently."

Harry nodded, he had figured this much out earlier in the year and Hermione did not look all too surprised that Lupin was a werewolf either but Ginny widened her eyes in horror but did not say anything. She knew Lupin was only dangerous one time a month but still it was unsettling to know that the Defense Against the Dark Teacher was something that the general public considered a Dark Creature.

"If Dumbledore did not allow me to attend Hogwarts, I sadly believe I would not have gotten an education in the Wizarding World," said Lupin. "Dumbledore told me that my condition should not get in the way of getting an education, if we took the proper precautions. The Whomping Willow was planted shortly before I came to Hogwarts, in fact I was the very reason it was planted, to keep unintended visitors out."

Harry remained silent, motioning Lupin to continue but keeping one eye on Black, whose focus was underneath the bed, staring at Scabbers.

"I went to Hogwarts and made three great friends," said Lupin fondly, remembering the days where everything just seemed simpler. "Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter. Despite my explanations to the contrary, they managed to deduce my condition and they did something that made my transformations a little more bearable."

"What do you mean by more bearable?" asked Ginny.

"Well, there is a potion that Professor Snape makes for me..." began Lupin.

"You drink something that Snape made!" cried Black incredulously. "Snape, the Death Eater, the person who was one of Voldemort's most trusted servants, and someone who is simply not to be trusted at all..."

Lupin held his hand up to cut Sirius off.

"Sirius, you can rant about Snape later," said Lupin in a calm voice although it definitely held an edge of warning. "Anyway, Snape made me the Wolfsbane Potion, a potion which allows me to keep my mind during transformation, but before the invention of this potion, the transformations were more painful and violent, especially in my early years. However, Peter, Sirius, and James decided to do something that was a great help to me in my transformations. They became Animagi."

Harry nodded, remembering McGonagall going over it in class this year and how he had begun the process of becoming an Animagus for stealth purposes.

"Unregistered I presume," said Harry calmer than earlier. "So what were the forms?"

"Well, Sirius here was a dog, who we nicknamed Padfoot," said Lupin. "James was a stag, who we dubbed Prongs and Peter was a rat, named Wormtail."

Harry looked at the rat underneath the bed, he was beginning to see the light, putting together everything he had discovered this year. Black broke into the Gryffindor house, not to go after Harry, a Slytherin, but to go after the rat. He could have killed Harry when he had the chance, but he didn't and finally he wondered if Scabbers faking his own death was an attempt to escape another attempt of Black capturing him. Harry still wasn't completely convinced, so he motioned for Lupin to continue.

"And due to my condition, I was named Moony," said Lupin. "Together we were the Marauders."

"Wait, did you say the Marauders?" asked Ginny in excitement before turning to Harry. "Harry, the map, the book."

Harry nodded, it appeared as if like his father and his friends were one in the same with the same people who wrote Simple Potions For Everyday Pranking and made the Marauder's Map.

"So that's how you knew what the map was," said Harry, relaxing his wand slightly.

"Indeed Harry, I had wondered how you acquired it, but the Marauder's Map did prove to be an invaluable tool tonight," said Lupin. "I was looking over it tonight, I thought you would go over to Hagrid's and visit due to his Hippogriff being executed. Turns out, I was correct, as you, Ginny, and Hermione left shortly before. However, to my surprise, another guest joined you during your trip back. To my surprise, the dot on the map was labeled Peter Pettigrew."

"And the map doesn’t lie," added Black. "So Harry, now do you believe us."

Before Harry could answer, a sound brought him out of his thoughts.

"So, Potter, the so called leader of the light, meeting up with a murderer and a half breed," drawled the voice of Draco Malfoy, who had just walked into the room.

"Malfoy," hissed Harry.

"Yes, it is interesting how I should find you here Potter and you here too Black," said Malfoy. "Rest assure Black, I know of your innocence as I overheard a conversation with my father and Professor Snape just about a month before Hogwarts. It seems to me Potter, that Snape was trying to plant lies in your head to make you mistrust Black."

"Your point is Malfoy," said Harry, wondering how the little ferret had found them.

"Professor Snape is a loyal servant of The Dark Lord," said Malfoy before raising his wand. "Expelliarmus!"

The wands of Ginny, Hermione, Harry, Lupin, and Black had flown out of their hands. Of all the things Harry had expected, getting bested by Malfoy tonight was not one of them. The element of surprise worked in the favor of Draco tonight.

"So, I bet you are all wondering how I figured out all of you were here," said Malfoy before going on. "It's quite simple really. Professor Snape, who was feeling a bit under the weather tonight, decided to entrust me to take a Potion to our loathsome half-breed over here."

"Watch what you're saying Malfoy," hissed Hermione angrily.

"No, Mudblood, I'm the one with the wand and you have nothing you have use to stop me," said Malfoy. "Before I was rudely interrupted by inferior breeding..."

"Wow, Malfoy, I didn't know you made a practice of talking to yourself," said Harry.

"Potter, I don't think you understand the situation here," said Malfoy.

Harry decided not to say anything else, he would let Malfoy tell his little story, when he should have been attempting to get assistance. The Boy Who Lived deduced this would give him time to formulate the plan.

"Once again, I had found a map on the werewolf's desk," said Malfoy. "It appeared to lead towards the Whomping Willow. See, my father, being good friends with the Minister of Magic, knows the one way to get past that monstrosity and passed the secret to his dear son. So I followed the tunnel down here, managing to overhear your story. My father should be rather pleased, as his son would capture one of the famous prisoners of Azkaban. Also, Potter, ruining your name will be the added bonus to today's great victory. So, come quietly, Black, Lupin, and Potter. Perhaps I can persuade the Dementors to give all three of you a little kiss."

"There is just one little flaw in that plan, Draco," said Harry.

"And what is that, Potter?" challenged Malfoy.

Harry kicked Malfoy in the chest with both feet and causing him to fly into the boarded windows in the Shrieking Shack. A sickening smack echoed throughout the shack and Malfoy lied motionless, knocked out from the blow.

"I don't need a wand to beat you," replied Harry, simply before picking up the five wands. "Now that all the unimportant stuff is out of the way, proceed with the story."

"Sirius, I believe the story of the Secret Keeper is yours," said Lupin.

"This is how it went down," said Sirius. "Some crackpot fortuneteller apparently made a prophecy about Voldemort's downfall. It says something about a boy being born as the seventh month dies, by a couple that apparently defied the Dark Lord three times. The day of this proclamation is in late seventy-nine, early eighty. Remus is of course well aware of my opinion of Divination."

"Yes, I believe you said the only reason some Prophecies come true is because some paranoid crackpot hears them and gets all jumpy, allowing them to inadvertently come true," said Remus.

"Exactly Remus, but this Prophecy turned out to apply to two people," said Sirius. "Dumbledore would not say who the second one was, but the first person was Harry. Unfortunately, Voldemort got wind of this, due to one of his Death Eaters overhearing a part of the Prophecy. Interesting enough, Dumbledore seemed rather keen to keep the person who leaked the information a secret, so I wonder what Dumbledore could have gained from this. So, Dumbledore decided to put Lily, James, and Harry under the Fidelius Charm."

"How did my parents feel about Dumbledore making this decision?" asked Harry.

"Lily felt really uneasy about Dumbledore's plan but James somehow talked her into it," said Sirius. "James blindly followed Dumbledore, a little too much for his own health, and I admit there was a time I did too. Of course, we did not know that Dumbledore's advice was go to lead to the eventual downfall of our friendship."

Sirius took a deep breath as Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Remus were all listening to every word single word he was saying.

"I was set to be the Secret Keeper all up until a few days before Voldemort attacked your parents," said Sirius, looking rather uncomfortable. "My mind is really fuzzy, but I seem to remember being all for being the Secret Keeper at the beginning of the meeting with Dumbledore, James, and Lily but at the end, something made me change my mind to Peter. Also, I vaguely remember Dumbledore implying that there was a spy, passing information to Voldemort and I was somehow lead to believe it was Remus."

"I would never betray you guys," said Remus in horror.

"I know that now, but it seemed as if some outside force was tampering with my thoughts," said Sirius. "The switch was made and a few days later, Voldemort killed both James and Lily. He apparently tried to kill you Harry but something happened. All I know is you survived and that is all that mattered to me then or at any other time. I arrived, seeing Hagrid dig you out of the wreckage, a cut shaped like a lightning bolt on your head. Hagrid refused to let me have you, Dumbledore's orders. Now Hagrid is a good man, but he is another person who follows Dumbledore's word too much for his own good."

"That's the night I was sent to the Dursleys, and condemned to four and a half years of hell," said Harry in a low tone of voice.

"Yes that's...wait I thought you were still at the Dursleys," said Sirius.

"Yes, I did as well, as there seemed to be no evidence to the contrary, unless you count that Quibbler article about you being raised by four giant turtles and a giant rat, who was mutated by some kind of substance to humanoid forms," said Remus. "I sometimes read that magazine when I'm bored but that was one of the more insane articles they have ever done."

"Actually, that is one hundred percent true," said Harry in a calm, cool voice as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"What?" asked Sirius in a tone of disbelief. "Four Giant...A giant...mutated...how did this...how could...how did you get to the Dursleys from..."

"Do explain this, Harry?" asked Remus in an even voice.

Harry explained the origin story of the Turtles and Master Splinter. Lupin just raised his eyebrows at several points in the story but Black looked in awe.

"And that's how they became who they were," said Harry.

"Very interesting Harry," said Lupin. "Strange how that ooze effected the growth but I suppose it could be possible. I wonder if it had magical origins."

"Harry, this is a bit, well you have lived an interesting life," said Black. "It will take me some adjusting to get used to you having a giant talking rat as your father figure recently due to obvious perils to the traitor on the floor."

"Speaking of the traitor, he's trying to making a break for it," said Ginny frantically, pointing at Scabbers, who had attempted to slip out the door. Harry expertly rolled into action stepped on the rat's tail, causing him to squeak in anguish.

"Going somewhere, Peter?" asked Sirius before picking up the rat, who was squealing like mad.

"So, Padfoot, should we allow him to show himself?" asked Remus.

"Yes, I believe so Moony, my old friend," said Sirius, who raised his wand along with Remus, waving it in the air, engulfing Scabbers in light. The rat was illuminated a bright blue color before springing up into a short, pudgy looking man, who looked rather terrified at the sight of the two angry men in front of him.

"S-Sirius, R-Remus, my old friends," said Peter, looking rather frantic.

"Hello, Peter, I see you have decided to join us tonight," said Remus. "We had a lovely little conversation, about the time leading to when you became the traitor. Anything you would like to input."

"Surely, you can’t believe Sirius over me," said Peter. "I was your friend, he tried to kill me, he blasted an entire street full of Muggles in an attempt to get me. I am innocent, I swear you have to believe me."

"You blasted rat, it was you who blasted the entire street with that Shockwave curse!" said Sirius angrily. "If I did not have the presence of mind to Apparate out of the way for a few seconds, you would have gotten me as well. You and your screaming about Lily and James, like I was some common traitor."

"You were the traitor, Sirius," repeated Peter. "I mean, I could not work with You-Know-Who, the mere mention of him sends me into terror. You on the other hand would be perfect. Look at your family tree, Black for all the signs pointing at you going dark. Your cousin is Bellatrix Lestrange. Another cousin of yours is Narcissa Malfoy and we know she married Lucius, who just had to be square in the middle of the Dark Lord's inner circle."

"Peter, only Death Eaters or Ex-Death Eaters refer to Voldemort as the Dark Lord," said Sirius, wand pointed at Pettigrew's head. "I won't fall for the innocent cowardly act this time, Peter. Last time it got me sent to Azkaban for thirteen years."

"Remus, you can’t believe this lunacy," begged Peter, attempting to turn get Lupin's sympathy. "Surely, Black would have informed you had they switched Secret Keepers."

"There had been reason to believe I was the spy, so I can see why he wouldn't although I don't personally agree with it," remarked Lupin evenly.

"Harry, you believe me don't you," said Peter, attempting to turn to James and Lily's only son for a desperate last ditch attempt. "I would never do anything to hurt James, you look so much like him. Lily either, you have her eyes, you did not know..."

Unexpectedly Harry wrapped his hand around Peter's throat and pinning him against the wall.

"How dare you?" hissed Harry. "How dare you, talk about them? I see what has happened, I would be a fool not to, Wormtail. Hiding as a rat for thirteen bloody years is not the actions of an innocent man. Give me one reason why I should not kill you."

"I heard the story of your family Harry when I was taking refuge underneath the bed, the closest thing you have as a father figure currently is a rat," said Peter desperately. "Surely you could find some sympathy due to us being alike..."

Due to Splinter's current state, Peter had said the wrong thing to Harry. His hand smacked Peter in the jaw so hard Harry was sure he dislocated Peter's jaw. The rat fell down, blood dripping from his jaw. Harry winced in pain, his hand probably broken due to him hitting Peter a little too hard.

"Traitorous cockroach!" yelled Harry, picking his double-edged sword off the ground, as Peter looked fearful. Remus and Sirius stood back; it appeared Harry was going to do what they planned to do.

"Harry, perhaps you should not do this," said Remus as Sirius nodded grimly, realizing how rash his own plan to kill Peter was.

"He deprived me of my parents, therefore if anyone’s going to kill him, it’s going to be me!," thundered Harry, raising his double edged sword in the air, right at Peter's throat preparing to deliver the killing blow.

"Harry, please don't do this!" pleaded Ginny. "You’re better than him, you’re..."

"He gives a bad name to all honorable rats by his mere existence," said Harry, beyond all reason as Peter attempted to move but Harry grabbed him, elbowing him in the head, causing the rat fall back, wincing in pain. "Therefore, I am doing the world a great service by exterminating this pest."

Harry raised his double-edged sword as Ginny looked at Hermione desperately but Hermione seemed to not have an answer.

Peter looked up at Harry as Harry twirled his double-edged sword over his head and prepared to bring it down into Wormtail's skull but it stopped an inch away from the rodent's head as Harry slowly pulled back.

"No, I was taught better than that, Pettigrew," said Harry. "As much as I want you dead, you are the key to clearing Sirius's name and undoing a great miscarriage of justice. So you will remain alive only enough for me to hand your worthless carcass over to the Dementors."

Peter looked at Harry gratefully, but Harry waved his wand, causing a pair of shackles to bind Peter to him magically.

"Peter, if you try and do anything stupid like transform or attempt to remove the shackles by yourself in anyway, you will be killed instantly," said Harry in a calm, emotionless tone of voice.

The rat nodded fearfully as Harry turned to Ginny, Sirius, Remus, and Hermione.

"We better get out of here," said Harry before turning to Lupin. "Professor, since tonight is a full moon and you have not taken your potion yet, it would be best if you would stay here so your transformation does not cause any trouble as we transport this trash from the Whomping Willow back to Hogwarts."

"Right Harry, I agree on this night, me following you back to the school would pose a problem," said Harry.

"What about Malfoy?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah, what about him?" agreed Ginny. "As much as I want to see him undergo some horrific demise, we can't leave him here, it would raise too many awkward questions and cause way too many problems."

"You're right," said Harry, as he had nearly forgotten about his rival in the Slytherin house.

"We can take him like this," said Sirius, pointing his wand at Draco. "Mobilcorpus."

Malfoy floated up in the air, as if suspended by some invisible wires as Sirius started out of the tunnel. Hermione attempted to pull herself up but she collapsed, her leg still killing her. Ginny and Harry walked over to their friend, with Harry dragging the dead weight of Peter Pettigrew shackled to him. They helped Hermione up, supporting her before joining Sirius and the floating Malfoy out of the tunnel.

They reached the outside as Sirius summoned a stick towards him, pressing the knot on the trunk, deactivating the Whomping Willow. Harry dragged a squirming Pettigrew out of the tunnel, who seemed to want to give Harry as much as a fight as he was allowed without trying to break the shackles. Ginny and Harry then hoisted Hermione up out of the tunnel.

"Well, we need to just get Wormtail to Hogwarts and then I’ll be a free man," said Sirius. "I don't know if you were told this, but your parents named me your godfather. I understand about you wanting to stay with your family but once my name is cleared, I will probably be moving out of Britain, due to escaping all the press. I believe I can afford some property in New York so I can live close to you."

"Really, that would be nice, Sirius," said Harry. " We'll talk about that later. So, let's get up to the school before something else goes wrong tonight."

"Too late for that ickle baby Potter," cooed a malicious voice.

Harry looked up and saw Bellatrix Lestrange standing in front of him, her wand pointed at them.

"Oh it's you, Bellatrix," said Sirius in a bored tone of voice. "I know your mind is unhinged but you are at a bit of a disadvantage right now. There are more of us than there are of you."

"I know that dear cousin, that’s why I brought some friends to even the odds when I kill you all tonight," said Bellatrix, looking positively sadistic with her wand raised in the air. “Now, it is time to call my friends into action, as this is something I have worked hard on for several months. I want to see my handiwork tonight.”

Bellatrix waved her wand and off in the distance a group about two dozen figures walked into the picture. All of them appeared to have black hair and green eyes, with lightning bolt scars burnt into their foreheads, but their skin appeared to be extremely pale and in some cases, not there at all as if someone had taken it.

"She didn't," said Sirius in a horrified voice, looking at Bellatrix's companions.

"What are those things?" asked Ginny anxiously.

"They are Inferi," said Sirius in a simple tone of voice. "Bellatrix seems to have raided a cemetery and animated a bunch of corpses to do her bidding."

"Wrong again, I have gone on a little killing spree, to have enough followers to destroy you slowly and painfully," said Bellatrix before motioning for the Inferi to surround Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Sirius, and Peter. Bellatrix's eyes brightened as she spotted Pettigrew. "Ah, Peter, so glad you have joined us as well. I have a bone to pick with you, due to you leading my beloved master to his demise that night."

The Inferi and Bellatrix began to circle their prey, stalking them as Harry, Ginny, Sirius, and Hermione pulled out their wands, ready for a fight.

"Now let's play," said Bellatrix wickedly as she waved her wand, sending the Inferi straight into the attack.