Chapter 147 Sirius Black!
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Harry saw red, immediately pulling out his wand and firing a spell at Sirius Black. Harry didn’t know what spell he cast, he just casted something, anything, to do the man harm. In reparation for everything he’d done to him. Done to his family. Done to the dozen muggles who’d lost their lives in the explosion.
Harry’s outburst didn’t last long however, as soon as the spell shot forward from his wand, Harry, as well as the other students in the room were disarmed by Remus Lupin, and Harry was struck immobile by the Petrificus Totalis spell.
"Calm down for a moment! I’ll explain everything. I must know something first." Lupin said, before looking over to Sirius. "If you’re wrong about this, I’ll be helping him you know."
"I’m aware, I’d let you." Sirius said, looking at the children for a moment, before casting his eyes to the red-headed boy who had been unceremoniously dropped on a bed in the corner of the rundown shack. "It should be in his robe pocket, near his chest. The stunner should have knocked them both out cold."
Professor Lupin opened the front of Ron’s robes, and pulled out a particularly fat rat.
"Scabbers?" Neville asked, looking very confused. "You’re working with a criminal for... the Weasley pet rat?"
"Figura Originis" Professor Lupin incanted, before a blue wave of light shot forward from his wand towards Scabbers. What followed was truly unexpected. Scabbers’ limbs began to elongate, as his teeth and ears began to retract into his head. His stomach became even more plump as his size began to double, then triple, than go even further. Within a few moments, Scabbers the rat was not present, instead there was a somewhat disgusting middle-aged man.
"That’s him alright. It seems you were right Sirius." Lupin said, looking over to him.
"The map had never lied before, no reason to think it would now." Sirius said, looking down at him.
"I’m sorry for doubting you." Lupin said, looking down in seeming shame.
"I would have doubted me too. Everything was going wrong back then, and I didn’t exactly make it easy for myself by seeking out revenge immediately before making sure everything else was okay. Harry could have died from pneumonia that night for all the good I did him because I was too focused to make sure he was safe." Sirius said.
"What on earth is going on? Professor Lupin who is this man? Why did you kidnap Ron? Why is Sirius Black here?" Hermione asked, her eyes whipping back and forth between everything in the room.
"This, Ms. Granger, is Peter Pettigrew, presumed dead man. Once upon a time he was a dear friend. For the past 12 years or so, he has unknowingly been responsible for the murder of two of my closest friends, and I didn’t even know he was alive." Lupin said, as he conjured ropes to bind the unconscious rat man.
"What? The Potters? But Voldemort killed them, because Sirius Black betrayed them... somehow." Hermione said, her mind obviously racing trying to keep pace of everything. Harry wanted to scream, but the body bind he had been placed in was very thorough. Only Neville holding him up kept him from falling to the floor.
"What happened that night has been... under debate until now. I’ll give you my side of the story, and then we’ll wake up Pettigrew and allow you to hear his. I understand this is a lot to take in, but I know the four of you are very smart kids, Lupin here told me as much. Harry, I know you’re angry, but I promise that I’m not here to hurt you. I would NEVER hurt you." Sirius said, as he took in a deep breath.
"Halloween night of 1981, I heard that James and Lily had been attacked by Voldemort. That should have been impossible. They were under a ward called the Fidelius. Studious kids like you should know what that is, but I’ll give you a refresher. The Fidelius charm can be cast on a place to make it seem to not exist, except for people who ’know the secret’ of the place. Generally, when you cast the spell, you designate someone outside of the home who you trust to know the secret, so that way the secret is safe. Anyone who knew James and I would immediately think I was their secret keeper, and I was going to be. But James and I knew that everyone would think that, so we made a switch. Choose someone who is less obvious, and let everyone still assume it was me who held the secret. That would keep the secret as safe as could be, because I couldn’t divulge the secret even if I wanted to, not that I ever would. James, Lily, and Harry’s lives each meant far more to me than my own. So when it came time to choose the secret keeper, we chose it to be Peter, and hid that from everyone who wasn’t myself, Lily, and James. That way everyone would simply assume I was the secret keeper. Peter was the last person of the friend group that would be expected. He was the weakest of us, and the most cowardly. We figured he’d stay nice and far away from all the fighting, and we’d have everything wrapped up long before the war made it his way. At some point though... this... rat bastard, went to Voldemort and sold out the Potters, probably to save his own hide. When I heard they were attacked... I knew that Peter had sold them out, so after confirming that they had been slain, I rushed to find Peter. I found him and we dueled on the street, and he exploded a gas line, killing those muggles and making it seem like he just died in the explosion. I was wracked with grief, so after they found me... I just let them take me away." Sirius exposited.