A decision in the dark.
The shack was tense, the air thick with the weight of unspoken words. Sirius and Lupin stood over Scabbers, now revealed as the treacherous Peter Pettigrew, his tiny rat body trembling beneath them. They were ready. The decision to end it all had been made long ago, but now, with Harry in the room, it had become a shared burden.
Sirius’s eyes flicked to Harry. "You’ve seen it all," he said, his voice low but filled with an uncharacteristic uncertainty. "This is your choice now, Harry. We need to stop him, but... what happens next is up to you."
Lupin, standing beside Sirius, added, "We’ve hunted him for years. We want justice for your parents... but if you want him dead, you only have to say."
Harry stood in the center of the room, the weight of their gazes pressing down on him. His hand gripped the handle of his wand, but his fingers felt cold. The idea of killing was not foreign to him. But the thought of letting Pettigrew live, of allowing him to escape yet again, twisted something inside Harry. The creature before him—no longer Scabbers, but the rat that had betrayed everything—was a symbol of the past, of death, of lies. It was almost too easy to just end it.
But Harry didn’t trust that ease. He’d learned long ago not to let decisions like this be made lightly.
He took a step forward, his eyes locked onto the rat that once had been Ron’s pet. His heart was a stone in his chest as he considered his options. In that moment, he made a choice. A twisted, cold choice, but a choice nonetheless.
Harry drew his wand and spoke the words that made the room feel heavier. "I won’t kill him."
Sirius and Lupin exchanged looks, confusion flashing in their eyes. They weren’t sure what to expect from Harry, but this wasn’t it.
"Harry," Lupin said softly, his voice filled was gentle. "Are you sure this is what you want? I know that it is your decision. But it is a heavy one. And you will have to bear it."
"I know," Harry said, his voice cold and detached. "But killing him wouldn’t change anything." His gaze swept over Scabbers. "He’s already dead in all the ways that matter."
With that, Harry took a step back, eyes fixed on the rat. He didn’t speak any words, didn’t need to. His magic was already coursing through his veins, and with a fluid motion, he raised his wand and sliced it across the air.
The room seemed to freeze. The spell was sharp, clean, and merciless. In one quick motion, Harry severed one of Scabbers’s legs. The small, rat-sized scream that followed felt deafening in the silence.
The shock in the room was palpable. Sirius and Lupin stared at Harry, stunned and unsure how to respond. Ron’s face was twisted in horror as he realized what had just happened.
"What—what did you do?" Ron stammered, his eyes wide.
"I made sure he wouldn’t get far," Harry replied, his voice unfeeling. "A rat like him doesn’t deserve a quick death. He can suffer—just like he made others suffer."
Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but Harry’s words cut him off.
"He won’t make it far in the wild like this," Harry said coldly, his eyes now watching as Scabbers, or Peter Pettigrew, crawled desperately with only three legs.
It was a grotesque sight—the former rat now limping away in panic, its life as fragile as a paper-thin veil. The rat’s form was growing smaller and smaller in the distance, its pathetic escape echoing through the cold, silent room.
Sirius stepped forward, still unable to fully process Harry’s actions. "Harry..." He trailed off, unsure of what to say. He didn’t know what this decision meant, only that it was different—far different from anything they had expected.
Lupin was equally silent, his eyes narrowed, and for the first time, he wasn’t sure what to make of the boy in front of him. "That was... an interesting choice."
Harry didn’t look back at them, his gaze fixed firmly on the door where the rat had just slipped out into the night. "He’s not dead yet," Harry said, his voice almost bored. "And he doesn’t deserve to be."
There was a long pause before Sirius spoke again, his voice quieter now, but with a new layer of respect. "You did what you thought was right, Harry. And maybe we should all too."