Bloody Hell...Oh
WHEN LUPIN CAME RUNNING DOWN AND THROUGH THE DOOR, LOOKING FROM ALL OF THEM WITH A FACE OF SERIOUSNESS Freya felt the first sense of relief since the Black had first grabbed her leg and dragged her down into this awfully dusty place. Now they'd be saved, and her leg would stop hurting soon and Will would stop looking so frightened and Crookshanks would get off stupid Black and Black would go to jail and Harry...
Freya blinked slowly as she turned dazed eyes towards her friends, expecting to see shared relief but what she saw instead made her slowing heart race just a bit faster again. Harry was staring at Sirius Black and back to his wand with a horribly conflicted expression, but the feeling that showed the most on his features was-
Why do you look so frustrated, Harry?
Then Lupin spoke, in a very tense voice. “Where is he, Sirius?”
Harry looked quickly at Lupin. He, like Freya and Will, obviously didn’t understand what Lupin meant. Who was Lupin talking about?
He turned to look at Black again. Black’s face was quite expressionless. For a few seconds, he didn’t move at all. Then, very slowly, he raised his empty hand and pointed straight at Freya.
Mystified, Harry glanced around at Freya, who shook her head, bewildered.
"My...head hurts...but..." Freya felt horribly confused, "But I'm pretty sure I'm not a he."
She thought amusement flickered in Blacks eyes and gritted her teeth. Nothing should have been funny in this situation. Freya looked at Lupin for help but now Lupin was off, his face in thinking mode.
“But then . . . ,” Lupin muttered, staring at Black so intently it seemed he was trying to read his mind, “. . . why hasn’t he shown himself before now? Unless” — Lupin’s eyes suddenly widened, as though he was seeing something beyond Black, something none of the rest could see, “— unless he was the one . . . unless you switched . . . without telling me?”
Very slowly, his sunken gaze never leaving Lupin’s face, Black nodded.
“Professor,” Harry interrupted loudly, “what’s going on — ?”
But he never finished the question, because what he saw made his voice die in his throat. Lupin was lowering his wand, gazing fixedly at Black. The Professor walked to Black’s side, seized his hand, pulled him to his feet so that Crookshanks fell to the floor, and embraced Black like a brother.
Harry looked as though the bottom had dropped out of his stomach and Freya felt as though she really were about to throw up at that moment.
"I...I don't...I don't believe it."
Lupin let go of Black and turned to Will. He had himself off the floor and was looking at Lupin, his features twisted in the pained expression he had when he missed an answer to a question that he should have known. “You — you —”
“Will—”
“ — you and him!”
“Will, calm down —”
“I didn’t tell anyone!” Will spat, his hands clenching into fists. “I’ve been covering up for you —”
Freya was so so very confused. She couldn't remember a time now when she wasn't. And her leg hurt still. She wished they would rush things. She wished she had the slightest clue on what to do.
But that was what Freya Weasley was in the trio, wasn't it? The useless one. The clueless one. The jokester and the joke.
She repressed the sudden urge to giggle at the thought, though she didn't know why it felt funny.
“I trusted you,” now Harry was shouting at Lupin, his voice wavering out of control, “and all the time you’ve been his friend!”
“You’re wrong,” said Lupin. “I haven’t been Sirius’s friend, but I am now — Let me explain. . . .”
“NO!” Will screamed. “Harry, don’t trust him, he’s been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too! He's — he’s a werewolf!”
What?
Freya blinked out of her stupor of thoughts to lift her head up so she, like everyone else in the room now, could turn her eyes towards the pale standing Remus Lupin.
She sighed softly, feeling once again, rather stupid compared to Will Granger.
It was becoming a repetitive emotion, really.
* * *
THERE WAS A RINGING SILENCE. Everyone’s eyes were now on Lupin, who looked remarkably calm, though rather pale.
“Not at all up to your usual standard, Will,” he said. “Only one out of three, I’m afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don’t want Harry dead.” An odd shiver passed over his face. “But I won’t deny that I am a werewolf."
Freya made a effort to get up but fell back down with a hiss of pain. Lupin made toward her, looking concerned, but Freya gasped, “Get away from me."
Lupin stopped dead and frowned, the middle of his forehead creasing. "Freya-"
"I would even say it's fine that you're a werewolf, considering its you but..." Freya's jaw clenched as she stared at him with an expression of hatred that Harry had only seen her use with the likes of Malfoy, "To offer your hand to Black of all people?"
Lupin sighed, his features softening slightly as he even looked a bit calmer. "Freya, I offer my hand to him for a good reason and-" he paused as Freya's face flinched in pain having moved slightly and he tensed with a nod. "We must hurry this up in order to get you help."
Lupin turned to Will who flinched away only slightly. "Now, how long have you known?"
*SKIPPING AHEAD AFTER THEY ATTACKED SNAPE (FREYAS POV)*
They'd attacked a teacher.
And not even the teacher that they thought was working with the murderer.
Freya would have found something horribly wrong with this picture if it hadn't been Snape that they'd just shot down.
There was something right, almost satisfying about having shot down the worst teacher that Hogwarts had surely ever had...
Unless, of course, you count the crazy psychopathic murderer that was probably in front of her...
Why didn't they shoot Lu-
"Freya?"
Freya blinked out of her stupor and looked in bewilderment at the others who were staring at her in concern, though Black had a bit of amusement on his face. "What?"
"You've been talking out loud, you know?" said Black gruffly, running a hand down his face as if to get that stupidly crazed grin off of it.
"Sirius." Lupin was struggling against his bonds. Black bent down quickly and untied him.
Lupin straightened up, rubbing his arms where the ropes had cut into them.
“Thank you, Harry,” he said. Harry winced at the words as he looked to Will who was still looking stricken about the Snape situation and then at Freya who shrugged helplessly. It seemed like all she'd been doing throughout this whole thing. Shrugging, getting captured, being an idiot...
Helplessly.
“I’m still not saying I believe you,” Harry told Lupin than.
“Then it’s time we offered you some proof,” said Lupin. “You, Freya — give me Peter, please. Now."
The audacity.
Freya clutched Scabbers closer to her chest, wincing as she'd moved her leg again slightly.
"Come off it, you crazy pair of madmen." She said weakly, "Get a grip, seriously. Are you trying to say that Black broke out of Azkaban after thirteen years to get his hands on my lazy rat? I mean..." she laughed in disbelief, looking at Harry and Will for support. "Okay, say Pettigrew could and did turn into a rat. There are a million rats. How's he supposed to know which one Pettigrew is all the way from Azkaban?"
“You know, Sirius, that’s a fair question,” said Lupin, turning to Black and frowning slightly. “How did you find out where he was?”
Black put one of his claw-like hands inside his robes and took out a crumpled piece of paper, which he smoothed flat and held out to show the others. It was the photograph of Freya and her family that had appeared in the Daily Prophet the previous summer, and there, on Freya's shoulder, was Scabbers.
“How did you get this?” Lupin asked Black, thunderstruck.
“Fudge,” said Black. “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 was…”
“My God,” said Lupin softly, staring from Scabbers to the picture in the paper and back again. “His front paw…”
Freya wanted to stomp her foot in exasperation, but knowing she'd most likely pass out during the attempt, she decided compromised with a huff of annoyance. "And what about it?"
“He’s got a toe missing,” said Black.
“Of course,” Lupin breathed. “So simple… so brilliant… he cut it off himself?”
“Just before he transformed,” said Black. “When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I’d betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself — and sped down into the sewer with the other rats…”
“Didn’t you ever hear, Freya?” said Lupin. “The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger.”
"Sure, okay, that's true-whatever." Freya clenched her jaw as she held on to the still struggling Scabbers. "But Scabbers just got into a fight with other rats, I'm sure! I-I mean-" she stared around, "I mean, he's my rat."
"He's been your rat for twelve years, in fact." Lupin frowned sympathetically, "Ever wondered why he lived that long?"
"We've been taking good care of him!"
"He doesn't look so good now, does he?" Lupin looked to Scabbers with a dark expression, "Guess he hasn't been feeling well since he heard about Sirius's escape, huh?"
"He's been scared of that stupid cat!"
"But-" Freya blinked before she looked to Harry who looked regretful for opening his mouth. Still, he carried on, "… Scabbers had been looking ill before he met Crookshanks… ever since your family return from Egypt… since the time when Black had escaped."
Blacks' eyes brightened as he nodded vigorously. "Yes, and that cat is anything but stupid!" He reached out a bony hand and stroked Crookshanks’s fluffy head. “He’s the most intelligent of his kind I’ve ever met. He recognized Peter for what he was right away. And when he met me, he knew I was no dog. It was a while before he trusted me… Finally, I managed to communicate to him what I was after, and he’s been helping me…”
“What do you mean?” breathed Will.
“He tried to bring Peter to me, but couldn’t… so he stole the passwords into Gryffindor Tower for me… As I understand it, he took them from a boy’s bedside table…”
Freya hated this. She hated that it was starting too...to make sense. It was absurd… and yet…
“But Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it.” croaked Black. “This cat — Crookshanks, did you call him? — told me Peter had left blood on the sheets… I supposed he bit himself… Well, faking his own death had worked once.”
These words seemed to have jolted Harry to his senses as he straightened, angry again.
“And why did he fake his death?” he said furiously. “Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!”
“No,” said Lupin, “Harry—”
“And now you’ve come to finish him off!”
“Yes, I have,” said Black, with an evil look at Scabbers.
“Then I should’ve let Snape take you!” Harry shouted.
“Harry,” said Lupin hurriedly, “don’t you see? All this time we’ve thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down — but it was the other way around, don’t you see? Peter betrayed your mother and father — Sirius tracked Peter down —”
“THAT’S NOT TRUE!” Harry yelled. “HE WAS THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNED UP. HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!”
He was pointing at Black, who shook his head slowly; the sunken eyes were suddenly over bright.
Bright with tears. Tears of regret.
Freya clenched her jaw, looking down. She didn't want to see that sort of convincing expression on Black's face.
“Harry… I as good as killed them,” he croaked. “I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me… I’m to blame, I know it… The night they died, I’d arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he’d gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn’t feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents’ house straight away. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies… I realized what Peter must’ve done… what I’d done…"
His voice broke. He turned away.
“Enough of this,” said Lupin, and there was a steely note in his voice his students had never heard before. “There’s one certain way to prove what really happened. Freya, give me that rat.”
“What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?” Freya asked Lupin tensely.
“Force him to show himself,” said Lupin. “If he really is a rat, it won’t hurt him.”
Freya hesitated for a moment then looked at her rat as it struggled in her hands. Struggled and moved to run away in her hands when the rat hadn't done as much as walk around its cage in all its years. All to get away from the two men in front of her...as if it knew...
And feeling resigned, she held out her rat to Lupin.
Hoping it wasn't, but knowing it might just be...
Goodbye.