The Marauders' Reunion
“What? But he’s dead!” exclaimed Hari. “The map was wrong.”
“Until the other night when you showed me the map, I believed that to be the truth as well,” said Remus calmly, still trying to get Hari to make eye contact again. Hari looked over at the door instead. He could have sworn he heard a creaking noise. “When I was looking at your map this evening, I saw you four leaving with Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. And that map never lies. I merely put two and two together.”
He looked to his friends for help. Ron caught his eye and nodded. “So you’re telling me that my pet is a dead guy? Maybe the map was wrong. How do we know you aren’t just stalling until you can kill us? You’ve got all our wands.”
“No, I haven’t,” said Remus, reaching into his pocket and tossing each of them their own wands. Ron gaped, speechless. “And now you’re all armed, four against two.” He smiled, tilting his head. “As for your first question, there is a way to prove it, as a matter of fact, but I believe you will need a bit more context before we reveal him.”
Draco scoffed, arms crossed over his chest. “You’re just stalling!” he snapped. “Professor, surely you could prove that rat is Peter Pettigrew before you give us this ‘context’ you speak of. I can assure you, if a dead man suddenly appears in the middle of the room, we’ll bloody well listen to what you’ve got to say for yourselves.” There was a strange, muffled noise near the door which only Hari and Draco seemed to notice, eyes darting in that direction.
Remus took in the intense stare and the confident, defiant posture of the young teenager and sighed, resigned. “Very well,” he said, rolling up his sleeves. He reached out his free hand towards Ron and said, “If I may see your rat?”
“Ron, just give it to him,” said Draco, gritting his teeth.
“Wait! Don’t,” said Hermione, raising a hand in the air. “If you’re claiming that a rat is an Animagus for Peter Pettigrew, how come he wasn’t on the Registry? Every Animagus has to register with their markings and whatnot. We learned all about it in Transfiguration class. I found Professor McGonagall’s.”
“Exactly! See?” Ron exclaimed, throwing his arm out towards Hermione, eyebrows disappearing into his fringe.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Sirius grumbled under his breath. Remus shot a glare his way and he dropped his shoulders, scowling. “Did you happen to see me on there?” he asked.
Hermione blinked. “I—no.”
“Precisely,” said Sirius. “That’s because we never registered with the Ministry. We did it illegally back in our Hogwarts years.”
“As you knew already, I am a werewolf,” said Remus. “As such, many people did not want a person like me at their school, but Professor Dumbledore insisted. He made many arrangements for me, including having this very shack built for my use so that every month, I could come here and be away from the other students.” Remus sighed, glancing back at Sirius. “Of course, my friends all noticed my monthly disappearances and after I told them the truth, instead of casting me away like I expected, they embarked on becoming Animagi as animals are safe from werewolves. After fifth year, when they were successful, they would keep me company, which helped me immensely during full moons.
“Sirius, of course, was one of them, but so was Peter Pettigrew and—” Remus turned to Hari “—your father, Hari. All three of them were capable of assisting me, making my biggest dread of the month significantly more tolerable.”
“But that was really dangerous!” said Hermione, aghast. “People could have gotten hurt! Or worse!”
Remus nodded, running his hands through his hair. “Believe me, I know. There were close calls, many close calls. But we were young and stupid. I… I still never told Professor Dumbledore, fearing his reaction at betraying his trust and putting three other students in danger knowingly.”
“So, Peter was a rat then?” asked Draco, impatient.
“I’m taking that as your hint that you want us to prove it already, yes?” replied Remus, smirking knowingly. Draco’s cheeks flushed, but he didn’t deny it. He turned to Ron again. “If I may please see him?”
“How do you know it’s him and not another rat?” asked Ron, still refusing to hand over the rat.
“All that remained of Peter Pettigrew was, apparently, a finger,” interjected Sirius. “And notice that rat right there is missing one?”
Ron couldn’t say anything against it. Though, even as he reluctantly passed Remus the rat, he mumbled, “He could’ve been in a fight or something.”
“If it’s not him, the spell won’t harm him at all, Ron,” said Remus softly, smiling at Ron as he clutched the rat which writhed and squeaked in his hand. “Sirius, if you’d please hold him for me?”
As Sirius moved to take the squirming rat out of Remus’ hands, a voice suddenly shouted, “Expelliarmus!” Remus’ wand flew through the air towards the door, landing right in the fist of—
“Snape!” snarled Black angrily. Indeed, Severus Snape now stood in the doorway, holding Remus’ wand in one hand and his own wand in the other, Hari’s Invisibility Cloak draped over his arm. “Of course you had to ruin things!”
“Sirius, play nice,” said Remus sternly, tightening his grasp on the still squirming rat.
“Yes, Black, I suggest you listen to your dear friend here,” seethed Snape, wand pointing directly at Black’s face. “Oh, how satisfying it is to catch you in the act. I’ve been saying all year that Lupin was letting you in and now here’s my proof! Thanks for dropping this, by the way.” He gestured to the Cloak draped over his arm and Hari huffed in frustration. “I was in my office when someone came to warn me that Sirius Black was in the Shrieking Shack with Professor Lupin and four students.” He turned to Remus specifically. “You forgot to take your Wolfsbane Potion, by the way.”
Remus’ eyebrows shot up and he frowned. “You must be so glad to have found us, aren’t you, Snivellus?” Sirius mocked, scowling at Severus. “Lucky you already knew how to get past the tree. Bit of deja vú being back here?”
“Sirius! Not the time!” Remus exclaimed, looking horrified.
“Yes, Black, you’d better listen to your little boyfriend,” Severus leered, eyes glinting dangerously. He raised his wand. “Or else I’ll be forced to act in defence.”
“Severus!” Draco burst out. Severus’ eyes darted in his direction. “Severus, please. Just wait!”
Snape’s eyes narrowed. “Draco, these men—”
“I don’t care!” snapped Draco, interrupting his godfather. “Okay, well I do but here’s the situation, Severus.” He gestured between Remus and Sirius. “If we just let them prove whether or not the rat is Peter Pettigrew or not, then we’ll either prove you wrong and then an innocent man can be free or we prove you right and you get the pride of being the one that captured Sirius Black once and for all.”
Nobody said anything for a moment, all too stunned at Draco’s comments. Finally, after a long moment of staring in bewilderment and barely hidden anger, Severus sighed. “You’re a stubborn brat sometimes, you know that?” said Severus. “Give me the rat. I’ll prove whether or not you’re lying. And if you’re lying, I won’t hesitate, understand?” He reached his arm out, staring hard at Remus and Sirius.
Remus handed over the rat and Severus held on tight to it as it squeaked in terror. Hari held out an arm to keep Ron from trying to get Scabbers back. Severus stuffed Remus’ wand inside his pocket and pointed his own at Scabbers. He said the correct spell in a clear voice and with a blinding white flash of light, Scabbers thudded to the floor. He was growing alarmingly fast all of a sudden, writhing as he grew and grew, his tail disappearing and his face, rather grotesquely, shifting from the pointed nose and beady eyes into the face of a man. Severus kicked the door closed behind him, staring wide eyed at the rat transforming before their eyes.
After less than a minute, where Scabbers had once been, now lay a very shabby, balding white man with small watery eyes, a twitchy nose and fumbling hands with overgrown fingernails. One of them, Hari noticed, was missing a finger. Har’s jaw dropped in shock as the man cowered on the floor, sobbing. He looked very different from the few photos Hari remembered seeing of him back in his youth.
“Peter, what a horrible surprise!” said Sirius brightly, dangerously, a manic glint in his eyes. “Long time no see! How’s it been, my old friend? Enjoyed your time with the nice wizard family while I rotted in a cell in Azkaban? I’m sure your company would have been excellent.” His voice was loud and bitter despite the joking, sarcastic tone, his eyes dangerous and menacing.
“P-please, Sirius! We’re f-f-friends! Best friends! You c-can’t kill me!” sobbed Peter Pettigrew in a shrill voice not unlike a squeak. He attempted to reach over to Sirius, tears in his eyes, but Sirius slapped his hand away.
“Yeah, we were!” snarled Sirius. “Until you betrayed everyone! All of us! Not just James! You betrayed Lily and Hari as well! You betrayed me by letting me sit inside a bloody cell in prison for a crime I never fucking committed and you betrayed Remus by letting him think that I betrayed him and that you were dead!” Sirius spoke dramatically, waving his arms in the air emphatically, voice carrying and bouncing on the low ceilings of the room.
Peter sobbed pitifully, wringing his hands, rocking back and forth. “S-Sirius, you don’t understand! You don’t know w-what the Dark Lord’s capable of, Sirius! He would have killed me!” wailed Peter. “What would you have done? What would you have done?”
Sirius bent down, putting his face directly in front of Peter’s. “I would have killed myself before I betrayed any of my friends and you know it. I would have died for you, Peter, if it meant you’d be okay. But look where that got me,” Sirius spat. “You’re a coward, Peter.”
Peter sobbed harder. “You don’t know the things he did, Sirius! The things he’s capable of! You would have—”
“If I may interrupt,” interrupted Severus coolly, “I do know the things the Dark Lord was capable of and I am, for once, inclined to agree with Black here. You are a coward.”
“Even Snivellus agrees with me, Peter!” snapped Black, shoving Peter onto the floor.
Snape tensed at the nickname and stepped away from Peter being thrown to the floor only inches from his feet. “Incarcerus!” At once, thick ropes burst out of Snape’s wand, binding tightly around Peter, tying him up. Sirius gaped, mouth open.
“Hold on,” said Hari, bringing attention back to himself. “Just because Pettigrew is somehow still alive, how do we know that you are innocent?”
“Hari, you’re obviously aware of the Fidelius charm, yes?” said Remus calmly. Hari finally looked up at him and saw Remus’ face soften as a result, shoulders dropping in relief. He nodded. “Well, when your parents were suggested to go into hiding, incidentally after Severus here told Dumbledore of Voldemort’s plans—” He glanced sideways at Severus whose lips curled slightly “—their hiding place at Godric’s Hollow was placed under the Fidelius Charm. At the time, I was led to believe it was Sirius…”
Sirius butted in, “That was the point. We had suspicions that there was a double crosser in our midst and so James, Lily and I agreed to make the switch. I never thought Peter was even capable of joining the other side, honestly, so I decided I wanted to make Peter the Secret Keeper instead…”
“But then you were wrong,” added Remus grimly. Sirius nodded morosely. “Peter pretended to be confronting you when you went after him and then faked his own death, turned into a rat and made a run for it.” Sirius nodded again. “He had us all fooled…”
Sirius turned away from Remus at last, looking at Hari, Ron, Draco and Hermione watching this exchange. “Any more questions or can I get over with the crime I was put in prison for?” asked Sirius, looking impatient again. “I’ve waited 12 years in Azkaban.” He reached out and tapped Remus’ wristwatch melodramatically.
“Ever one for patience, Sirius,” said Remus sarcastically, smiling. “Haven’t got a wand, I’m afraid.” He glanced at Severus.
“Are you both stupid and reckless enough to actually go through with committing murder when one of you spent the last 12 years in Azkaban for murder and the other is a werewolf who would quicker be shunned by the entire wizarding population if that got out,” interrupted Severus, eyes cold and intense. “For once in your life, let authorities do it so that we can get actual justice in a lawful and responsible manner—”
“Petrificus Totalus!” Draco cut Severus off, pointing his wand directly at Severus with confidence. A second later, Severus was frozen solid, stiff as a board and thudding to the floor, unable to move his limbs. Everyone turned to gape at Draco, wand still raised where Severus stood moments ago. He took a deep breath, releasing it heavily. “What? He’s my godfather but his Slytherin pride was giving me a headache.”
Sirius grinned, looking like his birthday had come early. “Draco Malfoy, was it?” he asked. Draco nodded. “First Gryffindor in a long line of Slytherins?” Draco nodded again and Sirius’ smile grew impossibly wider. “Moony, there’s two of us!”
Remus snorted, slapping his forehead with his hand. “Yes, yes, you’re practically twins,” said Remus dismissively, rolling his eyes at Sirius bouncing excitedly on his heels. He leaned down and plucked his wand from Snape’s pocket. “You can bond over resenting your purist Death Eater families later, but weren’t we a little busy?”
“Excuse me,” piped up Hermione, having been muttering about attacking a teacher. “Mr. Black, er, Sirius? How exactly did you get out of Azkaban? It’s supposed to be impossible!”
“I’ve been wondering that myself, actually,” added Remus, raising an eyebrow and fiddling with his wand. “I would have thought it took immense Dark magic to do so…”
“Precisely what I—” blurted Pettigrew, still tied up on the floor. He silenced immediately at the fierce look Remus sent him, cowering away.
“Well, turning into my Animagus form tended to dull the effects of the dementors a bit,” said Sirius. “I’ve spent the majority of the last 12 years as Padfoot to keep myself sane, along with the knowledge that I was innocent. Dogs’ emotions differ from a human’s slightly and tend to confuse the dementors because of this. Thus, after I read in the Daily Prophet about Wormtail’s exact whereabouts, knowing I needed to save Hari, I turned into Padfoot and was able to escape because they couldn’t quite recognise my presence.”
“Remarkable, really,” said Remus, breathless. “So the dementors didn’t even notice you leaving?”
Sirius shook his head. “Nope.The bars were big enough to fit through as a dog. I pretty much just walked out,” said Sirius, shrugging.
Peter whimpered on the floor, alerting them to his presence once more. “You don’t believe all these stories he’s come up with?” squeaked Pettigrew. “Remus, wouldn’t he have told you if the plan changed? Wouldn’t he tell you we swapped?” He inched over to Remus’ feet but Remus stepped away, moving over to Hari protectively, glaring at the man squirming on the floor like a hogtied pig.
“Not if he believed I was the spy,” replied Remus pointedly. “Which I assume was the reason?” He glanced at Sirius.
“Please forgive me, Remus,” replied Sirius. “I was a fool blinded by my own paranoia. I thought you were distancing yourself to join the Death Eaters!”
“Of course I forgive you, Padfoot, dear.” Remus’ face softened as he looked at Sirius, apparently forgetting the other five people in the room watching this conversation unfold. “I cannot express just how much I regret ever believing you could betray any of us. After the prank in fifth year where you betrayed me, I feared you were capable of doing even worse. I’m so sorry, Sirius.”
“Shall we make amends by doing what I came here for?” asked Sirius, wiggling his eyebrows.
“I think we shall,” replied Remus.
Pettigrew burst into a new fit of tears, scrambling across the floor as he wailed pitifully. He nearly knocked Ron over in his haste to get over to him, whimpering. Draco held Ron up still as he glared down at his former pet.
“I was a good pet, wasn’t I? You won’t let them kill me, will you?” cried Pettigrew.
“You were actually quite useless as a pet,” snapped Ron. “And I let you sleep in my bed!” He winced, clutching his leg as his shout made it twinge with more pain, no doubt.
Next, Pettigrew turned to grovel on Draco, clutching his robes tightly as he struggled against the binds around him. “You won’t let them kill me, will you?” he begged.
Draco responded by kicking Pettigrew in the stomach, winding him. “Need I remind you that I petrified my godfather specifically to allow them to do exactly that,” Draco seethed, pulling Ron carefully back, farther from the crying man. When Pettigrew attempted to sweet talk Hermione out of letting them kill him, Hermione cringed away in horror and Draco kicked him in the side once again, glaring venomously. Times like these made his Slytherin upbringings ever clearer.
“Hari… Hari… you look so much like your father,” Pettigrew sobbed next, turning his head to Hari who took several steps away, moving further behind Remus with disgust.
“HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARI!” bellowed Sirius, getting up in Pettigrew’s face so that he fell onto his back again, staring up at him with wide, teary eyes, wringing his hands together. “HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HIM AFTER BETRAYING HIM AND HIS PARENTS!”
“Can we please just get over with killing him?” pleaded Draco, grabbing Hari’s wrist protectively.
Hari tugged his arm away. “NO! Wait! You can’t kill him!” he blurted, ignoring the bewildered looks from the others in the room, as well as the sobbed ‘thank you’ from Pettigrew. “Set the Dementors on him instead. I reckon my dad wouldn’t want his friends becoming killers because of him. And besides, I’ve heard the Dementors’ Kiss is even worse than death.” He looked at Remus.
“This is what happens when we let Minerva McGonagall raise you,” muttered Remus through a sigh.
“Sorry, you what?” blurted Sirius, gaping between Remus and Hari.
“Long story,” replied Remus, waving his hand. “If you’re sure, Hari…” Remus sighed and unfroze Severus, nodding halfheartedly at his complaints.
A few minutes later, they looked like the strangest group of people Hari had ever been a part of. Severus and Remus worked together to give Ron a makeshift splint and used Mobilicorpus on Peter to make him float above the ground as they made their way through, led by the cheerful Crookshanks padding on ahead.
“You know what this means?” Sirius said to Hari as they climbed down the stairs together, side by side, ducking their heads under the low ceiling. “Now that Pettigrew has been captured?”
“You’re free,” said Hari, smiling.
“Did anyone ever tell you I’m your godfather?”
“Aye, but only recently,” replied Hari.
“What’s this I hear about you being raised by Minerva McGonagall?” Sirius asked, narrowing his eyes on Hari’s use of ‘aye.’
“Oh, that?” said Hari. “My aunt and uncle are… arseholes and so Minnie basically bullied Dumbledore into letting me live with her instead and just visit them occasionally so the blood bond thing still works.”
Sirius hummed thoughtfully. “Certainly explains the Scottish accent, then,” he teased, grinning. Hari snorted, rolling his eyes. “And Remus has been in the picture since then as well, I’m guessing?”
Hari nodded, turning to glance at Remus as he helped Ron stumble down the stairs with his sore leg. “Pretty much. I spend a lot of my breaks at his flat if I’m not home. I’m guessing if you guys get back together, I’ll get to see you more as well.”
Sirius tilted his head to the side, brows furrowing. “Get back together? You know…?”
Hari laughed. “Aye. Pretty obvious after he kissed you earlier,” Hari replied. Sirius’ cheeks flushed and he buried his face in his hands. As his loose sleeves fell down around his arms, Hari caught a glimpse of the multiple tattoos lining his pale skin. “It would be cool to actually get to know my godfather, honestly.” Sirius removed his face from his hands and grinned. They followed Crookshanks out through the tree once he pressed his ginger paws on the knot to freeze its branches, stepping out into the cool night air.
Under the stars above, shining down on them, Sirius looked much more like the man Hari remembered laughing in the old wedding photo. Tipping his head back towards the sky, grinning broadly, he looked freer than Hari had ever seen him.
At last, everyone managed to climb their way out of the tree and onto the grassy patch of land.
As they started towards the castle together, Severus leading the way with Draco, plotting their explanations about Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, multiple disasters struck, one after the other.
Suddenly, Remus went incredibly stiff all over, dropping his wand on the ground as he twisted in pain, his body beginning to transform gruesomely as a cloud moved aside to reveal the full moon glowing ahead. He had forgotten to take his Wolfsbane Potion. Next, due to Remus’ Body Levitating spell cutting off once he started to transform, Pettigrew thudded to the floor.
“Wait, no!” Hari exclaimed, trying to get to Pettigrew in time.
In an instant, Pettigrew changed back into a rat, free from the bonds holding him. He scuttled away into the night as Hari called after him and swore loudly.
Distracted by Pettigrew’s second escape, Hari didn’t see much of Remus’ transformation into a full werewolf until the last second as he turned to look at him once more. Involuntarily, he gasped. He was at least 7 feet tall now with claws like daggers and sharp, pointy fangs, bright yellow eyes that remained unblinking. Grotesque, deformed, stretched out in the limbs, the werewolf howled into the night’s sky. He turned on the others, fangs baring, ready to pounce, Severus moving swiftly in front of Hari, Ron, Draco and Hermione with a glare.
Somewhere in the distance, there was another howl, diverting the werewolf’s attention away from them. He howled once more and then took off down the hill in the direction of the howl.
Sirius turned into Padfoot and set off after him, barking loudly, disappearing into the brush.
Without thinking, Hari shoved past Severus and took off after them both, ignoring the shouts of protest from the others behind him.