Questions about a Rat
Petunia Dursley was outside watering her garden, it did not look nearly as good as it had when Harry had been tending it; the boy obviously had magic fingers. No, she told herself, no he had green fingers, the boy had green fingers or thumbs or something like that - it was not magic, not in her garden.
It was late and she should be inside cleaning the kitchen and preparing for bed, but she needed a break from Dudley. It was hard work raising a spoiled thirteen-year-old boy on her own and sometimes she wondered if the therapy was having any effect at all. It was her fault of course she and Vernon had spoiled him. They should have had more than one; then things would have balanced out better but they couldn't not after Harry…
If only she had considered taking Lily’s child to an orphanage or Gringotts. The Goblins would have found Snape and the Malfoys; Harry would have had an appropriate family much sooner and her family would not have been torn apart by her wretched sister’s spawn. Tears filled her eyes, she didn't know if they were for herself, or Harry or Lily.
The tap and hose fitting was old and worn so it took her a minute to detach the hose, she was so focused on her task she did not notice the man across the street. It was not until she exited the shed after putting the hose away that she saw him. He was standing under a street light looking right at her; something about his face and hair was familiar. She stared at him in a manner which she would have berated Harry for as she tried to work out where she had seen him before; suddenly she realised she had seen him on the news. He was the man who had escaped from prison. Frozen to the spot she watched as the man turned into a dog and ran off into the night.
Pure terror drove her into the house, thankfully Dudley had gone upstairs. She located the key to Vernon’s liquor cabinet took out a bottle of gin and made her way to the kitchen. She poured some gin into a glass and added some tonic water and a slice of lemon. When she had finished her drink, she made a second drink. Then she took some paper out of the kitchen dresser and composed the most ridiculous letter she had ever written and sealed it in an envelope. She took a large sip from her second drink and then drawing a deep breath followed the odd instructions Severus had given her, should she ever needed to contact him. “Dobby,” she said uncertainly to the empty kitchen.
It was a testament to her frazzled state or perhaps the alcohol that she did not scream when there was a loud crack and one of the strangest creatures she had ever seen suddenly appeared in front of her.
“Mistress Dursely, has a letter for Master Professor Snape?” the creature asked, looking up at her with huge eyes.
It took a moment but Petunia finally recognised it as a house elf, Lily had once sent a letter to her with one of them; Petunia had screamed on that occasion and she had never read the letter. She took a deep breath and held out the envelope she was clutching to the elf. “Here,” she whispered.
Dobby took the letter and bowed. “Dobby will bes taking the letter now,” he said and he was gone with another crack.
Staring at the place the elf had just been, Petunia reached for her drink and considered calling the number she had seen on the news. The public had been encouraged to report any sightings of Sirius Black to the hotline. She thought about what she would say if she called. “Yes, officer he was standing right under that light before he turned into a dog and ran away.”
Petunia did not call the hotline, instead, she put the kettle on and when it boiled she made herself a sobering cup of coffee. When she felt her head clear she went to the living room and took a seat at the window. She could hear Dudley upstairs yelling at his computer, she refocused her attention to the dark street. Petunia did not sleep that night, she sat and kept watch until Dudley came downstairs for breakfast.
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Severus put down the newspaper and sighed a deep put upon sigh; he had just returned from a staff meeting and he was not happy with what he had learned about the upcoming year. Dumbledore was being annoyingly stubborn about security, he insisted the wards were sacrosanct and the Ministry had no business getting involved in the warding of the school. The result had been that Fudge had assigned dementors to guard the students on their return and it seemed nothing would get him to change his mind.
Things were not any better in the wider wizarding world; Black was still on the run and the Minister for Magic was under fire for informing the Muggle Prime Minister about the escape. Margarite’s attempts to have Black exonerated had been swept under the rug; the last thing the Ministry needed was ambiguity about Black guilt. Lucius was furious and threatened to release information proving Black’s innocence to the paper. Margarite was uncharacteristically cross and was therefore not minded to prevent Lucius from doing it; which left Narcissa and Severus to discourage his impulse.
The wizarding public was also very unhappy. Their faith in Azkaban, as a safe place to keep dangerous criminals been shaken and Sirius Black was nowhere to be found; three weeks after his escape neither hide nor hair had been seen of the man. The Ministry’s celebrated task force had completely failed to find him and Black remained on the run.
On top of that, Dumbledore had surpassed himself in dubious staffing choices by appointing Remus Lupin, Werewolf, Marauder and best friend of Sirius Black and James Potter to the Defence against the Dark Arts position.
Severus was very tempted to resign. As he contemplated the pros and cons of quitting his job, he was startled by a loud crack and Dobby appeared with a letter in his hand.
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The Hogwarts letters had arrived a week before Harry’s birthday, there was the usual list of required textbooks including those for their new subjects. Harry had struggled to choose elective subjects; all third-year students had to pick at least two electives to add to their standard classes. Severus had advised him to choose subjects that matched his interests. He had immediately chosen Care of Magical Creatures and Runes, then he had hesitated, he knew how Severus felt about Divination but he wanted to try it. He loved using his mirror and so in the end he chose Divination as his third subject, while Draco took Runes, Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy.
The school letters also contained an extra piece of parchment, it was a permission form for students third year and above to visit Hogsmeade on some weekends. Narcissa and Severus spent several hours discussing whether or not it would be safe for Harry to go to the village. Finally, Narcissa signed both forms on the understanding that Severus would monitor the situation with Black.
The next hurdle was book shopping. Narcissa said she was happy to go and do the shopping alone. Draco however, had just received his Quality Quidditch Supply catalogue which featured the new Firebolt. Harry supposed the broom might be worth checking out and since he had barely left the manor all summer, he decided he would go too. So once again Severus was enlisted to accompany them for the day.
Then the day before their trip to Diagon Alley, Harry and Draco were flying over the grounds on their brooms; when an alarm sounded. Harry had been so startled he had almost fallen off his broom, startling Draco into action. In the two years he had lived at the Manor Harry had never heard the alarm sound; he had not even known there was an alarm.
Draco took charge and guided Harry down to the terrace and then into the house just as Narcissa ran into the sitting room. The woman waved her wand closing and warding the glass door behind them and ordering both boys to go to their rooms and lock their doors.
Once in his room, Harry could not resist looking out the window to try and see what had set off the alarm. His window looked out over the pool and the neatly manicured lawn and rose garden. He scanned what he could see of the perimeter of the manor’s grounds and there among the trees at the edge of the garden was the silhouette of a large black dog.
Harry drew away from the window in shock. His mind spinning as he recalled his visit to Aunt Petunia two days before. His aunt had written to Severus; begging for help after she saw something distressing near her house. When they arrived she had told them about the man watching the house; a man, who turned into a dog and ran away. Petunia swore the man was Sirius Black. There had been a report on the muggle news, they had shown a photo of Black and the public had been warned not to approach him as he was armed and dangerous.
Petunia told them she had heard of Sirius Black from James Potter, who she had met a few times during the summer after Lily finished at Hogwarts. Petunia told them how she had hated Potter on sight; even more than she had hated Severus. She didn’t know what had happened between Severus and Lily and she didn’t care; she was just pleased the greasy-haired boy stopped coming around and then James Potter turned up.
“James was so very charming,” she said bitterly. “He knew all the right things to say and Mum and Dad thought he was just perfect; the best thing since sliced bread but he was an utter toerag.” Harry had been both mortified and amused to hear his austere aunt swear.
Petunia recounted how she had just announced her engagement to Vernon and was still basking in that glory when Potter had turned up and ruined everything. Her parents had been as smitten with him as Lily was and Petunia was once again pushed aside. Heir James Potter was arrogant and smug and Petunia had been sickened by her parents' adoration of him.
Harry had been listening to his aunt rage about his father for several minutes when a thought struck him. He had been doing a lot of reading since he was confined to the Manor and had discovered that wizards could turn into animals if they became animagus.
When Harry had suggested this, as a way to explain what Petunia had seen, his aunt had frozen in her seat. Then she had told them about a conversation she had overheard between James and Lily. James had, in Petunia’s words, been bragging about becoming an animagus in his fifth year. Lily had not believed him and she had been laughing at him when suddenly she stopped laughing and screamed. Petunia, who had been spying from around the corner of the house; forgot she was meant to be hiding and came running at her sister's scream, she had just caught sight of a huge stag before it vanished. It was there one minute and gone the next and then James Potter had been kissing Lily.
Severus had also frozen in his seat however he had not shared the reason, even when they got back to Malfoy Manor Severus had refused to speak of it. Harry was left to ponder the possibility that his father and his best friend had somehow managed to become animagi in their fifth year.
He should tell someone about the dog, he knew that he should but when he looked back out of the window the dog was gone and Harry was not certain if it had ever been there.
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Diagon Ally was not as crowded as it often was; the threat of Sirius Black seemed to be keeping at home. Except for the window of Quality Quidditch supplies, it had crowds of people around it all trying to get a glimpse of the new Firebolt.
Harry had to admit it was a nice-looking broom but his Nimbus 2000 was perfectly adequate and he saw no need for a new broom; Draco did not agree, he had begun pestering Narcissa the moment he laid eyes on it.
Once they dragged Draco away from the window they got their shopping done fairly quickly. Harry had his new school books in a bag; he was keen to read Essential Defence Against the Dark Arts by Arsenius Jigger. Severus had looked at the book and raised an eyebrow and with apparent surprise, said that it was an excellent choice for a school textbook. He had been suspiciously quiet about the new defence teacher refusing to be drawn into a conversation about him.
Harry also had Unfogging the Future, by Cassandra Vablatsky. Severus had rolled his eyes when Harry added the Divination text to his pile. However, he said nothing, Harry was progressing with his mirror so it made sense to seek an OWL or even a NEWT in the subject.
The Care of Magical Creatures text was terrifying and Harry seriously considered dropping the subject just to avoid having to buy the Monster Book of Monsters. The book, it seemed, was the Monster; it behaved as if it were alive and it had sharp teeth and a nasty bite. Narcissa tried to cast a freezing charm on the biting books but it had no effect. The book continued snapping at their fingers until the assistant tied them closed with a leather strap.
The Standard Book of Spells Grade Three and Intermediate Transfiguration were not particularly exciting, but Spellman’s Syllabary looked interesting. Harry was curious about Ancient Runes he had read a bit about them over the summer and was keen to learn more.
When the shopping was done Narcissa suggested they stop for ice cream before heading home. So Harry and Draco were sitting at a table outside Florean Fortescue’s shop looking through their new books, the ones that didn't bite at least, under Severus' watchful gaze when they heard a huge commotion.
Loud angry voices assaulted the ears of everyone in the vicinity of Florean’s and a cat was yowling. Harry looked up and saw Ron Weasley, his voice getting louder as he walked towards them. “Bloody Hell, Hermione control that bloody beast would you, you know Scabbers is sick and your cat is trying to eat him.” Ron roared.
The bushy-haired girl rolled her eyes. “Crookshanks is just behaving like a normal cat. Cats chase rats! Put Scabbers in your bag,” Hermione retorted. Harry watched the two Gryiffindors as they headed toward the Ice Cream shop. Hermione had her arms wrapped around a huge ginger cat and Ron, scowling, put the rat in his backpack.
“I'll have to go back for his rat tonic, I ran out without it when that beast chased Scabbers out of the shop,” Ron muttered.
“Fine, I’ll wait for you at Fortescues, I can see Fred and George over there,” Hermione replied.
Harry followed her eyeline and saw the twins leaning on either side of a post near a table covered in shopping bags. He raised his hand to them and they both nodded at him. When Hermione was seated at the table with her cat they sauntered over. “Harrikins!” they said together.
“We hope you had a good summer,” George said.
“Can’t complain,” Harry told them. “I saw you in the paper, Egypt must have been brilliant,” he enthused.
“It was,” Fred said his eyes lighting up.
“You should have seen all those curses the ancient Egyptian wizards came up with,” George told him.
“I can imagine, I am glad you had fun,” Harry said with a smile.
“Oh, we did, Harrikins, our only regret…” Fred said seriously.
“...is not shutting Percy in a Pyramid,” George said with a grin.
Just then another commotion broke out at the Weasely table; Hermione and Ron were yelling at each other again and Percy was flapping around looking for something in the shopping bags.
Harry heard Percy yelling over the top of Ron berating Hermione’s cat again. “It was right here, I took it off to polish it.”
“Well it can’t have gone far,” Molly Weasley soothed her son as she shushed Ron and Hermione and started picking up parcels and searching for the missing item.
“Do you suppose they're looking for this Forge?” George asked Fred. Harry looked back at George and saw him holding a very shiny gold badge with ‘Big Head Boy’ on it.
“It’s possible Gred, it's very possible,” Fred replied.
“We should go and help them look then,” George suggested.
“Indeed we should,” replied Fred.
They both saluted Harry and ambled back to their family.
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Later that night Harry sat at his window looking towards the edge of the forest. He had not seen the dog again; he looked for it every night but it never came back. He was, however, completely convinced the dog was Sirius Black.
If Aunt Petunia could be relied on for anything, it was to know everything that was going on anywhere in Little Whining. She was a terrible gossip, who watched the news religiously and she always had the local radio on. Harry knew she would have been glued to the TV when the report about the escaped prisoner had been aired and he did not doubt that if Black had been standing under the street light in Privet Drive; Petunia would have recognised him.
Harry got up and walked over to his school trunk and hissed his password to open the secret compartment. He took out his scrying mirror he had not used it much since he got home but now it felt right. He unwrapped the shiny black mirror and sat cross-legged on his bed holding it in both hands he slowed his breathing and cleared his mind.
When he opened his eyes he gazed at the mirror trying to focus his attention deep in its inky depths; the magic swirled and Harry tried to keep his mind relaxed and open as the swirling slowed down and an image appeared. Harry frowned as the image became clearer; it was not what he had expected to see. He had hoped to get an idea of what Black wanted with him or even the man’s location. Instead, all he saw was a rat, an ordinary garden-variety rat like the ones in the garden shed at Privet Drive.
Harry was unsettled by the image he closed his eyes and he let the colours return to behind his closed eyes and before he opened them again. He wiped the mirror over with a mugwort-soaked cloth, then he wrapped it back in its soft cotton wrap and set it aside.
What did a rat have to do with any of this? He wondered if Severus would know, he would certainly have some ideas but Harry was unsure if he should bother his betrothed with this; the man had been on edge ever since he had been called to Hogwarts for a meeting with Dumbldore. He had returned from that meeting in a terrible mood and even Harry had been unable to snap him out of it.
Lying back on his bed he closed his eyes and tried to recall the image of the rat. It had looked pretty much like every other rat he had ever seen. There were often rats in the garden shed at Privet Drive; Uncle Vernon stored grass and flower seeds in there as well as the straw Harry was expected to put down on the garden before the cold weather arrived. The rats were all brown with pink noses and Harry thought they were cute. Uncle Vernon hated them and whenever he saw one he put out traps or poison; Harry would sneak in after him and set the traps off or throw out the poison.
The rat in the mirror looked exactly like those brown garden rats, there had been nothing special about it at all. It had the same rough brown fur and pink twitchy nose. It was cute, but what did it mean? He hauled out his new divination text and flicked through until he found the section on scrying he looked up what the image of a rat could mean he scanned down the page until he found the entry for a rat -
‘If you dream of a rat or one appears during a scrying session, you have a traitor among your friends or your romantic partner has been unfaithful. A swarm of rats indicates a loss of control or control issues.’ He read.
A traitor? What in Merlin’s name did that mean?
There was only one rat so it was not about control, he wondered briefly if Severus might have met someone else, but he dismissed the idea. They didn’t have a proper contract yet but Harry just knew Severus was not sleeping with anyone else, even if Harry was only thirteen years old, there was no reason to question Severus’ loyalty. So it had to be a traitor but who could it be and what did it mean?
Harry put the book away and went back to stare out the window. He was not going to be sleeping tonight - not now.
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The Daily Prophet was still revelling in the escape of Sirius Black, every day brought another article with a slightly different angle. Black was reported to be searching for You-know-who; in an attempt to bring him back. Aspersions were thrown at the security of Azkaban and questions were asked about the wisdom of leaving Dark Wizards in the keeping of Dark Creatures who would re-join You-know-who the moment he reappeared.
Black was labelled as a traitor and a mad man, who had betrayed his best friend and blown up another friend. Pettigrew was painted as the loyal, kind-hearted friend who had gone after Black in a fit of grief. Harry frowned there was no mention of Pettigrew being an auror like James and Sirius who had both been in the training program according to another article he had read; so why had Pettigrew even been there?
Harry sighed, maybe the rat referred to Black, the traitor in his parent's friend group. He shook his head, Severus was convinced Black had not betrayed his best friend. So what was Pettigrew doing on that street, if he was not chasing Sirius Black? Who had betrayed his parents and who was the rat?
Turning the page he found an article about his mother and her time at Hogwarts; she had, according to this particular journalist been very pretty. ‘A vivacious muggle-born who adapted well to the magical world and who had managed to snag one of its most eligible bachelors in the Potter heir.’ Harry scoffed, his father was lucky his mother gave him the time of day if what Severus had said was true. In fact, he could not imagine why she had ever given any of them any time at all if his father and Black had been bullies.
He was so caught up reading he did not hear Severus enter the library and sit down across the table from him. Severus watched Harry carefully he was worried about the boy; he was spending far too much time reading about Black. Severus was sick to death of the reports he had not thought about Black so much in years; now with the Headmaster's latest stroke of genius, Severus was to be surrounded by Mararuders once again.
“Harry,” he said softly.
Harry looked up at Severus who was looking grim and he put his paper down. “Yes, Sev? He asked.
“I have noticed you are still reading the articles about Black and thought you might have questions. I know we have talked about it before but please don't think you cannot ask me something simply because of…my past with your godfather,” Severus told him.
“Oh, I um yeah, I suppose I do. These articles all seem very convinced that Sirius Black did betray Mum and Dad, but you said he wouldn’t do that and I don’t know what to think,” Harry confessed.
“Well, I don’t know for certain, however, from what I knew of Black and your father, they were as close as you and Draco have become. Black left home after our fifth year and moved in with your father’s family. The Black family were considered dark in the same way as the Malfoys are considered dark. Your godfather was the only member of the Black family to ever sort into Gryffindor; the rest were all in Slytherin. Sirius publicly cut ties with his family, even with his younger brother. I am led to believe that your grandparents willingly opened their home to him and treated him like their own son. If that is true, then I find it difficult to believe he would betray your father in such a cruel way,” Severus told him.
“But they were cruel to you,” Harry replied.
“They were, but they were united in their hatred of me and of all things Slytherin. Black’s brother Regulus was in Slytherin; he was a year younger than me and he was badly hurt by Sirius declaring himself to be James Potter’s brother. It was Regulus who told me about Black leaving home. I never liked Sirius Black but I truly believe he was loyal to your father and according to her diaries, your mother also believed him to be loyal,” Severus told him.
“Why did she stop being your friend? Was it because of Dad?” Harry asked.
“No, and yes. She was a Gryffindor and a muggle-born. I told her about magic but she learned about the magical world in Gryffindor. In those days Slytherin was synonymous with the Dark Lord. Lily begged me not to associate with children of Death Eaters, but I was in Slytherin so that was difficult. I was also half-blood in a house which prided itself on blood purity. I was not very popular as it was so standing against my housemates would have been potentially dangerous. Lily didn’t understand, there was no way she could. Then there was an incident at the end of our fifth year which involved your father…I called her something unforgivable and it was the end of our friendship. Potter took his chance once she cut ties with me,” Severus said sadly.
“Were you and mum…together?” Harry asked with a frown.
“No, not in the way you mean. Your mother was my best friend, my only friend for a long time and while she was my friend she refused to have anything to do with Potter and Black,” he replied.
Harry did not look entirely convinced, he looked at the floor and frowned rather than meeting Severus eyes. The older man sensed there was something more going on, he stood up, walked around the table and crouched down in front of Harry. “Look at me Harry,” he said softly.
Harry lifted his head and met his betrothed’s eyes. “Your mother knew I was gay before I did. It never bothered her. She was my best friend,” he said sincerely.
Harry nodded. “Ok, yeah that makes sense but she can’t have known if I was gay, I was a baby. So why would she ask my grandfather to make a betrothal contract for us?” Harry asked.
Severus moved to sit in the chair next to Harry. “I imagine that was your grandfather's idea. I doubt she would have known about such things. The contract that they wrote was a family contract, there were no names on it when it was written; it simply stated that there would be a marriage between our families. Lord Potter would have known that there was a chance Lily’s Will could be contested if she simply named me your guardian. A family betrothal contract, however, can only be changed by the families concerned and we are the last of our lines. If things had happened as they should have, I would have been informed about the contract when Lily died and I could have taken you from Petunia and brought you here sooner.” Severus told him.
“But how could she know I would want to marry you?” Harry asked.
“She couldn’t Harry, but that would be equally true even if one of us were female. A betrothal contract is not a marriage contract but that plus her letter to me asking me to care for you would have given me a say in where you were placed as a baby. The courting rite we accidentally started is not related to the betrothal contract; that has to do with the compatibility of our magic,” Severus explained.
“Oh, alright. We are getting married thought aren’t we?” Harry asked.
“That is the usual outcome of the courtship rite, however, it doesn’t have to be the outcome if you decide you want someone else later on,” Severus told him.
Harry hung his head again and Severus frowned uncertain what had upset him. “Harry?” he asked.
“I used my mirror,” Harry said quietly, still looking at the floor.
Severus schooled his face into a neutral expression, he was not fond of divination but Harry seemed to have a gift, just as Lily had. “What did you see?” he asked.
“I was thinking about Sirius, after what Aunt Petunia said about him becoming a dog I wanted to try and see…where he was, if he was near but I didn’t see a dog, I saw a rat. When I looked it up in my divination book it said a rat means a traitor in our midst or that my lover has been unfaithful…” Harry trailed off.
The older man took a moment to process that information and then understanding dawned. “I see, and you are wondering if it was referring to your godfather or me?” he asked.
Harry nodded without looking up. “I know I am only thirteen and we don’t have a proper contract and maybe it's none of my business what you do but I don't understand what the rat could mean. You said Sirius wouldn’t betray James and if that’s true, then he’s not the traitor. Aunt Petunia said Black turned into a dog, not a rat. There was only one rat so it's not about my control issues. So what could it mean? Is one of my friends a traitor?” once he started, the words seemed to tumble out of the boy’s mouth and he looked so distressed Severus had to act.
The older man stood up again and held out his hand to Harry; the boy looked at the hand and then up at Severus and finally after brief considerations he took the offered hand. The older man pulled Harry to his feet, guided him over to a sofa near the window, sat him down then sat beside him. “It is very much your business, though as I have said before you are too young yet for any further agreements between us. However, I promise you there is no one else and I would not look for anyone else; no matter that you are only thirteen,” Severus told him firmly.
Harry nodded and sighed. “I knew that, I did really, I am sorry. I just…what could the rat mean? I just don’t understand.” Harry sounded exasperated.
Severus considered the question. “Your parents were betrayed and if it wasn't Black, it had to have been someone else who was a friend, a close friend…”Severus trailed off thoughtfully.
“So there was a rat, a traitor in their friendship group and in that case maybe Sirius was betrayed too,” Harry said, his eyes widening at that revelation.
“Yes,” Severus said absently, seemingly lost in thought. Then he seemed to snap back to the present. “Harry we need to talk about the new Defence Professor,” he said seriously.