What shouldn't have been

1.7

Sirius poured himself a drink of beer. He set the bottle on the piano. Sirius looks at me.

"Do you want a beer?" He asked.

"I'm in aloud to drink until I'm 21", I said.

"Is that a yes or a no?" Sirius asked.

"I...Are you drunk?"

"No. I'm not that stupid, Haylie. I don't get drunk", Sirius said. He walked over to me and sat down.

"I think every adult gets drunk", I said.

"James and Lily were my friends. Along with Remus and Peter Pettigrew. When James and Lily had Harry, they made me his godfather", Sirius started.

"You knew Lupin?" I asked. Sirius nodded.

"I did. And Peter Pettigrew is the man everyone says I murdered. I didn't kill Pettigrew or betray James and Lily", Sirius explained.

"How come no one's seen Pettigrew? Who betrayed James and Lily?" I asked.

"You promised you'd let me explain", Sirius said.

"Right. Sorry", I said.

"To answer your first question, James, Peter and I became Animagus. We thought if we couldn't help Remus during his..." Sirius stopped.

"I know he's a werewolf. So you thought if you couldn't help him as humans, you could help him as animals. So, Pettigrew is an Animagus", I said.

"Yes. I was the Black dog that came to you, James was a stag and Peter was a rat. And to answer your second question, James and Lily wanted to make me their secret keeper when they went into hiding. I thought it would be too obvious so I suggested they made Peter their secret keeper. None of us knew that Peter was a Death Eater".

I put two and two together and...

"So, that means Pettigrew betrayed the Potters, killed 13 muggles and framed you", I said. Sirius nodded. "You didn't come to kill Harry. You came to kill Pettigrew, didn't you?"

"I have to. He's the reason they're dead, Haylie", Sirius said.

"Sirius, that's not the right answer. You don't have to kill him", I said.

"I need to. If I hadn't-"

"Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault. Killing Pettigrew won't change a thing. Promise me-whatever you do-promise me you won't kill him", I said.

Sirius sighed. "I can't make any promises", he said.

I asked myself, "If Sirius got married, would that person be Harry's godmother?" I shook that thought away.

I don't know why I thought about that.

"I'm sorry I punched you in the face. I mean, you were scaring me so you kind of deserved it, but I'm still sorry", I said.

Sirius smiled. "It's fine. I guess I sort of deserve it", he said.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"This is the Shrieking Shack", Sirius said.

"The Shrieking Shack? The most haunt-"

"The most haunted place in Britain, yes".

"You're not at all afraid of being here?"

"I've been here many times. It's not as bad as it seems", Sirius said. I looked around uneasily. "Don't you trust me?"

I looked at Sirius. "Trust is a strong word. Don't forget, you kidnapped me so we're not there on 'trust' yet", I said.