The Potter Twins and the Prisoner of Askaban {3}

23. The Marauder's Tale

"And I need a little room to breathe, you're making this harder for me" ~ Room to Breathe, You Me At Six

It takes a few seconds for the absurdity of the statement to sink in. Then Tay voices exactly why I'm thinking.

"You're both mental."

"Ridiculous!" Hermione adds faintly.

"Peter Pettigrew is dead!" I say firmly. "He killed him twelve years ago!"

I point at Black, whose face twitches convulsively.

"I meant to," he growls, his yellow teeth bared, "but little Peter got the better of me...not this time, though!"

Crookshanks is thrown to the floor as Black lunges at Scabbers; Ron yells with pain as Black's weight falls onto his broken leg.

"Sirius, NO!" Lupin yells, launching himself forwards and dragging Black away from Ron. "WAIT! You can't do it just like that - they need to understand - we've got to explain -"

"We can explain afterwards!" Black snarls, trying to throw Lupin off while still clawing at Scabbers with his free hand. Scabbers squeals like a piglet as Ron struggles to keep him restrained.

"They've - got - a - right - to - know - everything!" Lupin pants. "Ron's kept him as a pet! There are still parts of it I don't even understand! And Haylee and Harry - you owe them the truth, Sirius!"

Black stops struggling, though his hollowed eyes are still fixed on Scabbers, who is clamped tightly under Ron's bitten, scratched and bleeding hands.

"All right, then," Black says, without taking his eyes off the rat. "Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for..."

"You're crazy, both of you!" Tay sneers.

Ron tries to heave himself up on his good leg, but Lupin raises his wand again and points it at Scabbers.

"You're going to hear me out, Ron," he says quietly. "Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen."

"HE'S NOT PETER, HE'S SCABBERS!" Ron yells, trying to force the rat back into his front pocket, but Scabbers is fighting too hard; Ron sways and begins to fall, but Harry catches him and pushes him back onto the bed,

"There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die," Harry says, ignoring Black. "A whole street full of them..."

"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" Black says savagely, still watching Scabbers.

"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter," Lupin says, nodding. "I believed it myself - until I saw the map tonight. Because the Marauder's Map never lies...Peter's alive. Ron's holding him."

I don't have to look at the others to know what they're thinking; this is crazy, there's no way that Scabbers could be Pettigrew.

"But Professor Lupin..." Hermione says in a trembling voice, "Scabbers can't be Pettigrew...it just can't be true, you know it can't..."

"Why can't it be true?" Lupin says calmly, as though they were in class and Hermione has simply raised her hand.

"Because...because people would know if Peter Pettigrew has been an Animagus. We did Animagi in class with Professor McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework - the Ministry keeps tabs on witches and wizards who can become animals; there'd a register showing what animal they become, and their markings and things...and I went and looked Professor McGonagall up on the register, and there have only been seven Animagi this century, and Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list - "