The Hidden One

19. the story

The room was silent for a few seconds before Ron spoke up.

"You're all mental."

"Ridiculous," Hermione said faintly.

"Peter Pettigrew is dead! He killed him twelve years ago!" Harry shouted, pointing at Sirius, whose face twitched. Rose moved a step closer as if to block her father from any attacks.

"I meant to, but little Peter got the best of me...not this time though!" Sirius growled, his yellow teeth bared. With a surprising amount of speed and force, Sirius moved around Rose and Remus to jump at Peter, unintentionally landing on Ron's leg. Ron let out a yell of pain so bad that everyone winced with him.

"Sirius, NO! WAIT! You can't do it just like that--they need to understand--we've got to explain--" Remuss yelled, dragging Sirius away from Ron and to Rose. Sirius visibly calmed when Rose clung onto his arm, not wanting him to hurt her friend any more. Sirius, however, did not look away from the squealing rat and neither did Crookshanks, still sitting on the floor next to Sirius.

"We can explain afterwards!" Sirius snarled. He didn't dare fight against Remus, knowing that his daughter was holding onto his arm and he couldn't hurt her. Remus kept a firm arm against Sirius' chest, knowing that Rose wasn't holding on very tight and Sirius could easily get away from her. Scabbers just squealed like a piglet, scratching Ron as he tried to escape.

"They've got a right to know everything! Ron's kept him as a pet! And Harry-you owe Harry the truth, Sirius!" Remus yelled as Sirius pushed against his arm, also knowing that he could easily get away from his daughter if he needed to. Sirius stopped struggling but fixed his hollowed eyes on the struggling Scabbers.

"All right, then. Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for..." Sirius said, still not taking his eyes off of Scabbers. He did grab Rose and pull her closer against his side, needing comfort and knowing that she most likely did as well.

"You're nutters, all of you...I've had enough of this. I'm off," Ron said, looking at Harry and Hermione. As he tried to stand up, Remus raised his wand, pointing it at Scabbers. A quick scan around the room showed that Rose also had her wand pointed at the rat.

"You're going to hear me out, Ron. Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen," Remus said quietly. Rose recognized the voice as the 'you're in trouble so be quiet and listen before I yell or I punish you' voice. Ron, however, didn't seem to get the memo.

"HE'S NOT PETER, HE'S SCABBERS!" Ron yelled, trying to put the rat back in his pocket. Scabbers was fighting back too hard, causing Ron to fall into Harry who pushed Ron back into the bed. Harry turned to Lupin, ignoring Sirius and Rose, causing a pang to go to Rose's heart.

"There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die. A whole street of them..." Harry said, trailing off at the end as he thought of the tragedy.

"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" Sirius said, still watching Scabbers.

"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter. I believed it myself until I found Sirius and Rose together after she had gone missing. We believed that Scabbers had been eaten by Crookshanks until we saw the map tonight. The map never lies...Peter's alive. Ron's holding him," Remus explained. Harry and Ron looked at each other, both agreeing that their Professor had gone mad, just like Black. They were extra sorry that their friend had seemingly gone mad as well, holding the side of a murderer who claimed to be her father.

"But Professor Lupin...Scabbers can't be Pettigrew...it just can't be true, you know it can't..." Hermione said in a trembling voice. Rose wanted to reach out and grab her hand, knowing that Hermione would somehow be blaming herself for not thinking of everything that could have happened.