LANDSLIDE, james potter [2]

Chapter Eight

Lyra suddenly realized how absolutely absurd the whole situation had to sound to Ron Weasley. His rat, who he had cared about and taken so much care of, was supposedly a man who he thought had been dead for twelve years and had been hiding with his family. Lyra wouldn't have believed anyone who said one of Lucius's peacocks turned out to be Lily Potter who had been a secret Animagus this whole time, hiding in her garden.

"You're all mental," breathed Ron, and Harry seemed be in complete agreement with him. Again, while Remus and Sirius both seemed offended at the idea, Lyra competely understood their train of thought. She barely believed them herself.

Hermione nodded in agreement, glancing between the three adults as if they belonged at St. Mungo's. "Ridiculous!"

"Peter Pettigrew's dead! He killed him twelve years ago!" Harry yelled, pointing at Sirius with such vigor that the blonde woman had to raise her eyebrows in surprise. What vigorous finger-pointing.

"I meant to. But little Peter got the better of me... Not this time, though!" Suddenly, Sirius was lunging at the ginger teenage boy lying on the ground, though aiming for the rat. He wound up landing on Ron's wounded leg, leading to a shout in pain.

"Sirius, no!" scolded Remus. He hurried forward, grabbing Sirius by the neck of robes and pulling him away from the thirteen-year-old. "Wait! You can't do it just like that. They need to understand. We've got to explain!"

"We can explain afterwards!" Sirius struggled against his grip. But he had been imprisoned for twelve years in a living hell, while Remus had nature on his side, being a supernaturally strong werewolf.

"You know what?" said Lyra, crossing her arms across her chest as she raised her chin proudly. "I agree with Sirius! I say we kill him now. He deserves it, Remus. He's been living for far too long."

"They've got a right to know everything!" Remus exclaimed, glancing between a stubborn looking Lyra and a dramatically struggling Sirius. "Ron's kept him as a pet! There are parts of it even I can't understand. I'm sure you don't either, Lyra. And Harry... You owe Harry the truth, Sirius!"

Lyra's glare softened, though only slightly. Sirius was much more affected, stopping with all his struggling, though keeping his gaze on Peter the Rat. "Alright then. Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for."

"I'd like to help," said the blonde woman coolly, smirking at the rat who was struggling more and more, scratching and biting at its owner. "Oh, and if we get caught, maybe we could ask them to give us adjoining cells in Azkaban."

Sirius finally turned his head away from the rat, looking at his cousin with a bit of a smile. It'd be better than the last twelve years he'd spent alone, at least. "That would be quite nice, actually. We'll do that."

"Marvelous," grinned Lyra, only to see she had gotten quite an impatient look for Remus. She smiled sheepishly, feeling like she was a teenager getting scolded for snogging James in front of them again. "Sorry. Carry on."

"You're nutters. All of you," muttered Ron, glancing between the three (though mostly at the pair of cousin that had just talked about adjoining Azkaban cells). He tried to stand up, using his good leg. "I've had enough of this. I'm off."

Remus quickly pulled out his wand again, pointing it at the rat Ron was clutching to his chest, speaking quietly. "You're going to want to hear me out, Ron. Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen."

"He's not Peter! He's Scabbers!" Ron basically screamed at him. The rat was struggling even more as he tried to push him back into his front pockets. This was unbalancing him (his broken and ruined leg didn't help), so Harry caught him and pushed him down on the bed nearby.