Rosabella Black |Daughter Of Sirius Black| (Book 3)

The Servant of Lord Voldemort

Rosabella's Point Of View:
Hermione started to freak out.
     
"We attacked a teacher . . . we attacked a teacher . . . Oh we're going to be in so much trouble –" Hermione whimpered.
     
"You shouldn't have done that. You should have left him to me . . ." Black said looking at me and Harry.

Without sparing a look at Black, I headed towards Remus. He was struggling against the bonds.
    
"Hermione, could you please calm down and help me? Do you know which spell he used? Because I dont." I asked Hermione urgently.

Black grabbed Snape's wand and bent down next to me and did the counter curse. I backed away and stood by Harry, as Remus straightened up.
    
"Thank you Harry, Ro." Remus said.
    
"I'm still not saying I believe you." Harry and I retorted in unison.
    
"Then it's time we offered you some proof. You boy, give me Peter. Now." Black demanded.

I gave my father a death glare. He seemed to sense it and looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
    
"You could try saying: Ron, could you please give me the rat so I can prove my ridiculously ludicrous story." I said to Black savagely, emphasising the words Ron and please.

Black looked at me shocked, Remus laughed at Black's expression.
     
"Imagine raising five of them." I heard Remus mutter to Black.
    
"Come off it. Are you trying to say you broke out of Azkaban just to get your hands on Scabbers? I mean. . ." Ron said looking at us for support.
     
"OK, say if Pettigrew could turn into a rat – there are millions of rats – how's he supposed to know which one he's after if he was locked up in Azkaban?" I said suspiciously, backing Ron up.
     
"You know, Sirius, that's a fair question. How did you find out where he was?" Remus said, turning towards Black frowning slightly.

Black pulled out the daily prophet that had the picture of the Weasley going to Egypt with Scabbers on Ron's shoulder.
     
"How did you get this?" Remus asked Black, thunderstruck.
     
"Fudge. He came and inspected Azkaban last year and he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page . . . on the boy's shoulder . . . I knew him at once . . . how many did I watch him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts . . . to where Harry and all of my children were . . ." Black said.
     
"My God. His front paw . . ." Remus said softly, while examining the picture.
     
"What about it?" Ron said defiantly.
     
"He's got a toe missing." Black said.
     
"Of course . . . so simple . . . so brilliant. He cut it off himself?" Lupin breathed.
    
"Just before he transformed. When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily, James . . . Rosalie . . . Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself – and sped down into the sewer with the other rats . . ." Black said in a regretful voice.

When he said my mothers name he looked like he was on the verge of tears.
      
"Didn't you ever hear, Ron? The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger?" Remus said.
     
"Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something! He's been in my family for ages right –" Ron tried to reason.
     
"Twelve years, in fact. Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?" Remus asked patiently.
     
"We – we've been taking good care of him!" Ron insisted.
     
"Not looking too good at the moment, though, is he? I'd guess he's been losing weight ever since he heard Sirius was on the loose again . . ." Remus said.
    
"He's been scared of that mad cat!" Ron exclaimed.

But that wasn't right. Scabbers had looked ill before he met Crookshanks. Ever since Ron returned to Egypt. Since . . . since Black had escaped.
     
"This cat isn't mad. He's the most intelligent of his kind I've ever met. He recognised Peter for what he was straight away. And when we met, he knew I was no dog. It was awhile before he trusted me. Finally, I managed to communicate to him what I was after and he's been helping me . . ." Black said hoarsely, while stroking Crookshanks on the head.
    
"What do you mean?" Hermione breathed.
    
"He tried to bring Peter to me, but couldn't . . . so he stole the passwords into Gryffindor Tower for me. As I understand it, he took it from a boy's bedside table . . ." Black said.
     
"Poor Neville. All the punishments and it wasn't even his fault." I said, genuinely feeling sorry for Neville.