🖇·˚ ༘ ┊͙[ chapter twenty-three ] ! ˊˎ

╰─▸ rats, shacks, and a whole lot of crazy

SOON, CEDRIC BECAME TOO FAR BEHIND ME TO TALK ME OUT OF THIS. As mad as it may be, I don't think I even can be talked out of this.

Flying past the deadly tree's branches, I end up tumbling through a dirt tunnel, coughing and spluttering right up until I'm back on my feet again. I don't know what my plan of action was for when they inevitably became aware of my existence but I at least wanted some idea of what to do before they turned on me.

Harry gaped back at me. Hermione's brows were furrowed.

"y/n?" She asked. "What are you doing here?"

I consider not telling them at all and simply convincing them that going any further would be a bad idea without alerting Dumbledore. But Weasley screams louder above us and I'm reminded that we can just leave the poor boy here.

"I came to warn you," I told them. Harry just stared back at me, dumbfounded and Hermione pants in exhaustion. Neither of them are fit to do this. I elaborated: That dog, the one that got Ron, I think it's—"

But before I can finish my sentence, the ginger boy in question wails a little louder and his two friends become too preoccupied with their worry to hear me out.

"Come on," Hermione urged. "Where do you suppose this goes?"

"I have a hunch. I just hope I'm wrong." Harry then said, turning away from me and heading down the dimly lit tunnel. A winding staircase laid at the bottom of it.

I knew in that moment that they were never going to hear me out. Time was of the essence – I knew that better than them – so I was better off following them up, hoping my presence in front of my uncle might diffuse some of the dangerous tension.

Some logical part of me told me that wasn't going to happen.

"We're in the Shrieking Shack, aren't we?" Granger eventually asked, her voice shaky.

I had the same suspicion and I reckon Harry's prediction wasn't far off.

The floorboards groaned beneath our weight and every door we gently pushed open murmured its distress. After cautiously exploring most of the house, I was beginning to understand why it was considered haunted.

Worn wood, wrecked structures, cobwebs in every corner. The wind passed right through in a disturbing howl. I was beginning to think staying with Cedric was a better idea.

Eventually, we found Ron huddled in a corner of the farthest room, cowering, his foot bleeding and his rat squeaking in just as much distress as him.

Despite his dishevelled look, I sighed in relief that my uncle wasn't responsible for another murder.

"Ron. You're okay," Hermione gushed as the three of us jogged over to him.

"Thank God," I heaved.

Ron was a different kind of confused to the other two when he registered my arrival. Something about me being happy to see a kid I never once cared about alive probably through him off.

But before Ron could truly acknowledge why I was here, it was established quickly that there were bigger things at hand.

"The dog. Where is it?" Harry wasted no time to ask.

"As I was going to say," I said before Ron could say something, "I think it's an Animagus."

All heads swivelled to me.

Ron's jaws unhinged. "How did you know that?" His chest rose and fell in fear. His hand shook as he lifted it towards the door. "She's right. It's a trap. He's the dog."

As confident as I was that I had seen that black dog before, some part of me was praying I was wrong.

It was clear I was not when we all followed where the wobbling finger pointed.

The rusted, old door at the foot of the room slowly swung open. Its hinges whined and dust was kicked up from the floor. Sure enough, waiting behind was my Uncle Sirius.

He was a shell of the man I once knew. Taller, scruffier, angrier. His clothes were patched and shredded, his hair shaggy and uncouth. His beard was longer, tuftier. But where I imagine I would see raw evil in his eyes, all I saw was exhaustion.

"Uncle Sirius."

My uncle's shoulders sagged. The nostalgia between us was palpable. I could tell he didn't expect me to be here. That wasn't part of his twisted plan. And as a series of questions came my way from the other three students, I just looked at him, longing for the clocks to turn back, longing for the better times.

"y/n," he sighed. The regret in his voice told me I have thrown a spanner in the works of his plan simply by being here but that doesn't mean I don't still here the comforting trill of his words.

He took a step forward, testing the waters. I watched as his fingers twitched at his sides and his temptation to lift his arms was clear. He wanted to hug me.

I couldn't go that far but my expression warmed. Despite the stories I have read about everything my uncle did, he was still mine. My family. A ghost of a smile graced my face and I could feel my eyes water.

"Please don't do this," I whispered.

He lightly shook his head, his eyes still pinned on me. It was like it was just the two of us, no one else existed.

That was until Hermione stepped right up front, covering all of us. "If you want to kill Harry, you have to kill us too!"

Sirius' gaze snapped to her. "No," he asserted. "Only one will die tonight."

"Then it'll be you!" Harry leapt out from behind Hermione and did not hesitate to grasp onto Sirius' neck. The next parts happened so quickly; I could barely process it.

Harry hauled Sirius to the ground, pinning him to the ground with his body before drawing his wand.

But Sirius was not easily frightened. He grinned, evilly than I ever knew possible.

"Are you going to kill me, Harry?" Sirius taunted.

"Expelliarmus!"

I practically leapt out of my skin at Professor Lupin's arrival. Disarmed and shocked, Harry moved to the side. Lupin's storming in left us all numb, unsure what came next.

"Well, well, Sirius. Looking rather ragged, aren't we?" Lupin stared down at the vulnerable man on the floor. I noticed how my uncle didn't once flinch at the arrival of the professor. "Finally, the flesh reflects the madness within."

"Well, you'd know all about the madness within, wouldn't you, Remus?"

Sirius was grinning now which is why what happened next really should not have surprised me.

Remus helped my uncle to his feet, hauling him into an embrace. They hugged like old friends, slapping each other's backs and smiling.

"I found him!" My uncle exclaimed.

"I know," Lupin replied, clearly the calmer of the two.

"It's him. Let's kill him!"

My heart plummeted at my uncle's proposal. I suppose he never really was the man I once knew, it was all a lie. Even with a professor present, my uncle was just as insane as he was when he dragged Ron Weasley into this insect-ridden house.

"No! I trusted you!" Hermione then yelled, desperation flitting across her face as she screamed at our professor, "and all this time, you've been his friend."

Professor Lupin removed himself from his embrace with my uncle and in that moment, I knew. What I had suspected for a long time. This was the man my uncle always told me stories about, the boy he spent his best years with. Not Professor Lupin, but simply Remus.

I laid a hand on Hermione's back and gently spoke, "Hermione, it's okay. I know what you're thinking. And I also know you're right." Her lips parted ever so slightly and an unspoken agreement passed through us. We were on the same page.

I turned to my uncle and professor then, gaining enough confidence to announce to the room that: "You're a werewolf."

Remus' gaze flicked to Sirius who held his hands in surrender. Sirius wasn't the one to tell me this and he gestures as such. With that confirmed, Remus took a step towards me. "How long have you known?" He asked.

I shrugged, "I suppose Uncle Sirius indulged me in more than you know. Then again, I don't think he intended I would ever figure it out. And I probably wouldn't have done if I never came inside here."

"You can't be serious," Ron gasped. His voice was weak and high-pitched and he clutched his rat tighter at this new piece of information. "How did you figure that out?"

I looked at my uncle. "You told me all about your band of friends. The ones you hung out with in your school years. James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin."

Sirius' eyes fell to the floor and he smiled fondly. Somewhere, deep inside, behind the prison uniform and the calloused skin, that teenage boy is still inside my uncle.

"You told me stories about what you got up to," I continued. "Most interestingly how you all became unregistered animagi. Not being registered is a serious offence and judging by what you look like right now, Uncle Sirius, I'd wager none of you wanted to go to Azkaban for that long." I paused. "Unless it was for a good cause."

I then turned my attention to the three Gryffindors. "Isn't it a bit odd that the one lesson our Defence Against the Dark Arts professor misses is about Werewolves?" I finally turned back to Remus. "Your friends became animagi to make your transformations less lonely. This place was built for you. I could tell by the claw marks on the walls. You needed your friends to escape the reality of what you were."

Remus sighed. His eyes sagged at the edges. I took a step towards my uncle and his gaze finally found mine. "You know, for a four-year-old it really was hard to see you walk out, especially when no one gave me a real reason. I defended you my whole life. I never believed what anyone said because you were just my Uncle Sirius."

I saw a flash of sadness pass through my uncle's eyes. He knew he had let me down.

"I guess now I have no reason to clear your name." My own voice cracked now. This was not the reunion I had been planning in my head for years. "You really are after Harry."

"I always knew you were the smartest in the family," Sirius replies. It is quiet but I hear all of the remorse in his voice. But then, as if snapping his fingers, Sirius discards the part of him that is an uncle and he says to Lupin, "C-come on. Let's kill him."

I smile sadly knowing there is nothing I can do to save the man I once loved.

"Very well," Lupin says, passing Sirius his wand. "Kill him. But wait one more minute. Harry has the right to know why."

"I know why," Harry croaked. "You betrayed my parents. You're the reason they're dead!"

"No, it wasn't him," Lupin interjected. "Somebody did betray your parents ... somebody who, until quite recently, I believed to be dead!"

My brain can't work fast enough to put the pieces together.

"Who was it, then?" Harry asked angrily.

"Peter Pettigrew!" My uncle spat. "And he's in this room! Right now! Come out, come out, Peter! Come out, come out and play!" He sounded so, deranged. Azkaban had changed him, I knew that much.

But the plot continued to shift and change when Professor Snape stormed into the room, quick to disarm my uncle. "Vengeance is sweet. How I hoped I'd be the one to catch you."

"Severus ..." Lupin's slow, controlled voice was clearly trying to talk the former out of whatever he was going to do next.

"I told Dumbledore you were helping a friend into the castle. Here's the proof," Snape snarled.

"Brilliant, Snape. You've put your keen mind to the task and come to the wrong conclusion," Sirius sighed. "If you'll excuse us, Remus and I have business to attend to."

Snape watched as the two of them slowly backed towards a dusty piano in the corner. "Give me a reason. I beg you!"

"Severus, don't be a fool," Lupin warned.

"He can't help it. It's habit," Sirius said but Snape's wand was already angled into my uncle's neck.

"Sirius, be quiet."

"Be quiet yourself, Remus!"

"You two," Snape scoffed, "quarrelling like an old married couple."

I made sure Harry and Hermione were as far backed into the wall as they could be, positioning myself in front of them. I think I was simply hoping that if Sirius did indeed turn on us, he wouldn't have the heart to hurt me.

"Why don't you run along and play with your chemistry set!" Sirius spat.

But none of this bickering deterred Snape, who now pressed the wand deeper into his neck. "I could do it, you know. But why deny the dementors? They're so longing to see you. Do I detect a flicker of fear? Oh, yes. A Dementor's Kiss. One can only imagine what that must be like. It's said to be nearly unbearable to witness, but I'll do my best."

I then noticed Harry reach for Hermione's wand. I didn't wait to raise my brows and mouth for him not to do whatever it was, but my words fell on deaf ears and the next second, Harry was yelling, "Expelliarmus!"

But not at who we all thought he would. Instead, the Potions Professor was launched into the air and sent backwards, smashing into an ancient four-poster bed.

"Harry!" Hermione gasped. "What did you just do? You attacked a teacher!"

But Harry didn't care, wand in hand, he approached the two still standing. "Tell me about Peter," he demanded.

"He was at school with us. We thought he was our friend!"

"No," Harry asserted. "Pettigrew's dead. You killed him!" He was constantly switching his aim between the two.

"No, he didn't," Remus said, tone set on calming Harry down. "I thought so too, until you mentioned Pettigrew on the map!"

"The map was lying, then."

I looked over at Hermione and Ron for answers but neither explained how and why the Marauders Map (as my uncle detailed to me often) was back in conversation.

"The map never lies!" Sirius pointed out. "Pettigrew's alive! And he's right there!" He pointed directly at Ron, who sat baffled and targeted and unsure what to do next.

"Me?!" Ron exclaimed incredulously. "He's mental!"

"Not you!" Sirius rolled his eyes. "Your rat!"

Ron fumbled on his words but it was clear he thought Sirius' suggestion was bonkers. "Scabbers has been in my family for—"

"Twelve years?" Sirius queried. "Curiously long life for a common garden rat! He's missing a toe, isn't he?"

"So, what?"

But I knew exactly what my uncle was getting at. "The finger," I mumbled. "All they could find of Pettigrew was his ..."

"Finger," Sirius finished. His eyes trained on me. Whatever truth we were building up to, my uncle was resolute that I believe him. As I did once before. "Dirty coward cut it off so everyone would think he was dead! And then he transformed into a rat!"

"Show me," Harry demanded.

Sirius wasted no time trying to claw the poor rat from the terrified Weasley's grasp but the latter resisted greatly.

Until Harry said, "Give it to him, Ron."

"What are you trying to do to him? Scabbers!" Ron continued to protest even when Sirius tore the pet from his hands and backed away. "Leave him alone! Get off him! What are you doing?"

Sirius threw the rat onto the piano and began firing spells at it in an attempt to return it to its human form and soon enough, it did. To all of our surprise, a rather ugly, very small man grew from the tiny animal. Wedged in a hole in the wall, he moved with the same mannerisms the rat once did.

"Remus? Sirius? My old friends!" The strange man drawled before turning his attention on the famous Harry Potter. "Harry! Look at you! You look so much like your father! Like James! We were the best of friends ..."

"How dare you speak to Harry!" Sirius yelled, intervening. "How dare you talk about James in front of him!"

"You sold James and Lily to Voldemort, didn't you?" Lupin asked.

"I didn't mean to!" The rat man pleaded. "The Dark Lord. You have no idea the weapons he possesses! Ask yourself, Sirius! What would you have done? What would you have done?" Despite trying to defend himself, Peter Pettigrew cowered behind the piano, his mangy fingers spread across the top.

"I would have died!" Sirius exclaimed. "I would have died rather than betray my friends!"

Suddenly, watching an animagus change into its human form wasn't as exciting to me. If this was the man who exposed Lily and James Potter, that meant ... Sirius didn't. He was innocent.

"Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed!" Peter tried to convince us. "Your dad ... your dad would have spared me! He would show me mercy!" Peter grabbed onto Harry but it was a mistake – Sirius and Remus were on him in a second, wands raised, threat high.

"You should've realised, Peter," Lupin said, "that if Voldemort didn't kill you, then we would! Together!"

"No!" Harry protested.

Ron, Hermione, and I all shared a curious glance. I instinctively took a step forward.

Lupin tried to talk Harry out of it, "Harry, this man, he ... "

"I know what he is," the boy responded, eyes trained on Peter with burning fury. "But we'll take him to the castle."

"Bless you, boy! Bless you!" Peter fell to his knees.

Harry looked down on this man like he was dirt on the bottom of his shoe.  We all agreed.

"I said we'd take you to the castle," Harry said. "After that, the dementors can have you."

' ੈ˚ ❃

THE COLD AIR CUT THROUGH MY SKIN LIKE A KNIFE. I hadn't realised how late it had become. Time felt like a foreign concept after everything that just unfolded.

Harry and Sirius hobbled out behind Hermione and I, Ron inbetween limping between them.

"Sorry about the bite. I reckon that twinges a bit," Sirius said. And in such a simple moment, I felt like the humanity I once knew my uncle had, was restored.

"A bit? A bit?" Ron repeated, disbelieving. "You almost tore my leg off!"

"I was going for the rat," Sirius explained. "Normally, I have a very sweet disposition as a dog ..."

But my attention on what they were saying faded when Hermione turned to me and said, "I didn't know Sirius Black was your uncle."

I shrugged. "Not something I usually advertise."

She smiled, "Naturally." Hermione bit her lip. "It was really brave of you to follow us like that. I know you didn't quite get to give us the head-start you wanted to, but I appreciate that you tried."

"That's okay, Hermione," I replied. I realised, it was probably the first time in my school career that I was being acknowledge for doing something good.

Behind us, Harry and Sirius were laying Ron down beside the bottom of the trunk. My uncle then straightened out and approached me. Cautiously, I noted, since I'm sure he understand how all of this was quite a lot to process for me. But it was only then that I was beginning to see the life return to the Sirius I remembered and once loved.

"y/n?" He spoke softly. "May I borrow you for a moment?"

I nodded and followed him away from the rest of the group, where the landscape opened out a little bit. We were out of earshot but not completely detached. Beside us, the Hogwarts castle stood tall and grand, its golden lights flickering. Just by watching him, I could tell my uncle yearned for the years he spent there; to go back.

"I'm sorry I left," he then said to me.

My face soured and I shook my head. "It's not your fault. Please don't feel bad for others' errors."

A feeble smile worked its way onto his face. He was so human, so real. And the guilt hit me like a harsh wave. I felt awful for ever believing all of the lies my family fed me about him. For not trusting him. For abandoning the one member of my family that truly saw me.

"It's okay," he said. "I am always going to feel bad for the way I treated my family. You should have been told the truth."

"I was four," I remind him. "I doubt I could understand where you were going."

"You were a very bright four year old. And you're very bright now." He sighed and approached a little. Tentatively, he brushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear. I didn't flinch. I let him. "I can't imagine what it was like for someone so young to lose someone they loved. It's okay to be angry and it's okay to be sad. I just wish things were different."

"Me too."

There was a lot of unspoken words that passed through us then. Both of us knew this didn't mean things could go back to normal. He was a wanted fugitive. It didn't matter that he had a family or that he was innocent – no one would believe him. No one cared.

"You're going to be an incredible witch someday, y/n," he said. "As I'm sure you are one now."

It reminded me of how much he had missed out on. I had grown up and he wasn't there.

I wanted to savour every second we had now.

Smiling up at him, I pulled him in for a redemption hug from the one I had denied earlier. "I'm so glad to have you back," I said. "If only for now."

Sirius hummed fondly, squeezing tighter as he repeated, "If only for now."

' ੈ˚ ❃ connie speaks!
y'all this is your final warning — pls (PLEASE) stop leaving hate comments or i stg i will delete this fic so fast x

to the people being funny and nice, i hope you have a brilliant day 😗