The Rat, The Dog & The Wolf [Hermione, Ron, Pettigrew, Remus, Sirius, Snape, R]

"Your wrong" said Remus glaring at the young witch "I can explain-"

"NO" Hermione shouted, "Harry don't trust him! he's been helping Black into the castle,! he wants you dead too!-HE'S A WEREWOLF!"

Remus stopped dead. Then, with obvious effort, he turned to Hermione and said, "How long have you known?"
"Ages," Hermione whispered. "Since I did Professor Snape's essay..."
"He'll be delighted," Remus said coolly. "He set that essay hoping someone would realise what my symptoms meant. Did you check the lunar chart and realise that I was always ill at full moon? Or did you realise that the Boggart changed into the moon when it saw me?"
"Both," Hermione said quietly.
Remus forced a laugh. "You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione."

Everyone's eyes were now on Remus, who looked remarkably calm, though rather pale. "Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione," he said. "Only one out of three, I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don't want Harry dead..." An odd shiver passed over his face. "But I won't deny that I am a werewolf."

Sirius gasped loudly, faking a shocked look as he stared at Remus... "You're a werewolf?!" he asked with a growl as he clenched his fists, "You lying assh- ah, I'm joking, yeah, Remus is our local werewolf, tough guy to chew, if you get where I'm hinting at," he winked at Remus and took a step forward, "Remus get this crap over with, I wanna kill him!" he snarled.

"Patience Brother" Remus said placing a calming hand on sirius' arm "we have to explain or risk hurting them as well"

Hermione glared at Black taking a deep breath she said "How did you get out here, how did you find us"

"The map," said Remus "The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining it –"
"You know how to work it?" Harry said suspiciously.
"Of course I know how to work it," said Remus, waving his hand impatiently. "I helped write it. I'm Moony - that was my friends' nickname for me at school."
"You wrote -?"
"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I had an idea that you, Ron and Hermione might try and sneak out of the castle to visit Buckebeak before his Hippogriff was executed. And I was right, wasn't I?"
He started to pace up and down, looking at them. Little patches of dust rose at his feet.
"You might have been wearing your father's old Cloak, Harry -"
"How d'you know about the cloak?"
"The number of times I saw James disappearing under it..." said Remus, waving an impatient hand again. "The point is, even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak you show up on the Marauders Map. I watched you cross the grounds and enter the hut. Twenty minutes later, you left buckbeak, and set off back towards the castle. But you were now accompanied by somebody else."

"No one was with us! We were still alone!" Harry growled all of the sudden his eyes falling on Sirius who was taking the situation as a joke unlike Lupin.

Remus rolled his eyes then turned to the children looking at them sternly "You will listen closely because you will only hear this story once..."

"I was a very small boy when I received the bite. My parents tried everything, but in those days there was no cure. The Potion that Professor Snape has been making for me is a very recent discovery. It makes me safe, you see. As long as I take it in the week preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform... I am able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again. Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully fledged monster once a month. My transformations in those days were – were terrible. It is very painful to turn into a werewolf. I was separated from humans to bite, so I bit and scratched myself instead."
he shuddered at the memory noticeably shaken,
"But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends. Sirius Black... Peter Pettigrew... and, of course, your father, Harry – James Potter. Now, my three friends could hardly fail to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them that my mother was ill, and that I had to go home to see her... I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was. But of course, they, like you, Hermione, worked out the truth... and they didn't desert me at all. Instead, they did something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life. They became Animagi."

Hermione gaped at him her jaw opening and closing "so you knew" "of course I knew that Sirius could turn into a black dog" he cut her off "I wrestled with the idea of confessing to Dumbledore and Lestrange that i knew of Sirius' animagus form but i never did because that could have killed him and even if Sirius was the real traitor i'd never want him dead until i'd seen the proof for myself." he glanced back at Sirius for a moment then looking back at the trio.

"No you see when I saw his name on the map...When i saw Peter's name I knew it couldn't be a malfuction...the map doesn't lie Harry. I could see Sirius on the map you know, he's been in the forest all year...you've nearly wandered into his campsites a few times i've seen you out there with Malphas and Artemis..." he smirked wolfishly "no, i knew it wasnt wrong because Peter pettigrew is an animagus and he is in this room."

Hearing Remus' words Sirius could feel his younger self speak once again, he felt the memories, as if he was living through it all over again, it felt good actually, to be feel that, for once he felt alive after Azkaban, disregarding his amazing encounter with his wife... Clapping his hands at Remus' last words, Sirius bowed at the waist, "That's right, he's here," Sirius leveled Ron with his dark eyes, "C'moooooooon Pettigrew. Come out, come out, come out," he shouted madly waiting for the rat to react to his words and to finally step out of his mask, to finally look his former friends in the eye and to tell them how he killed their brother...

Ron sat, utterly stunned by what he was hearing. Professor Lupin was a werewolf, Sirius Black was an Animagus, Peter Pettigrew was the traitor, and....for whatever reason, Remus thought that Peter was alive and Sirius thought he was Peter! The world had officially gone mental! Scabbers began to wiggle in his hands, but Ron held him fast. Pretty sure he agreed that everyone had gone bonkers or something, too. But, he wasn't going to risk losing him, again. Staring into Sirius' face, Ron said firmly, "I'm not Peter Pettigrew! I'm Ron Weasley!"

Several students jumped aside and pressed themselves at the wall with a fearful expression on their faces as Severus stalked through the corridors of the old castle with his cloak billowing behind him and a foul-smelling phial in hand. The dark glower he sent at everyone who only dared to look his way quickly cleared his path and it did not take long for him to reach the office of the DADA teacher.

“Lupin! Open up!” he called out, rapping his knuckles sharply against the wooden door, his left foot tapping the ground impatiently. Severus had enough work to do as it was without running after the man to bring him his potion, so he did not wait any longer and just pushed through the door, only to realize that the room was completely empty. “What the...” he growled and stalked over to the desk to slam down the vial in anger. What was the man thinking running around a school full of children without taking his potion when the full moon was about to break through the clouds any second? Severus was beyond pissed and was about to march up to the headmaster’s office when he noticed the parchment on the table. Leaning closer till his nose was almost touching the paper, his black eyes followed the movement of his colleague who seemed to be on the way to the whomping willow.

“Damnit!” With a snarl, Severus spun around and hurried out of the room, the map clasped in one hand, his wand in the other. The werewolf was not alone. Potter, Granger and the Weasley boy were not too far in front of him, but what had spurred him into action was the small dot that had a very well-known name attached to it. Sirius Black. What the hell was that man doing here? With dementors swarming  the place and aurors just waiting to get their hands on him it was absolutely insane to come here, but then again... Severus snorted, half amused, half annoyed. It was Black, so why was he even surprised?

His long strides quickly carried him to the whomping willow which for some reason seemed calm right now, making it possible for him to get closer to it without being beaten to death. Spying a small hole, Severus slipped through just when the large tree came back to life and once again, he cursed the existence of Gryffindors for making his life a living hell. Following a small tunnel, he quickly reached what seemed to be the cellar of a house and ascended the stairs when suddenly, he heard voices coming from the floor above his head.

Pettigrew? What were they talking about? Like everyone else, Severus had heard of how bravely the man had died, trying to face off the murderer of his friends, a story that had sounded completely unbelievable to him back then, but he had been too upset by Lily’s death to think about something else. Now though, his mind was filled with doubt again. At the frantic cry of the Weasley boy, Severus pushed through the door, his wand pointed at Black and Lupin, moving to stand between them and his students. “What is the meaning of this, Black?” he hissed, his wand lowering slightly when he noticed how much the other man had changed during his time in Azkaban. Still, he kept his wand pointed at him. Severus was willing to give him the chance to explain, seeing as they once had been civil with each other, but he could not let him harm any of the students.

Shaking his head Sirius allowed a cackle to erupt from his throat at the boy's words, "Oh, I wasn't talking to you," he answered hoarsely, his eyes lingering on the rat in the boy's hands, the need to pounce onto him and rip his paws and head off was big but he would prefer doing that to him in his human form. It'd be much more enjoyable, and his screams would fill Sirius' empty heart with the joy it needed to return to normal.

Growling slightly at the sound of yet another familiar voice, Sirius clapped before turning around, "Was it really that obvious that I was here? Or does everyone have access to the marauders' map?" he asked slightly annoyed, with a dreary tone. Sighing, he looked one more time at Harry and Hermione, noticing they had their wands in hand, Remus had his, and Sirius had his and the Weasley boy's. Gripping that wand calmly, so that everyone saw his intentions were not nefarious, Sirius hurled it at Ron, and let his wand rest in its sheath. 

"Severus, it's great to see you," he uttered, somewhat sarcastically. Not that he actually minded Severus was there, he'd definitely want to kill Pettigrew as much as Remus and Sirius for what he did to Lily, but it was strange treating him like a living person. Sirius had a tough time back in the day and it seemed that it was still that way, however, he could definitely see the difference between now and before they made their truce. "You could've waited just a tiny bit longer to arrive, when the bastard was out of his hiding spot," he sneered, "Tell me, how much do you know about rats?" he motioned for Severus to speak and gave Remus a lopsided grin wondering if Severus would get the 'memo', or at least most of it.

Severus had always been more logical than any Marauder, and that was perhaps one of the reasons Sirius had tried to gain his respect in his darker days. He'd surely reach some sort of conclusion, no matter how vague it could be due to Sirius' also unclear words.

Rolling his eyes at the tone the other man addressed him with, Severus just glared back, equally annoyed. "If your friend here leaves it lying around for everyone to see..." he trailed off, shooting the werewolf a glance. It was fortunate that it had only been him to discover the map and not one of the other teachers who might have called for the aurors immediately. At least, he was willing to listen. For now.

"Same, Black, you're cheerful face always manages to brighten up my day." Severus drawled sarcastically, though his voice became tinged with the slight edge of annoyance. What was the man doing exchanging pleasantries when they were in the room with three children as well as a werewolf who could turn any second? His eyes narrowed at the other's words which had his mind spinning with all kinds of thoughts till he finally replied. First this talk about Peter Pettigrew, now Black was on about some bastard in a hiding place? It wasn't too hard to add two and two together, though the conclusion did not make much sense to him.

"Rats have the unfortunate trait to stab you in the back when you least expect it…“ he gave back vaguely. Was that what Sirius was alluding to? That his old friend Pettigrew had betrayed him all these years ago? Even then Severus had been having a hard time believing that Sirius, not matter what faults he had, would actually rat out his best friends. Rat out… fitting somehow, he though as he spied the thin tail of the rodent hanging out of the Weasley boy’s pocket. If Pettigrew indeed was an animagus, responsible for Lily’s death, then Severus would be more than happy to see him get put down.

Glaring at Remus in a somewhat joking fashion, he shook his head in 'disappointment' poking him slightly reminding him that the marauder's map wasn't something that should be shown to anyone. In the end, after everything was said and done with, Sirius would give Harry the map back. No matter what he had to do to get it in his possession.

"To be fair though, your babbling about your chemistry set was missed," he answered in a way honestly. Back in school, Sirius was tired of hearing all about Snape's little potions, how he was at the top of the class, but when he went into solitude, he often missed those idiotic, childish fights, just because of Severus' explanations regarding his art. Sirius actually liked hearing it, as he was an adept potion maker himself, although Severus was in a whole different league and Sirius didn't have a problem with that. Let Snape win for once.

"It is just delightful to hear that, because you see... " Sirius was cut halfway through as Wormtail began wiggling in Ron's pocket. Pressing the fabric aside, the rat pounced from the trousers of his owner and began running away, climbing the table as Sirius took out his wand. Just as the small mouse hopped off the table towards the dusty bed, Sirius flicked his wrist, and the rat was forced out of his form, revealing... Peter Pettigrew. "The rat is here." he spoke towards Severus although his gaze was cast on Pettigrew.

Remus took a step towards peter his lips pulled back a growl in his throat "So its true...Hello Peter" he snarled his jaw tight khal howled at the sudden appearence of the traitor and he felt the hunger for revenge.

Slowly scratching his ears, Peter stopped dead in his tracks at the sound of Sirius and Remus' voices. He began shaking, and when he turned around, he waved and gasped, before his face met Sirius' boot. Peter fell to the side, and Sirius growled with anger grabbing his collars and slamming him against the old wood of the shack. "Hello Remus... long time no see...fr'end..." he whispered.

Remus's fists flexed and his bones cracked "Why did you do it" he growled his eyes turning from dark to gold with flecks of red "Why did you betray lily and james.."

Wiggling in Sirius' hands he shot both of them a look of apology, although he knew it wouldn't work. "You'd do the same! You don't know him like I did!" Pettigrew shouted, and Sirius hurled him over his head towards the table, breaking it apart. "I would rather die than betray Lily and James!" Sirius growled, "SNAPE! ASK SNAPE! HE KNOWS! Oh please, Severus, you know what the dark lord was like, tell them, tell them, please," Peter pleaded crawling towards Severus, however, Harry stepped up, and leaned down, looking Pettigrew in the eye. Stepping on his hand he cracked a few bones making a shout of pain come out from Pettigrew's lips. Harry then smirked, his heart beating as fast as it could, as rage erupted in his eyes. "I'm going to kill you..." the boy snarled.

Remus bowed and grabbed pettigrew's collar throwing him into the corner "Dont even look at Harry" he growled "dont you dare look at him.." his breath was heavy with the effort of holding back his wolf "even Marvolo tried to protect James and Lily a fucking DEATH EATER did more then you, you disgusting-" his words were cut off by a gutteral growl.

Hermione grabbed harry's arm "Stop" she said when no one listened she yelled "STOP! you can't kill him if you kill him the truth goes with him!"

Sirius looked over his shoulder, "He's dying sooner or later. Why should we care," he asked and as Peter got up, punched him in the throat, "What part of stay down don't you fucking understand you shitshark cockroach?" he asked, before turning to Hermione, "All I need is his corpse," Sirius growled and Pettigrew looked over his shoulder, "Your father liked me you know... he'd never let them do anything to me," he sighed looking at Harry and Sirius smiled and even chuckled slightly before once again casting his gaze towards Peter, "Oh, you rectum sniffing dickhead. That, was, the, wrong, move," Sirius growled and grabbed Peter's collar with one hand, punching him repeatedly with the other. Harry pushed Hermione away and stood next to Sirius... "Let me watch... don't stop him..." Harry growled up at Remus as Pettigrew's blood flew onto his light blue shirt.

Hermione's eyes widened and she called out again "SIRIUS LISTEN TO ME!" she reached out and placed her small hand on his shoulder "If he dies now his corpse will mean nothing he'll be dead but you'll go back to jail for a murder you did commit this time" she pleaded "if your proven innocent your free...you can be with harry and your kids..think of drake and serena they need you..take him to Krum and have him get the kiss, its worse then death anyway"

Turning slowly to his best friend, as Sirius stopped, leaving his arm in the air waiting, Harry clenched his fists. "Hermione... " he whispered, "Shut. Up!" he told her clenching his jaw. "I don't want this... he doesn't want this... we need this," he responded with a small growl and nodded, making Sirius once more punch Pettigrew.

"No" Remus spoke up his growl deep but he struggled for control "Hermione is right...Harry...Sirius..if we prove the truth then Sirius is free. Free. that means we get you back Sirius we all do...we have to do this the right way.."

Harry sighed clenching his fists looking at Snape almost asking for him to take his side, "I won't kill him now," Sirius said, sighing as he let Pettigrew go, "But after I prove my innocence I will bury him. And none of you will stop me," Sirius ruffled Harry's hair who strangely looked up at him, closed his eyes for a moment, and then, smiled.

Severus' eyes snapped toward the rat just soon enough to watch it turn into the disgusting form of Peter Pettigrew and it took every ounce of self control he had perfected over the years not to cast the killing curse right then. No matter how much he had hated Potter and his friends, there was nothing he despised more than the complete cowardice of the man before him. Still, he kept himself back to let Black and Lupin have their revenge on him; they did deserve it more.
It surprised and to be honest, impressed him, how the young Potter seemed to jump at the idea of killing the rat. Obviously there was more to him than just Dumbledore's golden boy. Good, for what was to come, he would need to be strong, Severus thought and shot the boy an understanding glance when it was decided to take the less pleasant, but more reasonable approach of dealing with Pettigrew. "I wouldn't dream of stopping you, Black, I just hope you make this as painful as possible." he drawled, though his black eyes were piercing the cowering man on the ground as he looked at him with a nasty smirk. For once, he had complete faith in Sirius to do just that.