▬▬▬▬ CHAPTER FOURTEEN ▬▬▬▬

ESMERELDA WAS GREETED WITH SEVERAL different reactions.

"Esmerelda, what are you doing here?!" Remus gawked, scrambling up to his feet.

"Esmerelda!" Sirius cried out happily. "Dear Merlin, Antichrist, what took you so long?!"

"Bloody hell, I think he's dead...!" Ron croaked, looking down at Snape's body in horror.

"You attacked a teacher, you—you—!" Hermione hyperventilated.

Harry just stared, jaw dropped. She glanced over at him, then had to suppress a shudder when she sensed death on him.

But now wasn't the right time to talk about that.

She casually stepped over the body and strode into the room, handing the bag of In n Out into Sirius' hands. "Here. Your water's in there too, by the way. Now, can anyone explain to me what happened while I was gone?"

"Y-you're working with Sirius Black?!" Harry spluttered.

She blinked at him, "Well yeah, he's my uncle." She said bluntly.

"Uncle?!" Everyone repeated, even Remus who finally managed to stand.

"H-hold on, Esmerelda, he's your father, why do you—?"

"—He's your FATHER?!" Harry's voice rose an octave.

"No, I-I lied to you about that, Remus. It's a long story but if this goes well, then I'll explain everything." Sirius said, shooting Esmerelda a pleading look that she nodded at. She understood that he wanted to inform his friend about the demigod world and honestly, after everything Remus had been through because of her, he deserved to know the truth.

"So!" Esmerelda clapped her hands together. "I'm guessing you told them about our little rat problem? I mean, that's why they're all here, right?"

Sirius looked up sheepishly from the burger he was devouring. "Er, actually they're here because I dragged the Weasley kid in after I sniffed out Peter on him. Harry and his friend only followed and Remus came afterwards, and then Snivellus happened, but you handled that part beautifully—thanks, by the way. We haven't really managed to get the kids to believe me yet, but hey, Moony's on my side!" He added brightly, sending the brunette a grateful look.

Esmerelda turned to the trio. "They're telling the truth." She told them calmly.

"Why should we believe you?" Harry said tensely. "He's your uncle—father—whatever, so of course you'd side with him!"

"Then it's time we offered you some proof," Remus said before Esmerelda could make the decision of using her Charmspeak or not. "You, boy—give me Peter, please. Now."

Ron clutched Scabbers closer to his chest. "Come off it," he said weakly. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean... Okay, say 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?"

Remus frowned slightly. "You know, Sirius, that's a fair question. How did you find out where he was?"

Sirius reached into his robes and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. A piece of the article that he received while he was still in Azkaban. He cut out a picture of Ron and his family. On Ron's shoulder was Scabbers.

"How did you get this?" Remus asked, astonished.

"Fudge," he replied. "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page... on this boy's shoulder... I knew him at once... how many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts... to where Harry and Essie were..."

"My god," Remus said softly. "His front paw..."

"What about it?" Ron asked defensively.

"He's got a toe missing," Sirius pointed out.

"Of course," Remus breathed out. "So simple... so brilliant... he cut it off himself?"

"Just before he transformed," Sirius confirmed. "When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. 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..."

Remus turned to the redhead. "Didn't you ever hear, Ron? The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger."

But the boy shook his head. "Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something! He's been in my family for ages, right—"

"—Twelve years, in fact." Remus cut in. "Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?"

"We—we've been taking good care of him!" He exclaimed.

"Not looking too good at the moment, though, is he?" Remus mused. "I'd guess he's been losing weight ever since he heard Sirius was on the loose again..."

"He's been scared of that mad cat!" He motioned towards Crookshanks, who was still purring on the bed.

"This cat isn't mad," Sirius shook his head, reaching out to stroke Crookshank's head. Esmerelda still couldn't believe how close he was to a feline. "He's the most intelligent of his kind I've ever met. He recognized Peter for what he was right away. And when he met me, he knew I was no dog. It was a while before he trusted me... Finally, I managed to communicate to him what I was after, and he's been helping me..."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"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 them from a boy's bedside table... But Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it..." He scowled. "Crookshanks told me Peter had left blood on the sheets... I supposed he bit himself... Well, faking his own death had worked once..."

"And why did he fake his death?" Harry demanded furiously. "Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"

Remus tried to placate him. "No, Harry—"

"—And now you've come to finish him off!"

"Yes, I have," Sirius said darkly. Esmerelda actually facepalmed.

"Then I should've let Snape take you!" He shouted.

"Harry," Remus pressed on. "Don't you see? All this time we've thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down—but it was the other way around, don't you see? Peter betrayed your mother and father—Sirius tracked Peter down—"

"—THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Harry screamed. "HE WAS THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNED UP. HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!"

Sirius flinched, looking as if he had been punched by his words. His eyes started to water and he was looking very much like the broken man Esmerelda had met before.

She glared fiercely at Harry before forcing herself to cool off.

"Harry," She finally spoke up with a certain gentleness and sweetness in her voice. "Calm down and let them finish."

Immediately, Harry's shoulders relaxed and he stared at them patiently. Sirius stole a questioning glance over at her direction before deciding to ask later.

"Look, Harry, I... I as good as killed them," Sirius croaked. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me... I'm to blame, I know it... The night they died, I dropped Esmerelda off to Remus and went to check on Peter, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straight away. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies... I realized what Peter must've done... what I'd done... You don't understand how quickly everything fell apart for me. I lost everything that night, Harry. I lost my friends, my niece, my freedom—I lost you."

His voice broke. He turned away.

"Enough of this," Remus said, his voice steely. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me that rat."

"What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?" He asked nervously.

"Force him to show himself," Remus answered. "If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him."

Ron hesitated for several seconds... and then finally gave up the rat. Remus took Scabbers, who began to squeak and thrash around the same way he had done when he saw Esmerelda.

"Ready, Sirius?" Remus asked.

Sirius had already stolen Snape's wand. He approached the pair, his previously watery eyes now blazing with hatred.

"Together?" He asked quietly.

"I think so," Remus nodded. He held Scabbers tightly in one hand, his wand in the other. "On the count of three. One—two—THREE!"

Their wands erupted with blue-white light. Scabbers froze momentarily, before his body hit the ground. There was another flash of light and then Scabbers began to shift. Esmerelda recognized it immediately, it was the transformation from animal to human.

Scabbers had turned into a man. A crying, ugly man that would make a child of Aphrodite faint from shock. He was really short, with thinning colorless hair with a bald patch on top. His watery eyes darted around wildly, breathing fast and shallow like he was in the midst of a panic attack.

Remus smiled darkly. "Well, hello, Peter," he said pleasantly. "Long time, no see."

"S—Sirius... R—Remus..." He squeaked, sounding very much like a rat. "My friends... my old friends..."

Sirius was about to pounce, but Remus seized him by the wrist and gave him a warning look. He then turned to Peter and smiled. "We've been having a little chat, Peter, about what happened the night Lily and James died. You might have missed the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the bed—"

"—Remus," he gasped. "You don't believe him, do you...? He tried to kill me, Remus..."

"So we've heard," Remus said coldly. "I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you, Peter, if you'd be so—"

"—He's come to try and kill me again!" Peter pointed accusingly at Sirius with his middle finger. At first, Esmerelda thought it was some sort of unique way to flip someone off, but then she noticed that he didn't actually have a pointer finger. "He killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too... You've got to help me, Remus..."

"No one's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out," Remus assured.

"Sorted things out?" He squealed, his eyes wildly darted around to every escape route he could find. "I knew he'd come after me! I knew he'd be back for me! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!"

"You knew Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban?" Remus questioned. "When nobody has ever done it before?"

"He's got dark powers the rest of us can only dream of!" He shouted in a shrilly voice. He looked over at Esmerelda and pointed at her fearfully. "Th—that's how she became so evil! She inherited it all from him!"

"Point at me again and I'll cut your finger off," she threatened. "And weren't you listening? I didn't inherit anything from him because I'm not his daughter. I'm his niece. Plus, I'm pretty sure you've only known me for less than a year. It's a little judgmental of you to call me 'evil' when we hardly know each other."

"Y-you terrorized us all when you were just a baby!" He cried out. "You were dangerous and you nearly killed me with your magic and—and—!"

"What are you talking about, Peter?" Sirius sneered, his voice taking up a mocking tone. "She was only just a little baby. They perform accidental magic all the time."

"That's right," Remus chimed in, with an equally as mocking tone. Esmerelda felt like she was missing something, and judging by the lost looks on the trios face, they didn't know what was going on either. "Babies are hardly dangerous, Peter. I didn't think having the animagus form of a rodent would give you the brain of one, as well. Speaking of that, I have difficulty in understanding why an innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat."

"Innocent, but scared!" He squealed. "If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it was because I put one of their best men in Azkaban—the spy, Sirius Black!"

"How dare you!" Sirius growled. "I, a spy for Voldemort? When did I ever sneak around people who were stronger and more powerful than myself? But you, Peter—I'll never understand why I didn't see you were the spy from the start. You always liked big friends who'd look after you, didn't you? It used to be us... me and Remus... and James..."

Peter flinched, but he didn't look guilty. He was trembling from the fear of being caught. "Me, a spy... must be out of your mind... never... don't know how you can say such a—"

"—Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it," Sirius hissed, making Peter step back. "I thought it was the perfect plan... a bluff... Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you... It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters."

"Professor Lupin?" Hermione spoke up. "Can—can I say something?"

"Certainly, Hermione." Remus nodded calmly.

"Well—Scabbers—I mean, this—this man—he's been sleeping in Harry's dormitory for three years. If he's working for You-Know-Who, how come he never tried to hurt Harry before now?"

"There!" Peter cried out gratefully. "Thank you! You see, Remus? I have never hurt a hair of Harry's head! Why should I?"

"Oh, I've had enough of this," Esmerelda groaned impatiently. This whole thing was taking too long! She turned to face Peter so fast that he flinched back. "Tell them the truth, Peter! Tell them everything, NOW!"

Peter didn't even struggle against her Charmspeak. His face became devoid of any emotion, his voice equally as toneless as he spilled everything. "I betrayed Lily and James Potter and sold out their location to the Dark Lord. When he was defeated, I accused Sirius and faked my death. I stayed as a rat for the Weasley family for twelve years and waited for any news of my master's revival. I had nothing to gain by killing Harry until I knew the Dark Lord was back."

There was a silence in the room once he finished. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were looking in horror between Esmerelda and Peter. Even Remus looked stupefied. Only Sirius was staring at her in awe.

"How did you—how did you—?!" Hermione sputtered.

"—That's not important right now," Esmerelda muttered, kicking Peter in the chest to bring him back to his senses. He gasped in pain and collapsed to his knees, looking dazed, in pain, and confused. "I was getting bored of story-time so I decided to speed things up a bit. Now can we kill him already?"

Sirius smiled viciously. "Gladly."

"No!" Peter weeped. He shuffled forward on his knees, hands clasped together desperately. "Sirius—it's me... it's Peter... your friend... you wouldn't..."

But like uncle like niece, Sirius kicked at him too and Peter recoiled. "There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them," he sneered.

"Remus!" Peter squeaked, turning to the aforementioned man instead. "You don't believe this... wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?"

Remus smiled grimly. "Oh but Peter, you already admitted to the truth. It was you all along."

Peter stared at him with wide eyes. "W-w-what? N-no, I haven't! I haven't admitted to anything! I'm telling the truth!"

"No you aren't," Esmerelda said flatly, shaking her head. She turned to her uncle. "Are you going to kill him or not?"

"Oh with pleasure, dear niece," Sirius grinned widely and turned to his friend. "Shall we kill him together?"

He nodded. "Yes, I think so."

"You wouldn't... you won't..." Peter gasped, before scrambling over to Ron. "Ron... haven't I been a good friend... a good pet? You won't let them kill me, Ron, will you... you're on my side, aren't you?"

Ron stared at him with revulsion. "I let you sleep in my bed!" He croaked, and Esmerelda grimaced at the mental picture.

Peter tried crawling forward. "Kind boy... kind master... You won't let them do it... I was your rat... I was a good pet..."

"If you made a better rat than a human, it's not much to boast about, Peter," Sirius scowled.

Esmerelda snorted.

Peter turned towards Hermione instead and seized the hem of her robes. "Sweet girl... clever girl... you—you won't let them... Help me..."

But she pulled her robes away from his hands and backed away against the wall, looking horrified.

Whimpering fearfully, he finally turned to Esmerelda. "Please," he begged her, lowering his head close to the floor and staring up at her with his hands clasped together. "Have mercy, please! I-I'll give you many offerings, ma—many sacrifices!"

She gave him a disbelieving look. "Do you think I run a Satanic cult or something?" She asked incredulously. In the corner of her eye she saw Sirius look away sheepishly for some reason.

As a last resort, he turned to Harry which was probably a big mistake. "Harry... Harry... you look just like your father... just like him..."

The last of Sirius' sanity finally snapped. "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY?" He roared. "HOW DARE YOU FACE HIM? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT OF HIM?"

"Harry," Peter whispered, shuffling forward. "Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed... James would have understood, Harry... he would have shown me mercy..."

Sirius and Remus stormed forward and grabbed Peter's shoulders. They threw him back onto the floor where he sat there, twitching with terror and staring up at them.

"You already admitted to it, Peter!" Sirius snarled. "You sold Lily and James to Voldemort!"

Peter burst into tears, but not out of guilt. "Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord... you have no idea... he has weapons you can't imagine... I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. I never meant it to happen... He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me—"

"—DON'T LIE!" Sirius bellowed. "YOU'D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!"

"He—he was taking over everywhere!" He gasped. "Wh—what was there to be gained by refusing him?"

"What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?" Sirius echoed. "Only innocent lives, Peter!"

"You don't understand!" He whined. "He would have killed me, Sirius!"

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" Sirius roared. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"

Sirius and Remus stood shoulder to shoulder, wands raised. "You should have realized," the latter said quietly, "If Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Goodbye, Peter."

Hermione covered her face with her hands and turned to the wall.

"NO!" Harry suddenly yelled, causing Esmerelda to jump. He ran forward, placing himself in front of the weeping man. "You can't kill him," he said breathlessly. "You can't."

Sirius and Remus were stunned. Even Esmerelda's eyes grew wide in shock.

"Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents," Sirius snarled. "This cringing bit of filth would have seen you die too, without turning a hair. You heard him. His own stinking skin meant more to him than your whole family."

"I know," he panted. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the dementors... He can go to Azkaban... but don't kill him."

Frankly, Esmerelda thought it was better to just hand over Peter's dead body over to the Ministry instead. They'd get the proof that Peter had faked his death all along and Sirius could tell them the whole story in his trial.

Plus, Harry seemed to think that death would be too easy of an escape for Peter. While the act of dying was quick and easy, there was still the Underworld to face. And Esmerelda knew exactly where Peter Pettigrew would end up in and that he certainly wouldn't be having an easy time there.

"Harry!" Peter gasped, then he flung his arms around Harry's knees. "You—thank you—it's more than I deserve—thank you—"

"—Get off me," Harry spat, throwing Pettigrew's hands off him in. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because—I don't reckon my dad would've wanted them to become killers—just for you."

Sirius and Remus stared at him, speechless. Then, slowly, they lowered their wands. Sirius did so with more reluctance.

"You're the only person who has the right to decide, Harry," Sirius murmured, sounding defeated. "But think... think of what he did..."

"He can go to Azkaban," Harry repeated. "If anyone deserves that place, he does..."

"Very well," Remus decided. "Stand aside, Harry."

Harry hesitated.

"I'm going to tie him up. That's all, I swear." He assured.

This time, Harry moved out of the way. Cords shot out from Remus' wand and wrapped themselves around Peter, who was now bound and gagged.

"But if you transform, Peter," Sirius growled, threatening him with Snape's wand, "We will kill you. You agree, Harry?"

Harry grimaced, but nodded.

Remus let out a heavy sigh. "Right. Ron, I can't mend bones nearly as well as Madam Pomfrey, so I think it's best if we just strap your leg up until we can get you to the hospital wing." He hurried over to Ron, bent down, tapped Ron's leg with his wand, and muttered, "Ferula." Bandages spun up Ron's leg strapping it tightly to a splint. Remus helped him to his feet; Ron put his weight gingerly on the leg and didn't wince.

I need to learn that spell, Esmerelda noted.

"That's better," Ron said, sounding relieved. "Thanks."

"What about Professor Snape?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"He's not dead," Esmerelda informed her. "Unfortunately..."

"That was a good hit," Sirius beamed at her, raising his hand. She gave him a high-five and his grin grew wider. "Also, spectacular entrance dear, you are definitely my niece."

She preened at the compliment.

Remus poked Snape with his wand and winced when he saw the really bad bump growing on the side of his head. "Perhaps it will be best if we don't revive him until we're safely back in the castle. We can take him like this..."

He muttered, "Mobilicorpus."

Snape's body was suddenly pulled up into a standing position, head lolling to the side. He hovered above the floor by several inches, looking like a grotesque puppet.

"And two of us should be chained to this," Sirius added, nudging a whimpering Peter with his toe. "Just to make sure."

"I'll do it," Remus said.

"And me," Ron said savagely.

Esmerelda grabbed his arm before he could get closer. "You're too injured, Ron. You need to take it easy or that leg will grow worse. I'll hold on to him."

Ron grumbled, but relented. Sirius conjured heavy manacles from thin air and yanked Peter up. His left arm was now chained to Remus' right and Peter's right arm chained to Esmerelda's left.

Crookshanks hopped out of the bed and led them out of the room. As they filed down the stairs, Esmerelda couldn't stop stealing glances over at Harry. Or more specifically, his forehead where the lightning bolt scar was.

She had been attending the same school as him for three years, but she hadn't sensed death on him until now. It was most likely because this was after her visit from the Underworld, where she was growing more and more attuned to the dead.

When she had arrived in the Shrieking Shack, the first thing she sensed was death somewhere up the stairs. That was when she realized that there was some sort of screaming match between Snape and the other occupants. After dealing with Snape, she tried to find the source of her prior disturbance and realized that it was coming from Harry.

But now that everything with Peter had cleared up and things had somewhat calmed down, she was able to focus a little more on Harry and discovered that the deathly feeling wasn't actually coming from him, but rather his scar.

Esmerelda really wanted to talk about it because this sort of thing was deeply concerning. Unfortunately, there were too many people around and she'd have to explain to Harry how she could even tell that his scar 'radiated death'.

So she stayed quiet and instead followed the others into this tunnel that would apparently lead them back outside.

"You know what this means?" Sirius said abruptly to Harry and Esmerelda. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

She winced.

"You're free." Harry replied.

"Yes..." Sirius said slowly. "But I'm also—I don't know if anyone ever told you—I'm your godfather."

"Yeah, I knew that." Harry nodded, not seeing where the conversation was going.

"Well... your parents appointed me your guardian. If anything happened to them..." Sirius trailed off, his face falling. "I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle. But... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared... if you wanted a... a different home..."

"What—live with you?" He spluttered, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursleys?"

Sirius' face fell even more. "Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," he said quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd—"

"Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?" He asked eagerly.

Sirius looked as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You want to? You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" He exclaimed, before turning to Esmerelda. "Essie, you're his—uh—niece, right? Will you be moving in too?" He asked this with an air of curiosity rather than dislike.

She gave him an unsure look. "Harry, I..."

"There are some complications that we still need to sort out." Sirius explained for her, and she sent him a grateful look.

"Oh," Harry said and he actually looked a little disappointed. Esmerelda tilted her head, did that mean he actually wanted to get along with her?

They finally reached the end of the tunnel. Crookshanks placed his paw on the knot of the trunk to give them easier access to leave. The rabid tree had gone still and they exited the tunnel without any fear of getting smacked by branches.

The grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Without a word, they set off with Peter wheezing and occasionally whimpering.

Beside her, Remus glared at him. "One wrong move, Peter," he warned, wand still pointed sideways at Peter's chest. Esmerelda didn't have a wand out, but it was unnecessary anyways because Peter seemed to be more afraid of her than the wand at his chest. She really wondered what she had done to him back when she was a baby to make him this terrified of her.

And why the Hades does he think I'm part of some Satanic cult or something?

The castle lights grew larger as they approached. Esmerelda felt something lift from her shoulders. Relief. Finally, Sirius would get his name cleared and they can be an actual family. And Harry would have a better home too, which was even better. Sirius seemed to adore him just as much as he adored her, so she knew Harry would be in safe hands. She didn't know him that well, but his eagerness to move out pretty much told her everything she needed to know about the Durseleys.

Suddenly, a cloud above them shifted, bathing them in moonlight. Esmerelda didn't realize something was wrong until Remus froze. His entire body was rigid... and then he a second later his limbs began to shake erratically.

She stole a glance upwards and paled drastically. It was the full moon.

"Professor Lupin," she said shakily, inching away. The chains attached to her arm rattled and kept her from going any farther. "Please tell me you took the Wolfsbane potion..."

"R-run...!" He gasped, his body growing larger before her eyes. His voice then turned into growls as his body hunched over. Hair was sprouting from his whole body, ripping through his clothes. His hands were curling into paws.

They locked eyes. His were full of so much pain and fear... And then a second later, she watched as the humanity in his eyes faded away.

She heard everyone's panicked cries as she desperately tried to free herself, but it was too late.

With a savage snarl, Remus lunged at her.

— author's note —

I got really tired of the scene where Remus and Sirius were desperately trying to convince the golden trio that Peter was guilty, so I had Essie cut it short by making the guy fess up early on to save me from typing everything out because oh my goooooood, it was taking forever! 

Have fun with the cliffhanger guys!