The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part Two

LXVIII: 23 June, 1994

Sirius Black's slow-clapping echoed in the room. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked down at him where he lay on the floor, having been blasted back to trip over Remus Lupin, who was still bound on the floor beneath Sirius, whose legs hung over Remus's prone form. "Well, I think this may just have been James's proudest moment of his entire life - if only he'd been here to see it!"

Harry, stunned at what happened, looked to Severus Snape.

Hermione was still shaking. "We attacked a TEACHER. We're going to be expellled!"

"Yeah... you probably shouldn't have done that," Sirius said, "You should've left him to me..."

"You don't even have a wand on you!" Ron said.

Sirius pulled himself up from the floor, using the same bed post Ron was clinging to and Ron recoiled slightly - though not as dramatically as he would've done before - and Sirius snorted, "I don't need a wand to destroy Severus Snape!"

Really, though, Sirius was so gaunt and thin that Ron rather reckoned Sirius would struggle at it if he had six wands, but he didn't say as much.

Remus was struggling against the bindings on the floor and making whining, pleading sounds from the floor. Sirius quickly knelt down, "That snake, that vicious snake, look at you... look at you..." he started untying the ropes as quickly as he could, biting at a particularly nasty knot and clearing the bindings away from Remus's arms. He yanked the ropes from Remus's mouth and got up, helping Remus to his feet.

Remus rubbed his arms where there were dark red marks and indentations from where the cords had been pulled so ridiculously tight, cutting into his skin. "He can certainly cast a good incarcerous, damn."

Sirius said, "Hate to think what he uses it for."

Remus looked at the students, his eyes staying with Harry's. "Thank you, Harry," he said, "That was really very brave. Your father and mother would have --"

"I'm still not saying that I believe you!" Harry retorted. "This is all very -- very much a lot." He looked sickened, glancing from Severus to Sirius and back to Remus. "Just because Snape is wrong doesn't automatically mean that you lot are right! And he - he disrespected my father. I -- I couldn't let --" his eyes met Sirius's.

Something about Sirius's expression, the way Sirius stared at him, the... the pride... in his eyes... Harry felt his heart seize up a moment.

"Then it's time we offered you some proof, Harry," Sirius said firmly. He turned around. "You boy --"

"R-Ron," stammered Ron.

"Give Peter to me. Now."

Ron clutched Scabbers to his chest protectively.

How many times had he been stuck at home alone in his room with no friends and his brothers all busy playing quidditch together, not letting him join in because they were older and made the team uneven (unless he could somehow talk Percy into coming outside to play too, then they'd be obliged to let him play to even the teams back out again)? How many times had him and Scabbers spent playing with little mazes and blocks of cheese and bits of strawberries and rat treats? How many times had Ron confided his worries in Scabbers? He said all the time he was a shoddy rat, sure, but - but hadn't he actually been a - a good rat?

"Come off it," Ron said weakly. He didn't WANT to believe that all those times with Scabbers had been a hoax. He looked to Harry sadly. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers?" Ron looked to Hermione, then back to Harry again. "Okay, say - say Pettigrew could turn into a rat - there are - there are millions of rats, aren't there? How's he supposed to know which one he's after if he was locked up in Azkaban?" Ron pointed at Sirius with his free hand, then returned it to cup Scabber's fat round body.