Chapter Text
“Squeak, Squeak!”
The fat brown rat was squeaking very loudly and constantly in its black cage. Harry was holding the cage with his one hand, looking at the rat disgustedly. Sirius and Remus helped Ron to walk, as he let out small groans with each step. Hermione looked at Ron worriedly and slowly followed them out of the Whomping Willow.
“Oh, Shut up, Pettigrew,” Sirius snarled. “I would love to kill you at the moment, but Harry here had a very nice heart and let you live.”
The brown rat stopped squeaking.
“I just didn’t want you to commit any crimes,” Harry said. “You deserve to walk free. This rat doesn’t. We’ll take the rat to Professor Dumbledore, he’ll know what to do.”
Sirius just softly smiled at that. At that moment, Ron let out a loud groan.
“Owww!!”
Sirius looked down at Ron with sympathy, since he’s the one who caused his wound.
“Again I apologize for this, Ron,” Sirius said as he continued to help him walk. “I’m usually a very nice dog--I don’t really bite.”
“Yeah, I’m surprised you did bite Ron Sirius,” Remus said. “You never really hurt anyone as Padfoot before.”
“I was--I was too focused on Pettigrew and didn’t really think this through,” Sirius said. He then glared at the rat.
When five of them finally stepped out of the Whomping Willow, they froze. In front of them, McGonagall and Dumbledore stood firmly with their wands raised. When they saw Sirius--they let out a gasp.
“We can explain,” Harry said weakly.
“Mr. Potter! Get away from Black, right now ,” McGonagall shouted. “He’s--”
Before McGonagall or Dumbledore could cast a spell at Sirius, Harry jumped in front of Sirius, shielding him with both of his hands.
“No! Professor, you can’t hurt him! He’s innocent! He didn’t...he didn’t kill my parents. This rat did.” Harry yelled and defended Sirius with everything he got.
Sirius was taken aback by his godson’s actions--it’s been less than two hours since he has found out the truth, and this boy was already trying to protect him at all costs. Sirius was not the only one who was shocked at Harry’s actions and words. Two professors were stunned, not knowing what to say for a moment.
“Harry, what do you mean that he’s innocent? And what do you mean this rat killed your parents?” After a moment, Dumbledore finally spoke up.
“This rat is Peter Pettigrew,” Harry said. “And I know you all believed that he was dead for over a decade, but he was an unregistered animagus. Sirius didn’t kill those muggles and turned in my parents to Voldemort….he did.”
The two professors were shocked again at the information Harry just provided. They glanced at the rat, who was squeaking again.
“And I can confirm that this is Pettigrew,” Remus said. “Because…”
He knew what to say, but he just couldn’t. It still hurt Remus to admit that Peter Pettigrew really betrayed James and Lily. That one of his best friends was on the dark side.
“Because three of us became animagi when we were in our fifth year to help Remus out when he transformed every month,” Sirius finished the sentence for Remus. “And each of us got a nickname of our own. He’s Wormtail. It was our little secret. Something that we never told anyone. There’s no way we wouldn’t recognize this rat even after a decade.”
McGonagall and Dumbledore looked at each other and stared back at Sirius for a while. They didn’t know what to say. Both of them believed for the longest time that Sirius was the one who betrayed the Potters and killed 13 Muggles. But now--some things seemed different. And as professors who closely saw how close James Potter and Sirius Black were during their Hogwarts days, they knew Sirius’ words had truth in it. Those eyes were not the eyes of a mass murderer or a betrayer. They were the eyes of someone innocent and tired of running away.
“Alright then,” Dumbledore said slowly. “Why don’t we take this somewhere else? Somewhere safe.”
“Where would we take them, Albus?” McGonagall asked.
“Well, it has to be somewhere in Hogwarts,” Dumbledore said. “We don’t want to get caught by the Ministry until everything is settled. I would say my office, but there are portraits and some of them wouldn’t know to keep quiet.”
“Perhaps our former students would know where to go since they were the mastermind of pranks, secret doorways and passages,” McGonagall pointed it out.
“Uh, well...we know some places, but there’s still a risk of being seen by someone and I don’t think we want to have this conversation in a passageway,” Sirius answered. Remus just shrugged, not knowing what to say.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione started to think. Where could they go? Somewhere that was in Hogwarts, that couldn’t be bothered by anyone else….one place came into their minds. Well, it wasn’t the best place, but at least no one else would overhear them or see them.
They exchanged glances. They knew it was a bad idea--but it was the only idea they had. And they didn’t really have a lot of time here.
“Well,” Hermione opened her mouth slowly and nervously. “We know a place we can go.”
The four adults turned to the brown-haired teenager.
“I really don’t wanna go back there but...I think it’s a good place to talk,” Ron added.
“And where would this place be, Mr. Weasley?” McGonagall asked patiently.
At that, Ron turned to Harry. Harry sighed and answered.
“...The Chamber of Secrets.”
“Mr. Potter, I really don’t think it’s the best place--” McGonagall expressed her concerns, only to be cut off by Sirius.
“Chamber of Secrets? That place doesn’t exist!” Sirius exclaimed.
“Isn’t that place just a legend? Even if it really existed, it hasn’t been opened for at least half of a century,” Remus said.
“It does,” Hermione said a bit nervously. “Well, I haven’t been down there, but Harry and Ron have.”
Sirius and Remus turned to Harry and Ron, both with major concerns in their eyes. Ron chuckled nervously, and Harry didn’t meet their eyes and stared at his shoes.
“While I don’t like the idea of going down to the Chamber of Secrets, I suppose that’s the best idea we have at the moment,” Dumbledore said.
“Albus!” McGonagall protested.
“We’ll be fine, Minerva. The Chamber of Secrets is no longer a threat.”
McGonagall seemed like she wanted to argue more, but seeing Dumbledore’s firm expression, she closed her mouth. When they were ready to leave, they heard a groan from behind. It was none other than Snape, who seemed to gain his consciousness not that long ago. Harry winced at Snape’s appearance, remembering that he was the one who casted a disarming spell towards the Potions professor.
“There you are Potter--” Snape snarled, walking towards them. Then, he saw Sirius, Remus, McGonagall, and Dumbledore standing side by side peacefully. He raised his eyebrow in suspicion. “What’s all this?”
“It’s nice to know that you will be joining us, Severus,” Dumbledore said. “We confronted Sirius here, and it seems like there’s some truth to his story. Before we take him up with the Ministry, we thought it would be best to have an overdue conversation somewhere else.”
“He doesn’t have to come,” Sirius said, glaring at Snape. “He’ll only make matters worse.”
“Now, Sirius, don’t be--” Remus began to argue, but he couldn’t finish his sentence.
“You’re afraid of me, Black? Afraid of me finding out the truth?” Snape hissed, already ready to cast a spell on him.
Sirius growled, and was ready to knock Snape down if he tried anything.
“Will you two please shut up?” McGonagall yelled at the two former students. Harry, Ron, Hermione were stunned at McGonagall’s action. They haven’t really heard their professor yell at someone like that before, especially towards another professor.
Sirius and Snape both shut up instantly--both of their faces were filled with a bit of shock and discomfort.
“Now, shall we? Lead us to the Chamber of Secrets, Mr. Potter.” McGonagall was back to her stern self, after knowing that the matter was settled.
Harry blinked for a couple of seconds, but then started to lead the group towards the Chamber of Secrets, somewhere that he thought he would never go back to again, especially with four of their professors and his godfather. Sirius changed back to his animagus form for the safety purposes, and Harry made sure to not let go of the rat, knowing that the conversation in the Chamber would change everything.