James looked helplessly on as Madam Pomfrey worked furiously to repair
the injuries suffered by his friend. How had Peter come to be in
this state? Simon had uttered half-intelligible apologies for
stepping on a rat, but surely that couldn't account for the extent of
the damage done to his body. Many of the afflictions he suffered
would have been quite light taken on their own, but compiled together
the results looked to be almost lethal.
He didn't know if he could cope with losing another close friend.
"Jamess..."
"Peter?" He blinked as he realised that one eye was peering
blearily up at him. The other was swollen shut. "Don't try
to talk now, just save your strength - "
"Sssorry.... sso ssorry..."
"Mr Pettigrew!" Pomfrey intervened when Peter struggled to sit up. "Lie back this instant!"
Peter relaxed for an instant, then raised his bloody left hand to grab hold of James' own.
"Ssnt Mungos. Mminis-try. H-hogsmeade," he gasped out. "T-targets..."
"Targets?" James shook his head. "Peter -" he began, taking
Peter's broken hand in his own - only to freeze as he saw the darker
patch of skin beneath the blood on his mangled left arm.
Dumbstruck, he met Peter's gaze in growing horror.
"Sso sorry... Sirius... Sso sssorry..."
James froze, barely aware of Albus moving to stand beside him, his
eerily calm voice rolling over the top of Madam Pomfrey's protestations.
"Peter. St Mungos, the Ministry, Hogsmeade. What more can you tell us?"
If Peter had an answer, James never heard it. Only one thought echoed in his mind.
Sirius...
Peter, how could you?
*** *** ***
It was dark and cramped wherever they were now. Remus held
himself silent and still until he was sure that there were only two
people with him.
"Lily? Harry?" he queried hoarsely.
"I'm fine," Lily responded, her body twisting against his. "Lumos."
He shielded his eyes from the light she had conjured, focusing instead
on the walls of the tiny room - and it's rather odd ceiling...
"Harry?"
The tight tone of Lily's voice drew his attention to the boy in her
arms. His eyes were closed, a thin streak of blood dripping down
his forehead marring the appearance of sleep. Lily shook him
gently. There was no response.
"Easy, Lil," Remus spoke quickly, but calmly. "Stay with him."
She frowned, but nodded, holding Harry more tightly to her with one arm
while she arranged the other to allow free movement of her wand.
Looking around again, Remus determined that the 'room' was little more
than storage space, built under a stairwell judging by the
ceiling. Running his hand along the wall behind him, he
swiftly found a doorknob. He listened carefully for several
moments before cautiously opening the door and crawling out of the
cupboard. He closed the door behind himself.
The house outside the cupboard was quiet at first. He checked the
downstairs rooms anyway, and found them empty. Some photos in the
living room caught his eye, but the sudden sound of a loo flushing
upstairs startled him far more than it should have, distracting him
from their contents. Footsteps could be heard as the person moved
to a different room, but soon died away to silence once more.
Returning to the cupboard, he tapped twice to indicate safety to Lily
before opening the door. She had her wand pointed at him anyway.
"There's someone upstairs. We should probably leave before they
know they have guests. You have your 'key?" he murmured
softly. She nodded in reply, and he crouched down beside them,
grasping her shoulder as she drew the portkey from her pocket and
activated it.
Nothing.
"Wards," she muttered, throwing a meaningful look at him.
"I didn't pick them up," he frowned.
"They're subtle - "
The footsteps became audible again. Remus backed out of the
cupboard and closed the door, darting behind the kitchen door just as
the house's occupant reached the stairs. As luck would have it,
the person headed straight past Remus's hiding spot and into the
kitchen. He blinked in surprise as he realised just why the
photos had seemed familiar to him.
"Hello, Petunia," he greeted Lily's estranged sister.
She spun around, dropping the plate she had picked up, her face the very essence of horror.
"Who - how - " she stammered.
"My name is Remus. I'm a friend of your sister."
That single word was enough to send her from shock to anger.
"Get out!"
"I assure you - "
"Just get out!" she screamed, picking up another plate and throwing it at him.
He ducked out of the kitchen, almost running into Lily in the
corridor. Yanking her wand arm down, he ducked into the cupboard
and lifted Harry into his own arms while Lily stood defensively by them
both.
"You!" Petunia had followed them into the corridor, and was glaring
hatefully at Lily. "What are you doing here? Haven't you
done enough? Get out!"
"Lily!" Remus called sharply as he made his way to the door. He
could see Lily biting her lip as she turned her back on her sister and
led them out of the house. They were barely down the steps when
the front door slammed behind them.
"Well, that accounts for the wards," Lily spat out bitterly.
"How far do they extend?" Remus was acutely aware he was standing
in his pyjamas in the middle of a muggle street carrying a teenage boy
in his arms. Not exactly a commonplace occurrence.
"Not too far," Lily answered, and they hurried along a couple of blocks until they were clear to portkey out.
Minutes later they were at the entrance to Hogwarts' hospital
wing. Lily called out to Poppy as they moved into the ward, but
received no reply from the mediwitch. Instead, the Headmaster
stepped out from behind a curtain to greet them solemnly.
"Albus? What's happened?"
"Something which the old crowd will be informed of as a whole," the
wizard answered gravely. "I have sent summons to everyone.
We will meet as soon as all can be gathered." Sharp blue eyes
lingered on Harry, cradled in Remus' arms. Remus exchanged a
meaningful glance with Lily.
"He suffered a breakdown of some kind while we were visiting Remus,"
Lily explained, blinked, and then glared at Remus accusingly.
"I'm fine!" he assured her hastily, before turning to Albus. "He
behaved quite similarly to James when he has a vision, really."
"Yet he says he's not a seer."
"James said the same thing, until..." he trailed off, the words unspoken but heard all the same.
Madam Pomfrey bustled out from behind the same curtain towards them,
her strained expression not boding well in Remus' opinion. The
look she directed at Lily and himself, then at the Headmaster was not
lost on the werewolf, but he waiting until Harry was settled into bed
before pressing the matter. Poppy simply turned to Dumbledore,
who adjusted the privacy screen so that they could see the person in
the next bed.
"James!" Lily exclaimed. "What - "
"Calm down, dear," Madam Pomfrey insisted in firm tones, taking Lily's
hands in her own. "He just had a bit of a shock. He'll be
right as rain soon enough."
Remus didn't pay any more attention to the witches. Instead, he
looked beyond James' bed to the one where Albus and Poppy had been when
they entered the room. The familiar odour of sanitation spells
had masked the distinctive scent when they had first entered the
hospital wing, but it was growing stronger with every passing
minute. He took one step towards it only to be restrained gently
but firmly by Dumbledore's hand.
"Who?" he asked the Headmaster. In his peripheral vision he
glimpsed Lily's eyes widening momentarily before focussing intently on
Albus.
"Peter Pettigrew was gravely injured, bringing news the old crowd needs to hear."
Remus stood stunned for several moments. "How serious are his
injuries?" he managed to ask hoarsely. The look in Albus' eyes
was answer enough.
*** *** ***
"They're really going over the top with this paranoia," Ginny
complained to Theo and Colin as they sat studying in the library.
At least, Theo was studying. Colin was flipping through his photo
album, and Ginny was spending most of her time eying Neville and
Hermione as they shuffled their way through a thick stack of books.
"Uh huh," Theo grunted, rereading the same line in his book for the third time.
"Hermione on her own is bad enough, but why is Neville so into it this time?"
"Mmm."
"Theo!"
"What?" he looked up, blinking at her crossly.
"Don't you think it's rather strange - "
The doors to the library thudded loudly as Dennis came running over to their table.
"What's he done now?" Theo asked automatically, only to frown as he saw the expression on Dennis' face.
"You'd really better come see," he panted, and led them all swiftly back to the fourth year boys' dorm in Gryffindor tower.
Simon was curled up on his bed, white-faced. Theo didn't think he'd ever seen his brother looking so lost.
"What's wrong, Sime?" he asked, but for once Simon seemed without
words. His expression spoke for him as he stared desperately at
his hands.
A quick order sent the others outside, Ginny nodding soberly at Theo in
encouragement as he sat next to his brother on the bed and patted his
shoulder awkwardly. They sat like this for several minutes before
Simon finally spoke.
"'Some things just stay broken,'" he whispered. "That's what Harry told me. And he's right."
"What happened?"
"Dad's going to hate me," he whimpered, stalling the inevitable.
"Dad could never hate you. You know that. He loves
you. We all do, no matter what ridiculous scrape you're in.
It'll be all right."
"Not this time." He screwed up his face in what could have been a
gathering of courage or a struggle against tears. "I think I
killed Uncle Peter."
Theo froze, staring at his brother. Simon wouldn't meet his eyes.
*** *** ***
The room was crowded despite a few notable absences, the air stifling
even before Dumbledore calmly announced that the wizarding world's
largest hospital would shortly be overrun with pureblood maniacs
wreaking havoc and destruction.
It felt just like the old days. Only he was standing on the other side of the field, so to speak.
"We have to evacuate St Mungos!"
"We can't do that without letting them know we know - "
"If we don't, everyone in that hospital will be - "
The debate continued for several minutes, until Dumbledore slowly raised his hands.
"We cannot evacuate St Mungos, not completely," he stated. "We
cannot risk Voldemort changing his target, and being caught off-guard."
"So what can we do?"
Die. Watch their friends die. Watch the innocents die.
Of course, Dumbeldore would never let that happen, oh no - he had a
plan. Most likely one characterised by cunning, daring, and a
dash of lunacy.
Severus was not disappointed.
It took less than an hour for the Headmaster to convince the crowd and
lay the foundations of his plan in motion. It took less than a
minute after the two of them were left alone for Severus to provide him
with his own input.
"It's a trap, and you know it."
Dumbledore shook his head wearily. "I know nothing of the sort. I believe the information to be accurate."
"So why not tell everyone who brought it, and precisely how it was obtained?"
"That does not need to be general knowledge."
"Really."
Blue eyes met the shadow of black, and looked away.
"We will take all precautions possible, but I fear that this is not something we will escape unscathed."
"More of Potter's mad ramblings?" Severus sneered.
"I would appreciate something so concrete."
Severus eyed the old man balefully. "How many deaths will you be able to bear on your conscience, Headmaster?"
The old man looked back at the vengeful ghost with mingled sorrow and determination. "I pray that I will never find out."