For 40 + advance chapter: patreon.com/Snowing_Melody
Without a wand, Sirius Black hit the forest floor on all fours. With a fluid, terrifying pop of shifting bones, he transformed.
A massive, bear-like black dog stood before the boys, baring yellow fangs and letting out a low, vibrating growl that rattled their ribcages.
Harry and Ron scrambled backward, tripping over roots in the gloom.
"You'd better let us go!" Harry shouted, brandishing Ron's wand with a trembling hand. "Otherwise, Hermione will find you! She destroyed the Ministry! She won't let you off the hook!"
The dog's growl deepened into a rough, human voice. "Nobody knows we're here."
Suddenly, the lump in Ron's pocket convulsed violently.
Scabbers the rat shrieked—a high, unnatural sound—and launched himself out of Ron's robes. He hit the ground, twisting and writhing as if his bones were melting.
To Harry and Ron's absolute horror, the rat began to swell. Fur receded into pale, grubby skin. A tail thickened into a leg.
In the blink of an eye, a short, portly man with watery eyes and a pointed nose stood before them. He was balding, his skin gray and pasty, and he smelled of sewer water and fear.
It was Peter Pettigrew.
Peter snatched his own wand—which Sirius had dropped earlier—from the leaves. He pointed it at the black dog, a manic, terrified grin splitting his face.
"That's right, Sirius," Peter squeaked, his voice wet and breathless. "Nobody knows we're here. That's great. That's perfect."
He turned to Harry and Ron, a glint of pure, desperate madness in his eyes.
"That's right, Harry! I betrayed your parents! I was the Secret Keeper! And to avoid being exposed, I have to kill all of you! No witnesses!"
"I'm sorry, Ron... I'm sorry, Harry..." Peter whimpered, tears leaking from his eyes even as he aimed the wand. "If I kill you, people will naturally think that Sirius, the mad dog, kidnapped you and ate you. It's a perfect story!"
Ron's eyes were wide, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. He wanted to scream, but terror had locked his throat. The rat... I slept with the rat... for twelve years...
Harry's heart sank to the bottom of his stomach. The betrayal. The lies. It was all real.
Sirius roared, gathering his hind legs to pounce, but Peter was faster.
A smug, triumphant smile spread across Peter's face. He raised the wand high, the tip glowing with a sickly light.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
BOOM--!
The spell left the wand with a rushing sound of death. But instead of flying forward toward the black dog, the green light hit an invisible barrier a millimeter from the tip.
It rebounded.
The Killing Curse slammed backward into Peter's chest.
Peter's smile froze. His eyes went wide with shock. His body went rigid, then slumped to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut. He lay still, staring up at the canopy with empty, glassy eyes.
Dead.
Harry and Ron stood frozen, their brains unable to process the physics of what had just happened.
Is this... wand tampering? Harry thought wildly. Did the wand backfire?
"This..." Ron whispered. "What..."
Suddenly, the world flickered.
The dark trees of the Forbidden Forest shimmered like a mirage. The cold, damp earth dissolved into smooth stone. The canopy of leaves faded into an enchanted ceiling reflecting a starry sky.
The darkness receded like a tide, revealing rows of long tables, floating candles, and golden plates.
They were in the Great Hall of Hogwarts.
And they weren't alone.
Dumbledore, Snape, Lupin, McGonagall... along with a delegation of Ministry officials led by "Ethan Hunt" (Tom Riddle), and literally the entire student body of Hogwarts, were sitting there, watching them. The Great Hall was silent, thousands of eyes fixed on the two boys and the dead man on the floor.
Sirius Black, now back in human form, stood up and dusted off his rags. He looked at the stunned boys and grinned.
"This was an illusion," Sirius announced, his voice echoing in the hall. "Created by Miss Granger and Headmaster Dumbledore. In reality, we have been on the stage of the Great Hall the entire time."
"The truth is out," he said, gesturing to Peter's corpse. "Everyone can go home now. Show's over."
Hermione stepped out from behind Dumbledore's chair. She was holding a crystal ball that had been projecting the "Forest" environment into the boys' minds.
"The first Hermione Granger-directed drama, The Rat and the Wolf, has been successfully completed," she announced, clapping her hands. "Filming is over. The Ministry of Magic paid for the catering. Go back and collect your lunch boxes."
"Ethan Hunt" stepped forward, looking grave and official. "Thanks to Her Highness the Witch, the truth has been revealed. Peter Pettigrew was the traitor. Sirius Black has been exonerated. I will report this to the Minister immediately."
Sirius walked up to Hermione, bowing his head. "Thank you," he whispered. "You crazy, brilliant witch."
"So... what exactly happened?" Harry asked, scratching his head. He looked completely bewildered, his CPU burning out. Ron looked like he was about to vomit.
"To put it simply," Hermione shrugged, leaning against the staff table. "Yesterday, while you were in Hogsmeade, having your romantic little moment with Malfoy, I ran into Sirius."
Harry turned green.
"Then, we devised a plan. Lure the snake—or rat—out of its hole."
"Wait!" Harry shouted, panic replacing confusion. "There's nothing between me and Malfoy! It's just—"
"Okay, okay, I know," Hermione waved her hand dismissively. She gave him a knowing, patronizing look. "Britain has its own national circumstances. I understand. It's okay. We won't discriminate against you, Harry. Love is love."
She looked out at the students.
The crowd, still recovering from the shock of seeing a dead man and a live murderer, suddenly erupted into titters. Eyes darted between Harry and the Slytherin table, where Malfoy was currently hiding his face in his hands.
"That's right!" Fred Weasley called out. "We support you, Harry!"
"Pfft..." A group of Gryffindor girls whispered, giggling. "Drarry is real..."
"Stop laughing!" Harry yelled, his face burning.
"Ahem," George Weasley said solemnly. "We are proper wizards. We have rigorous training. We won't laugh... unless it's really funny."
"PFFFTHAHAHA!"
Harry wanted to die.
Hermione ignored his suffering and started counting on her fingers.
"First," she explained, detailing the heist. "I had to get Dumbledore to open the boys' dormitory while you were asleep. Then, I cast a Sleeping Charm on you two. We levitated you to the Great Hall, set up the illusion boundaries, and planted the actors."
"Also," she held up the wand Peter had used. "I had to craft a special Reflecting Wand. Any curse cast with it bounces back 180 degrees. Basic physics, really."
"Finally, I had to bully the Ministry into watching."
She put her hands on her hips. "In short, I put in a tremendous amount of effort for this stage play. You guys should be grateful. You're famous."
Harry and Ron stared at her. How insidious, they thought.
It was a trap within a trap. She had manipulated the environment to make Peter feel safe enough to confess, safe enough to try to kill them, only to have him execute himself in front of the Minister's delegation.
Ron swayed on his feet. His vision blurred.
He wished he had fainted at the start. At least then he wouldn't have to face the realization that Scabbers—the rat he had cuddled, fed, and slept with for years—was a middle-aged man named Peter.
He watched me change, Ron thought, horror dawning. He watched me sleep.
Ron felt he had never been so humiliated in his life. He wanted to find a crack in the floor and crawl into the Chamber of Secrets. This wasn't a public execution of Peter; it was a public execution of Ron Weasley's dignity.
Snape looked at Sirius with a complicated expression. He hated Black, but he hated traitors more. And seeing Peter dead... it was justice.
Lupin was beaming. He rushed forward and hugged Sirius tightly. "Padfoot! I knew it! I knew you weren't him!"
Harry, finally shaking off the Malfoy comments, ran to his godfather. They embraced, tears in their eyes. He was no longer alone. He had family.
Dumbledore stood to the side, his blue eyes twinkling behind his half-moon spectacles. He stroked his beard, watching the heartwarming reunion.
"Miss Granger," Dumbledore said softly, "we truly owe you a great debt this time. You have saved an innocent man's soul."
Hermione shrugged. "Just doing my job, Headmaster. Maintaining stability."
She looked at the dead rat-man on the floor.
One less loose end, she thought. Now, back to the real work.