AN: As promised, here's the BONUS chapter from yesterday! Hope you guys enjoy, and remember to keep voting with Power Stones for more bonus chapters!
Snape whizzed around just as the spells struck his wand. He stared at them in disbelief as his wand clattered to the grounds.
"You…" he uttered, shock and anger evident in his voice and face.
"Blake!" Harry, Hermione and Ron cried out.
"Sorry, Professor," Blake said, pointing his wand at Sirius Black. The haggard man looked thoroughly surprised.
"Harry and Hermione," Blake said calmly, "Untie Professor Lupin."
"You fool!" Snape snarled. "Do you-"
"Incarcerous!" Daphne said, her wand still trained on Snape as ropes wrapped tightly around him and his mouth. "Apologies, Professor, but please - just hear him out."
Snape writhed in rage as Harry and Hermione hurriedly tried to untie Lupin.
"You-," Blake said to Black, ready to fire a spell at a moment's notice, "you're saying Peter Pettigrew is still alive, and suggesting your innocence because of them?"
"Y- Yes." Black sounded far less like a deranged murderer now than when he was talking to Snape.
"Explain. You were the Secret Keeper, weren't you? And there are eyewitness accounts of you murdering 12 Muggles, if not Pettigrew himself."
"We swapped the Secret Keeper at the last minute," Black said quickly. "Peter was the Secret Keeper - I suggested it because I knew Voldemort would never suspect him - or so I thought," he said, casting arguably the most hateful look Blake had ever seen at Ron's rat.
"He betrayed Lily and James, and when I realised and confronted him, he acted as though he knew nothing of the sort!" Sirius snarled as Lupin got up.
"And then he-"
"-cut off his own finger," Blake finished, realisation dawning on his face. "Ron - Scabbers - is he missing a toe?"
"What?" Ron asked, stunned. "Y- Yes, but-"
"Blake, I saw Peter's name on the map too," Lupin said urgently.
"The map was lying then!" Harry responded angrily, staring at Sirius.
"The map never lies! Peter's here - there!"
"And it makes sense too," Daphne reasoned. "That's why the rat remained hidden - after the Dark Lord's demise, they would've thought you were the traitor - after all, the night that you betrayed the Potters, he was defeated. You-"
"Exactly!" Black howled. "I heard them, Peter," he taunted, "in Azkaban! The things they swore to do once they got their hands on you!" Black laughed maniacally.
"But how did you know which rat it was? How did you know to come to Hogwarts?"
"Fudge," Black croaked. "Visited last year - showed a picture of him," he pointed at Ron, "with the rat. I knew it was him from the paw."
"And that's why you were saying 'he's at Hogwarts'!" Harry said, realisation dawning on him too.
There was silence in the room for a second, and Blake noted even Snape's eyes were wide.
"So, all that's left to see is whether the rat really is Pettigrew," Blake said quietly, his voice barely a whisper.
"Indeed," Lupin said, turning to Ron. "Your rat, Ron."
The ginger boy hesitated for a moment, before handing over the squirming, balding rat. Out of the corner of his eye, Blake saw Black reach for Snape's wand.
"No, you don't," Blake said firmly, and Black froze. "Professor Snape, if Daphne undoes the binding, will you be civil now that you've heard it?"
Blake felt weird chiding a teacher, but he took Snape's scathing look as a yes, and Daphne unbound the Potions Master. Rubbing his wrists, Snape got up and grabbed his wand, glaring daggers at everyone in the room, before pointing his wand at Black.
"Make one wrong move…" he whispered lowly, staring at Black.
"I dare you…" Black whispered back.
Daphne coughed loudly and pointedly, and seeing the looks on the two men's faces, Blake found himself smiling despite the situation.
"Ready?" Lupin said. "On the count of three - one, two, THREE!"
There was a blue flash of light from Lupin's wand, and suddenly, the rat was levitating, twisting, turning, elongating - then another flash - and Blake leapt back.
"It's… it's really him," Snape whispered. Standing before them was a short, balding, ugly man, barely taller than Harry.
"S- Sirius? R - Remus? My old friends!"
"Hello, Peter," Lupin said in a sweetly false voice. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Ok, come off it," Blake said immediately. For some odd reason, Blake felt sick to his stomach looking at the man, and hearing him talk was even worse. He looked straight at Harry.
"Harry, do you believe Black yet?"
The Boy-Who-Lived struggled with hesitation for a moment.
"I-"
"Harry!" Pettigrew suddenly cried out, falling to his knees, trying to grab him. "You mustn't believe-"
"Shut up, rat," Daphne said, before looking at Lupin. "Professor, your medicine…"
"You both knew?" Hermione asked, shocked.
Lupin looked startled for a moment.
"Of course! I forgot - no, sh*t," Blake almost laughed at the serious teacher swearing. "I have to go - but -"
He cast a look over at Pettigrew, then Snape.
"Don't worry, Professor," Blake assured him. "You can still make it in time if you hurry now - we'll deal with everything here."
Lupin nodded, before turning to Snape, who looked at him hatefully.
"Severus…"
"Just leave," the man spat.
Lupin looked at Black next, who was grinning.
"Don't worry, Moony. I'll deal with Wormtail and Snivellus."
"You dare…" Snape hissed.
"Very well," Lupin interrupted. "Stay safe, all of you - apart from you, Peter," he said, with more venom than Blake had ever heard before in his voice. "The Dementor's Kiss would be too kind a punishment."
Pettigrew looked as though Lupin had just struck him in the face.
With those parting words, he ran towards the castle.
"Professor Snape," Blake said. "I believe Black." The rat man let out a pitiful cry. "Do you?"
Snape was silent for a long time, staring at Black, before replying.
"I accept it. However, Black is a fugitive… he broke into the castle… he slashed the Fat Lady… held a knife… he must still-"
"Of course, Professor," Blake said smoothly. "He'll face… justice… for damaging a drawing," Blake tried not to laugh, "but our priority is bringing Pettigrew to justice, wouldn't you agree?"
Snape didn't respond to the question.
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