Today was the day. It was the day that Pettigrew would finally pay for his crimes. It was noon on a Saturday and the school was eating lunch. Including Ron Weasley and Scabbers. Harry sat next to Ron, chatting about Quidditch and Hermione sat across from them, next to Silos. The plan was to get Scabbers out in the open and force his transformation. Everyone would see him and Dumbledore should surely recognize him. Then, they were hoping that Pettigrew would try to even the playing field by revealing Sirius. They would tell their parts of what happened at the hollows in front of the entire school. Harry would take Sirius's side and hopefully nothing would go wrong. If Harry chose to believe Sirius, the Ministry would have to take into consideration Harry Potter's opinion. Because, well, he was Harry Potter. Plus, if they really wanted to know who the true secret keeper was on that fateful night, they just had to check the Potter's Will.
Hermione took a deep breath and connected her eyes to Lupin. He gave a subtle nod and their plan went into action. Hermione summoned Scabbers and Ron shouted at her. She quickly threw the rat in the air and Sirius threw the spell to force his transformation. She crossed her fingers and it worked. The rat landed on the table in a pain filled transformation. Everyone screamed and there on the table was the saddest man she had ever seen. He was short, a bit fat and extremely dirty. That was expected though, for a man that had spent many years as a rodent. He looked around with watery eyes and quickly looked to every student's face. The teachers were preparing to make a move and bind the man, when he lifted a discarded wand from the table and sent a canceling spell at Silos. Silos screamed and began to change painfully. Looks like Pettigrew was really bad at spell work. People screamed and moved away from Silos as he transformed into the one and only, Sirius Black.
The teachers were confused and didn't know who to shoot. Hermione caught Snape's eyes and he scowled at her. She just sent him the most pleading look she could managed. He nodded once and seemed to accept that she had a plan.
The two enemies eyed each other, wands drawn. Sirius moved forward and said, "Hello, Pettigrew." The man who was still standing on a table said, "Black." It was a standoff of wills. They knew someone would crack. It was only a matter of who. Sirius said with a hardened voice, "why'd ya do it Pete? James and Lily treated you like family! We all accepted you." Peter looked around frantically and jumped down from the table. The students backed up further and the teachers held their positions. The students weren't in immediate danger and it seemed like there was a problem that needed solving. Pettigrew was supposed to be dead and Sirius was supposed to be in Azkaban.
Pettigrew said almost desperately, "I didn't do anything to James and Lily. Last time I checked, you betrayed them! You killed them! Harry's own godfather killing his parents!" Sirius threw a curse at the man and he dodged it. "I did not betray Lily and James! You did! You were the secret keeper! You were a Death Eater! You are Voldemort's right hand man!" The crowd gasped and Pettigrew was losing it. He was beginning to panic. They circled each other and Sirius said, "come on! Show them who has a Dark Mark on their forearm!" Sirius pulled up his sleeves almost crazed and everyone was amazed to see them blank of any Dark Mark. He yelled, "COME ON PETTIGREW! LET'S SEE!" Peter stood still in shock and Hermione was sick of the waiting. This needed to be done with. She subtly flicked her wrist and Pettigrew's sleeves ripped completely off. There, before everyone, Peter Pettigrew was revealed to be a Death Eater. For all to see was a faded Dark Mark. A black skull with a snake flowing out of the mouth. Peter saw that people were panicking and he wouldn't escape the situation easily. So, he grabbed the closest thing to him, which happened to be Hermione.
He held her in an unexpectedly firm lock and held the wand to her neck. How did she not expect this? The students screamed and Sirius was now deadly. Remus's werewolf instincts were flickering, McGonagall looked murderous and even Snape seemed to be extremely pissed off at this new development in the fight. None of the reactions though, compared to Harry's.
He had never felt such extreme anger before. It bubbled beneath the surface and boiled over. He gripped his wand as Pettigrew said, "you'll let me free, or I slit her throat." Harry felt a growl ripped from his throat. As well as the two canines in the room. He sent a strong hex to Pettigrew and the man dodged it best he could with Hermione held to him. She didn't look panicked, just trying to figure out a way to get out of the situation. Harry stalked forward predatory like and his eyes flickered gold. He growled out, "let her go." Peter held her tighter and she was beginning to get light headed from the pressure. Pettigrew stuttered out, "y-you do anything to me a-and she dies." Harry violently threw a powerful hex and the man dodged again. He was going to strike again when the unexpected happened. Pettigrew froze and then sent a slicing spell at Hermione's neck on pure instinct it seemed. The two fell to the ground and three people were the cause of it. Snape, Lupin, and Black had all thrown spells to take down the man. Hermione however, was badly injured. "Hermione!"
She was holding her neck together as it bleeded profusely. Harry did a quick numbing charm that Hermione taught him and was surprised to see her neck being pulled together by a spell from Professor Snape. The man pushed Harry out of the way and that act alone made Harry want to rip the man's head off. That is, until the Professor knelt down and began to work on her neck. Her eyes were wide open as she watched the Professor work. Students were being lead out of the great hall while the man did his best to fix the mess Pettigrew had made.
Snape was a Potions Master, which meant he had extensive knowledge in medicine. It looked to be that Pettigrew didn't know how to cast a proper spell. Every time he closed the wound, it reopened. He was always prepared for wounds, so he grabbed bandages out of his pocket and wrapped her neck to the best of his abilities. Once that was done, be lifted her and ran to the infirmary. Harry was right on his heals.
While that was going on, the teachers were working out things with Sirius. Wands were held to the man, except Remus, and Dumbledore stated, "what is this all about?" Sirius dropped his wand and said tiredly, "I wanted to catch Pettigrew before he could hurt Harry. To do that, he needed to be revealed." Dumbledore nodded and said, "lower your wands!" The teachers did so and Dumbledore winked at Sirius. The old coot really was a good actor. The teachers still didn't trust him, but they agreed that with the evidence presented today, he deserved a fair trial. Dumbledore sent out his phoenix patronus to the Ministry of Magic for Aurors to come pick up the two 'criminals' and talk to someone about getting them a trial. The aurors came and Sirius went silently with dignity and Pettigrew went kicking and screaming. The rat kept screaming things like, "my master needs me!" It was sickening to think that they condemned the wrong person.
In the hospital wing, Snape had dropped off his patient and instantly left. Harry however, stayed while Madame Pomfrey worked her magic. When she had finished, Hermione was exhausted and her neck was sore. The wound had finally closed, but Madame Pomfrey insisted that she wore a bandage in case it reopened. Harry went to her side and grabbed her hand. She gripped his just as hard and gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm fine Harry. Just a little scratch. It's not even that deep." Harry shook his head and said, "it needed to be closed twenty times, Hermione!" She just nodded and asked, "yes, but am I breathing?"
Harry paused before answering, "yes."
"Is my pulse going?"
"Yes."
"Can I speak?"
"Well...yes."
"Then what have we established?"
"That…. That you're fine." Hermione smile and nodded. Harry couldn't help, but worry though. When Pettigrew got ahold of her, he felt something tug on his mind. It shouted at him to tear the bastard apart and save his Hermione. She was alright and that's all that mattered at the moment. Pettigrew was most definitely going to Azkaban or worse. Sirius would get a fair trial now that Pettigrew was exposed. It was all looking good.
He took a calming breath and rested his head on the bed. Hermione took her other hand and stroked Harry's hair in a calming fashion. Their calm and peace bounced off each other and they sat in peace together.
Later on, Madame Pomfrey told Hermione that as long as she was careful, she could go back to her dormitories. She agreed to be careful and Harry walked back with her. They held hands as they wandered down the halls. The two reached the portrait of the Fat Lady and Harry said the password, "Snitch's golden wings." The portrait opened and the common room was fairly empty. Well, completely empty. Everyone was probably gossiping in their dorms about the day's events.
Harry and Hermione sat together on the couch and talked about the day's events. They were both satisfied with the outcome, minus Hermione being injured. Her wound didn't open the rest of the night
Midnight rolled around and they went their separate ways. Neither could sleep peacefully that night, not quite knowing if the other was completely alright.