whimpered, staring at the lifeless Snape with frightened eyes. “Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble —”
Lupin was struggling against his bonds. Black bent down quickly and untied him. Lupin straightened up, rubbing his arms where the ropes had cut into them.
“Thank you, Harry,” he said.
“I'm still not saying I believe you,” he told Lupin.
“Then it's time we offered you some proof,” said Lupin. “You, boy — give me Peter, please. Now.”
Ron clutched Scabbers closer to his chest.
“Come off it,
Louis Vuitton Handbags Outlet,” he said weakly. “Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean…” He looked up at Harry and Hermione for support,
cheap michael kors, “Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat — there are millions of rats — how's he supposed to know which one he is after if he was locked up in Azkaban?”
“You know, Sirius,
Cheap Michael Kors Handbags, that's a fair question,” said Lupin, turning to Black and frowning slightly. “How did you find out where he was?”
Black put one of his claw-like hands inside his robes and took out a crumpled piece of paper, which he smoothed flat and held out to show the others.
It was the photograph of Ron and his family that had appeared in the Daily Prophet the previous summer, and there, on Ron's shoulder, was Scabbers.
“How did you get this?” Lupin asked Black, thunderstruck.
“Fudge,” said Black. “When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page on this boy's shoulder…I knew him at once…how many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts…to where Harry was…”
“My God,” said Lupin softly, staring from Scabbers to the picture in the paper and back again. “His front paw…”
“What about it?” said Ron defiantly.
“He's got a toe missing,” said Black.
“Of course,” Lupin breathed. “So simple…so brilliant…he cut it off himself?”
“Just before he transformed,” said Black. “When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself — and sped down into the sewer with the other rats….”
“Didn't you ever hear, Ron?” said Lupin. “The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger.”
“Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something! He's been in my family for ages, right —”
“Twelve years, in fact,” said Lupin. “Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?”
“We — we've been taking good care of him!” said Ron.
“Not looking too good at the moment, though, is he?” said Lupin. “I'd guess he's been losing weight ever since he heard Sirius was on the loose again….”
“He's been scared of that mad cat!” said Ron, nodding toward Crookshanks,
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