The next morning, the students of Hogwarts students, still fresh off of Snape’s death, were surprised to find news of the imprisonment of a Hogwarts students as they went to breakfast the next morning. Harry walked over to Ron and Hermione, whom he had yet to tell about the capture the previous day, and sat beside them. “Morning,” he said quietly, but they just stared at him.
“Harry...what did you do?” Hermione breathed. “You’re just picking them off like flies now, aren’t you?”
“No,” Harry said truthfully. “I just happened to catch Peter in a hallway, talking to a rat he’d hired to spy on me, and we dueled. He cast the Cruciatus Curse on me, and Li...someone came by and stopped him.”
Hermione gasped, and Ron looked shocked. “He did WHAT?!” she exclaimed. “How can this happen? He’s not even seventeen yet!”
“He worked for Voldemort, Hermione,” Harry snapped. “It’s not like an incredible thing, you know...Malfoy tried to cast it on me in our sixth year once, when we dueled in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. He was the same age.”
“Are you okay, mate?” Ron asked quietly, examining Harry’s body. “Did it hurt much?”
“Of course it did,” Harry said, shrugging. “It’s the torture curse, after all. But hey, it’s over, so forget it.”
“I don’t think Dumbledore will forget it, Harry,” Hermione whispered, glancing up at the High Table, where Dumbledore was reading the Daily Prophet.
“We’ll see what everyone’s talking about in a second,” Ron commented, as owls began pouring into the Great Hall. The barn owl that was delivering Harry’s mail arrived, dropping a copy of the Prophet into his lap. Peter’s capture was different from Snape’s death, as Harry knew, because they couldn’t keep it quiet from the Ministry this time, having handed Peter directly over to them. The Prophet had to have been the first in line to get the inside scoop, Harry realized, as he read the front page:
HOGWARTS STUDENT ARRESTED
Peter Pettigrew, a student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has been arrested by Ministry officials after performing an Unforgivable Curse on another student at the school.
Pettigrew, 16, apparently got into a duel with said student, becoming frustrated and casting the Cruciatus Curse on him. Another student witnessed the attack, and the two students managed to subdue Pettigrew until staff arrived to take over.
“This is a horrible stain upon the records of our great school,” Professor Minerva McGonagall said to reporters yesterday. “I was the head of Pettigrew’s House, and I never suspected that such a quiet, seemingly harmless boy could be capable of this.”
Upon further investigation, Pettigrew was discovered to be in league with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Although Pettigrew never joined ranks with the Death Eaters, he was charged with exchanging information with other Death Eaters and You-Know-Who himself. Pettigrew will spend up to fifty years of service in Azkaban, assuming he will survive.
Pettigrew’s parents, Travis and Josephine, refused to talk with reporters on the matter, but Pettigrew’s uncle, Robert Pettigrew, got a word in. “Peter was such a great kid,” he said. “He was my nephew, but because I have no children of my own, he was like a son to me. I am just as saddened by this as anyone else is.”
Close to all of the current Death Eaters now at-large have passed through Hogwarts School, including You-Know-Who himself, formerly known as Tom Riddle. However, this is the first time a student has been charged with being in league with You-Know-Who while still in school, and also the first to be in a House other than Slytherin, which was founded by the infamous Salazar Slytherin, another Dark wizard of his time.
Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, refused to comment as well on the matter of Pettigrew, but did say that (ctd. page 5)
“Congratulations, Harry,” Hermione said dryly, “you made the front page of the Prophet even when no one thinks you exist.”
“Ha, ha,” Harry said. Just then, Professor Dumbledore strolled down the aisle to them.
“Harry,” he said, “may I have a word with you, please, after you finish eating? In my office?”
“Yes, sir,” replied Harry, exchanging nervous glances with Ron and Hermione. It was his own fault, of course, but it still scared him to think of what Dumbledore might do to him for getting two of the students in Hogwarts killed/arrested. Dumbledore, face unreadable, nodded and walked out of the Hall.
Harry spotted Lily reading the paper at the end of the table as his eyes returned from the door, and saw that she was crying. Surprised, he excused himself from the table, and walked over to her, sitting next to her. “Hey,” he said, and Lily looked up at him. Her eyes were watering, but she still grinned at him.
“Hey,” she replied. “You read this yet?” She motioned to the Prophet.
“Yeah,” Harry sighed. “I read it. I noticed they didn’t mention either of us personally, so that’s good...so, what’s up? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Lily sighed. “My mom wants me to come home from Hogwarts.”
“Why?” Harry asked, alarmed.
“I dunno,” she said. “She must think someone’s trying to get after me...first my ex-boyfriend dies, and then a boy in my House is arrested...she thought it was James for a while until Peter was convicted.” She laughed humorlessly.
“Well, it is sorta good this all happened, though, right?” Harry offered. “I mean, they both worked for Voldemort...”
Lily gasped, and Harry thought it was because he’d said Voldemort, but she said, “Severus worked for You-Know-Who?”
“Oh...yeah,” Harry said. He’d forgotten that no one knew this yet. “I forgot to tell you, I guess.”
“What is it with you and getting caught up with Dark wizards?” Lily said. “First you find out Severus is a Death Eater and he gets killed, then you find out Peter is, too, and he gets arrested...wait...”
With a jolt, Harry realized Lily was starting to put two and two together. “Well...” he said, clearing his throat. “I need to go see Professor Dumbledore. He wanted to see me, about...yesterday, probably.”
“Right,” Lily said, nodding. When Harry got up from the table and walked away, he thought he heard a faint sob behind him.
***
“Sit down, please, Harry,” Dumbledore said when Harry entered his office. Obliging, Harry sat in the wooden chair across from Dumbledore’s desk, waiting for the inevitable lecture. Instead, Dumbledore looked at him kindly.
“Harry, as you know, I disapprove of your interfering here in the past...but I wish you would have told me that Mr. Snape and Mr. Pettigrew were already in-league with Lord Voldemort. I would have legally been obliged to take action if that was the case.”
“I didn’t know,” Harry replied honestly. “Actually, I don’t know if any of the future Death Eaters at Hogwarts are in-league with him yet...”
“There are more?” Dumbledore replied quickly, leaning forward. “Harry, how many of my students here are already in-league with Voldemort?”
“Well, I don’t know,” Harry said, “but I know which ones will become Death Eaters later...” He rattled off some names, including Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, Regulus Black, and a few other “minor” Death Eaters. “But what are you going to do with them, sir?” Harry asked. “You can’t just suddenly arrest them out of the blue, can you?”
“No, I can’t,” Dumbledore agreed. “But you can leave this up to me, Harry, trust me.”
“Yes, sir,” Harry said, nodding.
“That is all,” Dumbledore said, acknowledging for Harry to leave. Harry, surprised that he wasn’t getting in trouble, got up and headed for the door. “Oh, and Harry...” Dumbledore said, and Harry turned around. “Please don’t do anything on your own,” Dumbledore said to him. “I can take care of this.”
“Yes, sir,” Harry said, but when he closed the door behind him, he felt a fit of rage coming on. Of course...like always...“Be a good boy and don’t do anything rash, Harry”...“Let the adults handle this; you’re just a kid...” “What does HE know?” he yelled at no one in particular as he left the office.
“What does who know?” a voice next to him said. Harry jumped; Remus was standing next to him.
“Oh, hey, Remus,” Harry said. “Where are Sirius and James?”
“Class,” Remus said indifferently. “I heard from Ron and Hermione you would be here, and I had to ask you something...”
“Sure, what is it?” Harry asked.
Remus, hesitated, and then finally asked: “What happens to me in the future?”
Whoa. That was not what Harry was expecting. “What...what do you mean?” Harry asked, not knowing what Remus knew.
“I’m not stupid, Harry,” Remus said, grinning. “I knew from the first day you came here there was something different about you. The Gryffindor logo on your robes is different than mine...you look so much like James...and then, of course, the little incidents happening lately that somehow seem to tie back to you...”
“Oh,” Harry said quietly. “But how did you know?”
“Sirius told me eventually,” Remus said, grinning. “So apparently, in the future, I’m the only Marauder left, except for Peter...who now has landed himself into Azkaban, which is suspicious in itself...”
“Well, you should all survive now,” Harry said. “I’m basically stopping all the people who caused me hell in the future from doing just that, and saving Sirius, James, Lily and Dumbledore from death.”
“I want to help,” Remus said eagerly.
“No need,” Harry said. “Dumbledore said that he would do it himself, and catch all the remaining Death Eaters in the school.”
“So that’s that?” Remus said, cocking his head. “If it was me or James or Sirius, we’d take things into our own hands.”
“Look where it got you,” Harry muttered incoherently under his breath. Remus didn’t notice.
“Anyway, we’d better get to Potions,” Remus said, as the bell rang. “We don’t want to be late...I hear Slughorn is in a pretty bad mood today, because two of his star students are gone.”
“Peter was good at Potions?” Harry asked, confused, as they walked down to the dungeons.
“Well, no,” Remus admitted. “I basically told him what to do, and he got credit for it...while I didn’t have enough time to tell him what to do AND finish mine.” He laughed dryly.
They talked the rest of the way to the dungeons, sitting at a cauldron together. Sirius and James were already there, talking quietly, as were Ron and Hermione, who waved at Harry when they saw him, grinning. Lily walked in right before the bell, her eyes slightly red from crying. For the whole class period, a short-tempered Slughorn had them brew an antidote to Amortenia, a love potion, and yelled at two Slytherins for causing their cauldron to spew sparks.
After class, almost everyone left quickly, not wanting to set Slughorn off again. While Harry was packing his things up, he noticed James walking towards Lily, who was also packing up. Pretending to be diving down to retrieve something, Harry crawled under the desk and inched closer, trying to listen in. It proved to be unnecessary... “NEVER!” Lily burst out at James, making Harry jump and hit his head on the desk.
“What?” James said. “Why? C’mon, Evans, you can’t avoid me forever!”
“You pick the wrong times to ask me, Potter,” Lily snapped. “I will never go out with you.” With that, Lily collected her things and stalked out of the room. Seeing Harry, a dejected James walked over to him and sighed.
“It would be nice to have a little advice on this,” James snapped. “You’re the one that says I’m going to marry her; it doesn’t look like it’ll happen now.”
“Well, you must have done something really good to get her attention,” Harry said. “I mean, something not rigged, and something that doesn’t involve hurting anyone or humiliating them...like saving someone from a broken leg or something...” Suddenly, it all crashed down on Harry in one big realization: the reason Lily had gone out with James is because she’d seen him save Snape from the Whomping Willow!
Harry simultaneously felt fear, because his mother and father might never meet, but also elation. Could it be possible that his previous plan could work? Could he end up staying here, in the past, and getting with Lily...? When that thought crossed his mind, he ran from the dungeons, leaving a confused James behind him.
But Harry didn’t care. There was something he had to do. “Lily!” he called out to the redhead walking towards the Charms classroom, and she turned to look at him.
“Hey, Harry,” she said, smiling weakly.
“Lily,” Harry blurted out, “will you go with me to Hogsmeade in two weeks?”
“Oh,” Lily said, and Harry couldn’t tell what she meant by it. Is she unsure of how to break the news to me, or just surprised? Harry thought desperately, psycho-analyzing everything, as Ron would put it. “Yeah, well, I just told James no...”
“Oh, yeah...I heard that,” Harry said. “So, uh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to...”
“Yes,” Lily said quickly, making Harry stop talking suddenly. “I mean, yes, sure, I’ll go with you,” she said, giggling.
“Well,” Harry said, clapping his hands together, “that’s that. Uh...thanks...” With that, his head spinning wildly, he ran away, leaving a giggling Lily to tell all of her friends what had just happened.
Author’s Note: Okay, it’s happened! Lily and Harry, on a date! Any thoughts? Leave a review! (And please avoid the words “ewww” and “gross” in your review, please... ;) ) Thanks for reading!