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"He said that he would join You-Know-Who and help him return; he said that he would be rewarded as his most loyal servant." Harry clenched his eyes shut, momentarily allowing himself to dive into his complete and utter hate for prophecies. That was when he realised that Ron had stopped speaking. He peered at the boy to find him looking, quite curiously, at Professor McGonagall.
"And did he say how he managed to enter the castle?" Dumbledore asked. Ron looked indecisive about actually wording any form of answer to that question and Harry braced himself; how bad could it be, he thought before inwardly cursing. That question was the best way to provoke the Fates and he should know better by now.
"He did." Ron admitted reluctantly.
"How?" The whole room was staring at him expectantly -except from Harry who was staring at his hands, partly intrigued, partly cautious- and Ron gulped.
"He said the original plan was to simply run out from Azkaban and try to leave on the first boat to dry land but…" The boy stopped again and looked at the Transfiguration teacher as if asking for permission.
"No one blames you for what happened, Mr. Weasley." She assured him. Somehow Harry thought that wasn't the root of the problem. And he was right.
"It's just… He said that he was hiding in a crack of a wall next to his cage as nobody was searching for him that close." He gulped and went on. "He said he was there when you came over Professor." The boy said timidly, startling the Head of Gryffindor House. Severus, who up to that moment was staying as far from the centre of attention as possible, shared a confused look with Harry from across the room.
"But what…" Ron didn't let her complete her sentence as it seemed he had decided the best way to go was simply say what he wanted to say in one breath.
"You were shouting at the guards and standing right in front of where he was hiding; he said he just climbed up your robes and into your jacket pocket. He jumped out the moment you returned to Hogwarts." The moments that followed were deafening in their silence. Harry looked swiftly at the robes his Transfiguration teacher was wearing and winced at how easy it would be for an emaciated wizard turned rat to do just that; McGonagall was very fond of long, flowing robes, usually in plaid. And, having seen her enraged before, Harry had no reason to believe she would be focused on anything other than venting her anger at that point in time.
"But… How…" McGonagall had turned an ashen shade of grey, slumping on her chair and looking smaller than ever; for the first time in his life, Harry noticed that she was actually shorter than his mother. With the way she held herself, she had always given the impression of being strong and imposing and seeing her like that was just… wrong. Harry cursed Pettigrew a little harder just for that.
"Are you certain about that, Mr. Weasley?" Dumbledore asked, looking at the now crying professor sympathetically. Ron nodded, making McGonagall sob silently in her handkerchief. Molly, Lily and Madam Pomphrey ran to her side, trying to console her as much as possible.
"He said that that's how he moved in and out the school too; he just waited for either Sirius or Professor McGonagall to pass through a passageway and slithered out when it was dark enough for him to hide in the shadows." Dumbledore rubbed his eyes tiredly and motioned for Ron to go on.
"Then Adrian asked him why did he try to enter the common room on Halloween when nobody was there; he said he knew about the Marauders' Map. He had seen Fred and George using it." It was the twins' turn to blanche, freckles looking that more prominent on their face. The whole Weasley family moved closer to them almost as if it was a reflex and Harry smiled slightly besides the news.
"But how did he know of the map?" George asked confused.
"He's Wormtail." Lily muttered, causing the twins to startle even more.
"He told us it was the only way they could spot him and that acquiring it would also help him know where Adrian was all the time." Ron added, not liking the way his usually cheerful brothers were looking at the moment.
"But we never saw him on the map!" Fred protested.
"You wouldn't." Harry spoke for the first time in hours, the attention momentarily shifting on him. "He'd only show up on the map if he was walking in the corridors or some specific room; but as a rat he could walk through cracks on the walls and he knew all the secret passageways; he wouldn't appear on the map either while he was there. Sirius told me." Looking at the confused Weasley twins he hastened to explain. "Sirius is Padfoot." That latest revelation appeared to shock the twins completely into silence.
"Well, he tried to hex Adrian next." Ron stated, really wanting to get this whole thing over with; he was getting sleepy at that point and Harry couldn't really blame him. He just tried not to focus that hard on how close his brother had gotten to get killed that night. "But Adrian dodged and started casting back; they moved around the room for a while but Adrian finally managed to disarm him. Pettigrew was close to the door at that point so he chose to flee. Adrian waited for a few seconds to see if he was coming back, ran to me to make sure I wasn't hurt besides my leg and then ran after him. I don't know what happened after that. I think I must've fainted because next thing I remember, some Aurors were waking me up and bringing me here."
HI GUYS IF YOU WANT READ 200 + CHAPTERS THEN VISIT
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