Kapitel 13: Chapter 13 - To catch a rat
A full two months later, toward the end of April, Ash was in his study late at night, brewing three potions side by side. A quill took notes as he described the changes.
"Cauldron two, change in color 95 seconds early. Promising, further testing with variations required if brewing succesful," Ash said as he looked at a stopwatch-like device.
As the quill stopped writing, the door to his study was opened, and a man stepped inside. Ash didn't turn to look, and the man noticed he was in the middle of something, so he kept quiet.
A good 10 minutes later, all three potions were finished, one of them turning 'bad' according to what he dictated to the quill. He swept his wand over all three cauldrons and, instead of dictacting, wrote whatever information he gained by doing that on a little notebook on his workbench.
"So Remus, a little early, but technically, you arrived just in time," Ash said as he turned around with a smile.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I tried to be quiet, did I bother you?"
"No, no, I get into a kind of singular mindspace when I'm in front of a cauldron. Don't tell my enemies, but the easiest way to ambush me is not in my sleep, but when I'm brewing a potion," Ash jokingly said.
"You have enemies? How does a dork like you make enemies?" Remus guffawed.
"All who stand against House Hufflepuff are enemies, Remus," Ash said, trying to look menacing.
"Hahaha! Little Luna, and you played that card too hard these last months. I don't believe in that anymo-"
"Haha, yes, our supreme leader, Lord Hufflepuff, will be glad to hear his plan worked," Ash said with a signature villain laugh.
Remus deadpanned at this.
"Okay now, honestly, the conspiracy regarding non-magical vacuum cleaners being so much faster compared to broomsticks that the broomstick manufacturers all hide them from us magicals is much more believable," Remus said with a sigh.
"Oh, so you read the last Quibbler? My uncle really outdid himself in that issue. Glad I gifted him that non-magical's sales catalog on Christmas. So many captivating articles came out of it."
"If anything, it really is an interesting read," Remus chuckled.
"Now then, how about we get to what I asked you here for?"
Ash stood up and moved towards a cabinet. He rifled through some empty vials until he found the size he was looking for.
"You have a variant, Wolfsbane potion you want me to try?" Remus asked curiously.
"Yeah, this one is freshly brewed, my second try. So rest assured, I already did a full analysis on the potion. You can start the first dose tomorrow."
Ash carefully ladled the faintly smoking potion from one cauldron into a funnel and filled five vials.
"You know I trust you, but what's it do?"
"The Wolfsbane potion is much more of a miracle than you probably realize. Damocles Belby truly outdid himself. It introduces a catalyst reaction that was entirely unknown to the world of potioneering. And it happens inside the body, not the potion. I won't bore you, but I tried to find out what was responsible and... found it."
Ash scratched the back of his head, "I uh, I cranked that up and honestly, I'm half expecting that if the test is succesful and does what I think it does, I might be able to make a Wolfsbane potion that would make it so you get hairy arms at most during full moon. Well, in a year or two."
Remus turned serious, his gaze steeled. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath.
"How sure are you? I'm not going to ask if you're serious because I know you wouldn't joke about it."
"I'm very optimistic. But like I said, even if this potion is better, it's just a step in the right direction. Also, it's your childhood friend, that's Sirius."
Remus chuckled, but his gaze turned complicated.
"It's been a while since I heard that joke."
"Forgive me for prying, but are you really sure Sirius did what they say he did?"
"Where did that come from? Do you know something I don't?"
"Answer me first."
"I was in denial in the beginning. I still am, but everything points to it, no?" Remus sighed.
"Is that your answer? Truly?" Ash asked again.
"I wish he wasn't. Is that an answer? So why did you ask?"
"Well, I'm a little disillusioned with the way things are. The man who invited the death eaters to my family's home was a free man after his trial, saying he was under the Imperius."
"You say the man... you mean your uncle?"
Ash's eyes turned a little dark, so Remus quickly added, "Sorry, it's just that Dumbledore told a few of us what happened to you."
"Haaa, it's okay. I'm not the only one who lost something during the war. Not the only one who did at the hands of 'family'," Ash said with a facade of calm, but he spat the last part.
"Alright, still sorry, I brought it up."
"Like I said, it's okay. Well I do like to form my own opinion like I said. Did you know that Sirius never had a trial? It was the turning point of the whole war. The key figure was apprehended just after the dark lord's death. But that very same key figure never saw a trial. Clearly, they had something to hide. If not that he's innocent, it's the fact that he knew too much. Which doesn't make sense because he would be dead in that case."
Ash continued with clear disdains in his voice, "as politicians, they should have made this the most public trial in history. Maybe even open air right in Diagon Alley. The politicians should have formed lines to spit on him to further their careers. Instead, he was ushered right into Azkaban. Like someone reversed the whole Imperius defense trial happenings."
Remus almost wanted to laugh at the mental picture of a line of people spitting on Sirius, but then the words sank in.
"Oh, Merlin, he really is innocent, isn't he?" Remus muttered under his breath.
"Well, I wouldn't know, but chances are high he isn't what they say he is," Ash said as he shrugged.
Remus slumped into a chair. He looked like he had just aged 10 years.
"Oh Merlin, what have I done... I left him in there to rot for over a decade," Remus muttered to himself.
"Those idiots at the Prophet said he's coming for Harry, and he's apparently broken into Hogwarts twice now. If he's not here for Harry. What else did he want in the Gryffindor tower? A secret stash? Reliving his glory days as a prankster?"
Remus was deep in thought and muttered, "Right, you knew about us being the Marauders."
"Marauders?"
"Hmm? Oh yeah, you only knew about the pranks," Remus said with his fingers on his temples.
"So? Marauders?"
"Yeah, Prongs, Padfoot, Wormtail and Moony. We four called ourselves Marauders. Prongs was James, Padfoot is Sirius, Wormtail was Peter and I'm Moony."
"I get why you're Moony. Where did the other names come from?" Ash asked with a hand on his chin.
"Uh, I shouldn't really tell you this, but in our senior years, the other three became animagus so they could stay with me during full moon. Animals don't trigger a werewolve's bloodlust."
"Ahhh, that makes a lot of sense. So what animals did they turn into?"
"Ugh, I really shouldn't tell you that... but since they're all dead but one and you might be able to help find Sirius... sure, James turned into a stag, Sirius is a big black dog, and Peter was a rat."
Ash sat down next to Remus. Three minutes passed in silence.
"Does the headmaster know about this?" Ash asked quietly.
"I think he does," Remus nodded in affirmation.
Ash thought for another four or five minutes until he remembered that night two months ago. The rattail is on his way toward the Gryffindor tower.
"No, no... no. It couldn't be," Ash suddenly kept muttering under his breath. Naturally, he knew of the long-lived rat of the Weasley family.
He shot up from his chair. His heart was racing.
"Remus, get Minerva and bring her to the headmaster's office! I will need to prepare something. Quick!" Ash shouted as he ran towards a briefcase, swung it open, and was about to step inside.
"Hey Ash, what is this about?"
"No time to explain fully, just get it done!"
Ash vanished inside the suitcase.
He didn't know what this was all about, but Remus did what Ash asked of him with a steady pace.
Half an hour later, Ash entered the headmaster's office to find Minerva, Remus, Filius, and Dumbledore himself sitting there, waiting for him.
"Ash, come over, tells us what this is about. Remus said you didn't tell him and that you were in an awful hurry," Minerva said with pursed lips.
Dumbledore brushed his long beard with furrowed brows but didn't say anything.
"Alright, I am not a thousand percent sure about this. But even if it was only a miniscule chance, I would have come to you. I have reasons to believe that Sirius Black is innocent," he raised a hand to stop Minerva and Filius from interrupting. The headmaster stayed strangely still, but there was a twinkle in his eyes.
"Not only do I have reason to believe it. I think the person who is the true culprit of what happened in Godric's Hollow over a decade ago is alive and in this castle right now."
Remus and Filius opened their mouths wide, Minerva looked outright disturbed, and Dumbledore slowly stood up and walked towards Ash.
He placed a hand on Ash's shoulder, "Explain it to us, leave out no detail."
And he did, he told them about his doubts concerning Sirius, the animagus forms of the Marauders and finally the rat of the Weasley family.
All of them were convinced and immediately moved into action.
While Remus and Filius moved to look for Peter on the off chance that he was in roaming the castle, Dumbledore checked the wards and contacted Amelia Bones, the head of the DMLE.
Minerva and Ash, on the other hand, walked towards the Gryffindor tower.
"I can't believe it. After all this time, we believed an innocent man to be the worst of criminals. Sirius, the poor soul," Minerva sighed dejectedly.
"I mean, we still do not know if he is truly innocent. Just that we never truly made sure what his crimes were," Ash shrugged.
"Right, it still scares me that I never thought about that."
"You're not alone," Ash said in a dry tone.
Minerva stayed quiet at that. She had used to believe herself clever. Well, not anymore.
The rest of their trip was spent in quiet haste. Soon, they reached the Gryffindor dorms and looked for Ron.
"Mr Weasley. Do you happen to know the whereabouts of your rat?"
Ron, who was just sitting with Harry playing wizard chess, was caught so offguard. He did not even notice the uncharacteristically sharp edge in her voice at the mention of the 'rat'.
"Uhm, yes, Professor McGonogall. Scabbers is in a cage upstairs," he hurriedly said like a deer caught in a headlight.
"Follow me then. I'd like you to take me to him," Minerva ordered in a no-nonsense tone.
Upstairs in the third year boy's dorm, a rat was sleeping on its fat belly inside a cage. It wasn't really to stop him from escaping. No, Ron put him in a cage to keep him safe from predators. Like housecats or that monster Hermione pretended was a cat. That was Ron's opinion on it anyway.
Seeing that the rat was where it was supposed to be, Minerva cast a quick charm to see if it was indeed an animagus instead of a rat and with a loud gasp, put her hand to cover her mouth. Now it really hit her that Ash's speculation really was true.
Ash took Minerva's gasp as a confirmation and cast a silent Stupefy to stun Pettigrew, leaving him no chance to escape. He went forward to grab the cage as he cast a Patronus to inform the other two parties to the protest of Ron, who did not understand why his poor Scabbers was treated like this.
They left him with the promise of a later explanation and hurried back to the headmaster's office. As he carried the cage and Minerva barely paid it any attention, Ash took out a rough-looking syringe with a way too wide and long needle from his coat pocket and used it to drop a couple of drops of purple liquid into the stunned rat's mouth.
With Minerva none the wiser of his covert actions, they reached the headmaster's office to find a dozen people present.
The new group that clearly wasn't part of Hogwarts consisted of auror's and the head of the DMLE, Amelia Bones. Amelia was in the middle of discussing something with Dumbledore.
"-not like I don't see your reason, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth if you want to keep him here until the surprise trial tomorrow you will in."
Dumbledore had a serious look on his face as he contemplated a little.
"We still have a dungeon that I am sure our...overzealous caretaker Mr Filch keeps in excellent condition. To keep your mind at ease, how about some of your aurors stay the night and keep a watch?"
Amelia had by now noticed the two newcomers and stared at the cage in Ash's hand in loathing. Dumbledore had already told them what Ash's Patronus confirmed.
"That is acceptable, I guess," Amelia said without breaking eyecontact with the rat. "May I?" she asked as she looked up at Ash.
With a nod, he handed the cage over and went towards one of the aurors that had a bright goofy grin the moment he stepped inside.
"Heya Ash, long time no see."
"My dear Nym, the world lights up now that you are here."
The response Ash got was a fist to the stomach.
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
Nuclide
Nuclide Saving Sirius and catching the rat is pretty cliché for most fanfics, but I had to think a little of how I want to do it with a MC with no foreknowledge. Well this is my take, I always found it stupid that nobody questioned a 10 year old rat, even in the magical world.
Pair that with the information that there might be an animagus on the loose who framed another being a true rat, I think I did well.
Also really had to think of all the consequences of Peter not joining his lord. So there is that.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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Rangliste 
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