{Abandoned Classroom, 3rd Floor}
{18th Sep 1991}
{3rd Person POV}
"So what do you guys think? The Dark Mark, or he's just a coincidental tattoo enthusiast?" Rigel asked. Even though the Dark Mark was faded, Rigel could sense it was teeming with mana. The dark violet color was somewhat reminiscent of Harry's mana; the thought of Voldemort using the Dark Mark like Orochimaru's cursed seal was quickly pushed aside, though, as he didn't want to think along those lines.
'No, it is quite clear in canon that it is very difficult to fragment your soul. Voldemort can't have an insane amount of Horcruxes teeming along his follower's arms. No matter how disturbing and plausible it sounds...' Rigel suppressed a shudder at having to eliminate every Death Eater to truly eliminate Voldemort and focus on the man on the table.
Peter Pettigrew was a portly man, which was surprising because he had been slumming as a pet rat in the last couple of decades. Maybe Ron gave him too much to eat, but how the mass was conserved and converted from his animagus form to his human form didn't make much sense.
'Does he have a human's appetite in the rat form? Then he would have been starving, not thriving?' Rigel thought. Once again, the rules and laws of magic didn't make sense, but for now, he didn't worry about it. Now, he had to deal with forcing Pettigrew back to his rat form and confining him back to Pandora's box.
As Rigel considered using Dumbledore's threat again, he looked at George and Fred for any input. The two Gryffindors had disgusted expressions on their faces. Maybe it was from the foul smell coming from Pettigrew, but Rigel knew that it had to be something deeper.
"You guys okay?" Rigel asked, even though it was perfectly clear that George at least wasn't.
George quickly expressed his thoughts as his eyes stayed fixed on Pettigrew's fallen form: "We had a death eater living in our house." His tone was hollow as he looked at Rigel: " For seven years, he's been sleeping in the same house, with Mom... and Ginny, and Ron..."
'Hmm, 7, not 17... Did Pettigrew not immediately hide with the Weasley family after the supposed death of Voldemort?' Rigel thought. The timeline didn't make sense, and even his knowledge of canon has been occluded by the myriad of fanfiction he had read.
'I don't remember much about Pettigrew's time in the books, at least I think I don't...'
"How did the Weasley come into possession of... Scabbers?" Rigel asked, he didn't want to trigger the two Weasley but his information and from what he could deduce from George's words, there was a massive gap in his expectation and reality. A 10-year gap in which the Death Eater was AWOL.
"... Percy found him one day when we were Gnomes hunting in the garden. According to him, the fucking rat was a little too intelligent, like him..." Fred replied after waiting for a bit. He glared at Pettigrew's unconscious form after finishing the rest of his sentence.
"How did we not see this? He has always been unusual, even disappearing for days before reappearing," George spoke; he lifted his wand and pointed it at Peter. Rigel got his wand ready just in case the older twin lost it.
The twins likely noticed his movement and glared at him, "Why do you want to protect him?"
"Why would I want to protect him? I need him alive in order to clear my Uncle of his crimes. He has suffered enough, don't you think?" Rigel replied. His words did have some effect as George lowered his wand. Although he was still looking at Pettigrew with murder in his eyes, at least he was not acting up on it.
"If you want to cut off his two feet or something, then be my guest, but I need his right hand to remain intact... you know, for evidence's sake." Rigel offered. Fred and George finally broke their staring contest with the unconscious death eater and stared at Rigel with a 'What-The-Fuck' look.
"Hey, don't kill the messenger, but seriously, help me a little bit more. I need him unconscious and in the box. I need to keep him alive to gather some favors to make sure that a fair trial takes place." Rigel requested. Fred and George shared another look before they nodded at the same time.
"If you need anything-"
"-for the trial or anything-"
"Just tell us, we would have to talk to Dad-"
"-but I can promise the Weasley Family would help you."
Rigel breathed a sigh of relief as Fred and George returned to their dual speak. Rigel didn't understand how they managed to do it. Maybe they understood each other too well, but this at least indicated that they had come to a decision. Through his interactions with the twins, he figured out that George was the more vocal one and the one who made most of the decisions.
'Maybe Fred had a more creative spark or something?'
How they balanced their power dynamic was not in his business, so he turned to Pettigrew and drew his wand.
"Incarcerous~"
Thick ropes coiled around Pettigrew's fallen form as they quickly bound his body like a zigsaw puzzle. After making sure everything was secure he turned to George and spoke, "Get a stunner and an Impedimenta Jinx ready, I won't lose him in the final stretch."
"What does the final stretch mean?" Fred asked as they both got ready.
"It's a muggle thing... get ready... Enervate~" Rigel casted. The bright blue light bolt of magic once again vanished into Pettigrew's form. This time, the rat took much longer to wake up, and his beady eyes slowly moved around, staring at the three wands pointed at him.
"Now, Mister Pettigrew, I thank you for listening to my demands. Now, you actually have no options. Turn back to your rat form and jump into the box. Or... you know what would happen, right?" Rigel spoke. His tone was neutral as he stared into Pettigrew's slightly clouded eyes.
"Rigel listen to me, you have got it all wrong. I have been running away, hiding from Sirius. He's a traitor, and he was going to kill me along with all those muggles. I barely surviv-" Pettigrew began pleading, but his voice cut off mid-sentence as Fred fired a Silencing charm at him.
Rigel turned to give Fred a side-eye, this was not the plan but the older Gryffindor just shrugged, Rigel sighed and looked back at Pettigrew's pleading expression.
'He's really crying, isn't he...' Rigel was a bit stunned.
"Alright, go into the box, or I'll stunning you again. I won't count down this time..." Rigel threatened, and Pettigrew's face stilled for a moment. He looked at Fred and George with pleading eyes, but seeing that there was no effect, his entire facade shifted, and his face became stoic.
The transformation was as fast as last time, but this time, all three of them were ready. As soon as the ropes fell from his body, Wormtail tried to leap from the table, but he was unfortunately met with a stunner and the Impedimenta Jinx. His frozen body slowly jumped from the table, and Rigel quickly caught it and carefully put him into the box.
'Hopefully, he didn't go brain dead with all those concussions...'
After the whole drama, Rigel closed Pandora's box. He needed to put some food in later, but for now, this whole incident was behind him. As he wrapped the white bedsheet around the box once again, he looked at Fred and George and asked, "So, what do you know about the Bones family?"
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AN - Next Target Susan Bones. Susan is a romantic pairing for MC as well, so this seduction will take some time.
P.S- 47+ advanced chapters on P.atreon