No one at Hogwarts could believe it but it was true. It was only six days after Halloween and Sirius Black had tried to break into Gryffindor Tower again. Once again he had failed. A different portrait was temporarily substituting for the Fat Lady and Black hadn't had any more success with that one than he had before. For the second time in a week the students had all spent the night in sleeping bags on the floor of the Great Hall. There was a lot of speculation among the student body as they drifted off to sleep that night and again early the next morning over why Black had returned so soon after his first attempt.
Professor Dumbledore was at his desk in his office that Sunday afternoon thinking over the case when Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, floo called him.
"May I come through Albus?" asked the Minister.
"Yes Cornelius" said Dumbledore, "I'm free at the moment. A moment later Fudge flooed into the office.
"I heard all about what happened last night" he said to the headmaster, "dreadful business. Is everyone all right?"
"Everyone's fine Cornelius" said Dumbledore, "why don't you have a seat? I want to talk to you about this." Fudge sat in front of Dumbledore's desk and Dumbledore called for tea. Once he and the minister had their cups Dumbledore leaned forward.
"This is all very puzzling to me" began Dumbledore.
"Really?" asked Fudge.
"Yes" was the answer, "as far as everyone knows Black is after Harry Potter, right?"
"That's what everyone says" said Fudge.
"But Harry isn't here" said Dumbledore, "and the fact that he didn't come back to Hogwarts this year isn't a secret. I would have assumed that Black would know that by now. So why is he still here?" Fudge thought that over for a bit.
"I don't know" he finally said, "you could always say he's mad, but just because someone's mad doesn't make them stupid, and Black was never stupid – cocky, impetuous, hot blooded, sometimes reckless, but not stupid. If he's obsessed with Potter then, mad or not, he should have left when he realized the boy wasn't here."
"But he didn't" said Dumbledore, "and now he's tried to get into Gryffindor Tower twice."
"But why?" asked Fudge, "if he's not after Mr. Potter then what is he after?"
"That's a very good question" said Dumbledore who sat in thought for a few moments before speaking again, "were you at Black's questioning after his arrest? Or his trial? Did he say anything important?"
"I don't know" said Fudge, "My only memory of him from that day was of him standing in the middle of the street laughing. I was one of the first people on the scene after the explosion that killed all of those muggles but I was there as part of the Department of Magical Catastrophes where I was working at the time. I wasn't working in the DMLE so after Black's arrest I wasn't involved any further in the case. I didn't hear his questioning. I also missed his trial. I missed a lot of the Death Eater trials because I was looking after my wife while she recovered from her attack."
"I'm glad she made a full recovery," said Dumbledore, "not everyone recovers from the Cruciatus curse."
"Sadly that is true" said Fudge thinking of Frank and Alice Longbottom.
"I also missed some of the trials" said Dumbledore, "including Black's. Would it be possible to get a copy of the trial transcript?"
"I can have one sent to you tomorrow" said Fudge, "do you think it might be important?"
"I don't know" said Dumbledore, "but there's obviously something we're missing. I just wish I knew what it was."
The two men sipped their tea in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
The next day was Monday. Late that afternoon Dumbledore was in his office when the fire in his fireplace turned green and the headmaster heard Fudge call his name again.
"Albus?" called the minister, "are you there? It's Cornelius. I need to see you. It's urgent."
"I'm here" said Dumbledore, "please come through." A moment later Minister Fudge stepped out of Dumbledore's fireplace. He looked very disturbed, even angry.
"Cornelius, what's wrong?" asked Dumbledore. Cornelius scowled at the headmaster as he approached Dumbledore's desk.
"There was no trial!" he spat.
"What?"
"There was no trial!" repeated Fudge, "Black was sent to Azkaban without getting a trial!"
"But" sputtered Dumbledore in disbelief, "that can't be! Everyone gets a trial. It's the law. You can't sentence someone to prison without giving them a fair trial first."
"That's true" said Fudge, "except for one thing. During wartime the government has the power to imprison people without a trial if it's deemed to be a matter of national security."
"That only applies as long as the country remains on a wartime footing" said Dumbledore, "as soon as peacetime conditions return anyone so arrested must either be released or be given a trial."
"Be that as it may" said Fudge as he placed a very thin folder on Dumbledore's desk, "Black was arrested while we were still on a wartime footing and sent to Azkaban. This is a copy of his case folder. There are only two things in it: the arrest report and an order authorizing his immediate transfer to Azkaban without a trial signed by Barty Crouch Sr. That's all. There's no interrogation record, no report of a fuller investigation, and no trial transcript. He went straight to Azkaban and was left there to rot."
Dumbledore sat there, stunned. This went against all of his beliefs in a fair and just society.
"There was no protest?" he finally asked.
"From whom?" asked Fudge, "everyone thought he was guilty. As you know I missed a lot of the trials. I just assumed that he had one and was lawfully convicted. It never occurred to me that he hadn't."
"It was the same for me" said Dumbledore with a grave expression on his face, "but it's worse for me. You, at least, were not in a position to do anything about it back then even if you had known the truth. I, on the other hand, am the Chief Warlock now and if I had known he never had a trial I could have ordered the Wizengamot to give him one. No, I wasn't Chief Warlock when he was arrested and couldn't have done anything then, but since I took the position, well, what else can I say?" He brought his fist down on his desk in anger.
"Damn it all!" he practically spat, "how could this have happened? Why didn't Crouch give him a trial once we were no longer on a wartime footing?"
"Crouch assumed that he was guilty too" said Fudge, "and didn't see the point. His order specifically cites that the "obvious guilt of the culprit" makes a trial unnecessary. And you know how much Crouch hates Death Eaters."
"I do" said Dumbledore, "he'd be glad to summarily toss all of them in prison and forget about them. Which begs the question of whether there might be other prisoners in Azkaban who also never got trials."
"I ordered the DMLE to investigate that" said Fudge, "Amelia said she would personally look into it. Honestly, though, I think the chances of that are low. Bellatrix Lestrange got a trial and she was known to be as close to You Know Who as anyone was. If she got one why would Black, or any other Death Eater, not have gotten one?"
"A fair point" said Dumbledore.
"What are we going to do about this Albus?"
"Well" said Dumbledore, "it doesn't help Black's case that he escaped from Azkaban. On the other hand if he hadn't escaped we wouldn't have found out all of this. I think the first thing you should do is rescind his Kiss On Sight order."
"I've already done that" said Fudge.
"Good" said Dumbledore, "he has to be taken alive so he can finally get a trial. And it will have to be a scrupulously fair trial."
"How?" Fudge asked, "this is going to make the ministry look so bad."
Dumbledore thought about that.
"Not necessarily" he finally said, "if you release a statement telling the public all of this information it shouldn't reflect badly on you. You weren't in power then, you didn't have anything to do with it. Your position is that you've found out about a possible miscarriage of justice and you want to put it right. Isn't that true?"
"It is" said Fudge.
"If we can somehow convince Black that the offer to give him his trial is real" said Dumbledore, "and guarantee his safety maybe we can get him to turn himself in."
"It's worth a try" said Fudge. Dumbledore sighed.
"If only" he said, "we knew why he broke out of prison now. What does he want?"
"Can't you send him an owl?" asked Fudge. Dumbledore gave Fudge a look.
"Do you really think I never thought of that?" he said, "but answer me this: if you were a fugitive would you accept letters from owls you didn't know?"
"Point" said Fudge.
Dumbledore and Fudge didn't know it but fate was about to step in and help with their problems and that help would come from an unexpected quarter.
If you were to ask Professor McGonagall who were the biggest pranksters Hogwarts had ever seen she would have immediately said "the Marauders." If you were to ask her if there was anyone who might challenge the Marauders she would have said "the Weasley twins." She had good reason to say so as Fred and George Weasley were definitely the biggest pranksters to come along at Hogwarts since the Marauders. There were times when she thought they might even be worse than the Marauders in the end. They were currently in their fifth year and had been building their prankster reputations the whole time they'd been at Hogwarts.
After their first year they had somehow become much harder to catch in the act than in the past. They were much more adept at avoiding detection when they were setting up pranks. It was almost as if they knew where everyone in the castle was and were able to make sure to avoid running into anyone who might stop them. In this she was more right than she realized.
The twins did have a way to know where everyone was in the castle at any given time. It was a handy little item they'd stolen from Caretaker Filch's office and eventually learned how to use. The item was called "The Marauders' Map" and it was created by four people who went by the names Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. It was a map of Hogwarts Castle showing every room. More importantly it also showed where all of the people in the castle were at any one time. By using the map Fred and George were able to avoid the teachers, prefects, and other staff when they were planning and executing pranks, sneaking down to the kitchen for extra snacks, or just generally sneaking around and getting up to other mischief.
The day after Dumbledore's second meeting with Fudge the twins were in their dorm room thinking up new prank ideas along with their friend Lee Jordan who they often referred to as the unofficial third Weasley twin. He knew about the map and at that time the three of them were using it to try to decide where the best place for any new pranks should be. While the twins were throwing ideas back and forth Lee was looking at the map when he noticed something odd.
"Guys" he said, calling the twins over, "who's that with Ron?"
"What?" asked George.
"Look" said Lee pointing at the map. Ron was in his dorm room and next to his name was another name: Peter Pettigrew.
"Peter Pettigrew?" said Fred, "isn't he the guy – "
"– that Sirius Black killed –" said George.
"– along with 12 muggles?" finished Fred.
"Yes" said Lee looking up at them, "it was the last crime Black committed before he was arrested."
"But if he's dead – " said George.
"– how can he be on the map?" finished Fred.
"Why don't we go look?" asked Lee. The other two agreed. They left their dorm and went to the third years' dorm, knocked on the door and went in without waiting for an answer.
"Fred, George, Lee?" said Ron from his bed where he was lying down and reading a letter. He appeared to be alone with only his rat Scabbers sitting on the bed near him.
"Oh Ronnie-kins" said Fred as he masked his surprise that Ron was alone, "is that Harry's letter?"
"You still haven't told us what he wrote" said George playing along.
"Yes" said Ron, "but he's still not saying much. Just that he's happy and he hopes everyone here is too. Also he and some of the people he's staying with are going to see some muggle band called Nirvana next week and he says that he's really looking forward to it."
"Really?" said Lee, "wicked!" The three Weasleys looked at him in surprise.
"You know who they are?" asked Ron.
"Oh yes" said Lee enthusiastically, "They're a great band. I saw them at the end of the summer before last at the Reading Festival."
"What is –" said Fred.
"– the Reading Festival?" said George.
"You don't know?" Lee began before catching himself, "oh, right, you probably wouldn't. It's an enormous muggle music festival that takes place late in August in Reading. It's three days long, has a whole bunch of stages for many different bands, and several thousand people attend each day."
The three Weasleys looked amazed at what they were hearing. The only places they'd ever seen big crowds were at professional Quidditch games.
"Me thinks us pure blood wizards don't get out enough Gred" said Fred.
"I agree Forge" said George, "think of the pranking possibilities of a crowd that large."
"Is that why you guys came up here?" asked Ron, "just to hear about Harry?"
"Of course not" said George.
"We couldn't resist saying hello to our favorite younger brother" said Fred.
Ron opened his mouth to say "I'm your only younger brother" but thought better of it before he did and just said "well now you have. I hope it lived up to your expectations."
"Come on guys" said Lee before either of the twins could respond, "let's go." The three of them said good-bye to Ron and left the dorm room, returning to their own room. None of them saw Ron roll his eyes at them.
"That was odd" said George.
"Yes it was" said Fred, "Lee, is Pettigrew still on the map?"
"Yes" said Lee looking at it, "and in the exact same place as earlier."
"But the only thing next Ron was Scabbers – " said George before stopping himself. The three of them looked at each other, their expressions became a lot more serious.
"Could the map be wrong?" asked Lee after a moment.
"It's never been wrong before" said Fred.
"Does the map show pets?" asked Lee.
"We never looked to see" said George.
"Yes it does" said Fred pointing to it. They all looked and saw Hermione's cat Crookshanks prowling around the Gryffindor common room.
"Then why doesn't it show Scabbers?" asked Lee. None of them liked the implications of this question and they all agreed that they needed to tell someone about this, but who?
"Not McGonagall" said George, "she'd confiscate the map in an instant and probably also give us detention for having it."
"The headmaster?" suggested Lee, "he seems to take things like the map in stride."
"Is he in his office?" asked Fred. Lee looked at the map and confirmed that he was so they all decided to go talk to him.
A short time later they were riding the moving staircase up to Dumbledore's office after having taken a few minutes to guess the password ("Fizzing Whizbees"). Just before they got to the door at the top of the stairs Dumbledore's voice called out to them and told them to come in.
"Gred, how does he do that?"
"No idea Forge."
They all entered the office to find Dumbledore sitting at his desk.
"Mr. Jordan, Mr. Weasley, and Mr. Weasley" Dumbledore greeted them, "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? I hope you haven't been sent here because of a prank gone wrong?"
"No sir" said Lee.
"Oh of course not" said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, "if that were the case the professor who caught you would be here as well. So, what can I do for you?"
"Sir, we have a problem" said Fred.
"But telling you means revealing one of our secrets – " said George before Dumbledore stopped him.
"Say no more on that" the headmaster said, "whatever your secret is I will not hold it against you, nor will I tell anyone else – unless it directly affects them in a way they must know about."
The three friends looked at each before nodding. They knew this was probably the best they would get from Dumbledore and more than they would get from most of the other teachers. The three of them began to tell their story to the headmaster. In the process they showed him the map and he was very impressed by it.
"What an excellent piece of work this is" he said in appreciation.
"It really is" said Fred.
"We're just sorry we didn't make it ourselves" said George.
"I'm sure of that" said Dumbledore, "but I'm not one bit surprised the Marauders were able to make this. They were very clever students."
"Do you know who they were?" asked Lee.
"I do" said Dumbledore,
"Who were they?" asked an eager Fred. Dumbledore just smiled at him.
"I'm sorry" he said, "that's not for me to tell but you may find out sooner than you think. Now, what is so important about this map that has brought you to reveal its existence to me?"
"Well sir" said Lee taking it back from the headmaster and scanning it for a moment before finding what he was looking for, "look at that." He pointed to where Ron was still in his room and the name Peter Pettigrew was still next to him. Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up in surprise as his face assumed a very grave expression. He said nothing for several moments before whipping out his wand.
"Expecto Patronum" he said and his phoenix patronus appeared in front of him, "Professor Lupin this is the headmaster. Please come to my office immediately. The matter is urgent." When he finished the patronus disappeared from his office to deliver the message.
"Boys" he said, "thank you for bringing this to my attention. This may just help me to solve a very pressing problem"
Professor Lupin entered the office a few minutes later. He was a little surprised to see the students there.
"I hope you're not in trouble" he said after greeting the three of them and the headmaster.
"They're not" said Dumbledore, "they brought a concern to me and after hearing about it I thought that you should also know about it."
"And what would that be?" asked Lupin, "is this under my purview as the defense professor?"
"Perhaps" said Dumbledore, "please look at this" he handed the map to Lupin whose eyebrows climbed up almost to the top of his forehead when he saw it.
"Oh my" he said as he looked at the map, "I haven't seen this in a very long time. Albus, where did you find it?"
"They brought it to me" said Dumbledore gesturing at the students. Lupin turned to them.
"How did you get this?" he asked them.
"You know about it?" asked Lee in surprise. Lupin grinned widely.
"I should hope so" he said, "since I helped make it."
"You're one of the Marauders?" exclaimed George in astonishment
"Yes" said Lupin, "I'm Moony."
Both George and Fred dropped to their knees in front of him.
"We're in the presence of pranking greatness" said Fred.
"Please accept the worship of these humble followers" said George as he and Fred both began to bow down.
"We're not worthy oh great Moony!" they both said. Lee was laughing while Dumbledore's eyes twinkled more than usual. Lupin was torn between embarrassment and laughter.
"Get up" he said, "I'm your professor not your god."
"We beg to differ oh great one" said George as the twins got to their feet.
"You and the other Marauders are part of our pantheon" said Fred, "respect must be paid."
"Who are the other Marauders?" asked Lee, "could we meet them too?" Lupin frowned and his face became sad.
"Unfortunately no" he said, "two of them are dead and the last one was arrested years ago. For all intents and purposes I'm the only one left."
"Who were they?" asked George.
"Padfoot was Sirius Black" said Lupin quietly. The three students' mouths fell open.
"The Sirius Black?" asked Fred, "the one who's been breaking into Hogwarts?"
"The same" said Lupin, "he was one of my best friends and you have no idea how much it hurt when he betrayed us."
"I'll bet" said Lee, "what a shame. Who were the others?"
"Prongs was James Potter" said Lupin, "Harry's father."
"Wow" said Fred, "does that make Harry the Marauders' heir?"
"As much of one as we might have I suppose" said Lupin, "Wormtail was Peter Pettigrew. Peter was killed shortly after James' death." The three students looked at each other.
"Are you sure about that?" said Lee.
"What do you mean?" said Lupin, "there were witnesses that day. The only thing they ever found of Peter was one of his fingers." Lee came over to Lupin and looked at the map with him.
"Really?" he said pointing at a spot in Gryffindor tower, "then who's that?"
Lupin looked at where Lee was pointing and froze. His eyes got wide and his mouth started to open. There was a long silence before he finally spoke.
"Impossible" he finally said, "it can't be. He's dead."
"That was my first reaction" said Dumbledore, "could it be a mistake? Has the map ever been wrong?"
"No" said Lupin, "the map doesn't lie. But I don't understand. How can Peter be in the Gryffindor third year dorm room?"
"That's what we don't understand" said George, "Ron was alone there when we went to look. There was no one else in the room."
"No one except Scabbers you mean" said Fred.
"Who is Scabbers?" asked Lupin.
"His pet rat" said George, "he's been with us for years. Percy had him before Ron did." Lupin took this in and began thinking hard.
"Exactly how long has your family had Scabbers?" he asked them.
"Over twelve years" said George, "Percy found him in the garden one day and kept him."
"Twelve years?" said Lupin, "he's a very strange rat. They don't usually live more than three or four years. Is there anything unusual about him? Is he magical?"
"We don't think he's magical" said George, "he's never demonstrated any powers. The only unusual thing about him is that he's missing one of his front toes." As soon as George said that it seemed to clinch things for Lupin. He turned to Dumbledore.
"Albus" he said, "we need to get that rat."
"Agreed" said Dumbledore, "I would ask you if you were sure about this but I've heard the same evidence as you and have come to the same conclusion. This raises a good question though. Why has Mr. Pettigrew been hiding as a rat for twelve years? Not only that but how is a he rat in the first place?"
"That's easy" said Lupin, "he, James, and Sirius all became animagi when they were at Hogwarts. James was a stag, Sirius is a big black dog, and Peter is a rat."
"What about you?" asked Lee.
"I have an animal form too" said Lupin vaguely but didn't elaborate, "as for why he's been in hiding for so long? I don't know. Why should he be? It doesn't make sense. He didn't have any personal enemies. The only person trying to kill him was Sirius but Sirius was locked away for over a decade so why would Peter hide during all that time?" He fell silent and thought hard for several minutes.
"Albus" he finally said, "who cast the Fidelius charm on the Potters' house?"
"James did" said Dumbledore
"And Sirius was the secret keeper?"
"So I was told"
"You were told?" said Lupin, "you weren't there?"
"No" said Dumbledore, "Sirius came to me shortly afterwards and gave me the secret."
"He actually told you?" asked Lupin, "verbally?"
"He gave me a piece of parchment with the secret written on it" said Dumbledore.
"He did the same for me" said Lupin. He and Dumbledore were both thinking hard.
"What if Sirius wasn't the secret keeper?" Lupin finally said after a silence, "what if it was actually Peter the whole time? What if Peter was the real traitor all along and he was the one who gave the Potters to Voldemort?"
"But why wouldn't you have known that?" asked Dumbledore.
"I was away a lot trying to make allies with the werewolves" said Remus, "we knew there was a spy in the Order but we didn't know who. Maybe James and Sirius suspected that I was the spy so they didn't tell me they were using Peter instead."
"If that's true" said Dumbledore, "then Sirius would have known what happened as soon as the Potters were killed. He must have gone after Peter and somehow Peter turned the tables on him and made it look like Sirius was the one who attacked him and killed him along with all of those muggles while he really escaped. Neither of the Potters left anything behind saying that they'd changed secret keepers. It wasn't in their wills and there were no letters telling us this. The only ones who would have known would have been the Potters themselves, Sirius, and Peter. With Lily and James gone it should have come out at Sirius' trial but since he never had one – "
"It holds together" said Lupin, "now all we need to do is catch Peter."
"I agree" said Dumbledore with a stern expression on his face as he stood up from his chair, his wand in his hand.