He Who Laughs Last

He Who Laughs Last

Peter had been secret keeper for a week now. Sirius had had to lie low as well since Dumbledore thought he was the keeper. He didn't mind. For the last week he had left his apartment little more than to check on Peter every night. Rae Carrington was throwing what promised to be a great Halloween party this evening. Funny, last year, nothing would have stopped him from going; he probably could've gone tonight without anyone caring, but it just didn't seem like the responsible thing to do. Strange, when did he start to think like that?

He pulled up to Peter house and jumped off his motorcycle. The lights were out. Peter probably got tired and went to bed. Poor git wasn't allowed to leave his house under Sirius' orders and was probably bored to tears. Well, hopefully this whole thing would be over soon.

Sirius knocked on Peter's door, but he didn't answer. Sirius let himself in. He'd have to talk to Peter about the lock on the door; it was too easy to get through if anyone ever decided to go after him.

"Hey Wormtail! Get up! I've come to bring some excitement to your bored existence."

There was no sound. Sirius opened the door to his bedroom and turned on a light. There was no one there. Sirius was determined not to get scared yet. "Peter, I said get out here! If you're hiding, it's not funny. Come out you rat!"

Again there was nothing. Sirius ran though the place blasting furniture out of his way as he went. Where the hell was Peter? Could Voldemort have found out about him? He made Peter do this, if anything happened to him, it would be his fault. But as he circled back to the front of the house, he realized something. Voldemort couldn't have known Peter was the secret keeper. Only Sirius, James, Lily and Peter knew and none of them would tell. Unless . . . unless, one of them had told.

Sirius examined the mess he'd made. Before he'd gotten there, it had been clean. The bed was even made and tucked in at the corners. There was no sign of a struggle if anyone had come after Peter.

No, no, Peter had just been really stupid and gone out for Halloween. He probably thought Sirius would be out partying tonight and wouldn't stop by. That was it, Peter wouldn't, he couldn't have - did he tell? Sirius sprinted from the house onto his bike and made his way to Godric's Hollow.

~*~*~*~*~*~

But Sirius was too late. He knew it as soon as he touched the ground next to a wreckage that had one been a house.

He jumped off his motorbike and walked slowly towards it. He was horrorstruck by the scene in front of him. It had been a two-story home, but it looked as though the top story and come down on the first. The whole front of the house had been pulled off and there was a dull layer of dust rising from around the wreckage. Sirius closed his eyes, willing the image away. They were the only family he had, and there was no way any of them could have survived.

Just then Hagrid came out of the mess, holding something in his arms . . . it was crying. Harry! Harry was alive! Then maybe . . .

"Hagrid!"

"Sirius?" Hagrid wasn't quite meeting his gaze. "You don' look good. Ye know then?"

Sirius knew he was white as a ghost and couldn't stop himself from shaking, but he wasn't deterred. "James and Lily? Did they survive as well?"

Hagrid shook his head. There were tears in his eyes. Sirius made to move past him, but Hagrid blocked him. "Don't Sirius, there's no poin' in doin' that ter yerself."

Sirius nodded slowly. Now he was close enough to see Harry and a lightning shape mark on his forehead. "What happened to him?"

"You-Know-Who tried ter kill 'im too."

"Tried to kill? What happened?"

"From what we can tell, 'E, 'e . . ." Hagrid sniffed loudly. Sirius knew he was trying to hold back his tears as well. "'E killed James and Lily first and then went after Harry. Dunno what happened, but the spell backfired. You-Know-Who is dead and lil' Harry only 'as dat mark."

Sirius was stunned. "Voldemort's dead?"

Hagrid jumped back at the name, almost dropping Harry, who started to cry again. "Don' say that!"

"Sorry, but-"

"Yeh, he's gone."

Sirius was stunned. He had never believed in prophecies. When James had told him that there was one that said it was possible that Harry could be the only one who had a chance to defeat Voldemort, he balked. Dumbledore was sure that Voldemort believed it though, and as long as that was so, Harry was in danger and needed to be protected. But if the prophecy was to be believed than Voldemort wasn't dead and Harry would continue to need protection.

"Give Harry to me, Hagrid. I'm his godfather, I'll look after him now."

"Can't Sirius. Dumbledore sez he's to go ter his aunt an' uncle's an' that's where I'm taking him."

"You can't mean Lily's sister? Petunia Dursley?"

"Ta."

"No! They're muggles, they won't be able to protect him!"

"Dumbledore's sure it'll be safe."

"Hagrid, Harry can't stay with those people. Lily barely even talks with her sister; they hate wizards. What kind of family is that to live with? I'm his godfather, it should be my responsibility."

"All I know is dat was Dumbledore's orders, if yeh got a problem wit that, you take it up wit him."

Those were Dumbledore's orders. He had gone against Dumbledore's orders in the first place and now his best friend was dead because of it. Yes, they would go with what Dumbledore wanted for now, he'd have plenty of time to get Harry back from them later. "You're right Hagrid." He wiped away evidence of tears he hadn't known were there. "Take my bike, it'll be faster."

"Ah, no. That's alright."

"No really, I won't be needing it anymore." Sirius patted Harry on the head and began to walk away. Harry would be OK for now; he didn't need to worry about that. Peter needed to be his concern now. Peter had betrayed them. It was the only explanation. He was working for Voldemort and Sirius had made him the secret keeper. Why didn't you see it? He got mad all over again. How could you think it was Remus? Kind, loyal Remus, he would never do anything to harm any of them. He felt stupid as he remembered all the times Peter had to work late and had to attend a "family function". Yeah, he knew what kind of family now . . . Moody had once seen Peter with Bellatrix of all people! They'd all assumed she was just bullying him; they usually assumed that about Peter, he'd always been the weak link, after all. He was the weak link. Of course they had gone for him. Peter wasn't as good of a wizard as anyone else in the order, but he was their friend so he'd been invited along. Why hadn't he seen any of this before?

Sirius apparated in front of Peter's house. He'd made his decision. Peter Pettigrew would have to die for what he'd done.

But Peter hadn't been back to the house since Sirius was last there. He hadn't really expected him to be. Now that Sirius knew about him, he'd have to run for it wouldn't he? Sirius let himself into the house as he had earlier that evening and took a seat. If Peter came back tonight, Sirius would be here. There was no point in going to look for a rat in the night.

~*~*~*~*~*~

This was taking too long. At dawn, he'd left Peter's place, certain that he wasn't coming back and gone out in search of him. Sirius had spent the morning searching all the places he thought Peter might run to: his work, his parent's home, a couple pubs, Diagon Alley. Traitorous rat, he could hide all he wanted, Sirius knew he would find him in the end.

It was just past noon now and he had been awake for more than twenty-four hours. He should rest, he should eat, and he should tell someone what was going on. Surely someone would help him, it might go faster.

He was in Kent now. Peter had an aunt and uncle who lived there who probably wouldn't ask questions of him. He was walking through the mostly wizard area of the city, contemplating a change in tactic when he noticed a group of witches and wizards smiling and laughing and obviously celebrating. They knew. It had been hours and hours since Sirius had left Godric's Hollow, of course news of what happened must have spread. Dedalus Diggle broke from his group of celebrators and went over to him. "Sirius! Isn't it wonderful? You-know-who is gone at last! Everything we've been working for!"

Sirius gave him a look of utmost contempt. People were celebrating? James and Lily were dead and these people had the nerve to throw a party?

Dedalus paled, he seemed to suddenly realize what he said and to whom he was saying it. "I mean . . . I didn't mean to say that . . ."

But before he could get it out, Sirius had disapparated from there. It was clear to him now that he shouldn't get anyone else involved in his search for Peter. They didn't understand the full extend of Peter's crime like he did. The Ministry would listen to what Peter had to say, put him on trial and throw him in Azkaban. This was too good for Peter, and Sirius didn't want to take the chance that people might take pity on him. They might even think that James and Lily's deaths were not too high of a price to pay for Voldemort's disappearance. Peter had betrayed his best friends; his only punishment would be death.

Sirius resumed his search alone.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was dark again. Sirius was exhausted and by this point he knew that he was going to have to give into either hunger or sleep if he wanted to continue. Eating would obviously take up much less time. He returned to Diagon Alley, got himself some sandwiches and a butterbeer and sat down on a bench to eat and think. Peter would have had time to get out of the country by this point, but something told Sirius that that wasn't likely. Even though Peter had almost a week to plan it, he'd have been confident that Voldemort would protect him. That was how Peter had always operated in the past, letting someone else make all the plans. That wasn't an option any longer; he didn't have Voldemort and he didn't seem to be relying on any of his family or "friends" for protection. Where would he go? He could be hiding out with another death eater, but this too seemed unlikely. Everything Sirius had ever heard about the group told him that Voldemort liked to keep his death eaters separate so that they couldn't rat each other out. Peter wouldn't have known many of the others just in case the Order figured out he was the traitor and forced information from him. So where was he?

Sirius searched his memory. He'd know Peter so long - surely there must be something that would tell him where he could find him. Sirius suddenly remembered one rainy Saturday and four fourth year boys trying to find something to do. The conversation had turned to a recent prank and they amused themselves by figuring out where they'd run to if they ever made McGonagall so angry that they had to flee Hogwarts. Sirius and James had talked of far off beaches and resorts, but Peter had taken the question quite seriously. He said that running far away would be expected and it would be better to hide in the country, in a crowded muggle area; like London. Could he actually go by that stupid conversation they'd had when he was fourteen years old? Sirius went with his instinct.

~*~*~*~*~*~

And two hours later, there was Peter. He found him not even a mile outside of Diagon Alley, carpetbag in hand, walking out of some muggle hotel. He was about twenty yards away from Sirius, mostly obscured by his cloak.

"Peter!"

Peter turned quickly as Sirius advanced. He looked scared. Good. He should be scared. The rat might be able to pass information to stronger wizards, but he could never win a dual with one. His hood fell and he dropped the bag he was holding. "S-Sirius."

"I've been looking for you, Peter."

"Now Sirius, you can't just-"

"Don't tell me what I can and cannot do! You don't get to tell me anything."

"Sirius, you don't understand - "

"You're right. I didn't understand, but I've had some time to figure it out."

"O-oh?" Peter was trapped. He seemed to be looking for a way out.

"You're pathetic. You can't even stand up and look me in the eye." Sirius took out his wand. He didn't care about the muggles all around. He pointed it at Peter.

"Is that so?" Peter suddenly straightened up and held his hands behind his back. He met Sirius' stare with equal intensity. He looked . . . evil. And this was from fifteen feet away. Sirius didn't say any of the things he meant to. All he could think about was that he'd never met this person standing in front of him. After a minute, Peter finally looked away from Sirius and broke into tears. What the hell was he trying to pull? Was he going to fight him or beg forgiveness?

They'd drawn a crowd now; Peter looked around at them all though his tears and then back at Sirius. "LILY AND JAMES, SIRIUS! HOW COULD YOU?" What was he go -? But before Sirius could even finish his thought, Peter muttered a curse under his breath and a circle of green light flew out. Sirius managed a shield charm, but none of the muggle crowd even ducked. There was a huge crater where Peter had been. The idiot had done the curse wrong. He missed Sirius and must have blown himself up! All around there were bodies and blood. Peter had killed them, but then Sirius noticed that Peter's body was not among them . . .

NO! He wasn't giving up that quickly! Peter must have run for it. Where had he gone?! Sirius ran forward and out of the corner of his eye he saw a rat crawl down into a pipe on the far end of the newly formed crater. There was no way he could follow. Peter had won. Sirius looked down at himself, stunned. He was covered in blood from the people that Peter had just killed.

And all of sudden, he started to laugh. This was certainly the least funny position he had ever found himself in, but that thought just made him laugh louder. Scrawny, talentless, weak Peter Pettigrew could never have bested him in an actually dual. It was really ingenious that he'd done. Sirius couldn't stop laughing now. Peter beat the Order; Peter beat James and Peter beat him! Sirius Black! It was absurd. He could vaguely hear people screaming and noticed the spiral of smoke that came from the crater in the street. Peter faked his own disappearance. Sirius was laughing so hard that he couldn't breath. He must be going mad.

Minutes later, Ministry officials arrived and took Sirius away.

He was still laughing.