40 Chapter 22 - Wormtail

"How do you get in these situations?!" Madam Pomfrey scolded Vincent who had his limbs wrapped in bandages. "Last year was a Basilisk, this year it's Dementors! Dumbledore was right, those things were nothing but trouble!"

Vincent could only smile wryly as he recalled his conversation with the Minister hours earlier. He made sure that his injuries was blamed on the Dementors, not Lupin. While he was sure Dumbledore knew what really happened, that man seems to always know everything, he was glad that everyone else there didn't question him any further than that. He didn't want Lupin to get fired from his job.

"Broken ribs, fractured legs, dislocated fingers, and that's not including all your cuts and bruises," Madam Pomfrey scurried about as she picked up a bucket full of Vincent's old bandages. "Even with my capabilities, it'll take a good while to make sure you get properly healed up. A boy at your age should take more care of himself."

"Thank you for healing me," Vincent tried to sit up, barely managing as he took a deep breath. Even that felt like a challenge to him at the moment.

"You can thank me by never coming here again," she scoffed. "Like that'll ever happen."

Vincent gave an embarrassed laugh as he looked out the window. After the everything that had happened, he felt like he could finally take a break.

Suddenly the door to the Hospital Wing slammed open as a messy, black haired man dressed in rags came in.

"VINCENT! I'm a free man!" Sirius yelled as he pumped his fists up into the air. "HALLELUJAH!!!"

"DON'T YELL IN THE HOSPITAL WING!" A bucket full of dirty bandages smashed into Sirius' head, sending him tumbling out the door.

"Sirius! You alright?" Harry's voice came from the doorway.

"Oh no, foams coming out of his mouth, we need to get him to a hospital!" Hermione's panicked voice exclaimed.

"Hermione, we are in a hospital!" Ron's exasperated voice sounded from the entrance.

Vincent winced as he watched. "That must have hurt."

...

"So you were working with Sirius the whole time?" Harry exclaimed with shock. "Why didn't you say anything?!"

Vincent looked to Sirius who had an ice pack to his head and sighed. "Honestly, I thought about it, but you guys...how do I put this, were a bit impulsive this year. I think that's the word."

Ron frowned. "What do you mean?"

Vincent raised and eyebrow. "Let's see, Ron with the whole incident with Scabbers, or Peter now that you know..."

Ron looked to the side guiltily.

"Hermione was working herself to death with her schedule and feeling hurt because of, again, the Scabbers incident, making her a bit more violent and unstable than usual."

Hermione's cheeks flushed red in embarrassment.

"And Harry, your pretty much the definition of impulsive."

"I'm not—" Harry began before Vincent cut him off.

"Past experience says otherwise," Vincent noticed Harry about to say something else and cut him off again. "Don't tell me you didn't once think to use the Marauders map to find him yourself."

Harry shut up.

"The point is, that even though I trust you guys, I didn't think I could tell without anyone of you making some sort of move by yourselves."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looked down with some shame and embarrassment. Vincent turned his head to the side. "But maybe, I just thought I could do it alone.So I was at fault as well. Sorry."

The three of them looked at Vincent who apologised before looking at each other and back.

"You...Uh, whatever," Hermione gave an exasperated sigh. She looked around the room before asking. "Where's Arnya?"

"I asked her to do something for me," Vincent chuckled hollowly. "Guess I owe her again."

Vincent felt terrible about it.

He noticed it the first time she saved him, her conflict about whether to help him or not was clear to Vincent. Since then, he tried not to ask too much of her, but now, Arnya had saved his life more than once now on her own violation. She, who was supposed to be just observing, ended up doing far more than that.

"I need to be stronger," he thought to himself as he clenched his fist. "So that no one, has to save me again—"

"You can't do everything alone," a voice echoed in his head, making him relax out of reflex.

"Trust me," the letter from yesterday came to mind.

And finally, Arnya appearing with Buckbeak.

Vincent took a deep breath as he stared at his hands. "Even though I said that, maybe I didn't trust them enough?"

Vincent looked at Sirius who was watching over them with a smile. "What's happening with Peter?"

Sirius' expression hardened as he sighed. "Taken to the Ministry with the information kept under wraps. Ministry didn't want to admit that they wrongfully sentenced an innocent man to Azkaban for twelve years until Dumbledore stepped in. Should be shipped to Azkaban in a month or two after questioning."

"Wonder what Sister An would do?" Vincent thought sadly before another person came to Vincent's mind. "Hey, what happened to Lupin?"

Everyone exchanged a glance before turning to Vincent.

Harry looked glum. "Well, Lupin came back yesterday. He openly announced that he was going to resign at last night's dinner."

Vincent frowned. "But he should have no reason too right?"

"I asked him that too, but, well...I think it had something to do with you," Harry explained.

...

As Lupin threw a ragged old robe into his luggage he heard a knock on the door. Turning around, he saw Vincent there with a crutch at his side.

"Vincent," Lupin greeted before turning back to his luggage. "Don't suppose your here to ask me to stay?"

"No, looks like you've made up your mind," Vincent responded as he made his way in front of Lupin. "Just wanted to hear why."

Lupin gave a hollow chuckle as he indicated to Vincent's injuries. "You of all people should know, given your current state."

"Dementors did—"

"Now that, is a load of crap," Lupin smiled as he faced a Vincent. "Who else would have a Pixie deliver my medicine for me? I appreciate you covering for me Vincent, I really do, but the fact remains, I harmed my student."

"Not on purpose," Vincent consoled the ragged man. "No one, in your position could have avoided what happened last night."

"I didn't take my medicine even though I knew what night it was," Lupin flicked his wand, summoning a chair to sit on. "If only I waited to take it, Snape wouldn't have come, Sirius and Harry wouldn't be in such danger, and you wouldn't have been in such a state."

Lupin placed his face in his hands. "Who knows what else could happen if they keep a werewolf like me as a teacher."

Vincent sat on the ground and looked up at Lupin. The two of them stayed like that for a good while. Vincent had no idea how Lupin felt, turning into a monster every month, feeling stress and anxiety about whether or not he would hurt someone that night. And here he is now, having just done the very thing he feared he would do the most.

Vincent took in a deep breath before talking. "You know Professor, from what I hear, if you weren't there last night, Harry might have killed Sirius. If you weren't here this year, Harry wouldn't have learned the Patronus. If you weren't here, Sirius might have gone back to Azkaban and Peter wouldn't have been captured."

"In my opinion, if you weren't here, a lot of things could have gone wrong," Vincent gave an encouraging smile. "I can't stop you from leaving, but the very least I can do is stop you from feeling guilty because of my injuries. I mean, I destroyed you last night after all."

Lupin took his face out of his hands and looked at Vincent. After a while, he gave a laugh. "Well, seeing as how I resigned, I'm not your Professor anymore."

"Force of habit, too late to change it now," Vincent laughed as he shakily got up.

"Well, I should head off now, Madam Pomfrey only allowed an hour—" Vincent tripped mid sentence.

"Vincent!" Lupin cried out in panic as Vincent crashed into a wardrobe, opening it slightly. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine..." Vincent turned silent as he stared at something in his hands.

"Vincent?" Lupin frowned as he found an odd item in Vincent's hand.

It was an old open can filled with small sticks sticking out. Vincent's other hand reached out and pulled one of the sticks, it's tip completely red.

"...never would have thought I'd see this damn thing again," Vincent muttered and threw the cup into the wardrobe before getting up. "Well, I better be going, take care Professor. See you around."

Lupin watched as Vincent left his office with odd look before turning to the wardrobe that Vincent had fallen on, only then realised that the wardrobe that Vincent crashed into was the one where he kept the Boggart.

"A can with sticks?" Lupin thought curiously before shaking his head. He looked to the still open door and sighed. "What on earth was that about?"

...

"Peter Pettigrew, you have a visitor."

Pettigrew, sitting in the corner of a small, empty room, looked up from his position as a door appeared in the wall. His eyes widened as a familiar brown haired woman entered the room, the door disappearing behind her.

"A—Annie!" Peter scrambled to his knees. "Annie! You're here! Please save me—?!"

His voice was suddenly silenced. No matter how many times he opened his mouth, he couldn't make a sound. He couldn't even move a muscle. Some strange force was restricting him from doing any of those things.

He barely managed to look up in terror at his sister before looking back down, away from her emotionless gaze. The two of them stayed like that for a solid minute before Annie opened her mouth to speak.

"Our mothers dead, did you know?" Peter kept shaking, refusing to look up. "Before she died, she spoke about how proud she was of you to stand up to Sirius for your friends, telling others that you died a hero."

Annie watched the shivering man before her and sighed. "I...when the news of your death reached me, I had so much regret. What if I had been there? Could I have stopped you? Saved Lily and James? I've always thought about what

But that's all meaningless now."

Peter finally looked up to see Annie's sad gaze as she looked down at him. "Sirius and Lupin trusted you, Lily and James trusted you, Mother was proud of you, and I, I just wanted to talk to my brother one last time."

"Annie, please, help me, I'm your brother—" Peter started before a sword stabbed into the ground, right in front of his face.

Peter started shocked as he stared at the blade. Annie sighed as she got down so both her and Peter's face were on the same level.

He shivered at the gaze that stared at him. Nothing nothing could be seen in her eyes. No anger, sadness, regret, only an endless void of nothing.

"You," Peter shivered under her gaze as she spoke in a monotone voice. "No longer deserve to be called my brother."

Peter, with a blank expression, watched as Annie sheathed her sword. She got up and walked to a wall, a door appearing before her. As she opened it, she looked back. "Goodbye, Wormtail."

"NO!" Wormtail scrambled to his feet as he rushed the door that closed in his face. "Annie, forgive me, please, HELP ME! I'M YOUR BROTHER! I'M YOUR BROTHER!!!"

Annie Pettigrew didn't look back as Wormtail's screams echoed behind her, screams that rung through her head as she exited the Ministry.

...