Rat in a can

Dinner in the Great Dining Hall was subdued, everyone could see that his mood was diminished after leaving Potions. His new situation left him upset and he ended up making a decision before going to bed later that day.

Right after he wrote Nagini to remove Lily's money and magical tomes from the Potters' chamber on his behalf and store them in his house, something he could do thanks to his magical right and contact with Ranguk. For a small fee, of course.

He would NOT wait until the following year.

His thought process was simple.

Sirius is now self-pitying himself in Azkaban on his own because he believes Peter is dead, and it is only later upon seeing the photo that he discovers he is alive, which causes his escape from Azkaban.

Then, don't let him find out so he has no reason to run away from his dictated and self-imposed sentence. Although that would prevent Soisen from getting to him because he was being "protected" in Azkaban, he deserves what he is suffering for what he did to Lily.

As for being Harry's godfather? Well, he hasn't cared about him all these years, Soisen doubts he suddenly wants to take any responsibility and maybe by the time Harry knows he has a godfather, Sirius will have gotten a kiss from a Dementor.

Lupin is a werewolf and his kind are closely watched, if he asks Nagini to hire some "rats" to find him, it shouldn't be too hard to locate him.

As for Peter... it was simple, but complicated at the same time.

He doesn't want to get his hands dirty, nor does he feel he's ready to kill another human. Now, if he could just catch him and reveal his "accidental" discovery to Snape alone....

The point was, Snape was no fool, he needed a reasonable chain of events.

In fact, remembering something that happened during first year, maybe he didn't really need the marauder's map....

He spent several days "researching" the incident with Sylvia and Mrs. Pince's help, to find the newspaper clippings of the event. Hermione, for her part, helped him with his curiosity about animagi and asked Professor McGonagall several questions.

One of which revealed that there was a spell to forcibly remove animagus status.

Not that Soisen distrusted Hermione, but if he casually commented or showed interest now while in the Gryffindor common room, Peter might accidentally overhear something and become suspicious.

And the day came for him to perform, the day of tryouts for the Gryffindor quidditch team.

Ron and Harry were in attendance to try to earn a spot on the team and it is during their absence that Soisen managed to get his hands on "Scabbers". Of course, he made sure that the Weasley twins knew about their little brother's attempt and went to "cheer him on", followed by Percy who didn't want the tryouts interrupted, worried about a "tip-off" he received.

As for how?

Convince a first year student who wants to play a prank and give him a galleon for his trouble catching a rat. Before he knew it, Peter was in a cage being carried by a stranger.

-There you are, Scabbers! -Soisen smiled as he looked at Peter, who reflected his confusion with his behavior, "I didn't expect Ginny to think of playing a prank on Ron, asking me to take you with her. I think the twins are starting to influence her," he commented perfunctorily before tossing a piece of cheesecake into the cage, "I don't know what prank she's planning on playing on him, but she told me I should keep you three hours away from the Gryffindor common room. You might get hungry, so I'll leave this for you while you wait. Just don't make any noise, okay? I still have to finish my Transformation homework.

Peter understood the situation after Soisen's monologue and let his guard down.

-So Ginny finally fell under the twins' influence, what a pity, she was such a potential little witch," Peter thought, calming himself as his gaze was drawn to what from his perspective, was a huge piece of cheesecake, "No wonder he's the heir to one of the Hogwarts houses, how thoughtful and generous he is! -Just thinking about the scraps Ron was feeding him, she couldn't help but groan.

Soisen found an empty classroom and set the cage aside as he sat down and pulled out quill and parchment to begin writing. After a few minutes and seeing that he had no intention of disturbing him, Peter approached and began to eat his "treat" with delight.

How long had it been since he had eaten something so good?

After eating a large portion, his stomach swelled and he felt drowsy. The cage was next to a window, so the sun's rays felt comfortable and the draft was soothing. Taking another look at Soisen and seeing that he was still busy, he decided to let sleep overcome him. By the time he awoke, he would surely be back with Ron.

Five minutes later, Soisen stopped the pen and looked at Peter.

-It seems to have worked," he commented, satisfied with his work.

What Peter ate was a piece of cake with an additional secret ingredient, a diluted and tasteless version of the Living Dead Filter that he successfully brewed despite it being a potion learned in sixth year. Powerful enough to knock him out for two days, but without the need for a Wiggenweld potion to wake him up.

And with the half-blood prince's notes, it was child's play.

He altered the cage and made it into a small tin can with holes for his prisoner to breathe, easier to carry and conceal in a tunic pocket. After making sure everything was in place, he went down to the dungeons, where he knew Snape at this hour was assessing assignments.

Knock, knock!

-Come in," Snape's voice answered through the wood of the door.

Snape looked away from the disappointing Potions homework on his desk and glared at the one who dared to interrupt his work.

-Soisen?

-Professor, I have something important to talk to you about," Soisen said as he closed the door behind him and approached him, "It concerns my first foster mother.

-What is it about? -Snape turned his attention to Lily.

-What I'm about to tell you is the truth, but you'll probably find it hard to believe.

Snape watched as Soisen earnestly pulled a can from his student robes and set it down on the table.

Was the conversation so long that he brought him some macedonian?