I was huddled in a corner of a slimy sewer in my Animagus form. My mind was in turmoil. Fear was stabbing my insides like sharp needles. What if the Death Eaters thought I had known that the little boy would destroy the Dark Lord? The only reason I had betrayed James and Lily was to save myself; what was the use of doing that if the Death Eaters were going to kill me anyway? At that moment, I almost regretted my hasty and impulsive action to join forces with the Dark Lord. I was the reason one of my best friends and his wife were dead. What was the use of being alive if I had to live with the fear that either the Death Eaters or Sirius and Remus would track me down and kill me?
I thought of little Harry and how the Dark Lord had failed to kill him. What extraordinary power did that child possess that he couldn’t be murdered by the most evil wizard of all time? All the newspapers that I had managed to steal from garbage cans had his name and picture on the front page; the child was famous before he could even understand what fame was. I pictured James’s laughing face and suddenly, without any warning, my eyes spilled over with tears and I began to sob. After all, he was my best friend and I had selfishly handed him over to the Dark Lord, just so that I could be free to live. But all the things that the Dark Lord had promised me were still so tempting; if only the Death Eaters did not think that I was partly the cause of the Dark Lord’s pitiful condition, I could still have the life I had dreamed of ever since I could remember.
I didn’t know what to do next. I couldn’t spend my whole life living in damp, smelly sewers, eating nothing but slime and moss. I had to find a safe hiding place, where I could breathe freely and live without the fear of being found by anyone who was a threat to me. But was there such a place for me in this world? One thing was for certain – I could not go back to the luxurious house in Ottery St. Catchpole that the Dark Lord had provided me with. It would be too easy for the Death Eaters to find me there.
Six hours later, I came up with a plan. I would go to Ottery St. Catchpole as a rat and skitter around in people’s gardens until some child picked me up and wanted to keep me as a pet. That way I would be safe from all harm, since no one could possibly recognise me. Having decided that, I made my way to the quaint village I had grown up in and started to scuttle around in gardens. After narrowly escaping being killed by a mousetrap, I decided that the houses on the outskirts of the village would be safer for me to live in. I came across a garden in which a small red-headed boy was playing with a couple of garden gnomes. Seizing the opportunity, I darted towards the child and came to a stop just beside him. The boy stared at me warily for a moment and then hesitantly picked me up. I cuddled into his arms and saw his face break out into a wide smile. He stroked the fur on my back gently and whispered, “I think I’ll call you Scabbers. It’s a nice name for a rat.” He got up, holding me in his arms and went into the house. For the time being, I was safe from Death Eaters and old friends. I had started my new life as a pet rat named
Scabbers.
Author's Note: And that's it! I hope you liked it and please leave a review!
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