When Harry and the twins arrived at the dormitory, they scanned the room—no one was there.
Harry called out loudly, "Peter Pettigrew! Mr. Pettigrew!"
At that very moment, Wormtail—trapped in a nightmare—was dreaming he'd just escaped Black's pursuit and was hiding in a Muggle house, searching for food. Suddenly, he saw Harry Potter standing in the middle of the room, wand raised and calling his name. Terrified, he darted about in panic...
George grabbed the Marauder's Map and tracked the ink dot, finally stopping at Ron's bed.
"Could the map be acting up after all these years?" he wondered aloud.
Fred frowned. "I doubt it. We've used it for ages without a single problem."
Harry frowned slightly and absentmindedly picked up the cage sitting on the bedside table...
Both twins shouted at once, "It moved!" "It's alive!"
Harry blinked in confusion. "What moved?"
The twins stared at the cage in his hands, then said, "Take a couple of steps, Harry."
Harry, still puzzled, did as they asked and took two steps forward.
Immediately, George and Fred tossed the Marauder's Map back to Harry and snatched the cage from him.
"What do you think, George?"
"Let's take Scabbers out and see if it's the cage's magic at work."
They both knew this cage was a gift from Douglas to Ron. Back when Ron had been showing it off, they'd tried to borrow it for some research, but Ron always refused. In their experience, nothing from Douglas was ever as simple as it seemed—and now, their suspicions seemed justified.
Harry checked the map and saw it at once: the ink dot labeled Peter Pettigrew was now overlapping the twins' own positions.
He stared at the cage in shock.
The twins quickly and efficiently pulled the still-sleeping Scabbers from the cage and tossed him to Harry.
"I always thought there was something weird about this cage," one said. "The Professor must've hidden a clue inside."
"If Ron had let us study it from the start, we'd have found this Peter Pettigrew clue ages ago," the other added.
Harry nodded. Their reasoning made sense—after all, if the Professor had assigned them this task, it was only logical he'd leave hints along the way.
He watched as the twins drew their wands, prodding and poking at the cage. Fred even brought it close to his face, searching for any hidden inscriptions.
Harry didn't join the fuss. He glanced at Scabbers, who showed no intention of waking, and found himself envying the rat's peaceful sleep. To be a rat—especially one who could nap all day—seemed blissful.
He glanced down at the map again...
Meanwhile, when Douglas returned to his office, he found Wangcai glaring daggers at Sirius, while Dobby was busily fussing over the disgruntled cat.
As soon as Douglas entered, Wangcai leapt to his shoulder, gesticulating wildly at Sirius and Dobby. From the flurry of gestures, Douglas pieced together that Dobby hadn't given the cat any shiny Galleons, and Sirius had even tried to snatch its treasures.
Douglas frowned, grabbed Wangcai by the hind legs, and gave it a mild shake.
Scooping up a handful of coins, he scolded, "Galleons belong to Dobby. If he gives you some, that's a favor—not a right. Don't push your luck."
He tossed the coins to Dobby. "Dobby, for the next month, don't give him a single coin. Let's break him of this greedy habit!"
Dobby opened his mouth to protest, but Douglas silenced him with a look.
Sirius flicked his hair, laughing at Wangcai's mournful attempt to gather up its scattered loot.
Douglas shot him a withering glance. "If you need money, just ask me. Don't stoop to robbing the pets."
Sirius opened his mouth, but couldn't think of a comeback. Dobby quickly explained the situation.
Douglas frowned. Why did Harry suddenly need so much money?
...
Back in the Gryffindor boys' dorm, the three boys had spent ages studying the rat, but couldn't figure out why a rat would be labeled with a dead man's name on the Marauder's Map.
They had considered the Animagus theory, but as Professor McGonagall had taught, an Animagus's animal form reflected their personality. How could someone hailed as a hero possibly have a rat as their Animagus form?
Of course, the main issue was that none of them knew the counter-charm for Animagi.
With no answers, they put Scabbers back in the cage. Since the cage was a gift from Professor Holmes, it clearly meant there was something off about Scabbers.
With nothing more to do, George and Fred headed out.
"George, I think we've stumbled onto something huge."
"That rat is probably Peter Pettigrew—look at that missing toe..."
"He's been in our house for over ten years..."
"So why didn't you tell Harry?"
"Why didn't you?"
"Heh!"
"Haha!"
Harry gathered up the Marauder's Map, the wooden box, and his Invisibility Cloak, then dashed off for a quick shower.
Afterward, he found Ron and Hermione in the library.
He quietly filled them in on everything.
After a few startled exclamations from Ron, they were promptly shushed and thrown out by the furious librarian, Madam Pince.
Once outside, Hermione dumped her stack of books into Ron's arms in frustration. She led them to a quiet corner before speaking.
"Actually, I'm more inclined to trust the map. After all, it was made by Professor Holmes. And about the cage—I always thought it was odd how much the Professor cared about Scabbers. First special pet food, then a custom cage..."
Ron snorted, "He made the food because Scabbers wasn't well, and he knows me really well. He gave me the cage because your Crookshanks kept trying to get into our dorm to chase Scabbers. The Professor's a good man—he even gave me a new wand..."
He simply couldn't believe his loyal pet rat could be a dead man in disguise.
Hermione scoffed, "And how would the Professor know all that? Did you go running to him with every little problem?"
Harry quickly cut them off—before he'd arrived, they hadn't been arguing, and now they were at it again!
"So, you really think Scabbers could be an Animagus? But why a rat?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, I think Professor Holmes must have done something to the map—made it show Scabbers as Peter Pettigrew as a clue for us..."
Ron huffed, "Then what clue could Scabbers possibly have?"
Hermione shook her head again, touched her chest, then changed the subject.
"Harry, you said the map can show everyone's real-time location in the castle?"
Harry nodded.
Hermione glanced around to make sure they were alone, then said, "When you have time, keep an eye on my movements—just to test the map's accuracy."
She finally breathed a sigh of relief after saying it. She'd thought she wouldn't be able to get the words out, but it seemed she'd finally found a loophole in the Professor's secrecy charm.
Harry gave her a puzzled look, but agreed.
The rest of the weekend, everyone was busy.
Ron kept calling Peter Pettigrew's name at the sleeping Scabbers, but every time, the rat would shudder and then go right back to sleep. The reaction left Ron completely baffled.
Ever since Hermione had seen the four names on the map, she'd formed a theory.
"You know, maybe 'Wormtail' really does refer to the rat. Maybe that's the clue Professor Holmes wanted us to find—dog, rat, but what about the other two? Prongs and Moony..."
Harry frowned. "Could these four animals have something to do with Black?"
Ron furrowed his brow. "I asked Percy—he said the Professor borrowed Scabbers for a while last term. I've written to Bill and Charlie, hoping they know something about those names. Honestly, Harry, you could just ask the Professor directly. Why make me do all the investigating?"
Harry shook his head. "It's my assignment—he wants me to solve it myself. Besides, the more clues you find, the bigger your share of the reward..."
Actually, Hermione had another suspicion. When she'd noticed Scabbers's missing toe, she'd made a connection. But she had no proof yet, and didn't want to scare Ron—she'd seen Peter's photo in the paper...
Meanwhile, the twins weren't idle either. Ever since suspecting Scabbers might be an Animagus, they'd gone straight to Lupin to request instruction in the Animagus counter-charm.
Lupin refused them outright. For one thing, the spell was advanced Transfiguration—far beyond what fifth years could handle. The practice room had strict rules: all spells must be relevant to O.W.L.s. For another, it was at Douglas's request—until they had solid evidence, Scabbers was not to be forced into human form.
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