Éminence grise / The Gray Rat: A Harry Potter Fanfic
i.
“No, Dumbledore must be mistaken, that’s all, Padfoot. Probably Lily let something slip accidentally to that Mary. It couldn’t be one of us. We’ve all been best friends for ten years!”
“But… Moony has seemed a little distant lately, hasn’t he?”
“But then, even at Hogwarts, he always hung back a little, didn’t he? Kept trying to talk us out of our best pranks, criticized us for jokes, even pulled prefect on us once or twice…. And after all we Marauders did for him!”
“No, Moony never really appreciated you and Prongs. But I still can’t think he’d betray us.”
*
ii.
“James and Lily have to move again, Padfoot? You-Know-Who almost found them? That’s terrible!”
“Dumbledore wants them to use what? A Fidelius Charm? Never heard of it-tell me how it works.”
“Dumbledore wants to be their Secret-Keeper???”
“Well, yes, I suppose using Dumbledore makes sense. But-you and Prongs and I, we fooled Dumbledore for three years at Hogwarts. In fact, he still hasn’t caught on that we’re Animagi, has he, Padfoot? And everyone says You-Know-Who fears Dumbledore. So if you can fool Dumbledore, you can fool You-Know-Who. And no one would expect it-it would be safer, really.”
*
iii.
“Well, it’s really a matter of outsmarting everyone, Padfoot. If the Death Eaters ever hear that Prongs’ family is protected by the Fidelius, of course they’ll first expect Dumbledore to be the Secret-Keeper. But sooner or later the word might get out. So who will they look for?”
“But see, no one knows just how good an Occlumens you are, Padfoot. In fact, no one but us knows you’re an Occlumens at all. And you can always hide in your animal form. So they’ll think you’re easy pickings, they’ll think they can find and squeeze you, and they’ll be wrong.”
*
iv.
“A double feint? That makes sense. But what do you mean?”
“ME? As Secret-Keeper?”
“Padfoot, Prongs, you know I’d do anything, anything at all, for either of you. As you would do for me. But-I’m not as strong as you. You know that.”
“Oh-that makes sense. Both of us go into hiding, and Padfoot would draw them off if You-Know-Who ever realized the Secret-Keeper was a friend. Of course they’d go for him first; who wouldn’t? And then he could escape as a dog, and that would give us time, if they ever did get that close again.”
*
v.
“Lily wants to put extra wards up? Doesn’t she trust Padfoot?”
“Well, young mothers are easily frightened; that’s natural. But really, it’s an insult to Padfoot-and to your plan, Prongs. Even if the absolute worst happened, if the Death Eaters captured Padfoot, obviously he could hold out against them long enough for you get away. It’s actually an insult to both of you.”
“But you shouldn’t upset Lily, Prongs; all this is hard on her. She’s a Gryffindor, but given her background, there are things she can’t understand.”
“Maybe you should just tell her you’ve put up additional wards.”
*
A/N: Many thanks to randomneses, whose challenge about my reaction to James’s fecklessness in relying ONLY on the Fidelius spurred me to write this. I started to think, what if Wormtail had encouraged James to rely on Fidelius only? Jodel had already suggested that Wormtail might well, mmm, have had conversations with Padfoot which featured fingering Moony as the traitor, and substituting a Secret-Keeper.
“No, Dumbledore must be mistaken, that’s all, Padfoot. Probably Lily let something slip accidentally to that Mary. It couldn’t be one of us. We’ve all been best friends for ten years!”
“But… Moony has seemed a little distant lately, hasn’t he?”
“But then, even at Hogwarts, he always hung back a little, didn’t he? Kept trying to talk us out of our best pranks, criticized us for jokes, even pulled prefect on us once or twice…. And after all we Marauders did for him!”
“No, Moony never really appreciated you and Prongs. But I still can’t think he’d betray us.”
*
ii.
“James and Lily have to move again, Padfoot? You-Know-Who almost found them? That’s terrible!”
“Dumbledore wants them to use what? A Fidelius Charm? Never heard of it-tell me how it works.”
“Dumbledore wants to be their Secret-Keeper???”
“Well, yes, I suppose using Dumbledore makes sense. But-you and Prongs and I, we fooled Dumbledore for three years at Hogwarts. In fact, he still hasn’t caught on that we’re Animagi, has he, Padfoot? And everyone says You-Know-Who fears Dumbledore. So if you can fool Dumbledore, you can fool You-Know-Who. And no one would expect it-it would be safer, really.”
*
iii.
“Well, it’s really a matter of outsmarting everyone, Padfoot. If the Death Eaters ever hear that Prongs’ family is protected by the Fidelius, of course they’ll first expect Dumbledore to be the Secret-Keeper. But sooner or later the word might get out. So who will they look for?”
“But see, no one knows just how good an Occlumens you are, Padfoot. In fact, no one but us knows you’re an Occlumens at all. And you can always hide in your animal form. So they’ll think you’re easy pickings, they’ll think they can find and squeeze you, and they’ll be wrong.”
*
iv.
“A double feint? That makes sense. But what do you mean?”
“ME? As Secret-Keeper?”
“Padfoot, Prongs, you know I’d do anything, anything at all, for either of you. As you would do for me. But-I’m not as strong as you. You know that.”
“Oh-that makes sense. Both of us go into hiding, and Padfoot would draw them off if You-Know-Who ever realized the Secret-Keeper was a friend. Of course they’d go for him first; who wouldn’t? And then he could escape as a dog, and that would give us time, if they ever did get that close again.”
*
v.
“Lily wants to put extra wards up? Doesn’t she trust Padfoot?”
“Well, young mothers are easily frightened; that’s natural. But really, it’s an insult to Padfoot-and to your plan, Prongs. Even if the absolute worst happened, if the Death Eaters captured Padfoot, obviously he could hold out against them long enough for you get away. It’s actually an insult to both of you.”
“But you shouldn’t upset Lily, Prongs; all this is hard on her. She’s a Gryffindor, but given her background, there are things she can’t understand.”
“Maybe you should just tell her you’ve put up additional wards.”
*
A/N: Many thanks to randomneses, whose challenge about my reaction to James’s fecklessness in relying ONLY on the Fidelius spurred me to write this. I started to think, what if Wormtail had encouraged James to rely on Fidelius only? Jodel had already suggested that Wormtail might well, mmm, have had conversations with Padfoot which featured fingering Moony as the traitor, and substituting a Secret-Keeper.