A Dubious Confession

"It's a good thing his mother isn't alive to witness this," said Sirius Black, sipping his coffee and munching on a doughnut.

"Shame on you for saying that," said Remus Lupin, "but you're probably right. Mrs. Pettigrew never would have believed any of this."

"His father wouldn't have been too pleased, either," said Albus Dumbledore, walking up to the two gentlemen having a conversation.

"Mr. Pettigrew?" said Remus in surprise, "I thought Peter and his father had never met-"

"I know, but I knew his father. I guess you could say we were rather close." He drank some pumpkin juice from a cup with muggle cartoon characters on it and wiped his face with a matching napkin.

It was a sweltering hot day to have a funeral.

"I shouldn't even be here," said Remus, looking around at the few people present.

"I'm here to spit on his grave," said Sirius bitterly.

"I'm here to pay my respects and remember the good times," said Dumbledore sadly. He looked ever so old and exasperated at that moment.

Sirius gave a derisive laugh.

"Did they mean nothing to you? Did the happy times with James and Lily mean nothing to you? You shouldn't try to forget the past, Sirius." Sirius had never seen Dumbledore looking as sad as he did at that exact moment.

Sirius finished his coffee in one last swig. "Alright, then. Let's go have a funeral."

They all sat down, and though there were very few people, a friendly number of people came to pay their respects to the man known as Wormtail. Dumbledore rose to give the eulogy.

"Peter Pettigrew was an interesting fellow as I shall always remember him," he began, looking around. "He had his share of oddities, and yes, he was troublesome at times," the crowd was silent, taking in his every word, "but he meant well. He meant well," Dumbledore repeated. "Things just went wrong for him." Dumbledore's voice tweaked a moment and Sirius gave a confused look to Remus, who appeared just as bewildered.

"Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he had a rough start in life." Dumbledore sighed. "As a few of you know, he never knew his father."

Sirius moved uncomfortably around in his seat. He didn't like how this eulogy was turning out.

"That was, in large part, my fault," the aged wizard said as the crowd broke out into murmurs. "I am the father of Peter Pettigrew," he admitted, startling the crowd. "And I am proud to say that he had a promising life before his association with the Dark Lord."

It was kind of pitiful to see Dumbledore talking about something that couldn't have been more incorrect.

"May he rest in peace. He's not in trouble anymore. He's in a better place."

"Remus, did you know?" asked Sirius, still amazed.

"No, did you?" he answered.

Sirius shook his head in the negative.

"Well, I suppose Dumbledore is right. He's in a better place now."

Sirius didn't know what to say. He was still shaking his head in confusion and was starting to feel like he couldn't stop shaking his head.

"Sirius?"

He couldn't answer.

"Sirius? Come on, answer me... Sirius?"

With a jolt, he was brought back to reality. Someone was shaking him. He opened his eyes and looked around. He wasn't at the graveyard at the funeral of Pettigrew any longer. He looked around and recognized the interior of his friend's residence.

"Moony, man, I had the weirdest dream..." he mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"I'll bet. You've got a nasty fever and you were muttering. Something about a funeral..."

"Yeah. Pettigrew's. I think it's coming soon." Sirius gratefully took the soup being offered to him by Remus and began to eat noisily.

"Oh," Lupin said simply. "Well, while you were out, Dumbledore sent word that Fudge's finally sent a hoarde of aurors looking to see if he's really about. I think we've at last convinced Fudge that Pettigrew's still alive."

A dull plop from outside the door told them that the Daily Prophet had arrived.

"Ah, the sanctity of reading the paper. It always relaxes me, regardless of how bad the news is," Remus was saying, sitting down to read the paper, smoothing it out and bringing his coffee cup to his lips.

He spit out his coffee upon reading the bolded headline on the front page. He gaped open mouthed at what was on the paper before him and Sirius slowly stood up and walked over to him to see what he was so shocked about.

The headline of the paper read, "Pettigrew caught and killed, aurors decorated by minister, Black's name cleared, story on pages 1-20."

Sirius' jaw dropped.

"Well," said Remus, opening the paper to page one and staring at a particularly memorable photo of the four marauders during their Hogwarts days, "I guess you were right. We've got a funeral to go to."