Change the Future

POA 17

"But Professor Lupin Scabbers can't be Pettigrew it just can't be true, you know it can't"

"Why can't it be true?" He said calmly.

"Because, because people would know if Peter Pettigrew had been an Animagus. We did Animagi in class with Professor McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework the Ministry of Magic keep stabs on witches and wizards who can become animals, there's a register showing what animal they become, and their markings and things and I went and looked Professor McGonagall up on the register, and there have been only seven Animagi this century, and Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list."

"Technically the Ministry don't know everything" Rory mutters under her breath but Remus heard as he sends her a small smile. He started to laugh as he spoke again

"Right again, Hermione!" he said. "But the Ministry never knew that there used to be three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts."

"If you're going to tell them the story, get a move on, Remus," Sirius said still watching Scabbers's every desperate move. "I've waited twelve years, I'm not going to wait much longer." Rory sent him a quick are you serious look making him be quite.

"She can do the look like Remus" James said looking at his daughter "teach me"

"All right... but you'll need to help me, Sirius. I only know how it began" Remus broke off. There had been a loud creak behind him. The bedroom door had opened of its own accord. They all stared at it. Then Remus strode toward it and looked out into the landing. "No one there"

"This place is haunted!" Ron said.

"It's not," Remus said still looking at the door in a puzzled way. "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted"

"He was the ghosts" Rory said pointing at Remus smiling.

"Is there anything you don't know" Remus asks her smiling.

"Not much"

"The screams and howls the villagers used to hear were indeed made by me." He pushed his greying hair out of his eyes, thought for a moment then said "That's where all of this starts with my becoming a werewolf. None of this could have happened if I hadn't been bitter and if I hadn't been so fool hardy" He looked sober and tired. Ron started to interrupt, but Hermione, said.

"Shh!" She was watching Remus very intently.

"I was a very small boy when I received the bite. My parents tried everything, but in those days there was no cure" Rory looks at him, his face showing sadness "The potion that Professor Snape has been making for me is a very recent discovery. It makes me safe, you see. As long as I take it in the week, preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform. I'm able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again. Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren't likely to want their children exposed to me." Rory scoffs at this. He sent her a sad look before continuing "But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn't come to school" He sighed, and looked directly at Harry. "I told you, months ago, that the Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. The truth is that it was planted because I came to Hogwarts. This house" He looked miserably around the room "the tunnel that leads to it, they were built for my use. Once a month, I was smuggled out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The tree was placed at the tunnel mouth to stop anyone coming across me while I was dangerous." The only sound apart from Remus's voice was Scabbers's frightened squeaking. "My transformations in those days were were terrible. It is very painful to turn into a werewolf. I was separated from humans to bite, so I bit and scratched myself instead. The villagers heard the noise and the screaming and thought they were hearing particularly violent spirits. Dumbledore encouraged the rumour. Even now, when the house has been silent for years, the villagers don't dare approach it."