Harry Potter's Coolest Aunt

Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Hunter and Prongs

Lupin broke off. There had been a loud creak behind him. "This place is haunted!" said Blaise shaking in Theo's arms who then dropped him. "No sorry!" Percy said "I stepped on an old floorboard"

"It's not," said Lupin "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted... The screams and howls the villagers used to hear were 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 foolhardy..."He looked sober and tired. Ron started to interrupt, but Aishi, said, "Shh!"

"I was a very small boy when I received the bite. My parents tried everything, but in those days there was no cure. 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. But then the old bastard Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was so sympathetic. He said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn't come to school...." Lupin 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" -- Lupin 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."

"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...." He said "But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time, I had friends, three great friends. Sirius Black... Peter Pettigrew... and, of course, your fathers, Harry....Aishi -- James Potter and Karan Merha."

"Now, my four friends could hardly fail to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them my mother was ill, and that I had to go home to see her... I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was. But of course, they, like you, Hermione, worked out the truth...And they didn't desert me at all. Instead, they did something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable but the best times of my life. They became Animagi."

"My dad too?" said Harry, astounded. "Mom said he was an idiot" That made one of the hidden ghost snorts. "Yes, indeed," said Lupin holding his chuckle. "It took them the best part of three years to work out how to do it. Your fathers and Sirius here were the cleverest students in the school, and lucky they were, because the Animagus transformation can go wrong -- one reason the Ministry keeps a close watch on those attempting to do it. Peter needed all the help he could get from Karan, James and Sirius. Finally, in our fifth year, they managed it. They could each turn into a different animal at will."

"But how did that help you?" said Hermione, sounding puzzled. " Because werewolves only attack humans but not other animals" Aishi said. Lupin nodded"Indeed a werewolf is only a danger to people. They sneaked out of the castle every month under James's Invisibility Cloak. They transformed... Peter, as the smallest, could slip beneath the Willow's attacking branches and touch the knot that freezes it. They would then slip down the tunnel and join me. Under their influence, I became less dangerous. My body was still wolfish, but my mind seemed to become less so while I was with them."