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𝐑𝐎𝐍 𝐆𝐀𝐏𝐄𝐃 at her. He and the rest of them were in shock.
"Don't be stupid. What are you talking about?"
"She's right! He's here!" Hermione gasped.
Hermione carried the milk jug over to the table and turned it upside down. With a frantic squeak, and much scrambling to get back inside, Scabbers the rat came sliding out onto the table.
"Scabbers!" said Ron blankly. "Scabbers, what are you doing here?"
He grabbed the struggling rat and held him up to the light. Scabbers looked dreadful. He was thinner than ever, large tufts of hair had fallen out leaving wide bald patches, and he writhed in Ron's hands as though desperate to free himself.
"It's okay, Scabbers!" said Ron. "No cats! There's nothing here to hurt you!"
"I don't think it's cause of the cats Ron...something is wrong with that rat." Marina mumbled studying it.
Hagrid suddenly stood up, his eyes fixed on the window. His normally ruddy face had gone the color of parchment.
"They're comin'..."
Harry, Marina, Ron, and Hermione whipped around. A group of men was walking down the distant castle steps.
In front was Albus Dumbledunce, his silver beard gleaming in the dying sun. Next to him trotted Cornelius Fudge. Behind them came the feeble old Committee member and the executioner, Macnair.
"Yeh gotta go," said Hagrid. Every inch of him was trembling. "They mustn' find yeh here... Go now..."
Ron stuffed Scabbers into his pocket and Marina picked up the cloak.
"I'll let yeh out the back way," said Hagrid.
They followed him to the door into his back garden. Marina felt strangely unreal, and even more so when he saw Buckbeak a few yards away, tethered to a tree behind Hagrid's pumpkin patch. Buckbeak seemed to know something was happening. He turned his sharp head from side to side and pawed the ground nervously.
"It's okay, Beaky," said Hagrid softly. "It's okay..."
He turned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Go on," he said. "Get goin'."
But they didn't move.
"Hagrid, we can't —"
"We'll tell them what really happened —"
"They can't kill him —"
"It's bull crap what's going on!"
"Go!" said Hagrid fiercely. "It's bad enough without you lot in trouble an' all!"
They had no choice. As Marina threw the cloak over Harry, Hermione, and Ron, they heard voices at the front of the cabin. Hagrid looked at the place where they had just vanished from sight.
"Go quick," he said hoarsely. "Don' listen..."
And he strode back into his cabin as someone knocked at the front door.
Slowly, in a kind of horrified trance, Harry, Ron, and Hermione set off silently around Hagrid's house. As they reached the other side, the front door closed with a sharp snap.
"Please, let's hurry," Hermione whispered. "I can't stand it, I can't bear it..."
"God, your so dramatic Granger. Everyone dies for a reason I guess." Marina shrugged, missing Buckbead already.
They started up the sloping lawn toward the castle. The sun was sinking fast now; the sky had turned to a clear, purple-tinged gray, but to the west there was a ruby-red glow.
Ron stopped dead.
"Oh, please, Ron," Hermione began.
"It's Scabbers — he won't — stay put —"
Ron was bent over, trying to keep Scabbers in his pocket, but the rat was going berserk; squeaking madly, twisting and flailing, trying to sink his teeth into Ron's hand.
"Scabbers, it's me, you idiot, it's Ron," Ron hissed.
"Oi you, your a rat. You sleep, eat, and die. Not runaway!" Marina spat at it.
They heard a door open behind them and men's voices.
"Oh, Ron, please let's move, they're going to do it!" Hermione breathed.
"Okay — Scabbers, stay put —"
They walked forward; Marina, like Hermione, was trying not to listen to the rumble of voices behind them. Ron stopped again.
"I can't hold him — Scabbers, shut up, everyone'll hear us —"
The rat was squealing wildly, but not loudly enough to cover up the sounds drifting from Hagrid's garden. There was a jumble of indistinct male voices, a silence, and then, without warning, the unmistakable swish and thud of an axe.
Hermione swayed on the spot.
"They did it!" she whispered to Marina. "I'd — don't believe it — they did it!"
"We can't stay," said Ron, who was paper-white. "He'll be in worse trouble if they know we've been to see him..."
Hermione's breathing was shallow and uneven.
"How — could — they?" she choked. "How could they?"
Marina gave Hermione a hug as the girl sobbed into her shoulder.
"Come on," said Ron, whose teeth seemed to be chattering.
They set off back toward the castle, walking slowly to keep themselves hidden under the cloak. The light was fading fast now.
By the time they reached open ground, darkness was settling like a spell around them.
"Scabbers, keep still," Ron hissed, clamping his hand over his chest. The rat was wriggling madly. Ron came to a sudden halt, trying to force Scabbers deeper into his pocket. "What's the matter with you, You stupid rat? Stay still — OUCH! He bit me!"
Marina started to cackle.
"Oi! It's not funny!" scoffed Ron.
"Ronald, be quiet!" Hermione whispered urgently. "Fudge'll be out here in a minute —"
"He won't — stay — put —"
Scabbers was plainly terrified. He was writhing with all his might, trying to break free of Ron's grip.
"What's the matter with him?"
Suddenly, wide yellow eyes glinting eerily in the darkness — Crookshanks. Whether he could see them or was following the sound of Scabbers's squeaks, Marina couldn't tell.
"Cat fight! With an actual cat!" shrieked Marina.
"Crookshanks!" Hermione moaned. "No, go away, Crookshanks! Go away!"
But the cat was getting nearer — "Scabbers — NO!"
Too late — the rat had slipped between Ron's clutching fingers, hit the ground, and scampered away. In one bound, Crookshanks sprang after him, and before anyone could stop him, Ron had thrown the Invisibility Cloak off himself and pelted away into the darkness.
"Ron!" Hermione moaned.
As Marina and Harry looked at each other, then followed at a sprint; it was impossible to run full out under the cloak; they pulled it off and it streamed behind them like a banner as they hurtled after Ron; they could hear his feet thundering along ahead and his shouts at Crookshanks.
"Get away from him — get away — Scabbers, come here —" There was a loud thud.
"Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat —"
The three almost fell over Ron; they skidded to a stop right in front of him. He was sprawled on the ground, but Scabbers was back in his pocket; he had both hands held tight over the quivering lump.
"Ron — come on back under the cloak —" Hermione panted. "Dumbledore — the Minister — they'll be coming back out in a minute."
But before they could cover themselves again, before they could even catch their breath, they heard the soft pounding of gigantic paws... Something was bounding toward them, quiet as a shadow — an enormous, pale-eyed, jet-black dog.
"Crap — it's the grim. We're doomed. If any one of us lives, tell them to bury me with my rare edition of Seeker Weekly." Marina sighed dramatically.
Suddenly, the dog had made an enormous leap onto Harry and the front paws hit him on the chest; he keeled over backward in a whirl of hair; he felt its hot breath, saw inch-long teeth —
But the force of its leap had carried it too far; it rolled off him. Marina helped him up as she kicked the dog's face with the back of her foot.
As the dog sprang back toward them Ron pushed Harry aside; the dog's jaws fastened instead around Ron's outstretched arm. Harry lunged forward, he seized a handful of the brute's hair, but it was dragging Ron away as easily as though he were a rag doll —
"Ron!" Marina shouted, then was hit by something hard on her face. She heard Hermione shriek with pain and fall too.
Harry groped for his wand, blinking blood out of his eyes "Lumos!" he whispered.
The wandlight showed them the trunk of a thick tree; they had chased Scabbers into the shadow of the Whomping Willow and its branches were creaking as though in a high wind, whipping backward and forward to stop them going nearer.
"There's a secret passage in the fucking tree? No way!" Marina said, rubbing her cheek from the pain.
"A secret passageway that Ronald is being dragged into! Come on!" Hermione sighed.
A heavy branch whipped lethally through the air and she was forced backward again.
All they could see now was one of Ron's legs, which he had hooked around a root in an effort to stop the dog from pulling him farther underground — but a horrible crack cut the air like a gunshot; Ron's leg had broken, and a moment later, his foot vanished from sight.
"We have got to go for help —" Hermione gasped; she was bleeding too; the Willow had cut her across the shoulder.
"No way! That thing's big enough to eat him; we haven't got time —" Marina breathed.
"But — we're never going to get through without help —" Hermione told them.
Another branch whipped down at them, twigs clenched like knuckles.
"If that dog can get in, we can," Harry panted, darting here and there, trying to find a way through the vicious, swishing branches, but none of them couldn't get an inch nearer to the tree roots without being in range of the tree's blows.
"Oh, help, help," Hermione whispered frantically, dancing uncertainly on the spot, "Please..."
Crookshanks darted forward. He slithered between the battering branches like a snake and placed his front paws upon a knot on the trunk.
Abruptly, as though the tree had been turned to marble, it stopped moving. Not a leaf twitched or shook.
"Crookshanks!" Hermione whispered uncertainly. She now grasped Harry's arm painfully hard.
Marina raised an eyebrow. "How did he know —?"
"He's friends with that dog," said Harry grimly. "I've seen them together. Come on — and keep your wands out —"
They covered the distance to the trunk in seconds, but before they had reached the gap in the roots, Crookshanks had slid into it with a flick of his bottlebrush tail.
As Marina crawled down into the deserted tunnel, Harry came sliding in.
Marina groaned in pain. "Get off you moron."
Harry quickly got off of her as Hermione crawled into the hole as well.
"Where's Ron?" Hermione whispered in a terrified voice.
"This way," said Harry, setting off, bent-backed, after Crookshanks.
"Where does this tunnel come out?" Marina asked breathlessly from behind him.
"I don't know... It's marked on the Marauder's Map but Fred and George said no one's ever gotten into it... It goes off the edge of the map, but it looked like it was heading for Hogsmeade..."
They moved as fast as they could, bent almost double; ahead of them, Crookshanks's tail bobbed in and out of view. On and on went the passage; it felt at least as long as the one to Honeydukes... All Harry could think of was Ron and what the enormous dog might be doing to him... He was drawing breath in sharp, painful gasps, running at a crouch...
And then the tunnel began to rise; moments later it twisted, and Crookshanks had gone. Ahead Harry could see a patch of dim light through a small opening.
They paused, gasping for breath, edging forward. Both raised their wands to see what lay beyond.
It was a room, a very disordered, dusty room. Paper was peeling from the walls; there were stains all over the floor; every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows were all boarded up.
Marina glanced at Harry, who looked very curious but nodded.
"Potter," she whispered, "I think we're in the Shrieking Shack."
Her eyes then fell on a wooden chair near them. Large chunks had been torn out of it; one of the legs had been ripped off entirely.
"Ghosts didn't do that," Marina chuckled nervously.
At that moment, there was a creak overhead. Something had moved upstairs. Both of them looked up at the ceiling.
"Well it was nice to know you all... and now it's time for me to die. Marina D. Weasley. 1980-1993."
"Sh..." Hermione whispered.
They reached the dark landing.
"Nox," they whispered together, and the lights at the end of their wands went out.
Harry then kicked the door open.
On a magnificent four-poster bed with dusty hangings lay Crookshanks, purring loudly at the sight of them. On the floor beside him, clutching his leg, which stuck out at a strange angle, was Ron.
Marina ran over to him, hugging him.
"You alright Ron? Where's the dog?" Hermione questioned.
"Not a dog," Ron moaned as he held Marina's hand. His teeth were gritted with pain. "Harry, it's a trap —"
"What —"
"He's the dog... he's an Animagus."
Ron was staring over Harry's shoulder. Marina looked behind Harry to see a man.
A mass of filthy, matted hair hung to the man's shoulders. If eyes hadn't been shining out of the deep, dark sockets, he might have been a corpse. The waxy skin was stretched so tightly over the bones of his face, it looked like a skull. His yellow teeth were bared in a smile.
It was Sirius Black.
"Expelliarmus!" he croaked, pointing Ron's wand at them.
Harry's and Hermione's wands shot out of their hands, high in the air, and Black caught them. Then he took a step closer. His eyes were fixed on Harry.
"I thought you'd come and help your friend," he said hoarsely.
His voice sounded as though he had long since lost the habit of using it. "Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful... it will make everything much easier..."
"No, Harry!" Hermione gasped in a petrified whisper as Marina held him from attacking Black.
Ron, however, spoke to Black.
"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" he said fiercely, though the effort of standing upright was draining him of still more color, and he swayed slightly as he spoke.
"No he doesn't!" shouted Marina, making them look at her, "Okay fine...kill me too.0
Something flickered in Black's shadowed eyes.
"Lie down," he said quietly to Ron. "You will damage that leg even more."
"Did you hear me?" Ron said weakly, though he was clinging painfully to Harry to stay upright. "You'll have to kill all three of us!"
"There'll be only one murder here tonight," said Black, and his grin widened.
"Why's that?" Harry spat, trying to wrench himself free of Marina. "Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those Muggles to get at Pettigrew... What's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?"
"Harry!" Hermione whimpered. "Be quiet!"
"Don't stop him! You kill him Potter!" Marina said, letting go off Harry.
"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry roared and lunged at Black.
Perhaps it was the shock of Harry doing something so stupid, but Black didn't raise the wands in time — one of Harry's hands fastened over his wasted wrist, forcing the wand tips away; the knuckles of Harry's other hand collided with the side of Black's head and they fell, backward, into the wall —
Hermione was screaming; Ron was yelling; there was a blinding flash as the wands in Black's hand sent a jet of sparks into the air that missed Harry's face by inches. But Black's free hand had found Harry's throat .
"No," he hissed, "I've waited too long —"
"NO YOU DON'T!" roared Harry, and he aimed a kick at Crookshanks that made the cat leap aside, spitting; Harry snatched up his wand and turned —
"Get out of the way!" he shouted at them.
Marina wiped the blood off her lip as she held Ron's hand, as he groaned in pain.
Black was sprawled at the bottom of the wall. His thin chest rose and fell rapidly as he watched Harry walking slowly nearer, his wand pointing straight at Black's heart.
"Going to kill me, Harry?" he whispered.
Harry stopped right above him, his wand still pointing at Black's chest, looking down at him. A livid bruise was rising around Black's left eye and his nose was bleeding.
"You killed my parents," said Harry, his voice shaking slightly, but his wand hand quite steady.
Black stared up at him out of those sunken eyes.
"I don't deny it," he said very quietly. "But if you knew the whole story."
"The whole story?" Harry repeated, a furious pounding in his ears. "You sold them to Voldemort. That's all I need to know."
"You've got to listen to me," Black said, and there was a note of urgency in his voice now. "You'll regret it if you don't... You don't understand..."
"I understand a lot better than you think," said Harry, and his voice shook more than ever. "You never heard her, did you? My mum... trying to stop Voldemort killing me... and you did that... you did it..."
Before either of them could say another word, something ginger streaked past Harry; Crookshanks leapt onto Black's chest and settled himself there, right over Black's heart. Black blinked and looked down at the cat.
"Get off," he murmured, trying to push Crookshanks off him.
But Crookshanks sank his claws into Black's robes and wouldn't shift. He turned his ugly, squashed face to Harry and looked up at him with those great yellow eyes. To his right, Hermione gave a dry sob.
Harry stared down at Black and Crookshanks, his grip tightening on the wand. He raised the wand. Potter was about to kill Black.
Muffled footsteps were echoing up through the floor — someone was moving downstairs.
"WE'RE UP HERE!" Hermione screamed suddenly. "WE'RE UP HERE — SIRIUS BLACK — QUICK!"
The door of the room burst open in a shower of red sparks and Harry wheeled around as Professor Lupin came hurtling into the room, his face bloodless, his wand raised and ready.
"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted.
Harry's wand flew once more out of his hand; so did the two Hermione was holding. Lupin caught them all deftly, then moved into the room, staring at Black, who still had Crookshanks lying protectively across his chest.
Then Lupin spoke, in a very tense voice. "Where is he, Sirius?"
Marina looked quickly at Lupin. She didn't understand what Lupin meant. Who was Lupin talking about? He turned to look at Black again.
Marina then remembered the map...
Peter Pettigrew. Worm tail...sounded like a worm...or a mouse...or a rat! Scabbers! How could he live so long?
Black's face was quite expressionless. For a few seconds, he didn't move at all. Then, very slowly, he raised his empty hand and pointed straight at Ron.
"But then..." Lupin muttered, staring at Black so intently it seemed he was trying to read his mind, "... why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless" — Lupin's eyes suddenly widened, as though he was seeing something beyond Black, something none of the rest could see, "— unless he was the one... unless you switched... without telling me?"
Very slowly, his sunken gaze never leaving Lupin's face, Black nodded.
"Professor," Harry interrupted loudly, "what's going on —?"
But he never finished the question, because what he saw made his voice die in his throat. Lupin was lowering his wand, gazing fixed at Black. The Professor walked to Black's side, seized his hand, pulled him to his feet so that Crookshanks fell to the floor, and embraced Black like a brother.
Lupin was a traitor. And a werewolf.
"Potter! Don't listen to what he's going to say...trust me." Marina whispered breathless. Harry nodded.
"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione screamed.
Lupin let go of Black and turned to her. She had raised herself off the floor and was pointing at Lupin, wild-eyed. "You — you —"
"Hermione —"
"– you and him!"
"Hermione, calm down —"
"I didn't tell anyone!" Hermione shrieked. "I've been covering up for you —"
"Hermione, listen to me, please" Lupin shouted.
"I can explain —"
"I trusted you," he shouted at Lupin, his voice wavering, out of control, "and all the time you've been his friend!"
"You're wrong," said Lupin. "I haven't been Sirius's friend, but I am now — Let me explain..."
"NO!" Hermione screamed. "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too — he's a werewolf!"
There was a ringing silence. Of course, until Marina started to react.
"I knew it!" Marina shrieked, "Nobody believed me! Not even Lavender! What did I say? Marina Weasley knew the entire time!"
Everyone's eyes were now on Lupin, who looked remarkably calm, though rather pale.
"Not at all up to your usual standard, girls," he said. "Only one out of three, I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don't want Harry dead." An odd shiver passed over his face. "But I won't deny that I am a werewolf."
Ron made a valiant effort to get up again but fell back with a whimper of pain. Lupin made toward him, looking concerned, but Ron gasped, "Get away from me, werewolf!"
Lupin stopped dead. Then, with an obvious effort, he turned to Hermione and Marina and said, "How long have you known?"
"Since the map. It's slightly obvious the name Moony...the boggart... you being sick on full moons...plus Snape skipping half the textbook so we could be on the lesson for werewolves."
"And Hermione?"
"Ages," Hermione whispered. "Since I did Professor Snape's essay..."
"He'll be delighted, for both of you," said Lupin coolly. "He assigned that essay hoping someone would realize what my symptoms meant... Did you check the lunar chart and realize that I was always ill at the full moon? Or did you realize that the Boggart changed into the moon when it saw me?"
"Both," Hermione said quietly.
Lupin forced a laugh.
"You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione. And Marina, you are the brightest. I suppose people are right when they say smartest ones are the ones that don't show their strengths."
"Please...you haven't seen my strengths yet." scoffed Marina.
"I'm not," Hermione whispered. "If I'd been a bit cleverer, I'd have told everyone what you are!"
"But they already know," said Lupin. "At least, the staff do."
"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf," Ron gasped. "Is he mad?"
"Some of the staff thought so," said Lupin. "He had to work very hard to convince certain teachers that I'm trustworthy —"
"AND HE WAS WRONG!" Harry yelled. "YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THE TIME!"
"I have not been helping Sirius," said Lupin. "If you'll give me a chance, I'll explain. Look —"
He separated Harry's, Ron's and Hermione's wands and threw each back to its owner; Marina caught hers, surprised.
"There," said Lupin, sticking his own wand back into his belt "You're armed, we're not. Now will you listen?"
"If you haven't been helping him," Harry said, with a furious glance at Black, "how did you know he was here?"
"The map," said Lupin. "The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining it —"
"You know how to work it?" Harry said suspiciously.
"Of course I know how to work it," said Lupin, waving his hand impatiently. "I helped write it. As Marina was bright enough to figure out. I'm Moony — that was my friends' nickname for me at school."
"Y'know...I'm not going to say it...but...I told you! Well I told Lavender and Pavarti. They owe five sickles." Marina blurted.
"You wrote —?"
"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I had an idea that you, Ron, and Hermione might try and sneak out of the castle to visit Hagrid before his Hippogriff was executed. And I was right, wasn't I?"
He had started to pace up and down, looking at them. Little patches of dust rose at his feet. "You might have been wearing your father's old cloak, Harry—"
"How d'you know about the cloak?"
"The number of times I saw James disappearing under it..." said Lupin, waving an impatient hand again. "The point is, even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak, you still show up on the Marauder's Map. I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's hut. Twenty minutes later, you left Hagrid, and set off back toward the castle. But you were now accompanied by somebody else."
"What?" said Harry. "No, we weren't!"
"I couldn't believe my eyes," said Lupin, still pacing, and ignoring Harry's interruption. "I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?"
"No one was with us!" said Harry.
"Lupin's right!" Marina said, "Black. The dog. Remember? He's an animagius?"
"Solved it again Marina. I saw another dot, moving fast toward you, labeled Sirius Black... I saw him collide with you; I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow —"
"One of us!" Ron said angrily.
"No, Ron," said Lupin. "Two of you."
He had stopped his pacing, his eyes moving over Ron.
"Do you think I could have a look at the rat?" he said evenly.
"What?" said Ron. "What' Scabbers got to do with it?"
"I knew it! Something isn't right with that thing!" Marina told them.
Lupin sighed. "Could I see him, please?"
Ron hesitated, then put a hand inside his robes. Scabbers emerged, thrashing desperately; Ron had to seize his long bald tail to stop him escaping. Crookshanks stood up on Black's leg and made a soft hissing noise.