Hermione's eyes widened as Dioleh fell to the ground. "What the hell?" Dioleh hissed breathlessly and with a groan of pain, glaring up at Harry. "What did you do to me?!"
"Dioleh-" Hermione breathed. She groaned, rolling over onto her back and gasping for breath.
"Harry, what did you do to me?" Dioleh gasped, watching as the curse spread up her arm.
"Fudge," he said, looking at her with a look of betrayal. "He told me he thought more sirens were here. He gave me this." Harry held up a charm with flames etched on the back.
"Yo- You cursed me?" she gasped, scrambling away weakly from him toward Sirius. The curse had gotten up to her mid-forearm. It was getting hard for her to breathe.
"Siren?" Hermione repeated. "Dioleh-"
"Oh, enough," Sirius croaked irritably, although he cast her a worried look. "Your sister is a siren, get over it." Pointing Ron's wand at them, he said, "Expelliarmus." Once he had their wands, Sirius said, "I thought you'd come after your friend. 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." Harry darted forward, but Ron and Hermione held him back. Sirius seemed not to notice as he crouched down by Dioleh who was growing paler by the minute.
"No, Harry!" Hermione gasped.
"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" Ron shouted, still holding Harry back although his face was losing colour from the effort of standing on his damaged leg.
"Lie down," Sirius said softly to Ron, looking up from Dioleh. "You will damage that leg even more."
"Did you hear me?" Ron said, trying to keep his voice strong. "You'll have to kill all three of us!"
Sirius sighed, requesting, "Could one of you hand me one of those pillows and the duvet?" None of them moved. Finally, Hermione grabbed them and threw them at him. Shooting her a half-glare, he lifted Dioleh's upper body to lay her head on the pillow and covered her in the duvet. "You have no idea what you've done, Harry," Sirius sighed, looking regretful. Harry was still being held back by Ron and Hermione and seemed like he was about to snap. Standing, Sirius explained, "She's as good as dead now unless we can get her to more of her people. They're the only ones who can heal her." In a split second, Harry broke free of the other two and lunged at Sirius, managing to wrestle the wands from his hands just before Hermione dragged him back. Before they could say anything, there was a low creaking sound from downstairs.
Sirius' head snapped in the direction of the sound as Hermione called, "We're up here! We're up here! Sirius Black, quick!" The door burst open to reveal Professor Lupin and Imani, the former pale and bloodless as he surveyed the scene and the ladder with a worried expression on her face as she anxiously scanned the room.
"Dio!" Imani screamed, making a move to rush forward, but Lupin held her back.
"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted, disarming Harry of his wand and Hermione of hers and Ron's. Catching the wands with ease, Lupin moved into the room, nodding at Imani. She instantly rushed to Dioleh. The curse had spread up to her shoulder, leaving her as pale as death itself and covered in a cold sweat.
"Oh my god," Imani whispered, her eyes filled with tears.
"Where is he, Sirius?" Lupin asked in an odd tone. Sirius stared at him for a moment before pointing in Ron's direction. "But then..." Lupin muttered. "Why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless...unless he was the one...unless you switched...without telling me?" Sirius nodded, very slowly. Lupin lowered his wand and helped Sirius up to his feet and embraced him.
"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione shrieked. "You - you-"
"Hermione," Lupin interrupted.
"You and him-" she sputtered.
"Hermione, calm down," Remus said.
"I didn't tell anyone!" Hermione screamed. "I've been covering up for you-"
"Hermione, listen to me please!" Lupin begged. "I can explain!"
"I trusted you!" Harry shouted. "And all the time you've been his friend!"
"You're wrong," Lupin countered. "I haven't been Sirius' 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!"
"Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione," Lupin replied, who looked calm if not pale. Imani looked up in shock. "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. But I won't deny that I am a werewolf." Ron attempted to get up, but fell back.
Lupin moved forward, planning on helping him, but Ron shouted, "Get away from me, werewolf!" Lupin's face grew pale.
Turning to Hermione, Lupin asked, "How long have you known?"
"Ages," Hermione whispered shakily. "Since I did Professor Snape's essay."
"He'll be delighted," Lupin said cooly. "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 the boggart changed into the moon when it saw me?"
"Both," Hermione said, her voice trembling with fear and anger.
With a forced laugh, Lupin said, "You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione."
"I'm not," Hermione snapped. "If I'd been cleverer I'd have told everyone what you are!"
"But they already know," Lupin said. "At least, the staff do."
"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf?" Ron gasped, shocked. "Is he mad."
"Some of the staff thought so," Lupin remarked. "He had to work very hard to convince certain teachers that I'm trustworthy."
"AND HE WAS WRONG!" Harry screamed. "YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THE TIME!" Sirius moved and sat on the bed, hiding his face from sight with a trembling hand as if he was trying to block the room from his sight.
"I have not been helping Sirius," Lupin stated firmly. "If you'll give me a chance, I'll explain. Look-" He handed out their wands. "There," Lupin said. "Now you're armed and we're not. Now will you listen?"
"If you haven't been helping him, who has been, then?! How did you know he was here?" Harry snapped.
"The map," Lupin explained. "The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining it-"
"You know how to work it?" Harry interrupted.
"Of course I know how to work it," Lupin replied impatiently. "I helped write it. I'm Moony - that was my friends' nickname for me at school."
"You wrote-"
"As for you're second question, I have no idea who has been helping Sirius," Lupin interrupted.
"It was Dioleh," Imani explained, looking up at them. "He saved her life and got her to trust him."
"She almost killed me when we first met and she realized who I was," Sirius admitted dryly, a ghost of a smile on his face.
"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?" Lupin remarked. "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? No we weren't," Harry retorted.
"I couldn't believe my eyes," Remus admitted. "I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?"
"No one was with us!" Harry shouted.
"And then I noticed two more dots, one of which moving towards you, labeled Sirius Black. Another stationary one was Dioleh Granger in the lake. I saw him collide with you; I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow."
"One of us!" Ron shouted angrily.
"No, Ron, two of you," Lupin said. "That was when I saw Dioleh get out of the lake and follow the other two of you into the Willow. As I was leaving, I spotted Imani in a panic. She knew what had happened to Dioleh." Every eye turned to Imani who was still crouched by Dioleh's side. The curse has spread across half of her chest and was beginning to crawl up her neck and down her torso. Her skin was turning a very very pale blue and her usually full, pink lips were very white.