Word Count: 3,116.
Warnings: None.
There was a ringing silence. I froze, taking in Hermione's words. I knew he wasn't good enough at hiding it. I knew that someone was bound to find out. Why not little Miss Perfect herself? Everyone's eyes turned on Lupin who looked remarkably calm, though rather pale.
"Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione," he said. "Only two out of three I'm afraid. I have been helping him into the castle, but not to terrorize anyone. That was him being a little too careless." Moony shot Sirius a look. "But I certainly don't want Harry dead..." An odd shiver passed over his face. "And I won't deny that I am a werewolf." I sighed, watching as the three students stood appalled.
Ron made a valiant effort to get up again but fell back with a whimper of pain. Lupin made towards him, looking concerned, but Ron gasped, "Get away from me werewolf!"
Lupin stopped dead. I shot my head towards the Weasley boy. "You little son of a –"
"You knew?" Harry asked, my gaze turning to him.
"I've lived with the man my entire life. Of course I know he's a fucking werewolf Potter!" I was angered now. Harry flinched slightly.
"How long have you known?" Lupin cut in, directing his question at the bushy haired brunette.
"Ages," Hermione whispered. "Since I did Professor Snape's essay..."
I scoffed, sending her a hard glare. "You really like that teacher, don't you?" I asked, being met by her ignorance again.
"He'll be delighted," said Lupin coolly. "He set 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 a moon when it saw me?"
"Both," Hermione said quietly. I laughed, shaking my head.
Lupin forced a laugh. "You're the cleverest witch of your age that I've met Hermione."
"Hey," I shot, offended. Lupin looked at me with a blank expression.
"You said you wanted honestly."
"I wanted you to be honest, not brutal."
"I'm not," Hermione cut in, forgetting my statement. "The cleverest. If I'd have been a bit cleverer, I would have told everyone what you are!"
"Over my dead body!" I snapped. Hermione looked at me this time, fear washing over her face.
"But they already know," said Lupin, the girl's attention turning. "At least, the staff do."
"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf?" Ron gasped. "Is he mad?"
"Dumbledore may be a right git, but he's not mad." I muttered in response.
"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 THIS ENTIRE TIME!" He was pointing at my father who crossed to the four-poster bed and sunk onto it. I quickly followed him, sitting beside the frail man.
"Are you alright?" I asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.
He nodded. "Tired. Really tired." He managed, his voice croaky. He took my hand in his, rubbing his thumb gently along my palm.
"The map." I heard Lupin speak. "The Marauders Map. I was in my office examining it –"
"You know how to work it?" Harry said suspiciously.
"Of course he knows how to work it. He created it." I spoke up, clasping my father's hand in mine. It felt odd to hold it, having never felt it before, but I didn't want to let go. "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. Lupin is Moony Harry. Why do you think I call him that?" I asked. Turning to Hermione, I added. "I'm surprised you didn't work that out." She looked slightly offended.
"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.
"Here he goes." I muttered, earning a smile from Sirius as he straightened up.
"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. "The point is, even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak you show up on the Marauders Map. I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's hut. Twenty minutes later, you left Hagrid and set off back towards the castle. But you were accompanied by somebody else."
"What?" said Harry. "No, we weren't!"
"Let him finish Potter." I spoke up. "Hurry up the explanation Moony."
"I couldn't believe my eyes," said Lupin, still pacing, and ignoring mine and Harry's interruption. "I thought the map must be malfunctioning. But then I thought about what Sirius had told me happened and suddenly it all made sense."
"No one was with us!" Harry burst again; this time more adamant.
"And then I saw another dot, moving fast towards you, labelled Sirius Black... I saw him collide with you, I watched as he pulled the 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 that I could have a look at that rat?" he said evenly.
"What?" said Ron. "What Scabbers got to do with it?"
"Everything," said Lupin. "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.
Lupin moved closer to Ron. He seemed to be holding his breath and so did I. He gazed intently at the rat in Ron's grasp.
"What?" Ron said again, holding Scabbers close to him, looking scared. "What's my rat got to do with anything."
"That's not a rat," my father croaked suddenly from beside me as he rose from the bed. I followed.
"What d'you mean – of course he's a rat –"
"No, he's not," said Lupin quietly. "He's a wizard."
"An Animagus." I spoke up. Lupin nodded softly. "Peter Pettigrew."
Ron spoke almost immediately. "You're all mental."
"Ridiculous!" said Hermione faintly.
"Peter Pettigrew's dead!" said Harry. "He killed him twelve years ago!" He pointed at Black, whose face twitched convulsively.
"You put that finger down Potter." I warned.
"I meant to," Sirius growled. I shot my head towards him, "but little Peter got the better of me... not this time, though!" He surged forward towards the rat.
"Sirius, NO!"
"Father, NO!"
Both me and Moony screamed at the same time, moving after him. Lupin dragged Sirius away from Ron, pulling him by the waist. I pushed against my father's chest, trying to move him away from the group.
"WAIT! You can't do it just like that – they need to understand – we've got to explain –"
"We can explain afterwards!" he snarled, trying to throw us off, one hand still clawing the air as it tried to reach Scabbers, who was squealing like a piglet, scratching Ron's face and neck as he tried to escape.
"They've – got – a – right – to – know – everything!" Lupin Panted, still trying to restrain him from behind. My feet began to slide against the wooden floor. "Ron's kept him as a pet! There are parts of it even I don't understand. And Harry, you owe him the truth!" He kept pushing forward.
"You can't do this in front of Lyra Sirius. Think about your daughter for once!" Sirius stopped moving suddenly, my feet stopping. I looked up to him and found that his hollowed eyes were still fixed on Scabbers, who was clamped tightly under Ron's bitten, scratched and bleeding hands.
"Make it quick Remus. I want to see that little bastard's face," said Black, turning away from us as he paced the floor.
"You're nutters. All of you," said Ron shakily. "I knew you were crazy Lyra, but it seems the gene runs in the family." He leaned on Harry and Hermione for support. "I've had enough of this. I'm off."
He tried to heave himself up on his good leg, but both Lupin and I raised our wands. He pointed his wand to the rat still nestled in Ron's hands and I pointed mine towards the boy himself. I watched him gulp.
"You're going to hear me out Ron," Lupin said quietly.
"I think you should. I've never seen this side of him. And if I haven't, you surely won't want to." I stated.
"Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen." Moony continued.
"HE'S NOT PETER, HE'S SCABBERS!" Ron yelled, trying to force the rat back into his front pocket, but Scabbers was fighting too hard; Ron swayed and overbalanced, and Harry caught him, pushing him back down onto the bed. Then, ignoring the wand I was now pointing at him, Harry turned to Lupin.
"There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die," he said. "A whole street full of them..."
I lowered my wand, turning to Lupin myself. I hadn't heard this story yet. I had believed my father without thinking about the situation first. I pocketed my wand.
"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" Said Black savagely. I turned to him, finding that he was still watching Scabbers struggle in Ron's hands.
"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter," said Lupin, nodding. "I believed it myself for twelve years, but everything changed when Sirius found his way back here. Peter's alive, Harry and he's currently trying to escape your best friend's hands."
I watched Harry turn to Ron, a look on his face. He didn't believe Lupin. I had seen that expression a thousand times. It was the face Potter pulled when he thought something was a load of bullshit.
"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?" Lupin said calmly, as though they were in class, and Hermione had simply spotted a problem in an experiment with Grindylows. I rolled my eyes as he continued.
"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 keeps tabs on witched 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 only been seven Animagi this century, and Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list –"
"Doesn't mean he wasn't one. Not everyone reports their Animagi to the Ministry." I cut in.
"But the Ministry never knew that there were three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts." Lupin began.
I moved backwards towards the window, leaning my hands against the ledge as Lupin began to fall into his explanation. I listened.
Listened as he explained about his situation. The Wolfsbane potion. How Sirius, James and Peter had become Animagi so they could help him. It was a nice thought. That Moony had someone before me.
"That was still really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a werewolf! What if you'd hurt one of them? What if you had bitten one of them?" Hermione asked.
"A thought that still haunts me. Merlin knows the amount of time I have hurt Lyra." He looked towards me. I shook my head.
"You've never hurt me." I whispered, pushing off the window ledge. Lupin continued.
"Severus was very interested in where I went every month." Lupin spoke, changing the subject slightly.
"Snivellus." I corrected, earning a smile from my father, who's eyes finally left the rat in Ron's hands.
"We were in the same year, you know and we – er – didn't like each other very much. He especially disliked James. Jealous, I think, of James's talents on the Quidditch pitch... anyway, Snape had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me towards the Whomping Willow to transform. Sirius thought it would be – er – amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree-trunk with a long stick, and he'd be able to get in after me. well, of course, Snape tried it – if he'd got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown werewolf – but your father, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life... Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden to tell anybody by Dumbledore, but from that time on he knew what I was..."
"So that's why Snape doesn't like you." Both me and Harry spoke at the same time. He was referring to Lupin. I hadn't seen much dislike between the two Professors, but I was referring to Sirius. Troublesome was starting to make sense now.
"He thought you were in on the joke?" Harry continued to ask.
"That's right," sneered a cold voice from the wall behind Lupin. I straightened.
Severus Snape was pulling off the Invisibility Cloak, his wand pointing directly at Lupin.
ᵜᵜᵜᵜᵜ
Hermione screamed. Black leapt to his feet. Harry jumped as though he'd received a huge electric shock. I stood frozen, staring at the Potion's Professor.
"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," said Snape, throwing the Cloak aside, careful to keep his want pointing directly at Lupin's chest. "Very useful, Potter, thank you..."
Snape was slightly breathless, but his face was full of suppressed triumph. "You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" he said, his eyes glittering.
"You found the Map open in Lupin's desk and followed it?" I guessed. Snivellus turned to me. "Lupin has a tendency to leave things around when something bigger comes up."
"Severus –" Lupin began, holding a hand up to me. Snape overrode him.
"I've told the Headmaster again and again that you've been helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof. Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout –"
"Severus, you're making a mistake," said Lupin urgently. "You haven't heard everything – I can explain – Sirius is not here to kill Harry –"
"Two more for Azkaban tonight," said Snape, his eyes now gleaming frantically. "I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this... he was quite convinced you were harmless, you know Lupin... a tame werewolf..."
"You little –" I started, surging towards him. Lupin held his arm out to the side, catching me before I could get to the teacher.
"I though you would have more sense Miss. Black." Snivels snapped, his wand still held firmly in his grip. "I believed that my assumptions of you were wrong, but indeed, in the end, I was not proven wrong and instead should have trusted my instincts."
"Snivellus."
"I had had higher expectations for you Ms. Black. Much higher."
"You fool," said Lupin, softly shaking his head. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?!"
BANG! Thin, snake-like cords burst from the end of Snape's wand and twisted themselves around Lupin's mouth, wrists and ankles; he over-balanced and fell to the floor, unable to move. I jumped back as I watched him struggle against the bonds.
With a roar of range, Sirius started towards Snape, but Snivellus pointed his wand straight between his eyes. I moved towards my father, but he simply held a hand towards me. I glared at Snape, teeth grinding together.
"Professor Snape – it – it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w-would it?" Hermione spoke up.
"Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school," Snape spat. "You, Potter, Weasley and Black are out of bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. For once in your life, hold your tongue."
But if – if there was a mistake."
"She has a point Snivels." I butt in.
"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" Snape shouted at us. He suddenly looked quite deranged. "DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" A few sparks shot out of the end of his wand, which he pointed at me. I jolted. Hermione fell silent.
I scanned Snape. His hand was holding the wand tightly in his grip, his fingers a slight white colour from the strain. I watched his face as he spoke, bead of sweat running down his face. His expression was accomplished. He was happy, but there was a sudden fear in them as my vision of him was blocked. Harry was now stood in front of me.
"Get out of the way Potter, you're in enough trouble already," snarled Snape. "If I hadn't been here to save your skin –"
"Professor Lupin could have killed me about a hundred times this year," Harry said. "I've been alone with him loads of times, having defence lessons against the Dementors. If he was helping Black, why didn't he just finish me off then? I'm willing to listen."
I saw his head angle towards me slightly and I let out a breath of relief.
"Don't ask me the fathom the way a werewolf's mind works," hissed Snape. "Get out of the way, Potter."
"YOU'RE PATHETIC!" Harry yelled. I jumped at his change of tone. "JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OF YOU AT SCHOOL YOU WON'T EVEN LISTEN –"
"SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" Snape shrieked, looking madder than ever. "Like father, like son Potter. I have just saved your neck, you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he'd killed you! You'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black – now get out of the way, or I will make you, GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!"
Before Snape could utter another word or take another step towards the boy in front of me, Harry raised his wand. I felt my pockets, finding that the wand I had taken from him was missing.
"Expelliarmus!" he yelled – except that his wasn't the only voice that shouted. There was a blast that made the door rattle on its hinges; Snape was lifted off his feet and slammed into the wall, then slid down it to the floor, a trickle of blood oozing from under his hair. He had been knocked out.
"Shit." I cursed.