The room was silent for a few seconds before Ron spoke up.
"You're all mental."
"Ridiculous," Hermione said faintly.
"Peter Pettigrew is dead! He killed him twelve years ago!" Harry shouted, pointing at Sirius, whose face twitched. Rose moved a step closer as if to block her father from any attacks.
"I meant to, but little Peter got the best of me...not this time though!" Sirius growled, his yellow teeth bared. With a surprising amount of speed and force, Sirius moved around Rose and Remus to jump at Peter, unintentionally landing on Ron's leg. Ron let out a yell of pain so bad that everyone winced with him.
"Sirius, NO! WAIT! You can't do it just like that--they need to understand--we've got to explain--" Remuss yelled, dragging Sirius away from Ron and to Rose. Sirius visibly calmed when Rose clung onto his arm, not wanting him to hurt her friend any more. Sirius, however, did not look away from the squealing rat and neither did Crookshanks, still sitting on the floor next to Sirius.
"We can explain afterwards!" Sirius snarled. He didn't dare fight against Remus, knowing that his daughter was holding onto his arm and he couldn't hurt her. Remus kept a firm arm against Sirius' chest, knowing that Rose wasn't holding on very tight and Sirius could easily get away from her. Scabbers just squealed like a piglet, scratching Ron as he tried to escape.
"They've got a right to know everything! Ron's kept him as a pet! And Harry-you owe Harry the truth, Sirius!" Remus yelled as Sirius pushed against his arm, also knowing that he could easily get away from his daughter if he needed to. Sirius stopped struggling but fixed his hollowed eyes on the struggling Scabbers.
"All right, then. Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for..." Sirius said, still not taking his eyes off of Scabbers. He did grab Rose and pull her closer against his side, needing comfort and knowing that she most likely did as well.
"You're nutters, all of you...I've had enough of this. I'm off," Ron said, looking at Harry and Hermione. As he tried to stand up, Remus raised his wand, pointing it at Scabbers. A quick scan around the room showed that Rose also had her wand pointed at the rat.
"You're going to hear me out, Ron. Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen," Remus said quietly. Rose recognized the voice as the 'you're in trouble so be quiet and listen before I yell or I punish you' voice. Ron, however, didn't seem to get the memo.
"HE'S NOT PETER, HE'S SCABBERS!" Ron yelled, trying to put the rat back in his pocket. Scabbers was fighting back too hard, causing Ron to fall into Harry who pushed Ron back into the bed. Harry turned to Lupin, ignoring Sirius and Rose, causing a pang to go to Rose's heart.
"There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die. A whole street of them..." Harry said, trailing off at the end as he thought of the tragedy.
"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" Sirius said, still watching Scabbers.
"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter. I believed it myself until I found Sirius and Rose together after she had gone missing. We believed that Scabbers had been eaten by Crookshanks until we saw the map tonight. The map never lies...Peter's alive. Ron's holding him," Remus explained. Harry and Ron looked at each other, both agreeing that their Professor had gone mad, just like Black. They were extra sorry that their friend had seemingly gone mad as well, holding the side of a murderer who claimed to be her father.
"But Professor Lupin...Scabbers can't be Pettigrew...it just can't be true, you know it can't..." Hermione said in a trembling voice. Rose wanted to reach out and grab her hand, knowing that Hermione would somehow be blaming herself for not thinking of everything that could have happened.
"Why can't it be true?" Remus said calmly.
"Because...because people would know if Peter Pettigrew had been an animagus. We did a lesson on animagus in class and the Ministry of Magic has a list of all animagi. There's only been about 7 animagi this century and Pettigrew was not one of the names on the list," Hermione said. Remus almost immediately started to laugh.
"Right again, Hermione! But the Ministry never knew that there were three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts!" Remus said. Rose let out a snort, wondering how four teenage boys, two of which being very loud and prideful, had been able to keep such a secret.
"If you're going to tell them the story, hurry. I've waited twelve years, I'm not going to wait much longer," Sirius snarled. Scabbers seemed to somehow squeal even louder. Ron let out a hiss of pain when as Scabbers scratched him repeatedly.
"All right...but you'll have to help me some. I seem to have forgotten some of the story," Remus said. Sirius nodded.
A loud creak behind them caused everyone to turn to the door, which had seemingly opened by itself. Remus walked over and looked out the door.
"No one there..."
"This place is haunted!" Ron reminded everyone in the room. Rose, however, didn't believe that as the bad feeling in her stomach continued to get worse.
"It's not. The Shrieking Shack was never haunted. The screams and howls were made by me," Remus announced, still looking at the door. He pushed his greying hair away from his face and then continued. "That's where this all starts...me becoming a werewolf."
Ron started to interrupt but Hermione and Rose both shushed him at the same time. Rose had never heard the story in all of its entirety, knowing it was a sore topic for her godfather.
"I was a very small boy when I recieved the bite. My parents tried everything but there was no cure. Today, however, there is a potion that allows me to keep my mind when I transform. I'm able to curl up in my office, completely harmless. Professor Snape has been making it for me this year. Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully fledged monster once a month. My family, we all thought it would be impossible that I could go to Hogwarts," Remus started.
"But then Dumbledore came along and he was sympathetic. He said that certain precautions would have to be made but I should be able to come to Hogwarts. This house, and the Whomping Willow, were placed here for me. Once a month, I was smuggled out of the castle into here to transform. The tree kept anyone from coming across me while I was dangerous."
Harry couldn't see where this story was going but he listened either way. The only other sound in the room was Scabbers's very annoying squeaking and the occasional sniff or hiccup from Rose.
"My transformations were...horrendous. It is very painful to transform. Since I couldn't bite other humans, I bit and scratched myself. The villagers heard the noise and assumed they were hearing spirits. Dumbledore encouraged the rumor and even now the villagers don't dare approach the shack. But apart from my transformations, I had never been happier. For the first time ever, I had friends. Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter. Obviously, my friends took notice of my disappearances. I came up with all sorts of stories because I was terrified that they would find out. But, of course, they, like you Hermione, found out the truth. But they didn't desert me at all. Instead they did something that would make my transformations bearable and some of the best times of my like. They became Animagi."
"My dad too?" Harry asked, astonished. Rose looked up at her dad, never having known why he decided to become an animagus. Her dad, however, was still staring at Scabbers, this time with a strange look in his eye as he remembered his past.
"Yes, indeed. It took them almost three years to figure out how to do it. Your father and Sirius were the cleverest students in this school, which was lucky. because the transformation can go horribly wrong. Peter needed all the help he could get. Finally, in our fifth year they managed it."
"But how did that help you?" Hermione asked, sounding puzzled.
"They couldn't keep me company as humans so they kept me company as animals as a werewolf is only a danger to humans. They snuck out in the Invisibility Cloak and transformed and then snuck down the tunnel to help me. I became less dangerous with them. My mind seemed to become less wolfish around them."
"Hurry up, Remus," Sirius snarled, now watching Scabbers with a sort of hunger.
"Calm down, old man. I've never heard this story before. Please continue, Moony," Rose spoke up. Remus snorted as Sirius stared down at the girl attached to his side with obvious surprise. The trio stared at the girl with shock and worry, hoping that Black wouldn't kill her next.
"Oh, you're for sure grounded for that statement," Sirius scoffed. Rose muttered a 'yeah right' and motioned for her godfather to continue. The trio all let out a breath, glad that the girl who they now had mixed feeling for wasn't going to be killed.
"Anyways, we soon started to leave the Shrieking Shack and started to roam the grounds and the villages by night. Sirius and James transformed into such large animals that they were able to keep a werewolf in check. I doubt any other student was ever able to explore Hogwats and Hogsmeade more than us, which is how we were able to write the Maurader's Map. Sirius is Padfoot. Peter is Wormtail. James was Prongs. I, obviously, am Moony."
"What sort of animal-?" Harry started to ask, but was cut off by Hermione.
"That was still dangerous! What if you'd gotten away and bitten someone?!"
"A thought that still haunts me," Remus admitted. "And there were some near misses. We laughed about them afterwards, as we were young and dumb."
"Were?" Rose muttered under her breath. Her dad and godfather both looked at her sternly, glad that she wasn't crying anymore but trying to communicate that it wasn't the time to make such remarks. "Sorry, just trying to diffuse the tension."
"As I was saying, I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore but I always managed to let those feelings go away when we planned our next adventure. Before Rose went missing, I was battling with myself on whether or not to tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an animagus. But I didn't because I was too cowardly to admit my mistakes that I made as a teenager. I convinced myself that Sirius was getting in with Dark Arts he learned from Voldemort. Of course, I learned different. But up until I knew the truth, Snape was right about me."
"Snape? What's Snape got to do with it?" Sirius asked, disgust clear on his face. Rose let out a small chuckle and Sirius smiled down at her, glad that she disliked the man as much as he did. Harry saw the interaction and wondered how a violent man like Sirius could ever look at someone with that much love and how someone as kind and smart as Rose could ever stand with a murderer.
"He's here, Sirius. Guess I forgot to mention that he's teaching here as well," Remus responded.
"I wouldn't call it teaching as much as writing on the board and then yelling and bullying," Rose said. Harry and Ron couldn't help but let out small chuckles but they both tried to pretend that they were coughs.
"Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought against my appointment to the DADA job. He told Dumbledore that I am not to be trusted. He has his reasons...Sirius played a trick on him which nearly killed him... a trick which involved me-" Remus started. Sirius made a noise.
"Served him right. Sneaking around, trying to find out where we went, hoping to get us expelled..." Sirius trailed off.
"Severus was very interested in where we went every month. We were in the same year and, needless to say, we didn't like each other very much. He disliked James the most, I believe. Probably jealous of his quidditch talents or something...Anyways, Snape saw me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey as she led me to transform. Sirius thought it would be amusing to...tell Snape how to get into the tree. Snape tried, and had he gotten as far as this house would have met a fully grown werewolf. James had heard what Sirius had done and stopped Snape, risking his own life. Unfortunately, Snape still glimpsed me. Dumbledore forbid him to tell anybody, but he still knew what I was..."
Rose looked up at her dad and saw that he was looking at Remus rather than Scabbers. Rose could see the regret painted on his eyes, but she couldn't tell if it was because he almost caused the death of another student or because he revealed his best friends secret. Rose shifted so she was a little bit farther from her dad.
"So that's why Snape doesn't like you? Because he thought you were in on the joke?" Harry questioned, speaking slowly as he processed everything in his mind.
"That's right," A cold voice sneered. Rose gasped as she turned to see Snape pulling off the invisibility cloak and pointing his wand directly at Remus.