"Expelliarmus!" he croaked, pointing Ron's wand at us.
Harry's, Hermione's, and my wands shot out of our hands, high in the air, and Black caught them. Then he took a step closer. His eyes flickered from Harry to me then back to 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..."
The taunt about our father rang in my ears as though Black had bellowed it. A boiling hate erupted in my chest, leaving no place for fear. Without knowing what I was doing, I started forward, but there was a sudden movement on either side of me. Harry seemed to have had the same idea that I had; Hermione grabbed me and Ron grabbed him.
"No!" Hermione gasped in a petrified whisper; Ron, however, spoke fiercely to Black, "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!"
The effort of standing upright was draining him of still more color, and he swayed slightly as he spoke. Something flickered in Black's shadowed eyes.
"Lie down," Harry 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 four 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 Ron. "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!"
"HE KILLED OUR MUM AND DAD!" Harry roared and, with a huge effort, broke free Ron's restraint and lunged forward —
"Harry!" I shouted.
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.
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; Harry felt the shrunken arm under his fingers twisting madly, but he clung on, his other hand punching every part of Black it could find.
But Black's free hand had found Harry's throat.
"Please! Don't hurt him," I cried.
"I've waited too long—"
I lunged at Black and kicked his hands out from under him. Black let go of Harry with a grunt of pain; Ron had thrown himself on Black's wand hand and Hermione pushed Harry out of the way.
"Argh!" I heard, but before I could look, Black grabbed me by my shoulders and pushed me onto the ground. I screamed in his face as I heard Ron and Hermione trying to pull him off of me.
"NO YOU DON'T!" roared Harry. "Get out of the way!"
Ron and Hermione jumped out of the way as Black still held me down.
"Get off me," I cried, thrashing under his weight.
"You want to kill me not her!" Harry bellowed. Black's weight changed on top of me as he turned to look at Harry. I took the chance to knee him and move out from under him.
I panted as I stood up, scurrying away from Black and standing behind Harry who held his wand to Black's chest.
"Going to kill me, Harry?" he whispered, as Harry inched towards Black.
Harry stopped right above him, his wand still pointing at Black's chest, looking down at him.
"You killed my parents," said Harry, his voice shaking slightly, but his wand hand quite steady. "Tried to kill me and my sister."
Black stared up at him out of those sunken eyes.
"I don't deny it," he said very quietly. "But if both of you knew the whole story."
"The whole story?" I whispered, hatred laced in my words.
"You sold them to Voldemort," Harry seethed. "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... from killing Maisey... and you did that... you did it..."
Before either of them could say another word, Crookshanks streaked past Harry and 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 raised the wand. Silence filled the room. Harry and I stood frozen there, his wand poised, Black staring up at him, Crookshanks on his chest. Ron's ragged breathing came from near the bed; Hermione was quite silent.
And then came a new sound —
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!"
Black made a startled movement that almost dislodged Crookshanks. The door of the room burst open in a shower of red sparks and I wheeled around as Lupin came hurtling into the room, his face bloodless, his wand raised and ready. His eyes flickered over Ron, lying on the floor, over Hermione, cowering next to the door, to Harry, standing there with his wand covering Black, to me, standing next to Harry, and then to Black himself, crumpled and bleeding at our feet.
"Moony, help—"
"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted. Harry's wand flew once more out of his hand; so did the three 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.
"Moony, why are you helping—!"
"Where is he, Sirius?" Lupin said in a very tense voice, cutting me off.
I looked quickly at Lupin. I didn't understand what me meant. Who was he talking about? I turned to look at Black again.
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. Mystified, Harry and I glanced around at Ron, who looked bewildered.
"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.
"Moony," I said loudly, "what's going on —?"
But I never finished the question, because what I saw made my voice die in my throat. Lupin was lowering his wand, gazing fixed at Black. He 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.
I looked up at Harry with complete disbelief and a wave of nausea came over me.
"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 —"
"THERE'S NOTHING TO EXPLAIN," I shouted, new tears in my eyes. "YOU'VE BETRAYED US— ME! I thought— but you..."
All the words died in my throat as Harry stepped in front of me, protecting me from Lupin and Black.
"I trusted you," Harry 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 in years, but I am now— Let me explain..."
"NO!" Hermione screamed. "Don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too— he's a werewolf!"
"Why are you h-helping someone who k-killed my parents? Our parents? W-What good does..." I hiccuped.
There was a ringing silence. Everyone's eyes were now on Lupin, who looked remarkably calm, though rather pale; too shocked at the werewolf information I already knew.
"Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione," 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 or Maisey dead. 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.
"R-Ron he's not dangerous for being a werewolf," I whispered, defending Lupin.
"How do you know?"
"Lupin is my godfather," I said softly.
"So you're on his side!" Ron accused.
"How could she be on his side if Black wants to kill her, too?" Harry defended me.
No one said anything, silence filling the room.
Then Lupin turned to Hermione and said, "How long have you known?"
"Ages," Hermione whispered. "Since I did Professor Snape's essay..."
"He'll be delighted," 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."
"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 does and as does Maisey."
"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf," Ron gasped. "Is he mad?"
"Some of the staff thought so," said Lupin. "He hired me to keep an eyes on these two—" he motioned to Harry and me "— and 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!"
He was pointing at Black, who suddenly crossed to the four-poster bed and sank onto it, his face hidden in one shaking hand. Crookshanks leapt up beside him and stepped onto his lap, purring. Ron edged away from both of them, dragging his leg.
"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, Hermione's, and my wands and threw each back to us; Harry caught ours, stunned, and handed me mine.
"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," he 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. I'm Moony, as Maisey tried to say— that was my friends' nickname for me at school."
"You wrote—?"
"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I had an idea that you, Maisey, 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?" I spoke up. "No, we weren't!"
"I couldn't believe my eyes," said Lupin, still pacing, and ignoring my interruption. "I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?"
"No one was with us!" said Harry.
"And then I saw another dot, moving fast toward you, labeled Sirius Black... I saw him collide with you, Maisey; 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's 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. Crookshanks stood up on Black's leg and made a soft hissing noise. Lupin moved closer to Ron. He seemed to be holding his breath as he gazed intently at Scabbers.
"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," croaked Sirius Black suddenly.
"What d'you mean — of course he's a rat —"
"No, he's not," said Lupin quietly. "He's a wizard."
"An Animagus," said Black, "by the name of Peter Pettigrew."
"You're both mental," I scoffed.
"Ridiculous!" said Hermione faintly.
"Peter Pettigrew's dead!" said Harry, pushing me away from the two. "He killed him twelve years ago!" He pointed at Black, whose face twitched convulsively.
"I meant to," he growled, his yellow teeth bared, "but little Peter got the better of me... not this time, though!"
And Crookshanks was thrown to the floor as Black lunged at Scabbers; Ron yelled with pain as Black's weight fell on his broken leg.
"Sirius, NO!" Lupin yelled, launching himself forwards and dragging Black away from Ron again, "WAIT! You can't do it just like that — they need to understand — we've got to explain —"
"We can explain afterward!" snarled Black, trying to throw Lupin off.
"They've — got — a — right — to — know — everything!" Lupin panted, still trying to restrain Black. "Ron's kept him as a pet! There are parts of it even I don't understand, and Harry, Maisey — you owe them the truth, Sirius!"
Black stopped struggling, though his hollowed eyes were still fixed on Scabbers, who was clamped tightly under Ron's bitten, scratched, and bleeding hands.
"All right, then," Black said, without taking his eyes off the rat. "Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for..."
"You're nutters, both of you," said Ron shakily, looking round at Harry, Hermione, and me for support. "I've had enough of this. I'm off."
He tried to heave himself up on his good leg, but Lupin raised his wand again, pointing it at Scabbers.
"You're going to hear me out, Ron," he said quietly.
"Put your wand down!" I shouted, raising my own.
"Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen."
"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 and pushed him back down to the bed.
"There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die," I said. "A whole street full of them..."
"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" said Black savagely, still watching Scabbers struggling in Ron's hands.
"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter," said Lupin, nodding. "I believed it myself— until I saw the map tonight. Because the Marauder's Map never lies... Peter's alive. Ron's holding him."
Black and Lupin were both out of their minds. Their story made no sense whatsoever. How could Scabbers be Peter Pettigrew? Azkaban must have unhinged Black after all— but why was Lupin playing along with him?
Then Hermione spoke, in a trembling, would-be calm sort of voice, as though trying to will Professor Lupin to talk sensibly.
"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.
"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 of Magic keeps tabs on witches 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 been only seven Animagi this century, and Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list."
"Right again, Hermione!" he said. "But the Ministry never knew that here used to be three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts."
"If you're going to tell them the story, get a move on, Remus," said Black, who was still watching Scabbers's every desperate move. "I've waited twelve years, I'm not going to wait much longer."
"All right... but you'll need to help me, Sirius," said Lupin, "I only know how it began..."
Lupin broke off. There had been a loud creak behind him. The bedroom door had opened of its own accord. All six of us stared at it. Then Lupin strode toward it and looked out into the landing.
"No one there..."
"This place is haunted!" said Ron.
"It's not," said Lupin, still looking at the door in a puzzled way. "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted... The screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me."
He pushed his graying 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..."
Lupin explained that the Shack and the Whomping Willow were installed the year he started at Hogwarts so he could sneak out of the castle for his monthly werewolf transformations and hidden away in the Shack so that he couldn't hurt anyone. The "shrieks" everyone heard were Lupin himself during his painful transformations.
His friends, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter, eventually learned the truth and decided to become Animagi to help Lupin because he could be around other animals while he was a werewolf. Peter became a rat, Sirius became a large dog, and James became a stag.
"But how did that help you?" I asked.
"They couldn't keep me company as humans, so they kept me company as animals," said Lupin. "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."
"Hurry up, Remus," snarled Black, who was still watching Scabbers with a horrible sort of hunger on his face.
"I'm getting there, Sirius, I'm getting there... well, highly exciting possibilities were open to us now that we could all transform. Soon we were leaving the Shrieking Shack and roaming the school grounds and the village by night. Sirius and James transformed into such large animals, they were able to keep a werewolf in check. I doubt whether any Hogwarts students ever found out more about the Hogwarts grounds and Hogsmeade than we did... And that's how we came to write the Marauder's Map, and sign it with our nicknames. Sirius is Padfoot. Peter is Wormtail. James was Prongs."
"What sort of animal —?" Harry began, but Hermione cut him off, "That was still really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a werewolf! What if you'd given the others the slip, and bitten somebody?"
"A thought that still haunts me. That's why every month I would go into the forest to transform, back at my home with Maisey," said Lupin heavily. "And there were near misses, many of them, during my time here.
"I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore's trust, of course... he had admitted me to Hogwarts when no other headmaster would have done so, and he had no idea I was breaking the rules he had set down for my own and others' safety. He never knew I had led three fellow students into becoming Animagi illegally. But I always managed to forget my guilty feelings every time we sat down to plan our next month's adventure. And I haven't changed..." Lupin's face had hardened, and there was self-disgust in his voice.
"Dumbledore's trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am, barely making enough of a living for Maisey and myself. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using dark arts he learned from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it... so, in a way, Snape's been right about me all along."
"Snape?" said Black harshly, taking his eyes off Scabbers; for the first time in minutes and looking up at Lupin. "What's Snape got to do with it?"
"He's here, Sirius," said Lupin heavily. "He's teaching here as well. Professor Snape was at school with us."
"I remember telling me how much you hated him when I was younger," I breathed.
"For good reason!" Black shouted.
"He fought very hard against my appointment to the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. He has been telling Dumbledore all year that I am not to be trusted. He has his reasons... you see, Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me—"
Black made a derisive noise.
"It served him right," he sneered. "Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to... hoping he could get us expelled..."
"Severus was very interested in where I went every month." Lupin told Harry, Ron, Hermione, and me. "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 talent on the Quidditch field... anyway, Snape had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me toward 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 by Dumbledore to tell anybody, but from that time on he knew what I was..."
"So that's why Snape doesn't like you," said Harry slowly, "because he thought you were in on the joke?"
"That's right," sneered a cold voice from the wall behind Lupin.
Severus Snape was pulling off the Invisibility Cloak, his wand pointing directly at Lupin.