Conversation with: LITTLE BRO
LITTLE BRO
Ophelia?
OPHELIA
hey
whats up
LITTLE BRO
u busy?
OPHELIA
me?
never
now that I'm done w OWLS🤩
LITTLE BRO
alright
can u meet me at Hagrid's hut?
you know where it is?
OPHELIA
yeah,
had care of magical creatures there
why Hagrid's?
LITTLE BRO
ill explain when u get here
OPHELIA
cool
be there in a sec
LITTLE BRO
thanks Ophelia
OPHELIA
anything for my fav third year
It was nearly sundown, and Ophelia was wondering why Harry had wanted to meet her at Hagrid's hut, out of all places. She knocked on Hagrid's door, only wearing leggings and a tank top. The door swung open immediately, revealing a messy haired Harry.
"We're not supposed to be here," Harry said in a hushed voice, pulling her inside. Ophelia stepped inside to see a very, very distraught Hagrid with shaking hands with a look of helplessness and Harry's two friends, Ron and Hermione by the small table in the back.
"What's going on?" Ophelia asked, matching Harry's tone. "Hagrid—are you alright?"
When she didn't get a reply, Harry explained to her quietly so that Hagrid wouldn't hear them, afraid that if he was reminded of Buckbeak's execution again, he would burst into tears. "Before you transferred, Hagrid brought a hippogriff to our first class in Care of Magical Creatures—his name's Buckbeak. Long story short, he hurt Draco Malfoy–absolute prick, minor injury too—and he went complaining to his father, now the Buckbeak's getting executed."
"Draco Malfoy? The cute Slytherin?" Ophelia gasped. "The poor hippogriff!"
Before Harry could reply, they heard Hagrid's voice, peering out of the small window. "They're comin'..."
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ophelia whipped around, seeing a group of men walking down the castle steps.
"Yeh gotta go," said Hagrid, trembling. All Ophelia wanted to do was give the man a giant hug. "They mustn' find yeh here... Gonow..."
They followed him to the door into his back garden. Although she wasn't as close as Hagrid as the others seemed to be, and didn't know about the hippogriff's execution until a few seconds before, her heart soared at the sight of the animal a few yards away, tethered to a tree behind Hagrid's pumpkin patch. The hippogriff yanked his head from side to side, pawing the ground nervously.
"It's okay, Beaky," said Hagrid. "It's okay...Go on," he said, turning to them.
The four of them didn't move. "Hagrid, we can't—"
"We'll tell them what really happened—"
"They can't kill him—"
"Go!"said Hagrid fiercely. Knowing that they had no choice, Hermione threw the cloak over Harry, Ron and Ophelia—it was quite a stretch, but they all managed to fit under it.
"Please, let's hurry," Hermione whispered. "I can't stand it, I can't bear it..."
Ophelia looked at the silky material in front of her, and how she was able to see in front of her so clearly. "Uh, guys..." she started, confused. "I don't think hiding under a cloak is going to stop those guys from seeing us walk back..."
Despite the situation, Harry had to stifle a laugh. He whispered in her ear. "It's an invisibility cloak." After he said that, he clamped Ophelia's open mouth shut, seeing the startled expression on her face.
"That's sick!" Ophelia whisper yelled, palming the texture in front of her. "Where'd you get one of these?"
"My father left it to me in my first year." Harry explained as they trudged up the slope to the castle. Ophelia nodded, still in awe.
"Oh, Ron, please let's move, they're going to do it!" Hermione breathed, hearing a door open and rumbles of voices behind them, scowling at the wriggling rat in his hands. Personally, Ophelia thought the rat in his hands looked disgusting—it was skinny and ghastly and just gave off a bad vibe overall, but it was Ron's rat and who was she to judge?
"Okay — Scabbers, stay put —"
Ron stopped, making everyone stop with him. "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. Before she knew it, Ophelia heard the unmistakable swish and thud of an axe. She closed her eyes, breathing deeply as she froze, stopping for a moment of silence for the fallen hippogriff.
The sun was setting, the sky a gloomy purplish gray. The short moment of silence between the four of them was disrupted by a wild howling that even Ophelia knew to have came from the Care of Magical Creatures professor.
"Hagrid," Harry muttered. Without thinking, he made to turn back, but Ron and Hermione and Ophelia seized his arms.
Hermione's breathing was shallow and uneven. "How — could — they?" she choked. "How could they?"
"We better get going," Ophelia said softly, her voice quiet. "Hagrid would be in worse trouble if they saw us."
By the time they reached a flat ground, the sky was already dark, and it was getting difficult to see under the cloak. Harry threw it off everyone, bunching it up in his hands.
"Scabbers, keep still," Ron hissed, clamping his hand over the rat in his chest. It was wriggling madly. "What's the matter with you, You stupid rat? Stay still — OUCH! He bit me!"
"What's the matter with him?" Ophelia asked, eyeing the writhing rat, trying not to let her distain show.
Before Ron, or anyone could respond, a large orange cat appeared out of nowhere, eyeing the rat in Ron's arms like a predator.
"Crookshanks!" Hermione moaned. "No, go away, Crookshanks! Go away!"
So that was why the rat was so scared—because of the cat. The rat slipped away from Ron's hands, hit the ground and scampered away, far away from the cat. Seeing the cat chase after his rat, Ron chased after it. Since it was already so dark out, neither of them saw where Ron had gone.
Ophelia, Harry and Hermione looked at each other before running off in the same direction Ron had. It wasn't difficult to find him—they could all hear his feet stomping against the ground his shouts at Crookshanks.
"Get away from him — get away — Scabbers, come here —"
They were greeted with the sight of Ron sprawled on the ground with the rat cowering in his pocket, his hands held tight over it.
"Ron—come back here—we should get back under the cloak, the Minister—they'll be coming back out in a minute—"
But before they could cover themselves again, Ophelia spotted an enormous, jet-black dog. "Oh hey there!" She smiled at it, despite how menacing it looked, its pale eyes staring at her. "Are you lost?"
The black dog wagged his tail back and forth as he focused his glance behind Ophelia, his eyes squinting dangerously—like a glare. Ophelia turned around in time to see that it had pounced on Ron, its jaws fastened around his outstretched arm. "Oh SHI—" she screamed, trying to lunge on the dog to stop it from dragging Ron away—but she had tripped over a loose branch and fell on her face.
"Ophelia!" Harry rushed towards her, helping her up. "Are you ok?"
Ophelia stood up, rubbing dirt off the side of her face as she grimaced in pain. "Don't worry about me—go help Ron!"
Not far from them, they heard Hermione shriek with pain and fall. "Come on!" Ophelia panted, gripping her wand tightly in her blistered hand.
"Lumos!" she heard Harry whisper. The wandlight showed them the trunk of a thick tree. The branches were waving hysterically, whipping forward, backwards, sideways, stopping them from nearing it.
"Harry!" Ophelia gasped, pointing towards the base of the trunk. There was the dog, dragging a Ron into a large gap in the roots.
"Ron!" Harry shouted, attempting to follow, but was stopped by a heavy branch that whipped through the air so that he was forced backwards again—all that was left of Ron was his thrashing legs.
"Harry—we've got to go for help—" Hermione shuddered, hearing the horrible crack that unmistakably came from Ron's leg.
"No! That thing's big enough to eat him; we haven't got time—"
"Harry—she's right, we're never going to get through without help—" Ophelia yelled over the creaking branches, groaning as she was hit in the knees.
"Harry — we're never going to get through without help —" 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 waythrough the vicious, swishing branches, but he couldn't get an inch nearer to the tree rootswithout being in range of the tree's blows.
"Oh, help, Merlin..." Hermione whispered to no one in particular, frantically trying to avoid the branches. "Please...."
The cat—or Crookshanks, darted forward and slid between the branches, avoiding each one of them as he placed his front paws on a knot on the trunk. Suddenly, the tree stopped moving, and everything was frozen.
"You better give that cat loads of snacks, Hermione!" Ophelia said, touching the immobilized leaves on the tree.
"Crookshanks!" Hermione whispered, looking at the cat uncertainly. "How did he know—?"
"He's friends with that dog," said Harry. "I've seen them together."
Following Crookshanks, the three of them slid after each other into the gap between the roots, down a rough dirt slope to the bottom.
"Where's Ron?" Hermione whispered, her eyes darting in fear at the low tunnel.
"I say follow that cat of yours," Ophelia replied.
Quietly, they continued through the tunnel and Ophelia noticed a dim light through a small opening. She tightened her deadly grip on her wand, ready to protect Harry—and Hermione, from whatever lay in front of them. They entered a room—it was dusty and disorganized, with peeling wallpaper and stains all over the creaking wooden slabs that made up the floor.
"I think we're in the Shrieking Shack." Hermione whispered. Ophelia looked around, noticing the destroyed pieces of furniture and a wooden chair, whose legs had been ripped off entirely. She had heard from both Cedric and Luca when they went to Hogsmeade about the stories of the Shrieking Shack, but now that she was there, it didn't look like to be the work of ghosts.
Breaking her out of her thoughts was a creak overhead, like something was moving. They all looked up at the ceiling, all nodding at each other has they crept out and up a crumbling, very dusty staircase. At the end of the staircase, there was only one door open.
"Nox," they whispered together, and it was dark again.
"Let me go first," Ophelia stood protectively in front of Harry, her wand held in front of her, a stunning spell at the tip of her tongue.
The first thing she noticed was Crookshanks, lying on a four poster bed, purring loudly at the sight of them. Beside him was Ron, who was clutching his broken leg on the floor.
"Shit—" Ophelia cursed, rushing across the room to him. "Are you okay?"
"Where's the dog?" Harry's voice quavered, glancing around the room—he was right, there was no sign of a dog.
"Not a dog," Ron moaned, barely able to get the words out as he winced in pain. "Harry, it's a trap—"
"What—"
"He's the dog...he's an Animagus."
Ophelia whirled around as the door snapped behind them, her eyes widening in fear as she saw a man come out of the shadows. She recognized his face—how could she not? His face was sunken from years of surviving Azkaban, filthy, curly hair that was almost as long as hers, his grin showcasing his yellow teeth.
"Expelliarmus!" Sirius Black croaked, and caught by surprise, Ophelia, Harry and Hermione's wand flew out of their hands and into the man's. "I thought you'd come and help your friend," he said, his voice hoarse—if he wasn't a mass murderer, Ophelia would've considered pouring some water down his throat before letting him continue. "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..."
Seeing Harry's furious expression, something snapped within Ophelia. She stepped in front of him, pulling him behind her, glaring warningly at Sirius Black. "Don't you dare take another step towards him."
"And you are..." Sirius looked curiously at the older girl.
"Ophelia fucking Rae—and if you want to hurt Harry, or kill him—your going to have to kill me first."
Ron, trying to stand up, agreed with the girl. "That's right!"
"There'll be only one murder here tonight," said Black, his grin stretched out even more.
"Why's that?" Harry spat, trying to wriggle out of Ophelia strong grasp, poking his head out through her shoulders to glare at Black. "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 Azkabam?"
"Harry!" Hermione whimpered.
"HE KILLED MY MOM AND DAD!" Harry roared, anger getting the best of him as he broke free of Ophelia's grasp. Ophelia's eyes widened, but she was too slow to stop Harry lunging straight at Black, his hand shaped in a fist as it collided with the side of Black's head.
"Harry James Potter!" Ophelia yelled, running to pull Harry off of him. "You know better than to attack a fucking mass murderer! Do you have a death wish?"
"No," Black hissed, his thin fingers wrapping around Harry's throat. "I've waited too long..."
Ophelia swung her foot at Black's gut, causing him to let go of a choking Harry. Taking advantage of the moment, she grasped onto the four wands, taking in from Black's grimy hands, not before Black landed a long scratch on her arm. Well damn, she thought. Cedric's probably going to freak from seeing blood.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" roared Harry again, pushing Ophelia, Ron and Hermione out of the way. Although Ophelia knew better than to anger the thirteen year old, she only stepped out of his way, but stayed close to him in case anything happened.
"Going to kill me, Harry?" Black whispered, laughing mockingly at the wand pointed straight at his heart.
"You killed my parents," said Harry, his voice wavering.
"Harry," Ophelia said softly from behind him.
"NO!" Harry yelled, his wand digging deeper into Black's chest. "He killed my parents!"
"I don't deny it," Black said quietly. "But if you knew the whole story..."
"The whole story?" Harry questioned furiously. "You sold them to Voldemort." Ophelia cringed a bit at the name, even though she was only a toddler at the time in America, everyone knew of the dark wizard growing up. "That's all I needed to know."
"You've got to listen to me," Black said, his tone almost pleading. "You'll regret it if you don't...you don't understand..."
"I understand a lot better than you think," said Harry, raising his voice. "You never heard her, did you? My mum...trying to stop Voldemort killing me...and you did that...you did it..." Ophelia cringed—the sight of Harry, as a baby having to witness his own parents killed before his eyes—was all too painful.
Crookshanks leaped onto Black's chest, pushing away the wand that was there, his claws sinking into Black's ragged Azkaban shirt. Hermione let out a sob, looking at her cat, the one that was in league with the man trying to kill her best friend.
"Harry," Ophelia tried again, placing a hand on his arm. "Don't kill him. What good will it do?"
Harry pushed her hand away forcefully, not seeing the hurt flashing through her eyes, raising his hand to point his wand at Black again. Suddenly, Ophelia heard a new sound—muffled footsteps from downstairs.
"WE'RE UP HERE—SIRIUS BLACK—QUICK!" Hermione screamed repeatedly, her shrill voice echoing in the shack.
A few beats passed, and Ophelia watched as Harry still had not made a move to kill Black, standing as still as a statue. The closed door burst open as Professor Lupin came barreling into the room, his wand at the ready.
"Professor Lupin!" Ophelia gasped in relief.
"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted. No one had expected Harry's wand to fly out of his hand again, along with the three in Ophelia's.
It all happened too fast. Lupin neared Black, and slowly, Lupin spoke. "Where is he, Sirius?"
Ophelia looked back and forth, from Harry, to Lupin, then to Black, and back to Lupin. Unless they were talking about Harry and Ron—which she figured he wasn't, since he wouldn't be asking where 'he' was as they were right in front of him, who was he talking about?
Very slowly, he raised his empty hand and pointed right at Ron.
"But then..." Lupin muttered, staring at Black. "...why hasn't he shown himself before now? unless"—his eyes widened, like he finally understood. "—unless he was the one...unless you switched...without telling me?" Black nodded.
What in Merlin they were talking about, Ophelia had no idea—but she was starting to think that it had nothing to do with the four of them.
"Professor," Harry interrupted loudly. "What's going on?"
Ophelia's gaze widened as Lupin lowered his wand and instead of hexing Black, or punching him, or something of that category—he pulled him to feet and embraced Black like a long lost brother. What the fuck—
"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!"Hermione screamed. "You—you—"
"Hermione—"
"You and him!"
"Hermione, calm down—"
"I didn't tell anyone!" Hermione shrieked out of the blue. Ophelia rubbed her temples. She did not sign up for any of this shit as a celebration of her OWLS examinations ending.
"Hermione, listen to me, please!" Lupin shouted. "I can explain—"
Shaking with fury, Harry approached Lupin. "I trusted you, and all the time you've been his friend!"
"I haven't been Sirius' friend, but I am now—if you would just 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!"
"What?!" Ophelia was now confused, and scared for Harry. She turned to look at Lupin, and for someone who just had his deepest secret exposed, he looked calm.
"Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione," he said. "Only one out of the three, I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don't want Harry dead." He paused. "But I won't deny that I am a werewolf."
Ophelia had never met a werewolf before—but knowing that her DADA professor was one, after studying about them for OWLS—she was only sure of one thing. She was pretty damn scared for a Gryffindor, tuning out the rest of the conversation.
"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf," Ron gasped, still struggling to stand up. "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," Lupin sighed. "If you'll give me a chance, I'll explain. Look—" he gave the four of them their respective wands back.
"If you haven't been helping him," Harry said, glancing 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. Ophelia was getting tired. Honestly, what was going on? First a hippogriff gets unfairly executed, then a tree tries to kill them, only to be pulled into the Shrieking Shack, then a murderer tries to kill them, then Harry tries to kill him, then their professor comes out as a werewolf, now some random talk about a marauder's map. Honestly, how does Harry and his friends do this every year?
"Of course I know how to work it," said Lupin, waving his hand. "I helped write it.I'm Moony — that was my friends' nickname for me at school."
"You wrote —?"
"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening because of Buckbeaks' execution...And I was right, wasn't I?" he paced. "You might have been wearing James old cloak, Harry—"
"How d'you know about the cloak?" Damn, was she the only one that didn't know about the invisibility cloak? Ophelia thought.
"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 theMarauder'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 somebodyelse."
"What?" Ophelia raked her head for memories of anyone apart for the four of them. "No, we weren't!"
"I couldn't believe my eyes," said Lupin, still pacing, and ignoring Ophelia's interruption. "Ithought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?"
"No one was with us!" said Ophelia again—was everyone in this school mental?
"And then I saw another footprint, moving fast toward you, labeled Sirius Black... I saw him collidewith you; I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow —" Maybe you were hallucinating... Ophelia thought to herself.
"One of us!" Ron said angrily.
"No, Ron," said Lupin. "Two of you." His eyes moving over Ron. "Do you think I could have a look at the rat?"
"What?" said Ron bewilderedly. "What's Scabbers got to do with it?"
"Everything," said Lupin. "Could I see him, please?"
Ron hesitated, but eventually pulled the rat out of his pocket, grabbing him by the tail. Lupin moved closer to Ron, holding his breath as he stared at Scabbers.
"What?" Ron looked scared. "What's my rat got todo with anything?"
"That's not a rat," croaked Sirius Black suddenly—Ophelia had kind of forgotten he was still there with all revelations.
"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."
Petter Pettigrew... where had she heard the name before? "Wait—" Ophelia scrunched her eyebrows. "Didn't you kill him?"
Black flinched at the accusation, but growled at the thought. ""I meant to, but little Peter got the better of me... not thistime, though!" Black lunged at the rat—or Peter Pettigrew? Ophelia didn't know who to trust.
"Sirius, NO!" Lupin yelled, dragging Black away. "They need to understand — we've got to explain—"
"We can explain afterwards!" snarled Black, scrambling and trying to reach Scabbers.
"They've — got — a — right — to — know — everything!" Lupin panted, tugging on Black to hold him back.
"Tell them whatever you like.But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for..." Ophelia was even more confused. So he didn't commit the murder?
"Keep a tight hold on Peter while youlisten." Lupin said, sighing at Ron, who was trying to escape with his bad leg.
"HE'S NOT PETER, HE'S SCABBERS!" Ron yelled.
"There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die," Harry said. "A whole street full of them..."
"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter," said Lupin. "I believed it myself — until I sawthe map tonight. Because the Marauder's map never lies... Peter's alive. Ron's holding him,Harry."
"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...you have to register to become an Animagus—the ministry keeps tabs because the process is quite dangerous. Professor McGonagall even said so herself that including her, there were only seven Animagi this centruy." Ophelia spoke up, earning a smile from Lupin.
"Correct, Ophelia!" Ophelia thought at his cheerful tone that he was going to give out house points to her like he would in a lesson.
"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. "I've waited twelve years, I'm not going to wait much longer."
Ever since Sirius Black clarified that he was going after Peter Pettigrew—if he wasn't batshit crazy, and he was the rat, Ophelia felt like a heavy weight was lifted off her chest, that he wasn't trying to kill Harry.
Like when Lupin appeared, there had been a loud creak behind him. All six of them stared at the now open door.
"This place is haunted!" said Ron.
"It's not," said Lupin, puzzled. "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted... The screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me." he continued. "I as a very small boy when I received the bite. There was no cure. The potion that Professor Snape has been making for me is a very recent discovery. It makes me safe, you see. As long as I take it in the week, preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform. Back when I was at Hogwarts, I became a monster once a month, so Dumbledore built the Whomping Willow for me to have transformations here. But when James, Sirius and Peter found out that I was a werewolf, they didn't desert me, but even worked to become Animagi to help with my transformations every full moon." Lupin smiled, reminiscing about his Hogwarts days. "Luckily, James and Sirius were both the brightest students in the school and the transformation went smoothly—helping Peter with it after—it all happened during our fifth year—same age as you, Ophelia." Ophelia smiled slightly, she herself had amazing friends here at Hogwarts. "Since a werewolf is only a danger to humans, being animals kept the werewolf in me company—in a way—more humane during my transformations."
"Hurry up, Remus," snarled Black.
Rolling his eyes, Lupin continued. "We decided to make the Marauder's Map to see if anyone was coming our way, to keep them out of danger. I'm Moony, Sirius is Padfoot, James was Prongs, and Peter is Wormtail. When I got offered a job by Dumbledore, I was very grateful... then Sirius broke out of Azkaban, and 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." He looked up at Harry,Ron, and Hermione. "Professor Snape was at school with us. 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—Severus was very interested in where I went every month." Lupin told Harry, Ron, andHermione and Ophelia. "He was always quite jealous of your father, Harry, and when Sirius told him to press on the knob to get in, Snape glimpsed me, 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 Ophelia slowly, because he thought you were in on the joke?"
"That's right," sneered a cold voice behind Lupin. It was Professor Snape, who was pulling off the Invisibility Cloak, his wand pointing directly at Lupin.
Hermione screamed.
"You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" he said, his wand still pointed at Lupin. "I've just been to your office,Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky Idid... lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."
"Severus —" Lupin began, but Snape overrode him. "I've told the headmaster again and again that you're helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof."
"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 and not listening to a word Lupin had to say. "I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this... He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin... a tame werewolf —"
"You fool," said Lupin softly. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back insideAzkaban?"
Thin, snakelike cords that came from Snape's wand twisted themselves around Lupin's mouth, wrists, and ankles as he fell to the floor, unable to move.
"Give me a reason," he whispered to Black.
Harry, now calmed down and more confused than angry, walked over to where Ophelia was standing, and she looked even more confused than him, if that was possible.
"I'm sorry for bringing you here," Harry whispered as Black and Snape continued arguing. Despite everything, Ophelia wrapped an arm around his shoulder, messing up his already messy hair.
"I think I would have a heart attack if I heard about what happened here tonight without me being here." Ophelia whispered back. "So in a way, I'm glad you asked me to come to Hagrid's tonight."
"Professor Snape — it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w-would it?" came Hermione's breathless voice.
"Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school," Snape spat. "You, Potter, Weasley and Rae are out-of-bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. Foronce in your life, hold your tongue."
"But if — if there was a mistake —" Ophelia defended.
"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" Snape shouted, shutting the two girls up when sparks flew from his wand.
"Vengeance is very sweet," Snape breathed at Black. "How I hoped I would be the one to catch you..."
"The joke's on you again, Severus," Black snarled. "As long as this boy brings his rat up to the castle, I'll come quietly..."
"I don't think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the Dementors once we get out of the Willow. They'll be very pleased to see you, Black...pleased enough to give you a little kiss, I daresay."
"You — you've got to hear me out," he croaked, the color draining from his already pale face. "The rat — look at the rat —"
"I'll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the Dementors will have a kiss for him too —"
Even though she still did not know if Black and Lupin were speaking the truth, judging by all the details and what Harry had told her—that Sirius was James best friend and was to be his Godfather, it actually seemed quite plausible, and it made lose the respect she had for Professor Snape, who just looked bitter and spiteful.
"Get out of the way, Potter, you're in enough trouble already," snarled Snape, seeing Harry cross the room to him. "If I hadn't been here to save your skin —"
"Professor Lupin could have killed me about a hundred times this year," Harry said. He had a point... "I've been alone with him loads of times. If he was helpingBlack, why didn't he just finish me off then?"
"Given that he actually wanted to kill you," Ophelia added, earning a shocked stare from Black—that the girl was actually defending him.
"Get out of the way,Potter."
"YOU'RE PATHETIC!" Harry yelled. "JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OF YOU AT SCHOOL YOU WON'T EVEN LISTEN —" Ophelia nodded, cheering for Harry on the inside as he lashed out at the Potions master.
"SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" Snape shrieked, looking madder than ever. Chill out, jeez.
"Like father, like son, Potter! 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 — GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!"
"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled — at the same time Ophelia did. Snape was lifted off his feet and slammed into the wall, then slid down it to the floor, knocked out cold. He looked at Ophelia, who sent him a small grin back.
Lupin was struggling against his bonds. Black bent down quickly and untied him. "Thank you, Harry," he said. "And Ophelia. It's time we offered you some proof," said Lupin. "You, boy — give me Peter, please.Now."
"Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat — there are millions of rats — how's he supposed to know which one he is after if he was locked up in Azkaban?" Ron asked, clutching Scabbers tightly against his chest.
"You know, Sirius, that's a fair question," said Lupin. "How did you find out where he was?"
Black took out a crumpled piece of paper, from his pocket and held out for everyone to see. There was a photograph of the Weasleys on vacation in Egypt last summer. "Fudge," said Black. "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page on this boy's shoulder... I knew him at once... how many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts... to where Harry was..."
"My God," said Lupin softly, staring from Scabbers to the picture in the paper and back again."His front paw..."
"What about it?" said Ron defiantly.
"He's got a toe missing," said Black.
"Of course," Lupin breathed. "So simple... so brilliant... he cut it off himself?"
"That's disgusting." Ophelia commented, staring at Ron's rat with disgust.
"Just before he transformed," said Black. "When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself — and sped down into the sewer with the other rats..."
"The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger."
"He's been in my family for ages —"
"Twelve years," said Lupin. "Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?"
"We — we've been taking good care of him!" said Ron. "He's been scared of that mad cat though, recently..."
"This cat —Crookshanks, did you call him? Bloody brillaint— told me Peter had left blood on the sheets... I supposed he bit himself... Well, faking his own death had worked once."
"And why did he fake his death?" he said furiously. "Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"
Ophelia sighed, putting a hand on Harry so that he would calm down. "Let's just listen to what they have to say...they're actually making sense right now."
"Harry," said Lupin, "All this time we've thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down — but it was the other way around, don't you see? Peter betrayed your mother and father — Sirius tracked Peter down —"
"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Harry yelled. "HE WAS THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNED UP. HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!"
He was pointing at Black, who shook his head slowly. "Harry... I as good as killed them," he croaked. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me... I'm to blame, I know it... The night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone... so I went to your parents'...and when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies... I realized what Peter must've done... what I'd done..." His voice broke. He was either speaking the truth, or he was a mighty good actor, Ophelia thought, hearing his heartbreaking story.
"There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me that rat."
At last, Ron gave in. "Ready,Sirius?" said Lupin. Black had already retrieved Snape's wand from the bed.
"On the count of three. One — two — THREE!"