"What?!" Hermione hissed. "You mean Ron is up there, alone, with Sirius Black?!"

"He isn't alone," I replied, probably quite unhelpfully.

Harry responded with a panicked laugh. "Scabbers doesn't exactly count for company in a situation like this. Come on, what are we waiting for?!"

"Scabbers isn't who you think he is, Harry," I held both my hands out, motioning them to wait. "And Sirius won't hurt Ron, at least not anymore than he already has. I'm sure he thought this was the only way to talk to you."

"What do you mean?" Hermione frowned worriedly. "You've met him?"

"I have," I finally admitted. "I've known him since the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match. I was the one that gave him the passwords to get in that night, and I've been talking to him ever since."

The two of them stared at me in utter confusion.

"Lila, why on earth would you do that?!" Hermione cried, looking absolutely aghast. "You could have been hurt, he might have killed you—"

"He might have killed me!" Harry broke in. "Or Ron!" The utter betrayal in his face said it all: he wouldn't hear me out. The cold glare of Harry's fury was actually terrifying, even if he was only thirteen. "He's dangerous, Lila. I can't believe you kept this from us."

He brushed past me and ran up the stairs. I glanced back at Hermione, who, to my relief, looked confused but not upset.

"I trust you," she murmured. "But you owe both of us an apology after all this is over."

"I know," I told her, eyes downcast. "But let's go now, before Harry or Sirius does anything too rash. They're very similar you know."

Hermione and I rushed up the stairs. I opened the door to find Sirius pointing a wand — Ron's wand — directly at Harry. Harry pointed his back.

"Wand down, Sirius," I pleaded. "You're going to frighten them, so start explaining fast. You'd better explain it well too, or else Harry might kill both of us."

It was true. Harry was seething from beside me, his knuckles white on his wand as he glared at Sirius. Sirius recognized this right away and immediately started to speak, though his eyes swept around Harry's face the entire time. He must look so much like James.

"I'm sorry, for what I had to do to get you here," Sirius dropped Ron's wand onto the windowsill next to him. "When Lila's snake came to alert me that you'd found the rat, I would have stopped at nothing to trap him here."

"What's Scabbers got to do with anything?" Ron looked between Sirius and I in confusion, his ankle twisted horribly. He was shaking with fear, but kept the squirming Pettigrew firmly in his grip.

"Everything, Ron," I told him sagely.

"Where is he, Sirius?"

We all jumped. Professor Lupin stood in the doorway, apparently having followed us here without our noticing. There was betrayal and confusion in his eyes, and a bitter sort of sadness. Sirius merely pointed, after a long pause, at Ron. Now his eyes swept around Lupin.

"But then..." Lupin murmured, staring back at Sirius with intensity. "... why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless" -- Lupin's eyes suddenly widened, "-- unless you switched... without telling me?"

Sirius nodded, his gaze never leaving Lupin' face. He looked awed and pained all at once. It dawned on me that they hadn't seen each other in thirteen years, and for all thirteen Lupin had thought Sirius was a traitor.

"Professor," Harry interrupted loudly, "what's going on --?"

Lupin had already pocketed his wand. He marched over, took Sirius' now empty hand in his, and pulled him into an embrace.

"I don't believe it!" Hermione shouted, finally breaking. "What's going on?! Lila, explain to us what's happening right now."

"I trusted you," Harry shouted at Lupin, far more impatient for explanation, "and all the time you've been his friend!"

"You're wrong," said Lupin. "I haven't been Sirius's 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!"

There was a deafening silence that followed. Slowly, I put my hand over Hermione's.

"Hermione, we both know that Lupin being a werewolf doesn't mean he'd hurt anybody. You said it yourself. The truth is Lupin hasn't been helping Sirius get into the castle. I have." I looked at Sirius reproachfully. "Though he'd gotten a bit too excited on his last visit inside."

"Y-You?!" Ron cried, now looking just as betrayed as Harry had. "How did this happen? Why didn't you say anything?!"

I shook my head. "I wanted to, but you wouldn't have believed me. Finding Scabbers was the one way to prove Sirius' innocence, and he's been rather slippery. Until now, that is."

"I still don't understand what Scabbers has to do with anything," Ron's voices wavered.

"Scabbers is not who you think he is," Lupin echoed what I'd said before.

"If you haven't been helping him," Harry interrupted, with a reproachful look at Sirius, "how did you know he was here?"

"The map," said Lupin. "I was in my office examining it --"

"You know how to work it?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Of course I know how to work it," said Lupin, waving his hand impatiently. "I helped write it. I'm Moony -- that was the nickname James gave me at school."

"You wrote --?"

"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening," Lupin continued. "I saw you three cross the grounds toward Hagrid's. Twenty minutes later, you appeared again, and set off back toward the castle. But you were now accompanied by somebody else."

"What?" said Harry. "No, we weren't!"

"I couldn't believe my eyes," said Lupin, still pacing, and ignoring Harry's interruption. "I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?"

"No one was with us!" Harry protested.

"And then I saw another dot, moving fast toward you, labeled Sirius Black.... I saw him collide with you; 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, probably for the millionth time, "has Scabbers got to do with it?"

"Everything," said Lupin. "Could I see him, please?"

Ron hesitated, then put a hand inside his robes. Pettigrew was moving around desperately. Crookshanks hissed from the corner.

Lupin seemed to be holding his breath as he gazed intently at Scabbers. "Thats him, alright."

"An Animagus," Sirius agreed, "by the name of Peter Pettigrew."

"You're mental." Ron croaked. "All of you."

"Ridiculous!" Hermione added faintly.

"Peter Pettigrew's dead!" said Harry before pointing angrily at Sirius. "He killed him twelve years ago!"

"I meant to," he growled, "but little Peter got the better of me... not this time, though!"

Sirius lunged forward, and Lupin surged to hold him back.

"Sirius, NO!" He yelled, dragging Sirius away from Ron, "WAIT! You can't do it just like that -- they need to understand -- we've got to explain --"

"We can explain afterwards!"

"They've -- got -- a -- right -- to -- know -- -everything!" Lupin panted. "Ron's kept him as a pet! And Harry -- you owe Harry the truth, Sirius!"

"All right, then," Sirius stopped struggling. "Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for..."

Harry turned to Lupin. "There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die," he said. "A whole street full of them..."

"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" Sirius argued, still watching Scabbers struggling in Ron's hands.

Hermione spoke up shakily. "But Professor Lupin... Scabbers can't be Pettigrew... it just can't be true ..."

"Why can't it be true?" Lupin asked calmly.

"Scabbers has been in Ron's family for years!" She argued.

"Twelve years, right?" I responded. Hermione's face grew pale. "We all wondered how he managed to stay alive so long. And he's missing a toe, isn't he? The last thing they found of Pettigrew's was his finger."

"Lila, that's mental and you know it," Harry said hollowly, though I could see the gears turning in his head. "There's no way— there can't be—"

"Twelve years ago, Peter betrayed your parents, and I went after him to take his life in return," Sirius explained. "He cut off his finger just before he faked his death, and I was imprisoned instead. I've waited twelve years to kill him for real, I'm not going to wait much longer."

"Let's tell them the story," Lupin said quickly, seeing that Ron was not taking well to this. There had been a creak downstairs, which seemed to startle him.

"This place is haunted!" Ron exclaimed.

"It's not," said Lupin, regaining his steam. "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted.... The screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me."

Professor Lupin began to explain from his perspective everything Sirius had told me about their past at Hogwarts. I felt terrible for him, hearing that this was something he'd dealt with all his life. Sirius remained quiet, aside from the few interjections for Lupin to hurry it up. He was still glaring daggers at Ron's rat. When Lupin mentioned the prank he played on Snape, though, he bit his lip guiltily.

"Snape glimpsed me, at the end of the tunnel." Lupin said, pointedly not looking at Sirius. "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 it?"

"That's right," sneered a cold voice from behind Lupin. Snape stood in the doorway, his wand pointing directly at him. In his hand was Harry's invisibility cloak.

Hermione screamed.

Snape was slightly breathless, but his face was full of suppressed triumph. "You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here? I've just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot
to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky I did... 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. 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," Snape interrupted, nearly singing. "I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this.... He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin... a tame werewolf --"

"Confundo!"

The room grew quite still as the charm struck Professor Snape straight in the head. He blinked with uncharacteristic befuddlement and I quickly moved toward him, whirling him around to face the staircase instead of the room.

"You came down here looking for Sirius Black, and you found nothing," I said assuredly. "You'd just set Professor Lupin's potion in his office. Now you'd best get back to the dungeons because you have lots of final papers to grade."

My heart hammered in my chest, worried that it hadn't worked. But I watched in amazement as Snape blinked again, turned around, and walked back down the stairs. None of us spoke until we heard his footsteps disappear back into the passage.

"Where did you learn that?" Hermione looked horribly pale for my sake — that's enough to get me expelled, if I'm unlucky.

"Same spellbook I found the Patronus Charm in," I explained, which wasn't technically a lie. Better than I watched Malfoy do it to the Minister of Magic. "Now please, hurry up, before someone else walks in!"

"It's time we offered you some proof," said Lupin. "You, boy -- give me Peter, please. Now."

Ron clutched Scabbers closer to his chest.
"Come off it," he said weakly. "What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?"

"Force him to show himself," said Lupin. "If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him."

Ron hesitated. Then at long last, he held out Scabbers and Lupin took him. Pettigrew began to squeak and writhe relentlessly. "Ready, Sirius?" said Lupin.

I handed Sirius my wand. He approached Lupin and the struggling rat, and eyes burning with pure hatred.

"Together?" he said quietly.

"I think so," said Lupin, holding Scabbers tightly in one hand and his wand in the other. "On the count of three. One -- two -- THREE!"

A flash of blue-white light erupted from both wands; for a moment, Pettigrew was frozen in midair, twisting madly -- Ron yelled -- the rat fell and hit the floor. There was another blinding flash of light, and there he was.

Much as Sirius shifted back and forth into a dog, Scabbers grew and his limbs lengthened and he became just about the ugliest man I'd ever seen. Perhaps if you stayed in animal form too long you started to resemble it. He looked at all of us, breathing fast and shallow. His eyes flickered frequently to the door.

"Well, hello, Peter," said Lupin pleasantly, his tone cold as ice. "Long time, no see."

"S -- Sirius... R -- Remus..." Even Pettigrew's voice was squeaky. Again, his eyes darted toward the door. "My friends... my old friends..."

Sirius' wand arm rose, but Lupin seized him around the wrist and turned back to Pettigrew, nonchalant.

"We've been having a little chat, Peter, about what happened the night Lily and James died. You might have missed the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the bed --"

"Remus," Pettigrew gasped, "you don't believe him, do you...? He tried to kill me, Remus...."

"So we've heard," said Lupin, more coldly. "I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you, Peter, if you'll be so --"

"He's come to try and kill me again!" Pettigrew cried pathetically, pointing at Sirius. "He killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too.... You've got to help me, Remus...."

"No one's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out," said Lupin.

"Sorted things out?" squealed Pettigrew, looking around frantically for an exit. "I knew he'd come after me! I knew he'd be back for me! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!"

"You knew Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban?" said Lupin, his brow furrowed. "When nobody has ever done it before?"

"He's got dark powers the rest of us can only dream of!" Pettigrew squeaked. "How else did he escape? I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named taught him a few tricks!"

"Voldemort, teach me tricks?" Sirius repeated coldly. Pettigrew flinched like Sirius had struck him.

"What, scared to hear your old master's name?" said Sirius. "I don't blame you, Peter. His lot aren't very happy with you, are they?"

"Don't know what you mean, Sirius --" muttered Pettigrew, sweating profusely.

"You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years," Sirius sneered. "You've been hiding from Voldemort's old supporters. I heard things in Azkaban, Peter... They all think you're dead, or you'd have to answer to them.... I've heard them screaming all sorts of things in their sleep. Sounds like they think the double-crosser double-crossed them. And not all Voldemort's supporters ended up in Azkaban, did they? There are still plenty out here, biding their time, pretending they've seen the error of their ways.
If they ever got wind that you were still alive, Peter --"

"Don't know... what you're talking about...," Pettigrew repeated fearfully. He turned desperately to Lupin. "You don't believe this -- this madness, Remus --"

"I must admit, Peter, I have difficulty in understanding why an innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat," Lupin said evenly.

"Innocent, but scared!" Pettigrew cried. "If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it was because I put one of their best men in Azkaban -- the spy, Sirius Black!"

"How dare you!" Sirius roared. "Me, a spy for Voldemort? When did I ever sneak around people who were stronger and more powerful than myself? But you, Peter -- I'll never understand why I didn't see you were the spy from the start. You always liked big friends who'd look after you, didn't you? It used to be us... me and Remus... and James...."

"Me, a spy..." Pettigrew stammered. "You must be out of your mind... never... don't know how you can say such a --"

"Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it," Sirius hissed. "I thought it was the perfect plan... a bluff... Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you.... It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters."

Hermione timidly asked a few questions, which Sirius answered the same way he had for me, perhaps just with a bit more impatience.

"I've been living in the forest and here ever since. Lila discovered me here after diving into Snape's memories." He nodded to me. "I didn't trust her at first — but I knew her mother, and I realized just who she was."

"But before that, I came to watch the Quidditch match." He turned to face Harry, his expression now pained. "You fly as well as your father did, Harry...."

He looked at Harry, who did not look away.

"Believe me," Sirius insisted. "Believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them."

Harry finally nodded, and Pettigrew cried out as though it were his death sentence. He fell to his knees, crawling toward Sirius.

"Sirius -- it's me... it's Peter... your friend... you wouldn't --" he gasped as Sirius kicked out, shoe just missing his face.

"There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them," he scowled.

"Remus!" Pettigrew turned to Lupin instead. "You don't believe this, do you? Wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?"

"Not if he thought I was the spy, Peter," said Lupin. "I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?"

"Forgive me, Remus," Sirius bowed his head in apology.

"Not at all, Padfoot, old friend," said Lupin, now rolling up his sleeves. "And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?"

"Of course," said Sirius. He, too, began rolling up his sleeves. "Shall we kill him together?"

"Yes, I think so," said Lupin grimly.

"What about her!" Pettigrew cried out, thrusting a shaking finger at me. I froze.

"What about Lila?" Sirius asked impatiently.

"I've seen you," Pettigrew sneered through rotten teeth. "Talking to that pet snake of yours. I knew a thing or two about your mother, too. She's lucky I never spoke up, lucky I never said anything to anybody—"

"Don't you dare speak of Emilie!" Sirius shouted, pale face now flushed with anger on my behalf. "She was kinder to you than you ever deserved. If she confided in you it's because she trusted you! She felt bad, perhaps, that you were never as important as the rest of us!"

"It's no matter, it's her mistake," Pettigrew's eyes grew wild and triumphant. "For telling me she was of the same blood as the Dark Lord!"

A deafening silence fell over the room.

"Lila," Harry broke it, voice quiet. "Lila, what is he talking about?"

"Of course then, you would take