Warning: the next two chapters are very long, and low key very bad and all over the place sorry 

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘌𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯: 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘋𝘰 𝘞𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘜𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘤𝘬?

« 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚗𝚞𝚜 »

Even though I had the idea forming in my head, hearing it out loud was more than a little jarring. My father? Alive? Living as a rat the whole time? I looked at Tilly next to me, but I still couldn't tell what she was thinking. Her face was completely blank, despite her eyes getting watery with unshed tears. I couldn't tell if she was mad, or sad, or if she even believed what Professor Lupin and Sirius Black were telling us. I couldn't blame her for being confused. It should have been impossible.

There was a beat. And then more shouting. "You're both mental."

"Ridiculous!"

"Peter Pettigrew's dead! He killed him twelve years ago!" Harry, ever the caring, sensitive type that he was, pointed at Sirius Black.

Black's face twitched; he bared his teeth, looking more dog-like than anything. Just like in my dream. The one where I'd seen him kill my father. "I meant to, but little Peter got the better of me... not this time, though!"

Ramona stayed quiet behind my sister and me, but I could almost hear the wheels turning in her head. Or maybe that was my imagination. Out of all of us, she probably had the least information. I wondered who it was more confusing for: her, Harry, or me? Here was the guy who was supposed to be out to get my sister and me (and Harry too, I suppose), saying he was innocent...

But he'd meant to kill my father. So, he also wasn't innocent because attempted murder still counts. And, if my dad was the rat, he already confessed to coming to kill him, right? And if he'd been after the rat (my dad?) the whole time, that meant he'd already made two attempts at it. First at Halloween and then again when he'd gotten into the Gryffindor boys' dorm. He'd also attacked students to drag them to the Shack. Or maybe they followed him. Either seemed probable, knowing the lot of them were Gryffindors. He was still guilty. Just not for the crime he was committed for.

But also. If Nina had been right then my dad (the rat?) was the one who got Harry's parents killed? 'You switched...without telling me?' Lupin had been saying earlier. I suppose that must have been referring to the Potters' Secret Keeper, then. It was Sirius Black, then my dad (the rat?). So, Nina had been right. That right was the real killer. She'd only mistakenly assumed there was a third party. To be fair, who would assume anyone had, apparently, faked their death and lived twelve years as a rat? Anyway, he was guilty too.

Imagine finding out a rat killed your classmate's parents. Imagine finding out that rat was your father.

Yeah. This was stupid. I wanted to be somewhere else. Like, if Tammi could pull up outside with her truck and drive off with Tilly and me. That'd be great. But no. Muggles couldn't drive their vehicles into Hogsmeade. Shame. I missed Tammi.

I looked down at the rat still squirming and dangling from my hands. Then up at Sirius Black. He stared back at me. There was one, two, three seconds of silence. I don't know what I would have said to him, but before I could figure it out he lunged. Without thinking, I tossed the rat to the other side of the room and bolted behind my sister. I wasn't sure if I wanted to protect the rat (my dad?) or not. I just knew I didn't want to be caught in the crossfire of that.

So dumb.

Scabbers scurried as fast as his little legs could carry him. His feet scratched against the wooden floor and kicked the dust into the air. Ron yelled in fury when Sirius Black hurried to change course, nearly tripping over himself.

Chrookshanks ran after Scabbers too, plowing through Hermione and nicking Ramona's feet with his claws to get at the rat (Dad?). Hermione was shouting. Ron was shouting. Sirius was shouting. Everyone was shouting. The rat (Dad?) almost got caught between the cat's claws once, but at the last second he slipped away, right back into Ron's hands. This time, he held on to his pet with an iron grip. Scabbers wasn't going anywhere. Try as he might.

Sirius Black growled. Like ── well you know.

Everything was quiet again. If my hands were shaking, well, you couldn't blame me too much. And if hiding behind my much braver sister made me a complete and utter wimp, then, yeah, I was a complete and utter wimp. Sue me. Someone, if you need reminding, wanted to murder people. That person might have been a man I was meant to consider my dad. Excuse me for thinking that's a bit much.

Ron held that rat closer than ever. His hair was more brown than red now, thanks to all the dust that had gathered in it. He was glaring at Sirius Black. Sirius was glaring at the rat (Dad?). He looked wicked in the dark room. His long, matted hair was even more of a mess than before, hanging in his eyes thanks to all the movement. The rat (Dad?) was trying to make a break for the door, tearing up Ron's hands in the process. Ron didn't act like he noticed. His fur was falling out. Ears twitching. Loud squealing. And did you know rats cried blood when they're super stressed out? Because apparently that's a thing.

Lupin moved in front of Sirius Black. He was shaking too, but it looked more like it was from effort on his part. I thought the situation might have been overtaxing him, too. He was even paler and sweatier than before. His own hair was turning gray, even after a few seconds of rough housing. Or maybe that last bit was my imagination. I couldn't tell for sure with everything else going on. He put a shaky hand on Sirius' chest, apparently trying to hold him back. I didn't see why. At this point, I was willing to bet Sirius Black could push the professor right over.

Harry and Hermione were standing in front of Ron, now. I don't know what they thought they'd do to stop Sirius Black from ripping into them like some fun, thirteen year old magical kids-shaped doggie toys, but I suppose I could admire their tenacity. Harry's pants' legs had a hole at the knee, and Hermione's jumper was muddy. Her hair was ten times more fizzy than normal. I was sure Tilly would have a fit about all that later. A fashion disaster she'd call it. Because everything was a disaster to her, unless she put it together.

I missed her. I know, I know. She was standing right in front of me. But I missed simpler times, before following the Lupins into the Shack, before meeting serial killers and escaped convicts, and rubbish that had to do with Voldemort and Harry Potter and prophecies. I missed hearing Sirius Black was out to get me and thinking "yeah okay, but we're fine because how can he get into the castle? We're fine. It's not that bad." I miss before he broke out, before going to Hogwarts even, when it was just Tilly and me, and Tammi, and Kip, and Bleus sometimes. When our only worries were trying to survive the day. Not exactly less stressful, sure, but at least we didn't have to worry about a dumb wizard apocolypse.

It was all so, so, so dumb. I wanted to get out of this stupid Shack and never see anyone in it, save for my sister, ever again. I wanted to take Granger's time turner and spin it and go back, and back, and back until I was so far into the past that all of this mess was behind me. Until it couldn't reach me anymore. Until it was no longer my problem. I'd take Tilly with me, of course. She'd be pissed off that we left everyone, and I'd feel guilty about it. But we would be fine. We'd be safe. And anyway, Potter and co. have gotten out of worse with nothing but dumb luck. They'd be fine. They didn't need our help. We weren't doing them any favours by sticking around. So it wouldn't matter. We'd be fine. Tilly would get over it. She'd thank me when she wasn't, you know, dead.

Or Tammi could get Bleus to take her to Hogsmeade. I don't know. Maybe some type of motherly instinct would tell her 'these two idiot kids I picked up off the street are in a room full of dangerous morons, and I need to help them!' Sometimes she could sense stuff like that. There were moments when I was sure she was secretly a witch too, but she'd never done any magic, so whatever. Anyway, she'd follow that mum's voice in the back of her head. It would lead her to the Shack, and she'd come bursting in. She'd kick the door in. Then, armed with nothing but her purse (and maybe her cricket bat if we were really lucky), she'd start swinging at the men. She'd knock them out and take all of us kids somewhere else. Somewhere a lot safer and cleaner. Maybe she'd have a really nice apartment by this point and we would all stay there for a bit.

In this scenario the rat (Dad?) goes in a cage or something. So he doesn't start Wizard World War Two.

But of course none of that happened. Tammi wasn't a witch. She couldn't come to Hogwarts, and even if she was, she was a million miles away, and there wasn't enough mother's intuition in the universe to set her Spidey Sense off. Not for the two of us. We weren't really here children. For Kip, maybe, but not us. Even if it did, so what? She still wouldn't be able to find Hogwarts. Stupid 'No muggles allowed' rules.

We were on our own. Imagining things that were never going to happen was not going to help. I need to focus on what was happening in front of me. As much as it sucked.

Tilly wrenched herself away from me and pulled out her own wand. Aiming it between Lupin and Sirius Black. So, so dumb. But that was my sister for you. Gryffindor to the core. Brave but stupidly impulsive.

And so dumb.

Tilly didn't look scared or upset or confused anymore. Her eyes weren't watery. She wasn't stuck frozen to the floor or trying to hide like I was. She looked ready to fight. To the death. I didn't like that. I really didn't like that.

She could be so dumb.

Her feet were planted on the ground. Her wand was pointed. Hand not even shaking. Hair a tangled mess, which she'd probably cry about later. Eyes that matched up to a wild animal. With the darkness of the room and the dust that had been kicked into the air with all the movement before, she almost looked like one too. Pure, unchecked, untamable fury. A beast that could and would kill without hesitation. Feral. I might have assumed she was the werewolf instead of our Defense professor, if I hadn't known better. She looked like someone completely new. Someone more aggressive and unhinged. Someone who didn't lose fights.

I'd seen her like that a handful of times before, usually when we were being attacked. Once when we were twelve she tackled a gang member with a knife. Another time, when we were ten, there was this dodgy guy with a van. She chased him off with a heeled shoe. And, when we were seven, she held one of the older kids at crayon point for pushing me and destroying her art project.

It was my sister at her scariest. When fight dominated over flight. Somehow much more terrifying than the guy who was trying to murder a kid's pet rat (our dad?). Even if she was short, only just finished third year, and didn't know any attack spells that weren't ridiculous. I doubted she could do much to either Sirius Black or Lupin or the rat (our dad?) even. If he ever turned into a man again that is. But that wouldn't matter to a Feral Tilly. She'd attack anyway. And she'd probably get hurt. Or worse. She didn't care. She never did. She didn't think about what she was doing until it was all over. Until I was yelling at her for how stupid she is.

I wondered what she'd do. Tilly didn't have plans, even on a normal day. She just acted on impulse. Whatever she wanted to do, she did. No matter how idiotic or dangerous it was. Thinking is for losers, that was her logic.

It would have been nice to have a prophecy or premonition or some sort of mystic heads up from beyond the veil or whatever so I could have prepared for her to get like this. But I knew even with Divination there was no predicting what would happen. There was no preparing for a Feral Tilly. She was full on violence and brutality. I wouldn't put it past her to jump at the prison escapee or the rat or the professor or all of them at once and get herself killed.

But there wasn't any reasoning with Feral Tilly. It was like she went deaf or something. Any hope I'd had of holding her back and keeping her out of harm's way had just gone out the boarded window.

This was so stupid. I wished Tammi were able to be there. She would have known what to do. At least, she would have known how to take control of the situation until everyone was out of harm's way. All it would take is a single look and swing of her purse, and everyone would be sent running with their respective animagus and wolf tails between their legs. She was a bit mad, Tammi, but she got people to do what she wanted. Maybe that was where Tilly got it from. Tilly was an avid Tammi admirer. She'd envied her as long as I could remember. It was fair, I suppose.

At least with Tammi there Tilly wouldn't have to be the one to do all the fighting (I suppose the other Gryffindors would try to help, but still). Tammi would have everything settled much quicker. She'd manage it without anyone getting hurt. Then, we'd all go down to that corner store she worked at, and she'd give us free candy. Everything would be fine. The whole mess would be behind us. Everyone would be safe, and there'd be nothing to worry about. No wars, no homicidal pet rats (fathers?), no one escaping prison...

But Tammi wasn't there. No one was settling anything. People were only shouting and screaming, and screaming and shouting. Just making so much noise it was impossible to make out what anyone was saying. So much movement it was impossible to keep up with. To watch everything. Tilly. And the trio. And the grown men. I wasn't sure where Ramona had gone. There were too many people in that Shack to keep track of. The room was too small.

Dust was flying in the air, somehow much more intoxicating than the frost and mist from earlier. I suppose because the dust was real. We would have to be checked for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or Silicosis later. Or pleural mesothelioma, or asbestosis, or ─

Anyway, my sister had decided to be the designated bad ass. Her and all her house mates ── including the adults. But mostly her.

"Sirius, NO!" Lupin was trying to drag Sirius away from Ron and Scabbers. But I didn't care much about the rat (my dad?) anymore. All of my focus was on my sister now. She was still aiming her wand. Still glaring at the men in front of her. One more thing. One more thing. That's all it would take to set her off. To make her snap. One more thing.

I really wanted to be somewhere else. Back in my dorm, maybe, where there weren't murderers that wanted to bring back dead guys. Or back on Bleus bridge watching him and Tammi reenact musicals together. Before Divination became a legit thing. Before prophecies and wars. Before rats became killers. Before people broke out of the inescapable prison. Before any of this. I mean, it was by no means perfect before, far from, but it was better than this. This whole thing was so dumb.

"WAIT! You can't do it just like that — they need to understand — we've got to explain —"

I retreated back to my corner and closed my eyes. I hated Feral Tilly. The stupid situations she'd get into. I never knew if she'd walk out unscathed. And I hated this stupid Shack and everyone in it and everything that was happening. I hated that I was stupid enough to walk into this situation. What was the point of being a Seer if I couldn't see this coming? I wanted to be anywhere else. I know I keep saying it. But I did. And I mean anywhere else. I'd take three hours of potions class over this. Or even a detention with Filch where he made everyone scrub toilets. Anything. As long as I wasn't here dealing with this.

This was so dumb.

"We can explain afterwards!"

"They've — got — a — right — to — know — everything! Ron's kept him as a pet! There are parts of it even I don't understand! And Harry, and the twins — you owe them the truth, Sirius! Just... wait!"

"I DID MY WAITING! TWELVE YEARS OF IT! IN AZKABAN!"

That was it. That made my sister snap.

I didn't see what happened, and I couldn't make out what she was saying ── random hexes and jinxes and curses, it sounded like. But sometimes my ear garbled words so they didn't make sense. She could have just made something up on the spot, I don't know. When I looked up, there was glitter everywhere, floor to ceiling. On the bed's shredded sheets. Laying over the dust filled window-sills. I was the only person in the room not covered, head to toe in bright, rainbow sparkles. I suppose my corner had been out of the blast radius. Or maybe Divination had something to do with it after all.

It wasn't the most violent or deadly attack spell, but like I said. She didn't know any that weren't ridiculous. I suppose it was as effective as it could have been, anyway.

Lupin and Sirius Black stumbled away from the bed and Ron and the rat (Dad?). Both were now gleaming in the moonlight, like a couple of bizarro wolfe-dog fairy princesses.

The latter of the two coughed and spit up some rainbow. He glared at Tilly, but it didn't seem like he was going to attack her. He just looked really annoyed. I suppose that made sense. Anyone would be annoyed. Take it from a guy whose sister has to put glitter on everything. That stuff doesn't wash out easy.

"What is it with you and this rubbish, kid, huh?"

The other Gryffindors and Ramona were wiping at their eyes and flailing blindly about the room. They were all complaining. "Mati! Why would you do that?! I can't see!"

Even Tilly's eyes were watering from the glitter attack. "Ooh, ah!" She put her wand in her pocket and started rubbing her eyes. "Ow, that backfired! Ow!"

It might have been a comical scene if not for the fact that, you know, someone in the Shack was a murderer.

"Hold still everyone." Lupin held his wand up, but Harry was on guard, even without being armed. Have I mentioned how stupid Gryffindors were? Because they were pretty stupid.

"What are you doing?" Harry snapped.

"I'm just going to clear all this away," Lupin explained.

When all the glitter had disappeared the room was calmer. Relatively speaking. Sirius Black still looked ready to pounce. I thought, had he been in dog form, his fur would be raised and his teeth bared. We made eye contact, and I struggled to stay still. I didn't know what he'd do if I made any sudden movements. He might have run at me again. I remember someone telling me once that if you stare a dog in the eyes he'll think you want to fight. I hoped that wasn't true. Because I did not want Sirius Black to think I wanted to fight him. I wasn't stupid, nor did I have a death wish.

His eyes were hollowed. But for a moment, hidden behind all the homicidal rage I thought I saw something else there. That small bit of him I'd seen earlier. That part that was still a normal human being, with normal feelings. It was something, almost like sympathy. But I couldn't figure out why he wanted to kill my dad so much (the rat, I suppose) if he felt so bad about it.

The staring contest was getting uncomfortable, so I said the first thing that popped into my head. "You're a dog."

"Yes..?" There was an unspoken and..? tagged on to the end, I was sure.

"Do you sniff people's butts?"

Remember when I said I wasn't stupid? Yeah, I take that back. I was a dumb ass.

He blinked. "Do I... What?"

"Because you're a dog, you know."

"We've established that."

"Yeah. So, do you?"

Sirius Black turned to Lupin, who was sniggering into his fist despite the dire situation we were in, what with someone being a murderer and all. Then back to me. There was a second I thought I caught him trying very hard not to smirk, but it could have been a trick of the light. It was pretty dark. "I'm not even sure if I should dignify that with an answer...."

"So...that's a yes, then?"

"I didn't say ─"

"It's alright. There's no shame. We all have our kinks."

"Hold on. It's not ─"

"Wait. Do you get to keep your sense of smell when you're human too? Can you smell everyone's butt right now?"

Matilda, still in her feral state even after her glitter plan backfired, glared at me. "Magnus, shut up."

"Shutting up."

The rest of the Gryffindors, plus Ramona, were all wearing looks like: alright so that conversation just happened...?

Sirius Black fixed his gaze back on Scabbers, and I was positive he was thinking, 'I hate you and your kids so much'. What little laughter there was a moment ago, imagined or not, was completely gone. Now, all that was left in his eyes was pure hatred. The rat (Dad?) clamped tightly under Ron's bitten, scratched, and bleeding hands. Crookshanks stood guard at Ron's feet, just waiting for Scabbers to fall to the floor so he could get his claws on him. It seemed the cat was almost as homicidal as the maniac wizard standing on the other side of the tarnished room. But at least it didn't look like he was going to start tackling anyone again. For the moment anyway. Who knew how long he'd stay calm like this?

"All right, then." Black didn't take his eyes off the rat (Dad?). He was speaking like there hadn't been any conversations about his butt sniffing habits or random glitter attacks. "Tell them whatever you like, Remus, but make it quick, I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for."

A chill ran through my spine at that. You know, I never talked to the Golden Trio. It was because I was afraid I'd get myself into insane situations.

"Seems more logical to clear your name instead, but whatever. Go off, I suppose," I muttered. He didn't hear me. Ron was shouting over me,

"You're nutters, both of you!" His voice was as shaky as his hands. He looked 'round at the rest of us for support, but I would have much rather disappeared into the shadows the way Nina was always doing. Oh, what I would have given to have vanished on the spot at that moment! I know it was counterintuitive to bring up butt sniffing habits of a guy who broke out of prison over the summer or to point out the flaws in his plans, but whatever. I was in distress. Sue me for being a little all over the place.

"I've had enough of this. I'm off."

Despite the insanity of the situation, I had to stop and take a moment to admire his tenacity. He rose from the dusty floor, ignoring the convict not too far away from him, and put all his weight on his good leg. Then, as if just to prove he didn't give a damn, he started doing what I'd been longing to do since entering that stupid Shack and limped for the door.

Lupin aimed his wand at the rat (Dad?). Ramona jumped forward and tugged at his arm with a cry of, "Dad no!" In her defense it did look a bit like he was aiming at the ginger instead.

"You're going to hear me out, Ron," he said quietly, ignoring his daughter's protests. "Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen."

"HE'S NOT PETER, HE'S SCABBERS!" Ron yelled. He was trying to force the rat (Dad?) back into his front pocket, but Scabbers (not Scabbers?) was fighting too hard. Ron swayed and overbalanced. Harry caught him and pushed him back down to the bed. He didn't get back up again.

Harry turned back to Lupin. In my opinion he seemed a bit too calm for the situation. I suppose it helped that his life was threatened on a near yearly basis. He had probably learned early on to expect this sort of rubbish whenever he walked into a room. "There were witnesses who saw the Pettigrews' dad die. A whole street full of them."

I tried not to think too hard about the dream I'd had. The screaming... the explosion...It made me itchy.

"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" Sirius Black was back to angry, homicidal rage. No laughter. Just rage.

"No?" Tilly spoke up. I wished she wouldn't. There was no shutting her up once she got going. I didn't trust her not to do anything stupider than glitter explosions either. "Enlighten us, then. What'd they see, really?" She was glaring at the wanted man and our Defense teacher. Her wand kept going back and forth between them. Had to give her credit. Even though it looked like she'd start bawling any second, her hand was steady, voice sturdy as ever. Maybe a bit harsher than normal, but sturdy nonetheless. I didn't trust myself to speak again. Not the way she was.

"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter," said Lupin. He didn't seem to mind at all that my sister was training her wand at him. But that could have been because he was a fully trained wizard-werewolf person and she, again, was a thirteen year old girl who pretty much only knew how to disarm (oh and make glitter explode in people's faces; she can also do that). "I believed it myself — until I saw the map tonight. Because the Marauder's Map never lies. Peter's alive. Ron's holding him, Harry, Matilda."

The Gryffindors exchanged glances, a silent agreement passing over them. Sirius Black and Lupin were nuts. Ramona looked at me, as if to say, Well, what do we non-Gryffindors think? The truth is: I didn't know. Part of me wanted to believe them, I think, but also, it didn't look as if the rat (Dad?) were changing into a man anytime soon. Was it because he was fearing for his life or was he really just Scabbers the rat?

My sister seemed to be thinking the same thing. She narrowed her eyes at the teacher, wand still pointed at him like she even knew any attack spells that didn't include glitter, sparkles, or rainbows. Her voice was strong and harsh. Not like her usual tone, which was flighty and unfocused. "Prove it."

Lupin opened his mouth to say something, but Hermione cut him off. "But, Professor Lupin, Scabbers can't be the Pettigrews' father. It just can't be true, you know it can't..."

"Why can't it be true?" Lupin was calm. If you didn't know any better, you might have thought we were having a discussion about homework or something.

"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 —"

"There's loads of unregistered animagi, too," Tilly cut in. "Maggie and I see them all the time. They mostly look like stray alley cats."

"People are more likely to feed stray animals than homeless people," I shrugged. I suppose I could speak up, as long as my sister was near by and not doing anything too stupid. As long as we weren't in immediate danger. Everything seemed fine... For the moment at least. In any case, it was a lot easier to cope with everything going on when I was acting like a dumb ass.

"Yeah, unless they think you have rabies," Sirius Black muttered darkly.

"Do you have rabies?"

His gaze flicked back over to me for a second, unamused. "Just thought I'd ask. You know... Just in case."

Hermione ignored us, going on about the unregistered animagi. "But surely the Ministry knows about them too..."

Lupin chuckled, "Actually, you're both right! Most animagi are registered, but there are some that the Ministry never knew of. Three of them used to run around Hogwarts."

The Golden Trio looked stunned, but Matilda, Ramona, and I weren't surprised. Lupin had already told us this much. We just didn't know they were unregistered.

"If you're going to tell them the story, get a move on, Remus." Sirius Black was still watching Scabbers's every desperate move. He was snarling, and I remembered the way he'd looked in my dream. "Like I said, I've waited twelve years, I'm not going to wait much longer. I really don't have the patience."

"All right, but you'll need to help me, Sirius. I only know how it began..."

The door creaked behind him. I jumped. The door was swinging on its hinges. No one was there. Ramona looked around, speaking for the first time in a while, her voice croaking slightly. "Candyman?"

Her father went to the door, stopping its swinging to look out in the hall. "No one there... "

"This place is haunted!" Ron. I didn't see why he was worried about that. Not like we went to school with a bunch of ghosts floating around the halls or anything. Plus, we had bigger issues. Like the fact that someone in the room was a murderer. Git.

Oh, sorry, was that rude? You'll have to excuse me. I was panicking. Because of the murderer, you know.

"It's not." Lupin was still looking at the door, perplexed. "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, apparently trying to regain his train of thought. "That's where all of this starts — with my becoming a werewolf. None of this could have happened if I hadn't been bitten."

Lupin looked sober and tired. And, I thought, a little ill. But he did continue. Ron started to interrupt at one point, but Hermione shushed him. She was watching Lupin, hanging on to every word. "I was a very small boy when I received the bite. My parents tried everything, but in those days 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... I

am able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and wait for the

moon to wane again. Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully fledged monster once a month."

"Wait, so are you good for this month or..?" Ramona started to smack me. Lupin looked like he wasn't sure if I was verbally attacking him or not. "I mean, no offense or anything. I'd rather be bitten by a werewolf than a rabid dog." Now Sirius Black was staring at me like I was a mad man who kicked puppies for fun, so I felt the need to justify my comment. "If you're bitten by a werewolf you can still survive and stuff, but if you get bitten by a dog with rabies then that's it. You're done. If you even start to show signs of rabies you're done for."

"Are you serious?" Sirius Black grumbled.

"No, sir. That's your name. I'm Magnus."

"I ─" I swear it looked like I was making him regret ever breaking out of Azkaban. "You know what? I give up. Remus, keep going. Please. For the love of Merlin."

"It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts," Lupin continued. "Other parents weren't likely to want their children exposed to me. But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic."

He had this look in his eyes, like he owed the Headmaster everything. You heard stories all the time about how great Albus Dumbledore was, how he'd take chances on people and blah, blah, blah. That was part of the reason people thought Dumbledore was such a saint. It was also the reason people thought he was stark raving mad. "He said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn't come to school..."

Lupin sighed, and looked directly at Harry. "I told you, months ago, that the Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. The truth is that it was planted because I came to Hogwarts. This house..." Lupin looked around the old, tarnished, musty, dust filled room. To the moth-eaten bed and shredded mattress. He looked utterly miserable, as if all his worst memories happened here. I remembered the way he skipped over the tarnished step with such ease; I remembered thinking it seemed like he'd done it a million times. And then I realized he probably had.

"The tunnel that leads to it — they were built for my use. Once a month, I was smuggled out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The tree was placed at the tunnel mouth to stop anyone coming across me while I was dangerous."

Everyone was silent, all eyes on the Defense professor. The only other noise in the room was Scabbers's frightened squeaking.

"My transformations in those days were — were terrible. It is very painful to turn into a werewolf. I was separated from humans to bite, so I bit and scratched myself instead. The villagers heard the noise and the screaming and thought they were hearing particularly violent spirits."

It was hard not to look at the scars all over his body. Every single one of them were self-inflicted? The thought made me a little sick. I'd known people before, in Slytherin house, and in foster care, and on the streets, who hurt themselves as a (albeit unhealthy) coping mechanism for mental illnesses or trauma. It was never pretty. The mental image of our teacher as a young boy, werewolf or not, hiding away in here, doing the same... Well, it was hard to digest.

"Dumbledore encouraged the rumor... Even now, when the house has been silent for years, the villagers don't

dare approach it... But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever, I had friends — three great friends." Lupin glanced at the wanted man next to him, a soft smile spreading across his face, as if nothing had changed since their youth. "Sirius Black..." He looked at my sister and I. "Your father, Peter Pettigrew..." And then to Harry. "And your father, Harry — James Potter."

Harry shifted at the mention of his father.

"Now, my three friends could hardly fail to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them my mother was ill, and that I had to go home to see her... I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was. But of course, they, like you, Hermione, worked out the truth... And they didn't desert me at all. Instead, they did something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life. They became Animagi."

Lupin shared a look with Sirius Black. The latter almost looked normal again. Almost. Until his eyes landed on the rat (Dad?) again. It seemed the walk down memory lane was only making him more angry.

"My dad too?" asked Harry. I forgot that he wasn't in the room when Lupin had told us about our dads helping make the map.

"Yes, indeed," said Lupin. He didn't seem put out at all at having to explain it all again. This time he added more detail. "It took them the best part of three years to work out how to do it. Your father and Sirius here were the

cleverest students in the school, and lucky they were, because the Animagus transformation can go horribly wrong — one reason the Ministry keeps a close watch on those attempting to do it. Peter needed all the help he could get from James and Sirius. Finally, in our fifth year, they managed it. They could each turn into a different animal at will."

"But how did that help you?" asked Hermione.

"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."

I had to marvel at the amount of loyalty the three or them must have had. Looking between the teacher and his old friend and then the rat (Dad?), I wondered what had changed. How could you go from becoming an animagus to keep your lonliest friend company to murdering at least one of them?

"Splendid." That was Tilly. The gleam in her eyes was less feral, but she still seemed pissed off. Still ready to fight to the death. "Now, if you please, get to the part that is relevant to me?"

"Yeah. Hurry up, Remus!" Sirius Black was still watching Scabbers with a kind of hunger in his eyes. I thought he'd just turn into a dog and swallow the rat (Dad?) in one gulp any second.

This was so dumb.

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there..." Lupin gestured for everyone to be patient, which only seemed to make Sirius Black and Tilly all the more impatient.

I wanted to disappear so bad.

"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 started to ask, 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?"

I thought she had a fair point, but Ramona started glaring at her again, clearly thinking she was out of line. I decided it was safest not to touch that one.

"A thought that still haunts me," said Lupin heavily. "And there were near misses, many of them. We laughed about them afterwards. We were young, thoughtless — carried away with our own cleverness."

I thought I heard someone make a noise at this, but no one seemed to have moved to open their mouths. There was another bite of cold through the air. I'd been listening so closely, I'd almost forgotten about it. Still, I didn't think much of it. I figured it was nerves or the fact that Shack was drafty because of how old it was. Or maybe I was imagining things because of the ghost rumors. Even if they had just been debunked. I tried my best to ignore it, but now that I was feeling it again it was impossible. At least until I was distracted again.

"I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore's trust, of

course..." Lupin acted as if he hadn't noticed either the noise or felt the cold. "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 hardened, and there was self-disgust in his voice. "All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus, but I didn't do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly."

"Relatable," Tilly nodded. "Continue."

"It would have meant admitting that I'd betrayed his trust while I was at school, admitting that I'd led others along with me... and 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. 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?" For the first time in several minutes, Sirius Black took his eyes off the rat (Dad?). He looked at his old friend and snarled worse than before. "What's Snape got to do with it?"

"He's here, Sirius," said Lupin. He sighed heavily, like he knew exactly what was going on in the other man's mind.

In the same instance, Tilly jolted. "He's here," she muttered. Before I could even think to ask what she was talking about, Lupin was talking again.

"He's teaching here as well." Then, he looked up at us students. "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 —"

I remembered Professor Snape mentioning that the night I nicked the Map from Lupin. Something about Harry's dad getting cold feet and saving him. It kind of seemed like a pretty good reason to hold a grudge, if you asked me, but I didn't dare say that out loud in a room mostly filled with Gryffindors that hated my Head of House's guts. I couldn't look like I cared too much. I didn't fancy being attacked.

Sirius Black made a derisive noise. "It served him right. 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 us. I noticed he didn't respond to Sirius Black's comment. It was hard to tell if he agreed with him or not, but I got the idea he would have offed himself from the guilt if anything had happened.

"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..."

Right. Because somehow or another everything was always about Quidditch.

Tilly hummed. "Sounds to me like you were all a bit fruity. Big deal."

"Tilly!" I scolded.

"What?" She shrugged, uncaring, as Sirius Black and Lupin gap at her in shock and horror respectively. "Tell me it doesn't sound like they all have man crushes. It's fruity. You're fruity. All of you." Her eyes flickered over to one corner of the room. The odd thing was: there was nothing there.

"But how's that relevant to my life, again?"

"Erm... Right. Snape had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me toward the Whomping Willow to transform." Lupin took a moment to collect himself after Tilly's comment. He seemed to think the best thing was to move story time along. Away from his potential fruitiness. "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, Harry, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life..."

Maybe I didn't understand how pranks were supposed to work, but this one didn't seem very good. It just sounded cruel to all parties involved.

"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." You know what they say: speak of the devil and he will come. I heard the cold, sneer of our potions master before I saw him. Ramona yelped in surprise. Then, appearing out of nowhere, there he was: Professor Snape.