"If you want to kill Harry and Max, then you'll have to kill us, too!" Hermione protested, standing in front of us.

"No, only one will die tonight," he said.

"Then it'll be you!" Harry and I yelled at the same time, pinning Sirius to the ground and pointing our wands in his face.

But Sirius found this funny. "Are you two going to really kill me?"

Suddenly, Lupin barged in and we turned around. "Expelliarmus!" he yelled and our wands flew out of our hands. He motioned us to get out of the way and we did. He moved closer to Sirius slowly, pointing his wand at him. Hermione grabbed us by the arms so we would stay away from Sirius.

"Well, well, Sirius, looking rather ragged, aren't we? Finally the flesh reflects the madness within."

"Well, you'd know all about the madness within, wouldn't you, Remus?" Sirius pointed out.

After a moment of silence, Lupin helped him up and hugged him? What the hell? Was this some kind of joke? This man was a murderer for crying out loud! And Lupin was his friend? Was I missing something here? The others looked confused as well, except for Hermione. She was furious, it looked like.

"I found him!"

"I know, Sirius."

"It's him!"

"I understand."

"Let's kill him!"

"NO! I trusted you! And all this time, you've been his friend!" Hermione shouted. Then, she pointed at Lupin. "He's a werewolf! That's why he's been missing classes!"

Lupin gave her a questioning look. "How long have you known?"

"Since Professor Snape set the essay."

"Well, well, well, Hermione, you really are the brightest witch of your age I've ever met," he told her.

"Enough talk, Remus! Come on, let's kill him!" Sirius cut in.

"Wait--"

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

Lupin sighed and looked at him for a minute. Then, he looked at us. Harry and I were beyond pissed. We held it in for so long that in about thirty seconds we were about to burst. Ron was so scared, I thought he was about to cry, and Hermione had a worried look on her face. As if she didn't know what he was gonna do next. Or she didn't want to die.

Lupin gave him his wand, not taking our eyes off of us. Finally, he turned back to Sirius.

"Very well, kill him. But wait one more minute, Harry and Max have the right to know why."

"We know why," I said. "You betrayed our parents. You're the reason they're dead!"

"No, Max, it wasn't him. Somebody did betray your parents, but it was somebody who until quite recently, I believed to be dead!" Lupin said.

"Who was it, then?!" Harry shouted.

"Peter Pettigrew!" Sirius yelled. "He's in this room right now! COME OUT, COME OUT, PETER! COME OUT, COME OUT, AND PLAYYY!"

"Expelliarmus!" It was Snape who intervened. Now we were all screwed for sure. "Vengeance is sweet, how I hoped I would be the one to catch you," Snape said, pointing his wand at Sirius, then he pointed it at Lupin when he tried to stop him. "I told Dumbledore you were helping an old friend into the castle and now here's the proof!"

"Brilliant, Snape. Once again, you put your keen mind to the task and come to the wrong conclusion. Now if you'll excuse us, Remus and I have some business to attend to!" Sirius said.

Snape put his wand against his neck. "Give me a reason. I beg you."

"Severus, don't be a fool!"

"He can't help himself. It's a habit by now!"

"Sirius, be quiet!"

"Be quiet yourself, Remus!"

"Oh, listen to you two, quarreling like an old married couple."

"Why don't you run along and play with your chemistry set!"

Snape didn't find this funny. "I could do it, you know. But why deny the Dementors? They're so longing to see you. Do I detect a flicker of fear? Oh, yes. A Dementor's Kiss. One can only imagine what that must be like. It's said to be nearly unbearable to witness, but I'll do my best."

"On the count of three," Harry whispered to me as he grabbed Hermione's wand out of her back pocket.

"One..." I whispered.

"Severus, please," Lupin begged.

"Two..."

"After you," Snape demanded. Then, he looked at us and motioned us to leave first. Harry pointed Hermione's wand at Sirius, which made him turn away and I was getting ready to grab our wands.

"Three!"

Harry then pointed the wand at Snape. "Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled and knocked him unconscious and I grabbed our wands and stood by Harry as we pointed them at Lupin and Sirius.

"Harry! What did you just do?!" Ron yelled.

"You attacked a teacher!" Hermione shouted.

But we ignored them. "Tell us about Peter Pettigrew," he demanded.

"He was at school with us. We thought he was our friend," Lupin spoke up.

"No. Pettigrew's dead. You killed him!" I said, pointing my wand at Sirius.

Lupin stepped in front of him and intervened. "No, he didn't, I thought so, too, until you two mentioned seeing Pettigrew on the map!"

"The map was lying, then," I replied.

"Oh, now you're saying it was lying?! Now you're agreeing with me?!" Harry shouted at me.

"Not now, Harry!" I shouted back.

"The map never lies," Sirius protested. "Pettigrew's alive! And he's right there!" He pointed at Ron.

"Me?! He's mental!" Ron said.

"Not you! Your rat!" Sirius corrected.

"Scabbers has been in my family for--"

"Twelve years? Curiously long life for a common garden rat! He's missing a toe, isn't he?"

"So what?!" Ron yelled back.

"All they could find of Pettigrew was his--"

"Finger!" Sirius finished for me. But that dirty coward cut it off so everyone would think he was dead! And then he transformed into a rat!"

"Show us," I demanded.

He looked at us and tried to take the rat from Ron.

"Give it to him, Ron!" Harry said.

"What are you trying to do to him?" Ron asked. Sirius finally got the rat and had him hanging by his fur. Hermione pulled Ron back so he wouldn't go after him.

"Scabbers! Leave him alone! Get off him! What are you doing?!"

After he let go of the rat, he started running everywhere. Sirius and Lupin were chasing after him like when little kids were trying to catch a frog. The rat ran straight to the hole, but by then he had already transformed into a human, with his head on one side of the wall and his rear on the other.

Sirius and Lupin pulled him out and Peter looked at the two of them in awe. "Remus! Sirius! My old friends!" He attempted to escape by running right between them, but the two stopped him and watched him look around and then he looked right at us.

We were both shocked at the man in front of us. We were even more shocked when he saw us and started coming over to us.

"Harry! Max! Look at you two! You two look so much like your father, like James! We were the best of friends!"

"How dare you speak to Harry and Max!" Sirius intervened. Peter ran behind the piano with Lupin and Sirius after him. "How dare you talk about James in front of them!"

"You sold James and Lily to Voldemort, didn't you?!" Lupin asked.

"I didn't mean to!" Peter whimpered. "The Dark Lord, you have no idea the weapons he possesses! Ask yourself, Sirius! What would you have done, Sirius? What would you have done?"

"I would've died! I would've died, rather than betray my friends!"

Peter crawled under the piano while Sirius was still shouting at him. I ran for the door, but I was stopped by Peter's dirty hands on me.

He started whispering in my ear. "Max! James wouldn't have wanted me killed! Your dad would have spared me! He would've shown me mercy!" Lupin and Sirius pulled him away from me and cornered him.

"Should've realized if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Together!" Sirius exclaimed.

"No!" I shouted.

Lupin didn't look at me but he sighed. "Max, this man--"

"I know what he is," I interrupted him. "But we'll take him to the castle."

Peter looked like he was about to cry tears of joy. "Bless you, girl. Bless you!" He got down to his knees and tried to grab me.

"Get off me!" I demanded. "We're taking you to the castle. After that the Dementors can have you."

Peter started whimpering and shaking with fear after my last sentence.

We all started walking back up to the castle. Due to Sirius biting Ron's leg and dragging it all the way to the Shrieking Shack, he couldn't walk now and we were sure it was broken. Harry and Sirius both were helping him while he hopped on one foot, Hermione and I were right behind them and Lupin was behind us with Peter in his grasp, walking slowly. Snape was still in the Shrieking Shack, but we didn't bother getting him.

The Whomping Willow was calm and still once we got out. Harry helped Ron onto a rock to rest his leg and all four of us watched Sirius walking towards the castle and stopping in place.

"You two better go," Ron told me and my brother.

"No, don't worry, it's fine. We'll stay," Harry said.

Hermione shook her head at us. "You two go. I'll stay," she insisted, motioning us towards Sirius. We headed over there while Ron and Hermione were talking about his leg.

We walked over to see Sirius and stood beside him on each side. Sirius was staring at the castle in awe and in deep thought. The lights shining at the castle were reflecting off his eyes, where I saw a little bit of life in him. I could see his soul and it was nothing I thought it would be. He wasn't a murderer or a betrayer, he was our godfather, someone who would protect us and take care of us. He would be there through thick and thin, even die for us. Sirius was the only family we had left.

After a moment of looking at the castle, he finally spoke up. "It's beautiful, isn't it? I'll never forget the first time I walked through those doors. It'll be nice to do it again as a free man." There was a pause after his last sentence. Then he said something to me. "That was a noble thing you did back there. He doesn't deserve it."

"Well, I don't think our dad would have wanted his two best friends to become killers," I told him.

Sirius then started talking to the both of us again. "I don't know if you know, but when you two were born, James and Lily made me your godfather."

"We know," we both said at the same time.

Sirius chuckled at this. Then he continued, "I can understand if you choose to stay with your aunt and uncle, but if you guys ever wanted a different home..."

"What? Come and live with you?" Harry asked.

"It's just a thought. I can understand if you don't want to."

If only you knew, Sirius. If only you knew.

"HARRY! MAX!"

The three of us turned around quickly and realized it was Hermione who screamed our names. We looked at her and she pointed at the full moon that was shining bright.

Lupin turned and saw the moon. His mouth dropped wide open and he didn't move a muscle.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Ohh ma gawwsh! Some shit is about to happen!

Yeah sorry for the long wait! I've been working on this chapter for quite some time, and I just got around to it. I want this story to be finished by May 17, so hopefully I'll have enough time to finish it by then.

But yeah again sorry for keeping you guys waiting! I'm just ready for the sequel, and I'm over halfway done with this one! It's getting intense y'all! I'm so excited!

And this is dedicated to @XMrsStephenKingX, because she's been asking me like a kabillion times to write this chapter, and I kept on procrastinating about doing it. But now I have it. Here ya go girr!

Okay well vote, comment...

I'll have the next chapter posted soon. :)

-A