. . .

It had never happened to her before, Tilly's was stunned into silence. The four students stood, transfixed with horror under the Invisibility Cloak. The very last rays of the setting sun were casting a bloody light over the long-shadowed grounds. Then, behind them, they heard a wild howling.

"Hagrid," Harry muttered. Without thinking what he was doing, he made to turn back, but Matilda caught his arm.

"Harry, we can't," said Tilly, even though she too had thought to turn back and run to Hagrid's place. "Hagrid will get into worse trouble if it was known that he knew we were out here and we've been to see him."

Hermione's breathing became shallow and uneven.

"How — could — they?" she choked. "How could they?"

"This was most likely one of the easier decisions for the Ministry to make," answered Tilly, her tone had no trace of emotion to it. "They've allowed themselves to become conditioned to doing stuff like executions, especially when they've been paid."

"Come on," said Ron, whose teeth seemed to be chattering.

They set off back toward the castle, walking slowly to keep themselves hidden under the cloak. The light was fading fast now. By the time they reached the open ground, darkness was settling like a spell around them.

"Scabbers, keep still," Ron hissed, clamping his hand over his chest. The rat was wriggling madly. Ron came to a sudden halt, trying to force Scabbers deeper into his pocket. "What's the matter with you, you stupid rat? Stay still — OUCH! He bit me!"

"Ron you've got to let the rat go," said Tilly as she was slowly becoming annoyed with having to constantly stop so that Ron could fight with Scabbers. "It looks as if Hermione is about to have an asthma attack and Fudge will be coming through any moment!"

"He won't — stay — put —"

Scabbers was plainly terrified. He was writhing with all his might, trying to break free of Ron's grip.

Tilly began to wonder what had become of Scabbers, she never remembered him acting that way with Ron ever before. She turned her head away from the fussing Ron and looked into what looked like an endless sea of trees, and that's when she noticed — slinking toward them, his body low to the ground, wide yellow eyes glinting in the darkness — Crookshanks. Whether he was following them or the sound of the shrieking rat, the cat was there with them now.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione moaned. "No, go away, Crookshanks! Go away!"

But the cat was getting nearer—

"Scabbers — NO!"

Too late — the rat had slipped between Ron's clutching fingers, hit the ground, and scampered away. In one bound, Crookshanks sprang after him, and before anyone was able to stop him, Ron had thrown the Invisibility Cloak off himself and pelted away into the darkness.

"Ron!" Matilda shouted after him.

Before she could stop herself, Tilly ran out from underneath the Cloak after Ron. As she ran off Harry and Hermione pleaded with her to come back, but she ignored them, continuing to run farther into the darkness. A few feet in front of her, Tilly could hear Ron's feet thundering along and his shouted threats to Crookshanks.

"Get away from him — get away — Scabbers, come here —"

There was a loud thud.

"Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat —"

Finally, running up on him Tilly had almost fallen overtop of Ron; she had skidded to a halt just in time to stop beside him. Harry and Hermione came into view only seconds after Matilda, without the Invisibility Cloak hiding them. Ron was sprawled out on the ground, but Scabbers was back in his pocket; he had both hands held tight over the quivering lump.

"Ron, — you best — get back under — the Cloak — NOW!" Tilly panted angrily if she had known that she would be running through the forest she'd of worn different shoes. "I've about had it with chasing after you!"

But before they could cover themselves again, before they could even catch their breath, they heard the soft pounding of gigantic paws. . . Something was bounding toward them, quiet as a shadow — an enormous, pale-eyed, jet-black dog.

Tilly reached back behind her for her wand, but too late — the dog had made an enormous leap and the front paws hit Harry on the chest; he kneeled over backward in a whirl of hair.

The dog rolled off him. In a daze and clutching his ribcage, Harry tried to stand up; the dog was growling as it skidded around for a new attack.

Ron was on his feet. As the dog sprang back toward them, he pushed Harry aside; the dog's jaw fastened instead around Ron's outstretched arm. Tilly pulled out her wand, but it was too risky to throw any spells, she could hit both the dog, and Ron, and she wasn't about to allow herself to take that risk. The dog began dragging Ron away as easily as though he were a rag doll —"

Then, out of nowhere, something hit Harry so hard across the face he was knocked off his feet again. Hermione shrieked with pain and fell too.

"Lumos!" said Tilly.

She offered them some light. This whole time they have been standing in the dark.

"It's just the Whomping Willow," said Tilly, mostly to Hermione so she'd stop with the screaming. "It's trying to stop us from getting any nearer."

And there, at the base of the trunk, was the dog, dragging Ron backward into a large gap in the roots — Ron was fighting furiously, but his head and torso were slipping out of sight —

"Ron!" Harry shouted, trying to follow, but a heavy branch whipped lethally through the air and he was forced backward again.

All they could see now was one of Ron's legs, which he had hooked around a root in an effort to stop the dog from pulling him farther underground — but a horrible crack cut the air like a gunshot; Ron's leg had broken, and a moment later, his foot vanished from sight.

"Harry — we've got to go for help —" Hermione gasped; she was bleeding too; the Willow had cut her across the shoulder.

"You've got to be joking!" said Matilda, in more of a panic than she had ever been. "He's likely to be dead and chewed up by the time someone gets to him!"

Hemione and Tilly turned to Harry, they were waiting for him to choose who was right.

"Hermione, Tilly's right," said Harry, and Tilly let out a sigh of relief. Even if Harry hadn't agreed with her though, she would have just went on to find Ron herself. "That thing's big enough to eat him; we haven't got time!"

"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, looking at Hermione.

Harry began darting here and there, trying to find a way through the vicious, swishing branches, but he couldn't get an inch nearer to the tree roots without being in a range of the tree's blows.

"Harry, I don't think it's going to work," said Matilda, finally stopping him from running around the tree. "We've got to find another way in."

"Oh, help, help," Hermione whispered frantically, dancing uncertainly on the spot, "please. . ."

Crookshanks darted forward. He slithered between the battering branches like a snake and place his front paws upon a knot on the trunk.

Abruptly, as though the tree had been turned to marble, it stopped moving. Not a leaf twitched or shook.

"The cat's done it!" said Tilly, turning back to face Harry and Hermione, hoping they too seen what the cat did for them. "Follow Crookshanks."

"Crookshanks!" Hermione whispered uncertainly. She now grasped Harry's arm. "How did he know?"

"He's friends with that dog," said Harry grimly. "I've seen them together. Come on — and Tilly, keep your wand out."

"Isn't this dangerous?" asked Hermione still whining.

"I mean, sure it is," said Tilly as they began crawling under the branches, they made sure to stay as close to the ground as they could. Tilly was already becoming aggravated with the dirt and the mud staining her clothes. "But hey, at least we aren't being eaten alive by a rabid dog!"

They covered the distance to the trunk in seconds, but before they had reached the gap in the roots, Crookshanks had slid into it with a flick of his bottlebrush tail. Harry went next, then Tilly; she crawled forward, headfirst, and slid down an earthy slope to the bottom of a very low tunnel. Harry was already waiting for her, his wand had been lit now, too. Seconds later, Hermione slithered down behind them.

"Well, where's Ron?" Hermione whispered in a terrified voice.

"This way," said Harry, setting off, bent-backed, after Crookshanks.

"Harry, we've seen this before," said Matilda, as she looked around the tunnel, taking in her surroundings. "It's on the Marauder's map, is it not?"

Tilly had seen the tunnel located on the map when she had excitedly taken it from Harry's hands when he'd first gotten it from Fred and George. It was the tunnel under the Whomping Willow, but she never seen to where it had led to.

"Where does the tunnel come out?" Hermione asked breathlessly from behind Matilda, who followed behind Harry.

"I don't know. . . Fred and George said no one's ever gotten into it. . . It goes off the edge of the map, but it looked like it was heading for Hogsmeade. . ."

"The edge of Hogsmeade?" whispered Tilly, thinking aloud. "It could be taking us to the Shrieking Shack, it's the only building that's isolated enough."

It wasn't hard for Matilda to have come up with the idea about the tunnel leading them to the Shrieking Shack. As soon as Harry mentioned that it goes off the edge of the map, she knew there was only one good option. They already had a tunnel going to Hogsmeade, this one would lead somewhere else, and even though the shack is as isolated as it is, it's still close enough to be considered in the Hogsmeade area.

They moved as fast as they could, bent almost double; ahead of them, Crookshank's tail bobbed in and out of view. On and on went the passage; it was longer than the one to Honeydukes. All Tilly could think about was Ron and hoping that the enormous dog hadn't hurt him anymore than it already had. She was drawing breaths in sharp, painful gasps, running at a crouch.

And then the tunnel began to rise; moments later it was twisted, and Crookshanks had gone. Instead, Tilly could make out a patch of dim light through a small opening, Harry had seen it too. 

He and Hermione paused, gasping for a breath, but Tilly went ahead. She raised her wand to see what lay beyond. Harry and Hermione began following behind her quietly.

It was a room, a very disordered, dusty room. Paper was peeling from the walls; there were stains all over the floor; every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows were all boarded up.

Tilly glanced back at Harry and Hermione. Hermione looked very frightened, but Harry nodded, ready to go on.

Tilly pulled herself out of the hole, staring around. The room was deserted, but a door to the right stood open, leading to a shadowy hallway.

"You two ever seen any horror films?" asked Tilly, turning around to face them. "Because if we were in one, this right here would be the part where we would be killed. We'll likely hear a noise from somewhere and decide to go and investigate, and that'll be end scene for us."

Tilly's talk about horror movies and being murdered was not helping Hermione's nerves in the slightest. Hermione had suddenly tightly grabbed onto Harry's arm again. Her wide eyes were travelling around the boarded windows.

"I was right by the way. Not that it's any shock," said Tilly, turning back to face the front of the room. "We're definitely in the Shrieking Shack."

Harry looked around. His eyes fell on the wooden chair near them. Large chunks had been torn out of it; one of the legs had been ripped off entirely.

"Ghosts didn't do that," he said slowly.

At that moment, there was a creak overhead. Something had moved upstairs. The three of them looked up at the ceiling then to each other, wondering if they should follow the sound.

Quietly as they could, they crept out into the hall and up the crumbling staircase. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust except the floor, where a wide shiny stripe had been made by something being dragged upstairs.

They reached the dark landing.

"Nox," they whispered together, and the lights at the end of their wands went out. Only one door was open. As they crept toward it, they heard movement from behind it; a low moan, and then a deep, loud purring. They exchanged a last look, a last nod.

Wand held tightly before him, Harry kicked the door wide open.

On a magnificent four-poster bed with dusty hangings lay Crookshanks, purring loudly at the sight of them. On the floor beside him, clutching his leg, which stuck out at a strange angle, was Ron.

Relief coursed through Tilly's small body and not a second had passed before she darted across the dusty room to him.

"Ron!"

Matilda smiled widely as she dropped to the dusty ground beside of Ron and happily pulled him into a tight embrace, though she was careful not to hurt his bleeding arm and his broken leg. She let out a sigh of relief as he slowly put an arm around her back. Her worst fear was coming here and finding him dead, or not finding him at all. Tilly had never felt as much relief in her short life as much as when she seen that Ron was alive.

"Ron — are you okay?" asked Harry, after Tilly had finally pulled away from the hug. "Where's the dog?"

"Not a dog," Ron moaned. His teeth were gritted with pain. "Harry, it's a trap —"

"What —"

She could see it in his eyes, as soon as the words had left Ron's mouth, Matilda knew.

"It's Sirius Black," said Tilly, quickly standing from the ground and looking to Harry with wide eyes. "He's the dog. . . he's an Animagus. . ."

Ron was staring over Harry's shoulder. Harry wheeled around and Tilly followed. With a snap, the man in the shadows closed the door behind them. A mass of filthy, matted hair hung to his elbows. If eyes hadn't been shining out of the deep, dark sockets, he might have been a corpse. The waxy skin was stretched so tightly over the bones of his face, it looked like a skull. His yellow teeth were bared in a grin. This was Sirius Black.

"Expelliarmus!" he croaked, pointing Ron's wand at them. Harry's and Hermione's wands shot out of their hands, high in the air, and Black caught them. But, Tilly's wand was still safely tucked into the hem of her skirt, she had tucked it away before she went to hug Ron, and there was no chance that she was going to let Sirius Black know that she had a wand by pulling it out on him. Matilda wanted to see how this was going to play out first, so she needed to wait a little longer. He took a step closer. His eyes were fixed on Harry.

Tilly looked at the deteriorating man before her with a sense of curiosity, she had a feeling in the depths of her stomach that she'd seen him somewhere before, and she couldn't shake it. Of course, she's seen him in the WANTED photos plastered everywhere at Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, but this sense of familiarity was different than only ever knowing a person by seeing a picture of them. Tilly felt like she had known Sirius Black in the past, not well, but just enough to have a vague sense of familiarization.

"I thought you'd come for your friend," he said hoarsely. His voice sounded as though he had long lost the habit of using it. "Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful. . . it will make everything much easier."

It didn't sound as if Sirius was taunting Harry about his father, to Tilly, the broken down man sounded almost genuine and truthful. But something erupted in Harry, leaving no place for fear, he wanted not to attack Sirius Black, but to kill him. Without knowing what he was doing, he started forward, but there was a sudden movement on either side of him and two pairs of hands grabbed him and held him back. . . "No, Harry!" Hermione gasped in a petrified whisper; Ron however, spoke to Black.

"If you want to kill harry, you'll have to kill us too!" he said fiercely, though the effort of standing upright was draining him of still more color, and he swayed slightly as he spoke.

Tilly's eyes widened as she looked back to him in shock, she never once agreed to die for Harry. She still had her wand on her if things took a turn for the worst.

"Uhm, speak for yourself, please," said Tilly, still looking at Ron with her wide blue eyes. "I've not got to die for Harry Potter scheduled in my calendar for today. Besides, I have tea time with Dumbledore tomorrow, it would have been today, if not for the last of the exams."

Matilda turned back to facing Sirius Black with a now annoyed expression and she watched as something seemed to have flickered in his shadowed eyes.

"Lie down," he said quietly to Ron. "You will damage that leg even more.

"Did you hear me?" Ron said weakly, though he was clinging painfully to Harry to stay upright. "You'll have to kill all four of us!"

Tilly didn't say anything to Ron this time, she only stood there looking to Black, mouthing the words 'not me'.

"There'll only be one murder here tonight," said Black, and his grin widened.

"Really?" asked Tilly, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. "You sound pretty confident about that. And I'm not sure with your lack of nourishment and muscle tone if you'll be able to do very much. . ." 

Sirius Black said nothing back to Matilda, though she could see a glint of what looked to be amusement quickly cross through his face. It was masked just as quickly as quickly as it had come.

Matilda found herself a little confused because she wondered, how could Sirius Black only plan to kill Harry when Hemione and Ron had basically told him that they're set to die for him. Sirius would have to knock all of them out, rather quickly, just to have a chance to only kill Harry. Tilly also found herself confused about the fact that if Sirius only planned to kill Harry, why did he drag Ron here and not just Harry himself, he certainly had the chance to do so. Tilly knew that either Sirius Black is very confident in the fact that no one will step in the way of him killing Harry, or. . . Harry was never the one he planned on killing.

"Why's that?" Harry spat, trying to wrench himself free of Ron and Hermione. "Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those Muggles to get at Pettigrew. . . What's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?"

Tilly was impressed with the way Harry spoke to Sirius, he showed no signs of fear, only anger and hatred. She wondered why he never tried speaking to Malfoy like this, it'd certainly scare his designer socks off. Also, according to Tilly, Sirius Black should be a little bit afraid of Harry Potter right now, because she honestly believed that with how weak and frail he looked to be right now, Harry could take him. The only advantage Black had was the wands, other than that, he looked to already have one foot in the grave.

"Harry!" Hermione whimpered. "Be quiet!"

"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry roared, and with a huge effort he broke free of Hermione's and Ron's restraint and lunged forward. Tilly didn't bother with trying to stop him. She had to see if Sirius retaliated and if he did, Tilly had a hand behind her back, holding onto her wand, which was still safely tucked away. She was sure that she was right though. Sirius Black was not going to kill Harry.

Perhaps it was the shock of Harry doing something so stupid, but Black didn't raise the wands. One of Harry's hands fastened over his wasted wrist, forcing the wand tips away, but Black wasn't trying to point them at him; the knuckles of Harry's other hand collided with the side of Black's head and they fell, backward into the wall —

Hermione was screaming, Ron was yelling, and Tilly stood, watching the scene unfold before her; there was a blinding flash as the wands in Black's hands sent a jar of sparks into the air that missed Harry's face by inches; Harry felt the shrunken arm under his fingers twisting madly, but he clung on, his other hand punching every part of Black it could find.

But Black's free hand had found Harry's throat —

"No," he hissed, "I've waited too long —"

Hermione sprinted past Matilda and Ron tailed closely behind her, but Tilly was able to easily stop him by only grabbing at his sleeve; Ron's face was red with anger and she knew that the only reason that stopping him seemed so easy was because he was already weakened. He looked at Matilda, flabbergasted that she hadn't tried to do anything to help Harry.

"Why aren't you doing anything?" asked Ron though gritted teeth. "Harry needs us!"

"Ron, I promise you, I've got a plan," said Tilly calmly, and for no other reason than the fact that she was Matilda Winters, Ron believed she had a plan. "But you've got to stay put, you're hurt and getting involved will only make things worse for you. I can't help Harry if I'm too busy worrying about you."

Even though he didn't want to, Ron listened to Matilda, he was incredibly confused though. When he was safely sat back down Tilly turned back to the wrestling match that had been taking place behind her this entire time. She rolled her eyes, this type of barbarism was in no way going to help to prove her theory.

"Flipendo!"

A bright blue light and a loud bang emitted from the end of Matilda's wand that she now held, pointing it at the three wrestlers in the corner. It knocked all of them back, causing Black to let go of the wands, sending them down the dirty floor with a faint clatter.

Harry fought free of the tangle of bodies and saw his own wand rolling across the floor; he threw himself toward it, but—

"Argh!"

Crookshanks had joined the fray; both sets of front claws had sunk themselves deep into Harry's arm; Harry threw him off, but Crookshanks now darted toward Harry's wand.

"NO YOU DON'T!" roared Harry, and he aimed a kick at Crookshanks that made the leap aside, spitting; Harry snatched up his wand and turned.

"Get out of the way!" he shouted at Hermione.

She didn't need telling twice. Hermione, gasping for breath, her lip bleeding, scrambled aside, snatching up her and Ron's wands. She now stood beside of Tilly.

Black was sprawled at the bottom of the wall. His thin chest rose and fell rapidly as he watched Harry walking slowly nearer, his wand pointing straight at Black's heart. This was the first time Tilly had seen Harry ready to kill someone, and so it made her wonder if Harry even knew the right spells to use when aiming to take someone's life. Did he know the Killing Curse or was he going to be using Expelliarmus?"

"Going to kill me, Harry?" he whispered.

Harry stopped right above him, his wand still pointing at Black's chest, looking down at him. A livid bruise was rising around Black's left eye and his nose was bleeding.

"You killed my parents," said Harry, his voice shaking slightly, but his wand hand was quite steady.

Black stared up at him out of those sunken eyes.

"I don't deny it," he said very quietly. "But if you knew the whole story."

Tilly furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, watching as Sirius Black was going to allow Harry to kill him. Hadn't he brought Harry here to kill him?

"The whole story?" Harry repeated. "You sold them to Voldemort. That's all I need to know."

Tilly began to chew on her thumbnail, she wanted very badly for Harry to allow Sirius Black to tell him the entire story. She has only heard one side of the story, and the people who told it weren't even proper witnesses, only assumptions could be made with the story she and Harry heard at The Three Broomsticks. Perhaps, if Tilly heard Sirius' own version of the story she'd be able to figure out the truth, even if he did lie about it, she could look in the grey areas. But, Matilda didn't say anything. This was Harry's battle, Sirius had not been accused of murdering her parents, and so she couldn't imagine the mix of emotions that Harry was likely feeling. She could only assume that if Sirius had been accused of the killings of her own mum and dad, she too would want to kill him herself as well.

"You've got to listen to me," Black said, and there was a note of urgency in his voice now. "You'll regret it if you don't. . . You don't understand. . ."

Still biting onto the nail of her thumb Tilly had started to bounce on her toes, wanting more than anything to intervene, hoping that Harry would listen. Though, she still did nothing.

"I understand a lot better than you think," said Harry, and his voice shook more than ever. "You never heard her, did you? My mum. . . trying to stop Voldemort from killing me. . . and you did that. . . you did it. . ."

Before either of them could say another word, something ginger streaked past Harry; Crookshanks leapt onto Black's chest and settled himself there, right over Black's heart. Black blinked and looked down at the cat.

"Does your cat have a bloody suicide wish?" asked Matilda, turning to Hermione, but she only let out a dry sob as she watched Harry's grip tighten on his wand.

Harry raised the wand and Matilda debated on stopping him. Not only did she have a lingering suspicion that perhaps Sirius Black may be more innocent than they have been told to believe, but she also knew that Harry was not ready to take someone's life. It would eat at him every day.

The seconds lengthened. And still Harry stood frozen there, wand poised, Black staring up at him, Crookshanks on his chest. Ron's ragged breathing came from near the bed, Hermione was quite silent; Matilda still chewed her nails as she watched with wide eyes.

And then a new sound—

Muffled footsteps were echoing up through the floor — someone was moving downstairs.

"WE'RE UP HERE!" Hermione screamed suddenly, so loudly that Matilda had to cover her ears. "WE'RE UP HERE — SIRIUS BLACK — QUICK!"

Black made a startled movement that almost dislodged Crookshanks; Harry gripped his wand convulsively — footsteps were thundering up the stairs and Harry still hadn't done anything.

The door of the room burst open in a shower of red sparks and Tilly watched as Professor Lupin came hurtling into the room, his face bloodless, his wand raised and ready. His eyes flickered over Ron, lying on the floor, over Hermione, cowering next to the door, over Matilda, standing as though she was unaffected by everything happening before her, to Harry, standing there with his wand covering Black, and then to Black himself, crumpled and bleeding at Harry's feet.

"Epelliarmus!" Lupin shouted

Harry's wand flew once more out of his hand; so did the two Hermione was holding. Lupin caught them all deftly, then moved into the room, staring at Black, who still had Crookshanks lying protectively across his chest.

Matilda stood there, an almost amused smile playing at her face. She wondered how she had missed this obvious connection. It had been in front of her face the entire year.

Then Lupin spoke, in a very tense voice.

"Where is he, Sirius?"

Matilda began to laugh as she looked at Lupin. She had finally put together why they were here and frankly, still alive.

"Oh my god," she continued to laugh while shaking her head. Those around her gave her a look of pure confusion. "You've got to be kidding me!"

She then gestured for Lupin and Black to continue, wanting to hear what had to be said. Black's face was quite expressionless. For a few seconds, he didn't move at all. Then, very slowly, he raised his empty hand and pointed straight to Ron. Mystified, Tilly glanced around at Ron, who looked bewildered.

"But then. . .," Lupin muttered, staring at Black so intently it seemed he was trying to read his mind, ". . . why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless," Lupin's eyes suddenly widened, as though he was seeing something beyond Black, something none of the rest could see, " —unless he was the one. . . unless you switched. . . without telling me?"

Very slowly, his sunken gaze never leaving Lupin's face, Black nodded,

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

But he never finished the question, because what he saw made Harry go silent. Lupin was lowering his wand, gazing fixedly at Black. The Professor walked to Black's side, seized his hand, pulled him to his feet so that Crookshanks fell to the floor, and embraced Black like a brother.

This had only proved to Tilly that was right, as usual.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione screamed.

Matilda turned to look at her. She had raised herself off the floor and was pointing at Lupin wild-eyed. "You—you—you and him!"

Quickly, Tilly walked up to Hermione.

"Hermione, calm down—"

Tilly attempted to plead with Hermione, but she was too far into her thoughts to pay any attention to anyone.

"We didn't tell anyone!" Hermione shrieked. "We've been covering up for him!"

By we, Tilly knew that Hermione was referring to herself and Matilda.

"Hermione," Tilly pleaded. "You don't want to do this, trust me."

"Hermione, listen to me, please!" Lupin shouted. "I can explain—"

Tilly noticed that Harry began shaking, not with fear, but with a fresh wave of fury.

"I trusted you," he shouted at Lupin, his voice wavering out of control, "and all the time you've been his friend!"

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

"HERMIONE!" 

She didn't want to result in screaming at Hermione, but she was paying no mind to her, and so, Tilly had no other choice but to yell.

She opened her mouth to say more, but Lupin spoke first.

"No, it's alright, Matilda," he said. "I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle ad I certainly don't want Harry dead. . ." And odd shiver passed over his face. "But I won't deny that I am a werewolf."

As much as Tilly wanted to be happy about being right, she couldn't allow herself to be.

Ron made a valiant effort to get up again but fell back with a whimper of paid. Lupin made toward him, looking concerned, but Ron gasped,

"Get away from me werewolf!"

"Ron!" snapped Matilda in a scolding manner.

Lupin stopped dead. Then, with an obvious effort, he turned to Tilly and said, "How long have you known?"

"I've had my suspicions since you refused to tell me of the potion that Professor Snape would make for you," said Matilda with an easy shrug. "Your strange sickness that only occurred once every month during the time of a full moon confirmed to me that my suspicions had been right. I mean, you weren't exactly being lucrative about it, Hermione guessed it as well!"

"For me, it was Professor Snape's essay," said Hermione, her arms crossed over her chest, she was still visibly upset. "That's when I was sure about it all."

"He'll be delighted," said Lupin coolly. "He assigned that essay hoping someone would realize what my symptoms meant."

That didn't come as a bit of surprise to Matilda. Professor Snape has been wanting Lupin gone since the moment he stepped foot in the castle.

"You are both the cleverest of witches your age that I have ever met,"

"I'm not," Hermione whispered. "If I'd been a bit clever, I'd have told everyone what you are!"

"Please," scoffed Matilda. "It wasn't much of a secret, most everyone already knew."

"She's right," said Lupin, nodding at Matilda. "At least, the staff knew."

"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf?" Ron gasped. "Is he mad—"

Tilly turned to Ron, her arms crossed, and her eyes narrowed. Ron just shut his mouth and quickly looked away.

"Dumbledore isn't mad!" she said to Ron before turning back to face everyone else in the room. "He only likes to ruffle some feathers from time to time—nothing wrong with that!"

"Some staff thought he may have mad," 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!" He was pointing at Black, who suddenly crossed to the four-poster bed and sank into it, his face hidden in one shaking hand. Crookshanks leaped up beside of him and stepped onto his lap, purring. Ron edged away from both of them, dragging his leg.

"I have not been helping, Sirius," said Lupin. "If you'll give me a chance, I'll explain. Look—"

He separated Harry's, Ron's, and Hermione's wands and threw each back to its owner; Harry caught his, stunned.

"There," said Lupin, sticking his own wand back into his belt. "You're armed, we're not. Now, will you listen?"

Tilly glanced over at Harry, hoping he'd agree to hear Lupin out, but he said nothing. He didn't know what to think.

"If you haven't been helping him," he said, with a furious glance at Black. "How did you know he was here?"

It was a good question and Tilly was glad Harry asked because if he hadn't, she wouldn't have been able to connect the dots in her head as fast as she did.

"The map," said Tilly, looking over at Harry, then to Lupin. "The Marauder's Map. After we left Professor Snape's office you never returned the map to Harry."

If it was anyone other than Matilda Winters, Remus Lupin would have been surprised that they were able to put all of that together from one, a minor event. But, since it was Matilda, and he had spent an entire year watching the young girl's brilliance, Lupin expected her to know this.

"You know how to work it?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Of course, he knows how to work it," said Matilda, shaking her head as she turned back to Harry. When she spoke, he could detect that she was a little offended. "I've told you this before, it was after we had left Snape's office and Lupin left us in the corridors. I said that I believed Lupin had helped to make the map. I mean, do you lot listen to anything I say?"

Harry looked to Professor Lupin, shocked.

"You wrote —?"

"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I had an idea that you, Ron, Hermione, and even Matilda might try and sneak out of the castle to visit Hagrid before his hippogriff was executed. And I was right, wasn't I?"

He had started to pace up and down, looking at them. Little patches of dust rose at his feet.

"You might have been wearing your father's old cloak, Harry —"

"How d'you know about the Cloak?"

"The number of times I saw James disappearing under it. . .," said Lupin, waving an impatient hand. "The point is, even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak, you still show up on the Marauder's Map. I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's hut. Twenty minutes later, you left Hagrid and set off back towards the castle. But you were now accompanied by somebody else."

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

Matilda furrowed her eyes together, Lupin couldn't have been talking about Sirius Black, they hadn't been met with him until they chased after Ron who had run after Scabbers. Tilly quickly glanced over her shoulder, looking to Ron.

"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!" said Harry.

"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."

Still confused, Tilly thought back to when Ron was pulled into the Whomping Willow by Sirius Black. Why would he have gone after Ron when everyone believed it was Harry who Sirius wanted to kill. When he was pulled away, the only thing Ron had on him was his wand and his stupid rat, Scabbers.

"Do you think I could have a look at the rat?" he said evenly.

"What?" said Ron. "What's Scabbers got to do with it?"

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

Ron hesitated but Tilly nodded, encouraging him to go through with it, then he put a hand inside his robes. Scabbers emerged, thrashing desperately; Ron had to seize his long bald tail, that Tilly always thought looked like a worm, to keep him from escaping. Crookshanks stood up on Black's leg and made a soft hissing noise.

Lupin moved closer to Ron. He seemed to be holding his breath as he gazed intently at Scabbers. That was when all the puzzle pieces that had been jumbled about in Matilda's brain finally came together and allowed her to get a glimpse of the bigger picture.

"Wait a moment,"

Tilly stepped forward, taking the attention from Lupin.

"There are four names on the Marauder's Map, and correct me if I'm wrong, those names are derived from a group of friend's Animagus form," She spoke proficiently as she began to finish connecting the puzzle in her head. Her friends though, looked at her as if she'd gone mad. "Sirius Black, who I assume must be Padfoot considering he turns into a dog is obviously alive and shown on the map. Lupin, you've done confirmed that you're Mooney. Me, Ron, Harry, and Hermione can also be seen on the map."

Matilda stopped, giving everyone a moment to take in everything she's said thus far. After a few seconds, she continued. All eyes were on her. Just the way she liked it.

"Lupin stated that he saw Sirius pull someone else into the Whomping Willow along with Ron, the only viable option is that it was Scabbers he saw on the map," said Matilda, Ron furrowed his eyes in confusion, as did Harry. "Scabbers has a tail that disgustingly resembles a worm, hence — Wormtail. Wormtail could now only be one of two people, and both are assumed dead, but only one has been confirmed. . ."

Matilda began to trail off before she suddenly just stopped speaking and turned to face Ron with wide eyes. She knew that she was onto something, but she never expected to find a dead man.

"What?" Ron said again, holding Scabbers close to him, looking scared. "What's my rat got to do with anything?"

"You should go on and hand Scabbers over to Lupin," gulped Tilly, her eyes still wide. Her state of shock began to scare Ron even more. "He's no rat, Ron."

"What do you mean — of course, he's a rat —"

Tilly's heart was beating a million miles a minute and so the only thing she could do was shake her head at Ron.

"No, he's not," said Lupin quietly. "He's a wizard."

"An Animagus," said Black. "By the name of Peter Pettigrew."