Title: What Do You Think?

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

"What's wrong with the rat?" Sirius asked. "Why would he want to get away? Ron wants to protect him and Crookshanks is nowhere around."

"Maybe it's a paranoid little rat," suggested Remus, making fun of the way Sirius treats rats like people.

"Well that's clear," Sirius replied, clearly missing the sarcasm.

"What's the matter with him?"

"See? Ron and I agree."

But Harry had just seen – slinking toward them, his body low to the ground, wide yellow eyes glinting eerily in the darkness - Crookshanks.

"Oh. Never mind," Sirius said.

Something was bounding toward them, quiet as a shadow – an enormous, pale-eyed, jet-black dog.

"Now who do we know that fits that description?" Remus asked.

"Ooh. Ooh. I know. I know," Sirius replied enthusiastically, raising his hand. "Please Professor Moony, pick on me."

Remus was going to call out "Mr. Black" when James quickly nodded his head towards Lily and the two children fell silent, looking like they had been caught breaking the rules.

"Yes, headmaster Prongs," Sirius said, hanging his head.

"Sorry, sir," Remus apologized, too.

"As long as you don't do it again. Now, who would like some muggle candy I happen to like for no particular reason?" James asked, playing along.

Sirius smiled at the joke as Remus picked the book back up and continued to read.

Harry reached for his wand, but too late – the dog had made an enormous leap and the front paws hit him on the chest; he keeled over backward in a whirl of hair; he felt its hot breath, saw inch- long teeth –

"Well, that's not a very nice dog," Lily commented.

"It's probably the parenting," Remus said, continuing his "animals are like wizards" joke. "Kind of like what Aunt Marge said about Harry in the beginning of the book."

"Well, if it had my parents, it would act like that," Sirius said darkly. In reality, he was only joking with the other marauders about thinking that the dog was actually him. He figured that he would be good enough to escape detection from the Ministry, and this was doing it all wrong. He could always just go to the cave near Hogsmeade that he had found last year if he needed a place to stay as a last resort.

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

"Wow, they aren't having a very good night," James remarked.

"Yeah, but don't worry, it won't happen again for another year," Remus reassured.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, in the first and second books, Harry had one crazy night and did something amazing and then went back to school, back to the Dursleys, another year at Hogswarts, and then did it again the following end of the year. After tonight, which I'm sure will be quite eventful, he can relax for another year."

"That explanation took way too long. I almost fell asleep there."

"You asked."

"I asked what you meant, not to explain everything that happened in Harry's entire life up until this point."

"That's not what I did."

"Felt like it."

The wandlight showed him the trunk of a thick tree; they had chased Scabbers into the shadow of the Whomping Willow and its branches were creaking as though in a high wind, whipping backward and forward to stop them going nearer.

"Why would Scabbers bring them there?" James asked. "Isn't it too dangerous for a rat?"

"Not for one rat we know," Sirius said.

"And there's also a familiar dog there," Remus added. "Interesting, isn't it?"

"It is."

"If only there was a stag."

"If only…" James repeated.

"What are you people talking about?" Lily asked, finally losing her patience with all this confusing animal talk coming from the three marauders.

Remus tried to shake his head again like he had before, hoping it would work again. It didn't.

Lily wanted to know what they were talking about. Why? Because she was confused and felt left out, like the marauders thought? No. Because she wanted to know more of the marauders' secrets, the last few had made her want to find out as much about them as possible.

"I'm confused," she said, breaking the short silence that had succeeded Remus' unsuccessful head motion.

"We noticed. But we aren't going to help you, so can we finish the book?" James asked, losing his patience as well. Then he tried something that he hoped would at least buy him some time until the end of the book, "Maybe the book will tell you and then you can find out anyway."

"Fine."

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

All three marauders' mouths dropped in unison.

"How did he know?" James asked.

"Don't know, but that's one smart cat," Sirius said.

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

"What?! That… thing… can be stopped?" Lily asked, thinking of how that little piece of information would have helped some students in the past.

"Yes, it can, but it's hard to reach the knot anyway, so it doesn't matter," James responded.

"How do you know so much about the tree?"

"I'm just that good, I suppose."

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

Both James and Remus looked at Sirius, further believing he might have been the mysterious animal since the cat found the entrance from the dog.

But no, that's impossible, James thought. He's supposed to be in hiding.

"It goes off the edge of the map, but it looked like it was heading for Hogsmeade…"

"It is," James answered.

"How do you know?" Lily asked again.

"I've been down it."

"But I thought you said it was hard to get to the knot in the tree."

"Hard, but not impossible. We marauders have a tendency to do hard, but possible things," James said, images of learning to transform into a stag flashing in front of his eyes.

"Harry," she whispered, "I think we're in the Shrieking Shack."

"What? Why would they be in the Shrieking Shack? There's no way to get into it. The windows are all boarded up…" she trailed off, realizing that these windows were boarded as well. Her eyes widened to extreme sizes. This kind of freaked out James, who hadn't reacted at all to the fact that they were in the Shrieking Shack, knowing that already.

"Where's the dog?"

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

"What?" Lily asked for the millionth time during the chapter.

"What -"

"My point exactly."

"He's the dog … he's an Animagus …."

It was Sirius Black.

It was Lily's turn to stare at book stunned, mouth hanging. Sirius had turned very serious, having his secret being told to the first person (Lily) since he had learned to transform. James and Remus eyed both of them nervously, wondering how they would react.

"You're … you're … an … an animagus?" Lily asked Sirius, stumbling on the words that sounded as if they couldn't possibly be true.

Sirius slowly nodded his head.

"Is that why you three are always talking about a familiar dog and that the dog at the Quidditch game was Sirius there to see Harry?" Lily asked, finally putting together the pieces the marauders had tried so hard to keep from her.

"Yes," James breathed, shocked that he was actually telling her the one secret he swore to never tell anyone.

"Wow."

"I thought you'd come and help your friend," he said hoarsely.

"Why does it sound like I'm trying to hurt Harry?" Sirius asked, starting to get a little afraid. No one could answer his question.

"Your father would have done the same for me."

"It's true, I would," James agreed immediately.

"Thanks, Prongs."

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

"Okay, I'm starting to freak myself out," Sirius said. "I'm not actually talking about killing Harry, am I?" Again, no answer.

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

The fingers tightened, Harry choked, his glasses askew.

"Now I'm worried," Sirius said, his face losing its color. "It's one thing when I'm talking about something like this, but another when I actually start using violence."

"Maybe there's a misunderstanding," James supported weakly, finally finding his voice again.

"Yeah, maybe…" Sirius repeated, holding onto that one hope.

"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted.

Harry's wand flew once more out of his hand; so did the two Hermione was holding.

Sirius let out the breath he was holding in. He was scared that Harry might actually kill him. But of course his friend Lupin would come to the rescue. He had never really appreciated Lupin as much as he did now.

"Where is he, Sirius?"

"Who?" James asked Remus at once.

"I don't know yet, listen to the story."

"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?"

"What? Switched what?" Lily asked, panicking. The whole situation was very tense and too much for her to handle in one night.

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.

"Yes," Sirius sighed, relieved. He was wrong, he hadn't appreciated Lupin as much as he does now.

" – he's a werewolf!"

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A/N: Well that seems like the best place to leave this chapter. Didn't want to leave you on a cliffhanger (smirk).

The end of the book is hard to find places to fit in humorous remarks. I tried my hardest, but sorry for it being a pretty serious chapter.

So anyway, thanks for the reviews. They made me take some time out of my busy schedule to update once more. Can't promise the next one will be up soon. We will just have to see what happens, won't we?

Go ahead and review, you know you want to.