Disclaimer: If you know it, it's from Prisoner of Azkaban. Tragically, I did not write that book. JKR did. Thus, I do not own it.

Edited and reloaded 24 August 2013

A Werewolf at Hogwarts

Hermione shout caused silence to descend among the males. Everyone turned to look at her. She was shaking in her anger at Professor Lupin. She pointed a shaky finger at him.

"He's been helping Black all year get into the castle! He's been trying to help Black KILL!"

"Not up to your usual standard, Hermione," Lupin said casually, as if he was in class with her and she'd simply answered a question wrong. "I haven't been helping Sirius and have no idea how he managed to get the passwords to the dungeon. Nor do I know how he got into the castle at Halloween."

"The cat," Black supplied.

"And I don't want anyone dead," Lupin added.

"I do," Black grumbled.

An odd shiver passed through Lupin and he suddenly slumped his shoulders. "But I won't deny it. I am a werewolf."

Silence rang.

"Okay, so we've established that," Draco said. "Can we deal with the rat?"

"YOU KNEW?" Hermione shouted, whirling around to face Draco.

Lupin's head snapped up, looking at Draco with a peculiar expression on his face. Black did as well.

"Is he really a Malfoy?" Black asked.

"He is," Lupin said.

"Draco! He's a werewolf!" Hermione shouted, glaring at him. "AND YOU KNEW THIS AND FAILED TO TELL ME?"

Oops. Left that out of the Things That Happened Third Year.

"You can't trust werewolves. They are liars!"

Draco scoffed. "Sure."

"When did you figure it out?" Lupin asked, attempting to distract Hermione from her rage at Draco.

"Ages ago," Hermione admitted, knotting her hands together, her anger deflating a bit as she looked at Draco leaning against the bed. "Since Professor Snape set that essay."

"He'll be delighted," Lupin faintly admitted. "I'm sure he assigned it hoping someone would realize what my symptoms meant. I'm sure you put all the pieces together."

Hermione nodded, turning back to Lupin. "I looked at the lunar charts, noticed you were always ill around the full moon and that your boggart changed into the full moon."

Lupin nodded, forcing a laugh out. "You are the cleverest witch of your age, aren't you?"

Hermione seemed to fight with taking the complement or not. Not won out. "No. If I were clever, I would have told someone you were a werewolf!"

"They know," Lupin admitted. "At least the staff. And I guess Draco."

Hermione gasped. "Is Dumbledore mad?"

"No," Draco said. "He's not for once."

"He's a werewolf, Draco!" Hermione shouted, pulling at her hair. "And you knew! DRACO how could you not think that was important!"

"It slipped my mind," Draco lied. "The rat! The rat was paramount!"

"What the hell is going on?" Harry asked.

"How could it not be important that Lupin is a werewolf, Draco Malfoy!" Hermione shouted, tugging at her hair.

"Don't believe everything you hear about werewolves, okay?" Draco tried.

"You should have told me!"

"Okay, I should have!"

"How did you find out?" Lupin quietly asked, eyeing Draco. "Was it the essay?"

"No, Snape told the Slytherins the night after—"

Draco stopped speaking and slammed his hand over his mouth, which made his head thump and his stomach roll. He slumped down some more, closing his eyes.

"What's the matter?" Lupin inquired.

"I got walloped in the head by a tree," Draco admitted. "You are all loud and I hate you. Please, let's get out of here. Take this rat to Dumbledore and be done with this mess."

"STAY AWAY FROM HIM!" Hermione shouted, as Lupin tried to approach Draco.

"Hermione, he's not going to harm me."

"He's hurt. He's right, too. We can tell you the whole story at the school."

A loud creak sounded from behind them. They all turned towards the door (well except Draco who refused to move his head any more). Lupin walked over and looked around, but didn't find anything.

"NO! We're going to stay here!" Harry shouted, pointing his wand wildly in various directions. "I want to know. Now."

"Know what Harry? They are liars!" Hermione asked, her voice going into a register that made Draco's ears bleed.

"No one is lying," Draco grumbled. "Haven't you been listening to me?"

"YOU NEVER SAID HE WAS A WEREWOLF, DRACO MALFOY!"

"I didn't think it was my secret to share, really," Draco admitted, causing Black make a choking noise.

"Are you sure he's really a Malfoy?"

"There are times I doubted it, but…I know why he is the way he is," Lupin said faintly. "Though, your cousin has been causing waves trying to figure out if you're innocent or not."

"Cousin?"

"Narcissa."

"Are you serious?"

Lupin gave the man on the ground a dark look.

"Can we get back to the matter at hand?" Hermione asked, sounding annoyed.

"He's a werewolf. Big deal. He's only a wolf at night, when the moon is full, but he takes a potion, likely that smoking goblet Harry saw Snape give him that one time, and he's fine!" Draco cried.

"Hermione, drop it."

"Harry, the books have all said—"

"Seriously, Hermione, drop it," Harry said, his tone serious and almost deadly. He sounded a lot like Potter all of a sudden. "I want to know how if Snape told the Slytherins, Draco knew."

A glimpse of Potter. Draco blinked, suddenly going back to when they were in the Room of Requirement during the Battle.

Everyone stared at Draco. Hermione looked smug, Lupin looked worried and Black looked confused. Draco sighed deeply, kneading his forehead with his fingers.

"I'm a time traveller," Draco muttered.

"What?" Black asked. "Did you get knocked in the head harder than I thought?"

"Draco, not this again. You tried that excuse first year. Try again," Harry said, folding his arms across his chest.

"I knew about the werewolf thing because when I was…well, let's see, it would have been technically…ten years ago almost?"

"Draco," Lupin said in a warning tone. "I don't think now is the time to explain this to Harry."

"YOU BELIEVE HIM?"

Lupin shifted on his feet for a moment then nodded.

"Harry, he's telling the truth," Hermione said. "That's why I got so mad. I thought he'd told me all the vital things."

She glared at Draco.

Harry shook his head. "No. You can't time travel unless you've got a Time Turner. You do not have one!"

"No, can't say I do."

"All other ways have to be illegal! Or impossible!" Harry cried, looking between everyone for agreement. He got none.

"Sometimes time travel happens," Black quietly muttered. "And you don't know why."

Harry made a noise that fell between a roar of frustration and a whimper.

"So, er, let's stick to the matter at hand for now. We'll deal with my…origins later," Draco said. "So, how'd you know we were here?"

Draco looked at Lupin. Lupin handed Draco his wand, then Harry his and then held Hermione out her own wand. She snatched it from him, eyeing him. Lupin sighed in resignation and stepped back to stand next to Black.

"The map. I was watching it tonight waiting—"

Harry looked suspicious. "You know how it works?"

Black snorted. Lupin shot him a look before answering Harry.

"Yes. Why wouldn't I? I helped write it. I'm Moony. It was my nickname. Given to me by Sirius."

"You…wrote it?"

Lupin nodded, folding his hands behind his back. He began to pace the room.

"I was watching it tonight, because I knew that you three would sneak off to Hagrid's to visit before the hippogriff was executed. I figured, even with all the rules about not going out, you'd use the Cloak and sneak out."

"You know…how?"

Lupin rolled his eyes as he paced towards where Draco was seated. He turned sharply and headed towards the door. "The number of times we all vanished under James's Invisibility Cloak are too many to bother counting. It was the secret to our success as Marauders. But, even under the Cloak, you are still visible on the Marauder's Map. So, I kept an eye on you three. Three went into the hut, but some twenty minutes later there were four."

No one said anything for a beat. Lupin continued to pace.

"I didn't want to believe it, trust me," Lupin went on. "I thought there must be some sort of malfunction. There was no way he was with you."

"But, he was," Black muttered.

"Then, suddenly, two of you broke off from the group and headed towards the Whomping Willow and I noticed another dot labeled Sirius Black moving quickly at you. And I knew Draco had been right."

Lupin suddenly stopped pacing and pinned his erie eyes on Draco.

"I take it you know something else important about the rat besides…besides that it would free Sirius?"

Draco nodded. "Yeah."

"The rat is paramount," Harry faintly said, looking shell shocked.

"Can I see that rat?" Lupin asked.

"Who else made the map?" Harry asked. "I mean, we figured out it was Pettigrew and Black, and now you. Was my dad the other one?"

Lupin paused, turning to Harry. "Yes. Your father, Sirius, myself and Peter Pettigrew."

"Messers Moony, Padfoot, Prongs and Wormtail," Harry faintly said, looking around wildly. "That's you?"

"Your dad was Prongs," Black offered.

"Sirius, I think it's time you tell them what happened twelve years ago," Lupin said quietly, staring at the rat Draco was holding out.

Black's eyes locked on the rat in Draco's grasp. Lupin seemed to know what Black was going to do before he did it, as he cross the dusty room and restrained Black before he could throw himself at Draco.

"Let me at him! Let me do it!" Black said, arms waving under Lupin's.

"Sirius, NO!" Lupin pushed Black up against the wall, pinning him as if Black was a small child. "You can't just… no. Harry must understand. Hermione must understand." He turned and gave Draco a funny look. "I don't think Draco explained it very well to Hermione. Clearly."

"There are some aspects that don't make sense," Draco admitted. "All I know is Sirius was innocent and Pettigrew was a rat."

Lupin caught Draco's use of tense before Draco had realized what he'd really said. The color drained from his face suddenly.

"We can explain later!" Black shouted, trying to move from under Lupin's hold. His hands were clawing the air over Lupin's shoulders. Lupin raised his other hand up and pushed Black against the wall.

"No. They need to know now. You owe Harry the truth before we do anything."

Black stopped moving, his eyes slowly moving to Lupin. "We?"

He moved his hallow eyes back to the rat after seeing something on Lupin's face. Lupin let go and backed up a few paces.

Harry looked torn, confused and angry. He clutched his wand. "Fine. Tell us. There was a street full of witnesses. All saying that a mad man killed all those people. They saw Peter die. Tell me what they really saw and why you thought it was hilarious."

Draco and Hermione looked at Harry in question, but Harry refused to look at anyone except Black.

"That was what they thought they saw! It was what Peter wanted them to see!" Black savagely said, eyes still on the rat.

"It's true. I believed it," Lupin admitted, sounded ashamed of himself. "Until the map tonight. That map doesn't lie. Even after Draco…but, the map wasn't broken, it can't break. Peter is alive. He's there."

"NO!" Hermione insisted, looking as if she was fighting with herself. "People would know if he could turn into a rat! You have to register with the Ministry. I did my homework when we covered Animagi in class with Professor McGonagall. No! No! No! I looked it up after Draco mentioned Weasley's rat wasn't a rat! You have to tell the Ministry of Magic what animal you turn into, what markings and such. I looked up Professor McGonagall and there have only been seven Animagi this century. Pettigrew wasn't on that list. Nor is Sirius Black!"

Draco quirked an eyebrow. Hermione was nothing but efficient at her homework.

"Right again," Lupin praised. "But, I doubt you saw the name James Potter on that list either."

"Or the other countless unregistered ones," Black grumbled. "It's not that uncommon."

Hermione looked as if someone had just told her the sky was yellow and grass happened to be made out of cheese.

"My dad was one?" Harry asked, his jaw dropping.

"There were three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts while we were at school," Lupin admitted.

There was another loud creak from downstairs. Lupin went back to the door and poked his head out. "No one there still."

"This place is haunted," Harry offered, though he didn't really sound so sure.

"No. It never was. The screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me," Lupin stated as if it were common knowledge. He pushed the graying tawny hair out of his eyes, a pensive look on his tired face. "I guess that is where we ought to start. My starting at Hogwarts. Or my becoming a werewolf."

"Remus," Black moaned. "I've waited twelve years. I don't want to wait twelve more."

"All right, all right," Lupin said, a note of fondness in his tone. He turned his attention to Harry. "I was bitten when I was very young. My parents tried everything, we traveled all over, but there was no cure, nothing to ease the pain. You see, that potion Professor Snape has been making for me is only a recent discovery. It makes me safe. As long as I take it every night the week proceeding the full moon, I don't turn into a full fledge monster when the moon rises. I can curl up in my office and sleep peacefully as a wolf. I'm still in a great deal of pain during the transformation, but I no longer rip myself to shreds.

"Before Wolfsbane Potion, you see, my transformations were horrible. They were painful and afterwards I bit and scratched myself because I was always kept away from other humans. Werewolves only bite other humans, you see. One night a month, I turned into a monster, unable to remember what happened while the full moon was up. My parents kept me hidden, locked away during these times, but I still didn't have a normal life. It seemed almost impossible for me to attend Hogwarts, as other people wouldn't want their children around a werewolf."

Lupin cast his eyes towards Hermione before quickly looking away. She quickly went red and tried to make herself tiny.

"What happened? How did you end up at Hogwarts?" Harry asked. He had an almost desperate expression on his face.

"Dumbledore became headmaster and when it was time for me to attend, I got my Hogwarts letter. We didn't think it'd come. But it did, along with a note that Dumbledore was aware of my condition and he thought if we took a few precautions, there was no reason I wouldn't be able to attend."

Black had an unreadable expression as Lupin spoke. It was almost as if Lupin's voice was lulling him into some kind of stupor, as his eyes drifted from the rat to Lupin and back again.

Lupin sighed. "I told you months ago, Harry, the Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. It as planted because I started at Hogwarts. This house was built for my use, the tunnel that leads here. All for me."

Lupin suddenly looked miserable. Hermione put her hand over her mouth and glanced at Draco. This was news to him, but it made sense.

"Once a month, Madam Pomfrey took me out of the school and led me to the house to transform. The tree was placed so no one would find the tunnel. It's a rather angry tree."

"You got that right," Draco muttered, moving his head in such a way he suddenly saw stars. He groaned.

"It's very painful to turn into a werewolf, as I've mentioned. A werewolf has a lot more bones than a human being, and it is differently shaped. Turning into a werewolf is nothing like turning into, say an Animagi. My bones break, muscles tear. It's very painful to move from human to wolf and wolf to human. And since I was separated from other humans, I attacked myself, only making the transformation between wolf to human worst."

"We noticed him missing one night a month. And he was always beat up, bruised and battered when he'd turn up again," Black said, sounding like he was anxious to get to the point. "Remus made up all sorts of stories. Told us his mother was ill. He was sick. He was terrified we'd leave him if we found out." He cast a look at Hermione before looking back at Harry. "It didn't take me long to figure out the shy, quiet boy was new to having friends and kids his age around him. And he didn't trust."

"How did you figure it out?" Harry asked.

"Similar to how your friend there figured it out," Black said, eyes drifting over to Hermione again. "After we did, we wanted to help him out, so we did a lot of research."

"They became Animagi," Hermione breathed. "Because a werewolf is only a danger to humans. Oh…"

Draco snickered. This information, reckless behavior impressed Hermione in spite of herself.

Lupin nodded. "Peter transformed into a rat, small enough to slip passed the attacking branches and freeze the tree. Sirius, into a dog large enough to keep a werewolf in check."

"What was my dad?"

"A stag," Lupin and Black said together.

"Wait, do you remember them being there?" Draco asked.

Lupin sighed. "Not really. But, after they began to show up, in fifth year, my transformations weren't as painful. I no longer tore myself to bits, bit myself as often." He cast a dark look at Sirius. "They took me out of the house, roaming the school grounds and running. The running was good for the wolf, as it tired him out, distracted him from his need to…bite."

"Hurry up, Remus," Black snarled suddenly, eyes snapping back to the rat.

"So, the nicknames…those pertains to the animals you became?" Harry asked. "So, my dad's is…"

"Prongs," Lupin offered.

"Sirius is Padfoot?"

Lupin nodded.

"And here is Wormtail," Draco drawled, trying to resist the urge to twirl the rat around in front of him.

"Wait!" Hermione pushed herself to her feet. "That was really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a werewolf! What if you'd gotten away from them?"

Lupin sucked in a lot of air and his face fell. "I'm still haunted by that. We were young and foolish. We thought we were oh so clever, even after a few near misses."

Lupin started to pace again.

"I felt very guilty this year. I betrayed Dumbledore's trust. He admitted me when no one else would have, then I went and broke the rules that had been set down for my own protection and others. I led three other students to become Animagi illegally. I was able to push my guilt aside when I was younger, but…"

Draco watched as Lupin's face hardened and his curled his lip in disgust. "This year, I've been battling with myself on if I should tell Dumbledore I knew Sirius was an Animagi. I never did because I'm too cowardly. And Draco so firmly believed in Sirius' innocence….I allowed myself…" Lupin trailed off, shaking his head. "Informing Dumbledore would have meant I'd have to admit my past transgressions and having Dumbledore's trust has means the world to me. He's hired me when I've been hard pressed to find another job—"

"You had a job?" Black asked, looking curious suddenly.

"Yes. I've been a…private tutor for the past nine years," Lupin admitted. "But the child began school so I was out of a job."

"So, you didn't tell Dumbledore about Sirius's dog form because…you were scared?" Harry asked. "And because Draco thought he was innocent?"

"Life for a werewolf is hard," Lupin said, turning towards Harry. "Even though we are only monsters once a month, we are see as werewolves all the time. We're not to be trusted, not to be hired, not to be treated as humans. We're seen as sub-human, or half breeds by our fellow wizards."

Hermione let out a rather pathetic noise, having fallen for that bunch of lies.

"But, you're only not human one night a month," Draco pointed out, more so for Harry than anyone else. "The rest of the time you're more human than some other humans. Sometimes."

"Very true, Draco."

"So, you didn't tell Dumbledore?" Harry prompted.

"Because I convinced myself Sirius was getting into Hogwarts by using the Dark Arts he'd learned from Voldemort. Or…I'm not sure…Draco's belief swayed me a little, but I managed to talk myself into the fact his being an Animagi had nothing to do with him getting into the school…so, in a way, Snape's been right all along."

"Snape?" Black snapped, taking his eyes off the rat and looking at Lupin. "What's Snape got to do with anything?"

"He assigned the essay?" Hermione asked, looking confused.

"He told Draco stuff in another lifetime?" Harry asked, eyeing Draco.

"He's here, Sirius. He's the potions professor."

Black looked like someone had just fed him a lemon.

"Professor Snape fought very hard against my appointment to the DADA job. He's been telling Dumbledore all year I can't be trusted," Lupin said, looking disgusted with himself again.

Black made a derisive noise. "Is he still bent out of shape about that stupid…"

"Sirius," Lupin snapped.

"It served him right. Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to, hoping to get us kicked out of school. If he had just kept his big nose to himself," Black grumbled.

"Sirius," Lupin snapped again.

"He wanted to know where you went each month," Hermione realized. "He figured it out."

Lupin nodded. "He didn't like us anyways. There were… a lot of ill feelings between Severus, James and Sirius. I'm not sure what Sirius was thinking—" Lupin sent Black a dark look. "But he told Severus to poke the Whomping Willow with a stick and he could see…something. James heard what Sirius had foolishly done and went after Snape. He pulled him back, at great risk to his own life and got Snape away from me, but not before Snape realized what I turned into each full moon."

Lupin continued to glare at Sirius. It was still clear that whatever event that transpired all those years ago, Lupin still was waiting for Sirius to feel regret, or something. Black shifted a bit, but muttered something about a greasy git.

"He was forbidden to tell anyone by Dumbledore," Lupin went on tiredly, turning back to Harry. "But he knows…"

"Is that why he doesn't like you? Or is it because…does he think you were on the, uh…"

"Prank?" Draco offered, though he wasn't sure if that was the right word for what Sirius had done.

"Correct, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco's blood froze, turning towards the voice that had just spoken. He'd totally forgotten about Snape's involvement in this night— not sure how, as it was the reason he'd known all along Lupin was a werewolf.

The whole room turned towards the source of the voice to find Severus Snape standing right in front of Lupin, wand pointed at the later's heart. The Invisibility Clock fluttered to the ground.