Planted in 1971, the Whomping Willow was a tall, willow-like tree with a thick twisting trunk. It was at the very top of a hill quite a ways away from Hagrid's hut and the castle itself, so no curious bodies could unknowingly walk by it and get hurt. The tree was a sentient being, violent, able of movement, using its thick branches like arms to ward off anyone and anything that came within hitting range.

No spell was known to be able to subdue the Whomping Willow, and yet Talia and Hermione were going through spell after spell in their heads to try to immobilize it, weary of how close they and their friends were to being knocked back by its branches.

Just in case, they thought. They had their wands drawn, and were prepared for a fight if the need for it arrived.

Thankfully, just when they thought they'd be turned into pudding by a thick branch smashing them to the ground, Ron screamed out in victory, holding up a struggling Scabbers in his hands. He proceeded to step backwards, putting as much distance between himself and the moving tree. A few more steps forward and a branch could have easily knocked him down.

They had gotten that close to the Whomping Willow.

"You need to keep him in a cage," Hermione spat, glaring daggers at Ron.

Ron sneered, looking down at Hermione's feet where Crookshanks now sat; the cat swishing his fluffy tail from side to side, looking innocent. "Well, if it weren't for that bloody thing you call a cat—"

"You leave Crookshanks out of it!" Hermione exclaimed, pointing her wand at Ron in a silent threat.

"Well it—"

"SHUT UP RONALD!" Talia screamed, her eyes flashing yellow. Pointing at him accusingly, she exclaimed angrily, "We could have been killed by that bloody tree behind you and it would have been your entire fault! You should have just let that stupid rat run off!"

Ron was silent, his face ghostly pale. His mouth opened and closed, but he had nothing to say. Talia was right, he realized… but Scabbers was his pet. The rat had been in his family for twelve years—he couldn't just let him run off!

The group was silent after Talia's outburst, catching their breaths, thinking of what to do next. Talia looked down at her feet were Brutus stood, his stance similar to Crookshanks. She arched her eyebrow at him in question, surprised when he bit the hem of her trousers as a response, tugging in a specific direction.

"What now? Haven't you cause enough trouble?" she asked him softly, curiously looking off in the direction she guessed him to be trying to point her in. She saw nothing but grass and rolling hills and the Forbidden Forest.

The wind however, brought her a most curious scent. Musk, spice, wet fur similar to that of a dog… and then she saw it, or rather—him. He was nothing but a black speck that emerged from the Forbidden Forest, silver eyes glowing eerily as they reflected with what little light was left of the afternoon sun. As he ran, his form began to enlarge, allowing Talia to make out his black fur in detail, which looked shaggier and dirtier than the last time she'd seen it. He also looked thinner, which worried her. Though she soon realized that his form was becoming clearer, easier to make out, and it was because he was getting closer, running straight at them.

Not good, not good!

"Time to head for the castle," Talia blurted out, looking away from Sirius, and hoping beyond hope that the others would follow her back without questioning her.

However, it was all for naught, because Ron had looked in the direction that Sirius was in, and had seen the same thing that Talia had.

"It's the Grim!" He shrieked, scared out of his mind, pointing at Sirius.

Talia was confused for a moment. She had no idea what this "Grim" was, but then she began to make the connection in her head and it only took her two seconds to realize what Ron was talking about.

The Grim was an omen of death, said to take the form of a large, black, spectral dog. Draco had told her about it while he had been doing his Divination homework.

However, Sirius being the Grim? Talia couldn't hold in the snort that escaped her.

"You're laughing!?" Hermione exclaimed, a scandalized look about her face.

Talia quickly sobered up, but the traces of a smile could be faintly detected on her lips. "I'm sorry, it's just that—"

"We gotta get out of here," Harry said, interrupting her.

"It's going to kill us!" Ron screamed, holding Scabbers up to his chest as if the rat could shield him.

Talia was about to correct him, she was about to tell him that the "Grim" would do no such thing, that he wasn't evil, or an omen of death, but Sirius had now arrived, standing just a few feet away from them, and he was growling viciously.

"Hermione," Harry began, pulling out his wand slowly, eyeing the black dog nervously, "know any spells that can get rid of this thing?"

"I can think of one," Hermione said softly, her wand raise, aimed at Sirius. "Bomb—"

"NO!" Talia exclaimed, running forward and putting herself between the tip of Hermione's wand, and Sirius. "You can't do that!"

"She's gone mad!" Ron exclaimed, his eyes wide.

"No I'm not," Talia told them with a pleading look. "Just… please, you don't understa—"

Sirius growled loudly as if he had something to say, but Talia quickly looked over her shoulder and glared at him. "Don't even start; you're in enough trouble as it is!"

Sirius huffed in annoyance, stomping the ground with a paw. He then looked to Crookshanks and Brutus, huffing once more. Crookshanks meowed lazily, while Brutus' whiskers twitched. He had told them something, Talia realize; but how? Was it possible that he could communicate with regular animals while being an animagus?

"What are you playing at?" she asked Sirius curiously, tilting her head to the side.

Sirius barked, and then looked sharply at Ron… all Hell broke loose.

In an instant, Sirius was gone, having darted past Talia, nearly knocking her down. The next second Ron was screaming bloody murder.

A loud, sickening crack was heard as Ron fell to the ground—Sirius had bitten down on his leg, breaking it.

"HARRY!" Ron screamed as he was dragged towards the base of the Whomping Willow, narrowly missing the onslaught of branches that began their violent assault.

Harry stood frozen, not knowing what to do as he watched his friend disappear in a flurry of moving branches and leaves.

"We need to save Ron!" Hermione gasped; her voice cracking as tears began to well up in her eyes.

Talia was stunned. Why had Sirius showed himself? Why had he attacked Ron? Why had he dragged him off into the Whomping Willow's domain?

Tonight was definitely going to be a long full moon.

"How do I stop this thing?" Harry exclaimed, no longer frozen in surprise.

"Aresto Momentum!" Hermione yelled, wand raised and pointed towards the tree.

Nothing happened, as she feared.

"There is no spell known that can stop it," Talia said, a touch of fear in her tone.

"Then there is only one thing left to do," Harry said softly, before taking off in a run.

"Harry!" both Talia and Hermione exclaimed in a mixture of surprise and horror. On impulse they began moving forwards, inching closer to the tree, but then Crookshanks hissed, getting in their way and preventing them from getting anywhere near the tree's branches.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione yelled in desperation, not taking her eyes off Harry, who was now throwing himself on the ground, rolling, doing anything in his power to not be caught by one of the Willow's branches.

"Hermione, wait," Talia said suddenly, pulling her back.

"What are you—"

"Look!" Talia said, a look of disbelief on her face as she pointed towards the tree, more specifically, towards its trunk. She hadn't noticed it, not at first. She hadn't even realized he'd disappeared, but when Harry had taken off into the Willow's branches, she'd seen her ferret.

Brutus was zipping across the ground, small enough that the Willow didn't register his presence. He skirted around the base of the trunk, crawling under uprooted roots, sniffing the tree's bark. Talia knew her ferret well enough to recognize the signs—he was looking for something.

After a few seconds, on which Talia and Hermione waited on baited breath, Brutus stopped before a mangled knot of roots, crawling over them and stamping his front paws down, hard.

"What…" Hermione gasped, looking away from Brutus and up at the tree's branches.

They grew still.

"Did you teach him that?" Hermione asked with a tone of surprise, a smile beginning to form on her lips.

"I didn't even know he knew how to do that," Talia replied, a look of shock on her face as she stared up at the now still, Whomping Willow.

"Um, guys?"

Talia and Hermione tore their eyes away from the branches to look at Harry, who was slowly proceeding to get up off the ground, dusting his arms to rid them of sticks and dirt.

"Harry!" the girls exclaimed, rushing towards him, their voices dripping with relief.

Crookshanks followed behind them.

"Did you teach him that?" Harry asked Talia, looking over towards a rapidly approaching Brutus.

"Didn't know he knew how," Talia chuckled, looking down at her pet lovingly.

"Well, c'mon—he dragged Ron under the tree, there's a passage near that knot Brutus touched," Harry informed them.

Wearily the three (cat and ferret following behind dutifully) approached the passage near the knot of roots, Harry going through it first. The passage itself was a hole in the ground with a sturdy set of stone stairs, concealed by crisscrossing roots that jutted out over it, almost like a hood.

At the bottom of the stairs, Harry uttered a Wand-Lighting charm, allowing a blue light to glow from the tip of his wand.

There was a single tunnel ahead of him.

"What do we do now?" asked Hermione, looking around cautiously.

"We follow the blood," Harry said cryptically, pointing his wand at the ground. A trail of blood was smeared on the floor before him.

"I hate blood," Talia mumbled, raising a hand to cover her nose.

The group walked forwards.

There was another set of stairs at the end of the tunnel, and as they approached them, Talia's ears picked up the sound of Sirius' voice muttering to himself, speaking of the rat, and saying Peter Pettigrew's name…

No, it can't be, Talia thought as a past story came to the forefront of her mind. Sirius had told it to her, of the Marauders, of the stag, the dog, the werewolf, and the rat. Prongs, Padfoot, Mooney—

"Wormtail."

"What?" Harry asked her, turning around to look at Talia, who was directly behind him.

"I knew it," she said softly, ignoring him, "I knew it!"

"What are you going on about?" Hermione asked her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"It's why he never really talked about him," Talia continued, too deep in her thoughts. "It was him, he betrayed them, but I didn't know; he never mentioned names. He always said the rat but I thought… I mean, I just figured he meant—"

"Natalia," Hermione said forcefully, shaking her slightly, "what are you talking about?"

"He…" Talia trailed off, taking in a deep breath. "You know what—forget it. You'll… you'll find out tonight."

"You're mad," Harry told her, and Talia smiled.

"I know I'm not making any sense, but, just… c'mon," she said quickly, walking around him to lead the way up the stairs.

Confused, Harry and Hermione looked at each other. Was Talia alright? Had she completely lost it? What was she talking about?

There was only one way to find out.

With guarded steps, they began to climb, following a few steps behind her.

Soon, the group found themselves at the top of the stairs, before the threshold of a swaying building. Everything in sight was old, dusty, and gray. Through the doorway, they saw what looked like a bedroom. The curtains on the window across from them were moth-eaten, the rugs on the ground stained and torn. The few pieces of furniture in the room were broken, covered in a thick layer of dust. It all looked abandoned.

"The Shrieking Shack," Hermione whispered as she drank in her surroundings. "We're in the Shrieking Shack."

"Hermione!?" Ron's voice suddenly pierced the air. "Hermione is that you!?"

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, crossing through the threshold and entering the room.

Ron was cowering on the floor, trying to hide behind an old armchair. He had Scabbers held tightly in one hand, and the other clutching one of the armchair's stubby legs. One of his legs was bent up at the knee, and the other (the one that left the trail of blood), was stretched out before him.

"Ron, are you alright?" Harry asked as he spotted his friend, walking towards him to stand before him, beside Hermione.

Talia was left to stand by the doorframe, her eyes taking in every single detail around her.

In their haste to see if their friend was alright, Harry and Hermione had not noticed the paw prints on the ground amongst the dust—but Talia had noticed them. The paw prints turned into footprints going behind the opened door, to the left of where Talia stood.

Making a swift decision, Talia took three steps to the right.

"It's a trap!" Ron yelled, pointing towards the door.

The door suddenly slammed shut after Crookshanks and Brutus made their way through, and Talia was glad that she had moved out of the way, but now she found herself in a sticky situation.

Sirius stood before them, a wand in his hand and a crazy smile on his face.

He was three steps away from her.

"Talia, get back!" Harry yelled, pointing his wand at Sirius.

"Expelliarmus!"

The incantation had left her mouth quicker than she thought humanly possible. Talia hadn't even given it much thought, and was surprised when Harry's wand flew out of his hand and into hers. It was a spell she'd never even tried before, having come across it while reading one of her mother's Charm's textbooks.

"Well, that was impressive," Sirius chuckled darkly. "Are you sure you're 11?"

"12," Talia corrected him, not taking her eyes away from her friends. "My birthday was in May… you missed it."

"Did I?" Sirius said thoughtfully. "I owe you a gift. What would you like? I can get you—"

"Talia," Hermione began in a shady, accusatory tone, cutting Sirius off, "what is going on?"

"It's a long story," Talia told her simply.

"How do you—"

"Enough of this," Sirius interrupted Hermione, glaring down at her before plucking Harry's wand out of Talia's hand.

He proceeded to throw it across the room.

"Talia…" Harry trailed off, looking at her with disbelief in his eyes. She hadn't even tried to stop Sirius Black. "You're… how can you let this happen? What has he done to you? Are you bewitched?"

Talia didn't know what to do. She was torn between going to stand with her friends, and staying with her dear Uncle Sirius. She knew Sirius looked mad and every bit of the murderer that everyone made him out to be, but she knew that that wasn't him.

Talia knew the truth.

Her uncle was a kindhearted man who, although showing an outright dislike for Slytherins, never judged her because of her house. He cared for her, made her laugh, made her feel safe…

She was going to help him. He had waited so long; he deserved it.

"I'm fine," she said softly, taking a step towards her honorary uncle. He would not put her in danger, of that she was sure. It was the right choice to make.

"How can you stand beside him?" Harry asked her, his eyes narrowing. "He betrayed my parents! He sold them off to—"

"NO I DID NOT!" Sirius screamed, making Talia jump. "I did not betray them!"

"He's going to kill us!" Ron exclaimed in horror, clutching onto the hem of Hermione's trousers from his place on the floor.

"Only one murder will happen tonight," Sirius spat, his eyes narrowed.

"Was killing 12 muggles and Peter Pettigrew not enough?" Harry asked, livid. "Was giving my parents to Voldemort not enough!?"

Talia looked up at a silent Sirius, seeing the hurt in his eyes as he was accused of things that he had no hand in. "Tell him. Tell him everything. Harry needs to know."

"Figured it out, have you?" Sirius asked with a knowing look.

Talia nodded. "It wasn't all that hard, really. All the signs were there…"

"Your father's daughter, you are," he said, ruffling her hair before turning away from her to face Harry. He was going to tell him, this all needed to end.

However, Harry had a different plan.

Before Sirius could explain himself, Harry ran forward, pushing Talia out of the way. He pushed Sirius against the door, managing to catch him off-guard. Those few seconds of stunned confusion were all Hermione needed to rush forwards and take the wand in Sirius hand away from him, throwing it behind her shoulder, aiming towards Ron.

Ron miraculously caught it—it had been his wand, after all.

Talia steadied herself against the wall, thankful that she hadn't fallen over. Looking up, she gasped; Sirius now had his hands wrapped around Harry's neck, appearing to choke him. On impulse, Talia ran forwards, into Sirius and Harry, knocking them to the ground and falling along with them. A large dust cloud was left in their wake, making Talia cough, and her eyes sting, however, it was worth it. She was sure that Harry and Sirius wouldn't try to kill each other anymore.

"Ugh," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes and blinking back tears, quickly getting to her feet. "I need water."

All the while, Hermione had been looking for Harry's wand. She'd found it within seconds behind an old, lumpy sofa, and was now in the process of giving it to him.

"This ends tonight," Harry muttered, wand now in hand as he slowly began getting up.

"Are you going to kill me?" asked Sirius softly, a crazed smile forming on his lips as he looked up and stared at the tip of Harry's wand.

"I might," Harry said without hesitation. "You're the reason my parents are dead—"

"As much as it pains me, there is some truth to your words, but not all is as it seems."

"What?" Talia blurted out, utterly confused. She looked to Sirius, tilting her head in question as she asked, "What do you mean? I thought it was Peter who betrayed them. How do you—" but she was cut off and was unable to continue her questioning because in that moment the door burst open, Remus' silhouette emerging from the shadows with a wand pointed directly at Harry.

Bloody hell...