Chapter Forty Five
My eyes stayed trained on the man across the room from us. The man who had Ron's wand trained on the four of us.
His pale sickly skin was stretched taut over his cheek bones. The dark mane of hair a knotted filthy mess. He didn't look nearly as frail as he did in the Azkaban mugshots but that terrified me even more.
My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. I needed to take inventory.
We were trapped in the Shrieking Shack in the middle of the night with a mass murderer. Ron had a broken leg that could get worse if we didn't get help and nobody knew where we were. And we were all defenseless. This really didn't look good.
"I thought you'd come help your friend." His voice was deeper than I expected. Hoarse like he hadn't used it in a while. "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…"
Harry lunged at the man, his arms out but Hermione just managed to catch him.
"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" Ron ground out, trying to stand up despite the fact that he looked like he was about to pass out. I quickly wrappedmy arm under his, supporting as much of his weight as he would let me.
"Lie down." Black said quietly. "You will damage that leg even more.
"Did you hear me?" Ron demanded still fired up. "You'll have to kill all four of us!"
A wicked smile crossed Black's lips.
"There'll be only one murder here tonight."
"Why's that?" Harry spat trying to pull himself out of Hermione's grip. "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."
"Harry! Be quiet!" Hermione hissed but he was already riled up.
"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!"
I reached for him a second too late. Harry broke free from Hermione's grip and lunged himself at Black. Hermione's screams filled the air. My heart was in my throat.
Harry managed to catch Black by surprise and punched him hard, knocking him back into the wall. Sparks filled the air barley missing Harry and I watched horrified as Black started to gain some power back. His hand going for Harry's throat.
The three of us acted at the same time. Hermione ran forwards kicking Black with all of her might causing Black to let go of Harry while I yanked on Harry's robes, creating as much distance between the two as I could. Ron threw himself at Black's arm trying to get him to let go of the wands.
"NO YOU DONT!"
Crookshanks tried and dart towards the fallen wands only to be deterred by a kick from Harry. My eyes went wide as Harry picked up his wand, panting- his throat red and hair wild.
"Get out of the way!"
Hermione, looking worse for wear, grabbed the rest of the wands off of the ground then helped Ron into the four-poster bed. I kept a hand on Harry's arm, my grip tight. I wasn't going to let him do something that he'd regret.
Black was leaning against the wall, panting as he caught his breath.
"Let me go."
I knew that I was on thin ice but I tightened my grip.
"Harry...you can't kill him." I whispered and he whipped towards me, his eyes burning.
"You should listen to your friend there. If you listen to the whole story-" Black grunted wiping his bleeding nose with his sleeve.
"The whole story!?" Harry spat his face going red. "You sold them to Voldemort! That's all I needed to know!"
Black looked like he was going to say something else but I quickly cut him off
"Will you shut up?" I snapped keeping my eyes trained on Harry.
I was trying to bring Harry back to the edge and I could see every time Black tried to say something- do anything- Harry was getting closer and closer to losing it. Black might be able to kill us while armed but he wasn't now. Harry was. And Harry looked like he was going to kill him.
"He killed my parents." Harry hissed.
"I know. But he isn't worth going to Azkaban for. His life isn't worth yours! We've got our wands- we can stun him, turn him in. Look at Ron- he needs help. We need help. We…we can't do this alone." My voice broke as I pleaded for him to stop this. To find another solution. This whole thing was just ridiculous.
The whole room was silent as all eyes were trained on the two of us. Waiting to see if one of us- if Harry was going to make a move.
All I wanted to do was stun Black, stabilize Ron's leg, and get the hell out of here.
Muffled footsteps cut through the silence- echoing through the whole shack. Someone else was here.
"WE'RE UP HERE!" Hermione screamed causing me to jump. "WE'RE UP HERE-SIRIUS BLACK! QUICK!"
Black jerked in shock but the four of us kept our wands on him so he couldn't get up. The footsteps were now getting louder, closer to us and then the door burst open.
Hope filled me as Lupin came hurtling into the room- his wand ready and face pale. His eyes darted around the room, taking everything in and analyzing what was going on. Something in his expression changed.
"Expelliarmus!"
My stomach twisted as all of our wands flew into Lupin's hands and he swiftly moved across the room to where Sirius was. His wand still out but not doing anything.
Not stunning him. Not binding him. Not doing anything.
"Where is he, Sirius?" Lupin asked, his voice tight.
The others looked as confused as I felt.
We all watched as Black slowly raised his hand and pointed directly at Ron who went even paler.
"But then… why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless…" Lupin's eyes suddenly lit up. "Unless he was the one… unless you switched… without telling me?"
I felt like I was going to be sick as I watched Lupin talk to Black with such familiarity. He was supposed to be helping us.
"Professor. What's going o-" The last word died in Harry's throat as we all watched on stunned.
Lupin lowered the wand he had pointing at Black and walked right up to him. Lupin grabbed onto Black's hand and pulled him to his feet. Embracing him tightly- like family.
We're going to die.
"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione screamed and Lupin spun around. "You- you!"
"Hermione-"
"You and him!"
"Hermione, calm down!"
"I didn't tell anyone!" Hermione shrieked. "I've been covering for you!"
"Hermione listen to me please! I can explain-"
"I trusted you!" Harry cut in, his voice cracking. Betrayal etched across his face. "All this time you've been his friend!"
Lupin shook his head and was going to say something but Hermione cut him off once again.
"You're wrong. I haven't been Sirius' friend, but I am now- Let me explain…"
"NO! Harry don't trust him! He's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too! He's a werewolf!"
Everyone went silent at that.
Lupin looked surprising calm at her accusation. At her outing him as a werewolf.
"Not at all up to your usual standard Hermione." Lupin sighed. "Only one out of three I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius into the castle and I certainly don't want Harry dead… but I won't deny that I am a werewolf."
Lupin being a werewolf had nothing to do with the situation that we were in now. I knew that much. And I also knew how harmful this knowledge was. If word got out that Lupin was a werewolf his entire career and name would be tarnished. It only took rumors for people to turn against them.
That's why I never looked too deeply into our DADA professor. I knew that Snape wanted some students to realize what was going on when he assigned the class an essay on werewolves months ago but I decided to turn a blind eye and hoped that no one else found out.
Clearly I was wrong.
She didn't grow up in the Wizarding world. She didn't realize how harmful this was.
A whimper came from behind me and I turned to see Ron trying to scramble away from Lupin.
"Get away from me, werewolf!"
Lupin stopped dead and it took everything in my power not to walk over there and smack Ron across the head. He was injured. Now was not the time.
I needed to think.
Take a deep breath.
Prioritize.
Lupin and Black stated multiple times that they weren't going to kill Harry anddd hopefully not the rest of us. Something else had to be going on. Lupin said that he wasn't Sirius' friend but he was now. What had changed? Something must have changed… right?
But first… Ron's leg needs to stabilize while they talk. If everyone's going to keep bickering back and forth this was going to take a while and Ron is my priority. At least getting it into a makeshift splint would help it from getting any worse.
I could do this... right?
Improvise. I needed something rigid to stabilize both sides. There were a couple of pieces of wood on the ground from what looked like a broken chair. The curtains around the bed Ron was leaning against were torn enough I wouldn't have to ruin my robes.
Now, how was I supposed to work on Ron while they were watching and we were all unarmed? They might think I'm making a wrong move or something and it could get ugly quickly.
Just breathe. Wait for an opportunity.
"YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THE TIME!" Harry roared and I looked up to see that he was pointing at Black again. Black suddenly crossed to the bed and sank onto it- one hand covering his face. My whole body was tense now that he was closer to us but Crooksanks just leapt up and sank down onto his lap. Ron tried to edge away but let out a groan of pain due to his leg.
"I have not been helping Sirius! If you'll give me a chance, I'll explain. Look-"
Lupin tossed our wands back and I immediately felt more comfortable. Well, as comfortable as expected in this situation. I quickly knelt down next to Ron and pushed his back back into the bed.
"Keep your wand on Black, I need to stabilize your leg." I whispered and he nodded- shakily pointing his wand at Black who seemed to be ignoring the two of us.
He looked worse than I had hoped. Ron's face was pale and covered in a thick layer of sweat. The leg itself was limp. His pants were torn enough that I could see the bruising where the fracture was.
Don't overthink it. Just fix it.
I quickly gathered the pieces of wood and torn curtains. I've read about this- studied what to do.. I knew what to do.
"I don't want to hurt any of you. If you just let me help-" Lupin started to take a step towards Ron and I but Hermione and Harry had their wands trained on him.
"Don't take another step." Harry grumbled and Lupin held both of his hands up.
"I can heal-"
"You could easily do something worse than heal him. I've got it." I said trying to keep my focus as I carefully slid the fabric strips underneath Ron's leg. "Now, how did you know that Black was here if you weren't helping him?"
With the conversation flowing I felt like I could focus more. Their attention wouldn't be on me. I could do this.
"The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining it-"
"You know how to work it?" Harry asked suspiciously.
"You might want to bite down on something. This is probably going to hurt." I warned Ron and he nodded bundling his robe sleeve up.
Taking a deep breath, I blocked everything out as I quickly started to secure Ron's leg to the pieces of wood. He let out a couple grunts of pain as his leg was moved but I ignored him the best I could. I just needed to do this quickly and right. It hurt him now but this was going to prevent it from getting any worse. One strip on the ankle to keep him from moving his foot. Below the fracture, above the fracture, below the knee.
"I'm done." I whispered to Ron and he nodded muttering a thanks. His face was pale and clammy but relief was written all over his face. I turned my attention back to the conversation that was going on behind me.
"-I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrd's hut. Twenty minutes later, you left Hagrid, and set off back toward the castle. But you were now accompanied by somebody else."
"What? No we weren't!" Harry snapped.
"I couldn't believe my eyes," Lupin continued ignoring Harry's disbelief. "I thought the map must be malfunctioning.. How could he be with you?"
"No one was with us!" Harry exclaimed.
"And then I saw another dot. Moving fast towards 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!"
"No Ron, two of you."
What the hell did he mean by that? Lupin stopped pacing and his eyes focused on Ron.
"Do you think I could have a look at that rat?"
All of us just stared blankly at him. Did I… hear that right?
"What's Scabbers got to do with it?" Ron asked the question we were all thinking.
"Everything. Could I see him please?"
Ron hesitated for a second then reached into his now wriggling pocket. It was like Scabbers knew something was off. Ron had to pull him out by tail because he was trashing so much, trying to get free.
On the bed above Crookshanks stood up, starting to his and pace back and forth. His yellow eyes trained on the squirming rodent.
Lupin moved closer and we all watched holding our breaths.
"What?" Ron was starting to look scared. "What's my rat got to do with anything?"
"That's not a rat." Sirius said suddenly.
"What'd you mean? Of course he's a rat-"
"No he's not. He's a wizard." Lupin said quietly. He looked completely sure of himself.
He wasn't- there was no way-
"He's an Animagus. By the name of Peter Pettigrew."