On the day of Buckbeak's appeal, I was close at hand in order to immediately hear the result. As I expected, it did not go in our favour. He lost, and was scheduled to be executed at sunset. I couldn't linger for long due to a final examination, but the moment the practical was over, I ran all the way down to Hagrid's hut as a lion then hurried inside in order to comfort him as he howled with upset. Buckbeak was perfectly happy and blissfully unaware what was coming for him, napping amongst the pumpkins. "S'not fair, jus' not fair." Hagrid blubbered as I made him tea to try and calm him down. "He's such a good hippogriff an all…never hurt a fly…"

"I know Hagrid. It's not too late. I'll fly off with him right now if you like? I'll fly him over the castle so that everybody will see so they can be witness."

"No, no I can'. Yeh'd ge' in trouble you will." Joking that trouble was my middle name, Hagrid blew his nose on a large spotty handkerchief just before an urgent knock came at the door. Getting up, Hagrid tried to clean himself up a little before answering, only to find no one there. Then Harry spoke up, announcing that he was under the invisibility cloak, though he indicated there were more of them there so I suspected that Ron and Hermione were with him. "Yeh shouldn've come!" Hurrying them inside, they must have needed to practically leap through the door before Hagrid closed it again. Having passed the stage of tears, Hagrid just looked lost and empty now as I stood up and began making more tea for everyone.

"Hello you three."

"Mia! Didn't know you were here." Ron said in surprise so I glanced at Hagrid, needing say nothing more. Hagrid sat down heavily, accepting another cup of tea that I pressed into his hands but didn't drink it as I poured out the rest from the massive teapot which took both hands to lift. Hermione tentatively asked where Buckbeak was, not having seen him as they passed.

"I…I took him outside. He's tethered in me pumpkin patch. Thought he oughta see the trees an'…an' smell fresh air before…" He couldn't bring himself to even finish the sentence. The trembling in his hand became so violent that he dropped the teacup and it smashed, but with a smart wave of my wand I had it fixed and back on the table in order to pour him another one. Hermione jumped to help, possibly just for something to do whilst Ron and Harry talked with Hagrid.

"Isn't there anything anyone can do, Hagrid? Dumbledore…"

"He's tried. He's got no power ter overrule the Committee. He told 'em Buckbeak's alright, but they're scared…yeh know what Lucius Malfoy's like…threatened 'em, I expect…an' the executioner, Macnair, he's an old pal o' Malfoy's…but it'll be quick an' clean…an' I'll be beside him." He told us all how Dumbledore was going to come down from the castle for when it happened so that he could be with Hagrid. We all offered to stay too but Hagrid wouldn't hear of it, saying that Harry in particular would be in deep trouble if he was caught outside at this time.

Meanwhile, Hermione had been busying herself with the milk, pulling out a jug in order to pour it into but as she made to pour it in, she squeaked sharply and her eyes popped wide open. "Ron! I…I don't believe it, it's Scabbers!" That little rat? Well I'll be darned. I can't believe that thing is still alive. Tipping the jug upside down on the table, out came a ragged little rat who looked like he wanted nothing less than to be out in the open.

"Scabbers! Scabbers, what are you doing here?" Even as Ron picked him up, Scabbers continued to frantically try to escape like his life depended on it. "It's okay Scabbers, no cats! There's nothing here to hurt you." All at once Hagrid suddenly stood up, informing us that they were coming. We didn't need to ask who he meant as a sickening feeling dropped like a stone in our stomach. With a wave of my wand, I vanished the tea and sent the cups and saucers back into the cupboards, clearing away any evidence we'd been there in a heartbeat.

We had to go out the back and Harry pulled me over in order to hide me under the cloak with them, though we all had to stoop in order to keep our feet hidden. It had a lovely silky feel to it, light against the skin. We tried to suggest to Hagrid that we would stay and explain to them, speak to the minister ourselves, but he ordered us to leave just as the other party reached the front door. Hagrid's voice was strained as he begged us to leave, so I put my arms around the three of them and started to herd them away from the hut, passing Buckbeak sombrely as he lifted his head alertly.

The sun was fading fast as we made our way back up the slope towards the castle, fixing our backs on what was happening down at Hagrid's hut. Almost as if the sky had a sick sense of humour, it had turned a brilliant ruby red, almost the colour of blood as if expecting a death to come tonight. Suddenly we stopped before we were far enough away from the pumpkin patch, Ron fidgeting with Scabbers as Hermione breathed, wanting to leave as soon as possible. "Oh, please Ron…"

"It's Scabbers, he won't stay put." He grunted, still struggling with his rat who seemed adamant that he wanted to escape. "Scabbers it's me you idiot, it's Ron!" Behind us we heard voices, so I urged us all to keep moving as Hermione began to whimper. They shouldn't see this, I know I didn't want to, so it's best to just get out of here as soon as possible but Ron still struggled with Scabbers, who was now squeaking wildly. "I can't hold him – Scabbers, shut up, everyone'll hear us…" But then we heard voices distantly behind us, indistinct and airy, then silence, followed by a sharp swish of metal and the dull thud of something being struck.

I'll admit it. I flinched. All of us were at a complete loss for words, frozen in place until a heart wrenching wail sounded and Harry immediately started to turn back. The rest of us grabbed hold of him, keeping Harry from running back there rather stupidly as Hermione struggled with tears in her eyes. "We can't, he'll be in worse trouble if they know we've been to see him." Ron said quietly as I let go of a steady breath.

"Dumbledore is with him, he'll be alright. Let's go you three." But no sooner had we got the castle in sight, Scabbers began to act up again, even more so than before. Something was really frightening him, making him practically scream in Ron's hands as he struggled to keep a grip on him. We urged him to try and shut the rat up, worried we'd be heard, but then Scabbers bit Ron, making things worse. Then Harry tugged on my sleeve, looking across the glade to see none other than Crookshanks, staring right at us. "Hermione, I really think you bought a devil for a cat." I whispered to her as she squeaked.

"Crookshanks! No, go away Crookshanks. Go away!" But neither cat nor rat were listening. Scabbers broke free of Ron and scuttled away, making the giant orange cat spring for him before chasing him into the gloom, Ron also following. He abandoned the invisibility cloak before any of us could grab him. I darted after him next, leaving Harry and Hermione behind as I sprinted after Ron and these infernal pets. Why couldn't they have sensible pets like owls? What I wouldn't give for Orion right now. He could grab Scabbers and get out of here.

Ron was shouting, trying to catch Scabbers before Crookshanks and by the sounds of it, he succeeded. I had to leap in order to avoid stepping on him, and once I landed I scooped up Crookshanks and held him at arm's length as he writhed and hissed, trying to get free. "What's your obsession with Scabbers anyway Crooks? He'd probably give you indigestion anyway." I said to him pointedly as Harry and Hermione both caught up too, breathless and without the cloak.

"Ron, come on, back under the cloak…Dumbledore, the minister…they'll be coming back out in a minute." Hermione struggled to catch her breath, starting towards me as I continued to hold the wriggling Crookshanks away from me. It was then that we all heard something running at us, something big powering forwards until all at once, a giant black dog bound seemingly out of nowhere and crashed against Harry, knocking him over.

"Grim!" I recognised him immediately, my jaw dropping and in my surprise, let go of Crookshanks. Completely taken aback, I watched as Grim rolled off Harry from the continual momentum of his leap but was quickly recovering, baring his teeth and snarling. This was like a completely different dog to the soppy eyed, floppy eared dog I was used to, I was too stunned to even react. It was only when Grim lunged for Harry again that I finally snapped to my senses, as Ron pushed him away and got bit on the arm instead. "No! Let him go Grim! What's wrong with you?!" I tried to lunge for the dog with Harry in order to pull him off Ron as he screamed, but Grim started to drag him away from us effortlessly, clearly much stronger than his skinny body gave him credit for. "Ron!" Alarmed, I started after him but before I could get close enough to grab his leg, something whipped against my stomach with a groaning creak before the sound of a whiplash cracked through me.

Before I knew it, I was on the ground, blinking up at the deepening sky dumbly until I saw a shadow moving over me. The Whomping Willow. With a burst of energy, I rolled out of the way before it could smash one of its thicker branches down on me, scrambling to get out of the way as I then searched for Harry and Hermione who had also been hit. "Lumos!" I lit my wand in order to provide light, Harry doing the same as we then faced the tree. "Did you see where he went? Where's Ron?"

"Down there, the dog pulled him through that hole there." Harry pointed, bleeding a little but he looked alright so I didn't worry about it. I looked at the dark, gaping hole between the knotted roots of the tree which was angrily quivering, flexing its branches with sharp cracks of sound. "I think Ron broke his leg, he caught it on one of the roots, I heard it crack…"

"We'll worry about that later. We've got to get to him first." But how, exactly? Each time I tried to get near, some branch or other whipped at me and I had to artfully dodge and roll repeatedly just to keep from being snapped in half. One time I wasn't so lucky, being smacked backwards with enough force that when I hit the ground my wand flew out of my hand and became lost in the grass, too dark to be able to see anything even as I groped and fumbled for it. Eventually, it was Crookshanks who showed us the way. Snaking forwards agile and sure, he darted and wove before all at once pressing his front paws against a knot in the tree which caused it to shudder before going still, much to all of our disbelief.

"Crookshanks! How did he know?" Hermione gasped as I gave up the search for my wand and instead, grabbed the two of them as they started towards the tree, wanting to go first to make sure it was safe.

"He's friends with that dog." Harry informed us sourly as I inched closer, waved my arms to try and tempt the tree to hit me but it remained perfectly still, like it were sleeping. "I've seen them together. Come on, and keep your wand out."

"Someone should go for help." I reasoned, all of us lingering before the hole between the roots.

"You haven't got your wand, you should go."

"No, I know Grim. I've been seeing him around all year, he might listen to me once he's calmed down. Besides, I'm an animagus, I can keep him off the lot of you. Plus, I'm the prefect here and older. I'll go get him." But Harry wouldn't hear of turning back and leaving me to face this alone, and there was no time to argue. The longer we stood chatting, the worse it might be for Ron so in the end, I just jumped down and started moving forwards. Crookshanks was leading the way, as if eager to show us where Grim and Ron had got to as Harry and Hermione lit their wands to give us some light.

There was a strong smell of earth and damp as we crawled then walked once the tunnel had opened up further. "Where does this tunnel come out?" Hermione asked in a tiny little whisper, clearly frightened so I reached back and took her hand, letting her squeeze the life out of my hand.

"I don't know, it's marked on the Marauder's Map but Fred and George said no one's ever got into it. It goes off the edge of the map, but it looked like it ends up in Hogsmeade." Harry responded as I grumbled.

"Yeah, I broke my arm in second year trying to get through. This tree is demented and should be uprooted." I tried to measure the distance with each step. This tunnel was longer than the one that lead to Honeydukes, I'm fairly certain we'd passed Hogsmeade entirely and when the tunnel twisted and started to rise towards a dim light in the distance, I held out my arm, signalled to the other two to be as quiet as humanly possible, then carried on. To my surprise, the tunnel lead into a cellar. It was dank, dusty and the air made my throat itch, making me want to cough but I held it back, creeping forwards as we entered what seemed to be an abandoned house. The walls were covered in mould with faded paper, ripped and peeling and as I glanced around, I noticed long claw marks on the floor which I hoped Harry and Hermione failed to notice.

They didn't, so we continued up and out into a hallway, the rickety building giving a shuddering creak like a sigh every now and then as Hermione suddenly gasped. "I think we're in the Shrieking Shack." Yeah, I think she might be right, only thing is, I don't think this place was haunted by ghosts. Ghosts couldn't rip furniture to pieces, which Harry pointed out. Something creaked over our heads and I immediately took off for the stairs, wanting to waste no more time tiptoeing around. We couldn't hear any screaming, which meant Ron was quiet. It was either a good sign or a bad one, and I would prefer it to be the former.

The others quietly doused the lights from their wands as we went upstairs and my eyes immediately fell on the only open door. I wish I had my wand, it would be far easier if I could use a spell to find out who else was in the house and look for any booby-traps. Marching on ahead with light, jumping steps to avoid the breaks in the floor and be as quiet as possible, I appeared in the room at the very end of the hall to find Ron groaning on the floor, his leg severely broken with Crookshanks purring next to him, as if proud to have lead us right to him. "Ron! Are you okay?" Harry and Hermione dashed across to him with me already having crossed over to grab Ron and lift him up, placing him on the bed and grabbed the musty pillows in order to elevate his leg.

"Where's the dog?"

"Not a dog." He croaked, looking rather pale and sickly as he flinched in pain. "Harry, it's a trap…" Trap? "He's the dog, he's an animagus!" When I saw the frightened look which was directed over Harry's shoulder, I immediately seized Harry and Hermione in order to thrust them behind me, baring my teeth like a snarl as the door swung closed with a pained creak, revealing a sallow faced man with long matted hair concealed within the shadows. A thunder of emotions rippled through me as Sirius Black stood before us. Before I could stop him, he'd raised his wand.

"Expelliarmus." Both wands flew out of Harry and Hermione's hands, flying through the air and directly to his. Eyes of pale blue, barely living, were fixed on Harry as I tightened my grip on his arm behind me. "I thought you'd come and help your friend." His stare flickered to me at that moment, making me bristle further but he said nothing, only looked at Harry again. "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…" Even as Black spoke, the croak in his voice mellowed, like an instrument being warmed up after an extended period of disuse.

"Stop right there." I snarled, my stance lowering slightly in preparation to spring right at him as I also blocked Harry from going for Black as his anger spiked. "I won't let you hurt Harry. Do you know who I am, Black?" His eyes constantly flickered between Harry and myself, as if unsure who to focus on. They drew back to me then, and as I watched, I saw something of a pang in his expression, an echo of pain that he couldn't hide.

"Mia. You're my Mia." Curling my lip, I struggled to figure out what that look meant. Being an animagus, I had a good sense for other people's emotions these days, and try as I might, I couldn't sense any killing intent. At least, not towards Harry, which only confused me further. Add to the fact that it transpired that all this time, Sirius Black had been that very same friendly dog I'd been seeing all year. It hurt to think that he'd used me like that, I'd actually brought him into the castle and fed him. In a flash of guilt, spite and indignation, I snapped at him.

"Don't call me that. All this time you've been trying to get to Harry, is that why you approached me as a dog? I bet you were having a right old laugh, fooling a stupid girl into trusting you, waiting for me to bring you straight up to Harry but every time, someone got in the way. You'd always disappear whenever someone got close to seeing you. I can't believe…" My face was struggling to remain placid, breathing heavily as I felt my mind weighed with the guilt of almost bringing Sirius Black straight to Harry.

All the while he'd remained silent, staring at me blankly, like the part of him capable of feeling any human emotion was gone. "You'll have to kill all of us if you want to get to Harry." Ron supplied bravely, trying to get up but Hermione smartly pushed him back down as I remained standing pointedly in front of all of them. It was the only gamble I had, that Black might hesitate to try and kill Harry if I was standing in front of him. I had to play this carefully, I had to get them out of here. If Harry and Hermione could manage to carry Ron, I'll fight Black in my animagus form to give them a chance to get away and get the teachers.

"There'll only be one murder here tonight." Suddenly grinning, Black displayed rows of perfectly aligned yet yellowed teeth, any residue of handsomeness once possessed now gone.

"Why's that?" Barking sharply with anger, I could feel Harry trembling behind me. "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?" Hermione whimpered, telling Harry to be quiet but then he exploded as he surged forwards once again and I physically had to restrain him from literally handing himself over to Black as he bellowed. "HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" The kid really put up a fight, writhing and struggling against me as I locked my arms under his, dragging him back before flinging him around as Hermione continued to whimper, tugging at his jacket as well in a bid to help.

However, Harry's rage was too strong and before I knew it, he'd ripped himself free of me and in an impressive leap across the room, punched Black in the face. They both tumbled backwards as I stared in shock, impressed and astonished at the same time. The others were screaming as sparks shot out from the wands in Black's hands, narrowly missing Harry's face so I dove forwards. I grabbed Black's bony wrist, forcing the wands away from Harry's face and latched onto his throat as he tried to go for Harry's, squeezing with all my might as Hermione and even Ron joined the fray, all of us tackling Black until Crookshanks leaped on us with a yowl, slashing with his claws and managed a long scratch across my back which made me cry out.

In the struggle, Harry suddenly broke free and dove across the room, fighting with Crookshanks before then turning, wand in his hand with a shout to get out of the way. Immediately I seized Ron and hauled him up onto his good leg, dragging him and Hermione back as she managed to grab their wands. Harry now faced Black, panting heavily with his glasses askew, covered in dust from the mad scramble on the floor. "Going to kill me, Harry?" Black asked softly, almost like a taunt and without any trace of fear in his face. He really was nuts.

"You killed my parents." He said hoarsely, and for a moment, I just looked at the pair of them.

"I don't deny it, but if you knew the whole story…" What? What whole story? There was something going on here, something that kept on nagging at me. Black had plenty of chances to kill Harry. I mean, really kill him. He could have killed him the moment he stepped into this room, but he didn't. He could have entered the castle as a dog, found him, and killed him then. I'd even brought him in over Christmas, there was no mistaking that Grim and Black were one and the same, and yet for an entire year, Black hadn't done anything. I wanted to believe it, mostly for selfish reasons. I didn't want my real father to be this person, and some foolish hope told me that there had to be something more to this.

"The whole story? You sold them to Voldemort, that's all I need to know!"

"You've got to listen to me. You'll regret it if you don't, you don't understand…"

"I understand a lot better than you think. You never heard her, did you? My mum, trying to stop Voldemort killing me…and you did that, you did it…" It was then that Crookshanks flew across the room, making all of us blink in surprise as he sat himself down on Black's chest and started to purr. I don't believe it. Crookshanks was actually trying to protect Black. Now more confused than ever, I sank to the floor and became the lion, fixing my luminous blue eyes on the cat and started to growl softly.

As both of us were felines, I could get a strong sense for what Crookshanks was feeling, and even an impression of what he was trying to say. I'll have to tell Hermione later just how smart her cat was, and I'm fairly certain it wasn't just a cat, but as we communicated, Crookshanks firmly indicated that Black wasn't a threat. Not an enemy. That's what I received, making my ears twitch and flick as I remained tense all over. Black was now staring at me, grinning from ear to ear as if pleased to see me as a lion, and when I stood back up his eyes followed me again. "He's not a threat, Harry. You can lower your wand." Immediately the others turned to me.

"Are you mental?! Harry don't lower your wand!" Ron called out firmly as Harry looked at me in surprise.

"I want to hear him out."

"Well, I don't. He killed my parents!"

"Harry…he's my father." I reminded him, making Harry blink but relax his grip on his wand, which looked like it was about to break in half he was holding it so tightly. "I want to know what he has to say, I deserve that at the very least, and so do you. There's no harm in listening, so long as he doesn't do anything stupid, then I'll gladly curse him for you." Just then a noise sounded from downstairs, and Hermione immediately shrieked for help and footsteps immediately followed as Harry remained undecided.

All at once Lupin burst into the room and I breathed a sigh of relief without even thinking about it as he cast his eyes about the room, paler than I'd ever seen him before. Then, he turned his wand on Harry and disarmed him, causing an outcry of alarm from the rest of us. "What do you think you're doing?!" But Lupin ignored me, instead turning to Black on the floor.

"Where is he, Sirius?" Staring in shock, I inched closer to Ron and Hermione, silently willing Harry to come towards me also as I realised, with a pang of betrayal, that Lupin was on Sirius's side. You could tell by his voice and actions, and I couldn't help but feel hurt. Pausing for a moment, Black then pointed at Ron. I shifted closer still. "But then…why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless…unless he was the one…unless you switched…without telling me?" Having no clue what Lupin was on about, Black then nodded and a revelation seemed to dawn on his face.

Harry tried to ask what was going on, but Lupin had already lowered his wand and strode over to Black, grabbing him by the hand in order to pull him back up onto his feet, looked at him, then clasped him into an embrace like an old friend. My jaw dropped as Hermione yelled. "I don't believe it! You…you…you and him!" Lupin tried to step towards Hermione, telling her to calm down but the moment he did so I was a lion once more, snarling and swatted at the air with razor sharp claws to keep him back, tail flicking furiously as my eyes gleamed all the more. He flinched, looking at me with strain as if he wanted to tell me something but Hermione was on a roll. More confident now that she had a lion by her side, she continued. "I didn't tell anyone! Mia and I have been covering for you. We trusted you and all this time, you've been his friend!" I roared again to emphasise my agreement.

"You're wrong." Lupin insisted, holding up his hands to try and calm us both down. "I haven't been Sirius's friend for twelve years, 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!" I stood up once more, yanking a hand back through my curls to keep them out of my face as Lupin looked oddly calm, though a little hurt.

"Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione." He said to her weakly. "Only one out of three, I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don't want Harry dead…but I won't deny that I am a werewolf." Ron whimpered then, from pain or fear I don't know, but when Lupin started towards him Ron hissed sharply, telling him to keep away from him.

"Ron, don't be daft. Professor Lupin won't ever hurt us, he's been our teacher all year." I chided quietly, rubbing my head as I tried to make sense of all this. As far as I could tell, Lupin wasn't lying. Again he looked hurt, but took it into stride as he then looked to Hermione and me, eyes lingering upon mine.

"How long have you known?"

"Ages. Since I did Professor Snape's essay…"

"After about four months. I noticed the pattern." I answered at the same time as Hermione, the both of us glancing at one another. Lupin looked a little sullen, sighing softly.

"He'll be delighted. He set that essay hoping someone would realise what my symptoms meant. Did you check the lunar chart and realise that I was always ill at the full moon? Or did you realise that the boggart changed into the moon when it saw me?" Squeaking meekly, Hermione admitted to both. "You're one of the brightest witches of your age I've ever met, Hermione." He said before turning to me. "And Mia, clever, clever Mia. Did you really know all this time?" Without hesitation, I nodded quickly. "Yet you still came and kept me company in my office, sent me chocolate every month to wish me well again. Yes," now Lupin was smiling at me, soft and warm like before. "Madame Pomfrey always passed them along. I never told you how grateful I was for the thought." I shifted awkwardly, not knowing where to look as Hermione muttered.

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

"But they already know. At least, the staff do." That much I had recognised, though Ron particularly was shocked by the news.

"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf? Is he mad?"

"Some of the staff thought so. He had to work very hard to convince certain teachers that I'm trustworthy…"

"And he was wrong!" Harry suddenly bellowed, making me jump slightly as he roared furiously. "You've been helping him all the time!"

"Oh for goodness sake Harry, put a sock in it!" I snapped at him, growing tried and impatient with this stalemate we'd reached. He looked at me quickly. "If you've been listening like you should have, Lupin said himself he wasn't helping Black get into the castle, and I believe him. Besides, they've been trying to explain something for the past ten minutes, am I the only person here who actually wants to know what's been going on? Because nothing adds up at the moment!" Dropping his jaw, Harry gaped at me as I folded my arms and sent him a scowl. "So just shut up and listen for a minute, or I'll come over there and sit on you."

"Ha!" To my surprise, Black laughed, grinning with amusement as he looked at me. "She's definitely mine, wouldn't you say Remus?"

"It has been alarming seeing the similarities between the two of you all year." Lupin agreed, also smiling lightly before he then separated the wands he'd been holding and tossed them back to their owners, returning them so that he and Black were now completely unarmed. "There. You're armed, we're not. Now will you listen?" I gave Harry another scowl, silently telling him to agree.

"If you haven't been helping him, how did you know he was here?"

"The map." Lupin announced simply and I could have slapped myself for being so stupid. Of course! The bloody map! We could have used that from the very beginning to track Black's movements in the castle! "The Marauder's Map, I was in my office examining it…"

"You know how to work it?"

"Of course I know how to work it. I helped write it. I'm Moony. That was my friends' nickname for me at school." My eyes lit up with recognition.

"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs." I recalled, frowning slightly as I glanced between Lupin and Black before then scowling at him. "You must be Padfoot." Again he grinned, seemingly pleased I'd figured it out. For a moment I just stared at the two of them, already at a loss for words until Lupin cleared his throat lightly.

"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I had an idea that you, Ron and Hermione might try and sneak out of the castle to visit Hagrid before his hippogriff was executed, and I was right, wasn't I? Though Mia, I should have guessed you would have been there too. Apologies for my short sightedness." He added before returning to his explanation. "You might have been wearing your father's old cloak, Harry…"

"How d'you know about the cloak?" Giving a nostalgic smile as I slowly sank onto the dusty old bed, Lupin looked at Harry gently.

"The number of I saw James disappearing under it…the point is, even if you're wearing an invisibility cloak, you 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 someone else."

"Yes we know, Mia." Harry growled impatiently, but Lupin was already shaking his head.

"No, not Mia. I couldn't believe my eyes, I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?" Getting continually frustrated, Harry yelled that there wasn't anyone else with us so I clicked my tongue at him, reminding him if he'd just be quiet, Lupin would get to the point. "And then I saw another dot, moving fast towards you, labelled Sirius Black. I saw him collide with you, I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow…"

"One of us!" Ron disagreed sharply, but Lupin insisted that it was two. He had taken to pacing, but now he stopped and looked directly at Ron.

"Do you think I could have a look at the rat?" What? Everyone was confused, Ron demanding to know what Scabbers had to do with anything and it was only then that I realised that Scabbers had been here all this time, quivering in Ron's pocket. "Everything. Could I see him please?" Hesitating, Ron then looked at me. I thought for a moment then gave a curt nod, telling him it wouldn't hurt so Ron pulled Scabbers out of his pocket, the rat thrashing and raving like it were possessed. The only way to hold onto him was to hold him by his tail as Lupin came closer, glancing to me for permission first before inspecting Scabbers closely.

"What? What's my rat got to do with anything?" Ron questioned as I also frowned at the rat, trying to see if there was anything unusual about it, but all I could see that it was missing one of it's toes.

"That's not a rat." Black spit out with a deep growl. Ron frowned, all the more bewildered as he insisted that it was just a rat.

"No, he's not. He's a wizard." My eyes widened.

"No!" I gasped, leaping up onto my feet and staring. "That can't be…" The others demanded to know what was wrong, looking at me for answers but I had looked at Black – my father – who had a dark expression on his face as he glowered at the rat.

"An animagus…by the name of Peter Pettigrew." The rat squeaked weakly as the rest of us all fell to silence.