Also, this is a LONG chapter, so switch on your Harry Potter soundtrack and give yourself a good bit of time to read it!
PS- I have no idea what 'ostentatiously' means either, but it sounds cool ;)
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Chapter VIIISirius watched on with a distinct sense of pleasure as the three children attempted to digest this new information. It had always been one of the thoughts that had plagued his dreams the most, how the world would come to accept Peter's continuing existence. He had feared their reaction, if they would believe it, or if they would laugh in his face.
Now he was in the situation though, he found it grimly comical to observe their responses.
Watching Remus learn the truth just minutes beforehand has been tense, as Sirius's future rested squarely on whether his old friend believed him or not, but now his freedom had been almost guaranteed, he could enjoy the situation to its fullest.
"You're both mental"
"Ridiculous"
Sirius wasn't really listening, instead just glancing at Remus happily, until Harry's line broke his silence, his finger waving impatiently and wildly in Sirius's direction.
"Peter Pettigrew's dead! He killed him twelve years ago!"
Sirius frowned, and twitched slightly, unused to being directly spoken to.
"I meant to, but little Peter got the better of me… not this time though!"
Sirius coughed briefly, his throat sore from speaking for the first time in so long. He had been pleased with his delivery of the line though, it sounded both melodramatic and extremely theatrical.
As he finished speaking, he noticed Peter the rat crawling next to the ginger boys leg. Unable to control himself, he lept forwards and tried to wrap his hands around the creature.
The boy was screaming, and Remus was yelling loudly in the background, but Sirius ignored both and reached for the struggling rodent.
He reached for the grey, fragile neck, but before he could break it he felt Remus's hands pulling at his shoulders, dragging him backwards across the room and away from Wormtail.
"Sirius, NO!"
Ignoring Moony's advice, Sirius pulled away and lunged towards Peter again. This time, Remus didn't hold back, and grabbed him around the waist, pulling with all his strength to prevent the attack.
"WAIT! You can't do it just like that – they need to understand – we've got to explain!"
"We can explain afterwards!"
Sirius raised his hand and pushed Remus aside, still being restrained yet desperately reaching for the rat.
"They've – got – a – right- to – know – everything! Ron's kept him as a pet! There are parts of it even I don't understand! And Harry – you owe Harry the truth, Sirius!"
Sirius stopped reaching for Wormtail and twisted his neck, staring into Remus's eyes from close proximity. A moment later he swivelled back around to face the rat.
"All right, then. Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for…"
Quivering with anger, Sirius backed away and relaxed his posture. The ginger boy though was doing the exact opposite, cradling the rat in his hands and attempting to stand.
"You're nutters, both of you," he spluttered, "I've had enough of this. I'm off."
Remus whipped his wand back out and pointed it downwards towards the rat. Sirius made forward for the briefest of moments, angry at the idea that Remus would destroy Peter alone. His apprehension drifted away though as the calm voice again filled the air.
"You're going to hear me out, Ron, just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen."
"HE'S NOT PETER, HE'S SCABBERS!"
Sirius was still somewhat confused by the entire situation, but he kept quiet, his eyes occasionally darting over to Wormtail just to make sure no daring escape was attempted.
"There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die. A whole street full of them…" Harry said cautiously, examining the features on Remus's face with interest.
Sirius decided it was time to interrupt, mildly annoyed at his lack of participation in the conversation recently.
"They didn't see what they thought they saw!"
His eyes never left the struggling rat, as Remus began to nod his head in agreement.
"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter, I believed it myself – until I saw the map tonight. Because the Marauder's Map never lies…. Peter's alive. Ron's holding him, Harry"
The two boys looked at each other as though the two men were completely insane. Before Sirius could retort with a convincing remark, the girl, Hermione, spoke quietly.
"But Professor Lupin…. Scabbers can't be Pettigrew…it just can't be true, you know it can't…"
"Why can't it be true?"
"Because…people would know if Peter Pettigrew had been as Animagus. We did Animagi in class with Professor. McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework – the ministry keeps tabs on witches and wizards who can become animals; there's a register showing what animal they become, and their markings and things…and I went and looked Professor. McGonagall up on the register, and there have only been seven Animagi this century, and Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list."
Interested as to how Remus would reply to the girl's research, Sirius leaned backwards against one of the filthy wooden walls and scratched his beard thoughtfully.
Remus began to chuckle to himself and smiled warmly at Hermione, his face looking more worn and aged then ever before.
"Right again, Hermione! But the ministry never knew that there used to be three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts."
Sirius sighed and brushed some of the dust from his tattered clothing. Moony was taking too long, and he was beginning to get impatient.
"If you're going to tell them the story, get a move on, Remus. I've waited twelve years, I'm not going to wait much longer."
Remus Lupin stopped smiling and answered Sirius earnestly.
"All right…but you'll need to help me, Sirius, I only know how it began..."
Suddenly, a loud creak came from behind the group, as the door mysteriously swung open of its own accord.
Remus marched over and examined it momentarily, before returning, shrugging his shoulders and frowning.
"No one there…"
"This place is haunted" The ginger boy said softly.
"It's not," Remus replied, "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted…the screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me. That's where all of this starts – with me becoming a werewolf. None of this could have happened if I hadn't been bitten…and if I hadn't been so foolhardy…I was a very small boy when I received the bite. My parents tried everything but in those days there was no cure. The potion that Professor Snape has been making for me is a very recent discovery. It makes me safe, you see. As long as I take it in the week preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform…I am able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again.
Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully-fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren't likely to want their children exposed to me.
But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that, as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn't come to school…I told you months ago, that the Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. The truth is that it was planted because I had come to Hogwarts. This house – the tunnel that leads to it – they were built for my use. Once a month, I was smuggled out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The tree was placed at the tunnel mouth to stop anyone coming across me while I was dangerous. My transformations in those days were – were terrible. It is very painful to turn into a werewolf. I was separated from humans to bite, so I bit and scratched myself instead. The villagers heard the noise and the screaming and thought they were hearing particularly violent spirits. Dumbledore encourage the rumour…even now, when the house has been silent for years, the villagers don't dare approach it.
But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends. Sirius Black…Peter Pettigrew…and, of course, your father, Harry – James Potter. Now my three friends could hardly fail to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them my mother was ill, and that I had to go home to see her…I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was. But of course, they, like you, Hermione, worked out the truth…
And they didn't desert me at all. Instead they did something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life. They became Animagi"
Sirius sighed, knowing the story all too well, it felt almost as though Remus had scripted it for a teenage audience, completely ignoring his earlier wishes to 'get a move on'.
"My dad, too?" Harry retorted, a clear look of surprise on his face.
"Yes, indeed. It took them the best part of three years to work out how to do it. Your father and Sirius here were the cleverest students in the school," Sirius was rather touched, "and lucky they were, because the Animagus transformation can go horribly wrong – one reason the Ministry keeps a close watch on those attempting to do it. Peter needed all the help he could get from James and Sirius. Finally, in our fifth year, they managed it. They could each turn into a different animal at will."
"But how did that help you?" The girl asked, inquisitively.
Sirius rolled his eyes, perplexed as to how this allegedly clever Hermione girl was unable to figure out such a simple answer. He kept quiet though, and allowed Moony to continue…
"They couldn't keep me company as humans, so they kept me company as animals. A werewolf is only a danger to people. They sneaked out of the castle every month under James's Invisibility Cloak. They transformed…Peter, as the smallest, could slip beneath the Willow's attacking branches and touch the knot that freezes it. They would then slip down the tunnel and join me. Under their influence, I became less dangerous. My body was still wolfish, but my mind seemed to become less so while I was with them."
Sirius was getting irritable with the delay, and found himself uncontrollably interrupting.
"Hurry up, Remus"
"I'm getting there, Sirius, I'm getting there…well, highly exciting possibilities were open to us now we could all transform. Soon we were leaving the Shrieking Shack and roaming the school grounds and the village by night. Sirius and James transformed into such large animals they were able to keep a werewolf in check. I doubt whether any Hogwarts students ever found out more about the Hogwarts grounds and Hogsmeade that we dud…and that's how we came to write the Marauder's Map, and sign it with our nicknames. Sirius is Padfoot. Peter is Wormtail. James was Prongs."
Sirius was about to interrupt again at the utterly irrelevant information being passed on, but Harry spoke first.
"What sort of animal-"
Hermione ostentatiously spoke over him.
"That was still really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a werewolf! What if you'd given the others the slip, and bitten somebody?"
"A thought that still haunts me. And there were near misses, many of them. We laughed about them afterwards. We were young, thoughtless – carried away with our own cleverness. I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore's trust, of course…he had admitted me to Hogwarts when no other headmaster would have done so, and he had no idea I was breaking the rules he had set down for my own and others safety. He never knew I had led three fellow students into becoming Animagi illegally. But I always managed to forget my guilty feelings every time we sat down to plan our next month's adventure. And I haven't changed.
All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. But I didn't do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I'd betrayed his trust while I was at school, admitting that I'd led others along with me…and Dumbledore's trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job, when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using dark arts he learned from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it…so in a way, Snape's been right about me all along."
The name had occurred in the conversation before, but Sirius only truly registered it now. Severus Snape, known to his enemies as Snivellus, or many other more gratuitous nicknames. Eitherway, the mentioning of Snape was unexpected.
"Snape? What's Snape got to do with it?"
"He's here, Sirius. He's teaching here as well"
Sirius looked at Remus with astonishment. The greasy haired asshole, Ex-Death Eater, Severus Snape, was teaching at Hogwarts?!?!?!?!
Remus nodded slowly and regretfully, before turning to address the children again.
"Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought very hard against my appointment to the Defence against the Dark Arts job. He has been telling Dumbledore all year that I am not to be trusted. He has reasons…you see, Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me."
Sirius didn't understand what all the fuss had been about, it wasn't as if he wanted Snivellus dead, merely injured in some painful way.
"It served him right. Sneaking around, trying to get us expelled…"
"Severus was very interested in where I went every month. We were in the same year, you know, and we - er – didn't like each other very much. He especially disliked James. Jealous, I think, of James' talent on the Quidditch pitch…anyway, Snape had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me towards the Whomping Willow to transform. Sirius thought it would be – er – amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree with a long stick, and he'd be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Snape tried it – if he'd got as far as the house, he'd have met a fully-grown werewolf – but your father, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life…Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden to tell anybody by Dumbledore, but from that time on he knew what I was…"
Sirius remembered all too well the downside of the entire situation, which had been Dumbledore's angry outburst. He had received a whole month of detentions, something practically unheard of from the usually passive Headmaster.
"So that's why Snape doesn't like you, because he thought you were in on the joke?" Harry spoke slowly.
"That's right!"
Sirius practically jumped out of his skin, leaping to his feet in disbelief as Snivellus Snape pulled off the Invisibility Cloak and raised his wand in Remus's direction. The children all looked as shocked as if Voldemort himself had just walked in, struggling not to shout out in surprise.
"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow. Very useful Potter, I thank you…"
Snivellus dropped the cloak and triumphantly stared at the group with a look of superiority. It was his lucky day.
"You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here? I've just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky I did…lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."
Years had passed, but Snape had lost none of his cunning. Sirius couldn't help but be a little impressed.
Remus looked less so though, fear washing over his face as the implications of Snape's presence hit him.
"Severus…"
"I've told the Headmaster again and again that you've been helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof. Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout."
"Severus, you're making a mistake. You haven't heard everything – I can explain - Sirius is not here to kill Harry."
The pitch of Remus's voice had become high and desperate; he was taking the situation a lot worse then Sirius, who remained fairly cool after the original shock.
"Two more for Azkaban tonight," Snape continued.
All attempts at remaining calm deserted Sirius as these words resounded through the Shrieking Shack.
TO BE CONTINUED…