A/N: I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so I wanted to give you all one last posting before I leave. I know, I know: you all hate me, how can I do this, it's so unfair, this chapter's a cliffhanger, what gives, right? Well, what can I say, except sorry! Sucks to be you! Haha, cuz I'm going to DISNEYLAND!

Oh, but, um…

I'll be back next Saturday, and I'll try to post the next bit then. Like I said, I'll TRY. Anywho, much love to you all, read and review!

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Chapter 12

Remus Explains It All

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione shrieked. Remus released Sirius, and Hermione was pointing at Remus, looking distressed. "You—you…"

"Hermione—"

"—You and him!"

"Hermione, calm down—" Remus tried to reason.

"I didn't tell anyone! I've been covering up for you—"

"Hermione, listen to me, please! I can explain!" Remus yelled. Sirius was slightly surprised; Remus never yelled.

"I trusted you," Harry shouted at Remus abruptly "and all the time you've been his friend!"

"You're wrong." Remus said. "I haven't been Sirius's friend," Sirius looked at him with a small glare, "but I am now—Let me explain…"

"NO!" Hermione screamed. "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black into the castle, he wants you dead too—he's a werewolf!"

Silence followed this statement, and Remus's eyes fell to the floor. Sirius looked at him carefully. Once Remus had regained himself, he looked up at Hermione with calm eyes and a light voice.

"Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione. 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…" He had the same look on his face that Sirius had when Ron reminded Sirius of why everyone but Remus thought he was here. "But I won't deny that I'm a werewolf."

Ron tried to get to his feet, and Remus went towards him as Ron fell back onto the bed. When Remus made to help Ron, he gasped, "Get away from me, werewolf!"

Remus stopped in his tracks, and Sirius knew what Ron said hurt him. But with remarkable calmness, Remus turned to Hermione. "How long have you known?"

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

"He'll be delighted," Remus said unperturbedly, glancing at Sirius. "He assigned that essay hoping someone would realize what my symptoms meant… Did you check the lunar chart and realize I was always ill at the full moon? Or did you realize that the boggart changed into a full moon when it saw me?" He asked her.

"Both." She answered softly.

Remus gave the fakest laugh Sirius had ever heard. "You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione."

"I'm not," She said acidly. "If I'd been a bit cleverer, I'd have told everyone what you are!"

"But they already know. At least, the staff do."

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

"Some of the staff thought so," Remus told him. "He had to work very hard to convince certain teachers that I'm trustworthy—"

"AND HE WAS WRONG!" Harry shouted. "YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THE TIME!" He was pointing accusingly at Sirius again, shaking with anger. Sirius felt a wave of sadness wash over him again. He crossed to the moldy four-poster bed and sat upon it. Ron inched away from him, but Crookshanks hopped up next to him.

Sirius covered his face with his hands as Remus said, "I have not been helping Sirius. If you'll give me a chance, I'll explain. Look—" Remus tossed Harry, Ron, and Hermione their wands. "There. You're armed, we're not. Now will you listen?"

The three of them looked stunned and confused. Harry was the only one who could think of something to say.

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

"The map… the Marauder's Map." Remus said simply. Sirius looked up at him. The map is still at Hogwarts? "I was in my office examining it—"

"You know how to work it?" Harry interrupted. Sirius tried not to laugh.

"Of course I know how to work it; I helped write it." Remus said with a small smile. "I'm Moony—that was my friends' name for me at school."

"You wrote—?"

"The important thing is," Remus tried to continue, "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?" Remus started to do his characteristic pacing. "You might have been wearing your father's old cloak, Harry—"

"How d'you know about the cloak?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"The number of times I saw James disappearing under it…" Remus waved this aside. Sirius remembered all the times that Remus and Sirius, themselves, had disappeared under the cloak. "The point is, even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak, you still 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 toward the castle. But you were accompanied by someone else."

"What? No, we weren't!" Harry exclaimed.

"I couldn't believe my eyes," Remus was ignoring Harry. "I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?"

"No one was with us!" Harry said hotly.

"And then I saw another dot, moving fast toward 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." Remus said coolly. He looked at Ron carefully, before adding, "Do you think I could have a look at the rat?"

"What? What's Scabbers got to do with it?" Ron asked almost fearfully.

"Everything," Remus said evenly. "Could I see him, please?"

Carefully, Ron reached into his pocket. Peter-the-rat was thrashing wildly in Ron's hands, squeaking and desperately trying to escape.

"What? What's my rat got to do with anything?" Ron repeated, struggling to hold on to Peter.

"That's not a rat." Sirius said. He was staring at Peter. There he was—right there…

"What d'you mean—of course he's a rat—"

"No, he's not. He's a wizard." Remus said in almost a whisper. He too was staring at Peter intently.

"An Animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew." Sirius said, eyes never moving off the squirming rat. He could barely talk.

Silence followed. The three students' eyebrows rose as one as they looked at Remus and Sirius.

"You're both mental." Ron said finally.

"Ridiculous!" Hermione whispered.

"Peter Pettigrew's dead!" Harry said angrily. "He killed him twelve years ago!" Sirius closed his eyes for a moment.

"I meant to," Sirius said as calmly as he could manage, for his temper was starting to flare up again, "but little Peter got the better of me… not this time, though!"

Without realizing what he had done, Sirius lunged at Ron's hands.

"Sirius, NO!" Remus shouted, as Sirius landed with a thud on Ron's broken leg. Ron let out a moan, and Remus dragged Sirius off of him. "WAIT! You can't do it just like that—they need to understand—we've got to explain—"

"We can explain afterwards!" Sirius exclaimed, reaching for Peter again, more desperately.

But Remus was holding him back, struggling to keep him away from his prey, saying, "They've—got—a—right—to—know—everything!" Sirius struggled harder. They could wait two seconds to hear the truth—Sirius had waited twelve years! It was his turn…

"Ron's kept him as a pet! There are parts of it even I don't understand!" Remus tried to push Sirius away, but Sirius point-blank refused to give up. Finally, Remus said the one thing he knew would calm Sirius down: "And Harry—you owe Harry the truth, Sirius!" Sirius stopped mid-reach. He stared at Peter hatefully, but didn't move toward him.

"All right, then." Sirius said at last. "Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for…" He never realized how much he wanted to do this. He wanted to kill Peter now, why did Remus want to wait around? If they didn't do it soon, Peter would escape again…

"You're nutters," Ron decided, "both of you." He struggled to get to his feet and looked at Harry and Hermione. "I've had enough of this. I'm off."

"You're going to hear me out, Ron." Remus said, pulling out his wand, and pointing it at Peter. "Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen."

"HE'S NOT PETER, HE'S SCABBERS!" Ron shouted, as he tried to jam Peter back into his pocket. Ron swayed dangerously, but Harry caught him and helped him back onto the bed. Then Harry turned to Remus.

"There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die. A whole street full of them…"

"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" Sirius said furiously. His eyes never left Peter. You're dead, Peter… and you know it too…

"Everyone thought that Sirius killed Peter." Remus agreed. "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."

Harry's eyes fell on Ron. But he still looked disbelieving.

"But Professor Lupin… Scabbers can't be Pettigrew… it just can't be true, you know it can't…" Hermione was talking to him as calmly as she could manage; though it was obvious she thought they were crazy.

"Why can't it be true?" Remus asked her.

"Because… because people would know if Peter Pettigrew had been an Animagus. We did Animagi in class with Professor McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework—the Ministry of Magic 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's only been seven Animagi this century, and Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list—"

Sirius was slightly surprised at the extent that Hermione went to on her homework, when Remus began to chuckle.

"Right again, Hermione! But the Ministry never knew that there used to be three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts."

"If you're going to tell them the story, get a move on, Remus." Sirius interrupted gruffly. "I've waited twelve years, I'm not going to wait much longer."

"All right… but you'll need to help me, Sirius. I only know how it began…" He stopped himself when everyone heard the door creak open by itself. Remus left the room but came back almost instantly. "No one there…"

"This place is haunted!" Ron cried stupidly.

"It's not," Remus said, still looking at the door. "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted… the screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me." He paused, and took a deep breath, pushing his premature gray hair out of his eyes. "That's where all this starts—with my becoming a werewolf. None of this could have happened if I hadn't been bitten… and if I hadn't been so foolhardy…" Remus looked tired suddenly, but he continued before Ron could interrupt.

"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 said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was not reason I shouldn't come to school…" Remus looked at Harry and said, "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 came 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."

Sirius looked at everyone's faces. Harry looked confused, but he was listening with all his might, just the same. Hermione seemed thoroughly involved in the story, while Ron still looked plain angry. He was holding Peter as tight as he could with his bleeding fingers.

"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 encouraged the rumor… 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…" Remus looked at Sirius with a smile, "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 and 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."

"My dad too?" Harry asked suddenly.

"Yes, indeed." Remus replied with a smile. "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, and lucky they were, because the Animagus transformation can go horribly wrong—one reason the Ministry keeps a close watch on all 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?" Hermione asked. She seemed both impressed and confused all at once.

"They couldn't keep me company as humans, so they could 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 attaching 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."

"Hurry up, Remus." Sirius said anxiously. He was sick of all this waiting. He had lived this story, and he didn't need to be reminded of how Peter used to be one of his best friends right before he was going to murder him.

"I'm getting there, Sirius, I'm getting there… well, highly exciting possibilities were open to us now that we could all transform. Soon we were leaving the Shrieking Shack and roaming around the school grounds and the village by night."

My idea, thought Sirius vaguely.

"Sirius and James transformed into such large animals, they were able to keep a werewolf in check. I doubt whether any Hogwarts student ever found out more about Hogwarts than we did… 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."

"What sort of animal--?" Harry began, but Hermione interrupted 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," Remus whispered. Sirius looked at the floor guiltily. "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 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…"

Sirius stared at Remus. He had never told them this… he had never said that he felt bad about the Marauders becoming Animagi. Remus seemed disgusted with himself, and Sirius couldn't see why…

"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 alone with me… and Dumbledore's trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and 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."

"Snape?" Sirius blurted. He never realized that Remus had gone through all this, and if Snape was making it worse… "What's Snape got to do with it?"

"He's here, Sirius. He's teaching here as well." Remus told him. Sirius's eyes widened. Remus looked to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought very hard against my appointment to Defense Against the Dark Arts job. He has been telling Dumbledore all year that I'm not to be trusted. He has his reasons… you see, Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me—"

Sirius snorted. "It served him right. Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to… hoping he could get us expelled…"

"Severus was very interested in where I went every month." Remus said. "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's talent on the Quidditch field…" Sirius tried not to laugh again. "Anyway Snape had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me toward the Whomping Willow to transform. Sirius thought it would be—er—amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was poke the knot on the tree trunk 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 this 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 by Dumbledore to tell anybody, but from that time on he knew what I was…"

"So that's why Snape doesn't like you, because he thought you were in on the joke?" Harry asked.

"That's right." A cold, angry voice came from the wall behind Remus, and Severus Snape whipped of James's Invisibility Cloak, with his wand pointed at Remus's chest.