The girl screamed.

Regulus cursed. He wanted to beat his head against something in frustration— or better yet, beat Sirius's head against something. Harry didn't know, he didn't understand, and in all likelihood the world thought Sirius had broken out to kill him.

Sirius closed the door. "I thought you might come for your friend . . . Ron, you called him? At any rate your dad would've done it for me. At least you didn't run for a teacher. I'm grateful. Things would've gotten very difficult very quickly that way."

Harry scowled and raised his wand. Regulus reacted almost instinctively by raising his own and muttering, "Expelliarmus!" The wands flew out of Harry's, Ron's, and the girl's hands, and Regulus caught them and shoved them into the pocket of his jacket. "I don't want anybody doing anything rash tonight," he snapped. "There's been too much idiocy involved in this incident already, and if we're not careful somebody's gonna get killed."

"That's the point, isn't it?" Harry asked savagely, glowering at Sirius. "To kill someone?"

"Yes," Sirius admitted.

Ron stood up and grabbed Harry just as he began to lunge. The girl grabbed him too, but it was the redheaded boy who spoke. "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us, too!"

Regulus started, "He's not going to—"

But Sirius cut him off with a slightly more pertinent comment. "I believe my brother told you to stay still or you'd damage that leg even more."

Ron, however, just tightened his grip on the struggling Harry and repeated himself. "Didn't you hear me? If you want Harry you'll have to kill all three of us."

"There's only going to be one murder here tonight," Sirius told him quietly.

"Sirius, we've talked about this," Regulus pointed out, not for the first time. "There shouldn't be any."

At the same time, Harry spoke up again. "Why's that?" he asked, struggling against his friends' grips. "You didn't care last time, did you— murdering all those Muggles to get at Pettigrew. Gone soft in Azkaban or something?"

"Harry, be quiet," the girl whispered, looking terrified.

"Yes, be quiet," Regulus agreed, glad to be in the company of at least one more sensible person. "Like I said, don't anyone do anything stu—"

But the last syllable of his plea was drowned out by Harry's shout. "HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" And then he tore himself out of his friends' gasp and launched himself at Sirius. Sirius tried to back out of Harry's reach and was merely thrown against the wall when Harry actually hit him.

Regulus froze, doing some very quick thinking, trying to work out all the possibilities and consequences. It was a problematic habit in a fight and he knew it— most of the time someone was dead before he'd finished thinking and had a chance to act, usually whoever had been stupid enough to attack Bellatrix— but tonight he figured he had time. Doing things absolutely right was important tonight, and Sirius could handle his own for a few minutes: He wasn't up against a killer; he was up against James Potter's thirteen-year-old son. . . .

He hesitated a moment too long. The girl managed to shove Ron back onto the bed and pull the three wands out of Regulus's pocket, and he only barely managed to pull his own out of reach before she grabbed it. "Look, girl—"

"Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, getting back to his feet. His face was flushed with both fury and adrenaline, so he'd almost lost his pallor, and he grabbed Regulus's wrist and arm to protect his friend.

Again Regulus hesitated. Ron was bigger than him, which normally would have ended the fight regardless of anything else— Regulus was not a physical man and never had been. But Ron's leg was also broken. Normally Regulus would have used that against him, but he didn't want to hurt a thirteen-year-old boy any more than he already had been.

That hesitation gave Hermione enough time to seize his wand and turn to help Harry, and Ron to get a better grip on Regulus. Harry and Sirius were still fighting against the wall, and Sirius was having the same trouble his brother had— he didn't want to hurt Harry, which gave the kid the advantage. He'd just about been pushed to the ground when Crookshanks leapt off the bed and onto Harry's arm with a yowl. Harry threw the cat off and turned to Hermione. "You've got our wands?"

She hesitated, but nodded.

Harry held out his hand. "Give me mine and get back!"

Hermione didn't need telling twice. She handed over his wand, backed into Regulus, stumbled, and sidled out of the way.

Harry turned back to Sirius, but before he could do anything, Crookshanks took a second flying leap for his wand arm. Again Harry shook off the cat but the wand went flying. Both of them leapt for it— "No, you don't!" Harry growled, kicking at the ginger fury, who leapt out of the way. Harry grabbed his wand and finally rounded on Sirius.

Sirius had been gingerly checking himself over for serious wounds and was breathing hard— but then, so was Harry. He looked up at the boy standing over him. "Going to kill me, Harry?" he asked quietly.

Harry hesitated. "You killed my parents," he pointed out, his voice shaking.

For a moment the room froze, as if even the house was holding its breath. Then Sirius answered, very quietly, "I won't deny that. But if you knew the whole story—"

"I don't need to know the whole story. You sold them to Voldemort."

"No, he didn't," said Regulus, trying unsuccessfully to jerk out of Ron's surprisingly strong grip. "Trust me, I would know."

"You've got to hear us out," Sirius agreed, and now there was some urgency in his voice. Regulus was unarmed now, after all, and Harry furious and nearly on top of Sirius. All bets were off and they both knew it. "Otherwise you'll regret it . . . you don't understand—"

"I understand better than you think," Harry answered, but he was shaking slightly and he still hadn't done anything. "You know what I hear, every time a dementor gets near me? My mum trying to stop Voldemort from killing me . . . and you did that. . . ."

Crookshanks took a third flying leap and landed on top of Sirius, glowering up at Harry and puffed to twice his usual size. "Get off," Sirius murmured, nudging the cat pointedly. But Crookshanks didn't move.

Again everyone froze, and the Shrieking Shack itself seemed to hold its breath, waiting for the next move.

Before anyone had done anything, however, there was a shuffling downstairs, as if someone had come in and was looking for them. Regulus glanced over to the shut door and swore.

That was enough to break the spell. Sirius made a move as if to stand back up, nearly knocking the cat off of him, and Harry brandished his wand again.

Hermione took a more sensible option. She screamed for help. "UP HERE— SIRIUS BLACK— COME QUICK!"

The footsteps started up the stairs, and now they seemed thunderously loud. Afraid Harry might do something in the few seconds he had left, Regulus tried to shake Ron off and go help his brother, but the boy held on, whimpering a little.

Then Remus Lupin burst into the room. "Expelliarmus!" he shouted. All four wands flew out of their owners' hands, and Lupin caught them. Then his eyes flicked over the room, from Harry, standing over Sirius and Crookshanks, to the panicked-looking Hermione, to Regulus and Ron. His eyes settled on Regulus and his own voice shook as he said softly, "I thought I was going mad. You're supposed to be dead."

Remus continued to stare at the man in front of him for a moment or two. He might not have been able to explain Peter, but he'd always told himself that Regulus Black was just Sirius, that his eyes were playing tricks with him. Now that the short, unshaven, bespectacled man was standing in front of him, he was still not sure whether or not to believe it.

"That's a. . . ." Regulus hesitated and managed to shake Ron off of him. "That's a pretty common misconception, Lupin."

In spite of himself, Remus smiled shakily. He desperately wanted to know how this man was standing before him, but he shook his head and returned to more pressing matters as he glanced back towards Harry and Sirius. Both Blacks had been through the mill lately— both were thin and pale and visibly bruised, as if they'd only been out at night and had a rough time even then. Sirius looked downright vampire-ish. But never mind that now. "Where is he, Sirius?"

Sirius hesitated, and then pointed over at Ron.

Of course. Ron had a pet rat. . . . "Then why hasn't he come out of hiding in the last twelve years? Unless" —and suddenly the answer occurred to him, the missing piece that made this entire year make sense— "unless he was the one, unless you switched without telling me."

Sirius just stared at him for a moment, Remus staring intently back. Then, slowly, he nodded.

"Professor Lupin," Harry started, "what's going on—?"

Harry never finished his sentence, or if he did Remus wasn't paying attention. He strode over, pulled Sirius to his feet, and embraced him. Crookshanks fell to the floor and ran over to leap into Regulus's arms, hissing indignantly.

Regulus hugged the cat and sighed with relief. "Finally." Harry and Ron both looked thunderstruck. Hermione, however, screamed.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!"

Remus froze. So she had known. With some effort he turned to Hermione. "I can explain."

"You and him! I don't believe it! I hadn't told anyone, all year I've been covering up for you—"

"Hermione, please," Remus implored, now a little urgent, "calm down, I can explain—"

"No!" Hermione exclaimed, still looking horrified and shaken. "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead, too— he's a werewolf!"

Even Regulus, who had always seemed to know more than he should, and Sirius, who of course already knew the truth of everything she'd said, froze, staring at Remus. He sighed heavily. "Not up to your usual standard, I'm afraid, Hermione— only one out of three. I haven't been helping Sirius into the castle— I didn't even know Regulus was still alive until tonight— and I certainly don't want Harry dead, but" — he shuddered— "but I am a werewolf."

Ron, who had barely been on his feet since Regulus shook him off, finally lost his balance. Regulus reached out to grab him, but Ron pulled out of the man's grip and hit the ground with a whimper. Remus started over, since Ron obviously didn't want Regulus's help, but the boy only tried to back up further. "Get away from me, werewolf!"

Remus stopped. Regulus took advantage of the distraction to drop the cat and heave the boy onto the bed, and Remus turned back to Hermione. It took effort. "How long have you known?"

"Ages. Since I did Professor Snape's essay," she whispered.

"He'll be delighted, at least," Remus told her. "He assigned that essay hoping somebody would realize what I was. Did you recognize my boggart or realize I was always ill when the moon was full?"

"Both."

Remus laughed humorlessly. "You really are the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met," he announced.

"If I'd been a bit cleverer, I'd have told everyone!"

"But the staff knows. Dumbledore has worked very hard to convince everyone I'm trustworthy—"

"BUT HE WAS WRONG!" Harry bellowed. "YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THE TIME!"

"Not exactly," Regulus cut in quietly. "That was me."

The three teenagers turned to him, and Hermione said quietly, "And who are you?"

"I already told your friend Ron. I'm Regulus Black, Sirius's brother," Regulus answered quietly. "And I've no reason to defend Lupin. He hasn't been in contact with Sirius, and I've no idea how he found us here."

"It was the Marauder's Map," Remus explained.

"You know how to work it?" Harry demanded.

"Of course I know how to work it," Remus answered impatiently. "I helped write it. I'm Moony— that was my friends' nickname for me in school."

"You wrote—"

"That's beyond the point," Remus snapped, testily waving away any other protests. "The point is that I was watching it carefully this evening because I thought the three of you might visit Hagrid before his hippogriff was exicuted. And I was right. You left twenty minutes later, but now you were accompanied by someone—"

"No, we weren't!" Harry interrupted.

"—someone impossible," Remus continued, starting to pace and completely ignoring Harry. "I thought the map was malfunctioning. He couldn't be with you, he was dead—"

"No one was with us!" Harry repeated.

"And then Sirius appeared, and he dragged two of you under the Whomping Willow and out of sight with him. . . ."

"One of us!" Ron exclaimed angrily.

Remus came to a stop, staring at the redheaded boy and the struggling bulge in his pocket. "No, Ron. Two of you. Could I please have a look at your rat?"

"What's Scabbers got to do with anything?"

"Everything. Can I see him, please?"

Ron hesitated, then drew the struggling Peter out of his pocket. Remus watched him fight Ron, fascinated, half-hoping to see and half-dreading the possibility of recognizing any resemblance to the man he once knew. Crookshanks hissed at Peter, and Remus stepped closer.

"What's my rat have to do with anything?" Ron repeated.

Sirius spoke up before Remus could say anything. "That's no rat."

"You're nutters, of course he's—"

"He's a wizard," Regulus cut in. "And another dead man."

"He's my pet rat!" Ron repeated, somewhat desperately.

"No, he's an Animagus," Sirius snapped, just as desperately. "Peter Pettigrew."

Author's Note: I'm glad to see everyone thinks I'm evil about the cliffhangers. Anyway, I finally resolved that. All right, I know this was my roughest chapter yet, and I apologize for that, and for disclaimer purposes, a few of those lines were taken directly out of the book because they fit the character and situation best. ems25: I'm glad you decided to give me a chance. About the common sense thing: we're probably using two different definitions of common sense; after all it is rather ill-defined. Recklessness, after all, is not thinking about the consequences and I think of common sense as doing just that. So in my book, Sirius rarely acts with it. SupportSeverusSnape: I'm still building my bunker, although in my defense, nearly everything with Snape in the scene is canon modified to include Regulus. And to finally answer Jackline's question from last a/n: 1993 is 18 chapters. I will hopefully start working on 1994 in the next few days. And thanks to everyone else for reviewing! Cheers! — Loki