Hermione screamed. Black stepped back, Lupin jerked and Harry felt as though he had received an electric shock. The guard felt he had let everyone down. But his left eye…without it, he couldn't see. Kakashi reached up to rub Obito's eye. It was watering. Obito was crying from hurt, maybe…
"Very useful, Potter. Thank you." Snape was saying, keeping his wand pointed directly at Lupin's chest. Snape was slightly breathless, but his face was full of suppressed triumph. "You are wondering, perhaps, how I knew you to be here?"
"Severus---" Lupin began, but Kakashi cut him off.
"Shut up, Bakemono. Snape-san, we have to move the children out of here. It's not safe, with," Kakashi gave a nasty look at Lupin and Black. "…the Jinchuriki."
Unable to keep it in, Harry burst out in loud angry tones. "So you're siding with Snape now?"
Kakashi glared at him. "Harry-kun, excuse me for wanting to save you from a creature that can eat you whole. You do not like Snape-san, but honestly, I'd rather trust Snape-san than the Jinchuriki." Kakashi spat the last word out. "Jinchuriki are not to be trusted, sooner or later the beast inside will drive them insane, and then they will lose control and destroy everything in their path."
Snape smiled deviously. Finally, someone who shared his views on Lupin!
"What in the world is a Jinchuriki anyway? And what is a Bijuu?" Lupin asked, curious, and at the same time, most depressed.
"Jinchuriki, in my language, means 'human sacrifice.' In essence, it is the vessel of the Bijuu, a 'tailed beast' that lives to destroy human life." Kakashi said flatly. "In the old days, such creatures were used as weapons, sealed in human form until they were needed and unleashed to wreck havoc to the rival village."
Lupin looked shocked. "And one of those was unleashed on your village?"
"My…teacher died sealing one of them away. It was called the Kyubi no Yoko, a nine tailed demon fox. The foul creature destroyed two-thirds of the village before it was sealed away permanently. I have no intention of allowing another such creature to threaten what I have to protect." Kakashi glared at Lupin all the while as he explained. Once he was finished, he turned to Snape. "Snape-san…the children must be moved."
Snape gave a sneer. "The children." He gave a laugh. "Do you think I care about the Potter brat, or his friends? The time has come for meddling brats to be taught their place." Snape walked toward Harry, eyes glittering at the thought of revenge. "You're like your stupid father; arrogant till the last breath."
Kakashi moved in between them and said flatly. "You will not hurt the children."
Snape shoved Kakashi away. "What's stopping me? You? Why would a hired mercenary take care of children?" Snape laughed again. "You have no wand. You may be working for Black all along, acting as if you were protecting them. Pah! Get out of my way!"
Snape advanced toward Harry, raising his wand to perform the Killing Curse. The guard moved in between them faster than the eye could see, and snapped open his painfully swollen left eye.
"Sharingan!" Kakashi said coldly, staring deep into Snape's black eyes as the pupils within Obito's eye began to spin in a mesmerizing manner, drawing Snape into the illusion. The people around him began to gasp as Snape's face contorted into a glassy eyed mask of complete and utter fear.
Kakashi smirked sadistically. He turned to Harry. "Harry-san, you should really go now."
"NO!" Black objected. "I want to clear this up now! I switched with Pettigrew, so just do the spell on the damn rat!"
Lupin, who had been holding the choking squirming rat in white knuckled hands tore his eyes away from the look on Snape's face, tossed the rat on the wall to stun it, and then cast the spell.
It was like watching a tree grow, only in a more deformed and really ugly way. If Pettigrew were a tree, he would be a mutated scraggy offspring of a shedding pine and a really ugly cactus.
"Hello Peter." Lupin said pleasantly. "We were just talking about you."
"Sirius….Remus….." The rat squeaked in a high pitched voice, eyes glancing towards the door and the guard, who had moved toward it to block his path. "My friends…my old friends…."
Kakashi glanced at him thoughtfully. "Well what do you know? Maybe the convict was telling the truth after all."
The trio were staring at this new piece of evidence with something akin to horror and disgust. Pettigrew was alive! That meant that maybe Sirius Black hadn't killed Harry's parents. Maybe everything Sirius said was true.
They had to bring the rat to Dumbledore, NOW!
Harry was the first who had snapped out of it. He formed his hands into a seal and spoke softly. "Kanashibari no Jutsu!"
Lupin and Sirius worked like brothers as they cast additional paralyzing curses on the rat before he could get away, they did not know how long this 'Jutsu' of Harry's would last. Sirius had to admit he was quite impressed with James' son. That sly dog! Was it wandless magic?
After a few snatches of conversation, mostly on how Pettigrew betrayed them all, they moved out of the tunnel and into open ground.
The grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Harry's mind was buzzing. He was going to leave the Dursleys…
Silently, they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was still walking behind them, a glazed look on his face; the guard had mesmerized him into walking, it made things much easier.
A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight.
Snape collided with Lupin. Pettigrew and Ron had sopped abruptly. Black froze. He flung out one arm to make Harry and Hermione stop. Harry could see Lupin's silhouette. He had gone rigid. Then his limbs began to shake.
"Oh, my---" Hermione gasped. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!"
"Run." The guard said, mask glowing in the moonlight. "Run, get Dumbledore, bring Pettigrew. I'll handle Lupin-san."
The others were frozen in place, but then the guard decided he could throw secrecy out the window just as Lupin leapt at him, mouth agape in a snarl and baying like a dozen hounds.
"The password is Konoha. NOW GO!"
Harry and Ron grabbed Snape and dragged him along as they ran. Black was practically carrying Pettigrew swearing under his breath viciously as Hermione ran ahead of them, keeping an eye on Snape to make sure he didn't break a leg at the fast pace Ron and Harry were running.
Behind them, they could hear the savage cries of the werewolf now interrupted by a second more unfamiliar sound.
A glance back and they saw a white wolf attack Lupin, the two seeking to clamp their jaws and rip out their opponent's throats.
Cry havoc, and let loose the Dogs of War…