A/N: Essentially, what you recognize belongs to the goddess that is J.K. Rowling, and what you don't belongs to lil' ol' me.

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Hermione screamed. Genevieve didn't blame her.

"Will you people just stop entering like that? Was knocking not a thing with your generation?" She asked exasperatedly.

Snape ignored her, but Black smirked slightly.

"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow. Very useful, Potter, I thank you . . . 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 need. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."

Lupin tried to protest. "Severus - "

Snape interrupted him, eyes much too full of malice to listen to reason. "I've told the headmaster again and again that you're helping your old firmed 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," Lupin tried to argue. "You haven't heard everything - I can explain - Sirius is not here to kill Harry - "

Snake cut him off again, still looking positively delighted at the prospect of catching his old rivals. "Two more for Azkaban tonight. I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this . . . he was quite convinced you were harmless, you know Lupin . . . a tame werewolf - "

"You fool," Lupin whispered. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back in Azkaban?"

Thin, vine-like cords erupted from Snape's wand and bound Lupin. Black tried to overpower him, but Snape held him at wandpoint.

"Give me a reason," Snape almost begged. "Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will."

Everybody stood very still, unsure of what to do. Finally, Genevieve said, "At least let them explain themselves, Professor. Even guilty men deserve a trial."

At the same time, Hermione asked, "Professor Snape - it - it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w-would it?"

Snape snapped. "Miss Granger, Miss Snow, you are already facing suspension from this school. You, Potter, and Weasley are out-of-bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. For once in your lives, hold your tongues."

Hermione persisted. "But if - if there was a mistake -"

Snape didn't hesitate to yell, "KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL! DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

He continued more quietly, speaking only to Black. "Vengeance is very sweet. How I hoped I would be the one to catch you . . ."

Black ground out the words, "The joke's on you again, Severus. As long as this boy brings his rat up to the castle" - he nodded to Ron - "I'll come quietly . . ."

"Up to the castle?" Snape smiled, sneering. "I don't think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the dementors once we get out of the Willow. They'll be very pleased to see you, Black . . . pleased enough to you a little kiss, I daresay . . ."

Black blanched, something Genevieve didn't think was possible. A Dementor's Kiss was a fate worse than death - one's soul got sucked out of them.

He begged. "You - you've got to hear me out. The rat - look at the rat - "

Snape ignored him. "Come on, all of you," he ordered. He seemed to relish his next statement. "I'll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the dementors will have a kiss for him too - "

Harry inserted himself firmly in between Snape and the door.

"Get out of the way, Potter, you're in enough trouble already. If I hadn't been here to save your skin - "

"Professor Lupin could have killed me about a hundred times this year," Harry countered. "I've been alone with him loads of times, having defense lessons against the dementors. If he was helping Black, why didn't he just finish me off then?"

Snape looked offended at being questioned. "Don't ask me to fathom the way a werewolf's mind works. Get out of the way, Potter."

Genevieve tightened her grip on her wand in anger.

Harry bellowed. "YOU'RE PATHETIC! JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OF YOU AT SCHOOL YOU WON'T EVEN LISTEN -"

Snape screeched his reply. "SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" He kept raging. "Like father, like son, Potter! I have just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he'd killed you! You'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black - now get out of the way, or I will make you. GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!"

Genevieve couldn't stand it any longer. Without thinking, she raised her wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" Snape was blasted into the wall behind him, unconscious, a little blood seeping from his head.

She couldn't have caused that reaction all by herself. Genevieve glanced around, seeing Harry, Ron, and Hermione's wands up, having cast the spell at the same time.

Black looked worried. "You shouldn't have done that. You should have left him to me . . ."

"Are you kidding?" Genevieve retorted, breathless. "I've been wanting to do that for ages."

He smiled weakly. Hermione, on the other hand, was having a minor panic attack. "We attacked a teacher . . ." she repeated over and over. "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble - "

Black untied Lupin.

"Thank you, Harry," he started.

"I'm still not saying I believe you," he warned, but Harry seemed much more relaxed than before.

"Then it's time we offered you some proof," replied Lupin. "You, boy - give me Peter, please. Now."

Ron was still clinging to his ever more suspicious rat. "Come off it. Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean . . ." He glanced around for support. Genevieve didn't meet his eyes. "Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat - there are millions of rats - how's he supposed to know which one he's after if he was locked up in Azkaban?"

Lupin considered this. "You know, Sirius, that's a fair question. How did you find out where he was?"

Black retrieved an old newspaper clipping from inside his robes. He presented it to the others.

It was the picture of the Weasley family from their vacation in Egypt the summer before school began. Scabbers sat on Ron's shoulders.

"How did you get this?" Lupin asked, astounded.

"Fudge," Black answered. "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page . . . on this boy's shoulder . . . I knew him at once . . . how many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts . . . to where Harry was . . ."

"My God," Lupin breathed. He repeatedly switched his gaze from the rat to the photo. "His front paw . . ."

"What about it?" asked Ron harshly.

"He's got a toe missing," contributed Black.

"Of course," Lupin whispered. "So simple . . . so brilliant . . . he cut it off himself?"

"Just before I transformed," Black finished. "When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself - and sped down into the sewer with the other rats . . ."

"Didn't you ever hear, Ron?" reminded Lupin. "The biggest bit of Peter they ever found was his finger."

Ron still refused to accept it. "Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something! He's been in my family for ages, right - "

"Twelve years, in fact," added Lupin. "Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?"

"We - we've been taking good care of him!" stammered Ron.

"Not looking too good at the moment, though, is he? I'd guess he's been losing weight ever since he head Sirius was on the loose again . . ."

"He's been scared of that mad cat!" Ron accused, gesturing to Crookshanks.

"This cat isn't mad," claimed Black. "He's the most intelligent of his kind I've ever met. He recognized Peter for what he was right away. And when he met me, he knew I was no dog. It was a while before he trusted me . . . Finally, I managed to communicate to him what I was after, and he's been helping me . . ."

Athena suddenly came to mind. "If Crookshanks is that smart," Genevieve started. " I reckon he could be part Kneazle. They're able to distinguish the trustworthy from the suspicious. And part-Kneazles aren't tracked by the Ministry of Magic."

Black gave her an odd look before continuing. "He tried to bring Peter to me, but couldn't . . . so he stole the passwords into the Gryffindor Tower for me . . . as I understand it, he took them from a boy's bedside table . . . But Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it . . . This cat - Crookshanks, did you call him? - told me Peter had left blood on the sheets . . . I supposed he bit himself . . . Well, faking his own death had worked once . . ."

That seemed to trigger Harry. "And why did he fake his own death? Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"

"No," Lupin said calmly. "Harry - "

"And now you've come to finish him off!"

"Yes, I have," Black threw a poisonous glance at Scabbers.

"Then I should've let Snape take you!"

"Harry," Lupin intervened, "don't you see? All this time we've thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down - but it was the other way around, don't you see? Peter betrayed your mother and father - Sirius tracked Peter down -"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Harry bellowed. "HE WAS THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNED UP. HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!"

Black looked as though he might cry. "Harry . . . I as good as killed them. I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me . . . I'm to blame, I know it . . . The night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straight away. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies . . . I realized what Peter must've done . . . what I'd done . . ."

He turned away from the group as his voice broke. Genevieve felt an upsurge of sympathy for the man she'd considered a murderer just hours earlier.

"Enough of this," Lupin said with strange conviction. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me that rat."

"What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?"

"Force him to show himself. If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him," Lupin assured.

After considering for a bit, Ron surrendered Scabbers, who instantly began struggling more than Genevieve'd ever seen.

"Ready, Sirius?"

Black had already grabbed Snape's wand in anticipation. "Together?" he whispered.

"I think so. On the count of three. One - two - THREE!"

Genevieve watched in transfixed horror as the scrawny rat she'd seen for three years transformed into a rather ugly man, unable to look away.

"Well, hello, Peter," Lupin greeted casually. "Long time, no see."

The former rat sputtered. "S-Sirius . . . R-Remus . . . My friends . . . my old friends . . ." As he spoke, Pettigrew searched desperately for a way to escape. Black made a movement as though to go ahead and kill him, but Lupin stopped him.

"We've been having a little chat, Peter, about what happened the night Lily and James died. You might have missed the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the bed - "

"Remus," whimpered Pettigrew. "you don't believe him, do you . . . ? He tried to kill me, Remus."

"So we've heard. I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you, Peter, if you'd be so -"

"Hes come to ty and kill me again!" Pettigrew accused. "He killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too . . . You've got to help me, Remus . . ."

"No one's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out," assured Lupin coldly.

"Sorted things out? I knew he'd come after me! I knew he'd be back for me! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!"

"You knew Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban? When nobody has ever done it before?"

"He's got dark powers the rest of us can only dream of!" Pettigrew shrieked, grasping at straws. "How else did he get out of there? I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named taught him a few tricks!"

Black laughed without humor.

"Voldemort, teach me tricks?"

Pettigrew jerked at the name.

"What, scared to hear your old master's name? I don't blame you, Peter. His lot aren't very happy with you, are they?"

"Don't know what you mean, Sirius - " Pettigrew was becoming more and more alarmed.

"You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years," Black stated plainly. "You've been hiding from Voldemort's old supporters. I heard things in Azkaban, Peter . . . They all think you're dead, or you'd have to answer to them . . . I've heard them screaming in their sleep. Sounds like they think the double-crosser double-crossed them. Voldemort went to the Potters' on your information . . . and Voldemort met his downfall there. And not all Voldemort's supporters ended up in Azkaban, did they? There are still plenty out here, biding their time, pretending they've seen the error of their ways . . . If they ever got wind that you were still alive, Peter - "

"Don't know . . . what you're talking about . . . ," Pettigrew denied. "You don't believe this - this madness, Remus - "

"I must admit, Peter, I have difficulty in understanding why an innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat," Lupin stated calmly.

"Innocent, but scared!" he claimed. "If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it was because I put one of their best men in Azkaban - the spy, Sirius Black!"

Black's face took on a fresh wave of fury. "How dare you! I, a spy for Voldemort? When did I ever sneak around people who were stronger and more powerful than me? But you, Peter - I'll never understand why I didn't see you were the spy from the start. You always liked big friend could look after you, didn't you? It used to be us . . . me and Remus . . . and James . . ."

Pettigrew tried to argue. "Me, a spy . . . must be out of your mind . . . never . . . don't know how you can say such a - "

Black cut him off. With disgust in his voice, she explained that James and Lily only made him Secret-Keeper on his request. "I thought it was the perfect plan . . . a bluff . . . Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you . . . It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters."

Hermione dared to ask a question, querying why Pettigrew had never tried to hurt Harry before.

Black answered. "Because you never did anything for anyone unless you could see what was in it for you. Voldemort's been in hiding for fifteen years, they say he's half dead. You weren't about to commit murder right under Albus Dumbledore's nose, for a wreck of a wizard who'd lost all of his power, were you? You'd want to be quite sure he was the biggest bully in the playground before you went back to him, wouldn't you? Why else did you find a wizard family to take you in? Keeping an ear out for news, weren't you, Peter? Just in case your old protector regained strength, and it was safe to rejoin him . . ."

Pettigrew could think of nothing to say.

When Hermione also asked how Sirius had managed to escape Azkaban, he gave a thoughtful reply, saying that the fact that he was innocent and being able to become a dog (less complex emotions) had helped him cope, but the newspaper had given him a purpose. He'd slipped through the bars, swam back to the mainland as a dog, and used the same farce to enter Hogwarts' grounds.

"I've been living in the forest ever since, except when I came to watch the Quidditch, of course. You fly as well as your father did, Harry . . . Believe me. Believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them."

Harry seemed to believe him.

"No!" Pettigrew howled, collapsing to his knees. He turned to each person in the room, groveling for mercy, and each person responded disdainfully. When it had come her turn, she'd simply spat, "You're revolting," at him.

Lupin and Sirius prepared to kill Pettigrew, and Genevieve looked away, unable to watch.

"You should have realized," she heard Lupin say, "if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Goodbye, Peter."

"NO!" Harry shouted. "You can't kill him. You can't."

Genevieve watched him in surprise.

"Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents," Black warned. " this cringing bit of filth would have seen you die too, without turning the hair. You heard him. His own stinking skin meant more to him than you who family."

"I know," Harry said. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the dementors . . . He can go to Azkaban . . . but don't kill him."

Pettigrew thanked the boy profusely, but Harry replied coolly, "I am not doing this for you. I'm doing it because - I don't reckon my dad would've wanted them to become killers - just for you."

So, Lupin bound the traitor, and they readied to leave.

"Right," Lupin said. "Ron, Genevieve, I can't mend bones nearly as well as Madame Pomfrey, so I think it's best if we just drop your leg up until we can get you to the hospital. Same for you, Genevieve, with your wrist."

He splinted their broken appendages, levitated Snape so they could more easily move him, and chained two volunteers - Ron and Lupin - to Pettigrew to ensure he wouldn't escape.

Genevieve took one last look around the room, and they set off.