* I am so happy that I was able to get my two other friends into Last Week Tonght with John Oliver. Salmon Cannon... Anyway, I actually watched Harry Potter in class today... It was a blessed day. Albeit, enjoy! Pufflz!

"The rat is an Animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew."

John shook his head in bewilderment. "That was highly unexpected considering that he's dead!"

Hermione spluttered. "That is utterly ri-dic-u-lous!"
Harry pointed angrily at Black. "John's right! Pettigrew's been dead for twelve years and you killed him!"

Baring his teeth, Black answered, "I meant to. Got the best of though… But not this time… I swear, not this time!" He cackled again.

"Seriously, what is funny about the situation here?" John asked seriously.

Everybody gave him funny looks.

John rolled his eyes. "We, are in the midst of a mass-murderer and a werewolf, a potential not-so-dead not-so-actually rat, and you're laughing about killing?"

John was cut off, however, by the sudden movements of the squashed-faced cat. The ugly thing was thrown off Sirius, who dived for Scabbers, and the cat jumped on John in fright.

"You, get off, now," John warned.

Lupin dragged Sirius Black off of Ron, who unfortunately had been victim to Black's attack. "We have to explain to them first! They have to understand…" Lupin panted.

Black struggled against Lupin's grasp. "We can explain afterwards!"

"We owe Harry the truth Sirius! Please!" Lupin begged,

John realized that Black stopped struggling. He also noticed the solemn looks on everybody's faces, except… Clara's. Hers was masking some other emotion, that was a face john knew very well. It was the face he saw everyday when he looked in the mirror. Scratch that, whenever he actually looked in the mirror.

Shaking, Black sneered, "Make it quick Remus. I want to be imprisoned for the murder I supposedly committed."

Ron gasped as he moved his leg. "I've had enough of this. They're nuts!" Harry, and Hermione helped him stand up. Clara winced just as Ron did, and John noticed her eyes drift to the broken splint.

Lupin raised his wand. "Ron, everybody- Just hear me out. Please, at least just keep a grip on Peter-"

"HIS NAME IS SCABBERS, NOT PETER!" Ron swayed, and fell back onto the bed in the middle of the room.

Harry snarled, "There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die. A whole street, and he died because you murdered him!"

"Please!" Clara shrieked. Everybody was shocked into silence. "Just-Just hear him out, OK?"

Harry narrowed his eyes. "Why? He killed my parents! I don't want to hear a single word that is uttered out of his filthy mouth!"

Cara shifted in her spot. She was lying against the far wall, and her cheek was bleeding badly. John didn't even think she noticed the bruises that covered her arms and legs and face… "We have to listen to them. I know what was done that night wasn't fair, but-"

"Wasn't fair? Clara, how can you say that? He helped Voldemort kill my parents! My parents trusted him! My parent's deserve getting killed, I don't deserve losing my parents-"

"FOR GOD'S SAKE HARRY, JUST THE BLOODY HELL UP!" Clara yelled. Harry instantly quieted. John was surprised, and he knew that Clara was right now holding the floor. "Harry," Clara began, "Nobody deserves anything. Not ever. But, after all you've been through, you are owed something: the truth. And whether or not they tell you the truth is up to you to decide. And don't you dare say that losing a parent isn't fair. Because I lost one and now I'm left with a dad. And sometime it's great, but most times it's awful trying to live with someone in the same house who shares so much pain with you, and can't seem to brighten your day, ever." She sniffled.

Harry gulped. "Clara-I'm sorry."

"If your bloody sorry than listen to what they have to say."

Harry looked down. "Fine. Go on with your story," he said gruffly.

"All right…" Lupin said. "But I will need your help Sirius."

John's head snapped when there was a large cracking sound. Lupin stuck his head out, then came back in, saying, "No one there…"

"This is place is bloody haunted!" Ron moaned.

Lupin nodded grimly. "No..no.. I'm afraid that's where it all began. Me being foolhardy and getting bitten… The sounds made from here, the Shrieking Shack, we caused by me."

"You don't expect me-" Ron began, but everyone hushed him, particularly Clara.

"I was quite a small boy when I was bitten," Lupin said. "My parents tried everything, but back then there was no cure. Even now, the Wolfsbane potion Professor Snape has been making is fairly recent. As long as I take it in the week of the preceding full moon, I keep my mind when I transform. I can curl up in my office… And wait for the moon to wane again."

"What did you before the Wolfsbane potion?" John asked.

Lupin frowned. "Every month I became a monster. I thought it impossible to come to Hogwarts. Who would want their child to study alongside someone like me?"

"Somehow you ended up teaching students," John pointed.

"Well, Dumbledore trusted me, just as he did all those years ago. Even this," he gestured toward the room, "was built for me. The Whomping Willow was planted the year I entered, to protect this place why I transformed each month. There's a reason people call it the 'Shrieking Shack'."

John wrinkled his nose. "So this whole thing was built to suit your monthly issues? Do even call it your monthly?"

Sirius Black laughed, Lupin frowned even further. Hermione and Clara looked absolutely frightened, though definitely not as much as Ron and Harry. It took a couple a seconds more for John to realize what he said.

"Fine, just go on with your story."

"My transformation were painful. My howls of pain could be heard from the nearby village, and they all thought this place was haunted. Even Dumbledore encouraged the rumour for my safety. Nobody even dares approach it now…"

"Great," John muttered. But, John was positively excited. He couldn't wait to find out the answer to the mystery. It was that irresistible urge to just know.

"Despite that, I was happy. I had three great friends: Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter. Harry, your dad. I didn't tell them of my monthly problems, because I didn't want to be abandoned. And, of course they noticed my monthly disappearances. I lied; said that my mother was sick, or something. But, they, like Hermione, figured me out."

John made a time-out gesture. "Woah, woah, woah. I know of your guys's time at Hogwarts. Are you telling me, that the four pranksters of the school, who were probably idiots, figured out that you were a werewolf? Talk about persistence..."

"We were," Black said.

"Anyway," Lupin continued, "They didn't abandon me. In fact, they became Animagi just to help me out. Non-registered. Of course."

"You broke the law."

Lupin cracked a smile. "Several times"

Harry cocked his head. "My dad was an Animagus?"

"Yes, Harry. It took him and Sirius years to figure it out, but in our fifth year they managed to do it. They could change into an animal at will."

Hermione bit her lip. "But, how would that help you? Them turning into animals?"

"Well, I'm sure you know that werewolves can only affect humans. So, every month, they helped me out by sneaking out of the school under James's Invisibility Cloak. Peter, was a rat, so he could slip between the attacking branches and touch the knot that freezes it. We would slip into the shack. Under the influence, I wasn't as dangerous."

"How much money did you spend on the alcohol?" John asked seriously.

"A lot."

Black scratched his ear like a dog. "Hurry up, Remus!"

"We would travel the Hogwarts' land those nights; Them as animals and me as a werewolf. That's why we created the Marauder's Map. We sighed it with our nicknames. Sirius is Padfoot. Peter is Wormtail. James was Prongs."

"What animal were-" Both Harry and John asked at the same time.

Hermione though, cut them off. "What were you thinking? Running in the dark with a werewolf! What is someone saw you, or you accidently bit someone?"

"There were near misses," Lupin admitted. "We would laugh afterwards. We were so young then, though. Thoughtless, careless, reckless-carried away by our own cleverness."

"What cleverness?" John joked.

Lupin grimaced. "We were some of the brightest students in the school. Wonder how we were able to create something like the Marauder's Map? Nevertheless, I always feel guilty for betraying Dumbledore's trust. He didn't know that I aided three students become Animagi illegally, or that I broke rules that kept so many safe. But I always forgot, because I would plan next month's adventure."

Something happened to Lupin's face, so that it contorted into a blank slate. "I had a constant battle with myself. Whether or not to tell Dumbledore that my friends were Animagi? Obviously I didn't do it. And, then I got a job I shunned all of my adult life. I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using Dark Magic from Voldemort, and not because he was an Animagus… In a way, Snape was right."

"Snape?" Sirius said sharply. "What's he got to do with anything?"

"Sirius, he's here," Lupin breathed. "Teaching, I mean." He looked at everybody suddenly. "Your Professor Snape went with us to school. He didn't want me to become your professor for the DADA post. Why? You ask? Sirius played a trick on him, one that involved me-"

"He deserved it!" Black defended.

Lupin waved him off. "Sirius wanted to know what I was up to every month. We were in the same year, and well, we didn't like each other, to put it likely. He especially didn't like James… Perhaps it was his talent on the Quidditch field…"

Obviously a lie… John thought. He could tell of course, by the way Lupin fiddled with hands, and took a deep breath. Lying was an art, in John's opinion.

"...Well, he must've seen Madam Pomfrey take me to the Whomping Willow one night. Sirius thought it would be a good idea to get Snape to tap the tree knot with a long stick, to go in after me. He did it, and had it not been for James to risk his life, and pull him out, he would've met a fully grown werewolf… Snape caught a glimpse of, though. He was made promise not to tell anybody."

Harry looked nervous. "Is that why he doesn't like you? Because he thought you were in on the joke?"

"Yes, Harry."

John scoffed. "Well, first of all, who the hell does that? Black here thought that a near-death-experience would be funny? It's really not, believe me. And, who wouldn't be angry for almost dying. I would be, in fact, I think literally here can say the same thing."

"Quite right, Mr. Smith," a drawling voice came from behind Lupin.

Their Potions Master, Professor Snape, pulled of the Invisibility Cloak, and aimed his wand toward Lupin.

The Invisibility Cloak, which he got from where?… When they were being stupid and in a rush… John realized.

"Here we go," John sighed.