CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

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DON'T OWN. NADA. NOPE. NONE. ZIP. ZERO.

Of course it was Ron who spoke up.

"He's right. It's Pettigrew, Ron." I nodded at Scabbers, who twitched fearfully.

Ron looked from Lupin, to me, to Bla-I'll just call him Sirius. Then he said, "You're all mental."

Faintly, Harry and Hermione nodded in agreement. I shrugged. "Did it take you that long?"

Not helping.

Wasn't trying to be. DUH.

"But yeah," I pointed to Scabbers with my chin again. "That's Pettigrew. Cross my heart and hope to die."

Ron looked horrified. "Hope to die?"

"Never mind. It's a muggle saying."

"Muggles want to DIE?!" Ron now looked absolutely mortified.

"NEVER MIND!"

"Peter Pettigrew is DEAD." Harry whispered. "HE-" Harry finger-pointed at Sirius-"killed him years ago!"

Sirius snarled. "I meant to-" and before he could even finish his sentence, he had thrown himself at Scabbers. Lupin hauled him back, yelling, "Sirius, NO! They deserve to know the truth!"

Sirius clawed at Lupin's arms and tried to throw himself at Scabbers again. "We can – explain afterwards!" Scabbers squeaked and tried to free himself from Ron's hands.

Lupin panted, pulling Sirius back. "They've got a – right to know everything! Ron's kept him as a pet; you owe Harry the truth, Sirius!"

Instantly, like a deflated balloon, Sirius froze and stopped struggling. His matted black hair was beaded with sweat, and he looked at Scabbers with large, hollow eyes before nodding slowly.

Thus, the day of explanations began.

"Ministry of Magic keeps tabs on witches and wizards, though, and Pettigrew-" Hermione said slowly.

"That's right," I realized. "Pettigrew wasn't on the list of the seven Animagi, remember?" Hermione nodded.

"Professor Mcgonagall is on the list, though-"

"You stalked Mcgonagall?" I raised my eyebrows at Hermione, who hit me in the arm, not even looking at me.

Lupin laughed. "There were three unregistered Animagi running around in Hogwarts, though." He handed me my wand, which I took, dumbfounded.

His graying hair clung to his neck and cheeks, and he looked somber and tired suddenly. "I was a child when I was bitten, and then there was no cure found, so I became a werewolf. Nobody would let me go to school, for fear of their children. But Dumbledore-he thought if we took precautions, I would be able to go. The Whomping Willow was planted because of me."

"My transformation in those days were very painful, and since there were no humans to bite, I bit and scratched myself instead. The villagers thought it was ghosts, and they never bothered to go into the Shrieking Shack. Yet, I was happier than I had ever been-I had three good friends: Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and your father, Harry-James Potter."

For a moment I was confused, because I thought Lupin had said his good friend was Harry James Potter-Harry's full name-but then I realized he meant James Potter.

Lupin continued, ignoring Scabbers' terrified squeaks and thrashes. "My friends found out I was a werewolf, but instead of deserting me, they became Animagi for me."

My jaw dropped. A huge rush of realization dawned over me, and I bounced on my toes. "Oh my gosh! You guys-you guys wrote the Marauder's Map! Um-Pettigrew is…Wormtail, right? And you-I mean, Professor Lupin-you're Moony. And-um…Black? Sirius-he's a dog, so he's…Padfoot! The last one is Prongs, which is…Harry's dad, James Potter. Prongs. What animal is that?"

Lupin's eyebrows quirked up. "That was…fast. I didn't expect you to…hm." He looked impressed, which was kind of insulting. Like, oh, you're not stupid. Surprise!

Tom snorted. Lupin sighed heavily and I realized he was still talking. Ugh. I needed to stop tuning people out. "-In a way, Snape's been right about me all along."

"Snape?" Sirius snarled. "What's he got to do with this?"

Lupin shook his gray-black hair wearily and smiled slightly. "He's here, Sirius. He's teaching here. He's been telling Dumbledore I'm not to be trusted. Because-in school, Sirius played a trick on him that nearly got him killed, involving me."

Sirius made a disgusted noise. "It served him right! Sneaking around, trying to get us-"

"Excuse me?" I turned to him, eyes narrowed. Sirius blinked, taken aback. "You almost killed him and all you say is 'it served him right'? Are you kidding me?"

"What's it to you?" Sirius sneered, and I raised my eyebrows and shifted my eyes to Lupin.

My lips curled into an amused smirk. "He doesn't know?" Lupin shook his head.

"Know what?" Sirius demanded.

Lupin shook his head. "Enough. Anyways, Snape saw me going to the Whomping Willow, and Sirius thought it would be funny to tell him that all he had to do was press the knot on the tree. Harry, your father pulled him back before he could get hurt, but he saw me and was forbidden to tell."

"He thought you were in on the joke?" Harry said slowly. "That's why he doesn't like you?"

"That's right," A very, very familiar voice replied coldly, and I winced. We all turned around, just in time to see Dad pull off Harry's Invisibility Cloak and point his wand at Lupin.

"You really need to stop scaring us like that." I muttered.

I don't believe that's possible for him.

True that.

Kinda a filler chapter...sorry bout' that. I tried to make it less boring, but if I failed feel free to tell me off!