Author's Note: I wish I could say I was J.K Rowling, but then a ton of people would sue me and that wouldn't be fun at all. To all of those who wanted to know answers, this chapter should provide most of them. This is my final plea for you all to make sure you have read Remembering the Past: A Marauder's Tale before continuing with this. It will make so much more sense if you do. Enjoy!
Chapter 16 The Shrieking Shack
As they went, the tunnel became lower until Alex was forced to crawl while dragging her useless leg behind her. Finally, they reached an opening and they entered a very worn and torn room. The wallpaper was peeling off the walls and the floors were dusty, except for a fresh pair of dog prints and a thick line where Ron must have been dragged. Harry and Hermione helped Alex out of the hole and gave her the crutches she had transfigured.
A noise above them made Alex start, holding her wand out in front of her. Alex looked around and noticed not only that the room was dusty, but it was dilapidated. There was a sofa with a chunk missing from its arm, the stuffing all over the floor.
"Whoever lives here must not get a lot of company," said Alex quietly, "Where are we?"
"I think," breathed Hermione, holding onto Harry's jacket, "We're in the Shrieking Shack."
Harry led the way up the stairs with Hermione still clinging, Alex following behind slowly but surely. They reached the second floor landing and heard shuffling in the room across the hall. Harry opened the door and they saw Ron in a corner on the ground, holding his obviously broken leg.
Harry and Hermione ran to Ron, checking on him while Alex leaned against the wall, panting from the effort of going up the stairs. She looked around and saw something black through a large hole on the other side of the door. On closer inspection, Alex saw a pair of legs.
"Not a dog," she heard Ron moan, "An animagus. Black's here and he's come for you and Alex."
The door closed with a snap and Alex backed away, falling over in the process and biting her lip hard to keep herself from crying out in pain. A very skinny and pallid Sirius Black stood before them, holding Ron's wand in his bony hand.
"Expelliarmus!" he said hoarsely, as though he hadn't talked in many years.
Alex and the others' wands flew over and Black caught them all. He then turned his grey eyes on Alex and she tried to stand up, falling over again as she tasted blood in her mouth. He took a step toward her but decided against it and went back. Hermione ran over and half carried, half dragged Alex away and got her friend to stand up with the help of a four-poster bed. Alex turned to Black and saw a strange look in his eyes that she didn't know.
"I thank you," he croaked, "For not getting a teacher, things'll be easier now. I knew you would come for your friend. Your father would have done the same for me Harry, as well as your mother Alex."
Alex clenched her fists in rage and her eyes were on fire. How dare he, who did he think he was? How could he speak of her mother so casually when he had sold her to Voldemort? Harry too was furious as he shook with anger.
"If you're going to kill Harry and Alex," said Hermione shrilly, stepping between the others and Black, "Then you'll have to get through us."
"Yeah," said Ron, standing too but swaying slightly and turning green.
"Sit down," Black said to Ron, "You'll damage your leg even more. Same with you, Alex. Sit on the bed. It'll hold you I expect, you're not much weight on it."
"Why do you care about Alex's leg?" snapped Harry, "You didn't care about her when you sold her parents, and mine, to Voldemort! What's the matter, has Azkaban made you soft?"
"Harry," said Hermione in a worried tone.
"He killed my parents!" shouted Harry, "I have a right to say whatever I want to him! So come on then, we're unarmed! Finish the job you started twelve years ago!"
"Harry," Alex said weakly as she sat on the bed, "I thought the point was not to get killed."
"Only one will die tonight," said Black, an evil look came over his face. Alex frowned. Only one? What did he mean by that?
"Then it'll be you!"
Harry did one of the most stupid things ever. He ran at a fully-grown, armed wizard and punched him in the face. Alex watched with horror as Black fell to the ground and Harry with him. Black grabbed Harry's throat and Alex got up, hobbled over to the fighters, and whacked Black with her crutches wherever she could find room. Ron and Hermione joined the brawl too until Harry was able to get his wand and pointed it at Black.
"Move!" he shouted and Alex, taking her wand from Hermione, went next to Harry while leaning on the wall. Her leg was throbbing worse than ever but she ignored the pain and stared at the man who was responsible for her parents' deaths.
"Are you two going to kill me?" Black asked, looking at Harry and then at Alex.
"You're why we have no parents," whispered Alex, "Why Harry and I never knew we had magic until just a month before we came here, why I never had a father to play catch with, why I never had a mother to go shopping with. You've changed our lives forever!"
"I admit I'm responsible," said Black quickly, "But let me speak, please. You both will regret it if I don't."
Just then, Crookshanks jumped onto Black's chest and dug his nails into his robes. Black tried to push the cat off, but Crookshanks refused to be moved.
"Crookshanks," said Alex to the cat, "Get off of him now!"
"You are making a terrible mistake by killing him," the cat said calmly, "He is telling the truth and you should listen to him."
"Well?" asked Harry sternly, "Why isn't he moving?"
"He says we should trust him," Alex told him, "Because he isn't lying and we're making a terrible mistake if we kill him."
"I agree with the cat," said Black, "If, in fact, that's what he said."
"Of course that's what he said!" snapped Alex angrily, "And you need to shut up. We didn't have a say in whether or not our parents died and you don't have a say in whether or not you die."
Harry raised his wand and pointed it at Black's heart, regardless of the cat. Something inside Alex told her that Crookshanks was right but she ignored it, saying that it was the pain in her leg making her think those things. She waited for Harry to say the killing curse, but he never did. Harry just stood there with his wand out, trying to find the courage to say the spell.
There was a noise from downstairs and Hermione shouted, "WE'RE UP HERE! SIRIUS BLACK IS UP HERE!" Footsteps raced up the stairs and the door banged open, revealing Professor Lupin. He looked around at Ron on the floor, to Hermione holding hers and Ron's wands, to Harry standing over Black, to Alex leaning on the wall and holding her wand loosely in her hand, looking white as a sheet.
"Expelliarmus!" Lupin said and caught the wands with ease.
He motioned for Alex and Harry to back away and Alex used her crutches and sat on the bed, holding her leg as sharp pain jetted up and down. She watched as Lupin went over to Black.
"Where is he, Sirius?" the professor asked. Black looked at him curiously and pointed at Ron. Lupin looked at Ron without seeing him. "But that means, you and James switched without telling…because you thought it was me."
Black nodded and Alex looked at the others, all of them wearing the same expression: confusion.
"Sir, what's going…?" she said but her voice died when she saw what Lupin did next. He reached down, helped Black up, and embraced him.
"NO!" Alex and Hermione screamed together, Lupin and Black turning to them.
"I can't believe you!" shouted Hermione, "We've kept your secret all year and this is what happens!"
"Hermione listen-"
"I trusted you!" yelled Harry, "And all this time, you've been his friend!"
"I wasn't his friend, but I am now," Lupin said loudly.
"Here you go again with this lying," Alex said, shaking her head and laughing coldly, "You were his friend at school, as well as my mother's and my aunt's. How could you help the man who betrayed your friends? Although, I suppose you were in on it too. I can't believe I covered for you when people asked what was wrong with you!"
"Alex, please-"
"Harry, Alex, stay away from him," said Hermione, "He's in league with Black, he wants you dead, and…and he's a werewolf!"
The room was silent and Lupin's face went dark. A sharp pain shot down Alex's leg and she drew a quick breath. Lupin came over to her with a look of concern on his face and knelt down by her leg. Carefully, he pulled back her bloody jeans and looked over her leg, Alex sitting as still as death but not saying a word. She saw Black looking at her mutilated leg with a hard glare as if he hoped it would turn to ash. He seemed to sense her stare and looked up at her. His expression softened but Alex continued to glare angrily at him so he looked away. Lupin pulled out his wand, Alex bracing herself for whatever spell Lupin would use on her, and a roll of bandages wrapped itself tightly around Alex's leg. Lupin then turned to Ron, who backed away quickly.
"Get away from me, werewolf!" Ron said, his eyes wide with terror.
Lupin stopped where he was, looking hurt but unsurprised.
"Honestly Ron," said Alex as she raised her bandaged leg onto the worn bed, "He's not dangerous now, only when the full moon touches him. Let him look at your leg, it feels a hell of a lot better with the bandages on. Besides, if he does work with Black, it's me and Harry he'll kill."
Lupin bandaged Ron's leg up and then turned to Hermione and Alex. "If this were a test, you two would not be happy with the results, only one out of three. I am not in league with Black, nor was I ever. I definitely do not want either Alex or Harry dead, but…I am a werewolf." He paused. "How long have you two known?"
"Since Professor Snape assigned the essay when you were out," said Hermione and Black looked up.
"Snape, a teacher?" he asked, appalled, "How did an idiot like him make it?"
"He probably forced Dumbledore to let him in," said Alex, "And is using the Imperius Curse to let him stay, the one that lets you control others."
Black let out of bark of laughter and said, "You are definitely Alana's daughter."
"It doesn't matter how he got in," Lupin said quickly as Alex opened her mouth with a nasty retort ready, "It's the fact he is in and is teaching at Hogwarts. I take it you realized I was only gone during the day of a full moon? Or was it my patronus that gave it away?"
"Actually, it was the wolfsbane potion," said Alex calmly, "I was worried about what Snape was giving you so I wrote down all its characteristics. Then when we were looking up information for the essay, we came across the potion. Looking it up, we recognized it as the one you had been drinking."
"I had heard you could give Snape a run for his money," Lupin said with a ghost of a smile and sighed, running a hand through his graying hair, "I don't know exactly where to start, there's so much to tell."
"I've waited twelve years to finish this," Black said, staring at Ron, "Can't we talk another time?" He made a lunge for Ron but Lupin, as if anticipating this, held him back.
"No Sirius!" shouted Lupin, "You can wait a little longer. Ron has had that rat for years. Harry deserves to know the truth. And what about your daughter Sirius? She deserves to know why she's lived with the name of a false man as her father for the past twelve years!"
Black stopped struggling and blinked, looking at Lupin in shock. Alex stared at Lupin and then at Hermione. Hermione looked from Lupin to Black in utter disbelief.
"What?" whispered Hermione.
"No, not you Hermione," said Lupin, looking at Alex. Alex felt as though she had been dropped from a very high building.
"No," breathed Alex, shaking her head, "No, my mother dumped him and married David Ratcliff. That's why he went mad, out of grief."
"Do you know that for a fact?" asked Lupin, "This was all before you were born. Only your mother's closest friends knew the truth, that Alana married Sirius just a year after they graduated. It's all in your mother's diary if you don't believe me, Alex. It was a private wedding, nobody except the Potter's, Elizabeth, and the priest. I was on business for the Order then, that was why you had it then wasn't it?" he asked Black sadly, "Dumbledore told you that there was a traitor among us and you thought it was me."
"Lizzy never doubted you for a moment," said Black supportively and Lupin looked at his feet while pressing his lips into a thin line, "But Al and I weren't as trusting. I'm sorry Remus, we wanted to be careful. Unfortunately," Black continued, looking at his hands, "My family still managed to find out. We thought someone may have seen us coming out of the church. My family, ah…didn't approve of Alana Tortelli's all-Muggle background. I told Alana to divorce me and live a new life, but she wouldn't have it. She only pretended to get a divorce with me and to marry David Ratcliff. The wedding was a total show to throw off my family. No one knew it was a show except Alana, Elizabeth, David, and I. None of our friends knew at the time and we only told James and Lily after they agreed to hide Alana and you, Alex.
"Alana planned to live with David for a few months and then quietly move back with me. While we were still together, she got pregnant and had the baby, saying David was the father. But my family still suspected something was amiss and I told your mother to go into hiding with Harry's parents. I was going to be their Secret-Keeper, but I switched with Peter Pettigrew, thinking no one would go after him because he was weak-looking."
Black stopped talking and looked at Alex. He seemed so sad, yet happy too. His eyes filled up and he looked away to wipe them quickly.
"How did you know, Remus?" he asked thickly.
"I had my suspicions when I met her on the train. She has the Black family eyes," said Lupin with a soft smile at Alex, "Then I saw her patronus was a large dog. It looked a lot like your animagus form. So when I learned that she got Alana's diary for Christmas, I knew it would have the answers in there. I asked her for it and read all about her worries and how she tried to protect her and her baby from the Black family Death Eaters."
The door banged open making everyone jump. There was no one there and Lupin went to check outside the door.
"This place really is haunted," said Ron, "I thought it was just an urban legend."
"It is a legend," Lupin said with a shrug as he closed the door, "Dumbledore made it to cover up the noises the villagers heard at night, noises I made while I was a wolf. I guess that's where I should start, from the beginning.
"I was very small when I was bitten," said Lupin wearily, "My parents tried everything they could, but there was no way to cure lycanthropy. Most people thought I would never be able to go to school, but not Dumbledore. Once he became Headmaster, things changed and he said that, as long as certain precautions were taken, I could still go to school and live a semi-normal life." He looked at Harry and Alex, "Do you remember when I told you about the Whomping Willow and how it was planted the year I came? It was planted because I came. The tree, the passage way, and the house were all used for when I would transform. My transformations were…horrible. Werewolves have a need for blood and since I was the only thing around with it, I would bite myself.
"While at Hogwarts, I found three terrific friends: Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter. Besides them, I was lucky enough to be good friends with Lily Evans, the Tortelli twins, Alice Lenns, and Frank Longbottom. It was Peter, Sirius, James, Lily, and Elizabeth, however, who were my closest companions. They, like Hermione and Alex here, noticed that I would be leaving school a lot. I made up stories, telling them that my mother was sick and how I had to go home to help her. Soon, they figured out the truth and I was scared. What if they deserted me like everyone else I ever knew but my family? Or worse, what if they told the school about me and I was forced to leave? Instead of those things, three of my friends did the most self-less thing in the world: they became animagi. This way, they could be with me while I transformed. And although Elizabeth and Lily never became an animagi, they were always supportive and willing to cheer me up when I started hating myself for my condition."
"That was extremely dangerous!" said Hermione, "Becoming an animagus is very hard!"
"Wait a minute," Alex said, "How can that be? There were only a few people who became animagi in the last century and their names weren't listed. Hermione and I looked McGonagall up when we did a homework assignment for Transfiguration." She saw Harry look surprised and said in a quieter tone, "What? We had some free time and were curious."
"That's true," said Lupin with a smile, "But the Ministry never knew that there were three unregistered animagi running around with a werewolf every full moon. That's how we got our nicknames on the Marauder's Map. I'm Moony, Peter was Wormtail, Sirius was Padfoot, and James was Prongs."
"You're the Marauders?" said Alex with surprise.
"Yes, yes we are," said Black with pride.
"I don't think anyone else at Hogwarts learned as much about the school as we four did. We wrote the Map to help future generations in the art of mischief making, which I can see has actually happened. Every full moon, James would take the other two under the Invisibility Cloak and Peter, the smallest, was able to get to the knob on the tree to stop the branches. Once we were all transformed, James and Sirius would keep me in line as we went about the grounds."
"What if you bit someone?" said Hermione, a hand over her mouth.
"A day hasn't gone by when I haven't thought about that," sighed Lupin, "I was always afraid that I would lose control and attack someone. There were a few close ones, but we would laugh about them afterwards. We were young and thought ourselves invincible.
"I used to wonder if Dumbledore ever knew that there were three unregistered animagi in his school and that I had led them into doing it, but I could never tell him. Even now, I value Dumbledore's trust too much. He allowed me here as a boy and back as a teacher when, all my adult life, I have never had a steady-paying job because of what I am. Even when I thought Sirius might have been using his animagus form to get into the school, I didn't tell. I convinced myself that Sirius was using dark magic he learned while under Voldemort."
"So nobody knows about your little problem?" asked Alex confused. She thought the staff would have known. Lupin smiled at a private memory while Sirius let out a small chuckle, only stopping abruptly when Alex sent him a hateful glare.
"The staff knows, Dumbledore told them before the start of term. Some of them didn't want me to come but backed off when Dumbledore said there was no one else for the job. Only Snape fought to keep me from coming."
"Why didn't Snape want you to come?" asked Hermione.
"Well, we didn't get along well in school," said Lupin thinking, "He especially hated James, probably jealous of his Quidditch talents. He was very curious as to where we went once a month and why all four of us were bleary-eyed the next day. Sirius decided to play a prank on Snape by telling him that if you got a very long stick and pressed it on a certain knob on the Whomping Willow, the tree would freeze and you could go down a passageway. Of course, Snape tried it when he saw us leaving from the castle."
"You could have killed him!" said Hermione.
"He shouldn't have been snooping around," said Black darkly, "He was always trying to get us into trouble."
"Sirius realizes now," said Lupin loudly to stop Black from continuing his rant, "That what he did was wrong. Snape, however, never entered the house because James found out what Sirius had done and pulled Snape away before any harm came to him. Snape did catch a glimpse of me and was forced by Dumbledore to never breathe a word to anyone."
"So that's why he hates you," said Alex.
"He thought you were in on the prank," said Harry.
"That's right."
Snape threw something off of him and stood before them, his wand pointed directly at Lupin.
Author's Note: So…what did you think? I threw a little cliff-hanger in there…hehe! This is my favorite scene from the third book so I hope I did it enough justice. I know that there is still some stuff not answered, but there's another chapter where the four Gryffindors are in the Shrieking Shack. Also, not all the mysteries will be revealed here. Some will be in later books but I promise by the end of the series that all your questions will be answered. If anything still confuses you, PM me and I'll be sure to let you know when it will be explained. :)
Thank you to my amazing alert-ers, fantastic favorite-ers, and totally awesome reviewers! I can't believe there are over 60 reviews for this story! Let's see how far we can go, shall we? If you haven't reviewed before, I would love to hear from you. Just a little something to let me know how you feel about the story. Again, thank you all and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :D