Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, in accordance with the prophecy.

A/N: Thanks for all the positive reviews. It's good to see I haven't lost your interest. I admit I may have gone too far in third year, but as I said, Hermione is definitely getting stronger fast, as you will see in this chapter.

Now a question: what shape should Hermione's Patronus take? Personally, I think an otter suits her better in this story than in canon, as a good combination of playful and clever, but I will consider other suggestions. Remember that JKR has said size bears no relation to power for a Patronus, and even a mouse can powerful enough to stop an army of dementors.

Chapter 56

"Hermione?" Harry said.

"Yes, Harry?"

"Don't you think we should do more?"

"What, about the prophecy?" she said. "We already sent Lav and Parv to Dumbledore. What else do we need?"

Ginny spoke up: "I'm kinda worried, too, Hermione. What if they're right, and something really is gonna happen? Should we tell the other teachers or something?"

"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will if it's important," Hermione assured them. And yet, even as she said it, there was something nagging at the back of her mind: Sirius Black was still out there, and he was running out of time to get Harry this school year. As they walked down to dinner, Hermione spotted two other people who might potentially be useful in the outside chance that something did happen. Well, it wouldn't hurt to hedge her bets, would it? "Just a moment," she told her friends and rushed over to the pair. "Fred, George," she said quietly.

"Hello, Hermione," Fred said cheerfully.

"And what can we do for you this fine evening?" asked George.

"Do you remember what we discussed in February?"

"Um, I think we discussed a lot of things in February. Can you be more specific?" asked Fred.

"I've got…a feeling about tonight. I think you should keep an especially close eye out for Sirius Black tonight," Hermione replied.

They became concerned at once. "Why? Did something happen?" George said urgently.

"Not that I know of. It's a long story—and it's probably nothing—but a few people think something might happen tonight."

"Okay, we'll keep an eye out for you," Fred agreed.

"Yeah, nothing escapes the eye of the Map," said George.

"Well, except you, but there's no way Black's as smart as you," Fred said.

Hermione remembered her suspicions about who created the Marauder's Map. But even if she was right about that, she had still found places that the Map didn't cover. Actually, come to think of it…"Er, by the way, Professor Lupin shows up on the Map, right?" she asked.

"Yes. Why?" the Twins said in unison.

"No reason."

But even with that extra layer of insurance, Harry still didn't seem fully assuaged. He was preoccupied at dinner, frequently glancing around as if Sirius Black would show up in the Great Hall out of the blue at any moment. Hermione was getting worried about her friend. This year was wearing on him in a way the previous two had not. The revelations about his family had understandably hit hard and had left him in a vulnerable state of mind.

"Harry, if it makes you feel better, we can go down to the kitchens and ask the elves to keep an eye out, too," she told him.

Harry blinked at her and quickly nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good," he replied.

They went downstairs right after dinner, since Dobby's and Sonya's shift had just started. They passed Crookshanks prowling in the Entrance Hall, but fortunately, Ron didn't say anything about him.

The kitchens were always abuzz with activity right after dinner. The elves were running around everywhere, washing dishes and putting them away, scrubbing stovetopes, wiping down the long tables, and picking up any loose articles that students left behind and sending them back up to the Great Hall. After all, the easiest way to clean the long tables up there was to bring all the mess on them down here.

As soon as the foursome entered the kitchens, a group of excited elves rushed up to them, calling their names. "Is Masters and Misses wanting after-dinner snacks?" one asked.

"Sure," Ron said.

"Ron," Hermione chided. "No thank you. We just want to talk to Dobby and Sonya."

"Nellie will gets them, miss."

A moment later, two elves came up to them, seemingly in the middle of an argument.

"You shoulds keep to your own place, Dobby," said a small elf with scraggly blond hair and cobalt blue eyes. "You is a former family elf, but that does not mean Flory has qualified you for cooking at Hogwarts."

"Dobby has a right to speak to the cooking elves, Sonnitt." He glared at Sonya with his tennis-ball green eyes and crossed his arms.

"Do not be calling me Sonnitt!" It was almost comical to see the smaller elf looking so cross.

"Miss Hermione's family is knowing a lot about how humans should eat to be healthy," Dobby continued without missing a beat. "Dobby is trying to help the students."

"And Sonya is trying to help Dobby, but you is not listening. You is not earning elves' respect when you tells them how to do their jobs."

"Ahem," Hermione coughed.

Both elves' heads snapped in her direction. "Oh, hello, Miss Hermione," they said in unison.

Hermione sniggered behind her hand. Elves never ceased to amaze her. "Hello, Dobby. Hello, Sonya," she said.

"Can we be helping you and your friends, Miss Hermione?" Dobby asked.

"Well, yes. You see, my roommates have got it into their heads that Professor Trelawney made a prophecy."

Dobby gasped.

"What is it?"

"Oh, prophecies is very serious business, Miss Hermione," Dobby said worriedly.

"Maybe, but it's Professor Trelawney. She—"

"Miss Hermione and her friends shoulds be very careful," Dobby interrupted. "When He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named fell, there was whispers of a prophecy. It was being very secret, miss. Even Dobby's old masters did not know much. But Dobby heard that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named offered a very great reward for anyone who could capture Headmaster Dumbledore's Professor Trelawney alive."

"Ha, fat chance of that with Dumbledore guarding her," Ron said.

"No, Ron Weasley, sir," Dobby agreed. "No Death Eater ever got close, but if Miss Hermione's friends are thinking Professor Trelawney made a prophecy, they might be right."

"Oh, no," Ginny said.

"What was the prophecy saying, Miss Hermione Granger?" Sonya asked.

"Well, it didn't make much sense. It said something about there being two servants of the Dark Lord, and one would escape tonight, and the other would be captured, but the only servant of the Dark Lord who could be around here is Sirius Black."

Sonya and Dobby looked as confused as she was, but as worried as Ginny. They both opened their mouths to respond, but then, there was a commotion in one of the side rooms to the kitchens and the air was filled with shouting and clanging.

"Rat! Is being a rat in the pantry!"

All of the elves sprang into action as a very thin, bedraggled rat ran out of the pantry at breakneck speed. They chased it around the kitchen, swinging at it with pots and pans. Even at that speed, Hermione could tell it looked pretty sick for having been living in a pantry. It was scrawny, and its fur was falling out. And somehow—she had no idea how—Ron recognised it.

"Merlin's beard! It's Scabbers!"

Ron gave chase, and his friends followed. "Scabbers, come here! It's me Ron! Don't hurt him! That's my rat!" he yelled as the elves kept going after Scabbers with pots and pans.

"Rat must get out of the kitchens!" the elves yelled. "No rats is allowed with the food!"

"Don't hurt him!" Hermione cried. "We'll get him out!"

"Hey back off!" Ron shouted at the elves. "Scabbers, come on!"

Scabbers made it to the door and bolted from the kitchens with Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny following close behind. "Catch him!" Ron yelled. The rat made for the stairs at a startling speed, considering how ill he looked. Even more surprising was that he seemed to have no trouble tackling the stairs. He was clear up to the Entrance Hall by the time Ron caught up with him, and at that moment, an orange streak came at him.

"Crookshanks, no!" Hermione yelled.

The chase was on again.

"Hermione! Call off your stupid cat!" Ron bellowed. He and Harry continue continued to follow Scabbers while Hermione and Ginny tried to cut off Crookshanks.

"Crookshanks, stop! Don't hurt him!" Hermione yelled, to no effect. Scabbers must have made a narrow escape back in February. It was the only explanation she could think of. But she wasn't going to let Ron down again. She dove at her cat, and between the four of them, they managed to keep the animals away from each other, but they still couldn't actually catch them.

"Lux Cohaerens!" Hermione cast, trying to distract Crookshanks. She was sure he shot her an offended look before he ignored the red dot and kept right on going. It was sheer luck that the split second distraction let Ginny get close to him. In an instant, the hunter was successfully hunted as Ginny pounced on Crookshanks and held him down.

Crookshanks hissed and spat as Hermione caught up and tried to pick him up. "Crookshanks, calm down!" she scolded. "Ron's been distraught over his rat for months. Go chase some mice or something." Unfortunately, being a cat, he wasn't keen to listen to her and continued to squirm in her arms.

"GOTCHA!" she heard Ron shout in triumph. He'd finally caught Scabbers, but no sooner than he'd picked the rat up, he yelped, "Oi, Scabbers, stop it!" Scabbers was squeaking like mad and doing everything he could to try to wriggle out of his grip. "Hey, it's me, you idiot! It's Ron! Come on, I'm putting him in my room before something else happens. Hermione, keep your cat away from him."

"Crookshanks, chill," Hermione said. "I don't need you committing the murder you were accused of."

"What's wrong with Scabbers?" Ginny asked.

"Probably scared from being lost for so long," Ron reasoned. "He looks awful, too. He hasn't been getting his rat tonic."

It was a struggle, but they made it to the stairs and started climbing up to Gryffindor Tower. Both animals kept trying to escape like they'd never seen. It was only a matter of time before they got away again, and when they got to the third floor, it happened.

"OW! He bit me!" Ron yelled. He dropped Scabbers, who immediately started running flat out towards the Clock Tower. The four students ran again in hot pursuit, but Scabbers made it out the door and across the covered bridge before they caught up with him again.

"Harry, you're not supposed to be out on the grounds!" Hermione called, but Harry wasn't listening.

Finally, Ron dove and caught his Rat again, quickly stuffing him in his pocket so he couldn't get away. "Phew, finally got him," he said, turning around with a smile. "I don't know what's got into him."

Hermione didn't respond. She was too preoccupied with what she saw behind Ron. Standing in the twilight was a very big jet-black dog.

"Watch out, Ron!" Harry yelled.

"It's the Grim!" Ginny cried.

Ron turned around in horror to see the huge dog bolt at him. Hermione, Harry, and Ginny drew their wands, but in two bounds, the dog knocked Ron to the ground, bit down on his arm, and started dragging him down the hill.

"Ron!" they all screamed. Hermione dropped Crookshanks as they ran again, but the dog was easily faster. Ron was dragged hard and fast across the grounds until the dog came to a large tree with waving, club-like branches. Hermione stopped short when she saw it, but the dog kept going, dragging Ron through a gap in the gnarled roots of the tree and vanishing out of sight.

"The secret passage," she gasped. The one that came out outside the castle was usuable. "Harry, Ginny, stay back!" she cried.

"It's got Ron!" Harry yelled insistently. He and Ginny ran forward.

"Do you know what tree that it?"

"Wha'd'you mean, what tree—AHHH!"

Harry and Ginny both screamed as a heavy branch slammed into their chests and knocked them both back to fall by where Hermione was standing.

"It's called a Whomping Willow," she said. The branches whipped around in front of them, just out of reach.

"Bloody hell," Harry groaned in pain. "How do we get through?"

"I don't know. We need help," Hermione said.

But then, something happened that she never expected to see. Crookshanks ran towards the tree, nimbly dodging all the branched until he reached the trunk, where he pounced on a prominent knot. The tree froze in place, and the cat dove into the tunnel.

"Crookshanks?" she said in surprise. "How did you know to do that?"

"He's friends with the dog," Harry said. "I've seen them on the grounds together. Where'd Ron go?"

"There's a secret passage there," Hermione said. "Fred and George told me about it."

"Where does it go?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know. Somewhere in Hogsmeade."

"We've gotta follow him. Let's go," Ginny said. She made for the tree.

"Ginny! We need to get help!"

"There's no time!" Harry said. "That thing could eat Ron. We have to follow him. C'mon, Ginny, wands out."

Ginny squared her shoulders and followed Harry to the entrance of the secret passage. Hermione hesitated only a second before she followed them, brandishing her wand in front of her. "The things I do for my friends," she muttered to herself. "Why can't I just have a normal year?"

"You know, it'd be nice if the house elves showed up on this thing," George said. "I assume they're still talking to them down there."

"Sounds like a project for next year," Fred replied. "Anyway, I wonder what the big deal is. Hermione didn't seem to think anything was going on, but she still asked us to watch for Black."

"Dunno, but if she thinks it's worth looking for, I'm looking."

They flipped through the pages of the Map to check all seven secret passages, just in case, before turning back to the kitchens to see what their siblings and honorary siblings were up to, but now, another name was visible on the map and running across the kitchens.

"What the heck?"

"Isn't he dead?"

They stared at each other.

"Well, it's not Black, but I think that qualifies as something happening," George said.

They leapt up and ran to Professor Lupin's office.

"PROFESSOR LUPIN!"

Remus Lupin was busy locking down his office for the night. He wasn't expecting anyone to show up tonight except for Snape with his final dose of Wolfsbane Potion. So the sound of two boys banging on his door and screaming his name was highly unwelcome.

"PROFESSOR LUPIN!" the shouting repeated.

Lupin growled to himself and stalking over to the door. Opening it just enough to stick his head out, he came face to faces with the two biggest troublemakers in the school today. "Boys, this really isn't a good time," he said. "If this is urgent, make it quick."

Fred and George Weasley both opened their mouths to speak, but hesitated and looked at each other nervously. Then Fred—he was pretty sure it was Fred—said, "Professor, do the names Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs mean anything to you?"

The grumpy look on Lupin's face vanished and was replaced with surprise, and he started to turn pale as the implications set in. "Inside, quickly, quickly," he said. He motioned the Twins inside and shut the door. "So how did you figure out I was Moony?" he asked.

The Twins' jaws dropped. "You're Moony?" they gasped.

"Um, yes," Lupin said. "Which one did you think I was?"

"Hermione only said you might have known Moony," Fred told him.

He slapped his forehead lightly. "Hermione, of course," she said. "Nothing gets by that one. She was probably trying to protect my privacy. Anyway, I take it you have the Marauder's Map?"

"Right!" George said. "She said we should keep an eye out, tonight. We were looking for Sirius Black, but we found someone else."

"Someone else?" Lupin said worriedly.

"Yeah, now where did he go…?" He took out the map and flipped through the pages. Lupin stared in awe at the Map. He didn't think he would ever see it again, but it was more than fitting that these two got a hold of it. "There!" George held out the front page showing the ground and pointed to a name that seemed to be moving at a run and was being followed by four students.

"That's impossible!" Lupin gasped. "He's dead!"

"That's what we thought," said George.

"Is the Map ever wrong?" added Fred.

"Never. But…if he's alive…" The colour drained from Lupin's face as the pieces fell into place, far better than they ever had in 1981. The Twins looked very worried at his reaction. "Merlin's beard, she knew. She caught it in all of two weeks. Oh my God, he's the killer!"

"Oh, crap!" the Twins exclaimed.

"What?" Lupin looked back at them. They couldn't possibly know what was going on. But they were pointing back at the Map. A sixth name had appeared, and he knew at once why it was there. "Oh, that's bad," he said frantically. "I have to stop them!" He folded up the Map and ran out of the room with only a quick check of the clock. He should easily have enough time to get to the Shrieking Shack and back before moonrise.

Fred and George watched the professsor go with their most prized possession, off to a confrontation with a murderer that four of the people closest to them were walking into blind.

"Now what?" they asked each other. For once, they had no answer.

"Professor McGonagall! Professor McGonagall!" Two third year girls ran up to their head of house right after dinner.

"Miss Brown, Miss Patil, what is it?" McGonagall asked.

"We have to see Professor Dumbledore right away," Parvati Patil said.

"Yeah," Lavender Brown added, "Professor Trelawney made a prophecy, and it's gonna happen tonight."

McGonagall gave the girls a sceptical look: "Did she, now?"

"We're not kidding, ma'am, she went into a trance and everything," Lavender said.

The professor's eyes widened. That didn't sound like Sibyll's usual m.o. "Truly?" she said, giving them a warning look.

"Yes, ma'am," they both said.

She nodded. "Very well, follow me."

Five minutes later, Lavender and Parvati repeated their story in more detail to Professor Dumbledore in the Headmaster's office. They glanced around nervously as they spoke. It was a place that radiated power, much like Dumbledore himself.

"Miss Brown, Miss Patil, how much do you remember of the exact words of this prophecy?" the old wizard said.

"We wrote them down, sir," Parvati said, handing over the parchment. "Here they are."

Dumbledore and McGonagall read the words silently. McGonagall turned pale, and even Dumbledore looked worried. That was definitely a bad sign.

"Albus, does this mean what I think it means," McGonagall breathed.

"It means, Minerva, that the clock is now ticking—two clocks, rather—one tonight and one in the longer term. We must act at once." He turned his attention back to the girls: "Have you told anyone else about this?"

The girls quailed under his gaze. "Er, we told Hermione and Harry and Ron and Ginny, sir," Lavender said timidly. "Was that bad?"

He gave them a stern look, but he hesitated a long moment and eventually answered, "You should not worry yourselves. However, should the situation arise in the future, you should exercise great caution with prophecies. Return to your dorms. Tell no one else about this, and tell your friends to do the same."

"Yes, sir," the girls said, and they made tracks quickly from the office.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore made an emergency Floo call to the Ministry: "Cornelius, put the Aurors on high alert. I have reason to believe Sirius Black will make a move tonight. And he may have an ally."

"There's something not right about this place," Harry said. "Ghosts don't rip stuff up."

The secret passage had come out in a run-down, multi-storey structure that looked an awful lot like the Shrieking Shack, but it didn't look haunted—not in the usual way, anyway. Hermione, Harry, and Ginny reached the one room that had a light and barrelled in, wands drawn.

Hermione immediately took stock of the situation: Crookshanks lying on the bed, purring, Ron lying on the bed with an obviously broken leg, Ron staring in horror at something out of their view…

"No! It's a trap!" Ron yelped as they rushed to his side. "He's the dog…He's an animagus…"

Hermione turned just in time to see a ragged man close the door on them. He was tall and gaunt, almost emaciated. His hair was filthy and hung past his shoulders. His teeth would give her parents nightmares, and he had a wild look in his dark grey eyes. She knew that face. "Sirius Black," she whispered. Hermione acted on instinct.

"Dobby!"

Pop!

"Restrain him!"

"Eek! Sirius Black!" Dobby squeaked. He snapped his fingers, and in an instant, Black was pinned spread eagled to the wall.

If Black was surprised by an elf wearing clothes, he didn't show it. His reaction was immediate. He had Ron's wand in his hand. It was pinned against the wall, but that was enough.

"Defodio!" he croaked. A cloud of splinters exploded out of the wall, enough to knock his hand loose. He flicked the wand at Dobby without speaking aloud, and Dobby was lifted up in the air by his ankle. Distracted, he lost his hold on Black, who deftly dodged his elf-jinxes.

"Chiroptera—!" Ginny started.

"Expelliarmus!" Ginny's wand flew out of her hand.

"Petrificus—!"

"Locomotor—!"

"Relashio!"

"Spongenu!"

"Expelliarmus! Expelliarmus!"

Hermione and Harry were both casting hexes at the murderer and dodging his return fire, but he was faster and stronger than they, and they were both quickly disarmed. Although even as they dodged, Hermione noticed Black wasn't using particularly dangerous spells.

Then, Dobby managed to free himself from the spell and landed on his feet. He waved his hands, and a coil of rope on the wall sprang to life and tied Black up tight.

Black didn't seem phased. He smirked and said, "Family elf, eh? Know the old tricks…? Kreacher was tougher." Then, to the Hermione's horror, he transformed back into the huge, black dog and tore the rope to bits with his teeth and claws. He was an animagus—and an unregistered one at that.

"Crookshanks, do something!" Hermione tried desperately, not really sure why she thought it would help. Her cat was still lying on the bed, purring as if it were a great show.

In a single bound, Black had Dobby pinned to the ground by his arms and growled in his face.

"Dobby, no!" she cried.

The dog hesitated. Then, to general astonishment, he changed back to human form and said hoarsely, "Call him off. I don't wanna hurt him, but I will if I have to."

Hermione had to work her mouth a few times to get any sound to come out. "Dobby, stop," she said sadly.

"But Miss Hermione—"

"I said stop…We've lost this one."

Dobby went limp with a defeated look on his face, and Black cautiously backed off of him. He flicked Ron's wand again, and Dobby was pinned to the wall. That was it, then, Hermione thought. The best the wizarding world had to offer couldn't stop a mass murderer from getting into Hogwarts. Black knew how to get past Aurors and dementors, presumably with his animagus form, and he even knew—somehow—how to fight house elves. And yet, she noticed something again: Sirius Black had just refrained from killing someone—and not just anyone, but a lowly house elf—just because she had begged him not to. Why?

"I thought you'd come to help your friend, Harry," Black said, staring fixedly at Harry's enraged face. "Your father would've done the same for me. So much the better you didn't find a teacher. That'll make this easier."

On instinct, Hermione rushed to Harry's side to grab his arm and stop him from attacking Black. That was a good way to get himself killed even faster. But before she could reach him, Harry practically ran over Ginny, who had jumped in front of him.

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us, too!" she cried.

Black grinned: "No, there'll be only one murder here tonight."

Why again? Hermione thought. He killed twelve bystanders to get Pettigrew.

"Then it'll be you!" Harry roared. In a moment, there was a flurry of screams as he pushed past Ginny to charge Black, Ginny tried to hold him back, Hermione reached out to grab him, Ron lunged forward on the bed and snagged his robes, and all five of them went tumbling to the ground, Ron shouting in pain when his broken leg hit the floor.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded from downstairs.

"HELP! IT'S SIRIUS BLACK! UP HERE! QUICK!" Hermione screamed.

In seconds, the footsteps thundered up the stairs, and Professor Lupin burst into the room with what seemed to be a pained look on his face. The Twins must have shown him the Map. He pointed his wand at Black, who still held four wands in his own hands…And hesitated.

Black raised a wand—not Ron's this time, but Harry's, they noted—and pointed it at Lupin. There was a tense standoff, and then Lupin said, "You switched, didn't you, Sirius?"

Astonishingly, Black lowered his wand. "Twelve years, and you finally figured it out?" he rasped.

"I had a little help," Lupin said. He smirked, and Hermione saw his eyes flick towards her. Then, he lowered his wand, too, and, to the students' horror, he embraced Black like a brother.

"YOU WERE WORKING TOGETHER?!" Harry roared.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione screamed. "PROFESSOR, I TRUSTED YOU! I TOLD FRED AND GEORGE TO TRUST YOU!"

Everyone stared at her. "And you were right to, Hermione," Lupin said, holding up a hand. "You made the right call when you told them to give me the Marauder's Map."

"You have the Marauder's Map?" Black said in surprise.

"By a happy chance, they gave it to me tonight," Lupin replied. "I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at it and saw Peter was alive."

"Oi, Scabbers, not now!" Ron interrupted. Scabbers had jumped from his pocket and was again thrashing desperately. Ron had to wrap his bald tail around his fingers to hold him.

"Remus that's him," Black said gleefully.

"I know, Sirius," Lupin said.

"What? Who? Me?" Ron said in confusion. He tried to back away on the bed.

"Not you, boy, the rat!" Black said triumphantly. "He's not a rat at all. He's an animagus…by the name of Peter Pettigrew!"

There was silence in the Shrieking Shack except for Scabbers's frantic squeaking. As the absurdity of that statement sank in, Ron and Ginny both spoke in unison: "You're both mental."

"Pettigrew's dead!" Harry said. "You killed him!" He pointed to Black in a rage.

"No." All eyes turned to Hermione. "No, he didn't," she whispered.

"What!" Harry, Ron, and Ginny all yelled at once.

Hermione's mind, which had been spinning its wheels for a while, finally found traction. "I knew it!" she cried. "I knew there was something not right about that explosion! Oh my God, it all makes sense now."

"Hermione, what're you talking about?" Ron demanded. "Did they Confund you when we weren't looking?"

"No, Ron, I'm finally seeing things clearly! I'm talking about how an explosion doesn't leave behind an intact set of robes and one finger. Peter Pettigrew faked his own death and framed Black for it." She got up and started pacing. "But why did he disappear like that? Black would've gone to Azkaban anyway if he'd killed those muggles. So that means Pettigrew did that too! He caused the explosion, and then he cut off his own finger to plant as evidence and disappeared by turning into Scabbers. Merlin, how many unregistered animagi are there—? Ron, Scabbers is the real murderer!"

"She's gone mad!" Ron said in horror. "Ginny, do something!"

"Oh no, she's not mad, Ronald," Lupin said with a grin as Ginny tried to make Hermione sit down and shut up. "She may well be the sanest witch I've ever met. I never would've figured it out myself if she hadn't got me thinking about that explosion."

"You?" Black asked Hermione in surprise. "You are brilliant. Twelve years, and you're the only one who noticed."

Hermione shrugged: "Actually, I'm highly logical, which allows me to look past extraneous details and perceive clearly that which others overlook…Also, I'm the only muggle-born in this room. I thought about it in those terms. No one seemed to notice that the evidence didn't look right when Pettigrew supposedly died. No one thought anything was amiss when Scabbers lived four times as long as a normal rat. Professor Snape's right about one thing: too many wizards don't have an ounce of logic."

"Hermione, Scabbers isn't Pettigrew!" Ron said. "He's just a normal rat."

"Ronald, he's twelve years old, and he's missing a toe. All they found of Pettigrew was a finger, remember?"

"Hermione, listen to yourself!" Harry shouted over her. "Black was my parents' Secret-Keeper, not Pettigrew. He betrayed them!"

"No, Harry!" Black said. Tears began to form in his eyes. "No…I as good as killed them, Harry, but he did the deed. James and Lily wanted me to be the Secret-Keeper, but I thought it would be too obvious. I said it would be better if we switched and didn't tell anyone—not even Dumbledore. I said Peter should do it because he was the last person anyone would expect…I'm so sorry, Harry…I didn't realise what an awful mistake I'd made until…until it was too late."

"So it was Pettigrew," Hermione said. "It was Pettigrew the whole time—all of it."

"Yes," Lupin replied. "I figured it out as soon as I saw he was alive on the Marauder's Map."

"What is the Marauder's Map?" Harry demanded impatiently.

"This is the Marauder's Map, Harry." He removed the parchment booklet from his pocket and showed it to him. "It shows where everyone is in the castle in real time. The Twins have been using it to plan their pranks, but we made it—your father and the three of us."

"Moony," Hermione said. Lupin nodded. The pattern was obvious now that she saw it. "Padfoot." She pointed at Sirius. "Wormtail." She pointed back at Scabbers. And could it be? "What was James?" she asked.

"A stag," Sirius said wistfully. "Prongs—antlers. You father was an animagus, too, Harry, just like me and, unfortunately, Peter."

"I'm telling you, he's just Scabbers," Ron said.

"Augh! Ronald…" Hermione scoffed. "Can you make him change back to human form, Professor?" she asked Lupin.

Now Lupin grinned. "We can," he said. "We just need to make sure he doesn't get away."

"Could you unbind Dobby? And give me my wand back, please?"

Black gave Lupin a questioning look, and Lupin studied her face carefully. "I think we can trust her, now, Sirius. She's on our side."

"I'm on the side of justice, Professor," she corrected at once.

"Well, since I'm innocent, that's good enough for me." Black handed Hermione's wand back to her, much to her friends' astonishment, and he flicked another wand and let Dobby slump to the floor.

"Oh, that's nice," Ginny said. "What about us?"

"Just give it a minute, Ginny," Hermione said. "We'll try to solve this quickly. Dobby, are you okay?"

"Yes, Miss Hermione. But is the rat really being a wizard?"

"We're gonna find out. Just make sure he doesn't get away."

"Yes, miss."

"Give me the rat, Ron," Lupin said. "If we're wrong, this won't hurt him."

At that, Ron hesitatingly held out the the thrashing, biting rat in his hands.

Lupin took him up tightly in one hand: "Ready, Sirius?"

"Together?" Black said softly.

"I think so. On three: one…two…three!"

There was a flash of blue-white light, and Scabbers fell to the floor, but began rapidly growing. It was as Hermione expected. Scabbers's round rat body sprouted up with his head growing and limbs stretching. In seconds, instead of Scabbers, there was another man standing in the Shrieking Shack. He was a short, balding man with small, darting eyes and a distinctly rat-like face. He was very thin and dirty, but his jowls hung off his face as if he had been much fatter and lost a lot of weight.

"Hello, Peter," Lupin said with a wicked grin. "Long time no see."

"S-Sirius…R-Remus…m-my old friends…" Pettigrew said. Even his voice was quick and squeaky.

But before his "old friends" could answer, he was hit by a streak of red. Ginny was in motion, a look of rage on her face. She kicked Pettigrew hard between the legs and squealed, "You pervert! I saw you watching me dress last summer!" Pettigrew crumpled to the ground, whining.

Most of the room's mouths dropped open. "Oh, Merlin! My baby sister? That's sick!" Ron said. "And…and I let you sleep in my bed, too! If I had two good legs…"

"Nice one, Ginny," Black said. "You see now? It was him the whole time. He betrayed James and Lily. He killed all those people."

"No! No!" Pettigrew squeaked. "You can't believe him!" He pointed at Black. "He's lying—lying and crazy. He tried to kill me."

"Shut up," Ginny spat. "How did you know who he was, though?" she asked Black. "How'd you even know he was here?"

"He's come to kill me again," Pettigrew pleaded. "You have to stop him!"

"I wouldn't have known he was on the loose at all except by an amazing stroke of luck," Black replied. "The last time the Minister visited, I asked him for a newspaper—told him I wanted to do the crossword. He actually believed me. Ha! I was looking for news about Harry, but imagine my surprise when I saw this instead." He drew a carefully folded newspaper cutout from his tattered clothes and showed it to them. The students gasped. It was the picture of the Weasleys in Egypt, and in Ron's hands, his missing toe clearly visible, was Scabbers. "I'd know that rat anywhere," Black said.

"That's why you said 'He's at Hogwarts' in your sleep," Lupin said in understanding. "You meant Peter, not Harry."

"It's a lie," Pettigrew continued. "He was the Secret-Keeper, not me. He killed James and Lily, and he broke out to kill both of us."

Black wheeled on Pettigrew, wand raised. "How dare you defile their memory?!" he roared. "You were the Secret-Keeper, and we both know it! You don't have a right to speak their names!"

"Harry…Harry, please…I'm telling the truth! He's crazy! You can't believe anything he says."

"You haven't been hiding from me all these," Black said dismissively. "You've been hiding out from all of Voldemort's supporters who think you betrayed him, getting him killed. And you got fat off the Weasleys' unwitting kindness in confidence they all thought you were dead."

"You see? That doesn't even make sense!" Pettigrew said. "I'd never work for You-Know-Who. He's completely mad! Remus, he was the spy. Don't you see it? Who else could've passed that kind of information on to him?"

"Oh, I don't know, you? Thinking I'm the spy—who risked his neck more than me, besides James and Lily?"

"Harry—Harry, please believe me. I lived with you for three years—in your dorm. I never hurt you there."

Harry's head was bobbing back and forth between the two men as if he wasn't sure who to believe.

"Don't listen to him, Harry," Black cut him off. "He had a good life there, and he never did anything unless there was something in it for him."

"I ran with you, didn't I? I did that for you!"

"You did it for the popularity. You were nothing without us."

"You never would've got out of all those scrapes without me."

"We built you up, and then you sold us out."

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!"

The Shack fell silent, and all eyes turned to Hermione. Sirius Black stared at her as if he'd never seen anything quite like her. She was well aware that she had just shouted down a mass murderer, whichever one of them it was. But she wasn't dead yet, so she squared her shoulders and kept going: "This isn't about your schoolboy rivalry. Honestly, one of you is a murderer, and you're arguing about who was more popular in school…You know, there's a simple solution to this."

"There is?" the three adults said.

"There is?" her three friends repeated.

"Yes, there is." Hermione reached into the pocket of her robes and pulled out the jam jar that she always carried with her. From inside the jar, wrapped in a swatch of cotton wool, she withdrew a small phial filled with a clear liquid. "Veritaserum," she said with a smile.

Grins spread across her friends faces, and shock on the adults'. "You have Veritaserum?" Black said in amazement.

"Bloody brilliant! You still have that stuff?" Ron said.

"Of course. I've never used it. How much call is there for it?"

"Hermione," Lupin said. "Do I even want to know why or how you have Veritaserum?"

"Probably not," she said with a grin.

Pettigrew now looked very, very nervous. "That…th-that's not reliable," he stammered. "Black knows Occlumency. You can't trust what he says under it."

"I wasn't going to give it to him," Hermione replied.

Pettigrew's small eyes grew wide, and he started to back away. "No, no, no," he muttered.

"Dobby!"

Dobby snapped his fingers, and Pettigrew was bound in another coil of ropes.

"Stun him if he transforms," she told Lupin. We really need a way to bind him so he can't get away.

"Y-you c-can't do that," Pettigrew pleaded. "It's not legal."

"Actually, it's just not admissible," Lupin corrected smugly, "but we've got more than enough evidence to have you arrested and formally questioned. If we're right, I highly doubt any of us will get more than a slap on the wrist."

"Thank you, Professor," Hermione said. She walked up to Pettigrew and tried to force his mouth open. He fought the effort, but she pinched his nose, forcing him to open his lips enough for her to drip three drops of the potion between his teeth. Suddenly, Pettigrew went limp, and his eyes glazed over.

"I think it's working," she said. "What is your name?"

"Peter Pettigrew," he said in a monotone.

"Well, I don't know how you did it, but you did it," Lupin said. "Alright Peter, did you betray James and Lily to Voldemort?"

"Nnnnn-yes," he spat, trying to resist the effects. Harry's eyes widened in horror.

"I told you," Black said.

"Hang on, Sirius," Lupin held him back. "Were you the Secret-Keeper?"

"Yes."

"Were you the spy in the Order?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry, Remus," Black muttered. "I thought it was you—"

"Don't worry about it, Padfoot. Peter, did you fake your own death and frame Sirius for it, and did you kill twelve muggles in the process?"

"Nnnnn-yes, and yes," Pettigrew said.

"Why did you do it?" Black demanded.

"I…was…scared," he replied. Suddenly, his normal personality reemerged: "The Dark Lord was winning. What was there to gain from refusing? He would've killed me."

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" Black lunged for him, but Lupin held him back. "YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED FOR YOUR FRIENDS LIKE ANY OF US WOULD'VE DONE FOR YOU!"

"What choice was there? We all would've died anyway!"

"But we didn't! We didn't because Harry stopped him. There's always a choice, Peter, and you chose wrong! C'mon, Moony, let's kill him already."

"Um, are you sure that's a good idea?" Hermione said nervously.

"He deserves it," Black growled. He started to move towards him.

"Hold it!" Hermione interrupted.

"What?" Black said impatiently.

"I've got questions I want answered, too," she said, "and I'm going to get those answers. Pettigrew, how did you kill those twelve muggles?"

"Hermione!" Lupin said.

But Pettigrew, though he tried to stop himself, snapped into a monotone again and answered: "I used a powerful blasting curse based on the Reductor Curse. It targets a smaller area, but it shatters the target into fragments that it blasts out at high speed."

"Like shrapnel—of course, like a fragmentation grenade," Hermione said, relieved that she finally understood it. "That's how you killed so many people. A curse like that could kill at a greater range with less blast damage. Mr. Black, you were lucky you weren't killed yourself."

Black was speechless, mostly that a fourteen-year-old girl could deduce so much about dark curses, but Lupin still had his wits together: "You're not smart enough to invent a spell like that on your own. Did Voldemort give it to you?"

"No."

"Who did?"

"Rrrrr-Rookwood. He invented it."

"Rookwood?" Hermione asked.

"Augustus Rookwood," Lupin explained. "He worked in the Department of Mysteries—the research division of the Ministry. He was passing information to Voldemort—he's in Azkaban, now."

"One more question: did you ever watch me dress when I stayed at the Burrow?" Hermione said.

"Nnnn-ye—OW!" Hermione kneed him in the groin before he could finish the syllable.

"Creep," she said. "Why did the Sorting Hat ever put you in Gryffindor?"

She'd meant it rhetorically, but Pettigrew answered: "B-b-because it s-said I had a spark of b-bravery that needed to be cultivated."

Hermione's breath hitched, and she drew back in horror.

"What is it?" Lupin asked.

"It told me the same thing," she whispered. She turned and looked at her friends worriedly. Would they look at her differently now? Would they start trusting her less?

But then, Ron opened his mouth and taunted Pettigrew: "That shows she's better than you, then! Hermione's so brave she hexed You-Know-Who in the face twice, and you're still a bloody coward!"

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, though she rolled her eyes at Ron: "I'm also brave enough to say his name, Ron—but thank you."

"Hexed him in the—? Never mind," Black said. "Now that we've established Peter's a son of a bitch all around, let's kill him."

"I really don't think—" Hermione started.

"Yes, let's," Lupin agreed. Both he and Black raised their wands to the man.

Harry looked between the three men and then got a determined look. "NO!" he said. He jumped in front of Pettigrew, to everyone's shock.

"Harry, what're you doing?" Ginny gasped.

"They shouldn't kill him," he said. Pettigrew was still writhing in pain on the ground behind him.

"Harry, this piece of filth sold your whole family to save his own skin," Black spat.

"I know," he answered, "but I don't reckon my dad would've wanted you to become killers just for him…he's not worth it."

Black hesitated, but didn't lower his wand. "I'm glad to see you think so highly of James, Harry," he said, "but there are times when any man hits his breaking point…"

"He's right, Mr. Black," Hermione jumped in. His and Lupin's heads snapped towards her. "Professor Lupin, I don't know about Harry's dad, but…if his mum and I are as alike as you say, she definitely wouldn't have wanted it. You're too good a man for that, sir." Lupin gasped softly and lowered his wand. His hand was shaking. "And more importantly, Mr. Black," she added, "if we take him up to the castle alive, you'll never have to go back to Azkaban. You're Harry's godfather. I don't know what you know about his relatives, but Harry needs his godfather."

"Hermione—" Harry started.

"Don't deny it, Harry. You deserve better than a family that just barely tolerates you."

At that, Black also lowered his wand. "Harry…" he said slowly, "you're the only one who has the right to decide. What do you want to do with him?"

Harry turned and stared at Pettigrew a long moment. Then he stared at Black, then Lupin, and then Hermione, Ron, and Ginny in turn. Hermione pleaded with him silently, and she could see that Ginny, though she probably hated Pettigrew as much as he did, also agreed with her idea. "We'll take him to the castle," Harry said. "Alive. And we'll get you freed…Sirius."

The tension seemed to lift. Black actually smiled at being called by his first name. "Alright Harry…and…thank you for thinking of me—and you, too, Hermione. I think you both may be wiser than I am."

The moment was broken by a strange tinkling sound: tink tink tink tink tink tink tink… Hermione turned chalk white, her eyes widening in horror as she realised it was coming from her wrist.

"What's that?" Ron asked.

"It's my watch," she said, drawing her sleeve back.

"What's it mean?"

Oh, she knew what it meant. She'd set the alarm earlier that day: "It means moonrise is in ten minutes!"