Remus' POV

"Professor Lupin. Just so you know, I don't think the map always works. Earlier, it showed someone in the castle. Someone I know to be dead."

"Oh really? And who might that be?"

"Peter Pettigrew."

Besides me, Raylynx let out a long sigh, as though she had been waiting for this, as though she suddenly understood something. I heard her mutter softly, "That's why I've been feeling such a pull…"

Her reaction was in marked contrast to my own reaction of near-horror and complete shock. I barely heard my own voice as I responded to Harry. "That's… not possible."

"It's just what I saw," Harry said, shrugging. "Good night, Professor."

And Harry was gone.


I don't know for how long I stood there, just holding the map in my hands. In truth, I was too afraid to open it. My mind was whirring. What if it's … true? Could Harry be right?

No, a voice in my head shot back immediately. Pete died. Sirius killed him – blew him up, so that all Pete's mum got was his finger. There were so many witnesses on the street that day, and so many innocent Muggles who were killed too…

And then, before that… Sirius was Lily and James' Secret-Keeper. I remember. I remember it all so vividly… The days leading up to Lily and James' death: The tide turning against me. My name always being mentioned when it came to who the traitor was. Not being able to see James or Lily or Alice or Frank for over a year… Convincing myself to grit my teeth against the accusations and thinking that it would all be worth it as long as we all got out of this safely…

And then that fateful day when Sirius turned traitor – when Lily and James died, when Harry was somehow, miraculously, spared. Peter was murdered by Sirius only a few hours after, as were fourteen entirely innocent Muggles.

I'd found Raylynx lying on the floor of Sirius' apartment. I'd been so frightened that Sirius had killed her, too. I shook her more violently than I should have and when her eyes fluttered opened, I felt my heart squeeze so tightly I swore I could feel fingers around my heart…

Was there a chance that I could have misunderstood any of that? It had consumed my life – my thoughts and emotions and actions – for so many years. How could I have perceived it incorrectly? How, in any version of this tragic series of events, could Sirius not have been the catalyst, the traitor?

I faintly heard Raylynx say my name. "Remus. Remus."

I remained frozen.

"What do you think it means?" she pressed. "If Peter is alive-"

"It can't be true," I replied, rejecting the assumption underlying her question. I didn't look at her.

Raylynx watched me for a moment. Finally, she said softly, "You remember what you told me? The map never lies. You made sure of that when you made the password: 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.' You told me that it formed a magical contract and therefore would always tell the truth, even if against you."

I blinked.

"That's what you said," Raylynx reminded me. "That's what you told me."

She came closer and put her hand on my cheek. "Don't you think that Sirius deserves a chance? A chance to tell us what happened? And if not for Sirius, don't you think we owe it to ourselves to hear what happened from him?"

I lifted my eyes to her face, but I wasn't really seeing her. When I didn't respond, she gripped my shoulder warmly for a moment. Then, she turned and left the classroom, closing the door behind her.

She's wrong, I thought numbly. She doesn't understand the depth of Sirius' darkness, or of mine. And she had already left when the Order really began to fall apart, when it wasn't just groups of friends suspecting each other, but those within circles of friends suspecting each other – like us… like Lily, James, Peter, Sirius, and me…

But what if? The nagging voice in my mind returned, and for some reason, it slowly transformed into Raylynx's voice in my mind. What if Peter is alive?

"He can't be," I murmured. "A street full of people saw him die."

But the map never lies. It can't. What does this all mean? If Peter was alive, then…?

"I don't know," I mumbled aloud. "I don't know, I don't know."

It could mean that Peter had been terrified of Sirius returning and turned himself into a rat. But there was something strange about that theory. If that were true, then why didn't he come to Dumbledore? Or me? What else could it mean?

My heart was going a hundred miles an hour. It didn't help that tonight was the full moon. My blood always felt prickly the night before, sharp, tingling… A ringing sound filled my head.

The hours ticked by. I didn't go down for dinner. Hunger seemed like a foreign concept to me.

Finally, when the clock chimed a far later hour than I expected, I let out a deep breath and stared at the opening page of the Marauder's Map again.

I hesitated. Could it be possible?

Slowly, I lifted my wand and laid the tip against the parchment.

For the first time in a long time, I murmured, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The ink spread across the map. I watched it sprawl all the way across the opening cover before I opened the Map.

The old parchment felt rough against my fingers and the paper crinkled in an almost friendly way as I spread it open.

I looked down at it.

My eyes traced the familiar contours of the map, and for a moment, I felt as though I were in a familiar old dream of mine…

Almost immediately, I noticed Harry, Ron, and Hermione's names isolated from the castle, out on the grounds. I frowned. Why is Harry out on the grounds? It's past curfew. We just talked about how dangerous this could be.

Then, I realized that they were coming from Hagrid's hut and remembered that Buckbeak's execution had been scheduled for tonight. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were probably under James' Invisibility Cloak, and had snuck down to Hagrid's to support him before his hippogriff's execution.

I paused. Wait a minute. It's not just Harry, Ron, and Hermione's names… There's a fourth. I looked closer, and there it was: a floating line of ink that spelled out: Peter Pettigrew.

The map shivered as my hands trembled. It's true. He's alive.

And he's with them… Peter's with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. But how…?

Before I had time to ponder this more deeply, however, to my astonishment, I saw a dot titled "Raylynx Kingsley" sprinting towards the four of them. The dot labeled "Peter Pettigrew" jumped away from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, running in the opposite direction from which Raylynx was coming.

Ron chased after Raylynx and Peter as Raylynx closed in on Peter.

Then, my mouth dropped open in astonishment as I saw yet another dot, this time labeled "Sirius Black" join the fray and collide with Ron and Peter. Sirius dragged both Ron and Peter to the Whomping Willow and I watched as Sirius dragged the two of them – Ron and Peter - into the Shrieking Shack.

Peter… Peter was alive? How can this be? And Sirius is after him… No, not merely after him. Sirius has got him now – just now.

My heart was thundering in my chest. I leaned over the desk and gripped at my chest. If the map was correct, Sirius and Peter were both in the Shrieking Shack, currently going through the passageway protected by the Whomping Willow.

The Whomping Willow… I remembered what I had said to Raylynx after Harry's Nimbus had been destroyed by the Whomping Willow. "The Whomping Willow. This all started from when I came here… Sirius. The Whomping Willow. All of it."

And then Raylynx's reply floated into my mind: "Maybe fate brought you here to fix it all."

Suddenly, I knew what I had to do. I grabbed my wand and dashed out.


Raylynx's POV

There had been a reason for my wanting to catch Scabbers after all. I had instinctively known that he was not just a rat, and that there was something very familiar about him. Sirius had known all along, too, somehow, that Scabbers is Peter. And Sirius wants to talk with him. Why has Peter been in hiding all this time? Is there something that Peter knows about how Sirius was framed? Is Peter the key to proving Sirius' innocence? Maybe he's the witness who will convince Dumbledore of Sirius' innocence. This means that Sirius didn't kill him. Maybe Sirius and Peter were both tricked by someone else. My mind raced through multiple possibilities as I furiously raced across the grounds in my Crookshanks form.

I knew where Harry, Ron, and Hermione would be. Hermione had spent the last few days telling me about Buckbeak's scheduled execution, and I was pretty certain that they would sneak down to Hagrid's. My plan was to convince Padfoot to reveal himself as Sirius and to persuade Harry, Ron, and Hermione to recruit them to bring Scabbers to him.

However, as we started to race back to the main path to wait for Harry, I suddenly caught a scent in the air – a scent that I had tracked obsessively for weeks and would now recognize anywhere – Scabbers! I let out a sharp, sudden yelp. Padfoot looked over at me. But I had already leapt forward.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were under the Invisibility Cloak, but my sense of smell could pinpoint Scabbers from this distance. This is it! I've got to catch Peter. As I neared them, I slunk down to the ground, readying myself to ambush my prey. Unfortunately, Scabbers sensed that I was coming and tried desperately to free himself from Ron's grasp.

Harry and Hermione spotted me just then.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione moaned. "No, go away, Crookshanks! Go away!"

I continued to slink forward, sniffing the air towards Scabbers. Behind me, I could hear Padfoot starting to run to catch up with me.

"Scabbers – No!"

Frightened out of his wits, Scabbers bit Ron's finger. Ron yelped and dropped Scabbers. I sprang into the air, leaping after him.

Ron jumped out from under the Invisibility Cloak and came running after us. Ron was shouting at me and trying to catch Scabbers to protect him from me, but I was putting up a fight. Finally, however, Ron managed to grab me and throw me aside. I hit the ground with a loud thud. I hissed, furious at Ron.

Harry and Hermione had just run up to us.

"Ron," Hermione panted, "come on back under the cloak! Dumbledore – the Minister – they'll be coming back out in a minute - "

But Padfoot had caught up to us. Even though he was running so fast, his paws made virtually no sound as he raced towards us. Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't even notice Padfoot coming until he had already reached us.

Harry had quick reflexes. He reached for his wand, but Padfoot had leapt at him and knocked him over. Padfoot quickly rolled off of Harry, not actually wanting to hurt him, just wanting to disarm him. Hermione tried to reach for her wand, but I jumped up and sank my claws into her sweater, and my hanging off of her arm kept her from reaching her wand.

Padfoot jumped past Harry and grabbed Ron and dragged Ron away. I let go of Hermione and dropped back onto the floor.

Just then, I heard a rustle. Then, in the darkness, the Whomping Willow sent its branches straight at Harry, Hermione, and me. Harry was hit across the face and fell backwards. Hermione, too, was pushed onto the ground by the Whomping Willow's threatening branch.

Harry groaned, but groped for his wand. Finding it, he whispered, "Lumos!" He and Hermione looked up to see that they were nearly under the Whomping Willow now.

At the base of the trunk, Padfoot was dragging Ron into the large gap in the Whomping Willow's roots – to the Shrieking Shack, I knew. But Ron was fighting Padfoot as much as he could. He'd hooked a leg around one of the branches above ground. Padfoot, not knowing, yanked Ron down. There was a nasty snap, which Harry, Hermione, and I all winced sharply at. Then, Ron vanished from sight.

"Harry, we've- we've got to go for help!" Hermione said, as she narrowly avoided another swing from the Whomping Willow.

No, I thought, upon hearing Hermione's words. Don't! If the Minister gets dragged into this, it's over for Sirius. Please don't call anyone. Speak to Sirius yourself first. You have to! It's the only way you'll understand… what really happened. Now that Peter's with us, I'm sure we can finally explain all of this.

To my relief, Harry shouted back, "No! That thing's big enough to eat him; we haven't got time-"

But Hermione yelled back, "Harry, we're never going to get through without help!"

Realizing that I needed to act to convince Harry and Hermione to meet with Sirius without alerting someone else and also being seriously worried for Ron and of course, needing to see Sirius and Peter at long last, I decided to lead the way forward for Harry and Hermione. I darted forward and slithering deftly between the Whomping Willow's branches, I placed my front paws on a knot on the trunk of the tree. The tree immediately stopped moving.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione said, shocked. "How did she know-?"

"She's friends with that dog," Harry said knowingly. "I've seen them together. Come on, and keep your wand out-"

I slid into the tunnel first, and Harry and Hermione both followed me in. The passageway was long and although Harry and Hermione were going as fast as they could, running all hunched over, it felt painfully slow to me. Finally, the tunnel started to rise. I could smell fresh air before us, and I knew we were nearly there. I jumped out from the small opening into a room – one of the rooms of the Shrieking Shack. I paused for a moment. The last time I had been in here was when I had met Remus to perform an Unbreakable Vow before leaving the Order. How ironic it was that this was where we all met again. Life always moves in circles.

The Shrieking Shack looked exactly the same as it did back then, if not slightly more dusty. I heard a soft yell and a rat's high-pitched squeal. Knowing Harry and Hermione would come up to the room now and not go all the way back through the passageway to find someone else, I no longer waited for them, but leapt ahead, racing through the room, down the hallway and to the upstairs room.

Ron was sitting, in obvious pain, and holding Scabbers. I mewed at him, asking him if he was all right. But at the sight of me, Scabbers became even more aggressive in Ron's hands. We couldn't afford to lose Peter, not now. I started to back away when suddenly, the door behind was kicked open. Harry rushed in, and Hermione was right on his heels.

"Ron! Are you okay?"

"Where's the dog?"

"Not a dog," Ron moaned though his pain. "Harry, it's a trap!"

"What?"

"He's the dog! He's an Animagus…"

Harry wheeled around. Sirius pushed the door shut, finally revealing himself – as his human self.

Had I been a human, I would have gasped. As it were, I stiffened and my eyes widened, my ears pressing back in shock. He was thin, scarily so. His hair was filthy and long, down to his elbows. Strands of his long dark hair felt in front of his gaunt, sunken face. The bones in his face protruded and because his face was so pale, so sun-deprived, it looked like the bone itself had extended out past his face in some places. Truly, if there had been no light in his eyes, he would look exactly like the Inferi that the boggart turned into before me. But there was light in his eyes. That was the difference, and it made all the difference.

"Expelliarmus!" Sirius shouted, and Harry's and Hermione's wands shot out of their hands. Sirius caught them both in his outstretched hand.

Sirius paused, and he stared at Harry. "I thought you'd come and help your friend," he said hoarsely. "Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful… It will make everything much easier."

I waited, believing that at long last, Sirius would explain everything. But Harry leapt at him, taking Sirius' words as taunting him. Ron and Hermione both made to stop Harry.

"No, Harry!" Hermione gasped.

Ron forced himself to stand and said fiercely, "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!"

Sirius watched Ron and said quietly, "Lie down. You will damage that leg even more."

But Ron wasn't listening to him. "Do you hear me?" Ron challenged. "You'll have to kill all three of us!"

"No…" Sirius said, and his voice turned into a deep growl as he thought of Peter. "There will only be one murder here tonight." Then, he made a strange expression, somewhere between a grin and a grimace. He was so close to justice…

"Why's that?" Harry spat at Sirius furiously. He was still fighting against Ron and Hermione in an effort to get at Sirius. "Didn't care last time, did you?" Harry accused Sirius. "Didn't mind slaughtering all those Muggles to get at Pettigrew… What's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?"

I hissed, but my hiss was lost as Hermione whimpered loudly, "Harry! Be quiet!"

"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry roared. He broke free of Hermione and Ron and leapt forward towards Sirius. I leapt forward, but Sirius let Harry punch him in the face and the two of them fell, backward, into the wall. Hermione was screaming and Ron was yelling. I jumped in front of them to prevent them from attacking Sirius too. Behind me, there was a sudden sharp flash of light as the wands in Sirius' hand sent off a jet of sparks.

Harry was still punching every bit of Sirius he could make contact with. Sirius withstood it for a long moment, but he finally hissed, "No, I've waited too long." He reached up to Harry, to make him stop. Hermione dashed over me and kicked at Sirius. Sirius let go of Harry. Sirius reached for the wands, but Ron had thrown himself onto Black's wand hand. Harry's wand fell out of Sirius' hand, and Harry leapt for it-

No! Please don't hurt Sirius! Harry, just give him a chance to explain! I bounded over Ron, Hermione, and Sirius and landed on Harry's arm. My claws dug into Harry's arm as I tried to stop him. Harry grunted in pain, but he threw me off. I landed on my feet and darted towards Harry's wand to pick it up in my mouth.

"No, you don't!" Harry shouted at me and he tried to kick me. I leapt aside, spitting. Harry snatched up his wand and turned around.

"Get out of the way!" he shouted at Ron and Hermione. Hermione dragged Ron quickly away from Sirius.

No! Harry, please, please… It wasn't Sirius! It wasn't him. Just give him a chance to explain!

My gaze turned to Sirius, who was still on the floor, trying to catch his breath. Sirius watched Harry come towards him. Harry was pointing his wand straight at Black's heart.

"Going to kill me, Harry?" Sirius whispered.

I froze.

"You killed my parents," Harry said. His voice shook. But he gripped his wand tighter and pointed it firmly at Sirius.

Sirius stared up at Harry. "I don't deny it," he said, very quietly. "But if you knew the whole story..."

Finally.

I knew it.

It wasn't him.

My legs shivered as I felt my heart melting. I had hoped so carefully throughout these long years. If Sirius had truly been guilty, I wouldn't have been able to trust myself anymore. But I had been right. His words just now confirmed it. But the question was – how?

"The whole story?" Harry repeated, and his voice was dangerously quiet. All the anger he felt at the world was gathering within him, and of course, Harry had so much to feel angry about. He had been robbed of so much before his life had even started. "You sold them to Voldemort. That's all I need to know."

"You've got to listen to me," Sirius said. "You'll regret it if you don't… You don't understand…"

Yes, listen. I need to hear it for myself. How this all happened…

But Harry shook his head. In a quivering, suffering voice, he said, "I understand a lot better than you think." His voice became choked up as he whispered, "You never heard her, did you? My mum… trying to stop Voldemort killing me… and you did that… you did it…"

I saw Harry's fingers squeeze his wand handle.

No!

I streaked across the room and leapt onto Sirius' chest, right over his heart.

Sirius blinked and looked down at me.

"Get off," Sirius murmured, and tried to push me off of his chest. But I wouldn't have it. I sank my claws into his robes and refused to shift. I looked up at Harry. My heart broke when I saw the rage and pain in his face, but I knew, now more than ever, that killing Sirius was not the right thing for Harry to do.

Harry stared at me as Hermione gave a dry sob in the corner. I saw Harry think it through and I saw him decide to go through with it. But then, he wavered. I glimpsed the hesitation in his eyes - a hesitancy that I myself knew quite well. He kept his wand pointed at me and Sirius, but he didn't utter a spell or raise his wand any higher.

I know, Harry, I thought, thinking of Bellatrix. It's harder than you think to kill someone, isn't it? It's not as easy as you imagine.

The seconds ticked by. Sirius made no move to run, just watched Harry. I did the same. Harry, we love you. We love you. Don't do this. Not when we're so close to being together, finally.

Suddenly, there was a new sound: muffled footsteps from downstairs.

"We're up here!" Hermione screamed. "We're up here! Sirius Black! Quick!"

My heart sank. I'll have to transform, I thought grimly. I'll have to reveal myself in front of Sirius, who deliberately chose not to trust me, and Hermione, who thought I was her pet… But if it's the Minister or Dumbledore or even McGonagall, I see no other way to protect Sirius than to show myself. I started to shift. At the same time, in reaction to the muffled footsteps downstairs, Sirius made a sudden movement that nearly dislodged me. I paused, confused.

Suddenly, the door of the room burst open in a shower of red sparks. Remus dashed into the room. His eyes darted everywhere, assessing the situation quickly. He took in Ron, Hermione, and Harry, standing over Sirius, and then – he did a double-take as he realized I was curled up over Sirius' chest.

"Expelliarmus!" Remus shouted. All three wands in the room flew to Remus, who caught them all deftly.

Remus' voice was tense, as tense as it was back in our mission days, as he addressed Sirius for the first time in twelve and a half years. "Where is he, Sirius?" Remus said, his eyes still searching everywhere. I knew why- he was looking for Peter.

Sirius had gone still under me. Seeing Remus and realizing that Remus knew or at least was willing to give him a chance at innocence had frozen him. But finally, Sirius raised his hand and pointed at Ron. Ron looked bewildered, as did Harry and Hermione.

Remus stared at the rat in Ron's hand for a long moment. Then, he slowly spoke, thinking hard. "But then… why hasn't he shown himself before now?" Remus' eyes switched back over to Sirius and stared at him intently. "Unless…" Remus' eyes suddenly widened, and he understood, understood what even I did not understand "- unless he was the one… unless you switched… without telling me?"

I felt Sirius' chest and neck shift slightly under me as Sirius nodded. And then it hit me.

It was Peter.

The twist in the story, the thing that nobody – not Remus, not Dumbledore, not me – knew was not just that Peter was alive and that he faked his death. No, it was that Peter had been Lily and James' Secret-Keeper. All along.

It was Peter who was the spy from the very beginning, the one who cast suspicion on me, Remus, and Sirius.

A thousand memories flashed through my mind of Order missions where Peter had volunteered to interact with the Death Eaters, seemingly out of bravery, or where he had been involved in misinformation and blamed it on another Order member, unless Remus:

In the siren caves, Peter had volunteered to lead the Death Eaters on a chase. We had thought that he was being noble, but it was because he knew he was safe from any real danger.

In the Muggle neighborhood, where Sirius, James, Lily, and I were supposed to ambush the Death Eaters, they had already known we were coming and set up an ambush for us.

When Remus returned, I'd sent a Patronus to Dumbledore. Dumbledore had never received it. At that time, Peter was walking out of Hogwarts by himself, having just been ordered on his new mission to find Caradoc.

When the Prewitt brothers, Gideon and Fabian, had been killed my Death Eaters, Sirius was supposed to be immediate back-up, but word didn't reach him properly. Peter had said that it was Remus' fault, but looking back, Peter had been the one conveying the information.

And then, the incident that only I knew about, but that I had been holding on to for these past twelve years… That night that I decided I wanted to make it work with Sirius, but I returned to find that all of his defenses were down. I knew then, or at least strongly suspected, that he was not, in fact, James' and Lily's Secret-Keeper.

The difficulty of my belief, with my theory, was that there had never been anyone else to be Lily and James' Secret-Keeper then.

The issue had been that if it wasn't Sirius, it was Remus and if it wasn't Remus, it was Sirius. I knew that it wasn't Remus because of the Unbreakable Vow we had made. But I also believed with such emotional certainty that it wasn't Sirius. But that had left an unexplainable gap, always. And now- now, after all of these years, I finally understood. Twelve years too late, I realized that it was Peter.

That unbearable tension that Sirius and I had both felt in the months before Lily and James' death and Voldemort's downfall, that feeling of waiting for something to happen but fearing that we would miss it… This was it. That was what we had missed, right under our noses, all along.

Sirius and Peter had switched because they thought Remus was the spy and they wanted to lure him out. That's why Sirius had left all of his defenses down, because he wanted to reveal the traitor and he thought that Lily and James would be safe with Peter as their Secret-Keeper.

Only they weren't safe with Peter as their Secret-Keeper… They were betrayed. They were murdered. And Harry was left an orphan. I was stunned by the revelation. The tragedy of it all struck me like a lightning bolt. Oh Lily, James, my heart cried out.

And then there was Sirius, who lost everything because he believed in Peter, because he was trying to draw out the attacker to free Lily and James from being consigned to hiding for the rest of their lives. Sirius, my love. I'm so sorry. I didn't understand. I didn't know.

But I still didn't understand how Peter didn't die, how it was that Peter survived Sirius' attack…

"Professor," Harry interrupted loudly, "what's going on-?"

Remus walked over to Sirius, grasped his hand, and pulled him up to his feet. I dropped to the floor, still trying to process the realization that Peter Pettigrew was the traitor – and that he was still alive. I turned my yellow eyes, which were now slits, onto Ron, who shrank back against the wall.

As Sirius and Remus embraced behind me, Harry fell silent.

But Hermione screamed, "I DON'T BELIEVE IT!"

Remus let go of Sirius and faced Hermione.

"You – you-" Hermione said wildly, pointing at Remus.

"Hermione-" Remus began.

But Hermione was beyond herself. "You and him!"

"Hermione, calm down-"

"I didn't tell anyone!" Hermione shrieked, and I realized why she felt so betrayed. She, clever as she was, had figured out Remus' secret and had been keeping quiet. "I've been covering up for you!"

"Hermione, listen to me, please!" Remus shouted. "I can explain!"

But now Harry had found his voice too. "I trusted you!" he shouted at Remus, and the hurt flashed across his face. "And all this time, you've been his friend!"

"You're wrong," Remus said, pleading with them to understand. "I haven't been Sirius' friend, but I am now. Let me explain-"

"NO!" Hermione shouted. "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too — he's a werewolf!"

We all looked to Remus. Sirius looked at him with an expression of both sympathy and guilt, sympathy because he'd seen Remus stereotyped over and over again in exactly this manner (that he must be a bad person because he was a werewolf) and guilt because Remus was being accused because of his association with Sirius… as was always the case.

I remembered that once Sirius had told me that he and Remus were a natural alliance, that they were always the odd ones out. And I thought I had understood what he meant – that they were suspected in the order. But now, a different realization hit me. I saw how far it went. I recognized now that even though I had also been suspected with them during my time in the Order, it was different. They had had to take drastic steps against each other, but not against me. And once the war was "over", in that there had been a respite since Voldemort "disappeared", I had been able to live my life close to what a "normal" life would be, but neither Sirius nor Remus could.

The blood left Remus' face when Hermione revealed what he was, but he forced himself to be calm and say, in a rather clipped voice, "Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione. Only one out of three, I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don't want Harry dead."

"However," Remus said, and an odd shiver passed over his face, "I won't deny that I am… a werewolf."

Ron, who had slowly slid to the floor throughout all of this, tried valiantly to get up, but fell back clutching his leg. Remus moved towards him to help him, but Ron cried, "Get away from me, werewolf!"

Of course, I thought sadly, Ron is a pureblood. He knows all the old stories and stereotypes. I mewed softly and looked up at Remus, and I saw that familiar shame in his face. A deep self-disgust and self-hatred flickered in Remus' eyes. With obvious effort, he turned to Hermione and asked in a quiet voice, "How long have you known?"

"Ages," Hermione whispered. "Since I did Professor Snape's essay…"

"Well, well, he'll be delighted," said Remus coolly. "He assigned that essay hoping someone would realize what I was, understand what my symptoms meant… Did you check the lunar chart and realize that I was always ill at the full moon? Or did you realize that the Boggart changed into the moon when it saw me?"

"Both," Hermione replied.

Remus forced a pained laugh. "You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione."

"I'm not," Hermione said, her voice shaking. "If I'd been a bit cleverer, I'd have told everyone what you are!"

"But they already know," said Remus. "At least, the staff do."

"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf," Ron gasped. "Is he mad?"

Remus sighed. "Some of the staff certainly thought so. Professor Dumbledore had to work very hard to convince certain teachers that I'm trustworthy —"

"AND HE WAS WRONG!" Harry yelled, his anger flaring up within him again. "YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THE TIME!"

Harry pointed at Sirius, who suddenly fell back onto the bed, sitting down on it, and he covered his face with a shaking hand. At the same time that Sirius was feeling ecstatic that Remus now believed him, Sirius was also feeling guilty for having brought this situation upon Remus where his best friend's son and his favorite students were calling him "werewolf" and were suddenly afraid of him, despite everything he had shown about his character. Those toy wolves hadn't helped Harry to be less afraid of him, after all.

I sighed as I watched the two of them. Remus and Sirius… It was always the two of them, getting dragged down by each other. I leapt up beside Sirius and then stepped onto his lap, purring up at him softly. Remus paused, watching me for a moment.

Then, as Ron tried to move away again, Remus said, "I have not been helping Sirius. If you'll give me a chance, I'll explain. Look-" He separated the three wands in his hand and tossed them all back to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Then, Remus stuck his own wand back in his belt. With his hands out and open to the three of them, Remus said, "There. You're armed. We're not. Now will you listen?"

Harry looked furiously at Sirius again before turning to Remus and saying, "If you haven't been helping him, how did you know he was here?"

"The Map," Remus replied softly.

Sirius looked up from behind his hand.

"The Marauder's Map," Remus said, nodding slightly at Sirius. "I was in my office examining it-"

"You know how to work it?" Harry said.

Remus waved his hand impatiently. "Of course I know how to work it. I helped write it. I'm Moony – that was my friends' nickname for me at school."

I held back a snort. Helped write it, indeed… Remus had been the mastermind behind the whole thing.

"You wrote-?" Harry began.

"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening and I saw that you, Ron, and Hermione, had snuck out of the castle to visit Hagrid. You might have been wearing your father's old cloak, Harry…"

"How do you know about the cloak?"

"The number of times I saw James disappearing under it…" Remus said dismissively.

Sirius stiffened at the mentioned of James. I softly put my paw on his chest to comfort him.

Remus quickly moved on. "The point is, even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak, you still show up on the Marauder's Map," Remus explained. He began to pace back and forth. Little patches of dust rose from the weary floor as he walked across it. "I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's hut. Twenty minutes later, you left Hagrid, and set off back toward the castle. But you were now accompanied by somebody else."

"What?" Harry said. He shot a look over at Ron and Hermione. Hermione shook her head.

"No, we weren't!" Harry said adamantly.

Remus ignored him, now lost in his own thoughts. I knew what he was talking about, could guess what he had seen – Scabbers, no, Peter, joining the three of them on their way back from Hogwarts. "I couldn't believe my eyes," Remus said, starting to speak slightly faster. "I though the Map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?"

"No one was with us!" Harry repeated.

"I saw- I saw…" Remus paused, and turned towards me and Sirius. He seemed to silently make a decision inside his own mind before he continued on. "And then I saw another dot," Remus continued, "moving fast toward you, labeled Sirius Black… I saw him collide with you; I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow —"

"One of us!" Ron said angrily.

"No, Ron," Remus said, and his voice hinted at a note of finality. "Two of you."

Remus stopped pacing. He looked over at Ron. "Do you think I could have a look at that rat?" he asked Ron. His voice seemed calm and even, but both Sirius and I knew that Remus now meant business.

"What?" Ron said, shocked. "What's Scabbers got to do with it?"

"Everything," Remus said shortly. "Could I see him, please?"

Ron hesitated, and then he put a hand inside his robes. He pulled Scabbers out. Scabbers was thrashing desperately, still trying to get away. I stood up on all four on Sirius' lap and hissed at Scabbers.

I saw Remus hold his breath as he moved closer to Ron to examine Scabbers.

"What?" Ron said, suddenly anxious. "What's my rat got to do with anything?"

Sirius shifted from under me. "That's not a rat," Sirius croaked.

"What d'you mean-?" Ron said, in total disbelief. "Of course he's a rat! He's my rat. He's been for-"

Remus' eyes were fixed on Scabbers, and I saw recognition light up in his eyes as he took in the familiar features of his old schoolmate.

"No, he's not," Remus said quietly.

"He's a wizard," Remus said, his voice as soft as ever.

"An Animagus," Sirius said, growling, "by the name of Peter Pettigrew."


There was a stunned silence.

Ron broke it. "You're both mental."

"Ridiculous!" Hermione said, though she looked scared.

Harry was shaking his head. "No, Peter Pettigrew's dead!" he said. "He killed him twelve years ago!"

This accusation did not sit well with Sirius at all. A tremor ran through Sirius' thin body, as he remembered what had occurred that fateful day twelve years ago, the day after Lily and James' deaths. Scathingly, Sirius snarled, "I meant to. But little Peter got the better of me… Not this time, though!"

Sirius suddenly lunged for Peter, taking off from the bed at such speed that he knocked me to the floor as he leapt onto Ron and made to grab Scabbers.

"Sirius, NO!" Remus yelled, and with a colossal effort, he dragged Sirius away from Ron. "Wait! You can't do it just like that!" he berated Sirius. "They need to understand – We've got to explain-"

"We can explain afterwards!" Sirius argued, fighting to get to Ron.

Seeing them squabbling, even over such a serious matter, abruptly brought a sense of familiarity to the situation. I suddenly had a flashback to when we were in seventh year. I'd run into James on my way back from Ollivander's class. He'd brought me up to Ravenclaw Tower with him, where the Marauders had gathered to prank the Ravenclaws. If I recalled correctly, the prank had been to enchant the books to fly around and call the Ravenclaws "nerds" repeatedly…

As we left Ravenclaw Tower, Remus had said thoughtfully, "You know, we should explain at some point that we don't really think they're a bunch of nerds…"

"Moony, it's a prank," James said, though he looked at Remus fondly. "You don't go around explaining pranks."

"Don't worry, you can explain it to dear ol' Gemma afterwards," Sirius said, winking at Remus. Gemma was a Ravenclaw our year who was absolutely mad for Remus. Tragically, she had been murdered by Death Eaters during the War. I never would have guessed that such a bright, if not somewhat soppy, girl would ever meet her end in such a dark way. But, of course, we hadn't an inkling of that darkness at the time.

"That's not – I wasn't- " Remus said, blushing. "I wasn't thinking of that. I was thinking about what this does to our Gryffindor reputation, if we go around calling Ravenclaws nerds…"

"It makes us looks like a bunch of fools," I muttered under my breath.

"What's that?" James asked me.

"Nothing."

"Can we please get out of here?" Peter said. "We can talk about this in the common room, where it's safer."

"Pete, we're fine," Sirius said comfortingly.

"I know," Peter replied. "I just don't see the point in standing around-"

"Yes, yes, you're right," Sirius said. "Go on ahead, Pete."

James turned around and slid his hands over my eyes as Peter transformed into Wormtail... or rather, Scabbers.

Remus was still trying to restrain Sirius. "They've — got — a — right — to — know — everything!" Remus panted, as he kept his arms around Sirius. Sirius was still rather strong, despite how thin he'd become. Or perhaps it was the promise of revenge and justice, at long last, twelve years overdue, that was giving his body strength. "Ron's kept him as a pet!" Remus said, trying to convince Sirius to stop struggling. "There are parts of it even I don't understand, and Harry — you owe Harry the truth, Sirius!"

Sirius finally stopped struggling, but he kept his eyes, glowing with fury, fixed on Scabbers.

"All right, then," Sirius said, his voice hollow. Only Remus could have convinced him to wait.

"Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus," Sirius said, his voice low and impatient. "I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for…"

"You're nutters, both of you," Ron said, shaking his head and clearly frightened of how Remus was acting. "I've had enough of this. I'm off."

He tried to get up again, but Remus took his wand out and raised it at Ron. "You're going to hear me out, Ron," he said, and I could tell that even Remus was reaching his limit. Sirius' words had lit something in him, a fuse, and Remus' anger was beginning to creep out as to what Peter had done to Sirius. "Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen."

Ron had had enough. "He's not Peter, he's Scabbers!" he yelled, frustrated. He tried to stand up again. I was beginning to worry quite a bit about the strain he was putting on his leg. I knew it was risky to go near Ron, that Scabbers might really take off. I jumped onto the bed behind Ron, avoiding his line of sight. Then, I gently gripped the back of his sweater in my mouth and yanked him down onto the bed, toppling him over and taking the weight off of his leg. Scabbers squealed and I quickly backed off to the other edge of the bed.

Meanwhile, Harry was addressing Remus again. "There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die," Harry said. "A whole street full of them…"

"They didn't see what they thought they saw," Sirius said angrily, still keeping his eyes on Scabbers, who was struggling furiously in Ron's hands.

Remus, too, looked over at the rat. "Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter," he acknowledged. "I believed it myself – until I saw the map tonight." Remus' eyes flickered over to me and he said quietly, "Because the Marauder's map never lies… Peter's alive."

I paused. Does Remus know who I am? Did he see me on the Marauder's Map and put it all together? But before I could ponder this anymore, Remus turned back to Harry and said, "Ron's holding him, Harry."

"But Professor Lupin," Hermione said, and it almost sounded like she was pleading, "Scabbers can't be Pettigrew… It just can't be true. You know it can't…"

Remus, seeing how scared she was, tried to talk to her calmly, to guide her towards the answer, as he had done many times in class. "Why can't it be true?"

"Because… Because people would know if Peter Pettigrew had been an Animagus. We did Animagi in class with Professor McGonagall," Hermione explained. "And I looked them up when I did my homework. The Ministry of Magic keeps tabs on witches and wizards who can become animals. There's a register showing what animal they become, and their markings and things… and I went and looked Professor McGonagall up on the register, and there have been only seven Animagi this century, and Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list."

Remus chuckled appreciatively, but there was also a dark irony in his laugh. "Right again, Hermione!" he said. "But the Ministry never knew that here used to be three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts."

"If you're going to tell them the story, get a move on, Remus," Sirius interjected, his eyes still glinting maliciously as he stared at Scabbers. "I've waited twelve years, I'm not going to wait much longer."

"All right… but you'll need to help me, Sirius," Remus said. "I only know how it began…"

Suddenly, there was a loud creak as the door opened on its own. Remus broke off. He turned and walked towards the door and peered out onto the landing. "No one there…" he murmured.

"This place is haunted!" said Ron, frightened.

I sniffed the air. A new scent had entered the room, that was for sure. And it was… familiar, but I couldn't quite place my finger on what it might be. I leapt down from the bed and slowly began to prowl around the room, trying to pinpoint the smell. But the flow of air that had rushed in from the door opening was swirling the air and making it difficult for me to pin it down.

Remus was still at the doorway, looking out. "It's not. The Shrieking Shack was never haunted…" He sighed and turned back to us. "The screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me."

And suddenly, Remus was just a young boy again. Even though he was pushing his graying hair out of his tired, weary eyes, he was just that young, uncertain boy, wondering if he deserved friends, wondering how he was going to get through a life when he was cursed in such a consuming way…

Remus looked shamefully at his feet as he murmured, "That's where all of this starts – with my becoming a werewolf. None of this could have happened if I hadn't been bitten… and if I hadn't been so foolhardy…"

Ron began to say something, but Hermione shushed him.

"I was a very small boy when I received the bite," Remus said. "My parents tried everything, but in those days, there was no cure. The potion that Professor Snape has been making for me is a very recent discovery. It makes me safe, you see. As long as I take it in the week, preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform… I'm able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again."

Having roamed the room three times and came upon nothing, I came back to Remus' side and sat on his foot, wrapping myself around his ankle.

Remus looked down at me as he continued, "Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully-fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren't likely to want their children exposed to me."

"But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn't come to school…" Remus sighed, and he looked directly at Harry. "I told you, months ago, that the Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. The truth is that it was planted because I came to Hogwarts. This house" — Remus looked miserably around the room, — "the tunnel that leads to it — they were built for my use. Once a month, I was smuggled out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The tree was placed at the tunnel mouth to stop anyone coming across me while I was dangerous."

"My transformations in those days were — were terrible. It is very painful to turn into a werewolf. I was separated from humans to bite, so I bit and scratched myself instead. The villagers heard the noise and the screaming and thought they were hearing particularly violent spirits. Dumbledore encouraged the rumor… Even now, when the house has been silent for years, the villagers don't dare approach it…" Remus said, thinking back to the conversation we had overheard while at the Hog's Head. I suddenly understood – Dumbledore must have asked Aberforth to feed the rumor that the Shrieking Shack was haunted to the villagers, to dissuade villagers from ever venturing near the Shrieking Shack.

"But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life," Remus said, and a small smile flitted upon his lips. "For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends. Sirius Black… Peter Pettigrew… and, of course, your father, Harry — James Potter."

"Now, my three friends could hardly fail to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them my mother was ill, and that I had to go home to see her… I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was. But of course, they, like you, Hermione, worked out the truth…"

Remus paused, and his face took on a slight expression of wonder as he remembered what had happened next. "And they didn't desert me at all. Instead, they did something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life. They became Animagi."

"My dad too?" said Harry, astounded.

"Yes, indeed," Remus said softly. "It took them the best part of three years to work out how to do it. Your father and Sirius here were the cleverest students in the school, and lucky they were, because the Animagus transformation can go horribly wrong — one reason the Ministry keeps a close watch on those attempting to do it. Peter needed all the help he could get from James and Sirius. Finally, in our fifth year, they managed it. They could each turn into a different animal at will."

"But how did that help you?" Hermione wondered.

"They couldn't keep me company as humans, so they kept me company as animals," Remus explained. "A werewolf is only a danger to people. They sneaked out of the castle every month under James's Invisibility Cloak. They transformed… Peter, as the smallest, could slip beneath the Willow's attacking branches and touch the knot that freezes it. They would then slip down the tunnel and join me. Under their influence, I became less dangerous. My body was still wolfish, but my mind seemed to become less so while I was with them."

"Hurry up, Remus," Sirius snarled, his eyes still intent on Scabbers.

"I'm getting there, Sirius, I'm getting there…" Remus said heavily. "Well, highly exciting possibilities were open to us now that we could all transform. Soon we were leaving the Shrieking Shack and roaming the school grounds and the village by night. Sirius and James transformed into such large animals, they were able to keep a werewolf in check. I doubt whether any Hogwarts students ever found out more about the Hogwarts grounds and Hogsmeade than we did… And that's how we came to write the Marauder's Map, and sign it with our nicknames. Sirius is Padfoot. Peter is Wormtail. James was Prongs."

"What sort of animal —?" Harry started to ask, but he was interrupted by Hermione.

"That was still really dangerous!" she said, covering her mouth with her hands. "Running around in the dark with a werewolf! What if you'd given the others the slip, and bitten somebody?"

"A thought that still haunts me," Remus said, and his eyes shadowed over. "And there were near misses, many of them. We laughed about them afterwards. We were young, thoughtless — carried away with our own cleverness…"

"I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore's trust, of course…" Remus said, with a deep sigh. "He had admitted me to Hogwarts when no other headmaster would have done so, and he had no idea I was breaking the rules he had set down for my own and others' safety. He never knew I had led three fellow students into becoming Animagi illegally. But I always managed to forget my guilty feelings every time we sat down to plan our next month's adventure. And I haven't changed…"

Remus' expression hardened, and there was self-disgust in his voice as he repeated what he had told me before was bothering him, nagging at his mind. "All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. But I didn't do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I'd betrayed his trust while I was at school, admitting that I'd led others along with me… and Dumbledore's trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using dark arts he learned from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it…" Remus looked at me, still curled up on his foot, and he said again, softly, "So, in a way, Snape's been right about me all along."

"Snape?" Sirius said suddenly. He glanced over at Remus and frowning said, "What's Snape got to do with it?"

"He's here, Sirius," Remus replied. "He's teaching here as well."

When Harry looked at him questioningly, Remus said, "Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought very hard against my appointment to the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. He has been telling Dumbledore all year that I am not to be trusted. He has his reasons… you see, Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me —"

Sirius scoffed scornfully. "It served him right. Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to, hoping he could get us expelled…"

"Severus was very interested in where I went every month." Remus told Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "We were in the same year, you know, and we — er — didn't like each other very much. He especially disliked James. Jealous, I think, of James's talent on the Quidditch field… Anyway, Snape had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me toward the Whomping Willow to transform. Sirius thought it would be — er — amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree trunk with a long stick, and he'd be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Snape tried it — if he'd got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown werewolf — but your father, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life. Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anybody, but from that time on he knew what I was…"

Harry hesitated, trying to make sense of this all. "So that's why Snape doesn't like you," he said to Remus, "because he thought you were in on the joke?"

"That's right." A cold voice sneered from the wall behind Remus, lodging beside the wardrobe. I'd missed him because he'd pressed himself with his back flat to the wall and the draft coming in from the door directly besides him had been carrying his scent away from him and towards the middle of the room. But there he was, pulling Harry's Invisibility Cloak off of him- Severus Snape.