[Marauders] Harry Potter: Hi. This is Harry Potter. You're not going crazy!

All the others in the room gave Harry a thumbs-up that they'd heard his voice in their heads, as it appeared in his chat log.

[Marauders] Harry Potter: We figured out how to use the Marauder's Map to contact you.

That was, at least, the explanation that everyone had finally brainstormed. As far as they knew, not even Dumbledore had magic powerful enough to speak into someone's mind from a distance, but maybe James Potter's friends would believe that the Map could create such a power.

[Marauders] Harry Potter: If you want to reply, just think about what you want to say and I'll hear it.

And then they just sat, looking at Harry expectantly. He wasn't sure if the three men would reply immediately, or if…

Sirius Black replies: Harry? Little Harry! The Map? The MAP! Of course. The Map!

Harry began verbally recounting the replies to his friends, not sure whether to be worried about how staccato and disjointed Black's reply was.

Sirius Black replies: Are you at Hogwarts? How old are you now? Please don't be a dream.

Before he could get worried about that reply, he was surprised by another of his father's friends.

Peter Pettigrew replies: Harry. This is dangerous. Are you talking to Remus and Sirius, too? You can't trust them!

"Well that's a surprise!" Fred said, upon hearing the response.

"Do you think they had a falling out?" George checked.

"I wonder if I can reply to them individually?" Harry realized. They probably should have experimented with it more before attempting this.

Reply to Sirius Black: Yes. I'm at Hogwarts. No, I'm not a dream.

Reply to Peter Pettigrew: Why can't I trust them?

"I guess I can," Harry nodded, waiting for the reply.

Sirius Black replies: Of course. Of course you're not a dream. It would be too good of a dream…

Peter Pettigrew replies: Sirius is a murderer. He's in prison. And Remus is a werewolf.

Harry explained both of those statements to his friends, and everyone but Hermione seemed aghast at the idea of Remus Lupin being a werewolf. She just nodded and said, "From that name, that probably makes sense." Everyone turned to stare at her and she rolled her eyes, "Romulus and Remus. From Rome? Raised by a she-wolf, if I remember correctly. And Lupin sounds like the French word for wolf."

"Werewolves are really dangerous," Lee cautioned. "In fact, I guess he won't reply. Or he'll just reply with howls?" He was looking out the dorm window at the rising full moon.

Reply to Peter Pettigrew: Who did Sirius murder?

There was a long pause, before Pettigrew responded.

Peter Pettigrew replies: I didn't want you to find out like this. But… your parents.

Harry scoffed as he relayed that to his friends. "You-Know-Who killed your parents, though," George said.

"Famous for it," Fred nodded.

Reply to Peter Pettigrew: Voldemort killed my parents.

Peter Pettigrew replies: But Sirius gave them up to him. And nearly killed me. I've been in hiding.

Sirius Black replies: Harry. Harry? Are you still there?

"What do I do?" Harry asked.

"Ask him for his side of it?" Hermione suggested.

Reply to Sirius Black: Peter says that you gave my parents up to Voldemort.

Sirius Black replies: The RAT! THE RAT! Ask! Ask your professors if he's dead. He faked his death. Framed me!

Reply to Sirius Black: He said he had to because you nearly killed him.

Sirius Black replies: I will, if I find him! HE gave up your parents. He was a spy all along! You have to believe me.

"Woah," Ron gasped as Harry summed everything up.

"They're both blaming each other," Lee mused. "Maybe tomorrow you can ask Lupin which one is telling the truth."

"If one of them is telling the truth…" Fred reasoned.

"...that means the other was a spy for You-Know-Who," George nodded.

Hermione realized, "They really might know about Malfoy and the Chamber!"

"If we can trust them," Ron frowned. "Say you're running out of time with the magic and ask."

[Marauders] Harry Potter: The spell is about to run out. I was calling to ask if you knew about the Chamber of Secrets. It's been opened. Probably by Lucius Malfoy.

Sirius Black replies: You're in danger? I heard about the Chamber. We never found it, though. Malfoy! HE'S a Death Eater!

Peter Pettigrew replies: Ask Hagrid about it. I heard he was there the last time it opened. Be careful, Harry.

Harry didn't follow up, but sighed and said, "Well, that wasn't what I was hoping for."

Hermione thought about it and suggested, "It sounds like one of your father's friends betrayed him. And they all blame each other?"

Ron's strategic brain worked out, "And it's possible that the werewolf is the real traitor, and he turned Pettigrew and Black against each other. Who knows what he'd have said if he wasn't all wolfy right now?"

Fred summed up, "So we can't trust any of them…"

"But probably two of them are okay, and just one is a traitor," George added.

"Too bad I can't just get a look at them all," Harry grumbled. "It would be really easy to see which one was the Death Eater that way."

"Hey, that's right!" Ron realized. "We should figure out how to meet them in person and find out. Well, it would be easier for Lupin and Pettigrew. If they're both clean, Black probably is the traitor."

Lee suggested, "Until then, try to only believe anything that at least two of them tell you is true?"

Harry nodded, feeling slightly better about it. "Let's go ask Hagrid about it tomorrow. Maybe he'll know something about the Marauders, too."

Hermione grinned to herself. Maybe now Hagrid would clue into there being something he'd need to pass to Dumbledore.

The big man was very surprised the next afternoon to have six Gryffindors show up at his hut right after morning quidditch practice. "Dunno if I got enou' tea fer everyone," he said, ushering them in and trying to make space.

"It's okay," Harry waved him off. "Lunch is in a minute anyway. We just had a couple of questions."

"Alrigh', go ahead," Hagrid offered, once everyone seemed at least slightly comfortable in the one-room cottage.

"My dad's friends," Harry led with. "Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin." Hagrid got a sad look, but nodded. "Black is in prison for killing Pettigrew?"

The big man nodded, "An that weren't the worst o' it. But I don' wanna upset yeh."

Harry said, "Also for betraying my parents to Voldemort?"

"I guess yeh already knew that, then," Hagrid allowed. "He also blew up a buncha muggles along wi' Peter. Weren't even nothin' left of the poor lad but his finger."

"Peter's alive," Harry shook his head, and Hagrid's eyes widened. "He says he's been hiding from Death Eaters, even with Sirius in jail. I guess he faked his death."

"But… why'd he wanna do somethin' like that fer?" Hagrid wondered. "We'd've protected him here! He's a hero. An' there were bigger targets o' that lot that haven't had ter hide."

"What if…" Harry said, thinking about whether to just spit it out and decided to. "What if Pettigrew was a spy and framed Black?" He paused a moment and added, "Or could Lupin have played both of them?"

"Well," Hagrid considered, his mind a little blown by the revelation, so much so that he hadn't even thought to ask how Harry had been talking to Peter, "I know they didn' trust poor Remus much there at the end…"

"Because he's a werewolf?" Hermione couldn't help but venture.

"Aye," Hagrid agreed, starting to wonder where the kids were getting all this information. Maybe Harry had found an old journal from his father? "But he can't help it. Great chap. Had a hard life. We just knew there had ter be a spy durin' the war, and nobody wanted ter blame any o' them, but he were the easiest. Seemed unfair, 'specially once it turned out it were Sirius."

"But if Pettigrew is alive, it could have been him?" Harry prompted.

"I'd wanna hear his side o' it, but… yeah," Hagrid allowed. "I'd never wanted ter think it were Sirius. All four o' them boys were best friends, but yer father an' Sirius were like brothers. An' Peter was always… well… he weren't the strongest o' the four, that's fer sure. If any o' them could be turned…"

That probably was not what Pettigrew had wanted when he sent them to talk to Hagrid. Maybe he thought the groundskeeper was fonder of him. It did remind Harry to ask his second question, "Another thing Pettigrew mentioned… he said you were here when the Chamber of Secrets was opened?"

That abrupt change in topic caused Hagrid to shift, a full body twitch rushing up his body. "Yeah. I don' like ter talk about it. But I guess I mentioned it in passing to them."

"What happened?" Hermione prompted.

It took several seconds, but Hagrid finally allowed, "It were when I was a student here. Bunch o' kids got put in comas. Then a girl died. I had a pet at the time tha' got blamed, so I got blamed. The attacks stopped after they ran poor Aragog out, and… and after they expelled me. But Aragog never hurt nobody. We never did find out what really happened."

"Aragog isn't a snake is he?" Harry checked.

"Nah. He's a spider," Hagrid revealed. Ron twitched involuntarily at the idea of the kind of spider Hagrid would keep as a pet. "Personally, I always thought that Tom Riddle musta had somethin' ter do wi' it. He were the prefect that turned me in. Slytherin, o' course."

"I've seen his name on a trophy!" Ron realized.

"He got it fer turnin' me in," Hagrid grumbled.

"If we prove it was Tom Riddle, maybe we can clear your name!" Hermione realized.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS (MAIN QUEST)

Dark conspiracies are afoot at Hogwarts.

* Get to Hogwarts
* Overhear a Strange Whispering
O Attend a Deathday Party
O (Optional) Prove Hagrid wasn't responsible
for the last time the Chamber opened

"I dunno how yeh'd go about doin' that," the big man shrugged, "but that would be great."

Still hesitant to fully loop in Hagrid, they made their way to lunch while tossing around a few ideas on the walk across the grounds. Basically, all they could think was showing someone at the Ministry the body of the presumed-basilisk once they'd slain it. The Weasleys claimed that their father knew people in the department in charge of magical creatures, who ought to be able to tell a centuries-old snake from a spider Hagrid had been raising in the 1940s.

"You know," George realized, "Hagrid never said they killed his pet spider."

"And if it escaped into the forest," Fred agreed, "that would explain all the big spiders we've seen in the shadows out there…"

"Stop it!" Ron insisted. "I don't even want to think about that."

Both twins shot Harry a look that said they were probably not joking. It would be just like Hagrid to let a magical giant spider loose that could then start to breed.

Any further discussion over lunch was stopped when Daily Prophet owls began to arrive just after the food. "Must be a special edition," Hermione said.

Indeed, the lightweight version of the paper, only a few hours after the morning edition, seemed to be only the front page and have but a single article. The sound was rippling across the great hall, and before they could catch a glimpse of the headline someone nearby shouted it aloud, "Sirius Black escapes from Azkaban!"

THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (MAIN QUEST)

A secret from your past has escaped.

* Get to Hogwarts
O Learn about the crimes of Sirius Black

Harry suddenly realized that they must have provoked Black to escape prison. And the fact that this was a main quest, before they'd even finished the first main quest. All he could think to say was, "Well… damnit."