Chapter 69: Plot Twist Part 1

The very last rays of the setting sun were casting a bloody light over the long-shadowed grounds. Then, we heard a wild howling.

"Hagrid," Harry muttered. Without thinking about what he was doing, he lunged forward, but both Hermione and I quickly seized his arms.

"We can't," I said, trying to control my breathing. "He'll be in worse trouble if they know we've been to see him."

Hermione's breathing was shallow and uneven.

"How - could - they?" she choked. "How could they?"

"Come on." I said through chattering teeth.

We set off back toward the castle, walking slowly to keep ourselves hidden under the cloak. The light was fading fast now.

By the time we reached open ground, darkness was settling like a spell around them.

"Scabbers, keep still," I hissed, clamping my hand over his chest. The rat was wriggling madly . I stopped walking, trying to force Scabbers deeper into my pocket.

"What's the matter with you, You stupid rat? Stay still - OUCH! He bit me!"

"Ron, be quiet!" Hermione whispered urgently. "Fudge will be out here in a minute -"

"He won't - stay - put -" I said, struggling with Scabbers, who seemed positively terrified. He was writhing with all his might, trying to break free of my grip.

"What's the matter with him?"

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

But the cat was getting nearer -

"Scabbers - NO!"

Too late. Scabbers had slipped between my clutching fingers, hit the ground, and scampered away. In one bound, Crookshanks sprang after him, and before Harry or Hermione could stop me, I had thrown the Invisibility Cloak off myself and ran off after him. I refused to lose my rat again.

"Ron!" I heard Hermione scream after me.

I finally caught up with the stupid cat who was once again trying to kill my rat.

"Get away from him! Get away! Scabbers, come here!"

I pounced onto the ground, catching Scabbers and I came down with a loud thud.

"Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat!"I yelled, trying to wrestle the cat away while holding onto Scabbers.

By the time Hermione and Harry had reached me, I had gotten Scabbers safely into my pocket.

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

But before we could cover ourselves again, before we could even catch our breaths, we heard the soft pounding of gigantic paws. Something was bounding toward them, quiet as a shadow - an enormous, pale-eyed, jet-black dog.

Harry reached for his wand, but was too late. The dog had made an enormous leap and the front paws hit him on the chest; he keeled over backward in a whirl of hai.

But the force of its leap had carried it too far; it rolled off him. Harry tried to stand up.

I got up quickly. As the dog sprang back toward them, I pushed Harry aside; the dog's jaws fastened instead around my outstretched arm.

"FUCK!" I screamed as pain consumed my arm and the dog began to drag me off. Harry lunged forward, he seized a handful of the brute's hair, but it was dragging me as if I was nothing more than one of Ginny's old rag dolls

Then, I hears both Harry and Hermione scream. I didn't know what was going on, it was getting too dark to see. All I knew is that I was being dragged into some hole.

"Ron!" I heard Harry shout. I hooked my foot around a root in an effort to stop the dog from pulling me farther underground. That was the worst idea ever, because the dog made one hard, aggressive pull, and forced my leg to break. The pain was unbearable.

"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" I yelled trying my best to struggle through the pain. The dog didn't listen. Instead, it continued to drag me down a long tunnel, until we had reached a very disordered, dusty room.

Paper was peeling from the walls; there were stains all over the floor; every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows were all boarded up.

"The bloody-"

I was then dragged violently up flights of stairs. This dog was bloody mental. He finally settled me down into what looked like a bedroom that hadn't been slept in for years. Finally, he let go of my arm.

I struggled to get up as the now eerily calm dog stared at me.

Then, my eyes almost popped out of their sockets and I watched the dog go from canine, to human, right in front of my face.

"What the fuck...you're, you're," I stuttered.

A mass of filthy, matted hair hung to his elbows. If eyes hadn't been shining out of the deep, dark sockets, he might have been a corpse. The waxy skin was stretched so tightly over the bones of his face, it looked like a skull. His yellow teeth were bared in a grin. It was Sirius Black.

I felt as if my voice had been stolen. At that moment, Harry and Hermione came bursting into the room

"Ron! Are you okay?"

"Where's the dog?"

"Not a dog," I moaned. "Harry, it's a trap!"

"What?"

"He's the dog...he's an Animagus." I said, pointing over Harry's shoulder as Sirius closed the door behind him.

"Expelliarmus!" he croaked, pointing my wand that had dropped out of my pocket at us.

Harry's and Hermione's wands shot out of their hands, high in the air, and Black caught them. Then he took a step closer. His eyes were fixed on Harry.

"I thought you'd come and help your friend," he said hoarsely.

His voice sounded as though he had long since lost the habit of using it. "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..."

Harry looked like he was about to explode. Without knowing what he was doing, he started forward, but Hermione and I grabbed him and held him back.

"No, Harry!" Hermione gasped in a petrified whisper.

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" I said fiercely, standing in front of Harry and Hermione as best I could.

Something flickered in Black's shadowed eyes.

"Lie down," he said quietly to me. "You will damage that leg even more."

"Did you hear me?" I said weakly, clinging painfully to Harry's hand to stay upright. "You'll have to kill all three of us!"

"There'll be only one murder here tonight," said Black, and his grin widened.

"Why's that?" Harry spat, trying to wrench himself free of Hermione and I. "Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those Muggles to get at Pettigrew. What's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?"

"Harry!" Hermione whimpered. "Be quiet!"

"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry roared, and with a huge effort he broke free of Hermione's and my hold and lunged forward. One of Harry's hands fastened over Sirius's wrist, forcing the wand tips away; the knuckles of Harry's other hand collided with the side of Black's head and they fell, backward, into the wall.

Hermione was screaming, I was yelling. There was a blinding flash as the wands in Black's hand sent a jet of sparks into the air that missed Harry's face by inches. Harry clung on, his other hand punching every part of Black it could find.

But Black's free hand had found Harry's throat

"No," he hissed, "I've waited too long -"

The fingers tightened, Harry choked, his glasses askew.

Then, Hermione swiftly kicked Black, who let go of Harry with a grunt of pain. I had thrown himself on Black's wand hand, knocking it out of his hand.

Crookshanks had joined the fight for some odd reason. Both sets of front claws had sunk themselves deep into Harry's arm. Harry threw him off, but Crookshanks now darted toward Harry's wand.

"NO YOU DON'T!" roared Harry, and he aimed a kick at Crookshanks that made the cat leap aside, spitting; Harry snatched up his wand and turned.

"Get out of the way!" he shouted at Hermione and I .

We didn't need telling twice. Hermione, gasping for breath, her lip bleeding, scrambled aside, snatching up her and my wands. I crawled to the four-poster and collapsed onto it, panting, both hands clutching my broken leg.

Black was sprawled at the bottom of the wall. His thin chest rose and fell rapidly as he watched Harry walking slowly nearer, his wand pointing straight at Black's heart.

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

"You killed my parents," said Harry, his voice shaking slightly, but his wand hand quite steady.

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

"The whole story?" Harry repeated, enraged. "You sold them to Voldemort. That's all I need to know."

"You've got to listen to me," Black said, and there was a note of urgency in his voice now. "You'll regret it if you don't...You don't understand."

"I understand a lot better than you think," said Harry. "You never heard her, did you? My mum, trying to stop Voldemort killing me, and you did that...you did it!"

Before either of them could say another word, Crookshanks leapt onto Black's chest and settled himself there, right over Black's heart. Black blinked and looked down at the cat.

"Get off," he murmured, trying to push Crookshanks off him.

But Crookshanks sank his claws into Black's robes and wouldn't shift. He turned his ugly, squashed face to Harry and looked up at him with those great yellow eyes. Hermione gave a dry sob, not knowing what to do. I looked at the cat as if he was bloody mental.

Harry raised the wand. Black staring up at him, Crookshanks on his chest.

And then came a new sound.

Muffled footsteps were echoing up through the floor. Someone was moving downstairs.

"WE'RE UP HERE!" Hermione screamed suddenly. "WE'RE UP HERE! SIRIUS BLACK! QUICK!"

Black made a startled movement that almost dislodged Crookshanks. The door of the room burst open in a shower of red sparks and Harry wheeled around as Professor Lupin came hurtling into the room, his face bloodless, his wand raised and ready. His eyes flickered over to me, lying on the floor, over Hermione, cowering next to the door, to Harry, standing there with his wand covering Black, and then to Black himself, crumpled and bleeding at Harry's feet.

"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted.

Harry's wand flew once more out of his hand; so did the two Hermione was holding. Lupin caught them all deftly, then moved into the room, staring at Black, who still had Crookshanks lying protectively across his chest.

Then Lupin spoke, in a very tense voice.

"Where is he, Sirius?"

All three of us looked at Lupin as if he were mad.

Black's face was quite expressionless. For a few seconds, he didn't move at all. Then, very slowly, he raised his empty hand and pointed straight at me.

"But then..." Lupin muttered, staring at Black so intently it seemed he was trying to read his mind, "Why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless..."

Lupin's eyes suddenly widened, as though he was seeing something beyond Black, something none of the rest could see, "- unless he was the one...unless you switched... without telling me?"

Very slowly, his sunken gaze never leaving Lupin's face, Black nodded.

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

But he never finished the question. Lupin was lowering his wand, gazing fixed at Black. The Professor walked to Black's side, seized his hand, pulled him to his feet so that Crookshanks fell to the floor, and embraced Black like a brother.

My jaw dropped widely right along with Harry's.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione screamed.

Lupin let go of Black and turned to her. She had raised herself off the floor and was pointing at Lupin, wild-eyed. "You ...you!"

"Hermione!" I yelled.

"You and him!"

"Hermione, calm down." said Lupin.

"I didn't tell anyone!" Hermione shrieked. "I've been covering up for you-"

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

"I trusted you!" Harry shouted at Lupin, his voice wavering, out of control, "And all the time you've been his friend!"

"You're wrong." said Lupin. "I haven't been Sirius's friend, but I am now. Let me explain..."

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

There was a ringing silence. Everyone's eyes were now on Lupin, who looked remarkably calm, though rather pale.

"Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione." he said. "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. But I won't deny that I am a werewolf."

I tried to get up again but fell back when the pain of both the bite on my arm, and my broken let hit me all at once. Lupin made toward me, looking concerned, but I gasped, "Get away from me, werewolf!"

I remembered hearing horror stories about werewolves as a kid. They were completely evil, some preyed on little children. Especially young girls.

Lupin stopped dead. Then, with an obvious effort, he turned to Hermione and said, "How long have you known?"

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

"He'll be delighted," said Lupin coolly. "He assigned that essay hoping someone would realize 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 said quietly.

Lupin forced a laugh.

"You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione."

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

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

"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf," I gasped, not believing a word of it. "Is he mad?"

"Some of the staff thought so." said Lupin. "He had to work very hard to convince certain teachers that I'm trustworthy."

"AND HE WAS WRONG!" Harry yelled. "YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THE TIME!" He was pointing at Black, who suddenly crossed to the four-poster bed and sank onto it, his face hidden in one shaking hand. Crookshanks leapt up beside him and stepped onto his lap, purring. I edged away from both of them, dragging my leg, wondering why all of a sudden Crookshanks was acting like Black's best mate.

"I have not been helping Sirius." said Lupin. "If you'll give me a chance, I'll explain. Look. "

He separated our wands and threw each back to us. I caught mine, stunned.

"There." said Lupin, sticking his own wand back into his belt "You're armed, we're not. Now will you listen?"

I didn't know what to think. Hermione and Harry looked like they didn't either. Was it a trick?

"If you haven't been helping him,"Harry said, with a furious glance at Black, "how did you know he was here?"

"The map," said Lupin. "The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining it."

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

"Of course I know how to work it," said Lupin, waving his hand impatiently. "I helped write it. I'm Moony. That was my friends' nickname for me at school."

"You wrote -?"

"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I had an idea that you, Ron, and Hermione might try and sneak out of the castle to visit Hagrid before his Hippogriff was executed. And I was right, wasn't I?"

He had started to pace up and down, looking at us. Little patches of dust rose at his feet.

"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..." said Lupin, waving an impatient hand again. "The point is, even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak, you still show up on the Marauder's Map. 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?" said Harry. "No, we weren't!"

"I couldn't believe my eyes," said Lupin, still pacing, and ignoring Harry's interruption. "I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?"

"No one was with us!" said Harry.

"And then I saw another dot, 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!" I said angrily.

"No, Ron," said Lupin. "Two of you."

He had stopped his pacing, his eyes moving over me.

"Do you think I could have a look at the rat?" he said evenly.

"What?" I said, going into defensive mode. "What's Scabbers got to do with it?"

"Everything," said Lupin. "Could I see him, please?"

I hesitated, then pulled Scabbers from my robes, thrashing desperately. I had to seize his long bald tail to stop him escaping. Crookshanks stood up on Black's leg and made a soft hissing noise.

Lupin moved closer to me. He seemed to be holding his breath as he gazed intently at Scabbers.

"What?" I said again, holding Scabbers close to me, trying to protect him. "What's my rat got to do with anything?"

"That's not a rat," croaked Sirius Black suddenly.

I looked at the man, frustrated. "What do you mean, of course he's a rat!"

"No, he's not," said Lupin quietly. "He's a wizard."

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