Chapter Thirteen: Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, and Prongs
"You're both mental," Ron finally said.
Harish couldn't help but think back to that day where he had seen Pettigrew's name on the map. When he should've been face to face with him there was no one there…but he couldn't have been face to face with him if the man had been a rat at the time. It all made sense. Another piece of the puzzle was just put onto the board.
Black bared his yellow teeth and suddenly darted forward, trying to pull the rat out of Ron's fingers. Ron yelled with pain as Black's weight fell on his injured leg.
"Sirius, NO!" Lupin yelled, launching himself forward and dragging Black away from them again. "WAIT! You can't just do it like that—they need to understand—we've got to explain—"
"We can explain afterwards!" Black snarled, trying to throw his friend off. One hand was still clawing at the air as it tried to reach Scabbers, who was squealing like a piglet.
"They've—got—a—right—to—know—everything!" Lupin panted, still trying to restrain Black. "Ron's kept him as a pet! There are parts of it even I don't understand! And Harish—Harry—you owe Harry the truth, Sirius!"
Harish froze. Harry?
Black froze as well, though his hollowed eyes were still fixed on Ron's rat, who was still clutched in Ron's bitten, scratched, and bleeding hands.
"All right then," Black said without taking his eyes off Scabbers. "Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for…"
"You're both nutters," Ron said, standing up shakily.
Lupin pointed his wand at the boy.
"You're going to hear me out, Ron," he said quietly. "Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen."
"HE'S NOT PETER, HE'S SCABBERS!" Ron yelled, trying to force the rat back into his pocket. Harish got up, shoved Ron back down, grabbed the rat out of his hands, and then rapped him hard on the head. Ron slumped over.
Harish then pulled out his wand and stupefied the struggling rodent.
"There," he said, stuffing the rat in his pocket. "Now you can continue."
"All right…" Lupin said. "You'll need to help me, Sirius. I only know how it began…"
Lupin broke off. There had been a loud creak behind him. The bedroom door had opened of its own accord. All six of them stared at it. The Lupin strode toward it and looked out.
"No one there…"
"This place is haunted," Hermione muttered, "Isn't it?"
"It's not," Lupin said, still looking at the door with a puzzled expression "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted…The howls and screams the village used to hear had always been made by me."
Lupin ran a hand through his graying hair, looking even more tired than ever.
"That's where this all starts—with my becoming a werewolf. None of this would have happened if I hadn't been bitten…and if I hadn't been so foolhardy…I was a very small boy when I was bitten. My parents tried everything, but back then there was no cure. The potion I have been taking is a recent invention. It makes me safe, you see. The week before every full moon I take the potion and during the full moon I keep my head. When I transform…I am able to curl up, a harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again."
"Before the Wolfsbane Potion was invented, I became a fully-fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would ever be able to go to school. Other parents weren't likely to want their children exposed to me."
"But then Dumbledore became headmaster, and he was very sympathetic. He said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn't come to Hogwarts…" Lupin sighed and looked directly at Harish. "I told you months ago that the Whomping Willow was planted when I came to school here, but it was actually planted because I came here. It and the Shrieking Shack were both built for my use. Once a month, I was smuggled out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The tree was placed over the entrance of the tunnel to stop anyone coming across me while I was dangerous."
Harish couldn't exactly see where this was going, but he listened with rapt attention. The room was completely silent as every head was turned to the shabby professor.
"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 rumour…Even now when the house had been silent for years, the villagers don't dare approach it…"
"But apart from my transformations I was the happiest I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends. Sirius Black…Peter Pettigrew…and, of course, your father—James Potter—"
"But—" Harish started, but Lupin continued, ignoring his interruption.
"Now my three friends could hardly fail to notice 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 worked it out, but they didn't desert me at all. Instead they did something for me that would make my transformations easier. They became Animagi."
Harish nodded. It seemed as if another puzzle piece had just been added.
"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 too, because the Animagus transformation can go horribly wrong—one reason why the Ministry keeps such a close watch on registered Animagi. 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 asked, sounding confused.
"They couldn't keep me company as humans, so they kept me company as animals," Lupin replied. "A werewolf is only a danger to people. So, they snuck out every month under the Invisibility Cloak and though the knot that freezes the tree, The would slip down 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," Black snarled. He was staring at the lump in Harish's pocket with a horrible sort of hunger on his face.
"I'm getting there, Sirius, I'm getting there…well, highly exciting possibilities were now open to us now that we could all transform. Soon we were leaving the Shrieking Shack and roaming the school grounds and village by night. Sirius and James transformed onto such large animals that they were able to keep a werewolf in check. I doubt whether any Hogwarts students ever found out more about Hogsmeade and Hogwarts 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."
"All this year I've been wondering why I haven't told Dumbledore about Sirius being an animagus. But now I know why. I was too cowardly. It would have meant telling him that I had 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 for what I am. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using Dark Arts…so in a way, Snape's been right about me all along."
"Snape?" Black asked, his eyes narrowing. "What's Snape got to do with it?"
"He's here, Sirius," Lupin told him. "He's teaching here as well."
The man turned to the students in the room and said, "Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought very hard against my appointment as teacher here. He has been telling Dumbledore that I am not to be trusted. He has his reasons…you see, Sirius here played a rather nasty trick on him that had nearly gotten him killed, a trick which had involved me—"
Black made a derisive noise.
"It served him right," he sneered. "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," Lupin told the Slytherins. "We were in the same year and we—er—didn't like each other that much. He loathed James especially…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 amusing to tell Snape that all he had to so was prod the knot on the trunk with a stick and he'd be able to get in after me. Well, of course he tried it—if he'd got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown werewolf—but your father went after Snape and pulled him back, at a great risk to his life."
Harish mouthed, My father? once again in confusion.
"Snape glimpsed me at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anyone, but I know from that time on he knew what I was…"
"So that is why Professor Snape dislikes you so much," Harish replied slowly. "because he thought you were in on the joke?"
"That's right," sneered a cold voice from the wall behind Lupin.
Severus Snape was pulling off the Invisibility Cloak, his wand pointed directly at Lupin.