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"Stupefy!" shouted Potter, and Snape's figure flew off in a dark clot into the big old canopy bed, shattering it and collapsing the whole structure inward.
"Wow..." exhaled Ron. "You're my hero."
"That was unexpected, Harry," smiled Lupin, and Sirius burst into barking laughter.
"I want to know the whole story."
"All right," Black nodded. "It's very simple. Your parents, Harry, needed to hide. The Headmaster suggested the Fidelius spell, with me as the Secret-Keeper. No one can enter the place guarded by Fidelius unless the Secret-Keeper guides or gives out the place. For others, the place simply does not exist. Lily and James only made him Secret-Keeper because I suggested it... I thought it was the perfect plan... Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like Peter... The Headmaster wanted to set the spells himself, but James could also perform them, so we refused. And then... then..."
"He betrayed them," Harry summarized.
Black remained silent, glaring at Pettigrew, and then suddenly glanced around.
"Where's the boy?"
"Knight?" asked Lupin.
"Who?!" Black asked uncomprehendingly. "Where's that son of the Death Eater? He was here!"
"Sirius, my friend, wait. We followed Max Knight on the map. He grew up among Muggles."
"Bullshit!" Black flashed. "Are you blind, Moony? He's a copy of Narcissa! Have you forgotten whose wife she is?"
"I am not blind, but I looked at the personal files of the students. He just couldn't ..."
"What are you talking about?" Potter interrupted the conversation. "What does Max have to do with it?"
"Ah, never mind," Black waved it off. "Anyway, I've already made a... Yeah... never mind."
Lupin walked over to Pettigrew and began to recite some spells over him, putting his limbs back in place a bit, partially fusing them together. What foolishness, quite frankly.
"We'll give him to the Aurors," Harry said weightily. "We'll give him to them, and we can acquit you."
"Acquit?" grinned Black bitterly. "I don't fucking need that acquittal! I want him dead."
"We'll acquit you, and he'll be sentenced to a Dementor kiss."
Pettigrew wanted to say something, but Lupin threw Silencio at him.
"Harry, Ron. Grab Professor Snape, and let's go. We need to do everything according to the rules. Don't worry, Sirius," Lupin stood up, stepped away from Pettigrew, and slapped Black on the shoulder. "Everything will be fine. Mobilicorpus."
Pettigrew's silent body flew up and hovered in the air. The boys picked Snape up under their arms, and the group headed for the exit of the shack. I walked stealthily behind them, pondering Black's words. What has he already made? A will? I will need to consult with Lady Walburga.
When we went outside, a cold winter breeze blew over us. I decided to escort these gentlemen to the castle and make sure that no unknown shit would happen. However, as soon as we were a dozen meters away from the shack and were about to descend, the moon came out from behind the clouds.
"There you go," I grimaced sorrowfully. "Although Lupine only forgot to drink the potion at the end of the year ..."
Glancing at the instantly panicked professor, I suddenly doubted my conclusions. He looked with wild fear at the full moon, and the whole company stopped, watching him.
"Professor?" asked Ron, who noticed something was wrong.
"Hey, Moony," Black immediately jumped up to him. "You didn't forget to drink the potion, did you? Remus!!!"
Lupine gave everyone such a guilty look that it was clear that he had forgotten. But what the hell! So carried away by the map, the anxiety in the castle, Black's penetration, and so on, that he forgot everything in the world?!
Black realized something was wrong, too, and yelled at the others:
"Run! Run! Remus! Buddy, hold on!"
The boys, not understanding anything, began to retreat with Snape on their shoulders. Lupin dropped his wand, and Pettigrew tumbled heavily into the snow.
Watching a man turn into a werewolf was not a pleasant sight. The limbs deformed and lengthened, the geometry of the skull slowly changing with a dull crunch. The skin turned gray, covered with short hair, the chest expanded in jerks, tearing clothes. It seemed as if the crunch of bones could be heard at the other end of the forbidden forest.
"Remus! You are a human! Remember!" tried to exhort his almost-turned friend Black, but the werewolf only threw him aside with his clawed paw and howled at the moon.
"He's a werewolf!" exclaimed Potter and Weasley in sync. They threw Snape into the snow and were about to run to Black to help, but he stopped them with a gesture.
"Run, you fools. Leave it to me."
At that moment, Black transformed into a large black dog and lunged at Lupin, completely capturing his attention. Pettigrew crawled on his healed limbs to the wand that Lupin had dropped. He crawled to it, picked it up, and directed it towards himself.
"Expelliarmus!" shouted Potter, and a beam of the spell knocked the wand out of Pettigrew's hands. But it was too late - he began to turn, along with his clothes, into a rat.