Ron voiced what I was thinking. "You're both mental."

"Ridiculous!" said Hermione faintly.

"That's the spell for getting rid of boggarts." Gennie said dryly.

"Peter Pettigrew's dead!" said Harry. "He killed him twelve years ago!" He pointed at Black, whose face twitched convulsively.

"I meant to," he growled, his yellow teeth bared, "but little Peter got the better of me... not this time, though!"

Black lunged at Scabbers; Ron yelled with pain as Black's weight fell on his broken leg.

"Sirius, NO!" Remus yelled, launching himself forwards and dragging Black away from Ron again, "WAIT! You can't do it just like that — they need to understand — we've got to explain —"

"We can explain afterwards!" snarled Black, trying to throw him off. One hand was still clawing the air as it tried to reach Scabbers, who was squealing like a piglet.

"They've — got — a — right — to — know — everything!" Remus panted, still trying to restrain Black. "Ron's kept him as a pet! There are parts of it even I don't understand, and Harry — you owe Harry and Rory the truth, Sirius!"

Black stopped struggling, though his hollowed eyes were still fixed on Scabbers, who was clamped tightly under Ron's bitten, scratched, and bleeding hands.

"All right, then," Black said, without taking his eyes off the rat. "Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for..."

"Wow, you're such an admirable person," Gennie sneered.

"You're nutters, both of you," said Ron shakily, looking round at Harry and Hermione for support. "I've had enough of this. I'm off."

He tried to heave himself up on his good leg, but Remus raised his wand again, pointing it at Scabbers. "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 front pocket, but Scabbers was fighting too hard; Ron swayed and overbalanced, and Harry caught him and pushed him back down to the bed. Then, ignoring Black, Harry turned to Remus.

"There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die," he said. "A whole street full of them..."

"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" said Black savagely, still watching Scabbers struggling in Ron's hands.

"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter," said Remus nodding. "I believed it myself — until I saw the map tonight. The map never lies... Peter's alive. Ron's holding him, Harry."

They were both mental—how had I ever thought Remus was a sane, normal person?

"Dad, that's great and all, but it can't be true." Gennie said.

"Why can't it?" Remus said, sounding like a teacher.

"All animagi have to be registered with the Ministry—you know how long it took me to get registered. And Peter Pettigrew isn't on the list." Gennie said firmly.

Black laughed. "You had her register her animagi form? That's funny Remus, honestly."

Gennie glared at Black. "Some of us like to follow the rules."

"Gennie, three animagi used to run around Hogwarts twenty years ago—but they weren't registered." Remus said softly.

"Well tell them, Remus, we don't have all night." Black snapped.

A loud creak came from behind, and I jumped, the door opening of its own accord. Remus walked out of the door, peering into the corridor. "No one's there," he announced.

"This place is haunted!" said Cole, open mouthed.

"It's not," said Remus, still looking at the door, puzzled. "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted... The screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me. This story starts with me becoming bitten."

"You were bitten as a young boy," Gennie recieted, and everybody looked at her. Remus nodded at her to continue. "My grandparents tried everything, but there was no cure. The only thing that controls dad is the wolfsbane potion, which Snape has been making. But that didn't exist twenty years ago."

"I thought it would be impossible to go to Hogwarts, but Dumbledore was sympathetic. He said that if there were precautions taken, why shouldn't I go? Once a month I was smuggled out of the castle, into this house. The tree was placed over the entrance so stop anybody finding me."

"Of course, my howls made the villigers terrified, and they all thought it was ghosts. Dumbledore kept the rumour alive, so nobody would dare going near the place. But still, I was the happiest I'd ever been. I had three brilliant friends—Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and James Potter."

Smiling, I could feel my sympathy slipping back into place for my godfather.

"But my friends noticed, even when I fed them stories about my mother being ill. Terrified of what they'd think, I avoided the subject until Sirius confronted me with a plan. They decided they would become animagi to help me."

"Like I did for you," Gennie said, her eyes watery.

"Our dad too?" said Harry, astounded.

"It took them the best part of three years to work out how to do it. Finally, in our fifth year, they managed it. They could each turn into a different animal at will."

"But how did that help you?" said Hermione, sounding puzzled.

"Werewolves can't transform animals—Peter as a rat could slip through the tree roots, Sirius and James could control me with their larger forms. We used to roam the grounds every month... an adventure. So we wrote the map, signing with our nicknames. Sirius as Padfoot, Peter as Wormtail, I was moony and James was Prongs."

"Amazing," Cole was grinning, looking at Gennie, my brother and I. "You guys are like the legacies... Right okay, I'm getting the eight-movie deal here, there's real potentional for this story."

Ignoring Cole, Hermione went on, "That was really dangerous! 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," said Remus heavily. "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 feel guilty betraying Dumbledore's trust—he has done so much for me. And I haven't learned from my mistakes, allowing my daughter to do the same for me as my friends did...."

"Hey, it was my idea." Gennie rolled her eyes, and Hermione looked at her in disbelief.

"In a way, Snape's been right about me all along."

"Snape?" said Black harshly, taking his eyes off Scabbers; for the first time in minutes and looking up at Lupin. "What's Snape got to do with it?"

"He's here, Sirius," said Lupin heavily. "He's teaching here as well." He looked up at us. "He fought hard against my appointment—he's been telling Dumbledore I'm not to be trusted. Sirius played a trick on him that almost killed him—involving me."

"It served him right," Black sneered. "Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to... hoping he could get us expelled..."

"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 leaving 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 — but James saved him, at great risk to his life... Snape saw me but was forbidden to say anything."

"He thought you were in on the joke," I said quietly. "That's why he hates you."

"That's right," sneered a cold voice from the wall behind Remus.

Severus Snape was pulling off the Invisibility Cloak, his wand pointing directly at Remus.

"Oh shit." Cole groaned.

5