It took a few seconds for the absurdity of this statement to sink in. Then Ron voiced what Johnny was thinking.

"All four of you are mental."

"Ridiculous!" said Hermione faintly.

"Peter Pettigrew's dead!" said Harry. "He killed him twelve years ago!" He pointed at Jakob, 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!"

And Crookshanks was thrown to the floor as Jakob lunged at Scabbers; Ron yelled with pain as Jakob's weight fell on his broken leg.

"Jakob, NO!" Lupin yelled, launching himself forwards, Sirius following suit, and together they dragged Jakob 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 Jakob, trying to throw Lupin off. One hand was still clawing the air as it tried to reach Scabbers, who was squealing like a piglet, scratching Ron's face and neck as he tried to escape.

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

Jakob 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," Jakob 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..."

"You're nutters, all of you," said Ron shakily, looking round at Johnny, 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 Evelyn raised her wand again, pointing it at Scabbers.

"You're going to hear us out, Ron," she 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 and Johnny caught him am pushed him back down to the bed. Then, ignoring his father, Johnny turned to Lupin.

"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 Jakob savagely, still watching Scabbers struggling in Ron's hands.

"Everyone thought Jakob killed Peter," said Lupin, nodding. "I believed it myself -- until Evelyn showed me the map tonight. Because the Marauder's map never lies... Peter's alive. Ron's holding him, Johnny."

Johnny looked down at Ron, and as their eyes met, they agreed, silently: Sirius, Lupin, Evelyn and Jakob were all out of their minds. Their story made no sense whatsoever. How could Scabbers be Peter Pettigrew? Azkaban must have unhinged his father after all -- but why was Lupin, Evelyn and Sirius playing along with him?

Then Hermione spoke, in a trembling, would-be calm sort of voice, as though trying to will Professor Lupin to talk sensibly.

"But Professor Lupin... Scabbers can't be Pettigrew... it just can't be true, you know it can't..."

"Why can't it be true?" Lupin said calmly, as though they were in class, and Hermione had simply spotted a problem in an experiment with Grindylows.

"Because... because people would know if Peter Pettigrew had been an Animagus. We did Animagi in class with Professor McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework -- the Ministry of Magic keeps tabs on witches and wizards who can become animals; there's a register showing what animal they become, and their markings and things... and I went and looked Professor McGonagall up on the register, and there have been only seven Animagi this century, and Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list."

Johnny had barely had time to marvel inwardly at the effort Hermione put into her homework, when Lupin started to laugh.

"Right again, Hermione!" he said. "But the Ministry never knew that here used to be five unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts."

"If you're going to tell them the story, get a move on, Remus," said Jakob, who was still watching Scabbers's every desperate move.

"Just wait, darling," Evelyn said, rubbing Jakob's shoulder.

"I did my waiting!" Jakob yelled, breaking down once more. "TWELVE YEARS OF IT! IN AZKABAN!"

"All right... but you'll need to help me, Sirius, Evelyn," said Lupin, "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 seven of them stared at it. Then Lupin strode toward it and looked out into the landing.

"No one there..."

"This place is haunted!" said Ron.

"It's not," said Lupin, still looking at the door in a puzzled way. "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted... The screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me."

He pushed his graying hair out of his eyes, thought for a moment then said, "That's where all of this starts -- with my becoming a werewolf, None of this could have happened if I hadn't been bitten... and if I hadn't been so foolhardy..."

He looked sober and tired. Ron started to interrupt, but Hermione, said, "Shh!" She was watching Lupin very intently.

"I as a very small boy when I received the bite. My parents tried everything, but in those days there was no cure. The potion that Professor Snape has been making for me is a very recent discovery. It makes me safe, you see. As long as I take it in the week, preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform...I'm able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again.

"Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren't likely to want their children exposed to me... but then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn't come to school...."

Evelyn sighed, and looked directly at Harry and Johnny.

"I told you, months ago, that the Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. The truth is that it was planted because Remus came to Hogwarts. This house" -- The four adults looked miserably around the room, -- "the tunnel that leads to it -- they were built for Remus's use. Once a month, he was smuggled out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The tree was placed at the tunnel mouth to stop anyone coming across me while I was dangerous."

Johnny couldn't see where this story was going, but he was listening raptly all the same. The only sound apart from voices was Scabbers's frightened squeaking.

"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 rumor... Even now, when the house has been silent for years, the villagers don't dare approach it...." Remus continued on from Evelyn. "But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever, I had friends, five great friends. Evelyn Potter... Jakob Grindelwald... Sirius Black... Peter Pettigrew... and, of course, your father, Harry -- James Potter."

"Now, my five friends could hardly fail to notice that 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 found out what I was. But of course, they, like you, Hermione, worked out the truth.... And they didn't desert me at all. Instead, they did something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life. They became Animagi."

"My dad too?" said Harry, astounded.

"Yes, indeed," said Lupin. "It took them the best part of three years to work out how to do it. Your father, Jakob and Sirius here were the cleverest students in the school, and lucky they were, because the Animagus transformation can go horribly wrong -- one reason the Ministry keeps a close watch on those attempting to do it. Peter needed all the help he could get from Jakob, 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?" said Hermione, sounding puzzled.

"They couldn't keep me company as humans, so they kept me company as animals," said Lupin. "A werewolf is only a danger to people. They sneaked out of the castle every month under James's Invisibility Cloak. They transformed... Peter, as the smallest, could slip beneath the Willow's attacking branches and touch the knot that freezes it. They would then slip down the tunnel 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, Mooney," snarled Jakob, who was still watching Scabbers with a horrible sort of hunger on his face.

"I'm getting there, Talons, I'm getting there... well, highly exciting possibilities were open to us now that we could all transform. Soon we were leaving the Shrieking Shack and roaming the school grounds and the village by night. Sirius and James transformed into such large animals, they were able to keep a werewolf in check. I doubt whether any Hogwarts students ever found out more about the Hogwarts grounds and Hogsmeade than we did... And that's how we came to write the Marauder's Map, and sign it with our nicknames. Evelyn and Jakob is Mr. And Mrs. Talons, Sirius is Padfoot. Peter is Wormtail. James was Prongs."

"What sort of animal --?" Harry began, but Hermione cut him off. "That was still 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 Lupin 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 felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore's trust, of course... he had admitted me to Hogwarts when no other headmaster would have done so, and he had no idea I was breaking the rules he had set down for my own and others' safety. He never knew I had led five fellow students into becoming Animagi illegally. But I always managed to forget my guilty feelings every time we sat down to plan our next month's adventure. And I haven't changed..."

Lupin's face had hardened, and there was self-disgust in his voice. "All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Jakob was an Animagus. But I didn't do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I'd 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, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Jakob was getting into the school using dark arts he learned from Voldemort and his father, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it... so, in a way, Snape's been right about me all along."

"Snape?" said Jakob 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, darling," said Evelyn linking their hands. "He's teaching here as well."

Evelyn looked up at Johnny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought very hard against mine and Remus's appointments. He has been telling Dumbledore all year that we're not to be trusted. He has his reasons... you see, Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me --"

Sirius 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 Johnny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "We were in the same year, you know, and we -- er -- didn't like each other very much. He especially disliked James and Jakob. Jealous, I think, of their talents on the Quidditch field... 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 -- 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 -- if he'd got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown werewolf -- but James and Jakob, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to their lives... Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anybody, but from that time on he knew what I was...."

"So that's why Snape doesn't like you," said Johnny 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 pointing directly at Lupin.

Hermione and Evelyn screamed. Jakob and Sirius leapt to their feet. Johnny felt as though he'd received a huge electric shock.

"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," said Snape, throwing the cloak aside, careful to keep this wand pointing directly at Lupin's chest. "Very useful, Potter, I thank you...."

Snape was slightly breathless, but his face was full of suppressed triumph. "You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" he said, his eyes glittering. "I've just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky I did... lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you and Mrs. Grindelwald running along this passageway and out of sight."

"Severus --" Lupin began, but Snape overrode him.

"I've told the headmaster again and again that you were both helping your friends husband into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof. Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout --"

"Severus, you're making a mistake," said Evelyn urgently. "You haven't heard everything -- I can explain -- Jakob is not here to kill Harry or --"

"Four more for Azkaban tonight," said Snape, his eyes now gleaming fanatically. "I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this... He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin... a tame werewolf --"

"You fool," said Lupin softly. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?"

BANG! Thin, snakelike cords burst from the end of Snape's wand and twisted themselves around Lupin's, Sirius's and Evelyn's mouths, wrists, and ankles; they overbalanced and fell to the floor, unable to move. With a roar of rage, Jakob started toward Snape, but Snape pointed his wand straight between Jakob's eyes.

"Give me a reason," he whispered. "Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will."

Jakob stopped dead. It would have been impossible to say which face showed more hatred.

Johnny stood there, paralysed, not knowing what to do or who to believe. He glanced around at Harry, Ron and Hermione. Ron looked just as confused as he did, still fighting to keep hold on the struggling Scabbers. Hermione, however, took an uncertain step toward Snape and said, in a very breathless voice, "Professor Snape -- it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w-would it?"

"Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school," Snape spat. "You, Grindelwald, Potter, and Weasley are out-of-bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer, a werewolf, a murderer's wife and a werewolf's husband. For once in your life, hold your tongue."

"But if -- if there was a mistake --"

"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" Snape shouted, looking suddenly quite deranged. "DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" A few sparks shot out of the end of his wand, which was still pointed at Jakob's face. Hermione fell silent.

"I think you should watch your tone when speaking to her, Snivellus," Johnny sneered, raising his wand. Jakob couldn't stop the proud look on his face as Johnny said it.

"That's my boy!" Jakob cheered. Sirius let out a muffled laugh to match Jakob's.

"Vengeance is very sweet," Snape breathed at Jakob, ignoring Johnny's threats. "How I hoped I would be the one to catch you...."

"The joke's on you again, Severus," Jakob snarled. "As long as this boy brings his rat up to the castle" -- he jerked his head at Ron -- "I'll come quietly...."

"Up to the castle?" said Snape silkily. "I don't think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the Dementors once we get out of the Willow. They'll be very pleased to see you, Jakob... pleased enough to give you a little kiss, I daresay... I --"

What little color there was in Jakob's face left it.

"You -you've got to hear me out," he croaked. "The rat -- look at the rat --"

But there was a mad glint in Snape's eyes that Johnny had never seen before. He seemed beyond reason.

"Come on, all of you," he said. He clicked his fingers, and the ends of the cords that bound Lupin, Evelyn and Sirius flew to his hands. "I'll drag the werewolf, and the other two. Perhaps the Dementors will have a kiss for the, too --"

Before he knew what he was doing, Johnny had crossed the room in three strides and blocked the door.

"Get out of the way, Grindelwald, you're in enough trouble already," snarled Snape. "If I hadn't been here to save your skin --"

"Professor Lupin and my mother could have killed us about a hundred times this year," Harry said, standing next to Johnny. "We've been alone with them loads of times. If they were helping my uncle, why didn't he just finish us off then?"

"Don't ask me to fathom the way lunatic minds works," hissed Snape. "Get out of the way, boys."

"YOU'RE PATHETIC!" Johnny yelled. "JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OF YOU AT SCHOOL YOU WON'T EVEN LISTEN --"

"SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" Snape shrieked, looking madder than ever. "Like fathers, like sons, Boys! I have just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he'd killed you! You'd have died like your father and uncle, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Jakob Grindelwald-- now get out of the way, or I will make you. GET OUT OF THE WAY, BOYS!"

Johnny made up his mind in a split second. Before Snape could take even one step toward him, he had raised his wand.

"Stupefy!" Johnny yelled -- except that his wasn't the only voice that shouted. There was a blast that made the door rattle on its hinges; Snape was lifted off his feet and slammed into the wall, then slid down it to the floor, a trickle of blood oozing from under his hair. He had been knocked out.

Johnny looked around. Harry, Ron and Hermione had tried to disarm Snape at exactly the same moment. Snape's wand soared in a high arc and landed on the bed next to Crookshanks and Quorra.

"You shouldn't have done that," said Jakob, looking at Harry and Johnny. "You should have left him to me...."

They avoided Jakob's eyes. They wasn't sure, even now, that they'd done the right thing.

"We attacked a teacher... We attacked a teacher..." Hermione whimpered, staring at the lifeless Snape with frightened eyes. "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble --"

"We're going to be fine," Johnny reassured her, kissing her forehead.

Jakob helped Evelyn, Sirius and Lupin out of their bonds.

"Thank you, boys," Lupin said.

"I'm still not saying we believe you," Johnny told Lupin.

"Then it's time we offered you some proof," said Lupin. "You, boy -- give me Peter, please. Now."

Ron clutched Scabbers closer to his chest.

"Come off it," he said weakly. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean..." He looked up at Johnny, Harry and Hermione for support, "Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat -- there are millions of rats -- how's he supposed to know which one he is after if he was locked up in Azkaban?"

"You know, darling, that's a fair question," said Evelyn, turning to Jakob and frowning slightly. "How did you find out where he was?"

Jakob put one of his claw-like hands inside his robes and took out a crumpled piece of paper, which he smoothed flat and held out to show the others.

It was the photograph of Ron and his family that had appeared in the Daily Prophet the previous summer, and there, on Ron's shoulder, was Scabbers.

"How did you get this?" Sirius asked Jakob, thunderstruck.

"Fudge," said Jakob. "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page on this boy's shoulder... I knew him at once... how many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts... to where Harry and Johnny was..."

"My God," said Lupin softly, staring from Scabbers to the picture in the paper and back again. "His front paw..."

"What about it?" said Ron defiantly.

"He's got a toe missing," said Sirius.

"Of course," Lupin breathed. "So simple... so brilliant... he cut it off himself?"

"Just before he transformed," said Jakob. "When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself -- and sped down into the sewer with the other rats...."

"Didn't you ever hear, Ron?" said Lupin. "The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger."

"Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something! He's been in my family for ages, right --"

"Twelve years, in fact," said Lupin. "Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?"

"We -- we've been taking good care of him!" said Ron.

"Not looking too good at the moment, though, is he?" said Lupin. "I'd guess he's been losing weight ever since he heard Sirius was on the loose again...."

"He's been scared of the, mad cats!" said Ron, nodding toward Crookshanks and Quorra, who were still purring on the bed.

But that wasn't right, Johnny thought suddenly... Scabbers had been looking ill before... ever since Ron's return from Egypt... since the time when his father had escaped....

"Those cats aren't mad," said Jakob hoarsely. He reached out a bony hand and stroked their fluffy heads. "They're the most intelligent of their kind I've ever met. They recognised Peter for what he was right away. And when they met me, they knew I was no dog. It was a while before they trusted me... Finally, I managed to communicate to them what I was after, and they've been helping me..."

"What do you mean?" breathed Hermione, gripping Johnny's hand tightly.

"Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it," croaked Jakob. "These cats -- Crookshanks and Quorra, did you call them? -- told me Peter had left blood on the sheets... I supposed he bit himself... Well, faking his own death had worked once."

"And why did he fake his death?" Harry said furiously. "Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"

"No," said Lupin, "Harry--"

"And now you've come to finish him off!"

"Yes, I have," said Jak0b, with an evil look at Scabbers.

"Then we should've let Snape take you!" Harry shouted.

"Harry," said Lupin hurriedly, "don't you see? All this time we've thought Jak0b betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down -- but it was the other way around, don't you see? Peter betrayed your mother and father -- Sirius tracked Peter down --"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Harry yelled. "HE WAS THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNED UP. HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!"

He was pointing at Jakob, who shook his head slowly; the sunken eyes were suddenly over bright.

"Harry... I as good as killed them," he croaked. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me... I'm to blame, I know it... The night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straight away. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies... I realised what Peter must've done... what I'd done...."

His voice broke. He turned away.

"Enough of this," said Sirius, and there was a steely note in his voice. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me that rat."

"What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?" Ron asked Sirius tensely.

"Force him to show himself," said Sirius. "If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him."

Ron hesitated. Then at long last, he held out Scabbers and Sirius took him. Scabbers began to squeak without stopping, twisting and turning, his tiny black eyes bulging in his head. "Ready, Remus? Evelyn? Jakob?" said Sirius.

Jakob had already retrieved Snape's wand from the bed. He approached Lupin and the struggling rat, and his wet eyes suddenly seemed to be burning in his face.

"Together?" he said quietly.

"Of course," Evelyn smiled.

"I think so", said Sirius, holding Scabbers tightly in one hand and his wand in the other. "On the count of three. One -- two -- THREE!"

A flash of blue-white light erupted from both wands; for a moment, Scabbers was frozen in midair, his small gray form twisting madly -- Ron yelled -- the rat fell and hit the floor. There was another blinding flash of light and then --

It was like watching a speeded-up film of a growing tree. A head was shooting upward from the ground; limbs were sprouting; a moment later, a man was standing where Scabbers had been, cringing and wringing his hands. Crookshanks and Quorra were spitting and snarling on the bed; the hair on his back was standing up.

He was a very short man, hardly taller than Hermione. His thin, colorless hair was unkempt and there was a large bald patch on top. He had the shrunken appearance of a plump man who has lost a lot of weight in a short time. His skin looked grubby, almost like Scabbers's fur, and something of the rat lingered around his pointed nose and his very small, watery eyes. He looked around at them all, his breathing fast and shallow. Johnny saw his eyes dart to the door and back again.

"Well, hello, Peter," said Evelyn pleasantly, as though rats frequently erupted into old school friends around her. "Long time, no see."

"S--Sirius... R--Remus... E-Evelyn... J-Jakob," Even Pettigrew's voice was squeaky. Again, his eyes darted toward the door. "My friends... my old friends..."

Jakob's wand arm rose, but Evelyn seized him around the wrist, gave him a warning took, then turned again to Pettigrew, her voice light and casual.

"We've been having a little chat, Peter, about what happened the night Lily and James died. You might have missed the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the bed --"

"Remus, Sirius, Evelyn," gasped Pettigrew, and Johnny could see beads of sweat breaking out over his pasty face, "you don't believe him, do you...? He tried to kill me...."

"So we've heard," said Lupin, more coldly. "I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you, Peter, if you'll be so --"

"He's come to try and kill me again!" Pettigrew squeaked suddenly, pointing at Jakob, and Johnny saw that he used his middle finger, because his index was missing. "He killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too... You've got to help me, guys...."

Jakob's face looked more skull-like than ever as he stared at Pettigrew with his fathomless eyes.

"No one's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out," said Lupin.

"Sorted things out?" squealed Pettigrew, looking wildly about him once more, eyes taking in the boarded windows and, again, the only door. "I knew he'd come after me! I knew he'd be back for me! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!"

"You knew Jakob was going to break out of Azkaban?" said Evelyn, her brow furrowed. "When nobody has ever done it before?"

"He's got dark powers the rest of us can only dream of!" Pettigrew shouted shrilly. "How else did he get out of there? I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or his own father taught him a few tricks!"

Jakob started to laugh, a horrible, mirthless laugh that filled the whole room.

"Voldemort, teach me tricks?" he said. "And the only thing my father taught me was how to break the damn trace."

Pettigrew flinched as though Jakob had brandished a whip at him.

"What, scared to hear your old master's name?" said Jakob. "I don't blame you, Peter. His lot aren't very happy with you, are they?"

"Don't know what you mean, Jakob --" muttered Pettigrew, his breathing faster than ever. His whole face was shining with sweat now.

"You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years," said Jakob. "You've been hiding from Voldemort's old supporters. I heard things in Azkaban, Peter... They all think you're dead, or you'd have to answer to them... I've heard them screaming all sorts of things in their sleep. Sounds like they think the double-crosser double-crossed them. Voldemort went to the Potters' on your information... and Voldemort met his downfall there. And not all Voldemort's supporters ended up in Azkaban, did they? There are still plenty out here, biding their time, pretending they've seen the error of their ways. If they ever got wind that you were still alive, Peter --"

"Don't know... what you're talking about..." said Pettigrew again, more shrilly than ever. He wiped his face on his sleeve and looked up at Lupin. "You don't believe this -- this madness, Sirius --"

"I must admit, Peter, I have difficulty in understanding why an innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat," said Sirius evenly.

"Innocent, but scared!" squealed Pettigrew. "If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it was because I put one of their best men in Azkaban -- the spy, Jakob Grindelwald!"

Jakob's face contorted.

"How dare you," he growled. "I, a spy for Voldemort? When did I ever sneak around people who were stronger and more powerful than myself? But you, Peter -- I'll never understand why I didn't see you were the spy from the start. You always liked big friends who'd look after you, didn't you? It used to be us... me and Remus... and Sirius... and... Evelyn... and James..."

Pettigrew wiped his face again; he was almost panting for breath.

"Me, a spy... must be out of your mind... never... don't know how you can say such a --"

"Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it," Jakob hissed, so venomously that Pettigrew took a step backward. "I thought it was the perfect plan... a bluff... Voldemort would be sure to come after me or Evelyn, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you... It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters."

Pettigrew was muttering distractedly; Johnny caught words like "far-fetched" and "lunacy," but he couldn't help paying more attention to the ashen color of Pettigrew's face and the way his eyes continued to dart toward the windows and door.

"Professor Lupin?" said Hermione timidly. "Can -- can I say something?"

"Certainly, Hermione," said Lupin courteously.

"Well -- Scabbers -- I mean, this -- this man -- he's been sleeping in Harry's dormitory for three years, and Johnny has slept there every Christmas. If he's working for You-Know-Who, how come he never tried to hurt Harry or Johnny before now?"

"There!" said Pettigrew shrilly, pointing at Hermione with his maimed hand. "Thank you! You see, guys? I have never hurt a hair of their heads! Why should I?"

"I'll tell you why," said Sirius, standing next to Jakob. "Because you never did anything for anyone unless you could see what was in it for you. Voldemort's been in hiding for fifteen years, they say he's half dead. You weren't about to commit murder right under Albus Dumbledore's nose, for a wreck of a wizard who'd lost all of his power, were you? You'd want to be quite sure he was the biggest bully in the playground before you went back to him, wouldn't you? Why else did you find a wizard family to take you in? Keeping an ear out for news, weren't you, Peter? Just in case your old protector regained strength, and it was safe to rejoin him...."

Pettigrew opened his mouth and closed it several times. He seemed to have lost the ability to talk.

"Er -- Mr. Grindelwald-- Jakob?" said Hermione.

Jakob jumped at being addressed like this and stared at Hermione as though he had never seen anything quite like her.

"You're my son's girlfriend, aren't you?" Jakob asked, looking at their linked hands.

"Uh yes, if you don't mind me asking, how -- how did you get out of Azkaban, if you didn't use Dark Magic?"

"Thank you!" gasped Pettigrew, nodding frantically at her. "Exactly! Precisely what I --"

But Lupin silenced him with a look. Jakob was frowning slightly at Hermione, but not as though he were annoyed with her. He seemed to be pondering his answer.

"I don't know how I did it," he said slowly. "I think the only reason I never lost my mind is that I knew I was innocent. That wasn't a happy thought, so the Dementors couldn't suck it out of me... but it kept me sane and knowing who I am... helped me keep my powers... so when it all became... too much... I could transform in my cell... become a Raven. Dementors can't see, you know..." He swallowed. "They feel their way toward people by feeding off their emotions... They could tell that my feelings were less -- less human, less complex when I was a bird... but they thought, of course, that I was losing my mind like everyone else in there, so it didn't trouble them. But I was weak, very weak, and I had no hope of driving them away from me without a wand...."

"But then I saw Peter in that picture... I realised he was at Hogwarts with Harry and my son... perfectly positioned to act, if one hint reached his ears that the Dark Side was gathering strength again..."

Pettigrew was shaking his head, mouthing noiselessly, but staring all the while at Black as though hypnotised.

"...ready to strike at the moment he could be sure of allies... and to deliver the last Potter and my son to them. If he gave them Harry and Johnny, who'd dare say he'd betrayed Lord Voldemort? He'd be welcomed back with honors.... so you see, I had to do something. I was the only one who knew Peter was still alive..."

Johnny remembered what Mr. Weasley had told Mrs. Wealsey. 'The guards say he's been talking in his sleep... always the same words... 'He's at Hogwarts.''

"It was as if someone had lit a fire In my head, and the Dementors couldn't destroy it... It wasn't a happy feeling... it was an obsession... but it gave me strength, it cleared my mind. So, one night when they opened my door to bring food, I slipped past them as a Raven... It's so much harder for them to sense animal emotions that they were confused... I was thin, very thin... thin enough to slip through the bars... I flew as a Raven back to the mainland ... I journeyed north and slipped into the Hogwarts grounds as a Raven. I've been living in the forest ever since, except when I came to watch the Quidditch, and visit Sirius, of course. You fly as well as your father did, Harry...."

He looked at Harry, who did not look away.

"Believe me," croaked Jakob. "Believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them."

And at long last, Harry and Johnny believed him. Throat too tight to speak, they nodded.

"No!"

Pettigrew had fallen to his knees as though the boys nod had been his own death sentence. He shuffled forward on his knees, groveling, his hands clasped in front of him as though praying.

"Jakob-- it's me... it's Peter... your friend...you wouldn't --"

Jakob kicked out and Pettigrew recoiled.

"There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them," said Jakob.

"Evie, sweet, dear, Evie..." Peter went plead, clutching he bottom of her dress, but Evelyn kicked him in the head, sending him flying back.

"Remus!" Pettigrew squeaked, turning to Lupin instead, writhing imploringly in front of him. "You don't believe this -- wouldn't Jakob have told you they'd changed the plan?"

"Not if he thought Sirius and I were the spies, Peter," said Lupin. "I assume that's why you didn't tell us, Jakob?" he said casually over Pettigrew's head.

"Forgive me, Remus, Sirius," said Jakob.

"Not at all, Padfoot, old friend," said Lupin, who was now rolling up his sleeves.

"And will you, in turn, forgive us for believing you were the spy?" Sirius said, pushing his long hair behind his ear.

"Of course," said Jakob, and the ghost of a grin flitted across his gaunt face. He, too, began rolling up his sleeves. "Shall we all kill him together?"

"Yes, I think so," said Lupin grimly.

"You wouldn't... you won't..." gasped Pettigrew. And he scrambled around to Ron.

"Ron... haven't I been a good friend... a good pet? You won't let them kill me, Ron, will you... you're on my side, aren't you?"

But Ron was staring at Pettigrew with the utmost revulsion.

"I let you sleep in my bed!" he said.

"Kind boy... kind master..." Pettigrew crawled toward Ron "You won't let them do it... I was your rat... I was a good pet...."

"If you made a better rat than a human, it's not much to boast about, Peter," said Jakob harshly. Ron, going still paler with pain, wrenched his broken leg out of Pettigrew's reach. Pettigrew turned on his knees, staggered forward, and seized the hem of Hermione's robes.

"Sweet girl... clever girl... you -- you won't let them... Help me...."

"Touch her again, and your death won't be quick," Johnny sneered, breaking Pettigrew's nose with a harsh punch. Pettigrew was still clutching onto Hermione's robes. Hermione pulled her robes out of Pettigrew's clutching hands and backed away behind Johnny, looking horrified.

Pettigrew knelt, trembling uncontrollably, and turned his head slowly toward Harry.

"Harry... Harry... you look just like your father... just like him..."

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY?" roared Jakob. "HOW DARE YOU FACE HIM? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT OF HIM?"

"Harry," whispered Pettigrew, shuffling toward him, hands outstretched. "Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed... James would have understood, Harry... he would have shown me mercy..."

But Jakob, Sirius and Lupin strode forward, seized Pettigrew's shoulders, and threw him backward onto the floor. He sat there, twitching with terror, staring up at them.

"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort," said Sirius, who was shaking too. "Do you deny it?"

Pettigrew burst into tears. It was horrible to watch, like an oversized, balding baby, cowering on the floor.

"Guys, guys, what could I have done? The Dark Lord... you have no idea... he has weapons you can't imagine ... I was scared, I was never brave like my friends. I never meant it to happen... He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me --"

"DON'T LIE!" bellowed Jakob. "YOU'D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!"

"He -- he was taking over everywhere!" gasped Pettigrew. "Wh-what was there to be gained by refusing him?"

"What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?" said Jakob, with a terrible fury in his face. "Only innocent lives, Peter!"

"You don't understand!" whined Pettigrew. "He would have killed me!"

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" roared Jakob. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"

Jakob, Evelyn, Sirius and Lupin stood shoulder to shoulder, wands raised.

"You should have realised," said Evelyn quietly, a tear rolling down her cheek, "if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Good-bye, Peter."

Hermione covered her face in Johnny's back.

"NO!" Harry yelled. He ran forward, placing himself in front Pettigrew, facing the wands. "You can't kill him," he said breathlessly. "You can't."

Evelyn, Jakob, Sirius and Lupin both looked staggered.

"Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents," Jakob snarled. "This cringing bit of filth would have seen you die too, without turning a hair. You heard him. His own stinking skin meant more to him than your whole family."

"I know," Harry panted. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the Dementors... He can go to Azkaban... but don't kill him."

"Harry!" gasped Pettigrew, and he flung his arms around Harry's knees. "You -- thank you -- it's more than I deserve -- thank you --"

"Get off me," Harry spat, throwing Pettigrew's hands off him in disgust. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because -- I don't reckon my dad would've wanted them to become killers -- just for you."

No one moved or made a sound except Pettigrew, whose breath was coming in wheezes as he clutched his chest. The four abducts with wands were looking at each other. Then, with one movement, they lowered their wands.

"You're the only person who has the right to decide, Harry," said Jakob. "But think... think what he did...."

"He can go to Azkaban," Harry repeated. "If anyone deserves that place, he does...."

Pettigrew was still wheezing behind him.

"Very well," said Lupin. "Stand aside, Harry."

Harry hesitated.

"I'm going to tie him up," said Lupin. "That's all, I swear."

Harry stepped out of the way. Thin cords shot from Lupin's wand this time, and next moment, Pettigrew was wriggling on the floor, bound and gagged.

"But if you transform, Peter," growled Jakob, his own wand pointing at Pettigrew too, "we will kill you. You agree, Harry?"

"Right," said Lupin, suddenly businesslike. "Ron, I can't mend bones nearly as well as Madam Pomfrey, so I think it's best if we just strap your leg up until we can get you to the hospital wing."

He hurried over to Ron, bent down, tapped Ron's leg with his wand, and muttered, "Ferula." Bandages spun up Ron's leg, strapping it tightly to a splint. Lupin helped him to his feet; Ron put his weight gingerly on the leg and didn't wince.

"That's better," he said. "Thanks."

"What about Professor Snape?" said Hermione in a small voice, looking down at Snape's prone figure.

"There's nothing seriously wrong with him," said Lupin, bending over Snape and checking his pulse. "You were just a little -- overenthusiastic. Still out cold. Er -- perhaps it will be best if we don't revive him until we're safety back in the castle. We can take him like this...."

He muttered, "Mobilicorpus." As though invisible strings were tied to Snape's wrists, neck, and knees, he was pulled into a standing position, head still lolling unpleasantly, like a grotesque puppet. He hung a few inches above the ground, his limp feet dangling. Lupin picked up the Invisibility Cloak and tucked it safely into his pocket.

"And two of us should be chained to this," said Jakob, nudging Pettigrew with his toe. "Just to make sure."

"I'll do it," said Lupin.

"And me," said Ron savagely, limping forward.

Jakob conjured heavy manacles from thin air; soon Pettigrew was upright again, left arm chained to Lupin's right, right arm to Ron's left. Ron's face was set. He seemed to have taken Scabbers's true identity as a personal insult. Crookshanks and Quorra leapt lightly off the bed and led the way out of the room, their tails held jauntily high.