Chapter 29

An Animagus. It took a few seconds for the nonsense of the claim to set in but when it did, Atlas stumbled backwards, dislodging herself from Hermione and testily pacing across the room, hands rubbing at the back of her neck, itching nervously at her scars, until, a firm hand stopped her. She looked up, seeing the nervous eyes of her father staring back at her and when – and only when – he had confirmed she’d stopped her nervous itching, he let go.

“You’re both mental!” Ron yelled and Atlas snapped her gaze over to him.

“Peter Pettigrew’s dead!” Harry exclaimed, face going an odd shade of red. “He killed him twelve years ago!” He pointed at Sirius whose face twitched up into a scowl.

“I meant to,” he growled, “but little Peter got the better of me…not this time, though!”

Atlas was knocked out of the way and Crookshanks was thrown to the floor as Sirius lunged at Scabbers. Ron yelled with pain as Sirius’s weight fell on his broken leg and Atlas scrambled to help her friend, grabbing her dad and pulling him off of the boy.

“Sirius, NO!” Lupin yelled, launching himself forwards and helping Atlas in her mission, “WAIT! You can’t do it just like that — they need to understand — we’ve got to explain –“

“We can explain afterwards!” Sirius snarled, clawing his way forward as he tried to reach for the squealing rat still held firmly in Ron’s grasp. Atlas grit her teeth and shifted her arms beneath her long-sleeved shirt and jacket, offering her more strength as she pulled.

“They’ve — got — a — right — to — know — everything!” Lupin panted. “Ron’s kept him as a pet! There are parts of it even I don’t understand, and Harry, Atlas — you owe them the truth, Sirius!”

With a final tug, Atlas pulled him back and, at once, he stopped struggling, his hollowed eyes still fixed on Scabbers the Mangy Rat, who was clamped between Ron’s bitten, scratched and bleeding hands. “Calm down, dad…please.”

“…All right, then,” He said after a moment, tapping Atlas’s hand on his shoulder, 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, both of you,” Ron said shakily, looking around him for support. “I’ve had enough of this. I’m off.”

Getting to his feet, Ron made for the door but Atlas quickly stood up and blocked his way, gaze stern and daring him to test her at that moment. “You’re going to hear them out, Ron…you might be holding the rat that snitched to Voldemort and I’m not about to let you just slink away.”

“What is wrong with you!? Your dad’s the one that done it all!” Ron roared and Atlas glanced to the side of her, not knowing how to explain the feeling in her heart telling her Sirius was trust-worthy. It wasn’t even out of denial, it was genuine and even if she tried to stop herself from protecting her father, she didn’t think she would really be able to. As if her body had a mind of its own. 

“Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen,” Remus tried, moving forward but Ron quickly retreated, far from him as best as his broken leg could take him.

“HE’S NOT PETER, HE’S SCABBERS!” He yelled, trying to force the rat back into his front pocket, but Scabbers was fighting too hard, wriggling under Atlas’s glare. 

“There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die,” Harry said as he pushed Ron back to sitting on the four-poster. “A whole street full of them…”

“They didn’t see what they thought they saw!” Sirius bit savagely, still watching Scabbers struggling in Ron’s hands.

“Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter,” Remus said, nodding. “I believed it myself — until I saw the map tonight. Because the Marauder’s map never lies, Amaya Magianima enchanted it that way herself…” Atlas looked to him, slightly startled by the news but when she saw the smile on his face, she knew it must be true, “–Peter’s alive. Ron’s holding him, Harry.”

There was a moment of silence and then, with a trembling voice, Hermione spoke, looking to Professor Lupin imploringly as she began. “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 asked naturally, as if it were just another lesson and Hermione – the clever-clogs that she was – had spotted a mistake in the lesson plan as she had done many times before.

“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.”

“Mi…you can be an unregistered Animagus,” Atlas muttered and Lupin hooked an arm around her shoulder assuringly. Hermione looked at her curiously, “Legality is not a requirement in the ritual of an Animagi.”

“Right you are Atlas,” Lupin nodded, “the Ministry never knew that there used to be four unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts.”

“Why would you risk that? I read the punishment was either Azkaban or branding,” Hermione murmured and Atlas winced, doing her best to look neutral faced.

“Ah well you see–“

“If you’re going to tell them the story, get a move on, Remus,” Sirius urged, still watching Scabber’s as if he were a hawk eyeing up a particularly juice looking hare. “I’ve waited twelve years, I’m not going to wait much longer.”

“All right…but you’ll need to help me, Sirius,” Remus said as Atlas took her place back beside Hermione, reaching down to hold her hand, “I only know how it began–“

A loud creak shushed him and the bedroom door opened of its own accord, swinging and hitting against the wall. All six of them stared over at the opening, watching as Remus strode out onto the landing, peering around.

“No one there…”

“This place is haunted!” Ron chittered.

“It’s not,” Remus refuted, shaking his head and 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 greying hair out of his eyes, was silent for a moment and then sighed, “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…”

Ron looked as if he was going to interrupt so Hermione brung her hand to her mouth, straightened a finger and said, “Shhh!” Sending the boy silent as she turned back to the professor, watching him intently.

“I was 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….” Remus sighed, and looked directly at Harry. “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 I came to Hogwarts. This house” — he looked miserably around the room, — “the tunnel that leads to it — they were built for my use. Once a month, I 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.”

Atlas could already see where this was going, she’d done so much research on Animagi in the past she knew all the secrets, pros and cons to being one. Now, she was no expert on Lycanthropy but in the areas of Animagus where the werewolf is mentioned, she was incredibly acquainted.

“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 has been silent for years, the villagers don’t dare approach it…

“But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever, I had friends, four great best friends. Peter Pettigrew…of course, your father, Harry — James Potter and your mother and father, Atlas — Amaya Magianima and Sirius Black.”

“Now, my four 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.”

Atlas’s eyes blew wide. First, her dad and now her mum was an Animagi? Just like she was, but the woman never mentioned anything about it in her journals. Had she missed something? Surely not, she read those books back to back. Then maybe she didn’t write about it, or, maybe the journals containing the information were among the ones burnt in the fire.

“My dad too?” Harry said, sounding nothing short of astounded, just as Atlas was feeling.

“Yes, indeed,” Lupin nodded, “It took them the best part of three years to work out how to do it, we didn’t have tutorials or books laying about you see–” Atlas flushed, knowing those words were directed at her, “–your father, Harry, and your mother and Sirius here, Atlas, 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 James, Sirius and Amaya. 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.

“They couldn’t keep me company as humans, so they kept me company as animals,” Remus smiled and then nodded over to Atlas, discretely. “A werewolf is only a danger to people. They snuck 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, Remus,” Sirius snarled, with a look of hunger on his face mixed with something akin to remorse as he stared down on Scabbers.

“I’m getting there, Sirius, 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, James and Amaya 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. Just as Atlas said.”

“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?” She chastised and Atlas shook her head exasperatedly. Though a twinge of a smile turned at the corner of her mouth.

“A thought that still haunts me,” Lupin admitted 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 four 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…”

Remus’s face had hardened, and there was self-disgust in his voice. It was something Atlas recognised as the look she would give herself whenever she used to look in the mirror, weeks and months following the year she turned herself into an Animagi. 

“All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius 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 Sirius was getting into the school using dark arts he learned from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it…so, in a way, Snape’s been right about me all along.”

“Snape?” Sirius snapped 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,” Lupin sighed heavily. “He’s teaching here as well.” He looked up at Harry, Ron, Atlas and Hermione.

“Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought very hard against my appointment to the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. He has been telling Dumbledore all year that I am 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 and cast a quick nervous look on his daughter. “It served him right,” he muttered. “Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to…hoping he could get us expelled…picked on Amaya too, the greasy git. Besides, not like I would have let him get hurt, that would have got Remus in trouble…”

“Severus was very interested in where I went every month,” Lupin told the four. “We were in the same year, you know, and we — er — didn’t like each other very much. He especially disliked James and Amaya. Jealous, I think, of their talents…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 your father, Harry, who’d heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life…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,” Harry muttered slowly, “because he thought you were in on the joke?”

“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. Hermione startled, latching onto Atlas who held her steady and stared over at the man, wide-eyed, feeling as if a nasty shock had just flitted through her body.

“I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow,” Snape said, breathless and crazed looking with a hint of triumph across his visage, as he tossed it aside, careful to keep his wand over Lupin’s heart. “Very useful, Potter, I thank you…You’re wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?” he said, his eyes glittering at Remus. “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 running along this passageway and out of sight.”

“Severus –” Remus began, but Snape overrode him.

“I’ve told the headmaster again and again that you’re helping your old friend Black 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,” Lupin said urgently. “You haven’t heard everything — I can explain — Sirius is not here to kill Harry –“

“Two more for Azkaban tonight,” Snape said with a sick excitement to his voice. “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,” Lupin uttered softly and Atlas had a sudden thought of much worse things she could have called the Potions Master. “Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?”

A sudden flick and bang sounded around the room. Thin, snakelike cords burst from the end of Snape’s wand and twisted themselves around Remus’s mouth, wrists, and ankles; he overbalanced and fell almost to the floor but Atlas lunged forward and caught the man, Hermione quickly running to her side to help her.

With a sudden roar of rage, Sirius started toward Snape, but Snape pointed his wand straight between his eyes, halting his movements. Atlas looked over at the two, face pulled into one of terror. Snape looked deranged and ready to kill him at any wrong move, the hate in his eyes chilling even her and she wasn’t at the other end of it. The only thing that glare could rival was the one Sirius sent back at him.

“Give me a reason,” Snape whispered. “Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will.”

“Dad…dad don’t do anything,” Atlas pleaded. She could see in the man’s eyes just how much he wanted to retort, how much he wanted to curse and attack. Beside her, Hermione shifted and took an uncertain step toward, Atlas reaching out to stop her but not reaching her in time. “Mione…”

“Professor Snape –” she began in a very breathless voice, “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, Potter, Black and Weasley are out-of-bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. 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, Atlas sprang to her feet – not before carefully setting Remus down – and moved forward, grabbing the girls wrist nervously. “DON’T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!” A few sparks shot out of the end of his wand and Atlas pulled the girl into her chest, shielding her from the flashes.

“Professor, see reason,” She tried, pushing Hermione behind her where the girl stayed and waited silently, terrified and pale.

“REASON!? DO NOT TALK TO ME ABOUT REASON SPATTERGROIT–!”

“How dare you call my daughter that!” Sirius shouted, garnering the long-nosed man’s attention again. Sirius’s face was pulled up into one of pure hatred, his matted hair falling over his eyes, casting them in the deeper shadows than they had been. Instantly, Snape pressed even harder into the man’s head, looking up at him with utter disdain.

“Don’t professor–!” Atlas pleaded as Hermione stopped her from going forward, the smaller girl urging for Harry to help her. He did, placing his hand on Atlas’s shoulder and pulling her back with Hermione until the three of them were basically hugging each other in place.

“Vengeance is very sweet,” Snape breathed at Sirius, Atlas looking on with scared eyes. “How I hoped I would be the one to catch you….”

“The joke’s on you again, Severus,” Sirius 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?” Snape said 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, Black…pleased enough to give you a little kiss, I daresay…I –“

What little colour there was in Sirius’s face left and Atlas pulled away frantically. “It wasn’t him, professor! Please!”

“You — you’ve got to hear me out,” Sirius croaked. “The rat — look at the rat –“

“Come on, all of you,” Snape said, that mad glint still in his eye. He clicked his fingers, and the ends of the cords that bound Remus flew to his hands. “I’ll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the Dementors will have a kiss for him too –“

Before Atlas could even process what was going on, Harry had strode across the room, leaving Hermione alone to hold Atlas at bay.

“Get out of the way, Potter, you’re in enough trouble already,” Snape snarled. “If I hadn’t been here to save your skin –“

“Professor Lupin could have killed me about a hundred times this year,” Harry said. “I’ve been alone with him loads of times, having defence lessons against the Dementors. If he was helping Black, why didn’t he just finish me off then?”

“Don’t ask me to fathom the way a werewolf’s mind works,” Snape hissed and Atlas pulled her wand from her pocket, gripping it tightly. “Get out of the way, Potter.”

“YOU’RE PATHETIC!” Harry 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 father, like son, Potter! 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, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black — now get out of the way, or I will make you. GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!”

Without a second thought, Atlas raised her wand and pointed right at Snape yelling, “Expelliarmus!” and for a second she thought it had echoed, but then she noticed Ron, Harry and Hermione, the three of them with their wands raised as well. 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.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Sirius said, looking at Snape’s unmoving body. “You should have left him to me….”

“We attacked a teacher…We attacked a teacher…” Hermione whimpered, staring at the lifeless Snape with frightened eyes. Atlas stared at her, amazed and well and truly awed. “Oh, we’re going to be in so much trouble –“

“Granger, have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” Atlas suddenly uttered.

“Not now, Atlas!” Hermione replied, still panicking and not really taking in the comment. “He said I was sure to get expelled–!” she continued, burying her face in her hands. “Oh, I can’t believe I joined in on attacking a teacher!”

“I can,” Atlas scowled, letting go of Hermione and helping Remus out of his binds. He immediately straightened once he was free, rubbing where the ropes had cut into his skin, “Are you alright, Uncle Moony?”

“Yes, quite,” He nodded as Harry came over to join them, “Thank you, you two, for giving us a chance.”

“I’m still not saying I believe you,” Harry said but Atlas smiled, glancing over to her dad who was back to glaring at Scabbers, stroking Crookshanks as if in an attempt to calm himself down.

“I do…” She eventually said and Harry startled, Remus just grinning tiredly. “But…I suspect Harry needs evidence.”

“Yes, of course, so why don’t we offer you some proof.”