(Y/N)'s POV

Slowly, in a kind of horrified trance, Me, Harry, Ron, and Hermione set off silently around Hagrid's house. As we reached the other side, the front door closed with a sharp snap. "What?" Said Harry, looking at Hermione while we were walking back up the path. 

"Nothing, I just thought I saw... Never mind." We made it to the top of the hill, we took the cloak off, and we just...waited, I think we all knew that we should, we owed Buckbeak that at least. The clocktower struck, there was a sickening chopping sound, Hermione let out a whimper, leaning against me to avoid looking, tears rolling down her face.

 I hugged her, I couldn't find any words worthy of the situation, Harry and Ron put hands on her shoulders, I could tell they were putting on brave faces, the same as me, but I couldn't help it, I let out a few tears of my own.

We all made our way up the hill in silence, too numb to make conversation. Then Ron let out a yelp, I turned my head to see the commotion, Scabbers was freaking out in his hands, at first I was confused why, then I saw it.

Crookshanks was running towards us at a breakneck pace, then I realised Bones was shadowing him, I could barely see her in this light, but she was hidden in the grass behind him. "Crookshanks!" Hermione moaned. "No, go away, Crookshanks! Go away!" 

But the cat was getting nearer "Scabbers NO!" Too late, the rat had slipped between Ron's clutching fingers hit the ground and scampered away. In one bound, Crookshanks sprang after him, Scabbers darted away, Bones pounced at him, but missed by a hair.

"Bones. STOP" I said commandingly, she paused for a quarter of a second, looking around for me, but she ignored it and continued after Scabbers. The next thing I knew Ron had thrown the Invisibility Cloak off himself and pelted away into the darkness. 

"Ron!" Hermione bellowed, we tried to stop him, but he was sprinting as fast as he could, we soon followed, discarding the cloak on a nearby rock. "Get away from him, get away. Scabbers, come here" There was a loud thud. "Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cats"

We skidded to a stop right in front of him. He was sprawled on the ground, but Scabbers was back in his pocket; he had both hands held tight over the quivering lump. Bones was raking his hands with her claws, but with no luck. We were catching our breath when we heard something panting behind us, I drew my wand and turned.

Whatever I was expecting, it wasn't an enormous, pale-eyed, jet-black dog. It had made an enormous leap and the front paws hit me in the chest, it bounced off me onto Harry's shoulders, pushing us both to the ground. But the force of its leap had carried it too far; it rolled off him, it latched its jaw around Ron's outstretched arm. Dragging him off into the darkness of the night.

I scrambled to my feet and gave chase, adrenaline coursing through me, the dog retreated into a wide tree, I went to follow, when suddenly, "THWAP" a tree branch the width of my wrist hit me in the face, opening a gash just above my left eyebrow, I was knocked back, feeling dazed, all I could hear was Ron screaming in pain.

When I regained my footing, I heard Hermione shriek with pain and fall too. Harry groped for his wand "Lumos!" he whispered, I followed his lead, then I realised what had happened. The wandlight showed the trunk of a thick tree; we had chased Scabbers into the shadow of the Whomping Willow and its branches were creaking as though in a high wind, whipping backward and forward to stop anyone going nearer.

And there, at the base of the trunk, was the dog, dragging Ron backward into a large gap in the roots, Ron was fighting furiously, but his head and torso were slipping out of sight. "Ron!" Harry shouted, trying to follow, but a heavy branch whipped lethally through the air and he was forced backward too.

All I could see now was one of Ron's legs, which he had hooked around a root in an effort to stop the dog from pulling him farther underground, but a horrible crack cut the air like a gunshot; Ron's leg had broken, and a moment later, his foot vanished from sight. 

"(Y/N) we've got to go for help " Hermione gasped; she was bleeding too; the Willow had cut her across the shoulder. "No time, we have to help" I said, wanting to get to him as soon as possible. "(Y/N)'s right. That thing's big enough to eat him; we haven't got time" 

"Harry, we're never going to get through without help" Another branch whipped down at them, twigs clenched like knuckles. "If that dog can get in, we can," Harry panted, darting here and there, trying to find a way through the vicious, swishing branches, but he couldn't get an inch nearer to the tree roots without being in range of the tree's blows.

"Immobulus" I cast at the tree, one of the branches slowed, but nothing that would make much difference, we didn't have time to do this to every branch, "Screw it!" I made a mad dash for the entrance to the tree, with no luck, all I got was a lash across my stomach for my trouble.

"Really starting to hate this tree" I wheezed, trying to take my mind off the pain. Bones scampered to my side, tail swaying as if she was proud, she nuzzled her face into mine, "I'm getting rid of that bloody mouse if we live through this" she hissed and bopped me on the nose with her paw.

"Oh, help, help," Hermione whispered frantically, dancing uncertainly on the spot, "Please..." Crookshanks darted forward. He slithered between the battering branches like a snake and placed his front paws upon a knot on the trunk. 

Abruptly, as though the tree had been turned to marble, it stopped moving. Not a leaf twitched or shook. "Crookshanks!" Hermione whispered uncertainly. She stared in disbelief. "How did he know...?"

"He's friends with that dog," said Harry grimly. "I've seen them together. Come on and keep your wands out" Bones mewled at me, then followed after us, she was protesting about us going in there.

Arguing "The red one isn't worth it" which was her little nickname for Ron "Oh, shut up, traitor" she hissed at that comment, she kept darting between my legs in an attempt to slow me down.

We covered the distance to the trunk in seconds, the cats had slid into it, Crookshanks leading with a flick of his bottlebrush tail. Harry went next; he crawled forward, headfirst, and slid down an earthy slope to the bottom of a very low tunnel. 

Seconds later, Hermione slithered down beside him, I soon followed, despite my whole body telling me not to. "Chasing a dog into a tree, If that's not a bad omen I don't know what is, Trelawney's gonna have a field day" I mumbled to myself.

"Where's Ron?" Hermione whispered in a terrified voice as we hit the bottom. "This way," said Harry, setting off, bent-backed, after Crookshanks, I was basically on my hands and knees at this point. "Where does this tunnel come out?" Hermione asked breathlessly from in front of me.

Harry answered, "I don't know... It's marked on the Marauder's Map but Fred and George said no one's ever gotten into it... It goes off the edge of the map, but it looked like it was heading for Hogsmeade..." we moved as fast as they could, bent almost double; ahead of us, I was crawling, so I trailed behind, barely seeing Crookshanks's tail as it bobbed in and out of view.

After what felt like an eternity, we made it to a room. Paper was peeling from the walls; there were stains all over the floor; every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows were all boarded up.

I glanced at Hermione, who looked very frightened, I gave her a reassuring nod and held out a hand, she seemed unsure but nodded back, taking my hand and clutching onto it like a lifeline. The room was deserted, but a door to our right stood open, leading to a shadowy hallway.

"Harry," she whispered, "I think we're in the Shrieking Shack." Harry looked around. I nudged Hermione "Told you I'd take you, best view possible" I said, she scoffed. We continued into the shack, we found Crookshanks, who was laid on a magnificent four-poster bed with dusty hangings, purring loudly at the sight of us.

Bones joined him, also purring. On the floor beside them, clutching his leg, which stuck out at a strange angle, was Ron. Harry and Hermione dashed across to him. I scanned the room and found nothing so moved forward to join them.

"Ron are you okay?" "Where's the dog?" We enquired "Not a dog," Ron moaned. His teeth were gritted with pain. "Harry, it's a trap" "What?" He pointed to the doorframe "He's the dog... he's an Animagus." Ron was staring over Harry's shoulder, I released Hermione's hand and spun round, putting up my guard.

With a snap, the man in the shadows closed the door behind them. A mass of filthy, matted hair hung to his elbows. If eyes hadn't been shining out of the deep, dark sockets, he might have been a corpse. The waxy skin was stretched so tightly over the bones of his face, it looked like a skull. His yellow teeth were bared in a grin. It was Sirius Black.

I raised my wand, but he was faster. "Expelliarmus!" he croaked, pointing Ron's wand at us. Our wands shot out of our hands, high in the air, and Black caught Harry's and Hermione's. Mine clattered to the floor beside him. "Wands out, brilliant idea Harry" I mumbled.

Then he took a step closer. His eyes were fixed on Harry. "I thought you'd come and help your friend," he said hoarsely. His voice sounded as though he had long since lost the habit of using it. "Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful... it will make everything much easier..." I quickly put myself between Black and Harry.

But Harry pushed me aside, he started forward, luckily me and Hermione stopped him, "No, Harry!" Hermione gasped in a petrified whisper; Ron, however, spoke to Black. "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" he said fiercely.

Though the effort of standing upright was draining him of still more colour, and he swayed slightly as he spoke. Something flickered in Black's shadowed eyes. "Lie down," he said quietly to Ron. "You will damage that leg even more."

"Did you hear me?" Ron said weakly, though he was clinging painfully to Harry to stay upright. "You'll have to kill all of us!" "That was awesome" I thought, proud of Ron standing up for his friend, literally.

"There'll be only one murder here tonight," said Black, and his grin widened. "Why's that?" Harry spat, trying to wrench himself free of me and Hermione. "Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those Muggles to get at Pettigrew... What's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?"

"Harry, stop taunting the mass murderer" ""With the wand" I whispered "Harry!" Hermione whimpered. "Be quiet!" "HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry roared, and with a huge effort he broke free and lunged forward.

I was in shock; Hermione was screaming; Ron was yelling; there was a blinding flash as the wands in Black's hand sent a jet of sparks into the air that missed Harry's face by inches; Harry launched himself on top of Black, punching him relentlessly.

My instincts to protect my friend kicked in, I lunged forward too, jumping onto Black, trying to pin him against the floor as Harry knocked seven shades out of him, luckily, Ron had the same thought, pinning Black's leg. "Hermione! The wands" I bellowed, she nodded and made a dash for them.

Unfortunately, we had forgotten about the other occupants of the room, Crookshanks got to the wands first, knocking them out of Hermione's reach with his paw, Bones made a dash to Ron first, clawing at his leg, he lurched out of pain and let go of Black.

She moved up to me, but seemed reluctant to stop me, so Crookshanks ran over, clawing and biting at my face until my grip was loosened, fresh blood poured out of my cheeks from the scratches.

Luckily, Hermione had managed to grab our wands from the floor, Ron collapsed back onto the bed, in agony, Harry and I jumped up, as I kicked Black once more in the chest for good measure, Harry snatched his wand out of Hermione's hand roughly and advanced on Black, a look of anger clear on his face. I took my wand back with a quick smile.

Harry didn't stop until his wand pointing straight at Black's heart. "Going to kill me Harry?" said Black almost cheerfully, "You killed my parents," said Harry, his voice shaking slightly, but his wand hand quite steady. Black stared up at him out of those sunken eyes. "I don't deny it," he said very quietly.

"But if you knew the whole story-" "The whole story?" Harry repeated "You sold them to Voldemort. That's all I need to know." "You've got to listen to me," Black said, and there was a note of urgency in his voice now. "You'll regret it if you don't... You don't understand..."

"I understand a lot better than you think," said Harry, and his voice shook more than ever. "You never heard her, did you? My mum... trying to stop Voldemort killing me... and you did that... you did it..." 

My mind was racing, "What is he on about?" I thought, then it occurred to me, on the train, he was complaining about screaming of a woman, if I heard (B/N) falling to his death, then he... he heard his mother.

Before either of them could say another word, something ginger streaked past Harry; Crookshanks leapt onto Black's chest and settled himself there, right over Black's heart. Black blinked and looked down at the cat. 

"Get off," he murmured, trying to push Crookshanks off him. But Crookshanks sank his claws into Black's robes and wouldn't shift. He turned his ugly, squashed face to Harry and looked up at him with those great yellow eyes, then Bones prowled over to his feet, and clawed her way up so she was rested on Black's shoulder. Spitting at Harry.

Somewhere to my right, Hermione gave a dry sob. I knew how she felt, looking at Harry's eyes, he wasn't going to stop just because they were in the way, he was too focused on Black, I gave a frantic look to Bones, she was committed to this, honestly, above everything else, that was what swayed me, the look in her eyes, if Bones felt like this was important, then as far as I was concerned, it was.

"Harry, listen to him" I said in a voice close to a whisper, Harry turned for a split second, looking at me as if I had just set fire to the Firebolt in front of him, "They're helping him, if they want to get in the way, it's on them" he defended, now I was stuck between a rock and a hard place..

If I disarmed Harry, Black could go for the wand and I don't know if I could stop him, but if I didn't, Harry was going to kill my closest friend. Fortunately, or unfortunately, something made the decision for me.

Professor Lupin came hurtling into the room, his face bloodless, his wand raised and ready. His eyes flickered over Ron, lying on the floor, over Hermione, cowering next to the door, to me, pointing my wand between Harry and Black, to Harry, standing there with his wand covering Black, and then to Black himself, crumpled and bleeding at Harry's feet. "Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted.

Hermione was disarmed, as was Harry, his wand flew out of his hand, mine didn't, luckily, I had enough foresight to move out of the way, knowing what I did about Lupin, it wasn't odd to see him here today of all days, but I wasn't taking any chances.

Lupin caught them all deftly, then moved into the room, staring at Black. Then Lupin spoke, in a very tense voice. "Where is he, Sirius?" For a few seconds, he didn't move at all. Then, very slowly, he raised his empty hand and pointed straight at Ron. Mystified, Harry glanced around at Ron, who looked bewildered.

"WHO?" I shouted, pointing my wand at him. But Lupin appeared to still be in shock. Then he snapped out of it suddenly. "But then..." Lupin muttered, staring at Black intently, "... why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless"

Lupin's eyes suddenly widened, as though he was seeing something beyond Black, something none of the rest could see, " unless he was the one... unless you switched... without telling me?" Very slowly, his sunken gaze never leaving Lupin's face, Black nodded. Lupin slowly handed Black one of the wands. I was too stunned to stop him.

"Professor," Harry interrupted loudly, "what's going on?" Lupin was lowering his wand, gazing fixed at Black. The Professor walked to Black's side, seized his hand, pulled him to his feet so that Crookshanks and Bones fell to the floor, and embraced Black like a brother.

"No! I trusted you! I covered up for you. And all this time you've been his friend!" Hermione nearly sobbed. Something clicked, "You were helping him into the castle, helping him try to kill Harry" I added, she nodded "He's a werewolf! That's why he's been missing classes!"

"I'd hoped we were wrong, guess not" I said, quickly glancing back to Hermione sadly, Hermione had confided her concerns in me, but I wasn't entirely certain we weren't grasping at straws, until he came here tonight, away from everyone. I tried to keep talking "Write him happy letters while he was in Azkaban did you? Keep him updated. How sweet"

Harry and Ron stared, dumbfounded at Lupin. Black howled bitterly amused. Lupin eyed him, then turned back. "How long have you two known?" "Since Professor Snape set the essay." "Yeah, I had to do six rolls, you think I wouldn't realise?"

"You're the brightest witch of your age Hermione." "You are a bright boy (Y/N)" "But not at all up to your usual standard" he said. "Only one out of three, I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don't want Harry dead." An odd shiver passed over his face. "But I won't deny that I am a werewolf."

Black seemed done with all this talk "Yes, you both glow like the sun. And you howl at the moon. Enough talk! He dies. Now. If you won't do it with me, Remus, I'll do it alone." This snapped me out of my own shock.

I pointed my wand to his chest, Lupin put up an arm. "Wait, Sirius" Black snapped "I did my waiting! Twelve years of it! In Azkaban!" Lupin eyed Black, then nodded. "All right then. As you wish..."

"That's not happening" I said, pointing my wand, determined to protect Harry even if it killed me, Black gave me a look, "You're a smart boy, don't do this, It won't end well" I grit my teeth, summoning all the courage I could "A half dead mental bloke and an overgrown puppy, I'll take my chances" I spat back.

Something changed, something in my head, I could feel it, just barely, there was someone else here, coming up the path, but I couldn't quite place it, so decided to try and stall, hoping it was help.

Lupin addressed me next, "Put your wand down, even someone like you can't fight two fully grown wizards (Y/N)." "I'm about to try" I spat, taking a defensive stance in front of my friends.

I started by casting a stunning spell at Lupin, the whole room shook, but Lupin seemed unfazed, like the spell hadn't even hit him, he must have protected himself non-verbally, this was an unwinnable battle, but I had to do something, so I kept casting, any spell I tried had no effect, but I was buying time, hopefully that was all we needed.

In the chaos, Lupin dropped Harry's wand, which he scrambled for. "No! HE'S MINE" Harry raised his wand, disarming me, I was too stunned to defend. Furious, I said, "Harry, what the hell?" Harry eyed Black murderously. "You betrayed my parents! You sold them to Voldemort!" "It's a lie! I never would've betrayed James and Lily!"

Lupin interjected "Harry! You've got to listen-" "Did he listen! When my mother was dying! Did he hear her screaming!" Harry bellowed as I eyed my wand. "No! I wasn't there! And I'll regret it the rest of my life!"

"Someone else betrayed your parents, Harry. Someone in this room right now. Someone who, until quite recently, I believed to be dead." Black added "He's as good as dead." "What're you talking about? There's nobody here." 

"Oh yes there is..." He added with a singsong voice "Come out, come out, Peter Come out, come out and play..." "He's mental" said a bewildered Ron. "Stellar observation Ron" I said hoping I could keep them talking, luckily I didn't have to.

"Expelliarmus!" Suddenly the wands flew from Lupin's and Black's hands. There was a beat of shock, we all turned to find Snape standing in the doorway, smiling smugly. "Ah, vengeance is sweet. How I hoped I'd be the one to catch you." 

He turned to Lupin "I told Dumbledore you were helping your old friend into the castle. And here's the proof." He continued to ramble about his victory, but then something happened that I wouldn't have seen coming even if I had the best inner eye in the world.

"Expelliarmus!" The spell hit him square in the chest so Snape soared into the air, hit the wall with a "THUD", and slid down. Ron and Hermione stared in shock. "You attacked a teacher." I used the opportunity to scramble for my wand.

"HARRY WHAT THE HELL!" I shouted in disbelief. I went to attack Lupin while I had the chance and he was disarmed, but Harry put a hand up, he turned to Lupin and Black, "Explain"