ed with green, both hands clutching his broken leg. 

Black was sprawled at the bottom of the wall. His thin chest rose and 
fell rapidly as he watched Harry walking slowly nearer, his wand 
pointing straight at Black's heart. 

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"Going to kill me, Harry?" he whispered. 

Harry stopped right above him, his wand still pointing at Black's chest, 
looking down at him. A livid bruise was rising around Black's left eye 
and his nose was bleeding. 

"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, a furious pounding in his ears. "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...." 

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. To his right, Hermione gave a dry sob. 

Harry stared down at Black and Crookshanks, his grip tightening on the 
wand. So what if he had to kill the cat too? It was in league with 
Black.... If it was prepared to die, trying to protect Black, that 

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wasn't Harry's business.... If Black wanted to save it, that only proved 
he cared more for Crookshanks than for Harry's parents.... 

Harry raised the wand. Now was the moment to do it. Now was the moment 
to avenge his mother and father. He was going to kill Black. He had to 
kill Black. This was his chance.... 

The seconds lengthened. And still Harry stood frozen there, wand poised, 
Black staring up at him, Crookshanks on his chest. Ron's ragged 
breathing came from near the bed; Hermione was quite silent. 

And then came a new sound 


Muffled footsteps were echoing up through the floor -- someone was 
moving downstairs. 

"WE'RE UP HERE!" Hermione screamed suddenly. "WE'RE UP HERE -SIRIUS 
BLACK - QUICK!" 

Black made a startled movement that almost dislodged Crookshanks; Harry 
gripped his wand convulsively -- Do it now! said a voice in his head -but 
the footsteps were thundering up the stairs and Harry still hadn't 
done it. 

The door of the room burst open in a shower of red sparks and Harry 
wheeled around as 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 Harry, 
standing there with his wand covering Black, and then to Black himself, 
crumpled and bleeding at Harry's feet. 

"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted. 

Harry's wand flew once more out of his hand; so did the two Hermione was 
holding. Lupin caught them all deftly, then moved into the room, staring 
at Black, who still had Crookshanks lying Protectively across his chest. 

Harry stood there, feeling suddenly empty. He hadn't done it. His nerve 
had failed him. Black was going to be handed back to the dementors. 

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Then Lupin spoke, in a very tense voice. 
"Where is he, Sirius?" 
Harry looked quickly at Lupin. He didn't understannd what Lupin meant. 


Who was Lupin talking about? He turned to look at Black again. 
Black's face was quite expressionless. 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. 
"But then..." Lupin muttered, staring at Black so intently it seemed he 

was trying to read his mind, "... 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. 
"Professor," Harry interrupted loudly, "what's going on --?" 
But he never finished the question, because what he saw made his voice 


die in his throat. 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 fell to the floor, and embraced Black like a 
brother. 

Harry felt as though the bottom had dropped out of his stomach. 
"DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione screamed. 
Lupin let go of Black and turned to her. She had raised herself off the 


floor and was pointing at Lupin, wild-eyed. "You -- you --" 
"Hermione --" 
"-- you and him!" 
"Hermione, calm down --" 


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"I didn't tell anyone!" Hermione shrieked. "I've been covering up for 
you --" 

"Hermione, listen to me, please'" Lupin shouted. "I can explain --" 

Harry could feel himself shaking, not with fear, but with a fresh wave 
of fury. 

"I trusted you," he shouted at Lupin, his voice wavering, out of 
control, "and all the time you've been his friend!" 

"You're wrong," said Lupin. "I haven't been Sirius's friend, but I am 
now -- Let me explain...." 

"NO!" Hermione screamed. "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping 
Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too -- he's a werewolf!" 

There was a ringing silence. Everyone's eyes were now on Lupin, who 
looked remarkably calm, though rather pale. 

"Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione," 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." 

Ron made a valiant effort to get up again but fell back with a whimper 
of pain. Lupin made toward him, looking concerned, but Ron gasped, "Get 
away ftom me, werewolf!" 

Lupin stopped dead. Then, with an obvious effort, he turned to Hermione 
and said, "How long have you known?" 

"Ages," Hermione whispered. "Since I did Professor Snape's essay..." 

"He'll be delighted," said Lupin coolly. "He assigned that essay hoping 
someone would realize what my symptoms meant.... Did you check the lunar 
chart and realize that I was always ill at the full moon? Or did you 
realize that the boggart changed into the moon when it saw me?" 

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"Both," Hermione said quietly. 

Lupin forced a laugh. 

"You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione." 

"I'm not," Hermione whispered. "If I'd been a bit cleverer, I'd have 
told everyone what you are!" 

"But they already know," said Lupin. "At least, the staff do." 

"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf. Ron gasped. "Is 
he mad?" 

"Some of the staff thought so," said Lupin. "He had to work very hard to 
convince certain teachers that I'm trustworthy --" 

"AND HE WAS WRONG!" Harry yelled. "YOUVE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL 
THE TIME!" 
He was pointing at Black, who suddenly crossed to the four-poster bed 
and sank onto it, his face hidden in one shaking hand. Crookshanks leapt 
up beside him and stepped onto his lap, purring. Ron edged away from 
both of them, dragging his leg. 

I have not been helping Sirius," said Lupin. "If you'll give me a 
chance, I'll explain. Look --" 

He separated Harry's, Ron's and Hermione's wands and threw each back to 
its owner; Harry caught his, stunned. 

There, said Lupin, sticking his own wand back into his belt "You're 
armed, we're not. Now will you listen?" 

Harry didn't know what to think. Was it a trick? 

"If you haven't been helping him," he said, with a furious glance at 
Black, "how did you know he was here?" 

"The map," said Lupin. "The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining 
it --" 

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"You know how to work it?" Harry said suspiciously. 

"Of course I know how to work it," said Lupin, waving his hand 
impatiently. "I helped write it. I'm Moony -- that was my friends' 
nickname for me at school." 

"You wrote --?" 

"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, 
because I had an idea that you, Ron, and Hermione might try and sneak 
out of the castle to visit Hagrid before his hippogriff was executed. 
And I was right, wasn't I" 

He had started to pace up and down, looking at them. Little patches of 
dust rose at his feet. 

"You might have been wearing your father's old cloak, Harry--" 

"How d'you know about the cloak?" 

"The number of times I saw James disappearing under it...," said Lupin, 
waving an impatient hand again. "The point is, even if you're wearing an 
Invisibility Cloak, you still show up on the Marauder's Map. I watched 
you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's hut. Twenty minutes later, you 
left Hagrid, and set off back toward the castle. But you were now 
accompanied by somebody else." 

"What?" said Harry. "No, we weren't!" 

I couldn't believe my eyes," said Lupin, still pacing, and ignoring 
Harry's interruption. "I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How 
could he be with you?" "No one was with us!" said Harry. 

"And then I saw another dot, moving fast toward you, labeled Sirius 
Black.... I saw him collide with you; I watched as he pulled two of you 
into the Whomping Willow --" 

"One of us!" Ron said angrily. 

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"No, Ron,