 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," snarled Black, who was still watching Scabbers with a 
horrible sort of hunger on his face. 

"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 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. 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?" 

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

"He's here, Sirius," said Lupin heavily. "He's teaching here as well." 
He looked up at Harry, Ron, 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 A 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 --" 

Black made a derisive noise. 

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"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 
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. 
Jealous, I think, of James's talent 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 your father, 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," said Harry 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. 


CHAPTER NINETEEN 


THE SERVANT OF LORD VOLDEMORT 


Hermione screamed. Black leapt to his feet. Harry 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, 


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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 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'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," said Lupin urgently. "You haven't 
heard everything -- I can explain -- Sirius is not here to kill Harry 
--" 

"Two 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 mouth, wrists, and ankles; he 
overbalanced and fell to the floor, unable to move. With a roar of rage, 
Black started toward Snape, but Snape pointed his wand straight between 
Black's eyes. 

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

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

Harry stood there, paralyzed, not knowing what to do or whom to believe. 
He glanced around at Ron and Hermione. Ron looked just as confused as he 
did, still fighting to keep hold on the struggling Scabbers. Hermione, 

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however, took an uncertain step toward Snape and said, in a very 
breathless voice, "Professor Snape -- it 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, 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. "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 Black's 
face. Hermione fell silent. 

"Vengeance is very sweet," Snape breathed at Black. "How I hoped I would 
be the one to catch you...." 

"The joke's on you again, Severus," Black 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, Black... pleased enough to 
give you a little kiss, I daresay... I --" 

What little color there was in Blacks 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 Harry 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 flew to his hands. "I'll drag the werewolf. 
Perhaps the dementors will have a kiss for him too --" 

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

"Get out of the way, Potter, you're in enough trouble already," snarled 
Snape. "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 defense 
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," hissed Snape. 
"Get out of the way, Potter." 

"YOURE 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!" 

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

"Expelliarmus!" he yelled -- 