Born From Madness (Harry Potter Fanfic)

97

"Are you both insane?" Hermione asked them. 

"Hermione think about it! Surely, Elka, your Grandmother by the way, explained to you how she figured Sirius was innocent... framed for his crimes?" Lupin asked her. Hermione's eyes widened. Of course, her Grandma had told her how she thought Sirius had been framed... and then there was the time in the pub where she said it was Peter Pettigrew, who was really behind the attack himself. 

"But he's dead? He killed him twelve years ago!" Harry shouted pointing at Black. 

"I meant to... but little Peter got the better of me... not this time, though!" Sirius growled while setting Crookshanks down on the and made a run over to Ron, only for Lupin to grab Sirius's shirt collar. 

"Wait!" Lupin shouted. 

"I did my waiting! Twelve years of it! In Azkaban!" Sirius shouted, sounding like he was on verge of tears. 

 "They need to understand-- we've got to explain--" Lupin pleaded with Sirius. 

"We can explain afterwards!" Black snarled, trying to reach out for Scabbers. 

"Ron's kept him as a pet! There are parts of it even I don't understand! And Harry-- you owe Harry the truth!" Lupin advised Black, who was glaring over at Scabbers. 

"Fine! Tell them whatever you like, but make it quick, Remus! I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for!" Sirius growled, motioning his wand at Scabbers. 

"Nutters! The both of you! He's not Peter, He's Scabbers!" Ron shouted at them. 

"Yeah because people would know if Peter Pettigrew was an Animagus. And I looked it up when I did my homework-- the Ministry of Magic keeps tabs on witches and wizards who can become animals. I even looked up the register and there wasn't a Pettigrew name on there." Hermione told them. Lupin laughed. 

"Right again, but the Ministry never knew there used to be three unregistered Animagi running around at Hogwarts." Lupin told her, "Sirius Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew turned into Animagi to keep me company here after discovering my condition while I was changing during the full moon. Because of my screams and howls, people assumed it was haunted. Dumbledore was kind enough to take precautions so I could be here. The Whomping Willow, the tunnel and even the house." 

"My transformations before the Wolfsbane Potion were terrible. I was a monster. I would want to bite any human that dared crossed my path but with them as animals, I was no danger to them. Peter, who was the small animal, could get to the tree while Sirius and James kept me in line. We discovered so much, we made the map and gave ourselves those nicknames. Sirius is Padfoot... James was Prongs... and Peter is Wormtail... of course, they weren't the only ones interested in where I went during the full moon. Severus Snape was just as curious..." 

"What does he have to do with this?" Black asked. 

"He's here, Sirius. He works as the Potions Professor." Lupin said to Sirius before turning back to them, "Snape was at school with us. And the reason he wasn't at all thrilled I was going to teach is because Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me--" 

"Served him right! Black sneered, "He snuck around trying to figure out what we were up to in hopes to get all four of us expelled!" 

"Didn't mean you had to bring me into it!" Lupin shot at him, "We didn't like each other that much, he especially dislike James. Sirius thought it was amusing to tell him how to get passed the Whomping Willow to get to me. If it hadn't been for James, who figured out Sirius's plan, Snape would have most likely ended up facing a fully grown werewolf. Dumbledore had forbidden Snape from telling anyone about my condition."