PoA Re-Read: Chapters Seventeen and Eighteen
Last segment, Buckbeak was executed (or was he?), and the trio are subsequently scarred for life. Meanwhile, Trelawney had just made a rather grim prediction - one that looked like it might have been the real thing, for once.
Dun dun DUN.
Chapter Seventeen: Cat, Rat and Dog
Harry hears Hagrid howling, and makes to go to him, because it's Harry and he's noble like that; Ron and Hermione pull him back, but they're upset as well.
Hermione is in shock, and she keeps asking "how could they?" Which makes me a bit sad because really, that's not something a fourteen year old needed to see. Ron tells them to keep going, but 'his teeth seemed to be chattering." The trio heads towards the castle, and Scabbers keeps biting Ron, trying to get away. Crookshanks starts coming towards them, and Hermione moans for him to go away.
Scabbers jumps out of Ron's pocket, and both Ron and Crookshanks dart after him. Ron catches Crookshanks, and Hermione tells him to
get back under the cloak. Just then, a large, black dog starts to bound towards them.
FFP: SIRIUS ZOMG SIRIUS!
Me: Okay, I'd better say it now... the next few chapters are kind of significant. Don't ruin them.
FFP: I'll try not to.
Harry reaches for his wand, but the dog jumps on Harry's chest, and Harry falls; the dog starts growling, and when Harry gets back up, the dog appears to be going back for him. Ron pushes him out of the way, and the dog instead leaps on Ron and drags him away.
Yep, Sirius, make yourself look even more guilty.
Harry and Hermione chase Ron a bit, but they're both hit by something. Harry reaches for his wand, cries "Lumos," and they realize they'd chased Scabbers "in the shadow of the Whomping Willow."
At the base of the trunk, Ron is fighting, making Hermione shriek his name. Ron disappears into the tree, and Hermione says they have to get help. She and Harry fight over whether they should just go for Ron or get help for Ron (I'd vote for the latter if I didn't know how badly that could end, honestly), and Harry says they have to find a way. Crookshanks darts forward and places his paws on the trunk; the tree stops moving, and leads them in. Harry tells Hermione that Crookshanks and the dog "are friends."
They follow Crookshanks through the tunnel; Hermione asks where it comes out, and Harry says it's marked on the Marauder's Map, but that it goes off the edge. Nice.
All Harry can think of is what the dog might be doing to Ron. Soon they see a light coming from an opening. When Harry and Hermione go in, they see that it's a small dusty room; paper is peeling, and every single piece of furniture is smashed.
FFP: Because of Remus's transformations... I really want to get chocolate for him now.
Nobody seems to be in the room, but another door is open. Hermione's eyes widen, and she says she thinks they're in the Shrieking Shack. Harry looks back at the destroyed furniture and says, "ghosts don't do that."
They hear a creaking noise, and look up towards the ceiling. They go up the staircase, and turn the lights off their wands.. They can hear loud purring and low moaning, and Harry kicks the door open.
Crookshanks is on a large bed, purring at them. On the floor beside him, Ron is clutching his leg. Harry and Hermione dash to him, and ask where the dog is. Ron is moaning that it's not a dog, it's not a plane, it's DOGMAN!
Okay, not really. But he does say that it's a trap, that the dog was an animagus, and when Harry turns, he sees a man with filfthy hair down to his elbows, dark sunken eyes, and yellow teeth.
FFP: Oh Padfoot, what did they DO to you? Come to -
Me: What happened to Remus?
FFP: Oh yeah!
Sirius uses Ron's wand to take Harry and Hermione's. He steps closer to them, and says that he knew Harry would come to help Ron, because "your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. It will make everything much easier..."
It would if you wouldn't keep making everything much worse, Sirius.
Harry of course thinks Sirius is taunting him, and starts to dart forward. Hermione grabs Harry but Ron looks at Sirius in the eye and says, "if you want to kill Harry, you're going to have to kill us too!"
This is why I never got fandom's hate for Ron. To stand on a broken leg and tell someone they have to kill you in order to get to your friend, to have that much bravery, is incredible. Ron may screw up, but in the end, he loves Harry like a brother. They are Sirius and James 2.0. (Although I'd argue that Harry is actually more the Sirius in that friendship, but I'll get to that another time.)
Sirius doesn't miss the connection either; something appears to "flicker," and he gently tells Ron to lie down so he doesn't damage his leg further. Ron repeats himself, and Sirius grins, saying there will only be one murder tonight.
FFP: *Facepalm*
I concur.
Harry can't take it anymore. He asks what's wrong with Sirius, if he's gone soft. Hermione begs for him to stop, but this only sets him off more.
This is where it's hard to read, knowing Sirius was innocent all along, and knowing what the rest of his arc is going to be. Harry says things he would never say if he knew, and while Harry never talks about the things he's about to say here, you have to wonder if it was always at the back of his mind.
Harry exclaims that Sirius killed his Mum and Dad, lunges forward, and knocks Sirius down. Harry punches Sirius, but Sirius grabs his neck, saying he's "waited too long." (Aside: I always assumed he meant to kill Peter, but now I almost if he meant to get Harry back.) Harry chokes, and Hermione kicks Sirius. Crookshanks goes for Harry's wand, but Harry screams at Crookshanks, and then for Ron and Hermione to stay out of his way. Harry points his wand at Sirius's heart, and Sirius whispers if Harry's going to kill him. Harry repeats that he killed his parents, and Sirius says, "I don't deny it... but only if you knew the whole story."
Ouch.
Harry asks what the hell he's on about, and when Sirius begs him to listen because he'll regret it if he doesn't, Harry goes on to say that he never had to hear Lily begging for his life.
Crookshanks digs his claws into Sirius's legs as if to protect him, and Harry doesn't care if he has to kill the cat too. Harry raises his wand, because it's his last chance.
Another aside - how was Harry going to kill Sirius? He doesn't know death curses. Was he really going to try, somehow? And could he have really gone through with it? This seems dark for a thirteen year old, even given the circumstances. It's almost a blessing that Sirius did turn out to be innocent, and he got some family back, because otherwise, Harry may have actually taken a far darker turn.
Footsteps can be heard, and Hermione screams that "we're up here!" Sirius is startled, and almost kicks off Crookshanks. Harry tries to will himself to do it, but can't. The door bursts open to reveal none other than Remus, his wand raised and ready.
As far as Sirius knows at this point, he's pretty much screwed, because not only has he got a young teenager accusing him of murder, but a grown, Order-trained wizard who was friends with James and Lily, and has not only as much incentive to kill Sirius, but much more ability. Sirius might have hoped Remus would know he didn't do it, but he also might think Remus was the one who told Harry. In a strange way, this must have both brought Sirius to reality a bit more AND really scared him. However Sirius thought this was going to go, it's clearly not going to be like that.
Remus summons Harry and Hermione's wands, crosses over to Sirius, and speaks in a voice with emotion:
"Where is he, Sirius?"
Harry stares at Remus, very confused. Sirius, meanwhile, is blank until he realizes what Remus is asking. Remus raises his hand and points not to Harry, but Ron?
Remus starts speaking what is, to the trio, gibberish.
"But then... why hasn't he shown himself before now?" Remus of course comes to the realization (rather quickly, but okay), and says, "unless he was the one... unless you switched... without telling me?"
Sirius nods, and Remus lowers his wand, staring fixed at Sirius. He hurries to Sirius's side, pulls him to his feet so hard Crookshanks falls, and hugs him like a brother.
FFP: *Ahem*
Me: Don't you ship Sirius with an OC?
FFP: Yeah, but I like to dabble.
Harry's heart sinks. Hermione screams, "I don't believe it!" Remus turns, and she's pointing at him accusingly. He tries to calm her down, but she won't, because she no longer listens to authority. Remus says that he can explain, and Harry jumps in, saying he trusted him, and all along he'd been Sirius's friend. Remus says patiently that he hasn't been Sirius's friend, but he is now. Which, from Harry's perspective, probably doesn't help much because of how that sounds.
Hermione isn't buying it. She screams at Harry that Remus must have been helping Sirius the entire time, that he wants Harry dead, and that he's a werewolf.
FFP: OH NO YOU #$#$ING DON'T!
But she did, and the room is now silent. Remus looks calm, but quite pale. He wryly comments that Hermione's "not up to your usual standard", saying he hasn't helped Sirius, he doesn't want Harry dead.... but he can't deny that he's a werewolf.
Ron tries to inch away, and when Remus attempts to help him, he gasps, "get away from me, werewolf!"
While I realize Ron is in pain, and thinks at this point that his former favorite teacher is trying to murder his friend, this does show that even the "good" wizarding families have their biases. I always wonder what the conversation with Molly and Arthur was like, or even Ron's other siblings. I love the Weasleys, don't get me wrong - but I have a feeling they weren't thrilled when they first found out either. Even Ron's reaction to Harry being a half-giant in book four reveals his biases - IIRC he says something along the lines of, "it's okay because it's Hagrid." Of course, I also think had Ron found out Remus was a werewolf beforehand, he would've had a similar reaction.
Remus stops in his tracks, and takes a minute to regain his composure. Poor guy. He asks Hermione, still calmly (this makes me feel worse for him, I won't lie), how long she's known. Hermione says it's been ever since she did Snape's essay, and realized he was always "ill" at Full Moons and that his Boggart was one.
Remus says she's the cleverest witch of her age he's ever met; Hermione said if she'd been cleverer, she would've told everyone. Remus tells them that the staff already knows; this shocks Ron, again showing his biases, and Remus said Dumbledore had to work hard to convince them that he was trustworthy.
As if enough regrettable things hadn't been said, Harry yells that Dumbledore was wrong, because Remus has been helping Sirius the whole time. Sirius, meanwhile, has hidden his face with a shaking hand. Although he's made a lot of bad moves this chapter (okay, the past several months), I feel sorry for him, because clearly nothing has gone as planned. He certainly never intended to drag Remus into things.
Remus insists that he hasn't been helping Sirius, and gives the trio their wands back. He goes on to state that they're armed, and he and Sirius aren't.
Harry asks Remus how he knew Sirius was there if he hadn't been helping. Remus reveals that he was studying the map - he knows how to work it, see, because he wrote it. He had a feeling the trio would sneak out to see Hagrid, that Harry would probably be wearing James's old cloak, but that wouldn't matter on the map. (I'm leaving out all of Harry's "whats?" and "huhs?", by the way.) While apparently spying on his students, he noticed they were accompanied by someone else.
Harry says they weren't, but Remus continues on, still pacing. He says he couldn't understand how "he" could be with them, that the map must have been malfunctioning. Then he saw Sirius taking two people - not one, as Ron argues loudly - into the Whomping Willow.
Remus then asks to see Scabbers; Ron asks what his pet has to do with anything, and the answer is, of course, "everything." Ron takes out a thrashing Scabbers, and Remus gazes at him. A little creeped out now, Ron asks again what his rat has to do with any of this.
Sirius jumps in, saying, "that's not a rat." Remus says that he's a wizard, and Sirius drops the bombshell: "An Animagus. By the name of Peter Pettigrew."
GASP.
Chapter Eighteen: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
FFP: Aww, I just realized something - Sirius's name is right before James's! That's so sweet! But so sad! But so SWEET!
Me: It probably just worked better for the initials, but yeah, I guess it is.
After a moment, Ron echoes Harry's thoughts precisely: "You're both mental." Hermione agrees, and Harry goes on to state the seemingly obvious, that Sirius killed Peter twelve years ago. Sirius does himself few favors by growling that he "meant to," but that Peter fooled him, "... not this time, though!"
Sirius makes for Scabbers, falling onto Ron. Remus has to drag him away, reasons with him, saying that the trio needs to understand. Sirius struggles, saying they can explain later, but Remus tells him that Scabbers has been a pet to Ron and, more importantly, he owes Harry the truth.
Sirius stops, and gives Remus the okay to explain, but to make it quick so he can commit the murder he was arrested for. Ron tries to get up and leave, but Remus raises his wand at Scabbers, saying Ron has to hear him out, that he has to keep a tight hold on Peter. Ron yells that "he's not Peter, he's Scabbers," and Harry pretends Sirius isn't there, telling Remus there were witnesses. Sirius insists they didn't see what they thought they saw, and Remus says he believed it himself until he saw the map. As the map never lies, it made him question everything.
Was this really the only time, though? That's something to consider. My personal theory is that Remus might have wondered, but was so caught up in his own grief, he couldn't really see through it, and may not even have realized he had those doubts - and by the time it was all over, he was ready to move on completely.
Ron and Harry exchange a look, and silently agree that Remus and Sirius are both crazy. Trembling, Hermione says it can't be true, and Remus asks why calmly, "as though... Hermione had simply spotted a problem with an experiment with grindylows." She goes on to say that people would know if Peter had been an Animagus, because all Animagi are registered, and Peter's name wasn't on the list of the only Anmagi registered in the past century.
Except Sirius wasn't on the list either, Hermione...
Remus laughs, and goes on to say that the MoM didn't know there were actually three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts. Sirius impatiently protests the visit to the "department of backstory" (cleolinda's term for it, not mine, btw), saying Remus better be quick. Remus says he only knows where they began.
Everyone hears a loud creak, but when Remus looks, there's no one there. Harry unfortunately does not notice his invisibility cloak is missing, and instead says the place is haunted; Remus says the shrieks were him transforming. He goes on to say that none of it would have happened had he not been bitten, if "I hadn't been so foolhardy." The last part's interesting - did JK Rowling have a different backstory (or none at all) for Remus's bite back then? Or is the foolhardy part referring to what Remus did at Hogwarts? Fandom always interpreted it as the former, but knowing a bit more now, it seems closer to the latter. Of course, throughout the book it's been clear that a lot of the canon we see later on either isn't developed or doesn't exist at all.
Ron starts to interrupt, but Hermione interrupts him instead, listening to Remus quietly. Remus goes on to say that his parents couldn't cure him, there wasn't even Wolfsbane (which he reveals Snape has been making), so they almost didn't even think he'd be able to go to Hogwarts. But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and devised the Shrieking Shack as a safe space for him. Remus became friends with Sirius, Peter and, he adds, Harry's father - James. When his friends worked everything out, they became unregistered Animagi. We learn that's where they got their nicknames - Peter (a rat) is Wormtail, Sirius (a dog) is Padfoot, and James was Prongs - we're not told what animal he was. Obviously Remus was Moony. (Apparently the Marauders weren't very subtle.) The four of them would leave the Shrieking Shack and sneak into the forest and even Hogsmeade which, as Hermione points out, was a terrible idea. Remus said they just laughed off the near misses, but admits that what could have happened still haunted him. "We were young, thoughtless - carried away with our own cleverness."
I think Remus just laid out the entire point of the Marauders' backstory, as well as that of their peers.
Remus goes on to say that all year, he's been wondering if he should tell Dumbledore he broke his trust, and tell him about Sirius's form. He instead convinced himself that Sirius had found another way to escape so he wouldn't have to admit to what he'd done as a fifteen year old.
FFP: ... you know, even I can't touch that. I have a list of all the things I'm telling my parents when I'm finally 21.
Me: On the other hand, you're never going to read it to them, because 21 isn't really that grown up. Nor is 33. Or 53. Your elders wil always be your elders.
Still, it was a bad move, considering by concealing the information, he could have put Harry in a lot of danger. Theoretically, he already did - it's only luck that Sirius ended up being after Scabbers, not Harry, and even then, what if someone else had found Sirius first? Remus is very much a character who is continually haunted by his past, by the things about him he wishes he could change, and he's not good at handling those instances.
Remus goes on to say that this means in a way, Snape's been right all along. Sirius suddenly says, "Snape?", because that's his berserk button. Remus tells him Snape teaches there now, and that he's been telling Dumbledore all year that he (Remus) can't be trusted - with reason. We learn that at Hogwarts, Sirius actually told Snape how to find Remus, and James went after him and stopped it - but not before Snape saw Remus.
Harry asks if that's why Snape doesn't like Remus; a cold voice says, "that's right."
Snape is in the doorway, pointing his wand at Remus.
Next: Five out of seven people in a single room have or will be suspect to homicidal tendencies.
(I must warn you, Christmas is coming, so it may be a while before "next" comes. I just had to get this off my chest early.)
Dun dun DUN.
Chapter Seventeen: Cat, Rat and Dog
Harry hears Hagrid howling, and makes to go to him, because it's Harry and he's noble like that; Ron and Hermione pull him back, but they're upset as well.
Hermione is in shock, and she keeps asking "how could they?" Which makes me a bit sad because really, that's not something a fourteen year old needed to see. Ron tells them to keep going, but 'his teeth seemed to be chattering." The trio heads towards the castle, and Scabbers keeps biting Ron, trying to get away. Crookshanks starts coming towards them, and Hermione moans for him to go away.
Scabbers jumps out of Ron's pocket, and both Ron and Crookshanks dart after him. Ron catches Crookshanks, and Hermione tells him to
get back under the cloak. Just then, a large, black dog starts to bound towards them.
FFP: SIRIUS ZOMG SIRIUS!
Me: Okay, I'd better say it now... the next few chapters are kind of significant. Don't ruin them.
FFP: I'll try not to.
Harry reaches for his wand, but the dog jumps on Harry's chest, and Harry falls; the dog starts growling, and when Harry gets back up, the dog appears to be going back for him. Ron pushes him out of the way, and the dog instead leaps on Ron and drags him away.
Yep, Sirius, make yourself look even more guilty.
Harry and Hermione chase Ron a bit, but they're both hit by something. Harry reaches for his wand, cries "Lumos," and they realize they'd chased Scabbers "in the shadow of the Whomping Willow."
At the base of the trunk, Ron is fighting, making Hermione shriek his name. Ron disappears into the tree, and Hermione says they have to get help. She and Harry fight over whether they should just go for Ron or get help for Ron (I'd vote for the latter if I didn't know how badly that could end, honestly), and Harry says they have to find a way. Crookshanks darts forward and places his paws on the trunk; the tree stops moving, and leads them in. Harry tells Hermione that Crookshanks and the dog "are friends."
They follow Crookshanks through the tunnel; Hermione asks where it comes out, and Harry says it's marked on the Marauder's Map, but that it goes off the edge. Nice.
All Harry can think of is what the dog might be doing to Ron. Soon they see a light coming from an opening. When Harry and Hermione go in, they see that it's a small dusty room; paper is peeling, and every single piece of furniture is smashed.
FFP: Because of Remus's transformations... I really want to get chocolate for him now.
Nobody seems to be in the room, but another door is open. Hermione's eyes widen, and she says she thinks they're in the Shrieking Shack. Harry looks back at the destroyed furniture and says, "ghosts don't do that."
They hear a creaking noise, and look up towards the ceiling. They go up the staircase, and turn the lights off their wands.. They can hear loud purring and low moaning, and Harry kicks the door open.
Crookshanks is on a large bed, purring at them. On the floor beside him, Ron is clutching his leg. Harry and Hermione dash to him, and ask where the dog is. Ron is moaning that it's not a dog, it's not a plane, it's DOGMAN!
Okay, not really. But he does say that it's a trap, that the dog was an animagus, and when Harry turns, he sees a man with filfthy hair down to his elbows, dark sunken eyes, and yellow teeth.
FFP: Oh Padfoot, what did they DO to you? Come to -
Me: What happened to Remus?
FFP: Oh yeah!
Sirius uses Ron's wand to take Harry and Hermione's. He steps closer to them, and says that he knew Harry would come to help Ron, because "your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. It will make everything much easier..."
It would if you wouldn't keep making everything much worse, Sirius.
Harry of course thinks Sirius is taunting him, and starts to dart forward. Hermione grabs Harry but Ron looks at Sirius in the eye and says, "if you want to kill Harry, you're going to have to kill us too!"
This is why I never got fandom's hate for Ron. To stand on a broken leg and tell someone they have to kill you in order to get to your friend, to have that much bravery, is incredible. Ron may screw up, but in the end, he loves Harry like a brother. They are Sirius and James 2.0. (Although I'd argue that Harry is actually more the Sirius in that friendship, but I'll get to that another time.)
Sirius doesn't miss the connection either; something appears to "flicker," and he gently tells Ron to lie down so he doesn't damage his leg further. Ron repeats himself, and Sirius grins, saying there will only be one murder tonight.
FFP: *Facepalm*
I concur.
Harry can't take it anymore. He asks what's wrong with Sirius, if he's gone soft. Hermione begs for him to stop, but this only sets him off more.
This is where it's hard to read, knowing Sirius was innocent all along, and knowing what the rest of his arc is going to be. Harry says things he would never say if he knew, and while Harry never talks about the things he's about to say here, you have to wonder if it was always at the back of his mind.
Harry exclaims that Sirius killed his Mum and Dad, lunges forward, and knocks Sirius down. Harry punches Sirius, but Sirius grabs his neck, saying he's "waited too long." (Aside: I always assumed he meant to kill Peter, but now I almost if he meant to get Harry back.) Harry chokes, and Hermione kicks Sirius. Crookshanks goes for Harry's wand, but Harry screams at Crookshanks, and then for Ron and Hermione to stay out of his way. Harry points his wand at Sirius's heart, and Sirius whispers if Harry's going to kill him. Harry repeats that he killed his parents, and Sirius says, "I don't deny it... but only if you knew the whole story."
Ouch.
Harry asks what the hell he's on about, and when Sirius begs him to listen because he'll regret it if he doesn't, Harry goes on to say that he never had to hear Lily begging for his life.
Crookshanks digs his claws into Sirius's legs as if to protect him, and Harry doesn't care if he has to kill the cat too. Harry raises his wand, because it's his last chance.
Another aside - how was Harry going to kill Sirius? He doesn't know death curses. Was he really going to try, somehow? And could he have really gone through with it? This seems dark for a thirteen year old, even given the circumstances. It's almost a blessing that Sirius did turn out to be innocent, and he got some family back, because otherwise, Harry may have actually taken a far darker turn.
Footsteps can be heard, and Hermione screams that "we're up here!" Sirius is startled, and almost kicks off Crookshanks. Harry tries to will himself to do it, but can't. The door bursts open to reveal none other than Remus, his wand raised and ready.
As far as Sirius knows at this point, he's pretty much screwed, because not only has he got a young teenager accusing him of murder, but a grown, Order-trained wizard who was friends with James and Lily, and has not only as much incentive to kill Sirius, but much more ability. Sirius might have hoped Remus would know he didn't do it, but he also might think Remus was the one who told Harry. In a strange way, this must have both brought Sirius to reality a bit more AND really scared him. However Sirius thought this was going to go, it's clearly not going to be like that.
Remus summons Harry and Hermione's wands, crosses over to Sirius, and speaks in a voice with emotion:
"Where is he, Sirius?"
Harry stares at Remus, very confused. Sirius, meanwhile, is blank until he realizes what Remus is asking. Remus raises his hand and points not to Harry, but Ron?
Remus starts speaking what is, to the trio, gibberish.
"But then... why hasn't he shown himself before now?" Remus of course comes to the realization (rather quickly, but okay), and says, "unless he was the one... unless you switched... without telling me?"
Sirius nods, and Remus lowers his wand, staring fixed at Sirius. He hurries to Sirius's side, pulls him to his feet so hard Crookshanks falls, and hugs him like a brother.
FFP: *Ahem*
Me: Don't you ship Sirius with an OC?
FFP: Yeah, but I like to dabble.
Harry's heart sinks. Hermione screams, "I don't believe it!" Remus turns, and she's pointing at him accusingly. He tries to calm her down, but she won't, because she no longer listens to authority. Remus says that he can explain, and Harry jumps in, saying he trusted him, and all along he'd been Sirius's friend. Remus says patiently that he hasn't been Sirius's friend, but he is now. Which, from Harry's perspective, probably doesn't help much because of how that sounds.
Hermione isn't buying it. She screams at Harry that Remus must have been helping Sirius the entire time, that he wants Harry dead, and that he's a werewolf.
FFP: OH NO YOU #$#$ING DON'T!
But she did, and the room is now silent. Remus looks calm, but quite pale. He wryly comments that Hermione's "not up to your usual standard", saying he hasn't helped Sirius, he doesn't want Harry dead.... but he can't deny that he's a werewolf.
Ron tries to inch away, and when Remus attempts to help him, he gasps, "get away from me, werewolf!"
While I realize Ron is in pain, and thinks at this point that his former favorite teacher is trying to murder his friend, this does show that even the "good" wizarding families have their biases. I always wonder what the conversation with Molly and Arthur was like, or even Ron's other siblings. I love the Weasleys, don't get me wrong - but I have a feeling they weren't thrilled when they first found out either. Even Ron's reaction to Harry being a half-giant in book four reveals his biases - IIRC he says something along the lines of, "it's okay because it's Hagrid." Of course, I also think had Ron found out Remus was a werewolf beforehand, he would've had a similar reaction.
Remus stops in his tracks, and takes a minute to regain his composure. Poor guy. He asks Hermione, still calmly (this makes me feel worse for him, I won't lie), how long she's known. Hermione says it's been ever since she did Snape's essay, and realized he was always "ill" at Full Moons and that his Boggart was one.
Remus says she's the cleverest witch of her age he's ever met; Hermione said if she'd been cleverer, she would've told everyone. Remus tells them that the staff already knows; this shocks Ron, again showing his biases, and Remus said Dumbledore had to work hard to convince them that he was trustworthy.
As if enough regrettable things hadn't been said, Harry yells that Dumbledore was wrong, because Remus has been helping Sirius the whole time. Sirius, meanwhile, has hidden his face with a shaking hand. Although he's made a lot of bad moves this chapter (okay, the past several months), I feel sorry for him, because clearly nothing has gone as planned. He certainly never intended to drag Remus into things.
Remus insists that he hasn't been helping Sirius, and gives the trio their wands back. He goes on to state that they're armed, and he and Sirius aren't.
Harry asks Remus how he knew Sirius was there if he hadn't been helping. Remus reveals that he was studying the map - he knows how to work it, see, because he wrote it. He had a feeling the trio would sneak out to see Hagrid, that Harry would probably be wearing James's old cloak, but that wouldn't matter on the map. (I'm leaving out all of Harry's "whats?" and "huhs?", by the way.) While apparently spying on his students, he noticed they were accompanied by someone else.
Harry says they weren't, but Remus continues on, still pacing. He says he couldn't understand how "he" could be with them, that the map must have been malfunctioning. Then he saw Sirius taking two people - not one, as Ron argues loudly - into the Whomping Willow.
Remus then asks to see Scabbers; Ron asks what his pet has to do with anything, and the answer is, of course, "everything." Ron takes out a thrashing Scabbers, and Remus gazes at him. A little creeped out now, Ron asks again what his rat has to do with any of this.
Sirius jumps in, saying, "that's not a rat." Remus says that he's a wizard, and Sirius drops the bombshell: "An Animagus. By the name of Peter Pettigrew."
GASP.
Chapter Eighteen: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
FFP: Aww, I just realized something - Sirius's name is right before James's! That's so sweet! But so sad! But so SWEET!
Me: It probably just worked better for the initials, but yeah, I guess it is.
After a moment, Ron echoes Harry's thoughts precisely: "You're both mental." Hermione agrees, and Harry goes on to state the seemingly obvious, that Sirius killed Peter twelve years ago. Sirius does himself few favors by growling that he "meant to," but that Peter fooled him, "... not this time, though!"
Sirius makes for Scabbers, falling onto Ron. Remus has to drag him away, reasons with him, saying that the trio needs to understand. Sirius struggles, saying they can explain later, but Remus tells him that Scabbers has been a pet to Ron and, more importantly, he owes Harry the truth.
Sirius stops, and gives Remus the okay to explain, but to make it quick so he can commit the murder he was arrested for. Ron tries to get up and leave, but Remus raises his wand at Scabbers, saying Ron has to hear him out, that he has to keep a tight hold on Peter. Ron yells that "he's not Peter, he's Scabbers," and Harry pretends Sirius isn't there, telling Remus there were witnesses. Sirius insists they didn't see what they thought they saw, and Remus says he believed it himself until he saw the map. As the map never lies, it made him question everything.
Was this really the only time, though? That's something to consider. My personal theory is that Remus might have wondered, but was so caught up in his own grief, he couldn't really see through it, and may not even have realized he had those doubts - and by the time it was all over, he was ready to move on completely.
Ron and Harry exchange a look, and silently agree that Remus and Sirius are both crazy. Trembling, Hermione says it can't be true, and Remus asks why calmly, "as though... Hermione had simply spotted a problem with an experiment with grindylows." She goes on to say that people would know if Peter had been an Animagus, because all Animagi are registered, and Peter's name wasn't on the list of the only Anmagi registered in the past century.
Except Sirius wasn't on the list either, Hermione...
Remus laughs, and goes on to say that the MoM didn't know there were actually three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts. Sirius impatiently protests the visit to the "department of backstory" (cleolinda's term for it, not mine, btw), saying Remus better be quick. Remus says he only knows where they began.
Everyone hears a loud creak, but when Remus looks, there's no one there. Harry unfortunately does not notice his invisibility cloak is missing, and instead says the place is haunted; Remus says the shrieks were him transforming. He goes on to say that none of it would have happened had he not been bitten, if "I hadn't been so foolhardy." The last part's interesting - did JK Rowling have a different backstory (or none at all) for Remus's bite back then? Or is the foolhardy part referring to what Remus did at Hogwarts? Fandom always interpreted it as the former, but knowing a bit more now, it seems closer to the latter. Of course, throughout the book it's been clear that a lot of the canon we see later on either isn't developed or doesn't exist at all.
Ron starts to interrupt, but Hermione interrupts him instead, listening to Remus quietly. Remus goes on to say that his parents couldn't cure him, there wasn't even Wolfsbane (which he reveals Snape has been making), so they almost didn't even think he'd be able to go to Hogwarts. But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and devised the Shrieking Shack as a safe space for him. Remus became friends with Sirius, Peter and, he adds, Harry's father - James. When his friends worked everything out, they became unregistered Animagi. We learn that's where they got their nicknames - Peter (a rat) is Wormtail, Sirius (a dog) is Padfoot, and James was Prongs - we're not told what animal he was. Obviously Remus was Moony. (Apparently the Marauders weren't very subtle.) The four of them would leave the Shrieking Shack and sneak into the forest and even Hogsmeade which, as Hermione points out, was a terrible idea. Remus said they just laughed off the near misses, but admits that what could have happened still haunted him. "We were young, thoughtless - carried away with our own cleverness."
I think Remus just laid out the entire point of the Marauders' backstory, as well as that of their peers.
Remus goes on to say that all year, he's been wondering if he should tell Dumbledore he broke his trust, and tell him about Sirius's form. He instead convinced himself that Sirius had found another way to escape so he wouldn't have to admit to what he'd done as a fifteen year old.
FFP: ... you know, even I can't touch that. I have a list of all the things I'm telling my parents when I'm finally 21.
Me: On the other hand, you're never going to read it to them, because 21 isn't really that grown up. Nor is 33. Or 53. Your elders wil always be your elders.
Still, it was a bad move, considering by concealing the information, he could have put Harry in a lot of danger. Theoretically, he already did - it's only luck that Sirius ended up being after Scabbers, not Harry, and even then, what if someone else had found Sirius first? Remus is very much a character who is continually haunted by his past, by the things about him he wishes he could change, and he's not good at handling those instances.
Remus goes on to say that this means in a way, Snape's been right all along. Sirius suddenly says, "Snape?", because that's his berserk button. Remus tells him Snape teaches there now, and that he's been telling Dumbledore all year that he (Remus) can't be trusted - with reason. We learn that at Hogwarts, Sirius actually told Snape how to find Remus, and James went after him and stopped it - but not before Snape saw Remus.
Harry asks if that's why Snape doesn't like Remus; a cold voice says, "that's right."
Snape is in the doorway, pointing his wand at Remus.
Next: Five out of seven people in a single room have or will be suspect to homicidal tendencies.
(I must warn you, Christmas is coming, so it may be a while before "next" comes. I just had to get this off my chest early.)