ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴅʀᴀᴛᴛᴇᴅ ʟɪʟᴀ ʜᴏʟᴍᴇꜱ || ᴅʀᴀᴄᴏ ᴍᴀʟꜰᴏʏ x ᴏᴄ || ʏᴇᴀʀꜱ 1-3

a long explanation

"What?!" Hermione hissed. "You mean Ron is up there, alone, with Sirius Black?!"

"He isn't alone," I replied, probably quite unhelpfully.

Harry responded with a panicked laugh. "Scabbers doesn't exactly count for company in a situation like this. Come on, what are we waiting for?!"

"Scabbers isn't who you think he is, Harry," I held both my hands out, motioning them to wait. "And Sirius won't hurt Ron, at least not anymore than he already has. I'm sure he thought this was the only way to talk to you."

"What do you mean?" Hermione frowned worriedly. "You've met him?"

"I have," I finally admitted. "I've known him since the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match. I was the one that gave him the passwords to get in that night, and I've been talking to him ever since."

The two of them stared at me in utter confusion.

"Lila, why on earth would you do that?!" Hermione cried, looking absolutely aghast. "You could have been hurt, he might have killed you—"

"He might have killed me!" Harry broke in. "Or Ron!" The utter betrayal in his face said it all: he wouldn't hear me out. The cold glare of Harry's fury was actually terrifying, even if he was only thirteen. "He's dangerous, Lila. I can't believe you kept this from us."

He brushed past me and ran up the stairs. I glanced back at Hermione, who, to my relief, looked confused but not upset.

"I trust you," she murmured. "But you owe both of us an apology after all this is over."

"I know," I told her, eyes downcast. "But let's go now, before Harry or Sirius does anything too rash. They're very similar you know."

Hermione and I rushed up the stairs. I opened the door to find Sirius pointing a wand — Ron's wand — directly at Harry. Harry pointed his back.

"Wand down, Sirius," I pleaded. "You're going to frighten them, so start explaining fast. You'd better explain it well too, or else Harry might kill both of us."

It was true. Harry was seething from beside me, his knuckles white on his wand as he glared at Sirius. Sirius recognized this right away and immediately started to speak, though his eyes swept around Harry's face the entire time. He must look so much like James.

"I'm sorry, for what I had to do to get you here," Sirius dropped Ron's wand onto the windowsill next to him. "When Lila's snake came to alert me that you'd found the rat, I would have stopped at nothing to trap him here."

"What's Scabbers got to do with anything?" Ron looked between Sirius and I in confusion, his ankle twisted horribly. He was shaking with fear, but kept the squirming Pettigrew firmly in his grip.

"Everything, Ron," I told him sagely.

"Where is he, Sirius?"

We all jumped. Professor Lupin stood in the doorway, apparently having followed us here without our noticing. There was betrayal and confusion in his eyes, and a bitter sort of sadness. Sirius merely pointed, after a long pause, at Ron. Now his eyes swept around Lupin.

"But then..." Lupin murmured, staring back at Sirius with intensity. "... why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless" -- Lupin's eyes suddenly widened, "-- unless you switched... without telling me?"