Light in the Darkness

Chapter 3: After the Dog, Wolf, and Rat

Hermione walked with deliberation towards the Hospital Wing. Ron had been admitted yesterday after everything that had happened in the Shrieking Shack. Hermione was still reeling from the night before. All this time, Sirius Black had been innocent and after Ron's rat, who was actually Peter Pettigrew. She was glad they were able to save Buckbeak and Sirius, even if he was still believed to be a criminal.

She wished for Harry's sake that Sirius could have been proven innocent. He needed a connection to his family.

Ron was still asleep in the Hospital bed when she entered. Fred and George were sitting on either side of him yawning as if they had been there most of the night. "Morning," she said quietly, standing beside George. It took him a few moments, he seemed to be warring with himself a little, before he stood up like a gentleman to let Hermione have his seat. "How long have you been here?" she inquired.

"We just came down before you," Fred said.

"We were going to stop by last night, but we figured he'd be alright-" George continued.

"You three are always getting into trouble-"

"-and you always come out alright in the end-" said George

"-so we thought we'd wait until we had a little sleep," finished Fred. Hermione smiled a little before glancing at her friend in the bed. Perhaps she should come back later when he was awake. She didn't want to intrude on Fred and George's time with their brother.

"Hermione," George began, "what exactly happened last night?" Hermione took a deep breath before she explained about Sirius, Lupin, and Pettigrew. Fred and George had shocked looks on their faces.

"Moony has been teaching us all year and we didn't even know!" Fred exclaimed. His voice was loud enough to wake Ron, who looked at them with a startled expression. But Fred and George didn't care.

"Fred, we have completely wasted the entire school year," George stated.

"Think of all we could have learned from him!"

"Moony was Lupin the whole time!" 

"He was also a werewolf, in case you missed that part of the story," she said, frowning slightly.

"Hermione," Fred said, sighing a little, "we owe everything we are to the Marauder's and one of them has been teaching us all year. We didn't even know it!"

"I bet he's got loads of stories," George added. Ron cleared his voice, annoyed that he had been forgotten through the whole conversation.

"I can't believe I let Pettigrew sleep in my bed," Ron uttered.

"You thought he was a rat, Ronald," Hermione told him exasperatedly. How was he supposed to know Scabbers was the traitor to his best friend's family? Ron frowned for a moment, thinking hard.

"How is it," Ron said, a glare pointed towards the twins, "that you had that map for five years and for the three that I was here, you never noticed Pettigrew sleeping in my bed?"

"Ron, we're not going to use an enchanted map to watch our brother," Fred replied as though it were obvious.

"Yeah, we see enough of you at home," George interjected. Hermione sighed. Was she the only one who understood anything?

"Honestly, isn't it obvious? The map only shows humans. It couldn't show Pettigrew in his animagus form." They stared at her for a moment before launching into a discussion of how Harry had managed to ward off about a hundred dementors.

Hermione huffed and leaned back in her chair. There was simply no winning with the Weasley boys.

-----