The Girl Who Hid | ✓

|31| Potter Twins

Getting back into the tunnel was difficult. Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron had to turn sideways to manage it; Lupin still had Pettigrew covered with his wand. I could see them edging awkwardly along the tunnel in single file. Crookshanks was in the lead. I went in after Harry, who went right after Black, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of us; he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. I had the impression Black was making no effort to prevent this.

"You know what this means?" Black said abruptly to Harry and me as we made our slow progress along the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free," said Harry.

"Yes..." said Black. "But I'm also — I don't know if anyone ever told you — I'm both of your godfather."

"Yeah, I knew that," said Harry.

"I thought Lupin was my godfather," I said.

"Well... your parents appointed me as your godfather, but as things changed... Remus was appointed as your guardian," said Black stiffly to us. "If anything happened to them..."

Harry and I said nothing.

"Harry, I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said Black. "But... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared... if you wanted a... a different home..."

"What— live with you?" he said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursleys?"

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," said Black quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd —"

"Are you insane?" said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Black's. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

I giggled at Harry's excitement as Black turned around to look at him.

"You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry.

"I'd probably stay with Remus—"

"Which means you both with live with Moony and me!" I beamed.

Once out of the tunnel, the grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Without a word, we set off. Pettigrew was still wheezing and occasionally whimpering. Silently we tramped through the grounds, the castle we growing slowly larger. Snape was still drifting weirdly ahead of Black, his chin bumping on his chest. And then—

A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight. Snape collided with Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron, who had stopped abruptly. Black froze. He flung out one arm to make Harry, Hermione, and me stop.

"Oh, my —" Hermione gasped. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!"

"Moony—" my voice was shaky and I was terrified.

"Run," Black whispered harshly. "Run. Now."

Ron was chained to Pettigrew and Lupin. Harry leapt forward but Black caught him around the chest and threw him back.

"But Ron—"

"Leave it to me— RUN!"

There was a terrible snarling noise. Lupin's head was lengthening. So was his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws. Crookshanks's hair was on end again; he was backing away—

As the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws, Black disappeared from Harry's side. He had transformed. The enormous, bearlike dog pounced forward. As the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, the dog seized it about the neck and pulled it backward, away from Ron and Pettigrew. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other.