Annie and Dante held tightly onto each other when they had realized what had just happened. They stood there, not moving, until —

Ron groaned. Scabbers dropped from his hand. Ron clutched at his now-bleeding finger. He looked amazed and shocked that his pet had just bit him. 

"He bit me!" he groaned in shock. "Scabbers!" 

"Ron? Ron!" Hermione called out desperately as he began to sprint after his escaping rat. 

"Ron, come back!" Harry demanded as the rest of the group began to chase after them. Finally, Ron fell on his stomach, managing to grab his rat, which still squealed, squirming from his grip. 

"You idiot rat! You bit me!" Ron scolded. 

Annie went pale when she knew exactly where Ron had landed. Even Hermione seemed to notice. 

"Annie. You do realize what this tree is, don't you?" she asked anxiously. 

"Oh, no. That's not go," Annie muttered to herself. In a louder voice, she added to Ron, "Ron! Run!" 

Ron looked up before his face turned unbelievably pale. He pointed a shaking finger behind their shoulders. 

"Annie, Hermione, Harry, Dante run! It's the Grim!" 

The four of them whipped around. Sure enough, there was a black dog, vaguely described as the Grim that Annie and Harry had encountered many times in their Divinations class. Annie's eyes widened in fear. 

But instead of the dog going after the four teens, it jumped over their heads before grabbing Ron by the ankle, pulling him down. Ron wailed, calling desperately for his friends. They tried to get him, but the Whomping Willow came alive just on time. 

They were smacked across their stomachs. The four of them went flying into the air, landing on their backs. Annie wheezed, groaning in pain, before getting to her feet again. They'd been doing fine, until Annie had been lifted into the air by one of the Whomping Willow's thick branches, along with Hermione. 

Annie let out a blood-curdling, terrified scream as she soared dangerously through the air. She finally managed to grab Dante by the scruff of his shirt while Hermione grabbed her brother. They forced them both down the Whomping Willow's secret entrance before flying in after them. 

Annie let out another shriek as she landed on top of her brother, forcing him back to the ground again. She groaned. 

"I'm so sorry," she apologized. 

Harry gently eased his sister off of his back. He knew that she didn't mean to hurt him. The Whomping Willow's actions can be quite unpredictable. 

"Don't mention it," he retorted, brushing her comment aside. 

"Where d'you suppose this goes?" his sister asked anxiously. 

"I have a hung. I just hope that I'm wrong." 

A creaking noise came from within the building they were in. Annie immediately realized where they were, and so did Hermione. 

"We're in the Shrieking Shack," she whispered. "Aren't we?"

Neither Harry nor his sister answered. A yell from Ron came from somewhere upstairs. They followed the noise and the muddy footprints before coming into an empty room that had a deflated mattress in one corner — where Ron sat. 

"Ron! Thank goodness! Are you okay?" Sera immediately asked. 

"The dog! Where is he?!" Harry demanded at the same time. 

"Annie, Harry! It's a trap! He's the dog, he's an Animagus!" 

The four of them followed the direction Ron pointed at. Annie lifted her eyes to see a scrawny, skin-sunken man standing in a corner by the door. He slammed the broken door shut. Annie, being the protective older sister that she is, immediately put herself in front of her brother. 

"If you want to kill my brother, then you'll have to kill the rest of us, too!" she pleaded desperately. She couldn't bear to see her brother get killed before her eyes. 

"No," Sirius growled in return. "Only one will die tonight."

"Then it'll be you!" Harry roared angrily. 

"Harry!" Annie shrieked as she tried to stop her brother from attacking Sirius Black. 

But Harry didn't listen. Instead, he tackled Sirius to the ground, quite easily. He pulled out his wand and aimed it at the prisoner. 

Sirius just laughed gloatingly. He grinned, showing yellowed, decaying teeth. 

"Are you going to kill me, Harry?" 

Harry didn't respond. Someone else had come through the door. 

"Expelliarmus!" 

Annie's eyes widened at the sight of Remus Lupin, her Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, standing before them. Lupin motioned for Harry to get up. He did so. Sera grabbed his arm, holding him protectively to her. 

"Well, well, well, Sirius," said Professor Lupin. "Looking rather ragged, aren't we? Finally, the light shows from the flesh within." 

"Well, you would know all about from the flesh within. Wouldn't you, Remus?" said Sirius with a toothy grin. 

Annie was alarmed and angry when she saw Lupin lowering his wand. He smiled and helped Sirius to his feet. They pulled each other into a hug. 

"I found him!" Sirius whispered excitedly. "I found him!"

"I know," Lupin answered quietly. 

"Let's kill him!" 

"NO!" Annie shrieked. To Professor Lupin, she added, "This entire year, I've trusted you! For half of the year, I kept it quiet for you! And all this time you've — you've been his friend. He's a werewolf! That's why he's been missing classes!" 

Professor Lupin let go of Sirius, eyeing Annie with amusement and disbelief. 

"And how long have you known, Miss Potter?" 

"Ever since Professor Snape set the essay," she whimpered in return, her eyes still wide with disbelief. 

"Well, well, well, Miss Annie," said Professor Lupin loudly. He had a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "You really are one of the brightest witches of your age I've ever met!" 

"Enough talk, Remus!" Sirius roared. "Let's kill him!"

"Wait!" 

"I did my waiting! Twelve years of it! In Azkaban!" 

Annie stared in disbelief. Tears came to her eyes. 

She was not going to let them kill her brother. She wanted the true answer before any more harm could be done. 

Professor Lupin glanced over at the five teens. He sighed and handed Sirius Black a wand. Sirius snatched the wand away. 

"Very well. Kill him. But wait one more moment. Harry has the right to know why." 

"I know why," Harry answered, leaving the protection of his sister. "You betrayed mine and my sister's parents! You're the reason they're dead!" 

"No, Harry!" Professor Lupin argued. "Someone did kill your parents. But it is someone who, until quite recently, I believed to be dead!" 

"Who was it, then?!" Harry spat. 

"Peter Pettigrew!" Sirius responded at once. "And he's in his room, right now!" He took in a big breath and bellowed, "Come out, come out, Peter! Come out, come out and play!" 

"Expelliarmus!" said a new voice. 

Everyone looked surprised to see Professor Snape standing there, wand outstretched. He aimed it both at the adults in the room. 

"Well, well, well. How I hoped that I'd be the one to catch you, Black. I've been telling Dumbledore that you've been helping an old friend into the castle. And now, here's the proof." 

"Why don't you go run along and play with your chemistry set?" Sirius asked, half-teasingly. Though Annie noticed a bit of fear in his voice. 

"Severus, don't be a fool," said Professor Lupin.

"Quite down, Remus!" Sirius spat. 

"He can't always help it," Professor Lupin added. 

"Quiet yourself down, Remus!" Sirius barked. 

Professor Snape just continued threatening Sirius with his wand. "How sweet. The two of you are still arguing like an old, married couple. I could do it, y'know. But why not hand you over to the dementors and let them do the job for me? They've been so longing to see you. Do I detect a flicker of fear? Oh, yes. I will take you to Dumbledore, and the dementors will have your soul. After you!" 

He nodded to Harry. Unbeknownst to Annie, her brother had taken her wand and aimed it straight at Professor Lupin before changing his mind and going straight to Professor Snape. 

"Expelliarmus!" 

The spell, at once, hit him in the chest, blasting him into he back wall where  shards of wood came pelting down on him. Annie jumped back in alarm, realizing what her brother just did. She stared at him in disbelief. 

"Harry! What did you just do?!" Ron exclaimed in horror.

"You just attacked a teacher!" Annie added, fear lacing her voice. 

Harry ignored both of them, now aiming his wand at both Lupin and Sirius. 

"Tell me about Peter Pettigrew!" 

"He was at school with us!" Lupin jumped in at once. "We thought he was our friend!" 

"No. Pettigrew's dead. You killed him!" 

"I thought to, too, Harry. Until you mentioned seeing Pettigrew on the map!" 

"The map was lying, then!" 

"The map never lies!" Sirius interjected. "Pettigrew is alive! And he's right there!" 

He pointed right at Ron, who looked confused.

"Me?!" he exclaimed in disbelief. "He's mental!" 

"Not you! Your rat!" 

"Scabbers has been in my family for —" 

"Twelve years! A curiously long life for a common garden rat, isn't it? He's missing a toe, isn't he?" 

"So, what?!" Ron defended.

"Wait. All they could find that belonged to Peter Pettigrew was his —" Annie began as she remembered what Harry had told her. 

"His finger!" Sirius interrupted. "The bloody coward cut it off so that everyone could think that he was dead! And then he transformed into a rat!" 

"Show me!" Harry demanded. 

Sirius threw Harry a look of disbelief before snatching Scabbers from Ron's hands. Sirius ignored Ron's pleading. Hermione held him down as he tried to go after his beloved pet. 

At once, Sirius and Lupin worked to bring Peter to his full human form. And Annie now fully understood why this so-called Scabbers had hated her guts all these years. 

He wasn't a real rat in the first place. It was her beloved parent's murderer.