Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban

Harry, Ron, and Hermione are stunned, remembering what Fudge said about Black killing Peter Pettigrew 12 years ago. Black lunges at Scabbers, and Lupin urges him to explain to the children why he wants to kill Peter Pettigrew. He says that Black “owe[s] Harry the truth” (350). Hermione claims that Peter Pettigrew can’t be an Animagus because his name wasn’t on the official Animagus registry, but Lupin explains that “there used to be three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts” (352). Lupin goes on to tell them that he was bitten by a werewolf when he was just a child, and although he can now take a potion that makes him harmless when he transforms once a month, “[he] became a fully fledged monster once a month” (353) when he was a student at Hogwarts. The Shrieking Shack and the tunnel connecting it to the Whomping Willow were designed to give Lupin a safe space to become a monster once a month, and his friends— James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew— became Animagi so they could turn into animals and safely keep Lupin company when he transformed. He explains that they “came to write the Marauder’s Map [...] Sirius is Padfoot. Peter is Wormtail. James was Prongs” (355), and Lupin is Moony.

Lupin explains that Professor Snape never liked their group, and Snape “fought very hard against [Lupin’s] appointment to the Defense Against the Dark Arts job” (356), even while he supplied the potion that kept Lupin safe. Years ago, when they were all students at Hogwarts, Black tried to trick Snape into following them into the Shrieking Shack, where Snape would have come face-to-face with a werewolf. However, Harry’s father got cold feet and put a stop to the prank. Harry realizes that Snape doesn’t like Lupin because he thought Lupin was in on the joke. Snape suddenly reveals himself, taking off the Invisibility Cloak and pointing his wand at Lupin” (357).

Snape explains that he found the Invisibility Cloak left behind outside of the Whomping Willow, and that Lupin did not take his potion yet that evening. Snape went to Lupin’s office and looked at the Marauder’s Map on Lupin’s desk. Snape believes that Lupin was helping his old friend Black into the castle, and he is giddy at the thought of turning Lupin and Black in and watching the dementors “give [Black] a little kiss” (360). Snape refuses to listen to any explanations, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione all attempt to disarm him at the same time and render him unconscious. Sirius continues to explain how he discovered that Peter Pettigrew is not dead but in hiding. He saw the Daily Prophet article showing Ron’s family in Egypt and noticed that Ron’s rat was missing a toe. Lupin explains, “The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger” (363), and Peter must have cut it off himself before faking his death and pinning it on Black. Black then goes on to say that Crookshanks knew Scabbers was Peter Pettigrew, and was working with Black to get the rat away from Ron and Harry

Lupin tells Harry, “All this time we’ve thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down— but it was the other way around” (365). Peter, not Sirius, was the Potters’ Secret-Keeper. He is the one responsible for the death of Harry’s parents. Lupin and Black force Pettigrew to assume his true form as a “very short man” with a “pointed nose and [...] very small, watery eyes” (366). Peter Pettigrew, cowardly and simpering, continues to deny any involvement in the Potters’ death or his allegiance to Lord Voldemort. Sirius assures Harry that he never would have betrayed the Potters, but Pettigrew is a spineless coward who would betray his best friends if it meant saving himself from Voldemort’s wrath. Pettigrew begs for mercy as Lupin and Black prepare to kill him, but Harry stops them and proposes that they bring Pettigrew to the dementors, because he doesn’t think his father would have wanted Lupin and Black to become murderers.