Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)

by J.K. Rowling

‘Well, honestly … “the fates have informed her” … who sets the exam? She does! What an amazing prediction!’ she said, not troubling to keep her voice low.

Even Fred and George Weasley had been spotted working; they were about to take their O.W.Ls (Ordinary Wizarding Levels). Percy was getting ready to sit his N.E.W.Ts (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests),

‘Oh, yeah, I borrowed it for a bit of bedtime reading,’ said Ron,

it was hardly legible.

‘Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. I’m grateful … it will make everything much easier …’

‘You’re the cleverest witch of your age I’ve ever met, Hermione.’

‘Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren’t likely to want their children exposed to me. ‘But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that, as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn’t come to school …’ Lupin sighed, and looked directly at Harry. ‘I told you, months ago, that the Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. The truth is that it was planted because I had come to Hogwarts. This house –’ Lupin looked miserably around the room, ‘– the tunnel that leads to it – they were built for my use. Once a month, I was smuggled out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The tree was placed at the tunnel mouth to stop anyone coming across me while I was dangerous.’

‘But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends. Sirius Black … Peter Pettigrew … and, of course, your father, Harry – James Potter. ‘Now, my three friends could hardly fail to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them my mother was ill, and that I had to go home to see her … I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was. But of course, they, like you, Hermione, worked out the truth … ‘And they didn’t desert me at all. Instead they did something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life. They became Animagi.’

And that’s how we came to write the Marauder’s Map, and sign it with our nicknames. Sirius is Padfoot. Peter is Wormtail. James was Prongs.’

I’ve been living in the Forest ever since … except when I come to watch the Quidditch, of course … you fly as well as your father did, Harry …’ He looked at Harry, who did not look away. ‘Believe me,’ croaked Black. ‘Believe me. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them.’

‘If you made a better rat than human, it’s not much to boast about, Peter,’ said Black harshly.

‘Get off me,’ Harry spat, throwing Pettigrew’s hands off him in disgust. ‘I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it because I don’t reckon my dad would’ve wanted his best friends to become killers – just for you.’

‘Yes …’ said Sirius. ‘But I’m also – I don’t know if anyone ever told you – I’m your godfather.’ ‘Yeah, I knew that,’ said Harry. ‘Well … your parents appointed me your guardian,’ said Sirius stiffly. ‘If anything happened to them …’ Harry waited. Did Sirius mean what he thought he meant? ‘I’ll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle,’ said Sirius. ‘But … well … think about it. Once my name’s cleared … if you wanted a … a different home …’ Some sort of explosion took place in the pit of Harry’s stomach. ‘What – live with you?’ he said, accidentally cracking his head on

I’m going to live with my godfather. I’m leaving the Dursleys.

Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs … Had all four of them been out in the grounds tonight?

‘We’ll see each other again,’ he said. ‘You are – truly your father’s son, Harry

‘Yes, your father was always a stag when he transformed,’ he said. ‘You guessed right … that’s why we called him Prongs.’

‘I have no hesitation in saying that James would have been highly disappointed if his son had never found any of the secret passages out of the castle.’

‘This is magic at its deepest, its most impenetrable, Harry. But trust me … the time may come when you will be very glad you saved Pettigrew’s life.’

‘I knew your father very well, both at Hogwarts and later, Harry,’ he said gently. ‘He would have saved Pettigrew too, I am sure of it.’

‘You think the dead we have loved ever truly leave us? You think that we don’t recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble? Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself most plainly when you have need of him. How else could you produce that particular Patronus? Prongs rode again last night.’

‘I still can’t believe you didn’t tell us about it,’ said Ron grumpily. ‘We’re supposed to be your friends.’