After classes let out the next day, Harry and Ron headed down to Hagrid's hut. All day, neither of them had been able to concentrate on their classwork, resulting in points being taken during Potions and even Professor Lupin asking them what was on their minds in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

But finally, classes finished and they hurried as fast as they could down to Hagrid's, the twilight deepening around them, the air full of eddying flurries of the first snowfall. At their knock, Hagrid opened the door, exclaiming with delight at seeing them.

"I finally got ahold of that rat wot's been living in my cereal bin," he told Ron. "If it's not yers I think I'll keep 'im. Nice rat, that one." He went to get the drawer where he'd housed the rat until he could show Ron.

Ron took a look in the drawer and exclaimed with delight, "Scabbers!"

"Let me see him," insisted Harry urgently, holding out his hands for the rat.

He took the rat and touched its fur and paws but realized he had no idea what he was looking for. When the animal struggled against his hands, he put the rat back in the box-like drawer, then threw his coat over the top and asked Hagrid, "Is there a way to tell if an animal is really an animagus?"

At the question, the drawer began to shake as the rat scrabbled at the sides and the coat covering the top.

"Aww, let the poor thing out," said Hagrid. "Yeh'll suffocate 'im."

"Hagrid, is there a way to tell?" Harry asked again, holding the coat tight around the sides of the box.

"There is a spell, a very difficult spell," said Hagrid slowly. "I don't know it, just know it exists."

"I know someone who will know it," said Harry, picking up the drawer and tucking it under his left arm. "Come on, Ron."

"What are you doing with Scabbers?" asked Ron suspiciously.

"We have to find out for sure," said Harry. "Thanks, Hagrid!"

He set off for the castle with the wooden box under his arm, but he hadn't gotten halfway there when Ron tugged the box out of Harry's grasp.

"What are you doing?" yelled Harry furiously.

"You're suffocating him," said Ron, lifting the coat to gaze at his pet.

As soon as Ron lifted the coat, Harry heard the rat scrabbling against the sides of the box, as if making a bid for freedom.

"Scabbers! Come back!" called Ron.

"What have you done?" shouted Harry, suddenly aware that the rat had scampered out of the box and away through the grass.

"I've never seen him bolt like that," returned Ron sheepishly. "He usually comes right to me."

"You dolt!" said Harry through ground teeth as he angrily turned away from his friend. "You let him get away."

"Hey," said Ron. "It's my rat, after all."

"That's not the point," Harry said angrily. "He's a traitor."

"You're mad if you think my rat is an animagus. I think I'd have known," said Ron.

Harry said nothing but stormed up to the castle, leaving Ron standing in bewilderment on the grass. Ron was wrong. He had to be. Didn't the rat's recent behavior prove it?

Harry decided the best thing to do would be to find Professor Lupin as he'd intended to do when he still had the rat. Lupin might still have some advice about the matter and Harry had a couple of other questions as well. He headed up the stairs towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, where he found Professor Lupin in his office reading essays.

"Hello, Harry," he greeted when Harry knocked at the open door. "I just finished grading your essay on Smugworts. I have to say your writing has improved even if your penmanship has not."

Harry ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, well, I've been meaning to talk to you about that," he admitted.

"Come in, Harry, take a chair," put in Lupin genially.

Harry located a wooden chair at the front of Professor Lupin's desk and removed a stack of books, fuzzy with dust, from it. Setting the stack of books on a nearby tottering pile, he sat in the chair.

"Thanks, Professor," said Harry.

"So, then," said Lupin, "writing?"

"Yeah," said Harry miserably. "I think maybe my eyes are getting worse. I can't see what I write at all anymore, even if I write pretty big."

"Hmmm," said Professor Lupin and Harry could see the professor in his imagination sitting back and steepling his fingers. "Should you go see Madame Pomfrey?"

"I don't know," replied Harry. "She already said there was nothing she could do, and nothing St. Mungo's could do either. I'm not positive it's getting worse. Some days are better than others."

"From what I'm told, that's a common aspect of low vision," said Professor Lupin. "But back to your writing. It sounds like we need a different solution."

Harry nodded.

Professor Lupin pulled out a magazine and set it with a flap onto his desk. "This," he said cheerfully, "is a catalogue for the Shop of Requirement. I don't have a copy in Braille, unfortunately, but I know they produce them and you can get one from them later. For now, let's see what we can find."

He paged through the catalogue, reading off lists of interesting items to Harry: lighted magnifiers, books that turned their own pages, a Braille wristwatch. "Here we go," he exclaimed excitedly. "Dictation. They have a Quick Quotes Quill, favored by reporters, a DictaQuill and some rewritable parchment. Do any of those sound appealing?"

"Yeah," said Harry with enthusiasm. "One of those would probably work really well. Do they have any Braille card games?"

Lupin flipped a couple of pages. "Here we go. Braille poker decks, pinochle decks, Transforming Euchre..."

"Exploding Snap?" asked Harry hopefully.

Lupin snorted. "Good way to get your eyebrows singed. Yes, here we go. A Braille Exploding Snap deck, instructions and replacement cards for additional games."

"Brilliant," said Harry. "I'll get that and a DictaQuill."

Lupin began filling out an order form, then tied it into a roll and handed it to Harry. "Send two Sickles and a Knut with this," he said. "How is the quidditch going? I mean other than flying with a pack of dementors?"

"What happened with that?" asked Harry in confusion. "Why couldn't I see them at all? I mean I saw only darkness and I didn't even know they were there at all until Ron and Hermione told me later."

"Dementors are parasites," began Lupin thoughtfully, not really answering Harry. "They suck the happiness out of living beings, humans. They must have been drawn to the crowd of students on the quidditch pitch, all the excitement."

"But what are they? What do they look like?" asked Harry, still frowning.

"To muggles, they are invisible," said Lupin. "To wizards, they look like tall hooded figures in black, with clawlike hands and no faces."

Harry shivered. "I sort of felt claws grabbing at me as I flew, or flapping cloth," he said slowly. "But mostly it felt like mist."

"No one knows whether their bodies really take physical form. No one has gotten close enough to touch one. You've probably gotten the closest now of any wizard alive. I just about fainted when you flew right into them."

"I didn't mean to," said Harry defensively. "I didn't know they were there."

"Didn't you feel the cold, hear the screams?" asked Lupin.

"Well, yeah," said Harry, "but I was so scared already about the match I figured that's what it was."

"If they show up again, you need to be able to recognize them," said Lupin. "I'm not sure why you can't see their shapes."

"I felt like I was falling, like I was in a well," said Harry, struggling for words to describe the feeling. "I heard screaming and saw flashing green light."

"I thought you couldn't see color?" asked Lupin, startled.

"I can't," said Harry.

"They affect everyone a little differently," explained Lupin. "They may affect you more strongly because of what has happened to you. The screaming may be from those around you or it may be a memory. The green light is most definitely a memory.

"How did you get rid of the one on the train?" asked Harry. "Can I learn to do that?"

"A Patronus charm is a difficult piece of advanced magic," said Lupin. "But if you want to try, I'll teach you. Not tonight, however. It's dinner time."

"Wait," said Harry urgently. "I almost forgot." He told Lupin about the loss of Ron's rat, then the reappearance of it in Hagrid's hut and the spat with Ron as he accidentally let his pet go free.

"Hmm," said Lupin, pushing back the pile of papers on his desk and rising slowly to his feet. He let out a long sigh as he did so.

"Are you okay, Professor?" asked Harry.

"Yes, it's just getting close to... close to the full moon again," he admitted with a sigh.

"Oh," said Harry, somehow touched at Lupin's honesty. So often Harry hid his own pain from those around him that the admission of the fact from Professor Lupin mean that much more to Harry and he wished he could convey the sense of understanding he felt. He didn't know what to say, however, so he said, "what should I do about the rat? I was going to bring it to you and Sirius..."

"Shhh," cautioned Lupin. "Don't say his name in here."

"Oh, right, sorry," said Harry, lapsing into silence.

"I would like very much to take a look at this rat. Ron seems sure it can't be Pettigrew?" Lupin seemed thoughtful.

"Yeah," said Harry, standing and unfolding his cane.

"Until he is recaptured, we won't know," said Lupin. "Keep your eyes open."

"Uhhh, yeah," laughed Harry and Lupin chuckled.

Together they headed out of the room, then parted ways, Harry going up to the owlery to find Hedwig and post his owl order for the Shop of Requirement, and Lupin going toward the Great Hall and dinner.

[break]

Without waiting for Professor Snape, Harry began collecting his ingredients for the Wolfsbane potion that evening in the dungeon classroom. He'd read the list so many times the night before he now had it memorized and he remembered the location of nearly all of the supplies he'd gathered the night before. It seemed like no time at all before he was back at his table with a pile of plants and an assortment of glass bottles in front of him.

As always, the shredding, grinding and chopping were the easiest tasks. Measuring proved to be more difficult; although by holding it close, he could see the distinct black lines on the glass cup and take a stab at the numbers, he couldn't distinguish the placement of the liquid inside. Finally, with a combination of holding it in front of his nose and squinting, he was reasonably sure he'd gotten it right. He was willing to be the Shop of Requirement sold measuring cups with Braille and he wished he'd thought of one before he sent Hedwig off to them. He set the cup on the desk.

Unlike his usual careless approach to Potions, Harry took extreme care to read his Braille instructions over and over to be sure he didn't miss a detail. He was just going over the timing of the second ingredient when the door was flung open and Professor Snap strode into the room. Harry didn't expect any praise for starting early and it turned out he was right. Snape stalked to his desk without a word and soon Harry heard the scratching of a quill. Keeping his eyes on his work, Harry smothered a smile and continued shredding aconite leaves.

"Aconite is poisonous, you know," said Professor Snape out of nowhere, startling Harry. "If you brew this wrong, the drinker will die."

"You're going to give this to Professor Lupin?" Harry asked incredulously.

"How did you know it was for..." began Snape, then stopped himself. "Of course. Why else would you be making it?"

"B-b-but what if I do it wrong?" stammered Harry.

"Don't do it wrong," said Snape and Harry could see the curl of Snape's lip in his mind as the professor spoke.

Harry went back to work. He shredded leaves, then weighed them using his scale, lining the small metal weights up in a row, like a family of tiny dwarves, to make sure he used the correct one. Just that morning he'd had Hermione read him the markings on each one and he'd noted them in Braille; now he lined the weights up on the Braille card by size in front of the correct numbers. It took a lot of shredded leaves to achieve the correct weight and he worried he'd gotten too many.

Harry jumped again when Snape cleared his throat. "You may store your cauldron and supplies in my office," he said, "and resume your work tomorrow night."

With alacrity, Harry cleaned up his ingredients, making neat piles on the table in the little side room so he could locate them again. Then he left the Potions classroom.

******

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