Chapter 29 Stars Extinguished
During detention, they weren't allowed to talk, but they had worked out how to whisper right under Filch's ugly mug. Sirius surprised the others by saying that he had homework he needed to do, rather than spending their time running around with Moony.
"Homework?" hissed James. Sirius didn't care about homework.
"Padfoot!" Peter exclaimed, so excited he squeaked it out. Peter loved their moonlit excursions. If Sirius didn't go, maybe James wouldn't either. They had the same classes so would have the same homework.
"Move away from each other," Filch snarled, seeing that the three had scrubbed their way to the center of the room.
It was a while before they could rejoin each other, and be able to talk. During that time Sirius had reconsidered his little white lie. If they all stayed in, Sirius would have to pretend to do homework. Ugh.
"Moony can't leave the shack tonight," whispered Sirius.
"Why not?" asked James.
"Told Snivelly how to keep him company."
"That's not funny," James replied, thinking Sirius was joking.
Peter inquired, "What if he kills Moony?" The killing curse should work on werewolves, and Snape could cast it. It was just a question of who killed who first.
"He's a werewolf," Sirius snapped without thinking.
"What about Snape?" James reminded them. Remus getting killed was not the likely outcome of the meeting.
"What about him?" Peter whispered. They'd only be in trouble if he got out alive, and if he killed Remus, he'd be in more trouble than them. The best thing that could happen would be for Remus to kill and eat him. They should go out there to get rid of anything that was left over.
"He could end up dead or even turned into a werewolf," James explained.
"So what? Besides we won't be that lucky, he'll probably just run as soon as he sees Moony."
"Moony can run too, Padfoot."
Sirius looked at James like he was stupid. Since when did Prongs care about what happened to Snape? Without him and his schemes, things would go back to normal around here. They'd have him right where they wanted him, Snape would be out of bounds after curfew sneaking around, and then he wouldn't be able to tell anyone what he saw. It would figuratively eat him up alive.
Peter was also looking at James. Moony chasing Snape down would only be a problem if Snivellus could make it to the castle. Remus was very good at chasing down things in the forest so he saw no reason to get worried.
Having made up his mind, James said, "I got to stop him."
"You're going to tell Filch?" Peter asked with his voice breaking into the range that Filch could hear again.
"Separate corners," the caretaker spit out at these idiot students who could not follow instructions to scrub a floor if their lives depended on it.
James shook his head 'no' in answer to Peter's question. For all they knew, Snape had not listened to Sirius at all. As soon as they were allowed to go, he'd grab his invisibility cloak and sneak out to stop Snape at the whomping willow. That way he'd never know Remus's secret.
The stairs were noisy so Severus could no longer hear anything upstairs as Lily ascended with him closely behind her. Malcolm and Evan were following them up. They weren't going to stay, he thought, because it stank up here.
Severus had just reached the top, and moved to follow Lily through the doorway when something big in front of her grabbed her shoulders. He could see long, hairy grey fingers ending in black curved claws on the back of her shoulders clutch her, and heard Lily screamas she was pulled into the room.
With a twitch of his wand, the light entered the room at the same time as him, and he cast reducto at the open-mouthed face that was about to bite Lily's.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, was all he could think about himself when he yelled, "Don't swallow."
Against his better judgment, Severus got in front of Lily with his back to the wounded werewolf, and accio'd any bit of the werewolf off of her and out of her mouth that was open when he cast the blasting curse. It was still open, even though Lily had stopped screaming. Through the rips of her cloak, Severus could see the wounds in her shoulders.
"Move back," he instructed her, before turning to see how quickly the werewolf recovered.
It healed too fast. He cast it less than a minute ago and it was almost fully recovered.
Severus tried to shove it away with a spell first, but it barely moved so he hit it with another reducto to the face, followed by brutal repetitions of the spell that reduced its consciousness enough for him to repulse it further away from him, Lily, and whichever of the girls this was on the floor next to him. He hadn't taken the time to look yet.
"Just kill it!" yelled Wilkes.
Severus frowned, not taking his eyes off the werewolf. He didn't mind casting menial spells to be helpful and to have a reason to be brought along, but direct commands is where he'd draw the line. If he cast the killing curse, he would be the one sent to Azkaban. That was the point in naming it an Unforgivable to make it clear there was no excuse good enough to cast it. Whoever this werewolf was, even if he was a muggle, there would be no way Severus would be able to convince anyone that his life was more important than his … or hers? He reducto'd some major bits that were starting to reform before replying, "We can't use Unforgivables on it."
The sound of someone crying got Severus to glance over to the other wall. Rosier was weeping over … hunks of meat that were laying on the floor. There was blood and flesh splattered on the wall above it. That was what Black had in mind for him, except there would be no one crying. He blinked trying to clear his head, he'd have plenty of time to consider intent once they were out of here.
"What should I cast?" Lily asked. Severus looked to see her determined to help with her wand out, but why was she asking him? Lily did not take orders, or even suggestions well.
"Uh, as long as it's in pieces, maybe try impedimenta to try to slow down its healing?" Severus suggested. How was he supposed to know? They had never covered in Defense what to do if trapped in a room with a werewolf. It was about identification, escape methods and the use of silver weapons.
"Snape, I can't stop this bleeding," insisted Wilkes from the floor nearby. He was trying to use his wand and MacDonald's cloak, but didn't have the hands-on experience that Severus did.
Severus understood why Wilkes wanted him to cast healing charms on MacDonald, but he'd rather be the one keeping the werewolf in pieces while the others got them out of here.
"We need a plan," Severus said, uncomfortable with giving orders to other people who couldn't be bothered to listen to him before. This was not the time to get them angry and turning against him.
"Could you cast reducto on it, Rosier, while I look at MacDonald?"
To Lily, he said, "You can too, if it needs more." Or in case Rosier was unable to cast anything right now, Severus thought to himself.
He knelt next to Wilkes and saw immediately one huge problem. Her hand was gone, and Wilkes was trying to staunch the bleeding at the point of separation. Severus knew what to cast, but he had never cast a tourniquet charm. He had never been this badly injured.
Severus picked a spot and cast it. It worked, but they had to get MacDonald out of here now. Before he started on the long scratches down the front of her to stop her from bleeding out through them, because the charm Wilkes cast would disintegrate shortly, he asked, "Can you transfigure that bed into a strong cage while I try to help Mary? We'll need time to get out of here with her."
Since the spells he had in mind worked best without interruption, he glanced at how Lily and Rosier were doing with the werewolf. Rosier was not as merciful as Severus. He had split it apart so it was now quivering postage stamps.
Feeling that he was not currently in danger, Severus started chanting and crooning over MacDonald's open wounds to close them over. It wasn't St. Mungo's quality, but it worked. Once he was satisfied that MacDonald would not bleed any more from those wounds, he took a moment to check her wrist. Her wand hand was probably bit right off. The problem with the tourniquet was that it also cut off blood to any good flesh too, but Severus couldn't remember how long.
It was a relief to see that the others were able to think for themselves. They were waving their wands to get pieces of the werewolf into the large, thick-barred metal cage. Severus helped them. He could move MacDonald out of here, but did not want to leave Lily behind in case anything else unexpected happened.
Together they all four cast whatever spells they could think of to seal the cage, both the door and in its entirety. They didn't want to leave anything to chance with it breaking out and tracking them.
Both Rosier and Snape kept the reductos going while they discussed what to do next. Lily was impatient, but the boys knew that planning was the key to success, and possibly staying alive.
Wilkes and Rosier agreed that finding out where this sealed house was could save them an immense amount of time, by not having to go back through the tunnel.
Severus felt that letting a werewolf loose from this carefully constructed death trap, if he got out of the cage, could land them in huge trouble.
Rosier blasted the boarded window, and Wilkes agreed that they were in the Shrieking Shack. They could see the lights from Hogsmeade. They just needed to get to a floo and they could get to St. Mungo's with MacDonald and Evans.
"Can you get Helen, Snape? I don't want to leave her here in case it gets out," Rosier explained.
Severus looked at Rosier. Pureblooded dunderhead. If he didn't want to leave her behind, he should take care of it. Rather than wasting time arguing, he summoned one of those red blankets from downstairs, and packaged up the pieces. He hoped Slughorn choked on his crystallized pineapple for lying and telling people he wanted to be a janitor.
Lily wanted to help, but she couldn't look at what had been done to Helen. Evan was right, they couldn't leave her here. Probably Severus was the only one of them that could do this without breaking down.
After they were outside, they cast further spells to seal the Shrieking Shack back up. Severus considered it rather clever to use the Shack. If he had managed to get out a scream before the werewolf got him, no one would bother investigating.
By default, Severus got to levitate Parkin's remains as they hurried into Hogsmeade. They could warn others before heading through a floo. Let them deal with Black's werewolf. They could also let them know at Hogwarts that they were heading to St. Mungo's.
The Three Broomsticks was the closest open business. Wilkes talked to Rosmerta while maintaining his spell supporting MacDonald. She allowed them use of the floo as soon as she scribbled their names down on her order pad to send a message up to Hogwarts.
Filius Flitwick was in his office, catching up on some reading, when his floo turned green. An anxious female voice said, "Hello? Is someone there? Filius?"
"Yes?" he answered.
"It's Rosmerta. Neither Albus nor Minerva answered. Students were attacked by a werewolf, and took my floo to St. Mungo's. I called Magical Law Enforcement already. Can someone from the school go to London?"
"Absolutely, Rosmerta," Filius cried in response, thinking of what to do. If he took someone else, one of them could stay at St. Mungo's with the children while the other flooed back to let the Headmaster know.
He threw a handful of floo powder into the fireplace and called into the staff room, "Anyone there?"
"Filius?" was the response. It was Atlas Abstractus. Not who he would have chosen since the fellow had a habit of getting distracted, but he'd be able to stay at the hospital.
"Atlas, I need you to come with me to St. Mungo's. Students flooed there."
"Uh … now?"
"Yes. Werewolf attack."
"Oh well, um … of course, Filius."
"Can you floo from the staff room and meet me there?" Filius asked while looking around his office to see if he needed to do anything before departing.
There was hesitation, but Atlas replied, "Yes."
"I'm leaving right now," he said before terminating the connection. Filius threw in another handful of floo powder and announced "St. Mungo's," before stepping into the green flames.
Not entirely trusting Atlas to floo immediately, he approached the reception desk. "I'm Prof. Flitwick. Did some Hogwarts students arrive?"
"Werewolf attack?" the woman asked.
"Yes," replied Filius, wondering if there were other Hogwarts students that came in tonight to prompt her to ask that question.
"Up on the first floor. Creature induced injuries ward."
Atlas joined him. Before reaching the students, he explained, "I'm not good with violence and blood, Filius."
Prof. Flitwick looked up at his colleague. Someone who found the mathematical explanation for the spread of deadly disease beautiful couldn't stand lycanthropy because it got messy? Arithmancists were a strange bunch. He needed someone to stand with him, and not go falling to pieces. Filius had all of the students for Charms, but Atlas just got to know the Ravenclaws and some others who took Arithmancy. Perhaps if he didn't know these students, he'd be more helpful.
Rosier was out in the corridor with some adult wizards and witches. Slytherin students had Slytherin parents, oh no.
They were spotted. Rosier said with evident disbelief, "Prof. Abstractus?"
"Rosier, Prof. Flitwick and I came …" Atlas petered out, Filius had invited him, not the other way around. He wasn't even a head of house, and dealing with parents? Students who took arithmancy wanted to be there. If not, they dropped it.
"Yes," Filius agreed. "As soon as I heard from Rosmerta at the Three Broomsticks, we came immediately."
"Of course," said a disdainful wizard, who was waiting to know why these students did not rate the Headmaster, or either of their heads of house. Mr. Wilkes already knew the unusual combination of Slytherin and Gryffindor students might confuse the staff because it surely baffled him, but that did not equate to a dismissive attitude. The Wilkes name carried some weight, along with Rosier and especially the dead Parkin girl. MacDonald was a step down for his family, but Malcolm was the younger son. Wouldn't have hurt to marry a girl so interested in breeding to insure the continuation of their name. She wasn't an issue now that she was a werewolf, but it was damned inconvenient.
"She did not have all the details," Filius said trying to diffuse a situation that could be avoided.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Mr. Wilkes said, "One student dead, two injured and at least one of them is a werewolf now. We'll have to wait till next month to find out if the second one ingested any saliva. The other three fought off the werewolf and confined it so it did not rampage through Hogsmeade. They also had to carry a wounded student, and brought what was left of the dead student with them."
Rosier added, "Once we realized how close we were to Hogsmeade, we decided to head there to floo to St. Mungo's. MacDonald's wounds were very serious, and it would have taken longer to carry her back to the castle and up to the infirmary."
"From Gryffindor?" Filius asked.
"Yes, three Gryffindors and three Slytherins. It was my son, Malcolm, Evan Rosier, and Snape, along with MacDonald and Evans. Parkin is dead."
"Where did it happen?"
Rosier explained. He already knew what was told to Magical Law Enforcement so didn't want the story to get muddled. "Sirius Black had told us about a secret passage under the whomping willow earlier today. Since it was a nice evening, and our homework was completed, we went for a walk … well before curfew, to look at it.
"We found a secret passage underneath the tree, just like he described, and followed it. It wasn't until later that we realized we ended up in the Shrieking Shack and off the grounds. The inside of the house had Gryffindor banners and even a case of butterbeer.
"When we got into the tunnel, it was too small so us lads were too big to move through it without crouching. Parkin and MacDonald got way ahead of us, and went up the stairs while we were still in the passage. That's where they were attacked, and we didn't hear. It wasn't until we went up the stairs looking for them that we found the werewolf. It probably heard us downstairs and was waiting. It went right for Evans, but Snape pretty much blasted its jaw off to keep it biting her.
"Then we held it off, while we worked to render some medical aid to MacDonald to move her, and cage it up so we could escape without it following after us."
Atlas only had the Slytherin fellows as students, and they were all fine fellows. He was horrified by the tale. If he were a student, he could imagine hearing of a new secret passage and the temptation to see if it were actually there. Hogwarts was supposed to be riddled with them. However, what was a werewolf doing at the end of it?
Filius listened to the tale carefully. It was believable, except for the part with the werewolf. Normally, he wouldn't suspect a student of being so bloodthirsty, but it was Sirius Black. He heard plenty of complaints regarding him from his Ravenclaws. He was violent and brutal, and especially preyed on the younger boys. Filius knew from personal experience that he attacked indiscriminately. How did he arrange to have a werewolf waiting for other students? Did he pay some poor sod to transform there this month?
"Rosmerta said she also contacted Magical Law Enforcement. They may figure out how that werewolf was present so close to Hogwarts and Hogsmeade." It was not illegal for werewolves to be in the area, but they were supposed to exercise some safety measures for the sake of others. Although fortunate that these were not Ravenclaws, Filius felt out of his element here. Such callous disregard for others, and they were all his students, was overwhelming. If Dumbledore was not at the school, he could track down Minerva and Horace. "You were not injured, Rosier?"
"Not me. Um, the others are inside. The healers might be done with Evans, she's going to have scars but they can be covered up. Might be a bit sore for a bit because it grabbed her shoulders and sank its claws in. MacDonald … well she was mauled and it bit off her hand. That's uh … I don't know. The way it tore Helen apart …"
"Don't think about it, Evan. That's not the way you should remember her," said a young witch, that Filius recognized as one of Rosier's sisters from a few years back. "Maybe we should take you home."
"I don't want to go until they say why that werewolf was there, and who it is."
"They might not know till the moon sets. It could be a muggle whose family got paid off to be there."
Filius got a chance to speak to a healer in charge of this ward, before leaving Atlas to represent the school while he returned to report to Albus, Minerva or even Horace.
James couldn't be reasoned with. As soon as detention was over, he raced back to the tower to grab his invisibility cloak and left to prevent Snape from using the secret passage.
Peter considered going, but if there was a mess to clean up, why should he end up helping? He had enough of cleaning this crappy pile of stone for Filch. Any mess would be Sirius's fault, but he was going to hang out in the common room with the other lads. Peter thought that sounded like a fine idea for him too.
Well, it was till Prof. McGonagall showed up. She could really ruin a fellow's good time. Their head also got well … plain nasty when Sirius and him tried to stall because she wanted James too. He could still sneak back into the tower in his invisibility cloak, and trick her into thinking he'd been there the whole time.
Peter was growing concerned once Black was sent through her office floo to see Dumbledore, and then she got sneaky and flooed Flitwick to go watch their common room for James. Peter mentally crossed his fingers that James would beat Flitwick there.
He had seen McGonagall angry plenty of times with her lips thinned and her eyes narrowed as she scolded them for not behaving in what she considered a proper manner for their house to act. Pacing behind her desk with pauses at the window, then standing still, and pressing a handkerchief to her face at times, was a McGonagall Peter had never seen before.
About five minutes passed and then she turned on him, "I want to think you are a misled boy, Pettigrew, and that you get caught up in all the excitement of the moment. Why would you go along with anything so transparently wrong?"
"What happened?" Peter asked. Seeing her this upset had him worried that Remus was dead. He wasn't fond of how James and Sirius favored Remus who did nothing, but he had never been anything but nice to Peter. If it wasn't for Remus, he wouldn't even be an animagus.
"Disaster, Pettigrew. One student dead, another critically injured and turned into a werewolf, and another injured who may also be infected."
Peter was saddened to hear this. Remus couldn't be truly injured as a werewolf so he must be the one who was dead. Did he get out and injure someone else? McGonagall knew but hadn't told him everything, but more troubling is what did she know about him? What were James and Sirius saying? And was this an effort to get him to tell on his best friends? Whoever that third person was, it might be someone important and there were going to be consequences. Simply put, Peter Pettigrew did not want to get caught by McGonagall. He replied, "That's horrible, professor."
Oh Merlin! Sirius thought when he stepped out of the floo into Dumbledore's office. His father was here. If the headmaster expected his old man to be supportive to his son by having him present, he was about to get an earful from both Orion and Sirius. Sirius could do just fine on his own, he didn't need some holier than thou crap spouting out of the foul mouth that touched his overstuffed hag of a mother's body. At least he could count that as a blessing, his mother wasn't here to scream so loud that she could be heard over in the owlery.
Seeing that Ministry flunky that was at James's house over the summer, Sirius sneered at him. He was so low in the ranks he wasted his time chasing down students. How pathetic. If he was smart, he'd be hanging out in the dungeons, if he was interested in catching tomorrow's death eaters, rather than harassing the Marauders.
Wearily Dumbledore said, "Take a seat. Would you rather tell us why you did this, or would you rather answer questions?"
With a shrug, Sirius replied, "What do I care?"
"Are you acting on someone else's orders, Sirius?"
Sirius stared at Dumbledore. What did he think he did? "You should know I don't follow the rules, professor."
"I know. However, did someone tell you to cause all this destruction and to dismantle the school?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Then why don't you tell us. You can either start with today, or at the beginning."
Sirius looked around. He knew the headmaster, his father, Bumboil, but there was another bloke here taking notes. "I'm getting tired of all this picking on me. Losing points, detention every night, physical labor in detention, and prefects following me into the gents. You are purposely pushing me."
Dumbledore frowned, "Your disregard for the rules and safety of others pushed you to send another student to a gruesome death?"
He blinked. If Snivellus was dead, it was his word against someone that wasn't around. Damn. Poor Remus. Why did Snivelly have to be a total loser and get himself killed? He was exceptionally inept because he got himself killed so soon after curfew. Even as a dog, it took Sirius time to run over to the whomping willow and dash through the secret passage. "Death? I don't know what you're talking about."
Staring into Black's grey eyes, Dumbledore could tell he was covering up. How much did he know? He wouldn't have bothered with that secret passage with all the others unless he knew about Lupin. Lupin could have shown it to them at another time, but he wouldn't have risked sharing that knowledge with his friends without warning them not to use it. "The secret passage with the werewolf."
"What werewolf?" came out of Sirius's mouth without thought. Oh no. Peter could be crying and peeing his pants right now, telling everything. He still had to warn James. If Prongs got desperate he might arouse suspicion by trying to get the staff to track down Snape because he didn't know the greasy boil on their collective arse was now dead.
Dumbledore tilted his head to one side in thought. Sirius Black could lie to them all for as long as it took. His purpose was to find out who Black was working for. One student, no matter how vicious and bullying should have been able to trick the Sorting Hat into sorting him into Gryffindor to cripple the source of where this generation's heroes would emerge. What he needed to do was bluff. It was a big gamble to rely on the Slytherins' version of events. "Do you know what a pensieve is? I just happen to have one of those handy devices to review memories, and to allow others to view them. What if we dispense with the deception here, and start by saying I know that you told Severus Snape about the secret passage?"
"So? I didn't force him to go there," Sirius replied. Someone in the hallway must have overheard, unless Snape was able to crawl out of the shack, but how would Dumbledore have the memory from him? Something didn't smell right. Of course, Snape could already be a ghost and went to tattle to the headmaster. Except he wasn't floating around in here with his silvery smirk.
"You told him and didn't warn him of the danger."
"It was just a prank. If he didn't have such ugly, greasy feet he wouldn't have tripped over them when he ran."
"Severus did not run. Neither did the other Slytherins. They worked to save who they could and to overpower the werewolf, before retreating with the wounded and the one dead student."
Sirius was struck speechless. Who would Snape bring with him? And whoever they were, they deserved whatever they got for listening to anything that death eater told them. If Snape didn't lead them to a werewolf, he surely would have led them to some other death.
"I know. Rather odd when we all think of the old saying, that Ravenclaws think their heads, Hufflepuffs with their hearts, Gryffindors with their brass um, you know, and that Slytherins think with their behinds. Since they'd rather keep their behinds safe.
"I'm just curious what you had in mind. You disliked Helen Parkin enough that you and James Potter organized a letter writing campaign over the holiday, and then openly tried to discredit her because she was appointed Gryffindor quidditch captain. A position you felt would be better filled by your best friend, Potter, even if he was banned from playing quidditch here at Hogwarts. Was it just dumb luck that she ended up ripped apart by the werewolf?"
When Sirius took too much time trying to comprehend the impossible that somehow Helen Parkin was lured to Remus by Snape … did Snape already know about Remus's condition, and he was just waiting for a chance to kill someone and blame it on him? With this pensieve thing, maybe, but then there would be other memories of Snape lying to Parkin …
Orion Black growled, "Answer already. You are too dumb to come up with any lie to explain this. Just confess because you are trying all our patience."
"No one asked you," Sirius replied.
Alastor Gumboil was willing to bet once the consequences of this fiasco became apparent, there would be a disowned Black boy. Potter might not be so easy. He had older parents, they couldn't afford to throw their only child away. The Potters' best bet was to influence the Ministry. Paying off other families for the loss of a child or turning them into werewolves would be too expensive and too hypocritical. Although he said he'd remain quiet while Dumbledore asked his questions, he was dancing around the werewolf. Where did Black get it? His boss, Crouch, was eager for news, considering the families involved. He would want facts, not some report of the Black boy's hand being held while he sat around lying. A girl was dead. Two injured and most likely werewolves now. When people were excused from following the law, due to who they were, others suffered. This boy should have been soundly slapped from the moment he started stealing other children's candy, rather than patted on the head and told how clever he was.
"You didn't think that far ahead, or you weren't sure who would end up dead?" Dumbledore asked. To Albus, that was the whole key to knowing that Black was not working alone and had deceived them for years. He pretended Lupin was his friend, and risked everything by exposing his secret with this.
Sirius curled his lip at the headmaster, as he replied, "I said it was all a joke."
"May I?" Gumboil asked. This spoiled pretty boy wasn't used to someone that wasn't swayed by his winning smirk and sly wink.
"Be my guest," Dumbledore intoned.
"You said you were just playing a prank. What I'd like to know is how you got a werewolf into the Shrieking Shack to wait for your classmate. Wouldn't that take planning on your part?"
"I knew nothing about the werewolf."
"You claimed the prank would have been successful if your victim ran and didn't trip. If you weren't sending him into danger, why would he need to run?"
"That was an assumption on my part," Sirius replied, trying to remember what he said. He was positive he already said he knew nothing about the werewolf.
"Alrighty then," Gumboil said. He knew Crouch would expect no coddling of the prisoner, even if his rich daddy was here. Dumbledore would not be able to say 'no' since this went beyond a school infraction. "I'm going to take you into custody overnight. We have the werewolf so as soon as the moon sets, we'll be able to question him. He'll have nothing to lose by cooperating, will he? Probably confess your part in the plan to ease the minds of his family, I suspect."
Sirius stared at Dumbledore. Didn't they know this was Remus Lupin? Dumbledore knew. He arranged to have all this set up for Lupin to be a student, but still have someplace to transform. What kind of game was the old coot playing? He wasn't going to take the blame for this, it was all Dumbledore's fault for letting a werewolf be a student. Once the Ministry found out it was Remus, they'd think that Sirius had planned this whole thing to use his friend as a lethal weapon. If there was one thing that Sirius Black hated, other than the Dark Arts and the now-alive Severus Snape, it was deceit. If Sirius kept it secret, he'd be protecting Dumbledore who was doing absolutely nothing to help him. In fact, he unfairly gave him detention that he'd served for over a month now.
Keeping his eyes on the headmaster, Sirius said, "I can tell you who the werewolf is, and what he was doing there." If Dumbledore was going to make his move, now was the time to do it. He could obliviate these three and then things could return to normal around here.
"I'm not willing to make a deal for the information. You'll still come with me," Gumboil answered.
"It's not a deal. It's a … request for leniency for Remus Lupin. He's a werewolf, but he had no idea I'd be letting others know where he was hiding. He can't control himself when he's transformed."
Dumbledore closed his eyes and bowed his head in regret. Sirius Black knew.
James had plenty of time during detention and the run down here planning what he'd do. Arguing with Snape wouldn't work because then he'd know they were hiding something. James was just going to stupefy him, and get him back up to the castle, or maybe one of the greenhouses. It was too cold to leave him lying out here all night. By the time he woke up, Remus would be back inside with Madam Pomfrey.
He waited by the whomping willow for close to two hours for Severus Snape, torn as to whether he was wasting his time, or if Snape was going to come out as soon as James left. James couldn't even be sure what door he'd come out of or his route to try to backtrack the most likely route. And Sirius was such a dumbass at times that he probably wouldn't even thank him for standing out here in the cold.
While he was looking up at the moon, dreading that this was turning into a long night till it set with just a few wispy clouds that wouldn't block it, James thought he started to hear voices. Would Snape bring someone with him? It didn't sound like Hagrid, but it's possible he could have had guests over to his house.
James' eyes widened when he noticed a dim light under the whomping willow. Someone was coming from the Shrieking Shack.
He could make out what the voice now. A female one said, "Give me a boost, will you? I think we finally hit the end."
"Right. Just watch out for that tree," a man responded.
"Yeah, I remember."
A lit wand emerged with a grown witch holding it. She stayed low to the ground until she pressed the knot on the trunk. "The knot was just where they said. Come on up."
"Good. We can walk back right? I don't want to have to crawl through that again."
"Sure," the witch answered, turning around and looking. "If the castle's there, I think the gates are over that way for us to get back to Hogsmeade."
"Can we apparate back to headquarters once we hit the gates? Crouch wants all our reports tonight."
"We better make sure they have everything from the Shack so we don't get sent back out … after we have our arses handed to us."
"Sodding Crouch."
James followed as they started walking towards the gates. Crouch was the head of magical law enforcement. His name was in the paper every day. Did Snape already go through and let Remus out?
"It's not his fault. I thought students were reckless when I went to school, but this … Merlin!"
"I suppose. He'd want to get the facts straight before the Prophet printed something in error. Those families are out for blood."
"Yeah, wonder how Dumbledore's going to come out of this one smelling like a rose."
"What's he got to do with it? Man's not omniscient."
"From what I hear this lad has been terrorizing the students for years here. They all knew it was a matter of time before someone got killed."
"Oh, is that the … that boy that Gumboil ... or was it boys?"
"I think so. That's why Gumboil volunteered so quickly to head the investigation, even though he knows Crouch will be looking over his shoulder the whole time. You know how he gets."
"Oh yeah. None of us joined up to have these high and mighty types treat us like dirt while they kissed up to the Minister for a pardon."
"No respect that some people got to work for a living, rather than having a loaded family vault down in Gringott's belly."
"I hope when You Know Who's defeated, all of them got to pay for what they did. An empty vault won't be much good to them."
"Or a new Minister. I think Crouch is aiming for it. He won't be waving off setting werewolves on people."
"I'd vote for him. He may be a real tightarse, but he doesn't listen to any of these pleas they come up with."
"He's just as mad as us when the Minister pardons one of them."
"More. I've actually seen him mess his hair."
They laughed as they got the gates to open for them. James gave a moment to think about following, but if they were going to complain about their jobs, he wasn't going to find out what happened. Maybe Sirius already had the whole story. Oh darn, was James's thought as he rushed back to the school. Sirius could have ran off to save Remus without him.
When James entered the common room, he didn't stop to think it was odd that it was devoid of students but still fully lit. He was in too much of a hurry to get upstairs.
"Hold it, Potter. I've been waiting for you to return."
James turned to see Prof. Flitwick sitting in one of the deep armchairs. "Professor?"
"Don't you know when curfew is?"
"Yes, but uh …"
"Is that an invisibility cloak over your arm?"
"This old ..."
"Never mind. Bring it with you. You're expected in the headmaster's office. And I can tell you, we're not pleased that you kept us waiting up so long."
"The headmaster?"
"Of course."
"Can -?"
"No. Now. This very instant. You've postponed this long enough. I'm not here to wait on your pleasure, Potter."
"I didn't say that, Professor, but ..."
"Now. Come on."
All James wanted to do was hide his cloak and see that Sirius and Peter were upstairs. If they went haring off to save Remus, James might have to cover for them.
Although Flitwick was totally unreasonable, James cooperated and went with him to the headmaster's office.
When they reached it, Prof. Dumbledore and Prof. McGonagall were there, drinking tea. There were a number of used teacups scattered about the office from earlier. Sirius Black was released to the Ministry for at least an overnight stay, and Peter Pettigrew was sent home with his parents. Pettigrew was probably suspended. He told a convincing tale of how he felt he had to go along with whatever Black planned, however Pettigrew rarely cast a spell on anyone.
Prof. Flitwick entered, saying, "Potter's returned. He returned to the Gryffindor common room at ten after one in the morning. I believe he also was using an invisibility cloak to move around the school, and asked that he bring it with him for examination."
"An invisibility cloak!" exclaimed Prof. McGonagall. If it were true, it would explain quite a lot.
Dumbledore already knew about the cloak, and that wasn't the reason they were here.
"May I go?" Flitwick asked. He had an awful evening, and was not feeling up to listening to Potter spin tales.
"Thank you, Filius, for all your help tonight," McGonagall said.
"Yes, Filius. I'm sorry I wasn't in my office earlier when this whole mess started," Dumbledore added. By the time he was involved, it was too late to stop the leak of information. There would be consequences for him allowing a werewolf to enroll at Hogwarts. It was not Lupin's fault, but Albus did feel a sense of betrayal at the hands of his Gryffindor friends. And now it was Potter's turn.
James was taken aback. McGonagall's eyes were red-rimmed. Had she been crying? Was Remus dead? Did something happen to Sirius and Peter?
"Take a seat, Potter," she said to him, since she apparently had his attention. "We've had a very trying evening, so if you can dispense with the typical denials, I'd appreciate it."
"Yes, ma'am," James replied. He wasn't cowed, but he sensed he knew so little that he didn't know what to respond till he heard the questions.
"Where were you, Potter?" she asked.
"Well, earlier tonight while we were serving detention, Sirius mentioned that he accidentally told something to another student, so I went outside to see if um … he acted on that information because … well, it would have been dangerous."
"Did you warn Mr. Filch about the possible danger?" Dumbledore asked.
"No. I … well, he probably wouldn't have believed me, and it was secret information that maybe only a few people at the school know."
"So which staff member did you inform?"
"None. I mean … I wasn't sure who knew, or if there was even a problem."
Albus felt Potter was trying to be truthful, but was having difficulty working his way around the secrets he was trying to keep. He suggested, "How about I tell you what we know, in order to make it easier for you to explain your part in all this?
"We know that Remus Lupin is a werewolf, and very few people at the school knew. The students, including you and your friends were not told. In order for Mr. Lupin to have somewhere safe to transform, the whomping willow was planted over a secret passage so he could not escape from inside without the use of magic or human-level thinking skills.
"Earlier today, during an altercation in one of the school hallways, Sirius Black told Severus Snape about the secret passage, but did not warn him of the danger of accessing it during the full moon. Would you like to continue from there?"
"Yes. And I want to be clear Remus did not tell us his secret, we followed him and Madam Pomfrey because he was out so much, but the excuses would have seemed more realistic if we were told he was sick, rather than every member of his family twice over."
Dumbledore nodded. It would have been an enormous risk for Lupin to have told anyone who didn't already know.
"So like I initially said, we were in detention and getting in a few words now and then. We're not allowed to talk, and just before it was over, Sirius said he told Snape about that secret passage. I got worried because it is a full moon tonight. Maybe Snape wouldn't have listened since he doesn't trust Sirius, but I wouldn't be able to warn him myself until tomorrow because I can't go into the dungeons. And since the werewolf part is a secret, well … I couldn't go pounding on Slughorn's office door either. So I went outside to guard the entrance, but when a witch and wizard came out of it, I knew that something had gone wrong and came back to the castle."
"Why didn't you at least try to tell someone else, such as Madam Pomfrey?" asked McGonagall.
James' mouth dropped open. Of course, she's in the infirmary all the time and knew that Remus was a werewolf. However, she didn't know that his friends knew, and went blabbing about it to Snape. But if someone ended up hurt or dead, it outweighed the risk. Of course after the fact, it was easier to see it so clearly.
"Did someone get hurt?" James asked.
McGonagall sniffed loudly before replying, "Yes, Potter. Three … Helen Parkin was killed. Mary MacDonald crippled and now a werewolf herself. Lily Evans was mauled and may also be a werewolf."
Evans! "How … but …" James was having trouble putting this together. Sirius tells Snape and three Gryffindor girls were attacked?
Dumbledore explained, "Those three young ladies inquired after Severus's welfare after this afternoon's brawl, and he mentioned that Black told him of the secret passage. Sadly, whenever a Gryffindor smells a possible adventure, they enthusiastically wanted to investigate it with the fine weather tonight and plenty of time left before curfew."
"Oh no."
"Yes. It was fortunate they brought their gentleman friends along, or else they may have all ended up dead."
"Huh?"
"Two of the young ladies were in negotiations for formal betrothals, so of course, they'd insist that their beaus accompany them on such a beautiful moonlit night, in case the secret passage turned out to be some myth created by Black."
Evans? Betrothed? MacDonald he could believe. She probably talked Evans into it. Parkin had some delusion about playing professional quidditch for the Wigtown Wanderers because they always had a Parkin on the team. If only Evans said something to him. He'd outbid whoever, and then they'd be happy.
This was going to take some thought. This other bloke might think himself in love with Evans if he didn't care that she was all green and marked up. A werewolf though … a girl didn't recover from that. In James's mind, he still saw Evans as she was in June. Lovely with beautiful hair and skin. And now she suffered some injury from Remus. Was it her face, or somewhere else? It could be minor, and it may be that she wasn't a werewolf. Maybe this would be enough to scare whoever off, and then … well, his parents wouldn't be keen on her at first. They wouldn't like her being mauled. And they wouldn't like her being green when they first met her. Crap. Unlike Sirius, James liked his parents. He wouldn't tell them to go … go whatever if they didn't approve of his decisions. He'd have to work this out with them, and then they could present Evans's parents with a formal offer if she wasn't disfigured or a werewolf. Remus looked like crap at least one week a month.
"Are the others all right?" James asked. He almost forgot to respond, with all the planning he needed to do and information he needed.
"Messrs. Wilkes and Rosier have gone home for a couple days. Mr. Snape seemed to have a head injury from earlier in the day so he was readmitted to St. Mungo's. He was truthful and said he did not seek medical treatment from Madam Pomfrey, but I cannot feel that this continued abuse of his person and then waving him in front of healers is doing the school's reputation any good."
Wilkes! Of course, that slimy bastard was laying it on thick with Evans on the train. MacDonald wanted family and money so she must be with Rosier. But Snape and Parkin? If someone wasn't dead and he was unable to restrain his levity, James would think it probable she preferred the werewolf to that. Oh gosh. Did their mutual jealousy of his quidditch skills join them with a common interest? That's just too sad to think about. Parkin was a bit of a dog, but she wasn't that homely.
McGonagall interrupted James's rapidly firing thoughts, "Your parents were here earlier. They are expecting you at home."
"But what about …?" James started. It was so late, and everything had already taken place. What could he do now?
"I think they'd be relieved that you have been found," Dumbledore said. "I can contact them in the morning with my decision."
James swallowed hard. Decision? Was he expelled?
"You can use my floo. I'll open it for you, Potter," Dumbledore said, rising from behind his desk.
"Right," James muttered. "I'm sorry. If I knew it was going to get this … tragic. I would have told Filch, told Slughorn, told everyone I could."
Dumbledore put his hand on his shoulder, "I'm sure you would have, James."
Remus Lupin came to his senses naked. That was to be expected. What puzzled him was he was not in the Shrieking Shack with his garments stowed up the chimney for him to garb himself before Madam Pomfrey came to fetch him.
He was also in more pain than he usually was, and he felt full. Really full. Like he had gorged himself on all the food on their table at Hogwarts, and then tucked in at the neighboring table to eat more afters.
Why was he in a prison cell?
"Hello?" he called to the grill in the door.
Remus heard someone approach, but the person did not put his face up to the door where he could see it. "What's your name?"
"Um, Remus Lupin. Could I …?"
"You can have the blanket on the bed, werewolf. We didn't want to contact your parents before we confirmed your identity."
His parents? "Where am I?"
"You are in a holding cell. Magical Law Enforcement apprehended you overnight."
Why wouldn't Dumbledore take care of any problems? Why was he a prisoner of the Ministry? "I think there's been a mistake made. I'm a Hogwarts student."
"You may be, but you were a rampaging werewolf when you were brought in."
Grabbing the blanket, he wrapped it around himself. What had his friends done? Or had he gotten away from James and Sirius and then attacked someone? As he wrapped the blanket around himself, he rubbed his hands over his distended stomach and realized what could be inside him.
Remus started puking.
Lily awoke. She didn't like how St. Mungo's forced sleeping potions on the patients. A sleeping patient was a quiet patient, she thought sarcastically.
This room had a window. It was already morning, and she missed everything.
She was out of bed and heading to the door to check on Mary, when she realized Severus was asleep on another bed. He was in hospital pajamas, and from the way he was totally oblivious to her peering at him, Lily knew he was also dosed by a healer. Had he been hurt last night, or did he somehow convince them to let him stay? The other two beds in this room were empty and made up.
Her observation of her snoring friend was disturbed by Healer Pye entering the room. "They aren't so nice down here, Evans. You should get back to bed. I just popped in to check on how my favorite two patients from September were doing."
"Weren't we your only patients?"
"I do other things here, I'll have you know. I'm actually your friend's healer again since he's not damaged by a creature. We don't have a ward for getting injured due to non-magical means," she explained with a smile. "Not much call for it."
"Can you tell me how Mary is?"
"Um, I don't know much. Different ward, different healers. I hardly even know why you're here except a werewolf grabbed you by the shoulders."
"That's about it," Lily said. She was bandaged still, but the pain was greatly reduced from how it felt last night.
Healer Pye turned her attention to Severus and started casting charms.
"What's wrong with Severus?"
"Hm? Oh, someone dragged him out to fight a werewolf when he had a concussion from having his head beat against a stone wall. Helbert was probably going to admit him anyway and call it nerves and hysteria."
"Severus does not get hysteria."
Pye shrugged and suggested, "Severely agitated? Besides, no parent was here to pick him up. He'd have been sent back to Hogwarts so the cracked noggin kept him here."
"Severus was very level-headed when it counted," Lily insisted. She could understand stretching the truth to keep Severus here, but hysteria would be an outright lie. His medical record was messed up enough already without them adding he was prone to some neurosis.
"Probably saved your other friend from bleeding to death, or was it you? You've said like a hundred times that you plan on being a healer. I don't think you ever mentioned Snape was handy with healing charms too."
Lily frowned. She did not know what Severus had cast other than saving her face from getting bitten off. She was aware he stopped Mary's bleeding when Malcolm couldn't, but when they finally escaped and got to St. Mungo's, they hadn't gotten a chance to talk about it because Lily's shoulders needed to be sorted, and Severus was separated from her before her blouse came off.
"I helped keep the werewolf from getting back on its feet," Lily replied. It was terrifying how it kept wriggling back together. It was horrible to keep it under a constant bombardment of spells, but they hadn't gone out there prepared for a werewolf.
Pye nodded as she wrote some notes. Closing the folder, she advised, "Just remember to behave yourself down here, Evans. They like their patients to stay put, and not running all over the ward."
Lily crossed her arms over her chest, but then winced when her shoulders didn't like her defiant hunch. How dare she get talked to like a child? She was sixteen and knew how to act.
With a huff, she threw herself into the chair next to Severus's bed. When was he going to wake up? He did look a lot less green than he did the last time they were in St. Mungo's. Lily wasn't used to seeing his skin against a white background. She put her arm out to study it against the sheets, and then decided to go look in the bathroom mirror at herself.
While she was in there, someone knocked on the door. "Hello, I need your five knuts for the paper."
Crap! Lily knew that from the last time she was here. She didn't have any money. Maybe Healer Pye? When she opened the door, Lily said, "Um, can I pay it later?"
"No. It's five knuts upon delivery. If you didn't want it, you are to suspend your subscription when you are admitted."
Lily didn't like this woman's attitude. How was she supposed to worry about a newspaper last night?
She went over and nudged Severus. When he didn't respond, she shook him, "Severus."
He woke with a shudder, blinking hard, but realized Lily needed him.
"Do you have five knuts?"
Severus opened his mouth, but couldn't be bothered uttering a response. Of course, if Lily Evans was awake, everyone should be awake. Money, money, money, he thought while trying to fight the effects of a sleeping draught he was given barely four hours ago that was designed to keep a wizard up to twice his weight asleep for at least eight hours.
Rolling over to get his feet on the floor, Severus rose and slowly turned to open the cabinet where his clothes were, and rubbed the area of his robe where he had money hidden under a charm keyed to only him. He counted out five knuts while he wrestled not to yawn and painfully lost.
He gave the money to Lily, and waited for her to tell him what else she needed while fighting off some shivers and another yawn, as the cooling bed tried to lure him back.
When she took the paper and went to sit down to read it, Severus thought two things. The first was 'fuck' in his father's distinctive voice. The second was that being attacked by a werewolf and possibly getting turned into one didn't seem to have changed Lily one bit. He had been fearful that Lily would hold him responsible for the whole evening, or at least part of it. It wasn't, but rational thinking had never been her strong point.
Severus had already climbed back into bed, gotten situated and had taken a deep breath as he closed his eyes, when Lily started talking … to him, since there was no one else here. "I can't believe this. It's in the Prophet but they … I can't believe it. They … oooh! Sev! It's wrong."
Sensing that the pause in her rant was for his response, he said, "So?"
"So? So? There's no mention of Black. Who that werewolf was. Not even that it happened in the Shrieking Shack."
"Cancel your subscription," he muttered.
From a lot nearer, Lily demanded, "And look here at the end … it says 'Other Hogwarts students present were Lily Evans and Severus Snape'."
Severus opened his eyes to a picture of the Hogwart's front gates in his face. "What do you want me to do? At least if it made the paper, we may not be obliviated."
"Obliviated? Why?"
"That's what the Ministry hires Oblivators to do. Anything they don't like can be made to not happen."
"They can't do that. There's too many people. I'd like to see them try to obliviate McGonagall or Dumbledore."
"Well, as you said too many people. That's why the story isn't the way you remember it. Stay quiet, and maybe they'll let you remember it."
"What? Severus! How can you be so … so … so paranoid that you think there's a cover up?"
"Why do you think Wilkes and Rosier are locked up tight in their family homes?"
"They're mourning, Sev."
"Remember this tool?" Severus asked pointing at the byline.
"Barnabas Cuffe? He was head boy when we were in first year."
"And Slughorn's puppet. His hand was so far up Cuffe's arse that you could see Slughorn's lips moving whenever Cuffe talked."
"Severus!"
"It would be simple for Cuffe to kiss up to someone else. He has no self respect. Probably writes for extra salary too. Black could pay plenty to keep his name out, or his family could. Black might think his name in the paper's a good thing."
"But Dumbledore wouldn't let that happen."
Severus looked at Lily and made a face. Why did everyone think Dumbledore was so great? Twelve uses of dragon blood? They already knew ten, and possibly an eleventh when he came onto the scene. And Grindelwald? Someone was sure to beat him, he was a nutter. Severus did not see much difference between him as a dark wizard threatening Europe and the war his father fought in.
If Dumbledore were such a great educator, how come his mother did not mention him as one of her favorite teachers? She used to talk about others, even Kettleburn. Although she didn't have Magical Creatures, she did regale young Severus with tales of his colorful personality. One of the leading reasons why Severus did not take his course.
Now that Dumbledore was headmaster, he was free to set his own schedule to be missing from the school, drink tea with Slughorn to discuss all their pressing social engagements, and eat dessert in the Great Hall. A student stashing a werewolf on or near the school grounds was probably worth a couple floo calls to keep things as quiet as possible. Dumbledore wanted everyone's attention on him and He Who Must Not Be Named. Typical Gryffindor.
Just look at Lily complaining she was not prominently mentioned in the article. Why would she want people to think she may be a werewolf now? They could wait four weeks to find out, and then if she was, Severus would have had four weeks to think about it and what he could do. There were married werewolves so he could have legal rights to assist in protecting her. Scars on her shoulders certainly wouldn't bother him, but her craving to eat flesh, even if she wasn't a werewolf, how was he going to deal with that? Severus was going to have to learn the proper way to cook it. His mother boiled everything to kill anything extra in the food, but he knew that was not considered edible by most people. He certainly didn't like it.
"Well?" Lily asked.
"Well what?" he replied. His annoyance was only kept in check by the overwhelming tiredness washing over him.
"You were thinking."
"Yes. I don't have enough evidence to reach a conclusion. Is that sufficient?" Severus asked in return.
"You don't think it a coincidence there was a werewolf there?"
"No, I don't, but it seems extreme even for Black. What good does it do him to kill me off? Even if he had a perfect plan to have me just mysteriously disappear from school and never come back, what does that do for him?"
"I have no idea."
"I don't know, Lily. It's going to take time to figure out, and no one may ever tell us what went into planning last night."
"But we deserve to know. Our lives were in danger."
"We should let the others work on it then. Parkin's family certainly wants to know. Wilkes and Rosier's know people. I'm not sure about MacDonald's, but I'm sure they have questions too."
"What about us, Severus?"
"Lily, neither of us is well. Why don't we wait to see what happens and what information becomes available? Waving a newspaper at me is not going to answer your questions." All this thinking about Lily and her demands for things that were beyond his control was literally making his head hurt.
Lily explained, "I didn't expect you to, Sev."
"Could I have some more time to rest this morning? I was doing things till those healers caught up to me, and it was close to dawn when I laid down." He was exaggerating a bit since dawn in November was later, but how else was he going to get Lily to let up on him?
"You should have said something earlier."
"I didn't know it would hit me this hard, Lily. I usually don't need much sleep, but with whatever potion they gave me and an injury that I thought I recovered from, it's too much."
Lily put her hand on his forehead. This was the second time in a month that Severus admitted such a thing. Maybe it was not a new honesty between them, but her friend just reached a point where he couldn't bounce back from something that laid up others.
Severus reached up and removed her hand from his forehead, but continued holding it. He rolled onto his side to face Lily and looked into her eyes. Was she really going to let him go back to sleep?
Lily remained quiet while Severus drifted to sleep while she held his hand and noticed that one of his eyes was bloodshot. If she hadn't been dosed with various potions, she would have spent the night sleepless till almost dawn too. They could have been killed last night. Not the almost killed that her mother or even Severus used to signify a degree of danger, but as in almost killed because they entered that house and ascended the stairs to face a werewolf. She could have been first up the stairs, if Severus hadn't been holding her hand in the tunnel. Lily could also had her head removed by the werewolf, if Severus had not been close to her on the stairs or hesitated to follow her into that room.
What if she had died last night? She'd never come home from school again for holidays with her family. From school … well, besides Severus … who would do something? Would that matter once she was dead? If Sirius Black could cover up his involvement in Helen's death, would he be punished if Lily died instead? Lily owed it to Helen to do something. What could she do that Helen's parents weren't? Lily had been there, but she was not with Helen in her last minutes. How long had Helen been dead? Severus detected two people upstairs, but they would have heard something if Helen had been ripped apart after that spell. Oh … the werewolf is counted as a person? It was one and Mary as two? None of them had a reason to believe something deadly was waiting in the shack. Just some stupid Marauder prank.
A stupid Marauder prank for Severus. Severus was the intended victim. Would he had been ripped to pieces like Helen? They had speculated that Mary's wand hand had been bitten off because she was able to cast at least one spell at the werewolf before it turned on her, or maybe after it mauled her. Even if Severus had his wand out, if the werewolf bit off his hand that would have been just the first part of him to be devoured.
Although Lily should have considered at some point that one of her fellow Gryffindors' pranks could be lethal to her best friend, there was no possible interpretation that would make a werewolf an innocent prank gone wrong. If Severus had died, what would Lily feel? Probably disbelief at first. Her best friend could get hurt, however his inner self was indestructible. Then guilt? Not that she wouldn't have done her best to save him from the werewolf, if she could, but everything before that. Lily knew her own indecisive mind very well, but what if she missed the opportunity to learn what made Severus tick? To simply say she did not understand her best friend of years didn't explain his complexity. She loved what a puzzle he was, when he wasn't being a total prat. A confused prat who said he wanted to marry her. Lily understood some of his logic, but he was so close-minded about meeting others and talking to them to get friendly. If he had ended up a dead confused prat, Lily would have also felt guilt towards how she was not answering his proposal directly. She was beginning to think no one would respect her and make her feel as wonderful as Severus so she'd probably say 'yes'. It definitely didn't mean now, or in January, or over the summer, or even soon after they graduated. Lily had too much to do before that sort of thing. Severus should make an effort to understand her point of view, rather than being so stubborn. Perhaps now that she was injured, and her life threatened, he'd finally concede? Lily missed their newfound physical closeness.
Breakfast arrived as Lily was contemplating how to broach the subject with Severus. She rolled her eyes at his two bottles of stout, but left them for him. Idiot wizards.
Lily finished her breakfast and was getting terribly bored staying in this room. She had nothing to read, other than the unreliable The Daily Prophet. Healer Pye was probably just kidding around, she decided as she left to inquire about Mary and possibly visit her.
His parents' solicitor had procured his release around dawn, and escorted Sirius home to wait for the Ministry to scratch its collective backside and admit they were wrong. Parkin was a terrible quidditch player, but Sirius had not set out to kill her. He hadn't even tried to get her removed from the house team, just to get James back on it, and in his rightful place as captain. Accidents happen, and she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. If they wanted to hold someone accountable, it should be Snape. He was a lying bastard from what he heard from Dumbledore. Of course, he and the other Slytherins ran. How could Dumbledore believe anything they said?
The truth would come out soon enough. MacDonald and Evans would tell them how they saved the others, and how Parkin was probably the most valiant of them all. Might get a ton of points for their house too, and then Sirius's detention would be over. He went to sleep with a smile on his face to dream about how sad Filch would be when he found out.
Sirius Black was woken up by that foul excuse for a toadying house elf, Kreacher. His mother doted on the loathsome beast. Sirius, on the other hand, did not, and hexed its ears, fingers and towel before it retreated from his room. Why did he need to get up at any time? It wasn't as if he had class for the rest of the week. He had no desire to join his parents for breakfast or any other meal. It was an inconvenience to him to even have to stay here at all. Now if James had gone along with the joke, he probably could have gotten suspended too and Sirius could be at the Potters right now enjoying a lie in.
Some time after Sirius went back to sleep, there was a pounding upon his door along with his mother shrieking. He sneered towards it and put pillows over his head, prior to casting silencio. That woman may be his mother, but she was a real trial.
His eyes had barely closed when Sirius was rudely hauled out of his bed by his ankles. He glared at his mother in the doorway who was holding her wand, returning the same glare at her son.
Sirius had another thing coming if he thought he was going to lounge around Walburga Black's house like he was on holiday. Her and Orion had lost enough sleep over his latest outrage.
"Get up and dressed. We're leaving for France, and the portkey is already in hand. Kreacher will pack what you'll need."
"Why would I want to go to France?" Sirius asked from where he had been dumped on the floor. He wasn't interested in one of his mother's shopping trips to Paris. Merlin!
"To get you out of England. You have a marriage offer, and we've decided to go ahead and negotiate. Her father's with the French Ministry so as long as you can behave yourself, you won't be brought back here in chains."
"I ain't going."
"We won't keep you out of Azkaban."
"Stop trying to scare me. I didn't do anything."
Walburga studied her son. He was not a good liar. Was he really so mad he didn't understand what a werewolf could do, once he let it loose on other students? No matter, the girl was half-veela and she'd be deciding what was right and wrong for him, if all went well. That's why Orion and her had decided to do this, rather than sending Sirius to Durmstrang. Sirius needed a keeper, even if she wasn't a pureblood. He and his would not inherit, and putting him in France would spare the rest of the family from his embarrassing and very costly behavior. How much would the Blacks have to pay to get this family to take him off their hands? Orion wanted him to serve his time in Azkaban, but Walburga felt that with a wife to guide her older son, he may just settle down. Orion was just a formless lump of clay before she took charge of him.
It wasn't till later in the day, when Sirius met Apolline that he realized that French girls … no, women, were far superior to any female at Hogwarts. She was perfect in every way, and told him confidentially how impressed she was with his roguish good looks. She said her parents had tried to fix her up with other young wizards already, but none of them were as handsome and charming as Sirius.
If Sirius had met her sooner, he never would have planned to remain an unfettered bachelor for most of his life. Whatever their parents were negotiating was unimportant. If they couldn't come to a decision, Sirius was sure he could charm this dainty beauty into eloping with him. Now that he met the woman of his dreams, there was no way he'd let them be parted.
James was up early. His parents were truly upset with him last night. He couldn't bear the thought that they'd he'd do anything like … whatever it was that happened last night.
First off, he would never betray Remus's secret. Even in jest. Friends didn't do that sort of thing.
Secondly, James was intelligent enough to know that a werewolf was dangerous. Sirius, Peter, and him may go out for romps on moonlit nights, but they were always careful to stay away from people. James was not an irresponsible berk.
And finally, even if he didn't like, or maybe loathed, or really hated with all his heart some dark arts-using greasy git, he wouldn't want that person to die a horribly painful death. If he had to exist at all, he should be in Azkaban or have his wand snapped and forced to live like a muggle … in some backwater like Australia or the United States.
The Daily Prophetbarely mentioned Evans. Maybe she was all right. Was she back at school in the Infirmary? Probably, since James was stuck at home.
Lily spent a couple hours in Mary's room in an attempt to cheer her up, but it seemed for naught. They were both having trouble understanding that Helen was really gone. It seemed so pointless. Mary had only become more upset when Lily speculated on why it happened so she tried to focus on the positive, such as Mary's face was not marred. However, Mary was focused on the loss of her wand hand and becoming a werewolf. The injuries crisscrossing her torso that would remain horrible scars were just icing on the cake to her. Lily left when lunch was brought round. Mary's parents were talking about her not returning to Hogwarts and staying home. Home for good.
When Lily walked into her hospital room, Severus was awake and writing. He put aside his quill and asked, "What news have you gathered in your search?"
She rolled eyes at him before she remembered that's what she told him she intended to do. "Nothing. Mary's awake and very upset."
"Of course."
Sighing loudly, Lily looked around and guessed that their meals would be here shortly. "So what have you been up to?"
"Just writing some letters. You should write your parents."
"I will. I'm just not ready, Sev."
"Don't you write home all the time? They'll think the worst if they only receive a letter from the school, or even the hospital."
"Oh darn. What would I say? I mean if I don't mention," she waved one hand around, "this, and they have a letter saying otherwise ..."
"You'll be caught. You keep it simple and say you'll write again soon? You should also mention that you might have contracted something. I don't know. To muggles, a werewolf would sound ridiculous."
"Can't I wait on that?"
"If anyone else says it, they may be angry with you and think the rest of your letter is unreliable. Additionally, you and all of us should be prepared for the worst. You can't go home in June, with a large cage in tow and explain how it's for their own safety. You love your family, Lily, and if you have gotten lycanthropy, would you want that to be the reason you stop seeing them?"
"I wouldn't stop seeing them over that."
"If you start cutting them out of your life now, it'll just get easier as time goes on."
"That's fine advice coming from you. You hate your parents."
Severus frowned at Lily, and tried to choose his words carefully, "I don't believe my family hates each other. Dislike, and perhaps loath, would be more accurate. If I hated them, I would be actively working to make their lives miserable. I don't. It might be fair to say that they are perfectly capable of being miserable without my help, but I don't take advantage of it.
"You have always stressed to me that your family comes first for you, Lily. Even Petunia. I believe I've done my best to respect that, especially when your parents are so hospitable. Would you neglect them due to Sirius Black?"
Lily didn't know what to make of what Severus said about his own family, but when he talked about hers it made sense. Although she was a witch, and only needed to see her family over the summer holiday till she was seventeen, Lily wanted to see them for every break and wrote home much more than other students. Her parents, especially her mother, told her they loved receiving her letters because they missed and loved her so much. She knew they weren't just saying that because Lily felt the same way. Severus understood.
But Sirius Black. She recalled how anxious she was after talking to Petunia when he approached her at work. How angry she still felt after finding out that Black, Potter, and Pettigrew were lurking about her neighborhood and abused muggles. If Lily thought her family was in danger due to her, she supposed she would do the right thing and distance herself. It had already crossed her mind that if she was a werewolf, she'd want to avoid her family because of the danger. Perhaps it would be as Severus said, she'd find it easier to make excuses not to see them. She was almost an adult so it would seem natural.
Still, until last night or this morning, Lily had every intention of staying with her family past her seventeenth birthday, and possibly for a while after she graduated from Hogwarts. That bullying toerag, Sirius Black, was forcing her into changing her plans … through fear. Even if she saw her parents during safe times, Lily knew how ruthless he was. The lot of them knew the whereabouts of her parents' house. Would it be the greatest prank ever to find out where Lily transformed and set her loose on her own family? Or better yet, charmingly introduce themselves to her mum, let her serve them tea and sandwiches, and then drop a werewolf on her.
Severus recognized Lily was getting angry while she thought. He amended what he said, "Or not. I don't want to offend you by trying to tell you what to do. Whatever you feel is best, Lily."
"It's not that, Sev. I'm worried about their safety and … I don't think I'll be able to stand not knowing for the next four weeks. What'll I tell them come Christmas? Either way."
"Christmas? I don't think you can use King's Cross. Maybe by Easter."
"What?"
"I don't know. No one's bothered to tell me. Since I stay at the school each year, you'd probably be the one they make plans for. Your parents don't have a fireplace that I haven't seen?"
"No."
"Even a temporary floo connection would be out of the question then. Maybe one of the staff would apparate you home through side-along."
"They may not want to risk it. Even though I'd stay inside, my house has a bad reputation for breaking rules."
"McGonagall can be fair," Severus replied to assure Lily, without adding how impotent she was with the Headmaster reversing her decisions. If she was head of Gryffindor in more than just name, no one would have died last night.
"So what do you do when you stay over the holiday, Sev? I don't think I've ever asked you."
Severus knew why Lily had never asked him. She came back all excited, and then spent the next week locked up with MacDonald and Parkin swapping stories. She'd give him the abbreviated version in Potions, gushing over the presents she got. Lily always thanked him for whatever she received from him, no matter how small it was compared to others. "It's quiet. The library is only open a couple hours each day. And the staff doesn't complain if students stroll over to the kitchens and help themselves. Keeps whoever's there out of their way if they want to drink each other under the table."
"Severus! Stop making things up. It was a serious question."
"That was a serious answer. There's so few people there that we all need to sit together. Slughorn told the handful of us that were there my first year that we could go to the kitchens, if we wanted to be excused from eating with the staff."
Lily made a face. Severus hadn't said it in a sarcastic or disdainful way, but Slughorn wouldn't be doing him any favors. It could be as simple as there would be more food for him, if he sent the children away. Dumbledore certainly wouldn't mind a bit more dessert.
As their lunches arrived, Lily realized she had begun to dislike Hogwarts. Helen's death may put her close to Severus, but all in all, she couldn't say she personally suffered more than him at school.