Serena Black || 𝑳𝒖𝒎𝒐𝒔

Nothing but the truth

Serena knew the roughest parts of the story, but she listened raptly. Harry, Ron and Hermione also seemed spellbound by his words. Even her father listened intently to his words, as if he had never heard this story before. "Every month they would sneak out of the castle under James' cloak of invisibility. I was less dangerous under their influence. My body was still that of a wolf, but when I was with them I felt more like a human. I don't think any Hogwarts student ever found out more about the castle and the lands than we did. And so we decided to write the marauder's map and sign it with our nicknames. Sirius is Padfoot. Peter is Wormtail. James was Prongs."

"What an animal ... ?" Harry wanted to know, but Hermione interrupted him. "It was still very dangerous! Walking around in the dark with a werewolf."

"You're right," Lupin agreed with her thoughtfully, "But we were young and we thought with our acumen we could do anything. I won't hide the fact that sometimes things got dicey. One day, it all came back to me. You must have noticed that Professor Snape doesn't like me very much. The reason is that Sirius played a trick on him that almost cost him his life."

"Served him right,' croaked his friend. "Snooping around, trying to find out what we were up to. He just wanted us to get expelled!"

"Snape was very keen to know where I disappeared to every month. Sirius thought it was a... well, funny idea to tell Snape that all he had to do was touch the knot at the Whomping Willow with a long stick and then he could follow me. Only, of course Snape tried it, but James, hearing what Sirius had done, ran after Snape and dragged him back..."

Serena's eyes widened. So he had very well tried to kill someone in his youth. Although Snape would have been no particular loss in her opinion, there was still a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. At least now she knew why her Potions teacher hadn't necessarily taken a fancy to her.

"And that's why Snape doesn't like you?" asked Harry slowly. "Because he thought you knew about Sirius' joke?"

Suddenly, Serena was grabbed from behind. Panicked, she looked around the room, but everyone present was still in their seats. They looked similarly frightened as she was. She started to fight back with her hands and feet, but when she looked behind her, there was only air and dust. As if by an invisible hand, she was then pulled roughly upwards by the collar and gasped as the tie almost cut off her air.

"That's right," said a cold voice near her ear, sending goose bumps down her spine. Her heart slipped down her skirt. Please don't. Severus Snape, who had obviously been catching the conversation for some time, tore off his cloak triumphantly. With his free hand, which he had not pierced into Serena's cloak, he threatened Lupin with his wand.

Desperately, the Gryffindor tried to loosen his firm grip on her hood, but either he didn't notice that she was almost choking or he simply didn't care. As Hermione cried out brightly, her father jumped to his feet. He pointed accusingly at his former classmate. "Get your filthy hands off her!"

"How touching." But Snape only gripped her tighter and grinned dirtily. He tossed aside the cloak of invisibility without even briefly turning his wand away from Lupin's chest and eyed the erupted occupant with disgust. "But your fingers are the only dirty ones here."

"I've warned the Headmaster time and time again that you're helping your old friend Black get into the school, Lupin, and here's the proof. But not even I dreamed that you would have the nerve to use this old hut as a hideout," Snape continued after a few seconds, having continued to savour the moment of triumph. Fortunately, he had loosened his grip a little so that Serena was able to breathe again, but still hung in his clutches like a defenceless kitten grabbed by the scruff of the neck.