"Briar Lupin had dreamt, predicted, foreseen death more times than she cared to admit. If she actually remembered all of the times it had occurred, at least."
Sequel to Blue.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CHAPTER TWELVE
THERE AND THEN
✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪
BRIAR FELT FROZEN in place, like the victims of Pompeii suffocated by ash and the anguish of the earth. It was just that her demise hadn't happened. It was just the sight of her dad being threatened that kept her still. The idea of any of her family getting hurt was a fear no Dementor could recreate because it was so deeply embedded into her heart and brain and bones that it only surfaced at these moments. Her other fears — like when she was younger, and she was secretly terrified of werewolves, or more recently, when her most present fear was the idea of her Inner Eye becoming blind — were ones she'd admit regardless of the time, even if it was just to herself.
"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," said Snape. He threw the Invisibility Cloak onto the floor, keeping her wand pointed directly at Remus. "Very useful, Potter, I thank you..."
Laurel said, "No offence, Sev, but dear Harry suits dear James' hair more than that idiot that was obsessed with my darling L—"
"Maybe, Crouch, you should keep quiet when I'm one spell away from killing your husband," said Snape. Laurel, in that moment, resembled every photograph Briar had seen of her mother when she was eighteen, and during the war — her eyes had softened over time, but right now, if looks could kill, Snape would've been bleeding on the ground already.
Calmly, Laurel responded, "Maybe, Sev, you should remember what you found out during the war. I still know the spells."
Snape glowered at Laurel and turned to Remus. "You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" he said.
In the moment that Laurel had been speaking, Briar had crossed her arms, internally joyful that she wasn't so terrified on her dad's behalf that she couldn't move. She was still scared out of her mind, but the more Briar thought about it, the more Briar realised how Snape was chasing vengeance that happened between teenage boys. Her best friends were teenage boys. She knew how stupid they could get.
"It was more like," said Briar, "I was wondering when you'd leave."
In her peripheral vision, Briar could've sworn she saw Ron put his hand on his mouth to stop himself from laughing. She felt an odd sense of pride from that.
"I've just been to your office, Crouch," said Snape, ignoring Briar's comment, even though Laurel was beaming proudly from it. Remus would've, but was currently at wand-point. "I was looking for Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky I did... lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."
