Emily Potter-Book 3-Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter 9

"Sorry I'm late, Professor Lupin, I was – " Emily stopped shortly after seeing Severus Snape in place of their Dark Arts professor, her eyes moved over to her brother's who had been staring at her, looking just as oblivious as she was, "Sorry. I must have gotten the wrong room, erm – have I?" Emily awkwardly looked around and noted the various instruments on the shelves and the usual stacks of interesting artefacts scattered around the windows that were now shut and the glass cabinets that decorated the walls.

"Sit down, Miss Potter, before I deduct ten points for your tardiness."

"Right. Sorry." Emily sat down next to Daphne, still feeling unsettled by the fact that their real professor was not there with them. "Sorry – Where's Professor Lupin, sir?"

"Ill." Professor Snape quickly answered, not bothering to waste any time further on a useless discussion. "Nothing life-threatening, I assure you. Do you have any more detours to share with the class before I start my lesson, Miss Potter?"

"No, sir."

"Good." He spun on his heel and began to write with an enchanted piece of chalk that wrote for him while he prepared the projector. "As I was saying before being interrupted, today we shall discuss – " He tapped his wand on the contraption and on the blackboard glowed an image of a dark-furred creature that bared a set of canine teeth, "Werewolves."

From the desk over, Emily caught wind of Pansy whispering to Millicent, "I'd bet you anything that this is because of the howl from the other day – "

"Despite what you children may have heard," Snape crudely snapped, "There are no werewolves that reside within the Forbidden Forest, at least not ones that I will be discussing today, and with that being said I'd like for all of you to discard these foolish whispers that will no doubt just make anyone lose what little brain cells they have left." His dark eyes settled on Emily, "Am I being clear?"

"Yes, sir." The class said in glum unison. Emily remained quiet and carried on to focus on the lesson. At the table behind her, she heard the familiar sound of Hermione's sleeve ruffling down to her arm whenever she raised her hand to be noticed by the professor. "But, Professor Snape, we're not yet supposed to discuss werewolves today – we're due to study Hinkypunks this week." She told him, utterly confused by the sudden change in syllabus.

Professor Snape paid no attention to her while he flipped through the pages of the textbook. "Fortunately for me, Miss Granger, I am teaching the class today, therefore I have free reign of which direction your studies go. If you have no more questions to disrupt my class, then I urge everyone to turn to page three-hundred and ninety-four."

Emily swiped out her book from her bag and flipped to the right page, her nerves going on edge by the imagery of a wolf and a werewolf set side by side to be used in the comparison. She looked up and grimaced when she saw Snape had been watching her reaction.

"Can anyone tell me how to distinguish between a werewolf from a grey wolf?" Professor Snape asked the class, slowly walking around the room, his presence mildly making their anxiety jump off the edge. Emily looked back at her book and quickly noted the size and shape of the snout, the thickness of fur, the shape and overall appearance of the eyes, and most noticeably the size of each creature.

Emily looked behind her and guessed correctly that Hermione had raised her hand to answer. Usually, she would love to compete with her, though today seemed not to be the time for a game of wits. Professor Snape intentionally ignored the Gryffindor and proceeded to flicker through the slides of the presentation he showed on the board, "Anyone?"

Don't do it, Granger, don't – "Sir, a true werewolf differs from a common wolf by the length of their snout," Emily heard her say quite defeatedly, "They have shorted snouts and much more human-like eyes along with a bigger, longer build that makes them able to walk on their hindlegs – "