O, CURSED CHILD. ﹙ harry potter ﹚

XVI ; pettigrew the traitor

            "miss granger, you are already facing suspension from this school," snape spat. "you, potter, lestrange, and weasley are out-of-bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. for once in your life, hold your tongue."

            "but if — if there was a mistake —"

            "KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" snape shouted, looking suddenly quite deranged. "DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" a few sparks shot out of the end of his wand, which was still pointed at black's face. hermione fell silent.

            something in elara was tightening. for an authority figure, snape was acting like a madman, insulting students and harming another professor who did nothing to provoke him. snape was really holding onto a grudge formed over sixteen years ago. snape was acting like a child with anger issues, there was no doubt about it.

            "vengeance is very sweet," snape breathed at black. "how i hoped i would be the one to catch you..."

            "the joke's on you again, severus," black snarled. "as long as this boy brings his rat up to the castle" — he jerked his head at ron — "i'll come quietly..."

            "up to the castle?" said snape silkily. "i don't think we need to go that far. all i have to do is call the dementors once we get out of the willow. they'll be very pleased to see you, black...pleased enough to give you a little kiss, i daresay... i —"

            what little color there was in black's face left it.

            "you — you've got to hear me out," he croaked. "the rat — look at the rat —"

            but there was a mad glint in snape's eyes that elara had never seen before. he seemed beyond reason.

            "come on, all of you," he said. he clicked his fingers, and the ends of the cords that bound lupin flew to his hands. "i'll drag the werewolf. perhaps the dementors will have a kiss for him too —"

            maybe it was the way snape was treating professor lupin and expressing his desire to subject him to the kiss, because before elara knew what she was doing, she and harry had crossed the room in three strides and blocked the door together.

            "get out of the way, you two, you're in enough trouble already," snarled snape. "if i hadn't been here to save your skins —"

            "professor lupin could have killed me about a hundred times this year," harry said. "we've been alone with him loads of times, having defense lessons against the dementors. if he was helping black, why didn't he just finish me off then?"

            "don't ask me to fathom the way a werewolf's mind works," hissed snape. "get out of the way."

            "YOU'RE PATHETIC!" elara yelled. "JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OF YOU AT SCHOOL, YOU WON'T EVEN LISTEN — "

            "SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" snape shrieked, looking madder than ever. "like father, like son and like mother, like daughter! i have just saved your necks; you should be thanking me on bended knees! you would have been well served if he'd killed you, potter! you'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in black — now get out of the way, or i will make you. NOW GET OUT OF THE WAY, LESTRANGE!"

            elara made up her mind in a split second. the tightening sensation in her stomach had snapped. before snape could take even one step toward her, she had raised his wand.

            "expelliarmus!" she yelled — except that her wasn't the only voice that shouted. there was a blast that made the door rattle on its hinges; snape was lifted off his feet and slammed into the wall, then slid down it to the floor, a trickle of blood oozing from under his hair. he had been knocked out.