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chapter sixteen | the shrieking shack
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THE DOOR KICKED OPEN WITH A LOUD CRASH, Harry and Hermione both presenting themselves behind it. Upon the sight of a very rough looking Ron, they both dashed forward in a panic.
"Ron - are you okay?"
"Where's the dog?"
"Not a dog," Ron said, gritting his teeth in pain. "Harry it's a trap-"
"What-?"
"He's the dog," Maddie said, her voice shaking and her eyes fixated on the man still lurking in the shadows.
"He's an Animagus,"
Harry wheeled around. With a snap, Sirius Black closed the door behind them.
"Expelliarmus!" he croaked, pointing Ron's wand at the pair.
Harry's and Hermione's wands shot out of their hands, high in the air, and Black caught them. He then took a step closer, his eyes fixed on Harry.
"I thought you'd come and help your friend," he said hoarsely.
Maddie's breathing was brisk and unsteady.
"Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful...it will make everything much easier...."
Harry started forward at the taunt of his father, but Hermione immediately grabbed him to prevent him from edging the slightest bit closer.
"No, Harry!" she said through a petrified whisper.
Ron, however, turned to Black and started to stand up, despite his broken leg, and began speaking to him yet again.
"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" he said fiercely. The effort of standing upright was draining him of still more color, and he swayed slightly as he spoke. Maddie stared with a pained expression.
Something flickered in Black's shadowed eyes.
"Lie down," he said quietly to Ron. "You will damage that leg even more."
"Did you hear me?" Ron said weakly, though he was clinging painfully to Harry to stay upright. "You'll have to kill all three-"
"-Four," Maddie corrected, edging towards Ron's side.
Harry glanced at her sideways with a look of what seemed to be a mixture of surprise and gratitude - they were hardly close friends, of course, but Maddie meant what she said.
"-of us!"
"There'll be only one murder here tonight," said Black, and his grin widened.
"Why's that?" Harry spat, trying to wrench himself free of Ron, and Hermione. Maddie lunged forward and grabbed ahold of his arm to help the two. "Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those Muggles to get at Pettigrew...What's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?"
"Harry!" Hermione whimpered. "Be quiet!"
"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry roared, and with a huge effort he broke free of Maddie's, Hermione's and Ron's restraint and lunged forward.
"Harry, NO!"
Perhaps it was the shock of Harry doing something so stupid, but Black didn't raise the wands in time - one of Harry's hands fastened over his wrist, forcing the wand tips away. The knuckles of Harry's other hand collided with the side of Black's head and they fell, backward, into the wall.
Hermione was screaming, Ron was yelling, Maddie was swearing. There was a blinding flash as the wands in Black's hand sent a jet of sparks into the air that missed Harry's face by inches.
But Black's free hand had found Harry's throat.
"No," he hissed, "I've waited too long-"
His fingers tightened and Harry choked, his glasses askew. Maddie fidgeted in a panic. She had to do something. What could she do? She needed to think...
And then Hermione's foot swung out of nowhere. Black let go of Harry with a grunt of pain, as Ron threw himself on Black's wand hand. Maddie's hand clasped around the rags draped around the man in an attempt to hold him back, but a faint clatter soon sounded as she came tumbling down to the ground alongside her friends.
She couldn't see much, her hair was tangled around her face - but the girl swatted her arms around all the same searching for some kind of grip on the murderer.
A hiss sounded that told the girl Crookshanks had joined the fray.
"NO YOU DON'T!" roared Harry. Maddie didn't know why, she was struggling to free herself - but she did see him aim a kick at Crookshanks that made the cat leap aside, spitting. Harry snatched up his wand and turned.
"Get out of the way!" he shouted at the three.
They didn't need telling twice. Hermione, gasping for breath, her lip bleeding, scrambled aside, snatching up the other wands. Ron crawled to the four-poster and collapsed onto it, panting, his white face now tinged with green, both hands clutching his broken leg. Maddie threw herself as far back as possible, swearing loudly because she thumped her back on the corner of the bed.
Black was sprawled at the bottom of the wall. His thin chest rose and fell rapidly as he watched Harry walking slowly nearer, his wand pointing straight at Black's heart.
"Going to kill me, Harry?" he whispered.
Harry stopped right above him, his wand still pointing at Black's chest, looking down at him. A livid bruise was rising around Black's left eye and his nose was bleeding.
"You killed my parents," said Harry, his voice shaking slightly, but his wand hand quite steady.
Black stared up at him out of those sunken eyes.
"I don't deny it," he said very quietly. "But if you knew the whole story."
"The whole story?" Harry repeated, a furious pounding in his ears. "You sold them to Voldemort. That's all I need to know."
"You've got to listen to me," Black said, and there was a note of urgency in his voice now. "You'll regret it if you don't...You don't understand...."
"I understand a lot better than you think," said Harry, and his voice shook more than ever. "You never heard her, did you? My mum... trying to stop Voldemort killing me... and you did that... you did it...."
Maddie wasn't usually much of a softie but hearing Harry talking like this was breaking her heart.
Before either of them could say another word, Crookshanks leapt onto Black's chest and settled himself there, right over Black's heart. Black blinked and looked down at the cat.
"Get off," he murmured, trying to push Crookshanks off him.
But Crookshanks sank his claws into Black's robes and wouldn't shift. He turned his ugly, squashed face to Harry and looked up at him with those great yellow eyes. Hermione gave a dry sob.
"This is why I hate cats," Maddie muttered to Ron, who gave her a look in return that showed he agreed.
Harry raised his wand, and stood frozen there, Black staring up at him, Crookshanks on his chest.
"Hex him!" Maddie yelled at Harry. "Hex him!"
Ron's ragged breathing was breaking the tense silence. Hermione was quite silent.
"Hex him!" Maddie repeated, her voice filled with stress.
And then came a new sound - muffled footsteps were echoing up through the floor - someone was moving downstairs.
"WE'RE UP HERE!" Hermione screamed suddenly. "WE'RE UP HERE - SIRIUS BLACK - QUICK!"
Black made a startled movement that almost dislodged Crookshanks. Harry gripped his wand convulsively - but the footsteps were thundering up the stairs.
"Harry, you had, like, ten seconds to get him, then-" Maddie said. But Harry didn't have time to respond.
The door of the room burst open in a shower of red sparks and Maddie's head turned to see Professor Lupin hurtling into the room, his face bloodless, his wand raised and ready. His eyes flickered over Ron, lying on the floor, over Maddie, sitting next to him, and over Hermione, cowering next to the door - they became fixed on Harry, standing there with his wand covering Black, and then to Black himself, crumpled and bleeding at Harry's feet.
"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted.
Harry's wand flew once more out of his hand, as did the three Hermione was holding. Lupin caught them all deftly, then moved into the room, staring at Black, who still had Crookshanks lying protectively across his chest.
Then Lupin spoke, in a very tense voice.
"Where is he, Sirius?"
Maddie frowned. Where's who?
Black's face was quite expressionless. For a few seconds, he didn't move at all. Then, very slowly, he raised his empty hand and pointed straight at Ron. Maddie glanced back at Ron, who looked bewildered.
"But then..." Lupin muttered, staring at Black so intently it seemed he was trying to read his mind, "...why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless," Lupin's eyes suddenly widened, as though he was seeing something beyond Black, something none of the rest could see, "-unless he was the one... unless you switched... without telling me?"
Very slowly, his sunken gaze never leaving Lupin's face, Black nodded.
"Professor," Harry interrupted loudly, "what's going on?"
"Yeah, someone needs to catch me up, I'm lost too," Maddie added.
But she never got a worded answer, instead her stomach sank - because Lupin was lowering his wand, gazing fixed at Black. The Professor walked to Black's side, seized his hand, pulled him to his feet so that Crookshanks fell to the floor, and embraced Black like a brother.
Maddie's jaw actually dropped open.
"What the fuck?!"
"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione screamed.
"Oh, this is bullshit," Maddie said with disbelief, bringing her hand to her head as though still trying to process what was happening.
Lupin let go of Black and turned to Hermione. She had raised herself off the floor and was pointing at Lupin, wild-eyed. "You - you-"
"Hermione-"
"You and him!"
"Hermione, calm down-"
"I didn't tell anyone!" Hermione shrieked. "I've been covering up for you-"
"Hermione, listen to me, please" Lupin shouted. "I can explain-"
"I trusted you," Harry shouted this time, his voice wavering, out of control, "and all the time you've been his friend!"
"You're wrong," said Lupin. "I haven't been Sirius's friend, but I am now - Let me explain...."
"NO!" Hermione screamed. "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too - he's a werewolf!"
There was a ringing silence. Everyone's eyes were now on Lupin, who looked remarkably calm, though rather pale.
"Eh?" Maddie frowned.
"Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione," Lupin said. "Only one out of three, I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don't want Harry dead," an odd shiver passed over his face. "But I won't deny that I am a werewolf."
Ron made a valiant effort to get up again but fell back with a whimper of pain. Lupin made toward him, looking concerned, but Ron gasped, "Get away from me, werewolf!"
Lupin stopped dead. Then, with an obvious effort, he turned to Hermione and said, "How long have you known?"
"Ages," Hermione whispered. "Since I did Professor Snape's essay..."
"He'll be delighted," said Lupin coolly. "He assigned that essay hoping someone would realize what my symptoms meant..."
"I mean, he is a prick," Maddie muttered.
"Did you check the lunar chart and realize that I was always ill at the full moon? Or did you realize that the Boggart changed into the moon when it saw me?"
"Both," Hermione said quietly.
Lupin forced a laugh.
"You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione."
"I'm not," Hermione whispered. "If I'd been a bit cleverer, I'd have told everyone what you are!"
"But they already know," said Lupin. "At least, the staff do."
"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf," Ron gasped. "Is he mad?"
"Some of the staff thought so," said Lupin. "He had to work very hard to convince certain teachers that I'm trustworthy-"
"AND HE WAS WRONG!" Harry yelled. Maddie jumped at his raised voice. "YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THE TIME!" He was pointing at Black, who suddenly crossed to the four-poster bed and sank onto it, his face hidden in one shaking hand. Crookshanks leapt up beside him and stepped onto his lap, purring. Maddie and Ron edged themselves away from both of them, Ron dragging his leg.
"I have not been helping Sirius," said Lupin. "If you'll give me a chance, I'll explain. Look --"
He separated Harry's, Ron's, Maddie's and Hermione's wands and threw each back to its owner. Harry caught his, stunned.
"There," said Lupin, sticking his own wand back into his belt "You're armed, we're not. Now will you listen?"
There was a short silence.
"If you haven't been helping him," Harry said, with a furious glance at Black, "how did you know he was here?"
"The map," said Lupin. "The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining it-"
"The what?" Maddie pulled a face, looking around. Yet she seemed to be the only one that had no idea what it was.
"You know how to work it?" Harry said suspiciously.
"Of course I know how to work it," said Lupin, waving his hand impatiently. "I helped write it. I'm Moony - that was my friends' nickname for me at school."
"You wrote-"
"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I had an idea that you, Ron, and Hermione might try and sneak out of the castle to visit Hagrid before his Hippogriff was executed. And I was right, wasn't I? Only you seemed to bring Maddie along with you, also,"
"I forced them to let me come," Maddie said. "Regret it big time, now. I watched a Hippogriff die and now I'm in a manky shack with a murderer. What a shit evening,"
Black let out a small laugh, which caught Maddie off guard. She wasn't sure if making a serial killer laugh was a good thing or not.
Lupin had started to pace up and down.
"You might have been wearing your father's old cloak, Harry-"
"How d'you know about the cloak?"
"The number of times I saw James disappearing under it..." said Lupin, waving an impatient hand again. "The point is, even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak, you still show up on the Marauder's Map. I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's hut. Twenty minutes later, you left Hagrid, and set off back toward the castle. But you were now accompanied by somebody else."
"Were we?" Maddie pulled a face.
"What?" said Harry, equally as baffled. "No, we weren't!"
"I couldn't believe my eyes," said Lupin, still pacing, and ignoring Harry's interruption. "I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?"
"What, was it Black?" Maddie said. "He's an Animagus, he can turn into a dog, we didn't notice him for ages until-"
"No, not Black,"
"No one else was with us!" said Harry, frustratingly.
"It was then I saw another dot, moving fast toward you, labeled Sirius Black... I saw him collide with you. I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow-"
"One of us!" Ron said angrily.
"No, Ron," said Lupin. "Two of you."
"Actually he didn't pull me, I went after him-" Maddie began, but Lupin cut her off,
"Not you, Maddie,"
"Oh, I fucking give up," Maddie huffed, flinging her arms to her side in defeat.
Lupin stopped his pacing, his eyes moving over Ron.
"Do you think I could have a look at the rat?" he said evenly.
"What?" said Ron. "What's Scabbers got to do with it?"
"Everything," said Lupin. "Could I see him, please?"
Ron hesitated, then put a hand inside his robes. Scabbers emerged, thrashing desperately. Ron had to seize his long bald tail to stop him escaping. Crookshanks stood up on Black's leg and made a soft hissing noise.
Lupin moved closer to Ron. He seemed to be holding his breath as he gazed intently at Scabbers.
"What?" Ron said again, holding Scabbers close to him, looking scared. "What's my rat got to do with anything?"
"That's not a rat," croaked Sirius Black suddenly.
"What d'you mean - of course he's a rat-"
"No, he's not," said Lupin quietly. "He's a wizard."
"An Animagus," said Black, "by the name of Peter Pettigrew."
At this rate, Maddie was sure she'd have a better chance at understanding Potions.
"They're fucking nuts, I swear," she said, turning to the trio and shaking her head with a bewildered expression.
"You're both mental," Ron nodded at the two men.
"Ridiculous!" said Hermione faintly.
"Peter Pettigrew's dead!" said Harry. "He killed him twelve years ago!" He pointed at Black, whose face twitched convulsively.
"I meant to," he growled, his yellow teeth bared, "but little Peter got the better of me...not this time, though!"
And Crookshanks was thrown to the floor as Black lunged at Scabbers. Ron yelled with pain as Black's weight fell on his broken leg.
"Sirius, NO!" Lupin yelled, launching himself forwards and dragging Black away from Ron again, "WAIT! You can't do it just like that - they need to understand - we've got to explain-"
"Well it's gonna take a lot for me to understand, I won't lie, I'm a bit dim," said Maddie.
"We can explain afterwards!" snarled Black, trying to throw Lupin off. One hand was still clawing the air as it tried to reach Scabbers, who was squealing like a piglet, scratching Ron's face and neck as he tried to escape.
"They've - got - a - right - to - know - everything!" Lupin panted, still trying to restrain Black. "Ron's kept him as a pet! There are parts of it even I don't understand, and Harry - you owe Harry the truth, Sirius!"
Black stopped struggling, though his hollowed eyes were still fixed on Scabbers, who was clamped tightly under Ron's bitten, scratched, and bleeding hands.
"All right, then," Black said, without taking his eyes off the rat. "Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for..."
"You're nutters, both of you," said Ron shakily, looking round at Maddie, Harry and Hermione for support. "I've had enough of this. I'm off."
He tried to heave himself up on his good leg, but Lupin raised his wand again, pointing it at Scabbers.
"You're going to hear me out, Ron," he said quietly. "Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen."
"HE'S NOT PETER, HE'S SCABBERS!" Ron yelled, trying to force the rat back into his front pocket, but Scabbers was fighting too hard; Ron swayed and overbalanced, and Harry caught him am pushed him back down to the bed. Then, ignoring Black, Harry turned to Lupin.
"There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die," he said. "A whole street full of them..."
"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" said Black savagely, still watching Scabbers struggling in Ron's hands.
"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter," said Lupin, nodding. "I believed it myself -- until I saw the map tonight. Because the Marauder's map never lies...Peter's alive. Ron's holding him, Harry."
Then Hermione spoke, in a trembling, would-be calm sort of voice, as though trying to will Professor Lupin to talk sensibly.
"But Professor Lupin... Scabbers can't be Pettigrew... it just can't be true, you know it can't..."
"Why can't it be true?" Lupin said calmly, as though they were in class, and Hermione had simply spotted a problem in an experiment with Grindylows.
"Because... because people would know if Peter Pettigrew had been an Animagus. We did Animagi in class with Professor McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework - the Ministry of Magic keeps tabs on witches and wizards who can become animals - there's a register showing what animal they become, and their markings and things... and I went and looked Professor McGonagall up on the register, and there have been only seven Animagi this century, and Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list."
Lupin started to laugh.
"Right again, Hermione!" he said. "But the Ministry never knew that here used to be three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts."
"If you're going to tell them the story, get a move on, Remus," said Black, who was still watching Scabbers's every desperate move. "I've waited twelve years, I'm not going to wait much longer."
"All right... but you'll need to help me, Sirius," said Lupin, "I only know how it began..."
Lupin broke off. There had been a loud creak behind him. The bedroom door had opened of its own accord. All five of them stared at it. Then Lupin strode toward it and looked out into the landing.
"No one there..."
"This place is haunted!" said Ron.
"It's not," said Lupin, still looking at the door in a puzzled way. "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted...The screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me."
"Um... what?" Maddie raised an eyebrow.
Lupin pushed his hair out of his eyes, thought for a moment then said, "That's where all of this starts - with my becoming a werewolf, None of this could have happened if I hadn't been bitten... and if I hadn't been so foolhardy..."
He looked sober and tired. Ron started to interrupt, but Hermione, said, "Shh!" She was watching Lupin very intently.
"I as a very small boy when I received the bite. My parents tried everything, but in those days there was no cure. The potion that Professor Snape has been making for me is a very recent discovery. It makes me safe, you see. As long as I take it in the week, preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform... I'm able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again.
"Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren't likely to want their children exposed to me.
"But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn't come to school...." Lupin sighed, and looked directly at Harry. "I told you, months ago, that the Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. The truth is that it was planted because I came to Hogwarts. This house" - Lupin looked miserably around the room, - "the tunnel that leads to it - they were built for my use. Once a month, I was smuggled out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The tree was placed at the tunnel mouth to stop anyone coming across me while I was dangerous."
Maddie couldn't see where this story was going, but she was listening raptly all the same. The only sound apart from Lupin's voice was Scabbers's frightened squeaking.
"My transformations in those days were - were terrible. It is very painful to turn into a werewolf. I was separated from humans to bite, so I bit and scratched myself instead. The villagers heard the noise and the screaming and thought they were hearing particularly violent spirits. Dumbledore encouraged the rumor... Even now, when the house has been silent for years, the villagers don't dare approach it...."
There was a short pause.
"But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends. Sirius Black...Peter Pettigrew...and, of course, your father, Harry - James Potter."
"Now, my three friends could hardly fail to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them my mother was ill, and that I had to go home to see her...I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was. But of course, they, like you, Hermione, worked out the truth...."
"And they didn't desert me at all. Instead, they did something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life. They became Animagi."
"My dad too?" said Harry, astounded.
"Yes, indeed," said Lupin. "It took them the best part of three years to work out how to do it. Your father and Sirius here were the cleverest students in the school, and lucky they were, because the Animagus transformation can go horribly wrong - one reason the Ministry keeps a close watch on those attempting to do it. Peter needed all the help he could get from James and Sirius. Finally, in our fifth year, they managed it. They could each turn into a different animal at will."
"That's cool," Maddie spoke, her lips curving upwards, forgetting for a moment where the story was most likely going. Lupin gave her a soft smile.
"But how did that help you?" said Hermione, sounding puzzled.
"They couldn't keep me company as humans, so they kept me company as animals," said Lupin. "A werewolf is only a danger to people. They snuck out of the castle every month under James's Invisibility Cloak. They transformed... Peter, as the smallest, could slip beneath the Willow's attacking branches and touch the knot that freezes it. They would then slip down the tunnel and join me. Under their influence, I became less dangerous. My body was still wolfish, but my mind seemed to become less so while I was with them."
Awe, Maddie thought.
"Hurry up, Remus," snarled Black, who was still watching Scabbers with a horrible sort of hunger on his face.
"I'm getting there, Sirius, I'm getting there... well, highly exciting possibilities were open to us now that we could all transform. Soon we were leaving the Shrieking Shack and roaming the school grounds and the village by night. Sirius and James transformed into such large animals, they were able to keep a werewolf in check. I doubt whether any Hogwarts students ever found out more about the Hogwarts grounds and Hogsmeade than we did... And that's how we came to write the Marauder's Map, and sign it with our nicknames. Sirius is Padfoot. Peter is Wormtail. James was Prongs."
Maddie still didn't have a clue what this bloody map was, but whatever.
"What sort of animal-?" Harry began, but Hermione cut him off. "That was still really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a werewolf! What if you'd given the others the slip, and bitten somebody?"
"A thought that still haunts me," said Lupin heavily. "And there were near misses, many of them. We laughed about them afterwards. We were young, thoughtless - carried away with our own cleverness."
"I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore's trust, of course... he had admitted me to Hogwarts when no other headmaster would have done so, and he had no idea I was breaking the rules he had set down for my own and others' safety. He never knew I had led three fellow students into becoming Animagi illegally. But I always managed to forget my guilty feelings every time we sat down to plan our next month's adventure. And I haven't changed..."
Lupin's face had hardened, and there was self-disgust in his voice. "All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. But I didn't do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I'd betrayed his trust while I was at school, admitting that I'd led others along with me... and Dumbledore's trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using dark arts he learned from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it... so, in a way, Snape's been right about me all along."
"Snape?" said Black harshly, taking his eyes off Scabbers. for the first time in minutes and looking up at Lupin. "What's Snape got to do with it?"
"He's here, Sirius," said Lupin heavily. "He's teaching here as well." He looked up at Harry, Ron, Maddie and Hermione.
"Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought very hard against my appointment to the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. He has been telling Dumbledore all year that I am not to be trusted. He has his reasons... you see, Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me-"
Black made a derisive noise. Maddie folded her lips in order not to laugh.
"It served him right," he sneered. "Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to...hoping he could get us expelled...."
"Severus was very interested in where I went every month." Lupin told Harry, Ron, Maddie and Hermione. "We were in the same year, you know, and we - er - didn't like each other very much. He especially disliked James. Jealous, I think, of James's talent on the Quidditch field... anyway Snape had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me toward the Whomping Willow to transform. Sirius thought it would be - er - amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree trunk with a long stick, and he'd be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Snape tried it-"
Maddie had to bite her cheek as well now, so she wouldn't start grinning.
"If he'd got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown werewolf - but your father, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life... Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anybody, but from that time on he knew what I was...."
"So that's why Snape doesn't like you," said Harry slowly, "because he thought you were in on the joke?"
"That's right," sneered a cold voice from the wall behind Lupin, and Maddie's face fell.
Snape was pulling off the Invisibility Cloak, his wand pointing directly at Lupin.
Of course, Maddie thought. The one teacher. The one teacher she physically could not stand had to be the one to show up.
"For fuck's sake," she whispered.
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A/N: Hi! I just wanted to say I'm very sorry for the lack of updates, I've been really busy at the moment, as I'm focusing a lot on getting good grades since I need them for college when I leave this year & they'll be all based on evidence from school work and what my teachers give me since my exams are cancelled.
I also went through quite a bad breakup these past couple months so it was a bit hard finding motivation to write, however I'm doing okay now and it's not long until I leave school so I'll be able to write a lot more! Thanks for baring with <3
Thank you for reading! Let me know what you thought! x