I want to apologize again for being behind. I have had a difficult time writing this (Prisoner of Azkaban) part of the story. I found out that the site I was using for calendars - HP Lexicon - while I love them and have found GOOD information while writing fandom - is incorrect when it comes to the PoA (not sure if this applies to others) calendar when it comes to the moon phases for the year that the story takes place. I have had to move activities and information around to accommodate the discrepancies. Not sure if these are from Rowling's own mistakes or not, but I try to make the story as real world as possible by using accurate calendars. Now, on with the story!
7 November 1993
Hermione found herself writing early the next morning as sky began to lighten, the predawn greyish light beginning to brighten the room before she got out of bed, and smiled as she heard Crookshanks snoring next to her. She was glad to admit that his snores were much quieter than her dorm mates, as she had long ago started casting a silencing charm on her bed hangings so that they muffled the sound allowing her to sleep.
Oliver,
She continued to write.
I forgot to tell you in last night's letter that Professor Lupin was out again in our DADA class. I hope that he's alright, but I have to admit, I am beginning to wonder. I don't want to go into it right now, until I know for certain, because I don't want to falsely accuse him and make him lose his job over anything, and honestly, he's the best we've had so far; but Professor Snape was substituting for his class and made a terrific leap in the lesson plans. He had us write an essay on werewolves, and didn't listen when I told him that we had just started learning about Red Caps and hinkypunks. Honestly, I don't think Professor Snape listens to anyone unless they are in his house, and even then it's questionable. I'm sure I'm not the only one that hopes Professor Lupin returns tomorrow, though we don't have DADA class until Thursday, the 12th. At least if he's present tomorrow for meals, there's some hope that he's alright and will return to classes. That's one thing I've noticed... and while I don't want to put too fine a point on it yet, it is something that I find unusual. Professor Lupin seems quite ill — ill enough to be absent several days in a month — each month. I would be curious to know your thoughts on it. Hermione
Hermione nudged Crookshanks after she had finished her letter and sent it off to Oliver. He blinked sleepily and got up, yawning and stretching with a sleepy meow, making her giggle.
"Alright, you," she said to him as she affectionately scratched his chin. "Time for breakfast."
Blinking, more alertly, Crookshanks bounded from the bed making her chuckle again.
That morning as she entered the Great Hall, Hermione was pleased to see that Professor Lupin was indeed present. Sitting down for breakfast, she took out a quill and parchment and quickly penned a message. Drawing her wand, she gave the parchment a subtle poke and watched as it folded itself into an owl. "Professor Lupin," she murmured to it as she tucked her wand away again. "Off you go."
Her message took flight immediately, and she watched as it headed to the teacher's table, landing in front of Professor Lupin who looked at it curiously for a moment before reaching out and touching it so that it fell open before him. Looking up, he met her gaze and gave a slight nod of his head. She smiled, and tucked into her meal, content for now that soon her questions would be answered.
Later that day, closer to dinner when Hermione had a free period, she met with Professor Lupin in his classroom.
"Ah, Ms Granger," Professor Lupin said, after calling the knocker to enter. "You wished to meet with me?"
"Yes, Professor," Hermione said.
"How can I help you," Professor Lupin said.
"W-well, Sir," Hermione said. "I wanted to make sure that you were okay."
"That's very kind of you, Ms Granger," Professor Lupin said with a smile. "And to answer your question, I am as well as can be expected, but yes, I am feeling better."
"Oh, that's good news," Hermione returned. "So... you'll be in class this week?"
"Yes, I should think so," Professor Lupin answered. "Why do you ask?"
"W-well," Hermione said. "I was hoping that Professor Snape wouldn't be teaching again... well, I can't say that I'm the only one hoping that..."
"Oh, and why is that?" Professor Lupin asked.
"I don't know if you're aware, sir," Hermione said. "But his lesson... he taught us about werewolves."
"Really?" Professor Lupin asked, shifting slightly. "Well, that wasn't what I had planned. Did no one let him know where we had left off?"
"I did, sir," Hermione said. "But he doesn't really listen to anyone. Sorry, sir, I didn't mean..."
Professor Lupin raised his hand, interrupting her with a smile. "It's alright, Ms Granger. You only speak the truth. Professor Snape doesn't really like being told what to do. So, what did his lesson involve?"
"An essay, sir," Hermione answered. "We were to have it on his desk first thing this morning."
"And did you?"
"Yes, sir," Hermione replied. "Though I can't say how many of us did. That was one thing I wanted to ask you about - you don't have to answer though, if you don't want to."
"What's that?" Professor Lupin asked.
"Well, sir," Hermione said. "It's just that -" She halted, feeling uneasy.
"Yes," Professor Lupin prompted.
"Well - I was wondering if you'd tell me why he seems to be like that..." Hermione answered weakly, not really feeling it was her place to ask what she really wanted to know. "I mean, he seems to go out of his way to cause a rift between you and everyone else... I heard him talking to Professor Dumbledore about Black and... you. His conversation seemed to be rather deliberate when accusing you of helping Black get into the castle on Halloween."
Professor Lupin sighed and a slight smile came to his face. "It's no wonder you caught onto that," he said. "You're very bright for your age. To answer your question, no, I haven't been helping Black into the castle, nor would I do anything that would put any of the Hogwarts students in harm's way. As to Professor Snape - and Sirius Black, we were in school together, and were rather at odds with each other.... That is to say, I was friends with Sirius Black, and Harry's parents, James and Lily. Professor Snape was a rather resentful person, and though there were times that I believed James and Sirius took their pranks a bit too far, the incident that pushed Professor Snape over the edge was blamed on the wrong person; by that I mean that Sirius hated Professor Snape so much that he took a prank so far that it endangered his life. Professor Snape then blamed Harry's father for the prank when James was there to save him."
"Oh, that's awful," Hermione said.
"I agree," Professor Lupin replied.
"Is that why he takes everything out on Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Well, that could be part of it, I suppose," Lupin admitted.
"And the prank?" Hermione asked.
Professor Lupin rubbed the back of his neck.
"I think that's something that's best left in the past," Professor Lupin said. "It was handled as best as it could be, and we don't want any repeat performances, do we?"
"Well," Hermione said and smiled sheepishly. "When you put it that way... I suppose not. I'm just glad that you're feeling better, Professor," she said after a slight pause, feeling that it was time for her to go. "And I look forward to seeing you in class. Is there anything I should focus my studies on?"
Professor Lupin smiled. "Nothing you haven't studied already, though I plan on doing a repeat of the chapters on hinkypunks for those students who were absent from class to catch up, and it will give me less to have to prepare lessons for, though I will have to speak to Professor Snape about such a jump in lesson plans, and ignoring the plan I left for him."
"Alright, Professor," Hermione said with a smile as she turned to go. "I'll let Harry and Ron know so they can study this time. Thank you for meeting with me."
"Alright," Professor Lupin said with a laugh. "Thank you, and I look forward to our next class. Have a good day."
"You, too, Professor," Hermione said and headed out the door. She couldn't help but wonder over that life threatening prank though as she left the DADA class room and headed off to her class before dinner.
True to his word, Professor Lupin was in class on the 12th, and though he did look and sound better, Hermione watched him anxiously, wondering about the near deadly prank, Professor Lupin's strange unnamed illness, his absences on what seemed to be a monthly bases due to that illness and the things she uncovered about werewolves in her essay to Professor Snape earlier in the week. Her schedule got so busy though that she wasn't able to dwell on these concerns for long, and it was a relief when they finally had a break in lessons for a weekend in Hogsmeade.
She and Ron were out by the Shrieking Shack, a place that fascinated her, and she knew Ron as well, as he always brought up going there, but also scared him beyond all logical reason. She had read about it of course, it was the most haunted building in Britain, but to her, it just looked like a rundown, boarded up shack.
"Well, well, look who's here," a familiar voice sounded behind them, and they turned to see Malfoy swaggering up arrogantly, with his goons, Crabbe and Goyle beside him. "You two shopping for your new dream home? Bit grand for you, isn't it, Weasle-Bee? Don't your family sleep in one room?"
"Shut your mouth, Malfoy," Ron retorted, and Hermione could tell he was embarrassed and was trying to keep control of his temper with how stiff he stood.
"Ooo, not very friendly," Malfoy said. "Boys, I think it's time we teach Weasle-Bee how to respect his superiors."
Hermione burst out laughing.
"I hope you don't mean yourself," she said snidely.
"How dare you talk to me!" Malfoy snarled. "You filthy little Mudblood!"
The name didn't have as much effect on her as it could have, but she didn't get to respond before something pelted Malfoy's shoulder near his face, catching everyone off guard, but when they turned to look, they didn't see anything.
"Who is there?" Malfoy asked. The only response he received was getting pelted by another snowball. Hermione watched calmly as it appeared that Malfoy and his goons were getting attacked by thin air. "Don't just stand there! Do something!" Malfoy snapped.
"What?" Goyle asked just looking around but not seeing anyone to attack just before the fold of his cap was pulled down over his eyes. He cried out in alarm as he pulled it back up quickly, looking around but still didn't see anything.
Crabbe was in front of him with his trousers down around his ankles, and then he was swung around by an invisible force that had taken a hold of his scarf before it was released, and he fell to the ground.
The ghost moved on to Malfoy, pulling him closer to the Shrieking Shack, before he kicked free and ran back to them. Shoving him and Crabbe out of the way as he made to escape, leaving them behind as they trailed after him.
Hermione couldn't stop laughing. She laughed even harder at the look of fear on Ron's face when the tassels on his hat began to move up and down, and then her own hair.
"Harry!" she said trying to sound annoyed, and scolding, but couldn't because she was still laughing.
Harry laughed as well as he pulled the cloak back to reveal his head floating in midair.
"Bloody hell, Harry," Ron said, still pale. "That wasn't funny!"
On the way back into town, Harry told them about the twins giving him what was called The Marauder's Map, a magical map made up by Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, and how he'd taken a secret passageway from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade.
"Those weasels!" Ron exclaimed. "They never told me about any Marauder's Map."
"But Harry's not going to keep it," Hermione said matter-of-factly. "He's going to turn it in, to Professor McGonagall, aren't you?" she said, looking at him pointedly.
"Oh, sure," Ron said sarcastically. "Along with his invisibility cloak."
"Oh, look who it is," Hermione said as they came to the outskirts of town, and saw a woman outside the pub where they were heading. "Madam Rosmerta. Ron fancies her."
"That's not true!" Ron protested, causing her to laugh.
As they watched, the woman was hammering a sign up over the pub door, and the Minister of Magic came to call. They were able to hear a snippet of the conversation between Madam Rosmerta and the Minister, and when she looked around, Harry was gone. She and Ron went to follow him, knowing he was under the cloak again and heading for the pub, but they were barred entrance when the shrunken heads told them that no underage wizards were allowed in that day.
It wasn't terribly long that they had to wait before the door opened — to a rush of wind — and several wizards were knocked down.
"Excuse me, pardon me," Hermione said politely to the wizards as she pushed her way between them, heading in the direction she'd seen the wizards fall - away from her and Ron, heading back out of town.
They stopped when they entered a clearing with a large stone in the centre and heard sobbing. Ron reached out to stop her as she moved slowly up the incline to the rock and knelt down a little ways from it. Reaching out, she gently grasped the edge of the invisibility cloak and pulled it away, revealing her friend in tears.
"Harry, what happened?" she asked gently.
"He was their friend... and he betrayed them," Harry said sadly. "He was their friend!" he shouted angrily, and Hermione knew that the shout came from the anguish he felt over the discovery. "I hope he finds me," Harry continued, and Hermione looked at him worriedly. "Because when he does, I'm gonna be ready! When he does, I'm gonna kill him!"
Hermione knew from the look in his eyes that Harry wasn't kidding. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to console her friend, but she didn't want to feed into the plan that he had to murder someone — even if the person he wanted to kill was a murderer. That night, she went to bed, her mind still puzzling over what to do. She was so worried about it, that she didn't even think to write to Oliver that night.
She was exhausted the next day, but also relieved as that morning, Hagrid sent Harry a letter at breakfast notifying them that he'd received a letter from the Ministry that morning that announced Buckbeak's trial was scheduled for the 20 April. In her tired state, it didn't dawn on her until that evening that she had a way of distracting Harry from his vendetta - helping prepare a defence for the Hippogriff. The following morning, after she had a decent night's sleep, she put her plan in motion, and drug Harry and Ron to the library under great protest, where they began working on Buckbeak's defence after Hermione told them that it wasn't like homework that they could put off until the last minute and hope the Hippogriff got off. She spent several hours explaining to them how trials in the Muggle world worked, and how much research went into a case, and that research took time to gather so it was better to start early.
Both liked Buckbeak, Harry in particular after recalling his flight on the beast's back and how much fun he'd had, so after a while, they agreed to her plan to start early on his defence, hoping that their work paid off. Hermione smiled secretly to herself that her plan to distract Harry was working, she just hoped that it held until Black was captured.