Chapter Twenty Five: Werewolf
Severus decided to get Hagrid and take a trip into the Forbidden Forest to get some ingredients that needed to be harvested during the full moon. As he started to pass the Whomping Willow, he saw a strange sight: Sirius Black, drinking alone.
Remus would be in the Shrieking Shack by now, of course, it being the night of the full moon, but where were Potter and Pettigrew? Could they possibly have left Black to celebrate the end of OWLs alone?
"Hey, Sniv!" Black yelled out, obviously drunk. "I know something you don't know," he added in a singsong tone, like a five-year-old.
"That is hardly likely," Severus answered, wondering why he was even bothering to talk to the drunken Gryffindor.
"But I do, I do!" Black insisted, giggling. "'S'a' secret passage t'Hogsmeade unner th'Whomper. See?" And he reached out with a long stick and pressed a knob on the trunk. The Willow's branches stilled. Black crawled up to the trunk with his bottle and leaned his back against it.
Severus stood there, frozen. He hadn't known exactly how Remus got to the Shrieking Shack every full moon, although he had known it was something to do with the Whomping Willow. It had never occurred to him that he would be so foolhardy as to let someone like Sirius Black know about it. He had to tell Dumbledore. The Slytherin turned around and started back to the castle.
Uh-oh, thought Sirius. Sniv's gonna report me to Dumblydore. Gotta distrac' him.
"Hey!" protested Black. "Where ya goin'? Aren't ya comin', too?"
Sirius slipped into the tunnel and immediately changed into a big black dog. He went down a few paces and pressed himself against a wide spot in the tunnel.
Severus whirled around, just in time to see Black disappear under the Willow. There was no time to get Dumbledore. He rushed to the Willow, but it had come unfrozen and had started flailing around. He picked up the stick Black had used and tried to find where he had prodded the Willow. Shite, he hadn't paid close enough attention. Please God, please ... there! He found the right spot and the Willow stilled. He slid in after Black.
Sirius held his breath as Snape passed him in the tunnel. Wait until Snivellus heard the werewolf. This was going to be fun.
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James, transformed into a stag, with Peter clinging to his neck, watched the Whomping Willow from the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Peter didn't like to be in the Shack for the transformation, so he stayed with James. Sirius still hadn't changed to his dog form, still delaying the Sober-up Potion. Come on, Padfoot, thought James. It's getting late.
James saw a figure make its way from the castle toward the Whomping Willow and heard Sirius' drunken call. It was Snivellus. The Willow blocked Sirius from James' sight and he couldn't make out their exchange, but he noticed the Willow still and Snape turn to go back to the castle. Shite, he was going to turn Sirius in for drinking. But then he saw Snape pause and dash to the Willow. The Willow's branches were flailing again. So, that's all right then. I better get ole Sniv away from the tree before Moony comes out, though.
Then James watched, horror-stricken, as the branches stilled a second time. He galloped to the tree and changed to human form, heedless of whether anyone could see him. The sudden transformation took Peter by surprise and the rat fell to the grass, stunned. The branches were once again flailing, so James poked the knob and slid feet-first into the entrance under the Willow.
"Snape! Stop! Come back!" he screamed.
Sirius barely got out of James' way in time as the other boy rushed past. He was having trouble thinking. Wha's James doin' here?
Severus stopped for a moment in the tunnel. Black was somewhere ahead of him and now Potter was behind him. Of course, if he told Black, he would have told Potter, too! he thought.
"We've got to get Black out of here! He's drunk and Lupin is going to transform any minute now!"
James froze. Snape knew?
"It - it's all right, Sirius is all right," he stuttered. "But we won't be if we don't get out of here right now."
Severus started running again, toward the Shack. "Like hell he is. Lupin's a bloody werewolf and Black's too drunk to protect himself."
"No! Sirius knows! He's okay! Come back!" James' voice was breaking and almost hysterical.
Snape kept going.
Sirius shook himself and suddenly realized how drunk he must be. It had sounded like Snivellus had followed him to save him from Moony. But that couldn't be right because Sniv hated him and he didn't even know Remus was a werewolf. The Gryffindor Black decided to get out of the tunnel, transform back, take his Sober-up, and figure out what to do once his mind was clear.
Desperate, James cast Impedimenta and Snape fell. It gave him time to catch up to the other boy. He cast the counter spell, dragged Snape to his feet and started pulling him back down the tunnel. Then they heard the chilling sound of the werewolf's howl.
Snape finally stopped struggling and they both ran. James scrambled up out of the tunnel, stilled the Whomping Willow and then pulled Snape up. They both sat on the grass, wands trained on the entrance by the Willow, until the Willow began moving again. Soon afterwards, they saw feral amber eyes peer from the entrance, but a branch whomped down hard and the creature backed away.
Severus was white with rage. "Black is in there. You are responsible for his death, Potter!"
A voice behind them said, "Oh, I wouldn't worry, Snivelly. The reports of my death are a bit exaggerated."
The Slytherin whirled around to see Black, not only without a scratch, but apparently not the least bit drunk, either.
"What? How?" he gasped.
At that, Black started laughing. "Oh, Snivellus, you should have seen your face. Did the big bad wolf scare you?"
"So this was a joke?!" James demanded.
Severus took one disgusted look at Potter and Black and headed back to the castle. And Dumbledore.
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Once Snape was gone, James turned on Sirius. "What the hell were you doing?!" he practically screamed.
"I was drunk. He followed me in," shrugged Sirius. "You've got to admit, it was funny!"
"No, I don't!" James was still furious. "Snape could have been killed. I could have been killed. I can't transform in the tunnel, you know."
"You didn't need to go in after him. I was there to keep Moony away from him if he wasn't fast enough." Sirius was starting to get upset now.
"You! You were drunk out of your skull! Do you really think you could have handled Moony alone, in that shape? It takes both of us when we're sober!"
"Come on, Prongs, don't be mad. You're right, I was drunk." Sirius could take any amount of yelling from family, but he couldn't handle anger from any of the other Marauders.
"No harm done, right?" interjected Peter.
James sighed. "Wrong," he said. "Snivelly's telling Dumbledore. Which means Remus is going to find out. Which means we're going to be in trouble with both of them."
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Dumbledore listened to Snape's story and then called James and Sirius in separately to hear their versions of it. The next day, he again called each of them in to determine what should be done.
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Author's notes:
This story is nominated for the Multifaceted Awards in Alliance and Intelligence. Voting closes on 22 July 2006 if you are interested in voting for it.
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