Chapter Twenty Six: Dumbledore
When Remus came to himself in the Shrieking Shack, he realized he had, indeed, spent the night confined there. His arms and chest were gashed and bleeding. And Sirius was, indeed, not there. He lay there trying to work up the strength and the will to move to the couch or at least Summon his wand, but it took him a long time.
It took him so long, in fact, that Remus had only just managed to get his wand and take the restorative draught when Madam Pomfrey walked in, two hours after moonset, as she had done for his first few transformations when he'd first arrived at Hogwarts. He had not made it to the couch, nor had he retrieved his clothes yet. He pulled his knees up to his chest and blushed furiously while the nurse matter-of-factly levitated him to the couch and covered him with a blanket she had brought in her medical bag.
He felt awful and had really missed Sirius, but he wasn't surprised. It was the end of OWLs and he knew the others had been celebrating. He figured James hadn't been able to pull Sirius away and it was just too dangerous for Prongs to accompany the wolf without Padfoot. When Madam Pomfrey wondered why he was so much worse this moon, he just told her it was probably the stress of OWLs or something like that.
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"Headmaster, I promised to keep Lupin's condition a secret so long as he took the necessary precautions and did not allow it to endanger anyone," said the raven-haired boy, who was standing and leaning on the other side of Dumbledore's desk. "Those conditions no longer apply."
"Remus took the necessary precautions," replied the Headmaster serenely. "He reported to Madam Pomfrey at the usual time and was in the Shrieking Shack over an hour before moonrise."
"He told his friends how to get past the Whomping Willow! It was his responsibility to protect that information." Severus' face was impassive except for his eyes, which glared at the Headmaster.
"Have you not told your best friend about Mr. Lupin's condition yourself?" chided the old wizard gently. "Despite your promise to me to keep it secret?"
"Lily is trustworthy. Sirius Black is not," stated the other flatly.
Albus sighed deeply. The young man in front of him was absolutely correct. "So Remus must be expelled? Or worse? Because if news of this incident becomes public knowledge, it is likely that Mr. Lupin will be brought up on charges of endangerment."
Severus sat back down. He was after Black, not Lupin. "Lupin showed poor judgement in trusting Black, but he is otherwise quite responsible," he said, much more calmly. "There is no need to publicize the incident or to expel him. But you must stop keeping his secret. The other students here and their parents have the right to know so they can protect themselves. Against the irresponsibility of Lupin's friends at least."
"That is not possible. If it becomes known that Remus suffers from lycanthropy, I will be forced to expel him."
"No, you won't. You have rank. You're the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Besides," added Severus, "Lupin has excellent marks, he's a prefect, and he's well-liked. If no one knows about what Black tried to do, every indication is that he has been no danger at all. People won't like it at first, and a lot of parents will threaten to pull their children out of Hogwarts, but when it comes down to it, not many actually will."
"Mr. Snape, you must trust me when I tell you that you greatly underestimate the dread that most witches and wizards have of lycanthropes. You have had a great deal of exposure to Muggle society, and it is my experience that Muggles are much more realistic about the dangers actually posed by the condition."
"My father says a wizard in his right mind is more dangerous to a Muggle than a confined werewolf at the full moon, and no less dangerous even if he runs free," mused the half-blood Slytherin.
"Your father is a very perceptive man. But he's a Muggle. You can see why most wizarding people don't share his beliefs. Mr. Lupin's condition must remain a secret."
"Then you have to expel Black," said Severus quietly but passionately. "You cannot keep Sirius Black and Remus Lupin at Hogwarts together and still keep Lupin's condition secret. It's too dangerous."
"If I can without making this incident known, I will," said the Headmaster. "But I am not optimistic about my chances of success. It will be very difficult to come up with sufficient cause to expel a Black without it."
"Then create one," said the Slytherin enforcer.
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"Sirius wasn't thinking clearly, Professor Dumbledore. He was drunk. Why else would he run into the tunnel?" The boy ruffled his unruly black hair nervously and changed position in the chair the Headmaster had waved him to. "But he wasn't trying to kill Snape."
"Mr. Snape insists that Mr. Black was perfectly sober when the two of you re-emerged from the tunnel," said the Headmaster, looking down at the dishevelled Gryffindor through his half-moon glasses and raising his eyebrows.
"Snape is right. He was -- by then." James sighed and then continued. "Peter made Sober-up Potion for us so we could get drunk, but still be sober when we went back into the castle. We didn't want Filch or anyone else, for that matter, to catch us drunk. When Sirius came back out of the tunnel ahead of us, he must have taken the potion."
"Does Mr. Snape know this?"
"How could he? Even if I told him, he wouldn't believe me."
"That is true, Mr. Potter. Mr. Snape has little reason to believe anything you tell him," the Headmaster said with a calm disapproval that made James blush with shame.
"You told Mr. Snape in the tunnel that Sirius was in no danger," he continued. "If you were not in on this with Mr. Black, how did you know that?"
James swallowed. "We use the tunnel a lot," he answered. "There's a wide spot in it a few feet from the Willow. If you don't know about it, someone can hide there and you'd never see them. When I was running after Snape, I saw Sirius there."
"And what do you use the tunnel for, Mr. Potter?"
"We go up to the Shack and keep Remus company after Madam Pomfrey leaves him at the Whomping Willow," he said, then added hastily, "We always leave way before he transforms." Our human forms, that is, he thought silently. Then, figuring Dumbledore would suspect it anyway, he added, "And we use it for other stuff, too." And James went on to relate "other stuff" worth scores of detentions and hundreds of house points.
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Remus first began to worry when it got to lunchtime and James and Sirius and Peter still hadn't come to see him. Since it was a Saturday, he'd hoped they'd show up earlier, but after all that drinking it really didn't surprise him that they were later than usual. But they'd never failed to visit him after a transformation by lunchtime at the latest, once they'd figured out he was a werewolf back in second year. Except that one time when only Peter had been able to visit, because James and Sirius were in detention.
Of course. All three of them had been caught drinking and were in detention already. They must have really been out of control if they'd gotten disciplined for drinking on the last night of OWLs, he thought to himself, chuckling.
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"Mr. Black, are you aware of the seriousness of the accusations against you?" The Headmaster's voice was calm, but his face was stern.
"I was not trying to kill Snape. He already knew Remus was a werewolf," protested the handsome boy across the desk from him.
"And you were aware of that fact? Be careful with your answer, Mr. Black. Remus will have to corroborate what you say." Dumbledore's blue eyes seemed to bore into Sirius' grey.
"No, I didn't," he answered sullenly, slumping in his chair.
"Then why did you tell Mr. Snape to come in after you?" continued Dumbledore, calmly but inexorably.
"Well, I was drinking and he was going back to the castle to report me. It was all I could think of to stop him." Sirius fidgeted in his chair. His answer sounded lame even to him.
"And what did you think would happen?"
"Ummm." What Sirius had thought at the time was so unbelievably stupid that he was ashamed to say it out loud.
"I'm waiting, Mr. Black," said the old wizard. "And I will know if you are lying." The latter wasn't quite true. Albus wouldn't know unless he used Legilimency, but he highly doubted that it would be necessary.
"After he passed me, I was going to get out of the tunnel and keep the Willow still so he could get out. I figured once Snape heard the werewolf, he'd start running back," he muttered, eyes darting around everywhere but at the Headmaster.
"And you thought he would be able to outrun a werewolf, Mr. Black? And that Remus would not make it out as well?" Albus pressed on, relentlessly.
"I know it was stupid, all right? I was drunk! I wasn't thinking clearly! But I was not trying to kill Snape. Okay?!" Sirius was used to being in trouble, but he was beginning to realize that this was worse than anything he'd ever done before. "And besides, it was his own fault, anyway. What was he doing following me in the first place?"
"Mr. Snape was trying to prevent a drunken encounter with a transformed werewolf," said the Headmaster with words that chilled Sirius to the bone. "He was trying to save your life, Mr. Black."
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This was turning out to be the worst transformation since his first few after he had just started at Hogwarts. Worry had begun to set in when he asked Madam Pomfrey where his friends were and she couldn't meet his eyes. It intensified when she wouldn't send a house-elf to find them. When, by two o'clock, she wouldn't allow him to leave the Infirmary, Remus began to fear the worst.
And now the Headmaster had come in and was sitting by his bedside.
"Remus," the old wizard said kindly, "I'm sure you realize that something went amiss during your transformation this time, so first let me set your mind at ease. You did not harm anyone in any way."
Remus gave a deep sigh of relief and sank back onto the pillows, eyes closed.
Albus waited until the boy sat up again before he continued. "However, someone could very well have been."
This was something Remus had feared since he'd started running outside with the other Marauders, but knowing he had stayed in the Shack last night, he was honestly surprised. "How?" he asked. "I was in the Shack."
"Sirius Black showed Mr. Snape how to get into the tunnel and Mr. Snape did so."
"Sirius did WHAT?!" Remus said, the words starting at a normal pitch and rising to a nearly hysterical yell by the end.
Albus was pleased with the reaction. He had highly doubted that Remus had been in any way involved. "Fortunately," he continued, "Mr. Potter arrived in time to follow him into the tunnel and pull him out. You had already transformed before they made it out, but they did make it out, and the Whomping Willow was active again before you reached that end of the tunnel."
Remus' face went as white as a sheet and he seemed to have stopped breathing. "I was in the tunnel ..." he whispered. "and James ... and Snape ..."
Posted by Madmaxime at January 2, 2007 06:53 PM