A/N: WARNING! Serious Prisoner of Azkaban spoilers ahead!
~~~***~~~
I wrote this after looking at several fanart pictures of Severus facing down werewolf. It was an interesting experience, as I had generally been of the opinion like many others that Severus overreacted at the end of PoA. A "schoolboy grudge" as Sirius put it. Or is it? I suddenly found myself wondering, if I had been in Severus Snape's place, would I really have been so forgiving? After this, I can't honestly say I would have been. It blossomed from there as I began to wonder what Sirius could have been thinking (or not thinking), what Remus felt being dragged into it, how Severus must have felt during and afterwards, and how any of us would react to fear, betrayal, friendship, apologies, and sitting down and facing situations where the are no easy answers.
Rated PG-13 for some strong language and scary bits.
~~~***~~~
The Shrieking Shack Incident
Chapter One
"What time is it?" Remus asked from his bed.
Peter looked up from the paper he was writing and looked out the window. The sun was beginning to set and painting streaks of red across the sky. "About 8:00, I guess." he replied.
James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin were all sitting in their dorm room after dinner. They'd finished their homework and were now just taking some time out to relax. Especially Remus. Tonight was the night of the full moon, which always made him feel weak and nauseous. He never complained about it, but he still looked like hell. He was lying down for a bit before he had to make his way down the long tunnel to the Shrieking Shack for the night.
Sirius got up from his bunk with a grin and threw a pillow onto Remus's face. "Getting restless, Moony?"
Remus pulled the pillow off his face and quirked a smile, "Yeah. You guys are still going to meet me tonight, aren't you?" He asked.
Sirius looked at his watch, "As soon as I'm done with my study date with that cute little Ravenclaw."
Remus furrowed his brow, "Study date? We don't have any classes with the Ravenclaws.What are you studying?"
"Nymph anatomy?" Sirius joked.
Remus tried to hit Sirius with the pillow, "You dirty old dog."
"Whoa, the big bad wolf is jealous!" Sirius grabbed another pillow and whapped Remus a good one.
James didn't look up, but grinned at the book he was reading, "Now now, children, don't make me separate you two."
Peter shot James an impish look. "Yeah boys, mind your mother." And got a pillow in his face too.
A moment later, the feathers were flying in all directions until Sirius's watch beeped.
"Whoops. Time to go to grandmother's house, gents."
The pillow fight abruptly halted. Sirius grabbed Remus by the wrists and hauled his light frame up. He had to help support him as Remus looked a bit dizzy. Remus gave him a weak smile of thanks and Sirius gladly walked him down to the common room.
Pomfrey was waiting for them already, chatting with the Fat Lady as they came out the portrait hole. "Ready to go, Mr. Lupin?" She asked briskly as her conversation partner swung away to let the boys out.
"Yes ma'am." Remus said. He was looking even more green around the gills, but still in a good mood. These changes were never easy for him, Sirius knew, but they had become much better and much more fun since they had all finally learned how to transform into animagi. Remus said they were some of the best nights of his life now. Sirius had to agree. Running the countryside as a big black dog was a real howl, if he did think so himself.
Pomfrey nodded, rubbing her hands on her apron as if she was eager to get this over with and get back to work, "All right boys, you can see him in the morning. Get on with your studies." She said, looking around to make sure nobody else was coming.
"Yes ma'am." Sirius said with a grin, as Remus shot him a secret smile for their earlier private joke before the school nurse led him down the steps to head for the Willow.
Sirius watched them go and stretched. "Well mates, must be off. Can't let the bird wait or she might fly the roost."
Peter waved and James smirked, "Have fun studying."
Sirius didn't answer, just waggled his eyebrows and made a cheeky clicking sound with his mouth before jaunting off in the direction of the library as his friends went back inside the common room. This promised to be a very fun evening. First a study date, then spending the rest of the night with Moony and his friends raising hell all over Hogsmeade under the full moon. What could be better? They would be falling asleep in classes the next day, but who cares? You're only young once, after all. It seemed like nothing could put a damper on his mood tonight.
"Hey, BLACK."
Except for that.
Sirius ground his teeth. What impeccable timing that git had. Sirius turned and glowered at the Slytherin striding towards him on his long, skinny legs.
"What?" Sirius asked crossly. He watched the corners of the boy's mouth turn up slightly in a mock-pleasant grin as he closed the distance between them. That alone told him he was up to something. Great. Just great. The last thing he wanted to deal with right now was Severus Snape and his little conspiracy theories. Sirius was known for having a bit of a temper, but there were few people in the world that he really wanted to punch on sight. Snape however, was definitely on top of his list. Sirius would gladly do it too, if he didn't have to worry about getting the Crisco grease the git seemed covered with off his knuckles.
"My, my, you seem impatient. Need to be somewhere, Black?" Severus asked silkily. If anything, Sirius was glad the prat's voice had deepened in the last year and was less grating to listen to.
"Yes, as a matter of fact. Unlike you, I actually have a social life. Bye." Sirius said, and turned to start walking again.
"Where's Pomfrey taking Lupin?" The question was abrupt, out of the blue, but there was no disguising the hint of delight behind it.
Sirius stopped dead in his tracks as if pinned. He rolled his eyes back, trying to count to ten and cool off. Severus had been wondering where Lupin went every month for a while now and he was often telling them that one of these days, he'd see them all expelled. One too many cockroaches in his pumpkin juice he supposed, but Snape had never been one for having a sense of humor anyway. This was a different tactic for him though, he'd never come right out and asked one of them about Remus before.
"What's it to you?" He asked, masking his suspicion with plain irritation.
"Morbid curiosity? She seems to come for him often.every month, in fact. Are they having an affair or something?" Severus asked, a cruel smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
Sirius grinned, "Why, are you jealous? You think Lupin's dating your girl? Oh wait, that's assuming that you date...."
Instead of getting angry, Severus just smiled coolly like he was watching a rabbit in a snare trying to fight back. "You're insults never change, do they, Black? How boring. I'll ask you again, slowly, so you can understand.where is she taking him?"
Sirius tried not to growl, "He's not feeling well and she took him off to treat him. That's it. Now, get lost."
"Outside?" Severus pressed, raising one eyebrow.
"Fresh air. Good for your health, you know. Maybe you should try it sometime, give your brain cells some oxygen instead of frying them huffing potions ingredients all the time." Black quipped and started walking away from him.
Severus curled his lip up. "I'm going to find out, sooner or later, you know. I saw her walking him outside.towards the Whomping Willow, of all things. Did she finally get it in her head he's a hopeless case and decide to put him out of his misery?" he sneered.
So that was it. He had finally caught them going to the Willow. Sirius doubted Severus would be so all fired eager to solve this little mystery if he knew. The imp of mischief suddenly rose inside him. Why not tell him? The truth was so fantastical, it would make a great snarky comeback. He'd never believe him anyway, and even if he did try it, he'd never make it as far as the shack itself. He pondered this for all of three seconds.
"She takes him to a tunnel underneath the tree." He said flippantly, "Press lowest knot on the left and it will deactivate the tree.though if I were you, I'd forget about it."
Severus clearly had not been expecting a straight answer. He blinked in surprise before he narrowed his eyes at Sirius skeptically and Sirius beamed is most award-winning smile at him.
"Bye." Sirius said again, walking off.
*************
James was sitting up in the tower playing chess with Peter in the common room. Peter was winning. James scowled as Peter's knight galloped forward and the horse head grabbed his bewildered bishop and flung it off to the side.
It was late. They had been playing until the last of their house mates had finally gone up to bed and now they were just waiting for Sirius to get back. James contemplated his next move and looked out the window.
He was mildly surprised to see there was a shape running across the grounds.
"What?" Peter asked after a minute, looking down.
"Hunh. There's somebody down there."
"Hey, you're right. Anybody we know?" Peter commented, squinting.
"I think so. Tall, skinny, moves like a Pekinese with a stick up it's arse. Must be Severus. But what the hell would he be doing running around by the greenhouses at this hour?" James said, in amusement.
"Probably stealing potions ingredients. Regular junior mad scientist, that git is." Peter said, obviously bored watching Severus and returning to contemplating the board. "Maybe he's constructing himself a girlfriend."
James snorted with laughter and leaned back, "I can just see it, a romantic lightening storm comes up, she rises from the slab, Severus hands her some dead flowers, one thing leads to another, and the thunder drowns out their."
"Ugh, stop, stop, spare me the imagery!" Peter cried, wrinkling his nose.
"No way! It might actually help me win for once!"
"Fat chance, horn head. It'll take more than nasty ideas about Severus Snape's love life to make me lose a game of chess. Now quit stalling and move." Peter said.
It was about fifteen minutes later that Sirius finally came up, straightening his red and yellow Gryffindor tie and looking every inch the lion that got the cream. James grinned at him.
"Get lots of studying done?" He asked.
"Yup, very educational evening, if I say so myself. Makes me wonder why I never did better in school." Sirius chuckled.
"Well at least YOU had an ego boost," James said, "We've been playing chess all evening and I've been getting my tail beaten off, as usual. But now that you're back we can get the cloak and go see Moony now. Er, do you mind if I cut this game short do you, Wormtail?"
"Might as well.you've lost anyway. Checkmate." Peter said smugly as James's trembling king piece threw down his sword in front of the pawn that had managed to sneak in among the ranks.
"I'm going to use you as the bludger next time we practice." James said.
"Promises, promises." Peter said smugly.
Sirius laughed. "While your at it, use Snape as the other one."
"Heh, that reminds me, we saw Snape creeping around the greenhouses a little while ago." James said.
"We were thinking he's busy gathering ingredients in order to make himself a girlfriend." Peter added.
"He collared me on the way to the library earlier." Sirius said, blowing some hair out of his face. "He saw Pomfrey taking Remus to the tree."
Peter looked concerned, "He did?"
"Yeah, stupid aristo-prat that he is," Sirius said. "I told him to go hit the knot in the trunk."
James and Peter froze. James felt a sinking pit of cold dread forming in his stomach. "What?"
Sirius was grinning, "Tree's probably knocked him clear across the lake by now."
James walked over to him and clapped his hands on Sirius's upper arms and shook him hard to make him pay attention. "Sirius, if you are joking, cut it out right now, this isn't funny.."
Sirius looked startled, then blew and exasperated breath. "Oh come off it, Prongs. This is SNAPE we're talking about. The guy that trips over his own big feet at least twice a week. He's probably been caught already sneaking around after curfew."
James wasn't listening. He was already pounding his way to the portrait hole. "Peter, go get Dumbledore and McGonagall, RIGHT NOW!"
*************
Severus almost felt claustrophobic down here. There was a niggling sense of something was wrong in the back of his mind, but of course, it was wrong he was down here in the first place. He'd been walking nearly doubled over through the cramped space for a good while now and his back was starting to hurt. Did this stupid tunnel ever end? He upped the light on the end of his wand and irritably batted away a spiders web that tried to entangle itself in his hair.
He was still wondering why Black told him about the tree. He guessed he had figured Severus wouldn't call his bluff, or be able to make it there without getting caught by Filch or a teacher. Or make it past the tree itself. Humph. Well, the Marauders weren't the only ones adept at sneaking around. HE didn't even need an Invisibility Cloak.
But he still didn't have an answer to his original question. Why did Pomfrey take Remus through a tunnel if he was sick? She hadn't gone with him, he knew. He had watched her lead the boy to the tree, but had been unable to see what they did there without being seen. A few minutes later, she had returned alone. Why? He knew there was a doctor in Hogsmeade, maybe Lupin was too sick for Pomfrey to care for and needed him to come see him? If so, why didn't they call the doctor up to the school? Or why didn't she accompany him down by way of the road? There were more questions cropping up now than before.
He rounded another corner and the tunnel began to rise. Another, and he finally found himself in a long hall. He shined his light at the end of it, and saw it ended in a brick foundation. There seemed to be a hole in the foundation, leading into the building.
Ok.
He blew some of his lank black hair out of his face. He guessed it was leading into one of the shops below Hogsmeade. Some sort of secret escape route probably, left over from times when Hogwarts was built. This tunnel might be useful for students sneaking into the village when there wasn't a Hogsmeade trip, but he couldn't see any other use for it. He suddenly thought perhaps he had been wrong about the Pomfrey leading Lupin here and maybe they had gone somewhere else? Maybe Black had just told him about this tunnel to get him in trouble. But that didn't make a lot of sense either since it would open Black up to revealing he knew about the tunnel.
Suddenly, he yawned. It was too late to be thinking about all of this. He'd come back to investigate it at a later date during a reasonable hour. He lowered his wand glow and turned to walk back down the tunnel.
It was then he heard the thump.
He blinked an looked around. What was that?
There was another thump.
He furrowed his brow and looked back towards the opening. A slight creak, a scuffle, and then it was silent.
Severus stood stock still, listening..trying to discern what could possibly be making that noise. It didn't sound like the building foundation settling. After a minute, there was another thump.
No, definitely not the building settling.
Whatever it was, it was alive.
Whatever it was, it sounded heavy.
The uneasiness that had been forming in his chest was starting to spread up his spine and prickle at the back of his skull. There was something wrong here. Very wrong. This didn't sound like the normal noises a person moving around made. Severus could feel his throat starting to close and his heart pick up in pace a bit. He started taking a few steps back, as quietly as he could.
There was a snuffling noise and what sounded like the scrape of claws on wood as whatever it was seemed to be nearing the make-shift doorway. Severus felt his instincts urging him a little more strongly that now was a very good time to leave. He figured they were right and started to move back a little more quickly, when he saw something black shifting in the darkness, just on the edge of his light.
Severus froze.
It was about 100 feet down ahead of him. A big black shape that was causing the floorboards to creak under it's weight. It seemed to notice the light and suddenly a long, pointed snout appeared in the opening.
Oh.My.God..
It was huge. Even misshapen with a hunched back to accommodate the enormous muscled shoulders and thick neck, it was undeniably wolf-like. Shaggy grey with uneven tufts of fur, it walked around on all fours, though the front legs ended in something between hands and paws.
A werewolf.
It lifted it's head, stretching the quivering black nose out to sniff. It's unblinking yellow eyes darting enough for the retinas to glow red in his trembling wand light. The head was slung low, swaying slightly. He could see the rivulets of poisonous saliva dripping in thick strings from it's mouth.
It smelled him. It saw him.
And now it was coming towards him.
The heavy hand paws took a step, then a second, the hair on it's back starting to bristle. Oh god, it was a nightmare. The stench of blood and musk was wafting towards him now, and that's when he started to hear the sub-vocal growling. He took another step back without realizing it, the only thing he could think of to do was to move away slowly and hopefully the thing wouldn't lunge.
There was nothing sentient or remotely human in the way it was looking at him. It was the look of a predator sighting prey. The growling was combining with keening whines as it's excitement grew, and it's lower jaw dropped in a pant; cracking a wolfish sort of grin and showing off the abnormally large yellow teeth.
Oh god, he was going to die.
That was just a certainty. His mind didn't question that. The stress was sending him into a euphoria of terror that was making the world slip away even before the beast got there. His head throbbed with the amount of blood pumping through it, and he felt dizzy from the lack of air going into his frozen lungs.
He was going to die.
There was no way, he was going to outrun it...
"NO!"
The panicked yell cut through the air like a knife, startling his body out of the immobilizing shock. The werewolf stopped moving, and for the first time, blinked in confusion.
He felt strong hands seize him by the shoulders and yank him back around the corner, then shoved him hard to get him running. It was just the motivation he needed as his feet took off by themselves as the fight or flight response kicked in in a tumult of adrenaline.
The ear-piercing howl of rage tore through the tunnel and echoed all the way down the halls.
"Keep running, don't look back!" Potter screamed. "Go! GO!"
Severus ran. He couldn't even feel his feet touch the ground. He barely noticed the pain as his face banged against the side of the tunnel as he fled. He wasn't even thinking anymore, just focusing on putting as much distance between him and the frustrated snarling that was vibrating the walls behind him.
~~~***~~~
I wrote this after looking at several fanart pictures of Severus facing down werewolf. It was an interesting experience, as I had generally been of the opinion like many others that Severus overreacted at the end of PoA. A "schoolboy grudge" as Sirius put it. Or is it? I suddenly found myself wondering, if I had been in Severus Snape's place, would I really have been so forgiving? After this, I can't honestly say I would have been. It blossomed from there as I began to wonder what Sirius could have been thinking (or not thinking), what Remus felt being dragged into it, how Severus must have felt during and afterwards, and how any of us would react to fear, betrayal, friendship, apologies, and sitting down and facing situations where the are no easy answers.
Rated PG-13 for some strong language and scary bits.
~~~***~~~
The Shrieking Shack Incident
Chapter One
"What time is it?" Remus asked from his bed.
Peter looked up from the paper he was writing and looked out the window. The sun was beginning to set and painting streaks of red across the sky. "About 8:00, I guess." he replied.
James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin were all sitting in their dorm room after dinner. They'd finished their homework and were now just taking some time out to relax. Especially Remus. Tonight was the night of the full moon, which always made him feel weak and nauseous. He never complained about it, but he still looked like hell. He was lying down for a bit before he had to make his way down the long tunnel to the Shrieking Shack for the night.
Sirius got up from his bunk with a grin and threw a pillow onto Remus's face. "Getting restless, Moony?"
Remus pulled the pillow off his face and quirked a smile, "Yeah. You guys are still going to meet me tonight, aren't you?" He asked.
Sirius looked at his watch, "As soon as I'm done with my study date with that cute little Ravenclaw."
Remus furrowed his brow, "Study date? We don't have any classes with the Ravenclaws.What are you studying?"
"Nymph anatomy?" Sirius joked.
Remus tried to hit Sirius with the pillow, "You dirty old dog."
"Whoa, the big bad wolf is jealous!" Sirius grabbed another pillow and whapped Remus a good one.
James didn't look up, but grinned at the book he was reading, "Now now, children, don't make me separate you two."
Peter shot James an impish look. "Yeah boys, mind your mother." And got a pillow in his face too.
A moment later, the feathers were flying in all directions until Sirius's watch beeped.
"Whoops. Time to go to grandmother's house, gents."
The pillow fight abruptly halted. Sirius grabbed Remus by the wrists and hauled his light frame up. He had to help support him as Remus looked a bit dizzy. Remus gave him a weak smile of thanks and Sirius gladly walked him down to the common room.
Pomfrey was waiting for them already, chatting with the Fat Lady as they came out the portrait hole. "Ready to go, Mr. Lupin?" She asked briskly as her conversation partner swung away to let the boys out.
"Yes ma'am." Remus said. He was looking even more green around the gills, but still in a good mood. These changes were never easy for him, Sirius knew, but they had become much better and much more fun since they had all finally learned how to transform into animagi. Remus said they were some of the best nights of his life now. Sirius had to agree. Running the countryside as a big black dog was a real howl, if he did think so himself.
Pomfrey nodded, rubbing her hands on her apron as if she was eager to get this over with and get back to work, "All right boys, you can see him in the morning. Get on with your studies." She said, looking around to make sure nobody else was coming.
"Yes ma'am." Sirius said with a grin, as Remus shot him a secret smile for their earlier private joke before the school nurse led him down the steps to head for the Willow.
Sirius watched them go and stretched. "Well mates, must be off. Can't let the bird wait or she might fly the roost."
Peter waved and James smirked, "Have fun studying."
Sirius didn't answer, just waggled his eyebrows and made a cheeky clicking sound with his mouth before jaunting off in the direction of the library as his friends went back inside the common room. This promised to be a very fun evening. First a study date, then spending the rest of the night with Moony and his friends raising hell all over Hogsmeade under the full moon. What could be better? They would be falling asleep in classes the next day, but who cares? You're only young once, after all. It seemed like nothing could put a damper on his mood tonight.
"Hey, BLACK."
Except for that.
Sirius ground his teeth. What impeccable timing that git had. Sirius turned and glowered at the Slytherin striding towards him on his long, skinny legs.
"What?" Sirius asked crossly. He watched the corners of the boy's mouth turn up slightly in a mock-pleasant grin as he closed the distance between them. That alone told him he was up to something. Great. Just great. The last thing he wanted to deal with right now was Severus Snape and his little conspiracy theories. Sirius was known for having a bit of a temper, but there were few people in the world that he really wanted to punch on sight. Snape however, was definitely on top of his list. Sirius would gladly do it too, if he didn't have to worry about getting the Crisco grease the git seemed covered with off his knuckles.
"My, my, you seem impatient. Need to be somewhere, Black?" Severus asked silkily. If anything, Sirius was glad the prat's voice had deepened in the last year and was less grating to listen to.
"Yes, as a matter of fact. Unlike you, I actually have a social life. Bye." Sirius said, and turned to start walking again.
"Where's Pomfrey taking Lupin?" The question was abrupt, out of the blue, but there was no disguising the hint of delight behind it.
Sirius stopped dead in his tracks as if pinned. He rolled his eyes back, trying to count to ten and cool off. Severus had been wondering where Lupin went every month for a while now and he was often telling them that one of these days, he'd see them all expelled. One too many cockroaches in his pumpkin juice he supposed, but Snape had never been one for having a sense of humor anyway. This was a different tactic for him though, he'd never come right out and asked one of them about Remus before.
"What's it to you?" He asked, masking his suspicion with plain irritation.
"Morbid curiosity? She seems to come for him often.every month, in fact. Are they having an affair or something?" Severus asked, a cruel smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
Sirius grinned, "Why, are you jealous? You think Lupin's dating your girl? Oh wait, that's assuming that you date...."
Instead of getting angry, Severus just smiled coolly like he was watching a rabbit in a snare trying to fight back. "You're insults never change, do they, Black? How boring. I'll ask you again, slowly, so you can understand.where is she taking him?"
Sirius tried not to growl, "He's not feeling well and she took him off to treat him. That's it. Now, get lost."
"Outside?" Severus pressed, raising one eyebrow.
"Fresh air. Good for your health, you know. Maybe you should try it sometime, give your brain cells some oxygen instead of frying them huffing potions ingredients all the time." Black quipped and started walking away from him.
Severus curled his lip up. "I'm going to find out, sooner or later, you know. I saw her walking him outside.towards the Whomping Willow, of all things. Did she finally get it in her head he's a hopeless case and decide to put him out of his misery?" he sneered.
So that was it. He had finally caught them going to the Willow. Sirius doubted Severus would be so all fired eager to solve this little mystery if he knew. The imp of mischief suddenly rose inside him. Why not tell him? The truth was so fantastical, it would make a great snarky comeback. He'd never believe him anyway, and even if he did try it, he'd never make it as far as the shack itself. He pondered this for all of three seconds.
"She takes him to a tunnel underneath the tree." He said flippantly, "Press lowest knot on the left and it will deactivate the tree.though if I were you, I'd forget about it."
Severus clearly had not been expecting a straight answer. He blinked in surprise before he narrowed his eyes at Sirius skeptically and Sirius beamed is most award-winning smile at him.
"Bye." Sirius said again, walking off.
*************
James was sitting up in the tower playing chess with Peter in the common room. Peter was winning. James scowled as Peter's knight galloped forward and the horse head grabbed his bewildered bishop and flung it off to the side.
It was late. They had been playing until the last of their house mates had finally gone up to bed and now they were just waiting for Sirius to get back. James contemplated his next move and looked out the window.
He was mildly surprised to see there was a shape running across the grounds.
"What?" Peter asked after a minute, looking down.
"Hunh. There's somebody down there."
"Hey, you're right. Anybody we know?" Peter commented, squinting.
"I think so. Tall, skinny, moves like a Pekinese with a stick up it's arse. Must be Severus. But what the hell would he be doing running around by the greenhouses at this hour?" James said, in amusement.
"Probably stealing potions ingredients. Regular junior mad scientist, that git is." Peter said, obviously bored watching Severus and returning to contemplating the board. "Maybe he's constructing himself a girlfriend."
James snorted with laughter and leaned back, "I can just see it, a romantic lightening storm comes up, she rises from the slab, Severus hands her some dead flowers, one thing leads to another, and the thunder drowns out their."
"Ugh, stop, stop, spare me the imagery!" Peter cried, wrinkling his nose.
"No way! It might actually help me win for once!"
"Fat chance, horn head. It'll take more than nasty ideas about Severus Snape's love life to make me lose a game of chess. Now quit stalling and move." Peter said.
It was about fifteen minutes later that Sirius finally came up, straightening his red and yellow Gryffindor tie and looking every inch the lion that got the cream. James grinned at him.
"Get lots of studying done?" He asked.
"Yup, very educational evening, if I say so myself. Makes me wonder why I never did better in school." Sirius chuckled.
"Well at least YOU had an ego boost," James said, "We've been playing chess all evening and I've been getting my tail beaten off, as usual. But now that you're back we can get the cloak and go see Moony now. Er, do you mind if I cut this game short do you, Wormtail?"
"Might as well.you've lost anyway. Checkmate." Peter said smugly as James's trembling king piece threw down his sword in front of the pawn that had managed to sneak in among the ranks.
"I'm going to use you as the bludger next time we practice." James said.
"Promises, promises." Peter said smugly.
Sirius laughed. "While your at it, use Snape as the other one."
"Heh, that reminds me, we saw Snape creeping around the greenhouses a little while ago." James said.
"We were thinking he's busy gathering ingredients in order to make himself a girlfriend." Peter added.
"He collared me on the way to the library earlier." Sirius said, blowing some hair out of his face. "He saw Pomfrey taking Remus to the tree."
Peter looked concerned, "He did?"
"Yeah, stupid aristo-prat that he is," Sirius said. "I told him to go hit the knot in the trunk."
James and Peter froze. James felt a sinking pit of cold dread forming in his stomach. "What?"
Sirius was grinning, "Tree's probably knocked him clear across the lake by now."
James walked over to him and clapped his hands on Sirius's upper arms and shook him hard to make him pay attention. "Sirius, if you are joking, cut it out right now, this isn't funny.."
Sirius looked startled, then blew and exasperated breath. "Oh come off it, Prongs. This is SNAPE we're talking about. The guy that trips over his own big feet at least twice a week. He's probably been caught already sneaking around after curfew."
James wasn't listening. He was already pounding his way to the portrait hole. "Peter, go get Dumbledore and McGonagall, RIGHT NOW!"
*************
Severus almost felt claustrophobic down here. There was a niggling sense of something was wrong in the back of his mind, but of course, it was wrong he was down here in the first place. He'd been walking nearly doubled over through the cramped space for a good while now and his back was starting to hurt. Did this stupid tunnel ever end? He upped the light on the end of his wand and irritably batted away a spiders web that tried to entangle itself in his hair.
He was still wondering why Black told him about the tree. He guessed he had figured Severus wouldn't call his bluff, or be able to make it there without getting caught by Filch or a teacher. Or make it past the tree itself. Humph. Well, the Marauders weren't the only ones adept at sneaking around. HE didn't even need an Invisibility Cloak.
But he still didn't have an answer to his original question. Why did Pomfrey take Remus through a tunnel if he was sick? She hadn't gone with him, he knew. He had watched her lead the boy to the tree, but had been unable to see what they did there without being seen. A few minutes later, she had returned alone. Why? He knew there was a doctor in Hogsmeade, maybe Lupin was too sick for Pomfrey to care for and needed him to come see him? If so, why didn't they call the doctor up to the school? Or why didn't she accompany him down by way of the road? There were more questions cropping up now than before.
He rounded another corner and the tunnel began to rise. Another, and he finally found himself in a long hall. He shined his light at the end of it, and saw it ended in a brick foundation. There seemed to be a hole in the foundation, leading into the building.
Ok.
He blew some of his lank black hair out of his face. He guessed it was leading into one of the shops below Hogsmeade. Some sort of secret escape route probably, left over from times when Hogwarts was built. This tunnel might be useful for students sneaking into the village when there wasn't a Hogsmeade trip, but he couldn't see any other use for it. He suddenly thought perhaps he had been wrong about the Pomfrey leading Lupin here and maybe they had gone somewhere else? Maybe Black had just told him about this tunnel to get him in trouble. But that didn't make a lot of sense either since it would open Black up to revealing he knew about the tunnel.
Suddenly, he yawned. It was too late to be thinking about all of this. He'd come back to investigate it at a later date during a reasonable hour. He lowered his wand glow and turned to walk back down the tunnel.
It was then he heard the thump.
He blinked an looked around. What was that?
There was another thump.
He furrowed his brow and looked back towards the opening. A slight creak, a scuffle, and then it was silent.
Severus stood stock still, listening..trying to discern what could possibly be making that noise. It didn't sound like the building foundation settling. After a minute, there was another thump.
No, definitely not the building settling.
Whatever it was, it was alive.
Whatever it was, it sounded heavy.
The uneasiness that had been forming in his chest was starting to spread up his spine and prickle at the back of his skull. There was something wrong here. Very wrong. This didn't sound like the normal noises a person moving around made. Severus could feel his throat starting to close and his heart pick up in pace a bit. He started taking a few steps back, as quietly as he could.
There was a snuffling noise and what sounded like the scrape of claws on wood as whatever it was seemed to be nearing the make-shift doorway. Severus felt his instincts urging him a little more strongly that now was a very good time to leave. He figured they were right and started to move back a little more quickly, when he saw something black shifting in the darkness, just on the edge of his light.
Severus froze.
It was about 100 feet down ahead of him. A big black shape that was causing the floorboards to creak under it's weight. It seemed to notice the light and suddenly a long, pointed snout appeared in the opening.
Oh.My.God..
It was huge. Even misshapen with a hunched back to accommodate the enormous muscled shoulders and thick neck, it was undeniably wolf-like. Shaggy grey with uneven tufts of fur, it walked around on all fours, though the front legs ended in something between hands and paws.
A werewolf.
It lifted it's head, stretching the quivering black nose out to sniff. It's unblinking yellow eyes darting enough for the retinas to glow red in his trembling wand light. The head was slung low, swaying slightly. He could see the rivulets of poisonous saliva dripping in thick strings from it's mouth.
It smelled him. It saw him.
And now it was coming towards him.
The heavy hand paws took a step, then a second, the hair on it's back starting to bristle. Oh god, it was a nightmare. The stench of blood and musk was wafting towards him now, and that's when he started to hear the sub-vocal growling. He took another step back without realizing it, the only thing he could think of to do was to move away slowly and hopefully the thing wouldn't lunge.
There was nothing sentient or remotely human in the way it was looking at him. It was the look of a predator sighting prey. The growling was combining with keening whines as it's excitement grew, and it's lower jaw dropped in a pant; cracking a wolfish sort of grin and showing off the abnormally large yellow teeth.
Oh god, he was going to die.
That was just a certainty. His mind didn't question that. The stress was sending him into a euphoria of terror that was making the world slip away even before the beast got there. His head throbbed with the amount of blood pumping through it, and he felt dizzy from the lack of air going into his frozen lungs.
He was going to die.
There was no way, he was going to outrun it...
"NO!"
The panicked yell cut through the air like a knife, startling his body out of the immobilizing shock. The werewolf stopped moving, and for the first time, blinked in confusion.
He felt strong hands seize him by the shoulders and yank him back around the corner, then shoved him hard to get him running. It was just the motivation he needed as his feet took off by themselves as the fight or flight response kicked in in a tumult of adrenaline.
The ear-piercing howl of rage tore through the tunnel and echoed all the way down the halls.
"Keep running, don't look back!" Potter screamed. "Go! GO!"
Severus ran. He couldn't even feel his feet touch the ground. He barely noticed the pain as his face banged against the side of the tunnel as he fled. He wasn't even thinking anymore, just focusing on putting as much distance between him and the frustrated snarling that was vibrating the walls behind him.