The third time was a similar situation to the first. Having followed the 13 year old Potter to the base of the Whomping Willow, Severus had made his way inside, found Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and the Golden Trio inside and then woke up some time later to realise that he'd been knocked out and they'd escaped. Cursing, the man got up, sore, and wandered outside. Before he got back to the base of the tree, he heard voices; emerging from the entrance, he spotted the trio, walking towards them quickly and getting ready to give them all reasons why he should expel them on the spot, before he heard Black's voice. Turning around, he saw the man screaming nonsense at Lupin. At first it didn't occur to him what was going on, until he saw the taller man's face and body twitching, the reflection of the full moon dancing in his now blood red eyes.

In horror, Severus stood in front of the children as Sirius morphed into a canine, battling the un-tame werewolf for a short period of time before he was thrown away like an old toy. Sweat formed on his brow as he backed up, the three kids behind him, as the werewolf turned its attention to him. It started snarling, then fell onto its front paws and got ready to run at him, but a howling in the distance stopped it in its tracks. Severus watched in disbelief as it turned, growling one more time at them, before running off into the Forbidden Forest. Severus let the kids go, picking up Ronald Weasley and getting ready to walk back to the castle in silence when he heard a whining, and suddenly Harry Potter was off like a shot. He ran down the slope toward where the mangy mutt Black had wandered, wounded, and Severus was forced to make a decision – Potter, or two other students?

He ended up walking the other two back to the castle, unable to leave Weasley with a broken leg. The teenagers' protests filled the air as he marched them right back to the castle and straight to the infirmary. He then ran back out, ready to find Potter, if the boy and his mangy godfather were even still alive.

To cut a long story short, he encountered Remis Lupin again that night. The werewolf snarled and snapped, backing him against a tree before raising a paw, ready to strike. He clenched his eyes shut, useless as his wand had long been knocked out of his hand by the beast, before he heard it screaming in pain. He opened them again quickly to see a snake, its scales icy blue and glowing, wrapped around the monster's leg and sinking its fangs deep into it. Lupin staggered backward and fell over a rock, landing with a loud thud. Severus, breathless, watched the snake slither away from its now silent prey, approaching him slowly. It hissed at him, but in less of an aggressive way; Severus felt that it was more of a message, telling him the deed was done and he was safe.

Out of impulse and curiosity, Severus knelt down, reaching out for the animal slowly in an attempt to touch it, to feel the scales beneath his fingers. The creature stayed perfectly still until Severus' fingertips brushed the snake's skin, cold and harsh and at the same time smooth. The snake seemed to trust him as it pushed its head up against Severus' hand before disappearing – not in its usual blinding fashion, but instead disintegrating like glowing dust as though the breeze was blowing it away. After a moment in which Severus gathered himself and found his wand, he ran off in the direction of the lake, where he eventually found both Potter and Black, lying side by side on the rocks next to the lagoon. He rushed down to them, checked their pulse and let out his breath, before placing them both on levitating stretchers and taking them back to the castle.