The Man Who Lives
By: PenPatronus
Author's Notes: The section of this chapter in italics is from Sirius Black's point of view. If you like this story, please read and review my other works. "Godfather Inheritance" is an implied Missing Moment of "The Man Who Lives."
Chapter 8:
'Til the Fat Lady Swings
"Then you should have died!" roared Black. "Died rather than betray your friends, as we would have done for you!" –Sirius to Peter (3, 375)
"I can't believe this!" Hermione screeched. She reared back and kicked the Fat Lady's portrait. "Poppycock!"
"Hmph! Poppycock indeed!" The portrait turned up her nose at the password and swung forward annoyingly slowly.
Hermione shoved her way past a group of first years and plopped unceremoniously onto the nearest couch in the common room, muttering to herself.
"Feel like you're home yet, Harry?" Ron asked as he held the portrait open.
Harry went and sat beside Hermione and looked at the fire, his friends, the grandfather clock by the door. He watched as the Fat Lady swung shut, and smiled. "Now I do."
"Excuse me!" Hermione interrupted. She slapped her palms on her thighs and glared at the two boys. "Let us recall what just happened!"
Ron plopped down between them and picked his teeth with a fingernail, "You mean how good the food was?"
"Or how the Hogsmeade visits are cancelled?"
"Or how Snape wasn't at the opening feast?"
"Neither was Hagrid."
"Or how the Sorting Hat was late for the only thing he's good for?"
"Or how Firenze is teaching Astronomy?"
"And he sang about prophecies and loyalty and unity and personal hygiene?"
"No!" Hermione yelled. "That tiny, apparently insignificant footnote about DUMBLEDORE RETIRING!"
"Oh, right," said Harry.
Ron shook his head and lowered his voice, "I'm more concerned with Snape teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts! And Dumbledore said he was leaving, Hermione, not retiring."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I doubt Dumbledore's going to find some beach house and settle down in a porch swing!"
"You think—"
"No, no that makes sense." Harry nodded at Ron. "Things with the war aren't exactly improving. And I bet Dumbledore does feel a little guilty being here when he could be, well, you know."
Hermione still looked utterly depressed.
Harry laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back into the couch. "Hogwarts won't be the same without him. But we can't win this war without him either."
-------
Harry Potter finally turned away from the empty bed. Dean hadn't spoken since the sixth years had entered their room. Neville had bumped into him right inside the doorframe where Dean had stopped and stared at where a grinning Seamus Finnegan should've been. The room had been silent for most of the night. Dean went to bed straight away, Ron had Prefect duty and Harry and Neville attempted to play chess. Harry faked multiple yawns when Neville took his knight, and now the broken pieces looked grotesque in the moonlight.
Sorry, Seamus. So Sorry.
The final centimeters of the full moon's light ascended past Harry's tilted eyesight as he stared past his pillow and out of the dormitory window. He wondered if there really was a smile on one corner of his mouth, a frown on the opposite. With a sigh, Harry rolled over in his bed and tried to imagine that his roommates' breaths were ocean waves lulling him to sleep, but Dean's snores sounded like violent hiccups. Harry was about to give up, grab his school books and read up on Transfiguration when something stirred on the other side of the room. Instinctively, Harry tensed, but it was just Neville who was failing in his attempts to be stealthy. Even tiptoeing, he sounded like a mountain troll, like he was wearing hooves instead of slippers. He started towards the door, but Neville stopped beside Ron's bed (as best Harry could tell with his back turned), and drew back the four-poster's curtain. Harry frowned when Neville's quickening breaths began to have a sobbing rhythm: dad a dee, tat a tee, forgive me…forgive me…
Harry's paranoia kicked in when he adjusted his eyes to the reflection in the window he was still staring into. With a certain focus he could see Neville, see him draw something silver and orange from the pocket of his pajama pants and raise it over Ron's sleeping form. Harry darted out of bed a moment too late as Ron howled like an injured werewolf.
"Neville! What the Hell are you doing?" Dean was charging in but it was Harry's punch that knocked Neville away from Ron.
Before the two Gryffindors could restrain him, Neville raised his wand above his head and hollered "Lumos Intensio!" Harry was blinded just long enough. When the remaining multi-colored bubbles were blinked away, Neville had already stepped through the Inflatable Fireplace he'd opened in the room. The flames weren't maroon though, but black. Harry had a feeling Neville wasn't ending up in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
A gasp of pain from Ron drew Harry's attention and he turned just in time to witness Ron yanking a long, thick, empty needle out of his own neck.
"Dean—"
"On my way, Harry," Dean grabbed his robe and dashed downstairs for the hospital wing.
"Here," Harry didn't recognize his own voice, and immediately cleared his throat as he pressed a pillow to Ron's neck as blood spouted from a deep hole.
"What…did I ever…do to him?" Ron gasped, wincing under the pressure.
Harry leaned over the bed and made to pick up the syringe that had fallen on the floor but just as his fingers touched it there was a tiny explosion, and it shattered itself into unobservable shards, leaving no evidence. Harry cursed.
"Ron, are you ok?"
"Harry, I have a hole in my neck the size of a vampire bite—"
"Ron, he injected something into you, you could be poisoned, Ron." The pillow was soaked nearly through. "You're bleeding fast—maybe we should just go to the infirmary." Harry didn't want to think about what Hermione would do to him if Ron bled to death. "Can you walk?" he asked quietly.
Ron rolled his wide eyes, his face as white as Nearly Headless Nick. With Harry beside him, bracing himself for a catch, Ron smoothly got up and, still holding the pillow to his neck, started forward. Harry was about to chuckle at his friend's stubbornness when Ron suddenly teetered.
He passed out before they reached the door.
-------
"Well, we know where Snape was at dinner."
"What?" Hermione vaguely asked, surfacing from where she'd had her face buried in her arms.
Harry drew the curtain back separating Ron's bed from another's. There lay Severus Snape looking paler than ever with long gashes down his face and neck that extended below the blanket tucked under his chin. In all the commotion of Harry carrying Ron into the Infirmary, with half of the Gryffindors crowded behind him, Snape hadn't stirred a bit.
"Hmmmm…" was Hermione's response before she turned back to Ron. Harry sighed, dropped the curtain and settled into the chair on the other side of the bed. He ran a hand through his uncharacteristically limp hair and left his palm at his forehead to lean against. Ron moaned in his stupor and fingered the bandages around his neck.
"Hi."
Harry looked up to see Remus Lupin enter the hospital wing. Wrapped in a long brown trench coat over dirty robes, boots haphazardly laced and muddied, Remus offered a gentle smile. "Have you slept?" Harry shook his head, looked to Hermione, and snorted to see that she had just fallen asleep, her cheek on Ron's arm. It was well into the three o'clock hour. Remus pulled up a chair at the foot of Ron's bed, looking like he hadn't gotten any sleep either. "The Weasley's are on their way."
Harry nodded and wiped at his eyes.
"I was just talking with Dumbledore. I've been researching Wandless Magic, and he's given me permission to start…training you, if you want."
"I didn't know you were here."
"I brought Snape—" Remus suddenly looked like Hagrid when he told something that was supposed to be a secret.
Harry bent forward with his elbows on his knees and lowered his voice. "What happened to him, Remus? Is he exposed?"
Lupin hesitated and Harry was thankful that his godfather was at least considering telling him. "You know I can't say, Harry."
"Because I'm not a member of the Order."
"No…Because you haven't mastered Occlumency."
Harry stared. "Right." He reached out and brushed a strand of Hermione's hair away from her eyes. Ron shifted in the bed and his pajamas shortened all the more.
Lupin looked at him for a minute and then sat back in his chair, arms folded at his chest.
Harry shifted in his seat. Although Remus was his beloved godfather, comfortable silence had yet to come easy. But, Harry thought, if that is my biggest complaint about our relationship…
"Did we…Did I ever tell you," Remus finally interrupted both of their thoughts with a soft outburst, "About the time when Moony nearly ate Prongs?"
Harry's jaw dropped. He had no clue why that concept was so…amusing! "What? When did that happen?"
Remus chuckled hollowly as he looked at Ron's unconscious face as if apologizing for bringing the subject up. "Seventh year. Spring, I think. Yes, not long before graduation. Harry have you ever heard the phrase "once in a blue moon"? Well, once in a blue moon the moon really is blue. And it turns out that a full blue moon makes an already dangerous werewolf…insane."
Harry frowned and looked at Ron as well, "You mean you were…stronger?"
"Yes. Bigger, as well. I'm told I was at least twice as big as the usual form. Your mother tried to warn us that might happen." Remus put his fist under his chin, "I don't know why we didn't listen to every single word she ever said…" Remus sighed. Harry swallowed and thought of Hermione. "Lily just about killed James even while he was still recovering."
Harry had an image of Lily smacking the Hell out of his father, James laughing and tickling her until she smiled. "So what happened?" Remus went silent for only a moment before he began.
-------
Sirius Black hated this part, right before Remus' transformation. He hated feeling the electricity in the Shrieking Shack, the shift in Remus' mood, the look in his friend's eyes, the feverish expression, the way Remus convulsed and groaned. The only thing he did appreciate was the few minutes of alone time. Padfoot was always with Moody during the transformation while Prongs and Wormtail waited outside the Shack to meet up with them. Sirius and Remus didn't get to just be with each other. If James was with Lily there was still Peter hovering around. Sirius sighed. It would never be just the two of them.
Moonlight suddenly blasted through the window and Remus twitched in the opposite corner of the room. Sirius sighed and leaned onto his haunches, mentally preparing himself for the night ahead. He had homework to do at dawn, but between transformations would be a good time, as long as they didn't run into that herd of Centaurs again.
"Padfoot…"
Sirius immediately transformed at Remus' feverish plea. Sirius hated this, Merlin, he hated this. Remus seized violently, his head slamming into the wooden floor. Padfoot winced and whined out loud though his friend was in the in-between stage and neither Remus nor Moony was capable of communication. Padfoot clawed at the floor and turned away as Remus started to shriek in pain, the voice shifting from human to beast by degrees. But something else caught Padfoot's attention, a familiar smell. He tipped his wet nose up and sniffed towards the door. Potter blood. James must have nicked his arm on a stray nail again. Stupid deer.
Moony snorted and Sirius turned back to him, only to find not Moony, but a giant of a monster stalking towards him on all fours. He was at the height he usually was on two legs, his mouth foaming and his eyes, his eyes had gone white. Padfoot's hair bristled up on end at the sight. This was new. Sirius bellowed his most intimidating bark but the werewolf didn't even blink those eyes. Uh oh.
Padfoot kicked out but the wolf grabbed his paw and flung the dog across the room with a fairly passive swipe, and continued past the door. Padfoot shook himself. Moony had never done that. The boy dove forward and bit the wolf's ankle, dragging him back into the room, but shook him off with a simple flick. The werewolf was sniffing the air, and he seemed to grow taller with each inhale. Padfoot barked at him as he got up, limping a bit. But Moony ignored him. Moony never ignored Padfoot.
Suddenly the wolf bolted out the door and Sirius scrambled after him, barking loud enough to be heard at Hogwarts, "PRONGS!"
The stag's antlers were waiting for Moony when he got to the door but the werewolf barely them. From behind, Padfoot saw blood on Prong's left front leg, not enough to drip but plenty to entice a hungry monster. Wormtail leapt from Prongs' back and scurried into the Shack as the wolf wrapped his front paws around the antler tips and pushed with a growl. Prongs' hooves dug into the grass and his tail flicked in determination. Padfoot leapt onto the wolf's back and sank his teeth in when the deer's black eyes had widened with fear. Padfoot landed on the grass in a limp heap and when he was able, he raised his eyes to see Prongs lying on the ground on all four lefts trying to bat the wolf away. Moony reared back, his white eyes tinted by the moon's blue light, and swiped at the deer's belly so hard he was twisted onto his back. Prongs gasped in pain as blood rippled out of the gash.
Padfoot sprung up at the sight, "James, RUN!"
That was the cue. If the Animagi used their non-Animagus names, that meant trouble. Moony reared up in a howl as Padfoot clamped teeth around his tail. Prongs was up and sprinting away down the hill towards the forbidden forest, leaving a trail of blood as he went. Lily's going to kill me for this! Sirius thought when Moony took after Prongs.
"Peter!"
Wormtail didn't emerge but Sirius didn't really expect him to. Re-gathering his strength, Padfoot took off after Moony into the forest, and what he saw nearly dismembered him internally.
The stag was always faster, had always been. But whatever moonlight had infected Moony had increased his speed as well. There was blood on Prongs' antlers and on Moony's face, but James was hesitant, as they all were to hurt Remus.
"James!" Padfoot barked as he neared the clearing.
Moony pushed the deer onto his back again and powerful claws ripped across the stag's shoulders, across an ear. Prongs convulsed and kicked and rolled with all his might but Moony had him pinned. With a mighty howl Moony used both sets of his claws and raked them down Prongs' hindquarters and back. The deer reared up in pain before falling limply at the wolf's feet. Moony shrieked in victory. He leaned forward to bite James' neck—
Sirius barreled into the scene and knocked Moony off of Prongs. The two animals rolled up and turned to each other. Padfoot planted himself in front of Prongs and growled at those white eyes, daring the wolf to come near his best friend again. Moony was about to pounce when something blasted him from behind. A streak of red launched Moony into the air and when he landed he roared at the wand it came from. Sirius squinted and saw the form of 17-year-old Severus Snape take off with the werewolf on his heels. Padfoot could've sworn Snape transformed into a bat that the werewolf continued after until his huge, shadowed form disappeared deep into the woods.
Padfoot immediately turned back to Prongs and switched to Sirius who rolled the deer towards him as gently as possible.
"James? James!"
The stag opened glazed eyes and then James Potter was there. The last of his energy and consciousness used up, James muttered Sirius' name and passed out. Sirius had carried James to Hogwarts, leaving him with Madam Pomfrey before going to Gryffindor tower to yell up the staircase to the girls' dormitory until the other rudely awakened girls retrieved Lily. She's been a peach, managed to conjure up some impressive excuse for them that made James proud when he finally regained consciousness. And Sirius, the next morning, once James and Remus were safe and in bed and going to be all right, had finally collapsed from his own wounds.
-------
Harry Potter stared at Remus, "Snape…turned into a bat? I thought that just happened in cheesy Muggle movies." Remus smiled a bit. "He's…he's a vampire?"
Remus' eyes turned to the curtain directly behind Harry though there was no noise coming from it. "Half vampire. Sunlight doesn't hurt him. His mother and father both were, both supported Voldemort. Pure wizards and pure vampires. And when Voldemort called on them to bite their only son and therefore make Snape unwillingly loyal, Severus was ready for it. He didn't want to be a vampire, or a Death Eater. He was always good at Potions, and drank his own invented concoction before his parents…attacked him. A stopper in un-death you could call it, I suppose. He stabbed his father in the heart with his wand after that. Vampires are naturally drawn to Voldemort, pure evil and all. That's how Snape has kept his double-agent cover going for so long. Not only is he an Occulmens but Voldemort thinks he's pure vampire."
"And that's why Dumbledore trusts him. And that night, he just happened to be out in the forest."
"He's always up. Why do you think you keep running into him in the corridors at night? And yes, he saved your father's life, but that never really made them even. Not in Snape's mind, at least."
"Oh I can't wait to tell Ron and Hermione that he literally doesn't have a soul."
Remus let out a bark of a laugh that sounded distinctly Sirius-like. "Don't get your hopes up, he still has a soul. Well, technically at least. I would like to argue otherwise of course."
"This is what you wanted to tell me about him. This is what you said my mother would want me to know."
Remus folded his hands. They had both gone back to looking at Ron who lay quietly, his breathing the loudest sound even above their voices. "There is something else that your mother would want me to tell…" Remus sighed. "Or maybe not. I was never meant to make these decisions. That was supposed to be Sirius' job…"
Harry flinched at the name and looked away.
"Funny how Sirius always associated dark creatures with evil. Snape is half vampire, and I'm full werewolf, but he always saw me as pure good." Remus bowed his head for a moment and said partly to himself, "You need Sirius more than me…"
