Lucky
for Snape, no one had seen him carry Lupin. Snape stood there as Nurse Pomfrey
set him down carefully in a chair and took notes. Just then Professor
McGonagall busted through the door.
"I
heard the news Remus. What was your lesson on?"
"Huh?
Oh how to trap all kinds of ghosts. Why?"
Nurse
Pomfrey led Lupin out the door.
"Be
right back. Let's run some tests."
Professor
McGonagall knew that she couldn't hold this in much longer. It was all her
fault that he was blind and something like this shouldn't be kept secret.
"Severus
remember that one year when you and Remus were in Hogwarts-your 4th
year I believe- when all those-"
Professor
McGonagall didn't need to finish. Snape finished for her.
"So
that's what you meant when you said 'I think we've got it again?' Minerva why
didn't you tell Dumbledore sooner!?"
Minerva
McGonagall turned pale white.
"Because
this will be the second time I released it and I thought that if I could catch
it myself then I might not be fired."
Snape
looked murderous.
"Lupin
is blind because you didn't want to be fired. How decent of you. You know that
these things don't just play games Minerva, they play with lives." Snape slammed the door shut.
"Minerva?"
Lupin was with nurse Pomfrey taking tests.
"I'll
be back Remus." With that she followed out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry,
Hermione, and Ron finally got to the library.
"I
don't know. I mean, I think we should all pay a visit to Professor Lupin. Being
blind must be real hard for him. Hey may have to leave Hogwarts…" Harry trailed
off.
"Yeah.
But we already used our pass to get these stupid prank books! The librarian
said we weren't allowed to bring these out of the room because if we were
caught reading one then the teacher would have assumed we were doing a
prank…and some of these are just plain harsh."
"Hey
Weasel!"
Ron
turned around, ears red.
"What
do you want Draco?"
"Where's
your sister? I haven't seen her all day."
"Probably
because she's hiding from you." Ron cringed.
Malfoy
turned red with anger.
"I'd
watch myself if I were you. Someone might just get hurt. I don't think your Mum
has enough money to take you to the doctors."
Ron
pounced up to punch him but Harry held him back.
"See
you later Weasel…Ginny Malfoy…I like that…"
"I
promise you if he does that one more time I'll-I'll…"Ron was too angry for
words.
"Calm
down Ron! It'll all be over as soon as we catch this thing." Hermione went
though pages wildly.
Just
then, Professor Snape entered the library.
"What's
he doing here?" Harry mumbled to
Hermione.
"Well,
he looks like he's going in the restricted section." Hermione eyed Snape as he
casually looked for a book.
"That's
so weird. Why would he be looking there?" Ron asked.
Just
then something struck him. Snape looked at them. They all quickly moved their
heads, mortified.
"Oh
gentle goodness he saw us!" Hermione had a bit of panic in her voice.
"Are
you thinking what I'm thinking?" Ron asked his two friends.
They
nodded.
Just
then Snape approached them.
"I
need that book. Give it to me. Now."
Snape pointed to Hermione's book. There was a dangerous coldness in his voice.
Hermione looked at Ron and Harry asking for support.
"You're
going to have to wait. I'm reading it now." Hermione said most like Professor
McGonagall that it was scary.
Snape
turned the color of Ron's hair. "I need it. I'm the teacher; you're the
student. Do not order me around Miss Granger." With that Snape grabbed the book
away from Hermione's hands and grinned.
"Y-you
can't do that!" Hermione yelled.
"I
agree." The librarian was standing right behind Snape, arms crossed, stern look
towards his direction.
Snape
narrowed his eyes and mumbled something like 'Just wanted to look at a page'
and dropped the book on the table. The librarian made him fill out a form that
when they were finished he would be next in line. Snape gave them all a look of
death. Hermione shivered. Just as Snape left the door he whispered to her: "5
points off Gryffindor for disrespecting a teacher."
"More
like embarrassing a teacher." Ron said almost proudly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Professor
McGonagall walked into the Gryffindors common room tired. She had been looking
for Snape all day trying to tell him that she wanted to make things right.
McGonagall
daydreamed. I'm only human. People make
mistakes Minerva, you don't have to be perfect all the time. No, that was wrong. This is a serious
mistake that had happened twice before. I had run away from responsibility and
that was totally unlike me. The first time wasn't that bad. Dumbledore only
came out with a brief warning that I shouldn't fool around with anything that
the school didn't know about or I would be fired. Now Remus could be blind for the rest of his life. McGonagall
felt a lump in her throat. One of her best friends is blind because of her and
he doesn't even know it. It's enough that
he's having a hard time being a werewolf but now you had to make him blind!
McGonagall
let away a small tear shamefully and went to bed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It
was just all too shocking. Rumors of their DADA teacher being blind? Some
people pretended to be hurt or sick just to go visit him. Nurse Pomfrey was
very strict about people seeing her patients.
"Now
all of you actors and actresses go back to class now or I'll make sure that you
get howlers from your mums!"
Dean
was one of the few trying to talk to Lupin.
"But
I'm really sick." Dean held his stomach.
Nurse
Pomfrey gave him a stare. "If you're lying Mr. Thomas I'd advise you to leave
now. Wouldn't want to skip DADA now would we?"
Dean
nodded disappointed. And walked away. Nurse Pomfrey walked into the room Remus
had been resting.
"What's
all the commotion?" Remus sat up but Nurse Pomfrey pushed him down.
"Students.
They're all making silly excuses to come see you."
Lupin
smiled. "I-I would like some company-"
Nurse
Pomfrey cut him off.
"Out
of the question. You need rest if this is an illness."
"But
I don't feel sick!" Lupin was clearly lonely.
Nurse
Pomfrey rolled her eyes; naturally, Lupin didn't see this and continued.
"Please
let me talk to someone. At least let me have a little joy."
Nurse
Pomfrey crossed her arms. "Fine. One visitor. NO MORE."
Lupin
smiled.
"Now
who is your special choice?" Pomfrey smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Snape
smiled. He was filling in for Lupin. Snape, the Defense Against Dark Arts
teacher…it sounded goooooood.
"Everyone
open your books to ghosts. I believe this is what Lupin left off with. Pity,
him being blind and all, guess he'll just have to stay in the streets as a
beggar…not that that makes him look any different." Snape smiled wickedly.
Harry
burned with anger. Snape was clearly enjoying every minute. He didn't even seem
to care about yesterday. Snape seemed to notice that Harry was rather angry
because he could see Harry's hands turning to fists.
"Potter,
you look distracted. At least listen to a teacher that can actually see what
he's writing on the chalkboard."
Harry
couldn't take it much longer. He jumped up off his seat and yelled.
"
Professor Lupin is my friend and you don't have to rub it in! He's more of a
man that you'll ever be and he'll always be known as the best teacher here at
Hogwarts and you the most jealous ugly fiend that was the most hated piece of
scum who ever taught here!"
Snape
turned pale white.
"What-what
did you say Potter?"
Harry
was mortified. He could have detention for mouths or worse, even expelled. But
his anger continued.
"Well
you didn't seem to mind so much about you being seen with Lupin when you
carried him to Nurse Pomfrey. You two looked like real brothers, you being
mortified about Lupin dyeing and all. I could almost see you crying at his
grave."
Snape
turned the color red. Everyone was looking at staring him.
"Potter…see
me after class…"
Harry
sat down. He had known that he had gone to far. People gave him sympathetic
looks. Hermione and Ron looked as if they were going to see Harry for the last
time.
With
much mumbling and grumbling the lesson was finally over.
"Potter…"
Snape began with a surprisingly calm voice. "We need to discuss your respect
problem."
Harry
gulped and walked over to the chalkboard where Snape had been standing.
"Mr.
Weasly, Miss Granger, I believed I asked Mr. Potter to stay behind not you."
Hermione
and Ron reluctantly walked out of the door.
"Mr.
Potter, why may I ask, did you say all those private things in front of the
class? Did you think that'd make you popular?"
"You
were insulting Professor Lupin!" Harry yelled. Snape deserves everything he gets. Harry thought to himself.
"Well
Mr. Potter I believe you are paying more attention about what I say about Lupin
then about potions. Can you explain that?"
HOW on EARTH did this
conversation suddenly turn on him? Snape was embarrassed. No, he was beyond
embarrassment. It was mortification.
"Well?
Explain yourself." Snape crossed his arms.
"I'm
sorry. I was to upset to listen to your class."
"I'm
sure a C- will teach you not to let you emotions run wild in my class. You may
leave…"
It
was a pure miracle. He had not gotten detention.
"One
more thing, detention for a week at 4:00. You will be washing bedpans."
Well…one
could dream…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remus
Lupin lay on the bed. "One patient? How about three?" He smiled wishfully.
Nurse Pomfrey knew whom he was talking about.
"You're
pushing it Remus."
"Come
on Pomfrey did you ever get lonely in here?"
"Buy
a dog Lupin." Nurse Pomfrey was completely unmoved.
Lupin
frowned. " Please? I'll be a good boy."
Nurse
Pomfrey turned around. "Lupin that worked when you were 12. You're older than
that now. At least put some effort into your whining."
"I'll
tell Dumbledore that you're making me rest for 2 weeks."
"That's
because you are."
"Come
on!" Lupin didn't feel like playing games at the moment.
"Look
Remus you were lucky I said ANYONE could visit you. I'll make a deal with you.
If anyone comes through that door in the next 10 seconds you can have that
person visit you and Harry and Hermione and Ron. Deal? Otherwise you can only
chose one person."
"What
do I have to lose."
Nurse
Pomfrey started to count.
"1…2…3…4…5…6…7…"
The
door busted open. Lupin was as happy as a schoolboy was. He smiled proudly at
Nurse Pomfrey. Nurse Pomfrey laughed. That didn't sound good. "Snape to see you
Remus."
"WHAT!!?!?!?
I DON'T WANT HIM."
Snape
scowled. "Nice to see you too Remus."
Nurse
Pomfrey hid her smile. "Sit Severus. You're Remus's visitor. Along with Harry,
Hermione, and Ron."
Snape
looked at Remus. "What the hell did
you get me into?"
Remus
blushed furiously. "Nurse Pomfrey can I excuse him? Please?"
"Sure!"
Lupin let out a breath of relief. "But that means you'll only be able to have
one visitor." Nurse Pomfrey smiled.
Snape
saw this as an absolute insult.
"Do
I have any say in this?" Snape had anger in his voice.
"No.
Sit down." Nurse Pomfrey flipped another page in her Nurses Journal Magazine and looked at her watch. "20 minutes left."
Snape
crossed his arms. "I did enough for you already. I have better things to do
then be with a blind werewolf."
Remus
sat there stunned. "Well if you feel that way Severus. You may go."
Snape,
with a bit of guilt, left the room. Nurse Pomfrey wasn't smiling anymore.
"Remus, if you want you may have three visitors. I don't mind."
"No.
Right now I want to be alone." Lupin lay silent on his bed. Nurse Pomfrey
turned off the lights and left the room feeling a bit sorry for him.
How could Severus say such a
thing? Before
not to long Lupin fell asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione
was in the library for hours. Right about now Harry and Ron were playing with
little paper footballs flinging them to eachother.
"How
long will this take? I'm going to have to go to my dorm soon." Ron yawned.
"Well
we have about 5 more books to look at." Hermione had more paper cuts that it
more looked like tiger stripes.
"Look
at the last book in the pile. It's always the last one." Hermione looked at
Ron.
"That's
not logical. Why would it be the last one?"
"I
dunno. Just always is."
Hermione
looked at Ron with slight disbelief. Reluctantly she picked up the last book in
the pile and searched the index.
Hunter, Dream…1290
How to catch…1295
How they work…1307
How to train…1316
How to TRAP…1328
Hermione's
eyes went wide and her jaw dropped.
"Ron,
how did you know that?"
"YOU
MEAN IT WORKED?!?" Ron looked at Hermione like Christmas came a month early.
Ron rushed over and so did Harry. Hermione
flipped the big book wildly. Ron's heart skipped a beat and he looked as if he
were going to scream. Hermione almost broke her fist whamming it on the table.
Harry was on the verge of tears. Page 1328 and the pages after it had been torn
out of the book…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
End here.
Severus
Snape glanced at his student's papers. He was miserable. There was no denying
it. Lazily he marked all the wrong answers on the papers lightly and gazed
around. 11:30. He should have been to sleep an hour and a half ago. With anger
and combustion, Snape marked one Slytherin paper wildly (he knew what house it
was because they wrote "Slytherin" in the house blank) with red marks, the
paper tore, and the poor Slytherin got everything right besides. He was to
exhausted to go on. Snape laid his tired head on the pile of homework and
slept.
"Look
at him!"
"My
Gentle Goodness he's drooling on that persons homework! Not that it isn't rip
to shreds."
"I
think we should wake him."
"Let's."
Snape
felt someone poke him. He was very startled.
"Go
away you stupid dream hunters! Leave Remus alone!"
"Huh?
Severus what's all this about?" It was Dumbledore. And beside him was Professor
McGonagall. She was paler then death and gave Snape a sympathetic look begging
him not to explain.
"Nothing…bad
dream…" Snape gave McGonagall a disappointed look.
"Your
class starts in ten minutes. You missed breakfast so we were worried that you
might have been sick." Dumbledore looked at the Slytherin's homework and
smiled. Not only was it ripped to shreds, it had a small puddle of drool
lurking on it where Snape had set his head.
"Thank
you Headmaster." He tried to control his blushing. McGonagall smiled and they
both walked out. Snape looked at the Slytherin's homework. "Drat."
Kids
started to pour in. They all took their seats and waited for Snape to say
something. Usually this didn't take long, but just try to recopy homework when
it's ripped to shreds. "Darn the luck." Snape took a fresh piece of paper and
wrote all the right answers. Then something struck him. There was no name on
the homework, just what house. Snape stood up.
"Whose
homework is this? It's a Slytherin paper." He waved the raggy old paper in the
air for all to see. Snape knew he wasn't getting much progress so he simply
thew the paper away in the wastebasket. Harry Hermione and Ron smiled. They
knew that the raggy paper was Snape's doing, no one would dare hand in such a
site to even merciful Professor Lupin.
"Now
on with the lesson…"
It's
not like Harry minded Snape's class; it was the homework that got them all.
Ever since the Lupin incident he was giving
them all reports to do everyday. Ron was just about going insane and Hermione
(believe it or not) couldn't keep up.
"I
HATE THIS! IT'S SO STUPID!" Ron threw down his quill in disgust. "Not like I'll
ever need to know how to cure small pox, besides, isn't that a extinct
sickness?"
Hermione
raised her eyebrow. "Well yes…"
Harry
spoke up. "Let's go take a break. I'm tired." Hermione and Ron agreed and lied
down. It had been four days since they got real sleep, they had been working
all night not only doing reports but for studying for tests that were going to
be held at the end of the year. They were having a wonderful rest but then when
they least expected it-
"OPEN
THE DOOR!!!!! OPEN IT NOW!!!!! HELLLLLPPPPP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!"
The
screaming is what woke them all up.
"Some
girl's in trouble! Quickly open the door!"
Harry
who-was the fastest- ran and opened the huge door.
Snape
fumbled in the common room looking quite pale. Hermione and Harry looked at
eachother. Snape screamed like a girl. They had no time to laugh, Snape was on
his feet and looked as if he was going to faint. Harry thought this was quite
unlike him, considering he wouldn't be caught dead in a Gryffindor room, and
even more with Harry Hermione and Ron. They all stared in shock-it took Snape a
whole two minutes to pull himself together.
"W-what
happened?" Harry couldn't help but to stutter.
Snape
cleared his throat and smoothed his greasy hair behind his head breathing
heavily.
"Well,
why don't you ask your little friend Sirius Black, Harry? Not only does he want
to kill you he wants to kill me also."
No
one dare say a word. They just stared at the Potions Master who was now trying
to contact Dumbledore. Harry and Ron looked at eachother. Hermione left the
room to get to her own dorm.
"Why
would Sirius Black want to kill Snape?" Harry whispered cautiously to Ron.
Ron
sneered. "Who wouldn't?"
Severus
Snape yelled at the fireplace. "If you expect me to stay here for the night-"
Dumbledore's
voice cutted him off. "Severus you could have been killed! Better safe than
sorry, that's what I always say. Now, get some sleep and be sure to contact me
in the morning. Goodnight."
The
fireplace ceased to glow so brightly and standing near it was a very angry
Snape. Or so they thought. Maybe it was the fact that he would be able to push
them around that was so amusing. Maybe Snape wanted to make the best of the
situation, I dunno. Anyway when Snape turned around to Seamus (who had just
walked in with Dean) he was smiling.
"Never
in my life have I seen such filth on the floor. I will make sure you all get up
extra early to clean it." Snape smiled one true and cruel smile. Dean looked
like he was about to cry. Snape was over for the night, and he wants all the
revenge he could get.
"I
got to go to the bathroom!" All the boys said at once.
"All
of you? Wow what coincidence. Very well, all of you will take turns; I'm timing
you. You all have 5 minutes. Anyone who has even a millisecond over due shall
pay dearly."
Neville
opened the door. We looked like he was going to scream. Snape smiled.
"Well
well. Come to join us? Potter you can explain to this stupid fool what I just
said. Remember, I'm timing each of you." Snape looked at the meaningless clock
and said, "Dean Thomas, you have 4 minutes 30 seconds…" Dean ran out of the
room with a toothbrush and towel, if Dean was going to get a shower he was
toast. Not that Snape believe in being clean anyway. Harry had just been
explaining to Neville what happened. Neville looked terrified. Dean rushed in
the common room half-dressed panting. His hair was wet and had a little bit of
shampoo left but it was apparent that if Dean could do it all in 5 minutes, he
must have been rushing all the way.
"Ron
Weasly, you have 5 minutes." Snape looked at his watch. What fun! He was
enjoying everything. Harry nodded and watched Ron walk out the
room. Snape looked around the room studying it.
"Well,
if this was my common room I would be ashamed of it. You all should work a
little harder on taking care of school property."
The
room was sparkly clean everything in it's place-What the heck was he talking
about!?!!?!? Professor McGonagall checked the boy's dorms before they go to
sleep every night to make sure no one did anything. This was torture. Seamus
made his covers, Snape looking at him. Seamus worked nervously.
"Professor
where are you going to sleep?" Harry broke then tension for Seamus's sake.
Apparently Snape never thought of this and touched his face thoughtfully.
"Well
Potter," Snape smiled evilly. " I was hoping one of you students would
volunteer to use one of your beds for the night."
Ron
rushed in the room, hair almost as sudsy as Dean's but fully dressed. He too,
had been panting.
"Weasly,
you are late." Snape looked at his watch.
Ron
looked at Harry. This was a total and complete nightmare. Why hadn't Sirius
Black finish the job? If he had he might have not been such a bad guy.
"Sorry
Professor, I took a shower." Ron looked at his feet.
Snape
cringed. "You will be one of the few that gets up tomorrow to scrub the floor.
Now…Harry Potter, 3 minutes."
Harry opened his mouth to protest, but Snape
gave him a warning look. Harry walked out the common room, thinking. Why could we go to the bathroom and Snape
not go to his own common room? It didn't make sense. Then again it did.
Snape hated Gryffindors and he liked to torture them. 1 minute left. He had not
even got to the bathroom yet! Boy was he going to get it.
"I
don't get it. Why didn't she strike yet? She knows where the box is."
Harry
thought that voice sounded familiar…
"Maybe
because she didn't find us yet." There was soft, cheerful, laughter.