Chapter 11 - Baiting the Hook
It was the eve of the full moon.
If one had the power to read minds while sitting in a Seventh-Year Hogwarts classroom, one would see elation in Sirius Black and foreboding in Severus Snape. The Slytherin boy had the feeling that his days free from the grasp of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters would soon come to an end.
The future would take root in the present during that Magickal World class.
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Professor Azaki had gone out his classroom for a few minutes leaving his students to their own devices, not a particularly good idea when Sirius Black was involved. Instead of researching "The Tethys Sea and its Effect on Ancient Elemental Magic", the Gryffindor was huddled in a corner with Peter Pettigrew, scheming.
There were two other Marauders, of course, but James Potter hadn't been himself lately (if being himself meant acting as Severus Snape's chief tormentor). James and Lily had both taken the Wizard's Oath with the greasy little git, and if Sirius showed his hand, either or both would try to talk Black out of his latest prank. Sirius already knew that Peter would go along with anything he proposed. The two of them buzzed for a few minutes and separated.
Sirius turned to face Snape, who was writing his stupid parchment about that stupid topic. "Hey, Snots," Black said. "Where's your girlfriend Snake-bitch – whoops, excuse me, I mean your girlfriend Assygrass Pee-yoo?"
Severus hardly raised an eyebrow. Knowing that Azaki was out of the room, he pulled his wand and transfigured Sirius Black into a ring-tailed lemur.
The animal began to growl and prance around until Peter changed him back. Severus waved his wand again, turning Pettigrew into a large suet pudding.
"There, you great witless lump," Snape growled.
Sirius changed Snape into a Chihuahua. The little dog promptly raced over to the Gryffindor and thoroughly saturated his leg.
"HEY!" Black shrieked, waving his wand once again and cleaning up the mess.
The little dog seized the wand and growled, turning itself back into the Slytherin.
Outraged, Sirius spat, "Expelli – "
Before he could get the spell out of his mouth, the Slytherin boy shrouded himself with a protection spell, the end result being that Sirius Black had the unique experience of snatching away his own wand.
"How's the big dumb pudding getting on, Dogface?" Severus laughed, pointing at Pettigrew. Not having noticed his friend's transformation, Black turned and changed his friend back into his original form.
"I liked him better the other way," Severus remarked as Professor Frey Azaki entered the room. "Ah. Hail, the Conquering Hero Cometh."
The Gryffindor boy waited until their teacher's attention was occupied elsewhere. "Hey Snivelly the Psycho," Black hissed. "Haven't you anything better to do than follow us around all the time?"
"No," Snape replied, busy writing his parchment. "You people are just so riveting. I couldn't exist a day without knowing everything that goes on in your fascinating social whirl of a life. For example, I've recently discovered that Pettigrew spends an inordinate time in the loo and that you tried to enter Knockturn Alley. What were you wanting, Sneerius, an inflatable girlfriend? You can get those mail-order from Madame Dunwoody's in London. At least I won't graduate a virgin, unlike some people I could name."
"You think you know so much," Black replied, stung by the virgin remark but loath to show it. "And you don't know anything about where Lupin goes once a month, you ugly git."
"Ah. And you intend to tell me, is that right?"
Sirius paused. He approached, and then consciously crossed over a mental line.
"I thought I would because you're always hanging round us and spying on us and we're sick to death of it. Go ahead and snoop and be done with it. What do you do, race in and give reports on us to the Headmaster? Kindly remember that Albus Dumbledore is one of us, Slytherin. Stop trying to insinuate yourself into his inner circle! We – the Marauders – are his favorite students. The only feeling he has for you is pity because you're such a pathetic potion-guzzling nasty bit of Dark-wizard trash."
Severus put down his quill and stared at Black. "Oh, spit it out and be done with it, you great flea-bag! What about Lupin?"
"Watch the Whomping Willow tonight, smartarse," Black whispered. "You might see Lupin and Madam Pomfrey. And if you do, just wait until Pomfrey comes back out and then press down on that big knot at the base of the tree."
"Why should I?" Sev replied with disinterest.
Here it is – the opportunity I've been waiting for!
"It would give you plenty to talk about with your girlfriend," Black responded. "If her old man doesn't shoot you through the head first. Which he might, since you're such an ugly piece of work. He'd much rather have his daughter date that demon you conjured in the Great Hall last year!"
"Excuse me, Mr. Black and Mr. Snape. Are your parchments ready?" said Professor Azaki, striding over to their part of the classroom and wearing that expression most students recognize as a warning that they need to stick to business.
"Mine is, Sir," Severus said, handing his parchment to the Magickal World teacher. Professor Azaki took it with a smile and a nod, and then strode back to the front of the room.
"Ssssssssssssuckup Sssssssssnivelly," Black hissed.
Without even raising his eyes, Severus turned Sirius into a quaffle and kicked it across the room.
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Dumbledore's Dark child now sat on the big overstuffed chair in the Headmaster's office, chasing away the blues with a massive infusion of refined sugar.
The mystery of Remus Lupin's nocturnal wanderings had become bait on the hook, and Severus knew it. Once Sirius Black had thrown out the line, all the Slytherin would have to do is snap. Severus smiled at the apt metaphor, remembering his recent transfiguration into a fish.
Severus had known about Lupin for years. It didn't take a genius to figure out that first, he wasn't a girl, and second, that he still had a health issue once a month because Poppy was always dragging him into that tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow.
His guardian and mentor had always respected him for keeping the werewolf's secret. Perhaps it had been because Remus' heart really hadn't been into the pranks the Marauders pulled in earlier days. Snape had also known that Lupin had a major crush on Britomartis Vox, yet acted the perfect gentleman.
"Well, that's about all, Father. Tonight is the night. Don't worry about me, of course. If a halfway-decent Dark wizard can't find his way around a werewolf, he should turn in his wand and go off and live as a squib."
"Have some more butterscotch fudge, Severus," said Albus Dumbledore, eating his own lemon coconut square. "I'm sure you'll give everyone a good show tonight."
"And the same for you," Sev commented, reaching for a sweet sitting on a large plate before them. "Castigate me for sneaking out past hours. Be sure to be as unreasonable and curmudgeonly as possible. "
"Now, now, my boy," the Headmaster said, shaking his finger at him.
"Sorry, then. Forgot how you favor your own House."
"Now, now, my boy," Dumbledore said again with a grin, this time threatening to take away the plate.
"Don't even think about it," Severus said with a grin, using wandless magic to attach the plate to the table. "Fancy watching me eat two at once?"
"Severus Silanus Snape, you are incorrigible," Albus chuckled.
"I should earnestly hope so," the boy replied, downing the rest of the candy.
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The Slytherin boy waited until dark.
He now stood in his bedroom at Slytherin Tower, arming himself with protection spells.
He first visualized a triple circle of purplish light around his body and chanted:
I am protected by your might
O gracious Goddess, day and night
Thrice around the circle's bound,
Evil sink into the ground.
Then he encircled a red candle with crushed sage – enjoying its savory smell -- and lit the wick. The Slytherin boy then gazed at it and said:
For protection I now pray,
Let all evil turn away.
Protect me night,
Protect me day,
And keep misfortune well at bay.
He then cast a circle around himself and then looked at his own image in a small hand mirror.
I am immune to their hate,
Their malice.
I will not accept their guilt
Or their intolerance.
Their words and thoughts
Are no bane to me.
He then lit the black candle that sat next to the red one and lit a stick of Nag Champa incense. Severus held the mirror behind the candle and said:
As this mirror reflects back
The light of this candle
So shall these things be reflected
Back to their senders.
As the mirror neither adds nor subtracts
From the reflection
I shall add no malice to nor subtract any
From that which I send back.
As it comes to me
So shall it return to them.
Sev then picked up a black string and tied it in three knots. As he tied them, he recited:
With this string I bind this spell,
As I will it, so mote it be.
He closed the circle, and tucked the mirror and string into his pocket, remembering to bury them in a place to which he knew he would not return.
The boy looked out the window and saw two dark figures making their way across the lawn. They could be seen clearly by virtue of the brilliant face of the full moon. He sat on his bed and waited. Looking again a few minutes later, he observed the school nurse striding back to the Castle while the willow rearranged its limbs to full offensive position.
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Within a few minutes, Severus was out the door and running across the lawn. Power and elation filled his heart. Within a moment or two, he was near the great tree, which even now twisted its body to observe the intruder. Severus had once read a quote from a Muggle author to the effect that old trees hated humans, and would kill them if they could.
"Believe it," Snape whispered, taking a stick and using it to press the knot at the tree's base.
All motion stopped. Sev looked around to ensure that the coast was clear.
"Great Mother and Father of all protect me," the Slytherin boy thought, and then stepped into the tunnel revealed by the stark white light of the full moon.