Into The Unknown
Severus watched McGonagall striding along the corridor and only when the echo of her footsteps couldn't be heard anymore he realised that by now he had probably missed his chance to get away from here as well and would have to wait for her return standing around in front of her office together with Lupin and Weasley.
An awkward silence had set over them which none of them intended to break – Severus least of all. He didn't want to hear a word from either of them, he didn't want to know about Potter's whereabouts and for all he cared the little brat could just stay wherever he was till the end of time. He just wondered why Lupin had had to show up here at all. Was that man really so incapable of ever getting anything done on his own? It really shouldn't be too hard for him to find his newly acquired godson, after all he still had to be somewhere in this castle and inside a castle you can't really get lost. Well, maybe in this castle you could. And Potter did have a talent for getting himself into trouble.
But Severus didn't care; Potter just wasn't his problem. Lupin was responsible for him now. And Dumbledore and McGonagall. But he wasn't.
While Ron was still standing in the middle of the corridor and staring down at his own feet, Lupin had started pacing up and down with a very worried expression on his face.
"Could you possibly manage to stand still for a minute?" Severus asked, leaning back against the doorframe and folding his arms.
"I'm worried," Lupin replied. "I know that it's probably almost impossible for you to understand but I'm worried about Harry."
And what exactly does pacing up and down right in front of me change about that? "Nobody might have told you yet, but your way of being worried is extremely annoying," Severus said.
Lupin stopped pacing and shot him an angry glare. "You know, Severus, since you don't give a damn anyway, why don't you simply go?"
I honestly don't know. "So Potter didn't go back with you, Weasley?" Severus asked, turning away from Lupin. "After Lupin's silly little lesson?"
"No," Ron replied slowly, obviously taking offence at the fact that Severus was pretty unimpressed by their Defence Against the Dark Arts training efforts. "He only said I should go ahead, he'd come in a minute."
"And you didn't even inquire? Usually you seem almost inseparable."
"No, he didn't," Lupin said. "He thought that Harry would probably go to the library to take back a book. We already checked, he never got there."
Well, well, well, werewolf, you've lost your little protegé. I wonder what Black would say if he knew about that. Really messed up this one, haven't you... "Does he have his Invisibility Cloak with him?" Severus asked.
"Ron, go up to your dormitory and check if the cloak's still there," Lupin said and Ron immediately set into motion.
Lupin waited until Ron had disappeared around the next corner before he turned to face Snape again. "Would you mind," he asked slowly, his voice very calm. "Would you mind not constantly criticising my teaching methods, ridiculing my abilities, and running me down right in front of my students?"
"You don't have any students, Lupin," Severus replied and smirked at him. "You're not a teacher here."
Severus had almost been looking forward to a little argument but unfortunately Lupin didn't have a chance to mention that it was actually his doing that he wasn't a teacher here anymore before their little conversation was suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice - Dobberstein. And although Severus remembered that he had promised to be nice, at this very moment he didn't at all feel like trying to.
"What a surprise to find two of my dear colleagues prowling the corridors at such a late hour," she greeted them, smiling widely.
Severus rolled his eyes and – trying to be nice – made sure she didn't see it while Lupin returned her smile. "We're looking for Harry, actually," he explained. "You haven't seen him, have you?"
"Not since this afternoon, no," Dobberstein replied thoughtfully. "You don't believe something might have happened to him, do you?"
Lupin shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, but I have a feeling that there might be something strange going on here."
"Spare us your feelings, Lupin, will you?" Severus snarled. "He's probably just hiding somewhere, laughing about us and hoping that..." He let his voice trail off and stared down at the floor, completely lost in thought.
When was the last time you saw him?
Around ten. After the DA meeting.
Potter in his Invisibility Cloak. Down in the dungeons. Around ten.
"Excuse me," Severus muttered, left his place by the door and strode down the corridor past Lupin and Dobberstein.
"Where are you going now?" Lupin called after him but Severus only raised a dismissive hand, not even granting him a 'mind your business'.
Even he himself didn't quite know what he was expecting to find as he made his way down to the dungeons; if Potter really had been down there he probably wouldn't still be sitting there waiting for him now.
His footsteps echoed loudly through the empty Entrance Hall and torches lit up as he passed them, casting his long black shadow onto the ground. He walked down the stone stairs to the dungeons and followed the corridor until he reached the spot where he had run into Mrs. Norris a few hours earlier.
"I was right, Potter," he muttered to himself while letting his gaze wander across the floor as if expecting to find the boy's footprints there. "You were here, I know that. But where are you now?"
He couldn't shake off the feeling that Potter was doing this only to annoy him. This castle was probably the safest place in the world right now, not even a mouse could get in here – or out of here – unnoticed; nothing could have happened to him.
When he heard footsteps behind him, Severus turned his head and shot Lupin an annoyed glare. "What could you want down here? Are you following me?"
"Yeah, I suppose I am," Lupin said. "I got the impression that you might know more than you let show."
"I do hate to disappoint you, but no, I have no idea what Potter might have gotten himself into this time," Severus replied. "You checked he's not already back in his bed by now, I hope?"
"Do you believe he's somewhere down here?" Lupin asked while glancing around the dark dungeons. "Where does that door lead?" he asked a second later and started walking towards a heavy wooden door at the other end of the corridor.
Severus sighed inaudibly. "I'm not willing to spend my night running after you just to make sure you won't lose your way somewhere down here."
"Don't worry, I know my way around this castle," Lupin muttered, pulled the door open and frowned upon finding just another hallway with even more doors behind it. "Well..."
Severus smiled to himself; most people didn't know that Hogwarts branched out even further below ground than it did above. He, of course, knew that. And if Potter was down here, Severus was convinced that he'd be the one who was going to find him.
"Yes, I'm sure you know your way around. Nonetheless, try not to get lost, I'll be back in a minute," Severus replied and set off towards his classroom just to return a few minutes later with a small pouch filled with some Obsidian Dust. He'd started working on this out of pure boredom quite a while ago and had never actually tried it out to see if it worked, so right now was probably as good a time as any.
Lupin refrained from asking him what he was up to and silently watched him take a handful of the silvery powder out of the pouch and then sprinkle it onto the ground. For a second the Obsidian Dust just hovered above the stone floor before it fell down and formed thin lines that crept across the ground towards each other until they formed the outlines of footprints.
Lupin arched an eyebrow. "I have to admit that's quite impressive," he said. "You got that just for tracking down students roaming the corridors past curfew?"
"Just for the ones hiding under invisibility cloaks," Severus replied and set off along the corridor, following the footprints.
"Do you believe that was Harry?" Lupin asked and started walking as well. "I mean, it could have been anyone, couldn't it?"
"There usually aren't a lot of students down here," Severus muttered.
"But what could he have wanted here?"
How am I supposed to know? Severus sighed inaudibly and said nothing.
"Well, at least he's quite safe as long as he's still in the castle, right?" Lupin said and glanced around. "Where does this corridor lead?" he asked.
"Nowhere in particular," Severus muttered in reply, beginning to think he might already know where Potter's footprints would lead them, although he truly had no idea what the boy could have wanted down in the lower dungeons; barely anyone ever went there, even he himself hadn't been down there for months.
They followed the narrow corridor as it wound its way further down and with every step they took it seemed to become colder and darker around them until they finally reached a dead end; the shimmering footprints they'd been following lead straight to a wall and ended right in front of the large dusty portrait of a middle-aged wizard who had obviously fallen asleep at his desk. Lupin stepped forward, studied the painting for a moment and then raised his hand to knock on the surface.
The wizard in the portrait woke up, looked at him and then frowned. "Now what do you want?" he asked hoarsely and in a very unfriendly and annoyed tone as he reluctantly sat up straight in his chair.
"Well, what do people usually want from you?" Lupin asked in return.
"I don't believe you even know the password," the wizard with the long graying hair muttered, put his feet onto his desk, leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes again.
"Anguis aeternus," Severus muttered the password as he took a step out of the shadows and towards the painting.
The wizard in the portrait immediately snapped his eyes open, took his feet off the table again and gave him a surprised look. "Professor Snape," he greeted him with a courteous nod. "Didn't see you there."
"Lord Macius," Severus replied curtly, not intending to start a conversation.
"It's been a while since we last met."
"It has indeed," Severus muttered and just as he was about to tell the man in the portrait to simply shut up and let them through, he hesitated. "Tell me, have you let a boy through today?"
"Oh, I think I have."
"You think you have?" Lupin asked.
"Well, I couldn't see him! I could only hear his voice, it seemed so familiar..." The wizard in the painting replied and raised his head to look up at the ceiling with a strangely dreamy expression on his face.
"So you let through an invisible stranger today," Severus said softly. "I'm just interested - when exactly were you going to report that to me?"
"I didn't think you'd be too interested, Professor. My apologies."
"Yes..." Severus muttered. "Did he know the password?"
"Oh yes, of course he did," the wizard in the portrait replied. "Nobody gets through without the password."
Severus nodded, impatiently waved a hand at him and the painting finally swung aside to admit them to a narrow staircase leading down to the lower dungeons.
The stairs were just wide enough for one person to walk down and the stone steps were wet and slippery. There was no space for torches here and since Severus couldn't have claimed to know his way around here as well as he did in the upper levels of the dungeons, he took out his wand and cast a Lumos spell so at least he wouldn't fall down the stairs and break his neck while searching for obnoxious Potter Junior. Lupin hesitated for a second, sniffed the stale air, decided he wasn't too fond of this place and then followed him nonetheless.
They hadn't made it far when the portrait swung back into place with a low creaking sound and left them in nearly complete darkness, unable to see either where the stairs started or where they led to.
"I've never been down here before," Lupin said in a low voice. "I didn't even know this existed."
Severus didn't say anything in return so Lupin gave up and just followed him in silence until they finally reached the end of the staircase. The torches on the walls around them flickered to life, they both put their wands away and Lupin could see that they were standing right in front of a stone wall with corridors leading to the left and right.
"What's that?" he asked and nodded towards a rusty square plate mounted on the wall in front of him. "Is that Greek?" he added after examining the signs that had been carved into the metal.
"Yes," Severus replied and set off along the corridor to his left. "It says that those running against time shall never find their way."
"You can read ancient Greek?"
"No. Are you going to just stand there or come along now?"
"What does it mean?" Lupin asked as he set into motion as well.
"It means that you have to turn left. Clockwise."
"Ah, I see," Lupin muttered more to himself, thought that a simple arrow would have done the job just as well and decided to delay asking Snape what would happen if one turned right instead.
They followed the corridor until they reached a larger hallway.
Severus stopped walking and glanced around. "Potter!" he called out, but all he got as a reply was the echo of his own voice.
"Umh... excuse me," Lupin said carefully. "But do you really think that if he heard you calling for him he'd jump up and shout 'Hello, over here!' so you can take two hundred house points from Gryffindor and make him serve detention till Christmas?"
"Fine," Severus replied in a dangerously low and calm voice. "So you call for him."
"Very well... Harry!" Lupin called. "Harry, are you down here?"
Severus stood next to him with his arms folded and a smug smile on his lips. "A lot more successful indeed."
"Well, why don't you just use that stuff you have there to make his footprints visible again?" Lupin said.
"The floor's too wet down here, it wouldn't work," Severus replied softly. "Can't you pick up his trail?"
"I'm not a dog."
"Pity. I thought your special talents might finally prove useful."
"Ha ha. We'll probably just have to search for him the old fashioned way then. What's behind that door?" Lupin asked and pointed at a heavy wooden door a little further down the corridor.
"A storeroom."
"What about that door on the other side?"
"Another storeroom."
"Is there anything but storerooms down here?" Lupin asked.
"A few empty rooms," Severus replied. "It's pointless to even start searching for him here," he muttered, turned away and started walking back to where they'd come from.
"So you suggest we just do nothing?"
"Potter has to be somewhere down here and sooner or later he'll get bored and turn up again. I don't see a reason to spend my night searching for him." I've had enough of running after him anyway, trying to protect him while he's doing everything he can to make my job as difficult as possible. I'm tired.
"I'll search for him," Lupin said.
Severus hesitated for a moment, then he shrugged his shoulders.
"Do what you have to do then," he said and left. He knew that Lupin had expected him to come along but he really didn't want to seek through a few dozen dirty rooms full of junk and old furniture. It wasn't his job.
He had just made it back to the Entrance Hall when he saw Weasley, Dobberstein, McGonagall and the headmaster walking down the stairs and realised that Potter-searching probably was just about to become his job after all.
"Severus, have you found him yet?" Dumbledore asked.
"He seems to be somewhere in the lower dungeons," he replied.
"Didn't you search for him?" McGonagall asked.
"Well, personally I believe that he'll show up again...," he let his voice trail off when he noticed the reproachful expression on McGonagall's face. "Lupin's still down there looking for him."
Just when he'd said that the door behind him flew open again and Lupin stumbled into the Entrance Hall, slightly out of breath and holding up a cloak for them to see.
"I found his Invisibility Cloak," he said. "You should really come down and have a look at where I found it."
They did as he'd suggested and followed him back into the dungeons, Severus only reluctantly and after McGonagall had gently pushed him in the right direction. They reached the room where Lupin had found the cloak and while everyone else followed him inside Severus remained standing in the doorway, feeling like the room was already overcrowded without him.
"I found it right here," Lupin said. "What do you make of that?"
Severus didn't make anything of it since he couldn't see what Lupin was talking about but he wasn't interested enough to even attempt seeing past his colleagues.
Instead he leaned a little towards McGonagall who was standing not too far away from him and asked, "How could Potter know the password to get past Lord Macius?"
"I suppose I'm the one to blame for that," McGonagall replied. "Mr. Potter needed the password because he had to take a few things down here when he was helping Mr. Filch."
"Why on earth was he helping Filch?"
"It seemed to me as if he was a little bored here in the castle all on his own so I decided to give him something to do."
Severus arched an eyebrow in surprise. "Good thinking, to make him do something useful for a change. And something you'd have scolded me for again if it had been my idea."
Dumbledore stepped aside and Severus caught a glimpse of some stones scattered on the ground in front of a large painting that was leaning against the wall.
"Rune stones, right?" Lupin asked.
"Yes," Dumbledore replied.
"The pattern in which they'd been arranged looks somewhat familiar to me," Eliza Dobberstein said thoughtfully.
Severus rolled his eyes. Of course, Mrs. Defence-Against-the-Dark-Arts, knows what's going on. Oh please, enlighten us... Out of the corner of his eye he saw McGonagall kneeling down and picking something up from the ground.
"What's that?" he asked.
"A book...," she muttered as she skimmed through the pages. "An empty book, as a matter of fact."
He held out his hand and knowing that he never believed anything unless he'd seen it for himself she handed him the small leather bound book.
"This is without a doubt Dark Magic," he heard Dobberstein say.
Severus flipped the book open and quickly read over a few poorly printed paragraphs before he held the open book up in front of McGonagall's face again.
"Blank page?" he asked.
She put on her glasses and took a closer look. "Is it not?" she asked doubtfully.
"Not to me."
"But a boy of his age couldn't possibly know of such magic," Dobberstein said.
"You mustn't underestimate Harry," Lupin replied with a weak smile.
"Indeed," Severus said softly. "Potter always seems rather well informed whenever it comes to things he should not know about. Nonetheless, I assume that this book might have been of help to him."
He handed the book to Dumbledore who only had to take one quick look at it to come to the same conclusion as McGonagall. "Empty pages when I look at it," he said thoughtfully. "How about you, Remus?" he asked and handed Lupin the book.
"I can see it, too."
"Why are they the only ones who can see it?" Dobberstein asked after taking a look at the strange little book herself.
"Obviously it has something to say only to certain people," Dumbledore replied.
Severus definitely couldn't imagine what in the world he could have done to qualify for being in the same group of certain people as Potter and Lupin so he rather regarded this as a coincidence.
"Weasley? Where did he get that book?" Severus asked. "It wasn't in the library, was it?"
"No," Ron replied. "I think he got it for his birthday."
"Who gave it to him?" Lupin asked.
Ron shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know...," he said. "Someone sent it by owl."
"Brilliant," Severus muttered to himself. Day after day we're all doing everything we can to make sure that kid is safe here and then someone just sends him a book full of Dark Magic and nobody even notices. And of course, Potter doesn't regard it necessary to tell anyone about it either.
"Listen, there's an inscription in the book," Lupin said. "Sirius and I were never closest of friends but we always respected each other. He was the bravest man I've ever met in my life. I can only imagine what his death is doing with you, who was actually so close to him. However, if you are anything like your godfather, you'll find this book extremely interesting. No signature or anything."
"Anyone could have written that," Severus said. "Everyone knows about Potter and Black."
"They know as well, don't they?" Dobberstein said in a low voice and turned around to look at him.
"Yes, they do," Severus replied and looked back at her out of narrowed eyes; somehow he didn't like the way she'd said that, it had sounded too much as if she suspected him of knowing more than he let show. And he didn't like it that she obviously knew about him what nobody who wasn't a member of the Order was supposed to know.
"Whoever might be responsible for this," Dumbledore said, looking down at the book Lupin was holding in his hand, "First we will have to find out what happened. I suggest you two," he said, looking first at Lupin, then at Snape, "have a look at the book while the rest of us examine these runestones."
Remus nodded and careful not to destroy anything he stepped out of what was left of the semicircle the runestones had been arranged in and left the room. Severus scowled but turned and left as well. He followed him into the small storeroom on the other side of the corridor but when Lupin sat down on a dusty old desk with the open book on his knees, Severus remained standing a few steps away from him.
"Are you going to have a look at it as well?" Lupin asked after having studied the first two pages for a few seconds, not even looking up.
"Just tell me what it says," Severus replied lazily.
Lupin raised his head. "Perhaps we should find out first whether it reads the same to you as it does to me."
Severus shrugged his shoulders, muttered an unintelligible "Why shouldn't it?", made a few steps towards Lupin and took the book from him. He turned to the next page, quickly read the first paragraph and handed the book back to him.
"Read," he said.
Lupin read the first few words before it dawned on him that he'd probably meant him to read it aloud. "A bridge to the other side will appear only when the silence is broken by the darkest truth," he read, "and only those willing to step into this darkness, willing to leave the light behind and to carry..."
"Exactly the same," Severus interrupted him.
"Good," Lupin said and turned a few more pages. "Now if only some of it would make any sense..."
Severus watched him turning pages, reading, shaking his head and turning pages again for a few minutes before Lupin spoke up again.
"It reads like a guide or something on how to get to this place, the other side," he said. "Oh, there's a drawing."
"I'm glad that amongst all those confusing letters you finally found something that appeals to you."
"A drawing of a house," Lupin said, showing no reaction to his snide remark. "I think that's Latin here..." he muttered and looked up. "Could you have a look at that? I've never been good at Latin."
Severus reluctantly took the book from his hands again and studied the black and white drawing as well as the handwritten lines next to it. "You're astonishingly talented at recognising a language while not understanding a word of it," he said.
"Thank you," Lupin replied.
"That wasn't meant to be a compliment."
"I know," Lupin said. "Can you translate it?"
"Try a translation charm," Severus suggested and held the open book up in front of Lupin who quickly pulled out his wand and cast the charm.
"Seems to be no good," Lupin said after taking another look at the page. "Still pretty much Latin."
Severus sighed inaudibly. "Well..." he said, staring down at the page. "It says..." he frowned, realising that it actually had been quite a while since he'd last had anything to do with Latin. "It says something about a shadow of death... uncovers the soul... luna sanguinea... the bloodmoon summons the ghosts of the dead... the loved and the hated... the door opens the way back in... It doesn't really make a lot of sense."
"That couldn't possibly have something to do with the person translating it?" Lupin asked.
Severus shot him a glare. "Actually it doesn't need to make sense," he said. "I suppose you didn't read the last paragraph on the previous page? Because if you had then you'd know that these words are the incantation needed to open the portal." He turned a few more pages, found nothing but blank parchment, closed the book again and handed it back to Lupin. "I suppose we've found what we've been looking for," Severus said.
"Did we?" Lupin asked. "You think Harry used that incantation and the runestones to get to that place described in the book?"
"Yes, I do," Severus replied.
"Why would he do that?"
Probably simply because it was the most naïve, idiotic and irrational thing possible to do. "The ghosts of the dead, a bridge to the other side?" Severus said. "The whole thing reads like a travelling guide to the realms of the dead and the inscription was Potter's personal invitation."
"He's searching for Sirius," Lupin said softly and shook his head. "I could have guessed that right away; I mean, I knew how hard it was for him to deal with it..."
"Whatever his reasons might have been, the more interesting question is: Where is he now and how do we get him back here?"
Lupin nodded and jumped down from the desk he'd been sitting on. "Exactly," he said. "I'll go after him and bring him back," he added and left the room.
"Our hero," Severus muttered to himself, sighed inaudibly and followed him.
While Lupin told the others about what they'd found out Severus made two futile attempts to send Weasley back to his dormitory and much to his surprise the young Gryffindor stood his ground and refused to leave before knowing what had happened to his friend and what they were going to do about it even when he threatened to make him serve detention till the end of the term.
Severus decided not to bother about it any longer and to rather leave Weasley to his own Head of House and listened to what Dumbledore, McGonagall and Dobberstein had found out. They seemed to have come to pretty much the same conclusion as he and Lupin: Potter had obviously managed to open some sort of portal with the help of the runestones, the book and the painting and Merlin knew where he was now.
"But how does that painting fit in?" Lupin asked and kneeled down in front of it. The golden picture frame was covered by a layer of dust and the painting showed a misty landscape, dark woods and a small old house behind the trees near the horizon.
"The picture itself doesn't seem to have been jinxed or influenced in any other way," Dobberstein said. "As a matter of fact, it's not even a magical painting but of Muggle origin."
"I didn't know we had Muggle paintings here," Lupin muttered.
"Neither did I," McGonagall said. "It seems to have been down here for a long time already, at least I've never seen it before."
"That's exactly the same house we saw in the drawing in that book," Lupin said and stood up again. "How's that possible? Even more so since it's a Muggle picture?" he asked, turning to Dumbledore.
The headmaster thoughtfully shook his head. "I don't know," he said softly.
Severus frowned; 'I don't know' was something he definitely didn't like to hear from him.
"But that painting seems to be the passage to where ever Harry might be now," Dumbledore added. "And if the house in the painting is the same one as in the book, it's possible that it's not only a passage but that he's actually inside the painting."
"Well, I'll go after him and find out," Lupin said.
"Yes, that seems to be the only possible way; we should waste no time. But you're not going on your own," Dumbledore said. "Severus?"
Severus wasn't very delighted about his idea. "Perhaps it would be better if someone else went with him," he said, not yet knowing what reason aside from "Because I really don't want to" he could have given Dumbledore for his suggestion.
"You're the only one who could," Lupin said. "Because you're the only one aside from me who's able to read anything in this book. It said it right on the first page; you can only go across if you're being called. But don't worry, I'll go alone if you're not willing to."
Severus had just wanted to wish him good luck on his journey but unfortunately Dumbledore was faster. "I will definitely not allow you to go on your own, Remus," the headmaster said.
Severus felt everyone's eyes on him and realised that he didn't really have a choice. "Fine," he said, glanced down at the picture once more, turned away and strode out of the room, muttering something nobody not in possession of a werewolf's sharp sense of hearing could have understood.
"Did he just say something?" Eliza Dobberstein asked, obviously a bit surprised by her colleague's behaviour.
"He said he'd go and get himself a coat," Lupin said. "Doesn't really get out of his dungeons a lot, might not have noticed that it's still summer..." he added.
"I'm quite sure he's aware of that," McGonagall said. "The weather might not be as friendly where you'll be going though."
Lupin looked down at the painting once more and sighed. "Yeah, you might be right," he said slowly. "I suppose I should go and get myself a jacket as well."
He returned ten minutes later with a very shabby greenish leather jacket from Filch's lost, found and never reclaimed repository which was just a bit too short and a bit too loose to be mistaken as his own. He was slightly surprised to notice that he'd actually returned before Snape although he'd had to go all the way up to the second floor.
"He's really taking his time, isn't he?" Lupin said to McGonagall who was standing a few steps away from the painting and watching Dumbledore and Dobberstein rearranging the runestones on the floor.
"As usually," McGonagall replied in a low voice. "Remus, does that book say anything about how you're supposed to get back here?" she asked.
"Not really," Lupin replied. "It's just blank pages after the one with the incantation that opens the portal. I thought maybe if I take the book with me it might give me some more information when I need it."
"Perhaps you're not supposed to get away from there again."
Lupin knew she was right, couldn't think of anything to say in return and therefore said nothing at all.
"We'll give you three hours," McGonagall said. "If we don't hear from you within that time we'll try to either get you back here or send someone after you."
"And how?" Lupin asked the obvious question, not expecting they'd come up with an answer while he'd been away.
"We'll have three hours to figure that out," McGonagall replied and handed him the leather bound book.
"Very good," Dumbledore said and took a step away from the picture. "With that we should be ready."
"I'm good to go," Lupin said. "Now once Severus decides to show up here again-"
"I'm right here," Severus cut him off as he stepped into the room, carrying a black coat over his arm. "Nice jacket, it looks like a dead lizard."
"Can we leave then?" Lupin asked.
"After you," Severus replied.
Lupin took a deep breath, stepped up to stand right in front of the painting, opened the book and read the incantation. Then he closed the book again, tossed it over to Snape and just as he started wondering whether or not it had worked, he felt as if a giant invisible hand grabbed him and wrapped around his body so tightly that it nearly kept him from breathing. He felt himself being drawn towards the painting, the world around him started spinning and then everything went black.
"Your turn," McGonagall said and gave Severus a pat on the shoulder.
Reluctantly he stepped forward to stand in the same spot from where Lupin had just disappeared into thin air and read the incantation.
AN: It has really taken me incredibly long to update this time. Is anyone still reading this? If you do, I hope you enjoyed it.
Thank you to everyone who sent me an e-mail reminding me that there were still people interested in an update. Thank you to Tim H. Smith and to my lovely beta shadowycat.
Thank you so much to all those who left a review:
Anna Taure, zippy zany, Hannah28, selua, enahma, greengirlblue, akip, LissaPadfootLuvr, Ronnie, Andromeda Snape-Malfoy, Alexandrus W. Pendragon, Phoenix of the Stars, Athalia, PP, IntelEwok, Denise, AzkabanPrisoner, NewbieSnapeFan, Athena Keating-Thomas.
I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed the story so far :)
And thank you to everyone who left a review for the one-shots I posted :)
