Twelve

The Marauders barely saw Remus the rest of the day. Since it was a Saturday, they had no classes. They figured that he was sitting in the Dormitories, moping, which he was. He didn't even come down for mealtimes.

"Just as well," said James gloomily. "He wouldn't've talked to anyone anyways."

"Still, don't you wish there was something we could do?" asked Lily.

"There's nothing we can do. Believe me, I tried," Lina said.

Once the week started and he had to go to classes again, the Marauders tried to get him to talk, but they only got a one or two word answer. He never answered questions in class, which was what he was known to do quite often, and he didn't even flinch when Professor Martin mentioned that they would begin studying werewolves soon.

Worse, Snape seemed to notice something was wrong. He kept trying to pry into their business, and was extremely curious about how Lina had gotten her scratch. Perhaps it was just because of the location of the scratch, but she had the sense that that was not the only reason he stared.

"That does not look like a Hippogriff scratch," he commented randomly one day.

Lina crossed her arms over her chest and said coldly, "Why were you looking?"

"Hippogriffs have thicker talons," he continued, ignoring the other comment completely.

"And I don't suppose you'd know what kind of a scratch it really was?" she sneered.

Snape smirked and threw a glance at Remus. "It looks like a wolf's scratch."

Lina tried to look clueless, but her facial expression must have given it away. She resolved that from that day on, until the stupid scratch wasn't visible anymore, she'd wear tops that were a little less low-cut.

After class, Lina ran to catch up with Remus, who had practically run out the door.

"Remus," she panted, "could – I – talk to you – for a – sec?"

"I suppose so," Remus said. She grabbed his arm and pulled him into an empty classroom.

"Vocalo Proofiero," she muttered. "Alright. I have a question. Does Snape know about the whole . . . you know . . . wolf thing?"

"Gee, you think?" he replied sarcastically.

"No, Remus, I'm completely serious. How did he find out?" Lina pressed on.

Remus sighed and explained, "You know how we all hate him, right? Well, Snape's especially jealous of James, and so James and Sirius decided to play a joke on him just get him into trouble, and maybe even get him hurt."

Lina pressed her lips together in a thin line. "What did they do?"

"Well, Snape had gotten curious, since he had noticed that every month, I would be absent from classes for a few days or so. So James and Sirius told him to go near the Whomping Willow – you know, that big tree that guards the entrance to the Shrieking Shack – and press the knot to get in. They said that if he did that, he'd find out.

"Of course, being the gullible loser he is, he believed them. So when he pressed the knot, he followed the passageway to the Shrieking Shack. If James hadn't come to stop him, he would have met up with me, and we probably wouldn't have to deal with him anymore."

Lina's eyes were wide in surprise. How could James and Sirius do something so low?

"Naturally, he figured out what was going on. Now, he doesn't tell anyone about it, but he holds it over my head. Every time he wants something, he'll threaten to tell if I don't. And knowing Snape, he probably would tell."

Lina was still trying to comprehend what he had said earlier. "They really did that? Didn't they realize he could have been killed?!"

"They were too blinded by their hatred for him, and only saw the fun in scaring him. I couldn't believe it when they told me, either. Of course, I hadn't known what was going on, since I was in my . . . other form."

She couldn't believe it. How low could they get? She hated Snape herself, but she didn't want to kill him. Even if she had been given the knife and the permission to do so, she wouldn't harm him. How come they couldn't take such a thing seriously?

Without saying another word, she pulled open the door and stormed out. She was so angry at them. She didn't even know why, really, but she was.

For one thing, they had almost killed Snape. Even though sometimes she wanted to see him dead, she didn't think she really would have been too happy to find out that her friends were murderers.

For another thing, they had taken huge advantage of Remus, without him even knowing. It was one thing for him to know when someone was coming, but not to warn him and just let Snape come in, completely unsuspecting?

The whole rest of the day, she hid in the Dormitory and did her homework. She couldn't be in the same room as two of her best friends, whom she had just found out were almost murderers. Not only was she angered, but she was a little afraid.

"Lina, what is up with you?" James asked her the next day at breakfast. She had ignored him completely the whole day, still trying to process everything she had learned.

"Calm down, mate. She just heard about what you guys did to Snape," Remus said quietly.

"Oh, yeah, man, that was awesome," Sirius said, grinning. They high-fived each other. Lina was enraged.

"How could you find that funny? You almost killed the guy, and you're laughing! Do you guys realize that if you had gone through with your entire plan, you would have been in Azkaban for manslaughter?" she hissed, trying as hard as she could to keep her voice down. She was finding it quite hard.

"Manslaughter? What are you talking about, Leen?" James asked. Sirius was staring at her funny, one eyebrow raised; Remus had his hands on her shoulders and was trying to calm her down; Lily and Peter were just gawking at her.

"Manslaughter. You sent him in there to meet up with Remus, who would have killed him like that!" she cried, snapping her fingers. "And not only that, but Remus would be exposed for who he really was and would probably be jailed as well, maybe even killed because they thought he was too dangerous!"

"I . . . I never thought . . ." Sirius trailed off.

"Obviously not!" Lina shouted, and sat back down, her deed done. At that last sentence, everyone in the Great Hall had turned to stare at her. She quickly scanned the room and made a face at them. Needless to say, they all stopped staring.

Remus turned to her and said, "Lina, calm down, it's all in the past. Snape's fine, and I don't care. I mean, I do, but that's not the point –"

"Remus, my friend, you are very bad at trying to calm people down," Peter piped up.

"You know what, though?" James added. "She's right. That's why I stopped it in the fist place. She has every right to be mad at us, even if it is Snape."

"We're sorry we did it, and even though it was kind of funny to begin with, you're right. The outcome would not have been pretty," said Sirius.

All of a sudden, Lina felt really stupid. She had way overreacted. Obviously, Lily, Peter, and Remus had not reacted so violently. She wanted to turn invisible.

"And yes, we all had the same reaction. I was the most spastic of all of them, so don't feel bad," Remus said. She realized that by accident, she had transmitted her thoughts to him.

He leaned over and softly kissed her. She liked it. A lot.

"Don't feel so bad," he repeated.

"I don't," Lina admitted. "At least, not anymore."