Author's notes: This chapter has been a dagger in my side and is my least favourite of all the chapters. I've changed it so many times because I've never been happy with it – and I'm still not, but I'm gonna post it (finally) and just be done with it. Oh, and thanks Sami for kicking my bum to start posting again ;)

Beta-reader appreciation: I would like to thank my wonderful and brilliant beta-reader, Splatt, for being so patient and basically teaching me how to write properly.---

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Chapter 6 - Full Moon

Placing a lock of her hair behind her ear, Isolde dipped her quill in her ink bottle and marked the exam paper in front of her. It was already dark outside and the fireplace was lit, the flames softly licking the walls with warm light. After a long evening of hard work, she decided to take a break and curled up in her windowsill, with a cup of warm tea.

She had received information earlier that day that Hagrid had lost his case, trying to defend the hippogriff that attacked Malfoy at the beginning of the year. Then she had seen Cornelius Fudge in the Great Hall, talking to Dumbledore, no doubt before they headed over to Hagrid's cabin. She thought the hippogriff would be dead by now…

Just then, she heard a loud voice singing, disturbing her thoughts. Peering out of the window, she managed to work out Hagrid's gigantic form in the distance, making his way towards the castle – he appeared to be drunk. She sighed and couldn't help feeling sorry for him. She felt that he must be devastated, loosing one of his creatures like that. She'd always liked him, and could well remember him from her days at Hogwarts.

She glanced back at her desk and frowned at the sight of the pile of papers yet to be marked. Like always with Ancient Runes exams, the questions were in essay forms, so the answers were usually very long. She closed her eyes after taking a sip of tea let her mind wander.

She was glad that she had been getting reacquainted with her old friend Remus, and it had been refreshing to have someone to talk to. Of all the people she knew from school, he seemed to be the only one who had changed for the better - but then, he had never really been bad. Actually, he had always been quite nice to her, even before they became friends. She'd come to respect him and his opinions a long time ago, and with the thought of what he'd said to her in the hospital wing, about her personality resembling Snape's, she shuddered and pulled her knees closer to her chest. She would never want to sink down to his level, although she had attacked Malfoy in a way he would attack a student. She had simply made a mistake – one that she wouldn't do again, she hoped.

There was no denying the tension between Isolde and young Malfoy after the incident, but Isolde was determined to prove Lupin wrong. She was determined to prove that she was not, in any way, like Severus Snape. Hence, she tried her best to push aside what had happened, mainly by ignoring the boy. This was the only way she knew how. But deep down, she felt rather guilty for provoking the boy like that…even though he was a Malfoy…

She looked back out the window and saw Snape striding across the ground, his black cloak billowing behind him. What was he doing out there?

She closed her eyes and sighed, leaning the back of her head against the wall. She could see him in her mind as her broom was about to collide with the ground; His black eyes staring fixedly at her, focused, with concentration in every part of his face. His black, wet hair was slowly waving in the breeze. His body posture graceful with the determination of the powerful wizard he was, his wand pointing steadily at her. His mouth commanding her to fly into his arms... At that particular moment, time seemed to have stopped. She couldn't take her eyes of him. She could hear her heart beating and her lungs breathing, but everything else had stopped. A moment frozen in time…

"Oh stop it, Isolde!" she said loudly to shake herself from the image. She was now irritated that she'd dragged up the past by asking Lupin about that incident with the broom. She had worked very hard on forgetting about everything in her past. It had worked well until she started working at Hogwarts…too many memories…painful memories…

Blinking her eyes to get rid of a burning feeling in her throat, she picked up an old edition of a folded Daily Prophet.

Werewolf attack

She scanned the article, but she had read it before. The werewolf bit its son and daughter. The boy was nine years old and the girl only five. This wasn't the only article like this. Last summer a werewolf had stormed into the camping site, bit six people and killed four – a child included.

Well, Isolde was like Snape when it came to werewolves – that much she knew. It was common knowledge that werewolves were one of the most horrible creatures that existed in the Wizarding World. Snape had often talked about the dangers of werewolves in the past, and Isolde was glad that he did. He made sure she knew their weaknesses and how to kill them. Kill them before they get to you. Don't stop to think. If you see one – kill it, he would tell her.

Of course Isolde had heard the arguments that werewolves were human when they weren't transformed, but she'd never fully believed that. If those so called people really were humans, then why didn't they have themselves locked up during full moon? Knowing what could happen, wasn't it inhumane to run around loose? The cowards were too scared to give themselves in – scared of other people knowing that they were abnormal, monsters. They weren't normal people, they should all be locked up.

She looked out the window again and saw that Snape had disappeared into the darkness. Isolde put down her cup, got up and continued marking exam papers, until she moved on to the third years papers. She looked over the perfectly straight and neat handwriting of Hermione Granger, and her mind automatically wandered again.

She had often seen Granger with Harry. Harry... She was curious about him, but she hadn't given herself time, nor worked up the courage to talk to him yet. He certainly looked like his father, but looking into his eyes was like looking into Lily's. He didn't at all seem like James, though - he seemed more like Lily, only a lot quieter. What was Harry's opinion on werewolves? Lily was rather scared of them in school, but after Hogwarts, she defended them, much to Isolde's surprise. James, Peter and especially Sirius always defended werewolves, and Isolde would often get into long arguments with him on werewolf rights. Remus never talked much about it. Perhaps he shared Isolde's opinions, but was too shy to say so in front of his friends?

She read Hermione's first answer and then slammed the paper back on her desk.

How could Snape do it to her? She had trusted him blindly! Why was she even wasting time thinking about it? She'd worked hard to push him out of her mind. The only way to keep her mind empty was by immersing herself in work, and that's exactly what she'd been doing. But it hadn't been easy, seeing him every day, being reminded every day…

She stood up irritably, walked towards the window again and looked out to calm herself. There was the Whomping Willow... Why had Dumbledore planted a tree like that on the grounds? She knew that something happened between Sirius and his friends and Snape, but Snape had never told her about it. Remus always changed the subject when she had asked about it, and Sirius developed a sudden muteness. But something did indeed happen around that tree that had been planted just before she had first come to Hogwarts. She would probably never find out what, but Snape had been furious, insisting that Sirius had tried to kill him.

She gazed for a moment over the grounds until… "What the...?" she squinted to see through the darkness and saw something emerge from the willow; Lupin and an injured looking boy, with read hair, and something rag-like between them and... Her cup fell from her hand and shattered into small pieces when it hit the floor. Behind them, a ghost-like man held his wand up and in front of it was Snape. The sight triggered other memories – all too many of such memories.

"Oh, no you don't!" she said angrily and then quickly ran out of her office, and headed towards the stairs. She ran down the first flight of steps before turning around a corner and smashing into a suit of armour that wasn't supposed to be standing on the middle of the floor. The armour fell on the ground with enough noise, to wake up everyone who would be sleeping on the floors above and below. The helmet rolled towards the next flight of steps and before Isolde could prevent it, it rolled down the staircase, making a loud ringing noise with every step it hit.

Isolde closed her eyes and covered her ears. What on earth had that armour been doing there? When she finally opened her eyes at the fading echo, she saw Peeves come flying from the bottommost landing, with an enormous smile on his face. He laughed wholeheartedly while zooming around in circles.

"Peeves, I don't have time for this!" Isolde called when she knew that she was about to be detained by him. She waited for the staircase to connect with the landing she stood on, and stepped on it. Peeves sat himself on the rail with the biggest, ugliest grin.

"Mad, Mental Montage is making noise – oh, Filchy Filch isn't going to like this, oh no he isn't," he said and laughed.

Isolde tried to ignore him and stepped onto the next landing and then onto the next staircase.

"Was Maddy Montage hiding with him in her room again?" he continued and picked up an antique vase from the nearest table. He flew into the air and held it above his head.

Isolde, already angry, pulled out her wand and shouted, "If you throw that vase, Peeves, I swear I will banish you! I know how to do it, and you know it!"

It was true, she did have the knowledge - the power was hidden in a very ancient rune, which was used to get rid of unwelcome unearthly beings. She had gotten rid of Peeves once before by using a related rune, but that one hadn't been as…permanent.

Peeves didn't look startled at all. He flew around in the air, holding the vase above his head and chanting very rude lyrics about Isolde and the young man Peeves had once seen in her private chamber, years ago, shortly after she had finished Hogwarts and found refuge under Dumbledore's protection. The lyrics weren't improving her temper, but by the time she reached the landing she needed, Peeves was gone. Isolde quickened her pace.

"Bloody Peeves," she muttered, "Nothing happened that night! Nothing!"

It was dark outside, but she knew where to go. She was still a very long distance away, still cursing Peeves, when she stopped at the sight of a very peculiar event: Lupin was screaming painfully in the moonlight, thrusting his chest forwards, his fingers stretched out and his head thrown back. She knew that there were more people there, but she couldn't tear her eyes away. Her friend's face started changing, his hair grew longer and his ears changed into long and pointed ones.

"RUN!" she heard someone shout, but she paid no attention to the person.

Lupin's robes ripped away from his body as his chest grew too big, and his human flesh had been replaced with dark, hairy body of a werewolf. Lupin gave a final howl of pain before gnarling beastly around him.

Isolde stood frozen in her place, she was scared and wanted to run away, but she knew she couldn't leave. Hundreds of thoughts raced through her mind, but she was certain that what she was seeing wasn't real. Another thing that kept her from running was the memory of Snape in his vulnerable state that she'd seen him in earlier.

The thought of Snape made her take a few steps forwards, still staring transfixed at the werewolf, but she stopped abruptly when a big, black dog suddenly jumped up and seized the werewolf by its neck.

Isolde heard a girl's voice screaming, a series of bangs, and the casting of a spell, but to Isolde, those were background noises from somewhere far away. She still couldn't believe what she'd just seen…

The werewolf fled into the forest and the black dog ran in another direction – away from the remaining people and towards the lake.

Isolde couldn't move. She had the horrible sensation of being in a different reality, and the worst thing was that she couldn't be sure if she was or not. As if looking through glass and walking on air, she slowly moved forwards and saw the two teenagers, Harry and Hermione Granger, covering over Ronald Wealsey, who was lying motionless on the ground. Behind them was Snape, floating in midair, his head hanging down his chest and his cloak dusty and torn under the moonlight that shone directly down on him.

She walked in the shadow of the trees, slowly and carefully. If this was an alternative reality, she'd have to be very careful. The surrealism of the different reality she'd lived in for twelve years scared her and she never knew what to expect. She had learned to live with it, eventually, but she would go mad if she'd get stuck in it again. Had she taken the Claresco Potion that day?

Somewhere in the distance, a low and painful yelp from a dog echoed in the darkness. Harry looked up and muttered, "Sirius." With that, he broke into a run, and Granger followed.

Sirius? Full moon, werewolf, three teenagers roaming the grounds, Lupin gone and Snape hanging in midair – no, Remus changing into a werewolf…all very much like a surreal reality… Surely Remus would have told her if he was a werewolf! But of course he wasn't – he couldn't be. Remus was the most human person he knew. Remus wasn't a monster!

Isolde crept further while she watched the hems of Granger's ropes disappear between the trees. She placed her hand on a large bush that had separated her from the others, and quickly pulled her hand towards her when she felt a sharp thorn pierce her index finger. It bled - it hurt! It was all real…

"Harry! Harry!" she shouted in the direction he had disappeared, but of course the boy was long gone. She shot a quick glance at Ron, who twitched a bit, but lay still with his leg wrapped up in bandages.

She felt her calm and cautious manner vanish when she ran over to Snape. If Sirius Black really had been here, he'd played a nasty trick on Snape – again! And Lupin had been there, so he had to be involved – again…

"Exonerocorpus!" she shouted, aiming her wand at Snape. He fell to the ground with a thump, still unconscious. She bent over him, biting her lip; blood was seeping from the cut on his head and running down his pale face, into his eyes. Isolde used her sleeve to carefully wipe the trail of blood away before glancing over her shoulder to make sure that the werewolf was nowhere to be seen.

She got to her feet, and with a frustrated sigh, she picked up four wands scattered over the grounds, cast Ron a concerned look as he was still not moving, and then focused again on Snape, who, to her relief, seemed to be regaining his consciousness.

"Severus..." she breathed as she helped him up, shoved his wand in his hand and pocketed the other three.

"What...?" It seemed to take him a while to realize where he was; his eyes sweeping the surroundings and stopping abruptly on Ron. He jerked his head back to Isolde. "Where's Black?" he asked in a hurried voice, his black eyes filled with sudden fury.

"I…I don't know, I didn't see him," she answered, trying to push away the returning feeling of a different reality. "There was a…a werewolf and it ran into the forest…and Harry and Granger ran in there too... Severus, what is going on?" she whispered confused and looked up at Snape with a frown.

Snape didn't seem to be listening as he peered at the forest, and suddenly spoke sharply, "I'm going after them."

He began to stride away when Isolde grabbed a hold of his sleeve and pulled it tightly. "I'm going with you," she said just as determinedly and glanced at the forest.

"No," he replied quickly and removed her hand from his sleeve.

Isolde raised both her eyebrows and pointed at the forest, "But -"

"Get back inside the castle, Isolde!" he demanded, straightening up and looking taller, and darker than usual. He glanced up at the moon. "There's a werewolf roaming the grounds."

"Severus," she said, taken aback by his words. Who was he to tell her she couldn't go! "You could get hurt if you go alone."

He turned his face away from the moonlight and looked down at her. A veil of shadow hit his face, but she could clearly see his raised eyebrow and smirk. "And you're going to protect me?"

"You know I would try," Isolde replied offended. His tendency for untimely mockery hadn't changed through the years.

He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about me. Now, go inside, find Dumbledore and tell him what's happened."

"No, I'll come with you," she persisted, walking passed him and towards the forest.

This time it was he who grabbed her arm and pulled her rather roughly back. "Out of the question, Isolde!" he said harshly, his eyebrows knitted angrily as he peered down at her.

She knew from experience that this was a battle of wills that she couldn't win. True, she wasn't very eager to walk into a forest that contained a werewolf, one of the most dangerous creatures in the Wizarding World, even though it was Remus, but she really believed that two were better than one. But then she knew that Snape was perfectly capable of protecting himself and preferred working alone. She would hardly be of any help – she'd probably only be in his way…

"Fine then," she said quietly, "I'll take Ron and then I'll come back -"

"No, Isolde!" Snape snapped, his face slightly contort as he peered at her down his nose. "Do as I say! Go back in there, right now! I'll take care of Weasley," he ended in a whisper.

Do as I say… Isolde glared at him with thinned lips.

"Fine," she hissed before swirling around, and almost running into the castle in anger.

She didn't find Dumbledore in his office. Nor did she find him in the staffroom, or the Great Hall. She finally ran into Professor McGonagall, outside the library, who informed her that Dumbledore was talking to Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, in the small room beside the Great Hall.

Irritated for not looking there before, Isolde hurried to the Hall and walked in on Fudge insisting on increasing the number of dementors in the grounds. As if knowing something was amiss, Dumbledore immediately looked away from Fudge and focused on Isolde.

Isolde explained what she had seen as quickly as she could, although it all sounded very strange and surreal as she spoke. The two men probably thought she was mad as she stood there, out of breath, talking about a werewolf and a big black dog. She didn't say who the werewolf was, because of Fudge. What would happen to Remus if Fudge knew? As soon as she mentioned the three students on the grounds, Dumbledore stood up and walked towards her.

"…and Severus went after them," she finished, looking from Dumbledore to Fudge's disbelieving expression. "Oh, and Severus asked where Sirius Black was…as if he thought Sirius was on the premises…" Isolde added questioningly.

"Sirius Black!" Fudge suddenly called with great interest as he jumped up from his seat with excitement. "How did he get past the dementors?"

"Severus was unconscious only a minute before, he was probably just raving-" Isolde tried, but Fudge had already pushed her out of the way and disappeared through the door. Of course Harry had also mentioned Sirius's name… Could he really be in the grounds?

"Since when was Remus a werewolf…?" Isolde asked in a mixture of disbelief, grief and disgust as she struggled with keeping up with Dumbledore, who was rushing through the Great Hall and into the Entrance Hall. "I mean, a werewolf! A – a monster!"

"Now, Isolde, you don't mean that. You know Remus. This didn't' happen to him recently. It happened before you met him. You know that when he's not transformed, he's just as human as you and I," Dumbledore said in his usual calm and wise voice. But he did look a bit pale. So, he'd known about this before tonight? She had never even suspected…

Fudge was waiting for them by the door, probably not wanting to meet a werewolf by himself. As he rolled back and forth on the balls of his feet in anticipation, he muttered to himself, "We will catch Black. This time we'll catch him!"

They were joined by a curious Professor Flitwick, as Dumbledore opened the door with a movement of his wand, and they stepped outside into the fresh air. The moon was half hidden behind thin clouds, and an owl hooted in the distance.

Isolde only just noticed this as she looked at the man walking towards them, his wand aloft and his black cloak billowing in the soft wind. He looked very tired, yet very accomplished, levitating four stretchers in front of him.

Dumbledore hurried to him and looked down at the people on the stretchers, each passed out; Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger and…what looked like the ghost of the handsome man, Sirius Black once was… Wearing tattered clothes, with long matted hair and sunken face, he appeared to be dead. Harry and Granger also looked very pale, and very still. Ronald Weasley was showing some sign of life, as he moaned and turned his flaming red head, although he didn't wake up.

Fudge was beside himself with excitement and immediately used his wand to relieve Snape of Sirius's stretcher. "Good job, Snape. Good job…"

Snape set the other stretchers down in front of Dumbledore and Isolde noticed the corner of his lip twitch as Fudge complimented him.

"You can keep him in my office," Professor Flitwick, who had been standing in the doorway with McGonagall, said to Fudge, wide eyed, as he craned his neck to get a better look at Sirius. "I'll put charms on the door so he won't escape. I'll take you there."

Dumbledore nodded once as both Fudge and Professor Flitwick looked at him for approval, and off they went. Dumbledore watched them leave, looking intently at Sirius's stretcher with a heavy frown. Isolde couldn't for the life of her imagine what he was thinking.

"Oh," said Professor Flitwick and turned his head back. "Shall I inform Remus Lupin of this…attack?"

"I'll inform him myself," Dumbledore said quickly.

Isolde forced her attention back to the remaining people, and kneeled by Harry's stretcher at once. He looked so pale…

"He'll be all right," Dumbledore said reassuringly to Isolde and knelt at the other side of the stretcher. "Dementors?"

"Yes, Headmaster," Snape answered coolly behind Isolde. She thought she detected a hint of disgust in his tone, understandably. Dementors were the most horrid creatures in the Wizarding World… Werewolves came second…

"Let's take them to the hospital wing," Dumbledore said as he stood up and pushed his glasses further up his nose.

"All right," Isolde replied slowly and swished her wand at Granger's stretcher. She could already hear the muttering voice of Madam Pomfrey from the Entrance Hall, through the half open door. Before entering, she glanced back and caught Snape peering at her with thinned lips and a frown, as if willing her to understand something. She knew this all too well. She knew that every time she didn't understand something, he'd look at her like that. But this time she knew very well what it was he wanted her to know. Remus Lupin.

---

It was the day after the escape of Sirius Black when Isolde knocked on Lupin's office door with hesitation and a big knot in her stomach. She had gone straight to her private chambers the night before, after bringing Granger up to the hospital wing, but this morning Snape had come to see her. He had told her what he remembered from the night before. He had told her that Remus had been helping Sirius all along…

"Come in," said a soft voice.

She straightened up, walked in and closed the door behind her.

"Izzy," Lupin said and smiled, looking pale and tired as he pulled out a chair for her. She'd known him for a long time, and was used to seeing him this weak. Some form of allergy he'd told her once… The knot in her stomach tightened.

"Hello Remus," she said quietly as she glanced at his trunk while slowly sitting down.

Neither of them said anything for a while until Lupin broke the silence. "You probably have questions..."

"Are you packing already?" she said as she glanced at him.

Lupin smiled warmly, "Not exactly the question I was expecting," he said as he sat down in his chair. "I've resigned," he explained, "I realise that it's not safe for me to be here after all; I couldn't risk what happened yesterday to happen again."

What happened yesterday…

"Where is Sirius?" she forced herself to say, forming a fist in her lap. Snape had told her that Lupin had defended Sirius…

Lupin saw it and looked at a lunar calendar on his wall. "I don't know. I don't know how he escaped." He opened a drawer and emptied it on his desk.

"He should be in Azkaban by now…" said Isolde while watching an empty potion bottle roll towards the edge.

Lupin caught the bottle and asked, "Izzy, why do you resent him so much?" He continued before she could answer, "I know that he was a bit mean towards some of the students, and he jinxed your broom, and he –"

"Killed Lily?" she added shortly, regretting her tone. She knew that Lupin saw right through her. He always did. He'd always known what she was feeling. Now she knew why… Werewolf instincts…

"He didn't kill her, Izzy," he said in a patient voice. "Severus spoke to you, did he? You need to know that I did not know this until last night, but Sirius never followed Lord Voldemort. I believed that Sirius was guilty until last night." He took a deep breath. "It was Peter who gave away James and Lily's position. Did you see Peter yesterday?" he said and there was a mixture of hope and desperation in his eyes.

"Peter?" she said slowly and shook her head.

"Yes, Peter, our friend from school, Peter Pettigrew. He was chained to me and Ron Weasley last night. I know you witnessed some of this, did you see Peter?"

She now thought of the short, mousey haired boy who had always stood in the shadow of his three friends. She had known him briefly before they went to Hogwarts; his parents were her parents' neighbours when they moved to England a month before she started school. He had shyly knocked on her door one day and asked if she wanted to play with him. He'd always seemed so innocently nice…but then she remembered his anticipation when James and Sirius were about to jinx...

"I saw something, but I didn't recognize it as Peter Pettigrew," she said shortly.

"Yes, I guessed as much," he sighed, "You as a witness would have made such a difference. The Ministry doesn't believe that Peter's alive, so they're still hunting Sirius for the crime he never committed."

Was he telling the truth? She didn't think he'd lie about this... Remus would also want to avenge James, and he didn't exactly have Sirius chained up yesterday... Why hadn't she noticed Peter if he was there?

"Well," she forced herself to smile, to try to change the serious atmosphere in the room. She was deliberately avoiding the discussion of his lycanthropy. Right now he was her friend, Remus Lupin. She'd deal with him being a werewolf later… She had a lot to think about until then, even though she had a lot of questions now.

"I'm not sure what I remember from last night. It all seemed so...surreal... Besides, the testimony of Mad Montage would hardly mean a lot to the Ministry," she said mockingly, but then paused before adding, "Is…Sirius really innocent?"

"Yes, I firmly believe that he is," he said as he stood up and started packing again, "You can safely take my word for it."

"Severus is convinced Sirius is guilty." Isolde answered absentminded, lost in her own thoughts.

"If you'd rather believe Severus…" she heard Remus say.

"No," she said determinedly, and rather loudly. "No, I'd rather not."

Lupin picked up an old piece of parchment, which, in a glimpse, appeared to be some sort of map, and put it in his pocket. "Now that you believe me, do you still feel the same way about Sirius?" he looked at her with a comical, teasing look on his face.

"You mean, do I still think of him as an irresponsible, self-absorbed, arrogant bully? Yes, of course I do." She didn't feel that sounded all that convincing – but even though he hadn't betrayed Lily and James, she was certain that was he still the person he was at Hogwarts.

Lupin chuckled, "Well, I guess he deserves some of that. You do know that the Hogsmeade incident really was an accident... It took him days to recover from the shock."

"Well, like I said, irresponsible." She didn't even want to think about what had happened at Hogsmeade!

Lupin looked amused. "He really did like you, if not more than that," he said while placing a robe neatly into his trunk, "He didn't act too desperate about you, but I could tell that he really liked you – he cared for you deeply."

"He didn't like me, Remus," she said, "He just wanted me because he couldn't have me." She gave him an End-Of-Discussion look.

"Well," he laughed, "I won't try to convince you further."

Isolde smiled and stood up to leave, but turned around in the doorway. "J-Just one thing, Remus," she said shakily and swallowed. "Why did you never tell me?"

Remus sighed and walked up to her, placing his hand on the shelf next to the door. "I didn't want to scare you away, Izzy. I…You've been so afraid of werewolves, ever since I've known you. You've always had such a strong mind on it, and I made sure that none of the others never told you. Why Severus didn't tell you, I don't know."

"When did Severus find out?"

"A long time ago," he answered with a sad smile.

Isolde wanted to know more, but didn't ask again and forced herself to think of something else to say, to break the uncomfortable silence.

The clock on the wall ticked and finally Lupin looked at it, cleared his throat and said, "Izzy, can we talk about this when there's more time? This summer, perhaps?"

Relieved, Isolde responded quickly, "Oh, no I can't this summer, I'll be very busy."

"I'll write you a letter then?" he said and raised his eyebrow with a smile.

"Fine," Isolde said with a quick half a smile, "All right."

Lupin's smile broadened and Isolde slightly tried to avoid his hug, but uncomfortably returned it and gave him a quick pat on his back.

In the Entrance Hall on the way back, she bumped into Harry who was running towards the stairs.

"Harry?"

"Gotta...Lupin..." he panted and ran up the stairs.

---

Snape had been in a terrible mood all morning. He was still furious that Black had escaped and that the Headmaster had dared tell the Minister that Lupin had been saving the kids. It was very clear that he was in league with Black. He had been warning the Headmaster all along. And Potter! Always Potter! Why couldn't that boy keep himself out of trouble? He was sure Potter had everything to do with Black's escape and that know-it-all Granger had helped him - he was so sure of it. The Minister had promised him the Order of Merlin and Potter... Snape's face was contorted with anger at the thought of Harry. He walked out of his private chambers and into his office.

He had the worst sort of headache and touched the bandages on his head. Madam Pomfrey hadn't been able to treat his injury in the normal way; since it was a non-magical wound it would have to heal by itself. He had been in the hospital wing early this morning and Potter and his friends had been whispering about the events that took place the memorable night before, but he had heard every word of it. He really couldn't understand why she had been so insistent on confronting the werewolf by his side; perhaps she was repaying an old debt? He had met her in the corridor leading from the hospital wing this morning and her attitude towards him was as cold as ever. She had probably been on the grounds yesterday to save the precious Potter and his puppets. He had lingered in the corridor to hear, to his surprise, Isolde back up his story about Pettigrew not being there. He had expected her to side with Potter and Lupin. Ridiculous idea, Pettigrew being alive!

---

Isolde didn't stay for the end-of-term feast. She was wearing her winter coat at the Entrance Hall and standing next to her luggage when Professor Flitwick and Dumbledore walked over to her.

"I didn't know it was cold outside," Professor Flitwick said in his small, high voice, smiling curiously.

"It is quite warm, Filius," said Dumbledore, glancing at Isolde over his spectacles. "But it is very cold where Isolde is going."

"Oh-ho, I see," Professor Flitwick giggled, "And what a mystery that is."

"Are you ready?" Dumbledore asked Isolde while smiling at Professor Flitwick.

"Yes" she answered thoughtfully and strengthened her grip on her bag of Claresco Potions.

---

To be continued in chapter 2 – Poor Defence

Rest of this fic will be posted at bewitchedmind dot net – the archives will be launched very soon.

I apologize for any grammatical errors – English is not my first language. Also, this is my first fiction, so please bear with me.