Disclaimer: all JK's...
A/N: My apologies for the (long) delay... I've decided to finish this story. Thanks for the reviews, and I'll keep updating this story from Remus's pov in parallel.
CHAPTER 10
Paired up
On top of it all, the only vacant seats where beside Lupin.
Harry hesitated a second; maybe it wasn't a coincidence, maybe they all knew and wanted to see his reaction−
And maybe you're just being paranoid.
Hermione sat beside Lupin, and Harry had no choice but to take the chair beside her without a glance at Remus. He couldn't risk that again, especially not now. Not with all the teachers staring at each other and at him and Hermione, not with Snape seated right across the table and eagerly gazing from Lupin to Harry and back− at least they had managed to puzzle him−, not with Malfoy waiting exactly for an occasion to ruin Harry's life for good.
With a bang that made Harry wish he was anywhere else in the world than in this Staff Room, the door behind them closed and Dumbledore appeared down the stairs that led to his office.
Harry was taken aback by the worried expression painted on his features. Now that he was closer to him than at dinner, the lines of tiredness that etched his old face stood out clearer than ever; his fingers twitched his beard with a hint of barely hidden nervousness; and there was a discernible quiver in his voice when he spoke.
"You all are aware of what is going on," the voice was quiet and grave. Harry saw the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs Prefects shifting awkwardly in their seats. "Now it is getting late and I do not wish to hold you long. The Patrols start tonight."
Then Dumbledore confirmed them it was one teacher and one student per shift.
"Tonight: Harry Potter and Professor Snape will have the first watch. Professor Lupin and Draco Malfoy, you have the second. As for the third, it will be Professor Flitwick and Fawcett."
Harry froze. He didn't want to be with Lupin, but now that he knew he had to pair up with Snape, he wondered which one he'd rather be with.
You expected to be put with McGonagall or something?
Er…
Well you ended up with Snape.
What had he done to deserve this?
"Any questions?" Dumbledore asked.
No one moved.
"Very well. You shall report to the Staff Room at the beginning of all patrols," the Headmaster turned to Harry, Hermione, and the other prefects. "The first one starts in twenty minutes− you can go and warn your classmates that you will be leaving at night from time to time." The Headmaster gathered his parchments, gave a tiny nod to conclude it all, and wheeled around.
Hermione and Harry got up when everyone else did. Harry would go back to his Dormitory to warn his Neville, Seamus and Dean− as Dumbledore had suggested− and then he'd come back here to the Staff Room to meet with Snape.
He started to walk toward the exit, following Hermione out, but suddenly he had to come to a halt when she stopped in front of him or else he would have walked straight into her.
"What?" he said quietly.
She didn't answer directly, but instead tilted her chin back in the direction of the table in the centre of the staff room. Everybody had left but one man, seated there staring at his lap, apparently so deep in thought that he hadn't noticed everyone else had left.
Lupin.
Thinking there, alone… well, not exactly. Not alone, because someone was eying him with loathing from the other side of the room. Another man in a black cloak who had a hand very close to his wand pocket, a curtain of greasy black hair on his forehead, and a very malevolent sneer.
Snape took two steps forward, headed toward Lupin. There was something on his face Harry didn't like at all; a mix of horrible anticipation and hatred, as though Snape could already taste the flavour of victory. It seemed that Remus, seated there without defence, would be weak should Snape attack.
Weak, and easily defeated.
"Let's go," Harry said determinedly, absolutely not wanting to witness whatever was about to happen. He grabbed Hermione's sleeve and almost pulled her outside. The door closed behind them.
"What do you think he was about to do?" Hermione said, panic in her voice.
"Don't want to know," Harry grumbled.
"Maybe we ought to go back and check if they're all r−" Hermione started to suggest, but Harry interrupted her.
"That's none of our business," he preferred not to think about what they were talking about. If they fought, perfect. But he'd rather not be there to see Lupin being shredded to pieces, as Snape was probably ten times stronger.
Former Death Eater, his mind told him.
Former? Who ever said he's no longer one? it then corrected.
Tonight, he sure wouldn't forget to bring along his wand.
They took the rest of the walk back in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. The students that were still up were quickly walking to their respective Common Rooms, passing Hermione and Harry with discomfort, as though they already felt they were out of place.
"Good night," Hermione muttered once they were inside the Gryffindor Common Room.
"You too," Harry said rather lamely in return. "Hey, Neville," he told his round-faced classmate who sat by a window, reading a book. "I'll be back around midnight, all right? So don't worry." Neville raised an eyebrow, almost dropped his book, and gave him a confused sort of look. "Patrols" Harry explained patiently.
Then he went to relax on his bed for twenty minutes, almost falling asleep. It felt so good resting there. The thought of patrolling around the cold castle for three hours made him want to stay here even more. Sleep. Forget…
What if he stayed here? What would happen? Detention? So what? He'd had some already, it wasn't that bad. Especially if it meant he could stay here… he'd probably earn some anyways, because in three hours Snape had more than enough time to find the occasion to reprimand him, take a hundred points from Gryffindor, send him to Filch. The caretaker would be quite glad, Harry was sure of it.
Why do I have to patrol again?
Because Prefects patrol along with teachers. You're a Prefect, Harry.
He closed his eyes.
Why am I Prefect? he wondered all of a sudden, half awake and half asleep.
Because you're replacing Ron. You know, Ron was Prefect.
Then why isn't he still Prefect? a part of him was perplex.
Because he isn't here. He isn't here, he's left Hogwarts to be with his family. Because his father's dead, remember?
Harry jumped out of bed. Seamus fell right into the pajamas he was putting on and let out a small scream of surprise, but Harry barely noticed.
It was time to go, more than time.
He sprinted through the empty Common Room, urged the Fat Lady to open up, crossed three flights of stairs in a breath before finally reaching the Staff Room.
Snape was standing there, looking at his watch. He looked almost disappointed when he saw Harry had arrived.
No, you won't give me detention just yet.
Harry had come, because it was the least he could do for Ron. Ron would have grumbled, complained, repeated ten times he wanted to sleep and not come to patrol, that being a prefect didn't mean being a slave, that he needed to sleep because he was human, thank you very much. He would have said this wasn't a prefect's job, that anyway he hadn't even chosen to be a prefect, and certainly had never agreed to patrol with Snape.
But Ron would have done his prefect duties, he would have gone to the Staff Room, he would have stubbornly walked for three hours no matter how much he despised it. And, supposed to replace him, Harry would do it too.
For Ron, Ginny, Mr Weasley. Even Hermione would have wanted him to do it.
For Lupin, too.
No.
Not for him.
Yes, for him.
NO!
Snape eyed him disgustedly, and Harry wondered for an instant whether he had really fought with Remus, and if he had, whether Lupin was still able to walk.
"Let's go, Potter."
The order, magnified a thousand times by the stonewalls, sounded very much like a death sentence.
