Chapter 5
On the edge:
For the rest of the day, Harry and his friends failed to see Snape – the Potions Master didn't even show up for dinner in the Great Hall, and his place at the end of the staff-table remained empty.
Harry would be lying if he said that he regretted this, and Ron had even hoped forthrightly that Dumbledore had put the Potions Master in his place, that the greasy-haired git would not show his overly big nose again anytime soon.
Instead, there was another set of plates on the table to Dumbledore's left, behind which Remus Lupin was seated. His good nature was all too apparent in his smile. Under the table, besides Lupin's legs, rested a large black dog. It's massive head was resting on his crossed front paws, looking over the crowd of students with moderate interest.
Most students didn't pay any particular interest in the brown-haired man, but some of them, especially from the Slytherin corner of the room, were gifting him with hateful glares. The former teacher was a werewolf, this was for many people reason enough to fear and hate him. That fact was also the reason why Lupin didn't teach anymore. Another evil, Harry thought, for which Snape was responsible. Had the potions master not 'accidentally' let slip information about Lupin's condition, the latter would certainly stayed on his teaching position.
Still, to Harry's relief there were also some friendly faces between the students who seemed to be happy to see the former teacher, who in his days had been quite popular.
The rustle of many wings could be heard in the air above them, causing everybody look up at once. Through a big open window, high up in the enchanted ceiling, a brown and white swarm of owls flew in, parting into smaller numbers as soon as they had entered the great hall. Some of the carrier birds looped around the ceiling, searching for the recipients of the letters and packages they carried. Once spotted, the owls landed on the table in front of the person their mail was addressed to.
To Harry's surprise, a mysterious brown owl landed in front of him on the tabletop, almost tippling over his mug of pumpkin juice. Harry grabbed his mug at the last moment, holding it upright. The owl ruffled its feathers and held up one of its talons, on which a minute roll of parchment was attached.
After getting over his surprise, Harry gently unbound the letter from the owl's leg; the animal instantly spreading its wings and pushing off the table, flying away as soon as it had delivered it's letter.
"Who is the letter from?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Yeah, right," added Ron. "The only ones you usually get mail from are sitting at, or are under, the table up there."
Harry nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders, ripping open the parchment. It was a short note, as the size of the parchment had hinted, but he recognized the writing right away.
Dear Harry,
Please meet Remus and I tonight at eight at the Astronomy Tower, and bring Ron and Hermione along. There is something important that we have to tell you.
S.
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The three friends could hardly wait to know the important news, and the hours until their meeting with Sirius seemed to take forever. Eventually, it reached eight O'clock and Harry, Ron and Hermione were climbing the narrow spiralling stairs up the High Tower.
They reached the thick weathered oak door that lead to the Astronomy room and pushed it open, then entered the circular room, which was filled with models of stars, maps that hung on the walls and other strange looking instruments that gave them insights into the movements of space.
In front of the great windowless opening in the wall, right besides the five meter tall telescope stood Remus Lupin. Sirius flanked the brown-haired man in his Animagus form.
As soon as they had completely entered the room, Remus moved over to them, smiling kindly before he pointed his wand at the door, securing it with a locking charm.
"I remember that this room was often frequented by teenagers whose hormones were in overdrive, and we don't want to be disturbed, do we?" he said, shrugging his shoulders as he explained himself.
Only after being sure the door was securely locked did Sirius transform back into his human form, walking over to them as soon as he had changed.
"What's going on? What is so important that you think it's this urgent?" Harry spurted out.
Sirius' eyes darkened slightly. "We wanted to warn the three of you; especially you, Harry. You are in grave danger."
Harry could see the worry in his godfather's eyes. This news, which seemed to have upset Sirius so much, didn't really affect him. With a trace of bitterness he thought of how crazy his life must be, if such a warning didn't scare him anymore. Being in danger had unfortunately become a morbid constancy in his short life.
"And who would it be this time? Voldemort again?" he sighed, slightly annoyed.
Ron could not stifle a chuckle and even Sirius and Lupin smiled weakly at his quite uninterested answer. But their amusement disappeared as fast as it had come.
"No, this time it's not Voldemort, but Snape," Lupin sighed.
"Snape?" Hermione sounded confused.
He was thinking about this as Ron snapped his fingers, the redhead's face one of satisfaction that he had been right all along. "I've always known it. The greasy Git is evil after all.
Harry, however, was more than sceptic. "Snape? You're sure? As far as I know, he's just a dog that barks but doesn't bite." But before the last words left his mouth, he remembered Dumbledore's worried speech about the potions master, and a bad feeling nested in the pit of his stomach.
Remus shook his head regretfully. "That's always been the case so far. Snape owes Dumbledore as much as Dumbledore owes him, but he has changed significantly as of recently. He's always been a neurotic sort, and Dumbledore has told us that he's rarely getting any sleep anymore. He shows not the slightest chance of tolerance towards Sirius any longer . What's more, Sirius and I have overheard him this morning, fighting with the Headmaster."
"It was a pretty nasty fight, actually," Sirius agreed. "So far, the Headmaster had always known how to get through to Snape and bypass that thick scull of his, and the poison-stirrer had always bowed back when Dumbledore told him to. However, this time he had left the Headmaster's office screaming and cursing loudly. As Snape crossed us on the stairway he yelled at us. He told us that it was exactly like back then with the Marauders, that Dumbledore was favouring his beloved Gryffindors. He then said that he would do something about it this time around, that this time Dumbledore's prized ones would pay for ridiculing him."
"What did he mean by that?" Hermione asked.
The Animagus exchanged a short glance with Lupin before the werewolf addressed them again. "You do know what happened in the Shrieking Shack, back when we were in our fifth year, right?"
They all nodded simultaneously as Lupin bowed his head, "It was a stupid, immature prank."
Sirius shot his friend a look of anger and hurt, but Lupin ignored it as the taller wizard growled. "He deserved it. The only stupid thing about it has been to involve you into the affair."
Lupin sadly shook his head. "He could have died, Sirius. No matter how much he always got on your nerves, I doubt that you would have been able to live with that. Putting this aside, Severus had gotten the scare of his life back then and had convinced himself that all of us would be sent to Azkaban, or at least be expelled from school for attempted murder, which in his eyes was exactly what we had been planning to do. Instead, Dumbledore gave us another chance and the only thing that had happened to Sirius was a couple of detentions. Not even any points had been deducted from our house, because Dumbledore didn't want to tell the rest of the staff why he had taken them."
The werewolf then sighed before continuing. "I guess that Dumbledore wanted to protect me from the Ministry, but his actions hit Severus very hard. Worsening the whole situation even further, Dumbledore made him promise not to tell anybody about my secret. Sirius was forced to apologize to him then and all of it was to be forgotten after that. Back then, I have no doubts that Dumbledore had saved my life, but it had made Severus even bitterer. His hate about this injustice has accumulated over the years. I'm afraid that whatever happened this morning between the two of them was the straw that broke the camels back."
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The following day, the three friends were paying special attention to Snape. Remus and Sirius' warning had made them cautious, and the two former Marauders observation of the potions master seemed entirely accurate with Dumbledore's. They had paid the Headmaster a visit this morning, telling him about their worries, but Dumbledore had only seemed terribly sad and said that he was keeping a close eye on Snape. But he told them that he didn't dare to corner or put too much pressure on the Potions Master right now, or he would definitely loose him for good.
Harry didn't like to think about this particular conversation. Never before had he seen the Headmaster so weighted down. He had taken their worries to heart, but he had said that he had a debt towards Snape, that he wouldn't give him up without a fight. Dumbledore had promised him and his friends that he would protect them, if it became necessary.
After that conversation, they didn't see anything of the Potions Master for the next two days. Snape had not even came to the meals in the Great Hall, and rumours quickly swept through the castle. Snape was stylishly arriving to his classes late all the time, and once he showed up he seemed completely disinterested about the class, being only somewhat more than catatonic.
Harry had some troubling picturing this as he sat himself on his stool in the Potions classroom in the dungeons, ready for his class. He still had to wait for a whole fifteen minutes before Snape stalked into the room, his robes, as they always did, billowing out behind him.
"Read something in your books," the Potions Master ordered coldly, not even casting them one suspicious glance. He just moved around his table and sat in his chair, leaning back against the backboard. He stared blankly at the wall, as if he was trying to tune out everything that was going on about him, withdrawing into his own thoughts.
The students exchanged some confused looks before they got their books reluctantly from their bags, opened them and pretended to read. Their eyes continually darted from their books to Snape, as if they were expecting him to explode on them any given minute. Yet that didn't happen. He just sat there, ignoring them completely.
The class eventually came to its end, but the potions master still didn't stir. Not even when the class was long over. Nevertheless, no one dared to speak up to make the professor aware that the lesson had finished. Everyone was exchanging nervous looks, fidgeting uncomfortably on their chairs. They were still sitting on their desks fifteen minutes later, until Hermione couldn't take it anymore.
"Ahem…Professor?" she piped up.
Snape looked up and fixed her with an expressionless stare, still not saying anything.
"Ahem…the class, Sir," Hermione stuttered. "It's over…"
Everybody looked from Hermione to the Professor, expecting that explosion would surely occur this time. Instead, the potions master gestured in dismissive annoyance to the door. "If that's the case, then why are you still here? Get lost."
As soon as they had exited the classroom, Harry and Hermione stared at one another in silent surprise. "What was that all about?"
Ron, though, seemed not to waste any time in marvelling over the mystery of their latest Potions class. "He hasn't given us any homework," he cheered enthusiastically, as if he'd just witnessed a miracle.
This strange and miraculous occurrence would be proven not to be a unique event in the days to come. It looked as if Snape was not giving any homework or assignments anymore. He let the classes roll over him without any interest, nor did he interact with his students. Of course, those students were silently cheering and felt no interest in protesting about the changes that had taken place. That is, apart from Hermione, who was really offended that they weren't learning anything through this inefficient method of teaching.
Harry was not living in dreamland. Sooner or later, Dumbledore would have to do something about the negligent Potions Master. This was a school after all, but for the moment the Headmaster seemed to hold back from interfering with Snape's behaviour.
The Potions Master started to attend meals once again, but there also he didn't show much interest in anything and spent the time just brooding over his plate. Instead of his usual sneers and glares, there was something else to be read in his face, some kind of arrogant boredom. More and more, Snape's face showed something that Harry had seen before. It was the same arrogant expression that Lucius Malfoy always seemed to have cemented on his face.
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T.B.C.