Chapter 42: Back to the Birdbath!

"So the Slytherins found out that Lupin was a werewolf!" Harry said, interrupting Anthony's narrative.

Anthony finished off the last of his coffee, which had grown rather cool. "The surprising thing is that no one had figured it out sooner," he said. "The monthly absences should have been totally obvious if anyone was paying attention, but I guess nobody was."

"Then why didn't they tell on him?"

"Because they knew they'd get into really serious trouble if they did," Anthony said. "It was obvious that Dumbledore wanted the whole thing covered up. He was keeping James and Sirius in detention with him, and Snape wasn't talking. If anyone started making trouble, they'd have been expelled, and probably had their memories modified, too. Dumbledore would do whatever it took to protect Lupin. And himself. Slytherins aren't stupid, you know."

"Most of them aren't, I guess," Harry said, remembering Crabbe and Goyle. "But did they find out what happened in the Shrieking Shack?" He figured they might as well get to the point and get it over with.

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Fawkes had gotten another look at the memories after Albus sent Mulciber away. The old wizard had paced the room for a while and then left. He seemed quite distracted. He must by upset about the werewolf, Fawkes thought. He glided back to the pensieve and plunged his head into the swirling mist again.

A few random memories floated by. Sirius was enjoying Christmas pudding with James and his parents. Sirius turned a first-year's books into green slime and she started to cry. Sirius and James were shopping at Zonko's and Sirius slipped a few dung-bombs into his pocket when no one was looking. And then Sirius was under the Quidditch stands again, with Mulciber looking into his eyes.

"Come on, pooch-boy!" Mulciber was saying, "let's have the rest of it. What did you do to Snape?"

The Gryffindor moaned and tried to break eye contact, but Mulciber hung on.

Suddenly it was early evening and Snape was standing near a window outside the library.

Sirius came hurrying up to him. "Did you see that?" he asked.

Snape just gave him a look, his hand tightening on his wand.

"I think I saw Lily Evans out by the Whomping Willow, but I'm not sure," Sirius said. "Did you see anything? I'm kind of worried about her."

"No," Snape said, now looking intently out the window. "I don't know why she'd be out there, but I'm sure she'd stay away from the Willow."

"Well, Madame Pomfrey goes there with Lupin sometimes, and maybe Lily was wondering about it," Sirius said. "And I've heard that if you take a long stick and poke the big knot on one of its roots, the tree gets quiet and there's a tunnel under there that you can get into." Sirius said. "I don't know if that's true, though," he added.

Snape had noticed Lupin's regular absences, and he'd furtively observed him and Pomfrey making their monthly journey to the tree just before moonrise. He had a very good idea what that meant, and he had a very good idea what could happen to Lily if she got into that tunnel.

"Maybe I'd better go tell McGonagall," Sirius said. He turned toward Gryffindor tower, but Snape had already taken off at a dead run.

Sirius broke out laughing and said, "Oh, I've gotta tell James about this!"

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"I don't know why Dumbledore decided to take a crazy risk like that," Anthony said. "Was there something special about Lupin? Other than being a werewolf, I mean. Maybe Dumbles just wanted to prove how open-minded he was."

"Don't call him that!" Harry snapped.

"Okay, okay," Anthony said. "Look, I know werewolves get a really bad deal in life, everybody hates them, and there are some very good reasons for that, but how was hiding a werewolf in the school going to change anything? It was a secret, so nobody was going to know. It might have helped Lupin, but it wasn't going to do anything for any other werewolf kids. Maybe Dumbledore just thought Lupin was cute or something."

Harry scowled. "Don't be absurd!" he said. "I'm sure he just wanted to help the poor kid. Lupin wouldn't have had a hope of making a decent life for himself without an education."

"Look who's talking," Anthony said. "You're not exactly the poster boy for studying hard and staying in school."

Harry stifled an urge to tell the Ravenclaw to go kiss a skrewt.

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Fawkes followed along as Mulciber continued to hang onto the memory and Sirius told James about his 'little prank'.

"You idiot! You're gonna get us kicked out of here, or worse!" James shouted when Sirius told him what he'd done.

"Don't sweat it," Sirius said. "Lupin is locked up in the shack. Snivellus will probably just get a good scare."

"We've spelled that lock open so many times it doesn't work right any more. Remus can get it open, even when he's transformed, and you know it. If Snivellus gets killed, or even if he survives, everyone will find out about Remus! And us!" James ran off as fast as he could go.

Suddenly Fawkes felt himself being lifted from the pensieve. "Bad birdie!" Albus scolded. "I told you before, this is not a birdbath. Now you settle down on your perch and I'll bring you some nice lemon drops."

Fawkes liked that idea a lot.

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"We don't know what happened in the tunnel," Anthony said, "because Sirius didn't go in with James. He just watched from outside until James reappeared dragging an unconscious Snape. But we can make a pretty good guess. Lupin had some bad gashes that took a long time to heal – there was no hiding them; he was bandaged up for a couple of weeks – so he must have been hit by Dark Magic. He must have encountered Snape, and Snape tried to defend himself.

"Sirius is really the one who should have gone in after Snape. As a dog, he would have fit through the tunnel, but there are some really tight places and there's no way a stag could get through. So James must have gone in untransformed, and he would have been in danger from the werewolf, just like Snape was. But Sirius let James go in alone."

Harry was horrified. He hoped that it wasn't true, but it fit with what Hermione had heard from Madame Pomfrey. He didn't want to think that his godfather would do something like that, but he knew the man was reckless. Perhaps that's why his dad hadn't made Sirius his secret-keeper.

He remembered how Sirius had met his death. The man had been taunting his opponent, like a superhero in a muggle comic book, when he should have been fighting with all his might. For a long time Harry had blamed the whole thing on Snape for goading Sirius with accusations of laziness and cowardice. Later he had thought it was his own fault for letting himself get tricked into going to the Ministry. But really, it had been his godfather's fault for not taking the situation seriously enough.

Had it even occurred to Sirius that he might get killed in that fight? Or that Lupin might have killed Snape, or James, or both of them, in that tunnel? Maybe he hadn't bothered to think anything through. Or maybe he just didn't care.

Harry felt sick.

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Fawkes felt chipper. He didn't really understand those crazy memories, but he was confident that his wizard Albus would take care of the werewolf now and the students would be safe. Everything was going to be just fine. And not only had he received a half-dozen lemon drops for his efforts, but the very next day Albus brought him a lovely Italian marble birdbath with pretty carvings of birds around the rim.

To be continued