'Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Warning: None for this chapter

Chapter 35 – Suspicion Abounds

Ofelia opened her eyes and stretched languidly. Burrowing more deeply beneath her covers, she paused and listened, straining to hear any sign that the other occupants of the dormitory were awake. She was pleased that the room was still. Ofelia glanced through the small separation in her bed curtains and saw sun shining through the window, its light still weak in the early April morning. Ofelia glanced downward and brought her hand to rest on her rounded stomach. Her pregnancy was obvious now and, as planned, she cast the concealment charm upon waking in the morning and ended it only when she was safely behind her bed curtains at night. In that sanctuary, in the early hours of dawn, Ofelia spent time thinking about the life growing within her. Her hand slid beneath her nightgown and smoothed over the taut skin beneath which her child rested. It was a morning like this one when she felt for the first time the faint stirrings of the baby's movements and Ofelia relished that memory – and those she had filed away since. After reuniting with Michael, Ofelia had kept a schedule of monthly appointments with the Healer they had first visited together. Scheduling her appointments to coincide with Hogsmeade weekends, Ofelia was accompanied by Lily or, more frequently, Sirius. Once in London, Michael would be waiting and together the couple would walk to her appointment. The pregnancy was progressing normally, both mother and child were healthy and Michael was more devoted than ever. All in all, Ofelia felt that her life was finally on the right track; her only fear now what it had always been – that her condition would be discovered before she was ready to reveal it. With each day that passed without incident, however, Ofelia began to relax, embracing the philosophy that to do otherwise risked creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"Ofelia?"

The young witch started and her face turned toward the separation in her bed curtains. There, staring at her unblinkingly was a very dark eye. "Are you awake?" The voice that filtered through was low pitched and carried a distinct Russian accent. Isolde. Damn.

Ofelia took a deep breath and slowly brought her knees up to tent the bedcovers over her stomach. "Isolde," she whispered, returning the other witch's gaze. "Is there an emergency in our room?"

The dark eye blinked once. "There is no emergency. Why would you think this?"

"It is the only possible reason that anyone would invade another person's privacy by simply standing silent and peering through bed curtains." Ofelia focused on keeping her voice steady.

"I thought that we could go down to breakfast and then study together in the library afterward. I didn't mean to invade your privacy." Isolde's dark eye blinked twice in rapid succession.

Ofelia sighed. Isolde Dolohov was a very odd girl, one whose thought processes and behavior generally followed a path as unique as the witch, herself. A Pureblood, Isolde was the youngest daughter of a very prominent Russian family who had relocated to Britain several years before. Her parents were considerably older than those of her peers and had thought their childbearing years well behind them when Martina Dolohov discovered that she was pregnant. Antonin Dolohov, Sr and his wife were less than pleasantly surprised with this turn of events; their family was grown: Dmitri and Gregor were married to Pureblooded witches and had remained in Russia to manage the family's business interests there. Antonin, Jr. had accompanied his parents and sister to London where the family established a branch of their jewelry business in Diagon Alley. It didn't take long for word of their relocation to circulate amongst the Purebloods – exactly as Dolohov had intended. Soon, their exquisite designs, wrought in gold, platinum and silver and set with incomparable gemstones, adorned a very exclusive clientele, indeed. Their wealth and success had given them a desired portal into British Pureblood society, giving them an opportunity to explore marriage opportunities for their only daughter – amongst those who, like themselves, still followed the old traditions and embraced the Darker side of the magical arts. Isolde had turned out to be rather a disappointment from the start. While physically beautiful, the young girl moved through life with a rather distracted, unfocused air. Although her appearance masked a keen intelligence, most of her House dismissed her based on what they could see, thereby missing all the attributes that had led to a very accurate Sorting. There were two members of her House who had not jumped to conclusions, however and both were very well aware that looks, in Isolde's case, were extremely deceiving.

Upon her arrival at Hogwarts and subsequent sorting into Slytherin, Ofelia found herself the object of a great deal of interested attention from the other girl. Isolde had few friends and while abject popularity was never her goal, the young witch did want some companionship. Ofelia seemed to barely tolerate those who buzzed around her – the Black sisters, Lucius Malfoy and their crowd. Isolde judged that the newcomer was like her and decided that she had found her new friend. For Ofelia's part, the young woman initially amused her but she sometimes found herself exasperated by Isolde's dogged attempts to befriend her. Eventually, however, they had settled into a routine of periodic meals and study sessions that seemed to satisfy the Russian witch's definition of "friendship". The other Slytherin who had befriended Isolde was Severus Snape. Knowing him as she did, Ofelia knew that Isolde considered him as much an outsider as she was, herself.

"I'm sorry, Isolde," Ofelia finally replied. "You startled me; I am quite unused to having anyone peering into my bed. Breakfast and a study session sound fine. If you would wait in the Common Room, I'll shower, dress and meet you there shortly."

Isolde smiled and disappeared from view. Ofelia shook her head and reached beneath her pillow for her wand. She cast the concealment charm, watching as her stomach appeared to revert to its normal shape. Ofelia glanced over to the split in her curtains and thought of Isolde. How much had she seen, if anything? Ofelia closed her eyes for a moment, picturing the scene from moments ago. She couldn't recall Isolde's glance wandering, but she hadn't been aware of her presence for – how long? – before the girl spoke. The young witch sighed. She'll say something eventually if, indeed, she saw anything she found strange. I can only hope we're alone when she decides to drop that comment into the conversation. With that unsettling thought, Ofelia pushed open her curtains and rose.

XXXXXXXX

"Kate knows about Moony," Remus said quietly as he poured maple syrup over his pancakes.

A brief spate of choking followed as James was reminded that gasping for air with a mouth full of scrambled eggs was not the best of ideas.

Sirius pounded his mate on the back for a moment, his expression stunned, his eyes never leaving Remus' face. "H-how did she…? Remus, who would have told her? You can't think that – that we would have said a word…."

"Padfoot, get off before you sever my spine!" James favored Sirius with an indignant look then turned to Remus. "The daft git's right, though; we'd never say anything …"

Remus put his hand up, effectively silencing the two of them. "I told her."

"You told her?" Peter finally came out of his state of suspended animation and croaked out the question.

Remus nodded. "She'd figured out that something was wrong with me and the poor girl thought I was dying of some Muggle disease. She was so upset that I knew I had to do better than the lame excuses I'd been giving her." He paused, looking around at his friends, his glance coming to rest on Sirius. "I seem to recall three other friends who expressed similar sentiments."

Sirius shook his head, brow furrowed. "But she hasn't said a word to me about it. When did you tell her?"

"Just after the last full moon," Remus looked at him carefully. "She promised, as you all did, that she would never reveal my secret to anyone. I did tell her that you all knew, but she does not know about our … pack. I would never divulge that to anyone, even Kate. The ramifications would be too severe – for all of us."

The other three nodded. "Kate was ok with it all, of course," Sirius commented.

Remus smiled for the first time since giving them the news, his face tinged with a bit of color at the memory of the conversation. "Yes. Made me quite ashamed of myself for doubting her."

"You can't be blamed, mate," James put in. "You haven't exactly had an easy time of it, have you? Blimey; even we were less than our typical charming selves when we first figured it out. Went after you pretty sharp as I recall – and we were on your side at the time!"

"Well, you trusted me and so couldn't figure out why I wouldn't trust you. I've just lost so many 'friends' since I was a child; it's quite natural to reckon that it will happen with everyone. Her friendship would be particularly hard to lose," Remus said quietly then looked up at the other three. "As yours would have been."

The Gryffindors were silent for a time and then Sirius piped up. "Right, then. I think I'll just go find Katie and see what she's up to for the day."

Remus smiled. "Pads, don't lecture her."

Sirius' eyebrows rose in surprise. "Me? Why would you think that I'd lecture Kate?"

"Oh, no reason. Just that you're extremely overprotective of me and my condition and somehow see it as your personal responsibility to make sure that everyone who knows about the wolf behaves themselves."

"Not everyone," Sirius protested. "I haven't lectured Dumbledore or Minnie – yet."

"No, but you get pretty shirty with the two of us," Peter offered. "Even as Padfoot, you get right bossy."

"Yeah, and there are times that you sort of take over with Moony," James added. "Wormtail and Prongs generally just follow along after you. Press the knot in the tree, help herd Moony back down the tunnel. Bit annoying sometimes, actually."

Remus watched as Sirius just stared at his friends and then began to puff up with indignation. "Why, I do not …"

"It's ok, Pads," Remus chuckled. "You probably do behave exactly as they say. It would be second nature to you as Padfoot; your Animagus form is canine and so, after a fashion, is the wolf. It's quite natural, however, I do think that all of the protectiveness you display whilst in your human form comes out as well. And it plays a big part in keeping everyone safe. You can distract the wolf more easily than a stag and a rat can do. Moony understands your form better than theirs, I think."

"Well, still," Sirius wasn't quite ready to let go of the insult and he folded his arms across his chest and glared at the other two. As he did so, Snape walked into his line of vision, making his way from the entrance to his customary seat at the Slytherin table. Sirius' glare did not lessen. He rose. "I'm off to find Katie. I'll catch up with you later."

Sirius walked toward the door, hands shoved into the pockets of his robes, and nearly ran into Ofelia and another witch from their year as they entered the Hall. He reached out and caught Ofelia by the shoulders to steady her. "Ok, there?" At her nod, he released her and smiled. "Sorry about that. I was a bit … preoccupied; I didn't see you."

Ofelia shook her head, assuming a very stern, affronted expression; Sirius, however, could see the twinkle in her eye. "Not very fleet of foot for a 'marauder', are you?" she muttered so only he could hear.

"Hey, I wasn't the one plowing through the door like a starving Hippogriff," he returned, raising his eyebrows and briefly glancing down toward her apparent flat belly before catching her eye again and winking.

"Hippogriffs are really quite graceful," Isolde offered, looking curiously between the two.

Sirius looked at the other witch for a moment. "My mistake, then – about the Hippogriff reference." He turned a bemused gaze back at Ofelia. "You really weren't graceful at all, you know. You might want to work on that. The next wizard might not be such a gentleman."

Ofelia had all she could do not to snort and laugh out loud. It wouldn't do to have everyone in the Great Hall think the two were on friendly terms. Damn him and his ability to keep a straight face, she thought as she bit the inside of her own cheek in an effort to retain her haughty expression. When she was sure she could manage it, she grasped Isolde's elbow to continue to their seats and as she turned, she replied, "The current wizard isn't much of a gentleman, either!"

Highly amused, Sirius maintained his bland expression as he watched the two witches to their table. His amusement disappeared when he observed Snape rising to greet them, solicitous of Ofelia, as always. However, as Sirius watched, the Slytherin's visage changed in an instant. Face white and eyes glittering, Snape's attention shifted from Ofelia to Sirius and, in that moment, his expression was one of pure, unadulterated hatred. Sirius was momentarily taken aback but finally tore his gaze from the Slytherin's, turned on his heel and left the Hall.

XXXXXXXX

"Severus, enough. Do not even pretend that you have no idea to what I'm referring," Ofelia hissed, also caught off guard by Snape's malevolent appearance. "We have had this discussion before and I am quite unwilling to have it yet again."

Isolde poured pumpkin juice into Ofelia's goblet, then Snape's and, finally, her own. "You cannot blame Severus completely, Ofelia. Black was quite rude; really, comparing you to a Hippogriff, of all things."

"A Hippogriff?" Severus' face filled with bright color as his anger soared.

Ofelia rolled her eyes. "Severus, it was nothing. I took no offense." She waved her hand in dismissal. "It is Black, after all. Despite all best efforts, he clearly has never learned how to behave in polite society. I'm surprised he even apologized for nearly running me over. You must let it go."

"Too many people have simply let Black's boorish behavior go, Ofelia. The boy knows no boundaries as a result."

"Severus, I will not serve as a convenient excuse for you to vent your anger against Sirius Black. I thought I had made myself quite plain in the past. You and I are friends; we will not continue to be so if you cannot stop your boorish behavior where he is concerned." Ofelia was truly tired of this unending battle between two wizards who would never see eye to eye on anything.

Severus' anger abated somewhat under the chill of Ofelia's tone. It was not to last.

"Ofelia, Severus does have a point. Really, for Black to call attention to your appetite, given everything, was quite dishonorable. After all, at this point, some weight gain is unavoidable …" completely unaware of the stunned silence that greeted her remarks, the Russian witch reached for the toast rack.

Ofelia felt as if someone had just cast a Disillusionment charm on her person as the same icy chill cascaded slowly from the top of her head to the very tips of her toes. Isolde's moments of clarity are certainly unfortunately timed. She drew a deep breath and raised her eyes to Severus' face. Ofelia immediately regretted doing so. His look of complete confusion was slowly morphing as his analytical mind whirled with the possibilities Isolde's comments had presented. His eyes narrowed as he processed his thoughts and Ofelia realized that she had a very narrow window of opportunity to throw this very intelligent young man off the scent. Let's keep as close to the truth as possible.

"I only wish that I had asked about the side effects of that particular potion before I accepted it from my Healer," she bluffed, assuming an expression of dismay while, unseen, her fingers were picking holes from the loose threads in the napkin situated in her lap. "At the very least, I should have approached you, Severus, for an analysis of the ingredients."

Hearing his name, Severus blinked rapidly, pulling himself from his thoughts. "I'm sorry? Ingredients?"

Ofelia nodded. "I have been having some problems with … well, it's really rather embarrassing to discuss … I have been feeling rather … uncomfortable each month and so went to see my Healer during our last Hogsmeade visit. She prescribed a potion for me to take over a period of three weeks but neglected to tell me that one of the side effects was a marked increase in appetite which could cause rapid, if temporary, weight gain."

Severus' face flushed anew as he realized the 'discomfort' that Ofelia was referring to. Although his expression remained slightly suspicious, he inclined his head. "Does the potion contain Hellebore?"

Ofelia nodded. Anything; I'll take anything that will deflect his interest. "I believe that it did."

Severus nodded again, reaching for his goblet of pumpkin juice, his face relaxing a bit. "Hellebore can have unpredictable interactions with certain ingredients – especially those used for pain relief." His glance lingered on Ofelia's waist. "It would appear that this particular side effect is no longer an issue."

Ofelia struggled not to bring her hand to her disguised belly. Although visually her stomach appeared to be flat, her hand would rest on the actual curve of her stomach if she did so. She continued her assault on her napkin and nodded mutely.

"In future, if you are concerned about a potion, you must ask your Healer before you begin to take it," Severus' voice had grown a bit cooler. "Ingredients, their interactions with each other as well as consuming them when certain physical conditions are present could lead to disastrous results."

Ofelia took note of the change in Severus' demeanor. She leaned forward and covered his free hand with hers. "I've upset you in some way. Please forgive me."

Severus' aloof expression slipped a bit at the touch. He looked down at their hands then captured her gaze once again. "Not at all. I am merely concerned about your health. Are you quite well now?"

"I am, thank you. I don't want there to be tension between us, Severus; you've been a good friend to me and I value that friendship very much." Ofelia was sincere in her comment and Severus responded to that sincerity in kind as he turned his hand to clasp her fingers.

"As I do, Ofelia."

Isolde listened intently to the exchange between her two friends and Ofelia hoped with her whole heart that the young woman had nothing further to offer. Her hopes were rewarded when she remained silent.

Ofelia helped herself to a glass of milk and a bowl of porridge and attacked her breakfast with a renewed appetite, feeling that she had, indeed, managed to diffuse a potentially devastating situation. Her attention on her breakfast, she failed to note the thoughtful look Severus had settled on the young witch at her side.

XXXXXXXX

"It almost smells like Spring, doesn't it?" Kate took a deep breath and squeezed Sirius' hand as they walked along the shore of the Black Lake.

Sirius mimicked her action then looked at her with a lopsided grin on his face. "Smells like the Giant Squid to me, Katie."

Kate stepped to the side, bumping him in response. "Git."

He returned the favor. "Prat."

They walked in companionable silence for a bit then Sirius spoke again. "I had an interesting conversation with Remus at breakfast this morning." He cast a sidelong glance in her direction.

"That comes as no surprise to me; I frequently have interesting conversations with Remus," Kate smiled. You're going to have to spill this one on your own, Sirius.

"Hmmm." They had come to the large, flat rock where the Marauders had first shown Remus their Animagus forms. Appropriate place for this conversation. "Let's sit for a bit."

"He told you about Moony." Sirius looked out over the lake as they settled themselves on the sun-warmed stone.

Kate smiled. "Yes. He also suggested that you would most likely take me aside to have a chat with me about things. I suppose this is my little talk, eh?"

Sirius turned to face her, his expression sober. "Remus' secret has to be protected, Katie. No one can ever know about the wolf. It's not just a matter of him being expelled from Hogwarts; the Ministry could come in and pull Dumbledore out of the school and put someone else in as Headmaster."

"Sirius, please. Do you think I don't realize how important it is to protect him? Do you honestly think that I would betray Remus' secret?" Kate fought to control her irritation; she knew from Remus that Sirius was the most protective of all the Marauders and it was that sense of over-protection that drove him.

"Katie, it's not that. With every person who finds out about Moony, the risk of discovery grows." Sirius ran his hand through his long hair. "Snape already thinks something is going on with Remus and he's trying to catch him out. All it's going to take is Snape catching one of us acting strangely or being seen out after curfew and he could find out about the wolf. And that would be the end of Remus' education."

Kate put her hand on Sirius' arm. "Listen, Sirius, I know how much you care about Remus, but give him some credit. He isn't going to risk discovery by telling people who aren't trustworthy, right?" She didn't wait for him to answer before continuing, "He's managed to keep the secret for the five years he's been here; he must be doing something right, yes?" Kate leaned against the silent wizard next to her. "Sirius?"

He reached for her Kate's hand and held it tightly. "I just wish I knew what Snape was up to," Sirius said bitterly. "If we knew, we could prepare; we could protect Remus. We could …"

Kate sighed. "Sirius, listen to yourself. Remus isn't some weedy little boy who can't take care of himself. He's sixteen, almost seventeen years old. He's been dealing with this curse for twelve years, Sirius. The wolf has been part of him for a very long time and I'm sure that by now Remus can sense when others are becoming suspicious about him or when they can sense something … different when they're around him. Snape has been part of his world for five years, too. Don't you think that if Snape was going to catch on to Remus' secret, he'd have done so by now?"

Sirius shook his had adamantly. "When Remus first came to Hogwarts, Madam Pomfrey used to walk him across the grounds. No one would think twice about seeing a student with a member of the school staff – even if they were out after curfew. That stopped this year. Remus began making the trek on his own."

"To the Willow and then through the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack," Kate supplied.

Sirius looked around them. "Shhh. So, Remus told you that, too, did he?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "I asked him where he transformed and he told me. Honestly, Sirius, once he'd told me about the wolf, don't you think it would stand to reason that everything else would follow? Remus told me that I could ask him anything and that he would answer me directly. I asked. He answered. It's quite ingenious, really – the whole set up; Dumbledore is a remarkable wizard."

"Now that Pomfrey isn't escorting Remus, he looks like a lone student who has found an ingenious way to slip out of the castle when he shouldn't be," Sirius observed. "And, somehow, Snape has seen us."

Kate looked at him curiously. "That's the second time you've alluded to Severus seeing all of you out after curfew. What do you mean?"

Sirius' pulse quickened as he realized his error. His mind worked rapidly to come up with a plausible explanation. It wasn't that he didn't trust Kate with Padfoot; it just wasn't his secret alone to tell. Finally, he settled on something he hoped was close enough to the truth to salve his conscience while still satisfying Kate. "Look, you know about James' cloak." She nodded. "When we first found out about Remus' wolf, we hated that he went through the full moons alone every month. I know," Sirius saw Kate's eyes widen in shock and he knew what she was thinking. "And we weren't stupid enough to think that we could stay with him. We did, however, walk down to the Willow so he didn't have to make that trip by himself. We'd wait until the moon rose – like we told him we'd do – and then we'd head back up to the castle. Come morning, we'd meet him – under cover of the Invisibility cloak – and walk back up to the hospital wing."

"But what about his injuries? I've done some research and I know that werewolves deprived of prey will turn on themselves. How do you deal with moving him?"

Sirius dropped his free hand to his side and crossed his fingers. "We know enough general healing charms to disinfect his wounds and stop the bleeding until we can get back to the castle. But, in the past year, it's almost like the wolf has settled into the shack enough so it doesn't turn on Remus quite as badly as it did before. Pomfrey thinks Remus knows the spells and is healing the worst of things before he gets to her."

Kate looked at him thoughtfully for a few moments. "It's dangerous for you all to be out after hours. The Forbidden Forest is full of all manner of creatures; suppose one of them is like Remus. The three of you are out – at full moon – during the time they transform. You have to stop and think of what it would do to Remus if one – or more - of you were set upon by another werewolf. He would carry that guilt with him for the rest of his life." Her conversation with Remus was still new and Kate remembered the raw emotion in his eyes and voice as he spoke of the measures that had been taken to protect others from the wolf.

Sirius snorted. "You sound like an old woman, Kate. There has never been a werewolf attack at Hogwarts. If there had been, do you think Dumbledore would have been able to convince the Minister – and the staff – that everyone would be fine with Remus here?"

Kate stared out over the Lake silently. "I just think that Remus has gone through enough in his lifetime without being exposed to any additional risk," she said after a time. "And while I think that you spend way too much time looking for the worst in Severus Snape, isn't it foolish – and risky – to continue accompanying Remus each month if you truly do believe that Snape is lurking about?"

"I'll never understand what there is about that slimy git that makes perfectly normal witches take up for him. And it's not just me. James said that Evans defends Snape and gets really shirty whenever he says anything negative about him. And Ofelia says he's a friend of hers and now you … I'm hanged if I can figure it out!"

"Don't try to change the subject. This is not about taking sides in the great Snape debate; this is about Remus and what's best for him."

Sirius held up his hand. "We know what's best for him, Kate. We've been dealing with his condition for much longer than you have. Nothing has happened and nothing will happen to jeopardize Remus' safety. Once we figure out what Snape's got up his sleeve, we can make sure of it."

Kate rose. "Sirius, you know that I love you, but I cannot sit here and listen to this any longer. Severus and I are never going to be best friends, but we do get along – or we did; I'm not really sure whether or not that still holds. Nevertheless, Lily told me that he's had great hardship in his life, which is probably why he's so difficult to get along with. More torture at the hands of the Marauders isn't going to make him any better and I don't want any part of anything you lot are cooking up. Got it?" Sirius rose and started to speak and Kate put her hand on his chest. "Not interested in anything other than a 'yes' or 'no' answer. Got it?"

Sirius nodded. "Yeah. Got it." But his face clearly reflected his irritation.

"Have you said everything to me that you wanted to say about protecting Remus now that I know about his condition?"

"Well, since you won't listen to me about Snape, I'll have to say yes."

"Good. Let's go back up to the castle. I've got some studying to do and I daresay that you could stand to open a book yourself. O.W.L.S. are a little less than 2 months away, you know." She turned and began walking up the slope, smiling when she felt Sirius catch her hand and entwine their fingers.

"Ok, Katie. I'll give. Even though it's a lovely Saturday afternoon, I'll come with you to the library. I think that some quiet time tonight in front of the Common Room fire will be a nice way to reward my studious efforts, however." Sirius began to swing their joined hands back and forth between them as they walked.

"We'll see just how studious you are this afternoon," came the reply. "I'll let you know at dinner."

XXXXXXXX

In a dark corner of a seldom-visited section of Hogwarts' library, Severus Snape stood in front of an ancient stained glass window. Breath ragged, his attention was seemingly caught up in the sloping lawns of the school grounds, leading down towards the very edge of Hogwarts' property. In the fading afternoon sunlight, the dark, skeletal limbs of the huge tree stood out plainly against the faint bluish-pink of the sky. As he watched, a hawk flew on the fringes of the airspace surrounding the branches; the tree immediately sprang to life, viciously striking out to ward the intruder away. The graceful bird just managed to escape certain death and flew off toward Hogsmeade. The tree grew still once again. Severus turned from the window and slowly sank into an old wooden chair positioned at the lone table. It had taken surprisingly little conversation before Isolde Dolohov had shared the story of awakening Ofelia for breakfast. A suggestion here; the mention of Ofelia's apparent delicate health there and the malleable Russian witch was only too willing to give tongue to what she had seen. Like him, Isolde was an outsider – thought far too peculiar to be wholly included by the most popular of their House. Always on the fringes, the two Slytherins had learned to use that position to their best advantage and, as a result, had honed their powers of observation until little escaped their notice. In Severus' case, that which he observed was seldom interpreted in any positive light; rather, he focused on the activities of others with an eye toward how he might gain the greatest benefit from the knowledge. And once he had arrived at a conclusion, Severus was determined to take action – and consequences be damned. That he had cared about Ofelia and had considered her his friend was no obstacle. She had consorted with one of his sworn enemies, had lied to him and, as such, if the net of accountability were thrown over her as well, so be it. The Marauders, self-styled princes of Hogwarts, were about to be brought to their knees. How long his hatred of them had led him to hope for just this circumstance! Expulsion would be satisfying and, once he gained proof of their monthly exploits, he could only hope that the Headmaster allowed him to remain whilst justice was meted out. Perhaps Ofelia could be excused as yet another hapless victim to their boundless arrogance; a small portion of Severus' heart hoped so. His ego, however, smarted from her involvement with the Gryffindor wizards and therefore harbored a hope that she, too, would be made to answer for her own transgressions.

While startling, Isolde's revelations provided a key piece to a puzzle that had plagued him for some time. For the past five months – with the exception of the holiday break – Severus had watched Lupin leave the castle and walk down the back slope of the castle grounds, toward the Whomping Willow. For the past three months, he had observed Lupin's three lackeys disappear beneath a rare Invisibility cloak and sprint off in his wake. Fear of being caught out himself had precluded Severus from holding a vigil until their return. Last month, he had been certain that he had come within bare inches of them as he'd watched from his hiding place in an alcove in the main corridor. Slughorn had chosen that time for a stroll through the hallways and Severus was forced back to his own Common Room. Where the four Gryffindor went and what they did were mysteries to him – but they were mysteries he was determined to solve. Armed with Isolde's information, Severus put the last of the puzzle together and all that remained was to somehow find a way to collect the evidence he needed to remove the irritants from his life forever.

Smiling grimly, Severus rose and silently made his way to the library exit. Your sordid activities are about to come to a very abrupt and irreversible end. He couldn't remember a time when he felt more exuberant.