Snape stood in front of a cauldron frowning at the potion he was working on. For the fourth time that evening, he cursed Dumbledore and the extra work he dumped on him. Brewing Wolfsbane once a month wasn't an easy job and just about doubled his monthly brewing schedule. Smiling grimly to himself, Snape diced the aconite imagining it was Lupins face. Having Lupin in the castle had been nothing but a nuisance. On top of the extra workload, he never rose to Snape's bait and if anything seemed more frightened of Sirius Black than he was. Snape had hoped they could at least engage in some verbal sparring, but the beast had seemed determined to remain pleasant. Snape shuddered as he swept the pulverised ingredients into the cauldron. He went to enter his storeroom when he heard a woman's voice and turned. An unfamiliar otter Patronus stood in front of him,

"Situation in the shrieking shack, come at once. The children need help. A friend."

Snape felt himself begin to shake. The Shrieking Shack, the night that had changed his life's trajectory forever. The anger he felt over Dumbledore's ridiculous favouritism, and those bullying Gryffindors had caused his anger to boil over, leading to the end of his friendship with Lily and drove him straight into Voldemort's arms. Snape took a deep breath in. He knew tonight wasn't a full moon. Even if he hadn't been brewing Wolfsbane, which required detailed knowledge of the lunar cycle, he would have known. For Merlin's sake he still had nightmares about werewolves as a middle-aged man. The image of the Beast advancing on him, before he was pulled away by bloody Potter was forever burnt onto his retinas.

Snape quickly threw a stasis charm over his potion before hurrying out the castle and towards the Whomping Willow. Who had sent the Patronus? Was it a trap – the voice had seemed calm but firm and, in the moment, felt oddly familiar. Part of him wanted to wait and assess the danger but the message had mentioned children and he couldn't leave them out there alone. As he navigated through the cramped tunnel, he suddenly heard pacing behind him, turning abruptly he shouted, "Lumos."

Running down the passageway behind him was Remus Lupin. Snape closed his eyes and counted to five, remembering that this was just the normal irritating Lupin and not the Beast that haunted his dreams.

"Snape, did you get the Patronus?" he asked, panting.

"Obviously." Snape replied acerbically and continued walking towards the end of the tunnel. When they reached the door that led into the Shrieking Shack, they both froze.

"I can't bloody believe it! I mean what the bloody hell was that!" he heard the youngest Weasley boom.

"I don't know," Hermione Granger's thin voice replied, "I really don't." That made a first, he couldn't help but snort to himself.

Snapes amusing internal commentary was interrupted by Potter's drawl,

"I can't believe I met my Godfather."

Snape froze. Potter had met his Godfather? It was common knowledge that Black had been made Godfather but there was no way Potter would still be walking and talking if that were the case. The dimwit must have somehow gotten confused. Maybe that was just a rumour and the boy had some other Godfather or uncle or something? Lupin would surely know, Snape reassured himself. He looked to the wolf who worryingly looked just as disturbed as he was. They both held their breath and waited.

Surprisingly it was Granger who piped up, "I mean it was Sirius Black. The Sirius Black."

That seemed to jolt both Snape and Lupin back into action, and in a never-before-seen show of camaraderie they burst the door open and rushed into the Shack.

The first thing they saw was a blood covered Potter and Granger sitting next to an injured Weasley on the floor.

Lupin launched at Potter and grabbed him by the shoulders,

"What did he do to you? Whose blood is this? What happened? Gods, what did he do?" Potter seemed unable to get a word in but Snape follow the Gryfindors' eyes to the corner of the shack.

"Pettigrew?" Snape murmured, staring at the bloody corpse on the floor. The corpse of a man who had supposedly been blown up 12 years ago. The corpse of a man who had supposedly died facing a death eater yet sported an uncomfortably familiar arm tattoo.

Lupin finally let go of Potter and followed the groups eyes to the body on the floor.

He crumbled beside the bloated body, "Peter?" he croaked. He turned to Potter looking utterly broken and asked, "What happened here?"

It was thankfully Granger who interjected and explained the situation to the two bewildered men.

"You want me to believe that Sirius Black exposed Pettigrew as an Animagus,"

"That is true," Remus interrupted.

"An animagus who hid as Weasley's pet rat, Scabby," Snape continued.

"Scabbers, sir," Ron corrected. Snape sighed.

"Sirius Black exposed Pettigrew as an animagus who hid as Weasley's pet rat Scabbers.

They get into a scuffle where Pettigrew somehow manages to overpower the infamous Black and hold him hostage, until a curly haired witch arrives and saves you all by viscously murdering the man rat Scabbers before they run off, despite your continued claims of Sirius's innocence?"

"It's true Sir," Potter remarked arrogantly, facing Lupin and picking dirt from under his nails, clearly unaffected by the brutal murder that had just taken place.

"She said this spell secta- something and bam, she got him," Weasley added.

Snapes blood froze and he walked towards the body where Lupin was still sat, tracing the dark mark with his finger. Those slashes were all too familiar to Snape and he felt the bile in his throat begin to rise.

"Granger," he mumbled, she was the only one he could trust to remember correctly, "What exactly was the spell."

"Sectemsempra sir," she looked pained at the memory, "I think sir." She finished with uncharacteristic humility.

"Bellatrix," he breathed. She was the only witch who knew that spell and certainly the only curly haired one. They were totally fucked. If Bellatrix, one of those most ruthless Death Eaters, had partnered up with Sirius Black there was no hope for the Light. They didn't even seem to have goals, they couldn't be reasoned with, they just wanted total carnage.

"No" Remus said deliberately as he stood up from Peter's body and turned towards Snape.

"Think about what the children are saying, their idea of Sirius being innocent isn't so unbelievable when you consider the proof we have lying on the floor. If Sirius was innocent, he would never team up with her. Besides, the woman is in Askaban."

Remus seems to have realised the situation he was in and had finally returned to the role of professor,

"Now children, what did she look like. Maybe with some details," Lupin looked at Granger expectantly, he guessed even Lupin could tell she was the only one with any brains.

"Um well she had brown curly hair and kind of a plain face basically."

That's good, Snape thought to himself. Not black at least. He couldn't see Bellatrix lowering herself to a colour changing charm. She'd rather everyone knew what she had done. The certainty he had felt over her involvement had started to fade.

"Not plain at All! Give her some credit," Weasley interjected. "She was properly fit."

Snape sighed rolling his eyes to the ceiling. He once again cursed his decision to turn to Voldemort, if only because it led him to work with idiot children forever.

Hermione seemed to agree with him and gave Ron a harsh whack, but she was sporting a furious blush.

Hmm maybe she agreed, Snape thought absentmindedly, filing away the information, not that he was interested in petty student gossip. Lupin seemed to be eyeing the interaction carefully too, looking at Granger with some suspicion.

After a lull Snape decided to ask some questions of his own,

"Did Black refer to the woman by any name, even if you think it was just a pseudonym?"

The trio of children suddenly looked suspicious and the head Brat let out a cough that was clearly covering a laugh.

"Spill it, Potter."

"Um sugar tits." He said quickly. "Sir."

Weasley and Potter didn't even attempt to hide their laughs now. Didn't they realise the situation they were in, standing in the Shrieking Shack covered in a dead man's blood. In a moment of madness, he turned to Lupin hoping to commiserate but he saw even the wolf had the corners of his lips turned up as he attempted to keep a straight face.

"Professor Snape," Granger began, "oh and Mr Lupin," she added turning towards the tired looking wolf, "I've read about Bellatrix in old newspapers in the library and it said she was a dark witch," Snape nodded tiredly not bothering to wonder where she was going with this. It was probably just an excuse to show off her extra reading.

"The lady who was here cast a Patronus and sent it to you, Professor Lupin and Professor Dumbledore, so she couldn't be that dark could she?"

Snape breathed out a sigh of relief. This was clear cut proof Bellatrix wasn't involved. All he had to do now was track down that familiar voice. Snape felt so relieved he was almost considering thanking the most tolerable brat. Mercifully, he was interrupted as the door of the shack blasted open, where Dumbledore stood in his finest purple robes. Power seemed to radiate from the man. Despite his impressive poker face, Snape could tell Dumbledore was anxious about the scene in front of him.

"Well, my children what seems to have happened here?" He asked evenly. This time Snape did allow himself to share the look of relief Lupin was shooting him. Thank fuck, they both seemed to say with their eyes, this mess wasn't their problem anymore. With horror, he saw Lupin had even begun to smile at him as the children rambled at the Headmaster. Oh Gods, Snape realised with gloom, we're bonding.