you raise me up || harry potter

chapter 57

»»————-　song:　————-««

a deep voice

★ by myuu★

♢ ♢ ♢

It was a strange sight: Snape and Lupin standing shoulder and shoulder, wands pointed at Sirius Black in unison, movements oddly in sync. 

As soon as Snape caught the wands in mid-air, his attention first went to Harry. He did a once-over, probably to check for an obvious injuries, and a small weight seemed to be lifted off his shoulders when he realized Harry was alright. 

Lupin still had his wand trained on Black, brow furrowed and his eyes hard in an unfamiliar way. Gone was the kind, gentle gaze. "Where is he, Sirius?" he asked. 

Harry didn't understand. He looked around, wondering if anyone else was as confused as he was. Ron and Hermione looked bewildered. But Snape didn't look surprised in the slightest—his expression hadn't changed and his jaw was set, grim as it was when he had entered. Harry frowned at him, trying to catch his eye, but Snape pointedly kept his on Black.

"Did you?" Lupin asked. But what exactly he meant by the question, Harry couldn't fathom. "Without telling me?'

Black didn't do anything for a long moment except stare at Lupin. Then, very slowly, he nodded. Something in Lupin's face simultaneously crumpled and smoothened. Pain and relief, melding into one another like the batter of the bitterest cake. 

Black then raised a thin, bony arm. It took Harry a second to realize he was pointing in Ron's direction. 

"There's Wormtail," Black murmured. 

Although this was complete gibberish to Harry, this appeared to make sense to both Lupin and Snape. Both their eyes widened—Lupin's in agonizing realization, Snape's in revulsion. 

Harry felt like he was watching a three-way ping pong match as his head swiveled from one person to the next. What was going on? He opened his mouth to ask exactly what the hell was happening here, but his words died in his throat when Lupin strode over to Black, roughly pulled him to his feet, and embraced him. 

Hermione started screaming next to him, but Harry didn't really register the words. All he saw was a man he had respected and admired, embracing the man who had helped kill his parents. This betrayal was too much. His head felt worryingly light. 

"I trusted you," he said over Hermione's ranting, his teeth chattering. "I trusted you, and you—you—"

"No, Harry, let me explain—"

"No Harry!" Hermione screamed. "Don't listen to him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too—he's a werewolf!"

There was a ringing silence. Everyone's eyes were on Lupin. That is, except Snape's, who rolled his eyes and gave Hermione a sneer. 

"Don't make conclusions before testing your hypothesis, Granger," he said. "A mistake you make rather often in my class. One for three, not up to your usual standard, I'm afraid... so much for being a know-it-all."

"What the hell is he doing here?" Black demanded, chest heaving as he fixed a malicious glare at Snape.

At the same time, Hermione's jaw dropped. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, rendered speechless. Harry stared. He wasn't sure he had ever been this confused in his life, and that's including all the times he had failed an exam in Snape's class.