Dark Magic

Snape Teaching DADA

The following week passed rather normally, after the Castle was searched on the night of my birthday. The full moon approached, and Lupin would leave the school, once more. He truly was an incredible Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. We were not entirely sure who would be covering him that week. To the the majority of the class' dismay, however, Snape entered the room, sauntering towards the front. His wand extended, the curtains in the room closed with force, leaving us in total darkness. Draco sat beside me, Crabbe and Goyle behind us both as they muttered amongst themselves in reaction to Snape's abrupt entrance.

"Turn to page 394." He instructed, to which we all followed.

"Excuse me, Sir? Where's Professor Lupin?" My brother's voice questioned, the seat next to him empty. "It's not really your concern, is it, Potter?" Snape retaliated. Why was he being so rude all of a sudden?

"Sufficive to say, Professor Lupin finds himself incapable of teaching at the present time. Turn to page 394." He stalked towards the back of the classroom, finding a Projector and tapping it with his wand. It came to life, illuminating the white screen with a slide detailing, "Werewolves!?" Ron spoke, scarce and confused in his seat. 

"But, Sir, we've just began learning about Redcaps and Hinkypunks. We're not meant to be learning about Nocturnal beasts for weeks?" Hermione appeared out of thin air beside Harry. Something was very fishy about her sudden appearances. I watched as she placed the remnants of a gold chain into her shirt. I recognized it immediately, from a book I had read on ancient artefacts during my summer holidays; it was a Time Turner. I could do with one of those. Deciding I would pull Hermione up on it after class, I glanced back at the white board.

"Quiet! Now, which one of you can tell me the difference between an Animagus and a Werewolf?" He questioned, turning to face the class. I retreated back into my seat uncomfortably. Of all the things we could have learnt about..."Nobody? Not even you, Miss Potter?" 

I huffed at Snape's almost piss-taking attitude, about to answer my Professor but finding myself cut short by another voice in the room. "Please, Sir! An Animagus is a Wizard who elects to turn into an animal. A werewolf has no choice. With each full moon he transforms, no longer remembering who he is. He could kill his best friend if he crossed his path. Furthermore, the werewolf only responds to the call of its own kind."

I felt my throat tighten a little at her statement, averting my gaze back onto my book. I couldn't bear the thought of what Lupin had to endure each month. A far too dangerous situation for me to have grown up in. Draco made a howling noise from beside me. A few other Slytherin's laughed; I however, punched his arm a little harsher than expected. He winced, for it was his bad arm, holding it tightly. "Ouch! What was that for?" He whispered, Snape angrily dismissing our conversation.

"Thank you, Mr Malfoy and Miss Potter." He turned back to face Hermione, "That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger. Are you incapable of restraining yourself or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all?" I opened my mouth to defend Hermione, but Ron cut my sentence short in fury. "You asked us a question and she knows the answer! Why ask if you don't want to be told?"

The whole class held back a gasp at Ron's statement. Snape could have handled a Slytherin or even myself standing up to him in such a manner. But a Gryffindor was a different story, entirely. 

"Detention, Weasley." Snape spoke simply, closing the gap between himself and the red-headed boy, "And if I ever hear you criticize the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed."

The rest of the class resumed in total silence, as we made notes on Werewolves. I found myself finishing early, getting up from my desk and handing Snape my book. He accepted it without hesitance, allowing me to leave the classroom early so that I could get ahead for Quidditch the following day. 

Instead, I decided to take a stroll around the school grounds, taking a seat by the Willow Tree that lead to The Shrieking Shack, taking out my wand as I began to look over it. Hoping it would distract me from the overtly depressing teachings of Werewolves, I found myself focusing entirely on the wand in my hand, reminiscing back to the day it chose me in Ollivander's shop. How he spoke of its rarity; there were not many Wizards or Witches who could master an Elderwood wand. It was truly unique, indeed.

A shuffling suddenly emitted from inside the entrance hole in the tree, a loud thud shortly followed. I gasped, quickly getting up from my seat and looking inside. A black, cloaked figure laid on the floor. It was breathing and big enough to be a man. 

"Lumos." My wand illuminated in the darkness, only to find a man on the ground. I recognized him immediately, "Professor Lupin? Are you alright?" I made my way inside the entrance, but he forced himself up on his knees, shaking his head adamantly, "Get away from the tree! Get away!" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, kneeling down beside him as I helped him up from the floor. "The tree? It's harmless. No, let me help you."

He accepted my assistance, but continued to protest as I used every ounce of my strength to drag him out and into the sunlight. Remus Lupin looked terrible; sweaty, pale and weak with a gash across his cheek. Too weak to walk unassisted.

"No, it's not. It'll kill you." Helping him out of the tree's entrance, I laid him up against it, so he had some support. He winced, covering a small cut on his leg. "Rough night?" I spoke concernedly. He scoffed, trying to conceal his pain. "You could say that."

He glanced up at the willow tree in disbelief and awe, as though it was doing something entirely unnatural and out of the ordinary. "Remarkable!" Lupin gasped. I furrowed my eyebrows, once more, "Sorry, Sir. What's remarkable?"

The man faltered, causing me to reach out to prevent him from toppling over. "The tree. Dumbledore enchanted it when I was a child, so that only I could enter on a full moon and keep everyone safe. It normally tries to kill anyone who comes near."

My mouth opened to speak, as I pointed back towards the castle, "I'll go and get Professor Snape; you're clearly having some sort of delusion..." I trailed away, turning to leave. "I'm not deluded, my dear. It's true; the Whomping Willow is a deadly tree, indeed. I can only imagine that it senses your connection to me...And that is why it has chosen not to attack you." The man spoke through low grunts in pain.

A smile made its way across my lips, as my eyes met his once more. "Because I'm your god-daughter." He nodded, returning a pained grin in response. I helped him back to the castle, and we made our way down to the Dungeons where I left Lupin under Snape's care. He was short with me, and ordered I made my way straight to The Great Hall for dinner. 

Draco told me, apparently, that Snape kept everyone behind and asked them to write an essay on Werewolves for homework. I could only assume I was excluded from that assignment, but made a note to check with him, nonetheless. Something was stuck up his backside, that day. I just couldn't place my finger on what...

That evening, we had a Quidditch meeting in the Common Room. Having unanimously decided that Draco was in no fit state to play, we came to the only rational conclusion to hand over our match to Hufflepuff. I felt a little disheartened, but Flint said we had to make difficult choices to be a successful Captain. I can only hope I would end up doing a better job than Flint...And was confident that Gryffindor would beat Hufflepuff the following day...They had to. They were the best, next to us...