Love at First Sight (Harry Potter)

The Servant of Lord Voldemort

|ALEXANDRIA WEASLEY'S P.O.V|

Hermione let out a resounding scream. It echoed throughout the room, practically shaking the dust off of the walls and floor into the stale air.

Black jolted on his feet as the hair stood on the back of my neck, goose-pimples running along my skin down over my spine. Harry appeared to be growing angry once again.

"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," said Snape, tossing Harry's cloak aside with a careless flick of his wrist, still being sure to keep his wand pointed at Lupin with his other hand. "Very useful, Potter, I must thank you .  .  ."

Snape was slightly breathless, his chest rising and falling quickly, but his face held triumph. "You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" he said, his beady eyes glittering. "I've just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very luck I did . . . lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."

"Severus —" began Lupin, but Snape overrode him with the smirk only growing on his lips.

"I've told the headmaster again and again that you're helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof. Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout —"

"Severus, you're making a mistake," said Lupin urgently. His hands rose from his sides as he pleaded, which made Snape's wand arm stiffen. Lupin noticed and relaxed his posture, showing that he was not a foe. "You haven't heard everything — I can explain — Sirius is not here to kill Harry —"

"Two more for Azkaban tonight," said Snape, as though Lupin had never spoken. His eyes were gleaming frantically now. "I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this . . . He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin . . . a tame werewolf —"

"You fool," said Lupin softly. His hands fell back to his sides in defeat. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?"

BANG! Thin, snakelike cords burst from the tip of Snape's wand. They twisted themselves around Lupin's mouth, wrists, and ankles; he overbalanced and fell to the floor with a thud, unable to move. I watched as he writhed about desperately, my fingers tightening so fiercely around my wand inside of my pocket that my knuckles must've been void of colour.

"Why would you do that?" I called out, horrified. "He hadn't attacked you — he hadn't harmed anyone!"

I moved to fall to my knees beside Lupin when Snape raised his wand to me in warning, almost threateningly. I felt my breath catch as it left my lungs and I stilled, just watching as he eyed me for a moment with that calculating stare. Finally, his wand moved over me and to Black. I was able to inhale again.

Black's spine was straightened, his chin lifted. He was anything but surprised as the tip of Snape's wand met the thin, worn material of his shirt.

"Give me a reason," whispered Snape, but the quiet hiss was heard in the otherwise silent room. "Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will."

As the two looked upon one another, it was impossible to say which face showed more hatred.

I glanced at my friends. Harry was stood, frozen same as I was. His emerald eyes moved between the two adults, clearly unsure of who to believe. Ron seemed to be very confused as he still clung to a fighting Scabbers. Hermione, however, took an uncertain step toward Snape and said, in a breathless voice, "Professor Snape — it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w — would it?"