Saving Snape

37. Fear

For the rest of the school year, I help the twins with pranking, and pretend to be shocked when something 'bad' happens. I also spend a bit of time with Severus.

These holidays I'm going to his house, yay!

Buckbeak's getting 'executed' today.

Poor Ron. His leg's going to hurt for a while.

I just hope the tree doesn't smash Hazel to a pulp.

I'm so positive.

"Belle? You okay?"

George waves a hand in my face. I look up at him.

"Yeah. I was just lot in thought."

"What were you thinking about?"

"That hippogriff is getting executed today."

"I saw the cut, Malfoy was lying."

"I know. I wasn't there, but Hermione told me about it."

"There's nothing we can do, the execution is happening at sunset."

"Sadly."

George looks out the window. "Your friend will be out tonight."

"Oh yeah, the moon. We're not exactly friends. I know him, but it's acquaintances. He'll be fine. He has his ways to resist biting innocent kids."

"Why the kids example?"

"That's how he was turned into one."

"Ouch. Which wolf?"

"Greyback."

"Double ouch."

"He's fine now. Half wolf, but fine."

"What are you two talking about?"

"Oh, hi professor Lupin. Just the moon. I can already see it. It's pretty, isn't it?"

We make eye contact and I can tell he's seriously creeped. "Yes, very pretty."

He walks outside, probably to follow everybody into the shack. I turn back to George. "I'll introduce you to him tomorrow, if you want."

"Sure. School finishes tomorrow."

"Oh yay. I'm going to my new home tomorrow."

"You must be excited. Is your dad still a surprise?"

"Yes. I don't exactly want to tell anyone who it is. He's not into everybody knowing."

"I understand. Is he nice?"

"Yeah. To me, at least. He's also giving me loads of freedom, due to the fact that I know more defensive spells than most people my age."

"Sounds like a cool guy."

"He is."

"It's getting dark, let's go to the common room."

I follow George up and we sit beside a window. I stare out over the grounds. George sits a bit further away than me.

"How do you cope with heights?" He asks softly.

"I've never really been scared of them." I whisper. "To me, there are worse things."

"Like?"

"Friends dying. Wars. Cold-hearted murderers, death eaters."

"That's pretty dark stuff."

"The world can be a dark place." Everybody comes out of the shack and the moon comes out. Everybody except Lupin is in the shadows. "There he is." I point at Lupin and George follows my finger.