Bella and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter Forty-Eight

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Hermione screamed. Black leapt to his feet. I jumped as though I'd received a huge electric shock. 

"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," Snape said, throwing the Cloak aside, careful to keep his wand pointing directly at Lupin's chest. "Very useful, Potter, I thank you..."

Snape was slightly breathless, but his face was full of suppressed triumph. "You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" he asked, his 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 lucky I did...very 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 -" Lupin began, but Snape overrode him. 

"I've told the Headmaster again and again that you've been 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," Lupin said urgently. "You haven't heard everything - I can explain - Sirius is not here to kill Harry or Bella -"

"Two more for Azkaban tonight," Snape said, his eyes now gleaming fanatically. "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," Lupin said softly. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?"

BANG! Thin, snake-like cords burst from the end of Snape's wand and twisted themselves around Lupin's mouth, wrists and ankles; he overbalanced and fell to the floor, unable to move. With a roar of rage, Black started towards Snape, but Snape pointed his wand straight between Black's eyes.

"Give me a reason," he whispered. "Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will"

Black stopped dead. It would have been impossible to say which face showed more hatred.

I stood there, paralysed, not knowing what to do or who to believe. I glanced around at Ron, Harry and Hermione. Ron looked just as confused as I did, still fighting to keep hold of the struggling Scabbers. Harry looked like he was in shock. Hermione, however, took an uncertain step towards Snape and said, in a very breathless voice, "Professor Snape - it - it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w-would it?"

"Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school," Snape spat. "You, Potter, Swan and Weasley are out of bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. For once in your life, hold your tongue"

"But if - if there was a mistake -"

"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" Snape shouted, looking suddenly quite deranged. "DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" A few sparks shot out of the end of his wand, which was still pointing at Black's face. Hermione fell silent. 

"Vengeance is very sweet," Snape breathed at Black. "How I hoped I would be the one to catch you..."

"The jokes on you again, Severus," Black snarled. "As long as this boy brings his rat up to the castle -" he jerked his head at Ron, "-I'll come quietly..."

"Up to the castle?" Snape said silkily. "I don't think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the Dementors once we get out of the Willow. They'll be very pleased to see you, Black...pleased enough to give you a little kiss, I daresay..."

What little colour there was in Black's face left it.

"You - you've got to hear me out," he croaked. "The rat - look at the rat -"

But there was a mad glint in Snape's eye that I had never seen before. He seemed beyond reason.

"Come on, all of you," he said. He clicked his fingers and the ends of the cords that bound Lupin flew to his hands. "I'll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the Dementors will have a kiss for him, too -"

Before I knew what I was doing, I had crossed the room in three strides, and blocked the door. 

"Get out of the way, Swan, you're in enough trouble already," Snape snarled. "If I hadn't been here to save your skin -"

"Professor Lupin could have killed me about a hundred times this year," I said. "Myself and Harry have been with him loads of times, having defence lessons against the Dementors. If he was helping Black, why didn't he just finish us off then?"

"Don't ask me to fathom the way a werewolf's mind works," Snape hissed. "Get out of the way, Swan"

"YOU'RE PATHETIC!" I yelled. "JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OF YOU AT SCHOOL YOU WON'T EVEN LISTEN -"

"SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" Snape shrieked, looking madder than ever. "Like father, like daughter, Swan! I have just saved your neck, you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he'd killed you! You'd have died like Harry's father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken Black - now get out of the way, or I will make you. GET OUT OF THE WAY, SWAN!"

I made up my mind in a split second. Before Snape could taken even one step towards me, I had raised my wand. 

"Expelliarmus!" I yelled - except that mine wasn't the only voice that shouted. There was a blast that made the door rattle on its hinges;  Snape was lifted off his feet and slammed into the wall, then slid down to it the floor, a trickle of blood oozing from under his hair. He had been knocked out. 

I looked around. Ron, Hermione and Harry had tried to disarm Snape at exactly the same moment. Snape's wand soared in a high arc and landed on the bed next to Crookshanks. 

"You shouldn't have done that," Black said, looking at me. "You should have left him to me..."

I avoided Black's eyes. I wasn't sure, even now, that I had done the right thing. 

"We attacked a teacher...we attacked a teacher..." Hermione whimpered, staring at the lifeless Snape with frightened eyes. "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble -"

Lupin was struggling against his bonds. Black bent down quickly and untied him. Lupin straightened up, rubbing his arms where the ropes had cut into them.

"Thank you, Bella," he said. 

"I'm still not saying I believe you," I retorted. 

"Then it's time we offered you some proof," Black said. "You, boy - give me Peter. Now"

Ron clutched Scabbers to his chest. 

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Going to leave it here for now otherwise the chapter will be too long! Stay tuned for the next update!