Chloe Cullen 3 - A Harry Potter and Twilight Crossover

Chapter 16: Exposure

Hermione screams. I get as far away from Snape as I can. "I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," says Snape, throwing Harry's cloak aside. "Very useful, Potter, I thank you... You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here? 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... 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. 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. Two more for Azkaban tonight. I shall be interested to see you Dumbledore takes this... He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin... a tame werewolf -"

Lupin tries to talk, but Snape wraps him in the same cords that I was wrapped in. Black tries to intervene, but Snape makes him stop. Hermione, even tries to intervene, but then he threatens all of us with suspension. "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 spits. "You, Potter, Cullen, 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 shouts. I have to stop myself from stunning him. "DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" A few sparks shoot out of the end of his wand. I think he's lost his marbles.

"Vengeance is very sweet. How I hoped I would be the one to catch you..." "The joke's on you again, Severus," Black snarls. "As long as this boy brings his rat up to the castle, I'll come quietly..." "Up to the castle?" says Snape 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..." Black's face pales, and I didn't even realize that was possible. "You - you've got to hear me out. The rat - look at the rat -" I look into Snape's eyes. He seems beyond reason. "Come on, all of you," he says. He unties Remus. "I'll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the dementors will have a kiss for him too -"

To my surprise, Harry goes to block the door. "Get out of the way, Potter, you're in enough trouble already. If I hadn't been here to save your skin -" "We've all been with Professor Lupin lots of times. If he wanted to kill any of us, he would have done it already. If he really was helping Black, why didn't he just kill us in Harry and I's dementor lessons?" "Don't ask me to fathom the way a werewolf's mind works. Get out of the way, Potter." Snape hisses. "YOU'RE PATHETIC. JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OF YOU AT SCHOOL YOU WON'T EVEN LISTEN -" I think Harry has a death wish. "SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" Snape yells back. I grip my wand on instinct.

"Like father, like son, Potter! 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 your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistake in Black - now get out of the way, or I will make you. GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!" I can tell Snape will get Harry out of his way one way or another. Snape wants to get Black to the dementors no matter what. I point my wand and, along with three other voices I shout "Expelliarmus!" There is a loud blast that makes Snape slam into a wall and slide down with blood under his hair.

"You shouldn't have done that," says Black, looking at us. "You should have left him to me..." I look to Ron and Hermione. Ron looks fine, but Hermione is almost hyperventilating from panic. Once again, Lupin tries to get Scabbers but Ron keeps defying Lupin. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean... Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat - there are millions of rats - how's he supposed to know which one he's after if he was locked up in Azkaban?" Ron asks. I think about it. That's a good question. Lupin agrees with this assessment. Black pulls out an old copy of the Daily Prophet. "How did you get this?" Lupin asks. "Fudge," says Black. "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me this paper. And there was Peter, on the front page... on this boy's shoulder... I knew him at once... how many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts... to where Harry was..." "My God," says Lupin softly, staring from Scabbers to the picture. "His front paw..." "What about it?" I ask. "He's got a toe missing," "Of course. So simple... so brilliant... he cut it off himself?"