Percy Jackson and the Hound of Hogwarts [Book 3]

52) Severus Snape

Lupin pushed his hair out of his eyes, "That's where all of this starts — with my becoming a werwolf. None of this could have happened if I hadn't been bitten... and if I hadn't been so foolhardy...." Lupin explained that there was no cure when he became a werewolf. The potion's Snape made were to calm the transformation. Let the recipients keep their mind. Haley took it before she went to stay those nights at home. Lupin had become a monster once a month. Dumbledore, the great man he is, had let Lupin into Hogwarts. There were precautions. The Whomping Willow was planted so Lupin could use the tunnel. He was separated from people so he couldn't bite them, and ended up hurting himself instead. People thought the screams were from ghosts. Dumbledore encouraged the rumor, and people still don't come up to the Shrieking Shack. He was still happier than he had ever been. He had his friends. Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter. They figured out that he was a werewolf. They became Animagi.

"My dad, too?" Harry had asked, amazed.

"Yes, indeed," Lupin said. "It took them the best part of three years to work out how to do it. Your father and Sirius here were the cleverest students in the school, and lucky they were, because the Animagus transformation can go horribly wrong — one reason the Ministry keeps a close watch on those attempting to do it. Peter needed all the help he could get from James and Sirius. Finally, in our fifth year, they managed it. They could each turn into a different animal at will."

"But how did that help you?" Hermione asked.

Lupin explained that werewolves wouldn't attack animals. They would be able to keep him company.

"Hurry up, Remus," Black scowled, staring at Scabbers with hatred.

Lupin nodded, and continued. Apparently, they started leaving the Shrieking Shack. Sirius and James were large enough that they could keep Lupin in check. They had then made the Marauder's Map. Sirius is Padfoot. James was Prongs. Peter is Wormtail.

"What sort of animal —?" Harry started, but Hermione interrupted.

"That was still really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a werewolf! What if you'd given the others the slip, and bitten somebody?"

"A thought that still haunts me," Lupin said darkly. He said that he regretted how foolish they were. How he felt guilty for betraying Dumbledore's trust, when he was the only headmaster who would let him in. He talked about how he wanted to tell Dumbledore, but never did. Then he said that Snape had been right about him all along, in not trusting him.

"Snape?" Black snapped, turning his gaze to Lupin. "What's Snape got to do with it?"

"Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought very hard against my appointment to the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. He has been telling Dumbledore all year that I am not to be trusted. He has his reasons... you see, Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me —"

Black scoffed, "It served him right. Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to... hoping he could get us expelled...."

"Severus was very interested in where I went every month," Lupin told us. "We were in the same year, you know, and we — er — didn't like each other very much. He especially disliked James. Jealous, I think, of James's talent on the Quidditch field... anyway, Snape had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me toward the Whomping Willow to transform. Sirius thought it would be — er — amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree trunk with a long stick, and he'd be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Snape tried it — if he'd got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown werewolf — but your father, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life... Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anybody, but from that time on he knew what I was...."

"So that's why Snape doesn't like you," Harry said slowly, "because he thought you were in on the joke."

"That's right," a cold voice sneered from behind Lupin. Snape pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, his wand aimed straight at Professor Lupin.

Hermione screamed. Black leapt to his feet. I tightened my grip on my sword.

"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," Snape tossed the Cloak aside, his wand still aimed at Lupin. "Very useful, Potter, I thank you.... You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" Snape's eyes glinted. "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."

"Severus —" Lupin started, but Snape spoke over him.

"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 —"

"Professor Snape," I started, "just listen. Let him explain what's —"

Snape stared angrily at me, "You're working with them. You have been, for a long time. I heard about your fear, Jackson. You with the mark of Kronos. You're the traitor."

My WiFi has been jacked today so I'm sorry if this doesn't actually post. I had two tests and some things for CBA I needed to do, but they just wouldn't load. It sucked. I've also been playing Sims a fuck ton. Like it's even weirding me out. Uh, big bad evil man galore is in jail again. Dumbass. I didn't eat dinner yesterday, so I ate like ten cookies last night. Uh. I don't know what else to talk about. So yeah.

I hope you guys have had a wonderful day, and I will see you Thursday. Love ya!