The Forgotten Twin

Chapter 19

Hermione screamed. Delilah didn't know why, Professor Snape wasn't that scary. Black leapt to his feet. Harry jumped as if he had received a huge electric shock.

"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," said Snape, 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 said, 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... 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'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. "You haven't heard everything — I can explain — Sirius is not here to kill Harry —"

"Two more for Azkaban tonight," said Snape, 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," said Lupin softly. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back into Azkaban?"

BANG! Thin, snakelike 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 he 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 was angrier.

Delilah stood there, thinking through her options. She glanced at the others. Harry and Ron looked very confused. Hermione, however, took an uncertain step toward Snape and said, in a very breathless voice, "Professor Snape — 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, and Weasley are out-of-bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. For once in your life, hold your tongue."

Delilah started at that, she didn't realize that Snape hadn't seen her. She was in the back, half hidden in shadows, but she thought he would have done a full scope of the room before taking off the cloak.

"Professor," Delilah said, taking a confident step towards him. "I agree that it is unlikely they have a good story, but we should at least hear them out. If we don't like it, then we will gladly step aside and help you escort them back, but just in case, we should listen to their side of the story, without interrupting."

She felt it necessary to add that last bit, or else it would have been a very long night.

Snape stared at her confused for a moment before sneering. He still stepped back though, and the ropes binding Lupin loosened.

"Start talking," Delilah calmly said, and he obliged.

"We thought that Sirius betrayed Lily and James, but it was Peter. He faked his own death, you see. He is that rat," Lupin said, pointing at Scabbers. He made to say more, but Snape cut him off.