Severus stood before the enormous tree with a twice-folded sheet of paper in his hand, regarding it with mild interest.
"I wonder what those kids are planning."
The note had turned up on his desk by accident, delivered by rat while he was deep in a book in the library.
According to the message, it was from Lily. She was asking him to come that evening to the great tree on the school grounds, slip through a gap between the roots, find a certain shack, and wait for her there. She had something serious to discuss.
He might have believed it was from Lily, were it not for two things.
First, the messenger was a rat reeking of magic. It belonged to one of Potter's hangers-on, Peter Pettigrew, the same graceless boy who had fetched the Gryffindor dean to the toilet.
Second, the handwriting only vaguely resembled Lily's.
Severus tucked the letter away and looked back up at the tree.
"The Whomping Willow. A rather rare specimen of the Whipping Willow subspecies."
He walked up to it and pressed his palm against the thick trunk.
"Exactly what I need. I did not think I would find such good material for my toys."
He drew his wand from his sleeve, pointed it at the rough bark, and made a slow circular motion.
A beam shot from the tip, tracing an oval that sank several centimetres into the wood before collapsing back to a single point.
"Telekinesis would drain me too quickly. Better to use a local spell."
He pointed the wand at the tree again, and with a faint smile watched a two-metre section of bark peel cleanly away from the trunk.
"Wingardium Leviosa. Interesting concept. The magical cost is minimal with this formula. I never stop being amazed by this world."
A few seconds later, a perfectly round piece of wood, ten centimetres thick, was hovering in front of him.
"Not bad. That should be enough for practice and a first batch."
He nodded and brought it down to the ground.
Glancing up, he let the grey light wash over his face.
"Full moon. Whomping Willow. A werewolf boy. Now I understand what they are after. They disabled the tree's defence so I would slip through the tunnel beneath it and reach whatever it guards."
What surprised him more was that the headmaster and the staff allowed a werewolf to study alongside ordinary students at all. Then he remembered the basilisk living beneath the castle, and the surprise faded.
"If I ever have children, I am definitely not sending them to this charming place."
He examined the tree a little longer, then located the hidden passage and went in.
A few minutes after he disappeared, three figures in Hogwarts uniforms emerged from behind a low slope.
"I told you that idiot would fall for our letter." Potter grinned, the expression not reaching his eyes in any pleasant way. "I cannot believe he turned out to be such a fool."
"James, are you sure about this?" His laughter died as a dark-haired boy cut across him, handsome in the sharp-featured way common to a certain sort of Slytherin, and frowning hard. "Lupin might actually tear him apart. Then we are all in serious trouble."
"Relax, Padfoot. I spoke to him beforehand. He will try to control himself. And even if that rotten Snivellus does get hurt, that is his own fault. He walked straight into the wolf's jaws." Potter shot them a challenging look. "Don't you want revenge too? Because of him we are suspended for three months. And imagine tomorrow, when our parents show up. Especially your grandmother." At the word grandmother the dark-haired boy's face tightened.
"You are right. But we follow him. We cannot let him die. That would be the end for Moony."
"Obviously. That is exactly what I was about to say."
"You were stalling."
James said nothing. The smile that died on his face told Sirius everything. Black knew they had gone too far, but he could no longer find the will to stop his friend, and if he were honest with himself, no longer wanted to.
"Wormtail, stay here. If you see anyone, activate the tree. You know where the knot is."
"Got it." Pettigrew nodded, transformed before their eyes into a large rat, and scurried up the trunk.
The two boys approached the Willow and paused, noticing the chunk of wood lying near the passage entrance.
"What did he need that for?"
"Who the hell knows what goes on in that moron's head."
Meanwhile, Severus emerged from the far end of the tunnel and looked around. Hogsmeade sat nearby. Hogwarts itself was a couple of kilometres back.
"There is the little house." He turned his gaze to the dilapidated shack, from which growls and whimpers seeped through the walls. "So my suspicions were right. They wanted to sic a werewolf on me. They did not even bother with Silencing Charms. Bloody amateurs."
The next moment the shack door burst open with a crash, and a creature that looked like a humanoid wolf stepped out into the moonlight.
Its body was covered in thick fur. Its head and limbs barely differed from a wolf's. Its mouth was full of razor-sharp fangs, and its bestial eyes stirred nothing in Severus but pity.
"What a wretched sight. I have never seen such a pathetic creature."
He had expected massive muscle. Instead there were only bones wrapped in skin.
"And this is a werewolf. A disgrace."
RRRAAAAR!
The monster roared and charged straight at him. Severus snorted.
"A disgrace to all werewolves."
He raised his palm and a transparent barrier formed with no visible effort. The creature's claws scraped across it with a horrible screech.
"You cannot even break a shield this weak."
He drew his wand and levelled it at the beast's forehead.
"Should I kill you?"
He shook his head. Let the idea go.
"Too many problems."
At that moment the claws finally pierced the barrier. Severus used wind magic to throw himself backward a good ten metres, then raised his wand again.
A glowing rope burst from the tip and bound the monster's arms, then its legs. It hit the ground with a heavy thud and kept growling.
"Quiet down, puppy. Or I will castrate you and turn you into a good little boy."
He grinned and aimed the wand at Lupin's groin.
The monster seemed to understand exactly what that meant. It went still, then began to whimper, though every few seconds a low growl escaped it, a warning that if Severus actually tried it, the consequences would be severe.
"Oh? Threatening me?"
He smirked and walked right up to the werewolf.
"Freeze."
The wand tip flashed blue. The monster locked up, eyes bulging, mouth hanging open mid-snarl.
"Be glad I do not want trouble. But keep looking at me like that and I will knock out every last one of your teeth."
He tapped the fangs lightly with his wand, then sat on the creature as casually as if it were a park bench and turned his gaze toward the tunnel entrance.
"I have been waiting for you."
James and Sirius stared at him from the mouth of the passage, unable to move, unable to speak.
"Well? Come on out."
Instead of answering, they both raised their wands.
"Get away from Lupin!"
"Or what? You will tell the headmaster? Your dean?"
"Severus, I said get away from him!"
"Too much trouble. And why do you think you are the ones setting terms? My wand is at this werewolf's throat. One wrong move and I might accidentally use your favourite spell, Bombarda, and blow your friend's head clean off. Nothing happens to me. I was simply defending myself against a magical beast."
"What do you want?" Sirius asked, his voice flat, his eyes never leaving the wand pressed to his friend's neck.
"At least one of you can think. I do not want much. I want the artefact you used to find me in the toilet that day."
They were children, when all was said and done. He could see the flash of surprise underneath their confusion, and it confirmed everything.
"We don't know what you're talking about."
"Play dumb for another second and I start with his ear."
The wand, glowing bright blue, slid from the throat to the werewolf's ear.
"And don't tell me you simply followed me here, or that your friend is an unregistered Animagus. Three seconds. One." The light brightened.
"We don't have it."
"Two."
"Just let us—"
"Three. Sec—"
"FINE!" James snarled through clenched teeth. He yanked a folded piece of parchment from his sleeve and threw it. At the same moment the two of them exchanged a glance and gave a small, tight nod.
Severus raised his palm and caught it.
"And how do I open it? What is the password?"
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!" Potter spat.
"And to close it?"
"Mischief managed!"
"Got it. Clever."
Severus tucked it into his sleeve and watched the disappointment settle over their faces.
"You thought I would open it right now? What if it is a trap?"
James only snorted and lowered his wand slowly.
"Now let him go."
"Of course. Everyone step back. Obliviate!"
He thrust his palm toward them and said the word cleanly. They had no time to react. The spell struck almost instantly and they froze, staring at nothing.
"Did you really think I would simply let you walk away?"
He stood up from the werewolf and moved toward them.
"You saw far too much tonight. A couple of hours should cover it."
Standing before the two frozen wizards, Severus pressed his wand to Sirius's forehead and whispered again. "Obliviate."
"Once I finish with these two, I must not forget the rat."
He erased the last seven hours from the first and moved on to the second.
"Letting them off this easily still sits wrong."
His gaze drifted to the prone werewolf. A plan took shape, neat and satisfying.
"There is no point studying dream magic, the nightmare branch in particular, if I never put it to use."
In James Potter's dream.
James was walking through thick grey fog and had no idea where he was.
"What is this place? Is anyone here?!"
Silence. And the silence frightened him.
"J-James."
He knew that voice at once.
"Lupin, where are you?!"
"H-here. Cough. Cough."
A few minutes later he broke through into a wide clearing. Near a huge tree sat his werewolf friend, coughing, his face the colour of chalk.
"Moony, what is wrong with you?!" Potter ran to him.
Whatever his faults, he genuinely valued his friends. Perhaps that was the only quality Severus respected in him.
"H-help."
"How?!"
"I. Argh! Get away! I cannot control myself!"
He shoved James aside and transformed.
"Lupin, calm down. I am your friend."
Severus's voice seemed to come from the dream itself, amused and unhurried. James looked down and swallowed hard.
Between the creature's legs, standing at attention, was a soldier over thirty centimetres long.
"L-Lupin. easy now."
Potter reached into his sleeve for his wand. Nothing there. He went white. His friend began moving toward him.
"H-help. I am h-hot."
"Stay where you are! Do not come any closer!"
James turned and ran into the fog as fast as his legs would carry him.
But no one outruns a werewolf. The creature closed the gap quickly, and James's face twisted in pure horror.
Then he caught his foot on nothing at all and went down hard. He barely had time to register the fall before a heavy weight landed on his back.
He refused to give up. He got onto all fours and tried to crawl, but his legs had stopped obeying him entirely.
A moment later, Potter felt a coolness at his rear and hot breath against the back of his neck.
Then, pain.
//===================//