A Night to Remember

Disclaimer: Anything recognizable is owned by the fabulous J. K. Rowling.

A/N: my first fic for this site! A ton of thanks to Zsenya, my beta-reader. This story is told from four different points of view, each with a different chapter.

*Sirius

I made what was perhaps one of the biggest mistakes of my life in the middle of my seventh year.

Snivellus, always a sneaky, slimy little git, spied on all of us constantly, always watching for some way to get us into trouble. And after a while, he became reasonably suspicious about Remus and his monthly disappearances. It was only a matter of time before he began to catch on.

One night, after the full moon, which I had spent in the Shrieking Shack with Remus, James, and Peter, Snape came up to me in the halls. I didn’t bother to turn around, but I knew it was him by his voice, which was just as oily as his hair.

“Black, I saw your little friend Lupin last night . . . with Madam Pomfrey.” Was the git threatening me? I stopped dead in my tracks, but kept my voice calm.

“So what?” I had my hand in my pocket, reaching for my wand, but a professor was passing, and I didn’t want to cause an unnecessary scene.

“Maybe the rest of the student body here would be interested to find out that little Remus doesn’t actually go to see his grandmother every month . . . unless she lives in the Forbidden Forest. Funny, come to think of it . . . I didn’t know people actually lived there.” 

“What do you know about that? It’s none of your business.”

“Maybe not, but I can make it mine. Would you want me to tell everyone else about Lupin’s little web of lies?”

I clenched my fists. “Don’t you dare tell anyone.”

“All I want is to know where he goes. It’s not fair that he gets to get out of class every month, now, is it?”

I was fuming by this time. Snape was perfectly capable about spreading any nasty rumor that popped into his head, and I didn’t want to let that happen to Remus. Suddenly, I had an idea. So what if he found out? He wanted to know anyway. I’d let him learn the hard way.

“Fine.” I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Did you see where they were going?”

“Of course. The Whomping Willow.”

“Very clever of you, Snivellus. So here’s the trick. There’s a knot in the roots of the tree. If you prod it with your wand, the tree will be still, and you’ll be able to go into this tunnel.”

“Where does it lead?”

“Isn’t that what you want to find out? You should try it sometime. Next full moon, maybe.” I turned around and walked away, and suddenly, I was filled with remorse. What if Snape did decide to see what was going on? And what would he meet at the end of the tunnel?