Chapter 61: 7-2

Dinner, picking at shepherd's pie with an unsettled feeling. Thanks to the liberation of exams being over, the Great Hall was overflowing with chatter and laughter, a rare sight these past few days. It seemed everyone had completely forgotten about Sirius Black.

I'm probably the only one here who is still keeping their guard up. Or maybe Draco—no, I don't know. It looks like he isn't even at the dinner table. ...I just hope he isn't using the communication parchment or something.

"Oh, I still feel like messing up in D.A.D.A. was a huge blow. What if my chances of becoming Head Girl slip away?"

Oh, it seems there's another student here who hasn't let her guard down—ah!?

I instinctively leaned forward.

"He-Hermione, that little guy..."

"Hm? What? I'm trying to remember how I answered the questions during the exam right now."

"No, it's not that. In your—hair."

"My hair? —Oh, this little one."

From her hair, which she apparently finally had the time to brush—though it was an unspoken rule never to mention that it was still bushy—a bright green little twig was peeking in and out. A Bowtruckle. ...Could it be the one from earlier?

"Actually, it seems it followed me back from the Care of Magical Creatures exam. I didn't have the time to go to Hagrid's, so we've been together ever since."

"Maybe it thinks your hair is a nest."

Ron made an unnecessary remark from the side. The next moment, his eyes bulged out as if they were going to pop, so she must have stomped on his foot under the table.

"Come to think of it, there's no food here that I can give you. After all, these little ones eat insects, you know?"

Hermione scooped it gently from her hair and placed the Bowtruckle on her palm with a troubled expression. The Bowtruckle in her hand looked up at Hermione innocently. ...I wonder if it would be happy if we fed it Rita Skeeter.

"Let's go to Hagrid's hut after this."

"Will you come with me?"

"Of course."

Harry smiled, and Ron nodded as if it were a given. Unfortunately, I couldn't.

Kurururu. The Bowtruckle chirped lightly.

"Hermione, since when did you start keeping a Bowtruckle as a pet?"

An amused unison dropped from behind. It was the twins, Fred and George Weasley. It seemed their O.W.L. exams had ended without a hitch. Or rather, whether they ended without a hitch or not is beyond me.

"No, it just followed me."

George Weasley squeezed in to get a better look at the Bowtruckle. Seizing the opportunity, Fred threw an arm around my shoulder and made me look under the table. In the hands of a grinning Fred was a set of Dungbombs and firecrackers.

"A little share of Zonko's for the cold princess who never came to Hogsmeade even once. How you use them is—up to you."

Wink. He shot me a wink. George shot me one too, so I realized he was an accomplice. (Though, given it was these two of all people, I suppose it's only natural.)

Pressing the unexpected souvenir into my hands, the main culprits left the Great Hall with innocent faces.

...I have absolutely no idea what to use these for, you Marauders.

Once dinner was over, it was time for my fun, fun detention. Professor Snape was engrossed in some sort of work in the next room, so I just dedicated myself to scrubbing cauldrons the entire time. Who on earth let leech juice crust the bottom like this?!

Every time the sky dyed a darker shade of night, panic set in. Will I make it in time? Did Harry and the others manage to find Pettigrew?

"Miss Potter."

Professor Snape returned holding a goblet emitting a horrendous stench. My nose felt like it was going to bend out of shape. To shut himself in a room with something like that... this man's sense of smell is far too well-trained.

"That will be all. I am leaving now. You are to return to your dormitory at once. —Mind you, to your dormitory. Do not trouble me by wandering the corridors like your foolish brother."

Wrinkling his nose, the perpetually foul-tempered, overgrown bat left the classroom, his robes billowing behind him. As I hurriedly went after him, he locked the classroom behind me with a single flick of his wand. How smooth.

I stealthily tailed Professor Snape as he headed off somewhere without looking back. If my guess was correct—that was the Wolfsbane Potion. He was going to deliver it to Professor Lupin, who had carelessly forgotten to take it. And then—he would find the Map.

Just as I predicted, Professor Snape visited Professor Lupin's office and ruthlessly attempted to unlock the door, but suddenly stopped his wand arm. When he pushed it with his hand instead of his wand, the door opened effortlessly. It hadn't been locked.

I hid around the corner and watched. A few seconds later, Professor Snape dashed out, leaving the goblet and everything else behind. Professor Lupin must have been in such a hurry like this too, which was why locking up hadn't crossed his mind.

Both of them are surprisingly careless. —To leave absolutely everything behind.

"Why do they always forget?"

With the Map and the goblet in hand, I headed toward the Whomping Willow too.

Professor Snape threw on the Invisibility Cloak. Since his figure had completely disappeared, I carefully crept into the secret passage leading to the Shrieking Shack. Slowly—slowly—don't rush—

I could hear voices. —It was Harry's.

"—Have you been working with Sirius Black?"

I could tell just from his voice. —Harry was at his limit. He was barely holding back his emotions from exploding.

"That's not true, Harry. I only just found out myself. I only just realized. I've finally gotten my best friend back."

"And you've been deceiving me and Maria."

"I haven't been deceiving you at all! Truly—I had thought Sirius for all this time—"

"You can finish checking those answers in Azkaban."

Professor Snape threw off the Invisibility Cloak. —Expelliarmus! As many as four wands flew toward Professor Snape. ——Therefore.

"Hah!"

I wedged myself in between and snatched someone's wand out of the air. And I aimed it. —At Professor Snape.

"Expelliarmus! Brachiabindo! Silencio!"

The professor's wand flew into my hand. His arms were bound behind his back, and even his yelling voice was snatched away. His legs were bound just like his arms.

I had to avoid letting him interfere while still under a misunderstanding like he did 'last time'. —Though whether it was truly a misunderstanding, I guess I'll never know now.

Giving a superficial apology, I said sorry to Professor Snape, who now looked exactly like a captured burglar.

Professor Snape has mastered non-verbal spells. But—what about wandless magic? Even I, who have memories of more combat experience than most, can only manage wandless magic for simple spells like Accio.

I picked up the wands scattered on the floor and returned them one by one. And finally, I handed my own cypress wand to Sirius.

"Maria..."

Harry called out to me anxiously, and I turned back to him with a bright smile.

"It's okay, Harry. Now then, I'm sorry for playing rough, Professor Snape. I'll gladly take another detention tomorrow. —I suppose pointing a wand at a teacher won't end with just washing cauldrons."

"............"

"But—we need to check those answers right now."

Staring at the man who widened his glaring, gun-barrel-like eyes in place of his stolen voice, my chest tightened just a little bit.

...You only ever look into my eyes at times like this. —'Which one' are you looking at right now, Professor?

"First off, Professor Lupin. I'd say life-threatening carelessness is a bit of a problem."

I handed the goblet to Professor Lupin, which I had left behind the door Professor Snape had forced open. Professor Lupin let out a strangled gasp and looked out the window.

The moon hadn't fully risen yet. I'm sure it'll be in time.

"So it is true," Hermione muttered.

"...Since when did you know? Hermione."

"Since Professor Snape took over as substitute and chose the section on werewolves. I remembered that your Boggart turned into a full moon."

Professor Lupin smiled, lowering his eyebrows in a "you got me" sort of way. Professor Snape curled the corners of his mouth up somewhat smugly.

The two children who completely failed to understand—especially Ron—threw a childish tantrum over what on earth we were talking about, groaning from his leg injury.

"Ron, don't move. I can only do first aid, so you'll have to get Madam Pomfrey to look at it properly later. —Episkey. Ferula."

Taking away the pain, I wrapped bandages around an improvised splint. The furniture was in tatters and the floor was gouged everywhere, so there was no shortage of splints. ...Draco probably could have treated it much better.

Staring intently as if looking at something terrifying, Professor Lupin watched me after draining the potion. Ron was looking utterly dumbfounded, while Hermione shrugged, saying "I knew it," as if she had vaguely suspected it all along.

"We can talk about me later. —We're checking the answers, right? Harry, Hermione."

I casually moved closer to Crookshanks, readying myself to point a wand at the rat at any moment. No one besides Crookshanks noticed me doing this, and Hermione hesitated but continued speaking.

"...He's a werewolf."

"What?!"

As expected, the first one to react was Ron. Though he couldn't stand up, he had recovered quite a bit mentally. It amazes me all over again just how tough Ron is.

"What does that have to do with anything right now? I don't care if Professor Lupin is a werewolf. That's just a trivial detail."

At Harry's irritated, spat-out words, Professor Lupin's and Sirius's eyes widened. Right now, Harry probably looked exactly like James to them. His seeming lack of patience might have been contributing to that image. ...Though Harry is much more patient than 'me'.

"It's not entirely irrelevant, Harry. Professor Lupin's issue is tied to the creation of the 'Map' that was your ally. —Isn't that right, Professor Lupin? And—Sirius."

Standing next to me with Crookshanks between us, Sirius looked at me apprehensively.

"—So what you're saying is, two of Prongs, Moony, Padfoot, and Wormtail—are you guys."

Harry was desperately working his brain to piece the answers together.

"I am Moony, Harry."

"And I'm... no, I am Padfoot."

There was almost an air of resignation about Sirius.

In the 'last time', he had a tragic air about him, like a walking corpse, but now his grooming had recovered to the point where traces of his former good looks were visible, thanks to daily meals and the frequent Scouring Charms I had cast on him. —That made his emotions much easier to read.

"Harry—there is one more."

Professor Lupin and Sirius—and I—locked our eyes on the rat caught between Crookshanks's front paws.

"That is Wormtail—Peter Pettigrew."