Lily had gone down to dinner, so I could eventually concentrate on my Transfiguration essay, but after a few minutes, Wormtail and I abandoned our homework and began a lazy game of Gobstones. The common room was still full, though the fire was dying down now and the conversation quieter as, reluctantly, the Gryffindor students immersed themselves in essays and books.
I’d just won another point when Padfoot clambered through the Portrait Hole and stumbled over. At first I thought he was drunk – Firewhisky, again – but then I realised he was merely helpless with laughter.
I jumped up, a grin already forming, “What’s the joke?”
He tripped past me and fell into my seat.
“I just told – Snivellus – how to get – ” he paused, chuckling, “into the Willow – passage! He’s-gone-after-Remus!” He said in a rush, tears of laughter forming in his eyes.
It took a moment for his statement to sink in then Wormtail began to chuckle wheezily.
I, however, remained still and silent, all trace of my grin gone. Suddenly, my energy returned in a rush, along with anger.
“YOU DID WHAT?” I bellowed. The common room fell silent and I saw fifty faces turn towards me. I bent down so my face was next to Sirius’, and I was out of sight.
“Don’t you realise they danger you’ve put him in?” I hissed at Padfoot, who had stopped laughing abruptly.
“Since when do you care out Snivellus?” he retorted.
“You idiot! He could’ve … He might … ” and suddenly realisation struck me, as strong and fierce as the werewolf that reared just out of the grounds. “He’s going to … ”
I didn’t wait to finish that dreaded sentence, merely bolted from the common room and flung myself up the stairs to our dormitory.
I seized the Invisibility Cloak from beneath my bed, shoving the Cloak in my pocket as I leapt down the steps back to the common room. I didn’t even spare Padfoot and Wormtail a glance as I sped through the room, sending inkpots and books flying, vaulting chairs and legs, stumbling through the Portrait Hole … I bumped into Evans in the Gryffindor corridor but didn’t stop, just shot her a I-know-what-I’m-doing-despite-appearances grin as a tore past her.
Flying along corridors, jumping down stairs, skidding down corridors … Thankfully, I didn’t meet any teachers and eventually reached the Entrance Hall, where I heaved the heavy oak doors open. I threw on my Cloak, leapt down the steps and sprinted across the lawns to the Whomping Willow.
I seized the stick and prodded the knot: the tree froze. Through the branches, into the hole, down the slope ... And then I began to run, run, run, as if my life depended on it.
If Snape reached Remus … I didn’t even want to think about what I would find, what we’d have to answer to, the trouble we’d be in. We’d surely be expelled.
Oh, Padfoot, what have you done?
I ran faster, pushing my legs, my heart pounding in my throat.
The tunnel began to slope upwards; I prayed that Snape hadn’t reached the Shack.
I caught sight of a black cloak whipping around the corner ahead and urged myself on, around the corner. Then I saw him: Snape, bat-like in his long, black cloak, his greasy hair hanging limply down his back. I ripped off my Cloak and he spun round.