It was Snape's voice! Snape had also appeared at the Twilight Cottage!
The Potions professor entered the sitting room, slightly out of breath, but unable to hide the triumphant look on his face. His wand remained pointed at Lupin the entire time. Before Lupin could draw his wand, Snape was confident he could knock both of them down in an instant.
"You may all be wondering how I knew you were here," he said, his eyes gleaming. "I went to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I brought you a goblet. Luckily… very luckily for me. There was a map on your desk, plain as day. I saw you come along this passage, and then disappear."
"What an unexpected harvest," Snape continued. "An Azkaban fugitive, plus a werewolf—what a wonderful evening, isn't it?"
"Calm down, Severus, calm down…" Since entering the Twilight Cottage tonight, Lupin had said "calm down" more than anything else. He was practically an emotionless calming machine.
Sirius looked utterly bewildered and shouted, "Why is Snivellus here? Remus, why is a Death Eater at Hogwarts?!"
Of the three adults in the room, one was an escaped Azkaban prisoner, one was a werewolf, and the other was a Death Eater. Well then—Harry had truly fallen into a den of wolves.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had already calmed down from their anger—or rather, they had no choice but to calm down. Not one of the three adults before them was harmless.
"Dumbledore trusts him, Sirius," Lupin explained in a low voice. "Severus is now the school's Potions professor."
"Since when did you start calling Snivellus, Severus?" Sirius demanded unhappily.
"Don't call me by that name—it makes me sick to hear it!" Snape snapped, even more displeased.
The three adults bickered like an old married couple and the meddling neighbor next door, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood off to the side, completely dumbfounded. What had happened tonight was shaking their entire worldview.
Dumbledore not only trusted a werewolf enough to make him a professor, but he also trusted a Death Eater—and had even allowed that Death Eater to teach for so many years.
Harry's mind was in complete chaos now. He could no longer tell who was good and who was bad. Black had not killed him outright, but kept talking about Harry's father and things from Harry's infancy; Lupin had helped Black, yet Lupin had clearly had a hundred chances to kill him this year and never had; Snape seemed to be here to capture Black, yet he was a Death Eater, a follower of Voldemort.
Harry had no idea what to do next. He wanted to avenge his parents, but now he no longer knew whom he should seek revenge on.
"Both of you, calm down!" Lupin shouted loudly. "Can we still solve this or not?!"
Snape said disdainfully, "I am solving the problem. You two are the biggest problem. I told the Headmaster again and again that you were helping your old friend Black sneak into the castle, Lupin, and now here is the proof."
"Sirius is hiding here with Dumbledore's permission," Lupin said patiently. "Dumbledore knows Sirius is innocent. Calm down, Severus!"
"Do you take me for a child?" Snape said. He had waited twelve years for this day; there was no way he would believe Lupin's nonsense. Dumbledore knows? Why not go ahead and say that little brat Twist knows too!
Sirius was no longer as composed as he had been at first. He roared anxiously, "Stop telling Snivellus all this! He's been hopelessly stupid since childhood!"
That one remark only added fuel to the fire. Snape became even angrier and said, "Perhaps before sending the two of you to Azkaban, I can teach you what manners are, Black."
Bang! From the tip of Snape's wand shot snake-like cords that wrapped around Lupin's mouth, wrists, and ankles. Lupin instantly lost his balance, fell to the floor, and could no longer move.
With no wand, Sirius let out a furious roar and charged at Snape. Snape calmly flicked his wand, and Sirius was blasted backward, crashing hard into a cabinet before collapsing to the floor, unable to get up for a long while.
Snape walked over to Sirius and, in a voice only the two of them could hear, said, "Give me a reason. Give me a reason to kill you. Please—I swear I won't hesitate."
Lying on the floor in pain, Sirius could not speak. He merely cast Snape a sidelong glance and let out a hoarse chuckle, as if mocking him.
Harry stood there as if paralyzed, not knowing what to do or whom to believe. He glanced at Ron and Hermione. Ron looked just as confused as he was, still struggling to hold onto the constantly writhing rat.
But Hermione timidly took a step toward Snape and said in an extremely weak voice, "Professor Snape… it… it wouldn't hurt to hear what they have to say, would it?"
"Miss Granger, be quiet immediately—right now," Snape said. "I do not want to hear another single word from your mouth."
"But what if there's been some misunderstanding?!"
"Silence, you stupid girl! There is no misunderstanding!" Snape roared, suddenly seeming half-mad. "Do not speak of things you do not understand!"
Sirius, enduring the pain, said with difficulty, "I know what you want to do, Severus, but you have to listen to me. That boy—the rat in that boy's hands—is Peter."
"First Dumbledore, and now poor Peter Pettigrew—what other tricks have you yet to pull out?" Snape said scornfully. "Tell it to the Dementors and see whether they forgive you!"
Almost without thinking, Harry crossed the room and blocked the doorway. He did not know why he was doing it, but something inside him told him that this was what he had to do.
"Move aside, Potter!" Snape shouted. "Don't do anything stupid!"
There was a wild gleam in Snape's eyes. From the moment he had seen Sirius, he had already lost his reason and fallen into obsession. He had not listened to Lupin's humble explanations; he had not listened when Dumbledore's name and Peter's name were mentioned either.
"Don't stand in the doorway, Harry."
Suddenly, Harry heard a familiar voice behind him. He quickly turned his head and saw that, at some point, Eda was standing behind him.
Eda's sudden appearance in the room drew Snape's attention. In a dark voice, Snape said, "What, are you trying to stop me too? So you're just another hopeless piece of trash that can't be propped up."
Eda could hardly recognize the Snape before her, who now looked like a man possessed, because at this moment there was nothing in his heart but hatred—hatred that had built up over many years.
"Professor Dumbledore has already returned. He'll be here any moment," Eda said softly, trying to calm him. "Professor, don't let yourself lose control of yourself."
Snape still did not take in a single word. He was completely immersed in his own world. In Snape's world, anyone who tried to persuade him was his enemy, and Eda was no exception.
Eda was only Eda, only Esmeralda Twist—she was not Lily Evans.
"Has half a Rosier made you this arrogant, Twist?" Snape said coldly, his voice like a gust of icy wind sweeping through the room. "Who do you think you are? Don't stand in my way!"
Lupin, lying to one side, struggled to break free of his bindings, while Sirius also took advantage of Eda distracting Snape to secretly move toward Lupin.
Behind them, Harry, Ron, and Hermione tightened their grips on their wands. They knew that if they wanted to learn the truth Sirius and Lupin were talking about, they had to stop Snape first.
Eda did not know whether the wizarding world had a term like "going mad from obsession," but she felt that Snape at this moment had truly lost himself. She also did not know why Snape hated Sirius so deeply. If possible, she really did not want to fight Snape.
Eda said quietly, "Professor, stay calm. After Sirius tells the truth and gives Harry an explanation, no one will stop you from doing whatever you want."
As Eda spoke, a faint glimmer flashed from the ring on the ring finger of her left hand. Instantly, Snape's eyes lost focus, as if he had been bewitched by her words.
"Professor, whatever it is you want to do, please wait a little longer—just for a moment."
Snape lowered the wand in his hand. He very much wanted to nod and agree with Eda's suggestion.
Everyone in the room saw the tremendous change in Snape before and after. They were all astonished by Eda, though none of them yet realized just how terrifying her ability truly was.
Just when everyone thought the matter with Snape had been resolved, Snape unexpectedly raised his wand again and pointed it directly at Eda. His eyes became deep once more, like a bottomless abyss.
"I told you before.. your curiosity would get you killed," Snape said, his expression frighteningly grim. "But I never expected that you would die because of your own arrogant ignorance!"
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