Chapter 370: Full Moon
When the last of the voices faded away, Dudley slowly opened his eyes.
Beside him, Harry, Ron, and Hermione opened theirs as well. None of them had truly fallen asleep.
"It's hard to say whether Dumbledore was doing that on purpose, talking about all that right next to us," Ron murmured.
"He probably was saying it for Dudley's benefit," Harry said, glancing at him.
"So what did Snape mean?" Hermione asked. "Does he think Professor Lupin has something to do with this?"
"No idea," Dudley said. "From what Snape said, Lupin seems to know Black. Wait…"
He did not even finish the thought before his expression changed.
"What is it?" The three of them tensed instantly. If Dudley looked like that, it meant he had noticed something.
"Lupin's about the same age as Snape," Dudley said, voice turning serious. "Which means he would've been at Hogwarts at the same time as your parents, Harry. And my aunt and uncle as well. Even if they weren't in the same year, they would've overlapped in school for a while."
"And Sirius Black is about the same age as all of them. He went to Hogwarts as well, and he was in Gryffindor."
The colour drained from their faces.
Especially Harry's. The idea that his parents were connected to all these people sounded unbelievable, but Dudley's logic was solid.
Dudley watched Harry, frowning slightly.
Black had been fixated on Harry. The Ministry's response had also been strangely focused on Harry's safety, almost as if everything revolved around him.
It was enough to make one conclusion unavoidable.
Sirius Black was connected to Harry's parents.
"Don't think about it too much," Dudley said, trying to steady him. "Tomorrow I'll ask Professor Dumbledore. He said he'd tell me everything."
Harry nodded, saying nothing.
The night dragged on, miserable and tense, but it ended at last.
Early the next morning, everyone was told to return to their dormitories.
At Gryffindor Tower, the portrait guarding the entrance was no longer the Fat Lady. In her place was a portrait of Sir Cadogan.
Dudley did not linger on it. After changing in the dormitory, they went to their lessons for the day.
But even Defence Against the Dark Arts, which had always felt fascinating, seemed dull and heavy after what had happened.
When the day's classes ended, Dudley did not go down to dinner. He headed straight for Dumbledore's office.
"What are you doing here?"
The moment Dudley reached the stone gargoyle outside the office, he heard a voice he'd grown thoroughly tired of.
Snape stared at him coldly. His deep eyes raked over Dudley as if searching for something, anything, he could use to deduct points.
"I'm here to see Professor Dumbledore," Dudley said.
"He isn't here," Snape replied icily.
"All right," Dudley said, and turned away at once.
Snape glared after him, but could not find a single excuse to dock points. He snorted and stalked off in the opposite direction.
Over the next few days, Dudley tried again and again to find Dumbledore, but it was impossible. Since Halloween night, Dumbledore had been so busy he barely seemed to exist.
If the wizarding world were not clearly in chaos, Dudley might have suspected Dumbledore was deliberately avoiding him.
Meanwhile, Harry was drowning in Quidditch.
It was Oliver Wood's last year at Hogwarts, and he was desperate to win the Quidditch Cup. He drove the team through relentless training, leaving them almost no time for anything else.
And because of that, Harry stopped dwelling on Sirius Black, at least for a while.
That afternoon, their first lesson was Defence Against the Dark Arts again.
"Do you reckon we should just ask Lupin about Sirius Black directly?" Ron whispered.
"How?" Hermione shot back. "Ask him, 'Professor, we heard you know Sirius Black, so you're the one who brought him into Hogwarts'?"
"I'm not that stupid," Ron hissed, offended.
"Then how are you planning to ask?" Hermione pressed.
"We can ask indirectly," Ron said. "Dudley can do it, right? Dudley's good at talking. He'll definitely be able to get the truth out of him."
Ron looked at Dudley expectantly.
"We'll see," Dudley said. He did not refuse, but he did not agree either. "It's probably not that simple."
"Where's Harry?" Ron glanced back. "Class is about to start."
Harry had gone to the Quidditch pitch and still had not returned.
"It'll be fine," Hermione said. "Professor Lupin isn't that strict. Being a little late won't matter."
They reached the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and pushed the door open.
The smiles on Ron and Hermione's faces vanished instantly.
Standing at the front was not Professor Lupin.
It was Snape.
"Why is he…" Ron stared at Snape, stunned.
Dudley's eyes narrowed. He understood at once.
"Go on," Dudley said, giving Ron and Hermione a light push.
Neither of them argued. They lowered their heads and hurried into the classroom.
Snape's gaze swept over the three of them, but he said nothing.
"What's going on?" Ron whispered once they sat. "Why isn't Professor Lupin here?"
"Full moon," Dudley said softly.
In an instant, Ron understood. Beside him, Hermione had clearly reached the same conclusion on her own.
"I almost forgot he's a werewolf," Ron admitted in a low voice.
Lupin had changed Ron's view of werewolves so completely that Ron often forgot, on instinct, what Lupin really was.
Bang.
The classroom door was shoved open with force.
Harry burst into the classroom, splattered with mud and breathing hard, clearly having sprinted all the way from the pitch.
Then he saw Snape at the front of the room and froze, shock written all over his face.
At the sight of Harry, Snape actually smiled.
Finally. A chance to deduct points.
"Ah, yes," Snape said, silkily pleased with himself. "Our famous Harry Potter. Even in third year, still ignorant of the basic rule of arriving on time."
"Perhaps he truly believes that fame means he can do whatever he likes."
"But in my classroom, that is quite impossible."
"Gryffindor loses twenty points."
Harry's face darkened. He had not expected Snape to be teaching today.
If you want Snape even nastier without changing the structure, you could push one line further, for example:
"Perhaps he truly believes that fame means he can do whatever he likes. One wonders how he managed to master walking in a straight line without applause."
But he was quick enough to understand what it meant.
He walked to his seat without a word.
"Now then," Snape said. "Open your books to the final chapter. Today's topic is werewolves."