Harry knew James needed to be informed of his plan, so he would have to break the silence between them at last. He needed to talk to James without Sirius, Remus or Peter butting in. His chance came during Charms on the Tuesday of the following week...Sirius was back in the Hospital Wing after he and James got into a duel during break and ended up with wings growing out of his stomach. Thus, Remus and Peter paired up to practice a charm, Ron and Hermione paired up, Lily and a friend paired up, and Harry and James were partner-less. Harry walked over and sat next to James, who said nothing.
They were supposed to be Vanishing a rat and making it reappear in a cage Flitwick had set out in the center of the room, yet Harry and James made no effort to do so. “James?” Harry said tentatively, but got no response. “James, listen,” Harry said forcibly, “I’m not seeing Lily anymore.”
James turned to look at him at last. “So you admit you were with her?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No!” Harry said immediately. “Well, I mean...I started to ask her out, but then I realized it was a mistake and...we sort of separated.”
“Fair enough,” James said gruffly. He managed to Vanish his rat, but he accidentally (or maybe not, Harry realized) made it reappear on Flitwick’s head, causing the short professor to topple over with surprise.
“James,” Harry said in an undertone, “It’s full moon. I think we’re going to carry out our plan tonight.”
That got James’ full attention. “Really?” he said. “But...did Sirius tell Snivellus to go after Remus already?”
“No,” Harry said, “but I think we can persuade him to. Here’s what we’ll do...”
***
“Padfoot!” James greeted his friend as he and Harry entered the Hospital Wing that afternoon. Sirius had bandages all across his stomach, but otherwise, he looked perfectly fine.
“Well, if it isn’t Prongs,” Sirius said, grinning. “What’s up?”
“D’you know when you’re getting out of here?” James asked, looking around.
“Madam Pomphrey told me I should be able to go in about two hours, when the feathers disintegrate in my stomach,” Sirius said, wincing slightly. “Why; what’s up?”
James leaned in close so Madam Pomphrey and the other patients couldn’t hear him. “Harry came up with the perfect prank to play on Snivellus tonight,” he whispered. Sirius’ eyebrows raised and he glanced at Harry before returning his gaze to James.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Let Harry tell you,” James said, looking to Harry expectantly, and Sirius did the same. Harry cleared his throat.
“Well,” he said, “I thought that, since it’s full moon tonight, we could tell Sniv...er, Snape, that Remus is a werewolf, and tell him how to stop the Whomping Willow from moving, and see what happens.”
“Brilliant!” Sirius breathed, and Harry felt a twang of guilt. He knew that what they were doing was wrong, yet he had to go along with it in order to save Dumbledore’s future life. “So who’s gonna tell him?” Sirius asked, looking from James back to Harry.
“Well,” James said slowly, “we figured...since you’re the master of secrecy around here...”
“You want me to do it?” Sirius asked, smirking. “I’m in?”
“Good,” James said, nodding. “You’ll probably find Snivelly under the old oak by the lake, reading or doing homework or something.”
Sirius laughed, and Harry forced himself to do the same, although he had a very bad feeling about all of this....
***
“Hey, Severus!” Sirius called out, as he walked towards the boy sitting cross-legged under the oak. James and Harry, who were watching from a safe distance, were surprised: it was apparently the first time any of the Marauders had called Snape by his real name. Snape looked up from his book and frowned, looking up at Sirius.
“What do you want, Black?” he snarled.
“Whoa, easy,” Sirius said, holding out his hands to show he was wandless. “I want to tell you something...”
Snape considered him for a moment. “What?” he finally snapped.
“I just wanted to tell you that Remus Lupin is a werewolf,” Sirius blurted out, and both Harry and James slapped their foreheads. So much for subtlety...
“What?” Snape said, confused. “Lupin, a werewolf?”
“You’ve never noticed him leaving the grounds every full moon, then?” Sirius asked, smirking. “Or did you believe the story that he was taking Remedial Herbology with Sprout?”
“I’ve always thought that was suspicious,” Snape muttered to himself, then looked back up at Sirius. “Where does he go?”
“The Shrieking Shack,” Sirius replied. “There’s a secret entrance into it from under the Whomping Willow.
Snape thought about this. “And why are you telling me this?” he asked suspiciously.
“I...uh...” Sirius was obviously thinking fast. “I was dared to,” he said quickly. “By James.”
Snape didn’t appear to buy it. “What, you want me to get killed by the Whomping Willow then, is that it? Well, it’s not happening.” With that, he went back to his book.”
Sirius leaned in closer to Snape. “I know how to make the tree stop in its tracks,” he said. “So you can slip through.”
“What, I suppose a Freezing charm will just stop it cold, then?” Snape said, laughing humorlessly.
“Nope,” Sirius replied matter-of-factly. “There’s a knot at the base of the tree, and if you poke it with a long stick, it’ll freeze the whole tree.”
Snape looked at him, his face unreadable. Sirius apparently saw that his job was done. “Well, you can use the information any way you’d like, but that was all James made me do...” And he walked away briskly, leaving Snape to his thoughts.
“Brilliant work, Padfoot,” James said, giving his friend a high-five as he joined up with them. Harry grinned, as well...Sirius had recovered nicely from his mistake back with Snape.
“Now all we do is wait,” Harry said, and James and Sirius nodded. They all walked back up to the common room, anticipating the night ahead.
***
Just after sunset, Madam Pomphrey arrived for Remus. After she and Remus had left the common room, James, Sirius and Harry came down from the dormitories, James holding the Invisibility Cloak under his arm. “Now all we have to do is...” Harry started, but stopped cold; Peter was standing in front of them.
“We going to join Remus or what?” he asked quizzically.
“Not tonight, Wormtail,” Sirius said. “We have to go...uh...”
“To the library,” Harry interjected quickly. “We need to ‘borrow’ a book from the Restricted Section to study.”
“I wanna go!” Peter said excitedly.
“Sorry, Wormtail,” James said, with fake empathy. “The Cloak can’t hold us all, and we can’t transform because Harry can’t...”
Sirius and Peter looked at Harry in shock. Harry and James had forgotten; Sirius, Peter and Remus had no idea what Harry knew about them.
“Long story,” Harry said, and he led the way out of the common room, leaving a very confused Peter behind them.
“How DO you know that, Harry?” Sirius asked.
Harry was thinking fast once again. “James told me,” he finally said. “I kept bugging him about it, and he finally broke down and told me you were Animagi.”
“Prongs!” Sirius exclaimed, horrified. “I thought we all agreed to keep that a secret!”
“We can trust Harry, Padfoot,” James said.
“Why?” Sirius asked, exasperated. “You never told me why you treat Harry like he’s been with us for years...”
“It’s a long story,” Harry cut in. “I’ll have to tell you later. We sort of...know each other.”
Sirius was still confused, and was silent until they reached the old oak on the ground, about fifty meters from the Whomping Willow. Madam Pomphrey and Remus were walking towards it, Madam Pomphrey conjuring a long stick out of midair. As she was prodding the knot with it, Sirius nudged Harry and James. They saw Snape silently slip out of the castle doors, walking silently to the Whomping Willow.
It wasn’t curfew yet, so there were still some students walking around grounds. No one took any notice of Madam Pomphrey and Remus, because if they were close enough to recognize them, they would’ve been pummeled by the tree. They saw Remus start to shake and transform, and Madam Pomphrey ushered him into the hole under the tree, returning quickly to the castle. As she did so, Snape ran past her once her back was to him, and rushed up to the tree. Right before the branches began swaying again, he slipped into the hole after Remus.
For a few seconds, Harry, Sirius and James waited, watching the hole intently. Suddenly, a large roar from Remus filled the grounds, followed by a blood-curdling scream. Everyone on the grounds looked around for the source, and once they realized it, they gathered around the Whomping Willow, staring at it, wondering what was happened. Madam Pomphrey noticed the commotion and rushed back to the tree. Harry, James and Sirius did the same, running up to join the crowd.
“Out of the way!” Madam Pomphrey ordered, brandishing her wand and conjuring another long stick. She quickly prodded the knot in the tree and rushed to the hole, peering into it and withdrawing quickly. “Someone, quickly, go and get Dumbledore!” she ordered. Harry and Sirius were feeling a bit sick at this point, and Harry noticed Sirius had turned pale. Sirius raised his hand quickly to volunteer and ran up to the castle in a full sprint, headed for Dumbledore’s office.
The screaming had stopped. Madam Pomphrey took a deep breath and dropped into the hole. They heard another roar from Remus, and Madam Pomphrey shouted a spell, and the roaring stopped. After a few seconds of frightful silence from the crowd that had gathered, Madam Pomphrey emerged, dragging Snape behind her. She quickly conjured a large blanket to shield the body from the crowd, and everyone was extremely scared.
“What is that thing?” a female voice asked, and Harry and James turned to see Lily, who was also pale and shaking.
“It is something not to be discussed among you students,” Madam Pomphrey said shortly, her voice shaking. Just then, Sirius sprinted back, out of breath, with Professor Dumbledore right behind him.
“What has happened here?” Dumbledore asked, very concerned.
“A student has been attacked,” Madam Pomphrey, “by...” She whispered something to Dumbledore, which James and Harry took to be telling Dumbledore about the werewolf.
Dumbledore quickly approached the blanket, carefully opening the blanket so only he could see under it. He pulled out his wand and muttered a spell, and a bright light momentarily blinded everyone, and then stood back up again. “Dead,” he announced gravely, and several students screamed and began crying.
Dumbledore held up a hand for silence. “Everyone return to your common rooms immediately,” Dumbledore ordered, and everyone turned to go. “Except for you.” He pointed to Harry. Harry nodded and bade farewell to James, who was still slightly shaken, and as everyone else walked up to the castle, Harry joined Dumbledore and Madam Pomphrey near Snape’s body.
“You may go, Poppy,” Dumbledore said. “I will take care of the body.” Madam Pomphrey nodded sullenly, and followed the students up to the castle.
“Harry,” Dumbledore said once she was out of earshot, “I seem to remember you telling me something that happens in my future concerning Mr. Snape here,” he said, gesturing to the covered body. “Something tells me this was not a natural occurrence.”
“What do you mean?” Harry said, trying to feign innocence.
“I think you know what I mean, Harry,” Dumbledore said sternly, his blue eyes boring into Harry’s green ones. “You had a hand in Mr. Snape’s death tonight, didn’t you?”
Harry thought about lying, but realized it was no use. “Yeah,” he said finally. “But technically, we didn’t kill him...”
“Harry, Harry,” Dumbledore said quietly, “you have no idea what you are doing by killing my students. You know perfectly well Mr. Snape’s death would not have occurred had you not done something. I am immensely disappointed in you.”
“Am I going to be expelled?” Harry asked quietly.
Dumbledore took a deep breath. “No,” he said finally. “The Ministry of Magic actually has no idea you, Mr. Weasley, and Ms. Granger are here, Harry. I never officially enrolled you in Hogwarts. I cannot expel you, or there will be an inquiry as to what you were doing at Hogwarts, and I wish to avoid that.” Harry was immensely relieved.
“However...” Dumbledore wasn’t finished. “I must say I am very, very disappointed, Harry, and I wish that you will make wiser decisions in the future, or else I may be forced to intervene.” Without warning, Dumbledore walked back to the castle, levitating Snape’s body in front of him, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts.