Another Prisoner, Another Professor

All the students have been crowded into the Great Hall while the teachers try to discover what has happened.

"All right, here's mine," said Lee. "The goblet had some sort of poisonous fog in it. The Fat Lady wouldn't let him into the tower, so Lupin dropped the goblet and ran before the fog could kill him. By the time we got back the fog had mostly disappeared, except for the bit that came out when Dumbledore picked it up."

"So why isn't Dumbledore dead?" asked Angelina.

"He's Dumbledore. He's the greatest wizard of all time."

"Why would Lupin want to set poisonous fog on the Gryffindor Tower in the first place?" scoffed a tall boy with wiry hair whose name Harry didn't know.

"He's a Death Eater, isn't he? Doesn't need an excuse. Or maybe You-Know-Who's found him since he escaped and told him - "

"Oh, don't!" Ginny whimpered.

"No one is to upset Ginny," said Percy in his best pompous voice.

"I've got one," Alicia Spinnet said. "The goblet had some potion in it that gives Lupin the ability to get past dementors. He drank some to get in and he was just drinking some to get out..."

"What's a Death Eater?" Harry asked Ron as Seamus started dissecting Alicia's theory. "You said before in the library that your dad's cousin or someone had been on trial for being a Death Eater."

Ron gave him a funny look. "You really don't know what a Death Eater is?"

"Obviously not, if I'm asking you," said Harry irritably. The elated feeling he'd had all throughout the feast had crashed into the pit of his stomach.

"They're You-Know-Who's followers," said Ron. "Quirrell and Malfoy's dad and Lupin and all the rest of them."

"Your dad's cousin got off, though, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he got off. I don't really know a lot about it - it's one of the more distant cousins I've never met."

"All right," said George, "best of them all. The goblet was full of Essence of Prat. Lupin came to give some to Percy, but when the Fat Lady told him Percy was already the world's biggest prat, Lupin attacked her portrait and cut himself in despair - "

Fred and Ron burst out laughing, along with a couple of other boys Harry thought might be in Percy's year. Percy was facing the opposite direction and watching the doors to make sure no one left the Great Hall, but it was still apparent that his ears were turning bright red.

"George," said Wood, "do you want us to beat Slytherin in Quidditch?"

"No, Oliver, he wants Slytherin to win by five hundred points," said Fred.

"Shut up. I'm trying to figure out this diagram and you're getting on my nerves."

This was unusual for Wood, Harry thought; he usually was an expert at ignoring the noise around him.

"Are we even sure it is Lupin?" Hermione asked. "I mean, it seems likely, but we shouldn't rule out the possibility that it could be someone else."

"Hermione, we haven't got to rule out or keep in any possibilities," said Fred, lying back on his squashy purple sleeping bag. "We just get to sit here and let the professors figure it out. Besides, who else could it be? That Astrophil bloke didn't sound like he was that desperate to see you - "

"I told you," said Hermione, through gritted teeth, "that those weren't sent to me."

"All right, they weren't sent to you," said George. "Stop doing that to your teeth, your parents'll do their nut when they find out."

It was getting rather late, and the noise was beginning to soften around them; most of the first-years had fallen asleep, some before they had even made it into their sleeping bags. Hermione was the first of those around Harry to nod off, followed by Neville a minute later. Harry decided he had better go to bed as well, and he fell asleep half-listening to Wood saying something to Percy and Percy's muttered reply.

He woke to almost complete darkness, the only light coming from Dean Thomas's glow-in-the-dark watch across the aisle. Harry fumbled for his glasses and squinted. It was three o'clock in the morning.

" - ghost on the sixth floor saw him run by. The only sign found was a small trail of dripping blood on the railing of the stairs to the Gryffindor Tower."

The voice was Snape's; Harry immediately feigned sleep and hoped that the potions master had not seen him pick up his glasses.

"Very good, Severus. This leaves us with little to fear at the moment but still no answers, I'm afraid. I don't suppose you've had time to analyze the contents of the - "

"It had a residue of Wolfsbane, Headmaster," Snape replied at once. "I'm sure you remember that Lupin was an atrocious brewer of potions - "

"I think 'atrocious' is perhaps taking it a bit far, Severus," said Dumbledore. "Not talented, surely, but his O.W.L. work was acceptable, even if he decided not to go on to - "

Snape's voice was impatient. "He did not and most likely still does not possess the skill to brew the Wolfsbane Potion, and, what's more, its invention took place during his time in Azkaban. Therefore, Headmaster, I think you will agree that the only way for Lupin to obtain a goblet of it would be if - "

Harry heard a few steps, and when Dumbledore spoke again his voice seemed closer. "There are many, many ways Remus Lupin could have managed to acquire the Wolfsbane Potion. I fully trust that no one employed in this castle would help him to do so, or help him to come inside the school."

"The age and decoration of the goblet mark it as one found in only the wealthiest of - "

"Severus." Dumbledore's voice had softened. "This has been a very long night and I think it would be best if we saved this discussion until the morning."

The Great Hall was silent except for Neville's quiet snores. "Very well," said Snape at last. "Should we bring the students back to their dormitories?"

"No, no, let them sleep. They've had too much excitement for the moment. Good night, Severus."

Dumbledore had not allowed Snape to finish his opinion, but Snape's meaning was still clear to Harry: he believed Black had helped Lupin. Harry turned to one side to see Ron and to the other side to Hermione, but both were sound asleep. He rolled over on his back and closed his eyes.

Just as his body was about to resign itself to slumber, Harry realized something. Aside from the first blackout in Potions class, the rest had been caused by touching someone's skin, Diggory's finger or the black-haired girl's head. Yet when Percy's hand had accidentally smacked against the side of Harry's face, everything had been normal. He sat up hesitantly and looked at Ron; quickly and lightly, he tapped Ron's ear with the tip of one finger. Nothing happened.