Another Prisoner, Another Professor

"So," said Black, once Harry had come inside the office, "ordered your new broom yet?"

As much as Harry wanted a new broom, a problem had arisen and he hadn't bought one yet. Colin Creevey's racing broom report included prices; a Firebolt, Harry had been stunned to learn, cost three thousand Galleons. How much money was in his vault at Gringotts, exactly? He'd never stop to count it, and although he knew it was quite a lot, he wasn't sure if he could spend three thousand Galleons and still have enough money to make it through four and a half more years at Hogwarts. A Nimbus Two Thousand cost two thousand Galleons; no wonder Snape had been so infuriated that Harry had got one free from the school.

"I'm not actually sure how much money I have," Harry said, sitting down in one of Black's red armchairs. "I thought that maybe over the Christmas holidays I'd ask Hagrid if he could take me to Gringotts - he took me to Gringotts the first time I ever went there."

"They are expensive," said Black. There was a small cauldron on his desk with a blue fire on a plate underneath it. He lifted the cauldron and poured Harry a mug of hot chocolate. "Here you are, be careful, it's rather hot."

"Thanks," said Harry. Even though he'd eaten more chocolate over the past few weeks than he'd ever eaten in his life, he was still eager to drink it; he hadn't quite got rid of the chill from outside. As he drank he felt the feeling return to his ears as his glasses steamed up.

"What did Malfoy do to get detention, anyway?" he asked after he'd drunk about half the mug. It was a blue mug with white curly writing on one side, saying something in another language; Harry didn't know much about languages, but he thought it might be in German. He wondered where Black had got it.

"He passed a note to Crabbe that contained several off-color remarks," said Black, sitting down in the other armchair. "I'm really not sure what his point is. By this time he knows I don't have any qualms about putting him in detention."

"Maybe he thinks it'll help him argue that you're being unfair," Harry said. "Or - I know, maybe he thinks that if he gets enough detentions, you'll have to talk to Snape as his Head of House and he can watch the two of you get in a fight."

"Do I seem that likely to fight with Snape?" Black asked. It looked as though he were trying not to smile.

"Well, Snape hates you," said Harry. "Stupid of him - it's not your fault Dumbledore asked you to be Potions Master first."

"Who told you that?" Black asked.

"Hagrid."

"Oh." Black leaned back and stretched out his legs. "Yes, Hagrid would know about that, wouldn't he."

"I saw him hug you at the train station at the beginning of the year," said Harry. "Does he remember you from when you were in school, then?"

"From then and from a few years afterwards, before I started traveling," said Black. "I used to go down to his hut sometimes on the weekends and see his animals - back then he had a Diricawl and a whole family of double-ended newts. I sent him a de-venomed Runespoor from Burkina Faso once after I started going to Africa, but apparently it made Fang go nearly out of his mind, so Hagrid sent it back."

A Runespoor, Harry remembered from Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, was a snake with three heads, sometimes only two if one head bit off another. He wondered what Hermione would say if she knew that Black had given as a gift an animal so dangerous that even Hagrid hadn't wanted it. He decided not to tell her.

Suddenly, as though he had conjured her up, Harry heard Hermione's voice in the corridor; he jumped, nearly spilling the rest of his hot chocolate. "Harry!" she called. There was a knock on the door. "Professor Black, I'm sorry, is Harry in there?"

Black went to get the door; the second it opened Hermione dashed in, followed closely by Ron. "Harry, you've got to see this," she said breathlessly, pushing her bushy hair out of her face. It looked even more wild than usual. "The mail owls just got in - I think they were delayed by the rain - and I've just got today's Daily Prophet, look - " She held up a section of newspaper and thrust it into Harry's hands.

Lupin Sighted In Edinburgh

Remus Lupin, werewolf and escaped prisoner from Azkaban, was seen in Edinburgh yesterday night at approximately eleven o'clock on the Royal Mile. For his own safety, the name of the wizard who saw Lupin is not being released, though the Ministry of Magic tells the Daily Prophet that they have no reason to think that this witness is an unreliable source.

"That Lupin is appearing in such a highly populated area is alarming," said Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic. "The Ministry warns all residents of Edinburgh to be particularly cautious. We are hoping that Lupin's recent public appearance is a sign that his mind is unhinged and that he perhaps has forgotten to stay hidden. While this makes him potentially more dangerous, it also suggests that he may commit another error soon, hopefully one that leads to his capture."

"Well, he won't now, anyway," said Ron. "If Lupin reads this he'll make himself impossible to find."

"You understand what this means, don't you, Harry?" Hermione said, still trying to catch her breath. "He's still in Scotland, he's staying close to you. Whatever happened that made him leave Hogwarts on Halloween, it didn't scare him enough to convince him to leave you alone. Promise me you won't leave the castle at all until they've caught him - "

"He can't, he's got Quidditch practice," said Ron. "Lupin's not going to get him when he's got a whole team of people - "

"Lupin wouldn't care!" Hermione cried. "He killed thirteen people before, he won't mind killing six to get to Harry, especially if they aren't fully-trained wizards - he can't go outside, he can't, he - "

"Sit down and take some deep breaths," Black said quietly. "You're nearly hysterical." There was a hard, steely quality in his voice that Harry hadn't heard since they had been on the train to Hogwarts and the dementor had come aboard.

Black got two more mugs from his desk and poured some hot chocolate for Hermione; he gestured for Ron to sit in the other chair. Harry was left standing. "It won't do anyone any good to panic," Black said, filling Ron's mug. "If we look at it from a logical perspective, Harry is in the same amount of danger as he was before. We already knew Lupin was in Scotland. Besides, if Lupin could do enough magic to escape from Azkaban, he's probably still able to apparate - he could be anywhere in the world right now. Harry's already doing everything he can to protect himself - "

"I'm not," said Harry. He couldn't believe he'd spent so much time reading about werewolf children and their problems when he should have been reading about the danger they possessed. "I should have been studying how to fight werewolves and not dementors, but I was too busy being stupid and worrying about what Malfoy'd say if I passed out again - Lupin's the one who's actually got into the castle, the dementors are outside. Lupin's the one who's after me specifically, not the dementors."

"You're putting too much emphasis on what he becomes once a month and not remembering that most of the time he's a wizard," Black said. "There aren't any special spells or techniques for fighting werewolves."

"Yeah, well, he probably won't go after Harry except during the full moon!" Ron said. "We found out what was in that goblet he left by the picture of the Fat Lady, we know he's taking Wolfsbane Potion so he won't go mad when he turns into a wolf. Why else would he want to take it if he wasn't using it to help him get Harry?"

"He'd have a better chance of killing Harry as a wizard than he would as a wolf on the Wolfsbane Potion," said Black. "He's killed thirteen people as a man, he's never killed anyone as a wolf, not even as a mad wolf. As a sane wolf he has no wand and no driving desire for human flesh. It's the rest of the lunar cycle you have to worry about, not the full moon."

"Hang on," said Ron. "He's a werewolf, with fangs and claws and all that stuff, and you're telling us we should just act like he's a regular person?"

"Yes," said Black. "A dangerous person, but a person nonetheless."

Ron looked at Black as though he thought Black had gone insane. "He's a werewolf!"

"If he's taking the Wolfsbane Potion, he's getting rid of the most dangerous aspects of his condition."

"Well, so what! He's already mad, he wrote Harry's name in blood on the walls of his cell - "

Black turned deathly pale. "How did you know that?"

"My dad, he works for the Ministry."

In all the commotion, Black had never given Ron his mug of hot chocolate; he set it down on his desk with a loud bang. "All of you listen to me," he said. Hermione bit her lip. "I won't deny for a second that Remus Lupin is a threat, but that's because he's a Death Eater who may have lost his mind. It's not because he's a werewolf. On the Wolfsbane Potion, he won't come for Harry during the full moon because he'd have better luck coming after Harry with a wand. If he stops taking the Wolfsbane Potion, he won't have the slightest idea who Harry or anyone else is - he'll go after the nearest human and never make it to Hogwarts. You won't help yourselves by thinking of him as a werewolf before you think of him as a dark wizard." He swallowed. "Now, I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to leave. I'm getting a headache."

"He really believes that?" Ron said the minute they were outside. "He really believes that Lupin being a werewolf doesn't matter?"

"He does have a point," said Hermione. "If there really aren't any special spells or techniques against werewolves, and if Lupin would have a better chance of killing Harry as a wizard - "

Ron shook his head. "I still say he's our best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," he said, "but it's like that time he told us he wasn't sure the snake was poisonous. I think maybe he's spent so long killing wild beasts for that apothecary that he doesn't even get that they're wild anymore. It's like having another Hagrid."

"I think - " said Harry. Ron and Hermione looked at him. "I think maybe he's right. I couldn't find anything in that werewolf book that said Lupin would be more dangerous than anyone else when it wasn't the full moon, and it makes sense, what Black said about the Wolfsbane Potion. Maybe we've been going about this the wrong way."

"I still don't think you should leave the castle any more than you have to," said Hermione. "I don't know, maybe you should quit Quidditch..."

"Hermione," said Ron, "if Wood ever hears you say that, he'll never let you borrow his earmuffs again."