The Half-Blood Princess

Chapter 13- Life Debt

Sabrina wasn't a student who regularly disobeyed school rules, so sneaking around at night was completely new to her. And she wasn't sure that she liked it.
She could hear her heart beating twice as fast in her chest, as her and Severus made their way down the dark passageway under the whomping willow.
Just as she was beginning to think that the tunnel would never end, she saw a ladder leading up to a hatch on the ceiling.
But before Sabrina could voice her happiness at seeing the end, a blood curdling scream suddenly echoed through the tunnel, making her hair stand on end.

"Was that Lupin?" Whispered Sabrina, as she recognised how human the voice sounded.
"I don't know" admitted Severus, before continuing to move forward.
Sabrina thought about how much pain Remus Lupin must be in to make that kind of sound. And she began to feel even more on edge.
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea" trembled Sabrina, who hadn't moved since the scream.
Severus ignored her and carried on moving towards the ladder.
The sound of footsteps echoing down the tunnel made Sabrina spin around.
"Something's coming" mumbled Sabrina.
Her brother didn't hear her as he had reached the foot of the ladder, and had raised his wand to the hatch.

As the footsteps got closer, Sabrina saw a figure running towards them.
She soon realised that the figure was James Potter, and even though he was running towards them looking frantic, his wand was not raised, so he did not appear to be a threat.
"No! Stop!" Yelled James.
Sabrina spun around and looked at Severus, who had just flicked his wand at the hatch, causing it to swing open.
Severus's eyes widened as he looked up, and Sabrina made her way over to him to see what he was staring at.

Above the tunnel appeared to be some kind of shack, but that was not what Severus was looking at.
Sabrina's mouth fell open as she caught the end of Remus Lupin's transformation.
One minute she was staring at a boy, and the next minute he was an enormous werewolf.
She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out.
"Protego" shouted James, who had removed his wand from his robes, and seemed to be the only one not shocked by the werewolf.
He then flicked his hand, causing the hatch to close once more.

James grabbed hold of Sabrina's hand and began pulling her back down the passageway.
"Move Severus!" Shouted James, as he looked over his shoulder at Severus, who hadn't moved.
After taking one last look at the hatch, Severus followed the others down the tunnel, with haste.
No one said anything until they were out of passageway and far enough away from the whomping willow to not get hit.
"What the hell just happened?" Questioned Sabrina.
"I think we would all like to know that".

The group spun around and saw Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall standing a few feet away from them.
"How did you know we were here?" Panted James, who was still out of breath from all the running he had just done.
"A young Mister Black came and found McGonagall, guilty about what he had done, and she came and alerted me to the situation" revealed Dumbledore.
"Yes, and I think this would be better handled inside" said McGonagall sternly.
No one wanted to make the situation worse, so they followed the teachers back inside the school in silence.

They didn't stop until they were all stood in Professor Dumbledore's office.
And when they arrived they saw Sirius Black standing sheepishly in front of Dumbledore's desk.
Since that was Sabrina's first time in there, she was feeling very nervous, not to mention very tired as it was rather late.
As a normally good student, Sabrina had never before committed an act that would get her sent the headmasters office before, and she found the whole place rather intimidating.
"So, where to begin" sighed Dumbledore, who looked rather disappointed by what had happened that night.
McGonagall on the other hand looked just as angry as she always did when telling off a student.

As Dumbledore explained things from his perspective, Sabrina began to understand what had happened that evening.
Sirius had indeed spoken about how to get past the whomping willow when he knew Severus was listening, because he wanted Severus to bump into Remus once he had transformed.
However, when James heard what Sirius had done he immediately ran after Severus, to stop him.
Sirius had then become concerned for his best friends, so revealed to McGonagall what he had done.

Dumbledore then asked James to explain what had happened once he left the Gryffindor common room.
James revealed that he had gotten there too late to stop Sabrina and Severus from seeing Remus in his werewolf form.
"I see... Well, it should go without saying that no one must know what happened tonight" announced Dumbledore, as he looked at Sabrina and Severus.
"But sir, there is a werewolf in the school" reminded Severus.

"I am perfectly aware of that, thank you. It was I who invited Master Lupin to Hogwarts, knowing his condition. And it is I who made arrangements with Madam Pomfrey to manage this condition every full moon. No student will be harmed on my watch, provided no student goes looking for trouble... Remus Lupin cannot control his transformations, and it is unfair that he should be punished for something that is not his fault" admitted Dumbledore.
"I promise not to tell anyone" Sabrina said quietly, even though she had every intention of telling Regulus.
Severus sighed and nodded his head, showing that he too, would keep Remus's secret.

Dumbledore then turned to Sirius, who was looking very uncomfortable.
"Now, I want you to understand that what you did was wrong, and completely unacceptable. Putting multiple students lives at risk, is not something we take lightly. Not only did you put Sabrina and Severus's lives on the line, but you put your friend Remus Lupin in danger too. So, you will now have weekly detentions, until the end of term, do I make myself clear?" Questioned Dumbledore.
Sirius nodded his head, "Yes Professor".
"Good. Now, I want you to apologise to Severus and Sabrina, who's lives you needlessly put at risk"
"Sorry".

Sabrina wasn't sure that Sirius's apology sounded all that genuine, even though he did keep giving her guilty glances.
She knew that he'd had no intention of getting her hurt, and he seemed kind of sorry that she had gotten involved. But she could tell that he didn't feel in any way sorry for putting Severus's life at risk.
"Right then, it is time that we all went to bed, and put this nasty mess behind us" announced Dumbledore, as he stood out of his chair.

McGonagall then escourted them out of the room, to make sure that they didn't go on any detours on the way to their common rooms.
They headed to the Gryffindor common room first to drop Sirius and James off.
"James wait" Sabrina said quietly, before James could reach the portrait hole..
"What is it?" Asked James as he spun around.
"Thank you, for saving my life" replied Sabrina.
"You're welcome".

Sabrina looked to Severus, to see if he was going to thank James for going out of his way to save them, but he said nothing. He was however glaring at James and Sirius, as if he wanted nothing more than to throttle them both.
Once James and Sirius were safely away in their dormitory, McGonagall escourted Sabrina and Severus down to their own common room beside the dungeons.