AN: We hit 50 Power Stones! Thanks for voting - as promised, a BONUS chapter will be released later on today!
In the mean time, keeping voting with Power Stones! Since the rankings have reset, if we get to 50 again, I'll release another BONUS chapter again!
It was the 6th of June, and Blake and his friends were in the boys' dorm room once again.
"What's everyone's plans for summer?" Tracey asked suddenly in the middle of a game of Wizarding Chess.
"Going home," Zabini answered, to which Tracey swatted him on the head.
"Ow!"
"Obviously you're going home, Blaise," she said, rolling her eyes. "What are your plans?"
"I don't know," he snapped. "I'll probably just do whatever."
"Useful as always," she sighed, and before Zabini could reply scathingly, she turned to Blake. "And you?"
Not wanting to also get swatted on the head, Blake responded quickly.
"I'll probably just spend some time with my family," he said. Unfortunately, that response was also not good enough.
"Ow!"
Zabini sniggered.
"Obviously you'll spend time with your family, Blake," she said, rolling her eyes. "What are your plans?"
"What are your plans, Tracey?" Blake challenged, and Zabini echoed his agreement, raising his hand as if ready to swat her in response.
"Well, I'm going to be going to Botswana," she said smugly. "We're going on a safari to see all the wild animals there!"
Zabini dropped his hand, disappointed.
"Wow," Charlotte marveled. "And your parents want to go too?"
"They're thrilled," Tracey replied with a smile. "They thought I was sh*te at everything, poor old fools - when I told them I love COMC, it was like they had 100 Cheering Charms placed on them!"
"But there's still no real job market for the subject, right?" Daphne frowned.
"Not true! I could be a magizoologist, a breeder-"
"Yuck," Zabini muttered. Tracey thumped him on the head and continued.
"- I could work in the Ministry or I could be a Professor! The possibilities are endless."
"You named 4 careers," Zabini stated, followed by a high-pitched "Ow!"
"Anyway, what about you guys?" Tracey asked Daphne and Charlotte.
"I'll be staying at home and working," Daphne said. There was no doubt in Blake's mind as to what she would be working on.
"And you, Charlotte?" Tracey asked, her tone softer. Everyone seemed to turn to Charlotte all at once, seemingly remembering her situation at home. Blake winced as he remembered the girl's pile of unopened letters. "Have you made up your mind?"
"Well," she said, glancing at them, "Yeah - I think - if it's still okay, of course - I'll take you up on your offer?" she finished in a small voice.
Offer? Blake wondered, looking at the rest of them. What offer? Zabini looked equally as confused, but Tracey let out a sudden, loud whoop of elation that made the rest of them wince and cover their ears.
"YES!" she shouted, hugging Charlotte tightly. Charlotte smiled as beset as she could while being strangled, and even Daphne was grinning too.
"Well, we can hash out the details soon," she said, sounding ever so slightly relieved. "My family's already agreed, and Tracey's has too - I think it's probably better for it to be us though, Tracey."
"No way!"
"What's the offer?" Zabini asked impatiently.
"Charlotte will be staying with one of us this summer, and for all future summers to come," Daphne explained casually.
"Oh," Zabini said, sounding wholly unsurprised. "Makes sense. Good idea."
Blake snorted, but he didn't deny it. Thank God, he thought. I would've hated for her to have to go back to her b*tch of a mother.
"Daphne's house is probably better," Blake thought out loud. "It's probably bigger, and Charlotte's mum couldn't do much to them considering wealth and status."
"Agreed," Zabini nodded. "But what if people were told she's staying with the Greengrasses, but she alternated between them? No one would know otherwise, right?"
"Exactly!" Tracey said excitedly, letting go of Charlotte and squeezing Zabini instead. Despite their height difference, the boy looked thoroughly starved for oxygen. "Good idea, Blaise!"
"I think she just wanted an excuse to hug him," Blake whispered conspiratorially to Daphne.
"What a genius," she whispered back sarcastically.
Before Blake could make a comment about how he was better than Daphne at almost everything, something burst through the door.
Blake, Daphne and Zabini immediately reached for their wands, but stopped suddenly. Before them was a beautiful creature, glowing in a silvery, shimmering light.
"That's…"
"A Patronus? But who's?" Zabini asked, looking towards Daphne and Blake for answers. There was silence in the room.
"A wolf," Daphne said to Blake quietly. The Slytherin boy's blood ran cold. He looked outside at the descending sun. Tonight's a full moon.
"We've got to go now," he told her, and the pair rushed towards the door.
"Wait!" Charlotte cried.
"Where're you going?" Zabini asked, confusedly.
"Cover for us if anyone comes," Daphne ordered.
"But-"
"We'll be fine," Blake reassured him. Without waiting any longer, the pair rushed out of the room and dungeons, following the wolf Patronus.
"Tonight's-"
"-a full moon," Daphne finished. "I know. We've got to hurry."
F*ck. Lupin's weakening right now - if he forgot to take his potion, he's gonna transform into a real werewolf, and we'll have just as big of a problem as Sirius Black.
"Where the hell is this thing going?" Blake shouted as they ran through the Forest, avoiding massive roots and branches. Both of them had cast a 'Lumos' in response to the diminishing light.
"I don't know!" Daphne shouted back. "The only thing close to here is the-"
Suddenly, the Patronus slowed down. Blake looked around in confusion, and he saw an old building coming into view, and although he'd never seen it before, he knew at once what it was.
"The Shrieking Shack," Daphne whispered.
Of course, Blake cursed himself. That's such an obvious hiding spot. Why the hell didn't we think of it?
They approached as quietly as they could, and just as they'd expected, they heard voices.
"You fool-"
That voice-
"Lupin's in there?" Daphne whispered, her voice almost non-existent. The girl was crouching exceptionally near him, and he could feel her warm breath on his cold skin. But just then, he heard another familiar voice speak.
Snape?
He peered into the Shrieking Shack, and confirmed exactly what he'd been thinking.
Ron, Harry, Hermione, Black, Lupin and Snape. Why's it always those three? This is getting so complicated - wait a minute, Blake suddenly thought, paying razor sharp attention to what they were saying.
'An innocent man back inside Azkaban?'
Scenarios flashed through Blake's mind. How could Sirius Black be innocent? Eyewitnesses literally said Black blew Pettigrew to bits, and he was the Secret Keeper! Why in Merlin's name would Lupin think he's innocent?
A horrible possibility came to mind.
Could Lupin be helping-
No. The Unbreakable Vow - he can't.
Suddenly, Snape flicked his wand, and cord-like structures wrapped themselves around the wandless werewolf, and in response, Black rushed at Snape, only to be met by the Potions Master's wand at his throat.
Black's… defending Lupin?
Hermione spoke. "Professor Snape — it — it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w — would it?"
As Snape shouted at Hermione, Blake grew even more confused. She's defending him too?
But as Black and Snape traded insults, Blake finally understood what was going on.
Black wants the rat to be brought to the castle - Ron's rat - Scabbers? But why? What's a rat-
Images flashed through Blake's mind.
Ron's rat's been in their family for twelve years.
That's the same amount of time Black's spent in prison.
Rats don't normally live for twelve years.
Black's seen Harry before - could've killed him whenever.
When Black came to Harry's room, he was looking at Ron.
Ron. The rat. Black.
Harry moved into Snape's way as the latter tried to lead the way out of the Shrieking Shack. Snape's not in the right state of mind - they were enemies at school - he'll never listen.
F*ck! Blake thought. If I stop Snape right now, he'll hate me, even more that he already does - and the man holds a grudge.
But I need Black! he lamented, thinking back to Astoria's cure and the soul-splitting spell.
Astoria's cure and the soul-splitting spell, or Snape not completely hating me? What do I value more?
It wasn't a hard question.
Somehow, as if synchronised, Blake and Daphne rose at the same time, and pointed their wands at Snape's.
"Expelliarmus!"
Thanks for reading and make sure ADD to your COLLECTION and VOTE with POWER STONES! Once we hit 50, I'll release a BONUS chapter!