The Outcasts Of Hogwarts

Chapter 26 The Confrontation

Lupin barely seemed to acknowledge McGonagall as she explained what was happening. He nodded to her vaguely and stepped aside to let them in, his eyes not leaving Amaris. McGonagall gestured Amaris inside but didn't follow.

"I'm sure you two have this under control, now I should get back to my marking," the teacher said. Then she was gone.

Amaris listened to the echoing footsteps fade away as she stood just in the doorway, shrinking under the force of Lupin's gaze. She realised that she was clutching the Diricawl very tightly in her arms and loosened her grip, not that the creature appeared to have taken any notice.

The teacher closed the door to his office, shutting out the sound of McGonagall's shoes and blocking Amaris' escape route. Then, Lupin stood silently, his face so full of hatred that Amaris felt frozen to the spot. He seemed to be daring her to say something. When it was clear she wasn't going to, he marched over to his desk, snatched something from one of its drawers and slammed it on the top. He commanded Amaris over with a look that had her feet walking on their own.

The thing on the desk appeared to be just a piece of yellowing parchment. But Lupin pointed his wand at it and said through gritted teeth, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." 

To Amaris's wonder, ink began to spread out across the parchment forming letters and lines. Amaris watched it with a closed expression, all too aware of her teacher's eyes boring into her.

Lupin opened the folds of the parchment to reveal crammed words creating corridors and rooms. "Do you know what this is?" He asked as if he was teaching a lesson, despite the intensity of his expression.

A map of the school, Amaris thought but she didn't think her throat would be able to form the words. She shrugged.

Lupin looked at her disbelievingly, "This is a very unique map that I happened to confiscate from Mr Potter a few weeks ago. It can be a very dangerous tool as well as a useful one. As you can see, it shows where everyone is in the castle."

Amaris looked back at the map and saw the little moving labels signifying all the people in the castle. After a moment she realised that she was looking at the part of the castle she was in. She could see her and her teachers' names next to each other. There didn't seem to be anyone else in the nearby corridors until she spotted a name she knew at the end of one of the hidden passageways. Amaris almost smiled at the thought of Steffan hiding there, waiting for her to walk past so he could seemingly appear out of nowhere.

"Last full moon, I was sitting here," Lupin continued, gesturing to his chair and jolting Amaris back to where she was. "Professor Snape had just brought me my potions, the door was locked and I was waiting for it to begin." His voice was unnervingly calm. 

She listened cautiously, silent and still. The weight of the Diricawl in her arms was a slight comfort. She didn't know what Lupin was getting to but she had the sense she wasn't going to like it.

"And as I was waiting, I noticed this on the desk, and you know what I thought?" The teacher let the question hang before he continued. "I thought I would check up on a certain student. To make sure she has gotten to wherever her safe zone was on time."

Amaris clutched the unresisting bird tighter in her arms at the sudden contempt in her teacher's voice.

"The student I had covered for, the student whose independence I had respected, the student I had trusted," his words were dripping with disdain and something else, fear? "I had trusted you to be responsible and careful. But what did I see? You were still in the dorm!"

Amaris stepped back, searching for words, "why- why would I leave?"

"Why would you-" he shook his head like he couldn't believe the things he was hearing. "Because you were in a room full of other children on a full moon! How could you be so reckless? So irresponsible! What if one of them had discovered you? Hmm? Or what if your wolfsbane potion, wherever you're getting it from, hadn't worked? What then?"