Joanne Murray: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

‘Did I hear the Headmaster leaving? Am I allowed to look after my patients now?’

She was in a very bad mood. Harry and Hermione thought it best to accept their chocolate quietly. Madam Pomfrey stood over them, making sure they ate it. But Harry could hardly swallow. He and Hermione were waiting, listening, their nerves jangling ... And then, as they both took a fourth piece of chocolate from Madam Pomfrey, they heard a distant roar of fury echoing from

somewhere above them ...

‘What was that?’ said Madam Pomfrey in alarm.

Now they could hear angry voices, growing louder and louder. Madam Pomfrey was staring at the door.

‘Really - they’ll wake everybody up! What do they think they’re doing?’

Harry was trying to hear what the voices were saying. They were drawing nearer -

‘He must have Disapparated, Severus, we should have left somebody in the room with him. When this gets out -’

‘HE DIDN’T DISAPPARATE!’ Snape roared, now very close at hand. ‘YOU CAN’T APPARATE OR DISAPPARATE INSIDE THIS CASTLE! THIS - HAS - SOMETHING - TO - DO - WITH -POTTER!’

‘Severus - be reasonable - Harry has been locked up -’

BAM.

The door of the hospital wing burst open.

Fudge, Snape and Dumbledore came striding into the ward. Dumbledore alone looked calm. Indeed, he looked as though he was quite enjoying himself. Fudge appeared angry. But Snape was beside himself.

‘OUT WITH IT, POTTER!’ he bellowed. ‘WHAT DID YOU DO?’ ‘Professor Snape!’ shrieked Madam Pomfrey. ‘Control yourself!’ ‘See here, Snape, be reasonable,’ said Fudge. ‘This door’s been locked, we just saw -’

‘THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!’ Snape howled, pointing at Harry and Hermione. His face was twisted, spit was flying from his mouth.

‘Calm down, man!’ Fudge barked. ‘You’re talking nonsense!’ ‘YOU DON’T KNOW POTTER!’ shrieked Snape. ‘HE DID IT, I KNOW HE DID IT -’

‘That will do, Severus,’ said Dumbledore quietly. ‘Think about what you are saying. This door has been locked since I left the ward ten minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey, have these students left their beds?’ ‘Of course not!’ said Madam Pomfrey, bristling. ‘I’ve been with them ever since you left!’

‘Well, there you have it, Severus,’ said Dumbledore calmly. ‘Unless you are suggesting that Harry and Hermione are able to be in two places at once, I’m afraid I don’t see any point in troubling them further.’

Snape stood there, seething, staring from Fudge, who looked thoroughly shocked at his behaviour, to Dumbledore, whose eyes were twinkling behind his glasses. Snape whirled about, robes swishing behind him, and stormed out of the ward.

‘Fellow seems quite unbalanced,’ said Fudge, staring after him. ‘I’d watch out for him, if I were you, Dumbledore.’

‘Oh, he’s not unbalanced,’ said Dumbledore quietly. ‘He’s just suffered a severe disappointment.’

‘He’s not the only one!’ puffed Fudge. ‘The Daily Prophet’s going to have a field day! We had Black cornered and he slipped through our fingers yet again! All it needs now is for the story of that Hippogriff’s escape to get out, and I’ll be a laughing stock! Well ... I’d better go and notify the Ministry ...’

‘And the Dementors?’ said Dumbledore. ‘They’ll be removed from the school, I trust?’

‘Oh, yes, they’ll have to go,’ said Fudge, running his fingers distractedly through his hair. ‘Never dreamed they’d attempt to administer the Kiss on an innocent boy ... completely out of control ... No, I’ll have them packed off back to Azkaban tonight. Perhaps we should think about dragons at the school entrance ...’ ‘Hagrid would like that,’ said Dumbledore, with a swift smile at Harry and Hermione. As he and Fudge left the dormitory, Madam Pomfrey hurried to the door and locked it again. Muttering angrily to herself, she headed back to her office.

There was a low moan from the other end of the ward. Ron had woken up. They could see him sitting up, rubbing his head, looking around.

‘What - what happened?’ he groaned. ‘Harry? Why are we in here? Where’s Sirius? Where’s Lupin? What’s going on?’

Harry and Hermione looked at each other.

‘You explain,’ said Harry, helping himself to some more chocolate.

*

When Harry, Ron and Hermione left the hospital wing at noon next day, it was to find an almost deserted castle. The sweltering heat and the end of the exams meant that everyone was taking full advantage of another Hogsmeade visit. Neither Ron nor Hermione felt like going, however, so they and Harry wandered into the grounds, still talking about the extraordinary events of the previous night and wondering where Sirius and Buckbeak were now. Sitting near the lake, watching the giant squid waving its tentacles lazily above the water, Harry lost the thread of the conversation as he looked across to the opposite bank. The stag had galloped towards him from there just last night ...

A shadow fell across them and they looked up to see a very bleary-eyed Hagrid, mopping his sweaty face with one of his tablecloth-sized handkerchiefs and beaming down at them.

‘Know I shouldn’ feel happy, after wha’ happened las’ night,’ he said. ‘I mean, Black escapin’ again, an’ everythin’ - but guess what?’

‘What?’ they said, pretending to look curious.

‘Beaky! He escaped! He’s free! Bin celebratin’ all night!’

‘That’s wonderful!’ said Hermione, giving Ron a reproving look because he looked as though he was close to laughing.

‘Yeah ... can’t’ve tied him up properly,’ said Hagrid, gazing happily out over the grounds. ‘I was worried this mornin’, mind ... thought he mighta met Professor Lupin in the grounds, but Lupin says he never ate anythin’ las’ night ... ’

‘What?’ said Harry quickly.

‘Blimey, haven’ yeh heard?’ said Hagrid, his smile fading a little. He lowered his voice, even though there was nobody in sight. ‘Er

- Snape told all the Slytherins this mornin’ ... thought everyone’d know by now ... Professor Lupin’s a werewolf, see. An’ he was loose in the grounds las’ night. He’s packin’ now, o’ course.’

‘He’s packing?’ said Harry, alarmed. ‘Why?’

‘Leavin’, isn’ he?’ said Hagrid, looking surprised that Harry had to ask. ‘Resigned firs’ thing this mornin’. Says he can’ risk it happenin’ again.’

Harry scrambled to his feet.

‘I’m going to see him,’ he said to Ron and Hermione.

‘But if he’s resigned -’

‘- doesn’t sound like there’s anything we can do -’

‘I don’t care. I still want to see him. I’ll meet you back here.’

*

Lupin’s office door was open. He had already packed most of his things. The Grindylow’s empty tank stood next to his battered old suitcase, which was open and nearly full. Lupin was bending over something on his desk, and only looked up when Harry knocked on the door.

‘I saw you coming,’ said Lupin, smiling. He pointed to the parchment he had been poring over. It was the Marauder’s Map.

‘I just saw Hagrid,’ said Harry. ‘And he said you’d resigned. It’s not true, is it?’

‘I’m afraid it is,’ said Lupin. He started opening his desk drawers and taking out the contents.

‘Why?’ said Harry. ‘The Ministry of Magic don’t think you were helping Sirius, do they?’

Lupin crossed to the door and closed it behind Harry.

‘No. Professor Dumbledore managed to convince Fudge that I was trying to save your lives.’ He sighed. ‘That was the final straw for Severus. I think the loss of the Order of Merlin hit him hard. So he - er - accidentally let slip that I am a werewolf this morning at breakfast.’