- Chapter Thirty-Five -
"It's just a peek, don't tell me you're not curious too."

"I'M SO DONE WITH DETENTION." Nico complained tiredly in a low groan as she and Sherry walked their way slowly down the first-floor corridor after having just come up from the dungeons where they had been cleaning more cauldrons; Slughorn decided to punish them for the incident in class that day which included Nico throwing some ingredients at Snape's face and Sherry laughing.

It was a completely unfair accusation, especially when Sherry definitely hadn't been the only one laughing. Potter had been by her side sniggering at the exact same thing but she was cursed with a laugh that forces itself to be heard in every situation.

Even Stephen had laughed but let it trail off when he met Flora's scolding gaze, instead he just grinned down at her and the girl flushed a light shade of red before smiling back and looking away.

That interaction had Nico and Sherry widening their eyes and turning to each other to gossip which lead to Slughorn thinking the girls planned throwing the things at Snape together and wouldn't listen to any explanation they offered him. Potter had laughed at Sherry again and had grinned his smug smile when she threw a small leaf at him in retaliation.

The project was almost done, the group had three weeks to make their final two potions and present them to Slughorn and get their grades. By then, it'd be time to start hardcore studying for their O.W.L examinations that Amber and Louis were already on Sherry and Oliver's asses about. Remus was apparently also on Potter about the same thing, he had been telling her over their weekly chess games in Dumbledore's office.

Sherry had gotten back into her winning streak with the chess games and enjoyed the look of defeat on Potter's face with grim satisfaction. He had requested rematches with every game she won but it would eventually just turn into teasing conversation and Sherry would die before she ever admitted that Friday evenings were turning fun, but they were certainly more tolerable.

The last Friday evening meeting they had actually had less chess and more talking, but the subject of the conversation was about Remus. Sherry didn't want to bring up the full moon that would be in a couple of days in case Remus hadn't told him about his monthly problem but it was Potter who brought it up anyway by telling her that he knew she knew.

She took that as an open invitation to talk about and against her better intentions, found herself worried for the tall, scarred boy who had somehow carved a little place in her cold heart. Potter had answered every question she had about how Remus dealt with it and she was glad that he had people to help him, Potter even said how he had become an animagus.

The immediate regret on his face as soon as he said it had been obvious because the next time he looked up at her face, she had a small smirk on her face and the next thing he knew she was laughing and he was stood in the middle of the room in stag form. How she had persuaded him to show her, he hadn't the faintest idea.

But despite what he had told her, it hadn't swayed her worries on the night of the full moon by any amount.

"At least he let us out when the moon looks nice," Nico shrugged, she had her hands tucked into the pockets of her brown jacket she wore over her sweats that screamed she couldn't be bothered with detention.

Sherry, as known to a lot of people, wouldn't be caught dead in sweats in front of other people unless it was with a good friend of hers which Nico was but you never knew who you could run into in the hallways of Hogwarts late at night. She had settled on the red floral dress that Oliver had gotten her for her birthday and her white shoes that Amber had bought for Christmas.

Her outfit was greatly influenced by the twins that night.

The blonde hummed distractedly, glancing out the gaps in the pillars at the full moon rising high in the sky; Remus would be in the shrieking shack by now and the others should be on their way. Sherry wouldn't be surprised if they ran into each other but she knew she could play it off and take Nico away from any suspicion she might have.

"Is your hair naturally this curly?" Nico asked, tugging slightly on a strand of Sherry's hair and the girl snapped back into reality as Nico examined the strand she had chosen.

"No, it's not." Another voice answered for Sherry and they both turned their heads to look down the corridor where Amber was striding towards them.

Sherry took a peek at the watch on her wrist that Remus had gifted her for her birthday and saw that she was drastically late for the study sessions that Amber was starting up. She winced slightly and looked up to smile at her friend who stopped in front of her and raised an eyebrow in question of where she had been.

"Don't look at me like that." Sherry narrowed her eyes straight back at her friend who didn't move an inch on the receiving end. Amber was probably the only person Sherry's scowl didn't work on. "I had detention with Nico so it's not my fault. And my hair is naturally curly."

"It's naturally wavy." Amber corrected and Sherry rolled her eyes, shrugging her shoulders as if to say they were the same thing. "And you spend an hour in front of a mirror every morning curling it with your wand. I didn't even know that was possible! And I suppose it's okay that you missed this one since you were in detention with..."

Amber trailed off as she turned to look at Sherry's companion and Sherry, who had been looking down at her feet boredly through Amber's words, looked up at the lack of ending to her sentence. The girl was just staring at Nico and when Sherry looked at Nico, she was staring back at Amber and the blonde glanced in between them again, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't believe we've met." Amber cleared her throat slightly, glancing away and catching Sherry's eyes for a moment as the American wiggled her eyebrows at her friend.

"We haven't." Nico stuck her hand out and it took Amber a second to realise what was happening and shake her hand slowly, gaze meeting each others and Sherry began to smirk. "I'd remember a face like yours."

Amber's cheeks flushed a bright red at the words and a smile perked at the edge of her lips whilst Nico took her hand away with a small smirk. Sherry continued to glance in between them as Amber took her hand back but fiddled with her fingers in front of her as the group swayed gently into a small silence.

"I would kill for tacos right now." Nico broke it with a small groan, stretching her hands behind her back and as Sherry was about to suggest a small detour to the kitchens, Amber beat her to the punch.

"I'm friends with some of the house elves in the kitchens." Amber cut in and Sherry smirked again, very tempted to walk away on her own.

But as Amber kept on rambling about how she can go and ask for the house elves for ingredients so she could teach Nico to make tacos like her mother does, Sherry spotted a figure across the courtyard and travelling down the grass hills that looked suspiciously like Severus Snape and he looked almost intrigued.

The scene from the group detention came flashing back to her mind in an instant, Snape talking about Remus' wolf patronus being some sort of coincidence and she and Potter both denying it and clapping back at the greasy-haired chunk of garage. With a startling realisation and glance to the moon, Sherry's eyes widened and she promptly set off across the courtyard with a newfound urgency.

"Sherry, where-where are you going?" She heard Amber call after her as she focused on the figure making its way across the grass.

"Just go without me." She waved them off slightly as she carried on walking, the bitter nip of the nights wind barely bothering her whilst she marched to the other end of the courtyard and slipped onto the grass.

Eyes trained onto Snape, she followed quickly but slow enough to not be noticed. She was sure, however, that if he turned at any point he would see her due to the stark contrast of her bright red dress against the dark night sky. But Snape looked too focused on his steps in the right direction to even bother looking behind him.

He walked as if he was late for something and Sherry became increasingly wary of his directions whilst he lead her further away from the school, she didn't even know where he was going but she didn't bother to check because she was too focused on where he was going and why he looked so curious, angry and satisfied at the same time.

It suddenly became obvious what exactly he was doing when a large tree with swinging branches came into view, the full moons light shining through the gaps in the branches and from Potter's description of the Whomping Willow, Sherry guessed this was it.

She was sure she had frozen for a couple of seconds, or at least zoned out because the next thing she knew she was following Snape as close to the Whomping Willow as she could get.

A twig snapped beneath her foot and Snape froze much like she had, he whirled around to catch her in the act but she dived behind a large rock at the last minute, pressing her back against the stone and keeping her breath caught in her throat as Snape looked her way. Thank god for the rock, otherwise she would've been screwed although it could've been good to talk him out of going down the Whomping Willow.

When more sticks started cracking and Sherry heard his nasally voice yell the spell 'Immobulus' which she knew slowed things down. Using her intuition and common sense, she assumed that Snape had slowed down the movements of the branches of the Whomping Willow.

After a couple of seconds when she assumed she was safe, she poked her head around the rock the slightest bit and watched as he went and pressed the knot at the bottom of the tree and slipped into the tunnel that formed.

She couldn't help but wonder how he knew the journey but now was not the time for answers; If Snape saw what was inside the Shrieking Shack then both Remus, Potter and the other two boys as well would be done for. Sherry didn't want to play hero, but with a roll of her eyes she knew she had no other choice but to help save Remus' secret.

Snape was vile, there was no telling what he would do with that kind of information.

The girl grimaced as she came close to the tunnel surrounded by leaves and sticks stuck together with mud and most likely bird shit that had dropped from the branches of the Whomping Willow. It stayed still as she whined to herself and lowered herself down to slip into the hole with the tiniest squeak.

It was a short journey but she reached the bottom in no time, landing onto the hard floor with small noise of surprise. Her new dress was surely dirty by now and she stood with a grimace again and looked down at the stain on her dress with distain, brushing some mud off of her whilst slowly beginning to walk further into the tunnel.

A howl startled her, making her flinch as she walked into a wooden hallway with most likely unstable staircases. But if she could hear the howl, so could Snape, and she knew that that would peak his curiosity.

So she hurried, up the first set of stairs. She attempted to be quiet but knew that her speed was more important. The howls became louder and louder until she could tell was on the same floor as Remus. Snape standing at the edge of the hallway also gave things away and as he stood, Sherry approached him from behind.

"Snape." She put a hand on his shoulder, her grip firm and startling him out of his skin as he jumped and turned to face her. His surprised eyes narrowed into a glare at the sight of her and he tried to brush her off but her grip stayed strong. "We have to go."

"Go away, Opal." He scowled, taking a step further into the hallway but Sherry pulled him back, scowling just as dangerously.

"It's dangerous here." She rephrased.

"Why, because of Lupin the big bad wolf?" He asked through a scoff and Sherry's face hardened. "It's just a peek, don't tell me you're not curious too."

"I'm not." She said through gritted teeth as a round of barks came from the room and Snape snapped his head over in that direction, hair smacking Sherry in the face slightly but she couldn't be bothered at that point. "Let's go."

He pushed her off, hard. And she fell...so much for being a hero.

Snape took off down the hall in a jog as Sherry pushed herself up from the floor, hands slipping slightly on the decaying wood as Potter appeared from out of the room. His eyes were frantic and his words were rushed as he pushed Snape away from the room angrily and Snape pushed back against him.

The only time that Potter paused in trying to push Snape away was when he saw Sherry down the hallway, his eyes widened again in alarm that she was there and she quickly pushed herself up; A wolf had appeared behind Potter in the doorway and Sherry was sure she'd never ran so quickly in her life.

Snape went still, Potter pushed him away but Sherry got there before he could even touch her and grabbed the back of his collar, pulling him away from the doorway and turning just in time to see the face of a wolf before a clawed hand came down on her and she fell backwards against the wall, sinking down to the floor with a fresh feeling of cold burning on her chest.

•*•*•*•*•
A/N: lol