𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

" the knot in the willow "

✤ ✾ ✤

. . . MARCH, 1976

RAIN ran in rivulets down the glass of the window. It obscured the world outside into a wash of damp, green-hued light. Soothing as a lullaby, Maeve allowed herself to close one eye, and then the other as she leaned on her fist. They were supposed to be practicing silencing charms, and Professor Flitwick's classroom was blissfully quiet save for the sharp swish of wands cutting through the air.

Elara's elbow nudged into her. Maeve's eyes snapped open and she straightened and turned. But it had only been an accident; Elara was more focused on the silent mouse running laps over their open textbooks on the table.

"Hello, Maeve."

Maeve turned slightly in her seat to find Severus Snape hovering next to her table. His dark, stick-straight hair stood in frightening contrast to the pale hollows of his cheeks. It was odd that he ever came over to this side of the room. He tended to keep to himself in corners with Avery and Mulciber. Unfortunately, it seemed Maeve had developed a knack for being sought out by those she didn't want to interact with.

"Hi, Severus," Maeve told him. She tried to keep her voice pleasant but it came out clipped and hoarse from lack of use. "Need help with your silencing charm? I saw you were having trouble."

His lips curled into the beginnings of a sneer, but he quickly schooled his expression. "I don't need help, thanks." Severus Snape playing at being pleasant was like watching a wolf attempt to smile. "I wanted to speak with you."

"Can't this wait?" Maeve said sweetly. From the corner of her eye, she saw Elara pretending as if she wasn't listening. "I'm really trying to focus."

"You completed the charm the first day Flitwick assigned it."

"Can never have too much practice."

Seeing that she wasn't going to give in to his pestering, he leaned forward and said, "It's about Remus."

Maeve's stomach tightened. "What about him?"

"It could be a matter of the safety of the school."

"He's never so much as put a fly in danger."

Severus let out a soft chuckle, the sound more calculated than amused. "Oh, come on, Maeve. You're not daft. We both know there's something–unusual about his monthly disappearances. I'm merely looking out for everyone's best interest."

"How noble of you."

"You've noticed it too, haven't you? Lupin disappears, coincidentally, around the same time each month. You're friends with him—you must have some idea where he goes. And what he is."

A chill snaked down her spine. "If you're looking for gossip, you should go talk to Sorcha. She's much better at that sort of thing."

Severus narrowed his eyes, clearly unsatisfied. He shifted tactics, his voice lowering to a conspiratorial whisper. "I just find it interesting that your friends are keeping something from you." His lips curled into a slight smile, as if he were holding something just out of her reach. "You might want to ask Sirius or James about it. If they trust you enough, that is."

​​"Sure look," Maeve said, her tone measured. "I don't know what you think you've figured out, but if you're so concerned, why don't you take it to someone else? Like a professor." A barb of anger lodged in her throat. "Or maybe Lily, since you're so fond of her opinion."

That did the trick. Without another word, Severus turned and stalked away, his robes billowing behind him as he walked back to an expectant Avery. Maeve let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She stared at the spot where he had been standing, her mind racing.

"Maeve, what's going on?" Elara whispered, grabbing at the sleeve of Maeve's robes. Her golden eyes were as wide as saucers. "Safety of the school? What on earth is he on about?"

"Not sure," Maeve lied. "I should have known getting mixed up with those Gryffindors was only going to bring me trouble."

He knew something. Maybe not everything, but enough to become dangerous. The boys seemed to write him off as a nuisance and nothing more. James especially laughed about Severus as if he was a joke.

Maeve knew better.

"Out of all of them, though, why would Remus Lupin be a danger to Hogwarts? I'd take him over that creepy little Severus any day. He might catch fire with that oil-slick hair of his," Elara sniffed.

Maeve snorted with disbelief as they joined the symphony of books shutting and papers being hastily shuffled away. Elara rarely had a bad word for anyone. "Harsh words from Elara Harvey."

"I am just saying. He irks me."

The day dragged on. It was Tuesday the sixteenth of March, the day of the full moon. Tonight, they would go out into the woods and hope it wasn't cloudy. Rain was hammering against the walls, lashing at the high glass windows of the classroom. By the time Transfiguration with the Gryffindors began, lightning flashed.

"Did you see the rain–?" James said to her as she walked in.

"I'm not blind," Maeve groused. Telling James what Severus had said didn't seem like it would make her feel any better.

So instead, she waited. All the way through McGonagall's revision lesson on turning owls into opera glasses, Maeve stared a hole into the side of Lily Evan's head, begging her to turn. She needed to talk to her, to tell her what Severus had said and find out if this was a new concern. But telepathy didn't work. Instead, a paper airplane hit her in the head when McGonagall had her back turned. In Sirius's scrawled handwriting, it read: what are we going to do about the rain?

Maeve rolled her eyes and whipped out her quill. Have you got a mop? She flicked her wrist and threw the paper airplane straight back at him, two rows behind her. Sirius wasn't paying attention and it hit him square between the eyes.

"Ow!" he hissed, rubbing his forehead with exaggerated drama.

The entire class turned to stare at him. Marlene McKinnon began to snicker. McGonagall paused mid-lecture, her gaze sharp as ever through her glasses. "Mr. Black, is there something you would like to add to our discussion?"

He coughed. "No, professor."

"Idiot," Maeve muttered under her breath. Elara stifled her laugh with a cough.

Maeve thought again of the Patronuses drifting around the room. Her magpie flying above Sirius's dog. It was endlessly fascinating to her that the version of Sirius that had gripped her wrist and encouraged her, believed in her, was the same boy who would resort to throwing paper airplanes at her head.

By the time class was dismissed, Maeve still had the image of twin owl eyes burned into her brain like the afterglow of a bright light. She packed up her things in record speed, intent on catching Lily before she disappeared down the crowded corridors. She spotted the flash of red hair just crossing the threshold.

"Oh, hi Maeve!" Lily said brightly.

"I need to talk to you," Maeve said quickly, grabbing her gently by the arm to separate them from the throng of people leaving the classroom.

Lily's eyes widened with curiosity, but she followed without question. The two of them walked side by side down the hall. Avanti's gaze was burning on the back of Maeve's neck. They had Care of Magical Creatures together in the next period and they always walked down to Kettleburn's area of lawn together. Guilt tugged lazily at her; not enough to make her tell Lily she would find her later after dinner.

"Severus was needling me earlier during Charms," Maeve said in a hushed tone. Carefully, she watched Lily's gaze snap up. "He thinks I know something about Remus. Any idea what he's on about?"

Lily's cheeks flushed an angry red. "Severus thinks that he deserves to know everyone's business. Just because they've wronged him doesn't give him the right."

"So this isn't anything new," Maeve said, trying to hide her relief.

"No, no," Lily shook her head. "Definitely not. Severus has been on to Remus for months. He must have heard you were spending more time with the boys and thought it might be easy to get information out of you."

"Bold of him to assume."

"Quite." Lily worried at her bottom lip. Her gaze shifted and for the first time, Maeve thought the girl might be nervous. "It is odd, though. Once a month Remus is nowhere to be seen for a space of at least a day. He has some kind of arrangement to not be assigned hallway patrol, even."

"I feel awful for him," Maeve agreed, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. "Whatever he gets up to, I can't imagine it's pleasant. You know Remus. He hates to miss classes."

Lily rose to the bait of the soft exit. Severus's fascination with Remus was clearly a sore topic. "Speaking of classes, have you finished the Charms assignment yet? I can't figure out what he's asking for, my brain is so utterly fried from Potions."

Avanti finally overtook them. Maeve just watched her go as she stalked down the halls and towards the light of the courtyard. Her glossy black hair caught in the light, swishing like waves of rushing water.

"I did it already," Maeve told her. Lily raised a red brow and Maeve shoved her playfully. "I did! Don't look so surprised. I can even help you with it, if you want."

"A Ravenclaw tutoring a Gryffindor," Lily mused. "Finally, the world is right again."

✤

LUCK had ushered away all the rain by nightfall.

Moonlight shone down upon them through the rustling branches. It was a fairy moon. March was a transitional month and as the world moved from winter to spring, the veil between the human world and the supernatural was believed to be thinner. Maeve tried not to think about any of those stories anymore. But wasn't this all folklore? She too was a thing of myth, a witch running around in the darkness trying to complete an advanced transfiguration. It was as bad as Macbeth.

The four of them traipsed through the underbrush, following the sparse paths towards the heart of the forest. They had picked their spot carefully; a place running rampant with verdant plants and thick shadows. A patch of ground that they could ensure would be left untouched for seven days.

Every groan of the shifting trees was the leg of an acromantula. Each hiss of the leaves in the breeze was the wisp of a ghoul. Maeve gripped tightly to her wand where it was tucked safely in the deep pockets of her coat. They were following behind James–who had an uncanny sense of direction–in a single-file line. Maeve was very last, right behind Peter. The thought that they might not even notice if she suddenly disappeared into the shadows wasn't comforting.

James's voice cut through the silence so sharply, Maeve almost jumped. "Here it is!" he said excitedly from up ahead.

The chalk line of the rune for stillness and preservation stood out starkly in the darkness. Maeve had drawn it last week on the bark of a skinny oak tree. It glowed faintly under the moonlight, as if still brimming with dormant magic. "Have you got the phials?"

After some shuffling, James withdrew them from the rucksack of their supplies. He passed them to Sirius and Peter like he was dolling out sweets to children. For Maeve, he handed over the ornate silver spoon they had taken from the kitchens.

Maeve watched them carefully. "Take out your mandrake leaves and add one strand of hair each. I'll collect the dew."

This was the quietest she had ever seen them. James hadn't made any jokes. Sirius wasn't trying to fill the silence. Peter had gone entirely mute, responding only with nods. She was glad they were taking this so seriously but it was somehow more unnerving when they were being quiet.

She withdrew her wand and tapped it against the rune to release it. Immediately, the frozen ferns began to dance in time with the rest of the forest to the cadence of the night breeze. Dew had begun to collect on their green leaves. She crouched down and collected some of the liquid into a stoppered bottle.

"Why not just put it directly onto the spoon?" James asked, peering over her shoulder.

"Because it's easier this way. Hold out the phial."

One by one, she deposited a precise silver teaspoon of dew into each of their phials. Peter's hands were shaking so much, he almost bumped his spoonful onto the ground.

"Sorry," he whispered quietly. It was hard to tell if he was nervous about the phial, or about the fact that it was pure darkness in the forest around them. Perhaps both.

Maeve smiled at him. "It's alright."

Once they had added the chrysalis to each phial, they placed them back beneath the ferns. Maeve, who was the only one of the four of them who paid attention in Ancient Runes, pulled out her marking chalk and drew new runes of protection on the surrounding trees.

"And now we wait," Sirius sighed with impatience. "Until the next lightning storm. Just think, if the full moon had been yesterday we could have been done with this during the lightning today."

"It's almost April," Maeve reminded him. "April showers bring May flowers."

He just looked at her. "Did you make that up?"

"No! It's a Muggle saying."

"Never heard of it."

"So, until the April showers bring us the May flowers or whatever," James said, waving a hand. "We have to say that incantation every night and morning, yeah?"

"At sunrise and sundown," Maeve nodded. She knew the directions front and back by heart. Every detail had been seared into her mind.

"How does it go again?" Peter asked.

James wrinkled his nose and gave it his all. "Potato amino tomato fungus."

"You're cracked," Maeve said, beginning to laugh. "It's amato animo animato animagus. If you can't remember it, you'd better have it tattooed on your arm."

"Do you reckon Lily thinks tattoos are attractive?" James mused. Startlingly, there was a measure of half-heartedness to his statement. As if he might have finally caught on to the idea that Lily didn't care for him.

"You should get one, test the waters," Maeve told him.

Sirius nodded. "I heard her saying something about Cornish pixies. That'd do the trick. I'd go for one of those forehead tattoos."

Maeve said, "Lily was just sayin' the other night how she'd love if James Potter had a massive tattoo of a Cornish pixie smack in the middle of his face."

James looked between them. "I like it better when you two don't get along."

The shadows of the forest made it impossible for her to see Sirius's expression fully. Still, it wasn't difficult to tell that he was grinning like mad.

They set off again for the castle. Now that their task was finished, the woods felt less imposing. It was made less scary still when James began humming, potato amino tomato fungus as he led the way back. Soon, all four of them were chanting along to the nonsense words like a troop of singing elves. Potato amino tomato fungus! The tune did not die down until they finally came to the edge of the forest again. They were close enough to Hagrid's that Maeve could see the small sprouts of his spring garden. And as her eyes traveled over the grounds, she realized they were not alone out in the darkness. A determined shadow of a person walked quickly across the moonlit ridge.

Maeve grabbed onto James's sleeve to stop him before he stepped out of the brush. "Wait. Look."

Peter paused. "Who do you reckon that is?"

Moonlight reflected off of James's glasses. "Can't you tell? It's Snivellus, out for a stroll. That git is always trying to rat on us and here he is breaking curfew, too."

Sirius stood at the back of their group and said nothing. Maeve turned to him just in time to see his expression morph from confusion to utter horror.

"Sirius?" James asked, staring at him. "What's the matter?"

His gray eyes were wild. "I didn't know–didn't think he'd be stupid enough to actually listen."

Maeve stood up from where she was crouched. Seeing Sirius flustered wasn't something she had ever pictured would or could happen. "What did you do?" she demanded.

He couldn't meet her eyes. "Snape was pestering me about Remus again, asking why he was always being taken to the Whomping Willow, why he was ill each month, what we got up to sneaking around at night. I was so fed up with it. And so I told him that there's a tunnel that goes from the Willow into Hogsmeade. I told him–I told him to go find out for himself."

Uncomfortable, dizzying heat rushed over her. So Severus's questioning hadn't been benign, after all. She had been his last stop on the road to their inevitable ruin. "There's a tunnel?"

"There's a knot in the Willow," Peter told her, speaking rapidly. "It immobilizes the tree long enough for Madam Pomfrey to transport Remus into the tunnel that runs to the Shrieking Shack."

Maeve rounded on Sirius. "And you told Severus about it?"

James grabbed Sirius by the shoulders. "You are a bloody fool. You can't just let Severus get killed!"

"I know that!" Sirius shouted back. His entire face contorted with regret and anger. "Do you think I don't know that? I wasn't thinking."

"Are you ever?" Maeve hissed. Sirius looked at her with utter betrayal, but Maeve just turned to look at her watch. Nearly midnight.

"I'm going after him," James decided.

"You can't!" Peter squeaked in protest. "Severus is clearly smart enough to put a few clues together. What are you going to tell him when he gets too close?"

"Then I'll just have to stop him before he gets too far."

"You cannot go after him alone," Maeve said. A low howl echoed in the distance, as if on cue. "It isn't safe."

"He's not going alone," Sirius said, swallowing. "This was my mistake."

"Very noble, but I don't think the werewolf is going to care about your sudden need to be chivalrous!"

"We know our way around," James assured her, pulling off the rucksack and shoving it in her arms. "It isn't like we haven't snuck around at night before."

"Why am I holding your bag?"

"Because you're going back inside."

"And just leave you three to get killed?"

"We don't have time to argue. We've–we've already pulled you into enough messes, Maeve," James told her solemnly. "This one is ours."

And with that the three of them were off and running into the darkness. Maeve held tight to the straps of the canvas bag and watched their shadows turn into mere spots as they picked their way up the hillside.

✤

THE next morning at breakfast, the Gryffindor table was shockingly empty. There was a noticeable hole that was normally occupied by four boys and a ruckus loud enough to fill the entire hall. Maeve turned back around in her seat. She roved the heads of the Slytherin table. Aoife, Ana, and Sean sat at the far end with the rest of the seventh years. Regulus Black was a little further down. His dark head was bent towards another boy as they discussed something in hushed tones. But there was no Severus Snape seated at the table at all.

There would be more gossip if anything serious had happened, Maeve tried to remind herself. But it was torture to sit there and stare into the grey of her tea and pretend that she didn't want to storm out of the room and find those idiots just so she could know they were alright.

But when she arrived in the dungeons for double Potions and found that Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter were still absent, she began to worry. Rumors had begun to float around the room: I heard Sirius tried to wrestle the Giant Squid and Remus had to pull him out. Each was more ridiculous than the last.

"Seems your tutors are cutting class," Avanti sniffed as she dumped too much powdered moonstone into her Draught of Peace. They were practicing at individual cauldrons today. It was a final revision of the potion before the O.W.Ls began in little more than a month.

Maeve added the hellebore syrup to her own cauldron. She waited until the mixture turned turquoise before responding. "Thankfully they're not tutoring me in Potions."

A puff of brown smoke belched out of Mimi's cauldron. "Oh my," she muttered.

"Stir it clockwise twice and add a sprig of dittany," Maeve told her. "You can still salvage it."

"Dittany isn't in the directions."

"I know, but it stabilizes the pH. You'll be able to keep going without starting over."

"How do you know that?" Mimi said, pushing back her stool and heading for the shelves of ingredients.

"There's some overlap with Muggle sciences," Maeve said briefly and cautiously. Normally, months ago, she would have given Mimi her entire speech and tell her just how entrancing it was to realize that the Muggles had filled in some of the gaps of their understanding of Potions ingredients. But now, any mention of Trinity and studying sent Avanti straight into a sullen mood.

There was a commotion near the door. A troop of their missing Gryffindors wandered into the room. James and Sirius wore completely blank expressions.  Peter looked as if he wasn't sure which classroom he was in.

 Remus still wasn't with them.

"Looks like the circus is back," Avanti muttered with a roll of her eyes.

Without meaning to, Maeve was staring specifically at Sirius. Dark circles were pressed under his eyes and there was an angry red cut to his cheek.  It could have been worry, rage, fear, anything. And, again, no matter how hard she stared at him, there were no answers to be found.

✤ ✾ ✤

a/n the two hardest things about writing this book are keeping track of Maeve's class schedule (I have a color coded time table) and aligning this story with the actual lunar cycles of 1976 (I am a frequent visitor to theskylive.com).

The OTHER hard thing is keeping track of the canon marauders timeline which is, quite frankly, a mess.  But this is my story so I'm of course taking a few creative liberties as to the order and details of the two incidents with Snape.  

Also remember how Avanti is pissed?  tune in next week!