165: Chapter 165 Werewolf Thesis

"Lupin is sick, Snape is substituting."

Draco slammed the news onto the table, his expression looking worse than when he heard about losing house points. "I told you that shabby-robed Professor wasn't normal."

Nott looked up. "Moon phases."

Zabini pushed his candy box back into his sleeve. "It's nearly full moon tonight."

Draco lowered his voice. "Are you really going to talk about werewolves at the breakfast table?"

Allen set down his pumpkin juice. "Don't."

Draco sat up straight immediately. "I wasn't talking, I was just asking."

Nott flipped his old book to a blank page. "Lupin is on sick leave, Snape is substituting for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and the timing overlaps with the full moon. If Snape lectures on werewolves, it's a public reminder to the students."

Zabini looked toward the teachers' table. Lupin's seat was empty, and Snape was sitting nearby, looking even worse than usual, with a roll of parchment pressed under his hand.

"He will talk about it," Allen said.

Draco frowned. "Why would Snape do that? Does he hate Lupin?"

"Old business," Allen said. "James, Black, Lupin, Snape. The old debts between those four."

Nott's pencil stopped. "What about Peter?"

Allen glanced at him.

Nott crossed out the name. "Publicly dead."

Draco was so annoyed he tore his bread in half. "Every Professor has a sordid history this year. Can't Hogwarts hire some normal people?"

Zabini spoke slowly, "Is Lockhart normal?"

Draco shut his mouth.

In the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Snape stood before the podium, his books stacked neatly on the table. The trunk Lupin usually used for small toys and teaching materials had been pushed into the corner, and even the curtains were drawn tighter than usual.

When students entered, the noise in the classroom automatically died down.

Harry saw Snape, and his expression immediately darkened.

Ron whispered, "We're in trouble."

Hermione clutched her books, her face still tense from the prophecy last night. When she saw Allen enter, she pulled her notebook closer to her chest.

Snape looked up. "Sit down."

Draco sat next to Allen and asked in a low voice, "Do you think he'll call on you?"

"He will."

"Why?"

"Convenience."

As the bell finished ringing, Snape waved his wand, and a line of text appeared on the blackboard.

Werewolf.

A collective gasp echoed through the classroom.

Snape's gaze pressed down on every face. "Turn to page 394."

Hermione raised her hand immediately. "Professor, we haven't reached that chapter yet. Professor Lupin's lesson plan is for Red Caps and Kappas."

Snape looked at her. "Miss Granger, if you wish to teach for Professor Lupin, you may stand on the podium."

Hermione put her hand down, her lips pressed tight.

Ron muttered, "He's doing this on purpose."

Snape's voice fell from the podium. "Werewolves. Periodic transformations, highly contagious, highly aggressive. Methods of identification include physical appearance, behavior, potion residue, and absence records around the full moon."

Draco nudged Allen with his knee under the table.

Allen didn't move, his pages flipped to page 394.

Nott was taking notes quickly in the back row.

Zabini kept his head down, his candy box silent.

Snape continued, "When an ordinary Wizard faces a Werewolf, the most foolish behavior is to place sympathy before judgment."

Harry looked up. "Professor Lupin taught us how to deal with the Dark Arts. He saved us."

Snape looked at him. "Mr. Potter, I am currently lecturing on werewolves. If you insist on inserting your own name into the course content, it implies you have learned to make associations."

A suffocating silence filled the classroom.

Hermione lowered her head abruptly to write, her quill scratching quickly.

Allen glanced at the corner of her notes and saw "Moon phases," "Absences," and "wolfsbane potion."

Snape lectured for the entire period, detailing Werewolf classifications, moon cycles, identification methods, and injury cases. Each example was like a nail, driven one by one into Lupin's absence record.

Before class ended, he slammed a roll of parchment onto the podium.

"An essay: Werewolf Identification and Risk Assessment. Twenty-four inches. Due next Monday."

The classroom erupted.

Ron shouted out loud, "Twenty-four inches? Professor Lupin would never assign that much!"

Snape looked at him. "Mr. Weasley, twenty-six inches."

Ron shut his mouth, his face flushed red.

Hermione stood up. "Professor, the workload exceeds the scope of this week's curriculum."

"Thirty inches," Snape stared at her. "Miss Granger, since you are so fond of scope."

Harry stood up as well. "This isn't fair."

Snape's gaze shifted to Harry. "Thirty-two inches."

Allen closed his book.

Draco whispered from the side, "Don't say anything."

Snape, however, looked at Allen first. "Mr. Potter, you seem to have a different opinion."

The whole class's attention turned to them immediately.

Draco's face went pale, his hand already gripping Allen's sleeve.

Allen looked up. "No."

Snape's Black eyes stared at him. "You have no insights on werewolves?"

"The standard answer is sufficient."

Snape paused for a second. "Very well. I hope your essay is worthy of that statement."

After class, Gryffindor left almost in a fury.

Harry stopped at the door and hissed at Allen, "You clearly heard it. He's targeting Lupin."

"I heard it."

"Then why did you say the standard answer is sufficient?"

Allen put his book into his bag. "Because an essay is not a trial."

Hermione stood next to Harry, looking terrible. "But if the whole school writes based on Snape's direction, Professor Lupin will be suspected."

"If you write a rebuttal, he'll be suspected even more," Allen said. "Granger, don't turn your essay into a plea for defense."

Hermione froze.

Ron was unconvinced. "What business is it of yours how we write it?"

Draco sneered. "Weasley, you can write thirty-two inches of nonsense and let Snape deduct points until you start doubting your own quill."

Harry pulled Ron back but didn't leave. "Do you know what Lupin is?"

Allen looked at him. "Even if I did, don't ask."

Harry's expression changed.

Hermione clutched her books, her voice dropping. "You admitted it."

"I admit that you lot are going to get into trouble," Allen walked past them. "Standard answer, turn it in, shut up."

After the Slytherins returned to the Dungeon, Draco finally couldn't hold it in anymore.

"He's crazy! Snape is nailing Lupin as a Werewolf in class, and Gryffindor is rushing up to shield him. Do people in the Potter Family always like to throw themselves onto blades?"

Zabini sat in an armchair. "You almost threw yourself onto one earlier, too."

Draco glared at him. "That was because I was angry."

Nott spread out his notes from class. "Snape's order of lectures was very deliberate. First moon phases, then absences, then wolfsbane potion, and finally the risk assessment assignment. As long as students copy it, they'll piece Lupin together."

Allen took the parchment. "So don't improvise."

Draco asked, "How are we going to write it?"

"Standard answer. Werewolf definition, transformation cycles, safe distances, debunking the myth of silver being ineffective, and evacuation procedures during an attack." Allen pushed the parchment back. "Don't write about Lupin, don't write about wolfsbane, don't write about absences."

Nott nodded. "What if the upperclassmen ask?"

"Say Professor Snape hates nonsense."

Zabini chuckled. "That sounds like the truth."

Draco looked at Allen. "What about you?"

"By the book."

Nott had already started drafting the outline. "Twenty-four inches, just stick to the textbook and the lecture."

Draco was still annoyed. "Why doesn't Snape just tell Dumbledore?"

"Dumbledore knows," Allen said.

The room went quiet for a moment.

Zabini's candy box clicked. "Then Snape is forcing the students to find out."

"Or forcing Lupin to reveal himself," Nott whispered. "If public opinion rises first, even the Principal won't be able to protect him."

Draco gritted his teeth. "Hogwarts is really suited to be a tribunal."

Allen didn't respond.

Inside the Portable Space, the void tail held down the "Lupin" file. Peter cowered in the cage, having not looked up since hearing about the Werewolf lesson. The cracked pocket watch in the ebony box was quiet, as if it had no interest in werewolves.

That night, Allen sat at his desk writing his essay.

Draco was copying the version Nott had drafted next to him, and paused when he wrote, "The greatest danger of a Werewolf lies in its uncontrollable aggression."

"This sounds too much like insulting Lupin."

"It's a direct quote from the textbook," Nott said.

Zabini leaned against the bed watching the show. "Don't add emotion, young Master Malfoy."

Draco dipped his quill into the ink. "I know that, of course."

Allen wrote quickly. The first half was so standard it could have been in the textbook—identification, risk avoidance, reporting procedures, isolation requirements—none of the sentences had any extra judgment.

When he reached the end, he paused.

Draco immediately leaned over. "Don't write anything reckless."

Allen added one sentence at the end.

The greatest threat of a Werewolf is that people often treat them as friends before they bite.

Draco finished reading, his expression changing. "You call this 'by the book'?"

Nott looked at the sentence, his pencil stopping for a long time. "A double entendre. It can refer to the Werewolf, but also to Black, Peter, and everyone involved in the old case."

Zabini put his candy back in the box. "Snape will understand."

Draco lowered his voice. "So you did it on purpose for him to see?"

"That's the kind of sentence he wants," Allen blew his essay dry. "Give him one line, it'll be enough for him to think about for half a day."

The next afternoon, when Snape was collecting the essays, he flipped to Allen's last line, and his hand stopped.

No one in the classroom dared to speak.

Snape pulled that piece of parchment out and stared at it for a long time.

Draco sat beside him, his breathing light.

Hermione looked back from the front row and saw Snape staring at Allen's essay, her brows immediately furrowing. Harry saw it too, his expression looking even worse.

Snape looked up, his gaze landing on Allen.

"Mr. Potter."

"Professor."

"Your definition of friends is quite pessimistic."

Allen closed his textbook. "Defense requires pessimism."

Snape didn't deduct any points.

He put the essay back into the stack of parchment, his voice suppressing the entire classroom.

"Class dismissed."

As the students left, discussions exploded in the corridors.

Some said Snape had been stumped by Allen's sentence.

Some said Allen was secretly insulting Lupin.

Hermione stood at the stairs, staring at Allen. "Whose side are you on, anyway?"

Draco spoke first. "Granger, you have too many questions today."

Hermione didn't back down. "That sentence will hurt Professor Lupin."

Allen looked at her. "It will also warn him."

Harry stepped closer. "Warn him about what?"

"Friends are more dangerous than enemies."

Ron couldn't listen anymore. "Are you talking about Black?"

Allen didn't answer, turning to head downstairs.

Nott followed behind, his pencil writing a new line on the page.

Snape substituting, Werewolf essay, Allen's double entendre not penalized. Snape confirmed to have understood, Granger and Harry reacted strongly, Lupin's identity risk increased, old case thread continues to tighten.

Inside the Portable Space, Peter buried his head in his knees.

The void tail pressed down on three names simultaneously.

Lupin.

Black.

Peter.

The cracked pocket watch did not light up.

But at the edge of the cage, Peter's shadow trembled all night long.