At the end of yet another tense year at Hogwarts Professor Severus Snape finally lost the plot. I was in my fourth year and it was almost as though a storm that had been brewing all year due to basically, his old bullies being around the school and on the loose. It was as though all of them were back. Peter Pettigrew was disguised, and had been for some time, although nobody knew it as a rat named Scabbers. Sirius Black had somehow escaped Azkaban and was now staying in the shrieking shack, Professor Remus Lupin had been staying in the shack and taking potions to deal with his lycanthropy. It seemed that Harry Potter was taking on the role of the man most detested by Severus Snape. James Potter.

What did this mean for me? In the grand scheme of things, probably not a great deal but it meant that I was the only one that had to deal with the, repercussions of whatever inevitable drama was caused. Stress it seemed flew in from every direction but that year was particularly bad.

By the end of the year it had taken its toll on my seemingly calm and collected uncle. Instead of being presented with the award that he should have had, he flipped and announced to the Slytherins that Professor Lupin was a werewolf over breakfast. It was even the manner that he did it I was so ashamed. Professor Lupin was one of my favourite teachers and this was not going to help him. What was he going to do about me? Highlight my wonderful family tree? I couldn’t take it. I managed to pass it off as having a teenage tantrum but I’m not sure it really showed like that.

People were sending messages to their parents left right and centre. However, Professor Lupin managed to resign before any more serious accusations came in. I think you could say that my uncle was acting more with the head of a parent or guardian than a teacher when it was mentioned. It was always more about the concern and safety of the students and teachers. I understand his point. How can you not? As nice a person may be on a general day to day aspect and as much wolfsbane as you may make them, there will always come a time when they are unable and perhaps unwilling to curb the effects of the lycanthropy to enable them to live as a normal human being.
Returning to my punishment in all of this I was told that I no longer had permission to go out with my boyfriend Cedric Diggory until after my OWLs were finished. This however did not include the summer time as we didn’t see each other very much anyway.