After a round of snide remarks from Snape, Lupin left the office.
He first made a circuit of the study classrooms, then went straight to Douglas's office.
"I keep finding it strange. Professor Snape seems to target Harry at every turn, but I keep feeling as though he's worried about him. Otherwise, how could he have happened to be at the castle gates?"
Sirius snorted and said:
"Worried? He's just targeting him at every turn, watching Harry specifically to catch him making mistakes. Despicable and shameless. I really don't understand how Dumbledore could let someone like that be a professor."
Douglas smiled and said:
"Doesn't that just show that Professor Snape is a responsible professor? He knows every school rule by heart... all right, I know that's a bit of a stretch. But Remus, don't spend time alone with them for now.
"I reckon they returned to the castle so late because they learned something from Hagrid. Leave everything to them from here.
"I want to see whether Wormtail can fool them without any professors getting involved. If they fail, we'll step in."
Sirius said disdainfully:
"With Wormtail's brains, how could he possibly fool James's son? Especially with that clever young witch there too."
Douglas snorted:
"Yes, Wormtail has no brains, which is why he ran rings around all you clever people back then."
Seeing that Sirius was about to lose his temper, Lupin gave a wry smile and hurriedly changed the subject:
"Then can I teach those two youngsters the counter-jinx for the Animagus transformation?"
Douglas shook his head and said:
"No need. I've already told Professor McGonagall. She just needs to teach them that spell in passing when she reviews the material on Animagi. Everyone in third year and above will have a chance to learn it."
In