Moony Night
(A/N-This one shot ficlet is actually a small excerpt from a full length fic that I'm writing right now, which is currently untitled. The rest of the story is irrelevant to this excerpt. I spent a lot of time on this and I'm quite proud of it, so I figured I'd post it as its own little ficlet. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It was quite a challenge to write.
Brought to you on this, the full moon of January 2005!
Enjoy!)
"How much time do we have left?" James asked impatiently.
"We've got to be down at the shrieking shack in fifteen minutes," Sirius replied, checking his watch.
James banged on the bathroom door off of Remus' room. "Hurry up, Remus! We haven't got much time!"
Between his retching, Remus called back, "It's not as if I can control this!"
"Well it's not as if we can control the moon!" James retorted.
"Where's Peter?" asked Sirius. "If he's late again…"
"He's at St. Mungo's. His granddad is ill again, apparently," said James.
The sound of running water came from inside the bathroom, and a few seconds later Remus emerged, looking pale and exhausted. "I knew I shouldn't have eaten…" he groaned.
"Let's go," James said, flinging his invisibility cloak over the three of them.
"Remember when the four of us could fit under this thing comfortably?" Sirius remarked.
The trio made their way slowly down to the entrance hall, across the grounds, and up to the whomping willow, careful to keep their feet covered by the cloak.
"I guess I'm going to have to do it, since Peter's not here," said Sirius. He slipped out from under the cloak and transformed into the large black dog that had got him the nickname Padfoot. He darted quickly under the violent branches of the huge tree, and touched the knot at its base. The tree froze, and James and Remus, still under the cloak, slipped into the tunnel underneath its roots.
When they reached the shack, Sirius turned human again to check his watch. "Shit!" he said quickly. "We have literally like thirty seconds. Transform, James." And with that he turned back into a dog.
Remus groaned loudly and collapsed onto the filthy, torn up sofa behind him, holding his stomach.
James' stag form pawed impatiently at the rug. A thin fur spread itself across Remus' hands, before growing thicker. His fingernails slowly became claws which protruded from the ends of his fingers, before they shrunk into the small toes of the wolf.
The rest of his body still unchanged, the pain he was feeling was quite evident on Remus' face, but he made no sound other than heavy breathing.
The fur spread up his arms. His robes sunk into his skin, as if being absorbed and becoming part of the fur as it grew thick and coarse.
As his elbows moved up his arms and his arms shrank slightly, changing shape, Remus let out his first howl of pain.
The hair on his head changed colour and spread across his face, as his nose and mouth became one and elongated. He howled loudly, now sounding much more like a wolf. His ears slid up to perch atop his head, fur now covering them too.
His body now oddly shaped; half human, half wolf, he was unable to keep himself up on the sofa. He fell to the floor with a soft thud.
He yelped loudly as his tail sprouted from amid the fur and grew straight into the hard ground. He flung himself sideways to allow it room to grow.
His transformation slowing to a close, Remus began biting at everything he could reach. This meant the sofa. His teeth caught in some loose stuffing, and he pulled a chunk of it away and began shredding it with his teeth.
Once the transformation was complete, Remus was no longer in any pain and was able to climb into a standing position. He walked over to James, sniffed at his paws, and his tail began to swing back and forth.
Sirius barked energetically and led his friends back out of the shrieking shack, down the tunnel, and out onto Hogwarts grounds.
It was breezy outside, and Remus began howling loudly at a bush which was moving in the wind. Sirius ran up beside him and latched onto the fur of his neck with his teeth, tugging hard. They needed to stay quiet; if Dumbledore heard a werewolf howl, James and Sirius' cover would be blown and they would probably all be expelled. Remus grew silent.
James' stag form approached Remus quietly. He brushed his nose along the wolf's back. Remus' tail started wagging furiously. Even though his human mind was beneath the wolf's and unable to take control, the wolf recognized his friend's scent, and was comforted.
Sirius barked excitedly and started running in circles around his friends. He barked again and took off for the forest.
The wolf followed quickly behind him, and James took up the rear, making sure that, should Remus take off in a different direction, he could easily catch up and restrain the potentially violent werewolf.
Sirius led them along the edge of the forest, under the cover of the trees, until they reached the now well beaten path which they took every month. This path ran along the base of the small mountain near Hogwarts, until it reached a fork. One side continued around the mountain's base. The group of friends took the other side of the fork.
They climbed the steep, rough terrain of the mountain for a few minutes, until they reached a small platform of rock which jutted out from the mountain. Sirius ran up to the edge of the platform and looked down to see the winding path which pensive or stressed students often took to wander around the lake. The giant squid's tentacles broke the surface as he did a lazy backstroke though the dark, rippling water which reflected the starry sky beautifully.
Remus ran up to the edge of the rock next to Sirius and sat down slowly. He lifted his head up into the air and barked shortly, before standing up, walking around in a circle three times, and lying down in a ball, head resting on his paws.
Sirius flopped down beside him. He rolled onto his back and wriggled around, as if scratching his back on the rocks. He snorted loudly and flipped back onto his feet, the fur on his back now standing straight up. He shook his whole body, as if shaking water from his fur. The fur on his back slowly moved to lie flat. He stopped shaking his head, then his shoulders, his back, and finally his tail. He sat back on his haunches, raised one back paw, and began scratching behind his ear.
Remus barked and imitated this action vigorously.
James bent his front knees until they touched the rock, and then sat down on the hard surface. He sat watching his friend's familiar behavior. They both went through this ritual before each month's howling.
Sirius stopped scratching and sat watching Remus for a few moments. He lay down for a few seconds, and then sat up again as Remus continued scratching. Sirius started pacing back and fourth across the edge of the rock, before beginning to run in circles around Remus.
Remus, still itching behind his ear, started following Sirius as he ran around him. As Sirius' pace quickened, so did Remus' head movements.
Eventually Sirius was running so fast that the wolf flung his head backwards in order to continue following the dog, and accidentally flipped himself backwards, landing on his back. He barked loudly. Sirius immediately stopped running and sat right where he was, stalk still and staring at Remus.
Remus barked, and then howled shortly. Then he howled again, slightly longer.
The wolf rolled onto his feet and leaped to the edge of the rocky ledge. He sat down and, raising his head right up to the full moon, he howled. He howled long and loud.
Sirius strolled over to James and lay down next to him to watch the magical sight before them. Watching a werewolf howl at the moon is a truly enchanting and overwhelming sight. They were both breathtaken, even by the sight which they had seen every month for nearly three years. The sight was nearly as entrancing as the first time.
Muggle movies came nowhere near to doing this sight justice. No amount of technology in special effects and computer animation could touch this. This had to be seen in person.
Remus howled for quite a while longer than usual. The threesome sat on that rock for several hours.
Slowly, Remus' howls became shorter and farther in between. Soon he was merely barking softly every few moments, and soon after that he lay down and curled up for a nap.
Sirius and James let him sleep for a few minutes, but they needed to get back to the shrieking shack before the reverse transformation took place. Remus' human form could never make it down the mountain side, especially at night.
James nudged Remus' back and woke him. He sniffed loudly, a sound which the wolf recognized by now as meaning 'It's time.'
The trio made their way back down the mountain path at a relaxed pace. They trotted slowly along the edge of the forest, and then crossed the rolling lawns of Hogwarts and back to the whomping willow. Sirius touched the knot with his huge paw, and the strange assortment of animals made their way through the tangle of roots and down the tunnel.
Once inside the shrieking shack, Sirius ran up the stairs of the battered house and into a room where he could safely transform to check the time on his watch. Once he had checked, he opened the door a tiny crack and shouted "Five minutes!" down the stairs to James. He closed the door and transformed back, jumping up to paw open the door again and bounding down the stairs. He found Remus curled up on the torn up sofa, softly gnawing on a grimy throw pillow.
Sirius curled up on an armchair and rested his head on the arm rest to wait for the transformation.
A few minutes later, the first effects of the transformation became apparent. Human fingers and toes began to extend from the small toes of the wolf. The paws became hands and feet, clearly human.
Remus' legs began to extend, the odd bend in them disappearing quickly. His arms quickly followed. His shoulders rotated around to his sides, so his arms were sticking straight out. Then the ball sockets of the shoulders developed and his arms rotated to their regular, human position. His torso extended and his shoulders broadened.
The wolf snout shrunk into his face and divided into the human nose and mouth. Lips formed, and teeth shifted and changed shape.
The fur which coated his whole body thinned, and turned back into his regular clothing. The fur on his face, hands and feet disappeared completely. His ears slid down his head and back to where they belonged.
When the transformation was complete, Sirius jumped up onto Remus and began lapping at his face with his long, slobbery dog's tongue. Remus chuckled and pushed his friend's dog form off of him, sitting upright. He slipped his feet into the shoes which he had kicked off upon arrival to the shack that evening.
Sirius and James transformed back to their human forms and the trio made their way silently back down the tunnel and back towards Hogwarts.
"Tired?" Sirius asked Remus. Remus nodded.
"More than usual, actually. Why?" he asked curiously.
"You howled for like an hour longer than usual," James said quietly.
"Oh…" Remus shrugged.
James threw the invisibility cloak over his friends and they slipped out of the tunnel, stepping on the knot on their way.
They wandered slowly through the halls to Remus' rooms to drop him off. "See you at breakfast?" James asked.
Remus nodded. "Thanks."
"Night, Moony," said Sirius.
"Padfoot…Prongs," Remus replied sleepily.
"Go to sleep," James laughed quietly.
"Night," Remus yawned, closing the portrait hole and stumbling to his bed. He fell asleep as soon as he collapsed into his bed.
(A/N-Reviews are always apreciated, but in this case, particularly so.)