It had been cold, that was one of the things that stood out the most about that night more than anything else. It was so cold that nothing else seemed to be out; the lake stood silent and brooding in the middle of the landscape.

Harry could remember the prickle on the back of his neck that first alerted him to danger. He was outside for a very simple reason; Ron had annoyed him too many times and he needed to think without seeing Ron and Lavender snogging each other senseless. He had headed outside so that nobody knew where he was.

The full moon had loomed over the Hogwarts grounds like a silver ball floating on a sea of clouds and it had been reflected in the black mass of the lake. Looking a the black depths of the lake, he had thought about his life. He thought about his parents; how they had given their lives so that he could live. He did know if he had lived up to their expectations.

He would never know, he thought miserably. He had thought about how he never knew them. How they had never known him. They had never know what he would look like, see how he was getting on at Hogwarts or even talk to him about all the people he knew. His mother would never look at his friends and tell him to stay away from the influence of the twins. His father would never give him any advice on dating or gossip with him about the things that he had done while he was at Hogwarts. He had wondered if they were looking down on him now as he watched the full moon.

Ron and Hermione could never understand; Ron had hundreds of family members - once he had tried to count up the number of family members but had lost count at around fifty (his second cousin twice removed on his fathers side - Freya Jennings). He had only ever know how to live in the wizarding world and anything else was foreign to him. Hermione, being a muggleborn, could understand Harry's confusion in the wizarding world and at being the only person in the family with magic, however she always had her head in her books; looking through the books for facts that she might never find useful but thought that she should learn just in case they did come in handy. Or some reason like that.

A howl had echoed from the forbidden forest. Full moon, Harry remembered thinking. The howling grew closer to him; closer to the lake and louder and louder until it sounded to be only a few meters behind where he was sitting by the lake. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and woke up to attention. Full moon...

Full moon.

Harry remembered running as fast as he could, running far away from the forest and back around the lake, but he was sure something was following him, running faster than he was through the forest right towards him.

A quick look back, his worst fears were realised and he knew what it was, a werewolf. The werewolf had patched grey fur and was very thin but this clearly didn't affect the speed that it could travel at.

Harry remembered his heart pounding in his chest as if it were trying to get out. There was a small moment where it was just him running and it following. But then something, the werewolf, hit him. It lunged towards him, he moved to the left making the claws tear his sleeve and his arm, making him bleed.

Harry switched direction so that he was moving toward the light of Hagrid's cabin. In one swift movement his wand was in his hand. "Supify!" He yelled at the wolf, making the werewolf slow down briefly. Hagrid's hut was five hundred meters away.

The wolf came at him again, this time Harry realised it a second before it happened. Ducking, he changed direction a second time, making the wolf go over his head but not without getting its claws into his back. Yelling out in pain Harry came into the shade of the forest. Hagrid's cabin was three hundred meres away.

Harry heard, as if the noise was coming through speakers, the animal breathing. Harry stopped suddenly as he came to a dead end before the forest. He cleared his head and ran through the outskirting parts of the forest; the werewolf hot on his toes. His life started to flash in front of his eyes.

Green light.

Screams.

The cupboard under the stairs.

Being beaten by Uncle Vernon.

The forest had been dark and wet, every movement that he made created a crunching sound on the floor beneath him, the wolf was gaining speed. Air rustled past his ear.

Meeting Hagrid.

Coming to Hogwarts.

Ron.

Hermione.

The stone. He ducked under an upturned tree and jumped over a deep ditch; the light from Hagrid's cabin acted as a lighthouse in a storm; the wolf was only a meter or so behind him.

He could hear every breath, every intake and exhale of air.

Borgen and Burkes.

The writing on the wall.

Tom Riddle.

Ginny.

A flurry of noise to his right alerted him to another attack from the werewolf. He had ducked and the werewolf had gone straight over his head without scratching him. Hagrid's hut seemed to be getting further away but Harry, undeterred, had sprinted once again towards it.

Aunt Marge.

The Grimm.

Sirius.

Pettigrew.

The Dementor.

Harry let out a cry; trying to get the attention of anybody who might be out at this time in the evening. He hoped that Hagrid was in the cabin. Sweat trickled down his forehead and Harry had pushed himself to get to the door of the hut which was mere meters away.

The Tournament.

Cedric.

Voldemort.

The pain from his shoulder was getting steadily worse. He put his hand to it to try and slow the bleeding but in his moment of hestitation the wolf was upon him.

Umbridge.

The DA.

He felt the teeth of the werewolf.

Sirius fell throught the veil in front of a laughing Bellatrix.

He felt the pain.

Remus held him back from going with him.

The pain was so bad he felt like he was going to pass out or be sick.

He could feel the venom from the bite slowly going through his body. Seeping into his very being and causing pain in his insides as if they were on fire. He pushed the werewolf away with all his might and screamed again.

He saw Hagrid's door opening, light coming out of the crack. He saw the man himself hurry out of the door, pink umbrella at his side. Harry tried to run but the pain was too much.

He saw the werewolf go for Hargid but the giant just shot off a spell and the werewolf moved away from Hagrid and had gone back to Harry. "Fang!" Harry had heard Hagrid call and the black boar hound came racing out if the cabin.

Black spots started to circle his vision, getting closer and closer to the centre of his eye. Harry saw Fang fight with the werewolf and Hagrid taking the opportunity to rush to his side.

"Oh Harry." Hagrid had said, sinking to his knees and firing another spell off, this time in the direction of the castle "What've you done?"

The lake, far away sparkled in dark amusement. The blackness circled his view again.

He fought to stay awake. Keeping his eyes fixed on the lake. He felt arms around him, lifting him off the ground.

The blackness won.


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