~James' POV~
"Nice of you to join us," I said as Jen finally approached our group and stopped.
She tossed her straight, dark hair over one shoulder and stuck her tongue out at me. "For your information, Prongs, I'm still five minutes early."
"Any later, and you'd be of no help to us."
She rolled her eyes. "Just get the cloak over us, James. If we stand here bickering, none of us will be a help to Remus."
I did as she had asked and we began to creep along under the cover of night.
Well…if you could even call it creeping.
"Peter, your rat nails are digging into my shoulder."
"Ouch, James, that was my foot."
"Shh," I told both of them. "We're almost there."
We reached the edges of the Whomping Willow and I whispered, "Peter, now."
Peter clambered off of Sirius' shoulder and as soon as he hit the ground, he took of scurrying. When he reached the tree, he climbed it and pressed the knot. The effect was instant; the Whomping Willow froze completely.
We watched for a moment, and then Sirius said, "Now."
I tucked the Invisibility Cloak into the pocket of my robes and then transformed into the stag. When I looked over, I saw that Sirius was now a huge black dog and Jen was now a huge white wolf.
As one, we crept toward the entrance and inside, me first, with Peter on my back, Jen following me, and Sirius bringing up the rear. We walked until we reached the door, and then I used my antlers to scratch against it.
After a few moments, Remus opened the door, looking as pale as it was possible for him to get. "Hey, guys," he said as he moved aside to let us in. "It'll start soon."
I passed and saw Remus reach out to pat Jen on the head. "You don't have to do this, you know."
She regarded him with cold eyes and then moved so that Sirius could come inside as well. When we were all there, we sat and waited, Remus growing more and more agitated with every passing second.
Jen and Sirius both laid down in a similar fashion but I remained standing and Peter stayed on my back, both of us watching. Soon enough, I knew that Sirius and Jen were asleep and I wanted to roll my eyes. How was it possible for them to sleep at a time like this? But, I didn't wake them up because I knew that as soon as anything began to happen, they would be on their feet and ready to fight in an instant. Plus, they both got extremely cranky when they lost too much sleep.
Remus' head suddenly snapped up and he looked at the window, at the orb that was suddenly shining in the sky. "It's time," he whispered and then it started. At first, he just writhed around on the floor, but then I began to see the visible change that I had seen so many times before.
I turned to nudge Jen and Sirius awake, but they were already on their feet, ready to go. In silence, we watched Remus scream and writhe around as he turned into the beast. Finally, it was over, and he was looking at us with large, dark eyes.
I looked to Jen and Sirius to see if they were ready and they both gave me nods.
And then it was complete and Remus stood before us, a newly transformed werewolf.
We all stood perfectly still, knowing that it was best. Slowly, Remus crept towards us, smelling the air all around us before he finally recognized us as something other than prey.
When I turned, Sirius was already at the door to the shack, waiting for my signal. I took a place on one side of Remus as Peter clambered up onto my back and Jen took up a position on the other side.
I nodded and then Sirius maneuvered his nose to get the door to fall off of its hinges.
And then we took off into the night.
~Jen's POV~
When I woke up, I was a little confused as to where I was. I'd had the strangest dream… Something about a dog and a stag and a rat and a werewolf… And then reality came rushing back and I remembered the full moon and Remus' transformation.
I sat up in my bed and looked around, noticing that none of my roommates were in bed. They were all probably outside, enjoying the pleasant day. With a groan, I sank back down and then brought my arms up so that I could examine them.
No cuts.
Nothing felt broken.
With a sigh of relief, I pulled myself out of bed and to the bathroom to take a shower. I stayed in there for what felt like hours, letting the warm water relieve some of the tension in my tight muscles. I was always tense after the full moon, though I wasn't really sure why. Maybe all of the work that I had to do to keep Remus from killing some innocent citizen of Hogsmeade.
After my shower, I dried my hair with magic and pulled on some jeans and a simple blue blouse. I let my hair stay like it was – naturally wavy – and decided that I didn't want to mess with makeup. So, I sat down on my bed and began to write a letter to Mum and Dad, being sure to put in some things about James because he hardly ever thought to write them.
When I finished the letter, I made myself finish my Transfiguration essay before I went up to the Owlery. Once there, I sent the letter and watched as the owl disappeared into the distance, growing smaller and smaller until I could no longer see it.
Free.
I sighed and began to sing softly. "I hear the ticking of the clock, I'm lyin' here, the room's pitch dark. I wonder where you are tonight, no answer on the telephone. But the night goes by so very slow. Oh, I hope that it won't end, though, alone."
The song really was kind of strange, but something about it sounded right with my voice. I wasn't sure why, but it almost sounded like I'd been born to sing that song. I mean, I hadn't had the sheet music for it for more than a couple of days, but I already had the words and the notes memorized. If Professor Flitwick would just let me sing it alone, we could win. But Beauxbatons wanted a duet competition. And that made me feel doomed.
"Til now, I always got by on my own…" I stopped there because on the next line, the guy was supposed to join in. And I didn't want to start singing that part unless the guy that I was going to be singing it with was practicing with me. Because too much could change, and I didn't want it to be too difficult for me to change notes.
I turned around and that's when I saw him.
Regulus Black.
How long has he been standing there?
What's he doing up here?
Merlin, I need to get out.
I didn't have my wand and the last thing that I needed was for his gang to find me and realize that I was wandless. They would attempt to tear me apart. And they might succeed…
But Regulus just continued to tie the letter to his eagle owl's foot. When he turned and saw me, he gave me a respectful nod. "Hey."
Hey. That threw me a bit, I had to admit. He was being so casual, as if we ran into each other in the Owlery all of the time. Which we didn't. I almost thought that he had followed me up here, but I realized that he had a letter that he was sending. But, still, he'd been there and I hadn't known it, which freaked me out. "Hi…" I said cautiously, watching him.
He walked to a window and stuck his arm outside so that his owl could take off. He watched as it flew, much like I had done.
"Ummm…" I said, feeling awkward as I began to take small steps towards the door. "How long have you been up here?"
He shrugged. "A minute or two."
A minute or two. "So, you heard me singing?" He'd heard me sing before, I was sure, at school on the stage. But me singing alone in the Owlery was different.
He nodded and turned around, his short black hair ruffling in the wind. "Yeah, I did. Um, are you going to-" He gestured toward the door and I realized that he was politely asking if he could get around me to the door.
"No, I'm not leaving yet," I lied and stepped aside.
He gave a small smile, as if he didn't believe me, and then he moved for the door. "Okay." He opened it and had just stepped outside when he turned and poked his head back in. "Jennifer?"
I looked at him, curious and cautious. Curious because I wondered what he wanted and cautious because he never talked to me (and he was a Slytherin). "Yeah?"
He gave me a half smile that was mocking, in a way. "You don't have to be afraid of me, you know. I wouldn't hurt you."
My mouth fell open, but no sound came out. How had he read my mind?
Before I could get my voice back, he was gone.