Chapter Ten: Coyote Ugly
A/N: This chapter was hard for me to write. My friend who often lets me bounce ideas off of her ended up convincing me how to deal with the whole full moon incident. Hate me, love me... I did my best! Happy reading! :)
Hogwarts, May 25th, 1976
"I don't understand," Jules said defeatedly. She buried her head in her crossed arms on the table. "I did everything according to the rules! And all I get is grey sludge!"
Lily furrowed her brow and inspected the cauldron. There was a spark and then suddenly the liquid that had been dull grey turned into a liquid with a mother-of-pearl sheen. A small smile started to spread across her lips.
"Jules, look again," She said excitedly. Jules lifted her head up from her arms and pouted at the redhead across from her. "No, really... Look!"
Jules peaked her head over the cauldron and a grin danced on her lips. She looked at Lily, who nodded her head.
"I did it?" Jules said tentatively. "I did it! Oh, Lily! You're the best!"
Lily and Jules hugged each other tightly and then turned back to the cauldron. They exchanged glances in the empty class and sat in silence for a moment.
"Should we- should we smell it?" Jules asked. "I mean, it's supposed to smell like what we love... So maybe we should..."
"Oh, we definitely should," Lily grinned at her newfound friend. They poured a little bit into a flask and put a stopper in it. After cleaning up the mess that they had made after several failed attempts of trying to brew amortentia, Lily and Julianne headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room.
James and Peter were sitting around with Alice Prewett and Mary McDonald. They were all studying for the Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. James and Peter were tossing a crumpled up piece of parchment between them to try to distract Remus. They were so entrenched in whatever was occupying them that when Jules and Lily very loudly walked in and started to giggle at a joke they had made, everyone's heads snapped up to glare at them from the sofas.
"I'm not sure I like them being friends," James whispered to Peter. Peter chuckled and shrugged his shoulders to show his indifference.
"I'm not sure I like it either," Alice said quietly as she watched Lily and Jules start to whisper things to one another. "It feels like the balance of things has been put off... An Evans-Potter alliance can only mean bad things."
Mary laughed at her friend and looked at the redhead and brunette across the way from her.
She smiled smugly, "I think we should all be friends with only one Potter twin. Preferably the one who knows how to hit bludgers." Mary winked at James who rolled his eyes at the girl and then turned his attention to Peter.
"D'you know where Sirius has gotten off to?" He asked. Peter shook his head. Things had gotten dull again. James sighed and ran his hands through his hair. He turned and opened his mouth to say something.
"Not a chance, Potter," Lily called out before he could even ask.
"But I haven't even asked anything yet..." James moaned. His bottom lip jutted out and he tried to do the puppy-dog look that Sirius had pulled off so well.
"You were going to," Jules laughed as she watched her dejected brother continue studying after he stuck his tongue out at his twin.
"He really hates us as friends," Lily giggled as the two headed up to the girls' dormitory together.
Once they were seated on Jules' four poster bed, they opened up the tiny flask of Amortentia they'd snuck out of the classroom. Jules sniffed it first.
"Mmm," Jules hummed to herself as the scent surrounded her head and clouded her thoughts. Lily anxiously awaited Jules' description of the scent. "It's like... Broom polish, my mum's sandalwood salve and the quidditch pitch after rain."
"I'm not sure if you described anyone there," Lily said disappointedly. Jules shrugged and passed her the flask. As Lily inhaled, she blinked a few times and inhaled again to make sure she'd just smelled correctly. She crinkled her nose and pushed her eyebrows together.
"For me, it smells like you... Only if you stopped using that vanilla perfume and started bathing in autumn leaves and crushed pine needles..." Lily chewed the inside of her cheek.
"It smells like James," Jules shrugged her shoulders and put the stopper on the potion before she realized what she'd said. "Good Godric, Lily! It smells like James!" Jules gasped once the truth had set in.
"You must have done something wrong," Lily said quickly as she stood up from the bed. "Maybe it was only good for one go. You mixed up ingredients. It was a weird colour before I looked at it."
"I can't believe it," Jules shook her head. "I can't bloody well believe it, it smells like James!"
"Well, yours smells like Sirius Black, so there!" Lily snapped. "I don't even remotely like your bumbling berk of a brother! He's cruel and cold-hearted. It's a fluke! You're lousy at potions anyway."
"It does not smell like Sirius! And don't talk about James that way," Jules leapt from the bed and clenched her fists at her side. "He defended you! You've been nothing but awful to him-"
"He picked on my best friend," Lily's voice began to raise. "He picked on him mercilessly. And then he expected me to go on a date with him? He's disgusting! He's a sleazy, greasy slimeball!"
"You're not perfect either, Miss Slug Club," Jules started to raise her voice. "Yeah, James was a right git to Snivi-Severus, but Severus is... He's not a nice lad either! And his hair is far greasier than Jamie's! James would never, ever call you a... A you know what! Your 'best friend' did! So how's that for personality traits?"
"At least I'm not related to someone who picks on people weaker than him!" Lily spat back. The two stood on opposite sides of the bed. They glared at each other. The gloves were off. The truce was over. "At least I'm not going to fail my O.W.L.s because I've cut potions classes to fool around with Frank Longbottom!"
Lily stormed down the stairs and Jules followed. Lily's green eyes had flints of rage just waiting to spark inside of them. Jules' hazel eyes were already ignited.
"At least I'm not friends with Death Eaters," Jules screamed across the common room.
"At least I'm not friends with a bunch of arrogant, marauding gits!" Lily snapped back.
"Hey!" Jules stormed over to the redhead and stared her in the eye. She stood inches from her and said, "They are truly arrogant, truly awful, absolutely marauding gits. I agree with you. But they are MY truly awful gits. Do you understand me, Evans? Don't you ever, ever talk about my brother or my friends that way again."
"Or what?" Lily hissed through clenched teeth.
"Or I'll tell everyone exactly what your amortentia smells like," Jules smirked at Lily. Lily huffed and turned on her heel. She stormed out of the common room.
"So that's a no to Hogsmeade next weekend, then, Evans?" James called after her. Jules cuffed her brother upside of the head, and sat down next to him on the sofa.
"So I take it that means the Evans-Potter union is off," Mary teased from the arm chair. "That lasted all of five minutes."
"Shut up, Mary," Jules shook her head and laughed at her friend. Just then the Fat Lady's portrait swung open and Sirius walked in looking rather proud of himself. He strutted over to his mates and jumped up on the back of the sofa.
"I just sent our dear friend Snivey on a mission tonight," Sirius grinned lopsidedly. He ruffled Jules' hair with one hand and James' with the other as he swung his legs in between the two of them.
Julianne and James leapt from their seats when they heard what Sirius had done. As Sirius gauged their reaction, he realized his wrong doings and a sinking feeling filled his stomach like concrete. Sirius watched open mouthed as the twins ran from the common room. It was getting dark quickly.
"Jules, it's too dangerous," James called back to her. "You should stay back, or get Dumbledore or something!"
"To hell with that," She responded. "You need all the help you can get when it comes to Remus' furry little problem!"
Sirius chased after them, but was a few paces behind. He kept repeating the things he had told Severus in his head. Each time he imagined the conversation and the tip off of how to immobilize the Whomping Willow he cringed. He was so stupid.
As soon as they were out of the castle, a howl could be heard. James' heart started pounding. He sprinted towards the Shrieking Shack where he saw Severus descend into the Shrieking Shack. Jules chased after her brother, but one of her shoes flew off and she tripped. She pulled herself up and started to run through the grounds in her socks. The grass was damp and her feet slipped and slid everywhere as she tried to catch up to James.
Jules watched as James followed Severus into the Shack. She inadvertently screamed his name out of the sheer terror. Jules started to run toward the tree without a second thought. Her wand was out, at the ready. As she approached the tree, the immobilus charm started to wear off. A panicked Julianne tried to avoid the branches that started to swing down around her. A branch knocked her square on her back and her wand flew away from her. She scrambled over to get it, before another branch lifted her up and tossed her towards the rocky shore of the Black Lake. Her glasses cracked and she felt something warm and sticky dripping from her temple before the world went dark.
Hogwarts Castle, June 5th, 1994
"Lucy, you're not coming with," Harry said firmly as the eleven year old stood in front of the exit of the Gryffindor Common Room. She crossed her arm and set her jaw. Her grey eyes challenged the thirteen year olds' authority over her and she had never looked more like her mother.
"I am too," Lucy retorted. "When you were eleven, you used to sneak around the castle alone with the cloak. I'll be with you three. What's the worst that could happen?"
"Let's see," Ron started. "Well, there was the Mountain Troll and Fluffy in first year, then the demented Wizard's Chess board, also first year... Oh, my personal favourite, giant killer spiders last year, and lest we forget the-"
"Chamber of Secrets," Lucy placed her hands on her hips. "I know. I've heard all the stories. It's not fair! You get to have all the adventures."
"Adventures?" Harry said loudly. "We could have died! I nearly did. Besides, your mum said that Snuffles is still running away from them, so it's not safe."
"Snuffles would never hurt anyone," Lucy shrugged as though it were a mere coincidence that the man accused of murder couldn't be found despite his professed innocence. "I'm coming with. It's just to Hagrid's hut. We'll leave before the- the execution. I'll be fine."
"Lucy," Hermione said gently. "Once you're under the cloak, you can't scream or make any noise. You have to be totally silent. Are you absolutely certain you can do that?"
"Yes," Lucy said without hesitation. A huge grin spread across her face as Hermione turned to the two boys. Harry threw up his arms in defeat and Ron huffed. They all hid under the invisibility cloak and headed out of the common room, out of the castle.
As they crossed the grounds, they found that sneaking four people under the cloak was increasingly difficult. Feet were stepped on every second step. It took everything for them to not trip over one another.
"If your mum ever knew," Harry muttered under his breath after Lucy stepped on his foot for the fourth time.
"How come she's only my mum when she's getting you in trouble, but she's your aunt when she tells you stories about her and your dad at Hogwarts," Lucy hissed back. Hermione and Ron shushed the both of them, and the group continued onwards to Hagrid's hut.
At the hut, Hagrid opened the door and the half-giant's hands shook as the four students entered his cabin. They offered their condolences and each hugged him as they entered.
"You shouldn't've come 'ere," Hagrid said gruffly as they all sat down in the same armchair: Hermione and Lucy squeezed onto the seat, Harry and Ron sat perched on either arm.
"We had to see you," Lucy started to explain. Harry's head shot around and he glared at her as if to tell her that speaking was not an option. She very valiantly stuck her tongue out at her older cousin and continued on anyway. "You shouldn't be alone today. Losing people is hard, so losing a hippogriff... I can't even imagine."
Hermione couldn't help but smile at Lucy's innocence as she stared up at Hagrid. She reached into her pocket and offered him a handkerchief as gigantic tears started rolling down Hagrid's cheeks at the kind words.
Hagrid started to put on the kettle over the fire, and as he reached for a teapot, he knocked over the milk jug. It smashed on the floor and Hagrid knelt down to shakily pick up the pieces.
Hermione picked up a new milk jug from a shelf and screamed as she saw Scabbers, Ron's supposedly dead rat, inside.
"What is it?" Ron asked as they had all jumped from their seats.
"I apologized," Hermione started to laugh. "I apologized, but Crookshanks didn't kill him!"
Hermione pulled out the flailing, squeaking rat and handed it to her now sheepish redheaded friend. Ron took the rat and pet his little, balding head. He mumbled something that sounded vaguely like an apology before he was cut off by Lucy staring out the window.
"Oh no," She said softly. "Dumbledore is coming..." Lucy turned to look at her cousin's emerald eyes. Harry got up from where he was standing. He reached for the invisibility cloak. Ron clutched Scabbers tightly so he didn't escape and the four of them hid back under the cloak after saying their goodbyes hastily to Hagrid. Sneaking out the back door, the four tried as best they could to make their way back to the castle.
The sun was starting to lower in the horizon as the group of them walked as far from the Whomping Willow as possible. There was the sharp thud of an axe against something in the background making everyone flinch. Just as they passed the great abusive tree, Scabbers bit down on Ron's hand and jumped out of his grasp.
"Scabbers!" Ron yelled as he chased after the creature. Hermione, Harry and Lucy all exchanged looks before they chased after him towards the Whomping Willow and abandoned the invisibility cloak behind them.
Ron had nearly caught up to his rat. He reached his arm down to pick him up when a big, black dog dove at his arm and started pulling him, and the rat, down beneath the roots. Ron let out a terrified wail.
"RON!" Harry and Hermione screamed. They started to run after him, when the tree came to life. The branches started to beat down around them. Lucy caught movement out of the side of her eye and turned to see what it was. After acknowledging Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, a branch slammed down centimeters from her back. Lucy jumped in her skin. She stared at the tree. Another branch lifted and threatened to come down on her. Harry noticed and dove at the girl. He tackled her to the ground and pushed her towards the roots for shelter.
"I knew I shouldn't have let you come," Harry huffed as he watched Lucy slide down to where the dog had been. Just as the branches started to move faster, a familiar mangy cat made its way through the branches and up the trunk. Crookshanks pushed his paw on a hidden knot on the tree and all of the branches adjusted back to a normal tree.
"Crookshanks," Hermione sighed with relief. "Good kitty! Such a smart kitty.." She cooed. Harry hurried her along and down below the tree, into the Shrieking Shack. Harry and Hermione walked along the creaky floorboards and heard Ron sobbing and Lucy yelling at someone. In the dust, they noticed the pawprints turn into footprints. Harry cursed under his breath.
"YOU PROMISED!" Lucy yelled with her wand held out to the man she had spent Christmas with. Her hand shook and she stood defensively in front of Ron and his pet rat.
"Lucy, darling," Sirius held out his hands to try and approach her. "I promise, I promise, love, I have kept my promise. I am an innocent man..."
"Don't. Call. Me. Darling," Lucy shivered as though the very concept of being referred to lovingly by this man disgusted her. Sirius flinched at the tone in her voice that was so very familiar and so very painful.
"How does he know you?" Ron moaned from his position in the corner with Scabbers cowering on his shoulder. Lucy's eyes stung with tears. She stared at the man who had given her mother enough reason to cry with just a photograph and a few pieces of parchment. She looked at the man that had hidden under her bed for weeks as a dog, as a pet she thought she could trust. She felt betrayed. She felt betrayed by the sheer violent force he had used against Ron.
"Because," Lucy said with an animosity in her voice that Ron thought was strange for a girl of eleven. "He's my father."
Remus Lupin's Office, June 6th, 1994
Jules walked into the now empty office with her hair a mess. Her eyes had dark circles under them. She'd been wandering through the Forbidden Forest in search of Sirius Black all night. She'd seen him on the Map hiding out by Hagrid's Cabin, but he'd heard her coming and made a run for it. Jules was angry in a deep, dangerous way. Her legs nearly collapsed into Remus' empty chair. She saw the blank piece of paper on his desk and through her exhaustion tapped it with her wand.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Jules smiled to herself as she remembered the days of writing this map. The sleepless nights in the Potter living room with tea, chocolate frogs and Every Flavoured beans that accumulated in this ingenius masterpiece before her. The blueprints to the castle unfolded before her. She thought she misread the names in the Shrieking Shack.
Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Petter Pettigrew, Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Lucy Potter.
Her head was spinning. Her legs forced themselves out of the chair. Her muscles tensed and she tapped the parchment in front of her again. "Mischief Managed."
She stumbled over her feet, forced herself to run out of the castle and towards the Shrieking Shack with all the strength she had left. Her head pounded, but she wasn't sure if it was blood, adrenaline or panic. Her world was spinning and she hadn't the faintest idea of whether or not it was exhaustion or the fact that the sole reason for her being back in the castle had come to fruition.
The Shrieking Shack
Harry shoved Lucy behind him and stood beside Hermione with his wand out. His skin burned with the sensation of rage. Every inch of him wanted to rip the throat out of Remus Lupin. Remus had lied to him for years, to Lucy and probably his mother for years about being a werewolf. Here he dared side with Sirius when Sirius was clearly insane. Harry wanted to kill. He could hear Lucy stifling her sobs behind him as she clutched to his shirt in terror.
"Ron," Remus said gently. "Give me Peter." His hands outreached and Harry adjusted himself to shield Lucy from him. Remus visibly flinched at the defensive action of the boy he'd helped look after every weekend.
"He's just a rat," Ron squirmed around in agony from his broken ankle. "He's just a rat without a toe and-"
"Because Peter cut it off," Sirius growled. "The coward cut off his toe to frame me!"
Hermione pulled Lucy to her and hugged the girl to her chest. She whispered the only comforting things she could think of, and all of them involved dementors, which frankly didn't comfort Hermione at all. Lucy's wand hadn't dropped from her hand.
"I saw Pettigrew accompanying you four back to the castle," Remus explained. "On the Marauder's Map."
"He wasn't there!" Hermione insisted. "It was just us, just us! We found Scabbers, and we headed back to the castle."
Remus and Sirius started to laugh. They rolled their eyes at the young girl in front of them. Remus smiled kindly at her. Hermione's stomach churned. She'd never been so insulted as to have a teacher laugh openly in her face. Hermione always answered correctly. Always.
"Peter Pettigrew was- is an animagus. He's a rat," Remus elaborated. He pointed his wand to the rat on Ron's shoulder. "He's that rat."
Lucy straightened her back up. She turned away from Hermione and pushed her way in front of Harry. She pointed her wand at the man she'd loved like a father and stared at him with a morose expression that weighed the corners of her usually upturned lips downward. Her grey eyes searched his amber eyes for some sort of explanation as he pointed his wand at her cousin's best friend.
"Uncle Moony," Lucy pleaded with him. "You're a better man than this..."
"Lucy, get back," Harry hissed as he reached for his younger cousin. As Lucy took another step forward towards the werewolf and the fugitive, she felt two hands pull her back as there was an audible swoosh that filled the air. Behind her, Severus Snape wrapped his arms around the girl's shoulders. His grasp was not protective, it was threatening, and Lucy screamed as she fought against him.
"Well, well," Severus sneered as he restrained the struggling first year in his grasp. He held his wand out to Remus and Sirius. "I knew not to trust Julianne Potter's mutts... I could kill you both right now." He accented the plurality of the word 'mutt' as he glowered over his coworker and the man that had tortured him throughout his days at Hogwarts.
A snarl sounded behind him and a dark grey creature, that had hazel eyes Remus would be a fool not to recognize, lunged at the Potions Master. The body resembled that of a lithe wolf, and the snout was long and narrow. The creature's ears were both black as Harry's hair. Hermione tilted her head to the side as she watched the creature grip Severus Snape's robes with its jaw. She recognized it as something she'd seen on the muggle television when she was a child. Standing in the shrieking shack, attacking Severus Snape was a coyote.
Severus let go of the Potter girl and she scrambled over to Harry. Everyone stood in a sticky silence as the coyote finally released Severus Snape. He lifted his wand at the creature and his lip curled over his teeth. A sharp inhalation was drawn universally as the coyote began to stand on two legs and revealed a most unimpressed Julianne Potter standing at the end of Severus' wand. The transfiguration startled Severus to the point of his wand collapsing on the floor. Jules kicked it away from him in one fell swoop and Sirius picked it up from beside her.
"If you so much as lay a hand on my daughter again," Julianne snarled at the man as her coyote fangs retracted. "I'll rip out your throat." With a flick of her wand, she tied up Severus Snape to the nearest support beam and gagged his mouth with a second flick.
"So, Julie," Sirius whispered in her ear as pointed Severus' wand back at the man himself. "As it happens, I'm not the only one who kept secrets throughout our relationship..."
Without hesitating, Julianne spun on her heel and threw her fist into Sirius' face with as much force as she could muster. He reeled backward and clutched at his now bloodied nose.
"Poor choice of words, mate," Remus said while rubbing his forehead.
Hermione pressed her fingers against her temples and tried to assess the situation. She had no idea which side to be on, if there were any sides. She thought perhaps the only potentially responsible people were all barking mad.
"Harry, love," Jules shook out her fist as she turned to her nephew. "Be a dear, and hand me that bloody rat." Lucy's eyes stared with disbelief at her mother. Her mother could turn into a coyote. Her mother could tie up the Potions Master without hesitating. Her mother could throw a punch.
Harry stared at the woman in front of him in a new light. His eyes flickered between Remus, Sirius, Sirius' bloody nose, and his aunt. Her hair flowed around her shoulders like a mad woman. Her hand trembled as she reached towards Harry and stepped forward. Ron finally spoke.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" He yelled. "If even she says the rat's a bloody human, what is the worst that could happen at this point? He's an animagi, she's an animagi, he's a bloody werewolf, I don't care anymore! Take the damn rat!" Ron handed the rat to Harry and egged him on with his hand.
Scabbers bit down on Harry's thumb and drew blood. With a squeak the creature started to run around the room. Jules pointed her wand at the rat and all of the students in the room gasped in horror as the rat attempting to jump through the wall turned into a rather robust Peter Pettigrew with long, deranged nails, nine fingers and a hideous gnarled mullet beneath a balding head.
Jules and Remus pulled him out of the wall and threw him back against the opposite wall. The man started to laugh nervously as he opened his arms as though to embrace the two. Julianne pushed her forearm against his throat and held her wand against his right temple.
"Julie," Peter said with a false smile. "You have quite the animagus form." Jules pulled him back and shoved him harder against the wood with a ruthlessness that neither Harry nor Lucy had ever seen in her before. Peter squealed in pain as he adjusted himself beneath her grip.
"I should kill you," Julianne growled. Sirius wiped the blood from his face and reached his hand out to pull her off. Remus reached instead for his wand. He pointed it at Peter's head while Sirius pressed Severus Snape's wand to Peter's neck.
"We should all kill you," Remus repeated Julianne's words. The three adults exchanged glances and prepared for it.
"Please," Peter whimpered. "Please, I was your friend! I was-"
"You betrayed James and Lily!" Sirius called out as Julianne's grip slackened slightly. "You were their friend! You sent me to Azkaban, stole my life from me!" He wiped the blood that was only starting to slow from his nose now. "Do you see those children?" Sirius pointed to Harry and Lucy behind him. "Do you?"
"They grew up without their fathers, both of them, because of you," Sirius growled as he used the hands covered with his own blood to wrap around Peter's neck.
Peter nodded as tears of fear filled his watery blue eyes. Julianne let go of him and let Sirius take over as she too turned her attention to the terrified youths behind her. Lucy ran over first and threw her arms around Julianne's waist. Reluctantly, Harry also wrapped his arms around her. Julianne lowered herself and held them both in her arms. She kissed the tops of both of their heads and then turned towards Ron who, along with Hermione, were staring opened mouthed at the drama unfolding before them.
"It's time for me to commit the murder I was imprisoned for," Sirius snarled as he tightened his grip around Peter's neck. Harry pushed his aunt off of him at those words as he was hit with a realization.
"Wait," Harry called out making Sirius' spine stiffen. He turned to face his godson who looked identical to his best friend. "Don't kill him... Use him."
"Harry," Julianne said quietly. "That is the man responsible for the death of your parents... All those birthdays you wished for them to come back, that is the reason they didn't, the reason they couldn't!"
Harry turned to face his aunt's desperate eyes and quivering lower lip. He recognized her proximity to complete emotional collapse. He recognized the fragility of the entire situation around him. He shook his head at the woman who, while being fully grown and having looked after him every weekend of his life, resembled a terrified child.
"Aunt Jules," Harry shook his head at her. "You can't kill him. If you kill him, Sirius will be executed. He'll be killed. You'll never see him again."
"Harry, this isn-" Remus started to cut him off.
"No, don't tell me that he has nothing to do with this," Harry cut him off. "Listen, both of you, regardless of whether you want to admit it, you," Harry looked at his aunt. "You love him. I know you do. You both do. He's your best mate," He paused and looked at Lucy who had slowly unwrapped her arms from around her mother's waist. Harry looked back to Jules. "He's Lucy's dad. He's my godfather. What would my dad have wanted?"
Deafening silence made each creak of the Shrieking Shack more and more apparent. Remus and Jules stared at each other with pained expressions. There was only one other option. Sirius' grip on Peter Pettigrew loosened from around his neck. He stared at the man for a moment before he walked over to Ron and silently started to help the boy up onto his good foot while apologizing for his brutish behavior earlier. Harry rushed to his other side.
"Your aunt told me that your mother's sister still has full custody over you," Sirius said to Harry from Ron's right side.
"Yeah," Harry said solemnly. "It's not her fault... It's just that every time Jules applies they pull out her Mungo's records and I'm guessing the fact that she lived with a werewolf for seven years doesn't help either. Not that I knew about that... Or you, really before this year."
"Yes, well," Sirius chuckled. "Once I'm free, I'll pull the martyr card and you can live with us permanently."
"Us?" Harry's eyes brightened at the idea. "You're going to move in with Jules?" There was a pause as Sirius opened his mouth as though to make an amendment. "Oh, you haven't told her yet."
"Can I make a suggestion," Ron said sardonically. "Maybe mention it to her first... She only just decked you a moment ago, mate, and her animagus is a little bit tougher than yours."
The three of them laughed a lot harder than they knew they should have as they walked out of the ramshackle building.
Just as Julianne thought Peter might start running away, she tied him up and attached him to Remus. Remus walked him towards the exit. Lucy and Hermione stuck side by side as they watched Julianne untie Severus Snape.
"You could go to prison for aiding and abetting a fugitive," He spat. Julianne sucked back on her teeth and narrowed her eyes as she stared at him long and hard.
"I could," She said quietly. "And you could have for being a you-know-what during the First Wizarding War. But hey, Dumbledore forgave you and you're not paying him to educate two of your children..." She grabbed him firmly by the arm and walked him out. "Severus, I'll kindly remind you that James saved your life in this very building once."
"I'll kindly remind you that the only reasons he had to are currently escorting an injured student and the reason Lily is dead," Severus snapped back.
"Well, then we both have something invested in the safe return of Peter Pettigrew to Albus Dumbledore," She hissed. Severus' clenched jaw and bruised ego was enough of an answer for Jules. She untied his hands but kept her grip on his arm until they were all out of the Shrieking Shack.
It was dark once the nine of them exited the awful building. A cold realization traveled up Julianne's spine as she saw the clouds clearing in the sky across the lake. The full moon shone in her eyes. Severus' breath caught in his throat as his head snapped around to look at the lycanthrope in their presence.
Jules watched as Remus sunk to his knees and foolishly let go of Peter. A terrible snarling noise erupted from the back of Remus' throat as his neck started to elongate and his shoulders arced back before hunching forward. She ran to his side and started pleading with him to remember who he was.
Jules stumbled backward as the transformation completed. The werewolf sniffed the air and let out a sickening howl that resonated deep in her gut. She looked at the children, Sirius and Snape, who had jumped in front of Lucy and Hermione.
"RUN!" She screamed. The first to listen was Peter Pettigrew.
A/N: Okay, so I decided to rewrite this chapter and rename the fic after some contemplation. I'm never happy. Anyway, here's the one that I'm keeping up here. I hope you all like it. This'll be continued. Don't worry.
Reviews are more than welcome!