Chapter Fourteen
The Living Daylights

She slept all through that Sunday. She did not attend her potions class the next day. She could not and would not face him again. At least not for a while.

When she rose from her extended rest, the only emotion she felt was remorse. It wasn't her fault, really, and a small part of her knew this, but still, she just couldn't get over the fact that Draco wanted her.

She rather preferred the years when he called her a "filthy bitch" or a "lousy blood traitor". It sure as hell beat the brash affections he was throwing her way now. She could not fall for Malfoy. Not after all he'd done, not for what he was, not for how he treated others who were not like him. How could she love a bully? Well actually, he was more than that.

Just how was she going to tell the Headmaster of Draco's affiliations? She pondered this while she rested on the common room's sofa that Monday night. There was no way possible she could lure him into Dumbledore's office, let alone McGonagall's...at least not without striking up a risque bargain with him prior…

She gagged at the thought of that potentiality. No, she would have to resort to further planning for sure. Firstly, she would have to prevent those hands and lips of his from touching her ever again. This would prove to be difficult, certainly. He was stronger and taller, but only by three or so inches, but enough to make Antonia feel a sense of insecurity when he was glaring down at her.

Thinking back on that reflection from her second year, she considered Draco's words to be...on the verge of correct. Her formerly brave ego and overall courageousness was absent, and had been since, well, since You-Know-Who made his return official.

She snorted vehemently at the thought of vulnerability. Despite all that Draco had done to her thus far, she was still most certainly not weak, at least in the sense of standing up for herself. She had been a wreck since the godfather's death, and so she considered herself emotionally frail as well as exhausted, but she was not going to allow a fucking Malfoy to ruin her being.

With that mental vow, she placed her palm over the pocket holding her wand, then felt a whoosh of bliss engulf her.

'He's going to fucking get it.'

"I mean, who does he think he is? What right does he have to just...just grab me like that?!"

She gulped down a mouthful of bittersweet Merlot mid-rant. "I know of his family's status and all, but that doesn't give him or any of his kin for that matter, illimitable jurisdiction!"

A sigh from the tall, thick-bearded man behind the counter followed the girl's statement. Unsure of what to advise, since he himself was, well, not an attractive sixteen year old girl, he went on to mumble "What do ye expect, madam? Honestly, what the lad is doin' is only customary."

Astounded and unsatisfied with Ab's reply, she bit out a hot exclamation of "Pardon?!"

"Ye look in the mirror often, malady? You're like a magnet to fellows 'is age an' up. Such beauty will tame only the mellowest of gentlemen, but comes along a boy with a little more authority…"

"Are you suggesting that I'm supposed to just...deal with it?"

A rare emotion burst within the barman, that emotion being nervousness sided with uncertainty. As old and even wise a man he was, he knew for damn sure that he couldn't counsel a lady, especially one like this. It just wasn't his mug of hard liquor.

"What do ye want me to advise? Why tell me yer little feminine problems in the first place if ye dislike what I have to suggest?"

"I just thought that maybe you would know what to say, Ab. It's not like I can really tell anyone else about these...problems I face…"

His face knotted into that of a grimace while he proposed, "What about yer Head? Ye know, Albus...Surely he can put an end to what this hooligan's doin' to ye."

"Oh, well, the thing is he's been so busy lately. Earlier this year, he had asked me to assist him with a task of sorts. He's essentially forced me to join my potions teacher's student organization...he wants me to get on his good side, and let the man take me as his 'crowning jewel' or something odd like that. And with Voldemort's return to focus on...I wouldn't dare entangle him into the mess I'm stuck with."

He returned nothing for her, and just let her words sink into his elderly mind. As she replaced her goblet onto the wooden counter after finishing it up, she subtly let go of her pay in front of the barman and slid out of her seat with a finishing statement of "I'm rather suit with just bitching anyways. Thanks again, stranger."

…

By early December flakes of crisp snow had started to cascade from the Scotland skies lightly and gradually. While summer was Antonia's favorite season, (when not around the dreadful Dursleys) she always found harmony in the chilliest season. She enjoyed not the cold weather and need for unattractive sweaters but the outdoor view. The sight of snowflakes, or God's dandruff as she called it in her youth, nearly beat the wildflowers and flurries of dragonflies she'd get to witness each summer.

This month she, for the first time in what seemed like ages, had something to look forward to. While she admittedly grinned at Professor Slughorn's announcement of a Christmas party to be held on the 24th, the butterflies within really went ballistic at what awaited her in just a few weeks to come. She would be spending her holiday break with the Weasleys in their home in the Burrows this year, and she would also be receiving a visit from the man of her dreams, Remus.

She hadn't seen the former DADA teacher since early July, shortly after Sirius' death, when they spent some time together along with the Weasleys and her other friends in general. While away from her upstairs bedroom at the household, she felt healed in a way. Spending time with the people whom she considered to be her real family had made for a decent distraction succeeding her five or so days of non-stop grieving, and while this distraction was not enough to mend her broken heart entirely, it had proven enough to get her back on her feet.

This young lady could only presume that Remus provided the comfort she so greatly needed, and felt her stomach twist and churn at the possibility of his girlfriend, Tonks, joining him on the visit. Antonia did not hate or even dislike the young metamorphmagus for personal reasons, but her merely being in a sexual relationship with her wannabe lover frustrated her to no end.

With that painfully lingering muse along with what or rather who caught her eye next gave her a good enough excuse to grumble, "Shit!"

In the library she sat in a well-cushioned armchair by one of the tall windows while reading Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic, a book she was so far loving the hell out of though only on the fourth chapter, when she got to see the pale blond bastard gawking at her from a ways across the library nearby the Restricted Section. There he stood, nothing held, grasped or clutched in his long, white hands, a crooked smirk plastered on his face and those haunting-as-fuck gray eyes focused on the seated, crossed-legged redhead and her only. The one part of him that stuck out amongst the rest of him was his lone, right finger curling and uncurling as if to subliminally say, "Come hither, little woman."

Normally, Antonia would feel immense angst while in the proximity of Draco, but now, upon scanning the large book-filled room and seeing it not packed, but filled enough with students and staff alike, she chuckled to herself and perched her middle finger atop her books' spine for him to study while she reburied herself in her lovely read. Little did she know that the horridly-natured Slytherin would not accept such for a response. When he wanted something, or in this case, someone, to be summoned his way, then he would be getting it, whether it or they wanted that or not.

'Useless scum.'

She turned the page and read over not even two lines when two frighteningly familiar hands fell down to rest on either arm. Again, she was barricaded by the bloke of her worst nightmares. If one factor digressed from their usual get-togethers, it was that for bloody once, she was actually safe and in the presence of others.

Before she could aggravatingly bark in his face, the middle finger of her left hand was clutched dangerously tight by his cold hand. The force of his grasp on her caused her to screech out silently enough, so as to go unheard by others, much to Draco's preference.

"I ought to rip this straight out!" he snarled. "Think that gesture will abide with me, do you? Stupid little cunt."

"At least I'll have my other finger to use," she retorted with strain.

He dropped her hand and made a grab for her chin, his grip, yet again, being quite tenacious.

"It would be in your best interest to start behaving yourself, little girl, because if you do not recall-" He shot up his sleeve for her to get an even more clear view of his dark mark than before. "I've got more dominance over you than you could ever dream of."

"Go on ahead then you ludicrous moron. I dare you to take advantage of me. We're in the bloody library, in the midst of people who I can call out to for help at any given second!"

"Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist, Potter, I've only come over here to strike up some much needed discussion. Fucking Merlin knows we need it after what happened during our last encounter-"

"Piss off!"

She could have sworn at that moment, his eyes turned a shade darker. His eyebrows furrowed and he adorned his usual scowl. His lock on her chin tightened more if that was even possible, and more dark threats surpassed his gritted, white and slightly crooked teeth.

"You better pray that I don't have you alone again, because I just may-"

"What? Hex me to death?" she articulated bitterly.

"Well, I'd much rather use my hands, but if you so wish to be gifted with a little Cruciatus, then I certainly would have no trouble delivering a few assaults from my wand."

"What do you want, Malfoy?"

His grimace eased and he took on a more slackened look, albeit serious and highly cut-to-the-chase.

"From the first time I met you I knew you were something, and right I was. However, I had originally intended to befriend you, but with your decline of my ridiculously simple offer, you turned all that around."

"Ah yes, I remember quite well how you so rudely belittled Ronald that night. I too got the immediate impression that you are a tightarsed git."

Proceeding a light growl, he continued, "...But even after you refused my invitation, I knew I could still own some part of you, but what I didn't realize is that, in the long run, eventually, and in time, I could actually obtain all of you."

"Oh hell, you are confused."

"And I've expected you to respond as such, Potter. You have yet to realize exactly what you feel for me."

"Oh, I feel many things for you, Malfoy, but of all that I do feel, love is not any of them."

"Not too bright are you? It seems you've already forgotten my words of how fine the bloody line is between love and-"

"Hate. Yes, I recall, Draco. How could I just forget how you have harassed and humiliated me the way you did."

She kneed the area between his legs with just enough exertion to throw him away from her a couple feet. She stood and tried to make a bolt for a less secluded area, only to have Draco veer her into an even less populated section.

"Cute attempt, there, Potter."

"WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?!"

"I need your help."

Words that passed his lips had never caught her so off guard. He—he had to be fooling.

"...What?"

Her back was met with a bookshelf and those long fingers pried at her shoulders. Worry pooled deep within her for the umpteenth time at his clutch. This was getting to be enough. Quite enough.

Two could play at that game. Sick and tired of being so defenseless at his security, she withdrew her wand and shoved it into his chin. She had expected him to fend off at least slightly or maybe just don a look a caution for Christ's sake, but even that petty notion was too much to want of him. He smiled wickedly while staring down at her threateningly aimed 10 inch stick melded with willow.

"Taunt me some more you prat!" she screeched as he began to chuckle in the darkest manner. "Why don't you get off your high horse and go pick on some first year? Or better yet, go off and grovel at Riddle's scaly feet. Do his bidding, as so lucidly indicated on your forearm. Do as you've indefinitely vowed to do for the evil cocksucker who killed my parents!"

"Take it down a notch, sweetheart."

"Go blow him for all I care!"

Expertly, he disarmed her at a precisely stellar moment, right when she was caught up in just enough rage to derive her focus from what was in her keen hold. Her wand was, at the moment at least, out of her reach.

"What I have to offer is not what I'd call dreadful, even for the likes of you, so listen up," he whispered angrily down at her. "From here on out, you open your ears up for me, because I've been given tasks that are of much stress this year, and I need you to be play the therapist's role for me, and in return, I shall do the same for you."

"Why vent your shit to me? Wouldn't your cronies be of more use?" she reasoned, baffled beyond belief by his peculiar bargain.

"They wouldn't understand. Let's just say the lot of them have the mentality of a puddle of goblin piss, or your Weasley friend."

"Get on with it before I scream," she bit out.

"Every Saturday night at approximately eleven o'clock, you are to report up to the astronomy tower, just as you did a couple weeks back, and you submit yourself to me. I get to let loose a barrage of whatever the fuck is making my nerves wrack into your ear, and if you're up to it, you get to do the same."

"Winter's coming on. I refuse to stand out in the freezing cold and listen to your pissing and moaning all night long while I freeze my arse off."

"You know of a better location?" he challenged.

"The Room of Requirement."

A distraught look captivated him. "How do you know about-"

"We have a deal or what?" she interjected.

His right hand snaked into her own and shook it without further confirmation.

"Right then, pet. We'll be meeting again in short time, and you won't bail if you know what's good for you."

And with one last obscene gesture of making a quick grab at her pert bum he stalked off.

'Motherfucker.'

Reminisce: Spring of 1994 - The Shrieking Shack

The trio made their swift exit from the castle, Hermione taking a prominent lead in front of Antonia and Ron. On this particular afternoon, Hagrid's creature and pet hippogriff, Buckbeak, had an appointment with death. After that little mishap earlier that school year during the fall in Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class, involving Malfoy's arm, his arrogance, and the creature's front legs, the poor beast had to succumb to a rather cruel death that unfortunately involved an ax. Hermione as well as Antonia were bothered tremendously by this, and had been considering options that could change the outcome of this animal's fate ever since Hagrid had informed them of the awful news.

"We should just stay inside of the castle, girls. I doubt there's anything we can do," Ron said with an evident loss of hope.

"Don't give up so quickly, Ron. There's always a chance to make a difference," Antonia asserted, just when the three were faced with the three most dreadful third years.

"Oh...crap," Toni huffed.

Hermione picked up her pace downhill towards Draco and his henchprats' Crabbe and Goyle. Antonia was right on her heels as well.

"Ah, come to see the show?" he joyfully announced.

Withdrawing her wand to point it at the vile boy's face, Hermione scorned "Foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach!"

The instrument of vine and dragon heartstring was jabbed at his cheek instantaneously, and he began to whimper like a bitch, much to Antonia's loving.

"Don't do it, Hermione. It's not worth it," Ron warned with a whine, while Toni sputtered the contrary.

"Don't be silly, Ron! Hex the shit out of him, 'Mione!" she chanted.

Sighing, she backed away, taking Weasley's advice regretfully.

"Right then," Draco sneered, cracking his knuckles in a pretentious manner and drilling his eyes into Antonia's soul. "I say it's time we take matters into our own hands, gentlemen. I'm dragging Potter off somewhere where I can teach her to respect her betters. Goyle, you can have the mudblood and Crabbe, you do what you like to Weasel-Bee here-"

He was cut off by Hermione's punch that gracefully landed on his nose. Draco then moronically yelped and then cowardly scampered uphill with his imbecilic mates. The band of Gryffindors shared a laugh.

"That felt good," Hermione exclaimed.

"Not good, brilliant," Ron congratulated.

"Next time, aim for his balls!" Antonia advised giddily.

"Yeah, yeah there's a suggestion!" Ron said.

"Now is not the time to worry about how we're going to stand up for ourselves the next time we have a run-in with Malfoy, you two," Hermione sternly put. "Because of them, we're too late."

The two red-haired thirteen-year-olds understood what she was referring to once their gaze fell on the arrival of the black hooded executioner downhill by Hagrid's hut. The three stood in shock, unable to do much more while a large, freshly sharpened blade was risen into the air. A brief shimmer went aglow once the silver edge hit a spot under direct sunlight, then swooped down subsequently to give off a sickening sound and cause a flock of crows to emerge from the surrounding decaying pumpkins and newly sprouted spring grass floor.

"Shit!" Toni cried. Hot tears began to blur her vision as well as Hermione's, while Ron wore a grim expression in response to the highly austere euthanization. Before she could sorrowfully collapse downwards to meet the ground, Ron wrapped his free right arm around her and brought her to him to soothe both girls in each arm. After spending a while soaking up his shirt with tears, a squeak was heard by Ron's hand-held pet rat, Scabbers. He dropped the rat once it had gone rogue and bit into his finger, then making its escape in the grass.

"Ow, Scabbers!" he uttered while trying to chase after the critter in the direction of the infamous Whomping Willow. The girls took off right after him, both of them keeping their fingers crossed that he'd be wise enough to keep a good distance from the deadly tree. They both knew well just how unwise Ron could be, however, especially in times like these.

"Ron!" both girls called out simultaneously. They halted atop a small mound just a ways from the dangerous willow, to see that Ron had captured his beloved rat just below the branches of said tree. In a frenzy, they both hollered out for him to move fast, though he was unaware of exactly what disaster he'd gotten himself into, as was Antonia.

"Toni! Behind you! It's the Grim!" he warned just in time for her and Hermione to step out of the storming black dog's way. He trotted beyond the girls and straight for Ron, to grab him by the ankle and drag him towards the tree.

The two sprinted for him, Antonia murmuring more curses than what was healthy or ladylike for a girl her age. She took hold of Ron's hand and began to yank back using all of her weight including assistance from Hermione and her one hundred and ten pounds. The canine's pull proved to be too much for either girl to compete with, and Ron had slipped down into a large, open space in the tree in no time.

A lengthy branch swung after them, knocking them back fifteen or so feet and preventing them from entering the gape. Even with their newfound soreness and pulled muscles, they got back up to their feet soldiered onwards.

"Dammit! Come on, we can do this!" Toni assured as the two raced for the hole. They maneuvered just a few attacking branches before they were both harshly shoved into the ground again. One got ahold of Hermione and proceeded to wring her around in the air like a limp ragdoll, while Antonia glanced around frantically for a solution of some sort, even deciding to grab ahold of a wild branch if it would help her save her friend. She didn't have to wait long for Granger's free hand to clutch onto the front of her V-necked shirt and carry her into the air with her, then let go of her once at an ideal angle to be dropped into the opening.

She made a perfect land into the hole and tumbled down a slope until she hit the stony bottom, then have Hermione crash into her back mere moments later. The two panted tremendously and Hermione apologized for her messy fall.

"Better me than that incisive rock right there," Toni dismissed before shakily coming to her feet and examining their area. "A ride that freaking was, huh, Hermione?" she half-chuckled, half-groaned whilst straightening up her posture and looking forward to see that this cave-like entrance led to a stairway up ahead.

"Where do you suppose this goes?" Hermione put, taking a couple steps in front of her.

"I have a nasty feeling this way leads nowhere fancy," Toni remarked. "Let's just hope that we don't run into Sloth."

Up the dark, stony steps they went with great caution as well as a sense of bravery and faith that Ron was unharmed and far from Death's doorstep. Their upward path led to an opening above which they had to climb through, then find themselves inside of what appeared to be an old house. To their left was another rickety, wooden stairway, this one being much smaller.

Hermione cleared up Antonia's ignorance to their location by whispering "We're in the Shrieking Shack...aren't we?"

The next thought to strike the redhead's mind was a yearn that she'd had her Nikon with her so she could capture some ghostly images while in this rumoredly haunted-to-the-hilt shed.

The first low creak of the first step she took sent chills down her spine, but she had to go on, for Ronald, who, if still conscious, was probably a sniffling muddle upstairs, needing the girls' help like Malfoy needed an arse-kicking.

"Girls!" Ron cried out once Antonia and Hermione were in sight.

"Oh, thank God!" Toni sighed while rushing over to Ron along with Hermione. Kneeling down to survey his bloody, injured left ankle, she asked, "What happened to that dog?"

Horror-stricken, he pointed to a corner behind them and stammered, "I-It's a trap! He's n-not a dog! He's an animagus!"

Nearby was a man looking to be in his thirties with shoulder-length, brunet, tangly hair, a dirt-covered face, severely worn and torn striped clothing and blackened front teeth. Antonia's heart skipped a few beats at the sight of whom she easily recognized to be the escaped Sirius Black. Hermione had gotten the same impression.

She took a valiant step in front of the auburn probable victim and stated, "If you want to kill Antonia you'll have to kill us too."

"No," the grimy man replied. Taking a step forward, he went on to confess, "Only one will die tonight."

"And it's gonna be YOU!" Toni screamed before shoving Hermione aside and lunging for the escapee. She managed to bring him down to the dusty floorboards. She suppressed the urge to sit on top of him and backhand him into unconsciousness, not that she'd likely be able to accomplish that anyways. She instead jabbed her wand against his throat.

"Are you going to kill me, sweetheart?" he chuckled with darkness not even her potions prof could bring himself to.

She was disarmed momentarily. She spun around to see that it had been her favorite professor to do the act. Remus had his wand aimed directly down at the lain criminal. He signaled the girl to move aside with a quick head-tilt, and she hesitantly stood alongside her mates.

"Well, well, Sirius, looking rather ragged, aren't we?" the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher taunted Black's ears while keeping his aim precise. "Finally, the flesh reflects the madness within."

"Well, you'd know all about the madness within, wouldn't you, Remus?" he defended from the floor.

More shock value settled in when the prof offered his hand to the enemy to take, and three hearts sank in disbelief once the man was on his feet and embracing Lupin, he in turn not only allowing it, but wholeheartedly enjoying it.

With Antonia and Ron practically speechless, Hermione put forth the accusations. "I trusted you! And all this time...you'd been his friend." She looked to the two addled couple behind her and informed "He's a werewolf. That's why he's been missing classes."

"How long have you known?" Remus cut in.

"Since Professor Snape assigned the essay."

"Well, you truly are the brightest witch of your age I've ever met!" he taunted with a followed interjection of, "Enough talking! Let's kill him!" from his accomplice.

"Wait just a minute, Sirius!"

'Him?'

"I've done my waiting! Twelve years of it! In Azkaban!" the deranged bloke protested.

"Very well…" he gave in, handing over his wand. "You wait one minute, and she has the right to know why."

"I already know why you did it you sick bastard! You betrayed them! You're the reason my mum and dad are dead!"

"No, no, Antonia. Someone did betray your parents but until recently, it was someone I believed to be dead!" Remus explained.

"Well, then who?!" she demanded.

"Peter Pettigrew!" Sirius answered enthusiastically. "He's in this room right now in fact! PETER! COME OUT! COME OUT AND PLAAAAAAAY!"

"Expelliarmus!" a new voice sounded from the threshold.

With Snape's arrival, Antonia just couldn't refuse mustering a hoarse, "FUCK!"

The greasy potions master held his wand at Sirius' cheek while ridiculing, "Oh, vengeance is sweet. How I hoped to be the one to catch you!"

"Severus-" Remus began.

"I told Dumbledore you were helping an old friend into the castle and NOW," Snape spat Remus' way. "Here's the proof."

"Brilliant, Snape! Once again, you put your "keen" penetrating mind to the task and as usual you've come to the wrong conclusion. Now if you'll excuse us, Remus and I have some unfinished business to attend to!"

Snape's wand nearly pierced the escape's cheek with that insinuation. "Give me a reason...I beg you."

"I know you can't help it; it's surely a habit by now!"

"Correlating like an old married couple!" Snape jeered.

"Why don't you go play with your chemistry set!" Sirius suggested mockingly.

"I could do it you know, but why deny the Dementors? They're so longing to see you...Do I detect a flicker of fear? The Dementor's kiss, one can only imagine what that must be like to endure. It's said to be nearly unbearable to witness, but I'll do my best…"

"Severus, please," Remus negotiated. Antonia obtained Hermione's wand discreetly while the three men went on with their verbal onslaught.

"After you!"

He drew his attention to Antonia, giving a curt nod as if to suggest that she run along. Her plans deviated far from the raven-haired man's wishes, however, for she now acknowledged who the real villain was.

She directed her aim at Snape and took in his addled expression before chanting her clearest "Expelliarmus!" yet. He was shot backwards into a pile of old boards, knocked unconscious from the blow.

"Antonia! You—you attacked a teacher!" Hermione said informatively albeit shocked at the same time.

Blowing the tip of her wand in an almost playful manner, she shrugged and said "Well spotted, my dear." She gazed onwards at the cloud of dust that had engulfed the boarding that Snape had been tossed into. "It had to be done."

"Now, I want one of you to tell me about Peter Pettigrew!" she ordered for the remaining two men, keeping the wand mid-air.

"He went to school with us. We thought he was our friend," Remus huffed, not convincing Antonia quite enough.

"I think not! We all know Pettigrew's dead!" She again aimed at Black and spat "You killed him!"

"No, Antonia, he did not. I thought he was gone too until you pointed him out on the Marauder's map."

"The map was lying then!" she disputed.

"The map never lies!" Sirius announced matter-of-factually. "Pettigrew's alive, and he's right there!"

His grimy finger was aimed at the squealing critter in Ron's lap. Antonia rose an eyebrow and Ron was getting the wrong impression.

"ME? He's mental!"

"Not YOU! The RAT!" he cleared up.

"Scabbers?!" Ron inquired incredulously. "He can't be; he's been in my family for-"

"Twelve years!" Black finished. "Curiously long life for a common field rat! He's missing a toe, isn't he?"

"So what!" Ron argued.

"All they could find of Pettigrew was his-"

"Finger…" Antonia had tied up the loose ends. It all was quite rational now, and tragically so. When it all added up, she had to force herself from stomping the murderer-turned-vermin into the floorboards.

"All those years, everyone thought he was DEAD! But oh no, really he'd just morphed himself into a RAT!" Sirius sang triumphantly.

"Please show me," spoke Toni, the wand now having been lowered more ground-level.

Sirius snatched the rat from Ron's hold and marched off to the other side of the room, leaving Ron to call after him, still under the false impression that Scabbers truly was just a petty...rat. He set the critter down onto a desk and shot spell after spell at him while it scampered about the floor, right until it reached an opening and suddenly, upon being slapped with a well-enough aimed incantation, gained roughly two hundred and forty pounds.

"Holy shit…" Antonia felt her knees weaken and had to lean against Hermione for support, while her friend in turn nearly had to do the same. Frankly, she was surprised that she didn't let a dam loose in her jeans from this terrifying trio backed up against the wall behind them when the rat-turned-scruffy man stood from the floor and came further into view. He was by far one of the most ghastly men Antonia had ever seen, and she thought Filch was bad.

With straining widened eyes, she and her friends watched as the man held out his arms for either man, exclaiming their names with relief and going in for a hug, only to have a wand promptly thrust into his haggard face to fend him dots spotted Antonia's vision when the disgusting bloke made his way towards her, immediately recognizing her. With the intensity of that horrible wrenching in her gut, she was confused as to why she hadn't fainted yet.

"P-potter! Oh, look at you! You look just like James' wife!"

She felt bile rise in her throat as his eyes raked over her body, and she prepared herself to give him a dead-on kick to the groin if he were to try and wrap his pathetic arms around her. Luckily, Sirius intruded his attempt by jerking him backwards by the back of his collar and pushing him to the floor. He landed on his rear with a harsh thud, two wands being pointed directly at him thereafter.

"You keep away from her you bloody coward!" Sirius shouted down at him.

"P-P-please, my friends!" he sputtered.

'Kick his nuts in!' Toni's brain screamed.

"You sold James and Lily to Voldemort, didn't you?" Remus inquired with vexation.

"I-I didn't meeeaaaaan to! You have no—no idea, the weapons he possesses! He—he was going to chop my willie straight off!" he whiningly excused. He turned to Sirius asking "What would you have done? Hmm?!"

"I WOULD'VE DIED! I WOULD HAVE DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY MY FRIENDS!" he responsively scorned like a goddamn hero.

Pettigrew sped for the doorway, only to be stopped by Antonia, who used every godforsaken nerve in her body to deliberately barricade the exit.

Little did she realize that the derelict traitor would dig his long and contaminated fingernails into her shoulder blades and beg into her ear for help. Hot spittle landed on and inside of her right ear as he pleaded "Antonia! James wouldn't have wanted me killed! He he, tell them that, won't you? T-tell them, that—that your dad would have spared me! He would haaaa-"

The greatest sigh of relief of her thirteen years was let out once Sirius and Remus dragged him backwards and into the wall. With precisely aimed wands, Sirius declared "You should have realized, Peter, that if Voldemort wouldn't kill you, we would!"

"NO!"

All eyes were on the shivering redhead at the threshold.

"Antonia...this man is-" Remus began, to be cut short.

"Oh, I know what he is, sir, but we're going to take him back to the castle."

Falling to his knees, Pettigrew clapped his hands together and gave his blessings for the girl, apparently thinking too positively. Antonia had some twisted intentions for him in all actuality. Justice would be served on her and her parents part that night.

"Hold your damn horses you pile of rubbish. I said we are going to take you up to the castle, but then after that, the Dementors can have you."

She felt not a hint of remorse at the sobbing fit he then threw.

…

While exiting the shack and descending the stairway, Sirius apologized to Ron for the nasty gash he left on his ankle. Ron then whined that he nearly tore his leg off.

"In my youth, James once suggested that I make the dog transformation permanent. The tail, I can live with, but the fleas...they're murder."

For the first time in hours, Antonia giggled. Sure, she was still in a rather large amount of shock that this man had turned out to be the complete opposite of what she thought he was for the last eight months, but at the same time, she was learning to adapt to his presence more and more by the second.

Ron and Hermione rested on a stump once they were all out of the gape, while Antonia was a little too willing to follow Sirius down the hill to take a seat.

"Are you feeling okay?" she softly asked her injured friend.

"...Never been better."

"You can go be with him, Antonia. I'm here for Ron," Hermione assured, essentially giving her permission.

"I'll be back, you two."

She shyly trailed on to stand by the man who turned out to be family. She caught his view of the castle, which from this standpoint, looked magnificent, especially with the starry sky shining down over it.

"It's beautiful, isn't it, Antonia? I'll never forget the first time I walked through those doors. It'll be nice to do it again as a free man."

Patting her back, he continued "That was a noble thing you did back there. He didn't deserve that."

"I didn't think it would have been, well, right, to have you and your best friend be...killers. Also, we need to keep him alive for at least a while longer, so as to ensure your freedom, if you get my gist."

"Wise girl," he congratulated.

Ignoring the squabble and audacious squeals of mercy from Pettigrew a ways back under the security of Remus, Sirius spoke on. "I don't know if you know this, Antonia, but when you were born, James and Lily made me your godfather."

"I know. I found out recently."

"Oh...Well, I could understand if you wanted to stay with your aunt and uncle, but, if you ever wanted to reside in a different home…"

She could not believe her ears. "Are you saying I can live with you?" she piped in, her excitement evident.

"Well, with a few made arrangements I believe I can make that hap-"

"Antonia!" Hermione hollered worriedly. Sirius and her looked yonder to see that a bright, full moon was rolling in through the cloudy night sky. She suddenly recalled the werewolf amongst them, and her godfather got the memo long before she did, judging his full-on bolt for the professor. She joined him uphill and watched in awe as he held onto the fast changing victim of lycanthropy.

"Have you taken your wolfsbane tonight, Remus?" he asked in a panicked tone. He in turn seemed unable to answer, his eyes now having stretched out into slits and his pupils having turned to a charcoal-black. He shook violently in his stance and his neck crooked at an odd angle.

"You know the man you truly are, Remus! Find him in your heart! This heart is where you truly live, this heart here!"

Once a wand was freed from grasp, the cowardly captive plucked it up quickly from the ground. Antonia disarmed him just a tad too late, for he was back into his vermin form in moments. Just as she was about to heel after him, Hermione tugged her back. Her eyes were now set on the quickly morphing teacher who was altering in many ways. His bared teeth were visibly sharp, similar to that of a dog's, and fur sprouted from his face, hands and likely legs as well. His hands and feet turned to paws in an instant, and he was notably taller.

Sirius kept his embrace on him tight for as long as he possibly could before the damage was thoroughly done. He was tossed into the ditch that rest aside, leaving the trio vulnerable to the creature's wrath.

Momentarily, he was still, panting lightly and hurled over, almost appearing innocent, as least, in the eyes of Hermione.

"Wait...Professor Lupin?" she said.

They waited apprehensively for an answer, and received a howl for the moon above.

"He's gone, Hermione," Antonia murmured as she backed away just as she had done so much in that night alone. To add to their inferno, Snape slithered from the space they had exited not long ago and made a fierce grab for the front of Antonia's shirt, though she was too stunned by the advancing beast to hardly notice.

"Potter! Do you know how much trouble you're in?" he snarled.

"Look," she managed to warn. Upon sight of the peaking wolf who was now just a short distance away, Severus shielded them from him using himself. Antonia winced and huddled with Ron and Hermione just as Lupin was about to swipe them with a vigorous claw, until a familiar black dog pounced for him, throwing him away from the four.

The two canines fought in a tangled pile downhill, then moved on to bringing their duel further out towards the woods. In spite of fearing that her godfather would seriously maim himself, or die, Antonia sped after the two.

"Potter! Get back here!" she heard Severus shout, but paid him no heed. Not that she ever really did anyway.

Once she saw that Remus was winning the brawl, she hurriedly located a decent sized rock and hauled it at him, it making an effective land at the back of his head, deriving his focus onto her. Snarling and crawling towards the defenseless girl, she angrily mused her stupid solution.

'By God, I'm a damn idiot!'

She cowered as her DADA teacher was about to perform his death swat right down on her, but then was saved by a howl that echoed from deep within the forest. When it sounded again, the werewolf ran off towards the call.

A typical dog's whimper hit her eardrums along with the sight of her godfather, well, being her godfather again, again reaching his full height of five feet and ten inches. He stormed off after his complicated best mate, and Antonia followed.

A/n:

For anyone who doesn't know, Sloth, as briefly referenced by Toni, is the disfigured prisoner man thing from The Goonies :) If you haven't seen it, you should.

So, what exactly will the upcoming 'meeting' between the Slytherin & Gryffindor be comprised of? Just more abuse...or perhaps something deeper...maybe another side of young Mister Malfoy will be unveiled...? More shocking elements are to be unfolded ;)