AN: Here's the special, brought to you in the Remus Lupin POV. Shocker.

Also, huge apologies for posting this almost a week late. But to make up for it, we'll post one more chapter before we take a break, and to make up for THAT, we're almost halfway through the chapter so it shouldn't be long now.

Again, very sorry. But you know, when life gets in the way...

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. Thanks

CHAPTER 20: HOLIDAY SPECIAL II

The Shrieking Shack. 10 pm. Not a human in sight. And still, Remus' animal instincts were driving him completely out of control. Covered in a fresh sheen of sweat, he paced up and down the room, causing the old floorboards beneath him to creak noisily. Every time an owl hooted outside, Remus felt a panic and a sudden urge to growl. He began to chew nervously on his sleeve, feeling very annoyed with the clothes that he had on and wishing nothing more than to rip them off and burn them somewhere. But he knew that he would regret that later. The Christmas holidays were still a long way off and he didn't have many muggle clothes here at Hogwarts with him.

A muscle spasm. There we go. Now things were really getting started. Remus winced terribly at the pain and held his hip for a good five minutes while he bit on his lip so as to silence his screams. He really didn't fancy reading another headline in the paper about how freaked out the Hogsmeade villagers were becoming because of these mysterious howls. Dumbledore had been both clever and stupid in feeding them those rumours. Didn't he understand that the prospect of the supernatural only drew more attention, especially for the wizarding community?

Once the muscle contraction was gone, Remus slid down in the corner of the room and rested his head on the wall. The sky was fairly crowded with clouds tonight, so he was yet to see the moon. But oh how he ached to get outside...to just itch his way through the floorboards, down the stairs and burst through the door...he would've gone through the window if he hadn't been on the second-floor...

His heartbeat started to quicken and he could feel heat pulsating through his body. He threw himself face-down on the bed and began practicing the breathing exercise that Madame Pomfrey had taught him three years before, but even that didn't seem to be working tonight.

There have been worse moons, he kept reminding himself. It's already 10:30 and you still haven't hurt yourself. There have been worse moons.

The fact that the boys weren't going to be here tonight was actually really unnerving to him. They'd promised that they'd be with him, and instead, they wound up in detention at the last minute. The idiots.

But this was going to be for Sirius' birthday, a voice told him. It wasn't even going to be about you.

Yeah, well...it never was, was it?

Remus' jaw suddenly tightened and he let out a piercing scream that almost made him choke, causing him to fall over with a loud thud. For a couple of long minutes, all he did was scream and choke and gasp. When it finally stopped, he was lying face-down on the cold floorboards, his heart still pounding in his chest. He slowly sat himself up, head dizzy and falling, and rested himself up against the wall in the corner again. The room was now abysmally dark, making it much easier for Remus to see the moonlight coming in through the window. The clouds outside seemed to have cleared up just enough to let the moon through. Remus could feel her calling him. Every muscle ached and he felt incredibly uncomfortable in his own skin…like he wanted to rip it off or hit himself against the walls. Or both.

He let out another yell and fell back to the floor, all the while taking deep breaths and trying not to think about the villagers outside and what on earth they could be thinking right about now. The wolf was on the edge of the surface, trying to scratch its way out and take control of him. His breath hitched again and he sat back up, shaking entirely from head to toe.

He could feel the walls closing in on him and the window getting brighter and brighter as the moonlight travelled its way into the room. Remus remained in his dark corner, afraid to go nearer but at the same time aching to get outside. Or maybe that was already the wolf talking, and he was just in the way. It was so near him now that he had no idea where his thoughts ended and where the wolf's began. All he knew was that he was getting really hungry. And anxious. And mad.

His head suddenly exploded, pounding so hard that his eyes rolled in their sockets and his fist found its way to the nearest wall, smashing it so hard that he was sure he'd broken a knuckle. Panting, Remus brought both his hands to his head and started pulling at his hair, completely forgetting that his knuckle was now bleeding all over his clothes. The pain of it didn't even bother him because his head was entirely on fire.

And then, quite as suddenly as it began, the pain stopped, and all sound went silent. Remus looked up, his eyes watered from either the struggle or the dust of the room. He knew his heart was still pounding but he couldn't hear or feel it anymore. He was no longer shivering or even aware that his entire body was wet.

All that mattered was that the moonlight had reached his leg.

Two hours later...

The wolf finally broke its nail free from the floorboard and stumbled backwards, growling angrily. It had been battling with the floorboard for several minutes, its nail stuck painfully in the wood. But now that it was free, it began to tear at its own fur, scratching and pulling until it couldn't bear it anymore. The wolf howled into the night and hit the window again, dying—aching—to get outside. But the charms sealed around the residence were too strong for the wolf. It moaned in its frustration and jumped up against the wall on the opposite end once more.

For the next little while, that was all that the wolf did, bouncing against walls and trying to hit the window in its pathetic attempt to get out. And when that didn't work, it got frustrated and started biting its own paws and scratching at its head, pulling its ears out and clawing its own back. By the time it was half past eleven, the wolf was all scratched out and bleeding in several different places. It gave up on the windows and buried itself in a corner at the end of the room, just sitting there and waiting for it all to be over. It was total and complete torture, being locked up in a room like this, with no way to get outside where it could breathe freely.

After what felt like hours, the wolf suddenly froze. Something had fallen downstairs. Or someone.

Rising ever so slowly from its spot, it strained its ears to listen. There was definitely someone downstairs. Perhaps a mouse had gotten in somehow and was scurrying the halls for garbage to chew on. The wolf's instincts took over and it crept along the room's floorboards and began clawing at the door to get out. After it finally managed to get past the door, the fresh, beautiful, glorifying smell of human presence hit its nostrils like cannon fire. At once, the wolf sped down the stairs and looked around the hall anxiously, using its animal senses to snoop out the person who had managed to get past the charms on the residence. The powerful smell seemed to lead the wolf to the trapdoor at the end hall which it had completely forgotten about. It knew the trapdoor existed and yet somehow, every moon, it forgot. It forgot who put it there and it forgot why. But the trapdoor was no longer shut, and standing just over it, was a very frightened, very frozen-looking boy with long dark hair and a pale face.

The boy stared at the wolf for a long minute. The wolf could hear his breathing. It could hear how fast his heart was breathing and how hard he was trying not to move. It could almost hear the boy's thoughts running as he tried to figure out the best way to get out of there alive. But unlucky for the boy, the wolf wasn't feeling very generous tonight.

Just when it was about to pounce on the boy and tear him limb from limb, the boy had pulled out his wand and cast a hex that made the wolf merely fall backwards. Furious, it jumped back up and hurried after the boy, who had run up the stairs and slammed the door shut behind him. The wolf tore at the door for several minutes before it finally managed to produce a hole in the wood, large enough for it to squeeze through. The boy cast a protective charm and stumbled backwards on the bed in the crooked room. He gasped and started waving his wand stupidly, casting random spells in all directions.

The wolf howled into the night as it dodged the spells, growing angrier each time it was almost hit directly with one. But when it finally reached the foot of the bed, red to seep its claws deep into the boy's skin, it stopped. Something shiny, silvery blue and big was lurking just outside the window from the corner of the wolf's eyes. The wolf turned away from the boy instantly and jumped at the window, searching for that thing. But whatever it was that had been there only seconds before, it was gone now.

Feeling angrier now (and slightly confused too), the wolf turned back to the frightened boy on the bed and began to approach him once more. And then, again, the blue, silvery thing from the window appeared and disappeared. The wolf turned back around and stared at it, not understanding what was happening...who was taunting it...and how it could get back at them...

But the longer it waited, the more the boy on the bed shook. The wolf turned back to him and the boy scrambled off of the bed and backed into the corner of the room, his wand shaking terribly in his slightly outstretched hand. The wolf considered him for a moment, wondering whether to strike now or later. But somehow, it felt more intrigued and definitely more interested in what was happening outside the window than what was happening inside the abysmal room.

It turned back to the window, and this time, the silvery blue thing stood just before it. The wolf stared at it for a long time before it finally began clawing at the window again, hopelessly trying to get out and see the thing from up close. Behind the wolf, the boy began to slowly move along the wall towards the door. But the wolf didn't care. All that interested it was the mysterious thestral and what on earth it was doing in midair just outside the wolf's room.

The thestral was now moving towards the wolf, very slowly and very carefully. Though it was on the other side of the window, it still looked too close. The wolf stared at it, confused. When the thestral raised a leg, the wolf jumped backwards but kept staring at it. It had no idea what this thestral was capable of doing but it knew that it didn't like the idea of not knowing.

Meanwhile, the boy in the room was now just by the door, one hand stretched out and reaching for the handle. But as soon as the handle turned, the wolf's head snapped back to the boy. And the boy, realizing this, made a run for it.

The wolf sped down the stairs after the boy, all the while using its senses to track him. It took several moments but the wolf finally fished out the boy in the abandoned dining room at the end of the corridor, where the boy was standing near the window, practically trembling from head to toe. At the sight of the wolf, he began scrambling in his pockets until he froze, wide-eyed, and looked up at the wolf.

"M-my..." he said, weakly.

The wolf took several steps towards him, and just when it had reached the boy, the thestral appeared again, this time inside the house and shining even bluer and brighter than before. The wolf spun on the spot, staring at the silvery blue light emitting from the gorgeous creature before it. The boy couldn't be the one responsible for this creature because he looked just as confused to see it there as the wolf was. Both stared at the creature as it slowly walked about the room, spinning several times and then guiding the way out of the room and back down the corridor. Forgetting all about the boy in the room again, the wolf followed.

It walked along the dark corridor, the silvery blue light of the thestral at the end of the hall being its only source of light. It followed the light that guided it into one of the many abandoned rooms in the Shrieking Shack. But then, the creaking of a floorboard made the wolf suddenly snap back. It had just enough time to spot the boy at the top of the stairs before the boy disappeared at the landing. The wolf chased after him.

Furious now, the wolf scrambled up the stairs noisily, growling and grouching as it bumped against the walls and sped hurriedly back into its room where it now found the boy bending down to pick up his wand and turning up against the wall to face the wolf. The boy pointed his wand at the wolf and opened his mouth to speak, but before he did, the wolf let out a loud howl, frightening the boy to the point where he dropped his wand again. Furious, the wolf sped towards the boy, stepping on his wand once and breaking it in half. The boy let out a shout and tried to dodge the wolf but the wolf managed to get its claw just across the boy's neck, leaving four red scratch marks all across it. The boy let out another yell and fell to the ground, shuddering. The wolf prepared to strike again when suddenly, from the corner of its eye, it spotted the silvery blue light at the door. The wolf turned away from the boy and looked at the thestral which was now making its way down the stairs again. Without hesitation, the wolf followed.

The wolf continued to follow the thestral along the dark, creaking corridors until it finally reached a door which, to the wolf's knowledge, had always, always been closed. But it now stood ajar, letting the cool air of the night swoop in. The thestral paused for a brief moment, looked at the wolf, and then scooted its way through the door and out into the grounds. Hesitating slightly, the wolf followed.

As soon as the wolf stepped outside, its entire mood changed. It was as though it had finally stepped into the skin it had been searching for all along. Its body felt freer. The moon was pleased. The wolf wasn't angry anymore. Everything was as it should be.

Glorified, it ran into the woods where it could act the animal it was supposed to be. And the more it enjoyed itself, the more it started to realize that something was off...

Where only a few moments ago the wolf wanted nothing better than to scratch and tear that boy limb from limb, now it felt sick just considering it. Now that the wolf had finally been freed to run and chase small woodland animals as it pleased, the memory of that trembling boy back in the Shrieking Shack almost made the wolf want to weep.

And now, the wolf started to feel the wrongness in being outside—like being outside violated something important. The wolf knew deep down that it was not supposed to be outside, even if it craved it badly, but it also did not know how it knew this.

Feeling frightened and suddenly very alone, the wolf decided to turn back. The trouble was...there was already someone there waiting for it.

The dark-haired boy back from the Shrieking Shack was standing several feet away from the wolf, a good, not broken wand in his outstretched, no-longer-trembling hand. Blood could be seen dripping from the boy's neck where the wolf had scratched him. The wolf hesitated and then took a step backwards. But the boy, who no longer looked afraid, shot out a red spell that made the wolf fall backwards instantly. The wolf whimpered as it hit the ground, not understanding what had just happened. And before it could get back up, the boy shot another spell, making a fire of pain explode at the top of the wolf's head. It let out a piercing growl and howled of the menacing pain inflicted upon it.

And then, the boy took several more steps towards the wolf. This time, the wolf acted fast. It jumped to its feet and attacked the boy right back, making him fall backwards too and thus letting the wand drop to the grass. Shocked from what it had just done, the wolf stumbled backwards too, feeling very displeased with itself, again, for a reason it did not understand. It was as though something was keeping the wolf from attacking the boy any further than self defense.

And then, quite unexpectedly (but opportunely), the silvery blue light appeared again in the depths of the dark woods. The thestral walked slowly and calmly towards the wolf, while on the other side, the boy suddenly let out a scream and fell to the ground again. The wolf spun to watch as the boy was pulled by its leg across the grass.

"What the...?" said the boy, who now tried to kick his leg free.

When that didn't work, the boy started screaming and kicking harder, but whatever it was that was pulling him had its grip tight around his leg. The boy tried holding onto tree roots or grass or whatever he could grasp, but the invisible force pulling him was much too strong for him. The wolf took a step towards the boy, not wanting him to leave—not wanting to be left alone—when suddenly the blue light caught its attention again.

The thestral started walking away from the wolf, into a darker part of the forest. The wolf hesitated before following after the thestral to see where it was going.

"Gettoffme!" the boy shouted behind him.

"SEV, STOP!" another voice shouted.

The wolf stopped, recognition hitting it. Hard. It knew that voice. It had heard that voice before. The wolf turned around to see two boys at the other end, one on the ground and the other standing over him with a lit wand. The two boys froze, staring at the wolf together. The wolf, feeling suddenly quite shameful, began whimpering and speeding as far away from the two boys as it could possibly get.

For some strange reason, the moon was no longer able to comfort the wolf. The feeling of freedom was suddenly sickening. Its head was pounding again. Outside was no longer pleasing, and the wolf wanted nothing more than to get back to the safety of its home—the only home that it knew during 9 moons of the year.

It began to sniff its way out of the forest until it finally smelled the abysmal comfort of the Shrieking Shack not too far away. The wolf was getting closer to it now, knowing that it would probably be better off back in its room, clawing at the walls like it usually did. After all, it was the only thing that the wolf knew.

But just before it left the woods, however, the wolf was stopped again. The thestral was back, this time looking much happier (definitely happier than the wolf felt). When the wolf tried to move away, the thestral got in its way (and quite bravely so). The wolf considered pushing it aside in order to get out of the woods, but then the thestral did something amazing. Right before the wolf's very eyes, the thestral leapt from one side to another in a skip-like, almost playful manner. The wolf started. After several more seconds, the thestral did this again. Somehow, it looked a little smaller now than it had back in the Shrieking Shack—almost as if it had changed its size purposely just so that it could level with the wolf.

The wolf, now confused, watched the thestral do this again until the thestral decided that jumping playfully back and forth was not enough. And so, without hesitation, it sped back into the woods, the silvery blue light emitting from it being the wolf's guide through the darkness. The wolf sped after the thestral, only further fueling the thestral's cheerfulness as it only seemed to run faster and faster. Finally, the wolf grew tired and slowed down. Noticing this, the thestral too, slowed to a stop.

The wolf panted slightly and tried moving to a spot it felt comfortable resting, but the thestral didn't look like it was done playing. Now growing slightly larger, it walked towards the wolf and stopped just in front of it. The wolf stared at the thestral, not knowing what to expect next. The thestral really was a gorgeous creature—so angelic-like and so nothing like the wolf itself was. And then, the thestral dropped to the ground and rolled once. The wolf fell backwards, surprised. The thestral jumped to its feet again, tilted its head, and then dropped once more and rolled again in the other direction. The wolf let out another long howl and then proceeded to copy the thestral exactly. The two rolled through the grass together, the thestral always being one step ahead of the wolf and never letting the wolf get too close, which frustrated the wolf a great deal. The game soon turned back into running as the wolf became very interested in outrunning the thestral. But the thestral was far too fast for it.

Hours seemed to pass and the wolf was not getting tired of playing the game. On the contrary, it was relieved to be able to enjoy the comfort of outside once again. It really hadn't had any desire in returning to that terrible Shrieking Shack, despite the strong feeling that had overpowered the wolf a few hours before—the feeling that to return was the right thing to do. But the thestral certainly didn't seem to agree because it kept trying to keep the wolf busy and interested in new games.

Finally, the thestral seemed to have outrun its own energy. It slowed again to a stop, now somewhere lost in the woods, and turned to look at the wolf. The two stared at each other for several long seconds—two animals completely foreign to each other. And then, without warning, the thestral vanished into thin mist which then evaporated into air. The silver and the blue were both gone and the thestral was completely vanished from sight. The wolf spun around and around, looking frantically for the creature which had been there literally only seconds ago. And then, something even greater happened. A sharp swab of pain hit the wolf hard in the arm and it fell to the ground, shrieking its howls. The pain then proceeded to hit the wolf's other arm, and then slowly its legs.

The wolf howled louder now, not even noticing the light which was slowly spreading throughout the forest and on its way to brightening up all the trees surrounding the area. The wolf rolled on its back and let out a whimper as it felt its skin burn and its head explode with fire. And then, as quickly as it had all started, it stopped, and Remus found himself lying face-down on the freezing ground, completely naked.

He let out a shuddering sigh and slowly sat up. Still shaking, Remus collected himself enough so that he could bring himself to his feet. There were several pains in his legs and arms and a few on his right hip which were now more pronounced than they had been moments ago. It took him a while to remember why he had ended up out there, in the forest, rather than in that dull room back in the Shrieking Shack.

The sun was still on its way up, making the forest relatively dark but not as dark as it had been before. Remus picked up the pace as he tried to find his way out of the forest, his body still trembling from the cold. However, once he finally reached the edge of the woods and could see the Shrieking Shack not too far from him, he stopped. His clothes—the ones that he'd taken off just before his transformation—were, strangely enough, neatly folded on the ground just next to a really tall tree. Remus stared at them, confused.

But he didn't wait to figure out why they were there or how. He hurriedly pulled them on, wincing slightly at the pain of his many bruises and wounds. When he was finally fully clothed and slightly warmer than before, he pulled out his wand which he'd safely stored in his pants pocket and whispered 'Lumos'.

He looked around the area, his head hurting a lot less now than it had before. Even though he hadn't been able to retain his human thoughts for the transformation (or for the last transformation, or for the many before that...), he was still able to keep his memories from what had happened. And now that he was back in his human form, he was able to link those memories and those images with human logic and understanding.

So that meant that wherever Snape was, he was hurt. And it was all Remus' fault.

He started walking back into the forest, looking for that thestral again. The sun was starting to brighten the area significantly and so Remus got rid of his wand light and used his hearing senses instead. Every now and then, a twig snapped somewhere, but it was only small woodland animals scurrying about in their early-morning travels.

Finally, Remus decided that he had to go about his quest another way. He pointed his wand in the air and said, very softly, 'Homenum Revelio'.

The swooshing sensation was almost like Christmas morning to him, because it meant that he was indeed not alone. He followed the mist-like low wind that had erupted from his wand and it led him out of the woods and into a clear and open area atop a cliff. Panting slightly, but quite relieved, Remus pocketed his wand and dragged his feet up the cliff, his eyes on the small shadow sitting on top of it. A muscle in his left leg gave away and Remus grasped it tightly, all the while climbing up until he finally reached the spot where Draco was seated, also covered in mud, with cloak and map on the grass just next to him. His eyes were on the horizon where the sunrise could be seen. Draco did not turn his head as Remus took a seat next to him, or even acknowledge that he was aware Remus had joined him. But for the longest time, the two just sat there, staring at the hills sloping down to the sparkling lake on which the sunrise was now reflected.

Every now and then, Remus cast a sideways glance at Draco. He kept expecting to see a strange expression on Draco's face that would tell him he indeed was afraid of him and wanted nothing to do with him anymore. But no such expression came. Instead, Draco just sat there, coolly, completely unbothered by anything that had happened in the last couple of hours.

And then, quite unexpectedly, he turned to look at Remus and smiled. And the effect that that smile had on Remus was instantaneous. He realized that he had four of the best friends in the world that anyone could ever hope for...friends that loved him and accepted him unconditionally...friends that didn't care what he looked like for 12 nights of the year.

Suddenly, something tightened in Remus' throat and he came to a horrifying realization. Draco saw the look in his eyes and started.

"What is it?" he said.

"Snape," Remus managed to whisper. "He..."

"He's fine," Draco finished, his expression relaxed again. "He's not hurt...that bad."

"Are you sure...?"

"Yeah, he'll live," Draco said, turning his head back to the sun.

"Will he...?"

"He won't tell anyone." Remus' throat untightened. "I've seen to it that he won't."

"But are you sure—"

"Positive."

Remus sighed. At this point, it didn't even matter that much. Perhaps he was just too tired from the moon to even care right now. The adrenaline had not yet left his body and he was still trying to wrap his mind around all that had happened in the last few hours. Maybe tomorrow it would hit him that Severus Snape actually knew his greatest secret and would probably blackmail him for the rest of time. Maybe tomorrow it would hit him that Snape's entire neck was scratched out because of Remus, or that his wand was completely snapped in half, or that for some reason he had a second wand that probably did not belong to him. But for now, Remus didn't have to care about it. All he cared about was that Draco knew. And he wasn't running.

And now, things would be so much easier. The lies and the secrets and the excuses…it would all come to an end. Feeling suddenly very tired from the night's events, Remus let out a deep sigh.

"Yeah," Draco said. "Quite a night."

"Guys?" said Sirius' panting voice.

Remus and Draco jumped to their feet and turned to find James, Sirius and Peter all standing atop the cliff with them, looking exhausted from running.

"Hi," said Remus, slowly. "What are you guys all doing here?"

James looked round at the other boys and then stared back at Remus and Draco.

"The question is, what are you guys doing here?" he said.

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Oh and congrats to pretty much everyone...you were right, it was Option A :)