The Call of the Moon

Chapter Twenty One

The full moon had just risen as Severus Snape jogged across the grounds towards the Whomping Willow, his black school robes whipping around his ankles and his heart thundering with a grim sort of satisfaction as he drew close to the great tree which swayed threateningly as the intruder drew nearer. He was finally going to know for certain what the deal was with the secretive, scarred, comparatively quiet Remus Lupin and why the others were so stubborn about sticking to the illness tales. The prick of suspicion in his head about why Black would be so forthcoming about how to get by the tree was well drowned out by a compulsive need to prove that the "Marauders" as he'd heard them call themselves, weren't as great as most of the school thought they were.
Tonight he exposed whatever Remus Lupin's secret was.

The Willow tossed its limbs and creaked warningly as Severus stopped just out of reach of its boughs and squinted at the trunk. Prod the knot at the base of the tree…that was hardly specific given how gnarled the wood was. Still. It wasn't supposed to be easy.
"Wingardium Leviosa…" He flicked his wand at a snapped off bit of branch and carefully levitated it towards the trunk. It took several attempts and several minutes to find the right spot but remarkably, the tree shuddered and grew entirely still. Hesitantly at first, Snape stepped closer gradually until he was sure the tree was completely immobilised.

A minute later his foot fell through the ground and Snape lost his balance and toppled feet first into the well concealed hole between the overground roots. Landing with a thud into blackness and damp soil he hastily lit his wand and held it aloft. Staring in amazement, Snape took a few steps forward into the hidden passageway. So this was how they hid him. Whatever "him" Snape expected to find, one thing was for certain, fanged, furred, sick or otherwise, Remus Lupin was at the end of this tunnel. That or Sirius had led him into an elaborate trick, which was not at all entirely out of the question. Hair rising uneasily on the back of his neck, Severus Snape put any uncertainty aside and plunged into the darkness at a steady jog.

It was sometime later before he heard the noise. A heavy creaking somewhere above his head that meant he was somewhere beneath a building. How far did this go? Did the Professors even know about it? Of course they must. Then how the hell had Potter and his gang found it too? The creaking seemed to follow him as he took a few more steps, like someone was pacing back and forth above his head. Or something. Something that was breathing very heavily, and then, just like that, it was gone.

So focused was he on the noises above his head that the Slytherin almost walked headfirst into a ladder he hadn't noticed. A grim sense of satisfaction filled his chest. Finally. This was finally it, he would be able to prove once and for all that Remus Lupin wasn't the good little Prefect he pretended to be.

That was it. He just had to climb the ladder, push open the trapdoor over his head, and he would know once and for all. With just a moment of trepidation, Snape did so and the heavy wood swung on its hinges and clattered noisily to the wooden floorboards. That was when everything clicked at once.
A howl, loud and terrible and unmistakably werewolfish pierced the air of the derelict building he found himself in and, his black eyes wide, Snape stood perched with one foot still on the ladder and stared up at the huge, grey brown furry shape on the staircase. In the beam of moonlight shining through the window behind him, Snape could make out the short snout, the scarred face that matched Lupin's, and the green, human eyes full of hunger and bloodlust.

Somewhere behind him someone shouted his name, and then the werewolf roared and lunged. Snape, paralysed didn't even open his mouth to shout before the beast, the monster he knew Lupin was, barrelled into him and threw him into the wall by the back of his robes.

This was it. This was how he was going to die. At the teeth and bloodlust of a teenage werewolf who had no right to be at the school. Savagely ripped to pieces and devoured by a bloodthirsty carnivore. Everything was all claws and fur and fangs about to close around his throat before something else large and furry barrelled into the unsuspecting wolf and Snape fell, bruised backwards into someone's human arms and toppled back down the trapdoor.

xxxXxxx

To Remus, tonight was no different from any other night. He'd slipped away early from the school as ever, pale and nauseas and his very bones aching in advance of the brutal transformation they would never become used to suffering through. He carried no bag or rucksack anymore. His friends would bring his clothes to him now, whether inside the shack or, more likely in the forest. Despite the agony of it all, and the cursed life he would always lead, Remus had come to not dread the full moon as much anymore. Now he didn't have to be confined and savage himself for lack of space and company, now he could run with his friends without fear of hurting them. In fact, though his mind and body belonged to the werewolf in him tonight, the last few full moons had been some of the happiest times of Remus' sixteen years.

Sirius, James and Peter would meet him later, leave the trapdoor open for him and wait at the end of the tunnel to explore the Forbidden Forest and the grounds in all their glory that only animals could find their way around. But until then, he had to suffer through the first part by himself as ever. Stowing his wand and his clothes safely away under the bed to avoid destroying them, Remus stared out the window that was cracked only in appearance at the silver light of the moon as it began to rise higher in the sky.
The hair on the back of his neck rose first, as it ever did, and his pupils dilated as the last traces of Remus' humanity and self-control began to melt away. His mind clouding and twisting into that of a werewolf. Fingers that had been clenching tightly into the wood of the windowsill in preparation sharpened into points and scratched deep grooves into the wood.

A scream, pained and half human, half animal carried all the way into Hogsmeade where any unfortunate soul staring puzzled at the shack that was undoubtedly haunted fell over backwards in fright and hastily made their retreat. Spine elongated, limbs stretched grotesquely and fur erupted from every part of the human body as his face morphed into the muzzle of a wolf.
But it was worth the pain. It was worth the pain now… was all the human part of Remus could tell himself before his mind was gone. Lost to the beast that howled a terrible cry to the moon and filled impatiently leapt down the stairs to await its animal companions it had so become used to having near.
With the presence of the stag, rat and dog to distract it, to play and tousle with, the werewolf forgot its hunger. It even forgot its rage and anger that had previously been all it existed for. With space to run and stretch its legs, it forgot its confinement and lust for human blood. It was far from a docile creature but around them, it was a tamer beast.

It took but one brief scent for that tentative switch, to flick back again.

xxxXxxx

"What took you so long, Padfoot? We've been waiting outside for ages we thought you might have fallen down the Grand Staircase or something." Peter asked as he and James appeared from the portrait hole only to find Sirius staring out of the window by the fireplace in the otherwise vacant Common Room.

"What are you doing? We've gotta go if we're gonna meet Remus in time-no wait. We're already too late."

Snapping out of his careful observation, just in time to miss the black cladded figure of Severus Snape reach the Whomping Willow, Sirius cringed and turned to face James and Peter. "Damn, sorry. Lost track of time…I ran into Snivellus in the corridor. But let's just go now, so he'll already be transformed, not the end of the world if we're not there to greet Moony. We'll still be there to let him out."

"It took you that long to hex him? Sirius you're losing your touch!" James tutted his tongue with a grin as Sirius, seemingly over his temporary distraction scoffed and shouldered his way past. People would be coming up from the Great hall soon, they needed to get a move on.

"I didn't hex him, I told him how to get past the Whomping Willow-"

It took Sirius a couple of seconds to realise that his friends weren't right at his shoulder anymore and turned around, shaggy hair flicking up slightly to stare at them innocently. James and Peter seemed to have frozen on the spot, staring at him like he'd just grown a second head. "What? You know, like a double bluff, he's n-"

"You did WHAT?!" James exploded suddenly, so loudly it woke a few of the dozing portraits on the wall who grumbled and shook their fists at the boys.

"Oh calm down, Prongs. He's not so stupid that he'll do anything I tell him to do, is h-hey, easy mate!"

James could be hotheaded, certainly, but any of them had only ever seen him genuinely angry with Slytherins, at least never with any of his friends. But the shock that was glinting behind his glasses now as he stared at Sirius was alarming and even Sirius had the sense to cringe at his own mistake. Looking to the side at Peter, hoping to find at ally in his prank and that it was definitely a little bit funny, the mousey boy was definitely not agreeing with him.

"C'mon…Pete? It was funny…"

"You just as good as told him that Remus is a werewolf, Sirius…" Peter chimed in without the shadow of a stutter as he shook his head in disbelief.

"He saw Moony sneaking away, I couldn't pretend he was in bed or he'd get even more suspicious!"

"No, no, you didn't just tell him about your friend, you just sent Snape into a trap!"

Sirius backed up taking a step away from James who looked so appalled with him he was mildly concerned he wanted to hit him. Still trying to justify his actions, Padfoot stammered for words in an argument he was doomed to lose and only just starting to see his wrong in.

"I-but-I mean if he's stupid enough to do anything I tell him to do, he kind of deserves-"

"To DIE?!" James and Peter both shouted together and that, for a remarkable moment, completely shut Sirius up.

Pushing his glasses back up his nose from where they had slid down James shook his head at Sirius, who had the decency to look a little ashamed and pushed past towards the portrait hole.
"Come on. You'd better hope for Remus' sake that we're not too late."

"What in the world are you-" No sooner had he stumbled out of the portrait hole than James stumbled straight into Lily, quickly putting out a hand to catch her before they both fell over. Closely followed by Peter and Sirius, he shouted a quick apology that was barely heard as he shouldered his way through the crowd of Gryffindors headed toward the Common Room and sprinted down the staircases with an urgency that no student had ever seen on the face of James Potter save for a Quidditch match.

There was no time for Invisibility Cloaks, no time to quietly sneak out into the grounds and make sure they weren't being watched, they had the cover of darkness but every moment was vital if Snape had actually done what Sirius had said. For the sake of one student's life and another's sanity. Remus would never, ever forgive himself if he killed anyone.
Sirius was practically his brother, but at the moment James could barely look at him as he set his jaw and sprinted into the grounds.
"Peter!" He shouted and, understanding exactly what he meant, Peter grabbed only the back of James's sleeve and in a fraction of a second had shrunk down to a rat, clinging onto James' shoulder that a moment later, without even stopping had become that of a stag.

Paws and hooves thundered towards the tree, covering the distance in well under half the time it would have taken them to run normally. So overzealous was James that he very nearly skidded directly into the tree and had to leap over a threatening limb as it swung out at them. Wormtail, jumping from the stag's back darted quickly towards the roots and the moment the tree was immobilised, James stood there on two legs again and Sirius was the first down the hole on four paws.

"Snape!" James shouted, picking himself off the soil and lighting his wand. Ignoring the stitch that was aching in his side from anxiety, he just prayed that Snape, wherever he was ahead of them hadn't reached or entered the trapdoor at the end.
"Merlin's beard, Sirius, maybe you should just stay a dog for the rest of your life. You better bloody hope you haven't just ruined two lives."

The shaggy dog barked indignantly, running ahead of James who kept up a steady jog. Sweat stuck his hair to his forehead and a sickening sense of grim foreboding filled his stomach as they grew closer and closer to the Shrieking Shack.

And then they saw it. The light at the end of the tunnel, barely there but it was moonlight slipping through the windows of the shack and down through the open trapdoor.

Were they so late that Remus had already gotten out without them too?

James got his answer in the form of a threatening snarl that chilled them all to the bone and forced them to freeze on the spot for a moment. The rat quivered on James' shoulder and Sirius whined at his ankles and then, with some impressive acrobatics, tried to bound up the ladder on all fours.

"Severus! Get out of there!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs, drowned out above his head by the heavy sound of werewolf lunging at a meal it had never tasted.

It all happened in a matter of seconds. Sirius scrambled up the ladder, with a hefty push from James who followed right behind, still very much human at great risk to his own life.

The werewolf was far more savage than they had even seen firsthand. Driven mad by the prospect of human blood, the beast had reared up onto powerful hind legs over a crumbled black heap of robes against the wall. His front paws crashed down hard either side and for one terrifying moment James thought they were too late. But then Snape moved, threw up an arm to shield his face as Remus, all fangs and fury, lunged to feast.

Padfoot, not nearly the size of a werewolf but large enough to throw the distracted Remus off balance, threw his whole weight into the wolf, pushing him off the terrified and half paralysed Slytherin and latching onto the back of Remus' neck who, enraged by the interruption howled and threw him off like a bug.

James, scrambling across the few metres of floor toward Snape threw his arms around the Slytherin's chest and hauled both of them unceremoniously back into the trapdoor where they fell in a heap just as Sirius dived in after them.
"Depulso!" James shouted, scrambling to his feet and aiming his wand at the werewolf that was now desperately trying to get at both of them. With a yelp, Remus flew backwards and a wand flick later the trapdoor slammed shut and bolted itself.

Hauling Snape who was shaking and unable to stand by himself, to his feet James and Sirius, who shifted back before the Slytherin found out about them too, hefted Severus in between them at a run back down the passage. A squeaking brown rat darted ahead of them, panicked and frantically running back and forth to make sure they were still there.

Ignoring the semi-conscious Severus' protests at their help, James didn't let him struggled free until with great effort they'd dragged him back out of the tunnel and all collapsed breathing heavily and hearts racing onto the hillside.

"I can take care of myself!" Snape hissed, although was fumbling for his wand and couldn't as much as pull himself to his knees his body was aching and bruised all over. "I didn't need help from the likes of you." His whole face was contorted into an expression of sheer loathing as he stared at James Potter who had, undeniably, saved his life.

"I grabbed his wand." Peter Pettigrew's voice chimed in. Snape hadn't remembered even seeing him and did a double take as his wand was held out to him. Snatching it, he pointed it with an extremely trembling hand, at Sirius.

"And you…you mark my words Black, one day I'll…"

"You would have been werewolf food if it wasn't for James, show some gratitude you little weasel."

"He's done for. You wait until Professor Dumbledore and the Ministry finds out tomorrow…your little friend, is done f-for. Keeping a monster like that locked up at a school!"

"For the love of Merlin's left buttock, shut your damn mouth, Severus! We need to get you to the Hospital wing." James hissed, and, ignoring Snape's protests, and the strong urge to knock him completely unconscious, although he looked barely there anyway, hauled him up towards the castle.

xxxXxxx

"I hope you understand the severity of you have all done tonight. You have all shown a complete disregard for school rules that are there to ensure the safety of our students. As such, first and foremost, fifty points from your houses. Each. Yes, that is including Severus Snape."
James, Peter and Sirius were all staring at their feet, wincing under the furious gazes of Professors Dumbledore, Slughorn and McGonagall and the tutting of Madam Pomfrey who had just administered a sleeping draught to Severus who was mercifully unconscious now.

"If it weren't for the delicacy of Mr Lupin's situation, I would be writing to your parents this very minute." McGonagall shook her head. "Such as it is, you can be certain to receive a fitting-"

"It was my fault, Professor. And Snape. James and Peter didn't do anything but try to help." Sirius chimed in to the slight surprise of his friends. "I told him to do it and the git did it!"

"That's quite enough, Mr Black." Dumbledore cut him off, holding up a chastising hand. "Nevertheless…dangerous though it was, Mr. Potter…that was an exceptionally brave thing you did tonight. Fifty points to Gryffindor for selflessness I think."

James' eyebrows disappeared into his hair for a second and the shadow of a smile crept onto his face before his eyes went to the unconscious Snape and back to Professor Dumbledore.
"Remus won't have to go will he? It's not his fault he-"

"Certainly not. The poor boy has no control over his unfortunate circumstances. And to answer the question I'm sure is next. I will personally see to it that young Mr. Snape here promises not to reveal Remus' secret."

"Two weeks detention to each of you." Slughorn, his round jolly face unusually grave nodded first to the pupil of his own house before the rest of them before McGonagall interrupted.

"Except for you, Sirius Black, I think. One month. And consider yourself extremely lucky not to face expulsion for what you've done."

"I will see all four of you and Mr. Lupin when he is fit and able, in my office in a few days time. Now to bed with all of you. I have some other business to discuss with your teachers regarding this unfortunate occurrence."

xxxXxxx

"…at least nobody died, right?" Sirius joked somewhat pathetically trying to lighten the mood as the three of them trudged back up towards the Gryffindor tower, faces all otherwise solemn.
James paused on the stairs and turned to face his best friend just as the staircase began to shift as they frequently did.

"Yeah, I guess that makes it alright then, don't it, Padfoot?" He rolled his eyes, "Snape didn't die so why all the fuss, huh?"

"I already said, I didn't think he would do it. If you'd told him to do it, there's no way he would have trusted anything you said to him."

"You didn't think he would leap at the chance to get something over one of us? Especially something on Remus who he's been trying to prove has something wrong with him for years?" Peter added, running a hand through his very windswept hair.

"Look, mate. I believe that you're sorry. And that you know it was the stupidest thing you could have done-"

"Woah, steady on, Prongs."

"-steady on? Remus already thinks he's a monster, he already hates himself for it. Just imagine if he had killed someone tonight…that's your friend whose life you're messing with. He's got it bad enough without doubting whether he can trust us or not." James scoffed and turned around, shaking his head to himself and resuming the walk. "You can own up to it yourself tomorrow. I'm not explaining that to him."

xxxXxxx

The boy sat, half dressed and staring at nothing in the middle of the floor. His legs drawn up to his lean and scarred chest and arms wrapped around his knees. A million and one thoughts went through his head as memories trickled back from the previous night, as if the wolf was taunting him with what he had done unawares. It was all over. He'd gotten five years at Hogwarts and now surely it would come to an end. He'd nearly killed someone. Someone, who wasn't supposed to know, had gotten into the Shrieking Shack and found him.
No, it hadn't just been any old student which would have been disastrous enough. He remembered the mop of black hair, the too long robes, the green and silver tie, and the look of horror on the pale hook nosed face. It had been Severus Snape. After that it was frantic blur of memories, he vaguely remembered Padfoot leaping in the way and the smell of James Potter somewhere behind him. He remembered throwing himself angrily at the trapdoor scrambling for a meal and being thrown back into a wall.

How badly had he hurt Snape? He hadn't bitten him, he would have remembered the taste but even a scratch from a werewolf would leave irreversible damage…he was dangerous. There was no denying that anymore. Maybe Snape had already told the whole school, maybe everyone knew.

With a flare of his nostrils his sensitive nose caught the scent of his friends at same moment he heard the spells being lifted from the trapdoor and it swing open a floor below. But Remus didn't so much as look up when he heard their footsteps on the stairs and knew they were standing right beside him.

"Remus? How you doing, mate?"

James sounded unsure and hesitant, and more serious than Remus had ever heard him sound. But he knew he didn't have to answer, they had to know how badly he must be feeling.

Slowly lifting his green eyes to look at them all he spoke with a hoarse voice and looked steadily at each of the three of his friends in turn.
"How did he know?"