DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognise belongs to JKR.
Written for the School Subjects Competition on HPFC for DADA (DE, DA or Order member during one of the wars). Original inspiration from the one line challenge III, though I never got around to writing it then.
Late into the night, the snow fell and fell. Curled about herself with her tail wrapped across her nose, she cursed herself for the hundredth time. How could she have been so careless as to drop her wand?
The baying and snarling of the hunting pack caused an involuntary shiver beyond the icy wind that reached her even in her tiny cave. She forced away the fear, swamping it with reason; animagi didn't appear to werewolves as people so she should be safe. She was almost able to convince herself that there was nothing to fear.
Once the yelping cries were swamped by the thrumming wind she forced herself to relax, clenching and unclenching the muscles in her four legs. If she could survive the night she would hopefully be able to re-trace her steps to the clearing and find her wand. Preferably before the werewolves regained their human forms and senses.
Right now the main problem was the cold. Her furred form kept her warmer than the robes would if she changed back, and since her only shelter was this tiny crevasse she was limited to her feline shape for now.
Realising that any attempt at sleep was folly she replayed the evening's events over in her mind, attempting to see where she went wrong. The plan had been simple; Greyback was growing ever more violent and suspicious of Remus, but her former student refused to budge while Greyback still had children under his control. The boy was a natural teacher and the two little boys and the almost teenage girl had gravitated to him swiftly, eager to learn more of the world beyond the woods.
Apparently Greyback hadn't cared much for this and the last time she saw him, Remus had fresh bruising around his face and a ragged, stained bandage around his upper thigh. From the way he winced as he spoke she also suspected broken ribs and tried to pull him from the mission there and then. Eventually they had agreed on a plan which involved an illegal portkey for him and the children just as the moon rose. It was the only time Greyback let down his vigilance enough for her to get close. They had cobbled together a device of branches and ropes which she magically attached to all four of them just as the transformation began, whisking their writhing forms away to an old cellar. Lily and Dorcas were waiting there behind magical barriers to keep them from hurting themselves.
She had assumed her position, perched in the fork of an overhanging oak tree forty feet up, would be sufficient protection for the few seconds she needed to apparate to safety. A sudden gust of wind had foiled her escape however, the icy branches cracking under her feet and her hand instinctively releasing its grip on her wand to lunge for a tree-limb to hang on to. She was no longer a young woman, and fifty-four-year-old reflexes were not sufficient to catch the spiralling fir twig as it fell to the ground.
Disarmed, she had resorted to her back-up plan and transformed, scrambling down the tree the same way she had climbed it. Racing through the snow-drifts ahead of the slavering pack, she was much faster on four legs than two, and managed to find a suitable hiding place before they caught her up.
At least Remus and the three children had escaped, though they would have to keep young Lupin well away from anywhere Greyback was likely to be in the near future. Perhaps they could hide him with the Potters, since they had their cottage under the separate Fidelius Charm already, and Remus was as good as any of them at handling little Harry. She remembered with amusement the first birthday celebrations that had been thrown for him and Neville, with much of the Order in attendance at the old manorhouse that was currently used for headquarters. Both boys fell asleep long before the party was over, and the celebration of life was a necessary reminder for all of them about what they were fighting for.
A break in the wind let her hear the howling of the pack, more distant than before, and she let her tensed muscles relax slightly, readjusting the position of her tail so that her face was well covered. The werewolves were far enough from any towns to do harm this moon, though next month was Halloween and with all the children about they would undoubtedly be on the prowl. That was a problem for next month, however. For now all she could do was curl up and sleep and wait for morning.