Harry and Hermione began to edge back as I pulled off my bracelet and turned it into a sword, I prayed I would not need to use it, "Professor...?" Hermione asked. The Werewolf's, I refused to think of it as Lupin, eyes blazed. Long teeth glittered with spittle. Then a terrible growl erupted from its throat, John and I edged away from the monster. Harry and Hermione spun and ran straight into Snape, together they collapsed into a clumsy pile, Snape's eyes fluttered open, the had spell broken. Seeing Hermione atop him, he swept her aside... "Out of the way!" He shouted angrily as he sat up and found himself facing a Werewolf. Snape leapt to his feet, drew his wand and stepped forward, shielding Hermione, Harry and Ron. The Werewolf howled and sprang forward, when a giant Black Dog intercepted it in midair.

They hit the ground in a flashing claws and gnashing teeth, a single horrible flailing pile of nightmares. Again and again, the dog pushed the Werewolf back, but the Werewolf was too strong and slashed at the dog "Sirius!" Harry shouted Sirius yelped as a blow connected and sent him flying into the long grass. As the Werewolf charges after, Harry pushed past Snape and charged off into the night. Hermione made to follow, but Snape held her back as he readied himself, I intercepted the monstrosity that used to be out Defence teacher.

"Oh no you don't," I said as I hit on the side of the head with the flat of my blade, the creature screamed a terribly human scream as my silver sword burned its face. The creature ran back into the clearing, putting as much distance as possible between itself and me, "get Pettigrew and get out," I shouted to the others, "John and I can hold off this long enough to get you a head-start, we will rendezvous back at the castle. Pettigrew's going to trial is more important than us."

"Pettigrew is alive? Shame," Snape said, he looked over at the unconscious Pettigrew. "But I will not leave two of my students to face this monster alone."

"We can handle ourselves," I said, but Snape was determined, "fine, John, you go with them, they will need help carrying Pettigrew."

"I, I…" John started to protest, but he stopped, "very well," he ran over to where Pettigrew was lying.

The monster had snuck up behind us while we were talking, I was suddenly knocked from my feet onto the floor as a sudden weight landed on my back, I was pinned on top of my sword, I could smell its foul breath as it breathed down my neck. (How did its breath smell of decaying meat when it had been Lupin only moments earlier?) The Werewolf was suddenly knocked from my back by a bright flash, "you have certainly demonstrated that ability to look after yourself that you were boasting of earlier Miss Harker," Snape said without any visible emotion. I stood and dusted myself down, John had one of Pettigrew's arms over his shoulder and was half lifting, half dragging him away, "make sure he stays unconscious Mr Hex."

The three of them left, leaving just Snape, the Werewolf and myself. The Werewolf was stationary staring at us as Snape and I stood shoulder to shoulder, I had my sword raised so I could scare it off if it charged, "any ideas on how to stop it without injuring Lupin?" I asked, the Werewolf charged, I raised my sword, ready to hit it with the flat again, but Snape was ready.

"Repulso," the Werewolf was thrown backwards, muzzle over paws. "If that man had taken his medicine we would not be here," Snape said, anger showing through the cracks of his icy facade. The Werewolf stood and charged again, this time I reacted first, I pulled on the air, throwing the Werewolf away from us, it stood and shook its head before howling. "I believe we could try and scare it off into the woods, we are the only people here, by now Mr Potter and Sirius will hopefully have left the area." He was cut off as the Werewolf started moving again, this time he was circling us, "As you should remember from that essay I set," Snape said quickly, "Werewolves are merely big animals, so they are chronically scared of fire, like all sane animals, and they are monsters, so are also warded by ensorcelled metals, particularly silver. We should chase the monster away from other humans, so in that direction," he pointed into the distance.

"Okay then," I said handing him my sword, "I'll need two hands for this," I set the ground on fire around us, burning a circle of land around us, the Werewolf the only gap, the creature shrieked and ran off into the forest in a panic.

When the Werewolf had run beyond my eyesight I extinguished the flames, "he should be safe until morning," Snape said handing my sword back to me, "then he will make his way back to the castle. As we should be doing now."

"No, Harry and Black are still out there, and Black is probably injured, we have to help them," Snape nodded slowly, reluctantly.

"I suppose it would not be right to leave them out here," Snape sighed and looked up. "I think I've found them," I looked up as well, there was a cone of black figures flying over the forest, it was the Dementors, and they had found someone. I cursed and ran towards them.

I sprinted through the forest, barely dodging trees, stumps, branches and rabbit holes as I ran. I emerged on the shores of a lake. Harry and Sirius were in front of me, Sirius was lying on the ground, Harry was slumped on top of him, barely conscious. I stepped forward, the Dementors, sensing another presence turned to me, I readied my wand, "expecto patronum," my patronus burst from the end of my wand. It was a phoenix. It chased the Dementors, scaring some away, protecting Harry and Sirius. My patronus was soon joined by a stag, I looked up, on the other side of the lake stood a shimmering figure that I could not make out. The two patronuses (patroni? What is the plural of patronus?) were joined by a doe as Snape arrived and cast his own patronus, together the three chased off the Dementors. When they were gone, the shimmering figure vanished. Not stopping to wonder about the figure I ran to Harry and Sirius' side, Harry passed into unconsciousness as I arrived, I checked Sirius' neck for a pulse, he was alive, but only weakly.

"They need medical attention," Snape said, I nodded as I pulled up Harry to his feet and leaned him on my shoulders. Thankfully, Harry was not well fed by his uncle and aunt so was very light so I did not struggle, Snape did the same with Sirius, except with a look of contempt on his face for the scruffy man.

We did not speak as we made our way back to the castle, Dumbledore, Filch and Alice were waiting for us when we got back. "Quickly, get them to the hospital wing," Dumbledore ordered, a look of worry in his blue eyes, Alice ran to my side and helped me with Harry, whilst Filch helped Snape with Sirius.

We put Harry and Sirius to bed in the hospital wing, where Ron was already asleep in a bed, Madame Pomfrey bustled about getting medicines and the such, glancing in fear at Black as she did so. She quickly shooed us out the hospital wing so we would not get in the way. Alice and I sat down on the bench outside the hospital wing, "so what happened? John, Hermione and Ron got back like an hour ago carrying someone they called Peter Pettigrew, but he is supposed to be dead and apparently he's an animagus now. I would ask the others, but Ron is in the infirmary, Hermione is doing something, I don't know what though and John is reporting to McGonagall."

"Where is Pettigrew?" I asked, the spell I had cast on him had worn off, or broken, or something.

"In chains designed for animagus, which were in one of the towers for some reason," Alice shrugged, "so what happened." I explained to her everything that had happened, from Black attacking Ron, to Lupin the Werewolf, to the Dementors, by the time I finished Alice was staring open mouthed. "So, Black lost twelve years of his life for nothing, wow, that has got to feel bad." She yawned, "I think we should go to bed, it's late and we can't do anything to help by staying awake any longer."

"I guess your right," I said reluctantly, we stood and walked towards the Common Room, we passed Hermione, who was walking in the opposite direction, her brow crinkled in worry. She was so nervous she did not acknowledge our greetings, moments later we passed Dumbledore, who was also heading towards the Hospital Wing, he smiled at us as we passed. When we got back to our room I collapsed onto my bed and fell asleep without even changing out of my dirty clothes.