Just as before, Crookshanks led the way. Lupin was right behind him, with Pettigrew between him and Ron whilst I helped him hobble along, Hermione closely following as Snape followed after, the rear being brought up by Harry and Sirius where they talked quietly to one another. Part of me wanted to be there with them, but with Ron's leg the way it is, I had to help him. I still couldn't believe it. The man who I had been worrying about since Christmas, and it turns out I needn't have bothered. He was innocent. He was my dad. It had all been just a huge misunderstanding, and I planned to write a very rude and curse filled Howler to the ministry to tell them that they had better shape up their investigative skills for putting an innocent man away for twelve years. Twelve years, that meant he had been around for the first four years of my life, but was he? I had no memory of him, though I didn't have a great many memories of that age anyway.

He seemed to have an interest in me, he'd pretended to be a stray dog just to spend time with me after all, but at the same time, I couldn't help but worry over these many questions that were tumbling through my head. I wonder what he and Harry were talking about. I recalled Ron telling me at some point that Sirius was Harry's godfather, I wonder if I had one? Was it Lupin? Had it been James Potter? Heaven forbid it had been Pettigrew. I don't think I could stomach that on top of everything else. "Easy Ron." I murmured to him, helping him up out of the hollow of the Willow then pulled Hermione up behind me.

All of us were quiet, not knowing what more to say. I couldn't wait for this night to be over, fully planning on a good night's sleep before launching into a full on interrogation of Lupin and Sirius tomorrow. I flinched slightly. What about Leo? He's been my dad for the past eight years now. That's half my life. Somehow it felt like a two way betrayal. Thinking of one dad made me feel guilty towards the other, it was all very messed up and confusing. In fact, I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I hadn't realised we'd stopped until I bumped into Ron, looking up to see moonlight pouring across the sky and touching the dew dipped grass. Moonlight.

It was the full-bloody-moon. Immediately I grabbed Ron and Hermione, pushing them backwards away from Lupin as he stood there, rigid and unmoving. "Oh my…he didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!"

"Run." Sirius croaked, already hurrying towards us. "Run! Now!" But I couldn't, not without Ron and Pettigrew who were still attached to him. I shifted Ron as quickly as I could, holding his arm across my shoulders as he struggled to remain upright before pointing my wand.

"Relashio!" The chains broke but I immediately grabbed Pettigrew too, hauling the both of them back as Sirius rushed past us, yelling for us to run. "Harry! Hermione! Go! Up to the castle, hurry!" But it was too late. As I heard the sound of bones reshaping and a deep snarl that sounded feral and wild, I turned to see Lupin already changing. For a moment I was mesmerised, freezing up in order to watch the transformation which was happening far quicker than I had expected and as Lupin's transformation completed, he ripped the manacle off of him and howled.

Sirius leaped at him, transforming as he did so in order to clamp his jaws around Lupin's head, trying to drag him away. With a start, I continued to pull the others back, putting them closer to the Willow so that the branches would protect them from Lupin then waved my wand at Snape, drawing him with us too and in my focus on the others, I completely forgot about Pettigrew. When Harry yelled out the disarming spell, I looked up in alarm to see Lupin's wand flying out of his hand. "Stay where you are!" With a foul grin, Pettigrew vanished as he transformed into a rat and scurried into the night, the manacle binding him and Ron no longer holding him.

There was a howl and I looked up, seeing Sirius bleeding and Lupin running for it, moving across the grounds. "Stay here!" I ordered then leaped forwards, turning into a lioness then landed on all fours with a heavy thud, roaring as I streaked after Lupin. I lunged for him, sweeping out his feet to make him crumble then pounced. We scrambled at one another, my fangs flashing as I tried to pin him down without my claws, not wanting to hurt him but several bursts of pain flashed across my body and I could feel the cool exposure of my blood as Lupin blindly attacked. Opening his great maw, he clamped his teeth down into a muscly part of my shoulder which hurt like hell, but wasn't too severe. I yowled, tumbling with him as we rolled before all at once I kicked him off with my hind legs, snarling at him. All I could think about was what Hermione had said before, how it had been dangerous to let Lupin roam about freely, that he could have easily have hurt someone.

I was worried about the others, especially Sirius, but they were together so I focused my full attention on Lupin. The only thing I could do was drive him into the Forbidden Forest and keep him there for as long as the moon was up. If he got into the castle or even Hogsmeade…I dreaded to think. So with another powerful leap, I sprung at Lupin's werewolf form and swiped at his face, nipped at his tail then made him chase me across the grounds at full pelt before we disappeared into the trees.

Taking him as far away from the castle as possible, we fought for a while, leaving new scratches on my and one of them was fairly deep, however after a while we seemed to reach a stalemate. Since I had stopped being aggressive, Lupin also ceased fighting me. We prowled one another for a while, and every time he tried to take off I'd block him, snarling to bare my fangs to keep him in place, occasionally hooking my claws at him to threaten him until eventually, he took to just shuffling around. He'd howl upon occasion, but once he lost interest in me, he seemed a lot better.

There were no humans nearby to tempt his instincts, so I stayed as an animagus and just followed him around. In fact, I found it rather fascinating after a while, watching him this way. In fact, I'm pretty sure he was trying to teach me things. He'd growl and sniff, clamping his jaws to indicate to come and sniff something with him, then he'd follow the scent, tracking it through the forest. He was teaching me how to track scents, which was incredible. I'd never stayed so long as a lion before, so now that I was like this without the option of switching back for a long while at least, it proved the perfect opportunity to explore.

I had no idea what was going on back at the castle, and I was anxious to try and track down Pettigrew since he'd escaped, but right now Lupin needed me more. In fact, he turned out to be surprisingly docile. We'd stopped to rest for a while, allowing me to lick and nurse my wounds whereby he'd come over and sniffed at them, giving one on my shoulder a tentative lick as if in apology so I did the same. It seemed to satisfy him, as after a while he lay down next to me in order to sleep, clearly having had enough for one evening.

Having no inclination to sleep, I stayed alert all through the night, my ears twitching and swivelling at the slightest sound. Despite my exhaustion, I was determined to keep watch, though as the pale rays of moonlight began to fade, I could sense the change in the air that indicated that morning was coming. The air grew heavy with moisture, the temperature dropping slightly before it started to rise, and things became quieter as the nocturnal animals returned to their burrows and nests. My eyes began to droop of their own accord so I looked over to Lupin, seeing his furred flank rising and falling deeply before I rested my head over my paws, closing my eyes as I gave out to the tiredness and just as I fell asleep, I saw the fur beginning to recede and his body shift back into a human, giving me that last bit of satisfaction that all was well before finally sleeping.