As the school term came closer, more and more incidents continued to crop up so I became increasingly busy. So busy that I didn't even have a single moment to catch Remus in order to talk to him about Tonks, who I had seen since I'd had that talk with Molly. She was right. Tonks looked as dreary and miserable as Remus, which made me all the more fired up to kick him into gear and make him see sense. They were both clearly unhappy about being apart, so what was the point in making each other suffer? Ridiculous. If I ever fell in love, I would tell that person directly and if they were stupid enough to disagree, then I'd smack them around the head until they realised how moronic they were being.
There were more dementor attacks than ever and someone even tried to cart off Florean Fortescue from his shop after he'd made a statement about accepting muggle-borns into our society without prejudice. It was lucky that I just so happened to be in the area sweeping Diagon Alley in preparation for when Harry and the others would come here for shopping, as I'd heard the sounds of crashing and banging in the ice cream parlour and rushed in. To my shock, I was faced with a werewolf. Worse still, it was the full moon.
Thick jaws were salivating hungrily, yellow eyes snarling as the oversized head whirled around to face me and I stared at it for a moment. This werewolf looked rather different from Remus, thicker, more muscular and with several more prominent scars running across it's body, sustained from the many numerous fights. The werewolf leaped at me and I only had a split second to drop into a lion, roaring in response before leaping upwards. We collided in the air but the werewolf had a greater momentum and we crashed through a window and out into the street. Scrambling to get back up, the both of us faced one another with snarls and growls, my claws flexing as my body tensed up, prepared to fight.
Throwing back it's head to howl, I seized that moment to rush the werewolf and go for it's neck. It was quick to jump back and in the next heartbeat, we were snapping at one another, rolling and tumbling in order to gain the advantage. There were shouts now coming from everywhere, the alarm being raised and someone sent for the aurors but upon seeing the werewolf, everyone screamed and ran back inside to safety as I continued to fight it. The scent of so many humans made the werewolf go crazy for blood, instincts driving it to attack so as it leaped towards a screaming witch, I managed to roll from my back onto my front and bit down on its leg and drag it back, slamming my front paws down and digging my claws in so that it couldn't escape.
It howled as I roared, the powerful body somehow managing to rip itself free and I could feel the flesh and fur being torn under my claws as it twisted around in order to try and lock its maw around my leg. I drew back and stepped on it's throat, pinning it down and roared so ferociously in it's face that it whined softly and went very still, now subject to a new alpha. I held it until the auras arrived whereby they stunned it and quickly secured it before it could escape or hurt anyone, allowing me to step off and stand up, transforming back into a human. Hissing I looked down at myself, covered in scrapes and bruises but otherwise, I was fine.
Fortescue needed to go to St Mungo's, though he was alive and unbitten, thankfully. He won't be turning into an ice-cream loving werewolf anytime soon, and as I accompanied him to the hospital in order to quickly ask him what happened, he promised me that I would be given free ice cream for the rest of my life, which made me grin. He'll bounce back. I'm sure of it. The night was long and rough, and instead of going back to the Burrow, I fell asleep in my favourite chair by one of the many fires of Grimmauld Place whilst knowing that Remus was upstairs in the attic room where Buckbeak used to stay, dad keeping him company as an animagus, having resumed their previous tradition though Remus had taken the Wolfsbane Potion I'd brewed for him every day of the week leading up to the full moon.
When they came down and found me there, then learned of what happened, dad was immediately worried about me but I assured him that I was fine, and before I could even ask to talk to Remus, he'd vanished. I think he was trying to avoid me now. The rascal. Dad seemed to catch onto the strange behaviour and asked whether it was about Tonks. I was glad that he knew, since it meant that Uncle Rem had confided in him so we talked about it for a while. "I think he's being silly and overly cautious. There's no reason why he should have to deprive himself of something that will clearly make both of them very happy." I fumed as I tore my way through several sandwiches, having woken up starving around midday.
"I agree, but Moony has always been that way. He was shocked enough that we even wanted to be friends with him in the first place, shocked more when we found out about his secret and remained his friends, and I think even now he's still astonished how well he gets treated within the Order." Dad agreed, the both of us sat in our favourite chairs like we were in conference together, which in some ways we were. "He thinks he's doing the right thing by Tonks by pushing her away."
"Has he even seen what she's like since he rejected her?"
"I'm not sure, I didn't ask."
"Well, make him see, or at least tell him." I huffed, setting aside a half eaten sandwich as I was now full enough to be content to sit and boil over my irritation. "What do you think James and Lily would say to him if they were here?"
"Probably the exact same thing you are, though Lily would put it more gently. She was always a tender person, so long as you didn't get on her bad side." Dad chuckled softly, scratching his neck as he thought. "James would urge him to go find his own happiness, that he needed to stop seeing himself as a monster and remember that he was a person too." Giving another huff, I snatched the sandwich back and crammed it into my mouth so that when I spoke, it came out in a garbled jumble of full cheeks and annoyance.
"Well, tell him that too!"