Fifty-Four

Full Moon

Viorica Eddy may not have known the secret passages as well as some of the other Slytherin, but it was obvious from the start that she knew them a great deal better than Ivano Disparte. She wasted little time in slipping into the passages, finding him walking across towards the corridor leading to the Muggle Studies room. That was when he turned and pressed the small Celtic knot that opened the passage leading into the tunnel connecting the Muggle Farm to the castle.

Knowing there was no way to follow him through the tunnel without getting caught, Viorica decided to pull up her hood and dash out of the castle, sprinting across the more open areas of the grounds and outside the main gate, allowing herself to slow to a very fast walk as she hurried towards the tracks.

As Laura walked through the lower corridors, she couldn't help but reminisce about her years as a prefect doing the same thing. Even so, it was a very different perspective having to be in charge of getting everyone secure before lockdown and being the one stuck on the inside. She checked her watch; five minutes left. Laura stepped over to the Grinning Grackle.

"Lockdown check, how many unaccounted?" Laura asked.

"One," the Grackle squawked, picking out a pebble with the number written on it. Laura frowned at that, knocking on the door firmly. Maurice looked out the door.

"Someone's missing, who is it?" Laura asked.

"It's Viorica Eddy. Apparently no one has seen her since dinner, when she decided to leave early," Maurice explained. "Max and Cain said that she didn't seem upset about anything, but they wondered if they unnerved her because they were talking about the full moon tonight and nobody knowing where Matteo Disparte is."

"I bet that does have something to do with it," Laura realized. "Thanks, Maurice, I'll look into it. Lockdown is coming in four minutes either way."

"Alright," Maurice said, closing the door.

Laura dashed up the stairs and out the nearest door, pulling out her broom. She flew straight until she past the Hogwarts main gate, putting the broom away just as the castle began to lockdown. Great sheets of rock seemed to spring up out of the ground, covering the gate, lower windows, and doors. Laura sighed.

"Father is not going to be happy about this in the morning," Laura murmured to herself. At that reminder, she looked to the skyline, seeing the moon rising. Turning into a Cu Sith, Laura began to sniff around. Picking up a scent, she hurried to find Viorica.

Severus had to scramble to get everything done with both Danny and Jennifer out of the castle. He wasted no time after securing Danny's areas to run straight to the Potion Lab and into Jennifer's office to move Dagda's Cauldron to its secure location and bar the door to the Perch. Then he skipped stairs to the Ravenclaw rooms.

"Lockdown check, how many unaccounted?" Severus asked.

"All accounted, Headmaster," said the portrait of Dame Rachel.

"Thank you," Severus said, cutting through the nursery. He glanced over as the balcony of the nursery was covered with stone and then stepped into his study.

"All secured, Armando?" Severus asked, expecting an affirmative response.

"The castle is secured, Headmaster, but there are some individuals unaccounted for. I'm afraid they may have slipped out just before lockdown went into effect," Armando admitted reluctantly.

Severus stared at him.

"Is that taking into account that Professors Lupin, Disparte, Carnegie, Black, Craw, Brittle, Andrew, and Quintin should not have been included in that total?" Severus asked.

"Yes, Professor. Still missing are Laura Lupin and Viorica Eddy."

"Viorica Eddy?" Severus repeated in alarm. "Armando, ask one of the Corey paintings to run over to the alchemist shop to see if she snuck to Hogsmeade for some reason. While you're at it, see if Alicia can find her... or at least find Laura. She may not know what Viorica looks like."

"Yes, Headmaster," Armando said. Severus paced, attempting to fathom what might have prompted their absence and came up with a blank, which worried him even more.

"Dad?" Severus looked up to see one of the Corey paintings standing in a different frame. "Dad, nobody's come through the alchemist shop, but Jack Harper wants you to know he's really worried. My real self left on an emergency and he was instructed to give Matteo Disparte his potion tonight, but Matteo never came in. Jack thinks the fact that my real self wasn't there may have made him not want to come pick it up."

Severus stared at the painting, feeling his blood run cold and a sensation of unshakable dread.

"Well, I guess there's no avoiding it now, is there?" Severus told himself. "Armando, get Icarus in here... now!" he snapped, dashing over to the chess set and moving the pawn up.

Instantaneously, the board let off a bright flash, and a queen stood in its place.

"Did Ginny head home?" Severus asked Armando.

"Yes, Headmaster," Armando confirmed.

"Well, tell Sagittari to head to the hospital wing and wait for incoming; he'll likely be getting patients tonight," Severus ordered, digging in his desk drawers to grab his Doorlift override ring. "Dumbledore, hand me the experimental temporal potion I've been working on plus three emergency phials," he continued, the portrait of Dumbledore producing them somberly. Severus plucked them out of the painting and grabbed his cloak.

"Dad? Alicia says the nearest paintings to Laura are at the Muggle Farm," the Corey painting informed him.

"At least that's something," Severus murmured, putting his wand in his sleeve. "Tell her she can go, I'll take the Doorlift over."

"You need me, Severus?" Icarus asked, materializing.

"Icarus, I need to handle a student crisis, so you're in charge of the castle," Severus said, looking around as if wondering if he should bring anything else.

"Me?" Icarus asked in complete shock.

"Viorica Eddy and Laura Lupin are missing, so I'm going after them. Hermione is in charge of castle security at the moment and Sagittari is in the hospital wing."

"Good luck, Severus," Icarus said, watching as Severus paused at the Doorlift. Severus flipped up a hidden latch and pushed in the seal of the ring. There was a rumble, and Severus stepped out. Icarus floated over to the chessboard.

"Level two," Icarus said, looking at it curiously before sighing. "Left himself strapped, did he? Or so he thinks, at any rate. Armando, tell Janus Craw I want him to guard the grounds. Please ask Hermione to arrange for ghosts to patrol the halls; I'm sure Nick would be glad to help her with that. Could you please ask Sinistra to send me the latest star charts, and ask Professor Rogue to send his painting irregulars to find out any information about werewolf sightings in the area. Also, have him contact Alexandria to make sure she's informed of our current situation," Icarus said, floating up to the Observatory to turn the telescope around.

Viorica was a little uncomfortable about getting too close to the farmhouse, but she was also uncomfortable about getting too far in the Dark Forest, especially after remembering just how many of the dark creatures she had learned about in class actually lived there. Looking at the trees around her, Viorica found one to climb up, using a first-year gripping spell to get a little higher than what she could normally manage. From there, she watched the moon rise higher in the sky, crouching down on the limb she was on with her wand in hand. In the distance, Viorica heard a howl, but whether it was a regular wolf or a werewolf, Viorica wasn't sure. Was there a way to tell? And how were they at climbing trees?

Suddenly she began to hear the pad, pad, pad of a creature below her and the sound of sniffing and snuffling. At first she didn't see anything, then she noticed the shadow of a creature going in and out of the Forest's treeline and was even now rooting around on the ground. Finally the large shadow sniffed around the base of the tree she was sitting in, and for a moment Viorica wondered if it was the wolf that had howled earlier. Just then the shape changed, and although there wasn't enough light to really see clearly, Viorica was pretty sure that the shadow was a lot taller now.

Laura called up a wisplight, catching sight of the girl's legs as she tried to balance herself in the tree.

"Viorica Eddy! What in blazes are you doing up there? Come down right now! You're in danger out here!" Laura whispered loudly at her.

"I know, but so is Matteo. I don't want anyone to hurt him..."

"What! Are you crazy? Never mind, we'll talk about it later! I need to get you to safety first," Laura hissed.

"But I'm pretty sure that Professor Disparte is going to hurt him..."

"The only one in danger of getting hurt right now is us! Come quickly! There's an emergency tunnel nearby and we need to get to it before anything bad happens," Laura ordered, holding her hands up long enough to help her down. "Now! Come on," she said, half-leading, half-pulling Viorica towards the tunnel.

Laura realized they were in extreme danger of being seen as they moved away from the tree line and ran towards the tunnel at the edge of the fields. The full moon was bright now, and it was casting deep shadows away from them as they ran. That was when Laura's fears became reality with the unmistakable howl of a werewolf, and Laura could tell from how loud it was that the creature already had them in his sight.

"Run! Into the tunnel!" Laura shouted at Viorica and whipped around with her wand ready. She ached to change forms, but that was no longer an option. She was going to have to hold it off until Viorica had time to escape. "Monstre hostis!" Laura cast, revealing a pair of yellow eyes glittering from the brush.

Laura ducked even before the werewolf leapt, knowing from experience that despite being at the forest's edge, its powerful legs would carry it right to her. She slid underneath the beast and quickly looked for Viorica. Noticing the girl reach the tunnel and slip inside, Laura quickly slammed the trap door shut and threw a silver padlock on it before rolling over to try and defend herself.

But taking the extra step of putting the padlock on had cost her that instant of time she needed to turn around fully. The werewolf was already upon her, taking a painful bite at her shoulder. It caused her to cry out in pain, and she felt his claws dig into her leg as it held her down.

Suddenly the werewolf was hit with a blast of magic so powerful that it was propelled backwards, releasing Laura in the process. Looking up in confusion, Laura saw the back of someone in black robes and cloak. The figure tried tossing a bag of sleeping exhalant at the werewolf; but the previous stun hadn't lasted as long as it should have. As the beast charged, the sleeping dust missed its mark completely. Even in her state, it didn't take her long to realize that the black-cloaked figure was Headmaster Snape, now with his wand out and in a particular defensive stance that revealed to Laura that Severus knew just how bad this battle was likely to go.

Ivano and Anna were in the farmhouse kitchen making tea when Anna looked out the window with a gasp and then suddenly collapsed. Ivano immediately dropped to her side, wondering why she was glowing.

"Anna, what is wrong? John, Anna suddenly collapsed!" Ivano said. John hurried over, then happened to glance out the window.

"Christ! We've got to get that door open!" John said and hurried out of the kitchen.

"Are you insane?" Ivano said. "He'll be disoriented!"

"Look out the bloody window!" John snapped, disappearing in to the basement. Ivano stood and gasped, staring at the battle being waged out in the fields between a dark shadow that could only be a werewolf and a wizard, a flash now and again caused by a magic strike.

"Matteo! Matteo, no!" Ivano said, running out onto the porch, shouting his name.

Awake! Awake!

Remus Lupin looked blearily around his vault in the basement of the farm house, growling softly. He thought he had heard a familiar woman's voice just then. Lifting his furry neck, he saw Padfoot lying in on corner, sleeping.

Awake! Awake! Your daughter is in danger! If you do not awaken, they will die! Only you can save them!

Remus became wide awake, and with it, his hearing improved. He could now hear the vicious growls of another werewolf, the shouting of a name, and the sounds of battle. That was when he noticed that the vault was cracked open.

Remus pushed through the door with incredible strength, knocking John off his feet and bounding past Ivano, still on the porch shouting at his son to try and get him to back off. The werewolf in the field had a wizard penned and looked as if it was about to finish him off. But when Remus reached the fight, the werewolf realized that Remus was the greater threat and turned his full attention to the other werewolf, the two of them immediately locking into a fierce battle.

"Dad!" Laura cried out helplessly, attempting to sit up. "They're going to end up killing each other!"

"I know," Severus said with a cringe as he also sat up, bit and bleeding in several locations. "I have one option other than killing them outright. I have a sleeping dust powerful enough to subdue werewolves, but I only have two more pouches left and we can't afford my wasting another one. We're going to have to wait until they're nearly stationary before I can risk it. One of them will need to get the upper hand."

Remus was aware when the wizard stood back up; even as Remus was painfully receiving a bite too near the neck for his liking, forcing him to claw back. He noticed that the wizard had a bag in his hand, even as the other werewolf attempted to get a better position. The wizard was waiting for something.

Realizing at last what the wizard must be waiting for, Remus momentarily let the other werewolf gain some ground, knowing it would cause a change in his balance. As soon as he felt his foe's weight shift, Remus used the momentum to flip him over and get on top of him. The other werewolf clawed savagely at Remus when he realized he had been penned down.

Severus threw the sleeping powder straight at their heads, the bag opening up the moment it hit. The glistening powder spread across them, immediately weakening them. Severus knew better than to take any more chances, throwing his last one straight at Matteo's nose. It hit Matteo dead on target, the bag releasing sleeping exhalant in front of both of their muzzles. At last, the two werewolves collapsed in a heap.

Realizing that Anna was probably the only thing keeping him alive at that moment, Severus drank the full contents of one of the prismatic phials and then stumbled over to Laura's side to check on her. Fortunately, she was no where near as bad as he was, so he brought out the other potion bottle.

"Here, drink this, and don't ask questions," Severus warned her hoarsely, giving her the temporal potion. He was still sitting over her to try and figure out whether or not it worked when Ivano and Sirius raced over.

"You didn't give her one of those damned Elixirs, did you?" Sirius snapped at Severus dangerously.

"Good god, man, have a heart, look at him!" Ivano protested. "It's a miracle he's even alive right now!"

"Never mind that, we need to get Laura to the castle. We can take the tunnel exit. Viorica is already there," Severus rasped.

"Yes, okay, but let me carry her. You don't look like you're up to it at the moment. What about Moony and Matteo?" Sirius asked.

"That sleep dust has a pinch of wolfbane in it... they should sleep until morning," Severus murmured. "A watch would be advisable, however."

"I will watch them, Severus. I owe you that for not interfering sooner, but I was afraid for my son," Ivano admitted somberly.

"I understand," Severus said, forcing himself to move.

It took sheer willpower to make it all the way to the emergency Doorlift and put the ring in. But once they were on the other side of the door and standing in the medical wing, Severus' condition quickly deteriorated and he collapsed.