Hi all, I know it's been a while, but here's the latest installment as this story refused to leave my brain. As usual, Joule belongs to me. Nothing else. Feel free to scream, shout, whisper, holler, comment, mutter, or just say something! The freedom of speech is highly enforced here.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-00-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-00-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-00-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
It was my stomach that woke me up.
It growled, startling me from a particular dream I'd be having. Sirius and I had been running through a graveyard, shooting spells at tiny gnomes that were dropping on us from the trees above with little umbrellas. One of the gnomes had exploded once it hit the ground, and sent both of us reeling headfirst into a headstone. Just as I'd turned my head to look at the name on the marker, a giant blanket had fallen on top of both of us, and I'd been unable to see Sirius in the dark bubble.
That's when my stomach decided to chime in, nice and loud, rushing me back to reality.
It roared softly, and I groaned, stretching to look at the clock on my nightstand. 1:45am. Much too early to go down to the Great Hall and munch on some pumpkin pasties.
Not too early for the kitchens though. Merlin, it'd been too long since I'd visited the house elves there – there really knew how to take away a witch's hunger and send her back with armloads of leftovers. Once, I'd attempted to fit too many donuts underneath the Invisibility Cloak, and one had rolled right under Filch's nose. He'd looked startled to find the circular intruder, but apparently not startled enough to keep it from being popped into his mouth.
It was quite nasty to witness. There'd been a lot of dust and muck on the floor, after all, and a bit of sticky icing on the donut itself. But who am I to judge a midnight snack, no matter how dirty?
Muttering to my stomach (which was once again practically howling), I slid out of bed and into my slippers and cozy black robe. It was a chilly night, and I shivered as I tip-toed through the Girls' Dormitory, eyeing my sleeping friends. Lily was a great subject to watch sleep – despite her conscious gracefulness, she slept with her mouth open, and Merlin could that girl drool.
I couldn't wait until James witnessed it himself.
Alice, one of our other classmates, on the other hand, had a petite snore that only occurred every fifth breath. It was most curious.
Marlene, with her great blonde curls, tossed and turned all night. Occasionally, she sleep-talked too. Lily and I had once had a full conversation with her about the importance of chipmunks in the magical world that she claimed not remembering the next morning.
My habit just so happened to be disappearing out of bed. Smiling at Lily's string of drool rolling down her chin, I lightly exited the room and snuck down the banister. Unfortunately, I didn't have the trusty Invisibility Cloak tonight, as the boys had needed it to sneak out for Mooney's special night of the month. My stomach pinched in worry at the thought of it. I'd always wanted to help out, but hadn't mastered my Animagus transformation enough to do so.
It made me feel weak.
Stomach grumbling again, I climbed out of the Fat Lady's portrait to the empty dark corridor. The castle was exceptionally dark at night, but it never felt threatening. Hogwarts, no matter how pitch black, always seemed to feel like home.
I crept down the staircases, patiently waiting for them to spiral and turn into position. I reached the first floor with no problem when I heard the creak of a door. Holding my breath, I ducked into an alcove. A shadow approached, and I froze, wishing that I'd had the Cloak with me. After a moment's hesitation, the shadow continued to pass, and I released my breath.
Reflexively, I reached into the pocket of my robe, wishing I had the Invisibility Cloak. Instead my finger found the soft, scratchy feel of parchment. The Marauders' Map. Somehow it had gotten into my pocket, probably Sirius' work when I was distracted.
I opened it in front of me, calculating my scot-free path to the kitchens, when I noticed a lone black dot moving quickly towards the entrance of the castle.
Severus Snape.
"What are you doing out of bed?" I muttered, tracing his path. What did the slippery, slimy, goody-two-shoes Slytherin have to do that was so important after hours?
Without thinking any further, I headed towards the entrance of the castle as well. I had to know what he was up to. If the Slytherins were planning anything, I had to find out.
I'll admit it, I ran.
Something about the whole situation put me on edge. My heart was pounding.
The full moon loomed above visible through the windows, its glow lighting the corridors. It seemed larger than normal. Ominous. Foreboding.
There was no way that he could know. There was no way that he could have possibly found out.
Regardless, I ran.
I'd just exited the castle when I saw Snape approach the Whomping Willow. I paused in the shadows, and watched as he darted around the violent branches to touch the knot on the trunk that froze it in motion.
He knew. Somehow, he knew.
A million curses ran through my head (as in the swearing ones, not the deathly and debilitating). Bloody hell, there was no way he could've even guessed how to gentle the Whomping Willow – only us Marauders knew that; well us and Dumbledore who had passed the secret onto Remus in the first place for his monthly retreat. But the real question remained – who told the git in the first place?
I bolted into motion, following Snape's path. If Snape found out Mooney's secret, it would be all over the school and Remus would be absolutely ruined. His reputation, his schooling, his family name – all tarnished because of a crime that he hadn't even committed. I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn't let that happen.
There was still time, I thought, running through the Whomping Willow's branches that lulled in its frozen state. If I could catch him before he saw anything, anyone, it'd be fine. We could play it off as a prank, or some dumb joke. I'd been to the Shrieking Shack only in the daytime, but there were a few hallways before the room that Remus typically struck up in for his transformation – if Snape was careful, taking his time, I could -
A bestial roar echoed through the night, as I entered the darkness of the tunnel under the tree's roots. A thousand more curses echoed through my brain. Mooney was awake.
"Lumos." I hissed as I ran, flicking my wand. My heavy breathing filled the silence, and I thanked James for the added core strength of making us do endless laps and dives on the Quidditch field. Snape had to be around here somewhere; he couldn't be that much far ahead.
Another howl bellowed, its vibrations causing some loose dirt to fall from the ceiling, and I instinctively shivered, ducking from the dust. I'd never been in the vicinity of Remus's transformation before. It had always been a curiosity of mine, what it would be like once I could witness it as an Animagus, but I'd never thought I'd be doing it fully human. I felt vulnerable, almost naked – but then again, I was a witch – I wasn't powerless after all, I had my magic. Hopefully that would be enough.
And hopefully, Snape thought some loud nifflers were loose, or maybe that someone smuggled in a rogue dragon onto the grounds. There were a lot of hopefully's going around tonight.
Thankfully, one of my hopefully's came true as a glowing circle of light came into focus, after I rounded a particularly curvy turn of the tunnel.
"Snape!" I spat out, stopping a few feet from the Slytherin's narrowed expression, as he stopped walking to turn and face me. "What are you doing? Stop, it's not safe."
"Quaid, what a surprise to see you here." He drawled, his wand shining beside him, creating shadows all around. "I wasn't sure if you were in on it, but I suppose they decided to entrust you with their dirty little secret after all. How quaint."
My heartbeat quickened. "Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but we need to get out of here –"
"Don't play me for a fool, muggleborn." He snapped. "It's almost insulting that no one else in this school has figured it out yet, that the little pack of Gryffindor misfits has been hiding a werewolf of all things below their very noses. Honestly, the pattern was just so obvious, it wasn't even clever – Lupin coming down ill every month coincidentally around the full moon. It's like your tiny little brains couldn't come up with a more ridiculous story."
I froze, swallowing hard at his words. Oh, he knew. "You don't understand. I can explain everything, I swear, but we need to get out of here."
He sneered a glance at me. "Before I can expose Potter's actions to the school? I don't think so. Don't waste my time."
Swishing his wand, Snape started to turn away back into the depths of the tunnel. A wave of panic rushed over me as I saw its end was near, and it would soon lead into the Shrieking Shack itself.
"This won't get her back, you know." I said breathlessly. "Lily. She won't forgive you for what you said, and she especially won't forgive you for this either. She loves him."
Snape halted, his back held tight with tension. There was a beat of silence. "Did she tell you that?"
Lie, I screamed inside my head. Lie, lie, lie. Perhaps Lily didn't feel love yet, but it was something awfully close to the feeling.
"She tells me everything." I said softly. "But you can't do this. Please."
My words hung in the air like a white flag, and I restrained the urge to feel embarrassed of them. I couldn't let him walk another step closer towards the shack. I would've shot an immobilizing spell at him earlier, but his dueling abilities were renowned, if not just highlighted by his tumble with Sirius. Remus typically stayed in the house's depths, but if he heard any of our conversation, it might bring out his wolf out of sheer curiosity. The others could waylay him, but only by so much – in the end, a werewolf was an overwhelming force of primordial beast that not even magic could contain.
"And why exactly," he clipped out through his teeth, "would I listen to you, Quaid?"
Good question, I answered back mentally. Great question, actually.
"Because I know you want her to be happy, at the end of the day. You care about her, and that's not something that you can turn off, no matter how much you want to."
Another pause, and he finally turned back to face me, his face expressionless. "You know when Black told me about this tunnel, I thought he was joking, surely it wouldn't be this easy to find you all. Surely he wouldn't reveal that to his closest enemy."
"Sirius told y—" I was cut off by a mournful howl that sounded alarmingly closer than before, raising the hair on the back of my neck. A few crashes followed its declaration. "Never mind, we need to go now."
I walked forward and grabbed his arm, which he recoiled back from in disgust. Great, seriously?
"Do not touch me." Snape intoned. "I may have momentarily agreed to –"
A low growl that reverberated throughout the tunnel, rippling in the air like a threat. Our eyes both glanced to the end of the tunnel to see Mooney on all fours, eyeing us with a hungry glint. My heart nearly stopped at the size of him – he was the size of a large hippogriff, a distended version caught between man and wolf with eyes so yellow and feral you'd never know there was any humanity lurking inside. Mooney sniffed air roughly, then crept forward in our direction.
My breath caught and I panicked, twitching to run in the opposite direction, far from this predator. Snape's hand abruptly snatched my wrist into an iron hold, keeping me still.
"Do not," he hissed, "move. It will trigger his prey drive."
His fingers dug into my wrist tighter, betraying his own fear. My mind whirled with much of the same, with other worrying thoughts mixed in. If Mooney was here, where were James, Sirius, and Peter? Were they hurt or injured? What if they were…
Mooney was only a handful of steps away from us now, baring his teeth. Clutching my wand tightly in my right hand, I was oddly reminded that we'd just learned werewolves were immune to most magic, which was one of the reasons the Ministry of Magic found them so hard to control.
With another growl, Mooney was right in front of us, sniffing over Snape lightly with a huff then turning to me with his bright yellow eyes. I stared into them, begging Remus to see us, to realize who we were, but nothing flickered in response. The werewolf's nose came closer and buried itself in my neck, sniffing with long pulls. I flinched at his cold nose, and focused on my breathing to try and calm myself and ignore that his teeth were right at my throat. Was this how it ended?
I stared straight ahead, seeing mostly Mooney's mottled fur, and then – a flicker of movement. Several things happened next at all once.
A deep bark sounded from behind Mooney, which I was overjoyed to discover was Sirius in his giant black dog form. Turning towards the challenge, the werewolf was gored from the side by James in his stag form, using his antlers to pierce and push Mooney to the tunnel's wall. The werewolf roared in pain, and slashed out to engage with the two Animagi.
A moment later, Snape blasted the ceiling of the tunnel with a spell, causing dust and dirt to rain down in a cloud, providing us cover. His grip on my wrist never released as he dragged me from the chaos, leading us towards the exit, cursing under his breath. We raced down the length of the tunnel at a breakneck speed, and finally, finally, the end was visible by the soft glow of moonlight that lay in front of us half a Quidditch field away. Looking down, I saw Peter keeping pace with us in his rat form, squeaking lightly to encourage us to run faster.
A high-pitched whimper sounded from behind us, and I reflexively turned, knowing it was Sirius. Seconds later, a dark form flew towards us, and hit both Snape and I straight on, causing us to collapse under its weight. James weakly snorted in his stag form, as he attempted to untangle himself from us after being launched by Mooney. I gasped as one of his hooves hit me in the stomach, and he gave me an apologetic glance. Staggering, he rose to stand in front of us as Mooney approached, with red coating his muzzle.
Looking to my left, Snape lay unconscious on the ground, a trace of blood near his head. It seemed like this was all some sort of dream gone wrong, like a nightmare that I couldn't wake from. Bending down, I checked that he was still breathing, if at an irregular rate. My wand had been knocked out of my grasp, now somewhere in the shadows.
When I looked up, Mooney pounced in an almost graceful leap. Batting away James like he weighed nothing, the werewolf, my friend, my Remus, my Mooney lunged forward for Snape's throat, death the only intent in his eyes. I screamed and flung myself over Snape to shield him, because surely, surely Remus wouldn't hurt me. Right?
Wrong.
A full set of teeth sunk into my right shoulder, searing in absolute life-altering pain. They released me from their hold a moment later, as Sirius grabbed Mooney by the throat, ripping into his with a rabid growl. I gasped, feeling blood pour out of me, as I watched the werewolf and black dog struggle for dominance. My blood was trickling down and pooled onto Snape's chest, which I idly wiped away only to discover his wand tangled in his robes. It was longer than mine, darker than mine, but it had an oddly delicate pattern carved around the base – a strange, looping enigma of some sort. Beside me, James struggled to stand, but it appeared one of his ankles had been twisted. Peter was screeching at me by my right shoe, trying to tug me away from the battle.
I looked up and knew what I had to do.
"Sirius!" I screamed, sitting up with my final strength, wand pointed. "To me!"
Without hesitating, the black dog raced back to my side, as Mooney paused before following at full speed. Not quick enough though.
I shot a forceful exploding spell at the ceiling between us and our werewolf friend, and dirt and stone waterfalled down in an endless barrier, collapsing the tunnel. When the dust cleared, only a mountain of rubble stood with faint echoes of an angry roar on the other side. My eyes drooped, and I sat back as the radiating pain from my shoulder soon overtook me.
"Joule, Jou Jou?" Sirius scrambled over to me after shifting quickly back into his human form. He looked panicked, his gray eyes wide and darting over me as he delicately cupped my cheek. His gaze raked over my shoulder, and he flinched visibly at the bite. "Talk to me, say something."
"Something." I whispered, leaning into his hand, fading fast. The world had taken on a blurry sheen, but Sirius's eyes never left mine. Staring into their gray depths, I vowed to never forget their exact hue, their exact sparkle, their exact amount of love that they held for me.
"Peter," James's strained voice came from the side. "Go get Dumbledore. Tell him there's been an accident, and that we need help immediately."
Lurching to the side, my strength failed me, but warm familiar arms soon encircled me. I collapsed, breathing the pain in and out from my body as I burned from the inside. My veins felt like they were on fire, betraying my body for everything that they'd ever done for me. A couple whimpers escaped my lips, unable to be held back, and the arms only tightened around me.
"Don't do this, don't leave me." Sirius whispered, his voice cracking. "Stay with me, live. I'm sorry, love, I'm so unforgivably sorry, but please stay. Please."
There were more words, but the pain soon erased them until it became my whole world.