Starlight and Moonlight 4

Starlight and Moonlight

A Harry Potter Fan Fiction Piece

By Megaella Ballanche-Viewlard

Part Four: Full Moon

All of them viewed the waxing moon with increasing dread.

Harry sincerely doubted if he would ever get used to it. Not even Sirius who had seen it happen more times than he could count could sit still as the time drew near.

Remus was currently pacing back and forth his office in the teachers' corridor, adamantly refusing to go to his quarters in Gryffindor Tower. There was a stricken look on his pale face as the seconds ticked by.

He'd sent messages to the others via his owl Luna and had borrowed Harry's Hedwig and Ron's weeny owl Pigwidgeon (or Pig as the tiny bird's master called him) to send reminders.

Remus would not be staying in the Tower that night – he'd made that perfectly clear. As prefect, Hermione was tasked to bring all the Gryffindors into the Tower by exactly eight in the evening when the moon would be at its fullest. Under no circumstances was she to let her guard down unless someone fell ill and had to be taken to the hospital wing. Harry had opted to join Sirius at Remus's office that night and Ron had volunteered to stay watch at the door in case someone was foolhardy enough to look for the DADA professor tonight of all nights.

Professor Snape had sent a bottle of some pain-killer he'd managed to whip up on short notice and was civil enough to alert Madam Pomfrey to make up a bed in the hospital wing just in case. He wasn't the least bit civil with Sirius, though – after all, who could forgive someone who deliberately lures you into a werewolf's lair in the hope you'd end up getting eaten in revenge for something you said? He vocally hoped that the wolf Remus would become would have the Transfiguration professor for supper. Sirius would've picked a fight at that point if Remus hadn't chided him for his "bloody flaring temper".

To everyone's surprise, Professor Sinagtala volunteered to watch over the Gryffindors for the evening, citing no other motive but loyalty to the house she'd belonged to. Harry looked more than a little dubious at this when she stopped by Remus's office late that afternoon, but the slender DADA teacher had been cordial with his amber-eyed colleague and gave no trace of fear or foreboding whatsoever. Indeed, he was even grateful for her initiative. Sirius, on the other hand, was mourning over not being able to join Starlight in keeping watch over the Gryffindors. Harry had to kick his foster-father's shins under the table lest he started volunteering to stay at the Tower, leaving the petrified Harry to watch over Remus.

The younger Gryffindors could not understand the sudden restriction to their movements after eight in the evening. The older students, however, could not eat much at the supper table, their hearts heavy. Before, they had taken Remus's monthly absences to mean the cold or some other common malady: nothing to worry about, really. But now that they knew the truth, they could not help but worry.

"Must be very painful", someone murmured at the table that night.

"Must be", someone agreed.

"Dangerous, too." Mumbled agreement followed that.

Those in the other three Houses ate heartily as young people expecting a Saturday evening filled with fun usually did. Much as they tried to cajole the Gryffindors into having fun, nothing could lighten their mood and the silence in their part of the Great Hall was rather pronounced. Starlight came to their table to join them in Remus's place, as it had become his habit to join his charges at their table instead of joining the other teachers. The smaller first-years barraged her with questions as to where their Head of House was. She replied to them in her rich voice, lowered this time to a soft, caressing, almost motherly whisper as she gathered the frightened ten and eleven-year-olds to her.

"He doesn't want any of you to get hurt, see?", she said after telling them that the Change was going to turn their kind-hearted Head into a bloodthirsty monster for the evening. "But I promised him that I would take care of you while he's away." Gently, she thumbed off the tear that was rolling down the plump cheek of a little Gryffindor girl who had become rather attached to Remus. "Don't worry about him; he'll be okay and will be back with you tomorrow." However, she was more than a little shirty with the older students who wondered aloud what it would be like to see a man turn into a wolf. "Have a little more respect for your teacher", she scolded them, eyebrows furrowing dangerously. "How would you feel if you were in his shoes? Would you like your friends to turn you into some kind of sideshow freak?" As they had never seen Starlight lose her temper in class – though she could get more than a little sarcastic when she felt that they weren't using their heads – her severe admonition silenced them. "There will be no more talk of paying Professor Lupin a visit tonight", she said severely. "After dinner, I want you all to head straight for the Tower – and no buts about it."

For Remus, the Change was an unmitigated horror every single time.

A few minutes before the moon came to its fullest, just as the pale light of the moon crept in through his office window, he would feel an awful itch creeping over every square inch of his skin. Slowly, the itch would give way to a sensation akin to a million pinpricks poking into his pale flesh.

It was during this part of the Change that he dared not look into a mirror as he knew only too well what he would see. Harry had, thank God, prudently excised the room of any mirrors several hours earlier. Remus, thus, didn't have to torture himself at seeing a ghastly being with hair growing everywhere and fangs growing sharper with each second.

Pain shot throughout his frail body in electrifying spasms. Remus had to grit his teeth and hug himself to bear the pain, toppling from his chair as he did and falling to his knees. It was as if he were a rag doll being pulled by two warring little girls. Some unseen being yanked at him from all directions, tearing him apart. Flesh, bone, and sinew seemed to tear within him; the pain was unbearable. He collapsed onto the floor, writhing in the throes of the Change.

Harry and Sirius could only watch him as it was beyond even their own unusual powers to help and their faces were stricken, made ashen by a pain that they could do nothing about. Sirius turned away, not wanting his foster-son to see his tears; he had seen this terrible transformation more times than he cared to count. Harry, on the other hand, stared in horrified fascination as his gentle godfather's body was wracked by convulsions. Terrified and speechless, the boy could only watch as Remus's fragile body transformed into the powerful, more muscular one of a huge gray wolf.

"No…" Remus struggled to keep the beast from unleashing himself. "No…!" His one cry of pain dissolved into a soul-wrenching howl that shattered the silence of that moonlit night. Outside the room, Ron shivered at the thought of what was happening within.

"Now, Harry!", Sirius cried as the Change drew to its terrifying conclusion.

With one voice, they both shouted, "Metamorphose!" Their bodies melted into the forms they had chosen as Animagi. Where Sirius had stood was the giant black Newfoundland dog they called Padfoot while Harry pressed himself into that of Prongs, the majestic pronghorn stag his father had chosen to be so long ago. The two beasts moved forward to where the visibly trembling wolf lay, giving him whatever comfort they could give on that night of nights.

So it was Starlight who created the Potion that deadened my taste for blood, the wolf called Moony thought as he stared with unseeing tawny eyes into the fire. All those years studying werewolves – what had they been for? Surely she didn't badger for a grant just to find some way with which to kill me! He sighed, lost in contemplation of those thoughts.

Back at Gryffindor Tower, the first-years fretted over being sent to bed earlier than usual on a Saturday night.

However, they obeyed without question along with those in the second and third year when they saw the grim look on Professor Sinagtala's face.

The older students could not sleep, nor did they have the heart to go after their usual Saturday night pursuits. They sat about in the common room, talking listlessly among themselves until the warm smell of melting butter made them turn their heads to the fireplace.

Starlight stood there, waving her wand over a cauldron and muttering something under breath. To everyone's amazement, the rattle of dried corn filled their ears as it cascaded into the cauldron seemingly from nowhere. There was a second cauldron, this time filled with mulled cider to draw away the chill of that bitter mid-autumn night. Their pretty teacher waved her wand over the floor and a wizard Monopoly set appeared on hearthrug, immediately grabbing their attention.

"I take it we're all in for a pretty rough night", Starlight smiled at them. "In which case, we may as well make the most of it." They couldn't agree with her more.

While the others crowded around the game, Starlight moved for the door, beckoning Hermione to follow her. She handed the brown-haired girl a small sphere made of darkest obsidian, explaining to her that it was a Speak-Easy, a sort of communicator.

"If I need you to do something for me, you'll hear my voice through the Speak-Easy", Starlight informed Hermione. She tested the Speak-Easy she held in her own hand. With each word, what had been a black globe grew transparent and glowed ethereally. Hermione's eyes glittered with great interest as it did so and nodded her agreement. "Very well, then. I'll be leaving you for a bit. I'll see you in about half an hour."

Professor Snape was waiting for her outside. He looked tense, rather drawn and shaky.

"Is everything ready?", Starlight asked him. He nodded mutely and the two of them made their way towards a wide, deserted balcony towards the very top of the school. There, Snape had set up two cauldrons, both of which hung from sturdy kettle irons over brightly burning fires. Each cauldron was set in the center of a magical circle inscribed on the floor with a flickering blue light. Two tables stood beside those cauldrons, each laden with an assortment of bottles, flasks, jars, and phials filled with some very exotic substances. There was also a fresh bunch of Wolfsbane cut from the Forbidden Forest, chopped up fine and ready to go into the pots.

Starlight's eyes flashed as she rolled up the sleeves of her robe, covering her clothes with an apron into which pocket she'd stuffed her wand.

"Let's get started", she declared to Snape who followed suit.

A battered spiral notebook – the sort used by Muggle schoolchildren – lay open on the table closest to Starlight. A number of notes had been scribbled to it in three sorts of penmanship: Starlight's own bold hand in green ink, the loopy script of her dead twin Alapaap in blue, and the nigh-on-indecipherable handwriting of her older sister Marilag in vivid red. She reread the text and judged the height to which the moon had risen in the sky.

"Yup", she muttered decisively. "Perfect…"

Sonorously, she began chanting a strangely compelling incantation as she carefully measured spoonfuls and whole phials full into the bubbling cauldron before her. To her left, Snape was chanting simultaneously, reading the intricate spell from a scrap of parchment she'd handed to him earlier that week. Their arms wove intricate invisible patterns over their work, their movements tireless and ceaseless.

Their voices rose and fell as herbs and powders and various liquids made their way into those great pots of boiling water. Slowly, what had been clear several minutes before was a shimmering emerald green that deepened with the addition of the fresh-cut Wolfsbane. The brew bubbled and simmered, sending up faint wisps of aromatic steam into the crisp air of that autumn night. Finally, the two brewers cast the powdered wings of a kind of pixie that could only be found deep in the forests of Irian Jaya in Indonesia over the now violently boiling brew. Despite the fires burning brightly beneath them, the stuff in the cauldrons seemed to cool and changed color from vibrant green to palest blue. To Snape's fascination, the brew stopped bubbling as he and Starlight stopped chanting.

"Is it supposed to do that?", he asked in an awed voice. For all his years as both brewer and master of Potions, he had never seen anything like the one they'd just brewed.

Starlight nodded as she ladled a large beaker full of the pale blue liquid. Once done, she covered it with a large cork and set it upon a tray she'd brought along earlier. Doffing her apron, she rolled down her sleeves and made ready to carry the tray indoors.

"Why two batches?", Snape asked as they made their way inside the castle.

"Yours is a sort of back-up", Starlight explained. "Just in case someone's brave – or stupid – enough to sabotage my work, we'll have yours to fall back upon." Her face was both grave and determined as she made her way to the door. With a negligent-seeming flick of her wrist, she cast yet another ward over their workplace. "I can't take any chances, see?", she said. "Not after everything I've gone through just to get this far." Grimly, she muttered, "I can't trust myself to fail now."

Snape grinned and lightly slapped her arm. "That's the old Starlight!", he chortled. "Always making sure she gets what she wants."

Starlight grimaced. "Tell me about it."

She found Ron in the teachers' corridor, sitting next to the door of Professor Lupin's office.

The tall red-haired boy was playing a pretty noisy game of solitaire with some Exploding Snap cards when she came near. He scrambled to his feet upon seeing her.

"Oh, hi, Professor", he greeted her, scattering his cards in surprise.

"Weasley." She acknowledged him with a slight inclination of her head. She nodded towards the door. "Who else is keeping watch tonight?"

"Sirius – I mean, Professor Black – is. Harry's in there, too."

Starlight's lips pursed into a thin line. Animagi, she thought. Otherwise, Professor Lupin would either attack them if he didn't take his Potion or shy away from them if he did. She considered the circumstances for a bit, then handed Ron the tray. "Tell Potter or Professor Black to get Professor Lupin to drink this all at once the minute he changes back", she ordered him. "If you need anything, you'd better tell me now; I'm heading back to the Tower."

Ron entered the room and reemerged a few minutes later looking like an anemic carrot, most probably shocked to the core by what he'd seen inside.

"Well?"

Ron began to enumerate what was needed on his fingers. "Um, could you get someone to got to the kitchen and ask the elves to fix something?", he asked. "Harry and Sirius are rather hungry, being too busy worrying to head for the Great Hall, no doubt. Oh, and they need blankets; Professor Lupin's clothes tore in the process and they don't want him to catch cold when he changes back."

Starlight whipped out her Speak-Easy and advised Hermione to send Dean to the kitchen and Seamus to where the bed linens were kept. She waited for them to appear before turning away back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Password", the Fat Lady yawned as she stopped before the portrait.

"Will o' the wisp", Starlight replied just as wearily. The evening's activities had all but drained her.

The painting swung forward to let her in and she found the older Gryffindors still awake, quietly chatting as they sipped cider and ate popcorn. She found Hermione half-dozing in an armchair, exhausted by her efforts in trying to get the younger ones to sleep. Gently, the golden-eyed professor shook her awake and told her to go up and get some sleep. Nodding gratefully, Hermione handed back the Speak-Easy she'd been loaned and stumbled off to her dormitory.

Seeing that the others were still restless, Starlight mumbled a short spell and conjured her guitar from thin air. She motioned for them to gather about her, all of them sitting on the floor. Starlight's fingers gracefully went over the strings, making a cascade of sound that rippled soothingly in the silence of the night. She captivated her audience with songs from her homeland sung in a smooth voice, sweet as finest honey, her repertoire consisting of harvest songs, love ballads filled with longing, and the strong chants of tribal hunters out stalking their prey. When she sang, her songs were filled with a sort of magic that seemed to carry her listeners to rice fields ready for the harvest or the balcony of some old-fashioned house where gallant young gentlemen down below serenaded the young ladies of the house. Before long, her tense audience relaxed and asked to be taught whatever it was she was singing, some even bold enough to borrow the guitar to strum their own favorites.

Before long, sleep claimed Starlight's audience as the hours crept into a new day. One by one, they fell asleep in the dying firelight; some on the floor with heads cushioned on arms of pillows dragged off the chairs, while others fell asleep in the chairs where they sat. Slumber claimed them all until Starlight alone remained, strumming softly and letting the music drive her own fears away.

It was toward dawn when Sirius and Harry, still in their Animagus forms, were awakened by a long, keening howl of pain.

The Change went into reverse as the first rays of sunlight slipped in through the window. Moony writhed on the floor, thrashing, nipping at himself in a desperate attempt to quell the pain. If Changing from man to wolf felt as though he were being stretched until he fell apart, Changing back from wolf to man meant feeling as if he were being pressed into a very small mold.

As the others watched, the large gray wolf contracted. Its fur began to fall off in great clumps upon the floor and its fangs shrank back. Finally, with one shuddering spasm shooting throughout its body, the wolf changed back to Remus Lupin.

"Quick: drink this!" Harry plucked the cork off the mouth of a beaker filled with blue liquid and handed it to Remus even as Sirius wrapped his friend in a pile of blankets that had been taken in the night before.

Dazed and wracked in pain, Remus couldn't focus: his hands shook violently and he kept seeing two – even three – of everything and everyone. Sirius propped him up with one arm behind his back and guided the beaker to his lips. As the potion made its way down his throat, Remus felt strength flowing back into his limbs and lucidity returning to his mind and vision. He sat up, unaided, and took the beaker from his friend to drain it. He gulped the contents down eagerly, feeling the stuff revive him. When he finished, he held the beaker out and studied it.

"Who brewed this?", he asked them.

"I didn't", a wide-eyed Sirius replied, staring at the empty beaker in surprise. "Snape, I guess?" The two professors turned to Harry for a reply.

"It was Professor Sinagtala", Harry informed them. "She gave it to Ron last night." He looked at Remus worriedly. "How do you feel?"

"I feel fine", Remus assured him.

"Are you sure? I mean, you don't feel as though you were poisoned or…"

"Poisoned?" Sirius was positively horrified at the suggestion. The Transfiguration professor blanched and shot the others a bewildered look. "Why would she want to…"

Remus held a hand to quell them both. "We've talked", he informed them calmly. "What she said was the sort of thing you'd expect an angry fourteen-year-old to say. That's all in the past now." Drawing the blanket around him tighter, he rose to his feet and headed for the door. The others stared at him in astonishment. "Isn't it obvious that I'm all right?", he asked in passing.

They found Ron sleeping soundly by the door. Remus stooped down to shake him awake and helped him to his feet. He told the tall red-haired boy to go to Professor Sinagtala's office to thank her for the potion, whereupon Ron informed him that the teacher in question had stayed at Gryffindor Tower in his place. Along with Sirius and Harry who both looked bewildered at the strange turn of events, they headed back to the Tower and arrived just in time to see Starlight stumbling out of the portrait hole.

"Good morning", she greeted them. They stared at her admiringly as it was the first time they'd seen her blue-black hair flowing down her back, freed from the braids she normally wore. Her amber eyes were hooded still by fatigue, giving her pretty face an oddly secretive cast in the half-light of dawn streaming into the windows.

"Good morning", Remus replied, extending a hand to help her over the threshold. Gracefully, she dropped to the floor, landing on her feet; Remus found that strangely catlike. Even the way she stretched had an almost feline aspect to it.

"I see the potion worked, Professor Lupin."

"For that I have you to thank. A pain-killer, I suppose?"

"Not really", Starlight shook her head as she shuffled drowsily away from them. "More like a first-phase specific. Its composition is similar to the original Wolfsbane Potion but the effects are obviously different." She yawned hugely. "Now, if you gentlemen would please excuse me, I'd better go get some sleep."

"Didn't you sleep at all last night?", Sirius wondered aloud as she passed him.

There was an impish smirk on her face as she turned to jerk a thumb towards the Tower. "Not with a bunch of very tense teenagers", she chuckled. Waving airily, she moseyed down the hall. "I'll see you at breakfast, then."

Those left behind stared at her retreating back and then at each other. At once, they bolted up into the Tower. What they found elicited a cry of dismay from both Ron and Sirius: the older Gryffindors snoozing in the common room, a wizard Monopoly set ready for a game, an empty cauldron that had obviously held popcorn and another one still half-filled with cider.

"They… They partied." Sirius looked absolutely crestfallen. "They had a party while we were away…"

"No…" Ron fell to his knees, tearing his red hair out in frustration at not having been where all the fun was. "No!!!"

About a month later, just a couple of weeks before Halloween, Quidditch season began.

The rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin hit fever pitch as the sworn enmity between their captains – Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy – came to a head. Both teams were working doubly hard to beat each other. Currently, the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup was still in the possession of Gryffindor House as there had been no match two years before due to the Triwizards' Tournament and things went absolutely haywire the previous year because of the last stand against Voldemort. Needless to say that Draco turned into a regular slave driver, wanting to wrest the cup from their rivals post-haste. Harry, on the other hand, was not one to rest on his laurels and drove his team with a similar ferocity.

Starlight's room overlooked the Quidditch arena and it sometimes became more than a little impossible for her to concentrate on what she usually did on weekends as there were screaming players going through their paces down below. Finally, she decided that a small weekly respite from her class work and the seemingly endless studies on lycanthropy wouldn't hurt her and often went down to the arena to watch and was reminded of her own days as Gryffindor's resident Quidditch heroine.

She usually just watched whenever the other Houses played but sometimes had a dark look on her face whenever she watched the Slytherin team. She may have thought the Sorting Hat had made a mistake in not putting her in that particular House, but her Quidditch loyalties strongly remained with Gryffindor. Needless to say that she sometimes lost her voice roaring at the young Gryffindors to play up and heed whatever advice she yelled their way.

Harry was half-tempted to compare her drive to that of their former captain Oliver Wood who usually drove them into the earth with his spirited nagging. Ron (who was now Keeper), however, had learned more about Starlight from his older brother Charlie, the second of Gryffindor's three finest seekers. (The other two were Harry's deceased father James and Harry himself.) Charlie wrote his brother that Starlight was the most spectacular Beater their House had ever had. She'd earned the nickname Tigress of Gryffindor because she bore down on both Bludgers and opponents the way a jungle cat stalks its prey. People feared her for her ferocity on the field, more so when she was captain of her House team for one year – the year after Charlie left – giving them their last and most spectacular victory before an eight-year-drought that only ended when Harry Potter joined the team.

One Sunday morning, Starlight chanced upon the Gryffindors practicing in the arena. Harry sped around as Seeker while Ron tended the goal posts. Seventh-years Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell and Ron's fifth-year sister Ginny were Chasers while Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan hovered around carrying Beaters' clubs. The young teacher's eyes glowed excitedly and she sped up the stands for a closer look.

Most of the time, Starlight was the only teacher watching though the flying teacher Madam Hooch sometimes stopped by for a few minutes to monitor everyone's progress. Today was different: Remus Lupin was there, placidly munching Chocolate Frogs from a large box on his lap with a jug of hot chocolate beside him.

"You're into Quidditch, too?" Starlight regarded him with an air of surprise as Professor Lupin seemed too ill most of the time to pay attention to any sports.

"Sort of", Remus nodded, making room for her next to him. "I was on reserve for Seeker back when Sirius and I were kids, subbing for James Potter a few times. I never really saw that much action, but I did play." He passed her the box. "Chocolate Frog?"

"Milks or darks?", she asked him.

"Well, I prefer darks so that's what I have. Milks are good but I can't stand whites." He fished a Frog for himself and began nibbling. "Darks do have more flavor, I think."

"In that case", Starlight gratefully plucked one out of the box, "we agree on that score."

They sat watching for an hour with Starlight spending the better part of it screaming herself hoarse at the two Beaters who seemed to keep getting knocked off their brooms by the whizzing Bludgers. Finally, angered by their seeming incompetence, she whipped her wand out of her robes and roared, "Accio, Lawin!" Her colorful broom sped out of the castle and into her hand. Mounting it, she growled to Dean and Seamus to get out of the way and let her show them how to smack a Bludger senseless.

She was fantastic. Her sharp eyes missed nothing and her reflexes quick. The players noticed that she moved swiftly and deliberately, not letting the Bludgers get anywhere near her as she smartly sent them flying off with a few well-aimed thwacks from her club. The impressed team chorused with oohs and ahs after her little demonstration, applauding along with Remus as she flew back to the stands.

"Great Beating techniques!", Remus praised her when she'd landed. He handed her a cup of hot chocolate, knowing that the combination of yelling and exertion must have left her throat parched. Starlight took it gratefully and drank deeply.

"Thanks", she managed to gasp as she handed the cup back. Her eyes narrowed speculatively at her companion. "Okay", she told him. "You've seen me in action, so when do I see you in Seeker mode?"

"I knew you were going to ask that", Remus grinned. But, "I haven't played for so long so I'm not sure if I'm up to it." Defensively, he added that he was something of a speed freak whenever he was on a broom. "It's my one vice", he admitted almost shyly. "Flying at breakneck speeds."

Starlight looked quite unconvinced by that last pronouncement uttered so sheepishly in Remus's very soft voice. The way Remus was dressed, one would think that he couldn't afford a broom, let alone fly one! Apparently, the Change always seemed to take a dreadful toll on Remus's wardrobe and Starlight surmised that he couldn't afford a new one and had to make do with patching and darning whatever he had. Someone once told her that Remus fit the struggling young writer stereotype to a T and that his condition had always prevented him from getting a steady job, lycanthropes being shunned and feared by both wizarding folk and Muggles no matter how nice they were as people. In which case, her inference about why his wardrobe was so tattered was probably right.

"I take it you don't believe me." Remus looked at her with a slight pout on his face that made him look so much younger than he already did despite the gray scattered throughout his light brown hair and the fact that he was in his mid-30s. Starlight thought the pout made him look rather charming, even elfin because he was so thin.

"Not really", she giggled, her grin impish and teasing.

Any other guy would have just given up and walked off in disgust. What Remus did next, however, caught Starlight and everyone else on the field off-guard. He rose to his feet and, turning in the direction of the castle, whistled two sharp, shrill notes. Seemingly out of nowhere, a broomstick whizzed into view. Upon catching sight of it, Harry called a time-out and flew over to where the two teachers were.

Starlight scrambled to her feet when Remus caught the broom by its intricately carved handle. To the young witch's shock, it was the beautiful broom with the Pathsetter diamond on its handle and the silver-banded willow twig tail – the broom she had so admired in the teachers' broom closet! The other Gryffindor players came soaring in for a closer look and were rather impressed themselves.

"It's an Accelerato!" Dean was beside himself in awe. "The ultimate Seeker's broom! Which Broomstick just put a story out about them last month!"

Everyone stared admiringly at that broom. Accelerati were Italian racing brooms and were, by wizarding standards, comparable to such Italian Muggle cars as Ferraris and Lamborghinis. The intricate design engraved on the handle was both decorative and aerodynamically useful and the glittering Pathsetter definitely came in handy. In truth, no two Accelerati were ever the same as they were only built on request and designed according to what the manufacturer declared fit for the potential rider. They were definitely beyond the league of even Firebolts and the Nimbus series and, as such, commanded quite a price.

"Is it true that no one can ever steal them?", Dean asked excitedly.

"Yeah", came Starlight's rueful answer. "Touch it and a ward will keep you at arm's length."

"Wow…"

"I wonder how you figured that out, Professor Sinagtala", Remus dimpled impishly. Starlight did not reply, but the mutinous look on her reddened face spoke volumes.

At any rate, Remus turned to the Gryffindors and commanded them into the air. He also talked the Ravenclaws who had just arrived to come engage the team for a practice match. Cho Chang, captain and Seeker of Ravenclaw, grinned and nodded. Her eyes widened in alarm when she saw the broom in the teacher's hand.

"Uh, Professor?" Her voice suddenly went timid. "Isn't that an Accelerato?"

"It is."

Cho gulped and rolled her eyes heavenward, thinking that it just wasn't her day. The broomstick she would be riding on was still her old Comet Two-Sixty. Nevertheless, both Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were soon airborne in simulated play.

"Please sit this one out and keep Professor Sinagtala company, Harry", Remus asked his mischievously grinning godson.

"Okay", Harry replied as the broom hovered to mounting height. Remus lightly hopped on and swiftly darted into the fray over the field.

"Does he know what he's doing?" Starlight looked more than a little pale as she and Harry sat down.

"Who? Remus?" Harry laughed as though he'd never heard a more ridiculous question. "He does, Professor. He may not look it, but he's terribly good. We spent a good part of the summer working on my technique; he teaches Quidditch almost as well as he teaches DADA." Wistfully, he added that he'd been allowed a go on the Accelerato the previous summer. "Sirius said he couldn't get me one because he was too busy", Harry sighed longingly. "Told me I ought to be happy with the Firebolt he got me a few years ago. But Remus promised to take me to Florence to buy my own Accelerato – if I get good enough marks this year, said my real dad would've wanted to get me one."

In silence, Starlight studied the rapt, eager face of the boy who sat next to her. One would almost think that he were watching his own father in action, she thought. That was sad; werewolves could have children but feared rearing them lest they themselves brought them to harm. It wasn't just Harry, either: the younger Gryffindors had come scrambling up the stands to watch and they were happy to see their Head of House play. Not surprising as Professor Lupin's been like a father to them.

Quick as a wink, the thin DADA teacher flew through the chaotic melee of Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers, Keepers, and Quaffle. The way he wove through the frenzy was masterful, showing all how good he probably was even if he had only been on reserve. Slowly, he rose to a height of about eighty feet over the field to get a better view.

Then, he saw it: the Golden Snitch.

Cho, who had been flying around in circles at a more moderate height, had seen it as well. She sped for it but was completely taken aback by what happened next.

Before anyone could react, Remus lightly touched the Pathsetter and leaned forward on the broom, grabbing the handle tighter. The Accelerato gave a shocking lurch and shot upward, several feet higher than its current position. Then, to the horror and amazement of all watching, the broom went absolutely vertical as its rider charged down mercilessly upon the fleeing Snitch.

Cho screamed as she flew out of the way. She was shaken, but nevertheless stared as Remus came shooting down like a bullet from a height of a hundred feet. Now that's something you don't usually see!, the seventh-year thought, thunderstruck.

"Remus!" Several teachers came scurrying from several directions, in the hope of breaking his fall in case anything went wrong. Snape was ashen but Sirius just cheered his friend along as if it was a standard part of play.

Starlight panicked. He'll break his neck!, she thought worriedly, springing onto her own broom. She flew in haphazardly, soaring to his direction.

Remus plummeted down until about a couple of feet off the ground where he caught the Snitch, tapping the Pathsetter to set his broom to the normal horizontal position and flew over the field at a more moderate speed. The crowd heartily roared its approval.

The players from both the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams flew towards Remus but he was off again: something had caught his eye. He'd released the Snitch and hurtled towards a body falling out of the sky.

Starlight was so relieved to see the catch that she meant to speed on down to give Professor Lupin a piece of her mind. Unfortunately, she gave Lawin too sharp a tap that activated its defense mechanism: the Bucking-Broom Hex. The broom suddenly accelerated, trying to shake off its rider. With a frightened shriek, the golden-eyed witch hung on for dear life as her broom spiraled heavenward in increasingly erratic circles in a frenzied attempt to buck her off. She desperately tried to hang on, but the handle finally slipped out of her hands as the broom flew into the direction of the Forbidden Forest. Starlight found herself screaming, hurtling defenseless to the ground.

Something whizzed close to her and a thin but strong pair of arms caught her.

"Are you all right?", Remus asked her. "Don't worry; I've got you, now."

Trembling in every nerve with her heart pounding like crazy, Starlight managed a feeble word of thanks and passed out.

She regained consciousness in the stands with Madam Pomfrey in attendance, the old school nurse clucking her tongue at her with grim disapproval.

Down below, the jubilant Gryffindors had surrounded their Head of House, the older ones asking for tips and pointers for the game while the younger ones tagged about him, eagerly tugging his frayed sleeves as they all went back indoors. The second Madam Pomfrey's back was turned, Starlight chased after them.

She caught up with the Gryffindors near the Great Hall. The little Gryffindor first-year who had grown fond of their Head of House was in his arms as they went in for lunch. The little girl had a trusting look on her tiny face as she hugged Remus. It was a sight that tugged at Starlight for some odd reason she didn't care to think about.

"Hello, Wendy", she greeted the child in Remus's arms.

"Hi, Professor!", the little one replied cheerfully. For eleven, she was really very small.

"How are you feeling?", Remus asked her concernedly.

"A bit shaky", Starlight admitted. "But I'll be fine. That was some catch!"

"Thanks", Remus replied modestly as he set little Wendy on the floor. "Run along with the others, Wendy", he said, prodding her towards the rest of her class. Nodding, she scampered off. "Lovable, isn't she?"

"Yes." He'd probably make a good father if only… She shook her head sadly; but there was hope, after all. A few more months with the potion and… She decided to keep mum about that. Instead, she meant to ask him about the Accelerato and was opening her mouth to speak when Professor Snape came striding up, scrap of parchment in hand. He looked as though he'd been run through a meat grinder. "You look terrible", Starlight commented as soon as he came into earshot.

"Thanks", Snape grunted sarcastically. "You look worse. Whatever possessed you to activate the Hurling Hex on your broom?" Starlight would've spat out an acerbic counter-comment to that if she hadn't realized how haggard Snape was just then. Something was wrong. There was a stricken air about him as he handed Remus the parchment. "You'd better read this, Remus", he said. "I've already sent Black up to the Headmistress to advise her."

Remus blanched when he read what was written on the parchment. He handed it back to Severus; Starlight noted that his hand – the same hand that had so confidently swiped the Snitch out of the air – was shaking.

"It was from Minister Dumbledore", he told the bewildered Starlight. "He wants us to go to Basingstoke Hall immediately." He gently put a hand on her shoulder. "He's asked if you could come with us."

Basingstoke Hall… It had been the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix during the Final Stand. What's going on? Starlight's thoughts whirled about her mind like a blur; things were happening so fast. What's happening?

"I'll get Harry, Ron, and Hermione", Remus was now telling Snape. "Take Starlight and head for my study in Gryffindor Tower; we'll Floo Powder from there."

Snape nodded and led Starlight out of the Great Hall. Outside, she asked him what was up and was stricken to see a look of fear – fear, of all things! – on his sallow face.

"You know Peter Pettigrew, don't you?", Snape asked her.

"Voldemort's prop and mainstay? Of course; wasn't he sent to Azkaban?" At the mention of Azkaban, Snape's face went bleak. "Why? Is he dead?"

"I wish to heaven he were", Snape muttered ominously as they neared the Fat Lady's portrait, "because it's worse: he's escaped."