Chapter Seventeen: Moonshine

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" I screamed over the noise. The dementor was making a very disturbing shrieking noise that mixed horribly with the scream from the random man with the wonderful patronus. On top of that Roxeanne and I were screaming in fright. "Roxeanne?!"


"Krystal?!" She cried. The light from the patronus was illuminating the entire room, even the darkest corner of our side. I crawled over to Roxeanne. We were both on our knees in the corner of the room. Neither of us had ever seen a patronus before. It took the form of some animal and frankly, I was scared the animal might attack. I had no idea where the man who shouted it out was or if he was on our side or Draco's. Roxeanne and I cowered in fear as the light from the patronus faded. The loud sucking noise was gone. The dementor had fled. The only noise now was that of loud breathing. Roxeanne and I were breathing short and shaky and then I heard the rough, hoarse breathing of the man. I didn't hear Harry, though.

"H-Harry?" Roxeanne called into the darkness. "Hello?" She didn't hear him either. "Who's there?"

"He's passed out." Said the man, out of breath.

"Who are you?" I called. The man didn't answer. Instead he pulled away what I now recognized as a black curtain. This was the thing that draped between the room, blocking the light. An immense ray of light shone on us that only showed the outline of a tall man carrying Harry in his arms.

"HARRY!" I gasped, cupping my hand over my mouth. "Put him down!"

"You'd rather him be killed?" I didn't respond. "I'm here to help. Trust me."

"Should we?" I asked Roxeanne.


"What choice do we have?" Was her response. She was staring blankly at the man.

"Fine. Who are you?"

"Can't tell you that. Not now, at least. I'm going to get Harry out of here. That dementor did some job on him... I'll be back for you." Roxeanne and I nodded, still in the corner in fright. The man ran into what looked like a wall - but it obviously wasn't. He walked right through it and he definitely wasn't a ghost.

"He left." I said in amazement. "He just left!"

"And he took Harry." Roxeanne added, still staring where the man was just standing.

I scoffed. "How'd he get out? Who was that?!" I asked, still amazed. Roxeanne shrugged. "Let's get out of here."

"How do you plan to do that?" She asked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. I shot her a look.

"I'll look for a way out!" I said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I mean, he got out, didn't he?"

"He obviously had a plan! We just got thrown in here!"

I waved an impatient hand at her. "Uh-huh. Sure. Just help me look for a way to get out of here."

She scoffed. "Whatever you say, Krystal." I wasn't listening to her. I was feeling my way up and down the surrounding walls looking for a gap or something I'd be able to get out through. "He said he'd be back. Maybe we should just wait."

"For all we know that man was working for the Malfoys!"

"He stopped the dementor though."

"Roxeanne, there are about a million and a half reasons dark wizards have to kill Harry. Who cares who he was working for? The fact is that Harry is gone and we don't know who the hell he's with. I'm getting out of here before that guy comes back for us. C'mon. If we just sit waiting, who knows what might happen to Harry?"

She nodded in agreement. I let out a contented sigh feeling very satisfied that I convinced her to see things my way, for once. I was never any good at that. We searched hopelessly on every inch of the walls surrounding us.

"This is ridiculous." Roxeanne finally spoke up.

"There's no way out... is there?" I looked at her and she shook her head.

"Certainly looks that way, doesn't it?" She looked slowly around the room. "UGH! I can't take this any more!" Then she turned back to me.

"Oh!" My eyes widened.

"What?" She asked, sounding annoyed. I was looking and feeling very uncomfortable.

"Er... hell of a time, but..." I crossed my legs.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" She shouted.

*Ahem!* Meanwhile... Remus Lupin laid the unconscious Harry Potter down on the grass after finding his way out of The Room, as he had come to call it.

"Harry!" He hissed, nudging Harry's arm. After doing this a few times, Harry began to wake up.

"Oh..." He moaned. "Wha? Where am I?" He asked, looking up at the night sky. The moon shone down right on his face. Then Harry looked to his left and saw his old Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Remus Lupin. "Lupin?! Professor Lupin?" He asked in amazement. He tried to sit up but did this too quickly and fell back to the ground.

"Catch your breath. Have some chocolate." He offered a big chunk of chocolate to Harry. "I'd almost forgotten the effect they had on you... the dementors." Harry shuddered. "Who were the girls down in that room with you?"

Harry's eyes widened and he spit out the chocolate, jumping to his feet. "Krystal and Roxeanne!" He shouted, smacking himself on his forehead. "We have to go back for them! We have to go... now! Draco! He'll kill them if he gets the chance!"

Lupin looked near frightened at Harry's unexpected reaction. "Harry! Calm yourself! Malfoy was after you, not them."

"You didn't hear what he said, though!"

"We'll get them... I promise." Lupin put his hand on Harry's shoulder and all at once the area got darker than it had been. Lupin scoffed. "Damn clouds... blocking the moon."

"M-Moon?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Don't worry. The full moon is tomorrow night, I believe." He chuckled and it got lighter again. "Let's go get the girls."

"How?"

"Er... Well, I got out over here." Lupin headed towards an extremely grassy area that had a trap door of some kind on the ground.

"Here?" Harry asked, about to open the door. Lupin didn't answer. "Um... sir?" Harry looked up at him. Remus had froze just a few feet away from Harry.

"Go." He said flatly. He told him again, "Go." It got lighter out. Harry looked above Lupin only to see... the full moon shining brighter than ever.

"You said it was tomorrow!" Lupin started shaking. He grabbed Harry's shoulder.

"Go. Get the girls. Don't come back this way. GO!" He shouted, forcing Harry down the trap door. Harry could hear him let out a cry of pain that slowly turned into a howl. He remembered that transforming into a werewolf was very painful, according to Lupin. Harry was shaken from his thoughts with the sound of claws scratching at the trap door above him. He was under the ground now, surrounded by walls of dirt and he slowly followed what looked like a path. His goal now was to find his way back to The Room.