Hello! It's been a while hasn't it? Anyway, being extremely bored over the Christmas/New Year season, I decided to launch into this again. Hee hee. It's something that has never been documented in the books themselves, merely mentioned and left at that. I hope there's a proper explanation in Book 6, but in the meanwhile….I think I'll do my own. This occurred sometime before chapter 1.

Transfiguration on a Tuesday was always shite. Mc Gonagall always seemed more irritable on a Tuesday, for whatever reason. Severus couldn't help but notice the empty seat to the front left of his own. Where the hell was Lupin anyway? Sirius seemed distracted. Snape was just annoyed. Not knowing the reason behind something as obvious as Lupin's monthly disappearance just grated on his nerves. Sirius wouldn't tell him; he was too stung by Snape beating him in a duel the week before. The bell rang. Clearing up his books and parchment, Severus decided he'd try his luck anyway.

"Sirius!" Snape called, and a flutter or apprehension unsettled him when Sirius, James, Lily and Peter all turned around to look at him approach.

"What?" Black snapped, clearly not concerned.

"Could I talk to you for a minute?" Snape asked, ignoring James' shrill imitation. Sirius stared at him for a while, and then walked off into an empty corridor. "What do you want?" he snarled, but dark shadows under his eyes hinted at the underlying worry.

"Where's Lupin?" A straight question, which required only a straight answer, but Black stared at him for a full minute while contemplating the answer. Leaning in closer, so that anyone nearby wouldn't be able to hear, Black answered.

"The Whomping Willow. Press the knot on the trunk and you'll find him." He whispered cryptically, moving his head so his face was an inch from Snapes. Eye-to-eye, Sirius chuckled softly, winked, and walked off.

"Why the hell did you tell him?" roared James, standing opposite from Sirius.

"Don't be so fucking stupid! It's not like he's going to do anything about it!"

Lily sat on an armchair behind James, hating seeing him so angry. But he had a point. Sirius should never have told Snape how to find Lupin. She looked accusingly out of the window at the moon, shining with borrowed light.

"Of course he will! He hates not knowing something! What if Lupin kills him or something? How're you gonna explain that?"

"Remus wouldn't, though…" whined Sirius, "He'd know!"

"D'you think he's in control of himself? Jesus Sirius! You're supposed to love Lupin! Didn't you think of how Remus would feel if he'd killed someone?"

Sirius stood silent. "I do love him."

Walking slowly across the grounds, the moonlight illuminating everything, covering the trees, the lake, and the castle, with a silvery sheen. Including the Whomping Willow. It grew as he approached it, until it loomed above him. He peered through the limp branches for the knot, and quickly saw it, a huge blemish on the otherwise smooth surface. He took out a rock from his pocket, procured from the lakeside. Aiming carefully, he tossed the rock deftly at the knot, hitting it squarely. The tree gave a sort of shudder. It was then he noticed a large hole among the roots, and wondering why he hadn't seen it before, he pushed the branches aside and clambered down into the hole. He let his eyes adjust to the dimness before lighting the end of his wand. The thin beam of light shone on the damp walls of the tunnel, stretching into god knows where. Quelling the feeling of foreboding rising in his throat, he started walking.

Eyeing the tunnel ahead as it came into view, he tripped on a root poking out of the floor of the tunnel. His wand fell away and the light went out. Shouting a curse at nothing in particular, he felt around for his wand, picking up several twigs before he found it. Just before he lit it, he felt something large move swiftly over him. Freezing, he listened, but heard nothing. When the area around him was lit again, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Proceeding walking, he failed to notice the huge paw prints on the earthy floor.

Watching both the floor and the tunnel ahead, he soon came to stone steps. The door at the top of the steps was open. Slowly climbing the steps, Severus peered out into what seemed to be the entrance hall of a grand house, but was somewhat lessened by the ripped upholstery and damp climbing up the walls. Muttering an incantation, an orb of light bubbled from the end of his wand and floated up among the rafters, lighting the whole room. He was halfway into the room when he heard something climbing up the steps. He could hear claws clacking on the stone. Rigid with fear, he watched as the huge form filled the doorway. Two spots of light were dancing in its eyes. A dull shine played on its inch-long canines. One clawed paw entered the light. The claws, black and as long as his fingers dug into the floorboards as the werewolf squeezed through the doorframe.

"Lupin?" Snape whispered, staring in horror as it drew nearer. Suddenly, it pounced, slamming him onto the floor, winding him. One paw rested heavily on his chest, the other on the floor beside his head, claws ready. The werewolf lowered its head slightly, and started sniffing loudly. The pain in his cheat increased, as he didn't dare breathe. The wet black nose pressed into his neck as the wolf continued to sniff. By now, Snape was shaking with fear, not wanting those teeth anywhere near his neck. Then, he made eye contact with the werewolf's, deep, brown eyes. Lupins eyes. Snape half-fancied there was a flicker of recognition, but the relief of the pressure on his chest made him forget. Sitting up, breathing heavily, he watched the wolf wander off. Something in the periphery of his field of vision moved. Severus could have died. Another wolf. Black, huge, and looking right at him. A deep snarl from behind him made his stomach twist. The werewolf and the other wolf (or was it a dog?) began fighting, then there were footsteps, and someone lifted him. Not really understanding anything right now, Snape let himself be dragged out of the room and back down the steps. He tasted something vile in the back of his throat. The hand on his arm loosened its grip.

"What's wrong?" hissed a voice.

Not much point in asking me, Snape thought, cause I don't know. He suddenly felt very faint, and slumped against the wall. For the first time, he was aware of a horrible, cramping pain in his chest. He couldn't breath, he felt something cover him, like a sheet, and suddenly James was there, looking very white. Taking shuddering, gasping breaths, he felt something thick pooling in his throat. Hawking and spitting it out, he felt James retch and almost felt like vomiting himself when he saw the spongy lump of bloody tissue lying in the dirt. Still choking for air, he was heaved into standing and half carried down the tunnel. James was going as fast as he could, glancing behind him the whole time. Just as they saw the moonlight coming through the hole, the other wolf, the black one, sprinted past them and leapt out of the hole. James pulled himself through the hole, punching the knot as he went, and Severus, desperate to just get out, hoisted himself through and stood up. Before he could take a step, the werewolf emerged also, and swiped a clawed paw across his back. He didn't really feel any pain, just a curious sensation as he felt his ribs shatter and warm wetness course down his sides. The black wolf (dog?) pounced upon the werewolf again and the two canines resumed fighting inside the tunnel. James saw the tree twitch. Running forward, he grabbed Snape and pulled him out of the tree's reach. The black dog dived out onto the grass just before the tree regained full mobility. The werewolf poked its snout out of the hole and got whipped by a branch for its trouble. James stared at Snape, who was still standing, but slowly getting paler. He swayed slightly, and James caught his arm and lowered him gently onto the ground. The black wolf wasn't there anymore. James looked momentarily at the dark shape running to the castle. Hopefully Madame Pomfrey would get here before it was too late. Looking down at Snape, he felt that he should do something, or say something, just in case he was dying. Trying desperately to ignore the viscous fluid seeping out through the grass from underneath Snape, and the look of complete and utter nothingness on his face, James stared instead at the lake, and the moonlight dancing on the surface. He wished suddenly that Snape was doing something. Instead of just lying there bleeding his life away. His eyes were focused on something. James looked up. The moon. Stupid bloody rock, floating and gloating and doing fuck all to help anyone. James couldn't think of anything he could say to help. He thought instead of his excuse for the situation. Then he felt disgusted with himself. It might as well have been him that told Snape where to go. True, Snape wasn't his favorite person in the world, but he still didn't think this was the death he deserved. This wasn't the death anyone deserved. He looked towards the castle, and saw Sirius almost beside him, Madame Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore close behind.

Lupin was sick after Sirius told him what happened. And then he was sick again after he went to visit him the Hospital Wing. After he cried when Snape said it wasn't his fault. With his chest heavily bandaged, ribs healed, skin scarred, but with no rough edges, Snape was recovering slowly, but recovering nonetheless. Madame Pomfrey told him that one of the ribs had punctured a lung, and he told her he had coughed up a bit of it. James and Sirius made him a card shaped like a wolf. Just for badness.

Slightly more gory and depressing than usual, but Christmas has put me in a bad mood. As well as shitty TV.

Please review. Please?

Xanadan