CHAPTER 4 – Moony, Padfoot, Prongs and Wormtail
By: Sweet 16 Movie Buff!
Author's Note: Okay this chapter starts after Sirius's and Jillian's fight and goes into a flashback. Hopefully that clears that up.
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In the silvery light of the full moon, a rat scampered out from the roots of the Womping Willow, now still and undisturbed. The willow seemed like any normal willow, but to move anywhere in the range of its sturdy branches . . .
The rat scampered up the trunk of the tree and pressed on the knot that froze the Womping Willow in its place. The rat clambered back down into the crevices of the roots, talking in a series of chattering and squeaks.
Hurriedly the rat scrambled up the trunk and leapt onto the back of a large, heavily antlered stag. The stag's flanks rippled pale white in the moonlight as it strode out onto the school grounds. Following closely behind the stag was a bear-like black dog who was seemingly a part of its own shadow. Bringing up the rear of the strange company was a wolf; though a strange-snouted, stranger-eyed, tuft-tailed wolf it was.
Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail had emerged to roam Hogwarts grounds once again. Moony craned his head towards the starry sky and let out a long, eerie howl. Padfoot stepped up beside him and joined him in the pack call, filling the night air with the inhuman song.
Prongs shot them an apathetic glance as he pawed the ground, anxious to begin. The strange company set out from the Womping Willow towards the lake. They slinked across the lawn, their shadows long and barely more than blots of dark grass, when Moony paused. He raised his nose to the wind and sniffed cautiously. Then without word or warning, he galloped up the slope towards the Forbidden Forest.
Prongs, Wormtail, and Padfoot shared a glance that conveyed more worry than words ever could. With great care, Padfoot raised his nose to the wind and gave a dainty sniff.
A thousand scents whelmed his nose, most were common to Hogwarts grounds (the lake and its inhabitant, the smell of cut grass and Fang far off in the distance, the wild fresh aromas of the forest), but one . . .
Padfoot tore up the hill, loping great strides across the lawn and into the trees.
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"Sirius – oh!"
Jillian's arms wind-milled as her legs tottered unsteadily on her skates. It was a chilly winter day several months after that fateful detention in Professor McGonagall's office.
The lake had frozen over with a sudden turn of the weather and snow was presently falling in a light flurry. Jillian had insisted on continuing hex practice with Sirius and in turn was helping him with his Arithmancy (though this also had extended to History of Magic, a class that Sirius paid absolutely no attention in).
It was late in the evening when they would have had one such study session, but Sirius had suggested a break had been well earned and Jillian had eagerly seconded.
Sirius circled around her easily, "Come on, Miss Perfect, it's a piece of cake."
She glared at him, though her heart was hardly in it, "Stop that, you're making me feel like rubbish."
"But you are rubbish."
She guffawed at that and with a whoop fell flat on her back. Sirius's face hovered into view, his gray eyes illuminated by the gray evening sky. A white dusting of snowflakes sprinkled his hair and clung to his eyelashes. Jillian expected she looked as much like a frosted sculpture as he did; though certainly not as well as he did.
Jillian McKee was not exactly the prettiest girl in Hogwarts, but neither was she the ugliest. She was rather plain, her only notable feature being her cheekbones. Her golden-brown chestnut hair she wore up in a messy and unruly bun; a pair of heavy black-rimmed glasses rested on the bridge of her nose.
"Didn't you ever learn how to skate?" he asked seriously as he helped her struggle to her feet.
"No, Mum's always working, she's never had any real time to teach me."
"And what about your dad?"
"He's an American and a sailor on top of that. We don't see much of him," Jillian at last lurched to her feet, propelled a few miserable feet by the momentum. "Where did you learn?"
"James taught me one Christmas. His parents don't live too far from a park in London. Here," The tips of Sirius's skates came to rest at the heel of her own skates. His hands settling firmly above her hips as he helped her stand straight, "When you feel my foot push yours, slide it forward."
She gave a curt nod, "Got it."
They started slow, hugging the banks of the frozen lake, but as her muscles began to learn the movements, their pace quickened. Soon there was no warm presence at her back, no hands holding her waist tight. Jillian glanced over her shoulder to see Sirius gliding a few feet back from her.
"I DID IT!" she whooped, but her balance did not anticipate the sudden thrust of her fist into the air and her skates did their queer little glance. "Whoa!"
Sirius came up in an instant, colliding solidly with her back and shooting them further around the lake, Jillian falling half out of his hold, her backend hovering inches from the ice.
"You're heavy," Sirius grumbled as he swung her around in an abrupt halt with all his strength, Jillian sliding away from him.
Jillian merely glared back at him, but it soon split into a thankful smile, "Thanks. Um . . . okay, I'm just gonna try and get on my feet."
She turned abruptly in his hold, her hands grappling for his shoulders. Sirius managed to heft her up onto one skate, his nose buried in the crest of her unruly bun. A distinct aroma filled his nose, one of mint and dried oranges, even a tiny trace of sweet perspiration.
"You smell great," his voice came out muffled and Jillian smacked him firmly on the shoulder.
"My scent is not your concern, just help me up please . . . Okay, we're almost there. NO!"
With a crash, they fell to the ice in a mangled heap, laughing.
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Jillian's eyes snapped open. Brush rustled to her left, jerking Jillian abruptly from her thoughts.
She was blanketed in dark, utter unmoving darkness. The Forbidden Forest. The Forbidden Forest, a world of impenetrable darkness and though she thought she was alone, the fear that someone was near was even more present than before. The darkness around her was silent, eerily devoid of chirping crickets and hooting owls. Slowly, deliberately, Jillian reached for her wand within the folds of her robes and carefully withdrew it.
"Lumos," she breathed and a ball of light leapt from her wand tip to her hand, bathing the forest in dim, milky light. The ghostly forms of leaning trees became clearer; the shadows became decipherable but thrown into a sharp contrast from the rest of the milky-lit wood.
And so was the form of a large wolf, crouched low amongst the branches of a bush.
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THANK YOU TO ALL MY REVIEWERS!madderthanyou – Thanks for reviewing. I'm glad you're enjoying it, and yes seriously the whole thing is written. I decided to write the whole thing first and then post, that way it wouldn't be so long between updates.
Moon Burst – I REALLY like your style and will make sure to recommend you to others I read. The Remus, Hermione thing was so cool.
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