A/N: Thank you The Lord Of pencil and GiGiFanFic for your reviews :)

Chapter twelve - Full Moon Crisis

As the full moon night approached Wolf was getting nervous. It was his first time to spend a full moon in another world and with drinking a potion. He looked at the bottle in for an instant and saw Remus swallow his share of the Wolfsbane.

"It won't kill you." Said Sirius.

"I don't feel comfortable about this." Wolf said, whimpering.

"Oh come on! You're acting like a five year old!"

"No I'm not!" Wolf's eyes flashed yellow for a moment, which made Sirius blink in surprise. Wolf opened the bottle and swallowed the yellow potion at once. He waited for something to happen, but for his surprise, it tasted good and he didn't feel anything.

"Lamb chops." Wolf said.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"It tastes like lamb chops."

"It tasted like butterbeer when I drank it." Remus said.

"Maybe it has a separate flavor for each one." Sirius said.

"I should ask Severus about this." Remus said and sat on the bed.

"You mean Snivellus." Sirius laughed.

"Snivellus? What kind of a name is that?" Wolf asked.

"It's Snape's nickname. We gave it to him at school. Oh how I long for those days to come back." Sirius said.

A sudden silence fell in the room. Sirius' and Remus's faces went blank. It has been so many years since they graduated. The best years of their lives: James was alive; Peter was still considered their friend. If only they didn't graduate from Hogwarts. James would've been alive, and Peter wouldn't have had the chance to join the dark Lord.

"I feel dizzy." Wolf said, interrupting the silence.

"It happens at the first time of drinking Wolfsbane." Remus replied.

"What else should I expect?"

"In my case, I felt dizzy and pain. When I drink the potion, I do transform but I keep my human senses and memory too."

"I think I need to lay down." Wolf said and threw himself on an empty bed on the other corner of the room. He closed his eyes so he wouldn't see a spinning ceiling in front of his eyes.

"Moony, d'you reckon he'll survive?" Sirius whispered.

"I heard that!" Wolf said. His wolf senses were rising.

"No offence. But you do look pale." Sirius said.

"It will pass." Remus said.

"I wonder what Virginia is doing now?" Wolf asked himself.

"She'll probably be sleeping by now. It's almost eleven." Remus said.

Virginia sat on the windowsill in her room and stared at the clear sky. The full moon was shining and the stars were glittering. She sighed. She was worried about Wolf. He was out there in the dark, probably alone and defenseless. She wanted to be with him but she was scared of going out all-alone in a place that she didn't know anything about.

Virginia put her hand on her stomach and closed her eyes. Her baby was almost a month old now and she didn't want to do anything to hurt him. Wolf had mentioned sometime that it was going to be a boy. He convinced her that his wolf senses allow him to detect the sex of the baby before its birth. She was happy to have him by her side; he knew what she wanted before even she mentioned it. He knew how to make her happy, how to make her smile when she was sad. But tonight… Tonight she was concerned about him. He didn't tell her where he was spending the night. But knowing that he was with Remus made her nervous. She didn't know that Remus was a werewolf. She thought that Wolf might hurt him during his cycle.

"I have to find him." She told herself and got dressed.

Virginia walked through the dark corridors, trying to find her way out of the castle. She walked in the dark until she bumped into something… or someone.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry. Lia? Is that you?"

"Yeah. Virginia? What're you doing out here?"

"Searching for Wolf. What about you?"

"Just having a night walk. So, did you find him?"

"Not yet. I just got out of my room. Wanna join me?"

"Sure, I don't have anything to do, and I don't feel like sleeping."

"Okay, let's get out of this place first."

Lia led the way to the Entrance Hall. It was brighter there, as the huge windows let the cozy light of the moon enter.

"This is better." Virginia said. "I thought I was going blind back there."

"I had the same feeling." Lia said with a smile.

"Where should we search?"

"I don't know. Where does he usually go at this time of the month?"

"Well, last month he was stuck in a barn at a village. But as he told me, he's always at the forest."

"Forest! There's one here! But wait, it's forbidden. Would he go there?"

"I don't think that he'll miss the chance of exploring it for a hunt. Let's go."

Virginia and Lia went to the Forbidden Forest. They skipped the way to it, which went by Hagrid's Hut, in case Rex would start barking and Hagrid will sense that something was wrong. They passed the Whomping Willow, which stood there in peace. Virginia looked at it suspiciously. It seemed to her that this tree leads to something, but she shook that thought away as they went deeper into the forest. Suddenly, they heard a howl.

"Wait." Virginia said and they stopped. "Did you hear that?"

"The howl? Yeah, I did. Do you think it's him?"

"I'm not sure. I never heard him howl that loud."

"I wonder if there are any other wolves around." Lia asked as she looked around her.

"I sure hope not. I'm not in the mood to meet any other wolf right now."

Wolf curled up in the bed and howled. Sirius got up and approached him.

"Sirius, don't. He's transforming or something. You might get hurt." Remus said as he put his arms around his stomach, which started to cause him discomfort.

"I think I should transform too." Sirius said.

"Good idea." Remus replied, breathing hard. "I think I'm transforming too. It's almost midnight."

"Yeah." Sirius said and took out his wand. He pointed it to his head and murmured something under his breath. At once he was transforming into a black dog.

"Where's Sirius? And where did that dog come from?" Wolf asked as he sat up. His pain has faded for a moment.

"He's the dog." Remus said.

"He's a half-dog?"

"He's an animagi. He changes to a dog when he wants to."

"Oh." Wolf nodded, obviously confused. But he hadn't time to think of a new question as pain hit him again and he whimpered and howled.

Remus was also in pain as his transformation finally started. Two pointed ears appeared instead of his human ears, his canines grew longer and sharper, and sharp fangs grew instead of nails on his hands and feet. His body twitched as fur started to grow on his skin.

Wolf, on the other hand was feeling feverish. His eyes flashed yellow, then red, and then it was back to yellow and remained that way. Veins were visible on his skin and it seemed that blood was boiling in them. His canines grew longer and howled. He dropped in his bed for a while.

When he opened his yellow eyes he smelt something strange. He looked around and saw a werewolf and a dog; each curled in a corner of the room. Wolf stood up.

"I need to go out." He said, but he didn't get a reply from them. They just looked at him as to say, "don't go". Padfoot stood and approached him.

"I want to run. I can't sit here and wait for the morning to come." Wolf said and ran out of the room. Padfoot looked at Moony and barked. They both followed Wolf to the passage that led to the Whomping Willow.

Wolf touched the base of the tree as he got out and stood there to sniff the fresh air.
"Ah! This feels better." He said and suddenly, he caught a familiar scent. "It can't be. What is she doing out here! And she's not alone!" he growled and walked after Virginia's scent. Moony and Padfoot got out of the tree and followed Wolf in silence.
"I smelt Virginia and Lia. They're out here and I can't leave them alone." He told them as he walked through the forest.

A sudden scream made them stop. Wolf looked around and his eyes flashed red in anger. "Virginia!" he called and ran to the direction of the voice. Another scream was heard, this time another voice. Wolf got panicked and ran faster, Moony and Padfoot running after him.

Two black hooded creatures were floating in the sky near the lake while Lia and Virginia were lying on the ground motionless. They kept flying around them, heading to suck life out of them both. Padfoot stood there and watched motionless. They were dementors. He wanted to warn Wolf not to approach, but it was too late. Wolf was already kneeling near Virginia trying to wake her up, but one of the dementors approached him and Wolf felt his body freezing. Several memories passed through his mind. His parents being burnt at a stake and screaming, while villagers were looking at them, laughing and throwing stones at them.

Padfoot transformed into his human form and took out his wand. He ran to the lake as fast as he could and he felt cold as one of the dementors spotted him. He pointed his wand at them and screamed as loud as he could:

"Expecto Patronum!"

A white light flashed out of his wand and a dog appeared. It chased the dementors away from them. Sirius noticed that Lia was getting up and he ran behind the trees and watched from there.

Lia opened her eyes and looked around. Wolf was kneeling next to Virginia trying to wake her up.

"Wolf, is she alright?" she asked.

Wolf whimpered. "I don't know. Oh Virginia, please be alright. Bad, bad Wolf!" he hit his head with his hand.

"Wolf stop it! It's not your fault!" Lia said and moved to Virginia's side. She put her head on Virginia's chest. "She's breathing."

Virginia opened her eyes and felt dizzy. "W-what happened? Wolf! Oh Wolf, thank God you're here!" she threw herself into Wolf's arms. "I'm sorry I got out of the castle. I wanted to make sure you're okay."

"It's okay honey. I'm fine. What were those creatures?"

"I have no idea." Lia said, confused. She has never seen anything like that before. She felt that she wouldn't know happiness anymore. "It was so cold when they came."

"I sensed that too." Wolf said as he stroke Virginia's hair.

"But how did they disappear?" Lia asked and looked around.

"I have no idea." Wolf said and stood up; he helped Virginia to stand up as well. "We better go back to the castle. I don't want you two out here in the middle of the night." He growled at Lia. "How could you let her get out?"

"I…"

"Wolf, it's not her fault. I asked her to come." Virginia said.

"Why? So you would play pretty-brave-princess in the middle of a full moon night?" he growled at her.

"I was worried about you, okay? Now let's go back."

They walked through the forest back to the castle. Wolf was holding Virginia's hand and whimpering from time to time. He felt guilty about blaming them for getting out of the castle.

Lia walked beside them. The forest seemed abandoned. There were no signs of living creatures around. She stopped when she noticed two golden eyes looking at her from a distance and felt curiosity rising in her to go and see whom they belonged to.

She headed to the direction of the eyes. Wolf and Virginia were no where to be seen now. Lia felt panicked.

"Great! Now I'm lost! What have I done to deserve this?!" she asked herself. "How am I supposed to go back now?"

She looked around but couldn't figure out where she was. "Wolf? Virginia?" she called, but no one answered back. "Okay, all I have to do is turn back and walk straight." She sighed. "I just hope I'll find my way back."

She turned back and walked, looking around from time to time to see if she was being followed. Suddenly, she heard a howl and the golden eyes appeared. "Please don't be one of those creatures." She said to herself. They eyes approached her until she saw a huge werewolf standing in front of her. Lia's face went pale. She didn't know if she should scream or run. She was shaking now and chose to scream.

"HELP!" she called and ran away. The werewolf followed her with blocking her way from time to time until she reached a familiar space. The huge funny looking tree and the castle right behind it. She ran to the castle and after a moment she stopped. The werewolf wasn't following her anymore. She took a deep breath.

"That was close." She said to herself and walked toward the castle. But this time, another thing caught her attention. She saw a figure of a man staring at her not so far from her. He had dark, shoulder length hair. She couldn't see his eye color but the moonlight allowed her to see his face clearly. Lia was stunned. It couldn't be him. No, no, no. He died eight years ago. But as she concentrated on his face, her heart sank, and tears rolled down her cheek.

"John?" she said and walked slowly to the man. "John is that you?"

The man ran away into the forest and disappeared.

"Lia!" Wolf came running to her. Lia stood there staring at the spot where she thought she saw her boyfriend.

"Lia, where did you go?" Wolf asked.

"W-what?" Lia said and turned to him. "I'm sorry… I wasn't listening."

"What happened to you? You were walking with us and suddenly disappeared!"

"I thought I saw John." Lia said.

"Who's John? Oh ever mind, come on I'll take you back to the castle." Wolf took Lia back into Hogwarts. He escorted her to the Entrance Hall.

"I have to go now. I can't stay here tonight. Go straight to your room, okay?" he said.

"Okay." Lia replied and walked to her room. She was shocked. John actually appeared to her after all these years.

She reached her room door but hesitated. She needed to talk to someone. Someone who would understand and care. She looked to the door next to hers.

"Remus." She whispered and knocked his door. When she noticed that he didn't answer, she thought that he was asleep and went back to her room. She sat near the window for a while and stared at the forest. She has seen him. After all these years he came back to her. But maybe he was just a ghost.

"No, he couldn't be alive. I saw him die!" Lia got up and lay on her bed. She cried herself to sleep.

Wolf went back to the Shrieking Shack at dawn and saw Sirius and Remus sitting there. Remus was lying on bed and he looked pale.

"Where did you go?" Sirius asked.

"I was out there in the forest." Wolf replied as he sat on a chair.

"You could've been killed. Those dementors could've returned."

"Dementors?"

"Those black hooded creatures you tried to fight. Very brilliant!" Sirius said with sarcasm in his voice.

"They hurt my Virginia!"

"And they could've killed you both! There's only one way to fight a dementor and only a wizard can do it. With a wand!" he pointed his wand at Wolf's face.

"Take that away!" he shove the wand away from his face.

"Sorry, I lost my temper. It's just that Lia saw me just before you found her."

"So what? You were in your dog form. Weren't you? I smelt you there." Wolf asked, and at that moment Remus opened his eyes.

"No. I transformed back to human to send those dementors away. And I didn't go back to a dog. And after Moony frightened her way back to the castle she saw me."

"You did what?" Remus said. "Sirius, how could you do that?! You know that no one should see you around this place until your name is cleared!"

"I know Moony. But… I needed to see how she looked. Emily was our best friend too remember?"

"Of course I remember!" Remus said.

"But when she saw me, she called me John. That was weird." Sirius said. "Why should she call me John. And who is he anyway?"

"John was her boyfriend who was killed by Voldemort, on the same night when Emi died." Remus said.

"But why did she call me John? Moony, does she have his photo with her?" Sirius asked.

"I'll ask her." Remus looked concerned. "This is strange. Why should she see her boyfriend in you? You didn't see any ghost in between you two? Or around you over there?"

"No. It was only her and me. Oh, and she does look good." Sirius said with a grin.

"Sirius! I warned you! She's Emi's daughter! Don't you ever think about her that way!"

"So what? It's very good that she's Emi's daughter. At least I know who her parents are."

"You're useless!" Remus said. "I'm tired and I need to go to sleep. Wolf, are you coming?"

"Yeah." Wolf replied.

"See you around!" Sirius said as Remus and Wolf went to the castle.

Remus was silent on the way to the castle. Wolf tried to start some conversation occasionally but Remus didn't pay attention. He was busy in analyzing what Sirius has just told them. Lia has recognized Sirius as her ex-boyfriend. But why would she do that? Remus continued his way to his room. Before he reached the doorknob he noticed a concerned Lia staring at him from the front of her room door.

"Er… Good morning." He said in a calm voice.

"Where were you last night?" she asked. Her eyes were red and puffy.

"In… my room." He replied.

"You're lying and you know that." She waved her hand and Remus' room door was opened. "I need to talk to you."

Remus stared at what Lia has just done in total amazement. "How did you…?"

"It doesn't matter now. There's something more important that I want to talk to you about."

"Lia, I'm sorry but I'm really tired."

"Remus, this is urgent!"

Remus knew that the conversation was going to lead to Sirius, and that's why he wanted to avoid it. But as he saw Lia's red eyes he knew that he couldn't just go in his room as nothing has happened. "Alright, come in."

They entered the room and Remus closed the door. "Have a seat." He told her and pointed to a chair near the window. Lia sat on it and he went to sit on the windowsill in front of her. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Lia took a deep breath. "I think I saw John last night."

Remus stared at his with a blank expression on his face. He didn't know how to react on this. He promised Dumbledore that he won't tell anyone about Sirius being alive, but he couldn't keep it from Lia. She had the right to know that it wasn't John whom she saw last night. But if he told her, he would break his promise to Dumbledore. He didn't know what to say.

"Remus?" Lia said gently. "Are you alright? You really look tired." She stood and put her hand on his cheek. "You're pale."

Remus managed to smile. "I should be." He said.

"You better go to bed. Can you get undressed by yourself? Or should I call Harry to help you?"

"I can do it myself, thank you."

"Okay, I'll wait outside. Call me when you're finished." Lia left the room and waited in front of the door.

Remus sighed. What was he supposed to do. His body was aching from the changing last night and he managed to change his clothes. He opened the door and called Lia in. She entered and closed the door behind her.

"Er… I think you should take of your shirt." Lia said.

"Excuse me?"

"I'll massage your back."

"Oh, you don't need to. I'll just take a nap and I'll be fine."

"Take off your shirt. You're in no condition to sleep now. Go on, I'm waiting." She folded her arms and waited for him.

"Alright." He took off his shirt and stood there.

"Get in bed. On your stomach." Lia commanded.

Remus did as he was told. Lia climbed his back and sat on him. She started massaging his back with gentle moves. Remus sighed in relief and closed his eyes.

"You have magical hands." He said.

"I know." She replied and kept massaging him.

After a while she noticed that he was asleep. She slowly got off his back and pulled the bed cover over him and left the room. She closed the door gently after her and went to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Harry was sitting near the table and he looked like he was waiting for her to come, so he would start eating.

"Morning." He said as Lia approached.

"Good morning Harry." Lia replied.

"Why do you have red eyes?" he has noticed after all.

"I do?" Lia asked, as she hasn't noticed it.

"Yes, you do. Now come on, tell me what's wrong. Another dream?"

Lia smiled. "No."

"Then why have you been crying?"

Lia helped herself with some tea. "Who said I was?"

"Come on Lia, I am trying to help!"

"Harry, I'm alright, don't worry. It's Remus whom you should worry about. I think his sick."

"Remus? He was fine yesterday."

"Yesterday is not this morning." Lia said as a matter-off-fact.

"Yeah… I guess you're right." He remembered that it was full moon last night, and maybe that was why Remus didn't feel good. "How did you sleep?" he asked as he took a bite of bacon.

"I don't know. Can't remember." She said.

"See? I knew you were hiding something." Harry said.

"Harry, don't get me wrong, but I'd like to keep it private."

"Alright. So, what classes do you have today?"

Lia took out a piece of paper where she wrote her schedule. "Double Charms, History of Magic, 'Not that ghost again!' and Transfiguration. That's all."

"Nice schedule. I bet you'll like Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall teaches it. She's the best, and she's the head of Gryffindor House."

"How nice." Lia said, not really paying attention. Her mind drifted into the night before. She remembered the man she saw. How he looked like John.

Wolf and Virginia entered the Hall accompanied by Tony and Wendell. Wolf was as excited as ever.

"Good morning everyone!" Wolf said and sat near the table.

"Good morning." Lia ad Harry said together.

"How did you sleep Lia?" Virginia asked.

"I can't remember. And I don't think I want to." Lia said.

"I know what you mean. That was awful." Virginia said.

"I told you not to get out!" Tony snapped at his daughter.

"Could someone please tell me what's going on here?" Harry said.

"I thought Lia told you already!" Wolf said.

"No she didn't. She said it was private." Harry said.

"Oh, no, no, no. Not that part. You can skip that, but last night Lia and Virginia here tried to play heroines by going out to the forest in the middle of the night."

"You did what?" Harry turned to Lia.

Lia raise an eyebrow. "Excuse me, but who's older here?"

"And that's not all Harry." Wolf continued. "We found them near the lake and they were being attacked by dementors."

"WHAT?!" Harry shouted and all the teachers who were around the table stared at him.

"Mr. Potter, could you calm your emotions a little bit?" Snape said.

Harry ignored him and turned to Wolf. "What happened then?"

Uh-oh. Wolf was trapped. He couldn't tell them about Sirius. "Well, er… I can't remember. However, I think it was Remus. Yeah! Remus came there and then, there was a white flash of light and a dog appeared. It chased the dementors away."

"Remus' Patronus is not a dog!" Harry said.

"What's a patronus?" Lia asked.

"It's the only spell that can fight a dementor. But Remus' patronus is a wolf, not a dog."

Wolf blushed. He didn't know anything about that spell. "Oh, then it might have been a wolf. I don't know… umm… yeah, maybe it was a wolf."

Harry looked at him with suspicious eyes.

"It was full moon after all. I can't remember all the details." Wolf said.

"Alright, at least you all are fine." Harry said, but he knew that there was something fishy going on here. Remus was supposed to be a werewolf last night, and he couldn't have been able to use his wand, not to mention thinking clearly to conjure a patronus.

"I better go to class." Lia said and got up.

"Do you need me to show you the way?" Harry asked.

"I think I can manage this time. Thanks pumpkin." She smiled sweetly at Harry and went to her class.

"Pumpkin? How nice!" Wolf said, and Virginia elbowed him as she saw Harry blush. "Ouch!"

"Don't overreact okay?" she told Wolf, who gave her a wink.

Everyone was busy with something that day, even Lia. She headed from class to class all day but she never managed to keep her mind off the incident of the last night. The figure of that man was haunting her all day. She had to know who he was.