Harry found himself with bated breath as Snape grabbed up a long stick, poked the knot on the trunk of the tree, and slipped down the now-frozen tree's secret passage.

AN: You may be confused as to the locations of each person, so I shall post it right here, as to avoid confusion.

REMUS: In the Shreiking Shack, transformed

JAMES: In the Passageway, transformed, in the shadows

SIRIUS: In the Passageway, transformed, in the shadows

PETER: In the Passageway, transformed, in the shadows

HARRY: Watching from the Gryffindor Tower as Snape disappears down the passageway

SNAPE: In the Passageway

INSIDE OF THE PASSAGEWAY:

James stopped quite suddenly, mere yards away from the door leading to the Shreiking Shack, his stag's ears swivling behind him as they located a person's footsteps, rather far off. He untransformed, not bothering with the safety issues of Remus being nearby as a werewolf.

"Hear that?" he hissed to Sirius and Peter. Sirius untransformed also, a broad smile on his face.

"What're you so happy about?" James muttered, cocking an eyebrow.

Sirius just sniggered. James scowled.

"I swear, Padfoot, if you don't tell me a word of what you are up to, I will make your life a living hell."

Sirius stopped at that. "Alright, alright," he said. "I came up with the greatest prank yet."

James's eyes widened. "What is that?"

Sirius began to snigger again. "If I'm correct, Snivellus should be on his way right now..."

Just then, Snape came around the corner. James had a moment of panic, before reaching out and grabbing Snape.

"What the..." Snape said loudly, as James's hand closed around his wrist.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" James said, panicking and glancing at the door.

Just then, it swung open, revealing a fully transformed Remus.

James and Sirius quickly transformed, but not before James yelled, "RUN!"

Snape didn't wait a second. As Sirius and James fought off Remus, fighting him back into the house, Snape fled down the passageway and flew out the hole in the trunk, dodging the swinging branches as he made his way back to the castle.

BACK TO HARRY:

Harry started slightly when he saw the fleeing form of Snape, as the lad tore across the grounds and into the castle. Quickly, Harry jumped off the window seat, before turning his eyes to the clock.

9:30. Marveling at the speed the time went by (Harry could have sworn it had been hardly fifteen minutes. But then, if you account for nerves, and the fact that he might have dozed off...), he considered going down to the corridors. If he left the dorms now, he would be out-of-bounds. But when has that ever concerned Harry? Quickly, he slipped out of the dormitory and into the common room, bored and not sleepy. Might as well explore.

Besides, it had been forever since he had ventured the castle at night, and it was certainly more interesting at night than day.

Quietly, Harry left the common room, walking quietly, keeping his green eyes peeled for any sign of a teacher as he made his way to the kitchen's for a nighttime snack. As he walked down the first corridor, he heard a distant bark, and out of the corner of his eye, he looked out a window. And what he saw made his blood run cold.

The horrendous figure of Remus was running out of the tree, with a stag and a bearlike dog hot on it's heels.

Remus was running straight for the castle.

For those of you who don't see my reasoning of Remus's interest in the castle, consider the point that werewolves hunt humans in particular. And what's the castle chock full of? Not frogs, certainly.

Harry found himself racing down the corridor, tearing down the steps to the Entrance Hall, and reaching the bottom just as Remus reached the front doors.

"Colloportus!" gasped Harry, using the spell Hermione had used to block the door against Death Eaters in the Ministry of Magic. The door squelched just as Remus rammed himself into them, growling once, and ramming into them again, making a dull thud that wasn't very audible, for some reason. Harry didn't ponder this, however, as his heart was beating quicker than usual in his rib cage, and he was slowly backing away from the door.

Suddenly, he heard the snarling of a dog and the snort of a stag, then the enraged howl of the werewolf. The scuffling noises became fainter, and when Harry could barely hear them, he cautiously approached a window to the right of the door. He let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding as he watched Remus being shoved back into the tree's trunk by James and Sirius.

Wearily, he walked back to the common room, luckily not running into any teachers. Feeling like he had been run over by a truck, Harry collapsed in one of the squashy armchairs, before falling into a dreamless sleep.