CHAPTER XXIV POP GOES THE WEREWOLF
"Can we help you?" asked Lupin.
One of the Wizards had taken the liberty of drinking Snape's drink for him.
"You three aren't from around here are you?" said the dumb looking one
"I believe so," said Snape raising an eyebrow
"Well, I just want to tell you three that strangers that walk in here often end up at St. Mungo's," the dumb looking Wizard said
"I am glad for the warning, I assure you that we can take care of ourselves," said Snape, he glanced at Lupin and Sirius "One of us anyway," he added
"Tell you what," said the round faced man beside Lupin "We can make sure that doesn't happen if you could kindly contribute to our cause, say, everything you have,"
Sirius laughed, "You know, I've always been threatened with my life," said Sirius to the dumb looking Wizard "It's just the first time that I was threatened by a foul smelling, stupid looking Hippogriff's ass like you guys,"
The group of Wizards turned red in anger, they advanced to them dangerously but Sirius had already jumped on top of the table and lunged at them. All of the sudden, all hell broke loose.
The stupid looking Wizard swung a chair at Sirius; he avoided getting hit and gave the man a bloody nose. PAK!
Lupin on the other hand was busy with two men, one of them tried to jump on him from behind but he was greeted with Lupin's elbow in the process, while the other man managed to punch him in the face.
"Isn't this great Remus? It feels like sixteen again!" yelled Sirius while he slammed one of the men's faces on the table.
"This isn't exactly how I remember ourselves when we were sixteen!" yelled Lupin as he tackled the guy who punched him
"That's a very nice looking robe you got there mate," said one of the Wizards as he approached Snape
Snape still hadn't move from his chair as the riot was going on around him, "Thank you, I had it custom-made," said Snape who didn't seem to care when Sirius was hit by a stray chair (AN Why would he?)
The man charged at Snape, but Snape had smashed the glass of Butterbeer on him. Meanwhile, the bartender hid himself inside the Broom closet as the mayhem progressed.
"C'mon! I haven't barely lifted a finger!" yelled Sirius, PAK!, Sirius had punched one of the Wizards without even looking at him, but the man just looked more dangerous, it was just then that Sirius realized that he was twice the size of him "You're a big guy aren't you?"
But even before the man jumped at Sirius, Sirius quickly kicked him at the groin, the man looked like he was never going to be happy again and then fell down hard on the floor.
"Like they always say, the bigger they are, the slower they are," said Sirius
"Sirius duck!" yelled Lupin
A flash of jet red light had merely missed Sirius; he quickly ducked for cover as some of the Wizards shot hexes at them. Lupin and Sirius couldn't barely move from where they were hiding because of the hexes that was raining in on them, Snape quickly ran towards the bar and hid himself from the hexes.
"Spare wands! Those are illegal!" bellowed Sirius
"That's right Black! You tell them not to mess with the law," came the sarcastic voice of Snape
"Severus! We could really use your help about now!" bellowed Lupin, but Snape didn't answer
Snape had taken one of the empty bottles and poured in some of the ingredients that were inside his pocket, once he had finished he glanced around for something on one of the shelves, he took one bottle of Firewhiskey, opened it and added some to his potion, once he was done, he corked the bottle and started shaking it.
Sirius on the other hand was still trying his best from getting hexed, he glanced at Snape and saw his back, and he noticed that he was shaking something.
"Oh for god's sake Snape! There's a lot of time to do that elsewhere!" he yelled at him.
Snape stood up and threw the bottle at the men with wands, "Cover your eyes!" he yelled at the two, and he threw the bottle towards their attackers and quickly hid back behind the bar. BANG!
It was like a grenade had exploded inside the Pub; everything was covered with some kind of blinding light that had burst out of Snape's potion. Nothing was burned or smashed inside the Pub, the only difference was the Wizards that tried to attack them were covering their eyes in pain.
"My eyes! My eyes!" cried one of the Wizards with a spare wand
"Nice thinking Severus," said Lupin
"Who are you people?" said one of the Wizards who had successfully covered his eyes before Snape's potion had erupted; he was on the floor shaking in fear.
"I," said Snape "Am a Potions Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,"
"Me, oh, you'd probably remember me, almost four years ago, I was the most wanted man by the Ministry, does Sirius Black ring any bell?" he asked enjoying seeing the man tremble.
"You probably don't want to bother knowing me, I'm not that good in potions, and I'm not as famous as he is," he said pointing at Sirius "I'm just your typical average person who happens to turn into a werewolf in full moons," said Lupin.
"STUPEFY!" said Snape, the frightened man dropped unconsciously on the floor.
"Good idea, we probably should call the authorities and let them handle this, spare wands, naughty, naughty boys," said Lupin.
"LUMOS MAXIMA!" yelled Harry
The light from Harry's wand blinded the twenty-foot troll that had been chasing them.
"STUPEFY!" bellowed Draco, a red jet light burst out of his wand and hit the Troll right in the face, the Troll became dazed for a while and then hit the ground with a thud.
Neville collapsed on a boulder nearby "Never! Never again!" shouted Neville
"I hate Trolls," said Ron panting slightly
"Well I guess you're going to hate this Weasley, because here comes more," said Draco with his hands on his knees
Two more Trolls had appeared out of nowhere, they weren't as big as the first one that chased them, but they looked treacherous nonetheless.
"Here they come!" yelled Harry
One of the Trolls progressed towards Ron; he raised his wand at the Troll's club, "WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" bellowed Ron, the Troll's club levitated over its owner's head and then it fell with an tremendous thud on the Troll's head, knocking it unconscious like what he did in their first year to save Hermione
The other Troll progressed towards Harry and Neville.
"BOMBARDA!" bellowed Harry, the Troll's club exploded as it tried to hit them with it
Ron, Neville and Draco tried to stun it but it remained as alive as ever.
"Trolls aren't as easy to stun, it took us almost twenty minutes of stunning before we could knock that other one out," said Draco still pointing his wand at the Troll
"Full body bind on three, one… two… three!"
"PETRIFICUS TOTALLUS!" all four of them yelled
They were successful; the Troll fell to the ground as stiff as Snape's face.
"No more, no more, please," said Neville panting very hard
"Stop your whining Longbottom, we still have to save Luna, if they ever so much as touch her, I'll –"
"This way," said Harry who started walking up the hill
"Get off me!" said Ron to a crow that had landed on his head, " Stupid crows,"
"Isn't that cute, looks like Parvati's got herself some competition," said Draco
"Shut up Malfoy," snapped Ron
"Cut it out you two!" said Harry
After Snape, Lupin and Sirius had secured the men they brawled with at the Pub, they had left knowing that the authorities will arrive.
"Okay Mister-I-know-where-to-get-some-information-my ass, now what?" said Sirius as they walked away from the tavern
"He must be at the Three Broomsticks," said Snape calmly
"Yeah that's right, off to another bar says the greasy haired man," said Sirius.
"Now, now Sirius, let Snape take care of this, we ourselves don't even know where to go ourselves," said Lupin
Minutes later, the three Disapparated.
"ARANIA EXUMAE!" bellowed Harry as a giant spider attempted to lunge at him
"I don't know what the bloody hell is going on, first Trolls now it's spiders," said Ron petrified at the unconscious spider near him "I hate spiders,"
"Looks like Aragog isn't the only spider that grows that big," said Harry.
"Let's go, Luna's waiting!" said Draco.
"Why don't you just shut the hell up Malfoy!" Ron snapped at him
At Hogsmeade, Snape, Lupin and Sirius had apparated in front of the Three Broomsticks, they went inside and saw the place, it wasn't as crowded as it has normally have been.
"You!" came a woman's voice
Sirius saw the woman, she had blonde hair and a nice looking face, she had quickly strode towards him,
"Good day Rosmerta," said Snape.
But she didn't pay any attention to Snape at all; she glared at Sirius as though she never wanted anything but to smudge dirt on his face "You!" she said.
"Me?" said Sirius "But I don't even know-"
"How dare you come here!" she bellowed at him
Lupin had walked in between the two, trying to prevent another brawl "Rosmerta, I don't-"
"Oh shut up! I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to him," said Rosmerta
"What did I do to you?" said Sirius
"What did you do? What did you do! Because of you, this place had loss some of its usual costumers four years ago when you escaped from Azkaban, my Aunt's costumers were frightened to come here at night because of those Dementors and it's all your fault," said Rosmerta
"You're crazy!" said Sirius
"And you're a-a"
"Attention seeking bastard," whispered Snape
"An attention seeking bastard!" said Rosmerta
"This woman's crazy, I'm going in," said Sirius taking a step forward
"Oh no you're not!" she yelled, as she pointed a spatula at his head
It was amazing how a sweet looking woman with a spatula looked more frightening than a group of men with wands.
"Put your spatula down Rosmerta, it's not like we didn't go to school together before," said Lupin nervously
"Really?" said Sirius still not moving because of the spatula
"Yes Sirius, remember her, she was in our year too, only she was in Hufflepuff,"
"And what's wrong with being a Hufflepuff?" she snapped at Lupin
"Ah… err, nothing," said Lupin who looked scared at her as well
"I remember you two perfectly, you four with James Potter and that Pettigrew, trouble makers, pranksters, what did you call yourselves back then? The Moroners?" said Rosmerta
Snape had suddenly burst into laughs; he was grasping his ribs as he bounced up and down like frog "Oh that's good, that's good, The Moroners, I have to remember that one," said Snape as his laughs had transformed into sniggers
"It's the MARAUDERS!" Sirius corrected her
"What's the difference?" she asked, Snape had once again burst into laughs
"I've always liked this place," said Snape as he tried to stop his self from laughing
"Would you please put that thing away," said Sirius
Surprisingly, Madam Rosmerta had lowered her 'dangerous weapon' down (AN Wink, wink) and placed her hands on her waist. Snape had walked over to a man sitting by himself at the far end of the bar.
"What are the lot of you doing here anyway?" she asked them
"Snape's looking for somebody he knows for any information where a couple of students had gone off to," said Lupin
"Went off to?" said Rosmerta
"Never mind," said Lupin, Sirius had hidden himself at his back throwing piercing glares at the woman that threatened his life with a kitchen utensil
A few moments later, Snape had finished his talk with the man and went back to Lupin and Sirius.
"Let's go," said Snape passing the two
"This better not be another trip to some cheap old tavern," said Sirius
"What did you say!" yelled Rosmerta who was behind Lupin as they walked out of the place
Sirius jumped in surprise and disapparated with Snape followed by Lupin.
After a few hours of fighting their way through the forest, Harry and the others had finally arrived at a clearing. He saw an old looking castle up the hill that was near them; he urged the others to keep walking and they followed him, ("Damn you Potter!") even if Draco would mutter things about him.
"Let's go," said Harry "It points right at that old shabby castle up ahead, the other girls might be there too," he added to boost Ron, Draco and Neville's moral
"Hang on, what are those?" said Neville pointing at a strange plant that had vines longer than normal plants have
In Draco's curiosity, he walked towards it and tried to touch it, "Wonder what these things could be?" mumbled Draco
"Draco no! Don't touch those!" yelled Neville
But it was too late, the vines of the strange plant had wrapped around Draco's neck and tried to do the same to his whole body, Harry, Ron and Neville had taken their wands and pointed it at the plant.
"Lumos!" said the two, light had suddenly burst out of their wands, and then, the vines suffocating Draco had loosen up and dried down
"What was that?" said Draco holding his throat as he gasped for air
"Devil's Snare," said Neville
"Stupid crow!" yelled Ron
"What is it?' asked Harry
"It pooped on me, look," said Ron as he showed the bird dropping on his left shoulder to Harry
"Let's keep on moving," said Harry
The four of them had run for the castle, when they arrived at the rocks near the gate, they saw someone at the gateway that appeared to be going inside. They immediately hid at the cluster of rocks beside them.
"That's one of them," said Draco "I'm sure of it,"
"What are we waiting for?" asked Ron
"Wait," said Harry "Look, he's trying to do something," pointed Harry
They watched the person outside as he stopped in front of the gate, "It's me! Nott!" he shouted to someone behind the entrance, just then, someone had replied inside.
"Prove it!" called the person inside
"Oh come on! What do you want me to do? Sing?" yelled Nott, and then afterwards, the gate slowly opened up, Nott came running inside the gateway, after that, the gate had closed itself again.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Neville
Harry placed his hands on his chin and forced his brain to come up with a way for them to get through.
"Do you reckon we should fly?" asked Ron
"No!" snapped Draco "What are you? An idiot or something, they'll know that we've arrived, God knows what they'll do to Luna and the others," said Draco, Ron glared at him
"We can't fool anyone if we tried to pass ourselves as one of them," said Neville
"If there's only someway we can copy their voices," said Harry
There was moments of silence after that, and then…
"Wait a minute!" said Ron
"What is it now? Disguise our selves into pretty girls and try to pass our selves as hookers that make house calls?" said Draco sarcastically
"No you prat!" snapped Ron
"What is it Ron?' asked Harry
"The Voice Grabbers! Fred and George gave me one as a present to me last Christmas," said Ron
"That's perfect Ron," said Harry who looked so happy that he could have kissed Ron – in the mouth – twice, but good thing he keeps his self control in order "Let's wait for another one of them to come up and we can copy his voice," said Harry
"Brilliant Ron, brilliant," said Neville
"Well – if we would have disguised our selves into women, do you think I'd look good in grayish silver?" said Ron as he examined his Quidditch robes
They all stared at him.
Sirius, Snape and Lupin had arrived at the spot where Harry and the others were forced to land because of something that made their Brooms to act up just moments ago.
"This is stupid! Why can't we just disapparate? I'm tired of walking," whined Sirius massaging his left foot.
"Well, by all means Black, do go on ahead, if you weren't such the arrogant, whinny little mutt that you are," said Snape "I can do without anyone complaining like a little girl,"
"Oh yeah," said Sirius as he walked threateningly towards Snape
"Sirius," warned Lupin "Don't go breathing on each others necks now, he has a point, we can't take the chance of apparating to a place we've never known before,"
But Sirius ignored him and stopped in front of Snape's face," You think you're so smart and clever, although I remember then that you're the one taking his O.W.L.S. so seriously, but poor Severus Snape got top four in his exams, and I also remember that he was also almost got eaten up by a Big – Bad – Werewolf, I'm so disappointed when James saved you," said Sirius darkly
Snape's face got paler from rage, his eyes were now fixed on Sirius as if he wouldn't want anything but to put a knife – a rusty knife and thrust it to Sirius's chest "You pathetic little insect, you'll pay for saying that to me," said Snape
"Oh yeah, I'd like to see you try and do something about it," said Sirius
"You two stop it! We still have to find where the children are," called Lupin
But the two paid no more attention to him. They quickly took their wands out of their robes and aimed it to each other's faces; Lupin had quickly got between and separated them from one another.
"Calm down, you two are acting like children!" yelled Lupin
Sirius and Snape still glared at each other; there were no words on explaining how their faces looked so hateful.
"My, my, there you two are again, looking like the perfect couple, it's a good thing James Potter is dead, then he would see how –"
Snape didn't get to finish insulting Sirius, Sirius had quickly raised his wand at Snape and hexed him, Snape in the while was quick enough to give Sirius a hex of his own; two rays of light had erupted from their wands and connected, resulting to leave a bright bubble like orb in the sky.
"Just let me skin him alive Remus, just let me -, Remus?" said Sirius
When he saw Lupin he was shaking convulsively and his skin was turning as pale as ever, he was screaming in pain as he clutched to his ribs; he was changing, he was turning into a werewolf.
Sirius's eye's had widened, he looked back at the giant bright orb that was hovering to the sky, "Oh no, it looks like the moon," said Sirius
"What is happening?" shouted Snape; his voice was carrying an alarmed tone
"Snape get out of here! Now!" yelled Sirius
But Snape didn't move, he was still standing still looking at the werewolf that was starting to walk towards him. Sirius tried to grab Lupin's back but he was immediately met with a claw on his arm, which caused him to drop his wand, Lupin now turned to Snape who was still immobile, his wand was pointed stupidly to the ground, and then, he was sent to the air with one of Lupin's claws, he landed a few meters away from where he was standing before, he tried to point his wand at him but he then realized that he had loss it, Lupin was again pacing dangerously towards Snape, but then Sirius came out of nowhere and tackled Lupin to the ground.
"Whatever you do, don't let yourself get bitten!" yelled Sirius at Snape
Snape was now crawling on the forest ground in pain clutching his cut, while looking for his wand; Sirius had now transformed himself into his Animagus form and tried to prevent Lupin from noticing Snape.
From where Snape is, he can hear the sounds of a dog crying in pain, Sirius must have been hurt again, and then he found it, he found his wand at last, he forced himself to sit up and pointed his wand at Lupin, but there was a problem, Sirius was in the way, Snape couldn't hex him.
"Black! Move!" yelled Snape
The big shaggy dog had quickly jumped out of the wand's range; a jet green light had burst from the tip of Snape's wand and connected to Lupin's chest, the werewolf let out a cry of pain and ran off to the deep ends of the forest.
Sirius had now turned back into his normal self, even though he was covered with blood he had managed to stand up, as he was about to chase after Lupin, Snape had called him back.
"What is it?" said Sirius clutching his left arm that was scratched by Lupin before
"Don't go after him yet," said Snape
"Why?" asked Sirius
"Let me first make a potion to help on restraining him," said Snape as he started to gather some ingredients from the pockets of his robes and conjuring a water filled cauldron in front of him
Sirius stared at Snape for a while, "Your worst fear is a werewolf?" said Sirius
Snape stood up, his face was turning red once more, Sirius didn't know if this was because of embarrassment or fury, "So Black, are you happy now? Now that you know what my worst fear is? You should be proud that your little prank left a mark on me till this day," said Snape
"I didn't know," said Sirius
"Of course you didn't know, you didn't know that you almost let me walk to a werewolf's jaws, you didn't know because you didn't care," said Snape, his voice shaking
"It was a long time ago, I admit that I was wrong, I admit that I was stupid," said Sirius
"I PERFECTLY KNOW HOW LONG IT WAS! YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO DO THAT TO ME!" bellowed Snape
"THEN I WILL BURN IN HELL FOR WHAT I DID!" Sirius yelled back, the two of them glared at each other, after a few moments, Snape had returned on to making the potion for Lupin
"I will try to forget how much hatred I have for you, Black," said Snape without looking at Sirius "When this is all over you shall pay, but for now, you will track down Lupin as a dog after I had finished"
Sirius watched Snape and gave a heavy breath, he looked up at the sky and watched as the bright orb they had accidentally created hovered across the sky,
"Just hurry up," said Sirius
AN Sorry it took me to update, I'm getting so tied up with schoolwork lately, but I pulled through just to update, I'd like to thank……..
peachie1st: don't worry, I will
Hollyg20: what's the world without sappiness?
star in a daze: calm down
Sarah143: thank you so much, and yes, he did
BabyRuth: for you, I will
hniwqurqow8rucwpo: it's okay to think that way
Purplerks: 3 am huh, wow, I'm so flattered
Old Muggle: sorry about that, I'm kind of new at this
Rominion: I think they are too
Lord Cynic: who's Kirby
S.F. Gustafuson: sorry
Shorty-girly: thank you, thank you, thank you so MUCH! Oh I hope you go ahead and wait for the other chapters to come, because rest assured that I will finish this story
Usha88: Ah, finally, my favorite reviewer so far, thank you for reading the chapters one-by-one, please stay tuned, I love you, I love you, I love you!
AN By the way, I just celebrated my 19th birthday this January 7