Updated: Friday 11th February 2005
Disclaimers: See Chapter One
Black Light
By Dante Lewis
Chapter Twenty Two: Madness Within
As Estella approached the perimeter of the shack, she could feel the inexplicable sensation that she had to be somewhere else. Unwittingly combating the anti-wizard wards with her fierce determination and inbred patented stubbornness, Estella reached the threshold of the rambling old abode and made her way into the darkness within.
Passing through the front doorway of the shack, Estella shivered as her body reacted to the ripple of magic that permeated the air due to the disturbance in the wards. Suddenly, the door slammed shut, enveloping her in darkness and causing no end of panic. Fumbling blindly for the door handle, Estella cursed her irrational behaviour.
"This was a bad idea!" She said out loud, as her confinement to the shack became apparent. Estella had never seen her Godfather in the hours leading up to the full moon rising, and there was no telling if he was in a position to help her now. "Merlin, Uncle Sev is gonna think I'm a dunderhead!"
Her eyes now adjusting to the musty grey din of the room, Estella took in her surroundings, watchful for any sign of either her Godfather or a way out. Making her way up the stairs wearily, the old structure creaking and groaning underfoot, Estella began to appreciate exactly both why her Uncle and Godfather refused to take her on a tour of the property and why there were so many wards surrounding it, keeping people out.
"Blasted stubbornness!" Estella muttered to herself, echoing her uncle's favourite sentence.
Spying a dim light under a doorway up ahead, Estella rushed forward, almost knocking the rotted wood off its hinges as she fell into it heavily, pushing it open in relief. "Uncle Remus!" She called out.
A rustle in a shadowed corner of the room alerted Estella to her Godfather's location. Remus, in turn, was struggling to rise from the makeshift mattress on the floor to shoo his goddaughter away. "Estella," he croaked, his voice thick under the influence of Severus' latest potion. "What are you doing here? You have to go!"
Estella's exhausted face screwed up at her godfather's unintentionally harsh tone. "Please don't be mad, Uncle Remus. No-one came for me at school…" she started, her voice becoming increasingly choked on sobs. "I-I thought I c-could m-make my way h-home."
Remus sighed, yet still kept his distance from the child. "You got lost?" The child nodded. "Merlin Estella, you can't be here. Not now."
"I can't get out now." Estella sobbed, eyes downcast. "The door w-w-wont open. I'm s-s-s-sorry!"
Remus wretched, fear for his goddaughter twisting at his every inside. He would welcome the Dementors Kiss before he would see the precious child before him sentenced to his fate. Noticing the fear on her features, he crossed the room and gathered the trembling child in his arms, frantically hoping for a miracle.
"Hush child, it's alright." He said shakily, trying not to think what the rising wolf in him was capable of doing to her. "There's another way out…"
However, before the tortured werewolf could direct Estella to the secret trapdoor that would lead her all the way back into Hogwarts' grounds, he felt the last of his humanity begin to slip away. 'No!' he inwardly screamed.
In his arms, Estella could feel her godfather's heartbeat race. Looking up at him quizzically as he stopped mid-sentence, she was alarmed to see his eyes glazed and his breathing heavy. "Uncle Remus?" She asked warily, snaking her way out of the man's loosening grip to stand a few steps away.
Estella continued to watch in frozen terror as hair began to grow all over her beloved Godfather before her, his robes stretching, tearing and moving over him as his body started to shift. Her legs beginning to move on their own accord, Estella stumbled backwards, her hands flailing around looking for something she could protect herself with.
"Run! Hide!" Remus panted almost unintelligibly as the primal natures of his inner wolf drove the last of the desperate fear and sadness from his eyes. As the moon shone forth to cage his soul, his last conscious thought was that Severus' potion hadn't worked.
Estella was in danger.
End Chapter Twenty Two: Madness Within