Frantically, Draco ran to the dungeon's door and began pounding on it. "Let me out of here! Help! Filch! Let me out of here!" he yelled. In the corner, he heard Lupin wailing in agony. His own heart was racing at top speed. Draco had no idea what to do in this situation. He'd never been taught how to defend himself against a werewolf attack!
He looked around in panic. A low growl emerged from the corner, and Draco felt his heart leap into his throat. Lupin now appeared, walking slowly, like he was stalking something. He'd made his transformation. Draco listened in horror as Lupin's growl lengthened and became more vicious. Without breathing, Draco edged back, very slowly. Lupin merely watched Draco with a snarl.
Draco had his wand in his pocket, and his grip on it threatened to snap it in half. He still backed away, and hoped that if he made no sudden movements that he'd not set Lupin off. This worked for a short while. At least, long enough for Draco to back into Colton's desk. He bumped against it, and it scraped against the stone floor.
This noise jolted Lupin out of his calm mood. He lurched forward, leaping after Draco, who scrambled to a bookcase. In desperation, Draco climbed up the bookcase, praying that it didn't tip over. Lupin snapped his deadly teeth not one inch from Draco's left foot. To hold Lupin back, Draco grabbed a book and threw it at him. Lupin yelped in pain as the book hit him squarely on his muzzle. This gave Draco just enough time to reach the top.
Panting, Draco watched the maddened werewolf below him howl in fury. How did he get himself into this mess? He watched as Lupin furiously tried to climb up the bookcase to reach him. What spells would work on werewolves? Surely he hadn't been taught one, Draco thought.
Lupin let out a great bellowing howl, which made Draco's insides grow cold with fright. It almost sounded like Lupin was trying to talk through his wolfen state. Draco's heart threatened to pound right out of his chest when Lupin began to leap up against the bookcase. The furniture shook with the impact. Damn if the werewolf wasn't trying to knock the bookcase down to get to Draco!
Draco couldn't decide if he was more furious than frightened. In desperation, he grabbed a few of the books that still remained on the top shelf. He flung one down at Lupin, which hit him in the nose. "That's for Professor Bloody Quirrell!" Draco raged. Lupin rebounded, and the bookcase shook again. "And that," Draco yelled as another book descended on Lupin's head, "is for Professor Lockhart!" Lupin growled, and another book landed on his back. "And that's for Professor Moody, who wasn't even really Professor Moody!" Draco panicked when he realized he had only one book left. But, he threw it anyway, hoping to knock the werewolf out with it. "And this is for you!" he cried as he hurled it down, "who didn't even even teach me how to defend myself against you!" Unfortunately, the book never even hit Lupin. He sidestepped it.
"Bastard!" Draco hissed. He gripped his wand, and Lupin threw his body against the bookcase. It jolted, lurched forward, and Draco made a wrong move forward, which upset the precarious balance he had on the top. The bookcase came crashing down. Lupin had scrambled away from the descending bookcase, and as soon at it crashed down, the werewolf surged forward.
Draco crawled away, but Lupin was way faster on four legs than Draco was on hands and knees. Lupin's hot breath was in Draco's face before he knew it. "Incendio!" Draco bellowed and pointed his wand at Lupin's tail. It caught fire, and Lupin began chasing his tail. It gave Draco time to scurry away and take better aim.
Lightning quick, Lupin realized that Draco was going to try and cast another spell on him, so he ignored his smoldering tail and hurled himself at Draco before he could utter another word. Draco was knocked down, and Lupin had just missed tearing Draco's face off. And that was when the oddest thing in the world happened.
Suddenly, a huge black beast sailed past him, knocking Lupin back. Draco slowly sat up amidst the growling and barking. He realized that the black beast was a dog. How had it gotten in here?
Draco edged away as the black dog and the gray werewolf growled at eachother. He thought this was most strange, until he saw something even more weird. A great stag stepped over him, and prodded the werewolf with its antlers.
Even more strange was a fat gray rat that scurried across the stone ground and sunk its teeth into the werewolf's foot. Lupin began trying to kick the rat off its foot, while trying to fend off the dog and the stag's antlers poking him this way and that way. The stag was prodding Lupin out the door.
Draco gaped, as he'd never seen animals act this way before. For a while, the animals' efforts seemed to be working, because Lupin was making his way toward the door. But then, it seemd like Lupin had remembered that there was a human being in the room that he was leaving unbitten, and he whirled around and bounded for Draco again. The dog barked furiously and the stag galloped to stop Lupin, but Lupin sidestepped the stag and dove for Draco's legs. Draco leaped away, and the dog chomped down on Lupin's tail. This made Lupin howl in anguish, and anger. He spun around to chase the black dog, who had ran out the door. The stag stooped his head, and the rat climbed onto its antler. In seconds, they were all gone, and Draco rushed to the door. He watched the very odd menagerie scramble down the hallway.
Draco dared to step out the door, and then, a new group swooped down on him. One was Professor Dumbledore, and another was Filch. Draco hadn't seen him in this time before now, and therefore was a bit surprised to find him looking so much younger. The third was a fellow that Draco didn't know. He was a big, powerful looking wizard, with very grave, serious features. It was this third fellow who asked Draco, "Where did Lupin go?"
"That way..." he pointed down the corridor. The wizard took off quickly.
"Mr. Malfoy, are you hurt? Do you need to go to Madame Pomfrey?" Dumbledore asked.
"Not unless she's got a very good supply of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey; I intend to get good and drunk!" Draco declared.
"Come with me, then." Dumbledore led Draco upstairs, then to his office. By the time Draco got there, some of the numbness of shock had worn off, and he was growing more and more angry.
Draco was seated in front of Dumbledore's desk, and the headmaster sat behind. For a few moments, neither of them said a word. Then Dumbledore looked into Draco's eyes, and could see the roiling emotions in them. "Mr. Malfoy, just speak. Tell me what's on your mind."
"You know what's on my mind!" Draco growled.
"You need to get it out anyway, Draco," Dumbledore advised him. "You are furious, and you have every right to be."
"The Firewhiskey," Draco urged.
"I don't think that's a very good idea, Draco," Dumbledore told him gently.
Draco drew a deep breath, but before a word could come out, the big heroic wizard burst into Dumbledore's office. "I can't find him anywhere! There's no sign of him!" There was no need to say who he was talking about.
Dumbledore stood up in alarm. "We absolutely must find him!"
Draco stood up as well. "He was with a bunch of animals!" he told them.
They both appeared stunned. "Animals? What kind of animals?" Dumbledore asked.
"One was a big black dog. Another was a stag. And there was also a rat," Draco told them.
"I'll have Filch and Hagrid cover the grounds. I'm going to look in the usual place..." the big wizard told Dumbledore, then left again.
"What 'usual' place is that?" Draco asked the headmaster.
"The Shrieking Shack, in Hogsmeade."
"Ah..." Draco's head was spinning too much for him to even grasp that the reason the Shrieking Shack ever shrieked in the first place was because of Lupin. He couldn't even appreciate, until much later, how much planning had gone into Lupin's attendance of Hogwart's with his affliction. All he had on his mind was one thing.
"I just have one question, Professor Dumbledore. Do all the teachers know about Lupin?"
"No, not all of them," Dumbledore admitted.
"Does Colton know?" he asked.
Dumbledore said, "I can't tell you whether or not he knows, because I don't know if he does or not. But I can tell you this. If we don't find Lupin very soon, not only will a lot more people know about him, but everyone in this building is in terrible danger." He swept his magnificent blue robes past Draco. "Please excuse me."
Draco left Dumbledore's office a few seconds after he did. He didn't need Dumbledore to tell him that Colton knew damned well about the catastrophe that would take place tonight. Which could only lead him to the conclusion that Colton was trying to kill him.
Why would he do that? What sort of threat was Draco to him? For a few seconds, he racked his brain, and then realized that the was one person who might be able to answer his questions. As he looked up the corridor, he saw students being led to their dormitories rather forcefully. Prefects scurried around, most likely having no idea why they were ordered to round up every student in the building.
One of those prefects was Severus. He was prodding some third year Slytherins and some first year Hufflepuffs on their way. Draco was on his way to speak to him, closing the distance with the question of what Severus knew about Colton uppermost in his mind.
"Snape, I've got to ask you something! It's about Colton," Draco told him as he joined him at the bottom of the staircase.
"Draco do you have any idea what's going on? Oh, there's Professor Foxworth. Maybe he knows..."
It was the burly wizard. "Mr. Malfoy! There you are. Come here just a moment." He more or less dragged Draco away from Severus. He smiled tightly. "Dumbledore had told me that you needed a drink. Of course, he wouldn't approve exactly if he heard that I'd given this to you, but after the hellish night you had, I'm sure it will be just the thing..." he told Draco, winked, and handed him a flask. Draco grinned, unscrewed the flask and took a long swill. He winced, and then smacked his lips. Odd. He'd had Ogden's Old Firewhiskey once, when he'd snuck a sip from his father's glass while they weren't looking. It had tasted more robust than this. "Feel better now?" Professor Foxworth asked.
"Um, yeah?" Draco said, sounding like he was guessing.
"Mr. Snape, anything you want to say?" Foxworth asked him sharply.
"Um, no?" he responded much like Draco had.
"Then, I suggest you both return to Slytherin House for the night. Don't leave, and don't let anyone else go either. Understand?"
Both Draco and Severus nodded mutely. Foxworth stalked off, and Severus turned to Draco. "What were you going to ask me about Colton?"
"Hm? I was going to ask you something about Colton?"
"Yes, dammit! You said that you had to ask me something, that it was about that bastard. What is it?" Severus demanded.
"You know, it must not have been that important, because I don't remember now," Draco told Severus.