The full moon arrived in all it's splendour. The build up to it was a little more heightened than usual. All plans had been made for the hours that the moon would cast it's eerie glow over the land and James, Sirius and Wormtail were all on edge, awaiting the event that would turn Hogwarts away from dullness and back to greatness. Remus, in comparison, was going through his usual phase of nervousness and kept issuing 'what if's' at each of them. They had become quite used to hearing this every month at the proposal of new plans and so responded only when it seemed necessary to Remus' sanity.
"But it's going to be a clear night and-"
"We've done it a thousand times before!" James said, wearily.
"I'm only saying that it's a long time to guard me without a break and if you get distracted-"
"You'd think you'd be used to this by now."
Remus simply looked at him, neither angrily or in defeat, in fact it was thoughtfully. "It's lucky it fell on a Saturday he said at last, "I don't much feel like getting up early tomorrow." James grinned at him. "That's more like it!" He smiled, "me neither."
They heard someone outside the portrait hole give the password, 'fuzzle-wuzzle' (seemingly she liked the way it sounds) and they all sprang into action. James had wrapped his invisibility cloak around himself in a split second, the silvery lining whirling and rippling before disappearing like it's owner. He once again opened the folds of the cloak, motioning for Sirius and Wormtail to join him. They dived across the room and under the cloak. All three vanished with another of James' quick movements and Remus was left looking quite alone as the portrait hole opened to reveal Madame Pomfrey.
"Come along Mr Lupin." She said, calling him to her to avoid the indignity of having to clamber into the room. Remus glanced behind him, as he always did, to where his friends had just been standing. He noticed something which they obviously did not and whispered out of the corner of his mouth "Ankles," his eyes still fixed on Madame Pomfrey as he snaked his way towards her around the many chairs. James and Sirius crouched slightly, they being the tallest, and the cloak once again skimmed the floor. Once Remus and Madame Pomfrey had left and enough time had been given for their departure from the corridor, they moved clumsily out of the room and followed their path down to the Whomping Willow. They stood in a patch of short grass a little way away from their friend and off the path that Madame Pomfrey had just walked so as not to attract suspicion by bumping into her as she travelled back that way in a few moments. They saw her prod the knot in the tree. Remus entered the tunnel underneath and the tree immediately sprang back to life. Madame Pomfrey turned on her heel and headed back up to the castle, a shawl tightly wrapped around her shoulders. It was now safe to move again. Wormtail immediately took his animagus form, no need for a prompt as the routine was effortless. He landed with a small 'thud' onto the ground and sped, weaving between the blades of grass, towards the tree. When he reached his destination the small brown mouse leapt up onto it's hind legs and patted the knot as he had done many times before. The tree's branches, which had just been thrashing about in a wildly random motion, stopped so completely that it looked as though it had been stupefied. James dropped the cloak and shoved it into a crevasse underneath a particularly large root of the tree for safe keeping until their return. Sirius glanced up at the sky. Magenta clouds filled the air - Remus' weather report way wrong. He smiled to himself (he loved to be right), picked up Wormtail, placed him into his robe pocket and then slid himself into the passageway that ran underneath the Willow. James followed. They emerged at the end of a tunnel running deep into the earth. Sirius had emptied Wormtail from his pocket and placed him onto the ground beside his feet when they were met by James. He and Sirius gave each other one last look before they were replaced by a large black dog and a noble stag. They bounded down the gently narrowing tunnel, Wormtail trailing slightly behind.
They emerged into a a large dusty room. Every piece of rotting furniture within it had teeth marks engraved into it, some so much so that all that remained was a pile of menacing splinters. These were illuminated by a series of shafts of moonlight which were unhindered by the clumsy boards tacked up against the windows and so they spilled imposingly into the building. The room was filled with a piercing scream that rebound off the Shrieking Shack's tired walls. Standing in the middle of the floor was Remus, his back bent double as he screamed and screamed and screamed. He stumbled towards the mantle piece and grasped it in an attempt to steady himself. His knuckles turning white as he struggled to hold on in his murderous pain. It coursed through his body, erupting into a multitude of dark bristly fur all over him. It was in this way that the others found him. They bounded out of the tunnel and stood at the perimeter of the room, eyeing Remus warily. He heard all of this, his now animalistic ears, pivoting to concentrate on their steps, tracking them. He turned slowly, his chest rising and falling heavily. His piercing yellow eyes narrowed. Through these nothing human remained, no soul of conscience. They were fixed on them so fiercely that they only appeared as flashing slits in the darkness. The transformation was complete. Remus was no longer a 'he' but an 'it.'
It pounced, fangs bared. They anticipated it. Sirius leapt on the werewolf and seized it by the neck in his jaws. All sympathy was blown from their minds for Remus. This was too dangerous a game to be kind - anything went. Padfoot and Prongs set about getting it in line. After a struggle of force and wits the werewolf was temporarily calmed. Each side was affected but the losing one thankfully a little more so. They headed towards the door, one werewolf flanked by two beasts.
The sky was a deep, dusky blue as they quit the Shrieking Shack and a peace that would soon be disrupted radiated from the area around them. The werewolf sniffed the air as though it were now glad to have escaped the dusty confinement of his previous dwelling. Prongs was by no means as relaxed as this and continued to look about wearily for any possible victims of his friend's fangs. The werewolf and his guard proceeded down the steep bank of the Shrieking Shack's mount. The town was dark and deserted as the days were drawing in and apart from the Inns at the other side of town there was nothing much to amuse the people of Hogsmede. They crept down the path and to the strip of scattered houses that separated the hills from the town. They walked slowly (Wormtail carried upon Padfoot's back), guarding their fellow oddity with one eye and with the other searching for possible adventure spots. This second task appeared harder than the first at this moment in time as a strange stupor had seemed to have overtaken their werewolf friend. Every path they walked they had walked once before and fun looked to be hiding from them. It was beginning to annoy Padfoot. This was clear from the frustrated growl that was emitted from his muzzle every few minutes. They stopped, sighting a cave in a familiar mountain that they had not seen before. The reason perhaps being of it's carefully placed situation the rock that from far away could easily deceive them. This was to be today's place of revelry. They stopped and Padfoot strode ahead to investigate, leaving Prongs alone with their charge. The werewolf, however shattered his intellect, saw the opportunity facing him. He leapt on Prongs, teeth bared, all effort invested into his escape. It clawed at the stag, swiping it's talons this way and that, furiously trying to reach warm flesh to score, to gash, to bite it. Though it was fierce however, for the moment it was foolish as it had attacked James from the front. Due to this and this alone he was able to raise it up on his horns and, with effort, toss it along the ground. Warm blood dripped from Prongs' side as Sirius sprang from the innermost sanctuary of the cave. Prongs turned to meet him. Within this split second was when the werewolf gained his true advantage. It leapt to it's feet and shot out into the field through which they had just passed, running for freedom, running for blood.
Sirius saw it and gave one immense bark before jetting after it, almost tripping over his paws in his haste. Prongs snorted which, translated to English, meant "Shit!" He reared around and set off at full speed. Sirius and James were now hunting the stray down. James soon gained the lead over Sirius, his hooves better suited to the muddy clay of the field than Padfoot's paws, and ran up behind the werewolf as he was clambering down the road on all fours. It's blazing yellow eyes were fixed on a small cottage directly infront of it. It's windows splayed a warm glow of yellow light onto the pavement. It was completely unsuspecting of the demon that approached it. James bent his neck. He charged at it, his horns colliding with the square of it's back and it lurched forwards before crumpling to the ground. They approached it cautiously. It didn't move. Sirius nudged it in the ribs with his nose. It still didn't move. They couldn't wait here any longer so Padfoot carefully grasped his mouth around it's arm and they began to drag it back together.
The next morning after no sleep at all Sirius, Wormtail and James ran anxiously up to the hospital wing. The night before they had been forced to leave Remus back at the Shrieking Shack. It was their only choice. They had checked his injuries as best they could and left him. If they brought Remus to the hospital wing themselves all kinds of questions would be asked and anyway, they had and agreement; this was the way it had to be.
They burst through the doors unceremoniously and searched the beds for their injured friend. They were empty. James opened his mouth to scream, confess, hex himself, whatever he could do to stem the flow of guilt and sadness, when Sirius noticed something in the corner of the room. He ran over to it without a word. The curtains were drawn around a bed but no noise issued from it. He couldn't even hear it's occupant breathing. He wrenched the curtains back to reveal Remus, asleep on the bed. He smiled at his unconscious body, able to breathe again. When they saw the expression on Sirius's face the fogs that had engulfed James and Wormtail's minds too cleared and they ran to meet this fortunate werewolf.
"Five minutes!" Madame Pomfrey called over from her door. She had been blatantly disturbed by their rough entrance. "And I'd be extremely thankful if you did not abuse my door like that in future! I was trying to concentrate. I suppose Professor McGonagall informed you?"
They all nodded subconsciously to her inquiry as they positioned seats around Remus' bed and agreed at a whisper that this had been a definite close one.