HOOO BOY It's finally here. This chapter is a lot shorter than usual because it solely contains the events of the Prank. The next chapter will deal with the aftermath, but this deals with the event itself.

God I hope I did it justice cause I was seriously freaking out the entire time I was writing this. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it!


THE TOWER

upright: sudden upheaval, broken pride, disaster

reversed: delayed disaster, fear of suffering

Cressida's jean jacket hung heavy on her shoulders as she marched out of the castle, careful to take the secret passages she'd practically memorized from James's map so Filch wouldn't catch her. Emmeline and Dorcas were fast asleep when she'd got back, so she had to be extra careful when switching from her uniform to a pair of dark jeans and a burgundy tank top, tightening the laces on her boots before slipping out with her wand in hand.

A shadow stretched across the floor and Cressida gasped, drawing in a quick breath as she hid behind a pillar, waiting to hear who it was.

"I thought I made it very clear I didn't want to talk to you," Lily Evans' voice was curt and snappish, and until the other person spoke, Cress was sure she was about to witness another attempt at James's hopeless flirting.

"You don't understand Lil," Severus Snape's drawl echoed off the walls, "Black and Lupin are hiding something, they have all year, and I'm finally getting close to figuring out their little secret."

Lily's sigh made it clear she'd had this conversation several times before, "So what if Black is hiding something? What does it have to do with you?" Snape remained quiet and Lily continued onward, "In fact, I don't even understand why you're still talking to me Sev, after all, I'm just a filthy little mudblood."

"Lily, wait!"

Footsteps faded but one shadow remained, Cressida pressing herself tight against the pillar as the shadow drew closer. It stopped and then passed her completely, heading toward the north end of the castle by passing through the corridor near the middle courtyard. Toward the training grounds.

Why was Snape headed there?

A soft meow came from Cressida's feet and a bright orange tabby cat stared up at her with unblinking eyes.

Shit. Filch would be here any minute.

"Shoo," She whispered, peering around the pillar to check if the coast was clear. The cat, instead of bolting away like Mrs. Norris and her band of merry kittens, purred and slid up against Cressida's legs, wrapping its tail around her ankles. Cressida bit her lip in frustration.

She couldn't stay here, not if Filch's cats were out and about.

The cat let out a soft meow again and began to move toward the corridor Snape had disappeared down. Their unblinking eyes met Cressida's confused ones and its tail whipped around like a compass arrow, almost as if it was telling Cressida to follow her.

But that was ridiculous.

Her feet took her that way anyway, footsteps muffled by the red carpet set out beneath her. The cat continued down the winding hall, meowing and stopping every once in a while to double check that Cressida was still following her.

She was, until she finally left the safe confines of the castle and the cat bolted down the hill toward the whomping willow, and Cressida ran squarely into a familiar figure with dark curly hair and square glasses.

"James?"

"Cress?"

"What are you doing here–"

"-You shouldn't be out here–"

James was wearing his quidditch sweater and a pair of worn jeans, his wand hastily tucked in his front pocket, glasses slightly askew and smelling of mildew and...something she didn't want to know about. But it was the frightened look in his hazel eyes that convinced Cressida that something was wrong.

Her stomach knotted itself together, and for a brief moment, she wondered if Snape was right. That Black and Remus were hiding something from not just her, but James and Peter as well.

But Peter was nowhere to be found.

Neither, in fact, was Sirius.

"James–"

"What are you doing out here, Cress?" his voice was dangerously low, trademark smirk replaced by a tight frown and tense shoulders, "You shouldn't be out here, not tonight."

The full moon illuminated the path the tabby cat had disappeared down, and Cress debated about just leaving James behind and going off on her own. But maybe he could provide answers.

She crossed her arms, "I'm following Snape, who's following Sirius because he has the stupid notion that he's up to something," Her scoff punctured the air, "Granted, I wouldn't even be out here if I hadn't caught the two of them trying to beat each other into a bloody pulp–"

"Wait–" James interrupted her, holding out his hand and creasing his brows together the way he did when he was trying to solve a particularly difficult problem, "What do you mean you're following Snape? Why is he out here?"

Cressida shrugged, "I don't know, Sirius said something about poking the whomping willow with a stick so I thought he was gonna ambush him with a duel or something. After the lake, I wasn't taking any chances–"

James's eyes went wide, mouth dropping open and running a hand through his hair, "Sirius said what?"

The tension slowly began to settle over her, her throat sinking into her stomach as she began to process the tone behind James's words. It was fear. It was anger.

Something was wrong.

Whatever Sirius had told Snape, he clearly wasn't supposed to know. And neither was she.

Cressida gulped, "He said if Snape wanted to test his theory he should…go poke the whomping willow with a stick…" James bit down on his lip, gripping his wand in his hands, "I just thought it was Sirius goading him like he usually does, why is it such a big deal?"

Her question was met with silence and James began to book it down the hill toward the aforementioned tree, which stood strangely still.

Cress had never seen the whomping willow in such a state. It was always thrashing about, ready to hospitalize any student that dared to come within an inch of its branches. How was it so still all of a sudden?

"Fuck," James swore under his breath, lighting up with wand with lumos and Cressida doing the same. At the base of the tree stood a hole that she was positive hadn't been there before. Stairs descended from the opening and a stick had been carelessly tossed aside, the knot in her stomach tightened.

Snape had already been here.

Wooden bark was replaced by thick cement as a long hallway stretched out before her, ducking into the opening of the tree, James's footsteps urgent and worried. But the knot in her stomach jumped into her throat as she realized where she was.

The flickering candlelight, the cleanswept walls, the mud sinking underneath her boots.

"Cress?" James's brisk pace paused, but she could only stare down at the hallway, colors blurring like a monet painting until she could almost see the matte black that accompanied her dreams, "What is it?"

She sucked in a tight breath, "I've been here before."

"That's impossible," James scoffed, grasping her hand, "Come on, we gotta go before–"

James's hand stilled, his silvery light illuminating a familiar pale face, beady black eyes narrowing at the two of them, "Potter and the Mudblood," Snape sneered, "I should've known you'd be out here."

The anger that bubbled up in Cress's chest was squashed by an insurmountable fear that seized her muscles and gripped her bones. Anguished cries echoed off the walls, and Cress could see the barest bit of light at the end of the tunnel. She was almost sure that if she moved any closer she'd see a cracked door.

She knew this place. She knew what was happening. The cool sensation of water droplets landing on her cheek drew her back to reality, but only for a moment. Snape's gaze went from suspicious to curious, craning his neck down the tunnel and illuminating the place with his wand, "What was that?"

James's mouth was shut tight, and Cress was too stunned by the events unfolding before her to speak.

A howl pierced the air and shivers erupted down Cress's back.

Snape went running. So did James.

Cressida followed them, wind against her hair as her boots dug deeper into the ground, carrying her as fast as they could. Because she knew that Remus was there. Her friends were there. Whatever Sirius hadn't told her was something everyone else had known, and now Snape was endangering that.

Maybe she was as well.

"Severus, no!"

The slytherin had opened the door and James's guttural yell had done nothing to deter the boy at all. "Protego!" the bespectacled boy yelled, projecting a silvery shield as he pulled Snape back by his collar, dragging the petrified boy back down the hallway.

The door slammed open and Cress's feet slid out from underneath her, the full moon shining through a large window, illuminating the figure from her dreams.

It was bigger than anything she'd seen before, taking up half the space of the room, nearly the size of a thestral, sandy brown fur almost black in the moonlight.

It snarled and snapped it's teeth, lunging straight for her.

She scrambled backward, her scream dying on her lips.

The wolf was launched back by James's protection spell, letting out a distasteful growl as it stared at the three students. James was busy holding Snape back, trying to keep the Slytherin from seeing anything more.

But Cressida was looking straight down the snout at the animal, it's mouth wide enough to engulf her in one snap of its jaws.

That wasn't what she was looking at. Instead she was staring at the color of the animal's eyes. Because she'd seen that color before.

It was the same muted green she'd daydreamed about in her History of Magic classes, the same green she'd seen in the face of the boy she liked every day at school.

"Remus?" She whispered, choking on her own words.

The wolf let out another snarl before being assaulted by a much smaller figure, a shiny black dog that sunk its teeth into the wolf's neck, and before the spell could wear off, Cressida kicked the door shut, not wanting to see anymore.

The three of them scrambled out of the tunnel, Snape's face white as a sheet, blood drained out of it as they escaped the jaws of the Whomping Willow, Cress's heart beating faster and faster until it drowned out everything around her.

"You say a word about this and I'll do more than pants you," James's voice was low and dangerous, wand pointed directly underneath Snape's chin, but the boy remained defiant.

Cress collapsed to the ground, hands wrapped around her knees as the two boys continued to trade threats.

Remus Lupin had been the monster in her dreams.

He'd been the one she'd been so worried about. He'd been the one she feared.

Remus Lupin, the boy who used to share hot chocolate with her when she was feeling down, the boy who wore cozy sweaters and carried an extra book with him for when he was bored, the boy who'd she inexplicably and irrevocably fallen for because he was sweet and gentle and kind.

And all this time he was a werewolf.

How couldn't she have known? Why hadn't she seen the signs? It'd been on her Defense OWL for christ's sake!

Suddenly everything made sense, the temper that flared up every so often, the disappearances, the sickness…

Dread settled over her as she thought back to the Hogsmeade weekend, a sinking feeling in her stomach persisting as she recalled what the sky had been that day.

A full moon.

Remus hadn't stood her up at all. He'd been going through hell and she'd taken it out on him.

And Sirius was trying to tell her.

And she'd decked him in the face for it.

What the fuck kind of person did that make her?

Another howl came from the direction of the shrieking shack and the three hogwarts students lifted their heads up at the sound. Snape in fear, James in concern, and Cressida in morbid curiosity.

Another figure tumbled out of the whomping willow, small and pudgy and dusting the dirt off his clothes.

Cressida instantly recognized the figure as none other than Peter Pettigrew, who's watery eyes were filled with unshed tears, "James!" He yelled out, running toward the group before skidding to a stop when he saw who his friend was with, "Cressida? Snape? What are you–"

"Not now Wormtail," James interjected, his wand still pointed at the slytherin. Snape had his wand pointed at James as well, but neither boy was moving.

Realization dawned over the smaller Marauder and Cress found herself standing, Peter's hand tucked underneath her arm and helping her up, "Are you alright?" He asked, eyes wide with concern.

Cress couldn't do anything but nod even though she was far from okay.

The boy she liked was a werewolf and she'd been nothing but a bitch to him for nearly the entire year.

"Come on, let's get out of here before Filch–" Peter's warning was cut off by a loud bark and the group turned to hear large footsteps enter the clearing, "Who's there?" A scottish accent boomed through the clearing and Cress's stomach dropped.

Hagrid's face turned from fear to confusion, knitting his large brows together as he came across the group of students out well past curfew, his lantern lighting up the scene, "Yae four ain't supposed to be out here."

James and Snape traded apprehensive looks while Peter gulped and Cress's knees buckled underneath her once again.