Author's note: Please be aware that I own ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, everything, except my character(s) I place in here, belongs to the wonderful Lady J.K. Rowling. This is a Sirius Black/OC Fanfiction, or at least it will get to that point. I do have terrible spelling sometimes, but I do my best. However, if I misspell something that I have not caught I do appreciate having a correction mentioned. But I love reading Fanfiction's from here, and I hope I can bring others the same joys they have brought me, I figured it was time I give it a shot.

This WAS, my FIRST Fanfiction that I had the courage enough to put up for all to read. I started small and did my best to update as soon, and as much, as I could. I know tend to forget things so try to have some patience, even though I sometimes fail at having some myself. *cough, cough*Please Enjoy the story, for the pages have yet to turn for new, or returning, readers of journeys untold. Also, please be aware that this story is 100% mine. This is a work of mine that I did under a different account of fanfiction under the username Nattie8516 and now shares the same username under this Fanfiction site as well. So rest assured, I am the same person and same owner of this work and other's I shall be posting on this new site as well.

Chapter 8

They had lost again.

"It's fine, Emma. Don't worry about it,"

"Impossible! That's the third game I've lost us, Lily." Emma was sulking half the night away, and in deep thought of how she was going to follow the boys and not be caught. Regulus had rubbed it in very good that he had better talent because of his 'pure-blooded nature' in his Wizarding family, this had resulted in a Bludger 'accidentally' slamming into his gut, courtesy of Sirius and James. Having enough of watching her sister sulk and not listen to her, Lily walked away.

She was pulled from her sulking when Gabby plopped down next to her and put a folder in her lap and gave her a bit of a stern look. It was the folder regarding Remus Lupin. 'Uh-oh...' She had forgotten to talk to Gabby about that when they got to school, but with everything that had happened she had gone alone and began practicing her Animagus transformation, which was going rather well. "Uh, you went through my things?" Emma asked, she was shock and felt a bit violated of her privacy.

"No, this was sitting half on and off your nightstand, I accidentally knocked it over when I walked by. My jacket caught it, I just happened to see some things and ended up looking through the papers that fell out. Emma, why did you do this? That's like, major invasion of personal life and privacy."

"I have the curiosity that a cat would not want, Gabby. Besides I was worried about him, something wasn't right, so I did some... Digging if you want to say, and I came up with this... Did you read all of it?"

Gabby shook her head no, "Emma, I read the words Were-wolf, Animagus, full-moon and did the research myself... But that still doesn't mean that this is true!" She softly scolded her friend so no one would hear them, she watched Emma ruffle through the documents and papers and pulled out three specific articles of information. 1) a newspaper clipping involving the Lupin family, and someone named Grey-back. 2) were the cycles of the moons and the excuses Remus had used each with the dates he'd left and came back to school and the description of the effects Lycanthropy on the wizard/witch's body and finally 3) the last letter she had gotten from Severus.

This instantly caused Gabby to glare at her in disbelief, "Emma, really? You asked Severus? Are you kidding me? He could be lying to you for all we know." She took a moment to read it and pointed out clearly annoyed, "He even states right here, underlined that this is also speculation and rumors, that doesn't make this true..."

Emma bit her bottom lip, she wasn't sure she should tell her the rest, but she'd kept enough from her as it was, 'time to spill the beans Emma,' "Tonight's the full-moon, only way to find out if it is…"

'Unbelievable!' "No, Emma. If you get bitten, you'll be-" "I've turned myself into an Animagus, Gabby," she accidently let slip, "It won't affect me. You, however, yeah it definitely would."

Gabby was speechless, she didn't even want to believe this! "Well, I'm going with you. You aren't going alone..." Gabby was putting her foot down, she just got her best friend back, she wasn't going to let her rush off and get herself into more trouble than she already was. Alone that was.

"No-" Gabby smacked part of Emma's bare leg of her outfit. The shock of her bare skin being smacked harshly caused the girl to jump and lightly hiss from the pain but the stern glare steeled Emma in her spot, "Yes, Emma... I am going with you, no arguments..." Now Emma had wished she'd put on her burgundy tights with her black and grey floral skirt instead of going bare legged. Not only would the tights had made the smack less painful it probably would have looked better with her burgundy sweater shirt and her dark brown laced ankle boots, not to mention much warmer.

"With what protection Gabby, my Animagus is a fox! I'd be useless!" Emma snapped at her.

Panicking, Gabby clamped her hand over Emma's mouth, "Shush! Emma are you trying to let the whole dormitory hear you?" she growled, "Now, I am coming with you whether you like it or not! Do you hear me." It wasn't up for debate. She released her hold over Emma's mouth after she nodded in agreement, "Fine, but if he bites me, I am biting you to share the pain."

Gabby grinned with a shrug, "Deal," And that was how they ended it.

Waiting until about nearly ten they followed the boys out of the common room, through some hidden passageways and out of the castle grounds.

"Where's Remus?" Gabby whispered, she had only seen three of the four boys and the whole reason they followed them out of the castle after hours was because of Remus's supposed condition.

"He left after the game ended at six." Emma informed her. She had been following the boys long enough this far to know Remus's routine.

"Right, maybe you should go ahead and change Emmie, don't want to be caught off guard."

"Right, um, well... This is going to be interesting... Okay, here it goes." Forcing herself to relax, Emma closed her eyes and focused while Gabby kept a lookout only to watch wide eyed in amazement, and awe as Emma turned into her Animagus. A small giggle left Gabby when she realized that Emma's clothes had not gone with her.

A small fox head popped out of her clothes and looked around rather cutely. Her fur was snow white to the moon, her ears perked up, long and listening around them. She had a small section of fur wrapping around her throat in a light silvery, her deep green eyes had remained.

Stepping out of the pile of clothes, Gabby saw the fox now in place of Emma had short legs and tiny paws and a short body as she watched her glide across the ground, but it was the long, fluffy, tail that caught her attention. Gabby smiled, seeing the rest of Emma's fur that was lightly speckled with a reddish cinnamon color and tipped at her tail, "Aw, Emma," Gabby said awing at her friends' form. Covering her mouth with both hands as she laughed at the twitching of one of Emma's eyes as she listened to Gabby. It was quite funny. "Sorry, they went into the Whomping Willow, think you can sniff them out?" At her friends nod she nodded back and watched Emma trot into the tree while trying not to giggle at how her tail constantly flicked, "She is so cute."

Waiting a few minutes, Gabby smiled with excitement at seeing Emma's head popping back out of the entrance and heard her yip for her and nodding her head towards the tree. Gabby proceeded to follow suit. "Please don't get me killed." She didn't realize the words had left her until she heard Emma's small growl. "Don't you growl at me Emma Evans," she lightly whispered to the fox form of her friend, "I wasn't talking to you anyways... I was talking to myself."

They had walked for about five minutes and found themselves entering a makeshift door that lead them into something that looked like a very old home, then walked up a set of stairs, "Is this a house?"

Emma's ears perked at hearing something that didn't sound very pleasant, she was a bit frightened when she saw the look on Gabby's face, a look of terror, meaning that Gabby had heard the noise as well. Being unsure as to what it was she stopped, turned to Gabby and pawed at her leg trying to nose her back towards the entrance.

A little confused, Gabby thought it better to ask and get a knowledgeable nod rather than assuming, "Want me to go back or hide? Wait, better idea; one paw for a, two paws for b, jump if I need to run." She said and nearly laughed as she watched Emma's head tilt to the side, giving her a 'you're kidding me.' irritated look. Gabby had to force herself not to laugh. Again.

Shaking it off, Emma huffed and pawed at her leg three times with a light yip, "So, both a and b? Okay, well... Clothes and I shall be waiting for you, be safe." and with that she walked back out and hid herself between two large out poking rocks that gave her pretty good coverage of the rock wall near the Whomping Willow.

Emma crept up the stairs and found a door cracked open just a little bit. But the shrilling screams began, screams of pain, that sent shivers up Emma's spine leaving her standing while as she trembled. 'what are those boys doing in there?'

Seeing the door cracked open had allowed her to look through yet what stunned her as she looked around the room were the creatures standing in the room. Standing in a circle around a shifting form, a black dog sat patiently with a small rat and 'Is that a stag!' Looking closely. Emma looked closer at the body, her heart shattering as everything circled fully and came slamming back to her, the shifting form looked like Remus mid transformation into his werewolf nature. 'Remus.'

Watching this, Emma's small mouth dropped, her eyes growing wide. He was large! Gray fur, short snout and human like eyes that still stunned her as she watched his tail flick back and forth happily as he looked around to the group before him, then sat comfortably. 'I was honestly hoping I was wrong... But I guess he is a were-wolf.' She was frozen as she watched them, transfixed on the scene before her that she hadn't noticed Remus taking in a deep breath of the room and surroundings. He had found a new scent, his eyes snapped open with a growl pointed towards the door.

His nose caught smell of something, someone, that shouldn't be there. His head quickly shot to the door, eyes wide and brimming with the need for a hunt as he growled.

The growl sent Emma into a panic attack, waking her up from her dazing stares, 'uh-oh, looks like I've been spotted!' Her body moved all its own, that was her second mistake. Her movement sent him flying after her and smashing through the door, cracking the railing of the stairs as his body slipped and slammed into it. Emma jumped up and onto one of the beam railings looking at him, her head title off to the side, an ear drooped, her green eyes filled with fear, shock, and hurt. She had to continue to remind herself that he didn't know it was her. But in her time of thinking, Remus had lunged for her once again, with a frightened yip, Emma jumped up, landing on his back and jumped back towards the room and dashed back down the stairs to go back through the tunnel. Skidding to a halt at the sudden fear which washed over her like ice cold water, 'Gabby's that way! Other way, other way!... What other way!?' she thought quickly looking around for another escape and remembering they were in the Shrieking Shack. 'Windows! Find a window!'

To her utter shock, the Dog, Rat and Stag were trying their best to hold Remus at bay, and thankfully they were able to hold him back until she got to a window. Unfortunately, the windows were all boarded up. With dread sinking deeper into her stomach, Emma had no other idea of how to get herself out of this mess.

'I think I'm going to have to take home a few bumps, plus extra...'There was no way she could break the old planks barricading the windows, even if they were old, the planks were far from weak against Emma's small body. She was going to have to use Remus to bust through them. She didn't know the lay out of the house, so she was running blind and causing more damage. Her body shrank to the floor, ears flattened in fear as she shivered, 'I don't know what to do, I don't want to hurt him!' looking between the window and the three animals trying their best to hold him at bay Emma watched them stagger. He must have put up a heck of a fight for them because they still couldn't keep him back for much longer. She just knew she wasn't going to like how this night ended.

Remus swiveled around the Stag, tossed the rat off him and bite down on the dog's shoulder, making it yelp in pain and drop to the floor. The scene before her made Emma whimper as she watched the scene unfold before her. Remus continued to slowly stalk towards her shivering form.

'Three... Two... ONE!'

He lunged and she jumped, her jaws latching onto his ear making him yelp and howl out, shaking his head and body, trying to get her off as she jumped up onto his back smacking the top of his head with her little paws. Not wanting to do any more physical damage than the bitten ear and a few small pats, that she obviously knew was only pissing him off, Emma watched hopefully as he launched himself through the window and out, landing with a thud.

Emma jumped off of Remus just in time to not going out with him, unfortunately landing painfully on her stomach and ribs of the windowsill, her tail swishing and twitching as she panted and watching him run off into the woods. Seconds later her head shot up at remembering the other three and dropped herself back into the room, sadly, landing on her butt painfully making her yelp. Her sudden landing had caused dust to flutter around her, making her nose itchy and full of dust. In seconds Emma was sneezing ten times, not realizing the Stag, Dog and Rat all sitting patiently with annoyance clear on their faces, waiting for her to notice them, all three wearing a rather stern glare.

With her acting the way she had, she hoped they hadn't realized she was her and not just some random fox. No such luck. After clearing her nose, she sniffed, looking at them with a small tilt of her head as one of her ears drooped.

The Stag grunted at her, the Rat squeaked and the Dog, well, the Dog was surprisingly silent, as it glared at her. 'I know that glare anywhere... Sirius Black, what'd you know... I've just been caught.' A distant howl chilled the air as it headed off away from the Shrieking Shack. Instantly, Emma panicked, eyes wide once again with fear clearly written on her face. 'Gabby!'The instant thought of Were-wolf Remus heading right for Gabby terrified her. Emma's body leapt into action, rushing for the door of the bedroom. She was almost there only to have her path rejected from her at a set of strong jaw latching onto the nap of her neck and lifting her clear up off her back paws as she struggled against his jaws, yipping and whining while mentally screaming at him to let her go. He sat where he was casually, holding her by the scruff of her neck, looking at James utterly bored.

James's brow rose, confused, though a bit entertained, at Sirius's actions, "Let her down, Padfoot," he grunted with a shake of his head.

Sadly, Sirius just continued staring at James with a grumble and an eye roll as he opened his mouth, letting her drop to her butt, once again, with a thud and a few glares. Simply rolling his eyes at her they watched her little fox body flash down the stairs and out into the tunnel, 'Please be safe, please be safe,'

"Are we going to follow her?" Peter squeaked as he climbed up onto James's antlers.

"It may not even be Fox in the first place, Womrtail," James grunted with a sigh. But Sirius barked out with irritation, "Of course it's her! I know her anywhere. She's too easily spotted in a crowed! And it's a fox! How obvious could she get?!"

"Don't you mean her tail?" Peter laughed. James shook his head a bit to tousle him a little on his resting spot on his antlers.

"We need to find Remus. We don't even know if it's Emma anyways." James clarified and began walking to the front door, shoving it open he walked out. Turning his head over to Sirius and grunted again, "Think you can sniff him out, Padfoot?" He got a simple eye roll and a nasally huff from the dog as he walked out and began sniffing around then taking off with James and Peter on his heels.

Emma's heart pounded in her rib cage the closer she got back to the Whomping Willow, a sudden howl went through the air, chilling her to the bone. Kicking her heels up Emma force her little body to sprint faster. Moments later the entrance came into view, Emma could only think of one thing to get Gabby's attention. She started yipping, and to her shock she had launched herself out of the entrance, her eyes searching for Gabby anywhere she could look, but was horrified as she came nose to nose with Remus himself.

'uh-oh.' Pain suddenly hit Emma like a flash of lightning into her left side as his claw came outward, slamming against her sending her flying into the rock wall. It didn't take long for her vision to blur. Her side felt like it was on fire and sickly wet, a metallic smell hit her nose. Emma could feel his hot breath on her face. She was too exhausted to be terrified then everything spun until lights out.

She didn't get to witness the three fighting Remus back, didn't see Gabby sneaking around them and gathering her up and rushing off back into the castle up to one of the abandoned bathrooms to clean her up, "You know, I know this may sound rude Myrtle, but I'm glad you haunt this bathroom, otherwise Emma and I would be in so much trouble."

"Not offended at all, Gabby… That looks nasty." Myrtle said then started up with her laughter as she floated around while Gabby got to work cleaning Emma up, watching with slight amazement as Emma morphed from her Fox form back into a human's body. "He got you good, Em... I think we need to get you to Poppy. Please?" Gabby begged. She was scared, Gabby had no idea how to help her friends' wounds, "Why did he attack you?"

Breathing through the pain, Emma focused as much as she could. "B-because... His- were-wolf... ta-takes cont-co-control," Emma coughed, her side bleeding heavier, her skin paling as she became cold and clammy.

Fearful she'd watch her best friend die in front of her, Gabby tried lifting her up, drawing painful gasps and cries from Emma, "I'm taking you to Pomfrey."

"No, help me dress... Take me to Severus." She panted.

"Emma, we can't go down to the Slytherin corridor, we'll be caught then expelled and you'll be sent to Azkaban because you're an illegal Animagus, I am not doing that!" Gabby barked with fear. Emma was losing to much blood.

"Then take me back to the dorms, Lil and M-Mars can heal me up."

"Yeah, then she'll be demanding to know what in Merlin's name happened, and I doubt you want to explain anything involving Remus's condition or why we were both out after night." Gabby scolded. Her mind made up she moved to help Emma dress to take her to Pomfrey. Emma needed real medical attention, not some half off hacked job of an attempt. She hadn't gotten far when a voice suddenly came from behind them, feet slapping the floors as the person rushed in with an enraging shout, "What the hell were you two thinking!" His heart had filled with dread at the scene he found in the bathroom. Emma completely unclothed and bleeding profusely from the wounds along her side. Deep and angry slashes reaching from her vertebrae wrapping around her rib cage, round to her stomach and down to her bellybutton. She had been lucky she hadn't been gutted.

"Sir'us-" Naked she may have been, but the pain was so blinding she couldn't have cared less. Her eyes were difficult to keep open as she moved painfully to try to see him, 'How'd he get here so fast?'

Pulling his button up flannel shirt off himself, Sirius draped it around her, flinching when she whimpered with a painful gasp from the pain of moving. Pulling his wand from his pocket he began chanting the healing spell he was ever so glad Remus had showed them all for his own wounds. "Emma, keep your eyes open, please keep your eyes open," He begged, watching her wounds heal with help of the spell. He sighed with relief then turned to Gabby with a fierce glare, "What were you both thinking!"

Gabby had tried to say something, but nothing seemed to come out, she had never seen that kind of angry fire burning deep in his grey eyes like they were in that moment. A hard and heated glare that struck her frozen in place. For the first time in a while, Gabrielle was afraid of Sirius, "It wasn't her fault Sirius… I figured it out. I just wanted to see for myself if it was true. I thought if I wasn't in a human form I wouldn't have been in danger. That was my fault. I made the situation ten times worse by showing up, I forgot that he'd sniff me out." Emma spoke slowly, trying to sit herself upright but was gently pushed back against the cold floor, "Lay back. Gabby help her dress, when you're done, I'm taking you both back to the Common room."

"What? No, but Remus-" "Will be fine. James and Peter are with him. But don't think for one moment you've gotten out of this Emma, we are going to talk about this." He scolded.

Panic flooded her, "No, no. Don't tell Remus, please Sirius! If he finds out what happened he'll never forgive me, and I don't have any idea what he'd feel about himself... Please don't tell him." She begged him.

"Can't do that Foxy. Remus has gotten good at remembering some stuff and if he asks what happens, we tell him, we tell him the truth. It's a part of the deal the four of us made, and Peter is terrible at lying. You should have spoken to him when you figured it out." He felt sympathy for her for just a moment, she was terrified he'd hate her, but more so how he'd feel about what happened. But he had to tell Remus. Kissing her brow Sirius stood to give the girls some privacy, "Help her dress Gabs, then to the common room for rest."