Cat, Rat and Dog

The sun was casting its last rays over the grounds as the four of them stood, transfixed with horror, under the Cloak. A wild howling came from behind them. It was Hagrid.

Sherlock felt very strange indeed, and John… John knew.

The silence was then broken by Ron shouting, 'Ouch! He bit me!'

They snapped back to reality by Scabbers wriggling with all his might, trying to break free of Ron's grip.

'What's the matter with him?' Ron gasped.

A moment later they found out. There in the darkness, slinking towards them, was Crookshanks.

'Crookshanks!' Hermione moaned. 'No, go away, Crookshanks!'

He ignored her and came closer.

Scabbers slipped between Ron's fingers and, before they could stop him, Ron threw off the Cloak and chased after him.

Harry, Hermione and Sherlock followed, pulling off the Cloak so it would be easier to run.

Ron dived on Scabbers and caught him in his hands.

Crookshanks was not far away, but just as they were about to throw the Cloak back on Sherlock felt his scalp prickle and he turned to see an enormous, jet-black dog bounding towards them. It too was shimmering, just like Scabbers. It jumped on Harry, using him as a springboard to launch itself at Ron. It fastened its jaws around Ron's arm and dragged him away.

They made after him, but the three of them were knocked into the air. Sherlock landed awkwardly on his left arm and felt it crunch beneath him, followed by a blinding pain. Trying to move it confirmed that it was broken. He looked up to see what had hit them and groaned. It was the Whomping Willow.

Back up at the castle, John was stumbling around the corridor. It was like he was inside a crystal ball, barely able to see ahead of him and navigating the castle from memory. He felt a shiver run up his left arm. Tears were falling down his cheeks. Buckbeak had been executed. He was trying to figure out what he should do next, when he had a sudden urge to see Professor Lupin, but he wasn't in when John opened the door to his office. He could barely feel his limbs and racing, thumping heart, and he could only hear his ragged breath. He supposed something horrible was happening to him but he couldn't identify the sensation. Vague thoughts of having a drink of water crossed his mind, but whatever was in the flask on Lupin's desk smelled awful, so John stuffed it in his pocket and left.

What now? What now? He thought over and over again.

Dean was talking to Professor McGonagall about his Transfiguration exam when he saw John stumbling down the corridor.

John briefly caught sight of Professor McGonagall before he tripped and fell over. She shimmered slightly and John squinted at her as Dean helped him to his feet.

'We'll finish this later, Winchester,' said McGonagall. 'You'd better get Watson up to the hospital wing.'

'Come on,' Dean said to John. 'Let's get you to Cas, he'll know what to do.' Dean held tightly onto John as they walked along, alarmed by his raspy breathing.

John allowed Dean to lead him along, very dazed and confused. Clouds and twisting shadows crossed his vision. He lost all awareness of where he was, and even that Dean was all but dragging him through the castle.

'Cas!' Dean called as he opened the door.

'Dean?' Cas emerged from behind a screen, hastily shoving phials into the pockets of his coat. 'What's going on?'

'I don't know, I found him like this.'

Cas came over, face clouding over in concern. 'John, can you hear me?'

John didn't respond. He hadn't heard Cas speak at all, but a sudden, black sense of dread broke through his trance and he yanked away from Cas viciously.

'Where am I?' he said wildly. 'I have to find Sherlock.

'John, wait-'

He dashed from the room, closely followed by Cas and Dean.

They barely kept up with John as he sprinted out into the grounds.

'Stop!' Cas called, but he did not stop, nor slow down.

He led them past Hagrid's hut, and up to the Whomping Willow. They skidded to a halt as they saw it, but not before one of the branches slice across Cas's cheek.

It wasn't deep, but soon his face was dripping. He quickly healed it and they both watched, open-mouthed, as John weaved through the branches as if they weren't moving at all, then disappeared down a hole in the base of the trunk.

Dean doubled over to catch his breath. 'Man's fast,' he wheezed.'

'How are we going to get past this?' Cas asked, eyeing the tree warily.

'Easy,' said Dean. He straightened up and pointed his wand. 'Immobulus!' he shouted.

The Whomping Willow drooped and the branches shivered slightly, but allowed Cas and Dean to pass.

Cas slid down the hole first and found himself in a low tunnel. Dean came down behind him, stumbling slightly.

'Come on, I can hear John,' said Cas. He lit his wand with, 'Lumos,' and stooped to get down the tunnel.

They neared a small hole and heard shrieking.

'That sounds like Hermione,' Cas said nervously.

They crawled out of the hole and looked around a dusty room. It was very dim and chunks had been torn out of the furniture around them.

There was more shrieking above them and some muffled voices. They ran towards the sounds, burst into a large room, and were confronted by a very strange sight indeed.

Ron was lying on an old four-poster bed. His leg stuck out at an odd angle and he was clutching Scabbers the rat.

John was on all fours on the other side of the room, Sherlock beside him desperately shaking his shoulder.

Harry and Hermione were facing Professor Lupin, who was holding three wands, and Crookshanks was rubbing up against the leg of Sirius Black.

Dean immediately pointed his wand at Black.

Cas didn't know where to go first. Ron with his broken leg, Sherlock whose arm appeared to be injured, or John. Then John collapsed into Sherlock and started convulsing.

'What's happening to him?' Sherlock asked as Cas rushed over. Before, he'd felt an annoying buzz in the back of his mind, but now it was eerily silent.

Cas knelt down and gently pulled open one of John's eyes. It was milky white. 'I think I have an idea,' he said, checking the other eye. 'When John first started presenting signs of his power, I went to the library to try and find any information about Seers. There wasn't much, but one book detailed what they called a 'Prophetic Trance'. The Seer was caught in a vision and was drawn further away by more, successive visions. The Seer's mind was lost in the future, unable to return to the present. No one knows why this happened, but if I were to guess, reading the accounts suggests that a particularly distressing vision set it off.'

'Does that mean he- he's gone?'

Cas looked from John to Sherlock and back again. 'Not necessarily,' he said. 'Maybe you can bring him back.' He began positioning John as well as he could. 'You have that connection with him. If we do this right you can still ground him.' He put John's head against Sherlock's chest so he could hear his heartbeat. 'Skin contact might be best,' he muttered, helping Sherlock put his hand on John's.

'Now what?' said Sherlock.

Cas pressed his lips together, thinking. 'Talk to him,' he said. 'Maybe your voice can guide him back.'

Sherlock nodded. 'John? John, can you hear me?'

For a moment, John's body slackened, then resumed its violent shaking.

'Keep going, it's working,' said Cas.

Just then, Dean said loudly, 'Is anyone going to tell me what the hell is going on?'

Cas left Sherlock alone to whisper to John, and went to tend to Ron.

Dean was holding his wand steady, and noticed that Lupin was standing beside Black, instead of preventing him from getting to Harry. 'Anything to say, Professor?' He sounded casual, but he did not lower his wand.

'Don't trust him!' Hermione shrieked suddenly. 'He's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants Harry dead too – he's a werewolf!'

Dean glanced at her. 'Okay, but what's being a werewolf got to do with it?'

'You- you already knew?' said Hermione, flabbergasted.

'Duh. Are you telling me none of you noticed he was sick every full moon? Look, he's got scars from before the Wolfsbane Potion.'

No one said anything.

'Seriously? Come on, guys, Remus Lupin? The man's name might as well be Werewold McWerewolf. Not exactly subtle, Prof.'

'My middle name is John,' Lupin said, surprise clear on his face.

Dean gave him an incredulous look. 'Oh, sorry. Werewolf John McWerewolf, can we get back to what's important, please?

Lupin shivered slightly. 'I have not been helping Sirius into the castle,' he said quietly. 'Nor do I want Harry dead, but I will not deny that I am a werewolf.'

Ron attempted to get up, but Cas pushed him back down and he whimpered in pain.

Lupin made towards Ron, looking concerned, but Cas pointed his wand directly at Lupin's chest, coldly.

'Get away from me, werewolf!' Ron gasped.

Lupin stopped dead. 'You really are a bright bunch of students,' he said.

'If I'd been smarter, I would have told everyone what you are,' Hermione spat.

'How would that help?' said Dean. He was ignored.

'But they already know,' said Lupin. 'At least, the staff do.'

'Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf?' Ron gasped 'Is he mad?'

'Some of the staff certainly thought so,' said Lupin. 'He had to work very hard to convince certain teachers that I am trustworthy- '

'AND HE AS WRONG!' Harry yelled. 'YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THE TIME!'

'Oh my God, everyone needs to calm down!' Dean said loudly. 'I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for all this.'

'I have not been helping Sirius,' said Lupin, looking at Dean gratefully.

Harry hesitated, reassured by Dean's calmness, but also his refusal to lower his wand. 'If you haven't been helping, then how did you know he was here?' he said accusingly.

'The map,' said Lupin. 'The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining it-'

'You know how to work it?' Harry said suspiciously.

'Of course I know how to work it. I helped write it. I'm Moony – that was my friends' nickname for me at school.'

'You wrote-'

'The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I had an idea that you and your friends might try to sneak out of the castle to visit Hagrid before his Hippogriff was executed. And I was right, wasn't I?'

'Buckbeak lost?' Dean interrupted. 'Sorry, not the time. Continue,' he said, clearing his throat awkwardly.

'You might have been wearing your father's Cloak, Harry-'

'How do you know about the Cloak?'

'The number of times I've seen James disappear under it…' said Lupin, waving an impatient hand. 'The point is, even if you're wearing the Invisibility Cloak you show up on the map. I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's cabin. Twenty minutes later, you left Hagrid and set off back towards the castle. But you were now accompanied by someone else.'

'What? No, we weren't,' said Harry.

'I couldn't believe my eyes,' said Lupin, ignoring the interruption. 'I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?'

'No one was with us!'

'And then I saw another dot moving towards you, labelled Sirius Black… I saw him collide with you, I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow-'

'One of us!' Ron said angrily. Some of his colour had returned now that Cas had bound his leg.

'No, Ron,' said Lupin. 'Two of you.' His eyes moved over Ron. 'Do you think that I could have a look at that rat?' he said evenly.

'What's Scabbers got to do with it?'

'Everything,' said Lupin. 'Could I see him, please?'

Ron hesitated, the held Scabbers in clear view. He was thrashing desperately. Ron had to seize him by his long tail to stop him escaping. Crookshanks hissed softly.

Lupin moved closer to Ron. He seemed to be holding his breath as he gazed intently at Scabbers.

'What?' said Ron, again. 'What's my rat got to do with anything?'

'That's not a rat,' Sirius Black croaked suddenly.

'What d'you mean – of course he's a rat-'

'No, he's not,' said Lupin quietly. 'He's a wizard.'

'An Animagus,' said Black, 'by the name of Peter Pettigrew.'

Welcome back everyone! Thanks to Sherlock Harry Winchester, Tacosaurus and Guest for the reviews!

Bet you guys are all wondering where I got to huh. Well my university does a creative writing exhibition every year and the girl that was supposed to be doing it dropped out so I got put on it right at the last minute and there was still a lot to do like casting, rehearsals, marketing, etc. It was a lot of work but I pulled it off and got the best ticket sales in years, so go me! Also I've finished all my assignments including my dissertation and, as of July, I will officially have a BA in Creative Writing, as well as a place on one of the best Masters courses in the country! Exciting news! Anyway, sorry for making you guys wait so long and I hope to see you again soon.