Author's Note: Well, here we are! While this did take a little longer than I'd wanted, I'm hoping to make up for it with a nice long chapter. ;)
Enjoy!
~Dragonwing
Ch. 2 – Moony's Secret
Adrianna didn't know exactly why she had been thinking that 6th year would be any less eventful than 5th year had been, when in fact there were several events that seemed to repeat themselves. She had to deal with a fresh crop of students that needed to be sent to Madam Pomfrey for lovesick remedies, nearly threw up when a carless Hufflepuff girl spilled the love potion she was showing off during one of their lessons with Slughorn, and received quite a few tainted gifts yet again on her birthday. Despite all of this, however, the term was a much calmer one than her first at Hogwarts had been.
It wasn't until the week after her birthday that Adrianna got a taste of the real excitement that had permeated their 5th year in school.
By now, Adrianna had learned the warning signs that indicated when Remus was nearing his transformation during the full moon. She sympathized greatly with the werewolf, having gone through her own growing pains as a half-succubus. But at least she'd had the comfort and guidance of her aunts during those times, whereas Moony had no one like himself to help him. It was good that the other three boys had developed their animagi forms to keep him company, but it was still easy to see what a toll this took on the young man.
It was the day before they would be seeing the full moon of October, Adrianna's birthday had been the week before, and the first Quidditch match of the season had been the week before that. Remus was growing paler and weaker by the day that week, so much that the half-witch had taken to passing him small doses of her succubus magic in the hallways and Great Hall to keep him going. She had just passed him a little extra energy that evening at the start of dinner, her warm hand gently touching the small of his back where no one could see, when there was a commotion coming from just outside the Hall's doors. Peter and James burst through, dragging an irate Sirius Black by his arms. James had his best friend's wand grasped in his hand with his own, and was holding both out of the other boy's reach.
"What's going on?" Lupin asked worriedly once the other three Marauders reached the table. Peter tugged Sirius into a seat across the table, while James tossed the dark haired Gryffindor's wand to Adrianna.
"Hold onto that for a moment, would you?" James huffed before sitting heavily down on Sirius's other side.
"What happened?" Lily appeared on Adrainna's other side, eyeing the boys with a mix of concern and suspicion.
"Padfoot got into a bit of a row with Sniv…" Peter caught a look from the half-witch and backtracked. "With Severus, out in the corridor."
"Why?" Adrianna kept a tight grip on Sirius's wand and glanced over to the door, but saw nothing.
"Bloody Slytherin bastard." He pounded his fist on the table, dark hair falling over one eye. "If I ever catch him talking to Regulus again…"
"Regulus? Your little brother?" Adrianna frowned. "Is he alright?"
"He's fine, for now." Sirius shoved his hair back and sighed. "But Snape and Rosier and all of those other fucking snakes are starting to get to him. He's following them around like a fucking puppy, and they're just loving it." He straightened up and looked Adrianna in the eye. "I'm alright now, I promise. Can I have my wand back now?"
She slowly passed the wand across the table, letting her fingers barely brush against his to get a reading on his emotions. He really did seem to have calmed down for the moment.
"Just don't let it get you so worked up, mate." James advised, draping an arm around his friend's shoulders. "That's what the bleeders want, you know that."
"Yeah, yeah…" Sirius shoved the Seeker off and smiled grudgingly.
Adrianna glanced across the Hall at the green and silver table, but didn't see any of the Slytherins in question sitting there, not even Regulus Black. She wasn't going to say this to Sirius right now, but she sincerely doubted Severus was trying to poison the boy's mind. Now Rosier on the other hand, when it came to that particular Slytherin, Adrianna had a very bad feeling.
OOOOOOOOOO
The following day passed without incident, other than the increasingly troubling signs that Remus was close to transforming. He was so sick that he didn't even make it down to dinner, and the other three Marauders slipped out of the Great Hall early so that they could prepare to leave the castle that night.
Adrianna and Lily reached the common room after dinner to find the four boys sitting by the fire. Nearly everyone else had gone up to bed, Lily bid everyone goodnight and headed upstairs to work on her Advanced Arithmancy homework. The half-succubus felt Remus's forehead and clicked her tongue.
"You're burning up, Remus." She glanced around to make sure no one could hear her. "When are you going outside?"
"As soon as everyone goes to bed," James muttered. "If those bloody third years over there would head up we could get out of here." A whoop was heard from a corner table where a group of boys were playing Exploding Snap.
Adrianna considered for a moment before winking at Moony. "I'll take care of it." She walked across the common room and stopped at the boys' table. Leaning her delicate hands on the table, she smiled sweetly at the dumbstruck third years and began speaking to them in a low, soothing tone. When she finished, they all stood in a daze and walked single file up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, leaving their Exploding Snap cards behind.
She went back over to the others and patted Remus on the shoulder. "You know I don't like doing that, so go ahead and get outside while you can."
"Thanks, Adrianna." Lupin smiled weakly.
The other boys stood, James withdrew a shimmering Invisibility cloak from his pocket.
'So, that's how they get outside.' Adrianna smirked to herself.
"Could you go out through the portrait too? It helps if we can give the Fat Lady a face to see leaving the common room." Sirius asked hopefully.
"Sure," She waited until they were all situated beneath the cloak. Then, Adrianna casually went out through the portrait hole, making sure
to walk slowly enough for the boys to leave.
"Take care, young lady." The Fat Lady admonished. "It is almost time for all students to be in their dormitories."
"Of course," She smiled sweetly and held up the talisman Professor Dumbledore had given her so she could go on nightly runs. "I'm just stretching my legs."
Adrianna walked down the corridor until she reached the last turn before the main staircase. "Good luck, guys." She whispered when she felt them brush by.
After waiting a few minutes, Adrianna heard the front door to the castle close turned to go back up to Gryffindor tower, when she suddenly felt something tug on the sleeve of her robe.
"What?" She started to speak before a hand was gently but firmly placed over her lips.
"Adrianna!" Remus whispered and poked his head out of the cloak. It was strange seeing just the werewolf's pale head floating there in the air. He took the rest of the cloak off and pulled her into an alcove. "We have a problem!"
"What happened?" Adrianna noted that he was sweating and shaking badly. The moon must be starting to rise.
"We were slipping out when Filch came out of the Great Hall," Remus gulped. "The others were able to get out but I had to move back so he wouldn't walk into me, and when I did and pulled the cloak with me. Now he's just standing there in front of the door! What can we do? I don't have much more time." He shuddered and swayed where he stood.
"Let me think," She steadied him, letting a larger dose of succubus magic travel through her hands and into his shoulders. There was always the option of glamouring Filch like she had done to the third year Gryffindor boys, but there was always the slight chance that it could backfire. She could distract the man another way, but how?
Suddenly, an idea came to her. She motioned for Remus to step back and be quiet.
"Oh Peeves, darling?" Adrinna whispered breathily. Immediately, the poltergeist appeared out of thin air above their heads and floated down to her eye level.
"Yes, my pretty lady?" The little man swept into a bow. "What can old Peevsie do for you this fine evening?"
"Peeves, dear, my friend here is feeling very ill and I wanted to take him outside for some fresh air." She smiled charmingly. "But unfortunately Mr. Filch won't leave the front door, and I would hate for us to get in trouble for being out of bed this late but…" Adrianna wrapped her long fingers around one of his small hands and the specter looked like he was going to faint from happiness. "It's very important that we get Remus outside so that he can feel better, do you think that you could help us darling?"
"Of course! Fear not, pretty lady!" Peeves winked and zoomed around the corner with a loud "WHOOP!"
Immediately, the two friends could hear Filch shouting and swearing at the poltergeist, threatening to have him exorcised from the school if he didn't shut up. Peeves merely blew a raspberry at the disgruntled caretaker and began pulling at the large Hogwarts banner that hung over the main door. Filch screamed in rage as the little man succeeded in wrenching it off of the wall and took off down the opposite corridor away from Remus and Adrianna. As soon as Peeves was gone, with Filch in hot pursuit, Adrianna grabbed Remus by the arm again and they quickly slipped out of the castle.
What the two Gryffindors didn't know, was that someone else had been watching when Adrianna had called Peeves in to help them, and that same someone was now racing out of the castle after them.
OOOOOOOOOO
Remus and Adrianna nearly slammed into Peter, James and Sirius, who were all waiting just at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. They had already disabled the Whomping Willow, and were holding the entrance to the underground tunnel open for Moony.
"Go!" Adrianna urged when she saw how close Remus was to changing. "I'll stay out here for a while before I go back into the castle."
"Adrianna," Remus gasped. "Thank you…"
"No time for that now!" Sirius grabbed the other boy and shoved him down into the tunnel. Peter followed, with James close behind.
"Good work, Fawley." James grinned before he too disappeared beneath the tree.
Adrianna moved with a burst of succubus speed to avoid the branches of the Willow, which had started to wake up. She leaned against the cool stone of the castle and breathed the night air.
'What a night,' The half-witch thought tiredly. She was just mustering up the energy to go back inside, when a shape moving across the grounds caught her eye. The shape headed straight for the Whomping Willow, and quickly disabled its limbs.
'Shit,' Adrianna crouched down. 'Remus said that no one else is supposed to know about this.'
She held her breath as the new person jumped down into the tunnel beneath the tree. With any luck, they had already gotten Moony into the Shrieking Shack and could keep the intruder from getting hurt. One the other hand…this could get very bad very quickly.
Another ten minutes had crawled by before Adrianna saw any movement from beneath the tree. The opening to the tunnel opened up and out scrambled James, still in his human form, dragging someone else behind him by the back of their robes. The two of them raced for the Forest, and it didn't take long for Adrianna to see what they were running from. Moony burst out through the opening, his werewolf body barely fitting through. Behind him came a large, black dog with a terrified rat clinging to its back. They chased the snarling werewolf into the trees, right after James and the other person.
'Sirius and Peter!' Her mind raced, she had no experience dealing with fully transformed werewolves, but her aunts had talked about them before during her succubus training.
With a grunt, Adrianna pushed herself off of the ground and ran at full speed after the boys. It only took seconds to catch up with them, but in those seconds she had imagined a hundred different ways this could play out.
When she came to a stop in the middle of a clearing, she found James facing Moony with his wand drawn. The unknown person cowered on the ground behind his protector, while Padfoot and Wormtail paced nervously behind the growling werewolf. Moonlight filled the space, making everything stand out in bright contrast to the gloom of the surrounding forest. At once they all became aware of her presence, Moony snarled while James shouted for her to help, and it was at that moment that Adrianna saw who their mystery guest was.
Severus Snape peered up at her from his spot on the ground, absolutely terrified out of his mind and fairly certain that he was about to get eaten by a werewolf. Adrianna's gray eyes swept from Severus, to Peter, to Moony, to Padfoot and Wormtail, and back again. And suddenly she had a feeling she knew who would have been stupid enough, or angry enough, to try and place the Slytherin in Moony's path. An overwhelming feeling of rage swept through the half-succubus, and she found herself letting out a harsh, piercing sound. A sound that sounded like a hiss and a scream all at once, and only a sound that an angry succubus could make. James and Severus covered their ears in pain, while Sirius and Peter were so stunned that they lost control of their animagi forms and fell over each other onto the forest floor. Moony howled and swung his head back and forth.
When all of the boys looked at her again, Adrianna had completely let go of her human side, and they were now truly seeing her other half. White, razor sharp fangs were bared at all of them, and her now silver eyes flashed angrily. An unseen wind blew Adrianna's obsidian curls back, and her skin glowed in the full moonlight. Blood red lips curled back as she barked a command at the werewolf.
"Stand down, Moony!" Adrianna hissed. He clawed at his own ears, trying to resist the command. She moved closer and threw all of the glamouring ability she had at him. "I said, stand down."
The werewolf dazedly dropped down onto all fours, his ears swiveled back and forth like a nervous dog, but he didn't move. Sirius and Peter scrambled over to the other side of the clearing with James and Severus.
"Bloody hell…" James croaked, his wand was still raised.
"Shut up." Adrianna rounded on the boys and they all flinched. "I have a feeling I already know the answer to this, but which one of you morons thought it would be a good idea to actually tell someone about Moony?" She pointed at Snape, who decided to stay exactly where he was.
"Adrianna…" Sirius whispered, his dark eyes were wide. "I…I'm so…"
"Wait," The half-witch's head suddenly snapped around behind her. She stood impossibly still and listened.
"Uh oh…" Adrianna whispered barely loud enough for the boys to hear.
"What is it?" James asked, casting a nervous glance at Moony.
"I think…I think one of my aunts heard me just now." She quickly scanned the trees, searching for some sign that the boys could not recognize.
"One of your aunts?" Sirius asked dumbly. "So you mean a…a, um…"
"Succubus." Severus said quietly from his position on the forest floor, his already pale face had managed to go a few shades lighter. If this is what Adrianna looked like being only half-succubus, then what could a full blooded one possibly be like?
"Should we, uh, get out of here?" James' voice shook slightly. He was torn between staying with Moony and running from the tangible and overwhelming sense of dread that slowly crept over the boys.
"No point," Adrianna shook her head, eyes still trained on the forest. "She's already here."
Out of nowhere, a strange warm breeze blew through the clearing that the teenagers and the werewolf were standing in, followed quickly by a flash of pale green light just beyond the tree line. Adrianna turned her back on the boys, keeping an eye on Moony in her peripheral vision, and strained her senses to see which of her aunts could have possibly been nearby. Depending on which one of them it was, this situation could either go fairly well or disastrously bad. A flicker of movement in the trees caught her attention, and when the full blooded succubus stepped daintily into the clearing, Adrianna breathed a sigh of relief.
It was her aunt Avani, who she hadn't actually seen since she was a child. Avani was known for mostly keeping to herself. Her glowing skin and eyes were a pale olive green, while her chestnut brown hair was cropped short and twisted up at odd whimsical angles. Avani was small for a succubus, and still dressed in the same leather loincloth and breast band that she'd worn for over two thousand years. The petite succubus moved fluidly through the clearing until she reached her niece, and then proceeded to run her hands over Adrianna's shoulders, arms, neck, hair and face. It would have been an erotic scene for the boys to witness were they not all feeling an almost crippling sense of trepidation.
Avani finally finished checking Adrianna over before turning to the boys and the werewolf that was still barely under the glamour his friend had put on him. The green-skinned succubus addressed Moony first, speaking in a whispery language that made the other boys feel strangely calm. Moony growled slightly at the succubus, but was quickly silenced when she hissed and bared her fangs at him. Whimpering slightly, the werewolf laid down on the forest floor, his ears flat against his skull and tail tucked between his back legs.
Avani then turned towards the other four boys waiting nearby, by this point Severus had finally stood up. Her movements were deliberate and pointed, almost like a bird's, as she walked slowly in front of the boys, all of whom were taller than her except for Peter. She studied each of them carefully, sending faint waves of magic washing over their faces and causing unbidden shivers to run down their spines. James looked to Adrianna for help, but the glowing half-succubus pointedly shook her head and mouthed the words "Stay still!" while her aunt's back was turned. Avani spent a little more time studying Sirius and Severus than the other two, but the she finally took her olive green eyes off of them and turned back towards her niece.
Adrianna's aunt asked her something in the whispery language, causing the girl's eyes to widen slightly before she scowled at the succubus. She replied in the same language, shaking her head and gesturing forcefully, apparently not happy with whatever Avani had suggested. It made the boys even more uncomfortable than they already were. The adult succubus shrugged at Adrianna and turned back to the boys with a seductive grin.
"Too bad." Avani said in heavily accented English, her fangs flashed in the moonlight. "I suggest you boys be a little more responsible with your friend there." She gestured a green hand towards the still cowering Moony. "My niece does not need to be wandering around this forest in the middle of the night chasing werewolves." Even though she was still smiling, the threat behind the advice was clear. With that, Avani went back over to Adrianna, gave her a quick hug, and disappeared in a whirl of green smoke.
Adrianna let out a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding and glanced over at the boys and the werewolf.
"Is everyone alright?" She asked hoarsely.
The boys all nodded shakily while Moony whimpered again. She walked quickly to the werewolf, placed a hand on his head, and whispered something in the language her aunt had used. Moony's eyes slid closed and his breathing evened out. Adrianna stood back up and turned to the others. "He won't be asleep for long, and once he wakes up the glamours will be gone. You three ought to change too so you can keep him occupied." She glanced at the still overly pale Slytherin. "Severus and I will go back to the school and let Professor Dumbledore know what happened."
Sirius frowned. "But Adrianna…"
"This really isn't the time, Sirius." The half-witch sighed. She gently prodded Severus in the arm to get him to move. As they made it to the edge of the clearing, James' voice reached them.
"Oi, what did your…uh…aunt say to you before? It was about us, wasn't it?"
Adrianna cleared her throat and blushed slightly, but kept her voice even. "She wanted to know if she could…borrow one of you."
"What?" Severus hissed, while the others merely looked confused.
"Trust me," She sighed. "You don't want to know." Adrianna gently took Severus by the wrist and they quickly moved through the forest. Neither of them said a word as they wove their way down the path that led back towards Hagrid's cabin, and it wasn't until the exited the last thicket of trees that Adrianna dropped her succubus form. She picked up her pace and was several feet ahead of Severus before he even realized it.
"Hey," The slender boy caught up with her and grabbed her shoulder. "So this is why those bastards are able to sneak around the entire school without getting into trouble? Because Lupin is a…a…"
"You can't say anything!" Adrianna said earnestly. "Remus deserves to be able to go to school just like anyone else, that's why Dumbledore set everything up."
"Dumbledore?" Severus gaped at her before realizing that she'd started walking again. He caught up with her a second time. "Do you mean that our Headmaster is in on this too? He truly is an old fool if he thinks that…"
Severus was silenced when Adrianna rounded on him and firmly took his pale face in both of her hands. He fought to control his hammering pulse as she spoke. "Severus, I'm not going to insult your intelligence by glamouring you into doing what I want, understand? But you need to listen to me, trust that I'm telling you the truth when I say that this is not the time to discuss this. I'll explain everything about this situation, if that's what you want, but for right now you need to shut up and help me find a way back into the castle." Her grey eyes held his gaze steadily while he processed everything she had said. "Do you understand?" Adrianna asked.
Severus swallowed thickly, but managed to nod once. She nodded back and released him. His skin tingled where her hands had curved over his jaw bones. The half-witch turned without another word and continued the climb up the hill back to Hogwarts. Chancing a glance back at the now quiet forest behind them, Severus shuddered once before hurrying to catch up with her.