Chapter 12
It had been five months since Meredith learned his secret. Five times now she has stayed home when he
transformed. Each time had been torture for him. Though the wolfsbane potion was working well and there
had been no problems he could not shake the uneasy feeling when Meredith was in the house. He had tried
each time to persuade her to leave but she never would. Now that summer had come and Dora was home
from Hogwarts he hoped that she would be willing to stay at the Tonks's house.
"I said no," Meredith said as they argued that morning over breakfast.
"Dora wants to see you," Remus said trying every tactic he could think of. "She can see me during the day,"
Meredith said. "I want to be with you when you change"
"Fine," Remus said. He was too tired to fight with her. "But remember"
"Stay in my room, don't come out no matter what, I know," Meredith said rolling her eyes.
"Are you sassing me?" Remus asked her with a small smile.
"Yes," Meredith said with a smile of her own.
Meredith went to her room early as she always did the night of the full moon. She put on her pajamas and
got into bed. But she did not sleep. She never did. Remus didn't know this, but there was a vent in the floor
of her room, that she could hear noise coming from the basement through. She would stay awake and listen
to Remus transform every night. She did the same now. As she waited she watched the moon out the
window. Any time now it would start. She scooted to edge of her bed so she could hear clearly thought the
vent. She held her breath as the moon began to rise. She closed her eyes as she heard Remus begin to
transform. She could her his groans of pain and pulled her blankets to her chin. The groans turned to
screams and she knew the tranformation had begun. It would be over soon. Suddenly she heard a new
sound. These sounds were not normal. Remus sounding as though he were being tortured. This wasn't right.
Something was wrong.
"Meredith!" she heard him scream. Meredith was out of bed and running down the stairs before it registered
upon her what she would find. She raced into the living room and what she saw made her scream. This was
not the werewolf as she'd seen before. This was a monster. The transformation was not complete, Remus
still had enough of himself to tell her to run.
"Get to the Tonks's. Stay there." Meredith dashed past him and raced to the floo network. She grabbed a
handful of powder and climbed into the fireplace. Before she could throw it she turned back to glance at
Remus.
"RUN!" he screamed before the transformation took over completely. Meredith trembled as the wolf reared
back it's head an howled. "HOGWARTS!" Meredith screamed dropping the powder. She felt herself
spinning and spinning and spinning. She just managed to throw her hands out as she tumbled out of the
fireplace into a large room. "Meredith?" the gentle voice of Albus Dumbledore said above her. Meredith
jumped to her feet.
"You've got to come quickly sir," she gasped. "Remus, there's something wrong. The wolf...not right... not
safe." Dumbledore asked no questions as he scooped her up in his arms. He strode quickly from his office
and outside the grounds. He pounded on the door of a large wooden cabin. Meredith gasped as a fierce
looking Hagrid opened the door.
"Emergency Hagrid," Dumbledore explained. "Something has gone wrong with the Wolfsbane potion. We
need the device." Hagrid asked no questions but disappeared into the cabin. When he returned he had a shot
gun in his hands.
"No!" Meredith cried. "You can't shoot Remus"
"Be calm young Meredith," Dumbledore reassured her. "That gun holds a tranquilizer dart. It would merely
knock Remus out"
"Tha's right Meredith," Hagrid said. "Remus is gonna take a long nap"
"Come," Dumbledore said. "We must hurry."
They apparated into the living room. It had been torn apart and the back door was open. "He must be in the
woods," Dumbledore said setting Meredith on the floor. "Meredith, I want you to floo yourself to the
Tonks's. We'll take care of this." Meredith nodded. She remained in the libing rooom as Dumbledore and
Hagrid ran out into the woods. She waited until they had split up and then she hurried after them. She
followed Hagrid, staying a good distance behind him. Hagrid had the shot gun in front of him ready to shoot.
She stayed behind a tree as Hagrid took a few cautious steps. Out of nowhere the wolf leaped onto Hagrid
knocking the shotgun out of his hands. Meredith screamed as she watched Hagrid wrestling with the
werewolf. She looked down and saw the shot gun in front of her. WIthout a second thought she dashed
forward and grabbed it. It was nearly as big as she was and very heavy! She manuevered it to point at
Remus. She closed her eyes and squeezed the trigger. She heard a yelp and opened her eyes. The wolf was
down.
When Dumbledore came out of the woods a few minutes later he found Hagrid leaning against a tree, nursing
a bleeding arm and Meredith sitting a few feet away cuddling an unconscious werewolf.