8th July 1977
Oh God. Oh fuck. Oh shitty buggaring fuck-a-duck.
Wait.
I need to go back and explain.
"Harry?" Ginny's voice called.
Harry groaned. It wasn't that he didn't want to see Ginny, it was just at that particular moment in time he felt it could have waited a while. He was desperate to finish reading Sirius's entry. For a minute Harry was half tempted to throw on his cloak, then he realised how childish he would seem if anybody caught him, and so he set down the diary and called back, "I'm in the bedroom."
Ginny appeared in the doorway. She smiled. "It's not raining today, do you fancy a trip in to Diagon Alley? I could do with some new robes," She suggested.
It had been a truly dismal August, with rain gushing constantly from the sky and the wind roaring non-stop. July had been fairly warm, but they had all known it would be asking too much of the English weather to stretch its good nature in to the following month. Harry didn't reply straight away. On one hand, he'd love to spend the day alone with Ginny, since the Burrow was so packed these days that they hardly ever had a moment alone. But then July the eighth promised to be such a good entry.
Harry sighed. "Of course. We'll go now," He said. After all, the diary would still be there when they got back. If he kept selling Ginny out however, he didn't feel all too confident about the prospects of her sticking around for long.
Harry had forgotten how happy and content he felt when he was in Ginny's presence. They had always had good times walking around the lake in Hogwarts grounds together. He had known Ginny for so long now that it wasn't hard to make conversation and joke about with her. She was still his best friends little sister, somebody he was comfortable around.
Harry insisted on paying for Ginny's new robes, and then later their dinner at the Leaky Cauldron.
"How's the diary?" Ginny enquired as she blew on her soup.
"A real eye opener," Harry said.
"I bet it is," Ginny remarked, brown eyes twinkling, "Sirius told me some stories when we were staying at Grimmauld Place that time. We look like absolute saints compared to their time at school." Then she paused, eyes staring down in to her bowl.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"I've been wanting to ask you... I know it sounds silly, and I'm probably just being totally paranoid, but that diary is... safe, isn't it?" Ginny said slowly.
Harry understood her fears. He knew how Riddle's diary haunted her, even now.
"It's completely safe," Harry said firmly.
"I just thought... maybe somebody had sent it to you to trick you," Ginny said, then she smiled faintly, "Sorry. It's silly."
"It's not," Harry assured her, "You were looking out for me, I understand."
Ginny then surprised him by coming over all misty eyed. "So much has happened to us over the years, Harry. And now everything's almost perfect and it feels wrong. Nothing good ever lasts, something bad always comes to ruin it," She whispered.
"Ginny listen to me," Harry said, leaning forwards, "Everything is going to be all right now. All of the bad stuff is over. This is the part where we get to be happy," He said.
It was strange for either of them to wear their heart on their sleeves this way, but Harry was glad that they were being open. It made him feel closer to Ginny, something he had always craved.
Ginny wiped away one small, rare tear and blew out a heavy gust of air. It was hard, but she believed him.
Harry returned to Sirius's diary later that night, whilst everybody else was asleep. By the light of his wand he read...
Last night was the full moon, and, as good as her word, Andromeda put great theatrics in to throwing the four of us out in the late afternoon. "Don't come back too early!" She trilled, winking as she closed the door on us.
Remus had been quiet all day. I knew he was worried about his cover being blown. Privately, I also thought the field plan was a bit sketchy. What if some innocent Muggles decided to camp out? Or a farmer decided to check on his crops? I didn't say anything to Remus though, I didn't want to put any more pressure on his worries.
"All right, Moons?" I said as we walked out of the drive.
"Fine," He mumbled.
"Want to go down to the village for a bit first? We've got ages yet," Peter suggested.
Remus shook his head. "I don't want to risk anything. We're in the country, the sky is much clearer here," He pointed out. He had his trademark bar of chocolate in his pocket, and as we walked Remus nibbled on it. It's like his drug.
We chose the field with great care, taking in consideration its distance from the village and the thickness of the trees surrounding it. Then we sat hiding in the shadow of some bushes, waiting for the moon to grace us with her presence. James had a packet of fags on him. He's not really a great smoker, but every now and then he likes to have a puff. We passed the packet, along with the chocolate, around the four of us, not speaking, simply being.
Slowly everything turned very dark, and before we knew it a cloud had drifted aside to reveal the first half of the dreaded moon. I felt Remus shuddered beside me.
"Here goes," He whispered. He got up and disappeared behind the bushes.
The remaining three of us stood up too. We stripped off, dumping our clothes behind the bush to fetch later. We had seen each other naked countless times during the past few years, so it was nothing to stand there casually before each other, absoloutley starkers. The bush began to shake violently, and we heard the first few low growls that signalled the beginning of Remus's phasing.
Something cracked, either a twig or bone I didn't know, and we knew then that it was time for us to change too. Peter always went first so he could scurry off to press the knot in the Whomping Willow, and although there was no need to do that here we still carried on with tradition. I watched as his head shrank first, followed by his shoulders, his torso, and finally his legs, all the while sprouting fur. The rat then waited patiently for his friends to join him.
Next went James. Antlers sprang from his head, fur spread over his skin, his arms and legs elongated until he was forced to go on all fours, finally a stag. I heard a great howl from behind me. I wasted no time. No matter how many times I transformed I never quite became used to the burning sensation as fur began to grow and my face twisted in to a snout. The fleas are something I never got used to either. I buried my nose deep in to my fur, nipping at my flesh with my newly sharpened teeth.
Another howl. I looked up and there he was, the wolf in all his glory. For a moment the wolf surveyed the rat, stag, and dog in front of him, before walking slowly forwards to take a sniff. Werewolves are very temperamental creatures, you never know what mood they'll be in. Thankfully he appeared to be mellow tonight, although his yellow eyes blinked nervously in all directions, searching as his snout sniffed the air.
I thought we were safe, and then it happened.
Somewhere in the distance a shot went off. Probably a farmer with a gun, chasing away a rogue fox. The wolf didn't realise this however, and suddenly flipped. It span around and went dashing off across the field, towards the sound of the gun. The rat scuttled forwards, the stag cantering along side it. I, the dog, out striped them both, barking loudly to get the wolf to turn around.
It was to no avail. I shot through a cluster of thorn bushes, howling in pain as the thorns scraped my already flea bitten flesh. By the time I had got to the next field the wolf had gone. I threw back my head and howled. Nothing.
The rat and stag caught up. As they came towards me, they shot back up in to boys. I did the same. "Gone. He's fucking gone!" I yelled. James looked traumatised.
"What are we going to do? He could kill someone!" He cried.
"He'll never forgive himself," Peter cut in unhelpfully.
"Shit," I spit, punching a tree hard. My knuckles throbbed painfully.
"Right, lets transform again. Peter, you go back to the house, let Lily and Andromeda know what's happened. Whatever you do, do not let Ava hear you," James ordered, "I'll go to the village, keep an eye out there. Sirius, you keep searching the fields."
"What if one of us finds him?" I asked.
"We send up- fuck, Lily has our wands!" James snapped.
"We'll just have to meet up back here in an hour," I said.
James nodded. "Right. Go!" He said.