Out of the darkness that surrounded him, Remus was startled to hear a small voice when he raised his head, enquiring about his well-being.
'Fine, fine,' he muttered, not realising where he was, or who was speaking. 'Got a light headache. You got a wet towel or anything?'
'Just my hand, I'm afraid,' was the feeble reply, shortly before the sensation of a girl's hand met his forehead.
'That's nice,' Remus muttered. 'Keep it there.'
Almost an hour later, having dozed off again and again, Remus finally decided to sit up and give his surroundings some more attention.
'Where are we?' he asked the shape of a girl, who was sitting in the darkness of one of the corners, her knees drawn towards her body.
'In a separate cell,' said Balbina's voice, making Remus involuntarily sigh with relief. 'You admitted t-to b-being a werewolf, remember?'
Remus closed his eyes for a brief second.
'It was better this way,' he muttered. 'I would have killed everyone in that vault.'
'Yes,' said the girl's voice quietly. 'Well, a-as it seems, now you are just g-going to kill me.'
Remus stared.
'Isn't it obvious?' whispered Balbina sadly. 'They're not g-going t-to be back b-before tomorrow, are they? Look,' she pointed, 'they've left some food. You must b-be hungry. And they've p-put up surveillance sp-pells. If I'm lucky, I'll have various p-people watch me being t-torn to p-pieces.'
Remus continued staring. 'What do you mean several people... what are you talking about? Of course they'll be back. They can't just let me kill you!'
Balbina threw him a sad look. 'Maybe I shouldn't've made s-such a fuss 'bout you being held back,' she whispered. 'A-and maybe you shouldn't've t-told them we were friends either.'
'But they can't do that!' squealed Remus, suddenly full of terror. 'They can't make you stay with me. Not tonight!'
'Well,' said Balbina, as softly as before, 'I said I wanted to see you in that shape, didn't I? It was just a matter of time.'
'But,' said Remus, totally flabbergasted, 'you...'
'You are the biggest pile of dung I have met in my entire life, Potter,' said a dark voice from outside. 'And that is saying something with the house-elves mother keeps recruiting.'
'Sirius!' Suddenly, Remus was on his feet, stumbling blindly into the darkness towards the direction where the voice had come from. 'Sirius, we're here!'
With a mute thud, he consequently ran only seconds later against what had to be either the stone wall or the thickest door he had ever encountered. There was a short silence, then hushed whispering, while Remus was busy rubbing his bruised head. What a day.
'See,' said the voice of James, suddenly very close by, 'I told you there was nothing but rats down here.'
'I actually quite like them,' said another voice, which almost made Remus cry. 'They have such a way of surviving, you know. Quite impressive.'
'Peter,' the young werewolf whispered. 'James... Si-Sirius!' With all the strength he could muster, he scrambled back to his feet, pressing both hands against what he assumed to be the door of his and Balbina's cell. 'Where are you?'
'Remus!' James's voice was almost directly behind the door now. 'You there?'
'SHUSH!' made Sirius's voice. 'What if it's a trick?'
'It's not!' squealed Remus, almost crying with relief. 'It's not! It's me! Quick, open the door! I'm in here with Balbina! You need to let her out! What time is it? You need to let her out quickly and go away, all of you! It is full-moon tonight!'
He was actually crying now.
'Calm down, mate,' said Sirius's dark voice almost next to his ear. 'It's all right. We'll have you out of there in no time...'
'And don't let them catch you!' interrupted Remus. 'Don't let yourselves be seen!'
'Professor McGonagall would marry stinkin' Snape before anyone could see anything in here,' remarked Potter at the same time as a blinding light appeared from a slit just above Remus's head. It seemed as though Sirius had discovered the corridor's floodlight machinery.
'Put it out! Put it out!' hissed James, some horror in his voice. 'Do you know what is running around here at this time of the night?'
'I've never summoned as many as this,' was the off-hand reply. 'And I am certainly not going to release them again before you've had a go at that padlock. It looks easy to blow up, if you ask me.'
There was some bustling and steps.
Remus, who had taken a step backwards, was able to regard the door with a closer look now. It was indeed almost as thick as the wall, and there were locks in it, as well as, presumably, the additional padlock outside, which Sirius had been referring to.
'Not a chance,' said Balbina suddenly from her corner in the back. 'I saw them seal the door with spells. You'll just trigger an alarm. Don't even try.'
'Well, seeing as we have no idea what to do with you once we've got you out,' said James sarcastically, 'I wasn't going to follow this dunce's suggestion anyway. You got a better idea?'
'Why d-didn't you bring a grown-up?' said Balbina impatiently. 'That door wouldn't've been a problem for someone like P-Professor Flitwick... or P-Professor McGonagall.'
'Yeah,' mumbled James. 'She would've shouted at it until it opened on its own accord.'
Sirius snorted, but in a friendly way, Remus noticed.
'Maybe you could go and find the keys,' he said helpfully. 'Or go and get someone... get Professor Dumbledore.'
'You mad?' whispered Peter. 'We'll be expelled if we admit to being here.'
'You'll be expelled anyway,' said Remus coldly. 'You've been out of bounds for the umpteenth time. They haven't got a chance but to expel you. But you can save Balbina,' he added with a somewhat desperate tone in his voice. 'Please? You've come to save someone, haven't you?'
There was a short silence.
'We've got to, mate,' said Sirius, obviously reacting to a movement James had made.
'I think you should just have a go on that door,' said Peter fearfully. 'I doubt there's an alarm on it. Has anyone ever heard about alarm spells?'
James seemed to agree, as Sirius gave a compliant snort, then, with a flicker, extinguished the light he seemed to have been produced by summoning all the phosphorescing particles in the air and on the mossy walls of the dungeon vault into one, big sphere. Remus felt how the magic of the sphere had pulled him towards it only when it suddenly lost its appeal. It was also only now that he remembered what McGonagall had once said about the transformation being triggered by a single magical element each month. Usually the full-moon, but if there was no moon available, also the ghost hour at midnight. It was not midnight yet, but Remus felt the appeal of the magic that surrounded him, and he suddenly realised that if James, Sirius, and Peter blew up the cell door, there would be enough magic around to turn hundreds of werewolves into their monthly shape.
'DON'T...' he started to shout the moment the door exploded and a green light filled the entire room, making his stomach cramp and the rest of his insides turn with fear.
All he could hear afterwards was a low growl...
It took a few seconds before Sirius had recovered from the shock of the explosion. It had been louder than he had expected, and much stronger.
'Y'all okay?' whispered Peter, who had been thrown backwards against the dungeon wall as a consequence of the explosion. There was no reply for a second. Then, suddenly, Balbina screamed.
'What's going on?' shouted James, while Sirius was leaping to his feet, entering the cell through the cloud of dust, which was still hovering over the remains of the blown-up door. What he saw took his breath away for a moment, deep horror sinking in faster than anything he had ever experienced. Remus's friend and cousin Balbina Cuncytaw was lying on her back in one of the corners, while a fully grown werewolf was towering over her, giving a long-lasting snarl before suddenly and without warning letting his teeth sink into the fair-haired girl's flesh. Balbina howled.
'RUN!' Sirius shouted back at his two friends before knowing what he was doing. 'HE'S TRANSFORMED! RUN FOR YOU LIVES! I AM GETTING BALBINA!'
In a jolt of blind rashness, he took some debris from the floor and threw it at his transformed friend. 'OY,' he shouted again, whipping his wand out at the same time. 'OY, REMUS! SEE HERE! LOOK, LET'S PLAY CATCH!'
There was hardly any time to marvel at his friend's sudden size and strength. Remus was transforming into a fully grown werewolf every month, even though he was only going to be fourteen in March.
Remus blinked, turned, growled slightly, and then, with a sudden leap, was at Sirius's throat. Sirius groaned. He had not expected a reaction as quick as this, and against his intentions had no time to shout at Balbina, telling her to get herself out of the cell. Remus's snout was particularly close to his face now and it took Sirius some restraint to keep him away from his throat again and again. His arms were pressing his friend's throat through what had become a layer of thick fur by now, but it was no use. Remus was ten, perhaps twenty times stronger than any third-year student could have been.
With a last idea flickering in his brain, Sirius felt his strength vanishing. He tried to hold on to the idea, but it kept him sane for only a few more seconds. Then everything went dark.