Disclaimer: The wonderful world of Harry Potter was thought up and created by the great J.K. Rowling. Everything in this story is by her, except my plot and a couple of my characters.
Author's Note: So very sorry, everyone! I've been totally busy, my school has been bombarding me with projects! Who knew freshman year would put me in a daze? I'm very sorry that I haven't updated in quite awhile, as you have read the excuse above, I hope that you will forgive and forget. Now, I must warn you, this chapter will be a bit gloomy, but fear not! The story shall get better, scout's honor… except I'm not a scout. Does that count?
Thanks to all my reviewers! I love you all:
SINDHUJA: You were right! Thanks for reading and guessing! Hope you like this new chapter!
Dragonriderhp: I feel great getting you out of your slump! Always stay Harry Potter- y. (If you can, of course) Don't let life get you down! Anyways, thanks for guessing, but it was the drums. I'm sorry for not updating on Wednesday; will you forgive me? You were half right on the "band" poll. I'm sorry for putting up a chipped up chapter, I hope you read the edited version! Hope you enjoy this new chapter!
Misty ocean blueberry: Thanks for reading and enjoying! Oh yeah, and thanks for reviewing too! I hope you like this new chapter and I'm sorry for not answering your review sooner! Enjoy!
Seethehalo715: Thanks for staying so optimistic. (Yes, I'm being sarcastic here.) Well, it's nice to know that you're trying to guess what's going to happen. I know that my eighth chapter was quite confusing, that's why I edited it. Please read the edited version! Have fun!
Unknown: Thanks for the praise and GREAT GUESS! Yep, the drums are my destiny; I can just feel it.
AnjaliMalfoy: I'm glad you feel that my story is progressing; to me it's just staying there like a stick in the mud. Maybe I should just sit down and update more often. (I can hear the screams of happiness echoing in the background.) Yeah, maybe I should. So close yet so far on the "band" poll. I'm posting the results at the bottom!
Taylor-leighyoung: Thanks for the review and praise! I hope you enjoy this new chapter and have a great Thanksgiving. (I know I'm saying this early, but who knows when I'm going to update next. I can already hear the groans in the studio audience.) Just kidding! Have a great day, though!
MonkeyLover: Uh oh, spaghetti- oh! Nope…I'm going to yell out the results in the end, after all the reviews to the reviewers are over. I edited the eighth chapter; did you read the new version? Sorry about the mix-up! Read and review!
Fork-tofu-pingpong-fish: Thanks for reading and reviewing! I'll post the poll results after the reviews. You were very close though (and you're totally right about the blinks); they are gods, man! They are totally awesome! Anyway, you'll find out at the end of the reviews! Peace and enjoy!
ILUVme: Thanks for the enthusiasm! I'll totally try to update way sooner now a days. I hope you like this chapter!
Yellowducky: Sorry about not updating sooner; I didn't know anyone was actually going to get upset about it. I've just been going through a tough time lately, that's all. Enjoy.
Genie in a bottle D: Thanks for the awesome praise and I say, "Go for it!" for the new fanfic. What's it going to be about? I'm all ears for any questions and I'm all set for giving advice! Hey, do you go to the same school as MonkeyLover? Yeah! I'm glad to be of help and I feel so happy that I actually inspired someone! Thanks for making my day, good buddy! Enjoy!
Phew! There sure were a lot of reviewers! Thanks, guys, we finally reached over 50! Everyone clap! Clap like you've never clapped before! Yeah! Ok, so for those of you who took part in the "band" poll, here is the answer: THE CLICK FIVE! It was a close race between all of them (I actually put up all my favorite bands, except for No Doubt and Gwen Stefani) and it was a really hard choice but in the end I choose The Click Five because of their song "Just the Girl", which I think is the sweetest song! Listen to it, all of you who haven't, I really like it. Do you? Anyway, enjoy this new chapter! Sorry for being late on the turn in!
A Crack In The Sun:
To Remus, the world felt like it had reached a stand still. The clock on the Hospital Wing's wall had stopped two hours ago; it's metal hands gleaming as the lit candles danced aimlessly at the tops of their wax bases. Remus wanted to get up, to race outside to the Forbidden Forest, to speak to Melissa, to stroke her hair, to make everything all right… yet he knew he wouldn't be able to do that. Peter had told him that he would take care of the situation, but Remus had never trusted Peter with something this important in his whole while of knowing him. He closed his eyes, breathing in the smell of cleansing alcohol and bandages.
Remus lay on his back, his eyes aching and his throat sore with thirst. He tried to reach for the goblet of water that stood tall on his bedside table, but his arm felt like it had turned to lead and lay loyally by his side. Sighing inwardly, he stared at the ceiling. Only a few minutes, he thought sadly, only a few minutes until the transformation. The nurse from the Hospital Wing had gone to the Divination professor's office to hand over to her a bit of rubbing alcohol that she needed. Sooner or later she was to enter the large oak doors that lead to the infirmary to collect him, and he would be off to the Shrieking Shack, where he would await his untimely doom that he had been knowing about since his last horror-filled night.
I wonder if Peter has a plan, Remus though solemnly, he better not tell Melli that I just forgot about our meeting. He better not… There was a slight bang on the opposite side of the large doors and a creak, as the nurse stepped into the dimly lit room.
"It's time, Remus," she called, her face a stony gray color. Indeed, it was time.
Meanwhile…"Ok, so here's the plan, Peter," Peter mumbled to himself, slowly crawling down the Marauders' dorm's stairs. He knew that he had to speak to Melli; he just didn't have an idea what to say. One wrong thing could screw a relationship; he remembered what Sirius had said. Of course, he was one to talk. Kissed one girl one day and slept with another the next. Crazy bloke, that Sirius, Peter thought, his eyes gazed dreamily at the wall across from him, treats girls real lousy, but gives off great advice. No wonder people like him so. Focus Peter, FOCUS!
"Focus Peter, focus…" Peter mumbled, his foot getting caught inside a backpack sling. I've been doing that a lot lately, he sighed forlorn, tripping.
"Oh my, Peter, are you ok?"
Peter gazed up, his eyes finally catching onto Melissa who was furiously stuffing bits of extra parchment pieces and inkwells into her backpack. She hadn't gazed up at him, supposing it would make her waste precious moments that would make her late for meeting up with Remus at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Watching Melissa scurry after a rolling inkwell, Peter sighed. She wasn't going to be happy that she wasn't going to meet Remus tonight. Peter gulped with nervousness, he still hadn't thought of a plan. Think, think, think…
"Peter?"
Melissa now stood above him, gazing confusedly at him. Wondering what was going on, he glanced around and noticed that he was still sprawled against the floor.
"Er…"
"Peter, what's wrong? Is there anything I can help you with? You look kind of flushed, do you want me to take you to the Hospital Wing?"
"Er…Remus…"
"Oh! What about Remus? Is he ok? What's wrong? Is he already outside? My, I have to hurry…."
"NO, no…" Peter gulped, his fear slowly disappearing, " no, Remus forget that he had to meet you. He was…uh…er- doing his potions essay! Yeah, that's right. Doing his potions essay, what a studious lad…"
"What?"
Peter looked into her eyes and nodded his head. He could see the look of confusion on her face. Uh oh, he thought, she's going to cry any minute…
"Um, Peter, Remus and I did that essay together yesterday after Muggle Studies. There's no way he could be doing that now, we did it together."
This was not the reaction he was looking for. His nervousness grew.
"Uh… well, uh- he…er…um…er…"
"Peter, do you have something to say, or are you just going to sit stand there all day. I really should be going. Remus is waiting for me." And before Peter could complain or make a sound, Melissa had left the Gryffindor Common Room and headed out to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Peter sighed. This wasn't how it was supposed to go at all and for some reason, I have a bad feeling about this.
10 Minutes Later…Peter rushed down yet another fleet of moving staircases. He had to meet James and Sirius so that they could get to Remus in time for the transformation. Finally reaching the empty classroom, Peter thrust the door open and flung himself inside, totally out of breath.
"What happened to you, Wormtail, finally found a girl to snog?" asked Sirius, who was snickering playfully at Peter. Looking back towards James, who was gazing intently at the Marauder's Map, he joked again, " Hey Prongs, Wormtail caught himself a girl! Just look at him, what a snog he had!"
James raised his head, tearing his eyes of a dot marked "Lily Evans" to take a glance at a gasping Peter. With a cry of joy, James replied to Sirius, " Oh, Padfoot, the little ones do learn so fast! I remember when he was just a short little potato; look how far he's grown! Snogging girls in what were probably our old closets. Isn't that just precious?"
As Sirius and James joked on, Peter gasped a final gasp of breath before passing out on professor's desk. James and Sirius stared at each other, their looks filled with shock. This was not good.
5 Minutes Later…
With the help of a certain invisibility cloak, Marauder's Map, and a simple locomotor spell, the two boys laid the third onto a Hospital Wing cloak and explained the predicament to the nurse, who shooed them away. She didn't want to deal with these Marauders anymore, couldn't they learn how to behave for once?
The time was well on its way towards eleven and the boys knew that they should hurry up, the clouds would be parting soon and the moon's rays would be hitting their friend soon. The two friends stumbled down the stairwells and pushed open the great wide entrance doors to find something that would delay their rescue mission. The Weeping Willow.
2 Minutes Later…The moon's light leaked in through the spaces between the boards that made up the shack. Why me, why today, sighed Remus, letting in the light. He couldn't stand the wait any longer, that's what made up half the pain. He reached towards an extremely creaky board, knowing it was unstable from experience. Pulling it aside, he let the light hit him head on. Remus stood there, taking his last second as a human to glance at the pure white full moon. But before he could take in the beauty, his body reminded him of what was supposed to happen, what was destined to happen.
Remus's body shook slightly, his back curving inward. Short grayish hairs sprouted all over his body, his bones stretched longer and became more wolf-like. His mouth and chin grew outward, slowly transforming into a snout. His hind legs curved more than usual and pads popped out of the bottoms of his feet and hands, which were now becoming paws. His ears pointed out and his fangs grew outward, both final touches to his transformation. Remus let out a blood-curling howl, he needed blood and he needed it now.
Meanwhile…James and Sirius slowly staked out towards the Weeping Willow and pondered about how to get through the tree. Why did Wormtail have to faint today, James thought in anger. Why couldn't he have fainted tomorrow? Or the next day? Or the next! Dang it! Lying down next to Sirius, James looked up at the stars. The sky was clear today, and the moon was brighter than it ever had been. Poor Remus, thought James sadly, this must be the most harmful transformation he had ever been through.
All of a sudden, there was a loud thump that could be heard from somewhere inside the tree. Only Sirius and James knew where it was coming from, it was from the Shrieking Shack. Another thump and a loud wail of wood being torn in half could be heard, and within a few seconds of the high pitched noise there was another blood-curling scream and a full grown werewolf could be seen. Standing on his hind legs glaring at the two boys, Remus snarled and bolted straight for Sirius. Without a second's hesitation, the two Marauders quickly transformed into their animagus forms. Leaping out of the way, they let the werewolf Remus stormed through the gap between his former friends.
Remus sniffed the chilly air, the pupils in his eyes growing larger rapidly. He smelled human blood.
Meanwhile…Where was Remus, I wondered. I'd been standing right at the edge of the forest for a half hour now and I couldn't wait for Remus to show up so we could talk this over.
"Where is he," I wondered out loud, my fingers slowly giving into frostbite. All of a sudden I heard a snarl, as snarl that didn't sound real or safe. (A.N. But then again, when does a snarl sound safe?)
Slowly turning around, I saw a large gray beast leaping towards me, followed by a stag and a large black dog. The grim, I thought fearfully. My mind was racing with different memories, thoughts, and fears. And then my mind averted back to reality, that I really did see the grim.
I felt like screaming, but it got caught in my throat. The creature matched a picture that was in my third year Defense textbook: this creature was a werewolf. A WEREWOLF, I screamed in my head. I could almost feel my eyes expand in size.
The werewolf was intercepted by the stag, which only held the creature down for two minutes. Next came the dog, which only lasted three minutes. It seemed like every time something stood in its way, the werewolf knew exactly what to do to get to its prey. And its prey, this time, was me.
Meanwhile…Remus could smell the human's fear escaping her body like heat. The suspense and longing for human flesh and blood was overwhelming, it just had to be his, and he had to have it now. The longing was too much; he had to dispose of his animal friends, for right now anyway.
The girl was right in front of him; he could taste her flesh already. There was no one to hold him back; there was no one to push him aside. He could finally get what he wanted, and there was nothing to stop him from getting what he wanted. She was right there for the taking, he knew he just had to take that final leap, and she was his.
Remus leapt onto the girl, hind legs pinning her to the ground as his forepaws kept her from getting up. Knowing that he had her in the bag, Remus bit her fiercely on her cheek and moved down to her arm. As she bled profusely, he knew that he could finish her off. Remus never attacked an actual human before; he had always been stuck inside the Shrieking Shack attacking himself. Now that he had an actual human, he could finally quench the thirst that had been aching him since the bite he had received.
Remus tore at the human, his claws digging into her skin and pulling downward, causing deep gashes to form on the girl's arms and legs. Her cheeks bled strongly and so did the cut from when her head banged heavily against the stone-covered ground. His hunger for human flesh was just starting to get quenched when a large black dog forced him off of the human girl. Growling, Remus hunched up, but never actually got a chance to move out of the way. A large stag forced his antlers into Remus's stomach, forcing him into the Forbidden Forest. Remus was thrown back, the back of his head banged against the bark of a large tree. Slowly, the world around him was turning black.
Must eat more, he thought, slowly becoming unconscious, must eat…
10 Minutes Later…James walked towards Melissa as Sirius made sure that Remus would stay unconscious for the rest of the night.
"Is she ok, Prongs," asked Sirius, sitting across from his best friend on the other side of Melissa.
"I don't know, let me check the pulse." James knelt down and put his hand against Melissa's wrist. It felt cold and lifeless; it shocked him. Just by feeling that, he knew the answer.
"Padfoot," James's voice shook, his eyes were averted towards the ground, "Padfoot, I…I-I think she's dead."
Author's Note: Well that sure put a damper on things, huh? I told you that this chapter would be pretty gloomy. Tell me if you like it or not, so please review! Here's the next poll:
What's my favorite TV show?
A) The Simpsons
B) Gilmore Girls
C) Smallville
D) The Apprentice
Review, review, review!