So it is Sunday evening, let's see if I can get this chapter done and posted by my deadline.
Disclaimer: not mine
"'He's not worth it,' how can you say that about a person? Especially a peer who, as far as I can tell, has done nothing wrong!" Hermione was fuming on behalf of her Slytherin friend as she left the library and began to wander the castle corridors. She did not want to go to the common room just yet knowing that she would just end up running into Lily or one of the marauders.
Hermione passed by a window and stopped to go back and enjoy the view. Summer was already dying and autumn was to return soon and tonight the weather seemed quite delightful. Curfew was coming soon but Hermione could not resist the charms of the outdoors at the moment. So she snuck back towards the front of the school preparing some excuse as to why she was heading out should a teacher stop her. But no teachers were present at the entrance and Hermione slipped out unimpeded.
The air was crisp and cool and the setting sun painted the sky just before it dipped below the horizon. The stars were beginning to twinkle and a bright full moon eased its way up into the night sky. Hermione walked around the perimeter of the school, not wanting to get lost, and made sure to keep close to the walls in case she needed to duck into an alcove. However the only noises she heard were that of her feet crunching the grass and the breeze blowing through the plant life.
She had lost track of time when she heard the creaking and groaning of wood and unintelligible voices carried by the wind. Hermione flattened herself against the ancient stone wall and made to scoot back to the main entrance. But at the sound of a familiar barking laugh Hermione's curiosity forced her to at least take a peek at sources of the noises.
She inched as quickly as she could, careful not to make any noise, towards here targets and finally got close enough to take a quick look. The first thing she noticed was a large, very active tree that she had heard about. It had earned the nickname 'Whomping Willow' for its aggressive nature towards anyone who came to close. Apparently students came to school six years ago to find that the tree had been brought to the school over the summer for reasons the school has yet to give. Its large, club like branches were currently taking swings at three figures that were approaching.
Hermione recognized them almost immediately. The short, chubby figure of Peter Pettigrew, the cocky swagger of James Potter, and the laughing Sirius Black. Unexpectedly Pettigrew began to shrink. Hermione was baffled and focused her eyes to make sense of what was happening, when she did she saw a small rodent like creature crawl out of Pettigrew's clothes. 'Animagus? Impossible, they are far too young and Pettigrew isn't exactly intelligent.' The rodent dashed towards the tree and disappeared into the ground, probably a hole. Suddenly the aggressive tree stilled and froze, as this happened the other two boys began to transform as well; Sirius into a large canine of some sort and James into a large deer.
Hermione decided she had seen enough, she really did not care what they were doing she convinced herself. But as she tried to leave canine Sirius lifted his nose into the air and turned his head toward Hermione. He transformed back into a person and yelled out, "Hey look guys, Snivellus' girlfriend is here." James and Peter also morphed back and they all came walking towards her. "Did that greasy git send you here to spy on us? What a coward!"
All of them were laughing and Hermione yelled back, "Spying? I came out for a walk to clear my head of you idiots!"
James spoke next, "Yeah right, wonder how much he told her about Moony… Shit!" James abruptly turned around and ran straight for the whomping willow when a loud growling noise came from it.
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Severus was wondering the halls like he usually did when plagued with insomnia. This meant just about every night but particularly during the Full Moon. That night from fifth year still haunted him at night and the near death experience prevented him from sleeping at all at least one night each month. His roommates were used to his night time restlessness and never questioned it when he left.
Severus ambled throughout the ancient corridors skillfully hiding whenever he hear a noise. The castle always seemed to provide an out for him and not once during all his time in Hogwarts was he ever caught except for when the Marauders were involved. He began to come near a large window that he knew overlooked the Whomping Willow and its surrounding area. He tended to avoid it as the sight of the tree would fill him with fury. Black had tried to kill him! Lupin was a werewolf! And not only did Dumbledore let them get away with it, he also threatened Severus if he should ever tell anyone! People deserved to know about a werewolf attending their child's school and the other three boys should be in jail for being unregistered animagus. Not to mention Black should get even longer jail time for attempted murder. But no Sirius was pulling a prank, the boys were helping their friend, and Lupin didn't choose this life. 'That last part may be true but that doesn't make him any less dangerous,' Severus thought to himself as he remembered the snapping, snarling hungry face of Lupin's werewolf form.
At this point Severus was right by the window and as he heard the tree still he couldn't help but look out just for a moment…
He saw Black and Pettigrew standing in front of Hermione as Potter transformed to try and fight off the werewolf currently escaping from below the Whomping Willow.
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A loud snarling noise ripped through the air as James once again transformed into a stag. Sirius was quick to follow his example as Pettigrew cowered away. A howl momentarily interrupted the snarling and put all the pieces together for Hermione: Remus was a werewolf. It explained everything from his scars to his mysterious illness. She didn't understand what the Marauders were thinking coming here when they obviously knew what was under there. In fact it looked like they were going under there too.
She didn't have much more time to think when the werewolf jumped out from the ground. She could not believe this monster was her friend, her fireside companion at night when she could not sleep, the one person she trusted with the truth about the future. Now that shy, smart shaggy blonde boy was a tall, skin and bone, terrifying monster. The boys were holding him off as well as they could but were none the less being inched backwards, constantly losing ground against this beast. His bright yellow eyes turned towards Hermione and the now rodent form of Pettigrew and the wild look in those orbs became even more pronounced. He had cited Hermione, the lone human in the area, and now had a target.
Hermione knew she had just become prey and was going over everything she knew about werewolves and the best way to escape. Unfortunately while she could think of all the things she should not do—running, looking him in the eye, etc—she could not think of anything she should do. She was trapped, frozen in fear of doing anything wrong, and in danger either of becoming a werewolf herself or dinner.
Out of nowhere a spell hit Remus in the side and had effectively distracted the beast. Hermione and the boys turned to see where the spell had come from and saw Severus standing there aiming his wand at Remus. He did a very good job at hiding his emotions but the occasional tremors revealed his true fear. Hermione remembered the conversation in the common room this morning and Sirius' taunts from last night and realized that at some point Severus had found out about Remus and that this was the secret he was being forced to keep.
The werewolf regained his bearings and the dog and stag began to attack again as Severus shot off some more spells. Finally Dumbledore, accompanied by Pettigrew who must have snuck off at some point, came to the scene and also began casting spells. Hermione thought about helping but could not seem to make her hand listen and move towards her wand.
At long last Remus was forced back into the hole with the Marauders following close behind. Severus and Dumbledore came over to where Hermione was standing, still frozen in fear. "Come to the infirmary Miss Jean, you too Mr. Snape, we should discuss a few things." Dumbledore strode back to the castle as Hermione was led by Severus who had to grasp her elbow to get her to move.
So since it is Monday afternoon, no I did not make my deadline :( I do know what I am doing for the next chapter so that should make it come out faster but I will be out of town and unable to write until Thursday afternoon and even then I have another story that needs updating. Hopefully though the next update should be sometime this weekend.