Mwaahaha *evil laugh* I am back!
Voldemort: YOU SHALL NOT STEAL MY EVIL CACKLE! IT IS MINE!
Harry: VOLDEMORT-*raises wand*
Voldemort: Avada Ked-
Me: *flicks hands over keyboard, all wands disappear and both Voldemort and Harry are in a straitjacket. Separate ones. No dueling! Now. Disclaimer. Who's up?
Voldemort and Harry: Disclaimer?
Hermione: Honestly, don't you two READ? Fanfics need to be disclaimed! Morons. Nicoisawesome doesn't own.
Me: THANK YOU. Sorry I didn't update, updates are going to be slower now, so I can work on making less OOC-ness!
"You can't kill him." Harry panted. "You can't."
Lupin and Black looked staggered. Hermione and Ron looked shocked, but Hermione had relief written everywhere across her face. Harry's eyes flickered to Celia.
She had cupped both hands over her mouth, and her eyes were smiling, but confused. Celia put her hands down and hugged herself, a small smile creeping up her face.
"Harry…this piece of vermin is the reason your parents are dead." Lupin said.
Black snarled. "This cringing bit of filth-" Ironically, Pettigrew cringed-"would have seen you die, without turning a hair. His own stinking skin matters more than your entire family."
"I-I know. But he can go to Azkaban. Feed him to the dementors. But don't kill him." Harry said, heaving another breath.
"Harry!" Pettigrew gasped, and flung himself at Harry. "Thank you! It's more than I deserve! Thank-you-thank-you-thank-you-thank-you-" His hands wrapped around Harry's small torso, squeezing.
When he said the "thank-you-thank-you" part, Celia looked a little green.
"Get off me," Harry spat, and he shoved Pettigrew's hands away. He looked up at the shocked faces, then at Pettigrew, who was babbling his thanks in little gasps again. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this because I reckon my parents wouldn't have wanted them to become murderers – just for you." His eyes swept across the room again and lingered on Celia, who returned his small smile with a grateful nod.
Black snarled again, eyes flitting to Celia then back at Harry. "There's something so familiar about that girl, Remus, I can't put my finger on it…" he murmured so only Lupin's werewolf ears could hear. Then, louder, he growled and turned to Harry. "You're the only one who gets to decide, Harry. Are you sure?"
Firmly and without a second thought, Harry nodded.
"Very well. Stand aside, Harry." Lupin said calmly, and Harry could have sworn there was a tinge of disappointment (or was that relief?) in his voice.
Harry frowned. Lupin's wand was still raised.
Celia's POV
When Harry hesitated, it proved Dad wrong.
Not all Gryffindors are dunderheads.
Well…most of the time they aren't.
Still, it was such a…Slytherin thing to do. I was sure he trusted Lupin, but I saw his eyes float to the tip of Lupin's wand, and he hesitated.
Or was it Ravenclaw?
"I'm just going to tie him up, that's all." Lupin promised, and after another moment, Harry stepped aside. Lupin nodded at the squeaking Pettigrew and waved his wand, cords trussing Pettigrew up. Pettigrew made another terrified, muffled squeak.
"We'll need at least two people to be chained to him, unless he tries to escape. We'll kill him, though, if he transforms, alright, Harry?" Lupin said. Harry nodded clearly so that Pettigrew could see.
"Wait a minute." I interrupted. Lupin stopped, and turned his head to look at me. "We can't leave anyone behind. But how are we…" I walked over to Dad and took his wrist. His hand was still pretty warm, so not dead. That didn't stop me from checking his pasty-white hand for a pulse. The thud of the pulse was clear. I nodded. "Still alive."
I love how you said that. In a really worried way you check his pulse and then suddenly you become dead of emotions and go, "Still alive" like you're disappointed.
Shut. Up.
Lupin nodded, and pointed his wand at Dad. "Mobilicorpus." Slowly, Dad's head rose (even though his eyes were still closed), then his feet picked him up. Like a puppet. Except with his lolling head and limp hands, it was more like a levitating corpse. Attracting.
Sirius nudged Pettigrew with his foot. "I'll be chained to this."
"And me," Ron said. He set his face and limped forward. I swear he had that look, like, this is revenge for sleeping with me!
I watched Pettigrew stay still as the ropes tied themselves to Sirius and Ron. He didn't even squirm. That was really odd.
"I'll do it, too." I said finally. Lupin raised his eyebrows at me. "We only need two."
"No," I said firmly. "You said at least two. You're really going to take the risk?"
Lupin examined my face, then a small smile blossomed onto his weary face. "That's correct; I did say that. Strange of you to catch that one word." He waved his wand and I stepped forward, the ropes tying my right arm to Pettigrew's left like Ron, while Sirius took Pettigrew's right arm.
Okay, let's just stop and look at this right now. Dad, who Gyrffindors don't exactly seem to like very much, is unconscious in a room of Gryffindors, with a TAME werewolf, a convicted supposedly-murderer, and a balding man who cut off his finger. Then there's Crookshanks, Hermione's jaunty cat, and ME. And let's not forget Tom, the future evil dude who runs around killing babies.
Yeah, people, this is how I spend my days at Hogwarts. Running around with murderers, people who hate my dad, my DAD, cats, and baby-killers. I'm so awesome.
3rd POV
As they exited, they had to go through the tunnel, and it was extremely awkward. The narrow tunnel forced everyone to shift into a single-file and shuffle along like a bunch of first graders. Lupin, Pettigrew, Celia, and Ron had to turn sideways.
Snape, who Sirius was controlling, kept scraping his head against the ceiling, but Sirius made no move to prevent this, and even cast Celia an irritated glance when she pulled Snape down lower with her free hand.
Without warning, Sirius turned hesitantly to Harry.
"I don't know if you…heard, but I'm your godfather, and I promised your parents I'd take care of you if anything ever happened to them." Sirius said.
Harry felt like his stomach had exploded with fire. Surely he wasn't suggesting – that he wanted Harry?
He didn't know what to do but nod.
"Once my name's cleared…well, if you wanted a…a different home…" Sirius looked half-hopeful and half-worried.
Harry's eyes widened. (AN: Review a smiley face if the next lines never get old to you!) "What-live with you? Leave the-ow-" he cracked his head on a rock on the ceiling-"Dursleys?!"
Behind Sirius, Celia cast him an excited thumbs-up and grinned. Sirius said quickly, "Of course-I thought you wouldn't want to. I just thought-"
Celia's face quickly morphed into a horrified look and she shook her head. Harry cut in: "Are you INSANE? Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?!" Celia snickered.
"You mean it?" he said, and he pretended not to see Snape's head scrape the ceiling again.
Celia grabbed Snape's shoulder and pulled him back down. "Stop floating! Gosh." She whispered, and Harry smiled. "Yeah, I mean it!"
Harry did a double take. As a huge smile bloomed across Sirius's face, he looked almost like the man in the wedding again, laughter edged around his eyes, never frowning.
Sirius turned back around, and Celia yelped in surprise. "You look different! What-did you do, like, some secret twenty-second plastic surgery on your face or something?" She asked incredulously. "Why are you smiling like you just won the lottery-oh." She beamed at Harry. "That's great; Harry, you can move in with Sirius!"
He could move in with Sirius. Move in with Sirius. Harry didn't think he'd ever get tired of hearing those words.
Finally they got out, and Crookshanks had already pressed the tree knot so they could actually get out without getting bombarded with sticks, as Celia phrased it.
Snape collided into Ron, Celia, Lupin, and Pettigrew, who all let out yelps and whirled around. Except Lupin.
The silvery moonlight shone onto Lupin, and Lupin went rigid. His limbs shook. A low growl ripped from him.
Ron was shaking around uselessly, panicked. "Ron, hold still!" Celia gasped, and she took out her wand, obviously searching for a spell. She grabbed the ropes attatched to Pettigrew and her. "Incendio!"
As the fire started, she shouted, "Aguamenti!" and the ropes, of course, were charred but didn't break. She had taken the fire out too quickly. Frantically, she turned to Ron, pausing with confliction.
Bloody hell. She was wasting time.
Celia grabbed Ron's arm, yanked the ropes, and muttered, "Incendio!" A fire burst onto the ropes, Ron trying not to move but looking terrified at the flames that licked at his arms. "Come on…come on…Aguamenti!" The ropes broke in damp, dripping water, and suddenly…
Lupin howled. Celia turned in shock, face-to-face with a growling, fully-grown werewolf.
Oh, great.
Celia's POV
Me, of all people. WHY ME?!
It was actually really disgusting. A werewolf growls, howls, and attacks. But guess what? They also kind of drool. Yeah, you heard me right.
And yes; I think I'm crazy. I'm about to die, and I complain about frothy slobber.
Lupin's eyes were wild, and he jerked back suddenly, like he was trying to fight himself. Hair had sprouted everywhere (basically like a man who doesn't shave. Except hairier.) on him, and he was hunched, growls rippling from his throat deeply. Froth dripped from his mouth, and I was very aware of his claws and his really…really…razor sharp teeth.
Focus. I closed my eyes. This wasn't Lupin. It was a werewolf, that could actually hurt people. The werewolf gave one last jerk, and the little sanity in the werewolf's eyes faded to a hungry urge. I grabbed the ropes, and pointed my wand at it. "Incend-" my words were cut off by a sharp gasp. The werewolf had lunged. A claw knocked the wand out of my hand.
Kick him off! Tom's order snapped me back into reality, and with a scream at the bared teeth, my foot shot out and kicked the werewolf off. It yelped and rolled off, shaking itself and lunging at Ron.
I knocked my dad out. And I just kicked my teacher. I'm on a roll.
"Ron! Run!" Ron didn't seem to need telling twice. He ran, the werewolf running after-and a black dog leaped out, pulling the werewolf away. I turned my head as painful snarls and yelps came from the direction of the fight.
Ron stopped and turned back around. "What are you doing? Go!" I jerked my arm, trying to reach my wand. Pettigrew-he was GONE. He had dug the ropes into the dirt, and now he was GONE.
"Sirius! Pettigrew's gone!" I yelled, nails digging into the ropes. It didn't budge. The dog bounded off, a limp in its gait. The werewolf turned back at me. Ron made an arc around and thrust a hand into his robe pocket. "CELIA!"
I turned. He threw his wand at me, and I raised my hand, the wand slapping into my palm. "Stupefy!" The jet of light brushed past Lupin, and I shouted, "Stupefy! Expelliarmus!" Lupin dropped to the ground with a pained whimper. "In-Incendio!"
Hurry up...hurry up…the rope broke off, and I yelled, "Aguamenti!" I was free. I shook my wand arm, shivering, when Lupin crashed into me.
A claw sliced at my face, and hot pain exploded on my right cheek. Kick him off…fight back...A wave of tiredness washed over me. Tom! Not helping!
Really dizzy…no kidding. I was seeing two werewolves now-oh, now a blurry three-now four! I blinked and the werewolf lunged back. With a horrible raspy voice, Lupin's strained voice spoke:"Run-" before it lunged again. I rolled away, somewhere. I don't know where. All I knew was that I had to get away-
My wand. I lifted my head and scanned the grass. A few feet away, I saw the black wand lying on the floor. Scrambling to my knees, I grabbed the wand and ran.
There was a lake, and Black was on the floor, out cold. So was Hermione.
But not Harry. He was trying to conjure a feeble Patronus to fend off WAVES of dementors, and I raised my wand, stumbling to my knees next to him. "Expecto Patronum…"
Happy thoughts. Wha-what happy thoughts? Sleep? Sleep is happy thought…happy…sleep…I couldn't even think in full sentences. A sharp pain pounded me into reality again, and then…the pain faded…everything faded…I felt a thud as I collapsed to the floor, next to Sirius and Hermione, a wet liquid from the back of my head pooling out.
A dementor lean in close, gray scabbed skin, and my mother's voice: "You killed me, you little freak…you'll never belong anywhere…you killed me…"
"No-no, I didn't!" I gasped, as clammy hands grabbed my neck, pushing me towards a large, gaping, stitched hole…like the dementor was going to kiss me…my eyelids suddenly were too heavy, too big, more than I could take…I groped for a vision, and had a white, hazy picture of Tom, eyes closed.
Everything went dark.
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