Spov
"Can I see the map for a moment?" I asked James distractedly for what must have been the tenth time tonight.
"Again?" he asked frowning.
We were in the shrieking shack at twilight, waiting for the full moon to appear and for Remus to transform. Usually, these last few moments of human interaction with him were fun, filled with anticipation and excitement as we prepared for our next adventure. It was always a thrill trying to tame a werewolf. But now amusement had been eclipsed with worry. I didn't like the way Hallie had looked at me tonight, I could deal with anger, no matter how unpleasant it was to know she was upset with me. Anger meant that she wasn't going to do anything and I knew she would be safe. However tonight was different, she'd looked at me with outright defiance, like she'd look at one of her brothers when she was about to completely disregard one of their warnings and do what she wanted anyways. I'd found that look endearing at first, it had been nice to know that inside Hallie was a bit of a rebel, but again I could see why her brothers were always so worried about her. How did you protect someone who simply refused to listen?
"Why are you always checking it?" Peter asked as James handed me the folded parchment and I whispered.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
"He's looking for his girlfriend." Remus said smirking as, through a series of moving dots and crossing lines, the map came to life in front of me.
I wasn't sure when it had started, but it had become a sort of habit of mine to check for Hallie's name on the map every night before we went out for the full moon. I liked to know that she was safe, inside the castle, before any of the danger started, but tonight I was especially worried. My anxiety increased as my eyes scanned the parchment looking for the tiny black dot labeled Katie Benson, I was shocked to find that it wasn't on the map.
"That's weird." I said checking the library again. "K-Hallie's not on here."
I'd been so distracted looking for the name Katie, I'd almost slipped.
"Did you check the hospital wing?" Peter asked.
"Yeah."
"The dormitory?" James asked.
I nodded.
"What about the library?" Remus suggested.
"Of course. I don't see her anywhere."
"I'm sure she's on there somewhere, you're just missing her." James assured me. "It's not like she's got anywhere to go outside of the castle."
I nodded but frowned feeling a mounting sense of unease.
Hallie wouldn't leave the castle at night, not when I'd specifically told her not to. But I knew I was lying to myself if I thought I could control anything that girl did, especially with the way she'd looked at me earlier in the hospital wing.
"Relax mate," James said bracingly. "Hallie will be fine."
"Yeah," Remus agreed. "She's probably with Lily and Alice right now being forced to plan out Frank's wedding."
I didn't argue, mainly because I knew they wouldn't listen, even if I told them I'd seen Lily and Alice together in the common room and Hallie hadn't been with them. Instead I glanced at the map one last time, then tapped it with my wand and muttered.
"Mischief managed."
"Alright lads." James said glancing through a gap between two boards over the window. "This is it, the moon is rising. Everybody transform."
We all assumed our animal forms.
I watched in anticipation as the moonlight peaked through the broken windows and landed on Remus. There was a horrible, guttural growling sound and then a terrible scream as he began to transform.
Peter, who'd never gotten used to Remus's transformations, squeaked in terror and ran behind me his tail quivering. I couldn't help but feel pity as Remus continued to shriek and howl in agony as his body grew taller, more wolfish, and then collapsed.
When he picked himself up, there was no longer any trace of human left in Remus. He was a completely transformed werewolf. His big yellow eyes made its way to the window, spotted the moon and he let out a loud howl.
As a dog I joined in but was shocked when he suddenly stopped, his ears pointed, and his hair standing on end. Remus, or rather the werewolf had heard something, and judging form his expression it was near by.
I thought I heard someone saying my name and suddenly Remus's expression became hungry. He sniffed the air with a cruel interest and immediately took off. He threw himself repeatedly through the door, which seemed to be putting up a strong effort at keeping him contained, but eventually his strength won out. He burst through the door and ran down tunnel that let out in the castle grounds.
"What's going on?" James asked quickly, he'd transformed back into a human and I did the same.
"I don't know he's never done this before. He's never left without us." I said.
"We need to go after him." He said and before I could answer, a horrible, terrified scream ripped through the night air. One that made my heart stop, and my whole body turn cold as the world around me seemed to fade to black. I knew that voice, I would recognize it anywhere, and this was the last place I ever wanted to hear it.
"Hallie." I said in horror and then sprinted after Remus, already transformed.
Hpov
Getting out of the castle had been easy, I'd simply taken one of the short cuts Sirius had shown me that lead outside of the castle onto the grounds. But finding the boys, that was an entirely different obstacle altogether. I was lucky the sun had just barely set, the sky was still light enough for me to see without having to use my wand and draw attention to myself. I'd thought I saw them hanging around the Whomping Willow but upon closer inspection, all I'd seen were a couple of animals. I wasn't surprised to see the stag, I assumed it just lived off in the forest somewhere, but what had surprised me was the dog. Dogs weren't allowed at Hogwarts, and I didn't think any villagers would have allowed their pet to stray this far.
"What the hell?" I asked frowning.
The whomping willow, usually a very violent tree, had now gone stock still and the animals had disappeared.
Curiosity beating out my desire to find the boys, I jogged over to the tree to see where the animals had gone. My mouth fell open as I saw a small hole had appeared in the roots of the tree, just big enough for a person to crawl through.
"Ok Katie." I said for some reason resorting to my first name. "There's a hole in the roots of a murderous tree that you think both a stag and a dog who are apparently friends have walked through. What are the smart options here?"
I knew the smart options. The smart thing to do would be to go back to the castle, recognize defeat that I'd lost the boys and either make Sirius tell me what was going on or try and find them another time, but even though I knew that was the right thing to do, I found myself drawn to the hole in the tree. For some reason, I felt it held answers for me, answers that I desperately wanted. Before I knew it, I was standing next to it.
"This is stupid." I said looking into the dark hole and seeing in the dim light that it turned into a tunnel. "I have no idea where this is going, where I'll end up I should just turn back and-"
But I was cut off by a horrible creaking sound. My heart seemed to stop and I looked back in horror to see that above me the branches were quickly coming back to life. I ducked as a branch the size of a telephone pole came swiping at me, then jumped back as another crashed into the ground trying to flatten me. I tried to fight my way through branches that cut at my face and tore at my robes, but it was no use. Realizing I had no choice, I dove into the hole and then quickly began to crawl along the tunnel, hoping that wherever I ended up, would be a safer than what was waiting for me back there.
I lit my wand and continued to make my way down the dark, earthen tunnel until I reached a door. I frowned. It looked in terrible condition. The paint was chipped and there were long gouge marks that splintered the wood as they raked down the door in long parallel lines. I frowned and was reaching out towards the rusty doorknob when I stopped, hearing voices on the other side.
"Relax mate," I heard James say and he sounded like he was comforting someone. "Hallie will be fine."
"Yeah," It was Remus's voice this time. "She's probably with Lily and Alice right now being forced to plan out Frank's wedding."
I heard Sirius's voice mutter something but I couldn't make it out and suddenly James was speaking again, sounding excited.
"Alright lads. This is it, the moon is rising. Everybody transform."
There were sounds of scuffling and absurdly hooves against a wooden floor. And suddenly there was a bone-chilling scream. I felt my breath solidify in my lungs as the screaming continued, growing less human and more animal. There was a loud, 'thud' as something heavy hit the floor, and the next thing I heard froze my blood.
A loud howl came from behind the door and I knew there was only one thing that could make a sound like that.
"Werewolf." I whispered then clapped a hand over my mouth. The howling had stopped. Had it heard me? Why had it stopped?
Nothing made sense, what was going on here? I had no idea where I was, all I knew was that there was a werewolf on the other side of that door and there was a distinct possibility that it had just heard me. There was only two other times in my life I remembered feeling so scared. The first, when I'd lost my mother, and the second, when I thought I was going to loose Sirius as well. He was the one person I wanted to see right now more than anything, I wanted to know he was ok, and as I heard vicious monster like breathing behind the door found myself saying his name.
"Sirius?" I asked quietly.
Immediately, the sound of heavy paws running against the wooden floor and towards the door filled the tunnel. And suddenly, my body jumped back into action. I jinxed the door locked and started running. I heard the werewolf throwing itself against the door, it's frustrated snarls growing fainter the farther I ran. But it didn't last long.
Behind me the door exploded, the wood shattering as a fully transformed werewolf burst through the frame.
I continued to sprint down the tunnel but it was no use. No human could outrun a werewolf but I was determined to try. I made it around one corner when a searing pain erupted on my arm one of the werewolf's claws caught me and threw me into the tunnel walls. I fell to the ground and stared up in horror as the werewolf loomed over me, lit by the glowing tip of my wand, it's yellow eyes mad with hunger, and it's fangs bared.
I couldn't help it, I screamed.
Time seemed to slow down as the werewolf opened it's jaws and leaned down to me. Suddenly, I felt like I was a little kid again, pinned by one of my brothers as they laughed saying girls weren't tough enough to fight with boys.
'Get it together!' I yelled at myself. I tore my arm out from under his paw and pointed my wand under the werewolf's chest shouting.
"Reducto!"
The werewolf was blasted off of me and I scrambled to my feet. Ignoring the pain in my arm and the dizziness from my head colliding with the wall.
I shouted, "Impedimenta!" and took off running again.
I knew the spell wouldn't hold it for long, but I also knew that the end of the tunnel was near and I would take a murderous tree over a werewolf any day. I scrambled up the slope and through the hole well aware that the werewolf was hot on my heels. I sprinted towards the castle bobbing and ducking branches hearing the werewolf growling and slashing at them behind me. Just as I thought I was going to make it, I was caught from behind the knees. The tree branch lifted me off the ground and threw me out of its range, and I landed on the ground with an unforgiving force. I felt my head slam into the ground again and bright lights appeared in front of my eyes. I tried to sit up, but the world spun, and I couldn't think let alone utter a spell that might save me from the werewolf that had now managed to bite and slash his way through the branches.
It let out a victorious howl as it prowled closer to me, taking its time as it stalked its prey.
If this was going to happen, I wanted it to be quick. I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the pain, bracing myself for the attack. But it never came.
There was a protective growl, a yelp, and I opened my eyes to see the massive black dog from earlier had thrown itself on to the werewolf, attacking it mercilessly.
"What?" I groaned dazed and confused.
Suddenly the stag had immerged and it too charged after the werewolf. The stag ran after the werewolf as it made it's escape to the woods, but the dog stayed behind. It was bleeding, and breathing hard, but seemed to be ok as it made it's way to me and looked down at me with familiar, intense stormy gray eyes.
"Hallie!" The dog said in horror, but that was impossible, dogs didn't speak. At least, not English words. But it wasn't a dog above me any more.
"Sirius?" I asked confused my head throbbing painfully.
"Stay with me Hallie." He said resting a hand on either side of my face.
"The werewolf." I said confused.
"It's gone." He assured me clearly trying to sound comforting but his eyes were wide with panic. "Just stay awake alright?"
"My head hurts." I groaned.
"I know love." He said gently while picking me up then shouting. "Wormtail freeze the tree!"
The last thing I remembered was Peter's voice.
"Padfoot what happened?"
And then suddenly everything went black.
When I woke up, my head felt as if someone had taken a bat to it. I groaned rubbing the back of my head and started to sit up when I realized someone's arms were around me. My eyes flew open and I saw an exhausted looking Sirius staring at me his eyes filled with a mixture of terror, guilt, and intense relief.
"Oh thank god." He said pulling me into a tight hug and I winced as a sharp pain ran through my arm. He seemed to notice because he quickly let me go and asked.
"How are you feeling?"
"Awful." I muttered sitting up. "What happened?"
"You don't remember?" he asked frowning.
I tried to think but it made my brain hurt and my head swim. I felt sick to my stomach.
"Take it easy." Sirius said softly.
"Where are we?" I asked confused. We were in the middle of an utterly destroyed room that I had never seen before. The furniture was smashed, long scratches tore at the wall, splintering the wood, disintegrating the plaster, and chipping the paint. The windows were boarded up, and any glass had long since been smashed. Dust covered the floor and I realized that I was in a large bed.
"What happened?" I asked again. Disconnected images were flashing through my mind. Fangs, a blood chilling howl, and cruel yellow eyes, inhuman eyes. I felt a sharp stinging on my arm again and looked down to see a piece of torn shirt turned into a bandage on what felt like a long but shallow cut on the outside of my arm that ran from my shoulder to my elbow. Further investigation revealed that it was Sirius's shirt. "Why do I feel like I've been attacked?"
"You were." He said quietly.
"By what?"
He didn't answer.
"Sirius what's going on?" I asked feeling frustration building in me. I felt as if my brain were underwater, causing all of my thoughts to be slow, hazy, and dim. I couldn't remember anything that had happened to me, but these startling images kept flashing through my mind. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't piece them together. I could feel my brain furiously trying to work, it seemed like it should be so simple but for some reason it just refused. The pain continued only getting worse and I felt like my brain was too big for my skull. I clamped my hands over my head and was horrified to find that in the constant back in forth of anger and frustration with myself, I felt tears form in my eyes. I shut them quickly refusing to cry in front of Sirius.
"Hallie its ok." He said gently. "You've probably got a concussion, you hit your head pretty hard. Try to calm down alright? Your brain is just freaking out right now."
"But why? Sirius what happened?" More tears filled my eyes this time they fell. I knew I had no control over it now, somewhere in the back of my brain I knew that a symptom of concussions was being easily upset and frustrated but that didn't help me now.
The effect of a few tears on Sirius was simply astounding. Something behind his eyes seemed to break, and he was speaking quickly now.
"Hallie, don't cry." He said his eyes going wide.
"Then tell me what's going on!" I almost shouted.
He looked at me for a solid minute, before he sighed.
"We're in the shrieking shack." He said quietly refusing to look at me.
"The haunted house?" I asked my eyes going wide.
"It's not haunted." He said shaking his head. "All the noises the villagers hear are from a werewolf, the same one that attacked you tonight."
"A werewolf?" I asked in shock, my thought's reeling. "All this time, you've been running around with a werewolf."
He nodded.
"And what about the dog?" I asked quickly my head continuing to spin.
He paused a full minute before responding apparently mentally preparing himself before what he was going to say next.
"The dog was me." He said glancing up at me as if he were trying to gauge my reaction. "I'm an Animagus."