Chapter Eighteen: Boggart Hunting Again

The four boys were still buzzing with adrenaline when they reached their dorm, and - though they changed quietly and got into bed with barely a "good night" - it still took them a long time to fall asleep. Once James and Peter had finally drifted off, though, and their rhythmic snores sounded through the room, Sirius climbed out of his bed, padded across the floor and got into bed with Remus.

'It's been a while,' Remus said. He nudged Sirius gently with his shoulder, 'so how are you doing?'

'Well - it's going to be a fun summer isn't it? A mother who hates me and a brother who tries to frame me for crimes I didn't commit.'

'You can escape to James' house at some point.'

'Unless I can hide away at James' house for the rest of my life - it's still going to be an awful summer.'

'Well - at least you don't have to turn into a great, hairy monster and spend the evening clawing your face off twice over the hols.'

Sirius sighed. 'Yes - I suppose it's true - no matter how bad things are for me, at least I'll never be quite as tragic as you.' They snorted with laughter and shoulder barged each other. 'Honestly, though - do I have the worst brother or what?'

'You definitely have the worst brother out of everyone in this room.'

'No one else in this room has a brother - lucky gits.'

'Then it's official - you win the saddest sibling of the dorm award 1974.' They snorted again and shoulder barged again and then settled back down.

'I suppose I just never realised just how much Reg hates me, you know? To do all that…'

'But at least your name is cleared. There can be a new "Barking Mad Black" in the morning.'

Sirius gave his bark of laughter. 'Yes - see how he likes it, foul git… It makes me worry, though, what they'll do next.'

'Whatever he does, me and James and Pete will always stand by you. And Big Macca believes in you, and so does Dumbledore. You'll be alright, Sirius, you'll see.'

'Maybe - well, night, Remus.'

'Night, Sirius.'

And Sirius slid out of Remus's bed and returned to his own. Remus lay back against his pillow, closed his eyes and tried to will himself to sleep. He did not notice when the somnolence took him, but eventually everything turned black, and he had a night filled with strange dreams of monsters lurking in the shadows, backfiring wands and Sirius trapped in a cage.

…

The Great Hall was noisy the next morning; this was the last day of exams and students were beginning to be able to see a light at the end of the tunnel. The atmosphere was more relaxed, exuberant even, in places, as - no matter how badly today went - at least it would all be over soon.

The one conspicuous exception to this general air of jollity was Hagrid, who kept bursting into loud tears and trumpeting his nose on his blanket-sized hanky.

'They found Pinchy!' He told the boys, when he happened across them as they left the Hall. 'Don' know how, but they did - they came. Magizoologists from the Ministry, took 'im away in a cage.'

'We're - er - sorry to hear that, Hagrid,' Remus said, trying to sound sincere.

'An' him on'y a baby, and all!'

'He had grown rather a lot since we last saw him,' James said. The others kicked him, but Hagrid was too busy weeping to notice anything untoward.

'He needs his mummy!'

'And his mummy is … you ?' Peter asked, unsure.

'WELL NOT ANY MORE IT'S NOT!' And his outpouring of grief became so great that he had to hurry away, gasping, 'what'll become of 'im?… Got it in fer interestin' creatures,' between his sobs.

'Well, that was totally mental,' Sirius said. 'Makes me wonder what other hideous beasts he has stashed away in the forest?'

'Surely Pinchy is the worst of it?'

'I wish I could believe that, Pete, I wish I could believe that.' He shook his head, and then: 'come on - Defence exam - and then once that's done we'll really be free.'

…

They gathered in the Defence classroom, where Dumbledore smiled around at the whole class and informed them they would not be needing a quill for this year's exam. 'A wizard must be able to think on his feet,' he told them, 'to face the unknown, assess the risk and deal with it, armed only with his wand - and so that is what you shall do. Higher marks will be given to those who manage to outwit more foes, and top marks for anyone canny enough to complete the whole task. Now - to business.'

He split them into four teams, and then sent the Ravenclaw boys into the adjoining classroom, with a twinkle in his eye and a rather mysterious 'your first enemy awaits.' The ears of the students were filled with a deep buzzing hum, as the door swung open. It swung shut behind the Ravenclaws, and all was quiet again - until, a few moments later - there was a strangled yelp from behind the door.

'Oh dear,' Dumbledore's lips twitched. And then, 'ah, yes - I think they're through.' He sent the Gryffindor girls in next, they walked in, wands raised and looking rather nervous. A couple of minutes later, the Ravenclaw girls followed on and then - last of all - the door swung open to admit the Gryffindor boys.

They shuffled inside, to find the room was completely dark. Peter squeaked. 'Don't be soft, Pete,' Sirius said, scornfully, before swearing loudly as he tripped over something. 'Lumos' he raised his wand to look. 'Blimey, it's Stebbins.' And indeed it was, Ellis Stebbins was lying prone on the floor, groaning softly. Sirius nudged him with his boot. 'What do you think happened to him?'

'Whatever's in here must have attacked him.'

'Don't be soft, Pete! '

'Can you hear that?'

'I said don't be -'

'No - shush!'

The humming sound had come back, deeper and angrier than ever and then 'Doxies!' Remus said - as one flew at him out of the gloom. 'Immobulus!' White sparks flew from his wand and the doxy froze mid air and then dropped to the ground, like a stone. But it proved to be the first of many and, before they knew it, a furious swarm of winged beasties were flying at their faces, until the air was thick with them and the boys were pinned down under the buzzing barrage .

'Immobulus!' The doxies, with thick, black hair covering their bodies, were almost impossible to see in the pitch darkness of the room, but the white wand sparks of the freezing charm briefly illuminated the iridescence of their wings and gave the boys something to aim at.

'Immobulus!'

'Immobulus!'

Without words, the four of them moved around so they were standing back to back - one boy facing in each direction - and then, keeping in tight formation, they shuffled their way towards the far door, firing freezing charms into the room and hitting as many as doxies as they could find.

But this only served to make the swarm angrier, and they buzzed all the louder, and soon the boys found they were having to fire charms with one hand and use their other to swat away the circling creatures.

'Ugh - this is horrible!'

'Just make sure your wand doesn't backfire, Pete.'

'Get lost, Sirius!'

'Immobulus!'

'Immobulus!'

'Were nearly there!' James shouted, above the hum. 'Immobulus!' And, with one final charm, they reached the far door, tumbled through it and slammed it shut behind them, gasping for breath. They found themselves in a corridor adorned with gargoyles and grotesques; an arrow was painted in purple on the floor - as if telling them which way to go. With nothing else to do, the boys followed it.

'So what do you think did happen to Stebbins?' James asked

'He must have got stung by a doxie,' Remus shrugged. 'He'll be fine - he'll have a bad headache for a couple of hours, but no lasting damage.'

'Pity,' Sirius muttered.

…

Further up the castle, the girls were making their own way through Dumbledore's exam, their wands were still raised and they kept glancing nervously over their shoulders (well, they had already been sneaked up on once and were not hoping for a repeat of the experience).

'Wait - did you see that?' Lily had just caught the merest glimpse of a flicker of light from out of the corner of her eye. 'Yes - there it is again!'

'I see it!' Petra said. The four of them edged towards the light, but the closer they got, the further away it seemed to move.

'Do you think it wants us to follow it?' Mandy asked

'It must! Come on!' and, leading the way, Lily dashed after the receding light. It bobbed ahead of them, always out of reach - glowing and mysterious. They thundered up a staircase, pulled aside a tapestry, blundered into the corridor and then ran down the halls to the next staircase, only to find it had vanished.

'Where did it go?' Mary asked. She was panting, and clutching at her sides as if she had a stitch. All four girls scanned the now deserted corridor.

'There!' Petra said, pointing at a distant glimmer, hovering in the air. 'It looks like the light from a lantern or something.'

'Come on then!' and Lily charged off again, the others following close behind. They lost the light on the next staircase, but then found it again when they rounded a corner near the library. 'We're getting closer,' Lily panted. 'We're just - look!' she threw out an arm and stopped the others. 'It went through that door, we've got it!'

They raced down the hall and crashed through the doorway - only to find it was pitch black and there was no floor, just a yawning nothingness beneath their feet. Lily just had time to think Oh Lily, You absolute idiot as she tumbled down into the darkness, a wicked, impish laughter ringing in her ears.

…

'I think we're being followed,' Peter's voice was tremulous and he was glancing over his shoulder, as he scuttled along behind the others.

'Oh for God's sake, stop being soft, Pe-'

'sh – look, that suit of armour wasn't there a moment ago.'

They all whirled around and peered at the suit of armour Peter was pointing a trembling finger at. It stood there, totally silent and unassuming. 'You're being ridiculous,' Sirius told him.

'I'm not – it wasn't there and then it was.'

'I think the suits of armour can walk,' Remus said cautiously. 'It might just be that. I think we should go on.'

'Remus is right, come on, men,' and James led the way down the corridor, keeping his eyes peeled for the next purple arrow. But a moment later, Peter squealed again.

'No, look, there it is again!'

'It's a different suit of armour!'

'It's not, it's got the same red, plumey things on its helmet – I'm telling you it's following us.'

They stumbled to a stop, and peered around again and hissed at each other in furious whispers. 'Maybe it's enchanted to attack us.'

'Don't be soft, Pete!'

'Maybe it's haunted.'

'Who ever heard of a hunted suit of armour?'

'It still could be dangerous.'

'How could a suit of armour be danger-'

Remus's eyes widened as he saw the suit of armour suddenly change shape and turn into a hunched, slimy creature with an oversized head. He threw his arm out to stop the others. 'It's a chameleon ghoul!'

They turned to look – and swore loudly. 'Blimey, Pete was right!'

'Told you!'

The ghoul gave a roar – breathing halitosis and showing misshapen, broken green teeth which looked like mossy tombstones – and then it ran at them, gorilla arms raised. The boys screamed.

'Stupefy!' Red sparks shot out of the end of Sirius's wand and hit the ghoul directly in its chest. It froze, went cross eyed and then keeled over. James nudged it with his toe.

'It's out. Well done, Sirius – come on men…' and they carried on down the corridor until they saw a strange glowing light, shimmering in the distance. 'There!' James said. 'Do you see it? Let's follow.' He charged ahead, his face glowing with excitement, but Remus reached out and hauled him back by his robes. 'What?'

'It's a hinkypunk – it's trying to trick us. We need to ignore it.'

'So what do we do?'

Remus shrugged. 'Walk the other way?' So they turned their backs on the little light which had done for Lily, and headed down another corridor. Before long they came across another purple arrow and knew they were on the right track.

After climbing a staircase, creeping along a corridor and turning two corners, they came to a large swamp which had flooded the Charms corridor. At the other side they could see the remaining Ravenclaw boys, dripping wet and wrapped in towels, being given hot chocolate by Filch and looking utterly exhausted. 'Whatever's in that swamp has got rid of the other boys',' James said, dipping his toe in the muddy water experimentally. 'We should try and get across quickly.'

'Or carefully,' Remus suggested, though James did not look impressed by the idea of caution.

'It's a shame we don't know how to conjure a boat,' Sirius said, wrinkling his aristocratic nose as he too dipped a toe in the murk, and then hastily pulled it back out as he heard the squelch. 'Well, there's nothing for it, come on,' and, with a grimace, he splashed in.

The water was cold and seeped up to their knees, it was muddy underfoot and each step was a struggle against the oozing sludge, which threatened to pull them under with the sucking sound of a plunger in a plughole. And then, when they had battled their way across about a third of the swamp, Peter suddenly gave a shriek and disappeared under water with a great splash.

'Bollocks!'

'Pete!'

The three remaining boys waded back to him, but - before he could reach his struggling friend - Remus felt something brittle take tight hold of his ankle and give him a tug. He too went down and disappeared beneath the water, only to reemerge a moment later, gasping, and blinking mud from his eyes. 'Grindylows!' he managed to pant at Sirius and James, 'It's grindy-' but there was another tug on his ankle and he was pulled under once again.

It was murky and dim beneath the water, the silt and sediment got into his eyes and flowed down his nose and throat, and he choked and spluttered. He kicked his leg, but to no avail, the grindylow's grip was firm. He kicked again, and did a flailing breaststroke and broke through the surface - still spluttering. 'Re-relashio!' He coughed.

His spell didn't work, but James and Sirius heard - and took it up. 'Relashio!' Sirius cried, sparks flew from his wand, hit the water and struck the grindylow in the chest. Its fingers loosened, Remus kicked again - and it floated away looking a little dazed. Sirius stuck his hand out and helped Remus back to his feet. 'Th- thanks.'

'No problem.'

Meanwhile, James was firing spells at the grindylows that had swarmed Peter. Peter was battling valiantly (by flailing his limbs and occasionally connecting with the skulls of the water demons) but there must have been at least seven grindylows attacking him at once, and he was overwhelmed.

Remus and Sirius pointed their wands. 'Relashio! Relashio! Relashio!' firing off hex and after hex in rapid succession. Sirius suddenly swore loudly and tumbled towards the water, but Remus grabbed him and pulled him back up.

'The bugger's got me!'

'Relashio!'

Sirius kicked - the attacking grindylow floated away - and Sirius straightened back up again. They turned back to helping Peter and James. It took six solid minutes of wand work, but eventually they saw off the rest of the threat, hauled a gasping Peter back to his feet, and then waded their way to the far edge of the swamp.

They squelched their way down the next corridor, feeling the mud trickle beneath their toes; their robes were sodden and clung heavily to their legs but there was a another purple arrow charmed onto the floor and - though they left little swampy puddles on it as they passed - it told them they were still headed right.

This time, the arrows led them downwards and they traipsed down staircase after staircase until they found themselves in the dungeons, though they were far from the Potions classroom or the Slytherin common room. It was a part of the castle they had never been in before; the ground was gritty beneath their feet, there were few torches and the walls were damp and dripping. The air smelt fusty and moist.

They crept along, wands lit and following the purple arrows until they came to a dead end, barred by a heavy wooden door. They pushed it - but it was locked. 'Alohomora,' James whispered, and it creaked open - ominously.

They found themselves in a cell, which should have been pitch black, except - for a very brief moment - they saw a door at the other end propped open, and glimpsed the outline of Madam Pomfrey's headdress as she stretchered away another group of students. 'You will be fine, Miss Lewis,' they heard her say calmly. Then that door swung shut, as did the heavy oak one behind them, and they were left in darkness.

'That's another group down,' Sirius said.

'The Ravenclaw girls,' Remus nodded. 'Whatever's in here must have got them.'

'Well - we'll do better, no fear about that,' James was grinning in the wandlight, and then his eyes widened, as he heard the sound of a blade whistling through the air and, with the aid of his Quidditch honed reflexes, only just dropped to the ground before an axe took his head off.

'Blimey!'

'Stupefy,' Sirius yelled into the darkness - but he couldn't see, and his wand sparks glanced off the reflected surface of the blade, bounced back and knocked out Pete. 'Bollocks!' The axe swung again, and Sirius ducked.

Remus was now the only one left standing, he gripped his wand and backed away a few steps, keeping a keen eye on where the light from his wand was glinting on the edge of the axe blade, which was all he could see of his unknown foe, so he would know roughly where to aim. When he was ready, he pointed his wand and aimed a little lower than Sirius had. 'Petrificus Totalus!' There was a startled squawk, and the dull thud of a body keeling over and hitting the floor. The axe clanged against the ground as it fell.

Remus edged forward this time, and raised his wand high so he could examine his handiwork in the light. It was a red cap he had knocked out - a small, goblin like creature, who lived wherever blood had been spilled. He had read a book about them once. He pointed his wand, though the red cap was still stiff as a board. 'Illigio', ropes shot out of the end of his wand and tied the creature up. Better safe than sorry, he figured.

He then stumbled back to find his friends, helped them up - hoiked the still unconscious Peter under his arms, while Sirius took his feet, and carried him towards the far door. James unlocked it and they all fell through into the passage outside, which - despite it still being gloomy and underground - felt bright with sunlight after the dark of the cell.

Remus and Sirius lay Peter on the ground, and then Sirius proceeded to slap him until he woke up.

'Oi! Stop that!'

'It was either hit you or leave you behind.'

'Yeah yeah…' And, still grumbling, Peter got to his feet and stalked off, following the purple arrows which were once again leading them upwards.

They were somewhere near the Transfiguration department when they came across their next obstacle. A strange, golden mist shimmered in the corridor ahead of them. The purple arrow pointed right through it, and there seemed to be no way around it other than to go directly through the middle.

'Well, come on, men,' James said, squaring his shoulders, and together they stepped in. The world turned upside down, they were hanging from the ground, hair on end and James' glasses dangled on his nose, threatening to fall off and crash down to the ceiling. All the blood rushed to Remus's head, and he felt sure that if he tried to move the ground would fall away from him completely and he too would smash down on the ceiling beneath.

Beside him, Peter yelped, and wobbled. The blood had rushed to his head too and it was making him woozy, and the earth was spinning; the ceiling was beneath him, the floor was above and there was seemingly no way out, because surely to move would mean falling. He wobbled again, and then - without warning - his eyes rolled up and he fainted dead away … and fell down, tumbling towards the ceiling.

'PETE!' The boys yelled. But it was no good.

'Right, men - I think we have to move - we can't just hang about here all day,' James said. And with a look of grim determination, he ripped one foot from the floor above his head, planted it down again - and found the world had righted itself. Peter was lying on the floor beside him, unconscious.

'It's OK,' he called into the mist. 'If you move, everything goes back to normal.'

Still inside the enchantment, Sirius and Remus glanced at each other, nodded, and then took a step at the same time. They found themselves in the righted corridor, beside James, and gasping for breath.

Sirius tried hitting Peter again to wake him up, but had less luck this time. 'So what do we do with Pete?'

'I hate to leave a man behind, but I suppose we better leave him,' James said. 'Filch will find him - come on, we need to finish.' And, with one last backwards glance at Peter, they headed on further into the exam.

James was ebullient by now, and practically bounced down the hallways. 'I bet we're the last ones left, I bet we're going to get the best marks - we've seen everything off, everything Dumbledore can throw at us.'

'We haven't got to the end yet,' Remus cautioned.

But James snorted derisively. 'There can't be anything much worse to face - anyway, we took on a manticore last night. And won! I don't think there's going to be anything like that. This is gonna be a walk in the park.'

Eventually they reached another dead end, with only one door to go through - James tried it (no one was surprised when it was locked) but hastily swiped his hand away, 'Errr - I think Peeves has been here. There's gum in the keyhole.' With a dissatisfied frown, he flicked the gum residue from under his fingernails and then pointed his wand at the door.

'Careful,' Remus said.

'Stop being a prissy old maid, Moony. Alohomora!' The door swung open - and no hideous monster popped out. James turned back and grinned at Remus and Sirius. 'See - I told you, nothing to worry abou -'

'WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!' An unearthly caterwauling, keening noise rent the air. James' eyes widened - and then he just keeled over backwards, knocked out. Remus and Sirius clapped their hands to their ears trying to shield themselves from the awful sound.

'WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!' A green faced, skeletal woman was hanging upside down in the doorway, like an oversized bat - she must have been perched just above, and now her shrieking was unbearable, the type of wail that put the boys' nerves on edge and made their hair stand on end.

Remus wrapped his left arm over the top of his head, so he could keep both ears covered one handed, and aimed his wand at the wailing skeleton woman. ' Silencio!' Her mouth opened, a dark tunnel emitting that undulating cry of distress - but now, no sound was coming out and - relieved - the boys were able to straighten up, uncover their ears and start trying to drag the unconscious James through the door with them. But they had barely struggled a step when - noiseless but nettled - the woman dropped from her perch, landed in the doorway and blocked their passage.

She reached claw like hands out to them. Her mouth opened again - and the charm must have worn off because that terrible howling started up afresh, and the boys were forced to drop James and cover their ears once more.

Copying Remus's left arm manoeuvre, Sirius protected his ears with one arm and pointed his wand with the other - only he aimed at the door itself rather than the woman. 'Waddiwassi!'

The remains of Peeves' chewing gum zoomed out of the keyhole, pinged against the wall and rebounded off, and shot into the open mouth of the woman with the force of a bullet, lodging itself in her throat. She stopped screaming and started choking, stumbling backwards, clutching at her neck and rasping as she tried to hack up the gum.

The boys took the opportunity to charge at her, pushing her out of the way and slamming the door on her before she could recover. They found themselves in yet another corridor - empty apart from a large, grey boulder resting quietly, but inexplicably, in one corner.

'We left James,' Sirius said, looking back at the closed door.

'He'll understand.'

'That was a banshee wasn't it?'

'Yeah.'

They started to walk on, wands out - following the purple arrows. 'I feel terrible,' Sirius said after a while - and he did look downcast. 'We shouldn't have left James.'

'We left Peter. We couldn't have got past the banshee if we brought James with us.'

'What's the point in getting past the banshee?' His shoulders were slumped now, and he wore a general air of dejection.

Remus gave him an odd look. 'She's part of an exam. The point is to pass the exam.'

'I suppose.'

They continued on, but Sirius was dragging his feet now - and every so often he would heave a deep sigh.

'What's wrong?'

'Nothing.'

'Do you want to rest?' He looked around - there was a grey boulder they could sit on, just behind them (though he didn't remember passing it).

'What's the point?'

'If you're tired -'

'I'm not tired.'

'Is this about leaving James?'

'Maybe - yes - no. I'm just…' Sirius sighed again and shuffled along a few more paces. 'Don't you feel that?'

'What?'

' That - like …' he sighed again and then sank to the floor. 'Nothing.' He hugged his knees and stared into the middle distance - not moving.

'Sirius? Sirius - we need to keep going.'

'You go on Moony, I'll stay here. There's no point… there's no point…' and then, much to Remus's horror, Sirius actually started to cry.

'Sirius!'

But it was no good, and Sirius was lost to his bitter tears of despair. Remus wondered what to do. It was one thing to leave his friends behind when they were knocked unconscious, but to just walk away from Sirius now seemed very much not in the spirit of the exam, or what Dumbledore would expect from him. 'Come on…' he took a few tentative steps down the corridor, hoping Sirius would follow him.

But Sirius stayed where he was.

'I'm telling you - you'll feel better if we just get moving, come on…' he took a few more steps and turned back to see if there was any movement.

But Sirius was now collapsed on the grey boulder (since when had that been right next to him?) His face was hidden and his shoulders were heaving with desperate sobs.

'Sirius -' Remus's voice was sharp. 'Come on - I don't think it's safe. I need you to mo-'

The boulder suddenly began to rear up, and Sirius was thrown off - as if by an earthquake - and then a small, grey creature unfurled itself. It was about a foot high, had a furry body and a massive grey head… which it could use all too easily to camouflage itself as an unassuming rock...

It dove on Sirius, who was too busy weeping at the pointlessness of it all to fight.

'Relashio!' Remus cried, running back towards his friend - who was now lying on the floor, sniffling and sobbing whilst the creature (it was a pogrebin, Remus recognised it from his reading) sat on his chest and flexed its claws. The pogrebin was knocked back - and it tumbled off Sirius and got back to its feet, snarling.

'Come on, Sirius - it's not real, how you're feeling! It's what the pogrebin does - makes you despair and then tries to eat you. Come on!'

But Sirius wouldn't move - and the pogrebin ran at Remus, who kicked it as hard as he could. Once again, the little demon tumbled over. 'Ebublio!'

The creature squawked in rage as it found itself trapped inside a water bubble and then, ' Discedo!', with a flick of his wand he sent the bubble rolling away at high speed, the pogrebin sloshing and splashing inside.

With a pop, the bubble hit a wall and vanished - and the pogrebin lay on the floor, wet and dazed. 'Decipulatem!' Remus shouted, and iron bars sprung from the ground and formed a cage around the little demon. Much like Pinchy had done, it raged and rattled in its cage, but the bars held fast and Remus turned his back on it and returned to Sirius.

But Sirius had been overcome with despair, and had fallen into a dead faint, tears still tracking down his face.

Remus shoved his hands in his pockets, stared around the corridor and wondered what to do. He was the only one left standing now. He didn't really want to continue without the others, but he didn't suppose he was allowed to just give up. Dumbledore would no doubt say something about how a good wizard never just gives up, and how he must keep battling on even though his friends were gone. So - feeling everything was much less fun now he was alone - he sighed deeply and headed down the hall, following the next purple arrow.

Eventually, the arrows led him to the foot of a tower and - with nowhere else to go - he followed the spiralling staircase upward until he reached the very top. There was a narrow window, from which he could just glimpse the distant lake, and which allowed in a shaft of sunlight that illuminated the only other thing up here: a suit of armour.

The helmet was rattling, as if something was trapped inside and - with a sinking feeling of recognition - Remus pointed his wand at the visor. 'Aperto!' The visor clanked upwards, and, sure enough, a boggart shot out of it and began to float in the air, shining down as the full moon.

It caused a prickle of unease to creep through Remus's stomach. It wasn't real moonlight hitting him but he could still feel it stinging his skin and, all alone in this gloomy tower, it occurred to him - for the first time - that maybe a boggart moon would be enough to make him transform. Panic flooded through him then and Crack!

As he lost control, the moon vanished and was replaced by his true fear - a snarling, slobbering werewolf reared up in front of him, snapping and slavering. Remus shrank back, not afraid of it attacking him (the damage had already very much been done on that front) but horrified at coming face to face again with his true form, horrified at what people would think if they saw it. He couldn't bear to look, and he felt the panic overwhelm him.

Crack! The boggart became Sirius, and James and Peter. 'You're a monster,' boggart Sirius said.

'We can't be friends with you,' boggart James told him.

'You probably eat people,' boggart Pete finished up. 'You'll try to eat us!'

And then Crack! The wolf was back and boggart Sirius was on the floor, being savaged, and Remus actually cried out: 'No - I wouldn't!'

Crack! He saw his father's fears then, he saw himself in human form, Sirius dead at his feet and a Ministry official slapping handcuffs on him. 'You're a monster,' The Ministry official told him. 'You killed your best friends. You kill people - it's what you do.'

'No!'

Crack! He shrank back even further, afraid of what he would see next - only to step forward with longing when Hope Lupin appeared before him. 'Mum!'

'You killed me, baby,' Hope said to him softly, and he felt the tears well up in his eyes. 'You shouldn't cry,' boggart Hope said. 'You shouldn't cry about the truth. If you hadn't been a monster, I wouldn't have got sick. I'd still be alive, I'd still be happy - and healthy. It was the worry, you see … and the shame.'

'No - mum -'

'It killed me in the end. You killed me - and your dad blames you. Everyone does. You shouldn't really be around normal people, baby. You're too dangerous - too evil…'

Crack! 'I'm sure I could find a use for you, werewolf.' The voice which hissed this at him was unfamiliar, and cold as a blast of ice… But he recognised the face, though he had only ever seen it once in real life. Those melted, blurred and waxy features were seared into his memory. Lord Voldemort himself stood in front of Remus, tall and terrifying and eyeing him up - calculating and hungry. 'I bet I could find a lot of use for a monster like you… Normal people hate you, fear you. Don't they? You know they can never love you; your friends, your parents - they pity you, but they could never love a monster like you. You can only ever belong in the darkness, among other creatures of evil.'

'No!'

'Join me!'

'Never!' He had backed away so far from the boggart Dark Lord that he was pressed against the wall, the stones digging into his back. But Voldemort was not finished - and he leaned in to hiss more venom:

'What else is there for a monster like you? Who else will ever accept you for what you are?'

And then, from very far away - down on the ground - Remus heard a familiar bark of laughter drift up and through the window. 'Give over, you speccy git - I got past the banshee, of course I got better marks than you.' His friends, it seemed, were awake and fine, and making the most of their early exam finish to go out into the sunshine.

'Well Moony beat you, he's still going,' James said.

'Well Moony's the best at Defence.'

'We should go have one of our competitions,' Pete's voice cut through the others, 'while Remus isn't here.'

And the bark of laughter came again. 'Good idea - the only way one of us can ever win one of those is if we do it when "Remus the Penis" isn't with us.'

'You are obsessed with penises, Sirius.'

'Get lost.'

Their voices became fainter as they walked away from the castle (presumably to find a secluded spot to hold their competition) and yet, though the the sound of their laughter faded and their words became indistinct, they had still worked their magic on Remus - and, feeling his courage start to flicker and stir inside of him, he stepped away from the wall and pulled himself up to his full height. My friends accept me as I am, he thought, and pointed his wand at boggart Voldemort; 'Riddikulus!'

There was a Crack! And Voldemort became the wolf again, snarling and savage, but Remus didn't waver. They're becoming animagi just so they can be with me when I'm like this. He raised his wand again. 'Riddikulus!'

Crack! The wolf became the moon again, bobbing gently in the air - and Remus took another step towards it, his jaw set, his heart beating faster. He conjured up the funny image of the moon from the nursery rhyme in the old book his mother used to read to him ( She did love me, and I didn't kill her!)

'RIDDIKULUS!' He roared. Crack! The moon now had a funny, longed nose face and was wearing a nightcap - huffing and puffing over its scalded mouth. Remus grinned when he saw it, reminded suddenly of being very small and sitting on Hope's knee as they looked at her muggle rhymes, and remembering what it felt like to be so loved and secure. He let out a loud 'Ha!' of laughter and, for the first time ever, he saw a boggart explode. It burst into a thousand tiny whisps of smoke and was gone, as if it had never been there.

He breathed a sigh of relief, his hands were trembling slightly…

And then he heard a round of applause and whirled around to look, only to see Dumbledore, himself, stepping out of the shadows. 'Oh, well done, Mr. Lupin. A very good show indeed. Splendid, splendid.'

Remus flushed, and wondered how long Dumbledore had been standing there, and how much he had seen… how much of his (very private) fears the Headmaster had witnessed. 'I - I've worked on boggarts with my dad,' he said, glancing around awkwardly and hoping he would be allowed to go and find the others.

'Your father was always very talented when it came to dark creatures - a talent, it seems, he has passed on to you. I know Professor Tenebris was always very impressed with your work.' Dumbledore's smile faded. 'I'm afraid to say that St. Mungo's have written to inform me that she died in the early hours of this morning,' he told Remus. 'It is a sorry loss for our school, but they say she was in no pain. We can only hope that is true… She was very fond of you, Mr. Lupin.'

'Did - did she ever wake up?' Remus asked.

'No.'

'Was it…' Remus swallowed nervously, but decided to push on. 'Was it old age that killed her? Do you think?'

Dumbledore's eyes swept across him, shrewd and calculating. 'I do not know,' he said after a moment. His voice was heavy. 'I hope … I fear…' He trailed off and shook his head, as if not knowing how to finish his sentence. 'We may never know,' he said at last. 'But it seems Hogwarts will be needing a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher - and we will have to see what the future has in store for them. Well…' He smiled again. 'You have acquitted yourself admirably and accomplished all the tasks. Full marks. You have proved yourself a worthy wizard, who can think on his feet and face all that the darkness has to throw at him… And now you should run along and join your friends. Spend some time in the light.'

With a sense of relief, Remus nodded and started to scuttle away down the stairs.

'Oh - and Mr. Lupin?' Dumbledore called for him to stop. 'You really did do remarkably well. I hope you feel the experience has been useful.'

…

The end of exams meant that the end of term was well and truly on its way, and the final week was a hectic mess of packing and getting results back, combined with long summer's evenings that seemed to stretch on forever, and no homework, and classes that no one was taking seriously any more (except - naturally - Big Macca kept them nose to the grindstone right up until the very last day).

And then somehow - before they knew it - it was the very last evening, and they were scrabbling around trying to find the last of their things to put back in their trunks (Peter couldn't find his underwear, and James had packed Sirius's socks, and Sirius, himself, had mislaid his wand - only to find it lurking inside Remus's hat).

The setting sun cast long shadows across the lawn, the giant squid could be seen playing in the shallows of the lake, and the first of the owls were setting off from the owlery and skimming above the distant treetops of the forest, ready to hunt. 'We'll be late for the feast,' Remus said, checking his watch (half his books lay strewn on his bed and he wasn't sure how he was going to fit them in his case … he feared he was going to have to take everything out and start again). 'We'll have to finish this in the morning - come on.'

…

The end of term feast proved to be a riotous affair, with the house tables groaning under the weight of all the delicious food, and the Hufflepuff banners flying overhead, wafting gently in the draught. (Hufflepuff had won the house cup, mostly in thanks to their Quidditch win - but Gryffindor had come in a rather respectable second, this year, and for once the boys had not disgraced themselves so dreadfully they had put their house in negative numbers for points - meaning that, for the first time ever, the four of them were not pelted with bits of chalk and parchment by their fellow Gryffindors when the results were read out.)

Dumbledore presided over the whole thing, resplendent in robes of midnight blue, his golden glasses shone warmly in the candlelight; Big Macca was smiling and merry; Hagrid was on his fifth pint of mead and showing no sign of slowing down, and James decided to skip the vegetables entirely because he had high hopes for pudding and wanted to make sure he left room.

…

Many miles away, in London, Florean Fortescue pulled down the shutters on his ice cream parlour, stepped out into Diagon Alley and locked up for the evening. He was just giving a cheery wave to Madam Malkin, down the way, when he heard a series of loud, violent sounding pops. He gave a yelp of surprise, as a hooded figure in dark robes apparated right beside him and cast a curse. 'Confringo!'

The glass of the window shattered and exploded outwards - flying at Florean like a thousand tiny knives. 'Protego!' He cast his shield charm just in time to prevent the fragments from doing any damage…

But, further down the street, there were more violent pops, as more dark, hooded figures apparated in; more curses were cast, and more windows exploded outwards.

…

Peter finished off a bowl of mint choc chip ice cream and reached for a bowl of trifle.

'You'll give yourself nightmares, if you eat too much,' James told him (though he had little room to talk, he was, himself, on his fourth slice of treacle tart).

'That's for me to worry about,' Peter said, hugging the bowl of trifle as if he was afraid someone might steal it.

Across the table from them, Sirius was making Remus laugh by Engorgioing and then reducioing Ellis Stebbins's head, as he sat rather haplessly at the Ravenclaw table.

'Werewolf hating prick,' Sirius said.

'You'll get into trouble!'

'So I'll round the year off with one final detention - what's one more?' And he stood on the bench aimed at the Slytherin table, and engorged Regulus's head as well.

…

The street was now littered in broken glass, lying an inch deep and shining in the wandlight. The windows of the destroyed shop fronts were like blank, staring eyes - dead and dark, blind to violence being rained down. One of the hooded figures reached through a smashed frame and pulled out the wizard, who had been cowering in the store, by his robe front, throwing him down into the glass underfoot.

'Crucio!'

The wizard began to scream and thrash in pain, grinding into the sharp slithers of glass underneath him, getting cut until the blood puddled beneath him and stained the glass red. The torment of the Cruciatus Curse was so great, however, that he did not even seem to notice he was bleeding.

'Please! Stop! Mercy! Please!'

But all along Diagon Alley, the hooded figures were hunting out victims - passing over some wizards and hauling out others, throwing them to the ground and cursing them, or else kicking them and beating them until they bled.

'Please,' one witch cried, struggling to her knees and clutching at the robes of her tormentor as if in supplication. 'What did I ever do to you?'

But the dark figure just cackled - picked up a sliver of glass and slashed it across the witch's face. 'Let's see how filthy your blood really is,' a female voice hissed from behind the mask.

…

The feast was over, and everyone scraped back their benches, and two hundred pairs of feet stampeded their way from the Hall, feeling content and well fed and ready for a good night's sleep before a long train journey in the morning.

'That's third year done,' James said. yawning, as the four of them made their way towards Gryffindor tower.

'I can't believe how fast it's going,' Remus said.

'And each year is better than the last.' James yawned again. 'Next year is going to be…' (another yawn) ' epic .'

'As long as we don't get expelled,' Sirius pointed out.

'We've managed this far - even you, you nutter.' And he wrapped his arm around Sirius, who wrapped his arm around Remus, who wrapped his around Peter - and, all entangled together like some hideous four headed boy-monster, they traipsed their sleepy way back to the dorm for one last night together before the summer.

…

Flourish and Blotts was on fire. Every so often there would be a small explosion of flames; books would be hurled up into the sky and then the pages would drift back down to earth, like snow. Florean stood, frozen in horror, hiding in the shadows and praying that these masked monsters - whoever they were - would overlook him.

The flames burned a hellish red, spitting sparks up into the night sky, and reflecting in the fragments of glass strewn across the ground. There were the cries of curses from up and down the street, as well as the cries of pain and fear. The hooded figures moved like nightmarish shadows, doing nightmarish work, and the smell of blood hung metallic and tangy on the air. But the scent of terror was just as palpable. Wand sparks shimmered in the dark, always punctuated by yet another shriek of anguish and then followed by a malevolent laugh. The words:

Mudbloods Out

had been daubed across the front of The Slug and Jigger Apothecary in three foot high red letters, and the young lad who worked in the shop had been hung up beside it - like a gruesome exclamation mark.

And then, as Florean watched, one of the dark wizards, their face still obscured, strode to the middle of Diagon Alley, crunching across the broken glass, pointed their wand at the sky and shouted: 'Morsmordre!'

There was the sound of a muffled explosion, and green stars erupted from the end of their wand, shooting upwards and then coalescing to form a monstrous skull which hung in the air above them all, a snake protruding from its mouth.

Florean stared up at this eldritch and macabre mark, grimacing down at him from the sky, and shuddered. It felt like, tonight, the end had come to their little world … though he feared that, perhaps, this was really only the beginning.

…

Dark Deeds in Diagon Alley!

Was the headline that everyone woke up to, the following morning. Followed by:

A Night of Nightmares: Glass Shards, Broken Bodies and Fragmented Lives!

Reading the paper in her train compartment, Lily showed the photographs to her friends. 'Look,' she said, 'it's that same mark that they fired over Bobby's house, the night…' she trailed off.

'Does that mean it was done by the same people?' Mary asked.

Mandy nodded. 'It's … You know Who .' She lowered her voice to a whisper and gave her friends a dark and meaningful look.

'Or it's his followers at any rate,' Lily said. 'Reports say there were multiple dark wizards out last night. And look,' again she pointed to a relevant section of the paper:

Eye witnesses report that the mysterious masked figures were methodical in choosing their victims; passing over some and zeroing in on others. Rumours have spread that they targeted only those of muggle birth, and, indeed, St. Mungo's have confirmed that any victims of last night's violence being treated for anything more serious than shock are all muggleborn.

'Bobby knew what he was talking about when he kept warning about the darkness,' Lily said, seriously. 'And the way muggleborns are being treated. And they all knew what they were standing up for. It's getting worse, and The Kneazles are gone now. We need to carry on their work.'

'We will,' Petra said. 'In the magazine. We won't let them down.'

A tall, hook nosed figure with greasy hair stalked past the door of their compartment. Lily watched him go. 'And I'll have all summer to work on Sev,' she said. 'To make him see sense… And maybe, if I can get through to him, he can get through to the rest of the Slytherins.'

It wasn't clear if Lily didn't see, or simply chose to ignore, the sceptical looks her friends gave each other over her words.

…

But perhaps, if she could see into the Slytherin compartment, Lily would have been less hopeful. For, when Sev slammed the door shut and took his seat, the others were all eagerly reading the paper as well, and discussing how they wished they had seen it.

This is the second time that this mysterious mark of a skull has been seen in our skies, and both times it has been fired to hang as a warning of the atrocity committed beneath. And both times it has been used in an attack on muggleborn wizards. That this is the work of a terrorist group who hold those of muggle heritage firmly in their sights seems beyond a shadow of a doubt.

'Too right,' Mulciber said, tapping the paper and vehemently nodding his head. 'Get rid of the filth.'

'I wonder how they conjure the mark?' Severus looked at the photograph of the green skull and imagined himself as the one to fire it into the sky; imagined himself as the one to publicise that this was the Dark Lord's bidding, and he was doing it.

Sitting by the window, Regulus, who it seemed had learned nothing this year and listened to not one word Dumbledore had said to him, cut out the article and stuck it in his scrapbook with all the rest …

…

In the boys' own compartment, they read the newspaper with a growing sense of dismay.

What started as mysterious disappearances two years ago, have now become full scale attacks on sections of this community. A guerrilla war against our peaceful way of life is being waged, and steadily these attacks become more brazen. Unfortunately it seems like the message of this terrorist group is clear: give us what we want, or more violence will follow.

'And that's the crux of it,' Sirius said gloomily. 'Voldemort is trying to terrify everyone into submission.'

'And it's working,' James said 'I can't see how he won't end up getting everything he wants. People are frightened and frightened people do stupid things.'

'Maybe…' Remus frowned. 'Maybe it will work for a little while, but I don't think it can work forever.'

Peter looked confused, 'what do you mean?'

'I mean … You can only push people so far before they push back. You can only frighten them so much until they learn to face it and do something about it.' He thought about his Defence exam, the previous week, and what he had learned from facing the boggart. 'Fear is a means to an end,' he explained. 'But it is not an end in and of itself, and there are things out there which are much greater, much more powerful, than fear.'

'Like what?' The other three all chorused.

'Love, friendship, family - the things that really matter . Things that give you the courage to stand up and face the darkness. And that's what will make the difference in the end: that we've got something that Voldemort doesn't have.'

'What's that?'

He looked at his three friends, sitting in their compartment and looking solemn: Sirius, haughty and handsome and leaning elegantly against the window, slightly jittery at the thought of returning home; James kneeling up in his seat - all energy and overconfidence, and Peter - sitting hunched, munching on jelly worms and trying not to draw too much attention to himself. Three best friends, who knew his darkest and most terrible secret and had not abandoned him; who - better yet - were willing to break a hundred rules (and the law) just to help him out. He felt a sudden - and uncharacteristic - rush of fondness for them all.

'We've got something worth fighting for,' he told them. He leaned back in his seat and smiled. 'And that is why we'll win.'

A/N This marks the end of the boys' third year at Hogwarts. Fourth year will begin in the next chapter