"Petrificus Totalus!"
Dumbledore commanded while he pointed his knobby wand at the growling werewolf form of Remus.
The Body-Bind curse totally petrified a target besides eye movement and breathing. The werewolf was instantly motionless and silently tipped over sideways in the dark tunnel. Then he landed with a loud thud on the compacted dirt of the tunnel. His sharp teeth were frozen in a growl yet an expression of surprise lingered in his eyes which fearfully darted around at each of them. Another type of growl erupted but this time from one of the humans.
"Gggrrrrr- Black! You, you fucking murderous bastard!! You nearly had me killed!" Severus screamed in rage. "You'll, you'll regret this!"
Sirius held out his glowing wand, had the other hand on his hip and looked casually from where he watched the werewolf fall to Severus. A wide mischievous grin spread across his face unfazed by his verbal threat. He snickered and rolled his eyes. Then mockingly gestured with tapping fingers and thumb that Snape was just 'all talk'.
Severus growled again and gave Sirius a piercing stare laden with fury. Then he flicked his wand and quickly changed it from the glow of the Lumos spell they were all using momentarily to light the dark tunnel.
Suddenly, Severus made distinct, focused movements as if his dark ebony wand were a sword next to his opponents skin. He stated quietly, "Sectumsempra."
Sirius suddenly screamed in pain. He dropped his wand immediately and bent over holding his chest with both hands. He hurriedly threw off his robes to examine his shirt underneath. With two trembling hands he felt over lines of cut fabric on his shirt that were rapidly seeping bright red blood. Then he weakly dropped to the ground and cried in agony in the fetal position.
James inhaled a loud gasp of shock at the sight. He had been hanging back from all of them in the tunnel feeling guilty he betrayed Sirius and had told Dumbledore. Peter had fallen asleep back in the dorm room. Now James felt more like a rat. He knew this prank had pushed things too far but now Snape had also pushed it too far in this act of revenge.
When he saw Sirius fall doubled over he shouted, "Nooooo!" and ran to him.
Dumbledore held up a flat palm and roared, "Severus, enough! Stop! Stop at once."
Severus lowered his wand hesitantly with his teeth angrily clenched. He breathed heavily and turned away with a snarl.
James grabbed Sirius from behind his shoulders and his head fell limply onto his lap. Sirius' eyes slightly crossed as he began to pass into a delirious state of shock. Dumbledore quickly squatted down and inspected the slashes across his chest with a curious frown. He spun around and knowingly said,
"Severus, whatever this is or was, you must perform the counter curse at once!"
Severus had his arms folded and turned back around to face them. James could of sworn he saw a glimpse of a smug smile twitch in the corner of his mouth when he glanced down at Sirius writhing helplessly in pain.
"And what if I don't know a counter curse?"
Dumbledore sighed in annoyance. Then he continued, "I must warn you, failure to comply with my request may bring about expulsion of one of Hogwarts finest Slytherins."
A flash of terror crossed Severus' face at the prospect of expulsion and returning to his dysfunctional origins. Then he looked down at Sirius and James with disgust. He answered bitterly, "Fine."
He took a large inhalation of breath and in a song-like fashion muttered, "Vulnera Sanetur," three times. Dumbledore and James watched in astonishment as Sirius' eyes became wide and he gasped in relief.
The rips in the fabric of his shirt magically mended and the blood faded away as if it had never existed. Sirius' face relaxed and returned to a flushed normal color. Then he felt around his shirt, lifted it and gaped in disbelief at the smooth uncut skin on his chest. James handed Sirius his crumpled Wizarding robe and his wand he had dropped. Sirius nodded silently at him in thanks.
Dumbledore sighed again, this time in great relief.
"Thank you, Severus. I can't deny I am rather impressed. I should very much like to discuss this more in length…but of course, later. First things first, and this is obviously neither the time nor the place. I almost feel like awarding your house points for your creativity. But as it stands, both of your houses will be loosing points after the events of tonight. You three must follow me to my office immediately."
Severus sighed angrily. Sirius and James got up from the damp ground. Instead of following the headmaster, they both took steps back towards Remus in his werewolf form who looked like a fallen statue.
Dumbledore observed them looking down at their friend and provided some reassurance,
"You need not worry about Mr. Lupin. He will be in Madam Pomfrey's capable hands soon enough. Daylight is almost upon us. Come along now boys. We have much to discuss."
James bent down and patted the furry shoulder of his petrified werewolf friend. Sirius just looked at him up and down in curiosity. Remus looked back at them both in bewilderment.
Both Sirius and James knew that Remus was never in his right mind when he was in his werewolf state. Nevertheless, James still felt compelled to speak words of reassurance to him before they left.
"Sorry about all this, mate. Hang in there. Madam Pomfrey will be here soon to get you out of this terrible frozen state."
In Dumbledore's tower office, the three weary students were sworn to secrecy regarding Remus' lycanthropy… despite Sirius and James already knowing about it. Additionally, Gryffindor and Slytherin houses both lost significant chunks of points which enraged many of those students especially not knowing why their respective houses took such mysterious, sudden heavy losses. Dumbledore had alerted Madam Pomfrey of their misconduct in the tunnel overnight and poor Remus caught up unknowingly in the middle of it. She was therefore prepared for providing assistance to a petrified and humiliated naked Remus on the ground.
When the dawn finally broke the next day, Remus transformed in his usual excruciatingly painful manner from the wolf form back to a human. He had grown used to the feel of hard, musty wood boards underneath him when he first awoke in the Shrieking Shack. This time though, he was immediately confused to wake up and feel himself lying on the damp, earth of the tunnel with no hint of day light anywhere.
He was even more confused to discover his arms and legs were unresponsive. They were strangely frozen; extended out in front of him completely stiff like a dead fly. His stomach clenched in knots when he wondered if he had put anyone in danger with the use of such a defensive spell. He thought about how he wanted to shiver from the cold but yet his whole body was motionless and totally still.
For a while he just lay there listening helplessly to the steady pounding sound of his own heart beat in his ears. But then he realized it was the sound of soft footsteps coming down the tunnel. He saw an illuminated wand moving in the distance. It came closer and closer. Then a familiar voice called out to him.
"Remus…. Remus? Are you there? Is that you?"
As Madam Pomfrey approached him, he was relieved to see she was carrying a rolled up blanket under one arm. Remus hated the feeling of hot humiliation with his body completely exposed to her. Even though Madam Pomfrey had helped him numerous times in an unclothed state when he had suffered after his transformations, he still desired his own dignity. When it came down to it, he was still just a teenage boy greatly embarrassed to find himself petrified and naked in the dirt.
Undo this curse, oh god, please undo this curse quickly, he thought desperately inside the walls of his own head.
"There you are, it is you, oh Merlin… what an absolutely dreadful way to wake up! Don't you worry, I'll undo this as quick as wink."
She covered him right away with the blanket while averting her eyes to respect his modesty. Her hand touched his cheek and forehead. She sighed and muttered, "You're skin is like ice, you poor thing." She whispered the counter curse which released Remus immediately from the body bind petrified state.
Remus winced as his stiff arms and legs finally collapsed downward. He regained control of his limbs but began shivering right away. He quickly tucked himself into a tight ball while wrapping the blanket snug around his chilled shoulders. He attempted to ask a question but his voice was so scratchy and hoarse that his words collapsed.
"Why….."
His hand instinctively reached up to the soreness inside his neck and he coughed several times.
Madam Pomfrey thrust a small glass bottle towards him and knowing the usual routine he took the potion without any hesitation. It immediately soothed his aching throat and a warming sensation lingered as it went downward to his stomach. Soon she handed him a flask of water to sip and that provided relief as well.
"I'll explain everything when we get back to the Hospital Wing. I'm not going to lie. It won't be easy for you to hear. Let's get you out of this filthy tunnel first. Oh look at those shakes, here my dear."
Madam Pomfrey slipped out her wand tucked away in her waistline and tapped Remus on the shoulder. He heard her whisper an incantation that he knew he would forget in his foggy headed state. Suddenly, a warming sensation occurred at the site of where her wand had tapped his shoulder and he felt his tense muscles relax. His shivers stopped with the soothing comfort of the heat.
"Thank you," he simply said. Then he cleared his throat and felt his heart rate start to increase from anxiety. "Please… just tell me if I….if I, bit anyone."
His eyes began to well up with tears at the unthinkable thought. He sheepishly wiped the tears away with the blanket and tried to take some deep breaths to stifle them. Madam Pomfrey squatted down carefully to his seated posture level and looked him square in the eye.
She lightly held both of his shoulders and said, "No, dear. You did not."
Remus then blew out a deep exhalation of air in relief.
When they got back to the Hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey whispered into her wand and then sent out a silvery rabbit Patronus charm leaping through the air. Remus yawned in one of the beds while watching it bound away out the entry and exit doors.
Madam Pomfrey approached Remus and passed him a steaming mug of hot chocolate.
"Have you conjured your own Patronus yet and discovered which animal form it is, dear?"
Remus frowned in disgust as if he had sipped a nauseating foul potion.
"Yes. Unfortunately it's the very last creature I'd ever want it to be…a wolf. I'm still working on how to conceal its shape while still keeping it fully functional. God I wish it were something else."
A short while later, Albus Dumbledore arrived in the Hospital Wing. He explained what happened to Remus. As the events of the previous night were told, an anger boiled up inside him like he had never felt before. He was not usually one to be easily angered but at that moment he was enraged. He headed back to the dorm room as soon as he was allowed.
He blew through the dorm room door to find Peter, James and Sirius passed out asleep in their beds. Remus tore back the covers over Sirius and aggressively grabbed him by the shoulders. He was surprised how he found the strength to lift Sirius just after a full moon night when he was usually so weak. But adrenaline was pumping hard through his system.
He slammed Sirius against the wall and shouted, "WHY?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"
Sirius was startled awake and shocked to see Remus so infuriated. Sirius replied,
"Whoah, whoah, whoah, settle down, Mooney. It's all right. Snivelis is fine and has just as much detention as James and I."
Sirius' words did nothing to calm Remus down but rather enrage him further. Remus drew his wand and pointed it closely at Sirius' throat.
"ALL RIGHT? ALL RIGHT? You impulsive, arrogant fool! Don't you realize what I could have done?"
Sirius reached up and gave Remus a strong, forceful push away from him. Remus growled with unintelligible speech as he fell backward and then began to say an incantation. Sirius quickly shouted the disarming spell with his own wand and blue light flashed in a fast streak between them.
"Expelliarmus!"
Remus' wand immediately left his hand, flew across the room and clattered on the floor. Remus turned and reached his hand towards it muttering angrily, "Accio wand." His wand whizzed right back to his hand.
Sirius held up his hands and tried to reassure him again, "Mooney, listen, he could of killed James with that broom stunt he pulled yesterday at the Quidditch match, if you could of heard his scream of surprise, you'd understand it was soooo worth it, ha ha!
Without any hesitation, Remus waved his wand at Sirius and roared, "Petrificus Totalus!"
Sirius froze and fell sideways with a loud thud onto the dorm floor. By this time, both James and Peter had awoken to watch the altercation.
Remus stepped closer to him and said, "How does it feel, Padfoot? Huh? Now image me waking up in the dark dirty tunnel like that only to find out I've been taken advantage by one of by your best mates. You pushed it too far this time, Sirius! Don't you realize I could of been found out, expelled - loosing my chance to be here for good, or even killed someone and even worse yet could of, could of…"
His voice began to quiver with emotion. He couldn't even bring himself to think it. He refused to cry in front of them in that moment. No. He would not cry like a pathetic child to be pitied. He despised being pitied. He scrunched his face and clenched his teeth. James got up slowly from his bed after digging around his bedside for his glasses.
"Mooney… Mooney…" James said softly walking towards him in a slow, cautious manner.
"No! No, James. I don't want to hear it. I appreciate what you did. I will be forever grateful for what you did, in what sounds like the nick of time. Just leave me alone…"
Remus stepped over Sirius' petrified body on the floor resisting the urge to kick him and walked swiftly to his own bed. Peter just stared wide eyed at the events unfolding with confused, uneven eyebrows.
Remus yanked the curtains out around his dorm bed with fury and said again, "Just leave me alone. I don't want to see or talk to any of you…or anyone for that matter. I'm not going to classes either. Just leave me be."
James was surprised. He was surprised to see Remus at a level of anger he had never seen before. He was surprised Remus decided to not attend classes as he was normally so studious; silently suffering through them after a full moon. James knew he shouldn't be surprised at Remus' angry response considering what happened but he was still surprised. He sighed and said to the closed curtains,
"Understood, Remus. Understood."