~
James walked towards the Whomping Willow with Sirius by his side, under the Invisibility cloak. Filch had almost spotted them as they slipped out the door to get away, and his heart was still beating fast. He was carrying a fat, brown rat on his shoulder. The night was clear, but dark. Just like James liked it.
He set the rat down on the cold earth, and watched as he scrambled through the swinging branches and pressed a knot on the tree. The branches froze, and the three friends slipped down into the secret passageway.
The path was well worn but with spiders dangling off the roots that protruded inwards. Clumps of mud fell when their heads hit the low ceiling. Frequent small puddles of water splashed as they trudged through the darkness that had engulfed them.
They soon saw the welcome sight of a faint glow up ahead. As they got closer, they could make out the shape of a door, and a low growl coming from inside it. The rat sat down patiently and waited for his friends. It was time.
James turned to Sirius and smiled. “You ready?”
Sirius rolled his eyes. “You say the same thing every time, and then I give you the same answer. Why in Merlin’s beard wouldn’t I be?!”
The growling stopped. James shook his head. “You were too loud, Padfoot. He’s heard us.” A loud thud echoed down the passage as the door shook. “Let’s get in there before he breaks down the door.”
A strong blue light shone brightly in the room for one moment, then faded back to black. Instead of two boys, there now stood a tall stag and a shaggy black dog. The rat squeaked to get their attention, then nuzzled at the door. The stag bent down, and the rodent climbed onto his antlers. He was lifted up to the height of the doorknob. The rat, who was, of course, Peter, stuck his tail into the small keyhole and moved it around.
The continuing thuds against the door made this process longer than usual, though it had happened before. A small ‘click’ was heard. The rat sat on the handle until it turned to one side, then the dog, Sirius, slammed into it. The door slammed open, and the trio was met by a frantic werewolf.
One of its legs had been bloodied by its own teeth, and chunks of furniture lay strewn across the room.
James circled the wolf, occasionally prodding it towards the door with his antlers. Sirius blocked its possible escape routes. Eventually, the wolf allowed himself to be led out of the Whomping Willow, frozen by Peter, and away from the castle. ‘Remus sure is feisty tonight.’ James thought to himself.
Peter climbed onto his antlers again and the foursome went galloping off into the woods. Once Remus began to see that the other creatures weren’t about to harm him, he began to grow more relaxed and joined in on the fun. They ran through a stream, and ran up a steep hill.
The worst part for Sirius was ignoring the other dangerous creatures peeking at them from behind trees and under rocks. He always felt a little queasy dealing with large animals, even with Remus. Once he even saw a giant spider while running through a thicker part of the forest. No one believed him- after all, who ever heard of giant spiders in the Forbidden Forest- but Sirius was sure of what he saw. He refused to go deep into the woods again.
Peter’s nose stuck up into the air. Frantically, he began clawing at James’ head, until the stag looked up at the sky, too. By the position of the moon, James could tell that the sun was ready to come up. Remus had gone still. James panicked.
It was well known that werewolves were most violent when the moon set- the painful changes would slowly start to begin. Sirius was a step ahead of the others, and began to nudge Remus in the direction of the Whomping Willow. James helped, and prodded the anxious werewolf along. Luckily, they were close enough to make it back in a few minutes.
Peter jumped off in a hurry and ran to freeze the tree. Remus seemed reluctant to go inside, but was forcefully pushed down the hole. He turned and snarled at Sirius, but stopped when the tree started to move again. The passage seemed shorter than usual, and Remus began to calm down, as he couldn’t see the warning signs of a rising sun.
Figuring that Sirius could handle the rest on his own, James bounded back down, and outside. He decided to collect his cloak and their shoes, which they always took off before transforming. They had set them a little ways away from the tree, so they wouldn’t be trampled as the three larger animals ran out. He hit the knot with his nose, and took a quick look around. Not seeing anyone, he quickly transformed back into his human form.
“How did you- POTTER?” James’s bold turned to ice as Snape came out from behind the tree. How much did Snape see? The blue light- he must have seen that. But did he see the transformation itself?
James eyed Snape. “What are you doing here, Snivellus?”
Snape scowled. “Nothing that concerns you, Potter, that’s for sure.”
The two boys stared, each waiting for the other to leave. James stole a quick look at the sun- Remus’s changes should be starting any minute now. But the break in eye contact gave Snape just the chance he needed.
When James looked back, Snape was gone. He was standing near the entrance to the tunnel. “Snape! What do you think you’re doing?” James yelled frantically. “Get away from there!”
Snape sneered. “I don’t think I will. You see, I’ve been waiting for a long time to find Lupin’s secret.” With that, he slipped down into the passageway, just as the Willow unfroze. Unfortunately, James didn’t happen to see this, as he was sprinting towards the hole himself. He was almost there, when a swinging branch slashed him across the chest. He went flying backwards with a thud. He scrambled to his feet, dazed, and shook his head to clear it.
James could see the tree winding up to throw him another punch. He ran as fast as he could and made a diving leap into the passageway. He felt a branch ripping at his leg as he flew by, but ignored the pain and focused on the dim figure of Snape ahead of him. Snape was jogging, but he was so out of shape that James took three steps for each of his, even with a bad leg.
James looked ahead and began to see the faint light coming from the door to the Shrieking Shack. He picked up speed. Apparently, Sirius had had trouble with moving the werewolf along. Remus couldn’t move very fast when the sun began to come up. James was almost even with the Slytherin, but it was too late.
Remus had caught scent of the two humans, and his instincts overtook the pain. He slowly turned to growl at them. James saw Snape freeze. He waited for Sirius to head the werewolf off, but to his surprise, Sirius didn’t seem to be doing anything. In fact, he didn’t even seem to realize that James was there. With a flash of understanding, James remembered how Snape had taunted Sirius and Alex, and remembered the look on his friends face… he intended for Snape to come down here and be killed! At the very least, bitten! And James couldn’t change into his Animagus form, not with Snape standing in plain sight.
And then Remus took a step forward.
~
Author's Notes:
Well, I've been meaning to write this chapter for a while now. The next one SHOULD be up in a week, because this is part one, so part two should flow easily. Congrats to whoever guessed what Sirius was up to. The next chapter should mainly be from his veiw. I'd just like to take this time to thank all of you for being so faithful in your reading and reviews. You have no idea (or maybe you do) how much it means to me to open my e-mail and see all the messages and review alerts. I try to make it last as long as possible, and I always leave the computer with a big smile on my face. Expect more soon!