Effervescence | h.p.

i | xxviii. you're all right

Prongs was running Moony back-and-forth, playing, in the clearing when a ghostly figure appeared. It ran out from the direction Padfoot and Lyra had gone off in — this wasn't a good sign to James.

He had been assuming Padfoot and Lyra would be returning to the clearing before long, not a transparent version of Padfoot. It was a version that would be bearing a frightening message;

"Tell James to go straight from where I went until he finds me. He needs to put Moony away, or put him to sleep or something — just tell him to hurry!" the voice of a frantic Sirius Black said. It had erupted from the dog, which caused Moony to look at it with a tilted head.

Moony felt a pang of recognition when the dog spoke, almost like he knew that voice well. But the figure he had heard it from didn't match the look of the voice's speaker that he remembered. He remembered a man with curly black hair and grey eyes who could shift into a shaggy black dog, not this dog.

This new dog had a blue glow surrounding it and it lit the surrounding woods slightly. Moony simply stopped all his actions and looked on in confusion, as if trying to put the pieces of a childrens puzzle together; it should be easy, but not when you're mind is somewhere else completely.

As soon as James heard the voice of Sirius come from the Patronus dog, he turned his head to look at Moony. He would have to figure out a way to keep Moony from following him while also keeping Moony from others; this would be difficult, indeed.

To say James expected for the blue dog to run back to where it had come from would be a given, but he was surprised to see the dog continuing its run in the direction of Lupin Cottage. He assumed it was heading to his wife, meaning the situation must've been severe.

James decided he would try to indicate to Moony that he had to stay where he was. He tapped his front-right foot against the solid ground to gain the werewolf's attention — it was successful. He nodded his head forward slightly and then he lay down, a motion that Moony mirrored to the stag.

Hoping Moony would stay down, Prongs stood and took a backward step in the direction he would be going off in. But like he had expected, Moony followed the action; James needed another plan.

He thought for a moment and had an idea. It wouldn't be his best idea and it could turn out quite bad, but he had to do something quick according to the dog Patronus.

Shaking his head as he looked to the ground, he thought through how badly this situation could turn out, but he had to keep going with it. He turned around and started off in the way so many others had taken tonight. He walked slowly and was unfazed when Moony followed him, acting like a lost puppy.

James turned to look at Moony, who just stared back, as if awaiting a command; Moony really was just a big lost puppy. The stag gave a short nod and maintained eye contact with the wolf, almost giving the wolf a sign to say 'get ready to follow me.'

Moony gave a nod in return, but James couldn't tell if he was still mirroring his actions or if Moony understood the message behind it, but he had to hope it was the latter. Prongs turned back, facing their direction of motion, and began running. Moony followed close behind.

When Prongs saw a tree with blood on it, he ran faster, somehow knowing this was the problem Sirius was currently facing alone, and no one should have to deal with this alone.

Prongs ran and ran, meaning Moony ran and ran, too. They ran together until Prongs heard Sirius' voice. Immediately, his eyes widened in fear and he let out a loud, resounding bellow to warn Sirius of him approaching. He did this because Moony was still a werewolf and wouldn't be able to resist his natural urges; he would still want Sirius — a human — gone.