One Last Try [HP Jamione fanfic]

12. Out of the Woods

A/N: It always feels like it's been way longer than a week when I come to post another chapter for this one haha! Hope you like this chapter :D Sorry it's a little shorter than normal.

1st October 1974

The first full moon after the Marauders had fully become Animagi was only a week after, so they didn't have to wait long before they were able to join Remus for the first time. Madam Pomfrey had escorted Remus out to the base of the Whomping Willow as usual before the full moon rose in the sky. The other three Marauders snuck out of the castle long after the sun had set and dinner was over, squeezed together under James' invisibility cloak which barely covered their legs unless they all bent over as they were now.

They got to the Whomping Willow and Peter quickly transformed. He darted under the branches and pressed his tiny paw to the knot at the base of the tree, which froze in place long enough for James and Sirius to run forward and follow a now human again Peter into the tunnel leading towards the shrieking shack.

They didn't transform at first, both James and Sirius' Animagus forms too large to fit down the tunnel they had to crouch through. When they reached the end of the tunnel and the dirt steps leading up to the firmly shut door they could hear the howling coming from within, and the occasional thump that must have been Remus throwing himself against the walls of the much-too-small shack.

They all shared an uneasy look but girded their Gryffindor courage. Peter and Sirius, both smaller than James' rather ridiculously large stag, transformed into their Animagus forms. James swallowed nervously, and with a tight nod at both of them, whispered Alohomora. He didn't question how dangerous it could be that the door holding back a blood-thirsty werewolf was only secured with a first-year spell. After all, it's not like Remus could use magic when he was Moony.

The door clicked open quietly and James yanked it open, letting Sirius and Peter slip through, before going through himself. He threw a Colloportus at the door behind him and shifted into his stag before Remus could smell a human and go berserk.

The stag carefully traversed its way up the stairs to the large bedroom where the bear-like dog and werewolf were currently crouched on either side of the bed, growling in a battle for dominance. Wormtail, the rat, had climbed the half-destroyed wardrobe in the room and was keeping carefully out of the way of the two canines. When Prongs stepped into the room, he effectively distracted Moony and Padfoot from their posturing and the night descended from there into what was basically a brawl, the four teenagers letting completely loose.

The morning of 2nd October dawned early, and much too bright. It found Remus laying exhausted and alone across the only bed in the house. The other Marauders had left before sunrise after the moon set, carefully sneaking back out of the shack and down the tunnel to the school. Madam Pomfrey arrived not long after the sun rose fully, and after she performed some cursory healing spells to close up the worsts of his cuts and siphoned the blood off of him, she helped him back up to the hospital wing where she then filled him up with as many potions as possible before he fell into a deep healing sleep.

Hermione poked her head 'round the door into the hospital wing and stepped quietly in when she couldn't see Madam Pomfrey anywhere. For the last three years Hermione had been secretly visiting Remus in the hospital wing when he was asleep after his transformations. She made sure to come early in the morning before the rest of Gryffindor was awake, after he would be guaranteed to be back from the shack.

Desperate to offer some form of comfort, but knowing he hated what he perceived as pity, she sat by his bed for as long as she could, cradling one of his hands in hers. She'd decided in first year not to tell Remus that she knew his secret. In a way there didn't seem to be any point, just like there hadn't been in her original third year. He wasn't hurting anyone, and she knew he'd clam up and try to pull away if she told him she knew.