Denial is First Step to Acceptance

8. Night of the Full Moon

NEW CHAPPIE, and lemme explain why its up so soon. Because im trying to keep it up on the Whats Hot list (even if its like, REALLY REALLY at the bottom) and cause im almost getting 1000+ reads ;u;

AND OMFG I HAVE A DRAWING OF THE SCENE :DD and YES it was drawn and editted and coloured and stuff by MOI :L and i will dedi this to my cousin, cause she got me into this artish deviantART kinda stuff :)

k, so ill let you read this, aanndd. YEAH, READ, VOTE, COMMENT, LIKE, FAVOURITE AAAANNNNDDDDD FAN !!!

By the end of my fourth year (the rest of the marauders’ fifth year), everyone in the school knew the marauders now. And they tried hard to get in the good books, ‘cause if you weren’t, you’d be sure to get pranked.

Today, Wednesday, was a full moon. Since Remus had told us everything about his werewolf-ness, we planned out how we were going to get out. Which didn’t take long, because we had my invisibility cloak, an item of Godric Gryffindor himself, besides the sword.

Us marauders were happily anticipating the full moon. Well, Sirius, James and I were, Remus doesn’t believe it’s right to let us out with him, that one of us would be injured, but we told him for the tenth time today, “It’s worth it.”

Night had finally come, and James, Sirius and I could sit still. Remus was still muttering about it being dangerous and not worth doing. Remus finally stood up and said, “It’s time.” And grabbed the cloak, threw it over us and we trooped out of the common room, with the fat lady screeching, “Who’s there?”

We trooped off quietly out the entrance and walked in the direction of the Whomping Willow.

“Guys, are you sure you want to -” Remus started, but was immediately interrupted by Sirius, James and I hissing quietly “Yes!”

When we got to the Whomping Willow, close enough to see the entrance but just out of reach from the flailing limbs, James, Sirius and I transformed as Remus took off the cloak.

“Your move Swifty.” Remus whispered. I nodded, and dodged the branches with ease. I found a knot on the trunk and thumped it with my tail, and with a swish of orange, I disappeared through the hole. I heard the thuds of two large figures sliding down as I looked around the place. The placed was in ruins, chairs broken, bed sheets ripped to shreds, feathers strewn everywhere. I heard another thud at the entrance and Remus had already begun transforming. His back became hunched; tufts of dirty brown fur were easily visible on his face; and deep growls were heard from him.

I gave a look that said careful guys to James and Sirius and they nodded and stepped cautiously towards the now a hundred percent werewolf Remus. Werewolf Remus growled menacingly. Remus slowly stepped towards us, dust falling from the roof, and I sneezed. Shit.

Remus flashed his yellow eyes at me and stomped in my directions. If I didn’t do something, I'm about to be werewolf dinner, so I ducked as the werewolf lunged and sprinted forwards. I turned on the spot and sank my sharp teeth into Remus’s tail, and I felt something hard bang into my neck. He howled and turned so suddenly, that I was hurtled over to the wall, with a deafening crash. I winced as a giant cut on my stomach was made from the rocky wall.

Sirius growled and James stamped his hooves angrily, making more dust fall.

“Ah -” I was about to sneeze, but a large paw covered my nose. I nodded my thanks to Sirius and we closed in on the werewolf. The werewolf lunged at James. Sirius and I ran towards him, Sirius leaping and clinging to his back, me resorting to jerking his ankle backwards, making him fall on his face. The werewolf lay, motionless for a second, and then it pushed itself upright. Sirius fell off his back with a loud thud. It turned around and went for Sirius, who was lying there, attempting to get up. James stamped and rammed headlong into Remus. The werewolf keeled over backwards. I motioned for James and Sirius to follow me, and they obliged. We stepped out and we transformed into human.

“We’ll keep watch out here.” I said, wincing slightly.

“Swifty, your neck... and your stomach...” Sirius said quietly.

“No point in life without a good hard slog.” I said promptly, attempting to cover my injuries.

Several heavy footsteps told us that Remus had awoken and is now searching for us. We all transformed and stood ready as a shaggy figure appeared through the Whomping Willow. Remus lunged at me again (is it because I look small?) and I swiftly jumped out of reach. Remus continued to jump at me, but as quick as a fox (such a cliché line.), I dodged it. Soon the werewolf was panting hard (then again, Remus isn’t one who likes to run and jump), and his moves became slow. After the fifteenth time he missed, he flopped down and slept.

We transformed back to our human selves and watched Remus sleep. It wasn’t until midnight that we couldn’t keep watch, and flopped on the grass.

-w-

By morning, the marauders slept soundly on the soft grass in their human form. I woke up with a start, dreaming about some death eaters appearing in the Potter Mansion. I told my self that it was just a dream as I shook the others awake.

When we finally got up, we walked silently up to the Gryffindor tower. When we got to the fifth year boys dormitory, we changed silently. Then Remus asked what happened, so we recorded what happened with the air of one talking about a crazy rollercoaster ride.

“Let’s do it again!” I shouted raising my arms high, shirt following, a look of ecstasy on my face.

“Calm it Swift!” Remus said smiling, but his face fell as he saw the start of the scar on my stomach. “What happened?”

“Nothin’” I said, pulling my shirt down. I hope I sounded casual. But Remus sprang forward, a look of concern on his face.

“Nothing huh?” he said, pulling my shirt up to a decent point. High enough to see the whole scar, low enough to not show my grown-up parts.

“Yes. It’s just a souvenir I got in the bathroom, dangerous stuff in there you know.” I muttered, hoping to sound convincing.

Remus raised an eyebrow and said, “This one?”, and pointed at a giant bruise on my neck with his free hand.

“Whomping Willow hit me.”

“You were a fox.”

“I was careless.”

“Have you forgotten us already?” James said loudly.

Remus jumped, pulling up my shirt as well, revealing... bits. I pulled it down quickly, and attempted to scowl at Sirius because he was staring, mouth opening and closing like a fish.

“When you’ve finished staring...” I said, getting up and picking up my bag. “We have class today.” And I trotted out of the room.

-w-

At the end of the day, I was walking back to the common room with I heard Remus’s voice.

“SWIFTY! SWIFTTAIL!” Remus shouted from behind me running, something Remus doesn’t normally do.

“Yes Moony?” I said when he caught up to me.

“Just – been to – prefect – meeting.” Remus panted. “Masquer – rade – Ball. Next year.”

“Have you told Siri?” I said. He nodded, still panting. “Looks like I have to get close to Lily in that space of time...”

“Problem is... next year... you’re in fifth year... it’s only for 6th and 7th years... unless they are invited to the ...party...” Remus said, seeing my face drop as he continued to huff and puff.

“Right, well, I’m going to sort this out. Mark my words.” I said, hiding my disappointment.

Once Remus had caught his breath, he said, “I know I sound girly, but, should we get our costumes for the Ball?”

“Yeah, how about we go with Prongs and Padfoot on our next hogsmeade visit?” I said, trying to remember when that was.