The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part Two

XLVI: 26-27 February, 1994

Sirius Black held Remus Lupin close to his chest. It took all his strength to do it, he was so weakened by the years in Azkaban that even Remus's narrow frame was a lot for him to bear... and being so short, Remus's limbs so long and gangly, set Sirius off balance without being frail. But he wasn't about to let Remus Lupin transform on the grounds of Hogwarts without any protection, so he held Remus close and he staggered to the Whomping Willow and slid into the tunnel.

Remus was delirious, exhaustion clear on his face, he was some kind of mess, and as Sirius hurried to the tunnel, he was prattling on about finding something, but Sirius's mind was utterly caught up in the stress of getting them through to the tunnel.

To say it was a close call was an understatement. The transformation was starting even as Sirius ran for the mouth of the tunnel. Sirius could feel as Remus began to shudder and the hairs began to spring up from the follicles that lined his arms, long gray hairs sprouting up, thicker and thicker... and he slid into the tunnel itself, and the knot shut behind them as Sirius moved as quickly as he could, Remus's form becoming harder and harder to carry, until he couldn't anymore and somehow he was now practically dragging a shaggy, wolf with cracking legs, limbs turning backwards until the knees were in the back and the claws sprouted where there had been toes... Remus's nose burst into a snout and Sirius could see the gleam of yellowed teeth beneath the flap of his lip...

Sirius looked back.... the darkness was stretching off behind them, untellable how far they'd gotten, but Sirius knew they weren't fully through yet either...

"Please let this be far enough," he muttered.

There were protective spells too close to the Willow, after all.

But even as he set Remus down, Sirius could feel the bones breaking.

He could taste the blood in his mouth as the wolf teeth burst through human gums.

"Moony," he whispered, eyes filling with tears, and he took a couple steps back, against all instinct, as he always had to every time. God it hurt so much - it hurt so much...

It was going to be a particularly, very-very bad moon.

Sirius threw himself into his own transformation, then, preparing himself...

Would this be the month that Remus Lupin's wolf managed to kill the dog?

The moment the transformation was complete, the wolf lunged at the dog without so much as a breath of a warning, his teeth bared to kill and Sirius had to roll to the side even as his own limbs and snout were finishing changing. The wolf howled so loud it dislodged clumps of dirt from the walls and ceiling and Sirius was sure he could feel it in the very depths of his stomach.

There would be no alpha-beta tonight.

Not even the discussion of it.

The dogs would fight.

Viciously.

There would be blood.

A lot of it.

Teeth gnashed and Sirius ran, his padded feet carrying him as fast as he could as the wolf came for him, the dark of the tunnel the only weapon he had to use against the wolf's power. By doubling back a couple of times, he'd afforded himself a moment or two to catch his breath - but it was never enough, and by the time he'd drawn the wolf clear across the full length of the castle, the black dog was limping and bloodied.

But so was the wolf.

There would be plenty of new scars made tonight, he thought.

The dog and the wolf faced one another all night - one moment the dog would snap at the wolf's ears trying to keep him at bay without doing harm - and then the wolf would have had enough of that and the wolf's teeth sank into Sirius's throat and gave him a good shaking so that the dog let out a wild yelp of pain as he was thrown to the floor.