The Wolf's Lion ~ Harry Potter (Editing)

Chapter Eleven | Full Moon

After dinner that night, Ariana had made the journey down to the dungeons for her final dose of Wolfsbane Potion.

When she reached Snape's office, she knocked on the heavy wooden door. The girl wasn't kept waiting long until the door was pulled open, revealing an unamused Snape.

"Come in," he said, his voice deep and monotonous as per usual.

Ariana obliged. "Thank you."

The room was dark, most of it in shadows. Shelves were lined with jars of colourful liquids, most of which had various plants and slimy parts of animals suspended inside them. A few cabinets stood in a corner, full of ingredients for any and all potions you could imagine.

Ariana closed the door behind her, waiting patiently. She didn't want to risk moving and irritating him more than he usually was; she couldn't be arsed with the onslaught on detentions it would earn her.

"Here you are." Snape extended his hand, a goblet of thick, blue liquid.

Ariana eyed it for a split second, dreading having to force the horrid potion down. She took the silver goblet in her hand and raised it to her lips, drinking the liquid as fast as she possibly could.

Once she lowered the goblet, Ariana grimaced, waiting for the bitter aftertaste to pass. "Thank you, Professor."

"Yes. Shut the door on your way out," he ordered, turning around to walk deeper into his office, cloak billowing behind him.

Ariana was more than accustomed to his attitude. She rolled her eyes and departed, clicking the door shut as she did.

Her next stop was Hagrid, since he was going to accompany her to the Shrieking Shack.

Ariana completed the long journey from the Dungeons to Hagrid's Hut. She was underneath the security of Harry's invisibility cloak, since he had insisted that she take it to avoid being seen.

Her friends had discreetly wished her good luck and goodnight. Ariana was thankful that each of them were so accepting of her, it made her heart throb.

The witch made it out of the school and down through the darkness to Hagrid's cabin. It was lit on the inside, casting a warm glow that pierced the shadows surrounding it.

She chapped on the door, hearing Fang bark on the inside when she did. As the doorknob turned, Ariana removed the cloak, revealing herself.

"Ariana, it's good to see yeh," Hagrid smiled. "I would invite yeh in for ah cup 'o' tea, but I figured we'd best get goin'."

"It's good to see you too, Hagrid. Yes, I suppose we should go," Ariana agreed, eager to get out of the Hogwarts grounds.

Hagrid grabbed a lantern and closed the door behind him, leaving Fang inside. He cried briefly, wishing he coukd accompany Hagrid, but it wasn't best to have a dog running about the Whomping Willow, no matter how well behaved he is.

Whilst Ariana was underneath the cloak, there was no conversation. Just in case anyone saw them, they would probably wonder why Hagrid was talking to himself and become suspicious.

With every step she took, her joints ached and her stomach turned. The thought of going through this again was was sickening; the physical pain was bad enough, but the emotional trauma was worse.

Of course, the Whomping Willow was less than pleased to see them. As its branches began to thrash, Ariana's arm shot out and immobilised it as she had done before.

As the tree swayed idly in the wind, the pair slid down into the tunnel. Ariana did doubt that Hagrid would fit inside it, but apparently it wasn't worth worrying. The half-giant fit into the tunnel, albeit snugly, with his head inches from the top.

When Ariana emerged from the long tunnel into the Shrieking Shack, she was hit was nostalgia and recognition. Last year she was here with her friends, Remus, Snape, Pettigrew and Sirius Black, thinking he was about to murder Harry. This is where the Boy Who Lived found out he still had family.

"Well, gid luck, Ariana. I could sit here if yeh like," Hagrid offered, looking up from the tunnel.

Ariana smiled. "Thank you, but that's alright. I'll see you in the morning."

"Alrigh', see yeh in the mornin'." With that, Hagrid closed the hatch than shuffled off back to his cabin.

Ariana looked about the derelict-looking house. Not that she knew what caused all of the damage to its interior, it came as a kind of comfort.

The witch retraced her steps up to the room in which they came face-to-face with Sirius. The drag lines were still in the dust on the floor, although they weren't as prominent.

The bed where Snape had crashed through was still in pieces, as was the large hole in the wall where the Sirius and Remus had cast Pettigrew out of his animagus form.

Since none of the windows or doors actually opened, Ariana would be stuck in there until morning, which she was thankful for.

She knew she only had mere minutes to go until to moon reached its peak, so the witch settled down on the broken bed where Ron had sat.

The searing pain overtook her body a few minutes later, the familiar sickening cracking and snapping ringing in her ears.

The witch felt her body morph until it was in the taller, slimmer one of a werewolf. Thankfully, due to the potion, she was able to curl up on the mattress and fall asleep.

When the morning came, Ariana was awoken by the pain of the transformation into her human form.

Thankfully, by the time six o'clock came, Ariana was prepared to return to Hogwarts. She was dressed in her uniform, complete with robes and her red and gold Gryffindor tie.

Despite her crisp uniform, her face told a different story. It was covered with a deep pallor with the dark circles she had come to know surrounding her eyes.

Ariana peeked out of broken shutters, watching the daylight pour through in an array of warm colours. She couldn't look out for long, since her head had began to ache.

Her body was in complete and utter pain. Her joints ached, her muscles ached as if she had run a marathon, her head pounded and nausea swirled in her stomach.

She heard the hatch open downstairs, but instead of one pair of heavy footprints, she heard them accompanied by three other, lighter ones.

The door opened to reveal Hagrid, Hermione, Harry and a yawning Ron. Ariana laughed a little when their faces dropped, realising how awful their friend looked.

"I look horrendous, I know," said Ariana, breathing a laugh.

Hermione opened and closed her mouth, trying to find the right words. "Not horrendous..."

"Yes, horrendous. Why are you all here? Not that I don't appreciate it," Ariana asked, truly liking how her friends had dragged themselves out of the castle at such an early hour.

"We wanted to see how you are," Harry replied earnestly.

"Thank you," Ariana smiled.

"How are yeh?" Hagrid asked, looking down at the girl.

"Well, thanks," she replied, but her comment was met with four expressions of pure disbelief. "Alright, I feel as if I've been repeatedly thrown through a wall. I'll cover this -" she pointed to her face "- up when we return to the school grounds."

With that, the five people set off to Hogwarts. Ariana tried to ignore her ailments, but found it impossible. She also knew that somewhere Remus was suffering the same fate, making her wish she was by his side. It broke her heart to know what she could not let that happen.