Astra

XXXVI - The Full Moon

Sirius turned right around to look at him. "You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry.

Astra felt a smile come to her face; Harry was finally going to have a new home.

They did not speak again until they had reached the end of the tunnel. Crookshanks darted up first; he had evidently pressed his paw to the knot on the trunk, because Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron clambered upward without any sound of savaging branches.

Astra saw Snape up through the hole, bumping his head hardly on the trunk, then stood back for Luna and Hermione to pass and gave a beaming smile to Sirius and Harry.

The grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Without a word, they set off. Pettigrew was still wheezing and occasionally whimpering. 

"One wrong move, Peter," said Lupin threateningly ahead. His wand was still pointed sideways at Pettigrew's chest.

Luna, Hermione, and Astra were talking quietly about the best way to get Sirius in the castle without him getting the dementors, but -

A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight.

Snape collided with Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron, who had stopped abruptly. Sirius froze. He ran forward to the girls and pulled them behind him.

Lupin's silhouette had gone rigid. Then his limbs began to shake.

"Oh, my --" Hermione gasped. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!"

"Run," Sirius whispered. "Run. Now."

Astra grabbed Hermione and Luna's arms and pulled them behind her, trying to follow her father's orders while Harry leapt forward, trying to get to Ron.

"Leave it to me -- RUN!" yelled Sirius.

There was a terrible snarling noise. Lupin's head was lengthening. So was his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws. Crookshanks's hair was on end again; he was backing away --

As the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws, Sirius transformed. The enormous, bearlike dog bounded forward. As the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, the dog seized it about the neck and pulled it backward, away from Ron and Pettigrew. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other.

Harry stood frozen. Luna stared with wide eyes. Hermione screamed. Astra jumped forward, yelling at Pettigrew, who had dived for Lupin's dropped wand.

Pettigrew had dived for Lupin's dropped wand. Ron, unsteady on his bandaged leg, fell. There was a bang, a burst of light -- and Ron lay motionless on the ground. Another bang -- Crookshanks flew into the air and back to the earth in a heap.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled and a split second later, Astra shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!" Harry's disarming spell worked; Lupin's wand flew high into the air and out of sight. But before Astra could body-bind Pettigrew, he had transformed

His bald tail whipped through the manacle on Ron's outstretched arm and scurried through the grass.

There was a howl and a rumbling growl; The werewolf took flight and was galloping through the forest. Astra was shouting incomprehensible words at the rat, trying to follow him, except for Hermione and Luna pulling her back.

However, her focus was taken immediately away from Pettigrew as she looked at her father. Sirius was bleeding; there were gashes across his muzzle and back, but he scrambled up again, and in an instant, the sound of his paws faded to silence as he pounded away across the grounds.