Adelaide

Ch 50- Brawl between beasts

That was one weird party that exited. Crookshanks was leading the way. Then there was Lupin, supporting an injured Ron and a tied up Pettigrew. Then came Sirius, who was levitating an unconscious Snape behind him, and he was making no effort in stopping Snape's head from banging off the ceiling. Then followed Adelaide who was cushioning Snape's head, so that he doesn't get injured much. Hermione and Harry brought up the rear.

"You know what this means...turning in Pettigrew" Sirius started

"You're free," Harry said.

"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said Sirius. "But . . . well . . . think about it. Once my name's cleared . . . if you wanted a . . . a different home . . ."

"What — live with you?" Harry said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursleys?"

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," said Sirius quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd —"

"Are you insane?" said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Sirius's. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

Sirius turned right around to look at him; Snape's head was scraping the ceiling but Sirius didn't seem to care. Adelaide was doing a good job cushioning Snape's head.

"You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry.

Sirius's gaunt face broke into the first true smile they had seen all night.

"Did you hear that, Moony?" Sirus said excitedly, looking like the young Sirius Black he must have been all those years ago.

"Yes, I did," Lupin said, and Adelaide knew he was smiling.

"And, um, you," Sirius said uncertainly looking at Adelaide, who was trying to steady Snape's head, which was lolling dangerously.

"Adelaide Gracia," she said.

"Yes, Adelaide. Thank you for the food. I was starving quite a bit. That was the first proper food I've had in twelve years" Sirius said

"Oh!" gasped Hermione.

"Well, I expected you'll be living off all weird things, soooo. And it was Christmas too," Adelaide shrugged.

"That was why you were sneaking off food that night!" Hermione cried.

"You sent Padfoot food?" Lupin asked, looking back.

"Yeah. She sent a package with this owl. It dropped a letter, was very suspicious but I finally opened it and it said, 'I believe you are innocent' and she also wished me Merry Christmas." Sirius said happily.

Lupin chuckled. "She even sent me a Get-well-soon card for Christmas, it said,'I hope you manage your furry little problem just as well as you always do and return to us in good health'"

"That's what she wrote?" Sirius laughed.

"I can see why Severus favours you, "Lupin said

"Snape favours someone?" Sirius exclaimed.

"Yeah, she is the only Gryffindor he gives points for, " Harry said.

"For the others, he takes points off just for breathing" Ron grunted.

It was a joyful walk until they reached outside. Adelaide inhaled deeply, knowing how everything was going to be.

A patch of clouds moved to reveal the bright glowing Full moon.

Before their eyes, Remus began transforming, after all, he had forgotten to take his potion that night. Pettigrew escaped, and Ron fell to the ground. Hermione, Adelaide, and Harry rushed to help him.

Lupin howled, as Sirius transformed into the big dog. Sirius pounced on the werewolf trying to control him, but Lupin was wild. He threw off Sirius, who fell a few feet away whimpering and advanced towards Adelaide and the others.

Without thinking, Adelaide turned into the glowing phoenix and flew upon Lupin with a loud growl, pushing him away from her friends. Hermione screamed. Harry was yelling something, Adelaide's mind didn't register. She was being overpowered by the mad werewolf. Soon Sirius came to her aid. Adelaide could comprehend Sirius's growls and barks, so she did the same.

"Remus! Remus! Get a grip! Remus!"

"Professor Lupin! Listen! Please!"

Lupin flung of the dog, and thephoenix scratched it'skin . The werewolf howled in pain. He shook off the phoenix and ran into the forest. Sirius and Adelaide followed him, and so did the other two, leaving an injured Ron and an unconscious Snape there.

Adelaide saw Sirius stagger towards the lake, Harry in hot pursuit, Hermione panting behind him. She, however, followed Lupin, to make sure their future selves were safe.

Lupin was a tough one. Both animals bit each other, scratching and pouncing and clawing at each other. Both were bloodied up and Adelaide felt her energy draining.

The werewolf was about to land the final blow. Adelaide closed her eyes, bracing herself for the impact. But it never came. The werewolf was thrown away from Adelaide as yet another tackled him. Their fight was fierce too. Adelaide opened her eyes to see her future self fighting Lupin. After a few seconds, Adelaide joined. There were a lot of howls and growls and caws. But even two of her weren't enough to tame the beast. Adelaide was thrown mercilessly and watched herself fall to the ground multiple times. The wolf had pinned her future self to the ground and she was a few feet away, too weak to get up. Both the Adelaide's seemed to give up as they closed their eyes when a familiar screech sounded. The sound was like music to their ears. Buckbeak scratched at the wolf and in a few minutes, the werewolf was running away whimpering.

Two phoenix lie on either side of the hippogriff as they panted. Adelaide let out a slow caw.

"You alright?"

"Yup," came another caw.

"Thanks,"

"Sure,"

"Will you be alright?"

"Yup. You should go to the others,"

"Fine,"

"Yeah,"

Adelaide flew up shakily, shook her head, flew off into the night, but not before she heard future self caww, "I am frickin' fabulous,"

Adelaide raced through the woods, towards the lake. She saw Harry, Hermione and Sirius passed out near the freezing lake. Hundreds of dementors surrounding them. She turned back into herself and stumbled towards them. She pulled out her wand shakily and pointed it to the sky.

"Expecto Patronum. Expecto--Expecto--Expect--" She had expected it. She was drained there was no way she could produce a Patronus. As she felt her soul escaping her slowly, she squinted at the other side of the lake. She could make out Harry's figure. He'd do fine. He'd do it. Yeah, he'd do it. Leaving everything in his hands, she collapsed onto the floor, passing out as the exhaustion washed over her.