Ethereal ✭Fred Weasley✭

14.

"Me?!"

"Not you!" Sirius stated in annoyance. "Your rat!"

Soon enough, Remus and Sirius were able to catch the rat before it scurried out of the room in fear. They simultaneously shot a spell out of their wands that made the animal suddenly enlarge and take the shape of balding man, who had the apparent appearance of rat even as a Human. The man got up off the floor and faced the men in front of him, their wands still aiming at him with intentions to kill.

"Remus! Sirius! My old friends!" the man tried to push past them towards the door but failed as they pushed him back.

"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort didn't you?!" Remus yelled as the man attempted to flee around a broken down piano.

"I didn't mean to!" the man wailed before suddenly changing demeanours to one of amazement and admiration. "The Dark Lord, the Dark Lord's abilities are torturous! What would you have done Sirius?!"

"I would have died!" Sirius yelled, following Peter around the piano as he continued to run cowardly away from the end of their wands. "I would have rather died than betray my friends!"

Peter suddenly grabbed hold of Harry who was watching the whole ordeal in shock at Peter's appearance and began whispering into his ear about showing mercy. Remus and Sirius pulled the horrible man away from Harry, as Sirius screamed at him for daring to talk to Harry after what Peter had done. The quivering man soon turned to Sophia, making one last attempt to avoid the men who loomed over him.

"You won't let your father kill me will you Sophia?" Peter made the girl cringe in disgust at his pathetic attempts to weed his way out of his deserved fate. "You're ever so nice! Don't let him-"

"Don't even look at her you scum!" Remus suddenly screamed, loosing his usual calm manner for a moment. Sophia had never seen him so angry yet understood why he was so protective of her. This man was a murderer. Peter was part of the Death Eaters who made her father's life so difficult, and even took away her mother before Sophia even knew her. This man deserved to be put away in Azkaban, and initiate Sirius Black as innocent.

"No don't!" Harry suddenly called out as Remus and Sirius were about to finish the whimpering man off. "The Dementors can have him. I'm not allowing you guys to become murderers because of him..."

The group eventually began to make their way out of the room and back towards the entrance at the base of Whomping Willow. Sirius and Harry took it upon themselves to help Ron as his leg was quite injured, which Sirius had apologised for and said he was aiming for the rat. Remus levitated Professor Snape behind the two as the man was still unconscious, and they couldn't just leave him in the Shrieking Shack, regardless of how much they wanted to. As for Peter, Sophia and Hermione kept their wands high as he was forced to walk forward with the group. They had both demonstrated a perfect stunning charm in order to prove they meant business, to which Peter had whimpered at once again and obeyed their commands.

"Is this why you have that map of stars in your trunk Sophia?" Hermione turned to the girl next to her with her wand still pointed at Peter. "To see when Professor Lupin would be transforming?"

Sophia nodded her head, amazed that someone had seen her with the rolled-up parchment. She had always been so careful to only look at it when no one was in the girl's dormitory, but nothing seemed to get past Hermione at this point. Once the group exited the base of the Whomping Willow, Sophia was surprised to see that it was already dark outside. How long had they been in the Shrieking Shack? Remus let Professor Snape fall to the ground (and they all turned a blind eye when his head smacked harshly against the grass) before turning to Peter who sat quivering in front of Sophia and Hermione's wand. Sirius and Harry began to talk privately while Hermione began tending to Ron's leg, leaving Sophia to turn to her father who was trying to get Peter to move from his hunched over state near the Whomping Willow.

Something then caught Sophia's eye behind her father's physique, and it made her breath catch in her throat. Now she remembered what she was going to ask her father before she spotted the Whomping Willow outside his office. She hadn't thought to even check her Sky map before visiting her father today, and now she deeply regretted it. Hermione seemed to notice the girl's silence and turned to see where Sophia was staring with huge terrified eyes. The full moon was now high in the sky, initiating that time of the month for Remus Lupin.

"Harry!" Hermione called over to the boy who whipped around quickly with Sirius at the urgency of Hermione's voice.

Remus had now spotted the large white orb in the sky, and his body began to shake and quiver. Sophia watched in horror as his usually kind eyes began to blacken and her father's wand dropped to the floor. Sirius sprinted over and attempted to grab hold of Remus as his bones began to crack and reshape, screams filled the cold dark night that could probably be heard at Hogwarts. Sophia cupped her hands over her mouth, as tears began to prickle in her eyes.

"H-He didn't take his potion... I s-should have known!" Sophia stuttered out in pure fear. Harry grabbed hold of the girl's arm and pulled her back from the scene, as Remus's clothes were beginning to split and Sirius was having a hard time trying to keep him at bay.

It was as if Sophia's Boggart was forming in front of her, yet it wouldn't go away with a simple Riddikulus spell. She could barely catch her breath as her father in front of her suddenly ripped away from Sirius's grip and the now innocent fugitive disappeared over the hill they stood on. The wolf that stood on its hind legs stood there for a moment, whimpering and panting as the four students stared in pure shock and fear. Sophia swallowed some of her tears, and daringly stepped forward away from the group. Maybe, just maybe, her father would recognise her and attempt to flee to avoid injuring her or any of her friends.

"Sophia don't!" Hermione whispered as she attempted to grab hold of her arm. Sophia stopped in her place but continued to stare at what was once her father, before opening her mouth shakily.

"D-Dad?"

The wolf's eyes turned to look up for the first time to see it's daughter standing there, and she thought for one split second that he recognised her. But that quickly diminished as the wolf suddenly howled into the air, before beginning to crawl on all fours towards the four students. Sophia stumbled back as the wolf growled and sneered at her, now knowing that he truly didn't recognise her. Her father was now completely gone and wouldn't be returning until the next morning. And by then, they could all be mauled to death.

The wolf reared it's arm back and clawed at them once, catching the arm of Sophia's jumper who was the closest to the animal's approaching form. She barely noticed the blood that began to trickle down her arm from a gash that had formed in her flesh, as her father crawled closer and closer towards the terrified group. Another figure suddenly appeared in front of them and put himself between the wolf and the students, the group recognising that it was their Potions master. Professor Snape had awakened from his state of unconsciousness and took it upon himself as a teacher to attempt to defend the children in his presence. But he was also deathly afraid, as he hadn't come face to face with a Werewolf since his encounter with Lupin back in his youth at the Shrieking Shack.

Just as the wolf went to lunge at them, a shaggy black dog shot out from no where and tackled the animal. Sophia watched in horror and Sirius and her father began to fight, bite and claw at each other. Sirius was obviously trying to protect his friend from doing something he'll deeply regret, while Remus's wolf form was solely out for the blood that coursed through the veins of Ron, Harry, Hermione, Snape and even Sophia.

The wolf's daughter couldn't help the sobs that broke from her mouth, as more tears began to fall down her face. This was her worst fear, seeing her father attempt to attack her with the intention to kill. Ever since she had learnt about his condition, she was always afraid that he would come back for her when he would transform. And now that he was here in his full wolf form, Sophia was shaking all over at the sight of her once beloved father.

Remus's wolf suddenly made a harsh swipe at Sirius, causing the dog to skid across the grass with a large scratch across it's middle. The wolf then turned to the humans again and went to make a fatal lunge, when a howl suddenly cut through the air. It sounded close and it resembled a wolf's call, making Remus's form immediately begin to follow the call of its kind. Once he disappeared, Harry began to run after Sirius who had limped down the hill in his very injured state. Professor Snape attempted to call him back, but gave up once the boy had disappeared over the hill and was out of sight.