Wish Upon A Star

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 Ashlyn 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. Ashlyn 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 Ashlyn knew he was smiling.

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

"Ashlyn Clarke," she said.

"Yes, Ashlyn. 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," Ashlyn 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. Ashlyn inhaled deeply, hoping everything would be fine. 

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, Ashlyn, 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 Ashlyn and the others. 

Without thinking, Ashlyn turned into the black jaguar and pounced on Lupin with a loud growl, pushing him away from her friends. Hermione screamed. Harry was yelling something, Ashlyn's mind didn't register. She was being overpowered by the mad werewolf. Soon Sirius came to her aid.  Ashlyn 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 jaguar, and the big dog sunk his teeth into his skin. The werewolf howled in pain. He shook off the dog and ran into the forest. Sirius and Ashlyn followed him, and so did the other two, leaving an injured Ron and an unconscious Snape there.

Ashlyn 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 sunk their teeth into each other's skin, scratching and pouncing and clawing at each other. Both were bloodied up and Ashlyn felt her energy draining.

The werewolf was about to land the final blow. Ashlyn closed her eyes, bracing herself for the impact. But it never came. The werewolf was thrown away from Ashlyn as yet another black jaguar tackled him. Their fight was fierce too. Ashlyn opened her eyes to see her future self fighting Lupin. After a few seconds, Ashlyn joined. There were a lot of howls and growls. But even two of her weren't enough to tame the beast. Ashlyn 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 Ashlyn'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 jaguars lie on either side of the hippogriff as the panted. Ashlyn let out a slow growl.

"You alright?"

"Yup," came another growl.

"Thanks,"

"Sure,"

"Will you be alright?"

"Yup. You should go to the others,"

"Fine,"

"Yeah,"

Ashlyn got up shakily, shook her head, bared her teeth, straightened her back, swished her tail and ran off into the night, but not before she heard future self growl, "I am frickin' fabulous,"

Ashlyn 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.