That night Eleanor, James, Sirius, and Peter met up in the boys' dormitory. Eleanor had come up with an excuse that Remus wasn't doing well at all and she wanted to go and visit him before they had to go to bed. But really, all she had done was walk down the stairs leading up to the girls' dorms and walked up another flight to go to the boys.
It was around nine-thirty when they were sitting on the beds and talking about their plan. Eleanor had dark circles under her eyes; it had been a long and eventful day for her already.
"Right, Remus said Pomfrey takes him up there at around nine o'clock, so he should already be there right now," James started to explain. "There isn't really a time when he transforms, he just does at some point. He clearly asked us not to be there during his transformation because it's very unpleasant..."
They all listened eagerly, even though they had discussed it many times before. There was just one thing that wasn't quite clear to Eleanor yet.
"How do we get out of the castle?" she asked. They hadn't been telling her for long enough now and it was starting to get on her nerves.
A grin appeared on James' face, and Sirius and Peter looked amused as well. James bent over the side of his bed and pulled his trunk out from underneath. Eleanor frowned as he opened it and showed her a midnight-blue blanket.
James got up from his bed and held it up proudly. "This here is probably my most prized possession, and you have to promise me you won't tell anyone about it," he told her.
Eleanor was having a hard time taking him seriously, but to get it all over with she just nodded. James then smirked a little and pulled the blanket over his head.
He was gone.
"YOU HAVE AN INVISIBILITY CLOAK?!" she yelled, her eyes wide with excitement. Frustrated 'shhhhs' were coming from Peter and Sirius.
James' head popped out, his black hair was messier than before. It now looked like he was a floating head and Eleanor started to laugh.
"It was my dad's," he said proudly. He took off the Cloak and put it onto his bed.
"But you see, this will get us out unnoticed. And of course, we'll use the passageway behind Gregory the Smarmy to get outside, so we won't have to use the main exit," James explained.
"Brilliant," Eleanor said with a grin.
"I was thinking about that actually," Sirius suddenly said. "Peter, can't you just change into a rat before we even go outside? That way there will be more space underneath the Cloak. No one will notice you anyway, this place is full of rats," he chuckled. Eleanor's nose scrunched up at the thought.
Peter shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose I could do that. Why not," he said.
"Good thinking there Pad- Sirius," said James. His ears turned pink. Eleanor frowned, what was going on with these guys?
James quickly got up from his bed like nothing had happened, "Okay, let's go, I'll walk upfront. Ella, get Peter's wand when he's done will you?"
Peter put his wand against his head and Eleanor watched as he started to shrink and turn into a rat. She found it hilarious. She grabbed his wand from the floor and put it in her pocket.
"Get behind me," Sirius said to her. Eleanor raised her eyebrows at him but he just rolled his eyes.
Merlin, she couldn't stand that guy, but she got behind him anyway because that's what James had asked them to do. James then pulled the Cloak over the three of them; it was just big enough.
Eleanor looked around her: everything had a blue-silvery tone to it. It was magical.
Then they were off, Peter upfront so he could warn them with a squeak when someone was coming. Eleanor found it very uncomfortable walking underneath the Cloak like that. She constantly bumped into Sirius because he wasn't keeping the right pace.
When they finally reached the statue, James checked to see if anyone would see them and then gave the statue's shoulder a tap. It opened up and the four of them went inside. James pulled off the cloak immediately.
"We'll put it back on again when we get outside," he said, running a hand through his hair to try and fix it. Sirius was doing the same thing. Luckily, Eleanor had put her hair up into a bun before they left.
"Sure, but it would be nice if someone didn't step on my heels the whole bloody time," Sirius said, glaring at Eleanor.
Eleanor's mouth hung open. "It's not my fault you can't walk properly!" she uttered.
He crossed her arms over his chest. "Oh please, if you-"
"Shut up! Both of you!" James said angrily. "This is not the time for your bloody hormones to act up, we've got more important things to do." He sighed and mumbled a quick 'Lumos' before making his way down the dark tunnel. Peter followed him immediately, not wanting to be left in the dark.
"Lumos," Eleanor said softly. Sirius had his hands in his pocket and was looking down at his feet.
"M'sorry-"
"Don't," she cut him off with a frown. "James is right." She turned on her heels and hurried along after the others.
It didn't take long before James, Eleanor and Sirius had to cover themselves with the Cloak again to walk the last couple of hundred meters to the Whomping Willow.
They could've just turned right then and there outside, but to prevent people from randomly seeing a stag, a dog and a wolf enter a tree, they thought it would be better to just be invisible.
When they reached the Whomping Willow in all its aggressive glory, Peter the rat leaped forward and touched the knot on the tree which made it stop moving. Peter immediately went inside the hole at the foot of the tree, probably because he was scared it would start moving again. Eleanor smiled to herself, so far everything was going according to plan. James took off the Cloak.
"Let's get in first and then transform, I don't know if the smell of people does anything to him," James said, mostly looking at Eleanor for help.
"I-I don't know, father was always with him but I have no idea what he was like in our basement," she said. James nodded.
They crawled into the tunnel and decided they would turn right then and there. James put the Invisibility Cloak in the corner with his wand, as did Sirius. Eleanor still had to use her wand to transfigure; she hadn't practiced enough. Almost immediately James and Sirius turned into their Animagus forms. James' antlers scraped along the walls as he continued through the tunnel. Sirius sat down and looked up at Eleanor, probably waiting for her to turn as well.
She put her wand against her head and thought deeply. Eleanor then smiled as she felt herself shape into her wolf-from. Her senses were heightened immediately, a foul smell was coming from the way they were headed. Her nose twitched involuntarily.
"You smell him too?" Sirius asked.
Eleanor nodded. The two then also continued down the long, narrow passageway. It took them a long time, but eventually, the tunnel started to go up. Judging by the hoove marks, James and Peter were already there. Eleanor and Sirius climbed up until they felt a raw wooden floor underneath their paws.
Realizing they were now inside the Shrieking Shack, Eleanor looked around her to see what it was like on the inside. Everything was made of wood, the wallpaper was hanging down from the walls. The furniture that was still in there was either completely broken, scratched up, or been eaten at by Godric-knows-what.
Sirius' head nodded up to a flight of stairs. "There," he said.
He was right, the smell had now grown stronger, and it definitely came from the first floor. Eleanor ran up, followed by Sirius. The door to a room in front of them was standing ajar. Suddenly, a loud growl filled the building, making the hair on Eleanor's back stand up straight. Sirius nudged her in her shoulder with his nose.
"It's okay, it's just Remus. It's just your brother Ella," Sirius said softly. Eleanor sighed deeply and walked into the room all kinds of sounds were coming from: howls, whimpers, growls. Things she had never heard coming from her brother before.
Her heart was beating fast as she turned the corner. The first thing she saw was James laying on the ground with Peter seated on his back. Both of them hadn't noticed the two dog-like creatures come in but were looking at a dark form huddled up in a corner. The creature was whimpering uncontrollably.
"Remus?" Eleanor whispered while slowly walking towards him.
Two large yellow eyes shot up. Eleanor froze. Not because she was scared, not because she wanted to turn around. But because she knew he needed time to take this all in. His large, bony body shifted a bit to take a closer look at his new company.
Eleanor sat down and her bright blue eyes looked back at him. Remus huffed out through his nose and pushed away a chair that stood next to him, almost hitting Sirius. Eleanor lowered her head and got closer to him.
"Watch out Ella, he doesn't know who you are," James said, getting up as well. Peter jumped off his back and stood straight up.
"I know what I'm doing," she simply answered.
Remus' eyes were now focused on her again. She lay down next to him and her wolfish instincts took over as she started licking one of the scratches he had made on his shoulder. Eleanor didn't even know why she was doing it, but she just felt like she had to. The thing was that Remus didn't even move a muscle as she did so. Instead, he laid down and put his large head down on the dirty floor.
They stayed like that for probably an hour, just calm, like nothing out of the ordinary was going. That was until Remus got up out of the blue and started growling at Eleanor. She remained calm and got up. Remus was on all fours and showed her his teeth, saliva dripping from his mouth. Eleanor backed up slowly and stood next to James, who had been alarmed as well.
Peter was hiding behind Sirius. He also started growling as Remus started to come closer to them. His black hair was standing up straight all over his body as he stood there, ready to jump in any moment.
Remus howled and stood up straight on his hind legs, towering over all of them. Eleanor made herself as small as possible as Remus lashed out at her with one big clawed hand, just missing her. Eleanor quickly backed away against the opposite wall.
The next moment both James and Sirius were trying to hold him back, James pushing him back into the corner with his antlers and Sirius barking and biting at him. Werewolf Remus whimpered and cried as he crawled down again.
Sirius breathed heavily and walked in circles for a while until Remus had calmed down.
"You good Ella?" James whispered. She had laid down on an old tattered sofa.
"I'm fine, he didn't hit me," she responded. Stag James noded his head and laid back down as well, but he made sure not to let Remus leave his sight. As did Sirius.
The four friends stayed quiet like that for hours on end. Eleanor dozed off at some points, only to be woken up again by either James or Sirius who gave her a gentle nudge.
Remus didn't stir much anymore. He only scratched himself harshly, or bit into some furniture, but nothing more than that.
Then, at about four in the morning, Eleanor was alerted by strained sounds coming from her brother. As she looked over to check on him, the color drained from her face. Remus was turning back into his human form, and it didn't look pretty.
Peter jumped onto Sirius head, who had fallen asleep. He swatted the rat with his paw and lifted his head.
Knowing he wasn't going to be wearing any clothes when he had eventually transformed, Eleanor jumped of the sofa and grabbed a blanket with her mouth from a pile in the corner.
She dragged it over to where Remus was seated in a foetal position. She then went over to sit with James and Sirius, who were sort of watching.
After a couple of long minutes, Remus' groans became worse. Eleanor's ears twitched and she turned around. The others did the same.
Groans turned into cries, cries turned into screams. Every time becoming more human-like. And just when Eleanor felt like she couldn't take it anymore, Remus didn't make a sound at all.
Sirius wanted to turn around to obviously check up on his friend, but Eleanor stopped him. She had her reasons.
"He wouldn't want you to see him like that," she whispered to the boys. They gave each other a look but then all nodded.
Eleanor turned around. She hated what she saw, but she was happy to see that Remus had turned back to normal again. He was still laying in a foetal position. His arms were wrapped around his knees and his face was buried in his arms. Remus' entire body was shaking.
Eleanor closed her eyes and felt her body transfigure into her human form as she envisioned herself. As she walked over to him to throw the blanket over his naked body, the emotions finally started to come, and she let them. Sobbing, she sat down next to him and held his trembling body.
Remus' lifted his head slowly to see who was sitting by him. He had dark circles under his eyes and his face was bruised. Blood was trailing down from his split lip.
"Hi sis," his voice croaked. Eleanor's head shot up, her face was wet with tears.
"Hi Remy," she said softly, wiping away her tears.
Remus gave her a short smile as she stroked his hair. He wrapped the blanket around him and shifted to sit up straight against the wall. He groaned as several bones cracked in his back.
Eleanor sat down next to him and put her head on his shoulder. She couldn't stop the tears from falling down.
Peter hopped over and climbed up onto Remus' outstretched legs. Remus smiled at him.
"Hi Wormtail," he said and then coughed, causing himself more pain.
James' hooves clicked on the floor as he walked over as well and laid down next to them. He looked up at Remus with his big black eyes.
"Prongs," Remus whispered. He put his right hand on the stag's back and stroked it.
Sirius was the last to join them, laying his head on Remus' leg. Remus scratched the dog behind his ear with his other hand.
"And you, Padfoot," he said softly with a smile.
They remained like that for a long time, and Eleanor wished they could stay like that forever. But after a while the four of them realized they had to get back before sunrise, because then Pomfrey would come to collect Remus.
So, with Remus being fast asleep, they quietly got up. Eleanor tucked her brother in with another blanket. She wanted to make sure he wouldn't get cold. How did he do this when he was on his own?
James and Sirius turned back into themselves as well. They looked worn out, and Eleanor noticed James was having a hard time keeping it together as well. Sirius was very pale and looked as if he was just lost for words. But they all were. So, she went over and brought them into a hug.
After that they left in complete silence. When they reached the end of the tunnel, Peter crawled out and touched the knot on the Whomping Willow again so the others could come up safely.
They left the same way as they had come, and without any trouble. When Peter had turned back into himself as well in the common room, they were all too tired to even say another word. They bade each other goodnight and wemt their separate ways up the staircases.
Eleanor tiptoed once she was inside her dormitory again. She changed into her pajamas, and as she finally pulled the covers up over her tired body, the first rays of sunlight creeped through the curtains.