After laying in bed, unable to get any sleep, I decided I needed something to help. I quietly got up from my bed and changed into some warmer clothes before beginning my journey out of the dungeons.
The halls were silent as I quietly made my way through them to the hospital wing. I wanted to get this over with, preferably without a detention.
As I got to the main floor of the school, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. A loud, agonizing howl ripped through the silent night, echoing throughout the halls. I looked out of one of the windows to see the moon high, and full in the night sky.
A werewolf.
Could it be Papa?
I could see the forest from here, and I guessed that was where the sound originated from. I backed away from the window as a growl silenced the serenity of the night. The rest of the trip to the hospital wing was anticlimactic, but I had never been happier to see those doors.
This school could be really eerie when it wanted to.
As I reached for the handle on the door, I froze. There were voices speaking quietly from inside the room. A hushed bickering was taking place.
"Well, well. We shall see, Snape, we shall see. The boy has undoubtedly been foolish." I had never heard that voice before. Who in the world would Snape be talking to in the hospital wing at this hour?
"What amazes me the most, however, " The voice continued. "is the behavior of the dementors. Do you really have no idea what made them retreat?"
"No, Minister," Snape said, "By the time I had come around, they were heading back to their positions at the entrances."
The Minister? Shouldn't he have left after they dealt with poor Buckbeak?
"Extraordinary," Fudge said. "And yet Black, his son, and Harry-"
"Were all unconscious by the time I found them." Snape replied, "I bound and gagged Black, naturally, and conjured stretchers to bring the students back to the castle."
Stretchers? Sirius Black? What happened, and how were Zenith and Harry involved?
There seemed to be a commotion inside the wing a moment later.
I heard my brother's voice, "I need to see the headmaster! Minister, Professor, please-"
"See, Minister?" I could practically hear the sneer in Snape's voice, "They've been confunded."
"I am not confunded!" Zenith yelled, "You have the wrong man, Sirius Black is innocent!"
"Now, why-" my brother said, cutting the Minister off.
"Peter Pettigrew faked his death! He's been in hiding. Black is innocent. He-"
"Zenith, you must calm down," Madam Pomfrey said. "Minister, Professor! I must insist you leave. I will not have you distressing my patient!"
What in the world is going on? What had Zenith gotten into this time?
"I am not distressed! You must listen-"
"It is quite late to be wandering the halls, isn't it, Miss Black?"
I jumped and quickly turned around. Professor Dumbledore was standing a few feet away from me, his eyes twinkling.
"Professor, I can explain! I was just-"
"Now now, my dear," he said. How could someone's eyes twinkle so much? "You were just complaining of a headache, and I was escorting you to Madam Pomfrey, yes?"
He winked at me as I nodded.
"Now, why don't we go and get that headache dealt with."
He pushed the door open to show Madam Pomfrey standing beside my brother, who was actively glaring at the other two men in the room.
"Professor Dumbledore!" my brother yelled.
"For heaven's sake!" Pomfrey exclaimed with her hands on her hips. "Is this a hospital wing or a circus? Headmaster, I must insist you-"
"I apologize, Poppy, but I need a word with Mr. Black," he motioned to me, "And Miss Black here could do with a dreamless sleep."
Madam Pomfrey took a deep breath, slowly letting it out before turning to Professor Snape and Minister Fudge again with a very forced smile plastered on her rosy cheeks.
"You may stay for a few minutes, Headmaster, but I do insist upon you gentlemen leaving. These children just went through something traumatic, and I will not have you disturbing them."
She turned to me with a softer smile, "Why don't you go sit beside your brother, Miss Black? I will be right back with your potions."
I nodded gratefully as she disappeared. Snape gave us all one last glare before stalking out with a swish of his cloak. The Minister was right on his tail.
I turned to look at my brother fully and gasped, "Zenith? Are you alright?"
I rushed over to his bed. His left arm was bandaged again, as was his forehead. His face was covered in bruises, and there was still a little dirt and dried blood on his torn clothing. It looked like he got in a fight with the Whomping Willow. And lost.
"Oh you will not believe what happened tonight, Cressida," my brother exclaimed. "It was- Wait no. I'm mad at you."
He crossed his arms and began to ignore me.
"Why?"
He opened his mouth to speak, but Dumbledore beat him to it.
"I will allow you two to catch up in a few minutes, but first," he reached into the pocket of his brightly colored robes, "lemon drop?"
Both of us shook our heads no.
Professor Dumbledore shrugged his shoulders and popped one into his own mouth before sighing.
"I have just been talking to Sirius Black-"
"Where is he?" my brother demanded.
"You found him?" I asked.
"Did he tell you what happened, Professor?" my brother asked, sitting up. "We saw Pettigrew! He was a rat, and he cut his own finger off and faked his death, and-"
"Woah, hold on a minute! You captured Sirius Black? And isn't Pettigrew dead?" I questioned.
My brother rolled his eyes, "I just said he faked it! He-"
Dumbledore held his hand up and we both stopped.
"It is your turn to listen, and I beg you not to interrupt, " he said quietly. "There is not a shred of proof to support your story of Black's innocence. Except your word, the word of four thirteen year old students, and that will do nothing to convince anyone. A street full of people were witnesses to Black murdering Peter Pettigrew. I myself gave evidence to the ministry of Sirius being the Potters' Secret-Keeper."
"But he wasn't! He switched with that rat at the last minute. Papa can tell you-"
"Professor Lupin is currently deep in the forest, and by the time he is human again, it will be too late. Might I add that with the distrust of werewolves, his support would count very little."
My eyes widened and I looked at Zenith. He was glaring at me with his arms crossed.
"Yeah," he drawled, "I know."
"Zenith, I'm so sorry. I was going to tell you, but Papa said to wait and-"
He began ignoring me again, and turned back to face Dumbledore.
"Listen to me, both of you," Dumbeldore continued. "It is too late, do you understand? You must see that Professor Snape's version of events is far more convincing than yours."
"But wait," I said looking between them, "Sirius is innocent? Is that what you are saying?"
My brother nodded and I sat back in shock. Zenith would not lie about something like this, especially not concerning Sirius Black.
"Sirius has not acted like an innocent man. The attack and consequent armed break-in of Gryffindor tower. Without Pettigrew, alive or dead, we have no chance of overturning Sirius' sentence."
Zenith perked up, "But you believe me?"
"Yes, I do. But I have no power to make others see the truth, or overrule the Minister of Magic."
"Papa believed him, and I saw Pettigrew with my own eyes. We need to do something." My brother said, sitting up higher.
"What we need," Dumbledore said, his eyes drawing my attention to the chain that was safely secured around my neck. "Is more time."
I reached up to pull out the necklace, and my brother looked confused.
"You want me to-"
The Headmaster nodded, and I fully pulled out the object around my neck, being careful not to turn it.
"Now, you both have to pay attention," Dumbledore said, drawing back our attention. "Sirius is locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor. It is the thirteenth window to the right of the west tower. If all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight."
"Buckbeak?" I asked.
The old wizard smiled, "You must remember, you cannot be seen. Miss Black, you know the law and what is at stake in all of this."
"Yes sir, I know. We cannot be seen at any cost."
Zenith was looking between the two of us, looking very confused.
"I'm lost."
Dumbledore gave us a smile as Madam Pomfrey made her way back. I quickly stuffed the turner back inside my shirt as she got closer.
"Here you are, dear. Just take this bed, and I will be in that room over there if you need me."
I smiled in thanks as she handed me the potions and went back to her room after checking over her patients one last time. Dumbledore gave me another nod before leaving the hospital wing, whistling an upbeat tune.
I took a deep breath and turned to Zenith.
"Cressida?" a groggy voice asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Ron?" I asked, only now realizing that the other three people laying in the hospital wing were none other than Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter.
"Are you alright?"
His leg was in a large cast, and his foot was elevated at the end of his bed. His face was pale, and hair stuck to some dirt on his face. One of his arms was also bandaged.
"I've been better," he joked. "Did Zenith tell you everything that happened?"
It seemed that the other two were still asleep, quietly breathing in their beds.
I shook my head, "Not yet," looking at the clock, I questioned Zenith, "About what time was Buckbeak's execution?"
"Uh," he said, "Around six or seven, I think. Why?"
"Alright," I said, pulling the time turner out again. "Stand up, Zenith."
He slowly began moving.
"Hurry up! This is a very time-sensitive operation, Zenith."
He finally got up and walked up to me. Thankfully, his clothes weren't in terrible condition. We could make do with them.
He looked at the hourglass hanging from my hand, "What-"
"No time!" I put part of the magically lengthening chain around his neck, he was looking between me and Ron.
"What is going on?" Ron asked, trying to sit up higher, but instead falling back down when he jarred his healing leg.
"Just look at me, ok?" I grabbed onto Zenith's shoulders. "And once this is done, you are telling every single thing that happened tonight. Got it?"
"Alright," Zenith looked at the hourglass again, his eyes widening, "Wait, is that a-"
"Hold on!" I twisted the hourglass three times as the clock struck midnight.
Suddenly a strong wind ripped through the hospital wing, and for a moment everything was dark. We were swept away into a whirlwind as the Hospital Wing reversed. There were people quickly moving in and out of the hospital wing, but they could not see us. The darkness of the night quickly shifted into the warm glow of the dying sun as the turner finally stopped.
No matter how many times I had used it this year, I was always amazed.
"What the bloody hell just happened?"
"Zenith, are you ok?"
"Where is Ron? And Harry and Hermione?"
I looked at the clock above the door, "If you were correct, wherever you were during Buckbeak's execution."
"What??" he ran a hand through his hair, "But how is that possible?"
"This," I held up the time turner again, "Is a time turner. Remember when I would randomly show up behind you in a class? It was because of this."
He moved to sit on one of the beds, but I grabbed his arm.
"I know this is a lot, but we haven't got the time, Zenith. For Merlin's sake, I don't even know half of what happened tonight, but we have the chance to fix it. We can't let Dumbledore down. Now, let's go!"
I grabbed his arm and we ran to the door, listening to the hallway. When it was quiet, we quietly made our way to the doors of the castle, leading out onto the grounds.
While we were still in a quiet hallway, I turned to Zenith, "Alright, so. Give me the rundown. What exactly happened?"
"Where to start?" my brother huffed, running a hand through his crazy curls. "Well, first off, I saw Peter Pettigrew's name on the map-"
"Map?"
"Oh," he said sheepishly, "I didn't tell you about the map?"
"No," I glared.
"It shows everyone anywhere in the castle. Papa and his friends made it while they were in school. They called it the Marauder's Map."
"Alright," I processed, "Continue, but you will be showing me this map when all this is over, got it?"
He nodded, "So I followed the map to where Pettigrew was, but ended up running into the other three. We ended up having to run from Hagrid's during the execution. Which led us to find Scabbers, who is actually Peter-"
"Scabbers has been Peter Pettigrew this whole time?"
Zenith rolled his eyes and sighed, "Are you going to let me tell you or not?"
"Right. Sorry."
"Anyway, Crookshanks was there and then Sirius Black was there - which, by the way, he's the big black dog we have been seeing - and they were both going after the rat, and Ron, consequently. Black ended up dragging him by his arm into the Willow and snapping his leg."
I gasped. Poor Ron. First a broken leg, then being kidnapped by a mass murderer, and then finding out his rat was actually a man? Poor, poor Ron.
"We got through the Whomping Willow and followed them through a tunnel to the Shrieking Shack, where Black was waiting. Harry and I got into a fight with him and then Papa showed up. Did you know Papa was in love with Sirius?"
I shook my head, dumbfounded. This had all happened tonight?
"Well," he continued, "they hugged and made up. At first, we all thought Papa was a traitor too, but then they explained everything, and then the rat turned into a man. Papa and Sirius were going to kill him, but Harry stopped him, the git."
He finally stopped to take a breath, "I mean, if we just let Sirius and Papa have him, there would still be a body, so I don't see the problem there."
I just shook my head as he continued.
"Then Papa began to explain everything, and- Wait a minute."
He turned and pushed my shoulder.
"How dare you keep that from me! How dare he keep that from me. He's supposed to be our father and he lied to us our whole lives."
"It's complicated, Zenith."
"It doesn't have to be! We are old enough to understand, he just had to tell us."
"I know, Zen, I know. I told him the exact same thing. It wasn't fair, but you have to see it from his perspective. We're all he has, and he didn't want to lose us."
He grumbled something under his breath.
"What?" I asked.
"He doesn't only have us now. He has Sirius now."
"What do you mean?"
He groaned, "Do you ever listen? I'll spell it out: Papa. Is. In. Love. With. Sirius. Black. He doesn't need us anymore."
"Zenith, of course he needs us. We're his children! He loves us."
"We're not his real children-"
"But doesn't that just show how much he loves us? He didn't have to take us in. He didn't have to take care of us, feed us, clothe us, love us. But he did. He's more of a Father than anyone ever will be, and he will never leave us, Zenith, not for anything. Especially not for the man he thought murdered his best friends for twelve years!"
He stayed quiet.
"Zenith, nobody, especially not our birth father, is going to replace the spot you have in Papa's heart."
Before we could continue, loud footsteps began walking toward us. I quickly pushed Zenith toward a broom closet, and we quickly hid. A few moments later, Ron, Hermione, and Harry passed by, talking about going to see Hagrid.
"Perfect timing," I said. "Come on!"
They were making their way down the hill when suddenly, Draco and his goons appeared.
"Ohhh," Zenith laughed, rubbing his hands together, "This must be where Hermione decks Malfoy in the face!"
"What?" I demanded, "Draco gets punched? Why?"
"Does there need to be a reason? He's a git, Cressida."
"Maybe if you two got over yourselves, he wouldn't be."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, you two are perfect for each other," I quietly scoffed to myself.
"What?"
"Nothing important, Zen."
We turned back to the conversation happening a few yards away as they began to argue.
"Have you ever seen anything quite as pathetic?" Draco sneered. Really. He couldn't go this once without goading on some Gryffindor's? "And he's supposed to be our teacher-"
A loud smack echoed across the grass and Zenith and I gaped at each other as Hermione stepped away from the blond-haired boy. His cheek was reddening rapidly.
"Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic, you foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach!"
"Bloody hell," my brother whistled. "Did not think Hermione Granger had that in her."
"Me either," we continued to watch as Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle ran away from the trio toward the school.
"What now?" I asked as Ron and Harry congratulated Hermione on her mean right hook. "I have no idea what will happen next."
"They should go to Hagrids now, and I, or past me, should show up with them."
As we followed the trio down the hill, being careful not to be seen by the other Zenith, my brother turned to me.
"How long have you known? About Papa, I mean."
"I confronted him about it before Christmas," I replied quietly. I felt horrible, I had never kept something like this from my twin before.
He nodded his head, "Were you ever going to say something?"
"I wanted to, but Papa wanted to at least wait until summer. I would have told you immediately if I could. I promise, from now on you will be the first person I tell anything to."
"I'm not forgiving you yet," he said as his other self finally made an appearance at Hagrids. "But I still trust you, and I know you wouldn't lie to me on purpose. Together?"
He gave me a small smile and held out his pinky. I rolled my eyes and linked our fingers together, "Always."
"Let's go," I said and we quietly made our way to the pumpkin patch outside of Hagrid's hut.
Buckbeak was lazing on the ground when we reached him, but he quickly perked up when he saw us.
"Shh!" I said as he made a questioning chirp. "We're here to help."
He settled back down with a tilt of his head and we crouched down behind some of Hagrid's monstrous pumpkins. We could just barely make out the group inside the house, talking to a depressed Hagrid.
"Can we get him now?"
"No! Not yet," I said, pulling him back when he made to move forward. "Wasn't the Minister here? We have to wait."
"Oh, right. He should be coming soon. We had to sneak out the back and-"
He cut himself off.
"And what?" I probed.
"And we ran out around the back."
"Oh."
"Look!" he was pointing to the hill, where we could just make out the Minister and a few other men making their way down. One was holding a giant ax.
"Shoot," I said. "We need to find somewhere else to hide."
We waited as the men neared. There was a sudden scream from inside Hagrid's Hut, and we both jumped.
"What was that?"
"Hermione must have found Scabbers." Zenith's voice turned frantic, "Which means we're about to run out the back door."
Sure enough, a few moments later, just as the Minister's procession reached the front door, the back creaked open.
We watched as the four Gryffindors slowly snuck around the back of the hut. We waited until they were gone and we could see the Minister inside the hut before speaking again.
"Come on," I said, moving towards the Hippogriff. "We should move him while they're distracted."
We slowly crept out from behind the pumpkins.
"How will we get him to follow us?" Zenith asked. "Hagrid used ferrets in class."
"Do you see any?"
"Uhh," Zenith looked around. There was a small pile of bones on the ground. "I guess there were. Looks like they're gone now."
"Where?"
"To the ferret afterworld, Cressida. Where do you think?"
I rolled my eyes, "It's a genuine question, Zenith."
"You sound like me."
There was a loud rustle behind us and we turned to see Buckbeak regarding us curiously. He was a truly beautiful creature.
"Hello," I said, walking towards him. "My, aren't you pretty."
"Cressida!" Zenith warned. "You can't just walk up to him-"
"Why not?" I asked, not looking away from the Hippogriff.
Buckbeak walked a few feet closer before suddenly bowing. He majestically lowered his feathered head to the ground. His dark eyes looked back up at me, and I bowed lowly back.
After a few seconds, Buckbeak stood back up and chirped happily, trotting up to me. I laughed as he bumped his head into mine, and looked over at my brother. His jaw was on the floor.
"What?" I asked.
"You-what-how did you-" he cut himself off.
"Zenith, what's wrong?"
"What did you do to him?"
"What do you mean?"
"He-he bowed to you," he said. His eyes were wide and he seemed shocked.
"Yes?"
"Hippogriffs don't just bow, Cressida! They only bow in return, and only to those who are seen as worthy."
"Really?" I was surprised, Buckbeak seemed so sweet and friendly. "Then why did he bow first?"
"I don't know!" His voice was loud, and I cast a worried glance at the window of Hagrid's Hut, but thankfully it seemed someone had closed it.
"Do you want to get caught? We have to stay quiet!"
Buckbeak made an angry huff at my brother, and I took that as a sign of agreement.
"Alright," I turned back to the Hippogriff, "Will you come with us? We need to get you away from here before those men hurt you."
He bumped his head against my shoulder and chirped happily. I softly pet the feathers on his face and beak before grabbing the lead around his neck. I carefully began leading him into the forest behind Hagrid's hut. Zenith was still standing in the middle of the pumpkin patch.
"Zenith," I whisper-shouted. "Come on!"
The voices from inside the hut were getting louder and we hurried off into the forest. Once we were far enough away from Hagrid's and Zenith pointed me in the direction the past version went, I carefully slipped the rope from around Buckbeak's neck.
"There you go," I said, smiling as he stretched his wings. "You're free now, but be careful."
He trotted around the two of us for a moment, and with one last bow to us, he took off chasing a squirrel deeper into the Forbidden Forest.
"Well," Zenith said, "that was fun."
"From what you have told me, this was only the beginning. I'm just glad we were able to save him."
We continued following the others, and it was all going fine until Zenith tripped on a root, snapping it in half.
"Ow!" he yelled as he fell, barely catching himself on the trunk of a tree.
"Be careful!"
"I am! It's not my fault this bloody forest hates me. First I get beat by a tree, and now I'm falling for them!"
"You got beat by a tree?" I asked, trying not to laugh.
"That's not important."
"Is that why-"
"Duck!" he suddenly said, pulling me down.
"What?"
"Shh, look," he pointed out onto the open field. There was a weird shimmer on the grass, and flashes of what looked like feet.
Suddenly, there was a commotion, and the four Gryffindor students came into view as Ron chased after something on the grass.
"Here we go," Zenith said.
Suddenly there was a streak of orange across the field.
"Is that a cat?"
"It's Hermione's. He's been trying to get Scabbers all year," he laughed. "I guess we know why now. Turns out he's friends with our dad."
"Papa is friends with a cat?"
"No, the other one."
"What?"
"Sirius," he sighed.
"How is he friends with a cat?"
"He's a dog."
"An animagus?"
"Yep," he pointed towards the tree, "He's about to drag Ron into the tree, and break his leg."
"What? Why?"
He shrugged, "I don't think he has very good aim as a dog."
"Got ya!" a voice shouted faintly.
We turned back to see Ron on the ground with his hands outstretched.
He slowly stood up as the other Zenith ran to join him. Hermione and Ron were still behind.
Hermione's cat was still running around them, and a big black dog was sneaking up behind them.
It caught Zenith's attention and he quickly turned around, but he was too late. The dog lunged at him, and my brother went down in a heap. The dog stayed on top of him for a moment.
"Are you alright?" I turned to present Zenith, "That looked like it hurt."
He carefully rubbed his chest, "It did, but luckily it's just bruised. Knocked the air out of me though. I think I had a concussion."
We watched as the dog backed off, and Zenith stayed on the ground.
"Why aren't you getting up?" The dog, Sirius, was growling again, "You need to get up."
"I get up after-"
"Zenith," I yelled, not thinking, "Get up!"
"That."
Sirius Black was circling Ron and Zenith now, growling. Suddenly, he jumped towards them again. Ron jumped in front of Zenith at the last moment, and yelped loudly. The dog latched onto his outstretched arm and began dragging him across the field.
"Zenith," he yelled. "Forget about me, and tell my mum I love her!"
My brother had thrown himself at the dog, trying to pull him away but he missed. Ron was still getting dragged away.
"Ron, you're not gonna die," My brother called back. "Just hang on, I'll get help!"
"Zenith, the tree!" Ron shrieked.
My brother froze, and one of the Willow's branches swooped down and slammed into his side. He cried out as he was thrown by the tree. He was clutching his side, and it looked like his arm was bloody.
My brother winced beside me and rubbed his bandaged arm.
"So you really were beaten by a tree."
"Shut it."
Harry and Hermione had finally shown up again, and the girl's wand lit.
"Lumos!" she yelled, running to my brother.
"Ron!" Harry called out. The redhead was disappearing down a hole in the tree trunk, but he hooked his leg on a root.
"You might want to look away."
"Why-" I was cut off by a loud crack and Ron's resounding scream. "Bloody hell."
Ron was gone now, and the three Gryffindors left were freaking out.
"What are we going to do?" Hermione questioned desperately. "We have to get help. Oh poor Ron."
"We don't have time to get help! Did you see the size of that thing?" Harry adjusted his glasses and wiped something off of his face.
"Harry's right," Zenith said. "We don't have time to get back to the castle. What if something happens to Ron?"
He waved his wand at Harry, "Repairo."
The Whomping Willow was going crazy still. Harry and Zenith seemed to come up with a plan as they both ran toward the trees.
I winced as they were both thrown back on the ground. A moment later, the cat appeared again and somehow froze the tree. The Gryffindor trio, living up to their name, followed the cat into the trunk of the tree.
"What now?" I asked Zenith.
He sat down on a fallen tree, looking at the sunset.
"Now, we wait."
The moon had fully risen by the time we finally saw movement at the tree again although it was mostly hidden by clouds at the moment. Zenith and I had spent that last hour or so talking about what happened that night, he seemed especially distraught over the thought of Papa being in love with our father.
"What's so wrong with them being together, Zen?" I asked. "I mean, if they ever got to that point."
"Well, I mean," he began, "They're both men. That's.. Weird."
"But what if it made Papa happy?"
"It's Sirius Black, Cressida. How would he be happy?"
I was surprised by his vehemence against the two men, he had never said anything about this before.
"You're friends with Oliver Wood, aren't you?" I asked incredulously.
"Yeah, he's my Quidditch Captain," he said, confused. "What does he have to do with anything?"
"Zenith," I said, shaking my head. "You can't be that oblivious, can you?"
"What do you mean?"
"He spends half his time in the Slytherin common room with Marcus."
"Who?"
I rolled my eyes, "Marcus Flint. Slytherin Captain?"
"Oh, well they talk about meeting times and stuff. That's what Oliver always says."
"They're gay for each other, Zen. Or at least queer, I'm not sure exactly."
"What?" He looked like I had slapped him with this information. "But, how are you sure? They talk about Quidditch!"
"Zenith, I don't think Quidditch involves snogging the daylights out of each other."
"They can't be!"
I had never seen my brother like this, he was always so accepting of everything. It was like he was deflecting something. Like he was hiding something by being defensive.
Wait.
I looked him over for a second.
"Zenith? Why are you so against it?"
"I'm- I'm not, it's just, I don't know." he sighed. "They're just both guys and- I don't know."
I hummed, "Interesting."
This required research. Intensive research. And observation. Observation based around my brother, and a deep dive into psychology.
This summer will be fun.
"What's interesting?"
"Nothing. Just, if you're bothered by it, don't mention it in front of Papa. Not if he's happy."
There was a commotion from the group still by the Whomping Willow.
"Oh no," I breathed. The clouds were separating, and the light of the full moon was shining down on them. On Papa. "You forgot to mention the werewolf part?!"
"I thought you would have remembered what day it was!"
"Well, I'm sorry if I was a bit distracted by the fact that my apparent murderous father is actually innocent and we have to go back in time to save him!"
"Wait, Cressida." Zenith's voice had turned panicked. "We have to move. We have to move!"
"Why?"
"Someone calls him, and he runs over here."
"Someone calls him? What do you mean? Werewolves only answer to the call of their own pack, their own kind-"
I stopped. "There's another werewolf?"
"There has to be, right? Why else would he run?"
We began looking for another place to hide when a sickening sound split the air. It was worse than when Ron's leg snapped. It sounded over and over again, and we watched as Papa transformed into a wolf. Zenith looked away and covered his ears and I wished to do the same, but I was frozen.
I never knew how bad it was. Being forced to transform into a mindless beast each month? Even with wolfsbane and control over his own mind, it sounded agonizing. I couldn't imagine. I shivered as it finally ended, and put my hand on Zenith's arm.
Suddenly the wolf and a large black dog were rolling around in the grass, growling and snapping at each other. Harry yelled at Sirius, and for some reason, the dog left and ran down the hill.
"Where's he going? He's just leaving you alone with a full-grown werewolf?" I shrieked. "You're going to die!"
I should have kept my mouth shut because as soon as I said that, the wolf's attention turned to my brother.
"Come on, come on," Zenith whispered as what was once Papa stalked toward his past self. "Where is it? Come on!"
"Zenith what-"
He suddenly got a determined look on his face, and as the wolf stalked ever closer, he cupped his hands around his mouth and-
And he howled.
He howled at a bloody werewolf.
I swear to Merlin I'm going to murder this boy.
"Zenith," I gasped as the wolf froze, his head turning towards us. "Zenith James Black, you didn't."
"It's Remus actually."
My heart rate was skyrocketing by the second as the wolf studied the treeline, "What?" I said absently.
"It's Zenith Remus Black. Papa changed it."
"Oh," I breathed, and suddenly the worst possible thing happened.
Papa was running towards the trees. Not toward the trees, toward us. A werewolf. On the full moon was running toward us at high speed.
We were dead.
"I'm going to kill you, Zenith."
It was like a muggle movie. Or at least the few I had seen. Time seemed to slow for a minute before rushing forward all at once.
"Run," I said, grabbing Zenith's arm. "RUN!"
We both took off into the forest, and if I had any other thoughts than - run, oh my merlin, run; we're going to die- I would have realized it was one of the worst ideas when you had a full-grown werewolf at your heels.
The forest got thicker the farther in we went, and we were both quickly covered in scrapes and scratches from the branches. Zenith quickly pulled ahead of me, his curly hair flowing behind him, messier than I had ever seen it.
The gloom of the trees quickly swallowed him up as he got farther and farther ahead. My breath burned my lungs, and my legs were numb. The forest had gone quiet and all I could hear was my own harsh, ragged breathing and the crunch of detritus under my feet.
The trees opened up a bit in front of me, and I thought I could see Zenith very far in front of me when suddenly I was on the ground.
A hot, burning sensation shot up my right leg, and I screamed. I kicked blindly behind me until I connected with something. Screaming again at the agony in my leg, I kicked once more.
My leg dropped to the ground and I quickly rolled onto my back, crawling away. Before I could get far, a heavy paw landed on my chest, pinning me down.
A large paw. A very large paw.
My brain was sluggish as I slowly looked up into the growling, bloody jaws of a wolf.
A werewolf.
Papa.
Oh my god, I was bitten by a werewolf. On a full moon. A werewolf on a full moon.
The paw pushed down harder, and I could barely breathe. His amber eyes were glowing in the moonlight that filtered through the leaves of the Forbidden Forest. There was no recognition in them. No man, just monster.
hey guys! we know we took another week off, but it's finals season for us so we're trying to write as much as we can and sustain our grades before we graduate. we do plan on taking a break from posting after we finish the third year (including the summer scenes), which is about 2-3 more updates from now, just a heads up. we won't take a break from writing, just the posting, our goal is to get a good 50 pages ahead of the posted version in our month break. as always, k.rae, & agc we love you <3
we can't wait to hear your comments and theories, also what do you think abt our twist on the famous poa night?