The wand that had been in Harry’s had leapt across the dimly lit room, towards the newly appeared dark figure. A crooked smile flashed upon his thin lips that peeked from behind the slimy curtains of hair surrounding his face.
“I warned Dumbledore that you weren’t to be trusted Lupin and look, here’s the proof. And I'm sure the Dementors have been missing you Sirius, why I do think they may even give you a little kiss.” Sirius shuddered.
“Severus, don’t be foolish, if you will just listen. Sirius is innocent.” Lupin pleaded the greasy man but he turned from Sirius who was looking ragged and vengeful and pointed his wand at Lupin. “Be quiet Werewolf.” And with a small flick of his wand, ropes shot from the tip and roughly bound Lupin who fell to the ground, struggling against his bonds.
“Stop it!” I shouted, rage filling me up like a balloon until I felt as if I was about to explode, Snape whipped around and dug his wand into my neck painfully. “I’d be silent if I were you Miss Hydrus, I’m sure that the Ministry would not look so kindly on you, being who you are and given that you were conspiring with a known criminal to kill a fellow pupil.” He glowered at me and I returned the look twice as coldly, with far more malevolence than I even thought that I could muster.
The filth that I’d called a teacher for a year turned to Harry and sneered. “After you.” He gestured with his chin at the door and with his wand now fixed on Sirius, and Lupin floating in the air still fighting the ropes that held him, I dropped behind Hermione who had both her and Ron’s wands in her back pocket. I picked it carefully without her noticing and managing to hide my intentions as I grasped it firmly in my hand and pushed past her as Snape was about to do to Sirius as he had to Professor Lupin. I directed my wand at Snape and thought, with much hatred. “Stupefy!”
I caught him so off guard that he didn’t even realise that I’d just stunned- and consequentially catapulted him out of the room, through the banister, out into the main body of the house and eventually falling down into the living room in a heap of wooden boards and dust. I flicked my wand at Lupin and he was gently lowered to the ground, the ropes falling slack and disappearing with a satisfying puff.
“Thank you Imogene.” He muttered as I helped him to his feet, though his attention was concentrated on the doorway that Snape had just shot through.
“You attacked a teacher!!” Hermione cried and I turned to look coolly at her.
“He deserved it.” I murmured cruelly.
“Why? And what did he mean by, ‘who you are’?” She asked and I sighed.
“He was referring to my lineage, and what being Salazar Slytherin’s multiple great-granddaughter incurs.” I had been watching Harry through the corner of my eye and I was surprised to find him looking slightly relieved. Ron and Hermione on the other hand looked positively shocked.
“You’re-”
“Yes Ron.” I interrupted.
“Imogene.” Lupin began, making me turn. “Perhaps you’d best go check to see if Professor Snape is alive after that fall.”
“Wouldn’t be much of a loss if he wasn’t though.” Sirius grunted begrudgingly and I smirked at him.
“Okay.” I limped out of the room and noted that the golden light streaming through the windows wasn’t quite enough to illuminate my way anymore.
Professor Snape lay sprawled out underneath a section of the banister and on top of another, the fragile and rotting wood had given away under the force of the spell that I’d used to unintentionally catapult him backwards. I smiled wickedly and took the wand that had fallen out of his hand on impact with the ground, cautious as I stepped over some of the splintered wood all around me.
“Serves you right, you bastard.” I muttered, kicking Snape while he was down, in the ribs, perhaps not regretting it as much as I should have. I knelt next to the unconscious man and noted that he was still breathing, that was good enough for me.
I headed back upstairs and on the step third from the top I heard a yell rise above the murmur of voices that I could have only presumed was the conclusion of Professor Lupin’s story. I regretfully leapt up the last few steps and felt my legs- thighs and calves both- screaming in protest. But I couldn’t let that hinder my progress because I’d just heard the creak of a new voice in the room, a new, squat and podgy shadow coming from the room. I reached the door, and just in time apparently as the stumpy man before me hobbled into me in an attempt to leave the room.
I’d seen pictures of Peter Pettigrew in school when I’d been looking through the school library and there was still something resembling that young student standing before me.
But not much.
Pettigrew was a balding man with wispy strands of brownish-grey hair that stood out in all directions and looked as if it were falling out in generous chunks. His greyish skin was pockmarked and scarred and his nose, bulbous. However, by far his most discerning feature-apart from his rat-like twitching, which seemed to be unconscious- was the fact that the smallest finger on his right hand was missing completely. That must have been the one he’d cut off to frame Sirius.
I realised that I’d been observing the crude remnants of a man before me for some time and that no-one had said anything or moved apart from Sirius, who was eyeing Pettigrew meanly and flexing the fingers of his wand hand viciously.
I focused back to Pettigrew and realised that he was staring at me, looking totally petrified. Frowning I cocked my head to one side and looked to my friends. Why was everyone staring at me so strangely? I thought they’d gotten over the fact that I had just catapulted Snape into the next century I absently smiled to myself and noted that Pettigrew blanched quite visibly. That made me frown. I checked behind me, to make sure that they actually were staring at me, and sure enough there wasn’t any strange anomaly behind me. “What?” I finally asked and received only a shudder from Pettigrew and a shuffle as everyone else moved. Sthyss was the only one who dared to move closer to me and he slithered up my leg and around my body.
“You remind the rat-man of his former master.” Sthyss explained.
“Voldemort?” There was no mistaking that word even if I’d spoken it in Parseltongue, Pettigrew shivered and backed away.
“You did just look a little like him, think nothing of it.” I did think something of it, that wasn’t exactly the most flattering comparison that anyone had ever made of me.
“Wormtail.” Sirius said, finally breaking the silence and the short man rotated slightly, just enough to keep both of us in his sight.
“Did you sell Lily and James Potter to Voldemort?” He growled angrily, his voice full of emotion.
“Sirius. You have no idea of the powers he possesses-”
“You went to him of your own consent you scum.” I snared threateningly, my mind flashing to the image of my father conveying Wormtail to Voldemort.
“He… He… I thought of you Sirius.” He stuttered, trying to think up a sufficient excuse- something to get him out of his situation but I wouldn’t listen to him and neither would anyone else in the room. “I thought of what you would have done.”
“I would have died!” Sirius shouted. “I would have died rather than betray my friends!” He was losing his patience as was Lupin, who looked equally as furious as Sirius. Wormtail whimpered.
“I didn’t mean to…” he wailed, whimpering as I balled my fists very visibly, Hermione’s wand still in my hand.
“You should have realised Peter, that if Voldemort didn’t kill you then we would. Together!” Sirius announced, looking briefly to Lupin who was holding his own wand again, Sirius with mine as the pair of them pointed them at the rotund ball of pathetic fat in front of me.
“Wait! Don't kill him.” Harry shouted suddenly. The tension had been so palpable to that point that the four of us jumped and turned to Harry. Lupin sighed.
“Harry this man is the reason that your parents-”
“I know what he is.” Harry replied quickly, looking disgustedly at Wormtail who was looking years younger from sheer relief.
“Bless you!”
Wormtail moved towards Harry, who hastily stumbled backwards and directed his wand at Pettigrew.
“Get off! I said for them not to kill you, instead we’ll take you up to the castle, the Dementors can have you after that.” Harry looked worn as he pronounced Pettigrew’s fate and I didn’t blame him, it was a hard decision to make.
“Imogene?” he asked and I looked to him.
“Yes Harry?”
“Could you ask Sthyss to make sure that-” he gestured to Pettigrew, “- I mean I’d ask but… well I didn’t think-” I stopped him with a smirk.
“Don’t worry.” I looked to the snake still around me and he nodded. Shifting down until he was back on the floor, staring unblinkingly up at Wormtail, his tongue flickering intimidatingly. I smirked again and looked up to meet Lupin’s gaze.
"I suspect we should get going." He said and I nodded.
“I’ll get Snape.” Sirius offered, still holding my wand heading towards the door.
“Hang on a second Sirius!” Lupin stopped him abruptly, giving me the opportunity to swap wands with him, mine for Snape’s, “We need to figure out what we’re going to do with him.” He explained, gesturing to Wormtail.
“Chain him to two of us?” Sirius suggested wistfully.
“Alright, I’ll do that-”
“Me too!” Ron interjected and I looked to him, he seemed offended and angry at Wormtail but there was a glint of determination in his eye.
“Okay,” Lupin continued, “so Ron and I have Peter here, Sirius, you can manage Severus, and Imogene if you follow behind us?”
“Yep that’s fine.” I answered giving Pettigrew a swift glare, Harry going out the door with Sirius, presumably and understandably wanting to talk with him. I followed and waited on the landing while Lupin, then Wormtail and then finally Ron hobbled out of the door, I took up a position behind them with Hermione and silently handed back her wand.
“God Imogene, you’re lucky you didn’t kill him.” Sirius called to me at the stairs with a massive grin on his face. I chuckled quietly as Snape’s hanging body drifted gently into the air and our procession headed into the passage.
“How come you never told us?” Hermione chirped up, I’d been wondering when she would, she’d looked uncomfortable for the past four minutes that we’d been walking.
“About what? Sirius, Professor Lupin or me?” I asked, she hadn’t really been all that specific.
“About you, being a werewolf.” She sounded a little disappointed in me but I didn’t care really, I had thought it would have been obvious though.
“I presumed that the three of you would either tell my secret or ostracize me. History has, after all, proven that my kind are not well accepted in society.” She nodded understandingly.
“And you thought we’d do the same if you told us you were related to Salazar Slytherin?” She probed further, I nodded my reply and her mouth made an ‘oh’ shape.
“So Sirius, how exactly is he related to you?” She continued straight on with her inquisition and I allowed my lip to curl up in the corner.
“He’s my second cousin on my mother’s side.” I decided not to tell her who was on the other side.
“And you knew he was innocent because of a dream you had?”
“They’re not really dreams Hermione.” I began, “Because Sthyss and I are so closely linked there’s a sort of cross over between our minds. So at the full moon when I take my potion and end up unconscious, I see things from his mind. He was there when Wormtail told Voldemort where Harry’s parents were hiding.”
“How come you end up unconscious?” She asked, being vague again, luckily I knew what she meant. The end of the tunnel came into view ahead.
“I’m allergic to one of the ingredients of the Wolfsbane potion, hence why I was so sick during term one. Professor Snape makes me another potion though that knocks me out just as I’m about to change into a-” I had to stop. My body was shaking from toe to scalp and the rate of my breathing had escalated sharply. I stood frozen against the side of the passage, panting, looking towards the mouth of the tunnel where I could see pale light stream through where the others had just exited.
“Hermione. Get out of here.” I strained through clenched teeth.
“What?” She asked looking worried and truly not comprehending. I shook my head vehemently, to which my body protested at by making my nose bleed. I scrambled up and out of the hole and saw the moon dancing torturously into the sky.
Hermione, who’d scrambled after me saw what I was looking at and yelled. “Harry!” Everybody turned and I unwillingly fell to my knees as my legs burnt and gave way. How could I have forgotten?!
“Imogene.” Sirius called and ran over, I was shaking by this time.
“Sirius get everyone out of here.” There was a sharp cry from the right of us, followed by Ron’s yell. Professor Lupin, who was chained to Ron and Wormtail had just begun transforming- but something was wrong. Lupin was normally a lot less frantic when he changed, and certainly didn’t normally exhibit this amount of pain. Something very desperate appeared on his face as he looked at me and I knew.
“Sirius move now!” I managed in a croak, barely withholding a scream myself. “He hasn’t taken his potion.”
XXXX
I was fighting.
Fighting against the solemn and heavy call of sleep. It felt like a hand. A hand that was pressing down on my body, forcing it flat, trying to make me submit to the call of the night. I was trying my best to focus on the pain, to try and fight the overwhelming urge to sink and let the beast take over. I began to slip though and could feel the building rise of a growl, snarl out of my throat and my vision began to fade.
I had pressed myself against a tree, my claws- and they were now definitely claws- were dug into the bark as my hands changed shape painfully. My legs had shot up and I convulsed as my heel drew upwards and carried my ankle to form paws. My face became a muzzle and my next scream became a howl.
Finally I felt my ribcage expand and the pain was simply too much. I receded into the cold reach.
But to think that it was over was folly.
Sounds returned first. That was when the pain set back in.
It was centralized around my hand, the coursing, burning of liquid fire in my veins, spreading out from my hand and moving through the rest of my body. I had been, up to that point, confined to that bubble inside which I was always confined when the wolf took over.
The bubble quite suddenly popped and I lurched back into control of my body, only to find myself still slumped against the Whomping Willow. Professor Lupin was in my direct line of sight, my three friends were just to my side and Snape was in front of them. Fast as I could follow, Lupin leapt, launching himself towards them with all possible speed, but I knew I was faster.
I threw myself; teeth bared at my professor and let out a volcanic snarl.
He stopped dead in his tracks, his ears pressing flat against his head as he too took on a more deadly stance, his body low to the ground, muscles tensed and eyes trained on me. I took a chance glance behind myself and noted how close I was to everyone else and how easy it would be for someone to get hurt, when suddenly a streak of black shot out from the undergrowth and wrapped itself around Lupin’s grey muzzle, clawing at his face. Only seconds later, Sirius was launched back in the direction he’d come from and I went chasing after the two of them.
We reached an outcropping of trees and I realised that we were heading back towards the school- the complete opposite direction that I’d wanted to head in. I nipped Lupin’s heels and he span to slash at my face with his razor-like claws, growling furiously. Falling backwards I had only a moment before he pinned me to the ground- no mean feat for a being almost half my size.
I threw him off and growled at Sirius when he tried to intervene, the last thing I wanted was for him to get hurt. I began to circle my professor and he followed suit, both our ears’ were flat and canines gnashing challengingly, looking for any sign of weakness or any falter in the other’s step. Less experienced than he, I had the immediate disadvantage as he sprang at me, jaws aiming for my throat, I ducked quickly and swiped at his chest and face in an upwards movement, my jaws coming down like a vice on his left hind leg and lifting him with my iron hold, propelling him into the forest; all the while aware of Sirius in my periphery.
We kept up our intense battle until I managed to get him into the forest, apparently having lost Sirius, since he’d vanished. But I knew that I couldn’t keep this up forever, I was losing energy, and blood, and whatever was keeping the beast in me at bay, which certainly didn’t feel permanent. I was running out of time, so I decided to run. Catching the back of the other wolf’s heels I sped off between the trees, weaving in and out, keeping an eye out for thinning patches of trees and lights. In other words, everything human. However it appeared for once that size was not an advantage as, being a lot smaller than I, Lupin was able to whip between the trees much faster and caught up to me. What was worse was that the trees had been growing sparser and a cold blast of wind brought with it the fleshy scent of a human. Two in fact, and I could tell by his body language that Lupin wasn’t going to be distracted so easily this time. I tried my best to run after him and as they came into view I could see Harry and Hermione running like rabbits as we chased them down. I let out an ear splitting howl despite being utterly out of breath and it was enough to make him pause in his stride for just a second. He had them cornered, backed against a tree and not really anywhere else to run, the roots entangled around them to form a crude cage.
I growled viciously as I catapulted towards him but was stopped just short as a large, feathered beast came from between the trees and clawed, squawking, at Lupin, it was Buckbeak.
Lupin skittered off and I was forced to follow, however just before I did I glanced to Harry and saw gratefulness in his eyes. I lowered my head and slightly wearily began chasing down my crazed teacher, noting as I went, the unnatural, eerie shift in temperature and the thickness of the air I was breathing. I dared not look away from the path but I knew that Dementors were circling somewhere close by and I hoped it wasn’t Harry who’d caused it.
I continued for the rest of the night to keep Lupin to the confines of the Forbidden Forest, desperation, all that was left to fuel me as my body weakened inexorably. It was nearly dawn when Lupin made his final mad attempt at the castle and, limping after him, I wasn’t quite fast enough to stop him before he reached a lone tree just outside the main treeline.
Hackling loudly I made him turn at me just in time to smash his back into the bark of the thick tree, he howled in pain and slashed at my face, tearing into my muzzle and spraying blood across my vision, distracting me long enough to flip around and batter my body where his had just left a dent in the bark.
There was a massive crack as something in the centre of the tree gave way; it didn’t fall but it groaned menacingly. I growled feebly, my legs could no longer bear my weight and I collapsed to the ground, simply no more energy left in me to fight him. Unfortunately I’d pissed him off for the last time and he wasn’t going to let me do it anymore. He lifted my considerable weight and threw me across the bank; I landed face down and struggling desperately, attempting to lift myself from the grassy ground. My left arm was viciously ripped clean out of its socket as I was launched through the air, back at the tree, my head smashing on the rough bark and knocking me into welcome unconsciousness.