"W-was that a werewolf?" Levi's hands began to tremble as the group looked around, trying to locate the source of the noise. Though it proved impossible in the dark.
"We need to get out." Regulus instructed harshly, "Now."
Esme shook her head, her feet remaining planted firmly on the floor, "The thing is... Ignatius... You didn't just put me in harm's way. I can deal with that." She stepped forward, pressing her wand against her brother's chest so deeply that he had to stumble backwards, "You put Regulus at risk. There would have been nothing I could have done to stop it. You can't do that again."
"Woah, calm down. I did tell you this would happen, you can't act like it's a surprise." Ignatius argued bitterly.
"Esme!" Regulus tugged at her arm, urging her to follow him, "We all need to leave! Now!"
Another howl sounded out. This time much, much, closer.
"You know everything, Ignatius. You know all there is to know. That means my friends are also in danger. No matter what they've done, I won't allow you to cause any harm to Dirk or Levi. You won't put Piper in danger. I can't let you hurt any of them." She threatened, her eyes growing dark.
"Avery!" Levi called out, "Now isn't the time! We can sort this out later!"
"Esme, listen to me, please." Regulus begged.
Hearing this, she immediately turned to look at him - her eyes brightening slightly. She saw the desperation in him to escape the forest and finally gave in, "You're right, let's go."
Levi, Regulus, and Esme turned to hurry out of the clearing but, as they turned their backs, there was a sudden flash of blue light that caused them to stop.
"OBLIVIATE!"
The trio spun around just in time to catch a glimpse of Ignatius hitting his head against a tree as he tumbled backwards and fell to the ground.
Standing over him was Dirk Cresswell, who's hand was trembling as he clutched his wand in the air.
"Cresswell," Esme gasped, "What did you do?"
Dirk lowered his wand slowly, taking a moment to come to terms with what he'd actually done. "I think I might have fixed our problems?" He suggested quietly, turning around to face them.
"W-what?" Regulus frowned.
Levi stressed, "Now really isn't the time! In case you've forgotten, there might be a werewolf coming our way!"
"What did you do to him?" Esme pointed at her brother, who was now unconscious on the floor.
Dirk sighed, "So now you're concerned about him? I'm good at charms. He shouldn't remember anything about tonight or what I did. I doubt he'll even remember who Levi and I are - the spell came out a little stronger than expected."
No matter how much Esme wanted to scream at him, the boy was a genius.
She would have been half tempted to just transfigure her brother into a slug if she'd had her way.
"You're an-"
"Avery!" Levi shouted.
A third, final howl shook through the trees. It wasn't far away now.
"Why would you pick tonight to come to the Forbidden Forest? We need to go!" He cried desperately.
Esme scoffed, "I didn't think the rumours of werewolves were actually true."
"Now really isn't the time!" Regulus reminded them, "We need to run."
"We can't leave him behind!" Esme gestured to Ingatius, "We need to bring him with us."
Regulus gritted his teeth together and muttered under his breath, "I knew this was a bad plan. I knew it but I kept my mouth shut. Now look..."
"No time to waste then." Dirk sighed, flourishing his wand again. This time, Ingatius' body lifted of the ground so he was hovering about a metre of the ground. "I think you forgot we're wizards." He mused with a half-smile.
Esme didn't know whether to be mad or laugh, but now was not the time to decide.
"You guys go ahead. I'll buy you some time to get yourselves and Ignatius back up to the castle." She drew her wand.
"That's insane! You're going to fight a werewolf?" Levi exclaimed, "Even all of us put together couldn't hold one off!"
"Not fight it, you idiot. Distract it. Now, go!"
Esme turned back around, facing out into the dark forest with her wand clutched firmly in one hand in front of her.
Dirk and Levi knew there was no point in them trying to argue with her - it would be futile. Besides, they needed to get Ignatius to safety and that would not be easy whilst he was unconscious.
Behind her, she heard rustling as the boys pushed their way through the trees to escape.
Esme had a habit of allowing her mouth to spill out words before her mind had caught up with it and, in these few short moments, she needed to actually come up with a way to distract a werewolf.
Then, someone came to stand beside her.
"I can't believe you thought I'd let you do this on your own." Regulus tutted as he drew out his own wand.
Esme flashed a fleeting half-smirk, "Ready to face a werewolf?"
Now, they could hear its footsteps. Fast, and hurried. Leaves crunched and branches snapped as something large barrelled towards them.
"I'm not sure I ever will be." He muttered.
Finally, it appeared. The werewolf.
The beast towered over them, padding softly around the circumference of the clearing. It was covered in a light brown, almost grey, coating of rough fur and its face was littered with dark scars.
But it's eyes, it's eyes were haunting.
They were a deep black, so deep you could almost fall into them. It was like the werewolf - fully separated from its human counterpart - had no soul beneath the depth of its dark eyes.
"Reg..." Esme whispered, "Never let me have any ideas ever again."
"You bet." He breathed out.
The werewolf came to a standstill, staring at the two teenagers for a moment before letting out a deafening howl as it leant up to the sky.
"Any ideas?" Regulus asked. He turned his head to see Esme flick her wrist, sending out jets of brilliant white light from the tip of her wand. This appeared to temporarily blind the werewolf as it was sent stumbling back into the trees.
Then, as if things couldn't get more complicated, a stag burst through into the clearing, rearing up proudly on its hind legs and flailing its antlers about.
"Is that a deer?" Regulus rubbed the back of his head, "What's going on?"
Esme stammered, but no words left her mouth as she frightfully patted Regulus on the arm, drawing his attention to the other side of the clearing.
"It's a dog!" She finally exclaimed.
The large black dog bounded out into the clearing now and, briefly, Esme thought it almost appeared shocked when it looked at them. Could dogs be surprised?
"What do we do?" She asked, turning to look up at Regulus.
He was watching the dog carefully, as he replied, "No clue." Regulus thought, even though it was insane, that he recognised the dog. Something about it seemed familiar.
The werewolf roared again, as it clambered to its feet and dragged itself back into the clearing. The tall stag started to run circles around the beast, perhaps distracting it, perhaps confusing it.
"Do you think we should run for it?" Esme asked, tugging on Regulus' sleeve as he remained transfixed by watching the animals dash around. "Regulus!" She snapped, facing him fully and urging him to look at her, "Let's go!"
Then Regulus' jaw dropped open, and a few quiet words fell out, "The-the dog... It's... Him..."
Slowly, Esme turned around to catch a final glimpse of the dog morphing into a boy. He climbed to his feet and she saw that it wasn't just any boy.
"Sirius Black?" She almost laughed at how ridiculous the evening had become.
His hair flew about his face wildly and his cheeks were bright red running so wildly. Yet, he didn't hesitate to yell at the younger students, "Get out! Now!"
"Y-you're... An animagus!" Esme shouted, finally letting out a laugh of disbelief.
"And you need to leave!" He retorted sharply.
Regulus was rooted to the ground, his body frozen solid. For a fleeting moment, he was almost tempted to punch his brother. But he decided against that. He didn't want to hurt his hand.
"Regulus!" Esme cried out, gripping onto his arm and pulling him after her as she tried to lead them out of the forest.
He finally started to zone out of his haze as he murmured, "It's my brother..."
"Yes, yes." She replied quickly, "He might have just saved our lives. Let's go!"
"He's never going to let that go." Regulus admitted, finally giving in and following Esme out of the Forbidden Forest and back into the darkness of the night.
All they had to do now was sneak back into the castle undetected, and try to go to sleep as if nothing had happened at all.
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i really am bringing you guys some wild chapters
also, the marauders !
i amaze myself sometimes