The Miraculous Effects of Darkness

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Snape had come by the common room entrance that night and refused to leave until Lily spoke to him. Lily sent him packing.

Anika's wound was fixed up quickly by Madam Pomfrey and the group returned to revision for their final exam that Friday. Anika was also aware that the exam fell the morning after the full moon and her heart ached for Remus, who was surely stressed enough about the exam without that added complication on top of it.

Anika, Mary, Marlene and Lily drowned themselves in revision and at the end of each day they could barely look straight due to being cross-eyed from staring at textbooks and class notes all day. Marlene less so, due to being so easily distracted.

On Thursday night, James came charging into the common room followed by Peter, a slightly frantic look was in James' eyes which were darting about the common room, finally his eyes rested on Anika.

"Anika, have you seen Sirius?" James demanded.

"No I haven't," Anika said, "what's wrong?"

"Can I borrow you?" James asked, it didn't seem like it was a request, so Anika shot a look at Mary, Marlene and Lily who were exchanging confused looks.

James and Peter lead her out of the common room and down several flights of stairs before Anika spoke.

"What's happening James?" She demanded.

"Remus is a werewolf," James blurted out.

"Yeah I know," Anika replied.

"You know?" Peter seemed flabbergasted.

"I'm not thick you know, I worked out what happened that night in the grounds," Anika said, "but what does that have to do with Sirius?"

Just at that moment, Sirius emerged from behind a tapestry which shocked James and Peter so much that they each let out little shrieks. Anika, however, was so used to Sirius popping out from secret passageways that she didn't question it.

"Sirius, what have you done?" Anika demanded, "Why are these two so freaked out?"

"Snivellus needs to keep his nose out of other people's business, I just showed him what getting in too deep can look like," Sirius said.

"You didn't?" James was gaping at his friend. Suddenly James was hurtling down the stairs at maximum speed, taking the stairs several at a time. Anika shot another glance at Sirius before hurtling off after James.

"James, what did he do?" Anika demanded.

"That bloody idiot!" James cursed Sirius' name, "he sent Snivellus after Remus."

"He what?" Anika demanded, she was beginning to become slightly out of breath as they hurtled out of the castle and onto the moonlit grounds. The full moon was very visible in the clear night sky.

"He sent Snape after Remus," James repeated. He pressed his body to run faster and Anika struggled to keep up but manages just barely. The silhouetted form of the Whomping Willow came into view. Anika could almost hear the howl of the wolf who had almost attacked her in the grounds mere months earlier.

James skidded to a halt just out of reach of the whipping branches. He fumbled to draw his wand and levitated a stick which he pressed to a large knot in the tree's roots. The tree immediately froze.

Anika made forwards to the opening that she had never noticed was there behind all of the whipping branches. But James put an arm out to stop her.

"I'll go, at least I can stop Remus-"

"James, in case you didn't figure it out, there is a reason Remus didn't attack me last time, he won't attack me this time. I'm coming."

James looked like he wanted to protest, but thought better of it and led the way into the passageway. The two hurtled at breakneck speed along the passageway, Anika tripped and snagged her clothes on tree branches, but despite the rips in her clothes and small cuts on her legs, she continued going.

They didn't stop until they ran full pelt into something that was in the corridor. 

"Potter," Snape hissed, "trying to stop me from seeing what you're up to down here?"

"Stop being stupid Snape," James replied in a frantic voice, "we need to get you out of here before-" James was cut off by a howl which came from the end of the passageway.

"What was that?" Snape demanded.

"A Werewolf you idiot, now come on!" James grabbed Snape by the arm and hastened to pull him along. "Anika come on!"

"I'll try and hold him off if he comes this way," Anika said, "You go!"

"Don't be stupid, we need to get out of here!" James said.

"You need to get out of here!" Anika reminded him, "Go now!"

The sound of paws running down the corridor could be heard and James needed no further warning to half pull half drag Snape down the corridor. Anika hoped that James wouldn't stop until he reached the castle and that he would drag Snape straight to Dumbledore.

Not even a minute later, the werewolf skidded into view. Anika held her nerve and her ground, staring straight back into the golden eyes of Remus' werewolf form. She knew that in human form her friend would never hurt her, and she had been assured by Nicholas that the werewolf would feel no need to attack her, but she wondered if the werewolf would attack her to get past her to James and Snape.

The werewolf approached her cautiously, sniffing the air around her, and sniffing her shoes. It was clear that the wolf did not know what to make of her.

She smelt like one of his pack members, but she also smelt, wrong to the wolf, Moony didn't know what to make of the smell and found himself incredibly confused. He wanted to get past her, to the fresh untainted human smell that she was blocking him from, but he didn't know if this girl would attack him if he tried to attack her. He whimpered and scurried back into the Shrieking Shack to get away from her disgusting scent.

Anika breathed a sigh of relief and hurried in the opposite direction to the wolf after James and Snape. When she emerged from the Whomping Willow she immobilised the tree and moved away from it as quickly as she could. She saw the stag, James galloping across the grounds towards her.

"It's okay James, he went back into the shack!" Anika said.

Prongs skidded to a halt beside her and transformed back into James. 

"I'm going to kill Padfoot," James snarled.

"What was he thinking?" Anika demanded, "Do you know why he did this? Did he even think about what it would have done to Remus?"

"He wasn't thinking clearly," James said, "we overheard Snape and a few other Slytherins plotting-"

"Plotting what?"

"It doesn't matter," James said.

"It does."

"Fine," James huffed, "They were plotting an attack on you. And Sirius said he'd make sure that they paid for it and disappeared."

"Me?"

"Yes you."

"He tried to get Snape attacked because of me?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to kill Sirius." Anika stormed back towards the castle with James hot on her heels.