Anna Potter and Prisoner of Askaban

Chapter 8

GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM - MORNING
[The Fat Lady has been replaced by a painting of a tiny knight (Sir Cadogan). Stalking a bare stretch of grass as his pony grazes nearby, he brandishes his sword wildly as a group of Gryffindors regard him warily.]
Sir Cadogan: Who dares challenge Sir Cadogan! Back, you scurvy braggarts! You rogues!
Seamus: He's barking mad!
Dean: What d'you expect? After what happened to the Fat Lady, none of the other pictures would take the job.
Neville: But he keeps changing the password. Twice just this morning! I've taken to keeping a list. [As Neville holds up a wrinkled piece of parchment, Anna and Rose begin to exit.]
Sir Cadogan: Farewell, comrades! If ever you have need of noble heart and steely sinew, call upon Sir Cadogan!
LUPIN'S CLASSROOM - MORNING
[SNAP! Snape pulls down a screen over the blackboard, turns.]
Snape: Turn to page 394. [As the students eye Snape with guarded curiosity, Malfoy finishes scrawling something on a bit of parchment and balls it up in her hands. As she opens them, a moth flutters from her palms.]
Anna: Excuse me, sir, but... where's Professor Lupin?
Snape: That's not really your concern, is it, Potter? Suffice it to say, your Professor finds himself incapable of teaching at the present time. Page 394.
[Snape waves the moth away, blows out a candle and a slide show begins an ancient woodcut of a horrific beast flickers at the front of the room.]
"How dares he?!" Yelled Sirius.
"I will so hex him next time i see him!" Said Lily. Remus smiled at her.
[Rose frowns down at her book.]
Rose: But, sir, we've only just begun learning about Red Caps and Hinkypunks. We're not meant to start nocturnal beasts for weeks --
Snape: Quiet! Now. Which of you can tell me the difference between an Animagus and a werewolf? [As the class stares mutely at a slide of an attacking werewolf, Rose and Anna waiting desperately for someone to respond to Snape's question, the moth flutters by Anna.]
Lucius and James glare with Sirius and Regulus.
[SWAT! She pins it to his desk. A tiny cloud of moth dust mushrooms into the air and Anna lifts her palm. Malfoy's parchment has reappeared.]
Snape: No one? How... disappointing.
Rose: Please, sir, an Animagus is a wizard who elects to turn into an animal. A werewolf has no choice in the matter. Furthermore, the werewolf actively hunts humans and responds only to the call of its own kind. [Malfoy lets out a low howl.]
Snape: Quiet, Malfoy! Though one must admit to feeling your pain.
"He's unbelieveable." Said James.
Snape: That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Weasley. Tell me. Are you incapable of restraining yourself? Or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all?
Everyone glared at him, expecially Lily.
Rose: I take as much pride in that as you take in bulling children. Does bulling children make you feel superior, Professor? Like a man which you're not? [Students laugh.]
Everyone laughs, even Lily.
"I love her!" Said Sirius and James together.
Snape: (Red with anger): Detention for a month and 30 points from Griffindor.
"Arsehole!" Said Sirius.
Rose: Whatever makes your pathetic life better, Professor. [Snape ignores her. Anna is trying to stop laughing and whispers to Rose.]
Anna: Merlin, I love you. You're an icon.
Rose: [flicks her hair] I know. [Anna stares at the parchment. Malfoy has drawn a caricature of Anna in her Quidditch robes being struck by lightning over and over. Anna rolls her eyes amused.]
Snape: Five points from Gryffindor! (to the class) As a antidote to your ignorance, I prescribe two rolls of parchment on the werewolf by Monday morning, with particular emphasis placed on recognizing it. (suddenly) Passing notes, Potter? [Snape snatches the drawing from under Anna's nose. Eyes it.]
Snape: Not exactly Picasso, are you?
"It is caricature. It isn't supposed to be pretty. It's supposed to be funny drawing, which it is. And it's not even bad." Defended Regulus. Lucius nodded.
Snape: I hope you demonstrate more talent on the Quidditch pitch this weekend then you do as an artist. If not, I fear you'll perish, given the weather forecast. Until that time, however, you'll forgive me if I don't let you off homework. Should you die, I assure you... you need not hand it in.
"I want to hex him so much." Muttered James.
[As Snape turns away, Malfoy sniggers.]
Anna: What are you laughing at Malfoy? He just said your painting was rubbish. I quite agree. [Cassie glares at her.]
"Rude." Said Evan. Lucius glares at Anna.
"Lucius, stop glaring at child!" Said Narcissa.
Snape: Quiet. 10 points from Griffindor. [Snape walks away and Anna makes hand motion of strangling him, people who saw her laughed.]
Ofsscreen people laught, too.
QUIDDITCH PITCH - A STITCH OF LIGHTNING
[Lightning strikes one of the golden quidditch rings and the clouds bloom with icy blue light. Far below, in the stands, Rain lashes the sea of umbrellas. As one flies free, soaring end over end into the sky, the crowd explodes and two Quidditch squads -- Gryffindor in scarlet, Hufflepuff in canary-yellow -- shoot into the air. Twin bludgers fire skyward, and the match is on.]
Barty, Sirius and James cheer.
[We cut into Anna, rising like a rocket through the mist, her robes snapping violently in the wind.]
ANNA'S POV
[Rain falling like needles before her, every dark cloud concealing potential danger. Beaters crisscross her path. A bludger whizzes past, then a second rockets directly at her.]
Lily looks worried.
[SWOOP! -- Anna ducks, watches the bludger shatter the broom of a Hufflepuff beater. The Beater goes into a wild spiral, vanishes in the mist.]
IN THE STANDS
[Rose squints upward, the players little more than streaking blurs from her vantage. KA-SSSST! A stitch of lightning strikes the tail of Angelina Johnson's broom. As it bursts into flames, she plummets to the pitch. Rose looks down at her own hand. In the hightly-charged air, the hair above her knuckles rises. In the sky, Anna flies fearlessly, searching for the Snitch as Bludgers pierce the clouds above her and chasers flit in and out of view far below.]
Barty, Sirius and James cheer, too.
[Suddenly, in the stands opposite, a black umbrella flies from the hand of a Ravenclaw girl. For a moment, it sails wondrously through the heavy air, a Magritte dream, then -- WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP! -- abruptly picks up speed, rotating like a hatchet. Anna ducks, turns, and watches it disappear into a bank of clouds. Then something glimmers: the Snitch.]
"Anna! Anna! Anna!" Cheered Barty, James and Sirius.
[Instantly, Anna jets off closing fast on the tiny, glimmering ball, chasing it through one cloud... then another... and another... until she breaks into a clear patch of sky... only to find the Snitch is gone.]
James groans.
[Angrily, Anna whips the Nimbus back around, searching the horizon frantically, when she spies something: In the stadium's highest tower, something enormous flickers briefly in silhouette, then is obscured by a veil of mist. Anna turns. In the distance, the stray umbrella spins into view, harpoons a player. Anna's eyes shift. The snitch shimmers like a firefly in the dark underbelly of a cloud. Anna begins to go... when the veil of mist shrouding the high tower shifts and -- for one brief moment -- a great dog is revealed.]
"Is it you?!" Asked James.
"Looks like me." Said Sirius.
[As this mist closes, Anna frowns, jets away. As Anna pelts after the Snitch, the crowd rises to their feet, Roaring. Rose grins over the binoculars, watching Anna shred the mist as she urges her broom on.]
Anna: Come on! Faster! [The trace of a smile forms on Anna's lips as she closes on the Snitch... only yards away... reaching out... when a thin glaze of ice clouds her glasses. She wipes at them, then flinches: blood trickles down her cheek.]
Everyone looks worried.
[The rain is turning to needles. Needles of ice. Anna glances at the handle of her broomstick. The water sluicing through the grain is freezing. Vapor streams from her mouth and nose. SWOOSH! A darksilhouette passes on his right. She turns. SWOOSH! -- a twin silhouette passes on her left. Anna sees neither. Looks down. The layers of mist are parting below. Lightning strikes. Reveals: an army of silhouettes drifting onto the pitch. A vast legion of them... dementors.]
"What are dementors doing there?" Screamed worrued Lily.
"Get away!" Yelled James.
[A distant whistle weaves into the wind, rises in pitch, not a whistle at all, but a... scream. A woman's scream. Anna's eyes flutter, and wisps of silvery white light float from her mouth. Her glasses glaze over completely. Her fingers, rigid, can no longer grip the broom and... She falls.]
"Nooo!" Yelled Gryffindkrs+Barty. Others watch nervousls.
Rose: No!!! [Anna and broom tumble in opposite directions. The Nimbus soars end over end, tossed by the currents, then drops... right into the Whomping Willow. FLOOMPH! Anna, in freefall, drops through one cloud,then another. Plummeting through the circling Dementors. Then... a tall figure rises from the crowd. Raises an open hand to the heavens. Eyes angry but clear. Dumbledore. An explosion -- more powerful than thunder -- rocks the air. A flash -- more fierce than lightning -- shocks the sky. And then... THE SCREEN GOES BLACK.]