Anna Potter and Prisoner of Askaban

Chapter 14

WHOMPING WILLOW
[As Pettigrew emerges from the gap, he prattles desperately.]
Pettigrew: Turn me into a maggot. A dung beetle. A Flobberworm! Anything but the Dementors... (as Rose emerges) Rose! Haven't I been a good friend? A good pet? You won't let them kill me, will you? I was your rat...
"I will kill that pathetic coward when i get my hands on him!" Muttered furious Remus.
[As Rose draws back in disgust, a sleepwalking Snape bumps his head against a low limb. Anna turns to Rose.]
Anna: Don't worry. He's under the Somnambulist Charm. It's primarily used to transport the seriously deranged.
Rose: Day i start worrying about Snape is day purple snow will come.
Gryffindors chuckle.
[Anna chuckles, than turns, sees Black staring in wonder at the castle, shining radiantly under the bright bowl of the night sky.]
Sirius Black: Beautiful, isn't it? I'll never forget the first time I walked through those doors.
Sirius smiled.
Sirius Black: It'll be nice to do it again. Freely. (turning to Anna) That was a noble thing you did back there. He doesn't deserve it. [Anna studies Pettigrew briefly, looks away. Lost in thought.]
Anna: I don't reckon my father'd want his best friends to be in Askaban forever for a worthless piece of vermin like Pettigrew. You spend more than enough time there. [Sirius studies Anna's profile, moved by this.]
"My pup." Said smiling Sirius with teary eyes.
Sirius Black: I don't know if you know, Anna, but when you were born, James and Lily made me your guardian...
Anna: I know.
Sirius Black: And, well, I'll understand if you choose to stay with your aunt and uncle, but, so you know, you could --
Anna: Come live with you? When?!
"She is so eager." Chuckled James.
Sirius Black: Soon as my name's cleared... [Anna looks at Hogwarts. Grins. Sirius does the same.Then, Rose's voice rises on the air, quavering with fear.]
Rose: Anna... [She turns, see Rose staring at the full moon. Lupin is a rigid silhouette, his fingers twitching.]
Sirius Black: Moony, my love... did you take your potion tonight? [Lupin, twitching, shakes his head.]
Everyone looks worried.
[Pettigrew's eyes dart, taking in the situation, then slowly shift, note the wand trembling in Lupin's lengthening fist.]
Sirius Black: Run. Both of you. Now. [But none of them do, transfixed, watching as bristles poke through Lupin's skin. Black steps forward, wraps his arms around his husband, presses his mouth to his ear.]
Sirius Black: You know the man you truly are, Rem. This flesh is only flesh. (pounding Lupin's chest) This heart is where you truly live. This heart! Here! [As Lupin's wand drops... Pettigrew leaps.]
"No!" Yelled Gryffindors.
Anna: No! (flashing her wand) Expelliarmus! [Lupin's wand flies from Pettigrew's hand and he freezes. Then slowly turns. Face blank, eyes closed, he... grins hideously. Transforms. Stunned, Anna watches a rat dart into the night.]
"I am sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so..." started Remus. Sirius grabbed his face.
"It 's not your fault, okay? You just forgot to take elexir in all this chaos. It's okay. Everyone makes mistakes." Said Sirius. Remus still looks guilty.
[A howl pierces the air and Anna wheels. With a shrug, Lupin tosses Black into the air, then turns. He is no longer human. He's a werewolf. Anna and Rose begin to edge back. The werewolf's eyes blaze. Long teeth glitter. Then... a horrifying growl erupts from its throat.]
Slytherins look scared. Gryffindors are worried for children.
[Anna and Rose spin, begin to flee... and run flat into Snape. As they collapse in a great clumsy pile, Snape's eyes flutter open, the spell broken. Seeing Rose atop him, he sweeps her aside...]
Snape: Out of the way! [... and finds the werewolf preparing to pounce. Leaping to his feet, Snape draws his wand and steps forward, shielding Rose and Anna. Rose and Anna look at him surprised.]
Everyone looks at Snape surprised.
[The werewolf howls, sprints forward, when --SWOOSH! -- a giant dog (Black) intercepts it in midair. They hit the ground in a fierce tangle of flashing teeth, a single horrible flailing beast. Again and again, the dog pushes the werewolf back, but the werewolf is too strong.]
Anna: Sirius! [The dog yelps, Roars in pain, and the werewolf flings it into the tall grass. As it charges after, Anna pushes past Snape, dashes into the night.]
"No! No." Muttered nervous James.
[Rose makes to follow, but Snape holds her back. Rose fights against his hold, but Snape grabbed her bitten hand and she closes her eyes and clentches her teeth in pain. Anna runs full out. Up ahead, framed against a full moon, she spies the dog, lying inert, the werewolf's razor-sharp claws suspended over its neck.]
Anna: NO!!! [Desperately, Anna plucks a thick branch from the ground and hurls it with all her might. Bull's-eye. The werewolf freezes. Turns.]
"Run! Get out of there! Do something!" Yelled panicked Lily. Remus looks guiltier.
[Begins to move toward... Anna. Anna draws her wand, terrified, but tormented as well, knowing Lupin dwells somewhere within the beast.]
Anna: Please, Professor. Don't make me... [Suddenly... a howl pierces the night. The werewolf falters, cocking its head toward the forest. Anna waits, petrified. The werewolf's eyes shift back to her. It snarls, moves closer, ready to kill.]
Remus's breath quickens. Sirius kisses him to distract him, but with his trembling hands we can guess he is just as scared for Anna.
[Anna covers her face with her arm, when a second howl echoes high above the forest. Slowly, Anna drops her arm. Looks. The werewolf bounds toward the forest, vanishes.]
People sight out in relief.
[Anna's eyes shift. In the darkness, the wounded dog lurches through the tall grass. Falls. Rises. Falls again. Each time becoming more human. As he disappears over the ridge, Anna sprints after.]
BLACK LAKE
[Anna stumbles down to Black, who lies on the water's edge, now fully a man, arms and face gleaming with lacerations.]
"I'm so sorry." Cried Remus, looking over Sirius like he was searching for injuries.
"I'm fine, Moony. It hadn't happen. It's not your fault. I am okay." Said Sirius. Remus nods.
"You are okay." Said Remus.
Anna: Sirius! [Anna looks into his glassy eyes.]
Anna: Sirius! [A fragile mist escapes Anna's mouth. A raw wind tosses her hair. Chill-bumps pebble her skin. A fringe of ice appears at the lake's edge. Then they appear, oozing like smoke through the trees across the lake. Dementors.]
"No! Please." Muttered exhausted James.
Anna: No... No! (drawing her wand) Expecto... Patronum! [A thin silvery wisp weeps from Anna's wand, hovering like a veil, but the Dementors continue to come. Anna places her hand on Black's heaving heart, poises her wand once more.]
Gryffindors are worried, so is Regulus and Narcissa.
Anna: Expecto... Patronum... [Anna's Patronus blooms briefly... and dies. Anna's eyes flutter, the dementors twisting madly in her vision, drawing closer. Black gasps. Silvery feathers of light tumble from his lips, as if his very soul were leaving him...]
"No!" Chokes out Regulus. Barty holds his hand.
"No!" Yelled James.
"It's all my fault." Cried Remus. Sirius watched it with numb shock.
[Then... a light splinters the trees. Anna squints, sees a fiery stag appear... its body luminous... slashing through the trees... sowing light in the darkness. The Dementors wilt in its wake, but more replace them, sweeping down in waves. Still, the stag charges on.]
Surprised Sirius and Remus look at confused James.
[The light expands. The forest blazing with it. The remaining Dementors flee, drifting across the moon like ash. The light ebbs. The stag's luminous body flickers. There is a bright flash and darkness returns, a single thread of light all that remains, spinning down to the size of a pearl... in the palm of man, standing deep in the trees. Anna studies the strangely familiar silhouette, then... it is gone. Silence drops like a curtain. Mist rises from the lake. As Snape appears at the top of the rise, we -FADE TO BLACK.]
HOSPITAL WING - NIGHT
[Camera pulls back slowly... A hand reaches out -- Anna's hand -- and sweeps the curtain aside. Rose lies opposite, her hand bandaged.]
Rose: Anna!
Anna: Rose!
Rose: Listen, Anna. They've captured Sirius. Any minute the Dementors are going to perform the Kiss.
"No. They can't! He is innocent!" Cried James, Lily and Remus.
Anna: The Kiss...?
Rose: It's what Dementors do to those they want to destroy. They clamp their jaws over the victim's mouth and... suck out his soul.
Anna: You mean, they're going to kill Sirius?
"Worse." Muttered Sirius.
Rose: No. It's worse. Much worse. You go on living. But you have no memory. No sense of self. You're just a shall. An empty shell...
Sirius takes shaky breath.
[As Anna reacts, the door opens and Dumbledore enters.]
Rose: Headmaster! You've got to stop them! They've got the wrong man!
Anna: It's true, sir. Sirius is innocent --
Rose: It's Scabbers who did it!
Dumbledore: Scabbers...?
Rose: My rat, sir. Only he's not really a rat. He's Peter Pettigrew. The point is... we know the truth. Please, sir, you must believe us.
Dumbledore: I do, Miss Weasley. But I'm sorry to say the word of three thirteenyear-old wizards will convince few others. A child's voice, however honest and true, is meaningless to those who have forgotten how to listen.
Everyone agreed on it with Dumbledore.
[As Dumbledore turns to the window, a shooting star plummets silently through the sky.]
Dumbledore: Ah... a shooting star. If ever one was to make a wish, now would be the time. But time, I'm afraid, is precisely our problem... [On cue, the midnight bell begins to chime... DING!...DING!]
Dumbledore: Mysterious thing, time. Powerful. And, when meddled with... dangerous. Sirius Black is in the topmost cell of the Dark Tower. (to Rose) You know the laws, Miss Weasley. You must not be seen.
"He doesn't mean..." said James.
"Why doesn't he do it?! Why order it to two thirteen year old girl?! They could die!" Screamed Lily.
Dumbledore: And you would, I feel, do well to return before this last chime. If not... well, the consequences are really too ghastly to discuss. Three turns should do it, I think. If you succeed, more than one innocent life may be spared tonight.
"Why does he always speak riddles?" Groaned Sirius.
[Dumbledore hands Anna and Rose each a stick of chocolate, then starts to go... stops.]
Dumbledore: By the way, when in doubt, I find retracing my steps to be a wise place to begin... Good luck. [He smiles, exits. Anna glances curiously at the chocolate.]
Rose: He never fails to amaze me. [Rose loops the pendant's long chain around Anna's neck as well as her own. The bell continues to chime -- DING! DING!]