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EXAMS ROLLED around and were done with. Perrie was so relieved and she just knew that all her studying paid off, and so she decided to give herself some relaxing time.

The Whomping Willow was not a place one would go to relax. The constant fear of getting hit by it kept many students away. However, the small ledge some meters away from the tree had a fantastic view of the forest and Perrie hadn't been able to do any painting or drawing due to studying.

She was leaned over her sketchbook, drawing the outline of a face. Originally, she planned on drawing the forest, but ever since her date, she hasn't been able to erase Fred Weasley from her mind.

The two still weren't dating. Other than harmless, casual flirting, nothing happened. They were just friends who clearly had an enormous amount of romantic tension.

Perrie's concentration was broken by shrieks. She jumped and dropped her sketchbook, turning around before scrambling to her feet. Ron Weasley was screaming his head off as he was being dragged away by a large black dog.

He noticed Perrie and screamed for her to help him. Frantically, the girl ran towards the third year wizard, grabbing onto his arm and trying her best to pull him away from the dog. The dog snarled, letting go of Ron. Perrie pulled Ron closer to her, crawling in front of him so she was in between him and the dog. Ron whimpered, inching further away.

Unfortunately, the dog didn't give up and launched itself at Ron again, dragging him once more. Except this time, Perrie was being dragged with.

Ron continued to scream for Harry while Perrie desperately kicked her legs at the dog and tried to hold onto things. The dog dragged them into a hole underneath the Whomping Willow and finally let go when they were in a room.

"What the bloody hell is going on?!" Perrie asked, hiding her fear with anger. "Are you okay Ron?" She asked, turning around and crawling to the ginger. She inspected his bleeding leg and grimaced when she realized it was broken, nearly throwing up her breakfast from earlier at the sight of his bone. "Bad dog! Are you on drugs or something? Bloody hell."

Perrie and Ron inched as far back from the dog when it started to growl, watching in horror as it grew bigger and bigger until it transformed into a man.

"Not drugs," The man said. "Just years of thirst for revenge."

Perrie furrowed her eyebrows, her chest tightening. The man in front of them was the notorious Sirius Black. She tried to control her breathing, knowing that she couldn't have a panic attack now because she needed to keep Ron safe. "What the fuck? He's a kid, he didn't do anything!"

Harry and Hermione burst into the room, eyes darting to Ron and Perrie immediately. They asked about their safety while Crookshanks strolled to the other side of the room, sitting beside the man.

"Harry!" Ron interrupted. "It's him!"

The boy who lived turned around quickly, his wand raised. He was ready to avenge his parent's death when Professor RJ Lupin burst through the doors and quickly disarmed Harry. Shocked, the four students stared as the professor hug the man who was allegedly responsible for more than a dozen deaths.

Hermione was the first to speak.  "We trusted you," she shrieked, "and...and all this time you've been betraying us? And you're a werewolf too, aren't you? That explains why you're never present in class around the full moon."

Perrie decided to tune the group out as she turned to tend to Ron's bloody limb, realizing that he was rapidly losing blood.

"Let us explain!" Professor Lupin said loudly. He began to speak about his years as a student at Hogwarts, and how his friends, Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew, learned to become animagi in order to help him during his transformations. And as he was speaking about a practical joke set on Severus Snape by James Potter, the Potions master threw Harry's invisibility cloak off his body, his wand at the ready.

Before any incantation could be murmured, Harry disarmed the professor with Hermione's wand, rendering him unconscious. "Harry!" Hermione scolded. "You just disarmed a teacher!"

Perrie scoffed under her breath. "Priorities, sheesh." She mumbled inaudibly as she continued cleaning Ron's wound. She continued to pay no mind to the escaped prisoner of Azkaban, the DADA professor, or the Golden Trio until she heard Sirius Black shout about waiting twelve years for revenge.

Nobody expected the man to point his wand towards the ginger holding a rat and accuse him of betraying Lily and James Potter.

"Are you mad?" Perrie asked, swallowing the lump in her throat. "He's a kid!"

"No! Not him! The rat!"

"He's mental!" Ron said.

Sirius Black rolled his eyes. "Don't you find it a little odd that a common garden rat such as that one lived for so long? And that rat, he's missing a toe isn't he?"

"That doesn't mean anything."

Scabbers the Rat jumped out of Ron's hands and attempted to escape. Perrie watched in shock as two grown men chased a rat around the room before finally casting a spell that changed the rat into a fat, smelly, and hideous man. "Peter Pettigrew."

"Remus! Sirius! My old friends!" The plump man made another go at escaping but were blocked by the two men. "Harry! You look just like your father!"

"How dare you speak of James in front of him?" Sirius howled.

As much as Perrie wanted to pay attention to all the drama happening, she knew that Ron's leg could be seriously infected and to be frank, she had no idea what she was doing other than trying to clean and heal it.

After saving Peter from murder on the spot, but promising him a kiss from the Dementors, the entire group was leaving the shrieking shack. Harry was helping Ron and so Perrie decided to walk with Professor Lupin while he restrained Peter Pettigrew.

"Did Ron ever bathe you?" Perrie said bluntly. "Bloody hell, you smell."

Remus snickered quietly before clearing his throat. "Uh, sorry you got dragged into all of that, Ms. Wood. It's come to my attention that you were only trying to save Ron. My apologies that your recreational activities were uh interrupted."

Perrie shrugged. "It's okay. I was only sketching. Besides, this is a story I'm sure Diana and Cedric will force out of me." The group came to a halt outside the Whomping Willow, allowing Sirius and Harry some time to talk and get to know each other. "I'm sorry about your lycanthropy. You'd be the last person who deserves that kind of pain."

The DADA professor smiled, sighing. "No, Ms. Wood. That would be yo-"

"Harry!" Hermione screamed again. "Look!" She pointed to the moon, which was full and uncovered by clouds now.

Professor Lupin turned around and groaned in agony as his transformation began. Peter Pettigrew took advantage and grabbed Perrie's wand from her hair, turning himself into a rat once more. Perrie was glued to her spot and she couldn't move, not even when Professor Snape yelled for her.

Sirius Black tried to hold his friend down, shouting reassuring and calming words. But alas, the man was a wolf now and he took one look at Perrie and pushed her down. The fifth year barely had time to register anything before Professor Snape pulled her to her feet. Scrambling, Perrie grabbed her wand. "Bring yourself and Mr. Weasley to the hospital wing now. All of you, get to safety!" Snape ordered.

Perrie didn't wait to be told twice. She shoved her wand in her pocket and she helped Ron to his feet, basically carrying him to the hospital. She expected Harry and Hermione to be right behind her, but the two were gone when she looked back.

"Merlin," she muttered. "Give me the strength to not murder these three."

Perrie and Ron were seen right away and while Ron moaned in bed, Madam Pomfrey was inspecting the cut on Perrie's face. She was nervous that she would be infected but the school's nurse reassured the girl that she was safe and okay.

"You're welcome, by the way." Perrie muttered, sitting up in bed.

Ron turned around and looking at the girl with an eyebrow raised.

"I just assumed you were in too much pain to remember to thank me for saving your foot, you know. Not to be like cocky or anything."

The ginger smiled and rolled his eyes. "You're so full of yourself, Perrie."

"And you're a git just like your brothers."

reckless ϟ fred weasley Where stories live. Discover now