The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

Dementor Echoes

Dementor Echoes

The windows rattled with the sound of the wind - or of the dementors trying to get into the shack, one or the other, the boys didn't know which. But whatever it was, the dark mood that had hovered about the shack outside was lighter once they were in their animal forms. It was easier to ignore the rattling. Sirius wondered whether the alcohol he'd drank before transforming had anything to do with the lightness that he felt as Snuffles - the dark ball that had been resting in his heart the past few days was gone, though, and he actually felt rather playful and rambunctious...

He knocked Moony down a couple times, reminding him who was alpha, but it only took a couple before the werewolf ceeded and only a few minutes later and they had Moony's consciousness back from deep within the wolf. Sirius liked these full moons the most - when it was Remus in the wolf's body and he had control at least a little... these were the best sorts. And suddenly, he was quite glad that it was the full moon night and he was nipping at Moony's ears playfully as barking as Prongs kept getting his antlers stuck in the rafters of the little cottage and tripping over the round area rug in the living room. Wormtail squeaked from atop Prong's head, nestled in the hair between his antlers, tail wrapped around the base of one of them.

Lighter or not, it was probably still a stupid idea when Sirius suggested they go mess about in the woods, but none of them objected - after all, the dementors didn't seem to be so troublesome after all, did they? And so it was they fanangled their way out the door and Padfoot and Moony were racing each other across the meadow outback, snow flying from their paws as they barked at one another, Padfoot finally catching up and overtaking Moony, leaping up on him so that both dogs went rolling in the snow. The stag cantered along behind them merrily.

Under the cover of the trees, they ran through the bracken and leaves and jumped over logs and ducked branches. They went deeper into the forest toward the south than they'd done before and they found a herd of thestrals wandering through the trees, biting strips of bark from the birch wood trees, and they were hissed and squeaked at by wild bowtruckles in an alder that Padfoot had attempted to utilize as a toilet. The little bowtruckles were not amused by this and had chased Padfoot off into the woods, their tiny arms shaking in anger after him.

They ran an arc from the furthest point south they wanted to go and rounded their path back toward the castle. It was incredible how huge the Forbidden Forest was. It seemed to go on and on and on and on for untellable amounts of miles, and most of it completely void of any sign of human interaction. It was breathtaking to Sirius, the way the moss grew on trees when it was untouched by humans and there were times, running through those trees, that he wondered whether anyone had ever laid eyes on the things he and the other Marauders had seen out here - if the trees had ever had human company among them before - or if they were discovering parts of the earth that were theirs and theirs alone. He felt a bit like an explorer of olde, like he was discovering whole new worlds. Or perhaps the last people that had seen these trees were the likes of Godric Gryffindor himself or something - Sirius liked the idea of Godric Gryffindor exploring the trees the same as they did, perhaps having grand adventures or even discovering the land that he would show to the other Founders that would one day become Hogwarts? Sirius told himself all sorts of stories as they ran through the trees.

They reached the rocky shore by the lake after a long night of exploring and chasing rabbits and barking and playing at hide and seek and "hunting" Prongs - a sort of tag-you're-it game that James never got to win at. The moon was getting ready to set and the castle was just starting to turn a bit pink from the light of the sun that was coming up from the other side of it from where they stood - wolf, dog, rat, and stag - staring across at it. The giant squid was doing something in the water in the middle, his tentacles raising up and down like he was dancing, and they watched the funny motions for some time, the stag honking in laughter at the way the squid waved about. Later, in his bed in the hospital wing, Remus would suggest that the squid was doing yoga and the boys would all laugh. But that was later.