The Forest - R.L.

Chapter 39 - The Wolf

"Oooh, what about this one?" Sirius asked, pointing to a dress in the top right hand corner of the Twilfitt and Tattings catalogue that had somehow made its way into his hands. "Don't you reckon Grace would love this one, Prongs?"

"Oh yeah, Pads. It practically screams Grace," James agreed, handing the girl the catalogue and pointing to a hideous pink thing that barely covered the model wearing it. "See? You can already tell by her face that she's in love with it."

"Absolutely," Grace replied with a scrunched up nose. "You guys are such a big help."

"We know," James and Sirius replied in unison, causing Peter to nearly choke on his half eaten carrot in laughter.

"It's a shame that my banshee of a mother has already sent me my dress robes," Sirius said, taking back the magazine. "I think I'd look hot in that dress."

Another half choking noise half laughing noise erupted from Peter.

"So, how are you guys feeling about tonight? Nervous? Excited?" James asked. It was clear that all of them were extremely jittery – James, Sirius and Grace had barely touched their plates all evening and even Peter was eating less than usual.

"Definitely excited," Grace replied. "Although I can't help but worry that somehow somethings going to go wrong. Like, what if someone sees us when we go out onto the school grounds? If they just look out their window and-"

"See pitch black because it's night time?" James pointed out.

"I know, I know. But..."

"Stop worrying about it. You're beginning to sound like Remus," Peter told her.

"Speaking of, should we head down? Since clearly none of us are in the mood to eat and it's nearly time anyway," James suggested and without another word four of them got up from the table and headed down the corridor where they had stashed the invisibility cloak and map behind a suit of armour.

After collecting their items, they headed to the exit of the castle, using the map to make sure that no one was coming their way. They then all huddled under the cloak and made their way outside towards the Whomping Willow. It was still too light outside so they needed the cloak to make sure they went unseen.

As they approached the tree, Peter whispered "Should I go now?"

"Now," James agreed and they all watched through the slightly transparent material of the cloak as Peter morphed into a rat and ran towards the tree, just as they had practised the other night. As he reached the base of the tree, he slowed down and went over to the knot on the trunk that would deactivate the tree's raging branches.

Once the branches had come to a complete stop, James, Grace and Sirius walked up to the tree and down into the little passageway it protected, taking off the cloak once they were under cover. Peter, now in human form again, followed.

Silently, they walked down the passageway, the taller ones in the group having to duck their heads, until they reached the entrance to the rickety old building known as the Shrieking Shack.

Remus was sitting on a rusty-framed bed in the small bedroom to the left of the main room. He stood up when he heard the shuffling noises that signified the arrival of his friends.

"How are you feeling?" Grace asked the sickly looking boy as he entered the room.

"Absolutely fantastic," Remus replied, the sarcasm dripping off of his words. "Now, I know I've said this a thousand times but I just wanted to remind you all, now that it's actually happening, that you really don't need to do this for me. You're all putting yourselves in way too much danger, and as much as I appreciate it, I still think you're all crazy."

"That's because we are," Sirius agreed, grinning.

"How much longer have we got?" Grace asked, peering through the slats of one of the boarded up windows. The sun had almost completely set by now.

"Not long. You should all probably go wait in the passageway while I... you know," Remus sighed, the humour gone from his voice. "It's not something you'd want to see."

James, Peter, Sirius and Grace all nodded before following his instructions and going back into the passageway. There was a small cracking noise as James morphed into a stag.

"Good idea," Peter squeaked, and suddenly there was a rat, a lion, a dog and a stag all huddled together in a narrow dirt passageway.

Since Remus had gone back into the small bedroom of the shack to transform, they could no longer see him from the passageways entrance so they all fell silent as they listened for any signal that the transformation had begun.

The first thing they heard was the heavy breathing, soon followed by a loud yell of pain that caused them all to wince. The shack fell silent, only to be broken again by a loud crack. The yells began to turn into screams.

It was terrible for the four of them. Listening and knowing that there was nothing they could do until it was over. That this had been happening to him since he was not even five years old.

When all of the noise had finally stopped, Grace noticed that there were tears forming in the corners of her feline eyes.

Sirius, who was closest to the exit of the passageway, looked back at them as if to ask if they should leave or not. He was just about to take a step forward into the shack when a large creak shook the building, followed by another.

Before they knew it, scruffy grey-brown fully transformed werewolf stood in front of them, looking at the group with curiosity.

---

We have a long weekend this week because ANZAC day is on Tuesday and my school decided to have their 'teacher planning day' or whatever on the monday so hopefully i'll have another update for y'all in a few days time!

Also I just wanted to than all of those amazing people who've been voting and commenting on this! And don't be afraid to point out spelling, grammar or plot mistakes. Your criticism is welcome!

- Grace