An American at Hogwarts

Chapter Sixty-Two

"Ana, are you seriously telling me that fucking werewolf that looks like it's about to murder me is Professor Lupin?"

"Confirmed."

I sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of my nose through my suit.

"Of course it is." I took a quick glance around, trying to evaluate my surroundings without provoking the thing that was apparently Professor Lupin. "I'm guessing we can't just fly straight up and back to the castle?"

"No, we can't. The trees are too thick and there may be some magical barrier that I'm unaware of."

"Obviously. It would be too easy if we could just fly right out." I sighed, then focused back on Professor Lupin. "I guess I'm going to have to do this the hard way then. Let's go see if werewolf claws have any affect on titanium-gold alloy."

I stood up, and as soon as I did Professor Lupin charged. I didn't want to hurt him if I could avoid it, but he was headed straight for the defenseless, vulnerable, unconscious Jackson so I didn't have much choice. I powered up one repulsor to the lowest setting possible and hit him square in the chest.

To my dismay, it barely did anything to him. He just looked surprised as he stopped in his tracks, then seriously pissed as he turned and looked at me.

I swore and powered down my repulsor, deciding I needed a change of tactics. I popped my face mask and tried to look as friendly as possible as I stared down an angry werewolf that only stopped out of curiosity when I hit it with a repulsor.

"Professor, it's me. Alexa. Remember? We're friends. You gave me chocolate and helped me with my boggart when it was kicking my ass."

He didn't attack right away, which made me think I was getting through to him, but then he snarled and started barreling straight towards me.

I swore and shot up in my suit as high as I could go, slamming my face plate back into place. Lupin had enough momentum that he blew right past where I was standing a minute ago, giving me just enough time to swoop down and grab Jackson.

"Ugh, even beat to hell for the past six months you're still stupidly heavy," I whined to myself. With the help of the suit, I managed to secure Jackson and start heading out of the forest.

Of course, nothing was ever that easy.

"ALERT: Enemy approaching from behind," said Ana. I checked my display and sure enough, Professor Lupin was coming in hot on my heels. Normally I'd be able to outrun him in the suit, but with such heavy tree cover I couldn't just fly in a straight line. Jackson's dead weight certainly wasn't helping anything either.

"Ana, deploy flares. It's dark in here, see if you can blind him." While she worked on that, I poured all of my focus into going as fast as possible without slamming into a tree.

The flares slowed him down a little, but he still easily kept pace with me. Something needed to change, now, or Jackson and I were going to be werewolf bait.

"Ana, how much longer to the treeline?" I asked.

"Two miles."

I groaned and started trying to come up with a new plan when I felt something grab my ankle in the suit. I panicked and kicked as hard as I could, speeding up despite the trees that still blocked my path. My kick hadn't done more than put Professor Lupin off a few steps; he was still hot on my tail. I needed a magic Stark stroke of genius right now.

By some miracle, I actually got one.

"Ana, can werewolves climb trees?" This plan was a longshot, especially since I still had to deal with Jackson, but it was the best plan I had.