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Werewolf in the Tunnel


After dinner, James and Peter were on the way back up to Gryffindor Tower, and were nearly to the second floor stairs when James realized he’d left his wand on the table in the Great Hall and had to go back. “You go on, I’ll catch you up,” said James, and he ran back for the wand as Peter twitchily continued on up the stairs, wringing his hands with nervousness over the action of the plan that Sirius had stewed up. James trotted back down the stone steps and into the Hall, snatching his wand up from the mostly emptied Gryffindor table. “Dunno why I always forget you,” he told the wand, “I’m a ruddy idiot, I swear…” and he started back to rejoin Peter.

In the entrance hall, James found Fabian and Gideon Prewett, adjusting one another’s cloaks. He looked up at them as he walked toward the stone staircase. “Where are you lot off to?” he asked with curiosity in his tone.

Fabian looked over at him, “Just out, Mr. Potter. Resistance business. Going to be watching over the Shrieking Shack during the full moon tonight with Mr. Scamander.”

Gideon nodded, winking, “Just making sure there’s no further trouble from Greyback’s Army to be dealing with.”

James nodded, “Well, that’s good… careful of the dementors.”

“Of course!” the twins said together.

James waved, and headed up the stairs, clutching his wand in his fist as he thundered along up the steps, taking some of them two at a time, until he caught up with Peter Pettigrew on the sixth floor staircase. He held his wand up, “Got it.”

“Spiffing,” Peter said. There was a tremble to his voice.

“You alright, mate?” James asked, “You seem… worked up.”

“Good, fine, I’m brilliant, spiffing,” Peter nodded.

James raised an eyebrow.

“Really.”




Bradley and Remus sat on the couch in the Shrieking Shack together - Bradley was eating chicken fingers and chips from a greasy carton that Newt Scamander had brought back from the Hog’s Head. Remus was trying desperately not to gag over the scent of the food. He remembered when he was younger, how famished he used to feel on Full Moon Days, and he knew the younger boy needed to eat, regardless of how ill the very scent of that chicken and chips was making him feel. To distract himself, he told Bradley stories while he ate.

Bradley was laughing as Remus told him a funny story about a wizard who swallowed his wand by mistake and accidentally made magic when he got a case of the hiccups (which would really be quite impossible, but Bradley certainly seemed to enjoy it - especially the sound effects Remus was making and special effects with colorful sparks from his own wand). Bradley’s eyes sparkled and when Remus’s tale came to an end, he cried, “Another one! Please!”

Remus laughed, “It’s nearly moon rise, I dunno if we’ve time for another story.”

“Please, please, they’re so good!” Bradley begged, nibbling a chicken finger he held in his tiny fingers. He had a bit of sauce smeared on his cheek from eating and the end of his nose was dirty from Merlin knew what. Remus grabbed a napkin, reaching over to sweep the grime from Bradley’s face gently. Bradley made a face as Remus wiped him off. “Tell me one about a dog.”

“Alright, let’s see…” Remus murmured as he lowered the napkin and Bradley promptly returned to eating. Remus couldn’t think of any about dogs, aside from just one. He’d made Sirius tell it to him one night, when they’d laid awake in the dormitory long after James and Peter were asleep. He could hear Sirius’s voice and see the flourishing movements he made with his arms as he told it, and he took a deep breath -- “Once, there was a dog named Snuffles. He was a shaggy dog, with the darkest black fur you’ve ever seen on a dog before, and it grew sort of all over the place, with great tufts here and there. He had a loooong waggy tail and a biiiiig snout that was very good for smelling things… especially cooking sausages over a fire, which was his very most favorite…”

Bradley grinned, “I like this story,” he interrupted.

“Me, too,” Remus said, “My boyfriend told it to me, he made it up.”

“Who’s your boyfriend?”

Remus replied, “His name is Sirius, I dunno if you’ve met him yet.”

Bradley shook his head, “Dunno neither.” He paused then, “He makes good stories. Will he tell me them, too, if I meet him?”

“I’m sure he will, he’s very good at them,” Remus answered, nodding, “Loves telling them. And he’s very good at voices and impressions, too. He does the best impressions. Always knows how to make a person smile. Best boyfriend there ever was.”

Bradley smiled. “Do you reckon he’ll be my boyfriend too?” he asked, clueless.

Remus laughed.

And suddenly a sharp pain ripped through him, and he doubled over, tumbling from the couch onto the floor… his back cracking loudly as the moonlight had come in through the windows, through a high gap in the wood, striking him before it hit Bradley. Bradley leaped up, knocking the plate of chicken and chips to the floor and put his palm on Remus’s shoulder as the fur began to sprout out of his skin, his nose erupting into the snout of the werewolf.

Bradley stared, shocked by the transformation, his face quite pale as he stumbled backward, falling on his bum as he tripped over a bit of the chicken. Despite being a werewolf himself, Bradley had never actually seen the transformation happen before - the month before, when he’d been with Remus, his transformation had started as well at the same time and he was horribly terrified as he watched Remus change, his eyes wide and pouring out tears. It was as he sat there, scared beyond any fear he’d ever felt before - that the trap door in the floor across the room opened and a man poked his head through… and Bradley let out a cry of dismay and pain as the moonlight landed on him and his own change began.




Peter sat at his desk in the dormitory, glancing over at James, who was looking at himself in the mirror, poking at his hair, practicing at slicking it back different ways, trying to see what way looked the best. He tilted his head to the left and then to the right, running his fingers over his ears and staring at himself a long moment before grabbing a towel he’d brought up from the showers to shake it out and start over again.

“Which way do you think looks better, Pete?” James asked, “Over the top to one side or straight back?” he looked down at his pudgy friend.

Peter hesitated. “Neither really looks like you...” he answered hesitantly.

James frowned, then turned back to the mirror again, “Well of course not, I haven’t done it that way before… but which one looks better on me?” He swept it over the top to the side again, and looked at Peter. “I sort of like it like this. I mean, I’d have to shave it a bit along the side here to make it look right…” he waved his finger at the side by his ear, “Sort of a classic look, you know?”

Peter made a face.

“Well if I slick it back this way…” James ran his fingers through it, smoothing it straight back, “Then I shave round both sides a bit and leave it sort of longer on the top -- they used to do this look back in like the 20’s I think…” he looked at Peter.

“Why don’t you just leave your hair like it was?” Peter asked, “It looks stupid slicked at all.”

James sighed. “I need Sirius.” He turned away from the mirror and threw the towel over his hair again, messing it up and sopping away some of the Sleekeazy. He left the towel hanging ‘round his neck and went over to his bed, throwing himself upon it and opening the drawer in his nightstand to release the snitch captured with in, catching it almost instantly. “Where is he anyway?” he said, “Bleeder’s been gone since dinner.”

Peter glanced at the clock. It was nearly 8:30 already.

“Yeah,” Peter said.

James was playing at catch-and-release with the snitch, snatching it out of the air as it fluttered, a bit slower than it should’ve - the magic fading from the ball. He’d have to get a new one from the locker rooms next time he was down there - maybe at the game that weekend, since the rematch on Hufflepuff was finally coming about. He looked at Peter, “Any idea where he even went?” he asked.

“Maybe the library,” Peter muttered, but his face turned red and he turned around to face the desk.

James raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly Peter said, “I’ll go check if you like and tell him you want him to come see your hair.”

James sat up, “Pete? What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” But Peter’s voice cracked.

“Peter.”

Peter stared at James.

“Tell me what’s going on.”

Peter squirmed nervously, “I - I dunno, I don’t know anything about what’s going on or where Sirius is, I don’t know what he has planned for Snape or anything, I - I’m just - I’m not -- I was just -- the library!”

James stood up, lifting his wand from the nightstand, and the little ball zipped away, getting caught up in James’s bed curtains as it buzzed, trying to escape. James walked over to Peter and bent down, looking him right in the eye, bracing himself against Peter’s desk and the arm of the desk chair he sat in. Cornered, Peter’s squirming intensified. He stared up at James. “Peter. Where is Sirius?”

Peter shook his head. Sirius would never include him again in anything ever again if he gave up the secret!

James stared into Peter’s eyes. “I’ll hex it out of you if I must, but you know I really don’t want to inflict pain on you, Pete.”

He wouldn’t, of course, but Peter didn’t know that.

“He’s getting Snape back by turning into Snuffles in the Shrieking Shack and nipping Snape so Snape thinks he’s been changed and telling him to stay out of our business with his big nose so Snape learns a lesson and is too scared to talk again in the future about Remus or us or anything and I’m supposed to lead him out there but I’m late and please don’t hurt me I didn’t do it, it’s all Sirius’s idea!!! He said it was foolproof! Because Remus isn’t out there and Snape won’t meet a real werewolf, only him, as Snuffles and -- and --- and he’ll just be scared!” Peter squealed all n one long breath.

James blinked in surprise at this news.

“That bloody bleedin’ idiot!” he said, standing upright, “What a stupid plan! Snape isn’t going to believe that a dog is a werewolf, he isn’t a complete imbecile! Besides, Fabian and Gideon Prewett and the entire Resistance are with Newt Scamander watching for Greyback’s army around the Shack tonight and Sirius is going to be caught at playing the werewolf in there and end up in trouble and --” Suddenly James stopped a wave of cold fear going over him.

“I didn’t come up with the idea!” Peter wailed, “It was all Sirius!”

“FOR GODRIC’S SAKE --” James yelled suddenly, whirling around so fast that the towel fell from his shoulders onto the floor, his eyes wide with panic, “Bleeding Merlin…. Bleeding Merlin. Pete -- Fabian and Gideon and the Resistance are out there WITH NEWT SCAMANDER -- With Newt Scamander!”

“So?” Peter asked, trembling.

“SO REMUS IS SUPPOSED TO BE WITH NEWT SCAMANDER TO CHANGE INTO A WEREWOLF,” James shouted at him, “YOU GIT! REMUS IS IN THE SHRIEKING SHACK!”

Peter’s eyes widened. “But - but - but ---”

“IT ISN’T JUST A DOG THAT SNAPE WILL MEET OUT THERE, IT’S AN ACTUAL WEREWOLF! And it isn’t just a scare he’ll get! He could be killed!”

“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” Peter mumbled frantically, “Oh no, oh no, oh no…”

James grabbed his cloaks from the end of the bed. “Peter. Go get Dumbledore and Pomfrey. If something happens -- if we’re not in time -- we’ll need them as quick as possible.”

Peter was shaking, “But - but what’re you gonna do?”

“I’m going to go and try to stop Snape.”




Out at the Shack, Sirius Black had opened the trapdoor and pulled himself through into the dusty living room before he heard it - Bradley’s cry of surprise. He looked over just as Remus’s transformation was completed and the wolf stood up, letting out a great, long howl that shook the windows and the walls of the Shrieking Shack. “What the -- what’re -- Rey?” Sirius stammered, stunned, “But you’re not supposed to be -- Oh shit!” The wolf had come to itself faster than Sirius had and it ran at him - fast, and Sirius rolled away from the mouth of the trap door, ducking into the kitchen, crashing into the table and ducking ‘round it, bursting into his own transformation - Snuffle’s snout coming out of his face. At least if he got bit this way, he’d not change over, and Remus’s wolf smashed into the table, the force of it breaking two of the legs, sending the table down, Newt Scamander’s briefcase sliding off the top and hitting the floor, the latches undoing on impact...

Bradley was still shuddering on the floor by the couch, his little limbs changing into paws and a tail growing out of him… he watched as Remus’s wolf cornered the big fluffy dog and started scratching, scraping, swiping it’s paws at the dog, which let out a barking cry as one of the swipes caught him, sending him to the floor of the kitchen.

Sirius rolled out of the way as Remus lunged at him, teeth bared, and he started screaming the word alpha in their doggy language but it wasn’t helping - and he ran from the kitchen, racing past Newt’s case, kicking it in his rush, and the case spun across the floor of the Shrieking Shack, and noises of agitation came from within as the case slid away, hitting the end of the stairs, and the lid burst open.

The first thing out of the case was the Niffler, who was always on the ready whenever Newt and Tina had both left, and he scrambled hurriedly up the stairs of the Shack, his snout snuffling the ground as he went.

Sirius dripped in his surprise at seeing the Niffler, and slid across the floor himself, right toward Bradley, whose tiny wolf form was completed and howling, all little and puppy-like… Seeing th great big dog scared the werewolf pup, and he let out a barking cry, and scampered around the couch to hide, and Remus’s wolf let out a violent snarl and bounded across the room at Sirius, anger flashing in his eyes as protective instincts took over.

Sirius ducked, only just being missed by the leaping wolf, who slammed into the couch, and he ran for the trap door, his heart in his throat, and leaped down into the dark tunnel, the only escape he had… He could hear all sorts of insane noises coming from above him as he hit the ground in the darkness below the door, creatures escaping from Newt’s case, bursting through the walls of the Shack - there were shouts from outside, he could hear Gideon Prewett yelling loudly, though he didn’t know what was being said, and he hurried to get up, planning to transform back to his human form, to close the trapdoor behind him -- when suddenly Remus’s wolf was leaping into the tunnel after him, teeth bared...