Harry Potter and the Ring of Slytherin: Year Six

* Finally my 5^th chapter is finished. I'm sorry I took so long to finish it. I just couldn't squeeze it into my schedule. This chapter is a bit weird and unexpected but I hope you'll still like it. I know I said Chapter 5 will be entitled Snape's Mission but I think that the title is a bit inappropriate for the story.

Chapter 5: The Flight of the Man-wolf

"Well, there it is! Home sweet home!" Tonks said in a very cheery tone.

Harry was suddenly brought back to his senses. He realized that he's been staring at the house with a very distant look on his face for quite a while. Tonks didn't seem to notice though for she was acting as cheerful as ever. She grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him towards the door.

"Come on Harry! Everyone can't wait to see you!" she said.

Harry did not know how Tonks managed to drag all the way to the door while his whole body was frozen and rigid with anxiety. The moment they got there she tapped the door with her wand and after a short while the door magically swung open.

Harry expected to see the extremely dark hallway that greeted him during his first visit at Grimmauld place, but to his surprise, what he saw was the complete opposite. He stepped inside a well-lit and elegant hallway that used to be the dark and decaying entrance hall of the House of Black. Instead of a threadbare carpet, a colourful new Bohemian one was now laying on the floor and above it was a shiny brass chandelier, instead of the cobwebby one he saw before. The walls, that used to be covered with peeling wallpaper was painted with intricate yet elegant-looking patterns that matched the carpet. The serpent candelabras and ornaments were replaced by lovely brass ones with red crystals as finishing touches. The age-blackened portraits of dark witches and wizards have also been replaced by brightly-coloured scenery paintings.

Harry felt like he just stepped inside a different house. This beautiful and warm home couldn't possibly be the dilapidated House of Black. There was not even a single sign that this house used to be inhabited by some of the darkest wizards in England. Harry was about to ask Tonks about the house's new appearance but she was too busy locking up the door they just entered. It's customary in the House of Black to make sure that all bolts and shackles are securely locked after entering the door since this is the secret headquarters of the Order of Phoenix.

On the other hand, the stunning new appearance of the house took Harry's mind off his worries. Since the house looked completely different, nothing could possibly remind him of his late godfather. His anxiety began to melt away and he started feeling rather happy and excited to see his friends. But where are they? Tonks mentioned a moment ago, that all of them there can't wait to see him, but why didn't anyone bother to greet him.

He looked around the first landing, and there was no one in sight. All the rooms were empty and the house was awfully quiet. He checked out the kitchen. There was a pot of soup boiling at the stove and the table was set for twelve people but no one seemed to have shown up for dinner. He was heading towards the entrance hall when he heard a loud, echoing crack. That sound could only mean one thing: somebody just Apparated or Dissapparated.

Harry quickened his pace as he walked towards the entrance. Tonks might have an idea about what was going on, but when he got there she was gone. Then he heard a very loud noise coming from upstairs. It sounded like a full-grown man howling in terrible pain. He instantly ran upstairs, following the noise.

The hallway on the second landing was quite empty, but the noise seemed to be coming from one of the bedrooms. Harry could see door at the end of the corridor was slightly open. The noise must be coming from that room. He hurried towards it, but before he could reach the knob he heard a very familiar woman's voice.

"The Death Eaters didn't see our faces but they sent a pack of werewolves after us! You-know-who must be getting really powerful if he's able to control the werewolf pack!" she said in a very shaky voice. "Well, I must head back to their base before they get suspicious. Take good care of him!"

Then Harry heard the same loud, echoing crack, and when he opened the door the woman had already Disapparated. Harry was certain that he's heard that voice before but he couldn't remember when heard it and to whom it belonged to.

He slowly entered the room, and what he saw shocked him. It was his least favourite professor at Hogwarts, Snape, all sprawled up on the floor and bleeding to death. His black robes were torn up everywhere and his whole body was covered with really deep wounds. The floor was covered with blood and Snape writhed and curled with excruciating pain. Harry always hated Snape but he couldn't help but feel sorry for him at that moment.

Snape was surrounded by at least a dozen wizards. All of them were really busy that they didn't even notice Harry enter the room. At the centre of the room, Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were trying to clean up Snape's wounds along with two members of the Order, Hestia Jones and Emmeline Vance. On the left side of the room, Ron and his brother, Percy, were helping Mrs. Figg chop some pyrina roots and Hermione and Professor McGonagall were brewing a potion in a large cauldron, while Lupin, Moody, Tonks and some wizards Harry had never seen before were having a heated argument on the other side.

Harry walked towards Hermione. He wanted to ask her about what was going on, but it didn't seem like the right time, so he blurted out, "Can I help?"

Noticing him for the first time, Hermione weakly smiled at him and said, "Oh, hi, Harry! I didn't see you come in!"

"That's alright! You guys seemed to have more than you could handle in your hands right now!" said Harry, trying to look as cheerful as possible.

He was about to say something when Professor McGonagall interrupted. "Potter, you're here. Good. Now, there's a barrel of toadstool at the kitchen downstairs. You two bring it up here this very instant."

Before Harry could say yes, Hermione grabbed his arm and dragged him out. They headed downstairs in a very fast pace.

"I'm so sorry you had to see the place in such a mess. We weren't even able to give you a proper welcome. But, we really are glad that you're here, it's just that it's such a bad time. It's not usually like this in here!" Hermione explained while they were walking down the stairs.

"Don't worry, I understand. But what is going on back there? What happened to Snape?" asked Harry.

"Werewolves...he got bitten by werewolves," replied Hermione in a horrified tone. "He was in an undercover mission with another member of the Order. They were spying on a Death Eater meeting, but one of the Death Eaters saw them and ordered a pack of werewolves to attack them." She paused for a moment, to catch her breath, "Oh, it was horrible! He Apparated here with werewolf bites all over his body! He was barely breathing when he got here! I never liked him but I really feel sorry for him!"

"But if he's bitten by a werewolf doesn't it mean that he'll become one too?"

"He should have been. Luckily, a potion was invented by a Spanish warlock just a couple of years ago to counter that, the Vuelo Humanolobo or the Flight of the man-wolf. It's a very complicated potion, but it only takes a few hours to make. Professor McGonagall and I had been working on it for the past couple of hours. That's why we must hurry with the toadstools! If Snape doesn't drink that potion before midnight, he'll either turn into a werewolf or die! Very few people survive after being bitten by almost a dozen werewolves."

After getting the barrel of toadstool, the two of them carefully carried it upstairs. When they got back, Snape was already laying unconsciously on the four-poster bed. Lupin was pointing his wand at him and bandages came out of its tip and were covering all of his wounds. Harry and Hermione handed Professor McGonagall the barrel of toadstool and she carefully poured its contents into the cauldron. The murky green liquid suddenly turned purple and began to bubble.

"Is it supposed to look that disgusting?" Harry whispered to Hermione.

"This is exactly what it's supposed to look like, Mr. Potter!" Professor McGonagall replied. Apparently, Harry's whisper was loud enough for her to hear.

She cleared her throat and said in loud voice for all to hear, "Well, the potion is ready! Let's just hope that it will be able to heal him!"

She placed a small amount of potion in a glass vial and handed it to Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley carefully poured its muddy contents into Snape's mouth and the unthinkable happened.

Snape suddenly sat upright and opened his eyes, only they weren't Snape's dark eyes anymore but terrifying wolf's eyes. He fiercely glared at everyone in the room and then he tore his robes and howled like a wild animal. Then his prominent nose slowly turned into a snout, his hands and feet turned into sharply clawed paws and thick black fur began sprouting in every part of his body. As the transformation neared its completion, the wilder he became. He began tearing the bed apart. Torn-up fabric and wooden splinters flew in every direction. Snape howled even louder as the long, sharp, yellowish fangs appeared in his long snout. Alas, after a few painstaking seconds, the transformation was complete. The horrifying werewolf emerged from the pile of wood that used to be a lovely antique bed. He glared at them once more, as if selecting his victim. Harry looked at the wizards around him, but none of them seemed concerned with the fact that a werewolf was about to attack them. They all just stared at Snape as if they were waiting for something to happen.

"Why isn't anyone doing anything?" Harry anxiously said to Hermione.

"Shush Harry! Or it'll... Aaaargh!" Hermione wasn't able to finish what she was saying for the werewolf suddenly charged towards Harry.

Harry didn't know what to do. He searched for his wand but he couldn't find it. He must have left it in his trunk downstairs. As the werewolf leaped on top of him, all Harry could do was hold his breath and shut his eyes. He could almost feel the wolf's sharp claws ripping his arms off and its wide jaws fixing itself on his neck.

"Harry, open your eyes! It's over, look!" Hermione whispered to his ears.

Harry slowly opened his eyes and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. The werewolf was frozen in mid-air. And the transformation seemed to be happening again, only this time it was backwards. The thick black fur was becoming thinner and thinner, the long snout became shorter, the fangs were slowly returning to their normal size and within a few seconds, Snape's prominent nose and dark eyes materialized. Once Snape returned to his original state, he fell to the ground, unconscious, and a thick cloud of smoke came out of his mouth and it formed the shape of a wolf. The ghost-like wolf departed from Snape's body and hovered around the room for a few seconds before it finally vanished into thin air.

Harry was still rooted to the spot even though Snape was back to normal. The fact that he was that close from being nibbled on by a werewolf left him in a state of shock. Well, he was able to prove one thing through this incident: Snape will always hate Harry, no matter what form he's in.