Prelude to Moondance

    A cool breeze wafted over the Hogwarts grounds. The trees of the Forbidden Forest reflected the silver moonlight, rustling back and forth under the force of the wind. Three figures trudged along the grass towards the Quidditch pitch, broomsticks in hand. As they neared the stadium, a pair of yellow eyes watched them with deadly intent. The three men heard a snarling sound, but it was too late. A werewolf came hurtling out of the edge of the forest, straight at them. He snarled and in one bounding leap descended upon his prey, growling with mad fury. The men screamed, long, terrible wails...

    Remus's eyes snapped open. He was tangled in his sheets, sweat drenching all of him, including the nightclothes he wore. He pulled open the bed curtains, breathing heavily; he realized that he was in the boy's dormitory, in Gryffindor tower...and at the present moment, he was not the werewolf in his dreams. He breathed a sigh of relief, his hands still shaking in fear of the vivid dream he had. He pulled off the shirt of his pajamas, leaving only a soaking white undershirt that was as pale as he was. He turned his gray eyes to the window; the moon was out there, waiting for him, mocking him...it was almost his time. He could feel it for the last two days; his defenses weakening, his skin becoming pale, his dreams becoming more violent. The werewolf inside was fighting to get out and soon it would be able to.

    He turned to the other side of his bed, and rested his head on the pillow. His breathing became shallow again and his eyes closed as he drifted off to sleep.

                ********************

    The full moon was to rise the next night. Remus had been stopped in the hallway by Madame Pomfrey, who informed him of the approaching moon, and instructed that he should make his way to the Whomping Willow at sunset (but before complete dark), even though he had until the moon was visible in its entirety (around midnight) to go through the transformation. She had allowed him to go out to the tree by himself, as she thought he was quite capable at his age, and he had to be responsible for himself later in life. The sun drew closer and closer to the horizon, hour by hour, and Remus waited, the icy hand of fear creeping over his body and consuming his every thought.

    Just before 6:00, Remus informed Peter, who was sitting by the fire and finishing his Astronomy homework, that he was leaving.

    “Okay, Moony. You’ll be alright?” asked Peter bracingly, turning his pale blue eyes upon his friend, knowing the pain Remus had to endure when going through his transformations.

    Remus clenched his teeth and tried to look brave.

    “We’ll see you in a bit, then,” Peter whispered, an anxious smile lighting up his small face.

    Remus nodded his head with a small smile on his face, clapped Peter on the shoulder and left the common room, a heavy cloak covering him. He treaded in silence down the seven staircases to the main corridor of Hogwarts. He had just reached the exit doors when he felt a hand upon his shoulder.

    “Mr. Lupin,” said a woman’s voice. Remus wheeled around, and was startled to see Professor Malodor, the potions teacher standing right behind him.

    “Uh...hello, Professor,” stammered Remus. He looked out an adjacent window and saw that the sun was very near the horizon, and the sky was turning orange.

    “Where are you off to, Mr. Lupin?” she asked in a kindly tone, her blue eyes not breaking contact with his.

    “I...er...I forgot my...book...at...near the Care of Magical Creatures area. Near the paddock outside, we were doing...erm...Demiguises,” he lied, faltering under her gaze.

    “Ah, yes. Very interesting creatures, Demiguises. Invisibility cloaks are made from them, you know?” she said to him, smiling.

     Remus only smiled, his anxiety and fear growing every second.

    “You were always very quiet in my class, Mr. Lupin,” Malodor began. “Why didn’t you take Advanced Potions?”

    “Um...well, I’m not very good at it,” he answered, his gray eyes darting past her again and again towards the window.

    “I could have helped you,” she insisted. “We could have set something up? Private lessons?”

    “I didn’t do too well on my O.W.L. in Potions. I don’t think extra classes would have helped,” he replied in haste. He could feel a nervous sweat building up on his forehead as the sun sank lower and lower.

    “Really, Remus, I could have helped you,” she said, reaching her hand out and touching his arm, her eyes taking a fleeting glance over his cloak-clad body. “You can still get into the class. I would love to have you, and we could meet during the week...alone...after class...and...” She didn’t finish her sentence, only smiling, her blue eyes fixed in an intense stare at him.

    Remus suddenly felt uncomfortable standing there, her hand stroking his arm, her face mere inches from his own. He felt unnerved...what was she playing at? Why was this professor touching him? It suddenly dawned on him what she was trying to say, and Remus could only try and hide his shock.

    “Well,” stuttered Remus, pulling away from the young professor, feeling his insides crawling, “I should go then, the book, er...it’s out there.”

    “Yes,” replied Professor Malodor irately, as he pulled away, rejecting her advances. “It looks like rain, doesn’t it?” She turned and looked out the window that Remus was staring out of. Remus nodded, and backed away from the bizarre Potions professor.

    He grabbed the door handle, stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind him. He paused for a moment to catch his breath and try to forget what had just happened, but the sun was down and he didn’t have much time to get under the Willow. He hurtled down the school grounds and only slowed when he reached the tree. Remus ducked a thrash from the tree, and used a summoning charm to obtain a nearby stick to push the knot at the front of it. The Whomping Willow stopped wriggling and he slipped under it, down the familiar passageway and into the bottom floor of the Shrieking Shack.

    He didn’t know how long it was before he felt his limbs twitching. He began doing what resembled a seizure-ridden dance routine, jerking this way and that, thick brown hair growing from his hands and feet, sprouting on his cheeks and covering his face. He cried and screamed in pain, dropping helplessly to his knees as the disease took over, tears of anguish pouring out of his eyes. Claws replaced his fingers; he roared in agony as he felt his spinal cord realigning, accompanied by a grotesque clicking sound. His gray eyes morphed into large golden ones, their range sharpening in dramatic proportions. A snout grew from his tear-stained face and in place of his normal teeth grew razor-sharp canines. He had a hold on his own brain for mere seconds before the werewolf took over completely. All emotion was gone, there was only anger and a bloodlust. He threw back his head and howled; the transformation was complete.

    It was midnight. The common room was almost empty. Gryffindors drifted in and out until finally, no one was left except five figures.

    “It’s late,” yawned Sariyah, stretching her arms above her head. She had just woken up from a short nap that had been interrupted by her Siamese cat, Orpheus, jumping into her lap. She gathered him up into her arms and stood up, and Sirius, sitting close by, did as well.

    “May I escort you to your stairs?” he said in a greasy voice, extending his arm. Sariyah hooked her arm in his and they walked in a very processional manner to the girl’s dormitory stairs.

    “Sweet dreams, Sirius,” Sariyah said, smiling sleepily.

    “You too, Sariyah,” he replied, giving Orpheus a pat on the head. Orpheus stared at Sirius as if he were a lower being, blinking his blue eyes once.

    “And-uh-well...don’t look now, but James and Lily are snogging again...like they’ve been doing the entire day,” Sariyah muttered, rolling her eyes. Sirius glanced back to see Lily and James, now locked in a tight embrace, standing beside the fire. Peter had buried his nose into a book, trying not show his repulse.

    “Yes, well I think that’s what you do when you’re dating,” chuckled Sirius. “Snog. A lot. All the time.”

    “Wish I had someone to snog,” sighed Sariyah. “The only thing I’ll be kissing tonight is my pillow.”

    “But in your sleep, it won’t be your pillow,” Sirius said, grinning wickedly. “It’ll be Professor William Evander.” He ducked a swipe from Sariyah’s hand, and knew she had enjoyed his joke, judging by the half-smile, half-fake anger look on her face. She turned and climbed the stairs and at the top, called for Lily to hurry up. Lily kissed James one last time and went up the stairs, and both of them disappeared into the dormitory.

    James sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I think I love her,” he murmured, still staring at the staircase.

    “Oh?” said Sirius, raising his eyebrows. “Jamesy is in love...” He let out a giggle in the manner of a flustered fifteen-year-old girl and for the second time that night had to duck as a copy of Transfiguration Today flew over his head.

    “Me and Padfoot had always thought you would never love anything but the Snitch,” chuckled Peter. “Guess we were wrong.”

    “Ah, you’ll only understand when you two have found someone to fall for,” James said knowingly. He pulled up a cushion from the armchair nearest the fireplace and pulled back the seat-bottom upholstery. Along with a silvery Invisibility Cloak, there were bottles of Butterbeer and boxes of Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans in a small hidden compartment under the chair.

    “Finally,” uttered Sirius. “I’ve been waiting for this all summer.”

    James, Sirius, and Peter huddled together under the Invisibility Cloak and exited the dormitory, down the stairs and out the door. As they neared the flailing tree, James pulled off the cloak and the three of them stood there, behind a clump of bushes, bathed in the moonlight, but hidden from view.

    “Alright, you two first,” whispered James. His Animagus form was too large to fit inside the Shrieking Shack entrance under the tree, so he had to get into the passageway before transforming. Sirius and Peter shrunk with a sort of humming sound, Peter turning into a rat and Sirius, a large black dog. Peter snaked with surprising agility between the branches of the Willow to prod the knot at the bottom of the tree and it stopped moving. He slipped in, followed by Sirius, then James, still in human form. As soon as they were in the passage, James morphed into a stag with russet colored fur, horns rearing. He had to bend his head in order to travel down the rest of the passage. The finally exited the tunnel into the first floor of the Shrieking Shack.

    Remus was nowhere to be seen. There were, however, more pieces torn out of the furniture than there had been before. Sirius pawed around the floor, sniffing for where the werewolf could have gone, but it was not long before he found out, as Remus came tearing down the stairs, attacking the large dog. The stag galloped towards the two canines and threw the werewolf off the dog, and waited for it to remember what it was doing. The werewolf sat in a corner, panting, staring at the other three animals with its fierce eyes.

    As soon as he realized where and who he was, the werewolf had sunk back into his normal state. If one were looking out of a Hogwarts window facing the grounds, they would certainly be surprised to see the figures of rat, dog, stag and wolf skulking around in the dark, off on their own business.