Chapter 4
The tunnel was cold, dark and damp. What am I doing? Severus thought to himself as he trudged on. The walls were covered in moss and soil, and he could see the roots of the Willow woven into the walls and floor. He could hear the scurrying of insects and things he wasn't to sure he wanted to know the identity of. He felt a prickle of claustrophobia tug at the hairs on the back of his neck and his breathing become a little shallow. How much further? He was becoming more and more scared and the feeling was causing his bladder to feel tiny the more anxious he became. But curiosity was once again getting the best of him. And he didn’t much fancy turning back, to see the look on Sirius' face. He could imagine it, him whispering softly. Coward. Suddenly, he could see something. Dark and rotting. Wood. It looked like an entrance. Severus eagerly bounded towards it before noticing something else. Steps. Severus gingerly placed a foot onto the base and winced as it creaked loudly under his weight. Fear flashed through his belly as he realised that not only did he not know where the hell he was, but that what if he couldn’t get back? What if Sirius sealed the entrance to the tunnel or something? Panic began to bubble in his throat and he took several deep breaths. He had been walking down that tunnel for what had seemed an age but he wasn't too far from the castle. He couldn't be. And he had seen the unmistakable markings of footprints in the soil. Tracking back the way he came also.Think rationally. He blinked and realised the nearest place to Hogwarts was Hogsmeade. Of course. He must be there. But where. He continued up the steps and found himself in an expanse of wood, stairs and old doors. He blinked. Was he in an abandoned house? He gripped his wand tightly and whispered 'lumos maxima". The light filled what he realised was a tiny backroom. He was in some sort of building. He tiptoed carefully around to what he guessed was a tiny entrance hall. The place reeked of damp, reminding him uncomfortably of home. The paint on the walls were peeling, dust motes fell silently through the air illuminated by his wand. Some floorboards were gone altogether so he had to be careful where he stepped. A moth eaten rug was at the foot of the stairs and he gazed up to see a rusty chandelier draped in cobwebs that were so thick it looked like wool. Severus was about to turn back, it was kind of cool he guessed, until a sound made the blood turn to ice in his veins. A horrible low, guttural groan. A ghost! That's why Sirius had sent him here! To scare him with a ghost! We'll he'd bloody suceeded, the little creep. He needed to move. He needed to move and get the hell out of there, but his legs didn't seem to want to. And to his horror, the sound appeared to moving, closer to him. He realised with a wave of terror that the sound was coming from directly in front of him, at the top of the stairs. A dark figure was emerging from one of the rooms. Severus' eyes widened and he began to shake. Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit. Oh - wait...is that...? Clarity pushed to the forefront of his mind, sitting on top of the distress. He knew who it was. Exactly who it was. It was Lupin. Remus Lupin. It wasn't a ghost, it was a Hogwarts student. But why was he here? And what was wrong with him? Because something was. Terribly wrong. He was breathing heavily, clutching his chest. His groans were horrible to hear, low and laced with agony. He fell to his knees and Severus yelped involuntarily from the sudden sound as Lupin's knees hit the decaying floor. Lupin slowly raised his head and looked straight into Severus's eyes. As they looked at each other, Severus let out a small cry as his black eyes met Lupin's own, only they were glowing, an eerie yellow. They were hollow in Lupin's face and a streak of white light travelled down half of Lupin's form, down the stairs and onto Severus. Moonlight. Lupin suddenly arched back, and let out an almighty screamed that flooded Severus with such terror that he was sure his hair must have turned from coal black to snow white. Lupin continued to scream as his body contorted and Severus could hear bones apparently break, snap and shift as Lupin's scream began to change in pitch, lowering, into something inhuman. Dark hair began to sprout all over, hands turned into claws. Fangs dripping with saliva hanging out of an elongating and distending jaw. Oh my God. The word formed in his fear addled brain, dancing on the tip of his tongue. He had read it in the book, dismissed it away. The concept seemed so far away, but it was staring him in the eye. Werewolf. He saw the bloodlust in the wolf's eyes and Severus Snape began to scream, his voice mingling with the howling of the beast.
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"You...bloody idiot!" James yelled at Sirius before bolting past him and into the willow. He yelled for light from his wand as he raced through the tunnel. Something cold had wrapped itself around his gut. No no no! He couldn't believe it, how could he be so stupid? He knew that Sirius could tend to lean to the more reckless side of things but this? In their first flying lesson, he had tried to impress everyone by dangling off of an old nimbus with one hand and almost broke his leg. But he wasn't this stupid. The ginger guy who tried to sell them a knock-off deluminator in Hogsmeade - that guy was stupid. But not Sirius. But he had laughed when he told them. And only someone who had worms for brains would have put Remus in danger like this. On the day they had wriggled a confession out of him, one summer's evening in first year, he had cried and told them that his biggest fear was scaring someone, hurting someone, killing someone. It was why Dumbledore had planted the Whomping Willow and set up the Shack in the first place. Not just to protect Remus but to protect him from others. He had seen the horrible resignation in his face when he had assumed they all would have been disgusted in finding out he had been infected with lycanthtopy. Wanted to stop being friends. It plagued Moony everyday. And James had stupidly thought that they had all taken it seriously. It's why they had become animagi in the first place for crying out loud. Werewolves were almost exclusively dangerous to humans. Now Snivellus was that human in danger, and with a sudden, startling realisation, James knew that he was in danger now too. He'd only ever been in stag form around Remus as a wolf. He had been a little nervous but it had worn off. But he was about to see his friend in the form of a predator now. And he (and Snivellus) would be the prey. Unless Remus had gotten to the Slytherin already. Oh God. What if he was dead? Or been maimed? Or bitten? James began to morbidly envision the sight that he might come across. Blood smeared across the walls. He couldn't stand Snape but he didn't want him dead, a lifeless body wearing the green Slytherin robes. He had to be faster. Faster! He almost cried with relief upon seeing the entrance. He briefly thought about transforming but he couldn't have Snape finding out they were animagi. Even Dumbledore didn't know. He almost lost his balance as he continued to run into the shack, feeling gosebumps ripple across his flesh as he heard a long, distressing scream that he knew had to be Slytherin's and skidded to a halt to take in the scene in front of him: Severus Snape frozen to the spot at the bottom of the stairs, staring wildly and the large werewolf howling and still transforming at the top of the stairs. "For Merlin's sake RUN," he cried, snatching Snape's wrist and yanking him towards the exit, pushing him through and roaring "protego!" A bit of old wood collapsed against the exit. Hopefully Remus wouldn't try to follow. Please don't let him follow. He and Snape both raced through the tunnel, breathless, fear giving them strength to keep going. Snape tripped on a root and James hauled him up, dragging him to his feet. Close. Too close.