The Mighty Stag
Harry
"Well, hello, Barty," Remus said pleasantly, as though rats frequently erupted into old school mates around him. "Long time, no see."
Crouch's eyes were trained solely on Regulus as he snarled. "Go ahead, Regulus. Try all you wish. I doubt you could do it; never had the guts."
Regulus was staring at Crouch with the utmost loathing. "You vile, pathetic-"
"Regulus," Sirius cautioned and pulled him away. James pinned Crouch to the ground.
Remus suddenly turned to Sirius. "How long have you known about Regulus being an animagus?"
Sirius winced guiltily. "I suspected at the start of school. I saw this black cat that seemed to shadow me whenever it could, and that it had silver paws and grey calculative eyes... I figured it out pretty quickly. Then I helped him; proper food and clothes and all. I swore I wouldn't tell anyone. I'm sorry."
Remus shook his head with a small smile. "It's okay, Padfoot. We understand."
James was scowling a bit but nodded in agreement with Remus. Regulus growled at Crouch. "You were supposed to be my friend, Barty. My best friend." his voice broke at the end. "Why?"
Crouch scoffed. "Isn't it obvious? You were conspiring to betray our lord. I made sure you couldn't. I had Evan murdered for the same reason..."
Regulus gasped. "You did what?"
Crouch shrugged. "To be honest, I told them to maim him. They killed him instead... I avenged him by killing those men, in a way. He was my best mate, after all. But our Lord was the most important to me, and is, to this day. I wanted to spare you, though, Regulus, and I would have... if you hadn't pushed me that far that day..."
Before he could say anything else, though, there was a loud bang. James had stunned and bound Crouch and was now levitating him. "Come on up to the castle, eh? We can hand him over, get your name cleared, Reg..."
"I wouldn't be-"
"You would," Sirius said with conviction. "You've already spent thirteen years in prison. Enough to atone for your minimal crimes, brother, seeing as you barely ever used an unforgivable. You were forced, not a willing Death Eater."
Regulus didn't look sure, but didn't argue as he nodded slowly. "Fine..."
"I'm really sorry, by the way," Sirius turned to Ron guiltily. "For your leg... and arm..."
Ron huffed. "Whatever. How am I gonna get out of here?"
"I can stun you," Harry offered. "We can levitate you to the Hospital Wing, if you want."
Ron didn't look too happy about that but nodded. "I'll do it," Remus offered. "James, you can carry Crouch."
Charles
Charles had never been part of a stranger group. Crookshanks led the way down the stairs; Remus and Ron went next, with the latter floating in the air, unconscious. Next went Harry and Jéricho, and then James with Crouch, who was drifting creepily along, his toes hitting each stair as they descended. Charles and Hermione were next, with Sirius and Regulus brought up the rear.
Getting back into the tunnel was difficult. Remus had to be careful to not hurt Ron. Crookshanks was still in the lead. James was still making Crouch drift along ahead of them; he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. Charles had the impression James was making no effort to prevent this.
They didn't speak till they had reached the end of the tunnel.
Crookshanks darted up first; he had evidently pressed his paw to the knot on the trunk, because Remus clambered upward without any sound of savaging branches. James saw Crouch up through the hole, then stood back for Charles, Hermione, Sirius, and Regulus to pass. At last, all of them were out.
Silently they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Crouch was still drifting weirdly ahead of James, his chin bumping on his chest. And then -
A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight.
Crouch collided with Remus, who had stopped abruptly. They all froze, and James flung out one arm to make Charles and Hermione stop.
Charles could see Remus' silhouette. He had gone rigid. Then his limbs began to shake.
"Oh, my -" Hermione gasped. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!"
"Run," Sirius whispered. "Run. Now."
But Charles couldn't run. Ron was still there... He leapt forward but Regulus caught him around the chest and threw him back.
"Leave it to us - RUN!"
There was a terrible snarling noise. Lupin's head was lengthening. So was his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws. Crookshanks's hair was on end again; he was backing away -
As the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws, James and Sirius disappeared from Charles' side. They had transformed. The dog and stag bounded forward. Then suddenly...
Charles watched in awe as Harry and Jéricho began to change... a minute later, a smaller version of Padfoot and a black panther were there...
Charles couldn't process it all. As the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, Harry (as a dog) seized it about the neck and pulled it backward, away from the others. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other. Sirius, James, and Jéricho had also joined in. All four attacking Remus and trying to make him back away.
Charles stood, transfixed by the sight. Regulus seized his arm from behind just as Hermione screamed...
Crouch had awoken and managed to break the spell on him (how, Charles had no idea) and dived for Remus' dropped wand. There was a bang, a burst of light - and Crookshanks flew into the air and back to the earth in a heap.
"Expelliarmus," Charles and Regulus yelled, pointing their wands at Crouch; Remus' wand flew high into the air and out of sight. "Stay where you are!" Charles shouted, running forward.
Too late. Crouch had transformed. Charles saw his bald tail whip through the manacle on Ron's outstretched arm (who had fallen on the ground after the spell on him had lifted) and heard a scurrying through the grass.
Out of the corner of his eye, Charles saw that Regulus had also tranformed and ran after Crouch, abandoning Charles and Hermione with an unconscious Ron and a fallen cat. There was a howl and a rumbling growl; Charles turned to see the werewolf taking flight; it was galloping into the forest -
"Dad, he's gone, Crouch transformed!" Charles yelled.
They all were bleeding, but Sirius the most heavily; there were gashes across his muzzle and back. At Charles' words, he scrambled up again, and in an instant, the sound of his paws faded to silence as he pounded away across the grounds. James had transformed back and yelled for either or both Harry and Jéricho to help the others back to the castle before running off after Sirius.
Harry ignored their father and pounded away, though, which was completely expected. Jéricho seemed to be torn for a moment before he transformed back into a human and yelled, "Charles, get Ron. Hermione, you gather your cat. Let's go-"
But then, from beyond the range of their vision, they heard a yelping, a whining: a dog in pain...
"Oh no," Charles muttered, staring into the darkness.
He had a moment's indecision, but there was nothing they could do for Ron at the moment, and by the sound of it, the others were in trouble -
Charles set off at a run, Hermione right behind him, Jéricho having surpassed them already as a panther. The yelping seemed to be coming from the ground near the edge of the lake. They pelted toward it, and Charles, running flat out, felt the cold without realizing what it must mean -
The yelping stopped abruptly. As they reached the lakeshore, they saw why - Sirius had turned back into a man, and was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head. Beside him were James and Harry, desperately creating patronuses and trying to protect Sirius.
'Nooo," Sirius was moaning. 'Nooo... please..."
And then Charles saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake toward them. He spun around, the familiar, icy cold penetrating his insides, fog starting to obscure his vision; more were appearing out of the darkness on every side; they were encircling them...
"Hermione, Charles, think of something happy!" Harry yelled as Jéricho joined them in their attempts. It was still not enough. Charles raised his wand, blinking furiously to try and clear his vision, shaking his head to rid it of the faint screaming that had started inside it -
He forced himself to think of random happy memories and began to chant: "Expecto patronum! Expecto patronum!"
Sirius gave a shudder, rolled over, and lay motionless on the ground, pale as death.
Harry was now crouching on the ground beside his godfather himself, and his voice was turning to a whisper. Charles was terrified; he hadn't ever produced a patronuus before, and if the others couldn't hold it...
"Expecto patronum!" Charles shouted, blinking tears away. "Hermione, help me! Expecto patronum!"
"Expecto --" Hermione whispered, "expecto -- expecto --"
But she couldn't do it. The dementors were closing in, barely ten feet from them. They formed a solid wall around them and were getting closer...
Charles felt Hermione collapse next to him, and had a moment of inspiration that ignited in his for no reason. He imagined all his family together. All his friends. Lyra wasn't angry with him, Regulus was well and alive, and Harry was... married?
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Charles yelled.
A majestic stag burst out the end of his wand and joined the smaller one of his father... and Charles realized they were exactly the same...
That was Charles' last thought, though, before he felt his knees hit the cold grass. He felt the last of his strength leave him, and his head hit the ground as he fainted.