Chapter Twenty-Nine
"Into the Dark"

Page One

Harry looked out upon the vastness of a rolling hillside whose soft green slopes stretched out as far as the eye could see. And in the distance, a mighty mountain range reached upwards towards the cloud-covered sky, the elegant white pillows of atmosphere tickling the very tips of the snow-capped mountains.

Harry was standing on a tall cliff, overlooking a peaceful lake where ducks, fish and many other breeds of animals were playing in the water. He closed his eyes, soaking in the soft sense of contentment that swam through the air around him. There were no words to express his inner peace at that very moment. His eyes still shut, he spread his arms wide, greeting nature and all of its splendor as he took in a deep breath through his exhilarated nostrils, but he quickly choked as water filled his nose and throat.

He was startled awake to find that he was lying in a puddle of brown earth, rain falling rapidly towards him, soaking his robes straight through to the skin.

"Eugh," groaned Harry as he tried to extract his hand from a gooey patch of mud. He was completely covered in sopping wet dirt. He sat up, the mud glorping its disapproval of his departure. He reached around and felt the back of his head; his hair was too icky for belief. Twigs, small rocks and wet grass were tangled in his hair, along with countless globs of the mud he had been laying in.

Harry brought himself to his feet, trying desperately to brush the mud off his backside, but the rain that was falling ferociously protested, only making the dirt run down his robes until his once black garment looked as if he had been streaked with brown paint.

"Eugh," he repeated in disgust. A brilliant light flashed across the sky, directing his attention upwards just as thunder bellowed back at the lightning. The rain stung as it hit Harry's upturned face, but he was too distracted to notice. He was in awe of what was in the heavens above him: the moon was peaking out from behind a dark gray cloud, which obviously would be considered normal, had it not been for the second moon which was on the opposite side of the cloud. Harry shook his head, thinking he was seeing doubles, but he soon realized he had not been mistaken. There it was, clear as could be, one moon at half-phase and another at full, which was glowing an odd shade of yellow/orange. Harry blinked hard, unwilling to believe it.

I'm just dreaming again, he thought. First rolling hillsides and now this… I'm going conkers.

His thinking was interrupted as his eye met with another strange sight. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Hogwarts castle, he knew his dream had placed him on the grounds of the school. Everything was normal with the grounds and the school, except Harry thought he saw the silhouette of a man standing on the side of the castle. He spun around, his hair whipping his ears as he turned. He had not been mistaken. Three stories up, farthest wing to the south, stood a tall man, his arms pressed against the outer stone wall, on the ledge of a rather large window. The light from inside shone about him, creating a rather holy glow around the man. Harry stared in wonder, aghast that someone would do such a thing and wondering why anyone would.

Before he had the time to seriously contemplate this, or even think of going up to the castle to address the man on the ledge, the man fell from where he stood. It appeared that another man, this one shorter and hunched over, had pushed him, for they fell clutching each other's arms. The taller man let out a startled yell as they tumbled towards the ground, until they finally hit the earth with a slight thud. Harry ran as quickly as he could, not taking his eye off the pair of accidental acrobats. As he approached them he lost sight of the shorter personage, but he noticed that the other man was rolling over onto his side in what appeared to be a very painful gesture. By the time Harry had reached the spot where they fell, one of them had disappeared and the taller man was unconscious, face down in the mud.

Thunder clashed as Harry knelt down next to the man and tried to carefully roll him over. He nearly jumped from shock when he saw who it was. Severus Snape lay before Harry, a giant gash across his chest and mud all over his mangled body. His left arm was twisted oddly at the elbow; it had obviously been broken upon impact.

Harry bent closer to Snape's face and patted him lightly on the cheek in an effort to wake him up.

"Professor," he said. "Wake up, we need to get inside…"

The rain only continued to get worse as they were outside in the mud. Lightning illuminated the sky every few minutes and the thunder was proclaiming that with every strike the lightning was coming closer. Worried that Snape could become horribly ill from the damp and cold around him, Harry tried to inch his hands underneath Snape's back and knees, thinking the only thing left to do was carry him into the castle himself. But, just as Harry's hand brushed against Snape's back, Snape jolted awake, yelling in pain.

"You're awake!" exclaimed Harry a bit louder than he had intended.

"What the…" Snape looked around and tried to move, but his entire rib cage throbbed with pain. "Where am I? What are you doing here?"

"I woke up over there," Harry pointed across the grounds towards the edge of the forbidden forest. "Just as I got up, I saw you up there, on that ledge and then you were-"

"Pushed," interrupted Snape with a growl, his upper lip curling in hatred. "Did you… what was that?" Snape stopped in mid-sentence and his head cocked to the left, listening intently for something.

"What?" asked Harry, who hadn't heard anything.

"Something made a sound…" Snape's voice trailed off as he continued to listen.

"I think you might have hit your head, Professor," said Harry slowly.

"I did not!" protested Snape. "My head's fine, I tell you I heard something… there it is again!"

This time there was no doubt: Harry had heard it as well. A low growling noise echoed across the grounds, followed by the sounds of footsteps squishing in the mud. But, try as they might, neither of them could see anything, nor could they tell from what direction they were coming from.

"Something's angry…" muttered Harry.

"We need to get inside," groaned Snape, trying to sit up, "and quickly…"

Just as Harry had looked away, Snape let out a frightful yell as something large and hairy threw itself onto Snape's chest, making him yell out in agony. A dark grotesque creature lay sprawled across Snape, growling lowly.

"Get it off!" moaned Snape through gritted teeth. "Get it off!"

The creature slowly rolled off Snape and fell limply into the mud.

"It's hurt," gasped Harry. "It wasn't attacking you, look!"

"What is it?" groaned Snape.

Harry walked around Snape to the creature, who lay with its head lulled back, its breathing rattled. In the dark, all Harry could see of it were shadows. He walked around Snape who lay clutching his chest in pain. He knelt down next to the creature as lightning flashed, illuminating the creature's face. Harry jumped back in alarm; the creature wasn't a creature, it was a man. He was covered in matted brown hair; his hands and arms were horribly misshapen, bent and overgrown. His face was nearly inhuman; patches of hair growing from his forehead, along his cheekbones and down his neck. His back was curved and his arms and legs were covered in canine-like hair. But, behind all this monstrous hair and contortion, Harry was startled when he recognized the familiar, sad look in the man's eyes. That poor monster was Remus Lupin, half-changed into his lupine form. Every new hair that grew, every bone that morphed, caused him excruciating pain. Harry could literally watch the inner battle that Lupin was waging inside himself, trying desperately to hold back the hideous animal instinct to attack both Harry and Snape.

Harry's eyes darted left and right, not certain of what to do.

"Professor," he said, turning to Snape. "It's… He's…"

"He's a monster," groaned Snape, reaching around for his wand.

"No!" gasped Harry. "It's not a monster, it's Lupin."

"I think you're the one that hit your head, boy," spat Snape.

"Just look," exclaimed Harry, pointing at the furry mass that was writhing in pain at Snape's feet.

"It's inhuman and grotesque," muttered Snape ferociously. "It needs to die before it kills both of us."

"Snap out of it!" bellowed Harry as lightning blared from cloud to cloud, creating a deafening crash of thunder. "That thing isn't in any shape to hurt either of us. I'm closer to killing you than he is."

Snape's cold eyes shot up at Harry. "Don't tempt yourself," he growled as he slowly lifted himself to a sitting position so he could get a better look at Lupin. The only thing that convinced him were the eyes. They looked deep, wise and piteous.

Lupin rolled over and tried to get to his hands and knees. He was trying to say something, but he was too inhuman to speak.

"What is it?" asked Harry, kneeling down next to Lupin and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Oh man… I feel like Timmy in an episode of Lassie…"

"What?" barked Snape, utterly bewildered.

"Never mind…" muttered Harry quickly.

Lupin groaned to get Harry's attention and began rocking his head, pointing his elongated snout towards the forbidden forest. Harry looked back and forth between Lupin and the forest.

"What's in there?" whispered Harry tensely.

Lupin couldn't respond; all he could do was keep pointing towards the forest. He was growing frustrated with himself because he knew he wanted to say something, the words were in his mind, but he couldn't get his mouth to say them.

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