The Last Moments of Calm

James Potter did not hide his glare when the prefect told the other Gryffindor students that they were being moved to the Hufflepuff Common Room. He wanted to face whatever this was with Regina at his side. He went to their dorm with the others, ostensibly to gather what they needed for the next few nights. Once the door closed, he turned to the others, "I need you guys to make a distraction so I can sneak in with the 'Claws and get Regina." James said to his friends, "Peter, if you want I can get her cousin to come with us."

Peter blushed and went to respond but was interrupted by Sirius, "James, as much as I want to break these sorts of rules, how precisely do you expect us to get past the prefects, teachers, ghosts, and portraits?" He looked at his friend, "I've never seen everyone this on edge before, they're going to be triple-checking every name on their lists."

Remus spoke up then, "I won't be there. It's a full moon tonight, so McGonagall will be with me for at least enough time to take me to the Shack."

As if summoned, the door to their dormitory opened and Professor McGonagall stood at the door with Harry. "Mr. Lupin, we need a word with you. Due to events in the village tonight, I am unable to escort you tonight. Professor Fawkes has offered to take my place." She indicated Harry, "Professor, I'll leave this to you. I have to assist Professor Flitwick." She hurried back out and left Harry with the younger boys.

"Full moons suck." Harry said, breaking the quiet and earning a thin smile from the boys. "I've arranged with the Headmaster to put you in one of the chambers below the school. Normally you would be alone, but since I haven't checked to see just how big the chamber is exactly I've arranged a chaperone for you."

"A chaperone?" Remus asked, "But wh- Jane?"

Harry nodded, "She's preparing as well. The general idea will be she'll stay in her animagus form and keep you in the vicinity of the entrance. I've put up a few wards meant to keep livestock in their pens, but since you aren't exactly a sheep, it's a bit, well, iffy as to whether or not it will work."

"And since werewolves don't attack animals, Jane in her animagus form is safe." Remus finished, "So she can keep me from getting too close to the boundaries you've set up."

"Exactly." Harry said, "Now, as for the rest of you." He looked to the other boys, "I'm going out on a limb and guessing that at least two of you want to sneak into Slytherin to check on your ladies? The only reason it isn't three out of three is because this one," Here, Harry indicated Sirius, "has his girlfriend in the actual same House that he's in."

"That is not inaccurate." James said, "Can you-"

"I could. If you wanted the next five years of your time at Hogwarts to be spent with everyone thinking that you receive special treatment from me. Or..." Harry drawled the last word out as he reached into his pocket and drew out a small piece of parchment and unfolded it, "You could use this and take your girls to my quarters."

"Why are you risking getting into trouble for us?" Peter asked finally, "If the Headmaster-"

"The Headmaster is, as I am, under the impression that given what is coming tonight that you will be better served by having those close to you in easy range of the floo." Harry interrupted him, "If this goes south, the Professors who aren't helping us in the front lines will be guiding the students through the floo in the Common Rooms."

"If what goes south?" Sirius asked Harry. "What is going on that has Hogwarts locked down like this?"

"Short answer?" Harry said to the boy. Sirius nodded and Harry's face lost the slight smile it had before, "Armageddon. Longer answer is that Voldemort is bringing an army to attack Hogwarts. We are setting up defenses but if something happens, I want you all prepared to run."

"But we could help!" James interjected.

"You are twelve. You are, all four of you, very clever boys, with above-average skills. But Voldemort isn't a sixth year with an inflated ego. He's deadly." Harry said, "I'm absolutely not discounting your abilities, but I am saying I don't want you to get ideas of being heroes. I'm pretty sure that Lily, Regina, and Patricia Parkinson would resurrect you lot just to kill you again."

"What is this?" James said as he pointed at the parchment.

"It's something my father and his friends made. Well it's not their version. That one is gone now. But it's my own version. I want you boys to have it." Harry said, he tapped his wand onto the parchment, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." As the boys watched, their names began to appear on it. "Gentlemen, since you like to refer to yourselves as the Marauders, I give you the Marauders Map."

"Mischief Managed." Harry said tapping his wand again, as he brought his wand back up the names receded. "That's how you use the map." He re-rolled the map and handed it to James. "Use it well, more to the point, use it responsibly. Never let anyone see it without clearing the map first." He told them.

"Your father had a map like this?" James asked him, "That's amazing!"

"I didn't think your parents attended Hogwarts though." Sirius said confused.

With that, they left the dorm and made their way into the Gryffindor Common Room. In an instant Lily was beside Sirius, "What is going on sir?" She asked Harry.

"Lots of very bad stuff. We'll go into more detail once you are all safely where you need to be." He explained as he began to lead the students out into the hallway.

Scene Break

Harry led Jane and Remus to the bathroom that lead into the Chamber. "Get ready, you're about to see part of the castle that next to no one knows about." Harry said before hissing at the sink and opening the way.

"Wicked." Jane said as she watched the stone platform raise for them to use. She held onto Remus as the stone shakily lowered them into the Chamber.

"Are you sure that this is safe sir?" Remus asked nervously. "If something happens to Jane- I-"

"It'll be alright. The wards will keep you out of the pipes and here in the main chamber." Harry said confidently. The I hope he added silently was for his benefit and not theirs. "There's some food for you both. Some dried venison so you can eat in either form." He said to them. "If something goes bad Jane, I want you to use this." He handed her a small stone. "This is a wardstone that will get you out of Hogwarts. If the wards fail, and you'll feel it if they do, use this. It will drop you off at Potter Manor."

"I'm not leaving without Remus." Jane said firmly, "I'll lead him past the repelling wards and we'll hide here until he can change back." She put her hand on the younger wizards shoulder. "I'm an illegal animagus so he wouldn't have to be alone. I'm not abandoning him in the face of whatever is going on out there."

"Jane I-" Remus began. He was interrupted by his girlfriend kissing him. When the kiss broke he was stunned into silence.

A silence Jane used to her advantage. "Remus. I love you. If something goes bad, then we face it together."

"I feel like I should say something about not fighting a hopeless battle. But that would make me a hypocrite." Harry said, "It's getting late, so I need to check on the defenses of the castle." He looked at them for a moment longer, "Be safe you two." Then he left them.

Jane looked at her boyfriend, "How are you feeling?" She asked him.

Remus sighed, "It's coming soon. You should shift." He sat on the floor and made himself as comfortable as he could. He watched as Jane changed from a young woman to a she-wolf. "Thank you for this." He said as he reached out and stroked her furry head, "I- I love you."

Then the change overtook him.

Jane stepped back from Remus as he began to change. The transformation was every bit as awful as she'd read about. She could hear as bones snapped and twisted inside him. In that instant, the Hufflepuff knew that she would do whatever it took to find a cure for lycanthropy. No matter how long it took, her man would be free of this curse.

Eventually where Remus had sat there was a trembling werewolf, roughly the size of a greyhound. Jane padded over to it and sniffed him, there hidden in the pain and fear, she could still smell Remus Lupin. She licked his cheek causing the werewolf to look up at her. They weren't his eyes, but she could see him, as if he was trapped behind a glass wall.

They sat there together, wolf and werewolf, as above them others stirred.

Scene Break

Bellatrix and Narcissa were gone, seeing to their respective parts of the defense of Hogwarts. Andromeda and Apolline were likewise attending to what they could assist with. So, when James Potter and his group arrived the Dueling classroom was empty.

The map had been the only reason the group had made it. Professors prowled around the corridors, but thanks to the map, they knew when to hide. It hadn't all been smooth. Lily had insisted on Severus coming with them, and the Prewett twins had followed them out of the Hufflepuff Common Room.

But now they were sitting in the Professors quarters with Alexandra and Peter. "So Jane is down there with Remus?" The blonde Slytherin asked the others. "So it's up to Petey and I to keep you lot from doing something stupid."

"Oi!" The Prewett twins said as one. "We are older than you, you know." The rightmost twin said heatedly.

"You're also hooligans who would just as soon prank us as to look at us." Alexandra replied with false sweetness in her voice.

"Alex, they aren't the ones who were going to kick me out." Peter said as he put his hand on hers, "Gideon and Fabian have always been good to me." Seeing the slowly relaxing shoulders of his girlfriend he leaned in closer to her, "Besides, if they did act up, we could just stun them and toss them out into the hallways for a roving ghoul to devour." He whispered, causing her to laugh.

"Alright, you two can stay. In any event if things do go pear-shaped, we can use you as human shields." She said as she took Peter's hand and led him back to the couch.

Regina pushed James against the wall gently, but firmly, "So, we both know that you are planning to do something if any of the invaders we heard Professor Slughorn and Hagrid discussing make it into the castle. What are you planning?" She asked him.

"Reggie, we just heard about it ten minutes ago. Professor Fawkes didn't tell us much beyond Voldemort is planning to attack the castle and that we all need to be ready to get out of here." James said, "We haven't had time to- ow!" He stopped when she squeezed his arm painfully, "What was that for?"

"Two possible reasons, pick your favorite." She said glaring at him, "First we have calling me 'Reggie', secondly we have you lying to me." She released his arm, "If Professor Fawkes told you before you came to see us that Voldemort himself was going to attack Hogwarts then you've had nearly an hour to plot and scheme."

"That's fair. But I would point out that I spent the first fifteen minutes trying to play it cool to get past McGonagall and Flitwick, then we had to get past Hagrid and Slughorn the first time, then again we had to get past them again, but this time with three more people than before." James pointed out, "We don't have anything that could stop a Dark Lord. But maybe we could trip up some of his dimmer followers."

Scene Break

Out of the Infirmary, Cantankerous Nott and Elizabeth were now with the team planning the defense of the castle. Nott was still getting used to the lack of his wand arm, and so Elizabeth stood at his armless side, the message that she was protecting him was very clear. They stood in the Courtyard in front of a massive stone table, brought here to hold a map of the castle grounds.

It did not, however, impress Moody. "Alright Death Eater, Dumbledore said you know some intel, so I want it." He growled at the younger man, "If I like what I hear, then you can stay. If I don't, you'll be in Azkaban by dawn."

"I've already told the Headmaster everything. The Dark Lord sent a demon to bring me back. He's obviously going to do the same to everyone else that he hasn't already gotten a hold of." Nott said, "If the Inner Circle has been taken then that will leave the ones sent out on missions to be recalled. If he's done that, then the number will go from around fifteen to about fifty."

"About?" Moody said warily.

"The only person who knows the exact number is the Dark Lord." Nott explained, "I made a list of the names I knew, it's both Inner Circle and lower ranked members." With that Elizabeth handed Moody a sheet of parchment.

Harry arrived then with Bellatrix at his side, "Has there been any developments?" He asked Moody.

"Nothing new, the fighting squibs have arrived and they are planting explosives and putting trenches on the grounds. The holy squibs are filling barrels of holy water and blessing the statues." Moody said, "I'm going to give this to the greycloaks and let them play with it." He said indicating the list.

"Professor, may I have a word?" Nott said once the man had left. When Harry nodded, Nott began, "I know there's nothing I can ever say that will make anything I've done right. I know that I will probably end up in Azkaban just like Moody said. If that happens, can you help Elizabeth find somewhere safe?"

"'tank, I'm going nowhere. If they take you, then they take me." Elizabeth said quietly.

Nott took her hand with his remaining one and squeezed it, "I love you. But I refuse to let you rot in that place with me." He looked back at Harry, "Please sir. She hasn't done anything to deserve the life she's had to this point." Nott smiled sadly, "She sees something worth keeping in me and I'll never understand it."

Harry nodded, "That's love." He squeezed Bellatrix's hand, "If I can help her, if you end up being arrested, I will do whatever I can to help her." After those words, the four looked at the map of the grounds. Hell would come, and hopefully they would be ready.