Severus scrabbled desperately at the door that led to the hidden tunnel, his mind awash with panic and fingers shaking with adrenaline. Just as his hands managed to yank the wooden door open he heard the snarl as the monstrous beast twisted down the stairs and lunged towards him. Severus screamed, a high pitched wail as he flung himself through the gap. Hot breath against his neck and then he was clear, pounding down the narrow tunnel towards freedom. He panted with the effort of running, heart thudding in his chest, he was so close to safety, so close to Hogwarts and home and freedom from werewolves and nightmares and...His foot caught in something. He never knew what, a root or a stone or just a clod of dirt but it was enough to confuse his racing feet and send him crashing into the mud.

A heartbeat of shock and pain, he hadn't even really managed to brace, and Severus felt a thrill of horror and jerked upwards. But it was too late. A triumphant howl and a colossal weight fell on his back. Pain lanced through his shoulders as he frantically twisted away from the yellow fangs snapping at him. The wolf snarled again and raked its oversized claws down his side. Severus yelled in agony and fainted.

There was an answering bellow as a magnificent stag leapt to his defence. The passage was cramped and narrow so the animal had limited movement but he lowered his head and forced the slavering wolf away from the teenager. Strangely the wolf did not go mad with blood-lust and anger but seemed to accept being driven away from its prey. The stag herded him back down the tunnel and into the dilapidated old building Severus had been investigating. When the wolf had padded obediently upstairs it turned and hurried back towards the stricken youth lying in the tunnel.

"Shit shit shit shit! Snape! Come on, Snape!" James Potter flicked back into human form, that of a skinny fifteen year old dressed in pyjamas with a robe hurriedly flung over the top. He wore round rimmed glasses and his untidy black hair was positively mussed. He crouched over his classmate, hands hovering above Severus.

"Damn. DAMN. Oh Merlin's balls." He peeled back Severus' robe and swallowed at the bloody wounds. "Not good. Really not good. Sirius I'm going to kill you..." Snape wasn't responding and James had to get him out of this tunnel. He couldn't see a thing here. He grabbed Severus by the arms and dragged him out as gently as such a thing is possible.

As they emerged into the moonlight on the slope next to the Whomping Willow Severus began to stir, hissing in pain and struggling to open his eyes. James panicked, he couldn't let Snape wake up yet, this was a big problem. If Snape told anyone that Moony had attacked him, drawn blood even, then Moony might be destroyed. That was an unacceptable scenario. Therefore Snape could not be allowed to tell anyone where the wounds had come from. And there was another problem. If Moony had bitten Snape then Snape would be infected and then Moony would definitely be destroyed. James had made a point of reading all the werewolf legislature in the library when they'd first realised about his friend's furry little problem and the sentence for a werewolf who turned a child under the age of seventeen was immediate death. James swallowed. This was too much for him to figure out on his own. He needed help.

Back in the Griffindor dormitory Peter sat on his bed, nervously tossing a ball of paper from hand to hand and occasionally shooting furious glances at the corner of the room where a handsome sixteen year old was curled up on his bed, staring at the wall and nursing a quickly developing black eye. The silence in the room was rife with anger and disappointment. Peter couldn't believe how Sirius could have been so stupid...

The door was pushed open although nobody came through. The two boys sat up expectantly and stared at the doorway. James pulled off the invisibility cloak and turned to his dorm-mates, both of whom flinched at the desperation on his face.

"We have a problem."

"Remus didn't..." Peter couldn't choke out the rest of the sentence, horror spreading across his expression.

"Not quite." James grimaced. "But he did cut him up and if any saliva got into Snape's blood then..." He trailed off. Sirius and Peter knew it anyway. Sirius swallowed but didn't say anything. Probably a good thing as James wasn't sure he would be able to resist punching the idiot again.

"What are we going to do!" Peter gasped. "If Snape's then, I mean, when Pomfrey...but he...Remus..."

"I left him by the willow, he's stunned but we need a plan."

"Oh, right. Er..."

"If he was infected we need to hide Moony. But if he's not then..."

"Moony might be okay. Dumbledore would help!" Peter exclaimed.

"We can't ask Dumbledore. Not until we know if Snape was infected..."

"But we can't know that until next full moon!"

"If we could just wait until we knew if Snape was bitten or not then we could work out what to tell Dumbledore but Snape will tell someone the second he wakes up..."

"We just need to stop him talking." Sirius muttered.

"Shut up Black. It's your fault we're in this bloody situation and..."

"Wait!" Peter interjected, "Sirius is right, we need to stop Snivellous from talking to anyone until we know for sure if he's infected. When's the next full moon?"

"Not for a month." James groaned. "There's no chance we can stop him talking for that long."

"We could if he didn't have anyone to talk to!" Sirius cried. "Wait no, hear me out, what if we kidnapped him, hid him in the forest until we know for definite if he's infected or not? Then we can come up with a way to stop him talking about Moony and none of the teachers will realise what's happened."

"I think they'll notice five students gone for a month!" Peter spluttered.

"Yeah, but they won't be able to stop it from happening and Moony's more important than us getting into trouble."

James scowled at Sirius. "If you thought Moony was so important then why did you set up this stupid idea in the fir-"

"No time for that now James," Peter cut in, "If this is going to work we need to move. Fast."

James nodded sharply and moved to his bed.

"We need supplies first thing and..."

Newly dressed and sporting heavy packs Sirius and Peter hauled Snape's unresisting body deep into the forest. Many illegal outings there meant they were reasonably certain of the geography close to the edge. They were aiming for a tiny clearing bordered by pines. It was about as safe as anywhere in the Forbidden Forest and a good place to 'discuss' matters with the Slytherin before setting off to uncharted territory deeper in the woods.

Birds were beginning to sing and greet the coming dawn as the three arrived. Sirius dumped Snape unceremoniously on the leaf strewn ground and stretched upwards. Peter laid Snape's head down slightly more carefully and, ignoring Sirius, sat down against a tree to wait for James. A flash of hurt crossed Sirius' face at the dismissal but was instantly masked and the dark haired youth slumped against his own tree to stare sightlessly into the distance.

Meanwhile James was hauling an exhausted and confused Remus through the forest. The transformation had left Remus too tired to even question why his friend was dragging him into the Forbidden Forest rather than towards the Hospital Wing. The two reached the concealed meadow just as the first rays of sunlight brushed against the top of the trees.

The sight seemed to give the werewolf energy and a scrubbed at his eyes before blinking around in astonishment. He was standing in a small clearing, leaning on James' arm and covered in the usual scratches and bruises. Before him sat Peter and Sirius, both pointedly ignoring each other and the unconscious body of their most hated classmate sprawled out between them.

"What on earth..."