PART FORTY-TWO:<br><br>The day of the full moon had come at last and Genevieve sat on the floor of the shed, legs crossed, trying to slip into a trance, but without much success. She thought she’d feel less overwrought by the impending adventure that awaited her that evening by keeping busy. The only trouble was, her tensions were keeping her from achieving the state of tranquility she so desperately needed in order to attain a proper trance.<br><br>She threw up her hands in desperation. “This is a vicious circle!”<br><br>Lupin, who had been scanning the grounds of the lodge through the small shed window for activity, turned to her and gave her a sympathetic smile. “Take a deep breath and try again. This time, close your eyes and focus. Don’t think about where you are or what’s going on around you. Just focus on your goal.”<br><br>“All right,” said Genevieve. “Focusing on my goal.” She clamped her eyelids shut and cleared her mind. She began to mutter the spell. Relentlessly she repeated the phrase, fighting to keep her mind clear, but it was difficult. Occasionally she fought to repress a recurring image – an image from that dream she’d had kept popping back – there she was, dancing in the moonlight with Lupin and suddenly, she was scooped up by the boughs of the tree and Lupin disappeared. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Go away</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, she thought, telling the images to depart. They weren’t real memories anyhow – Lupin had told her so and she didn’t want to lose her focus by thinking about them.<br><br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Here we go</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, thought Genevieve. The images were gone and she felt herself gliding into a daze. Memories started to seep into her brain – a veritable profusion of recollections – but they were coming too fast. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> This isn’t right</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, she thought, panicking. The pacing was all wrong. The memories sped by so fast, she could hardly take them in and then, quite abruptly, they stopped – a traffic jam of thoughts clogged her head and she sharply awakened from the trance, clutching her forehead in pain.<br><br>“Owww,” she moaned as her head throbbed with a migraine-like soreness. “That was no good.”<br><br>“What happened?” asked Lupin compassionately. <br><br>“It’s no use trying this today,” she sighed. “I just can’t relax.” She didn’t want to tell him, but she was quite fearful that her failure had set the tone for what might happen the rest of the day and night. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> It’s a sign</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, she thought. An indication of how this day could end up – disastrous.<br><br>*****<br><br>Regrettably, Genevieve’s instincts proved to be correct, at least as far as the afternoon’s events had gone. While taking a trip into the village for some more supplies, Lupin had overheard a group of women talking in the market. Bizarre reports from the Ladies’ Guild rummage sale had gotten some of the villagers in an uproar and an assemblage of the townsfolk would be getting together to search the outskirts of the village, including areas of the woods. The most disturbing news was that the lodge keeper had reported hearing suspicious sounds from his shed. Lupin knew it was no longer safe to stay there, so he gathered what they could carry and led Genevieve into the woods, towards the grotto.<br><br>“We can lay low there until dusk,” he had said. “I doubt the villagers will search that deeply into the forest. The deeper they go, the more the Muggles want to turn back – it’s a safety precaution set up to keep them away from St. Mungo’s.”<br><br>Once in the grotto, Genevieve looked at Lupin solemnly and asked, “Where will I go tonight – once you … change – I can’t stay here, can I?”<br><br>“We have no choice,” he said. “You can’t go back – that lodge keeper will be snooping around.”<br><br>“But I can’t really stay here, though – how can I stay here if …”<br><br>“I’ll give you my wand. You can put a stunner on me if I get loose.”<br><br>“No,” said Genevieve nervously. “I can’t – I can’t remember how!”<br><br>“It’s simple,” said Lupin. “I’ll show you. And you’ll have to promise to stay in the farthest corner of this cave – away from me, unless you have to stun me. Now let’s practice – it goes like this.” <br><br>He aimed his wand at a toad that had happened along into the shadows of the grotto and said, “<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Stupefy!</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->” The toad, with a look of profound bewilderment on his toady face, paused and sat inanimate. <br><br>“<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Ennervate!</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->” Lupin called again and the toad’s features became animated once more as he hopped away, though somewhat disoriented. “Now you try,” he said as he handed Genevieve the wand. “There’s a salamander.” <br><br>Genevieve fretfully held the wand, aimed it at the salamander and recited the hex. The salamander’s motions were suspended as it stood silently and still, with its moist skin glistening in the beams of sunshine that peeked through the trees into the opening of the cavern. She repeated the counter-curse and the little newt scampered off in the direction the toad had gone.<br><br>“You’ve got it,” said Lupin in a satisfied voice. “I don’t want you to put this wand down through the night. You'll need to stay awake – and be alert.”<br><br>“I don’t think we’ll have a problem with that,” said Genevieve, as she gave a nervous chuckle. <br><br>The rest of the afternoon melted away and the evening hours hung around with a tension that was so thick, Genevieve could feel it in her bones. By the time dusk rolled around, the slightest noise from within the forest caused her to jump. As nightfall settled in and twilight advanced over the woodlands, Lupin readied his wand and conjured some heavy shackles.<br><br>“It’s time to put these on me,” he said matter-of-factly. <br><br>Genevieve was hesitant. “Are they really necessary?” she asked, eyeing the iron chains and weighty manacles. “Couldn’t I just use the stunner on you after you transform and unstun you in the morning?” She gave him a hopeful look.<br><br>“No,” he said. “What if something goes wrong and I attack you? I won’t take that risk. The stunner is reserved for an emergency only!”<br><br>“OK,” she said reluctantly as she heaved the shackles up and prepared to bind him. She paused and dropped them, then threw her arms around his neck. Squeezing him until he almost gasped for breath, she sniveled for a moment, and then released him. With a trembling voice, she said, “I just had to do that before …” <br><br>She looked down at the restraints desolately and then finally picked them up again and fastened them around his wrists and ankles. She hauled the heavy chain over and restrained his body by fastening it around a large boulder that opportunely lay a few feet inside the grotto.<br><br>“Can you get loose?” she asked, shaking the chain, checking for security.<br><br>He tugged and yanked, but he appeared to be bound firmly to the rock. “I think not,” he chuckled. “Let’s hope that’s still the case in a little while.” <br><br>“Yes, let's hope!,” Genevieve exclaimed anxiously.<br><br>She gulped as she looked out of the opening to the grotto. Twilight had passed and the night was establishing itself – the moon would be rising very soon. She knew she had only moments before the transformation would begin. She slipped her hands around his face and kissed him tenderly.<br><br>“See you in the morning,” she whispered.<br><br>Lupin’s gut began to wrench – the familiar feeling was upon him. “Go away,” he said firmly. “Back there – in the corner – go <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> now</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->!”<br><br>Genevieve backed away quickly and cringed into the corner. She wanted to hide her eyes, but the strange vision of Lupin’s contorting body grabbed her curiosity and she watched in morbid fascination. His face screwed up and then began to elongate – a snout was lengthening and growing. Hair grew rapidly and paws sprouted where his human hands and feet had been. When the transformation was complete, the newly formed wolf jerked and pulled at the chains, desperate to get free. He snarled, yelped and howled as he tried impulsively to free himself from the restraints. Genevieve sat huddled in the corner, clutching the wand timidly, should she have to use it.<br><br>After about an hour or two of listening to the wolf snarling and growling, Genevieve began to hear a new sound – human voices in the woods. The werewolf evidently heard them, too, and his focus was taken away from Genevieve, as he began to sniff the air in the direction of the cave opening – he could smell new humans approaching. He let out a piercing howl and the voices in the woods became louder. Genevieve could make out frantic expressions saying, “<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Wolf! Wolf!</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->”<br><br>The voices sounded young to Genevieve – like perhaps teenage boys. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> What are teenage boys doing prowling about the woods at night?</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, she thought. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> No doubt trying to be vigilantes and save the day.</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> The voices receded and eventually died out all together, but Genevieve knew it wouldn’t be long before there was more trouble. And she didn’t have an inkling as to what to do when the trouble arrived. All she could do was wait.<br><br>*****<br><br>Back in the village, the four young men who had been searching through the forest reached the main road of the township and began to shout, <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> “Wolf! Wolf! There’s a wolf in the woods!”</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br>Minor pandemonium began to erupt as villagers and townsfolk started to emerge from the buildings and homes.<br><br>This pandemonium and chaos was enough to alert a certain agent of the Ministry of Magic who had been hiding out in the village since Ulysses Magnus had filed the report of the missing girl and her possible werewolf companion. The spy apparated immediately to the Ministry where a recovery team was assembled to apprehend the fugitives. <br><br>Within a half hour, the team had swooped down upon the grotto and apprehended Genevieve and the werewolf. As she was being dragged away, all Genevieve could picture was that tree from her dream grabbing her and holding her and as she looked around for Lupin, she saw nothing but a bunch of wizards lugging the limp wolf’s body behind her. <p><center><img src=
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/sh ... R><i>Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where it keeps its brain.</i></center></p><i></i>
![http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/shield_05[1].jpg](http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/shield_05%5B1%5D.jpg){kind=link}
