Chapter 36: 31st August 1991, Saturday: Part 4

Remus stuttered, "George... your eyes... they're..."

"Not my greatest feature, I know", George walked towards the door, "at risk of sounding impolite, could you please disarm the locks."

Only two things really stood out to George in this granny flat, one was the Boggart chest and the other was the door to the basement. From a muggle's perspective, the door looked weird because it had about a dozen locks from top to bottom. Unless you think someone is going to break into your house via an underground tunnel, the extra security seemed a bit redundant. And from George's perspective, it was obvious that those locks and the door itself were enchanted. It was nowhere near as powerful as the gates at Gringotts, but it was probably enough to hold back a werewolf.

Remus still appeared to be in shock after seeing George's eyes, but after sensing the urgency in his voice, Remus nodded nervously and advanced towards the basement door. He pulled out his wand, ran it along the length of the door's locks, and presumably cast a silent spell. The spell unlocked a series of latches that made loud slamming and creaking noises as they retracted back into the door. A little while after the locks were opened, the door swung open and a glowing blue light automatically illuminated a set of stairs leading down. George took the initiative to walk ahead down the stairs whilst Remus followed from behind.

And with that, stage three of the operation was completed. George was not surprised by what he saw in the basement. The upstairs was just a normal cluttered house with simple furnishings, there was nothing that would suggest a weird magic man lived here. The basement however told another story, this spooky place was far from conventional. The room was the same size as the living room, roughly one hundred square feet. The walls and floor were made of concrete, copper pipes were dripping from the ceiling and there was an old boiler underneath the stairs. A few candles were hanging from the wooden beams which provided minimal lighting.

The basement was practically empty, the one exception being the iron chains and shackles that were bolted to the ground in the centre of the room. That alone made the space quite creepy, but the condition of the room is what turned it into a horror show. The shackles as well as the floor around the chains were stained with a lot of blood that had dried over many years. The floor and walls were covered in large scratches as if a bear had been kept captive and was desperately trying to get out. This would look very incriminating if anyone on the street had gone missing and Remus's house was to be searched as a precaution.

No one, other than George, would assume this place to be anything other than a murderer's torture prison. He wasn't disconcerted but was quite pleased after seeing the basement, he was a little worried it was going to be too small after seeing the outside of the house. The only problem was the ceiling being a little low, so he'll just have to mind his head. Remus didn't appear to be particularly comfortable showing George the space. It was possible that, besides Dumbledore, George was the first one to see where Remus had been transforming every full moon for so many years. Regardless of what the werewolf was feeling, he was gonna have to change here and now.

George could feel his veins bulging, it felt like his heart was spewing out molten lava and sending it throughout his body. He felt pretty confident that he could boil a glass of water just by holding it, he had less than a minute before turning judging by his prior experiences. He quickly pulled out a massive blanket that had a hole in the middle of it from his leather sack and placed it on the floor. George then took off his shirt revealing all of his bruises and scars which looked like they were on the verge of opening from the pressure building within. There was even some blood trickling down from around his neck and shoulders.

He didn't bother to explain anything to Remus simply because there wasn't enough time, he picked up the blanket and put the whole over his head. From Remus's perspective, it looked like George was wearing a homemade poncho made for a giant, most of the fabric was crumpled up on the floor by his feet. George then started to wiggle around underneath the oversized poncho, Remus couldn't see, but George was taking off the bottom half of his clothes leaving him naked underneath. He could not afford to have his clothes get damaged. Otherwise, his foster parents would notice and start asking questions about what he had been doing at Remus's house.

George placed the remainder of his clothes into his leather sack and dropped it on the ground. He grabbed the poncho and lifted it like a dress, which opened a gap by his feet so he could kick the leather sack towards Remus. The look of shock and confusion had slowly been building up on the werewolf's face this entire time. Remus picked up the sack on George's behalf and watched on from a distance.

Remus asked him, "do you not want to restrain yourself? I can help if you need me to."

George's seven orifices started to bleed boiling hot blood, and his brown hair began to fall out. He only had a few seconds now.

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Just before it began, George managed to say, "didn't I already tell you? I'm not a danger to myself or you under these circumstances. I may have neglected to say, but I'm not a werewolf. To be completely honest, I don't know…"

George found his ability to control his mouth, as well as his entire body, had abruptly been cut off. He slumped to the ground, lying in the foetal position under the many layers of fabric. The floor was really cold, but that didn't matter since his body currently felt like it was inside a furnace. George had experienced this pain many times over, but it had been getting worse in recent months. He had to focus most of his remaining concentration on not screaming aloud in agony. He was pretty sure that Remus would have an enchanted sound barrier down here, but he didn't feel like testing its limits. Plus, George wanted to try and reassure Remus that he wasn't in too much pain. The last thing he needed was for the werewolf to interfere.

Unfortunately for George, Remus wasn't in the frame of mind to be wondering about such trivialities. Remus seemed to be completely stunned by what he was currently witnessing. He wouldn't know if to describe it as horrifying or magnificent. Remus had obviously expected George to be a werewolf, it was what he'd implied in the conversation upstairs. His red eyes must have been confusing at first, but Remus could probably chalk it up to being some form of unusual mutation. George could have been an albino werewolf, for example.

The most alarming difference from a werewolf was the fact that it was not a full moon for another three and a half weeks, and it was currently the middle of the day. No normal werewolf would transform under that condition and yet George was changing. Perhaps Greyback could do it, but what were the odds George could replicate that man's abilities? Still, this probably wasn't the reason why Remus had lost his composure, that had to be due to what he was currently witnessing.

Most of George's body was hidden by the poncho, but the general silhouette could still be seen. His whole body was shaking like he was having a fit whilst expanding at an alarming rate. Steam could be seen emitting from the surface of the poncho which suggested that George was sweating and evaporating it at a phenomenal rate. His neck began to grow longer and his vertebrae started to pierce out of the back of his neck, sending a spray of blood into the air. The droplets of blood sizzled when they hit the ground and evaporated away shortly after. George's face also began to distort as his nose and jaw stretched forward, and his forehead sank.

Long thin spines started to pierce through the skin and out the back of his head where his hair used to be. Over a dozen porcupine-like quills appeared and grew at different lengths and thicknesses. George's mouth opened unnaturally wide which revealed his lengthening tongue, and exposed all of his teeth splitting apart into longer and sharper versions. His head continued to grow, causing the skin around his neck and face to tear apart under the immense tension. Instead of the torn skin revealing muscle, tissue and bone, white jagged scales had formed underneath. All of the fatty tissue around George's youthful face had vanished. His sharp cheekbones and prominent brow jutted out, hiding his sunken eyes.

By this point, his body appeared to have grown by over three feet. The poncho was no longer so baggy and the shape of his arms and legs could be more clearly seen. George's legs appeared to be bent and broken at different angles. Razor-sharp claws protruded from what was once his toes and almost punctured the fabric. George's arms had undergone the most drastic change, they had grown over double their original length. A membrane, similar to that of an amphibian, had formed between each of his ridiculously long fingers. Finally, a long tail had slipped its way out from underneath the poncho. The tail had white scales and quills sticking out from each boney vertebrae just like George's neck.

After the transformation, George's monstrous body lay limp against the ground. He was completely sprawled out and his eyes were tightly shut, it almost looked like he was sleeping. Remus could only see a portion of George's body due to the poncho, but there was enough visible to tell he had become some sort of grotesque dark creature. His body could be best described as a bipedal grey lizard monster wearing the ripped-up skin of a young boy. It was almost certainly the most horrifying thing Remus had ever witnessed. Regardless of how George may now appear, Remus should acknowledge that this monster was still a child and wasn't about to show him the same prejudice many held towards him.

Remus slowly walked forward whilst clutching George's leather sack. The body remained completely still as he moved within a few feet. George's human face had been completely shredded, now appearing to look more animalistic and reptilian. Remus probably found it hard to see if George was seriously injured because of all the torn skin and blood. He definitely had no experience seeing this transformation before, perhaps he thought this was meant to happen. Remus waited a few seconds to see if George would awaken but the body continued to remain still. The only movement came from George's protruding ribs as his chest breathed in and out.

Remus began inching even closer. Most likely concerned for George's welfare, Remus decided to lean over to try to awaken him. Not taking any chances, he brandished his wand in his right hand and reached out with the left. Just when Remus's fingers were an inch away from touching George's face, the monster's crimson eyes opened wide. Having been completely caught by surprise, Remus recoiled his arm and took several steps backwards. The werewolf was then greeted by the sound of a low pitch chuckle, like a child's laughter being played extra slowly on a record player.

George's head lifted from the ground and looked in Remus's direction. He could see that his new form had sent a shiver down Remus's back, it was the sort of reaction he'd anticipated. The taste of iron was covering his lips so George stuck out his forked tongue and ran it across his face, dragging a lot of dead skin and blood along with it. This only panicked Remus further as he kept his wand pointed in George's direction, he didn't look like he'd hesitate if George launched toward him. As fun as it would be to tease the poor werewolf a little more, there were more important things George had to do now that Remus had seen his 'true' form. This was where part four of the operation would commence.

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