An Enemy

Chapter Five- The Adder

I awoke early the following morning, giving me the opportunity to have a nice and long shower and peel the sloppy remainder of my previous skin from my arms, legs, back and shoulders.

It was while doing this that realised that I was going to have to be even more careful this year in hiding my scales and birthmark. After finishing my shower and turning the dial I looked in the mirror bravely (with the intention to do so very quickly so that no-one saw me), my eyes were drawn to the swirling blackness that was darker than the deepest void, the spiralling shape of it as it entangled itself in and out of each curvature of my vertebrae had once been short and almost stunted, but now after a truly incredible growth spurt, it appeared to have elongated.

I loved it.

I knew that it made me look strange and that in liking it I was living completely up to my family’s name, but I couldn’t help myself. I was drawn to snakes, I understood that, and I understood that that was a part of me, for now though I couldn’t not be proud of it.

In its expansion it had curled and coiled up into and around my hairline, it looked more than ever now like a Dark Mark.

My scales however were something else, and as I despaired over my marking I found myself cheered by the familiar green hashed scales. They reminded me of Sthyss and that in turn made me feel less alone.

Interrupted in my thoughts as the door began to open I hurriedly pulled on my shirt and stepped back into the shower floor to pull on my trousers, thinking all the while that I couldn’t afford for any more rumours considering my body to be circulating around the school.

Coming out of the stall I ran into Pansy, she looked at me and I looked at her as I strode past but neither of us said anything, no smile touched either of our lips and neither of us spoke. It seemed that I was going to have to try and repair that small slither of peace there had between us, something I was not looking forward to as Rebecca Gordon smiled a good morning to me as I left for breakfast.

Breakfast was as usual for me at Hogwarts, quiet and it gave me my first real moment alone as not another soul was yet sat at the Slytherin table.

I sighed deeply and took another spoonful of cornflakes before giving up on the notion of breakfast; I just didn’t feel like it that morning.

I headed instead towards the grounds, stepping out through the entrance hall and into the fresh air, feeling it clear my head as I went.

Unbidden my legs led me down towards the forest and along the darkened treeline. I could see my destination and my head took over from my legs and I pushed on, closer to the collapsed Willow that had landed on top of me nearly two months ago.

The closer I got, the more I realised that there wasn’t any real sign of the tree falling at all, other than the tree itself which was now only four feet ahead of me.

The Willow appeared to have been snapped through the middle, its pale bark had obviously buckled from several strong impacts to the side closest to me. I didn’t need to wonder what had made those impacts, my back ached reminiscently, and I shifted my shoulders uncomfortably as I bent down next to the top half of the tree that lay collapsed on its side, inspecting what looked like the marks left behind by something being dragged out from under the tree.

Me.

The ground under where I’d been crushed had obviously been dried earth up till last night when it had been turned to a puddle, what struck me as odd though was that the puddle was a lot bigger than I was. It was then that it occurred to me that I’d been trapped under there as a Wolf and then transformed back while paralyzed, half under the tree. It wasn’t exactly a small tree either. On the contrary it was quite the biggest Willow I’d seen apart from the Whomping Willow (though that hardly counted), and knew that it was likely, that if I hadn’t been a Werewolf, I probably would have died, crushed by the body of the tree.