scars || sirius black

42 - the aftermath

little bit of a gory chapter, please just message me if you want a summary instead of reading :)

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Lily didn't think she'd ever been as exhausted as she was now. They had been tracking Emmy through the mountains for over nine hours, taking it in turns to rest but it had begun to take its toll.

They just had small injuries that could be dealt with in seconds by Madam Pomfrey so they weren't too worried, but Emmy had done some damage to her upper back when she'd skidded off the side of a ridge and down a dozen or so meters of loose rock.

The sun was due to come up in three hours; Lily had been counting down the seconds but it was looking like everything might just turn out all right. Emmy was currently messing around in a stream, splashing her paws in the water about 50 yards away from where they were watching behind a high thicket of gorse.

Lily couldn't help but admit it was laughably cute, even if her friend did have razor-sharp teeth and claws the size of fingers.

Mary and Alice were further behind, taking a break far enough away to be off their guard. Dory and Marlene were only meters away from her though and exchanging silent laughter at their friend's antics.

After a while, she settled down and closed those piercing blue eyes to sleep. It was peaceful up in the mountains; the moon was glowing high up in the sky and there was snow further up the hillside.

Lily crept back towards Mary and Alice as they neared and filled them in. She and Marlene stood down and moved away to get half an hour of sleep. She settled back against the soft moss and almost sunk in it was so comfy. The smell of the rich earth and the sweetness of the clear air filled her nose and lulled her straight to sleep.

Two hours later, they were sprinted to keep up with Emmy as she ran up the mountainside. The sun was set to appear over the horizon at any minute, so they needed to stay close, but Emmy wasn't stopping. It was getting harder and harder to stay hidden, and even more tricky to not skid on the sheets of ice.

It all happened so quickly. One second Marlene was sprinting up the hill ahead of them, and the next she was sprawled on the ground, a sickening crunch led to her ankle protruding at a gruesome angle and blood gushing from a deep cut on her head.

Alice let out an involuntary scream at the sight before they were forced to dive to the ground to hide behind heather shrubs as Emmy spun round with a growl, startled by the noise. Her breath fogged in the air as she prowled closer, claws scraping on the ice.

Lily could see the sheer terror on Alice and Mary's faces even in the darkness, and Dory was hyperventilating beside her.

There was only one thing she could thing to do. She could see Emmy's nose twitching as she sniffed the blood in the air, tracing the scent back to Marlene's shuddering body.

Gritting her teeth Lily shot up and began sprinting, flame red braid snapping in the wind. The adrenaline kicked in and all she could hear was the sound of her feet pounding the earth. She skidded to her knees behind Marlene and frantically tried to wake her up.

"Mars, come on, come on. Talk to me," she hissed.

"M'alright," came the mumbled response and she barely had a second to think before a low growl sounded merely meters away.

Flinging up a loose shield spell, Emmy tore into it within moments. And then Alice was there and Mary and Dory too, holding the shield as Lily tried to stop the bleeding. But still the shields tore, Emmy was just too strong and they were all too weak from the exhaustion of the night's antics.