[ 𝐂 𝐇 𝐀 𝐏 𝐓 𝐄 𝐑 𝐓 𝐖 𝐄 𝐍 𝐓 𝐘 𝐅 𝐈 𝐕 𝐄 ]
𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓯𝓾𝓵𝓵 𝓶𝓸𝓸𝓷
WHEN WINNIE WOKE up, she woke up cold, alone and not in her bed. She knew these things immediately, without opening her eyes.
The cold pierced bone deep, making her feel achy and tense immediately. All around her, all she could feel was the lightweight blanket draped across her supine body. There were no familiar black curls tickling her chin, or Sirius' cold feet tucked against her own, or Peter's faint snores, or Lily's faint scent of floral shampoo, or Remus' slightly calloused and scarred hand pressed against her palms.
She was alone when she remembered what happened. When the cold came not just from the bitter air, but from herself, engulfing her.
She pulled herself into an upright position and swung her feet over the edge of the bed, wincing when her feet touched the cold ground.
"Accio shoes," she whispered, holding out her wand. "Lumos."
Newly equipped with shoes and light, she stumbled sleepily towards the window for fresh air in hopes it would blow away the knot of dreadful emotions twisting inside of her chest.
For a moment, it worked.
She closed her eyes and allowed the gentle wind and the soft light from the full moon wash over her. Winnie inhaled deeply and held it before exhaling. She did this multiple times, enjoying the feeling of her muscles slowly relaxing.
Eventually, however, the comfort was soon replaced with the building storm of emotions arising once more. She tried to swallow it back, like she'd done all night, but in the dark, all alone in the quiet, there was nothing to listen to except for the voice in her head.
The voice said it was her fault. She knew the relationship wasn't healthy, it wasn't good anymore. It hadn't been for a while. But she had hoped that it would blow away. That she could be like her parents and be so lucky that her first boyfriend would be the one. She'd held that hope so hard, it cracked under the pressure, and her along with it.
The storm inside her reared again when she thought of how cold she'd been to everyone. She'd pushed away her brothers, ignored her best friends, and isolated herself from Remus because of unnecessary guilt.
She'd handed the reins of her life to Everett and he had steered her awry.
Winnie wasn't sure she'd be able to find her way back, not alone at least.
With that thought, she went to go back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Maybe find James or Lily and distract herself. But when she started to turn from the window, she saw movement.
She leaned out a bit further and squinted her eyes. She rubbed them once more to make sure she wasn't mistaken, but the view didn't change. It was Severus Snape making his way across the yard.
Lily called it a Potter's sixth sense to tell when Slytherins were up to no good, particularly that Slytherin. At the moment, her sixth sense was going off like no one's business.
So with nothing to lose and not a moment to spare, she lifted one leg then the other over the window guard and began scaling her way down to the yard.
She knew if a teacher saw her now, they'd have a heart attack. But to WInnie, scaling the tower was second nature. It had been since she, James, and Sirius would sneak out and learn every inch and cranny of the school. Originally, it was to distract Sirius from the letters from home, but eventually it was something she loved.
But third year, she'd climbed and crawled and walked through every part of Hogwarts. The medical wing in particular was one window she was always exiting and entering with all the Quidditch injuries over the years.
Only a few moments later, she landed softly on the ground and began to follow after Snape at a distance. She watched hesitantly as he approached the whomping willow.
At some point in the trek, the breeze and moon had turned from comforting to foreboding. The wind blew against as she walked, the mood highlighting Hogwarts and nothing else. It was like they were both telling her to turn around.
But she didn't.
Instead, Winnie watched as Severus threw a few rocks, finally hitting what looked to be a knot at the base of the tree, stopping the violent swinging of the branches. She seemed to have spotted the small tunnel at the same time as Snape, because they both moved.
It wasn't until they were both inside and will resumed it's whomping did the Slytherin realize he had company.
"What are you doing here?" Snape all but snarled, gathering his robes as he began marching onwards.
"I could ask you the same thing," Winnie replied stubbornly, keeping pace.
"Visiting your monster of a friend, of course," he replied easily.
"What?" Winnie hesitated. "What are you going on about?"
"The jokes off, Potter. Sirius told me everything."
Winnie grabbed the sleeve of his robe and spun him around to face her. In the distance, a wolf howled.
"Speak english, would you? I've no clue what you're going on about."
Snape seemed to have read the genuine confusion on her face as his shifted from annoyed to amused. His lips twisted into a cruel smirk.
"What? You mean they didn't tell you? Surely, I would've guessed Remus would never keep a secret from you."
"Remus doesn't keep secrets from me," WInnie asserted.
"Then let's see."
At that, they came across what appeared to be a locked and warded door but the two of them worked in silence and quickly got rid of them. As soon as the silencing spell fell, she could hear loud growls and howls from within. A shiver ran up her spine.
She pushed open the door.
Inside was a sight she;d never forget. A large wolf—no, werewolf— covered in scars had his head tipped back, crying prayer to the moon. A large, but still small in comparison, dog ran in circles around the werewolf's paws, seemingly to distract him. A small rat followed suit, running around wildly with the dog.
A few feet away and closer to her and Snape stood a large, majestic deer. The deer's eyes seemed to widen in fear seeing them.
Before she knew what was happening, the werewolf turned his eyes to her and almost immediately jumped. She screamed and lifted her arms in instinct as the wolf shoved between her and Snape, throwing them on opposite sides of the room and away from the door.
Fear clawed its way up her throat but she forced it down, as well as the wand her had unknowingly lifted.
Werewolves were people out of reach from the moon, and she refused to hurt an innocent person.
The wolf howled again, turning its attention to Snape. The words he said earlier were brought to the forefront of her memory.
Remus.
Her eyes zeroed in on the Snape, his eyes wide, his hand shaky and his wand raised and aimed at the wolves head. Behind that dear, however, was something cruel and twisted and she didn't like it. She didn't like that he'd probably been waiting for a moment to get Remus, any of them really, back. That he would hurt Remus and hurt him bad.
So she acted.
"Expelliarmus!" Snape's wand flew from his hands and despite not knowing how, Winnie apparated so she was between Remus and Snape.
"Get out!" Winnie screamed at Snape, still between them.
But the wolf wasn't Remus. And the wolf didn't care who was in front of him.
By the time Snape was just past the threshold of the door, razor sharp claws tore into her chest, knocking her back.
Just as quickly as the wolf had lunged, he was gone. The deer had pushed him away, his prongs firmly planted against the wolf's side and he ran him into the wall nearest. Once he was down, the black dog jumped, keeping him there.
The deer turned to face Winnie, and by the time he made it to her side, it wasn't a deer, it was her brother.
"Winnie—"
Winnie's eyes raced between the animals, the blood on James' hands, the mess of the room, and moon just outside the windows.
She had so many questions, so many things she wanted to say. But when she opened her mouth, she found she only had the energy to say one thing before her world went dark.
"Remus."
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I'd say I'm sorry about this chapter but I'm not :) Anyways i wrote this instead of my homework