I didn’t go to breakfast that morning with Professor McGonagall; I stayed in the commons, half-asleep, half brain-dead and not wanting food. Sthyss was curled up next to me on the couch, not that I could refer to it like that because he said it sounded too domestic, so instead he was just lying there, not that I cared. He, like me had given up in the early hours of the morning on the notion of sleep and we were both knackered. I tried to stretch out some of the tired and weary feeling but it lay on me like a blanket. Around ten I finally drew up the courage to leave the commons before someone came looking for me and went to have a shower. I spent the longest time I had ever spent in a shower, even Sthyss, decided that it would be good to have warm water running over his scales, it improved both of our moods considerably, although neither of us were going to feel fabulous we did pretty well trying to.
“Your birthmark is clearer today.”
“It is?” I asked, peering over my shoulder unsuccessfully. I could see a black corner but that was about it, it didn’t seem to have that cloudy look it normally had.
“Your ultimate Grandfather had the same one.” He said as I rubbed him off with a soft towel a few minutes later, I nodded understandingly and he continued.
“That was how I knew you were the one I had to watch.” He whispered. I frowned.
“But didn’t you tell Dumbledore… well tell me to tell Dumbledore that you chose me because the other female died?” I asked puzzled,
“I had to tell him something, I couldn’t have him knowing about that,” his head flicked gently, gesturing over my shoulder. Yet again I felt myself frowning.
“Why not?” I questioned once again; I couldn’t fathom why people shouldn’t know about my tattoo like marking.
“Because if he saw it he would think that you were in allegiance with the other heir of Slytherin.” Sthyss answered, growing less patient, his tongue flickering in annoyance rather out of the need to taste the air around him.
“Sthyss,” I paused unsure if I was going to get bitten; I seemed to be heading down a sensitive path. “Who is the other heir?” I said it politely and I was hoping he could tell I wasn’t trying to make him angry.
“A man named Lord Voldemort,” He hissed with an undulation of scales, he was scared, I was unsure why but something was in his tone when he had said, ‘Voldemort’. “That man; that … thing; has done things that no man should ever do, he kills many for power and many more because he enjoys suffering. A man truly after the one whom he succeeds.”
“I see.” I replied rather lamely, I had the feeling that this man had done something to Sthyss.
“That birthmark you have Imogene, it resembles a symbol that Lord Voldemort uses, if someone saw it on you-”
“I’d be in trouble, I get it.” I interrupted
“No Imogene; it would be far worse than what you would define as 'being in trouble'.” He said with a sense of finality that without a doubt concluded the discussion.
I tried to keep very aware of the time knowing that around five o’clock I would have to go out from the castle and hide deep into the forest. My head was still pounding and I felt mildly sick, but apart from that, the shower had made me feel better than I had earlier that morning. I had even gotten a copy of the Daily Prophet and read through it lazily as I waited nervously for dark to come. Of course on the front cover was another picture of Sirius Black, this one screaming up out of the page and being dragged away by guards. My eyes again found that same depth that they had last time and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
“Reading again?” Sthyss was draped over the back of the armchair and was considering the picture that was looking up from the paper.
“I can’t help but think that the Ministry has it wrong.” I explained.
“They are, they always are, this man is innocent, and you should know you’ve always been a good judge of character.” He said.
“So I was right he is-” I looked out the window and the water was darker. I looked up at the clock and it read four- thirty eight. “Shit.” I swore in English and grabbed my backpack which had my spare clothes in. I leapt out of the door and through the corridor that led to the stairs, my bones were aching as I sprinted up them, by the time I was at the main entrance to the castle I was shaking violently, the forest wasn’t that far away and I was intensely relieved when I left the grassy space between the castle and the forest and felt cold moldering earth beneath my feet. There was that same peace under the trees that I had felt the day before when I had first been under the leafy canopy, unfortunately the sun had just left sight of the horizon and night had begun.
I eventually stumbled on a rock and my body was burning like I had been shoved into a furnace. I tried to stand, tried with all my might to stand properly, I grunted in pain and leant against the tree closest to me, the grunting soon turned into screams and screeches of pain, my skull grew and contorted into an entirely different shaped muzzle. My legs lengthened and I shot up an extra two feet, my arms becoming paws and blackened claws extending from where nails had grown, and should have been. I threw my head back as my ribs moved and altered shape, my chest broadening painfully, so much pain that I couldn’t describe it accurately. It was blinding, it was confusing and nothing could help me. My clothes tore and I howled up into the night, a lone, solitary cry of anguish, despair and anger directed to everything on the planet. The moon, my mother and my master, that which controlled my being; gazed down at me and I became a slave to her fullness, I, Lycanthrope, werewolf and doomed forever to change into a monster once a month. I could feel my head spinning, my mind deforming and all rationality leaving me, I was controlled instead by a being that wasn’t me, I stood and felt my body leave me, galloping off, fur covered limbs beneath me and I lost all conscious control of myself.
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The sun peered down through leaves, the light wandering around on the other side of my eyelids, and I was unsure whether or not I wanted to move. My forehead stung and I could taste the metallic tang of blood, my face was resting on something cold and I could hear soft rustling around me, naturally I thought that I was in the forest, but when I opened my eyes to the uncomfortable warmth I realised that I was inside one of the greenhouses. I sat up quickly, too quickly because all the blood rushed from my head and my vision went hazy, I clutched at my skull, which felt swollen and bruised, there was; as I had thought, a large vertical scratch down the right side of my face. Something wet trailed down my chin and I thought that it was spit until I touched my hand to it and brought it back, as I should have guessed; it came back red.
I looked to my arms and there were more bruises and claw marks the latter of which were bleeding sluggishly and felt numb my face which felt swollen pulsated sickly. Trying to stand I managed to get to my knees before my head spun and my stomach clenched threateningly, ignoring this, I lurched to my feet and fell through a giant, faintly wolf-shaped hole in the glass crashing onto the grass outside, I shuddered on my hands and knees, and threw up, an awful taste in my mouth as I retched, my stomach knotting and clenching; stinging bile burning my already fiery throat.
I managed to stop vomiting and breathed deeply through my nose, I rolled over to the other side of my pool of vomit and laid down on my side, regulating my breath until my stomach calmed down and I could sit up again. It was only then that I realised I was naked-and that I should be getting back into the castle before someone came looking for me.
I stood slowly on my sore feet, still shaking from shock and still shivering from the cold, I walked around the side of the school, slowly at first and then in more of a rush, trying to reach the tree line closest to the school where I had placed the spare clothes behind a tree the morning before. “Where is it?” I asked myself as I made a beeline for the trees, looking as my feet reached the border between the forest floor and the grass; they got muddy of course, as it seemed that it had rained last night. After a good half hours search the sun was getting higher in the sky and I estimated it was about eight o’clock; I found my bag, I pulled the clothes on hurriedly and ran back up to the castle, still running on adrenaline, my heart still exploding in my ears, the sound keeping me going, keeping a rhythm, stopping me from stopping. The doors were open when I reached them so I ran down without impedance into the deeper areas of the school. I took the stairs three at a time and leapt the last six. Once through the entrance to the commons I went straight to the bathrooms and locked the door. I sat down and leant against the wall.
The adrenaline ran out like a rabbit runs from a fox and I sat on the edge of collapse, resting my head on the white tile, I could just see my face in the corner of the clear mirror, it was ghostly pale and there was a faintly green cast to it, my eyes looked hollow and dead and I still had all that blood dribbling from my mouth and the long scratch down my face that I knew would leave me with a scar for the rest of my life. I turned the shower on and scooted under the head, the water stung my skin and the cuts covering my body. I had a vicious bite on my arm, which I was lucky was so high up around my bicep; it would make it easier to hide. I swilled water around my mouth and spat it out, the water red; turning I let the water run over my face and it stung bitterly but I let it clean out the wound, wincing. When I was happy with my state of cleanliness and I smelled less like a wolf I turned off the water and pulled one of the towels off the rail that for some reason never seemed to run out.
“Snape is outside,” I jumped because I hadn’t heard Sthyss enter and the door was still locked.
“In the commons?” I asked quickly.
“He is waiting for you to come out.” He clarified slithering closer to me and testing the air around me, “You still smell bad but humans won’t be able to tell.” He told me, I smiled painfully and got re-dressed in the clothes I had been wearing, Sthyss, on cue, wrapped around my leg until he was curled around my chest and waist comfortably sitting along the curves of my body. He had finished moulting and his glossy new scales shone beautifully in the light and I told him so as I opened the door from the bathroom out into the girl’s dorm.
My hair that came just above my shoulders and was darker, as it was wet; clung to my skin and if I placed it right it covered the now clean scratch on my face. Putting on my best smile I pulled open the door slowly and with a great yawn I began walking down the stone staircase to the main common room and as Sthyss had said, Snape was lounging on a couch.
“Hello Professor how are you?” I asked, I winced internally at how absolutely tired I sounded.
His eyebrows rose as he saw me, I guess I must have looked a mess.
“I came to check that you hadn’t been killed, although I feel the Headmaster’s worry was completely unfounded.” He seemed to have a sort of habit of talking to himself, because he certainly wasn’t talking to me.
“Why would he be worried?” I asked curiously.
“There was a Werewolf in the school grounds last night; the headmaster was concerned when the house elf that came to bring you dinner found no-one in the commons.” He was suspicious and I attempted to look innocent, not letting him see my concern.
“I’m sorry Professor, I was tired so I went to sleep early,” I explained keeping my head down and looking at the floor. He narrowed his eyes at me and looked suspicious I could tell without lifting my head any further.
“It doesn’t seem that you got much sleep though.”
“Sthyss was moulting; he kept me awake for most of the night.” I explained quickly, watching him as he nodded, yet still there was some suspicion about the eyes.
“In which case enjoy your day.” He bid me farewell, his voice tight.
He left the commons, his black cloak flowing behind him as he stepped through the doorway and shut it behind him with a final slam.
I breathed a deep sigh of relief once he had gone, and collapsed back onto the couch in sheer exhaustion, my shirt, that was too big for me anyway, looked baggy and huge, I was a reasonably built person, I had a decent shoulder width and hips, but I couldn’t keep weight on very easily, especially around the cycle. I lost weight until after the full moon, when I would begin to feel better and gradually eat more, putting on more weight and filling out a little more until the cycle started all over again. It was always worse on the first and last night of the cycle, that meant the week before full moon I would decline in health rapidly and three nights after I would become worse and then get better. That meant that, since today was Saturday and I had turned into a werewolf last night I had three days until I was better, that was Tuesday, the day classes officially started. That would be good timing, my teachers would notice less and I could revive myself a little but it would still be a long haul to feel well again. After that thought I gave in to my body’s protest and fell asleep.
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