All was quiet in the lush woods of Violethedge, a forest far from the eyes of humans and shunned by the natives as a cursed place. Of Australia's many mysteries, this place was one no one wanted to investigate. In Violethedge lived a strange race of shapeshifters, unwelcoming to outsiders, no one knew about them. Anyone who discovered them never lived to tell about it. It was quiet now because one of them was on trial for the most heinous of crimes, murder and treason. The young female on trial had killed the leader's son and heir to the throne.
"It is my duty as a Child Guardian to kill those who would harm them. He was abusing a child; his life was forfeit to me." She defended herself calmly.
"You killed my son!" bellowed their king wrathfully.
"He did not deserve to live. I took what was rightfully mine."
"You admit to killing him then?" the judge asked.
"Yes,"
"He had done you no harm?"
"None,"
"Then it was murder not self-defense. The sentence for murder is death." The female's mother was heard sobbing. "Eindir, she is to be killed at sunrise." The clan executioner nodded solemnly at the judge. Lirawin hugged her mother and crooned soothingly.
"It'll be all right Mother, you have another child and forget about me all right? As long as the clan has Guardians everything will be all right." The guards came and sent Lirawin's parents away and prepared to watch over her until late in the night. Shortly before dawn Eindir came to collect her and took her far out from the forest so as not to dirty their soil with the blood. Once they were suitably far away he turned to her.
"Do you want to live Guardian?" Puzzled she stared at him for a moment. "Do you want to live Guardian?" he repeated more urgently.
"Well of course I do, but it's not as though I have a choice,"
"I'm willing to let you go, for a price."
"Why?" she asked suspiciously.
"Our king Eliel, is not as wise as he once was, you have committed no crime, the judge was forced to convict you. I think he will have your parents killed soon as well." She gasped. "The clan will not survive without Guardians, you are the only other one and I have a chance to let you live. Will you live or die Guardian?"
"I would live, Eindir, what is your price for my freedom?"
"You will mate with me, no bonding, just mate." Lirawin pulled away in disgust, but sighed in resignation.
"Fine," Once he finished with her she set off across the desert feeling filthy. She finally reached a city and assuming a human form began searching for an airport. Selling off a few apparently valuable trinkets she bought a ticket to England.
Upon arrival she relaxed and set about looking for a place to live suited to her species. She finally settled on a forest far from most human settlements, with a familiar tingle of magic to it. It was unfortunately already rather heavily populated with centaurs, unicorns, acromantulas, and other creatures both magical and otherwise, but it would do. Lirawin groomed her soft brown fur under the clear summer sky and proceeded to build herself a shelter against frosty English winters. Exploring her new home she came across a lake, from the shore she could see across to huge castle with a small hut close to the edge of the forest that crept towards the castle. As she returned to her shelter she was far too busy avoiding the spiders and centaurs to notice the huge man until he addressed her.
"Well hello there, what are yeh?" She looked up, startled, spread her wings and snarled making her look twice as big. "I's all righ' I'm not gonna hurt yeh. Here, I've a treat fer yeh. A Chocola' frog." The man rustled something pulled out of his pocket and set it down then backed up. Lirawin lowered her wings and stepped towards the thing it jumped towards her before settling down. Bewildered she approached and sniffed it. Suitably impressed, she picked it up in her paw-like hands and took a bite. She began to purr loudly, and contentedly ate her prize.
"Thank you, sir," she smiled and relaxed her posture.
"Yeh can talk!" exclaimed the man. She laughed softly.
"Of course I can why wouldn't I talk?"
"Thar ain't many creatures that can talk, I'm Hagrid, what's yer name?"
"Lirawin, are you a wizard?" she asked.
"Yeh, what are yeh?"
"None of your business what I am."
"A' righ' I better be heading back to th' castle, see yeh aroun' Lirawin,"
"Goodbye."
Lirawin struck up a friendship with the huge man coming across each other often in the forest. However, mere weeks later, when he found her in the forest he tied her up, and in the process nearly crushed her. She was only able to get in a few good scratches and make him slightly tipsy with alcohol injected from one of her poisonous thumb claws. Tightly bound she was tossed over his shoulder and taken along in a most undignified manner, snarling at him through the gag. Before long they emerged from the forest just below the castle. Near the hut, three men were waiting for them. The eldest, with long white hair and beard addressed them.
"Ah, Hagrid I see you've found her. Are you...drunk?"
"I ain't bin drinkin' et a' Dumbledore, though I'm feeling abit tipsy since she got me wi' one o' those claws." Hagrid slowly put her down and took the gag out of her mouth with some difficulty as she kept trying to bite him. As soon as her mouth was free she began to cuss at him loudly.
"You traitorous bastard of a pogo-sticking giraffe-brained kangaroo! I ought to rip you to pieces! How dare you betray me!" Paying her screaming no mind the men talked to each other.
"Yeh ever seen anything like 'er?" Hagrid asked the two younger men.
"No, and I've never heard of any creature like it either." The blond one replied running a hand through his graying hair.
"Nor have I," the dark haired one said shaking his head.
"We'll simply have to find out from her," Dumbledore announced turning to a hysterical Lirawin and pulling out his wand. "Shall we continue inside?" With a wave of his wand she was hovering a few feet above the ground. She gave a terrified whine, cat-like ears flattening against her skull as her entire body tensed in fear. Dumbledore levitated her into the castle and deep into the dungeon.
Finally she was set down in a modest room floored by a patchwork of small rugs over flagstone, a fire roaring in the fireplace lit the dark green walls with creamy white border and they sat in dark rose couch and armchairs.
"Now child, you're going to tell us what you are and who you're working for."
"Really?" she sneered.
"Lirawin, it's a'righ', jes tell 'im."
"Hagrid I can't think of one good reason to trust you, I recommend you shut up."
"What are you?" Dumbledore began to look very intimidating. Her resistance broke down a little.
"A shapeshifter,"
"Really?" Dumbledore waved his wand and pulled something out of his pocket muttering over it. After a moment he approached her with the object which appeared to be a collar. She snarled angrily and tried to bite him before it secured around her neck with an ominous click.
"Let me go, what'd you do to me?" She squirmed.
"That collar will stay on you no matter what form you're in but it will not let you leave this room without being on this leash," he held up a leash. "With a professor on the other end of the leash," She sighed and turned into a mouse to escape her bindings. Returning to her natural form she pulled one of her wings before her revealing a break in it that cut through the skin. Surprising the men she took hold of both sides and ripped a further hole in the skin so the bone was clearly broken in half. Licking the wound she peered at the bone.
"A clean break from the looks of it, could I get a hand from one of you?"
"O' course," began Hagrid jumping up. She snarled at him.
"Not you, you oaf, preferably the old one or him," she nodded at the dark haired one. Hollow bones require finesse, and you wouldn't know finesse if it hit you upside the head with a two by four." Hagrid sat back down as the dark one stood with a snort.
"I'm Severus Snape by the way, what is it that you want me to do? And no biting," he said sternly. She gave a wan smile.
"I daren't kill any of you if I can't leave the room without you, I might never get out. And all I want you to do is one end of the bone and then the other a solid tap to knock out any loose bone fragments." She offered one end of the injured wing and he did as requested, a fine spray of tiny bone bits and blood sailed out, as on the other. "Thank you sir," She began to lick both ends of the exposed bone and then carefully pressed them together continuing to lick and including the surrounding torn tissue. The fur closed over the wound within a moment though she kept a firm grip on the wing for a few more minutes before letting go and settling both her wings folded on her back.
"Well, I don' think yeh'll be needin' me so I'll git back to work." Hagrid stood and left.
"Now Lirawin, who are you working for?" She looked at Dumbledore in bewilderment.
"No one but myself,"
"Excellent, you're not working for Voldemort then,"
"No, I've never even heard of him, I told you I'm not working for anyone."
"Ah, well let me explain. Voldemort is a very dark wizard bent on taking over the world and is a vicious killer. He has been weakened but he has not been eradicated yet. He would love to make you one of his followers or use you as you're a new source of power. He already has ties to dementors, giants, vampires, werewolves and other creatures. Now I lead the fight against him and would like you to join us."
"You want me to work for you?"
"Yes,"
"No, I won't work for you, you interfering busybody, you've taken me prisoner, from my home by force and betrayal, locked me in this room and think I'm going to simply say yes to your apparent noble plan?" Dumbledore looked flustered. Snape smirked in amusement. "What next? Rape? Going to leave the werewolf in here with me for tonight's full moon to bully me into saying yes?" the blond man paled. "You sir need help if you think that's how to win allies. I believe you've confused the term with enemies. And as far as the Voldemort fellow, well I've got to say is the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Dumbledore frowned.
"Well until you change your mind this is your new home, there's some bedding in the corner and the bathroom is through that door." And with that he left followed by the other two men.
"Wait she called after them, what's a bathroom?" The two still in the room looked at each other.
"I'll do it," sighed Snape and turned back to her. The other man left the room. Snape led the way into the bathroom. "This is a sink, it's for getting water, washing hands and brushing teeth. This is a toilet is for bodily wastes, press that button and they'll go away."
"Bodily wastes?" Snape went slightly pink.
"Urine and feces," she still looked a little puzzled, then she smiled.
"Oh, that! That won't be a problem, my kind don't do that."
"They don't? Where does it go?"
"Well there isn't much, but most of it goes to our poison glands, if one of those gets too full we generally just use it or spit it out. Extra mass goes to our trantias to be stored for transformations that need it."
"How odd. Well, this is the bath it's for getting clean." He showed her how to make it work and where the soaps were before leaving her to herself. "I'll make sure the house elves will be feeding you."
She made her way to a small bed with curtains around it and curled up in it.
The next morning she was woken by an odd little green creature.
"Miss! Miss! Your breakfast is ready!" Obediently Lirawin ate the platter of miscellaneous foods before watching the creature disappear with a crack.
Since there was only so much sleeping she could do, Lirawin conjured a spinning wheel and loom and began to spin her previous years coat, beginning with fall's blue-gray, by the fire. She was interrupted twice by more house elves with meals but spent the rest of her time in silence.
This is until someone or something thumped on the door a few times. Startled, Lirawin yipped and darted into her bed, cowering. The door swung open.
"Lirawin?" called Snape softly, slipping into the room and shutting the door. The curtains around the bed opened and he peered in and smirked at her fearful wide blue eyes. "It's all right, I'm here to take you out; there can't be much to do for exercise in here."
"No, there's not," she smiled and slipped out of the bed. He gently grabbed her shoulder to fasten the leash to her which she glared at despairingly.
"Come on, we've only got two hours outside. If you're good I'll let you in my lab for a bit after that." He gave a gentle tug on the leash. "Could you be something less conspicuous until we get out of sight of the castle?"
"A dog?" She shifted retaining her color.
"That will do." And with that, he led her out the door and onto the grounds. "Once we are in the forest you may return to your form." She took an appreciative sniff of the night air and wagged her tail before settling into a steady trot alongside him. "I must confess there's a trick to this leash," her ears perked and she eyed him curiously. "It will expand as far as I am willing to let it, and as long as you stay within sight and don't tangle it, you may go as far as you like." She tentatively picked up her pace while he stayed a little behind and looked back questioningly. At his nod she gave a delighted wriggle and soft woof before bounding off at top speed. Snape caught up with her just inside the forest where she leapt from branch to branch in complicated acrobatics pumping her wings without actually using them. On seeing him she jumped down with a smile.
"Thank you," she hugged him he stiffened slightly, surprised and she retreated slightly. "I really needed this, need to keep up my muscle mass while the wing heals or I won't be able to fly, that room is not conducive to this." She grimaced.
"You're welcome," he replied gruffly with a nod. "We should be getting back, I have work to do," Lirawin glanced back into the forest longingly but quietly shifted to a dog and followed at his heels.
On the way into the castle Dumbledore greeted them.
"I see you've taken her out, have a good time?"
"She did," replied Snape watching as Dumbledore moved closer finally reaching out to touch her. She snarled and pressed closer to Snape.
"Cute," Dumbledore smiled unconcernedly. Lirawin shifted.
"Do try not to mistake a wolf in sheep's clothing for a real sheep, they may both look cute and cuddly, but only one of them is, the other one kills." The leash pulled short holding her against Snape's legs.
"Don't rile her Albus, she's got a poisonous bite and hates your guts right now,"
"Must you ruin my fun? If he'd gotten just a little closer..." she whined as she was pulled down the hall away from Dumbledore and towards Snape's office.
He opened the door to his lab and pulled her in before rushing to take care of a potion he had left to simmer she followed slowly taking in the new sights and smells. Noticing his absorption in his work she pulled herself into an arm chair and curled up and watched. Finally he finished and turned to look for her.
"Ah, there you are, come here I want to do some tests." Puzzled, Lirawin did as she was told. "I'd like some of your fur and I want to catalog which poisons you have."
"All right," she shrugged. He reached out with a small knife and sliced a little fur from her side and rubbed it between his fingers.
"It's soft!" she laughed at his wonderment.
"What'd you expect? Poison barbs?"
"I've never felt a material so soft," At that she straightened proudly.
"And you never will, we have the softest fur among any species according the clan elders, trick is that we can't let anyone know about us so we can't make massive profits off of it. We use the fabric asule made from it in our nests." Snape looked interested as he bottled his sample. He then brought out several vials.
"All right, now I need poisons," Lirawin reached out and took a vial from him and extended a hidden claw from her thumb until a few drops of liquid fell into the vial.
"Alcohol," she explained and handed it back to him before taking another and doing the same "Lectins," at his questioning gaze she continued. "There are two glands per expression site containing different chemicals in ideal hunting I could determine which one to use on my prey. However, with so many sites I can only give the most severe one with whatever site I happen to reach the prey with first." She continued the same process with her other thumb giving him examples of caffeine and arsenic, before moving with some difficulty in maneuvering to her fangs where the list of poisons grew longer: cyanide, ciguatera, billywig venom, glycoalkaloid, hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, sodium bicarbonate, and a compound used to settle the stomachs of her species children.
"Might I take a few drops of blood?" She recoiled from him.
"Absolutely not,"
"May I ask why you're so violently opposed to it?" Snape asked, puzzled.
"It's not only a rather potent magical substance, but blood sharing is considered extremely intimate in my culture, an unbreakable mating bond. It will actually change fur color it's so powerful."
"An excellent reason then, I won't press you for it." Snape had looked interested when she told him it was magical but had turned sheepish as she continued. "Would you like to stay here while I run the tests?"
"As long as it's ok with you; any time out of that prison is appreciated." She smiled hopefully at him. After a few hours, Snape returned her to her rooms to sleep.
Lirawin's days fell into a regular pattern, spinning and weaving during the day, and her exercise and visits with Snape after dinner.
"Do you know how to ride a horse, Severus?" Lirawin asked on their outing a few weeks after her capture.
"Yes, why?"
"Climb on then," She shifted to a large golden winged horse, and lay down so he could get on easier.
"There's no saddle or reins though," he protested. She snorted and tossed her head. "All right, but if you drop me…" He climbed on and dug his hands into her mane. She scrambled to her feet and ran across the fields towards the lake, the water grew closer and closer and just when he feared she would take them into its depths, she leapt in to the air pumping her wings just enough to clear the water before gaining altitude and soaring up over the forest.
One afternoon Lirawin's door swung open, sending her scurrying for her bed. A young boy came in and looked around before approaching the bed.
"Hello? Is someone in here?" the curtains slowly opened and he smiled at her curiously. "Do you live here?" she nodded. He spotted the collar. "Who do you belong to?" ashamed by the question she looked away from him.
"Severus Snape if anyone, as Dumbledore's trapped me here because I won't serve him,"
"I'm Draco Malfoy, I'm a student here, I'm sorry I frightened you." He held out his hand.
"I'm Lirawin, it's ok, company is welcome." She smiled warmly.
"I was looking for a quiet place to do my work, would you mind if I did it in here?"
"Not at all, though I must tell you that Severus comes and takes me out after dinner so I won't be here then." Draco nodded and sat down on her couch and set his work on the table. She followed him; now in fall plumage, the blue-gray was striking against the pink fabric as she curled up next to him watching with interest.