A/N: Written for the Hogwarts House Challenges Forum, both Camp Hogwarts and Care of Magical Creatures.
1) Paintball (Write about an Ambush)
2) Round 3: Werewolves. Must include:
a) A werewolf interaction with a human
b) Negative impact of having a society run by werewolves
c) Humans rebelling against the established society
Warning: Major Character Death.
Enjoy!
"We can do this. We need to." Reese's voice was strong against the noise of the crowd, and she drew her wand to silence the others. "They have taken our homes, our lives. They have killed our children. They cannot be trusted to protect us. All they do is cause more pain."
"Yes!" Voices from the crowd shouted, echoing her cry.
"Tonight, in Hogsmeade, Minister Pyotr will apparate to attend the monthly meeting. And we will be there. We will take down this cruel government. We will stand up for ourselves once again!"
"We will!" The crowd screamed in unison.
"Are you with me?" Reese yelled, punching her fist into the air.
"We are!"
"Are you with me?" She called once more. The crowd screamed their reply.
"Then follow me." Without another word, Reese turned and began to walk towards the apparition point. There, they would gather in the trees. When newly appointed Minister Pyotr appeared, along with the other werewolves who always accompanied him, they would attack.
And they would be successful.
Reese was certain of it.
Two days prior.
"Reese!" The girl spun around, looking up to see Erik following her down the hallway, a grin plastered on his face.
"Erik," she responded shyly, smiling at him. The blond young man had begun to pay particular attention to her only a few weeks prior, and Reese was still unused to the attention. She pulled on a lock of her chestnut hair and looked at him questioningly. "What is it?"
"I just wanted to say 'hi'," he teased, and Reese rolled her eyes. She had never been one for meaningless flirtation, but something about Erik almost made it cute.
"Just cut to the chase. What do you want?" Reese responded, purposefully being abrupt.
Erik simply laughed. "Bloody hell, there's no rush," he responded. "I was simply wondering if you would like to go for a walk with me tonight?"
Reese's breath caught in her throat. "But, it's wolfstime."
Cocking an eyebrow at her in confusion, Erik eyed her. "And that's a problem…why?"
Letting out the breath quickly, Reese shook her head. "Oh, not a problem. I just don't generally…well, never mind," she fumbled with her words. "Come at seven." Without another word, she turned and walked away. Bloody hell, a voice in her head told her, you should have expected this. Of course it would happen sooner or later.
But she hadn't expected it to happen this soon.
"See you at seven," Erik said from behind her.
Reese easily made it to the apparition point, where she turned on the spot and appeared moments later in her front yard. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't.
She was having a werewolf come to her house tonight at seven. Which wouldn't be more than an hour or two before the official start to wolfstime. She was putting herself, and far worse, her younger sister, in danger.
But she couldn't do anything about it.
As far as the new Ministry was concerned, she was a werewolf just like the others. You had to be in order to work within the Ministry itself.
But she wasn't. And until now, she'd had them fooled. After all, wolfstime – the time of month when every non-werewolf was escorted to underground barracks, and those who disobeyed were considered fair game - was strictly followed. Those who transformed didn't miss her, and those who saw her during the time itself were too frightened to report her. Besides, this new government had only been in place for two months, and her role was essential. She was to discover their weaknesses in order to overthrow them.
Only, she'd found herself falling for them. Of course, some of them were terrible and heartless. Minister Pyotr himself wanted to pass a law that forced all citizens to allow themselves to become werewolves, though he had not yet presented it. Reese's job was to make sure such a thing never happened.
But some of them – Erik included – had been trapped in this life. It was not their fault. They were good people.
But even these good people could not help what they did during wolfstime.
"Reese!" a young girl's voice shouted out over the noise from the street.
"Hey, little tiger," Reese responded with a smile. Her sister's full name was Tiger Lily, but Reese rarely called her that. It was always one or the other, though the little girl preferred the former.
"How was work?" she said with a smile, grinning up at Reese and showing the two teeth that were missing in the front.
"It was good," Reese said without hesitation. There was no point in worrying her, after all. What would happen would happen. "How was school?" Tiger spent the day at a daycare, not being old enough to attend either Muggle School or Hogwarts yet.
"It was fun!" Tiger said with a grin. "Except Sam tried to steal my crayon, so I bit him!" she said proudly.
Reese rolled her eyes. "What did he do?"
"He bit me back!" she responded with a cheeky grin, holding out the mark on her arm. "See!"
The mark hadn't pierced the skin, so Reese knew she was safe. It was unlikely that a child so young was a werewolf, but in this world anything was possible. "No more biting, alright little tiger?" Reese said.
Tiger smiled back at her sister. "Alright, Reese. Unless someone bites me first, then I'll get them," she finished with a small laugh, before running back to the yard where she had been playing.
Reese let out a small smile. She loved her sister more than life itself, would do anything for her. And yet here she was, putting her in danger by partaking in a mission that could potentially get either or both of them killed.
"Thank you. For joining me tonight," Erik said with a small smile as he lea Reese to her doorway. The girl smiled shyly, trying to hide the anxiety ripping through her nerves. He needed to leave so she could get herself and Tiger to the underground barracks.
"It was my pleasure," the girl responded, which was partially true. Erik was a total gentlemen, but she had been too absentminded to fully enjoy the evening. "Another time, perhaps?"
Erik grinned once more. "I would love that," he said. And then, entirely unexpectedly, he leaned forward. Reese's eyes widened in panic as she stared at him and before he had a chance to close his eyes she shook her head. He immediately pulled away, looking embarrassed.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to – "
"No, it's really alright – "
"I shouldn't have – "
"Don't – "
As soon as Reese's last word was spoken, the final cloud blocking out the moon moved one centimeter to its left. Erik's eyes immediately changed, his complexion becoming paler, though Reese was certain that it could not match her own. She stood, frozen to the spot, as his gruesome transformation took place. In a moment, he stood before her, a towering beast of a thing. And still, she couldn't move.
"Reese?"
The small voice came from her right, and the girl turned to see Tiger standing around the corner. She tried to scream for her to run, to tell her that she shouldn't be there, but she couldn't find her voice. The werewolf turned too, and without a second thought was upon her little sister. His teeth bit deep into her heart, which stopped beating before the child could let out a sound.
"Tiger," Reese whispered, finally finding her voice. "What have you done?" Tears streamed down her face, but as she stared at the werewolf – at Erik – the one who had caused this, she felt only anger. Like nothing she had ever felt before.
And she pulled out her wand.
The werewolf leapt.
She screamed the words she had promised herself would never leave her lips.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
A green burst of light.
The werewolf – Erik – lay dead at her feet.
Reese collapsed on the cold, cement walkway.
Two Days Later
Everything was in place. Their ambush was set. There was no turning back.
Not that Reese would want too.
She was still in a daze and wasn't certain that she had left it since that night, which seemed like years ago. When she had finally decided that they could no longer wait. That a society that allowed children to be destroyed like…animals…wasn't worth living in.
She would give her life to get revenge for her sister.
Reese had been wrong. Apparently, they had suspected. The werewolves had known.
And they had set their own trap.
As soon as Minister Pyotr appeared at the apparition spot, all hell had broken loose.
Reese's killing curse had missed the Minister by only an inch, but from somewhere beyond she had been hit herself.
Reese was dead before her body hit the ground. The last thing she saw as the light dimmed and all feeling left her body was the moon.
It shone blood red.
