Standard disclaimer applies: I do not own any recognizable elements from Harry Potter.
What is death but another adventure? Or a series of adventures. Remus and Tonks are about to find out.
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With a snort the wolf awoke. After a moment he stretched and shifted. He paused at the information his senses brought him. Grass tickled beneath his belly, a warm summer breeze brought the scent of trees and flowers, the trickling sound of a brook nearby reached his ears. It took him a puzzled moment to figure out why this was so odd.
There was absolutely no sign of the battle, no frantic shouting or crashes of masonry, no sharp fizz of spells flying, no scent of blood and death. In fact there was no sign of Hogwarts or the desperate battle against Death Eaters and Voldemort at all.
With a jerk the wolf sprang to his feet. With a high pitched note of alarm the wolf looked down to see that he in fact had four very wolf-like legs. His panic skyrocketed. With a multitude of alarmed noises the wolf tripped over his own legs, pointed his snout toward the sky to confirm that yes the sun was bright and cheerful in the sky, and howled in horror at his own furry legs.
So involved with his panic the wolf did not notice the large black dog sitting at the edge of the woods until the dog barked loudly to gain the wolf's attention. With wide eyes the wolf stepped closer to where the dog sat at the tree line. The dog, impatient as always bounded playfully up to the wolf barking excitedly and wagging his tail wildly.
A snort and a gush of air on his back brought the wolf's attention to the stag standing behind him. With of a yelp of surprise the wolf looked back and forth between the grinning black dog and the magnificent stag that stood proudly in the sunlight.
The stag stepped closer and lowering his head nosed the wolf in greeting. The dog, not to be out done, licked the wolf's face. The wolf wagged his tail in happy response to seeing his friends again. He looked around the stag's hooves half expecting a rat to be circling around toward him. The dog caught his eye, growled softly and shook his head.
The stag pawed the ground briefly before snorting again and turning toward the sound of moving water. With an excited yip the dog jumped up and followed. Both looked back to watch the wolf get up and follow his friends.
As the stag led them, occasionally stopping to twitch his ears and sniff the air, the wolf basked in how happy he was to have his school yard friends back. This led him to thoughts of how it had been quite a long time since they romped around together. Which spiraled downward to how before waking up the last thing he remembered was the battlefield Hogwarts had become and dueling Dolohov until the flash of green light headed right toward him…
The dog barked excitedly bringing the wolf out of his increasingly dark thoughts. The stag had led his canine friends to the bubbling stream, but now had his attention zeroed in on a patch of wildflowers near the forest edge.
The wolf approached, wondering what captivated the stag so, as the dog gave a loud huff of exasperation.
Growing in the center of the flowers was a red lily. The stag ever so gently nudged the lily, and to the wolf's surprise the lily twisted around in response. At the base of the petals of the single flower was the subtle shape of a familiar face. As the wolf watched the flower turned fuller toward the stag, her red petal-hair smoothing down her back, and arm-like stems branched out reaching for the stag's antlers. Lowering his head to better accommodate the flower the stag otherwise stood patiently and perfectly still. The flower wrapped her leaf-hands around the lowest tines of the stag's antlers, then with some twisting and pulling brought her roots to the surface. Her roots free the flower lifted one half up and stepped up the stag's nose. The lily settled at the base of the stag's antlers, curling her roots in his fur and wrapping her stems and leaves around the antlers.
The flower sufficiently settled the stag twisted closer to the wolf. The wolf was amazed to find the subtle woman-shaped flower smiling like the sun before launching herself at him to hug his face. The wolf closed his eyes in bliss, another deeply missed friend had returned to him.
Carefully, the flower drew back and wrapped her leaves once more in the stag's antlers, anchoring her in place as the stag raised his head. The wolf looked up wagging his tail happily, starting to appreciate the very surreal turn of events since he had woken up.
The dog barked wagging his tail furiously, impatient to get moving again. This time the dog led them, following a path upstream.
It felt wonderful for the wolf to run and explore with his friends again. Eventually they came to a craggy tree beside a slight drop to the stream. The dog, still leading the group moved to go right past the dead snag but a gnarled branch twisted around and poked him hard in the nose.
Examining the tree closer as his friend howled and pawed his nose, the wolf noticed a knot in the tree with a spinning eye in the center. Before the wolf could react the dog growled then abruptly attacked the stump, earning a multitude of jabs from the branches in response. One thin branch wrapped entirely around the dog's hind leg and hoisted the canine howling into the air.
Behind him the wolf could hear the stag snorting in laughter and even the flower managed a breezy sound of amusement. Snorting to get the dog's attention, the wolf pointed toward the eye in the knot of the stump he attacked. The dog let out a whine in apology and the branches dropped him.
As the dog shook himself the wolf and stag drew closer to see the paranoid old stump. Spinning his eye to look at each of them in turn the tree pointed his branches and eye toward the stream.
Peering closely at the water the wolf at first didn't notice anything unusual. After a few moments the vague outline of arm and head made of water reached out and then dissolved just as quickly into the current, so quickly the wolf thought he had imagined the entire thing. Beside the wolf, the dog whined impatiently, not having seen anything.
Again an arm, head and upper torso of water formed and reached toward the group on the river bank, before the watery figure slipped and slid back into the stream. The wolf, dog, stag and flower stood silent all having seen that last attempt. Twisting his branches around the tree reached down toward the stream. After a moment's wait the watery figure reached from the surface and grabbed on to the branch. Realizing what would happen at the last minute the wolf and the dog scrambled backward into the legs of the stag as the old tree whipped the branch with the water nymph toward the river bank. Upon landing the nymph promptly dissolved into a puddle of mud.
Whining in realization, anxiety, and nervous anticipation the wolf jumped forward and poked his nose as close as he dared to the puddle of mud. The dog also moved closer with a huff of laughter. This time the figure formed out of mud and sure enough a familiar heart-shaped face grimaced in concentration at them. Waiting a moment to be sure her body had stabilized the mud nymph opened her arms wide with a smile and stepped toward the wolf. One step toward her destination the nymph's legs lost their shape and she landed hard, her face smacking into the wolf's forehead.
Recoiling slightly in pain, the wolf reflected that it was very lucky the nymph was relatively small, not even standing to his shoulder in height. Otherwise that head-butt of mud would have hurt quite a bit more. Even as the wolf held still he felt the nymph's form reforming and solidifying, though she seemed to have considerable trouble stabilizing her feet beneath her. Gently pushing with his forehead the wolf tried to get the nymph back on her feet. Instead she fell the backwards and landed on her bottom as her legs once again melted into a pile.
The dog barked in laughter behind her as the nymph tried once again to form legs and feet. As the nymph slipped again she twisted an arm toward the dog and made a rude gesture, causing the dog's mirth to grow. The wolf moved forward to offer the nymph something stable to hang onto. As she clung to his leg the wolf noticed the stag and flower returning from the forest's edge. He hadn't even noticed them leaving.
Once close enough, the stag lowered his head revealing that the flower had been holding a multitude of sticks and twigs which she dropped beside the nymph. Smiling her gratitude, the nymph let go of the wolf's leg to pick up a twig and put it into her leg to form a frame. Making quick work of the twigs, the nymph soon had a stick skeleton for her mud features to form around. With everything in place she made one last effort and successfully stood up on her own.
On her own feet she hugged the wolf tightly and the wolf closed his eyes and curled around her in response. After a whine from the dog the nymph let go to hug him, before moving on a few minutes later to hug the old craggy stump. The wolf watched as the stump's knot eye rolled. Finally the nymph detached herself to stand before the stag and flower. She peered up at them as the stag lowered his head. A moment later and the stag allowed the nymph to pet his nose. Last of all the flower reached out her leaf arm and smiled brightly as she shook the mud nymph's hand.
After they let go the wolf moved to the nymph's side and gently rubbed her. He felt an overwhelmed ache in his chest at the presence of the nymph here beside him. He shivered uncontrollably as she placed a hand on his leg.
A flashing light distracted the wolf from his thoughts. With the others he turned toward the forest where between the trunks a warm, inviting light flashed again. The stag and the dog at once started moving toward the light. The wolf, not sure what else to do, followed his friends with the nymph by his side.
As they entered the forest and began to weave between the trees the stag and dog picked up speed. Becoming more and more curious about the light himself, the wolf did as well. The nymph began jogging at his side. The stag and dog moved even faster breaking into a trot each. The wolf eager to follow sped up. A snapping sound and the nymph yank hastily at his tail before falling into a pile on the forest floor.
Turning around and whining, the wolf not wanting to be left alone by his friends he nudged the pile willing the nymph to get back up. Struggling, the nymph reformed, this time incorporating moss and leaves in her form. The wolf hastily crouched down and waited for the nymph to crawl on his back. The nymph barely had a grip on his fur before the wolf took off at a full run to catch up.
Eager as he was to catch up to his friends the wolf did not notice the nymph slipping and grasping and struggling to stay on. The wolf sighted his friends up ahead; the dog and the stag were racing toward a clearing. He could make out the outline of the flower wrapping leaves and branches securely around the stag's antlers to not fall off. At the center of the clearing the wolf could just make out a pearly orb floating and giving off the soft flashing light.
The stag reached the edge of the clearing first and with a mighty leap propelled himself and the flower toward the orb. The dog was hardly a moment behind the stag and he too leapt forward. The orb intensified and blinding light filled the clearing.
The wolf was almost there. The last few trees flew by. The nymph lost her grip. Excited the wolf reached the edge of the clearing and leapt after his friends, not noticing the nymph falling at the clearing edge.
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Author's Note: This was edited by me, so any confusing sections, awkward wording, or other errors are all mine. On that note, anyone interested in being a Beta? If you are, PM me.
This chapter is by far the strangest style I have for this story.