Chapter One
The Lost Prey
She has blue eyes. And brown hair cut in a neat bob that brushes her small shoulders. She shakes in the fear of ignorance; she does not know where she is. Her surroundings are large and murky. Squinting does not help the child see, and the inability to do so frightens her further. The trees leer at the girl and every sound creeps upon her. She stands under a leering tree, and in a tiny clearing. It is barely five meters in diameter. This is not a good place, thinks the child. She decides to leave the place where her father left her.
"Do not move until I return." He ordered her, by the tree she still stands under -hours later.
The child now moves. What if the darkness hurts her father? The girl ventures beyond the clearing. Or had already hurt him? She places one foot in front of the other in the direction her father left. Why did he leave me there? Tears slip down her cheeks. How long will I last on my own? She hears a screech in the woods. No.
It is a familiar sound to the girl. She has heard it many times on this dreadful night. Every time prior her father had deterred the creature. Now her father is gone. And the girl needs to run. She dashes blindly through the foggy forest. Although she stumbles she refuses to fall; she has survived too long in this deadly night to die now. She sees light, and knows that dawn is coming. And with dawn, salvation from the creature hunting her family.
She is the werewolf's prey. The creature's trophy, his prize. He had turned her god father into a werewolf as a child. Wouldn't it be ironic to turn Lupin's precious godchild into one too? Lupin was fun to play with, but didn't last long. The werewolf left him lying on the desolate ground to rot till dawn- when Lupin would be able to remember that he has failed his god daughter. When he'd realize that she was dead. The werewolf pursues the girl swiftly, she is going to be a fun treat.
There is hope for the godchild of Remus Lupin. She sees the end of the forest and beginning of a field. The field is flat and covered, her father had told her ground like this would help her.
"The overgrowth will hide you." He had told her the night before.
She practically dives into the wheat field. Pushing her hands in front of her small body the girl creates a path for herself in the fields of gold. Fenrir Greyback releases another mighty howl; one that makes the child shiver. She pushes towards the misty dawn. She can barely see the sun through all the wheat. Yet, looking up she could see a faint glimmer of pink in the grey sky above her.
Her smile is joyous at the sight of morning, "The night cannot last forever." It's what her father always said when she was frightened of the dark. Her smile slips from her face at the thought. She is no longer afraid of the dark. She is afraid of what hides inside it. Little does she know a spell has been casted upon her. A spell for disappearing, so even though she should have been found by the beast in seconds in the wheat field. She wasn't. She was in the foliage, just like her godfather told her to do.
The spell created a mirage. A fake scene. The werewolf did not see nor smell or hear a wheat field. He saw a cliff. And a small child's body at its bottom, crumpled and disfigured. In actuality he peers down at the misty ground as his prey slips through the acers towards a homely place. Called a burrow.
After half an hour of despondently staring at the child's body and wallowing in the fact he himself could not kill her, the werewolf darts back into the thick of the woods to finish off Remus Lupin. When Fenrir reaches the tree he left Lupin bleeding out on, he finds the wizard gone. The only trace of his being there the blood stains on the tree and grass.
In a blinding fury Greyback releases a ground breaking howl. One that can be heard miles away. It spurs the young girl on, to run faster into the dawn. Eventually, once the sun has reached its peak in the sky, the haggard child can make out an odd shape in the distance.
A tower? She thinks. No, it's merely a tall cottage. Seeming to touch the sky, the burrow amazed the girl. Its height astounds her for only being made of wood. If her father were there the girl would have asked how the structure both leaned and remained standing.
Giving her small body hope, the burrow becomes the child's beacon to a safer place. With unknown vigor replacing her tiredness she begins to jog towards the burrow.
It is nightfall by the time the girl breaks through the field with aching feet into the trimmed grass surrounding the tall cottage. Exhaustion hits the child suddenly at the sight of a door and lit house. Pure joy surges through her body at the idea of a cool glass of water and her mouth salivates at the possibility of a meal.
Dragging her lead like feet the girl manages to make it to the door of the tower before collapsing to her knees. The girl is too tired to knock on the door. Instead she begins to cry. Tears of gut-wrenching fear and paranoia of the past three days.
The sound of a child's sobs immediately hits the ears of Molly Weasly. She does not recognize the wails as one of her own children's; who were in fact were all seated for dinner. Just to check she darts a glance at her two youngest, Ginny and Ron, yet they seemed just as confused about the sound as she was.
Rising from her seat she makes eye contact with her husband, Arthur, to follow her as she rushes towards the door. With curiosity like cats Fred and George followed their parents as Bill and Charlie calmed the youngest of the Weaslys.
Hesitantly opening their door with his wand at the ready Arthur Weasly was surprised to find a small child around Ron's age crumpled by his door. Molly pushed around her husband only to gasp at the sight of the miserable girl.
"Arthur get another plate ready." And after Molly sees the girl's cracked lips, "And a pint of water while you're at it."
At the sight of the first woman she had seen in years the girl whimpers before attempting, and failing to rise from the ground. At the sight of the child's struggle Molly Weasly simply can't deny her maternal instincts.
Softly she asks, "Hello darling, hush now. There is no need to cry." As she picks her off the ground and into her own arms, taking the girl into the burrow for a much needed rest.
Upon entering Molly continues to comfort the girl, whose sobs had lessened but who had continued to shake.
"Here," says Arthur placing a hot meal and large glass of water before the girl who sat on his wife's lap. "Where did she come from Molly?"
Patting the now ravenously hungry girl's back Molly sighs, "I don't know Arthur, there isn't much out here. And let's not talk about this right in front of her!"
Cringing at the wrath of his wife Arthur retreated to the kitchen to deal with their overly curious children. Fred and George, who had watched the girl who was now in their living room eating come in were in slight shock and darted up into their room to discuss what was happening.
Not too soon after the rest of the Weasly children went into their rooms for bed did the girl finally finish her food and become deemed calm enough by Ms. Weasly to be questioned.
"Honey," Molly addresses the girl, "Would you mind telling me why you're here?"
The girl looked Molly in the eye with a haunted look that spoke as if the child had seen years beyond her age.
The girl says, "I was running from the monster that hunts in the woods. Can I sleep here?" She points to the couch.
Molly refrains from giving the girl another horrified gasp. The forest was miles away. Such a tiny thing made her way all the way from there to the Burrow?
"Of course you can spend the night! No wonder you're tired, you ran a far way to get away from that, monster?" Molly hadn't heard of any monster.
The girl got a fearful look. "Yes! A monster! He was a man but became hairy. He's been chasing me for a long time," As the girl spoke the more hysteric she became, "And daddy." She stopped talking to cry.
Molly decided not to push anymore from the girl on such an emotional night. Instead she enveloped the small girl in a reassuring hug, her heart breaking for the child. With each sob Molly vows again to take care of this small girl.
After fetching a blanket and pillow for the girl to sleep with Molly decides to ask only one more question.
"Babydoll, what is your name?"
With large blue eyes beginning to calm the girl answers with her first smile in what seems like forever, "Quy."