Introduction – A Windy Night

October 31, 1988

The wind was howling. Trees blew back and forth in the gusts as air whistled through the trees upper branches. It was darker than night, except for the silvery full moon that hung in the sky, which didn't cast much light on the ground. One house it did illuminate was a small, slightly rundown cottage at the end of the main road with a thick clump of forest sitting behind it.

The house had a small garden out front, full of flowers that cast slightly menacing shadows over the little stone driveway. Aunt May had always told her not to go out on full moon nights, but Lila couldn't help it. She had never seen the moon this bright, and all she could think about was taking a stroll out in the moonlight. It was nearing close to midnight, so Aunt May would be asleep by now. All she would have to do was slip out her bedroom window on the first floor, run along the garden path out onto the driveway, and then take a few more steps onto the main road. Then she would just have to sneak back in through her window, which she had done numerous times, and Aunt May would never know she had ever broken any of her rules.

The little girl giggled to herself as she ran past the wild Black-Eyed Susan's that marked the end of her driveway, and ran up the lane past her neighbor's houses. She kept running until she could see the church's steeple that rose out of the trees. Here she stopped to catch her breath, holding the stitch in her chest. After a minute she straightened up and looked around, noticing the moon had shifted behind a cloud. The part of the road she was on had no houses on either side, but had cottages back down the road she had come, and had the town center up ahead. For a moment she paused, wondering whether or not she should go back home. What if Aunt May found she was out of bed, and at this hour? But then again, she had done this before.

She turned and looked behind her back down the dark lane that led back to her cottage, and, turning to a cottage off to the left, recognized the cottage in front of her was old Batilda Bagshot's, an old friend of Aunt May's. If old, grumpy, Miss Batilda saw her out in the lane so long after her bedtime, she would be in just as much trouble with her as with Aunt May, and wouldn't hesitate for a second to tell Aunt May. And now, to Erin's horror, she saw a silhouette of two people in the house, illuminated by the candlelight.

Lila took a step back, then stopped: she heard something; a rustling in the trees behind. It sounded like a large animal. Probably nothing, just a stray dog like Rusty or Charlie that wandered around town. She turned toward the trees, trying to find the outline of the animal, but it was hard with the moon sheltered behind a cloud. Then the wind picked up. The trees swayed back and forth, leaves on the lane started swirling around her, like a tornado.

Suddenly she was dazzled by bright light as the moon came out from behind the cloud, spreading light across the road like a spotlight, with Lila right in the middle of it. Surely now Miss Bagshot and whoever was with her would see her outside. But then she heard a sound that made her freeze in place, a howling, a horrible, built up, drawn out howl. And this howling was coming from the trees, and it wasn't coming from the strays Rusty or Charlie this time. As she turned toward the trees, she suddenly realized why Aunt Mae hadn't wanted her to go outside on full moons, and that the reason was now approaching her out of the trees with big, yellow eyes.

Suddenly the werewolf lunged out of the trees, its mouth open, full of sharp pointed yellowed teeth. Its hair was matted with dirt and something like blood, and it had paws the size of baseball mitts. Lila only had enough time to scream, a terrible blood curdling scream before the animal knocked the breath out of her as it keeled her over. The huge jaws tried to come down on her head, but Lila brought up her fist and hit it as hard as she could right on the nose. The werewolf snarled with rage, and Lila twisted out from under its front paws; she started to crawl back toward the cottage that was only 10 feet away, but the werewolf lunged for her and sank its teeth into her side. Lila screamed again, but the pain of the bite, and the venom that had just unleashed itself into her tiny little body, made her voice choke, and before she knew it the terrible burning that was spreading from her side was overpowering her, and the bright, bright moon above her was gone.

"…. Should be only a few more seconds until they're here, Albus…."

"Good, good. Then they will be able to make sure she makes a full recovery. The only thing that is my concern is how much she's bleeding…. I've tried everything I can think of to heal it but it hardly even slows it down, but I'm sure there's a remedy that they can find for her, as for anyone."
"She will make it, won't she? Very lucky you were here, Albus, or she might not have made it…"

"Oh, I don't think its luck that I was here Batilda, she probably would have made it as long as someone had found her in time. Lucky that you looked out your window, I say, but it would have been hard to miss. St. Mungo's can stop her blood loss I'm sure of it, but as for her being, I'm afraid with a bite this severe, she will almost certainly become a werewolf every month, but the extent that she will have control, only time will tell."

"What about May? She doesn't even know yet! Should I go tell her?"

"Calm yourself Batilda… Wait until St. Mungo's gets here. If there was one werewolf around I wouldn't be surprised if there were more, and I think May would of heard the attack even if she was miles away. Very hard to miss, don't you think? What did you say the child's name was again?"

"Lila, the daughter of Tim and Lisa Cavanagh. They were in the order, remember?"

"Ah, yes, I do. Very nice people, yes. I do miss them, but I have always been keen on meeting their daughter. This is her?"

"Yes, it is."

"Ah yes, I may have to escort her to St. Mungo's myself, Batilda. I must speak with the minister while I'm in London. I think I know who this werewolf is now… Ah yes, here they are. Excellent. Well I suggest that you don't go alone to May's house now, Batilda, since I won't be able to accompany you."

"Yes, very well then. Goodnight Albus, and take care of the girl."

"No need to worry, Batilda, I most certainly will. Goodnight, and please be very cautious."