Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction created sorely to satisfy my imagination. Harry Potter and anything/everything related to the novels belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing in this fanfic that might be recognizable as belonging to the canon of HP.
Chapter 2 October run (cont)
They were still sleeping when the effect of the moon began to leave me.
I was lying on a bed of grass that wonderfully felt as comfortable as any normal bed. The sun had yet to break through the skies, but it was only a matter of time. Lady Moon, who had beamed so brightly all through the night, was giving way for the day to be born. Soon warm light would wash away her cold hands, and for another cycle I would not have to suffer her influence.
For the remaining moment, as I blinked away the sleep, I was to suffer the weight of the pack on top on me.
Honestly, I have no idea how it happened. My memory was not the best on normal days, even less when drunk. I remember the werewolf capturing me between its claws, making me gasps as I desperately held on to it. It was the weirdest embrace I had even had, that I could remember, because for the life of me I could not remember any single hug before the werewolf had me tight against it.
It was a strange feeling, almost pleasurable; to cling so intimately to a creature that in seconds could have my guts out in the open.
After that, the rest of the pack neared me, tentatively, shyly. They touched me, they smelled me, and they allowed me to do the same to them. The moon makes me do some crazy stuff.
The next memory that came to my mind was a breathless laugh, as I ran through the forest. I wasn't wearing shoes, but it didn't matter, the trail was cleaned enough. There had been a howl, far to the front, and I could not see the werewolf that had run ahead. The stag led the way for me, its gallop inviting me to run faster. The rat enjoyed running around my feet whenever I threatened to slow, making me laugh the exhaustion away. The dog barked, running next to me, keeping my pace so as to make me feel better.
Never had I run so much in my life.
It was the moon. It was the pack. The union of the two brought forth in me a strength I normally tried to ignore.
The forest, the one I had feared as I looked from the castle's windows, became a playground. We ran in directions I would never be able to remember and we danced and played until exhaustion took me. In the haze of my drunkenness, I had collapsed in a patch of grass, cold and wet, but inviting nonetheless. The animals followed.
And that was where we still were, when the sleep left me, and I realized I was too heavy to move. The werewolf was to my side, it snout rested over my shoulder, and I could feel the warmth of its breath against my cheek. The stag had chosen to rest between my legs, its antlered head on top of my hip. I wondered for my legs, hoping that they were not being crushed, but the lack of pain drove that thought away. Between the stag and the body of the werewolf that pressed over most of the side of my body was the rat. He was curled over my belly. The dog was to my other side, its snout pressing against the side of my breast. The rest of its body was close to my torso. It was then that I realised that my arm was around its black fur, resting there in an angle. My other arm was likewise bent over the shoulders of the werewolf.
It should have been an uncomfortable position for me, yet somehow it wasn't. How we ended like that was a mystery for me, and it will always remain like so.
I felt special, lying between those animal that were clearly something more. My mind, with the intervention of clarity, had forgotten what was it about them that was different from normal animals, but it really didn't matter.
Lady Moon had relinquished her hold on the Earth, and now the creatures of the night had to hide.
I moved, only a tiny fraction, and the pack awoke.
They didn't instantly jump off me. I watched as they came to their senses, taking in the situation and trying to remember what had happened. It was beautifully humanistic of them to do so. The werewolf was the first that moved away from me, growling as it went. I watched it move, entranced by the shaking I saw its body make. Like me, the moon's influence was leaving it.
I felt the rest of the pack detached themselves from me. Suddenly, with the lack of warmth, the chilly air of the morning mist hit me tenfold.
Good wizard God, what was I thinking when I left in such a silly and not warm nightgown?
Oh right, I was drunk, who knows what I was thinking.
I stood up, patting away the dirt, grass and dew that clung to my long skirt. As I did that I felt a couple pairs of eyes burning holes into me.
When I looked up to them, I somehow expected them to tell me something. At the current moment it was impossible, but in the absence of light as night died and the day was born, I couldn't read their eyes well. Something was clear, though. This was where we parted. And honestly, I was relieved.
Our adventure had been great, all that I could remember, but that had been under Lady Moon. Now that she was gone for a long while, we did not need to continue this adventure. We had lives to return to.
Shaking still, the werewolf gave a howl. Its body bent back, and I felt the sound vibrate though my spine. Our sign of parting. I stood still. I wasn't afraid, but I knew that that was what I had to do.
One by one, they began to leave me. The rat was the last. It stopped by a line of trees, looking at me with a cocked head. I gave him a smile for it was the only payment I had for them. The sound of a sharp bark made us both jump, and the rat scurried away after its pack.
With them gone, I turned to walk back to the castle.
...
