It was still the early morning and the wolf girl had only just managed to get to sleep, already having slung a black sheet over her window to keep out the light. Skye had been getting more and more restless at night the closer it approached the full moon. Her anxiety level was high and she didn't even get restful sleep when she had finally succeeded in dozing off. Her mother was keeping the place locked up tight and so none of the windows were open to let in the cool breeze. The brunette's room in the back of the house was burning up and she was fast asleep on top of the sheet, shifting and rolling over, eyebrows furrowed in distaste as she raced through her dreams.
Jiaying on the other hand was an early riser. Per usual, she was up at the crack of dawn and making her rounds outside around the perimeter. At last, she stopped at the edge of the forest, conjuring up a basket and knelt down next to her makeshift garden and began to gather either potion materials or ingredients for breakfast. She had watched from her window the previous night, as Skye let out some of her pent up frustration and energy. She had jogged the entire area at least five times under Jiaying's careful supervision. The woman knew that her daughter had so much energy now she didn't know what to do with it or how to channel it. She knew how Cal would try to channel it, which was why they were here in the first place.
Skye's mother of course had brought the little pygmy owl with her to help keep watch and also to keep him out of the house and away from Skye's reach while she was away. Jiaying knew Skye meant well but it would be safer for everyone if no one knew where she was. She only wished her daughter could see it her way. The little owl was resting contentedly on the older woman's shoulder, dozing off in the early morning sun. It was a beautiful place, even though it wasn't home. Jiaying, too, was sad to have left their old home behind, but Skye's father knew its location and it would undoubtedly be one of the first places he looked for her. She only hoped that they could both return there soon. She had faith in the ministry to do their job.
Archi began to stir and rustle his small feathers about and doing so made it difficult for her to focus on which plants she needed. She shooed the little owl away as she bent over her garden, plucking this and that and setting it neatly into her basket. The little owl was flustered, and flew himself to the tiny leafless tree sprouting up from the ground only a few feet away. He ruffled his feathers and was in the process of picking his wing clean when he spied movement in the forest with his wide yellow eyes. He made a tiny screeching sound, which Jiaying chose to ignore.
Suddenly the tiny bird took off from the branch, flapping as hard and as fast as his miniature wings would allow. He was squawking awful, loud, excited sounds, which finally made Jiaying look up and pay attention to him. Archimedes wasn't particularly vocal unless he was happy and the older woman knew those sounds.
She watched from a distance as the tiny pygmy owl collided mid air with a much larger owl. A barn owl. Jiaying would recognize it anywhere. It was the owl that had spent every other summer and winter breaks in her home, perched snugly next to the smaller bird. It was Jemma's owl. Technically nothing should have gotten past her charm shield but apparently her daughter's girlfriend was proving herself to be the excellent overachieving witch she knew her to be. If the girl found them here then Skye's safety and Jemma's too would be compromised. Jiaying had been hoping to stay here, at least till after this month's full moon, for Skye's sake. Apparently she wasn't going to get that opportunity.
Skye suddenly felt herself being shaken awake and her eyes squinted open, vision blurry as she watched her mother make a long sweeping motion over her room with her wand.
"Pack." All of Skye's few belongings she had brought with her quickly began to pack themselves neatly into her duffel bag as her mother turned back to her. "Get up, we have to go."
Still half asleep, the brunette didn't fully comprehend what was happening, or why her things were packing themselves. She threw her legs over the edge of the bed and braced her head with one hand. She was getting a terrible headache. "Mom...what's wrong? What's happening?"
"Daisy Skye Johnson, get up and do as I say. We don't have time for this," Jiaying shot back and handed Skye her bag and thrust a sweater into her arms. "Put this on and meet me down stairs. Be quick about it, there's no time to waste. We need to leave," She said again and disappeared behind the brunette's door.
Skye sleepily, but hurriedly, pulled the sweatshirt down over her head over her sweaty sleep tank top and threw on some shoes, leaving her still in her black sophie shorts she had been sleeping in. When she made it downstairs with her bag, her mother was also all packed and had already put sheets all over everything. Jiaying had gotten rid of any and every trace of their presence in the house. Skye was starting to get concerned. Something must have gone terribly wrong for her mother to be acting this way and so, she followed her out of the house when she was beckoned, not knowing what was going on and too afraid and startled to ask.
Jiaying said the incantation to lower the magical field and then gripped Skye's arm tightly. The brunette hastily grabbed onto the small pygmy owl and held Archi tight to her chest and shut her eyes. One second they were there and then the next, a loud crack as the air rushed in and filled the void where their bodies had been.
Jemma had been leaning against the wall that was created by the charm while she was sitting in the grass waiting, and that was why she knew so quickly when the protective force was taken down. The wall behind her suddenly disappeared and she fell backwards, only stopping momentarily. She scrambled to her feet, immediately searching the sky for her owl.
Strigi was coming, she could see him at the treeline and he made a beeline for his owner, squawking intensely because of his excitement at having found his friend. He'd left them back at the house for a few moments so he could come find his owner and lead her back to the house.
"Did you find them?" Jemma asked with anticipation and excitement. Her owl hadn't even landed, he just hovered in front of her for a few seconds before turning tail and shooting back into the woods. Jemma had trouble keeping up, with her leg still stinging and roots tripping her occasionally in her desperate sprint to get to her girlfriend. She pushed branches out of her way and chased after her very excited red barn owl until she finally stumbled into a clearing that was filled by an old wooden house much like Skye's real home.
"Skye!" She called out, running towards the door. She ignored her bird and didn't realize when he flew off in another direction, not looking as thrilled as before. Jemma rapped on the door with a closed fist, but there was no response. It instantly worried her, so she reached for the doorknob, only to find out with surprise that it was already open and only needed a light push to swing open. She walked into the dark house tentatively, keeping her hand ready near her wand, just in case.
The house was in the same condition as Skye's original home when Jemma had gone there last night. I don't understand... The spell she had used said that Archi had been here only minutes ago, but the place seemed abandoned. Jemma was smart, though, smart enough to figure out that the place had in fact been inhabited recently. Dust had been gathering at Skye's house already, but here, everything still looked newly placed. Was Skye...running away from her? No, that couldn't be. Maybe she had somehow known the charm was broken through and they just assumed that she was Cal and made a run for it. It killed her to think about how close she'd come to catching them. Skye had been just barely outside of her reach, but she'd slipped away just as Jemma got close.
Skye gasped for breath and stumbled away from her mother, dropping her bag on the ground and holding the small pygmy owl tight to her chest the moment she felt solid ground beneath her feet again. It took her a minute to get her bearings but when she finally looked around she had no idea where they were. She guess another safe house. From the look of it, it was dark and cold and the brunette turned up her nose. It smelled awful and looked awful. A downgrade from their makeshift home in the woods. She was also used to the quiet, but suddenly several different sounds filled her ears. Talking. There were people outside, walking by. She heard cars too and she quickly turned to her mother, looking confused and frightened.
"Where are we? Why did we leave so quickly?" The younger woman demanded all at once. She saw her mother's jaw tighten, as if she did not want to answer her daughter's questions just yet.
Skye shook her head, brow furrowing before she turned away and looked closer at the room they were in. It was a small living room, wooden floors and wooden walls. The only light in the place was coming from the covered up windows, which Skye moved to immediately. She set Archi down gently on the windowsill before pulling back the dusty curtain. More light flooded into the room and the brunette had to shield her eyes from it at first it had been so dark. When finally she got a closer look her jaw dropped. People, Muggles, were walking back and forth across the street. Several cars drove by just as she watched, and across, there were more houses squished up together, one on top of the other. Skye could only assume they were now in the same type of house. It was a crowded metropolis. Her mother had brought her to the city.
"Are you crazy?! This is the last place I need to be right now!" Skye whirled around to look at Jiaying, who was already waving her wand about and getting the place up and running. The brunette couldn't believe it. "Mom?!" Skye stayed at the window, gesturing towards the outside with a flabbergasted look plastered on her face.
The older woman finally sighed again and turned around, putting her wand away and coming to the edge of the hall and standing in the doorframe. "Someone or something broke through the charm barrier. I couldn't wait to see what it was. If the safety gets breached, we leave, and we leave right then. We can't take any chances Skye. Your father has a lot of friends, I highly doubt he will be working alone. If any of them find us, find you, then all of this," Jiaying gestured around the room, "will have been for nothing. As for the city, yes, I know." She sighed again, taking a hand and rubbing her temples while she thought.
"We won't be here long either. We will move again before the moon changes, I promise. Right now, this is where we are and we need to make the most of it. You need to stay inside, is that clear? This is a highly populated city. I can't risk a magical person being here and recognizing you. I can blend in with the muggles and so can you, but you're famous now. We can't take that chance."
"Right…" Skye released the curtain and meandered over to her bag and picked it up. She slung it over her shoulder and walked past her mother and down the short hallway. She had almost forgotten she had won the Triwizard Tournament. The cup was at home on the mantle above her mother's fireplace. Skye didn't want it in her room. It had given her terrible nightmares. She also didn't feel famous, as she had pretty much been secluded all summer with her mother and Jemma getting used to being a werewolf. She actually hadn't met anyone who knew her just because of the tournament yet. It had come out in the paper, she had had a chocolate frog card with her face on it now too. She wondered if Jemma had managed to collect it yet.
The brunette groaned to herself and shoved open a door on the right. The bedroom was small, but so was her bedroom back home. Except, this wasn't home. The thought made her heart sink as she slammed the door closed and began to unpack all of her things...again.
Jemma wasn't about to give up. She needed to find something, anything that would give her a clue about where Skye had gone. She hadn't run away from Hogwarts just to go back a day later after she found out Skye was with her mother hiding out.
She rummaged through drawers, yanked sheets off furniture, and checked every cabinet. Just when she thought there was nothing left, she looked under the sink. A small crate was lying there, the only thing left in the house she hadn't searched yet. She began to drag it out into the middle of the room, but a chinking noise made her stop and think twice about it. Whatever was inside was fragile, so she lifted the heavy object as best as she could, though she could only manage to get it a few feet off the ground, and carried it out into the open. Dropping to her knees and hissing at the pain it caused her leg, Jemma pried open the top of the box. It was filled with jars of what was obviously a potion. It didn't take a genius to figure out exactly what they were as she lifted one, unplugged the stopper, and took a whiff. She didn't have Skye's superior senses, but her own human ones were good enough to recognize that this was the potion her girlfriend was supposed to take before the full moon.
Oh, god, they forgot them. Jemma's eyes widened as she realized what was going to happen. If Skye and Jiaying had left them behind in their rush to leave, Skye would be forced to undergo her full moon transformation without her human mind. She would go on a rampage, and if she couldn't find anything to kill, she'd hurt herself.
It wasn't likely that they would be coming back for it, if Jiaying thought Cal might be here, she wouldn't take the risk. Suddenly, a realization hit Jemma that made her seriously wonder if she was stupid. It was very likely that Cal could show up here, and it had been even more likely that he would have shown up at Skye's home. Why she hadn't considered the possibility that they could run into each other, she didn't know. They were both looking for her, and Jemma only hoped Cal didn't know who she was. If that was the case, she was leading him straight to her. Maybe she should have thought this through a little further. She didn't make rash decisions often, but she had this time, and it was possible that it would come back to haunt her.
She couldn't stay here now, that wasn't an option. She wasn't quite sure what to do now, especially with the potions. No one would be coming back for them, so she didn't need to leave them. If Cal did show up, Jemma wasn't so sure she wanted him to have something Skye needs, so it would probably be better to destroy them. Another reason it would be bad to just leave them there is the possibility that Skye's father didn't know about her new condition. The less he had on her the better.
Jemma slipped one of the bottles into her bag for future emergency use, and the rest she took out back and dumped into the grass. Her next order of business was to try tracing Archi again with the feather she kept, and then she'd get out of the house in case the DeathEater came looking.
This time, Jemma spread out the map on the living room floor, not bothering to find a table this time. She placed the feather in the middle and quickly performed the tracking spell. Hopefully she could catch them before Jiaying figured out how she'd done it and charmed Archi.
Jemma repeated the spell three times to make sure it was correct, and the feather just kept pointing to the same place, no matter how wrong it seemed to be. Skye, or at least Archi, was in the middle of London, in one of the most crowded parts of it. It would be a horrible place for Skye to change into a werewolf without the potion. Not only would she kill countless people, but she would expose magic and endanger wizardkind as well.
Still, Jemma marked the place in the city the feather had pinpointed with the number two and folded up the map, tucking it into her bag. Now she had to get away, but apparating wasn't really an option. She was already splinched and it wasn't healing as quickly as she'd hoped it would, traveling by apparition now would be risking making it more severe. She would have to walk on foot, anywhere, just away, so she wasn't still at the house if Cal found it. Jemma whistled, and Strigi obediently perched on her shoulder as they began to walk.
"Alright, I'm going to go to the store to get some groceries and things. I should only be gone a few hours. Get settled in. I'll make us something nice when I get back to make up for all this moving," Jiaying said from the door, holding it open to go out while she looked back at her daughter, who was sunken into the couch flipping through the TV with a disgruntled look. The older woman just shook her head and left, shutting the door behind her. Everyone was too busy going wherever they were going to notice her wave her hand over the door. She mumbled a few words and laid a protective spell over the building.
"Because a special dinner will totally make up for everything..."
The second she was gone Skye shot up from the couch and raced to the window, pulling the curtain back and watched as her mother turned the corner. She shot off like a jet out of the living room and down the hallway to her room. She scrambled around, looking for a scrap of paper, parchment, anything. She finally found one in a box on a bookshelf. The brunette found a pen easily enough then and began to write a letter to Jemma.
She was going to explain that this whole thing was a mess, and apologize for not being at school with her. She of course needed to tell Jemma and make sure that she knew she was safe. She explained about her father but told her not to worry. Skye knew she would worry anyway. She apologized for not being able to tell her where she was and she wrote a lot of other things too. She couldn't stand to be away from her and not tell her what was going on. Skye just knew that Jemma was feeling the same way. She was probably mad at her for not having shown up or told her what was happening.
The brunette sighed once she had finished the letter and she folded it up. She wouldn't be able to send it with Archi. The owl was hers, but it listened to her mother more than her. No, she would need to find another way. It was like trying to send her girlfriend secret notes, and suddenly, Skye smiled. It was exactly like sending her secret notes. The wolf girl didn't think a mouse would work. That wouldn't make it to Jemma fast enough, but a bird would. Skye quickly reached into her duffel bag, rummaging around and dumping some things out until she pulled out her wand. It was a new one. She had lost her original wand in the Forbidden Forest when the werewolf had attacked her during the first task. When they had finally found it, it had been snapped in several places and couldn't be fixed. She had left the pieces in a box back in her old room. This new one worked just as well as the first, but without any of the nostalgia attached to it.
Skye held the wand over the letter and waved it once and tapped the page, mumbling the charm excitedly, "Animare." The parchment shifted and folded and stretched and sprouted feathers. Finally, a white raven stood on Skye's desk instead of her letter. The brunette knew that Jemma would know what it was as soon as she saw it. She had sent her a white mouse enough in the past for her girlfriend to recognize it was from her. The girl was grinning from ear to ear and she held a finger out for the bird and it perched itself there contentedly. Skye raced from the room and into the kitchen at the back of the house. She set the bird on the counter and flung open the window. Turning to the bird, the brunette smiled and held her finger out again and the white raven perched on it once more.
"Alright, I need you go go and find Jemma. Can you do that? Of course you can," Skye grinned and held the bird towards the window and watched as it took off. It only got a few feet into the air before it crashed into an invisible field and turned back into paper. Skye groaned as she watched and the parchment burst into flames and floated down into the small back yard as ashes. "Of course she did...damnit!" Skye slammed her fist down onto the counter in frustration, causing a crack to appear. Upon seeing it, she rolled her eyes and slumped against the kitchen counter. Her mother hadn't forgotten any charms, that was for sure. Nothing was going to get out that was meant for Jemma. She just needed to accept it.
It took the girl a few minutes to get out of her slump before she started to feel antsy. As it grew closer to the full moon she got more and more restless and had more and more pent up energy she needed to exert. Skye made her way back into the living room and pulled off her sweatshirt, throwing it onto the couch. She grabbed up the TV remote and switched it on, flipping through the channels for something to take her mind off of everything. She finally settled on some sort of work out show. It seemed easy in comparison for what she had to do for quidditch, but after half an hour had passed Skye was on the floor doing her second series of crunches, following along with the person on the screen. It was reliving some of her energy but it was boring and repetitive. What she wanted to do was run, but this house didn't exactly have a treadmill.
The wolf girl's eyes slowly glanced over at the front door. If her mother would be back for a few hours, all Skye needed to do was to make sure that she was back before Jiaying. She could do that. Just a short run, to relieve some stress and all her energy. Skye sprang up and turned the TV off. The brunette rushed into her room and fell on the dusty old bed. She pulled her sneakers on and threw on a fresh t shirt.
As Skye made her way out of the front door, she put her hair up into a ponytail and took a look around her new surroundings. People were still on the streets, but not as many as there had been when she had first looked out. The traffic along the road seemed to have thinned out. The brunette gently shut the door behind her, careful to take note of the house number and what it looked like from the outside. It was overcast and looked likely to rain, but Skye didn't mind the rain. When you had played quidditch in thunderstorms, running in a little drizzle was nothing. She took one last look at the house, and then set off down the road at a slow jog at first. By the time she made it down the block she was sprinting. Much better than being cooped up inside.
Jemma only stopped walking once she knew she couldn't walk any further. Her leg was aching and stinging, but she'd needed to get as far away from the house as possible. She wanted to find Skye, not her father. This whole thing was starting to feel a little ridiculous, but Jemma still wasn't going to give up on it. She was almost positive Skye was with her mother and not her father, but she wouldn't feel comfortable until she saw Skye safe with her own eyes.
Finally deciding she was done walking for the day, Jemma found the nearest tree and plopped down, leaning her back against the thick trunk and letting out a few deep, controlled breaths. She was tired and upset and all she wanted was to snuggle up next to her girlfriend. Clearly that wasn't going to be happening though, she was on her own except for Strigi. The owl, which had been sleeping on Jemma's shoulder during the day as she walked, now slowly opened his eyes and began to stretch out his wings. The nocturnal creature was ready to get out and hunt for the night, and Jemma wasn't going to stop him. They would have another long day tomorrow, Jemma needed to get some rest and Strigi needed to find some food to keep his energy. It reminded Jemma to eat as well, but she wasn't very hungry and only managed to eat an apple before her stomach felt full.
As the sun dipped below the tree line, the temperature of the air dropped and it made Jemma wish she'd brought a jacket. She wasn't worried about spending the night in the woods, it was in the muggle realm and there wouldn't be anything she couldn't handle. Most non-magical animals kept to themselves and didn't bother people anyway.
Jemma looked up and observed the night sky. While the stars were beautiful from here, her main focus was the moon. It was a waxing gibbous tonight, meaning it was more than halfway full. The full moon was upon them, and it wouldn't be long before the night Skye would transform.
It seemed so odd that Jiaying would keep Skye in the city so close to the full moon. They had to leave eventually, or people would get hurt. Suddenly, a realization hit her and she snatched her map, unfolding it and smoothing it out across her thigh. They were stuck in the city, which meant they would have to leave for the full moon. They would need to go somewhere secluded, unpopulated, and large enough for Skye to run around...there. Jemma's finger landed on a green splotch on the map. It was the closest place like this to London, and probably where Skye would go for the one night of the full moon if she was currently living in the city. If her leg was better by tomorrow, that was where she'd be going.
Full of hope about being able to find Skye again, Jemma let herself drift off after her exhausting day. She really hoped she found Skye there, if not she'd have to hunt her down in crowded London, where there was a chance wizards would recognize her face. There was undoubtedly a report about her disappearance from Hogwarts and most of the wizarding world in the United Kingdom would know she was the girl who had gone missing from one of the safest places on the planet just after the escape of her girlfriend's crazy father from Azkaban. She'd be returned to school in a second if anyone found her, so she'd have to be careful. She wouldn't be able to run away from Hogwarts twice, so this was her only chance.