The night air hit me cold and hard when I stepped out onto the school grounds. A soft breeze played through my hair until I reached the edge of the forest. I looked up, and to either side of me. How long would it take me to find them in there? I walked along the fringe of trees until I came to the path. This wasn't worth getting lost over.
Twenty minutes and two hours would've felt the same in the dark, damp trees. It was hard to focus on anything I could use to keep track of time when eyes watched from the shadows; more eyes than any creature could need. Eventually something pushed everything but terror from my mind. My eyes widened and I froze, the breath knocked out of me.
The wolf - although it wasn't so much a wolf but a bear-like dog - fell forward through the trees onto the path ahead of me. I felt exposed; all it had to do was look to the side - I was in clear view, and I doubted a thing with teeth like that would hesitate to kill. It shook its elongated head and the nose began to shrink back into the skull. The fur shortened and vanished, the claws receded and the legs became human again.
And then there was Remus, on all fours, breathing fast and heavy. He rested his head on the ground, struggling to regain his breath. I stepped back slowly, and my shoelace snagged on the rough bark of a fallen branch. I pulled, too hard, and stumbled backwards, tripping over a tree root. Remus's head snapped around and he saw me climbing to my feet.
"Naomi," His voice cracked through the forest, echoing through the lack of civilisation. He hurried over, his shredded clothes billowing out behind him.
"Stay back," I told him, unable to convince my instinct, subconscious, whatever the hell it was, with the rational thought that this was Remus. I backed away, my wide eyes moving from him to the view of the path over my shoulder – I couldn't trip again.
"Naomi, please, I'm sorry. I couldn't tell you."
I turned and ran, each step I took resounding from the old tree trunks, mingling with those of his as he followed. I didn't know if I could out run him. I did know that I couldn't run until I got out of the forest - it had taken too long to walk here. He shouted for me to wait, stop, please, I'm sorry, until he caught up with me. I cursed myself for not being able to run better. Sometimes the inability to run like the wind is the death of innocent people.
"Listen to me, Naomi," He turned me around to face him and for the first time I realised that, at the same time as he did, my cheeks were wet. He whispered my name, wiping my tears away with his fingertips.
I cringed away from his touch. "Please don't hurt me." I sobbed, trying to twist away from his grasp. He lowered his hand from my face, shaking his head. "Naomi, I'd never-"
"Please, I'm scared."
"You've got nothing to be scared about." He put his hand on my face again and I let out a fearful sob. He pulled his arms away from me and I started running again. This time he didn't follow.