Sunlight filled the woods, making the nocturnal creatures return to it's nests and waking up the rest of the fauna that existed there.
Harry Potter awoke with the gentle breeze rustling the Ash tree leaves above his head. He hadn't been dreaming about the night before.
So the warm presence in his back must be of Lilith's.
Harry remembered that Lilith had told him that she only turn to the form of a werewolf during the full moon so, during the day and the rest of the time until the next full moon, she would look human.
He sat up and glanced at his side.
And there he saw it...
A small, young girl with light skin and messy long dark brown hair. Harry could only see her back and... well... her bottom half.
He was sure he must've been blushing like mad when he released the scream he should have shouted the night before.
Birds flew up to the sky, fleeing the branches they were staying, in shock from all the noise Harry had made.
Lilith too woke up with a start but soon clutched her ears.
-" Don't shout in my ears! You big idiot! "- she said turning to Harry.
-" You're naked! "- Harry shouted again.
-" Yes, i am! Thanks for pointing out the obvious! "- the girl yelled back.
-" Why?! "- Harry asked a bit louder and squeakier than he intended.
-" My clothes must have been ripped off last night before i went all wolf on you... "- Lilith answered -" Sometimes it happens..."
-" Sometimes it happens...? "- Harry repeated -" Why didn't you tell me about that small detail?"
-" I forgot... "- Lilith answered -"... Maybe. "- she gave Harry a lopsided grin.
-" You're cruel... "- Harry muttered, finally having calmed down.
-" Sorry... "- the girl told him -" And what's with your aversion to skin? It's just that... A big bag of meat and bones..."
-" How can you say... "- Harry began to say but stopped after looking though his most recent memories.
-" Yeah... Sorry... "- she repeated, sheepishly.
-" It's okay. "- Harry told her -" Do you atleast have a shirt or something to wear?"
-" Not right now... "- she truthfully said -" But there must be a clothes line somewhere around her so i can take a new one..."
-" You can't steal! "- Harry said, again, louder than he intended.
-" Why? "- Lilith asked in shock.
-" Because that's evil! "- Harry told her -" Do you want to be evil?"
-" No! "- Lilith answered while she shook her head to her sides.
-" Then wait here! "- Harry told her getting up -" I'll come back right away, okay?"
-" 'kay... "- Lilith answered, looking up at Harry with her wide silvery blue eyes.
Harry took one last glance at her and ran out of the woods. He didn't know why but he didn't want to leave Lilith all alone there, so he was just trying to hurry to return to the Dursley's and retrieve a few shirts and atleast a pair of pants for her.
And he was so caught up in his thoughts of hurrying up that he didn't even realize that, thanks to Lilith's guided tour of the woods, he knew exactly the way he needed to take to return to the entry of the woods.
Vernon Dursley was very happy that morning. Not only had he sealed the deal with a new buyer, that would surely bring him and the company a lot of money, but also his freak of a nephew hadn't return there last night.
His wife Petunia had been a little worried something might've happened, but Vernon knew that was only because she was too soft with the little freak. It had been her that had convinced him into letting the boy stay.
But after the problems started to appear Vernon knew he should've listened to his sister. Sending the boy to an orphanage was probably the option they should have taken.
The Dursley's prized their reputation very much and just that boy's presence tarnished that. Everytime the boy caused someting to happen comments would start circling around town about him and who was taking care of him.
And the worse was that it was getting worse as he grew up!
Weird people bowing to him in public, making things grow back like his hair or climbing the school buildings.
Oh, how Vernon hated that boy.
His very presence in the house made him want to smack some sense into the little freak. He only didn't do it because of his wife's reasonings about how it would harm their reputation and their sons if word got out they beated him.
Not that they needed to do anything since the boy kept getting beaten down by the other children in the neighborhood.
But today Vernon didn't want to care about his nephew. As long as he wasn't in his sight and away from his house, the beefy man didn't even want to know if he was alright or where he was at all.
Though his wife had told him that if he disapeared for good there was a chance his kind would be all over the case to find where the little freak was.
The man was eating his breakfast with his family preparing to go to work when the front door opened.
Harry Potter, the freakish boy the Dursley's despised so much, walked in and closed the door behind him. He quickly made to his cupboard and started to go through his things.
Vernon Dursley didn't knew whether to be mad at the boy for appearing all together or because he ignored their presence as he entered the house.
But before he could say anything the boy sprinted to the door and left the house again.
Two questions formed inside Mr. Dursley's head.
First, where was the boy going in such a hurry?
And second, why did he need Dudley's hand-me-downs?
Harry ran as fast as he could. He was well rested for the goodnights' sleep he had but his legs were still sore from all the running he did. He knew that if he didn't hurry Uncle Vernon would probably lock him in the closet and then he wouldn't be able to leave and meet with Lilith again.
And how he wanted to meet her again... Just talking to her made him feel like he was liked. Well... she asked him to be her friend so Harry guessed she must've liked him even if just a tiny bit.
He could see his relative's house and knew that at that time they would probably eating breakfast. Harry's stomach grumbled reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything since last night.
And soon Harry found himself wondering when Lilith had last eaten. He remembered her telling him she never left the forest so she could guess she hadn't eaten anything besides... other forest animals...
-' And that could've been me... '- Harry thought.
An already familiar giggle sounded inside his head and Harry wished she would stop doing that. He liked her presence, her company and her laughter but he prefered his thoughts to be private.
-' If they're about me why should they be private? '- Lilith's voice asked him.
-' I'll tell you when i get back. '- Harry told her -' I need to focus.'
-' Okay, see you when you get back. '- Lilith's voice said before disapearing.
Deep down Harry realized that being able to hear Lilith's voice inside his head wasn't normal but dismissed this.
As long as she wanted to be around him and his weirdness, he could deal with her voice constantly in his ears.
Harry reached his uncle's house and entered it in a quick and swift movement. In an instant he dashed for his cupboard, picked two shirts another pair of trousers, some socks and a pair of really old shoes he hoped would fit Lilith and dashed for the door again.
His relatives didn't even have time to tell him anything so Harry thought of this as a new record and a bonus.
After the night he had he didn't want Uncle Vernon or Dudley questionning him about it.
He ran back to the woods and avoided the glares of the people he passed by. His whole neighborhood thought he was just a bad behaved kid with no-good parents and a streak to cause mischief and mayhem whenever he could.
But that was just a big lie everyone believed in. It was Dudley's gang that would cause all those troubles, not him. But who would believe the weak, worn out and weird kid who had a questionable past?
Harry hoped that Lilith would... He imagined what she would do if she found out that he was just a trouble maker and a very nasty person.
He reached the woods faster this time, and Harry wondered if it was because of his eagerness to meet with the girl, he slowed his pace as he entered deeper into the woods and made his way to the big Ash tree where he had left Lilith.
He was thirsty and his legs wanted to stop and rest but he knew he could rest near the tree and would be able to talk with Lilith while he did so.
When Harry reached the tree he was greeted by a grinning Lilith. The sunlight in her hair made a few strands of red hair glow while fluttering with the soft breeze passed through them.
The boy walked closer to her, keeping his eyes on Lilith's face and not the rest of her. To her obvious amusement she watched Harry as he sat down beside her and lowered his head, trying to hide his blush.
He gave Lilith the clothes he had been carrying with the exception of one shirt, which he changed into.
Harry almost squeaked when Lilith unceremoniously got up, took the clothes from Harry and re-dressed herself right in front of him. He could even imagine what was going through her head but a tiny voice inside his head said that, probably, there was nothing going through her head.
And that was the problem.
-" So, why does something that involves you but that you're not present there needs to be private? "- Lilith asked right away.
-" It's just like secrets. "- Harry told her -" Imagine you have a secret of mine that you tell to someone, you wouldn't do that near me because i'd stop you from telling my secret but alone you'd do it without worries. You would be saying something involving me but i wouldn't be there."
-" But a secret is not supposed to be told. "- Lilith told him -" That's why it's a secret..."
Harry rolled his eyes but despised himself he smiled at the girls innocence.
Innocence? The 'girl' would have killed him last night without a reason as to why. Was she really innocent?
-" I'm not. "- she answered -" I can save you the headache."
-" Don't do that... "- Harry pleaded.
-" Why? It's involving me and i'm in your presence therefor i'm supposed to stop you. "- she told him grinning.
Harry looked at her and realized she had played him. She knew what he had meant even before his explanation.
-" You're awful! "- Harry said, faking a hurted tone -" You tricked me!"
-" Well done, Sherlock. "- Lilith mocked.
-" Now, you've done it! "- Harry said before leaping towards Lilith and taking her down.
The two of them rough housed for atleast an half an hour before slumping down beside each other, panting and promising threats to one another.
If a passerby walked in he would have believed he saw completly normal children laughing to each other, but to a different type of passerby they would see the boy-who-lived and a strange werewolf girl.
But apart from the knowledge about Lilith's condition, the two nine year olds knew nothing about one another. They had no way of knowing that the two of the were bound together by such powerful things that the very thought of leaving the other would cause agony.
Of course, it would only do so under a few carefully planned situations with very specific triggers. They didn't want a stage two lock to be released so early in their plan.
A ghostwatched over the two children, his presence unknown even to Lilith's advanced sensing abilities. He watched and continously revised the plan they had set into motion nine years ago.
A shadow and it's light... That's all the ghost saw.
For he had long casted away whatever emotions he had. All that he was or should have been were erased after that night.
Now his only task was preparing the stage for the future and it's consequences.
The city was busy that monday, with cars passing by frequently in the roads. People were either going to work or just strolling while the kids were obviously trying to make the best out of their summer holidays.
Harry had somehow convinced Lilith to get out of the woods, since now she was fully dressed and wasn't barefooted, and the two of them walking aimlessly.
They were both hungry, though Lilith was rather busy gazing excitedly at every little thing and asking Harry the most silly and childish questions he could only imagine a three year old asking.
Harry knew that, maybe, he could sneak a bit of food from the fridge back at the Dursley's but the thought that he would perhaps fail and leave Lilith alone and a bit far away from the woods, made Harry scratch that idea.
Lilith had told him that they could just catch an open window with no one in the kitchen and Lilith would get them both something good to eat, but Harry shot down that idead instantly.
Harry didn't want to steal. That would make him be just the type of kid everyone else though him to be.
Lilith had told him that she didn't mind being called a troublemaker or a deliquent as long as Harry didn't see her as that and Harry wanted to be strong like her but... While she could just return to her woods he had to return to the Dursley's everynight.
The girl had offered to Harry that he could also come and live in the woods but it was Harry who pointed out they hadn't even had some sort of house so that they could actually make that possibly work.
So now, obviously hungry and feeling a bit too thirsty due to the summer's heat, they had wandered into a playground near Harry's school. They sat down on the shade and talked about many things. Most importantly the fact that Lilith knew very much about the general culture but other things like knowing the states or locations were completly null.
And what shocked Harry was that she didn't knew how to read or write! She knew what letters and numbers were and could distinguish the two things but she didn't knew their meanings or what their role was at all.
Harry had began to explain her the basics and had promised to let her borrow his old first grade books so she could learn with him helping. As Lilith stubbornly declined any help of outside sources other than Harry.
She wanted a bare minimum number of people to know about her condition and Harry imagined that it was only because of friendship that Lilith had even walked out of the shadows of the woods. She looked unconfortable around people but even so she kept her trademark lopsided grin on Harry as she talked, asked and made jokes about the most boring and ordinary things that existed.
But all fun ended when Harry heard an all too familiar voice behind them.
-" Hey, freak! Who's that? Your girlfriend? "- Dudley sneered with his gang echoing behind him.
-" What if i was? Wouldn't you feel sorry for yourselves that even a freak can get a girlfriend but you don't? "- Lilith told them with a mocking tone as she turned around.
-" What did you say?! "- Dudley yelled at Lilith.
-" I said that you should feel sorry for yourselves that even a freak can get a girlfriend but you don't. "- Lilith repeated -" Are you deaf or just plain dumb?"
Dudley had never been this insulted in his life. He looked at the girl and saw the plain image of his cousin Harry, only that she was a girl, but she showed no fear or even slightly intimidated by their presence.
-" Even if you're a girl i'll hit you if you don't appologize! "- Dudley thundered.
-" Oh, boo ho! Look at me, i'm shaking in fear! "- Lilith moked, each word she said growing colder and colder.
-" I swear that i'll hit you if you don't appologize! "- Dudley roared.
-" Like i would appologize to a lame excuse of a human being! "- Lilith roared back, her voice was so cold and powerful that Harry thought he was in front of the figure again.
Dudley's gang was looking amazed at the girls defiance and Dudley himself thought he was losing his leadership. He stepped forward and raised his fist high, trying to gain momentum to strike Lilith.
But the girl wasn't all talk. He swiftly raised her hand and punched Dudley so fast he head turned sideways before he fell to the ground.
Lilith's hands were small but years of living as a werewolf out in the wilderness had made her lithe body muscular and very flexible. Her small figure was only one of the many things people miscalculated about her. Like she could easily break your bones without a single emotion on her face or the fact that, if Harry hadn't stopped her, she would have eaten a human being without a second thought.
The gang looked gobsmacked at Lilith but soon their attention was turned to Dudley that got up with a large bleeding gash on his cheek where Lilith had hit him and one of his hands was over his mouth. A thin trail of blood escaping from it's corners.
The boys soon were running away from the two children in the playground.
-" Lilith! Why did you do that? "- Harry yelled at her as soon as she sat down again.
-" I'm sorry... I really am... "- Lilith told him. Harry knew deep down she genuinely felt sorry for her actions.
-" Why did you do it? "- Harry asked her -" I can defend myself, you know..."
-" I know... It's just... "- Lilith began.
-" It's just what? "- Harry asked her.
-" The hunger was too great... "- she muttered in a low tone.
-" Hunger? "- Harry asked not understanding.
Lilith simply looked at him with a very familiar gaze.
-" You were planning on eating my cousin!? "- Harry shouted, getting up from the bench and grabbing Lilith by the shoulders.
-" I wasn't planning anything! "- she said in her defense -" He just appeared out of nowhere and..."
-" And you thought it was a good opportunity to get a meal? "- Harry asked with a sickly look in his eyes.
-" It's not my fault he looks like a pig in a wig... "- she told Harry with a clear tone of voice.
Harry looked her in the eye for a few moments before bursting out laughing. This time it was Lilith that felt that warm tickling sensation.
The pair splitted when the afternoon was almost over, with Harry going back to the Dursley's and Lilith returning to her cozy woods.
Both of them felt miserable to leave the other but the promised to meet the next day. Even if Harry got a detention for what happened, and Lilith had appologized more than a thousand times for it, they would still see each other even if through a window.
Lilith assured Harry that she could walk herself back to the woods, her sense of smell wasn't as good as in the figure's form but it was still better than the normal one, and followed Harry to where he was staying with the Dursley's, said goodbye to him and watch him close the door behind him.
Walking back to her woods, alone, wasn't hard but she still prefered Harry was there with her.
His statement that they didn't even have a house in the woods so they could actually live there with some decency was still haunting her thoughts.
She wanted to make Harry feel like home in the woods. He wanted him to feel safe and know that there was always a place waiting for him in the woods.
Lilith wanted to give to Harry what she didn't have... Company.
She had watched, all this time, as couples and families passed through the entry of the forest she once lived in. The aura coming from them was kind, caring and inviting. But she knew that as soon as word got out of what she was, they would discart her off to who-knows-where.
But then Lilith had an idea. She rushed to the woods and started to explore every corner of it, until she found the perfect spot.
She put her brain to work in an instant, sure that Harry would be very disapointed in her once he found out, and started to make a plan of all the things she needed and what was required to do those things.
Lilith spent the rest of the night planning her masterpiece, only falling asleep at the early hours of the morning confortably snuggled agains a soft patch of grass.
In her dreams she was back there again.
At the scene of her nightmares. That dark night. When she last recalled anything.
When her eyes were still powerless and frightned.
When she was still a innocent little girl...
And once again she heard it loud and clear in her ears. That haunting voice that would make her blood freeze.
-"... Dark Moon, Blood Moon, Goddess of the Night... Stars of silver, stars of Light... The Day is gone... the End has come..."
-"... But let us meet the only one... That will guide this world into the next... As above so below..."
-" As above so below... "- other voices joined in.
Cold voices. Young and old. Voices Lilith could remember but not picture who had said them.
Voices that shook Lilith out of her greatest dreams and leave her panting and shivering.
She hated her memories... She didn't want to remember!
Everytime small glimpses of what had happened or from where she was from were recalled by her. Her head would feel like it was going to burst. She wanted to scream and call out to someone to help her but no one ever came.
She was alone. As Harry had been all these years...
Lilith didn't want him to live like her. To become like her. She wanted him to shine as the light she saw inside him.
A complete contrast to the shadows inside her.
For the next few days Harry had been locked inside his cupboard. His cousin Dudley had been rushed to the hospital as soon as he came home and was seen by his mother.
And Harry, as he expected, was the one that took blame for it. But he didn't blame Lilith at all. Dudley had been the first to push the buttons and both of them had been very hungry and emotionaly drained after the night before.
Lilith hadn't said anything to him but he could see that the transformations she suffered thanks to her condition took a toll on her. Harry could see her silvery blue eyes look tired when he was, or so she thought, distracted and how she would cringe a little after walking for a long while.
And doing all that on an empty stomach didn't make it easier.
He wanted to help her but he didn't even knew how to help himself let alone someone else. But he wanted to. So much that it hurted him to be apart of her, far away from the woods.
Harry had found his old first grade book and a pencil plus a rubber and had tugged then close with a sweater he had found that he didn't really like but was particularly new.
Besides it was rather small, by Dudley's standarts, and Harry thought it was perfect to hide that mark he had seen in Lilith's chest.
The reason as to why she had a patch of jet black fur on her chest, near her heart.
It looked very similar to a tattoo but at the same time, like everything else about Lilith, it looked that it wasn't quite that normal.
It was a circular dark mark, divided into two different designs. On was a moon that looked as if it was giving Lilith's trademark grin and the other was a sun. A smiling sun, divided in the middle, with long and sharp rays coming out of it.
Harry had asked Lilith about it but she didn't know how she got it but she knew it's meaning.
And it was that meaning that shook Harry.
Lilith had told him that it was the mark of Havoc.
A symbol of destruction and despair.