CHAPTER WARNINGS: more blood, dirt, tripping and some vomit (standard horror kinda thing); lot more swearing. Minor suicidal thoughts.
Chapter Two
Danse Macabre
Chaos.
Lily made a noise that was like half a scream, but it didn't matter with the cries coming from the Ted. Released from paralysis, she staggered backwards into a tree.
She didn't begin to have a plan.
Her instincts bellowed at her to run, run, run but she didn't know where. Her brain was useless, and the result was wasting precious seconds stumbling in small circles like a dazed mongoose. She wanted to run to Ted, but even in her panic she knew that was suicide. He'd never forgive himself if he killed her.
She should've made a break for the castle – she also knew she should never have come, that Dominic had been right, that she should just have stayed the hell out of the way; there was nothing she could do!
Jesus buggering fuck!
And yet, through all this, an invisible force chained her to the scene, gluing her to the echoing shadows. She could hear Ted's screams where she stood. It was him screaming, voice trapped among the animal howls. The Man and the Wolf. Both writhed on the forest floor. And both felt their bones split. Skin rendered and re-formed, bubbling and moulding like clay as the body lengthened. It was horrific. Yet…fascinating as well. Almost mesmerising. The hair on his scalp receded like a forest growing in reverse, only to be replaced by thick, gold-and-silver fur, racing down his spine and spreading like butter over his limbs.
Okay.
Now you run.
She couldn't move.
Yeah. Really. Now would be a good time!
Her feet were numb. They tripped backwards, ramming her heel into a root. With a whimpering yell, she tried to grab something, but found only leaves that ripped wetly through her fingers. In a split second, she was tumbling spectacularly over her own ankles, landing with a crash.
GET UP!
She couldn't see.
GET UP!
The screams died, replaced by a long, low growl. She kicked. Her vision went from black to white as her limbs tangled. She flipped sideways.
GET UP FOR FUCK'S SAKE!
She crawled; what else could she do? Dirt gave beneath her elbows; the cold skinned her knees. She whined pathetically and tried to breathe through the onslaught of sobbing. Come on. Just a little more…
And then something crashed through the vegetation like a hurricane and she knew.
She was dead.
Pathetic…so small in so vast a realm.
The muscles rippled, taut, in his chest. He flexed the teeth in his muzzle.
He imagined savouring the sensation of her flesh as he tore –imagined the glory of claiming her heart from her rib cage – but even the eye of the hunter saw her beauty. She rolled to face him and he saw eyes of leaf green, framed by wildfire hair.
She was the intruder!
…her smell alone told him that.
And yet the Wolf hesitated.
Her features were warped with fear, but there was awe there also. Recognition – pack? A keener sense than sight told him of the power that thrummed beneath her skin; familiar and foreign, like an old friend.
She was familiar, too.
The last vestiges of a weaker part of himself – a weak, pathetic part – murmured of a more powerful, more vicious, more glorious creature that he should know and revere…
But what of the Man when it came to the promise of blood?
Hours later, Ted found himself lying on soft sheets, listening to the rain tap softly on the windows. His skin felt clammy, though Madam Pomfrey said that was just a side effect of the monkshood leaving his system. He should feel fine in a day or two. She was getting to be quite a frail old lady now, Poppy Pomfrey, but that didn't stop her being the most intimidating woman he knew.
He turned wearily into the pillow and tried to drown out the memories of the previous night. Maybe, just maybe, if he ignored them for long enough, they'd go away…
As if on cue, the hospital doors flew open. He cracked his eyes open just a little, but the picture was blurry and hurt to look at, so he gave up.
"Oh, my god!"
"He's not that bad, Rosie. Honestly, you make it sound like he's at death's door!"
"Yeah, well you didn't exactly help there, James. Going on like you did."
Feet shuffled uncomfortably at the end of his bed. He kept his eyes brutally shut as the third speaker came round to his side, her soft hand landing on his arm. He tried in vain to shove the image of her terrified face from his mind, but it just grew in intensity.
"To be fair, he looked a lot worse when you brought him in this morning, Lil."
"Where's Dominic?"
"He's got class I think."
"So do we."
"Yeah, but…I think he feels guilty."
"Why?" Rose chimed in on his right.
"'Cos he wasn't the one rushing down to the forest at the crack of dawn." James said, half amused half exasperated. Ted stopped his brow furrowing by the barest margins – how much had she told them? How much had she not?
"How did you do that without anyone noticing, by the way?"
His own guilt was like a boa constrictor across the thorax.
"I mean, I asked Victorie and she said she never saw you come up to bed."
"…dunno what you're talking about."
"I've always been better at lying than you, Lil."
"Really."
"Look," Rose said hurriedly. "We should probably let him get some sleep."
James snorted.
"Oh, look at you Rosie. All posh and dignified."
"Hey!" Ted could imagine the third year puffing up indignantly, flicking back her bushy hair. "He's obviously exhausted and you two arguing isn't going to help!"
"Alright, alright," James sighed (how bad he did look?) "Point taken. Let's go."
There was a pause. The hand stayed where it was.
"Lil?"
"I won't be a minute."
Ted listened for the opening and closing doors. When they were alone in the white ward, the hand moved its slender fingers to poke him in the ribs.
"Right, you can stop pretending now."
His eyes flickered obediently.
"How are you feeling?"
"Been better."
Then suddenly he was hit by it all. Image after image, ripping through his heart like a weed saw as he met the eyes that were like the first spring leaves of a silver birch.
"Ted?"
Her fingers sought his cheek, thumb hooking his jaw so he was forced to look at her.
"Listen. It wasn't your fault."
"I could have killed you." He said it so quietly, she had to strain to hear him. "I nearly did."
"I was the idiot for even being there."
"If I – If I hadn't –"
Suddenly the Man – pathetic; WEAK – rebelled.
The Wolf shook his head to rid himself of the annoyance, but instead it grew. It kicked and screamed its way to the front, stronger with each moment, driven by one thought.
'I am ME!'
The thought shouldered into the Wolf, unexpected, like battering ram, and forced him aside.
'I AM ME!'
"But you did!" Lily grasped his head in both hands. "That's what counts!"
Ted nodded slightly, eyes falling shut.
The girl was pale as a ghost, shivering uncontrollably. But she was otherwise unharmed.
He actually felt his eyes change colour.
The saucer pupils contracted to fit his usual storm-grey irises, and Lily cried out. It was hard to tell whether it was with relief or terror, but to his acute hearing it was the worst sound in the world.
He backed off. The Wolf clawed furiously at his mind, but he wasn't budging.
"Oh, Ted."
Her voice shook so badly as she stood, the words barely made it out of her mouth. The werewolf whimpered pitifully, but when she started forward, he finally came to his senses. Furious, he let out an ear-splitting yowl, baring his fangs to the maverick fifteen-year-old. For once, she didn't need telling twice. She turned on her heel and bolted from the clearing like a gazelle, leaving him alone with the moon.
"I'm fine!" She insisted. "And barring any more of that fucking poison you were knocking back last night, so are you!"
"Lily, the potions were the only reason I was able to stop myself, don't you see?"
"Bollocks."
"Lily!"
"No, it is! You don't give yourself enough credit – you have the will to master it!"
"Then how do you explain this?"
He waved his injured hand angrily.
"…every relationship has bad patches."
"So what you're saying is," he met her eyes with anvils of thunder. "I just need to have a heart to heart with the monster?"
"Well…you could start by not thinking of it as a monster."
"How can you say that – you saw it last night! You saw what I was!"
Ted saw the flash of fear and it was all he needed. Grabbing her hands, he forced them away so that she wouldn't have to touch him and jammed himself against the headboard.
"I am a walking nightmare, Lily." He fixed his eyes on the dull metal of the curtain railings. "You're just too stubborn to see otherwise."
Her breath caught, and he didn't need to look to know she was crying. The sound was answered by something breaking inside him, but he refused to turn. After a while she got up, swallowing back her sobs so that they were silent under the rhythmic raindrops. Her footsteps clacked on the tiles. At the foot of his bed, however, they paused, her voice was quiet in the stagnant air.
"You're not a monster, Theodore."
She was gone before he could look back.
Outside the hospital wing, Lily sagged against the wall. The energy potion she'd taken was wearing off and the beginnings of a nasty headache reminded her of how she'd not slept since the night before last. That was hardly the only reason, though. She fumbled for a tissue.
The rain echoed dissonantly off the stone, filling the corridor with the sound of cool and damp. With an iron will, she marched grim-faced to class where no one dared mention her puffy eyes, or her pale face.
Except James.
He got the point of a quill jabbed in his hand for the trouble.
"Ouch! You –"
"That's quite enough!"
Privately, Lily marvelled that Professor Binns even noticed, but both jumped contritely. He forgot them almost immediately, continuing his droning about the goblin riots and what to expect of the exams, and James shot her a glare, rubbing his hand. They spent the rest of the lesson in simmering silence. But when it was over, he cornered her outside.
"James, I'm –"
"I'll believe you're fine when I believe Ted!"
"Just fuck off, okay!"
"What the hell's gotten into you lately? You yell at Dom, snap at me and cry whenever Ted talks to you!" For once he looked deadly serious. "You've been cooped up with that record player of yours more times than I can count, and don't tell me it's 'cos you've gotta practice for dancing, 'cos that's crap and you know it. What's happening to you?"
The last question was laced with a silent plea that broke into Lily's façade like a rogue bull.
"I don't know, James!" She roared. "You tell me since you've been paying so much attention! I mean, it can't be because him and dad aren't speaking, can it? Or, that he just keeps getting further and further away from us?"
She was shaking uncontrollably, tears scorching down her face.
"And so what if Dominic's taken it upon himself to take over caring about us – he's not Ted!"
"Lily –"
"He's not Ted! I don't care if he's good to us, he's not our Teddy!"
"Lily!"
She was about to try and drive it properly though her brother's thick skull, when suddenly his arms enclosed her. People stared as he held tight, crushing the breath from her chest. She choked. Fury ebbed away, leaving only desolate remnants.
James held onto her as she slowly returned the hug, weeping noisily into his chest as someone tried to disperse the crowd. They stayed like that until she'd sobbed herself into silence, then broke apart.
"Ah, Lil." He murmured, wiping the last drops from her eyes.
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know. I honestly don't."
"Thank you, James, you're a great help."
"Well, what did you expect me to say?"
"I dunno," she shrugged distractedly. "You're always the Man with the Plan."
"What is it mum always says, 'Life's what happens when you're making plans'?"
Lily snorted, breaking out in a watery smile.
"What are you trying to say?"
"Err…" he scratched his head. "I'll get back to you on that one."
A laugh finally rippled up her throat. James smiled. Not the grin he wore like a logo, but something honest. Sometimes Lily thought he was useless; wondered how they ever got through nine months cramped together in the womb without killing each other, but not today. He put an arm round her shoulders and pulled her in so she was forced to stumble.
"That's it!" He said gently as she yelped.
"Oh, get off!"
"What've you got now, Divination?" Now he grinned. "Right, well you have fun with that. I'm just off to do something that's of actual use. See ya!"
Lily pulled a face.
"It is when you do it properly!"
"If you say so," looked sceptically over his shoulder. "Say hi to Professor Lovegood for me, would you?"
"Will do."
She watched him disappear round the corner. He had astronomy – a practical, useful subject in his opinion. Lily just didn't have the patience for it. It required spatial memory and a lot of mucking about with calculations. Real astronomy also required working a telescope, among other things, and she honestly didn't have the hands. It wasn't that she wasn't interested, just that for anything worth knowing…she usually asked Ted.
She sighed as she made her way to the tower. Ascending seemed to take an age longer than it normally did with her head still spinning in a dozen different directions. She couldn't get past the moment when she was pinned beneath those great, amber-green eyes. About to be killed by the Wolf in the dark.
By the fey king.
She passed a window depicting a man hidden in a dark cloak gazing hungrily at a girl in a field of roses. She had a white dress and golden hair. The window didn't show his face.
But it must be something deeper than that, she thought, surely?
There was very little that was truly evil. Dangerous, yes; ill-tempered, definitely, but evil? Voldemort had been evil incarnate (or so everyone said) but even he could be pitied after a fashion. There was nothing evil in nature. You couldn't call the dark evil just because it was The Dark, that would be stupid.
The trapdoor interrupted her musings. She was a bit late, but Professor Lovegood never seemed to mind her. She'd probably already been told about Ted, anyway.
"Glad to see you'll be joining us, Miss Potter."
"I'm so sorry, Professor. Not having the best day."
"Oh, it's quite alright," she said dreamily. "I was just telling the class about the subtleties of reading the weather in small puddles."
Lily resisted the temptation to quip 'You mean whether it's been raining or not?' but she had no desire to wake her teacher's ire after being late, so she quickly found her seat. As her namesake started up again, she found herself wondering at how batty the Professor came off. She was always on about something, half-aware of the other people in the room. Most of the time many of the class would be staring worriedly, but today, however, it seemed the majority favoured those completely out of it. It made it hard to remember that the Professor had been part of saving the world as they knew it.
Didn't stop her being Loony Luna Lovegood.
With that thought, Lily tilted her head back, and slowly drifted off.
The air was still and cool.
A light wind rustled dry leaves. It enveloped them; the gentle embrace of the night. Softest moonbeams spilled down their hair as they swayed together.
The music was unearthly.
It was singing and humming in her heart like an ancient lullaby, but twining as well; coiling round them like a living thing.
She sighed contentedly.
She was taller, her legs suspending her high above the forest floor. A silver-white dress rippled smoothly over her skin.
They were magnificent.
Yet it felt perfectly natural. As though this was where she belonged – a queen of the night forests. Her hair was pinned atop her head, though she felt strands loose and springing about her cheeks, twirling as she spun. Her feet were bare on the soil.
A laugh curled from her mouth, high and tinkling, in a voice that not hers. It was high and lovely and terrible.
Yes, she was the Lady of this place.
Only when she heard the laughter returned, did she look back to her Lord.
He was clad in simple black, darker than the sky. A part of her surged with joy at the sight of him. Her heart and body sank willingly into his strong arms…but something was amiss.
The smile was not his. The laugh was foreign. He moved confidence and grace – something the real Ted could never do.
When they fell into step to turn, she finally noticed the eyes…
…eyes that were amber-green, fey and beautiful, with pupils so large they threatened to pull her into the abyss. Her feet stilled. Horror seized her as he pulled her close.
"Was this not what you wanted?"
Suddenly it was not him but the Wolf, its lips pulled back, fangs drawn. She couldn't move. Its eyes glittering with the hunger for blood, and she was all alone – no Ted.
No one at all.
She tried to scream, there was no noise. She bellowed without a sound, lungs straining as it lowered its muzzle –
"Miss Potter?"
Lily jumped as if she'd been on the receiving end of a cattle prod. It took a moment to realise the whole class was staring at her and that she must've cried out. Professor Lovegood fixed her with curious eyes, the utmost attention colouring them.
"Are you quite alright?"
Nothing but vowel sounds answered. She didn't have the breath for anything else. Her Professor's concern deepened as she gasped as though she'd run a mile, each breath rattling in her mouth. Her hands shook like leaves in the breeze. She tried to grip the desk for support, but her fingers refused to obey, thick and useless. The Wolf was still there, saliva pooled on the end of its teeth –
Her heart raced dangerously fast. She slammed a hand over her chest, trying not to hyperventilate, but the picture plastered over her eyes like some horrific poster, fuelling the adrenaline barrelling through her.
Imfineimfineimfineimfine –
"Lily Luna!"
Lily shut her eyes tight as light-headedness descended. Professor Lovegood grasped her hands urgently. "Speak to me Lily!"
I'm fine…I'm fine.
She forced the chant into intervals of deep, regular breaths.
Okay. Ooookay.
"Mr Davies, would you please take Miss Potter to the hospital wing."
A plump boy with mousy hair appeared at her elbow as the teacher eased Lily out of her seat. Her knees knocked like a first year's encountering Filch, threatening to unbalance her as they descended the trapdoor. They made it, but there was no holding back the sheer annoyance.
Her? Completely thrown for six?
She'd never imagined herself as fainthearted as this!
But, there was nothing she could do. When they reached the ward, her heart was finally slowing to normal and she shot a quick glance to Ted.
He was asleep, and she collapsed into a bed of her own. Exhaustion took her before the nurse had a chance to reach her bed.
"Hello Dom."
"Eh, you look perkier, at least. How're you feeling?"
"Still groggy."
Ted had leant back creakily into the pillows before something caught his eye. He raised his head, the better to see this strange flash of red, then went white. He shot up like an adder from a basket, intending to leap out of bed if Dominic hadn't rushed to stop him. It took a strength he didn't know his best friend possessed to hold him down (though in his ill state, Ted supposed it wasn't surprising).
He stared, wild eyed, before Dominic put him at his ease.
"No, no! Don't worry! Don't worry! She's absolutely fine! Just…out of it for a bit."
"Why?" Ted stopped struggling to clutch his friend's arm.
"Madam Pomfrey said that what she really needed was about nine hours uninterrupted, dreamless sleep. Not that she needed too much help on that front, but she gave her a bit of the potion anyway. She's been peaceful for a couple of hours."
"What happened?"
Dom hesitated.
"Well, apparently she had a panic attack in the middle of divination." He said uncertainly. "Lovegood sent her down here before it got any worse."
"Panic attack?"
"Yeah," Dominic shifted uncomfortably. "Do you know what that's about?"
The werewolf shook his head miserably. The urge to find a cliff surfaced with a vengeance as he lay back, tearing his eyes from the sleeping girl.
Is there no end to the damage I do?
"You still with me?"
"Yes, Dom."
"Good."
They stayed in companionable silence for a few minutes, listening to the gutters drip onto the window ledge. The rain had finally stopped, and Ted almost missed the rhythm. He liked rain. It made all the smells of the earth that much more present.
"You need a girl."
"What?"
"A girl," Dominic repeated as if he was talking to a three-year-old. "You know: pretty, sassy. Unusual physical definitions."
"I'm not celibate, Dom. I just don't have a habit of..."
He made a rather vague gesture.
"Ted," Dom's voice was laced with exasperation. "Every species, be they lions, tigers or bears – or wolves – must, at some point, seek a mate!"
"You've never heard of solitary behaviour patterns?"
"They still have to mate!"
"Really," Ted's voice tinged with real irritation now. "And have you ever considered that getting that far might be an issue for me? That my condition just might be a factor in getting close to people?"
His eyes drifted to Lily, before he realised and snapped them away.
"How do you know it's a girl?" He blurted out abruptly.
Dominic looked completely confused. "Eh?"
"I mean…why not a boy?"
His friend made a noise between a laugh and a sigh.
"Well, Ted, I'm your best mate and I know about your little fury problem, so I think it's a safe to say I'd know if you were…you know…bent."
Ted had smile at that. He was right of course (about girls). Though if he was gay, he couldn't imagine his friend's reaction changing even slightly and that was…oddly comforting. Ah, Dom. He turned, but even as he did he saw the weariness cresting Dominic's bold features.
"You should get some rest."
"Hey, I'm the one who should be saying that to you!"
"I mean it, Dom. You're no good to me if you've gone and collapsed from exhaustion, now get going!"
Dominic looked as if he was about to protest, but Ted cut him off.
"I'll be fine, I'm not going anywhere." He smiled weakly. "You go get yourself a bit of peace for a while."
Reluctantly, Dominic nodded and bade a retreat. Just as he was about to leave, he cast a look to where Lily slept soundly a few beds over. Ted followed his gaze.
Despair crept into his heart again, chilling the warmth his best friend had brought with him. But he schooled his face for Dom, who rolled his eyes as he left, muttering something under his breath.
"Bloody mothering werewolf."
The smile slipped.
Moonlight burnt his back the same as hot silver. He felt so exposed. His skin crawled as if covered in ants, all scuttling and biting over innards that were being sucked out into the air. He wanted to move from the light, but his legs wouldn't obey.
They paralysed him like anchors wedged into the dirt.
He frowned. On a whim, he gently nudged the instinct he'd had all his life. Just a try couldn't hurt? Surely something simple. The colour of his eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose, concentrating, hitting the barrier that seemed to ring his natural form. But almost immediately, he felt the shape of something sleeping – hidden, behind that veil. Fur and fangs and a mind full of blood –
With a shudder, he stopped, pulling back in utter revulsion.
Something else opening its eyes in front of his…
He made no attempt to staunch the blurry sorrow. The images of her slashed and dying at his feet kept coming, thick and cloying, until they were all he could see. He looked to her hair, shining in the sun now streaming through the window. He imagined it matted and filthy, crusted with the dirt and blood. He imagined her flesh tearing between his teeth (the sick part of him that never really went away) and the potency of her blood hitting his system –
He lurched over the side of the bed and emptied his stomach.
"Skurgify."
His voice was so cracked, he was suddenly very grateful he knew how to cast spells without uttering the words. It would have been indecipherable otherwise. Unable to rise from his position, he choked out a sob to the floor.
In the wake of everything that had happened, his miseries poured from him in a small flood. That first sob was the only discernible noise he made, but he shook against the sheets, eventually he crying himself out. The cotton was tacky and prickling on his cheek, but he hadn't the strength to move.
Defeated.
Why can't I just die?
I'd probably just bugger that up as well.
How could Lily think he was anything other than what he was?
She doesn't really believe that.
Fuck and bugger and FUCK!
"You know," a quiet voice startled him. "You could just talk to me rather than cursing violently in your head."
"Cursing?"
"Yeah," there was a rustling as she sat up. "Whenever you suddenly tense up like that, you're always swearing inside your head.
"You should just say it out loud," she continued off-handedly. "Good for the soul."
He stared weakly.
"What happened?"
"I fell asleep and had a nightmare. That's all."
His eyes slid shut.
"Need I ask?"
"Look, I still don't think you're a monster, Ted. That doesn't mean nearly having the Wolf rip me apart wasn't scary as hell."
"I was the Wolf!"
"Really," she said curiously. "You always talked about it like it was just something you turned into. Like a separate person."
"Yeah…kind of…but –"
"But what? You're not making any sense Theodore!"
"You think it makes sense to me?" He cried out hopelessly. "It is and isn't separate. I feel everything it feels. Every thought. Every sensation. Every whim!"
His throat strangled shut. He saw her again on the forest floor, red strewn through red hair, and it was never going to stop. As long as he went on. He would keep hurting her and hurting her until the he forgot himself and –
He heard, vaguely, the sounds of her slipping out of bed. Instinctively, he shied away. Groaning, he lurched off his position hanging over the edge and jumped back against the wall, eyes racing to hers. He tried not to touch her; not to taint her.
The instant he ripped back control, he stared down at the girl.
A whole moment as the last of the Wolf left the front of his mind.
He shared its thoughts; its hunger, its addiction, its awe – but it didn't consider her death.
He did.
He wanted to die.
Then, in one move, Lily launched herself onto the mattress and wrapped her arms tightly around him, chin jutting over his shoulder like a hook. Horror coursed through him. He tried to throw her off, but it was like trying to dislodge a limpet.
"Lily…"
"Shut up. Just, shut up, okay?"
Shaking with cries that slowly wrenched themselves up his throat, he slowly raised his arms to her back. Then it was as if a dam burst. Suddenly, he was hugging her more tightly than he had ever done, never wanting to let go.
For the sake of this, it didn't matter.
It didn't matter that she was fifteen and Lily (your sister). She was there like the last piece of sanity in an insane universe. He let free his longing and sighed at the relief.
"Ted?"
The question edged him back to the shore.
"You feeling better?"
"Little bit. Maybe."
He tried to ease his grip, but somehow he couldn't win the war with his limbs.
"I miss you." She said suddenly.
"Miss me?"
"You're…drifting away from us. All of us. You're a good man, Ted. I don't want to lose you. Not to this."
Her eyes glittered like stars. Ted let his head fall to the crook of her neck, burying his nose in her shirt. It was already damp. He was bearing his most vulnerable self to her, but he didn't mind. It was her. And she'd already seen worse.
He shuddered in the bluish glow. Trapped against the ground, he was unable to do more than crawl through the dead leaves. His head felt like it was going to split open – or pull him into a dimension made of oil and water. Everything kaleidoscoped around him; a whirl of trees and blurred shapes. The dirt pitched him like the sea, forcing him to cling to it absurdly lest he be thrown off. After a while, it softened to a gentle rocking, and he was able to look up at the birds singing high above him.
Pain stabbed his skull, and he shut his eyes hard.
Every one of his limbs ached, but it was a different feeling than normal. Instead of burning, they were stiff and icy. As if all his blood had fled into the dying night with the Wolf-skin. Giving up attempts to move, he lay shivering beneath the brightening sky, reality falling from him in lumpy fragments. When the darkness neared completion, he greeted it with relief.
Something…soft… fluttered over his shoulders. Frowning, he felt himself being wrapped like pita bread and slowly rolled over to face the one that had found him.
A mass of tangled red hair tickled his face.
"Ted? Talk to me, please!"
"Lil?"
It was barely more than a croak.
"Oh, thank god!"
She rushed away, but was back almost immediately with a one of the bottles from his bag. With trembling hands, she held the lip to his mouth and helped him down the pepper up potion. It seared his throat, but immediately he felt the darkness recede. He heard the dull thump of glass hitting the soil as she tossed it aside and fell to her knees beside him.
"You look like death."
He couldn't think of anything to say to that. He felt like death. He needed say something about what happened, but everything was so blurry and muddled he could barely remember what did. Instead, he let his eyes move over her appearance. Had she been out all night?
"Come on." She muttered.
"You are not a monster, Ted. What you become isn't a monster. And…even if you think it is, that bit isn't…isn't you. You're good. Don't forget that."
Ted nodded numbly. He didn't know whether he believed her or not, but her words made him feel better at least. A wave of exhaustion washed through him and his grip faltered. Lily's arms gently released him so he could slide back onto the bed, eyes heavy. Instead of moving, though, he felt her lay her head against his chest, curled into his side. Her breathing evened over his heart and it was like dropping into a warm bath. For the first time in months, he felt peace as he drifted to sleep.
When Dominic walked in a while later to check on them, he found them still there, fast asleep as bats in winter. His mouth twitched. He sighed, almost laughing aloud at the pair of them. As if he didn't know what was really bothering Ted; the doe-eyed looks he gave her when he thought no one was looking.
Rolling his eyes, he retrieved the blanket from Lily's unoccupied bed and threw over them.
They were almost nauseatingly sweet.
Ted would no doubt come to his inane senses tomorrow (or whenever he woke up finding Lily in his arms) and make a prat out of himself. It seemed ridiculous, but he supposed there was some merit to Ted's misgivings: she was only a kid, after all, and his god-sister at that.
Shaking his head, he left them to each other's company.
A.N: Changelog Edit 1ish:
*Changed 'Lilly' to 'Lily' as per the correct version
*Changed around the order of the flashbacks somewhat so that it was slightly less jarring
*Cut half the...being kind, I'll call it overstating (I'll have an order of winy teenage angst, please)
*Edited out the bit about tourettes; I stand corrected, thank you xXEvie PotterXx
*Stripped down the chapter in general after I think I extended it (it's definitely longer than when I first wrote it)
*Clarified some parts and avoided phrase, sentence structure and word repetition
*Changed 'defect' to 'definitions' so it sounds less like an insult
*Cut down Dominic's observations at the end and made them a bit more down to earth, as well as more understanding
Just to note, the reference to homosexuality was just a thing that fit well in the same way that Steven Moffat slips it in. As he has Watson say: It's all fine. If any reader disagrees with this take and has a problem with this, they can eff the fuck off :D
*Debated the formatting, though in the end I think just using the itallicsed sections and leaving it at that was best, using the main divides for changes in time and personal perspective. Because this chapter really does jump around with flashbacks and the dream sequence, and it was more than a bit untidy before with all the lines.
Edit 2:
*Reformatted it again :P
*Corrected the typos
*Refined the flashback series: in case it's not obvious, this is one of the most difficult chapters I have ever done in terms of making it work the way I want it to. What it NEEDS to convey is the all-encompassing downer Ted's on whilst successfully kicking the story into gear, introducing and creating stakes for the characters early on, and NOT falling into the realm of over-doing it to the point where it stops being effective.
*Stuck the 'e' on the end of Theodore; where it should be
*Better organised my headcannon of Ted's lycanthropy, especially for how I want it to fit into his character arc
Right, well, that's that over and done with! Danse Macabre (I honestly didn't know for sure the first time round) is the Dance with Death and one of the better versions is used as the theme for Johnathan Creek. I chose it because I got that scene with them dancing in the forest stuck in my head and quite liked it, so it stayed.
In case it wasn't obvious, THAT was the tune Lily waltzed to with the Wolf.
Reviews, anyone? And thank you for the feedback so far :)