17 October, 1976

She was out, and she was alone. Taking a deep breath of relief she felt free, which she rarely did, never fully did. She walked, trying to be easy on her feet to not make a sound. Looking around she saw no one, where was she to go? 'This is such a stupid thing to do' she thought to herself, feeling foolish which she knew she was. She was usually smarter than this. She had been a good girl all her life, making her parents proud and studying to get good grades for them to be happy about. Then why was she making life so difficult for herself? Associating with a muggleborn had sent her mother to bed for three whole days, that's how mortified she was. They had all tried to 'shush' it down lately, and Eleana didn't encourage it but she didn't try to stop them either.

Her father had sent her a letter in which he expressed his deep concern, and in the end of the letter he wrote that it all must be a misunderstanding of some sort, and that she had just pitied the girl and therefore talked with her. 'I know how delicate your heart is, and you are kind towards everyone. But you do not have to be nice with every single person.' He'd written. She supposed her brother had been told that by their father too, and he had encouraged Eithan to spread it around for the family's sake, and for Eleana's. They were all trying to protect her.

It all made her angry, and she felt like she was suffocating. Now she was more encouraged than ever to be proud of her pure blood. She also felt this horrible duty to make her family proud by being someone she was not.

As she reached a small corridor she heard the sound of a lamp dangling from someone's hands. It squeaked distantly, and she felt her heart racing. If she got caught she would be in an even bigger mess than she already was. She mentally slapped herself for sneaking out of her dorm.

She looked around for a place to hide, and saw an open door. She went inside and found it to be a small bathroom with two stalls. She went inside one of the stalls and closed the door behind her, then she stepped up on the toilet seat so her feet wouldn't show if anyone were to look at the stall. She hoped nobody would try to open it.

The squeaking became louder, and soon she saw a shadow moving across the floor, someone was passing by the door to the bathroom. She didn't dare to peak. Then she heard him talking, it was Filch, it seemed like he was having a conversation with his beloved cat, Mrs Norris. She held her breath anxiously, and when they finally passed and the squeaking could no longer be heard, she breathed out. Before leaving the stall she wiped sweat from her brow with her sleeve.

'Now, just go back to the common room' she told herself. She bent forward and peaked her head out to look around in the hallway, first one way then the other. There was no sign of anybody. She started to walk in the direction she had come from earlier. Paranoid that anyone would find her, she looked around anxiously. The figures in the paintings were all sleeping soundly, and they were not woken up by her soundless steps.

When she was about to go down the stairs to the dungeons, she heard voices. Immediately she went down a few steps and laid her back against the wall, letting the shadows cover her. She stood still and just listened, waiting for whoever it was to go away.

"Ow! Prongs you stepped on my foot!" a boy said. He had a rather developed voice, it must be someone in year six or seven, she thought.

"Well if your feet weren't so huge I wouldn't have stepped on them." Said the other boy.

"Just wait till we get outside, I will-"

"Lads! Please be quiet." Another boy said, apart from the others he did not sound as temperamental, though he seemed to be somewhat annoyed with the other two.

"there is no need to fight..." a little voice squeaked quietly.

She realised that she recognised these voices. It took her a few seconds before she figured it out, but now it was obvious. It was those obnoxious Gryffindors, James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter..? (she couldn't remember his whole name) and Sirius Black. They used to hex people all the time, and were nothing more than bullies in her eyes. Although, come to think of it, sometime around the end of last year they did not do that anymore. Maybe they had grown a little and was not as childish anymore. The only one they picked a fight with now seemed to be Severus.

Severus Snape loathed them, she understood that, they had bullied him for several years, but she knew Snape was not innocent either. She wondered if it had something to do with the fact that Lily was Potter's friend now, Snape had been good friends with Lily before he got into the dark arts. He, Avery, Mulciber and her brother, had all become a little obsessed with it. Eleana did not feel fond of the dark arts, it scared her a bit, and she had told her brother not to be into that stuff, he did not listen however.

"Finally" a voice said, and she guessed it was Sirius, the Black whom they called blood-traitor.

"Now watch your big feet when we exit, I don't want to step on 'em again."

"If Moony wasn't turning tonight I would occupy myself with turning you into a-"

"SHhhh!" Lupin said.

Apparently they had found a way out, and they were heading outside. Eleana knew everything to be locked at this hour, it was impossible to go outside. But it sounded as if they had still found a way. 'and what was that about 'Moony turning tonight' she wondered.

She glanced towards the sound of them, and saw four boys taking off an invisibility cloak. Then Potter opened a secret exit, it was not visible, but when he pressed in the eye of a sculpture beside it with his thumb, the contours of a little door suddenly became visible and swung open. They all had to bend down to go inside what looked to be a tunnel.

Eleana put a hand over her mouth, astonished by what she had seen. She glanced back towards the darkness of the stairs that led to the Slytherins' common room. Then she looked at where the door had been, it was gone now. She silently walked in the direction of it, and looked at the sculpture. It was a of a woman in stone, she covered her face with her grey hands which concealed her eyes a bit. In spite of that, there was still enough room to put in a finger to press in the left eye, just as Potter had done. When she did, the door reappeared and swung open, just as before. Eleana didn't hesitate, she went inside, and she only had to bend down a little since she was sort of small.

When she was inside, the little door closed behind her and she started to walk in the only direction she could without going back where she came from. The tunnel was a little bigger than the door, and she could almost walk upright without bumping her head into the ceiling. There were also torches placed in indentations along the wall, with a few meters of space between them.

She walked for a couple of minutes and then she saw another small door. She opened it and was met by a thick bush. The dark green leaves fell in her face, and she left the door ajar before struggling slightly to get through the bush. When she was trough she saw the night sky and a full moon gazing at her, it was white and glowing as it lit up the dark night. She trudged along the grass, and tried to get a prospect of where they had went.

Then, she heard a yap, something that sounded like a dog. She turned around and caught sight of three very big animals. She immediately looked around for a place to go, and saw a tree which she hid herself behind. She glanced on the animals again, and saw that they were all very different, she even caught sight of a fourth animal, it was very small so she hadn't noticed it at first.

A big dog, as black as a crow. A stag, and a little rat running around the others in the grass. Although, the biggest one of them all, and what had made her look for a hiding place so quickly, was the werewolf. She knew what it was, and it sent her heart hammering in her chest. The blood in her veins were pounding, and she regretted following those boys.

All of a sudden she could see the werewolf sniffing in the air, and then it's eyes fell on her. She gasped. It had caught the smell of her, and now it was going to eat her.

She began to run, as fast as she could, and could hear the werewolf setting after her, howling. Soon she heard a bark, and a yelp of pain. She glanced over her shoulder, and saw that the werewolf was being attacked by the other big animals, the stag and the hound.

She did not understand, she did not even try to understand, right now she needed to get back in the castle, and if she did, she would never sneak out of the castle in the middle of the night again, she promised herself.

Suddenly the werewolf broke free of the others and caught up with her. Her breath got caught in her throat as she saw the animal come so close. It tried to scratch her, and she threw herself on the grass to avoid its claws. She grabbed the wand in her pocket, but realised it was too late, she would be dead before she could pull it out. The beast stood leaned over her, and she felt its breath on her face. 'Now I am going to die' was all she though. But before she could barely finish the sentence in her head the werewolf was gored in the side by the stag. It caused it to move away from her, and then they were once again occupied in a fight.

She watched them with dim eyes and felt as if she would faint. The dizziness made it hard for her to stand, even so she crawled up into standing position and started to walk, then run, as quickly as she possibly could.

She found the bush with leaves, and pushed herself through it. Behind it was the little door.

She ran down the stairs, breathing heavily from exhaustion, and soon found the stone wall in the dungeons where the entrance to the common room was. Her head felt dizzy, her heart was pounding, the blood in her veins rushed through her, her body trembled due to the adrenaline, and meanwhile she tried to remember the password with difficulty. After a few seconds she did, and she said it with a strangled voice. She had not yet noticed that she was crying. A few tears were streaming down her cheeks, and she wiped them away with her trembling hand.

At the sight of the common room she felt safer, and let out a shaky breath of relief. The green colours made her calm, and she kept on walking headed for her bedroom.

Both Caren and Camilla were asleep, just as when she had left them. Camilla was snoring, and a mass of brown hair was spread across her sheets, she was hugging her pillow in a fondly grasp. Eleana was still in shock since the incident, but if she was in her normal state she would have found it rather cute and thought that Camilla was probably dreaming of that French boy she had met during the summer.

Eleana laid down on her bed, with all of her clothes still on. She pulled the covers over herself and closed her eyes. All she saw was a werewolf, and its claws ready to slice her. She found herself unable to sleep; opening her eyes she gazed up towards the ceiling.

Time passed, and no matter how she twisted and turned she could not manage to fall asleep. After hours of still no sleep, she began to think of something else than the werewolf. She started to remember everything else she had seen, and heard.