Slowly opening my eyes I took in my pitch black surroundings and opened my curtains, allowing the light of the full moon shining through the windows to let me see the silhouettes of everything in the room.
Rubbing my tired eyes I fumbled for my wand on my bedside table and casted a quick Tempus. The red 3:04 glared at me in the mostly dark room.
Growling in annoyance I scrambled out of the bed, careful not to wake up Basil, and tiptoed my way over to the bathroom.
When I was done I shut off the light and stood there for a moment to allow my eyes to readjust to the dark before making my way back over to my bed.
Carefully climbing in I made myself comfortable before closing my eyes and waiting for sleep to take me.
After awhile I shifted onto my back and tried getting comfortable before trying my side. My eyes snapped open and I sat up on my bed with a huff.
Casting another Tempus I saw that half an hour had passed, which served to frustrate me even more.
Swinging my legs over the bed I touched my bare feet against the cold floor, and squinted my eyes before finding my shoes. Not bothering to find any socks I slipped on the shoes and crept over to the door.
Grabbing the handle I slowly turned it and pulled open the door, cringing when a loud squeaky groan sounded from the hinges. I immediately stopped and quickly looked around the room to see if the others had woken up. A silent sigh of relief left me and I tried opening the door a little more to allow me enough room to slip through.
As I was about to leave the room a drowsy voice stopped me, "Danielle? Where are you going?"
Closing my eyes I grimaced, It's always Lily, "I'm going for a quick walk on the grounds."
"Oh ok." My eyebrows shot up at her response. Usually she would have berated me for going out at a time like this, considering it was also against the rules. It must be because she's so tired. "Be careful it's cold outside."
I whispered a quick "I will" before slipping passed the door and closing it as quickly as possible behind me.
In nothing but my shoes, sweatpants, and a tank top I felt a little chilly, but I ignored it as I hurriedly left the common room and made my way through the corridor towards the secret passage that would bring me closer to the first floor.
I berated myself for not bringing my wand as I was forced to feel my way down the corridor against the wall. With the little amount of moonlight spilling through the windows from high above I was able to find the passage entrance and I quickly slipped inside.
I followed the passage down until I came out from behind a portrait. It clicked closed behind me and I continued my way through the corridor I was in until I found a staircase that brought me down to the first floor.
Making my way to the front entrance I tried pulling it open and to my relief found it to be unlocked. My relief was soon turned into worry, Don't these people ever lock this thing? I'm sure there's wards or something protecting the castle and all but seriously, this is ridiculous.
Pushing my thoughts aside I opened the door and a cold blast of air immediately hit me. Goosebumps appeared all over my arms and my teeth started chattering.
Closing the door behind me I quickly focused on my animagus form. Almost immediately I felt my body slowly morph into the large form of a black wolf. The transformation no longer hurt now that I've done it a couple times.
Standing at the top of the castle steps I shook off the cold in the only way a dog could and allowed myself to admire the beautiful view.
It was December now and Christmas vacation was coming just around the corner. A light dusting of snow covered the ground, and the light of the full moon caused the pure white snow to sparkle.
Now that I was in my wolf form I no longer felt the cold. My thick black fur protected me from the wind; although my paws were slowly freezing from being on the stone steps for too long.
Jogging down the stone steps I made my way across the snow covered lawn of Hogwarts, occasionally running and rolling around for fun.
I eventually made it to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and I debated on whether or not I was going to go inside when I heard something behind me.
Whipping my head around I saw nothing, and I looked out to see if I could find anything. At first I didn't see anything but I heard the noise again and as I looked closer I could vaguely see something–someone– was rushing down the castle steps. I realized the noise I had heard was actually a voice.
Blending in with the dark of the Forest I backed up until I was sitting just behind the foliage of the bushes. I watched as the figure started walking around the grounds, obviously looking for something. They seemed to be looking at the ground and I realized they were looking at all the imprints I had left in the snow. I wanted to berate myself but there wasn't much I could do now, or then really.
The figure got closer and I was able to see it was a female…with familiar vivid red hair. She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted again, this time I was able to make out what she was saying, "Danielle!"
I probably shouldn't have been surprised she was looking for me, but I still was. I debated with myself on whether or not I should show myself. She's already seen the tracks I had made in my wolf form, so it's possible she already knows. Or I could change back and just walk up to her, but then she would question why there are wolf footprints instead of human ones.
My inner debate was cut off by a lone, long howl from somewhere not too far in the distance. My ears perked up and my head whipped towards the direction the howl came from. I couldn't see anything at first but after a moment I finally saw something quickly making its way across the grounds.
Trying to focus on the fast moving figure I was finally able to see it was very large, my head probably only coming up to its shoulder, making me about half a foot smaller. It was covered in auburn…fur? As it got closer I realized I was staring at the large form of a wolf, and it was heading straight towards Lily.
Quickly looking over at Lily it seemed that she had noticed the wolf barreling towards her and stood frozen, in either shock or fear I wasn't sure. In the blink of an eye she shook out of her state and started sprinting back in the castles direction.
When looking for me Lily had made it about halfway to the Forest from the castle. Comparing the distance she had to get to the castle and how fast the wolf was gaining on her I knew she wouldn't make it. In my focused state I never noticed the form of a black dog and a stag with a rat on its head chasing after the wolf.
Bursting out from behind the foliage I sprinted as fast as my four legs could carry me, but with Lily running in the opposite direction I would never make it in time, and the wolf chasing after her would get to her first.
I was going as fast as I could, but it still wasn't enough. Sifting through my quickly panicking thoughts I tried thinking of some way that could distract the wolf from reaching Lily.
My eyes were locked on Lily, and as I got closer so did the auburn wolf. I watched as the wolf jumped in Lily's path, effectively stopping her from getting to the safety of the castle.
Lily immediately stopped, but when she scrambled backwards she tripped and fell onto her back. Seeing this caused the anxiety growing inside of me to double, and as I watched the wolf take a menacing step forward and rear his head back with a slight snarl.
The image of the wolf tearing into Lily made waves of sadness, guilt, and panic wash through me. The feelings ripped an agonized howl from my body.
When I looked back to see the wolf I realized instead of Lily it was now focused on me. I was quickly getting closer and I was almost to them when the wolf seemed to take a defensive like stance and howled back.
I slowly stopped running until I was at a complete stop. Lily was looking between me and the auburn wolf in terror, but the other wolf didn't seem as interested in her as before.
Calmly standing there I looked into the wolfs eyes and slowly matched his defensive stance. I've only ever been in this form for running around and playing, I had no idea what was about to happen, but seeing his reaction to my presence I would say he was angry I had interrupted him and had no qualms about coming and getting rid of me.
I noticed something shifting and my eyes glanced down to see Lily ever so slowly dragging herself from underneath the auburn wolf. He had yet to realize what she was doing, but when she set her arm onto the ground and leaned onto it a small snap of a stick broke the tense silence.
The wolfs gaze immediately snapped down to Lily and I released another howl before charging forward. In just a few bounds I turned my body to the side before I slammed straight into the other wolfs chest.
We were sent tumbling backwards, thankfully we went right over Lily and she wasn't crushed underneath either of us. Had I not been in my animagus form I most likely would have gained a few broken bones, but as it is I would probably have a few nasty bruises in the morning.
We continuously rolled across the grass with our jaws loudly snapping at each other's throats, trying to get a good hold on the other.
Eventually we came to a stop with the wolf standing over me and his jaws clamped onto my throat. I tried throwing him off, but he used his weight against me and held me against the ground.
I forced my body to relax, and when I felt his grip on my throat loosen I quickly flipped onto my back and lashed out with my front paw and scratched at his chest, while using my back legs to push him off of me.
He tumbled off of me with a pained yelp, and I pushed myself onto my feet. When I looked up I noticed the castle was no longer behind the wolf, and with him trying to check his wounds I quickly looked back to see the castle was now behind me.
When I turned around I saw the wolf now coming straight towards me, but before he could reach me a stag jumped in front of me and blocked his advance. Soon after a large black dog was standing next to it and snarling at the auburn wolf.
Seeing the strange situation now unfolding before me I looked between each animal confusedly. They struck a chord in my memory and I felt as though I should be remembering something, but at that moment I couldn't think of why, and I decided to focus on it later.
With the wolf now occupied I turned around to see Lily was quickly running towards the castle. I ran after her, and once I reached her I jumped in front of her much like the other wolf did.
Lily gasped and forced herself to come to a stop. She cautiously took a step back, seemingly watching for my reaction. I simply stood there and cocked my head to the side before plopping my butt on the ground and pressing my ears back against my skull. I hunched my head down and stared at Lily with wide eyes.
Lily watched my actions as if she was mentally questioning herself on whether or not she was actually seeing this happening. We locked eyes and I waited until I saw a flash of slight recognition before I happily stood back onto all fours and my ears perked back up and I trotted straight up to her.
Her eyes were glued to mine, and her mouth was slightly gaping open. My tongue lolled out of my mouth and I gave her the dog equivalent of a grin.
She snapped her mouth shut and slowly reached her hand out, constantly watching me in case I made any sudden moves towards her.
I licked my nose and my tongue retreated back into my mouth and her hand finally rested on my head between my ears. When she started scratching behind one of them I internally melted and wondered why I hadn't told her before so she could have been done this sooner.
Unfortunately all good things come to an end. A continuous thumping from behind Lily sounded in my ears and my peaceful state immediately left me.
Without a second thought I shoved my head underneath Lilys arm and pushed her away as hard as I could. She was sent a couple feet away, and as soon as she was no longer in front of me a large body crashed against mine and sent me sprawling against the ground.
I lifted my head up and gave it a shake before looking over to see Lily having a staring contest with the auburn wolf.
Examining the wolf I noticed there were cuts covering parts of his body, there was even some blood visible in some paces of his fur. Looking passed him I saw the bodies of the stag and the dog wearily trying to push themselves off of the ground.
Lunging forward I was just in time to clamp my jaws around the other wolfs back leg and drag him backwards before he was able to jump towards Lily. I wasn't able to drag him back very far, he was larger than I was and I'm not exactly the strongest.
I scrambled on top of him and struggled to push him back against the ground. I looked up at Lily and barked at her, and when she focused on me I jerked my head towards the castle in a silent attempt to tell her to quit standing there and get back to the castle.
Thankfully she understood what I was silently trying to tell her and once again quickly started running over to the castle. I kept my focus on the struggling wolf beneath me. I was quickly losing against him, but when I heard something large slamming I looked over at the castle doors to find Lily had disappeared.
The wolf took advantage of my lack of concentration and viciously pushed me off of him.
Stumbling away I managed to stay on all fours, but with Lily no longer in danger I had no reason to fight against him. I relaxed my body and I was no longer in a defensive position.
The wolf seemed confused now that I was no longer trying to fight back. He snarled at me and his hackles raised, but I showed no reaction. Instead I lowered myself to the ground and presented myself in the most non-threatening way possible.
He eyed me with what I interpreted as suspicion, and he didn't loose his defensive stance. I gave a slight whine and slightly crawled forward.
His ears perked forward when he heard my whine and he slowly stepped forward. Just like Lily, he kept his eyes on me so he could make sure I didn't make any sudden movement towards him.
As he craft closer I realized he was limping slightly on his back leg; the same one I had bitten to keep him from going after Lily. I felt a little guilty and released another sad whine.
The wolf cocked his head a bit to the side and finally made his way near me. He stretched his head out and lightly sniffed at the air around me. I did the same and stretched out my head.
I accidentally bumped his nose with mine and that must have been some kind of signal for him to come a little closer and sniffed all around my head. I stayed still and waited for him to finish whatever he was doing.
I suddenly felt a slight pressure against the back of my neck, and I realized he was pressing his nose against me. A moment later he backed away and I slowly raised myself off of the ground.
We had a slight staring contest before I finally realized how tired I had grown. A large yawn escaped me and I licked at my muzzle before slowly turning around and trotting towards the castles front doors.
Hearing a slight rustle behind me I looked over my shoulder to see the wolf had started following after me. I stopped, and watched him as he stopped as well. Slightly turning back around I gave a small huff before jerking my head to the side.
He looked towards where I had indicated before looking back at me. I started walking back towards the castle before quickly spinning around to see he was still following after me.
I growled and did my best to tell him to go away, and I wasn't sure if he was getting the message or not.
It didn't matter because suddenly the stag and the dog returned and started pushing the wolf away from the castle.
Happy that I no longer had to worry about the wolf following me into the castle I turned back around and made my way to the castle and up the stone steps.
A bark from behind me made me give the best impression of an impatient sigh, but I turned around again to see the dog and stag looking up at me while simultaneously herding the wolf away. I bowed my head in acknowledgment before examining the door and pushing it forward with my paw.
I was grateful to see it creak open without much of a problem. If it didn't I would have had to change back, and I didn't want to do that until I was safely out of view.
When I was passed the door I nudged it closed with my nose before changing out of my animagus form.
I felt relieved to be back in my familiar human body and I stretched my arms out above my head and bent down to touch my toes before heading off down the corridor.
I took the same route as I did to get down there, and when I made it to the portrait leading to the Gryffindor common room I crept in as quietly as possible, and I would have continued up the stairs to make it up to my dorm, but a voice stopped me.
"You have some explaining to do."
I cringed and turned back to the fireplace to see Lily standing there with her arms crossed and a stern expression on her face. "I know, and I will, but can it please wait until the morning?"
Lily continued to look at me, but on seeing my exhausted state she agreed and we both made our way up the staircase to our dorm.
When we entered I remembered to stay quiet as to not wake up the others still peacefully sleeping. Lily wandered over to her bed, and when I made it to mine I wasted no time falling under the covers and pulling the curtains around my bed closed.
My last thought before falling asleep was how grateful I was that there weren't any classes the next day.