Winnie sighed and began her story slowly, "Well, when I got off of the train and drove home in the old Caravan. I made it there, but I had left Galahad at Hogwarts because I wanted Dumbledore to care for him. Anyways, I made it home and I noticed that my family wasn't outside to greet me, so I went inside. Before I went inside, I noticed that Baklava, my old buckskin, was standing close to the pasture-kitchen door and staring into the house…. Which he never ever did. The whole house was trashed and wrecked to beyond recognition. I dropped my backpack onto the living room couch and walked through the kitchen because I smelled something horrible. So, I traveled through the kitchen and then down the hall to my parents' room. The smell was unbearable as I got closer. I nearly fainted a few times because of the stench, but I held my ground and only vomited a few times. I heard buzzing from the room and when I looked into my parents' bedroom, they were in bed, dead. I knew that something would be wrong at my house, but I didn't really think so, because Professor Trelawney taught me lampadomancy, which is reading a lamp flame. What I read had said that immediate danger will happen to those you love dearly. I thought nothing of it, since I knew that my Uncle Charlie was going to be going through a heart and lung operation and I knew he wasn't going to survive because his father didn't survive the same operation. Anyways, I walked into their bedroom and I noticed that flies were crawling all over their bodies and maggots worked their way through the flesh. I remember vomiting again after seeing that and then hearing sudden pops as a handful of Death Eaters apparated into their room. Each of them pulled out a wand and aimed the wands at me. Voldemort popped out of nowhere and came towards me. He was talking about my powers, being his bride or sacrifice, my dead parents, my stupidness, naiveness, etc. Finally, he sicked a Death Eater on me and I ran towards the barn, falling over the couch and banging myself into things. The Death Eater never got me, however. Then, I rode Baklava and jumped him over the fence and into the woods, away from evil. A few days later, he collapsed and died of heart failure. A week after that, I died. I was brought up to the Council of Light and they decided that I needed to be back on Earth. They said that my powers were suited for saving the wizarding world, not playing poker with. Well, I was playing poker with a really hot White Lighter named Leo. Cadance, you would have loved him. He taught me how to do this," at this statement, she pulled a sword out of the air and split it into two swords, then continued, "He also taught me how to play blackjack and poker with some of his demon friends. But anyways, I was sent back, but no one would take me in. All of my family had basically died. My close relatives and even distant relatives were mostly Muggle, so Remus came to watch after me. And this is where I am now."
"So, what about the blinding white robes and such?" Cadance asked, smiling devilishly.
"White?"
"Yeah, white."
"WHITE?!"
"Yes, Winnie… WHITE!"
"Hell no," Winnie laughed, pulling out a wand. "Am I crazy enough to go with the flow? No, no, no, no, NO! Would you like to see my robes?"
"Sure!" Cati piped up, smiling.
Winnie smiled evilly and took a few steps backwards. She pushed her arms up and out to her sides, where she brought them up to her head.
"Are you sure you want to see this?" Winnie asked innocently.
"Yes!" Cadance cried, clapping enthusiastically.
"Ten Galleons says that Winnie doesn't have white robes," Cati snickered to Cadance.
"Ten Galleons says that Winnie doesn't have regulation white robes just to SPITE the Evil Demon that heads the Council of Light," Cadance said in reply.
"You're on!" Cati cried, pulling out her wallet.
Winnie smiled at the two of them and brought down her arms, letting them fall to her sides. As her hands passed her torso and fell flat onto her thighs, her outfit came into full view for the world to see.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WEARING, WINIFRED!!??" Cadance yelled, amazed at what Winnie was wearing.
Winifred was wearing a black leather body suit. It wasn't at all loose, but it wasn't the nice breathable cotton either. The suit itself had two slits going across the stomach and mini slits throughout the pants section. It had a tank top section, but that was covered by a black cotton jacket. Winnie had high, black English riding boots on to accompany the whole suit. She wore black leather gloves and had a black leather scrunchy in her hair.
"Winnie, what is that?" Cati asked, staring at her in awe.
"The Council of Light actually had this hidden in the back of a closet, so I stole it and now I'm wearing it," Winnie said easily, smiling at them.
"Geeze, you look like a sl--," Cadance started, but Cati slapped her hand onto Cadance's mouth.
"Why did they let you have that?" Cati inquired slowly.
"It got me to shut up," Winnie giggled.
"I dare you to walk around like that!" Cadance cried enthusiastically.
"Alright, I'll wear it today and on the train ride into Hogwarts," Winnie laughed.
"Hey, I saw a path leading into the woods," Cati began. "Can we go into it?"
"How about I race you two sloths down to it on horseback?" Winnie asked mischievously.
"I'm up for that!" Cadance smiled.
The three girls went running down towards the barn, where Winnie proceeded to mount one of the already saddled horses, which was a big bay mare. She took off towards the woods.
Cadance accidentally ran into a stall door, falling backwards and then opening the door to reveal a large, angry, black gelding. The gelding snorted at her and tried to bite her, but Cadance just grabbed the reins and mounted, running into the wall on the other side of the gelding. Then, she kicked him to get him moving, only to find out that he was an ex-racehorse. She hung on for dear life as the gelding shot out of the stall and towards the woods.
Cati, on the other hand, remembered some of the horses that Remus had told her about. She rushed into the largest stall and mounted a white mare. The mare immediately started forward at a trot, heading into a gallop as Cati kicked her in the ribs. She followed Cadance into the woods.
* ~ * ~ * ~ *
Cadance and Cati caught up to Winnie, but Winnie's mare headed deeper into the woods at a fast paced canter. All of a sudden, Winnie stopped her mount and looked eerily over at the other two girls.
"Look at that!" Winnie cried, pointing down through the woods.
"Winnie, hon," Cadance started, "That's nothing but WOODS!"
"No, look further. Do you see the path?" Winnie asked softly.
"I see it. It leads up towards that way," Cati said gently, pointing up the path.
"Let's follow it!" Winnie cried, kicking the mare into a canter.
Winnie flew down the path, heading towards the hidden path. Cadance and Cati kept up, but at a trot. Finally, Winnie stopped dead at the head of the path and started to walk her horse down it. It sort of spiraled down and some of it was actually underground. They all stopped when they saw a pool of blood and marks in the dirt.
"It's metallic, see?" Cati pointed out. "That means that it's dragon's blood. Plus, it's goopy."
Cadance and Winnie nodded at her and Winnie started the little group off at a trot. Finally, they reached the bottom, which was concealed by trees and bushes.
Winnie dismounted and gave her reins to Cadance, softly saying, "Cadance, stay here and watch my horse. Watch Cati's too, if she's coming."
"Warn us if something's wrong, alright, Cadance?" Cati commanded, dismounting and tossing her reins to Cadance.
Cadance watched excitedly as Winnie and Cati snuck through the bushes.
* ~ * ~ * ~ *
The two girls stumbled upon a camp in the middle of a huge field. They didn't see anyone out walking around, so they crept into the middle of it, watching everything that could harbor enemies or just about anything dangerous. The field was about 200 feet on each side; it was a square field. It had a few small trees and bushes, but the one tree in the middle was the best one out of all of them. The rest of the field was grass and a few dirt patches, but hundreds of tents filled the first fifty feet of each side of the field.
Cati didn't stop in any tents, but she did glance into one tent that was left open. There was a small, cot in it and a rusty hammer and nail. She sped up to match Winnie's pace.
Winnie pointed to some fencing made out of rope. The fencing was over 50 feet long and had another line ten feet behind it. There were hundreds of horses saddled and tied to the rope. Many of them glanced at the two girls and snorted. The rest just kept munching on grass. All of the ones that were looking at the girls had red eyes.
"Winnie, what are you going to pilf?" Cati asked softly, checking for anything and everything.
"I was going to take one of those horses, but they look really evil," she replied.
"Those are Ringwraith horses!" Cati cried, suddenly shushing herself.
"At least Cadance hasn't sent us a warning. We can go back now."
Right as Winnie had said that, a huge boom caused the two girls to jump. They both looked in the direction where Cadance was. The bushes that hid her were gone. She waved sheepishly and then pointed past Winnie and Cati.
The two girls looked behind them and saw about 50 Ringwraiths running towards their horses. The girls looked at each other and then took off running towards Cadance.
Winnie tripped on a root a and went crashing to the ground. She cursed and then looked behind her. Many of them were just mounting their horses.
She looked in front of her to see Cadance and Cati moving towards her.
"GO! I'LL BE FINE!!" Winnie cried, pulling herself up off of the ground.
She broke out into a hard run as she watched Cadance and Cati galloping up the hill. Winnie cried out as she watched her horse trot towards the path.
At the last second, the horse turned and started trotting towards her. She let out a sigh of relief, but then realized that that wasn't her horse, it was Cati's.
"Dammit, Klarrissa," she cursed at the horse, "why can't you ever follow your rider?"
Klarrissa picked up her pace and whinnied happily to Winnie. Winnie just glared at the horse and waited until she could launch herself onto the horse's back.
She did so, and then promptly kicked Klarrissa into a hard gallop. Klarrissa snorted in protest, but obeyed and pulled out in a tight semi-circle, just coming within meters of the first approaching Wraith.
Winnie headed towards the path and tore up it, kicking up dust and small rocks as she went. A stream of riders followed her uphill, whipping and kicking their horses into faster gallops.
Klarrissa turned right at the top of the path, but Winnie jerked her to the left. Klarrissa never really liked not doing things her way. She always refused what the riders commanded her to do, no matter what. Although, Klarrissa was terrified of loud noises. Winnie smirked when she remembered this, and pulled Klarrissa into a halt. The horse stood there and shook her head, relieved to be standing and relaxing.
All of a sudden, a loud bang sounded out of nowhere. Klarrissa rose into the air, pawing and whinnying out of fright. Winnie pulled the reins hard to the right, causing her to spin to face the immortal foe.
Four Wraiths were plummeting down the path towards them. The others had vanished, or else turned back. They had their swords pulled out to the sides, and were closing in quickly.
"Shucks, what now?" Winnie sighed, holding Klarrissa steady, even though the mare wanted to bolt.
Klarrissa's eyes shown white and she fidgeted, watching as the four black steeds pounded towards them.
Finally, they got close enough for Winnie to let loose the signal. She kicked Klarrissa's sides and turned her sharply to the right. The mare bolted and charged down the empty path in front of them.
