DISCLAIMER: This story is based on materials owned by the great J.K. Rowling. I do not make any money with it or anything…Only the Sylvia Shaw character is mine.

Grim: Thank you, thank you, thank you. You made my day. I'm so glad you like Sylvia, she's been screaming in my head for a while now, nagging me to write her story. You want more? Here you go!!

Carrotchicken13: I rather liked writing that bit too and don't worry, her big secret is coming, but not just yet.

4- Revelations

In the next few days, the weird friendship between the two grew stronger, the dog would come to Sylvia and sit or sleep near her on the porch, which he had never done before, and would even let her pet him a little bit for short periods. He never tried to enter the cabin but would gladly climb into the car for a ride or follow her in her walks in the forest or her swims in the lake. He also took the habit of licking her hand to welcome her or say goodbye and almost never barked. All in all, Sylvia thought he was uncannily well behaved and restrained for a wild dog, which sometime made her slightly uncomfortable but she kept that thought away as much as possible.

The dog still disappeared pretty often, sometimes for a couple of days at a time. Sylvia didn't mind. She knew she could not totally turn him into a domesticated animal, he was much too wild and independent for that. She kind of liked it, he had his own life after all and that way, she knew that she would have less difficulty losing him when the time comes for her to move away again. Anyway, she mused, their relationship was more like two companions sharing a place to stay and trusting each other to keep their intimacy than a master/dog thing. She was not responsible for him, he was not dependant on her for his survival, he would be able to cope for himself once she's gone and that was a great comfort to her. Yet, she could not believe that the words 'trust', 'respect' and 'understanding' could apply to a relationship with a dog, but that was exactly how she felt about it. She had heard that some people thought of and treated their animals as if they were human beings but she had always dismissed these as weirdoes with no sense of reality. Now she was one of them. The only problem she saw was that she didn't know how Skif felt about her. He was always friendly but she felt he was still weary of her and never displayed excitement or exuberance when he met her, or looked for physical contact beyond a quick lick on the hand on his part or the short ruffle of his fur on hers. Maybe, when the time comes, she would be the one with problems leaving him.

Still, he had done so much for her. She was more relaxed than she had been for a long time. So she felt she had a right to try and help him too. She was a little concerned for him, for each time he was away, he came back more and more nervous and anxious. These days, he could not stay put for more than a half-hour and slept fitfully near her during the day. She had no idea what he was about at night but was pretty sure he did not sleep, nor stay close to the cabin. His nervous energy was the reason why Sylvia started to arrange time off from her work so that she could help him get that nervousness out of his system. She organized long trek in the forest, some easy climbing of one of the smaller mountains around or playing Frisbees for hours. It was during those times, when he seemed less tense and more at ease that Sylvia could see unnatural dog behavior creep in more and more often. He always seemed to understand everything she said and she even once caught him visibly reading the CNN news rolling on her laptop. Since she have decided to act as if there was nothing unusual, telling herself she was paranoid, he was letting things slip a little bit more every day. Sylvia had a pretty bad time of it sometimes, trying to stay calm about it all, but she was also curious and wanted to see to what length things could go towards absurdity. She wanted to know if she was going mad or not. To release some of her own stress, she one day had taken to start practicing her Tae Kwon Doe once again.

That one had been funny the first time. Skif had looked with astonishment at her antics and then as the exercise grew more complex and demanding, had sat and looked with a great deal of interest and attention to her movements. Sylvia had been a red belt before her marriage to HIM, but then had stopped and so didn't get her black belt. The first thing she had done after she had gotten better, had been to get Tae Kwon Doe courses again and try for the wanted belt. She was very proud of the black piece of cloth wrapped around her waist; it was a proof of her new independence and victory against HIM. The dog had looked carefully at the katas for two more days before doing something Sylvia had never thought possible: he had jumped in to work with her.

At first, he had played the part of an aggressor, forcing her to use every ounce of ability she had and use muscle and movements she never could have, working alone. He worked her without mercy for strength, reflexes, agility and concentration. Then, he turned to stand at her side and started to work as a partner, fighting with her against an invisible opponent. That had been a revelation for Sylvia. Skif, knowing the movements, would go in as she finished a kick, covering her side, then would be there at just the right moment to add strength to a punch, weaving in and out to give her an opening, protect her back or give her time to breathe. It was wonderful and incredibly beautiful, like a dance with the sun and the wind. Sylvia had never felt such joy, such completeness, such trust in another. After two hours, they had stopped, too physically exhausted to continue, but Sylvia was happy, her mind clear for the first time in several weeks with an energy and eagerness for life she had thought never possible to experience again.

Lying on her back on the warm grass and trying to get her breath back, she had rolled on her side to look at the dog panting beside her. She put a shy and hesitant hand on his head saying slowly, "Thank you Skif, that was the most extraordinary experience of my life. I don't know who or what you are, why you're here, where you could have learn to do that or even if you care about me, but it's ok, I'm not scared anymore. You're my friend and I feel honored to know you and work with you regardless of the numerous impossibilities surrounding you."

During her small speech, the dog had closed his eyes, but when she made as to retrieve her hand from his head at the end of the tirade, he whined. He pushed his nose to her face, caressing her cheek gently with his before putting his head down on her shoulder with a sight of contentment while she scratched his ears.

***

A week later, Sylvia was in her bed, sleep eluding her and anxiety churning in her stomach. Skif had been gone for almost two days now and he had been incredibly nervous in the hours before disappearing. He had snapped at her when she had tried to touch him to help. She had never seen him like that before. Even their daily Tae Kwon Doe routine had been a disaster, he could not concentrate and had just went away to pace. Sylvia wished she knew what was going on, but then, on the other hand it was probably better not to know. She still had doubts about her sanity and for the sake of what was left of it, she felt safer not looking too closely at Skif's peculiarities. "Yea, I feel safer but not less curious or anxious, that's for sure! Stop thinking about it, there's nothing you can do. Get some sleep." But the voice of reason did nothing to assuage her tension and sleep didn't came to calm her worried mind. She couldn't believe how much she had come to care for a dog, even if it was a strange one.

All of a sudden, she heard the pat, pat, pat, pat… of Skif's paws on the packed dirt of the road, then on the porch. She was on her feet in a second, grabbing her nightgown and putting it on, hearing small sounds of distressed moaning coming from the dog's throat outside. That sound tore at her heart and she started running toward the porch, unlocking the door and switching the lights on.

"Skif, God! What's going on?" she went on her knees near the black stray laying on his stomach, his eyes closed. She put one hand slowly on his back and felt a muscle twitch but otherwise felt no other reaction to her presence. He did not look at her or stop moaning. He just lay there. She started to caress him from head to tail, murmuring softly "I'm here my friend, let me help you like you helped me…trust me, please."

And then the shaking started and the moaning became almost a howl. She swore she could almost hear words through the noise, something that sounded suspiciously like… "/my fault….the cup…couldn't protect him…so sorry…James/"

Huh?! Sylvia shook her head to get ride of the creepy almost words sound and pushing it into the corner of her mind where all the other Skif's impossibilities had stacked and refused to think of it. The voice of reason in the back of her head said wryly, "That corner is getting cramped, you'll have to face it all eventually, you know." "Maybe, but not now, Skif first." She thought waving reason aside for one of the first time in her life.

She took the dog in her arms and went inside to put him on her bed. There, she enveloped him in a warm blanket and lay beside him her arms around him caressing his face while talking to him gently and softly.

When she woke up, he was still there in her arms, twitching and moaning slightly in his sleep. She moved carefully so as not to wake him, and went into the kitchen to prepare their breakfast. She put Skif's overflowing bowl on the kitchen floor and then went to the table to eat and work until he woke up.

***

For the next few days, he stayed close to her, sleeping on her bed at night and working her on her routine harder than ever. Then at the end of June, in the light of the setting sun, he came back from the forest, his head bowed down.

Sylvia got to her feet to wait for him on the porch, something was wrong, she knew. Skif's tail was trailing between his legs and he was avoiding looking her in the eyes. He walked up to the porch, licked her hand and sat down on his hunch, finally looking up at her. Then, suddenly, he stood on his rear legs, put his front paws on her shoulders and pushing his nose in her neck, actually hugged her!

She stood there, frozen with shock until she understood in a flash. "You're leaving." she breathed. She felt his nod. She hugged him back. "God! I'm going to miss you. There's a chance I won't be here when or if you ever come back." He licked her delicately on the cheek, almost like a kiss, then got back on all four with a sigh before turning toward the forest just as the last ray of sun disappeared behind the mountains.

She stayed there for what seemed like hours, looking at the spot where he had disappeared, feeling lost. "Now I'll never know who he really was, in a few months I'll think back on this and will rationalize it as a dream or an hallucination." Unwilling to let the dream vanish so fast, she went down to the forest path and started walking in the darkness remembering every time she had been here with him.

Abruptly, as if on cue, she heard a dog's howl of pain and human voices shouting some distance in front of her. The sound made the air on her arms raise in the air, and without thinking, she started running towards the fray.

She soon saw a clearing in the woods where a big black dog was cornered, surrounded by at least five men draped all in black with hoods concealing their features. Skif, for it was him, was writhing on the ground, visibly in considerable pain while one of the man was standing over him laughing, with a stick in his hand pointing toward the stray. Visibly, the stick was some kind of weapon, so she did the only thing she could think of; she barged on the scene and with one down slash with the side of her hand, cut the stick in half. Then without waiting for the man's stunned reaction, swirled to knock him with a side kick. Skif, coming back on his feet, snarled and jumped on another man who was weaving his stick and shouting something she did not understand. A blast of green light landed just behind her on a tree, but she gave it no heed as she was rather occupied with two of those freaky weirdoes. She and Skif fought together the way they had so many times practiced, and the result was soon apparent: they were winning. Just as she was finishing with the last one, she heard a shout in that strange language all of the black man were using and turning, saw another black robe man at the edge of the clearing and a great flash of darkness landing on Skif, catching him in mid-leap. Full of fear and anger, she grabbed a stone on the ground, near the guy she had just decked and threw it across the space straight at the man's forehead. He crumbled immediately, out cold.

Turning to see if Skif was ok, she could see nothing at first but a glowing cloud of yellow-black fumes pulsating around a shimmering black body. Sylvia rubbed her eyes thinking a blow at her head had ruined her perfect vision, but when she looked again, it was worse. The dog's body seemed to be…melting?!

She took a step forward tentatively. "Skif? SKIF!"

The melting grew worse then slowly the shimmering died down and the yellow fumes dispersed. But the body it revealed was not that of a dog but of a man. Then the head turned and Sylvia saw two deep black eyes she knew well standing in the strange, fierce and bleeding human face. The lips of the stranger opened to let a tiny croaking sound escape. "Help. Me."

Sylvia only thought before a sweeping darkness engulfed her was "That's it then, it happened, I've snapped."

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I'm a French-Canadian from Montreal, I'm sorry to say that English is not my first language. I want to apologize for any grammatical and syntax error or misspelling that found their ways into this text. Be certain that I do everything in my power to make sure that such insult to the beauty of Shakespeare's language are seen and destroyed. If you find any mistakes, please let me know so that I can correct it. Thank you!!