SILVER LINING
CHAPTER EIGHT-FRONT PAGE NEWS
I took a walk on the grounds. I needed to clear my head, but nothing was working. I just dropped to my knees on the soft grass and sobbed.
I couldn't believe it. I really couldn't believe that Hermione would do something like that and that she honestly believed that Goyle was capable of killing Ron when we all saw that monster, plus Goyle was off picking flowers.
It was like a total nightmare.
I was so upset that I didn't even realized I had been outside past curfew. Alarmed, I stood up and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. I raised my eyes to the sky. A half moon peered out behind clouds. I felt the pang and I changed.
THE ADVAIR.
I sniffed at the air. I sensed something was wrong. I was picking up another scent. I tilted my head up toward the sky and watched. A dark shape flapped its wings. My jaundice eyes were locked on the shapes every movement. I saw a streak of silver/gray as it entered the moonlight. My ears flattened out sideways as I realized what the scent was that I had...it was the Silver Lining. I pulled back the top lip of my snout, exposing white canines and incisors. I snarled quietly. I momentarily dropped to all fours and galloped over to some bushes. I watched as it landed gracefully on all fours and folded its wings against its body.
It walked sniffing at the air as well. It was huge...bigger than me. The eyes reflected the moonlight. Suddenly, I heard a noise behind me. One ear flicked back listening. I slowly turned my head around. It was Draco Malfoy taking a stroll even after curfew.
I kept hidden in the shadows and bushes as Draco approached the Silver Lining and had no idea it was there.
It wasn't until Draco was right up on it, did he see it.
"Holy Shit!" he cried backing up.
The Silver Lining snarled at him and its tail swung back and forth menacingly.
It bared its teeth at him. Draco continued to back up, but his feet slipped on the dew soaked grass and he landed on his rear end. He kept scooting backward on his rear as the Silver Lining kept coming toward him in a threatening and dangerous walk. It was slow but threatening. Its eyes were locked on Draco. The paws were huge and were about the size of a small saucer. It was even bigger than a tiger. The silver/gray fur made it seem almost like a ghost except the leathery wings that were folded against the sides of its body.
Draco kept scooting backward. The Silver Lining was almost on him now. I sprung out from behind the bushes and jumped in front of Draco.
"Good God!" I heard Draco cry looking in fear from me to the Silver Lining.
The Silver Lining snarled and flexed its wings as if threatening me to make it seem bigger than it really was. I snarled back and took a swipe at its face.
It snarled back before it flapped its wings and took off into the night sky.
I followed it with my eyes before it was just a dark speck in the darkened sky.
I turned toward Draco.
He finally got to his feet and scampered away. I checked once more that the Silver Lining was gone before I headed into the castle.
STEPHANIE.
The next morning, I awoke to warm sunshine on my face. I yawned and stretched in bed. Hermione was just waking up as well. She looked at me, but I ignored her. I was still very angry with her for what she did. I didn't know if I could ever trust her or forgive her again.
I pulled on my robe and uniform and left the girls dorm.
I met up with Harry at the Gryffindor table. I sat down across from him.
"Hey," he said looking up at me.
He had been eating porridge.
"Hey," I said. "Have I got something to tell you!"
His emerald green eyes lit up eagerly.
At that moment, Hermione entered the Great Hall and took a seat beside Harry.
Before I could open my mouth, the owl post arrived. Hedwig swooped down and landed on Harry's shoulder with a paper tied to her leg.
"It's the Daily Prophet," Harry said taking it from her leg. He gave her a piece of bacon before she took flight again.
As he unfolded the paper, his eyes widened as he looked at the front page.
"What's wrong?" I asked alarmed at his expression.
He turned the paper so I could see the front page.
It was a picture of two wolves and a strangely familiar boy in-between them.
"Oh. My. God," I said feeling panic spreading throughout my body.
"I gather this is you?" Harry whispered, keeping his voice well below a whisper. He pointed to one wolf that was cream and gray and was standing on two legs. The picture was color.
I nodded biting my bottom lip.
"And the Silver Lining," I whispered even quieter.
"Do you have any ideas as to who it is yet?" Harry asked.
Hermione was just watching me and Harry, not saying anything.
"No. I changed last night and when I was outside, the Silver Lining arrived. Malfoy was taking a walk even though it was after curfew. I protected him. But how on earth did our picture end up on the front page?" I mused.
We looked over at the Slytherin table. Malfoy and Crabbe were talking amongst their fellow Slytherins in hushed voices.
"I wonder..." Harry mused narrowing his eyes. "If it was planned."
"Planned?" Hermione asked, finally speaking.
"Yeah...as if Malfoy just happened to take a stroll after curfew? I bet he was trying to get the picture of the creature who was doing the attacking in the castle. He got it alright," Harry said grimly. "The actual creature and an innocent one."
His eyes moved onto me.
I just swallowed.
"Now when you change you're going to have to be extra careful," Harry said. "If they see you they'll recognize you from the picture. You could very well be killed."
I nodded.
"Trust me...I will be,"
Harry folded the paper up and stuffed it into his robe.
We began heading to our classes.
Classes were fine, except there was talk of nothing but the creatures.
I pretended to be interested in what everyone was saying, but I couldn't. I was too nervous now and upset.
I knew now when I changed it was going to be even more dangerous than it was before. Now people would easily recognize me. But what about the person who was the Silver Lining? She would definitely be recognized. Maybe this will scare her not to do anymore killing. It would be just as dangerous for the person to kill now out in the open as it is for me to change.
I began helping myself to some bacon, eggs and sausage and I chewed on my food thoughtfully. We still were no closer to figuring out who was the Silver Lining, or had any kind of similar traits as a human.
Malfoy acted his usual self, but I seriously doubt he'd attack a fellow Slytherin...especially one of his ex-best friends.
I really hoped we would be able to find out who it was soon, and put a stop to it.
We headed off to classes. I still wasn't talking to Hermione. As far as I was concerned, it was just like lugging a piece of luggage around. It was just there and annoying.
During Charms, I asked to be excused as I needed to use the bathroom. I got up and left the classroom.
I entered the girls' bathroom and entered a stall. I closed the door behind me.
I flushed when I was done and opened the stall door, only to bump into Hermione.
"Geeze," I said feeling my heart pound. "You scared me."
I stepped around her and went over to the sink.
I turned on the faucet and let cold water pool into my hands. I washed them and then splashed cold water onto my face.
"Stephanie," Hermione said. "I really am sorry for what I did. Please listen to my side of the story."
I shut off the faucet and turned to face her, my back pressing against the cold porcelain sink. I folded my arms over my chest.
"Your side of the story?" I asked coldly. "You basically poisoned me. Suppose I had went ramped and killed several students? Not to mention someone I cared about."
Hermione's dark brown eyes filled with tears.
"Please listen?"
"Fine," I grumbled. "You have five minutes...starting now."
I checked my watch.
Hermione began.
"You see, I was in love with Ron," Hermione began, as her lower lip trembled. "Not even Harry knew it. It was temporary insanity for me to poison you. I just wanted the person who killed Ron to pay. I never ever imagined that Goyle would've ended up picking flowers or I would've never even thought twice about him being guilty. I really feel awful. I wish I could take it back...but I can't. Not having you talk to me is like not having my sister talk to me."
I glared at her.
Tears began streaming down her cheeks. Her eyes were filled with utter remorse, guilt and sadness.
I cried out and bent over. I began changing into the Advair.
HERMIONE.
Stephanie changed into the Advair, but it was the middle of the afternoon. I had no idea what was happening and I was now terrified.
The wolf stood upright, towering over me slightly. The tips of the ears reached above the stalls.
The wolf's face had cream and gray fur mixed mainly around the snout and below the jaundice eyes. The belly had cream and gray fur mixed as well. I stood trembling. I knew Stephanie could kill me. I shut my eyes.
That's when I heard glass breaking. My eyes snapped opened and I saw the Silver Lining crash into the window of the girls' bathroom. It landed gracefully on all fours and folded its wings against its body. The Silver Lining's eyes were locked on me. The Advair snarled and knocked me out of the way. I landed on my rear end.
I watched as the two wolves fought and the Advair inflicted some pretty bad damage to the Silver Lining before it took off and sailed through the broken window.
The Advair turned toward me. I didn't move.
It stepped over to me and then grabbed me by the neck of the robe and lifted me up before setting me down on my feet.
It was studying me. It moved its snout close to me and sniffed at me with its black nose.
"Thanks," I said quietly not taking my eyes off of it.
It nudged me with its nose in my left shoulder.
"I really am sorry Stephanie," I continued as tears continued to stream down my cheeks. "You don't know how sorry I am."
The ears flicked forward as if listening to me.
The jaundice eyes vanished for a second as the wolf blinked. It seemed to understand what I was saying.
"Please forgive me okay? I hate us not talking," I sobbed.
Then to my surprise, it licked my face.
I wiped the sticky saliva off my face as the wolf vanished and Stephanie returned in human form.
"What happened?" I asked wiping my eyes with the back of my hands.
"I'm also able to control my transformation," Stephanie replied. "I sensed the Silver Lining approaching. So I changed."
"You licked me," I said stunned.
Stephanie's lip twitched, but then a firm expression formed on her face.
"The wolf forgives you, but I'm still working on it. We'll talk, but it will be some time before I trust you again the way I did before."
I bit my bottom lip.
"That's fair," I said quietly.
"Come on," Stephanie said. "We'd better get to class. How'd you leave anyway?"
She and I began heading back to class.
"I told Professor Flitwick that I also had to go," I replied. "Simple yet not too conspicuous."
We entered the classroom and took our seats again.
STEPHANIE.
Once Charms class was over, we had a 45 minute break before the last class of the day, which was Potions. We sat around the fire in the Gryffindor common room and filled Harry in on what happened in the girls bathroom.
"Seems like more action goes on there huh?" he asked with a grin before his expression turned serious. "So we still have no idea who it is?"
"No," I said shaking my head. "Whoever this is has a speedy metabolism. I did some pretty good damage to the wolf. Now when I look around, no one has wounds on them at any place."
"Don't werewolves have a speedy metabolism to begin with?" Harry asked.
"Yes, but not this fast," Hermione said. "Normally it would take like 24 hours for the wounds to heal once the person changes back into a human...but this is like minutes. I've never heard of the werewolf metabolism this fast."
"Nor have I," I added. "This is really going to be hard."
We fell silent.
A first year entered the common room, saw us, and froze.
"Oh...I'm sorry," she said looking embarrassed.
"That's okay," Harry said softly. "You can sit with us."
The first year came over to me and sat down beside me. I was sitting on the couch while Harry and Hermione had soft poufs on the floor.
"My name is Hallie Morgan," the first year introduced herself.
"I'm Stephanie Ross," I introduced myself.
"I know who you two are," Hallie said grinning at Harry and Hermione. "You're like a legend with us first years."
Hermione and Harry beamed.
"So how are you doing in school?" Hermione asked kindly.
Hallie had shoulder length wavy light auburn hair and blue eyes. She had a few freckles speckled across her face. She was cute.
Her face fell.
"Not to well actually," she admitted. "I'm having a lot of trouble with Professor Snape in Potions."
Harry snorted. "Who isn't?"
Hallie giggled.
"Would you like us to help you?" I offered.
Hallie's face lit up.
"Would you?"
"Sure," Hermione said gently.
"That would be great!" Hallie said eagerly.
There was a silence before Hallie spoke again.
"I've got a little confession to make," she began looking scared.
"What is it?" Harry asked. "You can trust us. We won't tell anyone unless you tell us its okay."
Hallie still looked pale.
"I know who's been killing around here,"
The air was dead around us as if someone just told us that Lord Voldemort was standing right behind us.
We all looked at each other.
"Who?" I asked gently leaning close to the girl.
"It's a monster," Hallie continued in a whisper.
"We've figured that out already," Harry said gently. "Do you know who the monster is?"
Hallie shook her head.
"I'm sorry,"
"Don't worry about it," Hermione said. "We'll figure it out and then put a stop to it."
Hallie looked scared now.
"I'm scared. I don't want it to attack me."
I put an arm around her.
"We won't let anything happen to you...I promise,"
