Hearts Do Change

Chapter 9: And This Is How I Learned…

It was like watching a muggle movie and being a part of it at the same time. Here stood Madame Pomfrey, Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape and a raven winged mutt named Phalin watching and hearing what Anya's past was like. Phalin was reliving it through these memories himself; he had been by her side since that fateful day.

The potions master stood there, mouth agape in awe, horror, bewilderment, complete and utter bewilderment. The cold hearted, slimy git of Slytherin was looking on with the utmost emotion playing across his face and his thoughts were just as trifling. It is a rare thing indeed to get such an insight into someone's troubled past and quite a feat, especially for an unconscious person to be able to project such a thing unto such a large area and number of persons.

Sometimes the things we cannot put into words, things we wish to forget yet can never, must be freed in one way or another

All through out the castle, students of all ages and houses, and even the professors who were snuggled up warmly in their beds shivered involuntarily and unconsciously.

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Memory))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Now the scene changed. Anya was awake and in some pain. She was bandaged practically from head to toe, or more specifically, chest to ankle, most of her feet, and most of her arms including that right shoulder where a nasty stab wound had been. The light kimono style robe she wore had the back cut out of it for her wings, which were also heavily bandaged. It would take her some time to heal that much was certain. Phalin walked in as she watched him set a tray of broth down and hand it to her. She sipped it slowly at first and then gulped down the precious sustenance as if she hadn't eaten in weeks!

Truth be told, she'd woken up a day before after being unconscious for precisely 8 days, 7 hours and 23 moments.

"Whoa whoa whoa there kitten! Slow down or you'll choke on it and then throw it all back up!" The raven winged, raven-haired man replied, taking the now empty bowl from her hands and moving the tray aside so he could sit by the futon on the floor. Anya looked up at him and tried to remember who he was…. she remembered the chase through the forest, hitting her head on that tree (Damn concussions.) And, um…. there it was!

"Phalin?" She asked timidly, not sure that it was his name but hoping she'd remembered it. He smiled at her jovially.

"That's right! Good, I thought those injuries might have damaged your head presently or something."

" Oh yeah…" She looked down at the thing blanket covering her and began twisting it in her hands. " Th-thanks for saving me. As soon as I'm able to walk I'll be on my way and you won't have to worry about me." She was nearly positive her welcome would be long overstayed past a few days anyhow. After all, that's how it usually was with a clan or a tribe if you weren't one of them than you had a few days to rest up and bam, be on your way voluntarily or they'd make you be on your way.

" What? What are you talking about? Your welcome to stay as long as you wish to. By the way, what is your name? I can't keep calling you kitten." He smiled again.

"Anya." She replied automatically and then stared at him. "Wait, I can stay, as long as I want to?" She asked incredulously, not daring to believe what she'd just heard quite yet.

" Of course! Why would you- Oh, I understand." He nodded slowly, thoughtfully. "We're not exactly like the other clans and tribes Anya. We're a group of misfits, mutts, half-breeds and the like. In fact, as far as we're concerned little one, you're a member of our clan now." He explained to her.

"I'm a member? How the hells did I become a member? How long have I been out?"

"8 days give or take a few hours. As for being a member, you're a half-breed black panther with wings. Wings are not part of the panther tribe's heritage. So…we figured you're a mutt, and since you managed to survive such extensive damage from Akira," the name was all but snarled out. "Then the elders and nearly everyone else saw it fit to account you as one of our own. Welcome Anya to the Himura clan. Now get some rest!" He once again explained and gently helped her lay back on her side for some much needed rest.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((About a month later.)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

The girl was now healed up nicely. Her wings weren't in the shape for flying yet and she still had some cuts healing but most of the damage was indeed healed, leaving only the partly wrapped wings, whip scars on her back, and very few fast healing cuts to remind anyone that she'd once been about to die.

She was running around with the younger children, babysitting one could say as others cleaned, got food, prepared food, built things, or just took a break from the daily work. She was smiling and laughing as she watched them play a game of tag, one of the oldest children's games around.

"Oi Tora! You can't get the person who got you right back!" The 'referee' that was Anya made her call, chuckling in amusement.

The little girl named Tora pouted for a moment and then ran after a little boy who had stuck his tongue out at her.

((((((((((((((((A few months after that.)))))))))))))))))))))))

" Hey there little sister! What do you have there?" Phalin asked, walking up behind her and peering over her shoulder.

"Nothing much really, I'm trying to make a rose out of Ice." She sighed. "And I'm not doing very well." The 'rose' looked more like a splintery piece of ice in a rounded shape. Phalin chuckled.

" You need to concentrate more on the shape of what you want and really work the ice when it's forming in your hands." He showed her by doing the same thing, while the ice was forming in his hands he began to make the movements of forming petals and a stem with leaves. Soon he had a rather pretty icy rose in his hands.

"Concentrate." Anya muttered to herself as she did be he showed her and told her, it took her a few tries of course to finally get what she wanted, but hey, it worked!

There was a half kitsune named Zaretu in the clan that Anya soon became good friends with. When he learned what her species, or half species was he grew excited. He explained to her that Panther demons could, if given a bit of training, manipulate plant life just as well as the kits. He soon began teaching Anya how to do many things, including making vines grow around people as well as arches and such. And how to turn flowers into weapons. She could turn a rose into a sword and snapdragons into a bow and arrows.

While Anya was with the Clan, she was also given many lessons in fighting with both fists and weaponry. She mastered blades quite easily, but the bow and arrow…were quite another story.

(Even Snape was chuckling softly to this next memory.)

Anya stood in an archery practice field with a newly transformed bow and arrows made from fuchsia colored snapdragons. She was rather hesitant to practice since she wasn't the only one there and she wasn't very good at it anyhow. She notched an arrow in the bow and took aim at the target hanging from the tree branch; she pulled back on the string tightly, steadily and let go. The arrow fell flat 8 feet short from the target. And she swore under her breath. Slight laugher coming from the best archer in the clan who stood a ways behind her.

She growled and took aim with another arrow. She took aim, growling still and let the arrow fly. And to her amazement…it didn't hit the target. It instead bounced off the ground, a couple of trees, a few targets and swiftly landed directly in the left butt cheek of the cheeky bastard who always thought he was better than everyone because he was the best bloody archer.

She snickered, turned the bow and arrows back into flowers and ran off before he could even send a glare her way.

(((((((((((((((((The day Phalin and Anya got out.))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Anya had confided her deepest secret with only one person. The one she called her big brother. She'd told Phalin everything, about being a witch, about being an Auror and about how she got to Makai in the first place, including how she'd run into Akira and even about Tzuki, the wolf demon she'd befriended a long while ago.

Anya had been in Makai for several years, the past 7 or which had been spent with the Himura Clan as one of its most valuable members. She served as a guardian of the borders and as a babysitter whom the children absolutely adored. But…. then things got rough. Anya fell in love with Zaretu, and he fell in love with her. Now this isn't the part that's rough. The two were wed, Makai style, which was basically a little ceremony where they exchanged a verbal bond and later on they bonded both mentally and physically. About 2 years later, (the 5th year Anya had been with the Clan, the second year of her and Zaretu's mating.) A war sprung up that took unto itself many clans. The Himura clan was right in the middle of it, due to Akira's death, which apparently had caused this massive war to brew and then rage on. It seemed that the bastard had many friends in high places and they'd found out quickly about his death and the circumstances by which it happened.

Safe to say said people were NOT very pleased.

Now Anya and Zaretu were both fighters. They both fought in this huge battle, this raging war. They fought to protect the village and the people they called brethren, the children that still had their lives ahead of them in so many ways and the place they called home. And the price for the lovers fighting side by side on the battlefield in the deciding battle, was Anya having to watch as the sword meant for her breast was plunged instead into the heart of her mate's. Sacrifice's such as this she'd only ever read about and yet here she was, witnessing her lover die to save her. And she watched, frozen, numb as her brother took down the one who took down her lover. When the battle was over, and her brother announced the safety of the village and the victory of their people over Akira's accursed friends, she stood their as numbly as she had when he'd first told her to keep fighting.

They then, Anya and Phalin along with Touya, Nagiri, and Sakura set out to find Zaretu's body among the slain and put him to rest properly. It wasn't until Anya saw his face, eye's wide open, and body bloody and broken that she finally fell to her knees and sobbed in the middle of the blood soaked battleground. Phalin carried her home and she still sobbed as her lover, her mate was burned on a funeral pyre as a great one among his people.

((About a week after the funeral))

Anya lay on the futon she'd shared with Zaretu for years, clinging to one of his shirts and crying silently. She just could not get over his death. And the bonds that had been severed took their toll heavily on her. She was in not only emotion anguish, but mental and physical as well. Not eating, barely sleeping, the only thing she seemed to be able to keep down was a Jasmine tea that was Zaretu's favorite.

"Anya?" Phalin poked his head into the room and sighed at the disheveled young woman's position. A half drunk cup of tea was next to her, icy cold as it had been from last night. She lay on her side, white wings towards him, her body shaking as the silent sobs wracked her now unhealthily thin frame. He walked around and sat by her side, brushing the stringy brown hair out of her face. "Anya…I have some news."

"Wha-what is it big brother?" She croaked out, opening her dulled eyes a fraction so she could stare out at him through tiny little slits. Phalin winced, he hated seeing her like this, he really did. It took all his willpower not to cry himself.

"I've found a way to get you back."

"What!" She gasped and sat up quickly.

"There is a small portal near our village that leads to the human world. You can get back now Anya." He replied, pulling the girl into a tight hug. " We have some of our best guarding it now. It will grow bigger and in about a week it should be stable enough and big enough to allow you through."

Anya hugged him back; she could finally go home…finally. "Come with me Phalin?" She asked hesitantly.

"Always." He answered.

The next week was spent getting ready for the trip. And getting some health back into Anya. The day they left, it was sad day for everyone. The children gave her so many hugs and little presents that she was overwhelmed by it. Phalin led her through the forest to the guarded portal, he stepped through, holding her hands and she walked in right after him. The portal suddenly disappeared with a small popping sound and was gone.

Soon after appearing back in her own world, the Ministry found her and a big black Raven she called Phalin who never left her side.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Out of the memory circle.))))))))))))))))))))))

All residents of the Medical wing, currently speaking, were suddenly thrown from her mind in a dizzying, painful swirl of blurring memories of happiness, sadness, anger and hatred. They all awoke from their positions; slumped over on the floor, or in chairs and looked at the young woman who'd just shown them the reason she was the ways she was.

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She shot up in the bed, eyes wide open and for a moment let out the most ear splitting, bone chilling, chain rattling, window breaking howl of a scream. And then fell back on the bed and was silent, but undoubtedly awake. She groaned and blinked rapidly, trying to get her bearings straight. Where was she? She was in the hospital wing, that's right, she recognized it and then she sat up slowly, gingerly, with the help of Severus, who she then noticed and froze, staring at him. She stared about at the others in the room who all stared back at her in a similar state of awe and shock.

"Oh…my…" She muttered.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Chapter Fin!))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

All right…I'm not sure if I want to have one more chapter, or two. It all depends really, if you like it then tell me eh? Please? Anyways…yeah. She finally woke up. Gods my hands are tired right now. I know that my updates have been far and few between and for this I am truly sorry but it just hasn't been the best New Year for my family and me. I mean I've now got a three legged dog, my uncle died recently, we're pretty damned broke, my sis is going through one hell of a divorce and I'm worried about her…blech. Anyways, I'm trying! Really I am! I hope you enjoyed!

AND THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO ALREADY REVEIWED ME, TO EVERYONE ELSE, I CANT GET INSPIRED IF I DON'T EVEN KNOW THAT YOU PEOPLE LIKE IT OR ARE READING IT YA KNOW! SO REVIEW ME PLEASE!.