February 29, 1975 - Hogwarts

Cassiopeia slipped through the open front doors, shivering slightly as the winter breeze nipped at her uncovered skin. She sighed slightly in relief, letting the tension leave her. She hadn't been able to bear being inside any longer, being around so many others, and she knew that most of her yearmates wouldn't bother going outside in this weather.

At first, the library had been a perfect haven for her. Quiet and mostly undisturbed, and a place where she wouldn't have to bear the judgmental stares from her gossiping yearmates.

Then it had been invaded.

First by Severus, who lurked between the shelves and watched her carefully, yet never deigned to speak. His presence bothered and unnerved her, and she noticed the tense way she'd begun to hold herself whenever she noticed his stare. She should have been happy, she thought, that there was finally something in him outside of the indifference, but this? It wasn't exactly what she had hoped for.

And then there was Remus. Sweet, anxious Remus who too stared at her, but with confusion and longing instead - not understanding why she refused to engage with him in conversation. He'd even apologized for the rose, for Merlin's sake, thinking he had gone too far, and slunk out of the library with his tail between his legs when she ignored him.

Even if she refused to admit it, Sirius Black scared her. And a threat from him –

She hated to hurt Remus. Her heart broke when she watched his glassy eyes as he walked away from her after yet another attempt at communicating, though those grew fewer as the days passed. It was tearing her up inside. And yet, the Sorting Hat had known what it was doing when it made its decision. Her safety came first.

She bit her lip hard, trying to distract herself. The light layer of snow crunched beneath her boots as she wandered further from the castle, and she focused on its calming rhythm. One step, and then another. The Whomping Willow came into her sight, but she was too focused to care. One step, and then another.

Eventually, slightly out of breath, she came to rest on a fallen tree branch, just at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It didn't seem as menacing as its name would suggest, quiet and tranquil as it seemed. Maybe deeper lay the evil, but here –

She froze, the cracking of a tree branch disturbing the silence. For a moment, the whole world seemed to hold its breath, but then she noticed something in between the pines, something small and dark, with shining grey eyes. And then she smelled the blood.

Cassiopeia regained her humanity slowly, blinking her eyes open to find herself laying on the grass-covered ground, her legs tucked oddly beneath her stomach. Then, unfortunately, the rest of her senses also began to make a reappearance, and she hissed as a stinging pain registered in her side, and on her forearm. She straightened into a sitting position, shivering as she noticed she was unclothed, and stared at the bloody gash on her arm.

The stench of blood assaulted her, and she tried to find its source - certain that she had not lost enough blood for such an overpowering smell.

There. In front of her. A mangled bloody mess of paws and fur, staring at her with unseeing eyes.

She fought nausea as she stared at the corpse in sheer horror, trying to focus her blurry memories as she strived to remember what had happened after she'd been startled. She'd been running, chasing something; low to the ground somehow, and then – then she'd caught up to it, following the scent of its bleeding wounds. She snapped at its neck, tearing against its fur when it fought back.

Had this been the animal? The grey-eyed thing she'd noticed at the edge of the Forest?

She was certain of it now, as certain as she was of her own role in its demise. The animal within her had detected easy prey - wounded, and not too large - and had taken the first opportunity it had been presented with. She'd been too stressed to eat much this week.

Her first transformation, a supposedly joyous event, was now shrouded in her brutality.

Her wounds made themselves known once more, and she brought her hands to them in an effort to suppress the bleeding. She had no wand with her - it was with her clothes, she assumed - and the little non-magical healing she'd learned was certainly not enough to deal with such deep gashes. She glanced up into the sky. She didn't even know where she was.

Gingerly, she picked herself up from the floor, flatly refusing to look anywhere in the direction of the corpse. She gasped as the cut on her side stretched, but the bleeding had gradually begun to slow, and she was grateful that her movement didn't seem to re-open the skin. Helpless, and overwhelmed, she stared into the dense forest for a few seconds, hoping to see a way of finding her way back home.

An arrow flew millimeters from her head, and she whipped around in the direction it had come from, biting her tongue to suppress a whine of pain.

"Have you no sense, Magorian?"

The voice was harsh and scolding, seemingly coming from right in front of her, yet Cassiopeia could not sense its source. Trying to keep quiet, she backed away slowly, her eyes trained on the point between the trees from where the arrow had come. The undergrowth slowly moved away, revealing behind it two bare-chested men, both with the lower bodies of horses - centaurs.

"Child," the first one spoke carefully, opening his hands to show his lack of weapons. "What are you doing here, so far from your home?"

She kept quiet, laying her back against a tree. She knew precious little of these magical creatures, but she had read of their dislike of humans, and magical people in particular. If that were true, she did not like the situation in which she had found herself. There was some hope, though, with the first centaur's conduct, but it was soon crushed by the confirmation of her suspicions by the second.

"She is a human, and an invader, Ronan," he spat hatefully, his bow poised to shoot once more. "Why even speak with her? Let us kill her, or, if we must, expel her from our territory."

The other centaur glared at him. "Do you not recognize the blood beneath her feet, Magorian? Is it not the monster we have been hunting for weeks? For one reason or another, this child has just done a great service to our herd. It would be against all proper conduct to treat her adversely. And you know as well as I do that we do not kill foals."

Magorian sneered, trotting over to the mutilated corpse, and picking it up by its scruff, seeming unbothered. "And how are you so certain this is it?"

Ronan snorted. "Now you are being deliberately moronic, if you do not see how similar it is to Mairead's description. Ignore him, child, he still has much to learn," he told her, causing Magorian to flush in anger. "Will you answer my question?"

"I transformed - on accident." she answered quietly, bewildered by what she was seeing. "I'm an Animagus."

Ronan's eyes glittered in appreciation. "It is good to hear of more children following this path, especially if it yields such outcomes."

Horrified by his easy acceptance of what she'd done, she gestured to the animal and asked, "That is a good outcome?"

"Does it upset you?" he asked instead with a frown, and glared at Magorian when he rolled his eyes. "Why?"

"It – it's just an animal, it wasn't doing harm. And I hurt it. I didn't even just kill it – " she said, with just a touch of hysteria. " – I tortured it."

Ronan hummed thoughtfully. "Do you not remember what I said? We have been hunting this animal for weeks - it has been attacking the unicorn herd living on our lands, and even recently killed one of its foals. You have done an unmistakable good. And I believe this is your first time transforming?" he asked, and at her nod continued. "Then it is not your fault that you could not control your instincts."

Cassiopeia frowned at his answer, biting her lip as the pain flared up again. Ronan must have noticed, for he glanced down at her, exclaiming in surprise when his eyes met her side.

"I did not notice that you were so injured, child, or I would not stand here talking to you. Do you not have a way to heal yourself?"

She shook her head, blushing. "No, something happened to my clothes, and I think my wand is still with them - wherever they are."

Magorian snorted. "Humans… useless without their magic sticks."

"Quiet, Magorian," Ronan scolded, then turned to her. "Would you be opposed, then, to visiting our camp? It is not too far from here, and we have supplies there to heal you."

"Ronan – " the other centaur protested.

"Calm yourself. I have read the stars, and they speak to her good intentions. Our herd has nothing to fear from her."

Magorian frowned. "If something goes wrong, our blood is on your hands."

Ronan shrugged. "You would doubt my judgement?"

Reluctantly, she allowed herself to be led into the camp, Ronan formally introducing the two of them, and covering her with his wolf-fur cloak when he noticed her shivering. At first, she had tried to walk alongside them on the ground, but the pain was too great, and soon Ronan pulled her up onto his back, Magorian looking at him in disgust.

The centaur's encampment was nothing like she could have imagined. Instead of houses, they had assembled a circular formation of branch-and-leaf awnings, all facing a giant bonfire. The fire was smoking, with several cuts of meat cooking above it, and several younger-looking centaurs watching over it.

As they entered, nobody drew their weapons, but Cassiopeia felt that they were being watched carefully. Ronan walked with her to one of the homes, lifting her to the ground at the feet of two older female centaurs, who observed them curiously.

"Calima, Grainne." He bowed slightly to them, and presented her. "This is Cassiopeia, of the House of Slytherin. We found her in the forest, having killed in her animal form that creature which threatened the unicorn herd. I had intentions of bringing her to the school, but she is injured, and I will not be accused of violence against her. Would you heal her?"

Calima nodded, grabbing Cassie by her hand and leading her closer. "Be off with you, Ronan, Magorian. I will bring her to you soon."

They left, and Cassiopeia stood alone and frightened by the women. Calima, hazel-eyed and blonde, observed her thoughtfully, tail swishing, while Grainne rummaged through a large leather pouch, eventually pulling out two long leaves, and a smaller packet of something she could not identify.

"Are you sure that can heal me?" she asked cautiously, observing their reactions. She didn't want to offend, but she was… skeptical as to the effects of such remedies.

"Do you not recognize them?" she asked, holding out her hand to reveal the somewhat familiar-looking items. "Do not believe what your fellow wizard-folk write of us, magic flows through our veins as surely as it does through yours. These are not mere plants. Hold out your hand."

As the leaf was pressed to her forearm, and her skin began to knit and heal with a stinging pain, Cassiopeia finally recognized it. This was Dittany - albeit not in the form she was used to - a supposedly rare ingredient.

She looked down somewhat in awe as the cut disappeared, leaving behind only smooth skin. Calima took advantage of her momentary distraction to turn her gently by the shoulders, and lift the now blood-speckled cloak from her side, causing Cassie to wince in pain.

"Crushed aconite," Grainne explained, as she sprinkled some of the powder against the injury. "Dittany alone is best for skin-deep lacerations, while monkshood will speed you healing."

Even as she spoke, the lesion began to close up and lose some of its redness and irritation, finally closing when another leaf was applied. Once Grainne had pulled it away, however, Cassiopeia was dismayed to see a thin, silvery-white line stretching from her lowest rib, and curving around her hip.

"Ah, children," Grainne smiled. "So vain. Think of it as your first battle-scar."

Battle-scar? Cassie frowned in dismay, pulling the cloak closer against her skin to conceal it.

Grainne looked at her expression in surprise, glancing towards the rapidly-darkening sky. "Do you wizards not know? A war is coming - this will not be the last of violence that you will see. Better you prepare for its realities now, then it catch you unawares."

•••

Thank you for reading. There will be a short chapter coming out Sunday, and then my schedule will finally be back to normal (chapters on Sundays). Another thank you to Silent Mayhem for help with this plot, and to all the wonderful people who've reviewed, followed, and favorited. I appreciate you all, and I hope you have a wonderful start to this new year.