Quaint little houses by the sea with shop fronts painted with French words explained their location in the south of France to Elena pretty quickly as she padded into the darkening town, nimble paws making no sound on the pavement. They crept as animals towards one of the back gardens, where a washing line strung up with colourful flags of fabric blew in the cold wind. Sirius' loud pants frosted the air in front of his long canine snout, and Elena gave him the look of disdain that only felines and middle-aged women can achieve as they rustled through the hedge. Elena tore down all of the clothes that she could reach, and Sirius snagged the line so that it looked like it had blown down. There was a sound of movement from inside so they scarpered, back to the beach.
"Okay, what have we got here, then?"
Sirius and Elena quickly sorted through the small pile, and Elena picked out the women's underwear and a man's shirt, which looked far too big but would be warmer than her soaked dress, and Sirius took similar things, then picked up the other garments and held up the lingerie and a pair of shorts that looked way too small. "We can burn these, as fuel. And these," He held up the sheets. "Will be good for sleeping on. Not a bad idea, dwarf."
Elena rolled her eyes and ran off around the rocks to change, peeling off her stained, threadbare striped dress with a happy vengeance and drying herself on the t-shirt, then pulling it on. As predicted, it fell to below her knees.
"Looking good, Munroe."
"Shut up Black."
Elena snapped at him as she dropped her dress into the sand, and he added his own prison clothes to the pile.
"I wish we could burn them."
"We'll have to set for drowning them. Hopefully they'll think we drowned too."
"Mhm."
Elena watched her worn, hated clothes drift out to sea and be consumed by the currents.
"We need to find a wand." Sirius said, suddenly business-like, "And somewhere to sleep that's hidden away, preferably as far away from here as possible."
"Alright, so we go…that way?" Elena pointed to the left down the coast, where the top of the cliff branched out to rolling fields, bordered by fences. "That looks like farmland, so there's probably a barn or a shed or something nearby we could sleep in?"
"That way, then."
Despite transforming being as natural to her as breathing, feeling her small feline body run across the fields, free and released, the wind brushing any shackles off her movement as she crossed the fields.
Sirius was a lot faster than her in his long, wolfish body, but she enjoyed her speed, rubbing against the long grass and tasting the air.

There was a small tool shed that looked like it hadn't been used for decades in the corner of an overgrown meadow, wood weak and bending, the sweet swell of rot permeating the air like a perfume. Its door was locked but they climbed in through the broken window and jumped into the cramped space, which was sparse of tools except for a hedge trimmer and a spool of rope, both of which were covered in such a thick layer of dust that it looked like a shovel would be needed to remove it.

Elena shifted back into human form, and fell to cross-legged seating on the wooden boards, leaning back against the wall, breathing faster than usual. She was hungry, thirsty, cold and tired, but she was free, and that was what mattered.

"One of us should stay awake," Sirius murmured as he sat down silently, brushing his hair out of his eyes in a move that looked well practiced, usual. "In case they try and search here."
"You sleep first," Elena nodded at him, trying to hide her yawn and failing. "You swam basically the whole way to France."
"Yeah but I'm older than you."
"How do you know?"
"How old are you?"
"Twenty seven."
"I'm nearly thirty four."
"Okay…but that's irrelevant. If anything, I'm younger. I should be able to keep going for longer. Go to bed, grandpa."
"I'm physically bigger."
"Maybe, but I'm shorter, so I need less rest."
"That's bullshit."
"Shut up grandpa."
"Grandpa?"
"Yes. Go to sleep."
"…I'm a guy?"
"So?"
"So…um…I don't know, I-"
"If you're going to be sexist, I'd stop right there."
"You're a registered Animagus, so if people come they'll know who you are, but they won't know who I am, so I can distract them while you run, then I'll catch up with you later."
"It would work the other way around. I could even run while you're asleep, so when they come in they'll just see you and I'll be long gone by then. There won't be any delay."
"Oh shut up and go to sleep Munroe."
Smirking, Elena laid down on the wooden floor and tried her best to get comfortable in the cold.
"Oh shit, I forgot, how's your cut?"
"Stings, but its fine. I've had worse."
"Oh, Mr Tough Guy, are you?"
"Miss Tough Girl, actually."
Elena flexed a non-existent muscle, and he grinned, looking down at her.
"So, do you have husband back in England?"
"No, do you?"
"What, have a husband?"
"If that's what you're into…?"
"Nah, and no wife either."
"That sounds lonely."
"What, and your life isn't?"
"You don't know anything about my life."
"Tell me about it then. No husband, then, boyfriend?"
"I was framed for my boyfriend's murder." Elena tried to sound blasé, but an ominous note in her tone made the shed look suddenly darker, scary. "Now, can I go to sleep, Black, or are we playing Twenty Questions?"
He fell silent, looking vaguely apologetic in the dim light, but Elena was sure there was a grin on his thin face.

Trying to sleep was difficult when she was so cold, and still damp from their swim earlier, and her teeth were chattering so forcefully that her whole body trembled. Goosebumps erupted across her almost translucent skin.
"Cold?"
"How could I be, when it's practically tropical in here?"
Sirius laughed again, and handed her one of the sheets from the washing line, which he'd had, rolled up, tucked into his shirt.
"I am so much warmer now, thanks."
"Nice to know I could be of service, madam."
"Shut up, Black."
"Well I'm sorry it's not five star service, Munroe-"
"Wait, we need to conserve body heat."
"Isn't that some sort of weird innuendo?"
"Shut up and get down here, I don't want to freeze to death."

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