In the time of the Order of the Phoenix, a mysterious transfer student from the United States of America comes to Hogwarts. With hair to rival Hermione's, and a tongue to rival Draco's, the suspicions and tensions rise in Professor Snape's classroom. And we thought Dolores Umbridge was the problem...
This story will be told in many different parts, in many different times. It will jump from the years at Hogwarts to the years after the war, and it'll be up to you to figure out the puzzle.
Ella 16
"I still don't understand why I'm doing this," she commented, standing over her copper cauldron, which was bubbling full-over with a black, tar-like liquid. "I've perfected the Wolfsbane potion. I'm good at it. I don't see why I'm making so much of it." She gathered the Monkshood blooms and began plucking them, then rubbing it between her palms gently.
"Quiet," growled Snape without looking up from the pile of scrolls he was grading.
"All I'm saying is that I have the right to know!" She grated essence of silverdust into a mortar and ground it with powdered moonstone. "Can't I make something else?" He glared at her in annoyance, and went back to grading papers. "There's a whole section of potions I've never even heard of! Can't I try one of those instead? Please?"
Snape's eyes darted through his eyebrows up at her with anger. "Do you want those extra points or not?" he snapped.
Ella snorted in annoyance and busied herself with the potion. She added her powders to her Monkshood blooms and made a thick paste, adding three-and-one-half drops of dittany after counting to thirty-one. The potion was now turning sludge-like from tar-like, which was a good sign. She dolloped three tablespoons of the floral paste in and the potion turned a bright and shining silvery blue all at once, thin as water with a faint blue smoke. She turned off her heat and stirred to cool it quickly, blasting a small gust of wind with her wand at the cauldron's base to help.
Rather annoyed, she uncorked three opaque glass bottles as her enchanted stirrer kept whipping. She pinched in the Chinese river moss, covered it, and began counting to 79. This was the third batch of Wolfsbane potion she'd made for Professor Snape, and she knew she was still doing it right by now. Do it once for a first try? Fine. Do it again to make sure you have it right? Okay. But thrice? Something wasn't adding up.
If each batch Ella made always resulted in three bottles, Professor Snape should have six in his cabinet already. You take Wolfsbane potion once at the new moon, once the week before the full moon, and then once more at the night of the full moon, which should render the drinker to ease your rage and maintain your mental faculties during transformation, allowing you to sleep it off. This would mean that a werewolf needs three potions per month. Ella had made a batch over the summer, then at the beginning of the term for an extra fifty points of extra credit towards the House Cup. If she was making one batch, once per month, then it means that somebody was using it.
As she bottled the potion, she glared over at the Professor, who was hell-bent on keeping the truth from her. If there was a werewolf in Hogwarts, it's likely that Professor Snape needed it for them tonight, Friday the 27th. She glanced down at the bottles in her hands; if she was going to learn the truth, she'd have to take matters into her own hands…
The final incantation must be spoken with the wave of a wand over the bottle, otherwise the potion is rendered useless—just some foul-tasting bile that does nothing. She looked up; Professor Snape wasn't watching her, just grading his term papers.
"Homines teneatur,"she simply said aloud without casting. Professor Snape didn't see her not waving the wand, not casting the spell. He was too busy, grumbling to himself at all of the scrolls in front of him. She then took all three bottles, corked them, and brought them to his desk.
"Finished, then?" he asked without looking up. Ella said nothing. "Very well, Zamora." He dipped his quill into his inkpot and continued crossing out incorrect answers on the tests he was grading. "Fifty points to Slytherin House, as promised."
"There's someone using these, isn't there?" Snape looked up through his eyebrows. "Isn't there?" she pressed. "Is it for Remus Lupin?" Snape sneered. "Then who? Who, if not him?"
"Clean up. Get out of my classroom. And go back to your dormitory." He returned his attention to his papers. She slammed the bottles on the table and huffed off. She shoved her cauldron and potions kit together, stuffing them into her Shoulder-bag of Holding rather loudly. He wasn't budging. Ella nearly screamed in frustration as she stormed out, stomping rather loudly indeed, and slamming the door on her way out.
Ella silently rampaged through the corridor, her fellow students quickly rushing out of her way when they saw her coming. Tonight was Friday, which means that the whole school would be in bed early for the first Quidditch match of the season to begin, Slytherin versus Ravenclaw. Draco had chosen to not abdicate his duty as Seeker, and would be getting a good night's rest, along with Blaise, Vincent and Gregory, et cetera. This was a good thing, as this meant there was nobody she truly cared about would get in her way. Ella was going to get to the bottom of this mystery, and that was that.
The full moon would peak over the horizon at about 7:09 that evening. Hogwarts was crawling with Aurors, but she wasn't sure if they all knew that she was an Animagus. They definitely didn't know she could speak to birds, though they might know she could speak Parseltongue. She could ask the animals for help, but she couldn't very well be discreet about it.
So, let's think:
Professor Snape is a Potionsmaster, and Ella his promising protégé. Ella was brewing Wolfsbane potion, a month's supply at a time. The batch she had brewed just now—and purposefully incompletely—was for this evening. There was no true begrudging look in Snape's eyes just now, so the culprit was not a teacher, nor a Gryffindor student. Professor Flitwick was not distracted nor selecting specifically difficult polyphonic scores since the beginning of the year, so it was likely not a Ravenclaw. Professor Sprout and Professor Snape got along well enough, but what Hufflepuff student in their right mind would come to Hogwarts while being a Werewolf? None, that's what, and especially no parents that had raised a Hufflepuff would allow it...
If the Werewolf was a professor, Snape would be brewing it himself and leaving Ella out of it. Since it was a student, and since Ella was supposed to learn how to make it perfectly on a consistent basis, it could only be assumed that the Werewolf student was a Slytherin, and someone that Ella either cared deeply for or held a great disdain for.
As she came down the dungeons, it hit her: Pansy.
Pansy always was emotional and nasty, and growled, and the bitch could bite… This would explain her resentment towards Ella, of course, as Pansy was a less-than-stellar Potioneer, and why shouldn't she be bitterly jealous of Ella's skills when she was suffering from an affliction that could be eased so greatly with potions? This would also explain why she was jealous of Ella getting Draco: he was the richest wizard in this school, and Wolfsbane did not come cheap, nor would it come cheaply to anyone other than a well-to-do, well-married Witch. It was with this realization that Ella almost felt sorry for Pansy…almost.
Alright, so Pansy's the Werewolf. With her Prefect status, it made almost too much sense for her to be going around after hours during full moons, escaping the castle grounds to possibly sleep it off in the forest – which would explain why her hair was always so awful – and always looking so damn haggard all the time. That being said, Ella couldn't allow a Werewolf to prowl Hogwarts.
If the full moon was tonight, and if Pansy was a Slytherin Prefect, then this means that she prowled the dungeons and the first-floor corridors that led to them after hours. It was likely that she'd exit the castle from the West Wing, going towards Hagrid's hut in the forest. If Ella snuck out between six and seven pm, and waited near that courtyard so she could watch were Pansy came out and transformed, she could use the Polvosueño to knock her out safely until she got Professor Dumbledore and the rest of the Aurors. Then, Pansy would be out of Hogwarts – and out of Ella's hair—for good.
Fucking finally.
The sun was beginning to set on Hogwarts as she reached the Slytherin Common Room. Teddy was sitting on the couch, reading and snacking on the last of the black currant pate du fruits. Ella popped her bag on the couch next to him and climbed over the back to sit.
"Whatcha reading?"
He pinched the space between his eyes in frustration. "I'm trying to knock out this stupid Divination Homework…" he sighed.
Ella frowned. "You're struggling with Divination? You can make up half of it, I guarantee. That Trelawney lady is a total drunk—she won't even notice." She took her shoes off and tucked her feet under herself as she lounged. "She hides her sherry in that storage room upstairs, you know. It's right in the old purple cabinet."
He threw his head back on the couch and groaned deeply. "I've been pushing it off every week and now it's piling up… Bloody Transfigurations is killing me and now I'm suffering in other classes!"
"Do you want help?" Ella asked, pulling out her copy of A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration from her bag. "I'm really good at Transfiguration! I got an Outstanding on my O.W.L. last year, regardless of the fact that McGonagall hates my guts."
He, very rudely, rolled his eyes. "Yes, little Miss 'I can conjure a flock of flamingos with a wave of my wand'—"
"—Flamboyance."
"What?"
"The group noun for flamingo is 'flamboyance.' I conjured a flamboyance of flamingos." Teddy sneered. "What? You don't want help from your dear, dear friend that conjured a flamboyance of flamingos?"
Teddy moaned and looked away. "No, I need to get this under control for myself…" he sighed.
Ella frowned. "There's no shame in asking for help," she said. "Maybe McGonagall is just…not explaining it in a way that you can understand?" She shook her textbook at him. "C'mon! Let me help!" Teddy stood and huffed away. "What the hell, dude?" she balked after him. He disappeared down the stair that led towards the Boy's Dormitory. "You're being fucking rude!" she called. Blaise appeared at the top of the stair and frowned at Ella.
"What's going on?" he asked, pointing towards where Teddy had walked by.
"Teddy's being fucking rude," snapped Ella, crossing her arms angrily. Blaise snickered through his nose.
"Maybe he thinks that you're being rude," chastised Blaise, coming towards her and sitting at her side.
"Am not!" protested Ella. "I was offering to help with Transfiguration so he doesn't slip further with homework. Then he got all snippy with me and huffed away." She leaned on Blaise's shoulder and sighed through her lips. He put his arm around her shoulder and squeezed.
"Is class hard for you?" he asked suddenly.
Ella frowned. "I mean…" She thought for a moment. "Define 'hard'?" she said.
Blaise laughed. "Is it a challenge for you? Is it difficult being a N.E.W.T student? Is all of this difficult for you?"
Ella shrugged. "I guess?"
"Come now, make an effort," he reprimanded. "Really think. Is this hard?"
She puffed her bangs up off her forehead and shook her head unconsciously. What was 'hard'? What defined 'hard?' Was it the amount of work you put in? Was it how hard it was for you to grasp a concept? Was it your struggle? And how in the world was struggle measured, anyhow? You could graph it, of course, if you wanted, perhaps with axis X being time spent on a particular and axis Y being degree of difficulty…but wasn't the degree of difficulty highly subjective? Base ten was a good way to measure things, but what was the unit of measure? Maybe a 'stub,' because stubbing your toe was frustrating and angering and it hurt? If she used that as a base, then axis Y would be frustration, measured in stubs…
"Ella." Blaise snapped her off of her train of thought before she could even begin to board. "Is this hard?"
"I was thinking about it," she said, annoyed. "Why can nobody ever let me think?" she groaned, throwing her head back. Blaise gave her a look. "I mean, there's a buttload of homework, and that's really grossly annoying, but I wouldn't call that 'hard', just time-consuming…" A beat. "Look, I just…I guess the work is challenging, but I basically understand what the Professors are telling me and, if I don't, I seek out the answer in the library or from someone that does."
"Is that why you hang 'round with Longbottom?" he drawled.
Ella shrugged defensively. "He's the best student Herbologist in the school and—I don't know if you noticed—but I'm in foreign territory here, with decently foreign herbs…" She snorted through her throat. "I really don't see why people don't like him. He's nice. He's a total friggin' spaz, sure, but he's pretty damn nice. Even Sluggy's taken notice of it!"
"And that's the only standard required for your precious time, I suppose?"
She adopted a rather scathing tone. "Oh, yes, being a nice person is totally not enough to offer another person friendship," she snapped. "Life is just way too short to be selective about friends. That's why I'm so popular. If you're nice to me, I'm gonna be nice to you. The – goddamn – end." She then stood and began to pace. "I don't get why that's hard! I don't get why it's somehow embarrassing to ask for help! I don't get why there's shame in not knowing something! There's shame in ignorance, sure, but shame in curiosity? Is there shame in seeking help from those who know how? That is Pride, and Pride is a sin!"
"'A sin?'" repeated Blaise in confusion.
"Yes, a sin! If you stain your soul with Pride, you'll ruin it!" Blaise suddenly snickered through his nose. "What is so funny?" she snapped.
"Well I wouldn't bring up the word 'sin' to Theo," he chortled. "I think he's still mad at you for last week."
"What the hell's there to be mad for?" demanded Ella, her hands on her hips in defiance.
"You invited him for a swim and then tried to give him a baptism in Hogwarts Lake—!"
"—Well excuse me for trying to sneak that little fruit in to Heaven!" she screeched, throwing her hands in the air and then down by her side as fists, pacing the common room in her stocking feet. Blaise said nothing, but she could tell he was laughing inside. Fine, laugh—we'll see who's laughing in the end when she gets Pansy Parkinson kicked out of Hogwarts for good…
"You're in quite a mood today," he commented. Ella was about to snap something scathing, but Blaise all too quickly followed it with: "Hungry?" Her shoulders dropped to a normal position, not quite defeated, but not quite victorious, either. He raised his eyebrows in question. Ella realized that she had spent so much time working on her Potions that she'd skipped lunch.
"Yeah, probably," admitted Ella, quickly and quietly. Blaise nodded pointedly to the door.
"Let's get some food in you before there's nobody left alive." Ella couldn't help but laugh as he stood. She popped her shoes on and grabbed her bag; they walked up the stairs together and exited into the dungeons.
"Wait, where's Draco?" Ella asked, stopping in the middle of the corridor.
"He left after our last run-through of the playbook…" Blaise said. "I thought he went to see you in the library."
She shook her head. "No, I haven't seen him since Transfigurations this morning."
He frowned in confusion. "That's odd," he remarked. "Well, he's likely already at the Great Hall."
Draco was not at the Great Hall. He didn't show up for food at all, and Ella was beginning to grow worried. This, of course, didn't stop her from eating her fill, as she had a fairly long night ahead of her. She knew she'd likely be flying quite a bit, as well, so she had a second slice of peanut butter pie to give her energy, and took an extra starberry tart from the tray and wrapped it up in a napkin for later. It was going to be a show, indeed, and she even inwardly noted just how wretched Pansy looked. She smiled at her and left the Great Hall as Vincent and Gregory were just sitting down. Tracey tried calling her back for help with Charms, but Ella said she had important matters that evening, and promised to help tomorrow after the game.
As soon as she was out of sight, in the tiny pocket between walking Aurors and browsing students, she shifted into her raven form and flew up the staircases, up the corridors, all the way to that storage room on the seventh floor. When she got in, she transformed back to her human form and locked the door behind her.
Damn, there's a lot of stuff in here, she thought to herself. Antiques, an old stuffed troll, broomsticks, tons of furniture and clothes and books and toys…she wondered how deep the piles went, and how far back in history they could be traced. The light in that room was sort of a strangely eerie blue, almost like a haze. She stopped when she heard a rustle of fabric, and then a flap and cloud of dust appear from the other side of one of the mounds. Quickly, she took out her wand and crept silently towards the sound.
Around the pile of books and old record player, Ella found a tall, pale-haired figure, staring up at a weird-looking cabinet she'd not ever noticed before. She sighed in relief and put away her wand, which was enough of a sound to cause the object of her affection to jump and pull out his wand in defense. When Ella appeared in full view, Draco—oddly—didn't lower his wand. She frowned, seeing beads of sweat on his pale forehead.
"Draco, it's me," she stated matter-of-factly. She frowned, then waved her hand. "Can't you see me?" Draco shook his head, as if snapping himself out of a daze, and then quickly put his wand away, wiping his brow with his free hand. She came to his side. "What's the matter?" She tried taking his hand, but he quickly retracted, simply shaking his head and pacing away.
"I'm fine," he stated, avoiding her eyes. "What are you doing up here?" He was trying to sound casual.
Ella narrowed her eyes in suspicion, circling around on his flank slowly. "I was about to snag Professor Trelawney's sherry," she answered honestly. He turned his head and met her eyes, finally. He seemed relieved. "By that reaction, I'm guessing you were snooping around for it, too?" she asked with a grin. Draco's shoulders eased from their tense, and he managed a bit of a smile. She couldn't help but laugh a little. "Why didn't you say so? Come on. It's in the eighth cabinet." She nodded pointedly towards the one he had been snooping in. "We'll call that one the thirteenth."
He glanced up at the cabinet and studied it with his eyes. "Why's this one the thirteenth?" he asked.
Ella shrugged. "Because it's the thirteenth one that I've discovered in here," she replied with a grin. "Well, you've discovered this one. But we're together; maybe you don't mind sharing your discoveries with me." He smiled.
She rounded the way behind the cabinet and circled back the towering pile with a bunch of chairs, books, and that funny-looking tiara. The cabinet used to be painted purple, she guessed, but now it was all chipped and worn from years of not being used…or perhaps too much use. She opened the door and, right in plain view, an opaque bottle of Sherry, already half-drunk. Satisfied, she snatched it up, uncorked it, and took a swig. Ella turned on her heel and leaned on the cabinet, holding the bottle out to Draco, who grinned.
Draco took the bottle gently, stared at the label for a moment, swirled the Sherry in the bottle and took a whiff. Honestly, it's not the time to be a snob, she inwardly chastised as he took a sip. He almost immediately cringed at the taste and then gave the bottle quickly back, painfully swallowing the small mouthful he'd taken. Ella laughed.
"There's an old bottle of cognac in here, too, but I honestly don't know who it belongs to," she said, drinking another mouthful. "I mean, this stuff isn't great, but the benefit is that she never knows if you drank it, or if she drank it."
He gave a crooked grin. "You never fail to surprise me," he commented.
She bowed low, her arms stretched out with much waving of the hands. "For your entertainment," she teased. Her heart leapt to her throat when he smiled at her; he came close and took the sherry from her hand before setting it on the nearest available surface. She was about to ask him what he was doing, but his eyes said it all. The next thing she knew, they were kissing.
Normally, when Draco kissed her, it was either very chaste and sweet or very hot and heavy. This time, it was an oddly nice combination of both. He pushed her up against the cabinet door with his body, his hands gently placed on her hips as he kissed her deeply. A moan rose from her throat, vibrating against his lips, which he seemed to rather enjoy. Her breathing shortened as he moved from her lips to her cheek, down her neck, his hands wandering shyly beneath her robes, slipping his fingers underneath her white blouse and sweater vest to touch her skin. She smiled, her fingers running up through his soft, fine hair.
Suddenly, she felt something…hard. It wasn't that, though—it was round and really uncomfortably huge against her pelvis, and it wasn't getting any better. Her hand slipped beneath his robes, which he misinterpreted as her getting a little more than frisky, and reached into his pocket. Curious, she excavated the hard-round thing and brought it up to the light, causing Draco to stop and look. To Ella's shock, it was a green apple.
The smell of the Amortentia…
Her mind raced as quickly as her heart was beating. Her skin suddenly felt oddly tight, as if it were the only thing keeping her from going everywhere at once. Other than the fact that Amortentia was a love-poison when orally administered, Ella knew this: Amortentia doesn't smell like the thing you're attracted to, but rather the thing that you should look for. Its qualities are such that it, when used properly, can be a compass to finding the right way to your inner-most self, to the person that can bring out that in you. But that was impossible…wasn't it? There's no way that it could be Draco. She liked him—sure—and he was kind of an asshole—sure—but there can surely not really be such a thing as True Love. That was just some stupid concept invented by pious idealists, which was ultimately counterproductive to the biological need to breed as much as possible and keep the species going. No. There's no such thing as True Love. That's impossible. There's no such thing.
Ella suddenly realized that she'd been staring open-mouthed at that stupid apple for far too long. Draco was giving her an extremely puzzled look. She grinned nervously. She was trying to come up with some witty retort, but for the life of her, all she could think of was that stupid "Princess Bride" movie she saw when she was seven, with that stupid clergymen saying "mawwiage" in that stupid goddamn voice. By some miracle, Draco broke the tension by leaning in and taking a bite of the apple while it was still in her hand, which caused her to laugh out loud.
"Oh my God—" she cackled. "You're so goddamn great!" Her laughter bubbled any sort of bad thoughts away, and she felt relaxed again. She took a bite from the other side and smiled. There, that was it; it's just an apple, there's no such thing as True Love, nobody is deciding anything for you…he just likes apples. That's it. Draco just likes apples.
Draco's hand came up and brushed a few curls behind her ear, his thumb tracing gently down her throat. Ella smiled and offered the apple back to him. He took another bite, as did Ella, who felt much more relaxed now that she'd found where he was hiding.
"Are you ready for the game tomorrow?" she asked. Draco tensed, then he shrugged with a smile. "That's not an answer." He seemed…off.
"I'm not worried about Chang. She's smart, but emotional."
"Hey, that's not our strategy, remember?" Draco rolled his eyes with a grin. "'A winner focuses on winning—'"
"'—And a loser focuses on beating a winner,'" Draco recited. "How could I forget?"
Ella couldn't help but laugh gently. "You can't say I wasn't an awesome coach."
He conceded with a smile. "You and that bloody chicken," he said. She laughed out loud, feeling a little warmth in her cheeks, likely from the Sherry. She took another bite of the apple and tossed it back to him, which he caught with ease. She corked the Sherry and stuffed it in her bag. "Professor Trelawney won't notice it missing?"
Ella shook her head. "It's Friday, which means she's going to head to the Astronomy tower to sit in on the class, gazing into that stupid crystal ball of hers. As long as I have this back before sunrise, I can do what I like."
Draco's lips were smiling, but his brow was furrowed in question. "Do you keep tabs on everyone?" He was trying to sound casual, but there was something in his voice that made her suspect a hint of nervousness.
"I try to," Ella answered honestly.
A beat. "You know…everything about everyone?" he asked.
She sort of laughed, unsure of how to explain it properly. "Well…it's more like I notice things and remember them. I don't think it's spying or stalking or anything, just…" She stopped and sort of swayed in thought. Admittedly, she wasn't sure how to make it sound like she wasn't spying or stalking, more just paying attention.
"Example?" he asked, gesturing with his hand.
Ella thought for a moment. "Well, I remember that Tracey loves pawpaw jelly, because if I sit next to her at breakfast, the jar will be half-gone by the time I've gotten there, so I'll not-likely get any. I remember that Daphne takes twice as long to do her hair as it does to brush her teeth because I notice how the toothpaste has dried on the mirror when she's done with the bathroom, so I try to wake up before her to use it. Marcus Belby loves chocolate because there's almost always some smeared on his shirt pocket. I know that Cormac McLaggen has a huge boner for Hermione Granger because of the way Ron Weasley tightens his jaw whenever he's around. Lavender Brown's got a huge crush on Ron, though, which isn't surprising because of how damn desperate she is…and I know which boy every girl has a crush on because of who wants to buy love potions off of me."
"Love potions?" Draco repeated in confusion.
"I know! It's sick. I'd never touch the stuff, honestly. And manufacturing it? It's gross. I'll make you some Draught of Peace for a few galleons, or a sleeping potion to help you rest, and some have even had the nerve to ask me to brew them Felix Felicis…but I personally find the entire concept of Amortentia deplorable. I mean, really, why would you want to be with someone that doesn't like you back on their own?"
There were certainly quite a few thoughts racing behind Draco's eyes at that moment; he seemed to want to ask what she had noticed about him, but was too nervous to come out and say it.
"I've just noticed this about you, but…you seem to have better reflexes when you're really, really tired." His eyes flickered, as if to ask 'what makes you say that?' "Remember the sopophorous beans on the first day of Potions with Sluggy? Remember how I was so annoyed at the instructions in the book that I didn't notice it flying right towards my face, and how you plucked it right out of the air, just like that? Like you were picking a peach?" He paused for a moment, then made that face he made when he was thinking 'huh, not bad.' Ella then heard the great clock tower chime seven. "Oh, no! We're late!" She scurried to the front of the room. "Come on!" Draco hurriedly followed.
"Ella, wait!" he called after her. She laughed a little as he came chasing. He was faster than her, so she flew down when she could afford to, transforming back to her human form just long enough to keep him interested in the chase.
"Come on, slowpoke! We have to get to the West Wing!"
"Ella, no! You can't go outside!" called Draco as they ran down the stairs and out the front door, exactly at 7:04 pm, exactly when the Aurors were changing their shifts. She laughed as he chased her west, towards the forest, towards those ruins which looked over Hagrid's hut. "ELLA!" he shouted after her as she sprinted out of the castle. "ELLA, NO!"
"Ella, yes!" she shouted back, ducking behind a pillar. Draco came frantically and grabbed her hard by the arm and pulled. "Ouch! Draco! What are you doing?!"
"We can't be out here!" he urged, panicked.
She ripped her arm away. "Let go! There's nothing that we can't handle that isn't already inside the grounds. That barrier won't even let a flea in." She turned away and looked towards the forest; she heard Draco whimpering behind her. "Calm down, fraidy-cat. I know exactly what we're up against…" Her eyes wandered to the side gates. "We're in for a show tonight, and I'm sure of it. The moon will be rising in two minutes. I'm gonna crack this goddamn case if it's the last thing I do."
"Ella—!" Draco firmly turned her around and grabbed her by both shoulders. "Ella I'm begging you—get inside!" In that moment, she saw something—a funny sort of desperation in his eyes, the beads of sweat, his…skin. She frowned as he tried to pull she saw…tears? In his eyes?
"What are you so afraid of?" A beat. "Do you know about the werewolf?" Draco tensed and let go. He began to back away, tears streaming down his face. "You know it's Pansy, don't you?" Ella demanded. "You kept this from me?! There's a dangerous beast here on the grounds and you let it run loose! How could you?!"
"Ella, please—!" Draco sobbed.
"YOU JERK!" She screamed, shoving him away. "Werewolves are dangerous, you idiot! They can't be trusted! I can't believe you! You were supposed to protect me! And you endanger me and everyone else by keeping it a secret?! What, you still have some sort of weird flame for her?!" A strange sort of anger bubbled and rose all along the skin on Ella's back. "Is that why you ignored me all summer?! You were shacking up with her?! ANSWER ME, YOU PRICK!" A hard slap came across Draco's face, and he spun and fell to the ground. An Auror came rushing from the grounds, shouting for them to stop. It was the Metamorphagus, Tonks, who was—apparently—Draco's cousin. Ella came dashing up the field to meet her.
"You have to help me," urged Ella. "There's a werewolf on Hogwarts grounds and they're changing tonight, I'm sure of it."
"Sweetheart, you need to get inside," soothed Tonks, who quickly put her arms around Ella and tried to rush her back to the castle. Ella dug her heels into the soft ground.
"No, you have to listen! There's a werewolf! It's going to be going into the forest at any moment!" She pointed behind her. "Ask Draco, he knows—" When she spun her head around to look, Draco was writhing on the ground in pain, groaning. "I didn't hit you that hard…" Tonks wrapped her arms around Ella and tried to pull her back towards the castle.
"Sweetie, we have to go—"
"—What's the matter with you?" she demanded towards Draco, shoving Tonks away. "Draco!"
Tonks came up quick behind her and tugged her back; Draco's eyes opened at the moon and Ella shrieked in fear when she saw they were bright green and glowing. His long spindly fingers swelled and curled to become claws, which ripped his Hogwarts robes away, an empty potion bottle falling out of his pocket and rolling down the hill. His back arched as his feet grew out of his polished shoes, his tie shredded to pieces as his neck and face grew longer and longer. "He'll be fine—he's taken his potion—"
"—I SCREWED UP THE POTION!" Ella screamed, knocking Tonks away and running to Draco's side. She whipped out her wand and cast in desperation: "Homines teneatur!" Alright, so that was admittedly a stupid idea, but if he still had that bad potion in his stomach, maybe her magic could seep through and somehow enchant it while it was still in him? "HOMINES TENEATUR!" she cast again, but nothing happened.
"ELLA GET AWAY!" shouted Tonks, who was running towards her now.
Ella pointed at Tonks with her finger and wordlessly, wandlessly cast the Cambiatus curse right at her heart, transforming the Auror into a chirping Blue Jay which flew away towards the school. She then pointed her wand at Draco again, who was thrashing and screaming on the ground, his white skin growing in to white fur. She backed away, shaking in fear, horrified with what she had done. He rose to his clawed feet, long and spindly, like a spider, shaking and afraid.
"Draco…?" she breathed. "Draco, it's me," she whimpered, her eyes welling. "Can't you see me?"
He looked to the moon again and threw his massive head back with a terrifying howl. Ella shrieked in terror and raised her wand. He threw his head towards her, his pale blue eyes now a terrifying green, his charming smile now a mouthful of sharp, drooling teeth.
"Draco, I don't want to hurt you, but I will!" she warned, taking a step back. He prowled towards her, his white fur gleaming in a ghost-like glare against the moonlight, a snarling growl creeping from his throat. "Snap out of it!" she shouted, nearly stumbling as she backed down the hill. His fangs were shining like knives, his eyes focused and unfocused all at once. The heckles on his back went straight up; he reared and Ella screamed, transforming into her animagus form just in time to escape his jaws.
His claws swiped at her as she flew away towards the forest, the light of the moon guiding her between the trees and over the bushes. Her wings carried her frantically away, and she transformed back to her human form when she reached a clearing.
"AwoooooOOOooo!" she howled, and Draco came running after, springing into her raven form again to keep him on the chase.
She ducked and flew, and flapped and ducked, and ducked and flew and flapped desperately, flying up the hill and transforming back at the base of the great fir tree. She howled again and flew straight up, through the branches, landing at a very sturdy limb and transforming back to her human form. Within seconds, Draco was at the base, clawing and snarling, jumping and barking rabidly. She reached into her bag and threw down the starberry tart at his head, which he hungrily tore apart and gobbled up.
"Okay," she breathed, panicked. "Okay. So. You were totally wrong," she said to herself. "Good job, you stupid slut—oh, God, no, don't call yourself a slut!" She buried her nose in her clasped hands, precariously balancing herself on the thick tree limb as Draco tried desperately to climb up the trunk. "You're not a slut and you're not stupid. You're smart. You're calm. Yes. Calm down. Breathe. It's okay." Ella was trying desperately to remain as calm as she was telling herself to be, but it was becoming increasingly difficult the more and more he clawed at the tree's trunk. She looked down, her eyes full of fear, at the wild beast Draco had become, ready to eat her alive.
"Okay," she panted. "So, Draco's the werewolf," she whispered to herself. "That's shitty. But nobody will benefit unless you keep—your—shit—together." She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the trunk of the tree, attempting to quell her racing heart to go down to a light canter. "All you have to do is keep him safe. You just have to keep him alive—and relatively unhurt—until sunrise. There. Easy! Easy-peasy! Just keep him safe, keep him chasing you, and keep yourself alive long enough. And not get bit. Or scratched. Or found out by the Aurors. Hah! It'll be easy—!" The tree shook violently; Draco was now trying to ram the tree down, right in the spot at the trunk where he'd carved their names last year: "Draco + Ella". The tree shook again, the sleeping birds now fleeing from their nests in violent screams.
"Fly away! Fly away! Werewolf! Werewolf!" she heard the birds scream. Birdsongs came to life in screeches as they flew in flocks over the canopy, far away to warn others. Draco was growing more and more ravenous at the base of the tree, clawing up and sliding down. Ella sat on the branch and held onto the trunk, shaking in fear.
"It's okay," she whimpered, trying desperately to comfort herself through her tears. "It's okay. You can do this. Yes you can, Ella. You're in your element: a forest. You grew up in one, you were schooled in one—nobody can touch you in a forest. Nobody." She was saying them in such a way that she was beginning to believe that she would, in fact, be fine. "I mean, it could be worse, right? It's not like there's any—"
Squea-honk.
Ella's heart stopped. Her heart pounded so hard that she could hear it in her ear drums. Her body went stiff, and she felt icy cold. All of the birds went silent, and the air went stiff. Was Draco still there…?!
Squee-HONK. "Huehuehuehue…"
She began to tremble, her stomach tight and the hair on the back of her neck standing straight up. Her bottom lip began to shake, and she slowly turned to meet horrible yellow eyes on a white face, sitting around the other branch around the trunk. Ella froze in fear, her heart feeling as if it might burst. She wanted to scream for help but she was too scared. The white skin, the fearsome red claws, the blood-red lips so swollen and big—they peeled back to reveal green fangs, dripping with poison.
"Huehuehuehue…"
Its head tilted around, its bones cracking as it crept its way slowly towards her, pulling out its great yellow mallet in one clawed hand, the other latching onto the tree's trunk with the ferocity of a Snallygaster. Ella was paralyzed. Its red nose squea-honked again. She whipped out her wand, her hand shaking violently in fear. The creature unhinged its massive jaw, hellfire in its demonic eyes and flaming red hair.
"WhO's tHe BiRTHDaY GIRL!?"
Ella screamed and fell off the branch and transfigured herself into her raven form and flew as fast as she could back to the castle. She zoomed in through first open window she saw and flapped through, twisting through the corridors, flapping down through the stairwells and into the dungeon. She transformed back and ran as fast as her legs would carry her to the portrait, where she screamed "SANCTITY! SANCTITY!" as she beat on it with her fists until it opened.
The Slytherin common room swung open and she dashed inside and slammed the door hard behind her, her back against it as if to keep the beast away. She then had an even more fearful thought, and quickly patted herself down from pocket to pocket. Terrified, Ella whistled. Nothing. She whistled again, looked around, and realized what she had done.
"Ella?" Teddy came around the corner with a book in his hand. "What's the matter with you?"
"My wand!" she gasped. "I've lost my wand!"
"Wait, what—?" Teddy said, setting his book down and coming towards her. "How does a witch lose her wand?"
"I lost my wand! I lost my wand!" Ella shrieked at the top of her lungs. Teddy's hands came on Ella's shoulders, shaking her.
"Ella, calm down!" shouted Teddy.
"DON'T SHOUT AT ME!" Ella screamed. "I CAN SCREAM LOUDER THAN YOU!"
"What the bloody hell's going on?" came Blaise's voice. They both looked to the right to see him, dressed in his Slytherin quidditch jersey, broomstick in hand, looking extremely concerned.
Ella's hands flew out in front of her, one grabbing Blaise by the jersey front and the other grabbing Teddy by the tie. She pulled them close and whispered desperately: "I—need—your—help."
Before they could protest, Ella dragged them both out of the common room and explained everything as they rushed towards the greenhouses. The plan was to exit through there and head towards Hagrid's Hut, avoiding Aurors on the way as well as they could. It was lucky that they were three sneaky Slytherins and not three clumsy Gryffindors, for they—with their combined skills—managed to get to the greenhouse's exit just as the tale was finished.
"Hold on—" protested Blaise, pressing himself against the wall. "That's what Professor Snape's been having you to for extra points?"
"It's because of his father," said Teddy, his thin face now white.
Ella guffawed. "What in the world does he have to do with it?"
"The Dark Lord…" breathed Teddy, the night air now cold enough to make his breath visible. "…Fenrir Greyback—"
"—The werewolf!" Blaise gasped. "He's been terrorizing London."
"Slow down," whispered Ella. "Teddy, who is Fenrir Greyback?"
"The Dark Lord's attack wolf," spat Teddy. "When a Death Eater displeases him or fails him, he has Fenrir Greyback bite their children as punishment."
"I'm sure you're real proud to be in cahoots with the Dark Lord now, aren't you?" sneered Blaise. "Now that it's your friend—"
"—It's not my fault that Lucius Malfoy is a terrible Death Eater!"
"Stop it, both of you!" admonished Ella, appalled that they were even having this conversation. "Draco needs help, and we—"
"—We need to get Professor Snape," argued Teddy.
"We are not doing that," Ella snapped. "Not only would he kill me for deliberately screwing up the Wolfsbane potion, but I could get expelled for this—"
"—That's where your head's at?" Blaise demanded. "Your boyfriend's a bloody half-breed now—"
"—Don't call him that!" Ella barked, shoving him away. "Are you jerks going to help me or not?!" There was a very tense pause, and Teddy and Blaise were looking at each other in question. "Seriously?!" she whispered in shock. "I wouldn't think twice to help either of you, and you're—"
"This isn't Transfigurations homework, Ella, this is the Forbidden Forest. At night. With a werewolf."
"This is not 'a werewolf,'" Ella argued. "This is Draco. He's your friend. More importantly, I'm your friend, and I'm asking—begging—for your help." She took Teddy's hands. "Please help me. Please help me get my wand back. Please? Please?" To her horror, tears were streaming down her face. "Please?" she sobbed.
"Where is he?" Blaise asked after a moment of listening to Ella's tears. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "Do you have a plan?"
"I think I know where my wand is," she confessed, "but I don't know where Draco is. He was by the fir tree. I flew away as soon as I saw the monster—"
"—It wasn't a monster, it was a boggart—"
"—What the hell's a boggart?"
"It's a shapeshifter, Ella," said Teddy. "It changes its form to what a person fears the most."
"Although I will say that it's odd to find one in the forest," commented Blaise. "They like to hide in closets or in old attics."
"Ten galleons says it's that same bloody boggart that Professor Lupin had that went and escaped," Teddy replied, shaking his head.
"Focus!" whispered Ella. "We have to move," she said, looking towards the forest. A cloud then covered the moon, causing the darkness to grow even more intense. She took Blaise's hand in her right and Teddy's in the left. Her eyes flashed, and she transfigured her eyes to their raven's form. "Keep up. Ravens can see in the dark." And she dashed forward, her friends stumbling next to her, straight into the forest.
"You do have a plan, don't you?" whispered Blaise once they reached the forest floor, traipsing through the eerie blue mist.
"Survive," said Ella.
"That's not much of a plan," he said, dryly.
"It's all I've got," she said, following the path up the hill, listening intently for any birdsongs that might be being sung.
"You're defenseless without your wand," said Teddy. "We had best find that first."
"I can still change," she offered, her raven eyes wandering through the trees.
"Let's make a plan," said Blaise lowly, his palm rather sweaty. "What are our assets?"
"You're holding a broomstick," deadpanned Ella. "That means two of us can fly."
"And what am I supposed to do?" demanded Teddy. "Sit around and knit?"
"No, I need your magic," she said. "I need you to protect us while we distract him."
"How am I supposed to protect you against a werewolf? We only learned how to identify it!"
"Teddy, listen—" said Ella, "—you've known Draco the longest. You were kids together. Right? You know Draco. You know what he'll do when he's scared—"
"—He's not Draco anymore, he's the werewolf—"
"—He is still in there—!"
"—If he was you wouldn't need our help!" spat Teddy. "He's become wild. He'll kill you if given the chance—"
"—He'll get killed out here and I can't let that happen!" There was a tense pause between the three of them. "I may not know what's going on in his head right now, but I do know animals. The way he reared, the way he was creeping…it wasn't anger-based or territorial behavior. He was scared. He thought his life might be threatened so he attacked the first thing he saw: me." Her voice cracked. Had she any time to think, she might have let that last bit of her own sentence cause her some great pain, like a stab or a cut to her insides. Ella didn't have time to think about that, though; she had a job to do. Her friends looked at each other in question.
"Theo's right. He's an animal…" A sort of light went off in Blaise's eyes, flickering for a moment in the blue-black darkness. "What did we learn in Care of Magical Creatures about scared animals? If he's attacking out of fear," began Blaise, "then maybe we can calm him?"
"You're mad," gasped Teddy. They reached the base of the fir tree, and Draco was nowhere to be seen, nor was the monster. Ella whistled, and she heard the leaves rustle. Blaise and Teddy tensed. Ella whistled again, and her wand came flying into her hand, unscathed, where it had been stuck in the branches of the fir tree. She let out a great sigh of relief to feel it in her hand, that beautiful blackthorn wand that was a part of her.
"Lumos," she cast, and the tip of her wand glowed faintly with a gentle light. She held it up to the tree; it was marred terribly, and the place where their names were carved, "Draco + Ella", had been scratched away. She let out a sob, and the light on her wand went out.
"Ella," said Blaise, his hand on her shoulder. "Do you have any Draught of Peace in that bag of tricks of yours? Maybe powdered root of asphodel? Something? Anything?"
She sniffed back her tears and thought for a moment. A light went off in Ella's eyes. She dug in her bag and grinned with glee when she found the right tube. "'Anything', indeed!"
"What's that?" Teddy asked.
"Polvosueño," said Ella with a grin. "I just hope it works."
"An invention of yours?" Ella nodded. "Then, of course it will." Ella smiled.
A plan was set in motion. Theo set down the path and cast lumos in tiny orbs that led up the hill to guide Blaise's way. Ella put her bag down by the fir tree, and poured all of the blue-black powder into her left hand, and then covered her nose and mouth with her right. Her wand was tucked safely behind her ear, and she was ready. She had to blow as much of it in Draco's face as she could, but there would be a good chance that he might bite or maul her. He'd be coming up the hill, fast and furious, and if there was a breeze or anything else then he'd simply be lunging straight for her with nothing between them. It didn't matter. If anyone was dying tonight, it was going to be her, not her friends. Blaise mounted his broomstick and flew down.
"Protego Totalum," cast Teddy in a cloud over the fir tree. Ella nodded, signaling that she was ready. Teddy whistled to Blaise, who Ella could barely see hovering in the forest below.
"AawwWOOOOOOoooWWOOOOOO!" Blaise howled from the forest floor. "AaaWOOOOO!" he howled again. The birds to the west were chirping, screeching, and they were flying from the canopies in fear. "AaaawwOOOOOOOooOOO!" Ella's heart began to pound; she dug her heels into the soft ground.
"I hear him!" said Teddy. "He's coming. Get ready!" He knelt behind another nearby tree, his wand ready to cast any defensive—or offensive—spell he could think of. "Lumos," he cast to be an orb over Ella's head. The birds in the trees were going mad, and quicker than she could blink, Blaise flew straight over and straight up the fir tree.
All at once, she saw Draco, galloping up the hill on all fours, growling and snarling, his white fur standing on end. He leapt up, his claws extended, mouth open, and Ella opened her palm. With a great huff and puff, Ella blew all of the powder in her palm straight into his mouth. It all went black.
"Ella."
What…?
"Ella, don't doddle!"
Mama…? She looked around. It felt warm and cold all at once, with a strange sort of euphoria in every breath. The forest was there, and from where she was standing, she could see the greenhouse and the Hippogriff pen. She took a step forward and saw glimpse of the purple front door of her childhood home. Her mother was there, all in black, with a worn yet clean striped apron. She smiled.
"Ella, my sunflower, you've played the day away! It's time to come inside!" she called. She was so beautiful. Though she was far away, Ella could still see every detail; her slick black hair, her fair skin, the flour on her apron, and her red shoes.
Is this... I'm in the wheat field. The sun's setting. I'm back in Albany…I'm at Nana's house… It's so beautiful here. I feel so happy… Am I dead? That's Mama, standing in the doorway… Should I go?
"What are you doing? Come inside."
Ella took a step backwards. "No…"
"What do you mean, 'no?' It's time to come in." Mama chastised. She nodded pointedly inside.
"No. It can't be time. I'm not done yet."
"Ellie." That's Daddy. I hear him. "Listen to your mom. It's time to come in."
Panic filled her heart. No. I can't be dead. Not yet. She backed away. Her mother came towards her, a stern look on her face. "I can't! I can't come in! I'm not done yet!" She turned on her heel and ran away, through the wheat field, up behind the greenhouse, up to the forest, her mother screaming at her from the house. "I can't be here! I have to save Draco!"
"AAACK!"
Ella woke with a start, sopping wet, with Teddy and Blaise standing over her. Teddy smiled. "See? I told you she wasn't dead."
"Great. Now we get to listen to her whine about her getting her hair wet," Blaise deadpanned.
"What…?" Ella looked around, confused. "What happened?" She noticed Draco, fast asleep, sleeping peacefully in a crumpled heap beside her.
Blaise pointed at the tree. "You blew so much of that stuff that you both fell asleep. It was effing hilarious."
"I was…" The Polvosueño had caused that vision…that dream. But she was still lucid? How had that happened? She shook off the last of her sleepiness, her face and hair now freezing cold. "It's going to be freezing in a minute," she commented.
"Maybe we could camp out here?" offered Teddy. "I've always wanted to try camping."
"I'm not sleeping on the ground!" gasped Blaise. "I've got Quidditch tomorrow!"
"How's there going to be Quidditch when your Seeker's a bloody werewolf?"
"Stop it, both of you!" Ella admonished. "Blaise, you can go back to the castle if you want, but I'm not leaving." Draco snored, and his paws began running in place. It'd honestly seem adorable, had it been under literally any other circumstance.
"I can't just leave the two of you out here alone," he argued. "There's much more than werewolves in this place…"
"The only werewolf in the forest is passed out," said Ella, looking at Draco's sleeping form.
"Is there a way to get him inside?" asked Blaise. "Perhaps we should tell Professor Snape."
"I do not want to tell Professor Snape—"
"Well what choice do we have?"
"Camping," said Teddy, whipping out his wand. "Watch this!" With a few waves of his wand and a couple of spells she hadn't ever heard of before, he fashioned a shelter from fallen branches nearby, directly beneath the fir tree. "Bombarda," he cast at the soft ground, and a hole formed. He summoned some more twigs and branches, and then cast "Incendio!" to create a warm fire. Soon the four of them were warmed in his house of twigs.
"How did you do that?" asked Blaise, not wanting to admit how impressed he was.
"When I was little," he said, "I used to do the same thing with my building blocks."
Ella threw herself into Teddy's arms and began wailing hysterically. Neither of her friends were quite sure of what to do, but it seemed as if the ruckus would—at least—keep the other animals at bay. After quite some excessive sobbing, Ella finally calmed herself enough to sit by herself.
"I screwed up," she said. "I screwed up so bad."
"I'll say," said Teddy. "Messing with someone's potions, lying to Professor Snape, leaving Hogwarts castle after hours, transfiguring an Auror into a Blue Jay using a curse that Snape made you promise to never use again, and then dragging us into this whole mess?"
"Not helping," said Blaise dryly. He came and sat next to her, setting his broom in the corner behind them. "Ella, everyone's entitled to mistakes…" He paused. "But…you're my friend. And Slytherins stick together." He gave Teddy a look. Her friend rolled his eyes and eventually nodded.
"Yes. Slytherins stick together. More importantly," he said, shifting in his spot by the fire. "Slytherins do what must be done. What must be done is keeping ourselves alive at this point…" He then looked to Draco. "I just…" He sighed. "I mean, I guess we all saw this coming…"
"What do you mean?" asked Blaise.
"Well…" He shifted, then seemed rather green in the face when he looked at Draco. Ella couldn't hear his thoughts; she couldn't concentrate. "Lucius Malfoy isn't exactly the best Death Eater in the world. In fact, he's failed the Dark Lord many times." Blaise was about to say something scathing, but Ella stopped him by putting her hand over his. She knew when her friends were saying things that were difficult to say, you shut up and let them say it. "It's just…" Teddy sighed deeply. "The Malfoys were supposed to be the best of us. They had the highest status in the country, and now look at them." Ella recalled the headline in The Daily Prophet: "Fallen From Grace."
Blaise couldn't hold his tongue any longer. "Wake up, Theo," he said. "The Dark Lord doesn't care about any of us. He only cares about one thing: power. All we can do is keep our heads down and hope to stay out of his wrath."
"But The Dark Lord has promised us all a better life!" argued Teddy. "Aren't you tired of living in the shadows? Aren't you tired of hiding? We shouldn't be hiding from the Muggles." He looked directly at Ella. "And we shouldn't fear them, either."
"Guys, we're camping," said Ella. She reached into her bag. "Let's not argue." She pulled out Professor Trelawney's sherry. "I know this is awful, but can we try to make the best of it?" Both Blaise and Teddy smiled, then nodded.
Before long, the sherry was gone, and they were exchanging stories by the firelight. Ella was the first to fall asleep, but also the first to wake up, right at 5 am, like always. The sun was not yet up. She stretched and stepped out of the shelter, feeling horribly stiff. The twilight mist was truly beautiful, carpeting the forest floor. Blaise stepped up to join her outside, his broomstick in hand.
"Did I wake you?" she whispered.
"No, I always wake up early," he said. "I'm going back to the dormitory. If I fly around from the Quidditch pitch, maybe they'll think I simply got up before dawn to warm up for the game."
"Good thinking," Ella replied with a grin.
"I'll go straight to Draco's dorm and bring his Quidditch uniform. If we can get him into his equipment, too, then maybe nobody will suspect…?"
Ella's arms opened to bring Blaise into a tight embrace, but he quickly put his hand on her forehead.
"No, no, dear. I'm British," he said. "We only show affection to dogs and horses." Ella snorted. She then patted him on the shoulder, which he accepted. He mounted his broom and flew away. She took in a deep breath in and breathed out. There. It was fine. They had survived the night…and Teddy got to go camping for the first time. Ella promised herself that, next summer, she'd invite Teddy out for a real camping trip, and they could make s'mores together by a fire.
"Ella?" She turned around to see Teddy stirring. She peeked her head back in the shelter. "What time is it?"
"A little after five," she answered. "The sun's not yet up." He stretched. "Did you sleep okay?"
"Better than I expected," he admitted with a laugh.
She sat next to him. It was a little tense, as neither quite knew what to say, but Ella managed to break the silence first. "Next summer," she said, "you and I are going to go camping for real. We'll get a big tent, we'll roast marshmallows on the fire, and we'll go fishing…all of the fun camping stuff you've never done before, we're gonna do. Damn right, we will," she said. A beat. "Can we hug?"
Slowly, he grinned with those adorable rabbit teeth. "Sure." Ella smiled with glee and wrapped her arms around her friend so tight that she heard his back pop. "Oh my Lord that felt amazing!" he sighed, causing Ella to laugh heartily. They then stopped and looked over to see Draco stirring as well. "Uh-oh," he said, standing quickly and drawing out his wand.
"Go," said Ella. "Run back to the castle." She tugged him by the arm out of the shelter. "It'll be sunrise before you know it. I can do this."
"But Ella—"
"Trust me," she said. "Polvosueño makes you really groggy. It'll take him forever to wake up. You get back to the castle. Make up some excuse. You were out for a morning walk."
Hesitantly, Teddy nodded, and then ran through the forest, back to Hogwarts. Ella went back in the shelter and grabbed her bag. She took her robes and pulled them over her shoulders, then pulled out her wand. Draco was stirring slowly. She knelt at his side, wanting nothing more than to brush his fur back, to rub his ears and tell him everything would be alright.
She looked at him from top to bottom. His head was enormous, and his paws dwarfed her hands. He was long and spindly and rather terrifying, but to see him sleeping so peacefully made her feel, at least, a little better…not that it mattered. She'd done a terrible thing, and there was no getting around it. Upon the realization, of course, that she actually was feeling such deep remorse made her realize one thing: she wasn't a psychopath after all.
The sun began to rise, and Ella felt its warmth on her back. She stepped outside to view the spectacle, only to hear cracking bones and slow-building screams when the rays hit Draco's body. She looked away, a deep throbbing pain in her chest, like her heart cracking from some great pressure. She heard his howls turn into screams, then moans, then—finally—a soft sobbing. Tears welled in Ella's eyes, and the full horror of her actions hit her like a curse.
Finally, she swallowed her tears, put on a smile, and walked towards the entrance of their tiny house of sticks. She peeked in and saw Draco, naked, crying in a ball on the forest floor. He seemed so small, so helpless…she then realized that this must be what he had been talking about the night of their anniversary. 'Dangerous things going on?' Of course. This must have been what he was talking about. Oh, God, no wonder he was so ashamed to say it out loud. Ella wanted to crawl under a stump and die.
"Draco—?" He quickly recoiled to the back of the hut, in the shadows where he couldn't be seen. She stepped inside. "Draco, it's me—"
"GO AWAY!" he shouted. His voice was forceful as the wind, but Ella didn't budge. "I SAID GO AWAY!"
Tears streamed down her face as she slid her robe off and offered it to him, keeping her eyes to the ground. He snatched it up and covered himself. She took a step towards him, and he pitched a hard stone directly at her knees, which knocked her to the ground.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" he screamed again before dissolving into sobs.
Ella looked down; her stocking was scratched open, now, and blood was pooling at the open gash on her knee. She tried to stand, but failed. Her breath stifled as she crawled closer. She was trying as hard as she could to be strong, but seeing him cry wasn't making it easy.
"Get away from me, Ella…" he sobbed, his face buried in his folded arms and knees.
"I'm not leaving you," she said, her voice shaking.
"Go away," he wept, a tinge of his emotions tickling at the back of her mind. She felt him; he was scared, humiliated, angry…and Ella couldn't blame him for any of it. She sniffed back her own tears and sat next to him, afraid to touch him. The throbbing in her knee was becoming more and more painful by the moment.
"Is this what you were afraid to tell me?" she asked. "Is this what was so hard for you to say?" Draco's breathing slowed. He wiped his eyes and turned his head away. "I made you promise me that you'd ask me for help when—"
"YOU WERE HELPING!" he roared, turning his bloodshot gaze to her. "YOU WERE HELPING AND YOU FUCKED IT UP! I TRUSTED YOU! HOW COULD YOU?!"
Ella was stunned. "I-I…" She burst into tears. "I'm sorry…" she whispered. "I'm so sorry..." She doubled over in sobs, the salt of her own tears stinging the open wound on her knee. "I screwed up so bad. I'm so sorry." There was enough adrenaline in her system to let her stand, albiet shakily. "I don't deserve to…" She choked on her words. "I'm so sorry, Draco." And she limped away, into the forest...
Alright, so this is the longest chapter I've written here, a whopping 11k+ words! I think a few things warrant explanation.
There's this huge fan theory out there that Draco Malfoy is a werewolf. SuperCarlinBrothers did a REALLY cool YouTube video on it, actually! Basically, in the books, we never actually SEE Draco with a Dark Mark. We also know that the threat of a werewolf bite from Fenrir Greyback is a prevalent threat, but we never really see, on screen, the Malfoys get punished for their EPIC screw-ups. And remember when, in Borgin & Burkes, Draco shows his arm to Borgin and says "Fenrir Greyback is a close friend and he wouldn't have to have him pay a visit" in the beginning of the Half-blood Prince? What if it wasn't a Dark Mark, but a werewolf bite? There's just LOTS of evidence that Draco Malfoy is a werewolf in the books, and I frankly couldn't resist. And don't you think it further adds to why the Malfoys ultimately turned on Voldemort in the end? Because, y'know, their only son and sole heir was bitten by a FUKKEN WEREWOLF?
Let's remember how the wizarding community treats lycanthropy: HORRIBLY. It's this awful disease that's riddled with shame, and someone like Draco, who is especially proud of his Pureblooded heritage, would feel nothing but disdain and humiliation for this punishment. Now you guys know a HUGE plot point: why Ella works tirelessly at St. Mungo's, why Draco shows up on her doorstep...the plot thickens. But this is basically the worst year of Draco's life. And Ella feels awful.
As always, thank you SO MUCH to my readers HeartofAspen, SabrinaJasmine, and Pancakestack...more to come soon!