5.0
It felt a little like waking up as my mind was released from the instincts that bound it. My tummy felt bloated with the glut of flesh I'd fed it. I wanted to throw up but was too shocked-still to even do that. It wouldn't have done much good anyways. I could tell some of my meal, some of him had already moved down into my second stomach. There was no changing the fact that I'd killed and eaten something that looked entirely too human.
I'd mistaken him for the same sort of creature as the ring-bearer from before but as he'd hung off my talon he'd looked more like that homeless man I saw in London than anything else. There was no confirming his species now. There was hardly anything left of him but tooth-marked bone and rags.
Perversely while my human stomach was having trouble digesting, the rest of me felt energized and strong. Even my broken foreleg had reset itself, carapace cracked and sore but mending. As I rose to my feet I could swear I was even a few inches taller. It felt wrong to benefit from doing something so horrid but my body disagreed, mouth watering as I remembered the light I found inside him. I could see the light everywhere now, hidden in every bird and bee and scurrying mouse. They were dim flecks, a grain of sand against the ocean of fire contained within the being I'd eaten. I had a suspicion they were souls. Was I part dementor now too?... I couldn't think about this any longer.
Another shock met me as I trudged to the river to clean myself. There was no blood to clean off, no stain on my hands to furiously scrub away. The second thing I noticed after realizing the color wasn't from dried blood was that my skin was now the shade of caramel, halfway betwixt the pale white skin I was born with and the impossibly black carapace of my spider half. It was a petty thing to be worried about in comparison to everything else but it felt like another small part of me had slipped away.
I grabbed the timeturner and flipped it twice before sanity could stop me in a desperate attempt to reverse what I'd done. Rather than the now-familiar sense of time twisting backwards on itself I hissed as melting metal burned my hand. Tossing away the sparking device I licked my hand to relieve the burn. Sparks began to set the grass afire until a swift Aguamenti spell put it out. Peering at the soaked ground I picked out the melted and utterly ruined form of the time turner.
"..." There were no words I could utter to express what I was feeling. I'd done something that I couldn't undo and now I'd lost the tool that I'd been reliant on for so long. Once more I was fully subject to causality and the inexorable onward push of time. No more midday trips to Europe or hour-long naps during bathroom breaks… no more innocence.
I ran then, favoring my healing leg but still moving swiftly along the riverbank. The path was much longer than I'd thought it by broom but my recent meal provided me with all the energy I needed. Miles and miles passed as I ran until the sun fell and then kept going. When I finally reached the portal the sharpest edges of the trauma had eased, dulled under the steady beat of my legs against dirt for hours upon hours.
The dawn had just come at Hogwarts, several hours ahead of Arda. Though I wasn't yet ready to face a new day I had no choice. No longer did I have the ability to bend time as it pleased me, only the ability to change myself to meet the demands of the day.
Hoping that none would look too closely in the early morning I cast the best illusion spells I could over my spider half and rushed through the halls. I was all too aware of what a poor illusion it was without the invisibility cloak to aid me. My upper half brought no comfort either since most of my experience with glamours was in fabrics, making my invisible spider legs look like a floor-length skirt. Thus I was unable to change my skin color even temporarily. There wasn't enough black students at Hogwarts for me not to stick out but hopefully with the foreign students here for the tournament they'd assume I was a stranger at first glance or there would be a whole new set of malicious rumors about me.
In a surprising change of luck I made it to my cauldron's hiding place unaccosted. Drawing up another water bottle full of polyjuice I took a deep sip of the bitter drink. The feeling of getting stuffed into a body too small for me was more uncomfortable than ever but I endured. A little transfiguration later and my t-shirt stretched into a peasant dress. It was still a bit breezier wear than I wanted especially for the chill castle but it kept me decent enough.
It was nearly breakfast, I remembered. Food was the furthest thing from my mind but the announcement of the Triwizard champions was this morning and it would be a shame to miss it. Forcing a misleading smile on my face I headed to the great hall, setting an illusion of a witch hat over my furred ears just in time.
End 5.0
A/N Well, looks like I've scared most people off, down to one or two hundred readers now. Almost did the Dol Goldur arc here but decided to do an arc at Hogwarts first.