The gigantic wolf leapt at her throat, latching on he shook her and beat her...after that he left her for dead...
Paige woke with a gasp. Her eyes were alight with fear. She looked around and realized that she was in the infirmary. She could hear voiced shouting outside the door. And Madame Pomfrey showed up out of nowhere. She came over and gave Paige something to drink.
"You gave us all a right good scare there Miss Castro! Your friend here didn't think that you would live!" she said with a smile.
Paige looked over to see Hermione sitting on the bed opposite of her. Her eyes were puffy and she looked scared. The shouting calmed down and the doors to the infirmary opened and Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape came in.
"Ahh Miss Castro, you are awake. I hope that you can explain what happened." Dumbledore smiled kindly at her. She couldn't tell them.
"I...I don't re...remember" She lied with a small shiver, she hated doing it but she had to, Snape's eyes narrowed.
"I went for a walk and the next thing I knew a huge animal had me by the throat. After that I remember trying to walk back to the castle, then I blacked out." she explained a bit more. Which was a huge lie but she didn't care. They all looked at her and she grew a look of fear on her face.
"By the bite marks, I would say that you were bitten by a large canine. Hopefully it was not a werewolf. But you shall stay in the infirmary until Madame Pomfrey is sure about that." The Head Master said with a sympathetic smile.
"I...I'm not going t..to turn into a..a werewolf am...am i?" She asked with fake fear yet she knew she wouldn't.
"We don't know yet my dear, but we shall soon find out, the full moons tonight." Madame Pomfrey replied kindly. Paige stared fearfully at Hermione who let out a whimper and before anyone could stop her, she bolted to Paige and hugged her, refusing to let go. Paige clutched her back; everyone stared until Dumbledore said calmly,
"I think we should give these girls some time alone" With that, every adult walked out of the infirmary.
"I thought you were going to die!" Hermione sobbed. Paige hugged her more tightly
"I'm fine, I would have been fine, but I'm glad you came." Paige replied sincerely. Hermione looked at her and said guiltily,
"I shouldn't have let you go outside all alone! I should have gone with you! I'm so sorry Paige!" she whispered
"Don't be!" Paige exclaimed. "If you had been with me that creature would have gotten us both and then where would we be? Dead probably. Its ok! I don't blame you for anything. It was my fault." Paige explained.
Hermione smiled thankfully at her but she still looked scared. She was about to say something when the doors burst open and in strode a man and a woman. With all of the teachers plus Madam Pomfrey following them quickly.
"Where is my daughter?" The man asked, he quickly spotted his daughter and moved towards her, brushing past Hermione and wrapping his daughter in a huge hug.
"DAD?" Paige asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see you of course!" The man replied matter of factly. "I came as soon as I got the letter!" Paige was delighted to see her father, but the woman standing behind him was another story.
"Hi mom" Paige said politely. Her mother, a blonde haired woman with green eyes stared at her daughter. Paige may have her mother's hair, but she had her father's strongly built body and blue eyes. His hair was brown. Paige's mother moved forward and gave her daughter a quick hug. A hug which Paige hardly returned.
"What are you two doing here?" Paige asked.
"Like your father said, we came as soon as we got the letter. And I want to know exactly what happened!" her mother exclaimed, fake concern written all over her face. Paige could believe that her father cared, but not her mother.
"Well…. I don't really know what happened, I went for a walk and I was attacked by a huge creature. Madame Pomfrey thinks that it might have been a werewolf." Paige explained tiredly.
"Oh dear! Please don't let that be so!" her mother cried. Paige's father just stared at them both.
"How did you get back to the castle?" Her father asked.
"Hermione found me and went to get a teacher. Without her, I think I might have died." Paige said looking at her friend with complete pride.
"I thank you for saving my daughter, it must have taken a lot of courage to go out by yourself and do what you did!" Paige's mother replied, wrapping Hermione in a hug, her father smiled happily.
"I am pleased to hear that my daughter has found a friend that can take care of her when we aren't here." He said with complete gratitude.
"And while we are here, may we speak to our daughter in private?" Paige's mom asked sweetly. Everyone looked at her and Paige's eyes widened in fear and uncertainty and a little bit of wariness. And Snape just happened to notice it; his eyes narrowed once again, his gaze flickered from Paige to her mother.
"Of course you may." Dumbledore replied. And with that all of the adults and Hermione left the family to talk. The minute that the door shut, Paige's mother sent a sound proof spell.
"Now tell us what happened, and DON'T lie!" her mother growled angrily.
"Shadow attacked me in the woods, he nearly killed me but he said he would wait 'till I was older. Oh and just to let you know, I had been drinking earlier so you might as well start the lecture now!" Paige spat at her. Her mother glared angrily.
"What was this about Shadow? Did you approach him or was it the other way around? And what did he want?" Her father asked. Now he was fully alert.
"He was lurking in the woods so I went to tell him to leave, and I approached him. And I think he wanted to challenge me for my spot." She replied, her mother let out an angry shriek and turned into a wolf, Paige immediately did the same. Her mother jumped at her. Paige jumped back, which made her mother angrier.
The she-wolves circled one another for a moment; and Paige's mother leapt at her; teeth barred. She slammed into Paige, and the two wrestled; Paige's mother's claws pounding down on her as she pinned her daughter down. Suddenly enough however, Paige's mother was propelled off of her; her body slamming into the ground.
DO NOT TOUCH HER! He snarled in wolf talk, standing over his ex-wife.
SHE MUST BE PUNNISHED! THIS LITTLE BRAT COULD HAVE HURT YOUR BROTHER! ARE YOU NOT GOING TO PUNNISH HER FOR ATTACKING A MEMBER OF THE PACK? Her mother snarled back. She stood, but stayed in a crouching position; a motion of submission.
HE ATTACKED ME! I DON'T NEED A PUNNISHMENT! HE DOES! YOU KNOW THE RULES, AND YOU KNOW VERY WELL THAT HE WANTS MY PLACE IN THE PACK BECAUSE YOU HAVE DROPPED LOWER THAN AN UNDERWOLF! Paige snarled viciously at her mother. Her mother snarled and smacked her hard across the face.
ENOUGH her father roared. The two females cowered away from him and turned into humans. He did the same.
"We shall be leaving now." He snarled at her mother. "And if you EVER attack my daughter like that again, you'll be kicked out of the pack, and then you can be with Shadow you traitorous wench! As of now he is banished from the pack, attacking the alphas child is against the rules!"
Paige smirked at her mother. Then her mother took the spell off the door and turned and walked over to the door, letting the others back in. her father wrapped her in a hug and said his goodbye. Then her mother turned and stiffly gave her a hug too, Paige glared at her the whole time. And then they left without saying anything.
Hermione came into the room and crossed over to Paige and sat down next to her. Before her father disappeared he turned back to her and said.
"Oh and keep an eye out for a surprise that I'm sending you." And with that he disappeared. Paige watched then turned back to Hermione.
"I'm really sorry for doing this to you Hermione!" She said, and in reply the mousy brunette hugged her. Paige tried hard not to wince from the pain; or let her anger show from the previous argument.
"I'm curious, why exactly don't you look like you have spent the night drinking and breaking the rules? You should have been in bed, and instead you're walking around the grounds like you weren't drunk at all." Snape said suspiciously upon walking back in. Paige couldn't help but notice the calculating look he gave her mother and then his calculating gaze turned to her.
"Um…that's because we didn't have a lot of alcohol! And I get over it fairly quickly." Paige replied. Snape didn't look like he believed her, but he had no proof of them having more than one bottle. Though they didn't act like they had only one.
"For now, let's leave this subject. Paige, get well and we hope for the best. But for now you should get some rest." Dumbledore said kindly. Paige nodded. Everyone stood to leave and Paige eventually drifted off.
The full moon came and went and Paige never once turned into a werewolf, she was finally discharged on Saturday, the day of her detention which was that night. She sighed and walked out into the court yard to look for her new friends, still pondering how much she should tell them. And wonder if she should tell them why she didn't like her mother. She saw them sitting underneath a tree not far off and she hurried to meet them.
"Hey guys!" She said as she reached them.
"Hey Paige come and sit with us!" Hermione said happily. Harry and Ron both nodded a hello. Paige sat down, unsure what to tell them.
"Hey, I was wondering if I could tell you guys something?"
"Yeah sure Paige, what is it?" Harry asked. Hermione and Ron nodded, turning their attention to her.
"Well I can't tell you right now, there are too many people, but its personal, and I want to warn you now that you probably won't like it…"Paige said hesitantly.
"You can tell us Paige, we're friends! We aren't going to judge you!" Hermione said helpfully.
"Thanks Hermione! It's nice to know I can rely on three great people! But I'll tell you during our detention tonight!"
"Ok Paige, we'll be there!...actually I think we have to be there, hehe that was a really fun night!" Ron said happily.
"Do you think…-" Hermione trailed off when she saw something. Paige turned around quickly, and dodged a fist coming straight toward her head. She grabbed the fist and shoved it away, then leapt up and grabbed the person who had tried to assault her.
"I see your reflexes are as fast as ever" came a VERY familiar voice. Emilee.
"Emilee! You know better than to try and attack me! You might have been beaten severely!" Paige cried out happily, embracing the other girl. When she pulled back both girls smiled at one another.
"I shoulda known that my dad would send a bit of home to me! And here you are! I've missed you so much!"
"I know! Your dad is one cool man! He talked to some old guy and I'm allowed to come here now! And the rest of the gangs here too!"
Paige looked behind her and sure enough, two boys stood there smiling broadly. With a delighted shout, Paige attacked them. Leaping into the arms of the slightly taller, darker haired boy.
"Owen! Salem! You fool's! How have you been!" At last, Paige was reunited with her friends. They talked animatedly as she hugged each one. Then, turning back to Hermione she smiled and stated.
"Hermione, these are the three hoodlums that I grew up with. Owen, Salem and Emilee! Hoodlums meet, Hermione, Harry and Ron!" The six kids regarded each other uncertainly. But finally Emilee stepped towards Hermione and smiled and then hugged her.
"I'm glad that Paige has been able to find new friends here. She's SUCH a trouble maker!" Emilee laughed, immediately warming up to the nerdy girl in front of her.
"I am a trouble maker thank you! And as I seem to recall, so are YOU!" at that Emilee smiled. And everyone else relaxed. Now Paige could have fun with her new and old friends. But first to get acquainted!