Author's Note: So, here we are continuing the slight fairytale theme that I have going on here! Hope you enjoy!

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Fairytales, Book 2 - Little Red Riding Hood

Prompts: (AU) Little Red Riding Hood, (creature) Werewolf, (word) Innocent, (object) Food Basket

Care of Magical Creatures

Write about someone taking excessive precautions to protect themselves against something that others would find strange.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise


All the Better

Lavender paced happily down the lane, ignoring the way the loose stones dug into her delicately shod feet. The red, velvet slippers were far from practical, especially with their thin soles, but Lavender had chosen them to match the special cloak her grandmother had made her. She wanted to make sure her Granny knew just how grateful she was for the long, red, hooded cloak.

Lavender liked to keep her mind busy on these walks, she examined the way the sun dappled on the leaves of the trees, turning a simple leaf into a kaleidoscope of green. She stopped to pick flowers and watch bunnies and listen to the sound of birdsong in the trees. Lavender took the time to bask in the beautiful day, eyes closed as she twirled along the path, her red cloak fanning out around her.

She began to hum, the deeper she went, singing wordless songs to herself to keep company. She didn't know why her grandmother insisted on living so far away from the town, but mother had said she was sick and sent Lavender down the beaten track with a basket full of homemade remedies and goodies.

She tried not to notice the way the temperature dropped around her, that the trees went from luscious green to dried brown, that the sun didn't shine so brightly and that the sweet sound of birdsong became the rustle and crackle of larger, scarier animals moving through the undergrowth.

After several, tense moments the little cottage came into view and Lavender let out a breath, picking up her pace until she was nearly running. She skidded to a quick halt three paces from the wooden steps that led up to the front door. Glancing around quickly she picked up the hem of her skirts and stepped over the thin wire that stretched from tree to tree.

Oddly enough, her Grandmother had the whole place rigged from all sides. As if she were afraid of something larger and more intelligent than the little animals that lived in the forest around them. Sure there were bears and wolves, but even they knew to stay away from a human home. Lavender had always meant to ask her Grandmother what exactly it was that she was so afraid of, but she always bottled it, more than a little afraid of hearing the answer.

After ducking another wire, hoping the second step and avoiding the trick panel in front of the door Lavender used the spare key her mother had given her to let herself into the quaint, single story cottage. She gently closed the door behind her and pushed the heavy crimson hood off her head, shaking her golden locks out behind her.

"Grandmother?" she called softly, moving further into the hall, cautious not to wake the frail old woman if she was sleeping. The entrance hall was sparsely furnished, a colourful rug, a small table with some dying flowers and a lamp. The walls were bare of all art but when Lavender looked closer at the wood of the doorways she could see that they were covered in intricately carved runes.

Her Grandmother's second line of defence.

Lavender scoffed a little at the notion of magic and passed it off as the superstitious habits of an old woman, alone and afraid. She decided to make more of an effort to visit her Grandmother, despite her remote location.

Carefully she crept into the kitchen and placed the pies and bread her mother had sent her with into the big pantry cupboard to keep them fresh. A big pot bubbled merrily over the fire and some sort of meaty soup seemed to be cooking in there. Lavender skirted the fireplace, picked up the basket with the medicine and shut the door to the kitchen behind her. She quickly popped her head into the sitting room but it, too, was empty. Her Grandmother's blanket was folded neatly on her chair, her glasses perched on top of a closed book and nothing seemed out of place.

That left the final door and as Lavender crept round into her Grandmother's bedroom the first thing she noticed was the odd smell. The room was hot and the air was heavy, the fire was banked up high and the blankets were piled on the figure in the bed that had to be her Grandmother. But the smell, it was sweet but sharp, she could almost taste it in the back of her throat. She wanted to choke on it, but there was no other air to breathe, it must have been the smell of illness.

"Grandmother?"

The blankets stirred and Lavender moved closer. "Is that you, dear?"

Her voice was frail but it was undeniably her grandmother. Lavender breathed a sigh of relief and went right up to the side of the bed. Her grandmother had the covers pulled right up to her chin and a lace nightcap pulled right down over her head so the only part of her visible was her pale and wrinkled face.

Lavender frowned. "Oh Grandmother, you look so ill, and you must be so cold if the room is so hot. I can see how pale you look and oh, your eyes are all swollen, they're so big!"

Her grandmother blinked her clear blue eyes at Lavender, the picture of innocence. "Why, it's all the better to see your beautiful face with my dear."

Lavender laughed and gently tucked a stray curl of snowy white hair back into the frilly laced cap. As she did she knocked it up and exposed her ear. She gasped. "Oh Grandmother, what an illness, your ears are so big and swollen too, and they're all hairy. Wait, it isn't contagious is it?"

"Oh no, my dear, it just means I can hear that sweet voice all the clearer. Won't you sing for me, darling girl?"

And so, Lavender opened her mouth and began to sing, stroking a soothing hand over the brow of her head. As she sang Lavender felt the skin beneath her fingers, it was warm and smooth but it felt more like the fur of a dog than the soft, weary skin of an old woman.

She looked down at her grandmother as she finished her song and the old woman smiled, wide and toothy. Lavender gasped, "oh my. Grandmother, what big teeth you have!"

The blankets began to heave as the woman started to sit up, causing Lavender to stumble backwards. As she watched the pale skin became black fur flecked with grey and the blue eyes changed shape, the nose grew and the lips curled back to reveal rows of sharp, pointed teeth.

Her Grandmother, the wolf, chuckled a low, raspy, growling sound that sent shivers right through Lavender. "Well my dear, like I told your Grandmother. They make it much easier, to eat you with!"


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Much Love, MaryandMerlin x