POV of Parvati Patil
The day after Halloween, I quickly noticed something was off with Bella, as she didn't sit with us at the Gryffindor table for breakfast as usual. Throughout the day, I tried, unsuccessfully, to catch her, but whenever she saw me, she turned around and went another way. I simply couldn't understand what had suddenly come over her; we had been best friends, and now she was avoiding me at every opportunity. Unfortunately, we didn't have any classes together on Fridays, which made it especially difficult for me to catch her. This continued all weekend, and on Monday, when we had Potions first period, Bella sat up front next to Zane, which meant I had to work with James, while his usual partner Lavender worked with a girl from Slytherin.
Throughout the entire lesson, I could hardly concentrate on brewing the potion. Time and again, I was on the verge of throwing the wrong ingredients into the cauldron or overheating it. If James hadn't prevented my mistakes at the last moment each time, the potion would certainly have been an utter disaster. 'Pull yourself together, Par!' James admonished me for what felt like the hundredth time when I started stirring the potion anti-clockwise instead of clockwise as the recipe stated. 'I don't know why she's suddenly acting so oddly either. But it's not helping anyone if you stab the horned slugs instead of slicing them and finally putting them in the cauldron,' he continued as I was indeed handling the potion's final ingredient a bit too brutally. He looked at me seriously, then assured me: 'It'll all sort itself out. We'll catch her after dinner at the latest, okay? But until then, please pull yourself together.'
I had actually planned to catch her right after the lesson, but she left the classroom first, together with Zane. I wasn't surprised that she also sat away from us in History of Magic. Cat-Lee now noticed that something was amiss too, but when she asked, I could only shrug. After all, I didn't know what was going on myself. Usually, the History lessons had always been great fun, as we always played Muggle games, but without Bella, I wasn't in the mood for that. Even Hermione next to me seemed alarmed that I was trying to follow Binns' lesson with my head resting on my arms. I usually never looked at him, but today I was staring through him at the wall, without consciously seeing it. The last time I had been in such a bad mood was when I had been upset about Snape... But he was really the least of my problems at the moment!
When the school day was finally over, I sat with James, Ariana, and Hermione at dinner. I only ate a slice of bread myself, as I kept nervously looking over at the Slytherin table so as not to miss when Bella left. Luckily, my friends had already finished eating when I saw out of the corner of my eye that Bella, accompanied by Zane, was standing up. As if on cue, all four of us jumped up immediately and intercepted the two in front of the Great Hall. 'Oh, you've found your gloves,' I tried to start the conversation. However, she replied without looking at me: 'Yes... believe me, I won't go without them again…' As she said this, she increased the distance between us by simply walking on. I had to hurry to catch up with her; we were now leaving the castle. 'Tell me... What's been going on with you since Halloween? You're not usually like this…' I pressed. She walked on silently for a few more steps before finally stopping and turning to face me. She was still careful not to stand too close to me and positioned herself closer to Zane for that purpose.
I noticed that she was considering what to say, her gaze no longer on me but on James, Ariana, Hermione, and Cat-Lee, who had joined us on the way outside. Although it probably took only a few seconds before she answered, it felt like an eternity to me, so much so that the lack of an immediate response tormented me.
'Tell me…' she began hesitantly, 'you're not an Animagus by any chance, are you?' My worst fear had come true. I didn't know how it was possible, but she knew I could transform. Since I had no idea if she knew more, or if this question was meant seriously, I answered, ignoring the confused faces of the others: 'Um... No, why? I mean, it's supposed to be incredibly difficult to achieve such a transformation…'
To my horror, she now burst out, addressing the others: 'She transformed! Into a wolf, and you should see how she can handle a sword!'
I didn't dare look at the others, as I had no idea in which direction the conversation would go and what they would think of me. Only when Cat-Lee whispered that we shouldn't discuss such things right in front of the entrance portal, as Malfoy was just passing through it, did I look up from the ground again. Together we walked towards the Forbidden Forest, at the edge of which we finally stopped. Again, I lowered my gaze. I didn't want to face their shocked, angry, or disappointed looks.
'If you do anything to us, I'll scream!' Bella now threatened, to which James calmly assured her that I wouldn't harm anyone. 'You haven't seen her!' she snapped at him. 'I watched her at night, moving around the grounds and transforming into a wolf. And before that, she was practising fighting with a sword. Haven't you ever noticed her eyes?! They're sometimes green!'
When I dared to look up, I saw Hermione nodding slowly. 'Yes, I've noticed that a few times, but that doesn't mean anything, in the light it often looks as if eyes change colour. And when do you claim to have observed her? She's never left the dormitory at night, we would have noticed. Perhaps we should give Par the opportunity to explain everything?' She now looked at me expectantly, but Bella continued speaking before I could say anything: 'She's a wolf! And she's dangerous, that doesn't need explaining. How should I know how she sneaked away! It doesn't matter, I just saw her!'
'What else did you see?' I finally spoke up. 'Did you see IT? Or Scatty?' I didn't need to wait for her answer, her look said it all: She looked at me almost fearfully and remained silent. 'As long as I don't give Scatty a chance to gain control over me, nothing will happen to anyone... But it's getting harder. Whenever I'm very angry - or lately, when other strong feelings become prominent - she comes. You can recognize it by my eyes when they turn green. I can transform into the wolf because of the creature... It's not dangerous. I've started to fight against Scatty. She appeared back then when I was almost dying, when this... being... attacked me,' I tried to explain everything to her. I had no idea how much she already knew and was sure that I also owed the others an explanation of what I was talking about here. I sighed and began to tell the story of what had happened in the forest about three years ago.
"My parents were once again on a business trip at that time, which is why Padma and I were home alone with our house-elf Wanda. It was a full moon night, and I made a bet with Padma about who would dare to go furthest into the nearby forest. After a while, she got scared and wanted to turn back, but I hadn't had enough and kept going deeper. Then, suddenly, we heard noises, and Padma tried to pull me back to the house. When she couldn't manage that, she ran away alone. But I simply couldn't move, as I had perceived a terrifying figure. It looked like a werewolf, but... more human, though not in a good way! It looked like an incomplete transformation or a hybrid creature. In any case, it had light grey, matted fur, red eyes, and huge fangs... Well... I was in shock later, so I can't say exactly what happened, but it definitely attacked me and injured my shoulder. I still remember how it bled incredibly that night. Somehow the creature let go of me, and I was eventually able to flee... I don't remember more myself. Anyway, since then I can transform into the wolf, and Padma noticed that same night, as Wanda was treating my wounds, that my eyes were glowing green. Whenever I'm particularly angry or upset, I lose control of myself a bit. Then I get the green eyes; Padma calls this state Scatty, after Scathach, a warrior princess from Celtic mythology. I'm simply not myself then, but I fight against it. That's why I started working on my self-discipline and practising sword fighting two years ago. Doing so, I always feel less weak and powerless than usual. She is a part of me, like a second soul living inside me.
When I was in danger back then, she used my fear and took over my body. She saved me. When the creature bit me, I was Scatty, which is why she... became dangerous and unpredictable. At first, I could only transform into the wolf when I was her, because only she had taken on the characteristics, but now the boundaries seem to be blurring more and more…'
'Perhaps Dumbledore should know about this. He could certainly help you,' Hermione began. 'No, he'd have to expel me from school if he couldn't prove I'm harmless. I can't risk that,' I replied anxiously. 'Rightly so,' Bella interjected, 'Who knows what will happen the next time you get angry. I don't understand how everyone here can remain so calm and take it for granted that you have yourself under control,' she continued angrily. 'She's an uncontrollable monster, damn it! Don't say I didn't warn you!'
With these words, she ran back to the castle, followed by Zane, who had remained silent the whole time. 'I don't believe you'll harm us,' Ariana unexpectedly broke the silence first. Honestly, it left me speechless when James, Hermione, and Cat-Lee also announced they wanted to stand by me. I had expected the worst... That everyone would turn against me because they, just like Bella, were afraid of me. 'We'll figure out how to make sure that you, or Scatty, really do remain harmless,' James assured me, having correctly interpreted my uncertain facial expression.
'Otherwise, we wouldn't be true friends, would we?' Hermione agreed with him.
