The Wicked Walk On Every Side

Chapter 19

a/n: Sorry it's short this time, guys. 

When Wolfbane had entered the forest with Maxentius and Aster before, he had noticed how much more dim it was. Now, as he exited the forest, he one again noted the differences between the two settings. In the forest amongst the leaves and the overgrown flora, he was acutely aware of everything going on about him. Even the sound of his breathing was obnoxiously loud within the dampened silence of the darkness. Out in the wide open field, however - with the great stretch of a clear sky, and the moon and stars shining down on him - Wolfbane almost felt as if his conscious awareness expanded with each breath. He didn't feel centered in his own body. It was almost as if the forest had an immense pressure that compacted his very being, and now that he was out, his atoms took to spreading throughout the air like a fine mist. It was almost, soothing (or as soothing as being in the dark could be, for Wolfbane). Almost as if he could relax, if he really tried.

That is, if it weren't for the fact that he was currently walking very briskly away from two of his closest friends, who he had just left back in the forest.

It had taken quite a while for the trio to make their way to the forest, but Wolfbane was making record time retracing his steps. He may be shorter than the other two, but anger helped to kick his legs into gear and lengthen his strides.

The anger that powered his legs also helped to refocus his mind away from the vast openness of the lawn. His conscious awareness shrank back into his own body, and his mind was stoked into going around in circles at a thousand miles a minute. As angry as Wolfbane was (seething, practically), he couldn't really come up with a reason for why he was so angry. He couldn't blame his behavior on the dark. He was thirteen years old, and yeah, he was still a kid. However, that kind of behavior over something as trivial as being scared of the dark would have been exceptionally childish. Maybe he was just overtired? That would explain his over-irritability about the whole situation, but it still was an excuse.

Maybe you should just have a better grip on your emotions, Wolfbane berated himself.

The warm glow of the castle's front steps helped him to clear his head a bit, but he still couldn't quite shake the shame or the guilt. He really didn't think that being alone tonight would be a good idea, and he really wasn't looking forward to dealing with Maxentius when the other boy would eventually come back to the dorm. He knew where he wanted to go, but with Maxentius already being touchy about the subject and now what Wolfbane had done, he wasn't sure going there would be the best option in the long run.

Plus he didn't know the password for Gryffindor tower.

That left one option, which he wasn't sure he could pull off without getting expelled. Wolfbane knew that his sister's would always welcome him and coddle him when he needed it, but there was too strong of a chance that one of the portraits would snitch on him, and then he would have detention, and he just - did not want to deal with that.

Wolfbane didn't want to deal with anything really. The idea of confronting Aster and Maxentius after what had happened tonight made his throat tighten. Aster had been his first friend outside of his family. The two of them had met during their first year, and had clicked really well. Sure, they had had their normal squabbles, but the aftermath had never felt like this. Wolfbane had known of Maxentius since first year. It was kind of hard not to at least be aware of members of your own house and year, after all. They hadn't gotten close to each other until this year, though. Even so, they were close now, or at least, until tonight. Tonight - well, tonight had just been a gigantic disaster.

Too tired to deal with his own emotional turmoil, Wolfbane decided that it would be best to simply head back to his own dorm after all. Maybe if he hurried he could fall asleep before Maxentius returned.