The next generation (The strings of fate)

Marocelli POV

The moment he heard Giovanni calling to him Marocelli rushed off. He didn't want to be caught snooping around the witch's house. When he had seen her from across the lake he was uncomfortable with the thought that a witch lived so close to him. He had been living in the woods for years alone with his familiars. He trotted through the woods, on his way back home. Maude had not been far and joined him on the way back. She was his second familiar, a black and grey wolf and the inspiration to him learning transfiguration. After a while he ended his spell still moving but on two legs.

His long black hair swung over his shoulders as he pulled his hoodie up to hide from the setting sun. His green eyes carefully watched the forest, cautious now that he had found someone so far out into the mountains. She had been beautiful but the look on her face when he had accidentally stepped into her path had made him freeze in fear. She had been serious and looked more than ready to attack him. He was glad that Giovanni had followed him. If not for the distraction Giovanni created, Marocelli wasn't sure he could have escaped as quickly as he did.

Giovanni swooped down from above. Marocelli lifted his arm as his familiar landed on his tattered black and red hoodie. "Pretty girl." He croaked, tilting his head as he looked at Marocelli teasingly.

"A dangerous one. I didn't know anyone lived this far out..." he trailed off, frowning. "We might have to move the den."

Maude's growl was immediate, "you can't always run." She was annoyed with him. Giovanni laughed with a series of croaks.

"Sneaky boy, sneaking around the pretty girl." Giovanni did not have the most complex mental speech but he was very good at embarrassing Marocelli.

"I wasn't sneaking! I had to follow her to make sure I knew where to avoid." He immediately defended, his ears warm. The raven laughed flying off. Maude huffed, ears laid back against her head as they neared the cave.

The next day Marocelli and Maude went out to hunt. Giovanni followed them until they went on a walk through the woods. Marocelli didn't let them know that he wanted to go see if the witch was as scary as she seemed.

He spent some time circling the cottage, finding which paths she used the most. He cast a spell turning into a wolf with ease. In his wolf form he could smell everything. Maude huffed and walked off. She couldn't go very far without being brought back to him, as his familiars, they were bound to him by magic.

He crept out of trees, hearing Giovanni land quietly on a branch to watch him. He sniffed carefully, he realized as he came to the side of the house that there was too much noise coming from the little shop to the side. He avoided the area, sniffing around. He smelled two people now that he was so close. His hackles rose in nervousness, luckily he couldn't smell any men. Slowly and as cautiously as he could, he moved around to the yard. He stopped, hidden by a bush as he saw the witch from the day before.

She was still wet from being in the pool, the water dripped off of her hair to the ground. She was stretched out beside the pool and had her nose in a herbology book with her note book next to it. She murmured words under her breath but he couldn't quite make them out. "Stupid... work... hell?!..." Was what he could pick out. She wore a black two piece of clothing that showed a lot of skin. Her skin was so white the sun made it almost glow. Her white and red hair was tied into a messy bun, pieces of escaped hair hung in her face. Water droplets danged off the ends and dripped onto the book she read and seeped into the pages. Every so often she'd scribble in the notebook next to her seemingly focused on a complicated problem.

Marocelli's stomach fluttered, if he was in his human form he was sure that his face would have gone red. He was entranced by how beautiful she was. Without meaning too he settled down beside the bush, laying his head on his paws as he watched. Intrigued enough with what she was like when she believed she was alone made him crawl forward just a hair.