the gentle moon / george weasley

somethings wrong

"August please." George begged her, "Please stop disappearing in front of me."

August looked up at George, hiding every and all emotion from him. Even though she wanted to break down, right there and then. Beg him to hold her, so she could just cry and scream.

"Please, Augy." George sounded like he could cry, "I can't lose you. Do something, please."

She hid ever since the news about her surfaced in the daily prophet. As best as a Hogwarts Champion could. She would go to class, and make an appearance at dinner, but other than that she was gone. The garden was overgrown with weeds and all her flowers and herbs were dead. Since he sat with her while she garden, George thought he could somehow bring it all back to life, but he never really had a green thumb. He had found Neville a few times fixing it up for her, in case she wanted to come back to it, but it just sat untouched by her.

It all hit her finally when McGonagall and her saw her new quarters for the full moon. The room had no windows, just bare walls. In the middle is a cage, big enough to fit her but not big enough for her to roam. August could have sworn she saw her professor wipe a tear away.

"I'll be fine." August lied.

"You shouldn't have to be locked away like this," McGonagall said.

"It's fine," August said. McGonagall looked down at the girl, staring at the cage. And the professor couldn't hide her emotions anymore, not looking at August. Not like this. August was gone, this was not her student anymore.

"I guess, I'll meet you here tonight."

The ministry had decided that August would sleep on a cot the night before the full moon, and stay in that room until it was time for her to be locked up. She was not allowed to speak to another student on the day of a full moon, she was not allowed to be near another student. Food would be sent to her at meal times, and that was it.

"August," McGonagall sighed.

"It was me," August said. "I knew she was in the castle, I talked to Harry in the hallway about Greyback, about the full moon. Her source was me."

"She spied on you?" McGonagall gasped

"I did this to myself," August said. Her words were empty, and the way she talked was so monotone, it didn't even sound like her. "I need to go practice my charm one more time in the bath... Could you send up a bowl of water tomorrow?" She looked at her professor, "a bowl big enough for me to put my head into it."

"Should I be worried?"

"I'm not going to drown myself." August rolled her eyes, "I'm gonna be locked away for two days, I need to practice my bubble-head charm..."

"Oh, well. Very well, I will send up a bowl tonight."

"Thanks," August said, leaving the room.

People seemed to avoid her in the halls, walking the opposite way when she turned a corner or just hugging the wall when she walked by. August could smell her again, and she let her nose lead the way. It was an empty corridor, the classrooms off it had been abandoned for the day. There were no lingering students around, mostly because no one really cared to be in the Arithmancy hall after hours. August kicked the back of her foot, springing into a skip.

"Werewolves have these abilities, even when in their human form." She hummed, skipping back and forth from wall to wall, "It's like our senses are heightened..."

She did a twirl, jumping up to hit a banner hanging over the hall, "My dad has the most intense hearing." She laughed, "He heard my lighter click one night, even though he was halfway across the house." She looked up through her brows at one of the banisters down the hall, "I wasn't so lucky in that sense, but my smell. Oh, I can smell what we're having for dinner most nights, even when it's just been put on the stove. It's odd, really. The smell, of another person. Humans are simple, not a very complex scent. But when they have the ability to shift, there is this aroma, like an extra hint of something. Werewolves, they smell like pine in my opinion. Fresh, morning dew... And then there are Animagus..." She stopped dead in her tracks under a banister. "They smell like silver. I think I can smell those two so easily because we are both turned by a full moon. Animagus are lucky, it's only one full moon to complete their transformation, and the latter is stuck with it. I realized that they had a scent after I found out about my friend's pet... He was a rat, it was really fitting, actually. And then it clicked with my professors and two good friends of mine. They all smelled like silver. I believe it's because of the silver spoon you had to use for the potion, it lingers... My friend's forms make sense, you see dogs are loyal, brave... protective. Foxes, well those little guys, they're cunning, intelligent... easy to love." She looked up at the banister, "I smelled silver when you brought me that closet, Rita." August smiled, "You know my mum is a muggle-born, so I grew up around the muggle cinema. She likes those spy movies. It's fitting, you as a bug. Of course, you don't have to worry about the shorting out, smoking and sparking, and bad reception that comes with being wired. Thank you for keeping the name of your source out of the article." August looked straight at the beetle looking over the wooden beam, "The task is in two days, and during those two days I will be locked away from everyone. I do hope you have your camera ready for when the task begins, I'll make sure you get my good side. But maybe think about how you'll word it when the day comes, I would hate to get bug guts on my new shoes." August looked down at the docs her mother got her for Christmas last year, "I've only had them for a year now... Anyways, I should probably stop talking to myself. Someone might think I'm mad." And before August left, she stopped. She didn't look back, she stayed forward, "You should do some research on silver and werewolves, make sure you have your information right when the time comes. What happens to the skin, if one were to touch it... Think about it."