The Marauders: Moony

Remus And The Sunrise

She lay down next to him, and the long grass wrapped them in their own little cocoon.

He nudged her with his large wet nose, before resting his head on his paws and closing his eyes.

She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, it could have been minutes, or it could have been hours. 

She watched the large silver satellite as it slowly descended behind the trees.

She could hear his long, slow breaths and knew that he was asleep without even having to look at him, although she did just for confirmation, and unsurprisingly found that his eyes were closed.

She knew that she had to go.

She quietly rose and began to walk away, looking back as she reached the edge of the clearing. It was difficult to make out the shape of the other wolf now that the moon had disappeared behind the trees. It was only a matter of time before they changed back into their human forms.

As she was running back to where she had hidden her clothes, she felt it happen. She felt her bones begin to ache as they strained under her skin to morph back into their human shape.

Her vision started to blur due to the pain, so she closed her eyes tightly, and when she re-opened them, she found that the little details were no longer as sharp, and that she was now struggling to see in the dark. She looked down at the goosebumps on her bare arms, and the small thin hairs that stood on end. They were very different to the thick wires that had sprouted from her pores moments before.

She found her clothes exactly where she had left them, still folded neatly on a large rock on the edges of the forbidden forest. They were cold and slightly damp from the dew which had settled on everything, but she was grateful to put them on and escape from the cold air.

She began walking back towards the castle. The sky was streaked with orange and pink. The sun would be up soon, and it was beginning to get lighter.

As she walked around the edges of clearing, she couldn't help but look. She saw a boy curled up in the long grass like a thick blanket. His dark hair looked familiar. 

The girl stopped walking for a moment. 

She recognised him.

Her head pounded with the sudden realisation. Hundreds of memories flooded into her mind. It all made sense. So much sense. His deep red cuts, his dark purple bruises, his pale complexion and sunken eyes in the days before, and his nickname that his friends called him. Moony.

She wondered how she had not noticed. She was supposed to be smart, but she felt totally the opposite in this very moment.

Dread began to sink in. She felt sick. She didn't know what to do. Her head ached and her stomach knotted. She wanted to scream. Did he know?

She took a step out of the cover of the trees into the open clearing. Should she wake him?

She heard him groan in his sleep, and she panicked. Before she could even comprehend what she was doing, her legs started to move, and she was fleeing from the scene as though she had just committed a serious crime.

She ran as fast as she could, as fast as her legs could carry her. Her mind was crowded with so many thoughts, so many questions, she wasn't paying attention to where she was going. Her feet slipped on the dewy grass, and she slid to the ground. 

She instantly felt a dull ache in her wrist, which she had landed on. She lifted her arm to inspect it, and a sharp pain shot through from her wrist, right up to her shoulder. Once the sharp pain subsided, she could feel the dull ache begin to pulse in her wrist again. Her muddy fingers trembled as she rolled back her sleeve and took in the sight.