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It was a strange sort of pack that I ran up to, or at least it seemed to me.The larger animals stared at me with wide feral eyes, but I did not fear them. I knew what they were. Why they were there, though, that was a mystery. Then again, it was a mystery for me also the reason as to why I was there.I looked away from the animals. Up to where the trees gave way to see the night sky.Ah yes. There it was. The full moon.That’s why I was there. I was drunk of it.I looked back to the animals. They were ready to pounce on me at any given second. I did not fear them. Their feral eyes did not spark with danger toward me. No, those eyes were apprehensive as they waited.There was another creature, one more out of place and fearsome than the rest. It walked out of the edge of the trees, smelling the air, looking at me with small round eyes.I knew what it was, like I had known when I saw the rest of the pack.And again, I did not fear.I had no reason to. Deep down, I somehow knew it would not hurt me. It was the full moon. It intoxicated me, and left me to believe that I could brave the children of the night that she cared for. A sensible person (anyone really), even me off the influence of the moon, would think me dead. Even more dead while wearing the ridiculous nightgown I had been given at the start of school.It didn’t matter. As much as the dark creature and its pack were children of the night, so was I; more so than them.My eyes had not left the eyes of the most dangerous creature. I was not afraid, and it didn’t want to hurt me. I was sure.Stupid thought, yes.I smiled, my face had never before felt so relaxed and it made me raise my hand to the werewolf.I beckoned it closer.It bounced at me.
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They were still sleeping when the effect of the moon began to leave me.I was lying on a bed of grass that wonderfully felt as comfortable as any normal bed. The sun had yet to break through the skies, but it was only a matter of time. Lady Moon, who had beamed so brightly all through the night, was giving way for the day to be born. Soon warm light would wash away her cold hands, and for another cycle I would not have to suffer her influence.For the remaining moment, as I blinked away the sleep, I was to suffer the weight of the pack on top on me.Honestly, I have no idea how it happened. My memory was not the best on normal days, even less when drunk on moonlight. I remember the werewolf capturing me between its claws, making me gasps as I desperately held on to it. It was the weirdest embrace I had even had, that I could remember, because for the life of me I could not remember any single hug before the werewolf had me tight against it.It was a strange feeling, almost pleasurable; to cling so intimately to a creature that in seconds could have my guts out in the open.After that, the rest of the pack neared me, tentatively, shyly. They touched me, they smelled me, and they allowed me to do the same to them. The moon made me do some crazy stuff.The next memory that came to my mind was a breathless laugh, as I ran through the forest. I wasn’t wearing shoes, but it didn’t matter, the trail was cleaned enough. There had been a howl, far to the front, and I could not see the werewolf that had run ahead. The stag led the way for me, its gallop inviting me to run faster. The rat enjoyed running around my feet whenever I threatened to slow, making me laugh the exhaustion away. The dog barked, running next to me, keeping my pace so as to encourage me.Never had I run so much in my life.It was the moon. It was the pack. The union of the two brought forth in me a strength I normally tried to ignore.The forest, the one I had feared as I looked from the castle’s windows, became a playground. We ran in directions I would never be able to remember and we danced and played until exhaustion took me. In the haze of my drunkenness, I had collapsed in a patch of grass, cold and wet, but inviting nonetheless. The animals followed.And that was where we still were, when the sleep left me, and I realized I was too heavy to move. The werewolf was to my side, it snout rested over my shoulder, and I could feel the warmth of its breath against my cheek. The stag had chosen to rest between my legs, its antlered head on top of my hip. I wondered for my legs, hoping that they were not being crushed, but the lack of pain drove that thought away. Between the stag and the body of the werewolf that pressed over most of the side of my body was the rat. He was curled over my belly. The dog was to my other side, its snout pressing against the side of my breast. The rest of its body was close to my torso. It was then that I realised that my arm was around its black fur, resting there in an angle. My other arm was likewise bent over the shoulders of the werewolf.It should have been an uncomfortable position for me, yet somehow it wasn’t. How we ended like that was a mystery for me, and it will always remain like so.I felt special, lying between those animal that were clearly something more. My mind, with the intervention of clarity, had forgotten what was it about them that was different from normal animals, but it really didn’t matter.Lady Moon had relinquished her hold on the Earth, and now the creatures of the night had to hide.I moved, only a tiny fraction, and the pack awoke.They didn’t instantly jump off me. I watched as they came to their senses, taking in the situation and trying to remember what had happened. It was beautifully humanistic of them to do so. The werewolf was the first that moved away from me, growling as it went. I watched it move, entranced by the shaking I saw its body make. Like me, the moon’s influence was leaving it.I felt the rest of the pack detach themselves from me. Suddenly, with the lack of warmth, the chilly air of the morning mist hit me tenfold.Merlin’s beard, what was I thinking when I left in such a silly and not warm nightgown?Oh right, I was drunk, who knows what I was thinking.I stood up, patting away the dirt, grass and dew that clung to my long skirt. As I did that I felt a couple pairs of eyes burning holes into me.When I looked up to them, I somehow expected them to tell me something. At the current moment it was impossible, but in the absence of light as night died and the day was born, I couldn’t read their eyes well. Something was clear, though. This was where we parted. And honestly, I was relieved.Our adventure had been great, all that I could remember, but that had been under Lady Moon. Now that she was gone for a long while, we did not need to continue this adventure. We had lives to return to.Shaking still, the werewolf gave a howl. Its body bent back, and I felt the sound vibrate though my spine. Our sign of parting. I stood still. I wasn’t afraid, but I knew that that was what I had to do.One by one, they began to leave me. The rat was the last. It stopped by a line of trees, looking at me with a cocked head. I gave him a smile for it was the only payment I had for them. The sound of a sharp bark made us both jump, and the rat scurried away after its pack.With them gone, I turned to walk back to the castle.
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The spell of the moon was gone, and I was shivering uncontrollably way before I reached the castle.I had not lived there long, only a couple of months, but I knew the grounds very well. It was something that came instinctively, like breathing or blinking. The paths though the grounds, from the edge of the gates, to the end of the forest; I knew it all like the back of my hand. Somehow I knew it. Somehow, without exploring or a good look in a map, I knew my way around. That very night was proof of it. Not once, had I been into the Forbidden Forest and through all the strolling and running around I still could find my way back.I tried not to think of the pack of animals that I had met as the way to my bed became shorter with every step. Strange things tended to happen to me during the full moon ever since I arrived at Hogwarts, and it was better if I didn’t dwell on it when I couldn’t do anything to ease my thoughts. Thinking of the werewolf and its pack of stray animals deserved an extensive search in the library, a place that was to be closed for at least an hour more.Pushing my drunken night away before I started to mentally list all the questions I could muster about it, I strode right into the castle.The hallways lessened the cold. They were incrusted with ancient spells and hexes; surely one of them was for heating. It was doing wonders on my body.At a bend, I stopped to listen.I really needed to not get caught. The caretaker and Peeves were my main concern, as I peeked into the next hallway. Both of them were a pain, and I had no desire whatsoever to have to march up to Dumbledore to explain what I was doing. Filch always did that. He had the sick pleasure of giving detention to any and every student he found that broke the rules, but to me he was different. He always took me to see the Headmaster and that felt worst.I rather take punishment than have to explain myself to those twinkling eyes.How could I even begin to explain to him or anyone, really, what had happened in the forest?Hell, how could I explain what had gotten into me? That drunken haze that willed me out of bed was certainly something not common. And the strangeness of it would send Dumbledore off in an array of questions that I wouldn’t want to even think off, and I would end up in St. Mungo’s again for a further study.No, I would not have any of that.Not again.And obviously not since so little time had passed since my last visit.After carefully treating a couple of hallways, I went down a flight of stairs. Down in the dungeons, the hallway was dark, unperturbed by the dying beams of the moon. The only light I could rely on was the one by the portrait door, its flickering calming my spirit somewhat. Almost there, and I could take a hot shower to begin my day like a normal person, and not like some sprite creature of the night.“You’re late.” The man in the portrait said, eyeing me critically as I reached him. I knew how I looked and I remembered how he had called me out when I left earlier in the night. My heart warmed at the thought of him being worried about me, but I didn’t want to talk to him either. In a way, he was to me like Dumbledore.“Spectrum summa.” The password was the first words I had spoken all night, and the sound of my voice seemed alien to me. Was that really how I always sounded?The portrait did not move.There was silence in the hallway, and all the warmth I felt came from the lonely torch to the side. “Was it the full moon that got you up and about?”I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest. I really did hate how knowledgeable he was sometimes. Though, it really shouldn’t be a surprised to anyone. “I really don’t want to talk about it. Spectrum summa.”“It is of importance that you fight your urges. Your mind is in precarious state and it does not serve you to stray from what is good for you.”“Not now, really.” Once more, I uttered the password.Again, the frame did not move, but the man in the painting did, pressing on. “Child, you should seek an audience with Headmaster Dumbledore. It would be best.”I suppressed the urged to sigh again. There was nothing I hated more than when he went into his mentor to student mode. “I’m not in the mood for your advice, grandfather.” I glared up at him, exhausting myself with it. “Just let me through.”“Mor—” He began and I suddenly couldn’t even try to deal with him anymore.“Let me in!”The portrait swung opened, and before I regretted my hostility toward the man in the painting, I went in.. . .