[Forest] The Fates of the Moon [Girty]

[Ricky Daine]

Tonight was the first of the moon phase in which Ricky would become a werewolf. He was not at all happy, he had to lie to Erys and sneak out in the hopes nobody would notice his disappearance for three nights straight. He knew Erys had suspicions about him now, she had been asking a lot of questions and apparently he smelled wrong. Which of course he took offensive at first until she said it wasn’t him smelling bad, just different. How could he have let this happen, he would have to get that moron Girty back for this.

He wore high neck robes to hide the hideous bite mark he now possessed on his shoulder. Occasionally, and without thinking his hand would go to his shoulder but he could pass it off as aching since he had broken it more than once. It was now he began to feel the entire weight of things, the actual mess he had gotten himself into. What happens when he went home? How could he explain to his parents that he had to disappear for three nights? His father would disown him he was sure of it. His mother would go easy on him since he was her son but his father? Well Ricky didn’t even like to think about it.

So now, he kept his head down as he walked through the castle. He didn’t know the phases of the moon, he didn’t take Astronomy! Though, for some unknown reason Girty had sent him a note telling him tonight would be his first transformation and he’d better get his butt down to the Forbidden Forest if he didn’t want to risk killing anyone. His boots echoed slightly on the marble floor of the castle, he didn’t even notice the ghosts (which couldn’t be called ghosts anymore due to their solidity) as he wandered aimlessly, not thinking about where he going.

Finally, his feet left marble and onto stone and after about another five minutes, he felt mud and grass beneath him. The sun was setting and now the sky was a burnt orange, some people lay about on the grass completely unaware of what else was going on at the moment. ”Pig ignorant!” He complained but carried on walking. He could see in the distance, the burnt orange sky slowly fading into a darker blue, signalling night was fast approaching them. With a shake of his head he pushed himself towards the trees where in his mind, his fate lay.

Was this his life now? To run and hide. Be ashamed? Not being able to look in the mirror without feeling violently sick with hatred towards himself. Girty had won this time, and he knew it. He broke through the first lining of trees and wandered into the dark depths. He leant against a tree and took some deep breaths, the musty scent filled his nose and he could honestly say he wasn’t one for being so close to nature. Now, he just had to wait for the she-wolf. He knew nothing about being a wolf and the clock was ticking.

[Girty Hubbles]

“…so then the fifth year said ‘no but I have blackberries.’” Girty had already started to laugh before she even got to the punch line and by the end of it everyone who was crowed around the desk in the headmaster’s office was in fits of laughter. Dan had his head in his hand trying to control the laughter, Dia and fallen sideways and was burying her head in Dan’s arm while Alex was laughing so hard that tears where streaming down him face and he had risen out of his chair ad was now leaning against a bookshelf to stop him falling over as he bent double laughing. This was normally the way the Hubbles gangs lunches went, it would start off formal and before you could say Quidditch they would be rolling around on the floor of the office in fits of laughter. However today Girty was going to have to cut her time with the family short as a glance out the high tower window she could see the sun was setting over the mountains.

“Geez look at the time I best get trekking.” Standing up Girty stumbled over towards Alex, wrapping her arms tightly around him and kissing him gently. “I will see you in three days.” Then she turned to her brother. “I shall see you tomorrow morning. Bring some aspirin this time, that potion you gave me last time had me throwing up for hours.” With a wide grin she turned her back on her family and headed towards the door, slinging her rucksack over her shoulder and headed out of the castle.

By the time she reached the forest the Scottish sky had turned many colours and now everything was turning into darkness and Girty knew she needed to take shelter in the forest quickly and more importantly find Ricky. The later point surprisingly did not take her very long as it seemed the Slytherin had made very little effort of getting further into the forest, in fact he had made very little effort full stop.

“Please tell me you have already hidden your bag.” There was no need for introductions or pleasantries, the simple facts where that she hated him and he hated her, they were both in the forest for the same reason and neither of them was happy about it. Shaking her head in disbelief at the stupidity of the Slytherin Girty continued to make her way deeper into the forest expecting Ricky to follow like the good little sheep he was.

[Ricky Daine]

Ricky stood by the large tree in the forest watching as the sun set and the mid day glow turned to night. A sense of dread suddenly overcame Ricky and he had the strongest urge to run back inside the castle and hide under his bed. Though he knew that wouldn’t help in the slightest. He closed his eyes and began counting to ten, something he overheard some Claws talking about, apparently it could be very therapeutic. He was able to clear his mind easily and calm himself down. He was, and not ashamed to admit it, terrified out of his wits. He never thought he would think this, but he really wished Girty would hurry up. As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn’t do this alone, much less without her. The sky above him by now had darkened to a navy blue, soon it would become black, the moon would rise and he, well he would be in a lot of trouble.

The only sounds which filled his ears now was the wind through the trees and some dried leaves rolling around on the muddy floor which had frozen solid. He had no idea what the time was, and bit by bit he felt his stomach knotting up, which he put down to nerves. Maybe if I don’t look at the moon I wont change? He thought to himself. But even so, he was here and if by a stroke of luck he didn’t change he’d have to fend off a wolf anyway. Which, he liked even less. What was he going to do? Lose his mind? Lose his nerve? What will happen if Erys found out? He had a nagging feeling she would end their relationship and that was something Ricky couldn’t even bear to think about. Over the course of their relationship his fondness for her had grown to a point in feelings he didn’t even know he could feel. He depended on her, and though he would never tell her, he needed her.

Ricky heard Girty’s voice and opened his eyes to look over at her. ”Bag?” He asked, ”What bag? What do we need bags for? I doubt werewolves read.” Bile rose in his throat as he looked at the brown haired hufflepuff. It was her fault he was here, and now he hated her more than ever, if that was even possible. He couldn’t believe he had to spend three days with her, three days and nights alone with her. It was an unbearable thought. Almost sickening.

”H-hey! Where are you going?” He called when she walked off. ”Hang on! Wait woman! Hold up!” He ran to catch her and walked along side her. He had no idea where she was leading him and once again, the sudden feeling of dread rose up inside of him. ”So, you going to explain what it is to be…” He crinkled his nose as his voice failed him, the word ‘halfbreed’ was disgusting to him, always had been. Now he had joined the ranks of them he couldn’t seem to be able to say the word. ”…a Werewolf?” He didn’t know what werewolves did, he knew nothing about them. Only that they howled a lot.

[Girty Hubbles]

“Oh it is all fun and games.” Girty grinned over at Ricky as they continued to make their way into the depths of the forest. Girty always liked to go deep into the heart, not only was it where the freshest meat was for when they were in their wolf form but also it meant they were as far away as possible from the castle and the chances of them running into students where slim. “We get to run about and kill things and eat them and howl up into the night sky.” She could not help but give an example of a howl, letting the echo of her voice reverberate off the trees around them sending birds to flee from the trees and up into the night sky.

She was enjoying this, seeing the look of dread of Ricky’s face and the panic in his eyes; oh these three days were going to be so much fun! Finally they reached the clearing where Girty always set up camp. It could only be counted as a clearing because of all the trees that had been knocked to the ground and ripped to shreds by the Girty-Wolf. The Hufflepuff was now whistling a small tune to herself as she threw hr rucksack by and fallen tree and sat down on one of its braches grinning at Ricky.

“Ricky you’re going to have to be more specific with your questions mate. Ask away and I will answer.” It was then something struck her and her eyes grew wide and she quickly jumped off the branch and jogged towards her backpack, pulling out random bits of clothing, a packed lunch, flask of tea and then the important thing. It was a small hip flask made of solid silver and had been engraved with such care and precision. Yet Girty threw it towards the Slytherin roughly and gave a small chuckle. “You will need to make yourself some of this for next time. Take a swig now so you can at least try to keep some form of human instinct when you change.”

Her previous statements had been in jest and that was clear by her tone and now it was approaching the serious stuff any trace of laughter and teasing had been removed. It was bitterly serious as that potion was the only thing that kept her on the straight and narrow every full moon.

[Ricky Daine]

”To you maybe, but I don’t see any fun coming in the next three nights.” He complained loudly. Dried leaves were crunching underneath his shoes as the night air quickly thickened. Ricky had no idea where he was going, though he had a nagging suspicion she was trying to get him lost for some reason. He gave a snort when she spoke next, though the prospect of killing things was not such a bad idea, especially if he got to get his claws into her, so to speak. ”Eugh, eat random things that live in here!? I don’t think so, I’d rather starve.” His tone was matter of fact, he didn’t want to wake up with the taste of rat in his mouth.

The look of dread on his face was nothing compared to what his nerves were doing. He had so many questions, does it hurt? How painful is it? What about the morning after? But of course he was too proud to ask and show blatantly that he was terrified of what was to happen to him soon. In a few years he could maybe have gotten over the fact that Girty was a ‘half-breed’ and accepted the fact she wasn’t normal and instead respected her for what a talented witch she was. Though now, he felt as though he would never stop hating her for what she had literally, turned him into.

”How can I be more specific than that!?” He almost yelled, how many questions did she want him to ask? This was probably the longest conversation the two held together without once insulting each other, it was a little bit weird. Though every time he stopped and allowed himself to think his mind wandered back to Erys. What would she think when he came back in three days stinking of Hufflepuff? He didn’t even want to imagine what would go through her mind. He looked at the flask Girty through him through narrowed eyes. ”Is this… is this Wolfsbane potion?” He sniffed at it before taking a gulp of it down and holding his nose so he couldn’t taste it. ”I think I prefer pumpkin juice.”

The time of the full moon rising was drawing pretty close and Ricky began to feel strange. His stomach was now in knots and he felt as though he could be physically sick at any moment. Ricky never thought in his wildest nightmares this would ever happen to him. Well, if you piss off a werewolf what do you expect really? A furry cuddle? No.

[Girty Hubbles]

In these last few moments of before a transformation the wolf instincts start to combine with that of the human. Your senses are on edge, every smell seems twice as strong, every hint of movement would stand out from the darkness and every whisper was like it has been shouted through a megaphone. Over the years Girty had grown to like this feeling. It was like the fear you got when you first stood at the edge of that high diving board at the swimming baths. Your stomach will be tightening, your heart pounding so fast you thought it would burst out of your chest and then your brain would be screaming at your to turn back. But in situations like this common sense was always over powered and you would leap off that high board anyway and the feeling of free falling is one of the most exhilarating feelings ever…or at least it is until you transform into a werewolf.

“Yeah, more specific.” Girty chimed back to Ricky’s shout. “There is a lot to being a werewolf. It is with you forever and will change your life and the lives of the ones you…”She broke off and gave Ricky an inquisitive look as a cheeky smile filled her face. “Do Slytherin’s actually have the ability to love?”

Chuckling away to herself the Hufflepuff began to set up camp, carefully placing her belongs down on the forest floor before pouring herself a steaming cup of tea from one of her many flasks. Girty sat back down on the fallen branch of the tree, looking through the raising swirls of steam towards Ricky as he grimaced and moaned about drinking the potion. This was going to be a very long three days but it would teach the Slytherin a lesson or two in humiliation, well the next part defiantly will.

“It is almost time.” She muttered of the rim of the plastic camping cup. “You should take your clothes off. You will need them tomorrow and it would be better if they were not in shreds.” Her brown eyes were fixed upon Ricky and she was ready in her head to starting humming along to the tune from the muggle movie ‘The Full Monty’ just to add to her own sick enjoyment.

[Ricky Daine]

Ricky kept thinking, snap, crackle then pop. That was how he thought of this wolf transformation after reading about it. First your normal senses went haywire and your mind began to race. Snap. Then you would begin to shake and scream from the pain of the transformation beginning. Crackle... then finally. Pop, hey presto wolfy's here. Ricky was currently clinging to himself trying to ignore the 'snapping' part of the transformation. He didnt want to admit it or else he may actually find himself snapping and just losing his mind completely. He just wished he could become numb, not feel a thing. Anything was better than feeling helpless, which was how he felt right now. Helpless. Scared. Timid. Like a little child and the only person he could actually hope, or rely on was a Hufflepuff who he had hated for years. If you said to Ricky this time last year he would be relying on her, he would have broken your nose.

He followed Girty through the forest, unable to think properly as the two of them set up camp. Well, she set up camp and he felt sorry for himself. "You know, like... does it hurt changing? Is there anything I have to be careful of? What should I look for? Is there anything in specific I should know?" Ricky ran a hand through his hair, he could tell this was going to be a major thorn in his side. What would he do when he went home? He didnt even want to think about that, how his dad would react. His mum may not be too bad but his dad... a shudder ran through him... his dad was a different story. His head snapped up when she asked him another question, one that made him a little annoyed. "Look, just because we're arrogant, pig headed and generally not nice to anyone unlike us doesnt mean we dont care you know." He bit at her, "Of course us Slytherins have the ability to love. I love my family... Slytherin house... I even love my girlfriend but of course because we're evil" he snarled the word "We cant love, right?"

He put his head in his hands, a small shudder of dread ran through him as he spoke of Erys. One of his main worries now was how she would react. How could he walk up to her, she who hated Werewolves, just like he did, and say to her hey gorgeous, by the way im a werewolf how'd you feel about that? This had completely screwed his life up and he was only just beginning to realise the depth of it. How much he wanted to do but now probably couldnt. What about kids? He wanted them one day. Slowly, he lifted his head up and looked at Girty, a sad look was in his eyes and his voice quiet as he asked, "Hey, Girt?" Picking up a twig he began to run it through the mud, "Kids... can we... I mean Werewolves... can they have kids?" His voice was quiet, mixed sheepish and a bit embarrassed. "Would they be like... I dunno? Cubs?"

"No... I dont want to do this!" He stood up, panic in his eyes. He wasnt ready, he didnt want to become a monster. Well, more of a monster than he already was anyway. This wasnt happening, it was a dream. He'd wake up safe and sound in his bed and everything will be back to normal. It had to be. "I--What?" The panic left him as he looked at Girty, his cheeks colouring when she said he should take his clothes off. "My... clothes?" He looked down at himself, in theory it made sense to take them off, but in realty he didnt want to stand here starkers with her looking at him. It took him a few moments to compose himself. Well, this was embarrassing. "Uh... Right well... Dont you dare look." He snarled as he pulled off his robe and threw it over a branch. Soon enough the Slytherin was stood there with no clothes on, but his jumper clung in his hands in front of him covering his more private regions up. Scars on his chest and shoulders visable from when Erys had her claws in him, literally. But the one he felt standing out above all right now was the one Girty had given him. His neck burned where the scar was, the scar which, when she was in her wolf form, would fit the contors of her jaw perfectly. "This.. is humiliating."

[Girty Hubbles]

At Ricky’s mini declaration of his love for Erys Girty was actually taken aback slightly as she had said her comment in passing and never did she think it would provoke such a reaction and for it to leave her speechless and forgot about all of Ricky’s previous questions. Here was Ricky; this Slytherin who she thought was a cold hearted son of a hag was willing to admit something that she could not even bring herself to say. He loved his girlfriend; he was willing to shout it out in the middle of the Forbidden Forest while Girty refused to admit even to herself that she loved Alex. So in reality out of the two who stood in the small clearing who was truly the one with the inability to love…Ricky or Girty

As soon as Ricky mentioned the word ‘kids’ however Girty’s face fell and the smile that had been spread across it faded completely. Her throat had turned dry and even though the transformation was close and normal human emotions were weaker she found it hard not to hide her heartache and the sound of despair in her voice. “You can.” Her voice cracked as Girty tried in vain to smile and laugh. “You’re just the sperm as long as you do not bite Erys you will be fine.” The world around her became blurred as her eyes stung with the threat of tears and with a jagged breath she tried to find her tongue. “I-I…” She broke off as she could no longer find her voice, scratch that she was finding it hard to breathe. The smoothness of her face vanished as it crinkled up as the gasping sobs escaping her; quickly her left hand was placed on her forehead while her right hand desperately tried to muffle the sobs. Her shoulders began to shake but after less then a minute Girty took a deep breath lowered her hands and shock her head as if hoping the emotions would just fly away.

“Sorry.” She muttered as her tongue licked her chapped lips. “Touchy topic as I am sure you remember.” Her slightly blood shoot brown eyes flicked over towards Ricky, focusing on his left shoulder where she had taken a huge chomp out of him weeks before hand. “I can’t really have children. I do not want my children to be burdened with this curse and I have no idea wh-what would happen you know…if I was to transform wh-while expecting.” Swallowing hard Girty tried to suppress all the emotions that she was feeling in the strange and confusing way that she feared what Ricky was thinking of her being so weak to her emotions. However Ricky too seemed to have enough with all of this and was shouting about how much he hated this, geez he was not the only one.

Sniffing loudly Girty pushed herself further up on the fallen branch where she sat and looked over at Ricky as his cheeks flushed with colour as he responded to her mentioning about him stripping. This brought the smile back to her face and as she sat humming the Full Monty theme to herself as the Slytherin de-robed. Now this was something that would always bring a smile to her face and the Hufflepuff was wishing she had a camera with her, this would have been perfect blackmailing material, but then on the other hand he could easily get her back in the morning. “Oh yes very humiliating” Girty agreed laughing as she hopped down from her branch and started to pull off her clothes as well, although being the sensible one and packing in advance the Hufflepuff only had to stand there in her underwear. “Bet you never thought in your wildest dreams you would be standing naked in front of me while I strut about in my underwear.”

It was true Hubbles fashion to still be able to make crude jokes at times like this and one of Girty’s thick eyebrows cocked as she wondered over towards Ricky the trademark Hubbles cheeky smile filling her face as her eyes studied the embarrassed boy who had his hands cupped over his family jewels. But she did not stop a safe distance away from Ricky, Girty kept on walking till she was face to face with Ricky and then slowly leaned forward so that her mouth was placed directly next to his ear.

“And to answer your previous question.” Her voice was low, mysterious in fact she was attempting for it to be almost seductive. “It is going to be hot, painful and nothing like you have ever experienced before.” With a small chuckle Girty pulled away from Ricky, biting her lower lip finding it hard to hide the smile. Her moment of weakness from before was being casually brushed over by some very inappropriate remarks, but then Girty never told Ricky this was going to be easy…far from it!

[Ricky Daine]

A smug smile filled his face when he saw how obviously shocked Girty was when he told her he could love and he in face did love. He was rather amazed he had managed to shut her up with such few words, a feat he has never accomplished before and probably never will again. Though in all honesty, perhaps this wasn’t the way to admit he could love. Afterall, Erys didn’t even yet, which got a sigh out of the Slytherin male. Which, when you thought about it, was pretty messed up. Lets just tell our enemy that he loved his girlfriend before telling Erys. Ve--ry smooth. ”Erys doesn’t know.” He sighed, ”I would prefer it if it stayed that way for now.” He wasn’t ashamed of how he felt about her, hell no, he just didn’t want it coming from somebody else. That would be ba--ad.

Seems as though Ricky had hit a nerve. If he were keeping score right now it would probably be 2-0 to him. He felt a small twinge of pain as he looked at Girty’s downcast face. Seeming to feel what she was showing. A hand went to his stomach to try and quench the sick feeling which had suddenly risen here. He heard her speak, her voice wavered. Though he wanted to look away from her he couldn’t. His eyes were fixed on her. He listened as she spoke unsure of what to say next, or if to say anything at all. Way to put your foot in it. He hadn’t realised that his words would have such a big effect on her and by rights he shouldn’t care but part of him did and it really annoyed him. The pain ebbed away but as he stood up and saw slight tears in her eyes, heard the sobs which came from her and new wave hit him, but it wasn’t pain and this belonged entirely to him. Guilt. ”Girty… I…” Part of him, and he knew which part that was, the part that was connected to her, wanted to comfort her. But his Slytherin pride and arrogance refused to let him budge and instead his eyes found the ground.

”How could I forget?” He answered stonily. Part of him was glad he could have kids but some part of him didn’t want them. ”Though, it seems as though I did a good job of forgetting.” He listened to her speak again and it finally hit home. This devastated her. Girty Hubbles, he knew her to be a strong person, one who would never back down and had all the pride of a Gryffindor and a Slytherin combined. If he was brutally honest with himself, even though he didn’t like her (and believe me the feeling was mutual) he respected her for that. But the thought of never having kids? Seemed as though she wasn’t strong enough to cope with that. Though something she said made him think. If he had kids would they be burdened with this curse too? It was bad enough him having it, he didn’t want to bring a child into this world if it meant they would have it too. He was cold and cruel, but he wasn’t heartless. Instead of continuing this topic which neither of them seemed comfortable with, he settled for yelling about how much this sucked and how much he hated it. Seemed a good way to end a rather dreary conversation.

He set too taking off his clothes with a humiliation that burned his cheeks. Mumbling to himself as he threw his clothes over a branch he was trying not to look at the girl in front of him. Never in all his life had he ever expected to find himself naked in front of Girty. He heard her whistling some form of tune but he didn’t recognise it. As though he would recognise anything remotely muggle. Finally he found himself de-clothed and rather cold, shivering slightly as a breeze caught him. His cheeks were flame red and he knew without looking at her she was enjoying this. As she spoke again he looked up and saw she was in her underwear. If anyone saw them, this could be the end of him. ”I can honestly say you don’t enter my dreams. Only my nightmares.” Which this night was turning out to be.

He continued to look at her, her eyes scanning him which made him feel rather paranoid. ”Cut it out.” He mumbled. He watched with wary eyes as she walked over to him, a cheeky smile on her face and suddenly he found himself very nervous. She was in her underwear, he was naked, she was coming over to him with a cheeky grin on her face. Could this night be any more weird? He thought she would stop but she didn’t until she was practically touching him. The two of them stood a mere inch apart. If he so much as moved, even slightly, their bodies would be touching and that made him even more nervous. She leaned closer to him, his breath caught in his throat as her mouth went to his ear. If he hadn’t been so busy clutching hold of his jewels he would have pushed her away. ”H-hey! You’re way to close Hubbles.”

She succeeded. Her voice was seductive. Erys would kill him if she could see him now. His eyes widened as she spoke, his breath short and ragged and all he wanted to do was push her away or run screaming for the hills. But he didn’t, he stood, rooted to the spot. ”Are you trying to…” He bit his own lip as she pulled away from him stopping that remark in its tracks. He looked away, a pout on his face and his cheeks once more flushed with colour.

He was never going to get through this.

[Girty Hubbles]

It was always said that revenge was best served cold and from the chill that clung to the night air Girty’s revenge was quiet literally being served cold. She was never normally one to act on her feelings of resentment, normally she just shrugged and let it go but then this was Ricky Daine and for all the years he had poked and made fun of her…well it would be safe to say the volcano of revenge had very much erupted. Dan had always taught her to know your enemy and boy had Girty took the time to learn everything she could about Ricky and their little confrontation before had proven he had done exactly the same.

But now here they stood in the forbidden forest, their bodies almost touching as the Hufflepuff tried to act all the more innocent as she stood there in her underwear. It seemed however her attempts to freak out Rick had worked as he stuttered for her to get away and then, well he could not even finish his sentence without a blush taking over...so much for him being a big tough Slytherin.

“Trying to do what Ricky?” Her left eyebrow raised higher into her forehead as her eyes travelled over his uncovered skin. Her voice remained deep and seductive, Alex has always referred to it as her sexy voice but then her goofball was always a bit out of the ordinary, but then saying that Ricky was going out with Erys Grace…that said enough for his taste in women in Girty’s opinion. “Come on.” Her hand gently traced a line down Ricky’s arm and carefully (as she was sure he would resist in some form) prized his left hand off his family jewels and began to drag her unwilling and quiet frankly unwanted companion of the moon with her.

The reason for this action however was not to claim Ricky as her own in the darkness of the forest, but in fact it was to prepare him for the transformation and pain he was about to face. Her eyes were no longer fixed upon the naked specimen of a male she was dragging along but instead they were looking up into the canopy of leaves that lay overhead of them as she desperately searched for a clearing and a view of the night sky.

“I want you to face your enemy Ricky!” Girty stated her voice was normal once more and rid of all emotion. “I want you to look directly at the moon and bask in its glorious silver light as you transform. I am sure you would prefer to face this like a man then a worm hiding in a dark corner just waiting to sub come to its fate.”

Coming to a stop Girty’s head reminded facing upwards as she watched a gray cloud cover the space were the silver orb would be. She could feel the hair on her arms stand on end, her eyes began to sting as she refused to blink and her stomach, although used to the process of transformation was already tying itself into knots.

“Here we go again!”

[Ricky Daine]

Yes, Ricky was an idiot. He was a prat and he was nasty towards those who weren’t in his own house. Yet he didn’t believe he deserved this! He didn’t think he ever did anything bad enough to warrant a Werewolf biting him and then acting as though she enjoyed having some form of connection with the person who was supposed to be her enemy. He was stuck with this now for the rest of his life, and what was worse, his children may have the disease too. Ricky would have loved a son, but could he really pass on this gene to him? Could Ricky really have a child, when said child would be put through all this and be shunned completely from society if they knew his secret? Maybe that was what Ricky actually feared the most. People finding out. He had honestly thought he knew Girty, knew her strengths and her weaknesses but he never in a million years suspected she would bite him.

They were standing millimetres apart from each other. If he was single, and this was any other girl -- of course she’d have to be a Slytherin -- he would have probably been enjoying this rather than finding it torturous. Single. Hell with this new problem, I probably will be soon… just add fuel to an ongoing fire… thanks for this Girty. He thought to himself with resentment. He couldn’t even look at Girty without blushing now, this was humiliating… not to mention the sentence that nearly was could have gotten him into a whole lot more trouble.

”N-nothing… forget it.” He was cold, the wind blew through the trees and his skin tingled every time a fresh breeze hit him. He ignored the slightly dangerous tone in her voice, her seductive voice, afterall there was only so much a guy can take without going more than a little insane. Before he had come to Hogwarts his life had been perfect. More than perfect it was everything he wanted… and now it was a nightmare. Parts of him were beginning to regret not going to Durmstrang, not to mention what the hat had told him too, on the first day here. Still, the less said about that the better. Give him his due, he held onto his secrets quite strongly, and usually held anybody else’s strongly too. ”I’m fine right here.” He argued when she told him to ‘come on’. Her hand touched his flesh and, Ricky being as stubborn as he was, tried not to flinch away from her touch, though he became rigid, the muscles tensing slightly as his eyes narrowed. If he was a joke-in-bad-situations kind of person, or if he actually liked her he would probably laugh and tell her that tickled. He kept his eyes on her face, studying her facial expressions, he didn’t look down at her hand until he felt her trying to prize his own away from protecting his precious jewels. He became eve more rigid and tried not to let her take his hand though he couldn’t really fight in his position, at least not without injuring himself.

She had hold of his hand, she was actually touching him… his bare flesh. They had been enemies for quite some time and not once had they ever touched each other. Always, there was a barrier between them which neither of them crossed. It was an automatic thing, something you never even thought about. His eyes trailed the ground, watching the bottom of her legs and her feet as they walked over the muddy ground. She obviously knew where she was going, even if he didn’t have the slightest idea.

”Already did that.” He announced coldly as the two of them stopped in a clearing. ”My reward was monsterisation.” She dropped his hand and moved further into the clearing, more to the middle of it leaving Ricky by the trees. The air around the clearing was still, despite what would be happening hear it was as though the forest was mourning the loss of both his, and Girty’s life, because in reality that was what had happened… the moment they were bitten… their lives were over. When she spoke again, the thought that crossed his mind was that he would have preferred not to have to face this like a man, not to have to go through it at all, yet she was right. He would prefer to face it like a man and not hide in a dark corner like a scared child. It was weird, he was just beginning to realise that, though she might not like it part of her actually understood him. With a sigh, he plucked up his courage and walked to the middle of the clearing and stood next to Girty. His breath was coming in short rasps, he was scared. Terrified even, but he forced his head upwards as the moon came out of hiding from behind the moon. ”I always used to think of the moon as quite beautiful… but now…” How could anything beautiful cause them this much pain?

”Again? Are you forgetting its my first time! I’m a transformation virgin Hubbles.” He managed to squeak out before a blind pain shot right through his back. He doubled over as he felt his bones cracking, growing and reshaping themselves. He couldn’t breathe and his heart was racing. His hands clutched at the grass on the floor, as his transformation took place. They weren’t kidding when they said this was painful. All he could think of was the pain, the endless pain. He didn’t think he’d ever get used to this. The pain eventually ceased, it didn’t stop entirely, his limbs were still burning but it had quietened.

He had survived. He had survived the first of three transformations. He looked over to where Girty was, and like himself, a werewolf stood in the place she had been stood just moments before. ”Great… I’m a friiggin’ animal! Now what?” He said inside his mind, as he knew werewolves couldn’t speak, but he didn’t really want to howl either. Though he couldn’t help the sarcastic thought that came into his head.

”Ow ow owuuuuu”

[Girty Hubbles]

If you thought about it the miracle of a transformation was something rather spectacular, if not ridiculously painful. In reality they should have been dead within thirty seconds due to the simple fact that a werewolf heart is two thirds the size of a humans and so for the vital organ to shrink at first it has to stop so in simple terms, they have a heart attack. It is not us the heart that is small, every other internal organ is, so at the same time as having a heart attack they suffer liver and kidney failure too. You can see now why Girty Hubbles had dropt to her knees and was crying out in blood curdling pain. There might however be a moment when the screaming stops, but that is not because the pain has ended it is because her throat, gullet and vocal cords is tearing and then reforming meaning that she literally can not make a sound. In a normal human the pituitary gland would be pumping endorphins throughout the body, trying to kill the pain but that too has shut down.

Breathing in deeply to try and let the oxygen kill her pain Girty is just willing for her body to shut down, to just let her die and end it all but the cruel side is that the mutation of the blood will not let her. It was making her suffer and put up with every second but although the transformation took just over a minute to Girty it felt like hours. She was left there on all fours…well on her four legs now painting heavily as the once excruciating pain began to dull and her animal instincts began to take control. Next to her she could hear the same uneven breathes of another wolf standing beside her and with a slight turn of her head her eyes landed on Ricky-wolf that was next to her. That was when he let out a deafening howl and Girty over towards him and snapped her jaws in signal for him to shut the hell up.

Maybe she should have given him a bit of freedom, it was after all his first transformation and he would have to get used to his new body but then he was lucky to have someone with him. She could remember her first transformation, all alone in the darkness of the forest…at least he had someone to show him the ropes so to speak. With a low rumble of a growl Girty-wolf put her best paw forward and began to trot off into the depths of the forest, trying to leave as much room as possible from where their human smell would still be lingering. There were after all far more dangerous creatures living in the forest then them.

Jumping over a fallen tree Girty-wolf landed on all fours and gently turned around in a circle so that she could watch out for Ricky-wolf. It was odd how feelings of hatred could easily be twisted; hate after all was a fickle emotion and instead of wanting to rip open the sandy haired wolf throat she felt responsible and almost protective over Ricky. She was the reason he was like this and he would need to learn what he can and can’t eat! With another low growl Girty ordered for the young wolf to catch up…this was going to be a long night.

<3 Being Human