Companion Piece to Prisms, Professors, and Pygmy Puffs
I will remind you that wandering in the Dark Forest is strictly prohibited. Julianna, who was doing precisely that, assumed the rule enunciated by that rather handsome if standoffish Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was for students and not faculty. She could see his disapproving eyes flashing in her mind.
In truth, the scope of the rule wouldn't have mattered to her regardless.
She had recognized the cries of a distressed kneazle for three nights and had been tracking it for that long, as well. The sound, to the untrained ear, was a kind of terrifying shrieking. But Julianna knew the sound was mournful, more like a frightened kitten screaming out for mother than anything else.
She blew into a whistle-like device she'd crafted herself to produce a friendly kneazle call. She stood listening to the silence of the forest around her. There wasn't true silence in the Dark Forest. There was always the creaking and groaning of the trees, the occasional sounds from far off that set her heart to beating rapidly.
There was nothing to be afraid of, she reminded herself. How many supposedly dangerous and deadly creatures had she faced off with only to learn they were terribly misunderstood and not so horrible after all? That was her current working hypothesis for the forest. There was no evidence, so far as she was concerned, that the forest was any more or less dangerous than any others.
It was both a flaw and a benefit to her character that Julianna so often refused to accept the prevailing wisdom about anything. Better to figure the truth for
herself.
A branch snapped from somewhere behind her. Very close.
Julianna whirled around, holding her wand up. The dim light from the tip of it would only spread so far through the fog that clung to the dreary forest floor. The shadow of a figure moved suddenly in the dark. It seemed to come right at her. She startled and stepping backwards carelessly, she tripped over an exposed and gnarled root and fell right on her bottom.
The fall knocked the wind out of her and sent her wand rolling down a little hill taking the light with it until it was just a little glow in the dim.
The shadow, a cloaked figure, moved closer. It stopped, hesitated, when a shrieking cut through the forest. Julianna clapped her hands over her ears and ducked out of instinct. It was only a half second before she reclaimed her wits and began scrambling for her lost wand.
No sooner had she secured the wand in her hand, did a large paw swipe at her. Claws caught in her scarf but a big head nudged her sending her rolling farther down the hill. The scarf unraveled from her neck like she was a spool of string.
***
“He took fifty points from Slytherin.”“For what?”
“Found one of their scarves in the Dark Forest.”
Julianna overheard a group of her students gossiping as she dismissed her class. “Josie?”
“Yes, Professor Darkwillow?” The second year spun around to address her teacher.
“Do you know where Professor Weatherfare is?”
“Quidditch pitch.” Answered one of the Slytherin boys passing by.
***
He could have recognized that buoyant walk anywhere. It was easy enough even across the long quidditch pitch. The small figure marched her way right onto the field curls bouncing. Never mind their practice.“Run the drill again.” Owen ordered his team before zipping towards their guest on his broom. He pulled his broom up at the last second sending a gust of air that he had brought with him straight into their interloper.
Julianna's robes blew open revealing her grey knit sweater, a green and black plaid skirt, and black thigh high boots. She huffed and tossed her head to send unruly curls back into order. She had a lot of questions for him. If he was the shadowy figure she saw in the forest, did he have to scare her like that? Why did he dock points from the house for her scarf?
“Are you lost Professor Darkwillow?”
She emerged from her thoughts. “I have something to say to you.” She wasn't sure why she sounded so uncertain. Maybe it was the way he glowered down at her, looking both disappointed yet somehow bored.
His feet touched the ground and he dismounted from his broom to lean against it, hip popped, looking impatient. “Right this moment?” His eyes swept over her figure. Despite his best efforts not to, he had noticed how attractive she was at the sorting ceremony and in the few occasions they had crossed paths since then.
“I don’t understand why you punished the students for my scarf.” She challenged fixing him with an electric green eyed stare.
“I don't know what you mean.”
The look of true confusion that crossed his face made Julianna's stomach turn. So he hadn't been the one she'd seen in the forest? But she didn’t want to believe it. “You docked Slytherin for my scarf.”
One of Owen's leather gloved hands disappeared into his robes and produced a tattered green and white scarf. “This is yours?”
Julianna blushed at the sight of her ruined scarf. She had come to confront him and was left the one feeling like the naughty student. “You know it is. You saw me.” She accused. Her confidence surged when she noticed how his sleeve had slid down his arm to reveal telltale kneazle scratches down his forearm. Served him right.
“I investigated a fresh trail this morning. That’s when I recovered the scarf. What were you doing out there, Professor?”
“How did you get these?” She demanded shoving the sleeve of his robe up to reveal the angry gashes on his forearm. She wondered why he hadn't been treated yet. The poison had to have been making him sick by now. “You weren't the man I saw last night out there? How did you know where to find my scarf?”
“I wasn’t and I didn't.” His clipped responses to her questions were delivered so that he could get to his own questions. He jerked his sleeve away from her and hid his injuries again. “What man did you see? What were you doing in the Dark Forest?”
“I don't know that it was a man. I just assumed it was--.”
“And what were you doing out there?” He interrupted her.
“Research!” She asserted too quickly sounding a bit petulant, taking offense to his interrogation. Julianna frowned failing to interpret his aggressive questioning as his way of showing genuine concern.
“Research.” He clearly didn't believe her. “Well, I suggest you keep out of the Dark Forest, Professor Darkwillow.” He held up her tattered scarf. “It's dangerous. As you well know by now.”
Was he reprimanding her? He was the one who got injured in the forest. Not her. She snatched the scarf from him and balled it up in her fists. “I'm not leaving that pregnant kneazle to that man - person - out there.
“A what.”
“Kneazle, Professor Weatherfare.” Julianna gestured impatiently to his arm again.
“Well, suggest you leave that kneazle to fend for itself, until I can check this out.” He turned again signaling he was done with the conversation.
“And I suggest you get those scratches treated. Kneazles have a slow working poison in their claws, you know.” She said to his back.
“I'll go to the infirmary after practice.” The way she scoffed made him stop and turn. “What.”
She folded her arms sassily over her stomach and stared at him before shrugging one shoulder. She turned her head and looked away. So petulant. It would serve him right to suffer the common treatment for kneazle scratch. An awful solution.
“You have a better suggestion, Professor Darkwillow?” He prompted her.
She brushed past him, a swirl of robes and bouncing curls. Her rush past him brought his scent wafting with her. Woodsy and clean like cedar and sandalwood. “I do.” Maybe she should have kept it to herself. But she was weak for nice smelling handsome men with dumbfounded looks on their smug faces. “See me after practice.”
She pulled her wand out and flicked it over the shoulder of the grumpy professor in front of her. He whirled around in time to catch her levitating a student who had fallen from his broom. The rest of the team was circling and laughing as she lowered him slowly and safely to the ground.
“I've got it from here.” Owen said. A flick of his wand negated her spell and had the student falling the final few feet on to his face in the dirt with an audible ‘oof.’
A roar of laughter from the team.
***
Julianna preferred the dumbfounded or even his smug look to the one of pain that marred Owen's face when she applied the serum she'd concocted to the scratches on along his ribs. His skin was red, hot, and angry looking. He was in a worse state than she had estimated. She might have felt more pity for him if he wasn't so difficult. Though she would hate to admit that difficultness made him more interesting to her. Another creature with a deeper story to be unlocked.
He was sprawled on her couch, with his bandaged arm in her lap. He gasped when she applied a new layer of serum with a paint brush to the scratches on his side.
“A bit dramatic.” She teased him when he draped his free arm over his eyes.
“You aren't a very good nurse.” He criticized her as he peaked at her from under his arm. His eyes briefly glanced around the room, looking no doubt, at all the pairs of eyes watching them. She had a lot of … roommates. He was wary of the magical creatures she made her home with.
He was sweating and seemed fatigued. That wasn't a good sign. Julianna frowned and pushed his arm away from his face to feel his forehead with the back of her hand. She brushed a few of the hairs that clung to his forehead back. “Are you sure you're alright?”
“I'm fine.”
“You should rest.” She tsked, her hand wandered the backs of her fingers traced the scar that curved over his brow and down to his cheek. She pressed at his cheek.
“I can't rest if you're going--”
“I am going.”
His lips turned into a flat line. He pushed away the soft hand at his face. That wasn't where his injuries were.
She knew that he knew that she was going back into the forest. And he knew that she knew and he wasn't letting her go alone. They already had the argument. Apparently they were going to have it again.
“You shouldn't go in this condition.”
“You shouldn't go at all.”
She scoffed at him in pure contempt of what that implied.
“You don't know what's out there.”
“You don't know me.” She snapped back.
“You don’t know what's out there.” The arm in her lap turned over and he squeezed her waist. He wasn't meaning to insult her skill.
“And you do?”
“I do.”
“All that knowledge didn't seem to help you.” Her eyes flashed to his injuries. They wandered a bit over his muscled chest and torso. He sure looked like a former auror who saw plenty of action. His athletic build was covered in the scars of the dangerous work. She had some of her own but not nearly as many as he.
“Are you finished.” He asked seemingly of her stubborn refusal to listen and her treatment. His hand had never left her waist. He noticed the wandering of her gaze. He knew there were things about his body that said a lot more than he would ordinarily volunteer.
“I'll bandage you up.”
“Good.”
***
“So Durmstrang? What was that like?”
Julianna’s cheerful voice struck him as entirely juxtaposed to the gloom of the Dark Forest. He gave her a sharp glance and floundered for a response. “It was a rigorous school.”
He was aware of her at his side. Looking up at him. Even from the corner of his eye, he could see her face lit by their wands. She had a bright and curious expression. She wanted him to continue. “My father taught there for awhile. He was doing some research with another professor.”
“I didn't know that.”
“Now you do.” The way he said it dampened the conversation. He wasn't sure why she was so eager to know him anyway. It seemed like there was a type of person that just adopted people who didn't want anything to do with other people. He supposed she was that kind of person. Was she adopting him then? He spared a glance at her. She didn't look at him. She had a kind of stubborn look on her face now. Determined and focused.
Her face changed suddenly. Brightened. “There!” She pointed. In the gloom ahead the kneazle that had attacked him was curled up under a tree nursing three pups. “She gave birth already.” She observed marching forward with her hand stuffed down into a satchel that bumped against her hip. She'd brought kneazle snacks. He had no idea what that was. She hadn't elaborated. He hadn't asked.
“It was pregnant?” He asked incredulously remembering the viciousness of the creature's attack on him earlier that morning.
The kneazle growled as Julianna drew close. Owen searched the gloom around them. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. There was a tingle in his scalp. He always felt that way before a fight.
“What now.” He growled at her.
Julianna glared at him over her shoulder. Now they were both growling at her? She fed the fatigued mother raw meat from her hand and cooed at her sympathetically. “I think she lost her mate.” Julianna observed. “That's why she's been crying out every night.”
“And what -” A flash of light in the darkness. Owen whirled and parried it reflexively.
Another spell went for Julianna. She had her own arsenal of offensive and defensive spells, but it had been a while since she had dueled proper. She parried the attack and responded with her own sending a purplish blindly into the dark in the general direction that the attack had come.
“Your light!” Owen yelled realizing that their opponent could see them clearly. He dimmed his wand to blackness. Julianna followed suit covering them in the dark of the forest.
Julianna was frozen in the dark. Gripping her wand, she willed herself to stop trembling. It was the adrenaline. She kept her guard over the kneazle mother and pups but could hear Owen changing his position in the dark. Advancing towards where he thought their attacker was.
She held off casting and coaxed the mother to move her pups behind the tree. The attacker would certainly aim for that spot again. Glancing over her shoulder, the flashes of the blind duel going on behind her occasionally illuminated Owen's figure in the dark.
There was silence for a few moments and then something went thud on the forest floor. A brilliant light illuminated the entire area casting outwards from a delicate sphere. It looked like a Christmas ornament entirely out of place in the Dark Forest. They were all out in the open now. The figure was right behind Owen several paces. Owen was scanning the area in the other direction.
“Behind you!”
It was too late. A spell hit him square in the chest when he turned around. He heard Julianna shriek his name. He was momentarily stunned, staring stupidly up at the dark canopy overhead that was occasionally illuminated by flashes of light. Julianna.
He wasn't sure how much time passed but he came to when he heard his name being shouted. “Damnit Owen. Get up!”
He looked down the length of his body. Julianna was kneeling a few paces from his feet, dug in behind a brilliant white shield emanating from her wand. Their attacker was wearing away at her shield steadily.
Julianna wasn't sure how much longer she could hold it. She was steadily sliding backwards from the force being exerted against her. She wasn't sure if Owen was even conscious, or dead until two hands clasped over hers. A firm body stood at her back steadying her. A protective warmth washed over her. But she felt herself resisting the effect, closing her mind as something else fought to gain control. Black rage fell over her mind like a curtain. She heard Owen's voice utter some words in a language she didn't recognize. The white spell that streamed from her wand swirled with black and the wand blazed in her hands burning her palms. She screamed when she felt the black spell passing through her and the shield she'd made burst forward violently.
They both fell backwards from the blast. Owen first and Julianna landed on top of him. No sooner had she landed on him, did Owen shuffle her off to the side. “Accio wand.” And a stick flew past her face. He sat up and held his wand at the ready waiting for a new onslaught. He reached for the gleaming orb and tossed it in front of them to spread the light on a new direction.
The blast had dug out the ground in front of them and scorched the trees for a few yards in length and width. Julianna gaped at the destruction. There was no sign of their attacker.
“What was that Owen?” Julianna demanded.
“I don't know. I think he's gone. You did brilliantly.”
“The spell!” She clarified more desperately ignoring his compliments and the respect and awe reflected in his grey eyes. “What was that, Owen.”
He turned to the side and grabbed her face with both of his hands, pressing his mouth hard against hers. She could feel the smooth wood of his wand pressed against the side of her face trapped between his hand and her cheek. She melted against the kiss at first, grabbing a fist full of his shirt. Closing her hands that way sent a searing pain through her palms. She pushed him away to look at her hands ruined by severe burns.
The skin was melted. The pain and the look of it turned her stomach. “You took control of my wand.” She said in disbelief. “What was that?”
“Defense against the dark arts.” He said before he uttered a spell and tapped his wand gently against each of her palms. Julianna watched as the skin melted back into place, leaving not even a hint of scar. He rubbed his thumb over her palm.
Despite his caressing touch, she jerked her hands away from him unsatisfied with his infuriating answer. “Just - help me with the kneazle.” She gave the order, scrambled to her feet and offered him a hand up
***
“You're not an auror anymore.” The Headmaster was warning his son who sat on the edge of an infirmary bed being rebandaged by his mother. “I'm aware, headmaster.” Owen responded blackly apparently not taking kindly to being reminded of his career change.
“So there's no need to participate in duels with dark wizards anymore.”
“I didn't go looking for one.” He insisted and glanced at Julianna, who, for the moment had been forgotten.
She blushed when the eyes in the room all turned to her. Blushed in part because of a certain pair of grey eyes that locked on her. After the adrenaline of the fight had faded, she'd been left with no buffer between her and thoughts about his mouth.
“What was your part in this, professor?” The headmaster asked her with firm undertones to his voice.
“I was tracking a pregnant kneazle that has been distressed.”
“All for a new pet.” Owen offered his commentary which got him a half-hearted backhand on the arm from his mother and a warning look from Julianna.
Darcy pursed his lips seeming quite interested in the information. “A kneazle, really. In the Dark Forest.”
Julianna nodded making her ruined curls bob with the action. She still had some leaves and a small stick stuck in her hair from the tumble to the ground. The mussed look was endearing to Owen. “Yes sir.”
“I want to see this kneazle and her pups.”
Julianna beamed. “Of course!”
Bitch, I'm limited edition.
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »
Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 08-26-2015, 10:08 PM
Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 08-26-2015, 10:12 PM
Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 08-30-2015, 10:49 PM
Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 09-03-2015, 04:44 PM
Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 09-30-2015, 05:42 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 10-18-2015, 08:05 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 11-12-2015, 11:03 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 11-21-2015, 04:52 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 10-03-2016, 05:44 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 01-24-2016, 07:47 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 09-11-2016, 10:47 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 09-16-2016, 11:44 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 09-17-2016, 02:16 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 09-21-2016, 09:14 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 09-26-2016, 06:37 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 09-28-2016, 08:56 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 10-07-2016, 09:12 AM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 10-25-2016, 05:09 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 11-03-2016, 05:28 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 11-15-2016, 10:43 AM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 11-30-2016, 02:52 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 02-11-2017, 10:22 AM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 04-13-2017, 04:16 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 04-30-2017, 08:27 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 05-14-2017, 06:30 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 05-29-2017, 12:07 AM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 06-01-2017, 08:13 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 06-17-2017, 07:24 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 06-21-2017, 07:06 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 07-30-2017, 09:04 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 09-19-2017, 12:31 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 10-25-2017, 11:59 AM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 11-18-2017, 01:45 AM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 12-08-2017, 06:21 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 03-04-2018, 09:16 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 03-30-2018, 10:28 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 04-05-2018, 02:45 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 04-30-2018, 04:38 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 07-17-2018, 02:57 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 01-12-2019, 07:09 PM
RE: Artifacts [Read Only] - by saronym - 02-08-2019, 11:42 AM