Wolves Without Teeth ── theodore nott ¹ ( UNDER EDITING )

chapter twenty three

              The day that the first DA meeting had taken place since Yule break had been a rather chilling morning if she were to put in honestly, the Daily Prophet had arrived with the announcement of escapees from Azkaban. More frankly, all of the members that escaped had been ex Death Eaters. Winnie had taken one look at the grey and white moving pictures, seeing each of their wild gaze and grinned filled face before bolting from the Great Hall for the girls bathrooms. Her chest had heaved and collapsed heavily against her lungs, filling with that dreadful feeling of bitter darkness that she associated with Voldermort.

She had seen him again that morning, this time not in a mirror but in front of her very face in the closed walls of a bathroom stall. She had been sitting, sucking in gasp of air between her trembling lips, when she thought she had heard someone. Causing her to look up only to come face to face with his translucent skin and beady red eyes, she had screamed bloody murder then. Passing out in the tiny stall from the lack of oxygen getting to her lungs, black dots falling around her eyes and her body sinking downwards.

She had awoken a few minutes later, with Luna Lovegood hanging over like a bumble bee. The female had advised her on going to the Hospital wing, how she had a certain type of bug flying around her and she desperately needed some sleep and food. Winnie simply brushed off, pulling out the last piece of a chocolate bar she had bought from Honeydukes. She left Luna alone after she splashed her face with water, getting rid of her tear-stroke cheeks and praying that soon her face would become flushed with colour once again.

Nobody questioned where she had been gone when she arrived late to Care of Magical Creatures, at least no one from Gryffindor that was. She had taken one look at Cordelia Flint only to find the girl raising an eyebrow at her, blue eyes tracking her face, but before Winnie could even smile to tell her she was okay, she had been interrupted by the sound of a voice she despised all too much.

Apparently the day she decided to faint and be late to class, was also the day Umbridge was viewing Hagrid's class ( which the half giant was only just returning from wherever he had disappeared to. ) The women in pink had reminded her that being late was inexcusable, Winnie hadn't said a word towards her that class. Mostly because she felt as though her bones were still shaking, her stomach rolled and she was suddenly incredibly exhausted from the fainting, the unresolved absorption of everyone's feelings and the uncontrollable sobbing she had done for the second time.

The half giant had brought them to a clearing into the Forbidden Forest, where he rather proudly introduced the class to Thestrals. He spoke rather highly of them, calling them incredibly beautiful, but all she saw was air. It wasn't until Hermione had inquired that nobody besides people who had seen someone die could see them, that she understood.

It was the same moment she had looked over at Cordelia, remembering their rather forced make up, she had seen Max die, meaning she could see the winged horses. She watched with pursed lips as Cordelia stared at a certain spot in the air, her lips pressed into line while her blue eyes sparkled with interest. Her cousin reached out her hand in the midair, which was rather strange to see since there was nothing but air standing in front of her to Winnie's eyes. But Cordelia's lips pulled into a small smile as her fingers seemed to come in contact with something, Winnie had started to approach her, until her eyes caught sight of something else.

Theo was standing only a few feet away from Cordelia, staring into the air with his hand raised and smoothing down something she couldn't see. His lips were pulled into a rather twisted smile, it was a heartbroken one, with his corners slightly turned up but never meeting the green of his eyes. She realized with a pang in her chest that he could see the Thestrals, that he had seen death with his very own eyes. That thought caused her to suck in her breath and force her eyes away, suddenly feeling like she was intruding on a scene she shouldn't see.