Wretched little beggar

Granger Danger

By the next morning, it felt as if the whole school had learnt about M's fall. She'd woken up early as usual and had eaten breakfast in a mostly deserted Great Hall, but already the few students there looked at her strangely. Later in the halls, conversation stopped when she walked past and the entire group would turn as one to stare at her as she passed. At some point, the Weasley twins came up to congratulate her and ask her how she'd managed it, each swinging one arm over her shoulders on either side.

Her patience had already been stretched thin by all the attention she was getting, so she nimbly slipped out of their grasp, kicked one who she was fairly certain was George behind his knee cap so he fell down kneeling on one knee, and slapped the other squarely across the face.

She left without looking back, but the laughs that resonated in the otherwise empty hallway seemed to indicate they had found the whole scene rather humorous. Thankfully, the only other students present at the scene were a couple of scared first years, so the rumors about her wouldn't grow. Between the events below the school and her recent... mistake, the students had already quite enough to talk about. At least they didn't know she was a werewolf, and M intended to keep it that way.

Her first class of the day was double Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. As the others were still eating breakfast, the young girl still had some time before having to make her way to the greenhouses. Having nothing better to do since the library wasn't opened until lunch, she walked around the Hogwarts Grounds.

The grass was fresh with the morning dew, and in the distance shone the waters of the black lake. Subconsciously, her feet took her in front of the Whomping Willow, the tree that guarded the Hogwarts entrance to the Shrieking Shack. She hadn't gone back in since the attack. There wasn't anything there for her to get anyhow; the furniture was all trash and she didn't have any personal belongings. Even her summer homework that she'd left on the small table was of no importance, she'd redone it all.

Almost for the first time, she allowed herself to think back to that night. Most of her memory was hazy. A few snapshot-phantoms remained. Those claws. Those eyes. Those fangs. And the pain. The atrocious, burning pain as if her body were about to be pulled apart.That was what stayed the clearest, maybe because she felt a sliver of it every month.

As she stared at the root that froze the tree when needed, a sick thought crossed her mind. The window planks on the Shack had not been harmed or moved, she'd noticed from the outside during one of her attempts to go back. And she hadn't ever found any other secret passages leading inside. Meaning that the werewolf had likely come from... here.

Before she could fully process that disturbing thought, the bell rang and she turned around to jog back to the greenhouses. She didn't need the extra attention of arriving late in the middle of an already started class.

***

Just as M joined the rest of the students who stood by the greenhouse, waiting for their teacher, the witch came striding into view, accompanied by a pompous-looking younger wizard.

He was immaculate in sweeping robes of turquoise, his golden hair shining under a perfectly positioned turquoise hat with gold trimming, and he looked utterly stupid. Sadly, having had to sort excessive quantities of books with his face plastered on them over the summer, M had a very good idea of who he might be. But as to what he was doing here... she had no idea.

-"Oh hello there!" He called, beaming around at the assembled students. "Just been showing Professor Sprout around the grounds, to see if there were any unique plants she had missed. But I don't want you running away with the idea that I'm better at Herbology than she is! I just so happen to have run into many wonderful things during my travels..."