Memento Mori - Sirius Black

Chapter 27

December 13th, 1975.

Morgan was hidden behind a tree, her white paws blending perfectly with the snow-covered ground. All the green of the forbidden forest had been replaced by the snow that hadn't stopped falling for three days now. It wasn't even winter yet, but everything was pointing towards a very cruel one ahead.

The weather had made Morgan immensely happy. She loved the cold, always had. Being frozen to death almost every day was not the best, but going out and breathing in the chilly air, the snow falling... It was perfect. Plus, winter outfits were just better. Sue her.

The fact that her animal form was rather fond of the cold and snow as well only made her happier. Now the white leopard could blend in with its surroundings. Its thick fur, prepared for exactly this, kept Morgan warm all the time.

The forest was eerily quiet, not a single animal that Morgan could hear or scent with her heightened senses was around. Not for at least half a kilometer around her in all directions. Only the birds that flew above the trees were in her company. Morgan had terrorized the wildlife of the forest enough for them to know it was safer to be away when she visited. She wasn't a fool to believe that all the magical creatures of the woods had run as well. Oh no, those were just deeper inside the territory. Far away from her. And she was no fool to not recognize them as the actual predators.

Morgan scanned her surroundings with feral determination. She knew these trees, the turns of the forest, and smells of it by heart now. After so many days of coming here. She heard a twig snapping a few meters to her right and she immediately turned her head in that direction, her ears cocked forward, listening carefully. The witch internally grinned. She got him. He had given himself away. Idiot.

The leopard had been hunting the creature for half an hour now. While also being hunted herself by the same thing. It wasn't a matter of prey and predator, it was more like a race kind of thing. Who got the other to mess up and yield first. And Morgan would win. Once more.

She didn't waste another second before leaping across the distance that separated her from the space where she assumed he was hiding. She flew through, her fangs out and ready to pin her opponent. She sensed the trap a second too late. And that was all it took for the giant mass of black fur, that leaped almost at the same time as she did, to push her out of orbit, hitting her on her side with its powerful body.

The leopard fell from the air and rolled on the snow, the soft ground making it painless. In an instant the huge dog was pinning her down, white canines gleaming with the promise of death and drooling over the leopard as it growled at her. The dog was in a killing position, a big bite to the leopard's neck and it would be done.

So another snarl from the dog had the witch internally scowling. The words of that sound were clear enough. I win. Yield, arsehole.

The snow leopard let out an annoyed chuff. You cheating piece of shit.

The dog growled once more, but Morgan could see the amusement dancing in its grey eyes. Still, the dog lowered its fangs closer to her throat, the rumbling sounds from him rushing her. You lost, Gaunt. Accept it or I'll shred you to pieces.

At least that's what Morgan imagined him saying. She was pretty sure the conversations they had while in their animagus forms were very much real. At least when they wanted to transmit something the other always seemed to grasp the gist of it. So that was that. The leopard gave the dog one last glare before relaxing its body completely. Yielding to the dog.

The black and heavy mass finally lifted off from her and in a single flash of light Sirius was looking at her with the biggest and most annoying grin she had ever seen. Morgan copied him and she was once again blessed with the luxury of arms and a functional tongue. That didn't stop her from practically snarling at him from the floor and throwing some snow directly at his face.