An Heir

Part Eleven- The Curtain Rises

It was getting darker and I was right the sun had barely peered through the enshrouding clouds and just in time for me to see it fall sickeningly below the horizon. The moon began rising over the invisible horizon and something stirred in me, there was a deep, resounding growl as I stood back to a tree for support and clenched my fists against the beginning of what was going to be a very long night.

It was awful, my head splitting, changing; I clawed at my skull, the pain too much to bear, and screamed as what I had thought would still be fingernails ripped open my skin. My clothes suddenly seemed too tight and tore as I grew taller and broader, my ribcage exploding in fire and my legs stretching. I whimpered, I screamed, I even swore in Parseltongue but there wasn’t anything I could do, even my ears felt as if they had been ripped off yet I knew they were still there because they were pressed flat against my head. I became more desperate as the screaming became howls and darkness began to swell around me, it all seeming too much for one being to handle. I snarled out the last of my pain and gnawed my left leg as it quickly grew to catch up with the other in a sort of animalistic hope it would stop the hurting, but that stabbing pain was only an itch now, barely anything to worry about. The thrill of the moon was upon me, and it was time to run; I gave in to the dark.

I woke up almost in the same place I had lost consciousness in; I could tell by the sound of the water and the stone under me, but even with the normally peaceful surroundings my heart was blasting out a staccato in my arteries and I was breathing erratically. I tried to move but gravity seemed to have flattened me onto the ground as if I was paralyzed; the cold, wet pebbles of the beach underneath me soothing the old bruises on my legs and arms but greatly aggravating the new ones. I cautiously opened my eyes, the light stung them as my vision rocked and I almost vomited, I placed a hand on my head as if to stop it from falling off; which I was sure it was going to do at any moment.

I tried to sit carefully but failed miserably, my stomach clenched and I threw up over the beach, my head reeling. I breathed raggedly and collapsed in a heap, only just missing the puddle of reeking stench that I’d just brought back up.

I closed my eyes and then steadily opened them again, I rolled so that my head was facing down into the pebbles stained red by the blood -that I was aware was also dribbling from my skull and dripping down my face - and pulled my knees up to my chest slowly, tears coming to my eyes as I felt every inch of all the cuts, scrapes and bruises on my shins as I dragged them up. I pushed my hands under me and swayed a little nauseously, the world span again and I dry retched, nothing left in me to bring up, it was already pooled on the ground to my left. I blinked the dizziness away and pushed myself shakily to my feet, retching and almost falling to the ground again but instead I used the motion of my dizziness to propel me to the tree closest to me. I leant against it for support and barely acknowledged the deep claw marks in the bark of the tree. One hand still on my head I breathed deeply for a few more unsteady heartbeats and then began looking for my bag. I lifted my head from where it hung between my shoulders and looked up, straight into a persons’ hand.

I froze, not looking up but just concentrating on the scarred flesh of the hand extended towards me. “I knew that there was something too co-incidental about you being ill this week.”

I dared to look up and saw the face of my Defence against the Dark Arts professor looking down at me, his brow furrowed in deep thought. “And I knew that what that boggart turned into wasn’t a crystal ball.” I replied shakily, holding my hand up to stop him from speaking and quickly turning to heave yet again, all that came up was saliva and a little blood, which I chose to ignore.