The Forest - R.L.

Chapter 2 - The Creature

Exactly a week later the three of them boarded the plane that would take them from Australia to England.

"I still don't understand why we can't just apparate there," Alexander grumbled. He had always hated flying. "Because it's extremely dangerous and illegal. Do you know how easy it would be to splinch yourself over a distance that long?" Paula sighed. Alexander mumbled something about how it was worth the risk, and Grace just chuckled at her parents' antics before settling into her seat and looking out the plane's window.

This was the second time Grace had flown to England.

The first was four years ago, when Grace was seven. Her father had finally saved up enough money for himself, Grace and Paula to afford the tickets for the flight.

Alexander had moved from England to Australia only three years after finishing his education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He soon met a young muggleborn witch by the name of Paula Johnston, whom he then married and had a child with.

Both he and Paula worked as a teachers at the local wizarding primary school, in the small wizarding community where they lived, and whilst these jobs paid well enough, the money had been going towards other things, such as buying a house and raising a child. The primary school taught things such as basic English, Maths, and to the year 5 and 6 students, Charms and Potions. Students weren't allowed to bring their wands to school until year 5.

Grace went to school there as well, along with nearly every other 5-12 year old wizard or witch that lived in the area.

They were going to England to visit Alexander's parents, whom he had not seen since he had moved to Australia, ten years ago, and they were yet to meet Paula and Grace. Mary and William Thorne, Alexander's parents, had recently moved to a large cottage in the English countryside, after deciding that it would be a nicer place to retire.

Grace liked her grandparents; they were sweet and relatively carefree. They even let her go exploring all by herself whenever she wanted, which may have been a mistake.

On the third night of their stay, she woke in the middle of the night and found herself unable to go back to sleep, so she decided to go wandering again.

Alexander was extremely passionate about magical creatures, and the two of them often went exploring, especially at night, as he always claimed that that was the best time to see something weird and wonderful, so exploring through the dark forest behind her grandparents' house was nothing new.

As Grace snuck out the back door, she wondered if she would get in trouble, but she quickly decided that that would be highly unlikely, as her parents were always encouraging her to be independent.

Besides, her grandparents had said that she could go any time she wanted, hadn't they?

So she strolled down the winding path from the house to the forest, whistling a quiet tune to herself. As soon as she reached the edge of the trees, she stopped. It was extremely dark in the forest, the trees shielding most of the light from the full moon shining down above. She took a deep breath in, before stepping in between the first two trees and beginning her expedition.

She had only been walking in the forest for no less than two minutes when she heard a noise, a small whimpering somewhere to her left. Immediately followed the noise, tiptoeing through the forest, so that she wouldn't disturb the creature. She stood on a small twig, making a small snapping noise, and froze. Directly in front of her, she could see a shape moving ever so slightly, before it took off again at full speed.

Grace quickly followed behind, until it reached a clearing, where the light from the moon shone, revealing the creature she had found. It was a wolfish being about as tall as herself, with scruffy grey-brown fur and a snarl forming on its lips.

It turned towards her, its wide brown eyes looking directly at her curiously. But they weren't just brown, Grace noticed, there were bright yellow streaks running through them as well. Their eye-contact only lasted a total of five seconds, before the creature snapped its jaws at her, warning her to stay back.

Grace didn't move an inch, still staring at the creature with pure wonder. What could it possibly be? It didn't like like anything she had seen before, and she had seen many magical creatures. It certainly wasn't a normal wolf though, the body shape was different.

Seeing that she hadn't moved, the creature reared up on its hind legs and brought down one if its front paws across her face, its middle claw leaving a long cut that ran all the way to her chin. She gasped, immediately lifting a hand up to the cut, in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

Realizing that she still hadn't moved, the creature took a step backwards, its front legs on the ground again. Its eyes, Grace noticed, no longer had the bright yellow streaks, and they almost looked... human.
The creature turned and fled the clearing, disappearing into the darkness, leaving her standing there, still staring at the spot where the creature had been.

She then turned on the spot and walked back in the direction she had come, forgetting all about the cut on her face. She was excited to get back to the house and tell her father all about the creature she had seen, knowing that he would be extremely interested as well.

But, when she returned to the house, she found the four adults standing outside with worried expressions. "Where have you been, Grace?"

Whilst her father was extremely interested about the creature she had seen in the forest, he had also been very angry. Apparently it was dangerous for a seven year old girl to wander around the dark forest at night.

Her father had said that the creature she had found must've been a werewolf, a young one, and that she was lucky that she had only escaped with a minor cut, which he had been able to heal with a few quick spells, until nothing but a faint scar was left.

Absentmindedly, Grace lifted her hand to the scar, tracing along it whilst looking out the window of the plane, watching the waves of the ocean below.

She remembered that night well, even though it took place over three years ago.