The Beast Within

The Forest

Brendon entered the common room half an hour later.
"What're you reading?" He asked, looking at me.
"Maze Runner." I answered, not taking my eyes off the page.
"You wanna run around. You know, as animals."
"Sure." I said. "I'm gonna put this in my trunk." I explained to Remus before running off to put it in my case. When I got back, we left to go outside. 

Snow crunched under our feet. Once we had gotten somewhere out of sight, we formed a circle.
"We need nicknames for each other. I've heard the Marauders did it and it'd be cool to have nicknames." Ava said.
"Sure." Everyone said, shrugging.
"You could be Shadowwing." I suggested, looking at Ava.
"That sounds cool. Remus you could be... Snowpaws." She said.
"Brendon could be Razorclaw." Remus added.
"What about me?" I asked.
"Phoenix, you could be Redfur." Brendon said. We nodded and turned into our animagus forms. I had never noticed before but Remus' paws were white unlike the rest of his body. That would explain the name. Brendon was named Razorclaw for his shining, silvery, sharp talons. Ava was named Shadowwing for her midnight black feathers. Looking down at my paws, they were a reddish-brown colour. That was why I was called Redfur. I barked at Remus and wagged my tail. He rolled over and barked back. When he stood up, his fur was white from the snow. I dived at him but he dodged. I fell nose first into the snow. I was stuck, my hind legs flailing wildly. Ava croaked and Brendon shrieked, both laughing. Remus dug the snow around me, grabbing onto the scruff of my neck and pulling me out. I barked, thanking him and glanced at Brendon and Ava who were still laughing. I trotted over to Ava and hit her lightly with my paw, causing her to sink into the snow. Snapping at Brendons legs, I ran back to Remus. We leapt at each other and began play fighting. Remus may have been bigger than me, but he certainly wasn't stronger. I won the fight. Brendon made a strange croaking sound and ran off. Even though I couldn't exactly speak hippogriff, I knew exactly what he was saying. We followed him closely, Ava landing on Brendon's head. We were going into the forbidden forest.

I had heard stories about the forbidden forest. Stories of werewolves, unicorns, centaurs. Sadly, the story of werewolves wasn't true. It was based off of a pack of very intelligent wolves that lived in the forest, who were descended from two werewolves. I was excited anyway. It was eerily quiet. As it was winter, the birds who would usually be singing, their sweet melodies echoing throughout the forest, had left to migrate. Every so often, a twig would snap under one of our feet (or paws), making us all jump. Even though the trees had no leaves left, we were so deep in the forest that we couldn't barely see the sky, small patches of sunlight, dappling the forest floor. Where were we going? I barked at Brendon, tilting my head to the side, hoping he would get the message. He stopped and clawed at the ground. Remus' ears twitched. There was a faint rumbling sound, almost like thunder. The noise was getting louder. Whatever the source was, it was getting closer. Soon it was so loud we couldn't even hear anything else. Ava had flown into a tree. She let out a shriek. There was a loud cry.

Hundreds of centaurs leapt over a log over to our right and charged towards us. They circled us, examining us and pointing their bows at us.
"You are not true animals." One of them said, glaring at us. We transformed instantly. They lowered their bows when they saw we were kids but still held them, ready to shoot us.
"We come in peace...?" I  said, looking at the others. 
"What are you doing in our forest?" The centaur growled.
"Olyseus, calm. They are only young." A female centaur with long black hair said, approaching him.
"They are in our territory, Aela." He hissed, stamping his hoof.
"We are on their grounds! Now leave the poor children alone. Can't you see they are only young." She said, turning to us. Trotting towards us, she smiled warmly.
"Stranger danger! Stranger danger!" Brendon whispered. I giggled. Olyseus glared at us, only making me want to laugh even more.
"I am truly sorry about my brother. Olyseus can be very territorial. A little more territorial than the others in our herd. What brings you to our forest?" She said.
"We wanted to explore. We'd never been in the forest before and wanted to see for ourselves." I explained.
"Ahh. Yet another group of students searching for werewolves, unicorn and the many other creatures believed to live here." Aela muttered. "Aye, there are such creatures here, unicorns, thestrals, hippogriffs, acromantulas. Once there was a giant living here. However, no werewolves live in these parts. Merely wolves descended from werewolves." She added, smiling at us. She looked around at us before staring at me.
"I have seen you before. In the stars. They have told me you are destined for greatness." Aela breathed. "My child you are indeed destined for greatness but a price must be paid." She explained, her smile fading. I looked around. The others were shrugging. "You must not dwell on these thoughts." She said. "Now, you must leave the forest. It is not safe here. Farewell dears, I hope we cross paths again soon." Aela concluded, nodding and looking back at the herd. Olyseus was still seething. They galloped away into the distance.

Walking back we spoke about what she meant by being 'destined for greatness'.
"Maybe you will win the award for 'Most Annoying Sister To Ever Exist'. That seems like it could be achievable."
"Ha, ha." I said sarcastically. "Maybe I'll finally manage to get rid of you." I laughed.
"Shhh." Ava hissed. "Look." We looked up to see a horse like creature. It was so white, it glowed, illuminating the forest.
"It's a unicorn." I said, spotting the horn on its head. Beside it stood a small foal. It was gold. "That must be its baby." I whispered. "Snowpaws, Razorwing, stay back. Shadowwing, you can come if you want."
"What? Why? I call racism!" Brendon exclaimed.
"Shhh." I spat. "Also, racism?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.
"Yeah!" He laughed. "Why aren't we allowed?"
"Don't you pay any attention in lessons?" I muttered. Seeing his expression, I knew the answer. "Unicorns prefer females. The foals don't mind but the adults do." I explained. He sighed. Ava and I slowly approached the unicorns. A twig snapped under my foot.
"Phoenix!" Ava snapped.
"Sorry..." The unicorn had heard and spotted us. She was eyeing us, warily. We stepped closer. Eventually, we were close enough to touch her. I reached out and stroked her neck. She didn't even flinch. I smiled and scratched her ears. She nickered, softly. Her foal trotted towards us. Ava knelt down and stroked the baby. It let out a small whinny. Noticing Brendon and Remus were inching closer, I stepped in front of where they were, to hide them from the unicorn so she didn't run.  Ava saw them as well and walked towards them, the foal following close behind. Both boys dropped to the floor and began to stroke it. I grinned. Brendon always acted really masculine around his friends and especially when playing quidditch, but when he was around animals, he was like a completely different person. He spoke to the foal in a soft voice, smiling warmly. Suddenly, the mothers ears twitched and she raised her head, staring at the other three.
"It's okay." I whispered, scratching her ears again. "Don't worry your baby is safe." As though she understood what I'd said, she lowered her head again.
"We're gonna have to go." Remus said, standing up. He trudged over to us and stroked the unicorns muzzle. I felt her jump. Brendon and Ava walked towards us.
"She seems fine." I said. They rubbed her neck and patted her head. I grinned and stepped away from the unicorn. "Let's go." I added. We left the unicorns, still looking back at them and continued to walked through the forest. After what seemed like hours we finally reached the edge of the forest, the snow blinding us. We stumbled back towards the castle, it was getting dark. We ran into the great hall, had dinner, and proceeded to sprint back to the common room, collapsing on the seats. It was the best animagus form adventure we had been on.