Catch Me If You Can → George Weasley

Seven

The rest of the day passed by relatively quickly. Apollo spent his day alone, finishing homework and reading books. The only time anyone really saw him was at meals. This was not unusual. Some days he would be seen, and others he would not. This was one of the days where he was seen an average amount. There were days where no one would see him at all. Today, he figured it was too late to disappear completely. He had already been at Quidditch practice, and seen the Gryffindor team. He might as well show up at meals too.

By the end of the day, Apollo had finished all his homework for the week and read a book that he had brought from home. Curfew came around, and one by one, everyone went to bed. Soon only Apollo remained awake. This was exactly what he was waiting for.

Apollo did not sleep often. He hardly slept at all, really. Did it affect his health and his mood? Maybe. There was not anything he could do about it, however. He did not know how to get sleep. No matter what he did, he could never seem to fall asleep, or on the rare chance he did, stay that way.

In the dark of the night, Apollo quietly sneaked up to his shared dorm, which he shared with a few other boys whom he never interacted with. He had never been interested, and he was never in the dorm long enough for an interaction. They did not mind. Two of them always had their nose in a book, learning about anything and everything. Another was always working on last minute work, and the last was always doing any kind of artwork. They all had their own hobbies and schedules, and did not need to intermingle.

Apollo made a beeline for the long, black case that sat against the wall beside his bed. Keeping his movements silent, he took the singular strap and slung it over his shoulder. He stole a quick glance at his sleeping dorm mates, just to be sure they were really asleep, despite their soft snores echoing around the room.

He evaded all the creaky floorboards, making his way out of the common room entirely. He kept his steps light, careful not to make a sound. He walked all the way down to the first floor, continuously glancing over his shoulder. He did not want to be caught by Filch, or any of the teachers.

The blonde made his way all the way outside. Dead ahead of him layed his favourite place on school grounds. The Forbidden Forest.  As anyone could tell just by the name, it was prohibited to go there. Apollo did not care one bit. He always went there to calm down, and relax.

With a deep breath, his body was replaced by that of a majestic white wolf. He ran into the forest, feeling free.

Unbeknownst to him, he was being watched. Two boys were watching from one of the windows on another floor. The two, twins, had been setting up a prank for the school's caretaker when one of them spotted something moving out the window.

"Fred!" He whisper-shouted, gesturing the other redhead over.

Fred complied and peered out the window. "What was that?" He asked, awe clear in his voice.

"That, I think, is my good friend Apollo Payne," George said, smirking. The pair watched the boy, now wolf, run into the forest. 

"I've seen you interact. You aren't friends."

"Yet."

"That's bloody brilliant, though. We outta get him to help us with pranks."

"I'm working on it."

Meanwhile, Apollo ventured further into the forest. The deeper he went, the darker it got. The moon was barely visible. The dementors far off. That's when he decided he had gone far enough, and stopped his prancing. He found a comfortable spot to stay, and became his human form again. He took the case off on his person, and opened it to reveal a nice acoustic guitar. He carefully took it out, a small smile gracing his lips.

He sat down and started strumming, playing nothing in particular. Soon the mindless strumming turned into a real song, one that Apollo had always liked ever since it came out. It was a muggle song, of course, and his father would hate for him to listen to it, but he did not care. POISON was a good band, and he would not apologize for saying it.

He was softly humming the lyrics, when he was abruptly stopped. By a silvery voice from beside him.

"You have good taste in music," The voice said.

Apollo looked in the direction of the voice, and almost jumped back. In the dark of the night, deep in the forest, Apollo saw a creature that was not known to approach humans. He had a better night vision than most, which allowed him to clearly see what was there. A magnificent centaur. Much taller than him, with the lower part of their body being that of a horse. They radiated confidence and kindness. They had a mane of long raven black hair to match their dark skin.

The wizard blinked a few times. He had to be seeing things, right? Centaurs never approached people. Why would this one? Then he remembered he was spoken to.

"Oh, uh, thank you?" He said, but it sounded more like a question as the words left his mouth. He did not know how to reply.

The centaur smiled. "Mind if I stay?" He did not give Apollo a chance to answer. He did the centaur version of sitting, and tilted his head to the side. That was something Apollo had to give credit to the bonuses that came with being an animagus. "My name is Pip," The centaur, Pip, introduced.

Apollo eyed him skeptically. "Apollo," He finally said, though suspicious still. He could not help it. "Why are you talking to me?"

Luckily, Pip did not take offence to the boy's attitude. He chuckled lightly. "This is strange, I concur. My kind is not known to interact with humans." He smiled. "I'm not the same."

Apollo was not completely convinced. "Why me? Why now?"

"I like the music," Pip stated. "Besides, I was becoming lonely, out on my own. I do not have many friends, you see." He have a charming smile, and made a waving gesture with his hand. "Please, continue."

The young boy was not so sure he could, knowing he now had someone paying close attention. After a moments hesitation, he complied with the request. He started strumming his instrument once more. Soon his fingers navigated the strings like second nature.

Apollo played through the night, Pip encouraging him and even singing along at times. Apollo did not know how to feel about it, but he decided those were thoughts for another time.

Soon the moon was shifting in the sky. Apollo put away his guitar and strapped the case to his back once again. "I should head back," He mumbled, not sure how to bid the centaur goodbye.

"Yes, it would be best." Pip smiled, something he seemed to do too often. "I hope to see you again in the future, Apollo." With what could pass as a wink, he stood up and trotted off deep into the forest.

Apollo turned into a wolf once more, and ran back in the direction of the castle. It would soon be time for breakfast. And after the night he had, he thought he could use some food to calm his nerves.