sister of the wolf | s. snape

seventeen | wolf

Elise sat in the chilly, empty corridor in a little nook beside a large window. She peered out, a book in her lap, taking in the full moon hanging in the late night sky. Her chest stirred with worry, knowing that her brother was out in the Forbidden Forest somewhere, dealing with something she could never fully understand the pain of.

This was how it was every night of a full moon. Elise would be unable to sleep; too concerned about her sibling and her friends who would accompany him on these nights in their animagus forms. The only reason she herself did not pursue the knowledge to become an animagus was because her brother absolutely refused it.

A soft sigh escaped her lips. It has to be around three in the morning, she thought. No way I'm going to sleep now, though. I'll just have to miss my first class or two.

Muffled voices were heard, slowly growing closer. Elise's heart sped and she gripped onto the invisibility cloak that James had lent her for nights like these, ready to throw it over her if it was a professor.

But the closer the voices got, the more she recognized them. Peter. Then James, and then Sirius. She tossed her book and the cloak into her bag she kept with her and then headed in the direction of the voices.

" - we can get it if we're quiet, so shut it!" James said in a hushed but urgent tone.

"What's going on?" Elise asked as she rounded the corner of the corridor. The boys stood around each other, sweaty and breathing heavy. They looked at her with wide eyes.

"El! Merlin, you scared me!" Peter said, clutching his chest.

"Elise..." Sirius said softly, stepping towards her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Remus... He..."

"He what?!" She felt her ribs wracking with the hard pace of her heart and she gazed around at them, becoming panicked. Why would they leave him in the forest alone? "What's happened?" She demanded.

James stepped toward her, his eyes filled with worry and stress. "We can't find him."

"What do you mean you can't find him?!" Her voice was raising now, shaking. "How do you lose a werewolf?!"

Sirius now placed both hands on each of her shoulders, staring into her eyes. "Look, we have a plan, okay? We just need to get some raw meat from the kitchens to lure him to us."

Elise nodded slowly. "Kitchens, yeah. The entrance to the Hufflepuff common room is inside of them... I can get in and out easily."

"Yes! Thank you, El!" James grinned and nodded eagerly.

"I'll grab it, you boys meet me outside at the edge of the forest."

The three Marauders agreed and dashed out of the castle. Elise moved down the corridor. She hadn't been far from the kitchens in the first place, so it took no time at all for her to reach them.

It was empty, as all the house elves had gone to bed. Urgently, she rifled through the stores of food until she found a freezer loaded with raw meats. She grabbed a bag of it and hurried to the castle door the boys had exited out of.

The freezing weather practically knocked the air out of her lungs; she wasn't dressed properly for a night out in January. But she gathered herself and wrapped her robes tightly around her body, venturing towards the Forbidden Forest.

Just past where the trees began, she met with the boys. She handed over the bag of raw meats.

"Brilliant!" James beamed, taking the bag.

"You need to go back now," Sirius said, worriedly gazing down at the girl. Elise scowled back up at him.

"First, I want to be sure you can find my brother," she said firmly. Nobody dared argue, as they knew she wouldn't back down.

The four of them traveled a bit further into the dark woods. Elise had to murmur 'Lumos' to her wand in order to see in front of her, but even then she didn't have vision of more than a few feet.

"Alright, here should do," James said as he dumped the raw meat onto the ground, igniting a small flame on the tip of his hand and lighting the werewolf bait.

Sirius turned to Elise. "Hide, now." He said firmly.

She nodded and turned, heading about twenty feet away to hide behind a thick tree.

A bone-chilling howl was heard, the sound carried to them among the wind. Every hair on the girl's body stood on end.

Peeking out from behind the tree, she saw the boys shift into their animagus forms. Now in the small clearing was simply a dog, a stag, and a rat.

Briefly, she wondered what form her animagus would take if she had gone through the training. But her mind didn't have much time to wander.

Within minutes, the boney, horrific figure of the werewolf emerged into the clearing. The scent of burning meat had successfully lured her brother to his friends.

The werewolf growled and acknowledged the animagus boys before crouching down to indulge itself in the food.

Elise sighed quietly, happy that her brother was found. She turned to make her way back to the castle, but all the blood in her veins turned cold when she heard the loud snap of a branch beneath her foot.

Turning her head back, she saw the wolf's eyes meet her own. Its carnivorous teeth bared themselves as it lowered into a hunting position.

Elise, for a split moment, froze in complete fear. But once the wolf took a half step forward, she did exactly what the predator wanted; ran.

The girl, hunted by her own brother, ran until her lungs felt on fire and her limbs felt they may give out. She had her wand in hand and tried to fire curses behind her, but they just clashed into trees, merely causing the bark to splinter into the air.

But it wasn't long until her body hit the hard ground and the sharp rocks around her. Rolling onto her back, the weight of something crashed onto her frame.

Her vision was blurry and her ears rang loudly. I hit my head, she reasoned. Two glowing orbs glared down at her as her tunnel-vision began to close in on her.

A pair of antlers suddenly pushed into the werewolf's side, and she could no longer see the eyes of death looming over her. The sound of animals fighting was heard to her left before everything went black.