Starless Night(Animagi)

[sarahulalume]

Sarah was rather excellent at Transfiguration. She was actually only better at flying. She could also duel but she wasn't as experienced as the other two skills. She could turn herself into a red fawn. Sarah began studying to achieve Animagus status before she got to Hogwarts. She remembered her father instructing her, telling her that they needed to be able to hide. Sarah put her wand to her temple now and she began to change. When her transformation into a young deer was complete, Sarah spun around swiftly, testing her speed as a fawn.

Sarah paused and gazed up at the overcast sky. The cloud covered the sky completely, making Sarah feel safe, as though she was tucked under a blanket. Sarah began to stride through the dark forest. She nearly ran headlong into a hypogryff. Sarah leapt backward as the larger creature turned to her slowly. Sarah bent her froelegs and bowed her head to the large beast in respect. She was always more respectful to beasts than she was to intelligent beings.

[Anne Braden]

Annie didn't like being constricted. It wasn't as though she was claustrophobic though, it was more of a fear of being pinned. Annie preferred to sleep with blankets over her. She also preferred to be on top of her men, though admittedly that didn't make her very popular with them. She transformed before going out to the forest, Hogwarts staff was more likely to stop her more than they would the Head Girl given Anne's bad reputation. Also, a rat was less likely to be seen travelling across the grounds.

Anne had not been following Sarah, she just had a way of sniffing out treasures. Anne did not even immediately recognize Sarah as a witch when as she watched the little deer bowing to the hippogriff. When Anne finally realized that little deers probably didn't go around bowing to larger creatures, Anne realized what Sarah was. Anne crept up behind the little deer stealthily and bit the Head Girl's transfigured foot as deeply as she could penetrate her teeth. Anne then tried to turn and flee. But she was stricken in the back and thrown into a tree.

[sarahulalume]

Sarah was bent low, though she kept her head straight so that she could see the Hippogriff clearly. The beast seemed unwilling to greet her. Though it would sometimes take longer for her to gain the trust of some beasts. Sarah guessed it was because of her moody disposition toward other humans. Sarah shivered slightly as a gentle though cold breeze ran up against her nose. She shifted her feet under her slightly, unsure if she should try to greet the hippogriff disguised as a mere animal. Sarah saw the hippogriff move, but was too engrossed in her own thought to recognize what it was for.

Sarah stood up straight and meant to approach the hippogriff, having taken its movement as permission to approach. The hippogriff stood on its hind legs and swiped its left foreleg in Sarah's direction angrily. Even as she felt the small mouse's teeth in her foot, Sarah jumped and fled to avoid the hippogriff's strike. She had actually barely felt the bite though it was deep. Sarah stopped in between a pair of oak tree trunks that were rather close together. She looked back at the scene, realizing that the hippogriff hadn't been attacking her. It was assaulting some invisible enemy on the ground. In the moonless/starless nightfall, Sarah could not see the smaller Animagus. Though she was sure that the hippogriff was not decieved into detecting the presence of another. Sarah turned and ran around to come back into the the hippogriff's clearing that she had first entered from. Meaning to get a look at what ever had disturbed the hippogriff and biten her. As she gazed around a rather fat tree trunk, Sarah saw a small rat dazed against a tree trunk. Despite the fact that it was hardly moving, the hippogriff couldn't reach it through a split down the tree's side.

Sarah approached the hippogriff slowly. She did not want to startle it further. But she knew the tree would only last so long against its assault. Sarah ran in a small circle to display that she had not been badly injured by the assailant. The hippogriff turned its head watched her display for a moment. Sarah stopped and bowed at the hippogriff. She looked up to see the fantastic beast wandering off back toward its clearing. Though it lifted its back legs and hit the tree with such a force that Anne was thrown against the other side of the inside of the tree. Sarah would have laughed at the sight of the rat but could not since she was transfigured. She wondered who the rat was.

She'd already suspected another wizard. Sarah turned back into her humanoid form. She put a hand in her crimson-color cloak's pocket and picked out her wand from it. Sarah advanced on the dying, split tree trunk. She saw Anne still hiding inside the tree, apparently too frightened to leave. She grinned and put out a slender hand through the split tree and grasped the rat. Sarah pulled it out of the hole and used the hand her wand was in to grap the back of its neck before it bit her again. With her wand itself held vertically against the rat's back, Sarah pushed it toward it with her other hand. She pinned the rat's spine against the wand and grinned. "Do you fear me?" Sarah wondered if it was an innocent prank or a plot to get the hippogriff to maul her. Sarah expected both when she put the rat down on the floor. She cast a spell to change transfigured objects back to their original form. Sarah stepped back and kept her wand trained on the transforming rat. Expecting to have to deal with a snotty slytherin that she had once disciplined during her career as a prefect.

[Anne Braden]

Anne did not know it and neither probably did Sarah but when the Head Girl fled from the hippogriff, the transfigured Anne had been saved from the rampaging hippogriff. Having been kicked by the much smaller fawn rather than trampled by the beast. Anne was knocked against a tree. And though she was heavily dazed, Anne found her way to a safe place within the tree. She had practiced the ability to operate while under stress, injury or dizziness for quite awhile. Though the adrenaline helped quite a bit. Anne did not dare leave the tree and her fear proved correct when the hippogriff tried to kick over the dying tree. Anne didn't think what she had done was such a good idea anymore. The hippogriff poked his beak through the crack in the tree's bark and tried to grab Anne. But she was small enough to keep to one side to keep out of its grip. That was when the hippogriff finally stopped attacking the tree. Anne saw the other transfigured person a few feet away. Then the tree suddenly lurched with great force. Anne was thrown about within the small space. She was actually glad when she was pulled out of the cramped space by the Head Girl's hand.

Anne recognized Sarah immediately. The two girls had fought on numerous occasions. Anne heard Sarah taunting her but was in no state to retort. Anne changed back into her human form upon Sarah's command. She was seated on the ground looking up at Sarah coldly. "Am I scared? Is that really the best you've got? They'll let just anyone be my peer these days."

Anne climbed to her knees slowly. She stopped and rubbed her cheek softly. "I thought that would have been more fun than harm." Anne grabbed Sarah's waist suddenly and used the other girl to lift herself up. She put her hand in Sarah's pocket and stole out of it a few pieces of metal. Anne climbed to her feet and gazed at Sarah. "Wandering the forest as an Animagus? No wonder you've got no real friends." Anne sighed softly.

[sarahulalume]

Sarah watched Anne transform. As a former Prefect and current Head Girl, Sarah had to take points from Ravenclaw on Braden's account more than a few times. If she was honest, Sarah quite liked taking points from Ravenclaw. It was usually quite difficult to match the Ravenclaws in house points through classes alone. Yet there remained an animosity between them since Anne was a rule breaker and Sarah was an enforcer. She put out a hand to help Anne up but the Ravenclaw didn't take her hand. Sarah figured that Anne had missed her hand and did not realize Anne had actually put her hand into Sarah's pocket.

Sarah sighed and simply pulled the other girl onto her feet vigourously. She shook her head at Anne and turned to look around the now pathetic-looking tree trunk to be sure that the hippogriff was not still about. "You have a sadist's grasp of fun. And don't forget that I'm your superior, not your peer. And you will fear me or you'll have to answer to all the Professors you've coveted from."

Sarah turned back toward Anne and stepped over to the poor rat and pet her head softly. "Now, I'll forget the insult you just made. You can make your way back to the castle, right? Good night." Sarah let Anne go and began her slow trek back to the castle.

She stopped suddenly and looked up at the sky. Sarah could hear Anne rustling behind her. She turned and gazed at Anne curiously. "Uhm. Would you walk with me anyway? I have something I need to ask you." Sarah put her wand in a pocket of her robe. She cleared her throat. "I think you might be interested."

[Anne Braden]

The hippogriff's struggle had caused a stillness to fall in the immediate area. Anne put her hand firmly around her wand. The last fear in her mind was of hippogriffs and detention now. The forest was home to more aggressive beasts than either the hippogriff or Sarah. Anne hid her wariness from her unwilling companion. She yawned through Sarah's annoying and predictable rambling.

Anne knew Sarah was prone to leave the grounds of the castle for nights, but had never known her to depart at this hour or in this manner. Usually, it was under that cloak or far before the sun's rest. "Interest me? So there is a possibilty of riches? Tell me." To be completely truthful, Anne only held animosity toward the Head Girl for the sport of competition. An oppurtunity for some reward was more than enough to make Anne forget a quarrel with anyone.

Anne hurried to join Sarah at a steady pace, quite content to leave the forest. "If you want me to find your parents, you'll have to compensate me before I do it." Anne grinned. Her eyes dared the Head Girl to ask how she had known about that.