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Wolf

Wolf instinctively gripped Scarlet's wrist tighter as he slipped off the tower roof. It was instinct. His conscious mind was tossed aside in favour of survival, and to survive, he had to grab onto something.

Yet another reason why Wolf hated his instincts, even his human ones.

They fell through the air, Wolf keeping his grip on Scarlet's arm for fear of being separated from her. He tugged his wand out of his pocket, though he wasn't sure what he would do with it. He knew duelling spells, not practical spells. And it seemed that was going to cost him his life and Scarlet's.

Panic tore at his thoughts as the ground grew ever closer. In a last, desperate bid to save himself and the unconscious redhead he held, he awkwardly twisted his wand in his grip so it was pointing towards his chest. Wingardium Leviosa.

Only a few feet above the ground, their fall slowed into a gentle float. The danger passed, Wolf let go of the spell and he and Scarlet fell the rest of the short way.

Panting with panic and relief, he looked around to see where they had ended up. It looked like a sort of pocket in a corner of the courtyard. Walls surrounded the small space, leaving only one exit. Just past where Wolf could see, shouts of rage and pain ravaged the air. Flashes of light and the occasional arrow shot past their hiding place, and Wolf didn't need the musky scent hanging in the air to know that centaurs were around.

Carefully picking up Scarlet, Wolf creeped out of the pocket, warry of the ongoing battle. This place wasn't safe. Levana had overlooked the centaurs for far too long. Any human they saw would immediately be considered an enemy, and any werewolf they saw would undoubtedly be killed on the spot. And that's not even counting the fact that the staff were probably all their enemies after they'd gotten on Levana's bad side. He had to find somewhere to leave Scarlet where no-one would notice her until she woke up before he could re-join the others.

Wolf stayed close to the wall, keeping his pace quick and quiet. But the courtyard was small, and he only made it halfway before someone spied him. Just his luck it was one of the centaurs.

The creature bared his teeth and stamped his hooves as he glared at Wolf. "So, one of the scourge dares to show its face. Your death will mark the beginning of the cure we will bring to the forest."

Faster than Wolf could blink, the centaur had nocked and arrow to his bow and let it fly. He was only barely able to dodge out of the way as it hit the wall right next to his head. All thoughts of stealth abandoned, Wolf ran the remaining distance, arrows from the other centaurs raining behind him. Several met their mark: in his calf, in his shoulder, in his side. Wolf didn't have time to pull them out, but with each flare of pain as the sharpened point pierced his flesh, a familiar ferocity stirred inside of him.

He didn't think much of it. He knew full well that the day-time transformations were taking a toll on his mind. But when an arrow grazed his cheek, and he felt his own blood slowly oozing down his face, he realised something was different. His teeth felt a little too big for his mouth, and a familiar prickling was running up his arms. He didn't need a mirror to know that he was slowly changing.

The shock of the revelation dulled his ferocity enough to let his body return to its normal state. He ducked out of the courtyard, away from the biting arrows, hastily set the still-unconscious Scarlet down and viciously ripped the arrows out of his flesh, imagining that he was tearing his curse out with them. As if that would put an end to this new problem.

How could he transform in the daytime? Wolf had always needed moonlight to change. Even the teachers' spell to force him to transform needed moonlight to work. It was a compulsory requirement. His werewolf-form fed off it, it needed it to survive. That was one thing that Wolf had been absolutely certain about. And now, that rule he thought was set in stone, was looking more and more like it was simply written on regular paper. A paper, that was slowly burning.

Wolf shook his head, as if that would relieve him of his newfound worries. He needed to focus. He needed to get Scarlet out of here. Somewhere safe. Maybe the Potions classroom? Professor Erland might be willing to protect her, if he was still there.

A whistling that was already becoming uncomfortably familiar shattered Wolf's train of thought and he hastily ducked out of the way of an incoming arrow. When he saw yet another centaur preparing to shoot again, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes in a glare.

"I'm not a threat to you." He said, fighting to keep his voice calm and composed.

The centaur snorted. He was a roan stallion, with long dark hair and striking silver eyes. Something about him seemed familiar, but Wolf couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Not a threat? You are a drop of the poison that has been slowly destroying our home!"

"I didn't have a choice in the matter." Wolf said, "I can't control my transformation, and I can't help it if the school forces me to run wild in the forest."

"You younglings, always pinning all of the blame for your problems on your elders." The centaur scoffed, "In your arrogance you refuse to accept even the slightest responsibility for your own actions."

Wolf's eye twitched. Refuse to accept responsibility? He'd been accepting responsibility for his actions since he was twelve! He'd had to reconcile himself with murders because of what the school had done to him! And this centaur had the audacity to assume his full character based on a condition he couldn't control and a minute of conversation?

"Fine, so you hate me." Wolf said through gritted teeth, "Can you at least go about the business of killing me when other people can't be hurt in the crossfire."

The centaurs silver eyes flicked over to Scarlet before turning back to Wolf. The derision was practically glowing out of them. "You mask your motivations poorly Beast. But to answer your question, why should I care for the welfare of this young one? Is she not responsible for the plight of my herd as well?"

"How is she responsible for the school's actions?" Wolf roared.

"By forcing blindness towards our suffering, so that she may continue her life in peace at the expense of others' tranquillity." The centaur replied calmly.

"So that she may continue her life in peace." Those words echoed – no, screamed inside of Wolf's brain. Scarlet had risked her life for these arrogant horses' wolf problem, and rather than dredge up some small scrap of mercy in his heart, this puffed-up stallion was instead going to kill her, simply because she was involved, however remotely, with the people who actually deserve punishment.

Rage bubbled up inside Wolf in a rumbling volcano, and he knew that any moment it was going to erupt. The lava burned away at what sense was left in his conscious mind, leaving behind only his base instincts. He felt his skin stretching, and his jaw was being contorted into a very uncomfortable position by his teeth. His fingers screamed in pain as the skin and bones shifted, and his feet didn't quite fit in his shoes anymore. The centaur had stood well above him before, but now he was equal to it in height. Some part of Wolf's brain registered all this, but it was a very far back corner, one that he wouldn't think to look in until later. The rest of him was so consumed by anger at this pompous creature, all it could think of was how easy it would be to break his neck.

The centaur, on the other hand, was very, very aware of Wolf's transformation. Its arrogant, mildly disgusted expression morphed into poorly disguised fear as he looked into his eyes. He pulled back his bowstring, but Wolf was faster. Lashing out with long claws, he tore deep furrows in the centaur's chest. His shriek of pain sounded more like a horse's whinny than a human scream, but it was cut short as Wolf gripped his throat in one hand. He curled his fingers just so, and let his claws pierce through the thin flesh of his opponent's neck.

As the centaur's eyes turned fogged and hollow with death, the anger drained out of Wolf's mind like a waterfall. His form shrank, his jaw rivetted back into its normal position, his claws retracted. He fell to his knees, and as fuzzy darkness slowly closed in on his vision, he heard one, shaky, whispered word.

"Wolf?"

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