Twisted in Two Worlds

Winnowill and "Elfquest" were created originally by Wendy Pini, and belong to WARP Graphics Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

"Thank you" to somigliana for beta-ing this first-time submitter!

No animals were harmed during the writing of this; however, Winnowill....

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Winnowill was searching.

The elfin shape-shifter used her long fish-like tail to propel herself through the freshwater sea, probing its boundaries, seeking something that fluttered by, brushing past her. A few atoms here, and few atoms there; she could feel on her fingertips and the webbing that was stretched between them, but nothing ever seemed to increase, to point her to where the magic was seeping.

There was something different about this magic. She'd found pools of magic elsewhere during her centuries of roaming the planet, played in them, left them forgotten behind her with her "toys"; the re-shaped creatures in them still living, some made mostly immortal by her touch. The pools reminded her that the High Ones had been here. And they gave her some hope that she'd be able to leave this world of ugliness and mud and find the star paths that they had travelled - when the Palace returned. Then she would take it and leave behind this planet with its two moons, its troublesome part-elf, part-wolf " Wolfriders" and doltish humans, and become a true High One.

But this magic was a shade different than what she was used to - she needed to find its source.

Perhaps up on the ground she would have better luck. But first, she was hungry. She picked up a sea spider, cracked it open and delicately ate, then took its still living head, toyed with it, flattening it, stretching it. She shoved it into a current and continued on her way.

She swam to the shore and flopped up onto the beach. The sky was overcast; she would not burn in the sun. Some concentration, and the spine of her tail divided, reformed, the muscles reworked themselves, forming thighs, knees, calves and shins, ankles, arches, soles, toes. The tall slender elf stumbled to her feet and stretched, running her hands down her body, and then started her walk down the sand, stopping when she found a small tidal pool. She knelt down and gazed at her reflection, her long black hair framing her face and her tall delicate pointed ears. She pushed back the hair with her three fingered hands, themselves long and comely, and smiled. Nothing had changed in all the centuries; her face was still flawless in its oval beauty. Winnowill was still herself.

Sometime later: a few weeks? A few years? Winnowill swam into a tidal cave. She could feel the strange magic had become stronger; it was easier to change back to legs. A short hike upward and inward, perhaps a mile, and there at the end of the cave was a bright pool of the magic. She could see in its depths--light, and greenery, and blue sky. Winnowill looked into it, put a toe in, then swirled her hand through it, and then slipped into its depths.

~~~~~~~

It was the centaurs that first noticed the pool had been somehow poisoned.

They never drank from it; it contained no fish, was brackish by midsummer, and dried by autumn. It was fed by rain and snow melt. It was off their paths and had no place in their labours. But now, butterflies, insects, spiders, bats and birds were found near it, twisted in their features, parts removed, tortured. Even the plants around its shores had been changed: thorns enlarged, petals and leaves pulled and deformed. There were footprints and handprints in the mud, human, but not. The footprints had four toes, the hand, a thumb and three fingers. The centaurs set their boundaries and avoided the pool.

Hogwarts School's gamekeeper, Hagrid, learned this from the centaurs while he was visiting a friend of his, a giant spider-like creature. The creature confirmed the report and complained that some of his children had had their legs ripped off, been tortured, and left to die. Hagrid found a bird that was terribly misshapen, fluttering around the ground one winged, its legs twisted. He picked up a couple of mutilated butterflies when he went to get a glimpse of the pond. The bowtruckles had fled the area, and there were no unicorn prints or spoor around. He took his findings back to the school, and gave Headmaster Dumbledore the reports. The headmaster then had a few experts examine the bird and the butterflies, and they agreed that this magic was not known, and that it was definitely unwanted.

A small committee of school staff members went back into the Forbidden Forest and set wards around the pool until the mystery could be solved.
Merlin knew that whatever was in that pool should not go any further. A few more samples of flora and fauna were collected for further study, and the pool was left alone.

~~~~~~~

There was only one moon. She floated below the surface of the water, watching the night sky, watching the moon wax and wane night after night. Different stars. Different, yet similar plants and animals. Different magic. At first she had only been able to breathe its air for a few seconds, but now she could do so for longer and longer periods. Soon she would leave the pool's area and see this new world. What beings were here? Had the High Ones been here? Were they still here?

A winged animal flittered above the water. She reached up through the surface and snatched it. A toy! It struggled underwater and went limp. She stretched and reshaped its lifeless wings, pleased with herself. It tasted good.

~~~~~~~

The group comprised of wizards and witches from the Ministry of Magic, St. Mungo's Hospital and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. St. Mungo's also brought a couple of trained Squibs, for sometimes someone with no magic was the best for dealing with some challenges. Whatever it was, they did not want to give it any more weapons than it had, and that included magic. They were walking from the school out to the Forest to meet with Hagrid and the centaurs, when the boys came tearing out of the trees.

~~~~~~~

It was a hot spring day, and four students had secretly fled the school to return to their favourite swimming hole.

"Last one to the pool is a Pettigrew!" Sirius joyously shouted.

"Hey!" Peter whined as he panted to catch up the other three.

"No, last one is a Snape!" James yelled.

"Hey!" Peter whined again.

Remus turned on the path, running backwards and called to Peter. "It's true. He's following us. I can smell him." He grinned wolfishly, and then ran with his friends. It was only a new moon; he would stay a boy for almost another two weeks. For now, he didn't have to worry about his secret.

"Phew!" Sirius said. "Maybe we should throw Snivellus in and hold him down."

"AFTER we're done with our swim," James countered.

"We're here..."

Sirius and James turned right and plunged off the path and through the shrubbery, Remus following. Peter ran up, panting, and paused to catch his breath before crashing after them.

A moment later, a dark shadow of a boy followed silently. He stooped to look at something that was on the ground, hesitated, and then cautiously drifted off the path in pursuit of his prey.

Laughing, loosening their clothes, the boys waited for Peter, and then turned to the pool.

"OW!" All three ran smack into the invisible wall.

"Who put a ward clear out here?" James asked, rubbing his nose.

"I dink I broke by node," Sirius said, holding his face.

"That hurt,", Remus grumbled.

"Whazzamatter?" Peter asked.

"The pool's warded."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" James asked. All four drew their wands.

"Remember, on the count of three. One...two...three!" The ward was blasted and they rushed ahead. The shadow climbed a tree, and peered down.

"Wait, I've got to go to the loo," Remus announced.

"Thanks for doing that OUT of the pool, not IN the pool," James said.

"Yeah, like we want to swim in that stuff," Sirius smirked.

Remus walked off into the brush while the other three undressed. Peter had worn a swimsuit, but James and Sirius were going to skinny dip, and wore their school robes like dressing gowns. Across the pool, under the shade of a low shrub, a pair of eyes rose up and watched silently.

~~~~~~~

High Ones be praised. The beings were similar to her, though shaped more like humans. The aura of magic, though, was there. Perhaps the High Ones had been here, and took on the form of this planet's humans? Perhaps High Ones were still here! Three beings were on the bank, one in a tree. Why was one up there? The clothes went off. Males. Winnowill had never seen nude human children, and assumed they were hairy like the adults. These beings were like her own species, hairless. She assumed they were adults. Males and magic, an interesting combination! And she had the ways to lure them. Slowly she pushed herself off and swam underwater to where they were.

"Look! A fish!" Peter called.

"That's not a fish." James stopped and frowned.

"Then what is it?" Sirius climbed on rock to look down on it.

She sat up in the water, her hair streaming down her back.

"A merwoman?" James asked. She didn't quite look human; her face, her ears, her colouring were all...different.

"That's not a merwoman," a voice from the tree answered.

"Snivellus!" All three shouted, glaring at him.

While they argued amongst themselves, she stood up in the water; her hair swirled over her shoulders and down her back.

>"She's starkers!"

Silence fell immediately as the twelve and thirteen year old boys - blushing, staring, and gaping - gazed at her.

One by one she telepathically *sent* to them, caressing their brains, teasing their thoughts. The one in the tree tried to push her back her
*sending*. The shortest one whimpered. The tallest one made as if to come to her.

They were rudely interrupted. "Sorry it took so long, thanks for waiting," Remus panted, charging through the brush.

Another one? Then she saw what he was. A part-wolf! A Wolfrider, here?

Anger flooded her being. Had her enemies even infested this planet? How dare he exist! She *sent* her fury at him, and he grasped his head, howling in pain.

The spell broken, the boys scrambled back up the bank, dragging the half-wolf one with them. The one in the tree jumped down, fell on the bank, and turned to flee. She *sent* to him as he went, ordering him to stay. He fled.

Disappointed, she waited a while, then went up to the bank and rummaged through the abandoned clothing, wondering if they would return.

~~~~~~~

The boys ran out of the Forest and smack into the wizarding committee. Peter and Sirius were gibbering, James and Remus were panting and trying to spit words out, and Severus was breathing deeply, trying to calm down while glancing back at the trees, terrified that SHE was somehow following them.

Dumbledore got down on one knee while the other adults circled around the students, keeping the gibbering half-naked boys from fleeing.

The headmaster took Peter by the arm and looked in his face. His eyes were opaque with terror.

Sirius's eyes remembered the desire to skinny dip and the triumph of banishing the wards and an odd sensation in his head; fear, as well as a desire to return to the female.

Remus's had the flight through the forest and a horrifying pain that engulfed him, wanting to destroy him, something that knew his secret.

James's had the memory of something terrifyingly beautiful in appearance and crushing in its being. There was a voice, calling to him. There was also triumph for having banished the wards, annoyance at the snivelling tag-a-long and shame for having fled.

Severus's eyes had become brilliantly transparent. Edged by the boy's kaleidoscopic memories, jealousies, angers, longings, the need to pee, and the strong desire for vengeance and the overwhelming thirst for acceptance (and during the brief run, he felt that he was accepted!) was the flight through the woods, the tearing of cloaks through shrubbery. Frantically his memory ran to the pool of greenery and shimmering light and a legless frog quivering on the path. A three-fingered being with the elongated human female form, with pale skin and long black hair that flowed and swirled behind her, her eyes large and oddly shaped, her ears pointed like, but not like a house elf. More terrifying was the voice that had penetrated his brain, and most of all the unfamiliar, almost over-whelming power that was there, that had pulled at him, which had wanted to consume him.

Dumbledore stood up and took Severus by the elbow. "You four," he quietly ordered, "go to the hospital wing and get your feet tended to and stay there until I return. Speak to no one about what happened in the forest. Severus, please join us."

Peter, James and Sirius scowled at Severus, suddenly popular with the headmaster, but Remus grabbed James by the arm and pulled him to the school. He had a headache that wouldn't quit, he wanted to vomit, and he wanted no more adventures for the day. Worse of all, someone, something else knew he was a werewolf and hated him for it. He didn't know why they had taken Severus, probably because he was the only one completely dressed, but he did not envy him his sudden popularity, especially as it meant going back. Remus had no doubt that she would have killed him if his friends had not pulled him away. He owed them.

~~~~~~~

The Headmaster pointed to a thicket inside the Forest's entrance. "Go ahead and relieve yourself there," he kindly told the boy, and then turned to give him some privacy.

"Done? Very well, then come and join us in our plans."

He had the boy describe what had happened. He did very well, speaking clearly and concisely to the thirty beings, centaurs, wizards, witches, Squibs and Hagrid. He told of spying on his classmates, the location of the pool, the deformed frog on the path, the wards being blasted, the woman-shaped being in the pool, the sensations in his brain, her anger at Remus, and the flight from the forest, with her *calling* after him. Severus had the gift of speaking. Dumbledore hoped he would be able to live to hone that talent.

After he gave his report, the adults held a brief conference, and then with some argument, they turned back to Severus.

"Would you be willing to help us in this challenge?" the Headmaster quietly asked him. "She does not belong here, and she needs to go back. Will you help us do this?" The thirteen-year old boy nodded.

The healer frowned. "You need to tell him, Albus."

"I'm going to," the Headmaster answered. "Severus," he said very quietly, "you might die or be killed helping us."

"Better to die in battle than from some stupid prank," he snorted.

"Is that your answer? That you are willing to die to help us?" the Healer asked.

He looked into the serious faces around him, finishing with the solemn centaurs. "Yes sir," the boy replied.

"Very well then. Have you heard of the branch of magic called Occlumency?
Dumbledore suspected correctly that Severus was a natural at shuttering his mind when he wanted to. He hoped that the telepathy of the being could be closed out at Severus's will. How strong that will was, the headmaster could only hope. After a couple of on-the-spot practices, the boy was confident. The master plan was adjusted for Severus, and then he (after a gentle prod by the headmaster) led the company of the wizards, witches, Squibs, centaurs and the half-giant back into the Forest.

The boy felt useful, needed, terrified.

~~~~~~~

They spread out, encircling the pool. More centaurs joined. Severus slowly retraced his steps, until he found the deformed frog on the path. Silently, reluctantly, he inched off the path.

She was high up on the bank, sitting on one of the abandoned school robes, toying with something in her hands. It was a rabbit. He must have made a sound because she immediately dropped the animal and turned to him. The rabbit did not flee, but rolled down the bank and stayed, wriggling.

She was pleased he had returned. Ironic that he looked so much like the last of her love mates. The burning eyes, the long straight black hair, the wariness in his stance. Too bad about the ears and the extra fingers, she would deal with those later. She *sent* to him, but he made no reply.

His mind shut, he stared at her eyes, avoiding glancing at her body. He was nervous, tense, and ready to flee. She smiled, seemed puzzled, staring back at him, then slowly, as if she knew how scared he was, she made a small motion toward him.

He flinched.

She waited.

Then slowly she bent toward him, one hand out, palm up, and took a step backwards.

Unwillingly, slowly, he took a small step forward.

Stop. Wait. She moved again toward him. He flinched again.

She took another slight step backward. He moved a few inches forward.

The odd dance of enticement continued for an agonizing amount of time. The sunlight shifted, but the two did not break eye contact. He wanted to flee, but which way? Away and he would be rid of this alien menace. To her, and he would be done with the stuck-up classmates, his family, all of his tormentors. He felt cold, almost freezing.

She slowly put a foot into the pool. She took a step in and smiled. She was beautiful. She was naked. She wanted him. She reached towards him, beckoning. His mind was closed, but she was still stroking the outside of his thoughts, trying to penetrate.

Something on the ground was wriggling, breaking his concentration. He quickly looked down and saw the rabbit. It was without paws, its eyes outside its head, its lower jaw popped out, deformed. He jerked his head back up her, and made his decision.

He threw his legs out and landed on his bum. Immediately a centaur's arrow flew between the two, then a volley.

She snarled, looking for the source of the arrows, then made as if to snatch him. Another volley, and one arrow grazed her arm. The blood was red. She grabbed it, and the wound was gone. She glared at him, and threw him a wave of anger that sliced through his mental defenses. And in that wave, the images of what they could have. The two of them, sharing bodies (his re-shaped, with pointed ears and three-fingered hands), sharing minds, sharing power in her world, and power over all others in that world, and this world, after that, the stars. Come with her and live forever.

He looked down.

The tortured rabbit was still wriggling.

His mind was still open, and she was flooding in. He slammed his mind shut.

She took a step toward him, he scrambled backwards, and the arrows flew again.

She glared toward the unseen assailants, snarled again, and slid back into the pond.

A moment later, a shout went up from around him, and a wave of magic washed over him, and lifted the water in the pool until it soared high into the sky, like a fountain with out gravity. There was another shout, and the water suddenly evaporated.

Deformed frogs were flopping in the mud, with deformed eels, and deformed bottom feeders. She wasn't in the water. She wasn't in the mud. He looked at his hands and grabbed his ears. They were still his.

The rabbit violently flopped a few times, and then lay still. He saw many other small animals around him, twisted in their various parts, unable to move from where she'd left them. Severus accidentally put his hand down on a dead squirrel; it had been strangled with its own elongated tail. Horrified, he stared at it.

The sound of feet running and shrubbery crashing made him throw himself flat on the ground. Dumbledore and the Healer ran up, grabbed him under the arms, and ran back up the slope to the path, partly dragging him, partly carrying him. The other wizards and witches were shouting, earth and stone were moving, faggots and brush were filling up the pond as the centaurs shot flaming arrows into its midst.

The pool area was being cleansed; her entrance to this world was being sealed shut.

~~~~~~~

Winnowill sullenly watched the destruction of her hopes from her cave. She tossed in a few polished pebbles and watched the ripples. Doubtless there were other pools to other worlds, maybe even another back to this one. It was the rejection that annoyed her the most. He had been so close to coming with her. She was hungry, hungry for more than food, but all that had been denied her. Well, nothing there anymore. She certainly wasn't going to dig in the mud. And she didn't have to stay hungry.

Standing up and walking out of the cave, Winnowill stopped to catch and eat a sea spider.

~~~finis~~~