Snake And Wolf: The Finding

I hope you have as much fun reading this as I have writing it.

Snake and Wolf: The Finding

Chapter 1

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A dark blur that almost faded into the darkness of the Forbidden Forest flashed through the trees. Its claws gouged the earth beneath it as it ran. Behind it raced a figure in a black cloak, its face hidden by a hood.

Suddenly a howl rang out from somewhere close and the hooded figure paused for a moment before continuing its chase.

Silver flashed in the light of the full moon as the figure pulled a short dagger from the folds of its robes. It threw the blade at the creature it was chasing then fled in the deeper parts of the forest.

The dagger hit the dark furred beast in its side. It let out a soul-shattering howl and stumbled for a moment before falling to its side.

A minute or so later a huge shape lumbered out of the dark, a lantern held out before it.

The shape revealed itself to be Rubeus Hagrid, groundskeeper and Care of Magical Creature’s teacher at Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He looked solemnly down at the fallen werewolf, his dark eyes sad.

“Poor ‘ting.”

The half-giant knelt down and gently picked the werewolf up. It let out a tiny whimper then was silent. Hagrid headed off back through the forest, making a beeline for his cabin.

* * * * *

After almost a half hour of walking, Hagrid was back at his cabin and he had done his best to fix the knife wound in the werewolf’s side.

He also was careful to keep an eye on it in case it woke up.

As he was looking up from the fire to check on it he saw a glimmer of light around its throat.

Carefully reaching forward, he found himself holding a silver medallion that was nearly invisible in the werewolf’s thick black fur. The symbol on it was somewhat worn but could be made out as two snakes twined together to make a circle with a wand sending off sparks intertwined between the snakes coils. Below that were a number of words in Latin.

Hagrid peered at the medallion for a moment before turning back to the fire.

He knew he had seen that symbol somewhere before.

He just didn’t know where.

* * * * *

Severus Snape sat in his office working on deciding what the schedule for the upcoming year’s classes would be.

After a few moments of writing his hand cramped and he leaned back in his chair, rubbing one hand over the other. Absently he noticed the silver ring on his right ring finger. On it was an image of two snakes twined together in a circle with a wand sending off sparks intertwined between the snakes, below which were the words Lanx Domus Magus. It was the Snape family crest.

Sighing, he picked up his quill again and began to write.

* * * * *

Hagrid watched the werewolf sleep peacefully as he tried to think of where he had seen the symbol before.

Then he remembered.

He had seen the same symbol on a ring Severus Snape had.

Rising, he headed for the door to go get the Potions Master. Then he sat back down.

If he left now and the werewolf woke up, it’d escape.

Sighing he settled into his seat. Sunrise was only about an hour or so away. He could wait until then and then do get Snape.

Hagrid looked at the werewolf again then set about to making some tea.

* * * * *

As the sun rose the jet-black fur of the werewolf began to fade away, revealing pale skin that was almost translucent. Its face warped, shifting to human.

Hagrid watched for a moment then tossed a blanket over the changing form, blushing as he recognized what gender the werewolf was.

A few moments later the sun rose fully and a twenty year old woman was pale skin and long, greasy black hair was lying in the cabin, still sleeping as if nothing had happened.

Hagrid looked at the woman for a moment then rose and headed up for the castle to tell Dumbledore what had just happened. He just hoped the woman wouldn’t wake up before he returned with Snape and Dumbledore.