When In The Woods

The two wolves crouched before the large buck, heads low to the ground and hackles raised. They were ready to pounce on the unsuspecting prey, and the wolf that was not Toby knew that even if the creature noticed them now and tried to run, it would be far too late. The herbivore was already dead, it just didn't know it yet.

Waiting until the buck was looking in the opposite direction, the male wolf tensed his muscles and leapt. Breaking the creature's neck with a snap of powerful jaws, the wolf stood proudly by his kill. It was rare for a wolf to fell prey as large and healthy as this one. Normally wolves went after the easy kills, the weak, young, or old. This lone buck had been too good a chance to pass up, however, for the wolf contently licking the blood off of his muzzle.

Tristan barked and pounced onto the dead buck before her. She smiled over to the boy and looked up at the sky. The moon was going down and the sun was starting to rise. They would be turning back soon. She looked at him and ran into the woods. She slowly began to transform back into herself. She found her clothes and changed walking back to where she had left the boy.
 

Since Tristan was the Princess, she transformed back into her human self faster than regular wolves.  She had no idea how much longer he had. It could be minutes or it could be hours. But she would wait with him. She smiled when she saw him, “Hi there.”  

Toby transformed back into himself over the corpse of a dead buck. Right, well, that answered the question of what the Gryffindor had been doing while in wolf form.

"Sorry buddy," the teenager said wryly to the dead creature as he wandered away in search of his clothes. Quickly tracking down the correct tree, the werewolf pulled himself up into the branches with solid biceps, retrieving his bag. Clambering back down the solid hawthorn, Toby dressed quickly and efficiently, glad for the protection from the biting winter air.

Just as the teenager was beginning to wander back towards the edge of the forest, he was greeted by a girl. Toby recognized the female, having a few classes with her but never having spoken. Wracking his brains in an attempt to remember what house the witch was from, the Gryffindor came up completely blank. Other than knowing the girl certainly wasn't in the same house as him, Toby knew very little about her.

"Are you a wolf too, then?" he asked in his usual blunt manner. Toby had no idea what a human would be doing in the woods on the night of a full moon, so it seemed the only logical explanation. Besides, if the girl was nothing but human Toby surely would have attacked her when not in control of his own mind.

“Trust me, I am a lot more than a simple wolf. Not that wolves are simple. They are quite complex. They are… I mean… yes. I am a wolf.” Her superiority aura glowed. “My name is Tristan. Tristan Lycanthe.” He should be able to put two and two together.  Her last name mean werewolf. He should know who she is.
 

“Whats your name?” She smiled at the boy she just spent the whole night with. He seemed familiar. They shared a few classes. Something about him…. She liked it. She sat at the edge of the woods and patted the spot on the ground beside her. 

"Oh," Toby said, blinking. He'd never been one to pay much attention to politics, whether those were politics involving the government, school, or even other wolves. Still, Toby wasn't ignorant enough that he didn't know that name.

"Um, I'm Toby Cooper," he introduced himself, wondering if there was any sort of protocol he was supposed to follow in this situation. Well, the Gryffindor supposed, there wasn't much he could do about it now if there was. Besides, Toby had never been the type to pay attention to such things.

"You're in my year, right? Sixth?" the werewolf queried, throwing himself down next to Tristan.

Tris was happy he didn’t treat her any different. Most wolves bowed or threw gifts at her. It annoyed her. She just wanted to be like a normal member of the pack. She smiled at him, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Toby.”

She lied down and had her hair sprawled out against the soft grass. She turned to him when he asked about what year she was in at their school. “Yes, I am a Sixth Year Slytherin. What house are you?” She had seen him around. She thought he was a Gryffindor. But there was the chance she could be wrong.

"Uh, you too," Toby said awkwardly after a short moment. It wasn't that the teenager was rude, he'd just never really been all that good with posh manners with it's "meeting your acquaintance has been quite the pleasure" and "the pleasure is all mine, I assure you" that seemed to go on forever.

Leaning back so that he too was laying in the cool grass, Toby frowned a little. He hadn't met all that many pleasant Slytherins before, but he supposed it would make sense for her to be one. Slytherins were supposed to be ambitious, after all, and Tristan would need to be.

"Gryffindor," the werewolf admitted happily, smiling a little. "Isn't it strange, being at Hogwarts?" Toby queried. For a while werewolves had been banned from Hogwarts due to a vicious pack deciding to attack the school last year. The ban had only been repealed in November, and Toby was glad to be back.

Tristan smiled as she read his thoughts. Mason thought she could only do it with him, since he was her mate, but she could do it with all wolves. But only he could read her thoughts, that was a mate thing. Perks of being the princess. But she decided to let him think her thoughts were his own.

She giggled and nodded when he mentioned being back at Hogwarts, “In all honesty, I never left. I was not gonna let them force me to leave. I need my education. I cant get by in life based on my pretty face forever, now can I?”

Toby chuckled, but raised his eyebrows in surprise all the same. "You're really lucky they didn't catch you," the werewolf stated, "they'd have thrown you in Azkaban for life in the had, no matter who you are. I didn't really have a choice, the school board already knew about me, would have thrown me out by force if I hadn't gone willingly."

"Still," the Gryffindor continued with a shrug, "I did already on my OWL's, so I can't complain too much. Just glad all that mess with the Blood Packh as settled down. Can't believe they'd attack Hogwarts like that. They even kidnapped the Minister's daughter. Did you head about that? Utter nightmare."

"I guess I am lucky. I would hate to be in azkaban, it would be just absolutely awful in there, dont you think?" She rubbed the back of her neck and leaned forward as Tristan listened closely to Tobys words.

When he mentioned the kidnapping of the Ministers daughter she was shocked. She hadnt heard anything of the sort until just then. "Did they really?" She wondered how they had done it. "Everyone must be searching for the kidnappers they will be caught soon, Im sure of it."

She sat up and looked up at the sky as the sun began to rise. "We better get back to the castle."