Afternoon

Miseria took all three books, placing them not far away from her so that they wouldn't disturb her in any ways, and looked at James, impressing growing every minute while he told her the story. The pictures while he was speaking, came in her mind. This little village in German, those werewolves that were in the woods at the time and even those dragons what James described that were rising from the fire. „So... You're a werewolf?“ she asked, looking down at the grass. She didn't wait for him to tell all about his change, however, she did not confess to herself that it wasn't interesting to hear other stories. Then she reached another question in her head – how was alchemic arm related to werewolfs? She looked at the arm again, scowling a bit. Was it a replacement of his real arm because something went wrong on this ceremony?

James chuckled hauntingly, as he told her the truth. "No. The ceremony was reaching its zenith. The moon was just creeping over the horizon, its ghastly pale light reaching the edge of the clearing. My elders crept away slightly as my father picked me up. I could feel his hands change about my tiny form. Its funny when you're young- you don't imagine yourself as small. The world is just big. There's so much to explore. But feeling the hands that held you a thousand times change into what they did- that's something that you only get to experience once. That feeling that you only saw so much, too little. But that was not the most grotesque sight I saw that night."

Now came the part James clung onto, the part he knew too well.

"Then, one of his arms expanded too rapidly. He didn't scream in pain- he howled. The arm... it... exploded. The werewolves that had begun to change were alert, as more howls pierced the sky. The Wizards were already transforming. Then, the Aurors attacked."

The Alchemic arm formed a fist, as if it were punching the air.
"They came as a pack, attacking still transforming werewolves with impunity. Young, old, it didn't matter to them. All they cared about was their little 'task.' They had been ordered to eradicate the werewolves that worked for Fenrir Greyback. They had overstepped their bounds, but nobody had stopped them yet. I would only find out later that they had been staking out our village for months. But at that time, I had no idea what they were, who they thought they were. I just felt my dad die with me in his arms. I watched them behead my mother, even if I couldn't recognize her.
"The strangest part? I couldn't bring myself to cry. I just wanted to stay alive.
"Then, one of the aurors found me. He asked me for my name, and told me everything would be alright. As if he were sympathetic to me." James snorted derisively. "My dad, in his last act of defiance, clamped his jaws around my wrist, expecting the auror to just kill him. The auror did no such thing. As if he felt sorry for me, he cursed off my arm before the full lycan curse could be passed on. And that's how my father's family died, and I lost my arm." He looked to Miseria, his steely cool gaze peering steadily. As if he were merely just telling a story.

Actually, it was surprising that he told her the story, or he even agreed to tell her something about himself. She was a stranger to him, and mostly everybody else after all.
But the fact that people trusted her. Again, she didn't comment in any of the parts and left questions for the last. She smiled as he described the childhood. She felt the same way when she was younger. She was big, but the world was bigger.

When he told about the aurors, she scowled a bit. It seemed that they weren't better than the Death Eaters. Yes, sure, the last ones killed sometimes for their own, just because they liked it, but what aurors did, was their job. When he told about his mother, she took a deep breathe, and tried not to imagine everything what he told, but with no success. She was a warewolf, and that actually scared her. The way those aurors behaved with those, who actually were innocent. So, would they attack her next if the Ministry will give them the orders? Catch, and then cut her head off?

She looked back at him when he finished his story. „I am sorry,“ she said. If she'd known, she wouldn't even ask about such thing! „I was bitten when I was five years old,“ she finally said, after a little moment of silence. Perhaps now it was her turn to tell a little story, but of course if Wake had an interest. If not... well, they'll probably another topic to talk about.

"I'm sorry to hear that. But I'm sure you've grown accustomed to it, right?" James replied, smiling comfortingly. Maybe he was just overly dramatic. But such was his life. "Don't worry about those kinds of aurors though... most of them died pretty terrible deaths." He savored the fact with relish. "Tell me, how did it happen?" he asked, more out of courtesy than anything else. Besides, he was sure that her story was as important to as his was to him. It was only polite to listen.

„Yeah, it's now quite easy. I have a supportive family and friends,“ she said, looking thoughtful for a second, before she realized what he just said. Died horrible deaths? By that, she could only presume that they were murdered but the one who killed them... never found? That wouldn't be actually even a surprise for her. Thankfully he asked her another question so that she didn't have to think about those killings and deaths anymore.

„We were having a picnic on a night when I was bitten. Like every little child, I wanted to explore the world, look around, and try out some new things. It didn't took much time for me to get away from my parents who went off to take a walk near the lake, and then I just ran off. I didn't even notice that it went so dark and I couldn't find my way back. And scared like I was, I started calling out for my parents and then the werewolf appered out of nowhere, biting me. Thankfully my father was there in time, so that he atleast saved me from the death but not from the curse.“

She didn't know if this short story would satisfy James' curiosity, though, she doupted that he was actually interested in it. Probably he just wanted to seem polite and listen to her as well as she listened to his story like a little kid listens to a fairytales.

"Ah. So, you were lucky." At least her story ended well. That was good. "You're father must have been quite a wizard. Most werewolves go insane after first blood. Its a natural thing for them, but it can easily intimidate any wizard." James smiled at Miseria. He had seen her in class, but they never had a real opportunity to talk. James was extremely focused in class. It was nice to actually talk.

A lucky girl, indeed. She fainted because of the blood loss what the wound caused.
„I believe that was the adrenaline...“ she said in an ironic voice. „And guess I am. It almost bit half of my body off,“ she said. Thankfully her scars were all hidden under the clothes. But when she talked about them, she felt kind of dizzy. Probably just nerves. It wasn't the best part of her life.
Also, she was still impressed that he came to talk to her. The only was she's seen him was focusing.
„You like taking walks?“ she asked, changing the subject. For her, it has became actually awkward, but as for James – she didn't know. Maybe he didn't want to skip the part how she later got along with her new ability, or just didn't even have any interests in it. There were thousands of werewolfs in this world, so probably their story was more interesting.