5- Sirius

When she woke up a while later, she felt warm.

She was in a cave somewhere, sleeping next to a fire someone had built. Someone had stacked wood nearby and she could feel the back of another wolf pressing into hers. His black and white furry back kept her warm from behind and the fire warmed her from the front.

She didn't recognize him from school. He had an unfamiliar scent that reminded her of ash and his face was unfamiliar too. His right ear was white and the left ear was black and the fur surrounding it as well. He opened his eyes groggily as he noticed her awake,"Hey there, don't be frightened, the sun is out right now and I saw you sleeping so I brought you here."

Then he chided her, "Where on earth is your coat? You know you can freeze to death out here don't you?" 

"What?" She scooted away from this strange boy and watched warily as he shifted into his human form. Then he gave her a toothy smile, his fangs glinting in the firelight. Just like as a wolf, he had black hair on one side and white hair on the other side. His hair was a bit wild. She liked it. She noticed his eyes were a crimson color that glinted softly in the firelight. It didn't scare her even if it should have.

Now that he wasn't touching her, she felt the cold again so she scooted closer to the fire and warmed herself. She hadn't shifted out of her wolf form, so she was careful not to catch her fur on fire as she did so. She tried to think of an answer that was brave.

"I took it off." She said with a bit of arrogance in her tone,"Why would I wear a coat when I'm a wolf?" She continued. 

He raised his black eyebrow, fully aware that she was lost and scared. He knew she had been crying. 

" Well why are you all by yourself anyway?" He asked eventually. "This forest is dangerous for outsiders, especially in the winter."

Saoirse knew she had been foolish to wander off and tears filled her eyes again. "I'm lost! She admitted, and then her facade of bravery fell away, revealing her true feelings underneath.

She sobbed uncontrollably from the trauma she had been through."I was going after a rabbit and the ground fell out from under me…." She said with tears and snot running down her face.

The boy could tell that she was very scared as she kept telling him what had happened, "and then I fell down a cliff, I couldn't stop, and then I couldn't climb back up and I...!"

She put her hand on the injured spot on her head, expecting to feel pain, intending to show it to the boy and explain what had happened, "my head is….." but then she stopped. There was no trace of injury. Confusion filled her eyes and she began patting her head, wondering if she was wrong about where she had been hurt. She patted her head all over but it seemed fine.

"It was broken." She said confused.

Even being a werewolf, she wouldn't have healed that fast….

A serious expression crossed her face and she fell silent, trying to remember how she had gotten out of the chasm but she couldn't.

"Hey it will be ok you're not alone now," he said gently, his voice steady and warm as he met her gaze with those eyes and offered her a reassuring smile. There it was again, his toothy smile, sharp fangs showing even though he was in his human form. She found that to be strange because werewolves didn't really have teeth like that. It gave her a sense that this boy wasn't like her. Still, behind them, and behind his smile, she felt safe and he was cute.

"I'm Sirius by the way."

He reached over and patted her on the top of the head, but in a more comforting way, and as he did so, his hand rested upon hers, on top of her head.

Just as soon as he touched her hand, a slight purple flashed across her eyes and a shiver went down her spine, like electricity.

The boy seemed to feel this too. He pulled his hand away confused and wiped it off as if it would help the strange feeling go away.

Sirius cleared his throat and nodded towards the fire. "It's dawn already," he said, trying to change the subject, "Let's get some sleep and then I'll ask my parents to help take you home." 

Together they curled up once again next to the fire and she could feel his steady breathing lull her back to sleep. She really had been exhausted.

—————-

The next moment she could feel herself being woken up by Sirius. 

"Hey we have to hide!" He said in a hushed tone. "There's a man in the cave and we aren't supposed to talk to humans!"

"What? Why?" She was about to say but he had pulled her behind a rock and she peeked out to see what was going on. As the man approached she felt her heart skip a beat. 

It was her dad.

 She was about to run and hug him and tell him she was sorry for getting lost. Emotions and relief welled up inside of her and she could already picture herself running into her mom's embrace, surrounding herself with her pumpkin spice scent. She had even missed her siblings.

But all of those thoughts were interrupted by a loud, angry yell as her father nelt down a ways off in the cave and picked up a body in his arms, sobbing. 

"SAOIRSE!!!! OH SAOIRSE!!!! WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU SAOIRSE!!!!?" He cried.

It was a scene she didn't understand at all. Her human body lay limp in his arms.

How had she lost it? She felt like she was right here, she touched herself to be sure and her form was tangible. She looked over at Sirius with a confused expression in her eyes.

Her father removed his own coat and wrapped it around her body as if it would help somehow, but there was nothing he could do.

She was dead. 

"What is going on?" She cried with panic, "What is my daddy doing?!" She felt the urge to scream but Sirius covered her mouth.

"What are you doing?! The human will hear you!" 

"He's not a-" she began to say, but her thoughts were interrupted suddenly as her father picked up her body and ran out of the cave.

She tried to chase after him, yanking herself out of Sirius' grasp. But the minute she ran into the sunlight she felt agony engulf her. She shrieked in pain as her fur and skin began to burn as if from within.

Sirius pulled her back into the cave, saving her in her panicked state and she began gasping for air in shock.

"My father is getting away!!!" She screamed. She fell to her knees. "He's got my body!" 

Sirius was perplexed. He gripped her in a bear hug attempting to prevent her from trying to run outside again. She couldn't pull away from him so she leaned into him sobbing. He hugged her, "hey I'm not sure what's going on, but you're right here, those were just humans!"

Saoirse tried to focus, she hadn't brought her clothes to cover herself so she couldn't exactly show him that the little girl in the man's arms, and her were one and the same.

Sirius petted the fur on the back of her head. "Shhh, it's alright, I've got you Saoirse." He said attempting to calm her. Eventually she calmed enough she was only sniffling tiredly.

Sirius released her once she wasn't trying to burn herself and replied, "The sun will go down in a bit and I'm sure my dad knows how to get you home, don't worry alright?"