28. No secret lasts long

Wednesday I woke up groggy and with a metallic taste on my mouth. Putting my jumbled thoughts and memories back together things slowly came back to me. The night prior I had gone to test my findings on the wild mutts I had lounging in my secret hidey-hole. As soon as the inscription circle began working I felt pain and then… 

“Well… fuck.” Looking around myself in a panic I found nothing out of place. Sophia slept peacefully next to me on her bed. My pillows and blankets had been unceremoniously stacked around us in a sort of nest. That did not however explain the taste of metal in my mouth I am sure is the taste of blood. 

Inspecting Sophia as thoroughly as I could without waking her up, which is easy since I doubt an explosion would accomplish the task, I found no bite marks or blood. Then I felt a little dumb, she wouldn’t be sleeping peacefully next to me if I had bitten her in her sleep. A heavy sleeper she might be but even something like bodily harm is a bit much for her to sleep through. 

With my most prominent worry voided I got back to piecing what happened together. My memories of being a wolf-woman are foggy and somewhat disjointed. Even so I could still figure out a few things. For example, the fact I killed all my prisoners when they turned just like I did. 

I had forgotten to create a containment shield for synthetic moon magic. The result being all of us being exposed to said magic in rather large quantities causing an instant transformation. After killing what my wolf brain had tagged as an enemy pack, I went on the hunt. Looks like my wolf brain had rationalized my constant need for vitality as being in a state of starvation. 

The list of stuff I hunted and ate are as follows: Three deer, twelve acromantulas (didn’t eat those, they tried to steal my deer), a troll (didn’t it that one either, the stench drove me away moments after the kill), twenty seven critters of various shapes and sizes. Overall, a shitty hunt. My vitality reserves barely went up after all that due to my wolf self not understanding that going full tilt all the time is wasteful. That and I also caught the zoomies at some point and ran through like half the forbidden forest at max speed.  

After I tired myself out I went back to my nest and… well to my wolf brain I slept next to my pup. So I guess wolf me adopted Sophia, great. Massaging my temples while thinking on what to do I decided to ignore the problems I caused myself. For starters, I don’t have test subjects anymore so any further experimentation will need to be conducted on myself until I gather more, which won’t be easy at all. Wolf me throughly marked the forest as her territory not to mention catching werewolves while I will be one at the time as well is pretty much impossible.

Good news is that now that I know the inscription works I can and will create a shielding spell, or better yet, an enchanted item to shield me from moon magic while I figure out how to remove the curse or better yet, use it to my advantage. Waste not what not and all that. As a matter of fact, I already have a few ideas on the later one due to experiencing the transformation. 

Setting all of that aside I got to work returning our shared room back to order. I would rather not have Sophia wondering why I was cuddling her in her sleep in what looked like a nest made from pillows and blankets by a beast. With that done I decided to take a quick cool shower to help me think. Wolf me had used my pheromones rader skillfully masking her scent and mimicking that of her prey, not only that but while fighting the acromantulas she pretty much blasted them with a general concoction of sensory disruption. 

Shaking my head I decided that was enough thinking about the werewolf problem, better let it rest and come back to it when I have time. Instead I began thinking about another of my projects. This one is a bit more long term taking into account I want it ready for next year’s events. At the beginning I just wanted to replicate parseltongue but why stop there? So now I am trying to figure out how to create allspeak. 

So far I have figured a few things for my allspeak. First of all is that animals are dumb, especially non-magical ones. What this means is that they shouldn’t be able to communicate with a human at the same level as said human even if they did have a shared dialect. This leads me to believe that parseltongue somehow boosts the recipient's intelect for the duration of the communication. If I want my allspeak to work I would need it to do the same for targets under normal human level of intellect. 

The general communication part I have mostly figured out so far. A combination of mind magics infused in sound waves. To put it simply it would use sound to transmite the intent of the words to the recipient. I would need said magic to also establish a sort of link so this effect works both ways, as well as a shit ton of shieldings to prevent mind fuckery from overtaking the link and using it for nefarious purposes. 

I can figure all of that easily with mathemagics the problem is still the intellect boosting aspect. It is pretty much turning a sentient being into a sapient being for a moment. Unlike the rest of the work there is no precedent for this part so I will need to work it out from scratch which is a pain in the arse. 

With my musings and shower done I went down to the common room. Welcomed by the sounds of whispered conversations and the turning of pages I took my seat close to the fireplace. Although winter hadn’t started just yet, today's morning is rather cold, and though I don’t care much for it Sophia will. 

Talking about the devil here she comes bundled up in a blanket with her eyes barely opened. I had to quickly hide a smile as instead of her eyes being the ones to guide her it was her nose. I could see her being guided to me by her sense of smell and my pheromones. Before long she sat next to me. Normally this would be the end of it, she would close her eyes and fall back asleep in quick order.

Not today, instead she got on my lap and buried her head in the crook of my neck before taking a deep breath. Like a puppet with her strings cut as soon as she finished filling her lungs her muscles relaxed as she fell asleep. I was left with armfulls of sleeping girls as her warm breath caressed my exposed neck. 

I had really mixed feelings about Sophia. My wolf brain had adopted her and I couldn’t help but agree, she must be protected at all costs. On the other hand, if interactions like this one were to become common I am sure I would end up doing something to her that clearly crosses familial or friendship bonds in the future. Not now though, we are still way too young for anything like that to happen.   

Almost half an hour later Sophia woke up again to find herself resting with her head still in the crook of my neck, her butt on my lap and my arms around her waist. I couldn’t help but take my tithe of sadistic enjoyment at seeing her cheeks flush scarlet, her pupils dilated in horrific realization. Hmm, yes, embarrassed Sophia is extra cute. 

“S-Silver, I…” Before she could continue I interrupted her. Of course I could have easily de-escalate the situation to save her from her embarrassment but where is the fun in that, teasing it is!

“It’s fine, you looked all cute cuddling to me like that.” I decided to add the final nail to the coffin by kissing her forehead like a loving mother would. It was super effective. I was rewarded for my efforts with a throaty whine as Sofia opted for hiding her embarrassment in the crook of my neck. 

“You’re the worst.” Could barely hear her with how hard she was pressing her face to me. Even so I still heard her and so I had to give an appropriate quip back. 

“Never claimed the opposite.” It took a while for Sophia’s embarrassment to calm down before she let go of me only to pout cutely my way and declare she wouldn’t speak to me for the rest of the day. A promise that didn’t last even a minute as I took her hand in mine as I set course for the dining hall. 

“You really, truly are the worst.” The pout on her face was fighting a desperate battle with a goofy smile, a battle it was losing badly. 

“And you love me for it.” I had to try hard not to laugh as my response resulted in indignant sputtering and reddened cheeks. Truly teasing Sophia is the best pastime an old hag like myself could ask for. 

Breakfast went by without much happening. Well, besides the constant talks about the quidditch match coming soon. The first match would take place two days after the halloween celebration so in around three weeks. That also reminds me about the troll which I am not too worried about. I already have my draining spell ready though I will not use it if there are witnesses. In that case It’s just a matter of strong concussive force to the head, ergo bombarda right to the face. Why yes, I do know the spell, explosions are great and no one can convince me otherwise. 

The rest of the day went by like usual except for Sophia who kept stealing glances my way. I would have taken this for the start of a childish crush if it weren't for the fact those glances had a different feel to them, they felt charged with worry and a smidge of fear.

“Sophia, what is it? You have been stealing glances at me all day and it's getting me worried.” That last bit was a bit of a lie but it might just help loosen her tongue. What I got in return was something I didn’t expect. In a moment Sophia’s expresion changed to one of worry as she lunged into my arms for a tight hug. I was glad I decided to broach the subject in the privacy of our shared room otherwise this might have attracted unwanted attention. 

“You… I… Last night I woke up-” Oh… Oh no. This is bad if it is what I think it is. 

“When I opened my eyes I saw a maw filled with sharp teeth, I froze up as what I realized was a werewolf sniffed me before licking my cheek.” Well fuck.

“I think it could smell my fear because it gently nestled its head on my chest. Not knowing what to do I began petting it.” Well, at least wolf me had the care to not scare her to death. But damn it all to hell and back, what the fuck am I supposed to do now!

“White silk smooth fur shining silvery under the moonlight.” By this point Sophia’s eyes were unfocused as if she were lost in the memory, one I now realize seems to be a comforting one?

“We stayed like that for a while, until she pulled back and my eyes caught hers… they were your eyes. You were that werewolf weren't you?” As she asked the question her eyes focused back on me with an intensity I had never seen on her before. I felt compelled to tell the truth as no lie could escape that gaze. Before I could form words though Sophia continued speaking. 

“I thought it was a dream, especially when I fell back asleep with the werewolf gently holding me against her chest. When I woke up this morning and I thought it had just been a weird yet enjoyable dream, then your scent hit me. You smell just like that werewolf. I thought I might be going crazy. I read about werewolves in the library out of curiosity, they are supposed to look like a half baked crossed between man and beast. This one however was absolutely beautiful.” 

By this point Sophia had been speaking frantically for a while and so she was forced to take a deep breath. I could almost hear her heart beating out of her chest as she asked once again.

“Please tell me the truth, that was you, wasn’t it? it wasn’t a dream.” My throat closed on my as I tried to form words. I felt fear at that moment, fear of rejection, fear of being outed as a werewolf. I would be able to deal with it in due time, I would never give up, that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt. Because of this I just nodded. 

Silence reigned in the room as the truth settled in. Then Sophia looked at me with care in her eyes, the likes of which I think she had only shown for her brother. No words were spoken as she hugged me again. We stayed like that for a while until the silence was finally broken. 

“I won’t tell. I know how badly werewolves are discriminated against. Just promise me you will be alright.” Relief flooded my being, robbing me of words once again. I just nodded and we hugged again.

What came next was a few days of me spilling the beans on most of my projects to Sophia. Of course I lied about the human experimentation on the mutts, no need to disclose that. Unexpectedly Sophia could easily follow most of what I told her and that which she didn't grasp after a more in depth explanation. I could, by this point, say that she is in fact a genius the likes of me. 

---A/N---

For those of you wondering why Silver didn't remember Sophia waking up its because the memories of her time as a werewolf are anything but clear. If I had to explain it its like someone resuming a hundred page book into a paragraph. Her wolf memories told her she kinda adopted Sophia as her pup, BUT not the how or why. Silver just assumed that her wolf self saw Sofia and went: "this my kid now"