Falling Into Black

“Katie” a hissing voice said in her ear. Katie tiredly batted at it. “Katie” it hissed again. Katie, again, batted at it, and yanked the covers over her head. “Gosh darnit, Katie! Get up or so help me I will drag you out of bed by your hair.”

“What, in god’s name, do you want at three in the morning, Natalie Sheridan McCoy?” Katie groaned.

“Okay a) its 2:36, and dos) I need you to come with me” Natalie said urgently.

“A) it’s too early, and dos) you don’t speak Spanish” Katie muttered. The blanket that was covering her was yanked off.

“I’m serious, Katie” Natalie hissed. “You need to come with me. Now.” Only the urgent tone in Natalie’s voice made Katie sit up.

“What did you do now?” Katie mumbled. The next thing she knew, Katie was being yanked from her bed and pulled out the door. Her coat was thrust in her face, before the door was shut. “What’s going on, Natalie?” Katie asked, concern lacing her voice.

“Just…I don’t want to go alone, okay?” Natalie sighed. Katie sighed as the two descended the stairs. Natalie never wanted to do anything alone, ever. But she always took the blame if they got caught. A true friend.

Before they exited the common room, Katie shrugged on her jacket. “Where are we going?” Katie asked, half-wake, half-asleep.

“Outside” Natalie answered vaguely. Katie shrugged. It wasn’t the worst place Natalie had had her going; the worst would probably be the acromantula lair with all the little killer spiders. Fortunately, Hagrid had saved them from being eaten.

“As long as we aren’t going in the forbidden forest, I’ll go along with anything you have planned” Katie yawned.

Natalie and Katie soon made it outside, and walked across the dew covered ground toward the all-too-familiar black tree. Katie shivered, wishing she had shoes instead of being barefoot. Abruptly, Natalie stopped, and frowned. “Where are they?” she breathed.

“Who?” Katie asked, confused.

“Shh” Natalie hissed, waving her hand for silence. Katie rolled her eyes. “Do you hear that?” Instantly, Katie began listening. Nothing. She heard absolutely nothing. Only the wind and the sound of her breathing and heart. She never understood that. Natalie could hear everything a normal human being couldn’t, so naturally, it was kinda annoying when—

Her thoughts were abruptly cut off when something rustled from under the Whomping Willow, and she saw two bright yellow lights appear. But, she realized they weren’t lights as it came out of the ground more. They were eyes. Eyes that belonged to a werewolf. Katie’s heart literally stopped, and then picked right back up double time. “Run” Katie whispered. The werewolf growled. “Run!” Katie screamed. The two girls whirled, and began sprinting up the hill.

“Split up!” Natalie yelled, already weaving off to the right. Katie went left. The next thing had Katie’s veins filling with ice. Natalie screamed. Whirling around, Katie quickly cupped her hand over her mouth and howled. The werewolf lifted its head from Natalie’s back, where it was sniffing her, and howled back. Katie turned back around and started running again, howling once more.

Katie ran as fast as she could, her heart trying to pound its way out of her chest. Over the thumping in her ears, she could hear the werewolf nearly right behind her. She ran straight for a tree, and did a running leap, hooking her arms around the lowest branch to hoist herself up. The werewolf snarled, its claws catching her ankle. Katie cried out, kicking out and successfully kicking it in the face by the yelp. As Katie climbed higher, her ankle felt like it was on fire and icy cold at the same time.

A black dog suddenly appeared under her tree, and snarled menacingly at the werewolf. The stag that also appeared as well stomped its hooves in warning and jabbed at the air with its antlers.

Katie whimpered as she shifted in the tree and agony laced its way through her entire leg, rather than just her ankle. The dog glanced up, saw her, and began snarling even louder and even added teeth snapping at the werewolf. Finally, the werewolf loped off, and the stag followed to (probably) make sure that it didn’t hurt Natalie again.

The dog then whined up at Katie, planting his front paws on the trunk of the tree. Katie, looking around quickly to make sure the werewolf was gone, shimmied down the tree, but then caught a branch on the way down and slipped. A squeak slipped between her lips as she fell.

But, then she felt the warmth of the dog’s fur and the dampness of the ground. Opening her eyes, she met the deep grey eyes of the black dog. The fabric of her jacket was between his teeth, keeping her torso off the ground. Katie honestly didn’t know how he did it, but somehow he did.

The dog slowly let go of her gently, stepped over her, and licked her cheek, whimpering. “I-I’m fine” she lied, wincing a bit as she tried to move her foot.

“Katie!” Natalie nearly screamed as she dropped next to her friend. Katie quickly hushed her, looking around with panic in her blue eyes. “It’s okay. It’s gone with the stag. Into the Forbidden Forest.” Natalie covered her mouth with her hand as sobs raked her form. “Oh God, Kitty. I’m s-so sorry. If I’d kn-nown, I wouldn’t’ve—”

“Nat, relax. I’m not going to die. Unless” Katie’s eyes peeled wide as she thought about her ankle, and whether or not she was bitten or scratched. The dog woofed, drawing their attention, and shook his head.

“Come on” Natalie said quickly, slipping her arm under Katie’s shoulders. Katie gasped in pain as she tried putting weight on her right foot. The dog whined again as he let Katie use him to help push herself up.

“Oh God, that hurts” Katie groaned.

“So does my back” Natalie agreed. “Though, it’s probably not as bad as yours.”

“Probably torn muscles and possibly ligaments, but nothing Madame Pomfrey can’t fix. Same with you” Katie sighed as she, Natalie, and the black dog limped along. Every once in a while the dog would lick Katie’s hand as if in comfort.

Finally, after what seemed like centuries of painful hobbling, the three made it to the Hospital Wing. The dog woofed, licked Katie’s hand, and then trotted away. “Sweet doggie” Natalie murmured, causing Katie to giggle.

“Very, very sweet doggie” Katie agreed. “If I see him again, I’m going to give him a kiss.” That made Natalie giggle.