the less likable goonies pt II
ft @xkilljxy @xavecamour @notwaldenpond @hauntedscreams
damocles and walden visibly startled at the familiar voice as antonin and winnie searched the line of shrubberies for where it originated. he had to be hiding nearby somewhere. underneath a particularly shady pine crouched the distinct, ,sleek outline of one alexander zabini.
as usual, he was clad head to toe in black clothing. sly and secretive, alex could go virtually unnoticed in the unlit forest without speaking. he grabbed the back of antonin's shirt who in turn grabbed walden's arm. they all stumbled back into the brush as a werewolf burst into the clearing.
"what are you doing here?"
"what are you doing here?"
"what are you doing here?"
winnie laughed as the beast turned on damocles and leapt forward, baring it's fangs.
"it is a full moon!" alexander hissed the exact same explanation for his absence that had been given earlier in the evening. of course he was doing what he did every full moon now.
emma howled from the clearing.
"they said you knew we were doing this!" walden argued. he shoved alexander's shoulder forward. "why would you lead her over here?"
"l-lead?! the hell do you mean lead?!" alex cuffed walden on the back of the head in reply. "I can't lead her anywhere!"
the werewolf paused and turned toward the sounds of bickering. their ears twitched and nostrils flared.
"she's too fast to-" antonin clapped a hand over both their mouths. there was nothing save for the sound of breathing for a brief moment.
then a branch snapped under damocles shoe as he stepped backwards. the lycan's attention returned to him. he quickly tried to take another step away from the feral thing but the heel of his shoe caught on a root and he stumbled to the dirt. emma lunged forward, snarling too close to his face.
"here puppy!" winnie clapped both hands in front of her.
alex ripped antonin's hand off his mouth. "winnie, don't you dare-" his fear was warranted. still before he had the chance to move, walden wrestled both alex's arms down and pinned them behind his back.
"hey. calm down. don't make it worse just trust them. alright?" walden hissed. "they won't kill it if they don't have to I bet." he did not budge against alex's straining even as winnie plucked a stone off the ground.
"beastie~" she called again in a sing song voice and nailed the wolf in the snout with the rock. emma yelped. walden winced. damocles stood back up. winnie widened her stance. alex struggled against the hold on him, and antonin pulled out his wand. emma turned from damocles completely and pounced in a lunatic fury at winnie instead. winnie sprung forward and anchored her elbow underneath their jaw while swinging her leg around the creature's back the same way she would handle an unruly dragon hatchling.
"damocles!"
"dam!"
"I'm working on it!"
the previously flustered potioneer now possessed completely concise focus as he rifled through his bag for the right bottle.
"oh, take your sweet fucking time, dam!"
"would you shut the fuck up?" damocles produced a potion of a dark color purple in his palm. "winnie move! now!"
without hesitation at the short verbal instruction, winnie dropped her hold on the smaller werewolf entirely and fell hard to the ground. she tucked a shoulder and attempted to roll swiftly away, but did not clear it before claws sank into the flesh of her bicep and tore open a wound. damocles hurled the potion into the air, and realized in a second that it was not going to hit it's target.
thankfully the reaction was lightning fast as antonin whipped his wand arm down in a sharp arc helping the glass to shatter across emma's face. the purple liquid splashed across their nose, eyes, and into their mouth. emma dropped suddenly to a fuzzy heap on the forest floor.
everyone waited frozen in the bright moonlight until a snore ripped through the air from it's chest. they all released a collective exhale.
four heads all panned in synchrony towards antonin.
damocles chuckled outright at the wry humor. "that is not the same thing as 'that could have been worse.'"
"is she going to be okay?" walden pointed.
alex pulled free of the now lazy hold that walden had on him and barrelled over to the sleeping wolf as damocles started to inspect the distinct lacerations down the back of winnie's arm.
"yes. it's a simple sleeping draught." damocles muttered. simple, but powerful. he prodded a finger into the skin next to winnie's wound and she slapped him. he rubbed his face. "this is not going to stop bleeding without silver powder and dittany."
"so? who cares?" winnie snarled.
"leaving a trail of your dna is a fast way for a thief to get caught."
walden's eyebrows scrunched together and caused a big wrinkle in the center of his forehead. "get caught? where are we going again?"
alex, now satisfied that emma was, in fact, only sleeping, gestured over to a ratty looking duffel bag half buried in leaves next to the near pine tree. inside were bandages prepped for potential lycanthropy related incidents and several clothing items for different seasons.
"we are breaking into gringott's tonight."