Chapter Text
Before anyone could respond, the train stopped.
Trubel was suddenly very awake.
"Something's wrong."
Her instincts flared up seconds before the lights switched off. She was too tired to flinch. Fortunately, she was the only one there with enchanted eyesight (that was awake) so her friends didn't notice.
Trubel concentrated trying to hear outside the wagon without accidentally making her eyes turn gold. It was a problem she kept having for years now - using her enchanted senses sometimes automatically switched her eyes to the werewolf ones. It took her weeks to figure out how to hold them normal but using two or more werewolf senses at the same time (in this case the eyesight and the hearing) was a little more complicated.
She could hear students panicking in the dark, her own friends talking one over the other in fright.
Trubel took a deep breath in. She could smell the magic in the air, but it had been months since the last time she'd been around so much of it. She couldn't distinguish what was wrong, or where it was coming from.
"Quiet!" a hoarse voice snapped through the compartment, silencing her friends.
Oddly enough instead of flinching at the sudden noise like her friends, Trubel felt relieved. Although she couldn't fathom why.
Her hands moved instinctively. The right one to her tight, where her wand was strapped in, and the other to the patch on her arm, where Teddy's pocketknife was.
She didn't like the odd calmness that the older werewolf hit her with. Not that the feeling wasn't pleasant, but it just wasn't normal. The male was an alpha. He was a danger until proven otherwise.
Professor R. J. Lupin hold up his hand and muttered something under his breath but Trubel was too wrapped up in her thoughts to catch.
A small flame sparked to life in his hand and she barely held herself back from openly gaping in wonder.
Wandless magic. A werewolf was able to do wandless magic. Her mind started bursting with ideas and possibility. Cataloging the spells that would be most useful. Trubel had to bite her tongue to keep the questions in.
The Professor scanned the cabin, his eyes resting on Harry then on Trubel for an extra moment, his face betraying nothing, but the girl knew it was probably due to Potter's fame and her werewolf scent.
"Stay where you are." Was all he said as he stood up and moved towards the door.
He barely made two steps before Trubel's instincts started screaming again and the door slid open.
The figure that appeared was a thing from nightmares. The red flames were illuminating the slimy and wrinkled hand that slid inside. The cloaked figure kept floating on the hallway.
Trubel's hand curled around her wand and her lips tightened preparing to yell a spell - any spell, before an overwhelming coldness hit her head on, expanding from her toes to the tips of her hair, sending her shivering violently.
Her hand fell from her wand.
Cold.
It was so cold.
And then pain - the pain of the werewolf change.
A gasp escaped her lips - her usual blood red lips were now dangerously pale.
"You'll be fine. You're prepared." Teddy lied to her. She wasn't. She wasn't ready. He couldn't just leave her, too. She didn't want to be alone.
Tears started forming in her eyes.
"Her again?!" the woman from Child Services sneered at the papers she was once again required to look over. "She already got brought back once this week!" It was the last time Bella trusted a foster family. It was the last time she presented herself as 'Bella'.
No...
"How dare you steal from my son, you little thief!" a man in an expensive suit yelled at her in the principal's office, grabbing her by the arm and shaking her hard enough to bring tears. But she didn't cry. She wasn't guilty. The boy stole it from her, but she didn't matter. It was the moment Bella decided she might as well start stealing what she needed since people already cataloged 'orphan' as being synonym with 'thief'. Teddy already thought her how to steal. Might as well start using it.
Stop-
"Get out of the way, you little brat!"
She couldn't breathe.
"You gonna go cry to mummy and daddy?"
Stop, stop,stop, stop, stop, STOP!
"Little freak's always been trouble."
Tears were pouring from her eyes now. She couldn't see anything past the visions.
"You will never belong here!"
She hadn't been crying like this since - since -
Teddy's eyes were lifeless - gazing on her when she woke up. His lips were too pale.
A sob escaped her lips as she fell on the floor.
As sudden as it came, it stopped. And Bella blinked as she took in the surroundings.
The lights were back on. There was nothing at the door, no trance that a black monster had been there.
She placed a poker face on, trying to hide her panic and terror, but she was too stiff to clean the tear tracks off her face. Her heart was beating too loud, too fast.
The scars on her face (the big one on her right cheek and the two small ones on the left side of her chin) were burning were the tears touched them.
"Harry! Harry are you alright?!" Hermione suddenly exclaimed making Trubel's gaze automatically move forward were her friend appeared to be waking up.
She shook her head, finally able to move and clean the tears off her face.
"Trubel! Are you okay?" Hermione shrieked making Bella flinch.
Too loud. Everything was too loud.
She flinched again when the professor started snapping a bar of chocolate.
Trubel suddenly remembered how hungry she was.
"Here." Lupin said handing Harry a large piece. "Eat it. It will help."
Harry didn't eat. He seemed to be in shock. Trubel couldn't blame him. She didn't even notice him get back on his seat.
Lupin handed her a piece, too. She barely sniffed it to make sure it was safe before eating.
The professor grabbed her elbow and Ron grabbed the other as they helped her back to her seat. Her legs felt like jelly, which would have been embarrassing if she wasn't so tired.
"What was that thing?" Harry asked.
"A Dementor." The professor stated.
The rest was a blur for the young werewolf.
Lupin left to speak to the driver and Hermione and Weasley started a heating discussion about Dementors, prisons and Sirius Black.
By the time the train reached its destination, Trubel's head was pounding with information she'd be happier if she never heard.
She tried to hide the trembling of her legs as she stepped out of the train and looked around.
Professor Lupin was coming towards them in the same direction as the sea of students, having just spoken with Hagrid.
Harry still looked grim as he looked around, like he expected another dementor to jump from behind a student.
Trubel looked for something to distract him when she noticed the strange horses that were pulling the carriages the students were climbing into.
None of her friends seemed to notice them.
"So, is really no one gonna talk about the weird horses?" Trubel asked, making Professor Lupin stop.
Ron started looking around confused and Harry followed suit.
"What horses?"
Trubel stared at him. Not even Weasley's that blind.
"The ones that are hooked to the carriages." She answered tiredly.
Too much had happened today. She was so tired she didn't see the look on Professor Lupin's face, or the way his shoulders slumped.
Hermione looked at her concerned, which frustrated her even more.
"Trubel, there's nothing hooked to the carriages. Are you sure you're alright?" she asked and Trubel actually gaped at her.
Granger was horrible at jokes, but this was just ridiculous.
"If I could have a moment with miss Rubel?" Professor Lupin suddenly asked making Hermione look relieved, while making Trubel tense.
She never told him her name.
She knew Dumbledore probably told him, but that didn't really ease her conscience.
Lupin waited until Hermione was out of earshot before he opened his mouth and Trubel was ready to scream if he'll tell her there was nothing pulling the carriages when there clearly was.
But that didn't happen.
"The horses are named thestrals. They are magical creatures that not everybody can see." He explained making her blink.
"Why can I see them but my friends can't?" she asked as she started noticing more and more students completely ignoring the creatures. Her eyes narrowed - she couldn't see a single student look at them.
Could she see them because she was a werewolf? After all, Lupin could see them too.
She turned to look at the professor when he didn't answer. He wasn't looking at her either.
She gave him an unimpressed look, not caring how rude that must be of her since he was her professor.
"You already told me how they're called, not getting an answer now would just mean a couple of hours spent in the library instead of doing Defense homework."
Fortunately, he didn't give her detention like Snape would have done. He even looked a little amused.
Professor Lupin sighed and his eyes looked sad all of sudden.
"The only people that can see them are the ones that have seen someone die."
A chill went down her spine as Teddy's lifeless eyes flashed in her mind. The only thing that saved her from outright shuddering was the years of self-control she had.