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Three days after the full moon Janna was finally able to leave the Hospital Wing with only a bandage wrapped around her calf and shin, as she walked her leg stung slightly, giving her a small limp. Her lips were back to normal and her fingers were clear of any splinters that had been caught in her claws.

Albus held Janna's hand to make sure she wouldn't fall when they went down the stairs, her hands were cold and clammy while his were just clammy, since he was holding a girl's hand, he hadn't really held any other girl's hand other than his mother's. The two carried on down the stairs, Albus noted her eyes that attentively watched the floor as she walked "we should go to Hagrid's, he has the best tea right now and he made a new batch of rock cakes."

Janna smiled, remembering the hard cake which reminded her of stale fruit cake "I love that stuff, maybe Goldfeather will be there"

     "Goldfeather?" Albus asked as he lead Janna down the last steps.

     "Yes, a Thunderbird, he's so beautiful. Haven't you see him?" Janna asked Albus as they went around a corner, passing a portrait where Snuffles sat on a  table, his legs crossed like a human's while he held a bottle of Firewhiskey to his chest, trying to drown the memories he had of Janna's violent shift. His straggly black fur on his ears lifted as the two first years passed the portrait he was in. The black dog took another swig of the ruby liquor, swinging his head back, his whiskers flapping up and down as he gulped feeling his senses mellow, his ears flopped off his head his eyes closing as he attempted to finish the bottle.

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Albus watched  Janna's charisma as she scaled the slopes like they were mountains, her body hobbled as she walked "you know you look like Mad-Eye Moody" Albus commented, Janna looked over her shoulder to see Albus below the slope where he was struggling to climb the slope caked in snow.

   "Who is Mad-Eye Noody?"

Albus snorted "Mad-Eye Moody, one of the most well-known Aurors of the the twentieth century! He had a limp and a whizzing glass eye, dad told me Mad-Eye used to pop the eye out of his head to clean it, once he put it in a glass of water to clear his vision"

   "Ew, that's a bit unsettling" Janna shivered imaging a man with a hole in his head cleaning his glass eye in a glass of water.

    "I know, dad used to tell us that as kids to scare us into brushing our teeth or something like that" Albus shrugged, sprinting up the hill to walk after Janna "I'm not sure telling a five year old kid that it's eyes would fall out if they didn't brush their teeth is a good idea"

    "I never knew you were a goat" Janna snorted, as she waited at the top of the hill for Albus he frowned up at her.

    "A goat?"

   "Yes, you said you were a kid, you know, a baby goat" Janna smiled, watching the fog in front of her face float from her mouth  "maybe one day you'll grow a pair of horns and become a billy goat, I can imagine you chasing Filch around with your pointy horns"

Albus squinted his eyes at Janna "I can't be a goat"

   "Why not? You might grow some facial hair here" Janna pressed her index finger to under his chin "you'll look like an old man"

   "I don't think mum or dad would allow me to become a goat, then I have to become an Animagus" Albus explained, Janna looked at him like he was speaking gibberish. "Someone who can change into an animal at will... It's pretty dangerous to do because you can end up looking like a freak for the rest of your life if you complete the process wrong. My dad actually hunted a gang of wizards and witches who attempted to become Animagus without permission or a sign in"

    "Well, if you would become an Animagus what would you become?" Janna asked as they saw Hagrid's hut blanketed in snow, the pumpkins were long gone from the uneventful Halloween feast.

   "A skink maybe, something small so I can hide from my parents" Albus muttered, Janna pursed her lips she wrapped an arm around Albus as the snow crunched under their feet "what would you want to become?"

Janna wondered, she knew that she wanted to be something other than a predator or something that ripped things apart, something that was innocent and small so she could also hide but unlike Albus she would hide from the full moon "maybe a fox, they're fluffy and orange like the sun, they're really good creatures. Even though they might be nonmagical"

    "Smart, you do seem friendly but that is overshadowed by your  shyness—although there is nothing wrong with your shyness, you have a nice shyness" Albus reconciled, Janna smirked at his nervousness.

   "Don't worry Albus, it's good to be honest, I don't mind at all" Janna wrapped an arm around his elbow to find stability as she went down the last slippery slope.

The two made their way to the cabin, a shovel stood outside the door but as they knocked on the towering door nobody answered "there isn't smoke in his chimney either, he might not be here today" Albus pointed out as he looked at the chimney at the end of the hut.

   "Then we should go into the forest," Janna pulled at Albus' jumper sleeve "the cave is not too far away" but Albus tried to pull his arm away.

   "But there are rules, it's the Forbidden Forest for a reason, everyone says that spirits from the Shrieking Shack roam the forest" Albus stammered after Janna who pulled him to the krummholz of the towering forest of dark trees with blanketed in thick snow "what if they drop a pile of snow on us and kill us?"

   "Blimey Albus, I'm sure it's too cold for them to be wandering out and about" Janna explained as she tugged at Albus' sleeve when he stopped her under an arm of a conifer which was cradling powdery snow in its needles "See, I'm fine, nothing is going to fall on me or you"  Albus gulped, quickly following after Janna by sticking to her side, clinging to her arm then crouching at Janna's shoulder.

Through the maze of tree black trunks there was a strange fog in the air, floating just below the lowest arms of the trees. As they moved further in the tree trunks began to coagulate, at some point the two of them squeezed past a few trunks that were tightly packed for a good few feet. At some point Janna thought there must have been a missed turn or a path she forgot to take. Panic rose in her chest.