The full moon shone down upon the thick forest there in the wilds of the Isle of Skye.
He had traveled North ever since being exiled from Hogwarts. It was an exile, in his mind, far more than a simple expulsion. The Headmaster had banished him for what he was, the disease that traveled hot through his veins and erupted into full fruition every time the moon hung full. It was there, incubating like a fever at all times. His moods waxed and waned with the moon. Lycanthropy was scarcely understood by humans, Theon knew, but he never fully understood until then how deeply it was feared by the general population; how little chance of a cure or palliative care an control there was.
So he traveled. He hunted. He existed, but he scarcely lived.
Most werewolves had killed a human, or a humanoid, while wearing the fur. Theon no longer knew what his body count was, nor did he wish to think on it. He had been sorted into Hufflepuff, and deep down he worried that he would attack again. Someday, he knew, someday he was liable to end up killing someone close to him with little memory of the attack - just blood on his lips and hands and flesh in his belly. Suicides were not unheard of among werewolves that tried to blend into human life. Theon now understood why.
He was not proud.
He ran through the forest, at times on all fours, more often on his back legs. He was a beautiful creature, if one could get past the horror of the werewolf visage. Inhumanly strong, but with human intelligence, banded by lupine instincts. His fur was a russet red banded in silver, his eyes the eerie gold-blue of a sunrise on the ocean. The tumus felt good beneath his paws, and there was the intoxicating scent of human on the air. Something he had not smelled now in some time, barely even a hint of it beyond his own self. Biology drew him to it, stalking through the thick oak and ash. He crouched, the tip of his long tail twitching, ears perked forward in interest as he licked his nose in order to better convey the scent.
Yes.
He thought he could hear it, could see a blur of motion in the corner of his eye.
