5. Luminosity
Lavender began to cry. The tears which rolled down her cheeks were accompanied by a terrified, pulse-quickening wail. Mark looked at her in panic. He hoped that it was an act; but if it was, it was a very good one. It was certainly good enough to alarm him.
‘I don’t … understand,’ she sobbed. ‘What just … happened? One minute … we were standing in your doorway … the next … we’re down here … hanging from the roof … in a dark cave. My hands are stuck … and they’re really hurting … please get us down.’
‘Who are you, and why are you here?’ Anna asked again.
‘If … I tell you … the truth … will you … let us go?’ asked Lavender, between sobs.
‘If I think you’re lying, you’ll end up like him,’ said Anna. She waved her black clawed hands in the direction of the cage, where the bloody and barely-conscious Josh lay huddled with his friends.
Lavender squealed. She kept the fear-filled noise going until Anna stepped directly in front of her. The hag raised her talons in front of Lavender’s face, extended a single digit, and held it in front of Lavender’s eye.
‘Stop that awful racket, or I’ll give you something to scream about,’ ordered Anna. ‘Tell me now! Who are you?’
‘Don’t hurt me, please,’ Lavender sniffed, snivelled and sobbed as she attempted to regain control of her emotions. ‘Please, just … give me … a … minute … to catch my … breath.’
Mark was now convinced that Lavender was playing for time, but her anguished sobs were so realistic he felt that his heart would burst. He needed to react, so he did.
‘Leave my wife alone!’ he demanded. ‘And let us down. Now!’
The hag looked towards him, gave him a black-toothed smile, and cackled. It was a harsh, guttural noise which held the malicious threat of something viscerally unpleasant. It was enough to make Mark’s stomach scuttle and squirm as it tried to tie itself in a knot. Anna gently stroked her right hand over Lavender’s cheek and down over her breasts before finally bringing her clawed fingers to rest on Lavender’s belly. She peered up into Mark’s face, and smiled. He cursed and struggled, trying to pull his arms from the rock, but it was impossible.
‘Husband and wife, eh?’ the hag whispered, looking thoughtfully into his face.
A tongue the colour of an indigo, pre-dawn sky flicked out and licked her lips. Her eyes were as black as her nails. She clattered her teeth together with an almost metallic snap. ‘And a baby, too. It’s a shame you didn’t bring it with you. I eat babies raw.’
Mark swore at her and the hag finally turned away from Lavender in order to face him. The moment Anna turned her attention to him, Lavender gave Mark an encouraging nod. He knew what was required. He needed to keep Anna focussed on him
‘And you love your wife. You’d do anything to save her, wouldn’t you? You’d even sacrifice yourself.’
‘Of course I would,’ declared Mark, as his intestines continued to entangle themselves. This is what Lavender does, he reassured himself as he tried to fight his fear. She has a plan. I hope she has a plan. She must have a plan.
‘See that.’ Anna looked over her shoulder and pointed at the man-sized cauldron full of now busily boiling water. High above the pot, attached to the ceiling by pulley and a chain fastened to the wall, Mark noticed a black iron lid.
‘That’s for my next meal.’ Anna announced. ‘I prefer something young and tender, but that treat can wait. Those three stupid boys aren’t going anywhere. You two will do for now, although you’ll both take a bit of seasoning. Which of you will be first? Do you want to watch your wife being boiled alive? Or do you want to be first in the pot? You’re a long one, lean, there’s not much meat on you. Still, you’ll do as an appetiser.’
Anna licked her lips again, and rubbed her hands together in anticipation. ‘I’ll pick the flesh from your bones, then snap them open and suck out the marrow. Now, unless you want to see me tear your wife to pieces, you’d better tell me who you really are.’
The hag was staring malevolently at Mark, concentrating on filling him with fear; she was succeeding. Fortunately, she seemed to be unaware that Lavender’s sobs has long since ceased. Mark had watched from the corner of his eye as his wife brought her knees up to her chin and pulled her toes up high stretching her Achilles tendons to their limit. Lavender prepared to attack.
‘I’m Lavender Moon, Auror Office,’ she said simply.
Anna’s head whipped round to face Lavender. Mark caught the briefest glimpse of the hag’s startled expression before Lavender kicked out. Two stiletto heeled feet struck the hag with as much force as Lavender could muster. One connected with Anna’s head, the other with her chest. Lavender’s shoes were dragged from her feet by the force of the blow and the flimsy straps of white leather went spinning to the floor.
The hag screamed. It was a keening, shiver-inducing noise like metal on metal, and it set Mark’s teeth on edge. He watched as Anna reeled backwards, dropping the Earth staff she’d been holding and raising her hands to her face.
There was a lot of blood. Except it wasn’t blood, at least, it didn’t look like blood. An oily black fluid which glinted nastily in the light flowed from the hag’s chest wound, but she was ignoring that injury. Both of Anna’s hands were covering her left eye, where more of the noisome liquid poured between her fingers. Mark was only vaguely aware that one of the three boys in the cage was letting forth a stream of expletives and a second was retching.
‘It’s time for this Moon to rise,’ coughed Lavender through an already altering larynx. ‘And I’m not going to fight it, Mark. Thanks for distracting herrrrr.’ The final word segued into a growl.
The moment she’d kicked out at Anna, Lavender had begun her transformation. Mark watched with his usual mix of compassion and sorrow as her back arched, her spine stretched, and her flesh flowed. Mark always wanted the transformation to end quickly, but this time it wasn’t merely to end her pain, it was a matter of life and death for all of them. The three boys in the cell joined in with Lavender’s screams.
Mark was used to the transformation, he’d seen it often enough, but his wife usually undressed before moonrise. He watched her dress rip as her body rearranged itself, as hairs sprouted and nose and mouth turned into snout and fangs. He’d liked that dress, and so had she, which meant that she’d be even more incensed with the hag.
As Lavender’s hands became paws she slipped free from the ceiling which had held her. She dropped to the ground and the handbag she’d been wearing slung over her shoulder slipped to the floor. Landing on all fours, the she-wolf shook herself free of dress and underwear and howled angrily.
Anna squinted through her good eye and finally realised what was happening. She lurched forwards, bellowing foul curses. The hag desperately reached, one-handed, for the staff she’d dropped while continuing to press her other hand to her face. Her attempts to staunch the flow of black ichor which continued to suppurate from beneath her hand were unsuccessful.
The moment Anna moved, Lavender crouched and pounced. She hit Anna square in the chest, knocking her back against the wall and taking her further from the staff. The hag tried to lash out, but the wolf was too quick. She backed off, snarling.
Anna grabbed a skull from the shelf and threw it, but Lavender dodged the missile and continued to retreat until she was standing over the Earth staff. With a cry of rage Anna leapt like a maddened tiger, diving desperately for the staff. But Lavender, too, leapt.
Wolf teeth grabbed the outstretched arm and twisted it, swinging the hag around to collide with the cauldron. Twenty years, Mark thought in horror. That was the penalty for infecting someone with lycanthropy, the penalty for inflicting a single bite. For a moment, Mark thought that Anna would topple into the cauldron. To his disappointment she did not, not immediately. Lavender released the cursing hag, backed off, and leapt again. She hit Anna square in the chest and the hag toppled back into the boiling water with a scream.
Mark watched in disbelief as the hag began to dissolve. Anna grabbed the edge of the cauldron and tried to pull herself free. As she struggled, Lavender leapt to the wall and pulled at an iron latch with her teeth. The chain rattled and Anna looked up in horror as the cauldron lid rattled down from the ceiling and forced her into the pot with a cymbal-like clash of finality.
‘Is she dead?’ Mark asked.
The wolf shook her head.
‘No?’ Mark was astonished. ‘Is she trapped? Are we safe?’
The wolf, gave a contented bark, and nodded.
‘That was … amazing. I love you,’ he told her.
Lavender bared her teeth, and then yelped. Mark watched in astonishment. Lavender’s body was once again rearranging itself. It took almost a minute; but eventually his wife was standing in front of him, completely naked.
‘Bloody hell!’ said Ed.
‘Phwoar,’ said Harve.
‘Clothes, Lavender,’ said Mark.
‘Don’t have time!’ she told him. She picked up Anna’s Earth staff and stretching upwards, hit the ceiling between his arms four times. He fell to the floor, landing in an untidy heap in front of her. As he struggled to his feet, he moved slightly sideways. She turned to face him. The boys now only had a rear view of his wife, but even that view was one Mark enjoyed, and he was certain the boys would too.
‘Wasn’t certain I’d be able to change back,’ she gasped. ‘Never tried before! I didn’t fight the change at moonrise, but I’m fighting it now … forced myself back into this shape … struggling to hold it. You know that I’ll lose the fight at sunset, so we only have a few minutes. No questions, just listen.’ She crouched down and reached for her handbag. Pulling it open, she reached in and found her wand, and her husband’s. She waved her wand at the cauldron, turning off the magical flames beneath it, and conjuring several clamps to hold the lid firmly in place.
‘You can’t kill a hag, because they aren’t exactly alive. They’re simply the spirit of an evil old witch in almost-human form. It’s up to you now, Mark,’ she said urgently. ‘The hag’s trapped in there. She’s going nowhere so just leave her where she is. I’ll contact the office in the morning and explain to them.
‘The wounded boy needs healing, and all three of them must be Obliviated. If you touch the Earth Staff to the bars you’ll be able to release them from that cell. When you’re holding the staff you’ll be able to see the stairs she used. Get them all upstairs before you Obliviate them. Once you’ve done that, take me home.’ She stood and hugged him.
He pulled her in close, sliding his hands down to her buttocks and ignoring the groans from the three teens. ‘You were spectacular, Lavender,’ he told her.
She smiled, but pushed herself away. ‘I’ve got to go. I want to kiss you, but I won’t because don’t know whether I’m fully transformed. Bite-saliva … you know that this is a dangerous time, Mark … I don’t want to infect you. Happy Anniversary; I hope that it’s been wild, exciting, and unpredictable. I love you, Mr Moon, but your namesake is pulling me back. I’ll talk to you in the morning. Get those boys out of here.’ With that, she began her third transformation of the evening.
Mark picked up Lavender’s wand, put it back into her handbag, and pulled out his own. Picking up the Earth Staff he strolled over to the cage and began to carry out his wife’s instructions; she soon joined him, walking quietly to heel.
Moons by Northumbrian
Chapter Endnotes: I've kept Lavender (and Mark) dangling for far too long. If it weren't for hermione_granger4life/Emma and Maple, who provided much needed beta services, they would still be hanging. The Moons thank them, and so do I.