A full moon, shaded behind wisps of shadowy grey clouds. It's as if the moon is hiding from the unfair harshness of the world it watches over. Silence is so loud.

Terra was running. Despite her foster parents wishes, Terra, though has an evil air, didn't want to be a Death Eater. She was too proud to be Voldemort's servant. Plus something told her that wasn't the direction she wanted to head in. Don't get me wrong, she certainly had enough power, ambition, and love for the Dark Arts, but something held her back.

Terra didn't particularly like Voldemort, but she certainly wasn't afraid of him. Her foster parents were Death Eaters through and through. And wanted Terra to be one too, but Terra thought being a Death Eater was a sign of weakness. The only people who followed Voldemort were the ones who couldn't do enough evil on their own, and under no way did Terra fall under that category. So she followed her other plans, and ran away.

'I'll show them! No one tells Terra Starr what to do!' she thought angrily. She was angry quite a lot. And she wasn't the best person to be around when angered. She didn't know kindness or love, just anger and hatred. The only thing she had ever loved had been taken away from her at age seven; her mother.

Terra had tried to block away all feelings except anger and hatred when she had finally "moved on". She never really got over it, and at age 17, she sure as hell wouldn't forgive what life had given her.

Her refuge had been magic. She found books around her house, or prison as she referred to it as, and memorized them. Not that she was a bookworm, but books were the only things she could really trust. What she didn't trust she hated. She had never been allowed to have any real friends, the people she met she hurt. She was called a back-stabber and a heart-breaker as she was forced to push everyone away. She didn't why she was supposed to hate everyone, but she had too much pride to be hurt, or to ask. She pushed her foster parents away the most, which was okay in her and their eyes because they hated her almost as much as she hated them. The only person she hadn't hated in her life had been her mother, but that was gone, along with everything else when Celeste had been murdered. All her dreams, fun times, happy feelings, gone. Why someone would murder her mother, Terra didn't know, but she still would try to carry out her plan. She would be famous, feared, or, hopefully, both. But first: Hogwarts.

Terra halted near a giant tree. She decided to rest here tonight, and enter the castle tomorrow, or rather, later today. She would wake herself up early. She glanced around and decided that she would sleep in a hole at the base of the tree. She cleared out the hole with magic, and decided to do something Dark. After all, it had been a while since her last victim. She found a squirrel that was, for some strange, unfathomable reason, outside in the early morning. She grinned evilly at it. The last word the mammal heard was spoken in a whisper.

"Glacius," Terra spat, sending a quick light blue flash at the unexpecting bundle of fur. The squirrel literally turned to ice as the spell froze his soul.

Satisfied at her handiwork, Terra decided to sleep in her animagus form. She was glad she had taken the time to become an animagi. As proof of her power, she was not just an animagus, but an aniceror, one who could change into two different animals. It took a lot of practice to change into both, and she, since she had recently learned, was just getting them both down to a pat. Though her second form still hurt quite a bit, she had completely mastered her first form, and felt no pain while transforming into it.

Anicerors were REALLY rare, and marked powerful witches/wizards, which was one reason Terra had formed the Plan.

Exhausted, she took one quick glance at the stars she so desperately enjoyed, as she flourished at night (daytime just wasn't her thing), and transformed into an shimmering bright-silver snake.

Terra wasn't sure why the snake was one of her forms, but she suspected it was because she was a Parselmouth. Talking to snakes could and did come in handy, and both forms used it. Her other form had one other marking that showed who she was, but the snake still showed her trademark. Or ½ of it. Her cold orchid eyes that frequently flashed dangerously were still in human form, as she was human, not snake. Her other trademark was her almost-waist-length raven black hair.

She slithered into the tree, and drifted off to a nightmare-ish sleep.

~

Harry woke from a blinding flash with a blinding pain in his scar. It had been a while since a nightmare that bad, and a scar pain. It was usually meant something dark was near, or about to happen.

'Or if Voldemort is pissed off at something/someone,' Harry thought, trying to remember his dream. Something about Voldemort telling some Death Eaters that they had ruined his plan, and could destroy everything by letting It go. Whatever it was. Then a blinding flash of green light as the Death Eaters were killed swiftly.

Harry knew, it being almost 5 AM that he would never get back to sleep and awake again in time for Potions, and more importantly, breakfast. He had, for once, finished all his homework the night before, and could hear his roommates' deep-sleep snores, so he couldn't do something with one of them.

'I hate being bored!' Harry thought, getting annoyed. 'Well I might as well get up and do something.' He got up, stretched, and began to think clearly, now that he was almost fully awake. 'Well, I could work out Quidditch plays, but that's too boring.' He looked out the window and saw that the sun was beginning to rise, and the fog was beginning to clear, making it a beautiful day. 'Hmm...I think I'll run for a change.'

Harry slipped on a shirt and some sweat pants, stretched some more, this time more efficiently, and quietly jogged outside.

It was amazing. The sun hot the moisture that hung in the air just right, and it was neither too hot, nor too cold.

Harry thought about different things, trying to clear his head. He had been working secretly for a change, to become an animagi. Harry had been trying, on and off according to what had been happening in his life, to become an Animagi ever since the summer of his fourth year. Somehow he felt that being an animagi might come in handy against Voldemort. He couldn't explain why he thought it would be important, but he had a feeling deep inside that it was well worth the effort.

He hadn't told Ron or Hermione, but planned to eventually. He knew he should include them, but something told him not to. Harry decided that he should tell them soon, and let them become animals too. It could come in handy, especially Hermione, with her book-smarts and ability to perform difficult magic. He could see it now; Ron would want to too, think it was the coolest thing ever, and imagine how he'd finally do something that the rest of his family wouldn't or couldn't do, and Hermione would accuse Harry of not only breaking about a million school rules, but also breaking the law, for they would be unregistered.

Hermione.

Ron had confronted Harry and accused him of liking Hermione, but it only confused Harry, and made him doubt himself. He had never thought anything about it before, but Ron had stirred something in Harry up that proved to Harry that he didn't want to lose Hermione over anything. He wanted to remain friends with Ron and Hermione forever, and would not risk that friendship over becoming an animagi.

Harry sighed, and broke out into a sprint. Being in good shape due to Quidditch, he was quite fast. He ran past Hagrid's hut, and slowed down to a jog as he ignored the slit second long scar pain that he would later reason was just residual from the nightmare, and really meant nothing. He almost felt sad as he neared the school entrance, the run had been so pleasant! He walked inside, confident that no one had seen him, and happy that he had decided to run, as he felt so much better and awake.

Little did Harry know, but someone had been watching him the entire time.

Chapter 4: Talk of Anamagi and A Confused Sorting Hat
Chapter 2: Star Wishes
smileygirlo3
fanfiction
The Western Tower