Millie

And then I woke up. I knelt in long cool grass. The sun was beginning to make an entrance with a background of purples, pinks, and blues. A beautiful day.

There was weird taste in my mouth and something on my hands and clothes. Trembling from the morning chill, I raised my hands to the light. Drying blood caked them. Blood trails dripped down my arms. That meant that what was in my mouth...

I bent over and vomited up blood and raw meat.

What happened? I thought hard. I has inhaled that stuff, I had turned in an Animagus. After that... something, maybe. Screaming. A human screaming.

Oh, Merlin, I had eaten...

I heaved again, but there was nothing else to come up. Tears coarser down my cheeks.

What had I done? What had I done? What was I going to do?

***
Matt

I hummed softly to myself while Zander paced the floor.

We had searched all night for Millie and hadn't found her so we eventually reported her disappearance to the ministry and came back to Uncle Nate's house.

"You think we would have heard something by now." He ran his hand through his hair.

"Try calling and seeing," I suggested.

He moved towards the door and stopped.

"Wizards don't have phones."

I smirked. "Whitehurst, if anyone can take care of themself, it's Mil."

"I know, but I'm still scared the PM did something to her."

"It'll be okay, Zander, really."

We sat in silence for a few seconds.

"Z, you never finished your story." I wove my fingers together.

He stopped. "What?"

"Your story. You left it at "But when the police came...""

Zander stared at me. "Is now really the time?"

"No better time than the present," I quoted.

"I suppose not." He started to fiddle with his robe sleeve again. "When the police showed up it looked like a tornado had hit the house. They found me lying outside of the closet. The door was busted. And when they found my step-father, he was in worse condition than the door. He was dead. It was quickly cleaned up and no one except me seems to remember anything except that my step-father died after hitting his head, so I'm guessing the wizard police stepped in and cleaned stuff up."

I stared at him.

"You killed your stepfather when you were eight."

"And that's when my Obscurial form also surfaced."

"Which you're still using to kill people."

He shifted his weight. "You have a knack for making people feel all warm and fuzzy inside, Ludiker."

"Sorry. It's just... wow. I thought being a werewolf was bad. At least I know I won't hurt anyone as long as I'm locked away on full moons. You're forced to bring your Obscurial form to surface no matter what."

"Seriously, Matt, I'm warm and fuzzy all over."

"There's nothing you can do?"

He shook his head.

Just then Uncle Nate made an entrance. "Millie Marowski is fine. She showed up at work today, unharmed."

There was a popping noise as Zander apparated away. I followed, knowing where he was going.

We streaked through the ministry, startling workers.

We reached Millie's wing quicker then physically possible. Zander was about to open the door but I stopped him.

"We can't go in there," I hissed.

"Why?" He was breathing heavily from the sprint. I'm not proud to say I was too.

"Because we'll distract other workers and make a scene."

Zander didn't seem to care but pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket anyway. He folded it into a paper airplane and tapped it with his wand. He opened the door a crack and tossed it, closed it, and stepped away. A few minutes later Millie walked out.

"Hi, guys!" She smiled, confused.

Zander wrapped her in hug. "Thank Merlin you're okay!"

Millie looked a little shocked. "Um, oh, why wouldn't I be?"

Zander stepped away. "We couldn't find you and we were worried."

"Well, I'm fine! Really!" She was peppy. Maybe a little too peppy. "I was just a little sick of feeling stifled by all this protection so I stepped away for the night."

"Where?" I inquired.

She looked at me and my heart stopped.

"That's for me to know and you to... never find out." She laughed and Zander smiled. "But anyways, I need to get back to work." She smiled at Zander again and went back into her ministry wing.

"It's good to know she's okay."

I quickly changed my expression before he could notice and mimicked Millie's too-happy smile.

"Yeah! It is!"

Zander turned and walked away. I let my face drop into a frown.

I knew something was wrong. How?

Millie's eyes aren't purple.

***
Millie

When I was little and it would rain outside I liked to go out and just walk in it. Despite wearing a raincoat I always got drenched. I would always return home freezing. So I would dry off and change my clothes to something more comfortable and dry. It felt nice.

Now I was in the same situation. I was cleaned up and dry in clean clothes. But I didn't feel nice.

I sat across a room from a tall lady with long black hair pulled back into a braid. The ends were a dark purple. Her dress color was a mix of lavender and black. And her eyes were a deep purple. If I had had my wits about me I would have wondered about all the purple.

I moved my eyes down to the teacup in my hands. I could feel the warmth but had no desire to drink it.

The lady, on the other hand, was sipping from her cup and watching me like a vulture.

"You know, Millie," she finally said. "You have a wonderful gift."

I didn't say anything so she continued.

"But right now, to you, it must not feel that way." She took another sip. "It's a shame really. You must feel like trash."

I still said nothing.

"But you know the saying. One man's trash is another man's treasure."

I raised my eyes. "What?" I said simply.

She tilted her head. "I'll take away the memory of what you have done. And," she took another sip of tea. "I won't tell anyone your secret."

She pulled a white rose out of the folds of her dress. I instantly recognized it as the rose I had found when Ashe "died". I slowly took it from her. The thorns were sharp.

I kept my head down and raised my eyes.

"Done," I said hoarsely.

A/n: Hey, sorry this chapter is only half the size of what I usually write. There's something kind of big that didn't fit in this chapter.
Matt noticed Millie's eyes were purple. Why, do you think, that is?

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