October, 1982
Somewhere near Bibury, Werewolf Colony

SAT ON THE BRIDGE OF THE WOODEN TREEHOUSE, LEGS DANGLING ON THE EDGE, EPIONE GLANCED AROUND. The mist surrounding the werewolf's colony was leisurely thinning, leaving behind a feeling of heaviness. It was much too damp inside where, after two days, Noah had finally fallen asleep. The full moon was nearing, just a week away, and the exhaustion was taking over the heartbreak over his lover's death.

Grabbing her sketchpad and wand, Epione began sketching the faces she met inside the camp. Her mind was always working, and she couldn't help but always do something. As a result, she ended up drawing Lalla's soft eyes, the wrinkles of the blue bearded elder, the dirty glances of the people living there. As the lines shaped expressions and personalities, the drawings started moving and coming alive on paper; some stood sitting, others were walking through the pages and jumping out of them, disappearing with a colourful pop once they went outside the sheet she was using.

It was the first hours of dawn when several speckles of light cut through the dissolving mist. They met the wood of the habitations and danced from leaf to leaf, landing inside where her best friend was faintly snoring.

Epione grinned down at him while her fingers were gently fiddling with the bracelets on her wrists, contemplating the way his chest rose and fell at his every breath, and the blonde curls rested upon his damp forehead, and the tenderness of his pouting face as he dreamt.

Thus, the witch didn't even realize when she started moving her wand again, and the lines moving on paper took the shape of the softness of his hair, the gentle curves of his lips, the smoothness of his eyelashes. When she ultimately met the olive of his drowsy eyes, Epione let the smaller of smiles grace her face.

"Slept well?"

Noah nodded eyeing her hands and stretched a bit just to let his aching body free of the blanket. He tapped three times on his wrist, waiting for the woman in front of him to stop studying his every move.

"It's almost six." The witch signed, "Are you hungry?"

"Not really. Have you slept at all, or did you just watch me sleep all night like a creep?"

"I did, I did." Noah just sent a knowing glance, and she huffed as she freed her hair from a ponytail. "Ok, maybe only for a couple of hours. I couldn't stop reading... Again."

The young werewolf smiled a little. His best friend never took a break from reading. It was the same at school, when she would spend whole nights at the feet of his bed looking through pages of giant volumes stolen from the library. He could vividly remember the discarded fur hat on the floor and the wand stuck in her hair, permanently illuminating the hundreds of pages she would study; the shocked, little expressions she made as she lived through the actions of the protagonist of some novel; her lips moving to form the words she was reading, and the frantic movement of her eyes when the characters wouldn't follow common sense, or let the constant miscommunication come between their relationships; or the need to always find themselves in the middle of troubling, yet avoidable situations.

He had missed her. Terribly.

"Don't smile like that! Emmeline, the heroine of the book, has been left behind by the love of her life because he feared of hurting her! What a twit!" Epione shook her head disappointingly, "I had to find out if she was going to kick his sorry arse or allow him to make the decision for her."

Noah thought it was too early to talk about books and fictitious situations, and if it was anyone else attempting to speak with him first thing in the morning, he would've cursed them. But it was Epione, and well, he loved her more often than not. "It's also his decision. Wouldn't you leave the people you love if you were dangerous to them?"

"I mean..." Her signing was a bit robotic, having passed a bit of time since the last time Epione had to make use of it. "Yes... maybe. But I know I wouldn't pursuit a relationship if I knew I was dangerous. And I would trust the people I love in making the choice to leave if I were too much to handle. I mean... Emmeline is strong, she doesn't need David to make the decision for her."

"I guess. But if everything was easy, there wouldn't be a story." Noah chuckled and sat by her side, letting his head fall on her shoulder. He'd really missed her, even her ramblings about fictional characters he knew nothing about. "Thank you for being here. I was starting to forget how your face looked like."

As he watched her body trembling from a soundless chuckle, he leaned in and left a kiss on her cheek. Puff, her puffskein that was sunbathing on her feet jumped on top of her head, leaving the witch to laugh at its jealous expression.

Epione's familiar warmth and bright smile shined as she ruffled Noah's hair and offered him water and a chocolate bar.

For the first time since his girlfriend's death, Noah genuinely smiled back.

"Do you want to talk about Liv?"

Noah shook his head. He was using his wand to fold the last shirts and jumpers inside his baggage. He was going to spend some time with Epione and her father, since Damocles offered him a job along another werewolf he never met.

Even though he was born into a rich family, Noah refused, as a twenty-four old gentleman, to rely on their fortune. He didn't need wealth, and not having galleons on him was a small price to pay to make sure his loved ones were safe.

And Noah... Well, he only felt safe with Epione Belby.

Epione was the first real friend he made. Her family cottage stood on the outskirts of the village in which they both grew up, and before meeting her, little Noah enjoyed to adventure there. Her home had always been surrounded by fireflies and Noah loved to capture them into a jar and free them in the near river.

It was on that same river that he met her for the first time. She had been spying him for a while from the window of her kitchen, where she stood hidden by the curtain to watch the blonde boy that always went there to steal her fireflies.

To say she was annoyed, it wasn't enough. She cherished the fireflies hanging around her home, and loved even more when they would enter inside during the summer nights, dancing and bathing in the darkness of her bedroom.

And then there was that boy she didn't even know, coming into her garden and taking them away.

So, one day, Epione decided to follow him.

Six-years-old-Noah was crouching down near the river, half-hidden behind a bush, when he heard dried leaves crushed by someone's feet. He'd hidden the jar full of fireflies behind him, before turning around to meet the intruder, only to be met by the inquisitive and slightly indignant eyes of a cute girl with messy hair tied in a braid.

He threw a glance at her gingerly pouting beside him and took notice of the curious look she threw at the fireflies he was hiding. Heat rosed on his cheek before he decided to surprise her by screwing the jar open.

He would always remember the look of utter surprise lighting her features, and the little giggle she let out at one of the insects landing on her nose.

Soon, upon a fragment of light was another firefly; Epione caught it hiding on Noah's blond curls, as his eyes reflected the spark of those surrounding them. It was almost as they were standing in the middle of a starry night, with moving stars circling them and pulling the two magical children together. The tiny glimmers went around their hands and moved them foreword, until they closed upon the other.

Even when the swarm of lights moved above the river, little Epione and Noah stood smiling at each other, feeling the earth beneath their feet, cementing what would become an imperturbable friendship.

The movements of her hands called for his attention, bringing Noah back into the present. He shook his head and shut close the baggage.

"I just... I don't want to sound harsh. But why did she go at the street market?"

Again, Noah loved Epione, but he didn't want to talk about Liv with her, or with anyone at all. If he talked about Olivia, he felt this buzzing rage inside he didn't know how to deal with. He couldn't understand how he was supposed to talk about her, or even think about moving on from the loss of the woman he was meant to marry. How were people able to do it? Noah was convinced they lied; they were all constantly lying about it.

"She wanted to buy something for us, to cheer us up before the full moon."

"You could've sent an owl to me. It's not safe for you to wander around, now more than ever."

Noah turned completely towards her with a fierce glare and, giving up the fear of using his voice, he started yelling. "She just wanted to go to the street market, not take a stroll in Azkaban!" The young werewolf squeezed his eyes tightly and continued. "What would you know how it feel to stay hidden here all the time between these people? You have no idea. You're always travelling!"

"I'm travelling because I'm trying to find a solution, you know that. I don't want to talk about what happen if you don't want to, but I don't want you to commit the same mistake and lose you."

"Not our fault they are hunting us! It's not us who should be hiding!"

Epione eyed warily his angered expression before moving towards him. "I know. I just want to protect you." She had been wandering around collecting information, gaining supporters, trying to make the werewolves' colonies habitable, and studying ancient studies about their condition.

Yet, it wasn't enough: there was little information about Lycanthropy and ways to reverse this illness. There were even less wizards that sympathized with their cause, especially after the wizarding war during which Voldemort gained a lot of support from the magical communities mistreated by the Ministry, such as werewolves, vampires, and goblins.

And to be fair, no human wanted to live inside a "habitable colony". No one ever wished for just enough to survive. These people just wanted to break free from the prejudice and just... live.

Even after all of this, Epione felt like she achieved nothing. Maybe, with a bit a fortune, the witch would be able to progress in her studies with her new occupation as Unspeakable. "I'm trying my best."

With guilt swimming in his eyes, Noah felt forced to look anywhere but Epione. He knew she was doing a lot of work just for him, and people like him, to be safe.

But she had never lost someone she loved in such a cruel way, she never had to leave her family in fear of hurting them.

She had never felt too weak to make a change; because she was smart, and strong, and loyal, just as expected by the daughter of a famous potion-maker.

And Noah, he didn't even remember the last time he felt strong.

He envied her, greatly.

For she never felt her own soul vanishing as a fading light.

For he never had an idea of how to help himself.

Yet, he loved her, deeply. He signed, "I hate all of this. Liv didn't deserve this. She was..." He stopped signing, even if for only a moment, "She really didn't deserve it."

And even if he tried to restrain himself, Noah let out a strangled sob, and turned again into her arms, where the sound of their heartbeats echoed beneath the force of the embrace. It was all he did those days, crying to sleep with Epione hugging him. 

Everything he felt, everything he saw was an endless, twisting darkness, pulling at his memories with Liv and the nightmares of her broken happiness.

Blackness; black, and black again. It was agony playing with fire.

Perhaps he had to welcome this emptiness.

Perhaps that was the only way for him to glance again at the light.