Wolf Pack on the Move! PV Olivia

14 July 2026

Colin had wandered out into the cottage's front garden, just wanting to be alone for a bit. Deciding to practice his transformation skills, Colin found a secluded corner and set to work. Ever since discovering that he and Liam could even do this, he'd settled on dear old Aunt Aggy as the subject for triggering his transformations. He'd gotten fairly good at it too! Colin had discovered that other traumas could work as well, and with varying degrees of success.

He let out a long sigh. The day was actually quite lovely. Da had arrived two days before to talk with Aoife about something important. Neither of them were to be seen in the house yesterday or today. Colin lay back in a huge patch of fragrant mint, letting the afternoon sunshine warm him. His thoughts wandered, and one caught him completely off guard! Wild red hair. Long and tangled. Harsh eyes staring at him from above. "Oh crap!" Colin managed to whisper before he transformed!

The transformation was so sudden, so brutally fast that he barely had time to register the process! It didn't hurt a lot less, but as Colin leapt to his feet and shook the stems of mint from his white fur, he found that it didn't bother him quite so much as before. He sniffed around the garden, then leapt over the gate and tore along the narrow lane that led to a wooded area. Perfect for zoomies!

There was something liberated about running in wolf shape. He felt the suffering and the trauma, not so much less in wolf shape, but differently. It was weird in a way. It was like there was another whole land of memory here in the wolf mind. He could switch over to wolf mode and the world became that of scent and movement, of fluid instinctual motion. Colin revelled in that freedom. The red haired vision, a veritable harpy she was, Colin thought, was still there, but of lesser importance. The scents of small animals, marmots, nifflers, registered first and foremost. And of the few folks who had wandered in here to collect potion ingredients.

Colin rolled around in the leaf mould! He chased after some squirrels and rabbits! He tried climbing a tree, but wolf claws weren't suited for that. He found himself dangling from the low branch he'd grabbed onto with his jaws. "Rrrrrouch!" he muttered. He hoped no one would see him like this. Finally, after some inelegant flailing about, he managed to hook his forepaws up over the branch so he could look around a bit better. The drop wasn't very long, so Colin let go of the branch, tumbling into a drift of leaves.

Right. Climbing trees in wolf shape is a no.

He tried again, just to make sure. Nope. Still a no.

Colin shrugged. As well as a wolf body can shrug, anyway! Colin whuffed in disdain. Shrugging was also apparently a no. His attempt ended up looking more like a play bow! He discovered that by balancing more on three paws, he could kind of make a one shouldered shrug! That was something! He sniffed around the tree with mild interest. Someone had been here with their crup. Colin took off, but the scent trail was too old and disappeared.

Colin shrugged. "Nkff knff!" he giggled. He took off along the lane back towards the cottage and its garden. Leaping back over the gate, he padded back over towards the patch of mint and transformed back into his boy shape. He balled up his white shirt into a makeshift pillow, lay back and relaxed. Stretched out with his arms spread wide, he let the Sun warm his bare skin.

His mind wandered.

He still hadn't told the others what actually happened to him. Not even Liam. Certainly not Lily. Aoife had been giving him The Look ever since she got the gang safely to Ottery St. Catchpole. He'd happily gone with the story that Manksbridge caught him in the narrow alley behind Andrew Walk and roughed him up. Hamish had also been in the vicinity, which only served to lend credibility to the emerging story.

Colin had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Lark --- Colin snarled at the very thought of the name --- was the wild card in the story. Colin had said he couldn't recount much, which was actually true after a fashion. Technically to recount means to actually speak the words of the story, which in the moment he really could not do. This didn't mean he didn't remember...

He'd been battered and bloodied, true, and that seemed to satisfy the younger McCoires. Apparently, according to Cursa's recounting of the tale, Lily had Manksbridge floating in the air and she was bopping him back and forth between the walls on either side of the alley! Liam made especial notice of her aim when kicking the poor fellow right where it hurt most! For his part, he could only vaguely recall seeing an unconscious figure, bound and gagged on the cobbles, in the dim light of the alley.

His thoughts naturally turned to Emmi. He loved Emmi with all his heart! And now this --- Emmi deserved so much better than what Colin had become, what he had done. His heart broke and not for the first time over the last week he cried. He was already mourning their inevitable breakup. How could such a sweet girl ever stay with him? He already had a bit of history, but this was so much worse! His mind went back to the train ride coming back to Hogwarts last year. He'd made a promise to Emily that day --- and now he'd already broken it into a thousand pieces!

Colin sighed deeply.

He dried his tears on his shirt. Faint scuffing sounds came to his ears from a little way down the lane. Colin listened intently. They didn't get many visitors this far out of the village. A single person, not in any hurry. Colin sat up and listened. The footfalls neared. He got up and wiggled through the shrubs growing along the stone wall to see if he could see who it was. He couldn't see around the curve, though.

Then it hit him. A familiar scent! But --- how!? Colin wriggled back out of the hedge, snagged his shirt and put it back on as he trotted over to the gate. He scratched his head. There were bits of leaves and tendrils of mint lodged in his hair.

"Liv!?" he called out as the walking figure neared the garden wall. Colin waited for his mate by the gate. "Wh-What are you doing here? How did you get here!? Come on in, I'm sure supper will be ready soon!" As sad as he'd been a short while ago, he was genuinely surprised and happy to see Olivia coming up the lane!

Interacting with: @Olivia Williams
Mentions: @Emily Shephard