Shadow Claw: The Life Story - The First Chapter

Ch. 10 - Questions and Claws

"... She's a fascinating creature..."

"She's sleeping on a bookshelf, Albus."

"Oh, hush hush, Minerva. Let her be."

"Let her be? She's been let be for two days! The other students are almost used to it now."

"I'm already used to it. Fawkes is a mischievous little pheonix."

I awoke to a loud conversation below me. I recognised Professor McGonnagall's voice, but not the old, joyful one that she seemed to be conversing with. I flicked my ears in irritation, their voices being a little too loud for my liking.

I pried open my eyes, yawning - my jaws opening wide to reveal my dangerous teeth. I noted that I was still ontop of the bookshelf I had fallen asleep on, and that the head master was standing below me, staring upwards like I was some kind of experiment. His name, I recalled from a book I had read in the attic, was Professor Albus Dumbledore, head master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

I huffed, raising my head sleepily. Was I really out for two days? In all honesty, the bookcase was a particularly comfy spot to sleep on - still is.

"Ah, Shadow Claw, you're awake." Professor McGonnagall mused, not sounding appreciative whatsoever. I yawned once more, stretching my body wings out whilst glancing down at them. "Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office." She gestured to Albus, and I nodded. "Of course, Professor." I replied politely.

"I like her already." Dumbledore chuckled, his voice curiously happy for an old man - not that old men are always grumpy. He ambled away, glancing over his shoulder to see if I was following. I leapt down from the bookshelf and padded in step behind him, Professor McGonnagall nowhere in sight.

"Sherbet lemon." Albus said, as if it were a secret password - it was.

The staircase to Professor Dumbledore's office was incredible. I sat on the bottom step, gazing at the golden griffin in awe. The pale, stone steps began to twist upwards, spiraling around the statue gracefully. "Come now, Shadow. We have much to discuss, and I have many questions." He smiled at me through his long, greying beard that was so long, it had been tucked into his belt.

I nodded solemnly, knowing that I would not have the answers to many of his questions.

The sloping walls of his office were lined with moving paintings and treasures of all kinds; including the Sorting Hat who gazed at me with fascination. I was fed up with being stared at like some kind of animal in the petting zoo. I growled lowly, and some of the paintings' people leapt back in shock, whispering to their neighbouring pictures.

Professor Dumbledore sat behind his desk and stroked a fiery red-ombre-to-yellow bird, who I presumed was Fawkes the pheonix. He eyed me with his beautiful orbs, shuffling his wings now and again. I blinked slowly, leaping onto the seat opposite Albus and pawing it until I felt comfortable. I was a feline, technically speaking, but I acted like a canine - fierce, dangerous and most definitely not afraid of water.

"So, I'll start with the basics. I barely know anything about you, and I know all my students. Rumours are curious things." He peered through his half-moon glasses, still smiling. "Where are you from, Shadow?"

"I don't know and I never will." My voice was stiff and almost automatic.

"Interesting, how old are you in human years and Claw years?"

"Human years, I'm twelve. Claw years, I'm sixty."

"Where did you live for the majority of your life?"

"In the attic of Grimmauld Place."

"Who put you there?"

I paused, taking a deep breath. "Sirius Black."

"Hmm... and why?"

"I've been asking myself that for the last twelve years." I muttered, my gaze dropping to the floor. It pained me to talk about my past; I hadn't had the perfect life like I had dreamed so many times.

"That will be all. Thank you. Now, I believe that Hagrid wishes to see you. He's the groundskeeper of Hogwarts." Albus gestured to the door. I bowed my head in respect; a natural instinct, and headed away. "Shadow?" I heard my voice and turned to see Dumbledore looking at me with a small frown, "There is a Claw pack not that far from here. You will go there during the holidays." He said, before the door slammed shut.

*

I growled under my breath, scaring the few students in the courtyard. A Claw pack! What nonsense!

I bounded down the steps, past the boat dock and onto the hilly plains, descending them to reach Hagrid's hut.

"Oh, 'ello. You mus' be Shado'." A friendly voice interrupted my angry thoughts, pulling me out the darkness and into reality. I back up a few steps when I saw a large, bulky man with little beetle eyes that were almost invisible through a thick matt of dark beard. I nodded, wrinkling my nose at the stench of many animals that wafted from the mass of pockets in Hagrid's tattered coat.

"Name's Rubeus-"

"-Hagrid, yes. So I've heard. You wanted to see me?" I asked, trying not to let my inner anger and frustration show through. Damn Claw pack.

"Ah, uh, yea'. 'His way." Hagrid said, caught a little off guard at my aggression.

"I specializ' in animals of all size an' shape, I do. Though, what I don' kno' is you." He explained as I padded beside him, the scent of animal becoming much stronger as we approached his hut.

He opened the door, and I bounded in, not so bothered by the smell anymore. I got used to it, by turning off my senses and shifting into my human form. Hagrid looked a little taken aback, but didn't mention it at all.

I sat down, "So, like I said, you wanted to see me? No rush. I have nowhere to be." I corrected my impolite behaviour earlier, by managing a small smile and saying those words.

Hagrid seemed a little more pleased, as he sat opposite me. "Yea. If you don' min'. I'd like to kno' a bit 'bout your kind." He said, a little notepad beside him on the table with a pen that looked used and old.

"Well... there are few books in existence that mention Claws, let alone Shadow Claws. There's not much to tell. I'm not even fully grown yet." I admitted, then started on what I knew about my species.

"Shadow Claw, or umbra ungue in Latin, are the second ultimate species of the Claws. There are two ultimates. The Light Claws and the Shadow Claws. I am the last Shadow alive. I presume, my parents were Shadows too, though I also presume they are now dead. A wild Shadow Claw is extremely dangerous, do not approach one and do not try to tame it. The saying 'you can't tame a wild cat' actually comes from this reference. There have been no recorded sightings of wild Shadow Claws for thousands of years. They can first shift into their human forms when they are ninety Claw years, or eighteen human years. They are also one of the few species of Claw that can give birth to a Snowy Claw. The reason to our unusual extinction is unknown to me and all other sources."

"That's all I know." I said, quite impressed with how much I knew about my species, considering I had never even met another Claw before.

Hagrid finished jotting down something and nodded, "Thanks now, uh, do you want ta' see the pack?" He asked, looking up at me expectantly.

I froze. "M-meet them?" If I met them now, I could meet a guy and-

I breathed deeply.

I was in deep shit, and I knew it.