A strange dream pursued her tired brain. She was running again, running faster and faster away from a giant hand that was stretching across the Hogwarts grounds trying to grab her and strangle her. It was so close and the fear was rising in her chest. A fingertip glided across her ankle and she screamed. One more burst of speed and she would be free and clear in the Forbidden Forest.
It was strange that the one place that was forbidden to the students was the one place that Gwen really felt safe. She ran harder as the lactic acid burned through her veins. Her muscles were screaming but she kept pounding her little legs as fast as she could. Her arms were swinging like hammers; her hair was rippling free in the wind.
And suddenly she was flying. She wasn't sure how it had happened or what prompted the change, but she was rising higher soaring above the dark hand which was struggling to reach her from it's earthbound position. Her heart was beating so fast, her breathing was so heavy that she hardly noticed how light she was and how easy it had been to escape into the air.
She noticed however that she wasn't on a broom. Her arms were not her arms. Her legs were not her legs. She had wings. Her feet had shrunk and now had bird-like talons. She had a tail full of feathers and a dull black beak protruding where her nose and mouth ought to be.
Gwen had turned into a swan.