Living without Danger
Chapter 15: Ready for Anything (Year 1)
By Anne B. Walsh
Chapter 15: Ready for Anything
Luna Lovegood was up early on the morning of her eleventh birthday. Not only was she expecting her Hogwarts letter today, but she was going to have a wonderful party. She, Ginny Weasley, and Meghan Black were going to spend the entire day together, and then have a sleepover as well. It would be a great deal of fun.
The only thing that would make it better, Luna thought, was if her other friends could have been there as well. But they were at Hogwarts and getting ready for their exams, so it wasn’t to be expected that they could just take a day off and come to visit her. Besides, three of them were boys, and boys didn’t come to girls’ sleepovers, so it wouldn’t have worked right. She would be there the next year, at any rate, and they could celebrate her birthday all together then.
xXxXx
At another house in the neighborhood, preparations for a party were also in order. A picnic basket was being packed, broomsticks were being carefully shrunk to pocket size, sturdy, comfortable clothing was being donned, and faces were being washed. Occasionally without their owner’s consent.
"Hold still," commanded Aletha, wielding a wet washcloth. "You’ve got dirt all down your face — what have you been doing?"
"Were you planning on taking this somewhere, Meghan?" asked Remus before Meghan could answer her mother, coming into the music room holding a newly potted lavender plant.
"Ah-ha." Aletha gave a satisfied nod. "You were in the garden, weren’t you?"
Meghan nodded, then submitted to her mother scrubbing her face for a moment. "It’s for Luna," she said when she could speak again. "For a present."
"We have a present for you to give her, and you know it," said Remus in a mock-scolding tone. "But you wanted something of your own to give her, didn’t you?"
"Yes." Meghan drew herself up proudly. "It’s the polite thing to do."
"You are quite correct," said Remus contritely, exchanging a secret wink with Aletha. "Are you ready to go?"
"Here’s your sleeping bag," said Sirius, coming in from the kitchen and pretending to toss the bedroll towards Meghan, who squealed and ducked. "And you’ve got your overnight bag all packed."
"You’ve had it packed for a week," said Danger from the kitchen, closing the picnic basket. "If I had to guess, I’d guess you’re excited about this party."
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes..."
"My daughter, the jumping bean," said Sirius, catching Meghan at the top of one of her leaps. "Be good for Mr. Lovegood, all right, Pearl? We should be back by midnight, so try not to get homesick before that."
"I won’t get homesick," said Meghan with a hint of contempt in her voice.
"If you say so," said Danger, holding out her arms and taking Meghan from Sirius. "Oof, you’re getting big." She set the girl down and gave her a kiss and a scent-touch. "Have a good time, sweetheart."
The rest of the Pack said their goodbyes as well, a flick of Remus’ fingers lit a fire in the fireplace, and Meghan was gone in a rush of green flames. Aletha Flooed behind her with all her things, "since put together they probably weigh more than she does."
"You know, that’s kind of funny," said Danger.
"What is?"
"Meghan. She’s so tiny. No one would expect that from looking at you and Aletha, Sirius. You’re neither of you small — you both played Beater, with all that implies. And your only child is this tiny little wisp."
"You know what they say," said Sirius. "What she lacks in brawn, she makes up for in brains."
"Hmm." Remus looked Sirius up and down. "Explains a lot about you."
"Yeah, it does — hey!"
Danger rescued the picnic basket just in time, as Sirius didn’t bother to go around the kitchen table and instead went over it in dog form. Remus Disapparated hastily as Sirius launched himself at his friend, and Aletha Apparated into the music room just in time to see Sirius skid across the slick kitchen floor and crash into the cupboards beside the stove.
"That looked like it hurt," said Remus from where he’d reappeared in the hallway.
Sirius turned human again and stood up. "Nope, didn’t hurt at all."
"BS."
"No kidding."
"Are you two going to fight all day, or can we get this party under way?" asked Aletha with the slightest edge to her tone.
"Ready when you are, m’dear." Sirius crossed the kitchen to her side, limping ever so slightly on one leg, and took her hand. Remus accepted the picnic basket from Danger, Aletha picked up the roll of picnic blanket, and Danger pocketed the family’s brooms. "Off to Hogsmeade, then."
With a wave of loud cracks, the Pack Disapparated.
It was a gorgeous day, and they took full advantage. First was flying, over the same meadow they had always used for their outings — races, relays, timed obstacle courses, and showing off their tricks — even Danger had learned a few. When they were tired of that, they rested for a while and snacked on the food from the basket, before setting off on a hike to the old Marauders’ picnic cave, where they ate their lunch.
After lunch, they secured everything in the cave to keep it away from wild animals and came outside.
"Ladies and gentlemen," proclaimed Remus.
"Is there someone else here?" asked Sirius.
"Counting myself." Remus gave his friend an exasperated look. "A bit over a year ago, we embarked on a journey of self-discovery. A voyage to find, if you will, the animal within. Some of us had already begun this journey in our younger years. Some had never even known it was possible until already well beyond said younger years. But as of yesterday, we are all legally registered and licensed Animagi, and I would just like to say — last one to the Forest’s a dead puffskein!" And a tawny lion was bounding down the mountainside path, making a sound as it ran that sounded suspiciously like a snicker.
"Hey, no fair!" Danger leapt to her feet, and a moment later, a wolf with a long tan coat dashed after the lion. Sirius wasted no time on shouting, opting to save his breath for running.
Aletha chuckled, watching her three closest friends pursue one another down the path. "I’d better let them have a head start," she said to no one in particular. "It wouldn’t be fair, otherwise."
xXxXx
You should have known I was up to something.
How?
From the way I was talking.
What, you mean incredibly pompous and formal?
Yes.
It didn’t sound all that much different from the way you usually talk.
Ouch. I’m hurt.
Yes, yes, I feel your pain. But you’re not hurting nearly as much as you will be when I beat you to the Forest! Danger speeded up and, feeling daring, broke her stride for a moment to smack one of Remus’ back paws with her own front one.
The lion growled and increased his own pace. In your dreams, little girl.
They bypassed Hogsmeade entirely — it might be a wizarding village, but there were some things even wizards weren’t used to, and a lion running free in England was one of them. Likewise, they weren’t heading for the gates into Hogwarts, but rather for the back way in. As they approached the border of the Forest, which defined the boundary of Hogwarts’ grounds in at least one direction, something stirred in the trees.
What’s that?
Don’t know. Be on your guard, some of the things that live in this forest are dangerous...
A great black horse, wings folded against its sides, emerged from the edge of the trees and regarded them all calmly as they came running up, Remus still in the lead, Danger and Sirius neck and neck behind him.
That doesn’t look too dangerous.
Well, not unless you get between her and her piano... or her cauldron...
Or her daughter?
That too.
They retransformed almost as one.
"Took you long enough," said Aletha, looking quite satisfied.
Sirius groaned. "Wings. I forgot."
"How’s the flying?" asked Danger interestedly.
"Easier than I thought it would be. It seems pretty instinctive — I just had one panic moment when I lost the thermal I was using for lift and went into a pretty steep dive before I could recover."
"Maybe you can give Ron and Luna tips."
"Ron and Luna?" Remus looked at Danger oddly.
"Our two bird Animagi — hawk and owl, if you recall."
"And what gives you the idea they’ll be learning to become Animagi at any point in the near future?"
"The fact that we’ve promised to teach the cubs, and the fact that the only secret the cubs ever successfully kept from their friends was our identities — and that only because they knew what might happen to us if they spilled. Something like Animagus training? Not a chance."
Sirius chortled. "Molly Weasley may never forgive us. First me, then you, Moony, and now we’re planning to turn her two youngest children into illegal Animagi."
"We’re preventing them from doing it on their own, like you and James and Peter did in school," said Aletha. "That was so incredibly dangerous and stupid — how you managed it without killing yourselves I’ll never know. How in the world did Peter ever survive it? He could barely manage to hold his wand straight some days."
The reminiscing was fairly begun. It lasted at least four hours, not counting time out for running, wrestling, and trial flights as the Pack tested out their new forms. Aletha tested her weight tolerance and discovered that she could even fly with Sirius on her back.
"Must be magic," she said after retransforming. "I certainly can’t lift you in human form."
Danger straddled Remus’ back at one point in order to scratch his spine better, and Remus, in a playful mood, stood up under her, making her squeal and clutch at his mane in order to stay on. Aletha and Sirius laughed as Remus trotted around the clearing with his passenger holding on for dear life and alternately shouting at them and him. "Put me down — it’s not funny — put me down right now — quit laughing — Remus! Put me down!"
As you wish. Remus stopped abruptly, lay down, and rolled over, forcing Danger to transform and leap clear. Now scratch my belly.
I wish I had claws like yours, then I’d scratch you all right, Danger groused.
But she did.
And I might like to try that again some time, she said a while later. Just with some warning, next time.
Life doesn’t give you much warning, love. You’ve got to learn to be ready.
Ready for what? An impromptu lion-ride?
Maybe. Remus retransformed and took advantage of Danger’s surprise to pull her down on top of himself, bringing her face to his. You have to be ready for anything.
Well, I’m always ready for this...
Aletha and Sirius vacated the clearing rather hastily and returned some time later with the picnic basket and blankets.
Is it just me, or did they take a bit longer about retrieving this than they had to?
Well, it wouldn’t be the first time the cave’s been used for that. I know James took Lily up there once or twice... and we can’t be the first bunch to use it, it’s too convenient to Hogsmeade.
Convenient? It’s a thirty-minute walk, uphill all the way!
Yes, but it’s private, large enough for a good-sized group of people — Aletha could walk into there in Animagus form without bending her head — and it has a great view.
Good point. Points.
"Are you two going to keep that up all night, or would you eventually like some dinner?" asked Aletha, setting out the plates.
"We’re coming, hold your horses — though that might be harder for some of us than for others..."
Aletha threw a roll at Danger, who transformed and caught it in her mouth. Two snaps, a gulp, and she was human again. "Tastes funny," she said, shaking her head. "Wolf prefers meat. I’ll stick to human for eating, I think, unless there’s some reason not to."
Remus reported a similar reaction when he tried some bread in lion form. Sirius looked confused. "I don’t understand. Everything tastes about the same to me in dog shape."
"You have an appetite like a garbage disposal," said Aletha tartly. "Everything always tastes the same to you."
"That’s not true! And what’s a garbage disposal, anyway?"
"Man’s been living like a Muggle for ten years and still doesn’t know basic terminology," said Danger, casting her eyes up to heaven. "I ask you..."
"Oh, you mean that thing in the sink that sounds like a yeti clearing its throat?"
"Having never been privileged enough to hear that, I would nonetheless assume that is an accurate enough description."
"Uh-oh, she’s mad. She’s using long words."
"In case you haven’t figured it out yet, there’s only one thing that irks me more than your stupidity, Sirius Black, and that’s your habit of talking about people as if they aren’t there!" Danger changed forms and leapt at Sirius, who transformed as well and rolled out of the way. A wolf-dog fight ensued, neither party incredibly serious about it, but neither willing to give up first, so that no blood was shed, but several painful nips were administered on both sides.
"I would guess this is what we looked like," said Remus to Aletha as they watched. "Sirius and I. Back in Hogwarts days. Now if you can just picture a stag standing over there, with a little rat somewhere around..."
Aletha regarded him for a moment. "You still miss him, don’t you?"
"Him who?"
"James. Is there another ‘him’ you thought I might be talking about?"
Remus sighed. "Letha, you knew Peter. Would you ever have believed he was a spy? A Death Eater?"
"Probably not. He just seemed like such a harmless little person... and that was what made him so perfect, wasn’t it. Everyone just looked right past him."
"Yes. But I hardly have any memories from Hogwarts that don’t have him in them, and he was truly our friend then. I’m sure of it. But then, I was sure of it up until the day James and Lily died. So I’m not sure what to think any more." Remus slid his hands back and forth along the picnic blanket, alternating forward and back.
"In some ways, he was a casualty of the war," said Aletha quietly. "You might even consider him the most tragic of the four of you. James died, yes, but he died like a man and a hero, defending his wife and his son. And you and Sirius have suffered, but look at you now. Peter made a mistake and started down a path he probably didn’t feel he could change, and it led him to betray his friends, live for nine years as a rat, and end up in Azkaban."
"The Greek tragic hero — except for one problem. A tragic hero has to start as a great man, and Peter Pettigrew was never anyone’s definition of a great man." Remus gave her a one-sided grin. "He was about as far from great as it’s possible to get."
"So he never had anything, really. Tell the truth, you three weren’t often very polite to him, were you?"
Remus shook his head. "He was something of a tag-along. We tolerated him — sometimes not even that — but it was more than he got from anyone else, and as long as he was around us the only bullying he had to put up with was from James and Sirius, so..." He exhaled slowly. "I suppose he thought, better the devils he knew than the ones he didn’t."
"I would imagine the Death Eaters promised him respect and power if he would just tell them a few, unimportant things. And then, little by little, unimportant things became more and more important, and before he knew it he was in too deeply to back out. They might have threatened him as well — but it doesn’t matter now, does it." Aletha rolled over and looked up at the sky, which was still blue, with the first hints of sunset color in the west. "I don’t even know why I want to know. I guess I’m just curious."
"A bit misplaced, isn’t it? It was the cat curiosity killed, not the horse."
"True — I’m the one you can lead to water, but you can’t make me drink."
"There’s a stream somewhere around here, if I’m not mistaken — want to test that?"
"No thank you. Not unless you want to test out the one about curiosity."
"As I recall, there’s a second part to that one. Curiosity killed the cat — but satisfaction brought it back to life."
"Well, as I have no intention of satisfying you, you’d just have to remain dead..."
"Who’s dead?" asked Sirius, flopping down on the blanket across from them.
By the time the conversation had been recapped, explained, digressed upon, and discussed to everyone’s liking, the sun was all the way down, the stars were coming out, and dinner was a few scraps and a pleasant memory.
"One thing you’ll really like about Animagus forms," said Sirius, packing away the dishes in the basket. "They usually have much better nightsight than humans do. Letha, I don’t know how yours will be, but Remus, Danger, you ought to see better in the dark than you usually do."
Better was an understatement. Danger preferred her human eyes in the daylight, since they could see colors the wolf couldn’t, but at night, even without much of a moon, everything was incredibly sharper to her wolf’s eyes, and she had improved hearing and a wonderfully improved sense of smell to make up for anything her eyes might miss.
Centaurs were through here not too long ago. And something big and insectoid, but that’s at least three nights gone. And...
What’s wrong?
Danger jumped and lost the scent. Nothing. Just thought I smelled blood.
There’s other predators in this forest. You probably just scented someone’s dinner.
Probably.
But something about the scent had made Danger uneasy.
The great black dog paced up beside her. Want to go hunting? it suggested in animal-speech.
Danger let her mouth hang open in a predator’s grin. Hunting. Yes. Good.
Lion, wolf, and dog vanished into the Forest and the night.
xXxXx
"What on earth are we supposed to do at this hour of the night?" asked Hermione for the fourth time as she, Harry, Draco, and Neville made their way down to the entrance hall, where the notes they’d received that morning had told them to be at eleven o’clock.
"And with Filch," said Harry. "I don’t like it."
"You know they’re not going to make us do anything dangerous," said Draco practically. "They wouldn’t. Probably have us scrub out the Great Hall or something now that everyone’s gone to bed."
"Whatever they have us do, it’s better than what Gran did to me," said Neville fatalistically.
Harry didn’t blame him. Neville’s grandmother had kept him under what amounted to house arrest all through the Easter holidays as punishment for his getting detention. Punishment for getting punished seemed a bit over the top to Harry, but he hadn’t said so, since it wasn’t polite to criticize.
"Come along, you’re late," said Filch nastily as they descended the marble staircase. He was holding a lit lantern, and Harry’s confusion mounted. Were they going outdoors?
It would seem they were. Filch led them out the front doors and across the lawn, talking all the time about the old punishments, how grand they’d been. Harry couldn’t see anything grand about hanging from the ceiling by one’s wrists. Neville looked scared, Hermione and Draco a bit bored — they’d heard Filch’s rants before, when they were smaller and would come to visit Hogwarts to see their Pack-friends there.
Speaking of Pack-friends...
"Abou’ time yeh showed up, Filch," growled a voice from the darkness, and Hagrid’s huge figure came into the circle of light shed by Filch’s lantern. "I’ve bin waitin’."
"Here they are, then," said Filch, allowing Hagrid to light the two lamps he was carrying from Filch’s own.
"All right there, you three?" Hagrid greeted the cubs. Harry nodded as Draco and Hermione made a fuss over Fang.
"Don’t get too friendly with them, you great oaf," snapped Filch. "This is supposed to be a punishment, not a tea party. I’ll be back in the morning for any of them who come back." He turned and headed back to the castle.
"Come back?" repeated Neville, his voice shaking.
"Ah, don’t pay him no mind," said Hagrid in disgust. "We’re goin’ out to the Forest, that’s all, ter check on a hurt unicorn."
This did not seem to reassure Neville much. "But — there’s things in the Forest! Monsters and vampires and werewolves!"
"Werewolves aren’t likely to be a problem," said Hermione. "Even if there were any, it’s not full moon, so they’d be as human as we are."
Draco nodded. "And you can usually bargain with a vampire. Offer to give him some blood if he’ll promise not to kill you."
"An’ Fang an’ I can protect yeh from anything that lives in the Forest," said Hagrid firmly. "So come on, the sooner we start the sooner we’re done."
"How did a unicorn get hurt?" asked Harry as they made their way towards the border of the Forest.
"Don’t know. That’s the problem. Unicorns are powerful magical creatures, they are, and fast. Hard ter catch, harder ter hurt. And this’s the second one — found one dead a week’r so ago."
They followed a narrow, winding path into the Forest. The light from Hagrid’s lantern and the one he’d given Hermione to carry seemed to stop a little shorter than it should have, and Harry felt a touch claustrophobic, hemmed in by the trees. Twice he felt a prickle on the back of his neck, as if someone were watching him from the trees — or as if the trees themselves were watching him...
"There’s blood all over here," said Hagrid, pointing out puddles of a silvery liquid which dotted the path. "Poor beast must’ve been stumblin’ around since last night at least."
"Do you think it’s dead?" asked Hermione.
"If not, we’ll have ter end its misery," said Hagrid grimly. "Now the path forks a little way down, I want us ter split up — Harry, Draco, yeh’ll go with Fang, an’ I’ll take Hermione an’ Neville. Yeh all know how to send up sparks from yer wands? Green if yeh find the unicorn — go on, do some now — that’s good — and red if yer in trouble and need help — let’s see ‘em — all right, everyone be careful, an’ keep ter the path — let’s go."
Harry accepted the lantern Hagrid handed him and started off down the left-hand fork of the path with Draco beside him and Fang at their heels.
"Didn’t Hagrid say once that Fang’s a coward?" asked Draco after they’d walked in silence a few moments.
"Yeah."
"All right. Just wanted to make sure."
They kept walking. There was still plenty of the silver-blue unicorn blood to be seen, but Hagrid had said it was all over this part of the Forest, Harry thought — it didn’t necessarily mean anything...
"You scared?" he asked.
"No. You?"
"No."
A few more minutes.
"Really?"
"No."
"Thought not."
A few more minutes.
"Shh!"
"What?"
"Thought I heard something." Harry handed Draco the lantern and squinted into the undergrowth. "Can you shield that?"
Draco pulled off his cloak and wrapped the lantern in it. Fang whined. "Shut up," Harry said to him, and shut his eyes to start accustoming them to the darkness, and to listen better...
A sort of slithering sound, like the hem of somebody’s robes rustling across fallen leaves, and words... words that he could understand if he could just listen harder... if he were just a step closer... just another step... another... another...
A hand caught his wrist.
Harry pulled himself free and spun on his attacker, taking a fighting stance.
Draco backed away, hands up in a "no threat" position. "You were walking off the path," he said. "Hagrid said stay on."
"I know." The sound was gone. "I know."
"What did you hear?"
Harry looked back in the direction the sound had been — or perhaps the direction he’d imagined the sound was in. "Nothing."
Draco unwrapped the lantern, and they walked on. It was getting harder to follow the path, the trees grew so thickly here, and —
"Is there more blood around here than there was back there?"
"I was just about to ask you that."
"So it’s not my imagination."
"I don’t think so."
They walked a few minutes more. Harry found his hand drifting toward his wand, and after the fourth time in as many minutes, finally just pulled it out. "Lumos," he said, and was rewarded with a beam of light — not as strong or as bright as he’d seen the Pack-parents produce, but enough to show him the way. Draco drew and lit his own wand as well, and blew out the lantern, setting it aside.
They rounded a bend in the trail and froze. The unicorn lay before them, dead. It was beautiful in a terrible kind of way. Its mane and tail shone in the moonlight, as did the pools of blood on the leaves around it and on its fur where a terrible wound gleamed wetly. Fang whimpered and backed away.
xXxXx
Danger, slowly moving forward on a stalk of an unsuspecting rabbit, froze suddenly.
Something’s wrong.
xXxXx
Harry raised his wand, preparing to send up green sparks, when a rustling sound caught his ear again — and from the look on Draco’s face, he’d heard it too.
Suddenly Draco’s hand shot out, pointing — bushes on the other side of the clearing were shaking...
xXxXx
Help me — it’s happening again — like at the Quidditch match!
Turn back — this is easier to handle in human form — Remus erupted from his hiding place, scaring their erstwhile prey into flight, and turned human in midstride, almost falling over his own feet in his hurry to get to Danger’s side. We’ll take it one step at a time — like we did then —
Danger shuddered, clinging to her magic with all she had. We may not have time.
Remus swore aloud as his pendant turned cold.
xXxXx
Harry stared. Something was coming out of the bushes.
A figure cloaked and hooded, so it must be human or something like a human, but it wasn’t walking upright — it was crawling...
xXxXx
Neville jumped as Hermione gasped. "What’s wrong?"
"Someone’s in trouble!" She pulled at her robes, bringing out the gold medallions Neville had noticed all the Pack-children wore, and gave a little moan of fear. "Harry and Draco! Something’s wrong — they’re going to die!"
"Do yeh know where they are?" Hagrid demanded.
Hermione shook her head, visibly fighting tears.
Hagrid cursed under his breath. "Could be almost anywhere by now..."
xXxXx
Harry watched in horrified fascination as the thing crept up to the unicorn, as if afraid it might still be alive... now it was putting its head down to the unicorn’s side — and drinking the blood...
xXxXx
Use this to tell us where they are! Give it a direction — something to do!
Danger closed her eyes — wolf, human, she couldn’t tell — and found herself at the center of a firestorm, a whirlwind, of raw power — it wanted to kill, it wanted to tear, it wanted to burn all in its path —
NO! You will hear me and do as I say — not the other way around!
The power seemed amused — if a thing could have emotions — at the thought of her, such a puny human, controlling it — it seemed harder this time, Danger thought faintly —
Tell us where they are. We can do nothing if we do not know.
An image crashed into her mind — as quickly as she could, she threw it outwards toward Remus, dimly aware of other minds in the linkage — he must have linked up with Sirius and Aletha —
xXxXx
Thank God, they’re close — that way — go, we’ll catch up with you —
The Blacks needed no second invitation.
xXxXx
Draco made a sound as if he wanted to scream and couldn’t — all he could manage was a whimpering moan — but it broke the trance they were all held in. Fang bolted back down the path, howling, and Harry grabbed Draco’s wrist and turned to run.
Draco tripped over a tree root and they both went down hard. Harry got himself disentangled from his brother, rolled over, and felt his blood turn to ice. The thing had noticed them, it was looking straight at them, drips of silvery unicorn blood were running down its front, it was starting to get up —
Harry screamed — he’d never felt pain like this before. There was a red-hot line searing down the front of his head, threatening to break it in two — he couldn’t move, he couldn’t see —
He heard the sound of galloping hooves behind him.
xXxXx
Draco knew he should be on his feet, should be fighting whatever this was that had Harry incapacitated, but he literally could not move — fear had him paralyzed —
A huge black shape sailed over his head and landed in the clearing. It was a horse — but a horse with wings — and it reared onto its hind legs and screamed in fury, striking at the hooded figure with front hooves and wings — a snarl caught his ear, and a huge, bear-like dog charged into the fray — the figure, dodging the horse’s attack, was caught by surprise, and the dog got its teeth into the thing’s robes, but tore only cloth away —
The figure hissed and gestured, and the dog was lifted off its feet and thrown across the clearing into a tree. It yelped in pain and tried to get up — the horse screamed again and leapt out of the way of a similar strike —
xXxXx
Harry heard the sounds of the battle distantly, through a haze of pain, the horse’s scream, the dog’s snarl —
"You dare to interfere?" he thought he heard someone shout. "I will destroy you!" The dog yelped, the horse screamed again —
Then came the sound that overwhelmed even the pain in his head — it seemed to shake the entire Forest —
Somewhere very nearby, a lion roared.
xXxXx
Neville’s heart was pounding. "What’s that?"
"Sounded like a lion," said Hagrid, adding puzzlement to the worry already on his face. "But there’s no lions in the Forest — leastways, there shouldn’t be..."
"Follow it!" cried Hermione. "Follow it — it’s Moony!"
"Come on!" shouted Hagrid, and they were running crazily through the Forest, off the path, Hagrid in the lead, Hermione next, Neville last, trying not to think of all the stories he’d ever heard where things picked off whoever was last in the line...
xXxXx
Remus roared again and leapt down into the clearing, striking at the hooded figure with his claws, making contact once, low down, before it turned and ran — although it wasn’t quite running — it moved too smoothly for running, there were no steps or footfalls...
Never mind.
He crossed the clearing in two bounds and turned human again at Sirius’ side. His friend was dazed but looked otherwise all right. "What the hell was that?"
"Good question," said Remus, helping Sirius up.
"And I’ll ask another one — what the hell are they doing out here in the middle of the night?" Sirius looked at Harry and Draco, Harry lying curled up on the ground with his face hidden in his hands, Draco unabashedly clinging to Aletha with his face buried in her shoulder.
"You see if you can find out. I need to get back to Danger. If whatever that was finds her, she’s in no shape to defend herself. Meet you at the castle?"
"It’s a date."
Remus turned lion again and loped out of the clearing.
xXxXx
Sirius steadied himself on the tree trunk for a moment before crossing to his wife and Pack-sons. He knelt down beside Aletha and slid two fingers along Harry’s neck, feeling the strong pulse — he’s alive. Good.
Harry shivered at his touch. "Cold," he complained.
"Sorry," said Sirius, removing his hand. Even still conscious — what happened to him, I wonder?
He moved around behind Harry, sat cross-legged, and began to rub the boy’s shoulders, feeling how knotted the muscles were — something scared him badly, he’s as tense as a fifth year before O.W.L.s. After a few moments, Harry began to uncurl, and after a rather confused moment of blurred motion, Sirius discovered himself in possession of a lapful of shaking eleven-year-old boy, face pressed against his shoulder.
"What’s ‘disintegrate’ mean?" asked Harry after about a minute had passed, lifting his head to look Sirius in the eye.
Sirius chuckled, taken by surprise. "Harry, of all the questions to ask in the middle of the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night… it means to come apart completely. Why do you want to know?"
"He shouted it out. ‘You dare to interfere? I will destroy you! Disintegrate your bodies and send your souls shrieking into the night!’ Then Moony showed up and he ran off."
Sirius frowned. "I didn’t hear it say anything."
"Maybe it was my imagination, then." Harry rubbed at his forehead.
"What’s the matter?"
"Head still hurts. Can we go back to the castle soon?"
"Yes, of course — what were you even doing out here?"
"Detention," answered Draco, turning half around. "This’s what we had to do for detention."
"Without anyone around?"
"We were with Hagrid—"
The sound of something very large crashing through the undergrowth startled everyone. Draco’s eyes widened and Harry shivered a little harder.
"Whatever it is, it’s carrying a light," said Aletha, pointing to a faint radiance in the direction of the noise. She cupped her hands around her mouth. "Hello there!"
"Who’s that?" The answering bellow could not be mistaken.
"Friends, Hagrid," Aletha shouted back. "We’ve got Harry and Draco, they’re all right. Will you be all right if I go talk to him?" she asked Draco, who nodded. She helped him sit down, then made her way towards the edge of the clearing where they were likely to appear.
"Something wrong with you, fox?" asked Sirius.
"Twisted my ankle on a tree root, that’s all." Draco scooted over and sat with his back against Sirius’ side. "Since Harry took the good seat."
Harry reached over and pulled a hank of Draco’s hair. Draco flicked Harry’s glasses out of place.
They can still fight. They’ll be fine.
But I’m going to take apart whoever decided it was a good idea to send first years into a Forest with something running around that could kill unicorns.
xXxXx
Remus walked out of the Forest, Danger on a stretcher beside him, unconscious.
She seems to spend a lot of time this way.
They had been able to get the magic under control in fairly short order — a similar visualization to the last time had worked — but he could feel that Danger had been closer to losing control this time.
And there’s always a possibility this will hit when I’m not around...
Borrowing trouble again, Remus. Focus on what went right. She’s alive, so is everyone else, and the boys are going to be all right... I hope...
Wingbeats above him caught his attention. He lowered the stretcher to the ground and changed forms for a moment.
A jet-black winged horse flew towards the castle. It — she — was difficult for even the lion to see, and would have been almost invisible to a human, as would the two boys on her back. Relief filled him at the sight.
He changed back, levitated the stretcher again, and watched the winged mare — a night mare? he wondered whimsically — land on the broad top step and bend her knees, allowing her passengers to debark. Draco was favoring his left ankle, Remus noticed with a stab of worry, and Harry didn’t look very steady on his feet. Aletha quickly retransformed as soon as both boys were down and steadied them both in through the door.
Remus mounted the steps and followed them into the entrance hall. "All right, boys?" he asked as soon as he was inside.
"Just my ankle," said Draco, sitting down on the pedestal of a nearby statue.
"Fine." Harry was very pale and leaning against Aletha. "Moony, did you hear anything back there? When you were fighting that — thing?"
"Anything, like what?"
"Like words. Did you hear it say anything?"
"No, I didn’t. Why?"
"Because I did. Things like ‘I will destroy you.’"
"All I heard it do was a kind of hissing sound," said Draco.
"Hissing sound?" said Remus, a sudden thought freezing him where he stood. "Like a snake?"
"Yeah, like a snake..." Draco trailed off. "Like a snake."
"Like Parseltongue," said Aletha. "Which you understand, Greeneyes, and we don’t. So you would have heard words, and we only hissing."
"But — that wasn’t a snake. It wore clothes, it had feet and hands..." Harry looked confused.
"So," said Remus, hating the conclusion he was about to make. "If it wasn’t a snake, but it spoke Parseltongue, there’s only one thing it could have been."
"A Parselmouth," said Harry slowly. "But the only other Parselmouth around is..."
Remus nodded grimly. "Exactly."
There was a long silence.