Terror from The Sky
Disclaimer - Harry Potter is owned by J.K Rowling
A/N- Written for QLFC round 2
Prompt - BEATER 2: Pterodactyl: Write a story that takes place in the sky or somewhere that houses broom equipment (such as Quality Quidditch Supplies, the Quidditch pitch, Battle of the Seven Potters, etc.)
Additional prompts -(colour) turquoise, (dialogue) "Aww, does somebody need a hug?",(spell) Levicorpus
It was a dark night; so dark that there was no trace of the moon. Moody flew swiftly, making sure he didn't fall off his broom. His damned partner followed suit. Never in his career had he thought he would be in this situation. Moody looked back, wand in one hand while the other held onto his broom tightly
"Levicorpus!" He shot, but that damn creature ducked, and with a loud screech, the Griffin flew at Moody.
"Scrimgeour, you idiot! Help me," Alastor shouted. When Scrimgeour didn't come to his rescue, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He started to fly downward with the Griffin behind him. When the broom was about to hit the ground, Moody forcefully lifted the handle up. The Griffin crashed onto the earth with a loud shriek. Moody searched his teammates and cursed the day that he agreed to this case.
Moody stood stiffly in the Minister's office — completely ignoring Rufus Scrimgeour, who happened to be there too — and faced the Minister himself.
"Gentlemen, there are reports of people being attacked by a flying creature on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, which is in close proximity to a Muggle village. The creature attacks at night and, according to eyewitnesses, is quite huge. I need the two of you to investigate this case," the Minister said.
"What? I'm not working with him!" both Moody and Scrimgeour said in unison, much to the displeasure of the Minister, who assigned the case to them anyway.
"What's the situation, Shacklebolt?" Moody asked his junior despite Scrimgeour's unhappiness. Even though Scrimgeour was the field leader, it seemed that everybody else obeyed only him.
"The villagers are scared, Moody. All these shenanigans. has been happening for a while; I'm more worried about Muggles" he said. Kingsley always feared about their cover being blown up before Muggles.
Moody grunted in response.
"What are going to do now? We can't let that Griffin roam here like this," Frank Longbottom, Moody's closest associate said.
"I think we ought to get rid of that Griffin," Scrimgeour suggested.
"You got be kidding me Scrimgeour" Moody asked in mock disbeleif
"Exactly how old are the both of you — two?" Alice said, exasperated. "Besides, I think we should land."
As she turned and lowered her broom, slowly descending, the Griffin appeared out of nowhere and started to attack her, scratching and pulling her while Alice struggled to free herself. Frank pulled out his wand and a bright red light shouted " Levicorpus!"
The Griffin cried as the spell hit it. It flapped its wings weakly and held the end of Alice's broom with its talons, pulling the broom up forcefully. Soon, the Griffin held the broom tightly with Alice hanging from it precariously.
"Hold on, Alice; I'm coming!" Frank shouted while turning his broom towards the as he reached his arm out, the Griffin screeched and flew the other way; Frank looked on helplessly as his fiancé he was taken out of reach.
"You bastards! This is all your fault," Frank boomed as face turned red from rage. "If anything happens to Alice, I swear to yo—" Frank stopped abruptly as Scrimgeour opened his mouth and spoke.
"You're an Auror, Longbottom. Pull yourself together," Scrimgeour said authoritatively, clearly irking Frank.
"You son of a—"
This time, it was Moody that interrupted Frank's tirade. "We'll find her, Longbottom. Mark my words; we will," he said resolutely.
"She's more than capable of taking care of herself; she'll be alright, Frank," Kingsley said reassuringly.
With a resolved nod from Frank, the four of them gripped onto their brooms and steered themselves in the same direction that the Griffin had flown.
It was still dark, and all of them had decided to look in different directions.
The four Aurors saw a huge tree that looked quite larger than the others and flew towards it, a huge hole revealing itself as they drew closer. Kingsley and Frank looked inside it, but there was no sign of Alice.
"Lumos!"Frank cast the spell towards the hole, illuminating a turquoise ball placed in the center of the crevice. The ball was bigger than a Quaffle but had a shiny exterior.
"Wait, is that an e—" Moody was cut short when something screeched loudly behind them. They turned around at once, only to see a very angry Griffin speeding towards them.
It screeched again and flew straight at them, forcing them to scatter away from one another. Scrimgeour pulled out his wand and shot spells at the Griffin, who darted towards him aggressively. Before it could reach him, though, someone shot a bright blue hex from behind the animal. Scrimgeour looked past the Griffin to see who it was. He was shocked to see Moody there, a somewhat smug smirk on his gnarled face. Soon, Frank and Kingsley surrounded the Griffin too; when it was clear that the Griffin was cornered, they all pointed their wands at her simultaneously.
"Wait! Please don't hurt her!" a feminine voice shouted. The four of them looked around wildly, and had matching faces of surprise when they saw Alice on her broom — unharmed. Before any of them could stop her, Alice flew to the Griffin's side and began petting the creature.
"What the hell is happening here?" Moody asked, frustrated.
Alice just huffed before she said,, "None of you use your brain. Did you even try to find out why she was attacking those villagers?"
When no one said anything, she spoke again. "Those villagers were trying to cut down that tree; she was just trying to protect her egg," Alice explained.
"Ah, yes, Griffins' eggs are turquoise-colored. How could I forget?" Moody said.
The Griffin made a low noise and peeked inside the hole. Alice followed her and looked inside.
"Everyone come here; the egg is about to hatch," informed Alice, but the men didn't move.
Moody used his magical eye to look inside the hole. There, he saw a small baby Griffin looking around in confusion. The mother Griffin started to lick her baby. While Alice was beaming with joy, Moody kept a straight face. 'That damn creature isn't cute. Nah. Uh, not in million years,' thought Moody.
"But I don't understand. Why didn't the Griffin harm you?" Frank asked.
"Because I took Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts," Alice said.
Frank just groaned. He should've taken that subject too. He stood by Alice and hugged her close while she was gushing over the baby Griffin.
"Aww, does somebody need a hug?" Kingsley said out of nowhere. "I'm sure Scrimgeour will give you a hug, huh, Moody?" he teased.
"Shut the fuck up, Shacklebolt," Moody shot back as Scrimgeour made a disgusted face. 'He's never gonna work on animal cases ever again,' Moody thought.