This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K. Rowling

A/N: this is being written for the quidditch league fanfiction Competition season 6

Round 11- Who's afraid of the dark?

Beater 1- Cujo- Stephen King

Prompts- 3. (object) broken mirror

4. (word) pattern

7. (word) fatal

As I get smacked in the face by, what has to be the tenth tree branch in the past hour, I wonder what I'm doing here.

At the request of help from Luna, I find myself in a dense forest outside of a muggle inhabited area. All to look for a crup that got loose after suddenly attacking his owner. Our priority is to find it before some muggles do.

Working for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, I would usually be informed. But this case is being handled by Luna already. As a Magizoologist, she is more than qualified to find it and figure out what happened to make it attack.

I push the branch out of my face and sigh. "Is my help honestly needed?" We continue walking and I manage to catch the next branch. "I'm sure you can handle it without me."

She hums. "Yes, quite possibly." at my questioning glance she continues. "We don't know what's wrong yet." She inspects the trail we've been following, searching for any kind of pattern in the the marks left behind. "One mistake facing the unknown could prove fatal." She glances back at me and makes one of her dreamy smiles. "I would rather have back up."

I sigh dramatically. "I suppose it can't be helped." Though I really am just complaining to pass the time. Luna and I my not be the best of friends, but I would never refuse her request. Even if I wasn't curious about the crup.

She knows this of course. Luna may seem like she's floating above the clouds, but she is a Ravenclaw for a reason.

Coming around a bend we spot some kind of furred creature in the distance. Getting closer it is more recognizable. Slightly covered by foliage, a rabbit lays still and slightly bloody on the ground.

From beside me Luna comments, "Well, this changes up his behavioral pattern a bit." She tilts her head in mild concern. "This is the first we found. Do you think it's possible that it's attacking whatever it comes across, and this happened to be the first and only thing that has so far?"

I nod. "That would make sense, we haven't come across anything living either, they're probably all running away from it and us." I raise an eyebrow incredulously. "Or it just likes rabbits."

Luna moves to continue down the trail left behind. "If that were the case, it would have eaten it, how strange."

I grimace at the thought and follow after her.

If the crup is indeed attacking whatever it sees, then back up is a good idea.

No more than a few minutes later we hear a scream in the distance. It doesn't sound very close, but it happens to be coming from the direction of the trail we're following. Which is bad news for the poor soul who crossed paths with the crup. Worse if it's a muggle without a weapon.

"Looks like we found it." Luna comments before we both sprint in the direction of the noise, wands at the ready.

We finally make it to the source of the scream to see a pair of males holding up tree branches. I check over their appearance quickly. Their clothes look torn, and there are scratches littered all over their bodies, with a few bite marks here and there.

Standing opposite the muggles is a tense and growling crup, easily mistaken for a dog if not for the forked tail. Besides the aggression, the crup is frothing at the mouth while he snarls, and whatever reasoning it should have had seems to be gone. This is very different than how a crup usually acts.

Before it can attack the muggles again, Luna casts Petrificus Totalus and Incarcerous, effectively halting it.

Deciding I'm not needed in the examination of the crup, I turn my attention to the understandably scared and possibly panicked pair.

I point my wand at them and cast the charm I hate having to use. "Obliviate." I concentrate on the attack and change it from a crup to a rabid dog. I also change Luna and I with wands, into a good samaritan with a shotgun. I also try to emphasize the need for a hospital and to check for rabies.

While I have never seen a crup like this before, I have seen a dog infected with rabies in my old neighborhood. Both instances look so similar to me, but knowing if it's possible is more Luna's expertise.

Crups have been known to attack muggles when they're not controlled by their owner. But one has never attacked their own owner before, they are extremely loyal to wizards. So this is very strange indeed.

Once I deem the muggles far enough away I cast Repello Muggletum over the area just in case.

I finally make my way over to Luna. She's kneeling on the ground next to the prone crups taking some hair, blood, and saliva samples for testing.

I kneel down next to her and ask, "Do you think it's possible that regular animals can transfer their diseases to magical creatures? This looks too similar to rabies to be a coincidence."

She contemplates for a moment before answering. "Wizards can share the same illnesses with muggles, it's quite possible that animals and magical creatures are similar enough." she smiles apologetically at me. "I wouldn't know for certain, I can ask Rolf's father Newt, if anyone would know it would be him."

I feel some relief at that. We need to figure this out in case any of the centaurs or one of Hagrid's pets gets infected, and attacks the students at Hogwarts.

Once she finishes she grabs ahold of the crup's tail and then holds out a hand to me. I grab her hand and brace myself for side along apparition.

Luna smiles her dreamy smile. "Thanks for being my backup Hermione." She shifts into a better stance. "We really should hang out more often."

I give her a small smile. "I'd like that."

And we apparated away.