A figure ran through the forest. Due to its colouring, it was nearly invisible in the dim of night. It stopped behind a tree on the edge of the forest, and looked up at the gigantic castle in front of it. A small, gloved hand was raised to a pointed dark blue ear, activating a small headset.
"Red. Hey, Red, you there?" the creature said into the microphone. His only response was static.
"Damn shoddy workmanship…" he muttered, removing the non-responsive headset. It was uncomfortable, and there was no point in having it on if it didn't work. "That little idiot's going to get it when we get back."
Once again, he looked up at the castle. He could scope the place out, and tell the others about it when he they met up in an hour. No problem.
He ran towards the castle, making sure he stayed out of the light.
Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, was happy to finally be back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with his friends. He was looking forward to a year which, like his first year, promised to be much more fun than his summer had been. Or he had been, that morning. Now, he just wanted to get through this class without making any more mistakes. A desire which, unfortunately, went unfulfilled.
"I believe that I asked you to put the dragonfly wings in before the kneazle snout, Mr Potter, not after. 10 points from Griffindor." sneered Professor Snape, lifting a spoonful of Harry's potion and letting it fall back into the cauldron so that the whole class could see what not to have your potion look like. "Do it again, and try not to mess it up this time."
After class, Harry and his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, went straight back up to the Griffindor common room. Normally, they would have probably gone outside, but today, they had something more important to do. Well, more interesting, at least.
"What d'you think it is?" asked Ron, looking at the strange jewel which had fallen out of the sky and knocked Harry unconscious the day before.
It was a massive jewel, roughly the size of Harry's fist, and bright red. It looked exactly like emeralds always did in movies and on TV, and it was obviously magical. They had come to this conclusion from the fact that it was glowing, and that its impact with Harry's head had produced a strange scar which appeared to be formed of rubies, not blood. Ron's excitement over this had been diminished when, once removed from Harry's head, the rubies became drops of blood.
"I've got no idea Ron. But maybe these books do, so can you please let me read them?" snapped Hermione, angry at the red-haired boy for asking that question five times in the last fifteen minutes.
Ron muttered angrily, then picked up a book and started helping in the task of finding out what the hell this thing was.
In a clearing in the forest three miles from the castle, two figures stood. One was much taller than the other, but was no taller than the average 15-year-old boy would be. The other, judging from height, was roughly twelve. He was fiddling with what appeared to be headsets, one earphone attached to a microphone.
"How can someone so fast be so late?" muttered the taller of the two, crossing his arms angrily.
His companion looked up from whatever he was doing, and smiled at his companion. "You know him. He's probably waiting for the right moment to make a dramatic entrance."
It was at this precise moment that the one they were waiting for arrived. He was slightly shorter than the taller of his two companions, but still far taller than the other.
"Hiya Red. Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long." He said, flashing a smile in the darkness. His tall companion, who was (as the nickname suggested) bright red, simply growled at him.
"Here," said the smallest of the three, who was a light brown colour. "These should work now." He handed one of the three headsets he had been working on to each of his companions.
"Testing, testing, onetwoonetwo." the small one said into his own headpiece.
The blue one nodded. "Reading you loud and clear, little buddy." He said into his own headpiece. The red one just grunted. He wasn't feeling particularly happy towards his blue friend just now.
"Well then, if they work, shall we go?" suggested the small one.
The red one nodded profusely. The faster they did this, the faster he could get home.
The blue one grinned at his red friend, guessing what made him so anxious to get home. He nodded too.
The smaller one smiled. This was going to be a fun-filled night.