Chapter 2

The screeching intensified immensely. Harry started breathing fast. The Doctor was breathing rather calmly, given the situation. It sounded like a stampede was rushing towards them. They weren't sure what to expect, they only knew that it would be difficult to fight them off. The Doctor immediately tried to think of what weaknesses they would have. All of a sudden, it became silent again. Harry and the Doctor looked at each other. Harry took a hard and fearful swallow.

"They just enchanted someone else, didn't they?" his voice wavered a bit, but he stood tall.

"Yes, I think so. Pauper probably," the Doctor looked past Harry and suddenly his eyes went big.

A male teleluxovis with the same fiery red hair and three eyes and tongues and fanged teeth was sprinting towards Harry.

"Watch out!" the Doctor tried pushing Harry away but Harry instinctively turned around and tried to stun the creature. The teleluxovis howled and fell back, but it wasn't completely stunned. It rose to its feet again and screeched louder and slowly walked towards the two. It screeched and hissed violently as it got closer and closer. Harry quickly thought of a spell to use,

"Petrificus Totalus!" he shot the spell at the teleluxovis, but it had quick reflexes and somehow grabbed the ball of light in which the spell was contained. It caressed the light and hummed the same eerie tune as the girl teleluxovis. Harry gazed curiously at the creature for he had never seen someone slow down a spell like that. Entranced by curiosity, he slowly approached the creature.

"How—how did it do that?" Harry tilted his head slightly to the right.

The Doctor tried scanning the teleluxovis again, but it still didn't come up. Harry's spell didn't register as anything either, which was odd. "Unless we're in a pocket universe of a pocket universe," the Doctor said quietly.

"Harry! No!" the Doctor grabbed Harry and held him back, "Your magic isn't as powerful here! Snap out of it, he's enchanting you!" Harry struggled to escape. The Doctor turned him around and slapped him in the face to relieve him of the trance.

Harry rubbed his cheek, "Ouch! What'd you do that for?"

The Doctor took a sigh of relief, "You were being enchanted. I think each one has different enchantments that they use to hunt their prey. You were hypnotized of a sort and you were trying to walk towards it. Wait a minute, where did it go?"

Harry and the Doctor looked around for the creature, but it was nowhere to be found. Harry looked for Ron and Hermione, but they were also nowhere to be found. Harry looked at the ground for footsteps but it was too dark.

"Lumos," he whispered.

"What are you doing? It'll attract them!" the Doctor shouted.

"Oh and you reckon your shouting won't? I need to find my friends," Harry saw Ron's footsteps going towards the direction of the herd, "We have to save them. Nox."

Harry began running in the direction of Ron's footsteps. The Doctor stopped,

"Harry, stop. I don't think we're in a good place," the Doctor looked around at the surroundings.

"Well then why are we stopping?" Harry turned around to face him. Then he realized what the Doctor realized. The plants were all flattened, and some of the branches were fashioned into a sort of nest. They both started breathing hard. They had no reliable defense system and knew no weaknesses of the teleluxovis.

"Doctor," Harry managed to strain his voice.

"Yeah?" the Doctor was still looking around for answers.

"I need to find my friends. They're all I have. Please, can we keep going?"

The Doctor nodded and started walking forward. Harry followed, using the moonlight to find Ron's footsteps.

The footsteps came to a halt. The Doctor kept walking, but Harry stopped him. He looked around the area for more footsteps and found marks of where it looked like someone was being dragged. Harry started hyperventilating.

"Ron! Hermione!" He shouted. He frantically searched in a circle but could find them. "Doctor! Scan for life forms!"

The Doctor turned on his sonic screwdriver and began scanning on different settings. The screwdriver chirped.

"One human, this way!" the Doctor pointed in the direction that they were to go and they began briskly and carefully walking.

Harry saw a body slumped over a rock. Please don't be dead, he thought to himself over and over again. As he got closer, he saw that it was Ron's body. He rushed to his side, kneeled down, and checked his pulse. His heart was barely beating. The Doctor scanned his body to make sure that he was still alive.

"He's alive, but only just," the Doctor looked down sympathetically at Ron's body.

"Oh no, Hermione. You said they have a connection, right?" Harry looked at the Doctor who nodded. "And she experiences everything first, so that means… Stay here with Ron and try to fix him," Harry stood up and began to run.

His face was being hit violently with plants and he tried to think of a way to get rid of them, but only Hermione would know a spell like that. His heart was racing and his breaths were short. He heard the eerie humming and followed it. About 20 feet in front of him was a cluster of three teleluxovis huddled around Hermione's body. Hermione's mouth was open and they seemed to be doing another enchantment on her. Harry watched, not wanting to startle them. He was of no good if he got enchanted as well. The creatures held hands in a circle and howled lightly and musically. Their heads were slightly tilted back and their tongues were flailing in the air and their eyes were closed. A wisp of light escaped Hermione's mouth. Just as they were about to start caressing the light, Harry realized what to do.

Quickly, he thought of the happiest memory he could and cast the patronus spell. A bright, but small, stag appeared and he had it walk up to the teleluxovis. Once he had their attention, he sent it in the opposite direction of them. The creatures hissed and screeched and followed it. The wisp of light that escaped Hermione's mouth slowly lowered itself back in as Harry rushed to her side.

"Please don't be dead," he held his fingers to her wrist for about 5 minutes before feeling a faint beat. He gasped in hope, "We have to find the town to get you help," he picked up her body and carried her back to Ron and the Doctor.

Ron was in a similar state as Hermione, but not as bad. They heard more screeching, and it stopped once more. Only this time, it turned into bleats. The Doctor looked to the sky,

"Sunrise," he looked at Harry and picked up Ron, "Let's find town."

They walked cautiously to where Pauper was hunting. It was likely that they would find his footsteps there and could trace them back to town. When they found Pauper, he was completely colorless. Almost black and white. His mouth and eyes were open slightly. His head was surrounded by a small pool of blood from where he hit his head on a rock. The Doctor and Harry gazed down at him solemnly. Harry lay Hermione down and closed Pauper's eyes. He picked up Hermione again and searched for footprints. They found a trail and followed it.

After about 30 minutes of walking, they reached a small village. The houses were odd cylindrical huts, each averaging 3 stories high. The walls were all dark shades and there were no places for a lamp or a torch to hang. The roofs were of a larger diameter, so as to shade the ends of the house, and were made of a very dark and heavy looking material. Sidewalks were paved in the dirt, which was of a pinkish hue. On the window sills of some of the houses were odd looking flowers. One of the flowers was snake like and when a bug flew by, it flared its hood and petrified it. Before the bug fell, the flower caught it with a frog-like tongue.

Still following the footsteps, the two ended up at a one-story house. There was a little boy playing with a yoyo-like toy in the front yard. Harry looked at the Doctor who gave him a look saying "I'll do the talking."

"Hello young sir! Is your mother home?" he beamed at the boy.

"Depends on who's asking," the boy seemed uninterested.

"Well you see, my friends are hurt and I was hoping she could help."

"She's not a healer…" the boy looked curiously at the Doctor and Harry, "Hey, you're not from around here are you?" Harry shook his head no. "Come in, she might be able to help."

The boy led them inside and cleared off the table.

"Mom! These strangers are hurt and need your help!" he called to his mother who was in another room.

"Selsmur, what have I told you about letting strangers in!? They're dangerous to us," she walked in the room and stared at the Doctor and Harry.

"You're not from around here, are you?" the woman squinted her eyes suspiciously.

"No, we're travelers. We got lost and our friends were hurt by—" he remembered what Pauper told him about not speaking about the teleluxovis and stopped midsentence.

"Say no more," the woman waved her hands, "lay your friends on the table."

Hermione and Ron lay side by side on the table. Harry looked at the woman curiously, if she wasn't a healer then what was she.

"Close the shade, Sels," she pointed to the window. Selsmur closed the shade and his mother looked at the Doctor and Harry, "Now what I'm about to do must never leave this room. It is very illegal and very dangerous." Both of them nodded. She hovered her hands about Ron, closed her eyes. She murmured something in a different language and purple light emitted from her hands. The light encased Ron. She took a deep breath and cross-sliced the air with both of her hands. The light stopped and Ron opened his eyes and gasped for air. As Ron was trying to compose himself, the woman moved to Hermione. She did the same thing, but Hermione didn't wake. She tried again, but said something different and blue light came out. The blue light reminded Harry of the wisp that the teleluxovis were trying to extract. This time, she flourished her hands, almost like a dance. Hermione still didn't wake.

"It is as I feared," her eyes were still closed, "I'm very sorry, but it's too late to save your friend."

Ron heard this and panicked. He jumped off the table and ran to the other side where Hermione's hand was dangling. He checked her pulse. They sat in silence for six minutes.

"Ron, she's gone. You have to let go," Harry put his hand on Ron's shoulder.

"No. No, do you feel that? There's still a pulse! It's small but it's there! I can't lose her, Harry. I can't lose her," he turned to plead with the woman. She looked down lightly and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, there's noth—"

"No! You have to save her! You have to! My magic doesn't work here so I can't save her but you can! Please, save her!" Ron shouted and sobbed. Harry's hand was still on his shoulder. Ron finally noticed it and turned into him to cry. "I can't lose her."

"Ron, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, there's nothing we can do," the Doctor sighed deeply.

Ron calmed down a little bit and stroked Hermione's cold cheek. He sniffled and rubbed his eyes. He knelt down close to Hermione's ear and began to quietly talk to her,

"'Mione, I'm not sure if you can hear me. I'm not sure if you're fully alive or not, but I… I wanted to tell you… God, Hermione. I love you so much. I love you more that you could ever imagine. I just… I just can't believe I'm losing you so soon. We were going to get married one day, I had planned it all out, you see. We were… God, why is this so hard… We were going to get married and live in a nice house… a nice home, and we were going to have children. Can you imagine it? A little you running around, bushy hair and all," he chuckled to himself as tears began quietly streaming down his face, "We were going to grow old together, 'Mione. We were going to get all wrinkly and white-haired and senile. I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you more. I love you. I'll never forget you." He kissed her cheek softly and stood up and wiped away his tears.

Harry patted Ron on the back.

"Oh, Harry, she was your friend too. Did you want to say something?" Ron said strongly.

"No thanks, mate. I've never been good at goodbyes," his eyes began to well with tears, but he quickly brushed them away. The Doctor walked up to the woman.

"I'm the Doctor by the way, and this is Harry and Ron," he gestured to the two of them. Harry slightly nodded and Ron held out his hand,

"Thanks, for saving my life and for trying with…" he shook her hand and stepped back.

"I'm Zillow, and I'm sorry about your friend," she offered a small smile.

"Oh, Zillow," the Doctor's face became very solemn once more, "there's something I have to tell you. I'm so, so sorry, but Pauper, he was… well he was killed by the teleluxovis. I'm so, so sorry." They all waited for a reaction. She seemed slightly taken aback, but calm nonetheless.

"Well, I figured that when he didn't come back last night. Thank you, for telling me," her voice was very breathy, as if she was holding back sobs. "Sels already knows too. He has powers similar to mine and he can tell when someone he's close to is dead."

Zillow made them a hot beverage that was similar to tea. She offered to bury Hermione, but Ron refused to leave her side until her pulse stopped completely. The living room was like a pie-section of the house, very small. There was a small fire place which was filled with a violet wood. There was a window which was still half-ways covered by an air-tight, black shade. There were family photos on the wall of Zillow, Pauper, and Selsmur. In the pictures where Selsmur was really young, there was an odd sort of dip on his forehead. Zillow noticed the Doctor looking at the photo.

"He was so young then, about two," she chuckled and smiled, "he had such of a hard childhood. None of the other kids would play with him, not that their parents would let them. He wasn't normal…" her happiness drifted into a grey area of sadness and grief."

"I can understand that," Harry chimed in and walked towards the photo, "where I come from, I can do magic too, different from yours though. It doesn't work here. My family, if you will, didn't really agree with magic. They hated it and hated me and made sure I knew it," he said stiffly.

"I'm sorry, that must have been awful. The family is the core unit and is very important," she touched Harry's shoulder sympathetically.

"My real parents loved me, but they were murdered," Harry stared at the dip in the photographed boy's forehead and wondered why it was there and why it was now gone.

Zillow said something in a different language. When the Doctor and Harry looked at each other, then at her confused she explained, "In the language of the 'magic', as you call it, it means 'my heart beats slowly for you,'" she put her hand over her heart.

This sent a train of thought rolling in the Doctor's mind. Death is warped in Yeswurn. Death isn't an immediate stop of a normal heart beat, but rather, it is a slow journey and transition into the afterlife. Of course, the Doctor didn't necessarily know if there was an afterlife, wasn't sure if he even believed in one. He thought about Hermione's death step by step. She tripped, therefore she was weak. She was weak, therefore she was prey. A teleluxovis locked onto her and slowly paralyzed her. The teleluxovis then dragged her away to more teleluxovis. The three teleluxovis began performing a ritual where the light, assumedly the soul, was lifted out of her body. They were humming and when they hum, they are typically feeding. They saw Harry's full-bodied patronus and saw that it was more light than the light left in the soul, so they dropped the soul back into Hermione's body and ran after the stag. There must have been a crucial wound to the soul because Zillow could not save her. But, the Doctor thought to himself, what if another creature could?

"Zillow, how powerful are the teleluxovis in human form?" he faced Zillow, who cringed.

"We are not to speak of them, we may talk of the teleluxovis in their animal form but not their human," she closed her eyes as if she was reciting something.

"Erm, Zillow, believe me, I understand what it's like to be told you can't speak of something out of fear. I completely understand. But I have learned that the more you talk about it the less power the words have," Harry suggested. Zillow shook her head.

"Zillow, I think I may have figured out a way to help Hermione but I need to know more about them. Whoever is telling you not to speak of them is not listening right now. I promise. I checked for bugs and things like that—" the Doctor said softly, but was interrupted.

"You don't understand, the punishment is soul torture to the person who speaks of them. I can't leave Selsmur by himself. I just can't," Zillow began to tear up.

Ron entered the room, "Please, Zillow, I beg of you. If they don't know you're doing magic, then they won't know you're talking about this. And we'll protect the bloody hell out of you. Hermione is the love of my life, I can't lose her."

Zillow sighed heavily, "There might be a way to save Hermione, but we will have to go far away to talk about it. Your tools can't pick up on it because you are not from here, but there are sensors that go off when someone speaks of them. The government won't let us know much about them, but as such, they don't let us do magic either. I tend to bend their rules and know a lot about them and I may be able to help your friend. Follow me."