Neither Harry Potter nor any of the characters associated with him belong to me. They are JK Rowlings. I'm not in this for the money, just for fun!
A lot of what's in my fic will be based on what's seen in the movies, with some references from the books, hence Firenze will not be blonde, but dark and more beastial like, as will the rest of the Centaurs.
I would like to thank Pensieve Plotter for her ideas, and for her permission to use one of her characters and a scene from her fic. Thank You also goes to InferiorBeing for her help in editing, and to Aesop for co-writing some of the scenes!
This fic is based during 'Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban'!
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Hogwarts; 0330PM:
"And you say there was no sign of the girl?" Dumbledore asked the special operative from the Ministry.
Derwood nodded, almost sadly. "We searched all through that area, but found nothing. Nothing besides more of the Acromantula' webbing. We can only conclude that it must have gotten to the young Muggle girl."
"Oh rubbish!" Professor McGonagall scoffed angrily. "You and your so-called leading team of experts barely got through even a mere quarter of the Forbidden Forest."
Derwood gave her a hard look, but remained calm. "I assure you we have searched as far as we could, but need I remind you that there are still many places in the Forbidden Forest that we Wizards cannot reach, not without violating the treaties we have made with some of its more sentient inhabitants."
"And let us not forget the Forest's other creatures," Derwood's assistant, a young wizard with a pointy hat, added. "Even if by some miracle the young Muggle had survived the encounter with the Acromantula, there are still countless other dangerous beasts that she would have undoubtedly met sooner or later, such as the Manticores, Bugbears, Hippogriffs and various others. Even full grown wizards have gone into the Forest and never returned, so it's highly unlikely that a mere Muggle could go in and live to tell the tale."
Dumbledore frowned sorrowfully. He hated to admit it, but the young Wizard had a point. After all, the Forbidden Forest wasn't forbidden without a good reason. Very few great wizards and witches had gone in and returned unscathed.
"Do you know what caused their aircraft to crash?" he then asked.
"One of my team examined the craft," Derwood reported. "We didn't understand too well of Muggle technology so we sent for Arthur Weasley to come take a look at it. But we did notice something odd."
"Oh, like what?"
"The part where the craft's heart is… its…engine?" Derwood tried hard to remember the words that Arthur Weasley had told him. "Yes, the engine had exploded from within the craft itself, so it wasn't our magic that caused their crash, or anything to do with us. Apparently, it was sabotage, pure and simple."
"Who by?" McGonagall asked, shocked.
"That I cannot answer," Derwood replied. "But I did learn that the girl who disappeared was apparently the daughter of one of England's politicians and members of Parliament. From what I hear, many of their politicians have numerous enemies who may wish them harm. It is possible some of them decided to take the direct approach and placed what they call a bomb onboard their craft."
"To kill his daughter?"
Derwood shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. It seems her father, Harold Leicester, was supposed to be joining her for her birthday, but was unable to attend. It may be he was meant to be onboard the craft when it exploded instead of her. Of course, now we'll never know for sure."
Dumbledore sighed in pity for the poor girl. "Have the arrangements been made?"
Derwood nodded. "The survivors have all had their memories erased and altered. As far as they are aware, Miss Leicester never got on the helicopter with them, and after they crashed they remained with the craft until they were rescued by the Rescue Service and then taken to hospital. Obviously they have no idea whatever became of Miss Leicester."
"You're just going to let her family think that she's alive out there somewhere?" McGonagall exclaimed. "You're going to let them spend the rest of their days in misery and torture, never knowing whatever became of their own child!"
Dumbledore looked at her sadly. "We have no choice, Minerva. We obviously can't contact them and tell them the truth about what happened to their daughter. And if they knew their child might be alive somewhere in the Forbidden Forest then they'd never rest till they found her. They would have all sorts of people searching through the forest, resulting in complete exposure of our world or at least the mystical creatures, and Merlin knows how many deaths."
McGonagall seethed inwardly with grief for the parents, anger at the unfairness of it all, and of the realisation that Dumbledore was right.
"You're absolutely certain that the girl is dead though?" she asked again.
"We will still look," Derwood promised her. "But I can honestly say there's little or no hope, Professor. Nothing with no magic could possibly survive in that forest."
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Forbidden Forest; Same Time:
Rebecca moaned, as she slowly opened her eyes. She felt cold and wet.
She reached up to her head, feeling for any kind of lumps or bruises, but found none. It seemed she had gotten off lucky with the waterfall.
She shivered, as a cold wind blew against her, freezing her already frozen skin. Mid November was definitely not the time of year to go walking about soaking wet in a damp forest!
As her sight slowly came back to her, she found herself lying on a bed of pebbles, dirt and about six inches of water. She looked around, finding herself on the bank of a river. She couldn't see the waterfall anywhere, meaning that she must have been washed downstream quite a distance after going over it.
Cringing, she pulled herself up by her limbs. Although she was not hurt, the cold had frozen her limbs, making them feel stiff and knotted.
"John… Chloe," she called out meekly, but no one answered.
Groaning, as she pulled herself up, she started walking. She had no idea where she was or where she was going, but she knew she had to keep going, if she were to keep herself from freezing to death.
"Definitely should have stayed in California," she mused out loud.
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London; One Hour Later; Leicester Residence:
Harold Leicester and his wife Veronica sat together in his study, huddled in each other's arms. They had just received word from the authorities in Scotland about the helicopter crash…the crash that Harold should have been in.
Luckily no one had been hurt, and their daughter Rebecca had not even been on the helicopter when it had happened. Apparently, according to her friend Chloe, she had decided at the last minute to bail out, but the problem now was that no one had any idea where she was.
The police were searching for her, but so far they had come up with no leads.
Harold had to drink a tall glass of extra strong whisky to calm his nerves when he had first heard the news from the officer on the phone. Preliminary reports had confirmed that the helicopter had definitely been tampered with, and there had been a bomb onboard it.
Being a politician, he'd received numerous threats from environmental groups demanding more money to replant lost forests, to terrorists demanding the release of their comrades. Just the other week he had received a number of phone-calls from some group calling themselves 'The Friends of The Earth' who had literally ordered him to forego the building of a new factory…or else. He had tried to tell them that he had no real say in the matter (just because he was a politician, everyone assumed that he had his fingers in everything), but they had refused to listen.
There had been a lot of controversy about the new offices. Many were against it, saying that all it was doing was destroying more of the countryside and creating pollution, while just as many others were for it, saying that it would create more jobs for the public. In the end they had decided to go ahead with the project.
He had received letters made from cutout letters from newspapers and magazines, telling him to watch out and beware, as well as the telephone threats, but he had paid them no mind. Being a politician meant he got that kind of treatment almost on a daily basis, and besides: the ones who had spoken to him on the phone sounded no more than teenagers, and they hadn't even disguised their voices.
Even the police seemed to confirm this. They had already examined the bomb, given to them by some Scottish Rescue Service, and found it to be no more than a simple homemade device, easily built by anyone with household objects. This told them that whoever had done this were obviously not professionals, just amateurs.
Harold held onto his dear wife for comfort. He felt like kicking himself that he hadn't ordered the phonecall traced!
The police had found Rebecca nowhere, which meant either she had gone somewhere without telling anybody or…she had been kidnapped.
Harold clutched his wife tighter to him. "Dear Rebecca,' he thought. 'Where are you?'
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Forbidden Forest; 0530PM:
Two hours had passed and she was still no closer to finding out where she was. She saw no lights in the distance between the branches, which meant that wherever she was she was nowhere near civilisation.
Rebecca moaned deeply, as her whole body felt like it was encased in ice. The walking helped, but the moment she stopped moving, her body felt like it was in a freezer.
Then, through the trees and brush came a sound like loud chatter. She could make out the noises of raucous laughter, shouting that was both angry and cheerful, and even what sounded like cups being slammed together in a toast.
The revelation that there were people nearby to help her gave her hope, as she urged herself on, ignoring the frozen pain in her legs.
She walked on for a further few minutes until she finally saw some distant lights coming from up ahead. Exhilarated at finally finding some life in this dense forest, Rebecca raced towards the bushes where the lights were shining through, and pulled back some of the branches to peer between them, and stopped…
At first, she thought they were men, as she saw them drinking from large buckets with their arms, smacking their lips together as they drank raucously. But as she stared at them longer, she then saw that what she first thought were men were seemingly horses, seeing as they were standing on four hoofed legs.
As she continued to stare, she realised that they seemed to be a combination of both! Each had the body of a man from the head down to the waist, but the rest of the body was that of a horse. Their bodies were all covered with hair, even their human parts, and they had long shaggy faces with horse-like ears. Their faces weren't as long as horses, but they were still longer than any ordinary human she had ever seen.
She couldn't fathom what she was seeing, even though she knew what they were. She had seen pictures of them in books, and even statues of them in museums, but she still could not believe it.
'Centaurs?' she thought unbelievably. 'Well, that settles it…Being in this damn forest has driven me completely mad!'
Regardless of what was right before her eyes, Rebecca's mind refused to accept the evidence of her senses.
There were about fifty of them, all gathered within a large meadow clearing, as they ate, drank and seemed to generally go about their business. They were all different from each other. Some were as large as Shires or Clydesdales horses, while others were more like the thoroughbred racehorses she had seen at the Royal Ascot, with shining coats. The human parts of them were just as well portioned, as they were blessed with masculine chests, broad shoulders and arms that any bodybuilder would kill for.
There was also no shortage of colours among them, at least not when concerning their horse-halves. There were dark ones, from pure black to silvery grey, chestnut brown, dark blonde and many others. Most of them were plain coloured, but there were the odd spotted few like she had seen on farms.
Despite all this, she found she couldn't stop staring at their faces most of all, as they were the most unusual sight she had ever seen. They looked like a complete cross between equine and human, neither one nor the other, but somewhere in-between.
They all laughed out loud, yelling and shouting at one another, not in harsh tones, but seemingly cheerful. One of them had a large bucket in his arms, as he drank from it like a horse would do, but by pouring the liquid into his mouth, and down his chest, instead of just drinking from the bucket itself. While another one had a large drumstick that he held in his hand, despite the grease on it, noisily chewing on it, spitting out chunks of it as he talked with some of the others, and none seemed to mind.
Clearly these people had never heard of table manners or common courtesy.
'This can't be,' her mind felt like it was tilting. 'Centaurs don't exist! They're just figments made up by ancient Greek scholars and play-writers. They're not real!'
So mind-boggled was she by the sight of the Centaur herd that she never noticed the sound of approaching hoof-steps behind her.
"This just can't…" she started to say lowly.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" a loud voice suddenly bellowed behind her.
She shrieked, spinning around in shock at the sound of the loud voice yelling at her.
It was a large Centaur, completely black throughout its entire body, with a shaggy beard, well developed muscles, a broad chest, and a very fierce and unfriendly expression upon its face.
She shrieked again, stepping back in fear at the sight of the large beast-man in front of her. Unfortunately, when she had been looking over the bush onto the meadow, she hadn't noticed that the bush had been standing on a small bank.
Rebecca yelped, as she stepped over the edge of the tiny hill, falling head over heals into the meadow, right in front of everyone.
When she came to a stop on the ground, Rebecca coughed out a mouthful of dirt that she had collected in the fall, and then paused… Why was it so quiet?
Wiping her mouth free of the remaining dirt, she slowly turned her head and looked around herself, and found dozens of eyes centred on her.
Her fall and scream had halted all the festivities, as all of the Centaurs stared at her incredulously. Some of them looked astonished to see her, others looked curious, and some looked just as mad as the dark one that had startled her.
He was even now cantering down through the bush and into the meadow with her, his huge hooves making a noise like thunder as they neared her.
Rebecca gulped.
The dark Centaur strode forward, leaning over and grabbing her none too gently by her shoulders, holding her up high in front of him, shaking her. "Who are you?" he demanded. "How did you get here?"
Maybe her fear had temporarily taken hold, her desperation consumed her, or maybe it was anger because of the humiliation from the way she was being manhandled, but for whatever reason, unthinking or perhaps unmindful…she slapped him!
The large black Centaur stopped talking and just stared at her. His expression at that moment could be considered humorous, as he stared at her in nothing less than pure astonishment. The rest of his kind copied his expression, as they too stared at her in disbelief. It was a well-known fact that Centaurs were considered dangerous even in the best of times, so no one had ever been brave enough to strike one before…or stupid enough.
The huge Centaur's comical expression did not last, and it soon appeared as though his whole face was beginning to burn from the suppressed rage within him, as he glared viciously at the young human female.
"YOU DISRESPECTFUL RUNT!" he bellowed, rising her higher with his strong arms, and threw her clear across the meadow.
Rebecca felt herself fly through the air, as the angry Centaur threw her like a discus. She hit the ground with a hard thud, but because the ground was covered with soft grass and was damp, she barely felt anything.
However, she suspected that the angry Centaur had plans to change that, as she watched him gallop over towards her.
The other Centaurs were of no help, as they cheered this mad brother of theirs on, rearing on their hind legs, waving their front hooves about madly as though in ecstasy.
She cringed and whimpered in fear, as the massive man-beast headed towards her, his huge hooves looking as though ready for trampling something, namely her.
Then just when she thought the end had finally come for her…
"BANE, STOP!" a loud determined voice yelled out.
She watched, as another Centaur ran out in front of her, blocking the charging Centaur's path to her. She couldn't yet see his face, but he seemed physically the same as the others, with broad shoulders and strong arms. His horse-half was a dark brown colour, as was the hair on his head that was shaggy and wild.
His voice was unbelievably soft and gentle, so much so that for a moment she couldn't believe he was actually part of this group. From what she had seen they all seemed like your typical backwater group of savages.
"Get. Out. Of. My. Way, Firenze!" the dark Centaur, whose name apparently was Bane, said warningly to the seemingly calmer Centaur, but he wouldn't.
"Not until you calm down," Firenze told him. "If you kill this girl now, how are we supposed to get the answers to your questions?"
"She hit me like I was a common horse!" Bane shouted back at him, still glaring at the small human venomously.
Deep down, Rebecca couldn't help but think how childish this Bane was acting. So she slapped him, big deal. But she had better sense than to say it out loud.
What she didn't know was that Centaurs were a proud race, and were easily offended if not shown the proper respect and courtesy. One of those acts of respect was not to mistake them for common horses, and definitely not to treat them as such. If she had given him a full-blown punch, then that would probably have been better. They might have even seen it as an act of courage. But a mere slap, that was like telling him he was weak, helpless and unworthy.
"I'm sure she's very sorry for that," the new Centaur, whom she had heard Bane call Firenze, replied to him. "I imagine she was just scared when you grabbed her like that. Remember that humans are not as strong as we are, hence they're more timid and easily frightened."
Bane grumbled, indicating that he was clearly not convinced, as he pawed the ground with his right hoof angrily.
"That's enough, Bane!" another voice suddenly called out.
The two Centaurs, along with the rest of the herd, all turned to look at the one who had spoke, and Rebecca finally got to see her saviour's face…
Firenze had a long face, the same as the rest, and had a beard but no moustache (in fact, none of the Centaurs had moustaches), and looked as if it and the hair on his head were one. It was like his head-hair had grown down all around his face in a perfect circle. The beard wasn't long, but was terribly shaggy.
If not for the horse-ears, his completely hair-covered body and the shaggy appearance that he and his kind seemed to favour, she would actually consider him to be quite handsome.
But the one thing that truly got her attention, besides his soft voice, was that he also had a pair of thee most strikingly blue eyes that she had ever seen before. Those eyes stared at her for a few moments before looking at whoever it was behind her.
Guessing that she shouldn't be impolite, especially when she could not afford to be, considering what they might do to her, she turned to see who had spoken…and found herself gulping again.
Another Centaur stood before her, bigger than Bane, his body seemingly painted in chestnut, with long black hair.
He stood high over her, his eyes staring at her disdainfully. It was clear he had about as much love for her as the rest of his herd did: none.
"I am Magorian, leader of the Centaurs," he proclaimed to her. "Answer my brother's question, human! Who are you, and what are you doing here? More importantly, how were you able to reach our herding ground without us sensing your approach?"
Rebecca swallowed the lump in her throat. "M-m-m-my name is Rebecca…Rebecca Leicester." She briefly wondered if she should mention whose daughter she was, but somehow she didn't think her father's name would do her much good with these creatures.
"How did you come to be here?" Bane demanded from her again, impatiently.
Firenze gave him a look that seemed to say 'keep calm, give her time', but Bane was impatient enough as it was.
"Answer me!" he roared.
Rebecca shivered at the large Centaur's loud voice, and stuttered her reply… "I-I-I-I was on a h-h-h-heli-copter… "
"A heli-what?" Magorian said, frowning.
"A…helicopter," she repeated, more in control.
That didn't lessen the look of confusion on his face, nor from any of the others, as they all looked at each other with questioning faces. Even Firenze, who was known to spend a great deal of time with humans, seemed clueless.
"It's a…" she paused, wondering on how to explain this. "It's a machine that flies. It brought me here to this forest, but crashed. I ventured into the forest for…something, and a giant spider chased me. It chased me into the river, which swept me downstream. The next thing I knew, I was waking up by a riverside with no idea where I was. I walked for a little bit and eventually found my way here."
Firenze frowned. "There was talk in the forest of a loud noise that none had ever heard before. Perhaps it could have been this heli-chopper that she speaks about."
Rebecca tried to hide a small grin at his mispronouncing of the word copter, but she was not quick enough, and was soon noticed by Bane.
"She's laughing at us!" he shouted angrily, coming up close to her, his hands reaching for her.
"Peace, Bane!" Magorian ordered. "I have heard of human machines that can do such things that this human claims. She may be telling the truth. Either way, we will wait until we have conferred with Safyph before making our final judgment."
'Judgment?' Rebecca whimpered silently.
"Take her to one of the rain-huts!" Magorian ordered a couple of young Centaurs. "Watch over her there until I say otherwise."
Two younger Centaurs nodded and trotted forward, each grabbing one of Rebecca's arms and carrying her between them.
Rebecca felt humiliated, as she was carried away, her feet dangling beneath her like she was on a high shelf. While she was being led away, she noticed the one called Firenze looking at her with those big blue eyes of his, as she departed. He didn't have any of the same scorn and contempt that Bane did, only simple curiosity.
The two Centaurs, one that was a dark grey colour and the other a pure white one who were both armed with a large bow and several arrows, soon led her into a small makeshift hut that looked as if it were made out of skins, like old Indian huts were.
Centaurs generally preferred sleeping outside, but even they did not like to stay out in the rain. So they had made some huts ideal for sleeping in whenever the heavens poured down on them.
They dropped her unceremoniously into the hut, as she landed with a small thump. She turned to glare at their retreating forms, only to find them still standing at the hut's entrance, staring at her intensely.
Rebecca wanted to yell and scream at the way she had been treated up till now, the only reason why she hadn't yet was because she had just been too shocked at everything that had happened, but the shock was now slowly but surely passing, but not quite yet.
The two Centaurs stood where they were, their heads cocked as they looked curiously at her, making her nervous.
Just then, they moved a little closer into the hut, making her scamper a little back to the wall. They seemed to find this funny, seeing as there was no way out of the hut for her.
They walked all the way in, backing her up against the wall of the hut, their hands reached out for her.
Rebecca breathed hoarsely in fear, as they began touching her. At first it wasn't so bad, as they just touched her hair, face, arms and legs.
Then they began poking at her chest.
Rebecca gulped, as their hands reached for her. Okay, this was the last straw!
She slapped the hand of the dark grey Centaur whose hand had been less than a few inches from her.
The younger Centaur roared in outrage like Bane, and together with his companion grabbed her fiercely.
"Roland! Damon! That's enough!" the unmistakable voice of Firenze called out.
The two Centaurs backed away, releasing the lone human from their grip, but kept their vented glares on her at all time.
"Remember, humans are more sensitive about appearances than we are," Firenze explained diplomatically. "Like us, they can be easily offended if we treat them wrong. What we consider natural may not be so for them. If we wish for them to respect us, our laws and traditions, then we must first do so for them. Understand?"
The two called Roland and Damon, though which was which was unsure, nodded bleakly, but they still kept their hateful glances on her.
"Go back to your festivities, brothers," Firenze told them. "I will stay and watch over the human."
They seemed to need no further encouraging, as they eagerly raced out of the hut, heading straight towards the large campfire where more meat was being roasted.
Firenze looked apologetically at her. "Please forgive my brother Centaurs," he told her. "I'm afraid they were just rather curious about you, that's all."
"What's with them?" she asked hotly. "The way they acted, you'd think they'd never seen a girl before."
Firenze nodded. "Not all of my kind strays too far from our territory in the forest. Roland and Damon are among some of the youngest warriors in our herd. They've rarely left the herding ground except in hunts."
"What's that got to do with anything?" she said curtly.
He looked at her with a blank expression, as though what he said should be the most common and simplest thing to know.
"Well, obviously since they've never strayed far from the herding ground, then they've never gotten too close to Hogwarts. Hence they've never seen one of your kind before."
"My kind?" she said. "Oh, you mean because I'm human?"
"That," Firenze admitted. "And the fact that you are a female makes them a little more curious as well."
"Why?" she looked at him curiously. "You people have something against women or something? I bet your own women just love that."
Firenze gave her a funny look. "There are no Centaur women."
Rebecca blinked. "No…women? How the heck is that possible? How do you guys have children if you have no women?"
Firenze looked confused, as he scratched his head, wondering what kind of a teacher this girl could have had growing up? Whoever it was, he or she had obviously not taught this girl very well. Even the small human foals at the school knew about his kind and their habits.
"It has always been the way with my race," he explained. "We are as you see before you, possessing the parts of a human man from the head to the torso, and the rest of us is that of a equine. In that perspective we are all the same."
"But how do you have children?"
Firenze shrugged. "Although the human parts of us are all male, some of us possess the body of what you humans I believe call…a Mare."
Rebecca did a double take. "A Mare…? You mean a female horse?"
Firenze nodded. "Yes, though those Centaurs are rare and few."
"So some of you have… What I mean is… " she stuttered. "Some of you are both male and female?"
He nodded again. "Yes, but like I said, those Centaurs are rare and few. Hence the reason why my herd is so small."
She felt her mind turning in unbelievable astonishment and disbelief. She was in the company of a race of people filled with nothing but males?
She was beginning to feel nervous again.
"Sooo...your two friends back there," she said, pointing to where the previous Centaurs were now munching on what looked like a couple of turkey-legs. "They've never seen a human before?"
"And therefore never a female," he added. "Needless to say, your human female body is somewhat different from ours. In all fairness, my brothers' curiosity was understandable, though I assure you I will make certain that they better understand not to bother your person again."
He looked at her curiously again. "Forgive me if this next question sounds indelicate," he asked. "But how come you don't seem to know anything about my kind? I mean, I know we keep to ourselves, but we're hardly a secret race. I thought everyone knew about us. Were you absent from your Magical Creatures Class or something at Hogwarts?"
Rebecca screwed her face up in confusion. "Hogworts?" she frowned. "You mean the laxative plant?"
Firenze laughed. "No, I mean the school of course."
She looked blankly at him. "What school?"
The Centaur suddenly gave her a long stare. "You…don't know about Hogwarts?"
Rebecca stared back at him, wondering what was wrong with him? He suddenly seemed edgy for some reason.
"Never heard of it until you just mentioned it to me," she told him. "Is it close by?"
Firenze still looked curious, but now seemed to appear mistrusting as well. Like he was having a hard time trying to buy her story.
"Tell me," he then added. "Do the names Harry Potter or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named sound familiar to you?"
She frowned, and shook her head.
He seemed very nervous now. "Please, can I trust you to remain here?" he asked her. "I don't need to tell you that my hide will be in danger if I leave you here unattended, but the situation will be even worse for you should you attempt to escape and they catch you. And believe me, they will catch you."
She looked into his deep blue eyes for a few moments, and then nodded.
Not waiting another moment longer, Firenze hurried out of the hut, accidentally whipping her in her face with his tail as he did, and galloped over to where Magorian had gone.
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"A Muggle?" Magorian said, looking unconvinced. He knew what the Wizard's name were for ordinary non-magical members of their kind, though obviously he had never seen one before since it was supposed to be impossible for them to reach Hogwarts and the forest, let alone come this far.
Firenze nodded. "She knew nothing of Hogwarts, which is known by all in the Wizarding World. She didn't even recognise the name or title of Harry Potter and the Dark Lord, and those names are known even to us and those here in the forest."
Bane, who had followed Magorian when he went to talk with Safyph in order to try and convince him to let them simply kill the human or at least drive her out, simply snorted. "The little runt's obviously lying then. Firenze, you are truly gullible!"
Firenze gave him a short look at his minor insult, but chose to let it pass. "I do not believe so," he told them. "The ignorance in her eyes appeared genuine, too genuine to fake. And another thing, when have you ever known any witch or wizard to come into the forest without their wand before?"
Magorian chewed on his lower lip, deep in thought. "That would explain why the female flew on that helicopter of hers instead of using that flying stick like all the other humans of that school use," he admitted. "And we know there was some disturbance within the forest earlier today."
Bane looked at him in outrage. "You can't really believe all this?"
"Peace, Bane!" Magorian warned him. "I will not tell you again." He then looked behind them. "Safyph, honoured elder, what is your advice?"
From behind them in the shadows, an old figure slowly hobbled out to them.
It was Safyph, the oldest Centaur of their herd. Like many of them he had a beard, but one that was snowy white and which grew all the way down to his knees. His colouring was a dirty silvery-grey colour, save for the white beard. All parts of him, his human and his horse-half, were stretched and bony, withered by time. He walked with a limp that he had received long ago during a dispute with another Centaur herd from faraway. But although his body was weak, his eyes held a powerful and intelligent gaze.
He had once been their herd's leader before the dispute with their brother herd had robbed him of his good health and strength, allowing someone younger and stronger to challenge him for leadership, as was the custom in their people. He was now the herd's honoured elder, respected for his age and sought after for the wisdom that came with it.
"What you say makes sense," he told them in his voice that despite its age still spoke with a quiet, calm but firm tone. "The human was in dire distress when she came to us, she has no reason to lie nor any reason to be here. It is clear she must be here solely by accident."
Bane snorted again, but said nothing further to contradict this. Despite his abrupt attitude, he too respected the wisdom of their elder, and as a Centaur warrior he also respected and obeyed the wishes of their leader.
"So what would you suggest we do next then?" Magorian asked the Centaur elder.
"Yes, it is getting late," Firenze added. "If we want to return her before…"
"Return her?" Bane's voice thundered. Even the other two of them were directing some odd looks at Firenze.
"But…" Firenze said, looking confused. "You said so yourself that the girl was not here to threaten us. What reason is there for her to stay?"
"I can think of a good few," Bane remarked, his face a grim picture. It was clear his ideas of what to do with her all involved him, his hooves and the girl's head.
Magorian on the other hand was willing to listen to more options. "What would you say, Safyph?"
"Having her stay here for a short while might prove beneficial for us," Safyph said thoughtfully. "The young foals have never even seen a human before. It would do them good to interact with one."
Magorian nodded. "They are rather ignorant of human culture," he admitted.
Bane just snorted through his nose. "What good could possibly come from knowing more about humans? We know enough to steer clear of them whenever we can."
"No, that is your way of dealing with them," Firenze remarked, earning a hot glare from the black Centaur. He and Bane had never got on well, having different points of view concerning humanity. Firenze had always been more optimistic, willing to give them a chance, whereas Bane would not even think of it.
Magorian's face seemed lost in deep thought. "There is another reason for her to remain here with us," he said finally.
The others looked at him.
"Our herd is at present in most dire needs," he explained. "There are so few of us now because of how few Breeders are born to us. Only a mere three out of the seven recent births were of them."
Firenze found himself holding his breath, as he didn't like where this conversation was starting to head.
"What are you thinking of?" he asked.
Magorian held his head up high. "She could remain with us permanently, as one of our new Breeders."
Safyph cocked his eyebrow, Bane's expression seemed to be a cross between anger and consideration, while Firenze's just looked plain shocked.
"You can't be serious, leader?"
Magorian neither lowered his head nor lost the adamant look on his face. "You should know I am always serious, Firenze."
Safyph said nothing, his eyes half-closed with thought, choosing to remain silent until asked for his opinion. Bane still had his never-ending look of hostility, but it was clear he was considering Magorian's words. He would still prefer to kill the human, but Magorian's words ran true. There were not enough Breeders to procreate with.
"Magorian," Firenze started, for once calling his herd's leader by his name instead of his title. "What you say about our Breeders is true, but…we can't keep this human with us. It's…wrong!"
Magorian gave him a half-glance. "Our herd is slowly dwindling, that is what's wrong! This human can only be a blessing sent by the Fates to ease our suffering."
"Safyph?" Firenze looked to his herd-elder in desperation. "Surely you can see the error in his plan?"
The elder said nothing at first, his eyes as clear as water, as he stared straight at them all. Finally, he spoke, "If we were to keep her, we could do so by the Rite of Claim."
Firenze felt his own eyes bulging out in surprise. "Safyph, surely not! That law was ancient even before we Centaurs first came to the forest."
The Rite of Claim was an ancient law amongst the Centaurs from the earliest chapters of their history. It was when a Centaur lay claim to something, often a human woman, which he believed was his by right by either finding her alone or defeating her mate in battle. After claiming her, he would then take her back to his home, to mate with and produce foals.
The rite had been used quite commonly in ancient times, by Centaurs and humans alike, and because of it and the Centaur's use of humans for Breeders, their race had been considerably lot larger back then.
It was only until after their kind had arrived in Britain, over a thousand years ago, that they had been forced to forget that particular custom in their race. The sorcerers at the time had told them, straight out, that if they ever attempted to abduct a woman against her will, outside of their territory, then all of the magical community would fall upon them.
The Centaurs were a proud race, full of warriors that were not afraid to die, but their numbers were now down to a mere fifty or less. If they had gone to war, the stars themselves had told them that their race would go extinct, lost forever to the sands of time, remembered only as myth.
Thus they had yielded to the sorcerer' will, swearing to never take another human and force them to their home. And thus they had remained, never venturing far from the forest that had been their home now for over a thousand years, never interacting with any outsiders unless absolutely necessary, and never taking anyone against their will.
But despite all that, they had never actually abandoned their own laws. Their ancestors had sworn they would never leave their home to take another human, an oath that they had kept for years. However, this human had come willingly into their territory, which meant that by law they were not under any obligation to return her.
"And besides, the Wizards have invoked laws that forbid us from claiming any of their females," Firenze continued.
"The humans laws never overshadow our own," Magorian interrupted him. "And this girl is neither Witch nor Wizard. She is not of their world, she is a Muggle and hence she is not bound by their law."
"She did come into our territory without our permission," Safyph added. "So we would be entitled to compensation. And because she came by her own choice and freewill, we did not abduct her, and thus we would merely be keeping her as our guest. For however long will be entirely up to you, my leader."
Magorian once more looked thoughtful. Even Bane's expression, which up till now had only wanted one thing, to be rid of the human, was full of consideration.
Firenze looked aghast at them. "We can't keep her," he insisted repeatedly. "If the Humans were to ever discover that we were keeping one of their own against her will…"
"But as Magorian just explained," Bane then spoke. "This girl is not of the Wizard' world, hence she does not fall under their laws. They probably don't even know of her disappearance."
"I thought you were all for getting rid of her anyway?" Firenze said accusingly.
"I still am," Bane replied hotly. "But that doesn't mean I won't do what's best for the herd. And Magorian is right about this Human female being a blessing. With the few Breeders we have, this female might be just what the Healer ordered."
"Safyph, I implore you," Firenze said, close to pleading with the Centaur elder. "Don't do this. We can't risk war with the Humans."
The old Centaur sighed. "I am merely an advisor, Firenze, as you well know," he told him. "My time as leader has long since passed. I merely give my advice to all who will listen, and opinion of the best recommendations, nothing else. The Rite would be the ideal way of laying claim to this Human if our leader so wishes."
"But…"
"Bane and Magorian are also correct," Safyph continued. "As this girl is not of the world of magic, she does not concern them."
Bane smirked.
"However," Safyph added. "We do not know that for absolute certain. For all we know, they might be combing the entire forest for her right now. And should they learn that we have her, and they desire her return, then as Firenze said our actions could lead to war between us and the Humans."
Safyph turned to look at Magorian. "Our herd is strong and fierce, but even with our combined warriors we cannot hope to take on the armed forces of the Wizard' council. Their magic gives them the distinct advantage, and even with the help of the stars we would stand little chance of victory. And we have nowhere else to go, as the world is a much smaller place than it was before our ancestors settled here."
Magorian nodded. "You speak the truth, Safyph." He then turned to Firenze. "You are close acquaintances with the Giant hybrid called Hagrid, are you not, Firenze?"
The younger Centaur nodded. "Yes, but…" His eyes widened, as he realised what Magorian was planning to ask of him. "Wait! You are not seriously suggesting that I…"
"You can go to the one called Hagrid," Magorian told him. "You will inform him that we had heard of some commotion, and heard some rumours of there being a Human within the forest. You will ask him if any of this was true and if they had heard of any news of the Human."
"But…"
"You will reveal nothing of the Human being with us," Magorian then said firmly. "If he doesn't ask why you wish to know, then you will not tell him. If he does, you will merely say that our herd were just concerned for our safety."
"You want me to lie?" Firenze said aghast, for it was against a Centaur's very nature to lie.
"No," his leader replied. "Merely colour the truth slightly. We are concerned for our herd's safety. That is a truth. We just won't reveal anything else."
"I won't…" Firenze began.
"Before you go say anything that you might later regret, Brother," Magorian then said in a dangerous tone. "Need I remind you that your loyalty is to our herd's safety, well being and future? I was not lying when I said this Human could help us greatly. That is the only reason why I am pursuing this, nothing else."
"If you ask me, Firenze's loyalty has been in question for years," Bane added.
Firenze twisted his head to glare at him. "How dare you!" he nearly shouted. "Never once have I done anything for any of you to question my loyalty! My first and only concern in life, and my devotion, has always been to that of our herd and never anything else!"
"Then explain the night when you had that Human foal riding on your back!" Bane shouted back.
Firenze just stared at him. "Are you still on about that?" he said, almost shocked. "I told you! The boy, Harry Potter, was being attacked by the one they call the Dark Lord. I was there purely by coincidence when the evil one attacked him. I could not stand by and do nothing whilst this was happening, so I helped. Afterwards, I simply carried him back to his school. That's all!"
"You still let him ride on you, Firenze," Magorian stated in a matter of fact. "You know full well how demeaning that is to our kind, to have a Human ride on your back like a common horse."
In truth, Magorian had been just as mad as Bane had been the night when they had spotted Firenze with the boy in question. When they saw him being ridden like that, their first reaction was to have Firenze banished from their herd. Fortunately, Magorian had calmed down somewhat by the time Firenze had returned home, but he and many of their herd, especially Bane, had not forgotten about it.
"You need to get your priorities in order, Firenze," Bane told the younger Centaur. "Who holds the key to your loyalty, we or the Humans?"
Firenze lowered his head in submission. "I swear to you by the power of the Fates, under the light of Hecate's moon, that our herd have and have always had the loyalty of my spirit and the strength of my heart," he swore in the traditional Centaur oath. "I just…"
"As Bane just said," Magorian said firmly and clearly to him. "You need to better understand your priorities, Brother. You are either with us or against us."
"Leader, my sons," Safyph suddenly interjected. "If I may… Perhaps this topic is too big a decision to be made by one or even the four of us? Perhaps it would be wise to involve the entire herd?"
The three of them looked at the elder.
"A Tribunal?" Magorian said. It had been a long time since they had held one, when the herd would gather together to confer about an important matter, to make a decision, one that would affect not just one but the entire herd.
Bane frowned, but seemed to agree with the elder. "Whatever we decide would affect not just us, but the whole herd," he remarked. "They do have a right to know all that is happening and should be allowed to cast their own vote on what should be done."
Even Firenze had to agree with that, and nodded to confirm this. "I concur," he said.
Magorian nodded. "Very well. Inform the others, and tell them to gather in the circle within the hour. Firenze, you go find your Giant friend Hagrid. Find out all he knows."
Firenze bowed his head and hurried off, praying to the Gods of ancient times that what they found out would entice the herd to release the girl.
To Be Continued…