Thanks heaps to those that reviewed! I don't have time to thank you all individually! I started school today and the homework is already piled high! Hope the chapter is okay! It's longer than normal! :)

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Some Things Are Worth Dying For

Chapter Ten: Cowardice and Late Night Troubles

It was late in the night when I started to suffocate in my sleep. Something was clamped over my face, refusing me oxygen, and causing me to panic as I sat up nearly shrieking hysterically from lack of air. The thing on my face slid off and I gazed down at Sinead, who looked a little too pleased with herself. One would think that if their familiar tried to kill them in their sleep they would as least look slightly ashamed. My cat looked like she thought she deserved a medal.

"You have five seconds to explain before I make you my own personal stuffed pillow." I warned her waspishly.

She meowed and jumped off the end of my bed.

"Oh, right," I yawned, "Harry. Hang on a moment then."

I hopped quietly off my bed and rummaged around the trunk at the end of it, looking for Harry's Invisibility Cloak. I found it and slipped it on, glancing as I did at the mood bowl beside my bed. The color made my pause for a moment. Within another moment I was running out of my common room, urging Sinead to run faster and take me to Harry. The bowl had been red. Harry was in pain.

After running for only a few minutes I felt a flicker of fear as we headed towards the Forbidden Forest.

"No!" I stopped, grabbing my side and panting, "He's…he's not in there again, right? I mean…no one's that stupid…"

Sinead yowled, and the flicker of fear grew. I hadn't exactly had fun the last time I had gone into the forest; a giant had nearly killed me. Harry had nearly been killed too. Why would he go back?

I approached the edge of the trees and while still afraid, started to feel immensely annoyed. No doubt due to the fact that I had been awoken up from a pleasant sleep to look for a stupid Gryffindor in a dangerous forest and haul his butt back to the castle.

I glanced over at Sinead who was already trotting up to the castle, probably to have a sleep. How unfair. I wish I were a cat.

"Here goes." I muttered, tentatively stepping into the thick brush. I walked blindly forwards for what seemed like half an hour, listening carefully to all the sounds around me. From what I could gather, there were over one hundred different animals with over one hundred different noises in the forest. And undoubtedly, half of them were dangerous.

"Oh this is hopeless," I said aloud, "This forest is enormous and Harry's only little."

I sighed but trudged forward, knowing I had to at least try and find him. Then, thankfully and regrettably, I heard what sounded like a roar, followed by a human shouting. It was only a little further ahead, so I immediately went into a sprint. Hopefully, it was Harry, and I would be able to take him back to the castle and continue my sleep.

There was a roar again, and then a thump that made the ground shake. For a split second I thought that Harry had been hurt, but I shouldn't have worried, because soon after…

"Shut up, Grawp!" Came Harry's voice angrily.

I stumbled into a familiar clearing, my eyes narrowed. Harry was alone and looked like he was searching all around the enclosed area for something. Well, truthfully he wasn't alone. Grawp, the giant, was there. He was eyeing Harry maliciously but The-Boy-Who-Messed-Too-Much-With-Danger didn't seem to notice, or if he did, didn't care. Grawp roared and lunged at Harry, but the thick rope tying his leg to the large tree restricted him so that his fingers barely reached him. Harry didn't even react, although I did notice he had a few new cuts and bruises, so the giant must have gotten him at least once. That would explain why the mood bowl had been red.

"Shut up, Grawp!" Harry repeated, louder this time.

Grawp paused, this time eyeing him with what looked like consideration before it sat back and leant against a tree. It surprised me because giants were pretty much known as violent killers that were so stupid they even killed each other. It is what I had been brought up to believe. Although I couldn't help grinning in amusement at Grawp, who was soon asleep, emitting loud whooshing snores that made me grip the cloak around me to prevent it from being blown off.

I glanced around at the ground for a moment, before spotting a small, round stone. I bent down and picked it up, then aiming carefully, threw it at Harry.

"Ouch!" He spun around and thankfully looked a little scared, "Who's there?"

I picked up another rock and threw it. I didn't really know what it would do, and I doubted if it would encourage Harry to go back to the castle. But it was my only idea, so I went with it.

"Bloody hell," Cursed Harry, "Cut it out!"

I threw another stone.

He spun around and looked in my general direction with a scowl.

"It's you isn't it? That person that's been following me?" He was thoroughly annoyed, "Listen, leave me alone all right? I'm fine. I do not need some stupid bodyguard!"

He turned around sharply and continued searching around him. If he thought I was going to adhere to his instructions, he had another thing coming. I picked up another stone and prepared myself to throw it, when something whizzed past my ear and landed in a tree above Harry's head with a thud. He stood up quickly and turned back around.

"I said leave me…" He trailed off, and I saw his eyes widen, "Bane!"

For a moment I freaked out. I thought he knew who I was and that would mean trouble. My mother would find out, and inform The Dark Lord who would have me killed. I opened my mouth quickly to explain when I was drowned out.

"Harry Potter," said a booming voice, "You were warned never to return to here!"

I spun around and let out a shriek as I stumbled back, falling onto my backside. A herd of monsters, centaurs, had surrounded most of the clearing and had bows and arrows pointing straight at Harry. I knew what they were because one of their kind taught Divination at Hogwarts. But they were fierce and at my outburst, a few loaded bows were directed at me.

"You are not alone." A large, dark centaur said. And I knew he wasn't talking about Grawp, who was still snoring away.

"Yes I am." Harry said boldly, holding himself up high. I saw him place his hand inside his cloak. There would have been no point to use his wand, there were too many of them.

The dark centaur's eyes darted towards me and he took a few steps forwards.

"You were warned never to return here." He repeated, his hooves nearing my feet. I didn't dare move, as it would have attracted his attention. How had it come to this? An hour ago I had been sleeping peacefully in my bed and now I was surrounded by a group of ferocious centaurs and a giant.

"I had to." Harry replied.

"Why?"

"I lost something. A cloak. It was my father's and I need it."

I clutched the Invisibility Cloak around me. So that was what he had been looking for. Even after Ron and Hermione had talked to him about it and everything. I glared at Harry from where I was even though he couldn't see me. Stupid boy.

"I think you would recall that the punishment for disobeying my orders was a penalty of death."

Harry paused, "You don't own this forest."

He definitely didn't know how to pick his fights.

A red centaur darted forwards and pranced into the clearing before coming to a halt before Harry. It snorted in his face and turned to the dark centaur.

"He is disrespectful, Bane. Let us rid of him! As you said, a penalty of death is in order."

It retrieved a bow from around its back and my stomached clenched as it loaded it and pointed the arrow at Harry's throat. Harry was starting to lose his confidence and I could see small beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he pressed himself against a tree behind him. Bane, the centaur, not me, I thought with relief, didn't appear to object and my mind began working furiously to form a plan of escape.

I didn't think I could save Harry. It was a pity as I had truly started to care for him. But if it came down to saving myself or saving Harry, I was going to choose myself. My life was worth more than any others were.

Slowly and carefully I got to my feet. Bane was focused on Harry and the other centaur and I thought it gave me a chance to back away. But Bane suddenly pointed his finger at me.

"You stay where you are, human!" He said in a voice that insinuated he was above me, before he turned to Harry, "I am sorry Harry Potter, but as a rule you must be put to death. Your friend will be spared, but only because she has not yet received a warning."

He looked at me.

"You may go."

As if I had springs attached to my legs I ran from the clearing, relief flooding through me. But I hadn't gotten more than a few steps when I stopped abruptly. I sighed and looked over my shoulder. There was still a chance to save Harry.

Creeping back quietly, putting into heavy practice my Shadow training, I approached the clearing once more. Circling around the outskirts of it, I saw that Bane was explaining something to Harry as two other centaurs approached him, loading their bows.

"-it is not my wish to kill the young of humans," Bane said and sounded surprisingly apologetic, "But as you are nearing manhood and have already been bestowed a warning, there is no other choice."

"You…could let me go with another warning." Harry suggested nervously. The red centaur laughed and pushed his arrow into Harry's neck, releasing a small trickle of blood.

"Surely you jest!" He shouted.

At the sight of the blood I felt my legs turn to jelly and quickly looked away, quickening my pace. I was nearly on the opposite side of the clearing now and only had a little further to go. But I wasn't watching where I was going closely enough and ran into something that was both hard and soft at the same time, causing me to let out a surprised, "Oh!" as the Invisibility Cloak fell away from me.

I gasped and clamped a hand over my mouth while I tried to retrieve the cloak with the other. I looked down to find myself staring into the big brown eyes of a small white centaur foal. He took a few steps backwards in shock and my heart went into overdrive. I froze and started panicking straight away, knowing I shouldn't have come back and that I should have kept running for it. I glanced over the top of the foal's head at the group of several centaurs behind him. They were all armed. The young centaur repeated what I did, and I waited for him to open his mouth and give me away.

Seconds passed by like hours and the foal lowered his head. Then he looked up at me and smiled before trotting away, back to his herd.

I stayed where I was, not quite sure what had happened, but soon regained my composure. I wrapped the cloak back around me and edged towards the clearing once more, situating myself behind Grawp. My plan was simply to wake him up. Hopefully he would scare the centaurs away and give Harry a chance to run for it. I searched the ground for a sharp stick; picking up one I hoped would work and pushed myself forward, jabbing it straight into Grawp's backside. He immediately let out a roar and got to his feet quickly, surprising me with his speed. I had never known a giant to be so fast.

It seemed like my timing couldn't have been better. The three centaurs surrounding Harry had their arrows all pointed at his throat, ready to fire, but stepped away from him as Grawp bellowed.

"Run!" Shouted Bane, retreating from the clearing. Those of his herd that had their bows loaded shot their arrows at Grawp, who let out another roar and swiped at them. Harry seemed glued on the spot for a brief period before he too fled the clearing. Most of the centaurs were following in Bane's example and nearly all of them had gone while Grawp continued to bellow and pound the ground. A few appeared to be confused as they pranced back and forth, completely startled by the giant's sudden awakening.

I stayed where I was, too frightened to move. I rolled up into a ball and shut my eyes, waiting for the commotion to be over. It didn't take too long for a silence to break out and I got to my feet. Grawp seemed to have settled.

I walked into the clearing, careful to avoid being within the giant's reach and noticed that he had managed to kill three centaurs that must have crossed his path. The red one that had been so intent on killing Harry lay in a tangled mass on the ground and I shook my head at it.

"That'll teach you," I told it, "What goes around certainly comes…"

I trailed off, my amusement disappearing instantly as I stopped over another body. I don't know how the white foal had managed to get under Grawp's wrath, but he had and now he was sprawled on the ground in a manner similar to the other two of his herd. He'd helped me without reason, or question, and no doubt by directly disobeying his herd's rules. Now he was dead. And it was my fault.

I let the cloak fall from my shoulders as I knelt down.

"You poor thing."

I stroked his dirtied fur and sighed. I stood back up and cast the giant a furious look.

"You stupid oaf!" I snapped, pointing at the foal, "Didn't you see that it was just a baby?"

Grawp watched me closely as I grabbed the cloak and walked away, feeling considerably less pleased that my plan to free Harry had been successful.

Then I heard a roar that made me stop and face the giant. He looked very angry, but I couldn't tell what it was about.

"What?" I shouted at him.

Grawp grunted.

"You're a monster!" I told him, swelling up with anger, "You should be put down! Executed! And I say good riddance! The world can do without!"

He cocked his head to the side, considering me as he had done Harry earlier that night before he thumped the ground.

"Me want Hagger!"

"Hagger?" I blinked, surprised that what I was hearing was in fact English, "Hagrid?"

Grawp's brow scrunched up in thought, "Get Hagger."

"I'm not getting anybody for you, you vicious beast…hang on," I held my finger up to my mouth, "I think I hear..."

Someone was coming towards us. I put the cloak back around me just in time, as a darkly clad figure stumbled into the clearing panting heavily. They looked down at the three centaurs on the ground and then up at Grawp. I couldn't see their face but it seemed like they were putting together the pieces before them.

"No human body," Came a gruff voice from inside the hood, as they kicked at the centaur nearest to them, which just so happened to be the white foal, "Should've known better."

They kicked the baby centaur again, "Can't even go through with a simple murder. Pathetic."

Then the figure hurried from the clearing. I could hear them long after they disappeared from sight, cursing and shouting, clearly annoyed.

Meanwhile, the wheels were spinning in my head as I connected the night's events.

"I think…I think that person," I pointed after the fading noise, "I think they told the centaurs about Harry being in the forest!"

Usually I'd speak aloud to myself, but for some reason, tonight I was explaining my idea's to Grawp.

"They're the same person from the Quidditch Match that tried to throw Harry off his broom! They must have hoped that the centaurs would murder Harry! And…" I looked after the direction the person had gone, "They're going back to Hogwarts! Grawp, someone from Hogwarts is trying to kill Harry!"

The giant blinked and I could imagine him looking baffled as I sprinted from the clearing. I was going to find out who else was following Harry and then I was going to do the Slytherin thing, and dob them in. I could no longer hear anybody, but still I pushed myself forward, running just as I had the day that Harry fainted.

When I escaped the forest I looked frantically around for any sign of movement. There was none, and it would be fruitless searching. The person could be anywhere by now. But I would have to keep an eye out.

Feeling disappointed I headed back to my common room. I entered my dorm to be met by the sound of Millicent snoring. Sinead greeted me with a yowl and I patted her head gently. Out the window I could see the sun rising and I heaved a deep sigh. There would be no point sleeping, breakfast was in an hour.

The white centaur's dead body floated into my mind, but I shook it away as I made for the shower. There was no use moping; there was nothing I could do or change. It's not as though I could have jumped into the clearing and helped protect it. Me dying wouldn't make any difference. And I'd rather live anyway.

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A/N: Please review! And sorry it took so long to update, I'm starting to be busy again!