AN: We're getting close to the end now. I expect to wrap this up in a couple of chapters, maybe three. As you may have noticed, my chapters are rather short, which is why I have 17,000 words and 12 chapters- an average of 1416.666666666667 words p/c. Anyway, if you've been reading this fic, if you've added it to your alerts, if you've reviewed or fave'd it, then thank you very, very much I appreciate it so much.
Right. Now. To the story!
CHAPTER TEN: The Hooded Men
"This isn't the way to centaur territory, Rem," Lily whispers. "Are you sure...?"
"Firenze told me to angle west instead of going straight in; we can't risk running into the rest of the herd."
"But I heard there are acromantula and vampires in here. What if they find us?"
Lily and Remus are walking side by side, climbing carefully over the fallen branches that litter the forest floor. Some of them are as wide as Lily is tall. The trees in the west of the forest seem to be the oldest, and are spread wider than those in the east. They rise so high above the three teenagers that Lily feels completely dwarfed. Roots have risen above the surface of the earth in some places, where the trees have had to grow in strange directions in order to avoid each other. In the light of Lily's wand they look like snakes shrouded in moss and dirt, hiding spectre-like from the blue-ish glare. They appear to shift from side to side as the light moves over them.
A low mist creeps across the forest floor, floating away in fragile wisps as they walk through it. Sirius is up ahead, impatiently looking behind him at the other two and vaulting easily over the scattered logs.
"I'll protect you." Remus avoids Lily's eyes, which are now fixed on him. She's straddling a fallen branch the size of a refrigerator, blushing, her mouth twitching as she tries to refrain from grinning stupidly at him.
Seconds later Sirius turns around and sees them in this tableau. He rolls his eyes and shouts "Oi!" They snap out of their trance, Remus looking up, Lily tearing her eyes away from Remus' face. Sirius, standing alone atop a log, looks at them pointedly. "When you're done being awkward, we'll carry on, shall we?"
Lily jumps gracefully from the log, avoiding looking at Remus, because she can feel the threat of a smile still lingering on her lips as she walks ahead of him.
The next second, an echo of hoof beats comes drifting towards them, getting quickly closer and closer until Firenze, pale and chiselled in the moonlight, is standing before them. Lily and Remus approach him cautiously until they're standing next to Sirius. Firenze says nothing for a few seconds. When he finally does he sounds more than a little annoyed.
"I thought I asked you to come alone, boy. Who are these children?"
Remus answers without blinking, despite the centaur's stony glare. "They're my friends. You can trust them. And me."
"Very well. Let me say, however, that what I am about to tell is of the upmost importance. We centaurs usually keep to ourselves, and do not bother with the problems of humans, but we know something I cannot ignore. Cleon does not know of my meeting with you- if he found out I would be punished- but you must know. You must go straight to the headmaster with this information, is that clear?"
"If it's so important, why is Cleon keeping it to himself? And why can't you go to Dumbledore yourself?" says Lily.
"Cleon does not care about humans- what happens to you is unlikely to affect us, and therefore he would not bother... and if I were to leave the forest to consort with humans, he would be furious."
Sirius looks confused. "Why would you risk talking to us, then?"
Firenze falls silent, and stares up into the night sky, where stars are speckled so thickly their light almost rivals even that of the moon. It's quite evident to the three that Sirius isn't going to get an answer, so Remus says "What is it we need to know?"
Firenze sighs. "You are all in grave danger," he says softly, still looking to the stars. "There are dark forces brewing close to here- even inside the castle. I fear... I fear for all of our lives."
Sirius stares at him blankly. "Well, that's some intense shit, mate, but it's not very precise. What do you mean by 'dark forces'?"
"I am not your 'mate', boy-"
"And I'm not a boy. I'm a legal wizard."
"Your size and levels of maturity are not indicative to adulthood. Had you been a centaur you would still be considered a foal, at the lowest tier of the social ladder, so do not dare to speak to me so impertinently. It was my choice to come here today- I do not owe you a thing. Have some respect." Firenze's nostrils flare as Sirius blanches from his aggressive words.
Firenze appears satisfied. With no small amount of pride in his voice he says, "Centaurs, as I'm sure you know, are an ancient and noble race. We may speak cryptically when it comes to the messages from the stars and moon, but it is only because the stars and moon themselves are not direct messengers. What we interpret is subjective, and often we are unsure of what they are saying. What I have just told you, however, came not from the sky but from the voices of other creatures. There is a dark wizard gathering followers. We know not of his name or him aims, but we do know that he is a threat to us all."
"So you heard it from the grapevine?" Sirius grins. "Are you sure it's right, though?"
"No," says Firenze shortly.
"And we should bother Dumbledore with it anyway?" Remus says, furrowing his eyebrows together.
"Yes. Though there is a chance that it is wrong, it is likely that it is not, and therefore I would be... grateful, should you pass it on. For me." Firenze seems reluctant to admit his thanks, so the three students leave it at that. Lily assures him that they'll be going straight to the headmaster's office now, and the three depart. Firenze canters away into the forest. As the sound of his hoof beats grow fainter, their walk becomes more relaxed. Remus hadn't realised it before, but his shoulders had grown increasingly tense as their meeting with Firenze had progressed- the centaur's self righteousness had been grinding on his nerves; he wanted to tell the pale man to relax, maybe use a conjunction or two.
As return journeys go, their walk to the castle seemed to pass quickly. The castle is just looming into sight when Sirius says, "I hope James is okay. We kinda just... left him there. He's probably gonna be pretty pissed with us."
"James made his own choice, Sirius." Remus, walking ahead of them, doesn't look back. "He's a big boy. He'll handle it."
Lily and Sirius exchange a look of understanding. The ongoing quarrel between their friends hasn't gone unnoticed.
And that's when a cry of pain- anguished, pleading and utterly terrifying- rents the still air.
There a seconds pause before a strangled cry escapes from Lily's mouth, and she chokes out the word "James". She takes off running, leaving the other two behind. Sirius, without a second thought, shifts into his black dog form and runs swiftly after her. He overtakes her in seconds and disappears into the forest. By now Remus is following, calling after them, because there's a gnawing fear in his chest and his heart is thumping wildly and he knows it was James screaming, his friend, the one they left behind. His coat whips back as he runs into the wind, now raising and shaking the trees slowly back and forth, causing a frightening shhh that seems to snap at his heels, urging him to go faster and faster until he's fairly flying over the forest floor. Everything takes on a dreamlike state. He's sure this isn't real- he's really snug in bed, having come upstairs to bed instead of meeting Firenze.
And then James screams again and reality almost trips him up, because he's still in the Forbidden Forest, and there's the wind again. And then there's Lily, legs carrying her forward just ahead of Remus. He's now so close he can almost touch her.
But she's oblivious to him. Her mind is focussed solely on James.
And then there's a howl and a scream, and Remus is at the edge of the forest and out of forest and in the grounds, in the full light of the moon and the stars. He's not sure he can stop running but he does, skidding to a halt and almost into Lily, eyes fixing immediately on the groaning body of his friend sprawled on the ground.
And on the six men standing over it.
No- six boys.
Skinny teenagers wearing masks that hide their faces from the nose up, leaving only their mouths visible. Masks that show off their smooth chins, free of stubble, and their skin blemished by acne. Their bodies are shrouded in deep black hooded cloaks. Their wands are extended and pointing at Sirius, no longer a dog, and now Lily and Remus. One of them is keeping an eye on James, but something tells Remus that they need not worry about him.
James' face is covered in fresh blood, coursing over his cheek from a deep cut under his eye. His glasses are nowhere to be seen, and Remus wonders whether these boys took them and smashed them.
Lily's voice rips through the almost-silence, "What did you do? What did you do to him?" She doesn't bother to hide her hysteria, or staunch the tears falling from her wide, furious green eyes.
The tallest of the gang sniggers cruelly. "You're in trouble now, missy! Don't you wish you'd stayed in bed tonight?" He laughs again, gleeful.
"Quiet." The one with his wand pointed at Remus- Remus thinks he's the leader of the gang- silences him with a single word. "You're really in for it, Evans. You and this snivelling idiot at my feet."
His voice is so familiar, yet in his haze of panic Remus can't quite place it...
"What did he ever do to you?" Lily screeches, tears falling freely.
"What is he, your boyfriend?" The first one jeers at her. He sees her expression and laughs maniacally. "Oh, no, but you wish he was!"
Remus' eyes focus on the leader's mouth as he speaks, everything else becoming more of a blur, until the moving lips are all he can see. His words reach Remus' ears as if spoken through from the other side of a wall.
"We're the new order now; we're the ones you'll be answering to! He's got you now! Oho, he does! You'll be sorry, the lot of you. You'll be sorry, because he's got you so very, very good!"
Lily, now standing in a shocked silence, chokes out the words "Who is he?"
"You'll be finding out quite soon enough, my dear," the leader says, grinning.
Remus simply stands, astonished, staring at the boys, because he's sure he knows one of them- as he watches a wisp of white-blond hair escapes from behind the hood of the one with his wand fixed on Sirius' chest, and in an instant his wand is drawn and he yells out the first spell that comes to mind.
"Stupefy!"
The spell misses the blond boy by inches, but the force of the jet of red light almost knocks him off his feet.
Suddenly the air is filled with spells, firing viciously from the masked boys and yet even more so from Remus, Lily and Sirius. Even so, the three are outnumbered two to one, and in almost no time at all Sirius is struck by a stunning spell and then Remus is down himself, crouching on all fours after a blast of green fire hits him in the stomach. He has time to shout out "Run!" to Lily, before he falls to ground, and everything goes dark.